Chapter 15: Back in the Game
Since they still had a few days left before Suda turned twenty-one, Sen came to the conclusion that it would be best to re-introduce Miyani to his friends before the party itself. That would get all of the awkwardness out of the way in advance, so the birthday party could be nothing but fun.
Miyani was waiting on the beach while Sen went forward as the advance party. She was still a little nervous about going into town, for good reason. Whenever she came into town before to pick up supplies, people stopped to stare or comment on her height, or the scars if they noticed them. While Miyani had repressed her reactions to those comments before, she was trying to be more emotionally open now, so she wasn't eager to walk into the middle of town to get harassed. Sen, therefore, was going as her emissary.
"And remember to ease them into it," Miyani advised him. She was worried about the impression she had left on Suda and Ada the last time she'd seen them. "I was kind of a jerk when they first met me."
"Right, so do I introduce you as just a big jerk, or the biggest jerk?"
Miyani punched Sen in the shoulder.
"The biggest jerk," Sen muttered to himself as he walked away.
Soon Sen stood at the door of Suda and Ada's temporary residence, knocking on the door and waiting patiently. He really should have his own key to this place, he thought. There was a very long pause before Ada finally answered the door. Her eyes shot open wide when she saw him, and she quickly wrapped her good arm around his shoulder in a strange hug.
"Sen!"
"Yes, hi Ada," Sen said awkwardly.
"Where've you been? We were worried! I mean, the last time we saw you, you were leaving with that Sun Warrior."
Sen tried to act casual, because he knew he would have a hard time explaining himself if Ada knew all the details of his short visit to the Sun Warriors and his reconciliation with Miyani.
"Oh, right! Well, there was something that came up, and I went back to Hayao's island instead of here."
"You did?"
"Yes, you see," Sen began, then stopped himself. "Actually, is Suda here? I don't want to have to say this twice."
Ada fetched Suda, who was much more casual about Sen's return. Suda had always expected Sen to come back eventually.
Ada was starting to wonder what this announcement of Sen's was. It was clearly something important. She could at least assume it was good news. Sen seemed to be in a good mood. For as long as Ada had known him, he had been fairly complacent and undemanding. Now the Avatar seemed to know exactly what he wanted.
Sen kept well ahead of Ada and Suda on the way back to the beach. His pace was surprisingly fast, and when they got into the open path that led to the beach he was nearly sprinting. Suda and Ada managed to barely keep pace with the eager Avatar as he hopped over the barrier that separated the road from the beach.
Sen energetically bounded to Miyani's side. Had she been shorter, Sen would've put an arm around her shoulder, but he settled for wrapping an arm around her waist. Miyani awkwardly leaned on Sen's shoulder as a gesture of reciprocation. Suda and Ada were slightly confused.
"You guys never got to really introduce yourselves to Miyani," Sen said. Their only meeting so far had been under considerably strange circumstances.
"So here I am," Miyani added. She had absolutely no idea how to do this, and was beginning to regret it over all. She took a step forward and held out her bandaged hand. Ada examined it almost suspiciously.
"You got real polite all of a sudden," Suda said. She'd been a bit of a jerk on their last encounter.
"Yeah, I was a jerk, sorry," Miyani said. She shrugged her shoulders and moved her head side to side as she spoke. Sen was surprised at how animated she had gotten. She had been like a plank of wood with a mouth before. Now she moved and gestured whenever she was talking.
"She's still a jerk," Sen interjected. "But now she's our jerk, so it's all good."
Miyani chuckled nervously and gave Sen a stiff pat on the shoulder. Sen had been expecting to get slapped in the ear for that. Apparently she was restraining herself in front of Suda and Ada.
"Well, any friend of Sen's is a friend of mine," Suda said. It was about time one of the two kids made a friend. Suda was starting to think he was the only one who knew how to socialize. Now Ada just needed to get herself a new buddy and their social circle would be rounded out.
"I have to wonder about the sudden turnaround, though," Ada said. "You two seemed to be fighting last time we saw you."
"That was kind of rough time for everyone," Sen said. "I like to think of it as a learning-"
"Also we killed an iguanadile and ate it," Miyani interrupted. "It was a bonding experience."
