Death Battle: Terra vs. Toph

Ray: There exist all kinds of warriors, but some are so powerful that the very earth beneath their feet is at their command…and they’re prepubescent girls, too.

Steel: Like Terra, the geokinetic powerhouse and former Teen Titan…

Ray: And Toph Beifong, the sightless earthbending master.

Steel: He’s Ray and I’m Steel…

Ray: And it’s our job to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, and skills of these two rock-throwers to find out who would win a DEATH BATTLE.

TERRA…
Alias: Tara Markov
First Appearance: “Terra”
Allegiances: Teen Titans, Slade
Status: Unknown

FEATS…
Defeated the Teen Titans and Slade
Fought off mind control
Caused various geologic catastrophes
Came back from the dead?

Ray: Tara Markov was the daughter to the royal family of a land called Markovia and was always a hard-headed girl with some identity and purpose struggles. She was experimented on alongside her brother, which gave them both power to control earth.

Steel: Trust me, it isn’t as awesome as it sounds because the guys were trying to exploit mentioned powers. While her brother fought them off, Terra turned tail and ran in fear of her powers. She later became a wanderer, coming under the attention of the Teen Titans and Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson for her prowess.

Ray: After spending time with the Titans (Beast Boy especially), she did feel accepted and among friends, but that didn’t stop doubt from settling in.

Steel: She claimed to be a drifter because the world was her home, but it was actually cover for the real reason. She wandered because she couldn’t fully control her powers, causing trouble wherever she went even when she tried to do good.

Ray: After an incident that Beast Boy saved her from, Terra almost joined the Teen TItans, but turned and ran away when Robin, the leader, told her she had to learn control over her powers.

Steel: The reason was because she believed Beast Boy had blurted, just as Deathstroke said he would. In actuality, Robin figured it out himself…oops.

Ray: Terra returned a while later with vast improvement in terms of control, but what the Titans didn’t know was that she had turned to Slade in order to learn. The catch? She would give information on the Titans to Slade in exchange for teachings.

Steel: And that didn’t backfire at all, did it? Our green, shapeshifting friend found out about it and drove her away, causing her to just snap. Left only with Slade and her emotions in pieces, she joined him with one mission. That mission was “destroy the Teen Titans”.

Ray: Terra’s ability is geomancy, the ability to manipulate the earth with a single thought.

Steel: She really can kill two birds, or five superheroes, with one stone. Her most notable ability is to pull rocks out of the ground she walks on and either hurl them at foes or hitch a ride on them and use ‘em to fly through the sky.

Ray: But rocks aren’t the only thing Terra can control. She can even manipulate sand, mud, and even molten rock if it’s in her line of sight. She can even tunnel underground and smash any projectile-based earth into pebbles with just a motion of her hand.

Steel: Her greatest strength with earth is her manipulation of it, molding whatever’s available into any form she needs it to be. With the earth, she can make platforms, pillars, battering rams, and even giant hands and other mobile shapes.

GEOMANCY…
Controls the Earth
-Rocks
-Mud/Clay
-Sand/Dirt
-Earthquakes
-Fissures
-Rockslides
Tunneling
Flight
-Rides on rocks she controls
Levitation
-Lifted the ground beneath Titan’s Tower w/some help from Raven
Manipulation
-mostly mind-based with some body motion

Ray: After she joined Slade, her powers increased dramatically thanks to a neural link with him. Now she could create earth structures that could move, like giant hands and vaguely-human-shaped golems controlled by her mind.

UNDER SLADE…
Suit links to Slade’s nervous system
-Share experience/power
Increase of power
-Create moving earth constructs

Ray: Terra has defeated the Teen Titans and Slade by herself and has proven to be extremely powerful…too powerful.

Steel: Whaddya mean?

Ray: Terra’s greatest problem with her powers is that they seem to be too big for her. When her emotions get the better of her, her powers can slip out with disastrous results. Mudslides, earthquakes, and volcanic activity are just a few of the things she has caused when she lost control.

Steel: Even though it’s derived from earthly minerals, she cannot manipulate metal. But by far, her biggest weakness is her own mind.

