Toph wasn't sure how to talk to Zuko, in all honesty. She now realized she should've gone with Davesprite. She would've gotten to her Metal-Bending-School either way. "So how's all that Fire-Lording going, Zuko?" She asked. Zuko looked at her, and sighed. "I worry I might become like my father some day." Toph just rests her head in her hands. "I'm never worried about that. I'm cool, and my dad was boring." She tells him, and he almost glares, but having gotten more tolerant, he instead decides to just sigh and humor her.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll… never be like my father… I won't allow it." Oh hey, it actually worked out! What didn't work out however, was an ambush from Fire-Nation Loyalists and other angry benders- "Toph!" Zuko shouts as she blocks multiple attacks from the menagerie of benders. "Yeah, I saw them coming a mile away- Zuko, you knock'em down, I'll restrain them!" Zuko instantly agreed, if he knew anything about Toph: She knew best how to deal with bending of ALMOST any kind.
Bar Air-Bending, of course. But that was a given, since getting Aang to fight her seriously just wasn't a thing that was ever going to happen. (Except the times it did, but they were few and far between.)
Toph lifts and throws rock walls in front of her enemies' attacks, while waiting for Zuko to defeat one- Just as he does so she restrains them. "Ha!" She laughs as one of the earth benders undoes her earthy-restraint. "Dammit-" She knocks the guy out with a rock and blocks another attack, before overpowering their control, and forcing the shards back at them. "What's your problem?!" She shouted, as Zuko knocked one of them out. She of course still subdued him in rocks, because she needs SOMETHING to do, while she waits for the fire-lord to figure out how to knock down a bunch of plebs.
"HE is!" One of them yelled, a younger hot-head pointing at Zuko. Zuko then proceeded to knock him down, and Toph restrained him. Zuko continued to round a few attacks, and fired a fireball at one of the water-benders, who deflected it. Toph was busy deflecting the more dangerous earth-attacks, but she managed to restrain that same water-bender, since she was standing still!
Zuko suddenly took a rock to the shoulder- Toph now felt bad for taking that opportunity. She quickly raised a barrier, trying to get some of the pressure off of Zuko. He took THIS opportunity to jump off of the wall, surprising Toph as he kicked and punched more fireballs into existence, burning and knocking down multiple adversaries!
Toph restrained them with glee, suddenly proud of herself for coming up with the brilliant plan of just making a wall! The wall then falls on her, and she turns it into armor in response, rushing to one of the last earth-benders like a juggernaut. He moved to defend himself, but she feinted and jumped over him- He looked up with surprise and took three nasty fireballs, and Toph threw her gauntlets to restrain him too! "Dammit!" He yelled, the last earthbender in his quickly dwindling team-
But then his cuffs suddenly broke, and he looked over to find that one of the water-benders had taken the initiative to break out another earth-bender! That earth-bender quickly undid the other earth-benders, and then THEY continued to undo all of Toph's hard work…
"COME THE FUCK ON!" She screamed, making everyone cringe at the language you know she would absolutely have loved to use in the show. "It won't be so easy to take us down." That young hot-head said, as he got up and moved back into his fire-bending stance…
Zuko and Toph were quickly losing ground, realizing there were just too many benders in one place… They were preparing to run, because obviously they weren't going to get caught be a bunch of fucks like them, but stopped as they saw everyone ELSE stop.
They were staring at something. They looked up and saw Davesprite. His ghostly form hovering over them with his sword out. "Wh-What- A spirit?!" One of the older ones yelled, returning Toph and Zuko's attention to them. "Yep. Definitely a spirit." Davesprite in turn replied, his voice sharp and measured. He lowered, and as he moved his blade, they felt the practiced ease by which he wielded it.
"And as the spirit of dope as hell rhymes, I demand you leave these kids alone." They stared in disappointment at his crude language, realizing that there was no noble spirit they had found… Not realizing he was the MOST noble of spirits! "This realm is not your jurisdiction, spirit, leave this place!" The older guy, an earth-bender he noted, demanded as he thought about it…
"What makes it your jurisdiction?" Now they were confused- They looked between each other and discussed for a moment, as Zuko and Toph gawked in abstract awe as Davesprite began to seemingly de-escalate this encounter. They eventually came to an agreement, picking the old guy as their leader. "We were born here, you were born in the spirit realm. That is what decides this." Davesprite thought about it for a minute, deciding to play along.
