I cooked us some breakfast. Nothing special, just rice and these pigeon things Muteki caught. It tasted a little like beef...
"Has anyone seen Toph?" Katara passed a bowl to The Duke.
"Not since she stormed off yesterday," Sokka answered.
"Same," Muteki frowned. "I think we should be worried."
"She could just be exploring the Air Temple," Haru suggested. "There are some pretty fun spots to practice earthbending."
I looked over at Muteki, who appeared to be deep in thought. Or he was earth sensing.
"I think we should go look for her," Katara said worriedly.
"Oh, let her have fun with her rocks," Sokka grumbled between mouthfuls. "I'm in no rush to have her yelling at us again."
"We can go check for her," The Duke suggested, some rice still on his face.
I quickly swiped it off with an old piece of cloth, and he pulled a face.
"Yeah, I want to ride that tunnel down to the hall of statues again," Teo grinned. "It'll work a lot better now that I fixed my brakes!"
"Be careful!" I called after them as they all shot off.
At least Haru stopped and waved back an acknowledgement. Muteki sighed and finished his food.
"I worry about these kids sometimes," I sighed as I gathered the used dishes. "They're all so young and out here all on their own. Like, where are their mothers?!"
"I'm just a bit worried about Toph," he grumbled. "I did promise her mother I would take care of her."
"Maybe we will look too after you're done with the dishes," I suggested, handing him the stack I'd gathered.
"She's here!" Muteki almost dropped the dishes.
Suddenly... A wall caved in and out fell a totally terrified Toph. Katara ran up to catch her as she fumbled further on her hands and knees.
"What happened!?" Katara asked.
"My feet got burned," Toph deadpanned.
"It Wasn't Me," was Muteki's initial response before scooping up the tiny girl in his massive arms.
"Oh no, Toph," Katara awwed. "What happened?"
"I just told you," Toph sounded annoyed. "My feet got burned."
"I meant how," Katara corrected herself.
"I wasn't lava bending," Muteki defended. "Before you ask."
"Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night," Toph admitted.
"You what!?" Aang was surprised.
"Zuko?" Katara was shocked.
"Ugh!" Sokka was grossed out.
"I've done dumber," I shrugged, nudging Muteki.
"I just thought he could be helpful to us," Toph defended herself. "And if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out."
"Like a neutron," Muteki smiled at her.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Toph shrugged as Katara began healing her feet.
"But he attacked you?" Aang asked
"Well, he did, and he didn't," Toph's answer was vague. "It was sort of an accident."
"But he did firebend at you?" Aang pressed
"Yes," Toph ceded.
"See," Sokka prepared to sokkasm. "You trusted Zuko, and you got burned, literally."
"It's gonna take a while for your feet to get better," Katara sighed. "I wish I could've worked on them sooner."
"Yeah, me too," Toph put on a brave face.
"Zuko's clearly too dangerous to be left alone," Sokka said. "We're gonna have to go after him."
"I hate to go looking for a fight, but you're right," Aang sighed, clearly disappointed. "After what he did to Toph, I don't think we have a choice."
"He had a friend with him," Toph said. "I didn't really hear their voice too well since Zuko, and I were yelling, and after my feet got burned, I was completely blind... but I heard them there."
"A friend?" I looked over to Muteki. "Azula or one of her henchwomen?"
"No, they didn't sound like them," Toph shook her head.
"That will make capturing him a little harder," Sokka said. "But there are more of us than them anyway. Zuko's crafty, but we'll find a way to capture him."
"Maybe just invite him back here," Toph said as Muteki carried Toph over to the fountain. "He's already offered himself up as a prisoner once."
"Yeah... get him to come back and say he'll be our prisoner," Sokka said, grinning with supposed sneakiness. "Then we'll jump him and really make him our prisoner. He'll never suspect it."
"You're a master of surprise, Sokka," Katara said dryly.
"And his friend?" I suggested.
"Jump him too!"
"What if he's bigger than me?" Muteki questioned.
"Throw Aang at his face," Sokka said.
"Hey!"
"Sorry dude, with Mangetsu missing, you're the only other person small enough to be thrown," Sokka shrugged. "Toph's feet are burnt."
