It took an hour to walk from City Hall to some nondescript alleyway in Dragon Flats Borough. At the end of the alleyway was a bland and rather flimsy looking wooden door. Kya knocked.
"Password?" a rather deep and menacing voice asked from behind the doorway.
"Fuck you," Kya answered blank faced.
"I'd be glad to," the man replied opening the door. Lin raised an eyebrow glancing at Izumi who only shrugged.
"Wait!" the security guard stopped them. "Isn't she a little young to be competing in pro-bending?" He asked the team.
"She's fifteen. She's my little sister. She's just a midget, that's all," Izumi explained quickly and smoothly with a steady heartbeat and a straight face. She lies like her aunt, Lin remembered her mother telling her about Izumi.
Lin was impressed, but also a little angry wanting to punch the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation in the face for calling her a midget.
"Very well, welcome to pro-bending, little girl," the security guard said bowing to her. Lin raised an eyebrow curiously at him. They walked up to a rather scrawny man sitting at a desk.
"Team?"
"Flaming Moon Badgers," Kya answered.
Lin snorted. "Flaming Moon Badgers? That is the stupidest team name I have ever heard! Moon badgers aren't even a real thing!"
"Hey! What does it matter? We have been champions two years running!" Kya snapped back defensively.
"So? You can still be champions and have a stupid name!" Lin sneered.
"Shut up!" Kya yelled.
"Guys, is now really the time to be arguing?" Izumi snapped at them.
"She's replacing Rona?" the man at the table asked, unimpressed with the newcomer.
"Yes," Izumi answered while Lin and Kya continued to stare each other down and ignore her.
"And her name is?"
"Lina,"
"Okay," the scrawny man said scribbling the name down on a scrap of parchment handing it to a messenger boy. "...and will she need a new uniform?"
"Yes please, thank you," Izumi replied.
The man glanced at Lin for her size and then disappeared into a back room returning with a rugsack with two uniforms in it. A grey uniform with green seams and a beige uniform with green seams and a green belt inside."Here you go!" he said handing the bag to Lin who nearly disappeared beneath it because she was so small. "Good luck in the match tonight, you three." the man said with a nod and a wave.
"Come on, Lina!" Kya said grabbing Lin's skinny wrist dragging her towards their locker room for the night.
"Why did you use a fake name?" Lin asked once they were alone in the locker room, undressing. "My mom wouldn't get mad to see me fighting underground. I mean, she was the Blind Bandit in some underground earthbending scene in Gaoling when she was eight until she was twelve."
"Yeah your mom wouldn't get mad, but our dads certainly would if they find out, and frankly, Aunt Toph isn't very quiet about her pride and joy," Kya replied.
"Good point," Lin nodded pulling her beige shirt and brown shorts off standing there completely naked save for white underwear. "What is this?" Lin asked pulling a long white strip of white fabric out of her bag.
"Bindings," Izumi replied. "Come here, let me help you."
"I can tie my bindings myself," Lin said placing one end on her wrist.
"No! The white one is for your chest. The green ones are for your arms."
Lin looked down at her flat self. "But I don't have a chest yet."
Izumi sighed. "You will eventually. You should wear it for the match so you get used to it. Come here. I'll help you tie it." Lin sighed and trudged over to the bench where Izumi sat in her bindings and grey uniform pants. Lin straddled the bench and sat between Izumi's legs, resting her arms on her head. "Before we go out there, there are a few rules in pro-bending you should know."
"Awwww! You didn't tell me the ass kicking was conditional?" Lin whined slumping on the bench.
"It is all to ensure a fair game!" Izumi explained straightening the little girl's back again.
"Hmph!"
"First rule, no sub-elements," Izumi began.
"WHAT?!" Lin shrieked.
"And you can only bend the earth disks provided to you. Not the metal grates or the metal rails or the metal floor," Izumi continued.
"I don't like this game already!" Lin said folding her arms as Izumi finished wrapping her chest and began tying off the knot in the back.
"You cannot reshape the disks or break them in any way, and you cannot bend disks outside your zone,"
"Zone?"
Izumi swung a leg over the bench and Lin did the same. She took a stick and drew an oval in the dust on the floor. "The ring is shaped like this. There are a total of six zones. Three for each team. The goal of the game is to knock the members of the opposing team off the back of the ring. NOT over the sides."
