Nobody knew what was going on. A few seconds ago, Katara was yelling at Toph. But now, these two had suddenly disappeared in a blink of an eye. Someone- or something- had gripped tightly Katara's neck and vanished towards a nearby lake, the one in which the young earthbender had failed to satiate her thirst. The being threw the waterbender towards the natural pool, which turned out to be the savior of Katara, for if she had been thrown at a solid spot, the waterbender would have certainly died by the impact.
Katara froze a portion of the lake to help herself stand up. While doing it, she was panting with such difficulty due to the recent loss of air. Katara glanced at the shore and stop what she was doing. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. She trembled a bit and was barely able to come up with some words.
"T-Toph, is that you?"
Standing in front of her, there was no longer the earthbender youngster that we once knew, but rather a female with a much taller frame1. Her skin was pale (it could even surpassed Zuko's). Her long-disheveled hair was changing its tone (one moment it seemed as if it was becoming light brown, but it abruptly went back to jet black). But those weren't the features that had caught Katara's attention. This creature had nails- no, not nails, but rather claws- that were thick, sharp as a knife, and as dark as the night. This being also possessed a pair of crimson eyes that assimilated to the fire and blood. The pupils' shape was not circular, but rather oval with pointed ends at the bottom and top.
The creature had such a menacing glare that even the mightiest warrior could easily quiver if he or she was looked upon with it. The beast was snarling at her prey and showing her pearl daggers that resided in her mouth (one of the beast's deadliest weapons… her fangs). Just the simple fact of hearing her prey talk had provoked the fury to boil in anger. She wanted to rip apart the waterbender's throat, and she would make sure to accomplish her desire.
In a matter of seconds, the creature rushed towards her victim. She defied the laws of physics for she did not drown when her feet touched the water but was rather moving swiftly on top of it. Katara was barely able to move her ice ground while using all her energy to avoid her attacker. Despite this, the being was barely using her full speed for she wanted her prey to get tired.
Katara was desperately trying to avert the predator because she didn't want to hurt her friend. So, instead of attacking, she built a massive iceberg in which she could imprison the former earthbender.
At first, it seemed as if her plan had worked out. But alas, the predator smashed through her cage, causing it to crumble as if it was made from thin paper. But how was that possible, Katara thought. I made sure that the ice was thick enough. But she managed to pulverize it effortlessly!
Now that the creature had had enough of fooling around, she spurt faster than before and grabbed Katara by her neck. She rose her body at an eye level- for now the former one was much taller than the latter one- and looked upon her victim with a menacing stare. She could kill the waterbender by simply crushing her windpipe. However, something stirred inside her, making the creature release the girl.
"Toph, don't do it!"
The gang had finally caught up with them. She looked at her friends with anguish and desperation. Then suddenly, she was gone.
1 Her height was now 5'10.