Chapter Text
Despite the new opportunity Toza had given him and his brother, Mako didn't trust him. Not like Bolin who still had stars in his eyes over hero worship.
Toza didn't understand where the dedication from Bolin had come from but he knew, regardless of it, the key to keeping these boys out of trouble was Mako.
Which was why Toza was up at the crack of dawn with the young firebender. If this pro-bending idea was to work, Mako needed to learn control.
He was a small powerhouse ready to go off which served him well on the streets but would get him disqualified every time in the ring.
"Now the rules for firebenders in the ring are simple," Toza said, walking Mako over to the fireproof mats. He didn't spend much time on this side of the training rooms but today they had the whole area to themselves. "Rule one: no head shots. Rule two: no sub-bending. Your lightning trick is impressive but it has no place in the game. Rule three: no extended flames. Pro-bending is about sharp, quick and powerful bursts of bending. If you hold a flame longer than five seconds you get a penalty. This isn't the place for fancy bending."
Mako frowned up at him. Oddly he seemed just as discontent to be up at this hour as Toza. He figured as a firebender Mako would have already been away with the sunrise but the kid had still been sound asleep when Toza found him this morning. It was something to keep in mind next time.
"Why?" Mako said. "Why limit the bending?"
"To keep things fair," Toza said. "It prevents more harmful bending forms from being used. It's a game not a death match. There's no need for fancy fire whips or any of that."
If there was one thing Toza was beginning to understand about Mako it was that the kid was a monumental brat and nothing made that more clear than the next words out of his mouth.
"I think it's to cater to the earthbenders," Mako replied. There was a sharpness to his expression that told Toza he was looking for trouble. "They don't have very many moves like a fire whip that are advanced but easily contained. Outside of leveling the whole arena the only thing they can do is toss some rocks around."
Toza paused at that and looked back at the sixteen year old. The look was still on his face but Toza realized it wasn't one looking for trouble but one expecting it.
"Hmm, you're probably right," Toza grunted instead of arguing. Mako seemed surprised at the easy agreement and Toza nodded.
"Let's see what you've got kid," Toza said, lining him up on the fake field mat.
Toza wasn't surprised at the power Mako displayed. He and his brother were slightly ridiculous when it came to bending ability. No fourteen or sixteen year old should have that kind of control and skill. It wasn't Mako's power that threw Toza off though.
Mako had a grace to him not often seen in pro-bending. If he could compare it to anyone he'd say the Rabaroos or someone like the new kid Tahno, but even they didn't match Mako's movements.
His time on the streets served him well here as Mako very easily evaded hits. It didn't matter where Toza aimed, Mako just wasn't there. At least not until Mako stumbled over a discarded disc. The distraction cost him as another disc slammed into his stomach.
Mako didn't stay down long. Instead he rolled to his feet and shook off the hit even as his hand pressed to his ribs for a moment.
"Let me see it," Toza said, moving forward but Mako stepped back into a fighting stance instead.
"Again," Mako said, launching a small ball of flames in Toza's direction when he didn't stop.
Toza frowned but allowed it. Then it happened again. Mako stumbled over something while not paying attention and took a hit to the shoulder that threw him off the mat. Before Toza could check him over he was back up.
After the fourth time it happened Toza stopped him. Mako was teetering where he stood and the flames he shot Toza's way that time missed by a mile. The Boar-q-pine's captain was looking over in concern from where he and his new teammates were practicing.
Toza waved away his concern. His former team hadn't understood Toza's new passion project, as they jokingly called it, the Fire Ferrets didn't even have a waterbender yet, though Toza had his eyes on a few of the younger boys.
When he announced his retirement for it, their waterbender followed with a similar one leaving their firebender as Captain with no new players. He had shipped up one of the picks Toza had in mind for a waterbender but from the way the teens eyes roved over Mako's body, it was probably best they weren't on the same team.
Teenage hormones had no place in pro-bending.
"He's a bit excited," Toza lied, picking Mako up by the scruff and pulling him towards the healing station.
"Where are we going?" Mako muttered. "We were still training."
"Training is over," Toza grunted. "O don't know what that was back there, kid, but you can't blow yourself out before you even play."
Mako frowned. "I need to practice," Mako said. "I'm not really familiar with pro-bending. Not like Bolin, but I need to be. We have to win."
Toza glanced at Mako out of the corner of his eyes.
"Kid, let me make one thing clear," Toza said, sitting him down on a bench outside the healing station. "You're going to lose this season. Badly. You won't even make it past the semi-finals. But you'll get better as you go and before long you and your brother will dominate the field. It won't be instant, baby brother's dreams aside. I need one of you to be realistic about that."
Mako didn't look pleased at the news but he also wasn't surprised.
"I don't know how to protect Bolin here," Mako said. "We've got a roof over our head if we play but what happens when we get out? What about food and clothes? On the streets I knew where to get it but here? Until we get as good as you say, what do we do in the meantime?"
Toza wasn't a man moved by emotion often but Mako's question cut straight through him.
He was sixteen. His biggest worry should be that pretty boy waterbender checking him out in the gym not feeding his brother.
"The housing is covered," Toza said. "So long as you have a team that's training to play under this roof you get to stay here. At least for now."
Toza didn't trust the big man to keep that promise but he had other contingencies in play for it.
"As for the rest," Toza said, "if there's ever a time you need the extra money just ask. You boys didn't judge me when I was at my lowest and I won't judge you."
Mako didn't look pleased at that either.
"I'm not going to ask how you got here," Toza said, though it was mostly as Bolin had already rambled it out, "but I'm asking you to let me help. Now, go see the healer, and take this and buy you and your brother some ice cream, or whatever it is kids like these days."
Toza handed Mako a roll of yuans. It was way more than ice cream called for but Toza left before Mako could say anything.
Mako was a tough nut to crack but there was a good heart at its center. Toza wanted to see him without the stress of a man twenty years his senior, even if it took years to achieve.