Chapter 12 – The Courageous Earthbenders

"We don't have much time before the guards finally discover us. What are we going to do?" Sokka asked.
The group had taken refuge behind a wall of crates, hoping to remain unseen by the patrolling guardsmen.
"We could make a big hurricane!" Aang whispered excitedly, summoning looks of frustration from Sokka and Katara.
"What? The warden will get scared, run away, and we'll take his keys!"
"Wouldn't he just take his keys with him?" Sokka pointed out.
"Hey, I'm just throwing ideas around."
Katara sighed, tracing a circle in the floor with her finger, "I tried talking to the Earthbenders to get them motivated, but they wouldn't budge. If only there was some way to help them want to help themselves."
Sokka thought for a moment, "If they had some kind of earth or rock available to them, you know, something they can bend then maybe they'd get their spirits back."
"But how? This entire place is made of metal." Katara said.
"I have a solution."
The group turned to see Daniel, still clad in Fire Nation armor minus the helmet.
"You do? Well don't hesitate to share!" Sokka said.
Daniel chuckled, "It's good to see you too. Anyway, in my patrols throughout the rig, I noticed the place burns coal for energy. If we could get this coal to the Earthbenders…"
"Then they can use it to fight back!" Katara cried happily.
"Indeed."
"So how are we going to get the coal up to the Earthbenders?" Aang asked.
Daniel shrugged, "I don't know, but I have no doubt you all will come up with something. I gotta return to my rounds before the others get suspicious. Go, and may the spirits go with you." Daniel slid his helmet back into place and snuck away.
Aang and Katara looked at Sokka who had a look of deep thought on his face.
"I have a plan." He announced.
"It's almost dawn Sokka, whatever it is, it's gotta be done quickly." Katara urged.
"I know I know. Look, here's the plan: Throughout this rig, there are vents presumably lead to wherever the coal is stored right? So, the plan is just like the one we used to get you arrested only on a larger scale. Aang will shut all the vents except the one leading to the prisoner holding yard. When he uses his Airbending, it will force all the coal out through that one open vent."
"And you're sure that will work?" Katara asked.
"It should. Besides, it's the only plan we have right now."
"I say we do it." Aang agreed.
"Okay, I'm in too." Katara spoke up.
"Right then, let's get into positions."
Sokka and Katara snuck into the prison yard and made their way to the vent and Aang flew up to the smoke stacks.
"Okay, it should be coming any minute now…" Sokka said, looking down the vent.
"There! An intruder!" A voice hollered.
Katara and Sokka scrambled to their feet as a group of soldiers encircled them, spears readied.
"Stay back!" Sokka barked, drawing his boomerang.
"Katara stop!" Tyro called from the crowd, "You can't win this fight!"
Katara was about to shout back, when she realized in great despair that Haru's face looked at her with defeated eyes, offering no support for her plight.
"You are one mistake away from dying where you stand, girl." The warden growled.
Just as the soldiers began to close in, they heard a rumbling from beneath them. They looked down and saw as small particles of black rock began flying from the vent. In a nick of time, the siblings had dodged the great eruption of coal that had made a sizeable pile before them. Just as the coal had finished falling, Aang burst from the vent as well, coughing the coal dust from his lung. Katara seized the moment and ran on top of the pile, scooping up a lump of coal into her hand.
"Here's your chance, Earthbenders! Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!" She shouted to the crowd. Haru tried to step forward, but was halted by his father's arm. Katara watched as the Earthbenders seemed to shrink away in fear from her. She turned angrily to the warden as she hard his throaty laugh behind her.
"Foolish girl! You thought a few inspirational words a couple lumps of coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a long time ago, but you still believe in them? How sweet. They're a waste of your energy, little girl. You have failed."
Katara looked hopelessly at the ground and slowly lowered her fist full of coal.
The warden smirked and turned to leave. Just as he was halfway across the yard, a lump of coal flew through the air and struck him hard on the back of the head. He turned in a rage and saw Haru, spinning three lumps of coal in the air with a looked of hatred at determination on his face. The warden roared and sent a wave of fire directly at the young boy who turned his back to the inferno. He looked up again and saw a great wall of coal had intercepted the blast and was being bended by none other than his father.
"Show no mercy!" The warden ordered as he and his Firebenders sent a wave of fire directly into the crowd. Tyro, along with a few other Earthbenders, formed another wall of coal to counteract it.
With quivering arms Tyro roared a battle cry, "For the Earth Kingdom!"
The wall shot forth toward the line of Firebenders in lumps. The Firebenders burnt the coal in their path away and could not stop the Earthbenders who pushed forward, slinging coal into the faces of their former oppressors.
"I guess that's my queue." Daniel said, and with a mighty burst of fire, cleared half the wall of Firebenders flying into the ocean or the ground below. He turned and saw the other half had all turned towards him and began firing fire balls and spears towards him.
"Classic example of biting off more than you can chew." He growled to himself as he was slowly pushed back by the onslaught. He heard a roar above him, and just in time, saw Appa as he slammed down onto the wall. With a wave of the mighty beast's tail, Daniel's attackers were sent to the same destiny as their comrades.
