Chapter 17
"I can't believe that you did that," Sota growled for what had to have been the 12th time since they had returned. Korra shook her head as she hung it in embarrassment; it wasn't long ago she was the one escorting Sota off the boat for screwing up, and the looks she got from the confused White Lotus Sentries would forever haunt her.
How the tables have turned.
"Yes, I know. I heard you the first time, and every time after that, little brother," She groaned. Bringing her hands up, she rubbed her temples, though Sota felt no sympathy for the headache he no doubt was making worse.
After Mako had run off, Sota had just been about to give her an ear full when she scooped him up and dashed off to head for the docks as quick as she could. The moment they were alone and out of sight of people, Sota laid into her. Hard. And she knew she deserved it.
"And you're gonna keep hearing it. Probably until the day you die! What in Roku's name possessed you to think that was a good idea!?" He asked, his voice progressively getting louder as he grew more worked up. "And I really hope it's good!"
"I don't know….I guess I was just…putting myself out there like Pema said?" She explained with a sheepish smile. Sota could feel his eye and hand twitching, and Korra stepped nervously back from him; that was not a good look he had on his face. "I mean, Mako kinda rejected me, but when I called him out for liking me, he got all mad, so then that made me mad-"
"Trust me, I saw! Is that why you two were playing like Otter penguin crap out there?"
"Wha-hey! It wasn't that bad, was it?"
"Wasn't that bad? Korra, if it weren't for Bolin, you guys would have been the ones getting eliminated from the tournament!"
"Alright, alright. Look, you're right. I gotta fix this and apologize to both of them. But, just keep it quiet for now, ok?"
"How the hell do you expect me to keep quiet about you kissing Mako!?" He shouted, his voice fading out into the open seas near the dock they were near.
"You kissed Mako!?" Jinora blurted as she turned the corner and came up to them, her Nomadic jacket on for warmth. Sota felt his jaw drop, before, in the heat of his frustration, he turned and drew his foot back. Jinora looked, eyes growing wide as she shouted, "Sota, don't! You're gonna break your foot on that-"
The boys made no move to stop as he swung his foot, kicking the rounded boulder in front of him. The stone sat just short of his waist, but there was no doubt that it was dense, heavy, and could easily break a bone. However, to her and Korra's surprised, a rush of water dusted up as Sota's foot dragged through the snow, freezing over his foot and part of his shin. The young boy continued with the follow through without hesitation, the icy appendage crashing into and taking a clean chunk out of the rock.
Pieces of ice and rocked crumbled to the ground as Korra said, "Whoa…" in astonishment.
"Rock?" Jinora asked, stunned by her friend who was huffing as he tried to calm down. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm good," he said, much more calm though still looking frustrated as he turned to face them again. "Sorry, that was just a lot of frustration building up."
"I'll say. Where'd you learn how to do that?" Korra asked.
"I didn't. In fact, I don't know how I did it because I try to do it. Or, not on purpose, anyway," he admitted, looking down at his still intact foot. A sweat drop ran down the side of his face as he said, "I was so heated, all I could think about was putting all my power into kicking this rock, and next thing I know, I'm covering my foot in ice."
"That's amazing, Sota! It's like you made your own armor out of ice," Jinora complimented before turning to Korra and saying, "It's almost as amazing as the news that Korra kissed Mako!"
"Shh! Keep it down!" The Avatar said, looking around to see that no one else was around, before asking, "Where did you even come from anyway?"
"I could hear Sota shouting about something from my room, so I came to see what was going on. But don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she swore before clutching her hands under her chin and asking, "How did it happen? Was it really romantic?"
"Now is definitely not the time for this, Nora," Sota said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"So, it wasn't romantic, huh?" she asked, deflating. "Is it because he's a bad kisser?"
"Hey! I never said that!" Korra protested, face turning red. "Look, that's really not the point right now. The point right now is I need you two to keep this quiet until I can figure out a way to fix this. Promise you won't tell anyone."
"I promise," Jinora agreed. The two looked to Sota who heaved a heavy sigh; he didn't like this and had a bad feeling about this, but he nodded.
