Turning the corner, I sprinted straight toward the entrance to the outer shell where the others were waiting.
Sliding to a stop against the doorway, I glanced at them.
They were almost finished weakening the final support brace.
"WE GOT COMPANY!"
I shouted, only to register the blue fireball hurtling toward my face a split second later.
I ducked beneath it as the flames slammed into the ceiling.
Using the momentum, I swept my leg across the floor, sending a wave of fire racing down the corridor.
Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai effortlessly vaulted over it.
Landing smoothly, Azula immediately counterattacked, driving forward behind a barrage of flaming punches before closing the distance, a kick already chambered.
At the last possible moment, she abruptly twisted her body aside.
A razor-thin stream of water sliced past where her head had been, carving clean through the metal plates behind her.
Seizing the opening, I leaped into the air and drove both feet into her stomach.
"Oof!"
The impact hurled Azula backward.
Using her recoiling body as a springboard, I kicked off and propelled myself toward the others.
"Oh man! Go, go, go!" Sokka shouted, frantically waving us over.
Without hesitation, we bolted for the escape route we had planned earlier.
Racing through the drill's maze-like hallways, Sokka's eyes darted between the schematics in his hands and the corridors ahead.
Reaching an intersection, he pointed toward the left passage.
"This way!"
But Aang suddenly broke away, turning into the hallway on the right.
"Guys, get out of here!" he called over his shoulder. "I know what I need to do."
Fair, he was nimble enough to dodge everything that they'll send his way.
"Wait!"
Katara tossed him her waterskin.
"You'll need this more than I will!"
Aang caught it cleanly out of the air.
Giving us one last determined nod, he sprinted down the corridor and disappeared around the corner.
"Slurry Pipeline?" Katara read aloud, eyeing the large valve at the end of the passage. "What's slurry?"
Sokka struggled to turn the hatch, grunting with effort before stepping aside.
"Your turn."
I grabbed the wheel and gave it a firm twist.
The hatch swung open in a single twist, revealing a rushing canal of muddy slurry flowing through the drill.
"It's pulverized rock mixed with water," Sokka explained, his eyes lighting up. "Which means..."
He broke into a grin.
"It's our way out!"
He pointed into the rushing channel.
"Get in! If there's a slurry pipeline, then there's got to be an outlet where the drill dumps it outside!"
A faint series of footsteps echoed through the corridor.
My eyes immediately snapped toward the sound.
"They're coming. Get in now!"
Without hesitation, I vaulted over the valve and plunged into the rushing slurry.
"You'd better wash my clothes after this, Renji!"
Sokka yelled as he jumped in after me.
Katara rolled her eyes.
"...You don't even wash your own clothes."
Then she dove into the pipe after us, reaching back just long enough to slam the hatch shut behind her.
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Following the rushing slurry of pulverized rock, mud, and debris, we were eventually flushed out of the drill's discharge pipe and slammed back onto solid ground.
"... I'm going to need a very deep clean after this."
Every inch of me was coated in muddy sludge.
I had even swallowed some of the slurry on the way down.
Bleh.
Channeling Fire Bending through my body, I heated myself until the water evaporated from my clothes and skin before brushing away the dried dirt and loose pebbles.
As I dusted myself off, my eyes caught a familiar figure being carried along by the rushing slurry.
"Ty Lee!"
I pointed toward the stream, immediately drawing Sokka and Katara's attention.
Before Ty Lee could spring free, Katara thrust both hands forward.
The rushing slurry came to an abrupt stop.
Water surged upward, sealing the drill's discharge pipe and trapping Ty Lee inside a muddy prison.
Realizing she had nowhere to go, Ty Lee looked up just in time to see Katara's lips curl into a triumphant smirk.
"Why don't you try blocking my chi now, circus freak?"
"... That's really rude," I commented.
"Yeah!" Ty Lee protested while struggling against the muddy current. "Call me something else! 'Circus freak' is just mean!"
"Stay out of this, Renji." Katara shot me a glare. "This is payback."
... The glare was terrifying, so I wisely kept my mouth shut.
As a wise man once said, "never make your healer mad."
Sokka's eyes lit up.
"Katara, keep doing that! If you block the slurry from escaping, the pressure inside the drill will keep building. Then when Aang delivers the final blow, it'll be ready to pop!"
Katara nodded and began forcing the slurry back into the drain.
After a few seconds, however, she frowned.
"I-I can't hold it all back!"
Muddy water continued leaking past the makeshift plug.
"It's not pure water," she grunted through clenched teeth. "There's too much pulverized rock mixed in. My control over it isn't strong enough. We need Toph to seal it completely!"
"I'll go get her—"
I was about to propel myself away with Explosion Bending when a familiar voice interrupted me.
"Hey, guys."
Toph casually strolled toward us.
"So, the drill already reached the wall, and I can't push it back even a little. You guys need any help?"
"Toph, help me plug up this drain."
I gently grabbed her shoulder and pointed her toward the outlet so she could pinpoint it with her Seismic Sense.
"Got it."
Cracking her knuckles, Toph planted her feet firmly on the ground.
With a powerful stomp, she drove both palms forward.
The earth beneath the outlet surged upward as Katara simultaneously forced the slurry back into the pipe.
Working in perfect sync, the two pushed the torrent deeper into the drill, carrying Ty Lee helplessly back into the tunnels.
I could hear the pressure building throughout the massive structure as it strained under the force, metal pipes groaning and creaking from within.
"It's working!"
"Uh-oh," Sokka suddenly muttered, pulling out his boomerang as he looked into the distance. "We've got soldiers coming."
Looking over, I spotted roughly twenty Fire Nation soldiers advancing toward us.
I glanced back at Katara and Toph, who were still hard at work maintaining the pressure, before turning toward Sokka.
"Right. I'll take fifteen. You take the other six."
"No need, hotshot. I'll take the fifteen, and you take the six."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Really? You? Taking on fifteen at once?"
"I've been known to handle more than that." He confidently answered.
"Ayo, pause."
Sokka blinked.
"Why pause?"
"Hrk. Nothing. Inside joke."
He stared at me in confusion for a second before shaking his head.
"Anyway, let's make a bet. I bet I'll beat up more than you."
"Bet. But if you lose, dinner's on you."
A moment of silence passed.
"...We don't have money, though."
"Exactly."
I grinned.
"You'll have to somehow find the money for dinner tonight. Any idea how you're going to do that with almost no time?"
A few seconds passed.
Sokka's expression slowly changed.
His face paled.
"Oh."
"Hmm?"
"Alright! I'm taking out all of them!"
He raised his boomerang dramatically.
"For the sake of my manlinessssssss!"
With a manly war cry, he charged into battle.
I stared at his retreating back before chasing after him.
"... What did you even think about?!"
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A/N: We hit 5 new paid members, meaning there will be a bonus chapter for everyone!
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