Chapter 29

"I have a bad feeling," Mira muttered, looking forward. 

The leader of the Wolfbats smirked at them devilishly. 

"This won't take so long." He said. "Just don't be  sore crying babies when you lose." He mocked. 

"Urgh," Mira growled. She was about to attack him until Chen held her shoulder. He felt her heat and knew that she would attack. That's why he'd held her from doing something rash. 

"Stop," Chen said, shaking his head at Mira. 

"I know he'd done something to manipulate the results. I just want to kick his ass. It's not the first time we lose to them… well, without counting you it's not our first time." Replied Mira.  

"Don't," Chen assured with a smile. "Promise me that no matter what happens, you will never break the rules." 

Before coming into this match, he'd met with some people. Of course, he wasn't thinking about Hiroshi. 

Mira turned completely to him and she titled her eyebrow. "What happened? You sound too optimistic." 

"Let's just play," Chen smirked. Turning to the other team, he took his fighting stance. 

Probably, his team would win this duel without much effort. Chen had bribed the referees after the Wolfbats had bribed them. Surprisingly, Chen didn't have to pay too much money.  It showed how cheap the champions were. 

"Also, I need you, girls, to step aside, I have an idea."

"What idea?" 

"What idea?" 

Mira and Hina asked the same questions. Their opponent would overhear them anyway. 

"I will just mock them the first round, and you just defend yourself," Chen said. 

The commentary yelled when the referee gave a signal. "Start!" 

Instead of shooting fire, Chen turned to the audience. He raised his hands, and he invited the crowd to cheer up. He'd activated his sixth and seventh senses, and he didn't need the help of his eyes to see. 

The commentary said in disbelief. "Something wrong is happening. Instead of fighting the champions, Chen is telling the audience to cheer up, leaving his guard open. This is a stupid decision. Is this the first time we are going to see the one-round knock-out Chen getting knocked out?" 

The audience didn't say a thing at first. 

The Wolfbats leader stepped forward and jabbed a water stream. Having already expected that, Chen stepped backwards, dodging. He didn't fight back. Instead, he clapped. 

The audience started clapping, matching his rhythm. 

Chen had an idea in his mind, and it was to provoke his opponents to break the rules as early as possible. 

"What in the name of spirits! He just dodged without looking; What a coincidence!" 

The earthbender and the firebenders shot their projectiles at Chen, who'd already read their movement. He stepped forward, which was the side of the ring, letting the attacks pass by his back. 

"Second time on the row! Is it coincidence!" 

"All of you, attack him." The leader of the Wolfbats said angrily. 

As the three started attacking Chen, he circled his Chi around his body, boosting his physical prowess. Chen started moonwalking backwards, dodging every attack.

The audience kept clapping with Chen, while his teammates looked at him dazed. 

"Argh!" Growling, the leader of the wolf bats seemed to lose his patience. He aimed both of his hands, gathering water. The duration he took was 2 seconds. The legal one was one second. 

Usually, it would get him a warning, and in extreme cases, red cards. 

Chen stopped clapping. 

"Hold on! The referee gave a red card to the Wolfbats. They are disqualified." The commentary said. "Hey, isn't this a bit too harsh? They didn't break the rules of the game so much."  

"You gotta be kidding me! Hey, referees. I paid you to be on our side, not theirs!" the leader of the wolf bats turned to the referees and yelled. He seemed to be frustrated that he wasn't aware of what he was saying. Chen's mocking of his team surely had made him frustrated. No doubt about it. 

The audience heard that. The Wolfbats just admitted that they bribed the referees. 

The referees replied. "You were too cheap and too audacious for thinking that we would break the rules for your bribe. For doing such an act, we have decided to ban your team for a year. Speak another word and you will be disqualified completely." Chen would swear that he'd paid them extra 30.000 Yuan more than the Wolfbats. 

Chen stopped, putting his hands on his hips. Turning his head, he exhaled a mocking laugh. The guy from the opposite team seemed to be pissed off that Chen was laughing. 

"It must be you." He concluded. 

Chen shrugged. "Sucks to be you." 

"I'll remember this." He replied. 

The audience started booing the Wolfbats. They started walking out through the bridges, ashamed. Officially, Chen and his teammates had made it to the Semi-Finals. 

"And the winner, by provoking the audience to cheer up, the Earthquakes." The commentary yelled. "I must interview Chen later. That was a great performance from him. I need to learn his technique to watch my back from my wife. I think we all need to learn it." 

Mira and Hina didn't jump up happily this time while hugging him. Instead, they approached him. 

"What have you done?" Mira asked, whispering. 

"Yeah. Yeah."  Hina nodded. "It's the first time such a thing happens."

"I just won." Chen shrugged. He'd no desire to explain to them that he bribed the referees. He didn't care anyway. It didn't matter now since there were potential dangers. Chen seemed to be walking out with his teammates. His mind, however, was somewhere else. He was using his thermal vision to scan the audience. 

Some people seemed to be in heat-resistance masks, approaching the security agents. They wore gloves that looked red in his vision, indicating they were really hot. They electrocuted the security agents, raising their heat. The audience seemed to realise that. 

The roof, which was made of glass, was broken all of the sudden. Just as the glass fell on the ring, Hina stepped forward, raising her hands in quick reaction. The water pushed the glass from falling on them -- her team. 

Chen turned to the ring and he lifted his head. On the top of the roof, there were a couple of airships. Ropes descended, and people linked to them fell on the ring. 

A Chinese-looking man with two sticks. A masked man with a hoodie. And few masked Chi blockers were there. 

Three anti-benders walked from the bridge to the ring. Each one of them was holding a member of the Wolf Bats. 

"It's him!" Mira, pointing at the man in the middle, screamed. Her body started shaking up, and so were Hina's. Chen turned to Mira. That day had faced Amon. She had been knocked out before she could even realise that he was a bloodbender, and he'd put her in severe pain when she'd woken up. Now that Amon appeared in front of her, she seemed to be afraid more of him. 

"Don't worry." Chen put his hand on her shoulder. 

Mira turned to Chen. Seeing his glance, she seemed to get assured, and she nodded slightly. 

Chen barely cared about people in this world. However, a friendship seemed to develop between him and his teammates. 

Last time, he had a chance to defeat Amon. But the latter used the girls as human shields. Chen had hesitated, which cause him to lose. If Amon had given him time, Chen may have attacked anyway. 

"Hina." Chen turned to her. 

This friend of his is a slut, but he can trust her for things other than relationships. 

"Yes." He put his hands on her shoulder. They were standing at the edge of the bridge, above the water. 

"Do me a favour and leave away. I don't need your help." 

"Hey! Hold on, we are going for a rematch," Hina said, excited, at the face of the smiling Chen. 

"When you get stronger. Now, use your waterbending and carry Mira out of this." 

His hand on the collar of his teammates, he lifted them and threw them to the water. 

"Wa!" 

"Not fair, Chen!" 

 Ignoring the scream of falling girls, Chen turned to Amon, smiling as the Wolf Bats were next to him. The reason for his smile wasn't manners this time. It was because he was going to have payback. 

In front of a such audience, Amon won't dare to use his bloodbending. 

Cracking his fists, Chen walked to the arena, sparks of lightning surrounding him. 

Amon moved his head, and a group of Chi blockers appeared on his way. 

*Tak*

Someone appeared next to Chen. Without the need to turn, he could tell who. It was Korra. 

"You are not going to have all of the fun without me," Korra said. "Besides, I've been looking for a chance to pay back them."

"Just don't get in my way," Chen said to her as chi blockers approached them slowly. 

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