When the large group arrived in Republic City, it was an understatement to say the teenagers were in awe. They were dazzled by everything! From the buildings to the Satomobiles to the people! It was stunning! "This is where we grew up, kids," Bolin said, a hint of nostalgia in his voice. The older males began to lead the teens through the winding streets full of Satomobiles and people until they reached an apartment building. Mako turned and pointed out at the bay, looking at what seemed to be a very old arena for something. "That was the probending arena," he explained. "Bolin and I made most of our money there." Mako's lips turned down into a frown. "Korra...she helped us out after our waterbender left. Spirits, I miss her so much." Dimian looked down. "I'm sorry." Mako turned to him. "There's nothing to be sorry about. Korra chose her own path, and, sadly, she died. That's just fate, I guess." Bolin tried to cheer everyone up by saying, "We used to live in these apartments here for a while! Y'all wanna look around?" Dimian, although he truly did want to see Mako and Bolin's old apartment, felt a strange tug in his gut to visit the abandoned pro-bending arena. "Uh, Mako, Bolin...would you mind taking us to the pro-bending arena?"
"That creepy place? Are you sure, Dimian?" Kori asked. "Yeah. Something tells me there's something I need to see there." Mako and Bolin shrugged, and the group soon found themselves on a ferry to the abandoned arena. Jiong shivered as they approached. "I dunno, Dimian...this place is giving me the creeps." Bolin shrugged. "Well, it has been abandoned for over forty years. Makes sense it'd creep you out." Once the ferry reached the island the arena was placed on, it sped off as if it was afraid of the dilapidated building. Kaiyo rubbed his arm in anxiousness, and Mizu adjusted his glasses. "Well, guess we should take a look," Mizu stated. The group walked through the almost destroyed doors, them noticing the absurd amount of vegetation growing. However, as Kaze walked through, she noticed something bulky and hand-shaped almost entirely covered by vines. She quietly picked it up, and soon realized that it was a glove. It had a blue circle on the palm of it, and she put it on. Suddenly, sparks flew out of the palm of the glove; the sparks then intensifying into electricity. She yelped in surprise, but the others were a little too far up ahead to hear her. She turned the glove off and shoved it into her bag before running after the group. "This is the locker room," Bolin said as they approached a doorway. It led into just that- a plain locker room with another doorway to the left. "That's the shower room to the left. Hey, that's even our old locker!" Bolin exclaimed as he walked over to a gray, metal locker. His smile faded as he noticed the names written on it.
"What's wr-" Setchi stopped speaking as she came closer to Bolin. The locker had names carved into it: Bolin's name in sloppy letters, Mako's in normal handwriting, and Korra's, with a smiling face beside it. "It's nothing." Bolin said. "I think we all are just still trying to adjust to losing her." Mako said sympathetically, placing his hand on his brother's shoulder. After a brief moment of silence, the old men led the group out and up to the second floor. They showed them Toza's old gym where they practiced, and Dimian felt a pang of sadness from being there. Korra should still be alive, he thought. Finally they moved to the spectators' seats, and Bolin looked out at the empty, ruined arena in sorrow. "If you can believe it," Mako started, "there used to be water all around the stage. And there used to be so many visitors here…" It was at this moment that Jiong realized how old Mako and Bolin really were. Despite trying to look good for 63 and 61 respectively, she could still see the gray in Mako's hair and the wrinkles on Bolin's face. "I bet this really was a fun place." She smiled and said. "Why was it abandoned, anyway?" Mako looked at Jiong and shook his head. "Not enough spectators. People stopped coming, and the place just faded away." Jiong nodded in understanding. "Um, guys…" Said Kaze from behind them. "I think you all might wanna-" She was cut off as a shadowy figure dashed across the other side of the stadium. Mako and Bolin noticed. "What was that?" Kori asked. "I don't know. There have been rumors that people...equalists, still hang around here. I hope it's not true."
Mako lit some fireballs in his hands, and Jiong did the same. Setchi and Bolin both pulled a large amount of cement out of the floor and levitated it, Kori and Kaiyo readied their water, Kaze went into a bending stance, Dimian levitated some rocks around him, and Mizu held up his fists. "Whoever's there, don't be a coward! Come out and show yourself!" Kaze shouted. It was silent, and then something caused a banging sound from across the arena. Everyone lowered their defenses just enough for a large group of ninja-like people appear out of nowhere and attack them. Kaze blasted wind and blew two off the side of the railings, and Bolin threw his cement at one. The ninja just dodged it and shoved Bolin down, striking him and causing him to yell. Mako lowered his guard as he heard Bolin yell, just enough for another ninja to swoop down and hit him in the stomach and back. Jiong threw searing fireballs at the one who had incapacitated Mako, hitting them and nearly flinging them over the edge of the arena. However, despite their clothes being on fire and burns on themselves, the ninja leaped over Mako and struck Jiong in the shoulder, causing her to cry out and fall. Kaiyo was whipping a ninja with his water when that ninja jumped over him and landed behind him, slamming their elbow into Kaiyo's back; bringing him down. Kori had just flash-freezed some water and was about to shoot the ice at another ninja when one appeared behind her and quickly subdued her with a flurry of punches. Kaze began to blast strong winds at two more ninjas before one tackled her from the side and smacked her head, causing her to pass out. Mizu and Setchi were the only two non-avatars left; Setchi forming some cement into body armor for her and Mizu using a similar fighting technique to the ninjas' to take them out. However, when Setchi bent a rock at a ninja and sent him sprawling over the rail, she heard Mizu scream and whipped around to be punched in the face by a ninja. Mizu tried to stand, but the ninja only tsked and shocked Mizu with two electric batons. Dimian had been fighting off three ninjas, but now at least three more had come and began to beat him. One swept his legs out from beneath him, another knocked the wind out of him with a kick to the chest, and one finally did him in by slamming his head against the concrete. Dimian was knocked out.
