99 - Meeting Toph

“Levi your back,” said Aang as he ran up to him with a worried look on his face.

“How did the scouting go?” asked Sokka.

“Well it was…very productive,” said Levi absentmindedly.

“Really? What did you find out?” inquired Aang, his eyes digging into Levi.

“What?” asked Levi, snapping out of his thoughts.

“You said It was very productive. What did you find out?” Aang repeated back, his tone becoming more hurried and heavier as he feared the worst.

“Uhhh, nothing?”

“Huh, What do you mean nothing, you spent all night missing, what were you doing?” asked Sokka.

“Let’s go guys, Bumi’s got this," said Levi as he turned and jumped on top of Appa.

“How do you know?” asked Katara, even she was worried, judging by her tone.

“I…I just do okay? Trust me in this,” said Levi as he lay on top of Appa, speaking as few words as he could to avoid unintentionally slipping.

They all looked at each other in confusion before following after him, Aang only spared a slight worried glance towards Omashu before taking a deep breath and also hopping on top of Appa.

Katara eyed him suspiciously, her woman intuition told her something was wrong but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

Momo seemed to be the one who missed Levi the most as he ran up and jumped on top of his shoulders. He took a sniff before screeching at Levi and jumping away hiding behind Sokka.

“What was that about?” Sokka asked as he patted Momo’s head.

Sniff Sniff

“What’s that smell? It smells like a woman’s perfume,” said Katara as she sniffed the air.

‘Shit, I forgot about that,’ thought Levi as he quickly used purification on himself with Azula’s perfume and scent as the target. His heart ached, feeling as if he lost something when he did that, he liked her scent but it was necessary.

“What scent?” asked Levi in confusion.

“This scent….” said Katara as she kept sniffing before her expression changed, “Never mind, let's…let’s just go,” she said uncertainty.

Shrugging his shoulders, Aang held Appa’s reins and took off, Momo came back to Levi again, carefully sniffing him but this time he didn’t shriek at him, he rested on his chest and slept.

‘Gaslighting successful,’ thought Levi with a wide smile on his face.

“What’s with that creepy smile?” snapped Katara as she eyed Levi suspiciously.

The other two turned to look at him but only saw Levi looking at Katara with a confused expression, “What smile?” he asked, tilting his head.

“You just…you…you…ahhh forget it,” said Katara holding her hair and messaging her head, making Levi smirk.

‘If I ever had a gaslighting skill It would be max level by now,’ thought Levi with his eyes closed, a faint smirk spreading on his face, ‘that said I should activate Gamer’s mind back on,’ he thought as he activated his Gamer’s mind emotional regulation aspect back on.

‘You might have them fooled, but I know what kind of man you’re,’ sent Acnologia out of nowhere.

‘What the hell? Hey, what do you mean by that?’ asked Levi again and again, but he received no answer.

***

Omashu - The Royal chambers

“Since when were you a clean freak Azula?” asked Ty Lee doing a handstand as she looked at Fire Nation soldiers who just finished changing the bed sheets and cleaning the room.

“There is much you don’t know about me, Ty Lee,” said Azula as she looked at a map of Omashu with fire nation markers representing bases and new buildings on it.

The Fire Nation soldiers finally left the room leaving Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee alone.

“So are we going to talk about the elephant in the room or what,” said Mai in a calm voice as the other two turned to look at her.

“What do you mean?” asked Azula, narrowing her eyes at Mai.

“That water bender who almost killed you Azula,” said Mai.

“W…What? What about him,” said Azula, doing her best to appear normal and failing miserably, she could feel herself start sweating all over, thankfully the other two in the room didn’t seem to have noticed anything out of place.

“He was strong Azula, too strong, unnaturally so,” said Mai, her deep grave tone conveying the seriousness she put on the subject.

“Oh that,” said Azula, feeling relief wash over her; she had to stop herself from releasing a sigh in relief.

“Yes THAT, his speed, movements, reaction time, adaptability, techniques, martial arts, everything about him, he is on a whole different level, he is a monster Azula, he could pose a real threat to the fire nation, maybe more than the avatar,” said Mai in a serious tone.

