HOLY SH*T, you guys. Holy. Sh*t. Avatar Korra release date had been RELEASED (April 14th) and two more trailers. They're both bad-ass and Amon has potential to actually be SCARY.
I could honestly rant for an entire chapter but I won't torture you guys anymore!
Thanks guys for the couple of reviews I've gotten so far! It's awesome. ^_^
Especially to AvatarEternity and blckraven88!
Anywho, on with the show!
And the fourteen tributes delivered to the Ba Sing Se arena were to be trained
in the art of survival and prepeared to fight to the death.
"Try to cheer up, will you?" Pakku asked irritabley. "The least you two could do is fake a smile. Wouldn't hurt to charm the citizens. Get some sympathy."
In response, the Watertribe siblings grunted, arms locked firlmy over their chests. Yue gazed out at the vast blue sea, beginning to rethink her act of valor. And, of course, Hanh couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"I can't wait to get into the arena," he boasted, sounding like a broken record. "Snap some Muddy necks."
Katara frowned as Hanh spit the derrogitory name for 'earthbenders'. She finally turned over her shoulder, glaring at him as the boat rocked lazily in the water.
"Got a problem, sweet-cheeks?" Hanh asked.
Katara grit her teeth. "You know, I can't wait to see you get taken down. I just hope I'd get to do it myself."
Sokka cringed, looking at his sister. Ever since the reaping day, her personality had shifted. Sure, she was still motherly and passionate, but more aggressive and angry. His blue eyes shifted from his seething sister to the endless ocean that surrounded them, contemplating how far he'd make it before drowning if he decided to jump ship. But, noticing the Fire Navy soldier keeping tabs on the teenagers, he decided against it. No matter what happened, whether it be jumping ship or entering the arena, death was ensured.
The only way to live was to win.
"Hmph, that'll be the day," Hanh jeered confidently.
Whap!
Everyone winced as their second mentor, an ancient woman named Hamma, slapped Hanh upside the head. She gently rubbed her frail bones, scowling.
"Enough talk like that. The last thing you want to do is kill a member of your own. It's down-right barbaric," she advised.
Beside her, Pakku's eyes narrowed.
"Now, getting down to business," she said, folding her legs as she sat on the children's level on the ship deck. "How many of you are benders?"
Only Katara raised her hand. Pakku and Hamma sighed loudly.
"The rest of you will have to train extensively. I'm not going to let you slack, Katara, but being a bender in the Games makes things exponentially easier. Finding water for survival and battle, mostly. So the rest of you will find a weapon and specialize in it. We're instructed to have no favorites, but after so many years...it isn't a problem for Pakku or I."
Katara exchanged an uneasy glance between Sokka.
"Hamma?" Katara asked quietly. "What...what happens if it does come down to Sokka and I?" It as a question that had been nagging her and Sokka ever since their names were drawn by Joo Dee.
Hamma wet her chaped lips, thinking for a moment. "It all depends on you. The Games change people; you'll be affected by desperation, starvation, paranoia. You'll feel like everyone's out to get you...but that's because they are out to get you."
"Your morals will have to be strong if you want to make a decision. But nothing is right in the Games. Everyone dies, whether it be on your own accord of by the hands of those controlling the Games, from the outside," Pakku added.
"Katara and Yue, you will train with me," Hamma told the two women.
"You and the loud-mouth will be training with me," Pakku added, directing his sentence at Sokka.
The lot nodded, following the mentors to seperate ends of the ship, Fire Nation soldiers watching their every move.
"Yue," Hamma said, rubbing her hands together, "display anything you know about self-defense."
The Princess looked around nervously, wathcing as the practive men in padded suits lined the perimeter of the training deck. Katara sat to the side, watching intently. She bit her lip, cautiously walking up to one of the men. He put up his gloves.
"Remember, Li, no holding back. We need to see her in real combat."
The masked man, Li, nodded.
