The two friends were in shock over what they had found. It had not even truly registered in their minds what was going on in this place. Restrained people fearfully looked at the sleeping ones. Someone was bolder than the rest and stepped forward angrily.

"What do you want with us?"

Earth around the man was controlled until it trapped him. With his arms tied together and his legs immobilized by the attack, he was unable to bend the earth to free himself. The abductors began discussing something between themselves. When they were done, they moved to the sides, creating a line in the middle of them. Another person began walking through this clearing until he reached a stage. He had a bald head and a goatee. Briefly, he glared at the speaker, then turned his attention to the rest of the people.

"My name's Noredak, but you can call me 'Sire.' You want to know why you're here?" he asked.

This time, no one said anything, but he could tell from their faces that they did. With a smile, he folded his arms behind his back and began speaking.

"You will work for us here."

"No, we won't!" the man from earlier declared, furiously trying to get free.

Noredak closed his eyes for a moment, listening to the other man who kept talking. One of the captors created a whip of fire to use to attack him, but he earthbent to create a shield. He included several of the other captives to keep them safe as well. All the while, Noredak was calmly observing the scene, taking a deep breath. The would-be prisoner continued to fight against the people for a short time longer.

"You won't keep us here against our will and we'll never work for you. There are benders here just like yours. We'll fight and–"

His rant was cut short by Noredak lifting both hands and simultaneously forcing the other individual's arms behind himself. The man was then made to kneel, but no one touched him. With fear in his eyes, he looked back up at the other bender.

"So you can see," Noredak said, "you will, in fact, be listening to me because I can make you throw yourself into the sea if I want."

Struggling, the man quickly realized his attempt was futile and hung his head in defeat. Once it was clear that the rebellion had been quelled, Noredak began giving out orders. From the safety of their hiding spot, Zuko and Toph were tensely waiting.

"Bloodbenders," she said. "I thought we'd dealt with the last of them with Hama."

"You had to fight one?"

"Well, Katara did. Sokka, Twinkle Toes, and I pretty much just almost killed each other by accident. It was freaky. It's way better to have a bloodbender on your team than against you."

"We have an advantage though that they don't know about us being here. If we can take out Noredak, the others won't be a problem."

Toph frowned. "Yeah, but they have an advantage too because it seems like ol' Noredy has had some earthbenders try to trap him before. He's standing on wood, isn't he?"

"Yeah," Zuko sighed. "It's his stage. It looks like it's solid wood. I could tell you where he is and attack too."

"That might be too risky. We'd have to shoot the earth and fire at him. There are so many people here that someone would see where it came from and if it didn't kill him, then he'd be able to use his bloodbending on us."

"So, without a waterbender here who can help, I guess we just have to stay out of sight and wait for an opportunity."

Angrily, Toph nodded. It was not fair that benders like those could exist and be evil. There was hardly a way to stop them. Her frown deepened when she heard a voice from the wooden prison.

"The Boulder doesn't think you'd be able to trap him without your bloodbending!"

Noredak seemed unbothered by the claim and instead had some of the people unlock the door. Suspiciously, the earthbender did not immediately exit. Trying his luck, he quickly bent an enormous chunk of earth at the bloodbender. Before it could get too close, one of the earthbenders with Noredak destroyed it and the waterbender smiled. He began controlling the blood in the larger man's body. The Boulder grimaced as his wrists bent inwards and his head was painfully turned almost too far to the right. When his feet left the ground, a feeling of fear started to build in him that he tried to ignore.

"I have no intention of killing you," Noredak informed him. "Not you or anyone else here, but you can provide good labor for me and my clients. As long as you don't cause trouble, there won't be any. You can live out your lives in peaceful servitude."

With a wider smile, he dropped the prisoner on his knees and turned to some more people approaching. As they did, Toph's heart sank.

"They got him too," she said sadly.

Unconscious and being transported through the use of several earthbending individuals was Hippo. Noredak and some of the other people went over to him skeptically.

"He's rather large, but I've heard he's a good fighter," someone said. "If he can do that, then he can work."

Noredak gestured to another wooden cell. "Restrain him first, then put him in there. Let this one join him. Maybe they'll have a positive effect on each other."

The subordinates began moving the fighter to the cell. Once they were done, Noredak turned to the rest of the restrained individuals.

"Is anyone else feeling foolish?"

He received no response.

