Pro-Bending Tournament Circuit - Round 1
Team: Ba Sing Se Badgermoles
Position: Manager
Prompt: Write about the first time someone bended their element (any element)
Meelo was just beyond his 6th birthday at the time; at the point where he could run around the house and be annoying at will, as well as hold a conversation in only the most classiest of Meelo-styles. Ikki and Jinora were older, already having started their training as Airbenders several years ago. Both of them had first bended when they were around the age of 3. Needless to say, Meelo wasn't very happy that his bending hadn't manifested yet.
Jinora's first time bending was apparently met with an aggressive sneeze. Their mother liked to joke about how she sneezed at the dinner table and a tornado came out of her nose. Bowls, plates and cups flew everywhere, tossing food to the floor and walls. An especially large bowl of noodles went straight for Tenzin's head, showering him entirely in broth and slimy pasta. In obvious Tenzin fashion, he wasn't amused in the slightest. Instead, he only removed the bowl, noodles sliding down his face and into his lap, stating, "Hopefully this doesn't become a trend at dinner." Jinora and Pema only giggled in response.
Ikki's was less messy and more frightening. Tenzin was teaching Jinora some of the basic airbending stances in one of the cliff-side practice arenas as Ikki sat off to the side, playing with a stuffed polar bear dog toy. Jinora was having trouble with the steps and Ikki had taken notice, her usual excitement and inherent need to annoy her older sister causing her to get up and run over to the pair yelling, "Let me try, daddy! Let me try!" The eldest only scoffed and walked off to the side, crossing her arms in the process as she watched her non-bending little sister attempt a move she should have mastered already. Tenzin agreed, showing her the move and encouraging her to repeat his steps. Ikki did so, however, as soon as she threw the final punch that would normally shoot out a swirled puff of air, it actually happened and she went flying backwards, not having braced herself properly in anticipation of the air blast. Tenzin moved frantically, but Jinora was closer. She lunged forward, grabbing her sister just before she toppled over the side of the cliff. Ikki only laughed and ran off towards Air Temple Island's main building after releasing herself from her stunned sister's grasp. Tenzin only stared after her, muttering the words, "We probably shouldn't tell your mother about this." Unfortunately for Tenzin, Pema had found out some time later when Ikki blurted out the story at the dinner table midway through one of her mother's entertaining teasing sessions about Jinora not blowing food on her father.
All Meelo wanted was to be an Airbender, too. He tried and tried, always making whooshing noises wherever he went, anticipating that eventually it would happen and his sound effects would be a brilliant addition at the time. When the kids played, the girls would hop up, their air scooters appearing under them, and they would zoom off into the distance. He would mimic their actions, but nothing ever came of it. It was annoying, and after a while, when his sisters would fly past him, he would kick out his leg into their scooter to disrupt the wind tunnel and cause them to fall on their faces. He'd laugh diabolically as he would run away, screaming the phrase, "MEELO STRIKES AGAIN!"
One day, his time finally came, and it was nothing short of a beautiful moment.
The Airbender family was coasting into the city on one of their flying bisons. The girls were flicking little airballs at one another while Tenzin held the reigns. Meelo moseyed his way over to him, clutching at his pants.
"Daaaddd! I have to go to the bathroom!"
Tenzin shook his head. "I told you to go before we left. Do you see any toilets up here?"
"I did go, but my belly still hurts anyways!"
Only about a foot away, Jinora grimaced. "Meelo, I know what that means! If you fart on me again I'll punch you in the butt so hard you'll never be able to fart again!"
"Hey! It's not my fault you're always within the stink cloud radius. Maybe you should be more aware of your surroundings," he stated back, sticking his tongue out at his lame excuse for a sibling.
"Whatever. Just don't come near me with that bomb of a bladder you have."
Meelo's eyes widened suddenly, the usual pre-informing stomach gurgle making waves as it warned him of the impending explosion. "You should probably step back then…"
"DAD!" Ikki and Jinora both yelled as they pushed themselves away. Even the bison made a low roaring noise in complaint.
"Meelo! You need to learn to hold those in! Can't you wait until we arrive?" Tenzin retorted towards the voices behind him.
"Sorry, Dad. But, the body's gotta do what the body's gotta do!" He inched his way towards the center of the wooden deck that was strapped to the bison's back, waddling as he did so. Crouching down, he bellowed, "BOMBS AWAY!"
The sound emitted was a disgusting combination of wet flapping noises and air pushing through a tube too small. What happened with it, though, no one expected.
Meelo shot high into the air, a largely audible "WOOOOO!" elicited from his wide-open mouth in both pure excitement and bodily relief. The three benders still sitting in their places stared up at him in shock as he bounced up and down in the air, puffs of air shooting out from his pants as he released his tension over and over again. Their mouths hung open, unsure of what to do or say in response to the monstrosity that was the youngest now-bender.
"Dad! Check me out! I'm bending!" Meelo called down to his family from above.
Tenzin shook his expression away, finally taking notice to the danger of the situation. "Meelo! Get down here!"
"But, Dad, this is super awesome!"
"You're going to hurt yourself, you idiot!" Jinora called up, mimicking her father's worry, but with less conviction.
Ikki sat there in awe. "That is… SO COOL!" She jumped up in excitement, bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet. "I want to learn!"
"Eww, gross," Jinora complained. "Please don't stoop to our idiot brother's level."
"Who cares? Look at him. He's practically flying!"
Truth be told, the young bender was zooming around via one meticulously placed fart at a time. At least in the sky, the smell omitted was minimal.
"Don't worry, Ikki. I'll teach you the ways of a fartbending master!" Meelo yelled in response, the cheese he'd been cutting slowing down considerably as he lower himself back onto the bison's platform. "I'll open up a class for anyone who wants to learn! 'Meelo's School of Fartbending'… Has a nice ring to it, am I right?" He wiggled his eyebrows devilishly at the name.
"Pfft… No one wants to go to your stupid school," Jinora rebutted over her shoulder as she faced towards the city coming into view.
"I do!" Ikki exclaimed, one hand flying in the air as if waiting to be called upon.
Meelo spun around towards his eldest sibling, taking a definitive stance and pointing a finger at the girl. "HA! Sucks for you! You're not invited to my school anyways!"
Tenzin cut in as he pulled the reigns, signaling for the bison to begin descending towards the docks. "Now Meelo, be nice and invite your sister to your school."
"No way! I can't have LOSERS bringing us down!" Ikki giggled at her brother's name calling. "Only REAL masters can learn the art of fartbending."
"I WILL be a master one day, you doofous! Just you wait!" Jinora yelled back. Stupid brothers…
Meelo waved it off like the words were nothing more than mere jibber-jabber. "Yeah, yeah… I'll believe it when I see it."
The bison landed with a thud and the Airbenders jumped off onto the creaking boards of the Republic City docks. Tenzin patted the animal's head in gratitude for the ride, and then signaled for it to fly off until they returned. It did so, eliciting a loud growl as it did.
"Alright kids, I need you to behave during today's town hall meeting. Please don't destroy anything while I'm in there this time. It never goes well when I have to explain to President Raiko why the streets just happened to get destroyed while you practiced your bending," Tenzin scolded them as they walked towards the center of the city.
"Fiiiine. We'll behave," the three children stated in unison.
Another day, another adventure… Life was just grand for the family as, finally, they were all bending their ancestral element. Meelo walked proudly along side his siblings, knowing that he, too, could be a master some day.