"Well I kick-ass here, and you guys like, chuck rocks at each other or some shit. So I think I'm totally in the right." He said, trying to bring them on his level. And of course it worked. "So now you insult our hard earned skill?" Dave fought a smirk as he felt his plans coming together…
"How about a challenge!" Toph came in clutch, not even realizing this was Davesprite's plan! "What do you propose?" The older man asked, after agreeing between his team. Zuko stepped forward, already having a challenge in mind- "As Fire-Lore, I attest to this idea. This spirit here will face your chosen champion in combat. Now state your terms."
The old man looked at his team, and they nodded to the spirit. "If your Spirit's words ring true, we will leave you alone, for now. But if we win, your spirit and your friend will no longer defend you." Davesprite lurched at the thought of fighting, he was really just planning to scare them off… "Dude, fuck that. Just like, chuck your rocks at me or something, and I'll try and block them or something."
Davesprite panicked inside as they seemed to get upset- "Okay, ALL of you can chuck rocks at me, and fire- and water? I guess? I'm not all too familiar with this bending stuff, honestly." He admitted as he rubbed the back of his head, a worn-out look on his face.
The benders, certain in their conviction that this was a sure win, agreed and rounded Davesprite, preparing their combat-stances. "One of you two kids wanna count us down?" Davesprite asked, only making Zuko MORE nervous… Toph on the other hand, was elated to see what Davesprite could do with just a sword, all his confidence put in it.
She excitedly counted them down, and they watched as Davesprite quickly deflected each and every attack, astounding the benders with his might- They were so certain there was no way he could deflect fire! How was it possible?! As it died down, he pressed his sunglasses against his nose.
"You shouldn't underestimate the spirits. Now leave, before this sword draws blood." He threatened, making them run in fear as Toph and Zuko, their jaws through the floor at the sight. "How did you do that?!" Toph asked, cheering as she ran over to Davesprite.
"I might be a sprite, but I can still stop time." He chuckled, surprising her- "Oh. How's that work?" She asks, and he grabs her, before doing so. "Like this." He says, before releasing her and allowing her to look around. Zuko was completely still, and so was everything else.
Dave flew over to a bunch of leaves falling from a tree, and began chopping them up. "I just smacked their attacks like this. Although, the fire ones took me a minute." He mused, as he rubbed his chin. He resumed time and Zuko stumbled, catching himself with his hand-
"Woah- What? Toph, how did you-" Toph approached him and helped him up. "It was Davesprite. He was showing me his power." Her casualness was gone, and Zuko could see it. He realized that whatever Davesprite was capable of, it must have scared her-
He mused on the idea for a bit, and realized the ramifications of what it meant. To stop time, to stop everything… "Oh my god." He said, as he looked over and realized Davesprite could destroy the whole goddamn world.
That was practically their Tuesdays now, so they quickly got over it. "Man, these people calling me a spirit and shit. Like- I understand… But I'm DAVE. I'm still alive, man." He frowned, and Toph kind of felt for him. "Uh… You okay there?" She tried, having learned from her mistakes hanging out with Zuko alone before.
"I guess you could define me in the general realm of okay. I prefer the bodacious realm of kickflips and apple-juice though. Ah shit, that would kick ass right now, actually-" He decided to distract himself with thoughts of Apple-Juice while Zuko watched Toph try and vibe with someone.
"What happened to you?" She asked. "I don't know, it's just… I'm not THEIR Dave, not really. That's why I go by Davesprite. It wouldn't really make a lick of difference if I stayed here with you guys forever." He admitted. And that was another cool idea I liked, but no, that's not in the plans.
