Chapter 4 - A Promising Start

"Sooo! How's it going, Boss?"

"They're on their way. Should be here in 'bout 25 minutes. Ming's leading 'em 'ere the long way. According to scouts, 'ere's only 25 of 'em this time and Ming's team has already picked off a few, but they could do the camp some serious damage before we put 'em all down. We didn't expect 'em this early, after all. We could use one of 'em insane plots of yers', kid."

I didn't answer Gulon for a while and instead observed Ming's scout team luring the pirates away from the settlement through the binoculars.

It had been a few months since the pirates began raiding the mining settlements on the outskirts. We had held them off for the most part, except for the two settlements we lost because we couldn't get there in time to help but this would be the first time we intentionally lost a skirmish and lured them after us, away from their ships and the settlement to avoid collateral damage.

We had identified the one leading this raid, some dumb brute with no head for tactics. We had close to thrice the manpower they did, all lying in wait at the end of an exhausting chase. It would be an easy fight but the cost would probably be the outpost.

Hastily constructed out of wood and whatever we had on hand, the feeble encampments would quickly give way to the attacks of the waterbending pirates.

'Yeah. Not going to happen. Once we get entrenched here, this camp can serve as an outpost to monitor the three remaining fishing settlements on the western islands. I don't want to have to do this crap all over again. I've been stuck here for days.'

Instead of answering Gulon I handed him the binoculars and turned to the swamp and the camp next to it. I looked out at the people who had, despite my age, come to regard me as something of a leader.

I noticed a few of them bend some mud of a crate. They seemed to have some difficulty doing so because the mud was stickier than normal.

Spirits know why the ground is so sticky here. I know it's a swamp but still. Wait a sec. Aren't they waterbenders?'

"Hey, you two. Get your butts over here."

The two in question trotted over to me and saluted.

"Sir?"

"Sir?"

"Aren't the two of you waterbenders?"

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" Came the reply.

"But you bent the mud of the crates?"

"Affirmative, Sir!"

"The crates contain medication and food, Sir! Resistance Protocol for military hygiene dictates -"

"Yeah, yeah. Protocol. I get it. That wasn't my question, guys. And enough with the "Sirs". How did you guys bend earth if you're waterbenders?"

The two looked at each other uncertainly.

"It's not earth, Jin."

I paused. That was not an answer. I hate people not spilling their guts when I ask them a question. It's not polite. I tended to take it personally.

"What do you mean? I saw you bend the mud. Explain, now. Or would you like the Dark Knight treatment?" I ordered, feeling a little annoyed by this point.

"Jin! No, Jin! It's not earth, Jin! It's clay."

"Alright! First off: Stop using my name like it's a title! That's fucking weird, guys. Second: That wasn't an explanation. What do you mean "It's clay". And how would that matter -"

I cut myself off as I got the gist of it. I must admit I was slow to understand but when the bulb began to shine, it did so with a vengeance.

I looked around at the swamp around me, my mood lifting as I noted the ample clay just waiting to be used.

An innocent, bashful smile appeared on my face when I figured out a way to turn the swamp into the perfect welcome mat we could roll out for the pirates. A Red Carpet, one might say. The two waterbenders began to back away slowly as I laughed goodnaturedly.

"Mhahaha. Mwaahahaahahahaaa. Mwahahahahahahaaaa."


Knock Knock Knock.

"Sir."

"Don't call me "Sir", guys", I slurred out, rubbing the dust from my eyes.

Knock Knock Knock.

"Master Jin, please wake up."

"Huh?"

I stretched out and looked to the side of my bed, wondering where I was.

'Oh right. Ship to Republic City. I got a VIP cabin. '

"Are we there yet?" I called out.

"An hour away, Master Jin. Also, your neighbors were frightened by the laughter and requested that it cease, Master Jin. I apologize for the inconvenience."

Right. Of course. Bad Habit.

"Right Ho, Lee."

"Very good, Sir."

