Part 3 - Chaos
Kang ventured through the Northern Earth Kingdom, striding through the misery wrapped lands, pressing forward and trying to not to let it distract him. He marched through a quiet village, small huts of wood and hay neatly aligned within a borderless area. He stopped in the middle of the town, taking a break and searching for somewhere to sit down, but through the flapping of wooden windows and creaking of railings, a mighty roar echoed in the distance.
"Well... so much for resting," he said as he sprinted for the source.
He ran towards the sound of battle, standing atop a small Cliffside and spying a black-haired woman in metal armour with deer-like legs battling against a grotesque elephant demon. Its Giant bipedal form dwarfed her; its once smooth ears turned jagged and sharp, its two elongated trunks riddled with spikes, and its once soft and tender eyes now flared and filled with malice.
Kang slid down the cliff and joined the odd woman as her appearance caught his eyes, "Ragna?"
The Elephant Demon swung its mighty stone fist at her. However, Ragna deflected the attack and swept up a wave of Shadow, knocking the Demon back and unleashing two shady slashes from her longsword.
"That is my name. Do I know you?"
The Elephant Demon took advantage of the Hunter's distraction and mercilessly charged in as Kang punched out a stream of Azure flame and engulfed the Demon. It flailed and roared in pain as he swiftly leapt up, kicking out like a missile and knocking it off its footing, and with it off balance, Ragna opened a portal beneath it and banished it into a realm of Shadow.
"Nice one!" Kang said, but he shivered all over and uncomfortably groaned.
Ragna pulled out a dimly lit crystal and slapped it into Kang's fleshy palm, "You fool! I had it under control; your assistance wasn't needed!"
A radiant light illuminated from the crystal as Kang let out a relieved sigh, "What was that?"
"A trinket we Hunter's use to resist the energy Demon's shroud themselves in."
He slowly nodded as a woman and child peeked out from behind the rock and raced over to them.
"You two were great!" The young boy said,
Kang and Ragna smiled at them as the mother gratefully bowed, "Thank you both! If there's any way I can repay you-" they raised their hands to her.
"No need to repay us; I was doing my duty... he just tried to make it easier."
The mother bowed her head and ran back to the village as the two turned to each other, the Hunter bewilderingly gazing upon The Mad Inventor and crossing her arms.
"Now, who are you?"
"It's me, Kang! Zu's friend!"
Ragna squinted her eyes, humming to herself and visualising her memories of him.
"I... see that now, what has happened to you?" she said as she poked his prosthetic.
"Got my arm cut off by the Avatar's friend."
"Fought a Gorilla Spirit..."
"...visited my mother."
Ragna stared in amazement as he sighed and clenched his prosthetic fist.
"...and now, I'm heading back to Republic City to take Talos down!"
"If you're going to be taking on the person or Demon who did this... I assume you're going to need more than just your Fire-bending?"
His eyes perplexingly flared, "You're not planning on making me a Shadow-Bender, are you?"
She shuddered, "No, no! One Human Shadow-bender is enough for one generation... or four."
She gazed out to an enormous mountain in the distance, "But I found something that might interest you."
Ragna punched a hole in the fabric of reality, conjuring a way into the Shadow Realm as Kang gawked at it, rubbing his eyes and gawking further.
"Huh... I owe Zu an apology."
She smirked, "Follow me!"
She hopped through the portal, leaving a questioning Kang until he shrugged and followed her in. The two found themselves in a bleak mirror dimension of the mortal world where everything appeared desaturated.
Kang hovered above the ground, "Ragna! Why am I floating!?"
She smirked at him, "In Faileas an t-Saoghail, nothing weighs you down! You'll get used to it; think of it like underwater swimming, but you can breathe!"
Ragna soared off towards the mountain whilst Kang tried to grasp the ways of traversing the Shadow realm, flailing his arms and kicking his legs, all while the Elephant Demon bellowed in the depths.
"I really should've taken those Swimming lessons..."
Eventually, he got the hang of it and quickly caught up to Ragna. The two chattered to themselves as they approached the mountain, finally hovering before it whilst Kang curiously observed its massive rocky structure, "You brought me to see a mountain?"
