I'm sure I'm not the only one who despaired over Tahno's new state of un-bending-ness. So I dedicate this piece to him, and wish to share with you all the way I think it could have turned out. My second fic. Please review, they make me want to write stories :D

Characters, world and concept not mine btw, but there is a cool new waterbending and airbending technique I made up in this fic (in the two chapters that I've written anyways :p ) can you spot them?

Tahno flung what he could into his attacks, but he couldn't help his distraction. It was fear. He was afraid. Afraid of the man he faced.

Oh yes, he'd heard the stories.

"…He can remove bending! Forever!"

"…He will stop at nothing…"

"Not even the mighty avatar could face…"

"He took lightning bolt Zolt's bending! Lightning bolt Zolt! What chance do we have?"

These words flashed through his mind, and could be perceived in his actions. He knew he had no chance. It didn't stop him though. What am I doing? I'm Tahno! The Tahno! A guy with a mask doesn't scare me!

He growled as he attacked with renewed vigor, taking shot after shot at Amon, who evaded him with seaming ease. There was no way that Tahno of the Wolfbats was going down without a fight. From the side, he saw his companions fall, and instinctively knew he was next. True to his suspicions, a rope was flung at his limbs before he could react, tangling him up like a fly in a net as he hit the floor. Hard.

Dazed and in pain, panic began to set in as he saw footsteps approach from his position on the platform.

Two sets of hands roughly brought him up to his knees to face his fate, and Tahno began looking around with lightning speed for a way out. For escape. Regardless, he could see the masked menace come forward steadily, unflinchingly. He had the posture of a man confident in himself, his words and … his actions.

He tried pleading, though it went against the image he made for himself, against his nature. He'd try anything at this point. Even being Tahno of the Wolfbats.

"Please, I'll give you the prize money, anything, just don't take my bending!"

He could hear Amon chuckle darkly, and knew that if he wanted to get out of this, now was the time to do it. That's when he remembered where they were.

The arena! Of course!

Tahno then did the only thing he could do in his predicament.

There was only one man holding him now as others had to secure his two teammates, so he took advantage of that. Whacking his head backwards at top speed, Tahno winded the chi-blocker, causing him to be released as he'd intended. He then rolled backwards until he found himself in a freefall off the side of the platform and into 'the drink', ignoring the how undignified the whole rolling act made him look.

Free.

That was his last thought before hitting the water. His vision went black momentarily and he was disoriented by the darkness of the water contrasting with the bright lights above. He instinctively moved to start treading water, but found that he couldn't.

The ropes!

He struggled against his bonds, suddenly realizing the severity of his actions. He'd saved his bending for now, but at what price? His life?

He thrashed around frantically, trying to bend solely using his torso and head, but became confused as to which way was up while he sank lower and lower. Even if he could bend, he now had no clue in which direction to go. His head was pounding from what he'd done to escape, and it was all so tiring. So very, very tiring. His thrashing slowed to an occasional jerky movement as his eyelids seemed to become heavier and heavier…

"The bender!" cried the chi blocker who had been charged with restraining Tahno, as he ran towards the edge of zone three. They hadn't considered that when they'd positioned themselves so close to the edge of the third zone of the elevated platform. They should have seen it as a possibility.

"Tighten your hold on them" commanded Amon calmly, as he saw the remaining Wolfbats gain inspiration by what their team leader had just done.

"Sir…" Tahno's chi blocker trailed off as his great leader turned to face him, lifting his had only slightly in an indication to remain silent. Amon then turned to the two benders, taking up the discarded microphone as he did.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you. Would you rather drown or live without your precious bending? The choice is yours. But before you do, might I ask if you realize that he was restrained? How can he bend, or swim for that matter, while bound? Face it, he didn't have a chance." His dark words hit home as Tahno's team members shot each other horrified glances. Amon's chi blockers then understood his logic. No use going after a deadbender now was it?

Both benders were released from the hold their chi blockers had on them, but neither made a move towards the water. They were bound too, and had even less chance of surviving the fall then their fellow waterbender, who still might have been able to bend his way out of his element somehow. It was all the hope they could hold on to.

