SO FAR! It has been over a week since since the EelSharks debuted as the a new Pro-Bending team, and so far they had been doing well. Noko from the team known best as "The Machine" talked to Hoshi and Boloro after their first match. After a quick chat, the three of them parted ways, but later on in the evening Noko and Hoshi met again. He had convinced her to stay around and talk to him while he ate, and since she her training session had been canceled, she decided to stay. At the end of the night, Noko left Hoshi to continue eating.
The next day was the first match of the year for That Machine. Luckily Hoshi was able to drag Naroko along with him, and Boloro decided to stay home and rest. After the match Hoshi dragged his friend to the change rooms to congratulate Noko on the victory. The three of them stayed for some training, and after Naroko left to get some fresh air, things started to happen. On her way back she could see Hoshi and Noko face to face, and the thought and sight of it tore her up on the inside. Later on in the night Naroko left to go to Boloro's house and spill her heart out. She was happy to hear him say that it wasn't love, and left better knowing what Hoshi meant to her in her heart. After training, the Hoshi had somewhat offered to walk her home, despite not knowing where he lived. He then thought about having her lead next to him, so that the next time he wandered down to her house, he'd know where to go.
The day after had been much colder than the once before, and Noko and Hoshi spent most of the day together, whether it be talking to get to know more about the other, or simply enjoying one's company in silence.
A week later, it was the end of another match, and The Machine had won. However, Noko was injured to a fair degree. Hoshi spent some time to talk with her more, and Ceba, Glaysten, Boloro, and Naroko talked together as a group, eventually talking about Noko and Hoshi before the two of them arrived. Both teams left the area and went their separate ways for the time being.
Noko walked away from the others with Ceba and Glaysten. Both of the men kept looking at her every occasionally before she sighed, "Would the both of you stop? I'm fine... It just hurts a little."
Ceba shook his head, "Hurts a little? You were thrown off the arena!"
Noko raised an eyebrow, "It doesn't matter anyways. I'll be fighting at our next match no matter how much it hurt," she looked between the both of them, "I'll rest tonight but tomorrow I'm back in the gym, trying to figure out how to fight with this."
It was Glaysten turn to shake his head, "I think you should rest a little bit longer than a few hours. It'll be hard to get some proper sleep tonight. I forbid you from going to the gym for the next two days."
Noko and Ceba spoke in unison when they exclaimed, "Two days?!"
Ceba grabbed the older man's shoulder, "If we let her rest for that long she won't be at fighting standard come our next match."
"And if I don't work out a proper fighting tactic, I'll just end up hurting myself again," Noko added. However, Glaysten stayed strong with no allowing Noko to go to the gym, "You'll have plenty of time to figure it out after you give your rib a chance to start to heal and then it will hurt less come our next match and you'll find it easier to work around. And no going to a healer."
Noko groaned. She didn't get why the old man was so against healers. It seemed like the day was going to awfully boring.
"I feel bad for her, that Injury seemed to have done quite a number on her, even if she doesn't seem to notice it." Hoshi looked back behind him every so often as he walked next to Naroko and Boloro.
"She'll be fine! She's been at this for four years, so I'm sure that she can just walk it off." Naroko looked at Hoshi with a confident smile. Boloro simply shook his head and looked over at Naroko.
"I don't think it will be that easy, 'Roko. She took quite the hit tonight, and it's probably going to take a couple days at the very least." He saw it as it happened and knew that the pain would be there for a while. Although he was a big buy, he still knew pain like anyone else. Hoshi looked back again and sighed. "I don't know guys. Maybe I should check if she's okay tomorrow before our second match."
Boloro nodded his head and smiled at his friend. Although not much had actually happened that day other than the match, all three of them were tired. Boloro knew that if not settled down now, he would be stressing about her well-being all night and not get any sleep. It had happened before when Naroko got a pretty bad injury, and Hoshi had practically stayed up for days wondering if she was okay or not.
"She'll be fine, Hoshi. And as Naroko said, she's been in the league for four years. She might not be able to 'walk it off' but she could probably take a hit pretty well and get back up from it in decent time."
The next morning Noko lay on her couch after an hour or two of trying to find the perfect position to sit in, with her radio on her lap. She was aimlessly flicking through the channels, trying to figure out a plan for the day. She knew from experience that if she left the room Glaysten would somehow magically appear and she would be stuck with him. Which meant there was no way she was managing to get to the gym. She sighed and stopped on a channel where the announcer was yelling about last night's match. She didn't pay much attention to what he was saying but she could hear the gasp of the crowd followed by the rapid retelling of what had just happened. Noko didn't need that, she knew exactly what had happened, she had lost her concentration and was thrown like a ragdoll. She sighed and turned off her radio, placing it on the ground. She stared at the ceiling as she lay there, "Wooo..."
After going their separate ways the night before, Boloro went straight home to sleep, and although he didn't do much, his day was the most active out of the three of them. He walked around the city to get some things that he needed and was brought over to the arena as soon as he was finished. Naroko wandered the streets until she became tired enough to fall asleep, and was more than lucky to be in her home when she passed out from exhaustion. She had been wandering all night and even slept in a little later than usual. Hoshi went to Pang Tong's after the match to grab some food. He hadn't eaten before the match so he did so then. He then walked back to his house to get some sleep and wake up early for practice before the match.
The three of them met early in the morning at the gym in the arena, knowing that they needed to decide that strategy they would be using this time around. They had a whole week to work on and develop new strategies and that time helped them greatly. The first one to arrive was Naroko, and despite sleeping in the rushed to the gym as fast as she could to make sure that her friends weren't waiting for her. Boloro and Hoshi arrived together, talking about some new strategies that they could work on.
Noko lay there for some time before she rolled out of bed and wrapped up her ribs. It pushed on the bruises, which was uncomfortable, but it was supposed to prevent her ribs from popping out. Which was a good thing. She dressed and bundled herself up to brave the cold. She opened the door and was face immediately by Glaysten, "How do you do that?!"
"Where are you going?" Glaysten asked sternly. Noko sighed, "I was going to head to the gym... Not to work out or practice but I can't stay locked up in here all day. I figured I would watch some of the benders practicing and hopefully think of some ways to fight without injuring myself further. If I wait until you let me start being active again, not only will I go crazy but I won't have any ideas of what to do."
Glaysten sighed and stepped aside, "Go... But no physical excursion."
Noko saluted, "Aye, aye, captain," she smiled at walked out passed him and headed to the gym.
As soon as Hoshi had gotten out of his nice jacket, he was training, working on his speed and power while using his fire blasts. He wanted to everything he could to take his mind off of Noko's injury because he knew it would slow him down if the thought popped up during the match. He had remembered that Noko told him not to lean so far back as he usually did, and although it was a little out of his natural style, he could see and feel how big the difference was. He may have been a little carried away with this training, seeing how it was the day of their match he needed only light training. Not even thirty minutes had passed and Hoshi was already starting to sweat and become a little exhausted. By this time, Boloro and Naroko knew that they had to step in before he burned himself out.
The two of them were careful to stay away from the fire as they closed in on him and grabbed both of his arms, and as a safety precaution, Bo even put his foot down on Hoshi's so he couldn't kick. "Hoshi, you need to calm down. You're going to burn out before the match and we can't have that." Naroko looked at him with both seriousness and concern at the same time. She wanted him to train hard, but the three of them had a match later on in the day so they could only train so much.
