Plan of Attack
It was a sad fact of life that The Blind Bandit always won: sad for everyone else because it's never fun to lose, and against an Earthbender, it's often fairly painful; sad for The Blind Bandit herself because, as one of her friends once said (back when she was an enemy), victory is boring.
So, if no single ring-fighter in the world could challenge Toph Bei Fong, the obvious step was to take on two opponents in the ring at once. Fortunately, there were a number of tournaments that catered to this type of thing. It seemed that, in the post-war world, people were still quite eager for combat, although most preferred to be in the audience rather than the ring itself. Many of the "professional" Bending circuits offered tag-team matches, but Toph wore out her welcome there when she refused to actually tag her partners. The more hardcore fighting venues had all varieties of combat opportunities, of course, but Toph quickly found herself drawn to the more dangerous underground tournaments. The competition was fiercer there, and they often allowed mixed matches between Benders of all kinds. The only problem was that those kinds of matches usually had a lot of gambling going on around them, and you couldn't trust that your teammate was more invested in winning the match than she was in collecting money for taking a dive.
You had to bring someone you could trust.
So, Toph asked Aang to join her for the 'Serious Business' Mixed Doubles tournament on Nunya Island. When he declined, she asked Katara, but the Waterbender refused, too. Toph didn't have much hope, but floated the idea before Zuko, anyway. The Fire Lord thought he was too hoity-toity for things like that. (Mai was interested, but Zuko absolutely forbid it, for security reasons.) Ty Lee was on board until she heard that people might get hurt. Haru got scared when he heard that the only rule was to stop fighting when the referee called the match. The Boulder was too busy with his new job as an Inspirational Speaker. June said that the purse was chump change. Azula was still locked up, and breaking her out would probably be more trouble than it was worth.
So, finally, she agreed to let Sokka accompany her into the ring.
At least she got a hug out of it.
The first step was to make up a persona for the ring. The professional circuits were more concerned with safety equipment than entertainment, but the underground fights were all about pleasing the audience. Everyone had a fighting identity, or at least an intimidating title and gimmick, and Sokka would have to do the same if he was going to fit in.
"Boomerang Boy!"
Toph huffed enough air to push her hair away from her eyes. "That's the worst name I've ever heard."
"Aw, come on," Sokka said, his grin unwavering. "See, it's because I use a Boomerang, and I'm a boy."
"You're seventeen. Doesn't that make you a man back at your home?"
"Well, yeah, but with 'Boy' I get that alliteration."
Toph made a decisive chopping motion with her right hand. "You're not calling yourself Boomerang Boy. Come up with something else."
Sokka's feet shuffled. "Like what?"
"I don't know. Maybe something based on a kind of ferocious animal? What kind do you like?"
"The Boomerang Bison!"
Toph couldn't speak for a long moment. "Appa isn't ferocious."
"He could be, if he wanted. Probably." Sokka's voice took a defensive tone. "Listen, if you ever see him do that projectile-snot-sneezing thing, you'll change your mind about how ferocious he is."
Toph waved a hand in front of her useless eyes. "Sure. Anyway, why not go for something more Water Tribe? We don't see that many Water Tribe warriors in the underground, so something that really plays off it would be good. Come on, you're always going about how great you guys are as warriors, show some of that to me!" Sokka was about to say something when Toph quickly interjected, "And don't do anything with the Boomerang. No one even knows what a boomerang is in the Earth Kingdom."
Sokka really thought about that. "Well, wolves and polar bear dogs are a Southern Water Tribe thing, and the North has a few more like buffalo yaks, but I want something unique. Something that relates to my own past and adventures and friends, you know? My Master wasn't even Water Tribe! Something that everyone would consider strange and scary." Both he and Toph pondered that, before Sokka suddenly clapped his hands together with enough speed to startle Toph. "I got it!"
"What?"
"A Lionturtle!"
"But... you never saw a Lionturtle."
"I know," Sokka said with a dismissive wave. "But I'm buds with the Avatar, and he hangs out with Lionturtles."
"So," Toph drawled, "you want to be defined by who you're friends with. And use their reputation to win fights."
"Absolutely! Who else but me could put up with Aang and Katara? Time to cash in on that."
