Arrowhead and the Blind Bandit

Chapter 6: Begin, The Quarterfinal Round!

by: Jung Ho

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Avatar: The Last Airbender. All characters and concepts are owned by Nickelodeon/Viacom.

The crowd, loud and cheering a moment ago, was no longer doing so. There was a lull, and not without the occasional whine or complaint. The reason of the unrest was due to the fifteen minute break the officants had called. The first round of the finals had been completed in such a timely fashion, that the quarterfinal round was delayed.

It was this low point in the tournament that caused Sokka to take a break from the overloaded fan-boy attitude he had adopted since the beginning of the tournament. It was a welcome change of pace, but there was only one thing wrong with it. He was bored. Incredibly so. His sister had gone to play "trainer" to Toph, and had left him in the stands. And after five minutes of doing nothing, he was tempted to join Katara.

He was sitting at very back of the stadium, right at the edge of the row of seats. And it seemed many people were taking advantage of the fifteen minute break because everybody in his row was taking turns leaving to use the bathroom, get more food, or to just stretch their legs. Now Sokka was feeling the new wave of annoyance and decided to go find the fighter's locker room and visit his sister. Whatever she was doing has to be better than sitting doing nothing.

"So how're you feeling Red?"

Her friend had to lean over to Katara and whispered into her ear.

"He says he's doing alright, but seems to have lost his voice."

"Again?" Toph said with some exasperation. The boy sitting down nodded his head.

"Yes again," repeated Katara, in case Toph hadn't picked up on his nonverbal message.

"Whatever. You can still fight right?"

He nodded again.

"Good. I haven't had a chance to fight you yet. You can drop out after that."

Neither person thought of reminding Toph that in order to fight, they would have to meet in the finals.

"Hey." Both Katara and Toph turned to face the new person. The boy on the bench instead looked towards his hands which were wrestling each other.

"How're you holding up, 'Bandit'?" asked Sokka, with a very obvious wink in her direction.

Toph couldn't see the attempt at subtlty, so Katara rolled her eyes for her.

"What're you talking about? I haven't had to fight yet."

"Oh, yeah…"

It was Toph's turn to roll her eyes.

"Anyway, who's this guy?" asked Sokka, pointing to the boy on the bench.

"Oh, he's another fighter. Sokka, meet the Arrowhead, " explained Toph.

"The Arrowhead?! Really? That's amazing! His first round was awesome!" Sokka was beside himself with excitement.

The Arrowhead looked up, and made eye contact. He was speechless for a moment, before lamely greeting him.

He looked from Aang to Toph flabbergasted. He settled on Toph and asked, "You don't recognize him do you?"

Toph shrugged. "No. Why should I?"

Sokka was about to reveal Aang's identity, but then caught Katara's stare and Aang's frantic nod.

"No reason, just thought we've met before in a different town, is all," he said, still confused at why Toph didn't recognize the airbender.

"Oh. Well, he says he's not from around here, so it's definitely a possibility," offered the Blind Bandit.

Katara nodded, trying to throw off any suspicion. "Yeah, I mean even Haru's here. At least I think it's him. He's got a bit of a goatee now."

Sokka cringed slightly at the memory of watching their friend in the ring. "That's true. I guess the lure of 500 gold pieces lures a lot of people from everywhere."

He turned his attention on Toph's 'new' friend. "Arrowhead, right?" Aang nodded his head. "Can I talk to you a minute?"

Aang got up, and both of them headed toward the entrance way to the stadium.

"Why did he want to talk to him?" asked Toph.

Katara shrugged and feigned ignorance. "Boys…" she answered as if that explained everything. And strangely enough, Toph seemed to take it as an adequate answer.

The two reached the tunnel where they could get a little bit of privacy. Sokka then started questioning his friend.

"So what're you doing here?" asked Sokka.

Aang shrugged. "Having fun I guess." His voice was indeed gone, because Sokka had to strain to hear it at all.

"That's not what I meant. Why aren't you guarding camp?"

"Oh come on, Sokka. We left Appa to guard it. And I don't think anybody's gonna try to steal from a six ton flying bison."

Sokka adopted a body position as if to argue the counter point, but failed to say anything, seeing as how, it made sense, even if it was Aang sense. Appa was the best guard-bison ever. Sokka instead face-palmed and continued on after Aang's 'satisfactory' answer.

