Chapter 15: The Significance of Sport
A person's bending is closely linked to their emotional state. Most children discovered they were benders during incredibly emotional moments. For the airbending kids, it was during moments of sheer happiness. Jinora was barely 2 when it was discovered that she was an airbender when her mother was tickling her toes. When Ikki was almost 5, Tenzin was investigating strange noises coming from the forest clearing on Air Temple Island where the air bison usually grazed. He arrived only to discover that the strange noises were merely the frustrated mewling of bison parents as Tenzin's youngest daughter was in the middle of their clearing, jumping more than 10 feet into air in an attempt to play with the flying baby bison.
Meelo was about 3 ½ years-old when Ketu and Bumi had come to Air Temple Island for a short visit. Ketu had been playing with his younger brother, grabbing the young boy's wrists and swinging his tiny, little fists into his big brother's face. Ketu would then pretend to be seriously wounded, much to the toddler's amusement. However, Ketu got more than he bargained for when he allowed the little boy to take a swing by himself. The resulting air blast took Ketu totally by surprise and sent him sprawling as he landed on his butt.
Even Ketu himself had discovered his own bending while emotions were running high. Ketu was 8 when he and his father were out at The Gates, and Ketu had once again, for more than the dozenth time that day, failed to successfully navigate his way through; even getting a bloody nose in the process. In frustration, Ketu picked up a rock and threw it at the offending board. It wasn't until the pole that the panel had been sitting on snapped like a twig that Ketu realized that the 200-pound boulder that had just crashed into it was far too large for any 8 year-old to be able to throw naturally.
Tenzin's surprised expression had matched Ketu's own. Though, Tenzin's had also been laced with something else; something Ketu would later identify as disappointment.
Because Ketu understood that a person's bending often reacted to their emotions and desires, he wasn't too disappointed in Korra when she ended up blowing her cover and, by extension, his own. While he didn't particularly care if his father found out that he, Korra, and Nima had been sneaking out, Ketu was not looking forward to explaining himself to his mother, the chief of police and his boss.
"You've gotta be kidding me, she's the Avatar, folks, playing in a Pro-bending match," Shiro Shinobi said over the loudspeakers, likely broadcasting his astonishment over the airwaves as well. Korra gave a nervous giggle and an awkward shrug before her helmet drooped and covered her eyes. "Can you believe it?!" Shiro asked in shock.
Ketu groaned.
"Oh, it's not that bad," Nima reassured him. "It's not like your dad will be listening in anyway."
Ketu sighed. "It's not him I'm worried about. Knowing my luck, this will be the one day this month that Mom managed to finish her paperwork early, and she's probably listening in on the match right now."
"Well, why does that matter?"
"I may have…forgotten to tell her that I've been letting Korra come to the city," he admitted.
"Oouuu-ooo," Nima intoned in sympathy. The Beifong matriarch was a pretty lenient parent and would pretty much let Ketu do as he pleased when he was growing up, to a point, at least. The only stipulation that she had was that he had to let her know exactly what he planned to do beforehand, and spirits help him if he didn't.
"Yeah, this isn't going to be a fun week." Ketu rubbed his temples as the referee came back out to the ring to make his ruling.
The referee raised his hand to get everyone's attention. "The Avatar will be permitted to continue, so long as she solely bends water," he announced.
The reactions in the arena were a mixed bag. The Platypus Bears and their more die-hard fans groaned in disappointment at not getting an easy victory, while the Fire Ferret fans cheered in joy. The rest of the spectators seemed pleased with the ruling as well, though that was most likely because they were excited to see the Avatar participate in a Pro-bending match more than any sort of team loyalty.
Both teams stepped back up to the line, and the bell rang. Ketu took note that rather than resetting the clock for the second round, they kept it at the time where the ref had first stopped it. That meant that both teams were going to be a lot more aggressive in an attempt to avoid a tie.
Mako and Bolin chose to attack the Platypus Bears of their own element, hoping that their own individual skills would be enough to push their opponents back. Meanwhile, the Platypus Bears seemed to have come to the unilateral decision to focus their collective might on Korra.
"This girl may be the Avatar, but she's no Pro-bender," Shiro observed, "and the Platypus Bears are intent on exploiting that weakness."
Korra was still struggling as she tried to block the Platypus Bears' assault with the meager amount of water that the ring provided, rather than trying to avoid the attacks altogether.
Ketu turned to leave the locker room, causing Nima some confusion. "Where are you going?" she asked.
