The Big Game

[stratofarius]

Inside...

Mei continued to walk from one side to the other, completely ignoring everyone that was on the Dancing Dragon's dressing rooms. While her teammates and their families were off to one side, they weren't really talking, and instead were glancing at her family.

Lan was too busy playing with a small insect he had found outside, and Azula was watching her daughter walk from one side to the other, sitting right next to her husband. "Mei, how will this help you in the game?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!" Mei said, shaking her head. "I'm scared that I'll lose this game."

"Are you crazy?" Azula scoffed. "That's impossible. You're one of the best firebenders I have ever seen, and you're still 16. You excel at every training exercise I give to you. Your path to this final game has been filled with victories. And you're my daughter, Mei. There's no way you can lose."

"But what if I slip up?" she asked, frowning at her father and mother. "What if we miss a shot, and one of us gets thrown out of the ring? What if that person is me?"

---------------------------------------------------

In the Staff Area...

"Well then, I guess you will just have to control yourself."

Ty Lee was, right now, sitting in a chair on her own dressing room. Why did the narrator of the Probending Little League need a dressing room? No one could provide the answer to that question. All they knew is that Ty Lee, famous radio personality and wife of Falkon, owner of Falkonian Enterprises, was going to narrate the final game, and that seemed like enough reason to give her a dressing room.

"I'll say it again, so listen to me, kids." she said, turning to face her children, Sarah and Rinku, and her very busy husband, Falkon. "No junk food. Me and your father made some reservations for us, the Noelles and a couple of other friends in a nearby restaurant. So we need empty stomachs, alright? Empty!"

The reason her family was here was because, as narrator of the Little League, she had access to unlimited free tickets, which she also handed out to a couple of friends and the Noelles. It was an opportunity for all of them to meet again, sit down after a nice big game, and just talk like old times.

------------------------------------------------------

Outside...

"This is it. The big game."

Alicia held on to Kun's hand as she and her family (including her son August, his "wife" Lemon, and their kids) approached the school whose gym was going to be used as the stadium for the Probending Little League finals. She wasn't going there to see her kids play, no, she was going there because Azula and Ozu had sent her and John a letter, telling them that "they should come and see the game, since Mei is a very dear friend of your children, and would love to see them on the crowd."

That was true, yes. Alicia and John weren't exactly best friends with Azula and Ozu. But their kids were a completely different story. Lan often played with Kun and Dollstop when he had a chance, Mei often gave Qiang tips on how to take Sarah on the greatest dates of her life, and Jian... well, she had spotted Jian sneaking off with Zhi quite a few times, so they could rent a boat and stare at the sky together. It was cute, actually. Kinda reminded her of when she first met John.

Also, Ty Lee had given them free tickets and told them she had made reservations on a nearby restaurant, the Spirit Shack, so they could all have a nice meal after the game. Alicia thought "they" included only the Noelles, the Royals and Falkon's family. But apparently, it also included three other people, good friends to both Ty Lee and the Noelles.

"I swear." Sokka said to John, as he, Katara and Toph walked alongside the Noelles. "The Spirit Shack has some of the greatest food in Republic City. The only problem with that place are the waiters. Not really friendly." The three of them had taken a day off from their jobs (except Toph, who told them that she would disappear without a warning if the boys down the station needed her help) and three free tickets from Ty Lee.

Yes, indeed, this was shaping up to be a big game.

[EldritchMermaid]

Fate sighed, and drew her little sister into a hug.

"Don't worry. You'll do fine out there." She said, still just as soft-spoken as she'd ever been.

[Krautman]

Ozu smiled to his daughters, clapping his hand onto Mei's shoulder.

"Relax, little pearl... It is only a game. Do your best and then we will go to dinner. Agreed?"

---

Kun was trying to block out all the noise, whimpering and staying close to Alicia's leg. Meanwhile, John was sighing and getting some cotton out to plug Kun's ears and ease her pain.

"I'm sure it is, Sokka, but... ugh. Crowds just aren't my thing."

