AMS
METALBENDING CHAMPION
Quey woke up bright and early from his last vision, feeling a something different about himself. He felt determination coursing through his veins, and he was a little drunk off the adrenaline. He just wanted to work it off now by eating dinner as quickly as possible to get to learning metalbending. He flew down the stairs on an air scooter, causing a gust of wind when he entered the dining hall where everyone else already was.
"Well you look well rested and energized," smiled Suyin.
Mako had already had time to tell them all he talked with Quey the night before, so they all agreed to just give him the space he needs in case he decided to stay out of sight again. But Toph decided on her own she wasn't going to have any of that, and personally drag him back to where they were, even if it meant straining her back to do so. She resisted the urge to smile or scowl upon seeing Quey that morning.
"Yeah. I had another vision last night. But in the vision I had, it wasn't about any of the past Avatars. I saw how Noatak survived the boat explosion and how he ended up at the North Pole," said Quey matter of factly which caused all eyes to fall on him as the chef placed a breakfast plate in front of Quey.
Quey thanked the chef kindly and began eating.
Mako took the time to explain that Quey had had a vision of seeing him and Korra fight Amon and saw how she got her bending back, which made Tenzin smile wide. Progress was being made, and that was an exciting thing.
"But..." Quey started once silence fell again.
"Yes? What is it?" asked Bolin.
Quey scrunched up his nose, wiggled it, then furrowed his eyebrows.
"Korra was killed in Zaofu. Even though you took care of the guy who let them in, are you sure this city is safe?" asked Quey.
"Of course it's safe. The domes are made out of solid platinum. No metalbender can bend a metal so pure. The earth in the platinum is so little and tiny, that it's nearly impossible to hope anyone, even a master metalbender, to bend it at all. We are completely safe. Even people on the inside wish no ill will against you. Toph did the truth seer's job and personally interrogated everyone before you arrived," explained Suyin as she grabbed her cup and sipped her smoothie.
Quey nodded.
"No one can bend platinum. It doesn't even qualify as an element as this point then, does it? Well. That's good. It just means we're all safe," Quey thought, smiling again.
"Well, I'm ready for my metalbending training now!" Quey announced, shooting up from his seat.
They all blinked in surprise at how quickly he ate his food, despite being late to breakfast.
All outside, Wei brought Quey a piece of the metal that Suyin had Korra learn to bend since it was much easier to bend than any other metal. Perfect for beginners. He placed the metal in Quey's hands. Recollection flashed in his head and he remembered how Korra had bent it all those years ago. Before anyone could tell him anything, Quey shifted his feet the same way Korra had, and began wiggling his fingers around the piece of metal.
"Didn't think he would remember how Korra did it since he only had those visions he spoke of," whispered Wing to Wei.
"Let's just see if he can get it on his own before we say anything," whispered back Wei.
Toph was picking her feet, looking nonchalant when inside her head, she was excited to see if Quey would be the first one, since her, to learn metalbending through self teaching. She had a small smile on her face as she picked her toes on one foot, the other one planted on the ground so she can "watch" Quey. Quey was trying hard to bend the metal in his hands, but he couldn't help but feel like he was missing a step. Then, Suyin's voice flashed in his head.
"Try focusing on the pieces of earth within the metal," her distant voice rang in his head.
"Ah, that's right," he thought, nodding his head in affirmation.
His hand stopped for a moment and he closed his eyes, really focusing on the earth within the metal. He had spent more than a week learning earthbending that he was close to being a master already. Earthbending was in his blood. Since his great grandmother invented metalbending, that was also in his blood. Then he felt it. He found the pieces of earth within and began pulling and pushing at it. In a way, metalbending was a little like waterbending. In order to move the metal, you have to push and pull at the earth within.
"Almost like bloodbending the metal," he thought bitterly.
Just as he almost moved the metal, he stopped, shocked at himself and dropped the metal, clutching his head in distraught at the thought that crossed his mind. He began shaking his head, tears spilling out.
