Chapter 1 Ferret Fangirls

There was nothing I detested more than attending pro-bending matches in Capitol City. Sure, the bending was pretty decent, quite good in fact. No, it wasn't the actual game itself that bothered me; it was the vexatious announcer and the erratic fan girls that caused me irritation.

This upcoming match would be especially taxing on my patience because those foul Fire Ferrets were scheduled to play. The three young men on the team were subject to fanatical screams of their smitten female fans. Their deranged shrieks always came to a dramatic crescendo when the cocky earth bender Bolin and the moody firebender Mako mounted the stage to start their matches. There was a water bender too, but his bending was so atrocious that no one ever bothered to shout his name.

The Fire Ferrets took the stage and just as I suspected, all the Female Ferret Fanatics (as I oh-so -lovingly referred to them) erupted in ear-shattering, high-pitched squeals.

"I love you Bolin!" one girl sitting directly behind my left ear screeched. I turned to look at her in disgust and discovered that she had purchased one of those hideous shirts that I had seen for sale outside the arena. It had a ferret on the front exhibiting its "skills" as a fire bender.

"Can you put a lid on it before I rip that repulsive shirt off your body and shove it down your throat?" I yelled just as loudly as she had. This earned me some questionable looks from all the fans within a seven foot radius of me. The girl gave me a bratty look.

"At least I'm showing support for my fav team!" she snorted, "as opposed to you with your boring little getup. Which team are you rooting for anyway? The Loser Lemurs?"

I couldn't even fathom the ridiculousness of her insult. Did she just suggest that I was the weird one? She was the one swooning over Bolin, whom she'd undoubtedly never met. She probably didn't even know how the game worked. I could tell she was waiting for my retort, probably thinking "The Loser Lemurs" was better than anything I could come up with. I gathered myself and said in a bored tone:

"Oh, I don't like any of the teams. I just come for the sheer enjoyment of having my eardrums burst open by shallow fan girls like you." She looked at me, confused, and I smacked my forehead at her stupidity. Just then, I felt someone grab my shoulder,

"What's this about you not liking any of the teams, Nadia?" came the joking voice of my boyfriend Shaan. Oops. I turned to face him and gave my best girly giggle.

"I meant that I liked none of the teams here. I forgot that you were playing today," I answered coolly. He considered my answer for a minute and then shrugged it off with a laugh,

"I wouldn't like any of the other teams here either," he snorted. I heard a huff come from the girl behind us and he gave her a sideways glance. Seeing her shirt, he rolled his eyes and returned his concentration the present match.

"Ugh the Ferrets," he groaned, as he slouched in his chair and slung an arm around my shoulders. I leaned forward, shrugging him off.

"I actually heard they're pretty good, their stats speak for themselves," I said, annoyed by the fact that he was complaining about watching the game when I was only at this match for his sake.

"I thought you wanted to check out the competition?" I argued, "because I'm more than happy to leave and listen to this match on the radio."

Just then the announcer proclaimed that the Ferrets gained a replacement water bender, and she was a girl.

"No no, let's stay, I want to check out this new replacement," he said smoothly. I gave him a sideways glance and as I was about to question his motive for staying, Miss Sally Screecher decided to grace us with another ditzy comment,

"Ok, that girl is standing way too close to my Bolin!" she pouted. This chick obviously had no self-respect. This time, instead of turning around and yelling at her, I decided to take a more drastic and lasting approach.

There was a pudgy man sitting one row above her, who had just come back from concessions with a massive cup of leachy juice in his hand. I quickly bended the juice so that it "spilled" all over the front of her shirt, as if to extinguish the ferret's flames. She let out a wail and turned to the supposed perpetrator,

"I hope you're willing to pay for this shirt, Mister! Judging by the size of this stain you probably spent way more on that drink than you will on another shirt!" she shouted. The man looked at her slightly confused,

"As if you need more juice anyway, fatso!" she added. At this the man stood up and belched in her face.

