Disclaimer: I haven't done one in a long time, so here goes. I wouldn't mind owning either Avatar or the Boondocks, but I don't. Oh well, that's life for you; one upsetting truth at a time…

Chapter 2: Brawl in a Giant Sandbox

Last Time:

"Where's Appa?" Aang asked her as he held his staff in his right hand.

She shook her head sadly, and closed her eyes. The realization of what she meant hit Aang hard and tears began welling up in his eyes and he broke down.

"How could you let them take Appa, why didn't you stop them?" Aang asked Toph angrily, who stood up and looked away.

"I couldn't, the library was sinking and you guys were still inside and-" Toph said him, throwing her arms into the air as she looked down at the ground.

"You could have gone down and got us!" Aang yelled as he stomped toward her, "I could have saved him!"

"Aang, calm down." Katara started as Aang's anger continued to grow. Huey raised a brow as they watched the group.

"I can hardly feel any vibrations out here, the Sandbenders snuck up on me and there wasn't time for-" Toph said, trying to explain what happened as Aang cut her off.

"You just didn't care! You never liked Appa! You wanted him gone!" Aang accused loudly as he glared at the blind Earthbending Master. Katara put her hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him down.

"Aang, stop it. You know Toph did all she could; she saved our lives." Katara said calmly as he whirled from her.

It was then that they noticed Huey and the others watching them from across the crater of where the library used to be. Aang narrowed his eyes as he took up a stance and so did the others.

"It was you! You took Appa!" Aang shouted out as Huey raised a brow, and Traban looked almost ready to laugh at just how stupid that sounded.

"Hold on there, kid. We didn't take your-" Traban didn't get to finish as he was knocked away by a wave of air that Aang sent. Aang gave chase as Traban flipped in the air moved to take their fight elsewhere.

"Aang, wait!" Katara cried out as Aang went flying after Traban. She ran after them, but was stopped as Huey suddenly appeared in her way.

"Nobody move." Huey said with Katara narrowing her eyes at him.

Present Time:

"Nobody move. Your friend just assaulted mine, and I will put an end to him." Huey said with Katara narrowing her eyes at him.

"Not while I'm around." Katara said firmly.

Just as she was about to attack Sokka rushed over with his sword, though it didn't do much good since Ming sweep his feet from under him and kicked him back while he was still falling. Katara jumped back to Sokka's side as he picked himself up from the ground. Toph took up her Earthbending stance.

"Toph, go help Aang! We can handle them, but Aang may need help!" Sokka yelled as the girl nodding and jumped, making the sand beneath her rise up as she rode it like a wave to where she sensed Aang and Traban.

"You aren't going any-" Riley said as he was about to chase after the blind Earth Master, but Huey stuck out his arm while never taking his eyes off of Katara and Sokka.

"Don't, Riley. Those two are Masters of an Element, and one is an enraged Avatar. If we help Traban we could be killed by accident, and that's just by him. Right now we're nothing to those two, but Traban's creative and can handle himself. These two however are more within our league." Huey said as he glanced at Jazmine, who nodded and jumped back while Ming and Cindy stood firm behind Huey and Riley.

"Katara, this might be a little tough." Sokka said as Katara nodded.

"A little tough? Kid, we're gonna wipe you out for what yo little bald ass friend did." Riley said as he launched himself at Sokka, who ducked his punch, but bent inward at the knee in his stomach. Cindy rushed to help Riley as Sokka punched him in the face.

Huey and Ming simply stared off against Katara, who had water from her pouch floating about her. She moved her arms forward and the water did as it was commanded by following her movements. Huey and Ming jumped over the wave while Katara moved her arms back, intend on catching them on their descent to the ground. Huey was hit by the wave, but recovered in a cartwheel as Ming was still airborne. Ming cocked back her fist as she came down on Katara, who had to dodge to the side to avoid her.

"This may be a lot harder than I thought." Katara said as she got up from the ground.

"You have no idea, girly." Huey said as he and Ming rushed at the girl.

