10 Chapter 10: Avatar
After heading home and crashing on my bed early, I wake up the next day before the sun rises.
I bathe and change my clothes.
I get a little more training in before breakfast.
This time I bought a couple of chunks of coal for a few copper pieces.
I take a small one in my hand and start squeezing.
Since coal is slightly softer than the rock I used yesterday, I don't squeeze as hard.
I squeeze for a while, until I hear a knock on my door. A maid informing me of breakfast.
Telling her I'll be right over, I look down at the piece of coal.
It's much harder, but the appearance doesn't change much.
Damn, I was hoping to at least make carbon fiber, but I guess it's not as simple as compressing carbon.
Since carbon fiber is a more modern invention, I may need to do something more complicated.
I think I remember that it's made part mechanically and something else.
This is carbon, so maybe chemical?
Carbons atoms react strongly to air, specifically oxygen, so maybe I have to remove the oxygen around the coal?
How am I supposed to do that?
I can ask Aang when we're closer, but will he be willing to airbend the air away from my hand and make a vacuum while I squeeze the coal for who knows how long?
Looks like I have to practice more with coal, and skip carbon fiber, right to making diamonds.
If I recall making diamonds is much simpler. I just need apply extreme pressure to it.
After throwing all the coal into my travel pack, I make my way to the dining room to have one last breakfast with my parents.
Unbeknownst to them of course.
Saying goodbye to my family as unusual do when I visit Toph, I head to the Beifong residence.
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Toph is already outside, still sporting a frustrated look on her face.
"Hey, Toph! Still mad about yesterday, I see."
I smile in order to bring up her mood.
She still looks bothered.
"Don't remind me. Come on."
Toph nearly drags me to our spot in the garden and sits on the bench, still holding on to my arm tightly.
"Come on, Toph, just let it go. You can get hung up on it forever. You lost to me, like, three times before."
"Yeah, but that's you! I don't mind losing to you. Not in a fair fight, at least. But this one's different! I didn't even feel the ground vibrate when he pushed me off the ring! It's like I was blasted by nothing! He definitely cheated!"
Toph shows an even angrier face and bares her teeth in a frown.
Toph keeps complaining most of our time together, and like the good boyfriend I am, I listen to (almost) every word in order to appease her.
She calms down a couple of hours before dinner, and we silently sit there.
Suddenly Toph stand up a little angry.
"Wait here, Lu."
Toph then wanders off to the far wall.
I feel some earthbending and three things land on the ground. Two on bushes, and one on the hard grass.
I'm pretty sure that's the Gaang. They should be explaining why they're looking for her.
"Lu! Guards! Help!"
That's my que.
I quickly make my way to Toph along with some other guards.
"Toph, what happened?"
I asked Toph, invoking my terrible acting skills
"I thought I heard something! I got scared..."
Toph fairs no better in her acting, but it still managed to fool the guard.
"You know your Father doesn't want you wandering the gardens alone, Toph. Why didn't you bring Lu Chen with you?"
"I just wanted to- ... I'll just have Lu come with me next time."
Toph comes up with a lame excuse, but once again she fools the guards.
I decide to tease her just a bit in front of the guards.
"Yeah, next time I won't allow you out of my sight."
The two guards look at each other then back to us with warm smiles.
I know the Gaang will be back later, so I plan out how to interact with them.
Do I let Toph and Aang talk in the garden by themselves?
Hmm, now that I'm here, Toph probably won't desire freedom as much. I'll convince her if it comes to that.
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"Who thinks they can just barge into my home unannounced?!"
Lao looks angry at the news that a certain someone is visiting.
"Uh... The Avatar, sir."
I look at Toph. She just blows her hair out of the way with a scowl on her face.
I've decided to let things play out like they did in cannon. I'm only gonna convince Toph to travel with the Gaang only if she says she's happy to stay here with me.
The servants quickly set up dinner and invited the Avatar and his friends inside.
Everyone quickly settles down and starts eating.
Lao begins conversing with Aang.
"So, in your opinion, how long do you think this war will last?"
"I'd like to defeat the Fire Lord by the end of summer, but I can't do that without learning earthbending first."
Aang looks at Toph when he speaks.
"Well, Master Yu is an expert when it comes to teaching earthbending. He's been teaching Toph since she was a child, and just recently Lu Chen here, as well."
"Since she's been training for so long, I'm sure Toph's a powerful bender! Probably powerful enough to- Ow!"
Toph puts on a face of innocence as she eats a bit of rice, as she earthbended the floor to hit Aang on his toes.
