We were in the middle of a real big city, it was really fun to go around and just do stuff. We were at a store, Sokka was trying to decide whether to buy a bag or not. Sokka was examining the bag and said "It's pricey, buuuut, I really do like it."
"Then you should get it." Katara said.
"Yeah, you deserve something nice." I said.
"I do don't I?!" he said "But no, it's too expensive, I shouldn't."
"Alright, then don't." Katara said. We all started to walk away.
"You know what, I'm gonna get it." Sokka said.
"Psssst, you kids like earth bending?" a random guy in the street asked "You like throwing rocks, then check out Master Yu's earth bending academy." He handed us a flyer.
"Seems dodgy." I said straight away.
"But there's a coupon on the back!" Aang said "The first lesson is free."
"Who knows, this master Yu could be the earth bending teacher you've been looking for." Katara said. We did go to the academy; both Aang and I had a difficult time with the fighting style. I was already used to sticking my ground but earth bending was about defence, I was brought up on offence, Aang was having the most difficult time with it, he wasn't used to sticking his ground, he was fine with defending though.
"Take your stances!" Yu said firmly, I did, I crouched down as solid as a rock. "Now strike as if you're punching through your opponent's head!" Master Yu yelled. Both Aang and I frowned at how weird that last thing sounded. We both lost our concentration and were both knocked into a wall. "So, are you ready to commit to more lessons, if you pay for the whole year in advance I'll bump you up to the next belt." Master Yu said. I rolled my eyes and left the academy with Aang.
"He's not the one." Aang said to Katara and Sokka.
"He's crazy." I said.
"I think the boulder is going to win the belt at tonight's rumble 6." I saw a student say.
"He's going to have to fight his way to the best earth benders in the world to even get a shot at the champ." His friend said.
"Excuse me but where is this earth bending tournament exactly?" Aang asked them.
"It's on the island of noneya…none ya business!" a student said. They both walked away laughing.
"HAHAHAHA, oh I gotta remember that one." Sokka said.
"Katara? Will you come and help me?" I asked.
"Sure." She smiled sweetly, we walked behind the building where the two boys were and got the information we needed. "You ready to find an earth bending teacher?" Katara asked Aang once we ran back to them.
"We're going to earth rumble 6!" I exclaimed happily.
"How'd you get them to tell you?" Aang asked.
"Oh, a girl has her ways." Katara smiled. While the others walked off I remembered the boy's faces as we froze them in ice against the walls, they weren't getting out of there any time soon.
When night came we got to earth rumble 6, it was in a mountain. We got front row seats. "Hey, front row seats, I wonder why no one else is sitting here?" Aang asked. We sat down and got comfy. A giant boulder pulverised the seats next to us.
"I guess that's why." Sokka said. I looked at the fighting ring in front of us, it rose into the air and the host was on an earth pillar.
"WELCOME TO EARTH RUMBLE 6!" the host yelled loudly, deafening cheers filled the mountain. "I AM YOUR HOST, XIN FU!" he yelled.
"Ahhhhh, this is just gonna be a bunch of guys chucking rocks at each other, isn't it?" Katara asked, unimpressed.
"That's what I paid for." Sokka smirked.
"The ruled are simple, just knock the other guy out of the ring and you win!" Xin Fu said loudly. He used earth bending to kick himself off of the floor and onto a seat very high up to watch the matches. "ROUND 1! The boulder vs the big bad hippo!" Xin Fu yelled. The boulder was a very well built man and the hippo was just as his name implied, he had flat teeth and was massive. The boulder roared.
"Listen up Hippo, you may be big but you ain't bad, the boulder is gonna win this in a landslide." The boulder said.
"Hippo mad!" Hippo yelled. After hardly any time the boulder won.
"How about the boulder, he's got some good moves." Katara suggested.
"Uh, I dunno, Bumi said I need a teacher who listens to the earth. He's just listening to his big muscles." Aang said.
"What do you think Sokka?" I asked.
"AAAAHHHH, WOOOOOHHHHH, WOOHOOOOOO!" he yelled at the ring. I shrugged.
"Next match, the boulder vs fire nation man!" Xin Fu yelled. I watched as an earth bender came on wearing red with a fire nation flag.