"No? Good. Then, we'll be getting back to work. Soon, some of you will have a change of scenery. Until then, you'll be separated." The waterbender turned to his followers. "We don't know who all is a bender and who isn't, so we'll categorize by nation. Water Tribe in the first building, Earth Kingdom in the second, and Fire Nation in the third."

Leaving, Noredak used water from plants to boost himself up and into the air. Toph could not sense him landing.

"It's like he's just floating," she said. "Why would he if all the captives are here?"

"Maybe he's heard about what you can do."

"If he has, we might be in trouble."

Pushing down the feeling of concern, Zuko took a closer look at the prisons which had been designated for each nation. In addition to wood being used for the Earth Kingdom citizens, people from the Water Tribe and Fire Nation citizens were to be placed in metal cells for when they were being punished. For the time being, it seemed like only the two earthbenders were subjected to this. The Boulder was gripping onto the bars of his cell, trying to break them.

"Hippo!" he called.

The other bender was unable to hear him and only stayed in his stupor. Undeterred, The Boulder kept going.

"We have to get to them," Toph said, audibly concerned. "Even if we go get Katara to stop Noredak, Boulder is just going to get himself killed by staying here in the meantime. He might be able to help us break the others out too."

"I agree. We can't leave them here." Zuko glanced around. "No one's looking this way right now."

"No, they're headed out to the coast for some reason. Let's go while we can."

Speedily, they moved from their hiding places to get closer to the cells. The conscious prisoner noticed them and had a wide smile on his face. Toph used her earthbending to break the cell bars and Zuko created a fire blade to cut them. Then, the restraints were removed.

"The Boulder appreciates the surprise rescue," the man whispered.

Just as the younger earthbender was about to respond, she stopped. "More people are coming. They brought ostrich horses with them." Toph's eyes widened. "We don't have time to get Katara. We have to stop Noredak now."

The master stomped on the ground, forcing the earth under the Hippo to levitate in the air and then fall onto another lifted chunk of earth. He woke up due to the impact. Groggily, he began to move and open his eyes.

"Hippo sore."

"And Hippo is about to be a lot worse than that if we don't get to Noredak and stop his students before they learn too much."

"He has students now?" Zuko asked, horrified.

Toph nodded and began leading the way to the bloodbender and the visitors. It did not take long to see what was occurring since the poor creatures were forced into the sky. To Toph's dismay, Noredak was standing on another wooden stage. His students, however, were not. In one move, the master created quicksand to trap them up to their heads. Firebenders blasted themselves into the sky. When they did, Zuko saw them and used their own fire to have it go upwards and towards their heads, making them fall back to the ground. They shot wildly, trying to see the origin of the attack. They found no signs of this and the earthbending captors began trying to free the trainees, but they were stopped by Hippo and The Boulder firing chunks of earth at them. Since they were still hidden, the abductors were unable to properly respond to the attack. Only Noredak sensed where more water was located. Focusing on this feeling, he lifted his arms. Grimacing, Toph felt a familiar sensation and Zuko felt one he had only seen be experienced.

It was like being turned into a living puppet. Movement no longer being in their own control, the four were forced to come forward. A satisfied smile appeared on Noredak's face.

"I see we've been graced with the presence of the great Toph Beifong and Firelord Zuko," he said. "You're household names now, you know. I've designed our little operation site here to be prepared for someone with a seismic sense."

The bloodbender forced their arms behind them and got them kneeling. When he had, he turned to his allies. They were still freeing themselves, so they would be unable to help restrain the rebel group. He did not mind doing it himself.

"I'll consider it an honor to have the two of you in my collection," he said, approaching.

Noredak got some restraints and went behind the group. Hippo and The Boulder were caught first, then he went over to Toph. He knelt down to attach the handcuffs, but his eyes quickly widened in shock. Earth shot up, sending him flying backwards. Despite not being able to use all of her bending, the master was still making contact with the earth. As long as she was, she could use it to her benefit. The stun from the attack was enough to make Noredak stop bloodbending. As soon as he did, Zuko burned the captor's hands, causing him to cry out. He tried to bloodbend again, but the pain distracted him too much and the earthbenders were able to trap him in quicksand like the other bloodbenders.

"It's tempting to just let him sink all the way," Toph said, scowling.

"All of them to be honest," Zuko added, looking at the trainees with disdain. He turned to their earthbending allies. "If you two can keep them trapped like this, we tell Aang so that he can remove their bending."

"The Boulder would like that very much."

