Earth. Fire. Air. Water. When Korra was a little girl, her father, Tonraq, told his daughter the story of how Avatar Aang and his friends heroically ended the Hundred Year War. Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko transformed the Fire Nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations, a society where benders and nonbenders from all over the world could live and thrive together in peace and harmony. They named the capital of this great land Republic City. Avatar Aang accomplished many remarkable things in his life, but sadly, his time in this world came to an end. And like the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of the Avatar began anew.
In the Southern Water Tribe, the next reincarnation of the Avatar was born. It was a little girl named Korra. She was revealed to be the Avatar at young age of four after bending the element of Earth, Fire, and Water at the White Lotus sentries who came to investigate her parent's claim of her being "the one". By the age of seventeen, Korra had mastered all, but one of the four elements. The one she hadn't learned nor mastered was the element of Air which was the main element of her previous life. Originally, Korra was going to learn airbending form the son of Avatar Aang, Master Tenzin, but that had to be delayed due to the fact that the city that his father and Lord Zuko worked so hard to make a reality was suddenly falling apart. Korra, being the stubborn person that she is, followed Tenzin back to Republic City where she experienced firsthand, how far the city was falling since the days of Aang. It was then after running into the police, Chief Lin Beifong, daughter of the infamous Toph Beifong and the Chief of Republic City, and meeting anti-benders, Avatar Korra was allowed to stay with Tenzin on Air Temple Island and begin her airbending training.
As of right now, Korra has in no way, shape, or form even come close to make any air or wind appear from her hands or feet, but that is not her focus at the moment. You see while in this vast city, Korra met two new friends, a firebender named Mako and his little brother, Bolin; an earthbender. They introduced her to the game known as Pro-Bending. Bolin is currently missing after having gotten captured by The Equalist, who worship the vile Amon, who believes that the world is better off without benders "oppressing them". Mako and Korra located an Equalist rally and snuck in to rescue Bolin. Now we shall see how that story unfolds.
I present to you: Finding Balance Amongst The Shadows.
Avatar Korra and Mako snuck into the Equalist rally to find and rescue their friend Bolin. The two benders wound up in the rally after antagonizing the person Korra ran into when she first arrived in Republic City and found out that the flyers he had been giving out when combined formed a map to this rally. As of now, Korra and Mako just witnessed Amon take away someone's bending, an ability that only the Avatar knew causing shock and fear to spread throughout their bodies.
"That's...that's not possible..." Korra muttered fearfully under her breath. No one else has had the ability to energybend except the Avatar. How is it that Amon has the ability now?!
Mako shook his head. "I don't know how it's possible, but we saw him do it." He then turned towards Korra. "Right now, we need to focus and find Bolin so this doesn't happen to him."
Korra nodded her head. "Right." She said determinedly.
The two of them were just about to formulate a plan to rescue Bolin, but something else had just caught their attention. A dark-skinned boy with black spiky hair (AN: Just imagine Gray's hair from Fairy Tail. That's how the wiki described it.) with a cloak of his body walked up onto the stage right in front of Amon, causing everyone's attention to be mainly focused on him.
"You will have to forgive my rudeness, but fans and audience members are not allowed on stage or in my presence at all." Amon said coolly to the cloaked boy. "If you wish to ask me something, you may wait until after I have stripped these benders of their "impurity"."
"Well...what if I'm giving you one more bender to strip of their 'impurity'." The boy said.
"What?!" Korra gasped as she thought to herself. This boy was willingly allowing Amon to take away his bending? Why?! Bending isn't something that is oppressive or evil. Bending is an art, something that can do good things in this world.
Korra was just about to charge up towards the stage if it wasn't for Mako grabbing her arm.
"You can't just charge up there Korra! You might be captured or worse!" Mako hissed, making Korra give him an annoyed expression.
"Well if you have a plan, I'm all ears!" Korra retorted lowly, not wanting to watch the boy get his bending taken away by Amon.
"Let's just see how this all plays out." Mako said as he is just as curious as to why the boy wants his bending taken away.
The Chi blockers that were on stage moved in to subdue the boy, but were stopped when Amon raised his hand.
"This is...quite the surprise. You want me to just take away your bending willingly?" Amon questioned, not believing that someone was just willing to come and ask him to receive his 'gift'.
The boy nodded his head quickly.
"Yes yes, I want it gone. My powers...this bending...it's dangerous, evil, dark even. It tries to consume my mind and very essence every time I use it. I've been fighting it's pull for so long, but it's getting stronger everyday. I need to you too get rid of it please..." The boy said softly.
Amon narrowed his eyes at the boy, not believing his story one bit. However, Amon knew that if the boy was telling the truth then taking away his bending would only bolster his reputation, an opportunity Amon knew he could not let past.
