Toph, please! I am begging you to stop this foolishness!" Lao Beifong all but shouted, standing in his daughter's room with his wife by his side. Both of them were staring right at Toph who had her back to both of them. Lao and Poppy found themselves uncomfortable, to say the least, their darling precious daughter was dressed in an outfit that seemed more suited for a traveller or a fighter than the precious little princess she should be. "Toph, please!" Lao said as she finished putting on her wristbands. "You could get hurt!"
"If I was you, I'd be more worried about my opponent." Toph snorted, her parents truly underestimated her and she was sick and tired of it. Toph knew she was tough, and she was tired of acting like she wasn't. She had feared that she would spend her entire life hiding in her family mansion, pretending to be everything that she wasn't. But now...now she saw an opportunity, one that she wanted to take with both hands. The Avatar and the Emerald Dragon needed her, two of the strongest warriors on the planet needed her. There was no way in hell that she was going to let this slip away because her parents couldn't understand that she was a badass.
"Toph," Poppy sighed deeply. "I understand that you don't want to be thought of as weak, but it's undeniable that you're blind! You can't see!"
"Didn't stop me from kicking ass before, won't stop me from kicking ass later." Toph huffed, turning around to face her parents. "You can argue with me as much as you want, I'm not changing my mind. I finally have a chance to do something!"
"Do you hate us that much?" Poppy asked tearfully.
"Have we ever left you wanting for anything?!" Lao demanded. "Have we ever left you hungry? Cold? Alone? We've given you everything you could have possibly wished for, everything you could have possibly asked for! Hundreds and hundreds of people in this nation would wish for half as nice of a life as you have right now and you're willing to throw it all away to go travel around the world with a bald monk and a fire-wielding maniac that are both very likely to get you killed?! We've given you everything you need - "
"And you're trying to make me into someone I'm not!" Toph cut him off. "I'm not a pretty little girl who wants to play with her pretty little dolls and wear pretty little dresses and act exactly how you want me to act. I like earthbending, it's who I am! I'd rather live in an earth-made tent than spend another day pretending to be something that I'm not!"
"And what if you get injured?! Hmm?! What if you break your arm?! Your back?! What good is your precious earth bending if you can't move?!"
"That's a risk I'm willing to take!" Toph shouted.
"Well, I'm not!" Lao shouted back. "You're my daughter and you'll act like it. When you lose this foolish fight then I expect you to stay home, heal, say you're sorry and then fix up."
"When I win I want you to say you're sorry and let me go with the Avatar and the Emerald Dragon," Toph glared. "And the 'I'm sorries' had better come in mountain-loads when I help end the war."
"We'll see," Lao glared at her, wondering where he had gone wrong.
"Such a foolish girl," Yu muttered with a small huff as he left his school for the night. He was still in disbelief over the fact that the fragile, little blind girl thought that she could fight. Apparently, she could earthbend a bit, as she had unnecessarily proved at dinner, but that hardly meant that she was a fighter. She was going to get her tiny little head knocked off, that much was for certain. He made a mental note to remind his fighter to go easy on her, the last thing he needed was Lao Beifong after his head because some muscle-headed jock knocked out the blind girl's teeth.
'Honestly, it's for her own good,' He thought to himself. 'The real world will eat her alive,' He knew that there was no way the girl would be able to survive on her own, the little pampered brat had spent her entire lifetime in luxury and comfort, always in a warm bed with hot and tasty food provided for her. What would she know about living in the wild? What would she know about heading off to faraway lands with the Avatar? And that's not to mention the fact that the Emerald Dragon was with them. No, they should nod politely and do their best to subtly encourage that particular individual to get the hell out of here before he brings down fire and destruction upon them all.
Still, it would have been neat to have him as a student.
"Now," He wondered out loud. "Which of my students should I select to fight the girl? I could probably get Lee to show up on short notice, but Jin is much better, though then again, the little girl's blind so it's not like I need my best student."
"I'm sorry, did you say something about a blind girl?" A voice said menacingly, causing Yu to stop and turn around, the earth-bending teacher quickly froze at the sight of the small group of earth-bending warriors in front of him.
