by The Tale of Aang; Azula; Toph; Sokka; Zuko; Katara (retail) (epub)
A while later, with me leading and the nomads singing, the badger-moles burst through the far side of the mountain.
We made it—we were out! The nomads turned out to be good for something after all.
Aang, Katara, and Appa were waiting for us. “How did you guys get out?” I asked.
“Like the legend says, we let love lead the way,” Aang said.
Okay, that sounds corny, but whatever. “Really? We let huge ferocious beasts lead our way,” I bragged.
“Why is your forehead all red?” Katara asked me, but I didn’t explain.
“Nobody react to what I’m about to tell you,” Chong whispered as he pointed at Aang. “I think that kid might be the Avatar.”
I slapped my forehead in disbelief one more time, and Katara understood why it was red.
We said our good-byes and continued on our way to Omashu. As we reached the top of a hill I pulled out my telescope to get my first look at the great Earth Kingdom city.
“I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of O—Oh, no!” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A huge Fire Nation flag was hanging from the city’s main wall. How could this have happened? How could the Fire Nation have taken over Omashu? And what about King Bumi?
Our journey just got a whole lot tougher.
Chapter 2
What do we do now?
Aang was really upset. “Omashu always seemed untouchable,” he said.
“Up until now it was,” I said. “Now Ba Sing Se is the only great Earth Kingdom stronghold left.”
“This is horrible,” Katara said, “but we have to move on.”
“No,” Aang insisted.
“There are other people who can teach you Earthbending, Aang,” she pointed out.
“This isn’t about finding a teacher. It’s about finding my friend.”
Hard to argue with that, but we still had one little problem. How did we get inside? We couldn’t exactly stroll into an occupied city and ask to see the king, who may or may not still be in power.
That’s when Aang found a secret passageway. Actually, it was a filthy, slime-ridden sewer. Aang opened the entrance and a wave of thick, green muck came pouring out.
Oh, man, it was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever smelled! I thought I was going to be sick.
Aang used Airbending to create a bubble for us to walk in as we made our way along the sewer pipe, but for some reason I still came out completely covered in stinky muck at the other end.
The things I have to do to win a war.
We popped out of a manhole on a quiet street in the city and I could barely breathe. Katara washed the muck off me with a Waterbending move, then Aang dried me off with an Airbending wind. That’s when I noticed the little round, purple bug-type things attached to my face. “I’m doomed!” I yelled. “Some horrible poisonous sewer bugs are sucking the brains from my head! Help! Get them off! Ahh!”
“Stop making so much noise,” Aang scolded, reaching out for one of the bugs. “It’s just a purple pentapus.”
Aang gently tickled one of the hideous leeches with his finger and it let go. As he was freeing the creatures, a group of Fire Nation soldiers showed up. Uh-oh.
“What are you kids doing out past curfew?” one of them asked.
Curfew? The Fire Nation has imposed a curfew on the city? This was horrible. I struggled to come up with a good answer fast, but Katara beat me to it.
“We were just on our way home,” she replied.
Not great, but at least it’s an answer.
Then a Fire Nation soldier pointed at me and asked, “What’s the matter with him?”
What? What did he mean? What’s wrong with me? What was he talking about?
“He has pentapox, sir,” Katara said. “That’s what those spots are on his face.”
Spots? On my face? What is SHE talking about?
“It’s highly contagious,” Katara continued.
I finally got it. Those purple whatchamacallits must have left spots on my face. It was time for a little acting.
“It’s so awful!” I moaned in my best sick-guy voice. I can be a great actor. “I’m dying! Dying!”
“It’s also deadly,” Katara added.
Now for a little more moaning and coughing. Ah, the soldiers have taken off! They’re scared. Pentapox. Good one, Katara. And not a bad performance on my part, either.
We continued along the streets. It was weird. Last time we were here this was a busy city with people everywhere. Now it’s like a ghost town. Must be the curfew.
