[color=green]"Ready!"[/color] Mara announced, pounding her fist into her open palm - her sign of determination.  Unlike Houjin, Mara's excitement was making adrenaline surge through her, and she was acutely aware of everything around her: the announcer, the other team, her own teammates, and the various cheers and boos that erupted from the surrounding crowds.  The other team looked as green as anyone Mara had ever seen, though she certainly had no room to say so; technically, she wasn't even an official player yet.  She grinned; that just meant she had to do even better to make a good impression!  She could feel her blood rushing within her, which Dan had always warned against allowing.  "It makes you revert to more primal instinct than good sense," he'd told her, "so try to calm it whenever you get stirred up.  Otherwise, you're easy to outsmart."  She took a few deep breaths, and when the buzzer sounded, she felt ready to roll.

And roll she did; a snapping whip of water flew right at the spot she'd just been standing.

The battle was on!  She ducked, weaved, "oof"d and "ack"d as she dodged as many blows as she took.  Fortunately, she was an Earthbender, and they were not known for being movable when they wanted to stand.  And so, despite the impressive collection of bruises she was now acquiring, she managed to launch her counterattacks and offensives with gusto.  Ukik and Houjin definitely knew their stuff; even a novice like Mara could tell that half the stuff that [i]didn't[/i] hit her was specifically because of their doing.  She did her best to return the favor, occasionally launching a stone disk in the path of an oncoming water whip or bout of fire.  At the end of the first round, she was covered in sweat and bruises, but the grin on her face had only grown wider.  It was slow, and it was most [i]definitely[/i] painful, but she was learning.  She was starting to get a feel for the other team, and she'd already spotted their Earthbender's weakness: he always twitched his left foot right before attacking.  Her lessons with Dan were paying off, and when the second round started, she eagerly dove right back into the action.

Meanwhile, Dan sat quietly in the crowd, somewhere up and to the left of the Badgerfrogs' field of vision.  From his perch, he'd been working to analyze the general sense of the team.  So far, Mara was doing well; Ukik and Houjin were covering for her inexperience well, and she was still managing to contribute occasionally.  He cheered as the first round went to them, but maintained his careful observation.  He was always a cautious and calculating guy - mercenary work did that - but seeing Mara living her dream brought a smile to [i]his[/i] face as well.  "Go get 'em, kid," he muttered as the second round began.