"Then you have made the correct choice by coming forward to me." Amon said, putting his hands on the boy's shoulder before addressing his crowd.
"People of Republic City, behold the proof that even benders like this boy know the real 'truth' of this power and seek too cleanse themselves of this evilness. The benders who willingly approach me like this boy has, will be taken in as equals. This is just one of many steps in creating a world, where everyone will be considered an EQUAL!." Amon declared, causing the crowd to let out an uproar and start to chant Amon over and over again. Meanwhile Korra and Mako looked at the scene with a sense of unease.
"This guy is absolutely insane." Mako stated
Korra didn't hear what Mako has said as her attention was solely focused on the boy who was near Amon. "What kind of bending does he possess that would want to make him get rid of it?" Korra thought to herself.
"Kneel and when you rise once again, you shall be cleansed of your 'impurity'." Amon said.
The boy nodded his spiky head and got down on one knee right in front of Amon. Amon then put his thumb down on the boy's forehead and began to take away his bending, but to the man's surprise, the boy's bending did not go away.
"Hmmmm" Amon said to himself. He once again tried to take away the boy's bending, but he couldn't. It almost like something was blocking him for taking the boy's power. Amon stood back from the boy with his bands behind his back and let the boy rise off of the ground.
"Did it work?" The boy asked.
"I'm afraid not. It seems you're like me, young man. You were blessed by the Spirits as I was many years ago." Amon said.
"Blessed?! You call these powers a blessing?!" The boy shouted as what appeared to be black shadows forming around his body, thrashing wildly. Korra and Mako looked at the boy in shock along with the rest of the crowd, but Amon simply looked at the boy with intrigue. (AN: Think of how Rogue used his Shadow Drive or DragonForce from Fairy Tail or how Gajeel activates his Iron Shadow Dragon Mode.)
"Interesting." Amon muttered under his breath. "Tell me boy, what bending do you possess?" He asked.
"This power...this bending... it is known as Shadowbending." The boy revealed, causing gasp from the crowd.
"Shadowbending?" Korra thought too herself. "Is that even possible?"
"Shadowbending?" Amon repeated again. "I've never heard of it, but it seems to be a rare gift that few can acquire such as my ability to strip people of their bending."
The boy snorted. "Rare ability?! Are you forgetting that you're just copying the Avatar's ability to take away bending."
Amon immediately glared at the boy. "Do not compare me to that idiotic girl." His statement caused Korra to growl and almost run onto the stage again if it wasn't for Mako.
The boy was about to retort again, but suddenly doubled over in pain and let out a loud gasp. The shadows that were around him began to thrash even more and black markings began to appear all over his arms.
"What is happening?" Amon asked himself quietly. Unbeknownst to him, Mako and Korra asked themselves the same question.
"You...need..."
Amon raised an eyebrow beneath his mask as he couldn't make out the boy's sentence. "I need to what?"
"YOU NEED TO RUN!" The boy shouted as his head snapped up. The boy's entire eyes were now purple and did not show his pupil whatsoever, which unnerved the Chi blockers on stage. Black markings formed around the boy's entire arms and around his eyes and the boy's hair spiked up as well with one long strand of hair going across his eyes. (AN: The hair is similar to the way Gray's hair is whenever he activates his Devil Slayer Tattoo like how he was when he was undercover for the Avatar Guild.).The boy's shadows began to thrash again and attacked one of the blockers, smacking him into the crowd.
The crowd gasp and screamed in shock and began running around wildly as they raced to get out of the building except for Korra and Mako.
"C'mon, let's get Bolin while these guys are distracted." Mako said. Korra nodded and the two began to make their way towards the stage.
Meanwhile the boy from earlier continued his rampage. Another Chi blocker got into his stance and charged at the boy. The boy dodged by jumping into the air and flipping over the blocker. He then shot the shadows from his hands, striking the blocker right in the chest, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground below.
"Hmmm interesting. He can use his shadows similar to that of a Firebender." Amon thought to himself.
Another blocker ran up onto the boy and tried to grab him into a bear hug, but the boy saw this coming and stomped his foot down on the ground. The blocker was frozen in place and couldn't move. The boy's shadows shot forward and crashed into the blocker, causing him to fall back into other chi blockers.
"It seems like those shadows have a mind of their own as well...or perhaps they simply respond to dangerous situations." Amon thought to himself once again. "Whatever this boy is...I must make him mine, but not today it seems. For now, I believe I shall take my leave." And with that, Amon slipped into a nearby hidden door and disappeared.
Meanwhile Korra and Mako have just gotten onto the stage to rescue Bolin.
