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Toph sighed as a red beam of light came out of the spheric object in her left palm, this had to be her fourth battle just today and she had lost. Again. She just wasn’t in her top game lately and that was starting to affect her job as the Gym Leader of Omashu. She shook the hand of the young trainer who beat her fair and square, giving him his badge and pretending some excitement upon giving him the usual spiel together with his badge.
A few moments after her last challenger had left, she let her shoulders fall as she sat down on a particularly big boulder in the arena. Toph knew exactly why she felt so unmotivated lately, she would never admit to it though. Hell, even her pokémon knew it and as if on cue, one of her pokéballs opened, she didn’t need anyone to tell her who it was and why she was glaring at her. Ever the worrywart.
“I’m fine Badger.” Toph moved her green, visionless eyes towards the Excadrill standing next to her, she could paint the picture of her clawed arms crossed and what she’d say if she could talk: You’re full of it, Beifong. The mole pokémon only just shook her head before sitting down beside her trainer. “Did he really have to go to another region for so long…”
“Hey Toph, someone’s here to see ya!” Toph huffed at the call of her assistant Kanto, she could feel the extra set of feet, it didn’t feel like a teenager’s, so probably an older challenger. Toph turned around in her perch to respond. “Tell ‘em the gym’s closed, i’m not in the mood for-” Her words died when she heard a laugh, Kanto’s set of feet moving backwards and she could swear she felt the smug bastard smirking.
“How about for an old friend? Would that change your mind?” Toph had to fight off the smile, her stomach so full of butterfrees she could swear she’d see some flying if she dared to speak up. Sokka for his part couldn’t stop smiling as he stepped on the familiar rocky terrain of Toph’s arena, an old duffel bag slinged around his right shoulder. “Where’s my hu-” Before he finished the sentence with one arm wide open, Sokka felt the familiar pain of Toph’s trademark punch to the arm that held his bag.
“There it is, Snoozles.” She couldn’t fight the smile any longer, she was now sure he was real and not some Ditto Kanto brought in here to cheer her up or worse… prank her. She missed her best friend more than she was willing to admit to anyone, even herself. Her heart picked up speed once she heard him laugh so close.
“You really must’ve missed me.” Sokka had a grin plastered across his face and Toph wanted nothing more than to say yes, a lot actually, did you notice? but she contented herself with crossing her arms with a smug smile playing across her features. “Nope, just owed you a punch, you can go back to whatever hole you crawled out of, Snoozles.” And Sokka for his part rolled his eyes.
“Good thing I wasn't here for you then, I came to see…” He looked around and his eyes set on the familiar Excadrill still sat atop the rock. “Badger!” Toph raised a brow in amusement. “You’re here for my partner. Sure.” She put a hand on her hip, making sure to pop it a bit. She didn’t need vision to know Sokka was very much looking and that didn’t help at all the myriad of butterfrees flying inside of her.
“Y- Yeah, didn’t she tell you? Badger and I go way back, we’re basically best friends.” Sokka was trying to keep his eyes on the Excadrill, trying not to ogle too much at Toph’s form as the green and yellow Gym uniform she was wearing clung to her body in all the right places and by the Spirits she was doing things to him. And she was probably very aware of it, thanks to her almost supernatural awareness.
“I must have missed that one.” After a small beat of silence they were both snorting and laughing, quite clearly having missed their bantering. Toph was about to say something when a sudden warmth enveloped her, Sokka had simply hugged her and she wasn’t sure how to respond to that.
“I missed you. A lot.” He squeezed his best friend’s smaller frame against his, knowing full well that Toph wasn’t much of a hugging person, he was prepared to get shoved, punched and cursed, but instead was surprised by a pair of shy but gentle hands wrapping themselves around his mid back. “Y- Yeah… me too.” Toph would not comment on how Sokka’s heart was delightfully beating right now, much less would she say a word about how her’s was about to break through her chest.
