I absently rolled the White Lotus tile between my fingers, gazing out the window towards the massive wall of Ba Sing Se. I stood next to a few of the Royal Procession, at the foot of a raised dais where Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee were sitting in ornate, carved seats. The floor shook slightly as the control room we were occupying was raised high above the gargantuan drill.
An older man in red Fire Nation robes slowly paced in front of the dais, his hands clasped behind his back. "This drill is a feat of scientific ingenuity and raw, destructive power" he explained. "Once it tunnels through the wall, our troops will storm their city. The Earth Kingdom will finally fall. And you can claim Ba Sing Se in the name of your father. Nothing can stop us".
Ty Lee turned to Azula and asked "Hmm, what about those muscle-y guys down there?"
As she looked into the periscope, the man in Fire Nation robes scoffed. "Please, the drill's metal shell is impervious to any Earthbending attack".
"Oh, I'm sure it is, War Minister Qin", Azula replied, "but just to be on the safe side: Mai and Ty Lee, take the Earthbenders out".
"Finally, something to do" Mai said in her apathetic tone.
As they walked out, Azula turned to me and said "You'll stay here, where I can keep a close eye on you. I can't have you wandering where you might make a hasty decision, now, can I?" I didn't give her the dignity of even looking at her, continuing to roll the White Lotus tile between my fingers.
Jin and Li walked alongside the group as they walked towards the titanic wall of Ba Sing Se. Returning to the city of their birth was something they were a little anxious about, and they steeled themselves for the experience. Suddenly, Aang and Momo came flying down towards them. As they landed, Katara asked "Aang, what are you doing here? I thought you were looking for Appa".
"I was" Aang replied. "But something stopped me, something big".
As the twins used their Bending in order to lift a rock platform with everyone on it towards the top of the wall, Sokka asked "Now what's so big that Appa has to wait?"
"That" Aang replied. Once the platform reached the top of the wall, the twins turned to look at what the Airbender was referring to. Their eyes widened as their mouths fell open in shock, beholding a completely massive drill slowly making its way towards the wall.
"We made it to Ba Sing Se and we're still not safe" Ying said despairingly. "No one is".
"What are you people doing up here?" a voice asked. The group turned to see a group of men in dark green clothing, and judging by their presence on the wall, they were most likely soldiers. "Civilians aren't allowed on the wall".
"I'm the Avatar" Aang said. "Take me to whoever's in charge".
The group was then shown to the man in charge of defending the wall, an older-looking man in an Earth Kingdom uniform. "It is an honour to welcome you to the Outer Wall, young Avatar" the man greeted. "But your help is not needed".
"Not needed?" Aang asked. Jin and Li exchanged questioning glances; why would he turn down help from the most powerful Bender in the world?
"Not needed" the man repeated. "I have the situation under control. I assure you, the Fire Nation cannot penetrate this wall". As he spoke, he led the group to the wall's edge. "Many have tried to break through it, but none have succeeded".
"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph asked. Jin and Li exchanged a glance; it was during General Iroh's siege of this very city that their father had found them and taken them in. "He got in".
The older man seemed to flinch. "Well, uh, technically, yes, but he was quickly expunged. Eh, nevertheless, that's why the city is named 'Ba Sing Se': it's the impenetrable city. They don't call it Na Sing Se!" He chuckled before adding "That means 'penetrable city'".
"Yeah, thanks for the tour" Toph replied in her snarky attitude. "But we still got the drill problem".
"Not for long" he countered. "To stop it, I've sent an elite platoon of Earthbenders called the 'Terra Team'". Jin and Li crossed their arms, exchanging dubious glances. They silently asked themselves how good these Earthbenders really were.
"That's a good group name" Sokka said approvingly. "Very catchy".
The twins walked up to the edge of the wall, gazing out at the massive drill. In front of the super weapon, they could see a few dozen small dots, which were probably the Terra Team. They advanced forward, dispatching a number of the tundra tanks escorting the drill. They then attempted to lock the drill in place by securing it with thick rock columns, but that proved to be ineffective. Suddenly, two small shapes appeared, and within a few minutes, the Terra Team was down.