Azula’s fists clenched above the map when the word monster, ‘What’s wrong with me,’ she thought her eyes widening at her own reaction.

“She’s right Azula, and he copied my techniques in seconds,” said Ty Lee, her smile fading as she sat on the ground and hugged her knees.

Seeing Ty Lee like that Azula wanted to say everything would be alright but her words caught in her throat, she remembered that before Levi left they didn't make anything clear between them, the next time they met they might be enemies, for some reason thinking about that made her heart clench.

“We can’t do anything about him now, he’s most likely left Omashu already, all our searches bore no results,” she said.

“That’s to be expected,” said Mai, letting out a deep breath and tilting her head back in frustration.

“Did any of you feel like he was just toying with us and not fighting seriously?” asked Ty Lee with a soft voice from the ground.

“That’s most likely the case.” Azula found herself answering automatically, though she didn’t find that idea as repulsive as before.

“He is kind of hot though, shame he isn’t on our side,” said Ty Lee all of a sudden, her voice regaining some of its energy.

Hearing her, Azula wanted to rush over and strangle her before she held herself back.

“I don’t think he is that hot, he looked like a normal guy to me,” said Mai from the side.

“Oh shut up Mai, you only have the hots for Zuko, of course you won’t see it,” said Ty Lee dismissively.

“I…I do not,” said Mai, almost screaming as she got up from her chair.

“Sure, what do you think, Azula?” said Ty Lee grinning widely as she ran to Azula’s side and held her cheeks stretching them, “He is hot isn’t he?”

“Stop that,” said Azula, slapping Ty Lee's hands off, “And yeah he is kind of hot,” Azula found herself saying despite herself.

“See? See? I told you hehe,” said Ty Lee doing a backflip.

“Let’s focus on more pressing issues shall we?” said Azula tapping the map on the table.

“Yes, should I interrogate King Bumi?” asked Mai.

“That wouldn’t be necessary, just keep him where he is for now,” said Azula, seeing the other two offer no words of protest she couldn’t help but feel relieved.

An: A short segment to show that Azula is way different from the show, more normal if you want to use that word, and she treats Mai and Ty Lee more like best friends rather than followers.

***

“Don’t just swing the sword around aimlessly, feel it, make it an extension of your body, swing it around like you would do your own arms and legs.” Levi's stern voice echoed from behind Sokka.

He was breathing rapidly, but even that wasn’t enough to satisfy his body, his body begged him to rest and take a break but he just kept pushing himself further, and with Levi around he didn’t have any choice in the matter.

“You're putting too much strength behind your hits, you won’t be able to recover if you miss, your enemy will make use of that.”

Holding an ice sword reinforced by Ethereal force Levi swung at Sokka again and again, correcting his mistakes and honing his swordsmanship.

With his mentor skill and Sokka’s natural talent, he was quickly picking up on Levi’s lessons and becoming better and better by the day.

Conjuring a sword using ice and reinforcing it with Ethereal Force Levi started sparring with Sokka when they landed, and he was surprised to find that even with the enhancement of Ethereal Force his ice sword was still getting chipped up.

‘That’s an ancient spirit for you,’ thought Levi as he casually exchanged blows with Sokka, his relaxed and easygoing attitude the direct opposite of Sokka’s haggard self.

As for the ancient sword spirit, it showed no changes or ill will and made no attempts to communicate, it only seemed intent on finding a worthy wielder which Sokka seemed to fulfill.

‘It shouldn’t be long before we run into Toph,’ thought Levi, he didn’t know when exactly it would happen but he knew it was close.

Deflecting another blow from Sokka his sword shattered as he made another one, Sokka, Aang, and Katara who were watching from the side didn’t find it weird, after all it made sense for a metal sword to shatter an ice one, but Levi knew how much more powerful and durable Ethereal force can make anything it is applied to, and knew the significance of his ice sword shattering.

***

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN WELCOME TO EARTH RUMBLE 6 I AM YOUR HOST XIN FU.”

An earth bender announced from the middle of an underground stage, Levi and the others were sitting in the front rows. The time for them to meet Toph had arrived sooner than Levi had expected.

