My first fanfic! (don't worry I did my research going into this)
Found
"Oh man!"
"Did you catch that match? That last hit hurt just watching it!"
"To think she's stuck around all this time, been here for months, this girl hasn't even won one match"
"Consistently being beaten senseless every single week, I hope for her sake it pays good"
"No skin off our backs if it doesn't! But I ain't ashamed to admit, her beat downs are solid entertainment, especially since that Darkskin reminds me so much of those Water Tribe bastards. Watchin' her get beat down in their stead ain't half bad."
"Hey you never know, dark skin, blue eyes, she could be mixed race"
"All the more reason for her to deserve a beating" With that last response the pair of Earth Kingdom drunkards let out a burst of hardy guffaws and laughter.
Opal stopped in her tracks and turned her head sharply in a surprised reaction to the two men's conversation, "dark skin, blue eyes…" Ignoring the angry stares she got for stopping in the middle of the busy street, Opal thought for a second, and hoped she was right, while at the same time, doubting her judgment completely.
Just last year at the annual air nomad summit, she, and the rest of the air benders gathered on Air Temple Island, had been told by a teary-eyed Jinora that her and her father had agreed that it was time the Air Nation set its priorities upon, not finding Korra, but finding the next earth Avatar. Apparently, the statute of limitations for a missing person to be considered alive is 2 years in the United Republic, after which time a missing person is declared legally dead. Given that the government of the United Republic under President Raiko had publicly recognized and announced the death of Avatar Korra, further strife would have been caused internationally, if the search for the reincarnation was not begun quickly.
Most people convinced themselves that having an Earth Kingdom avatar would bring an end to the chaos, and some even welcomed the possibility of Korra's death with discernible happiness. In that way, it only took a few months for Korra's memory to begin to fade. "I can't even say there was much mourning on the rest of the world's part. But we mourned, and for weeks afterward most of us couldn't bear the thought of searching for someone other than Korra." Opal thought to herself. "And I don't know about Mako or Asami, but Bolin changed so much… He became engrossed in his career in the metal clan's army. We keep in touch through letters whenever possible, but I can't even count the days since we last spoke. Kai and I have been trying hard to fulfill our duties as keepers of the peace, but there is only so much two man teams of air benders can do."
On impulse Opal ran up to the two men she had just over heard. She tapped one on the shoulder and before he could respond she turned him around aggressively, both she and the man were equally surprised by the motion. But he was even more surprised at her get-up. It has become known around these parts that air benders are an international authority, and since the downfall of the Earth Monarchy most Earth Kingdom citizens aren't too keen to interact with any kind of authority figure.
Opal snapped out of her surprise at her own aggression and asked, in what she hoped sounded like a stern voice, "What matches and beat-downs are we talking about here?" The man stuttered, but the other one stepped forward, and pulled his friend back out from under Opal's grip on his shoulder; with a confident sneer on his face he replied "listen little lady, it's called Earth Rumble and it's perfectly legal, no funny business goin' on, the arena is straight down Main Street fifteen doors down from this corner, now let me and my buddy here, be on our way." Before Opal could reply, the one man whipped around dragging his friend along with him, she could have sworn she heard an exhale of relief from the stutterer as they strode passed.
As quickly as those two were gone, Kai swooped down from above landing right in front of Opal with an eager grin. "Did I hear something about Earth Rumble?" Kai asked. Opal let out an exasperated sigh, and simultaneously put her hand to her forehead, he had overheard the tail-end of her conversation. Looking up, and trying to do her best stern expression one more time she replied "I already told you Kai we're air nomads, we're not supposed to condone any type of fighting even if it is for entertainment…" Her rebuttal drifted off at the end of the sentence, and she paused as a sudden sense of longing washed over her. Looking over in the direction that the two men pointed her to with uncertainty, she added "but we are going there."