My morning rituals complete, I exited the cabin, grabbed some breakfast, tipped the butler I shared with the adjacent cabins (expensive it might be but the VIP cabins were worth every yuan), and decided to get one last look at the ocean before we arrived.

It was almost dawn when the cruise ship pulled into the dock. I walked past another ship as I made my way towards the city.

'A cargo ship by the looks of things. Glad I don't have to travel in those anymore'

The sight of the crew hauling cargo off the ship and onto the docks made me recall the days when I had just woken up in this world without two coppers to rub together. I spent days aboard cargo ships moving from city to city, playing cabin boy for a crew of over thirty sailors to pay my way. I wasn't ungrateful of course, but sailors didn't seem to understand the need to maintain basic hygiene. Women were no exception, as I learned to my detriment. The entire freighter had smelt about the same as a locker room after a football game, the kitchens were grimy and I'm surprised I managed to get to the Archipelago without falling sick.

I shivered a bit, shook off the unpleasant reminder and walked into the city.

I had just walked past a warehouse when a large, white beast barreled past me with a woman on its back. 'There's an uncommon sight', I thought, staring at the ponytailed girl dressed in light blue clothing and thick furred boots. I could tell that she was probably from the Southern Water Tribe. Northerners preferred darker blues for some reason.

The girl was of course, not the uncommon sight I refer to. At least, not entirely.

What was uncommon however, was the creature she rode. A large white polar bear-dog. Sparsely found in the frozen tundra of the South Pole, these beasts were deep sleepers, slow to wake up but were unusually territorial and aggressive for part canines. I had seen a few during my travels in the Antarctic.

Most advice I received on the topic while noting down tips for survival seemed to follow a common theme:

"Don't fuck with a polar bear dog and it won't fuck you up".

A common, if stupid, water tribe game among teenagers at the South Pole was to poke a polar bear dog in its sleep and run back to safety in the time it took for the normally aggressive creature to wake up and begin chasing them.

'Glad I "invented" ice hockey to keep those idiots occupied. It's a wonder that the Southern Water Tribe hasn't bred the stupidity out yet.'

Back to the point I was trying to make, it probably took a special brand of insane to tame a beast that aggressive.

'Therefore, note to self, stay away from crazy girl riding the polar bear dog.'

I walked into the massive city, enjoying the vague sense of nostalgia that the modern architecture evoked. One of the things that surprised me about the city was the widespread use of private motor vehicles. I did know they existed. One of the Archipelagos major exports was gasoline, after all. I had helped broker a trade agreement (which I was not paid enough for) with Republic Oil Ltd. before I left the Archipelago. So yeah, a few motor vehicles here and there was expected, multi-lane highways carrying thousands of private transports all over the city were not.

'It's interesting, how much more industrialized Republic City is when compared with the rest of the world. Aang certainly went all out on this place.'

I eventually wandered downtown and was taking in the sight of establishments that offered certain . . . services that I couldn't take advantage off (yet, damn it) when I was interrupted by a particularly beautiful tune. I followed the mesmerizing music to a quaint shop on a street at the edge of downtown where I spotted an old man with a long grey goatee polishing what appeared to be a record player.

'Mother of Gods! Recorded Music, how I have longed for thee.'

It might seem strange to some but prior to this day, my experience with music in this world had for the most part been badly sung folk songs and raunchy limericks, given tune (badly) by drunkards in taverns.

"It's an invention of Sato's. He brought up the idea a long time back but only started manufacturing them a few years ago. It hasn't become popular outside of the well-to-do folk. You need to buy records as well, see. Also listening to music live on the radio seems to serve us regular folks' requirements fairly well", the old man explained enthusiastically.

'Sato, again? This guy gets around!'

Old man Chung was happy to play a few records to demonstrate the phonograph. After I listened to a few classical instrumental pieces and one piece that had distinct similarities to folk metal I decided that I was definitely buying myself one of these.

'Radio? Ha. Like someone used to spotify and youtube could possibly be satisfied for long by staticky crap played live on the radio.'