"Damn this is tough…" Traban muttered as he pushed off the desert floor and into the air. He sent a slicing wave of air at Toph, but before it even reached her she had already dropped into a crouch.

Toph propelled herself into the air with a pillar of stone, coming down at Traban with her fist together cocked back behind her head. Traban twisted in midair and sent a powerful gust of air at her, knocking her back as Aang came from another direction, appearing on side Traban as his eyes widened, "Where did he come from?" Aang used his staff to knock Traban back down to the ground with a crash and a dust cloud of sand coming up, but Toph was up and at it. Knowing exactly where he had landed, she kicked the ground with one bare foot, causing a furrow of earth sprang up and knock Traban back into the air. Traban eyes narrowed as he glared at the two.

"Your team dynamics need some work, but unluckily for you I'm at my best when I don't have people to endanger such as teammates." Traban said as he reached into the bag, which had surprising stayed on him. He pulled out two objects, throwing them into the air just above him in a powerful spin. He grasped them once he had closed the bag back. He twisted himself in the air to regain his balance and looked down at where Aang and Toph were standing next to one another.

"What's he on about?" Toph said as she prepared for another attack, but Aang simply glared up at him.

Traban raised the two objects to show them to Aang and Toph as he smirked down at them. One was a bottle and the other a match set. Aang raised a brow as he looked on in confusion, but Toph couldn't see so she was just ready for him when he landed. Traban popped the cork off the bottle and put it in his pocket while he lit a match. He took a swig of the bottle's contents and used a push of air to propel himself at the two younger benders.

"Allow me to show you how I got the nickname of Dragon of the South!" Traban exclaimed as Aang's eyes widened while he grabbed Toph by her arm. Traban put the match to his mouth as he took a deep breath and then blew out… fire. The flames came at the two hot and fast as Aang jumped and carried Toph into the air, Traban still blowing fire at them as they landed again and ran.

"Why are we running and what's that heat?" Toph asked as Aang didn't even want to look back at the wave of flames coming after them.

"He drunk something that was flammable and now he's blow fire at us and if you enjoy life you'll keep running!" Aang said as Toph's blind eyes widened and she ran past Aang, who sighed as he jumped and sent a wave of sand to block the flames.

Traban saw Aang's wave and stopped blowing as he put the bottle back. He hated having to waste sake like that, but it was always one of his better attacks. He jumped over the sand wave as he gave catch to Toph, who was still running, but was blocked by Aang who sent another, much larger, wave of sand in his path. Traban ran from it as he pushed his fist behind him, using his shoes as boards while he propelled himself forward with air.

Toph had stopped running when she sensed the larger wave of sand, and kicked out at the sand beneath her. It turned to solid earth as she smirked at her work. She jumped up and stomped at the sand beneath her, creating a much wider area of earth than before. She stomped the ground with her foot, causing a boulder to rise up and she kicked it high over the wave of sand. She continued to do just that as she forced Traban to dodge the boulders and out run the sand wave. Traban brought both his fist high and then dropped them fast onto the sand as he pushed himself into the air. He jumped over the sand wave and shot a flurry of air blasts at Toph, but Aang canceled them out with his own air blasts.

Traban dropped to his feet on the desert floor as his breath ran ragged and sweat fell off his face. He hadn't had a battle using bending in a long time, and he was sure if he had been at top form he could beat both of them. The girl was blind to him attacking from the air, and the Avatar was a novice of every element but Air; an element in which he, Traban, had mastered to an extreme during his training sixty years ago. This was growing to be a hassle and he needed to end it now.

He had already used Dragon's Breath, a move he had created to fight when Airbending wasn't enough. The move involved him drink sake or any form of liquor and then using a source of fire. Once those two materials were in place he would drink the sake and keep it in his mouth, then using Airbending he would infuse it with his very breath and breathe it out as an endless gust of wind. Then it would hit the flames of the fire source, and BOOM; a wave of fire hotter than most well trained Firebenders could create.