"Quey?" Opal asked, worried for her son.
Toph didn't have a look of disappointment, anger, or sadness. She could feel his erratic breathing and racing heart beat. It made her concerned for him. If it had been Aang or Korra, Toph would have scoffed at them and told them to suck it up. But this is Quey. A mere child who just stepped out from being a toddler, forced to see things no one should see. This is the new Avatar, breaking down in front of her.
"Of all the Avatars I have trained, he is by far the most tragic," Toph sadly thought to herself.
With Korra, her problems of ptsd came from the fact that she had unintentionally killed her own uncle. Toph, from the swamp, had watched Korra scream in her sleep a lot, had watched her lash out at people. She was eighteen at that point, and it made Toph wish she could slap her across the face and tell her to get a grip. Toph had unintentionally killed a lot of people in her hay day. But did she let it get to her? Nope. Not when she knew her job came before her personal feelings. Aang was a different case. If he hadn't met that Lion Turtle, Aang would have let his Avatar State kill Ozai, no doubt about it. Because Aang knew that the world needs its Avatar more than he needed his morals. Slowly, Quey breathed in and out, in and out before lowering his hands from his head, and looking out at everyone.
"What's wrong, Quey?" asked Suyin.
"Isn't metalbending...a bit like bloodbending?" asked Quey.
That made Toph make an o face without realizing it as that one question of his opened her eyes about why he was freaking out during his metalbending training. She stood up and walked over to him, boring her pale sightless eyes into his scared eyes that have seen it all.
"Do you think the bending itself is evil?" Toph simply asked. Quey couldn't read her face.
It didn't look mad. It didn't look bored. It didn't even look amused. It was nothing he could put a name to. Quey thought about her question. She asked him if he thought the bending technique itself was something evil. How could it not be? It was the very technique that had killed so many and hurt so many in the past. It was used to take Korra's and other benders' bending away!
"Bloodbending is an evil technique, no doubt about it," Quey finally answered, shuddering as he remembered the sounds his adopted parents made next to his room.
"Well you're wrong. Bloodbending is not evil just because it's been used so long to hurt and kill people. For example, your two friends know how to bloodbend. They went off to learn how to use it to save lives, right? One thing you should know. Airbending, the very bending you learned first, is more deadly and more painful than bloodbending, when used for killing," said Toph.
"Wait, how did you know about my friends?" asked Quey.
"I will teach you that when you are ready. But did you hear what I said?" asked Toph.
Quey nodded, curious as to how airbending is more deadly than bloodbending.
"The people who killed Korra had gotten away. At first. After Tenzin sent Airbenders across the world after Korra was killed, they found the Red Lotus members and used a deadly technique that killed them in the most painful way possible. Suffocation. Do you know what it feels like to be suffocated? Someone who survived being strangled said it felt like their head was about to cave in under pressure, and that their eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. Bloodbending, while painful for a little while, ends it rather quickly. But suffocation takes time to take its intended effect," explained Toph.
Quey's eyes widened. He had no idea that airbending could be so deadly or so painful. Toph just opened his eyes.
"So, it isn't the bending that's evil. Just whoever controls the element?" asked Quey, thinking he understands.
"Precisely. You know you're a good person and that murder isn't morally right. But let me tell you something. Unless Korra knows how to use energybending to take away other people's bending, you're going to have to resort to killing off people who are too dangerous to be left alive," warned Toph.
Quey nodded, feeling less apprehensive about learning metalbending. He picked up the piece of metal again, got back in his stance, and focused on the earth inside the metal again, waving his hand over it, eyes closed in deep concentration. Toph allowed a bright smile to rest on her features.
"He's wise. Just like Aang was. If I had been trying to explain all this to Korra, she would have found a way to argue with me about it no doubt," thought Toph.