"Not the mountain, what's inside the Mountain!" She bent the Shadow of it, revealing the hollow interior containing a small civilisation.
"You brought me to see... mountain people?"
"Not just any people, look closer!"
She brought him closer to the mountain as they observed the inhabitance, noting their monk robes, some with bald heads and others with hair draping just to their shoulders.
"... Air Nomads!?"
Ragna nodded, "I doubt your past Avatar's Acolytes would coop up inside a mountain when they have their high up Temples..."
Kang uneasily stared at her as a brief silence loomed.
"What do you say we go and introduce ourselves?" Ragna asked.
Kang mulled it over, but before he could deliver an answer, she opened a portal inside the mountain and whisked him through. The two appeared in the centre of the gigantic carved out cave. A large pit filled with poles for Airball surrounded them; hand-carved statues of past Air-bending Masters and Gurus covered the walls, as well as resting areas carved into the sidewalls of the cave.
The mountain residents all bewilderingly gazed at Ragna and Kang as the duo stood up straight and scanned them.
"Wow... there really are Air Nomads here!" Kang said as he strode up to the bridge.
But as he marched out toward them, his Hairpin caught their eye, throwing them into an almost feral hostility.
"Alert the Elder! The Fire Nation has invaded Air Mountain!"
Their fellows hopped along the poles and blocked the bridge, slowly encroaching on Ragna and Kang. The Mad Inventor glared at his ally and raised his hands to the approaching Air-benders, "Ragna... why did you have to throw us into the centre of the Mountain?"
"Sneaking around isn't for me; going headfirst into the unknown makes everything so much more lively!"
The Air-benders leapt in, swiping and blasting air as the duo erected blockades of Fire and Shadow.
"Hey, Ragna... can you do that bending block thing that Masato could do?"
"Oh, yeah!" she chuckled.
She channelled her Shadow-Bending and unleashed a daunting shadow amongst her, Kang and the Air-benders. As they tried to continue their assault, the Shadows threw them off, many falling and clasping onto the poles while others sceptically darted around.
"Alright... step two of your plan?" Ragna asked, observing the confused Air-benders.
"... Play nice?"
She lightly groaned as the Bridge Air-benders encroached once more. Finally, however, an elder approached the crowd. Tatty orange monk robes adorned his entire body whilst brown beads adorned his neck. His head bald and wrinkly, and a wispy white goatee latched onto his chin.
"What is this I hear of a Fire Nation invasion?" he asked, eyeing up Ragna and Kang and spotting the Fire Nation hairpin on his head.
His heart sunk, "I can't believe it... after One hundred and Sixty-Five years... they've found us!"
He marched across the bridge as the crowd of Air-benders made way for him, "Why does the Fire-Nation still attack us!? After all these years!? If you want the Avatar, Surely they've been reborn in your own vile land by now!"
"What in the world is he talking about?"
Kang mulled over his words and quietly gasped, "...they still think the war's ongoing!"
Her eyes anxiously widened.
"How many have you brought with you? An army!? Your entire nation!? Does the existence of Air-benders still wound you so!?"
His pained words echoed throughout the mountain as Kang lowered his arm and took a deep breath, "We're not here to hurt you! We've come in peace!"
"The Fire nation doesn't know the meaning! You're nothing but genocidal maniacs!"
He slanted his gaze and bit his lip, "The War is over! It ended Sixty-Five years ago at the hands of Avatar Aang!"
The Air-benders gasped and murmured to each other while The Elder's glare darted around at his muttering pupils, "Avatar Aang died before the war began! How do you know his name!?"
"Because I met him! He survived for one hundred years in an iceberg! ...I'm not making that up; there's a whole play dedicated to his adventures... gone through a handful of rewrites since the first release, though."
Ragna raised a bemused eyebrow as the Elder stroked his wispy beard, humming at The Human-Elf duo.
"Air Clan! Stand down! I want a word with these... 'invaders'."
They turned their gaze from Ragna and Kang and returned to their activities but kept their wits about them.
