… or Toph in the Land of Magical Rocks
(A short-ish Toph Crossover)
"Jade, be careful!!!"
Jade Chan jumped backwards and pounded her chest. "Jackie, don't do that!" she shouted. "I was only looking at it…"
"The Mirror of Shih-Ling is no looking glass," Uncle explained. "It acts as a portal to other dimensions. Some of its previous owners have vanished mysteriously, never to return to this realm."
"You see?" Jackie exclaimed. "You could have fallen in!"
"You had plenty of chances to fall in when you were getting it from that old palace," Jade countered cynically. She crossed her arms and glanced sideways at the mirror. For a second, she thought she saw another girl in the mirror… a girl with a green outfit, a yellow apron, and no shoes. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. This time she saw herself blinking in confusion.
"That's different," Jackie said defensively. "I never faced the mirror." Jade was about to complain when Jackie's phone rang. He hit a button and put the phone to his ear. "Hello, Captain Black? Ah… okay, I'll be right there." He closed the phone and put it back in his pocket. "I'll be back by dinner," he said. "Uncle, make sure Jade doesn't get in trouble."
"Already taken care of," Uncle replied, shaking up a bottle of powder. He poured a handful of it and tossed it over Jade, creating a shower of pink sparks. Jade sneezed several times and groaned.
"What was that for!?" she shouted.
"To keep you in this universe," Uncle answered with a smirk. "It is now impossible for you to pass through the mirror."
Jade tested this theory immediately by charging at the Mirror of Shih-Ling. Before she made contact, an energy barrier stopped her in her tracks. She strained to touch the glass, but an invisible force held her back. "You guys are so lame!"
"See you tonight," Jackie said with a smile. He left the shop. Jade glared angrily at the back of his head as the door closed. In the glass behind her, Toph smirked.
That night, Jade snuck out of bed and brought a few talismans with her. She went to the back of Uncle's shop where the mirror glimmered in darkness. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the ox talisman and squeezed. She tried again to put her hand on her reflection, using all of the strength given to her by the magical rock. She was only a few millimeters away when the energy barrier flared up and threw her back. She groaned quietly and reached into her other pocket for the rabbit talisman. She stepped away a few feet. Then, she charged at the mirror with super-speed. This time her hand made contact. Sparks flew.
On the other side of the mirror, Toph Beifong was walking along the streets of Ba Sing Se. The rest of the city was asleep, but she needed to clear her head. The war had been over for a week. Toph felt she should visit her parents, but she knew they would want her to stay with them. She needed her freedom. And besides, she was having too much fun with her friends.
Toph heard the wormhole open in front of her, but she didn't react quickly enough to anchor herself. The portal sucked her into a torrent of confusion.
The magical backlash sent Jade flying across the room. A thought ran through her head before she hit the table behind her: "Uncle's anti-portal powder was a lot stronger than I gave him credit for…" At the same time, Toph fell through the mirror and rolled onto the floor of the shop. She heard a crash. Then something in the air constricted her breathing and caused her to cough forcefully. Jade opened her eyes and looked around, but all she saw was a cloud of shimmering purple dust and a broken bottle. She gasped and jumped up, using the speed talisman to run in circles and clear the fog away.
"Oh jeez… I'm so so sorry," Jade said quickly, moving to help Toph stand up. Toph moved back and jumped into a fighting position.
"Who are you? Where am I? And what did you do to me?" she demanded.
"Um… I'm Jade," Jade answered. "We're in San Francisco…"
"Never heard of it," Toph said. Jade raised an eyebrow.
"You know… in California?"
"How could I be in some country I've never heard of if I was just in Ba Sing Se?"
Jade blinked. "Impenetrable city…? That isn't… oh, duh…" She looked at the mirror, where sparks of magical energy were still flickering. "You're from another universe!"
Silence.
"…What are you looking at?" Toph asked after a few seconds. It was then that Jade realized Toph hadn't followed any movement with her eyes. Jade walked past Toph and toward the mirror, noticing that Toph continued facing the same direction.
"This mirror… I don't know what happened, but it pulled you here from wherever you were. And now I don't think you can get back."
Toph smirked. "Watch me." She strode toward the mirror and tried to touch it, but the force field kept her away.
"I've already tried, and I used magic," Jade admitted.
"Can your magic do this?" Toph threw her arms in the air, summoning a wall of earth behind her. Jade watched as Toph put her feet on the wall and tried to force herself closer to the portal. After half a minute of struggling, Toph heaved a sigh and let the earth wall crumble.
"Nope, but at least my magic didn't fail that badly," Jade shot. Toph glared. Jade took the opportunity to examine Toph's pupils. "So… how can you tell where I am?"