Noko arrived at the gym and walked inside to see Hoshi being held by his teammates. She giggled a little and took a seat on the bench, as she promised Glaysten that was where she would stay. She looked at the trio and smiled, "That's an awfully strange tactic... The human shield."
She looked at Hoshi and noticed the sweat on his face. By looking at the other two, it was somewhat clear what had happened. Hoshi had been pushing himself a little too hard and from where Naroko and Boloro stood, it seemed that they had had to stop him. She patted the spot on the bench next to her and smiled at Hoshi, "It seems like you get to join me on the bench and just watch."
Hoshi breathed in heavily and slowly as he stood there, not able to move because of how his teammates had he held. He knew well that struggling wouldn't get him anywhere, because when it came to overall strength, He was severely lacking compared to Bo and Naroko. The two of them were built mainly out of just muscle, and little traces of fat anywhere. Hoshi was slim and although he had some strength to him, it wasn't much when looking at His partners first. He looked over to Noko as she joked about the new 'tactic' and smiled a little. Boloro and Naroko had smiled as well as the took note of her presence. With a shared glance the two of the let go of Hoshi and lightly pushed him in her direction.
Hoshi continued to look at Noko as he slowly walked over to her and sat next to her. He was happy that she was able to get here, but still worried about her injury all at the same time. "Hey Noko, how's the injury?" He started off. He wasn't entirely sure about what he should say to kick off a conversation, since it was only the night before that they talked last.
Noko shrugged with one shoulder and looked at Hoshi, "It hurts and Glaysten has practically forbidden me from doing anything... I was going crazy in my apartment and figured I can, at least, watch people here and try to figure out how I'm going to work around it. I didn't expect you to be here, with your match and all... I most definitely didn't think you'd be wearing yourself out."
She smiled and pulled her scarf a little bit tighter, "I had to walk in the cold, you know," she teased as she finally pulled her scarf off. She started to move her legs slightly, marking out kicks she could use as she watched a few of the people in the gym. She stopped after a moment and giggled, "Glaysten is going to kill me."
A though came in to his minds as she seemed to have noticed that he was pushing himself a little too hard, and he was tempted to say it out loud but knew that it wouldn't do all that well if he did. The reason he was working so hard was because he wanted to take his mind off of her injury as much as possible, and ever since he had saw it the night before it was the only thing he could think about. He felt bad that she had to walk all the way here in the cold, and he would have come over to her house and given her his fire if she had told him beforehand. He then looked down as he saw her legs moving just a little, and looked up to her face as she giggled. "It's not like he's here. And I'm pretty sure that no one here will tell him anything if you do something." He said with a little smile. He cared for her well-being and health, but from what he had seen and heard, Glaysten was quite protective of her, and needed a little time to be free.
Noko looked at him a moment when he said that he was pretty sure no one who rat her out to Glaysten, "Promise? If I get in trouble, I'm blaming you."
She got to her feet and walked a little ways away. She placed her right hand on her left ribs, to make sure she didn't move it too much and cause pain. She slowly raised one leg, put it back down, and then raised the other before putting it back down. Once she knew how high she could raise her legs without hurting herself, she began to slowly move through the motions. She tried a few different things but she did everything slowly, if it hurt, she stopped and tried again, altering it slightly. After a few minutes she went through the movements again, however, she moved far faster. Speed wasn't something many earth benders had. It was hard, you had to be grounded, which was why most kicks followed or were followed by a stomp of some sort. Although, the discs were not large pieces of earth and if she focused enough, it was easier to move faster. The quicker she was the harder it would be for the opponents to attack her. After sometime she stopped, her ribs were throbbing from her panting and her hair had fallen into her face. If she could keep working on it, she wouldn't have to focus as much and maybe the speed wouldn't be used for only when she was injured...
Hoshi let out a small laugh as he heard her planning to blame him if she were to be ratted out to Glaysten. When Noko stood up, he did so as well and stood a step or two behind her. He wanted to be far away enough the he wouldn't get in the way of her kicking, but also close enough to catch her if she would fall. Just as she started out, Hoshi laughed a little once more thinking back to the previous thought. "If Glaysten does find out, then I'll take the blame for it. Sound good?" He stood right there behind her while she worked on her kicks, and took a few steps to get to her side as she stopped and panted.
Noko looked up at him when he stepped next to her. She nodded her head and smirked, "Sounds great... But are you going to tell him? You forced me to work out?"
She smiled at him and pushed the bits of hair that had fallen out of her face. She dropped her right hand, releasing her good ribs, and allowed it to hang loosely by her side. She laughed a little, "It seems that the both of us are very interested in over working ourselves today," she sighed, "Sadly, I should probably stop. I figure when breathing starts to hurt again, it is best to stop. Since, I can't stop breathing...."
She walked over to the bench and grabbed her scarf, "I should probably head back home. Glaysten is normally out at this time... I should be able to sneak by without him being the wiser."
She nodded her head again, "Thanks for convincing me..."
He shook his head with a small smile. He wasn't going to tell anyone, but in the case that someone did rat her out, he'd be there to take the hit. She was right though, he did convince her to work out, despite having the injury.
He then nodded about over working. He knew that it was a bad idea, but he still went with it just so he could think about something other than her rib injury. He listened intently. He smiled a little at her thanks and rubbed the sweat that was still on his forehead. "No problem. Just take it easy with that wound. I'd hate to face your team without you being there."
He looked over to his teammates, who were in the middle of training, but while he was next to Noko and placing all of his focus on her, they were watching the two of them, both with a small smile on their faces.
Noko looked up at him as she wrapped her scarf around her neck with one hand. She smirked and nodded her head, "Don't worry. They wouldn't go easy on you because you're worried about little old me. In fact, they wouldn't go easy on you for any reason."
She glanced over at Naroko and Boloro when Hoshi did then returned her focus back to Hoshi, "I'll be there tonight. So, you had best win. In the meantime, I should head back," she looked at the clock on the wall and made a face, "Quickly... Glaysten shouldn't be out for much longer."
She gave him a small wave and she walked backwards towards the door, "I'll see you tonight!" she spun on her heel and walked out of the Gym and a moment later back into the cold.
Although he waved her goodbye with a small smile on his face and watched her leave, he felt conflicted on the inside. He knew well how cold it was out there, and knew that he could help her out by lending his fire to her, but he also had to stay and continue to train for the upcoming match later on in the day. Once she had left, he let out a sigh and looked at his teammates again. He didn't need to say anything for them to understand what was going on in his head at the moment.
Naroko laughed at him and hit him lightly on the back. "Don't worry Hoshi; she'll be back later on today." Although she was tempted to say something else, a look from Boloro told her not to.
Noko headed back into the cold and retraced her steps back to her apartment. She struggled slightly through a shower. She ate; she listened to more from her radio. She flicked between music and pro-bending. The news that did come across the waves about pro-bending was all recap of the night before as that night's matches had yet to start and her dunk into the water seemed to a topic that was favoured. She could understand but her getting thrown off was something that happened to the three opponents and very little was mentioned. In fact, it was mainly, Noko has been thrown from the arena, this is madness, craziness, this is why I love the sport, you never know what to expect. One, two, three. Ya the Machine won, blah blah blah.
She sighed and sat on her couch, crossing her legs. She stared at her clock; it wouldn't be long until she made her way back to the arena to watch.
