Chosen by the Spirits | A male reader x Avatar the Last Airbender story

Chapter 14- The Chase (part 1)

It had only been a few minutes since we all split ways to go into our separate tents (or in my case, sleeping bag), but I could tell that I was going to struggle falling asleep tonight. The excitement of rejoining the gang, plus my heated argument with Sokka, meant that my brain was still whirring, and I knew it would take ages for me to relax and go to sleep. However, it quickly turned out that it didn't matter, as we would all be disrupted anyway.

"There's something coming towards us!" I heard Toph shout from inside of her earth tent. Everyone was quick to exit their tents, and I slipped myself out of my sleeping bag.

"What is it?" Aang asked in worry and confusion.

"It feels like an avalanche, but also not an avalanche," Toph said as he held her palm to the floor, feeling the vibrations of whatever was approaching. When she said this, I couldn't help but scoff and stifle a laugh. Sokka was less concealing as he approached us.

"Your powers of perception are frightening," he mumbled as he rubbed his eyes, likely tired from having been woken up. Despite her brother's sarcasm, Katara seemed genuine concerned about the interruption.

"Should we leave?" she worriedly asked us. We all glanced at each other, as if deciding what the best plan of action is.

"Better safe than sorry," Aang shrugged, and we all went to work with taking apart the camp. Well, all of us but Toph, that is, who unhelpfully just stood around the entire time. After a few minutes, we all sat in the large saddle on Appa's back as he elevated into the sky. I knew that it would take some time to get used to regularly being at tall heights like this, as it was all very new to me. As Appa raised into the darkness, we all glanced behind him, trying to spot what had caused us to flee. Even Toph looked, though it was surely futile for her. Trailing about a mile behind us was a large, heavily-armoured, tank-like vehicle covered in spikes. It had steam billowing out of a large funnel from the top, and I could hear the noise it was making from up here. It was a terrifying sight, mostly because we all had no clue what it was, who was behind it, and why it was following us.

After about an hour of flying, it became clear that we were all very tired and needed to rest. Aang let out a loud yawn as he steered Appa towards the ground. We landed with a big thump, having hopefully created a good amount of distance between us and whatever the hell was following us.

"Land, sweet land," Toph exclaimed as she hopped off of Appa's back onto the ground. "See you guys in the morning!".

"Actually, can you help us unload?" Katara asked nicely, though instantly Toph brushed it off.

"Really? You need me to help you unload Sokka's funky-smelling sleeping bag?" she questioned, which evidently annoyed Katara a bit.

"Well yeah. That and everything else. You're a part of our team now, and-" she started before Toph cut her off angrily.

"Look, I didn't ask you to unload my stuff. I'm carrying my own weight," she claimed sternly, and I saw Katara's frustration rise with every word. An argument between the two ensued about Toph's lack of contribution, which ended in Toph bending another earth tent, and Katara shouting at her from outside of it. Aang, Sokka and I all mutually agreed that we were too exhausted to set up tents, and instead just rolled out our sleeping bags and got into them.

Not long later we were all laying in our sleeping bags next to each other. I had my eyelids shut, and I felt myself slowly drifting off until I heard Katara's voice. "The stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad you can't see them, Toph!" she yelled inconsiderately. I heard a grunt of annoyance from over where Toph's earth tent was and, though my eyes were still closed, I heard a wave of earth hit Katara. I assumed by the yelling that followed that Katara had landed on Sokka, who was also trying to sleep.