Chapter 2: New Plans

During the gang's meeting…

"I got it!" exclaimed Sokka loudly to Toph and Katara.

"What is it Captain Boomerang? Asked Toph, "What are we gonna do now that Aang's, well, you know…"

"Don't you remember? When you went and got captured by those bounty hunters, I went with Aang to go see my dad. My dad and his Water Tribe men were at Chameleon Bay!"

"Hey, they snuck up on me…" Toph scoffed at Sokka, "What's your point?"

"Well my point is that we should go find where my dad is. I bet they will be able to help us until Aang recovers."

"That's if he recovers," Katara expressed, "It doesn't seem that he's responding all that well to my healing." Katara has been healing Aang almost all morning now.

"Just have hope Katara," said Sokka lovingly to his sister, "I'm sure he'll come around, anyway, I say that we should pack up as soon as possible and get flying to dad."

"Sounds good." said both Katara and Toph.

Strangely, the mood today was brighter than last night, they knew that Aang was in a stable condition, and also Katara and Sokka will get to see their dad, Hakoda sometime soon.

"Well let's get ready quickly now," said Sokka, "We've got a while until we'll be at Chameleon bay."

Meanwhile, when they were talking and getting ready, the Earth King, the most important person on the continent, went off on an adventure with his bear Bosco. The escapade was basically pointless but the Earth King liked exploring whenever he got the chance to since he was free from the palace.

Back at the clearing, the gang is on Appa ready to go. "Wait… aren't we missing something?" asked Toph.

"Oh no, where's the Earth King and his bear?" wondered aloud Katara, "They were supposed to be back in an hour after they left."

"Which was three hours ago…" exclaimed Sokka.

"We need to split up, Toph go with Sokka toward the canyon southwest of here. I'll go northward up this hill." commanded Katara, "Hurry!"

With that, they ran off. Katara wasn't able to find anyone where she went after running then walking for 40 minutes in one direction so she decided to turn back.

Momo and Appa were left behind with Aang due to the fact the area may have had Fire Nation Troops which could have easily spotted a 10 ton beast from afar. Besides, Appa and Momo were much more content being with his fallen master.

Now we rejoin Sokka and Toph, they have been walking through a small forest just southwest of their campground for about 30 minutes.

"Wait…" stated Sokka, "This palace seems very familiar…" The forest was just starting to thin out into a canyon.

"Yeah, this place feels familiar too." Toph observed, "Wait, this is the place were you got yourself stuck in!"

"Greetings!" a voice like the Earth king's called out to Toph and Sokka.

"Where is…"

"He's this way," exclaimed Toph to Sokka running in the direction of the voice.

The two came across a clearing in a canyon with a lone tree near the edge. There, inside the earth, was the Earth King grinning thankfully for the two kids have finally arrived.

"Hello, my friends! What brings you to this part of the Earth Kingdom?" asked the Earth King.

"How?... What?...There is no way…" exclaimed Sokka, for he was in the same exact hole that he was in when Aang was attempting Earth Bending for the first time with Toph.

"Yeah, I was just on a little stroll here with Bosco," just then, Bosco came marching out of some bushes with several red berries in his mouth. Bosco realized that his master was rescued and soon dropped the berries and ran to pounce on Sokka and Toph, liking them profusely.

"Sheesh! You're worse than the bison!" yelled Toph.

"Yeah Bosco, get off! Down! Heel!" demanded Sokka.

With that Bosco retreated back toward his master. He sat by the King and looked at Sokka and Toph as if wanting something from them.

The Earth King looked at Sokka and asked, "Well, this isn't the most comfortable position I've been in, but it's not all that bad once you get used to it. Would you, say, help me out of this?"

Then Sokka, almost instinctively, looked down to Toph and said, "Well, you've done this before, you know what to do." Toph nodded slightly and earth bended the king out of the same gap Sokka was in previously.

"You know what?" asked Toph, "This hole has caused us too much trouble over time." With that, she smoothed the entire ground with earth bending and the place looked quite nice actually.

"Thanks, you guys," said the Earth King. "I don't know what I would have…"

"There's no time for thank yous your Kingliness." Spoke Sokka "Right now we to go back to Appa so we can get going to rendezvous with my dad. It's kind of important."

"Very well, let us be on our way." seriously stated the now free King.

With all that behind them they walked back to Appa. Sokka kept murmuring to himself "How…the hole…impossible…" he was still a little bit scarred from being in the hole for a full day before. Now he is just glad that it is gone for good.

Katara met the party back at the clearing, "Oh! Thank goodness! The Earth King is alright," Katara expressed relieved.

"Yes, I'm doing quite fine since your brother and friend saved me," replied the Earth King thankfully.

"Anyway," Sokka interrupted, "We need to get going, is Appa ready?"

"Yep, it's going to be a ruff ride though, it's windy today and we don't have the saddle."

"Ahhhh… great, another day of bare back flying," sighed Toph. She hated flying in general but bare back was terrifying to her due to her blindness.

"It doesn't matter, the most important thing now is to get Aang to safety," explained Sokka, "Let's get moving."

With that they all climbed up on top of Appa. Sokka lifted Aang up with help from his sister. "There we go," said Sokka, "Is everyone ready?" The group nodded towards Sokka, "Let's get to my father and his men Appa, Yip Yip!"

Alright, hope you liked the longer chapter, it's kind of a filler chapter for the events later to come. By they way, do you have ideas for how the Gaang runs in to Pipsqueak and The Duke? Not entirely sure how that will work… anyway, please review, it's a nice motivator.