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Swoosh! Splat! Swoosh!

Mud was being volleyed in the air as the targets tried to dodge them. Among Jun's teammates, someone showed incredible skill. Gracefully weaving through the mud being slung towards him and accurately firing his own.

Splat! "Kahk!" A player was hit straight in the face.

"Woooooh!!! Go Vinh!!!" The crowd cheered him on.

Meanwhile, Jun was on the sidelines in awe of what he was seeing. He's seen videos of famous waterbenders being broadcasted on television but he hadn't seen such connection to the water element as this young man called Vinh. He might just be as good, if not better, than them.

"Hmmm..." Jun stroked his chin before smirking. "Hehe... I can't wait to face him soon." He said in anticipation for the opportunity to compete against Vinh in the games.

"What do you mean you can't wait to face him? Talking like you're some great waterbender when you're the first to get eliminated?" The player that got eliminated in his team said next to him. It seems he had overheard him muttering.

"Ahaha... It's just my first time." He reasoned as he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

The other guy furrowed his brows at him as he can't believe he was seeing someone as audacious as Jun.

It wasn't just some lame reasoning though. He accepted the offer to participate in the games and came without any preparation whatsoever. He just thought it would be fun.

"He caught it! They can revive another teammate!"

Before anyone could react, Jun had already sprinted back on the court.

"Silla is back! Will he be able to redeem himself?!"

Jun smiled and a mudball floated in front of him with just a gesture.

He hadn't learned bending mud before but now he got the gist of it. He had two ways to bend it too. Earthbending and waterbending. But it wouldn't be fair if he used both.

"Don't get in my way." Vinh said to Jun but Jun didn't reply and focused on their oppenents in front of them instead.

"Hmph!" Vinh shrugged him off then he started to move again.

Jun started moving too.

Swoosh! A mud ball was thrown towards him but he caught it with his waterbending and shot it back along with a mud ball of his own.

Swoosh! Splat! Splat!

"Two eliminations just as he came back!!! Amazing redemption!" The announcer shouted pulling on his hair with excitement.

Vinh took a glance at Jun before focusing again.

The other team that had the momentum earlier tensed up. Each team had eight players. Jun's team now had four players and the opponent team had six. That means Vinh was holding up his team with three people just before Jun came back. He had eliminated a few opponents but they were immediately revived after catching balls from his teammates. How could Vinh still be confident that he could win? He knew he'd win if all his teammates get eliminated because no one would be able to catch his mud balls and he could eliminate all of them on his own.

But through some stroke of luck one of his teammates caught a mud ball and revived Jun.

"Ha!" As if kicking it in the air, he bent the mud ball towards his oppenent.

Splat! It was a direct hit.

"Amazing! That would be the tenth time he eliminated an opponent!" The announcer said.

It was now four against five-

Splat!

It was three against five. One of Jun's teammates got eliminated again.

"Haaa...Haaa..." Vinh was getting exhausted. He has been playing since the game started unlike Jun who was still fresh from the bench. "Don't catch any more mud balls." He declared to his two teammates left. The other player besides Jun just nodded with a troubled look and Jun just smiled with thumbs up as his reply.

"Tsk!" Vinh snapped his head towards their front again ignoring Jun.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Another volley sequence played out. A series of firing mud balls and dodging them.

And soon it came down to two against six.

The other team had caught two mud balls and eliminated Jun's teammate.

"Haaa... Haaa..." This time Vinh was even more visibly exhausted. On the other side of the court, he could see the other team grinning as if mocking him. "Grrr..." He forced himself to straighten his back once more and faced forward.

Seeing this, Jun just smiled. He decided to approach Vinh and tapped his back.

"What?!" Vinh snapped at him.

"Geez..." Jun smiled with a trouble look and gestured him to calm down. "I have an idea."

From the other side, they couldn't make out what they were talking about. It looks like they were making their last stand before they lose. It was only natural. Their best player was exhausted and the other one is a new face who got two lucky hits.

"Hahahahaha" They laughed menacingly at Jun and Vinh.

