章 17: Hippiepotamaus
'How did this happen?' I asked myself, all alone, in the dark...
Everything was going well, as well as it could with a group of hippie songsters. The Fire Nation threw boulders at us, and covered in ash, they decided to go with the Cave of Two Lovers route. As this was our only option at that point.
Sokka got annoyed, Toph actually got along with them, while I just stayed at the back, trailing behind. Some bat wolves, or whatever they were called, attacked us. I didn't do anything except push them away with Airbending, I didn't want to slaughter the entire inhabitants of this cave.
Now, I was here. Barely able to see, and resenting Sokka for being such a clumsy bastard. He was a boy, wasn't he? Not some clumsy anime girl in an ecchi!
"Fucking hell! Fuck! Fuck me! I'm so goddamn stupid! I should've fucking learned Earthbending, god!" I let out my frustrations, kicking silhouettes of what I presumed to be rocks I could barely make out in the dark.
"Why doesn't shit just let me relax?!" I was getting unreasonably angry, I know. But I wouldn't deny that it didn't feel good to curb stomp these damn pebbles.
"And training's your idea of a relaxing time, Hustler?" I heard the familiar voice of Toph. I blinked.
"Certainly better than being stuck in this stuffy cave," I mumbled bitterly.
"Anyways, where are you Toph?" I could only squint my eyes and look in the direction from where her voice came.
"It's weird being the one that can see for a change," she told me, amusement clear from her tone.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. We just need to get out of here and find the others," I responded.
"Here." I felt a small warm hand grip my own, fingers intertwining with mine. I stiffened in surprise for second, before quickly gathering myself.
I'm not going to lie, I didn't really like physical contact with other people that much. Even with my own family I'd hug and then quickly back away. Maybe it was from when I was a child, where my mom would pick my hair and at any white/blackhead I had on arms or back like some monkey. Though it made me realize that someone else pinching hurt way more than me pinching myself. How did I know that? Because, honestly, I had a habit of doing that too.
Whenever I was bored I'd pop zits, blackheads, whiteheads, scratch at my scalp until it bled, or tear off scabs. Not really good habits, but I've stopped doing those things a few years back.
'Well, I guess cutting myself to grind skills isn't any better,' I thought mirthfully. I distracted myself from the uncomfortable sensation of a hand in mine, wondering about miscellaneous things.
Like, say, 'Why the hell aren't there any stone lights like in the show?' I questioned, staring up at the ceiling. Maybe it was only on the main path, if there even was one, and we were on our way to some dead end? That thought didn't worry me as much as it probably should have, why? Because Toph. As I continued to think of stupid things like that, a voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"What did you mean by you should've learned Earthbending?" she asked me bluntly.
"..." Oh, she heard that. I was just so caught in the heat of the moment, and thinking I was alone, that I just blurted out whatever I wanted.
'Another screw up. How many mistakes is this...?' I was disappointed in myself.
"I'll tell you later, promise," I answered Toph, deciding to hold off on telling her for now. I wasn't afraid of her telling anyone, as she hadn't mentioned me pulling stuff out of my inventory to the rest, but I just wanted to be careful.
We walked in silence after that.
...
As some time passed, I once again got immersed in my thoughts. I was thinking deeply about Airbending. My Airbending had stopped improving at level ninety-nine, and I had no idea how to further it. It was one of the reasons I did meditation a few days ago, I thought my Chi Manipulation was what was holding me back. Spoiler, it wasn't.
'Just what is the problem? Am I really THAT removed from the element of Air? That can't be it, right? Or is it something mental? But, wouldn't the System explain in the descriptions of my flaws if it would stall my Airbending entirely?' I ran circles and circles in my mind. I guess this was one of the reasons I got so angry at the rocks earlier.
'Do I need enlightenment, a near death experience, or something else? Is this because I didn't follow the Air Nomads ways?' I let out a deep sigh, and my body which I didn't even know was tense, deflated like a balloon.
"You alright there Hustler? You seem pretty riled up." She noticed my irritation.
"I'm good, it's just... my Airbending hasn't been progressing as well as I'd like," I replied truthfully.
"Hm. Welp, I have no idea how to help you there," Toph told me with a shrug.
"Didn't think you did-" I began, but then, my mind churned and I stopped myself.
"Well, maybe you can," I implied.
"How am I supposed to do that?" She remarked sardonically.
"Well, I first came to you to help me get some ideas on how to develop Soundbending," I explained to her.
"You, "first," came to me for that?" She repeated. I sensed some teasing going on here.
I smirked, "Yeah, well, let's just say you grew on me," I uttered vaguely.
Toph's steps paused for a moment, I nearly bumped into her, but managed to stop myself just in time. She didn't say anything, and then continued walking.
'Her hand is pretty sweaty,' I noted. 'Or, actually, maybe that's my own sweat?' I deliberated. My hands only ever really sweated when I played videogames in my past life, so I didn't know. Neither did it help that my only experience of holding hands with someone was with my mom when I crossed the streets with her when I was younger.
'Right, Airbending,' I quickly got back on topic, after being distracted for a short while.
