Paths of Earth (Gaara x Toph)

Chapter 4: Myth to Reality

Gaara

The beast dropped down about twenty feet away from me, the only notable trait that my eyes could pick up was the large arrow on its head. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, 'I've never seen a beast of this kind in any of the nearby lands.'

I stayed on the defensive, I had no clue what the purpose of its presence was. 'Was it going to attack? Was it possibly lost?'

My question was answered a moment later when four people hopped off of the animal. There was a boy wearing what seemed to be blue robes and he also had a man bun. There was a girl that was wearing blue robes that looked to be completely identical to his. There was also a bald boy who also had an arrow on his head, just like the beast. He was carrying a long, wooden stick on his back. And lastly, there was a girl with black hair and was wearing green clothes with a tan button-up vest, she was also much shorter than the rest of the group.

They all stood next to the animal, but the bald boy began to step closer to me. I straightened up my defensive stance, and the boy took notice in this. He began to grab the wooden stick on his back and my first reaction was to attack. I launched a kunai in his direction and he immediately deflected it with the stick.

I began to launch multiple sand-based attacks in his direction, but he nimbly dodged all of them without retaliation. It was almost as if he wasn't trying to fight back. 'What a bizarre group..'

I clenched my fist, harder than I ever have, and a large boulder began to rise from the ground. I put all of my energy into it to gain the highest amount of velocity that I could. I launched it towards him and he barely could react. But to my surprise, a wall of earth appeared in front of him.

'Impossible.. He couldn't have reacted that quickly.' I looked over to see the short girl gripping her fists, the same way I do when I'm bending. 'She can earthbend?'

I straightened up. "Who are you?"

The bald boy seemed to be out of breath. "You finally decided to reason with us? I thought I was the hard-headed one." He began to dust the sand off of his clothes.

He began to walk closer, I stayed neutral but I also kept my guard up; he's definitely strong. When he came close enough for me to speak to him clearly, he stuck his hand out. "My name is Aang. We come in peace."

I looked at his hand, and then looked back at him. "What do you want? Why are you in Sunagakure?"

Aang frowned a bit and scratched his head, "We came here because we are looking for something. We gained a tip of information that told us that we should search here."

I raised an eyebrow, and then shook my head. The boy in the blue robes whistled for Aang's attention, causing him to look back towards them.

"Oh! Let me introduce the rest of the group." Aang said, waving them over to where we are standing.

They all walked up and Aang began the introductions. He pointed towards the boy with the man bun. "This is Sokka."

Sokka stuck out his hand, "Nice to meet ya, scary guy!"

I glared at him, and he immediately retracted his hand.

Aang then pointed towards the girl with blue robes, "This is Katara."

Sokka interrupted, "That's Aang's girlfriendddd." He said with a cheesy smile, before Katara hit him in the head.

"Ow! Sorry.." He said, rubbing his head in pain.