Vinh closed his eyes for a moment and took deep breaths. Four mud balls formed in front of him and the instant he opened his eyes he started moving.

The other team got ready for a barrage of attacks from Vinh but they hadn't expected it to go towards the direction of his own teammate instead.

"Sssp-!!!" Jun jumped and kicked as he received the mud balls from Vinh, consecutively kicking them as he spun in the air towards their opponents.

Splat! Splat! Splat! Splat!

"Oh my god!!! Four consecutive hits! I haven't seen that before!!!"

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

The announcer and the crowd went wild!

Just like that, it was two against two. The best of the best left on the court.

Vinh gazed at Jun. He didn't fully believe it would work but he was glad that he trusted Jun. Jun looked back at him and both of them nodded.

The game was nearing its end. Mud ball after mud ball, dodge after dodge. It seemed like there was a stalemate, but to experienced eyes, they would notice how Jun and Vinh got more in sync as time went by. It looked as if they were doing a choreographed dance they had practiced beforehand.

"Wow..." Even Haru couldn't help but be amazed.

Splat!

One of Jun's opponents finally got eliminated. There was only one left.

"Haaa... Haaa..." Their opponent buckled under his own weight in exhaustion. "We underestimated you Silla... I give up... " There was no need to continue because it would be futile. They have been bested.

"Yeeeeaaaahhh!!!" Vinh shouted in victory and raised his open palm towards Jun.

Jun received it with his own palm. Clap!!!

"Woooooohhhh!!!"

The sound of their hands meeting echoed throughout the swamp and caused an uproar among the crowd.

"Wow!!! That has only been thirty minutes but it felt like a whole day!!!" The announcer shouted. "Don't worry folks! More moments like this will come! Come back later where the winning team! Will go head to head! AAAT THEEEE SKIFF RAAAACEEEE!!!" Boom! Boom! Boom!

The announcement ended with the resounding boom of the bass from the music coming out of the speakers.

Vinh's smile disappeared. He was so in the moment because of his exhaustion and the adrenaline that he forgot that he was about to face Jun, or rather, Silla in the next event.

"Make sure to at least make it to fourth place in the race. Let's meet at the jousting event." Vinh declared his challenge to Jun. The first four to finish the race would be able to proceed to the next game.

"Hahahaha sure sure" Jun waved as Vinh left. Vinh walked ahead with a smirk on his face.

"That was awesome Ju- Silla!!!" Haru had run over to where Jun was. Clap! They exchanged a high-five.

"It was nothing." Jun said with his chin upwards, elongating his nose.

"Hahahahaha. That other guy was awesome too. You played really well together. It was like you were sharing the same brain or something."

Jun made a meaningful smile. "It was our connection to the water element. It reminded me of the time when I visited the water spirits in the north pole. How we pushed and pulled the mud from each other. Haha" Jun couldn't help but laugh in amazement.

"In your terms, he'd have a high aptitude for metalbending."

That's the basis for being a metalbender. It was how strongly they connected to the earth element that they would be able to bend the impurities in the metal. Although, Toph used to teach the first police squadron until they have a strong connection to the earth, it was now all about talent to shorten the training period and produce police officers more quickly.

"Hmmm..." Jun smiled as if he was remembering something.

"What is it?"

"I was thinking of introducing a friend I met last night to you."

"Huh?" Haru tilted his head in confusion. He didn't feel Jun leaving their room last night. He was confident of this because he has become more sensitive to his surroundings because of Jun's homework.

"Anyway..." Haru just shrugged and thought maybe didn't notice this time. "... can you win fourth place in the next game?"

"Pft... please." Jun chuckled. "I'm aiming for first." He confidently declared.

Meanwhile...

"So... did Vinh make it to the next round?" The boss asked his crew.

"Yes, boss."

"Haha! Good! He should be able to after all the trouble we went through to get Dat off the tournament." They were the ones who had injured Vinh's main competition to make sure Vinh would win.

"Actually, boss... I heard he had a tough time."

"But he still got his team to win, right? That's my boy! Haha!"

