Prologue/In Medias Res
In a workshop that sat on the grounds of a most impressive estate, three teenagers and one lone peace officer wearing metal garb stood around a hole.
A sudden shift in the ground caused a light shake broke the silence among them all as the youngest teenager a boy with black hair and green eyes that matched the sash he wore around his waist.
"What was that?" said Bolin the Earthbender with a slight panic in his voice.
"We need to get down there and see what's going on!" said Mako the Firebender Bolin's older brother who wore a red scarf matching the same color of his fire blasts.
But the metal officer held an expression of stern duty as he replied back. "Absolutely not. You're staying put until the chief comes back!" he of course referred to his commanding officer who along with a handful of other authority figures went into the hole, instructing everyone else in the workshop to stay behind.
But the brothers didn't let up with just a quick second the two former street urchins gave one another a silent signal, more specifically the one used for a quick and easy hustle.
"All right, we'll stay put. But could we wait outside or something?" Mako suggested. "It's so dusty in this workshop."
"No!" the metal officer snapped back. "We're waiting right here!"
"Okay, but don't blame me if I start sne-" and then by some twist of faith, enforced method acting, or from a force of will Mako let out a sneeze!
"What's your problem, bub?" the metal officer asked out of disgust as the Firebender had made no attempt to cover his mouth at all as if he was spraying his germs on purpose.
"I'm about to-" Mako bent his head back as the officer leaned forward not worried for his own health this time if Mako began to sneeze again. But just as Mako let out another sneeze….
"ACHOOO!"
A great big burst of wind came from the front door of the workshop as it shot the metal officer to the other side of the workshop's wall knocking down all the shelves containing various tools and what not.
But instead of buried under the pile of mess the officer was suspend off the ground and immobile with a sheet of ice holding him in place, leaving only his head free of any frost.
Mako, Bolin and the last teenager a young woman with a full volume of long black hair dressed in a black and red suit dress combo looked back in astonishment at the trapped officer until Bolin and the girl turned their attention back to Mako.
"M…Mako?" Bolin said his brother's name slowly as he raised a shaky finger to the iced officer "How did you do that?"
"It wasn't him." Asami Mako's girlfriend and Bolin's regular friend said slowly. "That wind came from the door way.
It was there the teenagers saw the source of the cold blast. A young boy who looked no older then twelve wearing a large yellow fiddler cap with brown hair escaping from under it. Also wearing blue and white Ainu style clothes the young boy rubbed his nose with his index finger as he took in a few sniffs.
"Wow it's really dusty in here." The child said as he tried to breathe in deeper. "I can't take in enough air to follow the scent anymore." Looking ahead the boy noticed the older children in the workshop and then the trapped officer.
"Oh look at what you did, Tomoki!" A female voice said following up to the boy now known as Tomoki.
A young woman a few years older than Mako and the others strolled up to Tomoki and bent down placing her rather large pair of breasts on top of the boy's head.
The woman's magnificent mammaries were loosely held up by a very low cut red tank top robe that showed off plenty of cleavage. She also had on a white cloth tied around her head and knotted to the side but had large portion of her black hair sticking out from the head wear. Pressing her breasts down a bit more causing Tomoki to take a few steps in more everyone could also see that the woman wore a pair of red pants which puffed out in the legs with yellow flames decaled all the way up to her thighs.
"You just assaulted a police officer." The woman said looking down as she took in a deep breath of mocked shock. "You're going to get hauled off to jail now!"
This didn't make Tomoki panic at all as he rolled his eyes. "I'm not the crybaby that I was six months ago, Sheba!" Getting out of the big bosomy woman's reach he placed his arms at his hips. "I'm a manly warrior now! Besides we're already wanted criminals in the Earth Kingdom I don't think it'd take too long before we're outlaws here too!"
Sheba had a disappointment look on her face as she leaned against the doorway and folded her arms. "Ahhhh you're not fun to mess around with so much now that you're so grown up." It was at that moment Sheba's gaze landed upon Mako, Asami, and Bolin. "How's it going?" she asked raising her right prosthetic that looked like it was made out of wood.
The other's stood silent again. Asami couldn't say anything as she was already occupied with worry on the reason she and the others were in the workshop in the first place.
Mako was trying to very hard not to look at Sheba's chest as the older woman managed to get her girls to bounce again and instead tried to focus on Asami who even with all anxiety and confusion could still slightly leer at her boyfriend who was making it very obvious that he wasn't trying to stare at the other woman.
And as for Bolin well in any situation ether it be tense or relaxed Bolin was still well Bolin. "Hey lady what happened to your arm?" he asked as he didn't really make any attempt to hide the fact that his eyes were acting like a pair of ping pong balls as they kept switching from Sheba's arm to Sheba's breasts.
"Oh this?" Sheba asked as she shifted her arm free and held it up. "How 'bout I tell you all the nasty details over dinner and if we have some time I'll tell you about my arm too."
It took a second for Bolin to get the implication which plastered a smile on his now red face making him pull back his collar a bit to get the steam out.
"Sheba who are you talking to?" another voice said from the outside provoking Sheba to step away from the frame and allow the hero of our story to make his debut.
Dressed in a red jacket with gold trimmings that wasn't buttoned all showing a chainmail shirt underneath it and orange pants another young man with wild golden hair held back by a black headband with an orange spiral in the middle got everyone's attention as the others in the room even to the frozen officer couldn't get their eyes off his hair that seemed to bask in the same warm glow as the sun.
"Oh hey Boss!" Sheba said out loud as the woman stood straight up in some form of respect as she addressed the yellow haired new comer. "It looks like were not as alone as we hoped."
The boss looked and scanned the workshop from the giant hole in the ground from which he could see a flight of stairs going down it, to the other three teens, to the officer. "Is that guy going to be alright, Sheba?" the boss asked as he pointed over to said officer.
"What?" turning her head away from the boss and then back again Sheba casually said. "Oh yeah he's fine loves it up there, closest thing to a day off he's had in years."
The boss bought it as he looked slightly befuddled. "R..really ok I guess, but you three over there." He addressed his unknown peer group. "If Tomoki's found the right place…" the boss paused as the boy nodded his head and pointed down the hole. "…then you're going to have to get as far away from this whole area as you can, it's not going to be safe soon."
"What do you mean it's not safe?" Mako asked. "Are you talking about the Equalists, is Hiroshi really backing them up?" And there it was the source of the original tension Hiroshi Sato, Asami's father was accused of being associated or possibly a member of a group of masked criminal who responsible for several public attacks against bending citizen of Republic City.
The Boss looked back at his own people who just shrugged back. "Err we actually just came here from the Earth Kingdom I don't know who you're buddy Hiroshi is or whatever the heck's an Equalist?"
"Earth Kingdom?" Asami whispered before speaking up. "Before that little boy said you were all criminals and outlaws so why are we going to listen to you!"
"Well maybe to some people?" Naruto scoffed in disbelieve ignoring Tomoki in the distance screaming not a little boy. "It depends on who you ask."
"Like the Earth Queen." Sheba said.
"Or those White Louts people." Tomoki added.
"And don't get us started on every forest ranger and restaurant owner back there."
Boss looked slightly nervous as he rubbed the back of his head and laughed out. "I guess we have a habit of not following rules or paying bills because the restaurant things new to me." With a shift in the wind the boss had a serious look back on his face again. "Look if you don't want to leave…"
"You're on my property." Asami said firmly. "Right now the police are down there trying to find out if my father Hiroshi Sato is a criminal and I don't care how dangerous it is I'm going down there to find out if it's true or not so you can follow me or stay behind up here!"