Jiong was the first to come to her senses. She quickly sat up, noticing that she was in a cell with everyone else, sans Mizu. She began to panic when she noticed she and the others were wearing platinum handcuffs and ankle cuffs. She yelled Mizu's name, and tried to firebend her way out of the handcuffs. However, not even a small flame was conjured. She cursed in frustration, and tried to wake the others up by yelling their names. "...Mm?" Setchi groaned, blood on her face from where she had been punched in the nose. "Where are we?" Mako came to, and growled. He calmed down, then said, "I think we're still in the arena...but I believe those were equalists who attacked us. They used chi-blocking to incapacitate us, then dragged us down here." Kaze had just woken up, a blue bruise on her forehead from where she had been hit, but her eyes widened and she began to speak lowly and quickly. "Before we were attacked, I wanted to tell you all that I found a weird, electrified glove in front of the arena. I put it in my bag, but…" She trailed off. Bolin, who was now conscious, said, "Oh, great. Now we definitely know there are equalists here." Unexpectedly, the door to their cell swung open and some chi-blockers gently pushed Mizu in. He was unrestrained, and they left the door open. He looked worn-out yet paranoid, his eyes darting around the room. "Guys...I know this is going to sound crazy, but you must listen to me if you want to be spared your bending. A woman named Toru...she is the next Amon. She's gathering non-benders and starting the anti-bending revolution again! She needs to know all of the benders you know, and then she will set you free. Please, Kaiyo, Kori! Just listen!" Mizu couldn't speak anymore as the chi-blockers took his arms and led him out.
"Now what?" Kaze commented. "I'm not telling that crazy woman about all the benders I know!" Kori was looking down. "Maybe...there's a way we can do this-" Kaze cut Kori off. "No. At least, I'm not telling some radical non-bender about everyone I know so she can go torture them or worse." Kori sighed in frustration. "Let's try to get out of here-" Kori said, but Mako spoke up. "We were chi-blocked, and we weren't out long. The effects of the chi-blocking are still on us, and even if we had our bending, it would be nearly impossible to escape. Setchi can't metalbend platinum and it takes a long time to burn through. Kaiyo and Kori don't have any water, and what's air gonna do?" Kori just then noticed her waterskin was missing. Of course they took it! They didn't want them to escape. As the others began talking about ways to try and escape or compromise, Kori leaned her head back against the wall. She closed her eyes, trying to focus on the water around her, in the air. She moved her hands as best she could with the handcuffs on, and soon everyone had gone quiet. The air was suddenly dry, and now there was a small orb of water levitating above her palms. "Kaiyo," She stated calmly, "help me cut through my handcuffs." Kaiyo nodded, and she bent the water towards him. Kaiyo now bent it into her handcuff chain, moving his hands up and down as he tried cutting through the chains. Within twenty minutes, the chain was cut clean in half, but Kaiyo was exhausted. "He needs rest. I'll help you, Kori." Dimian said. Kori smiled, passing the water from her chain to Dimian.
About ten minutes later, they were three fourths of the way finished when they heard footsteps approaching. Kori quickly bent the water into a sphere beside her, and when the chi-blockers were in front of the cell, she blasted the water onto their faces. The two chi-blockers stumbled and fell; Kori snapped the rest of the chain apart and began working on her ankle chains. The chi-blockers quickly recovered though, and opened the cell door to slam an electric baton down on Kori's back. She howled in pain, and smacked the baton out of the chi-blocker's hands just as the other chi-blocker appeared and punched her in the side. "Gaahh!" She groaned, and collapsed on her side. Kaze, furious, sucked in a lungful of air and blew it back out, knocking the chi-blockers off their feet. "Mako, Jiong, try firebending!" The duo nodded and began an attempt at burning through their handcuffs. Just then, as more chi-blockers appeared, a blast of wind out of nowhere knocked them backwards. None other than Jinora walked into the cell and began helping them out of their chains after she grabbed a key off a knocked-out chi-blocker. "More chi-blockers are on the way," She said, hurriedly undoing Mako's chains. Once everyone was out of their cuffs, what sounded like a stampede of footsteps could be heard. "Let's go!" Jinora yelled, but Kori yanked her arm back when she began to run. "What about Mizu?" Kori asked. "They won't hurt him, he's a non-bender! Now we have to go!" With that, Jinora wrenched her arm of out Kori's grasp and ran ahead. Kori sighed and ran after her, the others in tow.
