Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: Legend of Korra. This story is purely for entertainment purposes only.
Book 1: Water
Chapter 1: Be the Night
12 years later…
Sprinting across thick branches in the dead of night, scarcely making a sound, Korra was more than ready to flush out her tails and take this battle to the ground. She hid behind the trunk of the next tree she landed on, took out a flask of water, and quickly waterbent it into a humanoid shape that vaguely resembled her. She then made the water clone jump down to the ground and continue running. The soldiers on her trail grinned, at what they thought was Korra panicking, and chased after her water clone with all their might. She nearly gave away her position by laughing. Korra followed after while still staying out of sight on the branches above. The soldiers soon lost sight of their target (since it just turned back into water and puddled beneath their feet).
"Oh she's good alright," said one of the men, "Looks like we've got a real trickster we're dealing with."
"Don't worry about it men," said the leader, "We may not be able to see her anymore, but you can be damn sure she's not going to see us either in this pitch.
"Oh, I can't wait to see you eat those words," she though with a smile.
She took a deep breath out and then in. She summoned some of her fire bending energy and let the fired up chi enter her eyes. After a pleasing and warm sensation washed over them, she was now able to actually see heat and the sources that give it off with incredible detail.
The soldiers that were bumbling around in the dark were now incredibly clear and vibrant to her fiery red eyes. It was time to stop running and time to start beating.
Korra, dressed in a dark red ninja attire, dropped from the branch she was hanging out on with perfect grace. Not a single sound was heard when she landed.
She saw five armed soldiers trying to see into the darkness in a fruitless attempt at spotting her.
"Can't keep these fine gentleman waiting I suppose," she though.
Silently sneaking her way past some trees and to her first victim, she waterbent a small icicle to stick to the underside of his shin armor. Believing his leg had gotten stuck on another branch in "this stupid stupid endless stupid forest", he went to go untangle his leg – his last mistake of the night because as soon as he dropped his upper body, she was on him with no hesitation. She swung one arm over his head and under his neck, grabbed her other hand, locked in the choke, straightened out her back and walk in a couple steps. A few strangled gurgles escaped but within no time he was unconscious, lying on the ground and then covered in leaves. One down, four to go.
The next two were standing right next to each other. They thought if they stuck together they'd have a greater chance of winning, but unfortunately for them, lady luck was not on their side against this opponent. Korra was still a burgeoning fighter in her own right, but she still had a lot to learn. She was, however, very proficient at simultaneously fighting several enemies.
She positioned herself on top of another branch above the poor soldiers. She then jumped into action. As she was falling, she swung both her arms around both their heads and latched on tight. She then used all of the momentum to swing her lower body out of the way and used their heads to break her fall. Two down, two to go.
She was already up in the branches again before the last two could check out what the disturbance was.
With only two soldiers left, Korra had to decide on stealth or force. With only seconds to consider her options, she chose "both."
She took some rocks out of her belt and earthbent them to hit some brush about 20 feet away from her position.
As the last two remaining soldiers were on guard and facing the bush, she took out some combat needles and metal bent them right at the lower ranked man's unprotected back. All needles hit their pressure and chi blocking points. The solider dropped like a sack of cabbages.
The leader turned around to face her. Surprise on his face to know that a lone 17 year old girl just took out a squad of Fire Nation soldiers.
"Well, girlie, you've got some real skill there. Color me impressed!"
"Thank you, Captain Yamasaki! I'm really glad you agreed to train with me today," said Korra. "You're not worried that this isn't exactly legal?"
"I don't think that'll be much of a problem, as far as we've come as a country, I still don't think announcing they got their asses kicked by a teenage girl will get them too much cred. Hahaha!" laughed Captain Yamasaki.
"Well, then sir, I suppose you won't mind having a one on one with little ole' me, now would ya?" She asked sweetly.
"Warriors are warriors no matter what's inside their pants," roared Yamasaki, "you're on!"
Captain Yamasaki towered over her at his impressive 6'2" over Korra's 5'7".
"But you know what they say about height in a bending battle, don't you?" she asked.
"What?" asked the Captain.
"The bigger you are, the better I can hit you with THIS!" Korra yelled and she used some of her newly trained boxing skills to shoot rapid fire shots aimed directly at the Captain's face.