"Uh...y...yes, yes, I did." Yu gulped, hoping his voice hadn't been as high-pitched as it had just sounded. These men all looked pretty tough, and while Yu was a master at earth bending, he didn't like his chances against all of them.
"Good," Xin Fu purred, the men behind him growling, scowling and cracking their knuckles. "We're looking for one, one in particular, perhaps you'd be able to help us out."
"So," Sokka said as they arrived outside of the 'Earth Rumble' stadium. "Just to clarify, we go in and watch a fight and the winner decides if we have a teacher that can help us save the world. Do I have that right?"
"More or less," Harry nodded.
"It should be fun," Katara said hopefully as they started walking in.
"It'll be awesome!" Aang said enthusiastically. "Toph will totally win, and then I get an earthbending teacher!"
"Here's hoping she does win," Harry replied. "I got to admit, I'm looking forward to this." He added just as they arrived through one of the crowd entrances.
There she is!" Aang pointed towards Toph who was waiting on stage, she had apparently heard Aang as she turned towards the group and gave them a small nod. Harry looked past her and saw her parents sitting in seats and watching with various emotions appearing on their faces, large disapproval being the mildest of them. Eventually, her parents noticed the group and tried to send their deadliest glares at them. The two wilted slightly when Harry simply glared back.
"Um...hi..." Yu called out as he walked into the arena. "Um...there's been a bit of a change in plan," He admitted before quickly rushing away just as a group of people walked in.
"That's 'The Boulder'!" Sokka blurted out.
"And he's not alone," Katara noted.
"Apparently not," Harry stared with narrowed eyes. "Hold up, is that bloody 'Fire Nation Man'?!" He blurted out, seeing the Fire Nation earthbender as part of the group. Along with those two was a man dressed in green shorts with a green mask, a bearded man with odd-looking glasses that were attached to a couple of bands wrapped around his head, a spiky-haired earthbender with face paint, and a large bald man wearing what looked like a large green loincloth similar to what sumo's wore.
All of them appeared to be led by a man with dark shoulder-length hair and dark green Earth Nation clothes.
"Blind Bandit!" The leader shouted. "You know who I am?" He asked as he and his group walked up the stage.
"What is going on?!" Lao hissed at Yu as soon as the teacher had sat next to him.
"I don't know!" Yu whisper-shouted. "They came here looking for your daughter! Apparently, she cheated them out of some money!"
"Cheated them out of..."
"She really has been fighting and he claims that he sabotaged a match and that cost him money," Yu quickly explained. "I believe that she probably has been entering tournaments and convincing fighters to lose to her so she can look strong and claim the prize money."
"I am Xin Fu," The leader said. "Owner of the 'Earth Rumble Tournament', and you...dear, little blind girl, cost me money. Boulder over here says he saw you take a dive in your last match," He growled.
"Aang, let's go," Harry said before leaping out of the seats with Aang following after him. Fire shot out from Harry's limbs and propelled himself all the way to the stage while Aang followed using airbending.
"I didn't take a dive," Toph growled. "I was thrown out."
"You weren't hit by anything!" Boulder yelled.
"You didn't see me get hit by anything," Toph responded, glaring at them all heavily. "I was fighting the Avatar, he sent me out of the ring with an airblast."
"Yeah, right," Xin Fu scoffed. "I think that..."
"Is there a problem here?" Harry asked as he and Aang landed. "Allow us to introduce ourselves,"
"I'm Aang, the Avatar," Aang said, staff in hand.
"And I'm Harry, Emerald Dragon," Harry added. "I'll ask one more time, is there a problem here?"
"Uh...boss," The big bald man said, tapping Xin Fu's shoulder.
"What?!" Xin Fu snapped at him.
"Um...well..." He trailed off as he pointed to his right, Xin Fu's gaze followed the direction and saw Fire Nation Man running away like the hounds of hell were nipping at his ankles.
"He's the smartest one of all of you," Harry snorted. "Now, my friend here is waiting for a fight," Harry added, gesturing to Toph. He turned in Yu's direction. "Did you even find a person?" He asked, Yu swallowed hard before shaking his head.
