A/N: Checking in with Sokka and Toph...
Chapter 8: The Freedom Fighters
In the middle of a forest, Sokka was looking at his map of the Earth Kingdom. Toph was sitting on the ground with her back resting against a tree, eating some leechi nuts she took from an animal trap nearby. It had been a simple task for Toph to jam the trap's mechanism with earthbended stones and then take the nuts from them.
"Are we lost yet?" Toph asked.
"Hey I know exactly where we are," Sokka said.
"I can tell you're lying," Toph said.
"That is really annoying," Sokka said. He rolled up his map and put it away. "I think we should take this path," he said while pointing northeast.
"Okay," Toph said. She got up and walked up to Sokka. Then she earthbended the ground beneath them, lifting it up and moving it forward faster than either of them could run. After moving for a hundred feet Toph stopped, sending Sokka flying forward and landing just in front of a large bush.
"What was that for?" Sokka asked.
"There's Fire Nation up ahead," Toph explained. "So are you going to fight or just let me take them all out?"
"I'll help this time," Sokka said.
"Alright then," Toph said. She earthbended a boulder out of the ground and threw it through the bush, surprising the Fire Nation soldiers camped on the other side. The boulder slammed into three solders next a campfire, surprising the rest of them.
Sokka and Toph through the bush and into the camp, ready to strike again. One soldier sent a fireblast at them, which missed and set the bush on fire, cutting off the path. Toph was about to earthbend when she heard an arrow fly through the air and strike the firebender in the back, bringing him down.
"How'd you do that?" Sokka asked.
"Wasn't me," Toph answered.
Looking up, Sokka spotted a brown haired teen with hookswords jump down from the trees and land on two soldiers, taking them out. Then he caught two more in his hookswords and threw them into other soldiers. "Down you go" the boy said. He noticed another soldier coming from behind and swung his hookswords to defeat him.
Then a small kid dropped down and landed on a soldier's head, blinding him. More soldiers were brought down by arrows being fired from above. A large teen dropped down and started clubbing soldiers with a log. Then a smaller teen jumped down and attacked more soldiers with a dagger.
Not wanting to be left out of the party, Toph threw boulders at every soldier that wasn't already disabled. Sokka tried to fight, but every soldier he tried to attack got beaten by one of the newcomers instead. Within minutes every soldier was either unconscious or running away.
With the fight over, the boy with the hookswords walked up to Sokka and Toph. "My name is Jet, and these are my freedom fighters," he said. "Who are you?"
"I'm Sokka," he said. "And this is Toph."
"You know I could have handled those guys by myself," Toph said.
"Well we were waiting to ambush those soldiers all morning," Jet said. "You just provided the right distraction."
"Distraction!" Toph yelled. "You stole my thunder!"
"Toph calm down," Sokka said. "No one's hurt and those soldiers are still beaten."
"Why don't I make it up to you," Jet said. "Once we're done here I can show you our hideout."
Within the hour the freedom fighters loaded everything of value from the camp onto a wagon. Everyone walked deeper into the forest where the hideout was located.
"Here we are," Jet said.
"Where? There's nothing here," Sokka said.
"Hold this," Jet said, handing Sokka a rope with a loop at the end.
"What's this do?" Sokka asked. Suddenly the rope pulled Sokka up into the branches of a tree.
"Toph," Jet said while handing another rope to her.
"No thanks," Toph said. "I think I'll stay on the ground where I can bend."
"You won't need to here," Jet said.
"Okay, how am I supposed to know when to let go of that?" Toph asked. "I can't see."
"I'll help you," Jet said. He placed Toph's arm around his shoulders and let the rope carry both of them in the tree branches. When they reached the top they landed on the wood platforms.
Everything's all blurry up here Toph thought. "I think I'll stay with Sokka right now if you don't mind."
Sokka and Toph stayed with the Freedom Fighters for the night. The wood platforms distorted the vibrations Toph used to see, so she held onto Sokka's arm whenever they went anywhere in the hideout. In the morning Jet walked into the hut they used to sleep in.
"Hey Toph, can I ask you for a favor?" Jet asked.
"Do I get to beat up some bad guys?" Toph asked.
"Well not exactly," Jet said. "But it's something I need you for."
"Fine," Toph asked.
Jet took Toph and Sokka to the nearby river, upstream of a dam. Toph didn't mind the walk, glad to be back on the ground where she could see properly. She noticed the steam vents nearby as they walked along the small river.