"I didn't think so. It seems benders have some common sense after all."

Both hung their heads as the chi blockers repositioned themselves at their sides.

Behind the mask, Amon smiled. They were broken, and he was the one that did it. He did not have elemental bending powers, but he didn't need those. He'd never needed them. He had the power of words. The audience in the stadium witnessed the entire exchange with baited breath, and disbelieving faces. They were too shocked to accept what their eyes and ears were telling them.

Amon made a grand gesture towards the benders before him, looking pitiful and small on their knees.

"So, who's first?"

…..

"What was that?" Korra exclaimed as she saw a large object that looked suspiciously human fall into the tank with a large splash.

They had all heard Amon's voice speaking but they could not make out his words, and were wondering what was going on above them. Pabu was currently chewing his way contentedly through the ropes, and Korra wished the fire ferret would hurry just a little faster.

"No idea" replied Mako, giving a concerned side glance to his partners.

"I think… that it might have been a person." Bolin said quietly. He was nervous, as his last encounter with Amon flashed rapidly before his eyes. It made him unnaturally silent.

Upon hearing Bolin's voice, Pabu paused his chewing and looked up questioningly at him.

"Pabu! Don't stop, you need to hurry! That might be a person!" scolded Korra roughly, frustration seeping into her words. Pabu took a couple of steps backwards and lowered his head in nervousness.

"Korra, don't talk to Pabu that way! He's our ticket out of here!" reprimanded Bolin.

"It's okay Pabu, please finish chewing boy, you're doing great" He proceeded to mash his teeth together, producing clicking noises that he was certain Pabu could understand.

The other two team members… not so much. Korra and Mako rolled their eyes. At least Bolin was acting more like himself.

Pabu recommenced chewing and sure enough, the ropes fell to their sides. Immediately Korra was up and running towards the place she saw the object fall, convinced that it was a person.

How long have they been under? Four minutes? Five? Oh please be ok. Please be ok. Her worry drove her forward as she dove with full force into the water, ignoring the disapproving cries of her teammates or the cold shock it gave her. Sure it could all be a set up, but she couldn't afford to think of it that way. Not when someone's life might be at stake.

Using her bending, she scanned the vibrations in the water currents and tried to sense out any large disturbances in the flow, where a person might be floating or thrashing. It was a technique that was taught to her by Katara.

Her waterbending master had told her that she had created the method of water scanning from inspiration. Her earthbending friend Toph used her element to see, so Katara had deduced that she could do something similar using water. It was not as accurate as the earthbending style of sensing since it did not illustrate the same level of detail from the surrounding environment, instead indicating vague shapes to give the bender a better idea of what they are looking at beneath the water's surface. At times it could be incredibly useful, especially when hunting for fish or other sea bound prey. Since then it had been a technique taught to waterbenders around the world.

Sure enough, within moments of using the technique, she felt what could only be described as the shape of a person below her to the right. She quickly bent the water to propel the body towards her, aware that the time she had left was trickling away.

Ejecting both herself and the unknown person back onto the platform using her native element, Korra felt the slight drain of her energy. Coughing and sputtering, she crawled up alongside the stranger quickly, as he, for it certainly was a he, did not seem to be breathing. That's when everything came into focus. Tahno. It was Tahno.

After only a slight hesitation, she began bending the water out of his lungs as she'd been taught. He's a waterbender, why didn't he bend himself out? Did he… no, he couldn't have. Amon couldn't have taken it… could he? Her mind was racing a mile a minute as she swiftly looked him over from top to bottom.

His complexion was even paler than usual, his eyes were shut, lips slightly parted, and his once wavy hair was plastered haphazardly across one side of his face. But most importantly, he was bound, both arms and legs by a strong length of rope not unlike the one that had restrained Mako, Bolin and herself. She subconsciously let out a breath of relief.

Maybe that's why he wasn't able to bend himself out of there… can't assume the worst just yet.

She felt a flicker of how terrified she'd been when Amon had faced her, cold hands clenched tightly on her jaw, and subsequently shuddered. Sometimes she swore she could still feel the ghost of his fingertips on her chin, as if the threat he posed to all benders lingered on her very skin. Alive, eating her from the inside with doubt and fear. In that moment, she didn't care if it was Tahno, he needed her, and she'd see him through. Now if only she could get him breathing.

