Hey guys! Sorry it's taken me so long to post the next chapter, I really feel bad about it, but I've been horribly busy this week, I just had other papers for school to write and I didn't have as much time to devote to this.
I also wanted to thank all of my reviewers personally, I hit a mile marker of 20 reviews which makes me really happy. So keep it up!
I'm probably going to post an author's note for you guys tomorrow, so just a heads up for that, so don't be too let down when you see a probably 500 word author's note tomorrow. It's essentially meant to get you guy's opinions about some crossroads I've been dealing with on this story. You'll find out more when I post it tomorrow, so keep an eye out for it.
Onto the story!
Aang and Toph:
The second Appa had taken off into the sky, Toph had immediately regretted coming with Aang on his bison. She quickly noticed that she could not see on the bison and would get sick very quickly. She had been hanging her head over the side of the bison, and Aang was getting worried for her.
"Hey Toph, you doing ok back there?' Aang asked, worry clearly noticeable in his voice.
"Never better Twinkletoes" Toph replied, prepared to throw up again.
Aang winced slightly at this: "You sure you don't want me to take you back?"
"NO!" Toph quickly said, but recovered just as fast: "I mean, I just wanted to go with you so I could finish your earth bender training. Who else would be able to do that for you?"
"Point taken, just tell me if it gets too much for you." Aang replied.
The rest of the day was filled with much of the same conversations, which all ended the same way, with Aang backing down. Aang found that by the time he landed Appa, Toph seemed like she was becoming acclimated to the new mode of travel and would be mostly okay by the next day. Thank the spirits. Aang added silently, afraid to alert the human lie detector a few feet away from him.
Their dinner was silent, both went to sleep, tired from the days traveling as well as the previous day's fighting. Many of the wounds could still be felt from it, but the cause was worth it.
Back at the Be Fong's Home:
"This is preposterous! The Avatar did not simply bring our daughter with him by her free will, he must have kidnapped her!" Toph's Father bellowed to the servant who had informed him of Toph's quick exit.
He had quickly sent for the town's two best bounty hunters, when they had reached his living space, they both respectively bowed to Lao.
Poppy could not join the meeting, as she had been crying since the news was brought to the household.
"The Avatar has taken my daughter; I need you two to make sure she is brought back here to safety. You will be paid well." Lao quickly motioned for a large box to be brought out, filled with gold.
Both the bounty hunters quickly agreed to the contract, and left to track the Avatar immediately.
"It's only a matter of time dear; they will find him and make him pay for what he took from us."
Sokka and Katara:
It had taken them only the remainder of the day to reach the village called Gaoling. Earlier that morning, they had heard some type of battle going on in the distance, they had also seen the smoke, but they decided to side skirt it and not get involved. When they had reached the gates of Gaoling, they were shocked to see the sheer size of the wall, it appeared as though they were still constructing and improving upon it. They quickly were snapped out of their admiration when a guard called out to them from the wall: "What is your business in Gaoling?"
Bato took the lead on this one, seeing as he was the oldest of the group: "We are just travelers from the Southern Water Tribe. We are trying to meet back up with our fleet and just need some supplies, than we will be our way."
The guard regarded them for a few moments before he opened the gates with earth bending. When the group walked into the town, it appeared to be so vibrant, like they had no knowledge of war, Katara envied them for that.
"Why is everyone so happy" Sokka asked aloud.
Quickly, an older man from a shop called out to him: "You don't know?"
"Know what? We're just travelers." Sokka replied.
"Well, the Fire Nation had occupied our village for years, up until yesterday morning that is. You see, the Avatar came-" But he was swiftly cut off by an overjoyed Katara: "Wait, Aang's here? Bring me to him, right now!" She said, almost begging the shop owner to do what she said.
The shop owner looked down: "I'm sorry little lady, he left Gaoling this morning with one of our earth benders."
"Do you know what direction he went in?" A saddened but not completely defeated Katara asked.
"Why is it so important that you know?" Lo asked suspiciously.
"We are friends of his." Sokka said.
When Sokka said this, Lo's eyes bulged out of shock, than he quickly frowned at the trio: "I will not tell you where he went." Lo said, while he turned and walked back into his shop, clearly upset by something that Sokka or Katara had said.
