Chapter 36 - Earth Rumble

"Why did it have to be green?" Zuko pouted, tugging gently at the olive tunic.

"It's not like it came in red," Katara pointed out. "We're in the Earth Kingdom. Everything is green."

Zuko sighed, but refused to agree out loud. Releasing the tunic, he wondered how exactly Katara had managed to get him into this outfit. Although, to be fair, he had needed new clothes. And she was right about everything in the Earth Kingdom being green. Sure, there were different shades of green—at least according to Katara—but to him, lime and jade and sage and emerald were all the same thing: green. A very ugly, spinach-colored shade of green, to be exact.

"How come you get to wear blue?" He asked in a rather impetuous tone.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Because I didn't get my clothes fried by my crazy sister and chopped up by some equally crazy rebel."

"Not my fault."

"Maybe. But your clothes were still ruined."

And Zuko didn't have anything to say to that.

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"Katara! Zuko! You guys gotta try this!" Aang cried excitedly, waving a chopstick around excitedly. Katara wasn't sure what was on the end of said chopstick, but she was sure that she didn't really want to eat whatever it was. It semi-resembled an uncooked octopus tentacle, though slightly skinnier and less tasty-looking.

"What is that?" Zuko gawked in disgust.

"Some sorta local plant, the Wabbleberry Vine or something like that," Sokka informed them through a mouthful of the strange food. "S'really good! Wansum?"

"Um, I'll pass, thanks," Katara answered dryly, cringing.

"Me too," Zuko said quickly. "I'm, uh, not really hungry. And Katara was just going to take me to see some... er... trees? Right, Katara?"

She glared. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot!" She grabbed Zuko by the wrist with one hand and waved goodbye with the other. "See you guys later!"

"Uh, have fun?" Aang attempted as she led Zuko away.

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"Trees? Trees? Is that the best you could come up with?" Katara fumed as she practically dragged Zuko away.

"Hey, it was short notice!" He retorted. "And it worked, didn't it?"

"Trees?"

"... shaddup. It got you out of that Wobbleberry or Wabbleberry or whatever." He paused. "And quit dragging me, it's-"

"Embarrassing? Unladylike? Crude?" She suggested crossly.

"I was going to say 'painful,' but those work too," he smirked. Katara rolled her eyes, but let go of his wrist all the same. His grin widened. "Now, don't we have some trees to go look at?"

She grinned back.

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"Hey, hey, check this out!" Aang yelled across the square as Katara and Zuko approached several hours later. Pulling a scroll out of apparently nowhere, he unfurled it dramatically.

"Earth Rumble?" Katara asked skeptically. "Sounds like one those macho competitions that boys likes so much."

"Katara, sometimes you are so intuitive, it scares me," Sokka said with mock amazement. She glared at him, but ignored his comment.

"And why are we interested in this Earth Rumble?" She inquired.

"This is the town. My earthbending master is here, I can feel it. And what better place to find an earthbending master than at an earthbending competition?"

"He's right," Zuko interjected. "The tournament is our best chance."

She nodded her head. "Looks like Earth Rumble it is."

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Five hours and forty-seven minutes later, Katara was regretting her agreement to come to this stupid competition. Watching earthbenders throw each other around and bend the earth was fun and all, but only for so long. Meanwhile, Aang and Sokka were still watching avidly, and Zuko was trying (but failing) to hide his interest.

"The Boulder wins again!" Roared the announcer as yet another amateur earthbender was violently flung out of the stadium. The huge, muscular man raised his arms in victory. Katara had lost count of how many of his opponents has already been defeated, due mostly to falling asleep three hours into the tournament.

"And now, the fight you've all been waiting for," the announcer hollered to the wild crowd. "The Boulder versus..."

The crowd fell silent as the arena darkened. Suddenly, several spotlights—created by torchlight reflecting off giant mirrored cones on the ceiling—converged at the entrance. Aang gasped, his eyes growing wide. Standing in the light was a single diminutive figure, holding a massive belt up above her head. The crowed immediately went wild.

"The Blind Bandit!"