The whoop and cheer that came from Kai's loud mouth directly behind her made her cringe. "Alright! I knew you had a change of heart! No one can resist a good rumble!" With that he wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her head in close to his for an awkward embrace, while pulling away, and recognizing the awkwardness of the present situation, he added sheepishly, his hand reaching up to scratch the back of his head in the process "we just won't tell Tenzin or… Jinora about it. Okay?" Finishing with a nervous grin. Opal looked over at him with concern, "I'm definitely not cut out to be a leader," played over and over again in her mind before she closed her eyes and sighed once again. She'd been sighing a lot lately. Looking back up at Kai, she replied, "That's Master Tenzin and MasterJinora" putting a little more emphasis on the "master" in front of Jinora. A deviously playful little grin formed across her face, as she got a good look at Kai's bashful expression in response. But Opal tried to snap back into a commanding tone as soon as possible, reminding herself, "Can't joke around this is serious, you are a serious mentor." Opal let out a little cough, clearing her throat before continuing, "We won't be watching, we'll be there on official Air Nomad business." Kai let out a groan, "Then what's the point!" He exclaimed before hunching his shoulders in defeat.
As they walked, Kai had his hands dug deep in his pockets, and he was muttering under his breath in a sarcastic tone, "Oh sure, we've checked all the orphanages and hospitals, now OF course we've got to thoroughly examine all the wrestling rings, and… bars," it took him a second to think of that last one. Opal rolled her eyes, but it was true, they had checked every possible location in this town for the new avatar, and they already were way behind schedule. They should have been two towns over by now. Hopefully Jinora, Ikki and Meelo won't mind doing double time— again. Now that she thought of it, the same thing happened last year when they were making their rounds in the Earth Kingdom. "I guess me and Kai just don't make a very productive team," she surmised. "But I'm not going to let go of this gut feeling," a second passed before she realized she had said that last thought out loud, Kai was looking up at her from his grumbling with a genuine curiosity.
Opal, recovering from her surprise at herself, quickly responded with a new found determination. "Come on, this is taking too long." Impatient at walking, she pushed up from the earth leaving a plume of dust in her wake, along with a sputtering Kai, and she released her glider wings, flying nimbly over the throngs of people in the streets, going about their business. After a second or two she looked over to see that Kai had caught up behind her. But Opal's gaze quickly returned to the main point of interest, the open-air arena growing larger and larger within her line of sight, and as it grew closer, the anxious and, perhaps misguided, hope welling inside her grew stronger.
Within seconds both Opal and Kai had arrived at their destination, alighting in front of the arena's entrance with ease. Large groups of Earth Kingdom commoners were filing in, tickets and bids in hand. "Looks like the next match is about to start!" Kai said eagerly, he definitely had a lot more experience with this stuff than she did. Kai trotted inside with Opal following cautiously behind, her determination regrettably wavering as the stench of sweat, alcohol and blood hit her like a wall as soon as they stepped through the gate. The ticket master waved both air benders forward, disregarding the fee. That kind of thing happened often with Opal and Kai, the latter assuming it was just a perk that came with the job, but Opal knew better, people in the Earth Kingdom, like this ticket dealer, don't want any trouble, in other words, they're afraid of the Air Nomads. That was never how it was supposed to be. But it can't be helped.
Deeper inside the bidding had already started with the dealers yelling out names and odds, and prices and chances, it was all a bit confusing, but Opal got the gist after listening to a few bets being placed, and glancing at the que list of the day's matches. People began moving forward to where a crowd was already standing packed like cattle in an unorganized line, waiting for the doors of the arena to be opened. Opal, who had ended up shoulder to shoulder with Kai in the crowd, recalled what she had over-heard those two men saying in the street, "She has never won a match…" Opal stiffly turned her head to Kai, nudging aside another man in the process, and said "quick, Kai go back around the corner to the rosters, and look for a female fighter with the lowest odds possible." "The lowest odds!" Kai exclaimed in disbelief. "Don't you have ostrich-horse racing in the metal clan? You should know better! This is basically the same thing! You gotta bet on the upper middle half of contenders if you really want your yuan's worth!" Opal became genuinely annoyed and snapped, "No Kai! We're not actually betting! Just go get the damn information!"