And so The Lazy Lionturtle was born. Sokka insisted on making his own armor.
Nunya Island was in the extreme Northwest of the Earth Kingdom, in the sea formed by the continent's upper hook and the North-most Fire Nation islands where the Western Air Temple and ancient Sun Warrior civilization were hidden away. Nunya's surface was rocky and inhospitable, but the island was more than meets the eye. Depending on the time of year, the ocean fell away from one side of the island to reveal an underground complex of old lava tunnels that offered a surprisingly spacious series of shelters. When it was picked as the home of the regular 'Serious Business' fights, Earthbenders were brought in to refine and specialize the natural facilities. Now, the old lava tunnels connected a series of expansive arenas, many with water flowing around or under them, and openings in the ceilings to let the sun shine down during the day. Fans came from all over to camp on the island's surface, bringing their own tents and supplies. You could tell the die-hard groupies from the casual visitors by how hungry and sun-burned they looked.
Toph loved the place.
"Wow," Sokka breathed, "this place is great!"
That's one of the things the Blind Bandit loved about her friend. He might have to look at things with just his eyes, but he almost always saw things exactly the way she did. "This arena is one of the tougher ones. Some have the platform standing a lot higher over the water on big stilts, but this one is just a solid piece of rock with the lake all around it." Toph couldn't help but grin. "Still, this isn't like the worst of them. Those put a lot of small platforms over the water, instead of a single solid ring. Waterbenders get the odds in those."
Sokka shifted, sending his armor clanking. "There's no way I could jump across platforms in this getup."
Toph resisted the urge to stomp in annoyance. "I told you it was too much." Unlike most clothing, Sokka's metal armor was completely visible to her Earthbending-based senses. The costume was based on the same kozane dou-style armor that influenced such designs as the Kyoshi Warriors' uniforms and the old Warlord costumes the Fire Nation favored a century ago. It was made of some lightweight metal that Sokka had picked out with his Master Piandao, and forged into plates with Water Tribe decorative motifs etched into them. Sokka had done something to insulate the armor against light Firebending, and something else to optimize the protection it offered against big blunt rocks, but Toph hadn't quite followed his explanation. Still he was excited about it, and that was enough for her.
What she couldn't stand was the bulky 'additions' he had crafted. Instead of a normal back, the armor sported a massive metal turtle shell that Sokka could hide within if he curled himself up enough, but the weight and shape were awkward enough to completely unbalance him. Considering that Sokka considered pratfalling to be a viable mode of transportation, this did not bode well for him. On top of that, he wore a helmet that was comically oversized to accommodate a stylized faceplate. Sokka claimed was a sleepy Lionturtle, but Toph had spent an hour tracing her hands over the design, but it just felt like a mess of detail to her. Of course, something like that didn't offer much in the way of peripheral vision.
Toph was starting to wonder if she should have just kidnapped Mai and let Zuko sort out the details after they had won the tournament.
As if sensing her nervousness, Sokka put a comforting hand on her shoulder just as the gong rang to summon the fighters into the arena. "Don't worry, we're going to totally kick some butt."
Then he stepped forward, lost his balance, and collapsed into what sounded like an armed revolution of cooking pots.
Toph winced.
Their opponents turned out to be intimidating in all the right ways. The four fighters stood facing each other in the center of the ring while the announcer hyped up the audience. This would be Toph and Sokka's first fight, but their opponents had already won a round the previous day.
Standing opposite Toph was a big man with chains wrapped around his forearms. "Ain't you sort of short for this kind of fight?"
Toph kept her face aimed straightforward; that usually creeped out people who had to look at who they were talking to. "Aren't you kind of fat?"
He chuckled. "That's what the chains are for. Good reach, quick strikes, and I don't have to move much."
Toph grunted noncommittally. Across from her, she heard their other opponent start a softer conversation with Sokka. "Are you Water Tribe under all that metal?"
Sokka's voice echoed like those of the Firebender soldiers they had fought during the war. "Sokka the Wise, Southern Water Tribe, at your service."
"I'm from the North."
"You're a bender?" Sokka asked with some surprise. Toph hadn't felt any weapons on the woman.
