Balance | Old Version

Chapter 48

Elua's POV.

Appa was trying to get out of the cave, but there was no way he was going to move the boulders that had fallen in front of the entrance. The cave was quite dark, the only light coming from the torch Chong was holding.
"It's okay, Appa," Katara says as she tries to calm him. "We'll be fine...I hope," She mumbles the last part of her words.
"We will be fine," Sokka reassures her. "All we need is a plan," He states.
"Chong, how long do those torches last?" I ask as I point to the torch in his hand
"Eh, about two hours each," Chong answers.

"And we have five torches. So, that's ten hours," Lilly says as she lights all the torches.
"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" Sokka shouts as he grabs the torches from her hands and puts them out on the ground.
"Oh, right," Lilly says in realization.
"I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been," Sokka says as he climbs up onto Appa's saddle. "Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through," He says as he climbs back down with a piece of paper in hand, and then, we begin to walk.

Later.

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to," I sigh as we stand in front of a bunch of rocks...again.
"This doesn't make any sense; we already came through this way," Sokka says as he looks down at his map.
"We don't need a map. We just need love," Chong says. "The little guy knows it," He states as he points over to Aang.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map, also," Aang tells him.
"There's something strange here," Sokka says as he looks at the map in confusion. "There's only one explanation...the tunnels are changing," He states.

"The tunnels...they're a-changin'. Ah, it must be the curse," Chong says as he begins to panic. "I knew we shouldn't have come down here," He says as he puts his hands to his head.
"Right. If only we listened to you," Sokka says sarcastically.
"Everyone, be quiet," I say as I hear a sound begin to echo through the tunnel. "Listen," I tell them as the sound gets louder and louder until a giant bat-like creature flies over us.
"It's a giant flying thing with teeth!" Chong says in fear.
"No! It's a wolf-bat!" Moku states as it flies at us again. Sokka starts to swing a torch at it, but he accidentally lets go of it and it lands on Appa's paw.

The fire makes Appa panic and he starts to run around hitting the walls of the cave and making boulders start to fall from the ceiling everywhere.
"Elua!" I hear Sokka shout as I look up and see a boulder about to fall on me. Before I get a chance to move out of the way, Sokka tackles me and we land on the ground. A bunch of rocks continue to fall until they block us from Katara, Aang, and Appa.
"Thanks," I say to Sokka as he gets off me and helps me stand back up.
"Are you okay?" He asks as he checks for any injuries.
"Yes, I'm fine," I try to reassure him, but he continues to search for injuries.

"Sokka stop! Really, I'm fine," I tell him calmly, he looks at me unsurely, but nods.
"Okay, just making sure," Sokka says as he turns around and sees the wall of rocks that are blocking us from Katara, Aang, and Appa. He starts to move rocks, but it was no use.
"It's no use. We're separated," Chong tells him. "But, at least you have us, heh heh," He says with a smile and laugh.
"NO!" Sokka shouts as he continues to dig.
"Sokka, stop," I tell him as I walk over and put a hand on his shoulder. He stops digging with an exasperated sigh, and we all start to walk through the cave again.

Later.

"Oh, great! Your plans have led us to another dead end!" Moku says in annoyance as we find yet another dead end.
"At least I'm thinking of ideas and trying to get us out of here, Moku," Sokka says in irritation.
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute; we're thinking of ideas? 'Cause I've had an idea for, like, an hour now," Chong says as he rubs the back of his head.
"Yes! We're all thinking of ideas!" Sokka shouts as he throws his hands up. I sigh as I throw my head back, this was becoming ridiculous. Momo chatters as he lays across my shoulders, he seemed to be annoyed with all this too.

"Well, then listen to this: if love is the key out of here, then all we need to do is play a love song," Chong states as he begins to play his instrument...again. Sokka looks over to me with a look of disgust, I shrug as we begin to walk again. After a while of walking, and listening to Chong sing some love song, we start to hear the same sound we did earlier. We all stop walking, it was the same sound, but it was louder this time. We all look up as a bunch of wolf-bats come flying towards us. We all shout in distress as we duck out fo the way, they fly by us and Sokka starts to shout and swing his arms around and, eventually, they fly off.
"Hey-hey, you saved us, Sokka!" Chong says happily.

"No, they were trying to get away from something," Sokka states.
"From what?" Chong asks. But before anyone can say anything else, the cave starts to shake and rocks fly out of the ground as two badger moles break through the stone walls. They block off each side of the tunnel, trapping us in with them. They start to move towards Sokka as me and the travelers stand a few feet from him. I look beside Sokka as he freaks out and I see one of Chong's guitars.
"Sokka!" I shout and he turns his head to me. "They're blind, play the instrument!" I shout to him, he looks confused but he picks up the guitar and starts to strum it. The badger moles suddenly stop and turn their heads at the sound.

"Hey, those things are music lovers!" Chong says smiling.
"Badger moles, coming toward me. Come on guys, help me out," Sokka says, trying to sing as he continues to play the guitar.
"The big bad badger moles who work in the tunnels, hate the wolf-bats but love the sounds," Chong sings as they all play instruments. I slowly walk towards the giant creatures, they seem to sense I'm in front of them but they stay calm.
"You're earth benders, aren't you?" I ask the badger moles, they make a sound and I smile. "I am too," I say softly. "Can you help us get out of here?" I ask the badger moles, they make another sound and lay down so we all can climb aborad.

"Come on guys," I say as I turn to the others, they seem to be impressed and smile at me as they all walk over and jump onto the badger moles.
"I told you this was a bad idea," Sokka tells me, I roll my eyes.
"Really? I told you so?" I ask him, he shrugs as he jumps onto the badger mole.
"Someone has to say it," He says with a smirk, I shake my head as I laugh. He holds out his hand to me, I take it and he helps me onto the giant creature and then, they begin to lead us through the labyrinth. After a while, we break through a wall and sunlight invades my eyesight.
"Sokka!" Katara shouts as she and Aang stand in front of us smiling.

"How did you guys get out?" I ask Aang and Katara as we jump off the badger moles.
"Just like the legend says: we let love lead the way," Aang answers smiling, his face a bit red. I look at him suspiciously, but I don't question him.
"Really? We let huge ferocious beasts lead our way," Sokka tells them as he turns around and waves to the badger moles as they go back into the cave and earthbend the holes they made.
"Why is your forehead all red?" Katara asks Sokka with a frown of confusion.
"Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you," Chong says seriously, we look at him confused. "I think that kid might be the Avatar," He says, Katara and I shake our heads as Sokka smacks his forehead again.

"Sokka, I hope you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey," Chong says kindly as he pulls Sokka into a hug.
"Just, play your songs," Sokka grumbles as Chong lets him go and smiles.
"Hey, good plan!" Chong says grinning as he turns around and begins to walk with his wife and friends. "Even if you're lost you can't lose the love because it's in your heart. Ooooohhhh," He sings as he and the rest of his group make their way to wherever they're heading. We smile as we watch them go and then we begin to walk up a hill towards Omashu.

"The journey was long and annoying, but now you get to see what it's really about the destination," Sokka says as we near the top of the hill. "I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of O..." He trails off as his eyes go wide. "Oh, no..." He says as we get to the top of the hill and see Omashu, Fire Nation flags hang from the front gate, flames burn in certain places, and smoke rises from the city. The Fire Nation has taken one of the cities I thought was safe from all this. Omashu...has fallen.