"Alright, everyone! If you don't know Earth Rumble, were you living under a rock?!... See what I did there?" The announcer for the tournament shouted with a smirk.
Silence filled the stands as Norrak looked up with a neutral face. Katara raised an eyebrow, her lisp twitching, while Ty Lee burst out laughing at the awkward silence.
The announcer looked awkward, and his body trembled with unease before the embarrassment gave way to confidence. He raised his mic and spoke again.
"If you do not know the rules of this tournament! Then there is only one single rule: knock your opponent out of the ring with earthbending!" The announcer said.
"Now that the audience knows the rules of the tournament, you should also understand that there is a reward too! 100 Bronze coins!" Norrak raised an eyebrow before shrugging.
100 coins are not attractive to him. Wait, now that he thinks about it, Norrak groaned in annoyance as he realised that the guy at the Haunted house had scammed him.
"Now, let's welcome our first participant onto the stage!"
"The Big Bad Hippo!"
Suddenly, massive and rapid stumps banging against the ground were heard in the rigging as a large guy ran out onto the stage. He roared as he made a spear stance, his arms above his head as he dived into the arena.
"The Big Bad Hippo is here to challenge his opponents!" As the Hippo talked, the Big Bad Hippo shouted with a grin, his lips pressed together as he Mogged everyone in the audience.
The crowd erupted into cheers while Norrak could not help but chuckle at the guy. He seemed to talk in third person, like the Boulder he remembered from the show.
"The next opponent to come onto the stage is The Fire Nation Man!" The announcer shot with an amused grin as a guy with a Fire Nation cloak and a staff ran onto the arena.
"Hahahaha! Kneel before the fire nation! Or I will steal your wives and have them bear my children!" The fire nation man screamed, and the crowd immediately erupted into boos and curses.
"Get off the stage, fatty!"
"Don't tell the Big Bad Hippo what to do, or he will crush you into a ball and throw you into the sky!"
"We didn't mean you, Big Bad Hippo!"
"The Big Bad Hippo! Crush that Fire Nation scum until even his bones are scattered!" The crowd screamed in excitement, and Ty Lee watched with a sad face.
"I understand why they hate the Fire Nation, since we committed so many atrocities and war crimes, as well as genocides. But I hope they realise that the civilians are not to blame," Ty Lee muttered with a hopeful look.
Ty Lee was not exactly wrong with what she said. The kids and the civilians who are trying to live their lives are not to blame for the things the Fire Nation soldiers and Ozai, as well as the other Fire Lords, have done.
But the rest of the world also won't care or give a damn about what she has to say about the Fire Nation. All they know is that they have committed genocides and are trying to rule the world.
"Ty Lee... Don't worry, after I defeat Ozai, I will make sure the world understands that the real monster was Ozai, not the civilians," Katara said with a firm look, noticing the sadness on Ty Lee's face.
Though it was hard for Katara to say this since she knew that even though Ozai was the one ordering the current wars, the soldiers were the ones actually pulling the trigger.
Couldn't the soldiers of the Fire Nation simply not do as Ozai tells them to and just gang up on him and kill him? They are in the tens of thousands, and Ozai in no way could defeat them alone.
"Alright, now let the fight begin! Remember the rules, knock out of the arena with earthbending!" The announcer waved his hand in the air, and the crowd erupted with cheers.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Like bombs exploding on the stage as the Big Fat Hippo roared, running towards The Fire Nation Man with his arms clenched on his sides. His eyes were wide with anger and aggression as he moved like a truck.
"HOW DARE YOU WANT TO TAKE THE BIG FAT HIPPO'S WIFE! HE WILL NOW CRUSH YOU INTO THE DIRT!" The Big Fat Hippo shouted as he jumped into the air.
The Fire Nation Man looked at the announcer, unsure, and the announcer grinned as he threw up a thumbs-up. The Fire Nation Man was usually a guy who lost in the first match to hype the audience.
"ARTGHHHHHHH!!!!"
'I am dead...' The Fire Nation Man thought as the Big Fat Hippos slammed into the ground, using his earthbending in the process. The ground crumbled, and the ground moved as if it were water.
Boom!
The entire arena cracked before a massive tsunami of rock and dust surged outwards. The Fire Nation Man was struck, a nd he lost consciousness before being sent flying outside the arena like a rocket.
"AND THE BIG FAT HIPPO IS THE WINNER! WHAT A DEFEAT, IT WAS OVER BEFORE THE FIRE NATION MAN WAS ABLE TO EVEN SHOUT FOR MERCY!!!" The announcer shouted, hyping the crowd even more.
Norrak watched with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open as the Big Fat Hippo got up from the ground, dusting his shoulder off. The way the guy moved was... Very traumatising.
"The next to enter the arena is The Boulder!" As the announcer announced Boulder's name, the man leapt onto the arena, and he grinned as he flexed his beefy muscles.
"The Boulder makes his presence like the champion he is destined to be! Big Fat Hippo, the Boulder is gonna crush you!" The Boudler pointed a finger at the Big Fat Hippo like a Chinese young master and said.
"What?! The Big Fat Hippo is the one going to crush you into the ground, you weird, small Boulder!" The Big Fat Hippo clapped back with a snort as he rubbed his foot into the ground.
"Man... When is this going to end. It's more like watching an actual circus, but the kind where you are watching two idiots talk back and forth," Ty Lee said with a sigh, drawing circles on Norrak's chest.
Norrack chuckled as he watched the announcer begin the match. His right arm wrapped around Ty Lee's shoulder, giving her a massage. He was using his Chi sense to press her pressure points.
Katara, in his lap, was getting the same treatment as a massage on her tummy. Suddenly, the crowd erupted into cheers as the Boulder sent the Big Fat Hippo out of the arena with three spikeless spikes slamming into his gorin, chest and head.
"The Boulder wins!"
____________________________________
The Boulder is the winner... Until the Blind Bandit presents herself. By the way, Norrak can't heal Toph's blindness... Yet.
Leave a power stone!