Draft 1...

There once was a time when the fire nation had ruled, but that era has pasted, thanks to the Avatar Aang. The Avatar brought peace to the world, benders became apart of society and were recognized and respected as equals among non-benders. As time passed, industrialization began, producing cars, speakers, radios, and many other inventions. One landmark of great significance was "Republic City", the land of peace. Within the city were highly skilled guards trained by Toph Bei Fong to enforce the law. Much could be said about the individuals and prestige of Republic City, but that is another tale for another time.

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Part 1: Puko's Stand

Just south of the glimmering city, was a humble village. The village was poverty stricken, its citizens comprised of farmers, black smiths, and herb gardeners . They had an array of houses made of sun-dried brick, wagons made from redwood, and tools made from mined iron and bronze. The people were disheveled, and wore tattered clothing. They were only non-benders, but despite their condition, they lived in peace and treated everyone with respect. This village was known as"Citrine Valley". One of the wealthier families, the Tsuns ,took responsibility of selling and negotiating produce with factories ran by benders. At point, they kept the village industrialized with the help of Puko. Puko was a strong and kind earthbender from the times of when the fire benders reigned. Puko had a big red scar on his left cheek, and a rough face that carried a heavy stash but was quite the jolly for such a large and intimidating man; he always wore thin armor from top to bottom under his casual earthbender uniform, which was the traditional green and gold. He would sometimes use his armor for defense, offense, or as a tool, because he had learned metal bending from the Bei Fong Metal Bending Academy. He'd kept the village industrialized with the help of his metal-bending skills and his metal-bending men. He was also a father to his son Butaka, who was a non-bender, but never the less, he loved him unconditionally. All was well, until all the metal-benders of the village were called to the west to support against a rebellion. All had left ,but Puko. He stayed and protected the village from any intruders. But one night, a group of benders came to the village; they wore sharp clothing and carried kunais, swords, and blunt instruments. They moved as a group, and used brute force to interrogate people; then word spread that the benders were from the rebellion in the west, whose intent was to cause harm to the village. Puko stood strong against the five of them and defeated all intruders, but minutes after the rumble, he realized that the weapons they'd used had been laced with poison. Puko passed away shortly after, leaving Butaka in charge of the village.

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Part 2: Tsun's Will

Butaka Tsun was a quite scrawny man, but he had powerful determination. He'd always worn his lucky colored navy blue top with white straps around it along with plain brown short pants. He walked around in flip-flops and always had bandage wrapping around his hands to prevent any fatal injuries from factory work or farming. When he was young, even though he was not a bender, his father had taught him the martial arts of the earth benders. It would be something he would use to fall back in on in times of violence. Butaka always seemed to be a bit hard-headed ,but he was now in charge of the land and to keep things in order. He sold the produce the village people have produced in order to make a profit and maintained the economy within the village.

Butaka got married to the non-bender, Kiri Rido, not long after the death of his father. She had beautiful short crimson hair. She wore long sleeves that drooped over her hands under a plain black single buttoned shirt. It had colors of just white, black, red, and dark brown. She could not see fairly well, so she wore glasses. Kiri was also quite the hothead and at times conceited, but she was always loving and kind. The two of them would manage the work equally and made things run smoothly, though every now and then there would be thieves that took food or even benders that tried to eliminate them from the land. Through the years they kept what little was left. Even though the circumstances were meager, they somehow made it through together.

To everyone's surprise, Kiri was able to gave birth to their first child... it was a lucky day that would be charished.

"Whaaaaa-"

"It's a boy, ,"The village nurse declared as she brought him to Kiri to hold.

"Might I say he has a pair of lovely eyes." She'd said, as the newborn slowly opened his eyes and quickly shut them back up again.

"Yes, it's a nice shade of citrine." Kiri responded laying a gentle hand on top of her son .

"Like pure gold."

" , you may come in now," the nurse shouted across the room, beckoning the new father.

As he entered, he hugged Kiri fiercely and carried the boy with pride.

"What should we name him?" Kiri said.

A small grin wiped across Butaka's face.

"Roy, if your fine with it."

"Roy Tsun. It has a nice sound to it." Kiri responded with a gentle smile once Butaka returned the baby to her lap.

"Then it's settled," He pronouced, then both he and the nurse helped Kiri up on her legs and headed out.

Three years passed, and the Tsun's faced new difficulties taking care of the village and their newborn son, but Roy was growing well with his loving family.

"Catch the ball Roy!" Butaka said as he threw the ball-shaped rock at Roy.

"Got it!" Roy yelled eagerly.

"Now throw it back to me, Roy." Butaka said and held his hands out.

Roy's throw didn't get far enough, so as the rock hit the floor it'd crumbled to hundreds of pieces.

