Korra POV
Stepping through the portal, I returned to the locker room where I'd initially been before being called to Jathr's realm; quickly turning around, I saw nothing but a locker with my name on it, causing me to force a smile. 'I hope he does well.' Glancing down at the bo-staff, I gently shake my head, only to turn on my heel and raise my leg when I felt someone grab my shoulder.
"E-Eh, Korra, it's me, Mako. Are you okay?" Seeing Mako, whom I hadn't seen in over eight years, looking exactly as I remembered, I faintly smiled and lowered my leg, causing him to heave a sigh of relief while lowering his arms. "Mako, it's good to see you after so long." Stepping forward, I wrapped my arms around Mako, tightly hugging him.
"Um, it's good to see you as well, Korra?" Confused, Mako reciprocated the hug while gently patting my back, though the reunion was interrupted when I heard the door open, prompting me to open my eyes and look at Bolin, who was silently staring at us.
"D-Did I come at the wrong time?" "N-No, not at all, B-Bolin!" As if he'd been caught red-handed doing something he wasn't supposed to, Mako quickly removed his arms from me while blushing, causing me to raise an eyebrow, only to chuckle. 'So that's how I used to act? I feel embarrassed just remembering it.'
Seeing Mako's flushed face, I retracted the hug, causing him to take several steps back before I approached Bolin, hugging him as well. "It's been so long, Bolin." "Uhhhhhh." Unlike Mako, Bolin was too shocked to reciprocate the hug, but that was fine.
After separating from Bolin, I took a deep breath, trying to remember what I was doing before being kidnapped by Fan. 'Hmm, what was it again? It had something to do with Amon, right? Um, maybe not.' While scratching my head in confusion, I, Mako, and Bolin stood off in the distance, whispering between ourselves, but they weren't that quiet, as I could still hear them.
"Mako, what happened to Korra?" "I've no clue. She just suddenly hugged me." "Really? Where did she get that bo-staff from? Did she steal that from the temple?" "I don't know. Looks old though, doesn't it?" While half listening to the brothers, I suddenly snapped my fingers in eureka, having finally remembered what we were doing. "Aha, it's the Pro-bending championship match!"
At my words, the duo snapped out of their whispering conversation. "Um, yeah, that's in ten minutes. Korra, are you okay?" Nodding in agreement with me, Bolin hesitantly stepped forward, causing me to nod with a smile. "Hah, never been better. C'mon, get dressed, I want to get a quick win and show that old man tenzin my air-bending!" "Mako, does she know she can't air-bend?" "Haa, just leave her be, I think the pressure of the equalists and championship tournament has turned her crazy."
Opening my locker, I set the bo-staff within it and gently placed the flower on the top shelf while removing my shirt. Before turning around, I eyed the brothers. "I can hear you two, and for the record, I'm not crazy." Staring at the two of them, I awaited their response, only to raise an eyebrow when I saw them silently staring at me with their mouths agape.
Following their gaze, I looked down at my exposed chest, only to awkwardly wrap my head while turning around. "Haha, sorry about that. I've gotten too comfortable bathing with men." Muttering the second half to myself, I put on my red shirt and the protective gear before doing the same with my lower pants. "Hey, don't look." Shooting them a look, I changed my pants. Once I was fully clothed in my uniform, I turned around and looked at Bolin and Mako, both of whom were staring at me, shocked and frozen.
"Haa, pair of perverts." Shaking my head, I approached them and knocked their heads, breaking them from their stupor, only for their face and necks to flush a deep red. "Get dressed, you two, we've got a championship to win." Refraining from teasing them, I grabbed my helmet and closed the door to my locker before leaving the locker room.
Leaning against the wall outside, I stretched, curious who our opponents were as I'd forgotten entirely. Once I finished stretching, I took a deep breath, feeling the air around me before thrusting a palm forward, causing the wind to heed my command and surge at the wall, making me grin. Air bending had been such a problem for me, yet here I am, bending it almost casually. "Hehe, I'm a genius." With a soft chuckle, I deepen my control.
Thanks to the years of training under Aang, my control was growing rapidly; the first attack I'd done was merely raw power, but by the third attack, I was controlling it exactly how I wanted. This wasn't because I was actually a genius, but thanks to Aang's training, where he'd give the illusion that I was actually airbending, even though he was the one doing it; rather than my control improving, it was just returning to how it always felt to me.
'Granted, this is the first time I've ever actually felt what it's like to air bend.' Looking at the small, spherical vortex in my hand of highly compressed air, I faintly smirked before waving my hand, causing it to dissipate. "According to Aang, he said I'd be worthy to get my tattoos if I were an Air Nomad." I didn't really care about getting a tattoo; I just wanted to rub it in Tenzin's face. "Heh, I can already imagine his face."
Evily chuckling, I turned to the locker room when I heard the door open, glancing at Bolin and Mako as they exited wearing the same outfit I was in. "You boys ready?" "Y-Yeah." "Y-Yep." Both of them looked away while a blush returned to their faces, causing me to grin in amusement as I turned on my heel, leading them to where the arena would take place.
"Um, Korra, the arena is to the left." "I knew that!" Walking down the left path, we could hear the audience before we even stepped out onto the bridge leading to the arena, where the other team of three was already waiting for us. "Damn, I don't remember them being so loud." Rubbing my head, I ignored the audience mostly, though I did notice an excessive number of officers policing the stadium.
'Huh, I wonder why that is.' Shrugging my shoulders, we stepped onto the arena and faced the opponents, who I instantly found annoying just from how they behaved. While observing them, the leader walked forward and approached me. "So you're the Avatar? I've seen how you fight; you're a bit rough around the edges. If you want, I'll gladly give you some 'private lessons'."
"Your hair is so ugly. You'd probably look better bald." The man freezes at my response and looks at his hair before his face contorts into fury. "Since you want to be like that, don't blame us for wanting to win." "Yeah, whatever you say." Dismissively waving my hand, I put on the helmet while taking a few steps back.
"Tch, that punk is so arrogant." "I want to smash his face." Listening to Bolin and Mako, I chuckled and shook my head; he was arrogant, sure, but I didn't really feel like smashing his face in. Once both sides were ready, the referee blew the whistle, signaling the start of the match.
Both Bolin and Mako began to move; Mako focused on attacking, while Bolin concentrated on defense, blocking incoming attacks. As for me, I sort of just watched, surprised at how weak the five of them were. 'Were they always this weak? C'mon, Mako, make a bigger fireball; Sozin could do that easily in his sleep. Bolin, can't you make a larger wall? Kyoshi could move a whole mountain.'
"Ugh, Korra! What are you doing!? Help!" Snapping out of my daze from Mako's yell, I nodded and waved my hand, controlling the water from the tanks and surging it at our opponents. They tried blocking, but their earthbender erected a large wall protecting all three of them; however, that pathetically weak wall stood no chance of stopping my attacks.
Creating three whips, I smashed through the boulder and followed up with three bursts of water, hitting each of them in the chest with enough force to send them flying off the stage. Now, I have to give them credit as their leader, the water bender, managed to summon the water they were about to fall into, creating a frozen platform on which they landed.
"What, that's cheating! Hey Ref!" Watching Mako yell at the referee, who did nothing, I scratched my head. 'Damn, I don't remember a single rule, I must've gotten lucky.' Since it was against the rules, I helped them lose by snapping my fingers, causing the ice platform holding them to suddenly shatter into hundreds of tiny pieces, which sent them crashing into the water.
"Nice, we won, right? That's a knockout, right?"