Bella [AANGXOC]

Chapter 84: The Drill

We were on the ground. The earthbenders gave us a ride down the wall, and we dropped down into an indent the Terra Team was previously using. It made it so anyone in the drill couldn't see us.

We were extremely close to the drill, dirt was kicking up from the ground and getting in our hair and eyes. The wind was so strong it made it hard to speak or listen, or even look at something.

We huddled in the indent, trying to discuss what was going to happen.

"Once I whip up some cover, you're not gonna be able to see, so stay close to me!" Toph yelled over the wind.

She stood up from the indent. Her feet moved apart and her arms raised. Her fingers began to twitch, then she pulled her arms back in and wafts of dust flew up from the ground. I shut my eyes right before the dust hit my face.

When I tried to open them again it burned but it wouldn't matter because all I could see was light brown.

We pulled ourselves out of the indent and ran forwards, following the green of Toph's clothes.

Toph got us right up next to the head of the drill. I wouldn't be surprised if the metallic clanging and vibration took my head off. Toph opened a hole in the ground that would get us under the drill, and then immediately got inside it.

We all dropped down and Toph closed it up over our heads. The brown dust cleared into pure blackness, the sounds became so muffled they basically stopped, and it was colder than being outside in the sun.

Being outside right now and being in the hole were completely different.

Toph proceeded to open it up till it turned into a tunnel we could walk through. So we could get to the heart of the drill.

"It's so dark in here, I can't see a thing," Sokka said.

"Oh no! What a nightmare!" Toph said sarcastically.

"Sorry."

Toph opened up the hole and we walked out. The sound came back but it wasn't as loud, we had gone quite a ways away from the head of the drill. The dust cloud was also way far back so we could see and hear again.

We were underneath the drill in a little part where it opened up. There was a hole in it above us where we could get in. Aang jumped up and hung himself from a bar and swung his hands below him. So he could pull us up since not all of us could jump that high.

Well, some of us could.

Katara ran up and Aang pulled her up, Sokka went and then I went. It looked how I was expecting it to look. The inside was completely made of metal and only lit in red lighting, like an evil lair. But an evil drill.

Aang was still hanging from the bar, "Toph come on!" Sokka called, looking down through the hole.

"No way I'm going in that metal monster. I can't bend in there. I'll try and slow it down out here," Came Toph's voice.

"Ok. Good luck," Sokka replied and Aang swung off of the bar.

We took off running through the metal corridors of the drill. We had to get this done fast, and get out.

Every now and then the drill would slow down, vibrate, and then return to it's speed. Which must've been Toph trying to slow it down.

Strangely, this situation mirrored that of one in the library. Toph staying back outside the structure and eventually trying to slow it down while the rest of us are inside trying not to be caught.

Hopefully this mission ends less bitter and more sweet. We had gotten news of the eclipse in the library, but we also lost Appa, Professor Zei and got stranded.