After getting some practice in, Hoshi, Naroko and Boloro left the gym for a little while to eat at Pang Tong's before the match started. The people who were there wished them a good match and all three of them responded positively. After they finished up their food and receiving more praise and wishes, the three of them left to go back to the arena to get ready. As Hoshi entered the changing room, he looked over to where the button that moved the platforms was. Aside from the janitors, only he and Noko knew about it and he smiled a little knowing it was their secret.
They went through the plan again just to make sure that all three of them had it in their heads. Hoshi made sure to take in everything that Noko had talked to him about when it came to pro-bending, and even though it wasn't the championships, he was going to push himself as far as he could to make sure that his team won. He would give it his all and if that wasn't enough then he'd have to try harder the next time.
It was just a short amount of time before the match when Noko popped into the change room, leaning through the doorframe. She smiled at the trio inside, "Glay and Ceba have already made their way up to our perch but I wanted to come and wish you good luck. Because I have a heart."
She laughed a little, "If you superstitious with the whole good luck thing... Then break a rib."
She waved to them and looked at Hoshi, "Don't push yourself too hard."
She then disappeared from the doorway and made her way up the steps and into pro-bending participants’ box. She took her seat next to Glaysten. He looked at her, "How are they?"
"Warmed up... You know, you could have come and wished them luck as well."
"You don't wish the competition luck," Ceba interjected. Noko shook her head, "They aren't competition, they are our friends... Who we happen to be competing against."
Ceba laughed and patted her knee, "Whatever makes you sleep at night."
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The Announcer called out through the microphone.
"Introducing the newest team to enter the Pro-Bending League, the Eel-Sharks!" The crowd cheered wildly to the name of the Eel-Sharks and became even louder as the bridge extended out and the Rookie team came out with calm confidence, waving out to crowd that cheered them on. If it weren't for Naroko and Boloro having one of their hands on his shoulders, Hoshi would have been bouncing around full of energy. He waved as well and the three of them made their way to the red side to get ready.
Noko jumped to her feet, she hadn't been this excited to watch a match since her first one. She cupped her hands on either side of her mouth and shouted, "Go Hoshi!!!"
Ceba grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back into her seat, "He won't hear you from here. You're just going to end up hurting yourself."
Noko looked at him and hit his arm, "I'm just having fun and being excited for our friends... Why aren't you two excited?"
Glaysten looked at her and smiled, "Simple, we aren't in love with the competition."
Noko's cheeks lit up like a bright red Christmas tree when Glaysten teased her about the confusing relationship between her and the fire bender. She shook her head and turned her attention to the arena, "You have clearly gone senile, old man, if you think Hoshi and I are anything more than friends."
Even with the roaring of the crowd, the three of them could still talk to each other and be heard quite well. Naroko looked around at the fans and directed her attention at where all of the other teams were sitting at and was lucky enough to see Noko calling out. Of course, she wasn't heard that well since there were more than several other people cheering at the same time, but she knew whom she was cheering for. Naroko tapped Hoshi lightly on the shoulder and nudged her head in the direction of Noko. "It seems your girl is cheering for you, Hoshi." She said with a smirk on her face, causing Hoshi's face to turn a deep red. It may have been different if she would have simply called her by her actual name, but she had to put her in his possession then talking about her just to embarrass him. He hadn't even heard the other team being introduced because of her and only saw them just before the match actually began.
Noko moved to the edge of her seat and leaned on the small wall that was in front of them. Her feet were bouncing as she watched the match begin. Every once in a while, Ceba and Glaysten would exchange glances. Ceba leaned forward, "I've never seen you this excited for a match before."
Noko pushed him away, "I've never had a friend in the match before."
Glaysten shook his head, "I do believe you've made many friends with our opponents... Despite us telling you to do otherwise."
She looked back at him, "I've never made this great a friend with any of. Hoshi is different.... But that doesn't mean there is anything romantic between the two of us. So pipe down and pay attention to their tactics. They plan on entering the championship. We might have to go up against them."
As soon as the match started, the trio launched a full-scale attack. It was nothing like the tactic that they used in their previous match, but they knew that because they were rookies, no one knew what to expect of them. They took that fact to their advantage and pulled something that would tip the scales even a little. Boloro, although not moving much, was the main piece of the attack, using was many earth plates as a time as he was allowed to and forcing his opponents back. Naroko used her ferocity as soon as possible and locked on to the water bender of the other team, trying to see through his defences. Hoshi was playing defence this time around for the first match, and although it didn't work well with his size and build, it was the best in their plan since he was the fastest one to intercept any incoming hits.
His speed made sure that he would be hit far less and anyone else on his team. Naroko was hit a few times, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle, and was lucky enough to avoid flying earth disks. Boloro was hit most of all, but was excused since he was the biggest and strongest.
In quick time, they pushed back everyone on the team and won the first round of the match.
Noko applauded when they managed to knock their opponents out of the ring. As the crowd cheered and went wild over their winning of the first round, Ceba leaned forward, "He's fast."
Noko nodded, "Quite. He isn't leaning as far back as he was when we were training together last time."
Ceba looked at her, "He took your advice?" she gave him another nod. He glanced at Glaysten, who was paying attention before he spoke to Noko, "Really... Interesting."
"Why is that interesting? Noko said looking at him. Ceba shrugged, "Well, we are all rather stubborn in our ways... We don't always like to take others advice... You know Naroko and Boloro both said he spoke very highly of you. Quite highly... With the way you two act around each other, we all assumed there was something... And with the way he looks at you."
Noko's eyebrows knitted together, "What way?"
Ceba feigned shock, "You hadn't noticed... Interesting... He's quick."
He leaned back again as Noko looked back at the arena. He could see the gears in her head working away and smiled. All was well with the two of them but someone had to give them a little push. If Bo and Glay were going to forbid it, then Naroko and himself, we going to have to be sneaky about it.
Although they had taken the first round by storm, the second was an entirely different matter. After the opposing team made their way back to the arena, they were able to push Hoshi and Naroko back in to the second zone. The earth bender on the other team knocked Hoshi back with a few earth plates, and Naroko barely hit the last zone because of an unexpected attack from the fire bender. Naroko had to keep her eyes on the water bender, and without Hoshi to intercept any of the incoming attacks, she was defenseless.
The two of them were lucky that Boloro was an unmovable brick wall, or else the other team would have moved in to their side of the ring. Hoshi could do only so much since he was a fair distance from his opponents. Naroko was a bit better off since she could bend water, but Hoshi's fire would usually fade in to nothing by the time it reached them. She had managed to use a couple of her opponent's move against him, but it didn't help that much since his style seemed to focus on direct and immediate attacks. If it weren't for Boloro managing to knock all of them back a zone it might not have gone well. Boloro, Hoshi, and Naroko quickly moved in to their opponent's first zone, and with the now lack of distance, between herself and the other water bender, Naroko used his own techniques and form against him. She was a direct copy of his moves, and caught him off guard to be moved back in to the third zone.
Noko was sitting on the edge of her seat watching the match. She gasped a little when Hoshi got hit back, followed by Naroko. She brought her hands up to her mouth as she watched on. It had been luck that Boloro was difficult to push onto his back foot let alone back an entire zone. It was also one of the main reasons that the round wasn't over just then. Ceba leaned forward again, "I've never seen you so into watching a match since before we joined up."
Noko waved her hand, "Shut up would you? I'm trying to pay attention. If you are that bored try and concoct a way to push Boloro back. We'll need it if we end up facing them."
