Disclaimer: The following is non-profit fan-fiction. I do not own the rights to Avatar: the Last Airbender or The Legend of Korra (obviously). Please support the official release.
AVATAR: THE CHRONICLES OF KENIQUO
Book 1: Rebirth
Chapter 1: Legend of the Avatar
Fire. Air. Water. Earth.
Our world is shaped by these four elements. They affect every aspect of our lives. Some are even capable of controlling them. They are known as Benders.
Long ago, our world was divided into four groups, each representing one of the elements; the Fire Nation, the Air Nomads, the Water Tribes and the Earth Kingdom. Conflicts would periodically erupt between these nations, but they were usually settled peacefully, often with the help of the Avatar.
The Avatar was a legendary figure, the only one in the world capable of bending all four elements, a symbol of peace and unity. As one Avatar died, another one would be born in a different nation, cycling forever.
Though once, the cycle was believed to be broken. Over four hundred years ago, the Fire Lord sent his forces out to conquer the other nations. Only the Avatar, a fire-bender named Roku, stood in his way. Roku and the Fire Lord were old friends, but this did not stop the Fire Lord from killing the Avatar.
The cycle continued, and a new Avatar was born among the Air Nomads, a boy named Aang. But the Fire Lord sent his army to wipe out the air-benders, and Aang barely escaped, using his Avatar powers to safely encase himself in ice, deep beneath the sea.
One hundred years passed, and many believed the Avatar to be dead, until a water-bender girl named Katara found and released Aang from his sleep. Together with many friends and allies, they fought against impossible odds and defeated the then-current Fire Lord, ending the Fire Nation's attempt to conquer the world.
Aang saw that dividing the world into different nations would forever create more conflict, so he proposed the idea for a new city where people from all nations could live, a prototype for a new, unified world. He called it Republic City, and it became his life-long ambition to see it become a beacon of peace and prosperity.
But not even the Avatar can live forever. Aang's time eventually passed, and a new Avatar was born into the Water Tribe, a girl named Korra. She continued Aang's work protecting the world, and helping it and Republic City become even greater.
Many things happened during Korra's lifetime, the most significant being the re-opening of the spirit portals at the North and South Poles, allowing people to enter the spirit world. The resultant spirit energy caused many people to gain the power of air-bending, thus rebuilding the almost-extinct Air Nomad nation.
Korra's greatest confrontation was with the tyrant Kuvira, who took control of the Earth Kingdom and turned it into her Earth Empire, then turned her sights on Republic City. During the final battle, Kuvira's spirit-energy-cannon weapon overloaded and almost destroyed the city, but Korra's Avatar powers were able to contain the explosion. The super-concentrated spirit-energy, however, tore a hole in the fabric between the physical and spirit worlds, creating a new spirit portal surrounded by a jungle in the middle of Republic City. The world was changed forever.
In the years after the Battle of Republic City, a new city was built, surrounding the ruins of the old, and protecting the new spirit portal. This city was dubbed Neo Republic City, and it grew to become the greatest city in the world.
During this time, King Wu, the usurped former ruler of the Earth Kingdom, returned to his throne. However, his ordeal with Kuvira made him realise that the Kingdom, largest of the four nations, could not be ruled by one man. He therefore stepped down as king, and helped re-organise the former kingdom into a collection of smaller regions, with a democratically elected government. These became known as the United Earth Protectorates.
Years passed in peace, until word reached Avatar Korra of a malevolent spirit capturing humans from Neo Republic City and taking them through the spirit portal to its lair. The Avatar, being the bridge between humans and spirits, went into the spirit world to confront this devious creature.
She never returned.
The entire length and breadth of the spirit world was searched by both human and spirit alike, but Korra's whereabouts remained a mystery. As more years passed, and no new Avatar was born, hope was held that she was still alive somewhere. But eventually, so many years went by that if she was truly still alive she would of died of old age. With no new Avatar, those still clinging to hope conceded that Korra must have died whilst in the Avatar state, permanently ending the Avatar cycle.
