TOPH AT THE EARTH DAY, THE MORNING…
Toph was sitting in the dining room along with the whole team, as they just ate breakfast together. They were all looking at a new piece of paper in front them, supposedly the list of their house chores.
"So, house chores time now, hmm?" Sokka muttered. "Hey, what's an oracle fish?"
"THE Oracle Fish." Whis replied from the kitchen. He was washing his set of lunchboxes. "There is only one like this. And its name is self-explanatory. It's a little sentient fish capable of precognition, that lives in this world with us."
Toph got stumped on this, but only a little. At this point she got used to new weird things happening all the time.
"Hey, how come we never sensed it?" Aang asked. Good question, Toph thought. For that matter, she never detected that creature either.
She focused a little bit, trying to catch the tremor sight of something like this, however then she realised that if it was a fish, it must have been in water: and she was not capable of sensing things through water.
"It's a divine entity, just like us. To sense it, you will have to master divine Chi first." Whis smiled at them.
He walked out of the kitchen, and looked at his students: "Well then, you know your schedule. I'm heading out. Try not to clear the fridges out this time!"
"Again, for their Earth?" Bulla smirked.
"Indeed! The supplies for feeding the lot of you do not appear out of thin air, you know." He giggled.
"Yeah, right, as if you just couldn't create any amount of food with your magic. Just admit that you just go there for the snacks!" Pan chuckled.
"Hah, I can do both. I don't mind some cooking lessons either, that uncle Iroh of yours..." He glanced at Azula, and she turned her sight away. "...is a real culinary mastermind! Well then, see you later!"
He left the dining room. Toph turned to Sokka:
"So, why is that Oracle Fish in our chores?"
"Wait, don't you see here? We're supposed to clean its… oh." Sokka pointed at her paper, but then paused and rolled his eyes.
"You're making progress! I can SEE now, but nobody said anything about reading!" Toph giggled.
"Yeah, I'm still confused on that one." Sokka smiled uncomfortably, before returning to the paper: "So… it's clearing the Oracle Fish's bowls, sweeping the floors, cutting the grass…"
A massive flash of yellow light filled the room, along with some wind.
"Dibs on that one!" Pan roared, after violently transforming into a Super Saiyan and jumping towards the door.
"Over my dead body!" Bulla screamed, transforming herself and flying off after her. They both disappeared in the hallway.
Toph and the others stared at the door in complete silence for a few seconds. Then, Sokka looked back at the paper:
"...Anyway, then it's washing the dishes, dusting off the cabinets, blah, blah, blah, and…"
He froze, his eyes widening. Toph looked reflectively at that spot at his card, but then remembered she couldn't read the symbols.
"What, what is it?" She turned to him.
After a few seconds of silence, she looked around and saw similar expressions from Aang and Katara, as they both stared at their chore lists. She began to feel an unease herself.
"Changing Beerus's... sheets… without waking him up..." Sokka managed to wheeze out.
"It's said here that it's a job for two…" Aang's teeth were chattering.
Aang looked at Sokka, Sokka back at Aang, and then they both looked at the girls.
First to react was Azula.
"You deal with it yourselves, I have no interest in dirtying my hands with peasants' work."
Nobody said anything as she walked out.
A few seconds have passed.
"Sweeping the floors!" Aang shouted, filling the room with the light of his aura as he bolted out of the dining hall.
"Oracle Fish bowls!" Sokka followed his example, leaving only wind behind.
"Hey, get back here! Don't leave this on us!" Katara screamed angrily after them.
Toph hesitated a bit, before standing up and heading for the kitchen sink.
"Dishes for me it is." She muttered, locating a sponge with her tremor sense. She never washed any dishes before, but anything sounded better than facing Beerus in his sleep.
She then felt a sudden twitch and jerk that held her in place, accompanied by disgusting squishing sounds.
"Oh no, my dear, you're not going anywhere. It's a job for two and we're doing it now." Katara growled, pointing her hand at the earthbender.
Toph grimaced in effort, trying to resist a bloodbending hold. "Come on, that's…"
She wanted to say: unfair. However, an idea occurred to her leaving her with her mouth hanging open.
"That's what?" Katara asked more softly. She released the hold, and Toph made one step forward that returned her to reality.
"The solution! You levitate Beerus up from his bed with bloodbending, I change the sheets, you drop him down gently, and we're off!"
Katara closed her eyes and rubbed her chin. Before she said anything, they heard a voice:
"That won't work, what if he resists the movement? The sensation could wake him up."
Aang stood in the door, looking at the floor. Clearly ashamed.
"Sorry, Katara, I just panicked. I think it will be the best if I handle this. I think I could make him levitate with airbending."
"No, Toph is right, this is the best option." Katara replied sternly. "Leave this to us, Aang."
"But what about…" He tried to talk.
"I've been working on something to help with that. Go back to your floors, Aang." Katara did not let him finish.
With these words, she left the table and walked out of the room.
Toph looked at Aang for a moment, sensing a rather low mood from him.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine." She said, walking towards the door. "Hey, if we take too long, do the dishes too."
"Mhm…" Aang muttered before heading out. Still with his head down.
Toph felt like saying something else to him, but then sensed Katara getting further away. Beerus was not going to handle himself, she thought.
After a bit of running, she caught Katara in front of a big door. It was covered with something that looked like very hard black pillows nailed all over.
"Welp, here goes nothing." Katara muttered.
She grabbed the handles and pulled. The massive door must have been heavy, but the waterbender didn't show any sign of effort as she flung the wings to the sides. She then entered the chamber. Toph followed her inside, wondering how Katara found this room so quickly.
She sensed this chamber before. It was all covered with something that resembled large black washboards, or perhaps large files. After a second of consideration, she realised that the black stuff at the door was made of the same material. However, besides that and a balcony they just walked onto, she did not sense anything else in the room. And now she knew why.
Multiple floating hourglasses encased in green orbs surrounded a cup-like stone platform levitating in the middle of the room. Below them, there was a large snake statue that seemed to be holding an even bigger hourglass. The statue was also levitating.
Katara stopped at the edge of the balcony. There were some sheets and blankets lying there on a small cart. She picked some of them up.
"Now, how will we get there silently? I just wanted to jump up there, but…" She whispered.
"I know!" Toph murmured. "Relax and let me bloodbend you there!"
Katara nodded.
