Chapter 6

Monica watched as a man with a long drooping mustache pulled the unconscious Fire Ferrets from the pool and tied them to a pillar that was holding the Pro-Bending stage up. I'll wait until he's gone then free them…Somehow. A squeak behind her startled Monica, and she turned to see Pabu sitting beside her. He cocked his head and chattered a little before looking across the pool where Bolin and the others were tied.

Scooping up the team mascot, Monica peeked at the team members again. Their captor was nowhere in sight. "I hope you like water Pabu." She whispered as she slipped into the pool silently. Bending water around her head to act as an air bubble, Monica propelled herself underwater towards the platform. When she emerged the stadium was in worse chaos than before. Air ships hovered above the building and equalists had broken holes in the glass ceiling. Amon was being lifted from the stage on a rope up to the airships along with several equalists.

"Monica!" The water bender's attention returned to her friends on the floor in front of her. "Am I glad to see you!" Bolin continued in a hushed voice.

"I'm gonna get you guys untied, sit still." Monica replied. She worked her way behind them to the other side of the pillar and began loosening knots in the rope. After a couple minutes her fingers started to hurt and she was losing hope of succeeding though. "It's not coming undone!"

Pabu rejoined her (he had jumped onto Bolin when they had reached the Pro-Benders) and began chewing at the knot.

"Hey Monica?" Makko said, a touch of panic to his usually calm voice.

"Yea?" She replied, afraid to look and see what could possibly be the matter.

"The moustache guy is coming back! Are you almost done?" Korra cried. An instant later Pabu chewed through the ropes and they fell slack on the Fire Ferret's laps.

"Thanks Monica! Thanks Pabu!" Bolin cried as he ran around and hugged them both. Monica's cheeks flared up in a crimson blush as she hugged him back, thinking for an instant of the portrait back home. Korra and Makko called their thanks as Makko knocked out their captor and Korra rode a torrent of water to chase Amon.

Once Bolin released Monica she grabbed his hand. "We have to go! I promised Leah I'd leave but I was worried about you guys…"

The usually goofy earth bender blushed a little then grinned. "You're one awesome chick Monica! Let's go, I'll treat you to dinner while we wait for the craziness to die down. Hey Makko!" He called to his brother. Makko was tying up the moustache man with the rope he had used against them, but looked up. "We should get out of here ASAP. I'm taking Monica out, wanna join us?"

Makko shook his head incredulously. "I'm gonna go after Korra. Stay out of trouble you two!" Using his fire bending, Makko propelled himself through the air with jets of fire beneath his feet. As he disappeared above the stage, Monica started running towards the entrance. They swam to the door using Monica's bending to speed up their escape then ran through the nearly empty halls of the stadium.

"Most people have escaped by now…" Monica remarked aloud. They ran for a while longer after they escaped the building, not even attempting conversation for fear of being captured by equalists. Once they had put several city blocks between them and the stadium they stopped against a store front to catch their breath.

"Insanity…" Monica gasped as she slid to the ground. "Are all Pro-bending matches like that?" She teased.

"No, usually we win." Bolin scowled. Then continued: "Ohhhhhhh. You mean the bad dudes in the masks. No, definitely not."

Monica laughed then got back to her feet. "So where are we going?"

"Hmmm, good question… Wanna go to that noodle restaurant again?" Bolin asked with one hand cupping his chin and the other holding his elbow.

"I'm good for anything really, running for my life has left me pretty hungry."

"Ok, then let's get a move on!" Bolin replied, escorting her on their way.

Later that night Bolin dropped Monica off at the door to her apartment. "Thanks for dinner; I had a lot of fun today." Monica said as she put her hand on the door knob.

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself despite the crazy bad guys taking over the stadium and us losing the tournament." Bolin said with a wistful sigh.

"You don't need that trophy." Monica replied. "You guys were AWESOME out there, I couldn't believe my eyes! Hopefully I'll get to see you play again once they have fixed the arena."

"You're invited anytime, VIP seats you know." Bolin said with his usual grin.

"I think I'll take you up on that offer-"

All of a sudden the apartment door swung inward and Leah's head peeked out. "You! I've been looking for you EVERYWHERE!" she said as she looked between Bolin and Monica. "You too, Bolin, Makko's been worried. You should head back to the arena, I think they're shutting it down."

"But that's where we live!" Bolin cried, a little shocked. "Gotta go, see you later Monica!" Before she could say a word he was tearing down the hallway, Pabu barely holding on to his shoulder.

