This is my first attempt at this... the pairings will not be told but will be later on. So without further ado I present the first book in the Elemental Series: Raging Tides.
Book 1: Raging Tides
Chapter 1: The Avatar and the Firestorm
A boy that looked to be around 5'7" with a light build was walking around town. He was wearing dark blue pants, with a grey shirt and a black long coat. He slowly took off the hood of the coat that was covering his head and ran a finger through his unruly, dark brown hair and shook his head.
He continued to carelessly walk around town as people gave him weird looks. He was used to it; having a short broadsword on his back might've had something to do with it. His blues eyes closed momentarily as he sighed and walked into a nearby park. He walked over to the pond and saw a polar bear-dog walking around in the water.
'Strange,' he thought. He shook his head and looked around and saw a well tanned girl in water tribe clothes near the edge of the pond with three cooked fish on sticks in front of her. The girl bit into one of them with barely contained glee, making Kai's stomach growl.
He frowned as it made the decision for him.
Kai took a deep breath and walked over to the girl, wincing inwardly as she looked up at him with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, my name's Kai. What's yours?" He said.
She looked at him a little strangely, tilting her head. Immediately he looked downward, staring at his feet. "Damn it Kai, why did you have to sound so stupid?' He muttered under his breath.
She smiled and said, "My name's Korra."
"It's nice to meet you Korra," Kai said, smiling back at her. Not a moment later, his stomach growled again. A grin broke out and he scratched the back of his head as his cheeks tinted red from embarrassment."I don't suppose I could have one of those? They look amazing."
"Why not?" She chuckled and handed him one of the fish.
"Thank you." he said. He took the fish and sat down and took a bite of the fish. It was delicious; probably the best thing he's ever tasted in a long time.
"So were do you live?" Korra asked after finishing her last bite of the cooked fish.
Kai looked down, his face darkened for a moment. "Oh, I don't really live anywhere... I just kind of move from place to place in the city. I don't have a home."
Korra looked at him with pity welling up inside her, "You know, you can come with me to Air Temple Island. I'm sure Tenzin won't mind."
"What?!... y-you'd do that f-for me?" he said in disbelief.
"Sure, come on lets go," she said as she stood up and ushered for him to do the same.
"But you just met me..." Kai said quietly. "Why would you do something like that for me without even knowing me?"
"Because you seem like a nice guy. Besides, it's not your fault that you lost everything. I think you at least deserve to have a home still." Korra explained and whistled. Kaiba heard a loud thudding sound and turned to see the polar bear-dog running to them.
"That is one big dog..." Kai asked as he watched the creature stop to eat the last fish, snapping it up with a pleased bark.
"This is Naga, my polar bear-dog." said Korra.
"C-cool" said Kai with a little bit of fear and awe in his voice.
"Don't worry she's nice. She doesn't eat people unless I tell her to." Korra smiled as she petted Naga's soft fur. And right when she finished her sentence Naga walked over to Kai and licked his face, his face pale at Korra's words.
Kai laughed, "Hey, that tickles."
Korra's smile grew wider at the scene in front of her. She hopped onto Naga's saddle and held a hand out for Kai. He gladly grabbed it and was amazed at Korra's strength as she pulled him up.
"Let's go Naga," Korra commanded and she pulled the reins and they quickly rushed down the streets of republic city.
"Admit it Korra, we're lost." Kai sighed, wondering how this girl ever managed to get from the south pole to Republic City.
"No, we're not," protested Korra. "I'm sure it's just around this corner." As they turned the corner, they managed to find themselves at another dead end.
Korra sighed in defeat and looked around to see if there's anyone in that area that could help them. "Fine, let's ask that lady over there for directions." After quickly making their way over to the lady, Korra hopped off of her polar bear-dog to talk to the middle-aged woman. "Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to Air Temple Island?" she asked.
"Yes, head down this street and take a right until you come to an almost empty dock. The ferry there will take you to Air Temple Island," said the lady.
A car flew around the corner at the end of the street. Korra looked at the car and glared. The shopkeeper's eyes widened as its engine roared through the air. "Go, it's not safe for a young lady like you to be out now." the lady warned before stepping inside her house and softly shutting the door behind her.
The red car stopped in front of a shop and three tough-looking guys got out.
"Let's go. No need to mess with the gangs." urged Kai as he pulled on her arm slightly.
She didn't listen and walked over to them as one of the guys, who was a fire bender, broke one of the shopkeeper's music boxes.
"Hey!" Shouted Korra.
One of the guys, dressed in blue, turned and looked at her, "Do you even know who you're messing with, little girl?" He smirked as patted his chest, "We're the Triple Threat Triad, and you're going to the hospital on our behalf."
"Shin, quit messing with Mr. Cheng." said Kai as he stepped next to Korra and let out a sigh.
The weaselly firebender next to Shin frowned for a moment before his eyes widened. "You! You're that Firestorm guy that's been messing about with our boys!"
Shady Shin grinned, rubbing his hands together. "Ohhh, Zolt is going to love it when he hears we took out the Firestorm today..."
'Firestorm?' Korra said to herself, frowning as she looked at Kai. "Wait, how do they know you-"
Shin shot some water at Kai, but Korra caught it at the last second, flinging it right back at him. Shin's eyes widened as the watery missile froze, encasing his head in ice as he squeaked in surprise. He came stumbling towards them, with Kai watching as Korra narrowed her eyes and unleashed a vicious kick into his chin, slamming the gangster into the grille of the satomoble and shattering the ice encasing his head. With a sigh the man slid to the ground.
The biggest guy roared and stepped forward , about stomp his foot down when Korra knocked him up into the air with a column of rock.
