Fight Night!

[sonal]

So here it was, and there she was. The acclaimed Earth Rumble championship, where combatants gathered to, more or less, beat each other senseless. Not exactly Sonal's usual scene by choice, but she often did set up shop around such large gatherings. When one's wares were as widely enjoyed as tea, it was a lucrative opportunity for the traveling merchant to take. Even if it was as stupid as this whole wrestling match deal, it did mean money in her pocket. When Sonal kept that in mind, it was all too easy to think she might have to sit through the whole thing.

At the moment, however, Sonal was still outside. About an hour beforehand, she had used her bending to craft a simple stand, where she would set on display everything she would be selling. Not far behind was a makeshift earthen tent with a fire pit in the center, where water would be heated in her collection of teapots, while also being used to bake a few small ceramic vessels and hold an excess of stone cups. Even though she insisted people stay around while they drank the tea they purchased, not everyone listened. Thus, anything dispensible she could use to serve tea to people would work for her in this case, despite how un-professional it may seem. Probably, she concluded, no one would notice anyway.

She still kept a close eye on the tent anyway, even though the most valued possessions and her backpack were buried a safe distance underneath the ground, where only she would remember. If she forgot, the resonations from a good firm stomp could tell her where the small recess she made in the earth ran off to.

Taking note of the sun's lowered position in the sky, Sonal knew that sundown would necessitate a move indoors, probably having to take a new angle entirely. That wasn't a big deal as much as one thought that kept nagging her. If this was some sort of event where combat was involved, just who would attend? Raging Rock. He was so gung-ho about battle before she met him, while they were getting to know each other, and even right before she disappeared without a trace that she formed no doubt he would grace the venue with his almighty presence.

Sonal still didn't make much of an effort to disguise herself, even though she did wear slightly different clothes. A long-sleeved, thigh-length gamboge sherwani (tied at the waist with a wide, rust-brown sash) and the same pair of baggy saffron trousers and her curled hair in a braid, the common, low-maintenance style. It would probably be enough not to grab his attention immediately, but she didn't peg him as a sort who would actively seek her out anyway. If he did happen by her little stand, then she'd have reason to worry. Right now, she was perfectly satisfied selling tea to passersby.

"Thank you!" Sonal said to her latest customer, who had just finished his cup of quince oolong tea, let out a satisfied sigh, and thanked the earthbender as he returned the small cup to its stand. It was a job well done.

[theboulder]

The morning was rough. The breakfast was rough. Hell, even the sun was rough. The Raging Rock has awoken from his stupor. With a hangover from the lowest pits, he did his usual of cracking his neck, back, and fingers.

“THE RAGING ROCK IS AWAKE!” he yelled, only to be in more pain as his hangover became more apparent. He paid the clerk downstairs and walked out with his breakfast of rice with eggs. The sun was intense for his eyes to adjust. He groans loudly as he witnessed the “splendor” of Gaoling.

“What can the Raging Rock do today?” Raging Rock spoke to himself, “The Raging Rock must get more money. What can the Raging Rock do?”

He walked around for a good hour to look for something to do. Unfortunately, the normal riffraff won’t be out during the day that he’s use to playing with at night. On a nearby billboard, Raging Rock noticed a flyer, one that stood out from the others. After carefully reading, it said something about a tournament. What kind of tournament, it didn’t say, and it also gave a certain date. A kid going to school was stopped abruptly.

“Kid, what is today?” Raging Rock yelled out. The kid counted his fingers and replied.
“Today is Wednesday,” the kid replied. Raging Rock’s eyes widened with excitement as he heard the good news. The tournament was today.

“THE RAGING ROCK HAS A NEW CHALLENGE, AND THE RAGING ROCK WILL PREVAIL!”

He sprinted to the direction that it gave out as a location while holding his forehead as the hangover was going on overtime.

[sonal]

Less customers were stopping by, crowds had thinned significantly, and that could mean one important thing regarding the tournament - it was about to begin, and Sonal's stand outside the stadium would have no purpose whatsoever. If there were no spectators walking around, she had no reason to be where she currently was. Good thing, though; her last teapot with anything inside was down to a small pool at the bottom, staring back at her informatively. Yep, that was a good hint to change her angle.

Before the stadium's security could and would tell her to leave, Sonal decided to pack up shop. Her teapots were rinsed out and shaken dry, then, after her sack was dug up from its underground prison, she placed them inside. The excess of tiny stoneware or earthenware cups, even though they added a fair share of weight on her back and shoulders, were given the same place inside Sonal's sack of many wonders - these could come in handy some day, she foresaw.