"This round is gonna be tough on Korra," Ketu stated from the open doorway. "It'd probably be good for her to have a friend help pull her up."
Nima frowned in disappointment as she was left alone. "Okay fine," she relented, "but I have something I need to ask you when you get back."
"Alright, will do." Ketu smiled.
"They're giving her their best, and her best ain't good enough to stop it," Shiro commented, pulling Nima's attention back to the Pro-bending match.
Korra tried to block a fire blast with just her arm guards, and it ended up pushing her back. The earth disc that followed it broke her guard, opening her up for the water strike that knocked her clean off her feet. The buzzer sounded twice as she shot back into Zones 2, 3, and eventually right over edge, just as Ketu had predicted.
"Aaannd, she's in the drink."
Tenzin stormed his way through the Pro-bending stadium. He was livid—no, he was furious. Not only was he angry about the blatant disrespect that Korra and his own son had shown him by even coming to this place, but he had also delayed because Oogi had refused to wake up this evening. He'd been forced to take the ferry, prolonging the trip even further, so his foul mood was only getting worse the longer he had to stay in this…establishment.
Everything about this place put him on edge. Whether it was the loud and raucous noise of the spectators or the smell of stale popcorn that filled the air, it all went against the calm, structured environment that Tenzin had lived his whole life in. As Tenzin made his way down the hallway to the main arena he could feel the stickiness of spilled confession drinks cling to the bottom of his shoes. He arrived just in time to see someone wearing red armor get knocked off the back edge of the ring. Judging from her figure and the fact that his son was waiting near the water's edge to help her out, Tenzin quickly surmised that that was Korra.
Wasting no more time, Tenzin leapt over the railing that was meant to keep spectators from falling into the water below. There were more than a few gasps of surprise as the people around him saw him use his airbending to slow his descent and direct himself to where Ketu and Korra were. As he was landing he could hear the two teenagers talking to one another.
"Huh, thanks for the hand," Korra sighed, dejected.
"Eh, don't worry too much about it, Korra," Ketu reassured her. "The first swim out is always the hardest." He finished pulling her out and helped her stand up straight.
Korra gave Ketu a thankful smile before noticing the approach of her airbending master.
"And it's also going to be your last," Tenzin declared as he finally set down on the metal platform.
Upon hearing the sound of his voice, Korra tensed up as she turned to meet his gaze. "Oh, hey Tenzin," she greeted nervously. "I thought you didn't like coming to these matches…ha-ha."
Ketu, however, reacted differently. As he turned to face his father, his shoulders seemed to sag as though he were suddenly exhausted. "I've gotta say, I'm pretty jealous," he said almost conversationally. "You never bothered to come to see any of my matches as a kid."
"Once again the two of you have flagrantly disobeyed my orders," Tenzin said in disappointment, ignoring his son's snarky comments. "You were to stay on the island. Let's go," he commanded.
"No," Korra refused, "I'm kind of in the middle of something."
"I have tried my very best to get through to you by being gentle and patient, but clearly the only thing you respond to is force!" Tenzin finished angrily. "So I am ordering you to come back to the temple, right now!"
"Why?!" she asked, matching his angry tone. "So I can sit around and meditate at how bad I am at airbending?"
"I don't have time to discuss this here. And you," Tenzin directed his ire at his disrespectful son, pointing his finger at him, "you are supposed to be protecting Korra, not exposing her to more potential danger. Who knows who could be watching and waiting to attack her, right now? The Triads, Equalists—"
"I'M THE AVATAR!" Korra interrupted, clenching her fists. "I can't do my job, if everyone is constantly trying to fight my battles for me!"
"Being the Avatar isn't all about fighting, Korra. When will you learn that?" he asked.
"I have a match to finish," she huffed, making her way to the elevator that would raise her back up to the ring.
"The Platypus Bears win Round 2!" the ring announcer declared.
Tenzin turned down the hallway leading back to the stands. Perhaps Korra's parents could talk some sense into their hardheaded daughter. He planned on simply leaving and going back to Air Temple Island to contact them, but he was surprised to see Ketu walking beside him as he made his way along the stands, towards the main exit. Tenzin sent his son a sidelong glance, subtly enquiring as to the reason for his continued presence.
In response, Ketu calmly grabbed his father's shoulder, stopping him from leaving. "You're going to want to see this," he declared as he turned his gaze towards the Pro-bending ring. Tenzin's face told Ketu that he was skeptical of that assertion. Nevertheless, he joined his son in watching the third round just as the bell rang. After all, it couldn't hurt to make sure that he and Korra actually came right back after the match was over.