Toph stood up slowly and faced the other girl. "I'm an earthbender," she explained. "That trick with the wall isn't the only thing I can do. In fact, I can do pretty much anything I want, as long as it involves earth or metal. I can even sense vibrations in the ground to find out where everything is. And in case you were wondering, my name's Toph." She smirked.
"You can control metal? Awesome," Jade said. "I wish I had powers of my own. But at least I have the talismans… super-strength, super-speed, fire blasts…"
"Someone's coming," Toph whispered. Jade pulled a talisman out of her pocket, squeezed it, and grabbed Toph's hand. "What are you—"
"Invisibility," Jade whispered, right before Jackie peeked into the room. He yawned, and after making sure the room was empty, went back upstairs. Jade let go of Toph and the snake talisman. "I made sure to have that one in case Jackie woke up."
"Wow, those talismans sound like they can do anything," Toph said with amazement. "Think one of them can get me back to my own world?"
"Give me a second." Jade put her hand on her chin and thought. It didn't take her long to figure out a solution… it did, however, take her some time to suggest it. "There is one thing… but it's risky."
"As long as it works."
"The tiger talisman," she said, reaching deeply into her pocket. "It's supposed to hold the power of balance. I only brought it in a worst-case scenario, but it might work here… I mean, without you, your universe is out of balance, so this should restore it. …Hopefully." She took it out and handed it to Toph. It occurred to her a second later that she should have explained how to use it. In Toph's hand, the markings on the talisman immediately lit up, creating a flash of bright light. Jade shielded her eyes. When she could see again, two girls stood before her.
"Uh oh… did I do something wrong?" one of them asked. Jade took this Toph by the shoulder and pulled her away from the other.
"And this is why the tiger talisman is so much trouble," Jade said matter-of-factly.
"You have five seconds to get me back to my world," the other Toph said with a sneer. "Otherwise things are gonna get messy." She pounded a fist into her hand.
Jade took a second to check that the good Toph was holding the tiger talisman, and another second to grab her and speed out of the shop. The bad Toph shook her head and sunk into the ground.
"Where are we going!?" the good Toph shouted above the rush of wind as they sped along the sidewalk.
"Away!" Jade shouted back. "I get the feeling your dark side isn't going to go back on her threat."
"And you'd be right." Toph the second shot out of the ground, creating a pillar of concrete in front of her. Jade didn't have time to change course… so she smashed through the pillar and shoved her opponent out of the way. The bad Toph was caught off guard and stumbled into the street. She felt a machine rumbling toward her. Without thinking she attacked, smashing the front of the car and causing the driver to faint from shock.
"What do we do now?" the first Toph asked, her voice cracking with fear.
"I'll hold her off," Jade said. "Find a way to touch her with the talisman. You two need to get back together, quick." Good Toph nodded timidly and snuck away. Jade struck a fighting pose.
"I make a simple request and this is what I get?" Bad Toph asked in mock disappointment. "Oh well. It'll be more fun to beat the answers out of you." With that, she hurled five rocks in Jade's direction. Jade dodged all of them and charged. In one swift movement, Bad Toph created a ramp over her head, diverting Jade's path and sending her flying. Jade flailed in the air for a few seconds before coming down on hard asphalt. A seismic shockwave threw her another few yards back. She groaned.
Meanwhile, the good Toph was moving slowly toward her counterpart, using earthbending to reduce the vibrations caused by her feet… which took quite a bit of work, considering she was trembling from fear. So far, she seemed to be invisible, but she still had a few feet to travel, which meant plenty of time to mess up.
Jade sped back to her feet and tried another direct charge. Bad Toph covered her arms in concrete and met Jade's challenge, using one arm to block and the other to try and smash Jade's head in. Jade ducked and kicked Toph's legs out from under her, then ran behind her for another attack. Toph spun and shot a rock. Jade dodged again, running up the nearest building and out of the way. The rock was on a crash course with Good Toph. She sensed it coming just in time to make it crumble in the air. Unfortunately, she lost concentration just long enough to give away her position. Without a moment's hesitation, Bad Toph launched a boulder at her. She pulled a shield around herself and hid.
"I've got a new plan!" Jade shouted to the hidden Toph. "Just… keep yourself busy for a minute!" With that, she dashed off to Section 13, leaving the two Tophs alone.
"So… you're me?" Bad Toph asked. Good Toph peeked through a crack in her shield.
"Sort of…"
"Oh, I get it," the mischievous Toph continued. "You're just a different part of me. The lame part, anyway. Get outta there and fight!" She brought her foot down to create an earthquake, but a small, sharp pebble slipped under her foot. She howled in pain and jumped off of the injury.
