So I've had this idea for quite a while and have refined it to the point where I would like to start writing the whole thing. After hitting a wall on another project, I wanted to try writing something else that might flow easier.

~Chapter 1: A Tale of Two Motorcycles~

Two dirt bikes raced down the main road of an Earth Kingdom village. The man piloting the front bike is a rather worried looking earth bender who is turning in his seat trying to earthbend. Chasing him, are a man and a woman on the second bike. Villagers clear the street as the motorcyclists fly through the village at top speed.

"Left!" The man on the second bike shouted an instant before a pillar of stone rose up in front of them. The woman sitting in front of him deftly maneuvered to the left, around the pillar.

"I know!" She shouted back As her black hair flew into the man's face behind her. "PLEH!" He spat the hair out of his mouth and leaned around her. The woman had green eyes and long black hair and was wearing the clothes of an inconspicuous Earth Kingdom commoner. Behind her sat a man with short brown hair and grey eyes. He was wearing leather boots, lightweight olive-green pants and shirt, various leather armoring, a light cloak on top, and a wooden sword in a sheath across his back.

They continued the chase as the two motorcycles sped out of the village and down a winding road along a dry ravine. The earthbender twisted around in his seat to throw up another column of stone.

"On the right!" The man continued to shout warnings to the woman in front of him. Despite his warning, the woman drifted the bike over to the right side of the path, the very spot where a pillar of earth was erupting from the ground. The bike flew into the air as it careened off of the rising stone. The pair clung to the bike as it began to turn and roll. Before the bike became completely inverted, the man on the back released his grip and shot two steams of air from his hands on either side of the bike, straightening it out the instant before it landed.

"Come on, Fei!" "Come on, Kal!" The man and woman both shouted respectively. "You said to go right!" She accused as she maneuvered around more obstacles set in place by the earthbender.

"No, I said it's coming from the right!" He retorted as he sent jets of air forward trying to knock down the motorcycle in front of them. The ravine to their left bent back on itself in a long curve up ahead and a bridge could be seen on the other end.

"Fei, you keep chasing him. I'll cut the corner and head him off at the bridge okay?" The man said as he put his hands through two loops on either side of his cloak and spread his arms. Fei began to protest at being left to a high speed chase with a dangerous earthbender alone, but she was already alone as the man had already begun soaring over the ravine.

"KALDEN, YOU IDIOT!" She shouted at his retreating form, narrowly missing another stone obstacle.

Wow, she is NOT pleased with that maneuver. Said a voice in Kalden's mind.

"Oh, she'll be fine. She IS a top notch spy-lady after all." Kalden retorted as he reached the other side of the ravine and continued to glide as fast as he could to the bridge.

Kalden, most spies aren't trained for fighting, especially not rebel spy-ladies. The cross-training back on the island is relatively special in that regard.

"Really?"

Yup.

"Well, she seems like the type who can handle herself. I'm sure she'll be fine." Kalden said dismissively.

"FLYING HOG MONKEYS!" Fei shouted as the wheels on the dirt bike slammed back to Earth. The front wheel was slightly bent, causing vibrations and disconcerting sounds to come from the bike. The gap between Fei and her quarry had widened, but she was simply grateful that the earthbender was too panicked to realize he could easily stop and defeat his pursuer.

"If I make it through the day Kal, I'm gonna make sure you live just long enough to regret this." She muttered as she opened up on the throttle and sped after the earthbender.

"No, I'm sure she'll appreciate my confidence in her abilities." Kalden said aloud as he stood in a fighting pose at the end of the bridge, his wooden sword still sheathed.

Kalden, I'm pretty sure she's more concerned about her well-being. If anything, she'll probably resent you for abandoning her. The voice continued in the same condescending tone as always.

"I'm not abandoning her, it's a solid plan! Besides, what do you know?" Kaiden scoffed. "Etka would have understood."

I have more than 10,000 years of wisdom and experience. You are a mercenary with less than twenty and far too little life-experience for your age. Also, almost everyone on that island has the same warped view of the world that you do, especially Etka. The voice continued to lecture.

"A PRACTICAL view!" Kalden said defensively, "And as for '10,000 years of wisdom' how much of that was spent sitting on a perch in the temple? I'll have to agree about Etka though, she is certainly..." His voice trailed off as he tried to find the right word.

Violent? Volatile? Crazy?

"Yes, yes, and definitely yes." A grin broke out on Kalden's face. "Even after we save everybody and sort out that mess, she'll probably still be out for my blood. That girl just cannot..." He cut off his sentence as the two bikes rapidly approached the opposite end of the bridge. "Alright Beifeng, it's time for you to shut up, and the talent to get to work." He readied himself to intercept the motorcycle.

The very same motorcycle that soon passed the bridge and continued speeding down the road on the opposite side of the ravine.

