K here's the next chapter, hope everyone is having fun. Time to get into it. Sorry this took so long I had to watch season 3 of ATLA again to try and get a handle on the sequence of events and how I wanted to handle them. Now that I have, I'm hoping I can speed through this arc over the next few weeks. Gonna have another chapter out next week by sunday, and after that I'm gonna try to get on a schedule of one chapter every two weeks. Just gotta remember to write a bit every day. It's not so big of a task when I only have to write like 500 words or so a day, that's something I can do in like a half hour to be honest. I just gotta get onto a schedule, time seems to fly by so quickly, the weeks are blending together, and before I know it, nearly a month has passed. It just blows me away sometimes. Guys, I think I might be getting old. :,(
Broken Angel: Rising Demon
Chapter 25: Making friends and preparing for war.
-The Fire Nation-
Riley sat and watched as her daughter and her pals practiced their bending skills. It had been several days since the Avatar had awoken and in that time, a few events of note, had occurred.
Aang spent most of the first few days being awake, in a deeply confused and troubled state. The young boy was obviously shaken from how close to death he'd been, and it definitely upset him to learn about the fall of the Earth Kingdom, but the blow that struck the hardest was learning about how everyone thought he was dead.
The boy didn't take it well. He was upset, naturally, he thought he was a failure, and most importantly, he felt that the world believing he was dead, would take away whatever hope people may have had in being free from the Fire Nation's tyranny.
Aang spent his time on the ship recovering from his injuries, and getting into arguments with his friends. Riley, Gaia, and Yugito steered clear of the boy and let him have his time to vent and come to terms with what had happened. They'd all been introduced, and while Aang could definitely tell that something was off about all three of them, he had so much on his mind at the moment that he just wasn't able to focus on anything.
It also didn't help matters for the boy when his friends such as Sokka and Toph both thought it was useful that the Fire Nation thought he was dead, because that meant that they wouldn't be looking for him anymore, nor would they be prepared for him when the invasion came. It wasn't exactly a sentiment that Aang found agreeable, and he was quite vocal about not liking it.
He was naturally left quite frustrated, and it didn't help when their ship was stopped by a Fire Nation patrol ship. Hakoda was able to pull off a convincing lie to try and steer the Fire Nation away from investigating their ship by claiming they were on a special errand for a specific Admiral, though as the Fire Nation soldiers were returning to their ship, one of them noted that the admiral in question had been on leave for quite a while, leading them to suspect that the ship had been captured.
Toph, along with Riley, Gaia, and Yugito, overhead their conversation, and knew immediately that they had been had.
Toph used her metal bending to break the catwalk the Fire Nation soldiers had used to form a bridge between their two vessels, and sent the three soldiers plummeting into the ocean where they quickly began to sink beneath the waves due to their heavy metal armor.
Their ship immediately pulled away, and not long after the Fire Nation ship got on their tail and began lobbing fireballs at them via shipboard trebuchets.
In retaliation Riley decided to offer a rebuttal to their attack, utilizing "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet" she launched the technique at the trailing ship. Aiming for the Bow of the ship, the Water dragon rushed forward and sank it's teeth deep into the metal, the magically infused water piercing through the metal like a spear through wood. The dragon than lurched upward, upending the boat lifting the front end up and out of the water, flipping it, and capsizing the ship.
The ease of it's destruction, along with the raw power of the jutsu earned dumbfounded looks from Toph's friends, though the girl herself could only hear what had happened and needed someone to explain in detail what had just occurred.
Riley had naturally received dumbfounded looks from her fellow shipmates, it was one thing to shove a ship aside with a large wave, powerful Waterbenders could do that easily, it was another entirely to lift a metal ship out of the water and capsize it with seemingly very little effort.
It was an act of such ease that many people couldn't help but gawk. While many on the ship were curious about Riley's ability and ease as what they perceived to be Waterbending, the Avatar himself was far more concerned about the fact that he was now being forced to stay hidden to prevent the enemy from learning that he was alive.
Aang got into another argument with Katara, though this time he decided to run off on his own.
With his vanishing act, it was decided by his friends as well as Hakoda that it might be for the best if Aang's friends went and found him and then they laid low until the invasion rolled around.
Toph, Sokka, and Katara agreed, though Riley, Yugito, and Gaia made it clear that they would be going with them, they were here for Toph, so they'd travel with her. Toph had yet to reveal to her friends or anyone else the familial connection, so their persistence in following her was more than a little curious, though in the end they were ultimately free to do what they wanted, and seeing their fighting abilities, Hakoda actually thought it was a good idea to have the three women around to keep the teens safe, though he kept that part quiet to his children.
So they left the ship with Riley, Yugito, and Gaia riding on a cloud of sand while the others road on Aang's flying bison Oppa. It took a few hours but they eventually managed to track Aang down. He had made it to a crescent shaped island with an active volcano. He was laid out on the shore of the island, resting after a long night of travel. After speaking with his friends he finally admitted that they were right and that for the moment, it was probably for the best that he keep a low profile and allow the world to believe he was dead. It naturally wasn't easy for him, but it did show that despite his age, the boy was more mature than he let on.
From there he was reintroduced to Riley, Gaia, and Yugito, the group traveling on Oppa's back to the Fire Nation, using a cloud of cloud of wind to hide the Bison's movements.
While Aang didn't say it immediately, it was obvious that he was paying more attention to the three women and the strange feeling he got from them.
When they arrived at a place to camp out and steal some Fire Nation clothes to blend in, the group was ready to continue training. Aang immediately took interest in what Riley had to teach, learning about the elements and how they could be combined. Learning that Katara and Toph both had the ability to learn Airbending due to having an air element nearly sent him cheering. The boy had been dealing with the loss of his people due to the Fire Nation, learning that it was possible to track down benders who had an Air or Wind elemental base and teach them Airbending was one of the first real bits of hope the boy had in regards to rebuilding his people. That meant that he could fire people to learn Airbending, and maybe some of them would take to learning the culture, just like the Earth Kingdom denizens that had set up a home in the Northern Air Temple.
It meant that there was some hope for the Air Nomads to return, and that was something that truly raised the boy's spirits.
After that he was basically glued to Riley's teachings, taking in everything she had to offer in regards to manipulating the elements, and even harnessing the power of magic to increase his physical abilities.