"They'll do," Toph said, gesturing to the group in front of her, rolling her shoulders and cracking her knuckles.
"Choose your opponent, I'll make sure the rest don't interfere," Harry told her.
"I'll help," Aang added in firmly.
"I'll take all of them," Toph said in a confident voice. "After today, nobody's going to think of me as weak, ever again." She added loudly enough that her parents could definitely hear her.
"This'll be fun," Harry whispered to Aang as Toph started walking forward.
"Get her!" Xin Fu yelled, feeling his confidence refill, seeing that the Avatar and Emerald Dragon were not going to be involved.
A smirk appeared on Toph's face as she felt all of her opponents charge, for a moment the world slowed, she saw the only way that she knew how, feeling the vibrations along the floor, using it to see her opponents, hearing them charge. She knew where each and every one of them was, how every single muscle in their bodies moved. Toph raised her hands and the arena started shaking, she waited, waited, and then waited some more. Once they were close enough, she pushed her arms down, the arena shook violently, a dust cloud shooting into the air, blinding all of her opponents.
"Give me a minute," Toph told Aang and Harry before walking into the dust cloud.
"This'll be awesome," Aang grinned.
"This is horrible!" Lao said from his seat in the stadium, grabbing Yu by the clothes and shaking him while Poppy sobbed uncontrollably. "My daughter's going to get killed! She can't even fight! She's small and blind and she's going to get her head knocked off! I..." The three of them jumped in their seats when a large, bald man crashed into the seats next to them.
"Goodness!" Yu blinked just before the masked earthbender crashed behind them, followed by the one with odd glasses landing on the opposite side of the bald one, two seconds later the spiky-haired one landed on the seat just under them. "I can't help but feel like she's trying to make a statement."
"This is going great," Aang smiled widely as the dust cloud finally cleared, revealing that Toph was now alone in the arena, facing off against The Boulder and Xin Fu. Toph dodged a giant boulder tossed by none other than the boulder before stepping forward and sending a trio of pillars at him. "How long do you think it'll take for her to beat Boulder?" Aang whispered to Harry.
"I'll give it about..." Harry paused and leaned to the side as Boulder went flying between him and Aang and crash-landed against a nearby wall before dropping down to the floor. "...now." Harry finished.
"Upstart little brat!" Xin Fu growled before performing several kicks, sending large rocks of various sizes at Toph. Toph waved her arms and created a large earth shield that the rocks bounced off, a flick of her wrists sent the shield charging at Xin Fu. Xin Fu leapt forward and destroyed the charging attack with a fierce kick, though he wasn't given long to celebrate his victory as a second later he saw a rock pillar emerge from the ground. Xin Fu found himself flying straight through the air and ended up landing in between Lao and Yu, causing Poppy to yelp.
"She's amazing!" Yu gasped. "She must be the best earthbender I've ever seen!"
"So," Toph turned to face Harry and Aang. "How was my audition?" She asked with a large smile. Aang and Harry stared at each other for several moments before turning back to Toph.
"You got the job," They said at the same time. "Providing your parents don't stop you," Harry couldn't help but add, glancing in the direction of Toph's parents.
"They won't," Toph said in a determined voice.
Not too long after her fight, the group had joined Toph at the Beifong estate, standing behind her as she faced her parents.
"Mother, Father," Toph began, taking a deep breath. "This is not going to be easy, for any of us. it's probably hard for you to see me this way, to see what I can do. But the obedient little helpless blind girl that you think I am just isn't me. I love fighting. I really love it. I love being an earthbender, and I'm really, really good at it. I know I've kept my life secret from you, but you were keeping me secret from the whole world. You were doing it to protect me, I know that, but I'm twelve years old and I've never had a real friend, I've never even met anyone outside of who you let me meet. So, now that you see who I am, I hope it doesn't change the way you feel about me."
"Toph," Lao said in a soft voice. "Of course, it doesn't change the way we feel about you,"
"Yes," Poppy added. "You're our daughter, we will always love you."
