I'll Be Your Family

Blind Bandit pt. 5

Toph smiled as the stranger tensed, readying himself like a spring about to explode. 

Wow, he isn't gonna return the fist bump, that's rude. I'll make sure to get one later.

Steadying herself, she waited patiently for him to start running towards her. She knew he would have to make it a close-quarters fight if he wanted to win. 

Come on Scruffy, let's see how fast you are.

Turns out he was pretty fast. She almost missed it when he launched himself toward her at full speed. He would close the distance in a few seconds if she didn't stop him. She stomped the ground and a wall erupted in front of him to block his path. 

Damnit, his footsteps are light. I almost missed it. He isn't stopping though. Is he gonna go through it? I'll be pissed if he was an Earthbender this entire time and I missed it.

She waited as the stranger ran in a full sprint and launched himself up the wall, scaling it with shocking speed. Toph smiled wickedly as she felt him scale a 20 ft. wall with relative ease. 

This guy's crazy.

She kicked up a boulder and launched it at him right after he landed, trying to hit him before he could recover. He immediately landed on his knees and leaned back, the boulder flying over him, inches from his nose. 

That was close, Zuko thought as he got up and started moving in a zig-zag pattern to try and close the distance.

Toph responded by sending pillars of earth towards him, grazing him as she started to learn how he moved. 

 By the time I figure out how to predict him, he'll be too close. In that case, I'll just have to level the playing field.

Toph grinned as she stomped the ground, sending a wave of debris and dust across the arena. Zuko was pushed back and landed on his back in the center of the ring. As he got up he realized he was surrounded by a cloud of dust. 

Shit, he thought.

Toph entered the dust cloud, sending a small boulder toward her opponent. She was hoping to test his reaction time in the smokescreen before hitting him with stronger moves.

Toph was surprised when he didn't react at all. The boulder hit his left shoulder, sending him flying out of the cloud and toward the edge of the ring. He caught himself by sticking his sword to the ground, getting into a defensive position as he faced the direction the boulder came from.

What was that? He should have at least reacted to it a little, did he not see it at all? Wonder if it has something to do with his left eye.

She lowered the dust cloud and faced turned towards him, knowing that her smokescreen was useless now. She quickly turned her focus to him as he put his sword back in his sheath. She frowned, wondering why he put his weapon away.

Is he giving up? That's lame. I thought you were cool Scruffy.

The second she thought that though, she felt him lean back and launch his sword at her as he followed behind it. She reacted in an instant, creating a wall to block the projectile. 

What is he doing? He doesn't have a weapon now. 

She launched the wall towards him, sending the sword over the edge of the ring. She waited as he climbed to the top of the wall and jumped towards her. She got ready to throw another boulder at him when he landed when something wooden and heavy hit her in the face. She fell back as she tried to ground herself.

That bastard! He threw his sheath at me when he was in the air! 

She recovered and tried to locate him. She realized with a start that he was only a few feet from her. He leaped in the air and swung something at her.  She responded on instinct, covering herself with two slabs of slanted rock. 

She heard a sword bounce off the rock. She flicked her hands forward to send the rock slabs barreling off the edge with him in tow. She let out a sigh of relief as she felt him stand up outside of the ring, his sword still in hand.

That was close. I don't think I've ever been injured in an Earth Rumble before. How did he even get his sword back, I thought I sent it over the edge when I launched the wall at him. 

The crowd was silent before erupting in applause. Xin Fu jumped on the stage to announce the winner of the match.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GIVE IT UP, FOR YOUR RAINING CHAMPION: THE BLIND BANDIT! SEE YOU IN A MONTH WHEN SHE DEFENDS HER TITLE IN EARTH RUMBLE VI!"

Toph rubbed her bruised forehead as she felt the stranger pick up another sword and sheath both of them behind his back. He made his way back up to the ring as the rest of the crowd piled out of the stands, chatting excitedly about Earth Rumble VI and tonight's surprise match.

Oh, so that's how he did it. He had two swords the entire time. Smart. It's gonna take more than that to beat the greatest Earthbender in the world though. That was the best match I've had in a while.

Toph smiled to herself as she felt the stranger climb the last of the steps and stand in front of her. He was rubbing his shoulder and his jaw was clenched in what she assumed was either pain or anger. Probably a mix of both.

"What do you want to know?" he asked, in a tone that suggested he would rather be anywhere else in the world right now.

She smiled as she thought about what to say. She could ask the question's now but she didn't want to risk staying out any later. Besides, she might never see this guy again and she wanted to have a proper conversation with him, not just a rushed interrogation. 

"I'll tell you tomorrow, Scruffy. I got curfew soon and I can't risk getting caught. That would be a pain. How about we meet back here at the same time tomorrow and I'll ask you those 3 questions then. What do you say?" She held out her hand in a fist bump, ready to sock him if he refused to do it back this time.

Zuko mulled it over. Honestly, he just wanted to answer her questions quickly and never see her again. It was midnight, he still had to treat his shoulder injury and then find a decent house to rob on top of that. He didn't want to come back here tomorrow and answer this blind girl's questions after she stomped him, but he had to honor his deal.

He sighed, "Fine. I'll be back here tomorrow, but I'm leaving town the day after so if you can't make it the deal's off." He watched her suspiciously as she beamed at him, taking his hand and bumping his fist to hers in what he assumed was an Earth Kingdom version of a handshake.

"Oh trust me Scruffy, I wouldn't miss it for the world."