Challenge
The young fire bender huffed down the hall. He slowed his march when he saw Ursa step into the door. "Kyu, are you ready?"
"Ready? Ready for what?" he asked.
"Lin and Kya didn't tell you?" Kyu shook his head, Ursa let out an irritated sigh. "Dad wants us to meet him on the beach."
"Um, okay." he said, turning back and noticing that Lin, Tenzin and Kya were coming down the hall. He decided that he would have to wait.
.~.
As the young group neared the bottom of the stairs that were carved into the rock, they saw the adults, looking most serious, with Bumi off to the side, snickering. Zuko spoke, "Before we can let the three of you leave, you have to prove that you can defend yourselves and each other...so you have to fight us."
Ursa and Kya smiled at each other, but Kyu looked worried. He thought, 'These people are crazy' as he looked at them. The Avatar and his wife wore the clothes he'd seen them practice in on a daily basis. The Chief was in full uniform, the Fire Lord and the councilman stood shirtless, both with weapons at their hips. Bumi, Tenzin and Lin had settled on a bench that the little earth bender had pulled from the rock, then he twitched when he saw her pull a protective cage around them.
Then Sokka said, "We won't hurt you, not on purpose anyway. But we won't hold back either, and neither should you."
"Won't hold back?" Kyu said to the girls, "What does he mean by that?"
"Don't worry," Kya responded, "Dad won't go into the Avatar State, will you Dad?"
"No, I won't," he said, "but that's the only thing I'll keep to myself."
The girls got into a defensive stance as the adults encircled them. The young man didn't know how to react to the situation. They moved and stood in a triangle, backs to each other and stepped slowly in a circle.
"Who do you think will attack first?" Kya asked.
"Dad or Toph." Ursa said. "Keep an eye out for moving sand Kyu."
Kyu didn't know what to do. He had studied them as heroes of the Hundred Years War, but he'd never actually seen them fight. He just knew them as the kind-hearted family of his friends.
Suddenly, Zuko shot flames at them, which turned out to be a distraction because Sokka's boomerang came around and knocked them off their feet. "You'd better pay attention!" Katara yelled as she pulled a wave down on them.
"You too!" Kya said, pulling the wave around herself and her friends and lifting them into the air. Kyu and Ursa sent a swirling vortex of blue and red flame down and surrounded their attackers.
Aang surrounded himself in a ball of air and floated up to eye level with Ursa. He gave her an evil smirk, "Uncle Aang! Don't you-" before she could finish he pulled the water and flame from under them.
They fell a few feet before Kyu was able to grab the girls and float them down to the sand on a jet of flame. As soon as they touched the ground sand came up around them,
trapping their legs. Zuko and Sokka came at them full speed with their swords out. They pushed back, ducked and dodged until they were able to break free. The girls jumped out of the middle, leaving Kyu to dodge the swords alone. "Hey!" he yelled at them.
"Just hold on!" Ursa yelled back as she shot a huge ball of flame at Aang and then Katara and Toph, allowing Kya to make it to the water. Kya made snake-like movements sending a curtain of water around her uncles and froze them, allowing Kyu to jump free. He thanked Zuko as he took the broad swords from his hands and gave one to Ursa. They ran at Katara and Toph as Kya coated Zuko and Sokka with more ice and headed for her father.
"The old divide and conquer, huh?" Toph laughed as she charged at the young man, "How do you know that's not what we're doing to you?"
"That doesn't really matter." he said as he sent a punch of flame her way.
Toph pulled a wall of stone from deep in the ground, then she came over it, wrapping Kyu's arms in her metal cable, making him drop the sword. He gave her a sly grin as if she could see him, "Thank you Chief." he said joyfully as she grabbed the cables in his hand and sent a small shock down it. Just enough to knock Toph down.
"Damn it kid!" she yelled, "He bends lightning!"
Everyone paused for a second, even Ursa, "You bend lightning?" she said.
