Chapter 3: CloverSokka

Unbeknownst to the Earth nation capital, Bumi's forces were steadily approaching. The Blue Spirits led the way, with the zombies climbing inside of them. The Blue Spirits would break through the city's walls, fuse together, and then release the zombie swarm. Bumi was determined to take over Ba Sing Se, and by God, he was going to do it. Even if the Earth King had some type of "super" weapon, nothing could save the city.

The Blue Spirits eventually saw a huge statue of the Earth King, which stood directly on the other side of the city's walls. They were almost there.

In less than an hour, the New Year would be ushered in.

In one hour, a countless amount of people would be dead.

Zuko thought about Jet all night. He still hadn't returned home. All Zuko wanted to do was apologize to Jet and look towards the future.

Ty Lee, Smellerbee, and Mai bobbed for tomato carrots for a majority of the party.

Longshot played darts alone, as he was never a very sociable person.

Teo went back up onto the roof, this time to finalize putting up New Years decorations. He wore a bullet-proof vest this time. He could never be too careful.

Aang constantly tried to get Katara to forgive him, but she was stubborn as hell.

"Katara! I told you before. I'M SORRY!" the Avatar cried. She just turned around and walked away. Eventually, he gave up and walked over to Sokka, who was staring blankly across the room.

"Hey, Sokka. You okay?" Aang asked.

"Hm? Yeah. I'm okay." In reality, Sokka was busy deciphering the dream he had. It had given him a major headache. The dream took place in a fancy dining room. A woman had been talking to a very old man. The girl seemed terribly familiar; like a lost friend or something. He tried to focus on her face. Closer, closer…

"Hey Sokka." The Water-tribe warrior was kicked out of his thoughts as he heard Toph call his name. He smiled and waved, but he couldn't reply back. It was like his voice had gone.

Out of nowhere, Katara arrived and grabbed Toph's arm.

"C'mon Toph. Let's get away from Aang." Katara said. Toph waved as she was dragged away.

Aang frowned, but looked up at Sokka suddenly. A huge grin appeared on his face.

"You like Toph, don't you, Sokka?" Aang asked in a mocking tone. Sokka turned his head and halted an approaching blush.

"What! I do not!"

"Sure. Hey," Aang said nudging Sokka's shoulder, "I think she likes you too. You're a grown man. Go ask her out or something. No need to feel embarrassed."

Sokka stood in silence as Aang continued to stare at him. Luckily, Haru barged into the conversation.

"Hey, you guys. Have any of you seen Suki at all. I mean, she didn't die, but no one has seen her since Christmas Eve. I'm starting to get worried." Haru said.

"Maybe she stumbled into a plot-hole. That seems pretty likely." Aang replied.

"Yeah, probably. Well, I'm gonna continue to avoid Azula. I'm not intent on getting my guts ripped out again." Haru, clutching his stomach, then walked away. Sokka tried to escape from the room, but Aang stopped him.

"C'mon, Sokka. If you date Toph, Katara may be too distracted to remember what I did that night." Aang pleaded.

"I'm pretty sure she'll still remember that you were too cowardly to protect her. She has a tendency to hold grudges against people who have betrayed her trust." Sokka said. On the other side of the room, Zuko, who was standing next to the fruit punch table, stumbled. The table was knocked over with him, and he was drenched in juice. He started to sob once again.

Meanwhile, Katara and Toph had made their way to the roof. Teo was still busy with the decorations.

"Katara, what are some ways to know if someone likes you?" Toph asked timidly.

"If they don't give you up to a fat man holding a boom-stick" Katara said without looking at Toph. She was still pissed as hell at Aang. Toph frowned and, noticing the sarcasm in Katara's voice, shut her mouth. Eventually, she walked back down the stairs.

Outside, Azula looked towards the sky. She felt an imminent danger closing in on everybody. She thought about whether she should warn anybody, but decided against it. Why should she help these imbeciles? Azula fled from the area and headed for a train on the other side of the city.

The Earth King, locked away in his castle, pushed aside the incident with the zombies. He believed that nothing could touch him. Besides, he did have a secret weapon. If Bumi wanted the city, he would never get it. The Earth King would either own the city, or destroy it way before anyone could take over.

Sokka thought about what Aang had said. What did he have to fear? All he had to do was ask Toph out on a date. If she didn't like him the way he liked her, then she would probably let him down softly. Now was the time to act. Sokka saw Toph drinking from a spare bowl of punch. He walked over, as confident as he would ever be. Not even cliché could stop him now.

He was wrong, of course.

At the exact moment he reached Toph, a huge explosion sounded throughout the city. The house shook, and Zuko shrieked in terror.

"What the hell was that?" Haru asked. His body was shaking violently.

A scream sounded from the roof, and everybody hurried up the stairs. They all saw Katara and Teo pointing at a black cloud of smoke rising over a mile away. It seemed to be emanating from the city's walls.

Everyone stared in awe at the scene for a moment until another explosion occurred. Another chunk of the wall, not too far from the smoke, blasted into oblivion.

"Everyone get downstairs!" screamed Aang and Sokka. The whole party ran as fast as they could. Zuko whimpered, Mai sighed, and Ty Lee sobbed.

"Is this some kind of terrorist attack?" asked Aang.

"I'm not sure. Let's just get out of here!" panted Sokka.

Everyone made it to the street relatively unharmed.

"What's happening!" shouted some random passerby who was running frantically. Citizens of Ba Sing Se, from the rich to the poor, exited their houses in an attempt to discover what was going on. Sokka turned towards his friends. Most of them were screaming for their mommies.

"Everyone must remain calm. Everything is going to be okay!" Sokka shouted. No one seemed to hear him.

"Sokka's trying to say something!" boomed Toph. Everyone immediately became silent. Before Sokka could say another word, a third explosion sounded out through the night. All eyes saw a fast approaching object being hurled through the sky. It crash landed in the middle of the street. It was the head of the Earth King's statue. Panic filled everyone once more.

"OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!" cried Haru.

This was only the beginning. Things were about to get much worse…