Then from out of nowhere a family came strolling down the empty street, guarded by more Fire Nation soldiers. They must be important people. Just before I could figure out who they were, a low rumbling noise filled the air.
I looked up and saw large boulders rolling down Omashu’s mail chutes, heading straight for the family, which included a teenage girl and a young boy.
Aang moved quickly, Airbending the boulders away from the family. To our surprise, the woman cried out, “The resistance!”
The teenage daughter immediately began flinging flying daggers at Aang—at all of us, in fact! What a way to show gratitude.
So the good news was that there must be some kind of organized resistance to the Fire Nation’s takeover of the city. The bad news was that the girl with the special daggers thought we were part of it! And she’s got good aim!
It was time to run!
As a dozen flying daggers zipped our way, the ground beneath us suddenly began to drop, and then stopped abruptly. We fell to the ground, and when I rubbed the dust out of my eyes I saw that we were underground, surrounded by a bunch of Earth Kingdom people. These guys were the resistance. They saved us.
“So is King Bumi with you guys?” Aang asked. “Is he leading the resistance?”
The look of surprise on everyone’s faces was unexpected.
“Of course not,” the resistance leader said. “On the day of the invasion King Bumi surrendered.”
He WHAT? Now this Bumi guy is a little crazy, but he’s an old friend of Aang’s and I can’t imagine anyone Aang trusts giving up his city so easily. But that’s apparently what happened.
“It doesn’t matter now,” the resistance leader added. “Fighting the Fire Nation is the only path to freedom.”
“Actually, there’s another path to freedom,” Aang replied. “You could leave Omashu.”
The Earthbenders gave us another surprised look, but they were willing to hear us out. It was my job to come up with a plan, something that would make the Fire Nation WANT everyone to leave.
“You’re all about to come down with a nasty case of pentapox.”
Throughout the city, Earth Kingdom citizens put pentapi on their faces and arms causing red spots to appear. “The spots make you look sick, but you have to act sick too,” I advised.
I gave them a few pointers, and then we were ready to put my brilliant plan into action. “Okay, everyone into the sick formation. Let’s go!”
Wouldn’t you know it, the Fire Nation governor bought our scheme completely! He ordered all the “infected” people out of the city, but Aang stayed behind to find Bumi. I guess it doesn’t matter what Bumi did to his city, Aang will stay loyal to his friend—even if he is insane!
I helped the others set up camp just outside the city. Aang returned a while later, with no news about Bumi. Then we discovered we had another problem. The little boy whose family we had saved earlier from the boulders had followed us out, and it turns out that it was the family of the Fire Nation governor!
The governor’s son is cute, but he insisted on playing with my boomerang like it was a toy. “No. Bad Fire Nation baby!” I scolded.
I took it away from him and he started screaming. I gave in. “Oh, all right. Here.”
Just then a messenger hawk flew into our camp with a scroll.
“It’s from the governor,” Aang said. “He thinks we took his son. He wants to make a trade—his son for King Bumi.”
Even though this seemed too convenient to me, Aang, Katara, and I headed back into the city with the kid.
“You realize we’re probably walking into a trap,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” Aang said. Sometimes he can be a little too trusting.
When we arrived at the meeting place, we were surprised that the governor was not there. Instead there were three girls, including one I recognized as the governor’s daughter—the one with the flying daggers. I’d better keep my eyes wide open and my boomerang ready.
They lowered Bumi down on a chain. He was stuck in a metal container—totally Earthbending-proof. Then the governor’s daughter stepped forward.
“The deal’s off,” she announced. Uh, did I miss something? What happened?
As Bumi’s box rose up, the governor’s daughter began flinging her daggers. I was right. This was a trap!
“We’ve got to get the baby out of here!” Katara cried.
“Way ahead of you!” I replied, dashing away with the kid.
Signaling for Appa to get us out, I blew on Aang’s bison whistle when someone tripped me. I skidded toward the edge of the high platform, but managed to stop before we fell off.
