Heya this is my absolute first time writing anything that i let someone else see outside of a classroom so be gentle with me. I don't care if you flame but be constructive in them don't just bash me and not leave a reason I will delete those ones bar none. The title itself may or may not change depending on if i can thing of something better other than that lets got onto the disclaimer and a few notes.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar The Last Airbender the only thing i lay claim to is my OC Beat.
Talking/Yelling
Inner Monologue
Avatar State/Aang's Past Lives
Drunken Bender
It had been a long day for Aang and his companions, Sokka and Katara were already asleep while Toph was gazing over the city of Ba Sing Se…or at least Aang thought she was…he wasn't quite sure what Toph was looking at half the time seeing as she couldn't see like he did. With a soft yawn Aang's thoughts turned back to Appa and their latest failure in finding him. Aang shook his head sadly before turning to look at the most recent member of their group. He had shoulder length white hair that was currently splayed out around his head like a halo and his clothes, though new, were tattered and torn consisting of a tight black shirt and a dusky red coat with brown pants that cinched closed at the ankle and slipper like shoes. Katara tried to get him to dress a bit better but he insisted it threw enemies off guard when they fought him. His name was Beat…strange even to the motley group of kids. But name aside the strangest thing about him was that he didn't even belong here. Not in the traditional sense of course but in the literal…Beat came from a different world, one where Bending and chi simply didn't exist like they did here. In his world technology was dominant. He told them that where he came from you couldn't manipulate fire or air or anything like they did. In fact there were almost wholly reliant on machines for everyday life. In fact most people had become fat and lazy and his race was slowly dooming themselves to a self-destructive sedentary life style. Aang shook his head and laid down as he mulled over how Beat came to join their group…in fact it had been 3 weeks ago tomorrow…
FLASHBACK-3 Weeks prior
"So that's the plan then guys," Sokka said as he wrapped up the scroll and stowed it away in his pouch. "We head to Ba Sing Se and show our plan to the Earth King and have him help us invade the Fire Nation on the Day of Black Sun!"
"I don't know Sokka do you really think the Earth King is just going to let us waltz into the palace and strike up a conversation with him?," Katara asked.
"Sugar Queen's got a point Sokka, people in High Society don't usually let people of the lower class just stroll on in any time they want," Toph stated as she picked at her toes before blowing her bangs out of her eyes.
"Well what do you suggest then Toph?" Aang asked as he threw in his two cents.
"Well I don't know" Toph grunted " All I know is that its not gonna be as simply as strolling into the palace"
"Who cares until we come up with a better plan this is what we have to go with" Sokka grumbled "Besides it will take us a couple weeks to get to Ba Sing Se since Appa is gone now"
Katara reached over and whapped Sokka on the arm as she frowned at him a faint catty hissing sound slipping from her mouth. "Jeez Sokka be a bit more sensitive to Aangs feelings!"
"I'm sorry but we all know its true besides you remember what that sand bender said chances are if we head to Ba Sing Se we can pick up Appa's trail too" Sokka murmured as he rubbed his head and glances at Aang who was staring off into the distance.
" Sokka's right our best chance to find Appa is in Ba Sing Se" Aang whispered as he stood up and patted the sand off his legs and butt.
"Twinkle Toes is right and the sooner we get started the sooner we can find Ap-OOF!!!" Toph was abruptly cut off as a man slammed down on top of her kicking up dust and sand in a huge gout of debris setting all the companions on edge as they approached the crater in the sand calling out for Toph while each armed themselves in case whatever hit Toph turned out to be hostile. Sokka had his War club out and was edging closer as Aang and Katara started to bend Air and Water respectively keeping the elements on standby as the dust started to settle revealing a person of about 14 or 15 years old sprawled on top of Toph. While this was interesting in and of itself seeing as the man had seemingly appeared out of thin air what really had the groups attention was that his lips were firmly pressed against Toph's and the normally unflappable Earth bender was beet red yet she seem too frozen in shock to move as of yet. Slowly the man stirred and opened his eyes staring right into Toph's before his mind slowly started to process what was happening and he leapt back rolling on the sand before using his hands to spring to his feet his face flushed before he stumbled and fell on his ass with a groan.
"Oh holy crap what hit me," He moaned as he sat up slowly and clutched his head before Sokka poked him in the back of the head with his club.