"I promise."
Korra and Sota arrived at the arena, parting ways as she went to the locker room while he made his way to the coat room. After handing over his parka and showing his pass to the usher, he made his way upstairs toward their stands.
Entering the room, Korra found Bolin sitting on the bench, a dejected look on his tired face, and Mako, standing away from him. Neither turned or acknowledged her, and Korra remained silent as she made her way to her locker to get dressed.
Up in the owner stands, Sota opened the door to find Jun, Mai-Ling and Asami already inside, as usual, and both his friend munching away on snacks. Pabu scurried around in front of Mai-Ling who giggled in delight at feeding them to him. Sota felt his stomach clench as he walked in but tried to remain casual.
"Hey guys," he said, making his way to the front row of seats and siting in his usual spot between the girls with Mai-Ling on his right and Jun on his left. Mai-Ling smiled at him as Pabu hopped up to sit in her lap, and though he smiled back, Sota's smile was more of politeness then of pleasantry. It wasn't that he wasn't happy to see her, but to know he was holding a lie like the one he did frustrated him.
"Bout time, Water Boy," Jun commented, nudging him with her elbow and handing him a bag. "Any longer and we we're gonna start eating your bag too."
"We got them toasted with extra cinnamon like you like too," Mai-Ling added, eating another small cluster from her own bag. "Better hurry up and start eating because you know Pabu won't wait much longer."
Sota opened the bag, the scent of the extra roasted cinnamon wafting into his nose. On any other day, he'd have already been devouring them like they were the last bit of food he'd ever taste, resulting in him burning himself but continuing to enjoy it none the less. But his appetite was beyond spoiled as the anxiety sickened him, forcing him to close the bag.
Handing it to Mai-Ling, he thanked them, saying, "I appreciate it, guys, but I think I'll pass."
"Really? Are you sure?" she asked, accepting them and placing both bags in her lap, allowing Pabu to begin having his fill as she looked at Sota in concern. "Usually, you're scarfing these things down so fast, you nearly choke on your second bag before we even finish our first. Are you feeling ok? You look a bit pale."
"Uh, yeah. I think my stomach is just acting weird is all," he replied, his eyes keeping forward. Mai-Ling frowned at this, reaching and taking his hand, gently interlacing it with her own and giving it a squeeze. Sota looked at their hands, and then to her, giving her another small smile, though he didn't seem to move his hand.
Jun frowned as she sat next to him, her elbow still leaned into his arm, "What's up? You getting a cold or something?"
"Not sure, but I bet it's nothing," he reassured though Jun didn't seem to be any more convinced then she had been before, so she faced forward. The lights shut off and the crowd began to go even more wild.
"You can't find two teams more evenly matched in age, size, and strength than the Fire Ferrets and the Buzzard Wasps," Shiro declared from the booth. "Believe me, I've looked! This should be a pulse-pounding semifinal, folks!"
"Let's go!" Mai-Ling cheered. Asami cheered with her from the back and Jun leaned forward over the railing in excitement. Sota looked on nervously, silently wishing his sister luck down below as the teams got into position and begun the match at the sound of the bell.
"The Buzzard Wasps open with a flawlessly executed combo. All three Ferrets take an early visit to Zone 2!"
"Ugh, come on! Pull it together out there, you guys!" Jun shouted in agitation.
"The Buzzard Wasps must be tougher then we thought if they're having this much trouble right from the start," Asami commented as they watched Mako get sent flying into Zone 3.
"And Mako is knocked all the way back into Zone 3! The Fire Ferrets have been struggling to stay alive since the opening bell. All three players are totally out of sync tonight," Shiro said as Bolin took a direct hit to the stomach via an earth disk. Up in the stands, the kids groaned and cringed in discomfort as if they could feel his pain themselves. "Ooh, that has got to sting!"
"You think he's ok?" Mai-Ling asked as she too leaned forward over the railing like Jun. Sota could feel her warm hand as it held onto his, as if she were using him as reassurance that she wouldn't lean too far, and this prompted him to lean forward as well. He soon wished he hadn't though as they watched Bolin stumble toward the edge of the ring.
