The first volume of this story is now complete on my patreon/kofi! Once I've finished publishing it here on Webnovel, this story will be going on a temp hiatus while I plan out the next world. Once I start writing this again, the first chapters will appear on pat/kofi first, before they appear here. So feel free to join!
This coming week, I'll be focusing on writing a new Harry Potter chapter! It's been way too long.
So look forward to that.
(Word Count: 2,440)
Toph stomped over, pushing up into my personal space and jabbing a finger into my stomach. "What do you mean, metalbending? That's not possible! I should know, I'm the best earthbender around!"
"Oh?" I asked, feeling way too amused that Toph of all people was saying metalbending wasn't possible. "And why wouldn't metalbending be possible?"
"What? Of course it's not!"
"Well, metal's from the earth, isn't it?"
Toph had a look of realization. "Gimme your sword! I gotta try!"
She attempted to grab the sword from its sheath, but I held her away by her face.
"Gah!" She waved her arms futilely, before slapping my hand away.
"Nuh-uh. You need to find your own metal to bend, Missy. You're not bending my precious Telluris!"
Toph's eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "Missy? Now you're asking for it! Let's fight! We'll find out who's the best earthbender then!"
"Toph!" Katara pulled Toph away, placing herself between us. "Don't start a fight with Master Stone!"
I placed a hand on Katara's shoulder to calm her down. "I don't mind a spar, but why don't we wait until after we leave the desert? After all, all of the sand dampens your Seismic Sense, doesn't it?" I suggested.
"Yeah, I guess we can wait until we leave," Toph agreed.
"Wait, does that mean you're coming with us?" Sokka looked excited.
"Well, I think the time is soon approaching where I'll be moving on to the next world. So, I'd like to spend some time traveling with you, at least until Ba Sing Se," I said.
All of their excitement died down.
"Next world?" Toph asked, confused. "Are you dying?"
"You're leaving us already?" Katara looked hurt.
"But what about the eclipse? You've got to help us then!" Sokka cried.
"I'm sorry, everyone, but I've nearly learned all there is for me here. I must continue on elsewhere. I have every confidence in you all in finishing your own journey. Toph, I'll explain as we travel," I said.
~ CatAR ~
"So, let me get this straight: you came from another world, got earthbending, and you'll be traveling to other worlds to get stronger in order to save your own world?" Toph summarized my explanation.
We were all riding on top of Appa, flying high in the sky. Ever since I first watched Avatar the Last Airbender, I've always dreamed of what it would be like to fly on Appa as I am now. This was literally a dream come true for me. It was even better than I imagined, because there didn't seem to be any wind, aside from a light breeze. It stayed cool as well. It seemed to me that Appa was creating a pocket of safety, to shield us from the high altitudes.
I was leaning against the side of the saddle, my sword across my lap.
"Yes, that's right," I answered.
"That… is… SO COOL!" Toph's face lit up in excitement. "Can you bring other people? Can I come with you?"
"That… Well, I'm not sure exactly. I've never thought about it." Now that Toph said it, there was bound to be an option in the system store that let me bring people with me and form a team. However, that would mean taking them away from everything they've known. From all of their friends and family. I can't just take anyone. Especially not a young girl like Toph. Doesn't she reconcile with her parents after the war? Regardless, I don't have the option right now to take anyone with me.
I shook my head. "I'm sorry, Toph, but I can't take anyone right now."
"What? Why not!"
"Well, there may be on option that I can get later on, but that will require me to earn enough… merits, I guess is the best word for it. As it stands right now, I don't have enough," I explained.
Toph sat back down in a huff, crossing her arms in an angry pout. "Fine, but you better be coming back here when you do! I want to visit other worlds!"
"I'll see what I can do, though I can't actually promise anything yet. I can promise to come back, but time moves differently between worlds, so I don't know how long it will be until I return."
Eventually, we arrived back at the Misty Palms Oasis, and we touched back down some ways outside of town. Toph eagerly hopped off of Appa.
"Alright! Are you ready to get your behind kicked?" Toph shouted excitedly.