"Hey who are you," Sokka demanded as he slipped into a defensive posture while Aang and Katara helped Toph to her feet her face still glowing before she stomped over to the prone man and grabbing for him but he seemed to simply sway out of the way no matter how many times Toph made to grab him. What was even more interesting was that he didn't even seem to be doing it on purpose as he had his face buried in his hands still before Toph screeched and tackled him and started to choke him.
"YOU….YOU…YOU!!!!" Toph shrieked in a rare display of rage while the man was steadily turning blue and making choking noises before the three managed to pry her off much to her protests "NO LET ME KILL HIM HE TOOK MY FIRST KISS!!!" Toph flushed again before lapsing into a tense silence as she simmered.
"Sunnuva" the man grumbled as he sat up and rubbed his neck and rolled it a series of pops echoing out making Katara wince before he looked over them his slate grey eyes calculating.
"Who are you?" Sokka asked again as he lowered his weapon the mans lack of retaliation against Toph's outburst speaking volumes for his character.
The man grunted and stood up the muscles on his chest and stomach rippling slightly from the motion causing Katara to blush and look away a bit as the man wasn't wearing much in the way of clothes just a tattered pair of pants and what might have once been a shirt though the small bits of fabric no longer gave any shelter from the elements.
"Names Beat what's up?" The newly christened Beat said as he stretched and bent, his bones popping and cracking as things fell back into place from his rough landing before he locked eyes on Toph and flushed again." Can anyone tell me where I am?"
"Your in the Earth Kingdom just outside of the desert" Aang answered as he let the air he'd been bending dissipate and Katara slipped the water back into the bottle. "Excuse me for stating the obvious but your not from around here are you Mr. um Beat was it?" Katara questioned.
"Beat it was and 'Mr.' I am not judging from the looks of you I'm about as old as you are girlie"
"O-Oh I see I'm sorry I just assumed from your looks and height that," Katara trailed off as she coughed and turned away mumbling about checking on Toph.
"So where are you from then Beat" Sokka asked "You don't look like Fire Nation"
"I'm from East L.A. and judging from what you just said I'm nowhere close to that anymore" Beat mused as he looked around before walking to Toph who sensed him coming and glared up at him.
"What do you want you pervert?!" Toph growled her hackles raised as she suppressed the urge to grind him into a pasty smear on the desert sands.
"I wanted to apologize I seem to have caused you some grief," Beat smiled though Toph couldn't see that, "Though I must say if I had to kiss anyone I was glad it was someone as cute as you"
Toph sputtered and looked away her cheeks tinged pink and smiled softly despite herself. Since she was sheltered most her life and blind Toph didn't often get compliments on her looks. Looking back towards the group who had observed the interaction between the two he smiled again.
"I suppose you'll be wanting an explanation as to how I appeared out of thin air huh?" The four companions nodded as Beat sighed. "Well unfortunately I have none for you…despite a bright flash of light the feeling of being weightless and the sudden lip lock with cutie here I have no recollection of anything" Toph flushed again and grumbled something about perverts.
"Well…I suppose we'll just have to take his word for it for now guys" Sokka murmured as he eyed the snowy-haired man.
"Hey Beat" Aang said as he trotted over to him grinning " Are you a Bender too?"
"Uh….what's a 'Bender' little dude?" Four jaws hit the ground at the same time as they just stared at the strange young man before them.
"You don't know what Bending is!?" Toph asked incredulously as she abandoned her anger for the moment to gape at Beat.
"Well…no, no I don't should I know what it is?"
"Bending is the manipulation of the 4 elements by using your chi energy" Katara explained "Everyone knows what it is…well at least I thought they did…where exactly are you from?"
"Well I'm not sure where the Earth Kingdom is…does anyone have a map or something?" Beat inquired before Sokka pulled a scroll from his bag and handed it to Beat who unrolled it and promptly staggered back and fell on his ass. "Wa-wa WHAT!?" Beats head shot up as he leveled a slightly panicked look at the four teens who eyed him warily his outburst having set them back on edge.
"What's wrong Beat is your home very far?" Katara asked concern lacing her voice as she walked over to the now shaking man.
"You could say that….according to this map I don't think I'm on the right planet"
"WHAT!?"
"WHAT!?"
"WHAT!?"
"WHAT!?"
"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!!"
Beat flopped back and sighed dejectedly as he looked up at the sky. "This is just perfect" he murmured "Trapped god knows where with no way to get home…and I'm half fucking naked" grunting softly he sat back up and looked at the four who were now eyeing him suspiciously.
"What the fuck y'all looking at?"
Sokka was the first to answer " You expect us to believe that you came from some other planet?"