Toph assumed the stance, pointing at her torso and waist. Her aura awoke, as she felt the surge of Chi necessary to perform this feat.
"I hope he doesn't sense it…" She muttered, as her friend started to levitate towards the rock structure.
After Katara was safely placed on the rock, she turned around to Toph and waved at her. The earthbender relaxed herself as she felt being pulled upwards and then carried towards the structure.
After she landed, they turned around.
In the middle of the platform there was a round bed, with the familiar purple cat person lying on it.
Beerus. All sprawled out, in a white bedskirt, with his blanket lying to the side. Anyone else would look funny in such a state, but not him.
The moment he would wake up, he would explode with anger. Toph wasn't sure how she realised this. Perhaps because his sleep was shallow. He felt somehow tense. On top of that, that weird pressure that was prevalent anywhere on this world was much stronger here, as if it was emanating from him.
"Okay…" She heard Katara's whisper. "You'll have to..."
They both froze, as Beerus suddenly curled up, throwing the blanket further away.
Change his sheets and blanket as I lift him up. As fast as possible. Toph heard rest of Katara's voice in her head, as if that thought passed through her mind at all once. Toph just nodded and took the items from her.
Katara pointed her hands at the god.
She took a few deep breaths. Toph could not only sense but also hear her loud heartbeat. Her own wasn't any better.
She then felt the waterbender's Chi surge up a bit. Much less than when Toph was doing it, thank the spirits. As a natural born waterbender, she was doing a way better job at it.
Beerus slowly started to float.
Toph turned and focused entirely on the growing space between him and his bed, as she tip-toed closer to it.
A few unbearable seconds have passed.
Beerus's skirt moved far away enough from the bed to fit a hand in there.
Toph moved as fast as possible without raising an aura, as she pulled the old sheet away and placed a new one. She then picked up the old blanket.
Beerus twitched.
A sound of bloodbending squishing could be heard.
Toph completely froze. The time had stopped. World got reduced to a single point.
His left arm was slightly twitching.
They waited there for what felt like an eternity.
And nothing was happening.
After a few seconds, Toph realised that time resumed. The sound stopped almost as soon as it began.
She woke up. That was their chance. She placed one blanket on the side of the bed, prepared the next one.
"Put him down now!" She whispered to Katara.
Only now she noticed that the waterbender was breathing heavily, her eyes wide open.
"Now!" Toph hissed. She did not want to risk a louder sound.
Katara woke up. She moved her hands downwards, and Beerus floated back to the bed.
The moment he touched down, Toph placed the second blanket over him.
After waiting for a split second, she moved away from the bed.
She then grabbed the waterbender by the hand and pulled her to the edge of the rock formation. Katara followed her mindlessly, still gasping for air.
Toph let some of her aura out, before bending a small earth protrusion a bit below the edge, as silently as possible. She then stepped down onto it and focused on the door wings.
She bounced herself off the wall, sending both her and Katara flying towards the door. She managed to notice that the tiny platform survived the launch.
As they got closer to the gate, she started to bend it. Fortunately, it was made of metal and stone.
The two girls flew right through a very narrow space between the closing wings without hitting them, just as planned.
The door closed before Katara and Toph slammed into the wall of the hallway. They then fell on the floor.
The two girls lied down there for what felt like a couple minutes, both of them breathing heavily. For a moment, Toph felt the world around her spin. Felt kind of funny, given that her earth sense felt static.
"Well…" She managed to wheeze out "...first time… over…"
Katara just grunted in approval.
"Why didn't you…" Toph began to speak, thinking of Aang. However, she did not manage to finish the sentence before needing another few breaths.
"I thought he would… panic…" As if Katara read her thoughts between the gasps. "But… I think he would…"
She stopped talking, and started to breathe more heavily, inhaling through her nose and exhaling with mouth. After a few such breaths, she seemed to have finally calmed down.
"I think he would do better than me. I should have listened to him…" She muttered.
"Nobody... would have... done better... than you…" Toph followed her example with controlled breathing, except she spoke on each exhalation. Her own heart finally slowed down too.
"We'll have to practice bloodbending…" Katara was slowly standing up. "This must be flawless... I thought I had it, but… I only tried this trick on myself so far…"
"What trick?" Toph asked, pulling herself up.
"Following intended moves with bloodbending ones. I thought it would mask my bending from Beerus, but… you saw what happened…" Katara finally reached a vertical position, supporting herself against the wall.
"I think he tried to stretch out…" Toph soon joined her.
"Yeah… we need a lot more practice before we do that again. Aang's airbending might have been a safer option…" Katara muttered.
"No, I don't think so… Levitating him with wind would definitely wake him up…" Toph looked at the door.
Katara smiled at her, albeit very weakly. After a few more seconds, they lifted themselves off the wall and started to walk back to the kitchen area. They could sense Aang there.
After a few dozen steps, they regained some composure. Toph recalled how different her bloodbending felt from Katara's, and how much more Chi she was using to do the exact same feat.
"By the way, Katara, don't you think that we should practice our new bending arts without the elevated Chi? You know, like Aang did with his, from a normal human state?"
Katara scratched her chin.
"I thought about this. I'm not sure if it would work, we only ever used multiple bending disciplines when our Chi was raised, but… if it worked, it would make them more powerful more quickly."
"Exactly." Toph felt the same. And then, Katara voiced her next thought again:
"Let's try that at your bending lesson, shall we?"
"Looking forward to it!" Toph clenched her fists, grinning. It seemed that she was getting some new earthbending students to whip up into shape.
BEERUS, A FEW MOMENTS EARLIER…
The god of destruction sensed the two girls entering the room. Barely so, as they kept their Chi supressed. Still, there was no chance for them to hide their presence. Their breaths and heartbeats were so loud, they practically made an echo in his head.
He did not reveal that he was awake. He did not really want to talk.
He felt somewhat annoyed when sensing them. Something unpleasant was stirring within him, especially when he felt the presence of that Katara girl. Her attitude was kind of irritating.
And yet, unlike all the other times he could remember, he did not feel like confronting this irritation. It felt as something that he wanted to forget.
He did not really want to understand what was going on with him, and it irritated him even further.
He intended to pretend to roll to the side and fall out of bed the moment either of them reached for him. He even threw his blanket away in preparation.
However, before he found a good moment to roll away, he felt himself levitating.
