Alright guys here's the tenth chapter of my ATLA story. Anyway, quick things to point out if haven't noticed.

Text Like this = Someone thinking to themselves

"Text Like this" = A conversation (for those of you who don't know.)

TEXT LIKE THIS = A full on shouting match

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. That goes to the creators of the story Bryan and Mike

Chapter 10: A Ghost from the Past

"Well?" Sokka asked.

Suki and Sokka stood in Toph's room waiting for her to say something. She sat in her bed pondering away. Sokka cleared his throat. "You know you've been real quiet over there Toph. What can you tell us? You know about the guy leading the raid."

"..."

Suki walked over to Toph's side and gave her a gentle smile. "Come on now it's not like we're asking you to name him right away."

Toph hesitated. "Well… I'm trying to remember, but it's kind of foggy. Ugh... I hate that my head hurts everytime I try thinking too much."

Suki patted Toph's back in comfort. "You're still not used to doing so much since you're injuries, huh?"

"Yeah."

Suki stood up and headed towards the table in Toph's room grabbing the drink she brought for her. "Here." Handing it over to her.

Toph took the drink giving it a questioning look. She held it to her nose and wafted it. "What is it?"

"Warm water mixed with lemon." Suki said.

"Ok...? Why...?"

Suki pointed at Toph's head. "Drinking warm water mixed with juice squeezed from one-half of a lemon will reduce the intensity of your headache."

Sokka rubbed his chin thinking of another way to help Toph. "So you really can't remember anything? Even if it's something small. It could still help us figure out who's responsible for this."

Toph put her drink down and began thinking again to when she and Aang faced the enemy. "Who are you?"Aang asked.
"Well if you must know I was a former general of Lord Ozai's branch, General Shuni."

Sokka waved his hands in front of Toph as she began wandering off into deep thought. "Hey, you still with us?"

That seem to have shaken her up from her daze. "Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah. I was thinking of his name."

"So you remembered?" Sokka asked.

"Kind of. If I remember correctly I think his name was Shuni…?"

Sokka seemed rather excited. "Ok, ok we're finally getting somewhere. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

"I think he said he was a colonel…? or was it a lieutenant? Something like that."

"Well, I think we're making progress. We need to tell Zuko about this guy's name. He could probably give more info about this guy."

Toph gave a questioning look. "What's so important about this guy being named Shuni?"

"I think you mean Shinu." A rougher voice interrupted. The door opened and Zuko appeared.

"Hey Sparky. What's up?"

"Nothing much. I was just coming to see if we made any progress when your conversation caught my attention. So I eavesdropped a bit and figured out who you were talking about."

Toph snapped her fingers in realization. "Shinu. That's right. That was the name he told when Twinkle Toes questioned him."

Sokka gave a quizzical glare. "Shinu? Who's that?"

"He was a General that was under the command of my uncle when he was the Fire Lord. However, when my uncle was removed as the Fire Lord he followed suit." Zuko said.

Sokka facepalmed at Toph. "I can't believe it. He was a general. What were you thinking Toph? How could you leave off something so important?"

Toph shrugged. "Hey man. How was I supposed to remember every little detail when I've got little Earth benders stomping in my head."

Sokka turned to Zuko. "Wait something doesn't add up. If he was a follower of Ozai didn't he have the same fate as he did?"

"I can't remember what happened to him. All I remember was that he was a general and he disliked the Earth Kingdom. If I remember correctly there was a rumor that he wanted to burn down the entire Earth Kingdom using Sozin's comet."

"I see… So I'm guessing he must've been working with someone else in order to have many rebels to his disposal." Sokka noted.

"Probably. Truth be told he wasn't a very bright person. So we can only assume he had to have formed some sort of alliance with someone else." Zuko said.

"Well now that we have figured out who was responsible for the attack we have to report this to the rest of the group." Sokka said.

