Toph Bei-Fong:
The avalanche-beater
Summary: While Zuko and Sokka are out 'fishing', Toph gets bored and decides to take a hike. She ends up getting more than she bargained for. One-shot.
Aang was practising his newly-learnt firebending. Katara was practising her waterbending with what little water there was available. But Toph Bei-Fong was bored. Even though she was entirely surrounded by mountains, her favourite surface, she did not have the will to practise. She knew she already was the most powerful earthbender on the planet anyway, so what was the point? She was tired of sitting in the Western Air Temple. Even the rocks, which she normally loved to play with in any way imaginable, didn't grant her a distraction she could indulge in. She scratched the back of her head, right behind her fluffy pompoms. It relieved her from a minor itch.
She stood up, deciding to scout the area above the temple. Scouting, in her case, meant feeling the ground with fer feet. She left the Temple without telling anyone, and lifted herself to the edge of the cliffs by forming a plateau out of the mountains. She got on top, and she felt nothing but bare rock, with the exception of some ants and other bugs. This was exceptional. She walked a couple of minutes, and started to feel life again. Still, insects, mostly, but it was life in a higher form nonetheless. She felt some molebadgers, some lion-eels and a flock of ostrich-horses in the distance. She touched the ground with the palm of her right hand. It told her there was a large mountain not so far from here. One that stood out high above all others. She moved towards it, by pushing the earth beneath her feet forward. She reached the mountain's foot in under a minute. As soon as she reached it, she put her hands on the mountain. It was hard rock, as hard as granite. Toph let her hands sink into it. It felt surprisingly warm compared to the ground underneath her feet, that had been heating up all day long because of the hot rays the sun had sent forth. To her surprise, she also felt life in the mountain. Not just insects, those she felt everywhere, but humans! Toph over thought the situation. Humans could mean trouble, especially if they were from the FireNation, which was most likely. But, what else was there to do? Looking for trouble was at least doing something. And besides, what or who could possibly harm her? She doubted even Azula could lay a hand on her. Or, in Azula's case, a flash of lightning or blue flames. So, Toph climbed the rock. She didn't really climb, she just hopped on a rock, and bended it up the slope. After a while, she sensed the humans were near, and she could also sense the vibrations of the wooden houses they had placed on the mountain, making Toph think it was a small settlement. It somehow comforted her, as small villages meant little problems, and small villages also meant: less soldiers. Less soldiers meant that it was less likely it was a village occupied by civilians of the FireNation. Deep inside she felt this was the kind of reasoning only Sokka would utilise, but she didn't care, and stepped forward. Something puzzled her. The people in the village were scared. They were running around hysterically, the shocks their vibrations sent forth were incredibly loud to someone as Toph. And as she reached the village, she heard a woman shout at her: "For pity's sake child, get out of here, or you're going to die!"
"What's wrong?" Toph asked in an abrupt way, as she so often did.
"Are you blind? The mountain's top is going to collapse. This entire village is going to get buried underneath a pile of rock!"
Toph laid her hand on the ground, and she now felt it too. She cursed under her breath. How could she not have seen this!? The comment the woman made about her blindness did not hurt her. The fact she didn't notice something as big as this, made her shiver with anger, however.
"What are you doing?" the woman asked as she saw Toph lay her hands on the ground. "We need to get out of here quickly, or we're all going to die!"
"Don't worry!" Toph suddenly said while standing up. "I'll protect you."
"How, by blowing against the rocks? What are you, an air monk?"
"No," Toph replied. "Something much better. Trust me."
"I'd love to, but now I really have to go. Ooh, everything I ever worked for, is going to be destroyed," Toph hear the woman say as she ran off.
Toph didn't care she didn't trust her. She was going to prevent this avalanche to take place.
She walked a bit further until she crossed the edge of the village that lay closest to the about-to-collapsing mountaintop. She felt and heard the earth above her crumble. Small debris was already making its way down, but Toph pushed it back effortlessly. Bigger chunks broke off, but Toph controlled every single lump. All rock that fell down, she gathered near her, and she made a small barrier with it that followed the village's edge. It was not enough to keep other big chunks from crashing down on the village, but it would certainly stop small debris. But now came the real deal.
A large piece of rock shattered due to the weight that laid on top of it. But that single chunk of rock, supported most of what lay above it. Thousands of tons of rock started to roll down, creating an deadly, dusty, rock-solid avalanche of immense proportions. Toph braced herself.
Out of the mountain itself, she rose a barrier of over 70 metres high, and 2 metres thick. It cost her all her strength, but she managed to pull it off. The avalanche collapsed against it, and it seemed the barrier wasn't strong enough. Toph's fabricated wall started to crumble under the weight of the rock that had smashed against it. Toph kicked herself towards the nearest crack in the wall. She placed her hand on it, and the rock, that had just tried to mercilessly break through it to continue its rampaging descent, became one with the mountain's structure. It almost seemed as if they melted together. She did that with the rock behind the remaining tears as well. And soon, the mountain had lost a lot of its altitude. But it had gained one of the most remarkable structures in the entire world. On its slope now stood out a massive, solid lump, as a gigantic pimple on the mountain's side. The village was unharmed, save for some houses that had already been hit by rocks that had fallen earlier. Toph was justly proud with her performance, and felt more powerful than ever now that she had won a fight of a rampaging avalanche. She had been called "The blind bandit" and "The Runaway". But the name the people of the town gave her after lifting her on their shoulders and celebrating her existence, was the one she was most proud of: "The Avalanche-beater".
"Where were you?" Katara crossly asked Toph when she had returned. "And why are your clothes covered with dust?"
"Me?" Toph answered with a mysterious smile. "I just went out for a hike."