He found it curious. The feeling was similar to zero gravity. However, then he tried to stretch his arm a little and felt an unpleasant sensation there.
So that technique was not a gravity manipulation, but a bodily restriction.
He stopped, quickly realising that the unpleasant sensation only occurred when he tried to resist the hold.
And then he froze for a moment. He sensed terror many times before to recognise it clearly enough as it oozed from both girls. And yet, something stirred in him when he felt these two.
He felt for a moment as if he heard a voice. He got scared. He really did not want to confront it.
He started humming a song in his head. An ear-tearing tune that Whis sometimes tried to wake him up with.
The tune shifted without him even realising. That voice seemed to be singing:
"La, la, lalala, la, la... la, la, lalalaa…"
And then he felt the sheets again. A blanket fell over him. A few seconds later, he heard a dull muffled thud. Either of the doors closing, or something loud right behind them.
The girls were gone.
And so was the voice.
BACK TO TOPH...
"Alright, lily livers, in a row! Right now! Move it!" Toph screamed.
She was specifically addressing her fellow benders. The entire group went through a set of basic earthbending motions, as advised by Bulla and Pan before, and now it was the time for actual bending practice. As advised by Katara.
"Who do you call lily livers now?" Bulla smirked at her.
"Not you, Spikehead. You're with me. And that other Saiyan slacker too. Get over here!" She gestured at Pan.
Pan smiled and jumped towards Toph.
Katara, Aang, Sokka and Azula stood in a row in front of them. Toph found it surprising that Azula did not complain or protest. The fire princess felt very timid for some reason, her face mostly expressionless.
"Here's the drill. All of you will now try earthbending. The rule is simple: keep your Chi down to a level you used to have as a human. Got it?"
She did not wait for a response, instead turning to Pan.
"Grab me a chunk of that rock over there!" She pointed at one of the planets surrounding Beerus's world.
"Yes, mam!" Pan jumped and flew off in its direction.
"You any good with sensing Chi, princess?" Toph turned towards Bulla.
"Obviously." The Saiyan chuckled.
"You will tell me if they're cheating. And if they are actually doing anything with their Chi. I will feel if they are doing anything with the earth's spiritual energy." She stomped the ground a few times lightly.
"Very well." The princess smiled.
"Hey, will that do?" They heard a distant, echoing scream.
A large chunk was cut off from the planet. Toph felt that it was Ba Sing Se sized.
"Yup! Drop it over here!"
Her four students froze in terror. Toph didn't care.
The planet chunk started to fly in their general direction.
Toph jumped over to it. After landing, she realised that it was larger than she thought. She sliced off four human sized boulders off it, and then started to squeeze the rest.
The boulders flew towards Aang and others. She pushed her rock towards Bulla.
It flew a bit faster than she made it to. After scanning the rock with the tremor sense, she realised that Pan was giving her a lift.
When they touched down, Toph's rock was also human sized, but it resembled a glowing ball of lava. Less intensely than that one she once made to fight Bulla, but very similar.
"You will be bending these." She waved at the rocks in front of the lily livers. "And if any of you cheats and raises their Chi, I'll smack you with that one:" Now she pointed at the glowing rock. "Is that clear?"
"Yes, sifu Toph!" resounded across the glade. Azula did not say anything. She still looked focused though, and that was enough. Toph did not feel like hearing her voice anyway.
"Very good! Watch how I move, and repeat! You slackers, you do it too!" she faced the two Saiyans at the last part.
"Watch your words. I'm no slacker." Bulla growled with a menacing smile.
"Perfect! Then repeat that move!"
She pushed the planet rock in front of herself by punching it from a stomp step.
"Got it?" She did not bother waiting for a reply: "Awesome! Ready… Go!"
All students repeated the move.
As expected, only one rock moved: Aang's. The others stayed still.
"Ow!" sounded from Katara and Sokka, both rubbing their hands. Azula did not flinch, but rock didn't move either. She growled at it.
"Hey, Toph, am I supposed to be doing this? I already know how to earthbend, and…" Aang started talking. Toph did not intend to let him continue.
"Shut up, Twinkle Toes! You didn't finish your previous training with me, so for all I care you start over! Don't think I'll cut you any slack just because you know the basics!"
"Yes, sifu Toph!" He took an earthbending stance.
"Bulla, was there anything happening with these three?" She waved over Katara, Sokka and Azula, speaking with quiet tone.
"Nobody raised their power level, but their Chi was moving. All three tried to bend, I think, because their energy followed similar paths to the ones in you. It just felt like three trickles against a river."
"Good." Toph smiled. "I think there was something moving in the earth too. Which means..."
She now started shouting: "Good news everybody. All of you have an actual earthbending potential! The reason why you didn't move your rocks, is because your potential is so puny, that if you were born earthbenders, nobody would even suspect that you are. But here's another good news: you're training under me, so you will keep punching that rock until it moves, got it? And you better put your backs into it!"
"Yes, sifu Toph!" Resounded again.
"Good! And you better succeed before an hour runs out! Otherwise, I'm putting you through extra drills! Aang, you know what I mean!"
She smiled mischievously, remembering how she first taught Aang earthbending. Before he gained a spine, she put him through a wonderful torture wheel of various exercises.
Sokka and Katara looked at each other with uncomfortable smiles. They remembered these drills just fine, it seemed. Aang did not seem bothered though, which pleased Toph greatly, and Azula didn't seem to care.
"Ready? Then, go!"
Four punches, one rock moving.
Toph smiled even wider. This was going to be great.
"Katara, legs wider! Azula, stop pulling your punch, just slam it! And Sokka, don't step, slide and stomp!" She glanced at each student as she called them out. "Again!" she then roared.
Same result. The poses visibly improved, but something was still missing.
"Better!" She decided to be more positive for once. "Again!"
Same result. It must have been the attitude.
"What's with you, scared of scratching your soft fingers with these rocks? If you can't bend them, then at least give them a good whack!" She glanced over them again. "Again!"
She felt something.
Another rock moved.
"I did it! I did it!" Katara was shouting.
Her rock shook lightly, but Toph was completely certain that it was earthbending. She felt the correct Chi movement, no Chi surge, and a clear earth energy surge.
Aang and Sokka stared at the new earthbender with pride. Azula did a really bad job at hiding her disappointment, if not downright fury. Which made Toph even happier.
