Disclaimer: I do not own The Legend of Korra.
I retrieve the newspaper from my front step and walk back inside. I gaze at the front cover, delighted to see my face. My eyes skim the article curious on what they wrote about me this time. 'The Wolfbats are not backing down this year, or any time soon by the looks of it. The three year defending champs are looking better than ever. Will anyone ever break their rein on the arena?' The front page is covered in details about the last match and info on my fellow Wolfbats and I. 'Tahno, captain of the Wolfbats, really knows how to string his team together. Every match is flawless in form and most end in a knockout.' I smirk at the paper and turn the page to explore for more pictures of myself. Instead I'm greeted with a picture of a girl riding a polar bear dog down a street. My eyes widen and I search the page for an article on the mysterious watertribe girl. 'Republic City opens her arms to a new resident, Avatar Korra.' The Avatar? I read the full article, her escape from the Southern Water Tribe, her arrest, and how she is now living on Air Temple Island with the airbending Master Tenzin. I examine her picture closer, she looks tough, but her beast looks tougher. That polar bear dog is ridiculously huge. It looks like something that would eat everything in its path. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and throw the newspaper down on the counter. I flick on the radio and listen to the same thing that I just read. I sigh and turn off the radio just in time for Shaozu and Ming to bust through my front door.
"Hey Tahno tonight our-"
"Ever heard of knocking? Savages." I say cutting them off angrily. The exchange a glance then Ming hesitantly continues.
"Tonight our match has been rescheduled to a later time slot." Ming informs me.
"Why?" I ask while noticing the newspaper which is flipped to the picture of the Avatar. I glance at my teammates hoping they don't spot it. I swoop down to pick it up and I carry it away and shove it in a drawer while Shaozu explains.
"The Catgators requested a later match but they won't say why." The firebender explains.
"Yeah, so now we will play after the Fire Ferrets and the Platypus Bears." Ming finishes. I nod, turn my back on the drawer and face my teammates.
"Let's go to the arena and try to get a little more practice in the gym then." I suggest. Although it's not much of a suggestion because I know they will come, they would follow me anywhere. The two nod and we file out of my apartment.
The arena is already becoming crowded outside. Some crazy pro-bending fans will wait for hours to get good seats at the matches. We push past the pack of people and walk up the golden steps to the arena. Some of the people cheer as we enter while others boo and shout names at us. I ignore all the voices and prepare myself for the night ahead of me. I try to focus myself on beating the Catgators senseless. Finally we make it to the locker room. Instead of piling myself down with the training armor I just slip on a sleeveless black shirt and shorts. My teammates do the same, Ming wearing green and Shaozu wearing red. We stroll into the gym to find it occupied by the Rabaroos. None the less we saunter into the gym, approaching the rival team. I catch the eye of the captain,Umi,the feisty waterbender. This team I love to mess with the most. The Rabaroos are one of the few all female teams. I smirk as is get closer and closer to the three women. Umi loses focus on her bending and with a sigh she turns to face us.
"What Tahno?" She spits my name as if it is a swear word. I stop merely a foot away from Umi and stare down at her. Her teammates, Adi and Ila both stop their bending and turn their head towards us. I reach my hand out as if to caress Umi's face.
"I just noticed you and thought-" Umi snatches my hand before it reaches her face and she glares up at me with irritated silver eyes.
"Stop teasing!" Umi growls.
"Oh so you do want me?" I mock. Umi throws my hand back down to my side and continues glaring at me.
"What are you talking about?" She shouts wildly.
"You called me a tease." I explain shortly. I look behind Umi and notice Adi and Ila also glaring at me. "Aw come on ladies, why the frowns? Why can't we all just be friends?" I stalk past Umi and greet her teammates by placing my arms around their shoulders. "Unless of course, you want something more." I drawl suggestively. Adi and Ila scowl at me and free themselves from under my arms. I hear Ming and Shaozu chuckle as they stand and watch.
"Seriously what do you want?" Adi asks looking as if she would just love for me to burst into flames.
"Goodness you ladies are eager to please me aren't you?" I taunt.
"Come on Tahno, just spit it out." Umi snarls. I chuckle lightly.
"We're about to use the gym." I admit.
"No you're not, we're using it." Umi argues with rage filling her eyes.
"You were using the gym." I correct with a cocky smirk plastered to my face. Umi's eyes widen in fury.
"No! Its first come, first serve! We were here first!" Umi yells. I laugh and come closer to Umi, inches away. I can tell by the look in Umi's eyes that she is uncomfortable by my closeness but she refuses to back down.
"Actually we've been first…for three years now, so I believe that we are using the gym now." I see the undeniable hatred bursting in Umi's eyes. Really the Rabaroos have no choice, I always get what I want.