Slowly, Yue took a stance she had seen other Watertribesman take while battling one another, though her slight frame was awkwardly positioned by her embarassment. She swung her left arm, attempting to land a hit on his right ear, though the assault was easily blocked. He shoved her back, and she tumbled onto her backside. After several similar attempts, she was knocked onto her back and stayed motionless, looking into the sky.
Hamma's unsettling figure hovered over her, a frown plastered on her face.
"If I were a tribute, you'd be dead by now." The old woman extended a hand to the princess. "I heard how you ended up here. Tell me, what was going through your head when you volunteered?"
Yue searched her mind before thoughtlessly uttering, "Justice."
"Exactly," Hamma snapped. "You're looking to do the right, brave, selfless thing in a world dominated by greed and wrong-doing. Channel that passion into saving yourself. No one will be watching your back in that arena. You've got to do right by yourself if you want to survive."
Yue's shoulders sagged. "I'm not cut out for this."
"Obviously, if you had the gull to put your life on the line in place of a poor amputee, you are," Hamma retorted. They looked at one another a moment longer, Hamma shook her head. "We'll deal with your plan of attack later. Swap out with Katara."
The timid princess was soon replaced with the motherly peasant. Hamma rested her hands on her hips. "Display the highest amount of waterbending skill you posess."
Instantly, Katara was dancing around the training platform, flowing like water personified. Tendrils of water weaved in and out of the practice men, disorienting and knocking them over. She ended by lifting herself high into the air on a column of water, using the remaining liquid to freeze into ice and impale the floor mere inches from Hamma's feet.
The mentor clapped as the girl lowered herself, disapating the water. "You seem to have your element well-developed. I may have my work cut out for me with you." Hamma tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Though, I could teach you a crucial method of bending that would significantly aid you. Blood bending: controlling the blood in another's body, imposing your will over theirs." Both Katara and Yue's eyes widdened in horror.
"I...I'm not sure if I want that type of power over someone," Katara said quietly.
"You'll learn it," Hamma decided. "As a back-up if you refuse to use it. It's a last resort method, or it will be for you, at least. You'll never know what'll happen in the arena and it's better to be over-prepared than under."
Slowly, Katara copied Hamma's forms as Yue studied her grace intently.
Meanwhile, Sokka and Hanh gunted ove each other's bodies, wrestling each other.
"Enough, enough," Pakku sighed. The two boys reluctantly pulled themselves away from one another, glaring through the periphery of their vision. "You're wrestling the honorable way. It's better to get used to playing dirty now, while learning is still an option."
"You can't learn in the arena?" Sokka asked.
"The only way you learn in there is through experience...and you usually won't live long enough to utilize that lesson." Pakku paced the training platform's edges., plucking a tendril from the sea and twisting it around fluidly. "You must be quick and strong, gracefl but forceful. Of course," he whipped Hanh in the side of the face before tossing the water into the sea once more, "cheap shots are always allowed. Biting, scratching, spitting, clawing, et cetera et cetera. You won't be battling other Watertribe members, who adhere to the ettiquete of wrestling because they're used to it. You'll be taking on different cultures, different rules, different styles. It's better to familiarize yourself with them."
Pakku clapped, two robed men carrying a heavy pile of tomes in their arms shuffing towards the pair. They dumped them into Hanh and Sokka's hands, nearly knocking the men over in the process. Pakku grinned a malicious grin.
"Which is why, on top of your daily training, you will be studying up on the other nation's techniques at night."
Despite the animosity they felt for one another, Sokka and Hanh exchanged an uneasy and pleading look with each another, silently asking the other to do them a favor and strangle them in their sleep.
"Three, two, one!" Lo shouted, her voice echoing across the monumental Fire Navy vessel.
Immidatley, the four condemned tributes descended onto the training deck, fighting their own battles.
Ty Lee cartwheeled and flipped into a circle of seven brawny men, dodging their monsterous paws and landing several quick but strong jabs all across the canvases of their skin before, one by one, they plunked to her feet. She smiled triumphantly, looking to her left as Zuko trained.