"So how much did you say this device cost, Mr Chung?"

"Oh, just 700 Yuans for you, young man. In fact, since this is the last one on stock that I need to get rid of, I'll throw in two records of your choice for fr - "

Vroom Vrooom.

"You need to leave, young man", whispered the store owner, his face paling when he noticed a stylish Satomobile come to a stop outside his store. It didn't escape my notice that most of the people left the street and closed up their shops as three men exited the Satomobile. The once busy street had, within the span of a few seconds, become as silent as a cemetery, with the only sounds audible being the steps of the three gaudily dressed men.

"Mr. Chung. Please tell me you have my money", drawled out one of the men approaching the store's yard with a lazy gait.

"Or else, I can't guarantee I can protect your . . . fine establishment."

He then smiled and gestured to one of his two smirking bodyguards who lit a flame above his hand.

'Alright. So average protection racket. Thugs use bending to extort money and going by the suddenly closed shops and the empty street, this isn't an isolated incident. These people are used to this.'

While I analyzed the situation, Mr. Chung stuttered out an apology, offering his last phonograph to the thugs as collateral.

'Oi, I was going to buy that. Wait. Woah. What is he - Noooo!' I thought in horror, as firebender smashed the record player into the ground, burning it to scrap metal in the process.

My right eye twitched involuntarily as I helped Old man Chung up and looked over at the record player.

These turd stains had probably destroyed the first source of recorded music I had seen in almost a decade. Probably the only one that might be available for purchase in the foreseeable future.

I was going to pulverize them. Right after I checked on the record player.

"My friend is not a music lover", said the 80s Mafioso in the trench coat, "I'd suggest you pay us what you owe, or else -"

"Or else what, hoodlums?" Came a shout from behind the three goons.

'Hoodlums? Who says that anymore?' I thought,still a tad dismayed at the candid destruction of the record player that I wanted to purchase.

'A polar bear dog? Is that the stowaway water tribe girl from the cargo ship?'

I missed most of the intermediate conversation while I put out the fire before it burned the store down and tried to salvage the record player. I turned back to the street just in time to watch the leader of the thugs fling a dense bolt of water at the girl who rapidly bent it back at him and in the process, encased his head in ice. The mafia wannabe stumbled towards the younger waterbender, the ice on his head upsetting his balance. The girl met him midway and hook kicked his head, slamming it onto his car, denting the bumper severely and knocking him for a loop in the process.

'Chick's got basic CQC training and is a waterbender. Shortie with the superman hair is a firebender, flexible, going by that earlier kick - probably speedy and acrobatic. Hate those types. Large guy - Hmm. Going by the other two, a bender, probably earthbender going by the tall, sturdy physique and green clothing. Insane waterbender chick has advantage with Firebender. Engage earthbender.'

I pulled Old Man Chung onto his feet, ushered him indoors and ran towards the Earthbender. But before I could tackle him, the tall thug rushed forward and began to earthbend. He never got the chance to do so, however. The girl slammed her foot into the ground in a waterbending stance I had never seen before.

I leaped out of the way of the torrent of water I was expecting to fly towards the earthbender and myself. But I was surprised when a column of earth rose under earthbender's feet instead and launched him into the air.

'Umm . . . What?'

The earthbender's fall was broken by a fruit stand.

'Did the earthbender just take himself out? Talk about shoddy earthbending. No! That waterbender just raised a platform. How?'

I had seen waterbenders bend clay before. The water was often bonded so well with the earth that extracting the water took more effort than it was worth. Instead, the strong mix of water and earth made it possible for water benders to bend clay as it was. What claybending took away from traditional waterbending in flexibility, it gained in potential for blunt force and ingenious field applications like traps and disabling enemy weaponry. Several strategies involving claybending had been used to great effect once the pirates began their direct assault on the Archipelago.

'But waterbenders manipulating the earth by itself? Perhaps there is enough water in the ground that she can sense?'