"Are you saying that Hoshi and Naroko aren't a threat?" Ceba said chuckling slightly. Noko looked at him, "Not at all, I'm saying there is no point in throwing them out of the arena if we can't move Boloro back a zone."
Ceba smiled, "I just think you are worried about your boyfriend."
Noko rolled her eyes and Glaysten looked at Ceba. The man rose his hands in surrender to his elder.
"Put everything on the big guy!" One of the members of the other team Shouted. the others nodded, knowing that he would be a pain to deal with. The only thing about that plan that worried them was the fact that with all of their attacks going towards Boloro, Hoshi and Naroko about be perfectly fine and could easily pick them off without having to worry about being hit. The match went on and although more hits were focused on hitting Bo, Naroko and Hoshi got hit as well.
With another strong set of hits from Naroko, the Water Bender flew off of the ring and in to the waters below. It was one down, and two more to go. With one less to worry about a wave of confidence hits Naroko and she decides to take another out out as quickly as she can She joined up with Hoshi to take the fire bender down and Left Hoshi with the other earth bender,
((I have no clue what to write TT^TT))
Noko's leg was bouncing as she watched them. Her eyes flicked around the arena, watching each of the fighters. She looked for weaknesses, advantages, and tactics. One things that the EelSharks had working for them was no one knew them. That meant no one could expect what they were going to do. Not to mention with this being their second fight, they were using a completely different tactic than in their first. They were stratigists, which was good for them but made it harder to make a strategy against them, not if you never knew what to expect.
She cheered when Naroko managed to knock the Water Bender out. They were making their comeback!
The match was completely in their favor, with the fire bender being knocked out quickly with Naroko's help, and Boloro could handle just about anyone on his own. The second round was also theirs as the two opponents were knocked out almost simultaneously. The crowd roared and everyone cheered for the rookies.
The third round was just about the same, with the water bender being knocked out, and then the fire bender and earth bender. The crowd continued to roar at the second win of the Eelsharks and Hoshi decided now was the time to jump for joy.
The match was completely in their favor, with the fire bender being knocked out quickly with Naroko's help, and Boloro could handle just about anyone on his own. The second round was also theirs as the two opponents were knocked out almost simultaneously. The crowd roared and everyone cheered for the rookies.
The third round was just about the same, with the water bender being knocked out, and then the fire bender and earth bender. The crowd continued to roar at the second win of the Eelsharks and Hoshi decided now was the time to jump for joy.
Noko jumped to her feet in celebration, "Ya, Hoshi!"
Ceba looked up at her, "There are two other of your friends who were in that match."
Noko decided it was time to go about ignoring Ceba and ran out of the box. She knew it wouldn't be long before the flood of the audience leaving the stadium to return to their late night lives. Thus, she ran quickly to the changing room. She smiled at them when she reach it, "Congratulations!" She looked around a little for the second reason she had ran so fast, "Did I catch Naroko before she could leave?"
"I'm right here." She waved her hand in a friendly fashion as she turned away from one of the lockers. It wasn't uncommon for her to leave her friends and go about her own, but she'd never just disappear. She'd usually go and make quick goodbyes to her friend before departing and leave then. She didn't need to make any excuses as to why she was leaving, since Both Boloro and Hoshi knew that she had things to do.
Hoshi smiled and turned back to look at the arena for a second. "Man, I'm starting to feel a little more tension than usual. Not only are we rookies, but we just won out second match in a row!" In his head, the more that they won, the more his new fans would expect for him to win. It was their second match that they fought, and they still haven't hit the water yet, none of them. Boloro patted him on the back and turned him to face Noko. "It'll be alright, Hoshi. Sooner or later a team will come up and we won't be able to take them on. A loss for the Eelsharks should calm everyone down." Bo was good with people, and when it came to Hoshi or Naroko, he knew exactly what they were thinking.
Noko looked at Naroko and smiled, "Good, I didn't get to congratulate you on your guys' last win. I hoped I could this time, seems like I can!"
When she noticed Hoshi looking at the arena, she tilted her head to the side. She listened to what Boloro said then nodded in agreement, "Every match someone will be disappointed. The point isn't to fight for the fans... Winning will get you fans but they understand that you can't win every match! Besides, two is a minor streak in comparison to the record. If anything you guys are going to get more attention from the returning competitors."
She held her hands in front of her, "So are you guys going to all celebrate together this time?"
In complete sync, all three of them nodded at the same and and looked at one-another with smiles on their faces. Breaking the silence between them all, Naroko spoke up. "Yeah, but we didn't really have anything planned, probably just going to hang out or something." She shrugged and the other two nodded at her. Hoshi went over to one of the lockers and took his bag out from it. "I don't know either, might just wander the town or something." He said with a smile. "Actually..." Naroko said with a small smirk on her face, glancing at Boloro before looking back at Noko. "I think that I'm going to pull Bo-" She stopped as she looked over to Boloro again, who was shaking his head and almost glaring at her. The glare subsided quickly and went back to a smile. "All three of us are probably going to get something to eat first, I'm willing to bet that Hoshi and Naroko are both just as hungry as I am."
Noko laughed and nodded her head, "And rightfully so. You three did great. I should probably go... Before Glaysten starts hounding me about taking it easy again."
She waved to them, "I'll probably see you all somewhere around the city," she looked at Hoshi, "We do seem to have a knack for running into each other," she smiled and gave them a small bow, "Enjoy your celebrating."
She turned away then and pulled her scarf around her neck and closed her coat as she prepared to walk home.
After she left, Hoshi turned to look at his teammates with a puzzled and curious look on his face. "Well guys, what do we do?" Boloro didn't have any ideas and Naroko simply shook her head. Of course food was the top priority, but that didn't help much considering that there were so many places to eat at. They all had the same idea in their head at the same time and continued to pack up their gear for the night. As they packed up, the all names places that they could go to for dinner, starting with Hoshi, then Naroko, then Boloro. No one had to say anything to know what was going on.
After some time of debate, the team looked around the streets of Republic city, still questioning what they were going to do for the night. They enjoyed to celebrate every now and then, but slowly, each of them started to think about just calling it a night.
Noko got home and pulled off her coat and scarf. She semi tempted to keep them both on as she shivered. However, she chose, instead, to grab a blanket and wrapped it around herself. She walked into her kitchen and stoked her stove. Placing a kettle on it she heated water and poured herbs into a teapot. She didn't know why she was making an entire pot as she had every intension to go to sleep soon. She didn't stop herself though, when the kettle screeched she poured the water into the pot. After a little while longer she poured the tea had made into her cup. Leaning against her counter she sipped at her tea, feeling the warmth spread through her body and heating her cold limbs. She walked over to her window and sat in the car perched in front of it. She sat, looking out at the city, as snow began to fall again.
The three of them stood in silence as they looked to the streets, wondering how they would spend their night in celebration. No words had to be said from Hoshi to tell that he was worried, the look was all across his face. Noko wasn't going to say anything about it because she knew that Bo would take action and it wouldn't be pretty. He made a promise to Glaysten that he would do everything he could to make sure that she didn't meddle, and he was going to honor that promise.
"Well, I guess I'm just going to call it a night guys. That match was pretty tiring and I guess we could celebrate tomorrow." Hoshi broke the wall of silence and nodded to his teammates. They nodded back to him and he split himself from the group. Bo and Naroko shared quick goodbyes and went their separate ways as well. As much as he wanted to go home and lay down, he was still worried and knew that he wouldn't be satisfied unless he at the very least checked up on his new friend. The blow to the ribs that she got looked pretty gruesome, and he just wanted to assure himself that she was fine and okay. Rather than walking to his home, he did his best to remember the way that he took when going to her home the last time.
