Chapter 4

The city of Ba Sing Se is the capital of the Earth Kingdom. It is where the Earth Kingdom ruler lives, and is the center of culture, education, finance, and agriculture as well.

My father and uncle knew that if Ba Sing Se fell, the Earth Kingdom would fall. If the Earth Kingdom falls, the Fire Nation will complete its destiny and control the entire world. Ba Sing Se is the key. Iroh tried years back to invade the walled fortress, but failed miserably. He didn’t take the Earthbenders’ defenses and their resolve seriously enough, and it cost him dearly.

Since Iroh’s failure, my father has been obsessed with taking Ba Sing Se. His war minister and generals have been working for years on a device to break through Ba Sing Se’s fortified outer wall—an enormous drill. When I learned the drill was completed and on its way to the city, I knew that this would be the means to make up for my recent difficulties in capturing Iroh, Zuko, and the Avatar.

How sweet that I will be the one who finally completes the capture of Ba Sing Se. I will take command of the drill and lead the Fire Nation to victory. I will deliver the crushing blow that takes down the city and destroys the Earth Kingdom in one powerful assault. Once Ba Sing Se is in my hands, all else will become irrelevant. The Earth Kingdom will be ours, and the war will be over quickly—with my father in his rightful position as ruler of the entire world.

Mai, Ty Lee, and I caught up to the drill a short distance from Ba Sing Se. I immediately took command from the war minister, who had been leading the attack. He boasted that the drill would easily break through the outer wall of Ba Sing Se in a single day. Then he showed me the device.

The drill stood one hundred feet tall and was actually made up of two parts. The drill itself, which would bore an opening in the wall, was completely encased in a metal shell. The drill was connected to the shell by a series of braces, and the shell was impervious to any known substance or force.

I am thrilled! The drill is an incredibly efficient tool encased in armor that cannot be pierced. This machine is virtually unstoppable, and with it I shall begin the final phase of the Fire Nation’s world victory!

I continued toward Ba Sing Se. The war minister remained with me and my crew, who ran the enormous contraption.

My father had also sent a fleet of small tanks to accompany the drill, in case we met any resistance. I laughed as I peered from the drill’s command bridge at the tiny tanks, which looked like children’s playthings flanking us on either side.

The view from the command bridge spread out before me as we approached the city. At my first glimpse of our target—the outer wall—the thrill of conflict swept through my bones. I live for conquest and success, and this time I will not fail my father.

“This drill is a feat of scientific ingenuity and raw destructive power,” the war minister said as the wall drew closer.

He certainly does love his mechanical monstrosity. But his boasting grows tiresome. “Yes, so you’ve said,” I responded.

“Once it tunnels through the wall, the troops accompanying us in the tanks will storm the city. The Earth Kingdom will finally fall, and you can claim Ba Sing Se in the name of your father. Nothing can stop us,” the war minister continued.

Ty Lee leaned over my shoulder and peered out the window. “What about those guys down there?” she asked.

I followed her gaze and spotted a platoon of Earthbenders lining up in the path of the drill.

The war minister snorted his contempt for Ty Lee’s concern. “Please. The drill’s metal shell can handle any Earthbending attack.”

He is really starting to get on my nerves. I need to cover all possibilities. I will take no chances. “Oh, I’m sure it can,” I said. “But just to be on the safe side—Mai, Ty Lee, go take the Earthbenders out. I want nothing standing in our way.”

“All right!” Mai cried as she and Ty Lee headed for the exit. “Finally something to do!”

I watched as the Earthbenders created a huge column of rock directly in our path on the battlefield below. The grinding tip of the drill pierced the rock tower, easily pulverizing it into dust, and the drill rolled steadily forward.

Well … perhaps the war minister is correct in his complete confidence in the machine. This may indeed prove to be an easy task. Father will be so impressed with me!

Ty Lee and Mai slid down the outside shell of the drill and leaped toward the Earthbenders. Mai flung daggers to provide cover for Ty Lee, who bounced and tumbled her way to a large man—obviously the Earthbenders’ captain. One by one, she struck key pressure points on his body, first blocking his bending ability, then causing him to collapse onto the ground. With their captain defeated, and Ty Lee and Mai gaining the upper hand, the Earthbenders quickly retreated. The girls slipped back inside the drill, which rumbled on, unimpeded, inching closer to the wall.

“This drill is so slow,” Mai complained, falling back into the seat to catch her breath.

“Slow!” the war minister exclaimed. “Breaking through the outer wall of Ba Sing Se took General Iroh six hundred days!” he continued. “We will do so in one.”

Mai shrugged. “Whatever.”

Ty Lee suddenly pointed out the window at a cloud of dust rolling toward the drill. “Hey, look at that. It’s so … poofy. You know. Poof.”

What is that? Is there something hidden within the cloud? I can’t imagine it could be something that would pose a serious threat to this machine.

“Don’t worry, Princess,” the war minister said smugly. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Just a harmless cloud of dust.”

