Here's another chapter uploaded for you all to enjoy.
Chapter 34: You Fight Like Equalists
Tal was sleeping soundly in his large bed in the apartment well until around noon when he was abruptly awoken by his sisters jumping onto his bed and hopping around like it was the morning of the winter festival. He was having a very pleasant dream involving him and Katara all alone on some unnamed beach, and those two took him away from it. He got out of bed and realized what time it was. He had been asleep for well over twelve hours now.
A quick shower later and changed into his now trademark everyday clothes, he walked into the kitchen for whatever he could find to made a meal of. He was happy to see that the girls had finally decided to cook for once in their lives. They had made pancakes, a meal that he normally had to prepare for them. Tay had even made tea, she never would have done that. Tea making was Tai's normally specialty. Tal assumed that Ru had been teaching Tay how to make tea the right way, rather than spend all the time he got with her making out with her at whatever chance he got.
After that surprise meal, the three of them went again over strategy for the evening's match. They were going to go back to an old plan of theirs. He took on the guys and would give them no quarter in the ring. The twins went after Katara at the same time. It worked well enough to tie the Ferrets in the preseason, and it worked even better in the match against them a month later. However, the second time they went against the Fire Ferrets, it was a full moon night and Katara managed to take out the twins easily in the third round just as Ru and Hiroshi managed to send a wall of stone and fire at Tal and pushed him well over the ledge.
A surprise came for them in the form of Asami arriving at their front door around 3 in the afternoon with a few gifts for them, new uniforms. They were newer versions of their now aged ones they had been using all season. Asami informed them that it was a treat for being such a good team and representing Future Industries so well, and that she had also given the Fire Ferrets new jerseys too. She also told them that she had managed to find a suitable act for the prematch entertainment took place during these championship matches. Aang's now fiancé Jazzi, had been working on with the Republic City Theater to perform a traditional native northern Earth Kingdom group dance. A dance the three teens had seen many time performed up in Tree Line during festivals. The Ferrets would as usual have the traditional having one of Hiroshi's pet fire ferrets perform a bunch of cute little parlor tricks for the crowd.
By late afternoon and now with new uniforms in their packs, they walked to the arena. True to his talk with Katara the night before, she was not her usual spot at the entrance to girl's locker room. But for some reason, Ru was standing outside the boy's one. Tay gave him a quick kiss before she and Tai went to go change, but Ru stopped Tal before the two boys went inside.
"This may not be the best time to ask you this Tal but I would like to ask for something very important from you." Ru spoke to him as they entered the locker room and found Hiroshi already halfway through changing into hi new uniform from his mom.
"If it is for me to go easy on you two tonight," Tal told them as he opened his pack and took out his inform and began to undress."You two are greatly mistaken."
"It's about Tay," Ru told him. "Because your parents are dead, I need to go to you for this because you are the eldest, and only male left in the family."
When he heard those words, Tal froze halfway through taking off his boots. Was Ru about to ask Tal for the one thing he feared he would have to do for his sisters. "Ru are you sure you want to ask me what I think you are about to ask me right before we go out there and I go to town on you?"
"Well it would prove my bravery...or stupidity" Ru said as he began to change. "I'm 19 years old and I really love Tay a lot. With Katara's brother getting married in the spring, and you and Katara most likely getting engaged at her birthday next week, I feel like it would be the right time to ask for Tay's hand in marriage." He was meet with silence from Tal.
"You do know that you can't get engaged to her for months still. The twins are still months away from turning 17. Couldn't you have asked me this after tonight?" He sternly told Ru as stopped lacing the belt of his pants. He turned to Hiroshi, "Let me guess...you were about to do the same to get Tai from me too?" The Sato boy just flashed a copy of his dad's innocent smile. Yep, he was going to do it too.
Tal had really no choice, if he didn't the guys would probably still go and propose to his sisters. He had to shut his eyes could hear the metal of the surrounding lockers begin to wrap slightly as he involuntarily metalbend them. "Fine, but let's make this interesting. If you two win tonight you can go propose to them in the spring when they turn 17." They nodded their heads in agreement. "And if I win, you two can't propose until after me and Katara are married." It was a few seconds before they nodded and he shook hands with them.
"Excellent," he told them as he tried his skull bandana around his face and put on his helmet. "Now prepare to get your rear ends handed to you two as me and your girlfriends beat the snot out of you two and my girlfriend." They exited the locker room and then went in opposite directions to their assigned ends of the arena to enter the ring.
Tai and Tay arrived later than he did at the point where the bridge extended to the ring. The two teams would not enter the ring until the prematch acts were over and the Ferret's act of a dozen little furry fire ferrets, all of Hiroshi's pets, scurried around the ring and did cute little tricks as the crowd either watched them applauded how adorable they were. The dance, the Tree Line War Dance, would take place next.