The next day was the first match of the year for That Machine. Luckily Hoshi was able to drag Naroko along with him, and Boloro decided to stay home and rest. After the match Hoshi dragged his friend to the change rooms to congratulate Noko on the victory. The three of them stayed for some training, and after Naroko left to get some fresh air, things started to happen. On her way back she could see Hoshi and Noko face to face, and the thought and sight of it tore her up on the inside. Later on in the night Naroko left to go to Boloro's house and spill her heart out. She was happy to hear him say that it wasn't love, and left better knowing what Hoshi meant to her in her heart. After training, the Hoshi had somewhat offered to walk her home, despite not knowing where he lived. He then thought about having her lead next to him, so that the next time he wandered down to her house, he'd know where to go.
The day after had been much colder than the once before, and Noko and Hoshi spent most of the day together, whether it be talking to get to know more about the other, or simply enjoying one's company in silence.
A week later, it was the end of another match, and The Machine had won. However, Noko was injured to a fair degree. Hoshi spent some time to talk with her more, and Ceba, Glaysten, Boloro, and Naroko talked together as a group, eventually talking about Noko and Hoshi before the two of them arrived. Both teams left the area and went their separate ways for the time being.
Noko walked away from the others with Ceba and Glaysten. Both of the men kept looking at her every occasionally before she sighed, "Would the both of you stop? I'm fine... It just hurts a little."
Ceba shook his head, "Hurts a little? You were thrown off the arena!"
Noko raised an eyebrow, "It doesn't matter anyways. I'll be fighting at our next match no matter how much it hurt," she looked between the both of them, "I'll rest tonight but tomorrow I'm back in the gym, trying to figure out how to fight with this."
It was Glaysten turn to shake his head, "I think you should rest a little bit longer than a few hours. It'll be hard to get some proper sleep tonight. I forbid you from going to the gym for the next two days."
Noko and Ceba spoke in unison when they exclaimed, "Two days?!"
Ceba grabbed the older man's shoulder, "If we let her rest for that long she won't be at fighting standard come our next match."
"And if I don't work out a proper fighting tactic, I'll just end up hurting myself again," Noko added. However, Glaysten stayed strong with no allowing Noko to go to the gym, "You'll have plenty of time to figure it out after you give your rib a chance to start to heal and then it will hurt less come our next match and you'll find it easier to work around. And no going to a healer."
Noko groaned. She didn't get why the old man was so against healers. It seemed like the day was going to awfully boring.
"I feel bad for her, that Injury seemed to have done quite a number on her, even if she doesn't seem to notice it." Hoshi looked back behind him every so often as he walked next to Naroko and Boloro.
"She'll be fine! She's been at this for four years, so I'm sure that she can just walk it off." Naroko looked at Hoshi with a confident smile. Boloro simply shook his head and looked over at Naroko.
"I don't think it will be that easy, 'Roko. She took quite the hit tonight, and it's probably going to take a couple days at the very least." He saw it as it happened and knew that the pain would be there for a while. Although he was a big buy, he still knew pain like anyone else. Hoshi looked back again and sighed. "I don't know guys. Maybe I should check if she's okay tomorrow before our second match."
Boloro nodded his head and smiled at his friend. Although not much had actually happened that day other than the match, all three of them were tired. Boloro knew that if not settled down now, he would be stressing about her well-being all night and not get any sleep. It had happened before when Naroko got a pretty bad injury, and Hoshi had practically stayed up for days wondering if she was okay or not.
"She'll be fine, Hoshi. And as Naroko said, she's been in the league for four years. She might not be able to 'walk it off' but she could probably take a hit pretty well and get back up from it in decent time."
The next morning Noko lay on her couch after an hour or two of trying to find the perfect position to sit in, with her radio on her lap. She was aimlessly flicking through the channels, trying to figure out a plan for the day. She knew from experience that if she left the room Glaysten would somehow magically appear and she would be stuck with him. Which meant there was no way she was managing to get to the gym. She sighed and stopped on a channel where the announcer was yelling about last night's match. She didn't pay much attention to what he was saying but she could hear the gasp of the crowd followed by the rapid retelling of what had just happened. Noko didn't need that, she knew exactly what had happened, she had lost her concentration and was thrown like a ragdoll. She sighed and turned off her radio, placing it on the ground. She stared at the ceiling as she lay there, "Wooo..."
After going their separate ways the night before, Boloro went straight home to sleep, and although he didn't do much, his day was the most active out of the three of them. He walked around the city to get some things that he needed and was brought over to the arena as soon as he was finished. Naroko wandered the streets until she became tired enough to fall asleep, and was more than lucky to be in her home when she passed out from exhaustion. She had been wandering all night and even slept in a little later than usual. Hoshi went to Pang Tong's after the match to grab some food. He hadn't eaten before the match so he did so then. He then walked back to his house to get some sleep and wake up early for practice before the match.
The three of them met early in the morning at the gym in the arena, knowing that they needed to decide that strategy they would be using this time around. They had a whole week to work on and develop new strategies and that time helped them greatly. The first one to arrive was Naroko, and despite sleeping in the rushed to the gym as fast as she could to make sure that her friends weren't waiting for her. Boloro and Hoshi arrived together, talking about some new strategies that they could work on.
Noko lay there for some time before she rolled out of bed and wrapped up her ribs. It pushed on the bruises, which was uncomfortable, but it was supposed to prevent her ribs from popping out. Which was a good thing. She dressed and bundled herself up to brave the cold. She opened the door and was face immediately by Glaysten, "How do you do that?!"
"Where are you going?" Glaysten asked sternly. Noko sighed, "I was going to head to the gym... Not to work out or practice but I can't stay locked up in here all day. I figured I would watch some of the benders practicing and hopefully think of some ways to fight without injuring myself further. If I wait until you let me start being active again, not only will I go crazy but I won't have any ideas of what to do."
Glaysten sighed and stepped aside, "Go... But no physical excursion."
Noko saluted, "Aye, aye, captain," she smiled at walked out passed him and headed to the gym.
As soon as Hoshi had gotten out of his nice jacket, he was training, working on his speed and power while using his fire blasts. He wanted to everything he could to take his mind off of Noko's injury because he knew it would slow him down if the thought popped up during the match. He had remembered that Noko told him not to lean so far back as he usually did, and although it was a little out of his natural style, he could see and feel how big the difference was. He may have been a little carried away with this training, seeing how it was the day of their match he needed only light training. Not even thirty minutes had passed and Hoshi was already starting to sweat and become a little exhausted. By this time, Boloro and Naroko knew that they had to step in before he burned himself out.
The two of them were careful to stay away from the fire as they closed in on him and grabbed both of his arms, and as a safety precaution, Bo even put his foot down on Hoshi's so he couldn't kick. "Hoshi, you need to calm down. You're going to burn out before the match and we can't have that." Naroko looked at him with both seriousness and concern at the same time. She wanted him to train hard, but the three of them had a match later on in the day so they could only train so much.
Noko arrived at the gym and walked inside to see Hoshi being held by his teammates. She giggled a little and took a seat on the bench, as she promised Glaysten that was where she would stay. She looked at the trio and smiled, "That's an awfully strange tactic... The human shield."