"Great! And now: DO IT AGAIN! You're meant to push it, not tickle it!" She screamed.
"Yes, sifu Toph!" Katara replied happily, taking the stance yet again.
TOPH AT THE EARTH DAY, THE EVENING...
"Gosh, I can't believe I really did that! I moved a rock!" Katara tweeted.
Toph flinched a bit, as they walked through a corridor. All remaining training was over, and now she was looking forward to some peace and quiet.
"You don't need to scream in my ear, Katara, I saw it." She groaned. However, she quickly cheered up at the memory: "You could have done a better job, but hey, at least you spared the guys the extra drills."
She couldn't help but feel proud. Katara and Azula both managed to move their rocks, while Sokka shook it a little. Given his lack of prior bending experience, it was still a lot.
"I just can't believe it happened so fast! You think I could become as good as you?" Katara turned to her.
Toph laughed out loud:
"Hah! In your dreams, Sugar Queen! The best you could do is squishing pebbles! And I'm already squishing planets!"
"Hah! Easy to talk when you're all powered up! Try that at the human level next…"
Katara's riposte was cut short by the sudden sound they heard.
"You got it all wrong, it's not for computing, it's for storing power! Have you ever seen an electric circuit board before?" That sound was Azula's voice.
"Yes, I saw plenty!" a reply came from Sokka. "And that's exactly how processors looked like on Freeza's ship!"
"But those are the Saiyan ones, not Freeza's, you idiot! They cannot be the same thing!"
"Yes, obviously, you must know all about that with all these electric power sources you've seen and studied!"
"More than you!"
Toph and Katara arrived at the source of the shouts. It was Sokka's room. And for some reason, Azula was sitting right there next to Sokka, screaming at him and pointing at a bunch of items on his bed. From what Toph recalled, those were the pieces of technology that the two of them brought back from Pan and Bulla's Earth.
Azula did notice Toph's and Katara's arrival. After a quick glance at both of the girls, she stood up.
"Whatever, keep being stupid for all I care. I'm not welcome here anymore, see you around." She waved her hand at him condescendingly.
Katara did indeed glare at her. Toph realised she did the same thing, albeit a little less intensely.
Sokka sighed loudly. "Wait a moment. How do you know it's a power source?" He gestured at the item, a small black block with some metal pins on one side.
Azula turned back to him.
"From the internal structure. Layers of metals separated with insulators. Fire Nation experimented with something similar. They tried to, as they called it, 'capture the power of the lightning'." She made a quoting gesture.
"Then why did the Freeza force processing units look almost the same inside?" Sokka groaned.
"How should I know? It's you who had that alien around, ask him!" Azula scoffed. "I only know that I've seen a device like this before! A Fire Nation scientist once told me that…"
Before she managed to finish, they heard another voice:
"Hey guys, what's going on?"
Pan walked over, quickly inspecting the items on Sokka's bed.
"Oh…" Katara woke up. "Well, these guys were studying those… techno gizmos, and we just stumbled upon them." She gestured at the trinkets first, and at the two tech enthusiasts second.
Toph smiled, as she spoke: "I know what they are talking about, but I still have no clue if that thing's a battery or not." She pointed at the black block.
"And this idiot here keeps telling me that this is a processor." Azula moaned, pointing at Sokka with her head.
Pan stepped closer. "Hmmm… Sorry, Sokka, it is a battery." She shrugged her shoulders.
"Hah!" Azula brightened up a lot.
"Okay, whatever…" Sokka rolled his eyes. "Then why do Freeza Force processors look like this?" He turned to the Saiyan.
"I don't know!" Pan replied cheerfully.
"Meh, I guess I'll ask Pecha next time I see him." He muttered, before lowering his head back over the trinkets.
"Why not right now? I can get you on the phone with him!" Pan smiled wider.
Everybody stared at her for a moment.
"You mean…" Toph started.
"We have a device here that looks like a giant orb from Whis's staff! We can use it for watching anything that happened across the universe, and also for communication! Wanna check it out?" The Saiyan taxed everyone.
Another long pause.
"I mean, can we? Are we allowed to?" Katara was first to react.
"Sure! Whis told us to use it whenever we like, he doesn't need it, his staff does all that and more!" Pan smiled widely.
"Well, lead the way then." Sokka stood up.
"Sure!" Pan said, as she began walking down the hall. The rest of the group followed her.
"Wait, I think I sense it…" Toph now scanned the temple tree for a giant orb. "Three stories above us, room with sofas all around?"
"That's the place!" The Saiyan smiled.
"Can you contact anyone on that thing?" Katara walked closer to her.
"Yup! We could get your mom and dad if you like!" She replied cheerfully.
"Hah! I don't have to wait till Friday, I'll just contact Lily Livers immediately!" Toph screamed happily.
Everyone looked at her confused.
"Umm, not you, the metalbending ones. From my school." She realised she called her new earthbending students with this name too.
"We can get a hold of them too!" Pan kept smiling.
After a short silence, Katara suddenly jumped closer to her.
"Wait… you said my mom? You do remember she's dead?" The waterbender spoke much faster and louder than usual.
"From a certain point of view." Sokka made a quoting gesture.
"Yes, I know she's technically alive in the Other World, but…" Katara moaned at him.
"Doesn't matter! Dead or alive, you can catch them with this thing as long as their soul exists!" Pan interrupted her.
Katara's eyes got all gleamy.
"Mom…"
Azula made a barely noticeable snort. Nobody heard it but Toph. She felt like punching the firebender, but she didn't want to ruin Katara's mood. She just rolled her eyes instead.
"By the way, what did you mean by rewatching anything that happened across the universe? Can you elaborate a bit?" Sokka spoke.
"You can see anything that ever happened in the past anywhere with this thing! Oh, I know! I'll show you how my grandpa fought Freeza for the first time, it was awesome!" Pan giggled.
Toph got intrigued.
"Could we see Earth Rumble VII or VIII? I kind of missed both..." She wondered who the champion would be now, given that she surrendered the title by not attending.
"Sure thing! I don't even know what that is, but you can see it through the orb!" Pan replied.
"I wouldn't mind checking the Earth Rumble too!" Sokka smiled widely.
"Let's get to that orb! But I want to speak to my mom first!" Katara was beaming.
"Sure thing!" Pan smiled.
