Which One Will Hold? Earth or Water?
Chapter 1: Yurichen Village
Aang had woken up….what had happened….why was everyone crowding him? He tried to move, but something strained him. It was Toph, she held him back. Katara was looking at him, smiling.
"Don't move, Twinkle Toes, you're hurt…bad," Toph said seemingly waiting for Katara to state whether he was fine or not.
"Aang, you need to rest. Sokka, do you know where the nearest town is?" Katara stated as her smile started to reside.
"Umm…I think there's a village west of here, on that fluffy mark on the map," Sokka said scratching his head.
"Sokka, that's a piece of Momo's fur…" Katara said grabbing the map while rolling her eyes.
The Earth King had interrupted saying that the nearest town was a small village hardly noticeable from the fallen walls of Ba Sing Se. It was not at all far from where they were. Aang remained silent. Sokka had been worried ever since he woke up, maybe even before. Katara had told him everything since then. Aang let loose a melancholy look on his face.
"What's wrong, Aang?" Katara said with concern.
"…I'm sorry, Katara…I failed you," Aang said in nearly a whisper.
"It's not your fault, if it wasn't for you, I probably wouldn't be here right now."
"I guess," he said as he started to let out a smile.
"I see it! Just over that river bend!" Sokka blurted out.
Appa had moved swiftly through the clouds. They finally landed at the small gates. After seeing the wounds around Aang's body, they hurried him to see the healer of the village. He stayed there for the past few days, his friends visiting him almost hourly. Katara and Toph had been venturing throughout the area.
"Hey, Toph, can I ask you something?" Katara had said while walking through the streets.
"Sure," she replied.
"Well… Zuko sounded like he was skeptical about his decision to joining Azula…do you think there is still good in him?"
"Katara, hah, I hardly know the guy,"
"Oh, right…right…."
Aang had finally recovered and was practicing his waterbending with Katara. His body could not yet handle the intensities of training earthbending with Toph. The Earth King had found his new residency here at this town. Sokka had gone on his usual journey for the quest of the all-sacred meat. Toph spent the day playing with Momo. They had become glued together ever since she joined the group. With all of her luxuries she's had in life, she never had the luxury of a pet, let alone a flying lemur.
Yurichen Village had grown accustom to them here as they made a lot of new friends whether it be merchants, townspeople, innkeepers, all of the sort. But old friends soon came to them. Walking down the dirt road was a warrior. No, wait. It was a Kyoshi Warrior!
"Suki!?" Sokka yelped with joy as he ran and held her tight, "you're O.K.!"
"Sokka, I know that this is a great reunion and all but you, Aang, and the rest of the gang HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
Sokka was in a state of confusion. Then he noticed the cloud…a cloud of black smoke nearing the village.
The village was just as it had always been these past few days. Everything had seemed calm, the sun was out shining its rays on people's faces, and the water was still and relaxing. No one would suspect or expect that the Fire Nation was clearing out the area in the frantic search for the Avatar. Meanwhile, Aang and Toph had been in the inn conversing with one another.
"So, Twinkle Toes, you think you're ready yet to train earthbending?"
"Heh, not yet, Toph." Aang replied with a smile on his face.
"Hah! Weakling," Toph said returning the smile.
"Toph, can I ask you something?" the young airbender asked.
"Great, another question, O.K. shoot," she said as she leaned on the dresser, arms crossed.
"Do you…well, do you think Katara likes me?" he asked gripping his staff hoping that Toph wouldn't confront Aang about liking her.
Toph merely smirked from the many vibrations he made from him shaking his leg and left the room looking back and chuckling to herself…wait a minute, was this deja vu? This was in Aang's vision at the swamp…the same dress, the same person, and even the same laugh. Did this mean something? He then thought of what the man at the swamp said. He said that we see the people we've lost, people we've loved, but he was the Avatar, things for him we're looped, twisted, and complicated…and he rushed out of the door immediately!
A large mass of fire hurled through the sky and its target…Toph. Aang got out just in time, and with an enormous effort he grasped tightly on his staff, and the distance between it and the ground was severed only to summon a blade of wind to meet the mass of fire to greet its end as it split in two. Toph looked at Aang with joy wanting to thank him but knew that right now wasn't the right time.
They met up with Katara, Sokka, and Suki who was fending off minimally skilled firebenders. Katara, in an elegant, fierce movement, moved the water in front of her. It lifted her in the air. She froze it and broke it apart from its center to create several equally sized ice shards which were hurled at the enemies pinning them against walls and trees.
Toph, meanwhile, shielded herself in an armor of rock and called for a gigantic palm which surrounded two unattended tanks and crushed them. She then made a fence of earth around 5 firebenders and sent her arm straight into the air as a great stalagmite shot up from the surface in the middle of all of them. They were all sent in the air and crashed down to the ground grunting as they did not want to get up.
After they had finished off the last of foes, more had arrived. This was different, however. The new fleet did not wear the kind of armor they usually saw. They were all wearing armor black with red trimmings.
"Vulcan Elite Force! Take your stances!" the general yelled as readied themselves.
"Who are those guys?!" Sokka yelled. One of them sent a beam of fire practically chasing Sokka around as he screamed like a girl.
"Aang! We should leave now while we can; we've jeopardized this village long enough!" Katara said as they ran for Appa.
They all flew off as the firebenders stood at the village's harbor watching them. They were finally safe…weren't they?