I hopped down next to her, leaving my swords on Appa's saddle. This was an earthbending match after all.
"Ready when you are," I answered, dropping into my ready position. This time I was using Hung Gar, the earthbender's forms. I was grinning and my heart was pounding. I was excited. This will be my first time actually fighting another earthbender. Well, not counting those sandbenders. And this was Toph! One of the two best earthbenders in the world! The other being King Bumi. There was a high chance that I wasn't winning this fight if I didn't use my Earth Softened Steps to make myself invisible to her Seismic Sense.
That only made me more eager to try. I wanted to see exactly how far I've come in my earthbending.
Surprisingly, Toph didn't just immediately start throwing rocks. Right, she waits and listens. Seeing that she wasn't going to be making the first move, I sent a probing strike at her left side. A blunted rock spike came shooting out of the ground. Yet, even as I first started moving, Toph was already reacting. By the time the rock spike even jutted from the ground, Toph had already stepped out of the way, and was sending her own attack at me.
As I caught the boulder she shot at me, I marveled. She must know the earthbending forms inside and out if she knew what I was going to do based on my very first movement. Alright then, no more Hung Gar.
I shifted my stance into my usual fighting style: the hodge-podged style I've been developing all this time, based around Baguazhang and the modern "Pro Bending" boxer's style, incorporating movements from all four bending styles. Toph frowned. "That's not an earthbender's stance," She muttered.
"No, it's my own personal style I've developed," I answered. I launched the caught boulder back at her, and followed that up with a heel kick, which sent a wave of loose sand and dirt arcing around to her right side.
Toph stomped, bringing her arms up defensively, and a wall of stone surrounded her. My attacks crashed into the barrier, but couldn't break through. She was out of sight, but my own Seismic Sense "saw" her punch at the wall. Several boulders shot at me in quick succession.
I easily spun around them, using airbending footwork, and stomped. A ripple burrowed through the ground, going underneath Toph's wall to attack at her feet, but Toph was no longer there. She felt the attack coming and tore through the wall, gliding on a rolling wave of stone beneath her.
Now out of the way, she jumped and brought the entire ground around her with her into the air. She spun the piece of ground to point it towards me, and kicked. It was a move Bumi had used against Aang. The entire mound of earth came at me like a meteor.
I planted both feet, and caught it with my earthbending, suspending it midair. I grunted from the sudden strain. At the same time, Toph wasn't waiting around. The ground beneath one of my feet suddenly shifted, and I lost my stance. The huge chunk of earth crashed to the ground between the two of us. I was pulled into doing the splits, in just the same way Toph defeated the Boulder in the series. Unlike him, I was far more flexible and easily spun around in a firebender's move, blasting out a wave of sand around me. But I was a little too late in dodging Toph's follow up strike.
As I was still spinning on my hands, I could feel Toph chop at the air and three columns sprouted at my side. I pushed myself away, to get back on my feet, but one still clipped me on my shoulder. I staggered, but quickly recovered.
From the side, Aang, Sokka, and Katara were watching.
"Who do you think will win?" Katara asked.
"Are you kidding? Of course Master Stone will win!" Sokka said indignantly.
"I don't know, Sokka. Didn't Master Stone say that he's only had earthbending for a couple of months? Toph seems to have a lot more experience," Aang said. "She did land the first blow."
"Ha!" Toph shouted with glee. "The first point is mine!"
"Don't be too excited, I still intend on winning," I grunted, rolling my shoulder. "Let's keep going."
I thrust my hands out in front of me, gathering up my Chi as quickly as I could, then gave a shove with my entire body, and the ground roiled away from me, crumbling into fine sand. The entire little battlefield around us was now like the sandy desert we had just left, save for the large chunk of ground Toph had pulled up earlier. The hole the chunk left behind was now being filled as sand poured in. Toph was beginning to be dragged along with the flow, but she gave her leg a small twist and the sand re-solidified around her.
The move had cost me a lot of Chi, but now our Seismic Senses were foggy, which was far more of a hassle for her.