"I think he's gonna hurl," Jun grimaced as she turned away in disgust. Mai-Ling and Asami joined her, as did others in the crowd, all of which groaned in either sickness from it or from pity for the Eathbender as he leaned over the side, helmet discarded, and brought his lunch back up.
"He definitely just hurled in the water," Sota said, now having another reason to feel sick himself.
"And Bolin loses his noodles! Literally," Shiro commented as Korra looked at her friend and teammate in pity and discomfort. "Which reminds me, this match is brought to you by our sponsor, Flamey-O Instant Noodles! Noodliest noodles in the United Republic."
"He could not have picked a worse time to try and advertise that," Asami said, turning back to the match. "Who in their right minds would want to eat noodles after seeing that?"
"I don't think I even wanna eat after that," Jun said, crumbling her bag in frustration. "They're as good as dead this round."
"I'll say," Mai-Ling agreed reluctantly as Korra was hit and knocked back into Zone 3 as well. The Buzzard Wasps moved further into Ferret territory, and it was pretty obvious their team was struggling to stay afloat.
"And Mako plunges into the pool! Can the Fire Ferrets hold on?" Shiro said in astonishment as Bolin and Korra dodged hits left and right, barely staying on the edge as things somehow got worse. "The Wasps have the Ferrets backed up to the edge now ... and the Ferrets are bailed out by the bell!"
"Holy Spirits; I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I actually prefer the way they played last night," Jun complained as she leaned back and bumped Sota's arm on their shared arm rest. "What the hell is going on?"
"No idea," Sota said, a bead of sweat rolling down his face as he watched the teams reset. The bell rang, and the match was under way once more, the anxiety making him feel restless. Mai-Ling gave his hand another squeeze and Sota, reflexively, squeezed back. Mai-Ling could feel the tension and worry in him but said nothing as she looked back to the match.
Something was off about Sota. She could feel it.
The Second round was quickly underway, but the team wasn't looking much better. After blocking one attack, Mako was hit back into Zone 2 by an earth disk. He was quick to fire back, but in his frustration, mis-aimed, hitting his brother square in the back and knocking him forward into the ground.
He and Korra looked to Bolin in concern as he groaned and got up, turning his back to their opponents, and saying, "Hey! Watch it!" before being struck in the back by water. The force was enough to send Bolin tumbling all the way back from the First Zone, off the edge and into the water below.
"The Wasps take advantage of Mako's unforced error and Bolin is in the pool!" Shiro announced.
"Bolin's out!" Mai-Ling cried out.
"What are you doing down there?" Sota mumbled just as Korra began to fiercely throw water at their opponents, though there was nothing but frustration and anger behind her moves. Whipping water under her opponent, Korra began to throw her up and down using the water on the opposite side. Sota groaned as Korra was penalized for unnecessary roughness. "For the love of…"
"I'll unnecessarily rough you up!" Korra shouted back, whipping water at the ref on her way back one Zone. The crowd booed her as the ref cringed back to avoid getting splashed, and instantly hit her with a Yellow Fan penalty. Korra gave it no care as she stuck her tongue out and walked past Mako who watched in displeasure.
A time out was called, and the Ferrets were looking pretty defeated.
"Well, I guess there's always next year," Mako said and he and Bolin hung their heads in disappointment.
"Come on, we still have a chance, even if it is a slim one," Korra replied, trying to boost whatever little morale they had left.
"The way we're playing, we don't even deserve to be in the finals," Bolin answered.
"Look, if we don't pull together and work as a team, we'll never forgive ourselves."
"Let's just get this over with," Mako said, turning to go back to the starting line.
Bolin followed behind sadly, saying, "The sooner the better."
Korra's shoulders slumped as she followed as well and Sota looked at the team sadly. This was the end. They'd need a miracle to save their chances now.
Korra immediately ducked as a barrage of attacks came, though the Buzzard Wasps' focus quickly turned to Mako and Bolin. The firebender found him bombarded with water and fire, sending him to the edge just before Zone 2, while Bolin was soon subjected to the same fate. The earthbender bounced back, landing into Zone 2, and Mako quickly followed as an earth disk hit him, sliding his foot back into the next Zone.
