Chapter Ten:
Six months had passed since the gang left Ba Sing Se, and seeing as the War waged on and on, six months was a long time. More and more refugees were heading to Ba Sing Se as the Earth Kingdom fell town by town, and, despite its massive size, was becoming overcrowded. Homeless shelters were completely swamped, and the Dai Li enforced new rules which decreed excess refugees had to stay in the Lower Ring. The streets were almost too full to walk down, and the palace gates were almost always flooded with protests and angered citizens; these, in turn, were dispersed and escorted elsewhere by the Dai Li, all of whom claimed there was nothing wrong, and Ba Sing Se was as pristine as ever.
While chaos ran amok in the Impenetrable City, 'Team Avatar' (as Sokka called it) had traveled to a remote island in the ocean. There, Aang practiced his bending day after day, practicing for hours on end without any breaks. The others were slightly worried about him becoming too tired; even the Earth King's bear was nervous, but Aang managed to stay his selfless self, and was as happy as he always was.
"Aang, are you sure you don't want to take a break? It's been five hours since you woke up, and even then it was only four in the morning! You've been practicing every day for the past five months; I think it's time you rested." Katara looked at her friend with a persuasive smile.
"I know you're only trying to help, but like the Monks taught me, there are always two ways to look at something. The second way is that I only have one month left to practice before we return to Ba Sing Se, and if I don't practice even harder, we won't be able to defeat the Dai Li!"
"Wait a minute; you're telling me that we're going to leave the island where no Fire Nation has attacked us for five months, fly in plain sight to Ba Sing Se, and then confront the very same people who destroyed us in the first place?" Sokka looked bewildered.
"Face it, Blondie; you knew he'd want to. Plus, we have to return Mr. Fancypants to the throne, along with his bear-friend." Toph turned her head to face Sokka, but ended up looking at Aang.
"Yes, Avatar, Bosco and I must return hastily to my city. I fear that if we are gone much longer the Dai Li will have too much power over the citizens."
Aang turned to face the king.
"We will, Your Majesty. In a month, on the full moon, we can return to Ba Sing Se. Then I'll be strong enough, along with everybody's help, to overthrow the Dai Li."
"Yeah! Go Team Avatar!" Sokka jumped off of the boulder he was sitting on.
"Wow," Toph slowly got up, and pushed Sokka onto the rock he had come from, "just… wow." Toph walked back to her seat.
Within a few hours, the moon began to glow, a small crescent shape becoming visible.
The moon was a complete sphere, the white light bouncing off of every surface in sight. The two Waterbenders in the group teamed up, using the rivers all around them to form massive waves. They shielded their limbs with water, using the cool liquid as any sort of item, be it a whip or stream, to attack the oncoming Dai Li. The officers were using all of the Earthbending they had been taught, and swiftly disarmed Sokka and the King, both of whom were trying to shout the Dai Li down. Toph did everything in her power to keep the extraneous benders out of the Waterbending-duo's way. She created small hills to confuse them, produced landslides to bury them, and even stuck one man in a hole twelve feet deep. Her face began to perspire, but her hands were too busy bending to do anything about it. She moved in full force, feeling more alive than she had ever felt before. After smashing officer upon officer for an hour, she began to smile, shouting, "Bring it on, Round-Hats, I got all night!"
The battle outside the Inner Wall lasted two full hours, agent upon agent being thrown out of power for good. As soon as the team could tell no more agents were coming, they managed to find Sokka, the King, and Bosco, and ran off into the city.
As the gates closed behind them, Appa took off with a thud, taking the entire force of good-doers on his back. He raced across the massive fortress-of-a-city, groaning only once as he did so. They eventually landed (after many minutes) right inside the palace walls, and were met by a small force of fifteen guards. They immediately sprang into action, warding off the entire force in less than five minutes. Four of the Dai Li retreated, and the group could only assume they were warning the others.
"Come on, Guys! Katara and Toph, take the Earth King to the throne room; I'll stay with Sokka to tell the city what's going on. As soon as you get inside, go out onto the King's balcony so the public can see that he is friends with us."
The team dispersed, half traveling up the massive staircase and into the palace, the other half climbing with them until they reached the balcony which overlooked the entire city. Katara and Toph were met by a massive force of Dai Li on their way to the balcony, but they stopped at nothing to rid their eyes of the all too familiar uniforms. As they did so, Bosco helped them, knocking two agents over with his girth.
"Go, Bosco, go!" the King cheered.
The duo next to him used their respective forms of bending to defend themselves, and after thirty minutes of fighting, had created a massive pile of aching and groaning Dai Li. They rushed passed them, and as they did, Toph kicked one who looked less hurt than she thought he should be. After she had, the group of four raced to the throne room, blasted the doors open, and rushed inside. The first thing they saw, however, was not to their liking. A force of one thousand Dai Li surrounded them, and Long Feng was sitting on the throne.
"Sokka, we need to round up every single citizen we can, tell them what's happening, and then get every Earthbender we can find to attack the rest of the Dai Li."
"OK, but how do we round up a city with thousands of people?"
"Simple," Aang smirked, "with Airbending."
The duo created a makeshift (as Sokka put it) 'make it louder thingy' and prepared to start their plan. Sokka inhaled as long as he could, and Aang followed him. Their plan was for Sokka to say the words, and Aang to send them across the city with his Airbending.