"Hey! What gives" Sokka said while he banged on Lo's shop door.
After a few minutes of continued banging, the door swung open again: "Why do you persist? I told you I will not tell you where the Avatar went, now leave!"
"But why won't you tell us?" Katara persisted, almost in desperation. He could still be close, camped somewhere. We can still reach him before he leaves…
"What you did to that poor child, he still could not blame you" Lo said with a hint of sadness in his voice: "You know you were like his family, the only ones he had left in this world. You threw him away like he was worthless to you. People make mistakes!" Lo finished, his anger slowly leaving him.
By this time, Katara had tears flowing from her eyes, Lo took note of this: "You regret what you did to him."
Katara nodded: "Every second since he left. That's why we need to know where he is, so I can tell him how sorry I am."
Lo understood the pain and regret that she clearly had in her eyes, he relented: "Very well, come into my house and we will talk over some tea."
Once everyone was settled and the tea was passed around, Lo began: "The Avatar came just about two weeks ago. Before he came, our town was under the control of the Fire Nation. We tried to revolt when they first came, but we were punished swiftly. Many earth benders in our village were punished and sent off to work camps in the Fire Nation. The remaining earth benders in our village stayed in hiding, afraid of the consequences of being found out. The Fire Nation essentially sucked the life out of our village. That is, until the Avatar came."
Katara spoke up at this: "But the town looks so vibrant? How could that change in just two weeks?"
"Yah, I haven't seen any Fire Benders around here" Sokka added in.
"I think you kids should allow the man to finish before you start asking questions" Bato scolded.
Lo chuckled: "It's quite alright. I was just getting to that part. When Aang first came to our village, he saw our hurt and stepped up. He organized a small resistance of the remaining earth benders in our village. He distracted the Fire Nation soldiers while we built up walls around our city."
"Aang, held off a large number of Fire Benders? All by himself?" Sokka said skeptically.
"Well, he did have his new earth bending teacher with him. They destroyed the base." Lo responded, while he sipped more of his tea.
"Wait, Aang is learning earth bending? Did he go with him?" Katara quickly asked, desperate for answers.
"Calm down. Yes, she went with him." Lo began, but was swiftly cut off by Sokka hysterically laughing.
"Wait, she was a girl? I didn't know girls could be good earth benders." Sokka said.
"Oh, just like you said girls couldn't be good water benders. To make her point, she bent the remaining liquid out of Sokka's cup, and into his face.
"Good point." Sokka relented as he reached for a napkin.
Bato rolled his eyes at the two siblings: "Do you have any idea what direction they left in?" Bato asked.
Lo remained silent for a few moments, clearly trying to remember: "They went North-West, I suggested they head along the Earth Kingdom coast and then into the Fire Nation to head North."
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Katara nearly screamed.
Lo was taken aback by the force of her words: "It was the shortest route to the North Pole."
"But it's through the Fire Nation!" Katara replied.
Bato, seeing Katara's quickly forming temper and worry for Aang's safety, thought it would be best to leave: "I think we have spent enough time here, thank you for you kindness, but now we have to take our leave if we are going to make it in time to meet up with the fleet."
Sokka quickly agreed and began to drag Katara out of Lo's house. But before they could leave, Lo was after them: "Wait! At least take some supplies and stay for the night!" Lo said: "It's the least I could do for someone who was close to the Avatar."
"Is." Katara corrected.
"What?" Lo asked in confusion.
"You said was close to the Avatar, we still are close to Aang." Katara said in a low tone.
"Of course, I meant nothing by the comment Katara" Lo apologized.
"Thank you for your kindness Lo, we will take you up on your offer for the supplies and a place to stay for the night." Bato added in.
"Could you also tell us where the Fire Nation base was?" Sokka quickly added.
"Just follow the black smoke that should still be coming from it" Lo answered.
So the Trio left the house and headed towards the Fire Nation base, strongly aware of the still billowing cloud of black smoke that emitted from it.
When they had arrived, they were shocked by the sheer damage. "I can't believe Aang could actually do this much damage" Sokka admitted.
"You have to remember that he also had his earth bending teacher with him." Bato added.
"But this base had to hold hundreds of Fire Nation soldiers." Katara said aloud.
