"You'll give up your range advantage just like that?", Ty Lee asked as she stood at the ready, to which Toji just shrugged as Mai narrowed her eyes.
"More like I'll make it more fun for me."
"I see your arrogance has not changed whatsoever."
"Not in the slightest. So, do you wish to dance?", He asked as he hopped from foot to foot, smirking when Mai simply twirled her daggers before throwing two at his sides.
Th blades whistled towards him as he moved forward, tilting his head just enough to make one skim past his hair while he weaved around the other.
Mai's hands flickered as more knives were thrown in smooth arcs, Toji smirking as he weaved side to side while approaching them. His smirk then widened as Ty Lee suddenly rushed in with a cartwheel, her kick barely missing him.
Pushing herself up, she swung a quick jab at his shoulder, but he caught her attack mid-strike and tossed her to the side. She just smiled as she twisted and landed in a crouch, Mai already throwing another knife that he caught by the tip.
"Were you aiming for my pressure points?", He asked, humming as Ty Lee just smirked before she rushed back in with a twirl and a spin.
Catching her first kick, he moved his left leg back as she aimed a jab at it, surprising Ty Lee as he swung and delivered his own pressure point blow to her side.
She wheezed as the wind was knocked out of her, Toji throwing her away and leaning back as Mai swung a knife at his head. His feet stayed on the move as he ducked and moved around Mai's strikes, dodging at the last second to make sure she didn't get the opportunity to throw a feint.
Glancing back as he saw Ty Lee already on her feet with a frown, he leaned to the side while letting Mai's blade fly past his shoulder. Ty Lee let out a surprised yelp as she dodged it only to catch a donkey kick to the chest, Mai gasping as Toji swung and slammed a heavy punch into her chest.
Both blows sent the girls skidding backwards, Ty Lee rolling to her feet with a stagger and a gasp while Mai tried her best to catch her breath from where she was lying.
"Y-You know, you hit hard for someone who claims to be having fun," Ty Lee spoke with a wince, to which Toji shrugged as he simply lifted his hands with a smirk.
"That was me holding back. You two are just the warm-up act for when Toph is done."
"Funny. I was about to say the same to you!", Mai grunted as she moved and swung her arm over, knives flashing through the air as Ty Lee exhaled and darted forward again.
This time, his gaze flickered as he saw the girl doing cartwheels and somersaults around Mai's knives, dodging the first few knives before Ty Lee stopped in front of him.
Pushing a jab to the side, he leaned away from a knife that was thrown at his head. Lifting a leg to block a kick from Ty Lee, he wrapped his leg around hers and pulled her in.
However, he let go of her at the last second, tripping her to avoid her getting a knife to the throat before throwing a punch and catching a knife thrown at his head.
Spinning, Toji threw it at a knife coming at him from behind, Mai's eyes widening as he threw it just right to where the two knives ricocheted off each other and knocked away another two knives coming at him from the sides.
'He's good,' She thought as she took out a pair of stilettos, rushing in while Toji raised an eyebrow as Ty Lee did the same.
Blocking a stab from Mai, he ducked away as Ty Lee slipped in from behind to try and land a swift barrage of jabs to his back. That did not discourage either of them as they rushed in, Toji feeling a bit pressured between Mai aiming for lethal spots and Ty Lee trying to hit his pressure points whenever she can.
Toji slid back a step, parrying the stilettos with the flat of his arm before twisting to catch Ty Lee's wrist just shy of her hitting his ribs. Pushing her aside with a grunt, he tilted his head as steel flashed past his face, but he couldn't help his smile when he felt the thin cut below his eye.
"Huh, not bad there."
"Does that mean you're done playing around?", Mai asked as she twirled her stilettos, Ty Lee having a cheeky smile on her face as Toji hummed before looking over at where Toph was busy fighting her battle.
"Wonder how she's doing?"
"Are you really more worried for your...girlfriend, was it?"
"Not really. I'm more worried about when I should finish this and then go help her."
"You think you can beat us that easily?", Ty Lee asked, a bit insulted despite the smile on her face as Toji simply smirked and began to hop from foot to foot.
"Actions speak louder than words. Let me show you."
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"Is that it?", Toph shouted as she stomped on the ground, a stone wall erupting from the dirt in front of her and blocking the blast of azure flames punched at her.
Swinging her arms out to the sides, she separated the wall into two while creating another, punching rapidly and unleashing a storm of stone rocks at Azula.
The girl in question narrowed her eyes as she danced around the attack, flames spouting from her hands and feet and pushing her in different directions to dodge the rocks.
Twirling through the air, she landed lightly on her feet before sweeping her arm out in a wide arc, a whip of fire lashing across the battlefield and snapping through the ground.
Backstepping to avoid the dust, Toph stomped once and the earth rippled around her, the girl taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly as she felt the vibrations of the heat against the ground.
"Gonna have to try harder than that, princess."
"Don't worry, I intend to," Azula spoke with narrowed eyes as she landed with a spin and her arms out to the side with her index and middle fingers extended. Making circles with them while dancing around Toph's rock spears, Azula leapt through the air with a flip before thrusting one arm at her.