She looked at Hoshi and noticed the sweat on his face. By looking at the other two, it was somewhat clear what had happened. Hoshi had been pushing himself a little too hard and from where Naroko and Boloro stood, it seemed that they had had to stop him. She patted the spot on the bench next to her and smiled at Hoshi, "It seems like you get to join me on the bench and just watch."
Hoshi breathed in heavily and slowly as he stood there, not able to move because of how his teammates had he held. He knew well that struggling wouldn't get him anywhere, because when it came to overall strength, He was severely lacking compared to Bo and Naroko. The two of them were built mainly out of just muscle, and little traces of fat anywhere. Hoshi was slim and although he had some strength to him, it wasn't much when looking at His partners first. He looked over to Noko as she joked about the new 'tactic' and smiled a little. Boloro and Naroko had smiled as well as the took note of her presence. With a shared glance the two of the let go of Hoshi and lightly pushed him in her direction.
Hoshi continued to look at Noko as he slowly walked over to her and sat next to her. He was happy that she was able to get here, but still worried about her injury all at the same time. "Hey Noko, how's the injury?" He started off. He wasn't entirely sure about what he should say to kick off a conversation, since it was only the night before that they talked last.
Noko shrugged with one shoulder and looked at Hoshi, "It hurts and Glaysten has practically forbidden me from doing anything... I was going crazy in my apartment and figured I can, at least, watch people here and try to figure out how I'm going to work around it. I didn't expect you to be here, with your match and all... I most definitely didn't think you'd be wearing yourself out."
She smiled and pulled her scarf a little bit tighter, "I had to walk in the cold, you know," she teased as she finally pulled her scarf off. She started to move her legs slightly, marking out kicks she could use as she watched a few of the people in the gym. She stopped after a moment and giggled, "Glaysten is going to kill me."
A though came in to his minds as she seemed to have noticed that he was pushing himself a little too hard, and he was tempted to say it out loud but knew that it wouldn't do all that well if he did. The reason he was working so hard was because he wanted to take his mind off of her injury as much as possible, and ever since he had saw it the night before it was the only thing he could think about. He felt bad that she had to walk all the way here in the cold, and he would have come over to her house and given her his fire if she had told him beforehand. He then looked down as he saw her legs moving just a little, and looked up to her face as she giggled. "It's not like he's here. And I'm pretty sure that no one here will tell him anything if you do something." He said with a little smile. He cared for her well-being and health, but from what he had seen and heard, Glaysten was quite protective of her, and needed a little time to be free.
Noko looked at him a moment when he said that he was pretty sure no one who rat her out to Glaysten, "Promise? If I get in trouble, I'm blaming you."
She got to her feet and walked a little ways away. She placed her right hand on her left ribs, to make sure she didn't move it too much and cause pain. She slowly raised one leg, put it back down, and then raised the other before putting it back down. Once she knew how high she could raise her legs without hurting herself, she began to slowly move through the motions. She tried a few different things but she did everything slowly, if it hurt, she stopped and tried again, altering it slightly. After a few minutes she went through the movements again, however, she moved far faster. Speed wasn't something many earth benders had. It was hard, you had to be grounded, which was why most kicks followed or were followed by a stomp of some sort. Although, the discs were not large pieces of earth and if she focused enough, it was easier to move faster. The quicker she was the harder it would be for the opponents to attack her. After sometime she stopped, her ribs were throbbing from her panting and her hair had fallen into her face. If she could keep working on it, she wouldn't have to focus as much and maybe the speed wouldn't be used for only when she was injured...
Hoshi let out a small laugh as he heard her planning to blame him if she were to be ratted out to Glaysten. When Noko stood up, he did so as well and stood a step or two behind her. He wanted to be far away enough the he wouldn't get in the way of her kicking, but also close enough to catch her if she would fall. Just as she started out, Hoshi laughed a little once more thinking back to the previous thought. "If Glaysten does find out, then I'll take the blame for it. Sound good?" He stood right there behind her while she worked on her kicks, and took a few steps to get to her side as she stopped and panted.
Noko looked up at him when he stepped next to her. She nodded her head and smirked, "Sounds great... But are you going to tell him? You forced me to work out?"
She smiled at him and pushed the bits of hair that had fallen out of her face. She dropped her right hand, releasing her good ribs, and allowed it to hang loosely by her side. She laughed a little, "It seems that the both of us are very interested in over working ourselves today," she sighed, "Sadly, I should probably stop. I figure when breathing starts to hurt again, it is best to stop. Since, I can't stop breathing...."
She walked over to the bench and grabbed her scarf, "I should probably head back home. Glaysten is normally out at this time... I should be able to sneak by without him being the wiser."
She nodded her head again, "Thanks for convincing me..."
He shook his head with a small smile. He wasn't going to tell anyone, but in the case that someone did rat her out, he'd be there to take the hit. She was right though, he did convince her to work out, despite having the injury.
He then nodded about over working. He knew that it was a bad idea, but he still went with it just so he could think about something other than her rib injury. He listened intently. He smiled a little at her thanks and rubbed the sweat that was still on his forehead. "No problem. Just take it easy with that wound. I'd hate to face your team without you being there."
He looked over to his teammates, who were in the middle of training, but while he was next to Noko and placing all of his focus on her, they were watching the two of them, both with a small smile on their faces.
Noko looked up at him as she wrapped her scarf around her neck with one hand. She smirked and nodded her head, "Don't worry. They wouldn't go easy on you because you're worried about little old me. In fact, they wouldn't go easy on you for any reason."
She glanced over at Naroko and Boloro when Hoshi did then returned her focus back to Hoshi, "I'll be there tonight. So, you had best win. In the meantime, I should head back," she looked at the clock on the wall and made a face, "Quickly... Glaysten shouldn't be out for much longer."
She gave him a small wave and she walked backwards towards the door, "I'll see you tonight!" she spun on her heel and walked out of the Gym and a moment later back into the cold.
Although he waved her goodbye with a small smile on his face and watched her leave, he felt conflicted on the inside. He knew well how cold it was out there, and knew that he could help her out by lending his fire to her, but he also had to stay and continue to train for the upcoming match later on in the day. Once she had left, he let out a sigh and looked at his teammates again. He didn't need to say anything for them to understand what was going on in his head at the moment.
Naroko laughed at him and hit him lightly on the back. "Don't worry Hoshi; she'll be back later on today." Although she was tempted to say something else, a look from Boloro told her not to.
Noko headed back into the cold and retraced her steps back to her apartment. She struggled slightly through a shower. She ate; she listened to more from her radio. She flicked between music and pro-bending. The news that did come across the waves about pro-bending was all recap of the night before as that night's matches had yet to start and her dunk into the water seemed to a topic that was favoured. She could understand but her getting thrown off was something that happened to the three opponents and very little was mentioned. In fact, it was mainly, Noko has been thrown from the arena, this is madness, craziness, this is why I love the sport, you never know what to expect. One, two, three. Ya the Machine won, blah blah blah.
She sighed and sat on her couch, crossing her legs. She stared at her clock; it wouldn't be long until she made her way back to the arena to watch.
After getting some practice in, Hoshi, Naroko and Boloro left the gym for a little while to eat at Pang Tong's before the match started. The people who were there wished them a good match and all three of them responded positively. After they finished up their food and receiving more praise and wishes, the three of them left to go back to the arena to get ready. As Hoshi entered the changing room, he looked over to where the button that moved the platforms was. Aside from the janitors, only he and Noko knew about it and he smiled a little knowing it was their secret.
