~Book One Fire~
Over the mountains and through the glades that mark the Earthbenders nation lies the next generation of benders, non-benders, and the Avatar...
It was a festive day in Ba Sing Sei, for it was avatar day about seventy years had passed since avatar Korra. On this day the world would meet its new avatar. Just off the docs were two girls walking away from the ship that arrived shortly after the Earthbenders started setting up their shops and stands for Avatar Day.
"Ah, to be free from the fire nation, it's like a whole new world out here" the blond young woman said to her black haired friend walking around the city.
"Lexi you shouldn't have left home... You aren't even 18 yet, your family will send someone after you"
"Yes I know but I've never been outside the fire nation all I've known my whole life is firebenders, I am tired of sitting at home while others get to have grand adventures" Lexi said dragging her friend deeper into the city. Alexa her friend sighed while following closely to Lexi's heals.
"I'm gonna have my grand adventure Alexa! I am going to travel the world then I'll go back home and marry like my family wants" Lexi said stopping at a tea shop and sitting inside
with her friend where a young waterbender was. Little did they know their destinies were connected. The waterbender looked like a short tempered little fellow, not really wanting to be there. He groaned and looked at the Fire Nation girls.
"Think you fire people could smuggle me back on the ship... I want to go home..." The water tribe boy said. From the looks over his tunic, he was from the Northern Tribe.
"Whining... He must be a waterbender" Lexi said sipping her tea glancing at him, almost as if she was judging him.
"Lexi, don't be rude... I'm sorry sir but our ship has already departed back to the Fire Nation sadly..."
"Great... Stuck in Earth territory, and not a single Water Tribe Food stand in sight..."
"What is the food not to your liking little one" Lexi said she was rather annoyed with the young waterbender complaining about something so small.
"Well I was fine untill I found out there were no seaweed noodle shops. I would at least feel at home if they had one, but I don't even know if there are other Water Tribe members here." The Waterbender said looking at the tea cups at the tea stand "I'll take one cup of tea I guess..." He added. Lexi paid for her and her friends tea before walking past the waterbender, all while making a snide comment on how waterbenders where weak compared to firebenders.
"Lexi that wasn't nice" Alexa said embarrassed by her friends behavior.
"Do you say so, because waterbenders can blood bend!" The young boy piped from the stand. He was staring right at lexi.
"Don't judge a waterbender till one kicks your ass!"
"Yes and some firebenders can bend lightning... and oh wait that form of bending isnt illegal" Lexi said turning around smirking "kid go home some people want to be here and you are ruining the experience for those people"
"At least I'm not bragging like a selfish Firebending princess!"
"No, not a princess too many rules for my taste" Lexi said blowing a kiss that turned into her blue fire, before walking over to another shop that had clothing.
"I-I'm sorry about her..." Alexa said wishing she was back home with her family and friends and not in public with Lexi's behavior.
"Well... It's not your fault she behaves like a seven year old..." the Waterbender said placing the tea cup down and marching off like he owned the stone walkway.
"She's not always like this she's actually a nice person I promise... But she's my only good friend since i'm a non-bender"
"Huh, non-bending?" He said stopping to look back, "Well, you can't be all bad then. I don't always get along with other benders... Even though I bend water... By the way, I'm Mikey, Mikey Winters of the Northern Water Tribe."
"She may be princessy but thats because shes the only child her mother lost all her other siblings while pregnant so she is their princess and so she acts like it, but I do aopolgiz- Lexi you can't lightning bend here" Alexa yelled as her friend gotten into her lightning bending stance.
Mikey looked over as the blond haired Firebender shot lightning around.
"Hay!" A skinny, and very hippy young man said as he ran over and pounded his foot on the ground making a wall of earth around Lexi.
"Destructive bending is not permitted on a festival day!" he said.
"Says you, you just knocked over a wall, I bended above the reach of people and important buildings, no one is hurt" Lexi said crossing her arms.
"Yes but not everyone here is accustomed to lightning flying over their heads!"
