A/N: Thank you funtimer130 for the favorite and follow!

Enjoy!

The two stared at each other from across the arena that was more of a flat surface with small walls around it, also known as the courtyard. They were both wearing protective gear and one of them was far more spaced out and on another planet than the other.

"Whenever you are ready," Tenzin announced.

Korra had her fists up. Mike just stared at her. "What's the matter? Put 'em up!" she ordered, punching at him with fire.

He was able to dodge, barely, nearly falling over. "Let me do this, stop it-" he was muttering to himself, blinking and squeezing his eyes rapidly. He put his arms in front of him. "You'll just make things worse like you always do!" he hissed.

"Are you gonna punch back? Or can you only run away," Korra taunted, kicking the ground and punting a lump of the courtyard towards him, followed by two more.

Mike rolled out of the way of the rocks, breathing heavily. This wasn't due to exhaustion-he was physically fine—but he was doing his best job at staying present. The world was bleary and there were multiple voices shouting at him that made it hard to judge where exactly he was. His movements were forced, unnatural for him, like he was being pulled on strings.

"She'll just keep being awful if I don't try on my own," he figured as he righted himself before more stuff was hurled his way. "I can't focus—" He jumped up as another disc of rock nearly crashed into him. "Where is she?"

"Hit back!" Korra challenged, hitting a one two punch-kick of flames and knocking him off his feet. He hit the ground without a thud, and a gust of wind righted him again. "I know you can!" She didn't say this in an encouraging way, quite the contrary.

"You got some messed up head," 'Mike' remarked, cracking their knuckles. Their eyes looked distant but focused, somehow. "No better than the worst."

It appeared that Mike had lost.

Korra was taken aback by the sudden insults. She shook it off, though, soon enough to dodge a flurry of flames. "You're one to talk," she retorted.

The next several minutes could only be described as 'really warm' and 'dusty'. Tenzin watched with wide eyes as the two were enveloped in smoke and particulate clouds.

A whoosh of air finally dissipated the obstruction, leaving Korra lying on the ground while 'Mike' stood bowing to end the fight. They straightened up and licked the dirt off their lips. "Bit o' dust just makes me stronger," he said with a cocky smirk.

Korra coughed. "Where was that before, huh?" she wondered bitterly.

"Incredible…" Tenzin commented.

"Controlled environments aren't somethin' I'm used to, sorry to cause a mess," he apologized.

"No no, that was great!" Tenzin insisted. "You should go again. Korra has very rare chances to fight like this, one opponent with a similar…set of tools, shall we say. This can only be a learning experience."

"I disagree, I think we should stop. Mike's not here to be a punching bag," Korra reminded him as she pulled herself up to her knees.

"Really? The way you been acting, I thought you'd enjoy a chance at getting a few hits in," 'Mike' said mockingly. "We all been wantin' a turn."

"Quit the wish-wash nonsense and maybe I'll go easy on you again," she retorted, finally standing up.

"Oh, that was goin' easy?"

"Alright, enough, you two! Never mind, take a break," Tenzin cut the argument short before it got bad.

The two put down the blocks of ground they'd each shoved up into position with a large thud!

'Mike' closed his eyes after sitting on the ground, rubbing his temples. He suddenly felt exhausted. "We gotta work on that, Svet, this tires m'out more than it should," he mumbled to no one. "Someone didn' get a sleep last night." Usually that didn't matter much when he was around, but they had been having a harder time resting since arriving on the island and that was starting to pile on. On top of that, he didn't usually stick around this long. Adrenaline and sheer force of will only did so much. "Could use a canyon wall right about now." He hit the ground with his knuckles and a chair-back sized chunk jutted out of the ground behind him, allowing him to lean back in a more comfortable position. "Close enough…"

"Hey, it's nine AM, not naptime!" Korra yelled at him from the other side of the courtyard. Her ribs were hurting from being hit with multiple rocks, and she still had some dust she needed to cough out of her lungs.

"A break's a break, now, don' twist it," he replied with a dismissive wave of his hand.

An idea. "Do they let you laze around at that fruit stand? It looked pretty sloppy in there," Korra asked mockingly.

He frowned, staying where he was.

"The fruit seemed kinda old and smelly, it was really easy to break all of them and bend the water," she continued.

He sat up, opening his eyes and assessing the situation before speaking. "That was all the fruit they'd have to sell for the next week. You destroyed all of it?" he asked, sounding less like the earthbender and more like Mike. "Why would you feel the need to do that?"

"I didn't know if you were going to be hostile! Your spiritual energy was crazy looking," she replied with crossed arms. Come on, attack me. Hit first for once.

He'd stood, looking angry in a way he hadn't before. "You didn't have to go that far! There's a family that relies on that business!" he said with a clear hint of worry for his employers. "They already had to deal with a broken roof and Hatchet's thugs knocking on the door every other day-"

Was it really such a normal occurrence? Had street crime not declined since the new government came into place? "Well—you—you shouldn't have run-!" she tried to rebut. He's not attacking me with his fists.

"I was dead asleep! I woke up in jail, had no idea what had happened, didn't know you were even there to begin with, Avatar, so I couldn't have done anything about it!" he recounted back, raising his voice.

Korra was only looking behind him, at the shore of the island beyond the edge of the courtyard. The waters of the bay were eerily still, and it wasn't her holding it there.

"You're not listening. You're not even looking at me. No one ever listens to me-" he said before taking off the protective head gear he'd been wearing and tossing it onto the ground.

"Wait, we're not-" Tenzin finally interrupted from beyond where Mike cared to look.

Neither of them acknowledged their elder's input. "I'm done," Mike decided, turning to leave while starting to take the hand guards off. "You oughta tell your boyfriend he can throw me back in jail for all I care, I'm not going to pretend this doesn't affect me. You don't get to hurt the people I care about for no good reason and act like I'm the one who's done something wrong."

Korra couldn't think of something to say in return.

She probably should have listened to Mako.

She watched him walk off. The bay's waters chopped away once again.

Tenzin let him go; he'd be using this as a teaching moment, alright. "What were you thinking talking like that, Korra?" he asked. "He was just starting to show promise and he's most certainly not going to want to spar with you-"

"I know. I don't know why I keep doing this," Korra said with a frustrated sigh. "He's right, I destroyed that family's property and got away with it."

"There is nothing to be done about that now. You must seek to understand the root of your behavior, or you will never grow, and neither will he."

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