4 Chapter 4: Meeting Melon Lord and arrival at Republic City

[Kizan POV]

As the large boulder was hurtling towards me, I immediately took six stones from my pouch and bent a lava shuriken, making it spin real fast and willing it to slice through the boulder. The boulder was sliced in half, making the two pieces of the boulder fly beside him on either end with him being in the middle, getting nearly hit. I then jumped off of Mira and slammed the ground with my fists, bending an earth ripple that rippled through the ground in all directions. While the ripple was happening, I erected a 10 ft tall dome around me and Mira and with the momentary peace, I created two lava shurikens, spinning real fast as I made them float beside me.

After creating the shurikens, the wall of my earth dome exploded, creating a dust cloud with a blurry silhouette that can be seen through it. Not having enough time to think who it was, I was suddenly met with a body sized boulder and on instinct I once again cut the boulder with one of my shurikens while I shot the other at the silhouette, hoping that it would hit it's target. Unsurprisingly, the shuriken went through the silhouette like it hit nothing while a huge dust cloud started to accumulate inside the dome.

As we continued to trade blows with me, occasionally shooting rocks while I mainly used shurikens to slice oncoming attacks and they launched earth disks and boulders at me, the inside of my protective dome started to get really dusty and hard to breathe. Before I tried to break out of the dome, metal strips started to fly and bound my hands and feet together. I failed to realize out of sheer shock that they were starting to tighten around my wrists and ankles preventing me from even using my fingers to bend. I was officially stuck.

A couple seconds later the figure that attacked me came to my side and put me over their shoulder like a sack of potatoes and demolished the earth dome and released all the accumulated dust.

They shot out a pillar from underneath them and launched themselves into the distance, further into the swamp. I passed out from all the exhaustion and my last thought was what happened to Mira.

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"PIT"

"PAT"

"PIT"

"PAT"

My eyes started to twitch and I awoke to a drop of water falling on my face. My eyes started to regain their clarity from the initial blindness and what I saw was an unfamiliar, rocky ceiling. Seeing the unfamiliar sight, I immediately sat up and looked around the strange room.

The room….or should I say…..cave was around the size of a modern day living room. I was currently sitting on a bed that looked like it was made up of hay, vines and earth as I could feel the prickly sensation when I moved around a little, not bothering me as my skin was tough from all the earth and lava bending training. On the walls of the cave were earth made shelves that had different bottles of either herbs and spices and other foodstuffs and right below it was a set of earth made table and chairs with one round table and chairs surrounding it. And finally, what I was mostly looking for was my new friends and companion, Mira, who was currently sleeping, known through the bond we both shared. When I saw the cave and the swamp, I immediately knew where I was and who attacked me and knowing who it was, me being alive is lucky as I knew the old chief of police was ruthless to people she deemed an enemy.

Speaking of which, I couldn't find the old bat anywhere. I found my bag which was at the foot of the rock bed and I looked through it and found nothing was stolen. Just as I was about to get up, I heard an old, but lively voice that kind of sounded annoyed.

"Well, it looks like sleeping beauty is up. Now, why don't you explain who you are and how and why you are here." asked the voice as I turned to the entrance of the cave to find an old woman with grey, almost white hair staring at me with narrowed sea foam glazed eyes that showed that she was blind.

Yes, the woman who spoke just now was Toph Beifong, the 'Greatest' earthbender in the world, the inventor of metalbending itself and most importantly, the awe inspiring Melon Lord herself.

She looked a little younger than her cannon counterpart and she had a much more straightened back showing that she didn't suffer from back pain as of yet.

She was wearing the same standard earthbender outfit that she wore in both shows and had no shoes on, probably looking at me with those feet of hers. She had her hands behind her back and kept looking at me with those oddly similar but glazed eyes.

I stood there frozen for a minute then came back to my senses as I just sighed and told her how I got here.

"Ah, the thing is Mira led me here sniffing a belonging of mine given to me by my grandfather, Mira is the Shirshu by the way if you are wondering." I told her the truth and I pulled out the flying boar amulet out of my bag and showed it to her.

When Toph saw….sense….whatever the amulet, she was confused at first, but when she saw the carvings and inscriptions that were carved on the amulet, she was very surprised and glared at me with hostility as she shot the metal bracers on my hands and feet and bent me towards her, pulling the metal. When I was kneeled before her, she created an earth bind like how Aang did Ozai and made me face her. I tried to break free, but I just couldn't. It felt like the earth was not responding to my commands and instead of helping me, it was restraining me.

"WHERE DID YOU GET THE AMULET FROM BOY?! I want the truth!" yelled Toph in a very scary and threatening tone that it sent shivers down my spine. I had cold sweats down my back but I still answered gritting my teeth.