"The Platypus Bears come out of the gate and quickly go after the Ferret brothers," Shiro said.
The Platypus Bears' earth- and waterbender turned to attack Mako and Bolin, leaving their firebender to deal with Korra. Mako and Bolin must have been expecting the Platypus Bears to focus solely on Korra, just as they had done in the previous round, because the two of them seemed totally unprepared as they were both pushed into the ring's ropes, unable to counterattack.
"They're corralled in the corner, wedged in the edge of zone one, unable to come to the Avatar's rescue," the commentator continued, "and boy, does she need it?" With the 'bending brothers' subdued for the time being, the Platypus Bear earthbender turned his attention to Korra as he and his firebending teammate began to push her back. Within moments Korra was pushed to the very edge of Zone 3, her arms pinwheeling as she tried to keep from tumbling over the edge for the second time in as many rounds.
"Looks like the Avatar's Pro-bending debut is going to be cut short." Even as someone who had never seen a Pro-bending match, Tenzin could tell that Korra was giving a very embarrassing display. He groaned, closed his eyes, and covered his face with his left hand as he waited to hear the inevitable splash, signaling Korra's loss.
"She's been pushed back to zone three, and the water is calling her name." While Tenzin, Shiro, and even the vast majority of the audience seemed to have already accepted the fact that Korra was about to lose, Ketu hadn't given up on her, watching intently and waiting for that crucial moment when everything would click into place.
Korra had finally stopped flailing her arms and both of her feet had settled back onto the surface of the ring, but her back was turned to the other Pro-benders. Unknown to her, there was a fireball screaming towards her, aimed to hit her right between her shoulders. However, at the last moment, Korra seemed to have sensed the attack coming and spun out of the way, and she didn't stop there. She continued her circular movement as an earth disc missed its mark by mere inches. As Korra turned to face her opponents, her expression was no longer panicked and hyper-alert; she was calm and completely at ease.
"It's only a matter of time before—" Shiro stopped, flabbergasted by what he was seeing. "Hold the phone, stop the presses. She's still in the game folks!"
"There it is," Ketu whispered, just barely loud enough for his father to hear him.
The Platypus Bears continued to try to knock Korra out, but no matter how hard they tried or how small of an area Korra was allowed to move in, she deftly dodge all of their attacks. Even their waterbender had diverted his attention away from Mako and Bolin to try to overwhelm the rookie Pro-bender. Korra continued her circular formations with her arms out in front of her with her finger splayed, just as she had seen Jinora and Ketu do.
"She's moving like an entirely different player," Shiro said in amazement. "All of a sudden, the Platypus Bears' strikes are only striking air."
"How about that…" Tenzin was stunned by what he was seeing.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Ketu asked, grabbing his father's attention.
Tenzin was about to nod along in agreement, but what his son said next shocked him. "Without even meaning to, an entire generation has adopted a style of bending that our ancestors pioneered millennia ago," Ketu said, still watching as Korra continued to wear down the Platypus Bears.
After several minutes of continuous attacking, the Platypus Bears' strikes were noticeably weaker. As their waterbender's strikes failed to reach the two Ferrets in Zone 1, this gave Mako and Bolin the opportunity to counterattack. "The Platypus Bears have no juice left," Shiro observed, "but Mako and Bolin are still fresh and juicy."
"It's comforting, in a way," Ketu continued wryly. "Even if the worst were to happen and another genocide wiped out the airbenders and the Air Acolytes, destroyed the temples, and wiped all mention of the Air Nomads from history; even then, some small part of our culture would still survive."
Even with the Fire Ferrets continuing their dramatic comeback with Mako and Bolin knock the Platypus Bears' water- and firebender over the back edge of the ring, Tenzin was overwhelmed as he turned to his son. This was the first time Ketu had truly opened up to his father in a very long time.
"If 10,000 benders take on the style of passive defense, then how many of them are likely to adopt that as a life philosophy?" Ketu asked rhetorically. Even though he was talking to his father, he was still watching the match attentively. "If even one of those people chooses to live a peaceful life of nonaggression because of that, then that's something worth celebrating," he finished just as Korra delivered the final blow to the Platypus Bears' firebender, knocking him over the edge, and securing the Fire Ferrets a victory by knockout.
"The Fire Ferrets come from way behind and steal the win! What an upset folks!" Shiro exclaimed.
