AN: Hey guys thanks for reading! This is my first fanfic in a reeeeeaaaaallllll long time so we'll see how it goes. I'm happy to take any questions anyone has and other than that enjoy! Oh yeah! I don't own LOK, but I WANT IT!
Left. Right. Right. Left. Bolin ducks and weaves as blasts of fire and rock fly past his face. Jab with the left. Jab with the left. Hook right. Keep weaving, Bolin yells at himself as he suffers through the onslaught brought down on him by the two remaining benders of the Tigerdillos. He keeps hitting and swerving, swerving and hitting, but to no avail as the constant onslaught of elements impedes him from getting into his usual bending rhythm. Soon he is too tired to evade any more attacks and goes into a defensive position hoping that the Tigerdillos will run out of steam and he can counter attack, that is IF he can manage to keep it together.
So Bolin takes a deep breath, and focuses on his own heartbeat as the fire and earth smashes into him. The collision of earth and fire is so fierce that the remaining rocks catch fire as they bounce off the armor on his raised arms. To everyone in the stadium in front of Bolin it looks like the Tigerdillos combined attacks are obliterating Bolin into a whimpering mass of Fire Ferret goo, as his entire body is hidden beneath the combined destruction. However, to everyone behind Bolin the image is completely different. They see a blackened silhouette of Bolin, his image blurred by the fireballs crashing in front of him, with sparks from the rocks cascading off his arms so that it looks like the fireworks, that Future Industries lit every Avatar Day, are going off inside the stadium.
The crowd explodes in a thunder of cheers as the Tigerdillos' side of the stadium sees the lone Fire Ferret swallowed by the barrage of fire and earth, while Bolin's side of the stadium screams even louder as they bare witness to the valiant struggle of the resilient earthbender and the beautiful scene before them. However, admits the sea of cheers and screaming fans one voice, for a moment, can be heard from within the cacophony of sounds as a young watertribe gal, her eyes glued to the spectacular scene in front of her screams, "COME ON BOLIN! KNOCK 'EM OUT!"
However, Bolin is oblivious to all of this as his entire mind focuses on bringing the sound of his heartbeat to the forefront of his mind so that all he hears is Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. Even while Bolin can feel the armor on his arms start to vaporize from the constant punishment of both fire and earth, all that he knows is Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. As the fire burns. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. As the earth smashes. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. As the fans cheer. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. Ba-Dump. Then he hears her voice scream, "COME ON BOLIN," among the many and his heart goes Ba-Dump… Ba-Dump. That one moment, where his heat skips a beat at the sound of her voice, is enough to break his concentration and before he knows it he is in the air flying from Zone 2 into Zone 3.
As stunned as Bolin is at the sudden break in his concentration the crowd is even more surprised as the sudden spectacle that has inflamed their passions is suddenly cut short and they watch Bolin fly through the air in slow motion. No one says a word as the screams and cheers that ran rampant from the crowd's mouths moments ago is stifled by the sudden change in events. Just as it appeared that Bolin is going to fly straight through Zone 3 and off the edge the lone watertribe gal shakes her head out of her sudden stupor and jumps out of her seat.
"BOLIN! FIGHT!" is the only sound heard in the whole stadium and Korra's voice once again raises the tired earthbender's awareness as he explodes into action in midair.
Bending two earth discs towards him from the front of Zone 3, Bolin sends the first one flying into his back so that he is lifted in midair and moves up instead of off the ring. Then with his other hand he sends the other earth disk spinning towards the exhausted Tigerdillos, hitting the firebender who trips lands on top of the disk, which then continues to spin off the arena. As he falls towards Zone 2 Bolin throws two more earth disks, one spinning low to the ground and the other at chest height, towards the other earthbender. As he hit Zone 2 he lands with a role into Zone 1 where he proceeds to gather two more earth disks from in front of him. However, he soon sees they are unnecessary as the earth disk he threw low to the ground knocks the opponent earthbender into the air and the other earth disk finishes the job, knocking the last member of the Tigerdillos into the water.
Bolin's entire counterattack only took around 4 seconds after Korra's voice prompted him to move so by the time it is over the Pro-bending stadium is still completely silent. Then as the fan's brains begin to catch up to what their eyes just witnessed the whole building shakes with the sound of thunderous applause and cheers, the loudest of all being Bolin's whoops of pure joy and victory.
"Well folks that was the turnaround of the season! Bolin of the rookie Fire Ferrets turns the tables on Tao and Li of the Tigerdillos as he goes from zero to hero! They'll be talking about this match for a while yet! And with this the Fire Ferrets are one step closer to the Pro-bending Tournament! Start betting on this rookie team folks because it seems they might be the best odds you'll get!"
Bolin takes of his helmet, shaking the sweat out of his hair, as he turns away from the screaming crowd and walks towards the platform that would take him back to the Fire Ferrets' locker room. As the platform starts to bring him toward his waiting teammates he can't help notice that the water tribe girl from earlier is there. He tries to keep his face under control but in his head all Bolin can think is, "Oh Yeah! Bolin you the man! Who's the earthbender? You the earthbender!"
