Toph lunged forward and punched the rock that Aang had thrown at her, shattering it into pieces that fell under her control. She didn't stop, but made the pieces orbit around her as she approached the Avatar.
Meanwhile, the wall Petra had created was constantly lashed by sand, so she decided to discard it. She didn't attempt to steal Aang's control over the sand from a distance.
She seized the moment just after the wall was hit by the sand whip. In that brief moment, she transformed the wall into a rock spike that shot toward Aang.
This exposed her to the sand whip attack, but Petra wasn't too concerned; her arms were covered in rock, so only one would take the brunt of the attack.
At that moment, she began to fight against Aang's control over the weapon. Perhaps she didn't have as much chi as he did, after all, he was the Avatar. However, Petra was much better than Aang at earthbending.
This advantage, the superiority of subtlety and mastery over the earth element, allowed her to take control of the sand, leaving the Avatar without one of his tools.
All of this happened in a very short time, and Aang was unable to prevent it; after all, this was his first fight using Earthbending.
Since he could only use the earth element, many of his instinctive reactions were related to airbending, a style that did not translate well to earthbending.
He constantly had to fight the urge to use the other two elements he knew, which made his reactions slower and more careless, exacerbating his disadvantage.
By the time he felt Petra take control of the sand, Toph was already close to him, smiling broadly. Beifong could have ended the fight right then, but that would have been too boring for her.
She wanted more fun! She showed Aang her true strength when her small fist struck the unsuspecting Avatar squarely in the abdomen. His body flew toward the spike thrown by Petra.
Fortunately, the tip of the spike was blunt, so instead of piercing the Avatar, it hit him hard in the back. He fell face down on the ground, feeling terrible pain.
"You must get up, Aang! You'll never master earthbending if you can't stand firm no matter the circumstances," Petra urged, wrapping his body in sand and slowly squeezing. However, this fight was not one-on-two; it was a pitched battle!
Petra deflected small rock spikes with the protections on her arms, but this distracted her, causing the sand grip to decrease in intensity.
Toph jumped toward Petra, bringing her knee forward. Petra had to use her hands to stop the impact. Petra dug her feet into the ground, deflecting the force of the blow into the ground.
While in the air, Toph brought her hands together and hit her opponent's head hard, but Petra managed to move away. Then, with them close together, they began exchanging blows.
Their punches and kicks were powerful! Each impact sounded sharp. Although Toph was much shorter, she was quite strong, and Petra was the strongest in her group. Even Shisui didn't want to be hit by her directly.
As they fought, Aang tried to stand up. He kept telling himself that if he had used Airbending or Waterbending in the fight, he would have performed better.
But was that the whole truth? Was he really that bad at using earthbending because he was unfamiliar with the element? Or was something else at play? At that moment, he realized.
'It's because I cling to what I learned: not to be rooted in one place and not to cling to things. But inevitably, I have clung. Of course I have,' Aang said to himself as he finally stood up and watched both women stop fighting and look at him.
'But the philosophy of Earthbending is directly contrary to Airbending. I like the lightness, the ease, and the freedom of air. I unconsciously detest the rigidity, the heaviness, and the strictness of Earthbending.' He already knew this. Petra, Toph, and even Shisui had mentioned it to him. However, he hadn't taken it very seriously, thinking that, as the Avatar, this issue wouldn't affect him as much.
Until he realized that it did. Aang closed his eyes, took a breath, and bent his legs, adopting the most basic Earthbending stance. At that moment, he entered a meditative state. He did not seek to discard things but rather to hold on to everything.
'I have become interested in a woman with whom I want to live in a stable relationship, which would be unthinkable among my people. I cannot be as free as those in my village. If we add the responsibility of being the Avatar, why do I instinctively cling to a freedom that I knew from age 12 and will never have again?' At that moment, Aang's mindset changed slightly.
He was still an Air Nomad and very spiritual. However, it could be said that he had transcended the limitations of his culture. For a moment, he felt a strange lightness in his body. Then, for the first time in a long time, he felt a 'heaviness' in it.
It was not a weight that hindered him, but rather, it seemed to provide support he had never experienced before. His hands moved as if he were about to use airbending, but it was the earth that obeyed his command.
'I am the Avatar. I am Air. I am Water. I am Earth. Soon, I will be Fire." I don't have to rule anything out. Besides, aren't all the elements related? Just from that fact alone, I can gain so much knowledge...' Aang chuckled to himself before making his move and announcing his reentry into the conflict.
Two hands of rock rose from the ground, trying to trap Toph and Petra. They avoided being caught by using their own methods. Toph, sensitive to vibrations, felt waves coming from Aang's feet, which made her smile.