"Earthbending?" I felt her jolt at my words. I didn't know why she got so... antsy, is that the right word, all of a sudden?
"Ah, got it. So, Hustler, let a Master teach you a thing or two about Earthbending," she voiced confidently, if almost arrogantly. But I knew she was nothing like that, as she had the skill to back that confidence up.
"..." I stayed silent, listening intently.
"Anyways, Earthbending is essentially standing your ground. It's enduring your opponents attacks, waiting, and for me at least, listening for an opening to strike," she concisely declared.
"... Airbending is about using your opponents energy against them, flexibility, as well as finding and following the path of least resistance. Airbending can overwhelm many opponents, and can be fatal if someone wants to be, but since the Air Nomads were pacifist, it was purely defensive," I told her about Airbending, hoping for some insight.
"... Should you really be telling me this Hustler?" Toph sounded worried. I just smiled.
"You're not planning on doing anything nefarious with this information, are you?" I playfully poked her back.
"Course not."
"Didn't think so."
...
We walked in a comfortable silence, I was ruminating on what Toph explained about Earthbending. It wasn't really anything I didn't know.
'Enduring attacks, unmovable,' I thought was what I got from Earthbending. Thinking the opposite of those two things got me...
'Flowing and dodging. Earth and Airbending both seem to be the types to wait for an opening,' I pondered. My mind soon got stuck on two words, they would lead to something, I just knew it. I was on the cusp of some realization, I could feel it.
'Unmovable, flowing, unmovable, flowing, unmovable, flowing,' I chanted in my mind like a mantra.
'Air is flowing, Earth is unmovable... stagnant?' I blinked.
"Hey, Toph, let's stop for a second," I suggested.
"Sure," she agreed easily. Letting go of her hand, I brought up a thumb of the none perspiration covered hand, and licked it.
There was no wind in the cave, obviously, the air stagnant. As I said earlier, this cave was stuffy, the air still and directionless.
'While air is the element of freedom, it's never stagnant, at least not if it can help it, it always has a direction.'
I had no direction, not many things I was interested in or wanted, I was...
As stagnant as this air, I realized. Directionless. It really was something mental.
...
Toph clasped her hand around mine once more, and we resumed walking after that short interlude. I was busy sulking.
'How the hell am I supposed to find something I want to do?! I barely figured out what I wanted to do in my past life!' I complained to myself. Even then, it took a lot of help from my parents for me to confirm that I wanted to be a mathematician. Letting out another heavy sigh, I decided to focus on the present, and not to worry about a problem I had no idea how to solve.
"Thank you, Blindspot," I expressed my gratitude with my words, and a few squeezes of her hand. Where hand squeezes even able to convey gratitude...?
"W-What was the problem?" she asked with a slight stammer. I felt a bit bad, knowing I made her uncomfortable with my hand squeezes.
"Hahaha!" I suddenly burst out into laughter, unable to contain myself at the hilarity of my thoughts.
"What're you laughing at?" She queried gruffly.
"I was just thinking of something stupid." I shook my head, still amused by thinking about hand squeezes. It really was stupid.
Grinning, I chose to tease her. "Squeeze, Squeeze," I vocalized in tandem with squeezes of her hand. I felt her hand tense, before relaxing. I heard Toph let out a big sigh.
"... Sometimes I really hate you, Hustler."
I just laughed in response.
It was fun annoying her.
...
"Anyways, basically, I realized that I was stagnant, much like this musty, dusty, stuffy cave air. When, air, is supposed to flow. So until I can flow, I probably won't progress that much in my Bending," I explained to her quickly.
"... I'll just pretend I understood that," she commented blandly, as if really not processing what I said.
I rolled my eyes. "I know you're not dumb Toph, so there's no reason to act like it," I told her with a scoff.
"Whatever," she moodily huffed.
...
Eventually, we made it out of the cave after Toph used a bit of Earthbending. Somehow, we managed to get to the exit of the cave, Sokka, Aang, Katara, and the hippies waiting for us. I could only chalk it up to Toph's Seismic Sense.
'I really should've been an Earthbender,' I grumbled to myself.
'But, no, I just had to make my own path instead of tread on an already paved one, how inspirational,' I thought negatively.
We split up with the future renowned band, and started traveling to Omashu once again. Katara and Aang told us all about what they discovered in their little adventures in The Cave of Two Lovers. They told us about Oma and Shu, the mole badgers, and how "love" guided the two.
Toph for some reason glanced at me, red, with a weird look a few times during their story.
'Don't tell me she's mad that she ended up with me instead of Sokka?' I speculated. But that was kind of stupid, it's not like I chose to get separated with her purposely.
Though I felt that wasn't the case. I had to be missing something, I just for the life of me couldn't figure it out.
...
"Presenting Omashu-" Sokka halted his words.
"Oh, oh no."
This was it, we'd be encountering Azula. After that, Gaoling, and then, hopefully, facing Azula.
Looking at the expressions of despair on Aang, Sokka, and Katara's face, I frowned. I didn't like it, but I couldn't do anything about it.
"What! What do you guys see? I can't see, I'm blind, remember?!" Toph interjected rather animatedly, adding a liveliness to a grim situation.
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