Then things went to heck. Well, not that quickly, but they kind of did. Far enough down the street to matter and heading toward the stadium barreled the familiar large man called Raging Rock, who'd might have seen her by now. Sonal needed a way out again. After telling the hotel clerk to basically lie, she wondered if the man even fell for that nonsense, or remembered the prior night to begin with. It wouldn't have surprised her to think he did that with plenty of other women.

Diving inside her tent, firmly grasping her rucksack in her hands, Sonal quickly tried to lower the conical earthen tent into the ground as quickly as possible - it was harder than it looked, since her head barely reached the very pointed ceiling of the structure, and her arms didn't fare much better. Still, before she figured he got too close to the tea stand, Sonal was already safe underground, in darkness. All that was left was a patch of slightly turned earth and a stand where the woman in the orange sherwani once set up business. Crisis averted for now, but Sonal wondered just how much longer she could keep this up. "Close one..."

[theboulder]

The arena wasn’t nearly as crowded as Raging Rock wanted. Even with it only being in the morning, the Raging Rock feels the urge of combat. The dust settled in behind him as he looked around. He counted only at least twenty people in visible site. The sun clouded over as an overcast settled in.

From an entranceway, Raging Rock noticed a rather large fellow walking his way. He was sporting a goatee and raised his hair straight up. He was walking barefoot, so chances are he was an earth bender. This large and strange man walked up to the Raging Rock and looked him over.

“The Boulder knows a competitor. Let me introduce myself. The Boulder is the Boulder, and you seem to be one for fighting,” the large man spoke in his machismo sounding voice. Raging Rock inhaled deeply through his nostrils.

“You are correct Boulder. The Raging Rock is looking for competition on a flyer that Raging Rock looked upon. Where is this tournament?” Raging Rock bellowed.

“The Boulder knows where the tournament is. The tournament is here friend. The Boulder knows that if you fight, you will be crushed, for the Boulder will seek the championship,” The Boulder boasted. He lifted his arms and flexed his muscled biceps.

“Sorry to disappoint Boulder, but the Raging Rock is not so easily beaten,” he bellowed again. He raised his arms into the air as if he was reaching for the clouds, “In my final meeting with the spirits and the ancestors, they have spoke out to me. They can feel the power of my strength, they could hear the thunder of my voice, and they can feel energy of my soul. Boulder, this tournament you will be in will only end in your defeat, for the Raging Rock will walk away victorious once more.”

“We shall see Raging Rock,” the Boulder spoke, “The Boulder will see you in the arena. Bring your best ability, and don’t pull your punches, cause I won’t pull mine.”

The Boulder walks away through the walkway that he came out from. The Raging Rock could feel the energy around him, the tournament is right here in this building.

[sonal]

After her harrowing return from the ground beneath Raging Rock's feet, Sonal dusted herself off and took one last look around. The very last glimpse of Raging Rock she had was of him walking into the stadium and nothing more, which naturally imparted much relief to her. Letting out a relaxed sigh and slumping her shoulders for a bit, Sonal hoisted herself from the pit with her heavy bag slung over one shoulder and stood. For a few seconds, she weighed her decision to stick around even if it meant a very slight chance of running into Raging Rock, who likely wouldn't be very happy at all.

In the end, she decided that, even if the boastful man did grow incensed at Sonal, the public at large would die before they let him lay a hand on a seemingly innocent person like Sonal. She allowed that to draw her into the place, wondering just how she could make a profit. Could her own tea be sold, perhaps? Maybe she could walk the stands just that night alone and peddle a few drinks? She would have to haggle, naturally, but she was prepared. What was presumeably a sort of personnel office wasn't too far from the entrance, so her query into this temporary employment wasn't foreseen as much of a problem.

And again, she heard from a seperate entrance two men talking to each other rather loudly. It may have made her somewhat tense, but she knew well there was safety in numbers when this large and potentially dangerous, rather scorned man was around. That didn't stop her swift feet from taking her inside the office before the off-chance Raging Rock saw her, though. If he did happen to meet and question her before the night was over, she'd find a way to avoid the entire subject. It was the Sonal way, after all! Why worry about the future when you can just avoid it?

To the person at the desk inside the office, who quickly made eye contact with the Madhur native, Sonal quickly gave her reasons for being there. "Hello. I was wondering..."

More or less, things worked out for the earthbender. To the stands she went!