He also showed a great deal of interest in learning how to Lightningbend. Considering it was an element that he possessed and yet the only people who knew how to manipulate lightning appeared to be Firebenders. Lightning had shown that it had the power to overwhelm him even in the Avatar State. Learning how to bend it, may be the key to defeating the Fire Lord before Sozin's Comet arrived.
It was an interesting idea and Riley offered to help, finding the prospect of making something never before seen before in this world to be a tempting use of her time. So that became Riley's newest teaching goal with the Avatar. He joined with his friends, learning to harness and manipulate basic magic, but on his own time Riley would offer him pointers on how to harness lightning as a base element.
The second day they were at their camp site, the teens went into town to explore. Aang ran into a bout of misfortune on the trip and ended up dragged into a Fire Nation school, the adults believing he was playing hooky.
He took it as an opportunity to perhaps learn a bit about Firebending but it eventually devolved into the boy trying to get his classmates to lighten up by teaching them how to dance.
A fun experience though it did lead the group into having to vacate their current hiding spot to find a new one.
A day or so later they ended up at a polluted village, filled with suffering people, and conveniently around the same time, Oppa came down with a strange illness, or more accurately, he was suffering from belly aches.
It quickly became apparent that it was Katara who was feeding Oppa berries that dyed his tongue purple, and was using that as an excuse to stay in the area so she could pretend to be a water spirit called the Painted Lady. She used her disguise as the Painted Lady, along with her Waterbending to try and help the people of the village and eventually roped Aang into assisting her in destroying a nearby factory that was helping to pollute the waters around the village.
Needless to say this lead to a violent retaliation from the guards at the factory who suspected the villagers of sabotage, and thus Katara and Aang were forced to intervene to stop them.
Katara and Aang were both sternly reprimanded by Sokka who helped them in dealing with the Firebenders but wasn't overly happy with them endangering their mission by drawing attention to themselves.
Again they were forced to move, Riley, Gaia, and Yugito took the whole trip in stride, agreeing with Sokka that their actions could endanger their greater objective, but ultimately they had made it out without drawing too much attention.
Riley continued to teach them, helping the four of them tap into the magic within them and help them familiarize themselves with it. The one who had the hardest time was Sokka, though considering he wasn't a bender, it was no surprise since he was basically starting from nothing.
The boy was eager to achieve though, and it wasn't hard to see why. At times Sokka could be seen observing the rest of his group and it didn't take a mind reader to know what he was thinking. He obviously wanted to be more useful, because he couldn't Bend, his contribution to a fight wasn't on the same level as Aang, Katara, or Toph. Learning to enhance his physical abilities, to do what Gaia, and Yugito could do, that would make him much more useful to the group.
One night while the group was sitting out under the stars watching a meteor shower, one just so happened to land nearby, starting a fire which began to encroach on a nearby village. Despite the need to keep a low profile, the teens showed that they weren't really long term thinkers and quickly jumped into action using their bending to put out the flames.
While Aang, Katara, and Toph handled this, Sokka was left to simply sit back and watch, since there was little he could contribute, which of course brought his feelings of inadequacy to the forefront of his mind.
The next day the group went down to the village they had saved and went shopping. They ended up in a weapons shop where Sokka tried out several weapons before spotting a sword and suddenly gaining inspiration for a way to increase his usefulness. He decided he wanted to learn how to use a sword. First thing he did was ask Riley if she could teach him, since he saw that she carried a sword.
Riley admitted that she could, but that she had never practiced fighting with a Jian before. The two closest areas of understanding she possessed were of fighting with a western style longsword, and her practice with the Sword of Kusanagi while it was in her possession.
She could teach him some of what she knew, but she admitted that in order to truly get a grasp on swordsmanship, he'd need a master, and she was by no means a master of the art. While Riley fully intended to show him the ropes, Aang instead offered another idea, learning that the sword that Sokka was interested in had actually been crafted by a sword master who lived nearby, Aang suggested that Sokka learn from him.
And Sokka agreed.
He was of the belief that if he could learn sword fighting and gain access to his magic, he'd become a strong enough warrior to really make a difference in the fight against the Fire Nation. While his friends tried to encourage him, and convince him that it wasn't necessary, he was adamant about seeing it through.
And he most certainly did so. The sword master's name was Piandao. Sokka spent several days at the man's castle, learning the art of sword fighting while hiding under a false alias. He seemed determined to get it right.
While Sokka was learning in the way of the sword, Aang took the time to finally approach Riley, Yugito, and Gaia, and inquire about the strange feeling he got from them.
"You're most likely sensing the Bijuu." Riley explained to the boy.
"What's a Bijuu?" Aang asked in response.
"A Tailed Beast… a dark spirit of incredible power. There's one sealed in each of us." Yugito answered.
"You have spirits living inside of you? Wow… What's that like?" Aang inquired.
"You should know. You have one living inside of you as well." Riley replied, giving him a curious look.
"I do?" The boy responded, seemingly surprised to hear that, which earned a raised eyebrow from Riley.
"Yeah, my eyes can see magic and because spirits are basically sentient clumps of magic, I can see them quite easily. There's a powerful light spirit living within you." Riley informed the boy.
"Oh, that must be the Avatar Spirit. It's the collection of all my past lives." Aang stated after a moment of thought.
"Wow, that's a lot of lives. Enough so that this spirit has accumulated the power of a Tailed Beast. I'm honestly surprised, I thought it was something else." Riley admitted, giving the boy a curious look. Despite what he said, she didn't know if she fully believed that this spirit was just his past lives. Something was gathering those lives together and purposefully reincarnating the Avatar, something with quite a bit of power.
"Well I mean, I'm not entirely sure how it all works, I didn't exactly receive all of my Avatar training, and I've been busy trying to master the other bending styles, but there may be something more to it. All I know is that I'm connected to all of my past lives, and that I can tap into their combined abilities by entering the Avatar State. It's a form of incredible power, but it's also dangerous, it's difficult to control myself in that state." Aang noted, his gaze falling as he thought on her words.
"Don't worry, we know exactly what you mean by that. The Tailed Beasts within us can try and take control when our emotions run high, and if they do, they'll use our bodies to run amok. So we understand what it's like to be weary of such power." Yugito offered, earning a smile from the boy and a nod of acceptance.
"So Toph says you guys aren't from these lands. I guess that would make sense with your strange understanding of Chi, and Bending and all. So where did you come from?" Aang asked.
"It's sort of difficult to explain. Let's just say we came from far away." Riley answered with a shrug.
