Aaargh!"
Katara winced as she heard Sokka scream, her attention right now was divided between healing Aang whilst also watching as Harry and Sokka 'sparred' with each other. Harry had been quite insistent on keeping Aang's training as well-rounded as possible, meaning Harry wanted to make sure that Aang was consistently practising every element he knew, but also wanting to make sure that Aang could hold his own in a fight without bending. According to Harry, Aang didn't really have the aggressiveness needed in a fight, which was something that Aang didn't really view as a bad thing. Though Harry was willing to concede that Aang's defensive capabilities were far beyond average, to say the least.
Though recently Harry had decided that Aang was not the only one who needed to be brought up to speed and had brought Sokka in to spar as soon as Aang had finished. Katara was unsure if this was simply because Harry wanted to make sure that Sokka could keep up with the team or if it was a bit of payback for Sokka getting Aang high, either way, Sokka didn't appear to be enjoying it much.
"Ow!" Aang gasped.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Aang," Katara said quickly, waving her arms and directing the water to focus on the bruise on Aang's shoulder.
"It's alright, Katara," Aang waved her off. "Better save your efforts for Sokka, he looks like he's going to need it more than me." Katara looked in Sokka's direction in time to see Harry performing a side flip, kicking Sokka in the chest before landing. Sokka landed on his upper back with his feet going up in the air before eventually toppling over, causing Sokka to roll back onto his front.
"Oooowwwww!" Sokka groaned loudly and slowly before looking up at Harry. "I hate you."
"Everyone hates me," Harry nodded in a satisfied manner. "You get ten minutes, then we go for round two."
"Ten minutes?!" Sokka blurted out before gasping as a new round of pain suddenly hit him.
"You're right, that's too generous," Harry hummed thoughtfully. "Let's make it to a nice eight and a half minutes."
"Eight and a half?!" Sokka gaped at him as he managed to force himself to sit up.
"An argument can be made for eight and three-quarters," Harry told him simply before turning to Katara. "Katara, once Sokka and I are done, can you heal him please?"
"Sure thing," Katara nodded as she finished up healing Aang.
"Great, then you and I are sparring after,"
"I beg your pardon?" Katara said quickly, her head snapping towards Harry's direction. "What?! Me?"
"You're part of this team, are you not?" Harry asked her, a questioning look on his face. "All of us need to be able to hold our own in a fight."
"It's not too late to pull the 'I am a girl' card, is it?" Katara asked hopefully.
"Way too late," Harry answered honestly. "I am a very firm believer in equality, just like you, therefore I'm going to punch you in the face."
"Again!" Yelled the twin voices of twins Lo and Li, their voices piercing into the young princess's brain.
Azula was currently standing on top of the ship's deck, practising her lightning bending. A short distance away, sat on comfy pillows, were Lo and Li, her elderly advisors. While the two did come up with some good gems of wisdom every now and then, Azula was often left unsure about why the two of them were the ones to instruct her on her bending when neither of the two could even fire bend. But then she'd remember, they weren't here to advise her on her bending, merely on her appearance.
Azula took in a deep breath before performing her lightning kata once more, performing the kata with ease, having memorised it so many times that she could probably do it in her sleep. She felt the usual rush she'd feel as the lightning erupted from her fingertips, bursting out in a controlled explosion of power. The lightning bolt pierced through the sky, screaming to the heavens about the reach of her power.
"One hair out of place," One of the twins - perhaps Lo, but it might have been Li - said in a disappointed voice. Azula's eyes narrowed as she finally started to feel the hair pressing on her forehead. Li - or was it Lo? - was right, her hair had fallen out of place. This was unacceptable, this was not perfect, this was...
"Amazing!" A voice boomed, followed by some quick but enthusiastic clapping. All three turned to see Iroh walking up to them clapping his hands. "Wonderful, Princess Azula, truly wonderful!" He said in a proud voice before turning to Lo and Li. "Ladies," He said in a suave voice, causing blushes to appear on the faces of the twins. An image of a younger Iroh flirting with a younger version of the twins briefly appeared in Azula's mind before she quickly, forcefully and very firmly squashed it out of existence.
"It wasn't perfect," Azula frowned as she readjusted her hair.
"Indeed," Li - Perhaps Lo? - said.
"She let a hair fall out of place," Added Lo - Though she sounded more like Li - whilst gesturing in Azula's direction.
"Forgive me," Iroh chuckled. "I find it harder and harder every day to keep up with this new generation, I was not aware that one's hair was so important. Even when I was a military general, you were only required to have specific hairstyles and that was it. No one, not me or any of our soldiers or leaders, cared if someone had a hair out of place. Forgive me, but I think that people will be more focused on that massively impressive lightning bolt that you produced." He added, smiling at Azula.