Two hundred years came and went with no new Avatar appearing, and the story of the greatest bender of all soon faded into myth, then into legend. Eventually, there was almost no-one left who believed that the Avatar had actually existed in the first place. The world carried on, fortunately in a mostly peaceful manner. It seemed that the need for an Avatar was no more.
Until one day.
When the new Avatar arrived.
Neo Republic City, 218 years since the disappearance of Avatar Korra
The great city sprawled in every direction. The growth had been planned at first, as it was rebuilt after the creation of the new spirit portal. But as time worn on, and the population increased at a steadily-growing rate, it became harder and harder to regulate development.
New districts and areas appeared seemingly at random, until it became almost impossible to keep track of. This resulted in sections of the city ending up very different from their neighbours, depending on which nation it was built by. High-rise apartments and office buildings filled with the rich and successful could, and quite often did, border up against some of the poorer districts, where ramshackle houses leaned against each other for support.
And it was down the main street of one of these poorer districts that a teenage boy ran.
He was slightly shorter than the average height for his age, but he was well-built, with short black hair that was as dirty as the Earth-Protectorate-style clothing that he wore. He was carrying a large bag over his shoulder as he fled from the six men that were chasing him. The were all dressed in fine clothes, making it clear that they were not from this area. The design and colouring of these clothes marked them as members of the Triple-Threat Triad, one of the largest gangs in Neo Republic City. Definitely not people to cross, as the black-haired boy obviously had.
"Get back here, ya thievin' punk!" the man in the front of the group yelled, his slightly-fancier clothing indicating he was the leader of this group of Triads. The boy had snatched his bag as they had been walking nearby, and it was full of money that they had 'collected' from a few businesses that day. The boss of the Triads was not known to be merciful to those who failed him, so they were desperate to get it back.
"Not gonna happen!" the boy yelled back, his bare feet pounding the pavement as he quickly turned a corner in an attempt to lose his pursuers. A couple of the Triads missed the turn and ran into other people on the street in their haste, but the leader and three of the others managed to follow the boy around the sharp turn and down a side alley.
The boy grinned to himself as he glanced over his shoulder to see the Triads still coming for him. "These guys are actually pretty good," he said to himself, as he leapt over a pile of garbage bins in a smooth jump. "They might provide a challenge for once!"
Laughing to himself, he looked ahead and felt his stomach drop. There was another group of Triads, ten in all, blocking his path. He skidded to a halt in front of them, as the others finally caught up.
Rats, they must have called for back-up, the boy thought. This complicates things.
The leader with the fancy clothes was panting hard, but he still managed to have smug grin on his face as the boy turned to face him. "End of the line, Keniquo," he said, reaching out for the bag. "Hand it over, and this doesn't have to get ugly."
The boy Keniquo smirked defiantly. "Bit too late for that, now that you're here, isn't it Yasuhiro?" he retorted, and the leader growled angrily, a flame appearing in his hand.
"Get 'im, boys!" he shouted at the other Triads, and they all moved at once, some conjuring fire, others drawing water from bottles at their waists, two even creating swirling balls of wind in front of them.
But as fast as they were, Keniquo was faster. As the Triads closed in, he raised his foot and slammed it into the ground, and great pillars of rock blasted upwards, smashing into them.
Three of the Triads went down in Keniquo's first attack, knocked senseless, but the others, including Yasuhiro, were able to dodge the incoming rocks and fire back. Fire, water and air surged towards the young Earth-bender, but he was able to block the attacks with more stone walls, at least for now.
Three down, but there's still eleven to go, Keniquo thought frantically. I can't hold them off forever like this. I guess I'll have to try that new technique I've been working on.
He gestured upwards with his hands, and earthen walls sprang up all around him, completely sealing him off from his assailants. The Triads blasted away at this new defence, but it was too thick to penetrate.
Yasuhiro examined the stone barrier and shrugged. "Well, we can't get to him in there," he said indifferently, "but he can't see us to attack us. It's a stalemate; he'll have to come out for air eventually."