Ray: Terra has been abused physically and mentally. The people she came across in her journeys chased her away and threatened harm, Beast Boy (who she actually grew to like) chased her away after her treachery was revealed, and Slade viciously abused her when she disobeyed him. This has resulted in trust issues, a short fuse, and impatience.

WEAKNESSES…
Cannot manipulate metal
Can lose control of powers
-Caused by mass stress
Mental instability
-Emotional problems
-Abused physically and mentally

Steel: Eventually, Terra found out about Slade’s treachery, broke free of his control, and brought him down (momentarily). But when the Teen Titans and Jump City were endangered, she used the full extent of her power to save everyone from an underground volcano…and turned to stone for some reason.

Ray: Much later, her statue went missing and a girl similar to her emerged in Jump City…with no memory of past events and no geomancy powers. What happened?

Steel: NOBODY KNOWS! All we know is that she became the best she could be to ultimately save the day.

Ray: That’s very true. After so many mistakes, even she knew to do the right thing in the end.

(Terra: (crying) You were the best friend I ever had.)


TOPH BEIFONG…
Alias: The Blind Bandit
First Appearance: S2E6 “The Blind Bandit”
Allegiance: Team Avatar
Status: Died of old age as of “Legend of Korra”

Feats…
Created the art of metalbending
Taught Avatar Aang to earthbend
Champion of underground tournaments
Slowed the sinking of the Ancient Library

Ray: Toph was born to the wealthy Beifong family located in the Earth Kingdom, but was also born completely blind. This caused her parents to become extremely protective of her, going so far as to hide her from the rest of the world.

Steel: That’s not a bad decision at all, is it? And it showed because, at age six, Toph ran away from home and by the age of twelve, she had turned into a toughened fighter with an equally-tough and assertive personality. She also became rebellious, taking part in many underground fighting matches and kicking butt all over the place.

Ray: Many years would pass and Toph eventually became an ally to Avatar Aang and his friends, eventually running away from home and joining to become Aang’s teacher.

Steel: Wait, what would a blind girl have to teach the legendary Avatar?

Ray: Because Aang is the Avatar, he can master all forms of bending. However, he has to learn them because they don’t come subconsciously.

Steel: YEAH! Suck on THAT, Mr. Shyamalan. (flash picture of "The Last Airbender")

Ray: The art that Toph would teach Aang is simply known as Earthbending.

Steel: Oh, now the question on what she can teach him suddenly makes sense.

Ray: Earthbending is an art where a person can control the very earth beneath their feet. This art requires the user to be stronger and more adamant than the earth, using firm stance and strong movements to move rocks and anything related to it like mud and sand.

Steel: And who did she learn all this from? blind, tunneling creatures…that isn’t weird at all, is it?

Ray: Yes, as mentioned before, Toph ran away from home when she was six and found herself lost in a cave network. She took a liking to these digging creatures, known as badgermoles, because they are also blind. These creatures are rumored to be the very first Earthbenders.

Steel: Toph can use earthbending to make up for her blindness. By sending out vibrations in the ground, she can “scan” her environment and anyone nearby. She can also sense mentioned vibrations from impacts on the ground (i.e. footsteps) and has an excellent sense of hearing, able to hear even faintest change in heartbeats. Add on incredible memory for being able to never forget a voice after hearing it.

EARTHBENDING…
Learned from badgermoles
Allows geomancy
-Projectile attacks
-Create defenses
-Shatter rock
Increases speed
-Travel vast distances by moving the earth beneath feet

SENSORY POWERS…
Touch
-Sends out vibrations like sonar (via Earthbending)
-Picks up vibrations on the ground
Hearing
-Heard the heartbeat of a liar
-Never forgets a voice when she hears it
--Incredible memory, too

Ray: Toph was already one of the best earthbenders, right behind Bumi, but she stands out from the others by being the first ever to accomplish one feat. That feat was the ability to bend metal.

Steel: What? So, she’s a bending unit like Bender?

Ray: No, she’s actually the first earthbender to manipulate metal. Normally, earthbenders cannot manipulate metal because the earthbending arts require earth in its unrefined state. Toph has solved this problem by finding what little unrefined earth remains in the metal and bending that. Result? Toph pioneered metalbending.