Instead of wasting time like in the show Levi decided to speed it up and brought them here after finding the place, of course that also meant they had to sit through and watch a couple of other fights before Toph one came up.

“THE RULES ARE SIMPLE? JUST KNOCK THE OTHER GUY OUT OF THE RING AND YOU WIN.” 

The cheers and applause filled the stadium as Xin Fu jumped from the stadium and two new fighters came in. One of them had fought three matches until now and won, the boulder, and the other was…a kid, a young girl.

‘There she is,’ thought Levi with a smile as he looked at the half-human holding her champion belt over her head as the crowds cheered.

What happened next was something Levi expected, Toph made short work of the boulder, he didn’t even stand a chance, Sokka’s disgruntled boos assaulted Levi’s ears the entire time.

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, YOUR CHAMPION FOR THE EIGHT TIME IN A ROW, THE BLIND BANDIIIIIIT.” the announcer shouted from the middle of the stage holding Toph's hand up high.

“Nooooo, how could this happen, she cheated, she’s a cheater I tell you,” Sokka shouted from the stands on the front row, others were doing the same, they couldn’t accept the fact that a little kid defeated their fighter.

Aang on the other hand had his eyes glued to Toph, “That’s her,” he said, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

“What was that Aang?” asked Katara.

“That’s her, that's my earth-bending teacher,” said Aang, his eyes shining.

“Are you sure? She seems a bit…um…young, for lack of better words,” said Katara.

“I am sure.” 

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FOR A CHANCE TO WIN THE EARTH RUMBLE TITLE AND DEFEAT THE EIGHT TIMES CHAMPION, AS WELL AS WIN THIS BAG OF GOLD COINS I AM OFFERING, DOES ANYONE DARE TO FACE HER?” The announcer's voice filled the stage as he held a bag full of gold coins and giggled in front of the audience.

But he was only greeted with death silence. A lot of people weren’t satisfied with how her match with the boulder went, but none dared take the offer and face her.

Levi could see a smirk spreading on Toph’s face when the stadium fell into silence, making him smile himself.

“ARE THERE NO TAKERS? ARE YOU THAT AFRAID OF A LITTLE GIRL?" The announcer's voice kept spreading all around the underground stage but there was still no one who dared challenge Toph.

Just when Aang was getting up to take the challenge Levi put a hand on his shoulder, “Let me handle this,” Levi said, Aang only nodded and sat back down.

“DOES NO ONE DARE TO FACE HER?” asked the announcer for the third time.

‘Dude, You’re making it way too obvious how desperate you’re,’ thought Levi as he walked to the stage.

Toph noticed him before the announcer as she turned and looked at him, “I will face her,” said Levi as he stopped opposite Toph.

Seeing Levi the announcer released a breath he was holding and his shoulders relaxed, ‘Way too obvious,’ thought Levi holding the urge to slap his forehead.

“Finally a brave young man dared step up, the rules are the same, let the better man…or woman…wins begin,” said the announcer as he jumped off stage.

“I don’t know who you are but you give me the creeps,” said Toph with a frown on her face.

“Yeah, I get that sometimes,” said Levi in a lighthearted tone, Toph was one of his favorite characters when he watched the show, and he didn’t want to give her a bad impression, plus if things worked out she would be accompanying them from now on.

“How about we make a deal,” said Levi.

“What kind of deal? Do you want to bribe me for a win so you can show off in front of your girlfriend or something like that? Not gonna happen,” said Toph, her tone firm.

“Nothing like that,” said Levi, holding back the urge to snap at her, “If I win, you have to teach a friend of mine earth bending,”

“FIGHT ALREADY.” a shout came from the stands followed by more shouts and boos, Levi’s eye couldn’t help but twitch as he recognized the first shout as Sokka’s.

The people on the stands couldn’t hear what they were saying but it was obvious they were getting irritated.

“And what if I win?” asked Toph, crossing her arms.

“That’s not gonna happen,” replied Levi immediately.

“We have a cocky one here, Let me put you in your place then,” said Toph as she took a step forward.