Daniel smiled at the bison, "I guess I owe you twice now eh?"
He quickly scrambled on board Appa's back and took to the skies, raining flames down on the Fire Nation soldiers below.
Tyro and Haru bended a great pile of coal together and formed a solid boulder. With great force, they sent the boulder hurdling through the prison gates.
"Everyone escape! We'll hold them off!" Tyro ordered and the Earthbenders began running for the hole in the wall.
"Don't let them escape!" The warden called out. He and his Firebenders sent great streams of fire at the fleeing Earthbenders. Before the fire could reach its mark, however, it was stopped in its tracks by the quick Firebending by Daniel and counteracting air gust from Aang.
"Let's quit playing with these creeps!" Daniel called out to Aang. In unison, they overpowered their adversaries' barrage and sent them flying, landing on their backs. The warden watched before his ground-level eyes as he and his men were swept up in a wave of coal. Tyro formed a platform from the wave and hovered it over the ocean.
"Wait, please, I can't swim!" The warden pleaded.
"Don't worry, I hear cowards float." Tyro replied and released control of the coal, forcing the platform to crumble and drop its occupants into the ocean.
On the commandeered Fire Nation ships, the Earthbenders as well as the teenagers looked back over the now heavily damaged prison rig.
Katara stood at the stern of one of the ships with Haru and Tyro, happy the experience was over and her mission was a success.
"Katara, I wanted to say thank you for saving, for saving us." Haru said.
Katara turned to him and smiled shyly, "All it took was a little coal." She replied, nervously rubbing the back of her head.
"It wasn't the coal, Katara. It was you."
"He's right Katara." Daniel said, walking up to them, "You were the catalyst of change, a force that not even the hottest fire to wear down.
Katara blushed under the attention.
" Thank you for helping me find my courage, Katara of the Water Tribe, and as strange as it feels for me to say, thank you too, Daniel of the Fire Nation." Tyro said, placing a heavy hand on both Katara's and Haru's shoulders while still feeling somewhat distrustful of the Firebender, "My family, as well as everyone here, owes you much."
"Just remember, there is hope. The Avatar has returned and soon everything will be set right again." Katara said confidently.
"Exactly, your courage is not in vain, Tyro. When you return home, you can expect to stay there for a long time." Daniel agreed.
Tyro smiled, "Yes…home. We will take back our village," He said before turning to all the ships full of Earthbenders to address them, "We will take back ALL of our villages! The Fire Nation will regret the day they ever set foot in our land!"
The ships erupted in cheers and roars of approval.
"Come with us." Haru said, placing a hand on Katara's shoulder.
"I can't. Your job is to take back your home, ours' is to get Aang to the North Pole." Katara said, looking at Aang who was playing with Momo on the back of Appa.
"That's him isn't it? That's the Avatar." Haru observed before continuing, "Katara I want to say thank you, for rescuing me and giving my father back to me. I just wish there was some way…" His voice trailed off, Katara knew what he was about to say.
"I know…" She sighed and reached her necklace. Her face went pale with shock as she clasped all around her neck.
"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, alarmed.
"My mother's necklace, it's gone!" She cried.
"What?!" Daniel asked, panic-stricken.
"It's not here! I must have lost it back at the rig…"
Daniel turned toward the rig, his hands igniting, "I'll find it."
"No, we…we have to get to the North Pole. It could be anywhere on that thing…" Katara said, trying to sound strong.
"No, we will find it. I will find it." Daniel urged.
Katara gave him a hug from behind attempting to calm him down and to find comfort for herself as well, "No, just don't worry okay?"
Daniel let out a mixture of a sigh and a growl, "…Very well."
Back at the rig, the necklace's ties blew gently in the wind. An armored hand reached down and picked it up. In his hands, Zuko found his new tool in his hunt for the Avatar.
The group stopped one last time in Haru's village to stock up on supplies. Unbeknownst to them, across town there was a break-in. A little old man walked out of his bedroom into his living room, getting ready for his work in the mines. What he saw, he saw all too late. A black cloaked figure grabbed him and detained him in an instant.
"Listen old man, for I am the speaker." The figure hissed.
"I know what you did. I know your sins. You betrayed your country to the vile curs that seek to exploit you. You are a thief, a stealer of freedom. You are a murderer, slayer of happiness. For that, you must be punished."
The old man resisted feebly as the cloaked figure revealed a ring on his finger bearing the Fire Nation insignia.
"You betrayed the Earthbender Haru, son of Tyro. He saved you for masquerading as an innocent, helpless old man. Let your innocence forever be cleansed by the mark of those to whom you sold your soul and remember always the Black Hand."
The elder watched in horror as the ring on the Black Hand's finger heated up to a white hot and moved to his forehead. All that was heard in that lowly home was the sound of the muffled screams of a traitor who would forever bear the Fire Nation mark, burnt into his forehead.

Hello guys! Hope you're enjoying the story so far. I have a request for some of you artistically talented out there: Make me some cover art for the story! If you're interested, message me on here and we'll have a talk :)