Chapter 9: Toph vs Accelerator

Toph did her best to remain confident, making sure to hide her sudden sense of surprise – she didn't want to give him any reason to think that she was scared, because she wasn't. In this situation, it would make sense for most people to give in to fear, to sacrifice their very honor in the name of survival. But she wasn't most people. The fact that this boy was the same person who took out more than half of the Terra team was simply another piece of information to her. In some weird way, she wanted this to happen. She wanted to get the opportunity to finally meet someone who could challenge her face to face. In order to become the strongest earthbender, it makes sense that she would have to face an opponent who's strength rivalled hers. His voice sounded somewhat young, perhaps only a little older than herself, and he didn't seem to be all that threatening….yet. But Toph didn't care who he was; to her, he was just some obstacle she had to overcome.

"hmmm. 'the boy with the white hair'?" he humorously questioned, "heh. I actually kinda like that name. I think I'll keep it."

"Whatever," Toph said with a dismissive tone, "do what you want with it. It's not gonna save you from this ass-kicking."

The boy stayed silent for a couple seconds; at first, Toph thought that he was thinking of some snarky comeback, but she became surprised at what he said instead.

"Ummm, isn't it gonna be kinda hard for you to fight? I mean, you ARE blind after all."

Toph bit her bottom lip in irritation, feeling a slow rise of anger build up in her body. Was he serious?

She was so sick and tired of hearing this from everyone. The idea that she had to be weak because she was blind was so stupid to her – she hated it; her parents never treated her like they would a normal child, they simply saw her as some delicate flower. Now, because THIS kid is probably thinking the same thing,…..pissed her off!

With silent rage, Toph stomped her foot on the ground, digging her heel into the dirt. A small, sphere of rock shot up into the air and hovered directly in front of her body. Then, following the motion of a whip, the blind earthbender twirled her body around and kicked the ball forward, causing it to zoom through the air. It was going fast. The rock itself seemed to almost break apart due to the sheer force that was pushing on it as it rocketed toward the boy. Toph's eyes narrowed out of confusion for a second once she realized that her opponent wasn't attempting to dodge it; he simply stood in his same spot, almost as if he accepted what was going to happen. Milliseconds passed; the rock was almost at the point of contact, yet the boy was still unmoving.

'Why won't he move?' Toph asked herself. She didn't really care if the rock would hit him, but it baffled her to think that he would just leave himself wide open like that.

Then, just as the rock was about to smash his face in, it just suddenly….missed. There was no point of contact, no cry of pain, no satisfying win; it just missed. Toph quickly replayed the event in her head; there was no way she could've missed, he was only 20 feet away from her. He should be on the ground right now, writhing in pain, and yet he continued to stand.

"What?" the boy's voice questioned, "was that all you've got?"

Toph gritted her teeth and hunched her shoulders, readying herself for the next set of attacks. Placing her palm firmly on the ground, a massive boulder emerged from the dirt-covered surface and took its place in front of Toph. Striking the back of the boulder with her fist, the young earthbender propelled the massive object forward, waiting as it quickly slipped across the rough, rocky plain. Again, the boy refused to move. There was a sudden 'thud' as the boulder made contact, but almost as soon as it had hit its target, the massive rock exploded into several pieces.

"I guess it's my turn now, right?" the boy said in a cocky voice as he slowly began to walk forward.

Alerted by his sudden approach, Toph quickly summoned a large wall from the ground that divided the two warriors from each other.

'That isn't gonna hold him for long,' Toph nervously thought, hoping that she could come up with a plan of attack before he got through.

'what the hell is with this guy? Is he even a bender? He hasn't moved at all since the beginning of this fight; it's like he doesn't even need to try. Shit. He hasn't even really attacked me yet, and I can already tell that he's strong. Too strong. Maybe there's a way I can evade him. He probably doesn't know how to sense things like I can; I might be able to create some sort of screen out of dust. It won't stop him for long, but it might give me enough time to escape.'

Her thoughts were starting to get jumbled up, and she had to focus quite a bit to keep her own mind organized. She took a deep breath, calming the rest of her body in the process. She had to make her move soon –

"yo," someone gently whispered behind her.

In one swift motion, purely out of survival instinct, Toph leapt away from the voice in order to give herself more room. Once she landed far enough away, she shifted her attention back to where the voice came from; using her earthbending senses to scope the environment, she was shocked to see the white haired boy standing mere inches from where she was.

"What th-" Toph began before she felt a powerful blow delivered to the underside of her chest. She sailed backwards, her feet leaving the ground as she went, and was roughly stopped by slamming into her own wall. Sliding down the vertical rock surface to the dirt-covered floor, the blind earthbender desperately gasped for air as her hands clutched at her chest. Eventually, air fully returned to her lungs, but the immense pain continued to persist.