"Aww. It's okay Roy. I'll go find a new one to play with."

Butaka turned to the garden, but as he walked away he heard a loud thud. He looked back. A pumpkin sized rock landed next to a small crater where Roy was standing with a huge grin on his little face.

"Is good enough?" Roy yelled at his dad like a siren call.

Butaka looked puzzled. He walked up to the rock and Roy. "Where did you get this rock?" he asked.

"From ground..." Roy answered with a tilted head.

"How? Can you show me? Show daddy." He said in a curious voice.

At that moment, Roy lifted his right hand and slammed the ground. Then from the earth, the same size rock was lifted out and landed on his dad.

"Kiri! could you come out here for a moment!" Butaka had called as he lifted the rock off of him.

"Yes, yes, just wait , I know your hungry, but I can only go so fast." Kiri answered with an annoyed tone from the house.

"No, no, it's urgent. Get out here now!" he yelled,

Then Kiri walked in on them while rubbing her back.

"Yes? What's the problem?" She said annoyed.

Butaka looked back at Roy seeing him trying to carry the rock to them.

"Roy, show mommy what you did." he said.

Roy dropped the rock ,

"Three balls? Too many."

He sat down with arms crossed and pouted,

"Ill use one in the garden."

Butaka hurried and carried the rock to the garden with many flowers of all sorts. Roy then giggled,"Okkie!" then this time grabbed the ground and lifted the same rock.

Kiri was shocked, and before a word could be said, she grabbed Butaka and restrained him for questioning.

"Roy is an earth bender? I thought you were a non-bender!" she said with a great worry.

"I am, I don't know where he got-" Butaka stopped and remembered his father.

Then he looked at Roy, then back at Kiri.

"I may not be an earth bender , but my father was. So Roy must of gotten my fathers earth bending genes."

Both of them looked at Roy and said at the same time, "Roy can you do the same with your other hand or feet?"

Roy looked back and started rubbing his right arm "No. Only this hand." he responded.

Kiri and Butaka then huddled together.

"Why is he only able to bend with one hand?" she questioned her husband.

"Maybe he was just born with one earth bending hand? I don't know, but we can't tell anyone, the town folk already hate benders for leaving them and for causing them so much strife, plus the only bender they respected was Puko. We don't need anymore trouble." he answered with a serious look on his face. They nodded and went back to Roy.

"Roy, honey..."

…...

Thirteen years passed, and Roy is a young adult. Ever since the incident years ago, Roy has sworn to secrecy over his earth- bending abilities. Roy and his parents ran the village very well since then, in fact, this year was the year that the village came across a massive amount of wealth. The village was glad and praised Butaka for bringing them such wealth. There was talk of speculation on behalf of Butaka and how he came to bring such life back into the say he'd sold some extra land he had, and, others say he's just a gifted merchant who was able to manipulate the village produce into a huge profit. It did not matter to them though. All that mattered was that they were no longer in poverty.

"Kiri! I'm off to the factory! Please take care of the paperwork and don't forget to feed Roy!"

"Bye!"

Butaka yelled as he ran northern from the village.

It was soon forty minutes till midnight and Kiri had finally finished the paperwork. She prepared dinner, better later than never.

"Roy, dinner is done!" Kiri yelled.

In came Roy, walking at a slow pace, rubbing his eyes with a spiteful look on his face.

"Finally, all I did today was read and listen to the radio." He'd said as he sat down to eat with his mother.

"Read anything good?" Kiri asked.

"Well... I've been reading about..."

"...earth-bending." Roy responded hesitantly.

"Which you should not be doing." Kiri responded with a stern face.

"Mom, if I can't bend at all, the least I can do is read about it." Roy said as he continued to eat with his mouth stuffed with food.

"And it should stay that way," his mother pronounced in a firm voice.

Roy glanced over to his mother, a bit disappointed that after all these years she hasn't changed her mind on the matter.

Kiri's face lit up with a smile and shook her head ,"Listen to anything more interesting?" she said.

"Oh!" Roy looked at his mom with great excitement.

"Republic City has awesome new Metal-Bending Enforcers! I wonder if I can bend metal and be as good as them... or even knows, maybe I'll be one of the best, the hero of this village!" Roy ended looking bright eyed and vivid with excitement, his gaze glued to the ceiling.

Kiri smacked Roy sharply on the back of the head.

"Ahh!What's that for?!"

But before she could respond, a sudden slam on the door startled them.

There was a silence, a feeling of uneasiness in both of them.

" Who could that be?" his mother said cautiously.

Roy placed his hand on the ground then quickly flinched.

He turned to his mother, and said with concern,

"It's someone ...limping... with their face against the door... they seem to be in really bad shape."

"Roy, what did we just talk about?!" she responded with great anger.