I just sit there, eating.
Everyone else looks at Aang in confusion.
Master Yu speaks up.
"Toph is still learning the basics."
"Yes, because of her blindness... I don't think she'll ever become a true master."
Ha, that's a good one.
"Uh, I'm sure she's better than- Ahh!"
Toph pulls Aang's chair forward causing him to plant his face in the bowl of food in front of him.
A fake airbended sneeze, coming up.
"A-Achoo!"
*Boom*
All the food in front of Aang is launched directly to the faces of Yu, Poppy, me and Toph.
Toph angrily takes off the bowl sticking to her head and stands up.
"What's your problem?!"
Aang response in tow.
"What's your problem?!"
Everyone in the dining room just looks very confused.
"Well... why don't we move on to dessert in the living room...?"
Poppy saved the otherwise disastrous dinner and suggested we move on to the next meal.
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After a largely uneventful dessert, a servant guided the Gaang to their room.
A little while later Toph comes up to me.
"Hey, Lu come with me. I want to... uh, form a truce with this Aang guy.
We both head to the guest room together.
"Hey, Twinkle Toes."
"Ahugh??"
Aang takes a sloppy stance in surprise, ready to confront Toph again.
"Relax, Twinkle toes."
I raise my hand and smile at Aang, showing him a friendly attitude.
Aang visibly relaxes.
"Look, sorry about dinner, how about we just call a truce?"
Aang, looking a little confused, accepted without much further hesitation.
I look at both Toph and Aang.
"From what I got from the conversation during dinner and from what you said during the tournament, The Avatar is looking for an earthbending teacher. And you want Toph to be that teacher?"
Aang smiles and nods.
"Yeah. Also, you can just call me Aang. Are you maybe Toph's... brother?"
"Haha! No, I'm her fiancé. Right, Toph?"
I elbow her shoulder and Toph just turns her head away, a slight blush visible on her cheek, as she barely nods.
Aang looks flabbergasted.
"You have a fiancé?!"
"Ugh, whatever! Why do you want me to be your teacher anyways?"
Without warning Toph walks out of the room and towards the garden.
"Wait!"
Aang and I follow her out.
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Catching up to her Toph can be seen walking along the edge of a bridge.
"Uh, Toph, be careful."
Aang looks a little concerned.
When she notices us, she starts telling Aang a similar story to what she told me.
"I might've been born blind, but that doesn't mean I can't 'see'."
Toph jumps off the bridge and onto the ground.
"I see with earthbending. It's like seeing with my feet. I can sense the things around me, like the trees over there, the rocks, even those ants."
Aang immediately believes Toph. Obviously, he believes her, he saw her fight in the arena and win.
"That's amazing."
"... My parents don't understand. They always treated me like I'm hopeless."
"Is that why you became The Blind Bandit?"
Toph nods at Aang's guess.
"Then why stay here?"
"Well, they're my parents. Where else am I supposed to go? Plus I have Lu here with me. He makes my life just a little more bearable."
Toph walks up to me and rests her forehead on my chest.
"Why not come with us?"
"I can't... I'd like to stay with Lu, but I can't exactly separate him from his family too..."
Suddenly, Toph stiffens up and touches the ground with her hand.
This is the part where we get ambushed. I couldn't feel them coming because I'm wearing shoes.
"We're being ambushed!"
A second later three metal cages come down on us, completely cutting off our escape.
Xin Fu then appears with his entourage of wrestlers.
"I believe you kids owe us some money."
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So far, so cannon.
It'll stop being so close to cannon in a few chapters. I'm not planning these chapters out too much, so it ends up a little slow, but just bare with it for now. I'll diverge soon.
Anyways, thanks for the support.
I honestly didn't expect so much attention.
My official release schedule will be weekdays (no set time, I could release in the morning or at night). If I have enough chapters in my backlog, I'll release an extra chapter on a weekend.
The reason is due to school. I have trade school in the morning and I leave at 2. I have the rest of the day to write. On weekends I have work literally all day. So no chapters on those days.
Some days, something may happen and I won't be able to release a chapter, I apologize in advanced.
And finally, no backseating! I appreciate ideas, but if you don't like how I write my MC or the decisions he makes, you can always write your own Fanfic or read another!
I don't mean to sound like an asshole, but seriously.
If you genuinely don't like the direction, it's fine to just stop reading.
Announcing that you are dropping or considering it is a little self centered and snobby, and kinda cringe, so don't do that.
I'm done my little rant.
Have a great day, readers! Thank you again!