The ferry was waiting for them when they got outside the arena. They all quickly jumped onto it and it zipped off, waiting for no one else. "I can't believe you all just left Mizu there! What happens if they do something to him? I wouldn't get over it if he got seriously injured or killed!" Kori shouted, then fell onto the wooden deck and began weeping. Kaiyo sat beside her, patting her back. "Kori...I didn't want to leave him either, but Jinora's right. He's a non-bender, I doubt they'll hurt him." As Kaiyo and Kori kept talking, Dimian wandered off to look off the side of the ship. He sighed. He was upset that he couldn't have saved them from getting captured- he was the avatar, after all- and yet he couldn't even deal with some chi-blockers. And Mizu...Dimian didn't know him very well, but he knew Kori was his sister and was even more depressed that he couldn't save him, either. "Korra had a lot of doubts, too." Said a voice from nearby. Dimian turned to see Jinora smiling wisely at him. 'You're a lot like her. Strong, friendly. But you're a lot like Aang, too. Calm, a little quiet. I think that you'll be a wonderful avatar." Dimian smiled lightly, but it soon faded for a frown. "I don't know, Jinora...I couldn't even stop us from getting captured...how'd you find us, anyway?" The air-bender chuckled. "I was going to come get you for some more training, when I learned that you were last seen at the old probending arena. The ferryman said it'd been a few hours, and I got worried. So I poked around a bit, and found a trap door to some old prison beneath the arena. That's where they kept you, and where I found you." Dimian nodded. "Um...about Mizu...will they hurt him?" Jinora shook her head. "I don't think so." Dimian sighed and looked out at Republic City as they neared it.
Desna and Eska had been waiting for him. They told Jinora that Dimian needed more practice from them too, but Jinora replied by telling them Dimian needed rest. "Have you met Kai, Dimian?" Questioned Jinora as him and his friends walked with her to the other side of Republic City. "Your husband? No. You've told me who he is, though." Dimian responded. "Hey, Mrs. Jinora...are we going to tell the police about the chi-blockers?" Jiong inquired. "Yes. Jiong, why don't you go file a report to them now?" Jiong smiled. "Okay!" Jinora gave her quick and simple directions to the police station and air temple for when she returned, and Jiong soon had run off. Dimian began to think about the incident. Mizu had said there was a woman looking to start the anti-bending revolution again; which startled Dimian. He knew Avatar Korra had dealt with them before, and even had her bending taken away. He shuddered at the thought; he didn't want that happening to him or anyone he cared for. He was so lost in thought that he didn't even notice them coming near the west bay of Republic City. He saw Air Temple Island across the water, and smiled. "How do we get there?" Asked Setchi from behind Jinora. "We take that," Jinora replied, pointing to a small boat. "Aw, darn, more boats?" The group chuckled, and Setchi blushed. Being an earthbender, she hated not being close to land or being up in high places. Everyone crowded into the boat and Jinora started guiding it forward.
Soon, they had reached Air Temple Island. Jinora told everyone how there was dormitories for males and females, and she led Jiong, Kaze, Setchi, and Kori off to their rooms. Kaiyo and Dimian stood in quiet awkwardness for a few minutes before someone walked out of the front entrance to the temple. "Oh, hey. Wait a second...you're the new avatar! Ah, Jinora told me you would be coming!" The man said. This must be Kai, Dimian thought. He smiled and approached Kai with an outstretched hand. "Hi! I'm Dimian. You're Kai, right?" Kai nodded and shook his hand. "Who's that?" Kai asked, pointing at Kaiyo. "That's Kaiyo, my friend." Kaiyo hadn't even noticed the other man exit the temple, and was startled when he saw him. "Uh, hi. I'm Kaiyo," Kaiyo said as he walked up to Kai. "Yo. I'm Kai. Jin's showing the girls their dorms, right? Well, guess I gotta show you yours." Kai pulled the boys inside and showed them a hallway with many doors. "This is the males' dorms. That was Meelo's…" Kai said, his smile fading as he pointed to a room on the left. "What happened?" Dimian asked. Kai sighed. "Meelo, Jinora's little brother...died in a Satomobile accident when he was eleven. Jinora hates talking about it…" Dimian was taken aback. Jinora had mentioned that she had siblings, but he had only heard of Ikki, her sister, and Rohan, her brother. "I'm so sorry...I had no clue…" Kai looked at him and smiled gently.
"It's fine. I mean, Jinora was much closer to him than I was. She's the oldest of her siblings, you know." Dimian nodded. At least he knew that. "I don't think you want Meelo's room, so you'll have the one beside Kaiyo's." Kai explained, and opened the door to a plain room. It had a comfortable-looking bed, a bedside table, and a dresser. "Thanks, Kai," Dimian said and plopped down onto the bed. He was tired, and fell asleep within minutes.
A/N: Preettttyyy long chapter, but I think it's fairly good. Tell me what you think! -Spade