"I'm going to help who ever is at the door, but if I catch you earth-bending again, your grounded, do you understand?!"

His mother's voice echoed in the living room , and all the way down to the hallway towards the door in question. She gave her son a piercing look to put him in his place, then walked firmly towards the door.

Roy laid back against his chair, with his arms behind his head.

"Man, I didn't earth bend I just felt the ground." Roy spoke softly to himself.

As she turned the door nob, the door flung open towards her, as a shadowy figure collapsed on top of her. It was a man, who was almost to burned to be recognized. She let out a cry and lifted the body; It had burn marks on both of his arms, legs and toes that looked crushed, and scratches across his face just missed his eyes. She wiped the hair and dirt from the mans face. It was Butaka. Kiri covered her mouth in grief , and her eyes began to swell with tears. She thought he was dead, but then he lifted a weak hand to wipe the tears off her face . He coughed up gallons of water, trying to speak with his faint voice.

"Kiri... please... you need to leave, take Roy with you; I've made a mistake, they're coming to raid this place."

Kiri lifted him to the kitchen as Roy rushed to his side.

" Oh my god, DAD! What happened?!Tell me who did this to you, let me help!"

"Its none of your concern... please... leave."

His voice began to waver, struggling to maintain his strength.

" My family should not endure what I have."

Roy felt helpless as he watched his father fade in and out. He grabbed one of his hands and held tightly on to it, it was the only thing he could think to do.

Kiri placed a hand on Roy's shoulder, trying to calm her son, then she turned to her husband and knelt close to his face.

"We're going to get you help, we're not leaving without you."

Just then, they heard cries that pierced their ears. It sounded like a banshee flying over head. Then it started to get warm and they looked outside and saw the village on fire, wet floors, and gardens plus houses destroyed by earth, leaving craters everywhere. Their dear village destroyed down to the core with folk running; taking their prized possessions with them to the north. Behind the crowd and around them were armored men with arrow like symbols on their backs. They had steel armor of high quality, weapons containing blades, poison, and some chains that laid on only a few of them. One in particular looked like he was just standing and giving all the orders.

"Now! take them... Just do it!... to the Fong lee factory!... Hurry up! we have no time to waste!"

The leader yelled at the others. He looked very manly with a black mustache and messy brown hair, he had silver padding on his shoulders, chest, and legs, to his sides it looked like containers to the other side was a giant jug and on his head was a bowl like helmet with the symbol on it. Kiri rushed back in the house while Roy stood there motionless. Suddenly one of the men grabbed Roy by the arm

"Hey! you know your place now get"

He said as he tugged Roy to the others.

"Get off me!" Roy responded

but the man did not listen. so Roy thought it was time for him to bend, but the only problem making him hesitant was that he has not bended in a while. It did not matter to him, so with his right arm he lifted the ground around them but in a blink the man stomped on the ground and the earth Roy lifted went back down. The men were all benders Roy thought.

"Pfft, looks like we got a rare gem in this village" the man sneered " never mind the group your coming with me"

The man said as he tugged Roy in another direction. Roy thought fast and so he grabbed the chain around the mans waist pulled it and pushed the man down to make a hasty get away. Roy runs back to the house to see that Butaka lifted by the neck by the leader. He also sees his mother isolated to the ground by rock handles that wrapped around both he hands and feet to the floor.

"Its a surprise to see that your father is not coming to the rescue" the man said as he choked Butaka.

Roy then tried to interrupt them but alas one of the men earth bended him to the wall, as Roy was about to free himself one of the benders burned both of his hands.

"Gahhhhhh! you..."

The men laughed and then the leader threw Butaka to the floor to walk in Roys direction, The leader took one of his containers from his waist and started to drink

"Glup glup glup... Pahhhh.. So your the only bender that is left, its a shame to see your skills being wasted in this crap hole."

as the leader looked at Roy he saw his legs freely moving he looked back at Roy.

"Son, why not earthbend with your feet"

he said pointing to the ground. Roy looked away with a sneer look on his face. The leader leaned back and turned around throwing his hand in the air.

"Fine, i assume you want to go to work; it does not matter you'll be a fine worker or even guard."

He went back to Butaka just to kick him in the face.

"All these years of risking it, just for your stupid village"

the leader spoke as he passed Butaka and walked towards Kiri. He lifted her bright red face that had blood stains on it and a swollen lip.

"I dont usually hurt such a beautiful women, but with your skills its a rarity to find, you forced my hand"

He then went to leave the room, as he left he took another drink from his container and said

"they have had enough; bring them to the factory they will make wonderful workers"

the men picked up Butaka, who seemed knocked out and then Kiri and Roy. But once Kiri was picked up she went to Butaka and rubbed his back. Roy saw his mother whisper to Butaka as he flicked his finger. Like lightening Butaka came out from his fake coma and punched one of the men in the face, the body flew to the ground and hit it like an piano being dropped. He then curb stomped him immediately after.