Steel: WOW! And to think she was only just hittin’ puberty when she discovered that!

METALBENDING…
Pioneered by Toph
Involves bending tiny earth fragments in metal
Similar to Earthbending
Can be used to make armor

Ray: Toph’s greatest strength in a fight is her tenacity and strength of spirit. Even if faced with a tough opponent or a challenge of any sort, backing down or giving up is probably the last thing to go through her head. She’s also confident and steadfast, thinking solely about victory and not budging until she gets it.

Steel: As strong as she is, Toph does have some exploitable weaknesses. Let’s not ignore the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room now. SHE’S BLIND AS A BAT!

Ray: Toph has always been blind and, though she uses Earthbending to cover this for the most parts, she cannot see airborne enemies and needs someone else to be her eyes. It has been said she can sense oncoming rock, but this has been a bit inconsistent. It’s far more likely that she senses where rock has been torn out and estimating its flight pattern. In order to aim, she uses the vibrations from her feet as well as any sounds she might have heard in their general area.

Steel: Another big weakness…her feet. She has to rely on vibrations in the ground to sense what’s around her, and if you injure or burn her feet, she’ll lose her vision.

Ray: Toph also has problems seeing in different environments. She cannot see on ice or even swim. And if she stands on sand, she has trouble seeing because of its less-compact form. She can manipulate it easily, but when she stands on it, her visions are fuzzy. Same thing goes for mud.

WEAKNESSES…
Blind
-Cannot see airborne enemies (except for rocks)
“Vision” blurs when standing on sand/mud
Can't swim
Becomes helpless if feet are burned/injured

Steel: That being said, Toph understands her weaknesses and adapts/improves her abilities to overcome them. Can’t bend metal? Learn to bend it! Trouble seeing in sand? Compact it so you CAN see!

Ray: Toph is all about overcoming her weaknesses and, after the Hundred Year War, she even went on to found the Police Force of Republic City, her daughter going on to be the chief of it.

Steel: Y’know, I take it all back. She may not be able to see, but her abilities and powers speak for themselves.

(Toph: Yeah! Let’s break some rules!)

--

Ray: Alright, our contestants are rarin’ to go, so there’s only one thing left to do.

Steel: Yeah, it’s time to throw some rocks in a DEATH BATTLE!!!

--
Just on the outskirts of the city of Omashu, the legendary blind earthbender Toph Beifong stood awaiting something for her day. The best part of it was that she did NOT care in the slightest of what it was.

Suddenly, she felt something in the ground: footsteps. She was able to pinpoint just what made them and turned to face the source: a girl with long, blonde hair, silver plates and cloth bands around her body. The girl maintained a cold look in her eye and an equally-cruel smile spread across her face.

Toph smirked, planted one fist in her palm, cracked her knuckles, then planted each of her feet firmly on the ground, fists clenched.

FIGHT!!!

Terra moved first as a yellowish glow encompassed her hands. A rock suddenly tore itself free from the ground and, with a forward motion of Terra’s hand, it threw itself at Toph. This rock was easily taller than her and weighed four times as much. The smallest impact would shatter her bones like frail twigs.

Yet, Toph didn’t even attempt to evade. With a simple stamp of her foot, a pillar of earth rose up to intercept Terra’s projectile, both of them shattering into pebbles. Toph stamped her other foot and a piece of rock of similar size to the one Terra produced tore free of the ground. With a thrust of her fist, the rock hurtled through the air like a cannonball.

With just a motion of her hand, Terra altered its flight route and it swerved to soar past her head. With another roar and a motion of her hands, series of jagged rocks sprang from the ground and wormed towards Toph with the intent of impaling her.

Toph sensed it coming, then thrust a fist forward and the spikes shattered before they could so much as touch her. With a quick twist of her body, not one, not two, but three giant boulders tore free of the ground and with an air-punch, all three raced at Terra like a volley fire of cannonballs.

Terra raised a hand and three pillars of rock rose to spear Toph’s volley right out of the air. And with a sideways motion of both, the ground beneath Toph’s feet parted into a fissure that threatened to swallow her like the hungry maw of a giant predator. Toph felt it coming, though, and simply stepped to one side of it, safely out of its way.