He was letting his fury fuel his firebending as he let out a large yell, shooting a tunnel of fire at a cloaked man. The fire englufed him, though the specialized suit protected him. As the fire disappated, the opponent stood taller, singe marks dotting his costume. He took a meditational stance before moving his arms around as fluidly as a Waterbender's, lightning slowly charching in his hands. The cloaked man shot a lazy bolt of lightning at the scarred prince, who easily redirected it into the sky, the power behind it ten-fold.
Beside him, Chan, who had entered the Games with confidence, was, to put it politely, floundering. He stumbled around frantically as five men entrapped him in a circle and had begun pushing him around, pretending to stab him to death with faux blades. Eventually, the dizzy teenager flopped to the ground in defeat.
Yana Lee was a formidable opponenet, Ty Lee and Zuko observed, as she swiftly evaded several large and fast men, waiting for just the right moment to strike, landing a solid punch in sensitive areas almost everytime.
"Her accuracy level is impecable," Iroh muttered to Lo.
The woman nodded, her twin sister doing the same beside her, light 'mm's escaping their noses.
Once Yana Lee had fought off the last competitor, the four undesirables stared expectantly at their mentors.
"Ty Lee," Lo began. "Your form is a bit sloppy. Had one of those men been thinking like a tribute, he would've knocked you down upon landing. Be more nimble."
"And Zuko," Iroh said, exchanging an odd glance with his nephew, "draw the power behind your Firebending through knowledge, breathing, and the energy that flows through you. Relying on anger is not a good way to fight. Your anger could blind you from noticing your surroundings."
"And Yana Lee," the twins said in unison. They gazed at this tired but panting and sweating young woman, nodding. "Continue with what you're doing...but of course, you will have to learn to battle for the offensive side, instead of only playing defense."
The vagabond nodded.
"Well," Iroh said, sitting himself on his ornate pillow, "run it again."
"Three, two, one, go!" Lo ordered, joining her sister and Iroh.
The three elderly beings began to sip their tea.
"Ah, finest brew in the Fire Nation..." Iroh said lightly.
The seven children stood in a large circle, eyeing one another suspiciously as a large wind swept across the field.
"Ready?" Bumi shouted from high atop his pillar. He nudged the female mentor and she, a young woman named Oma, finished. "GO!"
After finally agreeing to induct the Avatar into the Games, it had been decided that Aang would train with the other Earth Kingdom tributes.
"Don't worry," he had told the tributes when a few had complained at the unfairness of battling the Avatar. "I can only bend Air and Water and Earth." He was so pleased with the fact he was an element short of becoming a full-fledged Avatar that he didn't notice the way the other tributes' heads hung.
There weren't any rules to this game; just battle until one is left, just like in the actual Games. Bumi and Oma's laws were simple. You fall down, you're out. It was a battle of the unmovables.
Toph felt the direction of everyone's attacks; everyone, annoyingly enough, seemed to temporarily disregaurd her and Teo. Probably the 'disabilities' she thought bitterly. She made a sudden left turn, flicking her wrists as the Earth bulged and buckled underneath Aang's feet. He was flung into the air but managed to land lightly on his feet.
"What was that for?" he asked, his question rhetorical.
She cupped her hands over her grinning mouth, shouting to him above the ruckus. "Keep your knees high, Twinkle Toes!" The Avatar watched her, confused, as she turned and leapt into battle with the others.
He scratched the back of his neck, quirking an eyebrow. "Twinkle Toes?" he muttered to himself before running to join the rest in the scuffle.
It was a flurry of rocks and weapons as Toph shucked boulders at Jet, who rolled around while simultaneously slicing them with his hook swords. Teo was still survivng, even as Jun attempted attack with a long, slick whip. Haru easily knocked Meng to her butt with a simple shifting of the Earth. One down, six to go.
Jun finally left Teo alone, deciding to take a shot at Jet as he rolled by swiftly. The two teens duked it out, eventually abandoning their weapons for hand-to-hand combat, and even that evolved into wrestling.
