A/N: Word count: 1,484 Prompts: Magnificent
"And I'll have twelve dumplings with extra sauce and five scoops of ice cream annnnnd seven moon peaches, twenty sweet buns, and…"
Ikki stood in front of a concession stand cart. The circus seemed to be less crowded than when she came in but she didn't pay any attention to it. She figured most people went to see an attraction. An old man with graying hair stared at her, trying to process the order she was putting in. He made no effort to actually complete her order while she rambled.
"Young lady, are you actually going to eat all this food?" He sneered.
"Well, no. It's not for me."
He narrowed his eyes. "Uh huh. And how do you expect to pay for all this food?"
"Umm.." Ikki put a finger on her chin as an inquisitive look formed on her face. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she pointed behind the man. "LION VULTURE!"
"Nice try, little lady. Why don't you go find your mom-"
Vicious squawking could be heard in the distance. Everyone had stopped their activities to stare at the creatures flying through the sky.
"What in the world…"
"What is THAT?"
"Some kind of bird?"
"I think they're lion vultures!"
The whispers in the crowd were the only things that overshadowed the screeches of the lion vultures flying over them. It wasn't until one dived for someone that everyone began to scream and run off.
The benders used whatever element was available to them to fight off the lion vultures but the animals seemed to be able to dodge just about anything that was thrown at them. Fire, rock chunks, and streams of water shot out the crowd.
Ikki, however, didn't have any fear, even after the concession stand man ran off. Instead, she took the opportunity to grab a few dumplings from his pot and left a few yuans on the stand.
"I should probably find Korra, after I eat these dumplings."
'Okay, don't panic. You just lost three kids in a crowd full of blood-thirsty lion vultures.' Korra thought to herself as she ran through the crowd. She thought getting through a crowd of people just standing around was tough but with everyone running in random directions and bending in even more directions, it was just hazardous for her. The fighting and screaming drowned out any shouting she did to call the air bending kids. It didn't make any easier when the lion vultures tried to peck at her.
"How did these things even escape?!" She could see a lion vulture nesting way at the top of the enormous circus top. It gave her an idea. One that would be hard to do without her glider. "The one time I didn't bring my glider!"
Dodging through the crowd reminded her of her air bending training, only it was more unpredictable. She didn't miss the opportunity to practice her training, however. Her body practically glided past the panicking people, letting the wind of the crowd carry her through.
'Wonder if Tenzin would at least be proud of this.'
It took her longer than she wanted to reach towards the edge of the circus tent, though it was less congested near there. After looking around carefully, Korra shot herself upward using the earth beneath her to do so. The earth steadily rose her up towards the top of the tent, until about halfway, then she launched herself using her air bending. The startled lion vulture hissed at her before flying off. Korra grabbed the tip of the circus tent and steadied herself. Whatever the tent was made from, it was much harder than she thought it'd be.
"Now if I were an air bender…where would I be?" She asked herself, then sighed. "Besides on top of a circus tent." She mumbled afterwards.
She squinted her eyes, examining the hectic scramble of the crowd. The lion vultures loomed over head, circle over the people and occasionally taking a peck with their beaks at the people. People who ran too far ended up being overtaken by the flying animals. She'd hate to think about the bruises some of those people would have.
There was no sign of any gold and orange children anywhere.
Until, that is, she noticed a sudden scatter of lion vultures, followed by a green mist.
"That has to be Meelo."
"Taste my fury!" Meelo yelled. He was turned around with his behind pointed in the air while he held onto a cabbage. He released a powerful wind towards the directions of the fleeing hybrid birds.
Meelo and Jinora had managed to escape the lion vultures and wound up near the abandoned concession stands. One stand had a pile of cabbages, one of which Meelo was determined to grab before it was attacked by the lion vultures.
"Perhaps you shouldn't carry that cabbage. Lion vultures are known for their ravenous appetite for them." Jinora suggested.
"No way. This is not just any cabbage. This is a perfectly round, magnificent cabbage, the key to controlling my army." Meelo held the cabbage up, his eyes in awe at its supposed perfect roundness. Jinora rolled her eyes.
A man stepped out of the outhouse some feet from the concession stand. He casually whistled, seemingly unaware of the commotion that was currently going on. He was a middle aged man with a white shirt, brown vest and brown slacks. On his head was a gray flat cap. It wasn't until he noticed the mess that he stopped whistling.
"No..No no no no!" He started to panic before running towards the broken cabbage stand. "MY CABBAGES!" He yelled to the sky, grabbing at his hat as he fell to his knees.
Meelo whistled innocently as he hid his cabbage behind his back.
"Meelo! Jinora!" They heard Korra call them from the distance.
"Korra!" They said in unison, running to meet their dear friend.
"I'm so glad I found you guys. This circus is crazy!" Korra said, meeting them halfway.
"Yeah, what kind of circus lets wild animals loose?" Meelo said, hugging his cabbage close to his chest.
"But…you let the lion vultures out." Jinora said.
"He did WHAT?!" Korra said in disbelief. She should have known one of them was behind the chaos. "Okay. It's okay. We can fix this. We just need to get them back in the cages and then leave before anyone ever knows it was us." Korra said as she started pacing around. "I don't want to hurt them.."
"They're attracted to cabbages. Maybe we can bait them back into the cages." Jinora said.
Korra paused. She suddenly placed her hands on Jinora's shoulders with a smile on her face. "That's a great idea! And I think I know how! Grab some of the remaining pieces of cabbages. Meelo, bring yours."
"But I need this cabbage for world domination! I mean.."
Korra put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, giving Meelo a hard stare.
"Okay, fine." He said pouting.
He watched the two gather as many cabbages and shredded cabbage leaves on the ground and around the stand. Though, since his attention span was short, his mind began to wander elsewhere, and so did his body.
Past the concession stands were small, empty tents set up for different attractions. The objects were still left behind from the lion vulture attack. One tent, however, had something moving inside of it. Meelo stopped in his tracks when he saw a black ball moving, followed by a small whimper.
Never one to be afraid in the face of danger, Meelo wandered into the tent, pushing past one of the flaps that blocked the entrance. Inside was a lion vulture curled in a ball. It squawked at Meelo.
"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you." He said. It didn't soothe the animal as it began to fidget. Something was odd about the way it was moving. It seemed to have trouble getting up. He thought for a minute. "You want some of my cabbage?"
The lion vulture seemed to calm down when Meelo held up his cabbage. He could see it sniffing at it. He stepped close enough for the animal to examine the vegetable before snatching it out of his hand with its beak.
Meelo watched the hybrid peck at the cabbage. He noticed in the corner of his eye that something was sticking out of the lion vulture's leg.
"Oh no, I think you have a boo-boo." He said before he reached for its leg. The lion vulture hissed and lunged its sharp beak towards his hand but Meelo was just a little faster. Before the tip could poke him, Meelo extracted a large splinter from the animal's leg. "That should make you feel much better."
The lion vulture blinked then licked at his hand. Meelo took the opportunity to pat its head.
"Now that we're friends, wanna become heroes?"