As quickly as she had lost her composure, Opal recovered it and opened her mouth to apologize, but Kai's surprised face turned into one with a cheeky grin, and he responded before she could. "I was wondering when you were planning on growing a pair." With that he let out a snide chuckle, and slipped through the crowd of people as easily and skillfully as he would through the air gates on Air Temple Island, finally doing as he was told. Just as Kai left, the doors opened and people began pushing behind Opal to get inside, powerless against the force of the crowd she was half-carried in by the throngs of spectators pressing around her.
Opal's eyes took a second to adjust under the intense rays of the sun upon first entering the actual open-air arena. A gentle breeze was blowing, ruffling the fabric of her uniform, and whisking stray tickets around on the dirty, garbage littered, wood plank floor below her. She looked around, taking in her surroundings as the crowd cleared out. There were three different rings, and three different fights going on at once, looking back she could see that Kai was still weaving and swerving to get a good view of the roster. So Opal just decided to pick the ring on her left side, which hadn't attracted a big crowd.
What she saw upon sitting down was definitely in poor taste compared to what she was used to. Two tired looking fighters that had to be past their prime, half naked in some brightly colored green costumes, flailing rocks at each other until by chance one would hit their target. The referee would begin counting, and if the poor man who took a power disk-sized stone to the face was able to get up before the count reached ten, the whole process would start all over again. Given that earth benders are characterized by their stubbornness, that would be the usual order of events. Quite frankly, it was depressing. Opal rested her chin on her fists and sighed for the hundredth time that day. "Perhaps this was a mistake, Kai's not even back yet…" Then she heard an immediately loud cheer reverberate throughout the arena. Looking up Opal quickly discerned its source, a huge group of spectators had begun gathering around the center ring, very animatedly pumping their fists and moving their hands and arms excitedly in reaction to whatever they were watching. The announcer had also begun a going commentary, frantically and speedily doing a play by play of events as they happened. Opal caught some of what he was saying, "Surprise comeback"… "Major underdog" … "Could she win it?"
Now Opal's curiosity was peaked. She stood up and hurriedly made her way to the ever growing crowd. At first she tried to peer over their shoulders, hopping a few times to try and get a good view, but it was useless. The tall men that were making up the perimeter of the crowd had at least a foot on her. Next, Opal tried nudging herself between a few of the spectators in order to get closer to the stands, but she was pushed out of the way each time with annoyed grunts, and grumbles. This was definitely not her type of crowd. With much exasperation, Opal finally gave up and settled with trying to catch what the announcer was saying. "Not much fight" … "Short-lived" … "Predictable" … "Victory within reach." After that last one, the majority of the spectators began clearing out, and Opal was finally able to push herself into the grand stands.
What she saw made her heart drop to the floor, a huge rock of a man, complete with hairy chest and unkempt beard, had just flailed a defenseless, and thinly muscled girl against a wall, like a rag doll, in the direction of where Opal was standing in the audience, blocking her from view. The glimpse she caught of the girl before she was sent flying wasn't convincing. "That can't be her" Opal thought. She began to encircle the ring trying to get a better view. When Opal had done a ninety-degree walk around, she was confronted with a profile view of the girl. Unable to see her face, Opal still frowned with disappointment. The girl had dark skin, yes, but everything else was wrong. Korra could make mince-meat of that brute in an instant, and this girl had this short, scruffy bob, the Korra she knew loved her long hair.
Opal looked back towards the entrance of the arena to find that Kai had returned from looking at the rosters. He couldn't get through the crowd to talk to Opal nor could he yell loud enough over the din of cheers and hollers, but she was able to interpret the hand gestures he was making from across the heads of spectators: pointing down in the direction of where the fighting girl had just fallen, and then giving an "okay" hand sign. Being that they have been traveling alone together for about 2 years now, Opal and Kai have come to know each other so well that one could know what the other was thinking, just at a glance. Opal knew what Kai was motioning to her. The girl in this fight was the one with the worst odds on the roster, but she definitely was not Korra.