The two barely had any time to prepare before a disk came flying in, striking Bolin in the right shoulder.
"And Bolin takes a zinger to the shoulder! Looks like it's a clean hit," Shiro declared as Bolin knelt near the edge and held his wounded arm.
"Ow!" He cried out.
"Bolin!" Mako called out, receiving a fireball to the face that sent him over the edge.
"No!" The kids shouted in unison.
"Mako's been knocked out!" Jun shouted in disbelief.
"And Bolin's not gonna last long out there with an injury like that," Mai-Ling said in concern as Pabu, who had stopped munching on Fire Flakes after the first round, perched himself on the edge and looked down at his injured owner, giving a sad cry. Mai-Ling stroked him, trying to calm and reassure him. "Oh, don't cry, Pabu. Bolin is gonna be fine. I promise."
"That means…"Sota said, looking down at the stage just as Bolin tried to continue, only to get tripped and blasted with water, flying off the arena and into the pool. The last remaining Fire Ferret twirled left and then right, dodging anything she could that came her way and using her water to block what she couldn't. "It's all up to Korra now."
Bolin groaned as he tried to pull himself up the ladder and out of the pool, only to look up and see Mako, smiling and holding out a hand, to which he greatly accepted.
"Are you okay?" Mako asked, looked at him in worry. "How's your shoulder?"
"Ugh; it's messed up pretty bad. But I think I'll be alright," he replied as the two of them stepped onto the small elevator that would take them back to their side of the platforms. It was silent for a moment before Bolin asked, "Are…we gonna be alright?"
"Of course, we are. We're brothers. We'll get through this mess," Mako confirmed, arms crossed, though he did pause and say, "I'm sorry."
"Me too. Girls," he replied with a sigh.
"Seriously," Mako agreed, just as they were nearing the top of the platform and Korra came back into view. To their shock, she was not only still in it, but she was holding her own.
Up in the stands, Sota, Jun and Mai-Ling were on their feet, gripping the railing. Jun was grumbling intensely, watching and commenting on the openings the enemy was leaving themselves, though Korra didn't appear to be taking any, while Sota was silently urging her to keep going.
Come on, Korra, he thought, dropping Mai-Ling's hand to grip the rail with both of his. He hadn't noticed til now but at some point, he had begun to start shaking. Maybe it was anticipation of what would happen for the Fire Ferrets if Korra could actually pull this off; after all, she didn't' give up. Or maybe it was fear; fear of what would happen if they lost.
Regardless, all he knew was that this was the make-or-break moment.
"What an unbelievable effort here by Korra! She's dodging every element the Wasps throw at her!" Shiro cheered in excitement as Korra flipped her way back and forth across the first Zone. She delivered a swift kick of water, kicking back one of the Buzzard Wasps into Zone 3. As she continued to flip, tossing water and pushing them further back toward the center, Shiro said, "The Avatar finally gains some ground, but with only ten seconds remaining, it might be too little too late!"
From up in the stance, Sota's eye's grew wide as he could see the plan she had formulated. A huge smile came to his face as he shouted, "She's done it! She's figured it out!"
The girls had not time to ask what he meant as their question as answered by Korra. The Avatar, now standing in the center of her first Zone, spun in a circle, gathering water around her and crouching low. The Buzzard Wasps had no time to react as the torrent of water was launched at them, sending them all crashing from one, then the other, to the last, and off the side the edge into the waiting pool of water below.
"It's the big kibosh! What a knockout!"
"Yes! She did It!" Bolin cheered as the bell rang and the crowd went wild. Mako cheered next to him, amazed at the fact she pulled it off. Korra stood in the center of the arena, alone and waving to the cheering crowd at her miraculous victory.
"It didn't seem possible, folks, but the Fire Ferrets are headed to the finals!" Shiro announced in delight.