"Come then, Fire Nation Prince... and his odd... servant, I presume?"
She slanted her eyes at the Elder.
"This is my acquaintance, Ragna... she's a Demon Hunter."
The Elder's eyes slanted as he cautiously nodded, "Well then, Prince, Hunter... follow me."
Back in Republic City, Tenzin sat atop an earthy bench with his hands held to his head whilst Ho Tun laid atop a stone bed with Li swishing his hands around his stomach under the blackened full moon sky.
Lin marched over and sat by Tenzin, settling a hand on his shoulder as he flinched, "Oh... Lin."
"Are you holding up alright?"
He shook his head and swayed back, "I... had to watch my sister die, she didn't have to die but..." The memory of their bending smashing against her flooded his mind as his eyelids tightly closed and his teeth gritted.
"Kya's fate was sealed the moment he pulled her into his place; I only wish I had been strong enough to wipe that smug... callous smile off his face."
Tenzin seethed, and his entire body tensed, "And Shu... I couldn't save him, my own friend who trusted me and now..." He gazed over to the coffins, "he's gone, they're both gone... and there's nothing I can do to bring them back..."
Li peered over at Tenzin before gazing down at Ho Tun, "Are you... doing alright?"
He let out a heavy sigh as he gazed up to the dim moon, "I just... we were the Avatar's masters, and yet we were beaten so easily, myself especially."
"On the bright side, your heftiness helped you survive."
"How?"
"If you had been built like Tenzin or... well any of us, This False Avatar guy probably would've put a hole through you."
Ho Tun winced at the sound of it as he laid his head down, "Do you... think we're going to win this?"
"Already lost five people... good people... Why Lin and the others are still planning to walk in there is beyond me."
"Kinda avoiding the question there."
"Avoiding it because, in all honesty, I don't know, yesterday I was just the Zu Family Captain, now I'm a field medic for people dead set on throwing themselves at an impossible fight!"
Li took a deep breath and shook his head, "... Sorry, but hey. If The Avatar doesn't make it back, or... even if she falls, at least we'll know we didn't just sit on the sidelines while the world burned."
Ho Tun dismally nodded as Li continued swishing his hands around his stomach, but the more he did, the more the master's curiosity grew.
"What are you doing exactly? I can feel something happening, but... there's no water..."
Li hesitantly smirked, "Let's just say this is a technique I picked up from Katara back in my nursing days."
"... You were a nurse?"
"Yeah, why is it that hard to believe?"
"From a Nurse to a... Yakuza captain. I'm just trying to put together how that works."
"Well, first, I lost my nursing license after I accidentally sent an air bubble into someone's veins."
Ho Tun's eyes flared as he stared at Li's hands and his gut.
"Don't worry, as long as you don't mention any of the elements; you'll be fine. Basically, what happened was there was this domestic abuse report sent in from the City Guard, said they needed medics on the scene ASAP."
"So me and another Nurse ran there as fast as we could. Turns out some guys girlfriend with major trust issues thought he was having an affair, and the City Guard's found him pinned by his clothes by a bunch of knives, steak knives, fish knives, butchers knives, shoot even a butter knife."
"The City Guard busted in before she slung a knife at his head and apprehended her. Don't know why, but it always seems to be the cute ones that are crazy."
"I heard that!" Khana shouted.
"...Don't say anything about the tournament, Li; you'll only piss her off," he peeked over at her, "We'll, uh... make an exception for you, Red."
Lin rolled her eyes at the medic as he continued his mysterious healing.
"Anyway, turns out some of the knives had dug into his limbs pretty deep, so we, under the supervision of a City Guard, went ahead and got to work."
"There's a 'but' in the ai...ratmosphere."
Li nodded, "But, the City Guard said, 'I need to crack a window, let in some fresh air', and it was at that point Kaz came out. Seeing as I was in the middle of healing his wounds, he ended up pushing an air bubble into him by mistake. The poor guy died soon after that."
"See, I've got this... weird condition; whenever I hear the name of the elements or 'make a call', it's like my... energy shifts and someone else comes into my body."