Then, hopping onto Appa’s back, I flew around to help Katara just as one of the girls—Ty Lee—pinched her, cutting off her chi and her ability to bend.
The governor’s daughter, whose name was Mai, pulled out a three-prong dagger. “How are you going to fight without your bending?” she taunted Katara.
I could not believe she said that. Like only benders can fight. Obviously she’d never met ME before. I flung my boomerang at the girl, knocking the dagger from her hand. “I seem to manage,” I said.
I helped Katara onto Appa and we flew to get Aang, who had been fighting off the third girl and trying to rescue Bumi. He didn’t get Bumi, but at least he got rid of the girl.
Aang returned the little guy to his parents. I’m going to miss the kid. Well, except for the whole boomerang-touching thing.
Chapter 3
As we flew over the Earth Kingdom I glanced down and saw that we were right above a thick, swampy forest. Suddenly a huge tornado came out of nowhere!
“Faster! We’ve got to go faster!” I called, but it was no use. We were going down!
The tornado tossed us around and around and we finally splashed down into the swamp. Katara and Aang landed next to me, but there were no signs of Appa or Momo. They could be anywhere in the thick tangle of vines, roots, and branches. Fortunately, I had the right tool for dealing with unruly forests—a machete.
“Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp,” Aang said as I started hacking away.
“Aang, these are just plants,” I said, not bothering to stop.
That night we made camp and quickly dozed off. But before I could fall into deep sleep, something woke me up. It was a vine! It had a tight hold of my ankle and was pulling me deeper into the jungle. I had to slice my way free and run, but wouldn’t you know it, the vines started chasing me!
The swamp was alive. “I’m sorry, swamp, I’m sorry, but please don’t drag me into the murky water,” I said. Then it let go of me.
“Stupid swamp,” I muttered. I had to find the others to tell them what happened, but I stumbled and plopped down into the muck. Then I heard someone calling my name. “Hello? Is there anyone there?” I called back.
I looked up toward the voice and couldn’t believe my eyes. A ghostly image floated above the swamp. It was Yue, princess of the Northern Water Tribe. A girl I really cared about. And who I couldn’t save at the North Pole. No, it couldn’t be her. That’s impossible. Yue was gone—forever.
This was just a trick of the light, or swamp gas. I rubbed my eyes and took a deep breath—and Yue was still there.
“You didn’t protect me,” she said, and disappeared. I felt even more sad and alone. I miss you, Yue. I’m sorry I let you down.
I continued wandering through the stupid swamp for what seemed like forever. Then I heard a noise. Something was coming toward me. I tightened my grip on the machete, and—OOF! Whatever it was just crashed into me.
“Aang! Katara! What are you doing? I’ve been looking all over for you!” I exclaimed, excited to see them.
“I was chasing some girl,” Aang said.
“I thought I saw Mom,” Katara added.
“Look we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us,” I told them. “That’s why we all saw things.”
“All our visions led us here,” Aang said, a little too knowingly.
“Okay, so where is ‘here’?”
“It’s the heart of the swamp. It’s been calling to us.”
Okay, this was some of that creepy, magical Avatar stuff that I have a hard time buying. If I can’t see something, eat something, or battle something, I don’t believe in it.
Suddenly a huge swamp monster rose up from the water and attacked us! After a long battle, with me slashing and Aang and Katara bending, we discovered that it was just a Waterbender bending the water in the vines.
“See? Completely reasonable,” I said to Aang. “Not a monster. Just a guy defending his home.”
“This whole swamp is actually just one tree, spread out over miles,” the Waterbender explained. “The tree is one big living organism. Just like the entire world.”
Oh, great. More magical, mystical Avatar stuff. But when Aang touched the huge tree, he had a vision of Appa and Momo. He saw where they were.
We wasted no time in rescuing them from some local Waterbenders and finally got out of the swamp. If I never see another one again it’ll be too soon!