"Attention, Ba Sing Se. You are to immediately proceed to the palace! This is the Avatar speaking: please, go to the palace!"
They repeated this process five times, and during their third, they saw the swarms of people starting to form in the streets. After half of an hour, the square was teeming with people, and the pair started speaking again.
"My name is Aang, and I am the Avatar. The Dai Li, as I'm sure you know, have been controlling your city, but we are here today to end their reign of tyranny. In a few minutes, friends of mine will be out on that balcony above us," Aang pointed up, still keeping his eyes on the crowd, "and you will be able to see that the King is on our side. Thank you for listening to me speak. Now, keep your eyes on the balcony."
Minutes passed, and there was no sign of life from the balcony. The once silent crowd was beginning to whisper to each other, and Aang knew that if the King didn't show up soon, there'd be an uproar. He and Sokka waited, periodically assuring the crowd that the King would be there. As twenty, thirty, forty-five minutes had passed, Aang and Sokka had lost hope. The square, once like a river packed with Elephant-Salmon, was beginning to become barren. When it seemed like the whole populous had left, the thing they'd been waiting for all along happened.
Out from the corner of everybody's eyes, something was seen falling. As every single person who was outside turned to look, it was clear to them that a Dai Li agent had just been booted out of the King's throne room. His shouts were met with applause, and when he hit the pavement with a bone-crunching smack, the applause ended abruptly. Then, like the entire city was hoping would happen, the King walked out onto the balcony with Toph and Katara by his side. Toph created an earth wall as they stepped onto the balcony, and she stood her ground with a firm grasp as Katara and the King (and Bosco) rushed to the edge.
"Aang, there isn't much time; the Dai Li just keep coming at us! Get the Earthbenders, and hurry!" Katara looked worried, but she knew Aang understood.
"Earthbenders, join us! Use your powers to overthrow the people who have been lying to you for as long as you have been alive! Fight for justice, fight for freedom, fight for your rights!"
Aang threw his arm into the air, shooting a massive stream of water, air, and earth into the sky. After he had, the benders among the crowd below rushed up the stairs in a large stream, gleefully awaiting their chance to do what they'd been waiting to do for six months. Toph's wall came to the ground with a smash, but Aang used his Airbending to quickly come to her aid. Sokka joined the masses running to the throne room and Katara started lashing out in every direction with water. The Dai Li, still in gross masses, got into their signature formations, and solemnly destroyed their opponents. However, as the stream of civilians rushed in to meet them, they were quickly becoming outnumbered.
Of the thousands of Earthbenders who joined the fight, only a select few were masters. However, the sheer number of them was enough to still have the advantage. By their side, 'Team Avatar' used their skills in every way imaginable, and seeing as Aang had so much help, he didn't need to go into the Avatar State. After three hours of grueling battle, during which many people were killed, and even more people were injured, the Dai Li were defeated. Still on the throne, pleasantly watching the battle from a safe distance, Long Feng looked distraught. As some of the last agents were obliterated by the imposing 'army,' he attempted to escape. However, Toph had been done with every last agent in her area, and was able to spot the escapee. She angrily stomped her feet into the earth and moved her arms forcefully, producing a massive wave of moving rock. When it met Long Feng, he tried dodging it, but Toph placed heavy restraints on him before he could finish.
As the group of civilians and Aang's team realized that they had the victory, their eyes began to tear with joy (except for Toph, of course). The mob of people rushed out of the throne room and into the square, hugging and kissing anybody that they could find. As soon as the citizens had left the room, it was only the team and the King (and Bosco) who remained.
"Thank you, Team Avatar. I am eternally grateful for all of the services you have granted me. I will aid you completely with you quest against the Fire Nation, and will do everything in my power to return Ba Sing Se to a functioning and happy society." The King bowed down to them, and as he did, the team followed in his footsteps.
"Toph! Bow down to the King!" Aang whispered from the corner of his mouth.
"What? Oh!"
Once they had all stood up again, the King traipsed over to the balcony, and stood so everybody in the square could see him.
"Beautiful Ba Sing Se: I commend you for all of the effort you have put into this magnificent city, and I thank you all. Without the help of the Avatar and his companions, I would never have even lifted myself from my throne. We shall all be eternally thankful for what they have done, and we shall officially name this The Day of Team Avatar! Now, I will try my best to help everybody in the city to have equal pay and fortune, and really make sure we become what we always strived to be: Utopia."
The entire square cheered, and Team Avatar flew over them on Appa, Aang having previously blown on his Bison Whistle. As they did so, children everywhere clapped and cheered, wishing the strange people on the funny-looking animal farewell. The moon, which had been full during the entire battle, was already close to setting, and glimpses of the sun could be seen on the horizon. The group, practically engulfed with exhaustion, sank themselves deep into the fur of the Bison they were on, Momo chirping wildly in the background.
"Nice job, Team Avatar! If it's good enough for the Earth King, it's good enough for us!" he smiled gleefully.
"We're not telling you again, Sokka; we're not Team Avatar!" Katara scolded.
As Sokka turned to face his sister, Toph smiled, took her hand, and backhanded Sokka across the cheek.
"Gosh, Blondie, you never see 'em comin'."