A Joke
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Avatar: Awakened Gamer
🕑 Added 2022-05-09 19:06:19 +0000 UTCChapter 124
…
Sokka stood there, still as water. It took every ounce of control he had not to show how angry he was.
The feeling of his dry throat from all the heat of the fire that was thrown around before, his slightly crispy skin. Since coming to this world, he had never felt quite this angry.
'No, I shouldn't get angry. That won't help me in any way.'
Taking deep rhythmic breaths, he calmed himself down. Feelings of annoyance wouldn’t settle down, as everything he had built up for this battle had crumbled down like a castle of cards. But he held that all in, he had to.
Also… he noted that Gamer's Mind had grown less effective.
"Now it's just turned into another God-like Avatar magically fixing the problem." Sokka clenched his fists, his nails digging into the flesh almost enough to draw blood.
'Has this all been for nothing?' He wondered. No, Lao Beifong might give him the support he needed. But not because he won the war, but because Aang was with him.
Sokka didn't care about the fame or money, the rumors of his battle, or even victories. If Aang could use the Avatar state at will, he wouldn't worry about losing his reputation here. But Aang couldn't do that, and it was a big problem.
At the end, who would have to cover for all these shortcomings? Sokka himself.
Sokka sighed. "It's just frustrating when things don't work out as intended."
What's that supposed to mean?
Again, Toph was confused by his words. "You're angry?"
Even if she couldn't feel it from the vibrations on the ground. Toph knew that emotions can't be turned on and off like a lever.
"Yes, a little bit," Sokka admitted while looking at the sky. The soldiers around them still looked on in shock and finally, someone turned toward him.
It was an earthbender wearing green clothes, Toph remembered him being one of the guards of her family. "Sir Sokka, what should we do now? Chase after the Fire Nation soldiers?"
"Don't chase after them,” Sokka shook his head. “It would only end up with more of us losing our lives. I will go and see the Avatar.”
"What didn't work out?" Toph asked. "You've saved lives today, and father will help with the war too. Your title as a competent strategist and fighter will also be put within the annals of the history of Gaoling City."
"I don't care about most of that. In the general gist of things, this battle was for nothing. As for saving lives? We could have tunneled and holed up in the mountains around Gaoling." Sokka looked at the sky as his men kept staring at Aang who landed atop the wall. With a heavy sigh, Sokka forged himself to get up again. "I didn't get what was needed from this battle, and more people will die because of it."
Sokka knew he would suffer huge losses because of this too. What could he now do about all of this? Nothing.
He walked off, leaving Toph behind. Sokka had to take some deep breaths as he approached Aang atop the wall. Using the help of some earthbenders to bring him up the new gigantic wall.
Seeing Aang’s unconscious body as he slowly opened his eyes. So… defenseless…
Sokka contemplated taking out a spear and ripping his friend’s throat out. He didn’t want to do it, but with how things seemed to be going, it would be for the greater good.
It was better to take his chances with the next Avatar and have the whole Avatar thing get out of his way.
Sokka knew the way to success was by winning, he must win every encounter. Under each battle, whether he has difficulty or not, he must win. He can’t afford to lose.
Aang had given him a loss. Seeing him look at him, Sokka could see his reflection in his friend’s eyes. Unlike what he was feeling, Sokka had a friendly smile and a relieved look on his face. The mask of a perfect friend. Due to his Acting Skill, it had become something of a second nature for him to act like this.
To kill or not to kill? Two choices, endless outcomes.
In the end, Sokka offered Aang a hand and helped him get up. “You worried me there for a second,” Sokka said with a smile on his face. “The people below are talking about you. Excited for the Avatar to save them.”
‘Now they’re hoping that you can pull that move whenever you need.’
Sokka liked Aang, he was a good kid and friend, and his heart was in the right place. But Sokka would never let his personal feelings interfere with what he had to do. He couldn't afford that. This time it was no different.
If the Avatars didn’t have a connection to their past lives. It was uncertain if Aang would have lived past today.
***
-Aang-
Aang looked at his friend, and couldn’t help but think of what had happened while he was in his Avatar State.
He had connected with all of his previous life, and just like in the Fire Temple, Roku had given Aang a warning about Sokka. But this time, something had been different. All the Avatars had warned that there was something that was being transferred between Sokka and a creature outside of the world.
Aang didn’t understand what most of that meant, but it sounded bad. Still, he wasn’t going to kill his best friend just for that.
“You okay there?” Aang asked. “Did we win?”
“Of course we did,” Sokka smirked confidently. “With me as the General and the Avatar by my side, we’re unbeatable.”
How could he kill a good friend like this? Aang couldn’t bring himself to.
Sokka always did his best and was smart enough to give it his all, believing in himself and helping as many people as he could. Even during the battle against the Fire Nation, Aang wasn’t naive enough to not see how good Sokka was.
What right did the Avatar have to take someone’s life indiscriminately?
"..."
"Anyway," Sokka looked toward the North. "Take care of things here, I'm taking some soldiers and turning this army around."
***
With the battle finished and ending in an overwhelming victory.
The town of Gaoling seemed to come back to life twice as strong.
When the people came from their hiding spots and saw that no one had died. They had claimed a miracle.
No one was even injured as Sokka and Katara had helped anyone who did. Some had some broken limbs due to the komodo rhinos rampaging around a little, but they were taken care of by Toph and the rest of the earthbenders.
Sokka thought he might have some use for such trained animals. So the earthbenders created an enclosure, and animals like this were useful as they didn’t have a loyalty to any place, only the hand that feeds them. He had Aang handle the rest after telling him about it.
Sokka left a couple of earthbenders to deal with that because after taking a measure of the casualties and leaving an unconscious Aang with Katara, he turned his army around and went for the forest.
There was still another army to take care of.
He felt a sense of relief rush through his body when he saw that Gaoling Town wasn’t burned to the ground, and there weren’t any Fire Nation soldiers within the vicinity.
He charged past the town and entered the forest area, and he kept riding his ostrich horse, Sokka smelled the smoke in the air and felt the heat the further he went in. Slowly, one by one Fire Nation soldiers’ corpses started showing, and the sound of battle was heard.