Toph smirked, then raised her fist up and a small column of rock raised itself up just beneath Terra’s feet, tripping her up and sending her sprawling on her back. With just a slide of her foot, Toph caused a section of rock to spring up like a catapult, flipping Terra away and earning a cry in surprise.

Terra’s training did show through as a single rock no bigger than a grapefruit raced up and flew into her grip. With another motion of her hand, a spire of rock hefted free of the ground, floated for a short time, then plummeted down at Toph like the head of a giant pickaxe.

Toph followed her instinct the minute she saw a large chunk of earth tear itself free: move and move quickly. With a quick shift of her foot, the ground beneath her moved like an ocean wave made entirely of earth and she rode it to safety, the spire smashing into the now-empty ground behind her.

Terra scowled at the sight of Toph’s quick escape, then tore another slab of rock from the ground and let go of the one she was currently holding onto. She landed on the rock, then used her powers to send her platform rocketing after Toph with her riding on it like a surfer.

Toph continued traversing the area around Omashu with Terra hot on her heels. As the two moved, the very landscape seemed to be shaped by them: trees bent out of the way, once-flat plains became rough hillsides, and any animal in their way made for a quick getaway.

Terra grew tired of the chase and with a motion of her hand, sent a barrage of rocks from her current ride at Toph. Toph’s hearing was better than she thought, though, and she would halt her movements, lowering herself to terra-firma just as Terra launched the rocks. This was met with a growl in frustration from Terra, even more so when Toph resumed her “earth-walking”.

Having dragged the chase out long enough, Toph ground to a halt and Terra overshot her. After a bit of an awkward turnaround, Terra put a hand forward and a car-sized boulder tore itself free of the ground to try and squash Toph.

Toph simply stepped to the side and the rock slammed into the ground just inches from her feet. With a motion of her hands, a rock of her own raced after Terra, who maneuvered her floating rock out of the way so narrowly that she felt the wind of the attack brush her hair.

Terra needed a new method of attack rather than just throwing rocks at her, which she gathered Toph could already intercept and avoid. So, she waited for a brief moment, trying to find some weakness.

“What’s the matter?” Toph asked, not bothering to look.

Terra raised a brow as her opponent just stood, waiting for what would happen next. Her back may have been turned, but her voice indicated that she had a smug grin on her face.

“Can’t fight unless someone’s holding your hand?” Toph continued, “Need mommy or daddy to help you?”

Terra scowled inwardly, then tore a television-sized rock from the ground and launched it like a bullet, just to teach this girl some manners. Much to her surprise and further frustration, Toph simply held up her hand and caught it before casually tossing it behind her back.

“Careful or you’ll lose it.” Toph said, still not bothering to turn and face her, “Might want to mind your temper.”

Terra growled as she turned over a slab of rock to flatten Toph only to see her shift her foot and push the earth beneath it away. The result was that the slab fell short of its target.

“Is that the best trick you’ve got?” Toph asked with a shrug.

At that point, Terra just couldn’t take anymore.

“SHUT UP!”

Two things happened at once. Just as Terra was about to propel herself forward, Toph smirked; she had gotten her to reveal her location. When Terra had just begun to try and build speed, a pillar of earth smashed into her floating rock, knocking her off with a yelp.

Toph smiled inwardly again: the noise just kept coming and it delighted her. She could now start pinpointing her location.

Terra hit the ground, much to Toph’s favor, then took the remnants of her transportation rock and attempted to levitate it just over Toph. However, she had barely lifted it when the earth beneath her jutted out and slung her backward, causing those remnants to fall back down to earth.

Terra growled in frustration and pain, then lifted a hand to try and summon a pillar of her own. However, much to her disbelief, Toph moved her hand and a pillar of her own intercepted Terra’s. With another motion of her fist, Toph sent both pillars flying at Terra like a pair of cannonballs. Terra only barely maneuvered them out of the way, then lifted the earth beneath her and raced at Toph.