The only person now who didn't seem excited about the orb was Azula. Toph noticed that her heart rate increased rapidly. And then she laughed internally.
Whatever shady plots the firebender was cooking, she would be powerless to hide them from now on. One slip up, and she was done for.
Soon, they arrived at the chamber in question. A large, circular chamber carved into a few levels of sitting spaces covered with some sofa-like padding, which were in turn covered with dozens of pillows. In the middle, a large pedestal with a massive, almost person sized orb that indeed looked like an oversized version of Whis's staff crystal.
Katara jumped ahead almost immediately.
"So how do I call mom with this thing?!" She asked loudly, inspecting the orb closely with both her hands while also almost bruising it with her nose.
Pan walked over to her and pulled her away gently. "Patience, my dear, it's not that complicated. Here, let me show you…"
She now faced the orb.
"Hey, orb, show us Katara's mom and let us talk to her!"
A flash of green light showered the room for a moment. Once it vanished, it revealed a white stone terrace under a starry sky, attached to what looked like a round building.
"So, you just speak to it?" Sokka's eyes widened, as he scratched his head.
"Like to Whis's staff, remember?" Pan giggled.
Toph looked into the image for a little while. She then noticed something wrong with it.
"Those stars look too bright. Even the ones in space weren't that bright." She said.
"That's because its afterlife. Those stars are actually worlds on which people live!" Katara pointed at a few of the brighter stars in the picture.
"That's curious, it looks different to the afterlife realms I saw before…" Pan leaned over the orb.
Toph somehow managed to get even more distracted by this than by the star-planets.
"Wait, you're saying you kicked the bucket before?" She stared at the Saiyan.
"Nah, I just saw it through this very ball!" Pan laughed out loud. "And I saw different parts, like the Checking Station and Snake Way. The sky was pink over there!"
They suddenly heard a voice from the orb:
"Indeed, it was, I've seen these myself."
Toph caught Azula flinching upon a sight of a woman entering the terrace.
The resemblance to Katara was uncanny. They looked almost like siblings, bar slight differences in hairstyle, height and demeanour.
"Mom!" Both Sokka and Katara screamed at once.
"Hello, my darlings. I must admit, I'm slightly surprised to be able to talk to you through that orb. How did you manage to accomplish that?" Katara's mom seemed somehow confused.
"Mr Whis has an orb here that is similar to his staff, it allows us to talk to anybody!" Sokka waved his hands wildly in the air.
"I see… That's really handy. Wish my little orb had this kind of functionality… anyway, why won't you introduce me to your friends?" She glanced over other people in the room, apparently able to see everyone.
"Sure, mom, here we go…" Katara turned back to everyone else.
Short introductions happened, followed by an almost endless chatter from extremely excited Katara and Sokka. And as happy as Toph was for these two, she couldn't help but zone out a little. She was looking forward to the next step of their repertoire.
TOPH, A BIT LATER…
After Katara's mom (Toph managed to learn that her name was Kya) said her goodbyes and left, the orb lost its light and became a dark emerald green piece of glass again.
"Okay then, now, If I remember it right…" Sokka scratched his head.
"I'm doing my call to Lily Livers! I need to know what's going on with my metalbending school!" Toph interrupted him.
"Yeah, cool. I will get on that tech thing another time." Sokka shrugged his shoulders.
Azula sighed, as if she was disappointed in something, but Toph didn't really care. She had some business to attend to.
"Orb, let me talk to the Dark One!" She shouted at it.
The green light appeared again, only to turn into an image of Moo-Chee-Goo-Chee-La-Poo-Chee The Third: a metalbending teenager with an extremely gloomy outlook on the world and a tendency to speak in poetry all the time. Compared to him, Zuko's cranky ex-girlfriend Mai was a cheerful bubble of happiness. He was lying down on the floor of the familiar building of Beifong Metalbending Academy.
"Hey, Dark One, do you hear me?" Toph shouted to him.
The dark-haired boy jumped up and looked around. "Sifu Toph? You're back? But I cannot sense your presence anywhere! Like a whisper from the shadows you bring chills upon my soul…"
This got a chuckle out of the people in the orb room.
"More like a yell from the shadows…" Sokka winked at the orb.
"What is that, more voices have arrived?" Dark One still tried to maintain his poetic tone, albeit he seemed to be losing composure. "Where all of these echoes of the past come from? Is that…"
"Everyone, shut up!" Toph screamed. "Dark One, for all you need to know now, I'm invisible." More chuckled followed, at least until Toph glared at them. "Just tell me, is the school okay? Did that jackass Kunyo try to take over the building again?"
He stood in place for a longer while, before suddenly closing his eyes and spinning in place with his arm extended.
"The walls of our fortress stood unshaken against the tide of fire…" He began to recite.
Toph lost her patience.
"No poetry, normal speech!" She yelled.
He made a very long face, after freezing in place.
"Now I'm beginning to believe this is real. School's fine, Kunyo tried to convince the mayor to let him use the building, I stepped in and told them to piss off, and now we do some exercises every day to keep these idiots off our backs. Penga and Ho Tun are here too, and we even got a new student coming in in six days."
"Six days…" Toph counted in her head quickly. She recalled the days of the week as per Whis's schedule. That would land on a Monday.
"Actually, can you get him to come in on Friday? I will come over too and explain where I went and why I'm invisible. I will also prepare a new schedule for you lot, so you can train the new guy up and learn something yourself while I'm gone."
The Dark One remained silent for a second or two, staring blankly at the wall.
"But she does come in Friday. Today's Saturday. Also, the new guy is actually a girl. Her name is Lycora." He sounded somewhat annoyed.
Toph got confused. "Wait, someone remind me, what day is it today?"
"It's Tuesday, Toph, but it's our world's week cycle. Yours must be off by three days." Pan smiled.
"Wait, who… why… what...?" Dark One got understandably puzzled.
"Pretend you didn't hear that. Okay, bring her in on…" She counted quickly. "Can she come in in three days, on Tuesday?"
"Well, she's already in town, so probably yes. I'll go and check. But how do I let you know if she…" He looked around, as he was looking for Toph.
"Nevermind that. If she doesn't, we'll schedule another day. Now, I have to go. Good day and don't slack off!" She elevated her tone to a shout near the end.
"Yes, sifu Toph!" He jumped in place, before heading out of the room. Probably to look for that Lycora girl. The image died again.