"As I've told you earlier, my grandfather gave it to me. He said his father, my great-grandfather, gave it to him when he was born. My grandfather told me when he dies, it would allow me to meet my family again!" I yelled while clenching my fists as the earth bind was starting to get really tight and it was squishing my bones.

When she heard this, Toph visibly relaxed but still had her guard up although with slight confusion in her eyes.

"Then boy, do you know what this amulet does?" she asked while picking up the fallen amulet and dusting it off before turning to me asking in a serious tone.

'What it does? Wasn't it supposed to be some kind of keepsake or inheritance or something? Why does Toph get so angry by a mere amulet when she didn't even care about her family in the first place?' I thought as I shook my head showing I didn't know.

She didn't doubt me as she could sense me telling the truth by her seismic sense going through my body. When she saw my heartbeats didn't falter, she released me from the earth bind but kept my binds on my wrists and ankles. When no earth surrounded me, she made a sharp edge made of metal and cut my arm drawing blood which she collected in an earth bowl. The wound was but a scratch so it didn't hurt me much though I still winced at the unexpected slicing.

The weird part after that was that she collected my blood, she smeared it on the amulet and it started to glow gold. The golden glow infused within the flying boar carving and brought out an illusionary image of a flying boar that hovered over the amulet. It stayed there for sometime until it opened its eyes and looked in my direction. It looked at me for a couple of seconds until it bowed towards me until exploding into golden lights and forming words and patterns in the air.

It was a sight to behold. I thought the avatar world only had spirits, elements and weird animals but I guess there was ritual stuff involved as well. It made sense since there were literal spirits and all.

After a couple seconds or rearranging, the words that appeared shocked Toph but I made no face as I practically wished for my family heritage to be badass as that was what it showed.

Name: Kizan Beifong (possessor of the Bloodline Amulet)

Parents: Ghazan Beifong, Ming-Hua

Grandparents: Toka Beifong, RESTRICTED [Diamond Clan]

Great Grandparents: Lao Beifong, Jade Kiyoshi

Ancestor: Avatar Kiyoshi

Inheritance: Earthbending, Lavabending, Pure Metalbending, RESTRICTED, RESTRICTED, Large Chi Pool [Avatar Inheritance]

The damn thing literally gave away all my secrets! Thank god that it was Toph who found this secret revealer amulet or else I might have faced dire consequences. But what was this Diamond Clan and more importantly why was it restricted? Was it my grandmother's clan? Just how much have I changed this world's history by existing?! I guess I would find out as soon as I saw Toph's jaw literally about to fall off and hit the floor. That's how surprised she was.

"I-Impossible! He's related to me by what, a brother I have never even heard of or seen before! And more importantly he's related to 'that' clan! Shit Twinkle Toes why did you have to kick the bucket so soon! Now there is a surviving member of one of the sacred clans which we thought were all wiped out by the fire nation! Plus he is related to an Avatar and inherited her large Chi pools. What the hell kind of luck do you get by possessing a heritage like that?!" exclaimed Toph as she still couldn't believe what she was seeing.

That's when I decided to interrupt her thought process by asking questions of my own.

"Umm...old lady, could you release me now? It's starting to dig into my joints." I asked as I broke her out of her muttering as she stared at me with a shocked look. After looking at me for a second, she released my bindings by taking back the metal bracers. I rubbed my joints to klet the blood flow flow properly through them again as I stared at the floating words listing my personal information. I decided to talk as she was still staring at me like some zoo animal.

"Hey old lady, do you have a name or something, cause it's getting super tiring having to call you old lady every time. As you already saw, my name is Kizan, though the Beifong last name is pretty new" I asked and I lied not knowing that I am a Beifong which even Toph couldn't find out as I practiced the line hundreds of times wondering how I would introduce myself to the master in front of me.

"I'm Toph Beifong. I am your grandaunt I guess but call me grandma as grandaunt doesn't roll off the tongue as nicely." explained Toph as she still looked at me.

"Ah ok Grandma, but why are you looking at me like that? It's getting creepy." I asked because the dead eye staring is literally giving me the creeps and I want to find out more information on this 'sacred Diamond clan '; she has been muttering about.

Toph then realized that she was staring too long and coughed in her mouth as she wanted to clear the embarrassment and awkwardness in the room...uh cave.

"I was just wondering where you came from, young whipper snapper. Surely your parents wouldn't allow such a small child to leave on their own wouldn't they?" asked Toph though full knowing who and where his parents are.

Hearing about my parents made me have a sad smile on my face though fully knowing where they were. I then clenched my fist in rage when I thought about that bald head prick and the even more hateful Unatwat. Zaheer wasn't that bad though I would make sure he would be imprisoned for LIFE for taking my parents away from me. Unatwat has to die for both his future actions and past actions by betraying my parents.

Calming myself down as Toph most likely sensed my emotions, I decided to just tell her the truth as there would be no point lying to a truth seer.