"Better believe it. I'm going to drown you in that walking tank of yours." Toph bristled at the threat, even though she knew it was just trash talk. No one was drowning Sokka on her watch.
Sokka didn't seem concerned, though. "A fighting Waterbender from the North? Things must have really changed up there."
"I wouldn't know," the woman growled. "I left years ago, during the war. Trained myself with scrolls I could scrounge up or buy from pirates. The Fire Nation learned quick enough that women from the Water Tribes aren't anyone to mess with."
Sokka whistled. "Nice. My sister tried training herself that way, but then she decided that it would just be easier to beat the North's top master in a fight and change their society in a single day. I hear they're training girls now, but I don't think they're producing any tournament fighters yet."
The woman voice was a little awed when she replied. "Your sister is Katara? The one who trained the Avatar? I'm a big fan."
"Thanks, I'll let her know."
"I would appreciate it. That girl's my hero. She's a got a pair that all the men in the entire Tribe should be jealous of."
When Sokka managed a reply, his echoing voice came out a little strained. "For that mental image, I'm going to kick you. Hard. In the teeth. Or wherever it would really hurt." He paused for a moment. "Did that intimidate you at all?"
"First tournament, huh? Don't worry, you'll get better at it."
"Shush," Toph hissed. "We're almost on."
The Waterbender turned to look down at Toph. "So, are you the blind sonic-scream gag-fighter who trained the Avatar? You're smaller and curvier than I expected."
Before Toph could rejoinder, Sokka spoke up again. "Actually, you are a lot prettier than you used to be. Weird. Also, did you grow since I first met you? I think you're taller."
Toph shifted her head so that her hair and Earthbender-soldier hat covered her face.
"AND NOW," the announcer called, "THE MOMENT WE'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! THE ROCKING REVOLUTIONARIES- THE BLIND BANDIT AND THE LAAAAAAAAZY LIONTURTLE- WILL FACE TEAM KNOCKDOWN- TIKA TIDAL WAVE AND THE MAIN CHAIN MAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"
"Your nicknames are stupid," Toph snorted, right before everyone turned to take their corners.
Sokka was ready for trouble and scared stiff.
He had insisted that he and Toph should have a strategy- a plan of attack- for all of their fights. Overall, the guiding tactic was very simple; Sokka would do his best to stay alive, while Toph did her thing and took out both of the other fighters. Sokka had designed his costume with that in mind, coming up with something that a Fire Nation tank might find worthy of brotherhood. He had designed it himself- with a lot of help from a professional Fire Nation armorer in Zuko's employ and some illuminating correspondence from the Mechanist of the Northern Air Temple- to withstand all kinds of attacks from all the Bending disciplines. The result wasn't ideal for fighting in, but all Sokka had to do was take a lot of punishment and dodge the really big stuff.
He trusted Toph to take care of the rest.
It was no reflection on that trust that, when the first fight began with a gong that reminded him of Zuko's crowning as Fire Lord, Sokka's eyes were glued to Toph as the Main Chain Man whipped a weighted chain straight at the Blind Bandit's head.
Sokka watched as Toph dodged it with an easy tilt of her head, letting the chain shoot just past her left ear, then she pivoted in place and kicked a boulder out of the floor and at the Main Chain Man like a rubber ball. The heavy man whipped his other chain forward to wrap around the boulder, and with a mighty yank of his muscular arm sent it arching into the lake that surrounded the main arena.
Then a blast of water came out of nowhere to slam right into Sokka, making his armor ring like the gong that had started the round. He shook off the effects and turned to glare at Tika Tidal Wave.
She shrugged back at him. "Keep your eyes on your own fight." Then she waved one hand in a beckoning motion and conjured a stream of water from out of the lake to orbit her body.
It really wasn't hard to keep his eyes on her. She was nice looking, for a girl with bigger muscles than his, and that belly shirt of hers looked really good combined with the short pants and extensive body tattoos. Still, she was tougher in appearance than Sokka typically went for, and he definitely had a problem with girls who beat him up (for real, not for fun).
Besides, Toph really wanted to win these fights. Sokka would come through for her. He had promised.