[sun]

Somewhere near the stands a familiar face was hanging out, quite literally at the moment. The officials and guards had long since giving up on trying to contain the mobile nuisance that was Sun so when they saw him climbing an unused chain they thought nothing of it.

He was actually quite familiar with the place, he was born only a few blocks away and once he had taken an interest in fighting had spent a large amount of time here. Many were the nights spent watching the earth benders beating each other senseless. Too bad that when Sun’s proficiency in combat began to grow he discovered that many of these fighters weren’t as tough as he thought. Through personal experiments he had discovered that most of these fighters could be dealt with by a single blow to the back of the head. The increasing criminal element hadn’t helped his disappointment. I was this that brought him here today.

A few of the fighters had caused a ruckus in town and had made a mess of a friends shop. Sun couldn’t allow this to go unpunished.. And for that matter had nothing better to do.

[theboulder]

The crowd in the stands begin to swell in numbers. They knew what they were going to watch. People bought their tickets and food to watch this spectacular battle of opponents that do nothing more than bash their heads in for the audience.

In the waiting room, Raging Rock swoops his arms around to warm them up for his match. There are many people her that await for their turn in the arena. From fat men to ones with raging muscles, they all look like formidable opponents. The sweat of the men fall to the ground and absorb itself into the earth. Their day is almost here.

In the arena, a tall man wearing green announces to the audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Earth Rumble VII!” the man announced. The crowd starts to cheer, “Tonight, we have many familiar faces, awaiting to take part in this honorable contest. There are also some new faces today. For our first match for this evening,”

Another man runs up to the announcer and hands him a card with names on it.

“Our first match is scheduled. Introducing first, he calls himself the self-emerged warrior of the spirit’s will, he is, RAGING ROCK!”

He launched himself into the middle of the ring. Once there, he flexes for the audience and waves his arms into the air. The audience only gave out a mediocre cheer for this up and comer.

“And introducing his challenger, all the way from Kyoshi Island, this man is no stranger to this arena, here is, KING HIPPO!”

Loud thundering footsteps could be heard opposite of Raging Rock as a giant fat man with two boulders walks towards the arena. He sports cotton shorts and has chains hanging from both of his arms. When he opens his mouth, a considerable amount of teeth were missing. He sports no hair on his head.

“Contestants, FIGHT!”

[sonal]

"Thank you," Sonal said above the distinctive clamor of the crowds, clutching at the generous coupling of coins in her hand. Peeling back the skirt of her sherwani for a moment, she slipped them into her pocket, a pleasant clink sounding right as the fabric within pulled taut with the added metallic weight. Then from her tray, she took a baked clay mug of iced, lightly-sweetened lapsang souchong and delivered it to the man beside her, first person on the edge of that row. If he were any farther than perhaps the third seat down the line, she could very well have used earthbending to puppeteer the cup down to the man, or more riskily pass it down the line and hope people would be honorable enough not to steal it. Sonal may have gotten her payment already, but she would feel for the man if his desired beverage were stolen before their very eyes.

Smiling, Sonal turned and walked up the stairs again. Time and again had she seen the odd, small man hanging on a chain above the stage like some kind of hogmonkey, but she dismissed it as a harmless gimmick like everything else that night. It was bizarre entertainment she had no desire to watch for long, but at least it funded her business well. She could get a few cheap and generally hollow laughs, but the night would likely only benefit her, as she expected fully, financially speaking-- and she was okay with that. Peering at him from her place on the stairs once again, Sonal resumed her steady climb with her tray firmly in place. Roughly half the tea was sold, she estimated, having foregone a count of the vessels beforehand.

The name bellowed aloud, followed by cheering crowds, made a chill run up her spine. Yep, by the spirits' odd and twisted humor, Raging Rock was the first contestant. The very same one whose offenses included vomiting right before her eyes and immediately afterward inviting her to bed was the very same one Sonal beheld in the arena when she turned to see. He wasn't as frightening as the combatant, who her shock-widened green eyes estimated to be about seven feet tall and five hundred pounds, even in generous terms! He apparently called himself The Hippo, which was oddly fitting-- she'd heard a few tales of arctic hippos in the North Pole, which were considerably hefty and girthy creatures much like this barely-clad man from Kyoshi.

Altogether she concluding, swallowing an uneasy lump in her throat, that even though the whole premise was staged, men like those two alone could still hurt someone very easily. Shaking her head, Sonal backed all the up the stairs to the highest point of the stands (where dim greenish lights and a considerable distance would keep her hidden), meanwhile catching small glimpses of the strange suspended monkey-man, but keeping watch on the stage itself. Raging Rock surely wouldn't interrupt his match to see the woman who pretended she didn't exist, but she couldn't even be sure of that. He had a strange way of thinking, it seemed, but competition probably meant most to him.