"Most people aren't fond of walls falling and crushing them, and who are you the lightning police"
"No, I am a police officer in training!" He said looking at the wall he knocked down, then bending it back up right. Lexi walked over to him poking him in the chest,
"What are you gonna do, arrest me for bad manners" she said smirking.
"I will if I have to... We're going to be watching closely if you start something again... Don't think we won't arrest you and send you back to your nation..." The earthbender said.
"Dude, come on cut her a break! She may be acting like a snotty little kid, but she's trying to get away from her mom and dad..." Mikey said walking up and getting right in the earthbender's face.
The earthbender stared at them both for a second. "Fine, just stay out of trouble if you want to stay under my radar-" he said before being cut off by a huge ball of night blue fur tackling him down
"ACH! Cinos! Get off of me!" He shouted.
Following the blue animal was a strong burst of wind, and a figure almost tackling the animal on top of the Earthbender. With two long braids hanging from her head, she exhibited traditional airbending clothing and tattoos along with an excitable personality, which showed as the girl exclaimed affectionate comments to the blue beast.
"What the spirits..." Lexi said raising her eyebrow "No i know im not home anymore.." she said shaking her head.
"Ughh... Jaaaaaaake!" The Earthbender called.
Almost as soon as the earthbender bellowed, an older teen decked out in regular peasant clothing rushed up to his elder and suddenly shot a dark glare at the big ocean blue animal. He donned a long ponytail with a tuft of hair falling over his head, and his expression on his face was not exactly happy. "Cinos," He barked, showing extreme discontent with the beast's actions,"Get back over here right now, or else I swear to the spirits I will earthbend you into a ditch and leave you there unless you behave!"
"harsh" Lexi muttered looking up at the sky, "well its been just lovely playing with you ladies but the festival starts soon, have fun not being real police" Lexi said dragging her friend with her.
"Yea, what ever fire girl..." The older earthbender said getting up. He put his finger to the creature named cinos. "Now look here, Cinos. I'm trying to get things ready to Avatar Day, and Jake can't chase you around all day and babysit you!"
The seemingly stupid animal just panted and stared at the bended with ha happy look on his wide face.
"Wow... A wolf-cat... Aren't they supposed to be really hard to train?" Mikey asked.
"Cinos is a work in progress..." The police apprentice said. "And he's not mine, he belongs to Avatar Jake here..."
Mikey shook his head somewhat dumbfounded. "He's the Avatar? He looks so... No offense... Like a peasant."
Jake narrowed his brown eyes at Mikey, seeming offended by his comment anyway; yet, he simply looked back at Cinos and tugged roughly at his harness.
"Appearances aren't always what they seem." He huffed, obviously ready to go back with the wolfcat.
"Gee I wish people could figure that one out about waterbenders..." Mikey said looking around.
"Jake hold on, are you about ready for the festival?" The elder earthbender said.
Jake let out an exasperated sigh at the elder's question and scoffed "As much as I'll ever be. Look, I already told you that I never even wanted to do this whole spirit-forsaken 'Avatar Day' in the first place."
"Come one come all! Come put your name in a raffle box to win the prize of a life time! Place your name in your appropriate bending style!" a man said as he jumped around four boxes that sat near a stage.
"Alright is this some kinda scam i'm not putting my name in that box" Lexi said skeptically at the ticket guy.
"Sure whatever..." Mikey said, throwing his name into a blue box.
"What is this prize of a lifetime"
"I don't know, it could be a lifetime supply of food, a yacht, a mation... Anything..." Mikey said.
"i don't trust it but I'll put my name in there" Lexi said putting her card in the fire nation box before going and drinking some tea. Mikey found his way to a place to sit and took a seat to watch the actors on the stage. A young girl with two long braids, the same one who was chasing Cinos down earlier on, had then walked to the ticket boxes and stayed at her spot for a while, as if she was pondering. She then added a ballot into the air temple's boxes and walks off to one of the nearby tables to sit down.
Mikey watched many people approach and add their names. Including the elder police guy that had spoke with him. "Just what could that be all about?"
"From what i've heard its supposed to be this grand adventure of a lifetime" Lexi said sipping on her tea.
Mikey looked at her then back at the boxes.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen! We're going to begen the drawing for the benders that will train the new Avatar!" said a man up on the stage.
