The whistle pierces the air sharply as Iroh tries once again to reign in the attention of the bickering benders (and Sokka). The shrill "tweet!" echoes out over the rooftops, cutting through the calm twilight like a flare. Within moments, the sounds of elemental chaos: stone grinding, water splashing, fire crackling follows. Rising like the heartbeat of some impromptu festival. Across the villa-lined streets of the Upper Ring, curious nobles peek out of their windows. Pedestrians pause mid stride. Children dart ahead of their chaperones to press up against the wrought-iron gates. Servants carrying bundles of silk stop and stare. The roar of laughter and cheers builds with each passing minute, drawing more and more eyes to the spectacle. Iroh, always one step ahead, strokes his chin with amusement as he watches the growing crowd. "Hmm... it seems we have quite the audience." He casually pulls out a lacquered coin pouch from his inner sleeve and clears his throat with that telltale salesman sparkle in his eye.

"Esteemed guests of the Upper Ring!" he calls out. "Place your bets! Will the Avatar survive the onslaught of six foes, or will his masters prove their mastery?" He fans out a small scroll of parchment and begins taking wagers like he's back of a Pai Sho gambling den.

Zuko, perched atop his pillar and stretching, glares down at him. "Really?"

"I am simply supporting the spirit of competition," Iroh says innocently, already jotting down odds with a brush pen. "Now hush. You're the underdog here, and that means better payout."

"I'm not even being paid!" Zuko grumbles.

"Then perhaps you should consider winning," Iroh replies with a wink. "Alright! All bets are off! Begin!" Iroh declares before blowing into the whistle again and launching the ball into the air.

The whistle pierces the air as a blade and Zuko lunges already on the prowl like a hungry predator. He doesn't target the ball, instead he targets Sokka. Zuko launches himself into the pillar in front of him, slamming into it with his foot and launching the entire top half towards Sokka's column. Sokka doesn't even have time to scream as the stone beneath him turns to dust. He lands in the water with a satisfying splash but Zuko doesn't even bother to look at him. Instead he targets Yue next, and a geyser of water erupts beneath her feet. He'd bent it fast and from behind. Yue yelps as her footing vanishes and she's swept off the pillar in a spiral of water, hitting the drink with a loud sploosh beside her husband. Zuko lands catlike on a lower pillar, unfazed, twisting his body and launching a whip of water toward the ball before it can finish falling. He snatches it in midair and spins it behind his back.

He grins. "Two down," he says aloud, loud enough for the rest to hear. "Four to go." The crowd around him roars and Katara narrows her eyes.

"Someone wipe that smug look off his stupid face." she mutters, water circling her arms like twin serpents.

"I'm on it," Toph cracks her knuckles. Toph stomps her pillar, sending a wave of tremors racing toward Zuko's feet but he's already airborne again.

He flips backwards off the stone post, catching a swirling updraft with practiced ease, his arms spinning in wide arcs. The water whip still coiled around his wrist unravels, and he uses it to hook the jade ball from midair. It circles his body once, gathering momentum. Aang reacts instantly, launching himself upward in a spiral of wind. Katara leaps beside him, twin blades of water slicing forward in tight arcs aimed at Zuko. He grins and watches as the two of them line up perfectly. "Time for some collateral damage." He thinks before kicking off the pedestal behind him and lunging forwards.

He spins his body like a corkscrew summoning a horizontal vortex around his form as the water whip extends outwards and orbits him still dragging the jade ball. He yanks the water in tight to himself causing the orbit to get tighter and faster. With an explosion of fire through his feet, Zuko suddenly rights himself mid air before he spins and lands a sidekick on the ball directing flames, water and wind into it. It launches off his foot like a cannonball, screaming through the air in a multi vortex tornado of wind water and fire. Aang realizes too late that he's made a terrible mistake as the ball slams into his stomach and launches him backwards. He grunts from the impact and is given zero time to recover. Behind him, Katara sees the incoming monk projectile but she too doesn't have time to react. Aang slams into her and them and the ball sails through the uprights before landing in the drink.