Turning back to the ring, Opal grew upset at herself for thinking there was even a chance. "This was never going to be Korra, you got yourself worked up for nothing!" But as soon as she refocused on the fight, Opal noticed that that awful throw didn't stop this girl from standing back up. What followed was a wave of stones being pelted at the girl mercilessly and indiscriminately. Her hairy behemoth of an opponent grunting with each hurl of a stone. The girl managed to dodge the first few, but one finally hit, making perfect contact with her forehead just below her hairline, causing Opal, and the few women in the audience, to gasp with concern.
The girl's head was sent flying backwards by the force of the stone, and into the painted wall of the ring directly behind her. She crumpled to the ground, leaning against the wall in a heap, her head down with her chin on her chest, and her dark brown hair covering her face. Opal, without even thinking, ran around the stands until she reached the first row closest to the ring and was looking at the girl straight on from across the arena floor, her hands gripping the railing in anticipation of what played out below. "But why?! This definitely can't be Korra!" She quickly glanced to where Kai was to see that he had noticed Opal's panicked actions. Kai took to air bending over the heads of disgruntled spectators in order to get closer to Opal.
The Ref had just finished counting to ten when Kai came up beside Opal. A loud cheer erupted from the audience and the victor moved to the center of the ring and, responding to the baying of the crowd, flexed his arms in victory, which only brought on another wave of cheers and screams of delight. The cheering, however, began to subside when it became evident that the defeated girl wasn't getting back up. The brute stopped flexing his muscles and let his arms fall to his sides, moving aside to let the ref approach the girl.
Opal's anticipation echoed in Kai's features as he looked on. His worried, wide-eyed gaze staying fixated on the girl, only breaking his stare for a second to look at Opal and whisper, "I've never actually seen a death at Earth Rumble, and I've only ever heard of one happening once before." An older man who was sitting behind Kai jabbed him with his elbow and commanded "shush up, have some respect." Obviously, this man wasn't put-off by their Air Nomad attire like the rest of the crowd.
Opal's gaze stayed locked on the hair covered face of the girl as the ref knelt down and gently reached a hand behind the girl's neck to cradle her head. He then slowly used his other hand to brush her hair out of her face one clump at a time. At this point, the crowd was so quiet you could hear a spirit's whisper, and the seconds ticked by in what felt like an eternity.
The girl's face finally cleared of hair, it took less than a second to register, and Kai let out a strangled gasp. Opal, herself, realized she had begun crying silent tears that ran the length of her cheeks and down her jaw. She's Korra. She's Korra. The ref lifted the girl's eyelid to reveal a brilliant blue eye. "That's Korra!" Kai yelled, hopping over the railing and gliding down into the ring to land beside her. As soon as Kai did so, the ref dropped her head carelessly, and backed away in surprise. Some more knowledgeable members of the audience began murmuring "The Avatar"… "That's the Avatar?"
Opal couldn't move, it was like her hands were welded to the railing, she was gripping it so tightly. Kai knelt down to pick up Korra and hold her to him, even he had begun crying now. Opal looked around to see that men were removing their hats and woman were holding their hands to their faces. Kai looked up at Opal from the ring, Korra in his arms. She knew what he was asking "What do we do?…"
But when Opal's gaze turned back to Korra, her eyes grew wide. She was blinking. Korra was blinking! At this, Opal glided down to sit beside her, Kai's gaze following her down. "Kai, look." Opal said, resting her hand on his shoulder. Korra was not only blinking. Her eyes had screwed tight together as she began to sit up, wincing in the process. Upon noticing this, Kai released his grip and moved back, standing up along with Opal, until both air benders were looking, with anxious and teary eyes, directly down at Korra, who had assumed a full sitting position, with her arms resting lifelessly at her sides. Without much warning, Korra lifted her head up to look at them, one eye closed against the glare of the sun, a small and unconvincing grin on her face, "So, you finally found me…"