Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
A/N: Heyy! Thanks to those who have reviewed. I would like to thank xMelodiix for giving me ideas and helping me write this chapter =). I would also like to thank average thief for being the first to review. I would also like to thank those who have put this story on alert and/or on your favourites. From now on, I won't mention anybody in particular, nor will I reply to reviews in the author's note (I'll message you) because I don't want to waste your time to read this. I know I said I needed 5 reviews first but since I already wrote this I might as well post it =) but I won't be so nice from now on ^_^ I DEFINITELY WILL NOT POST THE NEXT CHAPTER UNLESS THERE ARE 5 REVIEWS. Hope you enjoy!
Bending Origin
Chapter 1 – Introductions, Room Arrangements and Dinner
By xAvatarLovex
It had been a long, tiring flight for Zuko, but now he was standing in Sydney Airport. He looked around, not knowing what to do next. Then he saw it. A tanned teenager with a sign that read his name. Zuko walked towards him, "Do I know you?" he asked, rudely.
"Hi, I'm Sokka, a physical combat trainer and Ozai's assistant. He sent me to come pick you up and take you to the Institute," the boy replied, in a forced calm voice. They went to collect Zuko's many bags of luggage, as well as his bird cage with a yellow budgie, a cage with a brown and white Jack Russell puppy, another cage with a snow-white Persian kitten, a smaller cage with two brown and white guinea pigs and finally, a cage with a white and a creamy-brown bunny. "The horse will arrive later," Sokka informed, expressionlessly. That was the only thing that was said between them until they arrived at the Institute which was located in a remote country farm. "You will have to make room arrangements yourself with the other three that have similar powers to you. I will show you upstairs so you can meet the others and you will be given your timetables at dinner which is in one and a half hours time," Sokka stated, plainly, as if he'd said it a million times before. Zuko grabbed his luggage, or at least as much as he could carry, and proceeded to follow Sokka upstairs. As he got upstairs, he realised that there was one large bedroom with a hot tub in the bathroom and a double-bed. However the other three rooms had one single bed each, a small built-in wardrobe, a small bedside table and a bathroom. Uh! Why do I have to arrive last? Zuko thought in frustration, thinking that he wouldn't have a choice in which room he wanted. But that was not the case. He found a bald boy and two girls sitting in a circle on the large bed, talking about room arrangements. He slowly approached them, "Hi," he said, while debating whether to be nice or not. He decided to be nice, "I'm Zuko. I can control fire."
"Hi," the bald boy said, "I'm Aang-an airbender." He smiled, "It's very nice to meet you, and we were just discussing our room arrangements."
"Hi, I'm Katara," the tanned girl introduced herself, shyly, "and I'm a waterbender."
"Hey," the girl with the milky eyes said, "I'm Toph-an earthbender and I'm blind so I use seismic sense."
"Come join us," Aang invited, scooting towards Katara a little, leaving him a spot between himself and Toph. Zuko sat down feeling respected, for once. Back at home, people thought he was really weird how he could wear summer clothes in winter (due to his system that could heat himself) and that he could literally emit flames when he was angry – most of the time – leading people to treat him badly. "We were just wondering how we should arrange ourselves in these rooms because one – duh!" the blind girl, Toph, spoke, "so I have an idea- we'll vote on it. Say why you think you're worthy and we'll vote at the end to see who deserves it the most."
"Okay," Zuko muttered, deep in thought of what to say since he so desperately wanted this room.
"I go first!" Toph practically shouted, "I want this room because I'm blind and therefore deserve more space. I can't really sense anything here because this isn't made of earth and therefore I want this room."
"Me next!" Katara all but screamed, "I want it because I'm the most unique here out of you all. In the past, there have been air, fire and earth benders or variations of them, but never has there been water, or anything close to it. Therefore, I believe I deserve it for being unique."
"My turn!" Aang screeched, "I want it because I am the most admired for my abilities and fame gives me this room."
"Well, since I'm the only one left, I guess it's my turn," Zuko says in a bored voice, "I want this room because of my large collection of pets. I can't possibly keep them all in a small room."
"Okay, vote time," Toph announced, "and you can't vote for yourself. Raise your hand if you want to vote for me," Aang raised his hand. "One," she announced, "what about Katara?" Zuko raised his hand. "One," she announced, "and for Aang?" Toph raised her hand. "One," she announced, "and for Zuko?" Katara's hand shot up. "One! What the hell! Tied vote!" Just then, Sokka walked in with the rest of Zuko's luggage, "Hey guys, watcha doing?"
"Oh, just had a tied vote while deciding on who gets the big bedroom," Toph grumbled, "could you help us?"
"Umm… sure."
"Okay, I want this room 'cause I'm blind, Katara 'cause her waterbending is unique, Aang 'cause his airbending is most famous and Zuko 'cause his pets need room."
"Zuko. His reason is most logical. Your blind so it'll be HARDER to navigate and uniqueness and fame doesn't necessarily mean you get a bigger room. But I still hate you, Zuko," Sokka states plainly, only showing emotion in the last sentence.
