Chapter Eight: Driving Lesson
From his place on the ground Aang could see that there was something happening on Appa, something bad. He saw Sokka fly backwards suddenly, then the look of fright on Desda's face. What had happened? What could have caused them to freak out so much? Then, as Braeden climbed on top of Appa's massive head, the answer came to him…Sokka, it's Sokka. He must've been hit when the soldiers were trying to shoot Appa down. This is not good! They won't stand a chance without Sokka. Come to think of it, do any of them even know how to drive Appa? This is not gonna end well.
"Braeden, do something!" Des shouted.
"I'm trying!" Braeden screamed back at her from his position atop Appa's furry head. Momo, completely forgotten until now, crawled out of a pack attached to the side of Appa's saddle and scurried over to Braeden.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Brae screamed and jerked the reins hard to the left, making Appa bank quickly the same direction almost throwing himself over-board…or, would it be over-Appa, or maybe over-saddle, well, whatever, back to the story.
"Braeden! Get control! Relax! It's just like driving a car!" shrieked Amaya holding on to Sokka (whom Des was also holding on to) with one hand and the side of the saddle with the other like her life depended on it, and it did, literally.
"A car? More like a school bus! Or maybe two buses…I can't drive a bus!" he was panicking, a lot. First he'd swerve left, then make a quick right, then it was back left again.
"Brae, would you pick a direction and stick with it? Please!" hollered Des.
"You try driving this thing! It's not that easy!" retorted Braeden fiercely.
"Fine! Maybe I will!" and with that Des stormed up to, okay, maybe she crawled, up to Braeden and pushed him out of the drivers seat.
"Hold on!" she cried and steered Appa into a steep nosedive, "Yaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhoooooooooooooooooo!" she screeched. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Braeden looked, well, more than looked, he was completely petrified as he held on for dear life. At the last moment Des pulled back hard on the reins resulting in an almost-disaster as she barely missed hitting a tall pine. As they sped away Sokka still didn't gain consciousness, Braeden still thought they were all gonna die, Amaya was, well, still as calmish as she could be in this kind of a situation, and Des was still having the time of her life driving. She spotted a clearing and started in another nosedive, landing perfectly. Braeden stood up, jumped to the ground, and sunk to his knees kissing the soil. Des just rolled her eyes, "Do ya think you could help us with this?" she asked. Braeden stopped what he was doing and stood up.
"Uhhhh, guys, I think I'm air sick…ohhhhh man…" said Amaya swaying precariously towards the edge of Appa's saddle.
"Wow! Dude, is that even possible?" Asked Braeden looking amused.
"Why would I want to help you with anything? You almost killed me! You're a kamikaze that's what, a crazy, psychopath, lunatic, mad, outrageous, wild, extreme, foolish, kamikaze!" He yelled panting.
"Oh yeah, well at least she can drive, and because of that she got us here, so HA! Now help us get him down." Amaya challenged. Picking Sokka up and getting him to the ground sounds like a pretty easy task…right?...WRONG! They tried everything from lowering him down gently (didn't work because Des and Amaya weren't strong enough to pick him up or to catch him), to sliding him down Appa's tail (which he never even got to Appa's tail because when Des was trying to slide him over to slide him over to it and, she was the one who fell off). Finally Braeden lost his patience, "That's it!" and with satisfaction, he climbed up on Appa's back, dragged Sokka over to the edge of Appa's saddle and threw him over the side. Sokka landed hard on his side, a cloud of dirt-dust flying up around him like a smoke screen.
"Braeden! That wasn't very nice! How would you like it if you were hurt and I threw you over the side!" Amaya squealed outraged smacking him upside his head.
"Ow! Hey, okay, okay, you're right that wasn't very nice, but ya didn't have to smack me!" he yowled, "Hey, ow, lemego! Lemego! Owwwwwwww!" Des had him by his ear pinching as hard as she could; something that Honey used to do when she'd misbehaved. Des started walking down Appa's tail, with Braeden right behind her. The sound of a gunshot reverberated around the small area, with screams of pain following less than a half a second later.