Chapter 8

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Chapter 8 We're almost at the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. I can't wait to find Appa! Wait, what's that? Oh, no! A huge Fire Nation invasion force is marching toward the city! There must be thousands of tanks and troops advancing toward the outer wall. And what's that? Some kind of huge metal drill? This can only mean one thing: They're planning on drilling right through the outer wall of Ba Sing Se to invade the city. This is awful! I have to warn the others! "Sorry, Momo. Appa's going to have to wait." I met my friends right outside Ba Sing Se's outer wall and told them about the drill. Toph and I Earthbended a ledge of rock up the side of the outer wall so that everyone could climb up and see the scary-looking drill moving closer and closer. Once inside the gates, I marched up to the first guard I could find. I told him that I was the Avatar and he should take me to whoever was in charge. Then the three Firebenders who were following us showed up and attacked the Earth Kingdom soldiers. One of them, Ty Lee, actually takes people's chi away, leaving them unable to bend. Pretty scary stuff. Anyway, Sokka has a plan to stop the drill by

hitting its pressure points. The drill is made up of an inner section and an outer one. We figure if we cut through the braces, the whole thing will collapse. As we walked back toward the drill, Toph whipped up a dust storm so that we wouldn't be seen. When the drill was directly above us, Sokka, Katara, Momo, and I jumped onto it. Toph stayed outside to slow the drill down from there with her Earthbending. We're making our way through the drill; it's a twisting maze of pipes and valves. It's turning out to be too hard to cut through them completely, so we're just going to weaken them, and then I'll go up to the top of the drill and deliver a final Airbending blow. Then the whole thing will collapse! It sounds simple enough, but the thing is, everyone inside the city is depending on this plan succeeding. Once again, it's all up to me, the Avatar. I just hope that I won't let them down… One by one we hurried from brace to brace, slashing each one with our waterwhips until it was weakened. Just as we were finishing with the final brace, the three firebenders—Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee

—launched an attack on us. "Split up!" I cried. Katara tossed me her water pouch, then she and Sokka dashed down a corridor. Ty Lee and Mai followed them. Azula stayed behind. "The Avatar's mine!" she cried. I don't have time for this now—I have to complete our plan! Momo and I are dashing through the tank —we're finally at the top. Oh, no! The drill is already boring into the outer wall—the last line of the Earth Kingdom's defense! I used Katara's water to slash an X-shaped cut into the top of the drill's armor in preparation for my final blow. That's when Azula caught up with me and unleashed blast after blast of fire. I deflected what I could by Airbending, but when I tried to stop her with a water whip, she evaporated my supply! No matter what I did, she had me backing up. Is Azula just too powerful for me to defeat? I actually feel sorry for Zuko now, having to deal with such a ruthless enemy, not to mention sister! Zuko is dangerous, but at least he has a decent reason for always trying to capture me: to get back into the good graces of his father, the Fire Lord. Azula is just plain crazy. It's like she enjoys hurting people and destroying things—as if she finds that fun, not just a necessary part of war. That ruthlessness makes her a

much more dangerous opponent than Zuko ever could be. I'd take Zuko over his cold-blooded sister any day. Azula keeps firing at me. I just need to keep fighting… Azula may be more powerful than me, but I have to be smarter. I HAVE to stop her so I can bring down the drill. Yes! She stumbled. Now's my chance… While Azula struggled to regain her balance, I grabbed a big rock. I Earthbended the rock in half, sharpening one end into a point. Then I rested the point in the X-shaped cut. I just needed some momentum for this to work. …Just as Azula got back to her feet, I dashed down the wall, leaped into the air, and came down with all my might. Using a powerful Earthbending blow, I slammed my hands into the top of the rock spike I had made and left on top of the X-shaped cut in the drill. BOOM! The spike dug into the hull with such force that the weakened braces split and the whole machine broke apart. A river of slurry shot from the hole I had created, knocking Azula off the machine. I hopped onto the slurry and rode the wave down, like a surfer. Woohoo! This is so great! The drill has been

destroyed, the Fire Nation attack has been stopped, and the city is safe. I almost feel free again, like I used to feel all the time when I went penguin sledding, and riding giant porpoises just for fun—before this war started, before Azula. I kind of feel like I'm just Aang again, not Aang the Avatar.