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Mettle, Metal, Meddled - Chapter 25 - Challenger
🕑 Added 2022-07-13 15:17:42 +0000 UTCThe next week was a rush of activity.
Kaldur and Robin both officially moved into the cave, taking rooms in the same wing as M’gann and I. Unfortunately Wally's parents decided not to let him move in, though they agreed to reconsider in a few months. They also gave him permission to spend more of his free time at the cave, including once school started. I warned him that his parents were probably testing him, probably to make sure he could handle the responsibility while keeping his grades up, but he only brushed me off.
Once Robin and Kaldur moved in, M'gann and I went on our date. We rode Bioship into town, only to discover that the main draw to Happy Harbor was, unsurprisingly, its harbor. It had a small gift shop and shopping area, as well as a few restaurants, but was ultimately a small town with not much to do. After discovering this we hopped back in Bioship and flew to the closest movie theater, an hour or so away. We watched a cute animated movie, one that honestly designed for a younger audience. Despite that we both enjoyed it, and M’gann was humming one of the sweeping musical numbers for a few days after the fact, which never failed to get a chuckle out of me.
When the movie was over we grabbed some lunch and had a quasi picnic at a park located on a hill, claiming a bench for ourselves. We talked and ate, eventually getting ice cream from a pushcart vendor. We stayed out late enough to watch the sunset from the top of the hill, leaning on each other as the sky turned orange and purple. We talked a lot about our lives before the team, before coming to this earth. When the sun completely set and it started getting dark we climbed back into Bioship and flew back to the cave. Before returning to the living portions of the cave M’gann gave me a kiss on the cheek, locking a smile on my face that took a few days to fade.
Beyond our first date I spent a lot of time practicing and training my Earthen Wave, running around the grotto and spending plenty of time falling on my face. It was extremely difficult to get down, but eventually I realized that I was looking at it the wrong way. I was envisioning the rock coming up to let me push off of it, when instead the leg movement was all about stirring up the wave itself, pushing my energy into it to keep the wave moving forward. Once I had that figured out it only took me a few hours to get it down pat. In order to push it and see just how fast I could go though, M'gann and I took a trip to the quarry, where we timed my top speed. With some more practice I managed to get up to eighty miles an hour with minimal physical effort, though I was pretty sure I would be able to increase that speed as I got better and faster at manipulating the earth.
The next night I sat down in the grotto, waiting to feel M’gann slip into a deep sleep before meditating, feeling the familiar calmness take over before opening my eyes to find myself back in the stone training area.
“Welcome back!” The Toph simulacrum said, already standing in front of me. “I see you figure out the Earthen Wave.”
“Yeah, I cracked it a few days ago,” I answered, standing out of my meditation pose.
“Good. Show me,” She responded simply, gesturing to the giant space around us.
I nodded and after a moment jumped up and started moving, the wave of earth behind me pushing me faster and faster. I circled around the training area, the walls and boulders dotting the flat rocky space whizzing by me. After the third lap I wobbled, the stone shifting slightly in a way I hadn't expected. I managed to recover though, soon returning to my top speed. This happened a few more times before I realized that Toph was stomping and shifting the ground on purpose to test me. This went on for another ten minutes before she waved me down and I slowed the wave of stone and earth behind me.
“Not bad Mopey, you adapted pretty well when I started through issues in the way,” She admitted. “I would say that as long as you keep practicing we can start on our next technique, sand bending.”
As Toph talked she made her way to a large sand pit, about fifty feet away. I followed behind her as she stepped onto the sand, stopping by the edge when she turned around to face me.
“Personally I dislike large sandy areas, they make it hard for me to use my vibration sense to see,” The fake master earthbender said. “But that won't be a problem for you. Now, there are three important aspects of sand bending. The first two are making sand from stone and stone from sand. The third is learning to control that sand.”
My mentor lowered her stance for a moment and in the blink of an eye was standing next to a solid stone pillar that had risen from the ground, either molded from the sand or pulled up from under it, I couldn't tell.
“We are going to start with turning rock to sand, then sand to rock, and then I can give you some tips to better control sand. Your homework for the time between sessions will be to practice your sand bending,” The construct explained. “Now the reason we are learning sand bending after you've gotten a grip of the Earthen Wave is because it works very similarly…”
Over the next few hours Toph taught me the process of breaking down stone and re-making it. It called back heavily to what I had learned during my last session, the only difference being how much energy and the intensity of its direction. At first I could barely break down a lump of stone that fit in my hand, but by the fifth hour I could cement a sizable chunk of sand into stone, as well as turning a large chunk of stone into sand.
