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Nothing but cheers followed him as he made his dramatic exit from the arena. He waved to the people with a big grin as he reached the bottom of the massive stairs, throwing a coin bag up and down in his hand.
"Another win for me."
Curiously he squinted ahead as he saw a color that seemed out of place among all the earth tones and green and yellow clad outfits of the Earth Kingdom capital. A blue tunic.
Normally Hugo wouldn't bother but the person in said tunic was staring directly at him. Another fan boy? Well he might as well get this over with.
"Something you wanted, Sweetness?" he asked, cocky as ever. This guy was actually pretty cute. He might not mind hearing him out. Praising him for his amazing skills. Giving him a kiss for the good show he put on...
"You're a pretty good bender." the boy said.
Hugo let a smirk grace his features. "Yeah, I know. You want an autograph?"
"No, but I do have a question." He stated as he stared at the large arena.
"Ask away"
"If you're so good. Why do you cheat the way you do?"
Hugo's eyes widened a bit before he pulled his composure back.
"What are you talking about?" he asked.
"You leveled the field during the fight. It started off normally but there was a slight change by the end. I know the leveling would change anyway because its an Earthbending match, but the arena was tilted on its axis. Not enough to be noticed by most people though. Just enough to give you an advantage."
Hugo raised a brow before he scoffed. "Alright, what do you want exactly? Money?"
"No" the boy finally turned to look at him in the eyes. "I want you to be my Earthbending teacher."
Hugo snickered "Yeah no. Sorry to rain on your little parade, but aren't you from the Water Tribe?"
"Yes, but I'm also the Avatar. So a little help would be appreciated."
"No way, Sweetness. Just cause you're the Avatar, don't expect any special treatment from me." He started tossing his coin bag as he walked away.
"Hm" Varian put a hand to his chin, "That's really too bad, because I'd hate for someone to find out you're rigging the fights." Hugo turned around and lifted an unamused brow.
"I didn't come here with no knowledge of you either." Varian continued. "Right? Hugo?" He smiled. "Adopted son to the Crime Lord of the Upper Ring?"
"Alright, listen. Whatever Don does has nothing to do with me. I honestly hate living in the Upper Ring. Why do you think I come down here?"
That caught Varian by surprise.
"So, you aren't doing this for her?"
"Hell no" he replied. "I like fighting, and if I were to express that there I'd be 'ill-mannered' and 'uncouth'" he rolled his eyes.
"Okay then." Varian got in front of the blonde. "How about a fight with me? We can make a deal. I win, you become my teacher. I lose, I'll give you all the money I have on hand."
Hugo smirked. He'd never fought a waterbender before. "You're on."
---
"You SURE, you wanna fight me IN the arena, Sweetness?" Hugo rose a brow teasingly.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine." Varian replied as he got into his fighting stance. Hugo readied his own stance before a calm moment of silence until Hugo made the first move. Moving the earth underneath Varian and launching him into the air. The boy threw five circular balls he had from his belt around Hugo. They broke and ice was left in their place.
"Nice trick!" the blonde yelled out sending a barrage of rocks towards the waterbender, "But aren't we supposed to be fighting?"
Varian threw his arms up to block the rocks a bit clumsily before sidestepping, "Oh we are" he replied, bending the ice on the ground to wrap around Hugo's feet and wrists before taking out another glass ball and bending the entire thing before encapsulating Hugo with it, leaving the green eyed boy speechless.
Varian chuckled, ignoring the pain in his arms from the bruises forming where he'd been hit. "You seem a bit immobilized".
"Yeah, and it's freakin' cold! Let me out! You win, okay!"
With a shake of his head Varian turned the ice to water and recreated six ice spheres that he placed back onto his belt.
Hugo stared in surprise. "That- That's actually pretty cool."
"It'll work for now" he smiled. "I usually like to keep them in glass containers. Easier to freeze when they break that way. Oh! Are you able to bend sand?"
"Okay, just calm down. Why do you need sand?"
"To make glass" he smiled. "I could encase the water in glass balls and that would be more efficient than worrying about the ice melting."
Hugo smirked, "Nah, sorry. I don't do sand."
"That's fine. I get a little excited when a new idea comes to me. See, on top of being the Avatar I'm also an alchemist!"
"Look, I didn't ask for your whole life sto- Wait, an alchemist?"
"Yeah" Varian replied with a big smile.
"So, uh..." Hugo waved his hand around in question.
"Varian, sorry. Should have introduced myself." He raised a hand behind his head in embarrassment.
"Right.. So why are you looking for a teacher in this seedy joint?"
"Oh, well. That's a pretty simple answer. I get the idea that the teacher's here are really more for show than anything else, and when I say that. I mean they seem more like they want to just teach basic forms. Which I do need to learn, but-" He sighed 'Well..."
"No, I get it" the blond replied. "Trust me. I taught myself. I know this is the Earth Kingdom capital, but it's a crappy place to find a 'certified' teacher. If you can even call them that. They're all so-"
"Hoity toity" Varian finished for him.
Hugo burst out laughing, "You got that right Stripes."