[A/N] Here's another chapter for you guys.

Some characters have been aged up in this story to avoid uncomfortable implications.

Enjoy!

Sending chi to her feet, Eiko jumped. A massive burst of golden flame propelled her forward at extreme speed and she had to shoot fire from her hands as well to stabilize herself. It wasn't flight, she couldn't quite figure that out yet, but it did give her a massive boost in speed at the cost of being hard to control.

The forest blurred around her and already she could see the edges of the buildings in the distance. Eiko grinned, she could practically taste that money.

Toph really didn't expect the day to turn out like this, first the fight with her friends, then running away from them, then meeting an old man with tea, and finally fighting a crazy chick who was apparently the sister of the guy who's been chasing Aang since he came out of the iceberg. It felt like she had been jerked in one direction after another and she really wanted to sleep.

Sadly, it seemed she wouldn't get the chance.

The blind earthbender froze as she felt the vibrations approaching the town, coming from the opposite direction Zuko had taken his uncle. She looked toward her friends, "Guys, someone else is coming, it feels like a firebender but they're… flying?" She finished in confusion.

Sokka groaned in exasperation, "Another firebender?! Where are all these guys coming from?! Can't we just catch a break, I just wanna sleeeeeeep!" He whined, slumping slightly.

Aang patted his back in comfort even while nodding his head in agreement. He looked toward Toph, "How long do we have, could we just leave before they get here?"

Toph took a moment to sense them again before shaking her head, "No, they're basically already here. Even if we got on Appa, we wouldn't get far enough away with the speed they're going at, they'd catch up to us in no time."

A group of tired groans followed her proclamation and Toph took a moment to take in her friends. Through her senses she could tell they were all barely still on their feet, Sokka had nearly fallen over in exhaustion and Katara was leaning on Aang, who was too tire to even be happy about that fact. They were in no condition to fight.

But she was.

She turned to them, "I've got an idea but you're not gonna like it." They turned toward her, "I'll stay behind and stall them while you guys go ahead on Appa, we can meet back up at Shu Yan, a few miles East of here." Just as she suspected, a chorus of denials rang out from the group.

"No way!"

"Are you craz-"

"We aren't leaving you behin-"

"GUYS!" she yelled, stopping their talking over eachother. She gestured at herself, "I'm the freshest here, I actually got some sleep! You guys are all ready to fall over, Sokka already has twice!" She pointed at him where he lay on the ground, having tripped over his feet as they walked through the town to Appa. "I'll stay behind, deal with the firebender, and meet you guys in a few hours. Easy peasy."

She felt them looking at each other in consideration before Katara walked over to her. The taller girl placed a hand on Toph's shoulder, "Alright Toph, but if you aren't there by sundown, we're coming back for you. Got it?"

Toph simply scoffed, "Please, don't you know who I am? I'll probably catch up to you guys long before you get to the town. No sparkslinger has anything on the greatest earthbender alive!"

Katara laughed softly before moving over to her brother who had once again fallen over and was snoring face down in the dirt. She picked him up with the help of Aang and began walking toward the area Toph knew Appa to be. As they walked away, Aang looked back at her, "Good luck Toph."

She simply gave him a thumbs up as he turned around and began walking away again.

As they boarded Appa and disappeared from her senses, Toph let out a breath before taking a wide stance. She stomped the ground once, twice, before lifting her arms in a cupping motion. A large rumbling sounded out as behind her, a massive wall of stone rose to cut the street in half and block the area behind her from sight.

She exited her stance as she felt the flames of the firebender subside as they began walking through the town on foot. The earthbender took several deep breaths as she prepared herself for the coming fight.

She had a feeling it wouldn't be an easy one.

It only took a matter of minutes for Eiko to reach the town, yet in that small amount of time, two things had changed. For one, everything was on fire, buildings burnling around her as she stopped in the middle of the street. Which brings her to her second change. The earthbender had was already there. Not only that, said earthbender was currently standing in the middle of the street blocking the mosy likely path to her target.

She had erected a large wall of stone behind her to prevent Eiko from simply running by. If Eiko wanted to get to the avatar, she would have to go through the earthbender first.

Eiko scrutinized the girl across from her, she looked to be a year or two younger that herself, sixteen at most. She was dressed in standard earthbender attire complete with a complete lack of shoes, allowing her skin direct contact with the earth below at all times. A flowing tan and green tunic was worn loosely around her body to allow more freedom of movement. Black hair was held behind her head with a headband bangs hanging down and framing a pair too-pale green eyes that spoke to her lack of sight. Eiko recognized the other girl from her visits to Gaoling, Toph Beifong: the Blind Bandit.

Eiko knew this wouldn't be an easy fight, even with the girl's lack of vision. She looked up at the top of the building to her left and nodded to Helios perched on the edge of a window, silently conveying that he should continue searching for the Avatar. The dragon hawk acknowledged his master's order and took off with a silent flap of his wings in an attempt to locate their target.