It was just too bad he didn't have more than one bottle of sake with him from Wan Shi Tong, and that bottle was now a quarter gone…

Huey ducked under a wave of water. He cursed under his breath as the girl started moving the water around her to block Ming's powerful kicks. Huey jumped back into the fray as Ming was knocked back by a water whip. He blocked Katara's hits and dodged her water moves. That was until she moved it under his legs and swept them from underneath him. That didn't stop him though as he flowed with it and ended up standing on his hands. He used his feet to send down powerful kicks like he saw that Rock Lee kid do on that Naruto show. She blocked his kicks with a shield of water, but was being pushed back under the strength of them. "What the heck is he? A mountain of power?" Katara thought as she gritted her teeth and focused on keeping up the shield. Huey's kicks were relentless as Ming ran up from behind him. She flipped into the air and came down with a roundhouse kick, shattering the shield as Katara was thrown back by the power of the two attackers.

"Our teamwork is superior to your abilities in manipulating that limited water of yours. You should give up now." Ming said as Huey jumped off his hands and onto his feet. Katara glared at them as she got to her knees on the ground. An idea struck her, and she ran with it. She dug her hands into the sand and concentrated. Huey raised a brow as he ran at her, kicking her up as Ming ran up and jumped, getting above the Water Tribe girl in the air, and hammering her back down to the desert. Katara hit the sand hard as Huey stood over her with Ming landing just on side of her.

"Do you think we're stupid, girly? We know that if you can manipulate water, then you would eventually try to find an underground source of it to use when you found that your supply was limited. I'm surprised you did not think of that before the battle started, but then again; you are just a novice and a naive child in the ways of combat." Ming said harshly as she walked away from Katara, who was slowly losing consciousness. Huey sighed as he picked the girl up and walked over to Jazmine.

Cindy ran forward and kicked Sokka in his stomach, and while he bent inward at the pain Riley rolled over Cindy's back and kicked Sokka into the desert floor, face first. Sokka was knocked out as Cindy and Riley stood over it.

"Nice work, C-murph on disarming him." Riley said as Cindy smirked.

"No nearly as good as that setup you gave me; kicking him back down to me so I could punch him in his face." Cindy said as they walked back to the others with Sokka on Riley's back. He and his brother dropped the two without a care and sat on the desert floor while they all waited for Traban.

It wasn't a long wait as he came back, trekking with Aang on one shoulder and Toph on the other. He sat them down beside the others and collapsed uncaringly into the sand.

"That… was… too… much… work…" Traban gasped out between breaths as they all looked at him.

"What did they make you do?" Ming asked as he looked over at her.

"I had to be creative to fight them. The boy only used Air and Earth, so I was luckily, but the girl was a bit of a pain. I got the boy by kicking a boulder at him, but the girl was tough. I had to knock her into the air and then knock her back down to the ground before she would stay down. And even then she almost got back up!" Traban said as he rested. Jazmine was busy seeing to the Avatar group as he was talking, but she came over to him and checked him out.

"Aside from liquor on his breath and him being out of breath, he'll be fine." Jazmine said as she stood up and dusted off her clothes, "As for them, you didn't hurt them to bad. I healed their minor injuries, but they'll be out for a few more minutes."

"Good, that'll give me enough time to rest just in case they plan to fight again." Traban said as he sat up with Huey and the others sitting beside him.

After a few minutes Aang and his friends began to stir. Huey and the others were about to get ready to fight, but Traban raised a hand to stop them. Aang was the first to wake up. He sat up groggily and with a groan as he rolled his shoulders. They were a bit sore, but he'd live. He looked around and saw Huey and the others. He was on his feet in an instant, staff in hand and glaring pointedly at Traban who only gazed back impassively.

"Where's Appa?" Aang demanded loudly, waking his friends as they too got up and ready for round two.

"We don't know where your Appa is, but I can assure you we did not take him." Traban replied calmly.

"Where have you taken him? What have you done with him?" Aang demanded, his anger rising with each second. Traban sighed as he stood up and… vanished, at least from Aang and his friends. He reappeared behind Aang, not even looking over his shoulder as the young Avatar fell to his knees and then completely to the desert floor. Katara gasped as she ran over to Aang, checking him over as she glared up at Traban's impassive face.