"You said it wasn't a bonding experience!"
"Killing it wasn't, but we ate it together. That was a very connective moment, Sen, I could really feel us getting closer," She said sarcastically. She mostly wanted to avoid Sen getting all emotional on them.
Ada and Suda's faces seemed to be rapidly fluctuating between confusion, curiosity, and disgust. Miyani and Sen looked at them and laughed together.
"I know, that's what I thought at first," Miyani said. "But it turns out its really good. You should try it sometime."
"I don't eat anything that could eat me," Ada said. "I'll pass."
"Well theoretically anything could eat you," Sen said.
"Not plants," Suda said.
"They could if she decomposed first," Miyani said.
"Good point."
"Hey Suda where's Nura been I haven't seen her lately," Ada said rapidly, trying to create a conversation topic other than her own corpse. Suda shrugged his shoulders.
"She's been doing something lately, hasn't had time to talk to me."
In one of the uncanny universal coincidences that only ever happened when Sen was around, Nura appeared at that exact moment. She paused slightly upon seeing the strange new giant standing in the midst of her friends, but quickly shook her head and got back to business.
"Suda! I need you to- actually I don't need you, Sen is right here, hello Sen."
She sounded like she was panicked about something. Sen waved awkwardly. Nura made a little bit of forced conversation, including introducing herself to Miyani, and then dragged Sen away. Once they were far enough away from Suda and the rest, Nura continued panicking.
"Sen you have got to help me I am in serious trouble right now," She pleaded. She grabbed on to Sen's arm and held tight. "I screwed up real bad and I am in serious trouble."
"Okay, well first take a deep breath, second stop squeezing my arm so hard, and third tell me what's going on," Sen said.
Nura took a deep breath and released Sen's arm. She continued her story only slightly more calmly.
"Okay, well, I was trying to get Suda a present he'd like, something special, so I started looking around at all these specialty stores and little underground shops, and I guess eventually I went a little too deep in the bad part of town, and I found something that would've been really great, and I got a little too excited, and some mistakes were made and it's a really long story, but I'm now ten-thousand ban in debt."
Sen considered her story for a moment.
"I'm still not clear on Fire Nation currency, is ten-thousand ban a lot?"
"Yes," Nura said.
"What the heck did you do," Sen shouted. Now that he was clear on how much money was at stake he could be properly offended.
"Well first of all it was an accident, second of all I'm not even sure, I just know that there are some very scary people who want a lot of money that I don't have."
"Alright, now we're at the most important part; what does this have to do with me?"
"Well, I made an arrangement," Nura said awkwardly. "They know I'm a pro-bender, and they happen to be involved, in, well…underground full contact pro-bending."
"Excuse me?"
Nura explained that betting on pro-bending matches had been made illegal a long time ago, and in response, the criminal element had started their own underground bending league. Over time, they had realized that they were no longer bound to follow any sort of league rules, and the underground circuit had changed from an organized sport into a sort of gladiatorial elemental brawl. Now the underground "pro-bending" was a popular source of income for organized crime groups. They had become especially profitable in recent months, as the rumors of the Avatar's death had emboldened the criminal element.
"So you're going to compete in illegal pro-bending to pay off your debt, and you want me on your team, that's what you're getting at here."
"Exactly," Nura said with a smile. She couldn't rely on anyone from the gym; they'd kick her out of the league if they found it she was doing illegal underground bending. "You seemed like a helpful kind of guy."
"I've been told I've got to help people," Sen said. He was able and willing to get involved for Nura's sake. It would be easy enough to deal with. He was relatively experienced in hurting bad guys. It had been a long time since he'd been in a real fight anyway. He needed to keep himself fresh if he was going to save the world one day.
"Okay, awesome," Nura said. "Now can you help me tell Suda?"
"Sure. I know exactly what to say."
They walked back to the beach. Miyani was making awkward conversation with Suda and Ada.
"Hey Suda, you want to go beat up some bad guys?"
"Absolutely."
