Emerald Dragon chapter 60

Chapter 60 -

Several Fire Nation tanks travelled across a rocky terrain, a terrifying sight to all in their path. At least they would have been if they hadn't been overshadowed by the behemoth that was following behind them. It was a massive and mobile drill, larger in size than some villages, being at least a mile long, and it looked like it was a hundred feet in height, making it the largest known mobile machine in the world.

Inside the drill's command module stood Princess Azula, her friends Mai and Ty Lee, Uncle Iroh, Zuko, War Minister Qin and several operators of the drill.

"This drill is a feat of scientific ingenuity and raw destructive power," War Master Qin said with a proud look on his face. "Due to its incredible size, it is capable of housing an entire brigade of Fire Nation engineers to make repairs and clean out the pipelines. The tank treads are state of the art; the motion of it is similar to an earthworm, using massive, backward-facing, hydraulic-powered spikes to provide traction and help drag the gargantuan machine forward. As the drill digs into an earthen structure, the rock will be chewed up and turned into slurry, a mixture of rock and water that is dispensed into pipes and dumped out of the rear of the drill. Quite efficient, you see. The slurry serves three important purposes: clearing away material, lubricating the drill, and reducing heat caused by friction with the rock, which could otherwise cause the tool to fail or even melt." He said with a bright grin.

An amused expression appeared on Azula's face as she stared at her friends. Mai looked bored, more bored than she ever had in her life. Zuko looked like he had followed everything Qin had said, even though he clearly wished the man would just talk less. Ty Lee's eyes had glazed over slightly, and Iroh had adopted a confused look on his face. It said a lot about how their relationship had changed that Azula was starting to doubt heavily if the confusion was real or not.

"So, long story short, the drill is pretty good," Azula summed up. War Master Qin looked a little put out at having his prized drill be dismissed as nothing more than just 'pretty good' but nodded his head at that, all the same.

"Yes, Princess Azula," Qin continued. "Once it tunnels through the wall, our troops will storm their city. The Earth Kingdom will finally fall, and you can claim Ba Sing Se in the name of your father. Nothing can stop us."

"Hmm," Hummed Ty Lee, who had wandered over to a nearby telescope. "What about those muscle-y guys down there?" She said, looking through the lens to see several Earth Kingdom troops using earthbending to create large trenches and combating the Fire Nation tanks.

"I wouldn't worry," Scoffed Quin. "The drill's metal shell is impervious to any earthbending attack." He stated confidently.

"Oh, I'm sure it is, War Minister Qin, but just to be on the safe side, Mai and Zuko, take the earthbenders out," Azula ordered calmly.

"Happily," Mai drawled as she stood up while Ty Lee walked over on her hands. "I was going to die from boredom here."

"I'm happy to come with," Zuko rolled his shoulders. "I could do with some action." He grunted.

"Oh, can I come too?" Ty Lee asked hopefully.

"No," Azula said with a small shake of his head. "I have something else I need you to do, something important involving our little guests." She said.

"You mean Harry's parents?" Ty Lee frowned. "But they're locked up in a room, they won't be going anywhere."

"That's not the point, I want you to spy on them, see if they reveal anything while they think we're busy."

"Is that really a priority right now?" Zuko asked.

"Would you rather spy on them instead of going out to fight earthbenders?" Azula raised an eyebrow at him.

"Have fun, Ty Lee," Zuko said at once before walking out of the room with Mai.

"This is important to me, Ty Lee," Azula told the pink-dressed girl. And it was truthfully important. The main reason they were even heading to Ba Sing Se was that they had worked out that sooner or later, Harry and his savages would be heading to the impenetrable city. "And I'm trusting you to do this for me. Can you handle it?"

"Sure thing, Zula," Ty Lee said with a bright grin before cartwheeling out of the room.

"That girl is an unlimited source of energy," Uncle Iroh noted as he walked up to Azula, who had waved a hand at Qin, signalling him to go about his work, which the War Master gladly did. "I can't help but wonder what exactly you are hoping to get out of Harry's parents."

"Answers," Azula answered. "They know far more than they're willing to say. And it'll be easier to get them to talk then it would be my father." She said with a note of irritation.

"Hmm." An agreeable hum came from Iroh's lips. "And when you get those answers?"