They went through the plan again just to make sure that all three of them had it in their heads. Hoshi made sure to take in everything that Noko had talked to him about when it came to pro-bending, and even though it wasn't the championships, he was going to push himself as far as he could to make sure that his team won. He would give it his all and if that wasn't enough then he'd have to try harder the next time.
It was just a short amount of time before the match when Noko popped into the change room, leaning through the doorframe. She smiled at the trio inside, "Glay and Ceba have already made their way up to our perch but I wanted to come and wish you good luck. Because I have a heart."
She laughed a little, "If you superstitious with the whole good luck thing... Then break a rib."
She waved to them and looked at Hoshi, "Don't push yourself too hard."
She then disappeared from the doorway and made her way up the steps and into pro-bending participants’ box. She took her seat next to Glaysten. He looked at her, "How are they?"
"Warmed up... You know, you could have come and wished them luck as well."
"You don't wish the competition luck," Ceba interjected. Noko shook her head, "They aren't competition, they are our friends... Who we happen to be competing against."
Ceba laughed and patted her knee, "Whatever makes you sleep at night."
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The Announcer called out through the microphone.
"Introducing the newest team to enter the Pro-Bending League, the Eel-Sharks!" The crowd cheered wildly to the name of the Eel-Sharks and became even louder as the bridge extended out and the Rookie team came out with calm confidence, waving out to crowd that cheered them on. If it weren't for Naroko and Boloro having one of their hands on his shoulders, Hoshi would have been bouncing around full of energy. He waved as well and the three of them made their way to the red side to get ready.
Noko jumped to her feet, she hadn't been this excited to watch a match since her first one. She cupped her hands on either side of her mouth and shouted, "Go Hoshi!!!"
Ceba grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back into her seat, "He won't hear you from here. You're just going to end up hurting yourself."
Noko looked at him and hit his arm, "I'm just having fun and being excited for our friends... Why aren't you two excited?"
Glaysten looked at her and smiled, "Simple, we aren't in love with the competition."
Noko's cheeks lit up like a bright red Christmas tree when Glaysten teased her about the confusing relationship between her and the fire bender. She shook her head and turned her attention to the arena, "You have clearly gone senile, old man, if you think Hoshi and I are anything more than friends."
Even with the roaring of the crowd, the three of them could still talk to each other and be heard quite well. Naroko looked around at the fans and directed her attention at where all of the other teams were sitting at and was lucky enough to see Noko calling out. Of course, she wasn't heard that well since there were more than several other people cheering at the same time, but she knew whom she was cheering for. Naroko tapped Hoshi lightly on the shoulder and nudged her head in the direction of Noko. "It seems your girl is cheering for you, Hoshi." She said with a smirk on her face, causing Hoshi's face to turn a deep red. It may have been different if she would have simply called her by her actual name, but she had to put her in his possession then talking about her just to embarrass him. He hadn't even heard the other team being introduced because of her and only saw them just before the match actually began.
Noko moved to the edge of her seat and leaned on the small wall that was in front of them. Her feet were bouncing as she watched the match begin. Every once in a while, Ceba and Glaysten would exchange glances. Ceba leaned forward, "I've never seen you this excited for a match before."
Noko pushed him away, "I've never had a friend in the match before."
Glaysten shook his head, "I do believe you've made many friends with our opponents... Despite us telling you to do otherwise."
She looked back at him, "I've never made this great a friend with any of. Hoshi is different.... But that doesn't mean there is anything romantic between the two of us. So pipe down and pay attention to their tactics. They plan on entering the championship. We might have to go up against them."
As soon as the match started, the trio launched a full-scale attack. It was nothing like the tactic that they used in their previous match, but they knew that because they were rookies, no one knew what to expect of them. They took that fact to their advantage and pulled something that would tip the scales even a little. Boloro, although not moving much, was the main piece of the attack, using was many earth plates as a time as he was allowed to and forcing his opponents back. Naroko used her ferocity as soon as possible and locked on to the water bender of the other team, trying to see through his defences. Hoshi was playing defence this time around for the first match, and although it didn't work well with his size and build, it was the best in their plan since he was the fastest one to intercept any incoming hits.
His speed made sure that he would be hit far less and anyone else on his team. Naroko was hit a few times, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle, and was lucky enough to avoid flying earth disks. Boloro was hit most of all, but was excused since he was the biggest and strongest.
In quick time, they pushed back everyone on the team and won the first round of the match.
Noko applauded when they managed to knock their opponents out of the ring. As the crowd cheered and went wild over their winning of the first round, Ceba leaned forward, "He's fast."
Noko nodded, "Quite. He isn't leaning as far back as he was when we were training together last time."
Ceba looked at her, "He took your advice?" she gave him another nod. He glanced at Glaysten, who was paying attention before he spoke to Noko, "Really... Interesting."
"Why is that interesting? Noko said looking at him. Ceba shrugged, "Well, we are all rather stubborn in our ways... We don't always like to take others advice... You know Naroko and Boloro both said he spoke very highly of you. Quite highly... With the way you two act around each other, we all assumed there was something... And with the way he looks at you."
Noko's eyebrows knitted together, "What way?"
Ceba feigned shock, "You hadn't noticed... Interesting... He's quick."
He leaned back again as Noko looked back at the arena. He could see the gears in her head working away and smiled. All was well with the two of them but someone had to give them a little push. If Bo and Glay were going to forbid it, then Naroko and himself, we going to have to be sneaky about it.
Although they had taken the first round by storm, the second was an entirely different matter. After the opposing team made their way back to the arena, they were able to push Hoshi and Naroko back in to the second zone. The earth bender on the other team knocked Hoshi back with a few earth plates, and Naroko barely hit the last zone because of an unexpected attack from the fire bender. Naroko had to keep her eyes on the water bender, and without Hoshi to intercept any of the incoming attacks, she was defenseless.
The two of them were lucky that Boloro was an unmovable brick wall, or else the other team would have moved in to their side of the ring. Hoshi could do only so much since he was a fair distance from his opponents. Naroko was a bit better off since she could bend water, but Hoshi's fire would usually fade in to nothing by the time it reached them. She had managed to use a couple of her opponent's move against him, but it didn't help that much since his style seemed to focus on direct and immediate attacks. If it weren't for Boloro managing to knock all of them back a zone it might not have gone well. Boloro, Hoshi, and Naroko quickly moved in to their opponent's first zone, and with the now lack of distance, between herself and the other water bender, Naroko used his own techniques and form against him. She was a direct copy of his moves, and caught him off guard to be moved back in to the third zone.
Noko was sitting on the edge of her seat watching the match. She gasped a little when Hoshi got hit back, followed by Naroko. She brought her hands up to her mouth as she watched on. It had been luck that Boloro was difficult to push onto his back foot let alone back an entire zone. It was also one of the main reasons that the round wasn't over just then. Ceba leaned forward again, "I've never seen you so into watching a match since before we joined up."
Noko waved her hand, "Shut up would you? I'm trying to pay attention. If you are that bored try and concoct a way to push Boloro back. We'll need it if we end up facing them."
"Are you saying that Hoshi and Naroko aren't a threat?" Ceba said chuckling slightly. Noko looked at him, "Not at all, I'm saying there is no point in throwing them out of the arena if we can't move Boloro back a zone."
Ceba smiled, "I just think you are worried about your boyfriend."