Suda got up immediately. Physical violence against criminals was very high on Suda's list of favorite activities. It helped him feel like he was atoning for his past as a bandit. Ada would have liked to participate as well, but her left arm was still recovering from Sorikami's stabbing. Miyani was the first one to bring up the idea that charging blindly into a confrontation might not be the best idea.
"Wait, what are you doing? Why?"
"Nura's in trouble with some bad guys so we're going to beat them up until she isn't," Sen said. Nura nodded. "And I'm doing it because I want to."
He had spent much too long sitting on rocks and feeling sorry for himself. His experiences with Miyani had set his mind on a very clear course. It was time for him to act like the Avatar again, and that meant helping the innocent and punishing the guilty. Nura's predicament was an excellent chance to do both. Miyani stood up and looked him in the eyes.
"You're absolutely sure you want to do this?"
"One-hundred percent," Sen said. He nodded firmly. Surprisingly, Miyani nodded back.
"Then I'll come with you."
"Well, I appreciate that," Nura interrupted. "But we actually just need three of us. That's an even team."
"I want to be there if anything happens," Miyani said. "You're walking into a den of criminals. You'll need all the help you can get if something happens."
Nura shrugged. She actually had a good point.
Ada at this point realized that she was going to be left here alone and decided to tag along as well. She took a temporary detour into a nearby alleyway, and quickly returned to back up her friends. Sen wondered how much a wounded swordswoman and a mediocre firebender were going to be in a brawl, but if they wanted to come they could come. Nura led the way to the den of iniquity that would be the site of their showdown. As was to be expected, it was filled with men in ragged clothing all standing in a variety of "tough" poses. Suda noted that they were all striking the exact same look of stereotypical menace. No flare whatsoever, he thought. If you were going to be a bandit you could at least do it with some style.
The worst of the lot were their opponents in the bending showdown. The earthbender was short and muscular with a wide stomach, the firebender was tall, scrawny, and wore a pointed uniform, and the waterbender was perfectly between the two in height and build. They all wore color-coded uniforms as well. You couldn't have found a more cliché group if you'd tried.
The man in charge had some style to him, though. He wasn't a big tough man or a scrawny schemer with greasy hair. He was actually an old man, grey haired and wrinkled. There was a certain look of menace in his eyes that said he'd been in the business of hurting people and stealing things for a very long time. Suda wanted to punch him in the jaw.
"You only get to bring two," the old crime boss said, in a chilling voice. "We do have rules. Not many, but we have them."
"Only these two are going in the ring," Nura said. She was trying to be brave, but she wasn't doing a very good job. Unlike Sen and Suda, she wasn't so unshakably certain in her bending talents. Sen could see some failing in her courage. Hopefully he'd be able to make up for it. He was feeling particularly brave today.
"You have awful taste in cheerleaders," the opposing earthbender mocked. "A stump and a beanstalk, eh?"
The initial insult opened up a wave of degrading remarks from all across the room. Miyani clawed at the bandages around her shoulder in aggravation. Ada used her one good arm to hold onto her sword. She had less reason to be afraid than the others, but she was still cautious.
"Let's get this over with," Sen declared. He pointed at the earthbender who'd mocked Ada and Miyani. "You're taking one in the face for that."
The earthbender laughed heartily. One of the underground arena's officials led Sen, Nura, and Suda into a makeshift locker room, leaving Miyani and Ada behind to bear the insults of the crowd. Nura gave them a walkthrough of the arena's rules as Suda and Sen geared up.
"Alright, there's no zone advancement here, it's all about ring outs. You knock them out of the arena, they're out for good. You can get as close to them as you want, hit them however you want, bending or no bending. Pretty much the only rule is no one dies."
"I think I like this game," Sen said.
"Please take this seriously," Nura begged. Her entire lifestyle was at stake.
"Not a chance," Suda said. Nura sighed and proceeded with them into the arena. They sat out in a shaded side area while the announcer went through the introduction of the enemy team. The bandit crowd cheered in turn as their heroes were introduced; Big Bilshan, the earthbender, Skinny Nguyen, the firebender, and Iceberg Bozon, the waterbender. Sen rolled his eyes three times in a row and proceeded into the arena.
"And, on Team Soon-To-Be-Slaughtered, we have Sen, Nura, and Suda."
Sen didn't bother posturing or grandstanding as he stepped into the ring. Most of the crowd was booing him anyway. He only heard one voice cheering. Sen gave Miyani the thumbs up and stepped into the central ring. A referee gave them a countdown and then started the match.
As promised, Sen immediately launched a burst of fire into Big Bilshan's face. His helmet blocked the brunt of the flames, but it was enough to put him off guard. Sen kept launching bursts of fire at the meaty earthbenders feet, making him dance like a child to keep from burning his feet.
Suda had latched on to something Nura had said earlier; as long as the enemy was out of the ring, it didn't matter if you used bending or not. That in mind, Suda bull-rushed the enemy waterbender and knocked Iceberg Bozon off his feet. Continuing the charge with a very disoriented Bozon on his shoulder, Suda ran right to the edge of the arena and tossed Bozon over the edge, earning a knockout in approximately sixteen seconds. The crowd booed the performance.
Despite the fantastic performance of her teammates, Nura was too stressed to perform with any talent. Her waterbending was limp and ineffective against Skinny Nguyen, and the firebender quickly gained ground on her, threatening to push her to the end of the arena. Suda returned from his errand at the edge of the arena and launched two disks of stone at Nguyen's ankles, throwing him off balance. Her confidence briefly bolstered, Nura followed through with a pillar of water that carried Nguyen to the edge of the arena and tossed him over.
Sen had been toying with Bilshan all the while, making the portly bender look like an idiot as he ran from bursts of flames beneath his feet. Hopefully this would teach the criminal earthbender not to mock Sen's friends.
"Hey, Sen, quit playing with the poor sap and get a move on."
Sen sighed. He started timing his bursts of flame with just enough precision to force Bilshan to the edge of the ring. With one final strike of fire, Sen forced him over the edge. Bilshan seemed almost happy to fall over the edge and end the humiliating ordeal.
Miyani started cheering enthusiastically, breaking occasionally to mock the bandits around her. Ada was a bit more restrained. She was proud of her friends for winning such a decisive victory, but she had the feelings that things wouldn't be this easy.
The old man in charge of the arena looked quite un-amused by recent events. The brunt of his anger seemed to be directed at the arena manager. Apparently he had scheduled a very poor matchup for their guests.
"You said they were amateurs," He hissed.
"Master Druk, I assure you, neither of those two had ever seen the ring before today," the manager whimpered. "Your team is the one that failed. They couldn't handle amateurs."
"Irrelevant," Druk barked. "Now I am forced to honor my bargain."
Druk directed that Nura's debt be forgiven and they all be allowed to leave safely. He was a man of his word, at least. Suda appreciated that in a crime lord. Nura hastily closed the dealings and prepared to leave this whole incident behind her. Sen had something else he wanted to take care of first.
"What about that thing you were going to get from them," He asked Nura. He recalled that this whole incident had started because Nura had wanted a gift for Suda.
"Not really important," Nura whispered. "Let's just cut and run. No reason to get any more involved than we have to."
"Suda's a pretty good reason," Sen said. He turned to Druk.
"I'd like to know what started this whole ordeal, sir," Sen asked. It stung to call an old criminal like Druk "sir", but he still wanted this to go somewhat smoothly.
"Ah, the waterbender didn't tell you? She damaged a priceless possession of mine. A very rare film reel. Exposed it to light, completely destroying it."
Sen could see that wasn't true. The chi flowing through Druk's throat was heavily blocked, indicating a liar.
"Which film? Perhaps we could replace it for you," Sen said.
"Oh, I doubt it," Druk whispered. "Very rare. A Bolin mover. Rebirth of the Phoenix King."
Suda snapped to attention. Ada and Sen recognized the name as well.
"You're lying," Sen said. He pointed an accusing finger at Druk. "That mover was never filmed! This whole thing was a scam!"
Nura rolled her eyes. She had suspected from the beginning that it was a scam, but she didn't think it had mattered. They'd won, they'd had an easy out, but Sen had gone and dragged them all back into it in the name of self-righteousness.
