Disclaimer: I own nothing of Avatar: The Last Airbender except for my made-up character Shin.
Author's Note: I decided to remove the swordsman idea and just give Shin a new look and elemental bending. Since I don't really give him a description in this chapter, his hair is blond and short, eyes blue, and he's dressed in an orange vest, blue short-sleeved shirt, blue pants, brown belt and boots and black wristbands, to at least give any reader an idea. As for why orange and blue, that'll be revealed in the story!
Windbender - The Legend of Shin
The Fire Nation went flying into a group of his own troops, knocking them down as if he had been fired from a water cannon. Or, a wind cannon for that matter. The rest of the soldiers watched as their comrades fell before fearfully turning to the one responsible.
Shin lowered his foot high up in the air down slowly, his blue eyes watching the remaining soldiers, waiting for the next to brave an attack. Instead, they hesitated. A youth who had either canceled out or repelled their fire attacks and seemed to be able to strike at a target in a short distance away.
Could they be blamed for their reluctance?
Someone could as he made his way through what remained of twenty soldier scouting party. Their captain, a walking tower of muscle pushed the soldiers aside, turning on his men. "You runts call yourselves Fire Nation soldiers?!" he shouted. "The little punk shows some fancy moves and you're all scared like lil' children!! You're all a disgrace!!"
The captain turned to Shin. "I don't know who you are kid or what yer tryin' to prove, but you're making a big mistake! This village, as well as the entire Earth Kingdom is the property of the Fire Nation! Assaulting a Fire Nation soldier is like signing yer own death warrant!"
"You're the one who's making a mistake." the youth replied, pointing at the frightened villagers behind him. "This village has no protection, no Earthbenders, and yet I find you bullying them?!"
The captain grinned, raising his hands in the air with a shrug. "That's the beauty of it, kid. While the Earth Kingdom is under our jurisdiction, we can do what ever we please."
Shin glared. "Not if I can help it."
"Bah! Don't think just because you defeated a bunch of my men that you can take me on, punk! I am Captain Baraka, Elite Firebender under the service of their royal majesties, Phoenix King Ozai and Fire Lord Azula!" The titan known as Baraka flexed his muscles. "I've never lost a fight!"
"Well then, Elite Firebending Captain, why don't you try at succeeding where your men have failed?" Shin got into a fighting stance, one that Baraka didn't recognize, nor anyone could for that matter. "Either way, this is the last village you'll ever terrorize again."
"So sure of yourself?" Baraka grinned confidently. "Well, let's see you block…..THIS!!" Captain Baraka was known for his incredible strength, and such strength created powerful fire punches that could burn straight through an adversary. He had never missed.
So he was surprised to see the youth somewhat catch the huge ball of fire in between his hands, though the flames barely graced his flesh, and fire it right back at the captain. Instinctively, Baraka jumped out of harms way, ending up falling on his side as the fire ball impacted into the ground where he stood. After staggering back to his feet, Baraka looked to where the ball had struck, then at the youth, clearly astonished.
"You know what your problem is, Captain Baraka?" Shin asked, his hands lowered down at his sides. "You rely to much on your physical strength. That's not what makes a powerful bender for any element."
"Silence!! I don't know what ya did, but you only got lucky, kid!" Baraka shouted. "Let's see you throw this back at me!!"
Raising his arms high, Baraka roared as he slammed his fists into the ground before him, sending a wave of fire bolting directly at Shin. Bringing his wrists together again, Shin thrust his hands downwards at the ground, and a powerful gust of wind suddenly charged through the ground, meeting Baraka's fire wave in a small explosion that canceled out both attacks, the force causing Shin to even stagger back some.
This time, Baraka didn't wait as he suddenly appeared through the smoke, his hands reaching out to grab the youth. Shin suddenly took to the air, twisting in the air twice before delivering a spinning heel kick before a strong gust of wind struck at Baraka, changing the direction of his flying form while even spinning before landing with a hard thud.
And even so, Baraka was still conscious. Barely. Slowly, the self-proclaimed elite Firebender staggered to his feet. His eyes became slit when he saw his helmet, the proud helmet of any Fire Nation captain, crushed by what ever force could knock him like he was a mere fly. He turned to Shin, but he didn't glare. The expression on his face was much more darker than a simple glare.
