A/N: Well, that took a bit longer than I wanted it to, but I struggled a lot on just how I wanted to write this chapter. It was not an easy decision, but I'm fairly happy with how it turned out. Hopefully you guys do, too. But hey! Combat chapter!
Lil' Line O' Litiguous Lard: I own none of this. Really wish I did...hell, my only true OC's are the villains.
Toph
"This place is amazing! Just look at these buildings and architecture! Annabeth'd love this."
Toph smirked with satisfaction at the awe in Hazel's voice. While she wasn't one to really give much of a crap about the beauty of architecture, she did love that just about everything was made of stone. That, plus the fact that her favorite brawling partner was the King made Omashu by far her favorite Earth Kingdom city.
"Yeah, talk about a great combination of form and function. The Legion's engineers could learn a thing or two from these people." Snorted Frank. "Romans might be good at rapid-built fortifications, but creature comforts have never been a priority. This place was designed with an incredible tactical advantage while still being a place you'd want to live. You said that it was actually conquered for a while by the Fire Nation, though…how'd they manage it?"
Toph could sense his rising excitement as he spoke; his respiration and pulse increasing and his voice pitch rising ever-so-slightly. She idly wondered if he had what she heard others describe as a "gleam in his eye." She'd never quite understood that term, but she'd come to associate it with Sokka on one of his inventive kicks. She smiled a little to herself at the comparison, but shrugged in answer. "Dunno for sure; didn't really care. Something about extendable metal bridges and King Bumi surrendering immediately."
"What?" said Hazel incredulously, "He immediately surrendered such an incredibly defensible position? Why in the name of the Gods would he do that?"
Toph grinned back at her, "'Cause he was a crafty old bastard who cared about his people, that's why."
As Hazel sputtered, Frank began to chuckle. "Let me guess…not a drop of blood spilled?" When Toph nodded in answer, he continued. "He waited until the exact right time when he had the advantage to retake the city with a minimum amount of bloodshed, didn't he? Hehe, crafty old bastard, indeed."
"What's that phrase about old age and treachery—?" asked Hazel, slyly.
"—always beats youth and skill." Finished Frank.
"Hah!" Toph barked out, "Never heard that one before, but Bumi's only missing the 'youth' bit of those four. He's pretty damn powerful; he's the only Earthbender I've met who can hold his own against me."
"Really? I had no idea you were that powerful—hey hey!" He cut himself off in response to her annoyed shift in stance, "Don't get me wrong, it was pretty damn cool to watch you spar with the others last night, but it's not like we have anything for comparison when it comes to your 'bendings.'"
She'd be lying if she said she wasn't a bit mollified by his honest reply, but she felt a demonstration was in order, and luckily they'd come to a place in the city just perfect for it. "Hn, then let me educate you a bit in the art of Earthbending. Omashu was founded by the first human Earthbenders, and since that time, not one single Earthbender has ever been able to bend metal." She exchanged waves with the city construction workers assigned to removing the remnants of the Fire Nation "modifications" to the city. She knelt down and rapped her knuckles on the slab of iron pavement in front of her before turning a semi-manic grin back on the pair of tourists. "Until me, that is." She reached out with both hands and pulled, causing the surrounding metal to crumple into her hands, and then lifted the slab of iron and threw it into the stone garbage skiff placed exactly for that purpose fifty feet away.
She repeated the process with the four additional slabs before stopping for a break and returning to her stunned and sputtering guests. "But…but…those must've weighed more than a ton each! And you're saying you did that all with your 'bending?'" Hazel said with amazement and perhaps a bit of hope in her voice.
"Well, yeah…not like I could've done that with my muscles." Toph said, thinking it had been a bit of a stupid question. "But, since I'm the only one in the world who can do it, I lend a hand in the post Fire Nation Occupation cleanup when I'm in town. It's not the most fun use of my abilities, but at least I'm on solid Earth for the day rather than a ship in the middle of the ocean."
The girl snorted, following Toph away from the construction site. "Heh, I can definitely agree with that one. I hate boats. Was that all they had for you?"
