Chapter 14: Prison Break Out

After the warden left Soren, and the group of new prisoners were all given some tools like hammers or sledge hammers, and then they were brought to the main yard where prisoners would be staying. Soren began looking around while talking with some of the long time prisoners until Haru came up with an old man holding a bowl in his hands, who had a similar appearance to him, and then Haru introduced Soren to the man.

[Soren, this here is my father, Tyro… Dad, this here is Soren, he tried to protect me from the Fire Nation soldiers who came to take me away]: haru

[Nice to meet you sir]: soren

Tyro then held out the bowl of what appeared to be mud with some cut up meat and carrots, and handed it to Soren while speaking.

[Have some breakfast, Soren]: tyro

Soren looked at the bowl of mush and wanted to decline, but felt that he would be disrespecting Haru's father if he did decline, so he took the bowl from Tyro and took a bite while Tyro began apologizing about both the look and the taste of the food.

[It's not as bad as it looks… But it's still pretty bad]: tyro

Soren hated the taste of the food, but felt it would be wasteful to leave any behind and continued to push through and eat the soup that was watered down and had no kind of flavor, the soup seemed as if it was made with all the unusable or rotten parts of the animals and vegetables used to make it, while the stock of the soup seemed to be water mixed with some starch to give it a thickness and make it more filling for those eating it.

[Thank you for the food]: soren

[No problem, Soren… But I would have liked to repay you with something more for trying to protect my son, but this is all I have… Anyway, we should all get ready as today we will be working by the furnace, so it's going to be quite hot]: tyro

Soren saw Tyro grab a nearby hammer, and then he began leading Haru off to start the day, and seeing as everyone began to leave as well, Soren quickly followed behind Tyro and Haru. Soren was then exposed to all sorts of hardship that these prisoners went through daily for who knows how long, and it didn't help that guards were watching over their every move as they worked making it hard for Soren to find any kind of way he could lead an escape from this place. Soren had also watched the guards start to whip anyone who was either slacking on being slow, which in turn made them even slower due to the fatigue along with the inflicted wounds and pain.

'I should come up with an escape plan soon… But there is no way I can get everyone off all at once, and if I metal bend a boat, I would still only be able to transport so many at a time': soren

As Soren was thinking of a plan, he began to get slower in the work he was tasked to do, and in turn he was whipped by one of the guards.

[AHHHHH!!!]: soren

[Get to work slacker! There are no breaks until we say otherwise]: fire nation guard

Soren went back into hammering the nails into the steel while holding back the urge to wrap the guard up in a piece of metal and send him off the edge of the prison encampment. Soon the day came to an end with each and every muscle in Soren's body aching due to the overworked stress, and once dinner was called, they were all stuck with eating the same nasty tasting soup from breakfast, making Soren think it wasn't even new soup, but the leftovers from this morning as it was cold as well.

'I at least want a hot meal… I'm gonna heat it up, maybe it will taste better': soren

Soren went over to a secluded corner and made sure the coast was clear before he made a flame appear at the tip of his middle and pointer finger, and heated the soup quickly before taking a bite of the piping hot soup.

'Much better, but still tastes like mud… I can at least taste the meat this time as it's now cooked': soren

Soren finished off his food in private as to not draw attention to himself having hot food while everyone else is dealing with their cold tasteless food, and after finishing the food, Soren went back over to Tyro's group of friends and sat down.

[Where's Haru?]: soren

[Haru made some friends earlier today with some other inmates and went to go sit with them]: tyro

[Ahh, I see… So what happens next?]: soren

[We will all get to bathe and then head to bed… But don't expect much… The water will be cold, and there are no beds, we just get a blanket]: tyro

Just as Soren was about to talk about his plan seeing how severe the treatment was here, Haru came up from behind with Katara in toe and began to speak.

[Katara, this is Tyro, my father… Dad, this is Katara, one of Soren's friends]: haru

Just before Tyro or Katara could speak, Soren spoke out.

[Katara?... What are you doing here? And how did you get here? You're not an Earthbender]: soren

[Soren!... I faked being an Earthbender to get here after hearing about how you and Haru were taken by the Fire Nation last night from Haru's mother… I came to bust you guys out of here]: katara

Before Soren could respond, Tyro spoke up to calm the situation.

[Katara, please take a seat and have some dinner with us… As for breaking out, that's impossible… We will be here for the rest of our lives]: tyro

[But it's not impossible… Soren here is not only an Earthbender, but he can bend metal as well… You guys are all powerful Earthbenders, so you gotta stick up for yourselves, and get out of here to go back to your families]: katara

When Haru and Tyro heard about Soren's ability to bend metal, they thought it was impossible, but looking over to Soren and seeing him nod his head they had some hope, but it quickly diminished thinking about how many Fire Nation Guards are here, and knowing Soren is just one boy.

