[1.2]
Pro Bending
A few days have passed since Korra was allowed to remain in Republic City. Rae was busy trying to find young Taiyo, but nothing seemed to work. The boy seemed to have disappeared in thin air. The woman would visit Korra every day at the air temple island, to see how her airbending training was doing.
One night, after a long shift at the police station, Rae decided to pay Korra a small secret visit. She changed into some more comfortable clothes, leaving the heavy metal uniform in her office. Her dark viridian coat was keeping Rae warm, even if she didn't need the extra clothes because of her fire bending. A black scarf covered her hair. It was the best disguise for her. The people of Republic City knew who Rae Akemi was, but most of them had no idea how she looked like. The only thing that made them recognize her was the unusual color of her hair. If she covered it, no one would know it was her.
Rae stepped on the island and thanked the captain of the ferry. She walked as quietly as she could, trying not to wake up the few White Lotus members stationed at the small dock of the island. She walked near the water, trying to get to Korra's room. However, before she could walk to the building, a heavy body smashed into her, making both fall to the ground. Rae looked up, ready to shout at the person that made her fall when she saw Korra groaning on the floor.
"Korra?"
The Avatar looked up to see Rae. Her white hair was sticking out of her scarf and a dimming blue flame covered her gloved hand. The Avatar's eyes widened. She got up and helped Rae to her feet.
"What are you going here," asked Korra.
"I came to see you," answered Rae while cleaning the dust off her coat, "It was a busy day and I thought you'd like some late company..."
Korra nodded and an awkward silence settled around the two women.
"I'm sorry," started Rae. Korra's eyes widened. It wasn't every day that Rae Akemi would mutter those words. "I've been cold towards you lately," she continued and Korra nodded her head, "I wasn't a real friend to you for the last days... I just have a lot on my plate at this moment. This city isn't safe for you... or for anybody."
Korra nodded and looked down. Surprising the older woman, Korra flew towards her. The Avatar wrapped her arms around Rae's torso and hugged her until she could barely breathe. Rae tapped on Korra's shoulder violently until the Avatar let her go. She took in a giant breath and smoothed the wrinkles on her coat.
"Enough with the sentimentalism," Rae said, making Korra giggle, knowing the older woman was never one to express her sentiments freely. "Now young lady," continued the Guardian, "What are you doing out of your room at this hour?"
The Avatar's eyes widened. Rae crossed her arms and listened to Korra stutter. A small smile grew on Rae's face as she listened to Korra trying to find the rights words to explain her situation.
"You want to go to the pro-bending match," Rae stated, looking amused when the Avatar looked at her with wide eyes.
"How did you know?" asked Korra surprised. Rae let out a small laugh before says, "Tenzin told me about you listening to the match on the radio. He was furious!"
Korra laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of her head. "please don't tell him," she begged.
Rae sighed and looked at Korra, nodding. "I won't tell Tenzin," she said, "but you cannot go alone."
A confused frown was plastered on Korra's face. Rae sighed and adjusted her scarf, hiding the strands of hair that had fallen out. "I'll come with you. I know the place better."
Korra's eyes lightened up. She jumped on Rae, embracing her with an even tighter hug than before. The older woman flinched but let Korra hug her anyway. When the Avatar let go, Rae started walking towards the docks. However, Korra took her hand and started running towards the water. Before Rae could stop her, Korra had already jumped. She water-bended the two women into the water and swam to the main-land, right next to the Arena. Rae was holding Korra with all the strength she could muster. The older woman never enjoyed the water, mostly because she could bended even though she should.
In a matter of seconds, the two were in the arena. Korra had water-bended the two through a window. Rae was on the ground, breathing heavily. When she calmed down, she heated her body using her fire-bending, drying herself in the process.
When she was completely dry, Rae lied on the solid ground. Korra watched her amused and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Thanking Kyoshi that you didn't kill me," she muttered, "I've never been more relieved to be on solid ground, I could even kiss it right now."
Korra laughed and helped Rae up. The older woman walked in front of the Avatar, leading the way.
"How do you know this place?" asked Korra.
"I used to come here with a friend when he was in town," Rae answered, trying not to meet Korra's questioning glare.
"Rae Akemi has real friends? Now that is surprising news."