Mikey coughed and shook his head, "Say, WHAT!"
".. Hey can I uh get my name back, thanks!" lexi said, her eye was twitching with irritation.
"And here is Kira, he'll be reading the winners of our contest!" the man said handing the mic to the elder earthbender. He looked over his shoulder hesitantly at Jake. Knowing the changes that had occurred over the past month with the discovery of the Avatar.
"Well, alright then... the first bender..." He said waiting to add suspense. "Lexi Flame of the Fire Nation!"
"NO THANKS" Lexi said looking around nonchalantly. Kira walked over to the yellow box with the airbenders names.
"Now for air." He said pulling out a name. The same girl from before had all of a sudden started to stir, look very flustered at the moment.
Fira looked at the note with a suspenseful gaze, making the crowd sweat. "Trixie Breeze of the Air Temple Island!"
Apparently the girl's name was just that, as she froze in her place, staring wide-eyed at Kira stuttering sheepishly.
Kira looked at the water box and placed his hand in. Mikey piped out, "I'm totally not getting my name-"
"Mikey Winters of the Northern Water Tribe!" Kira anounced.
Mikey started. "WELL CRAP!"
"Yea.. I'm just not gonna do that" Lexi said getting up to leave.
"Last but not least, earth" kira called out. Several earthbenders looked excited. They wanted to be the famous teachers of the Avatar. Kira pulled a name out and looked at the paper and dropped it. His eyes were huge.
a
"Kira Obsidian of Ba sing Sei" He said looking out into the croud with large green eyes. "Me..."
Jake had been lingering behind him in the comfort of the shadows through the back of the stage. His face was hard to make out if he was angry or content, but the young avatar's expression looked like it visibly changed to one of surprise.
Mikey looked like he was going to run, but was discouraged due to all the guards. Lexi was slowly inching towards the gate.
"The firebender is running away!" some random freak said epically pointing at Lexi.
"DAMN YOU" lexi said before running away from the festival.
"Wait!" Kira said ask he stomped the ground and shooting himself off after Lexi. He landed in front of her and held out his hands.
"Hold on a minute" He said.
" I did not leave home for this" lexi said walking past him"
"You may think that but what if the spirits brought us together for a reason?"
"How is a self taught teenager gonna teach the uh-va-tar"
"I don't know any other firebender who knows how to bend blue fire, and lighting..." Kira said. "I know Jake might not appear to be a good Avatar, but if no one trains him, how will he ever hope to master the four elements?"
"There is nothing wrong in the world no war, no equalists"
"That doesn't mean that there will never be trouble again..."
"... Give me one good reason that doesn't involve the spirits"
"You won't have to go back to the Fire Nation for a while? Please, just think about it... If you really don't want to do this... I'll try to find someone better..."
"...Fine but I'm not going easy on him" Lexi said pushing past Kira.
Kira gave a sigh of relief and looked back to the festival. The two walked back and met up with the Avatar and the new team. The Avatar had his arms crossed defiantly while he waited for the group to catch up. He knew these people weren't exactly fond of them already, and he certainly didn't feel like having to deal with them all day, every day, for however long it took for him to master the elements. Jake had enough trouble as it is trying to cope with his lack of social skills and his being the holy, almighty, Avatar; now he had to face going around a bunch of people he didn't know or like and actually try to learn from them.
Cinos lowered his head to Jake's side and looked up at him. The large Wolf-cat may act like a kid, but he at least knew how the Avatar felt, and wanted to be there for him.
"So.. Where are we going..." Lexi said not facing the group of people. Mikey looked around and pointed.
"What about that volcano?" the waterbender asked.
"The closest volcano is two boat rides away" Lexi said.
"That would work. Considering the training and traveling. A volcano is a good start for firebending. What do you think, Jake?" Kira asked, trying let the Avatar have a say in his training.
Jake contemplated Kira's question for a minute, almost answering with a snarky "as long as I can push them all in there" but holding it back, knowing that if he complained the whole time that the training would just take longer. He shrugged anyway, not particularly caring where they went as long as they could get it over with.