Within the dark interior of the rock walls, Keniquo smiled as he heard Yasuhiro speak, the words muffled by the rock, but still audible. "That's what he thinks," he muttered to himself. "Wait until he gets a load of this!"
He shuffled his feet and focused on the vibrations in the earth. Through this, he could pick up on the footsteps of the Triads as they moved about, trying to find a way in. This skill, known as seismic sense, was a rare and tricky Earth-bender technique. However, Keniquo was something of a Earth-bending prodigy, and it was simple for him to figure out the exact location of every one of the eleven remaining Triads.
He grinned and stamped his foot again, and outside his stony defences, more rock pillars erupted, crashing into the Triads. Yasuhiro, alerted by some sixth sense, barely dodged in time. He looked around; only he and the two Air-benders were left standing. Panicking, he started to jump about as more rocks flew at him, the Air-bending duo taking to the air to avoid the projectiles.
Keniquo laughed; this was the technique he had spent the last three months perfecting. He called it the Blind Turtle Gambit, and as long as your opponent wasn't also an Earth-bender, it was pretty much unstoppable. It did have one downside though: as Yasuhiro pointed out, he had a limited supply of air inside the rock walls, which need to be airtight to give him full defence from Air-benders. This meant it couldn't be using for too long, hence the 'Gambit' part of the name – you had to end the fight quickly, or be in danger of suffocation.
But, in this particular case, the Blind Turtle Gambit was working marvellously, and Keniquo had Yasuhiro on the ropes. That is, until the gang leader noticed something – Keniquo's attacks were only targeting him; the levitating Air-benders were being left alone. He can't see them! Yasuhiro realised. He can only see me because I'm touching the ground! He quickly focused his Fire-bending, and twin bursts of flame erupted from his feet, lifting him into the sky next to the Air-benders.
"He's using seismic sense!" he called to them. "As long as we don't touch the ground, he can't sense us!" A sinister smile made its way across his face. "Now all we need to do is wait!"
Frowning, Keniquo realised that he could no longer sense any of the three remaining Triads. Shoot, they must have gone airborne, he thought. I didn't think of that...
Without a plan and rapidly running out of air, Keniquo desperately tried to think of a way out of this predicament. I can only sense them when they're in contact with the ground, but they're in the air, and there's no way to see them there, unless I can somehow get the ground into the air – wait! An idea suddenly flashed into his head. That's it! He quickly began to wave his hands in a swirling motion above his head.
Outside, Yasuhiro waited patiently for the troublesome Earth-bender brat to show himself, when suddenly to his great surprise the ground surrounding the rocky dome Keniquo was inside exploded upwards, transforming into airborne sand. This massive sandstorm surged around them, buffeting them this way and that as they tried to escape.
Inside his defences, Keniquo could sense the sand as it flew around him, and he focused hard, trying to see any places the sand couldn't move though. "There!" he said aloud. Three human-shaped holes in the storm! That's where they are! Just in time too, I'm almost out of air!
Summoning up all his remaining strength, Keniquo brought down the rocky barrier and, using one more stone pillar, shot himself upwards at the three Triads. As it so happened, the two Air-benders were closest, and he rammed into them from behind, taking them by surprise and sending them crashing to the ground.
Standing atop the pillar, Keniquo dispersed the sandstorm, allowing him to see Yasuhiro hovering opposite him. "Just the two of us left, Triad," he said happily, hefting the bag of money on his shoulder. "Reckon you can still take me?"
Yasuhiro shook with fury, barely noticing the crowd that had gathered below to watch the fight. "You're done for, rock boy!" he spat.
Keniquo grinned. "Bring it on, then!" he challenged, taking a fighting pose, ready to kick the Triad bully to the curb.
And that's when everything changed.
A long way behind Keniquo, in the heart of the mighty City, there was a massive column of light, marking the location of the spirit portal. From this beam, a ball of brilliant white shot forth, flew high into the air, lingered for a moment, then soared down and across the city, until it slammed squarely into Keniquo's back.
