Round 3: The Last Man Standing (Part 1)

At this moment, Tenzin stood beside Masters Ran and Shen Fu under the pavilion with locked gazes upon the stage. They expected that today was going to be a rather hectic day, but they never thought that it was going to be so fierce, and they weren't even done yet. Tenzin looked upon the destruction that those three talented Earthbenders have caused, and then at those said Earthbenders.

From those craters, boulders in all shapes and sizes scattered about, and streams of rocks protruded out of the ground. These young and highly talented Earthbenders were giving it their all, and they still had to show each other what they were truly capable of. Especially Kai, who still hadn't shown some of his tricks off his sleeves.

As of now, the siblings, Ganu and Tola, had the second round in the bag, and Kai seemed to be in a rather tight spot. The last attack that the siblings carried out, instantly sent Kai flying out off the stage and crashing to the ground. And was still on the ground, trying to catch his breath. The siblings had the chance to attack him right now, as he was vulnerable. But they refrained from doing so. Why?

Well, their first thought since coming was, that it was a waste of their time, and fighting an unknown person from Republic City for a test was totally unnecessary. But, since their masters had said so, and they highly respected them, they went along with their masters' wishes. Even if they wouldn't tell them the real reason they had to come to the Southern water tribe compound. And now as they were fighting this unknown person from Republic City, and as the longer, the fight went on, all those thoughts that they had earlier were slowly fading away.

The two siblings had many matches and battles over the years that a normal teenager wouldn't dare imagine. And it pains them to admit, that this fight that they were currently fighting, was by far the most interesting one they ever had. As they were standing on the stage looking down at this unknown person from Republic City, This 'street rat', who gave them a fight they never had before and still had a smile on his face. The siblings couldn't help but start to view Kai in a different light.

They started to respect someone, other than their masters. And that was something that they thought would never happen. Not even in a million years. As they still looked down at the weary Kai, they saw him smile and mutter something.

"Hehehe. Oh, my how the tables have turned."

"You can still talk?", said Ganu as he was looking at Kai from up the worn-out stage, and he continued, "Are you giving up?"

"Why you ask? Y'all gonna be--ow, … be disappointed if I say yes?", Kai tried to speak, but his bruised ribs from the attack earlier kept him from talking normally.

Ganu scoffed at his remark, but deep inside the siblings knew that he was right. He glanced at his sister, who was beginning to feel weary from the fight, and then back at the stage, which was littered with scars of their battle. He contemplated a bit, and then looked back at Kai, who seemed trying to get back up on his feet, despite the pain in his ribs. And he then spoke, "Well, … I, well, we would be lying if we said no."

Kai lifted his head up and looked at the siblings with a smile. He then stood back on his feet, while clutching his midsection with one arm, and then he spoke, "Good. Hehe, that's good. And--augh! Jeez, that hurts! And I would be disappointed also if y'all didn't deliver."

"And what do you think? Satisfied?", said Tola surprising Kai, and her brother Ganu. Kai looked at the girl next to Ganu, and replied with a slight chuckle,

"Well, I think you guys broke a rib or two, so… I think that says it, I guess. But, …"

Kai then a step backward, and was readying himself for the third and final round of their fight. He took his arm off his midsection and tore away the piece of clothing that was hanging off his upper body, leaving a tattered sleeveless brown undershirt. He lowered his arms to do the ground, and continued speaking while doing so,

"That doesn't mean that I'm finished. Besides, I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeve."

Kai lowered his head and opened up his hands and the ground began to slowly glow a red hue, and small amounts of steam began to come out of it. The siblings saw this and a small frown began to form on their faces.

'What is he planning to do now?', Ganu thought to himself as he and Tola saw the peculiar situation in front of them. He then urged his sister to get ready for their next fight.

Kai then lifted his head up again and looked at the siblings, who were a bit confused at what he was doing, and he spoke, "Why don't we turn up the heat a bit?"

The siblings were starting to get more confused by what he said, and then the next action made their eyes widen. The ground started to melt away and was now being replaced with a red-hot liquid that was beginning to rise, accompanied by large amounts of steam.

"Is he--?", muttered Ganu as he looked at the actions in front of him with wide eyes. And before he could finish that question, Kai then raised both of his arms in the air and swiftly slammed his fists down with force, ignoring the intense pain in his body.

The red-hot substance started to react and a large stream of it was then moving towards the stage with speed. The ground was splitting apart as the red-hot liquid moved forward. The siblings reacted quickly, and launched themselves high up in the air, and off the stage. The red-hot liquid didn't stop as it crashed against the stage like a wave and splashed all over it.

And he wasn't done yet. The siblings, who launched themselves so far away from the stage, landed behind Kai and were beginning to attack, but Kai already noticed them. So, with another quick movement of his hands, the thick red substances started to react to him. And it raised up from the snowy ground and was moving toward the siblings like a tsunami. The siblings reacted quickly, and they instantly created a giant earth wall to halt the giant lava wave. The lava wave was still oncoming, and when it impacted the wall, it splattered all over.

The lava started to spread all over the area and spilled over the wall that the siblings have created. The siblings erected more earth walls to contain the lava that was overflowing and moved away from the area. The siblings saw the destruction of the lava that Kai had created. Huge amounts of steam were rising from out of the ground, and the grounds were glowing with a red-hot liquid that was still present. Not just the siblings, but the other people present were very surprised at the unexpected development.

Then they looked to Kai who was at the center of it all. Half of his body was bare and bruised, and his thick brown hair flowed in the cold wind while looking at them with a weary expression.

"So! You're a Lavabender?!", yelled out Ganu from a distance.

"Yeah! Sorry, I didn't tell you guys! How'd you know about Lavabending?", Kai replied as he was still standing, surrounded by lava.

