Oh man, so much has happened in the last ten years. What, you may ask? Ten years?
Yeah, ten years, because literally nothing in that time is truly important to be recorded for you all.
But here's what you missed:
Alright, so first thing's first, Reiko designated me the new Guardian, a new title for a protector or a sentinel; a cut above a police grunt and always trying to do the right thing wherever we went.
Second, I mastered both earthbending and firebending, according to my teachers. Waterbending is the doozy though. I tried finding a teacher, but there was never one that could draw the talent out of me. I even tried Eska and Desna, who had two conflicting opinions on how I should be taught, ultimately agreeing to teach me at the same time, and then everything just blew up into a big waterbending fight between the two of them over what was the right way to teach me, at which point I got the hell out of there.
So I've decided that if I couldn't learn the basics of waterbending by myself, I just wasn't meant to be a waterbender…and I couldn't get the basics myself. I still look for a teacher, but not as actively; moving on!
Third, Tenzin admitted that I was a better bender than he was…yeah, that's kinda it. Not much to it, but I felt like bragging.
Moving right along, not everything can be good, so we'll move onto things that have went horribly wrong during this time, or the one thing that has gone horribly wrong. The Spirit Wilds.
Yes, the problem that occurred ten years prior is continuing to happen and more frequently, though only appear to be occurring at nighttime. Thankfully, me and my team have developed a way to suppress the Spirits without killing them and have taught these methods to the Metalbending Police, though they aren't the core problem. The Wilds themselves are expanding well beyond where they're supposed to go, to the point where some have even connected and are creating this vast network over around half of the city. It's strange in that all the wilds are culminating around the Spirit Portal, leading Jinora, our resident Spirit Expert, and I to think that the reason Spirits are turning dark is because of the imbalance of Spiritual Energy created by a third portal. That being said, it's only spiritually charged areas which are affected and…this is turning into Dark Spirit Pest Control 101, so I'll stop. You get the point.
This half of the city around the Spirit Portal has been titled (affectionately) as the Wildlands. Since we don't have any Avatar anymore, we can't do much to stop it, but we do what we can, and that's the last I'll say.
Moreover, I refuse to sleep until I know that the citizens of Republic City aren't in danger. I may not be an Avatar. I may not be able to waterbend, but what I can do is aid this city in growing be as strong as it can be.
No I'm not the Avatar, but I am this world's Guardian.
If they ever made a mover out of my life, after that line was read, you'd show a shot with my eye and zoom it out to show me looking all triumphant and then just let it roll into the next scene because it was all happening in real-time and…this is geeking out, isn't it? Alright, I've had a lot of time during the day to watch movers so excuse me.
Anyway, it was a calm day of training between airbenders, if you want to call it training.
It was Tenzin's kids and Kai against me, and they were having trouble keeping up.
I dodged around Kai's kick and then side-stepped away from Meelo's blast before pushing him away without the use of bending just to throw him off balance; both had become capable benders and leaders in their own right by the way. Feeling a shift in the air behind me, I burst into a roll forward, avoiding Ikki's blast and retaliating with a kick-thrust blast back towards her to knock her off-balance. Jinora used this opportunity to leap over her sister in a surprise attack which was coordinated with Kai's assault from the other side.
I backed up as they approached and drop-kicked their hands to blast upwards instead of towards me and then I burst forward, pushing them away as well. This kind of brawl continued for a while longer before all four of them were panting on the sidelines.
"Aw, come on, guys! You can't be tired already! We just started!"
"Try two hours!" Ikki corrected.
"I don't know how you do it, man," Kai stated, still catching his breath. Jinora was already absorbed in another book and Meelo was sound asleep, still retaining the ability to sleep under any circumstances from his childhood.
"Alright, you slackers; take five and then you're with Tenzin for a while," I told them before grabbing a glass of water myself from the kitchen. Oh yeah, that's another things that happened in the past ten years; the kitchen expanded. Why? Because more and more people were residing here on the island because of the growing Wildlands problem.
Either way, once I got my glass, I went over to the other part of the island, where I saw Kuvira and Sakeme duking it out in a practice match of their own. "Mind if I join?" I called over to them. They glanced at me briefly before shrugging and continuing on their own.
Not wanting to interrupt again for selfish "I want to take the glory" purposes, I instead found someone else to, uh…pleasure.
Kanon had been busy raiding Republic City's many libraries, as well as Tenzin's personal library, for anything she could entertain herself with. It ranged from bending scrolls, theories, legends, history, etc.
I leaned over her as she sat on a small hill overlooking the makeshift arena, reading on of these said scrolls. "Whatcha reading this time?" I wondered, mostly just to get her attention. She sighed, knowing what I was doing as I had already played this trick many times before.
"Well, I decided to be a bit more topical; it's about the Air Nation's history, and about some of their greatest monks. Avatar Aang, Gyatso, Laghima," she said as I wrapped my arms around her waist.
"Oh," I feigned annoyance. "That guy was such a liar, wouldn't make for a good partner, you know?" I said it slowly, completely zenned-out-like.
She chuckled. "Oh really? Good thing he floated away then," she fake-agreed, running her hand through my hair. "But you're not gonna float away, are you?"
We both smiled as I started kissing the back of her neck, moving to her cheeks, slowly and agonizingly, making my way to her lips before she turned around and we had our little session.
We heard snickering from behind a bush, and I nonchalantly blasted the spying Ikki and Meelo into the air and away from us, not missing a beat.
"Yuuto," Pema interrupted. Kanon and I separated, our cheeks still rosy. "We have a visitor."
I nodded softly, putting my attention back to my girl briefly. "Gotta split," I said before I stood and left while she returned to her book. I approached the dock, where my quote-unquote "visitor" was arriving, seeing their boat from the city. My shoulder drooped as I took a seat, waiting for them to arrive. When they finally did, I recognized the Earth Kingdom insignia, so it was either an ambassador or an old friend…and it was latter...and the former.
Tenzin greeted her first. "Suyin!" the two shared a handshake. "It's been quite a while since you've paid us a visit!"
"Too long, Tenzin. Air Temple Island is bustling, I see," she acknowledged the expanded residence buildings for the influx of people.
"Yes, a bit too noisy for me, but I've made sure that the meditation area has remained untouched," he agreed. "How goes Zaofu, then?"
"About as quiet as normal," she said. "Boring, compared to life here."
"Ah yes, the Wildlands problem…" he moaned. "We've been working day in and day out to solve it, I assure you."
"I'm sure you have," she said as they walked into the kitchen, to which I followed. "Yuuto, it's good to see you after all of this time!" she greeted me, us sharing a hug.
"To you too, Suyin," I returned. "But, being as curious as ever, what brings you to Air Temple Island?"
"Actually, I was wondering the same thing myself," Tenzin added.
"Unfortunately, nothing good. I've come on behalf of all of the Earth Kingdom. The Swamp in the south has been acting up lately. Well, more than normal I should say."
"How's Toph?"
"My mother told us it was feeling strange, and hasn't gone near it since," she said. "But she's fine."
"Well, there's one good thing about this," I offered.
"Is it connected to the Wildlands problem?" Tenzin wondered.
"Have dark spirits been attacking?" I asked more specifically.
"They've been seen, but they haven't left the Swamp yet, though we're preparing for it any-" she never finished her sentence.
Instead, she was startled as an earth column bashed my head into the ceiling. I landed gracefully enough, rubbing my head. "Damn it, not again…" I moaned as I got ready for a match with Kuvira, ready to tell her that now wasn't a good time, but I got beat to the punch, literally.
Suyin burst into action before anyone could react, blasting Kuvira out of the building and following her out. Tenzin and I rushed outside, seeing the two women stand facing each other. Tenzin was about to call out, but I held him back.
"Wait," I said. "Let's see what happens," I said with a smirk, eager to see a real earthbending duel again.
"They'll kill each other!" Tenzin argued.
"Or maybe they'll work things out," I offered. Suyin knew that Kuvira was staying with us on the island. We'd told her, she looked disgusted, and never spoke about it again, not even acknowledging her presence when Kuvira was around. I could only imagine the feelings of resentment both women harbored for the other.
"Alright, that's it! I've tolerated you being free for the past ten years!" Suyin called to her new opponent. "But attacking your owner was the last straw!"
"Yuuto hardly owns me, Beifong," Kuvira countered. "And we both know what happened last time we fought," she warned.
The two proceeded to get into a cat-fight of the ages, throwing boulders and metal sheets left and right, neither giving an inch, though both received a fair amount of cuts and bruises from the brawl. Suyin appeared to have won with a direct shot to the face, though as she stood over her former protégé, Kuvira tripped her up and then kicked her away. Suyin retaliated with a rock pillar to blast Kuvira away, conveniently right at our feet. As Kuvira stood to counter, I held her back by her arms. "Alright, that's enough venting," I said like an older brother would his sibling.
A while later, after the unnecessary injuries were pathed up, and after we explained to Suyin that Kuvira was only keeping me on my toes with her little stunt, we resumed our conversation.
"So you said that no spirits have attacked?"
"No," Suyin confirmed while Tenzin handed Kuvira a bag of ice for her already-forming black eye from the head shot. "The surrounding towns have been preparing heavily, given what's become of Republic City."
"Any leads as to why?"
"Actually, there is one, and this one is all I needed to come to you specifically for help. He's on the boat," she said before we visited "him."
We was held bound with cuffs behind his back. "What's his story?"
"He was found snooping around the Swamp, defiling its roots and trees with fire," Suyin explained. "And look on his neck."
I looked a bit closer, soon ruing the day. "The Red Lotus…"
Author's Note:
Hey there! Not much to say about this one other than the fact that I had that little monologue at the beginning planned out since the end of the arc arc. The rest of incredibly difficult to write though. And yes, this is leading into the final arc of this story, which may or may not lead to sequel; I haven't decided yet.
Other than that, don't forget to review, and I'll see you in the next one!