The general blanched. "We're doomed!" he cried, sounding like he had completely given up hope.
Sokka slapped him in the face. "Get a hold of yourself, man!"
The general rubbed his cheek. "You're right, I'm sorry".
"Maybe you'd like the Avatar's help now?" Toph asked smugly.
The general slunk over to where Aang was standing. He slumped in defeat and meekly said "Yes, please". Jin and Li smirked at each other; as it turned out, this 'Terra Team' wasn't all that effective, and now the Earth Kingdom officer was forced to swallow his pride and ask for help.
Aang looked out at the drill. "So the question is: how are we gonna stop that thing?" Everyone in the group turned to look at Sokka.
"Why are you all looking at me?" he asked.
"You're the idea guy" Aang replied.
"Oh, so I'm the only one who can ever come up with a plan?" the Water Tribe boy asked sarcastically. Jin and Li nodded. "That's a lot of pressure".
"And also the complaining guy" Katara added.
"That part I don't mind".
"So…", the woman said as she examined our passports, "Mr. Lee, Mr. Jin, and Mr., um, Mushy, is it?" I smirked at the mispronunciation from beside Iroh and Zuko. We had just gotten off the ferry upon arriving at Ba Sing Se, and now we had to go through the process of having our papers inspected before we were let into the city itself.
"It's pronounced 'Moo-Shee'" Iroh corrected.
The woman glared down at him, the mole above her left eye standing out like a mountain in a lake. "You tellin' me how to do my job?" she asked irritably.
"Uh, no, no" Iroh replied. He leaned his elbow against the counter and added "But may I just say you're like a flower in bloom. You're beauty's intoxicating". Beside me, Zuko looked just about ready to lose the contents of his stomach, while I tried to stifle a chuckle.
The woman's expression instantly softened, becoming something only barely resembling something alluring. "Mm, you're pretty easy on the eyes yourself, handsome. Raow! Welcome to Ba Sing Se". She then stamped our passports, and we were free to go.
"I'm gonna forget I saw that" Zuko muttered as he took his passport.
"You should be proud of your uncle" I told him. "Not many men his age have such a way with words. He's like a painter whose canvas is the female, and his brush is his silver tongue".
"Why thank you" Iroh said as we walked ahead.
Jin and Li looked around the infirmary, at the Terra Team. All of them were lying on cots, and every single one of them couldn't move a single muscle. "What's wrong with him?" the general asked as Katara attempted to use her healing on one of the elite Earthbenders. "He doesn't look injured".
"His Chi is blocked" Katara explained. Looking down at the man, she asked "Who did this to you?"
He groaned with effort as he turned his head. "Two girls ambushed us" he replied. "One of them hit me with a bunch of quick jabs. Suddenly, I couldn't Earthbend and I could barely move. And then she cartwheeled away".
Jin shivered in fear, remembering when that girl who had been with Takara and Princess Azula had jabbed him and took away his Bending for a time. Li put a comforting hand on his brother's back.
"Ty Lee" Katara said. "She doesn't look dangerous, but she knows the human body and its weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside".
Sokka then became as excited as a lemur with ten-fold energy, waving his arms about. He accidentally hit Li in the side of the face, and as the Earthbending boy glared at him, he said "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!"
"Yes?" Katara asked patiently.
"What you just said; that's how we're gonna take down the drill! The same way Ty Lee took down all these big Earthbenders!"
"By hitting its pressure points!" Toph said, thinking along the same lines.
"We'll take it down from the inside" Aang declared as everyone looked out the window at the ever-advancing drill.
A short time later, the group was at the foot of the massive wall, in one of the trenches formerly used by the Terra Team. The drill, and its accompanying squadron of tundra tanks, created a rather imposing sight, and the twins gulped nervously. "Once I whip up some cover, you're not gonna be able to see, so stay close to me" Toph said. She proceeded to slam her foot into the ground, creating a dust cloud that extended from the trench down the side of the drill. "Run!" she shouted, and the twins followed her into the dust cloud.