"Mmm…maybe nothing that fantastic…I'm thinking it may just be some sort of alternate plain of reality" Beat mused, " I mean if I was on another planet I doubt I would find other humans here…I'm guessing whatever sent me here skipped me over some kind of dimensional boundary and landed me here with you guys"
Aang eyed Beat up and down before he turned to his friends, "I think we should take him with us guys"
"WHAT!? Are you insane Aang!? He fell out of the freakin sky!" His friends all clamored and yelled at him simultaneously. Beat meanwhile was pulling out a few items from the pockets of his now ruined pants and sighed softly.
"Well if you want I have some proof" Beat interjected causing all four to look at him once more as he held up a small black rectangular object about the size of a pack of cigarettes but much thinner. "This here is my MP3 player…uhm…well I suppose that doesn't tell you much actually" He chuckled as the four friends stared at him.
"Uh look to put it simply it plays music"
"No way" They all chorused causing Beat to sigh and look at Toph, "Oi cutie with the lavender eyes come here" Toph didn't move since she had no idea who he was talking to or what 'lavender' was either causing Beat to grunt and stand up and walk over to Toph he realized he was talking to her.
"Oh me…what do you want pervert?" She asked causing Beat to growl a bit.
"Well first of all I'm not a pervert I fell out of the damn sky. Next time I'll chuck you off a cliff and see how well you can control where ya land" Beat ground out causing Toph to shrink back slightly as the thought of falling scared her greatly.
"Y-Yeah whatever anyway what do you want!?"
"Here put these in your ears cutie" Beat said as he handed her two small buds that were attached to a cord that ran back to the small device. Toph hesitated and felt the small objects in her hands before glancing over at her friends for guidance.
"Careful Toph it could be some kind of trick" Sokka warned as he looked at the tiny black buds.
"Oh come on Sokka if he meant any harm don't you think he would have done something when he had Toph pinned down before?" Katara stated while Aang nodded his head in agreement.
Toph bit her lower lip before she set the objects in her ear and waited. Beat smiled and thumbed on the device and cycled through his music. "Since I doubt you guys have anything like the music from my world I'll start with something simple and soft" Beat explained as he selected a song and a beep sounded in Tophs ears causing her to jump and reach for her ears only for Beat to catch her hands.
"Relax Cutie I promise you'll be fine" Beat murmured soothingly causing Toph to blush and notice how big and warm his hands were wrapped around hers before she beat back those feelings and wrenched her hands from his and harrumphed before she stiffened as music started to pour into her ears but it was strange and foreign like nothing she'd ever heard and yet she loved it. It made her want to sway and move to the beat of the drums and guitar as the man singing sang about how he wanted to run through the halls of his high school…whatever high school was. Toph closed her eyes and sigh softly as the started to sway softly a gentle smile pulling at her lips while her friends looked on in awe as Toph's mood relaxed and her tension floated away. Almost as soon as it began the music came to an end and Toph plucked the buds from her ears and held them almost reverently.
"That was amazing!" Toph cried as she made to hand the buds back which Beat accepted readily while Aang and Katara started to pepper Toph with questions about his 'music'.
"Well Toph how was it?" Aang asked excitedly practically bouncing on the balls of his feet as Katara waited for a response as well.
"It was amazing I've never heard anything like it " Toph said a bit of awe in her voice, "It was like there was an entire concert in my head playing only for me"
"Woooow" Katara and Aang chorus stars in their eyes at the thought of it before they wheeled around on Beat and scrambled over too him.
"ME NEXT!!" Aang and Katara cried out at once before Beat slipped the device back into his pocket with a grin.
"Maybe later yeah?" Beat said with a smile as he watched the two teens pout. Before Sokka walked over to him and looked him up and down.
"Ok so maybe your not a threat and you may not even be from this dymansion" Sokka said, "But if your going to travel with us we need to be sure you can defend yourself" Sokka grinned and gripped his club again and eased into a Water Tribe defensive stance. "Spar with me so I can see if your up to snuff"
Beat grinned and popped his knuckles before he pulled something else out of his pocket. It was a flask ,rather plain in coloration it was merely a dull silver, and he popped open the top and Toph wrinkled her nose and coughed.
"Oh gross its full of alcohol" Toph muttered in disgust as Katara gaped at Beat before he took a long drink.
"I must warn you…what I am about to do is something you most likely will never see another person on this planet do," Beat said as he drank again his cheeks starting to flush lightly," My style of combat is rare even where I come from not many being able to master the flow of the moves" Beat drank again before pocketing the flask and hiccupping and he gave Sokka a drunken grin, "Oh and its 'dimension' not 'dymansion' pretty boy".