[Sorry Katara, but we will stay here, you can take Soren with you and leave this place… We don't wanna drag you down]: tyro

[Tyro!... Some of the inmates are complaining that there aren't enough blankets to go around]: imate

[Don't worry… I'll take to the guards about it]: tyro

Tyro then went on about getting some of the unrest among the inmates to diminish leaving Soren and Katara on their own.

[We need to come up with a plan to give these people their spirit back… Otherwise we can't get them to leave]: katara

[I have a plan, but we need Aang to get it to work]: soren

[Care to tell me what this plan is?]: katara

[Everyone here have little to no hope in any form of freedom, and being in here for 5 years, most of these people still think the Avatar is dead, but if they were to see Aang make an appearance, then maybe it would give them hope, and using the coal in this prison site as earth, breaking out would be quite easy]: soren

[Wow… You thought that far ahead?]: katara

[Well… I had all morning to scope out this place while working, so coming up with a plan to escape was easy… But our problem now is how will we get our idea to Aang? We both are stuck in here]: soren

[No need to worry about that… Aang and Sokka should be here in 2 hours or so]: katara

[Then let's wait till then]: soren

Soon the night came by and Katara met up with both Aang and Sokka, while Soren informed Haru about his plan, and asked him to get everyone ready, but to keep word about the plan to himself. Once the sun began to rise, Katara and Sokka were standing by the huge ventilation shaft as they were soon surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers, and as the warded came in Tyro tried to get Katara to back down from this fight, but Soren walked over to her along with Haru, and just as the soldiers began to close in on them, the ground began to shake as huge deposits of coal were shot through the vent and into the air as it began to fill the ground, and Aang came out coughing as he was covered in coal dust, and this signaled Katara to start her speech.

[Here's your chance Earthbenders… Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!]: katara

As Katara said this, many of the Earthbenders began to back away in fear, but both Haru and Soren began bending the coal around them as the warden signaled the attack to commence. Soren then hit one of the soldiers with a ball of coal while haru did the same on his side, and seeing this, all the other Earthbenders felt it would be wrong to give up now, and began to join in.

[W-What are you doing!... Stop them!]: warden

Soren gave a smile as he stopped bending coal and began bending the steel around the main ground as it started surrounding the soldiers in a wall of steel that they couldn't escape.

[W-What the… H-He can bend metal?!?... I-Impossible!]: warden

Soon, all the Fire Nation soldiers were beaten up and taken out while the warden was sent into the sea as he begged to be let go saying he couldn't swim, but he was dropped into the water anyway. Soon, all the prisoners were placed onto the ships and began setting sail towards their homes, and Soren was waiting on Appa, while Katara was talking with Haru.

[So… Where to next Aang?]: soren

[I guess we should start heading towards the Northern Water Tribe… I just now realized that we are quite far behind on schedule]: aang

(A/N: I'm going to be skipping a lot of episodes as I feel it has no importance, and most of you have seen Avatar and know what comes after the prison break… I will be skipping into the part where they stop by in a Fire Nation town so Aang can observe Firebending… I want to try and find a way for Soren to come out to the group of being able to Firebend as well as Earthbend, and in the future Waterbend and Airbend… Any ideas?)

[This should give us a good idea of what's around here]: katara

Soren, Aang, Katara, and Sokka had gotten off of Appa and began walking through the woods until they came up to a stone pillar that had some posters talking about a festival on it, and when Aang saw the poster he began to read it while Sokka was hungry and looking for food.

[See if you can find a menu… I'm starving]: sokka

[You're always starving Sokka]: soren

[Hey!... I bet we can find something to eat here… The Fire Days Festival. It has Fire Nation cultural exhibits, Jugglers, Benders, Magicians… This would be a great place for me to study some real Firebenders]: aang

[You might wanna rethink that… Come look at this]: sokka

Sokka was on the other side of the stone pillar looking at wanted posters with Aang's being the one on the front. Everyone went around to see all the posters with Aang grabbing it to marvel at his drawing.

[Look!... They got a poster of me]: aang

[Yeah… a Wanted Poster!... This is bad, we should leave soon]: sokka

[I think it's best if we keep moving]: katara

[Yeah, but I have to learn Firebending at some point, and this could be my only chance to watch some masters up close]: aang

[Fine, I guess we can go check it out]: katara

[What!?... Are you trying to get us killed?]: sokka

[I think it's fine as well, and we can wear disguises… If we need, I'll crush some Fire Nation soldiers with my Earthbending, and we can leave]: soren

Soon, everyone entered the small village and began to take in the sights of the festival in all its glory, fireworks were being shot into the sky and exploding, while the streets were filled with people wearing masks, while Soren, Sokka, Katara, and Aang were all wearing hoods over their heads.

[I think we need new disguises]: soren

[And where are we gonna get masks like that?]: sokka

[Get your genuine Fire-Festival masks here!]: sales man

[Never mind, I stand corrected… Let's go get some masks]: sokka