Naya and the Last Airbender

vi. The Day of Black Sun - Part ii

          SOKKA, Aang, Toph, and I rode on Appa and Bonbi (who was coated in armor which took me by surprise) toward the bunker in the mountain. Yue was surprisingly on top of Bonbi. She wore a small helmet, the same material as my dragon's. While a part of me hurt to see them again, I was also glad that they happened to bond while I was gone.

Once the animals landed we jumped off of his back. Toph rolled on the ground and felt the earth, using her seismic ability to sense whether or not there was a bunker beneath us.

"Stay here guys," I whispered to my dragon and koala-otter, who both protested me leaving again. "I promise I'll come back."

"Do you feel anything down there?" Aang asked.

"Yep. There are natural tunnels crisscrossing through the inside of the volcano," she confirmed.

"Anything else? Is there a structure somewhere?" Sokka queried.

Toph shoved her hands into the ground. "There's something big, dense, and made of metal deep in the heart of the volcano."

"Sounds like a secret bunker to me!"

Toph opened a tunnel for us to walk through. She glanced back at me, gesturing to help her. I shook my head while rubbing my hands.

"I, um, I'm saving my energy for the Fire Lord."

Sokka hesitated and made a face at me but eventually grabbed my arm and pulled me underground. Aang quickly followed us.

"This way, that way is a dead-end," Toph told.

"What would we do without you?" Sokka questioned.

"Perish and burn in hot magma," Toph answered simply.

"Yeah pretty much," Sokka agreed.

We headed deeper into the mountain where it got hotter as we moved forward. Since my firebending was gone, so was my ability to withstand great heat. I felt the sweat drop down my forehead due to the presence of the hot magma.

We eventually ran towards a clearing with geysers spewing hot air.

"The tunnel continues on the other side and it leads right to the bunker," Toph told.

"We'll have to be fast but careful."

As soon as Sokka stepped, the geyser erupted and he yelped. Aang blasted air on the lava while Sokka regained his composure.

"How was that careful?" I asked.

"I was wrong. We need to be fast, careful, and lucky," Sokka said, and we all took it as our cue to dash between the geysers to the other side.

The problem was when we moved across we were welcomed with a river of lava below us. There was nowhere to walk across unless we wanted to melt.

"It's just a river of lava."

Aang twirled his staff. "Climb aboard and hold on tight."

With a lot of screaming and almost vomiting, Aang eventually got us to the end of the lava river. I landed on the ground and tried to catch my breath, as well as keep my rice in my stomach. The four of us, once we were all ready, started to run through the tunnel once more. We ran until there was a round hunk of metal in sight. The bunker.