Toph was liking this girl more and more. "Yeah, I was here a good chunk of yesterday before we had to head back to the ship in a hurry." She sensed the wince and guilty increase in heart rate that her casual comment brought in the pair. "Eh, don't worry about it. You guys are all right, and you sure helped stave off the boredom."
"You sure you're blind?" Asked Frank, a shrewd edge to his voice. "Daredevil's the only one I've ever heard of—," he broke off suddenly, his body suddenly tense, "Hazel. I'm getting that feeling."
Hazel, too had tensed and her hand had moved to the hilt of the sword at her belt, "Yeah, me too."
Toph was more than a little confused; what had these two picked up on? "What're you two—hey!" Frank had pulled her to the side, causing a rock to narrowly miss her head before hitting the ground a few feet away. How the hell had that happened? Nobody snuck up on her, especially not in this city of stone, and this time no fewer than a dozen people had just done exactly that. She could sense them now, apparently whatever they'd done to mask their approach had ceased. She had to figure out how they'd done that, but for now, it was time to FIGHT.
"Take cover!" she yelled at the two with her while lobbing boulders at four of their attackers. She had no idea of their fighting prowess and wanted to protect them from the flying boulders.
The two were not the best at taking directions. Hazel's sword was drawn and clashing with the weapons of one of their assailants before Toph could even finish her sentence. Frank's feet left the ground, launching him towards one of the walls. Toph's heart almost skipped a beat when she didn't hear him hit or land, instead what sounded like a giant cat hit the wall where the boy should have, and then launched itself powerfully between the two buildings until it landed on one of the men on the roof with a feral growl.
"Hazel, what the hell is that thing?" Toph yelled at the only person in the vicinity who might be able to answer her question while deflecting three and sidestepping another boulder flying in her direction.
"A panther, don't worry, he's on our side." She responded, grunting with the effort of staving off a pair of hammers. Then as an afterthought, she added. "Please try not to hit him."
Even in the heat of battle, Toph could tell the girl was telling the truth, and not the kind to look a gift horse in the mouth—another phrase she didn't quite get—continued in her onslaught.
Several minutes of heated battle later, and their position had not improved. The giant cat-thing was keeping the rooftop attackers busy, but a Firebender had joined the fight and was making things interesting. Hazel had ducked behind one of the barriers Toph had erected to catch her breath, three men she'd been fighting lying on the ground unconscious from her swordplay.
A sudden roar and a series of *THUNK*s preceded the cat-thing jumping down to land next to the girl. Toph stumbled slightly in surprise as the cat was instantly replaced with the missing Frank. She was so surprised she nearly missed the words he whispered in Hazel's ear immediately afterwards.
"Think you can find us a tunnel to the castle?"
"What? Why? Maybe, but what good would that do? These guys can manipulate the ground a lot better than I can."
"Just trying to think of a way we can avoid shedding light on the subject."
"Gotcha. Just make sure Mr. Human Torch up there doesn't follow us in."
"Yes ma'am!" He disappeared again, this time seemingly replaced with nothing. A rustle of feathers and strange warbling cry, not completely unlike a chicken-pig, greeted her ears seconds later. Yeah, they definitely didn't tell us everything.
"Toph!" called Hazel in a stage-whisper, "Toph! Can you hear me?"
"Kinda hard not to." Replied Toph irritably, redirecting another boulder at one of their attackers. "I heard the whole thing. Don't quite get it, but anything's better than what we've got now. What do you need me to do?"
"Just keep them busy and follow me in." The girl replied confidently.
Toph felt a subtle shift in the earth below her feet; a tunnel was smoothly forming in the direction of the castle, and unlike the sewer system already present, this one was devoid of fluids flowing through it. How is she doing that? It doesn't feel like Earthbending, she's not even moving!
"Got one!" Yelled Hazel, "Think you could pop a piece of the pavement off right here?" she asked the young Earthbender.
Toph didn't dignify that question with a response as a slight flick of her wrist split a square hole right where Hazel was indicating.
