1 year later…

Here we go, Chapter 2! Enjoy.

I don't own ATLA.

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1 year later…

Things hadn't changed much for Toph in one year. People still treated her with the utmost respect and stayed out of her way, which she found quite annoying. Master Yu had kept her on basic forms, and although she had mastered them all, he insisted that advanced techniques were much too 'dangerous' for her and prevented her from progressing. She knew, however, that she was as good as most other students at the class, maybe even better. Yet, she decided to keep this to herself.

Toph had never encountered any danger in her 7 years, but that was about to change very soon.

One sunny afternoon, Toph found that she was very bored. She wanted excitement. And so, she snuck away from the guards assigned to protect her and ran to the East side of her estate gardens. There, she created a small tunnel with her earthbending and 'burrowed' her way under the wall. Once she was on the other side, she began to casually walk towards the town of Gaoling. 'Maybe,' she thought, 'I'll find something interesting there.'

No one seemed to notice her or recognize her as she walked through the streets. This was probably due to the fact that her parents had told the public that they had no children (in order to protect her, no doubt). Either that or the people were much too busy to notice a 7 year old blind girl walking past.

Somehow managing to maneuver her way out of the crowd, Toph turned into an alley, and immediately sensed that it was a mistake. It was a dead end. She turned around to go back, but a gang of older children had noticed her. They advanced towards her.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" she heard a girl sneer. "A little brat eh? And look, she's blind!"

Another voice piped up. "She seems new around here. How 'bout we tell her what happens to little kids who step onto OUR turf."

Toph was nervous. She took cautious steps backward until she was backed up against the wall. "Don't come any closer," she warned, "I'm an earthbender. I can hurt you."

"What can you do?" a boy snickered, "You can't see."

She felt their vibrations. There were around 5 of them. She was outnumbered. She got into a fighting stance, as she had been taught. Some of the others did the same.

One boy took a step forward, preparing to attack. Then she saw it – a weak spot. She stomped her foot, creating a small earthquake which knocked the boy off his feet. As he stumbled, she shot a small rock at him, sending him flying backwards. He crashed into a wall and collapsed, unconscious.

Three of the remaining gang, upon seeing this, took tentative steps back. They realized she was not to be messed with. The gang leader, however, was not intimidated. She charged forward. Toph was ready. She bended a rock platform and raised herself above the others and out of their reach. Then she created an earth wave which picked up the bullies and dumped them not-so-gently some distance away. They were out cold

Toph lowered herself and, after ensuring that there was no more danger, walked out of the alley. Then, she noticed a man standing a short distance away, his mouth wide open. She looked at him and asked. "What?'

He snapped out of his trance and said, "Sorry. Um, did you do that on your own?" he asked, pointing towards the bullies.

"Yeah, about that, they were going to beat me up. I didn't have much of a choice…"

"Wait," the man interrupted. "You must be a great earthbender. You should take part in the Earth Rumble tournament. It was introduced this year by a man named Xin Fu."

"An earthbending tournament, huh? Sounds nice. Where is it?" she asked.

He told her where it was located. Apparently it was in an enclosed stadium, a short distance from the city to prevent civilians from being injured by any stray boulders.

Toph walked up to the signup counter where a woman was seated. She was looking at some papers. After a while, she looked up and noticed the little girl standing in front of her.

"Hi," said Toph," I'm here to take part in the tournament."

"You?" the woman exclaimed, "But you're just a child! You might get hurt."

"I'm an earthbender. I can protect myself." She replied simply.

The woman sighed in defeat. "Alright, you can sign up. But first, you'll need a stage name. What's it going to be?"

Toph thought for a moment and smiled.

"The Blind Bandit."

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Hope you liked it! R&R if you did :)