Emerald Dragon chapter 55 (Patreon)

Chapter 55 -

"Come on," Harry said with growing impatience as he hid above in a nearby tree, standing on a big tree branch while he hid himself behind the large trunk of the tree. He watched as the Fire Nation tank came closer and closer through the forest. Not caring for any small rocks and bushes it trampled, it avoided the bigger trees but easily crushed everything else. The 'tank train' was an odd but rather effective combination of a tank and a train. It was primarily designed to transport things over large distances, but with that being said it wasn't exactly pleasant to be hit with either and was often used to ram things.

He waited until the train passed just underneath him, a couple of seconds later he bent some rocks into the air and had them slam down into the exhaust pipe of the train, blocking the smoke that had been sent out. A small smirk appeared on his face as he followed the tank through the forest, jumping through trees to stay above ground. When the tank finally ground to a stop, he jumped off the tree he was on and dived head-down to the ground with his arms out. He sunk through the ground like it was made of water.

The doors to the tank opened with a hiss and bursts of steam came out, followed by a couple of Fire Nation soldiers. Neither of them looked to be in the mood for a breakdown. The two irritated soldiers performed a quick look around but didn't spot any attackers. After half a minute or so they turned their attention to the tank.

"What in Agni's name is wrong with it?" One of them demanded. "It was working perfectly a few minutes ago,"

"I know," The other agreed. "The princess will have our heads if she finds out that it stopped working,"

"Last thing I need is to get yelled at by that stuck-up bitch," The first grumbled before looking up at the exhaust pipe. "Hold up a minute, the damn thing's blocked. That...can't...wait! Earthbending, it's an earthbender attack!" He barely yelled his partner was launched into the air and crashed into a nearby tree, meanwhile, he dropped down so that everything from his shoulders and below was trapped in the ground. Looking up, he saw the Emerald Dragon step in front of him just as the other soldier fell out of the tree. "Y...you..." He paled.

"Fair warning," Harry said as he knelt down and looked the soldier dead in the eye. "If you ever dare insult Princess Azula again while I'm in the general area and I happen to find out then I will gut you like a fish," He said, making sure to emphasise his point by popping out his wrist blade and gently pressing it against the man's face. "Is that understood?" Harry asked in a rather relaxed manner.

"U...understood, Sir." The man gulped.

"Atta-boy," Harry said before he retracted his blade and punched the man in the face, knocking him out. Harry turned around and headed to the tank entrance just as another Fire Nation soldier stepped out to see what was going on, the man had barely registered Harry standing in front of him before a wind blast sent him flying back into the wall behind him. The man tried to get up with a groan, only to receive a quick kick to the face. "Sorry, not sorry," Harry told the man unapologetically before he continued making his way through the tank.

He ended up dealing with a few other soldiers on the way but didn't find Azula or Zuko, not even Mai or Ty Lee. It was leading him to be a lot more worried than he initially was. Those four were dangerous and the idea of them being somewhere other than where he expected was not a comfortable thought. It didn't take long before he found himself close to the tank driver's room.

Looking around the corner, he spotted two guards standing outside of the room he believed was responsible for controlling the tank. He took in a deep breath before pulling out his baton, he split it in two before he walked around the corner and tossed them both at the guards. The sticks bounced off their heads, knocking them to the ground before Harry summoned them back and threw them once more, taking both men out of the fight. He summoned the sticks back together and joined them together. The door to the room opened and a disgruntled engineer walked out.

"What in Fire Lord Ozai's name is..." The man trailed off as he saw just who was waiting down the hall.

"Good day to you, Sir." Harry greeted him calmly.

"D...d...dragon!" The man shrieked, grabbing the door and pulling it as quickly and hard as he could, hoping to shut it. Only the door wasn't closing, looking up the man saw Harry's stick stuck between the door and the doorframe. "Damn," The engineer cursed.

"Indeed," Harry stepped in front of him and pushed the door open, the stick dropped to the ground but was summoned to Harry's hand before it could land. The engineer jumped back and looked around nervously, likely hoping for someone to come and help him. Harry calmly stepped into the room and took a quick look around. Behind the engineer was a large viewing window along with a large console underneath it, spreading out in a semicircle. The engineer's back hit a rather large-looking chair that Harry suspected Azula had probably been sitting in. "So...nice place," Harry spoke up, the man flinched as if he had just thrown a fireball instead. "Anyway, I've been walking around, and spotted a few soldiers, as you would expect. But no Princess Azula or Prince Zuko, not even their friends. Where are they?" He asked calmly.