"What a weird name, Lycora." Katara rubbed her chin. "Doesn't really sound Earth Kingdom…"
"Meh, sounds normal enough. Especially when compared with his, his real name is Moo-Chee-Goo-Chee-La-Poo-Chee The Third." Toph chuckled.
The entire room froze in place. Only to explode with laughter.
Only Sokka retained some ability to speak, as he had contact with her students before.
"I don't know what's worse, that someone made up this name in the first place, or that it got reused three times…" He nonetheless spat that out between chuckles, making Katara and Pan laugh even louder. Even Azula sniggered.
Toph waited for a few seconds for them to calm down a bit.
"Alright, now it's time for Earth Rumble VII! Everyone on board?" She glanced over her friends.
"And what is that Earth Rumble exactly?" Pan asked through tears.
"An earthbending tournament I was once a champion of!" Toph smiled proudly. "I missed the last one, and possibly the next one after that, I want to see who's the champion now!"
Before anyone else said anything, they heard a voice from the corridor.
"And here we are…" That was Bulla's voice. And she was talking to…
"Hey guys, what are you up to?" Aang entered first, followed by the Saiyan princess.
"Just about to watch Earth Rumble VII. You want to join?" Toph turned towards him.
"Why not!" He jumped to some free space on the sofas, the Saiyan following suit.
"Everyone else on board?" Pan turned to the others.
General grunts and exclamations of approval followed. With Sokka being the most enthusiastic watcher and Azula being the least.
"Well then, Earth Rumble VII it is, orb!" Pan shouted, turning towards the orb.
After a flash of green light, a large underground chamber appeared, sporting a big square arena balancing on a cone rock.
"Hey, look, it's the Boulder! Haha! Looks like he's still in business!" Sokka shouted enthusiastically, pointing at a familiar muscly earthbender standing on the arena.
"Well duh, he's still young. He's not going anywhere anytime soon." Toph smiled.
"How do you know that?" Katara asked.
"All contestants keep an eye on each other. If they're worth their money at least. Boulder is actually a rare case who goes in blind often. He's really overconfident." She focused on said fighter.
"Yeah, because he's so good! It took you to defeat him!" Sokka stared at him too.
Toph smiled at this remark. "Well, let's see how he'll do without me."
"Oh, here's his oppon…" Katara spoke, before freezing. "Wait, HARU!?" she suddenly jumped up and stuck her face to the orb.
Toph also lifted her head up from the sofa.
They both stared at a young man with long hair and a narrow mustache, who was now facing the Boulder.
"You know that guy?" Pan turned to Toph.
"He fought alongside us during the war! What's he doing up there?" Katara took a few steps back.
An announcer guy walked onto the arena and shouted:
"And now the Boulder will face off against a fresh contestant. Arriving from a small village in the former Fire Nation Colonies to test his skills, welcome…"
He suddenly froze, looking at a paper in his hands. He then made a few quick steps towards Haru.
"Haru? What kind of stage name is that?" He squinted at him.
"None, sir, it's… just my name." Young man replied, somehow confused.
The announcer stared at him for a few seconds, before suddenly turning to the crowd again.
"It seems that our new contestant forgot to bring his stage name along with him! It doesn't matter though, folks! Today, the Boulder will be smashing no other than Haru!"
The crowd laughed.
Haru walked closer to the centre of the stage, and so did the Boulder.
"Let's have a fair match!" Haru spoke out loud, producing a short bow.
"Booo, there are no rules in the Earth Rumble! Just grind him to pieces, Boulder!" Sokka screamed.
Katara slapped the backside of his head. He yelled slightly in pain.
"Hey, cut him some slack, it's how it works, Katara. Brutal and vicious, that's what people are looking for in the…" Toph was not allowed to finish her sentence.
The Boulder, much to everyone's surprise, also shortly bowed, speaking:
"The Boulder is honoured to fight against such a polite opponent."
"Well, it turns out it never hurts to be well-mannered." Katara spoke condescendingly.
"Yeah, the Boulder has the class!" Sokka roared.
Katara glared at Sokka, as the two earthbenders took battle stances.
"The Boulder feels obliged to give you a warning, new guy. We'll definitely have a match here…"
He tensed up, backing one of his arms as if he wanted to punch the ground.
"But you can forget about fair!" He roared, as slid a foot forward instead, sending a huge rock towards Haru.
The rock stopped, before being shredded to pieces. They remained hovering in the air.
"Fine by me!" The young fighter shouted, before sending the chunks back in a series of shots.
The Boulder jumped out of their way, while rising a stone wall to intercept. Then, he began running towards his opponent, holding that wall in front of him.
Haru raised and launched a bigger earth chunk straight at the Boulder's wall, breaking it. However, much to his dismay, he did could not see the older fighter. After the collision, a lot of dust got raised in the air, keeping him out of sight.
Then, something moved in the dust. Something human shaped.
"There you are!" Haru sent another rock in that direction.
Only to see a roughly human sized rock flying at his. They collided, raising some more dust.
At the same time as the real Boulder ran directly at Haru from the side.
The young earthbender managed to turn around in time to witness his opponent sending a right hook covered with a rock right towards his face.
Haru managed to block that one with a quick rock up. He then jumped away, while the Boulder slightly slid his foot to the side.
A small earth protrusion appeared right where the young earthbender was likely to land. He tripped over it and panicked for a short moment, for he was almost dancing at the edge of the stadium.
Toph knew he was a goner the moment she saw him panic. As expected, the Boulder did not wait, but just sent another giant rock at him.
Haru also blocked this one, but it did not help him at all. The impact sent him flying off the stage.
"Haha, Yeah! The Boulder takes it all in style!" Sokka screamed.
Katara glared at him for a moment, before looking back at the fallen fighter trying to pick himself up from the floor.
"Such a shame he lost… his technique seemed better than the Boulder's…" she muttered.
"Maybe his movements were a tiny bit more refined, but his tactics were way off." Toph said. "He was too defensive. Being defensive is the worst thing you can do in this arena. He should have…"
"The Boulder would advise the kind young man to attack more and move around more." The namesake fighter spoke down from the arena. "You've made yourself way too predictable for the Boulder's onslaught!"
"Yeah, what he said." Toph smiled.
"I'll keep that in mind." Haru replied, finally having gotten up.