"You're mistaken," Druk said. "It was never distributed. I owned one of very few copies, until Nura carelessly destroyed it."
"Bolin himself said it was never filmed," Suda said. He could still recall the day he'd met his idol quite clearly. The twenty-seventh film had never made it past the scripting stage. "You just wanted to scam Nura out of her money!"
The wizened criminal stood up and glared harshly at the teenagers gathered in front of him. They were absolutely right, of course. He had hoped to use Nura's debt as a means to fix the main bending arena, making Nura throw matches on demand to assure that his favored teams won, but his plan had been thwarted by Suda and Sen's talent. Now they were directly insulting his honor. Their insults were true, but that didn't mean he could allow them to pass.
"I honor my bargain and you insult me in my own place of business," Druk said accusingly. "I will not allow this to stand."
The gathered criminals closed in on their guests. While Druk would enjoy watching them get torn to shreds, he still had to maintain himself with some measure of dignity. His vengeance would be extracted in a more professional manner.
"Agni Kai," He muttered. The criminals backed away. Sen didn't bother questioning the fact that Agni Kai's had been outlawed more than a century ago. He was surrounded by criminals anyway. He knew the rules. Firebender versus firebender. Usually to the death. He didn't like the sound of that.
"I'm not going that far," He declared. He'd beat them to unconsciousness, sure, but he wouldn't go any further.
"I'm not in the habit of wasting good firebenders," Druk said. "The name is more of a formality. It will be a competition between firebenders alone."
"Then I'll play," Sen said. "But this is between you and me. Nura's debt stays out of it."
Druk nodded, and Nura sighed in relief. Finally Sen was showing some actual thinking skills. Sen had no desire to get anybody entangled in his affairs.
"You fight three rounds. No armor. The first burn ends a round. Whoever wins two rounds wins the set."
"I take it there are stakes?"
"Naturally," Druk explained. "If you are victorious, you go free, and that is the end of it. If you lose…You stay and fight in my arena, six months. I could use the cannon fodder."
Suda pursed his lips. Staying another six months alone was a bad idea, even worse if Sen was spending it in indentured slavery. Hopefully they could renegotiate. Sen didn't bother.
"Deal."
He had no reason to doubt his abilities. He'd learned firebending from the dragons themselves. Combined with his enhanced senses, it was nearly impossible for him to lose against a common criminal. Whatever Druk could throw at him, Sen could easily conquer.
"Very well then. We will proceed into the arena."
Druk seemed to be intent on taking up the challenge himself. Sen wasn't so naïve as to be at ease because of Druk's advanced age. Criminals didn't get to be that old without having some power behind them. Druk was likely a master firebender. Nothing Sen couldn't handle, but nothing to be underestimated.
Sen's friends took a place at the edge of the arena and watched their friend prepare for the match. Miyani and Ada seemed surprisingly calm, given the circumstances. The others were all slightly worried. They had confidence in Sen's abilities, but even if he won, there was no guarantee the criminal gang would let them leave without incident. Nura started scanning all possible exits, and found that they were all blocked by hordes of malcontents. She shook her head.
"Don't worry so much," Miyani advised her. "Sen can handle this."
"I know, I believe in him, but there's other things we have to worry about, like dying," Nura said.
"We can handle them," Miyani assured her. "Sen wouldn't have agreed to this if he had any doubt about it."
Ada nodded her head. She had taken certain precautions in advance. They could handle whatever came at them.
Sen stepped into the arena, looking as confident as ever. The crowd booed him even more intently than before. Beating the home team and insulting their boss had done little to endear him to the gang. Hopefully beating Druk would finally earn him some respect.
The old master's first attack was as powerful as Sen expected. It was a massive fireball, huge enough to completely engulf Sen in a wreath of flame. Sen swept his hand through the stream of fire and dissipated the attack, saving him from a burn. He'd used the same techniques in his duel with Rohtan; he wasn't completely clueless about firebending duels.
He skipped a retaliatory attack and chose to focus on Druk's body instead. Reading the energy flow through Druk's chakra's could give him some clues to his fighting type. Whenever Druk was about to attack with fire, the fire chakra in his stomach burned brightly. That helped Sen's defense, by giving him an advance warning on every attack, but Druk was doing a good job of defending himself against Sen's offense.