"I understand. Now you said that you had dark spirits housed inside of you. But I'm not sure that's what I'm feeling coming from you. I mean it's what I get from them, but you feel different." Aang noted, addressing Riley in specific earning a smirk from her.
"More than likely what you're feeling is the essence of the Ten-Tails. It's a spirit of nature, and entity tied to the magic of all things in our world. It's basically the raw fury of nature, given form." Riley expressed, earning a slow nod from the boy as he pondered that.
"Huh. That actually makes sense. Nature is chaotic and can be incredibly ferocious when it's thrown out of balance. I once met a nature spirit like that." Aang expressed.
Riley raised a curious eyebrow and sat next to the boy, eager to here him continue. Spirits and higher magical creatures had always interested Riley, and learning about them was something that always kept her attention.
So for the next few hours, Riley and her mates sat with the young Avatar and talked about spirits and the Spirit world.
It was something that the three found curious, and learning about the Spirit world helped to take Riley's mind off of the dark energies stirring in the Fire Nation capitol.
After learning about how Aang could meditate in spiritual places and enter the spirit world, Riley offered to let him try and contact her own inner spirit, since he was, in his own words the 'bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds'.
Much to her surprise, he managed it quite quickly. She had left the door open for him, and kept the Darkness, and the Gravemind at bay so he wouldn't encounter any major trouble, but it still surprised her that he was able to connect to her mind so easily. A part of her suspected that his declaration about being a bridge between the physical and spiritual, was more than just a kid's understanding of his purpose. The Avatar truly was a special being if they could connect so easily with an entity as powerful as Riley was.
Riley couldn't help but applaud the boy's efforts as she appeared next to him in her mindscape. He offered a smile and took in the surrounding landscape, finding it interesting, but most likely he'd seen equally as strange and physically impossible structures in the Spirit World during his visits there.
They were near to Kurama whom drew the majority of Aang's attention.
"Wow, so that's the spirit you were talking about. He doesn't seem so bad." Aang noted causing one of Kurama's eyes to snap open and send a glare at the boy, causing Aang to tense up. Riley let out a laugh as she patted the boy on the back.
"Watch what you say my young friend. This may be my mind, but it's his home." Riley continued to chuckle as Kurama slowly rose to his feet and approached the two.
"Huh, so this is the mighty Avatar. Hmm… seems like nothing more than a little twerp if you ask me." Kurama muttered, giving Aang a once over.
Aang scratched the back of his head and let out a nervous chuckle at that.
"I'm quickly learning that he has his moments. So what do you make of the spirit he's got living inside of him?" Riley inquired stepping towards Kurama before turning to face Aang.
"Seems like some sort of Nature Spirit if you ask me. Though something more in line with a spirit or a god of light and tranquility. There is intense malevolence locked deep inside of it, almost like a fragment of something much darker, but for the most part, this spirit seems to be entirely made up of light magic and it's nature is calm and peaceful." Kurama answered as he stared down at Aang.
"A spirit of light and tranquility? Huh… I never knew that. I was never able to get my full Avatar training, so there's a lot about being the Avatar that I don't know yet." Aang admitted.
"It's alright. I'm sure you'll find out everything you need to when the time is right. I personally don't think you've got anything to worry about with that spirit watching your back. When the time is right, I strongly suggest seeking it out and learning to work with it. I've found in my many years that you'll never find a better partner than the one you share everything with, and who knows you better than you know yourself. Kurama's been with me since the day I was born, and every experience of my life, he's shared with me. Our powers are now united and we trust each other fully. You're in a similar position with your own inner spirit. When this crap with the Fire Nation is over and done with, I'd strongly recommend you devote some time into meeting with this spirit and forming your own bond with it." Riley offered, earning a smile and a nod of agreement from Aang. Riley gave Kurama a smile which he pointedly ignored, before she gently pushed Aang out of her mindscape.
Riley and Aang found themselves staring at one another, after an awkward moment both let out laughs.
As time passed, Riley found that she very much enjoyed her time with Toph and her friends. Each one was their own unique person, and they all had baggage that they were carrying, but it helped them to grow, and it was obvious that the four truly cared for each other and loved one another like a family.
Throughout the day, Sokka would spend his time with his sword master training in the art of fighting with a blade, and at the end of the day he would return to camp and spend a few hours trying to harness his own internal magic. He was determined, which is what helped him to persist, and as he began to familiarize himself with a sword, he began asking Riley for sparing sessions. These she gladly accepted, and the two would spend an hour every night sparring with one another.
While Sokka was off with his sword master, Riley, Gaia, and Yugito would train Toph and her friends. Toph was already beginning to tap into her base magic, learning to strip away the Earth element from it and just manipulate it freely, though it did require almost all of her focus to pull off, and she was easily distracted and would slip into her old habits quite often. Still she was determined to expand her skills so she kept at it.
Katara and Aang were both in a similar position. Learning to manipulate non-elemental magic was the key to learning how to use magic to physically enhance yourself, but it was also instrumental in learning to employ different elemental types. Katara had a Wind affinity and a minor fire affinity, but if she wanted to use either of them alone, she'd need to learn how to strip away her water affinity first. For Aang, if he wanted to learn how to manipulate Lightning, he'd need to also learn to manipulate non-elemental magic, and then add a Lightning element to it. Once he could do that, then they could start devising some sort of bending method for it.
It was honestly time well spent, Riley, Gaia, and Yugito, all enjoyed training, and used the time to refine some of their skills while the teens were practicing. Gaia was taking some time to learn some of the methods behind Earthbending, as she figured the style of elemental manipulation would be a good way to enhance her physical abilities, on top of learning how to manipulate raw earth. Toph naturally helped her out in this department, allowing them to have a point of bonding. Yugito had started learning a new Fire Style Ninjutsu, and Riley was even teaching her the aspects of Firebending that she had taken from the Fire Nation soldier she had killed.
Seeing them practicing at it, Aang had asked one night whether it was possible for Riley to teach him Firebending.
"Well I'm not against it or anything, though I'm only really instructing Yugito in the methods based off of some random soldier's abilities. Because he wasn't a master of the art, I'm not either. I can show you what I took from him, but it's not gonna help you in dealing with the Fire Lord. If you're fighting a master of the arts, than you need a master of the arts to train you so that you understand what you're dealing with. I can show you what I know but it may not be in your best interest. Muscle memory and all that can be a pain to undo." Riley offered in response.