Those who didn't get the bigger room trudged out of it and decided to start their unpacking since there was only an hour till dinner. Who knew that voting would take so long! Zuko, however, lay on his bed for a few moments before he decided to get up and unpack as well. He set up an enclosed play area for his puppy; which was located in a corner, a small, portable avery was hung in another corner for his budgie(the avery was quite a bit larger than the cage but it was very cage-like), a small play-pen was set up for his guinea pigs and another for his bunnies. His horse would live in the paddock and stable outside as it obviously could not fit in the room. Next, he started to unpack and found that he filled his massive wardrobe to the brim. WOW! I didn't notice I brought this much clothing, he thought to himself. After he was finally done, he realised that there were about two minutes until dinner so he hurriedly cleaned his hands and headed downstairs.
When he got downstairs, Zuko had almost no trouble finding the dining room. He stood at the door to the dining room, mouth agape. It had a huge, round, wooden table in the middle which held a wooden turntable. Under the turntable, there was a creamy tablecloth that looked very much like silk. There were six leather seats situated around the table, one for each present person. In front of each sit lay a large array of cutlery, ranging from different sized spoons, to different sized forks and knives as well as a china plate with an intricately decorated edge and a matching glass that had the pattern printed on the outer surface. There was also a napkin, which was situated under the cutlery, that was decorated in a similar pattern to the plate and cup but in a different colour theme. He realised that the tablecloth was also decorated in a similar manner but, once again, was in a different colour theme.
"Hello Zuko," Sokka said, grimly, "don't think I like you at all-although I gave you the good room. It was only out of logic 'cause the other reasons made no sense to me and that's a very unusual thing to happen."
Sokka chuckles, "Go take a seat. Dinner will be served in a few minutes."
"Sure, thanks for giving me the room Sokka," Zuko replied, kindly. He had decided that he would be kind to these people as they were being kind to him. For now, anyways. As he took a seat at the dinner table, the others started arriving. He ended up being situated between Katara and Toph. Katara sat next to Aang who would be sitting next to Ozai when he arrived. Toph sat next to Sokka, who would also be sitting next to Ozai when he arrived.
At that moment, Ozai walked in through the door to see everybody already seated and the food already laid out. He realised he was slightly late. But Ozai was NEVER late. He refused to admit that he was late and therefore did not excuse himself for being so. He looked up at the clock which read 6:05. He realised he WAS late but never bothered to acknowledge that. He sat down at the only seat left, "Hello everyone. As you know, my name is Ozai-which is what you will be calling me from now on and for as long as you know me. I would like to welcome you to The Institute of Supernatural Powers which you will all be attending for the next year. Today we will be having a formal dinner, as you can see, but normally I will only occasionally be attending meals, if ever, but I will regularly visit during testing to see how things are going. Dinners will normally be a lot less formal. You will all be attending school during weekdays form 9am to 3pm. Sokka will drive you to and from school as he can drive and will need to be attending school himself. Then there will be testing from 4pm till 6pm, which will be dinner then the rest is free time for homework and sleep. You may not leave the Institute grounds unless either Sokka or myself are with you, or you have special permission from either myself or Sokka. In the mornings, you will be expected to up for breakfast by 8 although you may get up earlier and make your own food with the supplies we have if you wish. YOU MAY NOT ORDER TAKE-AWAY FOOD OR YOU WILL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED! On weekends, you will be tested during what would normally be school hours and the rest of your time is your own. Sokka will, of course, be testing you and since he is a physical combat trainer, he will be holding lessons for those who wish to participate on Sunday afternoons. More specific details will be available from him later. I would also like you to know that you are all unique people and since you have chosen to come here and let me study you powers, you will be greatly rewarded. You all deserve to be more powerful as you have special powers given to you only and you deserve to be on the top of the world and I will make that happen. Now remember that. OH! And I forgot to mention that you will be allowed to call your friends and relatives whenever you find necessary, as long as Sokka or myself have been notified beforehand. Otherwise, the phone is off-limits. Now lets tuck in, shall we? I'm sure you're all hungry," Ozai finally finished. Since all the students would be hungry, since there had been no food since they left their homes or during the trip, they all tucked in immediately. As for Ozai, he slowly slid his napkin onto his lap, on top of his black pants, and slid another napkin into his collar as to prevent any food spilling down his tuxedo-clad front. He then slowly started chopping up his steak and placed a piece in his mouth, savouring the taste, as if he had all the time in the world while the others ate quickly and messily, although they knew very well it was formal dinner, Sokka being the worst. He stabbed the middle of his steak with his fork and lifted it off the plate, then proceeded to tear the flesh off as if it were his mortal enemy and had to bite it to death. At least the others had decided to cut up their steak so it looked even the tiniest bit more polite. Ozai grimaced at the teens' behaviour. Seriously! Teenagers these days! He thought to himself, but continued eating without saying anything to them. They'll soon realise their mistake, not only for being so rude but for everything.
A/N: Heyy again, guys! Like I said at the beginning, I will not post anything until there are at least 5 (5!) reviews. I don't care if they're critical because this is only my second fanfic… and I basically live on reviews-which you will understand if you write fanfic also. I have notified that there are over 50 visits to this story in 3 days or so and yet I have only received 2 reviews! Come on guys, its not that hard! All you have to do is click that button down there and type a few words to me, whatever they are! I originally wanted to post this because school is starting tomorrow so I might not post as often-although I will try and also since today is my birthday and I felt happy and nice-which gives you another reason to review (to wish me a happy b'day) and while you're at it, why not just tell me how you think I'm going on this story! And of course I just had to leave you guys on a cliffy! Hmm... what have the teens done thats a mistake?
I love all my readers and I love those who comment even more!
xAvatarLovex