“Alright. I want you to continue to practice this. Don’t come back until you can disintegrate a cube as tall as yourself in only a few blows.”
“What about sand bending?”
“Sand bending is going to be your challenge. I'll give you a few hints, but I want you to try and work out the details on your own.”
Still standing in the sand pit the Toph copy started to move, sand whipping around her. After a minute of manipulating the finely ground stone she began to explain.
“Sand bending requires a different state of mind than normal Earthbending, or metal and lava bending for that matter. It was always the original Toph's weakest point,” She explained the moving sand starting to kick up gusts of wind. “You must retain your will, your certainty of mind, while also drawing forth a sense of detachment and flexibility. It is considered to be a combination of air and water bending philosophies through the power of an earthbender. Give it a shot.”
I nodded and stepped closer, closing my eyes. After a moment I shook my head and knelt down, my eyes still closed as I ran my finger through the sand. I could feel it, the connection to the rock and earth that the warm sand was made of. But there were too many particles, I couldn’t focus on any one bit long enough to influence it. Sinking my energy into it did nothing, it all just slipped through my fingers, metaphorically and literally.
“Remember. Water and air bending philosophies through the power of earth bending.”
I took a long deep breath, slowly letting it out. I was trying to control and exert my will on every speck of sand, which was impossible. I needed to diffuse that, focus on flexibility, focus on detachment…
It was slow at first, but over the next forty five minutes I could feel the sand shifting around my fingers differently, following the direction of my energy. By the end of the half hour I could move the sand in a simple direction. It was slow, inefficient, tiring and completely useless so far, but I could feel myself slowly getting better.
“Good, that's it. Not bad, Mopey.” Toph said, observing over my shoulder. “Sand bending can let you fill the gap where earthbending lacks, which is subtlety and gentleness, but it can also strip the flesh from a hippo cow in a couple of minutes. Don’t underestimate its usefulness.”
With that horrifying image in my head Toph spent another twenty minutes giving me some advice on getting a better grip on sand bending, as well as some details on my metal bending timeline.
“If you can manage to get a real grip on all of these, including the sand bending before our next session, you will be able to move on to other techniques,” Toph offered. “You're not ready for metal bending quite yet, though it's not as far off as you might think. That said, you are at the point where you are capable of figuring out most of the middle and a few of the advanced techniques by yourself. This is the point where, if you push yourself, your own personal style will start to develop.”
“Alright. How much longer until I’m able to learn metal bending exactly?” I asked. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a large portion of my personal style.”
“I’m not surprised. Being able to bend metal in a time where metal is everywhere is a powerful advantage,” Toph nodded, tapping her chin. “There are a few more lessons I need to teach you before we can get started with metal bending. I know it's tempting to try and skip forward, but you'll regret skimping on your foundationals if you advance too fast. But enough about that, it's time for you to head back, you’ve been here long enough already.”
Like usual the training arena disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving me alone in the cold dark grotto. I let out a long breath, reaching down and pushing my energy down into the rock, turning a spot of it into sand, before flexing my hand and causing it to harden. With a determined nod I stood from my meditation platform and stretched, fighting back a large yawn.
I was happy with my earthbending progress. Though I had plenty of work left to do, it was good to know that I was making significant progress, faster than I would have hoped. As I slowly made my way to my room my mind wandered a bit, going over the last few days before I finally crashed into my bed.
-----------------------
The next afternoon, the entire team gathered together. The Justice League was meeting at their own secret base, and afterwards Batman would be returning to the cave to discuss the conversation and what the league had decided. There was a certain tension in the air, and rather than everyone stew in their own nervousness we got together with plans to get food and head to space, setting up our own team meeting. It was only after we left the mountain on Bioship and headed into the town that M’gann started picking something up.
“Woah…” She said,putting her hand to her head. She was radiating concern and worry through our connection.
“What is it?” Kaldur asked, while I was already shooting her curious and worried thoughts.
“I’m…I’m not sure. We just entered my range for Happy Harbor and… I’m feeling a lot of fear and panic. I think something’s wrong.”
“Are we cloaked?” Kaldur asked, glancing at M’gann.
“Yeah, since we left the hangar.”