As Ketu left to head back to the locker room and congratulate the winners, Tenzin was stunned. He had always believed Ketu competed in the Junior-bending circuit as a way to distance himself from his Air Nomad roots. But was it actually the opposite? Was this why his son had been so obsessed with this sport as a child?
"The rookies, Avatar in-tow, have nabbed a place in the Championship Tournament. I cannot believe it!"
Ketu was emotionally exhausted. He never really was one who cared for opening up about his feeling and such. He blamed the Beifong in him. Being forced to open up to his father of all people just made it worse. No matter how silly or 'out there' it sounded, Ketu truly believed everything he had just told his father.
As a boy, he'd long-ago accepted that Pro-bending was a 'Mom-thing' that his father was likely to never join in on. Still, there was always some small part of him that had hoped his father would surprise him by showing up to one of his matches and come to see the sport in the same way he had. Seeing that look of recognition on his father's face as he was watching Korra, instead, hurt.
Ketu wasn't really jealous of Korra in particular; he was just disappointed that it wasn't him that his father was watching as he came to that realization. More than anything, he was frustrated that it had taken his father this long to try to understand him. As Ketu was coming up on the Fire Ferrets' locker room, he pushed down those bitter feelings and put on a smile. Korra had just won her very first Pro-bending match, and he was happy for her.
The atmosphere in the room was jubilant with Bolin happily cheering, Korra was grinning like a madwoman, and even Mako couldn't keep the cheerful grin off of his face. Nima turned and smiled as she saw Ketu return to the room. Ketu felt kind of bad, now; Mako and Bolin were practically strangers to her, so it was probably kind of difficult for her without him there. Nevertheless, she seemed to be perfectly comfortable greeting that night's victors.
"Congratulations, you guys," she said. "Especially you, Avatar Korra, that was a most impressive display for your very first match."
"Thanks," Korra replied, still smiling, "and please, it's just Korra."
Ketu smiled. It seems as though the two of them had gotten over whatever it was that was making them so snippy with one another. Mako then took the opportunity to address Korra himself.
"Korra, what can I say?" he began awkwardly. "You really came alive in that last round. The way you dodged their attacks, you are a natural."
"Definitely," Ketu agreed. "You moved just like an airbender," he added.
"Thanks," Korra had a slight blush on her cheeks from all the praise. "But seriously, thank you," she said, looking Ketu directly in the eye. "I couldn't have done it without your help."
"Huh? Oh yeah, no problem. Always happy to help, that's me. He-heh," Ketu answered, scratching at the scar on his upper lip. He was looking away from Korra and towards the arena they had just exited. "Oh, by the way, Nima," Ketu said, just remembering something. "You said you wanted to ask me something after I got back, right?" he asked, focusing on her.
"Oh right," Nima said with a jolt. "Well, the thing is…um, you know how my birthday is next week?" she asked nervously.
"Yeah…" Ketu replied, slightly confused. Nima's face was beet red and her hands were balled-up into fists as she was gripping her dress tightly. Even Korra had turned to give her a curious look.
"Well…what I want for my birthday is…" Nima tried to begin before she seemed to lose her nerve.
Ketu couldn't help but realize how pretty was right now, even with how uncomfortable she seemed. It was strange, she'd been his best friend for as long as he could remember, and yet, for the first time, he didn't just see her as 'his best friend;' she was a beautiful woman. Maybe even more beautiful than Korra. In that moment, he wanted nothing more than to make her happy.
Nima swallowed the lump in her throat and took a breath before working up the courage to state her demand. "Ketu, what I want for my birthday is for you to take me out on a date!"
Author's Note:
Hey guys, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. We finally reached the end of episode 2. Again, this story is taking a lot longer than I originally thought, but still totally motivated to finish it. Things are getting a little dramatic, and we discover a bit more about Ketu and what motivates him.
I had a couple people ask me if chapters would be coming out sooner now thanks to all these quarantine measures that schools and businesses are taking. Unfortunately (for you guys anyway), I work in one of the industries that are still running (at least for the time being) and my classes just got switched to online, so I'm still both working and going to school full-time.
You can expect the next chapter to drop next month on Friday 5/1. That gives me a full month to work, instead of 3 weeks. As I said earlier, if I can get a "safety net" built back up, then you can expect more regular updates. Once again, thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed, please, follow/fave or leave a review. If you have any questions or comments feel free to PM me, and I'll try to answer to the best of ability.
-Ominous Out