The air popped as lightning crackled to life, the jagged bolt screaming across the battlefield. Toph grimaced as she ducked down and punched the ground, the metal orbs around her shooting forward and forming a tall pillar.
As it did, Azula narrowed her eyes when the lightning arced up and struck the top of the metal marble tower, Toph grinning as she stomped and let the tower collapse.
"So, princess, was this part of your plan?", Toph asked, feeling the current racing through the marbles as she threw both arms up. A thick wall of stone up as Azula threw another bolt at her, Toph punching forward and sending the marbles at the woman.
Her stone wall barely managed to redirect the lightning as Toph hopped back, narrowing her eyes when she 'saw' Azula racing across the ground with a smirk.
Clapping her hands together while lifting a leg high, she brought it down with a grunt as Azula pointed another finger at her, surprising the woman when a metal marble smacked into the side of her arm and pushed the lightning to the side.
Now having an opening, Toph grunted as she threw her hands forward, the electrified marbles shooting forward and pelting Azula with a rapid fire of blows.
Azula's smirk faltered as the storm of electrified marbles slammed into her arms, each strike sending shocks that rattled her nerves before she flipped into a roll.
Kicking outwards, blue flames sparked to life and scattered the incoming barrage, but she winced as one marble cracked against her shoulder.
"Clever little blind girl."
"Aw, thank you, but! You should worry about yourself first," Toph spoke as she shifted her footing, making the ground ripple like water as she saw Azula's stance waver.
However, Toph herself was wary as she saw Azula shaking her arms to get the feeling back in them, digging her feet into the ground before punching forward.
The ground opened to let a jagged stone spire shoot towards Azula, who smirked as she vaulted over it and snapped her arms out forward.
Twin jets of blue fire roared towards Toph as Azula twisted midair and stabbed her hands forward again, unleashing twin arcs of lightning that carved through the air.
Toph felt the ground quiver under the flames as she raised her arms in a cross, pulling a dome of stone around her that the flames washed over.
She clenched her fists as she felt cracks spiderwebbing around the dome, reinforcing it right as the lightning slammed into it with a thunderous boom.
"Fine, you wanna play rough? Let's play rough!", Slamming her fists into the floor of the dome, the marbles shot forward and towards Azula.
She didn't flinch as she simply cut off the lightning and danced around the attacks, swinging her arms with a dance before thrusting her hand towards Toph yet again.
However, she was surprised as the marbles snapped together into another metal tower, Toph's dome shattering as the tower lit up before the blind girl sent both the marbles and the stone fragments flying at Azula.
Blue flames erupted from her feet as she launched herself into the air, narrowing avoiding the attack and landing with a stumble while she glared at Toph who brushed dust off her tunic with a cocky smirk.
"You insolent little brat."
"Better than a wannabe queen. Now, are you going to keep trying or are you done embarrassing yourself?"
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"Come on, come on! Toph and Toji are working hard so we need to make sure that this drill doesn't make it to the wall!", Sokka exclaimed, Aang grimacing as he threw the water blade back at Katara who caught it and swung back.
Suki on the other hand frowned as she looked at the little progress they have made on just the three supports they've done as well as the dozens they had left.
'There's no way we're going to be able to make it to them all.'
"Sokka, I don't think we have enough energy for this!", Aang grunted as he and Katara finished the final cut, the latter returning her water back to her gourd while Aang breathed a bit heavy while looking to Sokka.
"Well, the only other plan I got is...would that work?"
"Would what work?"
"Cut about a third of the support beams, block off the water pipes they're using to power the movements of the drill and then have something slam onto the front of the drill where the supports are to destabilize it."
"I can stop the water."
"And I can deliver the heavy blow," Aang spoke after Katara did, the girl nodding as Sokka grinned before turning to Suki.
"Don't worry, we'll guard Katara while she's busy with the pipes."
"Then, Aang will need this water more than I do," Katara spoke, taking off her gourds and handing it to Aang who threw it over his shoulder with a nod.
"Right. Everyone's got their new jobs. Let's finish this."
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'He's not holding back!', Mai thought with gritted teeth as she barely kept up with Toji, hissing with every nick he delivered to her skin with a calm smile on his face.
He didn't seem to care for Ty Lee either as the young woman tried her best to land a blow to his body only for Toji to turn at the last second and force Mai to stop her attack lest she cut her friend.
Ty Lee herself was not doing any better as she flipped back, Toji smirking as he grabbed Mai's wrist and threw her towards Ty Lee.
"You think you can hit him once?"
"Every time I try to, he either parries it or puts you in my way," Mai responded, Ty Lee grimacing at that as they watched Toji walk closer.
Darting forward again in a blur of acrobatics, Ty Lee clicked her tongue as Toji dodged her cartwheel kick, swinging the stiletto he took from Mai to parry the trio of knives she threw at him.
Ty Lee tried to lunge from behind and succeeded, latching onto Toji's back with a leg hold. However, she was surprised when Toji stabbed the stiletto into her right thigh, making her loosen her grip just enough for him to turn and pin her to the ground with a chokeslam.