"I don't know if that counts as one point or three." Jin says, wide eyed and shaking having witnessed Zuko take them down so fast. She hadn't even moved from the pillar she started on; it ended so fast.

"Are you guys going to take this seriously? Or am I going to have to get the entire earth kingdom army down here to give me a challenge?" Zuko asks as he squats down on his pillar to look at the soggy quartet dragging themselves from the creek.

"Oh, we'll give you a challenge, alright. Team huddle. Now." Katara snaps, bending all the water off herself in one smooth motion, then promptly launching the entire stream into Zuko's face. He doesn't flinch. The water splashes across him and drips down his chest.

He spits out a bit that got in his mouth, deadpan. "Rude."

The quintet of benders and Sokka huddle around the base of their goal post, their arms around each other's backs as they lean in. Though in Toph's case she's facing the wrong direction. Mud and dirt still clings to their damp forms, with only Jin and Toph having managed to avoid getting drenched in the creek. The entire backyard has turned into an amphitheater, nobles, children, random bystanders, even Joo Dees and Dai Li members sit on raised stone bleachers watching the spectacle take place. Iroh has switched from referee to snack vendor, having somehow changed clothes and is now offering cups of tea and fried potatoes to the audience. "When did we get an audience? There's like a hundred people here." Toph asks, causing the others to look around for a moment before Katara spins her around so she's actually facing the huddle.

"I think it's closer to three hundred. The Joo Dees even brought snacks." Yue adds before seeing a group of them on the sidelines wearing cheerleader outfits. "And now Lee has a fan-club. Great."

"Nevermind that, we need to come up with a plan to take him down!" Sokka declares, "I call it Operation Flaming Yak." The girls stifle a laugh hearing the ridiculous name.

"I think the name's perfect. I was gonna call it Operation Flameo Hotman Takedown but Sokka's name is better." Aang adds.

"Aang, buddy. Nobody has said that in a hundred years but it's good we're on the same wavelength." Sokka replies but his sister and his wife both stare at him unamused.

"What does that even mean?" Katara asks.

"It's our plan for victory. So, here's what I'm thinking. Aang launches me. Katara freezes the path. Toph makes a ramp. Yue controls the vibes. Jin distracts Lee." Yue and Jin both stare at Sokka with flat expressions on their faces.

"What are vibes?" Yue asks.

"And just what do you think I should do to distract him?" Jin asks, now breaking off from the huddle and folding her arms.

"You know, show some leg, flash him some side boob, get hi- Gah!" Sokka suggests but it earns him a punch in the gut by Jin.

"Like hell I'm doing that! Especially in front of all these people and you!" Sokka doubles over in pain falling to his knees as Jin yells at him. "What me and my Snuggleflame do in our alone time is none of your damn business you perv!"

The silence is deafening. Jin freezes, Katara gasps, Toph nearly chokes, Aang's face and ears turn pink, Yue hides her face in her hands. "... Snuggleflame?" Zuko mumbles from across the arena, the echoed question is barely audible. Jin.exe has stopped responding. She stares a thousand yard stare, trying to mouth something, anything, some sort of explanation to absolve the embarrassment. "Wait-NO! I didn't mean-okay I meant it, but not like that... Spirits above, why did I say that out loud?!" she stammers, her arms flailing about in exasperated gestures. "Okay listen! He's just...he's warm, okay? Like, really warm. Like a walking warming stone. And when he holds me at night, he kind of curls around me like a dragon, and I just... I panicked!" She spins toward the audience, wide-eyed, pleading. "It was private! A private nickname! You weren't supposed to hear it!" She buries her face in her hands, the blush so prominent on her face, it looks like her entire head is glowing a faint pink.

Toph collapses onto her back laughing. "Too late! It's real now. You're never living that down, sweetheart!"

Katara covers her mouth to stifle a laugh. Yue actually looks sympathetic...until "And sometimes when he's asleep he hums. Like a soft purr. Like little Snuggleflame noises!" Jin adds, her voice muffled by her palms as she finishes speaking. Yue facepalms. Aang looks like he doesn't know whether to laugh or combust.