"Come on girls…lets go." Umi growls under her breath, knowing that she can't argue with me. The three push past me, intentionally bumping into my shoulder, and stomp into the ladies locker room. Ming and Shaozu laugh almost uncontrollably once they disappear.
"Now that is how it's done!" Shaozu says as if he made a contribution to the scheme.
"Enough fooling around get to work." I order. My teammate's laughter slowly dies down and soon we are all focused on bending, ready to crush the Catgators. We're interrupted by the loud speaker as the iconic voice of Shiro Shinobi rings out through the whole building.
"Here we go! We will be starting off our night of heart pounding matches in just a moment folks! So grab your snacks and the kids because tonight should be filled with action packed fun!" Shiro announces.
"I should be going; I need to watch the matches to check out who will make it into the tournament." Shaozu explains as he jogs away into the locker room. Soon we can hear the roar of an audience and the faint booming of Shiro's voice.
"Sounds like they started." Ming says lifting up a earth disk.
"How many games are before ours?" I ask as I circle water around myself.
"Four." Ming informs me. And those games sure do fly fast, because before I know it Shaozu has returned.
"Hey guys the match before ours is about to start better get changed so we can be ready." Shaozu suggests while already in the grey and brown Wolfbat uniform. Ming and I change quickly and the three of us head down the hallways until we find the balcony that we will enter the arena from.
"And now the Fire Ferrets!" The announcer screams into his microphone just as we make it to the balcony where the Platypus Bears stand. "Playing against the Pinnacle Place Platypus Bears!" The platform where the Platypus Bears stand stretches outward towards the arena and they walk onto the blue zone waving to the enthusiastic crowd.
"Look at that waterbender on the Fire Ferrets team. That's not the usual one." Shaozu points out. My eyes scan the playing field and I spot the waterbender dressed in a uniform that is much too big for her. Her helmet keeps falling down her face as she lines up on the center line.
DING! The bell sounds and almost immediately the new waterbender knocks a Platypus Bear to the side, he flips over the ropes and dives straight into the water. I have to contain my laughter. What an amateur! Everyone knows that you can't just knock a player off the sides. The waterbender runs around in circles thrusting her hands up into the sky as if she had just won the match. She has no idea what she's doing.
"Oh this should be good." I state what everybody must be thinking. I watch as the waterbender gets pushed back a zone and the match restarts again. The elements go flying but I can't keep my eyes off of the Fire Ferrets waterbender. It's pretty soon after the match restarts that the waterbender gains another fowl by stepping over the line and is moved back to zone three.
"Who is this girl? They would have been better off to forfeit!" Shaozu says while laughing.
"The Platypus Bears take round one!" Shiro announces. "The Platypus Bears know a green player when they see one and they are focusing the front of their bending on this poor girl." Shiro shouts as round two starts. The waterbender girl is being bashed around by all the elements. You can see the girl's frustration from a mile away but suddenly she bends two earth disks from the ground, and uses them as a shield.
"Whoa! Did she just earthbend!" Ming shouts while craning his neck to look at the girl. No way. It's the Avatar. I run to the edge of the balcony and grip the ropes. I glare down at the girl in the baggy red uniform. How did I not see it? The tan skin and the same brown hairstyle, it really is her.
"She's the Avatar folks! Playing in a pro-bending match! Can you believe that!" Shiro yells excitedly.
"That's got to be cheating." Shaozu states while folding his arms and glaring down at the ring.
"The Avatar will be permitted to continue so long as she solely bends water." The referee announces.
"Or not." Shaozu adds quietly to himself. The match is quickly restarted and the Avatar gets thrown off the ring and plummets down into the water leaving the bending brothers to defend the field.
"The Platypus Bears win round two! Round three!" The Platypus bears take a different tactic now, instead of going after the Avatar they push the bending brothers into the corner of zone one. The two fight to stay in the zone but from the looks of it, it won't be long until the Platypus Bears defeat them. The Avatar gets pushed back to zone three and is teetering over the edge but she regains her balance and keeps fighting. Suddenly she turns into a whole different bender. She moves gracefully around in circles easily dodging all her opponents' attacks. I watch as the Platypus Bears grow tired and can barely even throw their element. The Ferrets suddenly look as though they have a chance. They bash away at the Platypus Bears and one by one they fall off the ring.
"They did it." I state in complete shock.
"Looks like we'll be seeing them in the tournament." Ming adds. My eyebrows furrow and I clutch the ropes of the balcony tighter.
"They won't even come close to us in the tournament." I growl.
"And now the Whitefalls Wolfbats!" I slip my helmet over my head careful not to mess up my hair and I step onto the platform.
"Let's do this."