"You two! You're out!" Bumi shouted. The two, stationed atop each other, glanced at the eccentric old man with confusion. "You both hit the floor. You know the rules." Reluctantly and mumbling, the two crawled off one another and joined Meng on the side-lines.
As they fell to their earthen seats, Bumi began chanting to the others, "Rules are life and law in the arena. Strict and unbreakable!"
There were only a few left now: Aang, Teo, Haru, and Toph, the last of the females. Every time they ran this drill of battling one another, Toph was the last female. It gave her hope and conifdence while it tore Jun and Meng apart. The four competitors stood in an awkward square, like in some old time stand-off.
Toph was posed with her hands cupped towards herself, wrists bent, head down as she waited and listened. Aang held his staff pointed at Haru diagonally from him, though his eyes kept a sharp eye on the other two. Haru was in a deep horse-stance fists tight above his head. Teo sat stone-still in his chair, a club in his gloved hands. Beads of sweat formed on everyone's brows and forehead as they waited for the first to strike.
It was Haru. He attempted to knock Toph off of her feet, though the prodigy easily anticipated this. She immediatley channeled the force of his strike, redirecting it back towards him and kocking him square in the solar plexus. He fell to his back, gasping for air and flopping in pain, like a giant koy fish pulled from the icy waters.
Three left.
As soon as Aang attempted to knock Toph down, hoping she was distracted enough to not notice him, Toph took control of the show once more. She drew a wall up between her and Aang, blocking the wall of water destined for her, using a small peg to uproot Teo's chair and send him toppling down. Jet rushed to his aid and the two walked off to watch the final battle.
Toph and Aang's battle became a tug-of-war, one always gaining the upper hand before the other quickly stole it away.
"Let's make this interesting, shall we?" Oma nudged Bumi conspiritorally, a mischevious grin spreading onto her face. In one swift movement, the ground beneath Aang and Toph rose onto a massive platform.
The two gasped at they were flung higher and higher in altitude. Once they stopped, the platform tilted back and forth like a saber tooth moose lion, trying to buck them off. As they attempted to gain some kind of equilibrium on the topsy platform, Oma turned the solid dirt into shifting sand.
Aang bent a current of wind to keep himself from falling, but Toph was too far on the edge. She attempted to bend a landing for her to fall on, but she began to topple over the edge, beginning a plummet to the ground far, far below.
Before she could fall too far, however, Aang caught a hold of her wrist, the platform level once again. The two grunted as he struggled to pull her to safety. Once he succeeded, she gasped for a breath, thanking him quiety.
The silence that ensued was too silent, but Aang's realization came to soon, as Toph wasily knocked him to his behind with a simple shove to the chest. She grinned triumphantly, thrusting a fist above her head as the platform was taken back to the ground by Oma.
"That was fun," Bumi mused, walking alongside the young victor.
"Ah, yes," she agreed.
"Know what sounds wonderful?"
"Tea?"
"And geminite!"
The beaten competitors followed their chipper mentors into town as they headed back for their boarding house. Toph caught up with Aang, extending a hand as they walked in the back of the group.
He eyed it skeptically.
"Oh, don't tell me your bitter about me beating your sorry butt," Toph groaned.
"...No."
"Good," she huffed simply, re-extending her hand. "Truce?"
Aang glanced at her hand, then back at the girl. He was reminded of his plan, the one that included trustworthy tributes and strong fighters. Toph was the strongest he knew. This small guesture could be his first step, if he was interrpeting it correctly. She was a friend, an ally. A small flame of hope igniting in his chest, he nodded, locking hands with her, shaking it.
"Truce," he whispered back.
Bum bum bum!
So, what is Aang's plan exactly? Whatever it is, Toph is on-board. Who else will join this plan?
The Games will begin within the next chapter or two, I think. I may or may not do interviews...I don't know. I'd gladly take some opinions or suggestions though (don't worry, you shall be credited!) ^_^
Anywho,
Peace, L.