Taken completely off-guard, the Earth-bender toppled forward off his stone pillar and crashed face-first into the ground. The crowd of onlookers gasped as Yasuhiro tried to figure out what just happened. He had no idea where the ball of light that had hit Keniquo had come from; all he knew was that his job seemed to have just gotten a lot easier. He lowered himself to the ground and swaggered over to Keniquo's seemingly unconscious form.
"I'll be taking this," the gangster said as he reached down to grab the bag, but suddenly Keniquo leapt upwards and was back on his feet. Yasuhiro hissed in annoyance and readied a fireball, when he stopped dead.
Keniquo's eyes were glowing. A bright white glow, exactly the same as the ball that had hit him. Before Yasuhiro could do anything more that gape in shock, the boy raised a hand... and a ball of fire shot forth, knocking the Triad off his feet to the ground.
The onlookers stood frozen in amazement. As the light dimmed from Keniquo's eyes and he started looking around in confusion, wonder how he had gotten down from the stone pillar, he could hear them whispering "Did that Earth-bender... just Fire-bend?!"
Before Keniquo could puzzle over what just happened, he heard the siren of an incoming police satomobile. He looked around frantically, and managed to stash the bag behind some rubble before the four-wheeled vehicle screeched to a halt next to him.
Keniquo turned to face the satomobile and raised his hands into the air as a policeman clambered out. "Afternoon, officer!" the boy said with a smile. "What seems to be the problem?"
"Young man, you are in a lot of trouble," Police Sargent Jinshu said heavily, as he sat down at the wooden table across from Keniquo, whose hands were in wooden cuffs in front of him. The police knew that he was able to Metal-bend, so they weren't taking any chances with him. Looks like they learned their lesson from the last time I was here, Keniquo thought to himself.
Jinshu flipped open the folder he had brought in with him and began to read from the report inside. "Theft. Public disturbance. Property damage. Assault on numerous individuals-"
"To be fair, that was in self defence..." Keniquo interjected, but Jinshu ignored him.
"Road destruction, and – this is my favourite – conjuring of a sandstorm in a populated area," he finished, snapped the folder shut and looked at Keniquo, eyebrow raised. "A sandstorm? Was that really necessary?"
"At the time, yeah," the boy answered. "You see, they were airborne and I couldn't see them, so-"
"That was rhetorical, Keniquo!" Jinshu barked, pounding his fist on the table.
"Right. Sorry."
"Until now, the stunts you've pulled have been small-time," the officer continued. "But this cannot be ignored. No getting off with a warning this time, boy."
Keniquo gulped. I'm in deep trouble, he thought worriedly. Probably going to get jail time. I'll need a miracle to get out of this one.
And at that moment, a miracle arrived in the form of a knock at the door.
Frowning, Jinshu got up, opened the door and spoke to the person outside. Whoever it was spoke quietly, so the boy could only here the police officer's side of the conversation.
"Yes? Who? You're kidding. I'll need to see ID. Alright then, what do you want. What? Him? What do you want with... But... Oh, very well then!"
Jinshu stepped back into the room with an annoyed look on his face. "Looks like it's your lucky day, kid," he said grumpily, unlocking Keniquo's cuffs. "There's some high-ups here to see you."
Puzzled, the boy watched as Jinshu left the room, and two other people entered.
The first was a girl, looking to be around Keniquo's own age, maybe a year older. She wore a fine Fire-Nation-style dress, and had long black hair that framed her serious face. She was followed by a boy, again around the same age, whose dark skin and blue-with-fur-trim jacket marked him as from the Water Tribes.
The girl sat at the chair that Jinshu had vacated, and the boy stood behind her. The girl paused for a moment, then spoke. "You are Keniquo, Earth-bender, born in the United Earth Protectorates, correct?" she asked, in a neutral, matter-of-fact tone.
"Uh, yeah," Keniquo replied, unsure of what to make of this unexpected turn of events. "Who are you?"