Aang seemed thoughtful in regards to her explanation, it was then that he decided to ask how she knew how to Firebend. Toph was the only one of the four who knew that Riley could take in the souls of the people she killed, her friends had yet to learn that little tidbit of info.
"I have two answers to that question. The first is that I fought a firebender and I killed him. When he died I took in his spirit for a moment and absorbed his memories." Riley answered, earning dumbfounded looks from Aang, Sokka, and Katara.
"You can do that?!" Sokka demanded in disbelief.
"Yes. These eyes of mine allow me to take in the soul of a person, and read their memories and absorb their magical abilities. That's one of the answers as to why I can Firebend. I fought a Fire Nation soldier, and when he died, I took in his memories which included his ability to Firebend. As I mentioned, he was just some schmuck soldier. He wasn't a master, and he wasn't even all that good at Firebending. So naturally, I'm only showing Yugito the fundamentals of Firebending, I'm not actually teaching her the bending form itself. We'll work together to devise her own Firebending form that suits her natural abilities. It's also why I said it's probably not in your best interest to mimic the Firebending I know. Because it's pretty bad, to be honest." Riley explained, her words earning a slow nod from Aang as he thought about that. The ability to take in someone's memories and learn their skills, that was pretty heavy. The idea that Riley had killed before did turn his stomach a bit, but he understood that this was war. He'd do what he could to stop violence whenever he could manage it, but he wasn't in control of other people's lives. As much as he hated it, he knew that people died in war all the time. If he truly wanted to make it stop, he'd have to defeat the Fire Lord.
"You mentioned that you had another answer, what was it?" Toph inquired.
"My eyes, they can see magic, and they have the ability to copy anything I see. Because of that, I have a photographic and eidetic memory. I can recall pretty much anything I see, and because of this, and my ability to see magic, I can mimic what a person does when they use magic. So long as I have the ability to use that kind of magic, I can copy said ability. For example…" Riley rose to her feet and proceeded to move through Toph's Earthbending style, mimicking it with precision. She didn't actually bend the element, but she went through the movements, copying them perfectly, earning amazement from the teens.
"Wow." Katara noted, amazed by how eerily similar the movements were despite Riley never having been seen practicing Earthbending with Toph before.
"Well I guess you're right. I should probably focus on finding a Firebending master. That way when I learn it the first time, it'll be correct." Aang offered in agreement after a few moments of thought.
The next day Sokka returned very early to inform the gang that he needed their help with something. It was time for him to forge his own sword, and he had the perfect idea to make it his own, taking the meteor that had fallen near them nearly a week prior and bringing it up to the sword master's compound.
Of course the group came up with the bright idea of having Toph use Earthbending to get it up there, which would have earned a comment or two from Gaia about how they intended to explain moving the several hundred pound meteorite, but Riley simply waved her off and told her not to worry. Everything would be fine.
Riley kept an eye on the sword master's reaction to the arrival of the group and the meteor, and could tell almost instantly that he knew something was up, but he ultimately decided not to do anything about it and proceeded to have his assistant work with Sokka in forging his new sword.
The sword itself was an absolute beauty, a black blade formed as a Jian, master Piandao offered his praise of the sword and gifted it to Sokka, though Sokka in turn refused, feeling guilty about hiding his identity from his teacher.
Piandao feigned being upset at the revelation and proceeded to attack Sokka, forcing a duel and forcing Sokka to utilize his newly forged sword in order to survive. While his friends moved to try and help him, Sokka asked that they stand down, he intended to duel Piandao and show what he had learned. From the roof of the castle, Riley, Gaia, and Yugito watched as the duel played out. It was obvious to all three of them that the old master had no intention of actually harming the young Water Tribesman.
He was testing him, forcing him to learn and adapt and take all that he had learned and use it to his advantage. Piandao was definitely a skilled master, and an excellent teacher. The duel went on for many long minutes until finally Piandao got the upper hand and disarmed the young warrior. He then offered the boy a compliment on his skills and admitted that he had known from the beginning that he was lying.
He told him that he needed to come up with a better alias if he wanted to hide in plain sight and that the time had come for him to move on and continue his training on his own.
They thanked master Piandao and departed, making their way to a cove where they could rest on the beach and continue their training.
And with that, they had arrived at the present, where Riley oversaw her newest students in their training. Toph, Aang, Katara, and Sokka all went about with their regular training, honing their skills and practicing their newest abilities. Riley was definitely taking a liking to them, and she knew that she favored her daughter Toph, the young girl was energetic, headstrong, brazen, and wild, and brought life to everything around her. It was definitely something Riley enjoyed about her newest daughter.
Soon night began to fall and the group settled in for the night. They usually slept out under the stars which was quite nice and the teens often got an eyeful of Riley and her mates cuddling under the stars, their affection for Riley was a subtle thing but the youngest members of the group definitely took notice, and did their best to not intrude.
Riley herself was quietly sleeping when she felt a malicious intent drawing closer.
She slowly sat upright and activated her Byakugan. Her eyes quickly located the source of this malevolence. A tall, muscular man, a third eye tattooed on his forehead. His hair was cut extremely short, and he had a dark beard and mustache. His right arm and leg were both metal prosthetics, and from what Riley could tell in regards to his magic, he was a powerful Firebender.
She gently roused her mates from slumber.
"What is it?" Yugito inquired as she awoke.
"Trouble." Riley answered as Toph suddenly sat up.
"Hey guys, wake up." Toph stated causing her friends to stir.
"What's wrong?" Sokka asked as he rubbed at his eyes.
"You guys probably aren't gonna believe me, but I think there's a metal man walking towards us." Toph answered, slightly confused.
"Someone is coming, get ready." Riley commanded as she turned her gaze up to a nearby cliff where the man in question, began to appear.
They all looked up at him, as he glared down at them, his gaze intent and his posture signifying that he was here for a fight.
That man took in a deep breath, gathering energy within his stomach, than channeling it up into his third eye tattoo. He then focused it in the form of an energy bolt, launching the magical energy from his tattoo down towards him.
This energy bolt popped and cracked in the air as it rapidly raced down towards them. His aim was slightly off and the bolt hit the side of a nearby hill between them and him. The result was immense.
A large explosion ripped up from where the bolt impacted, sending the teens flying backwards, while Gaia, Riley, and Yugito used chakra to hold their footing.
Toph immediately threw up a wall of earth to shield them, but the man quickly launched another bolt down at them, which blasted through her barrier.
