Chapter Ten: The Water Slide

The king had finished his breakfast and was ready for the next challenge. It was near noon, and Katara and Sokka were half covered in the genamite. Aang was ready for the next trial. They were in a large room. A waterslide was rushing through it. It had forks and twists and loop-de-loops. It seemed impossible to get to the end of it without crashing at least once.

A small raft was sitting on the top of the slide. Aang and Ceres were at the top, along with the king. The king had a glass in his hand. "To pass this trial you must make it to the bottom of the slide without breaking this glass." He said, putting the glass in Ceres' hands. She tried to keep it from slipping out.

Aang nodded. He jumped into the raft and waited for Ceres to get in. She gingerly climbed in, trying not to drop the glass. Aang pushed off and they were onto the track.

The water rushed them forward towards a fork. Ceres looked at it and looked past it to see what was beyond it. Left was a loop-de-loop, right was straight on, looking safer. "Go right!" she yelled.

Aang leaned to the right and the raft quickly went on the right side of the fork. It continued on straight until there was a drop-off. Ceres had not seen it when she'd looked. She clutched the glass tightly so she would drop it. Her eyes squinted tight together, hoping not to fall.

Aang moved his hands quickly and the raft rode an air current across the drop-off and onto a piece of slide that was closer to the finish. Ceres opened her eyes when she felt they were moving again. She hadn't seen Aang air bend. She still didn't know that he was an air bender.

The raft went on to a loop-de-loop. Ceres held the glass in one hand and the raft in the other. They went over the loop and it was surprising that the raft didn't fall. Ceres sighed in relief as they neared the end of the track. The last difficult part was the jump that ended it. Once they were off it they would have to land on the end or else they'd go crashing to the floor.

"Hold on." Aang said quickly as the raft flew off the jump. It looked like they were going to make it. They were heading for the end when they started to drop. Aang whipped his hands out in front of him and a gust of wind propelled them to the end. They hit the ground with a thud and Ceres almost dropped the glass.

Ceres sat on the raft in shock at what she'd seen Aang do. "Aang… what did you just do?" She asked him, still shocked.

He looked back at her. "Um, I'm an air bender. I never told you that, did I?" he said with an embarrassed smile.

She shook her head slowly without making a sound. She stood up and rested the glass on a table nearby and started to leave the room. Leslie had been waiting at the door. Ceres leant down to her and picked her up. Something in Ceres told her not to have a spaz, but just go to the next trial. She did just that.

A water slide. Nobody had that idea, but Dark Devotions suggested something about a glass, so I put that into this. Sorry that this took a while.