A/N: Happy Tokka week, fellow shippers!
Toph and Sokka had been walking for what seemed weeks. The trench had grown darker which suggested to Sokka that it was nightfall. Their stomachs ached from lack of food but they crept forward, moving only inches at a time since the two could barely feel their legs.
The long, narrow pit which the blind earth bender and water tribe warrior had been stranded in for the past six hours was quiet. It was so far below sea level there was no wind, just an eerie chill which kept constant goose bumps persisting on their skin. Toph would guess that for the past hour Sokka grew so bored that he felt it was necessary to sing about his ailments. He did this in a blues styling.
"Na na na na, oh I am so hungry… Na na na na, my legs feel like pudding… Na na na na, I need some food before my head explodes. OH! Na na na na… I am a walking with Toph… Na na na na, she is an earthbender. Na na na na, she's gonna get us out of here so I can eat! Woo hooooooo, yeah!"
Alls Toph could say was: "That was beautiful, Sokka,"
"I made it up myself," Sokka kidded.
Sokka inhaled mass amounts of air, alerting Toph that he was readying himself to embark on another trail of blues songs.
Toph seized him from singing any further by proposing, "Let's set up camp for the night,"
Sokka gathered some rather pathetic twigs to attempt to start a camp fire while Toph constructed their rocky tent. Toph next bended two rocks near Sokka's pile of kindling that would be suitable for the two of them to sit on. Sokka finished garnering wood and got on his knees to start the fire. He scratched two feeble sticks against one another and within seconds the twigs snapped in half. He tried again and again but the sight only served well as amusement for Toph. She laughed quietly to herself as the brown haired boy continued to try and fail again. Boy, how they wish they had Zuko with them at that moment.
"Never so much have I wanted a firebender within easy access than now," Sokka grumbled as he rubbed the last of his thin branches together.
"Whatever, let's just go to sleep," Toph insisted while yawning.
The two crawled into their tent which was merely a rocky roof suspended above their heads. They were forced to sleep on the solid ground which Toph didn't mind so much, it let her have a clearer view while she tried to fall asleep. Soon enough, the exhausted teenagers were slumbering soundly. The trench was still and somehow tranquil is some odd way.
It was well into their fourth hour of sleep when Toph could sense numerous figures approaching them. She awoke violently before shuffling over next to Sokka to warn him of the impending threats.
Toph shook the boy's shoulder vigorously, "Sokka, wake up, quick," she whispered, "I think something's coming towards us,"
"Don't be silly. There's no sword fights in Gran Gran's jelly," Sokka giggled drowsily before rolling over and resuming his rest.
"C'mon Boomerang Boy, this is no time to be kidding around," Toph ordered assertively.
Toph dragged Sokka outside by the wrist. Sokka stabilized himself and rubbed his eyes to cleanse them of their tiredness. His jaw dropped and his eyes practically popped out of his head when he spotted at least two dozen canyon crawlers heading towards them.
"What do we do? We're out numbered. There's no way we can fight all of these things off just the two of us," said Toph.
Sokka turned his head in all directions searching for a secret trail they could escape on, but every path he saw there was canyon crawler on it. They were quickly swarming the twosome. Toph and Sokka had no where to run.
"It doesn't look like we have much of a choice," Sokka pointed out.
Before they could get any closer, Toph and Sokka simultaneously charged at the nearest ant-like beast. The canyon crawlers each had four, lanky insect legs and a large abdomen which was covered in course, brown fur. Their long snouts were chalk full of tiny, razor sharp teeth and on each side of their head were eight, beady red eyes. The insect monsters were nimble and extremely intimidating. They could smell food from miles away and defeated foes by swinging them through the air and snapping their bones like twigs.
Sokka managed to uppercut two canyon crawlers before getting captured by another. Toph was busily pounding rocks into the beasts so she didn't notice Sokka was in trouble until he started screaming like a little girl. Toph spun around and bended a rock right from underneath the canyon crawler which had Sokka in its grasp. The beast released the boy after being stabbed in the stomach and sent flying through the air. That was one more taken care of.
After saving Sokka's butt, Toph almost forgot to protect her own. She swiftly recommenced chucking massive boulders at the canyon crawlers and Sokka went back to slashing them with his sword. The two were growing tired and they were still lethargic from the long day and their sleeping being cut short.
All hope was lost when they saw a new group of canyon crawlers making their way down the sides of the trench. They climbed down the grimy walls like spiders and released shrill cries to the rest of their pack whilst doing so. Sokka wondered why the canyon crawlers were attacking them since they had no food and these beasts weren't known for eating humans. However, he realized with the scarcity of life and edible comestibles down in the trench, these canyon crawlers had to resort to eating anything with a pulse in order to survive. The fiends' mouths dripped with glutinous drool as the massive herd pinned the duo to the wall.
Sokka gulped, "We're trapped,"
"I guess this is it," Toph noted sadly.
Sokka looked around one last time for a way to escape. His brain suddenly sprouted an idea and he grabbed Toph's hand and tugged her between a crawler's legs along with him. They slid under the monster's lofty body and Sokka sliced it with his sword as they did so. The ant-like creature let out a deafening cry and Toph and Sokka were able to make it past it. However, that didn't mean the rest of its assembly was going to let them flee.