"Yep." he said as he ran to her, grabbing her up and running to where Kya was. He shot a bolt between her and her father to separate them and Kya took the hint and went to where they were. He encased the three of them in a round cage of lightning. "We've proven that we can protect ourselves. Is this test over?" he asked so everyone could hear him.
"No," Zuko said as he released Sokka, "You've trapped all three of you. You've proven nothing."
"Yes we have!" Kya protested, "We've fought the best and we're standing, still ready to go on."
"Yeah Dad," Ursa added, "We've held our own against you, and we've shown self-control. If we went all out someone would've gotten hurt."
"Hey," Toph said, folding her arms, "They did hold their own. And, if I say so myself, that shock move was pretty smart."
"Fine." Zuko said, "It's over."
They all let their guard down. Hugs were given all around and they headed back up the stairs. "Hey kid." Toph called up to Kyu.
"Yes Chief?" he said, turning to face her. Just then a stump of earth shot up and truck him in the behind, pushing him down two steps.
"Don't you ever shock me again."
.~.
"Alright guys, go wash up then come to the house for lunch." Katara said as she neared the top of the steps.
"Kyu," Ursa asked, "when did you learn to bend lightning?"
He hesitated to answer, "I asked one of my father's soldiers to teach me after your birthday."
Zuko was impressed, but he refused to show it. It was obvious that this young man learned the new skill so he could protect Ursa.
.~.
They reached the top of the stairs and headed towards the dorms. The younger children walked part of the way with them before they went off toward the house to get ready for lunch. Finally Ursa and Kyu were alone. "Hey Ursa," he started, "Could I ask you something?"
"Sure Kyu." she answered in a bouncy tone, still happy about their recent victory.
"Um, well, I heard about this place at our first stop. It's supposed to be really nice. Would you like to go?"
"That sounds great. I hope Kya hasn't already been there before though, she's been all over that place. What's the name of it, maybe-"
"No," he reached out and grabbed her hand to stop her, "not with Kya, just with you."
Ursa looked down, Kyu was still holding on to her hand. She looked up at him, "Just us?"
"We can't just leave Kya alone." she said, fighting the urge to tell him yes.
"Isn't her grandfather there?" he asked, drawing her closer still.
"Yes, Chief Hakoda is there."
"Then she won't be alone."
They were standing toe to toe now. They hadn't been so close since the night of her birthday. "I'd love to go." she said with a light blush.
"Good." he quickly kissed her on the cheek and ran off to get ready for lunch.
.~.
As they came near to their house, Katara left Toph's side and went to walk beside Aang. When he looked down at her she said, "You know it's time right?"
He looked at her, puzzled, "Time for what?" he asked
"It's time to talk to Tenzin."
Oblivious, Aang said, "Talk to Tenzin about what?"
"You know what I mean. It's time to 'talk' to Tenzin."
The air bender stopped in his tracks, "No. It can't be." he said a little too loudly and drew the attention of everyone else, who stopped and looked at him. He blushed, "Don't mind me, carry on."
Katara went to where he was standing while the rest of the group walked on. Aang glanced at his sons as they passed him and the younger one shot him a rather disgusted look. He looked down at his wife, "Katara, it can't be time to have the talk with him already."
"Aang, he'll be eleven soon, and he's changing already. Don't you see the way he's been acting lately?"
"Yes, I know." he conceded, "Did you see the look he just gave me?"
"Yeah, and I see the ones that you don't see."
"What? How often does he do that?"
"Lately it's been at least a couple times a day, but it's not as bad as Kya was when she started."
He gave a defeated sigh, "Okay, I'll talk to him later, Maybe tomorrow."
Katara wrapped her arm around her husband and gave him a pitying pat on the back as they started back on their walk to the house. She felt bad for her husband, he was already having a hard time letting go of their only daughter, now he had to admit to himself that their youngest was growing up.
I'm not so good at the action thing, but I wanted to add it in. Hope it doesn't suck too bad, I tried.
I do not own ATLA or LOK