ignite444

Apr 20 2008, 11:37 PM

*Gasp* Kelli updates this story?? What a shock!

Hmm, it's been a while since I've written in you journal hasn't it? The world's problems has kept me busy these past months that I haven't gotten much of a break. But enough of that, I'll continue from where I left off in our journey.

So let's see, oh yes. We left the North Pole and headed for the Earth Kingdom to meet up with General Fong. Just let me say, that guy was crazy! I mean, he had good intentions and all, but what he wanted from me was dangerous. I didn't want to do it at first, but I later agreed to it when he showed me what was happening to Earth Kingdom soldiers. You're probably wondering what I'm talking about huh? Well, when we first arrived, he told me I was ready to face the Fire Lord at that point. I swear my jaw dropped to the ground when he said that! We retorted of course, saying that I hadn't mastered all the elements yet. Lo and behold, he wanted me to use the Avatar State to defeat the Fire Lord; telling me what amazing power I had and that I could learn to control it. Obviously I told him with a straightforward "No!" He seemed way too calm when I said that and showed me the injured Earth Kingdom soldiers and told me how they were the lucky ones to survive. I thought about it that night and told him the next day that I would agree to learn to control the Avatar State. Katara wasn't very pleased about it one bit and told me she wouldn't see me get hurt while doing it.

The day after, we started. Why Katara was there when she said she didn't want to be was beyond me, but I didn't question her. We tried a variety of ways to unlock the Avatar State, and none seemed to work. I told Fong that they weren't working and that I was done with the whole thing. He said he understood and flung me out the window with earthbending! I was dazed at first but I quickly came around to see a multitude of earthbenders surrounding me. General Fong ordered them to attack me and so began the battle.

Uh, I'll just sum up what happened. They began attacking me, I dodged them without fighting back, Katara and Sokka came to help, General Fong threatened Katara and I went into hysterics, I went into the Avatar State, destroyed the battle field, got pulled out of my body by Roku to be shown what would happen if I were to die in the Avatar State, woke up, Katara came over to comfort me, Sokka owned General Fong when he wouldn't shut up, and we left. Whew, I was glad that was over! Oh, I forget to say that I had a nightmare about the Avatar State before all that crap happened, but it's not too important.

Anyway, after we left we started heading to Omashu. We took a break beforehand though so I could learn some more waterbending. This day is one of my fondest of memories.

While we were practicing and Sokka was lounging around in his underwear, this group of singing nomads showed up. Man, they sure weren't the brightest lamp of the bunch! And I thought Sokka was dense. But anyway, they began singing about a cave called The Cave of Two Lovers. All of us were enjoying it, except for Sokka of course. Sokka then said we should continue on to Omashu. I hate admitting it, but I agreed. The nomads told us to take the cave, but I explained that Appa was more comfortable in the air and that we could handle the Fire Nation. We sure got singed on that one when we tried to fly! So we went back to the nomads and decided to take the cave.

Bet you want to know what happened then huh? Alright I'll tell you. We entered the cave and these wolf bats came flying at us. Someone dropped their torch (I couldn't see who but I'm assuming it was Sokka) and it scared Appa. He began ramming into the walls causing the ceiling of the cave to come crashing down. I airbended Sokka and the nomads to one side of the cave and noticed that Katara was in the direct path of the rocks, so I ran as fast as I could and tackled her to the ground before the rocks could crush her beautiful body. I looked up to see a gigantic wall of rock separating us from the rest of the group with Appa pawing at it.

After walking for a while, we came across this large circular door that we assumed to be the exit. Appa charged at it and it opened. We were crestfallen to see that it wasn't an exit, but instead a tomb. We decided to explore it since there didn't seem to be an exit in site. We came across the story of Oma and Shu and how the cave and the city of Omashu came about. I then spotted a large statue of the two kissing behind us. Katara then read "Love is brightest in the dark." I didn't understand what it meant until... Well, I'll get to that in a moment.

We stood there in silence for a couple of minutes until Katara spoke. She suggested that we should kiss to try and get out. My reaction? Stupidity of course. Being 12 and in love sure didn't help one little bit. I acted like a little kid! Damn I felt stupid! I don't blame her for getting pissed at me.

After a while, the torch started going out. And what did we do? Well, first she grabbed the part of the torch that was above my hand and we stared into each other's eyes dreamily. Then we slowly leaned in, closed our eyes and... And... Well, I wasn't sure whether it was a kiss or not, it sure FELT like a kiss, but I was too into the moment to really notice.

Sometime within the next 5 seconds, these crystals shone bright above us on the cave ceiling. They trailed down a path that we assumed to be the exit. We stood there staring for a few seconds just marveling at them. Katara started explaining why they lit up. Honestly, it didn't make any sense to me because I was thinking of a different reason at the time. My reason? Well, if the crystals glow when it's dark, then why weren't they shining before we got there? I think something supernatural is behind them. It obviously had to do with us and the bond/love we share for each other. Whether Katara ever figured that out is to question because I don't know. What I do know is the meaning of "Love is brightest in the dark."