"BOOOOOO, BOOOOOO!" Sokka yelled.
"All please rise for fire nation national anthem." Fire Nation Man said, he then started singing "Fire Lord, my flame burns for thee!" Everyone booed and threw stuff at him.
"GO BACK TO THE FIRE NATION!" Sokka yelled. He threw a rock; it hit fire nation man on the head. I punched Sokka very hard, he fell down to the floor. I didn't even see how but fire nation man was out of the ring, he was in the boulder that had landed next to us earlier, he slid to the floor groaning in pain. "YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!" Sokka yelled "THE BOULDER KNOWS HOW TO PUT THE HURT IN THE DIRT! YEEEEAAAAHHHH! WOOOO!" Sokka yelled. Someone rode a badger mole across the ring, clearing away all the dirt. Round after round the boulder beat every opponent in under a few minutes.
"Now, the moment you've all been waiting for! The boulder vs your champion, the blind bandit!" Xin Fu announced. The blind bandit looked about twelve years old, she had black hair and was holding up the champion's belt, I already liked her, I don't know why but I did.
"She can't really be blind, it's just part of her character right?" Katara asked.
"I think she is." I said.
"I think she is…GOING DOWN!" Sokka yelled.
"I think she is going to win." I said. Sokka looked at me in disbelief and what looked like anger.
"The boulder feels conflicted about fighting a young blind girl." The boulder said.
"Sounds to me like you're scared boulder!" the blind bandit accused. The boulder frowned angrily.
"The boulder is over his conflicted feelings and now he's ready to bury you in a rockalanch!" the boulder said.
"Whenever you're ready the pebble!" the blind bandit mocked. She started laughing, I saw Aang gasp.
"It's on!" the boulder said. He went and stepped forward with one foot. The blind bandit put forward her foot and got ready, she wasn't attacking, she was waiting. The boulder lifted his other foot, ready to bring it down hard, when his foot was in midair the blind bandit kicked her foot into the dirt so that when the boulder's foot came down she pushed him into the splits. Sokka frowned.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" The boulder yelled in pain. She moved her hand a little and sliced in mid air, three small pillars shot out of the ground and hit the boulder out of the ring.
"Your winner, and still the champion, the blind bandit!" Xin Fu yelled.
"Dooohhhh." Sokka complained, he then started to throw a tantrum.
"How did she do that?" Katara asked.
"She waited." Aang said.
"And listened." I added. Xin Fu jumped down with a bag of something in his hand.
"To make things a little more interesting, I'm offering up this sack of gold pieces to anyone who can defeat the blind bandit!" Xin Fu yelled. Nobody put their hand up. "What, no one dares to face her?!"
"I WILL!" I heard someone yell. I face palmed, it was Aang. He walked up onto the ring grinning like an idiot. Xin Fu jumped back to his seat.
"Go Aang! Avenge the boulder!" Sokka yelled. I punched Sokka on the shoulder again.
"Do people really want to see two little girls fighting out here?!" the blind bandit mocked.
"Ooooh." The crowd said.
"I don't really want to fight you, I wanna talk to you." Aang said.
"BOOOOOOOOO, NO TALKING!" Sokka yelled.
"Don't boo him." Katara scolded.
"Can I?" I asked.
"Yeah." Katara sighed. I punched Sokka off of his seat again. Aang stepped forward, the blind bandit shot him off of a pillar, Aang flew up and came back down, but he landed on the floor softly. I knew now that she fought by somehow feeling vibrations or something.
"Somebody's a little light on his feet." The blind bandit said "What's your fighting name, the fancy dancer?" Aang shrugged. He was shot off of a pillar again, and again he cushioned his fall with air bending. "Where'd you go?" she asked herself.
"Please wait." Aang said, idiot, now she knows where you are.
"There you are." She said. She pulled up a boulder and shot it at him. He used an air blast to blow the boulder away, then her, she flew off of the ring. I'm pretty sure everyone was shocked. Everyone cheered, I saw him run after the blind bandit. She opened a hole in the wall and walked out before closing it back up. Aang went back onto the ring where he would be presented with his awards. Sokka ran up and grabbed the rewards instead. Katara and I walked up after him; I punched him again, not hard enough to push him over though.