Suddenly, the piece of metal began to wiggle in his hand. Out of excitement, he nearly dropped his concentration. The metal stopped wiggling when he did so. Toph held her hand up to stop anyone who felt an itch to say something. Toph could tell this was something Quey felt he had to learn on his own. She would let no one dishonor him or her like that. Again, the metal began wiggling. Only this time, Quey concentrated deeper when it did so, and he pulled at the earth bits inside, successfully reshaping the metal.
"Well done, Quey," softly said Toph, still smiling.
Quey didn't bother to try and hug Toph or anyone.
"Heh, the one time I want the Avatar to hug me, and he turns out to be just like me. Not wanting hugs," Toph thought. She nearly laughed at herself for that.
"Alright! Now, let's teach you how to move it without having to concentrate so hard," said Wing and Wei excitedly.
It only took Quey two days of training for metalbending the easy pieces to become like second nature for him. He was now fully sparring with his uncles using the beginner pieces, and easily over powering them by implementing traditional style of fighting with the metal.
"Let's me, you, and Bolin spar with him at once. Look at him. He's getting bored of sparring with just one of us at a time. He needs a new challenge. If he easily beats all three of us with just the easy pieces, then we'll know he's ready to learn how to bend the regular metal," Wei whispered to Wing and Bolin.
They all turned their heads to look over at Quey who was sitting in a lotus position, levitating off the ground while moving three pieces of beginner metal above his head without using his hands.
"Even I can't psychically bend beginner metal. This Avatar will be a beast one day! Noatak is sure to pee his pants once he's a fully realized Avatar," snickered Wing.
"Alright Quey, we're ready!" shouted Wei.
Without opening his eyes, Quey lowered and planted his feet on the ground, only opening his eyes after landing.
"The three of you against me? Hmm, I still feel like I'm at an advantage. Uncle Mako!" shouted Quey.
Mako perked up.
"Me? But I'm not a metalbender," Mako said, raising an eyebrow.
"No I'm not asking you to fight with me, I'm asking if I can borrow your scarf for a blindfold," asked Quey.
"He's kidding, right?" Bolin gawked.
Mako smirked and tossed Quey the scarf.
"This is gonna be interesting," smirked Toph who roughly nudged Mako in the arm.
Not being used to Toph showing him any type of affection, nearly fell over.
"Did you just be friendly to me?" asked Mako in surprise.
"Well if you're gonna make it weird I'll refrain from being friendly," said Toph, picking her ear and flicking ear wax.
"Ehehe, sorry. But yeah. This will definitely be fun to watch," smiled Mako.
Opal and the others were anticipating this sparring match as well. No one has been able to do the things Quey has learned to do in such a short amount of time. Even Tenzin was looking forward to this. Quey, successfully blinding himself, gave a thumbs up along with a smarmy smile.
"Are you ready now, Quey?" nervously smiled Bolin.
"Ready whenever you are, Pebble!" taunted Quey.
Toph raised an eyebrow.
"He subconsciously remembered me saying that? All those years ago," thought Toph.
"Ooh Bolin! He just called you a pebble! You gonna stand for that? Your own son?" taunted Wei, smirking.
Bolin smiled and took a boxing stance.
"I'm gonna tell you right now, dad," started Quey, catching Bolin off guard.
"He just called Bolin dad," thought everyone at the same time.
"You won't stand a chance if you try to take me on with that modern style of fighting. I'm sticking to traditional. Either you fight traditionally to even hope to stand a chance, or walk away now to keep your dignity," smirked Quey. Even though he was smirking, there was no tone of him joking his words.
Bolin thought back to when he saw Korra take that traditional stance to chuck those earth discs, and he widened his stance like she did, like Quey is right now, and put his fists by his sides.
"Good. Okay, now we're all ready to start," yelled Quey.
Wing and Wei started by chucking metal at Quey who extremely quickly and without moving a muscle, shielded himself with his own metal before turning it into a metal body suit, only leaving his nose free to breathe. He didn't need his sight anyway. Bolin and the others gawked while Toph made the most excited face anyone has ever been lucky to have seen. Lin and Suyin were ogling, unable to believe a child is doing all this.