"Katara says good luck," Tai told him, "She also told us that if you and her do end up getting married, you won't have to worry about children because she is going to neuter you tonight." They giggled a bit as their brother cringed at the thought of losing a rather valuable part of his autonomy.
"That's not funny," he scolded them, " But then...that's exactly what I'm going to do to your boyfriends." They looked at him with matching looks of annoyance. Then he decided to let them know about his little bet with the boys. "But I would like you to know that me and the boys made a bet. They win, you get betrothal necklaces for your birthdays from them." He watched as their faced exploded with happiness as they hugged each other and screamed like loud obnoxious teen girls. "But if we win, which we will, they will have to wait until my and Katara are married." That made their faces fall. "Over a year from now." That made their faces fall even farther. "No way on earth are my little sisters getting married before I do."
The Ferret's act soon finished and the lights went out for a short time as Jazzi's theater group entered the ring. The spot lights came on and everyone could see the actors dressed in the traditional attire of people from the far Northern Earth Kingdom, earth colored Water Tribe style clothing. The twenty or so of them were dressed like warriors and hunters with swords, bows and spears. Another dozen were similarly dressed but carried drums and horns.
The music began to play as the drummers drummed out a single repeated pattern of beats. Those with the weapons began to twirl around a pair of men who wore headdresses of feathers. The crowd was about to view a early version of probending fighting. This was where the very idea of probending came to mind. One man began to send the very discs of earth from the ring at the other who would block the attacks be bending the water from the grates in the floor where Tay and Katara would get their water in the match. Their movements were much slower than today's probenders, but it was for the crowd's entertainment. The rest of the dancers in the ring cheered in whoops and wails.
The crowd roared in approval as the music suddenly stopped and the two men rushed at each other and began to shadow dance to simulate fighting each other with punches and kicks. The band played a different version of the same song. Another minute of this and the dance ended with the earthbender faking him snapping the neck of the waterbender. This made the crowd go nuts. The dance group exited the ring as the crowd applauded and the arena's announcer entered the ring and the bridges connected the team stand-by platforms to the ring's platform.
The Ferret's and The Three entered the ring as the man introduced the teams. Tal and Katara went up to the announcer for the rules overview. Neither of them said anything as they only stared at each other as the announcer recited the standard speech for the rule. They shook hands and walked back towards their teammates.
They all faced each other. Tal say Katara do a motion with her fingers as if they were a pair of scissors, as she pointed at him, or more precisely towards his privates. He returned the gesture with a subtle motion of his hand and watched and knew she felt something brush by her thigh. He then pointed at Ru and Hiroshi and then mimicked him snapping their necks like how the one actor did only minutes before.
They signaled the head ref that they were ready to go and the buzzer soon sounded. What followed was a five second attack by The Three that resulted in Tal hurtling over a dozen earth discs in quick succession at the boys with only a flick of his wrist while Tai went for Katara's feet with fire blasts and Tay water whipped at Katara's face. The Fire Ferrets had been ambushed and knocked into the next zone.
Their trick wouldn't work again as Ru and Hiroshi were soon sending their own attacks at him. Tal could only continue to use his trademark disc shield move as Katara was soon showing the twins go how much farther her training in waterbending was from Tay's and Tal's. She was more than capable of holding back them. They ware soon having to stay close to Tal's shield for protection from Katara's very accurate and very powerful blasts of water, or her lightning quick water whips. Time expired for the round and the buzzer sounded for the end of the round.
Round one was going to be decided by a tiebreaker, each team still had an even number of teams in the ring. The Ferrets won the following coin toss and decided to use fire as the element. In playoff tiebreakers, each team had to use the same element as the other team. It would be Ru verse Tai. They entered the tiny tiebreaker circle and the platform rose into the air a few feet.
The buzzer sounded for the start and Ru, thinking Tay would try for a quick fire blast, was suddenly rushed by her who then punched him in all the needed spots with great speed and made him collapse to the surface of the ring unable to bend, let alone move. He however won the tiebreaker because Tay had tried to avoid being hit by his falling body, she tried to get out of the way so quickly that she fell over the side and out of the ring onto the floor below. Round one went to the Fire Ferrets.
The crowd spilt themselves into those who cheered, booed, or gasped at the result. Katara rushed over to see Ru still unable to move after being chi-blocked. She should have seen this coming she told herself, and she knew that it was a fully legal move to do in tiebreakers. Tal and Tay rushed over to Tai who was squealing in pain as she laid there on the ground, grasping her side. Seconds later healers were arriving and determined that Ru would be unable to move for at least another hour, he was effectively out of the match. Tay had suffered worse by her fall and had cracked a rib, or had greatly bruised it, she was in two much pain to continue on so she too was out for the remained of the match. Each team now had to play without their firebenders.