"Never doubt that," Lao agreed. "However, we have thought about what has happened and what we have learnt about you. After some time, I've come to a realization."
"A realization?" Toph repeated. "About what?"
"We've let you have too much freedom," Lao said in a serious voice. "From now on, you are not to leave the house and I want you under twenty-four-hour surveillance and care!"
"But Dad, that's not fair!" Toph protested, looking horrified.
"It's for your own good, Toph," Poppy said calmly.
"I'm the strongest earthbender you've ever seen!" Toph pointed out. "I can take care of myself!"
"You're our daughter!" Lao snapped. "I will not have you endanger yourself on some fool's quest!"
"Is he calling us fools?" Sokka whispered to the others.
"Feels like it," Harry frowned.
"You said that if I won then I could go with the Avatar and the Emerald Dragon!" Toph argued.
"I never agreed to that," Lao replied. "And even if I did, I am your father, what I say goes."
"Are you kidding me?!" Toph demanded. "I could help them win the war!"
"They can find another teacher," Poppy sniffed. "Preferably one that's not a blind little girl,"
"I could beat every single guard in this house on my own and you still won't see me as anything more than a little blind kid?!" Toph shouted.
"Young lady, we are your parents and you will not take that tone with us!" Poppy said firmly.
"Please escort the Avatar and his friends out of our home," Lao said to the guards around the room.
"Let it be known," Harry said when he saw the guards start moving forward. "That if a single person touches me or my friends then I will burn this mansion to the ground," His threat seemed to do the job as the guards were now looking extremely reluctant to move forward. Satisfied with his work, Harry turned to Toph who was glaring angrily at the floor.
"We're sorry, Toph," Aang said, looking between her and her parents.
"Sorry kid, but we got to go now," Harry added, nodding to his friends, they all started leaving, though Harry stayed in his place and stared between Toph and her parents. With a deep sigh, he leaned down and whispered something into Toph's ear.
"What are you saying to her?!" Lao demanded and was easily ignored. Once Harry was done, he leaned back and raised a fist, Toph seemed frozen for a moment before raising her own fist and bumping it against his. Harry smirked, ruffling Toph's hair before before walking away. "What did he say to you?!" He heard Lao question Toph.
"It's a shame," Katara said as the group was getting ready to leave. Katara and Sokka were securing their stuff in Appa's saddle whilst Aang and Harry had finished feeding Appa. "She would have been a great teacher,"
"Yeah," Aang sighed sadly.
"At least it wasn't a total bust," Sokka said, holding up the belt that Aang had won from the tournament. "At least we got this belt,"
"Plus the tournament money that Aang won," Harry nodded.
"Now, we need to find a new teacher," Aang frowned.
"Perhaps," Harry replied. "Though I wouldn't worry about it, too much,"
"Why?" Aang asked suspiciously.
"Because I told Toph where we would be waiting for her," Harry responded.
"What?" Katara asked. "Why would you do that?"
"Hey guys!" A voice called. The group turned to see Toph running towards them, holding a small backpack.
"You took your time," Harry smirked.
"You're here!" Aang said excitedly before pausing. "Wait, but what about your parents?"
"Ehh, don't worry about it," Toph waved him off. "It's sorted,"
"Sure," Harry said, giving her a knowing look. "Anyway, we're ready to head off,"
"Cool," Toph nodded before a grin appeared on her face. "Oh, by the way, Twinkle Toes, I have something for you."
"Oh, what is it?" Aang asked curiously before finding himself shot into the air and landing in a nearby tree.
"Now, we're even," Toph smirked before turning in the direction of the others. "I'll take my belt back now," She said, holding out her arm. Sokka frowned before tossing the belt to Toph, Harry stepped in and caught the belt before it landed on her head.
"Can we not throw heavy belts at the blind kid's head?" Harry said to Sokka before handing the belt to Toph.
"Thanks," Toph said with a grin.
"Let's go, Champ," Harry told her, climbing up Appa while Aang got out of the tree and leapt into Appa's saddle.
"Yeah, this will be an adventure," Toph smiled.