Lin nodded.
"If we manage to push all members of the opposing team back a zone, one of these, we can move forward into their territory, making it easier for us to knock them off the back. If we succeed, it is called a knockout and we automatically win the match."
Lin nodded again.
"If time runs out and there are still members of the other team standing, and we've managed to push some or all of them them back a few zones, we win the round and fight again. If say, they push some of us back, but we push some of them back, and we're spread equally, its a draw and there is a coin toss to determine which team gets to choose the element to duel for the round."
Lin nodded again, standing up. She pulled on her gi and then tied her green belt around her waist just in time as an attendant knocked on the door.
"Moon badgers, you're up!" The attendant announced.
"Coming!" Izumi called. "Any questions, Lina?" Izumi asked with a wink remembering to use the fake name in front of others.
Lin shook her head and fell in line between Izumi and Kya. "But I still don't think we need the fake names." she whispered after a minute of walking in silence.
"If you're not afraid of what will happen when mine and Kya's fathers find out, then think of this headline in the newspapers of three countries and the United Republic: Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, Daughter of the Avatar, and a Daughter of the Chief Of Police lose a pro-bending match to street rats from the lowest ring in Ba Sing Se!" Izumi said with a smile, bending down to whisper in Lin's ear, waving her arm outstretched in front of the girl's face as if showing her the headline in the window of a bookstore.
Lin's face scrunched up in thought. "That's it!" Lin said firmly, stomping her foot causing the ground to jolt underneath, turning in her place to face Kya and Izumi.
"What?" Kya asked glancing at Izumi who shrugged.
Lin's face leaned forward, and her eyes narrowed into slits, her eyebrows scrunched up and lips pursed. "As long as I am on this team, we are NOT losing, just in case anyone does ever find out who we are..." Lin turned away again and kept walking. Gone was the confusion and apprehension she had while Izumi was describing the rules of game. In its place, determination and calculation took over little Linny's brain as she began to think of all the possible strategies she could employ in this game.
Shiro Shinobi:
(Flaming Moon Badgers: Kayama - Water, Lina - Earth, Ziyuan - Fire)
(Tigerdillos: Miku - Water, Riyu - Earth, Hira - Fire)
It looks like the rumors were true folks! Kaiyama of the Flaming Moon Badgers has split with the earthbender Rona from Omashu. Somehow they have managed to pull through with this tiny but no doubt mighty little earthbender by the name of Lina who is supposedly Ziyuan's half-sister. I can already tell that this little girl will be someone to look out for- AND THE BELL RINGS Signalling the start of ROUND 1. The Moon Badgers clash with the Tigerdillos with an explosive start- And LOOK AT LINA'S SPEED! She takes bending one disk at a time to a whole knew level of speed and accuracy-And Ziyuan dodges a water whip from Miku, Kaiyama dodges a foot full of fire from Hira and and narrowly misses an earth disk from Riyu. While Ziyuan and Kaiyama take a defensive stance in the beginning of this round, Lina is a tiny bending machine. And LOOK AT THAT CURVED DISK RIGHT TO THE GUT AND RIYU IS IN THE DRAIN!
Ziyuan taking on Miku in a battle of opposite elements, Fire versus Water, WHICH WILL TRIUMPH TONIGHT? And another curved shot from Lina knocks Miku back to zone two interfering with our little elemental duel. And with a cartwheel and a flip, Kaiyama and Ziyuan change places With Lina still in the middle of the ring waiting for openings to bend her curved disks. Fire on fire on the north side of the arena with Ziyuan and Hira facing off in Agni Kai- Ziyuan apparently holding back. I don't know if you can hear what we can see in the arena, radio listeners, but it appears that Ziyuan's natural fire MAY BE BLUE! Tiny Blue flames occasionally escape the red that she is using. Will the refs consider this in violation of the 'no sub-element' rules or not since it is technically still fire? Find out tonight after the game- and HIRA IS KNOCKED BACK INTO ZONE TWO FOLLOWED SHORTLY BY HER TEAM MATE MIKU! AND THE FLAMING MOON BADGERS CROSS INTO ENEMY TERRITORY. AND WITH A BEAUTIFULLY EXECUTED FIVE FORTY, LINA SENDS MIKU BACK TO ZONE THREE- and there's the bell folks, the Moon Badgers take round 1! Can the Tigerdillos make a comeback? Will the new little earthbender continue to bury them in a rockalanche?!