"My biggest problem right now is I don't know why Harry left," Azula said with a small sigh.

"Young Harry was never a fan of violence, despite being rather good at it," said Iroh. "It's only natural that he wouldn't want to stay with a nation that forces him to do such things."

"But why not leave earlier then? What was his breaking point?" Azula asked before frowning deeply. "What do you mean 'forces'?" She stared deeply at him. "I knew he didn't like fighting for the Fire Nation, but nobody has ever said that he was forced. Who could force him? How could they force him?"

"Harry has never told me that he had been forced," Iroh admitted honestly. "But I knew full well that he never wanted to fight. And I was there when he was originally told to join. He told both your father and your grandfather point-blank that he refused to fight in the war. Your grandfather was sure that he would be able to convince Harry to change his mind. Unfortunately for him, he died before he was able to do that. Your father took the throne, and Harry was sent to the frontlines not even more than a week later. Perhaps I'm just a silly old man, but it seems a bit strange to me."

"I never really saw Harry's parents again after Father took the throne," Azula realised. "Maybe once or twice, but then they had all but vanished. I hadn't thought much of it at the time. I had thought that they were simply busy at home; that was why they had never come to the palace. That's a bit weird, two lower-class people not coming to the palace for years when given ample opportunity to do so. This is why I said I need answers; I need to know what happened."

(.)

Harry let out a small sigh as he sat cross-legged on the ground. The group had decided to take a small break on top of a mountain close to Ba Sing Se, the city a short distance away, barely visible to their eyes. From this distance, they could see nothing but what looked like a very large wall in the distance. The multi-element bending wizard had decided to spend some time meditating before they made it to their desired destination. Katara took their small break as a chance to get some waterbending practise in, Sokka was busy inspecting his weapons while Toph had decided to take a nap. Aang had left a couple of minutes before to go explore the area. Leaving Harry with plenty of time to think.

He knew that he wouldn't exactly be welcomed in Ba Sing Se, not any more than he initially was in the Northern Water Tribe. But he hoped that the news of him travelling with the Avatar and fighting the Fire Nation would at least slow down the more trigger-happy people there long enough for him to explain himself.

"Guys!" Aang called in an alarmed voice as he landed in the middle of the group. "We've got trouble; we got to move," He said urgently.

"What's going on?" Sokka asked, narrowly beating out Harry as everyone quickly started putting their stuff away.

"I was flying, and I saw something big coming this way," Aang began explaining. "And I do mean BIG! It has a massive drill on the end of it, and it looks like Fire Nation."

"Damn, they actually had that thing made?!" Harry blurted out.

"What thing?" Toph asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as they all climbed onto Appa.

"Yip-Yip!" Aang said at once. Appa leapt into the air and started flying towards the city.

"Back when I was in the Fire Nation, I heard talks of them making something to break into Ba Sing Se, but I never thought that they actually had anything that can do that," Harry started explaining. "There was one mention of a giant drill, I'm guessing that's likely what Aang saw. They would not attack if they weren't confident that that drill can break through the wall."

"They were confident all the other times they attacked." Katara pointed out.

"They nearly got through when it Genral Iroh was attacking, but now they're going to have to deal with General Iroh and Azula. Poor bastards don't stand a chance unless we help them." Harry said with a small shake of his head. "We got to get there faster." He moved to the middle of the saddle and placed his hand on a small rune carved into the saddle. "Aang!"

"Got it," Aang said from his position on Appa's head. "Time for plan 'don't die'," He told Appa. "Are you ready?" Appa grunted in confirmation, and Aang grinned before turning back to Harry. "Whenever you're ready!"

"Rune activating," Harry said, pouring magic into the saddle. "You guys are going to want to hold on to something," He calmly advised the others. All three of them quickly leapt to the nearest bit of saddle that they could grab. Momo had leapt onto Harry's back and wrapped his arms around the firebender's neck. The magic from Harry travelled into the rune, which connected to the other runes he had placed on the back end of Appa's saddle. A couple of moments later, the saddle started releasing high quantities of wind that pushed Appa further and faster than the sky bison had ever travelled before. Harry continued pouring out magic, ignoring Aang's delighted whoops and the screams from his friends. After what felt like a good few minutes, he stopped and removed his hand. Taking in a deep breath, he looked up and saw that they were only a minute or so away from the city.

