Blazing: An Avatar AU

Chapter Nine

SU. 

Sozin University. 

Number One in the Nation for Fire Bending studies. 

Location for all three days of the tournament. 

Day One doesn't require any interactions with the other teams, except in the waiting area. Unlike days two and three, Day One will be taking place indoors. The way it works is all the teams wait in the waiting area (which is huge), and one by one the teams get called into a bending gym and their form will be evaluated. 

There are three judges, all three of which are grading on a scale of 1 to 10. Whichever team scores the highest tonight gets a headstart in the tournament. 

This is the only event in which the team is competing together. Sparring, though we are doing it for the same team, cannot be a group effort. 

Our team was probably not going to get called until last, so we had plenty of time. 

We all walked into the waiting room. I was holding my "CAPTAIN" jacket in my hand.

Five other teams were competing, each represented not by their school name, but by their logo, this was mostly because one or two of the teams aren't from solely one school, but rather made up of private fire bending only prep places. 

The five other teams included: Sea Ravens, Phoenixes, Komodo Rhinos, Badgerfrogs, and the Turtle Ducks. 

We were the Dragons, which is clearly the best one- and that's all I have to say. As much as I despise school, we are the best. We always have been. But- who knows? 

The only team who has ever come close to us are the Phoenixes. A private school, just like us. The school isn't far from ours. I think its a mere 10-minute drive. 

A few people from our school know some of the Phoenixes. I watched as a few of them started to mingle. 

I stared into the distance. Are we going to win today? I mean, we haven't won the form portion in years, we excel in sparring and that's usually why we always win the tournament as a whole. But I helped this team work their asses of practicing form and sparring. I would like to see some good come out of it.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I whipped my head around to be greeted by Zuko. He was smiling and holding two ice creams cups, "did you know they have self-serve ice-cream here?" He held out one of the ice cream cups, handing it to me. 

I laughed, "No I did not, but," I grabbed the ice cream, "I am truly grateful."

Zuko sat next to me, "Are you nervous?"

I sighed, "Maybe a little."

"You shouldn't be, captain- you're so talented."

I ran my hands through my hair, "debatable."

Zuko put his hands on my shoulders and forced me to face him, "stop. You're literally the best person in this class."

I laughed, "Are you admitting that I'm better than you?"

"Of course not. We're both the best," he smiled. 

"You're an interesting person."

Two Phoenixes were standing near where we were sitting, engaged in conversation, "Did you hear? The Dragons have a girl as their captain."

"Really?" The other one asked.

"Yeah, we totally have this in the bag. I heard the girl never even took fire bending in school once. This is what the Dragons have come too. It doesn't even matter that they have the Prince."