"Oh sure, he's the Avatar!" thought Bolin as he regained his composure.
Quey, still on the defensive to give his family a chance to come up with a plan, took the traditional earthbending stance again in his metal armor.
"At least that armor will hinder him from free airbender movements," thought Wei.
Wei, Wing, and Bolin all started throwing pieces of metal at Quey again. The metal hit against Quey's armor but didn't do anything to Quey.
"Are they just going to throw metal at me? Or are they going to get creative?" Quey thought to himself.
He could still "see" his opponents, and even though they were all in traditional stances, they were still just throwing things at him.
"I'm wearing metal armor! I thought by doing this, it would force them to get creative," sadly thought Quey.
Deciding it was his turn, Quey fluidly moved as if he wasn't wearing metal armor all over his body and chucked big boulders at them. While they were dodging all of that, Quey bended the metal on his body to reach out and grab Wei by the waist and toss him into the air, making him land on the ground rather rough. The others were even more impressed by Quey at this point as Wei struggled to get back up. Quey was using waterbending movements, but was metalbending metal tentacles from his armor. It was a perfect blend of defense and offense. Wei, not wanting to get tossed like a ragdoll anymore, bended the metal to rotate around his body like Aang did with all four elements during his fight with Ozai. Quey, behind his armor, smiled.
"Yes! That's more like it!" excitedly thought Quey as he grabbed onto Bolin next but smiled even more when Wei made his own metal tentacle to stop Quey. Quey let go of Bolin and latched it onto Wei's tentacle. Now it was a battle of power, and both were struggling. Getting even more creative, Quey made more tentacles out of the one Wei was struggling against to latch onto Wei's feet and flip him over.
"Oof!" grunted Wei.
Bolin raised shook the ground beneath Quey. As soon as he did so, however, Quey bended the metal around his feet to dig into the ground to keep him steady in his horse stance. No matter how much Bolin shook the ground beneath Quey, he couldn't get him off balance. Quey made the metal from his feet burrow over to Bolin where he surprised his dad when Bolin heard and saw metal shoot up from the ground and latch onto his feet and yelled as Quey dragged him around across the ground, then spun him round and round in the air until he was sure his dad would puke from all the whiplash, then tossed him back across the yard and right into Wing who was dumbstruck. Like a domino effect, Wing and Bolin tumbled right into Wei. Using this opportunity, Quey took off his armor to tie them all up together, tangled as they were, there was no way they could metalbend out of it. Before Quey could take off the scarf still over his eyes, everyone erupted in cheers and applause.
"Son, I'm really proud of you and all for getting the better of all three of us, but can you please let us free now! I really need some medicine for my migraine!" pleaded Bolin, head still reeling from all the throwing and tossing.
"Yeah I don't want him throwing up all over me and my brother," cringed Wing.
"Darn it! If you guys hadn't crashed into me, then at least Wing and I could have taken on Quey," fumed Wei at his brother and brother in law.
"Sorry! Quey's just too good," apologized Bolin, with Wing nodding next to him sadly.
Quey smirked.
"Well, at least you all are getting better at fighting traditionally," laughed Quey.
Quey's laugh was literally the male version of Toph's laugh. It made Toph all the more happy and proud.
"Kicking butt like no tomorrow, doesn't bother me for hugs, laughs like me, and is the Avatar? Yes please!" cheered Toph.
All Lin and Suyin could do was be extremely impressed speechless at what they had just witnessed.
"Maybe if I had stuck to the modern style, then the attacks would have been too fast for him to dodge," Bolin muttered, rubbing the back of his head and neck.
"Seriously? You think you could even have a chance against me with that modern drivel?" asked Quey who was centimeters away from Bolin.
"I just think my attacks would have been too fast for you to react to if I did," explained Bolin.
"Hmm. Once you feel better, let's spar again. You, modern, versus me, traditional," said Quey, holding out his hand for Bolin to shake in agreement.
Bolin smirked and shook Quey's small, but strong hand.