"I'll try not to make it painful..." Mikey said looking at Jake. "My water trainer was a little harsh... I'll do my best not to be the same with you" He added while petting Cinos.
Jake eyed Mikey almost suspiciously as he watched the waterbender pet Cinos. He wasn't sure how to reply, so he simply looked on, not saying a word in response.
"Lets go already geez..." Lexi said impatiently.
"Alright," Kira said as he looked at Trixie. He looked away feeling bad for choosing someone as shy as her. She stayed silent the entire trip, never looking up from the ground. Mikey had taken note of her behavior and tried to lighten the mood.
"Hay umm, Trixie! What do you call a duck with a horse face?" He said, "Naw... sorry... that was stupid, ignore me... I just don't want everyone all gloom and doom the whole time."
At the first part of his question, Trixie startled and shot a flighty look at him. After he was finished she then looked slightly embarrassed and murmured in a soft voice "You're not stupid, you are just trying to be helpful." She then smiled sweetly at him and turned away. "I thought that was very kind of you."
Mikey looked up a little and smiled, "Oh, good... Oh hay, this way you can spend more time with this big fuzz ball!" Mikey said pointing to Cinos.
Trixie's expression then brightened up, grinning happily as she rushed over to Cinos. The airbender hugged Cinos tightly and showered him with love and affection which showed how much she apparently was fond of other creatures. Mikey smiled, and Cinos wagged his thick fluffy tail.
Kira sat near Jake, away from the others and watched. "You know..." Kira said. "I'm sure this won't end up being such a bad thing..."
Jake shot a look at Kira, then looked away. "That's what you think." He replied quietly, not wanting attract attention or have a talk right now. "You already know how I feel about this whole situation. Can't I just learn these by myself instead of having to hang around all these people?"
"I agree there no threat to the world, and no one wants to be here, just let the uhvatar learn the elements by himself" Lexi said shooting lightning off a cliff.
"You know, it's not that easy!" Kira said. "You act like you only care about yourself, there's more to this then then just training Jake! Most people don't know, but something happened a while back, something frightening... If theres no Avatar... It's over..." Kira said getting up and walking off.
Cinos tilted his head and looked at Jake. Jake looked back at Cinos with discomfort showing in his eyes as he listened to Kira walking off.
"Out of this group of people I only do care about my self alexa, why.. BECAUSE I KNOW HER AND MYSELF, everyone else here NEVER GONNA SEE AGAIN AFTER THIS IS OVER" S
Mikey sat up and looked hurt, "That's harsh you know. Maybe you should just leave, we'll find someone better to train Jake, 'cause I'm just sure he wants to get yelled at..." He said. Trixie also stared at Lexi, as if she was scared of her mere presence. She hid behind Mikey and Cinos, as if they could shield her from the, seemingly mad, woman.
"I uh... Kind of have to agree with lexi on this one... She is right none of us know each other... So it isn't technically fair to assume everything is all good with this decision... I'm not even a bender and I can't honestly say that I would trust people I was just thrown basically in a lion-turtle den with.." Alexa said drawing in the dirt. "But... That's just me im sorry if that came off weird"
"I know what you mean but... How is this different? When Aang first came back, no one trusted him, but Katara! Jake needs us to trust him like Katara trusted Aang... Sure they met the other benders along the way, but they became his friends! And Firelord Zuko, who was hunting Aang even became his friend. Just because we don't know each other at all doesn't mean we have to hate each other!" Mikey said. Alexa flinched and looked down.
"I..I'm sorry..." Alexa said sniffling quietly
"Don't yell at her again waterbender..." Lexi said standing in front of her, "I could care less if you hate or yell at me, but I will not let anyone of you treat her like she is less of a person just because she can't bend."
"Wha- No! I wasn't yelling at her! I was yelling at you!" Mikey said.
"You want know the difference between aang's time and now... They were closer in age, and it started with three people it wasn't a huge jump of people thrown together because of a gamble"
"Fine... I'll just leave make the group smaller!" Mikey said before he was cut off by Cinos' snarling. Their fighting was irritating the usually calm giant. His uneasiness made it clear that it was disturbing Jake as well. Jake had been trying to keep quiet the whole time, but his attempts were failing him at the moment. Sitting down with an aggravated sigh, the Avatar had put his head in his hands in frustration, wishing that he was alone with Cinos at the time.