Mako couldn't help but let out a small smile wondering what celestial being to thank for letting such a cool girl like Asami enter his life. Placing a reassuring hand on Asami's shoulder Mako added. "I think it's time we all see what's down there and whatever your intentions are tonight as long as it doesn't involving hurt any of my friends…or any other Metalbending cops then I think we should all go together."
The boss nodded along. "Look I think we might be here for different reasons then all of you. We've spent the last four days tracking down a man that's led us to this city. Just this afternoon Tomoki caught the scent of the guy which is why we're here. He must be hiding somewhere in the background so we better get going, you guys ready?" he asked his own people first.
"You know us sand nomads we're packed and ready to go before you even say let's go!" Sheba declared with wink and thumbs up from her wooden hand.
"I'm ready too, Naruto." Tomoki said as he blew out his nose getting all the dust and gunk out of it.
"Naruto?" Bolin asked saying the name out loud as he looked at the golden haired leader.
"Oh sorry I guess I should introduce myself I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki and these are two of my friends, Tomoki and Sheba." Naruto introduced himself while going down the steps of the workshop's secret sub-basement as Tomoki and Sheba ran at a faster pace running past Naruto who was going steady.
Everyone else save for the still frozen officer who was beginning to sneeze uncontrollably from the cold, followed Naruto with Asami and Mako still inquiring more from the golden haired stranger.
"Before you said you and your friends are following someone, who exactly are you after?" Asami asked.
"To be honest I don't really know is name." Naruto said as he looked up and folded his arms behind his head. "We've just been calling him his rank that his subordinates address him by, The Lieutenant."
"The Lieutenant!" Bolin cried out as he painfully slid past Mako to get in front of Naruto by pressing his older brother against the staircase's railing causing all the air to escape the Firebender's lungs and squish his more delicate features together.
"Is he about average height, fit build, wears tinted googles and has a sinister looking mustache?" Bolin asked as he faced Naruto by walking backwards and using his hands to physically gesture every attribute he just listed.
"Ah yeah that sounds just like that creep!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Mako doesn't it sound like that mustache guy who shocked us back when Korra rescued me from Amon at that secret rally and shocked and tied us up again during the Pro-bending finales!"
Readjusting himself and trying to regain his breath Mako wheezed out. "I helped in saving you too." Before he pulled himself back up and regained his normal volume again. "But yeah I remember Amon calling him Lieutenant too."
"Who's Amon?" Naruto asked.
"He's the leader of the Equalists." Mako answered.
"Wait I thought you said that girl's dad was the leader of the Equalists?" Naruto stated pointing over to said girl.
"Well first off my name is Asami and second, no my father's been of accused of aiding the Equalists by supplying them with weapons." Asami said just as everyone reached the end of the staircase and where now on a platform that a slanted elevator that went even further down the earth.
Naruto having taken the new information in looked around the secret underground facility hesitated for a second. "Yeah…I'm pretty sure your old man is doing something really bad down here. I mean we're still in the beginning of this place and already I can tell this is a bad guy hideout."
Bolin sucked his teeth as he slowly turned his head towards Asami already looking like he was regretting on what he was about to say. "You know he kind of has a point."
"So what I got from all of this is that the lieutenant guy we're after also moonlights for these Equalist people when he's not a member of the Black Parade!" Sheba shouted her voice caring out through the metal enforced tunnel as she and Tomoki stood at the edge of the plate form.
"The Black Parade?" Mako asked. "What, or who is the Black Parade?"
Bolin looked like he didn't have a clue but the look on Asami's face told the Firebender she might know something. "Asami?"
"Well I remember hearing my father mentioning them once. When I asked he didn't tell me who they were but the look on his face….I never saw him look so scared before."
"So it looks like I not only have to save you guys and your buddies down there but these Equalist people too before the Lieutenant totally kills everyone when we rat him out for playing in two separate groups." Naruto sighed out.
"Come on don't you think you're over reacting?" Mako asked. "I've seen this guy in a fight, yeah he's formidable but come on one person can't take on all of us, the cops, and the other Equalists."
Naruto walked over to the edge standing in the middle between Tomoki and Sheba as the all stood a few feet apart. "Trust me what you've seen before was just a tip of the ice burg with that guy without us you don't stand a chance."
"Really?" Asami asked. "And then what makes the three of you so special?"
Naruto couldn't help but let out a smile after all the years being on the other end of things without a clue as to what was really going on it was fun being on the other end of the enigma stick. "Sheba, Tomoki why don't you guys go on ahead for a bit to show them what you've got."
"Ok Naruto 3,2,1,go!" Tomoki shouted as the young boy brought his hands together by interlocking his finger except for his indexes which he placed his right one higher than his left. "Ice Forge: Sliding Boots!"
Jumping into the air Mako, Bolin, and Asami all watched on in awe as Tomoki's feat began to glow and be surrounded by pale blue light as the boy dropped back down off the plate form!
Running over the side expecting to see the little boy tumble hopelessly down the vertical rail track, they instead saw that Tomoki was perfectly fine as he was sliding down the tunnel parallel to the metal track leaving behind a trail of ice in his wake!
Bolin was the first to pull his head back with his jaw still low in disbelieve at what he just saw. "H…how is he how can he….what was that?!"
"That was cheating that's what that was!" Sheba shouted as she too formed the same hand gesture right before jumping off the plate form. "Ignition Forge: Dramatic Flair Striding Boots!" and like Tomoki her feet also glowed this time in a dark red as the second she touched the ground a small explosion came out from her foot causing her to jump back up even higher into the air.
"Ha you might have gotten a head start but I'm going to Wham! Oh damn it one of my tits just smacked me in the face!" Sheba cried out right until she was close to the ground again until another explosion shot her straight back up.
Bolin rapidly shifted his head back and forth in rapid succession. "What was that?"
Naruto walked over to the edge were the others were and looked down to see that despite getting a head start Sheba had managed to get to the bottom first. "Oh look at that Sheba one, poor Tomoki he's been using the Sage Arts longer then she has I hope he doesn't get to bummed out."
"Hey didn't you hear my brother's question?" Mako asked as he got into Naruto's personal space.
"I didn't." Ignoring Mako's closeness Naruto tilted his head towards Bolin. "What was your question was it about my hair because I'm getting pretty tired of having people asking me on why my hair's this color." Naruto then pointed to the golden locks as he looked pretty miffed.
"NO HOW DID THOSE TWO GET DOWN THERE LIKE THAT?!" Was the loud collective response from the two brothers and one girl.
Naruto looked a little bit surprised as he blinked a few time. "Oh that, that was….
{The Sage Arts: Definition a technique created when the combination of chi the energy from one's body, and natural energy which resides in the planet's atmosphere and terrain is focused and collected into one specific part of the users body spiraling together by being steered from one's spirit.
An example in order to perform the Elemental Slide Boots techniques the user must make the hand gesture known as the ram seal. Through this seal and sheer will power the user pushes their chi down from their stomach into their feet. Next the user will simultaneously pull in the natural energy from the current environment from the roots of their soles into their whole feet. Finally the user must extend the range of their spirit from within their whole body to the circumference area which not only mixes the chi and natural energies together but also tells the new combined energy were to go into the world.}
Naruto placed his Sage Art flash cards back into his pocket along with the small bull horn that made his voice deeper and more informative. "Wow Sinjin was right it is more fun using the horn makes me sound like the narrator or something."
Mako and Asami looked like that had even more questions but were too busy digesting what they had just heard to say anything.