Neither of them wanted to be the first to pull away, maybe they wouldn’t have, if not for Toph’s Excadrill walking over to the two of them and making her presence known by coughing. They both jumped away from one another, Sokka scratching the back of his neck and Toph crossing her arms, her cheeks flushed and her expression one of annoyance as she turned her eyes to her partner.
You’re full of it, Beifong. And Toph could only glare as the made up voice of her pokémon echoed in her mind.
-x-
They were both sitting in a booth of a local coffee shop, Toph having changed from her tight gym leader uniform into something a little more comfortable, a top and some baggy pants, Sokka for his part was still wearing the same outfit he had when he arrived at her gym, his blue uniform of the Pokémon Rangers, or so he had told Toph that was what he had on.
They spent their time drinking some coffee, eating a snack or another and mostly catching up, Toph couldn’t help but notice how Sokka sounded displeased whenever she said something about a loss, which prompted her to change subjects to his time away from everyone.
“Where have you been, Snoozles? Dreamland?” Sokka snorted at the little comment. “No, Toph.” His tone shifted slightly to a more serious one, he even fixed his posture, sitting a bit straighter and putting his hands together on top of the table. “I got called to the Almia region for an investigation. Orders from the higher ups, a mission from the Union itself.”
Sokka launched into a slightly dramatized retelling of his mission in this region called Almia, being extra descriptive of every sight he’d been through. Toph could barely believe him when he described an ancient temple modeled after a Hippowdon, or how he helped free a pokémon called Cobalion from the clutches of some evil organization. But his heart would never lie to her and Toph felt a lot of untold pride for her friend, even though she poked fun at him a lot during his heartfelt retelling.
Once Sokka was done telling her of his travels, they were left in a beat of silence, a good sort of silence, while they finished their drinks, which were growing cold by this point, Toph was lost in her own mind, imagining the things Sokka had just described to her, missing the times when they were younger and journeyed together.
“Hey, T” That woke Toph from her daze right quick, her eyebrow shooting up. “Any more tales of wonder, Ranger Snoozles?” She said with a snort, making Sokka huff in response but smile at her still. “There’s somewhere I want to take you.” Those simple words were enough to make her cheeks burn.
Next thing Toph knew, she was outside of Omashu and, by the sounds and vibrations when Sokka had thrown a pokéball to the air, he had released a very big and metallic pokémon, shape of a bird too, with the loud sound it made upon opening it’s wings and crying out to the ether, Toph was sure it was Sokka’s trusty corviknight. She reached out to the giant bird, her eyes looking straight ahead. The first thing she felt was Sokka’s warm hand as he guided her own towards the pokémon’s beak, letting her feel the cold steel that covered it’s whole body.
“I remember when you were just a Corvisquire…” The bird nuzzled it’s beak against Toph’s soft hand, making a joyful sound as she began moving her hand to pet it. “You grew up so much.” She felt the proud little huff coming from Sokka, who was puffing up his chest, to which Toph just rolled her eyes.
“I’ll need you to carry us to that place, big guy.” Toph snorted. “Feeling mysterious, are we?” Sokka scratched the back of his neck as Toph gave him a small punch on the arm. “You better hold me tight, Snoozles.”
Toph hadn’t meant that very literally, but it seemed Sokka took it to heart and his very much fast beating heart was making sure to let Toph know this, Sokka was holding her very close to his chest, one hand on her waist and the other holding onto his Coviknight’s plates. Toph couldn’t help the warmth working it’s way up her cheeks or how clammy her hands felt right about now. She was totally and utterly blind in this situation, something that would usually leave her a ball of anxiety, but the fact she felt that hand around her waist and his chest against her back, it all made her feel safe and at ease.
The rest of the flight went by in a breeze, Sokka got down first, but when he tried to help Toph down, she all but jumped from Corviknight’s back and onto the ground, falling to her knees, placing her hands firmly against the rocky floor of the mountain they were in, near the top of the Cave of Two Lovers.