XXXXXXXX

"So that about wraps it up in our part." Sokka said. In the main room of the Beifong estate was Sokka, Zuko, Katara, Suki, Lao, Poppy, Iroh, and Bumi.

Toph cleared her throat. "Just dealing with part of their army was tough enough. I'm pretty sure that was a warmup. They probably have stronger forces waiting for us. And without knowing the extent of their power no one could really beat them. Aang struggled to handle them. It was far beyond his imagination. He pushed himself way beyond his limit. Honestly, he could've run away and relay the info to all of us, but he chose to fight in order to leave with no troubles."

Katara's voice cracked. "That stupid idiot."

Toph put her hands to her hips. "That's why we need to attack as soon as possible."

Iroh raised his hand indicating Toph to be quite. "If what you are saying is true, then it's still very unwise to go against them under these conditions."

"BUT-"

"You said it yourself Toph. They're just too strong." Iroh said.

Suki looked at Sokka. "How's the planning and negotiating for reinforcements going?"

"It looks like it'll take a little longer."

Toph looked at Sokka irritated. "Like how much longer?"

"I can't really say I don't think that they even know."

Toph began cracking. "What what do you mean? While they're goofing around we're losing time."

Sokka gave a sympathetic glare at Toph. "Look planning itself takes awhile and waiting for reinforcements comes down to negotiation and numbers. So it's very time consuming."

"It'll take a month a least." Zuko cut in.

Toph's eyes widened in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. That long?

Suki laughed a little at Toph's disappointment. "Now, now no need to look so disappointed, Toph."

Katara looked confused. "What are we gonna do in the meantime?"

Zuko cleared his throat. "Well Sokka's leading the planning alongside his father, so that helps out speeding the process. I'm dealing with negotiations and I'm doing my best to get as much help as I can. For now, all we can do is play the waiting game."

Toph headed towards the exit in anger. "There's no way in hell I'm waiting for a month. I'll make them speed up the process. I'll give them something to negotiate about if they don't hurry it up."

Sokka gave her a look of disbelief. "What are you gonna do? Interrupt them? Bother them? That'll make it much worse and it'll prolong the planning time. If you do something as stupid as that we don't know how much longer it will take. Worst case scenario, we get no reinforcements whatsoever and we will have to think of a whole new plan. Plus, invading will take a lot longer."

Toph clenched her fist to the point where small droplets of crimson soaking through. "I will avenge Twinkle toes-."

Tension grew in the air. They all knew what Toph's intentions were and knowing the wiser Toph would do something that'll put everything and everyone in jeopardy.

"I just can't sit around doing nothing while the person who did this to Aang gets to laugh at us. It's UNFORGIVABLE."

Iroh gave Toph a concerning glare. "But listen Toph now that we have all of this done and figured out who the culprit is there's nothing that involves you."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"All I'm saying is that there's nothing you can do now."

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT."

Iroh changed his quiet and patient demeanor to a much more serious one. "I'll tell you what I do know. I know that you're definitely not strong enough to take down that opponent."

Toph clenched her teeth. "What in the hell did you say?

"You know I'm right. Even someone as powerful as Aang, who I might remind you, was the Avatar,, couldn't take them down. And if he couldn't you think someone as yourself could?"

Toph came to that realization. "Well.. I guess not."

"Listen to this old man, Toph. If you were to follow your heart instead of your head at this very moment and do what it is you were going to do, you'd die a senseless death. You'd throw away everything Aang stood for. Do you want that?"

Toph couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her old friend. "So what are you trying to say? That I should forget avenging Twinkle Toes?

"You know damn well I said no such thing,"

"Well then? What are you trying to tell me."

The room has just gone from deafening noise to dead silence. It was so quiet everyone could feel the banging coming from their chest.

No one had anything to offer to calm down Toph. At this point offering any words of sympathy will be shot down with her gaze alone. She was beginning to snap and they knew it as well.