Katara tried to send a torrent of water rushing up towards him, but it was countered as well by an explosive bolt.
"What the hell is that?" Yugito demanded.
"Is that guy firebending with his mind!?" Sokka shrieked out.
"Seems like it." Gaia noted.
"That is really cool." Riley stated with a smirk, earning a look from Gaia before she let out a command, "Kids, look away." The youngest members of the group stared at her with confusion.
"What do you mean look away?" Toph asked indignantly.
"Just thought I'd give fair warning." Riley answered as a ball of lightning erupted in her hand, and the loud screeching of birds tore through the air.
Riley smirked devilishly as she drew a kunai.
Their attacker turned his gaze directly onto her, immediately noticing the lightning surging out of her hand.
Riley held the kunai out in front of her, her gaze filling with malice, as she stared up at the man.
"What's she doing?" Sokka asked, questioning Yugito.
"I have no idea." Yugito answered.
"I'd look away if I were you, this wont be pretty." Gaia stated aloud, as Riley jumped into the air, flying straight towards their attacker.
She held out the kunai and opened her hand, before it even had time to move a millimeter, Riley activated Amenotejikara. In an instant the man, and the kunai switched places, with him appearing in the air, Riley's hand on his shoulder. The shock on his face brought a smile to Riley's as she rammed Chidori through his chest, cutting straight through his heart.
A surge of electricity ripped through the air as Riley and the now dead man fell to the ground.
Riley landed on top of the man, the air leaving his lungs in a bloody gurgle. Life fled from him in an instant. Riley stared down at the man, her smirk still present. She quickly removed his soul, drawing it in and taking in his memories and magic.
"Anything you're interested in?" Kurama hummed with curiosity.
"He was using some sort of ability to unleash explosive bolts at high speed from a point on his body. I want to see what I can do with that." Riley answered.
"Alright than. While you're busy dissecting that, I'm just gonna take a look at his life, see if I find anything interesting." Kurama stated.
Riley offered a noise to show that she'd heard him, while she was busy dissecting the ability that he had used against them. It was a facet of Firebending, a sub-element where he could release bolts of explosive energy at his targets.
The bolts themselves were invisible though they did cause the air around them to crack and pop, but otherwise they couldn't be seen. Riley was curious to see if she could enhance their speed, and perhaps develop her own method of utilizing this ability.
"Who was he?" Riley heard Gaia ask as she and the others approached.
"He was an assassin. Sent to kill the Avatar. He's been hunting us for the last few weeks." Riley reiterated what Kurama informed her.
"Wait, but everyone is supposed to think Aang's dead, who could possibly know that he's still alive?" Katara inquired hearing Riley's answer and then spotting corpse which caused her to turn away before she could see what had been done to him.
Aang did much the same, not looking at the fallen man, and silently mourning the loss of life. Even if he had tried to kill them, Aang had been raised to believe that all life was sacred, and that killing was wrong. He understood that it was war, and that it happened, but that didn't mean that he liked it, or that he wasn't shaken when it occurred right in front of him.
"He was hired by an individual in the Fire Nation. A teenager with a burn scar on the side of his face. He was paid quite handsomely to track you down." Riley answered, unleashing a burst of Amaterasu onto the man's body, destroying it in mere moments, to the amazement of the teens.
"A teenager with a burn scar on his face? That sounds like someone we know." Sokka noted as Riley walked over to them.
"The Fire Nation Prince, Zuko." Katara noted, a fiery glare in her eyes.
"Old pal?" Riley inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"He's been trying to capture Aang since he awoke in the South Pole. He's been hounding us for months. Last time we saw him was when he fought alongside his sister at Ba Sing Se. He must be worried that Aang is still out there, so he sent this assassin to come and find him." Sokka explained to the older women.
"Hmm… well he isn't sending progress reports to the prince, so I doubt the boy will know that his agent has failed. Right now it appears he's only afraid you may have survived, but as you move forward with your invasion, I would strongly suggest you prepare for the possibility that your enemies may have anticipated your survival." Riley offered to them, earning dark looks from the teens.
"Well that's worrisome." Toph muttered.
"Yeah. We should move locations, those explosions will no doubt draw attention." Yugito suggested.
Several nods were offered as the group returned to their camp and quickly packed up. Within an hour they were at a new location in a nearby forest, and for the most part, everyone was silent and unable to get sleep.
Close to dawn, Aang chose to approach Riley and question her.
"Is there something you need?" Riley inquired, sensing the boy's emotions and how he was feeling conflicted.
"Look, I know you did what you had to, to keep us safe, and I appreciate it, but taking other people's lives is something that I've never understood. The monks raised me to believe that all life was sacred, I know he was trying to kill us, but did you really have to kill him in return?" Aang asked her, after taking a moment to collect his thoughts.
Riley was quiet for a moment as she stared up at the sky. After a few second she turned to him and offered the boy a gentle smile.
"You're a good kid Aang. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise." She said to him, causing his eyes to fall to the ground.
"You think I'm naive?" Aang asked, guessing what was going through her mind.
"You believe what you were raised to believe, I don't follow those beliefs. Vengeance stirs in the hearts of human beings. When you hurt someone, when you beat them, you inflict an injury that they carry with them for the rest of their lives. A person can be humiliated. A person can be scarred. So long as they live, there will always be the chance that they don't learn from what happened to them. They'll blame you, they'll blame others, and they'll seek to retaliate against those they believe have done them harm. There is no way to stop it. It's how people are." Riley responded, still eyeing the boy with a small smile.
"And what about forgiveness? What if people don't choose violence?" Aang questioned her.
"A possibility. Look Aang, there are two outcomes when you deal someone an injury. They either learn their lesson, or they don't. If they don't, then they'll hate you, and some will try and retaliate. I can take it, you can take it. If all I was worried about was myself, than forgiveness could be an option. But I have other people that I care for, people that I love. The people who want to hurt me, will hurt them, to get at me, and that's not something I'll allow. Forgiving your enemies is a wonderful ideal, but it doesn't work all the time. People resent, they hate, and they'll seek to hurt you for the hurt you've done to them. There is no way around it. You can forgive them, you can kill them, it doesn't matter. If you forgive them, they may choose to hate you anyway. If you kill them, you light the flames of vengeance in the hearts of those that loved them." Riley offered as an explanation.
"So then why kill them if it doesn't make a difference?" Aang inquired in response.