Lemon, meanwhile, was grumbling. At she'd told August earlier, she'd gone through incredibly intense training all her life as a human, even before studying at the Mimic Mansion to become a Chameleon. And these kids got trophies when all she got was eaten by a gelatinous cube.

[dblade26]

"Honey, we've been through this. It's just sports. They're events that raise money for the community and let parents feel proud about their kids." August face-palmed once again before trying to explain it differently

"Look, if Doll or 'Gelo beat someone strong in a fight for the first time, you'd be proud of either of them, right? Even if it was someone who would be a piece of cake for you to defeat?"

While August struggled to explain the point of children playing competitive sports to his not-wife, their children walked in front of them.

Tangelo skipped towards the school, eyes practically sparkling with excitement in anticipation of what the day might hold.

"We get to see real bending! N' fighting! It's gonna be super amazing!"

Dollstop walked just a little ways behind his brother and kept switching his attention between him and Kun to make sure neither got lost since they were so distracted

"It's not real fighting dummy. It's pretend fighting, like we do sometimes."

Tangelo stopped and looked back for a second "Oh..." then immediately resumed skipping.

"But we get to visit everybody n' have food!"

Dollstop just smiled and shrugged in reply before grabbing his brother's hand so he wouldn't wander off.

[stratofarius]

Inside...

"Hey. Easy for you to say." Mei said, hugging back Fate. "You deal with problems every day, being a princess and all that."

"Which is exactly why you should listen to her, Mei." Alicia said, giving the other families glancing at them a glare. "Trust us. You'll do well."

"Right, right." Mei said, still hugging Fate. She separated from her older sister, and smirked, an almost perfect imitation of her mother's smirk. "And in the end, it won't really matter. This is just the little league- the real deal is the professional league. That's where the real players go to!"

-------------------------------------------------

Outside...

"Bah, don't listen to him, 'Gelo." Zhi said, grinning at her nephew. "Probending, even the little league, is really cool. Especially if you go on one of those stadiums where the arena is on top of a big lake. There's not one in this school, but still, it's really fun to see them getting knocked out of the arena!"

"Yeah, I understand that." Sokka said, leaning over to John and pointing at Katara, who watched everything with bored eyes. "Tell you the truth, it's a wonder that I managed to convince her to come and see the game, considering who will be there."

"Don't worry about it, Lemon!" Toph grinned, slinging an arm over Lemon's shoulder. "It's fun to see the little kids play. I remember when Blabberbrother first saw his probending game. He couldn't stop talking about it... no, seriously, he could not stop talking about it. He visited me at my Metalbending Academy just to talk about the game. So excuse him if he's a little bit too enthusiastic about the little league."

"Alright, everyone, we're near the ticket booth, everyone's got their tickets?" Alicia said, holding on to Kun's hand and gently caressing her hair.

[Falkon]

"Yes, Momma." Sarah said, as Rinku silently nodded, all the while planning to sneak some food at the first chance.

"Perhaps I should get the kids to their seats, Ty Lee." Falkon said, before giving Ty Lee a kiss, "Have fun pumping up the crowds!" 

[Krautman]

Jian smiled and nodded to Mei.

"And we all look forward to seeing you there, sister."

Ozu turned to Azula and motioned to the door. "Perhaps we should go find our seats, my empress."

---

Lemon sighed and adjusted the hat that held her pointed ears in place. She and John took out the tickets for their respective families and passed them out. "Eh, Augie's promised a fancy dinner with the family. that's always nice. Plus I get him all to myself this weekend~"

John muttered under his breath as he rubbed one of his ears. "Can't say I'm particularly fond either. But the kids see something in each other, and it's an excuse to take a break from the factory for a day or two."

Kun, however, was whimpering from the loud noise as John finally put the cotton in her ears and she visibly calmed down. She was holding onto Alicia's hand fairly tight. "Mommy, can I sit next to you and daddy?"

[stratofarius]

"Right, dear." Azula said, standing up and walking over to the door.