Bolin however having a rather large appetite wasn't as full though. As he stroked his chin with one hand and pointed his finger towards Naruto with the other. "Ok then what's with the glowing? Right before your friends jumped down their feet glowed different colors."
"Oh that's just a side effect see when your spirit leaves your body it becomes like this invisible ghost thing." Naruto explained as he clapped his hands together. "But when your spirit mixes with chi and natural energy it'll glow in the color of the element you use, kind of like this!"
In that moment Naruto's whole body began to glow and become coated in golden aura that seemed to give of the appearance of flickering flames coming out of him. "See now this is about two levels above what you saw those two do."
Naruto's new appearance seemed to snap Asami and Mako out of it as they cautiously approached Naruto noticing first that he wasn't giving off intense heat despite his appearance.
"Does….does that hurt you?" Mako asked.
"No see for yourself!" Without warning Naruto raised his arm and somehow managed to extend his glowing aura in the shape of a clawed hand that circled around and tied up Asami and Mako. With his other arm Naruto extended out another aura claw that grew picking Bolin up by the waist as he was hoisted up in the air.
"What are you doing?!" Asami shrieked as she tried to free herself.
"Sorry about this but it'll be a lot faster than taking the elevator!" Naruto yelled over their collective cries as his aura grew out a third arm coming out from his stomach that stretched itself downward to were the other two strangers as the new arm pulled Naruto off his feet and started to reel him into the air as he dragged his hostages along with him.
"You're going to fast!" Asami screamed ironic as she herself as a bit of a speed demon behind the wheel of a roadster.
"I think I'm going to be sick." Mako quality said as he tried desperately not to puke all over himself or his girlfriend.
"WEEEEEEEE, this is pretty fun!" Bolin squealed in delight as he threw his hands into the air and waved them around as if he was on a carnival ride.
"A man…A man is…"
"That's it try to sound it out."
"A….Amon is….Amon is teehee…."
Standing in what looked to be a very large underground warehouse Naruto, Bolin, and Tomoki stood in the center of the facility as the little boy in the yellow hat took the time to try and improve his reading comprehension.
Tomoko pointed his finger at the poster of the Equalist leader Amon to help read the words under the image as he also tried squinting his eyes as the facility didn't have an abundance of light at the moment as if the whole place was on standby. "No not teehee that's dumb. Amon is the….the…."
"Solution." Asami said sadly as she Mako and Sheba were getting a closer look at one of the large mechanized automatons that had been lined up on both sides of the underground factory. "Amon is the solution."
Asami couldn't help but fold her arms together hugging them close to her chest as she looked down in shame trying to find any reason why any of the posters or weapons could be down here, but sadly all roads led to one conclusion.
"Hey lady I would have been able to read that by myself." Tomoki grumbled as he placed his hands in his pockets in anger looking back up at the poster and mothing the words written on them.
"Hey ease up on Asami ok." Bolin said defending the rich heiress. "She just found out her dad's working for an evil army of masked chi blockers who want to take away the bending of every bender in this city and then THE WORLD!" Bolin threw his arms into the air again and started making ohhhing noises in order to sound spookier; sadly not even the twelve year old in the room was frightened by that.
"Bolin knock it off you're not helping!" Mako yelled as he tried placing his arms around Asami for support but was gently shocked off. "There…there still might be a good reason why these machines are down here."
"Yeah a….a…Red Scarf guy's right Long Haired girl's dad might have just made all these things to sell to the Equal Exchange Gang." Naruto said failing spectacularly at trying to help the situation. "That's not so bad he's just a weapons smuggler."
Sheba shook her head in disappointment as she leaned in closer to Mako and Asami. "He's really bad with names during the first impression." She said apologizing for the one she called Boss.
"Or that lady's dad could be the Amon guy." Tomoki said getting everyone to look at him. "Look he's wearing a mask so it could be him right."
"Ok no your way off, Little Guy." Bolin said as he placed his hand on top of Tomoki's head as he squatted down to meet the young boy's eye level. "I've seen Amon up close in fact. So I can tell you Asami's dad Hiroshi is way too fat to be Amon I mean he'd need like the world's strongest girdle just to squeeze in Amon's outfit."
"BO!" Mako shouted his voice carrying around the room thanks to the natural acoustics. "Would you please stop!"
Bolin placed his hands on his mouth and took a few steps backwards trying to make a poor effort in hiding behind Tomoki.
"Well what about my idea?" Naruto asked as he started walking over towards the others.
Sheba placed her artificial hand over on one of the giant machines as she scratched her finger along the surface. "I don't think so, Boss." The voluptuous woman said as she actually tasted the metal shavings in her mouth before spitting it out.
"These mechanized tank battle suits are made out of the same material as the inner workings of my right arm and your chainmail."
Looking down at the layer of protection he wore under his coat. "So these mecha suits are made out of plutonium!"
Sheba pouted slightly as she whispered under her breath. "I can't believe when Akaishi's not here I have to be the straight man or at least a half a straight man." Sheba's voice then picked up in a regular tone. "No, there all made out of platinum which is a non-ferrous metal."
"What does that mean non-ferrous?" Bolin asked.
"It's a fancy way of saying Metalbender can't bend it." Naruto replied. "Or at least they can't bend it in the same way they bend other kinds of metal, because if there's one thing I've learned since being on this planet it's that…."
"Nothing is unbendable!" Sheba and Tomoko yelled out in unison as they pointed a finger into the air while looking up towards tomorrow.
Naruto narrowed his eyes and looked back at his friends looking mildly annoyed. "Alright I get it I say that so much it's like my new catch phrase. But seriously Sheba so there's mechas are made to fight Metalbender so what's the big deal?"
"Right what I was saying before was that these machines aren't a business deal, there an investment." Sheba looked apathetic towards Asami as she continued. "You see platinum is a rare metal and that means it's also expensive as in even with all Hiroshi Sato's personal wealth your old man must have tapped into Future Industries' funds to be able to afford all of this. Which means…?"
"Which means my father's not building these weapons to sell to the Equalists or even being blackmailed to make these things. He's a part of this."
Naruto tapped Tomoko on the shoulder and silently told the boy to start sniffing around the facility. "I'm sorry you found out that your dad's part of a group of jerks who want to, what did you say before kill all benders?"
"The Equalists don't want to kill benders." Mako clarified. "They just want to capture us and take our bending away so we can all be equal." He said equal with the added visual of finger quotation marks.
"Yeah well we'll let you guys deal with all this personal family stuff while we just confront the Lieutenant and see why the Black Parade wants with these puny looking mecha suits or whatever it is they're after here."
That earned a surprise look from the other group of three. "What do you mean by puny?" Asami asked.
Naruto looked up at the hulking metal automatons with disappointment as he shook his head. "Oh well no offence to your old man, evil bad dad or not but these mecha suits compared to the one that I've seen the Black Parade use are like comparing a wooden cart to a full blown steam train."
"Actually Boss these aren't technically mecha suits, there Mecha tanks." Sheba corrected as she pointed at the automatons' feet. "See they have caterpillar treads instead of legs."
"Well whatever they are there kind of lame." Naruto shrugged. "My friend Sinjin built something like this back when we were kids and his could transform into a vehicle. I mean sure it use to catch on fire and blow up half the time but still."
"Hey Naruto I think I found something!" Tomoki shouted interrupting Naruto's reminiscing as the little boy was sniffing around a metal wall on the other side from where they entered the facility. "The scent ends right here."