"That sucks…" Toph was worried this might be another Zuko- "You know, I used to not be allowed out of the house… I would have to sneak away just to have a life… Just to have fun." Zuko slowly began to realize she was probably thinking about that time he got frustrated with her…
"What, like a little doll in a house?" He was familiar with the concept. Toph got a little more worried, but nodded anyway. "Shit… That sucks. I mean, at least my bro and I would hang out. I can't imagine just being cooped up in my room all day. Not even given a chance to hang out. Did you even have FRIENDS?" He asked, and she shook her head.
Zuko began to realize the error in his judgment at the time… "They'd try to bring me playmates, but they didn't really like me. And I couldn't make any friends, because they'd eventually find out I'd gone outside. Eventually I ran away with Aang, Katara, and Sokka, and then even Zuko eventually."
Davesprite floated down, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Listen, it's not cool to just run from home like that. But it's pretty dope that you found a family like that." He placed his hand on her shoulder, and held up his fist in front of her.
"Fist-bump for the coolest gal this side of the multiverse?" He asked, and she realized what this gesture meant. "Ah' hell yeah!" She shouted, bumping that orange fist!
…
Jade rubbed her head, and sighed as Katara leaned against the large machines. "Any headway?" Katara asked, as Jade pressed and flicked buttons and switched. "The way space manipulates time, and vice-reversa over vast distances is screwing with my sense of distance. I need Davesprite." She said, as Katara picked herself up and walked over.
"How's that work? Aren't those things different?" She asked, as Jade grabbed her metal-hat, and began disassembling it for the eighth time today. "Sort of. It's hard to explain HOW they do so. It's specifically gravity from objects of great mass affecting it, getting between me and my desired destination." Katara watched as pieces floated away one after the other, Jade's magic never ceasing to amaze her.
"You see, I can SENSE the green sun. It's an immutable beacon I and the other first guardians will always have. But thanks to the time-warping, I can't tell precisely how far away it is. I might accidentally throw us somewhere even FURTHER out. And that just makes the problem inconceivably worse…"
She gripped her head, it was throbbing with pain… Katara grabbed the tool she was using, fully aware how to disassemble this item. "Let me. You just sit down, Jade." She said, surprising Jade as she took apart just as well… "Oh. Thank you, Katara. You're a life-saver."
Jade sat down and caressed her head. "So anyways. I'm hoping with Davesprite's help, he'll be able to…" She thought for a moment as she tried to think of a way for Katara to understand- "In layman's terms: I need his help to get a clearer look at it." But Katara wasn't as dumbfounded as Jade thought.
Sure, she didn't understand the tech. Hell, she didn't even understand how these arms push the needles down. "Aang and I have been noticing the spirits have been taking a liking to you guys." She decided it was time for another conversation topic, surprising Jade-
"Have they? That… actually makes too much sense…" Jade began, as she realized what was probably going on here. "Our spirits, our SOULS, as it were… We are GODS, Katara. We're beings' response for the conception of a new universe." It all began to make sense as Jade spoke.
"So then you guys are kind of like Aang. He's the Avatar, you see. For ten thousand years, he has been reincarnated, using the collective strength of each Avatar before him." Jade whistled in response, wondering what responsibility must come with that. "The Avatar is responsible for restoring balance in both The Human world, AND the Spirit World."
"Jeez." Jade chuckled. "That almost makes creating a universe not seem so tough-" Katara quickly corrected that- "N-No, I never- I mean, it IS really tough on him… But from how you described universes… Your responsibilities, I mean-" Jade laughed in response.
"Hey, no. It's cool, Katara. First: you're too cute to offend me-" Katara would have blushed at that, if she wasn't with Aang. "Second: We don't HAVE to create the universe if we don't want to. We're only doing it because it correlates with our goal of general security." Katara just about finished and left the pieces in sorted piles on a tray to her right.
"Third: If you and your friends were there instead of us…" She sighed, standing up and walking over to inspect Katara's work, finding it perfectly adequate. She looked at Katara, a happy yet drained look on her face…
"I'm sure you would've already made a bright new universe." Katara looked away a little bashfully, she was blushing after all. "That's very kind of you to say, Jade." Jade's presence was nearly LIBERATING for Katara's soul, too long had the girl spent with people who never really vibed with her more EMOTIONAL side.
