The Ruka Wild ↠ Book 1 > A:TLA [Avatar: TLAB-LoK Watty Awards 2018]

Chapter Twenty-Seven:

Ruka (1)

We were sitting and resting by Appa in the middle of a forest. The leaves on the trees were mixed with reds, oranges, and yellows that gave off a toned color.

"Alright. I've had enough sitting." I stood up and stretched out my legs before walking in a direction away from my siblings and Aang. Oh, and Appa too.

"Where're you going?" Sokka asked. I stopped and turned around, "Going to stretch out my legs."

"I don't think that's a good idea. You should just stay here with us." Sokka said in a stern voice.

"Why?" I raised a brow. "You know why, Ruka." Sokka sighed. I waved him off, "I won't go far. I'll only be five minutes or so."

I turned on my heel and started to walk. As I kept on walking, I heard cracks of what sounded like twigs breaking. I looked under my feet to see what I was stepping on, but nothing was under them.

I looked around but I didn't see anything. I shrugged it off and continued to walk. Maybe a minute later, I heard it again, but it was louder.

"Not today." I shook my head quickly. I ran until I thought I went far enough away from whatever it was and was okay for now.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand then walked a little slower than before. As I took every step, the noise of animals screeching got closer.

Once it sounded like they were right about me, I looked up. There were two hot monkeys stuck in a ball cage in the air that were tied on the branches of tree's. I cupped my hands around my mouth, "Don't worry, I'll get help! I'm sure Aang could get you guys down."

When I brought my head back down, I saw Momo. "Momo, be careful. There's bound to be more traps laying around."

Momo's ears perked up and he was looking straight ahead. When I looked to see what it was, Momo charged for it. My eyes widened, "No Momo!"

He was going for a neatly stack of apples and I knew that wasn't just there because of Mother Nature.

I ran over to him and when I picked him up, we were lifted into the air next to the hog monkeys. We were captured in one of the cages.

"Er, great!" This wasn't comfortable at all. I felt bad for the hog monkeys and Momo because he's just as squished with me being in here too.

"You're okay, Ruka." I exhaled and inhaled multiple times. "You're okay. You're not alone. You've got Momo."

Momo looked back at me and I gave him a weary smile. "The gang will realize we're both gone and will come looking for us."

After a few seconds, I knew I was going to start hyperventilating.

"Sokka! Aang! Katara!" I said quickly. "Anybody! Help!"

Momo started to screech which caused the hog monkeys to do the same. "Good, good. The more noise, the better. Aang! Sokka!"

"Hang on!"

I did my best to look down and I weakly smiled in relief when I saw Aang jumping up from tree to tree.

Soon enough, we were slowly brought down and Sokka and Katara unfolded the trap. Momo jumped out while Sokka helped me get out. He pulled me into a tight hug and my breathing slowed down. "I'm okay, I'm good."