All of a sudden he started to wobble and sway his hands held up in front of him the first two fingers bent at the second knuckle while the rest were balled into a fist. He staggered around seemingly drunk out of his mind as Sokka eyed him confusion clearly painted on his face.
"I'm not sure I can fight a drunk person you guys" Sokka murmured before he started to edge toward Beat his club sheathed again. "Hey come on man lets get you-" was as far as Sokka got because the moment he got with in a foot of Beat he lashed out his fist grazing his cheek opening up a small cut.
Beat grinned and hiccupped before he continued to stagger around his voice ringing out though with a slight slur to it, "Do not be so soon to dismiss me boy…what you see before you is one of the most complex forms of fighting on my planet" He started to flow with the grace of water before he stopped suddenly on one leg the other held out from his body the foot resting on the knee of his standing leg while his arms formed a crescent shape his fingers still curled into what Aang finally realized as the position in which you would hold a cup of rice wine, "Behold…Suiken- The Drunken Fist" Beat said before he relaxed and let out an almighty belch the mystique he had built up immediately broken as Aang and Toph roared with laughter and Katara wrinkled her nose and muttered something about immature boys.
"That was so cool Beat!" Aang said in awe as he rushed up to Beat a megawatt smile plastered on his face. "Can you teach me how to do that!?"
"I could…but in order to learn you need to at least know what it feels like to be drunk in the first place…well not really actually but it helps if you do" Beat grinned, "Helped me anyway"
Katara immediately sprang forward and grabbed Aang "Oh no your not teaching Aang your drunkard style while I'm around…at least not until he's old enough to drink".
"Aww but Katara" Aang whined as he started to protest.
"Don't you whine at me the last thing we need is you to be drunk and somehow activate the Avatar State," Katara argued the thought of which immediately shutting down any protests Aang could think of.
Beat grinned at Katara's argument though he had no idea what the ' Avatar State' was he surmised it wasn't something to be toyed with.
"So am I ever going to find out the names of my gracious hosts?" Beat questioned as a smirk tugged on his lips as Katara flushed in embarrassment.
"Ah right" Katara cleared her throat, "My name is Katara and this is my brother Sokka", She pointed at her brother before continuing down the line, "This is Toph Bei Fong and that's Aang the Avatar"
"Nice to meet you all," Beat said before he looked at Aang, "Well if I'm going with you guys I better tell you about myself huh?". The four companions leaned in to listen all of them highly interested in this young man.
Beat grinned and cleared his throat, "My full name is Hayden Shepard but my friends call me Beat I'm 14 and I'm around 5'8 or so the last time I checked. I don't have too many hobbies or talents that are noteworthy but I do know a few different martial arts styles and as such can take care of myself if the need arises."
Aang raised his hand like he was back in class with the monks and Beat arched a brow "You can just ask your question Aang your not in school little buddy."
"Ah right well I was just wondering what styles you know?"
"Hmm I think I'll keep that bit of information too myself if you don't mind but I promise you I know enough that I won't hold you back" Beat said.
"Hey come on you can't just-"Sokka began before Katara laid a hand on his arm.
"Let him keep his secrets Sokka after all he is completely new here he has the right to not fully trust us yet." Katara said placating her brother who grunted and nodded.
Aang grinned and looked over the new member of their team excitedly before he launched into an explanation of his own abilities. The group spent the next several hours informing their newest comrade of their past adventures along with their future goals. Night fell upon the group and they soon retired resolving to begin the journey to Ba Sing Se in the morning.
A/N
OK there it is my first venture into the gritty world of fanfiction. Let me know what you think and before anyone starts yes i glossed over the details of how Beat got here but it becomes a bigger part of the story later on i promise theres a lot more to him than what i've given you so bear with me. This story with be AU and i've got a pairing in mind for beat with Toph seeing as shes the only one in the series without a potential love interest...as for the others i may put up a vote for it later on but i am getting one thing out of the way right now...NO FREAKING YAOI...and just to be fair i'll go the other way and will not be putting Yuri in either.
There will be one or two more chapters of flashback before i get back to present time i want to establish a bit of back story for now. Anyway thanks for reading and don't be afraid to leave a review with an opnion or even an idea for me who knows i may use it(i'll even give you a shout out if i do) Also let me know if you spot any spelling or grammar errors i think i got them all but let me know i HATE spelling and grammar errors.
Ja
Soulnin