Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: Her paranoia and cruelty. But there's a lot to choose from.

Zigzagdoublezee: Azula, Lu Ten and their minions won't know what hit them!

ErikBassey: I've been waiting to introduce her for a very long time.

As Always, Please Review!

Toph stood her ground defiantly, if a little nervously, as the two Fire Nation Royals advanced towards her.

"It's... a child?" Lu Ten stated, clearly confused. He leaned down and spoke gently to her.

"Look, this is not something you want to get mixed up in. We'll forget we ever saw you if you step out of the way."

Azula scoffed. Lu Ten rounded on her.

"What? I'm not going to hurt a child!"

Yue sighed, exasperated. She didn't obviously want Toph to get hurt, but Lu Ten was speaking as if that wasn't precisely what the Fire Nation had been doing on a large scale every day of this invasion.

"You do know what war is, don't you?" She asked. She was ignored.

But Toph had not moved.

"Let her go," she repeated stubbornly.

"Bless," Azula spoke in the most patronising tone. "Is she threatening us? It's like being barked at by a puppy. Adorable."

Toph's face darkened noticeably.

"But we haven't got time for this," Azula turned away and walked back towards the cart, gesturing for one of the waterbenders, Yura.

"Move her," she ordered. "Don't kill her, but use as much force as it takes."

Yura nodded, and advanced towards Toph.

"Come on little puppy," he said. "Don't make this difficult or-"

Toph stomped the ground, causing a pebble the size of a fist to come floating up, and then punched the air sending it flying towards the waterbender. It struck him straight between the eyes. He was unconscious before he hit the ground, and it would have been much worse for him if he hadn't been wearing a helmet.

Yue and Sokka stared at his inert form in shock, and then back up at Toph.

"Alright," Azula turned and began stalking towards Toph again, a bright blue flame burning in her hand. "If you want to do it the hard way, we'll do it the hard way."

And all hell broke loose.

One of the other waterbenders drew a water-whip out of his pouch and launched it towards her, only for it to splash into a wall of rock, cracking it. A moment later, the wall broke apart, the various pieces hanging in the air and then launching themselves with pinpoint accuracy towards Yue's captors. They were forced to dive for cover from a hailstorm of boulders. Some of them were not so lucky; one waterbender took a direct hit to his shoulder, knocking him to the ground as he yelled in pain. Another projectile hit the harnesses holding the ostrich-horses to the front of the wagon with pinpoint accuracy, causing them to snap. The cart wobbled alarmingly, shaking Yue and Sokka, unable to steady themselves. They cried out in alarm. The startled animals rushed off into the treeline.

The expression on Toph's face was no longer nervous. In fact, she was looking more and more like she was enjoying herself.

Azula rose to her feet, one of the shards of rock having narrowly missed her, and charged towards Toph. She drew her fist back to launch a fireblast, but Toph anticipated the move and neatly stepped sideways, causing the fireball to sail harmlessly past her. In one fluid movement, she then spun her body around, running her foot along the floor and causing it to shift, the ground cracking underfoot. Then she kicked towards Azula. The tide of earth raced out from under her, hitting the Fire Princess and knocking her backwards.

By this point Yue was gobsmacked. Poppy Beifong's blind little daughter could fight?

"Yeah!" Sokka called enthusiastically, seemingly having come to terms with this revelation much quicker than her. "Go Toph!"

With Toph's back temporarily turned, more waterbenders rushed in, one of them pulling a knife and the other one reaching for the waterskin which hung at his waist. Lu Ten was a few steps behind them.

"Toph! Look out!" Yue called. But Toph was already moving. Without even turning around, she extended an arm backwards, which caused a pillar of rock to extend out of the ground right in front of one of the waterbenders. The man faceplanted into it and fell to the ground, clutching his nose. The second swung his knife, which only bit into stone. Toph had encased her forearm in rocky armour and just caught the blade, and then using her foot kicked a rock up into his torso. He groaned and fell to his knees, with Toph taking the opportunity to punch him in the face with her rock gauntlet.

With both men knocked prone, finally she came face to face with Lu Ten.

"Who are you?" He asked. "You attacked my men!"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Toph responded. Then she extended a hand at him.

Lu Ten hesitated for just a fraction too long, still hung up on the fact Toph was a child, and it cost him. The ground shifted under him, causing him to fall over, and then firing him into a tree.

Suddenly, the remaining waterbenders didn't seem so keen on fighting the little girl any more. One of them rushed off into the trees after Lu Ten, while Azula rose up from where she had fallen. She was clutching her arm, and looked at Ty Lee.

"Chi-block her!"

Ty Lee nodded, and vaulted off the cart. She charged at Toph.

"Look out!" Sokka called. "Don't let her touch you!"

"Thanks for the advice!" Toph called back, the first time she had directly acknowledged them. As Ty Lee approached, getting closer and closer, she turned to face her, and just waited. Ty Lee reached her, flipped clean over her head, came down behind her... and sank waist-deep in the road, which solidified, trapping her there.

"Hey!" She protested. "Not fair!"

Toph just ignored her, and approached the cart. The remaining waterbenders had run off. Azula was calling Ty Lee's name, rushing over to where her friend was trapped and seemingly attempting to pull her out. When that failed, she began attempting to dig her out with her one good arm.

"Avatar? Sokka?" Toph asked plaintively. "Are you on the cart?"

"Yes," Yue said. "Can you untie us please?"

"I can try, I'm not sure I'll be good at knots..." Toph trailed off, her hands searching for the ropes.

"That was incredible!" Sokka told her.

"Thanks," Toph said. "It was, wasn't it?"

"When did you learn?"

"A long time ago," Toph told them, "and in secret. My mother doesn't know. I sneaked out to come rescue you."

Her hand found the rope holding Sokka's wrists in place.

"Now, hold still, this could take a while."