"Sooooo… Monica, wanna tell me what this is about?" Leah asked with a coy smile.

"What are you talking about?" The water bender asked with a raised eyebrow. Leah pointed across their living room as Monica came in and shut the door behind her. With a gasp she recognized the canvas sitting propped up against the wall. "T-that's… How'd you…. You went in my room?" Monica sputtered out.

"I got you a new dresser since the one in your room is old and worn out. While I was moving it in I found your painting. It's amazing…" Leah said wistfully. After a moment of contemplation, the metal bender turned back to her friend. "Do you like him?"

"Sure I do, we're friends." Monica retorted, a little indignantly.

"No, I mean the like that could someday become something more kind of like." Leah replied with her hands on her hips. Monica felt a blush beginning to darken her face again.

"Well… umm… I…." She clasped her hands together and couldn't look her friend in the face. "I… Yea. I haven't known him all too long, so I'm not looking for something more just yet, but I feel like we go well together. He's a funny guy and I love hanging out with him. At the same time, it irritates me greatly that he likes Korra, and yet she didn't even give him a second glance!" Monica said, her voice rising. "She wouldn't deserve him, even if she felt that way…"

Leah gave a knowing smile then patted Monica on the shoulder. "Ok, well Good Luck then. I think you guys were made for each other personally." She chuckled. "Wanna see your new dresser?"

Before Monica could respond, a call came over the police radio. "Leah? If you are there Leah we have an urgent message from Chief Bei Fong."

Leah hurried over to the radio and picked up the mike. "This is Leah, go ahead."

"Leah, I need you to come back down to the station. We're gonna try to confirm whether or not Hiroshi Sato is working with the equalists, I could use some extra manpower." Lin's strong voice came over the radio. Leah clicked the button on the mike and replied.

"Sure thing Lin, I'll be there soon." After she put down the mike, Leah turned back to Monica. "Sorry, I guess I'm going back out. Wanna paint at the station tomorrow? I sure could use a day off." Leah joked.

"Sure, that'd be fun. Good luck out there." Monica replied as Leah ran into her room and ran out 2 minutes later fully dressed in her gear.

"I should be back later tonight!"

About a week later Bolin and Monica were hanging out at the park. Korra and Makko were on a date, and Monica wanted to take Bolin out to keep his mind off it. They grabbed a seat on the railing of a bridge and watched as trout swam past. The morning had turned out to be cooler than expected so Monica took the opportunity to wear some of her clothes from home. Baggy blue pants that tucked into fur boots and a warm fur lined jacket were perfect in the cooler weather. Since Hiroshi Sato and his daughter Asami had been taken in by Chief Bei Fong for aiding the equalists, things had been pretty quiet. Monica and Leah had made even more money by performing and selling their art, and equalists were rallying less and less. With a squeak, Pabu brought Monica back to the present. She was gripping him tighter against her chest than usual.

"Sorry Pabu" She said, releasing the fire ferret. He shook out his red pelt then dived into the stream below, attempting to catch some of the minnows hanging in the shallows.

"Is something wrong Monica? Do you need cheering up?" Bolin asked. "I don't care what we do today. If something is bothering you, you can tell me. That's what friends do."

"Thanks Bolin… I was just thinking about how things have quieted down since the capture of the Sato's." Monica replied, staring down into the water. She swung her legs while she sat, something she only did when she was kinda embarrassed.

"Did you know that Makko dated Hiroshi Sato's daughter for a few weeks?" Bolin said as he leaned back. "But that was before he met Korra, after that, they're relationship slowly crumbled until Asami broke it off. Korra and Makko have been close since the day they met…" Monica snapped her head to look at Bolin. She was supposed to make him forget about Korra, and there she goes coming back into the conversation!

"You know Bolin-"

All of a sudden they were attacked by 3 equalist chi blockers. Bolin jumped away in time, but one threw a three sided rope with weights that ensnared Monica and sent her falling into the stream.

"Monica!" Bolin cried as he ran towards her.

"NOO!" she yelled, trying to keep herself from becoming hysterical. "Bolin, run! Get Leah and Lin, but run!"

"I'm not gonna leave you!" he shouted back as he used his earth bending to raise a square block of dirt straight into an equalist, sending them flying. The other 2 grabbed Monica and threw her onto the back of their bike and started speeding away.

"Monica, no! I'm gonna get help!" He shouted as the bike disappeared from sight.