“Bring us closer, but stay low,” I said as my seat turned back to the consoles lining the front of Bioships cockpit.
“Alright.”
We could feel the ship dip, the tops of the building below getting closer. While M’gann flew I used our connection to talk to Bioship, albeit more than a bit primitive. She got my intent though, and a screen morphed up in front of me, large enough for everyone to see. It scanned around for a minute before focusing on a large warehouse, just in time to watch all of its windows get blown out.
“Bring us down into the parking lot.” Kaldur instructed, pointing down at the relatively clear space.
M’gann directed us down into the free space, landing us smoothly. Through the video feed we could see swirling storms, mini twisters strong enough to lift and roll smaller cars. M’gann was about to open the back hatch before I mentally stopped her.
“Alright, we clearly have a situation here,” I said, standing as Bioship undid all of our straps. “I vote we temporarily put Kaldur in charge to keep everything clear.”
Robin, Kaldur and Wally shared a look, with the latter about to open to say something when Kyle, M’gann and Robin all agreed. He hesitated for a moment before nodding along.
“I will try not to let the team down.” Kaldur said solemnly, before nodding to M’gann, who quickly instructed Bioship to open the hatch.
As we all poured out into the parking lot we were greeted by screams and shouts of panic. Kaldur seemed to immediately switch into the leader mindset.
“Kid Flash, Superboy! Keep the civilians clear!” He called out, both of them nodding and running forward. “Everyone else, stick close to me!”
Kid Flash streaked forward, fastening a pair of goggles onto his face as he ran, while Superboy trailed behind. Despite the fact that Kyle was much slower than Kid Flash he was still running faster than any human could, meaning that he could help clear civilians out of danger faster than anyone else save Wally. The rest of us followed the Atlantean as he ran for the large warehouse doors closest to us. We stepped into the building, despite the fact that the wind was whipping and pushing us back.
Standing in the middle of what looked like a power plant was a ten foot tall metallic humanoid, painted red and black with thick blue tubed coming from its back and connecting to its arms and to two black cylinders connected to its shoulder. It was an all metal construct save for a rather interesting addition, a tattered scarf around its face. He paused mid summoning of a thirty foot whirling dervish to turn and look at us.
“I can't feel him at all!” M’gann mentally said. “He is either a really powerful psychic or completely robotic!”
“What an unfortunate development. I came looking for heroes and instead I find only sidekicks.” He said in a robotics tinted voice. “How frustrating.”
“Who are you? What do you want?” Kaldur called out, all of us standing ready on either side of him.
“My name? Of course, my apologies. You may call me Mr Twister,'' The robotic humanoid said. “As for what I want… I suppose you could say I seek a challenge. From a proper hero, not children.”
Instead of responding Kaldur gave me a look, and I nodded. With a forward step and an upward jab of my knee a pillar of solid concrete shot out of the ground, as thick as my head, rocketing towards the tall metal man.
Instead of doging he simply raised his hands and blasted it with thick currents of air, swirling and twisting with enough force to knock the pillar of stone off course, tumbling along the floor before slamming into the wall with a crash.
“Hmm… I suppose I will have to work my way up. I’m sure a proper hero will arrive if I take down a few children.”
The large metallic humanoid raised his hand again, the sound of whirring parts just barley loud enough to hear shifting to a loud constant scream of tortured air as he filled the entire warehouse with whipping winds. All of us were blasted back, with M’gann the only one barely managing to not smash into the ground as she took flight and avoided smashing into a support pillar.
I cursed under my breath, quickly standing back, Kaldur and Robin doing the same. I mentally reach out to M’gann.
“M’gann, hook us all up!” I said. “Just enough to talk.”
The green skinned girl nodded nervously before hooking us all up telepathically. It was a lesser sensation than the bond we shared, which I could still clearly feel.
“What are-”
“Absolutely n-”
“M’gann, we said-”
“Enough!” I mentally shouted, ignoring the fact that both Kaldur and Robin winced. “We don’t have radios, this guy is a real threat and we don't have time for you guys to debate your feelings right now. So buck up and deal with it, you can complain later! And don’t take it out on M’gann, I told her to do it.”
“...Very well.” Kaldur said, before addressing the team. “Kid, Superboy, are you two finished? We need your support.”
“On our way!” Wally answered, zipping into position alongside Robin, Superboy not far behind. They both nodded to Aqualad, who nodded in return.
“Alright then team, here is the plan…”
