10 Hustler
Darkness. It was all I could see, not even a shred of light making it past the black cloth surrounding my eyes. I focused intently, twitching my ears, and then...
Thuk!
-20 HP
"Ah! Shit!" A hard, rough object slammed into my face.
"Oh stop being a baby, you didn't even flinch!" Toph chided.
"Hey! Just because I didn't flinch, doesn't mean it isn't painful!" That was the main thing {Pain Resistance} did. It didn't lower my sense of pain. It just decreased the affect pain had on my body.
Like, if I got stabbed. It would still hurt, like hell, trust me, I know. But I wouldn't flinch, or at least, not flinch as much. It also decreased the amount of blood I bled, decreasing the time it took my wounds to scab. Besides that, it helped me not going into shock and things like that.
"Again." This time, I barely managed to notice the minute movements in the air. I began to move but-
Thuk!
-20 HP
[+1 PER]
[{Air Sense} has leveled up!]
'Right in the face, again, can't she aim for anywhere else?!' I thought in mild annoyance. But I didn't say anything. As while it did hurt, the results were there, I couldn't deny that.
"If you weren't an Airbender, you would've made for a good Earthbender. You have the reflexes of a statue!" She mockingly said.
"..." While I had high dexterity which increased my fine motor skills, flexibility, and speed, it did not increase my reflexes. Perception did that, as well as all the other senses.
This was one of the reasons I came to Toph. If anyone, and I mean ANYONE, had high perception, it was her. The other being that Aang was too kind to hurt me, Katara too soft, and Sokka, well... I kind of forgot about him. But Toph, she was rough and unforgiving. Pain made for a great motivator, that I knew, so she was a great teacher.
Then, a miscellaneous thought hit my head.
'Huh. Now that I think about it, why the hell was Toph Chief of Police in Republic City? She can't read, so how the hell did she-'
Thuk!
-20 HP
"No distractions!"
"You just enjoy hitting me with rocks, don't you?" I asked her.
"Nah, hitting anyone with rocks is fun. A boulder is even better, wanna try?" She sounded way too eager.
"No thanks."
...
Toph indeed wasn't a bad teacher. Because, she knew I wasn't an Earthbender. I didn't need to stand my ground, in fact, with this rock throwing exercise, she was encouraging me to get out of the way. To avoid. To sense the wind and flow with it. I didn't know if it she knew that subconsciously or purposely, but I guess it doesn't matter. All that did matter, is that it was helping.
Currently, well, it was night time. I was just hanging out in my sleeping bag, unable to sleep. I was thinking of how to convince Toph to come with me.
'Well... actually, I don't really need to convince Toph. I just need to either make her fed up with her parents, or convince her parents to have her come with me.'
'Both seem like unlikely options. I guess convincing Toph is still the priority.
...
[+1 PER]
[{Air Sense} has leveled up!]
I managed to dodge the thrown stone. Another quickly followed, and I dodged that one too.
"Hey- Toph- why don't you- want to- leave?-" I said in-between dodges, and then, I noticed it stopped. I took off my blindfold, only to notice something still covering my vision.
It took me a moment for my brain to process what happened as my head suddenly tilted backwards. And then... pain. It all came rushing in at once.
"Ah fuck! What the hell Toph?!" I looked at her, and noticed she was a bit irritated.
"You're still on that?" she asked with a bit of edge in her voice.
"Yup," I said simply.
"... They're my parents, where else am I supposed to go?" she asked me.
"Yeah, and listening to your parents has surely been making you love your life, right? Why else would you choose to beat up grown men to relieve your frustrations?" I told her sardonically.
"Wait- wait, don't hit me with a rock, let me explain." I calmly defused the situation, with my hands up in front of my face. Very calm.
"Haa... look, you're not happy. That's obvious to anyone. And playing the good little, defenseless blind daughter, isn't helping your situation. All I'm saying is, if you don't make a change, your situation will stay the same. Do you want that?"
"... No, but that's just... not my life," she explained sadly.
"And who gets to decide that? Your parents? No. It's you, and as long as you choose to do what you want to do, they can't stop you. And where you could go? Well, you could come with me," I offered.
"..." 'Still unconvinced?' My brain has been working far harder today than it has been since I was choosing which Bending Style I should use.
"Tell me this, Toph, what achievements are greater than teaching The Avatar Earthbending, helping take down Fire Lord Ozai, and being the First Metalbender in the world?" She blinked, surprised.
"Uh... none, I guess?"
"Exactly. And after that, once you've made a name for yourself, if you talk to your parents, they might... I dunno, not be as protective of you? I can't promise that's what they'll do, but it's worth a shot, right?"
"..."
"I know you don't want to hurt your parents, Toph, but your parents are hurting you. And that's not what parents should be doing."
"..." She seemed very... taken aback by those words. I think they might've resonated with her more than I thought.
"I'll let you sleep on it, it's getting dark."
"Yeah, I'll do that."
...
'Am I... good at talking?' I thought as I lied on the ground, staring up at the stars with my hands behind my head.
"Yeah, I might be actually good at persuading people... does this mean I'll be good at scamming people too?" I murmured to myself. Toph was quite good at that too.
'Or maybe I should be an interrogator? Or hostage situation negotiater?' These delusions of mine would keep me awake all night, I knew that, and so I decided to do something productive.
Like, practice vibrating air to produce sound.
...
Today was the third and final day. Make it or break it. As soon as I entered the compound, I found Toph there, leaning against the wall.
"I'll go," she said decisively.
"Oh, uh, great!" Okay, that was easier than expected. As I turned around, suddenly, I stepped to the side. A rock hurdling past right where my head once was.