Druk attacked with a long line of flame, wielding the inferno like a whip. Sen took hold of the end of the line and launched it back at Druk. For a moment the fire made a complete circle, a halo of flame that stretched between the two of them. Druk quickly broke the circle and retaliated again. Sen barely dodged the scorching fire.
It was becoming clear that Druk was the better firebender. He was old and he lacked flexibility, but he had an amount of experience that Sen couldn't match. If he relied on straightforward firebending, Sen would never win this match. It was time to get creative. Sen clapped his hands together and pulled them apart, drawing an arc of fire between them. He launched the ribbon of fire outwards. Druk prepared to defend himself against the attack, but was instead surprised when Sen slammed it into the ground.
The underground coliseum was meant to be a bending arena, and as such, large troughs of water spanned the area. Sen thrust his inferno into one of the troughs, instantly boiling the water and sending up a thick cloud of mist, nearly identical to the fog that blanketed Hayao's island. While Druk was completely blinded by this, Sen had his seismic sense to guide him. Sensing the vibrations of Druk's body, Sen launched a single bolt of fire, and was satisfied to hear a grunt of pain from the old criminal mastermind.
The bank of mist quickly dissipated, revealing a blackened mark on the shoulder of Druk's robe. There was no denying that Sen had won the first round. The arena fell entirely silent. Sen's friends might have cheered for him, but they were worried about agitating the gathered criminals even further. After a long pause, the arena referee marked down a point for Sen, and the dueling firebenders reset.
Sen was even more confident going into the second round with an advantage. He could see frustration on Druk's wrinkled face. That gave him a psychological advantage already. Frustration and anger didn't generate good firebending. That much he'd learned from experience.
Druk made the first move again. This time he sent a wall of flame forward from the ground, sweeping it at Sen's feet, trying to force him off balance. Sen dove over the wall of flame and rolled when he hit the ground, launching a quick salvo of flaming bursts at Druk. They were too wildly inaccurate to hit their mark, but they kept Druk on guard until Sen got back on his feet.
Druk was focusing his attacks on the ground this time. He'd obviously noticed how Sen tended to keep his feet on the ground, fighting like an earthbender. By forcing Sen to keep his feet moving, Druk threw off Sen's entire technique.
Sen considered using his steam trick again, but it was clear that wouldn't work twice. He'd already completely evaporated the water trench between himself and Druk, and Druk was resisting any of Sen's attempts to move him towards another trough. He was too smart to fall for the same trick twice. Sen would have to come up with another idea.
Sen stuck to avoiding Druk's attack rather than trying any clever ideas for now. He was young and agile, he could avoid Druk's attacks for a very long time. It gave Sen some time to think, and hopefully it would exhaust Druk. Sen hopped away from another burst of fire, and was surprised to see the attacks suddenly stop.
Druk had completely ceased his offensive. He had his hands at the ready to bend again, but he had stopped for the moment. Perhaps he'd caught on to Sen's attempts to wear him out. Sen was just glad to have a temporary reprieve. It let him clear his head and think of what he could do. The audience fell silent as both of the dueling firebenders thought through their next actions.
This would all be so much easier if he was could use his earthbending. He was more skilled with earth than fire. He could even tunnel like a badgermole. That alone would have been able to end the fight instantly.
Sen nodded. He'd given himself an idea. Druk saw the subtle gestures and prepared himself for an attack.
Sen broke the temporary ceasefire by launching a massive burst of flame at Druk. The firebender easily caught the massive attack and blocked it, bringing the giant stream of fire to a halt in front of his hands. He was immediately suspicious why Sen would waste time on such a crude attack. The wall of fire was gigantic, but weak.
In answer to his question, the river of fire parted, revealing Sen only a few inches from Druk's face. Sen had parted the stream of fire just as he would tunnel through the earth, charging through the middle of his own attack unseen. Now at point blank range and completely unexpected, it was a simple matter to hurl a fireball at Druk's shoulder, charring his robe yet again. Sen was two for two; a clear and crushing victory.
