"Hah it's really you!" the girl cried out and put an arm around the water bender, "No way Rose too? What are you water tribe folks doing here? Is the princess and fish boy here too?"
"No unfortunately it's just these two flighty broads," Dave backed away from the kick Karkat sent but was unable to avoid the hard smack on his arm from Rose.
"And here I travelled half way across the world to find a proper fire bending teacher yet I'm stuck with this mess."
"Fire bending teacher? No way Rose? You're a water bender, are you really?" Terezi let go of Karkat and zoomed into Rose with great interest.
The water tribe scholar just smiled at her, shook her head and pointed at Karkat. The police force captain or whatever she was, turned around so quickly that it made him flinch and step back. She had on the biggest grin that made him swear he saw fangs. It made him want to turn and run. He almost did it too but as soon as he turned around a metal wire wrapped around him and pulled him backwards towards the girl. Once he was in range she retracted the wire and put an arm over his shoulders.
"The Karkat 'I hate taking bending lessons' Vantas is THE Avatar!?" her cackle was laced with excitement that was easily heard. Her men for some reason were beginning to feel uneasy.
"Am I going to hear this with every person we meet? Your reaction was almost exactly the same as Vriska's."
Terezi's grin immediately disappeared. All of her men flinched, "C-captian! We shall wait back at the ship for you!"
Within seconds her men scattered away back to the port.
"Wait Vriska? You saying you met her before getting here?" Dave asked for Terezi who had hostility in her eyes.
"More like she attacked us-"
"When? Where? What day did you arrive?" Terezi grabbed Karkat's collar and interrogated him.
"Wha- we arrived two-three days ago. She attacked us about two weeks before we got here though, Karkat quickly answered with his arms put up in defense.
"Tch long gone by now," Terezi let go of him and looked down to the side in disappointment.
"What's your beef with her anyways? She had the same look on her face when I said your name," the Avatar looked at her with question as the young captain clenched her fists.
"A lot . . . has happened during the past six years . . ."
"Perhaps it's better to not pry," Rose advised in a whisper, "She will most likely tell you when she's ready. It's not like you want to tell everyone why you missed the last banquet right?"
Karkat looked down with his eyes furrowed slightly and nodded.
"Hey want to see Karkat's progress in his fire bending?" Dirk immediately spoke up to break the tension.
Terezi's mood made a complete 180 and her grin returned, "Yes! Show me your sick fires Mr. Avatar! Oh I want to see if you got any better at water bending too! Oh oh Rose we have to have another match as well!"
"Then put your order in so Dave and I can get started on it and then you can go to the back with Karkat and Rose to show off," Dirk suggested.
"Awesome so I need 10 of the basic set, 15 of the advanced set and 5 of the custom benders set."
"Wow you weren't kidding when you said you had a big order. That's going to take a while."
"That's why I come to you guys. The Striders are the best for this kind of job! And you're a lot faster than everyone else."
"You flatter us Captain Pyrope. Want us to do maintenance on your cane as well?" Dave offered.
"Yes even better!" Terezi turned around and made a comical frown in wonder, "Hey where'd all my men go?"
"They scattered like it was going to be the apocalypse back to their ship," Karkat explained referring to her sudden change in mood once Vriska was brought up.
"Huh I guess they didn't want to wait. Oh well I'm going to be here all week so I'll just bring it in tomorrow! Let's go water tribe people and show me your moves. Have fun guys you'll get your hefty payment once it's finished as usual," Terezi called out to the Striders as she pushed Rose and Karkat towards the back.
"Leave it to us," Dirk rolled his shoulders before heading in, "Let's go little bro. Let's see if we can finish this in record time. Bet I can make more sets than you can."
"Oh you're on," Dave accepted the challenge and walked in.
"So what shall we start with? Karkat showing what he has learned so far or our little duel?" Rose asked once they reached the back field.
"Hmmm I think I want to start with the duel. I haven't found a really good opponent in so long and I could use the exercise," Terezi revealed an excited grin.
