The Seldom Avatar
...a Legend of Korra fan-inspired story...
By Gothic Rain
A Leaf in the Cage
The sound of elephants running through a town echoed in Korra's blood-pounding ears as she ran through the streets with a bag of gold in one hand and an army of guards chasing behind her. Two years had passed since the men destroyed her family and Korra found herself left to fend for not only for herself but also for Naga, her polar bear dog. The young bender journeyed away from the water tribes after sneaking on a ship headed to the earth kingdom to deliver fish and fur.
Although it wasn't as good as home with the polar bear dogs, it was a place where food was available, albeit at a cost.
"Get back here kid!" One of the guards yelled causing Kora to leap up and turn her head to stick her tongue out only to collide into a food stand. "Woah!" Kora yelped as her body splattered expired food unto the streets and over her raggedy clothing. Korra learned real fast it wasn't accepted to walk around without any clothing. She supposed it was because she didn't have fur that was the problem. Nevertheless she survived and adapted, now she was a street rat with a talent for pickpocketing.
Korra quickly leapt off the flipped over cart with a blast of air from her palm, followed by a front-flip over a man before continuing her sprint through the city. "Ugh!" "Get her!"
Korra laughed and leapt unto one of the roofs with an air boost before swiping her hand downwards softly causing a deep blast of wind to knock the guards over. She leapt over a couple more roofs before returning to the streets where she leapt inside a dumpster and slid open a metal door to a hole in an abandoned hotel room where the door had been closed inwards.
Korra tiptoed inside the small room and looked to the right to find her polar bear dog curled in the corner sleeping quietly.
The bender whistled at Naga causing her companion to immediately wake and run to her. She had grown in the two years she'd been with Korra and now reached to her hip. Naga licked her face and sniffed her bag causing Korra to giggle and spill the goods. A pound of gold coins rolled to the wooden floor followed by some stale bread rolls and half expired melons. Naga leapt on one of the larger melons and played with it before nibbling on it with her baby teeth.
Coal black eyes looked up at Korra before leaping over the melon to her. Korra smiled at Naga and hugged her before pulling away and grabbing the gold coins to place back in the bag to go out to the market.
"I'll be back soon, Naga."
The young bender found herself walking through a dark alley way where at the end stood a buff man with black tattoos running over his arms and neck. "No kids allowed," He grumbled at her when she was six feet away. Korra tossed the bag of coins at him before slipping past him, the man chuckling at his newly acquired bonus. The girl snuck into the stands where fans roared in excitement on the ongoing match below.
A women with long brown hair and a face marred by scars faced a tall skinny man with a green tattoo on his arm. "Tovrir!" "Tovrir!" "Tovrir!" The crowd roared as the man created a small wall behind the women before causing the wall to lengthen and throw the women forward off her feet. The women leaped to her feet and made an undercut causing the ground to break and lurch upwards knocking Tovrir off his feet and collide into the wall breaking it.
"Yeah! Go Tarri! Fight, fight, fight!"
Tarri suddenly bounced back with renowned fiber and kicked boulders at Tovrir in rapid fire before bringing her hands up and finishing him off with a solid boulder to the face.
A bell chimed and the judge announced Tarri as the winner giving her a large sack of gold and an entrance to the tournament belt. The women smirked and spread her arms out to greet the glory being shown upon her before spitting at the fallen form of Tovrir.
Korra frowned at the action and wondered if the losing bender could help her out.
She watched as some guys picked up Tovrir roughly and pulled him out from the ring through the tunnels and all the way to the back entrances before promptly chucking the loser unto the streets, particularly underneath a gutter of leaking dirty water. The man woke up and spluttered as the dirty water dripped into his dark grey eyes. He groaned as he sat himself unto his knees and away from the gutter.
"You okay mister?"
The man was on his feet in seconds and looked up on the roof ready to fight only to see a child peering innocently down on him with curiosity burning in her cyan blue eyes.
"Get outta here kid," the man snarled before lowering his stance and turning around. "Awe, but I wanna see you break some more rocks!"
"It's called Earth bending brat," Tovrir snarled. Korra shrugged. "Earth bending, rock breaking, same thing."
Tovrir sighed in exasperation before stomping on the ground causing a boulder to stomp out in the air. Tovrir brought his hands up and quickly reformed the boulder into a medium-sized ball before tossing it at Korra who caught it easily. "There, now leave me be, kid."
Korra pouted at Tovrir but decided there was nothing more she could gain at the moment and instead gave Tovrir a tiny grin before leaping off the roof, returning to the streets.
"Naga!" Korra called her polar bear dog as she tossed the softened boulder in the air where Naga caught it with her paws before rolling over on her back. Kora tackled Naga and rubbed her belly while Naga panted happily. "Good girl!" Korra said before flipping Naga back over to scratch her ears. "I met an Earth bender today, Naga! He was so cool!"
Naga placed her head in Korra's laugh as she began to tell the day's events with crazy hand gestures and laughs that made Naga bark with excitement.
Just as Korra was reaching the end of the story Naga began to growl making the bender go silent. Carefully Korra slowly got up and began nearing the hidden door to the dumpster with the ball under one arm and Naga under the other. The ruined door cracked before exploding outwards giving Korra the signal to get the hell out of there and immediately opened the door and leaped out of the dumpster only to see a man shadowed in darkness with the earth kingdom's crest on the front of his robes.
They were the royal earth kingdom's guards.
"Don't run, you're coming with us."