As she thought, Toph merely motioned with her hand and a rock came up to intercept it. Terra was prepared for this, though, and jumped just as Toph’s rock smashed into hers. Before touching the ground, Terra pulled back her fist and slammed it into the side of Toph’s face, watching her fall backwards and lay on the ground, clutching the side of her face, whimpering in pain.

Terra smirked before asking, “Who needs someone’s hand now?”

Terra’s moment of triumph was short-lived as Toph suddenly stood up and thrust a hand forward. Toph's whimpering had only been a ruse to trick her opponent into letting their guard down. The ground beneath Terra’s feet lifted off the ground, then moved out from under her, as if Toph had just pulled a rug out from under her feet. Terra fell flat on her back and her chestplate created an audible “clang” sound.

Metal.

Toph quickly seized her chance and, with another rock maneuver, Terra was sprung upright and pushed right in front of Toph, who reached out and seized her chestplate.

“I gotcha now.” Toph said with a smile.

Terra almost responded with a rock to smash her opponent's face in, but she halted when her chestplate tightened around her body. She, literally, felt her ribcage crack as the pressure increased considerably. The rock she had summoned up fell back down as her focus shifted from trying to crush her opponent to trying to get the chestplate off. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t pry it off. And when she tried getting Toph's hand off, she found her grip to be just as hard as the metal she wore.

The pressure had increased so much that her ribs were now beyond “fractured” and were now “shattered”. Some pierced her lungs while others ruptured muscle and organ alike, increasing the agony. With what little air she had left (and when she wasn’t coughing up her own blood), she screamed in pain.

Toph increased the pressure of the chestplate further and further until Terra’s entire chest caved in on itself. Terra’s vision was fading fast and she tried to heave one final attack at Toph. But, at that point, her strength and focus had waned too much and fell limp with a steady trickle of blood flowing down her chin.

Toph released the metal chestplate, then watched Terra fall to the ground and remain motionless.

K.O.!!!

--

Steel: WHOA! Toph just rocked Terra’s world! (pause with silence) These are the jokes, people.

Ray: Their earth-manipulating skills are impressive and they both have a wide variety of ways to use them. However, while Terra has a vaster scale of power, her methods of attack are a little sloppier and aren’t as finely-tuned as Toph’s.

Steel: Terra also had no way of knowing Toph’s blindness or her weaknesses, especially without Slade telling them to her or having her act behind her back.

Ray: And while Terra was able to beat the Teen Titans by herself, take in mind that it required months of study, that the Titans held back in their first encounter because they still viewed her as a friend, and that most of her techniques are fine-tuned by Slade. As Death Battle does not allow outside help or pre-battle aid, nor does Toph really have any past friendship with Terra, those were three marks against her.

Steel: Toph made the discoveries in her power by herself and needed little outside assistance in any fight. Plus, even if she’s unable to sense rock, she would be able to pinpoint her location pretty easy. She’d sense activity in the ground through her “seismic sense” and Terra makes so much noise in a fight that it’d be hard to miss her.

Ray: And before you bring up what Aang did to her in the Earthbending Tournament, Air Nomads specialize in light movement and stealth because air can be manipulated quietly and swiftly, catching Toph by surprise. Because Terra is constantly moving the earth, which will make lots of noise and be known through Toph’s senses, and stealth really isn’t an option.

Steel: But Terra can fly, you say? Even then, how would she know that if she stayed in the air that Toph wouldn’t see her? She would focus almost entirely on trying to wipe her out, which means throwing stuff at her! Add in that Toph’s taunting (which she frequently does) struck a nerve in Terra, and Terra’s own little short fuse, and she fell right into Toph’s hands. Plus, she’s wearing metal on her! Obvious weak points are obvious!

Ray: The winner is Toph Beifong.



TERRA…
+Vaster scale of power
+All senses in working condition
+Could go all-out without Slade holding her leash
-Too easily frustrated
-Metal suit is an easy target
-Can’t exploit Toph’s weaknesses w/out Slade’s help

TOPH…
+More level-headed
+Finer-honed skills/flexibility
+Sensory abilities make it almost impossible to sneak up on
+Few truly exploitable weaknesses against opponent
+Metalbending opens new doors
+Sharpened hearing and seismic sense aided in counterattacks