OK, so we hugged, got the hell out of there, met up with Sokka and the nomads, blah blah moving on.

We got the edge of the cliff just as Sokka was introducing us to the city like he had been there before and we hadn't. We were all in shock to see the entire city under siege of the Fire Nation. Katara had suggested that we leave and find a new earthbender to teach me. I did forget to say that we were travelling there so that Bumi could teach me earthbending. Anywho, I told her that we were going to rescue him no matter what.

Not much happened other than fighting some chick that could shoot lightning, a dagger lady, and some acrobatic girl that could paralyze people temporarily. We also had to exchange a baby for Bumi, but that backfired and that's how we ended up fighting them. I managed to get the hell out of there with Bumi just to find out he wouldn't teach me earthbending because I needed someone who waited and listened before striking an opponent. I had no idea what he was talking about at that time, but I later did when I found said person.

So we left and later came across a swamp that seemed to be able to talk. Strange, very strange. I had wanted to land there because it was calling out to me, but Sokka and Katara told me otherwise, resulting in a tornado that came out of nowhere forcing us to the surface. That surface being disgusting swamp water that Katara and Sokka slammed into. I on the otherhand floated down. I noticed that Appa and Momo weren't with us and proceeded to call for them with no luck. I gave up and headed back to Sokka and Katara.

We settled down for the night after arguing wih Sokka to stop chopping down the swamp. Suddenly vines wrapped around us and we had to fight them off. Of course, we got separated from each other. I managed to fight the stupid thing off and called out for my friends. Out of nowhere this girl with a flying boar appears giggling. For some reason or another, I was compelled to follow her and I did so. I ended up slamming into Katara of course, but that didn't bother me at all. The both of them told of their sightings and we then had to battle this giant swamp monster. In the end, it was basically a guy bending the water in the vines who was just protecting the swamp.

He led us to main tree of the entire swamp and gave us a speech of how everything was connected to one source or whatever, just like this tree was with the entire swamp. I used my Avatar powers and located Appa and Momo before they were eaten. I would have been pissed and would have went into a fit of rage if that happened. So we rescued them, stayed there one more night, and left the next day.

Our next little adventure was in a town that hated the Avatar. Not much to say about it, other than that I got thrown in jail, got some advice on Katara by my cell mates, got to wear make up (I felt pretty!), and changed the town's mind about the Avatar. Nothing too exciting really.

We later found the town of Gaoling, hoping to find me an earthbending teacher there. There was a school that was owned by some guy named Master Yu which I tried out. Ugh, the only thing that happened was that I got owned and was thrown into a pot of dirt. That absolutely sucked big time.

So we found out about a tournament called Earth Rumble 6 and decided to try that to find me a teacher. So we sat there round after round watching this guy The Boulder creaming everyone that stepped into the arena. Eventually at the end, last year's champion stepped into the arena. I was surprised to see that it was a young blind girl that went by the name The Blind Bandit. She easily overthrew The Boulder. The announcer, whom I believed was Xin Fu, asked the audience if anyone was brave enough to face The Blind Bandit. I sought this opportunity and challenged her just to talk to her. She called me a girl, but it didn't phase me and I tried to talk to her, only to get rocks thrown at me. I kept dodging her attacks trying to get her to reason with me. Nothing doing, she threw more rocks at me and I sent them right back at her with airbending, making her slide right out of the arena. I followed her over to where she was leaving and called out to her, trying to get her to listen. No good, she just made a door with her earthbending and left, making me feel miserable. I walked back over to the center of the ring and stood there in sadness as Sokka accepted the gold and belt for me.

I needed to know who she was and where she lived, so we asked around town and finally got our answer. She was the daughter of the Bei Fong's, the richest people in the town. We headed over to her house, only to be threatened to be caught by guards from her. I then came up with an idea on how to get in and success! She didn't seem happy about it though. We learned her name at dinner - Toph, Toph Bei Fong. Why they would name her "drum" is beyond me, but I did like the name. We had a little fight at dinner as I tried to convince her parents that she was indeed a great earthbender. It's obvious she wanted me to keep my mouth shut, but I asked her what her problem was. We called it truce later on and she took me into her yard to tell me how she can earthbend blind. It was fascinating, it really was.

OK, so we got captured after that, was rescued, well, she was, I was about to be sent off to the Fire Lord. Sheesh, the world treated me like I was just an item that people could use, like a toy or something. Anyway, I had no idea what was going on after Toph was released until Sokka and Katara got me out of this metal cage that they trapped us in. She was totally owning their asses in earthbending all by herself. I was amazed! I sure picked the right person to teach me earthbending!

Afterward, they kicked us out of the house and told us to leave. Poor Toph was upset about it because her parents were being too harsh on her. She wanted to come with us badly. As we were about to leave, she came up to us and said that her parents changed her mind. I was full of glee when she said that. Whether I believed her or not, I didn't care, I was just happy to get an earthbending teacher! We left shortly after.