A small smile appeared on the girl's face. "Of course, we have not introduced ourselves," she said. "My name is Kasai, and this," she gestured to the Water Tribe boy behind her, " is my associate, Angemek."
"Hi there!" Angemek said, waving cheerfully. Kasai gave him a stern look, then turned back to Keniquo.
"We are members of the Order of the White Lotus," she continued, and at this the Earth-bender's eyes opened wide.
"Wait, White Lotus?" he interupted. "That group of weirdos that supposedly served the Avatar? I thought they were all old guys."
Kasai frowned at this. "It is true that the White Lotus's members were once exclusively older gentlemen," she explained. "But times have changed, and they have acknowledged that some younger members are necessary to carry out certain missions."
"Right..." Keniquo replied doubtfully, then shrugged. "Well, what does the great Order of the White Lotus want from me?"
Kasai hesitated, looking unsure how to continue. She glanced at Angemek, who scratched his head and looked away awkwardly.
"Well..." she began, "I'm not sure how to put this, but... we think you might be the new Avatar."
Three seconds of silence followed, then Keniquo burst out laughing. "Me? The Avatar?! You've got to be kidding!"
Kasai blushed, but seemed determined to press her point. "Well, how do you know you're not?"
Keniquo looked at her as if she was crazy. "Uh, because I was tested as a kid? You know they test every kid who can Earth-bend, right? It came up negative for me, just as it has for every Earth-bending kid for the last 150-odd years."
"Well then," Kasai replied smugly, "how can you explain your sudden ability to Fire-bend?"
Keniquo paused at this. Sure, the policeman who had taken him in had mentioned that some of the crowd had claimed he had somehow Fire-bended, but – as the officer had said – that was preposterous. "Listen, I don't really remember what happened there," he said. "I guess I must have just gone to throw a rock at Yasuhiro and accidentally Lava-bended it, so it looked like a fireball."
"Then how about witnesses who claimed that they saw your eyes glowing white," Angemek countered. "Just like the Avatar does when they are in the Avatar state?"
"Trick of the light, I guess?" Keniquo shrugged again. "I don't know what to tell you, but is one thing I know; I'm not the Avatar."
"If you're so certain," Kasai said, "then I suppose you wouldn't object to us testing you again?"
Keniquo sighed and nodded, resigned. "If it will make you loonies leave sooner, go ahead, " he grumbled, crossing his arms.
He watched as Kasai reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a rock with a pointed end, a candle and a bottle of water. She placed the rock and candle on the table, lit the candle with a flame that she emitted from her fingertip, and poured a small amount of water out of the bottle onto the table next to them.
Nothing happened for a few moments, then the puddle of water started to run, flowing towards Keniquo. A second later, the candle flame changed from its upright position and tilted at a sharp angle, again towards the boy.
Aghast, Keniquo looked on as the rock began to rotate, and, sure enough, it stopped with its pointed end indicating him as well.
"Looks like a successful test to me," Kasai smiled. "Congratulations. You're the Avatar."
Keniquo growled and glared at the rock, which flew off the table and smashed through the wooden wall. "How is that proof?" he snarled, standing up and knocking his chair over. "You're a Fire-bender, Angemek's probably a Water-bender. For all I know you've got an Earth-bender hiding outside and you're all just messing with me!"
"Why would we do that?" Angemek questioned, and Keniquo turned to face him.
"I don't know, but I've had enough of it!" he yelled, pointing an accusatory finger at the other boy. "How many times do I have to say it? I. AM NOT. THE AVATAR!"
At which point, Keniquo felt a burning sensation shoot down his arm, and a stream of fire flew from his outstretched finger. Angemek yelped in fright and ducked, and the flames hit the wall behind him and set it alight. The Water Tribe boy quickly bended some water out of Kasai's bottle and splashed it over the flames, putting the fire out.
Keniquo stood rigid with shock. He had just Fire-bended. There was no way that Kasai had done that; it had come from his own hand. He couldn't deny it any more.