Korra didn't think so and instead leapt unto the roof with a powerful blast of air knocking the dumpster over to seal the entrance only to fall when cuffs made of earth locked her ankles together. "Naga, go!" Korra yelled before her hands were cuffed too and she was thrown off the roof, landing harshly unto the ground with a cry of pain.
The guard stood above her and smirked before knocking Korra out and took her away.
Meanwhile Naga ran through the streets with the ball in her mouth trying to find whose scent was on the ball and get them to help Korra.
Tovrir was sitting alone outside an apartment when a polar bear dog cub came running up to him and spitting a familiar boulder at his face causing him to rear his head back into the wall. "What the hell?" Tovrir yelled but Naga didn't care for his temper and instead barked at him, waging her tail in urgency. "Go away pup, I'm not gonna play with you."
Naga growled at him and jumped up and down trying to get his attention but it didn't work.
"Shoo!"
Naga began to howl making many heads turn in question and annoyance at the broken peace. "Urg, fine!"
Naga stopped instantly and jumped at him, licking his face in gratitude allowing Tovrir to pet her before she leapt out from his lap and curled up beside him. Despite knowing she had to get to Korra, she knew she needed to gain this human's trust before he could help her friend, and so Naga stayed.
Korra would make it, Naga knew.
"Let me out!" Korra cried as her hands pulled desperately against the metal bars which held her in the ratty old cell she was thrown into. "Let me out!" Korra screamed as she blew a vertex of air at the guard outside her cell causing him to turn angrily at her for causing his hat to slant and made the metal bed mattress reshape and launch at her, wrapping around her arms and legs making a metal straight jacket of Korra.
The bender struggled as she tried to escape but the metal refused to move its hold from her and Korra relented but her tears did not.
"Quit your crying, girl. We haven't even begun to break you, yet!"
"I-I'm not broken!" Korra refuted.
The guard laughed loud and strong but went silent when a door was opened. "Shi, the Captain wishes to see you."
Footsteps and then he was gone and Korra's crying ceased as she stared at the small puddle of tears beside her. An idea struck her and her fingers twitched against the metal. Korra flipped over unto her back and began to struggle against the metal but it never budged. She grunted and pushed air underneath her throwing her against the bars. Korra hissed in pain but tried to ignore it as her neck slipped between the bars and desperately tried to break her metal bonds.
Nothing worked.
Korra let out a scream of frustration before closing her eyes and attempted to focus again, feeling her body relax.
"Greetings, Avatar Korra."
Korra snapped her eyes opened and reared forward to see a bald man with yellowish orange and red robes. Blue arrows were revealed on his head and hands causing Korra to believe the strange tattoos covered his entire body.
"Who the heck are you?" Korra demanded, falling over in the process with an 'oof'.
"I am Aang, the avatar before you."
Korra arched a brow of disbelief. "Riiight, what's an avatar anyway? How'd you get in here, and why are you calling me Korra?"
Aang chuckled seeming to be unbothered by the sight of Korra trapped in a metal straight jacket.
"Korra was the name given to you when you were born and as for being the Avatar, well, that's a longer explanation."
"Trust me, I'm not going anywhere like this."
Aang smiled at her before crossing his arms behind his head and leant back against the wall. "The Avatar is the only person who can master all four elements and must keep the peace between all four nations. An old mentor once told me that "The Avatar must be compassionate towards all people, and the only way to do that is to live with them. The Avatar must experience sadness, anger, joy, and happiness. By feeling all these emotions, it helps you understand how precious human life is, so you will do anything to protect it." It's not easy being the Avatar because even though we have the potential of great power, great power comes with great responsibility as well as a heavy burden."
"So is there more than one Avatar? I mean, you're here." Korra asked, rolling over to stare up at the ceiling.
"The Avatar has existed for ten thousand years, but only one a lifetime. The Avatar cycle exists so the next Avatar can be born after the previous dies to harmonize the peace between nations. We are reborn in the cycle of the elements. Earth, fire, air, and water."
"Oh.. so you're dead?"
"Yes, but as you can see I am still apart of you as are all the previous Avatars before me. If you need our help, all you need to do is call us," Aang told her, uncrossing his arms to stand up.
"I called you?"
Aang nodded.
"Well then, help me outta here already!"
Aang chuckled. "The only way out of that is to bend the metal, Korra."
"How in the heck do I do that? I don't even know how to earth bend yet!"
Korra began to rant out all her frustration only to trail off as realization hit her. "That's it! Thanks Aang!"
When Aang disappeared, Korra closed her eyes and breathed in, clearing her mind of all thoughts, before breathing back out.
And glowing eyes opened as her entire body vibrated in energy. Korra rolled to her feet and focused all her energy around her, ignoring her ability to see and opting to use her senses to get her out of this situation. She searched for the vibrations around her and discovered everything in her cell, outside her cell, to the very amount of people patrolling in this area. Korra turned away her curiosity and searched for the tiny bits of earth inside the metal, and after locating every last piece Korra snapped her eyes opened and willed the earth to move inside the metal and slowly the metal began to crease and bent over her.
"I.. will.. NOT.. be caged!" Korra declared, her voice echoed by all the previous Avatars combined with her own as she spread her arms back, the metal shattering off her body and falling to the ground. The Avatar state ended and Korra fell to her knees, releasing a long exhale before hopping back to her feet and levitating the metal up with one hand while her other hand swished up the water of her earlier tears. The metal combined into one strip while the water hardened into ice.
"I'm getting outta here!"
Hope that wasn't too short, but if it was I'd be happy to lengthen it.
Sincerely,
Gothic Rain