"Alright fine. But why didn't you tell me you were gonna fight?"

Again, Aang shrugged at his question. "I dunno. I didn't think to tell you, I guess."

Sokka seemed to accept his answer, though slightly miffed at his reason.

"Alright next question then. Why doesn't Toph recognize you? She has said you have really light footsteps."

Aang didn't shrug at his question, but instead went into deep thought. His face lit up and he rolled up his pant legs, revealing the weights underneath. "These are probably making my footsteps heavier."

Sokka knelt down to examine them. "Where'd you get them?"

"Toph."

The blue-clad boy stood up, dusting himself off.

"Makes sense. Last question. Why are you hiding from Toph?"

"Because I promised I wouldn't come."

A face of confusion suddenly appeared on Sokka. "Oh?"

"Yeah. If she finds me here, she's gonna give me the 'training session from the Spirit World."

"Why would she do that?"

"Well, I have been tired for the past few days, I'm sure it shows." Sokka nodded knowingly. "And my bending hasn't exactly been at it's best. She'd probably make that into enough reason."

Both of the boys shuddered at the thought, as they both have been victimized my Toph's antics.

"Please don't tell her I'm here," pleaded Aang, grabbing Sokka's shirt, with a look of desperation on his face.

Sokka grabbed the airbender's shoulders and cracked a grin. "Don't worry. Nobody, not even the Firelord deserves that kind of torture."

Aang breathed a sigh of relief at his friend's promise.

Toph felt the two boys approaching before she could hear them. As soon as they were in earshot, she called to them loudly, "What did Club Head want anyway, Red?"

She felt again the slightly faster heartbeat from before, as the boys in question slowed down.

"I just wanted his autograph," Sokka said as calmly as he could. They seemed to pause as if to look at each other before he continued. "I mean how can I not with the way he fought out there?"

Toph shrugged, her way of just accepting their explanation. She turned to talk to Katara. "So is there anything else you need to check on me?" The water bender had been checking the Blind Bandit for any serious injury or pain, to get her ready for her big fight.

"Nope, none."

"Great."

With that Toph hopped off the bench. She was itching for a chance to fight. She cracked her knuckles menacingly, as if she was in the ring intimidating her opponent.

"Wait a minute there, Bandit." The voice was feminine and just at that instant, highly annoying. "You don't know if your gonna be fighting this next round right now. For all we know, they could start with the first bracket. They did get the most rest."

"Well aright, but I'm next right?"

"No."

"What?"

"Arrowhead would be after that."

She let out a huff. She turned to her new rival. "You better make it worth waiting, Red." She could almost see his grin spread across his face and his accompanying nod.

Just then, the reverberating sound of the gong permeated the locker room, silencing all of the remaining fighters. The officiant came out of the tunnel leading to the arena and cleared his throat. "The second round is about to begin. The first round is Hobbit versus Kwon. Will the two fighters please come with me?"

With that the sixteen year old that introduced himself to Aang before stood up. Toph sensed the other fighter's footsteps at the other end of the room. The others were whispering to each other.

"What's up?"

"It's a kid."

Toph perked up. She put her hand on the floor just to be sure. Sure enough, she felt a kid a full head shorter than her walk up to the officiant. She half expected the man to turn the kid away, but he instead ushered them towards the ring. Her face cracked into a grin so wide, it seemed humanly impossible to express that much happiness.

"Come on, Red. Let's go."

With that, she grabbed her fellow fighter's wrist and dragged him to the tunnel.

Katara struggled to keep her grin from showing, but was failing desperately. Even Sokka took notice of it.

"What's so funny?"

"Toph sure is having a lot of fun, isn't she?"

Sokka shrugged. "Hey that 's fine. As long as she's not picking on me."

Aang didn't protest to being pulled. Not that it would make much difference anyway. She was going to have her way, his opinion be damned. But the other reason why he didn't complain was the Hobbit also interested him. It was the first time seeing a bender younger than him of the same caliber. He had to agree with Toph; this definitely was going to be an interesting match.

They barely made it to the entranceway when the referee started the fight. The Hobbit jumped back to distance himself from his opponent. He then proceeded to bend stilts for himself. He also bended long rock arms to cover his own.

Kwon on the other hand, was rolling his sleeves up to uncover both of his arm braces. He then put both arms behind him and somehow locked the braces together. He had, for all intents and purposes of the fight, had no arms.