He was the Avatar.
"Convinced now?" Kasai asked, and when Keniquo did not reply, she stood. "We had best be going; we've got a long trip ahead of us."
She and Angemek walked out the door, and Keniquo followed them a moment later. "What, what are you talking about?" he asked, as they walked through the police station and past a disgruntled-looking Sargent Jinshu. "Where are we going?"
Kasai turned to face him as they exited the station. "You're the Avatar; you've got a lot you need to learn. We need to first go to the Fire Nation to find someone to teach you how to control your Fire-bending. The we'll need to find others to teach you Air-bending and Water-bending as well."
"But you guys are Benders," Keniquo pointed out, as they started walking along the pavement. "Can't you teach me?"
"Not really," Angemek replied. "We're good at bending, but the Avatar needs to learn from the best. Besides, neither of us are Air-benders."
"Okay, fair point," Keniquo conceded, "but why do we need to leave Neo Republic City? There's plenty of teachers here; I could learn from them."
"As we said, you need to learn from the best," Kasai argued. "And they won't be found here. Besides, I think the incident today may have put you on the top the Triple-Threat Triads' hit list; it might be a good idea for you to leave town for a while."
"Oh, yeah, good point," Keniquo said, remembering the encounter with the Triads earlier that day. "They won't be happy with me about that."
He then remembered something else. "Hey, before we go, can we make a quick stop? I've got some unfinished business to attend to."
"Why are we back here?" Kasai asked, as Keniquo dug through the rubble left over from his and Yasuhiro's fight.
"Looking for something," he said. "Hope it's still here... Aha!" With a triumphant shout he pulled the bag he had snatched from the Triads out from under the rocks. He then headed up the road, bag in hand, Kasai and Angemek following him, confused.
Keniquo walked along a couple of streets until he stopped in front of a small fruit stall, which was being run by an old man. "Hi there, Oji!" the boy called to him, walking up and opening the bag. "Got you your money back; sorry it took so long."
The old man's wrinkled face split into a giant smile. "Ah, thank you Keniquo," he said in his shaky voice, as the boy handed him some of the money from the bag. "Those good-for-nothing Triads took everything I had this time; I would have been in real trouble if it weren't for you."
"No problem," Keniquo smiled in return. "Glad I could help."
Amazed, Kasai and Angemek looked on as the new Avatar went from stall to stall, returning the stolen money to its rightful owners. Each of them thanked Keniquo by name; it was clear that they all knew him well, and this was not the first time he had done this for them.
Once he was done, Keniquo walked back over to the others, empty bag in hand. "Sorry about the delay," he apologised. "We can leave now."
"You've done this before, I take it?" Kasai asked, indicating the stalls.
"Yup," Keniquo replied, glancing back over his shoulder. "The Triads hit this place every month, collecting 'protection money'. None of these guys are Benders, so they can't fight back. I do what I can to help." He frowned. "I sure hope they'll be okay while I'm gone."
Kasai and Angemek looked at each other, unsure of what to say, but Keniquo saved them the trouble. "C'mon, if we're going, let's go!" he said, waving at them, then striding confidently down the street. After dozen paces, he hesitated, then turned to look at them. "Uh... how are we getting to the Fire Nation?"
Angemek grinned. "Private airship," he said. "It's waiting for us at the airfield."
"Seriously?!" Keniquo gasped in awe. "Your own private airship? You White Lotus guys are so cool!"
Kasai smiled, and pointed in the opposite direction that Keniquo had been walking in. "Airfield's that direction, by the way."
The Avatar laughed and bowed mockingly, "Please, by all means, lead the way Lady Kasai," he said in a posh voice.
"Don't mind if I do," Kasai bowed in return. "Follow on, almighty Avatar Keniquo!"
Angemek shook his head at the two of them. "This is going to be long trip."
It has begun.
The new Avatar has arrived. I can sense him.
Maybe, at last, this can end.
Maybe...
I can be free.
TO BE CONTINUED