"And, uhm, guys?" Mei said, blushing a little. "Could you please, you know... cheer really loud? I just want to prove something to these guys," she nodded at her teammates, "Ok?"

--------------------------------------------

"Uhm, honey?" Ty Lee said, frowning for a moment as she grabbed Falkon by the sleeve of his shirt. "I know this is supposed to be a night where we can relax and forget about the everyday stress... but I invited some of my friends to the game and to the dinner... and that includes Katara. You... you know how she feels about 'Zula and Ozu, right? Could you please try to keep them from not starting a fight? Please?"

-----------------------------------

As Sokka passed his tickets, he looked over at John with interest. "Oh yes, the factory. How are things going with Falkonian Enterprises? We really need to talk about expanding it over to the Water Tribes."

"Looks like someone has a full schedule this weekend, eh, Blabberbrother?" Toph said, nudging her brother on the shoulder. "Well, anything's good for me. The boys down the station can take care of the city without me."

"Of course you can, dear." Alicia said, picking up Kun and kissing her in the forehead. "But don't sleep, alright? We'll go to dinner later."

[Falkon]

"Ach..." Falkon sighed, "...Alright. I'll make sure they don't steal the show... Come on, Rinku, Sarah. Let's find our group."

"Seeya, Momma!" Rinku said, before squeezing Ty Lee as hard as he could.

"Bye Momma." Sarah said, waving. The three then left the dressing room, and headed towards their seats.

[dblade26]

"Really looks that way, doesn't it?" August grinned at the thought of a weekend alone with his...not-wife, without either of the kids running around or any crazy machine gun wielding sorcerers trying to kill him for stealing back their jade warrior statue that was actually a magical transforming mecha so that they couldn't realign the earth's feng shui and rule the time stream.

He'd really been looking forward to it.

Tangelo's eyes had gotten wider and wider as Zhi described how awesome even little league pro-bending was until he was practically squirming in place in an attempt to not run ahead of everyone and into the stadium.

Dollstop noticed and grabbed onto the back of his brother's shirt pulling him much closer and wrapping his arms around the young boy just in time for the half-demon to try and bolt towards the entrance.

"W-wah! Lemme go! Dolly, I wanna go in!!!!"

"Mama, did we really have to bring 'Gelo with us? He's gonna get in trouble or get lost n' give me headaches so I can't watch the game. He's no good at restaurants either." The last part was just a guess, considering Dollstop had only been to restaurants one or two times and wasn't very good at eating in them either.

"N-no fair! Mama, Dolly's being mean t' me an' not letting me explore!!" Despite his protests, Tangelo had started cuddling into the restraint attempt, which despite Dollstop's best efforts was quickly turning into a concerned hug instead.

[Krautman]

Lemon got down on a knee and rubbed her sons' hair.

"Kids, I'm trusting you to be on your best behavior for Nana and Grampa. That means you can't run ahead, 'Gelo. This is a big crowd and you might get lost. So if you want to explore, I'll go with you, okay?"

Kun smiled and nodded. "'Kay Mommy!"

---

Ozu smiled as they left and bowed to his daughter.

"Of course, my little pearl."

[dblade26]

Tangelo nodded slowly and even stood up a little straighter at being told he had to be on his best behavior.

"O-kay!"

Dollstop let go of the other boy after a minute, though he stuck notably closer to Lemon after being told to be on his best behavior too and neither of them ran too far ahead.

"Uhm, Mama, why do you like being alone with Master so much, n' for such a long time? I'm alone with him like that all the time n' it's only sorta fun..."

A lot of the time, in fact, it was a lot of hard work and sometimes painful, which was why time spent with the rest of the family always felt so fun and important to Dollstop.

[stratofarius]

Mei smiled and bowed back to her father, walking over to her locker to grab her uniform. The other teammates had stopped staring and walked over to Mei.

"So, captain." one of them, the earthbender of the group asked. "How is it like living in royalty?"