Bumi made a dental click (tsk sound.) "I'm as furious as you are, I too want to avenge the death of my best friend Aang. I believe the only person who could do it right now is you. Toph Beifong."

Toph was gobsmacked. "Wait, what? Me?"

Bumi smiled. "No, the other Toph Beifong from the Southern Water Tribe. OF COURSE YOU. You do want to avenge Aang don't you?"

Toph smirked. "You better believe your ass I want to."

"Then we must continue training. I King Bumi myself will continue with your training and I'm going to beat it mercilessly into to you if that's okay?"

"Will it help me avenge Twinkle Toes?"

"I'm gonna be honest; There's no guarantees. That's all up to you. I do have to warn you though, my training methods will make you wish you were never born. So get ready."

Toph's eyes were full of determination. "Count me in."

Bumi laughed at her reaction. "Nicely said."

Zuko gave a small grin. "Now then let's continue with our objective at hand."

XXXXXXXX

"So now what?" Katara asked.

Bumi patted Toph's head. "Well I'll be training her for the rest of the month until you finished with your part."

Zuko nodded. "Understood. Meanwhile, we'll try to hurry up with these negotiations. If we finish this quicker than expected, we'll notify you."

Bumi smiled. "Right... you do that. Oh and don't worry too much on your part. If you were to rush any sort of planning it could affect our chances of winning. Take as much time as you need. Better to be safe than sorry. I don't know about you, but I'd rather keep my head attached on to me if that's alright with you."

Toph smiled at her friends. "Sparky, Sugar Queen, and Sparky you'd better not be goofing off while I'm gone. Knowing you Sugar Queen as soon as you step foot into Sparky's office you guys try to handle some other business. If ya know what I mean..."

Red leaked into Katara's cheeks as her eyes darted at the blind Earthbender. "TOPH."

Zuko wasn't doing any better. The Fire Lord had a hue of red spread throughout his cheeks as he burned from embarrassment.

Toph smiled with a malicious glee. "I'm just kidding you two. You should see your faces. Anyway hold down the fort for me while I'm gone."

Sokka smiled. "Don't worry about us. We've got it handled. You should be more worried about yourself. Bumi is no joke. I can only imagine what he'll do to you."

"Right… You mean to tell me I've got to leave everything to you? In that case I might as well stay and forget training."

"Wow that was so funny Toph. Please stop my sides are aching too much." Sokka sarcastically said.

Toph laughed at Sokka's remark."Anyway I'm off you guys. See ya."

Katara smiled at her. "We'll be waiting for you when you get back."

Toph nodded and hugged all three of them. She then walked towards her parents. "Sorry I gotta leave again."

Poppy smiled at her. "Don't worry about us. You do what must be done in order to kick their asses."

Lao shared the same expression his wife had. "Like your mother said do what must be done. Remember Toph you are the only person who can avenge Aang."

Toph smiled at her parents and them a hug. "Thank you so much. I love you guys."

"We love you too. Now give 'em hell." Lao said.

Toph nodded and headed to Bumi's side. "See ya later guys." And with that Bumi and Toph prepared on the journey to Omashu.

Zuko walked away from the entrance. "Come on guys. We have to continue with our work."

XXXXXXXX

In a different area an old man could be seen removing a cooling cloth from an unconscious person. Darkness consumed the room. The moonlight faintly showed a bit of brightness. The sky was covered in a blanket of darkness.

The unconscious person began to open their eyes

"Ah it looks like you've finally woken up." The old man said.

"Where am I?"

A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. I got sick for a few days and way bedridden until yesterday so I wasn't able to write much of anything. But I'll try updating one chapter today and tomorrow. Right about now I should be working on the 11th chapter of this fanfic. After tomorrow the update schedule will resume back to normal. Next one should be up next week. While updating this story I'll be editing previous chapters. Anyway, there's a reference to an Animoo. If you could read and review that would be fantastic. Any type of criticism is fine. Anyway I appreciate you guys.