Chapter Five:

The day I woke up to the sound of someone pounding on my door. "Phone for you!" Kuma shouted.

"Just a minute" I groaned.

I dragged myself out of bed and stumbled across the room. I threw on some clothes and shuffled out of my room. Kuma was standing there with the telephone. "It's the Pro-Bending Arena. They say the have another member for your team."

"Thanks"

Kuma handed me the phone. "I've got to go to work, breakfast is on the table." she said.

I held the phone to my head."Hello, this is Arata."

"Hello Arata." said the familiar voice of the man from the Arena. "I checked the records and their is a firebender available. His teammates, the Spider-Wasps, recently retired so he can join your team."

"That's sounds great. I'll tell the others."

"Ok, when will you be here."

"About Thirty minutes."

"Sounds great, see you then."

I hung up, walked over to Tetsu's door, and knocked on it. "Tetsu the Pro-Bending Arena called and said the have a Firebender. We got to be their in 30 minutes."

"Sounds great" he replied.

I told the same thing to Kaze who leapt out of bed with joy. I was amazed at how she woke up so eagerly. "Wow, someones an early riser." I remarked.

I lead Kaze and Tetsu into the kitchen were Kuma had breakfast set for us.
"Moo-Sow sausage and bacon. My favorite."

I sat down "Looks good" I said.

Kaze shoved some Pigster eggs onto her plate, while Tetsu and I took piles of bacon and sausage. "Kaze why aren't you having any bacon."

"Air Nomads are vegetarians." she replied.

Testu swallowed a bite of bacon. "More meat for the men."

I took I bite of sausage and sank my teeth into the meaty texture, and let the savory juices flow out. "You got that right."

Kaze swallowed some egg. "You know guys I'm looking forward to meeting the firebender."

"Yeah" I said as I glanced towards the clock. "It will be in 25 minutes."

"We should go in 10 minutes."

After more talking and eating he walked over to the Arena. When we got their the man we meet earlier was their with a teenager wearing a red pro-bending uniform.

"The name's Yao." the teenager said. "And I heard you guys are in need of a firebender." Yao swung his arm in front of his face and snapped his finger letting out a cone of flame.

Kaze starred in amazement. "Cool" she exclaimed.

"So you now have a Full Team." Yao said. "We need to practice as soon as we can. I can get you guys Uniforms, but I can't guarantee they will fit properly."

Yao lead us to a locker and showed us a trio of jumpsuits. I picked grabbed the dark blue one and slipped it one. "What do you mean they won't fit?!" I asked.

"Excuse me" Tetsu complained.

I turned around and Tetsu's uniform was practically bursting in its seams. He growled in frustration as he desperately tried to zip it up. Turning the other way I saw Kaze who's uniform fit like as loosely as a trash bag. "Oh, that's what he meant." I remarked.

"Yao, Tetsu, and Kaze stared at me. "Yeah that's it" said Yao. "Of course we can whine about uniforms later. You guys need to show me what you are capable of."

Tetsu clenched his fists and pumped his arms up into the air. Several chunks of the floor lifted up, and Tetsu shoved his hands hurling them across the room where they shattered against the wall.

Kaze quickly followed up with her own bending. She created an air scooter and started zipping around the room. She swung her arms releasing blasts of air. Finally she jumped off the scooter, grabbed it in her hands, and turned it into an enormous tornado. Yao motioned to me. "Its your turn now Arata." he said.

I looked around the room, looking for some water to bend. I found a bucket and walked over to it. I knew that I would not be able to pull off and epic performance like Kaze and Testu, but I had to impress them.

I raised up my arms and the water lifted out of the bucket. I swung my arm in a wide circular arc, and the water began to follow suite. I moved my arms at increasing speed and the water moved faster until it became a continuous ring. I then swung my hands forward and the ring shot across the room.

Yao looked upwards in thought. "Alright the good news is you guys clearly know how to bend. The bad new is that you all basically broke every rule of pro-bending, and you Tetsu need to fix the floor.

While Tetsu cleaned up the debris, Yao walked to the edge and grabbed and disk and a ball. "Tetsu and Kaze these are your projectiles." he said as he tossed them to them.

Tetsu inspected his disk. It was made of rock and coated with metal. "I'm supposed to fight with projectiles this small?"

"You've got to use a lot of them. Since you can make defensive walls you wave to stay on the offensive."