"I'll….kill you….for that!"
Shin pointed at Baraka. "I'm going to say this one last time. Take your men and leave. Otherwise, you haven't seen anything yet of my power."
"Your power? Your POWER?!!" Two balls of fire emerged in Baraka's giant hands. "I'LL SHOW YOU POWER!!"
Baraka threw both fireballs directly at Shin, who struck back by chopping his hands downwards and cross over his chest as two small gusts of wind slashing the fireballs right in half, dispersing the flames in the process.
Baraka's eyes went wide. What ever confidence and anger he bared had vanished like his own twin fireball attack, replaced by the same fear that had been struck in his troops earlier.
"B-But….impossible….how…?!"
"My turn." was Shin's response, before his fists flew through the air towards Baraka, follow by strong gusts of wind with every quick thrust of his fists. With every punch against the air, Baraka was struck with the gust of wind, and the elite captain was unable to do anything but take the wind punches that even lifted his feet slightly off the ground. 99 punches later in just a few seconds, Shin finished is assault with a spinning kick this time on the ground, the wind following his kick striking Baraka in his gut, forcing the Fire Nation captain to double over as he fell back to his feet with the wind knocked out of him.
Time to finish this, Shin thought.
Taking in a deep breath, Shin locked his wrists together to the side. A sudden draft gusted through both the villagers and the soldiers, meeting right in between Shin's palms. His attack ready, Shin thrust his hands out forward, and a powerful gust of wind struck Baraka, the force of the blow so strong that it sent the muscular captain off his feet and flying against his own troops. He was unconscious the moment he fell to the ground.
"T-that does it!!" One Fire Nation soldier turned to Shin, pointing at him. "All together! He can't take us all at once!"
The remaining troops seemed to agreed and prepared to fire-punch at Shin, who was preparing himself for another attack, until…
"Everyone freeze!"
The Fire Nation troops lowered their stances when they were suddenly surrounded by Earth Kingdom troops.
"You're all under arrest."
"What?! B-But, we're Fire Nation! You're all under our rule now!" one Fire Nation soldier argued.
"The Fire Nation's rule over the Earth Kingdom is over." the commander of the Earth Kingdom troops claimed. "As is the rule of Fire Lord Ozai."
A moment later, the troops were all locked up and sent away, while other Earth Kingdom soldiers reunited with their families and friends in the village. After the villagers thanked Shin, the commander approached the young man. "I thank you for helping these people up. I'm only sorry we came too late. Where did you come from, anyway?"
Shin smiled. "I was just traveling by when I saw some smoke, so I came to investigate."
"Well, I'm glad you did. Thanks to the Avatar, I can only hope this is the last of Ozai's tyranny that we'll see, especially with Prince Zuko now as the Fire Lord."
"….Avatar?" Shin asked.
"Yeah! You know? Master of all four elements, the bridge between our world and the spirit world?"
Shin nodded. "I see. He must be a great master."
"Sure is, and the thing is, he's just a kid! An Airbender, at that! The very last of them!"
Shin looked startled by the commander's words for a moment. "Airbender?"
"Speaking of Airbenders, the villagers believe that you were the Avatar from the way you were bending the wind itself." the commander prompted Shin for an answer.
"It's…complicated." Shin quickly changed the subject, asking the commander if he knew where to find the Avatar. The commander noticed, but decided to go along and answer Shin.
"Him and his friends are at the Jasmine Dragon in Ba Sing Se. A great tea house, owned by Fire Lord Zuko's own uncle! That's definitely the place the Avatar will be."
Shin brought his fist and hand together and bowed to the commander. "Thank you. I'm sorry, Commander, but I should leave now." With that, the teenage boy turned and walked into the direction of Ba Sing Se.
"Commander!" an Earth Kingdom soldier approached. "Where's he going?"
"The kid's gone to find the Avatar." the commander replied.
"What?! Y-you mean, that boy's NOT the Avatar?!" The soldier pointed at the retreating youth. "I thought the villagers said he could bend air!"
The commander gave no answer. From what most of the world knew, Avatar Aang was the last of the Airbenders. If that were so, then who exactly was the teenager who rescued the villagers?
To be continued in Book 4: Wind......