"You...you'd kill me...you'll kill me after I give you the answer," The man gulped fearfully.

"Only if you give me a reason to," Harry told him. "Give me my answers and I'll be gone. No muss, no fuss. Where are they?"

"The...they took their mounts, the mongoose lizards," The man said, slowly and carefully. "They...they left about half an hour ago, they...she said they were going to chase the airbender and his friends." He told Harry, looking carefully at the emerald-eyed boy who was staring blankly at him. "They...they had two people with them,"

"Who?"

"I don't know," The man said quickly. "I never got their names, but they seemed important. Noble types, you know? They left with them, I don't know where."

"If you're lying to me..."

"I'm not! I don't know who they are. I told you everything. That's it, I swear,"

"If you're sure," Harry said before turning and walking away.

"You...you're letting me go?" The engineer asked with disbelief, staring at Harry's bank.

"I'm a man of my word," Harry said in a slightly irritated voice.

(.)

Aang let out a deep breath as he sat cross-legged in an old abandoned town, Tu Zin. The buildings were battered and worn down, some a short while away from collapsing while some already had. The streets were as empty as the buildings, empty as far as Aang could see. He was positive that even the birds and insects didn't see much point in hanging around here. Meaning it was the perfect place for a fight.

For someone as quick as him, the buildings would provide great cover from attacks and help him hide if need be. However, they did also increase the chance of the royal siblings burning down the whole place. Still, he was satisfied that nobody else was in danger at least. His staff was placed on his lap as he meditated, waiting. The temptation to fall asleep was still there, the group had taken turns sleeping a couple of hours but that wasn't really as nice as a good night's sleep.

Still, there were times when one simply had to fight.

After Harry had gone, the group realised that they were still being followed and had tried getting away. Aang had eventually decided to split the group up, Appa was no longer shedding but Azula and Zuko didn't know that. Aang had taken as much fur as possible and had gone in a separate direction from his friends, hoping that he could lead them away long enough for the others to get Appa to safety. He could only hope that they had gotten away. Toph had wanted to come with him, but he told her no. If anything happened, he wanted her with his friends, protecting them.

He wasn't sure how long it had taken, but eventually, Zuko and Azula had arrived.

As the two dismounted from their lizards, Aang couldn't help but notice that the other members of the Fire Nation group were not there. He couldn't help but wonder if that was a good thing or a bad thing, had his friends been caught or worse? He wasn't sure, but he wouldn't ask. He knew that they'd tell him if they had gotten his friends. The lizards walked off and the Fire Nation siblings approached.

"Prince, Princess," Aang greeted them respectfully with a nod.

"Avatar," Azula smiled, looking like the perfect picture of calm. "How good to see you? You missed us, I suppose,"

"Not half as much as Harry," Aang said with a small shrug of his shoulders. "He seems to care about you both a great deal,"

"I assure you, I have no doubts about that," Azula said, her voice slightly sharper than before.

"Good," Aang said, unable to stop the small smile that appeared on his face. "So, I should probably ask, what happens now?"

"What do you think?" Zuko snorted. "You're tired and exhausted, you're not at full strength. And even if you were, there are two of us here."

"Exactly," Azula said, eyeing Aang carefully. "You have no place to go. If you fight, we'll beat you. If you run then we'll catch you, it's as simple as that."

"I'm not running," Aang said, standing up and raising his staff. "That doesn't mean we have to fight,"

"That's exactly what it means!" Azula yelled just before she and Zuko both shot fireblasts at Aang who quickly dodged both before returning fire with a swing of his staff, sending an airwave at both of them. Zuko dodged under and returned fire while Azula jumped over and did the same, Aang yelped before jumping back and twisting in mid-air, allowing the dangerously close fire blasts to miss him. Aang had barely been able to land before he had to create an air shield to protect himself from a second blast, it wasn't enough and he found himself flying backwards and landing on his back.

A grunt escaped his mouth, he rolled to the side to avoid a lightning blast that left a small crater where he had just been, he hopped to his feet and dodged Zuko's fire blast. Azula slashed both her arms downwards and two beams of fire shot towards Aang. Aang's eyes widened and he leapt forward and to the side of the attack while sending an attack of his own at Zuko had been preparing to fire, Zuko cancelled his own move to avoid getting blasted. Meanwhile, Azula had stepped forward and shot a blast of lightning at Aang.