"Bolin!" Mako yelled.
"Mako! Korra! Man am I glad to see you two." Bolin said in relief. Mako burned off the ropes that were binding his hands and feet and got his brother up.
"Are you ok?" Korra asked.
Bolin nodded. "I'm ok." He then turned and looked at Lightning Bolt Zolt. "Though I can't say the same for Zolt...or any of those Chi blockers." He pointed towards where the boy was currently manhandling the blockers.
"What is he?" Mako asked in both awe and fear of the boy's power.
Korra shook her head. "He said he was a shadowbender right? Is that even possible? To be able to bend shadows?" Korra knew that since the Hundred Year War, new bending arts were steadily being discovered. From metalbending, lavabending, bloodbending, and combustionbending, benders and non-benders alike were in awe of the new arts being discovered, but shadowbending? That was something unheard of.
"Shouldn't we be asking you that." Bolin said. "I mean you are THE AVATAR." He emphasized on the "Avatar" part.
Korra turned around and glared at Bolin. "Well it's not like I can ask Aang or Kyoshi or Roku if they knew about shadowbending since I'm not spirity enough." She hissed.
"Guys! Let's just get out of here." Mako yelled. The three benders nodded their heads and ran towards the exit door. They made their way out and the three of them jumped on Naga.
"C'mon girl!" Korra whipped Naga's reins to get her to move, but to her surprise Naga couldn't.
"Why isn't Naga going anywhere!?" Mako yelled.
"I don't know!"
"I think I know...look!" Everyone turned around to see the boy from earlier looking at them with his purple eyes. They noticed that his shadows were connected to Naga's shadow, keeping her from going anywhere.
"He can bend someone else's shadow?!" Bolin asked/yelled in fear. Korra and Mako looked in absolute fear as the boy started to walk towards them. Korra immediately jumped off of Naga and stared at the boy.
"Korra! What are you doing!" Mako screamed.
"Buying you guys some time! If I rough him up a bit, he should free Naga and you guys can escape." Korra replied back.
"What about you!?"
"I'll catch up! Just leave whenever Naga is free!" Korra shot fire out of her hands at the boy who merely moved to the side to dodge the attack. The boy in return, shot his shadows from his hand, but Korra dodged as well. She then ran towards him and bended fire from her foot, but the boy canceled out her fire with his shadows. The boy then let out a fierce roar and charged at her with his hands covered in shadows. He punched Korra in the gut causing her to go flying back onto the ground.
"Korra!" Mako screamed.
"Stay back!...I got this." She grunted. Korra got right back up and stomped her foot into the ground. She earthbended a slab of concrete and fired it at the boy. The boy went flying back into the stone wall and landed face first onto the ground seemingly unconscious. His shadow grip on Naga also disappeared as well.
"Korra we're free! Let's go!" Mako screamed. Korra shook her head.
"You guys go ahead!." Korra then smacked Naga's backside like a horse and the polar-bear dog ran through the streets, leaving Korra alone with the shadowbending boy. She cautiously took steps towards the boy in case he tried to lash out again. When she made her way up towards the boy, she noticed that the shadowy aura that was around him was gone, but his hair was still spiked up in the same position it was before.
"Just who is this guy?" She asked to herself. Korra reached down and tried to pick the guy up, but for some reason she couldn't move her body.
"OH NO-"
The boy snapped his head up quickly, his eyes still purple, and punched her in the gut again, sending her into the opposite wall. Korra stayed laid up against the wall as the boy had her shadow in his grip. The shadowy aura returned around the boy once again, but it wasn't as strong as it was before she noted. The boy glared up at her and built up shadows in his right hand. He then charged at her and Korra closed her eyes, waiting for the blow to come, but to her surprise...
The blow never landed.
Korra turned around to see the boy, shaking from head to toe as his eyes flashed from purple back to their original black along with his pupils reappearing. He then soon passed out and fell over onto the ground, face first again, and Korra was released from the shadow grip. Korra was very afraid at the moment. She was this close to dying and have the next Avatar being reincarnated and too top it all off, she had no idea if the boy was currently faking right now.
Korra let out a sigh. "I better not regret this." She turned the boy over very quickly and realized that he was truly unconscious. She was half-tempted to the leave the boy here and let the police take him away, but she knew if they did then the boy might lash out at them and Korra didn't want to hear an earful from Chief Beifong either.
"I guess there's only one thing I can do...I just hope Tenzin won't mind and I might be able to get some answers on shadowbending and who this boy is as well."
With that thought in mind, Korra hoisted the boy up on her back, noting that the boy was a little bit heavy, but not too much and began walking out towards the street with her mind set on heading towards Air Temple Island.