"I came from a village about 5 days time from here. I left because I was told by my parents who left a year ago with a middle aged guy and a girl with a word tattoo on her forehead. There was also a person who liked he came from the water tribe there as well if I remember. Anyways, they told me that if they didn't come back in a year's time, assume they're dead and don't expect a return. Just recently, my grandfather, or your newly found out brother passed away and gave me items that my family had. That's where I got the amulet and besides that, I got a scroll with a golden fan insignia and also a scroll with a diamond insignia on it. From there, I met a pack of Shirshu and met Mira who was the only survivor. Knowing that Shirshu we're master trackers, I used its sense of smell to track family members through the amulet and it led me here. I was then ambushed by you and taken to your cave. And now we are at the present where you bound me in an earth bind and finding out the greatest earth bender in the world is your grand aunt." I explained while observing her reactions.

From the information I handed her, she narrowed her eyes when she heard of Zaheer and Unaloque as that was new information regarding the perpetrators of the Avatar kidnap. She then had an understanding look when she heard of my journey and finally she gave me a smile when I addressed her as the greatest earth bender in the world. Heck she even came towards me and ruffled my hair in affection like what a grandmother would do.

"You got that right kid! I am the greatest earth bender in the world! I even taught the Avatar earth bending!" She said in a smug tone as she continued looking at me how a grandma would. Seeing that look, I was suddenly reminded of my grandpa and he would smile at me like that. I unconsciously teared up thinking of all the good family moments I had.

"O-oi kid why are you tearbending? Was it something I said or did?!" Toph asked me in panic, seeing tears falling down my face.

I was confused at first but when I put my hands to my face they were wet with tears and then I thought.

'Was having the absence of familial love have an impact this big on me? ' I questioned.

Unlike my last life, I actually experienced what it was like for a family to engage and play with me and I experienced their love and care for me. Having that taken away from me made me revert back to how I was in my last life, an emotionless machine. Meeting Mira and bonding with her made cracks in my reversion and Toph accepting and treating me as her grandson smashed through that shell and made me shed tears.

I smiled knowing that I was already on the path different from my last life. I then answered the concerned earth bender.

" No grandma, I was just thinking how you reminded me of grandpa and now that he is gone, having something similar to him made me feel like I was home with my family again."

Toph hearing that smiled sadly hearing that her newly found brother passed away without even getting to know each other. Although not knowing him, she still had a familial bond hearing of him and considering the relationship with her family, that's saying something.

"Aww kid, no need to worry. I actually knew your parents and although they did something bad, they can still come out if they confess. I am not the chief of police anymore but I can still ask my daughter if she could help you out and adopt you while your parents are still in prison." Toph consoled me and I immediately agreed with the idea, but there were still two things I needed to ask about.

"Grandma, quick question. What was the Restricted stuff on my lineage that the Amulet showed?" I asked and I could see she was nervous about answering.

"It's something a child like you shouldn't understand right now. Once you're able to unlock the scroll then you're qualified to know about that clan, right now it's too dangerous if prying ears and eyes catch on to the information." Said Toph seriously.

Judging from her tone of voice I could tell that this was something serious and not something I could bargain an answer for. I sighed and then asked my other question.

"Well then, could I learn Seismic Sense from you? I heard you are able to see despite being blind which is clearly the case and I would like to learn that skill as well." I asked which was basically the goal of coming here in the first place.

"Sure! We can start training tomorrow morning cause right now it's getting late." She said pointing at the sky which my head followed and saw that the sky was getting dark. She prepared me a room in the cave using earth bending and prepared a bed as well.

Like that I slept sinking into the land of dreams.

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[1 month later]

As time is like a river, the days run by and quickly a month has passed by. With my prodigious talent in earth bending and already achieving lava bending, seismic sense was moderately easy to grasp. Seismic sense was to sense the earth around you in all directions and sensing that earth in the most minuscule of things required more sense and control. So after a month of learning I finally grasped the technique and was on par with Lin Beifong but still far off from Toph's level.

"We'll kid, you've learned the technique and I've got to say you're the most talented student I've seen. What you have now should help you for now and you can improve on it once you've made more attainments." Toph said proudly as she was praising her own grandson.

I smiled and started to mount Mira. During this time Mira was hesitant of Toph at first due to the initial attack but once I eased her and told her she was family, she let down her guard and started to trust her a little more though she still had the best relationship with me.

"Before you go, hand this letter over to my daughter at the police station. Although we don't have the best relationship, she should still agree to what is written on the letter." She said as she handed me a letter with the Beifong seal on it.

I took the letter, put it in my bag, said bye to my grandma, and rode off with Mira toward the exit of the swamp towards Republic City.

After days of riding, I finally arrived at the city that Aang built to unite all nations.