The Hobbit released the first attack. He whipped one of his long rock snack arms toward the handicapped fighter. Kwon jumped to dodge the attack. At least, that's what it looked like. When he didn't come down immediately Aang along with the crowd looked up. He had used his hands to bend two small stones to act as footholds, just hovering over his opponent's arm.

The Hobbit used his other arm to make a mid-air attack. Kwon dodged again, but instead, stopped bending the two stones. He fell and landed gracefully on the arm on the ground. He used his hands to flatten the arm, leaving only a few rocks hovering in front of him. Kwon then turned to the offensive.

Kwon delivered a wide range of circular kicks. Roundhouse. Heel. Spinning Heel. Hook. Crescent. Follow-through Roundhouse. Each kick sent a rock careening at the child on the other side of the arena. Hobbit immediately dropped his remaining arm, stopped bending his rock legs, and bended a huge wall out of the ground to block the incoming barrage.

Kwon smirked at the tactic, almost as if he was expecting it. He continued his barrage, propelling rock after rock at the sheltered fighter. It took Toph's comment to realize something was happening. "He's moving to the right."

Aang focused on his movements. Sure enough, he was slowly moving to the right of the wall, gradually getting a better view of the Hobbit. What was amazing was that the Hobbit hadn't noticed. Kwon was able to bend every rock's path to make it seem like they were coming straight at the wall rather than at an angle. By the time Hobbit realized something was off, it was too late.

Kwon stood to his direct right, giving him a clear view of the Hobbit. Kwon smiled as he raised his left leg up, conjuring a small boulder to appear out of the ground. He then kicked the rock as if kicking a soccer ball, right at the pint sized fighter. Hobbit tried to counter but he couldn't get the defending rock there in time. The boulder hit him squarely in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. It propelled him to the wall directly behind him.

Kwon smirked, knowing it was his victory to claim and turned to walk away towards the center of the ring. The Hobbit, however, without a boulder to keep him pinned the wall, began to fall. Aang acted instinctively. He bent a slab of earth to support the now unconscious fighter. The officiants managed to get to him and carry him to the infirmary.

He then looked disapprovingly at the winner, celebrating his victory and advancement to the next round.

Toph whistled at the result of the match. "What a ruthless kid. Hope he doesn't give you too much trouble."

"I'm sure he didn't mean to forget…" Aang started, his voice nearly unrecognizable now.

Just then, Kwon walked by, giving Aang a look that could have frozen water in a desert. "Good luck, Arrowhead." He chuckled darkly as he continued toward the locker room.

"As you were saying?"

Aang put on a serious look, staring at the point where the fighter had disappeared.

"Don't worry," he said, his tone completely different from before.

"I'll beat him."

Toph's respect for her fellow competitor was always increasing. Not only did he know when to have fun and laugh, but he wasn't completely brainless. He felt angry enough to know that that Kwon kid was not only a creep, but also really good. He wasn't a force to be taken lightly.

She turned her attention back into the ring, where volunteers were clearing it out for the next match, while the head officiant addressed the crowd.

"Let me introduce the second quarterfinal bouts. The next fight is between Tian Xi and 'The Blind Bandit'!"

That got the attention of Red away from the heartless jerk back onto the stage. She was glad. It meant that he was interested in her and her bending. After registering the participants, he turned back to Toph and she could only assume was all smiles again.

'Good Luck.'

She felt a large amount of confidence radiate itself from her companion as he said it. Not that she was lacking in that regard. Too much and she might just lose this next fight. Still, she tried to keep her cool; didn't want to embarrass herself in front of the hillbilly.

"Thanks" she said shaking the metaphoric cobwebs. "But I don't need luck. I've got skill."

He hardly seemed surprised by that response.

'Go get 'em.'

And with that she walked out onto her stage, waiting to put on the show of a lifetime.

"We are supposed to be looking for the girl, not hanging around a festival!" The properly dressed Master Yu lectured to his companion. "We've already got several notices that he was growing impatient."

"What's he going to do? Send more bounty hunters after us?" countered Xin Fu, the host of Earth Rumble. "The Bei Fongs are rich, but not rich enough to keep spending money on questionable deals."

"I am not a 'questionable deal'! I am an earthbending master and teacher!"

"Please. You're in it for the money. Why else would you be here?"