"I reckon I could toss the dwarf," Muteki chuckled.
"Nobody!" I wagged a finger at him, "tosses a dwarf."
He chuckled and put Toph down on the edge of the fountain, dipping her feet in.
"Ahh, that's the stuff," Toph sighed. "Now I know how the rest of you guys feel. Not being able to see with your feet stinks."
Aang went to get towels for Toph, and when he came back, the ceiling decided it didn't want to be above us any longer. There was a huge explosion, and we all ran for cover as the ceiling caved in. At least Muteki remembered to scoop Toph up. He put her down behind a corner.
Suddenly a wild Zuko appeared.
"Stop!" Zuko was getting in Sparky's way. "I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore."
"He's gonna get blown up," Muteki whispered as the rest of the gaang got ready to fight.
"The mission is off," Zuko yelled with his arms spread in front of Sparky's face. "I'm ordering you to stop!"
Combustion Man shoved Zuko out of the way and fired another blast at the top of the fountain, destroying it. We all hit the deck, covering our heads.
"If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" Zuko threatened.
Combustion Man stopped Zuko in his tracks by grabbing him by the shirt. Zuko threw a fireball but missed, and it hit the ground.
"All right, I'll pay you double to stop!" He broke out of the giant's grip, then tried to kick him.
Luckily for us, the kick landed just before the next explode-a-bolt shot out of this guy's face at us. It ended up hitting something below us. They both stumbled, but Sparky recovered first.
Then Sparky shot at Zuko. There was an explosion on the ledge they were both standing on, and I could just feel Amaya gasping and crying out to Zuko.
"We gotta help him!" Is what everyone else heard.
Apparently, I shouted it, but I could have sworn it was Amaya nearby.
Aang provided smoke cover by kicking up a storm of dust and debris. Muteki tried to make some rock barricades so the others could get to safety behind some support pillars. Meanwhile, Aang launched a tornado at the dude. Sparky jumped it, of course, and landed on a new ledge, launching another explosion as he landed. Katara attempted to block it with the fountain water, but I still felt the shockwaves from the blast. She then bent the entire fountain at the poor guy. If he were normal, many shards of needle-like ice would be enough to put him in hospital for a month. Of course, he isn't normal, though. He just looked angry.
So, here's the sitch. Zuko tried to save us and got knocked off a building. Aang, Sokka and Katara made it behind one of the stone columns. And Muteki, Toph and I are ducked behind another pillar. The other kids were nowhere to be seen. Probably best for them.
And Combustion Man? Well, he was doing what he does best. The pillars holding the floor up slowly began disappearing. I mean, they disappeared in a searing flash of heat and concussive force.
"He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliffside," Toph cried out.
"I can't step out to waterbend at him without getting blown up," Katara called to us after almost losing her head. "And I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here."
"I know how to get an angle on him," Sokka grinned, moving his sister aside.
This kid then proceeded to pull a boomerang out of a holster on his back, do some quick maths and tossed it. Who said you don't use Leplasse transformations and the Sine rule outside of school?
"All right, buddy," Sokka said to his boomerang. "Don't fail me now."
I had to poke my head just out from behind the pillar to see what happened next. Almost as dangerous as living in Joburg, but totally worth it, in my opinion.
The boomerang took the scenic route to its target, but it got there. It hit him square in the face probably half a second before he was gonna blast me. Boomie, the boomerang, absolutely decked the big guy. Wait... didn't the others meet a guy called Boomy? Oh well. The others ran out of their hiding spot, and Sokka did a wee victory jump like some sort of Anime Girl.
"Yeah, Boomerang!" Sokka called as he caught his weapon.
Sparky sat up, rubbing his face.
"Aww, Boomerang!" Sokka sounded dejected as they all ran back to cover.
"I got this," Muteki stepped out and jumped into a stance... then?
BOOM!
"It Wasn't Me!" Muteki held up his hands. "I had nothing to do with..."
He was cut off as a metal arm slapped him in the face. I peaked back out to see that the building Sparky had been standing on had disappeared in a cloud of dust. What's more, a wild Mangetsu had appeared at the top of Zuko's vine and was... Helping Him?! Oh my. This is interesting...