Kalden clenched his teeth. "Don't. Say. Any-"

SOLID PLAN, O TALENTED ONE!

Fei continued to tail the earthbender, who had become increasingly more erratic. He was constantly looking over his shoulder and twisting his torso around in an attempt to earth bend and drive the motorcycle at the same time.

Her anger had turned into worry after they passed the bridge. Kalden may be able to glide over the ravine, but he couldn't catch up to the motorcycles. He was officially out of the playing field.

Meaning Fei had to find a way to take down the earthbender without killing him by herself, with no bender for backup and a stun baton as her sole weapon. She may be one of the best sparring partners back at the camp, but holds and throws don't do much to flying boulders.

Just as the ravine was about to turn to the right again, causing them to face the same way as before entering the large curve with the bridge, the earthbender's bike gave a loud crash as it slammed into a pothole at top speed. Having been trying to earth bend behind him at the time, he couldn't react fast enough to prevent the bike from going out of control. The bike fell on its side and slid toward the edge of the ravine. The rider attempted to slow the bike down with earth bending and stop himself from going over the cliff. He managed to slow it to a near stop just shy of the cliff edge.

And that's when Fei smashed her bike into the rear of his seat, missing the earth bender by inches. At the same time as the other bike hit the pothole, the front wheel on Fei's motorcycle decided it wanted to try to part ways with the rest of the machine. Her bike went careening into her quarry's, pushing him over the edge and sending her over the handlebars and out into space.

About a quarter of the way down the edge of the cliff, the battered earthbender managed to fall onto a shelf. Fei, on the other hand, had been thrown we'll away from the cliff face and had no such hopes. She fell with her face looking up at the sky, hearing nothing but the deafening roar of the air rushing pat her. Even though Fei thought that she was going to die because of some stupid mercenary's mistake, she found herself hoping that Kalden would at least be able to stop the earth bender from escaping. She had been prepared to die on this mission, but the thought of dying in vain made her furious.

Suddenly, Fei found herself wondering why she hadn't hit the ground yet. The ravine wasn't that deep, was it? She then realized that she could feel herself slowing, as if she had jumped into a pool instead of fallen into a canyon. She could still hear the deafening wind, but looking at the canyon wall revealed that she had slowed to the point where she should hardly be hearing wind at all.

"Hey Fei! Nice job keeping the pressure on him. Though pushing him off the cliff was a little much." Kalden gave Fei a grin as she landed in his arms at the bottom of the ravine. Fei gave him a confused look for a moment before hitting him in the face and dropping out of his grip and onto her feet.

"Gahhhh! What was that for!?" Kalden said as he tried to stem the flow of blood from his recently injured nose.

Way to go, charmer.

"You almost got ME killed and let HIM get away!" Fei shouted back at him.

"I saved you!"

"I wouldn't have needed saving if YOU hadn't flown off!"

I hate to say I told you so...

"Alright! Point taken! But did you have to give me a bloody nose before the fight?" Kalden complained in an exasperated voice.

Fei stopped just as she was about to dish out more verbal abuse and gave a confused look. "What fight?"

"Well he knows he can't get away now, right?" Kalden gestured toward the two twisted heaps of metal that had once been motorcycles while working on his nosebleed. "In fact, I expect he'll-" Kalden was cut short as he quickly deflected a rock that was sailing toward his head with a blast of air. The earth bender began sliding down the wall of the ravine on a block of stone, launching a barrage of boulders on his way down. Kalden and Fei dived for cover in opposite directions.

"Remember, Kal, we need him alive!" Fei shouted from behind a rock, pulling her baton out of her pocket. Unlike Fei, Kalden had found no rocks large enough to use as cover and resorted to weaving and parrying the boulders away from him.

"Sit tight, I got this!" Kalden glanced over at Fei with the baton in her hand. The earth bender reached the bottom of the ravine and snarled as he raised a chest high wall in front of him. Kalden dashed forward, determined to get as close to his opponent as possible.

Pillars of stone shot out of the ground at Kalden's feet. He stepped around two, three pillars. He was only fifteen yards from the earth bender. WHAM! A disc flew off the top of a pillar and struck Kalden square in the chest knocking the wind out of him and sending him sprawling backwards.

I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar.

"SHUT UP!" Kalden seethed through clenched teeth. He was pretty sure his rib was broken, and Beifeng's taunting was straining his nerves.

Kalden regained his footing and charged at the earth bender once again. This time, he kicked off a pillar and rose into the air, sharply jabbing blasts of air over the earthen wall. The earth bender had to duck down to keep his footing as Kalden advanced.