"So would Hip…"

The fighter trailed off, starting to grunt in pain. Suddenly, his right arm swung wildly, nearly hitting his friend. They dodged and turned to look at the bloodbenders. They were all still trapped. Yet, each of the liberators began feeling a loss of control over their own actions. Against his wishes, The Boulder kicked Hippo and nearly landed on Zuko. The Firelord tried to see who was responsible. As he was brought into the air, he looked at Noredak, but the man's eyes were still wide from shock.

"He's not doing it," he realized.

Zuko's attention turned to the trainees. One's eyes were wide too, but he held no fear or shock in them. His expression was both sinister and disturbing. Noerdak began to realize this and called out to him.

"Yakone, free us!"

The bender just chuckled. "I think you've proven that you can't teach me everything I want to know. This'll be my last class, Noredak. I don't need you anymore."

Controlling her movements, Yakone forced Toph to bend the earth under him so that he was no longer trapped. As soon as he was safe, he ran off towards the ships. The others could not move until he had boarded one.

"We have to go after him!" The Boulder exclaimed, clenching a fist.

"And do what?" Toph asked him. "He can bloodbend us even without using his hands. That's a losing battle."

"At least we know his name and what he looks like," Zuko offered. "I'll let the rest of the Fire Nation know about him so that if he shows up, everyone will know to be wary."

Nodding, the fighters stayed with the waterbenders while Toph and Zuko went to free the captives. They were profusely thanked and ensured that everyone had a way to get back home. The island did not seem so terrible anymore. The smell of fear in the air was gone and the people who were residents looked livelier. They almost seemed hopeful. Despite the feeling of having helped them, Toph could not ignore a feeling of concern and her brows furrowed.

"If more people are learning how to bloodbend, I'm not sure how the rest of the world is going to stay safe even with the new peace. We can't be everywhere and couldn't stop everyone. Twinkle Toes can't be everywhere either. Doesn't help that the other benders were also keeping the people captive." She sighed. "No offense, but it was easier mainly fighting firebenders. Sure, there were a few Hamas and crazy military earthbenders, but they were all in response to the war. At least then, we knew who the enemy was and didn't have to worry about everyone doing something messed up."

"I get what you mean," her friend told her, also looking troubled. "It's easier when you can focus on one enemy or at least one main foe. The world's changing a lot. Sometimes, that's great. Then, there are times like this."

The earthbender suddenly got a determined look in her eyes. "I guess that if we can't be everywhere, I'll just have to make sure other people are ready for anything."

"You mean like your metalbending trainees?"

"Yep, but I can do more than that. I want to train benders to stop people who'd abuse their bending like Noredak, Yakone, and everyone else here today. It's only fair. You're taking care of the Fire Nation, Sokka's got the Southern Water Tribe to lead soon, and Aang and Katara are going to be keeping the world safe in general. I can do more than teach some simple classes."

"I like the sound of those plans."

"Well, just don't expect favoritism," she said, grinning. "If I see you breaking the law, I'll apprehend you myself."

Zuko chuckled and began to climb into the blimp. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

Toph happily hopped into the blimp as well and they set their course for the Earth Kingdom once again. The world really had seen so many changes in such a short time. How many more would happen in the same amount? Though the friends knew they had no way of preventing every tragedy, that did not mean that they would not do everything in their power to help those they could and prepare others. As cruel people became stronger, kind and brave ones needed to have the tools to stop them.

After a short time, the blimp landed and Toph got off, still glad to be on the ground but less happy than she had been the first time. She noticed that Zuko did not leave the blimp with her.

"You have to head back?"

"Yeah, Uncle's just keeping an eye on things for a little bit, but there's still so much to do that I don't want to leave him with all of that."

Toph nodded. "We should do this again sometime. You have to promise no bloodbenders, though."

"Deal." The firelord smiled. "I want to do more of these too. Maybe we can get the others to join us too. If they can't, we'll be able to tell them how much they missed out on."

"Yeah! We can't let the Gaang disband just because the war's over." She shrugged, smirking. "But if they can't make it, I guess another Zuko trip wouldn't be terrible."

"I'm glad," Zuko said, firebending into the balloon. "Good luck with those trainees of yours. I'm looking forward to hearing how that goes. I'll be back before you know it."

"Not if I come get you first," she called, feeling that the blimp was leaving the earth. "Next time, we'll take the train! Teach you how to value the ground."

Her friend laughed and she returned to her training studio. The future was as unknown as it was promising. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had a lot more Zuko adventures on the way. If that was Toph's one certainty, she could live with that.