Mai

She had to admit it, despite the…softness of it all, the fights were entertaining, and the character that the fighters portrayed made it all seem like a play. Mai saw how Toph just pushed against one of the fighters instead of taking him out and nodded, it was all staged. While she had never seen Toph fight she had an inkling that her new friend was strong and perhaps that's why she was the champion she was stronger than the rest and even if was all for entertainment Toph wouldn't settle for anything else than being the champion.

Mai saw as Headhunter barely managed to tap out and decided that perhaps it was more real than a true stagged fight. There had been some bets before the fight all organized by the administration of the arena and if she could see something was weird then so could someone else, they had to make it as real as possible enough that the best would be honored and the money paid.

"We are almost at the end folks! We have a three-way stare down" The announcer grandly announced as he moved with exaggerated gestures that the crowd ate up "Your champion, The Blind Bandit is fresh, with barely a scratch on her but the problem is the same as it has always been and that is that one good hit can take her out of the fight!"

Mai snorted at that, she had seen Toph break rocks with her hand and there was no doubt in her mind that there had been little bending involved in that. She also let herself fall on the ground face first and was always fine so she doubted that a punch would mean her end.

"The Star! The man who aspires to the title! The Boulder! He is in bad shape, but anger has a power all of its own! Is this finally the day we crown the Boulder as king of the Arena" The crowd went crazy at that and the fool of a man that had looked so serious before started paying attention to the crowd, if it was a real fight Toph or the Gopher would have put him in the ground for his distraction.

"This win will be for The Boulder and Pebble!" the crowd cheered again at the declaration of their favorite fighter and Mai briefly wondered who was the 'pebble' and feared that perhaps the idiot fighter had doomed a son of his to the same life but the fans readily answered her question when signs went up depicting a Crococat.

"And last but not least we have the upcoming fighter! The man who dreams of getting the belt! He who lives at the center of the earth! The Gopher!" those were certainly fighting words and it wasn't long before the crow found itself divided three ways, luckily for Mai, it seemed that she was on the side that supported Toph. It would have been such a bother to walk while enduring the screams and thrown objects, not to mention that she might have done something to stop them and while Mai was sure that Toph wouldn't begrudge her defending herself she wasn't so sure that the champ would be happy if the tournament ended because of a catastrophe in the stands.

Mai looked to the center of the arena, the fighters were now all circling each other, it seemed like the fight was coming to an end.

Toph

It could all end with a stomp. Toph only had to let her leg fall to the ground and it would all be over as the earth would take care of the rest. Privately Toph wondered if there were people as strong as her in other nations. Was there a Waterbender that could do more than the rest? Maybe a firebender? The stories about the princess with blue fire had reached even Toph and Mai had spoken about her even if briefly.

Perhaps she could fight her, or Mai's boyfriend. Who according to her was also really strong and while she was inclined to believe her, Toph had heard the same from many other girls in the arena when it came time for aspirants to participate in the selection tournament and those guys were all trash.

Toph was so distracted by her inner thoughts that she barely managed to dodge the Boulder's attack. The bastard had seen her distracted and launched a screen of rocks at her. A smile came to her face at his boldness, it wasn't the first nor third time that they fought, Toph couldn't even remember how many times they had fought mostly because whenever the Boulder challenged her she just defeated him in a few moves. Those defeats had made the man train harder than ever and it is because of them that he now can break rocks with his bare hands, now those mase hands were looking to hit her.

Toph's talon sank into the ground and in response, a wall of rock appeared in front of her, the Boulder's fist moved past it without trouble making the crowd cheer and some of her own fans were screaming at her to get some distance but this was exactly what she wanted. With a strong move downward from her hands the wall became a shackle that dragged the Boulder face first into the dirt.

"I think you should be the Pebble and your Crococat the Boulder" she said taunting the man that now looked up at her from his position in the ground.

"The Boulder will-" his words were cut short by a fist coming from the side, had it been a normal fist the Boulder might have just shrugged it off but it came reinforced by rock and Toph very much doubted that the Boulder had practiced breaking rocks with his face.

The Gopher probably knew that he stood no chance against Toph, his style of fighting put him squarely in her 'sights' so his tunnels were useless, and it seemed that he was now looking to take second place. Toph wouldn't make it so easy for him. With the tip of her toes, she took some tiles from the arena and then kicked them at Gopher, who predictably went underground to avoid them but at the last second his foot was grabbed by a very angry Boulder.

He was still stuck, and his free arm was at a strange angle as he gripped the appendage but if the veins in his head were anything to go by then Toph would assure anyone that the Boulder wasn't going to let go of Gopher. Toph wanted to see what he would do and casually freed his other arm making it look as he had gotten free on his own but the quick look he shot her meant that the Boulder knew it wasn't his strength that had freed him.