Aang took in a deep breath and jumped high into the air, a little push and he shot off to the side, landing on top of a random building and zipping across several other buildings. He slid down one roof before jumping towards a damaged building, heading through a hole in the roof. He landed in the building's attic which was about as empty as the rest of the town, the only thing left there was a couple of old chairs and one table. Aang made sure he was out of view before he sat down and took another deep breath, knowing that it wouldn't be long before the two found him. He needed to hold them off for as long as possible or at least long enough for him to come up with a way to escape.

Aang had barely been still for more than ten seconds when a grunt was heard from the roof, Zuko dropped down into the attic and immediately took a fighting stance, only to see that Aang was nowhere in sight. The young prince didn't drop his guard and cautiously moved further into the attic, keeping his head on a swivel and looking around constantly. After a few moments, he considered moving downstairs when he heard a large sneeze from the table beside him. He dropped down to a crouching position and saw the Avatar hanging from under the table.

"It's really dusty in here," The young airbender said defensively before he blasted himself and the table up into the air, Zuko pulled his arm back to throw a fireblast but didn't get to in time as Aang had spun himself around and blasted the table at the floor. The table shot through, causing the rest of the floor to creak dangerously. Zuko looked up and saw Aang standing in the rafters, the airbender gave him a cheeky wave. Zuko didn't have much time to respond, the floor gave away and he fell straight down. "I hope he's okay," Aang frowned before leaping out through the hole in the roof, he leapt off the building and was ready to start gliding when he felt the air around him tingle.

Spinning around, he barely dodged a lightning blast that was so close that he could feel the heat burning against his skin. He yelped as he descended down, he landed on a rooftop and slid down it when the building exploded, sending him flying. He narrowly avoided crashing into another building and was able to avoid injury by slowing himself down so that he landed with nothing more than a little stumble, he turned around and created an air shield just in time to block a rather vicious fire attack.

"Don't run away just yet, home-wrecker!" Azula screamed as she charged towards him, a pair of fire daggers in her hands.

Aang yelped before ducking down and jumping back to avoid her attacks, she kicked his staff out of his hands and followed up by attempting to maim him with a series of rapid knife strikes. Aang put so much effort into dodging that he could barely consider the idea of counter-attacking, Azula's right hand coated itself in fire and she slammed her fist down to the ground with a roar, causing a wall of fire to shoot up in a circle around the princess. Aang raised his hands, shielding himself in the nick of time, though the force of the attack knocked him away and onto his back.

"You have no chance of winning, I've been trained by the best fighters in the Fire Nation, including Harry himself." Azula bragged before she stepped forward to start performing the lightning kata.

"He trained me too," Aang said before slapping both hands down on the ground, the two of them were lifted up by a strong wave of wind, ending Azula's attack as she instead put all of her attention into trying to not land on her neck. She landed on her feet just in time to see the Avtar come at her with a flying knee of all things, the princess blocked but was still knocked to the ground. She jumped back to her feet but the avatar hadn't been idle and had rushed forward, he slid past her while wrapping one arm around her waist. Azula was able to blink she found herself being slammed hard onto the ground. Aang rolled them over so that she was on top of him, he placed his hands and feet on her before he pushed her hard, sending her flying away. "Hope Harry forgives me for this," Aang groaned before he rolled over to his staff and picked it up. "What now?"

"Die!" A familiar voice yelled before a spear-shaped fire blast shot towards him, Aang jumped to the side, the spear grazed his right leg and he fell on the ground. Aang hissed in pain as he saw that his leg had been burnt, he looked up in time to see a rhino-sized fireball barrelling towards him with murderous intent. His hastily formed shield managed to block the attack, but it hadn't been easy. He forced himself to his feet and slammed his staff into the ground, sending a wall of air towards Zuko who raised his hands just in time to get slapped away.

"I can see why Harry likes these two," Aang muttered before turning and getting away as best as he could with a damaged leg. He needed to get out of this place before he ended up taking one bad shot too many, the best way to do that was probably glide until he could get somewhere safe. Seeing that he was seemingly free of his attackers for now, he decided that he was going to try to get away. He started running as best as he could, wincing with each step, he really needed to get that leg sorted out. He turned his staff into a glider and jumped into the air, barely making enough height to start gliding away.

Looking around, he didn't spot Azula, but he kept on his guard, knowing that it likely wasn't long before another lightning blast was going to be heading his way. He would not underestimate Azula, he knew that she was trained by the Fire Nation, not to mention whatever large amount of tricks that Harry had taught her.

"Going somewhere?!" Azula's voice called out, Aang looked down in time to see a trio of blue fire blasts heading towards him. He managed to dodge the first and then the second before disaster struck along with the third blast which crashed into his glider.