...Right?

[sun]

After a few minutes Sun had burned off a good portion of energy and had finally calmed down. Much to the officials relief the man had planted himself in the stands with a number of the regular locals.

It had been at least half a year since he had last set foot in his home town and he was taking a brief moment to catch up with a few of the people he had grown up with. Despite Sun’s bug-like talent for annoying any person whose had contact with him for more than five seconds, he was rather well liked here. At the moment Sun was relaying a story from his travels involving a waist high bald sand bender he had encountered while crossing the desert. Of course in Sun’s version of the tale he heroically subdued the raging bender in combat and hadn’t in fact been buried in the sand like a furry talking bone.

Sun liked to exaggerate.

[iikagen]

Over two weeks of Southbound travel brought Iikagen across the bustling town of Gaoling. Along the way he had skirted the edges of the Si Wong desert as per the instructions of some travelers headed in the opposite direction, bypassing both the Foggy Swamp and the recently fallen city of Omashu. Each place sounded vaguely amusing to the wayward Igni, but he figured a city under martial law might be just a little toofoolish to enter, and the other travelers made the Swamp sound like it would take too long to cross. Besides, they'd said there were often raiders from the desert passing by on the suggested path, so he figured that would be his best bet to follow as he wandered aimlessly Southward.

Along the way, he had burnt out his frustrations at allowing that muscle-bound female earthbender to get the better of him by harassing some unfortunate cabbage vendor he crossed along the road. So by the time he reached the first major beacon of civilization in many miles, he had pt the matter behind him entirely.

Gaoling's gates were gurded by soldiers, but fortunately enough there was enough traffic in and out that his passage wasn't even questioned. His drab peasant clothing and wide brimmed hat did well to hide his eye-catching features. However, after meandering aimlessly about the town for a little while, he happened upon a discarded flyer. The printing was beyond his comprehension, but he understood the picture of men fighting. Out of curiosity he magaed to corner some man and determine that there was indeed a tournament taking place that very day.

Iikagen burned some more time in town, scoping out potential resting places and pilfering some lunch from a fruit stand in the marketplace, and eventually found his way to the nearby mountain that housed the arena where this 'Earth Rumble' Tournament was being held. By the size of the crowd being drawn to it, he figured there must be some top-quality fighters (by Earth kingdom standards) on the roster. He followed the flow of the crowd into the stands around the arena but he remained standing in one of the halls.

The atmosphere was electric, and after seeing the opening ceremony he found himself just as eager to see the first competitors do battle. If they were half as good at fighting as they were at being dramatic, Iikagen felt like he might just have to get in on the action.

[theboulder]

The stands were filling up fast as the tournament started with the two newcomers. Being the kind of guy he is, the Raging Rock announced himself to everyone.

“THE RAGING ROCK IS THE SPIRIT OF ALL THE PAST WARRIORS THAT EVER FOUGHT. THE RAGING ROCK IS THE MANIFESTATION OF THE ANCESTORS…”

Before he could finish most of his speech, a barrage of rocks from atop of him land on him in piles. King Hippo laughed as Raging Rock was buried by the rocks.

“HAHAHAHA!” King Hippo crooned, “You cannot withstand the might of the mighty King Hippo! Give up, wretched reject of the spirits.”

Suddenly, in an explosion of rage, Raging Rock screams in fury as he used his earth bending to launch the rocks in all directions like an explosion. He clenched his fist toward Hippo.

“The Raging Rock is not done with his speech. However, since you are so eager to feel my wrath, the Raging Rock will happily obliged.”

He charged forward and swung at the ground to create a barrage f rocks that get launched at the Hippo. King Hippo stood his ground as he waited for the attacker to get closer. As Raging Rock launched a punch toward Hippo’s stomach, Hippo binds Raging Rock with a bear hug. Raging Rock yelled as he tried to escape the submission, but the more he tried to squirm, the tighter King Hippos hug gets. He laughed at Raging Rock as he tried to escape with futility.

[sonal]

It was easy to get swept up with the roaring crowd, which was maybe the only reason why Sonal felt that sensation flood through her veins, like someone had drained all her blood and replaced it with inexorably strong tea from her homeland. Well, that one was quite an exaggeration, especially because such things were impossible, but it certainly felt like a good analogy-- but now Sonal couldn't help but picture a needle puncturing her flesh and rich, black tea pouring her skin instead of thick, red blood. Chuckling at herself even though the image was disturbingly fresh in her mind, Sonal took yet another step down a different section of staircase.

