On to the second chapter! Hope ya like it. :)
*I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or the Legend of Korra.
Sakarya looked anxiously at the clock above the classroom door. Five minutes before the last class of the day. Possibly of my life, she thought in her head. The competitions were not something to be joked about. She had heard that the average student had very rough and hard training at school. It had something to do with scholarships for national champions now, although it used to be only for floating a school's ego.
Four minutes. Sakarya had seen the matches on TV before, and they were never pretty. Only last year had a fourteen year old girl damaged her spine and got paralyzed. That was one of the worst injuries she had ever seen. People treated it like life or death even though it was a choice.
Three minutes. Maybe she could drop out after the first competition. According to a survey she saw on the document she had signed about 67% dropped out after the first competition, so she bet that another kid or two in her class wouldn't stick around. But then again, it practically brings you fame.
Two minutes. Sakarya decided she would give it an actual shot. It was a month from this coming Friday, so she practically had five weeks to prepare. She hoped that was enough time. They had levels of the competition, so she would be on the first level, but some of the kids she had seen before had been training since they could walk.
One minute. Okay, if she liked it, she would continue on with it. The signing document said that they would be training outside in the extra gym. It was a pretty small gym, so it would be a tight fit until some people quit. She was just going to hope they didn't have to change into gym clothes because that stuff does not smell good.
The bell rang sharply in her ears and she gathered up her stuff before bolting out of the door. She had to find Amara and explain to her that she was staying late. She wanted to know exactly what was going to be happening in that gym, and get as much a head start as she could.
Sakarya caught up with Amara at the dark blondes' locker signing to her. Hey, I have to stay late today. I didn't understand a syllabus in a class.
Amara understood, hugging her goodbye before she caught up with a few other friends. Sakarya felt bad for lying, but she would tell her the truth later.
After Sakarya had avoided trouble at her locker and put her books in, she began walking outside. Another student in her training class caught up with her. She was a tall girl, with icy blue eyes and her dark brown hair nearly reached the floor.
"Hi, I'm, um, Kiana. You're in my next... Class... Right?" She asked. Sakarya nodded her head. Kiana must be the shy type. Her head was bowed down and she walked with her hands in front of her. They were clasping each other so tight her knuckles had gone white against her dark complexion.
"Yeah, and you're Sakarya?" Again she nodded her head. "Well it's nice to meet you. Are you nervous?" Sakarya nodded her head again, even though she wasn't sure what she was feeling. All we could feel was that it was wrong. Fighting only for competition. She had never liked the competition, but now that she knew she was going into it, she wanted to be prepared for the worst.
Sakarya and Kiana walked in silence, pushing through the doors. About four of the other students were also in the courtyard leading to the gym. Only the two who had been shivering in fear were missing. The smile guy was practically skipping. That boy was weird. Why anyone would be excited about something like this was beyond Sakarya.
When they reached the gym, they saw three teachers inside. Mr. Itsuki, dressed in a blue fighting suit; Ms. Akiko in a green one; Mr. Hideaki in a red suit. The suits were similar to the old pro-bending, but with thinner and more sturdy padding that's been developed since the old past-time. That must mean they would be training their respective benders. There still weren't enough air-benders in the world for them to be allowed in the competitions, simply because it would give a team an unfair advantage.
The students awkwardly shuffled in; Sakarya felt like Mr. Hideaki was glaring at her. He was a very grumpy man, even though he wasn't that old.
"Hello everyone," Mr. Itsuki started. "As you all know by now, you will be training for competitions. For practice, we will be in here unless practicing a habitat arena. I will give you all more information on exactly what it is that we're doing after today." Sakarya was getting more nervous by the second
Ms. Akiko stepped forward now. "For practice, we also have fighting suits. Once you change into these, you will come out here and receive the real introduction to this course," She announced.
One by one, the students went up to each teacher, receiving a part of their uniform. They were each slightly different, and there were two waterbenders, three earthbenders, and Sakarya was the only firebender present even though there was supposed to be two more. There was also a waterbender missing. Sakarya followed the other two girls into the locker room to change. They were all dead silent as they got into their fighting suits. Sakarya's was dark red and it was made out of stretchable leather like the others were. The boots were a bit darker, and the laces were black. The more seconds ticked by, the faster her heart raced.
When she was done, she headed back into the gym, the other girls close behind her.
The teachers were still there waiting. Ms. Akino had a strong build, especially for a woman, but she had always seemed to be graceful in the way she moved. From what Sakarya had heard, she had been a police officer before she got her teaching degree. Mr. Itsuki was a good guy, Sakarya supposed. She only had him for semester study hall last year, but he was a shorter man with a gentle face. Mr. Hideaki was a different story altogether. He was the youngest teacher in school, but by far the worst. She has him for her woodshop elective, and she did last year as well. She was pretty sure he hated her, if his glares were enough to go by. He could have been considered handsome, if it weren't for the huge scar that went from the top left cheek bone, down over his mouth and stopping at the right bottom part of his chin. It was a scar that made his expressions that much darker.