The firebender with the superman hair squeaked and bent an unfocused stream of fire at the girl hastily. My shock grew as she simply ripped through it and defused the flame. She grappled his hands and tossed him right through the window of an antique clock store.

'Fire too? I suppose, you could split Hydrogen and Oxygen and - Wait a sec. Is she -'

"The Avatar!" shouted an old lady from next door as my confusion cleared.

I could have hit myself on the head for not realizing it earlier. It might be the fact that I had seen the cartoon but it was easier for me to come up with ridiculous theories than imagine anyone other than a bald kid as the Avatar.

I had a quick look through the broken window of the clock store and winced. A few tens of thousand yuans worth of damage at least. I maybe rich now but that was still a lot of money.

'There were easier ways to take him out.'

"Urggh."

I turned around and saw that the earthbender had gotten up again. Deciding to end this incident without further collateral damage, I ran at the earthbender, who quickly focused on me.

"Don't even try, kid."

The large earthbender yelled in a guttural tone as he raised a boulder twice the size of my body and punched out, hurling the boulder in my direction.

I ducked under the boulder and somersaulted over his head, poking his eyes with my fingers in the process.

The earthbender clutched his face in pain as I landed on my feet behind him. I slammed a heavy palm strike into his armpit, dislocating his shoulder and eliciting a groan.

I was almost blindsided when the earthbender, undaunted by his useless left arm, took a blind swing as he turned around to face me.

'Holy shit, this guy's sturdy. What's it going to take?'

I bent slightly at the knees, dodging under a haphazard right hook, and lowered my center of gravity in preparation before my arms blurred, fingers slamming repeatedly into the earthbender's left external oblique with practiced ease, targeting a few pressure points that would block his bending for thirty minutes, with the welcome side effect of numbing the left side of his body for the same duration.

The earthbender let out a pained moan and fell on his side like a fish out of water, unable to do more than twitch.

I hadn't needed to dislocate his shoulder but a little pain over the next couple of days should teach him to keep his bending to himself in the future.

I might have smirked at my handiwork a little longer but my private gloating session was unfortunately interrupted by the waterbender getting into and starting his Satomobile. He wasted no time pulling the firebender in and floored it.

"You're not getting away", growled the Avatar. After spending years fighting alongside and against benders of all types, not all were trained by professionals but, I had learned to recognise their stances for the most part.

My eyes widened as I saw the Avatar get into a stance that I distinctly recognised as a variation of the Taekwondo Forward Stance, usually used to bend earth a significant distance away from the bender. That could mean only one thing.

"NO, DON'T!"

Disregarding my warning, she stomped down and raised her hands, bending an uneven rock formation in front of the fleeing Satomobile, clipping its tires, sending it careening out of control and crashing into a shop.

'Idiot', I thought angrily, going over to make sure no one else was injured in the crash. The girl followed me with her giant polar bear dog. Sighing in relief when I found the store vacant, I turned around to read her the riot act when I was interrupted by a siren.

The police were here.

'This will not end well', I thought morosely.

I hadn't intended to get involved with Law Enforcement anymore. Now, I was going to get up close and personal with them from the other side of the table.

"POLICE! FREEZE WHERE YOU ARE!"

They dropped out of the sky, strange black cables shooting out of their wristguards, attaching to the buildings and slowing them down.

"Cool! Metal benders", cried the awed Avatar, staring up at the police.

'Like Toph in the cartoon', I thought.

I had not seen metal bending in this world before, it was a surreal experience. I had known it existed since it had come up in conversations before but the ability seemed fairly exclusive even decades after it was discovered. Apparently, only one in a hundred earthbenders had the talent and mindset to learn it and even fewer were able to train the skill without competent instructors.

'Note to self, have the big shots contact someone in the Earth Kingdom to train a few for us. The lack of metal benders in the military is a glaring hole in our - Gah, what am I thinking! I came here to get away from that crap. It's not my responsibility.'

The police landed in front of us, withdrawing their cables with a snap.

"We caught the bad guys for you officers", said the Avatar, smugly directing them to the car crash.