What just happened? Fear suddenly overtook her sense of confusion as her brain struggled to grasp what just occurred. Toph was not really known for being afraid, but this was a special occasion – this boy was dangerous. It wasn't the attack that scared her the most, although it hurt incredibly bad. No, what terrified her most was his speed – it was otherworldly. It's not as though she was distracted; on the contrary, she was the most cautious she had ever been in a battle. She knew exactly WHERE he was and WHAT he was doing, but….for a split second, almost as if she blinked, he was there and then he wasn't. It was practically instantaneous; there was no sound, no movement, no hint whatsoever at the fact that he changed locations. It was as if time itself simply jumped ahead.

Groaning from the throbbing pain that she felt in her chest, Toph struggled to get to her feet, using her hands to help her up. Before she could even fully stand, she heard a terrifyingly loud 'crunch' sound coming from directly next to her head. Even though her senses were somewhat dull from the last attack, Toph could still tell that the boy had just punched a portion of the rock wall that was directly beside her. Again, she didn't hear him move.

"Is this seriously all you got?" he growled. All of the levity had left his voice now, and his words were now angry and piercing.

"The Fire Nation really considers you a threat? Pathetic," he said.

'Pathetic?' Was he really calling her 'pathetic'? Toph's lips formed into a thin line and her eyebrows narrowed over her empty eyes.

"Pathetic?" Toph repeated, "I'M pathetic? Are you kidding me?!"

Putting all of her anger into one final attack, Toph outstretched her arms in the boy's direction, causing an extrusion to emerge from the wall and slam into his body. Reacting immediately, he roughly dug his feet into the ground in order to withstand the attack; although he wasn't harmed in any way, he still slid back several feet.

Accelerator's POV

Regaining his footing after the sudden surprise attack, Accelerator straightened his body and gave the girl a strange look. Obviously, she couldn't exactly 'see' his expression, the young earthbender shifted uncomfortably in her spot.

Accelerator cocked his head to the side, slipping his hands comfortably back into his pockets as he remained silent. He wasn't quite sure why, but there was something about the girl that seemed to fascinate him; this nagging feeling clawed at his mind as he continued to stare at the girl. Although she was quite small, not to mention young, she was definitely strong – or at least 'stronger' than most of the other benders Accelerator had fought. To be honest, she was considerably harder to deal with than the entire Terra team.

"What's your deal?" he suddenly asked, garnering the blind girl's attention.

"What…the hell…are you talking about?" she shot back, doing her best to suppress the pain that she was feeling in her chest.

"Well, if you met the men from before then they must've told you who attacked them. If that's the case, then you knew who I was already and how powerful I am, yet you still decided to challenge me – why?"

The girl was quiet for a few seconds, but Accelerator could tell that she was thinking about how to answer.

"You single-handedly defeated an entire team of elite earthbending warriors," Toph began, "you were a threat – that's all."

"….no, it's not," Accelerator said after a short pause, "you just wanted to test yourself against me, isn't that right? I can tell, nobody would risk their life in a fight unless they got something out of it."

Toph's mouth curled into a frown and rest of her face stiffened at the esper's observation. Sighing, the blind earthbender lowered her head in defeat, her black hair loosely falling in front of her face to cover it.

"Fine, you got me….congratulations!" she mumbled with bitter humor, "it's not like you care anyway. Just finish this and kill me already."

Unlike her voice from before the fight that was full of aggression and confidence, the young girl now spoke with a tone of defeat and utter lifelessness. Accelerator blankly stared at her figure, bruised and beaten on the floor. There was a strange feeling that emanated from within his chest as he continued to scan the girl's beaten body; he had won, but it felt as though the victory was empty. He could definitely kill her now, like he initially planned to, and her death would hold little significance to him; he could leave her here and ignore the fact that she could inevitably die, and he would still sleep soundly at night. So why? Why was he suddenly feeling this way?

The girl's body slumped against the rock wall, her arms and neck became limp – she was unconscious. Accelerator slowly approached the body, his arms still in his pockets as he overlooked the figure.

'Damn,' he thought to himself, 'I really did a number on her. It looks like she might have a few broken ribs.'

The girl's otherwise plain skin had been tainted with thick scratches and some areas that were already starting to bruise. Her hands were stained with a combination of blood, sweat, and dirt that smeared on her skin.

"why the hell am I doing this?" Accelerator sighed as he leaned down and picked the girl up into his arms – thank goodness she was so light.

Staring down into the girl's closed eyes, the same unfamiliar feeling returned to him, but Accelerator did his best to ignore it. Firmly carrying the girl's limp body, the white haired esper walked back to the drill, hoping that there would at least be a medic on board.

End of chapter 9

A/N: Although I know that there were people who were so excited to see Accelerator dominate Aang, that will have to wait. Even though I intended for Accelerator to be OP, I also wanted to center this story largely around his personality – especially the 'good' parts, in order to show how complex his character is. Don't worry though, he will still be somewhat ruthless and blood-thirsty in this story, but he's not going to KILL any of the main characters…..maybe. Anyway, if you liked this chapter, please comment and tell me what you thought.