"Good, now let's just wait for the boys," Ms. Akiko said with a grin. She looked at the female earth bender with interest, obvious now that they were in their respective bending suits. She was a short girl with a pixie cut, and she had a slender form. Sakarya wouldn't have guessed she was an earthbender.
Kiana had gone up and started talking to Mr. Itsuki, but they kept their voices hushed. When the boys came in, they were much louder than the girls. Two earthbenders and a waterbender, getting along like a house on fire. That meant that there were a total of three students missing.
Suddenly, the doors swung open and caused the conversation going on between Kiana and the teacher to stop. Two boys and a girl walked in. Sakarya remembers them from the office. They all looked way too happy to be here. More so than the one smiling guy who was already here, and was, in fact, a waterbender.
"Mr. Hideaki walked up to them, two red suits and a blue suit in hand. "You're late. Get changed," He said as he shoved the suits into the three waiting hands. The girl was handed a red suit, as was one of the boys, and the other boy got the blue suit. None of them seemed fazed by Mr. Hideaki's expression on his face as they walked in the direction of the locker rooms.
"Rule number one kids, is that tardiness will not be accepted," Mr. Itsuki said, walking towards the group of students who had arrived on time. Sakarya realized Kiana had rejoined them silently.
Mr. Hideaki went to stand beside his fellow teacher. "With that said, we will now separate and explain the rules to each group of benders to make this as easy as possible," The firebender explained. "Firebenders with me, waterbenders to Mr. Itsuki, and earthbenders to Ms. Akiko."
Sakarya received a pitying look from Kiana as she went over to Mr. Itsuki. Everyone separated in the gym and soon enough, Sakarya was left alone with the firebending teacher. Could those other firebenders get out here sooner, please?
"Have you ever watched these competitions Sakarya?" He asked, to which she nodded. "Have you ever used your bending to fight?" Another nod. "Do you enjoy bending?" A shrug this time. He gave a huff, giving her no more questions.
The other two firebenders jogged into the room, as well as the waterbender. They looked a bit similar, as if they were all related. Of course, the girl and boy had the typical gold eyes, and the one boy had blue. But they had similar soft noses, sharp cheekbones, black straight hair, and not tan but not pale skintone. The girl had long hair past her shoulders, and so did the waterbender though he had his up in a ponytail. The other firebender has short hair, longer in the front. All good-looking as well. She decided they were definitely related, even though she had never seen them before. It was a big school after all.
The groups were now all complete.
"Now that you two slackers are here," Mr. Hideaki started eliciting an eye roll from both of the newcomers, "I need to explain everything. The sport is called com-bending, the shortened version of 'competition bending' just like pro-bending was the shortened version of 'professional bending'. I'm sure you've all heard of it, or seen it on TV. It's where three benders of the same type go against three benders of the same type, though not necessarily of each other. As a firebending group, you will go against waterbenders, earthbenders, and fellow firebenders. The higher levels you go to will have you mostly fighting your own bending type. You must work as a team in an arena to make sure the other team stays down and unable to fight back. That's mostly via incapacitating them in some way or another. Any questions?" He finished.
Sakarya raised her hand awkwardly, and the teacher gave her a nod. She signed to him, Can I even compete? I can't speak or even make noise.
"Yes, you can and will compete, you're one of the best firebenders I've seen in this school. There are no rules against mutes," He said, and the other two snickered. Sakarya glared at them, but Mr. Hideaki didn't seem to even hear them.
"No more questions? Alright," Mr. Hideaki said, and then clapped his hands. "To start out, you three will learn how each other fights. Ezuka, Eroh, I'm sure you know each other's abilities well enough being siblings, so both of you will fight Sakarya on your own. Eroh, Sakarya, please go onto the red mat."
Sakarya's gold eyes widened as the boy, Eroh, started making his way onto the large red mat that was behind them. She had to fight them both? Today? There was no way she could do that, she'd be out of juice by the end of the first fight! But with a sharp look from the teacher, her legs started moving against her will towards and onto the mat.
She sent a little prayer to any spirit that was listening and took a fighting stance on the mat. Immediately Eroh flashed a whip of sharp orange fire at her, and she narrowly dodged it. Oh he was gonna get it. Sakarya sent two fireballs at him, and quickly swiped her leg down by his feet, making a trail of light orange fire trip him off balance and on to his back as he tried to escape it. He wasted no time in getting up while she started running towards him, using as much speed as she dared in this gym. With flames leading her hand, she landed a punch in his left side while she grabbed his right arm to keep his fire away from her. She could hear him gasp for air and it gave her a sick grin. She pushed him away from her just barely and finished the job with a kick to the chest. He landed on the mat with a loud smack. She stood above him, her light fire in the form of whips, daring him to get up again.