"I guess we just tend to forget how powerful of a bender Aang is." Sokka admitted.
Katara immediately thought of what Aunt Wu said all that time ago. I'm supposed to marry a powerful bender.. What if it was supposed to be Aang and I screwed it all up? Slight tears began to form at the edges of her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away before anyone noticed them.
That night was a sleepless night for Katara, filled with regrets of the past and hope of the future.
Aang and Toph:
Appa had made amazing time reaching the Earth Kingdom shore. During the afternoons and evenings, Toph would teach Aang as much earth bending as they could make time for. He was excelling well with it, though he had some stumbling blocks, which Toph would not miss calling him out on. She thought him to be a sissy earth bender on many occasions. The nickname "Twinkletoes" did not exactly help his cause in denying this.
Though they had their rough moments, Aang and Toph were quickly becoming good friends, and Aang was happy for this. He had missed the companionship the few short days that he had no friends with him. Toph filled that gap for him, he needed companionship, even though he knew it would be short lived.
When the ocean was in view, Aang landed Appa for the night, not wanting to travel any farther because he knew his Bison was tired from long day's flight.
Aang and Toph ate in relative silence until Toph spoke up: "So when we get into the Fire Nation, what are your plans?"
"Well, we aren't exactly going into the Fire Nation mainland, there is a large land mass that the Fire Nation has control of that we will be traveling on. It also has a bunch of smaller uninhabited islands leading up towards the North." Aang said.
"Well, you gotta hide your identity when we get there" Toph added.
"Yah, I know, I don't want the Fire Nation figuring out that I'm there. That means that we'll have to walk a lot though so they don't spot Appa." Aang said with a huff.
Appa grunted in disapproval.
Toph just shrugged: "Hey, its fine with me. I don't like flying anyway." Toph raised her feet to further imply that she was blind while flying.
Aang just smiled: "Sorry Toph, I just keep forgetting you're blind."
"No biggie, it's sorta a relief for someone to forget every once and a while." Toph replied.
"I understand, it feels good not to be known for title, but for who you actually are." Aang said.
"Eh. Enough of this touchy feely moment, we should probably get some sleep." With that, Toph took a few steps back and made an earthen tent for herself. She was quickly off to sleep.
Aang wasn't as tired as who hoped he would have been, so he decided to meditate for a little while, to think on what actually happened over the past few couple of days.
As Aang got into his comfortable lotus position, he actually took a few moments to relax. Which had been largely uncharacteristic of him throughout the past few weeks. I've been either training with Toph, or planning with Lo and the other earth benders for the past few weeks. I've barely even given thought to Katara or Sokka. Aang didn't know how to take that. He knew he missed them deeply, but he was beginning to feel the edge being taken off the pain of abandonment. It felt good, for once. He took out Katara's necklace that he always kept in his pocket. It glimmered in the moonlight. Just like her eyes.
Wherever Katara was, he wished the best for her. He was finally ready to let go.
Katara and Sokka:
"Katara, you just gotta let it go!" Sokka said, growing very annoyed at Katara.
"I will not let it go; we can catch up to him!" Katara lamely replied.
"We've been over this again and again; I will not take you to the Fire Nation so you can chase after him. We are meeting up with your father and that is final!" Bato said, leaving no room for debate.
Katara had no choice but to go along with what Bato said. They had gotten a good night sleep after seeing the damage at the base near the town. Lo had been nice enough to pay for rooms at the inn down the road from his shop for them. He claimed that it was the least he could do. Their town was saved after all, Sokka had reasoned the previous night.
Both Sokka and Bato had planned the route that they would take towards Ba Sing Se, after consulting with Lo of course. They needed to know the danger zones of the Earth Kingdom. Katara was not invited to this meeting, Bato and Sokka told her that she was sleeping; they didn't think it was worth waking her up for.
The argument that had just taken place had soon followed, and much to Katara's annoyance, they were not going to go after Aang. He could have been so close to them, but just far enough that it wasn't plausible to go out of their way to make the attempt.
She felt like she was being dragged to her dad and she felt bad about it. I should be happy, way am I not happy? Katara thought to herself, but all the answers she came up with made her feel worse. You'd rather find Aang then find your dad. She didn't want to think that way, but she knew it to be true.