"Okay, ready to struggle to keep up?" asked Bolin, smirking in his street fighting stance.
Quey rolled his eyes as he had the metal rotate around his body. Evading his father's attacks wouldn't be so hard to do, Quey thought to himself.
"Ready when you are," mumbled Quey.
Bolin didn't waste time in chucking small rocks and small pieces of metal over at Quey. There were so many of them that Quey knew in an instant he wouldn't be able to dodge them all. Using the metal rotating around his body, he used it to cover himself as a body suit in an instant. Then, he made a tentacle from his armor, but unlike last time, he grabbed it and detached it from the suit, swinging it around to knock back the rocks and metal his dad was throwing at him.
"Child's play," thought Quey.
He took note that his dad grounded his feet using metal.
"I can't knock him over, nor can I toss him around this time. That's fine. All I have to do is wait until he tires himself out. As long as I have this armor, my body is safe from his attacks," Quey noted.
"You can't hope to get to me if you're busy using that rod to knock back rocks!" shouted Bolin.
"I don't need to get to you to win," called back Quey.
Bolin was thoroughly confused now.
"How does he hope to win by not getting to me?" he wondered.
A couple minutes pass, and Bolin is throwing less rocks and metal due to overusing his arms in the same motion. Quey took the opportunity to knock whip his dad in the gut with a metal tentacle, causing Bolin to grunt. He stopped throwing rocks to create a wall in order to protect himself against the metal tentacles, and pushed it flying towards Quey.
"Please, that was the first thing I learned. Stop and move a rock," huffed Quey who was growing annoyed with how easy the fight is.
Quey caught it just before it collided with him and pushed it back at Bolin, more roughly than Bolin had thrown it. Bolin was unable to be as fast and couldn't catch it. The boulder collided with Bolin and he fell over, breathing hard.
"This fight is over, dad. You're losing too much breath whereas I'm still going strong," said Quey.
He didn't take off the metal armor yet though, since he was afraid his dad would be a sore loser and attack the moment he shred his armor. Bolin rolled over onto his back. Still panting hard and sweating, he nodded in agreement.
"You were right. I lasted longer against you when I was giving traditional style a chance. Even though I still lost then, it was more challenging for you," panted Bolin.
"That, and the fact I was sparring with three people at once," added Quey. "So now do you see the benefits of the old way?"
Bolin closed his eyes sleepily and nodded before yawning loudly.
"I think I'm gonna take a nap here," mumbled Bolin incoherently.
Being a borderline prankster, Quey used metal to tie Bolin's wrists and ankles to the ground. Quey then looked up towards the dome covering them, and frowned.
"I guess there are just some things that are unbendable," he sighed disappointedly.
Another week passed. During the first three days of the last week Quey was there, he completely mastered metalbending.
"Quey, you are something else. You haven't quite mastered air or earth yet, nor have you even touched water or fire, and the very first thing you master is earth's sub element of metalbending. I couldn't be more proud," warmly said Toph. "I know neither of us like hugs all too well, but before you leave and before I die of old age, would you grace your great grandmother with a hug and an arm punch?"
Smiling wide, Quey entered Toph's arms. When they broke from the brief hug, Quey slugged Toph on the arm, causing her to grunt. No one has ever made Toph grunt before with an arm punch. Toph just beamed even more as she returned the favor. Quey fell down, but didn't make a sound. It didn't even hurt him. It was just the force behind her punch had moved him physically was all.
"Look at you, making me grunt in pain and all that whereas I didn't hurt you at all, but you still fell down!" laughed Toph.
Quey laughed with her and soon, everyone else joined in the laughing.
"It was nice to meet you, Avatar. I can't wait until it's safe to return to Omashu. Perhaps half of us will move to Ba Sing Se once you get it cleared out so we can repopulate it with earthbenders again," said an Earthbending man from Omashu.
"That will be good. It was nice to meet you all too. Well, I'm off to the Fire Nation to learn firebending. You know, before Noatak attacks it and all," Quey said, sounding sad on the last sentence.