"Finally, you're not so light on my senses anymore, Twinkle Toes!" Toph exclaimed. Now she could feel that Aang had finally become an Earthbender, which was worth celebrating.
For Toph, the ability to manipulate earth didn't make someone a true Earthbender. It was the desire to stand firm and hold on, no matter what happened, and to try again and again!
She once met a young man who, during the war's worst period, when Earthbending was banned in areas under the Fire Nation's control, managed to control the element with only his hands.
Earthbenders were usually somewhat stubborn, clinging to their customs. Very few sought out new things. But Toph saw how this boy found his own way to perform this elemental art despite the ban.
When the Fire Nation 'calmed down,' so to speak, and focused all its efforts on the conflict against Ba Sing Se, she met the young man, who told her his story. His story made her better understand what a true Earthbender should be.
There were no more following traditions since even the unchanging mountains could be eroded. Firmness could manifest itself in many ways. Although slow, the earth also changed and showed itself in different ways.
She didn't want Aang to lose sight of the qualities that made him who he was. She just wanted him to understand that even though he was different from others, he had a lot in common with them. She wanted him to start there so that he could develop his own concept of Earthbending.
"Now you're really fighting, Aang," Petra said, congratulating him. She moved her head from side to side, cracking her neck audibly. Then she shook her shoulders and stomped hard on the ground, which quickly liquefied under her influence.
All the sand began to shake due to her actions, but the other two did not just stand there. Toph attracted metal particles from the ground and created a metal platform on which she stood, rising a meter into the air and avoiding Petra's actions.
Aang had already mastered Waterbending, so replicating Petra's actions was easy for him. He didn't achieve the same result as her, but he did prevent her from liquefying the entire floor of the combat zone, returning it to a solid state.
Petra smiled, feeling that she could finally enjoy a three-way fight. Thus, she began displaying her Earthbending skills, including the rare metalbending, which surprised many in the audience.
Obviously, they didn't use powder to fight, but they did use minerals like quartz, which was plentiful in the area, and obsidian, which could cause serious cuts. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured by these volcanic rocks.
They did hit each other hard, though, and by the end of the conflict, there was no clear winner. All three fighters had bruises and swelling, but the important thing had been achieved, making Aang a true Earthbender!
...
The fight was an eye-opener for spectators, who received a clear message: the Avatar had returned and mastered the Earth element! Since news of his appearance broke, many people have wanted to know more about him, especially those interested in his current strength.
In Ba Sing Se, the Earth King, who often seemed innocent and careless around his ministers, had a serious look on his face as he sat at his desk in his private study, reading the latest reports.
The brazen arrival of a Fire Nation delegation on the continent, even in one of its colonies, was a clear statement of intent. However, the king did not care about this. The Earth Kingdom had been fragmented for a long time, with city-states and people proclaiming themselves rulers.
Only the rulers of Ba Sing Se and Omashu called themselves 'kings' because both royal families descended from an ancient figure who had conquered the entire continent in the past.
This king did not care about the arrival of the Fire Nation. Nor was he interested in the fact that Shisui was among them or that the Avatar was accompanying them. Rather, he was disturbed by a detail that anyone could overlook.
Rumors! Rumors were circulating, mainly in villages and towns near territories conquered by the Fire Nation, but they would inevitably spread across the continent and reach Ba Sing Se.
To others, those rumors were nonsense, just news delivered to the king. 'The Avatar will return to bring balance to the world!' This slogan had been repeated for millennia, but now, what exactly was balance?
The king put down the scroll recording this intelligence. He didn't like the Red Lotus fanatics; he only allowed his men to give them asylum and resources because they were useful at times.
He had inevitably heard about the group's philosophy and knew that if he showed himself too much, the radicals would consider him another target to eliminate. After all, weren't they seeking to kill all prominent figures?
'But what if the balance the Avatar wants has to do with my overthrow? Even the overthrow of Ozai?" Avatars in the past have sometimes been radical." Avatar Kyoshi, Avatar Yangchen...' thought the king. He felt he needed to get to know the Avatar better before he arrived in Ba Sing Se.
He knew, and he knew that Shisui knew that he knew they would head for his walled city. The Earth King came to a clear conclusion: he had to learn more about the Avatar before he arrived in his territory.
"It seems I'll have to go out and have some fun," murmured the king before glancing toward the shadowy corner of his study where he knew a Dai Li was guarding him.
"Get ready. We can't fool Shisui the Wise, but he will understand that I am not looking for trouble." There was no visible change after those words, but the king knew the Dai Li had already conveyed his intentions.
It was time to stage a classic scene of the king walking among his subjects.