"How long have you been like that?"
"All my life, don't know why I've been born with four souls, but hey! As I was saying, Katara caught wind of this, and she scolded me for keeping my condition a secret all the way to the Barracks."
"What she never understood was, I had trained my whole life to be a nurse, aspiring to be just like her, and I thought if I brought up my condition, I'd be seen as a hazard, a liability. And in the end, that turned out to be true."
Ho Tun sympathetically gazed at him, "Hey, you did one bad thing; that doesn't mean you're a bad or dangerous person."
"I'd agree if said bad thing wasn't manslaughter. But, that's all in the past, and that guy's probably cursing my name in whatever the afterlife has for us."
"When we got to the barracks, and I got thrown into the interrogation room, that's where I first met Zu. At first, I thought, 'He's never going to believe me', but that was before I knew he was a human lie detector."
"So, I told him the truth; he took sympathy on me and cut me loose. The Captain questioned his decision, and Katara, whoo, Katara probably would've had his head if she could reach it."
"After being released, I wound up in the Derelict Estate, a squatter essentially. But that's when rumours started spreading, but not about the guy's death, about my 'unique' healing abilities."
"Started making an underground name for myself as a mysterious healer who could treat any wound, and I did it for half the usual price of the Southern Spirit Hospital or if they had anything to trade."
"That wasn't to get back at Katara, was it?"
"No, no, it's just not everyone can afford the healthcare the city has to offer, and so they look for alternatives, I.E. me."
"Then a year passes by, and what do you know, Zu comes strolling into the Derelict Estate in a fresh, pristine grey Gi. I asked him what he was doing there, and he said he was looking to become a Yakuza, to take down the Chairman of the Republic Alliance, Yakone."
"I suggested he start his own family, work outside of the Republic Alliance's influence, and with that, Zu and I began our endeavour to bring him down."
"I thought it was just Avatar Aang, Sifu Toph, Sokka and Sergeant Kuvira who took that guy down?"
"Well, that's how the Old Governors spun the story. They didn't want to give An Ex-Guard turned Patriarch, a murderer and some runaway kid any glory."
"Runaway kid?"
"Kang."
"Oh..." Ho Tun peered around, "You wouldn't happen to know why Katara, her family and friends seem to have it in for him, would you?"
"He's related to someone they have bad blood with."
Ho Tun's eyes darted around the air as the cogs of his mind began to turn, "No way he's-"
Li shushed him, "Didn't think that'd give it away... keep it secret, alright!"
He nodded as Li breathed a sigh of relief, "Either way, you're good now; just don't get hit in the gut for the next few weeks."
Ho Tun nodded and rolled off the bed, "Thank you!"
Li smiled and bowed his head as he went to slump against the earthy bed.
The Elder guided Kang and Ragna to a secluded room. Lit candles illuminated the chamber with scrolls draped over the sidewalls, and an Air-Bending Guru statue sat on the far wall.
They all knelt before a small table, getting comfortable as they peered at each other.
"Now, tell me, Prince. What has become of the world since the near genocide of my people?"
"Well... in short, Avatar Aang defeated Fire Lord Ozai, the great-grandson of Sozin. His Son, Fire Lord Zuko, now sits on the throne, and with him in power, the war ended. Then together, Aang and Zuko built the United Republic of Nations."
He stroked his goatee and hummed, mulling over his very brief, near uninformative recollection of the past, "Fascinating... now tell me this... if it's not the Fire Nation, then what has caused this Chaos which plagues the skies?"
"That would be... well, an ancient Demon known as Raava and a man by the name of Talos who seems to have become an Avatar of sorts."
The Elder and Ragna quizzically stared at him.
"There should only be one Avatar, not two or three... only one!" The Elder disbelievingly replied.
"Well, when you've got a man and a demon being driven by Envy and Spite, you get two Avatars," he jested in mild annoyance.
The Elder and Ragna remained quiet for a moment.
"If you don't mind me asking... how did the Air-benders survive?" Kang asked.