Tika Tidal Wave lashed out a Water Whip towards Sokka, moving as quickly and smoothly as Katara ever did. The tip of the whip was moving faster than a diving hawk, but he was more than ready. Sokka raised a forearm, covered in a mesh glove and metal gauntlet, and backhanded the whip hard enough to splatter it on the arena floor. The armor may have been slow and awkward, but he was fast and accurate enough to knock flying daggers out of the air, and Waterbending didn't move quite that fast. Taking advantage of his opponent's loss of offensive capability, Sokka dashed forward as quickly as his armor would allow, unhooking a pair of twin Water Tribe clubs from his belt. He came in looking to land one of the clubs in Tika's stomach, hopefully incapacitating her, but he forgot one key thing.
Waterbenders are good at push andpull.
The offensive part of the water ship had been splashed away, but the tail end of it was more than capable of flowing around the other side of Tika's body and slamming into Sokka from the side. His armor rang out again, and he tumbled to the ground. Before Sokka could regain his footing, what felt like a waterfall started pouring down on top of him, keeping him pinned and obscuring his vision. At least the helmet was keeping his nose and mouth protected from the deluge.
He hoped Toph was doing better.
Toph loved this!
The Main Chain Man (she couldn't even think it without sneering) was way too dependant on his weapons. As he told Toph, he worked best when he could stay in one place and lash at his opponents from a distance. Against most Earthbenders, he probably would have been able to grab the offensive and hold onto it, harassing them until their stone defenses crumbled or his flirty little partner came to help. Toph, as everyone important knew, was not like most Earthbenders. She saw with her Earthbending, feeling the vibrations of the Main Chain Man's breathing and beating heart straight through the stone floor. Additionally, Toph was the world's only Metalbender (although she was thinking of someday teaching some people who were as tough as she was), so her senses extended up through her opponent's arms and into his precious metal chain weapons. As they snapped and sailed through the air, Toph could keep track of where every single link was, and feel them moving around like she could feel her own limbs.
Every time that moron tried to hit her, it easy to dodge with the absolute minimal amount of movement, sometimes doing nothing more than slightly shifting her weight. That left her a lot of time to move in and attack.
She had the Main Chain Man on the run!
Fun!
As entertaining as it was, though, it was time to end this. She waited until the Main Chain Man was thoroughly out of breath, and then executed her finishing move. She rooted herself in place with a horse-stance, and waited for the next strike of the chains. The Fat Chain Man did not disappoint, and flicked one of his chains forward to smash her directly in the face. It was a rough move to use against a teenage girl, but this was the underground, and Toph knew her face was considered far too 'soft' in appearance for such a setting. Actually, the whole 'growing up' thing was really working against her in that regard; people had a hard time taking a kid seriously as a fighter, but at least she was able to user a healthy coating of dirt to build up a more feral appearance. As she got older and curvier, she still had to deal with being short and all around petite for her age, which made her look even more girly. Dirt could only do so much.
That's why she hit so hard.
Toph grinned in a way that the Fire Nation had learned to associate with a hardened criminal.
When the first links of the chain were about to crush her nose, Toph whipped a hand up and caught them neatly in her palm. It was a mere effort of will to establish a bending link with the metal, and Toph's bare feet were always working as a conduit between her chi and the stone beneath her feet. So it hardly required any strength at all to yank the chain and use a soft twist of her left foot launch the Main Chain Man off the ground like a catapult.
Toph let her grin grow wider as her opponent flew towards her head-first, and quickly dipped down to put her left hand on the ground. Just as the Main Chain Man was about to plow into her, Toph rose and let him have it with a stone-covered left hook.
The crowds went wild. One fat man down, one tart of a Waterbender to go.
Now, where did Sokka get to?
Wet.
Very wet.
Waterproof undergarments. Something to consider for the future.
Sokka was starting to see the flaw in his original plan. When he agreed to be a punching bag in a suit of super armor, he hadn't quite remembered how longa handful of seconds could take to pass in the middle of a fight. After a short while that felt like three years, Tika seemed to realize that Sokka didn't pose much of a threat to her, and had elected to turn off his personal waterfall and leave him on his back shell like a helpless real turtle, in favor of targeting her Waterbending at Toph instead.