"No!" Aang screamed as he fell down to the ground, he was forced to let go of his staff as the wood burnt his hands. He quickly realised that he had bigger problems as he headed down towards the ground at an unhealthy speed.

"Aang!" A voice called before he found himself tackled through the air, looking up he saw just who had grabbed him, or rather what. His body had been enveloped in water which pulled him safely to the ground. "You okay, Aang?" Katara asked as she deposited the young airbender in front of her.

"I've been better," Aang said tiredly before wincing. "Zuko got my leg, where's the rest?" Katara opened her mouth to respond but found herself cut off when a large earth wall shot up on their right to block the large blue fireball that had been shooting towards them. The wall then charged forwards towards Azula who slashed her arms and destroyed the wall with some powerful firebending.

"Miss me?" A voice asked from behind Aang.

"Toph!" Aang blurted out.

"You're not the only one who can fight, twinkle-toes," Toph grinned before the trio all looked in the direction of Azula.

"Oh, the poor little airbender needs help," Azula said mockingly. "That's alright, I can handle all of you by myself. Not that I don't have some backup of my own," She added as Zuko leapt off a nearby building and landed a short distance behind her.

"So," Zuko said, glaring at the three of them. "Two on three," He growled.

"Actually, there's four of us," Sokka said as he stepped in, boomerang in one hand and club in the other.

"Two on three it is," Azula nodded her head, earning an angry yell from Sokka. A yell that he repeated when the next person spoke.

"Make that four!" Harry said as he landed next to the group.

"Seriously?" Sokka groaned. "I can fight, you know,"

"We know, but irritating you is fun," Harry told him honestly before turning to Aang. "You alright?"

"Leg's a bit burnt, but I'm okay," Aang told him.

"Be glad it's just your leg," Harry replied before turning to the Fire Nation siblings. "Zuko, Azula, you're both looking good. More well rested than us, I reckon."

"Harry," Azula spoke up, looking somewhat nervous. "I...have you reconsidered?"

"Have you?" Harry asked. "I'm not returning to the Fire Nation, Azula. You don't have to either, join us, join me. Fight for something that will actually help people."

"Harry, I..." Azula paused and took a deep breath, she looked at Zuko who looked half as uncomfortable as she felt. "...Harry, I...we...my father, he found something that I think will help you."

"What on Earth could Ozai have that would help me?" Harry snorted with disbelief.

"Not a what," Zuko cut in with a small shake of his head.

"What are you-"

"Son," A feminine voice cut in, causing Harry to stiffen before he looked to his right and saw a couple walk out from behind a building. The woman was just about an inch or two smaller than Harry, she was dressed in white and red robes. Her braided hair descended down to the middle of her back. Standing alongside her, was a man about as tall as Harry. Small and neat black hair along with a small beard around his face, he dressed in black and red robes along with a red cloak that was pinned together with a Fire Nation emblem. "It's been a long time, my darling boy," The woman smiled warmly at him.

"Son," The man spoke next. "We've missed you, for so long we've wondered where you had been. Your mother and I have been worried sick," He said, sounding quite sincere.

"Mother..." Sokka's eyes went wide. "...Crap! They're Harry's parents!" He gasped, looking at the others he saw that they were about as shocked as he was.

"We know what you've done," Harry's father said in a calm and patient voice. "But we don't care about that,"

"Your father speaks the truth," His mother said in a warm and motherly voice. "The past means nothing to us, it doesn't have to be our future. Please, we've worked very hard to find you and move to a brighter and better future. Let's leave this place, we can come and be a family again."

"Come Son," His father gestured for him to come over. "It's time for us to live our lives together, finally." The two stood still, smiling at Harry. Everyone else looked at Harry who stared blankly at the two people in front of him, their smiles faltered slightly as Harry showed no emotion at all on his face. The silence stretched for a long while, everyone grew equally uncomfortable during the whole thing. After about a minute, his mother decided to try her luck again.

"Harry?" She asked. Harry's eyes glowed bright green before he performed a kata that had Azula's eyes widen along with that of his parents. Lightning shot out from both of Harry's hands, piercing through the air and charging hatefully in the direction of his parents. The lightning struck the ground in front of them, knocking the pair of them off of their feet and sending them harshly to the ground. The two groaned as the dust cleared and looked up at the glaring face of Harry just in time to hear him speak.

"You are not my family,"

(.)

A.N: For the record, I originally planned a similar scene where Toph catches Aang just like how hulk caught iron man, but then I remembered that Toph can't see in the air.