Rae ignored Korra's laughter. It was true, the woman didn't have a lot of friends. She was too caught up with work in Republic City and her training as Guardian. She would encounter new people, but they never really became friends. She had, however, one person that she cared for and that always helped her when she needed it. But Korra didn't need to know about that person, the avatar would just tease her about it.
The two women stepped into a room when an older man pointed towards them, "Hey! What are you doing in my gym?!"
Korra's eyes widened and she looked at Rae, only for her to shrug her shoulders.
"Uhh—We were just looking for a bathroom and got lost."
"Ah, the old 'I had to pee' excuse! You know, I'm sick and tired of you kids sneaking in without paying! I'm taking you to security!"
Before Rae had the chance to tell the man about how she was, in fact, security for the whole city, a boy around Korra's age walked towards the two girls before stopping in between them.
"there you are! I have been looking for you two everywhere! It's all right Toza, they're with me."
Rae didn't really listen to the conversation after the boy arrived, knowing things had been taken care of. When she saw the man walk away from them, Rae let out a satisfied sigh before being dragged by Korra as the young Avatar followed the boy.
They arrived into a changing room with a balcony and an extraordinary view of the arena. Still, Rae paid no attention to the two talking. She heard Korra present herself as well as Rae to the boy and she also heard the boy talking to another one, something about crazy fangirls, she didn't really understand, not that she tried to.
"Come here." The boy that saved them, Bolin, said, dragging both girls towards the raven-haired boy, "I want you to meet my brother... Mako!"
"Mako?" asks Korra, with recognition in her voice, "Wow, I heard you play on the radio!"
The boy, Mako, didn't seem to be interested.
"come on Bolin. We're up."
Korra looked hurt, making Rae throw invisible daggers at Mako's head.
"...Or I could meet him later," said the Avatar, slightly disappointed.
"Yeah, sorry about that," apologized Bolin, "my brother gets really... focused before a match."
Rae turned around and walked to the balcony, her eyes switching from the platform in the middle of the arena to the audience. She saw from the corner of her eyes the three boys getting prepared and stepping on the platform.
Korra stepped next to her as the match began.
The Guardian had seen pro-bending matches before. She wasn't very interested in them, but, when she had the chance, she would watch some and point out mistakes in the fire and earth bender's stance. She watched as Bolin and Mako moved, blocking upcoming attacks and attacking their opponents themselves. She also looked at the water bender's stance. She wasn't a very good water bender yet, actually, she was terrible, but she knew enough from Katara and Korra to know that he wasn't a very good bender, at least, that's what his stance suggested.
She could hear Korra cheering from time to time when the boys would make a good move. The match finished with the Fire Ferrets winning, but barely.
"Whohoo! Yes!" exclaimed Bolin as he jumped in front of Korra and Rae, "one more win and we're in the championship tournament! So... what'd you think, Korra? Rae? Bolin's got some, huh?"
Rae smiled at the boy and patted his shoulder, nodding her head before walking away from the two. She saw the way Bolin looked at Korra and decided to leave them alone for a few minutes
The young Guardian saw Mako and the water bender coming back from the platform. They were fighting and Rae knew it wouldn't come out very good. The water bender left the room, shutting the door behind him and leaving a very angry Mako, "Useless."
"You guys were incredible," exclaimed Korra, before pointing to Mako, "especially you, Mister Hat-Trick!"
Rae had to accept that Korra was right, the three, or rather, two, were indeed incredible.
"Oh, you're still here?" asked Mako without looking at the two girls.
"oh, you're still a jerk?" Rae snorted at Korra's remark, putting a few tray strands of hair under her scarf.
"Anyway," muttered the young Avatar wand turned to look at Bolin, "I've been immersed in bending my whole life but I never learned how to move like this! It's like a whole new style here! Think you can show me and Rae some tricks?"
Bolin smiled before saying, "Absolutely!"
Right when Rae wanted to say that she didn't need to see those few tricks, Mako opened his mouth.
"Right now? Come on Bolin!"
As much as Rae hatted to admit, she kind of agreed with Bolin's jerk of a brother.