Before she could wallow in her self-hatred, Sokka pulled her out of her own thoughts: "We're leaving Katara, stop day dreaming and start walking" Sokka smirked.
Katara rolled her eyes in response: "Yes, oh great brother of mine."
The hours rolled by fairly fast, most of it was filled with Bato telling them more about stories of Hakoda. He seemed to the siblings to not have changed a bit. He could be serious in one moment, but completely light hearted in the next. It reminded Katara a lot of what she thought Aang's personality was like.
She had to admit, she was mad at her dad for leaving, but she was also mad at Aang for letting her leave him without a fight. He just looked at her with those big grey eyes of his, he was so sad, but he let her go. She scolded herself, yet again, for being mad at him at all.
He cared enough to let her make her own decision. I guess that's why I like him so much. Katara immediately snapped from her thoughts at this. When did I start liking him and what level of like am I even talking about? Katara didn't quite know what the answers to her questions were, but she had been off center ever since Aang was out of her life, and she felt terrible about it, that much she knew for sure.
Aang:
They had flown for most of the day without issue, that is until they were spotted by a small convoy of Fire Navy ships. Much to Aang's dismay, they quickly shot off a flare to alert surrounding ships to their location. Soon enough, the three ships that started the chase in the first place, turned into a dozen ships that began to open Fire on them.
"Hey Twinkletoes! You got any other bright ideas?" Toph screamed as she felt another blazing fireball pass dangerously close by.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking!" Aang distractedly replied.
"Think faster!"
"I got it!" Aang pulled on Appa's reigns and made his bison plummet towards the water. He quickly leveled out just feet from the waves.
"Don't ever do that again!" Toph screamed.
Aang paid little attention to her as he was more focused on the now growing number of near misses that they were dodging. Aang quickly pulled a bubble of water around Appa and guided him under the water, where he knew they would be relatively safe. He lightly cursed himself for his lack of waterbending skills. Though he struggled to keep the relatively small bubble surrounding Appa up, he quickly found that he could not keep this task up. He quickly changed Appa's direction and proceeded to hold up the protective bubble for about 15 more minutes before he allowed Appa to resurface.
Appa gave a great full grumble as he surfaced. "I know you didn't like doing that buddy." Aang said as he affectionately petted his animal.
"Hey, I didn't like it either, maybe you should plan these things better. You shoulda figured we would have come into contact with Fire Navy ships. Diving into the ocean probably wasn't the best idea. But I give you props for ingenuity. Just don't do it again." Toph finished with a light smirk.
Aang smiled back at her, though he knew she couldn't see him. "No problem Toph."
As Aang turned back around to guide Appa, he noticed that there was an island not too far from them. He was happy too, because it was getting pretty dark out and he didn't want Appa to swim or fly at night.
When they had finally reached the shore, it had already turned dark out. "So where do we go from here Twinkletoes?" Toph asked.
Aang thought for a few moments, then decided to take out a map that he had kept with him: "I'd like to avoid any high traffic areas. It looks like there is a town not too far from here that we can buy some supplies from and be on our way. Hopefully we won't have to stop in any other town after this. We should be able to just collect what we need from here on out." Aang finished.
"Any meat in that grand plan of yours? Cause I'm starved." Toph replied as she flicked another berry into her mouth.
Aang smirked at this: "You're sounding like Sokka."
"Who's Sokka?" Toph asked.
"Oh yah, I forgot, you didn't know them. Remember those to friends I told you about?"
"The ones that ditched you?" Toph asked.
Aang visibly flinched at this, but Toph didn't notice: "Uh… Yah… Their names were Sokka and Katara. Sokka was sorta a meat head, I mean that literally. He only thought about meat and his schedule."
"I'm not a meat head! I just like to eat!" Toph defended.
"That's what he used to always say"
Knowing that Aang had won, she huffed and attempted to change the subject: "So, how long will it take to get to the village?"
"Not long, maybe a few days walk." Aang said.
After some food and further conversation, both companions decided to get some rest.
The next few days went by uneventfully. They had a few close calls with Fire Nation patrols, but Toph's keen sense of things around her allowed them to avoid them completely. On the third day of their travel, they finally made it to a sign post with directions on it to the town. "Good news Toph" Aang began as he observed the small map: "It looks like we're only an hour or so from the village."
