Chapter Nineteen:

Fung and I were in a building when it began to shake. Clouds of dust began to come out of the ceiling, followed by pieces of debris. For a second it went still. We took deep breaths, only for it to be hit by a sudden crunch.

Spiderweb cracks emerged on the ceiling and the house let out a deep groan. We felt the floor beneath us begin to buckle. "Nice and easy." said Fung. "Just hold still and let me..."

Before he finished the floor caved in. We fell down into the basement and landed on our backs in a pile of rubble. Fung lifted his hands up and tried to repair the floor but pieces continued to come down on us.

The house shook more violently than ever, and all came crashing down. There was a loud rumble as the floor caved down in several large chunks. More pieces fell with a series of thumps and bangs. As the pile grew larger the sounds grew quieter.

Soon we were left in silence and darkness. I felt rather sore but I realized it could have been so much worse. Without Fung it would have killed me. Of course the pain I felt from the collapse was nothing compared to my lungs.

Being trapped under the rubble made it hard to breath. My chest felt sore from the lack of air. I breathed as deeply as I could, hoping to get as much air as I could. I sucked louder and louder, trying to relieve the pain.

Despite this the pain grew more and my mind went blank. I breathed harder and harder. "Calm down." Fung whispered.

I continued to breathe deeply and Fung repeated himself. "Calm down," he said. "We don't have much air.

I held my mouth shut, trying to stop the breathing for a bit. Then I opened it up a crack, letting a bit of air in. "What do we do?" I asked. "Can you get us out?"

"Too risky." he replied. "The rocks might crush us."

"You are an earthbender." I said.

"I know, there's only so much I can do. So I am going to try to stabilize the rubble above us.

Fung pushed his hands on the rubble above us. Trails of dust and pebbles crawled around the various chunks above us. The chunks creaked and groaned as they slowly shifted. There was a series of pops as they snapped into place.

"Know what."

"I will get us some air."

Fung reached for a crack above us. Dust poured down as he shifted various pieces. Soon air came down to us. I took a series of deep breaths. My head became clear, the pain in my chest resided.

Still we were trapped and there was no way out. After what he did, there was nothing to do but sit and wait. We stared at the gray jagged ceiling about a foot above us. There were no sounds but our breathing.
I broke the silence "So you think everyone is alright?" I asked

"We cleared out the districts with the most fighting." Fung replied.

"Still not sure we could save everyone."

"You never really know."

"It's not like we even know what is happening up there now." I said. "You think the fighting is still happening?"

"We would probably hear something."

"I guess so."

After that the silence resumed. We continued to sit in silence. The only sounds were breathing, and Fung scratching at the basement floor. Eventually I think I heard something. "I nudged Fung and explained. "What should we do?"

"Call out." I said. I took a breath "Hello, is anyone up there!"

"Come over here!" Fung yelled.

"Hello?" came a faint reply.

"We are down here!" I yelled.

"Hello?" the voice came again, this time somewhat louder.

"We are down here!" Fung shouted.

"Hello?" this time the voice echoed down the breathing tube."

"We are trapped down here." I said. "Please send help."

"Over here." the voice said again, this time a little quieter.

Soon we heard the sound of scrapping. Chunks of rock were lifted above us. Light emerged from various cracks. "Are you okay?" came a voice more loud and clear.

"We are fine, just get us out." I replied.

The rocks above us were lifted and various Resistance fighters stood above us. I stood up and stretched out. "Thank you guys." I remarked. I then turned to Fung. "Thank you too."

A few months later:

Fung and I walked down the street. We looked at the various new and renovated buildings. We had down quite a bit of the work ourselves.

We soon came across the gym where Arata, Tetsu, Sela, Genji, and Kaze stood in front . Various people gathered around us. Soon Arata picked up the mic. "I am proud to announce the grand opening."

A wave of applause surged through the audience. We all took turns with the mic, thanking the crowd. Then Tetsu pulled out a massive pair of scissors. He stepped towards a thick metal cable, made from dozens if not hundreds of wires. He opened up the scissors and cut through it like it was paper.

The crowd cheered and headed into the gym. They all crowded to the various exercises. I lead a group to the bola throwing range. "Now watch how I throw" I told them.

I released the bola and it sailed towards the target. It wrapped tightly around one of the rungs. Various people tried to emulate my throwing technique. Some missed entirely, others bounced off, and a few got there's to wrap around.

I walked back and forth and criticized the people's forms. I gave them various pointers on stance, grip, and release. "Hold it like this." I told a man while showing him.

He copied my stance. "Good" I said. "Now try this."

I threw the bola and he copied me. Our bolas both wrapped around the target. Then I walked to a girl who just missed. "You are releasing too late." I said.

I threw the bola to demonstrate. "Like that."

She threw the bola and it came closer. "You're getting better."

She tried one more time and the bola wrapped tightly around. "Nicely done."

My mom and dad then approached me. "Looks like you have a good job." said my mom.

"Not like that one I had." dad added.

Akio walked over. "You mind giving me a minute." I said. "I want to see what Fung is doing."

"Sure"

I walked over to the earthbending room. Fung and Tetsu stood in front of a group of earthbenders. "You ready!" Tetsu declared

"Yes!" came a resounding reply.

The two began hurling blocks rapidly at the group. Midair the blocks exploded into pieces of rock and dust. Tetsu and Fung continued to throw blocks and the dodged incoming rocks.

One of the blocks hit Tetsu in the gut and another hit his head. He grabbed a couple and threw them back at the group. After a few minutes Tetsu lifted up his hands. "Time out time out." he said.

Everyone took a breather and I approached Fung. "Like it?" I asked.

"Yeah, do you?"

"It's great." I said. "I better get back to teaching.