"Hah! Got it!" Stomping on the ground, Bumi punched the air, hurling a chunk of iron at his house, causing me to wryly smile as I watched it destroy his home. 'Well, Good thing his house is easily repairable.'
"I don't know if I can quite say that you've got it." Standing up, I dusted my butt off and approached Bumi, who wildly grinned while giving me a thumbs-up. "No, I've got it. Watch, next time I'll make it stop just before hitting my home." Controlling the chunk of iron, he lifted it from the debris of his house and slowly floated it back towards him.
Landing heavily in front of us, Bumi proceeded to do the same thing he had just done; however, despite his claim, the chunk of iron ended up crashing into the remnants of his house, destroying it even more. "Bumi, is there a need for you to attack your house specifically?" Folding my arms, I looked at Bumi with a raised eyebrow, though of course, as the made genius he was, he had a reason for everything.
"Of course! I'm attacking my house because I don't want to destroy it! Since I don't want to destroy it, I'll do my best to stop the iron in time." Once Bumi finished explaining it to me, he recalled the chunk of iron, while I silently rubbed the bridge of my nose; what I found most annoying was his sound logic.
'Haa, truly, you are mad.' Shaking my head, I watched Bumi repeat the process for a third time, prompting me to pat his shoulder and leave. "I'll get us food… C'mon, Appa." Approaching Appa, who was sleeping lazily like always after a workout; oh yes, I've put him back onto his exercise regimen.
"Roar." Rolling to his side, Appa looked away, clearly, he didn't want to get up, causing me to roll my eyes as I grabbed his horn, dragging him down the street. Of course, I couldn't actually pull my ten-ton companion; I was moving the earth beneath his body like a conveyor belt. "Roar." "If you get up and walk yourself, then I'll buy you the green apples."
Appa wasn't that interested in the green apples as he remained lying, causing me to softly sigh. Walking down the street, we quickly left the desolate part of Omashu, heading into the more bustling part of the city, which was filled with soldiers. Omashu hadn't been attacked once since my arrival, but they hadn't dropped their guard; they're treating it like they could be attacked at any minute, which they could.
As I entered the heart of the city, my presence, or rather Appa's presence, compelled the citizens to part around us; eventually, I reached the restaurant where I procured food for Appa. Given how much he eats, I needed the help of several restaurants, and this was the one I'd go to retrieve the food from after they'd collected it all. "Wait here, Appa." "Roar." "Of course you won't." Rolling my eyes, I left Appa, entering the restaurant.
"Ah, Aang! Is it that time of day again?" Faintly smiling, an older man, Roxie, raised his head and stood up while I nodded. "Yes." "Heh, Alright then, come out back, I've already got everything waiting." As Roxie headed out to the back, he gestured to one of his brothers to take charge while I followed behind him.
Navigating through the kitchen, we exited into the back, where crates of lettuce, carrots, corn, cabbage, and apples were waiting for me. "Three crates of each. Just like always." "Thanks." Nodding to Roxie, I carried each crate by lifting a slab of stone underneath them, allowing them to float in the air behind me.
"You've already received your pay?" "Yessir, I'm all good, same for the others." While Roxie stroked his braided beard, I nodded and jumped into the air, leaping over the restaurant with the help of my bending before landing beside Appa. "Let's go back, Appa." Gently patting Appa, who proceeded to growl in annoyance at being forced to walk, we headed back to where Bumi is, though I did stop by a stall on the way, grabbing food for each of us.
As we slowly left the bustling heart of Omashu, we eventually arrived at the street leading to Bumi's house, where we found him. As for his house, it was nothing but a pile of debris. "I see you've entirely demolished your house." "Yep. I was just about to fix it. Very frustrating." Seeing Bumi genuinely bummed out, a part of me wanted to mock him since he should've expected this, though I just softly sighed while handing him his food.
Sitting down, I lowered the crates to the ground, prompting Appa to feast upon them while I also ate; besides the sound of Appa's obnoxious devouring of his meal, it was mostly quiet.
"I think I'll be leaving soon." At my sudden words, I expected Bumi to show some reaction other than simply raising an eyebrow. "Oh, you are?" "You're not surprised?" "Nah. You're the Avatar, you need to master the other elements; you've already mastered earthbending, so it was only a matter of time before you left. I'm actually surprised you've stayed so long."
I was forced to create a shield around me as Bumi lacked etiquette, talking to me with his mouth full of food. "It is no thanks to you; I've spent a month teaching you how to metal-bend. Also, do one or the other, don't talk with a full mouth." Shooting Bumi a glare, I dispelled the shield of wind and continued to eat while he just laughed; thankfully, he had already swallowed.
"When do you plan to leave?" "Probably in a few days." "Then we've got to make the most of it." Grinning, Bumi slammed his plate onto the ground, causing my face to twitch. 'There was still food.' Looking at the spilled food, I promptly yanked myself to my feet while my own plate fell to the ground. "My food!" "Haha, worry about that later. C'mon, let's spar using only metal bending!"
Pushing me away, Bumi sompted on the ground and lifted his arms, causing the chunk of iron resting atop the debris that was his house to float between us before dropping. Shifting my gaze to Bumi, I spread my arms apart, tearing the chunk of iron into two. "Next time, I'm not getting you any food." "Haha, just because I haven't mastered it, doesn't mean you can hold back!"
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3 Days Later
"That's everything." Strapping the final bits of luggage onto Appa's saddle, I patted his body before approaching Bumi, who was standing to the side, watching us with his crazy eyes. "We're leaving Bumi, try not to destroy Omashu while I'm gone." Outstretching my hand while smirking, Bumi promptly grabbed my hand before pulling me into a powerful, tight, one-armed hug.
"Haha, if anyone destroyed Omashu, it'll be me! Not the Fire Nation!" "T-That's not very reassuring." Heaving a sigh of relief after Bumi released me, I patted my chest while wryly eyeing him, only to shake my head. "With you here, I'm not worried the Fire Nation will take over Omashu. Even Sozin himself would find this daunting." "I'd drive a pillar through his skull! Hahaha."
Watching him chaotically laugh, I internally questioned how I could be friends with such a madman before deciding not to bother with the answer, as it wasn't going to change anything. "Take care, Bumi."
Leaping atop Appa, I grabbed his reins. "Yip Yip." "Roaar!" With a mighty roar befitting a being of his stature, Appa flapped his tail, kicking up a large cloud of dust as he lifted us from the ground.
Without looking back, Appa soared through the sky, constantly ascending while leaving Omashu behind. From this high up, I was able to clearly make out the Fire Nation encampment; it was a few kilometers away from Omashu, and it had grown in size from what I last remembered.
'Well, it's been around 8 years since then.' Musing to myself, I subconsciously reached towards my waist, rubbing the pelt. "Where do you want to go, Appa?" Sliding down the side of Appa's head, I hung from his horn; a sight that probably looked uncomfortable from an outsider's perspective, though, given his strength, I was as insignificant to him as an earring.
"Roar." "A lush field? So you can sleep for what, years on end?" "Roar!" Seeing Appa shamelessly nod, I gently hit his head, causing him to softly growl. "No can do, sleepy head. You can't spend your whole life sleeping. You've got to have offspring. A lot of your kind lost their lives during the invasion, so you'd best play your part and bump your numbers up."
Rubbing Appa's head, I pulled myself back onto his saddle while he growled under his breath. "That reminds me, let's return home. I need to get a new bo-staff. South Appa."