The Lost Scrolls: Earth (Avatar: The Last Airbender) (Chapter Books - Fixed)

by Nickelodeon

  Then, as the warden walked away, a lump of coal

  struck him in the back of the head. He spun around,

  furious, and saw what I saw—Haru controlling three

  pieces of coal floating in a circle above his hand.

  I felt my spirit rushing back. I had gotten through

  to Haru. But would the others follow?

  Enraged, the warden shot a stream of flames

  right at Haru. Suddenly, a huge wall of coal rose up,

  blocking the flame. Haru and I looked over at the

  same time to see that Tyro had Earthbended a wall to

  save his son’s life.

  “Show no mercy!” cried the warden as he and his

  guards let loose their Firebending blasts.

  “For the Earth Kingdom!” Tyro shouted. “Attack!”

  Inspired, the other Earthbenders joined in

  and blocked each fire blast with coal. Finally, the

  Earthbenders created one huge disc of coal, scooped

  up the warden and his guards with it, and then

  hovered it over the ocean.

  “No! Please! I can’t swim!” cried the warden.

  “Don’t worry,” replied Tyro. “I hear cowards

  float.”

  Then he dissolved the large disc, and the warden

  and his guards plunged into the churning sea.

  I was so proud of Haru and the others, and so glad

  I could help in some small way.

  “I want to thank you for saving me,” Haru said as

  Aang, Sokka, and I prepared to leave on Appa. “For

  saving us.”

  “All it took was a little coal,” I said, blushing

  uncontrollably.

  “It wasn’t the coal, Katara. It was you,” Haru said.

  Then Tyro stepped beside us. “Thank you for

  helping me find my courage, Katara of the Water

  Tribe,” he said. “My family, and everyone here, owes

  you much.” Then Tyro bowed to me. I couldn’t

  believe such a wise and talented bender was bowing

  to me! I was so honored.

  Haru asked me to come back to his village with

  him, but as much as I wanted to stay with him, I knew

  I couldn’t. As Sokka, Aang, and I flew off on Appa,

  I realized how powerful courage is, and how much

  I had within myself. And for the first time in a long

  time I felt hopeful about the future.

  The people of the Earth Kingdom are proud

  and strong and adhere to a philosophy of peaceful

  coexistence and cooperation with the other nations of

  the world. Earthbenders use their abilities for defense

  and industry and have fiercely defended their cities

  against attacks by the Fire Nation.

  EARTH KINGDOM

  INSIGNIA

  The symbol of the

  Earth Kingdom is a square

  within a larger circle,

  within a still larger square,

  which symbolizes both the

  literal and figurative depth

  of the Earth Kingdom. I

  t represents the many

  layers of deep rock and coal that Earthbenders

  manipulate and use to run their great cities,

  and the depth of their commitment to a

  peaceful and productive way of life.

  the Earth Kingdom, its people, its cities, its beliefs,

  and its customs.

  There are some great cities that spread across the

  huge expanse that makes up the Earth Kingdom. The

  Kingdom’s capital, Ba Sing Se, is led by the Earth king

  and is the largest of all Earth Kingdom cities. The city

  of Omashu is led by King

  Bumi. The village of Kyoshi

  is located on an island

  and is home to a great

  tribe of female warriors,

  and Gaoling is a wealthy

  city full of commerce and

  culture. It is also home

  to Master Yu’s

  Earthbending

  Academy, where

  Earthbending

  tournaments are

  held.

  EARTH KINGDOM CITIES

  The Earth Nation’s dominant season is spring, the

  time when many living things on Earth are reborn. More

  Earthbenders are born during spring than any other season.

  Earthbenders are also strongest during the spring.

  SEASON

  BA

  SING

  SE

  GAOLI

  NG

  An abundance of fresh vegetables

  grows in the rich fertile soil, and fruit

  and nut trees are plentiful. Animals

  thrive in the lush forests and farmlands,

  providing beef and poultry to add to

  the fruits and vegetables. Rock and

  stone are two of the Earth Kingdom’s

  greatest natural resources, and are

  Earthbended into everything from

  tools to entire cities. Coal is mined

  in certain Earth Kingdom villages,

  providing fuel. Their forests are also

  used for fuel and for building.

