Chapter 13: How Not To Win a Tournament

Aang sadly remembered the last time he met his friend Bumi as he, Sokka and Katara reached Yu's Earthbending Academy.

"I guess I need to find someone else to teach me earthbending..." Aang stated, his head down.

"You need to find someone who waits, and listens before striking." the mad king smiled at Aang from his prison.

Aang entered the academy grounds. The very moment an older man appeared, smiling.

"Welcome to Yu's Earthbending Academy. My name is master Yu." the man introduced himself, determined not to let the occurence from an hour ago repeat. "Are you here for the lessons?"

Aang nodded and showed Yu the flyer.

"Very well then, the first lesson is free, young man." Yu said, happy this kid didn't mock him. He had enough for the day. As Aang left for the changing room to put on an earthbender's uniform, he overheard two students laughing, talking about a tall young man who made fun of their master.

Aang then excitedly joined the training session, but it turned out to be a waste of time. The Avatar was as clueless on earthbending as he was before, and the only thing he got was hit with a rock. It wasn't exactly what he would call pleasant experience.

Aang walked out of the academy, and shook dust out of his ears as he joined his friends who were waiting for him just outside.

"He's not the one." Aang stated dissapointedly. Katara gave him a comforting look and Sokka just groaned.

"I think the Boulder is gonna win back the belt in Earth Rumble Six!" a student excitedly chatted with his pal. Their conversation grabbed the Gaang's attention.

"He's gonna fight his way through the best earthbenders in the world to even get a shot on the champ. Not to mention that guy from before!"

"Right, didn't he say he'd give it a shot?" they laughed. That guy came to the academy, that meant he couldn't be that good. That didn't mean they couldn't root for him and his half funny half jerk attitude. "This is gonna be a great show."

"Excuse me, but where is this earthbending tournament exactly?" Aang cheered up again in hope, and rushed to the two students. With a little bit of luck he could find his master today. Meanwhile the two guys he asked looked at each other, and then gave a sly look to the bald kid asking.

"It's on the island of Noneya." they grinned "Noneya Business!"

The two of them started walking away as saddened Arrows stood there, a little puzzled. Katara and Sokka joined him, Sokka laughing so hard his eyes were all teary.

"Oooooooh! Gotta remember that one!"

"I'll take care of this." Katara told Aang, and ran off to catch up to the guys. The two boys stood there in silence for a while, before Sokka complained:

"What was I thinking, I don't need a new bag! Why'd you let me buy this?"

Sokka then put the bag on the ground, only for Momo to crawl inside and make it his new bed.

"Are you ready to find an earthbending teacher?" Katara appeared again, clearly pleased with herself. Aang perked up, surprised. " 'Cause we're going to Earth Rumble Six!"

"But how did you get them to tell you?" Aang asked, a bit puzzled. Those two didn't look like telling them before. The avatar was wondering what Katara did in order to make them tell her.

"A girl has her ways." Katara looked away, sporting a small smile.

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"ROUND ONE! THE BOULDER VERSUS THE BIG! BAD! HIPPO!"

The Hippo, a huge man well around 7 feet in height with a fair amount of muscle, and even more fat for that matter, yelled in a way that resembled a hippo noise. As he opened his mouth, one could see his teeth, that were exactly like those of a hippo.

The other man was tall as well, though he was one and half feet smaller than the Hippo. This guy, the Boulder, was an insanely ripped guy in his thirties or early forties. His hair was dark brown, and he had a tattoo of a badger-mole on his back.

"Listen up Hippo! You may be big, but you ain't bad. The Boulder is gonna win this in a landslide!" the Boulder's voice rang through the huge underground arena, as the Boulder gave his entering speech while pointing at Hippo.

"Hippo... MAD!" Hippo shouted, and stomped the ground, which cracked on impact. No matter if it was from his bending or his tremendous weight, it was impressive.

The boulder stomped, falling into a stance, and punched the rock that lifted in the air in front of him. The rock hit it's target, but the Hippo didn't even stumble. Instead, the rock crashed when it hit his body. The Hippo chewed on the pebbles that got in his mouth before spitting them out. The Hippo then jumped. As he landed, the whole platform started to move.

"UNBELIEVABLE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! THE HIPPO SI ROCKING THE GROUND!"

The Boulder stumbled to the edge, failing to regain his balance. He nearly fell out of the ring, but in the last possible moment he saved himself from falling out with a block of stone. The Boulder grabbed onto it and threw it at the Hippo. That got the fatso's attention. The Hippo turned only to see the Boulder jump closer, and promptly lift a huge chunk of stone from the arena, namely the part where the Hippo was standing. The Boulder then threw his opponent out of the ring with much effort.

"THE BOULDER WINS!"

The audience cheered.

"THE NEXT MATCH! THE BOULDER VERSUS THE FIRE! NATION! MAN!"

The crowd, including a member of team avatar, started booing on the Boulder's new opponent. They cheered up soon enough, when the Boulder beat the shit out of him.

"AND THAT'S THE BOULDER FOR ROUND ONE! WE'VE GOT ANOTHER CHALLENGER TODAY! THE NEXT MATCH IS... THE CATAPULT VERSUS STONEFIST!"

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"AND THAT'S THE BOULDER FOR ROUND ONE! WE'VE GOT ANOTHER CHALLENGER TODAY! THE NEXT MATCH IS... THE CATAPULT VERSUS THE STONEFIST !"