"I heard about it. Then, why didn't you use it during our fight?"

"Well, because it was a test! Didn't wanna use something that's kinda difficult to control, and dangerous for just a test, y'know!"

Ganu was surprised at this. He then thought to himself, 'If he didn't want to use his Lavabending during the test. Then, that must mean--'

"You're thinking the same thing too, huh?", Ganu suddenly interrupted his thoughts, and then continued, "I know that they haven't explained the rules since this whole thing started. But, I'm guessing, and this is just a guess, … that the moment I flew off and crashed outside that stage, … I lost, didn't I?"

The siblings didn't say a word, and Kai continued,

"And since this a test purely to evaluate my Earthbending, and I lost, this means that I failed, right?"

Ganu was a little taken aback by Kai's conclusion of this situation, and he couldn't give him an answer at the moment. He then glanced at his sister for a second opinion, but even she was slightly dumbfounded at what Kai had said, and then he looked to the wooden pavilion. Their masters were standing with quiet expressions on their faces, but still maintained eye contact with him. Even if they didn't say anything, Ganu knew and his face started to turn angry.

"No! NO! This isn't over! THEY don't get to decide the conclusion of this fight! And certainly… NOT YOU!", Ganu stated loudly with fire in his heart. His voice echoed throughout the entire compound.

Ganu was not going to let this slide. Not one bit at all. He didn't drag himself and his sister halfway around the world for it to just end like this. They were never going to accept this, not since they now started to take things even further. Kai stood there as Ganu was shouting at him with a passion.

"I never said that it was, Ganu! I just said that I failed this test! But, that doesn't mean that we have to stop! So, what do you say? And this time, we fight till one of us can't any longer."

"To the last man?", Ganu inquired after hearing Kai's proposal.

"To the last man!"

Back under the wooden pavilion...

Tenzin, who heard this from Kai's mouth wanted to intervene and stop this. This was just a test, that he and Lin set up to evaluate his Earthbending. How did it suddenly turn into a Last man standing match?

"Kai! This is enough! Stop this at once!", Tenzin was shouting at them from the pavilion, but they just treated him like air.

Ganu then glanced at his sister, to see if she agrees with him. She turned towards her brother, and a surprisingly small smile appeared on her face, as she nodded her head. Ganu was glad that his sister had agreed with him, and smiled in return. Kai who watching them saw their cooperation and then began to speak,

"Seeing that you two agree with my proposal, why don't we take this where we don't have to hold back on the destruction that we'll cause."

Kai then lowered himself to the ground, and then pushed himself forward. The ground beneath him sucked down and started to propel him forward with heightened speed. This technique that he used was called Earth wave or Earth skating. A technique he used to train countless hours by the mountain, back when he was in Republic City training with Lin.

The siblings saw the direction he was going in and followed after him, using the same technique Kai was using. Now, all three of them were heading outside the base to finish their fight, once and for all. Kai was in the lead, and as they were heading closer to the wall, he was preparing to launch himself over it, but not forgetting to leave them a gift first.

As Kai was about to propel himself over the wall, he conjured up a moat of lava, and he raised it in the air, forming a red-hot liquid wall, while he was suspended in midair. Tola who was a close second behind Kai jumped off, lifted her feet in the air, and with her heel slammed it into the ground. The earth began to split open and a large fissure was created and headed straight for the large amount of lava that Kai had left behind, swallowing it.

With the molten-hot obstacle out of their way, Tola then assisted her brother in tossing him over the wall of the compound. She then forced a large column of rock from beneath both of their feet, and they flew several meters in the air, with her alongside him. And on the other side of the wall, a war between three powerful benders was about to begin.

Meanwhile, outside the gate of the Southern water tribe compound...

A large four-legged beast that resembled a dog, with pure white fur, was currently standing in front of the large blue gate and was also wearing a traditional water tribe saddle. And standing beside the large white dog, was a girl wearing thick water tribe clothing.

The girl patted the large dog's head. Its large white tail was swaying back and forth, indicating that the dog was happy with the petting that it received. As the girl was done with her petting, the dog responded with a lick on her face. The girl laughed as the big dog was licking her face, and tried to calm down her furry companion.

"Hey, Naga! Alright, alright, that's enough! That's a good girl."

The girl then stepped forward to the gate, and shouted to get one of the sentry's attention,

"Hey! Hello! Anyone home?!"

The sentries in the towers by the gate weren't paying attention to their duties at the moment, as they were directing it towards the center of the compound. But, the water tribe girl tried again, and this time let her companion do it,

"Naga? Would you be so kind?"

The large dog barked as loud as she could, and succeeded in catching the attention of the sentries at the watch towers. The sentries turned toward the outside of the gate and saw a girl in water tribe clothing and a big large white dog standing there. The sentries immediately recognized who that person is,

"Oh! Avatar Korra! You're here? Weren't you suppose to be on leave for a few days?", said one of the sentries in the towers, and the girl who was the Avatar, replied," Yeah, I know. But, I got bored, so, I just thought--"

*BOOM!*

A sudden boom instantly cut the girl of mid sentence, and she and her furry companion hurriedly put their guard. The sentry that was talking with the water tribe girl diverted his attention to his friend on the other side of the gate.

"Hey! What happened?!", shouted the sentry at his friend, and he replied,

"The kid just did something, I-I-I don't know! It looked lava was rising from the ground!"

The girl who was on guard for a moment was confused at what was happening. First there was a big boom that sounded from the inside of the compound, and then the sentries were talking about a kid and lava rising up from the ground. She didn't know what to make of it yet. Then the large blue gate started to open up wide, and the girl named Korra was about to witness the event that she had been missing out on.