Escape from the Boiling Rock

''This article is about the battle, for the episodes, see The Boiling Rock, Part 1 and The Boiling Rock, Part 2. For the location, see The Boiling Rock.''

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- My guess is, they've been taken to The Boiling Rock. It's on an island, in the middle of a boiling lake. It's inescapable.

The Escape from the Boiling Rock was one of the final engagements in the Fire Nation's war for world domination. Although the engagement was strategically minor, it did affect history, as it was the first successful escape attempt from the Fire Nation's most advanced maximum security prison. The infiltration and subsequent escape was carried out by select members of Team Avatar. The infiltration and escape lasted around two days, with the first attempt being unsuccessful.

The skirmish resulted in a victory for Team Avatar, who sustained no losses. The escape also resulted in Princess Azula being betrayed by her two best friends, Mai and Ty Lee, thus leading to her mentel breakdown. The skirmish also caused Suki to join Team Avatar.

The escape was one of the final events before the arrival of Sozin's Comet, when the Fire Nation would suffer a strategic defeat.

History
In the Later stages of the the war, Fire Lord Ozai built the Boiling Rock to sustain traitors and other enemies of the Fire Nation. The prison had the most advanced technology of any other Fire Nation prison. As the years went by, not a single successful escape attempt was made, giving the Boiling Rock a record of being inescapable.

During the lost days of bison Appa, Suki and the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors were defeated and captured by Princess Azula and her friends, Mai and Ty Lee. Suki was in turn seperated by the rest of the warriors and shipped to the Boiling Rock prison.

On The Day of Black Sun, a small invasion force led by Chief Hakoda attacked the Fire Nation Capital in hopes of ending the war. Due to Azula's cunning, however, the entire invasion force was captured except for Team Avatar. This weighed heavy on Sokka, making himself feel as though it was his fault his father was imprisoned.

Prelude
One night at The Western Air Temple, Zuko notices Sokka seems upset about something, and goes over to talk to him. Sokka asks Zuko where he thinks his dad and the rest of the warriors were captured. Zuko guesses that they were taken to the Boiling Rock, and tells Sokka how the prison is inescapable. Sokka states that he just wanted information.

That night, however, Sokka attempts to sneak away on Appa. Zuko catches him, and after some arguing, Zuko decides to travel with Sokka. Together, the two of them travel to the prison on Zuko's War Balloon. After a day of traveling, Zuko and Sokka finally make it to the prison. However, the War Balloon malfunctions because the steam makes the air outside the balloon warmer than the air inside it, the balloon to crash-lands at the beach outside the prison walls. Sokka dumps the remains of the balloon into the boiling lake so it won't be found

Infiltration
When Zuko and Sokka entered the area above the boiling lake, their balloon crashed into the island's shore. To make sure know one suspected who they were, they were forced to sink their balloon into the lake. They then infiltrated the prison and disguised themselfs as prison guards.

While Zuko questioned the other prison guards if the prison holds war prisoners, Sokka is called to the prison yard as back up to help with a scuffle. In the prison yard, one of the guards bullies a prisoner, Chit Sang, because he did not bow down to him. While Chit Sang was walking away, the Bully Guard launches a Fire Whip at him, forcing Chit Sang to redirect it back at him. The Bully guard states that Firebending is prohibited, and, upon seeing Sokka, tells him to help take Chit Sang to the cooler. Without a choice, Sokka is forced to cooperate.

Sokka sadly watches Chit Sang shiver in the cooler, but the the Bully Guard disregards his concern. At that moment, The Warden arrives to harrass Chit Sang and states he should not have tried to escape. Chit Sang denies this, but The Warden ignores him and tells him to continue his shivering. Later on, Zuko informs Sokka that he asked around, and that their are no new war prisoners. Just when all hope seems lost, Sokka spots his love interest, Suki.

When Suki returns into her cell, Sokka sneaks into it, while Zuko watches the door. Sokka tries to mimic what Suki did upon reuniting with him in The Serpent's Pass, instead, however, he is punched in the gut. The minute Suki recognizes him, they embrace and kiss each other. Their reunion is cut short when a guard tries to get into Suki's cell. To prevent Sokka from being exposed, Zuko attacks the guard until Sokka can sneak out of the cell. When the guard spots Sokka, she tells him to arrest Zuko. Unable to say no, Sokka is forced to arrest Zuko.

Zuko is soon interrogated by The Warden. Much to Zuko's suprise, The Warden reveals he knows who Zuko is, and that he is also Mai's uncle. Later on, Sokka, Suki, and Zuko gather around to hatch an escape attempt. Chit Sang overhears them and tells them that unless they let him in on the plan, he'll tell The Warden. Realizing they have no choice, they let Chit Sang in on the plan.