"Oh, boy." Mei said, rolling her eyes and putting on her helmet. "Does it really matter? The important thing here is the game, not my family. Now put on your uniform. We have a game to win."

-----------------------------------------------------

"And it was a great game!"

A few hours later, and the entire group was now reunited in the Spirit Shack, one of the best restaurants in Republic City. It was very late, so the restaurant was mostly empty, and those who were there had stopped eating to stare at the weird collection of people: you had the royal family of the Fire Nation, the most famous radio announcer of Republic City, the Police Chief and one of the Council members... and the Avatar, although no one knew that.

The group was divided in three round tables, and the food had already been served a while ago, with the first one being used by the children: Kun, Tangelo, Dollstop and Lan, who was now busy with demonstrating firebending tricks, such as making little insects out of fire. After every trick, he waited for the applause from his friends with a prideful smile.

The other table had the teenagers: Sarah, Rinku, Qiang and Mei, who was now describing the match in great detail- she had dealt the winning move, so there was a reason for the girl to be so excited. "And then, me and my teammate, oh, we make this great move! I send multiple fireballs towards their firebender, and while he was too busy dodging, my earthbender shot a disc that sent him tumbling out of the arena! You guys saw that, right?" she said, pointing

The last table had all of the adults, plus Zhi and Jian, who had the "honor" of sitting on the adults' table for the first time, right next to each other. Zhi played with her food, uninterested in the conversation that the adults were having, and would occasionally look at Jian- looks that often ended with poorly-hidden blushes. "Well, clearly, my daughter was the reason they won the game." Azula said, smirking. "And she didn't win just because she's an excellent firebender. In fact, I think she wanted to make her sister proud."

Alicia nodded, watching as Azula placed a hand on Fate's shoulder. Her stare went over to Katara, who seemed relatively calm, considering she was sitting near the woman responsible for a huge percent of the pain she went through in her life. "Snoozles, stop eating like that." Toph said, staring at the nothingness in front of her.

Sokka, who was sitting next to her, stopped munching on his piece of meat to roll his eyes. "Toph, I'm 35 years old, can you please stop using that nickname?"

"Once you stop eating like a turtleduck, sure." she replied, eating her piece of meat with the calm and grace of a princess- an interesting behavior for someone that didn't care if you spotted her with a finger on her nose.

Ty Lee, however, was distracted with something else. This was her first time meeting Lemon, and so all she could do was smile and glance at the woman that was supposed to be August's wife. "So tell me more about this job, Lemon. What do you do, exactly?"

[Krautman]

Kun didn't applaud, but rather gave Lan a hug after every trick. "That was awesome, Lan!"

Qiang listened to Mei go on, rolling his eyes. "Well, yeah, what else were we going to be watching? You're the one we came to see after all."

Lemon smiled back to Ty Lee, taking a sip of her tea before answering. "Oh, I work at a resort. I'm on security, so mostly I handle pirates or really rowdy guests. I'm also expected to help any guests locate lost or stolen property, but keeping pirates away occupies most of my time, even if the seas are a lot safer these days."

Jian, meanwhile, was obviously nervous as well, blushing as he looked at the woman next to him. "So... Zhi, how are things in Gaoling?"

[dblade26]

August's children didn't get to see the royals very often, but they seemed to get along well enough with them considering August had been best friends with the Royal Family's eldest daughter for almost twenty years now. Tangelo was also enthusiatically hugging Lan after each trick from the opposite side as Kun. "Do it again! It's super pretty and awesome!"

Dollstop was clapping and smiling during Lan's performance. His cynicism about Pro-bending had melted away during the game and he was acting much happier now, but as one of the oldest children at the table he was also trying to do his best to be responsible. "Those are really awesome tricks...just...uhm...try not to burn the table so much okay? I think the grownups'll get mad..."

[Falkon]

"It was pretty awesome, though." Rinku said, "You don't see that kinda strategy in lots of kids our age."

"It's just a shame you guys can't get into close quarters." Sarah said, "Can you imagine how epic it would be if a bender could use Chi Blocking techniques?"