"And the winner is the Boulder!" The announcer guy said, before walking off the stadium. The Boulder soon followed in his steps.
For a moment, there was silence.
"Hope this fight was not too boring for you. These guys must feel almost stationary compared to you…" Aang spoke, looking at the Saiyans.
"On the contrary, I was quite impressed with the big guy's little trick. I did not expect something like this from him." Bulla smirked.
"Yup, it's never too late to learn some tactics!" Pan smiled. "Wait, what is THAT?"
Two badgermoles walked up onto the stadium in order to clean it up.
Pan started to rabbit on about the animals and how she wanted to cuddle them, with Sokka then shortly describing his apparent encounter with these and how he supposedly rode one. Toph just spaced out, waiting for the next match.
TOPH, A BIT LATER…
As expected, the Boulder wrecked everybody. Toph realised that his heightened cunning was not just a one-time thing: he clearly trained and developed his tactics since the last Earth Rumble.
One thing she had to admit, he was dedicated. She was actually looking forward to try fighting him again: or at least she would be, if she didn't have those damned superpowers now. She could technically try to keep her power supressed, but one slip up and he would die.
She abandoned this trail of thought as Pan showed the Team Avatar a battle that was supposed to be her grandpa's highlight. It was the legendary duel between him and Freeza, where the evil tyrant was supposed to be defeated for the very first time in his life.
The battle seemed to wage on and on endlessly, filled with dozens of supernatural feats and weird tactics. At some points it was growing to be pretty boring, just to then suddenly gain momentum after either Freeza or Goku pulled some new weird trick out.
Right now, the orb was showing the white alien getting struck by a gigantic attack known as the Spirit Bomb, courtesy of energy gathered from surrounding nature by Goku.
As expected, the massive orb caused an even more massive explosion: however, weirdly enough, its impact felt pretty localised compared to some of the things Bulla and Pan threw around.
For a moment, the people visible in the picture celebrated. There were Goku and Krillin, both of whom Team Avatar met personally at this point, as well as new people: a small kid with almost identical face to Goku, as well as green guy with pointy ears, antennas and weird patches of pink skin on his arms and legs. Their names were Gohan and Piccolo.
Their happiness did not last for long. The green guy Piccolo got suddenly struck by an intense blast right to the chest, causing him to fall unconscious.
Pan tensed up for some reason, her usual smile fading away, her heartbeat speeding up. Toph glanced over her shortly, before returning to the image. In the meanwhile, Goku managed to try and tell Krillin and Gohan to escape, however…
"Do you think I'll just let you maggots go away? None of you are leaving this place alive!" Freeza shouted, pointing his finger at the little bald man.
"Jeez, how long is he going to stay alive?" Sokka shouted, glaring at Freeza.
A small yet intense bolt of light struck Krillin, seemingly sticking to his chest. It caused him to unwillingly levitate, before pulling him high up. His friends called out to him, while the tyrant laughed.
"Don't do it Freeza!" Goku screamed at the emperor.
To no avail. Freeza just grunted and clenched his fist.
"Goku!" Krillin managed to shriek, his voice extremely distorted and high pitched, as if he was in immense pain. His chest stretched out unnaturally.
He then exploded into a cloud of red vapour.
It lasted only for a split second, but it felt much longer.
Toph flinched a bit upon this sight. She remembered this kind and jovial police officer from their last visit on the Saiyan Earth. To see him getting squashed like this struck her a bit harder than she expected.
She was not the only one moved by this sight. Pan had her fists clenched, while Bulla stared at Freeza with a deadpan face. Except for the eyes, gleaming with hate. A rare and rather unnerving sight, as she usually never lost her weird cheerful-condescending demeanour.
Freeza just chuckled. "I guess the brat is next!", he hissed, pointing his finger at Gohan.
Goku started to grunt and shake out of anger.
"You'll… You'll pay… How dare you… how dare you…?" He kept repeating through the clenched teeth.
Something weird began to happen with the world around them. The waves crashed against the shores, dark clouds arose, even some lightning appeared, as if nature itself resonated with Goku's fury. Freeza lost his smile and looked around.
"How dare you… how dare you!" This sounded more like a wail. A painful and angry wail of somebody who was on the edge.
A lighting struck the ground right behind him, covering him with a ghastly shadow.
And then, it happened.
A flash of violent golden aura covered him for a moment, only to reveal a completely different person.
He glared shortly at Freeza, his eyes now green.
Every time Bulla or Pan did this, Toph wanted to laugh. Here, she flinched and backed away a bit.
Over there, stood a monster. Looking for blood, ready to kill. Nothing was left of that guy who seemed to emanate happiness all around.
A silence ensued for a good few moments, both in the picture in the orb, as well as in the room.
"Can we stop this for a moment?" Katara asked softly.
"Sure. Orb, pause." Pan spoke. Without smiling. "What is it?"
Toph knew what Katara was thinking. She spoke up first:
"You said that it was the first time this transformation ever happened, right?"
"Well, in modern era, yes. It is said there were more Super Saiyans in the ancient times, but they had a tendency to destroy themselves with their own power..." Pan looked back at the picture.
"Yeah, no kidding…" Sokka followed her gaze. "This guy here looked as if all of his veins were about to pop…"
"How it is that we never feel anything like this from you?" Toph almost yelled. "When you transform, you start to look like an ice cream and get stronger! Him… I'm tense just from looking at him!" She took another glance at the Super Saiyan in the orb.
"It's simple…" Bulla regained some of her former attitude. "…in theory. Modern Saiyans have figured out how this transformation works exactly, and therefore learned how to bring it on without much strain, or anger for that matter."
"And how does it work?" Azula stared intently at the Saiyan princess. "Is this something that can be learned, or is it native only to you Saiyans?"
"I do remember Whis saying something about straining the Air Chakra. Wouldn't it mean that anyone with an Air Chakra can do it?" Aang rubbed his chin, staring at the picture.
"Yeah, getting dozens of times stronger seems totally worth the ice cream hair." Sokka sighed. "Sign me up!"
"I'm not sure… if it takes so much pain and suffering to bring it on, then…" Katara shot a melancholic glance at the orb.
"It does not. You see, this transformation essentially boils down to an emergency Chi supply hidden in a Saiyan body, that can be awakened with anger." Pan started to pace around the room. "We call that supply the 'Sun Chakra', although it doesn't really work like one. Chakras are Chi path nexai, while this one is more like a spare power source that densifies the energy in the…"
"Spare us the lecture, Miss Encyclopaedia, and get to the point." Bulla scoffed at her.