"Very well then. Karkat be sure to watch, you could learn a thing or two from this match," Rose gave him a smile that looked more like a smirk as she walked towards the center of the field. Karkat looked back at her with a scowl and a glare when he sat down.
"Hehe yes watch and learn the masters young Avatar," Terezi patted his head and then took her spot across from Rose.
"So any rules you wish to place on this match at all oh fearless captain?" Rose asked while taking her stance.
"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" Terezi thought a bit and then stomped on the ground. All around the field a small indent in the earth formed a large rectangle around the girls, "There an arena match. Anyone who takes a step outside loses alright?"
"Sounds fair enough."
"Oh wait a sec," Terezi ran over to Karkat and dropped her spectacles onto his lap, "Hold onto these for me and oh be the ref too."
"What? Don't you need these to see?" Karkat asked the earth bender captain.
"I never wear them when I fight don't you remember?" Terezi smiled with fang like characteristics. Karkat blinked and an image of a younger Terezi appeared in front of him wearing the exact same smile. Blinking again the image disappeared and the earth bender went back to her position across from Rose.
"Alright ready when you are," Terezi posed and beckoned the water bender with her hand.
"I'll take that as a sign to go first," Rose waved her hands and the water bin beside Karkat was immediately drained. The body of water enveloped Rose before twisting her up and letting he sit atop of the water. With a flick of her wrist water from the bottom of the mass shot out and headed straight for the earth bender.
The calm captain with her constant smile appeared to easily evade the water bullets and was steadily approaching the mass of water. Once the tirade of water stopped flying at her, Terezi shot out one of the wires on her right arm towards the water as if to pop the bubble. It didn't pop the bubble, instead it just sunk in then sharply turned upwards to try to hit Rose. The large mass of water suddenly froze making the wire stop in its tracks and making Terezi stuck as well since the wire was stuck onto her armour. Rose took this chance and turned a bit of the ice into water. She jumped off the large mound of ice and dashed towards Terezi with two water whips floating by her sides.
Terezi stomped and created a couple of earth walls Rose had to maneuver around and with the distraction Terezi took off the piece of armour with the wire connected to it and ran to the side effectively dodging Rose's attack right when the water bender made it past the walls. With another stomp and forward movement of her arms two large rocks flew towards the water bender. Rose swiftly dodged the first rock and put her arms together meshing the two water whips together before turning them both into one piece of ice in a lance like shape. The second rock flew towards the ice lance and shattered to pieces once it hit the tip.
"Genius Lalonde strikes again. What a move! You never cease to surprise me," Terezi commented as she shot out her second wire at her.
The ice lance turned back into water and absorbed the wire slowing down the strike and within the water Rose grabbed the end of the wire, "You have been getting a lot better as well Captain Terezi."
Terezi let out a laugh and Rose couldn't help but let out a smile of enjoyment. Rose let go of the wire and the two dashed towards each other. The wire retracted quickly and shot out again and headed towards Rose like a whip. Rose lashed out her water whip at the same time. The wire and mass of water barely touched each other before flowing past and hitting the opponent in the stomach and making them both fly backwards. Terezi managed to step down and form some earth to grab around her legs to make her stop just before the arena line while Rose created a wall of ice behind her where she stepped on and then landed gracefully right before the arena line on the other side of the field.
The water bender let out a breath of relief and put her hand at her stomach, "Whew quite some strength you have there."
"I can say the same to you," Terezi responded in a position the same as Rose with her hand over her stomach.
"Karkat you'll catch flies that way. Close your mouth," Rose stated without even looking at the boy. The Avatar immediately shut his mouth finally realizing that he had been gaping in awe. This battle was just as intense as the match Rose had with Vriska and both again were equal. Even though he would never admit it, he had thought Rose was the strongest bender out of their whole group. The last two matches had changed his mind and most likely throughout his travels he may see stronger benders in their group.
