Sokka, Bato, an Omashu soldier and, I stooped down behind a battle tank planning our next strategy. One of the tanks lands forcefully near Sokka.
"Dad!" Sokka said brightly. Sokka, Toph, and I run towards Hakoda, aided by Katara. "You're on your feet again."
"Thanks to your sister. I'm in no shape to fight, but maybe there's some way I can help." Hakoda said weakly. Sokka kneels infront of his dad, "Everything's going smoothly and the eclipse hasn't even kicked in yet."
"Let's hope our luck holds out. Katara, you seem distracted. Is something wrong?"
I turned to see Katara walking off a few steps, watching the sky.
"Yeah. Is that ... is that Aang?"
"What?" I asked in disbelief. I turned to see Aang riding in on his glider, dodging several fireballs. He lands in front of the group. "Back so soon?" I asked Aang.
"Please tell me you're here because the Fire Lord turned out to be a big wimp and you didn't even need the eclipse to take him down."
"He wasn't home. No one was. The entire palace city is abandoned."
My eyes widened, "They knew." Sokka and I said in unison as we shared a look of concern at each other.
"It's over. The Fire Lord is probably long-gone; far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse." Aang said dismayed.
Sokka placed his hand on his chin. "No. My instincts tell me he wouldn't go too far. He would have a secret bunker; somewhere he could go and be safe during the siege but still be close enough to lead his nation."
"If it's an underground secret bunker we're looking for, I'm just the girl to find it." Toph said pointing to herself confidently.
" The mechanist gave me this timing device." Sokka said taking out a circular contraption, "It looks like we've got about ten minutes until the full eclipse. Ten minutes to find the Fire Lord."
"We can still do this. We can still win the day." Aang said beaming.
"Wait! If they knew we were coming it could all be a trap. Maybe we should use the time we have left to make sure we all get out of here safely." Katara said.
"Everyone who's here today came prepared to risk everything for this mission. They know what's at stake. If there's still a chance and there's still hope, I think they would want Aang to go for it." Hakoda joined.
"What do you think? You're the one that has to face the Fire Lord. Whatever you decide, we're with you one-hundred percent.
Aang rose from his position, and faced the volcano, "I've gotta try." he said determined.
"Okay, Sokka, you and Toph accompany Aang to find that secret bunker. I'll stay with Katara and your dad."
Sokka and Aang nodded and hopped on Appa and flew off.
_________________
We pushed through and made it to the winding road that leads to the entrance of the city.
"The eclipse is only minutes away. We should be able to make it up to hill by the time it starts and secure the entire palace by the time it's finished." declared Bato. The troops cheer gruffly and continue on their way to the capital. Hakoda whimpered softly due to his injuries.
"We can wait here if you want." Katara said to her father as we lead him towards the path.
"No. I wanna press forward with the others." he said determined. We continued walking up the path.
________________
We finally made it towards the rim of the volcano. The moon blocked the sun, and I could feel it. It felt weird, but exhilarating at the same time.
" There it is: the Fire Nation Royal Palace. We've come so far." Hakoda said weakly.
"It's not over yet." Katara replied doubtedly.
We pushed onward further powerless firebenders some flee from us due to the eclipse.
Katara leans her father against an Earth Kingdom tank. "What should we do, Hakoda? Shouldn't something have happened by now?"
"I don't know." Hakoda replied. Katara crosses her arms in scorn. "But now that the eclipse is over, I expect we're going to see some firebenders any minute."
I look up and suddenly becomes alarmed.
"Um, is it just me, or have the Fire nation war balloons seemed bigger somehow?" I asked.
"They're back!" Katara said I turned to see, Appa groaning as he flies in, Toph, Aang, Sokka, and Momo with him.
"It was all a trap! Azula knew we were coming and she's plotted out every move! We've just got to get to the beach as fast as we can. If we can make it to the submarines, maybe we can get away safely."
"They've got air power, but so do I!" Aang said, as he opens his glider. "I'm gonna do what I can to slow them down." He tosses his glider into the air and takes off
"Appa, you and I can help too." Katara said mounting on Appa, "I'm coming too." I said. We took to the skies as fire balls flared left and right. We approached another balloon, swiveling around once Katara sliced the balloon clean through with waterbending. The fireballs began to increase. Katara and I summoned water shields to deflect the attacks.
"We can't keep them all back! There's too many of them!"
"Let's join the others!" Aang said as we made our way downwards towards the retreating troops. We landed where Sokka, Toph and Hakoda were. Suddenly the war ships over head released bombs, Toph and I bend a ceiling of earth overhead.
"Why aren't they turning around to attack us again?" Katara asked.
I watched as the headed towards the South. "They're heading for the beach."
"They're gonna destroy the submarines!" Aang said in an alarming tone.
"How are we all going to escape?" Sokka asked dismayed.
"We're not." Hakoda said approaching, while being helped by Bato.
"Then our only choice is to stand and fight. We have the Avatar, we could still win."
"Yes, with the Avatar we could still win. On another day. You kids have to leave. You have to escape on Appa together."
"What?' Katara asked in confusion. "We can't leave you behind!" she said as she looks at the rest of the invasion force. "We won't leave anyone behind!"
"You're our only chance in the long run. You and Sokka have to go with Aang somewhere safe. It's the only way to keep hope alive." Hakoda implored.
"The youngest of our group should go with you. The adults will stay behind and surrender. We'll be prisoners, but we'll all survive this battle." Bato said.
" I've got some experience with the Fire Nation prisons. It's not going to be easy, but we'll get by." Tyro indicated.
Once we mounted onto Appa I turned to see Aang, tears was flowing down his face. Katara and I approach him. Katara put a hand around his shoulders and smiles at him proudly. Aang wipes away his tears and rises to face the invasion force.
"Thank you all for being so brave and so strong. I'm gonna make this up to you." Aang promised the older crowd. Then we were off into the skies. I turned away from that wretched place. I thought that today we put the war behind us. But I was wrong. I never wanted to see a firebender ever again. Suddenly a warship was headed in our direction. Looking at the airship in the distance then looks ahead Aang said, "I know just the place for us to go where we'll be safe for a while. The Western Air Temple!" As Appa flew West.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Avatar the last airbender: Kyoshi's descendant
أدب الهواةWhile doing her daily chores around Kyoshi Island, Amaya stumbles upon strangers on the shore near her village, when they were captured by her step-sister Suki, she was all of a sudden drawn to Aang but couldn't sense why. And with a hard battle wit...
