Chapter 3: The Bet

Ash walked alongside Cinder, Airia, Mkia, Ice and Slice as they all headed out into the forest. He couldn't help but shoot looks at Fireblade and Wildfire, who Poisonfang had told to watch them. Fireblade walked alongside Wildfire confidently, and Wildfire kept glaring at them, as if thinking they were going to attack them. Right, Ash snorted to himself, like we'd want to cause a huge fight.
Fireblade stopped, "This is a good area," he said, then whipped around to them. "Now, Poisonfang wants us to see how you train your stupid apprentices and see if we can actually improve upon your moves, because you darn need them. You go ahead and do whatever it is you animals do, and we'll just watch."
"Just watch", Ash thought. More like make fun of us.
Airia shot them a glare, then turned to look at Mkia, her apprentice. "Now, this will be your first time practicing Airbending. We're going to all practice Bending," Airia nodded, and Ash could tell she was doing that because she wanted to show the Firebenders that they were good at Bending, too. "First off, we'll start with Airbending since two apprentices here are learning Airbending." She looked at Mkia. "Now, what you need to do is--"
"Can we try flying?" Mkia asked, eyes wide.
Airia smiled in amusement. Ash looked at Fireblade and Wildfire, seeing that the two of them didn't look amused at all. Fireblade was rolling his eyes, and Wildfire was sitting there with a bored look on  his face. Airia looked at them and her smile quickly faded, and she then turned to Mkia. "No, that's too advanced. We'll start off by making a swift breeze blow."
"Flying?" Wildfire snorted. Ash rounded on the snake, ready to defend Airia if he had to. "Come on. It's impossible to fly." He exchanged looks with Fireblade, who looked like he agreed with Wildfire. Ash growled at them, knowing they were wrong. He walked up to them.
"Look, you may be our 'rulers' now, but that doesn't mean you're right about everything. Airia is right, it is possible to fly with Airbending--"
"Now, now, Ash," Airia stepped up to his side, making Ash flinch, "you're overreacting." Ash felt a bit embarrassed. "But," she looked at Wildfire and Fireblade, "he is right. I am right about this, just because you haven't seen an Airbender fly doesn't mean it's not real." Airia seemed confident, and Ash couldn't help but admire that.
"Really? Well, show us," Wildfire sneered, "and, without using your wings! You may have them, but prove to me that an Airbender can actually fly." He looked at Fireblade, and Fireblade nodded, as if Wildfire had done a good job making his point.
Ash growled, and Airia but her tail in front of him, indicating for him to calm down. Airia then looked at Wildfire and Fireblade. "Very well," she smiled, and Ash noticed the confidence in her voice made Wildfire and Fireblade recoil. "If I'm right, you give all of us more prey to eat."
Ash grew wide-eyed. She had played well. He was starving, despite how much he tried to ignore it. He looked at Airia, with a thankful look on his face. Airia nodded at him, seeing the thanks on his face. She looked at Wildfire and Fireblade, and they both nodded, accepting Airia's bet. Ash looked at the apprentices and saw they looked hopeful. Ash felt sympathy for Cinder and Mkia; they seemed young, and they were being put through this. Ash looked at Slice; she seemed a bit younger than Ash, but was handling everything well, but had been acting worse with it since Miguel had joined the Firebenders.
"Then let me show you," Airia smiled. She slowly moved her tail from side to side, and Ash perked up as he noticed a slight breeze enter the area. It ruffled his pelt, making him cold. Wildfire, hissing, looked from left to right. Fireblade just glare at Airia.
Then, the wind got stronger. Airia moved her tail quicker, and she closed her eyes, a smile on her face. It was then that she leaped. Ash marveled at how high she instantly went, high into the sky. Ash watched as she began to fall down, wings tucked in, showing she wasn't using them. Just when Ash thought Airia would hit the ground, she began moving up again and flew out over Ice River, and Ash jolted as he remembered Spots's death; his Dalmatian friend had fell over the waterfall and had fallen to his death.
Ash then snapped back to the present as Airia quickly flew down the waterfall, then flew back up, spiraling. She then flew down and landed safely on the ground, wings still tucked in. She walked up to Wildfire and Fireblade, who frankly looked...amazed. "I believe you owe us some food."

Author's Note:
Pwned.
And thanks to Jenny7 for Mkia. c: