Percy blinked, but nope it was real. One second, he had been watching Bombilo pull out some change. And then, right before his eyes, the scene shifted and he was standing on a cliff edge overlooking a massive canyon.

He gaped as he took it in, not sure what was happening. Was he hallucinating? Dreaming? He wiped his eyes, pinched himself, and touched the ground. All passed the test. As far as he could tell, this was real.

He pulled out his pen and uncapped it, letting Riptide grow to its full length. If this was real, then he was here for a reason, and it was usually never good. He looked around, but saw no sign of any monsters. So far, anyway. But that didn't reassure him. The only time he had ever traveled like this was when Hermes had teleported him and Annabeth to Paris. But even then, he had felt some sensation, a sharp drop in his stomach and a rush against his body, that told him he had just teleported. But not this time. It was more the world had suddenly dropped away, replaced by a completely different one.

Percy walked to the edge of the cliff and took in the scenery, trying to estimate where he was. He saw an expanse of rocks and trees, rising and falling all over the place in a myriad of ways. If he wasn't so shocked as to how he came here, he would have enjoyed this much more. It looked like the Garden of the Gods in Colorado, or images of the Grand Canyon. Picturesque.

So he was probably somewhere in that area. Good. Wasn't that far from San Francisco and New Rome. He thought, anyway. Geography was never his strong suit. Very few classes were. Now, he just had to head to the river down there. Hopefully some river spirits could help point him in the right direction.

He scanned the area again and saw a sort-of path to his left that led down to the canyon below. He flexed his muscles for a second and then headed that way. As he did, he wondered how Annabeth would respond to this. The last time he had disappeared suddenly, he'd been gone for six months. At least this time he still had his memory. That was something. But he still thought he had left all this behind him. Should have known sooner or later that his break from this life would end. Now here he was, stuck in the middle of nowhere with no idea how he'd gotten here. Sometimes he really did wonder if the Fates were purposefully throwing as much trouble and strife into his life string as they could, cause it really did seem like they were out to get him.

He reached the path area and grimaced as he saw the path he had seen ended a few meters away in a not-quite cliff that led down to another sort-of path. Percy looked at it for a second. It was quite a ways down, but he could see plenty of handholds. And he had climbed worse. The lava wall at camp had given him plenty of practice. But the path below began next to the cliff. If he fell, he would fall all the way to the canyon floor below. And that was a very long fall.

"Oh, styx," he muttered. He started to move towards the cliff when he noticed something. The sky hadn't rumbled. Whenever he had used that curse before, the sky had rumbled like thunder even on a clear day. But it hadn't this time. He frowned, thinking on that for a second, before shrugging. There wasn't time to think about it right now. All he had to do was get down to that other path and make it to the bottom of the canyon and that river.

He clambered down the side of the canyon, cursing softly as his hands scraped against the rocks. This reminded him of the time he and Annabeth had climbed down the cliff to the Phel- Phlea- Phlegus- the River of Fire in Tartarus. That had been a nightmare. He still had nightmares about it. Well, not of the climb down, that wasn't even the worst part of that journey. But he did sometimes wake up with that fiery river taste in his mouth. At least the river at the bottom of this wouldn't be anything like that.

Or will it? a small voice inside him asked. He winced, hoping that wouldn't prove to be true.

He chanced a glance down and gulped a little, understanding how Thalia's fear of heights could be so crippling. She would never be able to do something like this.

He grabbed hold of a rock then quickly pulled back as it came loose. He struggled for a second, desperately trying to regain his balance. His arm hung outstretched, wiggling around as he tried to grab hold of something while his foot teetered on its own rock. Then he managed to pull himself back and grab hold of another rock, this one stable.

"Gods," he muttered under his breath. "Why is it always me?"

Percy carefully placed his foot onto a small outcropping and then looked for the next one. He just had a few more feet to go and then he would be on the path. The dangerous part was almost over. Then…well, he couldn't relax, but he could take it easier then.

He suddenly stopped, frowning. Something was off, but he couldn't tell what it was. Some instinct in his gut, warning him. Then he heard a loud smashing sound, except it wasn't really smashing. It was more like two rocks clapping together. He turned his head to either side of the cliff face but couldn't see anything. Then he heard a gravelly sound, as if a rockslide was occurring. This time it was clearly coming from his right. He turned his head trying to see what was happening but whatever it was lay out of his eyesight, just around the bend of the canyon wall.

The sound was getting louder, as if coming to him. He grimaced and braced himself, leaning as far as he could. He knew it was a risk and that he could fall at any second. But if something was coming, then he wanted to see it. To be ready for it. He could just see the edge of the canyon wall now and he peered closer, narrowing his eyes. Then he saw it. It was like a wave of dirt rushing by. At first he thought it was a rockslide. Then his eyes widened as he saw the large piece of rock slide past with what looked to be a person riding it.

"What th-" he starter, leaning further to get a better look. As he did, he stretched too far and his foot slipped on its perch. He scrambled back, trying to regain his footing but in his struggle his other foot came loose and he fell, gravity taking hold. He desperately tried to hold on with his other hand but his grip had been tenuous at best and as soon as his whole body weight hit it, his hand slipped as well and he was falling.

"OH STYX!" he yelled, watching with panic as the ground hurtled towards him. He looked around for anything he could latch onto, any sign of water he could summon to help him. But there was nothing. He could only watch and wait as death came rushing towards him. "I'm sorry Annabeth," he muttered, closing his eyes.

And then he stopped. Suddenly and abruptly, causing his whole body to shake for a few seconds. He groaned, his bones creaking in pain. He winced and blinked, frowning when he saw the canyon floor still a ways down. Then what had stopped him?