“Oh thank the Spirits, solid fucking ground! Oh my sweet thing, I should never have left you again!” Safe or not, Toph still didn’t like flying, she’d walk everywhere if she could, hell even traveling underground was more pleasant than flying, the only thing made bearable about the experience was… well… you know. She decided it was better to stop thinking.
Now that she was properly thankful for the existence of the floor beneath her feet, Toph frowned as her ears picked up on the sound of running water almost all around her, she got up slowly and turned her head Sokka’s way, her eyes not leaving the floor as she really didn’t need ‘em to.
“Where are we Snoozles?” Sokka was petting his bird pokémon and couldn’t help but smile and hum in contentment as he returned his trusty Corviknight to his pokéball before turning around to face his confused friend. “Somewhere atop the Cave of Two Lovers, I found this place during a mission a long time ago.” Toph’s confusion seemed to deepen, on one hand she could feel her heart get a twinge of hope, on the other she wanted to rationalize this was probably just some cool place for two friends to hang out, nothing deeper.
“I know you can’t exactly see it, but…” Toph felt a warm arm being placed around her shoulders and she bit her cheek at that. Sokka began to describe the area around them, she could feel the rocky terrain of the mountain, however he did mention how there were at least three different waterfalls cascading down around them, the two hills from the tale of the two lovers that gave this cave it’s name were on each side of their little spot, Toph could feel her cheeks redden again as Sokka described as if “the lovers were blessing this place”, it was sappy but it still got to her.
“It sounds wonderful…” It was almost a whisper, but she was sure he heard her words by the way he squeezed her shoulder. Toph wasn’t going anywhere near those waterfalls, but the vision Sokka painted for her of them did make for quite the romantic place. So why would he take his friend to such a place?
Because he likes you, idiot! A voice echoed to her, but she chose to ignore it, shoot it down, set it ablaze and then bury it under a mountain. There was no way that would be the case and even if it hurt her chest to keep saying that to herself, she knew it was for the best.
“Are you okay T?” Toph wanted to curse under her breath, of all the days for this lovely idiot to choose to not be his endearingly oblivious self, he chose this one. Toph breathed in, trying to put on her best air of nonchalance. “Sure, just dreading the water, you know… I can't swim and all that.” Sokka hummed and if doubted her he didn’t say.
A few hours more went by. They spent their time lounging and letting their pokémon play around, they did some hiking to the cave nearby where Toph took some time to mingle with the local wildlife, Sokka only sat and watch as the woman seemed to immediately hit it off with a group of Zubats, they’ve always been sort of a kindred spirit to Toph it seemed, she still had her very own Zubat, the very first pokémon she caught in their journey and the mon that, according to Toph herself, helped her with learning how to see through vibrations. It was astonishing how in but a few minutes she already had three hanging from each of her arms, almost like she could communicate with them. Sokka’s heart was a mile a minute watching Toph in her natural element.
And then she sent her newfound army after him. Because of course Toph Beifong would ask a bunch of Zubats to chase Sokka around the cave for her own amusement. He didn’t mind it much though, he knew they meant no harm.
When they finally came out of the cave the sun was already setting in the horizon, Sokka cursed himself for not bringing a single tent along so they could spend the night around here, the very decision to come here being a spur of the moment thing.
“We should probably be heading back.” Toph seemed to bristle at the idea of flying again but made no comment about it, not wanting to give Sokka any more ammunition than she already has. They walked back to their spot in silence, gathering their respective pokémon back into their pokéballs, except for Sokka’s trusty Corviknight. “Don’t worry T, i’ll be holding you.” And at that, Toph’s shoulders relaxed just the slightest bit and if Sokka had noticed it he, smartly, chose silence.
-x-
Their flight back was pretty damn silent, save for the sounds of the bird pokemon’s metallic wings beating, cutting through the chilly evening breeze, though Toph didn’t feel any cold, not with how close and unfairly warm Sokka was. They arrived at Toph’s gym, something Sokka let her know expeditiously.