Rolling forward and away when Mai lunged in with a scissor strike from her stilettos, Toji flipped to his feet and turned, throwing the stiletto at Ty Lee's head only for Mai to redirect it away.
Rolling over and lunging at him, Ty Lee was now fully running as Mai threw a flurry of knives in tight arcs, Toji's smirk waning slightly when he saw the serious looks in both of their eyes.
'They're aiming for actual kills now. Good,' He thought as his expression shifting, pivoting and backhanding one of Mai's knives away while kicking out to push Ty Lee's arm to the side.
Hopping with a twirl to dodge another knife, he brought his leg over and slammed it into the back of Ty Lee's neck, whose eyes widened with a silent gasp before she skidded across the ground past him.
Lunging forward before he could fully land, Mai gritted her teeth as she caught a heavy punch to her arms, pushing it to the side while bringing her leg over only for Toji to duck under it.
Grabbing onto her support leg, he threw it out before wrapping both arms around her waist, heaving and slamming the woman head first into a suplex.
Letting go and spinning around, he made sure to double-tap as Mai caught a full fist to her face, her head bouncing against the dirt as he hopped over her with a roll and a smirk.
"Well, that was fun," He murmured as he called Kuruk's spear to his hand before ignoring both unconscious women as he made his way to where Toph and Azula were still fighting.
After all, he got a paycheck and a girlfriend to care about.
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Toph narrowed her eyes as she clapped her hands, bringing in two boulders that Azula flipped past while swinging a blue fire-whip at her foe.
Toph frowned as she raised a stone wall, blocking the flames before punching outwards and sending the wall flying to her target.
However, as it bounced, she grinned and stretched her arms out wide, Azula's eyes widening as the wall cracked and exploded in all directions.
Landing in a split, Azura grimaced as one of the fragments bounced off her back, bruising her slightly while she glared at her foe who stood with a smirk.
Toph didn't say anything as she simply held out a hand and made a beckoning gesture, the Fire Nation Princess gritting her teeth as she rose to her feet with a snarl.
"I have had enough of your antics, pig."
"So have I, skank. Come on, let's end this shit."
"I couldn't agree more," Toji spoke with a grin as he walked up behind Toph, who smirked while Azula narrowed her eyes as he twirled Kuruk's spear.
"Those two?"
"Alive."
"Wonderful. I can punish them for not committing to killing you," She spoke and Toji raised an eyebrow, looking down at Toph who shook her head.
"Yeah, I can see why you said she was a psycho."
"Good to hea-", Throwing Kuruk's spear firmly, Toji grabbed onto Yangchen's staff as Wormy spat it out, swinging it upwards and unleashing a wind current that sliced through the torrent of flames thrown at them.
Toph didn't say anything as she made a stone wall at their sides, blocking the flames off before they narrowed their eyes when they saw Azula gone from her position.
"Think she went to go get her friends?"
"Definitely. Want to go follow her?"
"...Think they'll be able to take this down without us?", Toji asked, to which Toph looked at the drill before shaking her head with a sigh.
"No, they won't. I'll destabilize from this sides and you'll take it out?"
"I'll try," He murmured as Wormy ate up Yangchen's staff, Toji stabbing Kuruk's spear into the ground next to Toph before he smirked as Kyoshi's fans were held out to him by Wormy.
Taking both, Toph raised an eyebrow as Toji swung the fans at her, wondering why he stopped just shy of hitting as well as why his arms dropped slightly with every motion of him doing so.
"What are you doing?"
"What we need to take it out. Wormy, chain," He grunted, taking the chain Wormy spat out before bending the steel through and around the fan.
"All right, go ahead," He spoke as he dashed over, racing towards the wall before hopping onto it and shooting upwards. The excruciating weight of the fans pulled him down with every step he made upwards, but Toji continued until he heard the machine groan.
With that, he hopped off and began to drop, slowly beginning to spin the fans around his body. Soon, his spinning began to pick up, Wormy holding Yangchen's staff at the ready as Toji swung down right as Aang popped up from the sides.
"Hey, we should-!", Toph stomped on the ground and shot up a stone spire that stabbed through Aang's shirt and pulled him away right as Kyoshi's fans slammed into the metal, cratering the ground as the outer shell caved in.
The machine rumbled before water began to pour out from every part of its body, Toji landing with a roll as Wormy ate Yangchen's staff and Kyoshi's fans up.
"It's gonna blow!", He exclaimed as he hopped out, surprising Aang while Toph groaned as he picked them both up and took off.
He only made it a few dozen meters before the drill exploded, sending water spilling everywhere as Toji hopped into the air with a spin and rode the waters with a laugh.
"Hahahaha! This is awesome!"
"I hate this!", Toph shouted back as they came to a stop, Aang grunting as Toji dropped him while Toph was relieved to be put down.
"Well, that was pretty cool," Toji spoke with a grin as they stared at the destroyed drill, looking back up the wall where he saw the Ba Sing Se guards cheering.
Now...should he run?
A/N: And we end it off here~! Toji fights with the Gaang and take out a couple of threats, but now he has to deal with the Ba Sing Se people.
How will that happen? Find out next time.
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Anyway, as always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one…
Ba-Bye~!