  NATURAL RESOURCES/FOOD

  INDUSTRIES

  Architecture, farming, carpentry, hunting, and coal

  mining are important Earth Kingdom industries. The Earth

  people have developed an advanced trade and commerce

  system, as well as sophisticated sewage and mail delivery

  systems in Omashu.

  LOCATION

  The Earth

  Kingdom

  is by far the

  largest of all

  four nations.

  HO

  OSSUM

  BUTTERFL

  Y

  LEECH

  LLAR

  CANYON

  CRAWLERS

  The Earth Kingdom is home to

  a wide variety of animals including

  cats, moles, voles, gophers, hoppy-

  possums (a cross between frogs and

  possums), hippos, flying boars,

  creeping slime (an algaelike mass

  that crawls up the walls of the

  sewers in Omashu), monstrous

  canyon crawlers that live in the

  Great Divide, and insects such as ants,

  leech-a-pillars, and butterflies.

  ANIMALS

  Earthbenders use the Earth as their weapon. Extremely

  muscular, they use their own physical strength to power their

  attacks. The source of their power is the Earth itself—the

  very rock that makes up their planet combines with their own

  physical abilities to give an Earthbender his or her great power.

  PHILOSOPHY AND STYLE

  ANCIENT MARTIAL

  ARTS I

  NFLUENCE

  Earthbending uses techniques taken from the

 
Hung Gar style of kung fu. Like this ancient martial

  arts discipline, Earthbending is known for its strong

  stances rooted in the ground. Hung Gar kung fu is

  based on the movements of animals, including the

  tiger, which Earthbenders use when initiating hard

  blows, and the crane, which Earthbenders use to land

  gently back on the Earth.

  Earthbenders use many techniques during combat or

  construction.

  EARTHBENDING TECHNIQUES

  They can strike the

  ground with their hands or

  feet, causing small tremors

  or earthquakes.

  They can stomp

  the ground hard,

  causing a boulder to

  form and spring up,

  which they then kick

  toward an opponent.

  They can also bend the

  Earth in order to catapult

  themselves into the air, and

  then soften the Earth to

  cushion their landings. They

  can open cracks in the ground

  to swallow up an opponent,

  raise slabs of stone from the

  Earth to use as defensive walls

  (these are especially good at

  blocking fire), and levitate

  stones to propel them at

  opponents.

  Earthbenders can also magnetize

  their limbs to stone, allowing them to

  climb sheer walls or cliffs.

  An Earthbender has eighty-five jings, or choices of

  how to direct his or her energy. Of these, the neutral

  jing—listening and waiting for the right moment

  to strike—is the most important. The highest-level

  Earthbenders can change solid ground into quicksand

  to entrap approaching enemies.

  WEAKNESS

  Earthbenders’ most significant weakness is their

  inability to manipulate metal. The Fire Nation has

  exploited this weakness by attempting to surround

  Earthbenders with metal armor, ships, and forts.

  GROUP EARTHBENDING MOVES

  Earthbenders can combine their power using group

  movements to create a massive wall or huge boulder from

  many small pieces of coal, which can then be propelled toward

  an entire squadron of enemy troops. One Earthbender can

  lift a steady stream of small pieces of coal into the air, while

  another shoots the rocks forward at an enemy. They can

  also manipulate the coal into a large, flat disc, which can

  scoop up and carry away enemies.

  I’m Aang, the Avatar. When

  I was younger, I used to come

  to the Earth Kingdom city

  of Omashu to visit my

  friend Bumi. I returned

  to Omashu for the first

  time in one hundred

  years with my good

  friends Katara and

  Sokka on our way

  to the North Pole,

  and boy, what

  a crazy visit it

  was!

  Kingdom city of Omashu. Passed down by the Avatar

  himself, the story tells us of the valuable lesson he

  learned, one that would aid him in all of his future

  travels.