"Well, some of us prefer to make our under the table transactions under the table."

Xin Fu scoffed as he looked into the ring. Because of his bumbling idiot of a travelling partner, they had missed the first round of the main tournament. He didn't feel too bad though. The quarterfinals were almost over, and he wanted to find new fighters. There was Earth Rumble Seven to think about after all, and he needed fighters.

They found seats at the back of the stadium. They had gotten there right when the officiant announced the next fight. He was about to go back to the judge's table, but instead was intercepted by a volunteer. After a few moments of hurried chatter, the now disgruntled announcer stepped back into the center ring.

"Due to first round finisher, Tian Xi's injured leg, his uncle Lia Gao will take his spot in the proceedings. The new contestants will be the Lia Gao versus The Blind Bandit!"

"What?" Xin Fu couldn't believe his ears. "Who's fighting?"

"Lia Gao, I believe. He doesn't seem like a fighter, though. Hopefully this will be as entertaining as you make it out to be."

"No not him! The other one!"

"The Blind Bandit, I think. What a gaudy name."

"Get up. We've got to go."

"Why? I paid good money for these seats."

"Because," Xin Fu said as he cracked a grin. "It's time to pay little Ms. Bei Fong a visit."

Toph walked out into the arena, ready to fight. She was actually pretty bummed that she was given a bye in the first round. This was, after all a way to blow off some steam. How was she supposed to do that if she wasn't given a chance to knock someone's lights out.

'At least I get the chance now,' Toph reminded herself. 'This had better be worth the wait.'

She turned towards the entrance of the arena after first making to the center herself. Her opponent opted to use a substitute, his uncle if she remembered correctly. And she was raring to go. Her excitement died down and a frown started to appear on her face as she felt three different feet work in synchrony make their owner's way to the center circle.

Toph heard a murmur run through the crowd.

"Why is Elder Lia Gao fighting for his nephew?"

"I didn't know that Tian Xi was related to one of the council members.."

"No wonder Tian Xi was a prodigy. He's related to Lia Gao."

"But isn't Lia Gao almost 110? He shouldn't be fighting."

Toph wasn't about to let the chatter behind her sway her into shaking where she stood. Still, she couldn't ignore the fact that the old geezer standing in front of her was a very capable bender. After all, nobody protested that he was fighting for his nephew.

Lia Gao slowly made his way to the center of the arena, smiling all the while.

"Well hello there. Are you my opponent?"

The cheery grandfather put Toph on uneven footing. On one hand, he was a competitor, a target for her jeers and jokes. But on the other, he was a kind-hearted person, willing to risk his health and body for his nephew. Toph ended up responding with a small nod, feeling uncomfortable with having to fight him.

"Oh, but aren't you blind?" Toph twitched. This old fool was going down.

Old man Gao chuckled. "Though who am I to say? I'm practically dust."

This old man! Toph didn't know how to play this match. It was off putting.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on using the whole half hour. I'm much too tired for that. Let's make this match quick. I'll feel better about advancing you when I know you can handle yourself against Kwon."

Toph smiled awkwardly. "Well then, let's go old man. I want to have some fun with this!"

The gong rang, the spectators cheered, and the match started.

This was started September 8, 2008 and published March 8, 2010. It has taken me exactly 18 months to finish this chapter. I feel bad for those waiting on this chapter for the length of time and the length of the chapter. I'm a college sophomore right now, and it's definitely been a while since I wrote anything remotely like fanfiction. I mean, When this chapter was first started, I was still technically a highschooler. But I felt I owed it to you to publish something after a year and a half. I don't know if any of you have grown out of this series, but I still enjoy watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. (It kind of annoys me that I now have to add that last part for people to understand what I'm talking about. Stupid James Cameron.)

The chapter itself was wonky. I mean, I know where I want to take this story and I know how it's going to end, but I can't seem to drive it the way I want it to go. I've only just figured out how to do so organically. And of course, there are discrepancies in style and what not, because of the 18 month gap. Still, I hope it's an enjoyable read, and that it makes you excited for what happens next.

Please read and review, so I know how to proceed from here. Not saying it will be immediate, but I don't ever plan on dropping this story until it's done done. But if you want something to happen, let me know because I might add it in. Thank you for your patience and I hope that the next time you read something like this, it won't be right before the world ends. (2012 joke, anyone? Definitely not gonna happen, by the way.)