Before he can get off the platform Pabu jumps the remaining distance between them and runs up Bolin's shoulder, rubbing his face against his master's cheek. This unfortunately breaks any attempt by Bolin to look cool in front of the watertribe gal and his face breaks into a huge grin. He grabs Pabu by the paws and starts spinning him in a circle. "Did you see me little buddy? I kicked butt! I was like Ka-pow! Wa-Chop! WHOOAH!" Bolin yelled enthusiastically at his best friend putting him down and extenuating each sound effect with an over exaggerated karate chop. Bolin quickly stops his showboating as he hears a stifled guffaw from behind him and he turns to see the watertribe gal holding her side with one hand, covering her mouth with the other, trying as hard as she can not to burst out laughing. Bolin smiles sheepishly at her as Pabu runs back up his shoulder to perch at his usual resting place.
"Ha sorry about that… I get a little excited when I win." Bolin stammers as he absentmindedly brings his arm up to his shoulder and scratches behind Pabu's ears, all while the faintest hint of a blush crosses his face. " I really kind lose myself when Pabu congratulates me. I mean come on! How can't this face not make you got a little nuts," Bolin laughs as he looks at the mysterious girl he found in the training room who he saved from Toza. Remembering the moments right before the match he smiles and says, "Hey thanks for wishing me luck…"
The girl straightens up and wipes a tear from her eye as she looks up at Bolin and says, "Korra, the names Korra. And I can see now why you didn't need the luck in the first place! You were amazing! You were like Ka-pow! Wa-chop! WABAM!" Korra says copying Bolin's crazy karate chops moves to his earlier sound effects. She grins as Bolin laughs at her over exaggerated movements and looks at Pabu. "I can also understand the enthusiasm. Not only was that like some of the coolest bending ever this little guy is just the cutest thing! Can I…?" She asks as she points at Pabu hinting at her desire to play with the fire ferret.
Bolin smiles and picks Pabu up placing him in her outstretched hands as Pabu sniffs Korra's palms before racing up her arm and running around her neck. Bolin and Korra laugh at his crazy antics, but Bolin frowns for a moment thinking Korra. Korra. Where have I heard that name before? However, the thought slips from his mind as Pabu takes the liberty to start licking Korra's face everywhere, which cause both of them to temporarily stop breathing due to their uncontrolled laughter. It takes a moment before either one of them can talk. When they can Bolin's earlier thought is replaced by a suddenly very urgent idea.
"Hey I was wondering… If you know have time after the match? I'm starving and need dinner and I know this great water tribe place called Narooks. I was thinking we could go together." Looking up at Korra he sees her raise an eyebrow at the word together. Suddenly remembering his earlier blunder with Tazo he stammers out, "As friends of course! Didn't mean to imply anything haha…" Bolin finishes with a small smile waiting for Korra's reply.
Smiling at Pabu, seemingly studying his face very intently as she holds him in front of her, she says, "I'd love to. Getting something to eat with two new friends sounds great." She smiles as a grin suddenly takes up half of Bolin's face. "That is to assume that Pabu is coming?"
Bolin feigns shock at Korra's question and with a sniff takes Pabu back and places him on his shoulder saying, "Of course he's coming." Then his eyes lit up with laughter as he finishes saying, "Who else would pay?"
Before Korra has time to laugh a voice calls out from behind them, "Hey Bolin come on stop talking to your fan girl! We got to go over this match and Hasook's got to do drills on his foot techniques so that he doesn't bring me over the edge again with him."
Turning towards his brother Mako Bolin looks embarrassed and says, "Come on Mako lighten up. We just kicked some major Tigerdillo booty and you heard Shiro Shinobi. He said we were the favorite rookie team for the tournament."
Mako smiles at his brother and says, "Yeah that was a good match, especially the end. That was some seriously good bending there bro." Bolin blushed a little from the rare praise from his big brother but Mako quickly became serious again. "However we still got to remember that Shinobi called us the best rookie team, emphasis on rookie. Which means we need to train and Hasook needs to step it up."
At this point the remaining member of the Fire Ferrets who is standing in front of his locker taking off his uniform turns toward Mako. "Hey do you know how to waterbend Sparky? Cause last time I checked smoke came out of your ears not water." Hasook yells at Mako as he walks out of the locker room.
"Really Hasook? If that's the attitude your going to have then why are you a pro-bender? Mako yells after Hasook as the waterbender shuts the door behind him. Turning angrily away Mako sees Bolin and Korra watching the entire thing.
Before Mako can chide Bolin for brining another fan girl into the locker room Korra looks at him and said, "For your information I'm not a fan girl. I'm new in town and wanted to see the Pro-bending arena and Bolin was nice enough to let me see it. I've been immersed in bending my whole life and I've never seen a style quite like this." Turning to Bolin she smiles and asks, "Do you think you can show me a few tricks? That move where you used the earth to move in midair was awesome!"
Bolin and Mako frown at each other at this request and Bolin hesitantly asks, while Mako goes to take off his armor, "Ugh sure I guess… though to be honest I kinda thought you were a watertribe gal from your clothes and ugh hair…thingys. But just goes to show you can't read a book from its cover."
Korra leans back with a smirk on her face as she looks at the two brothers. Smiling to herself she says, "No you're right I'm a waterbender… and a firebender."
"Uh huh I see… I'm very confused," Bolin admitts as he studies Korra.
Mako turns around and with a sigh says, "You're the Avatar and I'm an idiot."
Korra laughs at the sudden look of shock on Bolin's face as she says, "Both are true."
Bolin slowly picks up Pabu, looks at him right in his eyes, and says, "Buddy. You licked the Avatar. THE AVATAR."