"What did you do to him?" Katara asked as Traban shrugged.

"I hit a pressure point in his neck to knock him out. He was becoming a pain with his inability to listen." Traban said lazily as Sokka appeared on side of him, though he had disappeared from his spot just as the boy's fist came down.

"I don't like people who can't listen. Almost as much as I don't like people who can't accept what is given to them." Traban said from behind the boy who twisted and jumped back, alongside Toph, to Katara's side.

"How can he move so fast?" Sokka asked.

"I move by the will of the air; that is all you need to know." Traban said, his arms behind his back and his eyes closed as he moved to stand over his friends with his back to Team Avatar, "You shouldn't have tried to fight us. Had we been at full strength you all could have died. It was a foolish decision to make."

"Who do you think you are?" Toph snapped as she stomped her foot. Traban gazed at her from over his shoulder, looking her over as he smirked lightly.

"You are the only one to be able to fight us effectively, even with your slight handicap in this desert. Had you and I fought on solid ground while I was at my peak, it would have a very long and destructive battle." Traban said as Toph smirked.

"One which you would lose." Toph said as Traban chuckled lightly.

"Your names, if you don't mind?" Traban said as Huey and the others finally stood up.

"Why should we? You just knocked out our friend." Katara said as she held Aang's head in her lap.

"Maybe 'cause we ain't killing you and yo little Avatar." Riley said as their eyes went wide.

"How did you know that?" Sokka asked as Toph held up a hand.

"It doesn't matter Sokka. Besides, they spared us, so the least we can do is tell then our names." Toph said as Sokka and Katara frowned at her.

"What are you talking about, Toph? They beat us up and then knocked out Aang. They're the enemy!" Sokka said as Toph shook her head.

"If they were the enemy then we would have been tied-up, held ransom, or dead. No, they healed us, and just wait calmly until we get up to talk to us. Plus, I may not be able to sense a lot, but I can't feel any evil in them; at least not directed at us anyway." Toph said, but didn't relax as Sokka looked at her.

"Names" Huey said blankly.

"Toph Bei Fong, Earthbending Master, and former Blind Bandit." Toph said as Traban raised a brow.

"Is someone in your family named Jin, and another Fu?" Traban asked as Toph nodded.

"Yeah, they're my grandparents… How did you know their names?" Toph said as Traban chuckled.

"Because, both were secret Earthbending Masters in my time here. I would greatly like to see them, are they still around?" Traban asked as Toph hung her head.

"They died about a year ago." Toph said as Traban bowed his head.

"I'm sorry to hear that. They were both such nice and kind people." Traban said as Sokka stepped forward.

"Just how old are? How could you have known Toph's grandparents?" Sokka asked as Huey raised a brow at the boy.

"I'm much old than I look, so we'll leave it at that." Traban said, stroking his chin as he gazed at Toph, "You, young lady, are very fortunate to have picked up their skills and natural talent for Earthbending. I have something to tell you, Lady Bei Fong." Traban said as Toph waved him off.

"Just Toph." She said simply as Traban smiled at her.

"Fine then, Toph. I have something to speak with you about. Would you accompany me to-"

"She's staying right here, and if you have anything to tell her you can say it for us to hear." Katara said as Ming stepped forward, but Traban's arm blocked her path.

"Quite fine then, Ms. Waterbender. I was going to tell Toph here that I owe her grandparents much from my time with them in their youth, so will now repay them by whatever their granddaughter here wishes. So, Toph Bei Fong, what will it be?" Traban asked as Toph and the others were shocked.

"Toph, this is perfect! They can get us out of this desert!" Sokka said as Toph scoffed at him.

"They seem just as stuck here as we are." Toph said as Aang began to stir in his sleep. Traban glanced over to the sleep boy and frowned for a second.

"Might I make a suggestion?" Traban said as Sokka and Katara narrowed their eyes at him.