Stopping, however, Sonal took a moment (wherein she again noticed the small monkey-man was no longer suspended from a chain) to watch the actual fight going about onstage. Raging Rock, as it seemed, was in a predicament Sonal found oddly ironic and a bit humorous, as the man was held in a vicegrip to the torso of that imposing and gigantic fat man who probably now sweated like a weasel-newt. Ah, the twisting turns theatrics took made her smile.

Unfortunately, or perhaps much less so, she had work to do. A man had been calling for her attention for quite some while (a fact of which she was partially aware), and she felt the need to follow his request. Thus began a difficult task of hearing him over the crowds and delivering her peddled products, after which she could laugh some more at the two huge men who had nothing to do but hug each other.

[sun]

"Your mother was a rhino-pig!" came the call from a particularly loud section of the crowd drawing many cheers, it didn't matter who it was aimed at, they were just having fun flinging jeers and insults at the wrestlers.

"Hippo! Does your tooth get lonely?" this one can from the 'monkey man' who was sitting cross legged in the center of the noisy locals. In front of him there was a hand sized wooden bowl filled with what looked like small brightly colored dried fruits. Every few minutes he would take one and flick it into the air so he could catch it in his mouth. Earlier he was able to persuade one of his companions to try one of these 'Naga cherries.' At the moment that companion was laying on the floor with a wet towel on his forehead and taking deep breaths. Few people truly understood the power of the Naga cherry until they tried it, and most of these fainted after the epiphany. Sun however was able to eat these like grapes.

Sun flicked on of the last cherries into the air but before he could catch it in his mouth a hand had snatched it out of the air from behind him. Sun tilted his head further backward and leaned till he was looking at the perpetrator upside down.

"What's up? Leather face"

[iikagen]

Iikagen couldn't help but smile. These were the kind of campy, action-filled antics he found particularly amusing. The actual bending was fairly rudimentary, and there didn't seem to be much more strategy than simply overpowering the opponent with brute force. If it weren't for the fact that he thought he could do a better job than these thesbians, Iikagen might have simply sat down and watched. But no... he still had his mask, and this looked like too much fun to pass up.

The Igni folded his arms across his chest as he continued to lean against the wall of the hallway. He was still watching the fight, but at the same time he began scanning the floor level for some hint of how to incorporate himself into these games.

Was he allowed to simply challenge them from the stands? During duels back on his home island, the fighting circle was open to anyone with a grudge to settle. Iikagen resolved to keep his ears open for such an invitation, but at the same time he figured it might be fun to try and infiltrate the show on his own.

After all, this was a tournament. And if one of the competitors just happened to be unable to fight due to some unfortunate accident, he'd be available to fill in on short notice.... or at least, so things went in Iikagen's mind.

[theboulder]

The pain was excruciating. The one called King Hippo didn’t give any quarter. He kept squeezing and squeezing the Raging Rock. He could feel his muscles collapsing on his bones. Raging Rock had to do something. He tried to muscle his way out of the submission hold, but King Hippo was stronger than he looked. Raging Rock could think of no alternative.

With a swing of his head, the Raging Rock exchange blows to King Hippo’s cranium, hoping that his grip will loosen. At first, it didn’t, but Raging Rock was persistent. He kept swinging and swinging until his forehead felt as soft as cheese. He did succeed however, as he felt King Hippo’s grip lighten. With a burst of energy, Raging Rock muscled out of his grip and put his fist together and smashed them across Hippo’s head with a move called the Double Axe Handle. With King Hippo momentarily stunned, Raging Rock backed up a couple of yards and ran into him with a Shoulder Check.

“The Raging Rock will not be overcome by some tall fat grotesque of a man. The Raging Rock will prevail!” he screamed across the ring.

Now Raging Rock started to get fired up. The crowd cheered as his energy took over. With a few forward kicks, he knifed his hand and delivered a chop with the crowd yelling in unison, “Woo!” King Hippo gained his composure with a Double Axe Handle himself and smashed it a top of Raging Rock’s head, making him dizzy on impact. He staggered around for a little bit when King Hippo charged forward. Before King Hippo could reach Raging Rock, he unleashed a stretch of earth that connected with Hippo’s stomach and got him staggering as well.

With a raise of his hand, he signaled the crowd that he was ready for his trademark move, the Tsunami Thunder Smash!