A few seconds later the cloud vanished, as if the drill had run right over it.

Maybe he was right. Perhaps it was simply a harmless dust cloud. Some trick of the wind. We continued forward, unhampered.

Suddenly the entire machine began to vibrate and hum. We shook and bounced for a few seconds, and then a high-pitched whirring sound cut through the dull din of the vehicle’s motor.

We are in! The drill has hit the wall and begun its work, boring its way into the city. The assault on Ba Sing Se is under way at last!

“Congratulations, crew!” the war minister shouted into a metal pipe that served as the drill’s communication system. “You can start the countdown to victory!”

However, a few minutes later the war minister’s declaration proved to be premature. A bell rang, indicating an incoming message for the war minister on the communication system. In a panicked voice, a crew member informed us that an engineer had been ambushed, his plans for the drill had been stolen, and one of the braces that held the outer shell to the drill had been cut.

Sabotage! Somehow, someone has gotten into the drill and is trying to stop us from the inside! So that harmless cloud of dust was not quite so harmless after all. We must stop this threat before it spreads.

“Ladies, come with me!” I commanded, not even bothering to look at the war minister. I will deal with him after I finish handling this fiasco, for which I’m willing to bet my throne that the Avatar is responsible.

Ty Lee, Mai, and I hurried to the section of the machine between the drill and the outer shell. There, as I expected, we found the Avatar and his companions attempting to destroy another brace.

Very clever, Avatar. You may have snuck in here hidden by a dusty cloud, but you will never leave this drill alive! You have interfered with my plans for the last time.

I hurled a sizzling blast of blue fire at the Avatar, but he and two others dodged my attack. Then they split up. The Waterbending girl and the other boy ran one way, the Avatar in the opposite direction. I did not see the Earthbending girl with them.

“Follow them!” I shouted to Ty Lee and Mai. “The Avatar is mine!”

The Avatar disappeared around a bend. I followed up the chamber and emerged outside to find him Waterbending slashes into the metal armor at the top of the drill.

I unleashed a burst of flames at the Avatar, but he spun, and pushed my attack aside with his Airbending. He was also ready for my next attack, countering it with a huge gust of wind that swept toward me.

You are good, Avatar. But not good enough!

I launched myself over his airburst and landed beside him. Then I fired a swift series of short fire bursts one after another. But the Avatar slapped my hands aside with a whip made of water.

Impressive. His Waterbending skills have grown. But as everyone knows, fire evaporates water.

I focused my next blast right at his water whip. The whip sizzled into steam and vanished into the air. Just then, a flurry of rocks swept up from below, pelting both of us.

Earthbenders were attacking from the ground!

The Avatar redirected all the rocks at me, and I planted myself facedown on the surface of the shell to avoid them. After the rocks had passed me, I snapped back to my feet and blasted more fire at the Avatar. But he quickly formed more rocks into a wall, which deflected my flames. So he does have Earthbending skills as well now.

Thrusting each hand forward, the Avatar punched rocks at me. But I have come across attacks of this nature before. I drew myself up into the crane stance. Balancing all my weight on one leg, I kicked the incoming rocks away with the shin guard on my raised leg, all the time moving closer to the Avatar and tossing fire at him.

Unable to counter my relentless onslaught, he moved backward, toward the drill.

There was nowhere for him to run! But I had no time to gloat. The Avatar suddenly drew loose rocks to him and formed a shield around his arm. He swung his rock gauntlet quickly and struck me in the stomach. Reeling backward, I spun around before regaining my footing. Just as I turned to charge at the Avatar, he was gone!

I looked all around the drill, but saw no sight of him. Then I looked up to see him running straight down the outer wall of the city. He could not be an easier target.

But as I drew back my hands, preparing to destroy him, the Avatar shocked me. He leaped from the wall, grasping a large pointed stone. He plunged downward, heading right for the slashes he had made in the top of the drill’s armor.

I timed my blast perfectly. It struck the spot where the Avatar landed—just as he drove the pointed rock into the shell. The armor tore open and the force of the Avatar’s blow deflected my fire blast. Then a torrent of slurry, that sloppy mixture of pulverized rock and water that the drill funnels away as it digs deeper into the wall, slammed into me. Try as I might, I could not keep my footing on the slick metal surface, and the slurry knocked me from the drill.

No! I will not let the Avatar slip from my grasp again. Not when I’m so close!

And then it got even worse. I watched in horror as the entire drill vehicle collapsed, the braces having been split by the Avatar and his ragtag band. The weight of the outer shell buckled, then fell onto the drill mechanism itself, stopping the machine in its tracks. When I looked up, the Avatar had escaped again.

Then the back end of the drill opened and a gush of slurry poured out, depositing Mai and Ty Lee at my feet.

Mai looked up at me, stating the obvious: “We lost.”

I was so angry I could barely respond. How much more time did I have to waste on the capture of the Avatar? It was clear that I needed to come up with another strategy.