For the next few days we relaxed I think. I'm not entirely sure as those days are foggy in my memory. What I do remember is afterward. Things were still pretty uptight in our group with Toph in it now. She wouldn't help us out at all. This one night in particular we were setting up camp and she refused to help us, saying that she carried her own weight. Katara was getting pissed off, but she held in her anger. After camp was set up, we fell asleep, and would you know it, trouble had arisen. Toph came out of her rock tent that she made and told us something was coming. We quickly packed and took off on Appa to try and find a safe spot to sleep. Once again, Toph wouldn't help, and this time Katara let her anger be known. I tried to calm them down, but I ended up being screamed at by Katara. I swear she was PMSing or something.

We finally settled down to only to be moving again when Toph said the thing was coming back. We lifted off into the air and looked off into the distance to see a huge metal monster vehicle... Thing... We weren't sure what it was, but it was moving at a rapid pace across the landscape. We flew to a mountainous area and just crashed from exhaustion. Not knowing who it was that was following us, we just assumed it was Zuko since we hadn't seen him for a while. I doubted it of course, but I didn't have any input so I kept my mouth shut. Again, the thing came into view. This time however, we stood our ground to see who it was. The hatch opened on the metal vehicle and out came the crazy bitch and her companions. We tried fighting them, but it was no use so we ran. The only option we had left was to keep flying and that's what we did, until Appa fell asleep in the air and we fell out of the sky and headed toward the ground at an alarming rate. I managed to get Appa to wake up and he skidded to a stop on the ground.

I'll just sum up the next few things that happened. We got into an argument with Toph, gave Appa a bath, and tried to trick what's-her-name. We later learned it was Azula. Her friend's were Ty lee and Mai. But anyway, I had to fight both Azula and Zuko in this ghost town that I came across, expecting to only fight Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Apparently the trick didn't work. But whatever, Katara and Sokka came to my aid along with Toph and Zuko's uncle Iroh. We all backed Azula into a corner and she hit Iroh in the heart with lightning. We all fired our attacks at her, but she disappeared. We went over to Zuko wanting to help Iroh, but he told us to get the hell out of there and so we did. Appa flew us to a secluded area in the mountains and we slept, tired from the lack of sleep we had to put up with.

Two days later, Toph was ready to teach me earthbending and I was excited. She started me off with small things, which I couldn't do. Nothing she was teaching me was going through and I was getting upset. Katara comforted me and told me that I was working with my natural opposite and that it would be harder to learn earthbending because of it.

I went for a walk at sunset just to find Sokka stuck in a hole in the ground. I sat down and talked to him for a bit. Eventually, I tried to get him out of it without any luck. I was doing everything I could when an angry saber-toothed moose lion mother attacked us. I managed to get her away from us with airbending. Toph was sitting there slowly clapping at me and I asked her she wouldn't help and she just told me to earthbend because I had the guts and moxy to do so. And voila! I did, I finally earthbended. So Toph went over, got Sokka out of the ground, and we headed back to camp. I was eager to show Katara that I could earthbend and I did.

After training so much, I decided that we all needed a break. I took them to a desert (Why? I have no clue). There I pulled out my flute and showed them my musical "talent." I then went over to Katara and told her to pick a place for a mini vacation. She picked an oasis. So we went there and met this guy from Ba-Sing-Se University who was looking for an ancient library. Sokka decided to pick the library as his vacation and we agreed. Toph wasn't pleased about not being able to pick a place though. I would have let her if Sokka didn't already tell her she couldn't, but oh well.

We left and searched the desert for what seemed to be an eternity until we spotted it buried under the sand. Nothing but the very top of it was showing. We followed a fox in through the top window and used a rope to get down to the bottom (We left Toph and Appa outside). Why I didn't fly them down confuses me, but whatever. We got down there and the guardian and owner of the library, Wan Shi Ton, told us to leave and that humans were not welcome in his library. All we were there for was knowledge is what we told him, and we presented the owl with knowledgeable items, well, almost all of us. Sokka gave him fancy string.

All of us explored the library, reading the interesting things that it had to offer. Sokka was stealing various pieces of parchment and books and hid them away out of site. This fox then came up to us and we followed it to what appeared to be a planetarium of sorts. It was incredible! All you had to do was set the time, day, and year and see what the sky would look like on that day. Sokka entered the dates on this piece of paper that he found and turned the lever. What came up was an eclipse, a solar eclipse. He went nuts and told us that this would be our ticket to victory over the Fire Nation. Wan Shi Ton entered at that point and attacked us. Scattering, we went in different directions to get away from him. Sokka decided to drag me back to the planetarium to find out when the next eclipse would be. We found it, he wrote it down, and we went back to our friends and got the hell out of there with Wan Shi Ton on our tail. The professor stayed behind though. I didn't want him to, but there was no time to argue.

We got out to find Appa missing. Toph didn't tell us anything, she just shook her head when I asked her where he was. Tears came to my eyes as the truth hit me. He was stolen and Toph didn't do anything about it...

Closing the journal, Aang gave a deep sigh.

"I need a breather before I continue on."

He got up and took a walk in the cool, night air.