"Alright! Good job Sakarya, sloppy form Eroh," Mr. Hideaki said, breaking the silence that had awkwardly ensued after Eroh had landed on the mat for the final time. She let the fire whips dissipate and looked around the gym, breathing heavily. The other two fights had stopped, just watching the firebenders. Everyone looked wide-eyed at the two, save for their own teacher.
Eroh growled as he got onto his feet, glaring daggers into Sakarya. Lots of glaring today, Sakarya thought with frown. She hadn't expected to lose her temper a bit during the fight, but Eroh had asked for it. She knew she was good at bending, her father being an old pro-bender had taught her everything he knew from a young age. He was probably the one to convince her mother to say yes to the whole 'send your kid to die in an arena' thing anyway.
Sakarya left the mat, sitting on the bleachers a few feet away from the brooding boy. The other fights restarted, and when Mr. Hideaki said she could take a minute to relax, she decided seeing the others fight would be more entertaining than trying to apologize to Eroh.
One the waterbending mat was Eroh's lookalike, probably his brother. Sakarya was guessing they were triplets. They all looked around sixteen, seventeen years old. Huh. Scary triplets. Wonderful.
Eroh's brother was up against Kiana, and she was losing badly if the panic in her eyes was any indicator. She was also on the edge of the blue mat, meekly trying to push her attacker back. The boy was able to get her on to the ground and kept her there with ice on her wrists. Sakarya flinched at the sight, even though she knew Kiana would be alright. The suits kept the fighters from getting burns, frostbite, broken bones, and cuts, but you still felt the temperature and the pain from all four. The girl who had broken her back had a faulty suit, and when she was crushed with a boulder, well, her suit didn't do its job.
On the green mat, the smiling boy was cheering on the girl while the boy she was against was trying his best to get off the ground. The more she watched it up close, these practices seemed a lot like wrestling. If only the real sport was like that in the arena.
"Ready, Sakarya? You still have to go against Ezuka," The teacher said.
Sakarya sighed and got up, making her way back to the red mat. She stood on her side, and on the opposite side was Ezuka. She was intimidating, but that seemed to run in her genes. Her gold eyes studied Sakarya closely as they both got into stances. The air felt tensed as they waited for someone to make the first move. Ezuka didn't seem as haughty as before her brother had lost. If Eroh hadn't been so arrogant and been more on guard, Sakarya doubted she could have won. She was guessing it was going to be the case with Ezuka. Almost a minute in, and no movement from either girl. Ezuka was being smart.
Finally, her opponent made a move. A fireball whizzed past Sakarya's head, but when she tried to sidestep it another one went straight for her, making her duck. Only a second later, Ezuka was sending a ray of fire right at her chest while she was still close to the ground. It knocked her down and landed roughly on the ground, pain shooting up through her back. Ezuka made a move to hammer her down furthermore into the mat with flames, but Sakarya quickly rolled out of the way and on to her feet. She rushed at Ezuka, using her light fire followed by her hands to try and push her back. Ezuka barely staggered back a step when Sakarya kicked fire across her torso when she got close enough. Ezuka sent flames right towards Sakarya's head, and she barely was able to bend back enough to not get caught by it. She could feel some of her fly away hairs sizzling. Ezuka ran, swinging her leg around and kicked Sakarya in the back of her knees, force the girl to drop. As she went down, Ezuka grabbed hold of her shoulders, using them to help her flip to the losing girl's front. As Sakarya felt her back hit the mat, a wall of fire appeared in front of her, keeping her from getting up. The pain in her thighs from having her legs bent under her was burning.
A few seconds ticked by before the teacher's voice ended the fight. Again, everyone stared as the loser got up, but this time the loser was Sakarya. She huffed out a breath when she got to her feet, and was surprised to see Ezuka still standing there. The mute held her hand out to her, hoping to convey the message of 'good game' to her. Ezuka seemed to understand perfectly and took the other girl's hand, shaking it. She left to join her brother, and Sakarya heard the teacher grumble about 'everyone's form sucked'.
Maybe this wasn't so bad. At least she didn't die the first day. Basically the day consisted of the teacher picking apart their fights, and the group talking to each other about their styles of combat. Ezuka seemed plenty friendly, though she smiled maybe once. Eroh, however, looked disgruntled. After the end of the school day bell rang, Sakarya couldn't believe it hadn't gone horribly. She had decided to leave and go on the bus ride home, versus staying after school. Since it was the first day, it didn't really matter and everyone except the triplets did exactly was Sakarya chose to do. On her way home, she almost felt a bit of excitement for com-bending.
Made this chapter a bit longer than the last one, but I can't promise it will always be this long, lol. Heads up, I did upload chapter one and two at the same time, so if you've left a review, I'll get to it in the next chapter! So, leave a review if ya want (I'm probably coming across pretty desperate, sorry lol)! :)