"Maybe he's right, Korra," Rae said, making both her best friend and Mako look at her in surprise, "If Tenzin finds out we left, he's gonna tell Lin, and then both are going to have my head!"
"Please, Rae?" asked the Avatar looking at the older woman, "just a few minutes and then we will leave!"
The Guardian rolled her eyes and muttered a small 'okay', making Korra try to hug her, only to be blocked by Rae's hand.
"Alright," said Bolin, making the two girls look at him, "I can show you two the basics, I'm just not sure how my earth bending is going to translate into your water bending, and your bending, whatever it is." The boy pointed to Korra's outfit and then to Rae, whose outfit didn't show what kind of bending she could do.
The Guardian let a small smirk appear on her face, knowing what was about to come.
"Won't be a problem," said Korra, "We are actually earth benders."
Bolin looked confused while Mako's interest seemed to pick up something.
"I'm sorry, no, no! I didn't mean to assume... Cause I, you know, I was just figuring... with your Water Tribe get up... that, uh, you were, a Water Tribe gal..."
Both girls laughed a little bit before Rae spoke.
"You are completely right, Bolin. Korra is a water bender and an earth bender... and she's a fire bender and a future airbender..." the woman, however, didn't say what bending she could do, trying to stay as anonymous as she could.
Bolin seemed very confused as he was staring at the two girls. He didn't seem to catch on to what the two were trying to do but his brother did.
"You're the Avatar and I'm an idiot."
"Both are true!"
Before Korra or Bolin could say anything, Mako turned around and pointed to Rae.
"You seemed so familiar to me... You're Rae Akemi, the Deputy-Chief of the Police, Lin Beifong's daughter... you're the Guardian!"
Bolin seemed the most surprised by Mako's revelation. He looked at the two girls in awe, like he idolized them. After he calmed down the hidden fangirl inside of him, the four benders walked to the gym, where Bolin started showing Korra some tricks. Mako and Rae stayed on the sides, watching the two train and talk. The Guardian had Pabu in her arms, Bolin's Fire Ferret that she recently met and fell in love with, petting his red fur.
"Why aren't you training with them?" asked Mako, turning to look at Rae.
"I spend three years in a swamp practicing earth bending blindfolded... I try not to train too much in earth bending anymore," she said, remembering all those sleepless nights with her grandmother.
Mako nodded slowly before asking again, "What about metal bending? Can you, do it?"
This time, Rae laughed. "Yes, I can. Plus, I work with the metal bending police of Republic City, every day at work is like a training session."
The raven-haired boy nodded again.
"Rae, come here and try this!" exclaimed Korra while looking at her friend.
"No thanks."
Korra pouted before trying herself to earth bend using the techniques Bolin showed her. She did it successfully, making Bolin cheer and Rae clap a few times.
"Not bad," said Mako.
Korra, however, wasn't satisfied. If it would have been after Rae, she would have left Mr. Grumpy pants alone.
"What does it take to impress this guy?"
"What!? I said not bad!"
The Avatar, however, wasn't impressed at all, her lame facial expression showing it.
"You know what, I think I'm gonna turn in. You kids have fun! Nice to meet you, Deputy-Chief Akemi, Avatar Korra."
Mako walked away without another word as Rae rolled her eyes at his dramatic way of saying his last words. She wasn't paying attention to what Korra and Bolin were saying, too preoccupied with the cute fluffy creature in her hands.
It seemed like an hour after Mako left and the two still hadn't stopped training. Rae did train a little bit herself, but not in bending. She found in one of the far corners of the gym a boxing sack and some bandages and she decided why not punch the hell out of the bag to ease her boredom.
She remembered how both her father and Lord Zuko would tell her that she needed to know how to fight without her bending. When she was a kid, she would train with Iroh and Lord Zuko in fire bending and weapon-wielding and with her father in martial arts and chi-blocking. The young woman always idolized her father. After he died, she was heartbroken.
After Rae successfully broke the punching bag, by broke it meant that sand was coming out of it from multiple holes, she took off her gloved and dipped her sore hands into a bucket of water before putting the gloved back on.
"I think it's enough training for today. We need to get back on the island."
Korra nodded and both girls said goodbye to the earth bender and left towards the Air Temple Island, hoping Tenzin didn't realize they were missing.