The street was silent before Toph broke it, "So are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna say something? I don't have all day you know." Eiko shifted her weight slightly and the other girl turned to face her direction. "I felt your flames coming from a mile away, you're here for Aang arent you? What's with you hotheads coming out of the woodwork recently?" She demanded, jabbing a finger at Eiko.

Eiko laughed lightly, shrugging her shoulder's despite knowing the other girl couldn't see it. "You caught me, yeah I'm here for the Avatar. My client wants him captured and in a cell and he paid me handsomely to put him there. Although I didn't expect the Blind Bandit of all people to be in his little group, I thought you'd still be decimating the tournament in Gaoling." She readied herself, legs tensing and hand moving to rest on her jian.

Toph blinked in surprise, before a massive grin broke out on her face, "Oh, you're a fan? It almost makes me regret what I'm about to do to you." The earthbender stomped the ground and thrust her hands out, a large wave of earth following her movements and racing toward Eiko with a rumble.

Eiko waited a moment for the wave of earth to get closer before jumping into the air with a burst of flame. As the other girl's attack rushed under her, she kicked out with a foot, sending a torrent of golden fire out at Toph and sending herself flying back to land on a rooftop in the same motion, where she watched in anticipation to see of her attack would land.

For a moment it seemed that the attack would be succesful, but right before the flames impacted her, Toph squared her stance and thrust her hands to the sky, erecting a wall of stone that blocked the attack effortlessly. She stayed in that stance for a moment before thrusting her arms out once more, sending the top half of the wall flying to impact the building Eiko was standing on. And though the firebender noticed the chunk of earth impacted nowhere near her, it was still more than enough to collapse the already fragile building.

Eiko cursed silently, leaping into the air once again as her platform collapsed beneath her. She landed on the ground with a thud and was immediately forced to leap forward as a bevy of stone spikes erupted from the earth beneath her, attempting to surround her in their clutches. It continued like this for a while, Eiko landing on the ground and the ground attempting to capture her to no avail.

Eiko knew she couldn't keep this up, she would grow tired soon from all this movement while Toph was barely expending any energy herself, simply stomping and raising her arm everytime Eiko touched the ground. She would have to go on the offensive.

The next time Eiko landed on the ground, she braced her legs for a moment before pushing off again, almost getting caught by the spikes in the process. This time her jump sent her flying forward at a much greater distance than before and while she was in the air, she lashed out with her leg, sending a wide wave of scorching flames at the earthbender and the buildings around her.

Toph, sensing the approaching wave of heat and, knowing she couldn't block it with a simple wall, planted her feet and thrust her hands into the earth below her. With a grunt of exertion, she heaved her arms up and the ground came up with them, forming a massive ramp of earth that deflected the fire up along it's surface. She grunted as some of the heat from the fire made it's way through the earth to her, causing beads of sweat to from on her forehead. As the flames subsided, she threw her hands down and sent the ramp forward with the sound of a rockslide.

It was useless however, as Eiko was still in the air, having used her flames to propel herself to the top of another building as Toph deflected her attack. She watched as the earthbender looked back and forth in an attempt to find her opponent before calling out to the younger girl.

"You know," she shouted, watching as Toph stilled below her in an attempt to locate her voice, "despite the fact that you can't see, I think you may be the most skilled earthbender I've ever faced! None of the others ever gave me this much trouble! They just sorta stood there and threw rocks at me, barely even gave me a challenge!"

Toph smirked, ceasing her attempts to locate her firebending opponent and widening her stance once more, "Yeah, yeah, I'm great! You don't have to tell me that, now why don't you come down here and fight me FACE TO FACE!" She thrust one hand at the ground and impacted with the sound of shattering stone she brought her other hand down to similar effect before repeating the motion once more.

She continued her assault, one hand after another impacting the earth as the ground around her began to quake and crack. As she continued slamming her hands on the ground, the buildings around her swayed before buckling as her localised earthquake reached them.

The building Eiko was on was currently outside the quake's radius but she knew that wouldn't last long as she could already see the ground around her shifting with the strength of the attack. She had formed a plan though, she knew earthbenders were notoriously bad at close quarters combat and she was hoping Toph wasn't an exception. She leapt of the building toward the other girl, shooting fire from her feet to slow her fall and unsheathing her jian with her right hand. She landed on the ground and rushed toward the earthbender, weapon reared back hoping to catch her offguard.

It was to no avail however, as soon as Toph heard telltale sound of steel scraping against it's scabbard, she ceased her assault on the earth below her. She stomped the ground harder, twisting her foot into the stone before rolling forward and bringing the earth around herself at the same time, encasing herself in her element just in time to block a swipe of Eiko's jian with her forearm.

Eiko's eyes widened in surprise as her attack was stopped dead before a wide grin broke out on her face. "You really are the greatest earthbender I've ever faced!" she laughed before withdrawing her sword and thrusting it forward once more, attempting to peirce through the earthen armor.

Toph pivoted to the side, the jian scraping along the ribs of her armor and sending sparks flying into the air. She swung her arm around to blugeon Eiko with a massive stone fist which the firebender ducked under easily. She continued swinging her fist, using the momentum of the missed attack to turn herself around and block another strike of Eiko's jian.