Sheba ran up to the wall too. Placing her ear onto its surface she started to knock on different parts of the metal. "Yup this is platinum too and I think it's a room divider."
Taking a few steps back Sheba looked over at Naruto. "It's probably a four or four and a half feet of solid platinum in length."
Naruto closed his eyes for a second before snapping them back open. "Oh that's not good. Hey before you guys said you had friends who came down here before us right?" Naruto asked Bolin and the others as they all nodded their heads together.
"Yeah why?" Mako asked.
"Well I just felt a couple of Earthbenders, an Airbender, and some kind of freaky Waterbender all just pass out right now."
"That must be Korra and the others!" Bolin shirked as he slapped the sides of his face in terror. "We have to save them!"
"But how do we get to the other side?" Sheba asked. "Well the ground looks like it's made of stone the cute little Earthbender of there could tunnel us down there.
Bolin quickly stopped freaking out as he quickly blushed and used one had to hide his face while another to bat away Sheba's complement.
"Or Boss you can use Spiral Galaxy and punch a hole in the wall."
"Punch a hole?" Asami asked. "But you just estimated that it's at least four feet of solid non bendable metal how's anything going to punch threw it?"
"You haven't seen Spiral Galaxy it action, lady!" Tomoki shouted as he pointed a finger at Asami before moving it towards Naruto. "Come on show them Naruto!"
Sighing out Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry guys I can't. Spiral Galaxy hates cramped spaces and there's no way he could fit in here, but I know someone who can break down this wall in no sweat, Tomoki it's all on you buddy!"
"HIM!?" Asami Bolin and Mako asked in confusion.
"They're right why him, I can smash this wall better then he can." Sheba whined like a child.
"Well two reasons why Tomoki should do it one he still needs more practice and two you wouldn't so much as smash the wall down then blow it up shooting hot shards of metal at everyone on the other side."
Sheba sighed as she folded her arms. "I guess you're right oh well at least I'm going to get a kick out of seeing everyone's face after the squirt here does his thing."
"But's he's just a little kid." Mako stated as he looked back and forth at Naruto and Sheba. "You two aren't surly saying he can break down this wall with just Waterbending can you?"
"Well not with that attitude." Naruto snorted as he crouched down next to Tomoki and placed his hands on the boy's shoulder. "Ok Tomoki it's the eleventh hour…"
The young boy reached into his pocket and pulled out an old golden pocket watch which he opened and pointed at the face of the clock inside. "Ahhhhh?"
"Oh it's just an expression it means it's time to get serious." Naruto claimed getting a cheerful nod from the boy.
"So like I said it's the eleventh hour and it's all up to you for use to finally capture the Lieutenant before he can hurt anyone else. Do you see those guys?" Naruto asked pointing at Asami, Mako, and Bolin.
"Those fancy pants city people think that just because you were raised in a tundra for six years by otter penguins that their better then you!" Naruto yelled.
"They what!" Tomoki yelled trying to turn his head in order to glare daggers at them only for Naruto to physically force the child's head towards the door.
"That's right but what's worse is that on the other side of the wall there are a lot more people who think that just because they're city folks that you don't deserve your sage abilities I taught you let alone your original Waterbending powers."
Tomoki bared his teeth and started growling with his mouth locked even though his appearance was intended to be feral it came out as adorable.
"Now are you ready?"
"Yeah I'm ready!"
"Are you mad?"
"Yeah I'm mad!"
"Well then knock it off!" Naruto shouted as he whooped Tomoki upside the head. "How many times do I have to tell you, you always have to have a clear mind in order to stop thinking like an animal otherwise you can't absorb natural energy!"
Even though his big yellow hat protected him it still didn't stop Tomoki from rubbing his head. "Ok, ok everyone stand back."
Tomoki closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright first build up the power." Forming the ram seal the outline of the boy's body began to glow in a light blue as he opened his eyes showing the same light coming out of his eyes.
"The hunt begins let's go Howling Comet, dattebayo!" Tomoki shifted his hands into a cross seal with his index and ring fingers from both hands as the light from his body shifted backwards as if it blew off his body growing in size as a pogonip fog swept out from the disembody aura in all directions as the mecha tanks and parts of everyone's clothing started to frost over in ice.
Mako held up a flame in his hands that Asami got close to as the Firebender had his scarf wrapped around the two of them.
"What's he doing?" Bolin asked as he hugged himself in warmth while walking around trying to stay warm. But absently bumped backwards into something big, hairy, and alive!
Turning around Bolin saw that it was a giant furry white leg the same size of a tree trunk. Following the leg up to its owner the Earthbender titled his neck all the way back to see a pair of glowing eyes looking down right at him as the mysterious entity let out its own fog of white mist from its nostrils.
"M…Ma…Ma…Mako!" Bolin yelped out in a very low frightened whisper as he slowly started to walk away from the creature.
Even at such a low volume Mako heard his brother and saw the same creature as he shifted the flame out and entered a stance ready to let a stream of fire out. "What the hell is that?!"
Sheba found a way to keep herself warm by lighting up a golden and red kiseru pipe as she exhaled her own form of hot smoke smiling a sinister smirk as she took the pipe from her mouth and held it up. "Beware young pilgrim for hell is empty as all the devils are here."
On the other side of the platinum wall Hiroshi Sato exited out of one of his mecha tanks as he looked upon the defeated forms of Avatar Korra, Master Tenzin, and Police Chief Beifong along with a few of her metal officers that were caught in the Equalist's trap.
"Well, I'd say that was a near flawless test run." Hiroshi said towards the Equalist known simply as the Lieutenant who stood apart from the others by wearing a mask that didn't cover his lower mouth as it exposed his stylish mustache to the world.
From one of the other tunnels of the underground facility a few transportation trucks pulled up next to the other mecha tanks still being operated by the more minion like Equalists. "Load everyone into the transports and deliver them to…"
POW!
Before Hiroshi could finish giving the lieutenant his command he was interrupted by the whole room shaking from a tremor that managed to knock the wealthy inventor onto his back side.
"What….what was that?!" Hiroshi bellowed as he readjusted his templeless glasses as they became askew.
Managing to keep his footing from the small quake the lieutenant started scanning the area seeing that all of the Earthbenders and the Avatar were still out of it but when his eyes looked up straight ahead the masked man pulled out a pair of electrically charged fighting sticks from his charge backpack and causally alerted Sato and the others.
"Look over there!" the Lieutenant yelled getting everyone to look at the direction he pointed one of his sticks in.
Getting to his feet Sato cautiously looked at the lieutenant before following the man's stick before he too took a step back as he saw a very large indentation coming form the other side of his unbendable platinum wall, what worried him more than the fact that the wall had a blemish itself was the shape of the mark, as it was in the shape of a large fist and the fact that it same height as one of his mecha tanks.
POW!
This time the Equalists knew where to look as another fist identical to the other in size and shape was instantly formed next to the first one also carried with a wave that shock the whole factory as the vibrations from the impacted traveled from the wall to the whole facility.
"What…what can make something like that?" the lieutenant asked out loud.
"You're asking me?" Hiroshi challenged as he ran to a nearby crate and strapped on a pair of metal gauntlets stylized in the same design as the other Equalist's paraphernalia.
"Well you're the scientist can you at least guess what that is!"
Before Hiroshi could say anything another fist tried to smash though the platinum wall followed by another then another and another. It was also when the Equalists realized that every time a fist mark was made the pow that followed wasn't a noise it was something yelling out….
"POW, POW ,POW,POW!" A loud booming voice cried out from the other side of the platinum wall as chunks of metal started to break apart and sail across the room, some shards actually made their way to Hiroshi's open mecha tank piercing the hull and shattering the enforced glass windows.
Taking that as their que Hiroshi and the lieutenant made a dash for the unoccupied mecha's treads. Taking cover behind it as more of the wall started to spew out more scatter shots throughout the area.
"Do you think the Avatar and Beifong brought reinforcements with them?" Hisohis asked as he bobbed between poking his head out to see what was left of the wall, and hiding it.
The lieutenant tried to answer back but couldn't utter a word as he started to notice his googles start to fog up along with his breath becoming visible. "Why…..why's it getting so cold now?!"
BOOM!
At long last a giant section of the middle of the wall was torn off with the bottom half falling to the ground and the top sailing all the way across the facility, landing right onto the giant access tunnel for transport trucks and the mecha tanks.
When the lieutenant and Hiroshi rose from their hiding places they were both greeted by a blast of wind so powerful and cold a layer of frost glazed over the mecha tanks and both of the men's respected mustaches.
From the hole of the platinum wall Hiroshi Sato did a double take in fear as he saw a mighty humongous creature about the same size as his tanks emerge from the other side. The creature walked on two legs with each one sprouting out three talons. Its fur was as white as the arctic tundra with what looked like black belts tied around its forearms as well as two powerful looking fists that grabbed onto the remaining platinum edges of the wall and bending out of shape.
The creature looked like it was wearing some sort of blue loin cloth to hide its private bits and pair of giant shields as shoulder pads for protection. It's face appeared feline with a pair of black horns coming out of its head and curved forward and it's white hair braided in the shapes of tendrils with metal spears at the end of them.
"Is…is that a spirit?" Hiroshi asked as he activated his electroshock gauntlets.
"You're asking me?" the lieutenant asked as he discarded his googles as they were now becoming a hindrance.
"Finally I thought we were going to freeze to death!" Bolin shouted as he ran past the white furred creature's legs shivering like mad as he rubbed his arms up and down and started going around in circles trying to get his blood flow up.
"Bo, be careful!" Mako yelled out to his baby brother as he and Asami come out together, still shivering as the Firebender tried his best to maintain the flame in his hands.
"See I told you Tomoki could bend that wall." Naruto said as he and Sheba casually walked out as both had and outline of aura coming from their bodies with Naruto's gold and Sheba's red.
"Just because the wall was bent doesn't mean it was….bent?" Mako had doubt in his words as trying to state a fact made him sound like he was speaking in repetition.
"Sweetie!" Hiroshi shouted his daughter's pet name when he saw her huddled together with her Firebending boyfriend. " I…I wanted to keep you out of this as long as I could."
"Dad, not now."
But Hiroshi didn't stay silent as he tried to take a step forward. "But now you know the truth, please, forgive me."
"D….dad…"
"These people, these benders they took away your….."
"Dad I said not now!" Asami shouted trying to keep her teeth from chattering. "I'm way too cold to stay focused on being mad right now!"
If it was from the loud noises or the familiarity of the cold Avatar Korra began to stir awake not yet able to get up but was able to listen on what was going on.
"How much longer can the kid maintain Howling Comet?" Sheba asked Naruto as she watched Tomoki begin to up button his jacket.
"About a minute if he's just standing there or less than thirty seconds if he does something big." Naruto replied.
The giant white furred creature clapped his hands together and bowed its head.
"What's it doing now?" Mako asked as he lowered his flame.
"That's just a habit." Tomoki explained. "Whenever Howling Comet smashes something he yells out Pow and after the fight he'll always prey to the elder ice spirit to watch over his enemy that he just destroyed."
"So what it's praying for a wall?" Mako asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Mako it's a giant furry monster!" Bolin yelled out. "Let it prey to whatever it wants!"
"Well the only one who should be preying now is him!" Tomoki shouted as he pointed right at Hiroshi Sato. "For his lame evil bending killing machine!" Tomoki then panned his finger up, right at the empty mecha tank.
Taking one step forward with one hand stuffed in his pocket and the other still on the mecha Tomoki shouted out. "You're already dead!"
Naruto had an annoyed expression on his face as he grunted out. "You're supposed to say that after your attack…."
"GO HOWLING COMET!"
The giant creature let out an earth shattering roar as it charged forward with its hands held out heading straight for the mecha tank, with Tomoko running as fast as he could right behind it.
"What's he doing?" Bolin asked as they all watched the creature warp its massive arms around the mid-section of the tank, while Tomoko stood right behind it.
"Tomoko has to be close to Howling Comet because its high level of power and sentience makes its range away from its user limited." Naruto stated as he dropped his aura.
"But what is that creature?" Asami asked as the temperature around started to rise again. "It just appeared out of nowhere is it some sort of spirit?"
"Well yes and no." It wasn't an exact answer but Naruto seemed to be building up to it. "You see the creature you see before you is linked to Tomoko because it is him!"
Just as Naruto stated that fact the creature lifted the mecha tank up into the air, tightening its squeeze on the machine as ice started to form all around it.
"Before when you saw Tomoki make that cross seal with his hands what he was actually doing was dividing his chi, spirit, and the natural energy gathered in his body into the empty space behind him."
The creature's might finally prove to be too strong as the mecha tank broke in half sending scrapes of metal and ice falling onto the ground. Unfortunately of the sharp metal shards fell directly across the creature's face cutting it slightly.
"Ouch!" Tomoki cried out as the same cut appeared on his own face.
"So what are you saying?" Asami asked trying to get to the bottom line.
Naruto snickered as he pointed directly at the creature. "I'm saying that creature was shaped from Tomoko's spirit were his imagination lies, granted to live by the physical essences of Tomoki's chi, and finally given the power over ice from the very planet it's self from the collected natural energy!"
"But what does that all add up to?" Korra asked out loud as she tried to get up to her feet. Bolin and Mako immediately went to their teammate's side kicking themselves mentally for not noticing her sooner.
"I'll tell you…." Naruto paused and gave Korra a once over before looking back. "Weird mutant Waterbender girl, to sum it all up that creature is what I call a Battle Avatar!"
Right when Naruto said those words a collective gasp of shock was heard from everyone in the room from the lowly Equalists who were acting for a command to Tenzin and Chief Beifong who were having trouble getting to their feet at the moment.
"How!?" Korra asked once the shock washed over her. "How can you call it that?!"
Naruto looked a bit confused as he shrugged "Well it's a living embodiment of the user and we use them for battle so battle avatar, Battle Avatar."
Bolin almost dropped Korra's arm that he slumped over his shoulder as he looked at Naruto with wonder. "And you have one too don't you. You said something before about something named Spiral Galaxy that's the name of your Avatar!"
Naruto laughed as he placed his arms behind his head. "Well it looks like someone was paying attention."
"Then that means that fuzzy one over there's called….called…Howling Comet right?!" Bolin asked outload.
"Good job buddy you got it right!" Naruto flashed Bolin a thumbs up for a correct answer.
Mako sighed out in embarrassment "Bolin knock it off this isn't a game show."
Everyone's attention went back down to Tomoki as the little boy started to stager as Howling Comet started to glow right before it faded away like a cool breeze until it was no more.
"And that's that." Naruto said. "Tomoki won't b eable to use his Battle Avatar for the rest of the night.
"That's fine by me." The lieutenant grunted out as he ran towards at Tomoki at full speed with his charged sticks aimed right at the little boy. "No more distractions."
"Oh no you don't you, asshole!" Sheba shouted as the voluptuous woman formed the cross shaped seal and uttered out the words. "The show's about to start let's go Nebula Showcase, dattebayo!"
The lieutenant was a hair's breadth away from knocking Tomoki out as all the young boy could do was look up at the man in fatigue when from out of nowhere a multi colored cloud made out of dust wrapped itself around the lieutenant wrist's and chest and yanked him backwards.
The man let out a shriek of terror as he was lifted into the air and the cloud suddenly started to glow right as it self-destructed leaving in its wake a beautiful fireworks display in its place that sailed the lieutenant half way across the room.
As the cloud started to reform its self it made only last performance before returning to its user. With just a little of it's self the cloud immediately flew towards Hiroshi and started to run circles around the inventor's gauntlets. Learning from watch the last show Hiroshi quickly slipped the gloves of and backed away from them just in time, as they started to frizz out like the sparklers children would run around with during celebration.
"Are you ok Tomoki?" Sheba asked as she waved at the boy while the remanding of her cloud retreated to her side.
"Yeah I'm fine." Tomoki said as he walked back to Naruto and the others. "I'm not saying thank you though, I could have taken those old guys."
Sheba huffed and said. "Snot nosed brat." Under her breath at the same time Naruto walked over towards Bolin and Mako and the beaten up Korra.
"So is this one of your friends you guys mentioned?" Naruto asked as he bent down to meet Korra's eye level.
"My name is Korra." The Water Tribe girl stated firmly trying her best to get to her feet on her own. "And I don't know how the trick behind that little kid summoning that spirit was but let's get one thing straight, I'm the one and only Avatar around here!"
Naruto began to look at Korra more closely like right into her eye close. "Really you may be an Avatar but I don't think you can be the only one. Besides when I look at your chi all I'm sensing is a Waterbender's."
"I heard what you called me before." Korra said as she looked back at Naruto in anger. "You called be some kind of mutant."
"I'm sorry I didn't mean anything by it." Naruto replied as he gently grasped the sides of Korra's face. "You are different there's definitely something more about you deep down, something I haven't sensed in a long time, I wonder what are you an Avatar of?"
"What…what are you doing?" Korra asked as she looked into Naruto's ocean blue eyes, gasping in wonder as they started to change color and began to glow golden like the rising sun, her lips beginning to quiver as she couldn't look away from wonder.
"Trust me I'm a sage….and this will only hurt for a second."
"Wait what?"
Naruto quickly reeled his head back as far as he could before bringing it back by slamming it forward giving Korra a head butt so powerful she flew out of the brother's grasp and fell backwards onto her rear.
"Why'd you do that I thought you were a good guy!" Bolin cried out as he entered a bending stance.
"He said it himself he's a criminal form the Earth Kingdom, Bo." Mako sneered as he held up his fingers in order to generate some lighting. "I knew you were up to something!"
"Guys wait it's alright!" Korra called out as she literally jumped to her feet. "I don't know how but I feel all better now!"
"R…really?" Mako asked as he looked back at the girl and saw all the scrapes and bruises she got from before were all gown now.
"See Naruto was trying to help all along." Bolin laughed out uncomfortably trying to ease the previous accusations.
Naruto didn't really mind as he was busy rubbing his forehead through his black headband. He then turned around once he felt Tomoki approaching him from behind. "Hey Naruto, I found this hurt old grandpa you should probably try and fix him too."
Tomoki had Master Tenzin in a head lock as he dragged the Airbender's body on the ground with him. Tenzin's only response to all this was letting out a low grown, but it was enough for Naruto to recognize the voice.
"Hey what do you know it's Old Man Tenzin it's been a while. Although I should have known you were the Airbender I sensed earlier, not like theirs's a whole lot of you guys left." Naruto greeted the old acquaintance with a full throttled head but as Tomoki managed to hold him in place as in a blink and you miss it moment the Airbender's tattoos glowed just as the master's eyes opened, fully alert.
Tomoki lost his grip as Tenzin got to his feet and tried to woozily dust himself off. "What in the world how…." Getting his vision back all Tenzin needed to see what a mop of yellow spiky hair to know who was behind his rejuvenation. "Uzumaki what are you doing here!?"
Naruto looked a bit miffed at the Airbenders greeting as he stroked his temples. "It's nice to see you haven't changed, you old puma goat."
"I'm sorry what did you just say?" Tenzin asked rhetorically as huffed at Naruto's rudeness.
"I SAID IT"S NICE TO SEE YOU HAVEN"T CHNAGED, YOU OLD PUMA GOAT!"
Tenzin tried in vain to cover his ears but it proved no good as a sharp ringing came along with Naruto's loud retort.
"Why you no good smart aleck you haven't changed at all either in what's it been five years now?" Tenzin used his pinky finger to even out his hearing. "You were a hooligan then and by what the rumors are surrounding your exploits in the Earth Kingdom you've grown into a full blown outlaw."
Naruto didn't look mad or offended at Tenzin remarks even after the young man had healed him. Naruto just rolled his eyes and walked past the Airbender and over towards Sheba who had used her multi colored dust to levitate Chief Beifong off the ground.
Placing his hand over Lin's forehead Naruto concentrated as he sent a combination of energy into the older woman's body resuscitating her completely.
"Hey what gives?!" Korra asked as both she and Tenzin looked at Naruto with content or in the case of Tenzin more content then usual.
"Don't blame me it's just that Metalbender's use their light chakra….." Naruto paused momentarily as he thought I miss real chakra "…more than other benders so it's easier to transfer to them with just a light touch."
Lin got off the combustible cloud as she clutched her aching head as she opened her eyes.
"Well you look a little dinged up but you should be as good as new in no time." Naruto said as he held his hand out. "It's nice to meet you I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm actually a friend of…" Naruto stopped his greeting when a metal gauntlet slapped his extended hand away.
"I know who you are. You have a rap sheet stretching all the way from the Northern Water Tribe to Earth Kingdom." Lin stated as she looked Naruto right in the eyes as she got close in his face. "If we weren't in our current position I'd have you'd hog tied and locked up to prevent an international incident."
Naruto looked back at Lin with equal intensity as he got even closer to Lin, narrowing his eyes as he growled out in a low hush. "Just so you know…you're breath smells really bad, like you just ate a rotted fish steak with some rancid eggs on the side bad."
When Lin ducked backward with a twitch in her eye it made Naruto giggle lightly.
"Wait what did you do in the Northern Water Tribe?" Sheba asked.
"It's not important and I also don't want to talk about it." Naruto said firmly as he started to look around not wanting anyone to see his face turn a shade of red from embarrassment. "So where did those other Equal guys get to?"
The sound of several mecha tanks coming to life caught everyone's attention as Hiroshi had gotten into another one of his giant platinum suits as his original one was smashed to bits.
"Asami!" Hiroshi called out his daughter's name though the mecha's sound system. "I need you to step away from those benders right now!"
Asami looked up at her father's mecha suit and called out as loud as she could. "Dad I need to know why, why are you a part of all of this."
"Why? It's because of them!" Hiroshi shouted as he used his tank's clawed hands to point right at the others. "Because of benders, they took your mother away the love of my life. They've ruined the world but with Amon and the aid of my inventions we can fix it and build a perfect world together."
"So it was all a cover sponsoring our team, supporting the Avatar?" Mako asked/accused as he stood next to Asami.
"I think that's obvious at this point you Firebending street rat. If anything the most difficult part of this experience was watching Asami traipse around with you!"
"Excuse me!" Naruto called out as he walked next to angry couple to better get Hiroshi's attention. "I hate to interrupt but back to this Amon guy that you believe in so much is he human?"