He looked around and he felt himself stop breathing. He had seen a lot in his life. The land of the dead, carnivorous sheep, mazes that acted as deathtraps, a man turning into a bear, a person who could set himself on fire, real-life gods, and so much more. Yet he had never seen a giant hand made of dirt reaching out from the wall to hold him.

"What the actual Hades?" he muttered. Slowly, the hand relaxed around him, its fingers retracting so he could stand up. He did so, still gaping slightly at it, not really sure what to do next.

"Hey!" He turned to see a young girl in a green and white outfit standing on an outcropping a few meters away. "You dunderhead gonna stay there all day or are you gonna move?"

Percy blinked and then glanced down, seeing another outcropping just below him. He leapt down and as soon as he did, the giant hand crumbled away into dust behind him. He stared at where it had been for a few seconds before looking back up at the girl. She looked around 14 or 15 with her hair curled into a bun at the top but ending in spikes that hung in front of her face that must have made it hard for her to see.

"Thanks," he said.

"No problem," she replied shortly. She then stamped her foot, punching her arm forward and the rock she was on suddenly started sliding down the cliff towards him, coming to a stop right in front of him. Percy gaped again, not quite sure how she was doing that. He had never seen anything like it. The closest had been Hazel but even she couldn't control the earth with that much control.

"You getting on or what?" the girl snapped.

"Uh, yeah, right," Percy nodded, getting on behind her. She stamped her foot again and they started sliding down the canyon. Percy stared at her as they slid. He couldn't think of any demigod who could do what she could. Then again, he didn't know all the gods out there and then of course there were the Egyptian and Norse ones as well, so…

"How are you doing this?" he asked.

"I'm an earthbender. Duh."

"An earthbender, right," Percy nodded as if he understood. "And what is that?"

The girl snorted for a second before she seemed to realize he was serious. "You don't know what an earthbender is? What, are you some sort of dunderhead or something?"

"Uh…no," Percy replied, though he was pretty sure Annabeth would start calling him that if she ever learned it. He vowed never to let her and this girl meet.

"You been living under a rock?"

"No," Percy replied, getting irritated now.

"Then how can you not know what an earthbender is? Oh, have you lived in a Water Tribe so long that you don't think there are any other benders out there. Well, there are. And earth is the best."

Percy didn't understand a single thing she was saying. It was like she was speaking another language. "Water Tribe?" he questioned.

"You don't know what that is either? You must have been raised in the Fire Nation then."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't know what any of that means."

"Where are you from?" she snapped again.

"San Francisco," he replied.

"Yeah, but where is that?"

"California," he said, frowning. But she still looked confused, so he continued. "America."

"What's an america?" she asked, frowning at the word.

This was the moment that Percy started feeling that tingle in his gut, a sense of danger. Or it had been building up this whole time and it just took this long for him to notice. The feeling that this wasn't just a matter of teleporting him to another part of the country or even the world. This was something else entirely.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

"Well, I consider myself a world traveler but I do spend most of my time at my Metalbending Academy in Yu Dao."

"Yu Dao," Percy nodded, never having heard of it. "And where's that?"

"Well, it's a former Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom but it doesn't really answer to either government now, sort of doing its own thing. I'd explain but I don't understand or really care."

"Huh." Percy nodded again. "And these places, are they…on Earth?" he asked, checking.

"Of course they're on Earth you dunderhead. Where else would they be, the moon?"

Well, that ruled out the Nine Realms theory. Now Percy had no clue what was happening. "Alright. I'm Percy by the way."

"Toph," the girl replied. "Now, how can you not know about any of this? What, you live on an island your whole life and this is your first venture into the outside world? Well, you sure picked a lousy place to start."

"Wait, you know where we are?" he asked.

"Well…not exactly," Toph said, appearing unsure for the first time. "This ground isn't like anything I've felt before."

Percy didn't know what that meant but he pushed past it. "Ok, but how did you get here?"

Again, the girl paused. "I…don't know," she said after a moment. "One minute I'm just walking around town, enjoying the feel of the earth beneath my feet. The next, I'm here in some strange desert. It's like I just-"

"Vanished," Percy finished for her. She paused, the rock they were on stopping. She turned to him, a curious look on her face though her eyes were strangely fixed behind him. He looked behind him just to check but there was nothing but a blank canyon wall there.

"You disappeared too?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "One second, I'm paying for my coffee, the next I'm standing on the edge of a canyon in the middle of nowhere. I thought maybe the…that I was being messed with." He stopped himself just in time before he mentioned the gods. He didn't know if Toph knew about them and in case she did, he didn't want her to think he was crazy. "But now, I know there's something else going on."

"Two people, taken from different parts of the world to end up here." Toph rubbed her chin in thought. "Who could possibly do that? I don't know anyone with that kind of power. Not even Aang could do it, and he's the Avatar."

"I know a few who could," Percy said. He didn't know what an Avatar was and decided not to ask. "But it's usually for me to do them a favor. They wouldn't just dump me here and leave me, at least not without an explanation." He frowned, thinking about Hera. She had done this before, but last time she had taken his memory from him. "Well, maybe one. But it would still be for some reason, some…" he trailed off just then, seeing something in the sky that made him freeze.

"Some what?" Toph asked. "You didn't finish."

"Uh…" Percy stumbled over his words, trying to get himself to think. Because what he saw was making his brain melt. "Quick question. Where you're from, does…does it usually have two moons?"

Hope you liked Toph's introduction. She was one of the best characters in the Last Airbender universe so I just had to bring her in. Just to be clear, she came from a time around the comics time period, so if you haven't read them just know she starts a metalbending academy.

Stay tuned cause next chapter things get crazier with a bunch more characters introduced. Please review if you can and til next time.