"Hey…" Ty Lee said as I continued to stand in front of the dais in the drill's control room. "Look at that dust cloud. It's so… poofy. Poof".
War Minister Qin turned to Azula. "Don't worry, Princess. I'm sure it's nothing".
I discreetly smirked to myself, knowing that the Avatar and his friends were most likely implementing some sort of plan in order to take care of the drill. That meant that the twins were with them, and I secretly looked forward to the kind of chaos those boys would unleash on the Firebenders.
Jin and Li kept running forward, barely able to see a few feet in front of them. To overcome their lack of vision, they tried sensing vibrations through their feet like Toph had taught them. Ever since their instruction had begun, the twins had continually practiced the technique, eventually becoming fairly proficient with it.
The group stopped once they were directly in front of the spinning drill. Toph and the twins created a hole in the ground large enough to hold them all, and the blind girl said "Everyone into the hole".
Once everyone was inside, the twins sealed the hole, enveloping them all in darkness. "It's so dark down here" Sokka complained. "I can't see a thing".
"Oh, no, what a nightmare" Toph said sardonically, and the twins smirked.
"Sorry" the Water Tribe boy apologized. After a few minutes had passed, Toph made an opening that allowed everyone to pass through.
Once they were outside, they examined the underbelly of the drill that loomed above them. "There!" Sokka cried, pointing to an access shaft of some kind. Aang proceeded to hang upside down and help Sokka and Katara into the inner workings. Jin, Li, and Toph stayed where they stood, not making a move to join them. "Guys, come on" the Water Tribe boy said.
The twins glanced at the blind girl before shaking their heads. "No way are we going in that metal monster" she answered for them. "We can't Bend in there. We'll try to slow it down out here".
"Okay, good luck" Sokka said after a moment. He, Aang, and Katara disappeared through the shaft, and the twins nodded to each other before they thrust their arms upward, summoning two thick, slanted rock columns that planted firmly against the drill's underbelly. Toph did the same, and the three Earthbenders struggled against the sheer might of the monstrous machine as they slowly slid back.
I looked out at the many faces of the terminal as Jet sat down beside Zuko. "So you guys got plans once you're inside the city?" he asked.
"Get your hot tea here! Finest tea in Ba Sing Se!" a man called from nearby.
Iroh and I exchanged wide-eyed expressions of excitement. We waved over to the man with the cart, and the older man called "Ooh! Jasmine, please!"
"Jasmine for me, too!" I added. The man pulled his cart next to us, and after pouring us both a cup, he walked away. I smiled at Iroh before the two of us took a sip. My eyes widened in shock as my brow furrowed in anger. I spit out my tea, as did Iroh, and I spat "This is disgraceful!"
"Coldest tea in Ba Sing Se is more like it!" he agreed.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Jet asked. He and Zuko walked off, leaving me and Iroh to scowl down at our tea cups.
"That man should be ashamed of himself" I muttered as I set my cup down beside me.
"Perhaps there is a way to remedy the situation" the older man said with a devious grin. I stared at him questioningly, and after he took a good look around, he breathed hot air from his nose that instantly heated his tea.
"What are you doing?" I whispered, warily glancing around. "We can't be spotted Firebending in the Earth Kingdom capital!"
Zuko then walked over, and once he saw the steam coming from Iroh's tea, he slapped the cup out of his hand. "What are you doing Firebending your tea?" he asked through clenched teeth. "For a wise, old man, that was a pretty stupid move".
Iroh ignored Zuko, instead gazing mournfully down at the tea cup on the ground. "I know you're not supposed to cry over spilled tea, but… it's just so sad". I looked down at the spilled tea, and I felt a twinge of sadness in my heart. Tea had been one of my passions for most of my life, and I treated it with the same respect I gave to knowledge and the spirits. Despite myself, I sniffed a little.
Jin and Li's arms were aching from the effort of trying to slow down the drill. Glancing behind them, they could see that it was starting to carve into the wall itself, so they didn't have that much time left. Beside them, Toph looked like she was struggling just as much. "Come on, Twinkle-Toes, hurry up".