"The Boulder only has one thing to say to you Gopher" The Boulder pulled the man from the ground as if he was plucking out a vegetable and raised him until his face was staring at the wall of muscle that the Boulder called stomach. Gopher did his best to free himself throwing out punches and kicks even going as far as to grab one of the tiles with both of his hands and smashing it against the Boulder's side but it all proved futile. As the aspiring champion spun Gopher with one hand winding up for an attack "Boulder Smash!"

Toph had never seen anything like it, the poor Gopher was already pretty disoriented from the constant turns and twists from the rough handling of the Boulder and he put up no defense as he was smashed into the ring face first and then dragged back up by the leg just to repeat the process, indentations with the Gopher's face were left behind after each hit. The brutality of the assault was so great that the announcer had to move into the arena and stop the Boulder.

The fans soon were silent as if holding their breaths, they had never experienced something as real as this and it showed.

The announcer approached the fallen figure of the Gopher who looked purple already and pressed his ear to the Gopher's chest. "Ladies and Gentlemen! The Gopher…lives! But he is out of the fight!"

The people then all let out a loud sigh of relief that was followed by cheers and calls for both of them.

"Best Tournament!"

"Boulder Smash!"

"Earth Rumble!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

"The Blind Bandit will win!"

"Show that girl what the real champ can do!"

More and more cheers and calls for both of the to fight came and went with some people going as far as to throw things at each other but nothing too dangerous unless throwing a steak at someone's face counted as dangerous

The announcer discretely approached her while all of this was happening and spoke in her ear "I guess there's no was that I can convince you to throw the fight is there?"

"No, but you won't have to worry about me for much longer this is my last fight. Today the Blind Bandit retires unbeaten" The announcer looked at her with wide eyes before cursing.

"You should have said that before! We could have made so much money! Imagine the prices for seats if they knew this was your last fight!" Toph wasn't a fan of whining and she stepped away from the man who quickly noticed her displeasure and that was also well aware of just how strong she really was. As he swallowed and avoided looking directly at her, what did it say about him that he couldn't even look at the face of a blind girl. "I guess this will make the next one better as there would be in need of a new champion"

Toph snorted at his spineless words and focused on her opponent. The Boulder had given it his best and she would show him some appreciation for it by letting him swing a few times.

"Well Pebble it looks like your time is up" Even if Toph was going to be nice to him it didn't mean that she had to be nice to him, just for good measure she rose a pillar of rock that aimed at his private parts, the attack was just slow enough that the Boulder managed to dodge it.

"That was dangerous! The Boulder could have lost something important!" he stomped twice sending waves of rocks at her through the arena floor but a simple step put her at a safe distance from his sloppy attacks.

"With how pebble-like it is you don't have to worry about me hitting it" It seemed like that was the last straw for the Boulder. He pushed both his hands into the earth and scooped out lots of rock, Toph even thought that he might be making a tunnel but he soon started moving and throwing every last one of them at her, one after the other with no rest in between.

Toph danced between the projectiles her feet never leaving the ground except when she kicked something aside, the back of her hands stung a little as she parried some of the rocks but she kept on advancing until the distance between her and the Boulder had been cut in half. Toph was getting tired of their little game and started appropriating the rocks that were sent her way until she made a whole armor of rock for herself and the best part was that it didn't have any weaknesses thanks to her being blind.

After realizing what she had done the Boulder got more aggressive exchanging volume of fire for strength but that only made Toph's approach easier. At the end of it all, she was standing over a very tired Boulder who looked up at her rock plated face.

"This…was…nothing…" he then proceeded to faint.

"Well, I guess I won" Toph put one of her legs on top of him and made a victory sign with her hands much to the approval of the crowd.

"What a fantastic display of might! What a thrilling show of absolute defense! Today the Boulder met a mountain that walked and found himself wanting! The undisputed! The strongest! Your
Champion! The Blind Bandit wins again!"

"Blind Bandit!" "Blind Bandit!"

"Blind Bandit!" "Blind Bandit!"

"Blind Bandit!" "Blind Bandit!"

"Blind Bandit!" "Blind Bandit!"

"And if you think that is all for the Earth Rumble Arena you're all mistaken! This day our beloved champion retires undefeated! A new tournament is coming up! We will have a new champion but first we must have more fighters! That's right ladies and gentlemen the open fighting arena of newbies is coming!"

Toph quickly stopped paying attention to the theatrics of the man and with some help from the earth jumped quite high into the air and landed just beside Mai. Toph didn't need to see to know that she had quite the smile on her face.

"I thought about what you said and you're right. I want out, think you can help me with that?"

"I have a few ideas on how to get you a little freedom" Toph smiled at the response, with friends like Mai life was going to be interesting.


Author:finally on time. the end of the Toph recruitment arc and the start of a new one. As always i hope you guys are doing fine and that you've enjoyed the chapter. i will see you again next wednesday and if you want to read more check out my .