“One year and you forget where I actually live, Snoozles?” It was Sokka’s turn to snort now. “As if. I have something I want to do here.” They walked into the gym, Toph had curiosity painted all over her face, thinking it should probably be something to do with Kanto, until she noticed his absence. Now she was even more curious.
They made their way to the gym’s arena, Toph didn’t comment on how Sokka had been holding her hand the whole way there, not wanting to spoil a good thing.
“Okay now… wait here.” She immediately felt the absence of that hand when he let her go, right at the spot where she’d be standing to wait for a challen- oh no, no he couldn’t mean to. When Toph turned around, poised to deny Sokka before he could even request it, she heard the sound of a pokéball growing from its miniature form.
“Before you say anything T, hear me out.” And Toph did not retort at that, only just crossed her arms with a half amused expression. “For a whole year I had no time to contact anyone because of work. I tried calling you the first chance I got and to my surprise, Kanto’s the one to pick it up and tell me you were busy battling, then imagine my surprise when he tells me you’ve been out of your game and losing quite a few battles of late.” Suddenly her assistant being gone made a whole lot of sense. Kanto was a dead man walking. “I didn’t want to believe that, so I called in a vacation and came here as fast as Corviknight could carry me.” She did not like where this was going, even if her heart was fluttering at the idea that Sokka was so worried about her wellbeing that he flew from one continent to the other just for her.
“I watched your last battle, Toph. You weren’t even trying.” Sokka’s hold on the pokéball in his hand grew tighter, she could feel the vibration from where she stood. “So I decided to take matters into my own hands. I asked Kanto to vacate the gym during the evening. And now I want to know what’s gotten into you Toph.” By the spirits she was visibly blushing now, this idiot really did fly all the way from Spirits know where just for her and she couldn’t even muster up the courage to tell him that his absence was what had her so out of it.
“Sokka i-” She began, but there was a sound of a pokéball opening and a pokémon making his presence known, Toph’s mouth closed into a thin line… before the tips turned upward. “I accept it.” She pulled a ball of her own, throwing it skyward, letting one of her own mons out.
“Thanks T.” The two trainers couldn’t help their smiles, Sokka had missed this as well, they hadn’t battled like this since the last day of their journey years ago. He looked towards his pokémon, an old companion of theirs, Poliwrath, his very first catch, as for Toph? She let out her Crobat. He could swear she would never evolve her little Zubat friend. "Don’t cry when I kick your ass, Snoozles.”
They both barked their orders to their pokémon, beginning their battle, two gym leaders duking it out, their spirits singing in the chaos, both showing all their years of experience, none of the usual holding back they did for the challengers. It was a like a dance, Sokka’s Poliwrath making use of the terrain to escape Crobat’s many flying-type moves, then making use of his sheer muscle to try and catch up to the nimble flier to fire off it’s ice punches, sometimes even using moves like aqua jet for evasive purposes or to catch up again to it’s foe.
“Not bad, Snoozles, you still a pretty good trainer after all.” Sokka puffed up his chest proudly, but got the air knocked out of him when his pokémon fell violently beside him, twisters in his eyes as he had all but fainted. “But I'm still the best.” And he couldn’t deny her that much.
“Heh, wouldn’t have it any other way, T.” He called his Poliwrath back to his pokeball, he had done a good job against an opponent with a clear advantage. “I’ll have to pick up the pace. And who better than this one to help out?” He threw the ball up in the air, the familiar visage of his Corviknight breaking through the white light. Toph for her part only just smirked and barked her friend his orders, giving start to the air battle between both their pokémons.