"Was it truly that impressive?" Azula asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Of course!" Exclaimed Iroh. "It was one of the best lightning bolts I had ever seen."
"Oh," A small smile appeared on Azula's face. "I can make ones bigger than that," She said with a smirk.
"Truly?" Iroh stared at her with a massive smile. "You truly are a gem for the Fire Nation. If I may, I'd advise focusing less on your appearance, there are more important things to worry about."
"Excuse me?" The twins blurted out, sounding somewhat offended.
"Like what?" Azula asked curiously, cutting off the twins before they could say anything else.
"Your lightning kata is quite good, but I believe that it can be even better," Iroh told her in a patient voice.
"Excuse me," Li - looking suspiciously like Lo - tried to cut in. "Appearances are as important as anything else."
"Zip it," Azula told her before turning her attention back to her Uncle Iroh. "What improvements? I'm doing the kata perfectly."
"Undoubtedly," Uncle Iroh agreed without hesitation. "It is indeed a perfect kata, Princess Azula, however, I believe that we can make some tweaks that will hopefully improve it, make it quicker and more efficient, that is if you are willing to entertain the ideas of an old man?" He asked hopefully.
Azula narrowed her eyes at him, her uncle was most certainly not just your average old man. She knew his history, his official one at least, he was widely known and praised as one of the best war generals of all time, one did not simply earn a reputation like that in the Fire Nation. Azula knew that right now, any advice that her uncle was willing to offer would be a thousand times more valuable than Lo and Li's tired old lessons on one's appearance.
"Of course, Uncle," She said, quickly giving him a pleasant smile with practised ease. "I'd like that." She added sincerely.
"Excellent," Uncle Iroh smiled as brightly as she had ever seen him smile.
"Princess Azula!" The twins blurted out at the same time before one of them - she doesn't care which - continued speaking. "We beg you to reconsider, you're firebending is already very impressive, it is your appearance that you need to work on. It's all quite necessary in the long run and will assist you in attracting a marriage with a boy that can..."
"The only boy I care about does not place so much value in a single hair being of a place," Azula cut her off. "Now be quiet, I'm going to learn something interesting."
"Very good, Princess," Iroh spoke up in pleased voice. "I'd be honoured to work with you, though, for the record, I'd like to say that with your bending skills being as impressive as they are, I doubt that anyone would even notice if you had several hairs out of place."
"No, I suppose they wouldn't," Azula agreed as she patted her hair, looking undeniably pleased.
"My everything hurts," Sokka complained as the gang walked through Gaoling, a large town located within a mountain range in the southern Earth Kingdom. It was a very old and well-established town, it also had a broad spectrum of citizens, ranging from the very rich to the very poor. Fortunately, the place had been so far untouched by the hundred-year war.
"I already healed you, will you please stop complaining so much?" Katara said irritably, her brother had been complaining randomly the whole day.
"Just because it's healed, doesn't mean I still can't feel the pain." Sokka protested.
"I'll give you some fresh pain in a second if you don't sip it," Harry warned Sokka who glared at him before huffing loudly.
"Hey guys, look at that," Aang said suddenly, pointing at a poster for an earthbending school. "Maybe we can go there."
"We came here looking for the girl," Harry pointed out.
"Yeah, but she might be at this school," Katara replied. "I don't see the harm in checking it out, besides, there might be a chance that you and Aang can learn some cool earthbending there."
"Well, that was a bust," Harry said as the group walked out of the school along with several other students. The school was apparently more concerned with making money than they were teaching actual earthbending, Aang could have perhaps learnt some basics there but in the long run, it wouldn't have been worth it.
"It's a shame we had to leave, they told me if I paid ten more gold coins then I could have moved up a belt," Sokka pouted.
"You can't even earthbend," Katara couldn't help but point out.
"Didn't seem to matter to them," Sokka shrugged.
"Thank Agni that I'm in charge of the money," Harry grunted. Since coming to this town, Sokka had already tried to buy several unnecessary items, including a matching belt and bag.
"I think The Boulder's going to win back the belt at this year's Earth Rumble," One student said to another as they walked near the group.
"He's got a better chance than most, still, he's got to beat the best earthbenders in the world." The other replied.
"Excuse me," Aang said quickly, catching both of their attention. "But where is this earthbending tournament, exactly?" He asked in an interested voice.
"It's on the island of 'nonya'," One of them grinned.
"Yeah," The other said with a matching grin. "It's also known as 'nonya buisness'." The two laughed before turning and walking off.
"Why the fuck are you laughing?" Harry asked Sokka who was chuckling.
"Because that was hilarious," Sokka laughed. "Ha, 'nonya'," He giggled whilst wiping a tear away.