Before the two continued on in the left direction, Toph wheeled about and constructed a tall barrier composed of earth. She could feel that the canyon crawlers on the other side were simply scaling the blockade in order to reach them, so Toph dropped her hands to the ground which sent the rocky barricade crumbling. Every canyon crawler that had been hiking up the rock-strewn wall tumbled to the ground and got buried by dirt and rocks. Although this had wiped out at least half of the pack, there were still some insect monsters chasing Sokka and Toph.
Sokka once again grabbed Toph's hand. Toph would've cherished the fact that she got to hold Sokka's hand for the third time that day, but her tiny hand was being crushed by Sokka's since he was pulling her along.
They were running a lot slower than before since they were growing tired. The two panted heavily as they evacuated the area. It came to a point where they could barely run any longer. Sokka glanced over his shoulder to see five canyon crawlers gaining on them. Suddenly, being distracted by the horrid sight just feet behind them, Sokka went plummeting to the ground. He had tripped over a boulder protruding out of the earth and his face scraped against the turf below him.
Luckily, as he skidded across the ground, Sokka noticed a large rock just feet away Toph and him could possibly hide behind. Sokka scrambled to his feet and hauled the blind earthbender over towards the boulder. They leaned their backs against the cold, rough surface and attempted to catch their breath. The two watched the canyon crawlers sprint past them. The beasts had disappeared around the corner and the two teens were safe from harm once again.
All of the sudden, one last canyon crawler dipped its head down in front of the two, scaring the living daylights out of them. The beast was posted on top of the rock and was about to snatch Sokka with one of its gangly legs, but Toph kicked the ground which caused a chunk of earth to fly up and hit the crawler in the abdomen and send it soaring through the air. They heard a thunderous thump in the distance indicating that the canyon crawler had plunged to the ground. Toph and Sokka waited for a moment to see if it would come back but it never returned.
"I think that's the last of them," Sokka sighed, still breathless.
"Thank god," Toph exhaled in relief.
While they were trying to catch their breath, both of them accidentally fell asleep leaning against the rock that had saved their lives.
The pair woke up hours later. Toph found herself napping against Sokka's shoulder. The two immediately realized their awkward position and blushed wildly as they backed away from one another. They laughed uncomfortably before getting up to start their walking for the day.
The trench was brighter since it was morning but still ominous and murky as usual. They were starving. It had almost been a full twenty-four hours since they had eaten. So as you might expect, Sokka was whining like a two year old because of his empty stomach.
"Sokka, will you shut up?" Toph demanded irritably. "We're both hungry so just stop complaining and find something to eat,"
"I would love to, Toph. But there isn't exactly anything to eat down here!" Sokka pointed out in aggravation.
Toph grunted angrily and kicked the ground causing it to shake. Out of nowhere, a black, miniscule fleck came flying through the air and landed perfectly in Toph's hand.
"Here, eat this," Toph proposed, holding the black, scaly insect by the tail.
Sokka informed her blatantly, "Toph, that's a scorpion,"
"What?!" she screamed, tossing the tiny creature high into the air. The scorpion landed yards away and curled into a ball like nothing had just happened to it.
"I can't take it anymore!" Sokka declared while yanking on his hair. "We have to get out of here now,"
"And how are we going to do that, Snoozles?" teased Toph.
Sokka rubbed his chin, "I got it! We capture a canyon crawler and tame it to carry us up the trench and back to the Western Air Temple," Sokka explained by articulating with different hand movements.
"While that plan sounds foolproof and all, how exactly are we going to tame one of those dimwitted things that only cares about food?" Toph asked. She laughed, "Now that I think about it those things are a lot like you, Ponytail. Why don't we all just climb on your back and you can take us up the side of the cliff?" Toph joked.
Sokka narrowed his eyes at the girl, "Very funny." Sokka paused for a moment and looked at his surroundings. He then added, "Why don't you just earthbend us all the way to the top?"
"Are you kidding? As amazing as I am, I can't do that by myself. Besides this thing has to be ten miles deep I can't earthbend for that long," Toph truthfully stated.
"So I suppose we're just supposed to find some magic case of stairs that'll lead us to the top then?" Sokka asked sarcastically.
"Hey, don't start pointing fingers at me,"
"I'm not. It just seems like you don't want to get out of here as badly as I do,"
"Oh, like I love being stuck down here with you? I'd rather go head to head with Ozai than be stuck in this place with you," Toph claimed angrily.
"Well you're no afternoon delight yourself," Sokka told her in complete rage.
"You know what? I don't need this. In fact, I don't need you," Toph spun around and began to head the other direction.
As mad as he was, Sokka couldn't let Toph go off on her own. She needed him as much as he needed her.
Sokka stopped her, "Wait a minute, Toph. Don't go. We can't split up. We'd never last if we didn't have each other's backs,"
Toph sighed and agreed, "Yeah, you're right,"
Sokka apologized, "Listen, I'm sorry,"
Toph muffled, pushing past the boy and continuing to walk once again, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, get a tissue if it'll make you feel better."