They couldn't agree more.
"War Minister, an engineer was ambushed!" a voice came through the drill's intercom. "His schematics were stolen!"
"War Minister, a brace on the starboard side has been cut clean through!" another voice came through. "It's sabotage, sir!"
I could feel Azula's eyes on all of us, and she suddenly said "Let's go, ladies". I dutifully followed behind her as she, Mai, and Ty Lee made their way out of the control room. We stepped into a mechanical lift, and as it descended, the Fire Nation Princess turned to me. "Don't try anything foolish, like helping the Avatar" she warned in an icy tone. She then lightly dragged one of her sharpened fingernails across the scars on my left cheek. "You won't like what happens when you cross me".
I stared down at her in a neutral gaze, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of a defiant gaze or bold words. Eventually, the lift brought us down into the core of the drill. Azula walked ahead, and we made our way to the area that connected the core mechanism to the outer shell. It was held together with thick, steel braces, and those were obviously the Avatar's targets.
The four of us walked over to the closest brace, and we could see that it was neatly cut almost completely through. Azula walked up to it, swiping a finger across the top of the cut. She rubbed her finger and thumb together in thought, clearly trying to determine what exactly the Avatar and his friends were up to. We then heard noises coming from nearby, and the Fire Nation Princess' lips curled into a sadistic grin as she led us forward.
Down below, we could see the Avatar and the Water Tribe girl using Waterbending in order to cut though a steel brace while her brother urged them on. "Now Aang just needs to…" he started to say as Azula shot blue flames at him. "Duck!"
She fired another one, this time at the Avatar. The bald boy easily dodged the attack, and Ty Lee said "Wow, Azula, you were right! It is the Avatar. And friends". I saw that her gaze was directed at the Water Tribe boy, and he nervously waved before the three of them ran off.
Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee chased after them, and I reluctantly followed. We eventually came to a hallway, and the Fire Nation Princess pointed to the left. "You two follow them" she said. Mai and Ty Lee ran down that way, and Azula turned her gaze on me. "You stay with me. The Avatar is mine".
Not if I can help it, I thought to myself as I ran after her.
Jin and Li watched as Katara used her Bending in order to keep the slurry flow contained within the back of the drill. Toph walked in between them, and just as the Water Tribe girl used some of the slurry to knock her brother on his back, the blind girl asked "You guys need some help?"
"Toph, Jin, Li, help me plug up this drain" Katara replied. The twins planted their feet firmly on the slurry-covered ground beside the two girls before thrusting their arms forward. The flow of slurry coming from the drill backed up into the machine, and it would surely be ready to explode any minute now.
I climbed onto the top of the drill behind Azula, feeling the entire thing quaking as it slowly bored into the massive wall of Ba Sing Se. Ahead of us was the Avatar, and he just barely took note of our presence when the Fire Nation Princess shot a stream of blue flames at him. He blocked the attack with his Airbending, and proceeded to tell his lemur "Momo, get out of here!"
He then turned his attention to me. "Takara, I know who you are. Jin and Li told us everything; I know that you were forced to serve Azula. They regret what happened to you, and I'm sure that you want to be free of her".
"A lovely sentiment" Azula retorted. "But nothing more. She obeys only me. Isn't that right?" I gazed at the teenager, then at the Avatar. This was it; I could finally take my chance and help him defeat this psychotic Princess. I glanced back at Azula, scowling. No, I couldn't do it like this, not while she was likely prepared for me to try something. I had to wait and seize my freedom when she least suspected it. Besides, someone as manipulative and calculating as her would come up with another scheme to invade Ba Sing Se.
I made my decision, and I proceeded to enter into a fighting stance beside Azula.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the corner of her lip curling into a smug smirk, and I longed for the day when I would be able to wipe it off of her face. She thrust her arm forward and shot a stream of blue flame at the Avatar. The bald boy easily dodged while aiming a spinning kick at her in the same motion. A horizontal slice of air shot towards us, and we both pushed off with our feet, flipping as the air slice passed beneath us.