"I can't believe she did it!" Jun cheered as she and Mai-Ling jumped up and down. Pabu danced around in happiness, however, Sota was still leaned forward, much less tense. He smiled, a real smile as he watched her.
"Let's head to the locker room and meet up with them," Mai-Ling said, scooping Pabu up in one hand and grabbing Sota's to drag him along. For the first time all night, he had finally felt relaxed and like it would all be ok, and so he gladly let himself be pulled away in such a hurry. Jun was right on their heels in no time as they all made their way downstairs, Asami calling out and telling them she was gonna get the car ready to go and meet them all down there.
They entered the hallway, preparing to rush in when they saw Pabu hiss, starling Mai-Ling. The young girl looked up, Jun coming to a stop behind her and Sota next to her as the Wolfbats smirked at them, shuffling in to block their path. Tahno paused, looking down upon them, but his eyes soon fell on Sota.
"You, the little tough guy with the scowl," he said, pointing at Sota who only intensified his distasteful look. "You got a problem?"
"Depends; you want me to start with the way your hair looks, or fact we could smell your perfume 60 feet back before we got here?" Sota asked, stepping forward to put Mai-Ling behind him as Pabu climbed out of her hand to rest on her shoulder and square up to hiss at Tahno again. The waterbender stepped back, grimacing at them all while Sota said, "You should probably take that as a warning, buddy."
"Pretty big talk for such a little shrimp," Tahno said before smirking at him again. "And where's a kid like you get a mouth like that?"
"The Southern Water Tribe. Though, when you grow up with your sister as the Avatar, you learn to be pretty quick on your toes."
"Oh, is that supposed to scare me?" Tahno chuckled along with his teammates. "You think the fact your sister is the "Uh-vatar", that we should be scared? Well, think again little boy."
"Maybe you should learn how to be a real man and fight your own battles," one of his teammates, the earthbender, chimed in.
"Yeah, all that popping off at the mouth will get your ass beat if you talk to the wrong person like that," the last, a firebender, said, stepping forward.
"Sota, let's just go," Mai-Ling said, feeling suddenly uncomfortable at the position they were in. These guys were known for being dangerous and provoking them was not a good idea.
"Yeah, Sota, knock it off," Jun said in intense agitation, grabbing his shoulder though keeping her eyes forward on the athletes.
Sota looked over his shoulder from one girl, then to his other at the next before looking back at Tahno and saying nothing, stepping back though keeping himself between Mai-Ling and Tahno who had begun to laugh.
"Well, maybe you're not as stupid as you look. Or as your sister," he said, preparing to leave.
"What was that!?" Sota shouted, narrowing his eyes. Yanking his hand from Mai-Ling's, he said, "You wanna run that by me again?"
"What you gonna do, tough guy? Your sister's not here to save you," the smug waterbender said.
"I don't need her help to wipe that stupid look off your face," he warned, though made no further move toward them as Mai-Ling suddenly darted around him, her back facing Sota. "Mai-Ling, what are you-"
"Sota, let's go," he heard her growl under her breath.
One of the Wolfbats smirked, saying, "Yeah, you should listen to your little-"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Mai-Ling shouted, shoving the boy, who had to be twice her size, into the adjacent wall with little effort. The boy yelped as he tripped back, crashing into and denting a pipe while the others all looked on in surprise.
The sound shook and reverberated around the hallway, ring their ears as everything shook. Sota felt the sting as the vibrations his insides roughly. He looked to Mai-Ling, the girl breathing hard, and then Jun, who seemed to have fallen on the ground at some point and was-
"Gasping?" Sota asked, turning to take a step toward her, concern for his friend over-riding his anger, but stopped as she let out a piercing scream.
"STOP!" her voice screeched as it hit the highest octive she could in that second, and wavered as it came back down. The sound had startled everyone into silence, all eyes on her as she knelt on the floor, wobbly body getting more sturdy with each ticking second. The ringing of the pipes had stopped, but no one said a word at first, before finally, the third member of the Wolfbats huffed and glowered down at his still downed teammate.
"Ming, what the hell was that?" the firebender said, looking back to her and commenting, "How did you just let that kid trip you like that?"