“Corviknight, let’s show her who’s the king of the skies!” And at his command, no move needing be called, the giant metal raven broke off from Crobat’s incessant chasing, it’s wings gaining an even more metallic glow to them, in an instant the two pokémon were crossing their glowing wings against one another, until the both of them finished it off with one last cross, each of them stopping behind the other, like a pair of samurai who just crossed their blades one last time. In the end, Toph heard the sound of her pokémon falling to the ground.
“The air was never my thing. Guess you can keep it… for now.” She brought her pokémon back to its ball changing pokéballs, Toph put herself in a fighting stance, breathing in before she stomped the ground with so much force Sokka could swear the very earth would rise in a pillar beneath him. In an instant her next pokémon was out, the heavy and rotund form of a Donphan stared him down.
They went like this until the very late hours of the night, neither one wanting to be the loser, their hearts glowing like the full moon outside, they went through their whole teams until both had only one pokémon left. Their trusty partners, the pokémon that accompanied them through their whole journey. Their starters.
“Go!” They shouted in unison as both mons came out of their pokéballs. Toph had her Excadrill out, Badger looked sharper than ever, feeling the roaring flames inside her trainer’s heart. On Sokka’s side came out someone Toph hadn’t seen in a while, his Marowak, holding on to a black club made out of a meteor they ran into in their journey. Toph felt the little meteor band Sokka had given her want to burn a hole through her arm at the memory.
“I never said it before, but we’re both glad you still have that gift I gave you that day, Toph.” And Sokka’s partner of course shook his head in agreement as she knew he would. Toph responded with a smile. “I would never dream of taking it off, Sokka.” And he could practically melt at the sound of his name coming from her. Toph seemed to notice his little moment and, without hesitation, let her partner do her part.
Sokka was awakened from his daze by the tremors all around the gym, he feigned heartbreak at how mercilessly Toph took advantage of him like that to fire off an earthquake! But his Marowak was a little more used to her tricks than his trainer, he needed only act upon his instincts, jumping from the crumbling ground beneath his feet and on top of a stone, he spun his body while still in the air, firing off his club like a boomerang the very same way Sokka taught throughout the years. He would have hit, had Badger not used the metal claws move to defend herself from his bonemerang’s assault.
The battle continued to rage on, both of them firing off their best moves, it felt not just like their pokémon were battling, but like Toph and Sokka were at that very arena fighting one another, she could almost feel how it would be like, it had been ages since she last had a battle like this, a battle that set her heart ablaze, a battle that made her stomach twist and turn in excitement. Something she only ever felt with him.
“We should end this now.” Sokka sounded out breath, but so was toph, it really felt like they were battling instead of their pokémon, she did agree however that this should come to an end now, she had her fun letting Badger play around. Their last move, shouted once again in perfect sync. “Fissure!” Toph was a little taken aback with the fact Sokka’s Marowak had the move, it was a rarity after all, but she couldn’t help the giant toothy smile she had on, mimicking Sokka’s own without even knowing it.
Both of their pokémon jumped to the air and came down against the ground with a savage might, the ground and the very foundations of the gym shook as the floor began to crack violently, opening beneath both pokémons, before either could react, the ground spiked up and swallowed them both before exploding into pillars of dirt and debris, leaving behind only shaken earth and a pair of craters with both pokémon fainted in them. They had come to a draw at the end.
They both drew their partners back and walked the unsteady ground toward the middle of the arena, Sokka put out his hand for a handshake and Toph took both his hand and his nape upon pulling him closer to her, that battle had given her more than her spirit back, it gave her some much needed boldness too.
Sokka was definitely surprised by the way her lips were pressing against his, but his hands quickly snaked around her waist, pulling her in and holding her firmly, he never wanted to let go of her petite form in his arms, their tongues parting from their mouths and meeting one another, twisting and turning in a dance of their own, both lost in each other's taste and smell in a way that they had clearly craved for many years now. It took them damn near running out of breath to finally part from one another.
“Sorry I took so long, Toph.” Before Sokka could say anymore, Toph shushed him with a finger and he got the message clear as day.
Shut it, Sokka.