ATLA: The Rift Part Two

[tripodeca113]

"What happened to Toph's parents is arguably the the second-biggest dangling thread left by the series. Coming up with an answer was a little intimidating, but let's be honest - nothing's as intimidating as it was to tell the story of Zuko's mother in The Search"

Gene Luen Yang


(24 out of 72 pages)


Yes, I know this is late.










The Rough Rhino's attack and Team Avatar fight them off.








Meanwhile Toph and Aang fight the groups other members.



Toph saves the Air Acolytes, criticizing them for following Air Nomad philosophy and not using full measures.



Aang decides to finish the Yangchen Festival, before trying to talk with the refinery owners again.



Aang and the Air Acolytes find that the tree they were supposed to sit under has been cut down.





Toph bends her way into the refinery to talk with her father.














The explosion unearths a passageway in the cliff face.



This is the last time these three frozen guys appear in this story. I'm pretty sure this means they froze to death. Or got horrible nerve damage.
Jet's parents are finally avenged.





Katara and Sokka find themselves in an underground mine and smeltery.



The guards attack and while they defeat them, the supports are damaged. The pair realize that the shoddy supports must be the cause of the towns earthquakes. They try to get the workers to evacuate, but they refuse.





Sokka leaves to get their boss.

Yangchen tells Aang that the past Avatars are meant to guide their current incarnation, so they can avoid the mistakes of the past. In her time she made choices that are now affecting Aang.





At midnight a giant spirit emerges from the ocean.



He knocks Yangchen aside and marches towards the city. She sends her advisor to evacuate the city, while she fights the spirit.





Sokka barges in and demands that Lao evacuate the mine. Lao only knows about the refinery's crystal mine.



Yangchen continues her story.



At dawn the two reach a stalemate. The spirit identifies himself as General Old Iron. Eons ago a spirit named Lady Tienhai lived along the seashore, caring for the area. Old Iron was her protector.







General Old Iron donned his amour and prepared to do what he should have done centuries ago.

Lao Beifong is shocked to find the iron mine. When he and Loban surveyed the area they found a rich iron deposit, but deemed it as too unstable for excavation. Laobon appears and tells his partner, that he valued the potential profits of the iron over worker safety. He's been ruing a second mine in secret.


One of his guards trying to stop the workers from leaving, stabs through a support and the earth begins to shake...

When General Old Iron began attacking the city's people, Yagnchen entered the Avatar state.




Before Aang can learn more about Yangchen's agreement, he's drawn out of his meditation by the sounds of an earthquake.



They find the town in disarray.



Only a few of them were able to escape the collapsing mine, the rest are trapped underground.
They need Earthbenders to rescue the others.

Comments

[janegray]

I wish they had kept this writer.

[lordultimus]

Anyone else getting a "Hulk holding up a mountain in Secret Wars" vibe?

[tripodeca113]

Yang cites that moment in the hardcover edition's commentary, and compares Toph to the Hulk, as their both mean, green fighting machines.