Terezi took the next attack. A pillar of earth shot up right beneath Rose and shot up high in the sky leaving the water bender isolated in the air. She made a similar pillar appear in front of her but it was a lot shorter. With a couple of kicks at the pillar 5 earth discs formed and flew towards the water bender. The giant ice mass that was still lying on the field turned into water, releasing Terezi's trapped wire that she had abandoned before, and flew towards Rose. It then formed into a curved ice ramp heading towards the ground. Rose quickly hopped onto it and skated down the ramp just as the earth discs hit the top of the earth pillar she was just on. Terezi let out a whistle before creating more pillars around her and continuing the onslaught of earth discs.
Rose just casually skated down the ramp as the discs flew past her. Somehow she was able to control her speed slowing down when a disc flew in front of her and speeding up when a disc flew behind her. Terezi soon caught on and directed a few disc at the ice ramp in front of Rose breaking her path and hoping to make the girl fall. But of course the girl was not shocked or distressed. She quickly took action and turned her ice ramp into a water mass below her which gently caught her fall and she bounced off the bubble like water before landing on the ground. The water blob then formed into ice pillars and she countered the earth discs with her own ice ones. The battle continued with these pucks flying through the air either smashing into each other or barely missing each other and heading towards their true target.
The two benders sidestepped or stepped backwards to avoid the flying discs and moved in a strange rhythm like a dance. As the two got farther apart the discs flew faster. It appeared that Rose would soon run out of water and Terezi could gain the upper hand but Karkat knew that Rose would easily create a distraction so that she could gather up the scattered ice fragments and the flying disc duel could start again or some other intricate type of bending would be played out. Just when Rose was at the end of her water stock the Avatar prepared himself to see the next set of breath taking bending but instead the two girls took a step backwards at the same time and stopped. The both looked down which made Karkat look to where they were looking.
Both of them had stepped into the indent Terezi had made earlier.
"Man! I was having so much fun I completely forgot about the arena!" Terezi laughed as she plopped down onto the ground in self disappointment but laughed anyways.
"Unfortunately I had the same thoughts as well," Rose fixed a part of her hair that came loose and stood relaxingly, "It would seem to be another draw."
"Hehe that was intense as usual!" Terezi jumped up, "Your scholarly look hides the master bender underneath."
"Is that to be taken as a compliment or an insult?" Rose smirked.
Karkat looked around as they chatted. The whole back field looked like a mess with protruding earth formations and ice shards scattered everywhere.
"So you learn anything Karkat?" Terezi asked as she snapped back on the armour she previously took off and recoiled the wire before she attempted to push the earth back to the way it was. Rose was also picking up the ice shards and returning the water back to the bin beside him.
"Yeah you two are insane. Don't you have anything better to do than practice bending all day?" Karkat thought to himself. Of course his days had consisted of going to school and fishing. On rare occasions Feferi and Rose would take him out to practice bending when they had the time.
"We have a gift why not practice and perfect it? Bending is dwindling now you know," Terezi gave him a puzzled look, "I know you're not of fan of school like situations but it never hurts to practice by yourself to get better. It can help you out in a lot of situations."
"You sound like Feferi."
"Then she's right. Princess isn't just saying it cause it's part of her job," within a few seconds the two benders finished clearing the field and it looked as if they had never had a match in the first place, "Now it's your turn to show off your moves!"
"Er fuck," Karkat began to have second thoughts. After seeing such an amazing display of bending, his own performance would be like child's play to them. He wondered if he should have volunteered to go first.
"Do you have cold feet now Karkat?" Rose sat down beside him.
"Of course not!" Karkat stood up in fury before realizing he just caught the bait. Taunting him always seemed to work.
"I just wanna see come on!" Terezi took her glasses from Karkat and flashed him a wide somewhat pleading smile.
"It's not all that great. Just the basics and shit."
"Good enough! It's cool already that you can bend more than one element so why not show off?" Terezi shoved him up front as she sat down with Rose and put on her glasses. She sat there with anticipation.
He stood there and blinked at the two not knowing what to do.
"Why don't you start with a few water moves Karkat. Pretend we're not here," Rose suggested.