First Escape Attempt
Soon Sokka comes up with a good escape plan; to unbolt the cooler that Chit Sang was in, and to use it as a boat to escape. Zuko and Chit Sang then pretend to fight, and Zuko firebends at Chit Sang. The guards fall for the chrade, and, as Sokka predicted, they threw Zuko into the exact same cooler that Chit Sang was in.

While in the cooler, Zuko used his breath of fire to keep himself warm, and unbolted the entire cooler. Sokka soon lets him out, and before they escape, Zuko and Sokka overhear some guards talking about the prison's new arrivals, including war prisoners. Zuko and sokka realize this may be Sokka's dad. Sokka is then distraught over what to do.

That night, Sokka and Zuko finally arrive with the cooler, and Chit Sang tells them he also decided to bring his girlfriend and best friend. Before they leave, Sokka comes to the sudden conclusion to stay at the prison at the chance of him rescuing his father. Zuko says he'll stay with him, and even though Sokka urges Suki to leave, Suki tells him she won't leave without him. Chit Sang, however, eagerly jumps into the cooler. Realizing they lost their chance of escape, Sokka, Zuko, and Suki sneak back into the prison.

Meanwhile, Chit Sang tries to move the cooler faster by ripping of a peace of side and using it as a paddle. In the process of doing this, he burned himself, making him scream loudly. The guards hear him, and the cooler is soon dragged back to the prison.

Meanwhile, Sokka, Zuko, and Suki watch the new arrivals leave the gondala. The gondala seems to be empty after most of the prisoners exit, and Sokka is distraught and upset, thinking he has made a huge mistake. However, much to Sokka's joy, Hakoda steps out of the gondala.

Second Escape Attempt
Sokka and his father devise a plan for Suki, Zuko and themselves to escape the prison. The plan is to escape on the prison's gondola, using the Warden as hostage so they won't cut the cables of the gondola as they escape. Sokka manages to trick a guard into unlocking the cells of the prisoners to let them out into the yard. He meets up with Suki and Hakoda outside. All they need in order to begin the escape plan is a riot. Hakoda tries hitting a big, tough-looking prisoner, but it doesn't work. Chit Sang surprises Sokka, having known that he would come up with another plan, and wants in again. Sokka asks Chit Sang to start a riot, which he does by merely picking up a bystander and telling everyone, "RIOT!" The Warden appears and angrily demands to know how all the prisoners were released into the yard during lockdown.

While Sokka and Zuko argue about how to capture the Warden, Suki takes the initiative and goes after him on her own. She runs on the heads of the rioting prisoners and scales the walls of the yard with an amazing display of acrobatics. She disables the guards protecting the Warden, ties him up and gags him. They all meet up, the Warden now their hostage, and make their way to The Gondola. The group makes it onto the gondola, and Zuko breaks the lever so the guards can't stop them.

Battle On The Gondala
As they begin to ascend, they spot Azula and Ty Lee approaching. Ty Lee runs on gondola's cable while Azula propels herself with Firebending towards the gondola. Suki fights Ty Lee while Sokka and Zuko fight Azula on the top of the gondola. The Warden breaks free of his binding and yells at the guards to cut the cable, which would kill everyone as they fell into the volcanic lake below. The guards stop the gondola from moving and start to hack away at the cable.

Azula and Ty Lee propel themselves onto another oncoming gondola on a separate cable. Just as the guards are about to finish cutting, they are disabled by Mai. She starts to pin the guards with her daggers, angering Azula. A guard asks her what she's doing, to which she replies, "Saving the jerk who dumped me." She frees the line, and the gondola used by the group starts moving again. They make it out of the volcano, leaving the Warden behind in the gondola. Although Suki points out how are they going to leave, Zuko figures out that Azula must have come to the Boiling Rock somehow and spots an uninhabited Fire Nation Airship. The group uses the airship to escape off the island.

Aftermath
Mai is detained by guards and brought forth to Azula. Azula demands to know why she saved the escapees, knowing the consequences. Mai tells Azula she miscalculated, as she loves Zuko more than she fears Azula. The two of them are about to attack one another, but Azula is stopped by Ty Lee, who blocks her chi. Ty lee and Mai try to escape but are quickly captured. Azula calls them fools and orders the guards to let them rot in prison so she'll never have to see their faces again.

Back at the Western Air Temple, Sokka and Zuko exit their newly captured Airship. Aang and the others remark their fishing trip must have been one crazy fishing trip. Toph asks if they at least got any meat, and Sokka answers they got best meat of all, the meat of friendship and fatherhood. Hakoda, Suki, and Chit Sang exit the ship and present themselves to the others. Katara is overjoyed to see her father, and embraces him and Sokka as Zuko happy watches. In the background, Toph asks "Seriously, you guys didn't find any meat?"

Appearances and References

 * The Boiling Rock, Part 1
 * The Boiling Rock, Part 2