"Deception is the greatest weapon a warrior possesses. If you go into battle knowing what your foe is capable of, than you've already won half the fight. I kill my enemies for a practical reason. So that the ones that come after them have no idea what they're up against, and because of the fear it spreads to your name. The only way to protect the ones you love is to barricade them behind a wall of fear. If I kill everyone who comes after my family, my friends, and my lovers, than one day perhaps, the fool who chooses to come after me, will stop and realize that everyone else who's tried, is dead. And that will stay his hand. People like being alive, and if you can make them believe that they'll be killed if they try anything, than they wont. People fear consequences Aang. People fear punishment. I kill my enemies, so that they can never harm those that I care about." Riley explained to him, earning a slow nod from the boy.
"I think I understand." Aang admitted after a few quiet moments.
"Look kid, you're free to believe what you want to believe, and you're free to live your life how you see fit. Just remember something very important. At the end of the day, your actions reflect on those close to you. Even if you don't mean to, everything you do, affects them. And those that hate you, may target those that love you, just to get at you. That is a truth, that will never fade, and the sooner you learn it, the greater chance you'll have to protect your loved ones." Riley offered as she rose to her feet and passed the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder as she did.
He offered a quiet nod, still thoughtful.
Riley left him to ponder her words as she went for a moonlit walk.
-Meanwhile-
Out at a well known vacation spot in the Fire Nation, Prince Zuko, Princess Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, had just finished trashing the home of a local, in order to vent some of their recent frustrations. Now Zuko and Azula stood off by themselves, staring out over the ocean.
Zuko kept glancing at his sister, taking in the longing look in her eyes as she gazed out over the sea.
"Do you miss him?" Zuko asked.
"Miss who?" Azula responded, glancing over at him and raising and eyebrow.
"Shakik." Zuko answered.
"Maybe." Azula replied.
"Since we came back, you've been spending a lot of time with him." Zuko noted.
"He's my baby brother. What, I can't spend time with my sibling?" Azula challenged in response.
"Your sibling…" Zuko muttered quietly, earning a mild glare from Azula. She focused her gaze on him for a moment, before shrugging.
"I guess you're not as dense as you let on, huh Zuzu?" Azula teased with a dry chuckle.
He shot a look at her, knowing what she was referring to.
"So he is yours?" Zuko demanded, pinning her with a hard look.
Again she shrugged. "That should have been obvious."
"Why?" Zuko asked quietly.
"Why what?" Azula asked in response.
"Why have a child? What were you thinking?" Zuko pressed her.
"I was thinking… what would my child be like? I wanted to know, so I had one." Azula responded.
"You just wanted to know what your child would be like? That's crazy. You're lying!" Zuko declared, glaring at her.
"So what if I am? It's my business, not yours. Why do you care anyway?" Azula responded, acting like it was no big deal.
Zuko didn't know why, but he knew for certain that she wasn't telling him the truth. There was a deeper reason.
"Did someone force you into this?" Zuko demanded, earning a bit of surprise from her.
"You've got to be joking. When was the last time anyone forced me to do anything?" Azula countered.
"What about father?" Zuko pressed.
"What about father?" Azula replied folding her arms over her chest.
"I've heard what people have been saying. What they suspect. He's that father isn't he?" Zuko pushed, forcing her into an answer.
Azula stared at him blankly for a moment before she let out a sigh.
"I'm positive you didn't figure that out on your own. So who was it?" Azula asked in reply, affirming and dodging the question all at once.
"Azula…" Zuko began, but Azula continued.
"It couldn't have been one of the servants, they know better than to gossip. Couldn't have been one of the guards, they'd be killed for spreading such things…" Azula began to theorize, earning an angry growl from Zuko.
"Dammit Azula, will you…" He tried but again she interrupted him.
"Couldn't have been Ty Lee, she's too much of an air head. Oh I know, it was Mai, wasn't it?" Azula asked, turning a smirk towards him. He hid his reaction well, and merely glared at her, as her smirk grew.
"She always was smart. And she's the only person you talk to, so that makes sense. Whatever, it's not like it matters." Azula shook her head and let out a chuckle.
"It does matter. Azula, you were a kid! It's wrong, what he did. How are you okay with this?" Zuko demanded, trying his hardest not to start shouting.
"Because I didn't mind the idea of it. Frankly it was kind of boring. I don't think I'm his type, than again neither was mother so I guess that makes sense. Honestly, I just wanted to know what it was like, and if I was going to have a child, it wasn't going to be with loser on the streets, or one of the guards." Azula responded, again shrugging like it was no big deal.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Zuko again demanded, shaking his head in disbelief.
"If you recall our little confession session, earlier tonight, our mother thought I was a monster. I guess I finally believed her. Monster do what they like, don't they?" Azula answered.
"You did it just to spite our mother?" Zuko questioned.
"Hardly, like I said, I was curious, about a lot of things. He simply helped me answer them all at once. I don't see what the big problem is. It's not like I'm even interested in him. Father was just a means to an end. I got my answers, and now I have a son who will grow up to be more powerful than any firebender who has ever lived. Stronger than you, stronger than that fool of an uncle, stronger than father, even stronger than me. My own legacy to surpass all others. Honestly I never expected such a boon, but I guess the universe does have a habit of rewarding princesses." Azula explained to him, again shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head.
Zuko stared at her in disbelief for several long moments before he shook his head and angrily kicked at the sand.
"What's your problem?" Azula inquired, raising an eyebrow at him.
"This is all so messed up." Zuko muttered, shaking his head as he stormed off.
Azula stared after him for several long moments before turning her gaze back out towards the ocean. Her smirk soon fell and she ran a hand over her head, stopping at a set out beads, braided into her hair. She ran ran her fingers over the beads until she came to the end where a black feather was tied. She gently passed her fingers over the feather, and for a half a moment, she felt her chest tighten. Her mind turned towards her mother, and the one thing the two seemed to share with each other. Both had black pure black feathers that they always kept on them. Whenever Azula would dwell on the feather, she'd be reminded of that connection, and it would always ruin her mood.
Her mother thought she was a monster, and she was right. Azula was a monster, but that didn't mean she didn't have feelings of her own. It had only been a few months, but she couldn't understand it. With how she felt about her son, how could her mother think so poorly of her? Azula didn't know. At the very least, she knew she was going to be a much better mother than Ursa was to her. That was a guarantee.