RING!
Shiro Shinobi:
The Tigerdillos gain up on Lina but even combined are no match for the speed and quickly abandon their efforts. Kayama is pushed back to zone 2 by Riyu. Miku is pushed back again to Zone two, this time by Ziyuan- Lina takes on the earth and water tigerdillo AT THE SAME TIME while Ziyuan takes on Hira in a second Agni Kai? Will Ziyuan's homeland style or Hira's colonial style prevail? On the other side, of the ring, Riyu is knocked back to zone two with his teammate- homeland wins the agni kai with Hira knocked into the drain! And there goes Riyu. Now it is three on one with only Miku left standing. Can Miku be enough to hold off the Moon Badgers? NOPE! And its a knock out in round two! The Flaming Moon Badgers win the match!"
"Woo hoo!" Kya jumped up with a fist in the air wrapping herself in a water spout before jumping down and splashing Lina and Izumi.
"Hey nice job out there, little Linny!" Izumi said clapping the young earthbender on the back.
Izumi boiled the water off her clothes with controlled heat while Lin kicked a disk into Kya's face. She blocked it.
"What was that for?!" Kya asked.
"Getting knocked back to zone two!" Lin replied glaring at the teenage waterbender.
"We still won the match, didn't we?!" Kya asked shrugging it off.
"Whatever," Lin replied walking back towards their end of the ring and back to the locker rooms.
Back in the locker rooms, they rinsed out their sweaty uniforms. Kya bent most of the water out, Izumi steamed them dry, and Lin was tasked with folding everything.
"And don't forget, we have training at 10AM tomorrow." Kya said throwing everything hastily into her bag.
"We have to train to this? But it is soooooo easy!" Lin whined shoving her green belt inside angrily.
"Training is also when you get paid for the match. You can leave right after. I am sure whatever you do at the Beifong Metalbending Academy is much more intense than this," Izumi promised placing her uniform into her bag neatly, careful to not ruin Lin's excellent folding job.
"Oh, okay." Lin replied with a sigh. They all shouldered their bag and departed the arena together.
"LINA! UNDER WHICH MASTER DID YOU STUDY EARTHBENDING?!"
"ZIYUAN! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR SECRET SISTER?"
"KAYAMA! ARE YOU AND RONA STILL ON SPEAKING TERMS?"
"IS LINA ON THE TEAM PERMANENTLY?"
"WILL RONA RETURN TO OMASHU?"
A combination of press and fans bombarded the Flaming Moon Badgers as soon as they exited the stadium.
Izumi and Kya both put a hand on one of Lin's bony little girl shoulders.
"Hold on!" Lin Yelled sinking them into the tunnels underneath the city, burying them in silent darkness to avoid the barrage of questions.
"I can't see a thing down here!" Kya exclaimed.
"Oh no! What a-" Lin began to say.
"NIGHTMARE!" Izumi had picked up Lin and they both made dark sneers in the blackness just as Izumi lit a blue flame in her hand revealing their faces. Kya screamed and fell over backwards, rolling over her head while Lin and Izumi roared with laughter in the light of the blue flame as it turned to a cooler red.
"We can take these tunnels to the docks or the Fire Nation Embassy..." Lin said waving her arms around in the tunnel.
"We can get ourselves home, AND we're older. Shouldn't we get you home first?" Izumi asked.
"I don't need you to babysit me!" Lin replied marginally offended.
"Sorry. It would just give me comfort knowing that you get home safe," Izumi said.
"Yeah, and frankly, I don't want to be caught at the receiving end of your mom's wrath," Kya added honestly.
"Fine, we can go to my house," Lin grumbled.
I hope you liked chapter 2! For the Flaming Moon Badgers the Fake names are as follows:
Lin- Lina
Izumi - Ziyuan (just think of the 'z's in common to remember)
Kya - Kayama
Don't forget to leave feedback in the comment/reviews section! All feedback is greatly appreciated! And I do read the comments and take them into consideration when writing so if there is something you want to see from the grumpy potato, the Fire Nation Princess, and the water hippie, let me know! :) Happy reading!