Yeah, I know. . Why did I tell them my fighting name was Bonebender of all things? Well, it was either that, or Rock Cena... or Batman. And I don't really feel like a Rock Cena. A platform made of - you guessed it - stone rised and lifted me up to the arena. There I was welcomed with cheering audience, and a guy with shit load of tattoos on his upper body.

"I am the Catapult! I WILL CRUSH YOU!" he shouted with his girlish, high pitched voice and the crowds started laughing. I myself tried to not fall down and roll laughing. This dude's voice. His friggin' voice!

When it was made obvious that I won't give anything like a speech, the Catapult guy moved. He swung both his arms down over his head and flung a huge rock at me. I ducked, and the rock flew harmlessly above me. He threw two more rocks, and I evaded both of them with little effort. The Catapult was not strong in any way. This was just too easy.

The Catapult threw two huge rocks at once. I sped in his direction, and jumped over his rocks. I landed in a roll and sprung to my feet only to see another boulder the size of the Hippo fighter. I didn't have the time to dodge, so I did the only thing I could think of. I ran through it.

The audience gasped in surprise when I emerged from the now destroyed rock without a single scratch. I threw the rocks from the smashed boulder at my opponent with my bending. He blocked the numerous projectiles, but he was surprised, out of balance and on defensive. I stomped the ground to raise a few boulders, and punched them at the Catapult. But he caught one of those and threw it back at me. I raised my arm, and a wall appeared to protect me from it. I chopped the wall into three sections, and sent them on the Catapult. He smashed through the first one, got hit with the second, and the third sent him flying out of the ring.

The audience cheered. Up there somewhere was the team avatar, watching the fights.

"STONEFIST WINS!"

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"THE MATCH BETWEEN THE CHALLENGERS! TWO CAME HERE TO GET THE BELT, AND BOTH WILL GET TO FIGHT THE CHAMPION! BUT BEFORE THAT... THE BOULDER VERSUS STONEFIST!"

The crowds went mad as Aang, Sokka and Katara watched the two fighters take their stances. They had seen both of them display some serious skill, and even if they wouldn't admit it, they were curious who would win. Only Sokka was openly excited about the prospect to the point he was yelling with the crowd.

"Your luck ended, because now you face the Boulder!" The Boulder went again speaking about himself in third person.

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"Oh, yeah. Someone threw a boulder in my face. Dude." I said, picking up a rock and crushing it "I crush boulders."

"It's on!"

The Boulder stomped the ground and punched a rock at me as I started running at full speed towards him. I ducked under it and he attacked again with the same move. I slowed down and batted the rock away. The Boulder slammed his fist in the ground and a huge column shot up at me from the ground. I smirked. His first mistake. He gave me ammo. I positioned myself behind the column and punched parts of it at the Boulder. He blocked all the shots. I needed to keep this up and not allow him to get a breather. I did several quick jabs, sending fist sized rocks at him. The Boulder raised a wall to protect himself.

An opportunity. I jumped, using my earthbending to basically catapult myself over his wall. As I flew over the wall, I grasped it's top and tore it on the Boulder, who jumped out of way. I landed, and decided to end this. I sent a wave of stone on his feet with a lowkick and punched up. The Boulder went airborne thanks to the column that hit him in his chest when he stumbled forwards. Then I did an axe kick, and a stream of rocks copied the movement and slammed the Boulder back to the ground. I walked to him as he struggled to get up, and with a motion of my arms I sunk him in the ground.

The audience fell silent in surprise.

"THE STONEFIST WINS! THE NEXT MATCH WILL BE THE STONEFIST VERSUS OUR CHAMPION, THE BLIND BANDIT!"

A girl entered the ring. She was fourteen, at most, and around the same height as Aang. And she was Toph as stone.

"So, you're the champion?" I asked.

"Obviously. You're even more of an idiotthan the Boulder!" She laughed.

"...You know what?"

"What, do you wanna bail?"

"...whatever"

And with that Toph assumed a loose stance, starting the fight. I raised a few rocks in the air using only my hands, and attacked. Toph blocked them all before creating a wall behind me and attacking with pillars, angled at my head. I ducked under one and slipped by the second. I smashed the third with a punch, but the fourth hit me and I hit the wall. At this rate, I'm going to lose too quickly.

I let the momentum carry me and fell through the wall, making myself gloves of stone. I pushed in her direction and the wall flew at her. I threw several rocks at her from the ground with my bending, before finally using the stone gloves. I let a stone glove serve me as an ammo pack, and shot several small rocks at Toph with quick jabs, and then I used the other glove. I made it so the stone formed a crude whip of rock, similar to the waterbenders and their tendrils of water, and slammed it into the Blind Bandit from a side. But yet again, she saw it coming and redirected it at me. Shit. That was the only thought that crossed my mind before I sailed out of the ring...

"YOUR WINNER AND STILL THE CHAMPION, THE BLIND BANDIT!"

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"Oh… NO!" Sokka cried out. He wanted the Boulder to win, but when the Boulder fell Sokka was unable to accept that only the best of the best could beat him. Now he had his heart broken for the second time.

"How did she do that?" Katara asked, amazed. She'd never expect that girl to win, not against that one guy who made his way to the top without much effort on his side.

"She waited. And listened!" Perked up smiling Aang.

None of them knew it was Nathan who just nearly won the tournament.

Okay guys, what do you think? Did you like this chapter? Let me know what you think! You can also send me some suggestions if you want something to happen, and I will consider it. The next time it will be either that fight with Toph vs the earthbenders in the arena, or Nathan travelling again, maybe encountering Iroh and/or Zuko.

Also if you want to see some art for this fic, check out my profile on Deviant. The name is MartyMartial

Thanks again.

Khai