Zuko made a good effort, mind you. But it was mere moments at a time. But with Jade? Katara could legit have a full CONVERSATION with her. There wasn't any sass, no immaturity, no stubbornness, and no brooding… Jade was almost PERFECT.
She watched as Jade looked at the strange symbols on the computer, and marked points on a picture of what she could only assume is a sketch of her brain. "You know, Jade… You seem to get along with EVERYONE pretty well… I'm surprised you're so accommodating."
Jade picks up the metal coupling piece that the pistons attach to, it would have looked like a strainer, if Katara didn't already know what it was for. Jade put that question to the back of her head, allowing her subconscious to come to some kind of answer for her, as she brought the metal bowl to a crucible, and melted it with her powers.
Katara was made well aware to not approach Jade during this process, something about Radiation tearing her apart. "Believe it or not, I used to be really awkward." She admitted, as she took the piece and molded it with her hands, using her powers to judge her work.
"After I finally died on the sacrificial slab, it all became clear, though." She removed her hands, and let her powers hold the structure in place for her, holes nearly perfect in diameter and position to better insert the needles into her head.
"I was raised on an island, you see. I never actually had a lot of people to talk to, and it was few and far between when I would see any of my friends. Even still, that was only in my dreams." She said, remembering the days she would spend on prospit…
"But the day I finally died, and Jack brought me to my sacrificial slab… everything began to fall into place. I was no longer just Jade Harley, Katara-" She said, turning around to look Katara in her eyes… "I was THE Jade Harley. Just like John, Dave, and Rose… I reached a state of emotional resolution, and then contemplative mastery of who I was, will, and could have been."
"What does that mean?" Katara asked, unsure how to really word her questions. "Well, take Iroh. With all his wisdom and sage advice. My friends and I, we're all still kids. But we're just that much more, you see." Finally as the plate cooled, Jade floated it over and placed it with the rest of the parts, slotting it back into its place within the hat's skeletal frame.
"So you guys are old people in the bodies of kids?" Jade laughed in response, now THAT one was funny! "No, Katara, we are not. We have just achieved a similar cumulative experience and wisdom, as someone like Iroh." It all finally began to click with Katara.
"So you're still children… But you see everything similarly to how Iroh does?" Jade thought about that one for a moment, and shook her head in response. "It's not really that we're entirely DEVOID of our trauma. And in all honesty, you'd get better advice from Iroh, than you would with all four of us combined."
"But to discount our growth, now THAT would be a crime." She said, finishing up the hat, and placing it on her head. "Alright, Katara. I've got a good feeling about this one. Let's start her up, and see what we can do!" Katara eagerly ran over to the switch, starved for ANY amount of physical participation!
…
The canoe's rocking came to a stop as John redirected a few wind currents AROUND the lake. "Alright, I think we're good to fish, guys." He said, earning a nod and a demonstration from Sokka. "Alright, it's all in the wrist, guys." The hook flew like a bullet, landing exactly where Sokka aimed!
He silently cheered with a proud look on his face, as John and Jin clapped. "That's awesome, Sokka. Let me try-" John said, rearing his rod back and flinging it forward- He caught it and deflected the hook with his powers, a twinge of anxiety having already locked his awareness on it.
"No, you have to keep a firm grip, John. Obviously don't break it, but you can't just swing it as hard as possible." He explained. Jin took the advice, and while her swing was pretty sloppy, she managed to send the hook as far out as Sokka's! "Sokka! I did it!" She cheered-
Sokka looked over and nodded his head confirming that: Yes. She DID do it. "Nice, Jin. You must be a natural, I should invite you to come hang out with some of my friends down in the water tribes." He said, placing his fishing rock on the boat, and looking at John again.
He pulled his sword from its sheath, and showed it off. "Woah, nice sword dude. Reminds me of Jack's." Sokka dismissed the comment, and held it like how he had been holding his fishing rod. "You're going to want a good arc as you SLING the hook, John." Jin watched curiously as Sokka guided John's eyes with his swing of the sword.