"Such force!, is that my dad? where did he get such strength?" Roy thought to himself with a stunned look on his face.

Kiri, in a glance took out the other man by first slapping her long sleeve against his face to blind him and then grabbing the mans arm curving it towards his back the man was restrained and fell to his knees. Butaka then came to throw a power punch to the mans gut; the man pasted out. They both turned to Roy to free him from the wall. They swiftly took out the guard in front of Roy and Butaka then pry-ed him of the wall. There was no time for questions or answers so they ran through the back door of the house. Once they were outside one of the men stood in front of them trying to yell at the leader.

"Sir, Over here! they are trying to-"

but before he could finish Kiri abruptly knocked him over by the shoulder, took his left arm and twisted it. In a blink from taking out the guard they were surrounded by the men, that all took a specific stance common to what they bend. Both Kiri and Butaka took a stance as well. Butaka's stance was planted to the ground firm and strong with one of his hands in front and the other behind him. Kiris stance was more loose she stood tall but firm, her hands covered by her sleeves one hand over her head the other in front of her.

"Since when did my parents know how to fight?" Roy thought to himself as he made up his own stance that seemed lazy and unbalanced.

The leader walked in yet again drinking from his container while pushing his way through the guards

Gulp Gulp Gulp "pahh- well looks like you people are not going without a fight, so be it" the leader pointed at them and yelled

"teach them a lesson comrades!"

Then, Butaka took the left side and Kiri took the right so that they would be protecting Roy from both sides. Roy watched vigilantly seeing that he could not do a thing with only one of his hands and it being burnt. Butaka was moving quite fast each of his strikes had a stop-and-go motion to it with it he would easily push away or demolish rocks that were coming towards them. It was amazing to see a non-bender with such strength of an earth-bender; Butaka took everything they had and threw it back at them whether it was rocks or water he just breezed right through to close combat where he would dominate them with one to three blows.

Although, when it came to firebenders they were extremely skilled in hand to hand combat that plus they bended fire with every strike; Butaka got burned every time he fought them, their fast movement was too much for him but then it seemed that Kiri specialized in fighting against the firebenders. She would use her sleeves to guide the fire away from all of them like a fan. The firebenders were fast but Kiri was faster, her fighting style made her move gracefully through the crowd making use of the enemies causing them to friendly fire. Kiri would always brush them with her sleeves to knock them off balance and later would restrain or knock them out with a wide arsenal of arm locks, leg locks, or head locks. She dodge every element thrown at her but had difficulty dodging earth for its huge mass, thats when Butaka came in; he would protect them from earth with his brute force and she would protect them from fire and water with her accuracy. The two made up for a great duo that Roy admired from a far.

Through all the fighting Roy felt helpless so he watched the movements of his father and had memorized the stances taken to earthbend from books he had read. The only problem is that he knew he could only bend with his one hand both of them being burnt to a crisp. So, Roy first took his horse stance and played around a bit with is feet. He focused and stomped on the floor... nothing happened, Roy tried again but this time he was less tense and so he lifted his leg, stomped the ground, and twisted his foot to the left and suddenly the ground in front of him cracked. Roy was excited

"One more try"

Roy repeated the same movements and the earth crumbled for about 2 yards and a piece of earth grew to slam into one of the guards that sent him flying into a house.

"I Did It!" He yelled in his head

A smile came to his face, he then saw an earthbender throw a rock towards him but Butaka came in the way to deflect it off. Feeling confident, Roy finally moved away from his parents to join the fight. Both the parents saw him and yelled.

"Roy, watch out!"

Roy turned around to see water shot towards him like a whip. He reacted and stomped on the ground and raised his arms to his chest. A wall of earth rose to protect him from harm.

"That a boy!"

Butaka cried, Kiri shook her head from left to right with a grin on her face. Roy lowered the wall to see a rock charging towards him Roy hesitated and tried to dodge it; The rock slammed into his right shoulder dislocating it and breaking it. Roy screamed in pain then another strike came from behind that burned his right arm. Roy fell with a thud.

"Roy!"

Kiri shouted as she stopped and came to his aid. She kneeled to the ground where Roy laid knocked out with his right arm a blaze and his shoulder distorted. Kiri patted down the flames from his arm as she said to herself "everything will be alright" while tears then again gushed out of her eyes. Butaka with his head turned, looked in Roys direction with scorn when a chunk of water wiped out and lashed him by the cheek. The blow was so powerful it knocked him back towards Kiri and his son leaving a gaping bloody wound on his face.