"Let's go champ." Sokka said. The next day we walked around town trying to find the blind bandit. Kaida ran alongside me, being invisible, for some reason she couldn't fly, no matter how hard she tried. Patch was sleeping on my shoulder; his tail was wrapped around my neck like a scarf. "You know what, now I'm really glad I bought this bag, it matches the belt perfectly." Sokka said, he was wearing the champion's belt.
"That is a big relief." Katara said.
"If we wanna find the blind bandit, the earth bending academy is a good place to start." Aang said. When we walked in the two boys that Katara and I froze to the wall the day before were practicing, they were stabbing their hands into pots of sand.
"Oh great, you again." One of them said. Katara and I narrowed our eyes, they screamed like little girls and fell backwards.
"Yeah, I didn't think so." Katara said.
"Nicely done." Sokka complimented.
"Hey, you're the kid who beat the blind bandit." The other student said.
"We need to talk to her." Aang said.
"Do you guys know where she lives?" I asked.
"The blind bandit is a mystery, she's shows up to fight then disappears." The student said.
"Let us handle this." I said.
"You're not telling us everything!" Katara yelled angrily.
"No no, I swear it's true." The other student said "No one knows where she goes, or who she really is."
"That must be because we're asking about the wrong person." Aang said "In my vision, I saw a girl in a white dress with a pet flying boar, know anybody like that?"
"Well, a flying boar is a symbol of the Beifong family, they're the richest people in town, probably the whole world." The student said. Hah, I bet that my family was the richest.
"Yeah, but they don't have a daughter." The other student said.
"Flying boar is good enough for me." Aang said excitedly.
"It is amazing what get's you exited." I said.
"Let's check it out." Aang said, we went to go and walk away.
"Yeah, you better leave." The student said.
"Hey, I got my eye on you." I said threatingly.
"We're watching." Katara said.
"Water tribe." Sokka whispered on the way out. We walked to the Beifong family home. There was a giant set of big wooden doors with the Beifong symbol above them.
"That's the flying boar from my vision." Aang said happily. We were hiding behind a mound of dirt.
"Well, then let' go." I said. We jumped over the wall and hid behind a bush, we looked at the door. I felt a rumbling noise, suddenly a small mound of dirt kicked us up in the air, I had practiced this with Ty Lee when I was younger. I did a flip in mid air and landed on my feet. I looked at the others, Sokka had face planted into the ground, Katara and Aang had landed in some bushes.
"What are you doing here twinkle toes?" I heard a familiar voice say, it was the blind bandit. She was wearing a girly dress and had her hair nice and neat.
"How'd you know it was me?" Aang asked.
"Don't answer to twinkle toes, it's not manly." Sokka said.
"You're the one who's bag matches his belt." Katara said. I pulled Sokka up and then punched him back down to the floor.
"Why are you so violent?" Sokka groaned.
"It runs in the family." I shrugged.
"How did you find me?" the blind bandit asked.
Aang explained "Well, a crazy king told me I have to find an earth bender who listens to the earth, and then I had a vision in a magic swamp and-"
"What Aang is trying to say is he's the avatar and if he doesn't master earth bending soon he won't be able to defeat the fire lord." Katara said.
"Not my problem." The blind bandit said "Now get out of here." She started to walk forward but stopped "What is that?!" she asked. I frowned, then I remembered, Kaida.
"That's my dragon." I said.
"It doesn't matter, anyway, if you don't go I'll call the guards." She said.
"Look, we all have to do our part to win the war and yours is to teach Aang earth bending." Sokka said.
"Guards! Guards help!" she yelled, we quickly ran away.
"Toph, what happened?" a guard asked.
"I thought I heard someone, I got scared." She said.
"You know your father doesn't want you wandering the grounds without supervision Toph." The guard said, the guards led her way. Next we tried Aang's new plan, and I have to admit, it was a good one. We were going to be visitors, Aang played the avatar card. We were let in and invited to the table for dinner. Kaida snuck in beside me and was under my chair. While Sokka stuffed his face I ate politely and snuck down small pieces of meat to Kaida. A guard put a bowl of smoking hot soup in front of Toph.
