Disclaimer: Bryke still owns.
A.N.: This one isn't my favorite, but it was necessary, unfortunately. Still hope you enjoy it. You should enjoy the next chapter a lot more, I hope.
Kai vs. Agni
Chapter Four: The Boys' Punishment
"Jinora, this is stupid."
Jinora looked at the dark skinned air bender with a large grin on her face. "How do you figure, Kai? You two were fighting, you need to be punished somehow. I think this a fitting," she giggled at her pun, "punishment."
"Jinora, this isn't a good idea. There you go, I'm agreeing with Kai. Can we please not do this. It's embarrassing." Agni was doing his best to not let his defeated face show. It wasn't working.
"Nope, my dad and Professor Lee agreed that this was the best course," she giggled again, "of action. You two had better start if you want to get done by dinner time."
The boys looked at their crush with an exasperated look. "Well, does everyone have to watch."
Jinora smiled as she looked around. The entire population of the Air Temple was present for the boys' punishment. Who could blame them, it was a nice day. "Yup!"
The boys sighed. "Let's go then."
They didn't even make the first step to the obstacle course before falling. Their "Get-Along" shirt was not the best punishment. They knew Jinora just wanted to embarrass them.
"Agni, help us get up."
"I could if you weren't so heavy, Kai."
"I'm not heavy! You're just weak!"
"I'm strong! You're just really heavy!"
"Fine! Roll over and I'll get us up!"
"Fine!"
Agni pushed off the ground to roll on his back causing Kai to be facing the ground. Kai put his hands on the ground and pushed up. They didn't budge.
"You're really heavy."
Agni smirked, "Maybe you're just weak?"
"Shut up! I'll get us up."
Kai took a deep breath and blew out, creating a small gust to lift the boys both upright again. "There we go. Now follow my lead."
The two boys cautiously approached the walkway to the obstacle course. Kai stopped suddenly, causing Agni to bump into him.
"Hey, what was that for?"
Kai looked over his shoulder at Agni. "This is going to be tricky. We're supposed to twist and turn around the bells to get to the other side. We'll have to be in synch and fast to do this right."
Agni looked over his shoulder and looked at the bells. He shook his head.
"I have a better idea. Let me face front."
Kai looked at the firebender warily and shrugged, "Fine." The boys edged their feet carefully around the plank to get themselves facing the opposite direction. Agni rubbed his hands together with a smirk on his face. He aimed his middle and index fingers at the ropes attached to the bells. He watched them for a few seconds to get a feeling for their timing. Right before they all were in a straight line, he fired a bolt of flames straight through the ropes, knocking the bells down.
"Aw, man! I missed one!" Agni fired another flame at the remaining bell and knocked it down.
Kai's mouth, as well as the rest of the crowd's, were open in shock at what he had just done.
"What did you do!?"
Agni shrugged, "It's not like we'd get through this course fairly, so let's make it through as best as we can."
Kai shook his head, "Fine. Next we have the spinning spokes. Don't destroy them."
"Fine, can you stop them from spinning then?"
Kai smiled, "You make it too easy."
The boys turned around so that Kai was facing forward. He pushed his hands forward to blow out a gust of wind at the first spinning spoke, slowing it down. The boys approached it, as Kai released another burst of wind at the next spoke, continuing their strategy. The boys continued this approach until they reached the edge of the plank and overlooked the cacti pit.
Kai looked over his shoulder, "Any clever trick for this part?"
Agni looked over his shoulder to see the pit. "Yeah. Not fall."
"That's gonna be tricky. It's hard enough for one airbending protege to balance one."
"Not that much of a protege if you can't balance on a pole."
"Shut up. You figure something out that doesn't involve burning all the plants."
Agni stopped for a second and looked around. "How strong is your airbending?"
"Pretty strong, why?"
If we found something to walk on do you think you could lift it up long enough for us to cross over to the next plank?"
"Probably, if you didn't weigh so much."
"I don't weigh that much! Just find something to airbend us over there."
"Fine." Kai looked around the obstacle course to see if there was anything he could airbend into a walkway for them. His eyes fixed themselves on the beginning of the course and a large grin broke across his face. That would do just nicely.
"Back up a little bit, I need to get a bit of a run-up for this."
The boys carefully walked backwards just out of range of the spokes.
"NOW!" The boys ran forward, "Jump!" Agni and Kai jumped forward to the edge of the platform as Kai swung his arms downward, creating a wind blade that cut the beginning of the course off from the rest of the course. He twisted his arms, creating a small whirlwind that carried over the wooden plank to in front of them. The two boys crossed the floating platform quickly. They were right about to cross to the finish line when a watermelon smacked the boys square in the head, knocking them into the cacti pit.
"That took longer than I expected. Good job Meelo and Ikki."
"No problem, Jinora!
"OW! OW! OW! OW!"
The two boys wouldn't stop yelling as Tenzin, Professor Lee, Peema and Jinora pulled the cactus spikes from their bodies. They kept throwing dirty looks at Jinora, who couldn't stop giggling throughout the first-aid. Peema would occasionally throw a stern motherly look her way, but would go back to the treatment with a slight smirk on her face.
"Good idea, Agni. I really mean it."
Agni glare at the other boy. "Well, maybe if, OW, someone warned me about watermelons assaulting us, I would have, OW, factored that into the plan.!"
Kai glared back at Agni, "I figured there wouldn't be any flying watermelons this time."
"Well, what kind of training exercise would it be if there were no watermelons?" Tenzin's tone was one of disgust, showing he could not even fathom their thought process on the matter.
Jinora continued smiling and laughing at the boys. Kai looked over at the young airbender.
"It's not funny! It really hurts. And it's your fault this happened."
Jinora shrugged, "No it's not. You two were acting like jerks and needed to get along better. It was getting annoying."
"Jinora," Peema laughed at her daughter, "Don't lie. You just don't want them fighting like this. You still want them to fight each other."
Jinora blinked and blushed at her mother's words. "I have to go. Bye."
The boys looked at her in confusion as she ran off. What was she embarrassed about.
"You boys should be ashamed of yourselves. Conducting yourselves in such a way in front of a sweet young lady. I know I raised you better than that Agni." Agni looked down in shame at his father's words. "What do you think, Master Tenzin? Should they apologize to your daughter for acting like this."
Tenzin stroked his beard in thought, "Yes, I do believe you are quite right Professor Lee. They should apologize to her."
Peema looked at the males in the treatment area and laughed. "You are all idiots. Now is not the time for them to apologize to her, or even be around her. I'll have a talk with Jinora. You two boys should spend a day hanging out and do something that doesn't involve Jinora. You might get along a bit better then."
Kai looked at Peema in confusion, "Why, Ms. Peema?"
Peema laughed and began walking away, "No matter what age guys are, it's always the same. Dumb as rocks when it comes to us girls. Just trust me on this."
The two boys looked at Professor Lee and Master Tenzin, waiting for an explanation. Tenzin shrugged,
"Don't ask me, I still can't figure her out half the time."
Professor Lee shook his head too, "I don't get women either. I'd just do what she says."
The two boys looked at each other, sizing the other one up. Kai finally sighed.
"Fine. There's an abandoned cave down the cliffs. We can go there tomorrow."
Agni sighed in response, "Fine, we can at least try to hang out. I'll go along."