"Oh, I'm sorry!" Good Toph cried from behind her shield. "I really shouldn't have done that…" She winced and shifted the ground under Bad Toph's good foot, knocking her on her back. "Or that… but… but you were being difficult…"
"I'll show you difficult!" Bad Toph shouted. She summoned rocks from all directions to smash the shield. After the dust had cleared, only a pile of rubble remained. Bad Toph snickered.
"What's so funny?" Good Toph asked, standing behind her dark side.
"I can't believe it was that easy to destroy her," Bad Toph replied. She heard the girl behind her start running. She spun around, glared, and sent an earth wave after her. Good Toph felt the attack coming and jumped out of the way. As she tumbled to the ground, she pulled another earth shield around herself. This time, however, she created a protective sphere that allowed her to keep moving. The sphere turned around and stopped, waiting for Bad Toph's next move. "You think you're so cool, dodging anything I throw at you? You're just a coward!" She ran at the orb, intending to smash it open. But Good Toph was ready. Right before Bad Toph hit, the sphere bounced into the air and she ran past it. The globe came down to earth with the force of a meteor strike, causing a huge crater and throwing Bad Toph off of her feet. The sphere crumbled, leaving Good Toph standing at the bottom of the crater.
"Can we please stop fighting?" she called. "Somebody might actually get hurt…"
Bad Toph, panting from anger and adrenaline, walked over to the edge of the hole. "You think I'm going to let you off that easy? When I'm done, you'll be lucky if you can feel your…" She was cut short when she suddenly flew into the air.
"Okay, that's enough, you two," Jade said, floating above the crater. She landed on the edge. "I'm willing to bet an earthbender is powerless in the air," she said confidently, flipping the rooster talisman like a coin.
"Jade!" The Good Toph catapulted herself out of the crater and hugged Jade. "Thank goodness you're here! I didn't know how much longer I could keep that up."
"You looked like you had things under control," Jade pointed out, cringing a bit from the unexpected hug. "Now I think it's time to put you back together." She pushed Good Toph away slowly. "You still have the tiger talisman, right?"
"Yeah… but what am I supposed to do with it?" Good Toph asked, taking the talisman out of her pocket. Jade concentrated, lowering Bad Toph until her feet barely touched the ground.
"Just go over and make contact. The talisman will do the rest." Good Toph nodded and walked over. She held the talisman toward her dark side, but before it touched, Bad Toph tried to knock it out of her hand. She held on and put the talisman in Bad Toph's outstretched hand. Again the talisman lit up, but this time Bad Toph used earthbending to try and restrain its power. Good Toph narrowed her eyes and fought back. The light from the talisman fluctuated as the two sides of Toph struggled for control. Finally, the talisman engulfed both girls. Jade took a moment with the powers of speed and healing to clean up the damage to the surrounding area. When she returned three seconds later, Toph Beifong was once again whole.
"That was unreal," Toph murmured. She held the tiger talisman in front of her, sensing the magic in it settle.
"I probably should have guessed there'd be a reaction between an earthbender and a magical rock," Jade said, as if it were the most obvious fact in the world. Toph laughed.
Back at the shop, Jade looked sideways at the Mirror of Shih-Ling. Toph walked up to it and pressed the tiger talisman against the glass. She felt the barrier give way to the talisman's presence, and Jade watched as the mirror seemed to absorb the magical energy. Toph's reflection swirled as it was slowly replaced by a dark street.
"That looks like Ba Sing Se," Jade told the blind girl.
"How would you know?"
"Just a feeling." A sign on the street announced a party at a Ba Sing Se dance hall, but Jade kept this a secret. "So, I guess this is goodbye. It was fun while it lasted."
"Thanks for the excitement," Toph said. "I have a feeling my life is about to get a lot more boring." There was a moment of silence. "Good luck with… whatever it is you do with these magical rocks," she added, punching Jade in the shoulder. Jade recoiled, smirked, and hit Toph back. Toph laughed again. "Ya know Jade, you'd make a pretty good earthbender."
"I think I'll stick with the talismans," Jade said. "But I'll let you know if I ever want to trade."
Toph nodded. Then, without another word, she stepped through the mirror and back into her own universe. The glass flickered back to normal and the tiger talisman fell to the floor. Jade heard an echo of laughter on the other side and smirked. Just another average day in Chinatown, she thought. She turned around and saw a broken table, holes in the floor, and one exasperated old man.
"Aiyaaaah! Jade, what happened to Uncle's shop!?"