She poked a spot on Rinku's arm, causing it to spasm for a couple seconds, before getting a punch on the shoulder in return. Unfazed, she said "See the possibilities?"

"How are pirates?" Falkon asked, "I've never actually met one, to be honest. It's really kind of surprising."

[stratofarius]

Lan took the applause and hugs, and gave all of them a short bow. "And for my next trick, I'm going to do... a... uhm... hum... Dolly, can you tell me a funny animal?"

-------------------------------

"Well, you could have been looking at the other players." Mei replied with a smile. Her smile soon disappeared as she glared right into Qiang's soul. "You weren't doing that, were you?... were you?"

-------------------------------

"Are they like the pirates from over here?" Ty Lee asked. "In fact, I haven't seen a lot of pirates ever since Republic City got built..."

"So, Fate." Alicia said, putting down her fork. "Azula says Mei won the game to impress you. What exactly have you been doing these past few days? I mean, I don't know if Mei sees you every time, but for a 16 year old girl to want to impress her older sister... that's an interesting feat." She then glared at Zhi, who was still distracted with Jian. "I wish someone would do that."

"Yes, that is a good question. A question that should be extended to other people." Katara said, glaring at Ozu. "What have you been doing the past few days?"

-------------------------------

"Things are going fine, hotti-- I mean, they're going fine, and hot!" Zhi replied with a blush, and quickly got back to eating as fast as she could.

At this point, Toph sighed, putting down her fork, and leaning towards Jian. "Listen, Prince Stutter, if you want to impress Jellygirl," she whispered, "you have to stop, you know, stuttering. Step up, go talk with here in a more private place;"

"Or you could always go for the heroic approach." Sokka whispered, leaning towards Jian and putting down his piece of meat for a moment.

"Snoozles, what are you doing?"

"What are you doing, Toph? At least I had a romantic life."

There was a moment of silence, following an "ouch" coming from Sokka as Toph punched him right in the shoulder. "Don't listen to him, Prince Stutter. Follow my suggestions, and you'll do fine."

[Krautman]

Qiang raised his hands defensively. "Mei, you know full and well I came here to see YOU."

---

Lemon thought for a minute. The Devil Fruit granted strange powers with no equivalent in this world. Well, she'd do her best to relay that. "Well, a lot of them are... well, benders of a sort, but some of them just want to relax at the resort like everyone else."

Ozu sighed. He'd known this was coming. "Helping my daughter with her training whenever I can, taking Lan to the zoo so he can see the Rabbaroos, helping Jian with his painting as needed... And other typical fatherly pursuits."

---

Jian bowed to Toph and Sokka. "Th-thank you, both of you." He went back to enjoying the meal, sneaking a glance at Zhi now and again.

[dblade26]

"U-umm..." Dollstop tried to think of an animal in the Avatarworld he could have Lan make.

"I know!" He said, snapping his fingers "Make an Iguana-Parrot! Like pirates have!"

Tangelo looked confused and worried for a minute "But Dolly, Mama says that lotsa pirates are bad people!"

Dollstop gave the half-demon an irritated glance "No way, pirates are awesome! Especially the ones with cool super-powers! N' it's not like Lan'll be a pirate just 'cause he makes an Iguana Parrot. Do it, it'll be great!" He grinned and gave a thumbs up. After a giving his brother a worried glance, Tangelo decided to echo the smile and the gesture.

[EldritchMermaid]

"When I haven't been elsewhere in official capacities I've been spending a lot of my time in the palace training my own skills. Training both of us." She straightened one of her gloves, which carried Bardiche's standby form on the back.

[Falkon]

Falkon looked at Katara and Ozu, a little worried about the way they were acting, giving a quiet "Interesting..." at Lemon's response.

---

"So, anything interesting going on in Royal land, these days?" Rinku asked.

[dblade26]

August grinned at Fate "As expected of the royal princess, even if you're still as quiet as ever! I still don't know how you can put up with all the pressure and duty involved without going completely crazy. I mean, are there any nice parts of being royalty?"

