The winds blew viciously down on the great city of Ba Sing Se. Ever since Wu decided to stand down from becoming king the city and the surround areas had become its own state in the Earth Nation along with the several other areas. That was 23 years ago, and 17 years ago the great Avatar Korra, sadly passed away. It was unknown how this happened, but what was done is done and a new avatar was born, an earth bender; but one couldn't be found. Because of this most people think she died in the avatar state, or maybe the new avatar doesn't even know yet that they are the new one and are yet to be revealed to the world.

Daruka was sleeping on an old green cushioned couch in his home located in the Ba Sing Se slums. It was small, two rooms; one main room and a bathroom, no bed he slept on his couch. The house was squished in between two similar looking homes on a barely tiled street. It was nearly midday when he heard a loud knock on the old wooden door.

"Daruka, you lazy kid open the door" a stern voice called out to him.

He opened his eyes and sat up. "Yea, yea I'll be there soon" he called back then rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He was a decent looking teen, slim build, some muscles showing, short black scruffy looking hair and light brown skin.

He got up and made his way and opened the door to the man waiting outside for him. It was his landlord, Shailesh; a big bald muscle bound earth bender around his mid-40s.

"How can I help Shailesh" Daruka asked then let out a big yawn.

"You can help by paying your rent, this months and last months as well" he said to him.

"Look I told you I will as soon as I can, but the business is slow right now" the young man said.

"Business, phew, I know you do that illegal underground bending matches, the authorities must be catching on to it if it's that slow" Shailesh said the walked on into the small home and sat on an old wooden chair next to a matching table.

"Illegal, you say it like it's a bad thing" Daruka responded then sat on the couch across from him.

"It is, you know it is. When your parents left you with me 17 years ago I didn't want you to leave so early and get caught up with this kind of stuff" the landlord said in a sincere voice.

"You didn't seem to mind when that illegal fighting was paying the rent each month" he responded quickly.

Shailesh got up and looked hard at the young boy then shock his head then left the house. "10 gold pieces, you owe me that" he said then shut the door and left.

Daruka breathed a sigh of relief then switched on the radio sitting on the table. He wasn't paying much attention the random news blaring from it. An hour or two passed before another knock at the door could be heard. Shailesh again? He opened the door but he was wrong about who it was Ratna; his best friend.

"Look who's finally awake" he said then walked on in. "Shailesh pay you a visit again?".

"Yea, 10 gold pieces for the rent" Daruka said then sat back down on his couch.

"Well lucky us then" Ratna said then joined him on the couch.

"How so?' he asked.

"We have matches tonight" Ratna said with excitement.

Daruka had a wide grin on his face after hearing this. "Who are we facing?"

"I'm facing The Nomad, and you're facing some guy called Molten" Ratna said.

"Molten? What kind of same is that?" Daruka asked thinking it will be an easy fight.

"Well he says he can lavabend" Ratna said in awe.

"Well let's get going then" Daruka said as he started heading towards the door.

"I've got another surprise as well" his friend said as he opened the door.

Before Daruka could answer he had opened the door and before him was a dirty rusty old Satomobile. He looked stunned by this and turned to Ratna.

"You got her working, that's amazing" Daruka said and started walking around the car and looking in wonder.

"One of the few working ones in Ba Sing Se" Ratna said proudly.

"It should make getting to the match a lot easier" Daruka said still looking at the vehicle.

"Speaking of which, we should probably go now if we want to get in some decent training time" his friend said.

The two got in and Ratna turned the key and the old Satomobile spat into life. It moved smoothly which surprised Daruka I thought it would be a lot worse than this.

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The night had fallen and the two friends waited in a underground locker room waiting to be called for their fights. The underground arena was located near the edge of the inner wall that leads to the agrarian zone, as far from the lower ring as they could get. Ratna was practicing his punches when a man walked in. He had dark long hair, green eyes and tanned skin and looked to be in his mid-teens ; around 16.

"You must Daruka my opponent" the boy said walking over to him and offering a hand shake.

"I am, and you must be Molten, good to meet you" he said then shacked the boys hand.

"My real name is Bipin" he said

"Next up, you know him and you love, it's Daruka against the newcomer who can claim to lavabend, Molten" a voice over an intercom said.

"That's our cue" Bipin said then went out the room and up to the ring.

Daruka was about to leave when Ratna said something to him.

"Hey, good luck" he said then went back to practicing his punches on a punching bag in the room.

Daruka nodded then left the room. He went down a stone hall then up a ramp, he went up and it leads him to the ring. Deep underground the earth ceiling high up and the seats were like that of a coliseum, built up so the audience can look down at the fight. The seats were full and the audience were chanting his name, he fought here a lot and they knew him well. He looked over to Molten who was at the over end of the oval shaped ring. He got himself ready and stared down his opponent. A bell was rung and the fight began.