  My heart soared as I stood

  on a hilltop looking down at

  Omashu, towering over the

  valley below. The city was

  carved out of a mountain, and

  a long, stone bridge wound

  its way from the valley up to

  the city’s massive front gate.

  I ran up to the gate ready to

  enter, but as always, Katara

  was worried about me and

  what would happen if people

  found out I was the Avatar.

  So I put on a disguise: a

  mustache and wig made

  from Appa’s hair! It was

  so itchy, it drove me nuts.

  I don’t know how Appa

  stands it!

  But it worked. The guards used their awesome

  Earthbending powers to open the huge stone gates of

  Omashu and we were inside the city!

  The city was covered by a vast delivery system of

  stone chutes for mail, packages, and anything else

  they needed to move from the highest parts of the

  city to the lowest. Earthbending brought the carts up

  and gravity brought them down.

  “So they get their mail on time,” Sokka said,

  uninterested.

  “They do

  get their mail on time,” I replied. “But my

  friend Bumi found an even better use for these chutes.”

  One hundred years ago, Bumi had introduced me to

  a world of possibilities.

  “Instead of seeing what others want you to see,”

  Bumi had said, “try opening your mind to the

  possibilities. It’s not just a mail chute; it’s the world’s

  greatest superslide!”

  “Bumi, you’re a mad genius!” I’d cried. We

  climbed into a delivery cart and zoomed down the

  chutes, racing our way to the bottom. We had a blast!

  So I talked Katara and Sokka into taking just one

  ride with me. Katara gripped the cart for dear life, but

  I was having a ball. I had it all under control until

  my Airbending lifted our cart completely out of the

  chute! We sailed through the air, crashed through a

  potter’s house (I felt really bad about that), and then

  crashed into a cabbage vendor (I felt bad about that,

  too). We finally came to a stop, only to be met by the

  king’s guards. They took us before the king for our

  punishment.

  The king was a really old man. He looked weak

  and fragile, and I wondered how he had come to rule

  over such a powerful kingdom. I thought for sure

  we’d end up in jail, and it would all be my fault, but

  then the king announced his judgment.

  “Throw them a feast!” he proclaimed.

  And they did! The king kept eyeing me

  suspiciously at the table, and then he hurled a

  huge chicken leg right at me! I didn’t have time to

  think. I just caught the chicken leg in a ball of air,

  stopping it from pelting me in the face. Suddenly

  I realized I had made

  a big mistake. I had

  put us in danger.

  “It appears we have

  an Airbender in our

  presence,” the king

  announced. “And not

  just any Airbender—

  the Avatar!”

  I admitted to the king that I was the Avatar and

  started backing away toward the door. Katara and

  Sokka followed me, but the guards blocked
our way.

  It was no use.

  “Tomorrow the Avatar will face three deadly

  challenges,” the king announced. “But now the

  guards will show you to your chambers.”

  I awoke the next morning and Katara and Sokka

  were gone. I demanded to know where they were.

  “The king will free them if you complete the

  challenges,” the guard said.

  “And if I fail?” I asked, fearing the answer.

  “He didn’t say.”

  My friends’ safety depended on my ability to

  overcome whatever challenges the king had planned.

  I couldn’t fail. This was one of those times I wished

  that someone else was the Avatar.

  The guard led me into a large stone room, where

  Katara and Sokka were being held by two guards.

  Their fate rested in my hands.

  Then the king asked me what I thought of his

  outfit. I didn’t know what to say, but I wasn’t about

  to tell him that I thought it was ugly. In the end,

  I settled on fine. He smiled and told me I passed my

  first test. I was so relieved! But he was just toying with

  me—he said I’d passed the test, not the challenge. He

  seemed to enjoy watching me suffer. I was so furious

  that I unleashed a powerful Airbending move and

  demanded he give me back my friends now.

  “I thought you might refuse, so I gave your friends

  some special souvenirs,” the king said as the guards

  slid crystal rings on Katara and Sokka.

  “Those rings are made of pure Jennamite,” the king

  explained. “They are also known as creeping crystals.

  These crystals grow remarkably fast. By nightfall your

  friends will be completely encased in crystal. I can

  stop it, but only if you cooperate.”