She wasn't able to block the palm full of golden fire that followed however. It impacted her chest with a bang, shattering the armor and sending her flying back to impact the ground with a cry of pain. Eiko followed close behind, leaping into the air and thrusting toward the downed earthbender with a fist, sending a massive ball of fire surging down at her, Eiko herself following closely after it.

Toph slammed her hands on the ground at her sides in panic, sending two pillars of earth shooting up in an attempt to block the fireball she could feel approaching rapidly. The pillars stopped the fireball, sending the flames scattering off to the sides, and were destroyed in the process, leaving Eiko free to thrust down at the surprised earthbender's face with her jian.

Toph cried out in surprise as she felt the flat of the blade slide against her cheek as it's tip sunk into the earth beside her face. Eiko loomed over Toph, staring into the blind girl's blank eyes as she contemplated what to do next. There was a tense silence, only broken by the heavy breathing of the two girls as they panted in exertion from the battle.

The silence was broken by the piercing cry of Helios as he flew down to land on his master's shoulder. Eiko turned to him, looking into his eyes intently and seemingly going into a trance. After a moment she blinked, exiting the trance before beginning to laugh loudly, much to the confusion of the girl under her.

After calming down, Eiko looked down at Toph with a grin, "You were a diversion weren't you?" According to Helios, the Avatar was gone, her companion having just barely seen the tail end of their sky bison in the distance.

Toph didn't even attempt to deny it, simply grinning viciously up at the older girl, "And if I was? What're you gonna do about it? Aang's long gone." From her position above her, Eiko could here Toph's heart beating loudly, no doubt worried about what Eiko would do to her after finding out it was her fault the bounty hunter's target had escaped.

Luckily for her, Eiko wasn't a monster. She stayed looming above the other girl for another moment before stepping back, sheathing her jian in the proccess. Toph sat up, rubbing her cheek and looking toward the bounty hunter in confusion. "What? Not going to capture me and torture me for information?" She demanded.

Eiko shook her head even if the other girl couldn't see it, "No. You are not my target, and I'm not the type to cause unnecessary pain." She looked toward the earthbender, taking in her surprised expression before continuing with a grin, "And besides, it's been forever since I had a fight like that. I want to see how much stronger you can get, that can't happen from the inside of a cell."

She leapt into the air, landing on one of the few buildings not destroyed by ther fight. As she went to leave, Toph called out to her.

"What are you going to do with Aang if you capture him? You don't seem like a normal Fire Nation soldier. Why are you chasing him?"

Eiko turned back, finding the earthbender staring in her direction in questioning. "I told you already, I was paid a large sum to capture the Avatar. I've never failed a contract, so I am going to capture him, delfiver him to the closest Fire Nation military base, collect my pay, and leave. Whatever happens to him afterwards isn't my problem. If he dies, oh well. If he escapes, not my problem." As she crouched down in preparation to leap, Toph called out again.

"What if we paid you more to not capture him? I'm a Beifong, I'm sure my parents won't miss a few dozen gold peices." Eiko stopped, thinking for a moment before turning back toward the earthbender.

"Tell you what. I have a few contracts to see to before I continue my chase on the Avatar. Next time we meet, we'll fight again, if you put up as much of a fight as you did this time, I'll consider changing clients. If not, the Fire Nation will continue to have my services. Deal?"

She was making a risky decision here if word got out that she was willing to abandon a contract simply because some one would pay her more, her bounty hunting career would be dead in the water. But she also knew that it was unlikely that Toph or the other's from the Avatar's group would spread the word of her deal. Besides, the Fire Nation had already technically paid her, and they were all pricks anyway, there was no guarentee that they would even pay the other half of her fee.

Toph stared at her for another moment before nodding with a grin, "Deal. Next time we meet, I'll kick your butt so hard you'll have no choice but to switch sides Matchstick!"

Eiko laughed in delight, "I'll be looking foward to it Dustbunny." She teased, before leaping off with a burst of fire, Toph's shouts of indignation ringing in her ears as she began shooting fire from her hands to stabilize her flight, quickly disappearing into the treeline.

Toph watched her go with her seismic sense, feeling the vibrations of the other bender's oddly powerful fire hitting the ground. Mind whirling with confusing emotions the teen sighed and stood. She turned in the opposite direction and began walking out of town.

She had just reunited with her friends and they had already been separated again. At least this time they had an agreed meeting place as opposed to her stumbling upon them in blind luck. She lifted the earth around her and began moving her feet back and forth, forming a large mound of moving stone that propelled her forward with every movement.

As she began to lose herself in the comforting motions of earthbending, her mind couldn't help but return to that strange firebender. She was one of the first opponents to give the earthbending prodigy a challenge in a long time and Toph couldn't help but look forward to their next battle.

Little did she know that miles away, Eiko was thinking the exact same thing.

[A/N] That's a wrap!

Here are the main cast's ages

Eiko: 17 (Obscuring cloak along with her height makes her seem older)

Toph: 15

Aang: 15 (115)

Zuko: 18

Azula: 16

Sokka: 17

Katara: 16