The Elder's glare affixed on him as the atmosphere intensified, "From what I remember of my father's stories. After the death of Avatar Roku, tensions began rising within the Fire Nation."
"The Western Air Temple caught wind of them building machines of war... and so four masters of each temple devised, operation 'Air Mountain'. Over the next decade, the four masters would gather outside this mountain each month to discuss the growing tension in the Fire Nation, and upon the eve of The Great Comet, those four masters prepared the evacuation of each temple..."
"I can hear a 'but' coming..."
The Elder nodded, "The Fire Nation arrived at the Western Air Temple a day earlier than expected, murdering Air nomads without remorse, and when the Great Comet arrived, the other three swiftly fell."
"Although the evacuation was a borderline failure... a handful of us survived. Three of the Masters, Nine boys, Eight Girls and two baby Sky bison."
"They tried their best to rally the Air nomads who roamed the world during and after the day of the comet... but Sozin had set traps for them, setting up false refuges for Air Nomads, where his soldiers slew them without pause."
Kang and Ragna sympathetically gazed at him.
"Before the Great Comet came; however, the masters commissioned a legion of earth-benders to dig out the hollow within this mountain, finishing it on the day it soared through the skies. But due to the Fire Nation's influence on the globe after that dreaded day, they were forced to kill all who assisted them."
Kang jerked back as Ragna's eyes flared, "Why would they do that!? I thought Air nomads were pacifists?"
"As I said, the Fire Nation had a firm hold over the world after the day of The Great Comet, and so fearing for their safety, the masters couldn't allow any outsiders to know of their location."
"We had to forsake our philosophy; we renounced our pacifism and fought for our survival, creating new techniques to swiftly execute any invaders or outsiders who strode too close to our home!"
"Isn't that a little... extreme?" Ragna hesitantly asked.
The Elder dauntingly leant towards her, "Tell me, Hunter. If someone pushed your entire race to the verge of extinction, would you not do the same in the name of survival?"
The Hunter quietly turned her gaze down, her silence giving the Elder the answer he expected.
"Exactly what I thought."
He perched back up, "After the masters created Air Mountain, we thrived within it, we could no longer openly roam the world, so many of us needed to be in disguise whenever we ventured out into the Earth Kingdom..."
"We have lived in fear of the Fire Nation for over a century and a half... as you can imagine, some more recent members of the Air Clan abandoned the mountain entirely."
He hung his head, "Most notably Zaheer, a prestigious bender left to 'seek freedom from the binds of the Air Clan' and joined forces with what I can only describe as an anarchist organisation."
"Well... with the war over, you can return to the Air Temples! You don't need to hide in this mountain anymore," Kang explained.
But the Elder shook his head, "The Air nomads are dead, Prince. We are no longer travellers or pacifists. We have even given up our tattoos... in our endeavour to survive, our culture died."
His shoulders slumped as he slowly sighed, "I'm... sorry."
The Elder softly glared, "An apology fixes nothing, Prince... but it is appreciated."
He briefly smiled as the Elder smiled back, "Either way, I have told you our tale, now is there any reason you came here?"
The three stood back up as Kang's eyes perked opened, "I've had a theory if you'll indulge me."
"...Go ahead."
"I've been wondering, could a bender, just an average, ordinary bender, learn to bend more than one element. Kinda like the Avatar, but instead of four, it'd be... well... two. Dual-Bending!"
His mad rambling took aback the Elder and Ragna, "...there's no way you can learn to bend more than your primary element! Unless... you're secretly the Avatar?" he looked Kang up and down.
"Well, no. But It's at least worth a try, right? You're clearly an Air-bending master, and I already know a few things about it, so...?"
The Elder hummed, "Even if you are correct, are you sure you wish to learn air-bending? For all you know, you could lock yourself out of learning any other style of bending."
Kang determinedly nodded.
"Then come, Prince! We shall train you post haste... whether or not there will be any fruits born of it shall be... interesting to see!"
The two strolled out of the room whilst Ragna crossed her arms and slumped back.
"Huh... Fire Nation Prince learning Air-bending. The irony."