"Boss... the one that replaced Dat..."

"What about him?"

"They said he was as good as your son..." Gulp.

"..."

"..."

"Let's watch the race." He immediately got up.

Don Tran is a crime family boss in Nong Ruen Roeng. Loaning out money to businesses and getting paid with shares in interest, threatening them with violence if they refuse, he had built up a huge influence in the city, controlling most of the major companies behind the scenes.

That's what Haru had learned from walking around and talking to people using his charm and social skills he used when he was a tour guide.

The city's officials couldn't handle him because there was no proof and the potential witnesses were either paid or threatened with their lives.

Dat, the reigning champion of the water games was brutally injured just before this year's games started. It's not hard to deduce that Don Tran had an influence in it because of his son's participation, Vinh, in the games this year.

Haru had told Jun about this before the start of the race but he said:

"Let's just leave immediately after I win it all." Clenching his fists in the air.

"Ready... Set... GOOOO!!!!" Beeeep!!!

Swoooshhhhhh!!!!

The waters roared as skiffs rapidly moved acrossed it's surface. Two skiffs immediately gapped the others.

It was obvious who. Jun and Vinh.

Vinh furrowed his brows with a serious expression while Jun was smiling ear to ear and was fully enjoying the moment.

"Hahahahaha!!!" He laughed as they swung their arms in a circular motion, bending the waters to move the skiffs.

As the crowd cheered, Haru made a wry smile as he watched Jun make a spectacle again.

He remember their conversation earlier about how he mastered water bending.

"The principle of push and pull has always been the basis for water bending. The moon and ocean spirits demostrates this in their physical form of two fish. That's why when I was hiding out in the woods, I watched fish go against the current of the river. You would think they were fighting the strong current with great strength, but they were actually leveraging it to pass through. Eventually I got a hold of it and even managed to swim up a waterfall."

The image of Jun swimming up a waterfall was so crazy in Haru's mind. Swimming upstream was already crazy enough. He wondered what kind of bending freak has the world produced if he has that kind of mastery with every element.

As he watched the race, a group of people moved in front of him. It was Don tran with his men.

"It's a tie!!! Vinh and Silla has won first place!" The huge screen projected the replay of Jun and Vinh crossing the finish line at the same time.

"What do we do, boss?"

"Have someone follow this Silla guy... when he's alone, you know what to do. You still have time before the main event." The boss said.

The main event, Floating log jousting would be held later at noon.

Haru narrowed his eyes and looked at Jun smiling brightly, sharing the stage with Vinh who was not as ecstatic.

As soon as Jun left the stage Haru went up to grab him.

"Haru-!?"

Haru started running as he pulled him away from the crowd.

"We're in trouble. That Vinh guy's father is after you. He doesn't want you to participate in the last event."

"Vinh's dad- crazy..." Jun narrowed his eyebrows and muttered.

Eventually he followed Haru willingly and ran.

"I think we lost them." Jun said.

"Good. Let's get out of this city, Jun." Haru said.

"What? I need to finish the games first."

"Are you crazy?! Haven't you heard what I said?!"

"Calm down... we just don't have to get caught and leave after winning like I said earlier."

"Ugh..." Haru covered his face with his hand.

"Crazy... you and that Vinh guy. What is it with winning these stupid games that he'd even endanger people's lives for it?"

"I don't think Vinh knows..."

"Huh?"

"Vinh doesn't know his father is doing this."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well... because of the way he waterbends."

Haru furrowed his brows at him, confused of the mysterious bullcrap Jun was spouting."

"Hahahahaha..." Jun laughed as if he could see what Haru was thinking. "The way he waterbends reflects his personality just like how clear water reflects one's image. It was pure, innocent even."

Haru wanted to rebut but he just shrugged because Jun was his master after all. He might know things that he doesn't. "Still, let's be cautious for now."

Jun nodded. "For now, let's get something to eat!"

"What part of being cautious don't you understand?!" He shouted, grabbing his head in frustration.

In the end, he gave up and joined Jun on his whims because he felt hungry as well.