The captain barely dodged the shots, but a faint graze mark appeared on his left cheek anyway. "Impressive speed, "Kokkora," much more improved than last time!" The Captain then went through a serious of fire bending katas and lit up the night sky with flame.
Not wanting to burn down the forest around them, she closed in and decided to make it in in-fight. She used a boost of fire in her heels to quickly dash towards the Captain and then they engaged in CQBC a.k.a Close Quarters Bending Combat.
Fists and fire were flying, knees being thrown, legs were kicking and deadly elbows were all being thrown too quickly for an average spectator to understand. They had been going at it for well over five minutes straight and it was time to end this before things got too hot to handle.
Korra threw a one-two combo fire powered punch that got the Captain to raise his arms to guard. "Sometimes basics are the best," shethought as she then reached for the back of his head, clasping both arms around his forearms and the back of his head, trapping his arms to his head and leaving his midsection wide open. She then threw six consecutive rocket powered knees into the abdomen of the Captain and then dropped him to the floor.
"*COUGH COUGH* Urgh," struggled the Captain, "That was new… and a LITTLE overkill, Kokkora!"
"Sorry Captain Yamasaki! I learned that technique when I studied at this little island off the Southern Water Tribe and I couldn't wait to use it.
"Well, good news is, it works," said the Captain, "Bad news is, my men and I need healers yesterday." And with that, the captain passed out.
"Oh Captain, a little pain is good for you! Builds character! We can worry about all that when my dad gets back tomorrow."
Korra woke up the next day with a well-deserved sense of self satisfaction. Stealth wasn't her forte, but nailing all her moves last night made her feel like all her stealth training was worth it. She was replaying last night's practice in her mind as she was performing her morning rituals and getting ready for the day. Hearing a familiar knock on the door, she put down her breakfast and ran to open it.
As she swung open the door, she saw the welcome sight of slicked back brown hair, sharp and icy blue eyes and a warm smile reserved only for her.
"Dad!" she said in delight as she wrapped her arms around him in a fierce hug and ended up lifting him well off the ground in the process.
"Korra," he wheezed, "glad to see you too."
"How did your mission go? Did you take down the Azure Dragon gang?" she asked excitedly.
"They were pretty tough," Noatak began, "but the leader was your typical Satocycle muscle head. Taunting him into a blind rage was pretty easy and very satisfying. I think you would have enjoyed the sight."
"That sounds amazing! I can't wait to start going bad guy hunting with you," she said.
"Well, from what Captain Yamasaki told me this morning, I think it's high time you joined me in the family business."
Korra's face broke out in a huge grin and she was beside herself with joy. She started jumping around and pumping her fists in the air. "Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes!" She exclaimed.
"After all these years, you're definitely ready and I couldn't be more proud," said Noatak, "and the timing couldn't be better. I've learned that the anti-bending revolution in Republic City is really starting to pick up steam. They may even be nearing a boiling point soon."
"We're going to Republic City?!" she asked excitedly, "That's where all the air benders are! Oh, I can't wait to meet them!"
"I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you too, even if they don't know you're the Avatar," said Noatak.
Korra laughed, "Maybe I can finally get some lessons on spirituality. Can't say I've mastered everything if that isn't part of it."
"That's very mature of you," beamed Noatak.
"So who are you going to be for this trip, Dad?" asked Kokkora.
"I think I'll go with Baroko," said Noatak, "A higher level of status will help us in a city with such an unbalanced division between rich and poor."
"Ooh, fun! I haven't played the part of debutante in a while," said Korra, "This should be a blast. Should I stick with 'Kokkora'?"
"It has a nice ring to it. Sure, why not? I hear the Chief of Police isn't a fan of vigilante justice either," said Noatak with a laugh, "I'm looking forward to meeting her in costume. Speaking of, we have to get you a mask and combat uniform soon. Do you have any ideas on what you would like to we-"
"I HAVE SO MANY IDEAS!" Korra yelled as she ran off to her room, "Let me get my drafts!"
"I've unleashed the beast," muttered Noatak with a smile, "Well, this trip is definitely going to be interesting."
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, favs and follows everyone! It's very encouraging to see this story getting such a warm reception. I don't have any kind of set release schedule (full-time student/employed), but I'm having a lot of fun writing all this action and I'm looking forward to beginning the romance soon*waggles eyebrows*. Please let me know what you think! I read every review and take the questions posed in them very seriously! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next time: Republic City!