"So what are we doing here?" Sokka asked.
"You those vents?" Jet asked. "Underground water is trying to escape through them."
"I'm an earthbender, not a waterbender," Toph said.
"True, but I thought you could clear a path for the water to get through," Jet said.
"I can do that," Toph said. She stamped a foot on the ground, earthbending the rock around a vent to widen it and clear debris inside it. Immediately hot water flowed out of the vent and drained into the river.
"Good job," Jet said. "This river empties into the reservoir. A few more of these and it will be full."
"Just a few?" Toph asked.
"Yup. I need to check things out at the reservoir," Jet said.
"We'll meet you there when Toph's done," Sokka said.
"Actually… it's probably better if you meet me back at the hideout," Jet said.
Toph waited for Jet to leave before saying anything. "Something's not right," she told Sokka.
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.
"He hesitated for a moment," Toph said. "He's hiding something."
"Okay, let's see what's at the reservoir when you're done," Sokka said.
It only took ten minutes for Toph to earthbend enough vents to let enough water out. When that was finished they walked along the river's shore, heading downriver. They reached the dam just when the water level was approaching the top. From the top of the dam Sokka looked down and saw the other Freedom Fighters placing barrels next to the bottom.
"Is that blasting jelly?" Sokka wondered.
"Why would they need that?" Toph asked.
"There's enough there to blow up the dam," Sokka said. "And with the reservoir full that would destroy the town downriver."
"I knew Jet was hiding something," Toph said. "We're going to stop them."
Toph earthbended the rock they stood on, creating a small cliff which they moved onto. Then the slab of rock moved down, bringing them to the bottom of the dam. The Freedom Fighters saw them approaching and ran from the dam, leaving the barrels behind.
"Toph, earthbend those barrels out of here," Sokka said.
"On it," Toph said. She made a platform of earth rise from the ground beneath the barrels, and then moved the earth away from the dam and carrying the barrels with it. She had to move it slowly to keep the blasting jelly from exploding by accident.
Then they heard someone making a bird call. Looking around for the source Sokka spotted an arrow set on fire heading for them. "Toph, incoming BOOM!" Sokka yelled.
"One shield coming up," Toph said. She created a dome of rock several feet thick around herself and Sokka. The flaming arrow hit the barrels and set off the blasting jelly. The explosion was twenty feet away from the base of the dam. It broke open Toph's rock dome and damaged the base of the dam, leaving a hole ten feet wide in it.
"Not Good! Not Good!" Sokka yelled as water rushed out through the hole. He could see cracks spreading from the hole and letting more water flow out. Sokka grabbed Toph's shirt and dragged her out of the water's path, stopping at the side of the riverbed.
"That's a lot of water," Toph said.
"The dam's going to fall apart any second!" Sokka yelled. "Can you earthbend a wall large enough to contain the water?"
"I'll try," Toph said. She walked to the end of the dam and focused on the earth. She slowly raised the earth along the length of the dam, fifteen feet thick. The earth in the middle was washed away by the water until the bedrock reached the hole in the dam. As the rock slowly covered up the hole the gap between the dam and the wall quickly filled up with water and overflowed. The wall was three-quarters of the way up when the dam broke under the strain, sending water flowing over the wall.
Twenty feet of water had drained from the dam before the water line fell to the height of Toph's wall. Sokka watched the water flow towards the town, praying for it to not be enough to destroy the town. The water slowly spread out and dissipated as it moved downriver, leaving only a wave one foot high to hit the town.
"You did it Toph," Sokka said.
"What have you done!" Jet yelled from the opposite riverbank, high enough to be safe from the flood he wanted to happen. He jumped down to the bottom, hookswords drawn.
"You tried to kill us!" Toph yelled.
"I was trying to free this valley!" Jet yelled. "You got in the way!"
"Who would be free?" Sokka asked. "Everyone would be dead."
"Traitor!" Jet yelled. He ran forward to attack with his swords, but suddenly found himself trapped in a cone of rock.
"Give me one good reason to not break his head in," Toph said.
"No Toph, don't drop to his level" Sokka said.
"Fine," Toph said. "But if we ever meet you again, you'll regret it," she said to Jet.
"Let's get out of here," Sokka said.
"Good," Toph said. "I hated their hideout anyway."