"Blow on it, its too hot for her." Toph's father said.
"Allow me." Aang said politely, he blew a small tornado onto Toph's food. While the Beifong family clapped prissily I rolled my eyes and continued eating.
"Avatar Aang, it's an honour to have you visit us." Toph's mother said.
"In your opinion, how much longer do you think the war will last?" Toph's father asked.
"I'd like to defeat the fire lord by the end of summer, but I can't do that without finding an earth bending teacher first." Aang said slyly.
"Well, master Yu," Toph's father said, he gestured across the table to master Yu "Is the finest teacher in the land, he's been teaching Toph since she was little."
"Then she must be a great earth bender." I said.
"That's right, probably good enough to teach someone else." Aang said. "OW!" Aang yelled, I pretended to drop my spoon so that I could look on the floor, I saw that the earth was broken and leading to Aang's toe, ouch, I see what happened, earth bending kick. Toph's father looked between Toph and Aang confusedly.
"Toph is still learning the basics." Yu explained.
"Yes, and sadly because of her blindness I don't think she will ever become a true master." Toph's father said. Katara, Aang, Sokka and I frowned, that last statement even stopped Sokka from eating.
"Oh I'm sure she's better than you think she is." Aang said. I heard a rumbling; Aang's chair was pushed in a little, his face slammed into his bowl of soup. We all looked at Aang. Aang wiped his face and then grinned; he sneezed in the opposite direction, food splatted on Yu, Toph's mother and Toph.
"What's your problem?!" Toph yelled.
"What's your problem?!" Aang yelled.
"Well, shall we move to the living room for desert then?" Toph's mother asked. We had our desert and then we were allowed to stay the night in the Beifong's home. Kaida became visible and crawled under a blanket before going to sleep.
"Good night buddy." Aang said to Oppa, he rubbed his nose through the window. I saw Toph walked in, Aang screamed like a little girl. I walked over and punched his shoulder.
"Relax, look, I'm sorry about dinner, let's call truce, okay?" Toph said, she leant against the door frame. Aang got up and nodded. We took a walk outside.
"Even thought I was born blind I've never had a problem seeing. I see with earth bending, its kind of like seeing with my feet, I feel the vibrations in the earth and I can see where everyone is, you, Hotaru, that tree, even those ants." Toph said.
"That's amazing." Aang said.
"My parents don't understand. They've always treated me like I'm helpless." She said sadly.
"Is that why you became the blind bandit?" I asked.
"Yeah." She answered.
"Then why do you stay here, where you aren't happy?" I asked.
"They're my parents, where else am I supposed to go?" Toph asked.
"Look, I ran away from home a few years ago, I lived with penguins and then I met Aang, you could come with us?" I asked.
"Yeah, you guys get to go wherever you want, no one telling you what to do, that's the life." Toph said "It's just not my life." Suddenly she twisted her head to the side, she put her hand to the floor and exclaimed "We're being ambushed!" We started to run away. Suddenly something was burrowing through the floor in front of us, it was one of the earth benders from earth rumble 6. I got into a fighting stance, but everything went dark apart from one ray of moonlight shining through the bars of the cage I was in. Someone landed on top of the cages and pushed the bottom into the ground so we couldn't escape. I looked through the bars and saw all the benders from earth rumble 6, including Xin Fu.
"I think you kids owe me some money." Xin Fu said. A note was stabbed into the ground with a knife for Toph's parents and we were taken away to the arena of earth rumble 6. We were hauled into the air.
"You think you're so tough?! Why don't you come up here so I can smack that grin off your face!" Toph yelled.
"I'm not smiling." Xin Yu said blandly.
"Toph!" I heard someone yell, I looked at the entrance and saw Katara, Sokka, Yu and Toph's father.
"Here's your money, now let them go." Sokka said. Yu earth bended the money over to Xin Fu. Xin Fu examined the money and nodded, Toph was lowered down, and she ran to her father. The only problem was, Aang and I were still in the air.
"What about Aang and Hotaru?" Katara asked.
