I do not own any of the original Legend of Korra characters.
Pro Bending
Sado sighed, sitting on the roof, staring up at the stars. After several moments, Korra sat down beside him.
"You okay?" Korra asked. "You've seemed a lot more...depressed than the first time I met you."
"You know who I am, right?" Sado asked.
"You're the grandson of Sado Matsuda, one of Avatar Aang's friends, and the husband of Toph Beifong," Korra said.
"Yeah," Sado said. "Well, because I look like my grandfather, have really strong firebending, and got named after him, everyone's always telling me how much I'm like him, but I'm not. He grew up with an abusive family that eventually disowned him for having a fatal condition."
"Right, his firebending was killing him, right?" Korra asked.
"And eventually did," Sado said. "When he was growing up, the first thing he was taught, in an attempt to stop the condition, was control. When I was growing up, I learned to firebend because I was tired of getting beaten up in back alleys by the school bully. My father taught me I think maybe thirty times in the entire time I knew him, and the rest I learned from watching others, or fighting others. My grandfather I could never visit, so I couldn't study with him before he died. As far as personality is concerned, my grandfather was mature beyond his years because he didn't have a long time to live. He was along and in pain for years until he met Aang and the others and they became his family. And by the time he died and came back to life at fourteen, he was legitimately in love, not just a fourteen year old's crush, and he was more mature than I am now. Father was always saying how Grandfather taught him that blood ties aren't what define a family. That it's the bond that connects you that determines family, and that's why his family wasn't even related to him. Father was always saying how Lin and Suyin weren't our only family. He was always saying how Tenzin and Pema, and Katara, and Bumi, and Kya, and General Iroh, they were all family too. And you know what? He was right. Blood ties don't mean that you're family. Because I would never consider Lin my family. Or Suyin. Suyin was never there either, and I don't actually even remember having ever met him. The only real family I've ever known beside my grandparents and my father is Pema."
"What about your mother?" Korra asked.
"She died giving birth to me," Sado said. "Apparently I'm so good at causing damage and destruction that I started on the day I was born."
"That's not true," Korra said. "Bad things happen. That doesn't make it your fault. Come on. I think I might know something to cheer you up."
"What's that?" Sado asked.
"We're going to go watch tonights Pro Bending match," Korra grinned.
"Aren't you under house arrest?" Sado asked.
Korra snorted and turned, dropping to the ground before running to the edge of a cliff and diving into the water. Sado shrugged, dropping down and leaping off the cliff as well, launching himself through the air toward the arena with his flames. After a few minutes, he saw a wave shoot up from the water and spit Korra out into a window on the wall. Sado let his flames end and flipped, slipping through the window and landing quietly beside her as she bended the remaining water off. She turned, walking down the hallway and he followed, both soon finding themselves at the gym Sado had seen earlier. Korra's eyes widened in awe, however, before she could take more than two steps into the gym, an older man stepped into view.
"What are you kids doing in my gym!?" the man snapped. "I'm sick and tired of you kids coming in here without paying."
"Oh, no, we were just looking for the bathroom," Korra said.
"Oh yeah, sure, the old, I've gotta pee excuse," the man said. "I'm not buying it. I'm taking you to security."
"No please don't!" Korra said.
"There you are!" a voice behind them said, Sado turning to see Bolin, whose eye widened before he grinned. "I've been looking all over for you Sado."
"I could say the same man," Sado said. "You said to meet you out front but you weren't there. We tried looking for you but then we got lost and had to go to the bathroom."
"Oh shit, that's this way," Bolin said. "Don't worry sir, they're with me."
"Yeah sure whatever," the man grumbled, using earthbending to move several weights around. "Just get outa here."
"Will do sir," Bolin said, leading them out of the room.
"Bolin we owe you big time," Sado said.
"No problem," Bolin smiled. "Anything for a pretty face." He smiled at Korra and Sado rolled his eyes.
"Of course," Sado sighed. "Why did I expect anything different."
After a bit, they reached a small box of a room with several lockers, a railing on one side where the room opened up into the stadium, the arena so close to them that Sado could practically see the slits in the water grates.
"So whataya think?" Bolin asked. "Best seats in the house, huh?"
"This place is even better than I imagined," Korra said.
"Name's Bolin by the way," Bolin said.
"Korra," she responded, still taking in the stadium and arena.
"Pst!" a voice said from behind them, Bolin and Sado turning, Sado nodding to Mako, who nodded back. "Bolin."
"Yeah," Bolin said, walking over.
"I told you," Mako said. "You have to stop bringing your crazy fangirls in here before the matches. And what the hell is he doing here? You know what? I don't even want to know. Get them out of here."
"Come on Mako," Bolin said. "I kinda promised her she could stay. But look man, I got a good feeling. There's something special about her."