"That was awesome!" Yelled Aang.

"Glad you think so," Toph huffed, clinging onto the saddle still. "Let's not do that again."

"We won't unless we're in an emergency." Harry assured her before taking in another deep breath, knowing that he would need a few moments of rest. "It takes a lot of effort on my part, more so than my regular runes, at least until I fine tune the process so it'll need less energy. For now, consider that our special booster for getaways."

"How did you know that would work? When did you set that up? When did you test it?" Sokka rapid-fired.

"I didn't, yesterday, and I didn't," Harry answered in order.

"What?!"

"We're here," Katara cut Sokka off as they landed on the top of the wall and were immediately met with several angry-looking earthbending guards.

"Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"

"I'm the Avatar." Said Aang in an authoritative voice. "Take me to whoever is in charge." Not too long later, the group were standing before an Earth Kingdom general who was sitting behind a desk.

"It is an honor to welcome you to the Outer Wall, young Avatar, but your help is not needed." Was the first thing that General Sung said. The man certainly sounded happy enough to be meeting the Avatar.

"I'm sorry, I'm not needed?" Aang asked in a confused voice.

"Not needed." General Sung calmly repeated. "Your concern is very much appreciated, but I have the situation completely under control. I assure you the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall. Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded." He said proudly.

"What about the Dragon of the West? He got in." Pointed out Toph. Harry smiled at her and patted her head.

"Well ... uh, technically yes, but he was quickly expunged." General Sung said in an uncomfortable voice before taking a breath, continuing confidently. "Nevertheless, that is why the city is named Ba Sing Se. It's the 'impenetrable city'. They don't call it Na Sing Se." He allowed himself a small laugh. "That means 'penetrable city.'" He added, sounding more serious than he had all through the meeting.

"Look, this is all very nice and all," Sokka spoke up. "But there is still the very small issue of the incredibly not small drill that is heading this way." He pointed outward towards the drill, which was now in sight and was heading straight for the wall.

"Not for long." Said General Sung in a confident voice. "To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of earthbenders called the Terra Team."

"That's a good group name. Very catchy." Sokka commented.

"Also a stupid idea," Harry cut in. "You won't be able to stop that with just a couple of rocks."

"That's why they're going to use big rocks!" General Sung said victoriously, pointing out to where Terra Team was launching their assault on the Fire Nation drill. They managed to overthrow one of the additional tanks and get closer to the drill.

The earthbenders raised large earth spokes from the ground in an attempt to stop the drill, but their efforts mounted to nothing as the drill had barely slowed down before continuing. The earthbenders weren't deterred and began launching a second attack when Zuko and Mai appeared.

"Oh, those boys are done," Harry said knowingly. he was quickly proven right when the pair defeated the Terra Team mere moments later.

"We're doomed!" General Sung appeared to have done a one-eighty and was now screaming in a panicked voice.

"Get a hold of yourself, man!" Sokka slapped him across the face, snapping him out of his fearful state.

"You're right." General Sung rubbed his cheek. "I'm sorry about that." He said, ready to open his mouth when Harry slapped his other cheek. "What was that for?"

"Just in case," Harry explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Maybe you'd like the Avatar's help now?" Toph suggested to General Sung, who was standing meekly in front of Aang.

"Yes, please." He said humbly.

"And we've got more good news for you." Katara smiled. "Today, you've got the help of the Avatar and the Emerald Dragon."

"I'm sorry," General Sung frowned. "Who is that?"

(.)

A.N: Hi guys hope you liked the chapter. I was a bit hesitant to write the last part of the chapter as I couldn't really how many people in the city didn't know about the outside world, but I figured it'd be a safe bet for the guards to know things like the dragon of the west attacking but not knowing anything about Harry who hadn't actually breached the wall.

Also, I want to thank anyone who has left any suggestions on previous posts for my upcoming story. It's highly appreciated and I've put them all in my notes, if anyone ever has anymore then feel free to let me know. I've planned out the first part of the story more or less but am still constantly thinking and changing ideas I have. For example some of Harry's potential names when he graduates from Robin is Patronus, Talon, Demon and a few more. And I've still not decided if I should make the story supergirl and wonder woman or also include Starfire and Zatanna.

Anyway, thanks again for reading and feel free to leave a review.