John blinked, and stood up. He took stock of the Hook's position, flung it back, and then swung it forward like he would his hammer! The hook flew almost half as far as Sokka's! "Not bad, John! Keep this up, and you'll catch up with Jin and I in no time." Jin frowned, and gave John a look, surprising Sokka-
"Is there something wrong, Jin?" He asked, making John look at her. "Did you screw with my cast, John? I KNEW there was something wrong." John sighed and chuckled, embarrassingly rubbing the back of his head… "You caught me, I was worried you might get discouraged if your hook didn't go out as far. So I used my powers."
Jin closed her eyes and nodded, before giving him a hug. "Well. For your honesty, I forgive you." John returned the hug, while Sokka grumpily folded his arms. "You wanna try again, then, Jin?" He asked. "Yeah, absolutely. I can't keep relying on John." She chuckled, reeling it back in.
The next cast wasn't QUITE as good as John's, but it was close. "Number three? Are you kidding me?..." She muttered in disgrace as John pulled out his hammer. "I'm used to swinging this thing around, Jin. So I've already had practice. I think your cast was really impressive for a beginner."
Sokka and Jin just looked at it, and nodded in return. "YEAH. I guess that would have to make sense." Sokka agreed, trying to make room for the great big thing. "It looks so heavy, John. How do you lug that thing around?" Jin asked. John re-captchalogued it, and just kind of shrugged.
"Eh. It's not as heavy as it looks. But really I just captchalogue it in my wallet. Or well, it was my dad's, but he handed it down to me…" John held a sad smile on his face as he remembered the good times… "Oh. So you can like, give sylladexes to other people?" Jin asked, prompting John to pull out his old stack-modus: Filo.
"Sure, Jin. You want my old one?" He asked with a stupid smile on his face. "O-Oh. Sure." She said, reaching out to grab it. As soon as her hand comes into contact, a deep blaring noise erupted from the stack-modus like a siren, with a flash of red light-
"Wh-What?!" She panicked, pulling her arm back as it suddenly disappeared- "You okay there, Jin?!" John was now VERY concerned! He did NOT expect this- "I- I… I think I'm okay." She said, patting herself down, avoiding certain choice locations on her body.
"So did you just annihilate my old stack-modus?... Or did it work-" John began, pulling out some gushers for her to captchalogue. "Here, try this." He holds it out to her with a goofy smile. She stares at them, and holds out her hand to let him DROP the gushers in her open palms.
He does so and she shifts them around on her hand for a moment while Sokka watches in contemplative interest. She stares at them intensely, trying to make them disappear, until she hears a smack- She looks up and finds out that John had smacked himself on the head.
"Silly me! I forgot to give you some cards! Here you go. Now don't you go spending them all in one place." He says with a giddy look on his face, motioning with his finger, and producing three captchalogue-cards for her to now use- She holds them in her other hand, and just looks at them. She was entirely unfamiliar with the process on a conceptual level.
After a moment of just staring and shoving the cards between her fingers, she finally just decided to drop the gushers on the white surface of the card, and watched them disappear into the frame, the card shaking in her hand as its captcha altered itself-
"OH!" She cheerily said, catching Sokka's attention as she showed it off. He had managed to check out due to boredom. "Oh, cool. So how do you get it out?" He asked, a similarly funny look on his face, until Jin's face dropped- "Crap!" She yelled-
John snagged the card, and released the gushers- "Hey, at least it works for you, Jin. Let's just keep trying until you get the hang of it." He says, captchaloguing the gushers again and handing it back over to her.
"R-Right. Of course… Okay. Here I go."
…
"Toph, gimme' another beat, I got some more lyrics." Davesprite said, grabbing his sword like he did earlier in front of Heb. Toph did as she was asked, and instantly got to work on what she was hoping was a good beat. "Right- Uh-huh." It was decent, he could totally rap to this.
"Check-it! All up in this forest! It's just me, Toph, and Zuko. Without my two new friends, I would feel the sorest. Down the path, past the trees, and over the rivers, we be marchin', uh- bucko?" He asked, "I don't know how to rhyme with your name, Zuko." Toph laughed at that.