"You're really annoying, you know that?" Toph complained.
Before she could do anything to fix it, I whipped up several sand tornados and sent them her way. It was one of the sandbending moves I learned in the library. Then, I reached out to the ground around her to make it grab her feet so she couldn't move. Dumb move, because she was able to basically ignore it, as the ground just unwrapped itself as she moved.
Note to self, don't use the earth to try and capture an earthbender.
While she couldn't tell what exactly was coming her way, she knew that it wasn't good. She tried to move to the side, but the sand devils moved too quickly. The sand whipped around her and picked her up in its wind and sent her spinning through the air. I almost felt bad, but she's a tough cookie.
She managed to reorient herself midair and landed feet first. Instead of a harsh crash, the ground bent down around her like it was made of rubber. She bounced back up, riding a little wave of earth back towards me a little before it all settled back to normal. She shook herself off, and blew her bangs out of her face angrily. She looked pissed.
"That's a point for me!" I called. I couldn't help it. I was feeling a bit too competitive right now.
She growled, and splayed her hands out in front of her, tensing up as she charged up a huge attack. Uh-oh. I sent a flying blade of sand to try and stop her. Too late. She shoved forward, and columns of earth ripped out of the ground in a huge wave towards me. With how big the wave was, there was no dodging it. Instead, I wrapped myself in earth armor, as dense as I could make it, and braced for impact.
The wave of columns reached me in a split second, and it hit me like a truck. My stone armor cracked, and I was sent flying tens of feet through the air before I crashed down near where the rest of the Gaang were watching. I did manage to soften my landing somewhat, but I was too busy trying to breathe to make it anywhere near as graceful as Toph's own landing was.
My armor crumbled off me as I came to a rolling stop next to Aang. "Just an idea, don't use tornadoes against Toph," I groaned.
Aang nodded enthusiastically. "Got it!"
Sokka gave me a hand, and helped pull me to my feet. Pain shot through my side. 'Crap, I think she broke a rib.' I hissed in pain.
"You alright?" Sokka asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just need to regain my breath, that's all," I said, though I immediately began channeling my Chi to my ribs to heal.
Toph came running over concerned. "Hey, are you alright? I'm sorry, I got carried away!"
I waved her off. "It's nothing that won't heal up quickly. My stone armor took the brunt of it. No harm done. Though, I think I'm gonna call it quits here. You won this round, Toph."
She frowned for a moment, perhaps sensing the pain in my voice, but since I said that I was okay, her guilt quickly changed to triumph. "Ha!" She cheered, throwing her hands up in a victory pose. "Who's the best earthbender around? I AM!"
"You were amazing, Toph," I praised, "Though I noticed that you used a lot of forms that didn't fit the standard earthbending forms. Would you mind teaching me some of your moves?" Then I can get to learn Chow Gar and have all 5 of the martial arts shown in Avatar.
Toph blushed from the praise, but covered it by punching my side. 'Gah! Right in the broken rib! Don't cry. Don't cry!'
"Sure, I can show you some moves. I guess you weren't too bad out there yourself. You've got as much fancy footwork as Twinkle Toes over there," Toph said.
"Thanks. I've been trying to use Airbending moves as a basis in my fighting style. Something I've learned from an old guru."
"You guys were amazing!" Aang said, "I don't think I'm anywhere near that level in earthbending yet!"
"Yeah, you were all, BANG! BOOM! BAMB!" Sokka chimed in.
"Thanks guys. Anyway! Toph! I won't be losing our next match! Before I leave, I'll defeat you!"
Toph grinned widely. "Then it looks like you're staying forever, 'cause I ain't losing!"
Kamara chimed in, "Hey guys, we should really get going. The sooner we can get to the Earth King, the better."
"Right. Everyone back on Appa!" Sokka shouted.
As we took off, Toph seemed a lot more comfortable with my presence in the group. She may have been putting on a tough exterior, but she was worried about another earthbending master in the group. Now that she defeated me, she felt like her place was secure again.