"You can't prove anything," he said in a menacing voice that seemed to finally shut the girl up.

My attention was directed back to the match when the microphone blared another announcement. The whistle blew and the match began. Right at the get go the replacement launched a blast of water, knocking an opposing player right off the side of the ring. I huffed in frustration, thinking back to all the long hours of water bending training I endured trying to land a spot on any team. No amount of conditioning would help me though, because no team was looking to add a girl. So how could this chick just waltz onto the field and join a team as good as the Fire Ferrets? She didn't even look like she knew how to play the game!

As the game progressed she didn't improve much. The other team started focusing all of their attacks on this wannabe player. I looked over at Shaan to ask his opinion on her, when a gasp swept through the crowd. I turned my head back to the match to see the referee accuse the water bender of earth bending.

"Did the girl just earth bend?" Shaan asked in confusion. The referees struggled with the decision to disqualify her.

"See this is why girls shouldn't be allowed to play, they just screw everything up and make the matches take longer," he complained. I gave him my best death stare, which he paid no attention to.

So the replacement could water bend and earth bend. It seemed that everyone was coming to the same conclusion: she was the Avatar. So that's why they let her on the team.

"She's the Avatar, you blockhead," I informed Shaan, who seemed to immediately start paying more attention to her. The game got going again after the refs decided not to disqualify the Avatar, but Korra still wasn't bouncing back. Shaan had obviously given up on checking out his competition and settled just checking her out. I crossed my arms over my chest in annoyance, hoping that he would take a hint. When he didn't I tried another approach.

"Yeah, that's it, knock 'em off the back Mako!" I cheered. This earned me a sideways glance from Shaan. I was hoping he would be annoyed with my sudden admiration for Mako, but then I realized that the two bending brothers were stuck in one corner of the ring with next to no hope of coming back. Well, they had Korra, but it didn't look like she was making much progress either.

The other team fired shots at Korra nonstop, eventually sending her plummeting to the drain. I felt sorry for her. It was clear that she was putting her all into the match.

"She's obviously a good bender," I said out loud, "she just needs some experience as a pro bender."

"Yeah, and I'll bet guys would jump in line to train a smoking gal like her," Shaan added, "I know I would."

I was totally caught off guard by this comment. Not only was it demeaning to Korra, but it was also insulting to me. Without uttering a word to him, I stood up and stalked up the stairs to the exit. I looked back at him and was infuriated to find that he didn't seem to care that I was no longer there. He was probably too busy looking at Korra.

I strode out the enormous front doors of the golden arena into the dirty street outside. The city was full of various sounds and smells so familiar to me. From the assorted cheeses to the slimy stench of sewage, the city was my home and I felt comfortable in this familiar atmosphere. I needed time to calm down and think after what Shaan said.

This wasn't the first time that he had hit on girls while I was standing right next to him. It got me wondering what he did when I wasn't standing next to him. Even if he pissed me off, I can never forget that he was there for me in devastating point in my life. I felt that I would always owe him for that.

Huge cheers started coming from the arena so I escaped down an alley to find a place to crash for the night. I wasn't eager to go back to Shaan's house where I normally slept. So I found a little patch of grass in a small space near the back of arena that felt comfortable enough. My thoughts then went out to my little brother, Kumar, probably fast asleep in his little bed on Air Temple Island. I made a plan right then to go and visit him the next day.

The match seemed to have come to an end as the noises coming from the arena slowly faded to nothing. I drifted in and out of sleep, and just when I was about to doze off, I heard someone whistle at me from a short distance away.

Author's Note:

So yes, my sister and I are co-writing a Korra fanfiction! This chapter is really short because we don't want to write too much before we know anything about where the actual show is heading. We're striving to weave our version into the original story line as accurately as possible. For this chapter we wanted to introduce Nadia, our original character whom we will tell the story through.

Anyway, we're going to be writing a lot more soon, so stay tuned if you like it so far! Don't forget to leave review if you have time! Feedback is greatly appreciated. 3

-KRD & MKD