'This literally cannot get worse', I thought, my face palm drawing a curious look from the Avatar. She had ruined the paved roads, caused a car crash, destroyed an antique store and just confessed to the police. Did she really think they were going to give her a medal?

"Arrest them", said one of the officers, watching as the others shot out metal cables, tying the thugs up.

"You're both under arrest too. You will be questioned at headquarters", he continued, approaching us with a glare.

"What do you mean I'm under arrest?" said the Avatar, indignantly. "Those are the bad guys over there. They were smashing up a shop." she said, pointing at the groggy bending trio.

"We noticed. By the looks of things, you smashed up way more than that", said the officer, gesturing at the shops and the road.

"There's no need for the cables officer, I'd be happy to accompany you to the police station and explain myself. I'm sure you'll find that my actions were acceptable, given the circumstances", I smiled disarmingly, hoping to avoid being trussed up like a chicken.

The officer nodded at me with a constipated look on his face and then turned to the Avatar. The Avatar looked at me, shocked but quickly turned to the police.

"Wait! You . . . you can't arrest me, let me explain", she said quickly.

The officer narrowed his eyes in irritation.

"You can explain all you like down at headquarters", said the officer snapping out a metal cable which the Avatar dodged with a backwards somersault. The polar bear dog, which had been docile till now, decided to show its displeasure by shoving the officer into the ground from behind and leapt towards the Avatar, who got on its back and turned towards me.

No, No, No', I thought in horror. "Wait! Wait a sec. There's no need for this. We just need to give them our statements." I said, backpedaling. The Avatar rode her beast towards me, picked me up by my collar, dropped me behind her and kicked away one of the cops who jumped at her.

"This isn't a good idea, Avatar", I said.

Zpppp.

The both of us ducked under a metal cable that shot past us, knocking over a bunch of fruit on a vendor's stall. I watched with growing trepidation as the cops jumped onto telephone lines that ran through the city and began following us on them.

"The name's Korra and you can thank me later", said the Avatar, smirking back at me.

'Wait a second. Korra? This was the girl Gran Gran wanted to introduce me to?

"I knew that Troll was up to no good", I murmured.

"What was that?"

Zpppp.

"Duck", I replied.

I ducked sideways again when I heard the telltale whooshing of the metal bender cables. I didn't want to be yanked off the polar bear dog at this speed. I was able to dodge the cable, Korra could not. The cable caught onto Korra's hair. Korra let go of her mount's reins and lifted both her hands, sending up a deluge of water from under the bridge we were on and froze the wave in place. The unfortunate cop holding onto her ponytail slammed face first into the ice spire, before letting go of the ponytail. And his consciousness.

'So, that's deadly assault on Law Enforcement added to the growing list of charges'

"This isn't over, Korra. It's probably better to let them take us in. We shouldn't have much of a problem getting out of trouble", I said nervously, seeing more and more cops join the chase.

Utterly ignoring my (partly) valid argument, Korra directed the polar bear dog to leap off a bridge and onto a roof when a number of cables shot down from an overhead blimp, grabbing the beast's limbs and suspending it in the air.

Neither Korra nor I had a chance to jump off before a few more cables shot down soon after, binding the two of us together. My embarrassment rose to its peak as the blimp paraded us throughout the city on its way to RCPD HQ.

'Well I guess it is over. At least, things really can't get any worse now', I thought, hoping the cops would go easy on the Avatar and I. Or at least, me.

But of course that wasn't the end of it. Nooo, how could fate possibly let up now?

I soon noticed that I was bound quite tightly to a beautiful, toned young woman with an equally toned rump.

Yeah, bad things tend to happen when one tempts Murphy.

My traitorous blood chose the perfect moment to mutiny and began to flow south by the gallon.

'I guess things just got worse', I thought sourly as Korra kept wiggling in an attempt to get free, ignorant of the part she was playing in my rapidly growing problem.

Truly, a promising start to my time in Republic City.


Author's Note:

As always, leave your thoughts below.