"I think the fire nation will pay a hefty price for the avatar, and the fire lord wants his daughter back home." Xin Fu said. I gasped, what?! He held up a poster, I had to squint to read it but it said 'Princess Hotaru of the fire nation, wanted home alive.' Next to it was a picture of me.
"Now, get out of my ring." Xin Fu growled. Katara and Sokka got ready to fight, but loads of earth benders came into the ring and also got ready to fight.
"Go, we'll be okay." Aang said. Sokka and Katara nodded, they walked off the ring. Aang and I were lowered down in out metal boxes and were being carried off when something stopped them from walking, I could only see the ceiling through my cage so I didn't know what was going on.
"Let him go!" I heard Toph say "I beat you all before and I'll do it again."
"The boulder takes issue with that comment." The boulder said. Aang and I were chucked aside. Katara and Sokka came forward and tried to undo our boxes. Sokka was hitting my box with a rock.
"Hit it harder!" I yelled.
"I'm trying." Sokka replied. Finally our boxes were opened, I had expected to come straight to a fight but Sokka shook his head and pointed. I saw a big cloud of dust that all the earth benders were in, all fighting, suddenly hippo came out swinging a disk of rock, the boulder was then thrown out of the cloud of dust. Toph came out into the open after them. Someone was also yelling in the air, Toph listened to it and turned the ground around her, Hippo and the boulder, the bender swinging swung into and knocked over Hippo and the boulder. Toph then knocked them out of the ring. Toph got rid of the dust and dirt cloud and was now facing the last bender, Xin Fu. She spat to the side in disgust. The circled around each other. Xin Fu kicked many boulders at her, she made a rock tent around herself in defence. When the attacks were over she kicked one side of the tent at Xin Fu, he jumped to the side and landed with his hand in the ground. He threw a boulder at her but she turned to the side so that the boulder missed her by a few centimetres. She turned around and made a powerful attack, knocking him out of the ring, she had defeated all of them. I ran over to Toph with Katara and Aang while Sokka passed out. We walked back to Toph's home and talked with her parents.
"Dad, I know its probably hard for you to see me this way but the obedient little helpless blind girl that you think I am just isn't me, I love fighting, I love being an earth bender and I'm really really good at it. I know I've kept my life a secret from you but you were keeping me secret from the whole world, you were doing it to protect me but I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend. So now that you know who I am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me." Toph said sadly.
"Of course it doesn't change the way I feel about you Toph, it's made me realise something." Her father said.
"It has?" she asked hopefully.
"Yes, I've let you have far too much freedom. From now on you will be cared for and guarded 24 hours a day." Her father said.
"But dad?!" she cried.
"We're doing this for your own good Toph." Her mother said.
"Please escort the avatar and his friends out." Her father said "They are no longer welcome here."
"I'm sorry Toph." Aang said.
"I'm sorry too, good bye Aang." Toph said. I looked back and saw her crying.
"Don't worry, we'll find you guys a teacher." Katara said "There are plenty of amazing earth benders out there."
"Not like her." Aang said.
"I didn't just want her as a teacher, I wanted her as a friend." I said sadly. We got onto Oppa and prepared to leave. I heard panting behind us, I looked around and saw…Toph! She was dressed in regular clothing rather that a dress and had a bag with her.
"Toph!" Aang and I both exclaimed.
"What are you doing here?" Aang asked.
"My dad changed his mind, he said I was free to travel the world." Toph said happily.
"Well, we better get outta here before your dad changes his mind again." Sokka said.
"Good idea." Toph smiled.
"You're going to be a great teacher Toph." Aang said.
"And a great friend." I added.
"Speaking of which, Aang, I wanna show you something." Toph said.
"Okay!" Aang said, he jumped down from Oppa and landed on the floor. She kicked him up into a tree, he hung off of a branch.
"Now we're even." She said "Oh, and I'll take the belt back." She held her hand up, Sokka sighed and took the belt off. He chucked it down to her, but since it was in the air she couldn't see it, the heavy metal belt hit her down and whacked her to the floor. "Ow!" she said.
"Sorry." Sokka said, Aang fell down from the tree. When we helped them up onto Oppa Toph smiled and led down, we flew off into the night.