"I know how you work by now Toph," I told her with a smirk as I tied the blindfold around my eyes.
"Don't get so cocky," She sounded amused. Then I noticed, two rocks.
'Fuck me." I couldn't tell if I said that out loud or not, but she just started cackling.
...
I left in the evening, telling Toph to meet me outside the city at night. In the meantime, I sat on the outskirts of the city, and contemplated the route towards the Northern Water Tribe. But then, suddenly, a pop-up appeared.
[Convince Toph!]
Objective: Convince Toph Beifong to come along with you - Complete
Hidden Objective: Become friends with Toph Beifong - Complete
Reward: 15,000 EXP,
Bonus Reward: +10 VIT,
Time Limit: 3 Days
Failure: Decrease in Reputation with Toph Beifong
"Holy shit. Hidden Objectives are awesome," I muttered to myself. But I quickly shook my head, deciding I needed to focus on the route towards the Northern Water Tribe. The map in front of me was unfurled across the ground.
'We'll pass straight through the desert, so Toph can learn Sandbending, maybe I can even have her learn Lavabending? That'll increase Toph's repertoire,' I mused to myself.
'Toph learned how to Mudbend, which is a combination of water and Earth. So I don't see why she can't use Lavabending.'
'But this makes me wonder, why couldn't Bolin learn Metalbending? Actually, Most Earthbenders can't seem to Metalbend. I think it was only one in a hundred?' I ruminated on that answer.
'It has to be a skill issue, right? Bolin couldn't use Seismic Sense so he couldn't sense the Earth in metal? Is that correct? But if that's the case, what could be the skill you'd need to practice Lavabending?' It was never fully explained, the mechanics of Lavabending in Avatar. Also, I had to take into account that Bolin wasn't ever really professionally taught Earthbending, just Probending. So that was probably another one of the factors causing that skill gap.
My head instinctually tilted to the left, a rock brushing past my right ear.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
"I was just wondering why it was taking you so long, you couldn't of gotten lost, could you?" She threw another rock at my snideness.
"Hey, I'm not the one who vaguely said "outside the city," was I?" She answered with a shrug. I stood up and stretched, pausing as I noticed what she was wearing. It was her standard outfit in the show.
"You look good," I complimented.
"It's certainly better than the dresses my parents always had me wear," Toph replied.
"Anyways, where are we going first?" She asked.
"First, we are heading straight north, cutting through the Si Wong Desert." She stared blankly.
"The largest, hottest, driest place on Earth?" She told me, deadpanned.
"Yup. There, you are going to work on Sandbending, and improving Seismic Sense," I explained.
"I thought I was the one supposed to be helping train you?" She dismissed.
"You don't want me to surpass you, do you?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Besides, you can always improve."
"Also, I have to mention, but do you notice how little supplies we have? You're not even carrying a backpack."
"Don't worry, even if we run out of supplies, I know some cactus's that are very hydrating," I told her.
"You know- whatever." Toph shrugged, as if deciding not to care about it. She was probably thinking she could carry her own weight or something stupid like that.
With a few more words, we headed off.
...
With terrifyingly precision, Toph, in three second intervals threw rocks at my head. The entire time, I was punching out and using Airbending.
"You realize how stupid you look, don't you?" When I first asked her to throw rocks at me, as I punched and Airbended, she couldn't stop laughing. Even now, there was an amused smile on her face all the while.
"It's called, "Grinding," and being "efficient," I so kindly explained to her.
"Sure, sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, Hustler,"
'Hustler, not a terrible nickname I guess,' I thought.
...
You see, while I wasn't the best at planning ahead, I'm not a complete idiot. So, how did I plan to cross the Si Wong Desert, said to be uncrossable?
Easy. Go to Misty Palms Oasis, which should just buy north and a tiny bit east. Then, wait until a few Sandbenders appear, and raid them of their sand-sailor.
Toph and I could take turns sailing it, her using Sandbending, and me using Airbending. 'Hopefully Airbending will actually make it move,' I had no idea if it would.
...
Eventually, the first day of traveling with a new companion, was about to end, uneventfully at that. Toph by this point had stopped throwing rocks at me, having grown tired of it. After all, not one had managed to hit me.
I had to admit, though, I was, in fact, cheating. Using {Bullet Time} so I was actually grinding {Air Sense}, {Unarmed Combat}, {Airbending}, {Extinguisher}, and {Bullet Time}. That was one forth of all my skills, going up at all times, if Toph was still in the mood for me to dodge her stone throwing. Which, currently, she was not.
"Hey, how are you going to help me improve my Seismic Sense?" Toph suddenly asked.
I grinned, "You'll see when we step into the sand, don't worry."
"You know I-" She was going to correct me, but there wasn't anything for me to be corrected about. Because I knew exactly what I was saying.
"Trust me, you'll know. You see with your feet, don't you?"
"Yeah." I didn't explain any further, leaving a visibly confused Toph. She's never been to a desert, it seems.
Hopefully it would be as fun as I expected it to be. 'Well, in the show she said it was fuzzy, not that she couldn't see entirely so it's not like she'll be blindly stumbling around.'
I guess I would just have to see what happens.
"Anyways, let's get some sleep," I told her. She agreed.
...
Both me and Toph were low maintenance individuals. I didn't care about a tent, just a sleeping bag was all I needed. And she, well, she could take care of herself. At this very moment, she made a stone tent for herself and was already sleeping.
So our first night of camping together didn't end in disaster. Unlike in the show.
'I really need to stop referring to the show. I'll run out of things I know, especially in-between ATLA and LoK,' I told myself.
After all, this was my reality now. It's just that only recently, have I been learning it isn't all that bad.