Sado snorted from his place leaning on the railing beside Korra, Bolin glancing at him. "Don't mind me. Just taking in the view."
"Hey Korra," Bolin said. "I want you to meet my brother, Mako."
Korra turned, eyes widening slightly. "Mako? Wow. I-I heard you play on the radio."
"Come on Bolin, we're up," Mako said.
"Or I could meet him later," Korra said.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Bolin said. "My brother just gets real...focused before a match. Okay. I gotta go. Wish me luck. Not that I'll need it."
Then, he ran out onto the walkway after Mako and his other teammate. Sado sighed, shaking his head as Korra leaned on the railing again.
"I wish I could play," Korra said.
"You and me both," Sado snorted. "I'd probably need to train my control first though, so I don't hurt anyone."
"How bad is it?" Korra asked.
"Remember the fight against those gangsters?" Sado asked.
"Yeah, you were really giving it to them," Korra said. "Until the earthbender got a cheap shot, anyway."
"Yeah," Sado said. "Anyway, that was me going easy on them."
Korra's mouth fell open. "Jesus, you've got to be ridiculously strong then!"
"Comes with the family, I guess," Sado said, shrugging.
Then, the match began. It was brutal. In the first round, the Fire Ferret's third team member, Hasook, the waterbender of the team, couldn't seem to figure out what he was doing, and was rapidly beaten back more and more, then off the platform. Mako and Bolin struggled to hang on, but were eventually forced back to the third out of three zones, barely hanging on until the end of the round. The second round, they were all doing well, and rapidly forced the opponents back, managing to take the match. Then, in the third and final round, Hasook again seemed to be incapable of finding the right spot to stand and ended up getting both himself and Bolin knocked out. Mako responded by dodging endlessly until his opponents were getting tired, then went on the offensive, winning the match within seconds. Sado nodded approvingly. Mako was good. Controlled. Very, very controlled. Sado glanced at Korra, seeing her staring at Mako in awe. He rolled his eyes just as Bolin arrived.
"Woohoo!" Bolin cheered. "One more win and we're in the championship tournament!" He pulled his helmet off, grinning. "So, what'd ya think Korra? Bolin's got some moves, huh?"
"What'd I think?" Korra asked, grabbing him by the front of his uniform. "What'd I think? That was amazing!" She shoved him backward, and Sado smirked at the bewildered expressing on his face.
"You did more harm than good out there!" Mako said, scolding Hasook for his crappy playing. "You almost cost us the match."
"We won didn't we?" Hasook asked.
"Barely," Mako said.
"Get off my case pal," Hasook said, slamming his helmet down and storming out of the room.
"Useless," Mako said.
"You guys were incredible out there!" Korra said. "Especially you, Mr. Hat Trick."
"Oh you're still here?" Mako asked.
"Oh you're still a jerk?" Korra asked.
"Mako, I have a favor to ask," Sado said.
"Beat it," Mako said. "I'm not signing autographs, and the team already has a firebender."
"I don't want to be on the team," Sado said. "I want you to teach me to control my firebending better."
"And why the hell would I do that?" Mako asked.
"Because I can teach you to make yours stronger?" Sado offered.
"Pass," Mako said. "My firebending is just fine. Having no control sounds like NMP."
"A what?" Sado asked.
"Not my problem." Mako said.
"Bolin, can you teach me some moves?" Korra asked. "I've been immersed in bending my whole life but I've never learned to move like that. It's like there's a whole new style here."
"Sure I can show you some stuff," Bolin said. "I just don't know how my earthbending will translate to your waterbending."
"That won't be a problem," Korra smiled, crossing her arms. "I'm an Earthbender."
"No I didn't mean to assume," Bolin said. "I just thought...by your Water Tribe getup...that you're a Water Tribe...gal."
"No harm done," Korra said. "I'm a waterbender. And also a firebender."
"I'm very confused right now," Bolin said.
"You're the Avatar, and I'm an idiot," Mako sighed.
"Both are true," Korra said. "And I'd appreciate it if you could help my friend."
"Why didn't your master teach you control?" Mako asked.
"My master was the kid that used to bounce my face off the ground in the back alleys of my home town," Sado said. "Or the one that would see how many tries it would take to light my shoes on fire. Once in a while, I might learn from my father, when he wasn't busy working himself into an early grave. I was supposed to train with my grandfather, but my father never actually got around to taking me to meet him."
Mako sighed. "You're an orphan."
"Shipped off to the fire nation military by my aunt rather than take the time to raise me," Sado said. "Then kicked out of the military because firebending haas a tendency to catch things on fire. Go figure."
Mako sighed again. "Fine. I'll see what I can do. But I can't spend a whole lot of time training you. I don't have much free time."
"An hour a month is more time than I got from my father, so I really don't care how long I have to wait in between," Sado said.
Mako rolled his eyes and walked out of the room, the others following.
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