"Okay, okay." Pan slightly puffed her cheeks at her friend, before speaking up: "This extra Chakra needs specific Chi to wake up, and it happens to be the negative Chi from Air Chakra: energy of anger and hate. That's why it is located in the back, right behind the heart. However, our dads discovered that you can wake it up in more than one way!" Pan finally smiled.
"And how is that?" Azula asked.
"By pushing a lot of Chi into either Air Chakra or Sun Chakra itself. In the first case, you will ooze anger from Air Chakra that will wake up the Sun, however in the second case you will wake it up directly almost without any anger." Bulla took over.
Pan stood up and quickly transformed. The contrast between her transformation and Goku's couldn't be clearer now. A sweet but somehow tense girl with funny hair vs an embodiment of hate.
"Actually, some anger always seems to seep in." She spoke, examining her body. "I feel heat all over my chest and back, as if I was extremely stressed out or angry. However, if you keep your cool in here…" She pointed at her head. "Then it's just heat and not much else."
"So, you say that you can make yourself angry… without really feeling angry?" Aang asked. Toph realised that something like this would get him curious.
"That's right! In fact, this is exactly what you can do with good Chi control! If you push a lot of concentrated Chi into a Chakra, you will feel as if you were experiencing its relevant emotions without really feeling them!" Pan smiled widely and cheerfully, her usual manners fully returning. While still in Super Saiyan.
"Wait, you mean… I could just push Chi into my Earth Chakra and feel aggressive and stuff without really being aggressive?" Sokka now concentrated on her.
"Exactly!" Pan exclaimed. The atmosphere in the room melted down.
"So, you would feel butterflies from overdoing it with the Water Chakra…" Katara muttered, causing a widespread giggle.
"This is in fact what my father and her grandfather first did when attempting to obtain the power we all seek here." Bulla smiled widely. "They forced their Chi to form a tunnel between all their Chakras and then pulled the cosmic energy of the universe into it. This allowed them to turn their Chi into the divine one."
Most of the Team Avatar members got stumped over this, Toph included.
"Then why all of this stuff about negative and positive Chakra aspects and meditating over them, if we can just push a lot of Chi into them and poof, gods?" Sokka moaned. "Hell, I think even I could do it!"
"Hold your horses. You can't even make a small orb of Chi, and the Super Saiyan God process requires to essentially make six ones connected together." Bulla snarked at him. "Meditation that Whis told us about will actually help you control your Chi in the first place."
"And besides, Whis told me that this Chi tunnel method is actually a highly imperfect workaround." Pan spun her hand in a circle. "I talked about this with him after that lesson. And he told me that it results with low quality divine Chi. From what I understood, if your body is filled with emotions that your mind does not experience, you create a dissonance that makes it harder to concentrate. And also causes a huge strain on your body as a bonus."
Bulla chuckled before speaking up:
"Or on intelligence. Our fathers had a hard time performing any piece of divine magic before they learned how to channel their Chakras properly. You also end up with way less Chi left, as you need to use a lot of it to start the transformation in the first place."
This got everyone silent. So there technically was a workaround for all that weird meditation and those conflicting feelings they needed to control. Toph did not feel like challenging the Water Chakra, for example, given how creepy its dark side was. However, wasting a lot of precious Chi away as well as weakening their combat and concentration potential did not sound like a good idea either.
"It's like a choice between the hammer and an anvil, isn't it?" Sokka moaned.
Toph looked at the ceiling. All logic suggested to follow Whis's method of obtaining divine power. However, she was quite certain that she was not the only one afraid of the confrontation with those creepy Chakra aspects.
After a few seconds of silence, Sokka finally woke up.
"By the way, going back to that Super Saiyan thing… Do any species besides the Saiyans have that Sun Chakra?" He looked at Pan.
"Nope! It's just us!" Pan smiled.
"Well, isn't that unfair…" Sokka grunted. "Big fancy Saiyans with their extra Chakras…"
Toph did not say a word, although she kind of wanted to second him. It would be really handy to be a Saiyan right about now…
"You think that's unfair, check this out!" Pan laughed. "Saiyans also have another emergency Chakra! It's used for a transformation called the Great Ape!"
This got everyone stumped.
"That's a similar Chi supply Chakra located in our spine, right above the Earth Chakra." Bulla smirked. "This one awakes when enough moonlight shines upon a Saiyan's tail. That turns them into a Great Ape. Which is a building sized gorilla with a lot of destructive power."
"And we called it the 'Moon Chakra!'" Pan smiled.
"Seriously?" Sokka almost screamed. "Do you have any more of those Chakras up your Chis or whatever? Any more special powers or transformations?"
"Well, Super Saiyan does have like a couple dozen variations. And there's also that ability that makes us stronger every time we recover from an injury!" Pan was now looking as if she was stopping herself very badly from exploding with laughter.
"Oh, yeah…" Katara sighed. "That one that turned Bulla into a masochist…"
Bulla smiled very widely and very creepily upon this remark.
"Precisely, my dear."
"Wouldn't mind being a Saiyan myself… being a giant gorilla with yellow hair sounds fun…" Toph felt an urge to laugh, but it was suppressed by a desire to actually turn herself into such a thing. She was proud of her own abilities, but she didn't mind getting new ones, especially in a do or die situation like the one they were stuck in.
"Perhaps you could try that as a wish to a dragon! But, to be fair, I'm not sure if that's really needed in your case!" Pan said.
This turned all the heads to her.
"Your own Chi is already massive with barely any training!" She laughed. "I bet you could even stand up to Freeza as he was when battling my grandpa on Namek!"
"She means that battle." Bulla pointed at the screen. "It was a while ago, both of them are stronger now. But yes, I agree. You could probably take that version of him solo each."
"And you have that bending ability. Like bloodbending! You kept the two of us down with it even when we turned Super Saiyan!" Pan kept smiling.
"And your Chi is growing stronger by the day." Bulla added. "Almost as fast as ours…"
"I'd say faster!" Pan followed up. Bulla squinted at her.
While this notion was somewhat empowering, the challenge in front of them still seemed insurmountable. Beerus was not going to defeat himself.
"I hope it's fast enough…" Toph muttered.