Using his momentum as he fell to the ground, Kalden sent a long jet of air at the wall, causing it to whither. The earth bender leapt away from the wall and kicked two stones toward Kalden. Kalden effortlessly dodged around the rocks and began throwing combinations back at the earth bender. Instead of dodging, the earth bender widened his stance and began throwing as many punches as he could toward his opponent.

Gusts of air and shards of rock flew in every direction as neither man evaded or ceased their flurry of blows. Both men were injured, and while Kalden was very well conditioned, you never want to get into a contest of endurance with an earth bender. Kalden knew full well that he couldn't keep this up, even as his blows were becoming increasingly outnumbered by his opponent's. Kalden began to resort to weaving his body to avoid the earth bender's blows.

What are you doing? We both know you can't keep this up. Use your legs!

"Maybe you just need to pay more attention." Kaiden muttered between breaths. Kalden could feel Beifeng's confusion for just a moment.

"AARGH!" The earth bender stiffened as he let out a yell. Fei had jabbed her baton into the massive earth bender's armpit, causing his muscles to seize up. With no flying rocks to obstruct it, a thin jet of air hit the earth bender right in the jaw. Fei backed away as the man stumbled and Kalden charged forward, clearing several yards with each bound.

Ah. Well played.

Desperate and shaken, the earth bender hurled a boulder at the rapidly approaching Kalden. He dropped low and slid feet first towards the earth bender, sending a blast of air that swept the feet out from under his opponent. Hitting the ground face-down, the earth bender quickly rolled away from Kalden and began to raise a wall between them.

But Kalden was already on top of him. Kalden flipped over the wall as it rose up and blasted the earth bender against the other side before he could regain his footing. He landed within arm's reach of the stunned earth bender and widened his stance. Before the earth bender could react, Kalden began delivering a series of short hooks to his face. Twisting his body back and forth and focusing air pressure at his fists, Kalden pummeled the earth bender with a barrage of devastating blows.

Pinned against the wall and unable to defend himself any longer, the earth bender's head snapped to the left and right until, mercifully, Kalden's left hook knocked the earth bender off his feet and slammed him into the ground.

Good job. Not very graceful for an air bender though...

He took deep, labored breaths as he stood over the unconscious earth bender. With blood still trickling from his nose, he looked up to see Fei peering around the wall the earth bender had just been pinned against.

"I'd say something about going overboard," Fei nudged the fallen earth bender with her foot, as if to make sure he was unconscious, "but he deserved it." Kalden's breath began to return to normal as he stared down at the earth bender's bleeding and badly bruised face.

"Sooooo... How are we getting him back to the camp?"

"Whoa, what happened to your nose?" Ryu asked as he chained the earth bender to the floor of a covered truck. "Did this guy do that?"

Thankfully, their contacts, Ryu and Ling, had the presence of mind to follow Fei and Kalden after seeing them tear through the town. Dragging the earth bender's unconscious body up the cliff would have been an ordeal, even with a healthy rib cage.

"What, is it bleeding again?" Kalden asked, inspecting his nose with his hand for the first time since the fight.

"No, um..." Ryu realized that he shouldn't have brought the topic up.

"I broke your nose, Kal." Fei explained as she hopped into the truck and sat next to Ryu.

Ha!

Unable to come up with a retort, Kalden sighed and silently took a seat opposite Ryu and Fei, who were busy high-fiving as Ryu congratulated her. After closing the tailgate, Ryu tapped Ling on the shoulder, who was sitting behind the wheel at the front of the truck.

"Let's head out." He said as Ling started the motor. It wasn't long before the earth bender had woken up and realized he was in chains.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead." Fei taunted as the prisoner glanced around the inside of the truck. After tugging on the chains for a bit and inspecting his injuries under the watchful eye of his three captors, the prisoner accepted the futility of trying to escape.

"Are you taking me back to Varrick?" He asked, his voice implying he already knew the answer.

"Yup, and then we'll find out every little thing you told the Earth Queen about us." Fei said venomously.

Dejected, the earth bender stared at the floor for a while. Eventually, he turned his swollen face to Kalden, who was leaning back with his eyes closed.

"What are you?!" He finally shouted after staring at Kalden for a few minutes. "How can you be an air bender?"

Kalden opened his eyes and looked around the truck. While silence hung in the air, it was clear that Fei was very interested in this turn of conversation and Ryu was still processing what he had just heard.

"Actually," Fei spoke up, "I was wondering the same thing myself. I knew you were an air bender, but no one ever told me how."

"Wait, your'e actually an air bender?!" Ryu exclaimed, "I thought you were all little kids!"

May as well tell them. We have a few hours to kill.

Kalden leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. "Well, that is an exciting tale. One that started on that fateful day, almost 200 years ago..."

Thanks for taking the time to read through all of that, guys. I'm not sure the other chapters will be quite that long. Next up, backstory time!