…..

"These were your champions! Now, two have nothing left and their 'powerful' leader has perished, just as you, benders, will have nothing. This world is yours to control no longer." Spoke Amon to the masses of shocked faces in the stadium. Some faces even sported tears of fear and denial. Amon enjoyed it, took pleasure in the pain he caused.

It could never, would never, measure up to his pain.

"To all of my followers, does this not prove that we can, and will win this fight? We grow stronger, more powerful and numerous each day. Now you too can hold the power of a chi blocker in your hand if you choose to join us." Amon turned in full circle to emphasize that he was directing his speech to everyone.

He added his last words with dramatic pause, knowing the effect it would have even before he said it.

"Brothers, sisters, the era of bending is over! The revelation has begun!" and with that, he had his chi-blockers kick both benders, now non-benders, over the side of the third zone. Still tightly bound. He laughed darkly as the crowd still sat in shock, registering what he'd just done.

Not only had he taken their bending, he'd ultimately just killed them by keeping them confined in ropes, with no chance of swimming out of what was sure to be a watery grave.

Only once the glass shattered overhead and the ropes were lowered towards Amon and his followers did the mass hysteria finally break out. Benders and non benders scrambled to flee the stadium in fear. And amongst the chaos, Tahno's teammates hit the water.

….

Bolin and Mako came running up to Korra's crouched position over Tahno's prone form. She was pumping her arms frantically, hands placed firmly on his chest. Whatever it was that they were going to say died in their throats as they recognized just who she was helping. Korra looked up desperately, and with… a slight blush on her cheeks? Mako found that a little odd, but perhaps it was from the exertion. Korra never blushed, so yes, that made sense.

"Are you alright?" he asked her. They could all still hear what had to be Amon's voice on the announcer's microphone above, but they still couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Yes" she replied shakily. "Just a little out of breath." she panted.

"Is he… okay?" Mako stared down at Tahno's pale face, and unmoving chest as her arms continued to work at getting him breathing. Her eyes held faint traces of tears for just a moment along with a fleeting look of shame. What if I hadn't yelled at Pabu? What if I'd run a little faster? What if… She'd never seen a person die before. She didn't want this to be the first.

"I… I'm not sure. I think…" Whatever she'd been about to say was cut off as screaming broke out above them. Korra's arms paused as all three of their heads snapped towards the sound, and they shared a look of trepidation. Just then, two people came splashing down into the water, and began sinking out of sight immediately.

Korra turned her head towards Mako and Bolin, and gave them a look.

"You get him breathing, we'll get those two." Mako stated bluntly as he turned towards the tank, grabbing Bolin by the sleeve and pulling him along.

Once they dove, Korra knew she'd only have a limited amount of time to do what she must. Her last resort. A faint blush stained her cheeks once more as she tried to mentally separate what she was about to do from who she was going to do it to. She had considered doing it earlier, but then Mako and Bolin had showed up, effectively keeping her from attempting what she was about to do. Finally, scolding herself for her hesitance, she just sucked it up and plunged her mouth over Tahno's while holding his nose tightly shut.

Using what little airbending she'd picked up from Tenzin and the kids, she made her breath contain larger quantities of air, allowing for a more forceful gust than any normal breath could manage. It wasn't much, but it could still save his life.

She pulled back to look at his face, getting desperate for him to show any signs of life. It was so wrong to think of a bender harmed by their own element. It was almost never done.

"Work with me here Tahno. Even when dead you stand against me." she whispered to him impulsively, with a twist of dark humor.

Her arms continued to propel forwards on his chest, putting everything she had into the hard pushes.

She lowered her mouth to his again, repeating the same actions as before. Come on Tahno! That can't be the last time your conceited face smirks at me. It just can't! She repeated the process three more times before finally, finally,there was some movement. But it wasn't what she'd expected.

…..

Ooh, cliff hanger :D I know, evil. But don't worry, second chapter's on here too. Please tell me what you think! This chapter is considerably longer than the second one though, just thought you should know!