"What?" Hiroshi asked in disbelief. "Of course he's human what else would he be, a spirit?"
"Maybe." Naruto shrugged. "Have you ever seen his face without his mask on he could be a demon, a plant monster, or even a living corpse brought back to life by a dark sorcerer." As soon as he said all of that Naruto rolled his eyes to see Asami, Mako, Bolin, Tenzin, Lin, and Korra looking back at the yellow haired young man in disbelieve with their jaws slightly askew. "What? When it comes to masked diabolical villains you can never be too sure on what they really all, trust me I know from experience."
Hiroshi and the other Equalists who were also operating mecha tanks went in a circular formation around the invertor all had the same expression as their enemies but were unseen to our somewhat heroes.
"Ah Boss I think you might have laid it on too deep." Sheba said as she stood next to Naruto lightly pocking him with her elbow.
"I think you might be right." Naruto said slightly embarrassed. "So mustache man I have a few more questions for you so are you going to come out of your little play suit or am I going to pry you out of that thing?"
Letting out a sinister laugh that echoed in not just his suit but the whole underground facility Hiroshi adjusted his glasses as he responded. "I'm afraid I don't see any of that happening young man. That little friend of yours might have been able to use his behemoth to destroy one unoccupied mecha tank but against this squadron Councilman Tenzin, Chief Beifong, and Avatar Korra all working together couldn't defeat us."
"So that's what happened to them?" Naruto said to himself as he looked at the three mentioned with a look of dreed. "You guys couldn't beat all those machines?"
"No we couldn't." Korra said bitterly as every instinct in her told her to use her second wind to have a rematch, but her common sense was overturning her craving for a fight. "So we should figure a way out of here right, Tenzin?"
"You're quite It's good to see your Airbender nature finally surfacing." Tenzin said. "The most important thing right now is your safety. Lin and I will create a distraction while you and your friends…."
"Don't sweat it I got it!" Naruto rummaged around the large pieces of remains of the platinum wall until he pulled out a large shard of metal that was about the size of a building girder.
Naruto was too busy looking up at the metal he held over his head that he couldn't see the full blown shock on everyone's face that he was able to carry such a heavy piece of metal, there jaws nearly fell to the floor when they watched the young man bend one end of the shard in a ninety degree angle.
"How did you do that?" Lin asked as she pointed an accusing finger at Naruto.
"How do you think? I bent it!" Naruto shouted in triumph as he held the platinum by one of its edges.
"I don't think that counts." Tomoki stated evenly with his eyes closed as he wasn't astonished by Naruto's freaky feat while trying to ignore Korra and Tenzin's gasping.
"That's not possible!" Hiroshi roared into his speaker system. "That's one of the purest metals on the planet, it's unbendable!"
"Well you know I didn't bend it, bend it." Naruto clarified as the metal started to glow in the same aura as Naruto did from before as he threw the gleaming ingot like a spear letting it soared across the room, piercing the hull of the mecha tanks next to Sato's and still had enough force knock the machine off its trends.
Hiroshi's fear was over taken by his rage as he gritted his teeth and clutched the controls of his mecha with a vengeful but steady hand. "Don't just stand there get them!" he commanded to the other Equalists as he made his machine move forward.
With the oncoming stamped of mechanical beasts Naruto stood his ground as he held out his open palmed and closed his eyes yet again. While Sheba twisted the tip of her wooden pinky finger in a sequence that opened the artificial limb and shifted the plating around until it reshaped it's self as a cannon. And finally Tomoki, just stood there cracking his knuckles, creaking them menacingly!
Pulling a lever Hiroshi's mecha shot out a spinning metal disk that also unleashed three bola cords all blazing with an electrical charge.
But before the spinning doom reached anyone a glob of black malleable matter materialized in Naruto's palm and shifted itself into a rod. Grasping the new tool in his hand Naruto twirled it around a few times before throwing it at the disk. The black rod spun somehow attracting the disk's cords to wrap themselves around the black substance.
"What is that black staff made out off?" Lin asked as she along with the others watched Naruto preform another boggling performance of mystery.
"It's made out of the dark element." Tenzin said dramatically as he pointed an accusing finger at Naruto. "Despite what looks like generosity or even kindness we must never lower our guard around that boy for he is a Darkbender!"
Naruto turned his head towards Tenzin in annoyance as he sighed out. "Is that why you're being a total dork right now, because of the darkness? That's so lame I thought you were still mad about the metal bucket incident from way back."
"…That was you!"
"What err no it was…"But Naruto was inadvertently interrupted by his own making as the black rod had finished absorbing all the electricity in Hiroshi's bolo disk letting the trap fall down to the ground in a loud but helpless mess.
As the black rod still stood in its original spot floating in midair one of the other Equalist piloting in a mecha tank launched a grapping cable hoping to steal the rod away only to immediately loss all power to the giant suit a few seconds after his cables tangled around it.
"I…I've lost power!" the Equalist shouted in dismay. "I can't move!"
"That's the nature of darkness." Naruto said with a wicked smile. "It's the element of mystery with a main attribute to absorb anything it touches including the other elements!"
It took a moment for that declaration to settle with everyone who wasn't affiliated with Naruto. "So it can absorb anything, even earth?" Bolin asked the first one out of it.
"Yes."
"What about fire?"
"…Yes."
"What about water?"
"Yes, and shut up this isn't a quiz." Naruto steely gaze told the Earthbender he meant business.
"Hey lighten up, Boss I thought this was a party?" Sheba pulled open a slot in her arm cannon in which all of her rainbow colored cloud retreated into, as she aimed the weapon right at the other mecha not being piloted by Hiroshi. "And what's a party without some fireworks?"
Slamming the slot down and using her other arm to steady and twist the rim of the cannon Sheba cried out. "Ignition Forge: Outlandish Firework Blast number 5!" as the cannon fired out a swirling rainbow colored cannon ball that sparkled out as it flew right towards the mecha tank exploding in a bright display of flower designed fireworks that melted down the hull of the machine.
As soon as the show was over all that was left of the tank was the opened bottom half of the wagon as the pilot no sporting a torn up Equalist uniform spun his head around and around until he fell backwards and onto the ground.
"Now it's my turn!" Tomoki shouted in glory only to feel Naruto place his hand on the boy's shoulder. "No you already used to much sage power today. Just take it easy and knock out those Equal guys over their putting on those thunder mittens, they look pretty easy to beat."
Treating the foot solider like a choir Tomoki huffed out a. "Fine, I'll go do it." As he channeled a mixture of Natural, Chi, and Spirit energy to his feet as ice began to form under him. "Ice Forage: Skate Boots!"
Hovering about an inch off the ground Tomoko began to form the ram seal again which generated two bright blue whirlwinds spinning from his forearms. "Ice Forge: Chilly Twister!" Aiming his arms behind himself Tomoko now had the propulsion to move his new frictionless momentum forward as he glided across the floor heading towards the other Equalists.
"No you don't I'm not letting you get away you little brat!" Hiroshi screamed as he launched his claw arm across from himself in hopes of catching the yellow hat boy in a vice.
"Sorry old guy but you need to chill out!" Tomoki swung his arms upward not only causing him to blast himself backwards but also creating a wall of ice that managed to protect him from the mecha's grasp.
Turning his head Tomoko still propelled himself in reverse as he used one hand to keep the thrust going while aiming the other at the Equalists foot soldiers that he managed to trap in a frigid trap thanks to ice he left in his wake.