"I have already repaid a great deal of my debt by allowing you and your friends to live, but if I could; I would like for me and my friends to travel with you. At least to be sure you get out of this desert alive." Traban said as Katara frowned at him.

"We'll be just fine without your help." Sokka said as Cindy scoffed.

"Trust me, you won't. It's a long way anywhere and I know for a fact that you guys will be at the end of your rope trying to survive." Cindy said smugly as Katara glared at her.

"And how would you know that?" Katara snapped as Cindy chuckled.

"Call me psychic." Cindy replied mirthfully as Sokka frowned.

"Fine by me, but once we're out of this desert I get to pick the real thing you have to do." Toph said as Traban smirked and Huey frowned.

"Fine by me." Traban said with a shrug as Huey placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" Huey whispered in his ear.

"Getting them to team up with us until we can begin all of your training and my re-training. This will allow us to stay on the good side of at least one of their members, and she's one of the better ones. Besides, I actually do owe her grandparents, but they owed me a lot more." Traban replied in a whisper as Sokka frowned at them.

"What are you two muttering?" Sokka snapped as Traban waved him off.

"Nothing that concerns you, now as for your names." Traban said as he gestured for them to speak.

"We're not telling you-" Sokka was saying until Toph stepped up.

"Sokka and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe. Katara's a Waterbender, and Sokka's a warrior... or at least thinks he is." Toph said as she pointed to each person, "Then there's Aang, the Avatar, and Airbender from the Southern Air Temple."

"Toph!" both shouted at her, waking Aang up in the process. Huey stepped up to knock the boy out again, but Traban blocked him.

"I think you had better control your... leader. He's a bit to unstable over the loss of his… Appa, was it?" Traban said calmly as Katara held Aang close to her while he began waking up.

"K-Katara…? Uhh… where are we?" Aang said sitting up as he looked around, "Where's Appa?" Aang asked as his eyes landed on Huey and the others, who were watching him intently. Aang shot up instantly as Traban put up a hand.

"I think we've been over this, but I'll say it once more. We don't have your Appa, and we don't know who took it or to where. If we had anything to do with it do you think we'd still be here?" Traban said as Aang simply glared at him, but didn't attack.

Aang closed eyes and took deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself. This guy, whoever he is, was right; they couldn't have taken Appa. They were still standing there, but that doesn't mean that they were good people.

"Why are you here?" Aang demanded as his eyes snapped back open.

"I was visiting an old student of mine." Traban replied calmly as Aang watched his every move, or lack thereof.

"Who's this old friend?" Katara asked as Traban glanced over at her. She flinched back at his steel-like gaze; it was like he had pierced her very soul with just that glance, even if it was for that sparse second.

"I don't believe that's any of your concern nor business. Have we demanded to know your reason for being here?" Traban said calmly as Katara averted her eyes so as to not meet his gaze again. It was like being stabbed with a long sword…

"Fine, but what are you still doing here? It obvious you could have just left us here, so why not?" Aang questioned as Huey's scowl deepened.

"After our little fight, I realized just who you were when you used both Air and Earthbending. I decided to keep you alive and clear things up. Then I come to find out that Toph here is the granddaughter of two of my old friends." Traban said smoothly as Aang frowned at him and glanced over at Toph, who was just as causal as could be.

"Okay, but why haven't you left yet? I realize you guys have healed us, and waited until we were safely awake, but why are you still here?"

"Because I owe a debt to her grandparents, and I shall repay it by making sure she gets away from this desert alive."

Aang could say nothing as this teen in front of him hadn't even twitched, nor had the ones behind him. It was almost as if they had trained themselves to be… only sighed as he thought over everything that needed to be done. First, he needed to find Appa, and then he'd question the guy who had to be at least 70 to 120 years old to have known Toph's grandparents.

"I'm going after Appa…" Aang said suddenly and with that, he leapt into the air and used his staff to glide off into the horizon.

"Aang, wait!" Katara yelled, but he was too far away to hear her. She sighed as she turned back to the others, "…we better start walking; we've got some pretty important information and we need to get it to Ba Sing Se fast."