Noko rolled her eyes and Glaysten looked at Ceba. The man rose his hands in surrender to his elder.
"Put everything on the big guy!" One of the members of the other team Shouted. the others nodded, knowing that he would be a pain to deal with. The only thing about that plan that worried them was the fact that with all of their attacks going towards Boloro, Hoshi and Naroko about be perfectly fine and could easily pick them off without having to worry about being hit. The match went on and although more hits were focused on hitting Bo, Naroko and Hoshi got hit as well.
With another strong set of hits from Naroko, the Water Bender flew off of the ring and in to the waters below. It was one down, and two more to go. With one less to worry about a wave of confidence hits Naroko and she decides to take another out out as quickly as she can She joined up with Hoshi to take the fire bender down and Left Hoshi with the other earth bender,
((I have no clue what to write TT^TT))
Noko's leg was bouncing as she watched them. Her eyes flicked around the arena, watching each of the fighters. She looked for weaknesses, advantages, and tactics. One things that the EelSharks had working for them was no one knew them. That meant no one could expect what they were going to do. Not to mention with this being their second fight, they were using a completely different tactic than in their first. They were stratigists, which was good for them but made it harder to make a strategy against them, not if you never knew what to expect.
She cheered when Naroko managed to knock the Water Bender out. They were making their comeback!
The match was completely in their favor, with the fire bender being knocked out quickly with Naroko's help, and Boloro could handle just about anyone on his own. The second round was also theirs as the two opponents were knocked out almost simultaneously. The crowd roared and everyone cheered for the rookies.
The third round was just about the same, with the water bender being knocked out, and then the fire bender and earth bender. The crowd continued to roar at the second win of the Eelsharks and Hoshi decided now was the time to jump for joy.
The match was completely in their favor, with the fire bender being knocked out quickly with Naroko's help, and Boloro could handle just about anyone on his own. The second round was also theirs as the two opponents were knocked out almost simultaneously. The crowd roared and everyone cheered for the rookies.
The third round was just about the same, with the water bender being knocked out, and then the fire bender and earth bender. The crowd continued to roar at the second win of the Eelsharks and Hoshi decided now was the time to jump for joy.
Noko jumped to her feet in celebration, "Ya, Hoshi!"
Ceba looked up at her, "There are two other of your friends who were in that match."
Noko decided it was time to go about ignoring Ceba and ran out of the box. She knew it wouldn't be long before the flood of the audience leaving the stadium to return to their late night lives. Thus, she ran quickly to the changing room. She smiled at them when she reach it, "Congratulations!" She looked around a little for the second reason she had ran so fast, "Did I catch Naroko before she could leave?"
"I'm right here." She waved her hand in a friendly fashion as she turned away from one of the lockers. It wasn't uncommon for her to leave her friends and go about her own, but she'd never just disappear. She'd usually go and make quick goodbyes to her friend before departing and leave then. She didn't need to make any excuses as to why she was leaving, since Both Boloro and Hoshi knew that she had things to do.
Hoshi smiled and turned back to look at the arena for a second. "Man, I'm starting to feel a little more tension than usual. Not only are we rookies, but we just won out second match in a row!" In his head, the more that they won, the more his new fans would expect for him to win. It was their second match that they fought, and they still haven't hit the water yet, none of them. Boloro patted him on the back and turned him to face Noko. "It'll be alright, Hoshi. Sooner or later a team will come up and we won't be able to take them on. A loss for the Eelsharks should calm everyone down." Bo was good with people, and when it came to Hoshi or Naroko, he knew exactly what they were thinking.
Noko looked at Naroko and smiled, "Good, I didn't get to congratulate you on your guys' last win. I hoped I could this time, seems like I can!"
When she noticed Hoshi looking at the arena, she tilted her head to the side. She listened to what Boloro said then nodded in agreement, "Every match someone will be disappointed. The point isn't to fight for the fans... Winning will get you fans but they understand that you can't win every match! Besides, two is a minor streak in comparison to the record. If anything you guys are going to get more attention from the returning competitors."
She held her hands in front of her, "So are you guys going to all celebrate together this time?"
In complete sync, all three of them nodded at the same and and looked at one-another with smiles on their faces. Breaking the silence between them all, Naroko spoke up. "Yeah, but we didn't really have anything planned, probably just going to hang out or something." She shrugged and the other two nodded at her. Hoshi went over to one of the lockers and took his bag out from it. "I don't know either, might just wander the town or something." He said with a smile. "Actually..." Naroko said with a small smirk on her face, glancing at Boloro before looking back at Noko. "I think that I'm going to pull Bo-" She stopped as she looked over to Boloro again, who was shaking his head and almost glaring at her. The glare subsided quickly and went back to a smile. "All three of us are probably going to get something to eat first, I'm willing to bet that Hoshi and Naroko are both just as hungry as I am."
Noko laughed and nodded her head, "And rightfully so. You three did great. I should probably go... Before Glaysten starts hounding me about taking it easy again."
She waved to them, "I'll probably see you all somewhere around the city," she looked at Hoshi, "We do seem to have a knack for running into each other," she smiled and gave them a small bow, "Enjoy your celebrating."
She turned away then and pulled her scarf around her neck and closed her coat as she prepared to walk home.
After she left, Hoshi turned to look at his teammates with a puzzled and curious look on his face. "Well guys, what do we do?" Boloro didn't have any ideas and Naroko simply shook her head. Of course food was the top priority, but that didn't help much considering that there were so many places to eat at. They all had the same idea in their head at the same time and continued to pack up their gear for the night. As they packed up, the all names places that they could go to for dinner, starting with Hoshi, then Naroko, then Boloro. No one had to say anything to know what was going on.
After some time of debate, the team looked around the streets of Republic city, still questioning what they were going to do for the night. They enjoyed to celebrate every now and then, but slowly, each of them started to think about just calling it a night.
Noko got home and pulled off her coat and scarf. She semi tempted to keep them both on as she shivered. However, she chose, instead, to grab a blanket and wrapped it around herself. She walked into her kitchen and stoked her stove. Placing a kettle on it she heated water and poured herbs into a teapot. She didn't know why she was making an entire pot as she had every intension to go to sleep soon. She didn't stop herself though, when the kettle screeched she poured the water into the pot. After a little while longer she poured the tea had made into her cup. Leaning against her counter she sipped at her tea, feeling the warmth spread through her body and heating her cold limbs. She walked over to her window and sat in the car perched in front of it. She sat, looking out at the city, as snow began to fall again.
The three of them stood in silence as they looked to the streets, wondering how they would spend their night in celebration. No words had to be said from Hoshi to tell that he was worried, the look was all across his face. Noko wasn't going to say anything about it because she knew that Bo would take action and it wouldn't be pretty. He made a promise to Glaysten that he would do everything he could to make sure that she didn't meddle, and he was going to honor that promise.
"Well, I guess I'm just going to call it a night guys. That match was pretty tiring and I guess we could celebrate tomorrow." Hoshi broke the wall of silence and nodded to his teammates. They nodded back to him and he split himself from the group. Bo and Naroko shared quick goodbyes and went their separate ways as well. As much as he wanted to go home and lay down, he was still worried and knew that he wouldn't be satisfied unless he at the very least checked up on his new friend. The blow to the ribs that she got looked pretty gruesome, and he just wanted to assure himself that she was fine and okay. Rather than walking to his home, he did his best to remember the way that he took when going to her home the last time.
