Work Text:
Scene starts off in the Earth Kingdom as Sokka calls everybody in the Gaang together. He is carrying a hide ball. Aang, Toph, Katara, and Suki come towards him.
Sokka: Gather ‘round everybody! Check this out! I just came up with a great idea for a new game!
Katara: A game?
Aang: What kind of game is it?
Sokka: Okay well technically we might need more players but it goes like this—there’s a large field and at each end of the field there’s a goal. One player from each team guards the goal as other players try to get the ball into the goal. The object of the game is to get the ball into the goal as many times as you can in a set amount of time before the timer runs out. I call it—Sokka Ball!
Toph: Sokka Ball? Really? You couldn’t have come up with a better name?
Sokka: What’s wrong with Sokka Ball?
Aang: (quickly changing the subject) Hey, that’s kinda like the Air Ball game we used to play!
Sokka: Exactly! Over the years I kept thinking back to playing Air Ball with you at the Southern Air Temple, but since I’m not an Airbender—
Katara: —or a bender at all—
Sokka: (annoyed) Anyway… (goes back to explaining) There’s no way I could compete with Aang, so I started thinking of ways to…level the playing field! Eh? Eh? (the others groan, and we go to a visual aid scene of what Sokka explains) Anyway, I thought that instead of having sticks coming up out of the ground that you could fall on and hurt yourself, we could just play on solid level ground. Originally, I thought we could just throw it at each others’ goal but then the other one could just block it over and over again. Then I thought of having the players hit it back and forth (we see what is essentially tennis without the net) but then that’d just be a lot of back and forth, and it wouldn’t be much fun to watch. Then I thought, it would be more fun if more people were playing, like between five and ten people, not counting the person defending the goal. But then I realized the field would need to be bigger. And then way more people could join in on the fun, and we could still be able to throw the ball to each other before trying to throw it into the other person’s goal!
Toph: Wait, wait, wait, wait—throw it? I mean I’m with you so far, but if we’re throwing it I wouldn’t be able to play!
Sokka: What? What do you mean you wouldn’t be able to play?
Toph: (waves hands in front of her eyes) Uh, HELLO-OOO!
Sokka: Oh. Right. I didn’t think of that. Sorry Toph.
Suki: Wait, wait, wait! I got it! What if we kick it!
Katara: (thoughtfully) Hmmm…if we kick it…
Aang: Yeah, that’s a great idea. That way Toph could see the ball and still play!
Toph: Now that’s an idea I can get behind!
Katara: Now we just need to come up with a better name!
Sokka: (face falls) Seriously? What’s wrong with Sokka ball?