Chapter 5: Team-Up!
Ash's eyes immediately widened as he noticed who it was.
'She should have the answers to my questions.'
Getting up, he leaned at the edge of his building.
"This should be interesting." Ash smirked as he hopped off the edge of the building down toward the voices.
As he was falling he saw dozens of Chi Blockers unconscious laying on the ground, with one certain female in metal armor in the center of all of them.
Timing it perfectly, he softens the earth below him and reinforces his legs.
Thud!
Crashing into the ground with a loud thud, Ash could be seen straightening up from his crouched position.
The lady in metal armor glanced in his direction with a smirk.
"Well, well, if it isn't my little protege."
"Grandma Toph..."
Both Ash and the Toph stood face to face, as the atmosphere suddenly turned serious.
After a few seconds of silence, they both suddenly dropped to the ground and clasped each other's hands.
Both of them furrowed their brows as they struggled in a competition of Arm Wrestle.
"I won't lose this time!" Ash exclaimed.
"Haha! We'll see about that!" Toph retorted.
Crack!
The ground beneath them started to crack as it spread down the street.
Ash seemed to be winning as Toph's hand was very close to touching the ground, until suddenly Toph reversed it and crashed his hand all the way back into the ground.
Bang!
The earth under Ash's hand was crushed but his own hand was seemingly left unscathed.
"It seems I'm still not at the level to challenge you..." Ash lightly chuckled as they both stood up.
Toph narrowed her eyes as she stared toward him, 'He wasn't even going full strength, well neither was I, but still... It feels as if something heavy is on his heart.'
Toph inwardly shook her head as she looked at him with a smug expression, "You thought the student could beat the teacher! Hahaha! Laughable! Twinkletoes can't even beat me in an earth-bending fight."
Ash simply smiled at her remark, he knew she could probably tell that he wasn't trying, as he could also tell she herself wasn't trying.
"What brings you to Republic City?" Toph questioned as they both stood face to face.
"I actually had some questions I was hoping for you to answer." Ash replied.
"I see, well you might as well help me find Amon and Tarrlok while I answer your questions." Toph answered back.
"You can't find them yourself?" Ash questioned with an amused smile.
"As much as I hate to admit it, since these guys know I would instantly crush them if I caught them, their main bases are in spots where I can't sense, things like high in the air or maybe outside of Republic City." Toph explained with a frown.
"If that's the case I don't mind helping, but give me a moment." Ash nodded as he suddenly walked away toward an unconscious body of a Chi Blocker and crouched down in front of it.
Slap!
Ash slapped the Chi Blocker a few times until they suddenly woke up.
"W-what's going on!?" The Chi Blocker questioned fearfully.
"Where is Amon?" Ash questioned.
Suddenly the Chi Blocker stopped shuddering as they realized what was happening.
"I won't say anything! I'll never betray Amon!" The man spat out with venom.
"Are you sure? I'll give you one more chance and if your answer doesn't change, you might be in some pain." Ash remarked with an eerily calm smile.
The Chi Blocker's eyes widened at the calm voice but replied back in a slightly fearful tone, "A-Aren't you the police!? You can't do anything!"
Ash continued to calmly smile as he looked at the Chi Blocker, "My, My, it's quite unfortunate for you that I'm not with the police."
Suddenly a sharp metal projectile zoomed out of Ash's coat, Ash snatched it in mid-air before suddenly stabbing it down into the Chi Blocker's thigh.
Crunch!
"AHHHH!" The man screamed with all his lungs as blood gushed out his thigh.
Toph's expression didn't change as she observed the situation with crossed arms.
Once the man quieted down, Ash continued to look at him.
"I wonder, should I go a little deeper?" Ash questioned with his smile never fading.
"I-I-I w-won't talk." The Chi Blocker whispered in between pants of breathing.
"I see..." Ash calmly twisted the knife that was inside the man's thigh.
"AHHHH! OK! OK! I'LL TALK!!" The man exclaimed as his eyes under the mask turned bloodshot red.
"Aren't you quite fickle? I thought it would take more..." Ash muttered with a tilt of his head.
The Chi Blocker simple clicked his tongue inwardly.
"Now tell us where Amon and Tarrlok are." Toph spoke for the first time in the encounter as she stepped up beside Ash.
"Aren't you the Chief of Police!? You can't let this happen!!" The Chi Blocker exasperatedly exclaimed as he looked up at Toph's menacing figure beside Ash.
Toph just tilted her head confusedly to the side, "I don't see anything, what are you talking about?" Toph waved her hand in front of her eyes as if to make a point.
Ash slightly smiled but stayed silent as he waited for the man to answer the questions.
"A-Are you serious right now?" The man questioned as he was still sitting on his ass.
