Balance | Old Version

Chapter 49 (Return To Omashu)

Elua's POV.

"I can't believe it," Aang says sadly as we all look at Omashu, covered in Fire Nation flags. "I know the war has spread far, but Omashu always seemed...untouchable," He says.
"Up until now, it was," Sokka says. "Now Ba-Sing-Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left," He states.
"This is horrible," Katara says as she walks over to Aang. "But we have to move on," She states.
"No," Aang says with a look of determination. "I'm going in to find Bumi," He tells us as he begins to walk away.

"Aang, stop," Sokka says. "We don't even know if Bumi's still..." He trails off.
"What? If he's still what?" Aang asks as he turns around.
"...around," Sokka answers awkwardly.
"I know you had your heart set on Bumi, but there are other people around who can teach you earthbending," Katara states. But, I knew he wouldn't listen.
"This isn't about finding a teacher," Aang tells her. "This is about finding my friend."

A Little Later.

We were all standing on a ledge below Omashu trying to open a sewer pipe, seeing as it was the only way in without getting captured, or killed.
"Why didn't we just use this last time?" Sokka asks as Aang gets the pipe open and a bunch of green goo flies all over Sokka. "Ugh!" He exclaims in disgust.
"Does that answer your question?" I ask him as he cringes at the smell. We enter the pipe and I airbend the green goo away from me as I walk in front of the others. It smelled horrible, but it was better than having to face the Fire Nation. It takes a while, but eventually, we get to the exit and climb out of the sewers.

"That wasn't as bad as I thought," Katara says as she and Aang climb out, completely clean.
We all turn around and see Sokka climb out of the pipe, completely covered in green sewage. I look behind him and spot a bucket of water, I bend the water and throw it at Sokka, washing off the sewage and then airbending him dry. Sokka sighs, but quickly begins to freak out as he notices that there are two purple pentapus' on his face.
"Ah! Ah!" Sokka shouts as he pulls on the small creatures, trying to get them off. "They won't let go! Help! Ahhh!" He shouts again as Aang tackles him into a wall and covers his mouth with his hand, making him stop shouting.

"Stop making so much noise," I tell Sokka as Aang lets go of him. "It's just a purple pentapus," I tell him as I rub the small creature's head and it lets go.
"Hey!" We hear someone shout from behind us. We all turn around and see a few Fire Nation guards walking towards us, Aang and I quickly turn out backs, I tie a scarf around my forehead while Aang puts on a hat, hiding our tattoos before turning back around.
"What are you kids doing out past curfew?" The head guard asks us.
"Sorry. We were just on our way home," Katara says as we turn around and start to walk away.
"Wait!" The guard shouts, making us stop in our tracks. "What's the matter with him?" He asks, pointing to Sokka.

"Uh...he has pentapox, sir," I tell him. That's not a real thing, hopefully, they don't realize that.
"Um...it's highly contagious!" Katara says as the guard reaches out to Sokka.
"Ugh...It's so awful...I'm dying..." Sokka says, acting as though he's in misery.
"...and deadly..." Katara adds.
"Wait, I think I've heard of pentapox," The guard says as he backs away. "Didn't your cousin Chang die of it?" He asks one of the guards that stand behind him as he begins to back away.
"We'd better go wash our hands...and burn our clothes!" The guard shouts as they turn around and run away in fear. We watch as they run off before we start to walk away too.  After a while, we see a few boulders begin to roll down a hill in front of us, heading start for a few people walking below us.

Aang quickly airbends the boulders away before they have a chance to hit the people below. The people below stare at him in shock, but soon glare.
"The resistance!" A woman yells pointing to us. A teenage girl with black hair and a gloomy look on her face begins to run at us. We start to run and the teenage girl follows, throwing knives at us. I stop running and turn around, letting Aang and Katara get behind me. I airbend pieces of wood at the girl but it doesn't stop her from attacking, she throws a knife at me and it lands in my staff. We all begin to back away from her as she gets ready to throw another knife, but suddenly, the ground below us falls and we land in some type of tunnel a bunch of earth kingdom soldiers and citizens staring down at us.