The Lazy Lionturtle simply couldn't have that. So he had quickly flipped himself over with a strong kick of his legs, and let loose with the most reliable tool in his life's arsenal- boomerangs. He had one tucked into each of his gauntlets, and both slipped easily out of their pouches with a tug from his fingers. Boomerang flew true and crashed right into the ball of water that Tika Tidal Wave had been forming for an attack, and Boomerang Jr had followed up by smacking the Waterbender herself in the back. By that time, the original Boomerang was back in his hand, and Sokka lined it up for a headshot (the same move that had totally taken out Combustion Man, thank you very much).
Then Tika got smart.
Seeing the attack, she did the only thing she could do before he threw. She blew him a kiss.
As Sokka's arm moved to launch Boomerang, the water that permeated every joint and interlocking piece of metal instantly cooled, hardened, and brought all movement to a halt. He tried to force his arm to move, but the ice held fast, and all he did was shake himself enough to let Boomerang slip out of his grasp to tumble on the frosted floor.
Tika Tidal Wave slowly stalked towards him, summoning a string of water into one hand. "Now, Sokka the Wise of Southern Water Tribe, we're going to play a game. Do they have it down South? It's called hockey." The stream of water solidified into a long stick of ice that she balanced in her hand very much like a club. "You're going to be the puck."
Toph figured out where Sokka was a second later when his ice-covered body crashed into her hard enough to knock her off her feet. She didn't get much of a chance to recover, either. Before she could even extend her Earth-senses out to find where Tika was standing, the Waterbender herself dropped nearly right on top of Toph. The Earthbender quickly tried to raise a defensive wall, but Tika had seize control of the fight and wasn't giving it up. She punched right over the wall with fists that didn't connect but instead guided large balls of water to slam into Toph like squishy wet boulders. Toph's concentration completely failed, and she was stuck in a world of nothingness, with even helpful sounds drowned out by screaming crowds and the sloshing of water.
Toph was blind.
Sokka was stuck. He was frozen solid, and stuck on the floor while his Toph was getting beat up.
But his armor wasn't skin-tight, and although it refused to move, Sokka had a tiny bit of freedom to move his limbs back and forth in their metals prisons. Not much, barely any room at all, but it was there.
He had to keep working at it.
Somewhere, a little bit of ice grew a little crack.
The Lazy Lionturtle was back in the game.
Being blind didn't mean Toph was helpless. As long as she was in contact with the Earth, she had power, and power meant you were never helpless. Even as one of Tika's legs kicked a heavy splash of water into Toph's head, the Earthbender stomped one of her own feet down on the ground, and the Earth responded by exploding in a little cloud of dust and gravel. It was nothing like the massive, obscuring cloud she had used in her last battle with the Earth Rumblers, right before she joined Aang's group, but it was still exactly what she need. Tika Stupid Face got a face full of dirt, and Toph had a moment to take control.
She established a strong connection with the Earth, and using both her legs to provide direction and a swing of her arms to provide thrust, she was soon riding a wave of undulating Earth away from her attacker.
She heard Tika Motor Mouth growl behind her. "You can't get away from me that easily!"
"Your fight banter is as lame as your name!" Toph spat back.
Tika responded only by spinning in place with her arms extended, quickly summoning a good amount of water. Toph directed her Earth wave into a tight turn that would take her back towards her opponent, pumping her arms to build up more speed. Tika swung both of her arms upward to send the water splashing out widely, and Toph sensed Tika wiggling her fingers (of all things) as she did so. What was that about? All it seemed to do was spread the water out more, making it a pretty ineffective attack. Toph didn't even try to dodge it as the Earth carried her forward, ready to slam straight into Tika with all the force of a-
Tika blew a strong breath, and the water that was covering the entire battleground froze solid.
Oh.
The Earth stopped responded as Toph's feet slid onto ice, and she tumbled to the floor. The ice-covered floor. The blinding, unbendable, ice-covered floor.
Well, that wasn't good. Sokka still couldn't move very well, but he could at least stand himself up. The problem was that Standing Up was not a very good attack, and unless Tika Tidal Wave was going to obligingly laugh herself to deathat it, Sokka didn't have a lot to work with here.
