The Blind Bandit

Chapter 9

"Here's your money-yoi," Marco said, setting the bag of gold on the ground, "Now let them go"

Yu earthbends the money across the ring to Xin Fu, which he grabs and gives a signal for Toph to be let down and released from her cage.

Exiting her cage, Toph ran towards Lao and held his hand as they, with Yu, exited the arena.

"What about Ace?" Thatch questioned the captors.

Pulling out Ace's wanted poster and showing it to the two pirates, Xin Fu voiced, "I think the marines will pay a hefty price for Fire Fist."

"Now, get out of my ring," Xin Fu said, narrowing his eyes.

Fire Nation Man appears in an earth tornado, The Gecko jumps down from the ceiling, The Hippo stomps on the ground and crushes a boulder, Headhunter jumps onto the ring from the bleachers and The Gopher pops up from underground.

"Go, I'll be okay," reassured Ace as he looked down from his cage and waved for them to go.

Ignoring his crewmates' words, Marco got ready to fight while Thatch turned towards the fleeting back of Toph, Lao and Yu.

"Hey wait! Toph, aren't you going to fight too?" Thatch asked, looking towards Toph as she and the people around her turned back to look at him.

"My daughter is blind. She is blind and tiny and helpless and fragile. She cannot help you!" Lao spat out, giving a ludicrous look to Thatch.

Glancing down at Toph, she, with an annoyed expression on her face, let go of her father's hand and said, "Yes, I can."

Walking back to the ring, she watched as Xin Fu's wrestlers prepared to leave with The Boulder holding Ace's cage on his shoulder.

"Let him go! I beat you all before and I'll do it again!" Toph said, bending up a small part of the ring to stop them from leaving.

"The Boulder takes issue with that comment." The Boulder said as The Hippo threw the cage to the side.

Marco and Thatch, preparing to strike, get stopped by Toph.

"Wait!" Toph exclaimed, listening to the enemy's vibrations as they ran toward her.

She turned her head to face Thatch and Marco and continued, "They're mine."

The Water Tribe siblings watched in surprise as she shook the ring up, shooting back the oncoming wrestlers. She enters the resulting dust crowd, unnerving Lao.

Walking in, Toph encounters the Fire Nation Man, who takes some time to notice her.

As he moves his foot to attack, she smirks. He fires a wave of earth at her, which she dodges. She bends up part of the ring and sends her own wave, ejecting him from the ring as he slams against the sidelines and lands on the ground.

Lao and Yu watch from the sidelines in shock while Thatch and Marco go to release Ace from his cage. Thatch repeatedly struck against the cage with his two swords, breaking the lock and freeing Ace.

"What were you thinking, you idiot!" Thatch yelled.

"You know this whole situation is basically your fault right-yoi?" Marco nagged, raising a brow.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Ace groaned, getting out of his cage.

"So what now? Do we help her?" Thatch asked.

"I don't think we need to-yoi," Marco said, pointing towards Toph absolutely dominating the fight.

The Gecko crawls along the floor and becomes aware of Toph's presence. He fires two rocks which she easily dodges. She bends up a series of pillars, sending him flying out of the ring. The Fire Nation Man who is disoriented, slowly gets up before realizing The Gecko heading towards and crashing into him.

The Gopher tunneling behind Toph, sends a rock at her head. She grabs the rock and returns it. Giving a distressed look, The Gopher gets knocked out of the ring and right into Fire Nation Man and the Gecko.

The Boulder and The Hippo prepare to attack Toph, with an anxious Lao looking in on the fight while biting his nails.

Headhunter flies in from behind to complete the ambush. However, Toph hears him and turns the center of the ring around to put Headhunter on a collision course with the other two wrestlers.

With the three men down, Toph ejects them all onto the other three defeated wrestlers.

"I never knew. Your daughter's amazing!" Yu exclaimed in awe.

Toph clears the dust cloud.

With only her and Xin Fu remaining in the ring, Toph spits, shocking both her father and Yu at her lack of manners. As both Toph and Xin Fu get into a fighting stance and circle the central ring, Xin Fu fires several rocks at her while she brings up an earth shield, deflecting them all.

She turns part of the shield on him and he dodges one piece, but when he hits the ring again, Toph picks up his vibrations in it and senses an attack. She dodges the rock sent towards her and creates a fissure, sending him flying out of the ring between Yu and Lao.

Thatch and Ace, who were left amazed, ran towards her with Marco following closely behind, a bored expression on his face.

"She's the greatest earthbender I've ever seen," Yu said, smiling in approval while Lao looked towards Toph with uncertainty.