They all returned to their respected starting positions and the second round went on just like the first. The Tree Line Three got the upper hand early by sending Hiroshi and Katara into zone 2 with a sudden ambush attack but then the Ferrets switched strategy, Katara went from going after Tay to suddenly go after Tal. Tal was soon being repeatedly hit with water whips while Tay was trying to avoid Hiroshi's attacks. Tal barely managed to stay in zone 1 and Tay had to go the rest of the round moving all around the zone to avoid being hit. Round two would have to also be decided with a tiebreaker.
The Three won the coin toss and Tal chose to have it be him verse Hiroshi. They were soon in the air and about to start. The buzzer sounded and Hiroshi knew what was about to happen, he was going to be chi-blocked. He tried to avoid Tal but the slightly smaller and more quick and agile Avatar had soon punched him in all the rights spots to force the Sato boy to go momentary still. He wasn't about to fall over like Ru had but Tal grabbed him by the collar of his jersey and head butted him. Hiroshi's head was well protected by his helmet but the force of Tal's hit caused the glass to crack and he was knocked unconscious. Tal then simply pushed the poor guy over the ledge of the ring and he fell hard but still intact and not injured. The second round went to the Tree Line Three.
The healers came out once again and had to carry Hiroshi out but not before the head ref flashed the red fan and pointed at Tal. He had been ejected from the match. "Avatar Tal is ejected for un-sportsmenlike conduct!" The refs voice sounded over the arena's audio system. "Round three will therefore be played with solely each team's waterbenders!" The crowd reacted in various ways as Tal had no other choice but to leave the ring and return to the locker room. There was no way for him to be able to see the round. He was already through the door and had opened his locker before he could hear the faint echo of the buzzer sounding the start of the third round.
His gut began to hurt, his little act of arrogance had him ejected from the match and now it would be only Tay going against a well more powerful waterbender. Tal knew that he had cost the Tree Line Three the match and the championship, Tay who was still a very good waterbender would still be no match against a very angry Katara. And he knew that Katara was a bit happy this happened cause it was her match to win now and the odds to win it were very much in her favor.
Back in the ring Tay's heart was going so fast she just wanted to faint. It was all up to her now. Tai was in the infirmary with Ru and Hiroshi, and Tal was sent to the showers. She was now up against just Katara and she knew that her brother's girlfriend, a good friend of her outside of probending, was going to beat the stuffing out of her soon. Tay's only advantage she could think of was that she was able to rest for a few seconds every now and then behind Tal's shield of discs. Katara was exposed all the time and she was breathing hard. After her display of superior waterbending, the Avatar's daughter was sure to be on her last legs of energy. Tay was still feeling fresh and ready. She knew that she stood a chance.
The three refs were debating something after ejecting Tal and while the medics took Hiroshi out of the ring. They stopped and the head ref gestured for Tay and Katara to come over to him. "I don't know if you two know this, but it is in the rule book that if a round is to begin with only one remaining bender on each team, the two benders can only use the first zone of their side but are free to enter their opponent's zone as well."
"It's like tiebreakers but with a larger area to play in. The same rules apply as with tiebreakers." He looked over at Tay "You are allowed to use chi blocking if you wish to like your brother and sister. Just don't get to carried away or you may be ejected like your brother." Katara's eyes went wide with this news. She was hoping to keep far away from Tay who she knew would try to get close and use chi blocking. "Try not to stall, but there is now no time limit for this round."
The girls agreed to the change in the game and went to prepare for the last round as the head ref announced the changes to the crowd who cheered or booed at the news. Katara was now really worried. Her teammates were in the infirmary, one probably still unconscious, and it would still be a good hour until the two of them got them bending chi back in sync. She was all alone in the now much small ring and she was going against a friend who could do to her what her sibling had done to Ru and Hiroshi. And to cap it all off, she was tired and was going to have to do this round on the last legs of her endurance.
She had went all bezerk last round because she had thought they could have won the match then. Katara's only chance to get a win now was to get to Tay right after the buzzer sounded and take her out quickly before she either became too tired to bend or Tay got too close and chi blocked her into submission. Katara looked right into Tay's eyes and saw that her friend knew what was going to happen.
Then the buzzer sounded...the last round began.
Ha Ha! I left you a cliff hanger! I'm already half done with the next chapter but this one was already long enough to be its own chapter.
Otherwise, thankyou to those who continue to read this and fav it or follow it or me, I love getting emails when I'm at work at night telling me more and more people are faving it or following it or me. It really inspire me to keep writing although I got a dozen history papers to write. And now tht it's the holidays, I'm working more now than ever because I'm in the shipping industry, we hate this time of year.
Also I'm still begging you all to leave reviews for this because I really would like to see some to see what everyone thinks of all this.
If anyone who is reading this and works for the Avatar series...I'm more than willing to come and work for you for even a cruddy pay level.