"This is the best injury I've ever suffered." Sokka groans, still on the ground but all this earns him is a kick to the stomach again from Jin.

"So... Snuggleflame huh?" Zuko asks, his warm voice appearing right next to Jin's ear. Zuko is hanging upside down on the pillar directly above them. His unexpected appearance causes terror to radiate through her body like electricity as she screams and jumps away reflexively. "A bit more cutesy than what you usually call me. Lily." He says, adding on to her embarrassment. "Is it new?" he asks and she just barely manages to nod her head.

"I-I was saving it f-for when we c-cuddled again. When we were alone. Doing stuff. The cuddly stuff. The quiet stuff. The nake- WHY CAN'T I STOP TALKING!!!" She screams, causing Zuko to chuckle.

"Wait a minute, Lee what the hell dude! This is our huddle! Scram, go back to your side!" Sokka shouts, waving his club around like a fly swatter.

"I heard you shout 'Flaming Yak Attack' and wanted to see what it was." he says casually as he walks down the vertical pole like gravity is just a polite suggestion. His arms snake around Jin's embarrassed and glowing form before he speaks again. "For the record. I'm going to take down your strategy in two moves." With a single twirl he spins Jin around to face him, He lifts her chin with two fingers, and... "Good luck." He kisses her. Soft. Quick. Devastating. And just like that, he's walking back up the pole, vanishing to his side like some smug elemental heartthrob... who knows exactly what he just did.

"Welp. So much for psychological warfare. He broke her." Katara says as she watches steam escape Jin's ears, her irises now in the shape of jade hearts.

It takes a solid five minutes for Jin to regain enough composure to attempt to compete again but the rest of her team isn't confident that she'll be able to take this seriously. On the other side, Zuko sits on one of the columns swinging one of his legs off the side as he patiently waits for them to get ready. He watches as Jin takes several deep breaths to calm herself down. He locks eyes with her, seeing the faint blush still painted across her face and smirks... and that's all it takes to cause her composure to go up in flames. Before she can say anything, Iroh blows the whistle and launches the ball into the air. Zuko doesn't move at first, instead he allows Sokka to snatch the ball then retreat to get into formation. Zuko flexes his muscles as he rolls his shoulders back, slow and deliberate, like a predator warming up. He exhales. Steam rises. He watches Sokka run over to Aang, jump onto the airbender's balled up fists before Aang throws him forwards with both arms and a gale at his back. Katara and Yue pull the entire creek into the air, freezing it between the platforms that scatter the arena. Toph bends the taller pillars to form a ramp as Sokka slides against the ice with the thrust from Aang and careens off the ramp through the air. Jin hangs back, still red and emotionally malfunctioning.

"Gaaahhhh!!! Flaming Yak Attack!!!" Sokka screams as he extends the ball forwards with his dominant hand. And then... Zuko smirks, blatantly lifts his left leg and steps to the side. He extends his hand out and swipes the ball from Sokka in the same motion causing the watertribe warrior to careen face first with the goal post then fall into the mud below.

"Move one." Zuko says calmly before the pillar beneath him vanishes and he drops below the ice.

"Where'd he go?!" Aang shouts, frantically trying to look through the opaque layer of ice concealing Zuko.

"Yue! Thaw the ice!" Katara shouts turning to face her, she looks back to the ice to begin to thaw it but she comes face to face with Zuko's glistening eight pack mere inches from her. "Oh my spirits you can grind meat on those...Ahhh!!!" She screams, throwing her arms upwards and vaporizing the ice, turning it to fog.

"Move two." Zuko says before rearing back and pitching the jade ball forwards, the air he bends through it snakes the ball mid flight right around Toph and through their uprights again.

"Avatar 2, Team avatar Zilch." Iroh says as he blows the whistle.