We arrived in the Earth Kingdom town of Gaoling. A guy on the street handed us a flyer for Master Yu’s Earthbending Academy, and it had a coupon good for one free Earthbending lesson.
“Maybe this could be the Earthbending teacher you’re looking for,” Katara said to Aang.
But the guy at the academy turned out to be a sleazebag. All he was interested in was getting Aang’s money. Then we heard about an Earthbending tournament, called Earth Rumble Six, where the best Earthbenders in the world would be competing.
It was kind of a win-win thing. Aang would get to see the best Earthbenders, hoping that one of them might be able to teach him, and I would get to be in the crowd for the sporting event of the year.
After a few preliminary matches, the champion came out—and it was a young girl who was blind! She called herself the Blind Bandit. How in the world did she become the champ?
“She can’t really be blind,” Katara said. “It’s just part of her character, right?”
“I think she is,” Aang said.
“I think she’s going down!” I said.
But no, she fought hard, Earthbending like crazy and beating a guy called the Boulder, who was three times her size. It was amazing!
After that defeat, the guy who ran the tournament, Xin Fu, made an announcement. “I’m offering this sack of gold to anyone who can defeat the Blind Bandit!” There was silence. “What? No one dares to face her?” he taunted the crowd.
All of a sudden Aang jumped into the ring. “I will!” he shouted.
“Go, Aang! Avenge the Boulder!” If anyone could beat the Blind Bandit, it would be Aang. He was going to wipe her out!
But then Aang said the weirdest thing to the Blind Bandit. “I don’t want to fight you. I want to talk to you,” he said.
Okay, Aang, you have lost your mind. No talking! We’re here to win! Well, the Blind Bandit didn’t want to talk, anyway. She just wanted to fight. So they finally fought, and Aang beat her. All right, Aang! As his manager, I jumped into the ring and snatched up the sack of gold.
“Way to go, champ!” I exclaimed loudly.
Later, Aang told me that he thought the Blind Bandit was the Earthbending teacher he had been looking for.
“She was the girl in my vision in the swamp,” he explained.
Apparently when Aang was trying to rescue Bu
mi, the former Earth King had told him to find an Earthbending teacher who waited and listened. “That’s what the Blind Bandit did to beat all those other guys,” Aang added excitedly. “We’ve got to find her!”
So we tracked the girl to this amazing “rich people” estate. You know, huge house, sprawling gardens. We’re talking big bucks. Some family called the Beifongs. We snuck onto the grounds and surprised the girl, the Blind Bandit.
I guess she wasn’t too happy about it because the next moment the ground shot up under my feet. How in the world did she do that?
“What are you doing here?” the girl demanded.
“Well, a crazy king told me I had to find an Earthbender who listens to the earth,” Aang explained. “Then I had a vision in a magic swamp and—”
Katara took over. “What Aang is trying to say is that he’s the Avatar, and if he doesn’t master Earthbending soon he won’t be able to defeat the Fire Lord.”
“Not my problem,” the Blind Bandit said. “Now get out of here or I’ll call the guards.”
She didn’t realize how wrong she was! It’s obvious people like her are going to wait until the Fire Nation breaks down their doors before they realize that this war affects all of us. “Look, we all have to do our part to win this war, and yours is teaching Aang Earthbending,” I insisted.
“Guards!” she screamed.
We immediately scrambled back over the wall. Okay, time to come up with a way to convince her that we are not crazy, that we have a truly important mission.
Aang came up with a plan. I know, that’s usually my job, but occasionally I like to let other people share in a bit of glory. We went right up to the front door and announced that the Avatar was here to see the very important Beifong family. It worked! We were invited in for dinner. Not bad, Aang. Sometimes being with the Avatar has its perks.
The Blind Bandit, whose real name is Toph, was not pleased to see us. Especially when Aang tried his best to convince her why she had to be his teacher. And then, get this, we find out that Toph’s parents have no idea she’s the Blind Bandit! They don’t know that she’s a great Earthbender. They think she’s a helpless little blind girl!