Karkat inhaled and exhaled before taking a stream of water from the water bin and practicing moves with it. While watching Terezi got an idea and stood up. She made a few movements without Karkat noticing so when two human like figures made from earth crawled up beside him it made him cry out and drop his water. Rose and Terezi giggled at him.
"Just a few practice dummies for you to work with. Think of them as opponents and no need to hold back okay? I'll control them from here," with some more movements the stone people began to walk towards Karkat and one of them even threw a punch at him.
Karkat quickly dodged and rose his water back up from the ground. The next couple of moments consisted of him dodging the earth attacks and slicing off earth limbs with his stream of water. The earth limbs quickly connected back together so he was pretty much repeating his movements over and over again. For some reason he began to get annoyed like the earth figures were taunting him for no apparent reason. Though it was just in his head it pissed him off and he dropped the water stream again. In a new stance he brought his right fist to the side of his waist while facing one of the figures with his left side.
With a simple twist of the body and bringing his right fist toward the head of the figure, a burst of flame flew out from his punch and set the head on fire. The second figure stopped it's movements from Terezi looking on with glee and Karkat took the chance to do a reverse roundhouse kick right in front of it. Flames flew from his foot and quickly set the second one on fire and within a matter of seconds the two earth figures turned into mounds of ash on the field.
"That . . . was awesome!" Terezi cried and leapt over to Karkat, "Sure they were simple moves but wow you're THE Avatar! This is so cool! Hey hey Rose what are the chances of me being able to recruit him to my group once he's finished his lessons?"
"Well I think we should take things one step at a time. It depends on how long it takes him to master all the elements and so far he's already made a bet with his father saying that he would at least get the basics of all four elements by the end of this year," Rose explained as Terezi practically ran circles around the boy.
"Karkat you had better master all of those elements soon so you can join me and it will be loads of fun together hunting down and persecuting the world's biggest criminals!"
"He of course has many other Avatar duties that he must fulfill. Perhaps he could join you on your quest of justice in his free time."
"Yeah that reminds me what the hell do you even do?" Karkat asked, "What are you some head of some police force? Why are you travelling? Shouldn't you just be stationed in one fucking town or something?"
"Just being city police is boring. I got permission to have my own special troop to go across the nation to hunt down the biggest of the unlawful criminals out there. The Spider Lilies being an example."
"I thought you were more into that legislator or lawyer stuff and persecuting criminals in court," Karkat tried to reach back into his old memories.
"I did but I found that it's more fun to capture the criminals myself! And thanks to my connections I can be a legislator too sometimes. You've missed out on a lot Karkat! If you went to the last banquet you would have known!"
"Yeah well . . . things happened."
Terezi looked at his face and saw the change in mood, "We need to have a nice long talk to catch up later okay?"
". . . Alright sounds good."
"Hehe you smiled!" Terezi chuckled and Karkat instantly frowned.
"You ladies done back here? We're going into town to eat if you guys want!" Dave called out from the window of the smith.
"Oh! I'll treat! Let's go you two!" Terezi grabbed the hands of the two water benders and headed to the front. As they ran around the house, Karkat took a peek inside past Dave. Inside hanging on the wall was a metal uniform similar to Terezi's beside it was another one that looked unfinished. So not only were they sword smiths but they were armour makers too? Or perhaps metal smiths would suit them better. Nah that sounds stupid.
"Hey Captain you're going to scare the citizens in that get up," Dirk stated at the door as he hung up an apron and tossed his gloves onto a table nearby.
"Oh guess I should change first," Terezi looked down at her earth nation metal bender enforcer outfit, "I'll meet you right at the town gates!"
Karkat watched her run back to the port and didn't realize Dave had crept up beside him.
"Nice moves out there."
"JESUS FUCK!" Karkat cried in surprise and jumped back, "DON'T DO THAT EVER AGAIN."
Dave just smirked at him and walked ahead, "Last one there has to pay."
"Terezi just said she'd treat asshole," though he said that he dashed ahead anyways. Dave saw him run past him and ran after him.
"Ah young love," Dirk said in a low voice so only Rose could hear that brought an amused smile to her lips.