"Thanks." She said before yelling, "Frank, it's go-time!"
A screech rent the air before something very LARGE crashed into the top of the building where the attacking Firebender had been standing. As soon as the impact was over, the thing disappeared and Hazel moved aside as something whooshed past her into the hole.
"C'mon Toph!" She yelled at the young Earthbender.
Toph sprinted the ten feet to the opening, crouching next to the taller girl. "You first, I'll close it after us."
Hazel only hesitated a half-second before nodding and jumping in, Toph following immediately after and closing the entrance behind them.
"So…we're now underground. Think you can tell me why now?" Toph said irritably.
"Well," said Hazel, who now had some sort of bird sitting on her shoulder, "do you think any of them can see in pitch darkness?"
Toph snorted, "No, and neither can you…wait, you can't can you?"
"One of the perks of my heritage," the girl replied wryly, "and Frank…well, he has ways of getting around that."
"O…k…sure, cool, and Frank is….?"
"Right here, on my shoulder. Um…" she said, suddenly uncertain. "It's a long story, and I promise we'll share it with you later, but for now let's get to the castle. That felt way too much like an arm of a coordinated attack, and in my experience, it's best to regroup after being on the receiving end of one of those. Let's hope the others fared as well as we did."
The three progressed through the tunnel that Toph could sense Hazel was forming ahead and—for lack of a better term—erasing behind them on the way to the castle. Toph couldn't believe how incredibly smooth this girl's bending was. She had a dozen questions, but filed them away for later. Now it was far more important to make sure they reached their destination without getting ambushed again, so she focused all of her attention on the vibrations of the Earth to sense any incoming attack. Whatever these guys had done to mask their approach before, she wasn't about to let it work again.
A/N: Yes yes! Action and some clues as to the nature of the enemy. Mwahaha! Yeah, I'd been really nervous about writing a chapter from Toph's POV, but when I thought more and more about it, I couldn't think of a better way to present this chapter.
I'm also a bit curious to see if people can figure out what things Frank changed into during the fight.
Anyway, Review responses!
Brackenfern, Binglebop, Eve-Kataanger: thanks for the B-day wishes.
PADalbon: um...not quite sure what to make of your review...only so much I can interpret from a smiley...
The Band of Thieves: Thanks, I might just take you up on that some day...I just tend to have a little patience problem when I finish writing things... Oh, and nothing wrong with long reviews =P.
Gigabyte2598: Um...well, it was sooner than last time...um...I'll be honest that it really depends on what I can think of at the time...I'll try...
SpawnofAnarion: Hehe, well, hopefully it continues to live up to the "interesting" bit.
Tasolae: You have no idea how much I struggle to make sure they stay in character, although I think the greater danger from me is for one to fall into the background rather than getting all Mary-sue. Anyway, the Doctor taught us that anyone who gets all "I am all powerful!" deserves a lesson in humility.
Eve-Kataanger: Yeah, I did actually partially address that in a following chapter. And here's both a fight and Toph, Frank, and Hazel!
gisecullen: Glad you enjoy it. I kind of like Annabeth as well. She's not my favorite, but she was definitely the best for the POV on that chapter.
Jazzy: Thanks, I do try to keep the characters correct. I hope you like the stuff that comes next. I truly hope that you guys find the villains as epic as I do =P.
intheMADNESS: hehe, I'll try to not make you wait too long at a time =/.
Rainosa: Thanks! I totally agree with you that those are my criteria for a fic I want to read. Hell, when searching, one of the filters I use is 10k words. Um...I'll be the first to admit that I didn't originally think of this as being an extremely long fic...just the fulfillment of a silly little scene I'd had in my head for a while. (a scene that happened back in Chapter IV) So to say it took on a life of its own...yeah...understatement.
Random Guest: Yep, that did get addressed later.
The Icechild: Well...here's an update, hope you enjoy.
fluddershy: That is the plan, although we'll see how those scenes take develop as I write 'em.
That's it for now. Please review!
Tzapporah signing off!