They all began walking as Sokka mumbled, "Do you think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?" To this Traban shook his head and muttered, "Nope, he's mean when it comes to piggyback rides…"

A few hours later, Katara, Sokka, and Toph were starting to show fatigue in the searing heat in the desert. Their cheeks had reddened as they tried to siphon heat out of their bodies, and they looked over to see Jazmine and Cindy more or less in the same boat. Ming and Riley panted while wiping the sweat off their foreheads, taking a drink of water from the flask that Traban had given them. Sokka panted and momentarily stopped to pull Momo up onto his head and to spread his wings.

"You know, we never got your names." Sokka said suddenly as they all turned back to him.

"Huey, Jazmine, Riley, Cindy, Ming, and I'm Traban. We are very pleased to have met you." Traban said in a kind voice while Huey rolled his eyes. Those kids would never know just how sarcastic Traban was being right then.

"So, Traban… Ming… Huey, why aren't you bothered by this heat?" Sokka asked as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Traban turned around from the book he was reading; for some reason he felt like someone else, but who…? Oh well, he shrugged; the road of life would led him to the answer. Well… as soon as he stopped showing up late on it.

"I've spent some time in the desert, so I'm used to it and know how to use my Bending abilities to keep me cool." Traban said as he shut his book and replied with Ming and Huey nodding.

"I received special training since I was a child, so I'm used to all sorts of terrain." Ming explained as she looked back at Jazmine and Cindy.

"Like that helps us!" Jazmine and Cindy yelled simultaneously while Ming and Huey shrugged, and Riley just wiped the sweat from himself again.

Katara couldn't help but giggle at their antics, but then she looked up into the air, "Aang, where are you?" she thought.

Cindy wiped the sweat off her forehead and panted. The heat was affecting her badly; she wasn't use to desert conditions. She had never taken a vacation to one, and because she was a pampered rich girl. Seriously, she was a rich white girl that dated an urban thug; why the hell would she be anywhere near a desert! She drank some water, and glanced at Riley, who, while uncomfortable, was in a better state than she was, and Jazmine was too. She then looked at Toph and Sokka, who were more or less in the same boat as she was.

Riley looked back at her, and saw she was turning different shades of red than he usually saw on her, and it made him worry.

"C-murph, you alright?" Riley asked as she nodded weakly.

"Y-yeah, Esco… I'm cool…" Cindy replied between pants, and she drank some more water, emptying the flask that Traban had given her for drinking water.

Huey noticed her condition too, "We need to get out of the sun…" he said as Jazmine was slumped against his shoulder, using him as a crutch. Toph then bumped into Sokka.

"Can't you watch where you're-" Sokka was saying until Toph raised a hand.

"No." Toph replied bluntly, with a hint of depression in her voice as Huey raised a brow while understanding what that meant; she was blaming herself for the loss of Appa. How foolish…

"Right, sorry." Sokka said sheepishly as he slapped the back of his neck.

"Come on guys, we got to stick together." Katara said as Sokka tried to push Toph off of him, but they were stuck together.

"If I sweat anymore I don't think sticking together will be a problem." Sokka stated as he tried to push himself off, but with one swift push to his head, the blind Earthbending Master pushed his sticky clothes off her.

"It's way too hot out here…" Toph said as she went to her belt to get her flask, but there was no more water in it, "Katara, can I have some water?"

Traban tossed her an extra flask from his bag with a slight smile as they trekked on, "I think we need a break." He said as he looked over everyone. He then noticed Cindy panting more than usual and how Jazmine wasn't too far behind in the aspect, "Cindy, Jazmine, are you both sure you're okay?"

"Y-Yeah… I'm cool" Cindy replied weakly, but she stumbled forward as Riley caught her. Huey looked over to Jazmine, only to catch her mid-collapse.

"I-I just got to get use… to the heat… I'm fine, really…" Jazmine said weakly between pants.

On instinct, Huey put his hand on her forehead, and gasped a bit, "She's burning up!"

"Dammit" Traban cursed as they all ran over to Jazmine and Cindy.