Kaze held up her ball. It was light squishy with a porous exterior. "What about this?" she asked.

"That ball is not a projectile, as much as it is something to represent the invisible element of air. Try it." Yao said, and he put his hands on the back of his head.

Kaze launched the ball flying across the room. It hit Yao in the gut and he doubled over and grunted. "See what I mean." he grunted.

"Yeah." replied Kaze.

We continued to train with Yao. A few more days of training and we were ready for our first match. We stood on the platform waiting for it to take us to the ring. The spot-light shone over the other team. "On the red side we have the Buffalo Yaks."

The platform moved across the gap to the ring. There was some applause from the crowd, but not a whole ton. "Okay guys" Yao whispered. "This isn't the toughest team around but that's no reason to let your guard down."

The platform reached the ring and the spotlight was on us. "On the blue side we have the new Spider Wasps. For the first time in over a hundred years, we have the Avatar!"

There was an enormous wave of applause from the crowd. I know I couldn't let them down. The spotlight turned off and the floodlights illuminated the whole ring. It was time. We stepped into the first zone. "Are you ready folks!" The announcer shouted. Begin!"

Immediately two discs whized by me. I jerked to the left and one more missed, but an airball hit me in the gut.

I doubled over and stumbled in pain. I reoriented myself to see another airball coming at me. This time Kaze snatched it out of the air. Going on the offensive I pulled some water out of the zone line threw it at the enemy airbender. He lifted up his hands blocking the water, only to be hit by a disc from Tetsu.

I turned to the side, dodged a fireblast, and deflected a water shot back at its bender.

The waterbender was hit and before he could recover he was hit by a fireblast from Yao. He fell across the line and the buzzer rang.

"Alright guys were doing good." Yao encouraged. "Keep it up."

The zone line turned green and we walked across it to the next zone, while the Buffalo Yaks backed up.

The bell rang again and water shot flew at me. I shoved out my arms and it splashed harmlessly across the ground. I blocked another shot, but while I was distracted I was hit by a rock disk to the leg.

I looked towards the enemy earthbender dodged the next disk he sent at me. He threw another disk at me, but I pulled up some water and the disk splashed against it. Tetsu hurled the disk, and when when the earthbender blocked it I threw the water at him. I turned towards the the firebender and launched a water shot at him. The shot connected and he tried to shot back, but the buzzer rang. "The first round goes to the Spider Wasps."

Yao gathered us into a huddle. "Alright guys you're doing good. This time I want you ready to attack the moment the buzzer ring. You got it."

We lined up and posed, ready to bend. The Buffalo-Yaks were breathing heavily. The buzzer rang and we all launched our elements. I dodged a few clumsy shots and responded with two of my own, hitting the airbender and the earthbender. I dodged an airball and the airbender was hit by an earth disk and a fireblast knocking him across the line.

The buzzer rang and we advanced to the next zone. We quickly overpowered them again taking the battle to the very last zone. "Your doing great guys." Yao said. "A little more effort and they'll be in the drink."

The buzzer rang and we were on the offense again. I threw a water blast at the earthbender and dodged another one from the enemy. When the waterbender threw a second water blast I circled it around me and launched it back at me. The earthbender lifted up a disk to attack me, but two airballs hit him on the chest and he fell into the water.

Kaze and I combined our efforts on the waterbender. I tanked his shots and Kaze hurled airballs at him. He dodged the first two, but the third connected, and I finished him with a water blast.

Kaze and I then went to assist Yao and Tetsu. Three Airballs came at us, and I dodged the one aimed at me. Kaze threw the airball back at the airbender who threw it. He blocked the airball, but who hit by a fireblast from Yao and went over the edge.

The firebender furiously rallied but it was not enough. Tetsu and Yao tanked his barrage while Kaze and I attacked. Kaze hit him with an airball and I quickly followed up with a water blast. Kaze hit him with one more airball knocking him out. "Knockout!" The announcer declared while the buzzer rang.

"Yes!" I proclaimed, and I exchanged fist-bumps with my teammates.

We moved to the center of the ring, and the spotlight shone on us. "Ladies and Gentlemen." the announcer said. "Give it up for the Spider-wasps!"

Back in the locker room Yao congratulated us. "You all did a very good job." he said. "But we can't stop practicing. Things will get tougher. Do you understand."

We took off our gear and headed back to Kuma's for a good night of sleep.