[stratofarius]

"An iguana parrot?" Lan said. He tapped his chin, and then closed his eyes, before performing an over dramatic firebending move and punching the air. "Hah!" he yelled, as the fire that came out of his hands took the form of a... gorilla goat. He opened his eyes just as the fire disappeared. "How was that? A good iguana parrot?"

--------------------------------

"Good." Mei replied, and her glare quickly turned into a smile. "Not much. I keep trying to convince Father or Sister that we should bring pro-bending to the Fire Nation, but they keep saying there's more important things and I should study more politics." She shook her head and sighed. "It's not like that here, right?" she asked, pointing at Rinku and Sarah. "I mean, your dad must be a really great guy, since he supports all those sports. I bet life here must be way more exciting!"

---------------------------------

"Why would you need to train, Fate?" Katara asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, your family holds representative power. There's no reason for you to train. All you have to do is sit and enjoy the..." She shifted her glare towards Azula. "... luck... your parents have."

Azula replied with a similar glare, but under the table, she searched for Ozu's hand. When she found it, she held on to it with all of her strength, sending a clear message to her husband. Deal with this before I do something wrong.

"That sounds like a lovely place! Oh, we should go there someday, dear!... Hold on, let me get a piece of paper..." Ty Lee said as she picked up her purse from the ground, taking a piece of paper and a pen from it. "Tell me the number!"

"We should go there someday too, honey." Alicia whispered to John, not knowing if he was paying attention at Lemon or at the possible conflict between Katara and Azula. "I don't think Anny has met the kids yet. And she can be a lovely host, you know that."

Suddenly, Zhi stood up, grabbing the attention of everyone in the table. She blushed, pointing at the corridor leading to the bathroom. "I-I have to go to the bathroom. Now. I-I'll be back. Later." she said, giving Jian another awkward glance before walking away to the bathroom.

Sokka's eyes followed Zhi until she entered the bathroom, at which point he turned to Jian with a smirk, and pointed at the bathroom with a thumbs up. Go wait for her out there! he silently mouthed before giving him a thumbs up.

[EldritchMermaid]

"You're right; I don't need to. That doesn't mean I can't choose to."

[dblade26]

August tried his best to diffuse the tension. "Yup, anyone can choose to do good things, even if they haven't before or even if they've done bad things it's the things they do now that matter, eheh...umm...this food is actually really delicious! Why is it I've never been here before?"

He wasn't too sure of the results.

Meanwhile, Dollstop and Tangelo were both trying to figure out how to respond to Lan.

"U-umm...that was a really good iguana parrot buddy!" Doll said, rubbing at the back of his head nervously "BUT, I bet you could make an even more awesome one if you kept your eyes open, like a REALLY super awesome one."

"But Dolly, that was a g- OW!" Tangelo cut off as his brother kicked him from under the table and whispered 'play pretend' "a g-reat iguana parrot. Yup uh-huh, that wasn't some other animal at all!"

[stratofarius]

"Because it costs an arm and a leg?" Toph said, raising an eyebrow. "The only reason we're here is because people like Snoozle and give him a discount, or something like that."

"Somewhat true." Sokka said, a prideful smile on his face. "I am a regular costumer here. I'm like family to those guys!"

"Seriously?" A big smile appeared on Lan's face as he clapped his hands. "I should show it to Mommy! She'll be proud, right?"

[Falkon]

"It's nice how they've fireproofed the place." Falkon said, before pointing at the kid's table, "Even my place would shrivel in the sight of Lan's gorilla goats!"

---

"Oh, yeah." Sarah said, "Dad's pretty cool, but he tends to have really tight schedules. I tend to do stuff on my own."

"You should give politics a chance, though." Rinku said, "If you study the right stuff, you'll find a drama filled with more backstabbing, action, and plot twists than any play!"

Sarah proceeded to punch Rinku. "Ignore him," she said, "He gets excited about the weirdest things."