Once our feet touched back down, Azula continued her frontal assault while I ran towards the Avatar from his flank. He attacked the Fire Nation Princess with Waterbending, and while he was occupied, I aimed a kick at his chest. He cried out in surprise before instinctively attacking with a gust of air that slammed into me and sent me rolling towards the wall.
As I stood up, I saw a shadow forming around me. Looking up, I saw a large boulder plummeting directly towards me. I leaped out of the way just in time as a storm of boulders came crashing all around us.
Pushing off with my feet, I landed with my hands before pushing off with them and somersaulting through the air, eventually landing with near-perfect grace. Turning around, I saw that Azula had the Avatar pinned against the wall, and lit a blue flame in her other hand.
Just as I was about to do something, the bald boy summoned some rocks to cover his hand, effectively creating an impromptu gauntlet. He blocked Azula's attack before shoving her back towards me. Just as the three of us prepared to attack, a flood of brown sludge erupted from the portion of the drill that was boring through the wall. It washed over us, coating our bodies as it made the top of the drill very, very slippery.
I slipped and fell face-first before I started rapidly sliding downwards. Given the sheer drop that awaited me, it was unlikely that I would survive.
Suddenly, my fingers caught on some sort of seam, and I came to a stop. Silently thanking Kyoshi for my good fortune, I started climbing back up. As I did so, I saw movement above me. Glancing up as I continued to climb, I saw the Avatar racing up the wall on a ball of air. Once he was nearly at the top, he shot back down, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.
I finally managed to climb back onto the top of the drill just as the Avatar came crashing down onto a sharpened piece of rock that was wedged into the hole he had made earlier. Azula tried to shoot some blue flames at him, but her attack missed, and he came crashing down onto the rock, creating a massive gust of air that blew me and Azula screaming backwards.
The drill suddenly seized up as the brown slurry started exploding out from all along it. The twins grinned in success as Sokka shouted victoriously. "Here it comes!" Toph warned. Jin and Li struck their feet against the ground and raised the ground at their feet up so that it was level with the hole at the rear of the drill.
The slurry then came flooding out the hole, bathing the ground. Ty Lee grunted as she struck against the rock that they were standing on, and the twins smiled as they waved down at her. They then embraced each other in a tight hug before turning to Toph. Jin held his arms out expectantly, but the blind girl punched him in the shoulder instead. Despite her small size, she had a powerful arm, and Jin rubbed his sore shoulder as she punched Li's.
I slid down the back of the slurry-covered drill behind Azula, landing on the ground a few moments later. Ty Lee was sitting on the ground, absolutely covered in the brown substance. A hissing noise drew my attention, and I turned to see Mai emerging from a hatch. "We lost" she said in her monotone voice. Wiping some of the slurry from my face, I was secretly happy that the Fire Nation hadn't broken through to Ba Sing Se.
Azula would concoct some other scheme, of course; it was her way. But I would be there to stop her when she tried something else.
"I just want to say: good effort out there, today, Team Avatar!" Sokka said, causing the twins to exchange amused smirks. Ever since before they had taken down the drill, he had been obsessing over what to call their little group.
"Enough with the 'Team Avatar' stuff" Katara said. "No matter how many times you say it, it's not gonna catch on".
The Water Tribe boy held his chin in thought. "How about… the Boomerang Squad! See, it's good because it's got 'Aang' in it. Boomer-Aang".
"I kind of like that one" the Airbender said.
"Let's talk about this on our way into the city" Katara suggested.
As they started walking away from the edge of the wall, Sokka asked "The Aang Gang? Ooh! How about the Fearsome Foursome?"
"You're crazy" Toph retorted.
"What, we're fearsome!" Sokka protested. "Didn't you see how we smashed that evil Fire Nation drill?"
So, my job is progressing nicely; those dollar signs are what get me through those long hours of heavy lifting.
So, Takara chose not to follow Aang. What do you guys think? I'm of the opinion that she made the right choice; Azula is someone who always has some sort of backup plan, so it's only a matter of time until she makes her next move.
Please let me know what you think via reviews!