With that thought in mind she allowed her hand to fall away from the feather, and she turned and headed back to where they'd been staying. It was time to return home and prepare for a very special day.
-Back with the Avatar-
Later that night, while meditating, Aang was visited by the spirit of one of his most recent past life and it showed him a vision of his youth. All night the group watched the boy, mumble and drift back and forth while he was deep in meditation.
When morning came around, he explained to them what had happened. He had been visited by the spirit of Avatar Roku, and Roku had shown him his history. Including his life in the Fire Nation, and his one time friendship was the Fire Lord responsible for wiping out the Air Nomads, Fire Lord Sozin. Aang learned of their friendship and how they had once been so close, until one day Sozin allowed ambition to cloud his judgment and it set him on a path that would lead to the hundred year war.
Aang had learned so much from the vision, and felt that it was Roku's way of showing him that not all in the Fire Nation were evil, and that their could be peace, if the tyrants in charge were dealt with.
It was an interesting revelation, one that left the boy thoughtful for the next few days.
The three days that followed were filled with a bit of delinquency on the part of Toph, Aang, and Sokka. They had run out of money, so Toph convinced the boys to take part in a bit of gambling, where she used her seismic sensing and Earthbending to cheat and win them some cash. It was pretty funny, especially when they escalated up to literal insurance fraud, by tricking a rich merchant into believing his cart and run into a blind girl.
Katara, being the most responsible of three, reprimanded them for their actions, which led to a fight with Toph. This fight ultimately boiled over into Toph trying to hammer it into Katara's head that she wasn't her mother. Though the fight accidentally led Toph to revealing her relationship with Gaia and Riley.
"All you ever do is try to boss people around! You keep trying to be everyone's mother but guess what, you're not my mother, she is! And you don't hear her complaining all the time. You need to get it into your head that your just a kid like the rest of us!" Toph had argued pointing at Gaia when she noted the mother part.
Gaia, Yugito, and Riley had been watching the fight and observing the teens as they ran their schemes in town to make sure they didn't get into too much trouble. Being pointed out like that earned a surprised look from Yugito and Riley, while Gaia simply shook her head.
Aang and Sokka sat dumbfounded, their jaws hanging open while Katara looked confused.
"What did you say?" Katara asked in disbelief.
"You heard me! Stop pretending like you don't know what you're like, everything I said is the truth." Toph replied indignantly.
"Even the part where Gaia's your mom?" Sokka asked.
"I- … Oh…" Toph's eyes went wide as she realized what had surprised them all.
"Gaia's your mom? How? We met your mom…" Aang asked, glancing between Toph, and Gaia.
"Crap…" Toph muttered.
"Way to go big mouth." Riley teased, playfully poking the side of Toph's head as she walked past her.
"Alright, long story short. The Beifong's aren't my real mom and dad. They found me when I was little and raised me as their perfect little princess. My real parents are Gaia and Riley. And before you ask, Riley isn't human, she's a spirit, making me half a spirit, or something to that effect. They came here looking for me. And again, before you ask, I didn't say anything because I wanted to get a grasp on this whole thing before I told your guys about it. So there, it's out in the open now." Toph quickly explained.
"You're a spirit?" Aang directed his question at Riley.
"Yeah. You remember that other feeling you got from me? The raw power of nature? That was from the Ten-Tails but I may have left something out. I recently sealed it away and subsequently underwent some changes that made me what I am today. I'm not human anymore. In the most basic terms, I'm a spirit." Riley answered offering him a smirk, as he slowly nodded.
"I… well, I guess that explains why you guys were following Toph." Sokka stated after a few moments of silence.
"Well now that this is out in the open, perhaps it's best that I actually inform you that we're going to be moving on from this town. Katara is right, what you guys have been doing, while amusing, is drawing too much attention to us. We already have to worry about the Fire Nation anticipating Aang's survival, no need to actually draw them towards our group so they can confirm it." Gaia stated clearly, leaving no room for argument.
"Fine." Toph sighed, shrugging and shaking her head.
"Alright, we'll break camp and be ready to leave by nightfall." Sokka agreed with Gaia's decision.
Again another quiet day went by as Toph had to put up with the looks her friends were giving her as they took in this new information and tried to wrap their minds around it.
By the following day, everything seemed like it was back to normal and that night the group was telling scary stories when an old woman came upon their camp. She was elderly and appeared relatively harmless, though Riley could sense a much darker demeanor lurking within the woman, though it wasn't directed at their group, so she didn't mention it.
The woman's name was Hama, and she owned an inn nearby and offered to let the group stay there. Wanting to get under a roof, at least for a night, they agreed, though Sokka, Riley, Gaia, and Yugito, remained guarded around the woman.
Hama mentioned to them that the forest wasn't safe as people had been going missing around the night of the full moon these last few months.
The following day, the group traveled with Hama to a nearby village to buy some food, and while there, Riley began to sense just who the old woman held such a dark disposition towards, and that was the Fire Nation villagers. It didn't take much more than deductive reasoning, as Riley could clearly see that the woman had a powerful water affinity, so her best guess was that Hama was a Waterbender, and thus had a natural distaste for the local Firebenders. The only question was, what was she doing here in the Fire Nation?
The answer came that night when Sokka confronted her about her attitude and demeanor towards them. In response, Hama revealed a comb from the Southern Water Tribe, and informed the group that she had once lived there, and that she was a Waterbender, but had been captured by the Fire Nation during a raid years ago.
Hearing this, Katara instantly felt a kinship with the woman. The following day Kama offered to teach Katara some Southern Waterbending styles, to which the teen eagerly agreed. While Katara went out to learn with Kama, the other teens decided in secret that they wanted to investigate the missing people. Sokka still didn't trust Kama and felt there was something off about the woman, and secretly, Riley felt he was very much on to something, though she kept quiet about it. Instead she asked Yugito and Gaia to go with Toph, Sokka, and Aang to help them investigate, while Riley kept an eye on Kama. Both women could read between the lines and knew that Riley was suspicious of the woman, so they agreed to her request.
By nightfall, Riley had received confirmation as the teens, along with her mates, had used Toph's seismic sensing to locate a cave under a nearby mountain, wherein people were being held in cages. While Gaia and Toph freed the prisoners, and Gaia sent a mental communication to Riley over their bond, Yugito, Aang, and Sokka raced back to find Katara and get her away from Kama.