"No way. she can't be,' Kai said to himself in disbelief. The last guy, the fire bender, ran to throw a fire fist at Korra, but Kai stepped in front of her and caught the fire bender's fist and threw the fire bender behind him and into the car he got out of. Shin and the earth bender jumped in the car and started driving off.
"You're not getting away!" shouted Korra.
"Korra! Wait don't-" started Kai, but Korra ignored him, thrusting her hands forwards. The entire street rumbled, and a jagged fissure broke through the ashphalt, shattering a water main and unleashing torrents of water gushing upwards while the fissure snaked towards the fleeing satomobile. Just as it disappeared underneath the back wheels, a earthen column pushed upwards into the undercarriage, flipping the satomobile over and sending it and it's screaming occupants through the paper walls of a store.
A siren went off and Kai shook his head and looked down. "Great..." An airship flew over them, blanketing the entire street in its shadow as a compartment on the underside of its gondola slid open. Five people, bedecked in grey metal armor dropped down into the air, launching cables from their wrists into the broken asphalt below to slow their fall.
"Wow, metal benders," Korra whispered in awe as they landed.
The metal benders landed and surrounded Kai and Korra. "I caught the bad guys for you, officer." Korra said proudly, her hands on her hips.
Three of the metal benders moved forward as one of them gave a curt nod, shooting cables around the gang members to bind them together.
One of the officers then turned and shot a cable around Kai, wrapping tightly around his hands. "What are you doing?" asked Korra.
"You two caused property damage, you're coming to headquarters." The officer shot a cable around Korra's wrist, tearing a grunt out of her. "Wait there's a mistake-" she started.
"Korra, stop. Don't resist or it gets worse!" shouted Kai. Korra stopped struggling and held her hands out and the officer put hand cuffs on her wrists. The officer walked them over to a separate truck from the gang members and pushed them inside and closed the door.
Tenzin, son of Avatar Aang and one of the last air bending masters in the world, was really unhappy after hearing that Korra had ran away from the south pole and got arrested in the same day. As if his days weren't stressful enough, now he had to deal with this.
He walked up to Lin Beifong, daughter of Toph Beifong, and greeted her.
"Lin, you look lovely today," he said.
"No need for empty words Tenzin. What do you want?" she said sternly.
"I'd like you to release Korra and I'll pay for all the damages," he requested.
"Very well, just get her out of my city." she said and opened the door to Korra's cell.
"Come along Korra, it's time to go." Ushered Tenzin.
"Tenzin, wait, what about Kai?" Korra stood up from the desk, looking at Lin.
Lin shook her head."That kid? Absolutely not!"
Korra turned to Tenzin. "Please, Tenzin, it's my fault he's in here. He didn't do anything." she pleaded.
Tenzin sighed, "what charges are against him?"
"Being a accomplice in vigilante aggression." said Lin, scowling at Korra.
He sighed. "Release him as well, Lin."
Korra smiled and hugged Tenzin, "thank you so much!"
A few minutes later, Kai was escorted from the back by two metalbenders. Korra ran up and hugged him, "I'm sorry for getting you in trouble."
He smiled and hugged her back. "It doesn't matter to me. I'm just thankful that I became friends with the Avatar."
They broke the embrace and waked out of the police station. "Don't try and use that as an excuse for anything." Korra said.
"I know, I'm just happy, that's all." he said while smiling genuinely for the first time since his parents' death.
She nodded, a smile breaking as she punched him in the shoulder. "Okay, friend!" and the three silently walked over to Tenzin's sky bison, Oogi. Korra crawled up into Oogi's saddle. Kai stood at Oogi's feet and looked up. "Come on," said Korra.
Kai smiled and pushed his hands towards the ground and flew up into the saddle with a rush of wind, grinning at the looks of shock of Tenzin and Korra. "You're an airbender!" They both shouted in shock.
He shrugged, folding his arms and almost bursting out laughing at the look on Korra. "Yep."
Tenzin quickly smoothed over his rustled cloak, patting himself down and clearing his throat. "Okay, well... Kai, it would be an honor to teach you airbending, with there being so few left."
"I would like that, Master Tenzin." said Kai as he stood up in Oogi's saddled, and bowed to Tenzin.
Tenzin smiled and they took off to Air Temple Island.
Upon landing, three kids; two older girls about 6 and 8 and a little boy about 5, ran up to Korra and hugged her. There was a loud cough behind them. Two men stood in front of a ship. Korra said something to the kids and looked down at the ground and walked over to the ship.
Kai frowned as she moved over to the kids, kneeling down in front of them. "No." her shoulder sagged as Ikki hanged her head. "I'm sorry, Ikki..."
"Wait, where are you going?" Kai asked.
"I have to go back to the south pole." said Korra.
"But, you're my best friend, you can't leave," Kai protested before looking at the ground and whispering, "I'll be alone again"
"Wait," said Tenzin. "You were right. I've put my duties to the city before anything else. And you were also right, Republic City needs its Avatar. You're welcome to stay at Air Temple Island for your airbending training." said Tenzin.
She ran back and hugged Tenzin, "Thank you! Thank you so much! You're the best, I won't let you down!" Promised Korra.
Kai smiled, as the kids ran up and hugged Korra while laughing. She hugged them back then walked over to Kai, "Looks like I'm staying" she said smiling.
Kain smiled and had a tear roll down his cheek. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm just happy that your still going to be here" said Kai, as he wrapped Korra in a hug and she gladly returned it. Tenzin looked at them and smiled. They were going to be great friends, he was sure of it. They walked up to the temples and went their separate ways as they went to their separate dorms.