Pentapox



Pentapox was the name of a pseudo-illness invented by Katara and Sokka to distract Fire Nation guards from discovering that Team Avatar did not belong in New Ozai. This so-called "disease" was then used to aid the Omashu Resistance's escape from the city. Although used as a ruse to allow the city's evacuation, it appeared to be a real sickness as one of the guards seemingly knew about it, referring to his cousin Chang once being infected with it.

History


While in the Fire Nation-occupied city of Omashu, Aang, Katara, and Sokka were cornered by Fire Nation guards, one of whom noticed Sokka's spots from the purple pentapi that the gang had encountered previously. In order to keep their identities concealed, Katara said that Sokka was suffering from pentapox, a fictitious disease that she invented on the spot. Her brother played along by pretending to suffer from serious physical pain. Concerned about their own safety, the Fire Nation guards fled in terror.

To escape the city of Omashu, Sokka concocted a plan that involved the use of the disease: a pentapox plague. The soldiers of the resistance handed out pentapi, which the citizens used to cover themselves with suction markings; they proceeded to walk around the city in a manner similar to zombies, moaning that they were gravely ill. On the governor's orders, the citizens were driven out of the gates to rid the city of the plague.

Description


Katara described the epidemic as fatal and highly contagious. A person who had pentapox could be easily be identified by the numerous purple markings all over his or her body. The marks were created with the use of a purple pentapus, which clung to human skin and left behind markings from its tentacles upon removal. The "infected" also adopted a lurching walk, slack expression, and loud moan, making them resemble a zombie horde.

Trivia

 * Pentapox is similar to the real disease chicken pox, an illness that also has distinct red markings as a symptom.