"You'll be learning water last, huh?" asked Bolin.
Quey nodded.
"Unlike waterbenders, the firebenders have a time limit as to how long firebending will be teachable. I don't know when Noatak and his people are going to come and destroy the Fire Nation, which is why I need to get going as soon as possible," explained Quey.
Opal and some other airbenders came forward.
"Then we'll come with you and try and aid the Fire Nation in any way we can," said Opal.
"Firelord Izumi, for whatever reason, changed her mind on wanting airbenders in the Fire Nation. She's not thinking rationally. She thinks her and her people can defend themselves against the bloodbenders," intercepted Tenzin.
"Then we'll disguise ourselves as Fire Nation. Avatar Aang and his friends did so in their time and it worked," said another airbender.
"You've been studying Aang's history. Good," smiled Tenzin.
"Okay. We're leaving now, though. Whoever is coming along, get your things together and on the flying bison in ten minutes," ordered Quey.
In ten minutes, Quey and several airbenders with their hygiene and money packed up with them were on the back of Oogie, Tenzin's bison. When the domes were brought down, Quey and the others squinted. It had been a while since any of them saw real sunlight after all.
"Are you nervous? I'm nervous," asked an airbender to anyone who was listening.
"I'm nervous. What if Noatak attacks while we're all there? If he gets his hands on Quey, it's all over!" replied another airbender.
"Guys, even if Noatak and the bloodbenders do show up while Quey's training, as long as we all stick together, we can take them down. If you feel yourself being bloodbended, then blow out your mouth to send them flying backwards. Then they won't have a hold on you anymore, and we can use the vacuum technique on them," rationally said Opal.
Quey's eyes flew open to hearing his mother casually discuss murder. Yes, it is murder against the enemy who have taken so many lives, but Quey believes there is an alternative route.
"If I learn how to take away bending, they won't have to die," Quey spoke up suddenly.
"We know. This is just the emergency plan. In case you don't know how to do that yet and we are attacked. Quey, we can't afford to let them wipe out the firebenders as well as you," responded Opal. "The last thing I want is to kill anyone, even if they are scum. But the truth is, Quey, sometimes you're not given much of a choice."
Quey shuddered. He knew his mom was right, and it was in fact a good emergency plan.
"Well, as long as that's just the emergency plan, and not the first plan. So it's agreed. The first plan is for me to do my best in trying to contact Korra to learn energybending. If she knows how to use it to take bending away rather than just restoring bending, then we won't kill them, but apprehend them and take their bending," said Quey.
"Yes. That is the first plan," nodded Opal.
Quey and the airbenders all nodded in agreement on their plan A and plan B.
"What about a third plan? What if the bloodbenders turn us around so that we can't blow air at them?" asked an airbender who shot her hand up in the air while asking her question.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Quey thought to himself as he remembered when Amon turned Mako away from him so he couldn't shoot lightning up at him anymore.
It was silent until an idea came to another airbender's mind and he got excited that he thought of such a foolproof plan.
"I got it! We go in the Fire Nation, right? When we meet the firebending master, we also take with us two firebending couples over to Zaofu where they will stay and be safe. Quey can learn firebending back in Zaofu then! Completely safe from any bloodbenders!" said the airbending man.
"That's a good idea. But I have a feeling Quey would rather not be cut off from sunlight again. So for now, that plan will come into effect the moment we see boats coming towards the Fire Nation. There's no way they can catch up to us when we're all on Oogie, high in the sky and away from their reach," said Opal.
"But if Noatak is with them, he can easily bring the bison with us on it back down and either take us prisoner or kill us," Quey brought up. "It's best to just take who we need and go. Just because I don't want to be cut off from sunlight again doesn't mean I won't do it for the sake of protecting the world."
Opal and the other airbenders sighed and then smiled.
"Spoken like a true leader, Avatar," added Tenzin who was on Oogie's head, whipping the reins to get him to fly faster.