"Hurry up and speak, I'm not too patient." Toph stated as she looked down at the man.
"Damn it... All I know is that Amon was supposed to arrive at the Pro-Bending Arena by now but he seems to have gone missing." The man answered with a frown.
"I see..." Both Ash and Toph nodded, and Ash then stood up and started to walk away with Toph.
"So I can live-"
Before the crouched Chi Blocker could finish his words, without looking, Ash suddenly flung his hand backward, as a sharp metal projectile drilled through the man's head.
Blood then started spurting out of the hole in the man's head, as he died in shock.
Toph's eyes slightly widened as she stopped walking and grabbed Ash's shoulder.
"There was no need to kill him..." Toph muttered as she narrowed her eyes toward Ash.
Ash didn't say anything as he decided to stay silent.
"*Sigh* Ash I know you did that for me, but there was no need to..." Toph sighed as she spoke.
She understood that the reason that Ash killed the Chi Blocker was that if he was allowed to live and spread the word that the Chief of Police allowed for torture because of interrogation, she could very well lose her job.
Letting go of Ash's shoulder once realizing he won't speak about it, they both continued to walk down the street filled with broken stores and damaged buildings.
"Do you know what he meant about Amon not appearing?" Toph questioned curiously.
"Yeah, I fought him a little while ago, he might run away or think of another plan." Ash replied with a shrug as if nothing happened.
"Hoho! Did you win!? Well, I wouldn't blame you even if you lost." Toph smirked as she spoke.
"Actually I technically did win." Ash replied with a smug expression.
Toph looked at him with a raised brow, "Are you serious? Well, he is a non bender, so I guess against a skilled bender such as yourself, it makes sense why he would lose."
"He was actually a water bender and blood bender..." Ash shrugged while nodding proudly.
Toph's eyes widened, "A blood bender? Don't tell me he blood-bent you during the day?"
Ash nodded, "Indeed, I believe he has the ability to blood-bend at any time he wants."
Toph's eyes gleamed with understanding as she replied, "Hmm, actually we dealt with a similar criminal before with the same ability, his name was Yakone. To be frank, I stood no chance against him, if it wasn't for Twinkletoes's avatar state, he would have escaped quite easily."
"I see..." Ash replied as he glanced around the empty streets while walking with Toph.
"You said you won? But how did you beat a blood-bender who could do it at any time they want?" Toph questioned curiously.
"Actually I learned an interesting trick, let me show it to you real quick. Focus on the internal parts of my body to the best of your ability, specifically the blood vessels." Ash replied as he stopped moving.
Toph nodded as she stared toward Ash curiously.
After a few seconds of silence, while nothing seemed to be happening outwardly, Ash was actually controlling a very small portion of the blood in his body that had metal in it.
In a sense, every human has metal in their body, it's simply just a very minuscule amount that it doesn't matter much, Ash uses this fact to forcefully move his blood flow that is being stopped by a blood bender by using the metal to move it.
The problem is that since metal is so small in the body, its effectiveness stops to a degree, which is why when Amon used both hands and increased his power against Ash in the earlier fight, Ash was restricted to a degree that while he was resisting, he could barely move.
"Hahaha! This took me a few months to create-"
As Ash was speaking with a smug expression, he suddenly stopped speaking and stared at Toph with widened eyes.
"Is this how you did it?" Toph questioned with her own smug smirk.
While nothing happened outwardly, Toph was currently partially controlling the metal in her body.
Ash's shocked expression disappeared as he could only helplessly smile.
"Well, I'll give it to you, you learned it in only on the first glance, that's not too bad but what about this..." Ash suddenly pulled out a silver ball from his utility belt.
"A platinum ball?" Toph questioned with a raised brow.
"Now watch, for I have created platinum bending! Hahahaha!" Ash started laughing like a madman but soon he promptly stopped and started to concentrate with both his hands holding the top and bottom of the ball.
The ball started to move slightly and shudder.
Until suddenly its shape morphed into a clean ball with multiple sharp points protruding out of it.
Toph's eyes couldn't help but slightly widen before it soon turned into a smirk.
"I gotta give it to you, you're not too bad, but I'm better..." Toph suddenly muttered.
She took the ball out of Ash's hands and placed it onto her one palm.
She then effortlessly started to transform it into multiple different shapes with only one hand without breaking a sweat.
It seemed Toph had already developed platinum bending before but kept it a secret from others.
Ash in turn didn't even react as he suddenly started to walk away.
"*Sigh* Let's just go..." Ash sighed while walking away.
"Hahaha! Maybe one day you'll outdo me!... Sike! I am the greatest earth-bender after all!" Toph laughed heartily as she slapped Ash's back encouragingly.
They both then continued on there journey to find Amon and Tarrlok.
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