Then he got an idea.
It wasn't a goodidea, but it was an idea. Sokka just hoped he wouldn't be sacrificing himself for nothing.
The only thing that filled Toph's world was the voice of Tika Why Don't You Go Stuff Your Head In A Latrine. "The Blind Bandit, huh? You gonna scream me to death, now? Face it, kid, without the Earth, you're nothing."
Toph made a rude gesture in the direction the voice was coming from.
Then she heard a horrible scraping noise coming from behind her, and getting closer. Above the din, a very familiar voice shouted out. Toph would have heard it in a hurricane, because that voice had so often been a lifeline to her, both in fatal situations, and life's quietest moments.
Sokka. The Lazy Lionturtle. "Catch me and use the metal!" was what he was saying.
Then a frozen suit of armor skidded across the ice right next to Toph. With such a horrible sound accompanying it, she had no problem putting out a hand to meet it. Then, she yanked with all her strength. What had once been very solid metal suddenly became like damp paper in her grip, and tore off Sokka's body without any resistance. Toph used her other hand to catch the metal, and began shaping it over her own body like clay.
Nearby, Toph heard a simultaneous, "Oof!" that sounded like Sokka and Tika colliding into each other. The feminine, "Get off me you freak!" and Sokka's cry of mild pain seemed to confirm that. "I have to get the Earthbender!" was Tika's follow-up.
Time to cut that line of thought off. Toph stamped a metal-coated foot down in the ice, and the spikes she had quickly shaped into the bottom stabbed straight down into the Earth of the ring. The ice cracked easily.
That didn't matter, much. Toph didn't need the Earth anymore, but it was important to put on a proper show, play to the crowds. By the sound of things, they were loving it. Toph dashed forward. For some reason, people who could see found the sight of a metal person to be intimidating. Aang said it was the lack of a face. Whatever. Toph didn't particularly care. She just wanted to end this fight, right now.
End it she did, when she slammed into Tika like a train. Toph barely heard the wind get knocked out of the Waterbender's lung over the noise of the metallic stomping. She gripped Tika's arms and kept running, her metal boots slamming harder and harder onto the ice with each step, building up speed and momentum. The ice kept cracking under her, and she was starting to extend her Earthsense over the whole arena again. It was almost too late when she realized the Earth was telling her to stop.
So she did, and let go of Tika Splish Splash. "Launch the Toph-apult! You're gooooooone!"
The other girl went flying high up into air, and then bombed down into the lake surrounding the battleground with a splash that soaked the first two rows of the nearby audience.
"THE WINNERS BY KNOCK-OUT AND RING-OUT," the announcer butt in, "ARE THE ROCKING REVOLUTIONARIES, THE BLIIIIIIIIIIIND BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDIT, AND THE LA! ZY! LIONTURTLE!"
Toph pulled off the metal that had been covering her face, and grinned as wide as she could. That's how it's done!
Toph took her time waving to the cheering crowds, pumping her fists into the air and letting the joy of victory exert itself. She wasn't so distracted that she didn't sense Sokka scampering up behind her. "Great job, Toph."
"Thanks. You did pretty good yourself. That was a great idea, giving me your armor."
"Glad you think so. But can I have at least part of it back now? My armor was all iced up, so when you ripped it off me, you kind of took my underwear along with it!"
Toph lowered her head so that her hair kept him from seeing her face. "Really? I hadn't noticed. I'm blind, you know."
"Toph, you're wearing my underwrappings like a cape."
"So everyone in the audience can see you naked now?"
"Yes, miss genius. And as much as you've grown up, you're not anywhere big enough to serve as an adequate shield."
"Fine, fine." She peeled off the chest plate of her improvised armor, still recognizable as the Lazy Lionturtle's shell. "Here, hold this in front of you and let's get back to the locker room. We have another match later tonight, and I don't want you to freeze anything important off."
Sokka eagerly took the half-shell held it strategically in front of him. "Good thing you're blind," he said, "or this could be really awkward."
Toph kept her face hidden, and wiggled her toes against the Earth.
Sokka always had the best plans, even if she never told him so.
END