"Hey Equal People it's ice to meet you!" Using his aimed hand to make a one handed sign, the whirl wind on his fore arm receded down to his wrist as it compacted itself. "Ice Forge: Spade Strom!"
A volley of icicles shot out of Tomoki's open palm as he aimed the rapid firing ice right at all of the Equalists' mechanical gloves. Some managed to remove the weapon quickly enough to avoid having it blow up in the face while the others tried to charge towards Tomoki when he got close enough to them.
Only for the young man to shift his aim and shot at the feet of the Equalists, casing all the runners in ice up to their shins, and that only left one. One Equalist had managed to keep his glove save, had been agile enough to dodge all the ice fired at him and fast enough to run in the same path as Tomoki as he was almost on the boy's tail.
Tomoki narrowed his eyes as he immediately stopped propelling himself and let his feet touch solid ground again. Sliding naturally on the ice rails he created from before, Tomoki jumped of the ice and stood his ground forming the ram seal again as the Equalist dialed his gauntlet all full power not showing any mercy to the little boy ahead.
"All right my final technique for tonight and my strongest outside of using Howling Comet, here I go!" Tomoki's tiny right fist started to turn blue while also glowing in the same aura like any other of his technique as he waited right until the Equalist was close enough to reach down and strike Tomoki with and open electrified palm.
"Ice Forge: Absolutely Zero Fist!" Aiming his punch right into the Equalist's palm the masked man caught it as he clenched it and unleashed a jolt of electricity so powerful the whole room was momentarily lite up from the light of dancing sparks.
"That's it for you junior." The Equalist spoke in a low grizzled voice. "But it's not like you gave me an amp-le choice given the current situation." Seriously I'm the writer of this and I'm already getting sick of all these stupid puns.
"Was that all you got mister?" Tomoki said as he raised his head slowly and looked the Equalist in the eye. "Because your best is just re-volt-ing!"….Ok one more pun.
The Equalist tried to pull back his arm in fright but couldn't as his entire electro shock glove was encased in ice all the way down to his bare arm.
"I…I can't feel my arm what did you do?!" The Equalist asked in raw terror as his voice was suddenly a lot higher than before. "How come you aren't fried?!"
"Because that last attack of his was so cold that the charged particles generated from the glove weren't able to move." Surprisingly that answer came from Asami as looked back at the fight with no visible sign of emotion as she continued flatly. "That little boy…Tomoki said it in the title Absolutely Zero…absolute zero it's the lowest possible limit in the thermodynamic temperature scale."
Tomoki pulled his fist back as it went from dark blue to his natural skin tone. The Equalist either out of shock or from the onset of hyperthermia passed out onto the floor breaking his encased hand free as the gauntlet, the new symbol of hope for the Equalists was scattering into a thousand ice covered pieces.
"Wow I forget that move takes a lot out of me." Tomoki yawned as he too gently set himself on the ground closing his eyes. "I think it's my bed time now…..someone bring me some lychee juice" and with a light snore he was off to sleep.
"Do you see Asami? Do you see now why I'm aiding Amon in his cause?" Hiroshi asked his daughter rhetorically. "Do you think it's natural for any little boy to be able to do something like that? Or for that woman to able to control a cloud that can cause explosions that grand. These three they can't even be human their monsters led by one who can wield the dark!"
"You sound just like the Northern Chief!" Naruto shouted as he looked up at his dark staff as it defied the laws of gravity as it just stood still suspended in midair. "Just because something dark or unknown doesn't make it evil."
Raising his hand up the black rod immediately danced back to Naruto's grasp as he remolded it into a black sphere that floated right next to him. "It's how you wield it that defines you."
Looking over his shoulder again Naruto nodded over to Tenzin to silently get the Airbender attention. "And for the record I'm not a Darkbender there's no such thing."
"B…but that black orb!"
Naruto turned his head back and began to crouch down as a gust of wind seemed to generate from Naruto's feet. "It's only mostly of the dark element in a nine to one ratio, because what is darkness…"
Clapping his hands together Naruto's whole body was enveloped in illumination so bright that everyone even Hiroshi in his tinted mecha tank covered their eyes for just a moment only for Naruto to use that moment to usher in his attack.
Before the bender hating inventor could uncover his eyes Hiroshi's whole body whipped back in his seat as his tank was sent pummeling backwards with a force so powerful it actually lifted the mecha tank off the ground and rocketed until it was imbedded into the steal and congregate of the other side of the factory's wall.
The impact from the force attack from the front and landing into the wall from behind had more than caused Hiroshi's neck to sufferer from the affects of whiplash, as his safety belt gave in and ripped it's self from the clasp making the older former gentleman fall forward slamming his face into the window.
Everyone else on the other side of the factory saw the whole event as a glowing golden ball that shot Hiroshi into the wall suddenly saw it travel from the other side of the factory to the same spot Naruto was standing in, in the blink of an eye.
"I….I don't believe it." Tenzin the first to speak up could only fall to his knees as he basked in the glow. "Could the prophecy have been wrong?"
"That's…..how…how are you doing that?" Lin asked as she started to sidewalk away from the glow.
"What are you?" Korra asked simply unable to move, unable to blink, only able to watch in amazement, envy, and wonder.
"….without the light." Naruto finished his statement as he shined on like a crazy diamond.
Naruto was different then when he was glowing from before instead of flicking flames his glow seemed to be more solid along with a different set of clothes. He now wore a black body suit that covered his legs, torso, and arms all the way up to his palms. And over it his new jacket burned bright gold along with his head band as even his cheeks now each spotted spotted three black bars in the shape of the Sky trigram.
"Wait so you're a Lightbender?" Asami asked as she didn't look overly concern that her father was trapped in mecha tank on the other side of the room.
"What? No." Naruto said "I was just finishing that cool quote I came up with, because what is darkness without the light. Get it?"
"Yeah, yeah I think we all got that part." Mako said answering for those who were too busy being literally star struck as he had been building up an immunity from the overdose of mind altering absurdity as did Bolin mostly who was resisting the urge to poke Naruto. "But if you're not a Darkbender or a Lightbender then what are you?"
"In a way I'm both….and neither you can't control one without the other." Naruto sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "I now this isn't easy to understand but the way I see it it's like this. There's only one place where light and dark can exist at the same time or one over rides the other."
"….The sky?" Bolin asked as he got almost everyone's attention. "Where light and dark meet but at dawn light overrides the dark, and at dusk dark overrides the light. The sky so what you're like a Skybender?!"
Naruto let out a laugh as he folded his legs in midair and began to float off the ground just like his dark sphere as Sheba stood beside him, smiling like mad woman. "I guess you're the smart one in the group Bolin, you guessed it. I'm Naruto Uzumaki and despite what most people will lead you to believe I'm here to save the world! Even if I have to break one or two major laws and be labeled as villain to do it."
Bolin looked back at the others and let out a nervous laugh. "You know I don't want to jinx us but I get the feeling that things are going to get pretty weird from now one."
User/ Castor Name: Tomoki
Battle Avatar: Howling Comet
Appearance: Beast
Type: Close Range Power House
Abilities: Ice and Cold
User/ Castor Name: Sheba of the Spiral Flower
Battle Avatar: Nebula Showcase
Appearance: Malleable-Non Organic
Type: Long-Distance Manipulative
Abilities: Molecular Combustion and Intense Heat
User/ Castor Name: Naruto Uzumaki
Battle Avatar: Spiral Galaxy
Appearance: Unknown
Type: Unknown
Abilities: Unknown Most Likely Awesome