Showdown! The Best of the Best

Chapter Four

Due to the state of Toph's leg, Bob had been tasked with gathering firewood, assured that the tiny earthbender would be fine while he completed the task. Still, he couldn't help but worry as he stumbled through the woods, looking for kindling. The forest was growing darker by the minute, and sunset would be happening shortly. This girl wasn't much older than his son, Dash. Granted, he knew that both her and Dash could take care of themselves. But how much could she do to defend herself with a broken leg?

Luckily, he wouldn't have to find out. As the sun began to vanish over the Western horizon, Bob came stomping back into the clearing where they made camp. Toph had only known this man for a few hours, but she was astonished by how monstrous and noisy he was. He was about the size of Combustion Man, a crazy bounty hunter sent after her and her friends that could shoot fire from his forehead. Maybe even a little larger. And, though she had won the fight between the two of them, he undoubtedly intimidated her with the amount of power he possessed.

"How are you gonna start the fire?" Toph demanded as he knelt down. "Are you secretly a firebender, too?"

"No," Mr. Incredible grunted. "I was in the Scouts as a kid, they taught me how to make fire with just a stick and a flat piece of wood."

Toph saw where this was going, and sighed audibly.

"Oh, you are not serious!" She groaned.

"Well, do you have a better idea?" Bob questioned her irritably.

Toph sat back petulantly, crossing her arms.

"That's what I thought," he smirked, rigorously rubbing the stick into the wood. "So...earthbenders and firebenders. Do they have waterbenders and airbenders where you come from, too?"

Toph sighed. "Now you want to know more about me?"

"Look, kid," he relented, setting the wood down for a moment. "I don't know what's going on here. I have no idea how I got here, or why I'm here, or how to get back home. And neither do you. Now, I want nothing more than to get home and get back to my family. But, in order to do that, I'm getting the sneaking suspicion you and I will have to work together. And I figure it might be easier to do that if we're not total strangers. Fair?"

She didn't reply, opting to let the question linger rather than dignify it with a response.

Eventually, however, as the oddly dressed superhero rubbed away at the firewood, she gave in.

"There are waterbenders," she explained. "But...there's only one airbender."

Bob arched an eyebrow. "Only one, huh? What happened to all the others?"

Again, the question hung in the air. But this time, Toph wasn't ignoring it out of spite.

He seemed to get the message.

"Sounds like a violent world  you come from," he remarked.

"It can be," she nodded. "But...there are good things about it, too."

"Kind of like life, isn't it?" He pointed out.

"Yeah, it is," she agreed. "You have a family?"

He grinned, wondering if her odd vibration sense ability could pick that up. "I have a lovely wife, a beautiful young girl named Violet, a little athlete named Dash, and a troublemaker we named Jack-Jack."

"Those are great names," she laughed. 

"Was that a compliment?" Bob questioned her.

"Don't push it," she warned, still suppressing a grin.

As if to compound the somewhat friendly moment between the two of them, a spark finally formed in the kindling he'd been rubbing so vigorously away at. Emitting an uncharacteristically high yelp of joy, Bob knelt down and blew at it until he'd created a decently sized flame. From there, he frantically added twigs and then larger sticks. A few moments later, they had a respectable fire from which Toph could feel the heat. 

She clapped in praise of his deed.

"Thank you, thank you," he acknowledged. "Took longer than I would have liked, but I finally got it."

"Hey that's all that---"

She stopped mid-sentence. Toph had detected something nearby, something heading towards them. Whatever it was, it was colossal, bigger than Mr. Incredible, even. It was beyond her ability to sense its strength, however. It breathed with the ragged intensity of a hungry animal, and it walked on two legs. 

"Is something wrong?" Mr. Incredible asked.

"There's something coming toward us," Toph whispered. "Whatever it is, it's big. And I think it's hungry."

Bob tensed, and Toph could tell he was already prepared for another fight. "Where is it coming from?"

She pointed in the general direction she could detect the beast emerging from.

"Alright. How long do we have before it gets here?" He asked.

"I'm not sure. Maybe a few minutes," Toph guessed. 

"Can you make a rock wall around the camp?" He inquired.

With both legs out of commission, the answer would have been a resounding "no." But, with one leg, there was a decent chance she could manage it.

"I should be able to," she replied. "But, if I do that, how will you---"

"Just do it," Mr. Incredible ordered, already nearing the edge of the encampment. "I'm gonna go give our visitor a little greeting."

"Bob," Toph pointed out, "I don't know if you can take this thing. It sounds...hungry. And angry, too."

"Good," he growled. "Then we'll be even."

And with that, he disappeared into the darkness of the woods.

Toph waited several moments, secretly not wanting to follow the order he'd given her. Then, begrudgingly, she put up the rock barrier around the camp. 

All she could do then was pray.