The defeated crime lord took a few steps back from his adversary. Sen began to wonder whether Druk would honor his end of the bargain. There was a moment of silent tension between them. In the stands above, the criminal gang leered threateningly at Sen's allies. This was the moment when things would go wrong. Miyani was the first to take action.
"Well, I'm glad this is all over," Miyani said. "And we didn't even have to use our backup plan."
She was speaking just loud enough for Druk to hear. Sen was a bit confused. He didn't know of any backup plan. Then it hit him that she was bluffing.
"I told you everything would be fine," Sen called back. "You worry too much."
"Hey, it always pays to have a Plan B," Miyani said casually. Druk's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"You're bluffing," he said.
"No they're not," Ada said. "As soon as I whistle, two of the Fire Nations top special agents are going to bust down that door."
Now Druk visibly sneered.
"I've never heard a more obvious lie in my-"
Ada stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. The door to the underground arena immediately burned down. Agents Luan and Zouf dove through the smoking doorframe and held up their badges.
"Stay where you are! Fire Nation Special Authority!"
The criminals immediately proceeded to run in different directions, running for various bolt-holes and secret exits. Druk made a hasty retreat from the arena. Suda used his bending to help Sen out of the inner circle while Luan and Zouf chased the fleeing criminals.
"Really, am I the only one who remembered we have the Fire Lord's men watching us at all times? It didn't occur to any of you to ask them for help?"
Ada had met the two of them in the alleyway just after deciding to join Sen. She'd quickly explained the situation and they had agreed to intervene if things went badly. The common police had been looking to break up the underground bending arena for some time. Gai Zhu's local police force began filing in the door, examining the criminal arena. Miyani was glad that Ada had actually been thinking ahead; Druk had nearly called their bluff, and that would have ended in disaster.
"To be honest, I sort of forgot," Suda said. "Those guys haven't really done anything yet."
Nura and Miyani seemed confused. Miyani was the first one to ask.
"Why exactly do you have Fire Nation special forces with you?"
She could remember Sen's visit with the Fire Lord. Sen seemed to be getting a lot of special attention, for some reason.
"Oh, that was because of Sorikami," Ada quickly lied. "I was her student for a while, until she went crazy and stabbed me."
Ada held up her wounded arm. It was out of the sling now, but still wrapped in bandages. Miyani seemed to buy that excuse.
"They're still watching us, because, you know, she's crazy," Suda continued. "Don't want us getting stabbed again, right?"
Sen nodded, further corroborating their story. Sen's confirmation earned Miyani's complete trust, and she didn't ask any more questions.
"Can we just go home now," Nura asked. This had been a stressful day.
"Sure. Let's all go back to our own, completely different homes," Ada said. She stared at Nura and Suda. She did not in any way approve of how the two of them had been spending their evenings. Sen still didn't understand why.
Ada gave a brief explanation of their presence to the Gai Zhu police, and with Luan and Zouf's help, the group was allowed to leave without any further incident. They left the underground arena and prepared to go their separate ways.
"So, Sen, remember to bring Miyani back around next week," Suda said. "I'm officially inviting her to my birthday party."
Miyani had earned a place among their friends by now. Her attempt at bluffing hadn't actually accomplished anything, thanks to Ada's precautionary measures, but having the courage and trust in Sen to try it had more than proven her bond with the Avatar.
"Oh, you- you're sure? I mean, I'd be fine with-"
"You're coming," Sen said, interrupting her. "Just relax. You'll have a blast."
Miyani's face turned redder than Sen had ever seen it. Nura kissed Suda goodbye, and they all parted ways. Miyani's face gradually shifted back to its normal color as they walked back to the island.
"I think that went rather well," Sen said.
"I could have done without raiding a criminal enterprise," Miyani sighed.
"Well that was half the fun," Sen joked. In all honesty, the battle's had been a bit stressful, but overall he had enjoyed himself. It felt good to be acting like the Avatar again.
"And, well, thanks for having my back," Sen said. He was also glad to know that he could count on Miyani to support him. He needed all the help he could get. Miyani smiled slightly, and the two went back to their island home.