Riley had spied on the two throughout the day. Watching as Kama taught Katara how to draw water from the air, and even from plant life. She then began to try and teach her about the art of bloodbending. A skill that Kama had devised while she was imprisoned. It apparently centered around manipulating the blood in a person's body, but it was extremely difficult to pull off. It required a Waterbending master, and a full moon to work right.
Katara was horrified by the idea of manipulating a person's body in such a way, and vehemently refused to learn the art, but Kama was insistent and fully intended to pass on the art.
Her method of passing it on was to use it on Katara, ensuring that the teen felt the full effects of bloodbending, and what it could accomplish.
Thankfully Katara was the stronger of the two of them and was able to break free of Kama's control before Riley had to intervene.
A fight soon broke out between the two as Katara realized that Kama was responsible for kidnapping the villagers. Kama seemed insistent that Katara take up her crusade against the Fire Nation, and was intent on having her unleash the power of bloodbending upon them in retaliation for what the Firebenders had done to the Southern Water Tribe.
Riley could understand her fury, and had the old woman been targeting the Fire Nation soldiers, Riley would have seen no problem in what she was doing. But she was attacking helpless civilians. These weren't accidents, or even people caught in the crossfire. She was intentionally targeting the weak and helpless with no greater motive, than causing pain and suffering. Ultimately, Riley simply found it to be a waste. She took to heart the bloodbending form that Kama tried to use, and Riley put in a mental reminder to see what she could do with such a power.
Before the fight between the two waterbenders could be decided, Yugito, Aang, and Sokka showed up. Sokka shouting to Katara what she already knew in regards to Kama.
Kama quickly used these new arrivals to her advantage, and began using her bloodbending abilities on the three, taking control of their bodies. All three let out cries of surprise and pain as Kama demanded that Katara submit and learn the art of bloodbending, otherwise she'd kill her friends.
To show she wasn't kidding, she had Sokka draw his sword and point it at Yugito.
In response, Riley instantly jumped into action, not playing around when harm was brought to one of her lovers.
The sound of lightning ripped through the air, and without even needing to look, Katara knew who it was.
Riley was about to kill Kama, she knew it, and Kama was about to use Sokka to kill Yugito. The young waterbender didn't want any of them to die, so with tearful eyes, she used the wicked woman's very own powers against her, seizing control of Kama's body and forcing her to release Sokka, Aang, and Yugito.
Katara slowly forced the woman to the ground, feeling sickened and shameful for what she was doing, but knowing that there was no other choice.
Riley glared down at the woman from her perch up in a tree and allowed her Chidori to fade. She quickly hopped down next to Yugito who was shaking her arms and legs and glaring at the woman.
"Are you alright?" Riley inquired, offering her a hand.
"Yeah, that felt awful." Yugito muttered as she accepted Riley's offer and pulled herself to her feet.
A few moments later, Toph and Gaia arrived along with the villagers they had rescued. The villagers were given custody of Kama as it was them she had wronged the most. As they dragged her away, she laughed wickedly and boasted how her art would live on in Katara, much to the girl's dismay. Aang and Sokka tried to comfort her, but it was obvious that she was greatly troubled.
The group quickly decided to leave, but before they departed Riley took a moment to step off on her own. She then used her Byakugan to find where Hama was being held, she then sent a clone to assassinate the woman for attempting to kill Yugito.
She kept her actions quiet so none of the others realized what had happened and they probably never would.
Seeing at it was closing in on the day of the eclipse, the group decided to make for the rendezvous point and wait until the appointed day.
As the day of the invasion began to approach, Aang started to get nervous about his confrontation with the Fire Lord. This led him to training himself relentlessly, to the point where he didn't get any sleep for nearly three days.
It took some hard work from his friends to get him to calm down enough to finally get some sleep, but they eventually managed it.
The night before the invasion, Riley sat in her tent with her mates.
"Ya know, I beginning to like this world. I think I'll miss it." Yugito noted.
"It does have it's moments." Riley agreed.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves. That demonic presence in the Fire Nation capitol deeply concerns me. I have a feeling we're gonna run into trouble." Gaia said to them.
"It's alright, whatever it is, I'll handle it. We'll go in, confront Azula, and see what we can work out. We'll keep Toph and her friends safe and see where this goes." Riley assured her that everything was going to be alright.
"I hope you're right. I don't like this bad feeling." Gaia responded with a sigh.
"Would a massage make you feel better?" Riley offered with a smile.
Gaia stated back for a moment before lightly blushing. "Maybe." She quietly muttered.
"Would you like a one too?" Riley turned her gaze towards Yugito.
"A massage? Sure, I wouldn't mind a bit of relaxation before tomorrow." Yugito answered. Riley's smile grew and she quickly created a Shadow Clone and set to work helping her mates relax. With just a bit of luck, everything would go smoothly tomorrow, and it wouldn't be long before Riley, her mates, and her family, were on their way home.
-Elsewhere, beneath the capitol of the Fire Nation-
The chamber of flames stood nearly empty. The only resident was the burned woman who glared hatefully at the open chamber around her.
"The time is coming. I know you'll be here soon mother. I can feel you getting closer. I feel the shadows closing in. Darkness is coming, and you with it. Zuko… stay safe for a little bit longer, I'll be free soon." She thought to herself, her glare remaining, the blazing form of the Sharingan, accentuating her eyes.
The chamber was empty. The horde of demons that were once housed within it, had been unleashed. The woman did not know their true purpose, all that she knew for certain was that they would soon meet their end at the hands of her mother.
One more day, and she would finally be free. Free to make the man who put her in this cage pay. Free to find her son and free him from his father's cruelty and manipulations. Free to find her sister, and knock some sense into her. Free to meet her nephew. Soon she would be free. Her time was coming, shadow would soon fall over the Fire Nation, and when it did, Ozai would learn what true power was.
-To Be Continued-
Alright there you go, hope you all enjoy, I'm already a decent way through the next chapter, and I hope to have it up next week. I would have done the whole invasion part in this chapter, but it was already getting pretty long. After the next chapter, I'm gonna try and start getting on a schedule of doing one chapter every two weeks. I'm really trying to make sure I stick to it, because there are parts of this story I really want to get too and if I keep at it at this pace, it'll be 2025 by the time I get there, so it's time to kick it into high gear.
Hope you all enjoyed the time spent with Toph and the gang, showing Riley and her mates interacting with them and developing a friendship. Probably two more ATLA chapters before we return home so I hope you all enjoy the ride. Later.