"Yeah, your name SUCKS, Zuko!" She teased, making Zuko chuckle in return. "Alright, now. I don't think there's any need for that, guys." Davesprite gave him a thumbs up to tell him he's doing great. "Come on, Toph, let's keep it up." Davesprite reminded her-
"Oh, right." She quickly returned to her beat-boxing. "Thirstin' for lyrical creativity, a hellacious drought." He said. "From nativity to serendipity, each route leads with a shout. But all we have is doubt." Zuko was INCREDIBLY confused by Davesprite's idea of: "Music"
"Is this really music where you come from?" He asked, making Davesprite stop- "What- Hell nah, man. I mean what Toph is doing definitely counts, but my game has been off since I got here. Don't even compare my stuff to the real works of art, though." Zuko nodded in response.
"I hope I didn't offend you, Davesprite." Davesprite quickly dismissed it with a wave of his hands. "No way, it's all good. Hey- Why don't you guys tell me a little about your bending?" He decides to ask, worrying that dwelling on the music topic. Toph of course had already well stopped beatboxing.
She floats a few rocks into the air, letting them swing around in an orbit above her hand. "Bending is a mythical art we use to manipulate the world around us." Toph began, before Zuko could say anything. "I'm an Earthbender, and I'm the best one around." She proudly patted her chest.
"Now there's plenty of styles people use for their earth bending, but I was trained by badgermoles, who spend their lives perfecting their technique." She crushes the stones into the ground, then moves into a stance, and moves her left arm and leg forward, creating a decently large hill in the ground.
Davesprite whistled at the sight, then looked at Zuko. "And you can create fire." He said, earning a demonstration of Zuko's technique. "I wouldn't say I'm the best fire bender… But Aang and I were eventually taught by the Sun Warriors. A previously hidden tribe of fire-benders." Toph laughed at him, remembering the dance-
"That's right! What was that dance called? The dancing dragon?" She continued to laugh at him until Davesprite spoke up. "I didn't know you could dance. I gotta bring you to a rave sometime, Zuko." He said, grabbing Toph's attention. "Oh." She said,
"Can I go too?" She asked, prompting Davesprite to frown nervously- "Well… I mean… It might not be as interesting for someone like you, if you don't know how to dance." He says, rubbing the back of his head as he lurches downward. "Well, I wouldn't be so sure, Davesprite."
They looked at Zuko. "You see, all styles require movements something akin to a dance." Davesprite nodded in response and thought about it- "Show me what you guys got?" They came to a stop, and Toph decided she would just show off some of her favorite techniques to use in sequence, followed by Zuko, and it would eventually end up with Davesprite admitting that these people are actually incredible at dancing.
…
The cards suddenly disappear in Jin's hands, and she cheers! "GUYS I DID IT!" She screams, scaring off all their fish. John looked over and noticed they were gone- "Nice! I knew it had to work!" He cheered. Sokka on the other hand was a little disappointed that they weren't relaxing.
John turned to Sokka, and retrieved his Fetch-Modus- "Let's see if you can do it too, Sokka." Sokka was surprised, completely forgetting that John and Jin weren't the ONLY people who could probably use it. Sokka quickly took it, and this time the fetch-modus didn't yell at them.
Instead it disappeared, and John produced another three cards for Sokka to try with- "John!" Jade yelled, surprising them as they looked up. "Yo, Jade! What's up?!" He asked as she floated down, and landed on the boat.
"I was trying to lock onto the Green Sun, and noticed a disruption in paradox-space around here." She quickly explained, as realization hit John, and he looked at Jin. That look guided Jade's eyes to Jin, who instantly grew nervous- "D-Did I do something wrong?" She asked.
Jade folded her arms and looked at John. "What did you do?" John just chuckled nervously. "Well, I was showing them my hammer, and it turned out they didn't captchalogue decks-" He admitted. "Oh." She said, before realization hit her- "Right. That makes sense."
"What, are they not supposed to?" He asked, and she nodded. "Yeah, John. We're REALLY far out. This universe isn't a frog, it doesn't apply the same rules as ours. Wait- Did you give them modi and cards?" John began to panic, prompting Sokka and Jin to produce their cards and modi.
"I'm so sorry-" Jin quickly said, but Jade just stared at her…
"HUH…"
End of Chapter: 5
Thank you for reading.