"See, this is why the Fire Nation thinks you water lot are dumbasses," Harry told Katara as he gestured to Sokka. "Anyway, I'll go find those boys and see if I can't loosen their tongues,"
"Actually, let me try," Katara said, walking past them. "At least this way there's less chance of them being burnt." She added before turning a corner and going after those boys.
"Hmm," Harry let out an amused grunt, while Katara was not as dangerous as him, she was certainly dangerous in her own right. A few moments later she returned with a pleased smile on her face.
"Okay, let's go," She said in a cheery voice.
"They told you?" Aang said happily.
"I was very convincing," Katara replied, choosing not to mention that those boys were now frozen in ice, after all, that wasn't very important information, right?
"Hmm," Harry hummed as the group sat in the stadium watching the earthbending battles before them. "Some good ones so far, but nothing too impressive." They sat on some of the lower seats, which were far more empty than the upper ones. Mostly due to the fact that these seats were at risk of being hit by stray boulders, as evidenced by the boulder that had crashed next to them.
"Are you kidding?!" Sokka blurted out. "Some of these are great!"
"And I could kick all of their asses," Harry stated in a matter-of-fact voice.
"You couldn't beat Boulder," He gestured to the ring, pointing to a muscular man wearing green shorts along with green wrist braces and green ankle braces, supporting a black goatee whilst also keeping his hair in a bun.
"I'd turn him into the burnt pebble," Harry smirked.
"And now," The announcer called loudly. "We have our next match, 'The Boulder' versus Fire Nation Man!" He yelled, pointing to a fat-looking man wearing Fire Nation-coloured trousers and boots whilst also waving a Fire Nation flag. He was immediately met with several large boos, not that he appeared to notice. For some reason, Harry felt the sudden urge to get up and yell 'Go, Go, Gryffindor' but had managed to control himself.
"Please, to rise for Fire Nation national anthem!" He said in an accent that sounded suspiciously Russian for some reason, he put his left hand over his heart before he began singing. "Oh Fire Lord, my flame burns," He drops to his right knee and stretches out his left arm. "For thee!"
"BOO!" The crowd chanted as they started throwing various bits of rubbish at him.
"Go back to the Fire Nation!" Sokka yelled loudly before throwing a rock at him, he very quickly paused and turned to face Harry who was staring right through him. "Not you though, you're great," He said quickly.
"Alright, I'm going to be unusually nice and ignore that mild bit of racism from you this time so long as you agree to shut the fuck up for the rest of this match, deal?" Harry offered.
"Deal," Sokka gladly accepted just before Fire Nation Man was thrown out of the ring by The Boulder.
"Represents the nation and then fucks it up in under a minute, just great," Harry sighs.
"And now, for our next match!" The announcer yelled. "The Boulder vs. The Blind Bandit!" He roared, pointing to the newest person to walk up to the ring. Surprisingly, it wasn't another six-foot muscular man, in fact, it was what appeared to be a little girl, perhaps ten or eleven years old, holding a title belt above her head. She proudly wears her nation's colours and sports an outfit that is comfortable and ideal for her earthbending. The wrist and ankle bracelets she wore were also matching colours, her free-flowing sleeves allowed her full movement. She wore no shoes, something that wasn't uncommon amongst earthbenders, and a matching coloured hairband with two fluffy white balls hanging on the edge. Her black hair was tied into a massive bun with her front bangs going down near her eyes.
"She's not really blind, is she?" Katara whispered to the others. "I mean, it's all part of the act, right? You know, part of her character, I'm right, aren't I?"
"I don't know," Aang frowned as he took a closer look and was able to see the girl's milky-green eyes. "I think she is blind."
"The Boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young girl," The Boulder said, a frown on his face.
"Sounds to me like you're scared, Boulder!" The girl laughed mockingly at him, Boulder looked stunned for a second before taking in a deep breath.
"The Boulder is now over his conflicted feelings!" The Boulder grunted before the two started fighting with each other.
"Hey, hey, Harry," Sokka whispered to Harry who had not taken his eyes off the fight.
"What?" Harry asked without looking away, watching as the young girl easily avoided several of Boulder's attacks.
"Bet you three gold coins and a bowl of noodles that Boulder will crush her in under a minute," Sokka offered.
"Deal," Harry very quickly accepted.
"Cool," Sokka grinned. "Easy money," He barely managed to get out those words when a large scream echoed throughout the arena, Sokka's head snapped towards the direction of the fight and his eyes widened in horror when he saw that the Boulder had somehow been forced into an unholy split and was screaming in pain just before three earth pillars shot up and hit him in the back.
"That's her!" Aang gasped. "That's the girl in my vision."
"Well," Harry grinned. "Things just got very interesting."