Second fanfic.
Disclaimer: I only own Avatar in my dreams... Out of them i am nothing but a normal human being with an ATLA addiction... Yes... Completely normal.
Aang had always had an unhealthy fascination with animals. It was almost like he had some kind of animal radar in his head, which lit up whenever he was within a hundred metres radius of any rideable animal. Yes that's right, rideable. He'd regale the gang of tales of how he rode the penguin seals and the elephant koi, the unagi and of course Appa.
Toph herself had no problems with animals, it's just that Aang was trying to get her to ride an ostrich horse and she was not entirely convinced.
"Come on Toph it'll be fun, I wont let anything happen to you" Aang was on his knees. The only thing greater than the joy of riding an animal was sharing that joy. He was the Avatar after all. Spreading joy was what he did.
Toph cocked an eyebrow, "You're forgetting the time you…"
"Whoa Whoa" Aang held his hands in front of him in defence, "That was Sokka's fault"
"Hey!" Sokka spun around from where he was saddling up his ostrich horse.
"Look" She pointed an accusing finger at Aang, "I don't care whose fault it was. All I care about is that fact that I woke up THREE DAYS LATER with no memory of the incident at all!"
Katara, who had been packing supplies for their trip chose that moment to chuckle to herself, "Yes that was kinda Sokka's fault wasn't it…"
Sokka fell to his knees with his arms in the air, "KATARA!" He shot a pleading glance at Toph but she wasn't having any of it and hurled a small boulder at him. He missed it… Just.
Toph left her earth bending stance. He was safe for now, "Look if I have to do this then I'd rather ride with Aang. He hasn't dropped me…" she turned to Aang and narrowed her eyes, "…Yet."
Aang swallowed rather conspicuously. He gave Toph a nervous smile, even thought there wasn't much point, "To the stables then."
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In stables Toph could feel the vibrations of about 12 ostrich horses. She and Aang walked up and down the stalls, searching for a suitable mount.
"Hey Toph what about this one." Aang ran up to a stall and eyed a certain ostrich horse. To the naked eye there was nothing wrong with this certain ostrich horse. Then again Toph didn't use her eyes and what she could 'see' wasn't that reassuring.
"Aang I don't know it kinda seems agitated"
Aang waved an unconcerned hand and opened the stall gate. Big mistake.
The ostrich horse suddenly roused and with a might unknown to man it crashed though the gate and was headed straight to Toph.
No matter though, her toes curled into the dirt as she entered her favourite horse stance.
Aang, who had been pushed over by the pure fore of the creature looked up and realised what was going on, "No Toph don't hurt it!" He created an air scooter and managed to reach Toph before she caused the ostrich horse any harm. With a swift movement he grabbed her under his arm and carried her out of the stables kicking and screaming.
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Katara and Sokka heard all the commotion and looked up from preparing their mounts.
Aang was on his air scooter with a severely pissed off Toph under his arm. He was shouting at them, "RUN!"
Sokka was confused, "Aang what are you…" Just at that moment an ostrich horse burst out of the stables behind them. Sokka's jaw dropped, "There's death in its eyes."
Katara turned and stared blankly at her brother.
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"PUT ME DOWN I CAN HANDLE IT!" She was screaming. Toph hated being picked up, no matter what the circumstances are. "I SWEAR TWINKLE TOES I WILL BURY YOU IF YOU DON'T PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"
He just ignored her and if there's one thing she hated more than being picked up, it was being ignored. She thrust her elbow into Aang's side and sure enough he put her down… Well not really it was more like fell down but either way she was now back on her warm, safe earth. Safe?
She could 'see' the ostrich horse about a second away from them. There was nothing she could do in such short time so she braced for impact.
She felt a gust of air and was confused when the ostrich horse disappeared from her vision. It must be Aang. She felt a hand push her against the ground and heard the ostrich horse's screech as it flew through the air just above her head and landed in a heap just behind her.
Sokka screamed like a schoolgirl as the creature got up again. He was scared that the ostrich horse with 'death in its eyes' would try to attack them again. However the ostrich horse had other plans. It rose from the earth and obediently bowed it's head at the Avatar and the small blind girl.
"See" Aang said too cheerfully, "I told you I wouldn't let anything happen to you."
Toph just groaned and rolled over in the dirt. She heard everyone laugh. She would've done something about it if she hadn't been laughing too.