Cinos sensed his friend's feelings and on instinct went to hims and put his muzzle on his shoulder. Feeling his beast's warm presence, Jake put a hand on his muzzle and stroked his fur, knowing that if anyone could try to help him through his hard times, it would be Cinos.
The big blue fuzzball purred with his ears down, but his pur soon turned to a growls as his ears flattened back. His crimson eyes staring into the forest.
Jake noticed the quick change in his pet's behavior and calmly asked "Cinos? What is it, what's wrong?"
The answer came as Kira came running back stumbling under the pain of exhaustion. "RUN!" The word had barely left the earthbenders lips before a burst of black fire lit the trees around them.
"T-Thats impossible" Lexi said backing up shaking slightly.
"What!" Mikey asked looking at her. "What's with the black fire?" He added.
"Th... That's just an old tale... No one can bend fire... It's not possibl- GO take the avatar and get out of here, Alexa go with them" Lexi said cracking her knuckles.
"No, I'm not leaving you here on your own!" Mikey said.
"No one will be leaving this site" A voice said from a tree.
"Heh... I'm better off not in the group JUST GO"
"Fine, but if I don't see you alive in an hour, I'm coming back for you-" the waterbender's words were cut short, by a strike of black lightning.
"AUGH" he cried before he fell.
"I told you to go, would someone get him and go, you could all end up dead here"
Jake suddenly stomped his foot to the ground and earthbent a large wall from the ground up, and took off, motioning everyone to start running. Kira helped Trixie to her feet and got Mikey, and Alexa, quickly taking Cinos by the rains, and ran.
"What's your business with the Avatar..." Lexi said narrowing her eyes at the direction the voice came from.
"My business is none of your concern, firebender..." it said darkly.
"It is, you wanna go toe to toe with me hotshot lets go"
The entity that let the black flames did not reply but he did show himself. His body frame was small, and his hair was a tangeled mess of spikes. His clothes appeared burnt, signed by the black fire he held in his hands. His eyes, pale like there was no soul running the body.
"So what's a runt like you doin with black fire"
"It was a gift given to me by the dark spirit of the old times..."
"Are you gonna talk or do something hotshot"
The small firebender turned and kicked, sending a jet wave of black fire at Lexi. Although it missed... The heat and speed was extreme... Lexi backed up from the fire a bit, she charged at him feet and hands a blaze. The darkbender jumps and send black fire from his fists and feet.
Lexi spun and kicked through the dark flames and send a bolt of lightning at the darkbender, after sending a flaming punch towards the figure. He dodged the attacks and threw back lightning and fire, equally matching the firebending in speed and heat. Lexi jumped up and sent a flaming kick towards the figure's head.
As she jumped, suddenly, the ground started to crumble and shake violently below her as it trailed towards the dark firebender. Jake was behind her, trying to help. The earth speedily rose up a block underneath the darkbender's feet, in order to launch him off, flying. Lexi took the opportunity to send a flaming punch into the figures stomach.
The fire made an impact and flew into a couple trees. He slowly got up and held his chest looking up at the Avatar and the firebender.
"What do you want with the avatar" Lexi said defensively, her hand still on fire.
The dark being rose to his feet and glared. "Avatar Korra... Killed my family in cold blood! And I, Darkfire, will not rest until I see the Avatar dead!" He snarled. Lexi stepped infront of the avatar.
"Not while I'm around, get lost"
"Don't think this means you have won... I'll come back..." he said darkly, as black flame engulfed him. The fire soon subsided and there was no trace of him left but the burnt forest.
Lexi hissed and held her side, "come on uh-va-tar you should tell the others on whats going on" she said looking at him.
Jake shook his head, confused. "... I'm not sure what that was about."
Cinos had followed his master back, weary of the burnt grass and trees. Their eyes met and in that single moment a single question was asked.
"How will we ever get through this now?..."