Aang's jaw is on the floor, Katara, and Yue both stare wide eyed in amazement, Sokka lays face down in the mud, and Toph isn't looking in the right direction. "Told you. Two moves." Zuko says as he holds up his fingers. They watch as he nimbly glides over the columns over to Jin who's still burying her face in her hands. "Lily." He whispers gently, and she shudders at his husky voice. With what little composure she has, she peeks out from behind her hands to look at him. "You ok, baby?" He asks, his voice warm and inviting like a gentle camp fire. "You've been awfully still since... you called me... Snuggleflame." She makes a noise that can only be described as a whimper. He grins, before sweeping his arms behind her legs and lifting her up. Her face explodes in crimson blush as she's cradled in his arms like a bride on her wedding night. The crowd goes insane. A gasp spreads like wildfire. "You fit right here. Warm. Angry. Dangerous." He leans in, whispering: "How about I give you a reason to call me that later... when the city is asleep... when we're... snuggling." Jin stares at him, mouth open, noise stuck in her throat. "Careful, Lily. I might not put you down."

That does it. She can't handle the embarrassment anymore and does the one thing every stubborn earth bender does. Fights and Jin's embarrassment finally erupts. "THAT'S IT!!! TAKE THIS YOU STUPID SMUG SEXY HUNK!!!" She shouts, she thrusts her arms out and the pillar beneath them is launched skyward sending Zuko flying. "Jinnnn!!!!" He shouts but she doesn't let up, instead she kicks the pillar she launched him with, sending the top half careening into him as he falls back down. It slams into him almost the same way Aang had crashed into one earlier and launches him flying backwards. He's send crashing through several pillars then through the uprights of his own goal. The Joo Dees cheer, the Dai Li bow in respect and the crowd goes wild. He lands in the water with a massive splash and Sokka roars with triumph.

"YEEEeeeaaaahhhh! We win! Take that Avatar Ashbreath!" Sokka screams, throwing his hands up in the air in wild celebration. "That counts right?! We sent the avatar through his own goal that has to mean we win!"

"We never had a rule about him falling down but... I don't see why not. Team Avatar defeats Avatar Lee by scoring him through his goal!" Iroh declares and blows the whistle calling and ending the game.

Zuko drags himself out of the creek covered near head to toe in mud and water. Despite the losses, he can't help but smile as his friends laugh in soggy victory. Each member of Team Avatar drags themselves back inside, either caked in mud, soaking wet or covered in dust. Katara and Toph take the time to bend the muck off themselves and the others as they retire for the evening. Aang towels himself off the rest of the way, Katara begins re-braiding her hair, Iroh hums as he starts a pot of post game jasmine tea for everyone to unwind. Yue quickly fries a few dumplings on skewers they had frozen earlier in the day and Jin meekly sneaks inside before sitting on the couch. Zuko enters last, hair dripping, sleeves rolled up, already clean somehow. He grabs a skewer of grilled dumplings off the tray and chews quietly, golden eyes flicking across the room with lazy amusement.

"Not to brag," Sokka says through a mouthful of sticky rice, "but I won both matches against Lee."

Zuko raises a brow. "You spent almost the entire second match in the creek."

"Still counts!" Sokka grins. "Victory is victory, Ashbreath."

Jin is seated across from him, arms crossed, trying to look anywhere but at Zuko. Her face is still red. Her rice bun is getting cold. Zuko strolls past her slowly... deliberately... and whispers in her ear, "Don't think you're getting off easy after launching me like that..." He leans just close enough for only her to hear, "I'm going to punish you later."

Jin explodes out of her seat, swinging. "YOU FLIRTING, SMUG, DROP-KICKABLE LANTERN-!" But Zuko is too fast. He steps into her guard, twists her own arms around her waist, and wraps her in them like a straitjacket from behind.

"There," he hums. "All wrapped up. Safe and contained."

She flails. "Put me down Lee!"

"No." He lifts her easily, bridal-style again except this time, she's a little too stunned to fight back. "I'll bring her back after she cools off," he calls to the others, heading toward the hallway.

"Try not to break the bed, you two!" Toph waves as they walk off.

"Looking forward to it." Zuko says as the door closes.

Katara, still sipping her tea, sighs. "How are they more exhausting After the game?" She asks but no answer comes.