"Thank God! If you told me we had to walk for another day, I was probably going to pound you to death." Toph tired replied.
Aang inwardly groaned at this: "You do realize that we have to walk for the rest of the way there, right?"
Toph didn't bother to let her groan go unnoticed: "Remind me why I tagged along for this?"
"Because you wanted the chance to teach me earth bending and bash some Fire Nation soldiers?" Aang said hopefully.
"I don't mean to burst your bubble or anything, but I'd go with the later in this circumstance" Toph casually said.
Just as Aang was about to turn towards the direction of the town and continue to walk, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It was a poster of him: "What's this?" Aang asked as he tore the poster of himself off the large sign.
"Oh, why not ask the blind girl?" Toph sarcastically replied.
"Not funny Toph, I think this is a wanted poster of me…" Aang worriedly said.
"Sweet!" Toph enthusiastically cried: "When do you think I'll get one?"
Aang only scowled at her: "Toph! I'm being serious here, this isn't good!"
"So this means people will know your face, not like a blue arrow tattoo didn't give you away in the first place?" Toph casually replied.
Aang just sighed in defeat: "Fine, I'll just stick to wearing my clock and I'll conceal my face."
"Now you're thinking Twinkletoes." Toph smirked.
The trip to the town was relatively short, and when they had come close enough to it, Aang noticed the fireworks that had been going off. It also appeared to be crowded from what he could see from their position just outside the town's main gate.
"Looks like sticking to small, scarcely populated towns went right out the window." Toph said.
Aang looked down in defeat: "This is going to be such a bad idea." But when he looked back up, he noticed some fire benders doing performances, it was then that he got an idea: "Hey! I can watch some fire bending up close, maybe I can learn something from it."
"No offense Twinkletoes, but don't you see enough fire bending close up?" Toph questioned.
Aang just shrugged it off: "Yah, but these people won't be attacking me."
"True enough."
With that, the duo changed into their cloaks and made their way towards the town, what they didn't know was that they were being watched. This festival would be both memorable and dangerous.
Just want to give thanks again to all my reviewers, here are my replies:
AvatarCat13: I have begun to give a little book 2 flair to this story, but only because it makes a lot of sense to. Aang needs companionship, so Toph was the most logical companion that you guys would accept. I was going to make a totally new character, but so many of you wanted the earth bender to be Aang, that I had little choice but to relent. Thanks for the prays on the story, I hope to push out more chapters that you hopefully enjoy.
70oda: What can I say about you? You're one of my favorite reviewers, to reply to the time length issue with Aang's learning. I remember that Aang had a hard time with earth bending for a day or two in the series, but once he got past that block, he began to catch onto the basics pretty quickly. Though it was hard work, he knew the basics. Aang in my story is by no means a master earth bending, he is more of a novice, he knows how to move small boulders and bring up walls. He will get better as the story goes on.
As for Toph's parents being in the Fire Nation, they are not. They are still in Gaoling, I apologize if I didn't explain myself well in the story. The Be Fong's have an agreement with the local Fire Nation soldiers; they get to keep their wealth while the Fire Nation keeps its hold on the town.
Thanks again for the great review; I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as the last few.
CharlieFibrosis: Thanks for the great ideas, if I use any of them, which I was honestly moving in those directions, I will be sure to give you credit for those ideas in my story. Thanks again for the great review and the praise that you gave me, keep up your great work on your stories. They are truly great pieces of writing.
Gamelover41592: Thanks for the compliment to the story, I will try to keep up the good work.
FlameoInstantNoodles: I am really fighting between CharlieFibrosis's idea and yours about what to do when Aang gets to the North Pole. It is a problem child for me at the moment, but it is coming up quickly, so I have to make my mind up.
Guest: To hoomever this is, I'm sorry I haven't had the time to update lately, I will be keeping Toph in the story for the forseeable future, though when she leaves is up in the air at the moment. I am trying to work on the grammatical errors. But I don't have all the time in the world to read over what I have written for grammar mistakes. I will try harder in this field, it just might take me longer to update. But if someone wants to help me by reading my work over, I would be eternally grateful and would give you credit where it is deserved.
Ok guys, keep an eye out for that authors note, have a great Saturday all!