"Shove it, Shaozu, she just got lucky and caught me off guard," the earthbender said, stumbling to his feet. Looking to her, he said, "You'd better count yourself lucky, kid, that I don't have the time to put you in your place."
Nothing else was said as the Wolfbats took their exit, leaving the three kids and the fire ferret alone in the hallway. Sota watched them leave, but refused to look at Mai-Ling as she turned, her head down, and grabbed his hand for the third time that night. Like always, it was warm and comforting, and yet…he didn't deserve it.
What even was that? He thought to himself. Well, if he were being truthful, he knew what it was. The memories had already been plaguing his mind a lot lately, and though he had tried once, the thought of Bloodbending hadn't crossed his mind.
At least, not until now.
I was gonna try and do it. Just like last time… he thought to himself sadly, finally bringing his eyes down to look at Mai-Ling who was still looking at the ground, but nonetheless, pulled him, this time at a slow, normal pace, forward toward their destination with Jun trailing behind without a word.
Nothing's changed. All it took was one trigger, and the first thought my mind goes to is to…that. How I can look at them after this? I was… about to bloodbend those guys right in front of them…but why? What's wrong with me? He couldn't help wondering as they finally reached the locker room.
Just as they did, they found Asami already there, talking to Mako and congratulating Korra on her come-back. The Avatar thanked her and had gotten to work on fixing up, as well as apologizing to, Bolin when they walked in.
"Whoa, I didn't know Korra was a healer," Mai-Ling commented, looking up in awe at the glowing blue water.
"Uh, yeah, she is. And she's pretty good at it too," Sota commented, trying to lighten their somber mood. "She's healed me up a bunch of times before. Even helped heal my busted-up head once."
"Was that from talking big to guys bigger than you like that?" Jun asked curtly, surprising both of her friends as they turned to her.
"Excuse me? Is there something you'd like to say, Jun?" Sota asked, not to pleased. The older kids around were looking at them in surprise, wondering what could have brought this on.
"Yeah, how's about, "That was really stupid of you to do back there", for starters. What, did you think you could take all three of them down by yourself?"
"Jun, stop, that's enough," Mai-Ling said, though she was ignored as Sota dropped her hand and walked into Jun's face.
"And what if I said yes, Jun? What if I said that I could have?" he asked as he could feel his temper rising.
Jun was quiet for a moment as she looked into his eyes, almost as if she were searching for something, before shoving him back from her, causing him to take a step back.
"Wow. I almost can't believe it, but you actually thought you could have. You must really be as stupid as you look, Sota," she said, narrowing her eyes. Sota's nostrils began to flare, but he made no move to approach her. Asami, on the other hand, quickly ran to them, as did Korra.
"Ok, I think that's enough, guys," the heiress said as she walked behind Jun, and Mai-Ling in front to look at her in disbelief.
"Yeah, let's all just take a minute and talk about whatever's going on," Korra said as she grabbed Sota's shoulders to restrain him.
"There's nothing to talk about," Sota said.
"Oh, and now you're lying? No wonder you have no friends in the South Pole," Jun shot at him, startling Sota, Mai-Ling and Korra.
"What did you just say?" he asked, now rushing forward as he pulled himself from his's sister's grasp.
"All I've seen and heard from you is about how you have no friends in the South Pole, and yet, all you've told us you've done since you got here is get into trouble. And after that little display you just put on; I can understand why."
"You think you understand anything about me, Jun?" he asked incredulously. "Sorry, but I don't like guys like that, regardless of if they're here or at the South Pole."
"I don't care about how much you do or don't like them. Your stupid ego could have gotten us hurt!" She shouted at him, shoving him, this time with enough force to knock him over. "You deserved to be alone!"
"Screw you! You don't know anything about me!" he shouted after her as she turned and rushed out of the locker room. Mai-Ling looked back at him sadly but ran after her, calling her name. Asami turned to them but soon chased after them as well, while Korra looked at Sota, confusion on her face. The young boy growled, slamming his fist on the ground in frustration as a few tears came to his eyes.
To be continued…