The Seldom Avatar
...a Legend of Korra fan-inspired story...
By Gothic Rain
The Bear Spirit
"Get the brat!"
The Queen's guards were suddenly overwhelmed by the power unleashed by the airbending girl they had captured to become a personal assassin for the Queen only to discover she had escaped from her cell by metal bending out of the cell followed by water bending. A child with mastery over three elements could only mean one thing.
This girl was the Avatar.
And would become the perfect weapon for the Earth Kingdom, they just needed to get her in order to do so!
"Suckers!" Korra yelled as she bended the metal walls to close the rest of the way. One of the guards managed to bend the metal before following her trail with the rest of the guards but they didn't expect the slap of water to the face by Kora who leapt over their heads and landed behind them.
"You!" One of them yelled and kicked a boulder at Korra who merely slammed her foot into the ground with her eyes closed before bringing her fist directly forward shattering the boulder in contact.
"Me." Korra said before throwing the debris back at the guards and ran at them. Just as they threw some boulders at her Korra hit the ground and slid beneath the men. Hopping back to her feet she spun a wave of water at the men ultimately slamming them into the wall.
"Later losers!"
Korra brought her hands up and opened the metal ceiling before pushing off her feet with air and punched the rock ceiling over and over as she broke through the ceiling before finally hitting the last bit of earth and saw shine light. "There she is!" The guards outside begin to rush at her but unaware of her bending abilities until the earth suddenly clamps over their ankles causing them to fall on top of one another.
"Rookies," Korra said before rushing off to the city to grab Naga and get both of them the hell out of the Earth Kingdom. It was no longer safe enough for them anymore.
Naga suddenly leapt to her feet at the scent of Korra's return and began to bark, and soon began to tug on Tovrir's robes to follow her. "What is it now?"
Screams erupted as a building was suddenly thrown into the air and that finally got the Earth bender on his feet. "All right, I see the problem now." Tovrir began to run with Naga beside him towards the line of incoming chaos that was heading towards the wall that separated the wealthy city to the poor city. Tovrir knew he had to get to the wall before this crazy person whose causing all this chaos.
He grunted as he created a bridge to the great wall and sprinted across it as fast as he could. Naga suddenly barked and came to a halt causing him to hesitate and stop as well, spinning around to see if he could catch sight of something or someone. "Tovrir!" A cheerful voice called as Korra appeared in front of him.. but on the side of the wall on a rotating sphere of air.
"What? You're an Air bender?"
Korra laughed before releasing the air and stomping on the ground throwing Tovrir sky high before leaping up into the air and threw a kick just in front of his stomach causing him to be thrown over the wall leaving him to take care of how he falls on his own. Meanwhile Korra grabbed Naga and tucked her against her chest before propelling herself to the top of the wall and conducted a handstand before letting herself freefall to the street and only at the last few feet did she cushioned their fall with a gust of air.
"Ow," Korra said when her back hit the ground but giggled when Naga licked her face. "Kid," Tovrir said as he walked over to her unscathed. "You got guts I'll give you that, but I do have one question: what the hell happened?"
Korra shrugged and replied, "Oh well, ugh, ya know..."
Tovrir groaned and put a hand up. "You know what, never mind, I don't think I wanna know."
The two benders stared at each other for a short moment of silence before erupting into laughter and high fived, albeit difficult with the height difference but that didn't seem to matter after both were tackled to the ground by an excited Naga.
"Woah girl," Korra laughed as she tackled her polar bear dog off of a bewildered Tovrir.
"Um, hey let's-"
Korra stood up while Naga leapt to stand by her side as Tovrir stood across from Korra. "Let's have a do-over, kid. I'm Tovrir."
"Korra," the newly discovered Avatar then turned to her polar bear dog and said, "This is Naga."
"So, wanna grab some grub?" Tovrir suggested but Korra shook her head.
"Nah, how about we just leave this kingdom?"
Tovrir looked skeptical. "We have no money, we wouldn't get far.."
"I can take care of that, but we have just one stop before we leave."
The bells rang as two contestants bowed to each other in the arena before beginning their match. A rare kind of match where a child fights but not unseen because the thrall of money can be quite enlightening. "Here we have all-time winner Tarri taking her last match against an opponent before heading to Republic City to fight in as a pro bender in the arena!"
The crowd erupts into cheers of excitement and pride that one of their own have earned the pass to leave the Earth Kingdom.
"But tonight she stands taking this final match. Here this child stands before Tarri to take the gold and if she so choses to take the pass to head to Republic City in Tarri's place. But can she do it? We'll find out, let the match begin!"
Tarri began the match with first a loud and mocking laugh. "You kid, you have got to be joking me!"
"The name's Korra, and I'll let the Earth decide whose better!"
Tarri clenched her teeth and immediately threw a boulder at Korra who leaped up and kicked off of the boulder sending it crashing into the ground then used the remains of the boulder and propelled them at her opponent like bullets. Tarri brought up a wall to shield the assault but wasn't fast enough to block Korra's side attack and instead of using an earth attack, delivered a brutal uppercut to the jaw but Tarri flipped herself over and pushed herself off from the wall and created four walls around Korra before landing on the ground with a roll.
Korra let out a scream to cover her assault on the ground as she made a hole underneath the arena. "I got you brat!" Tarri yelled before pushing the four walls together intending to crush Korra. The crowd gasped in horror before cheering when a girl blast through the rocks and kicked many large rocks at Tarri who destroyed them with earth-covered fists and feet to protect herself from harm.
Korra didn't stop and did a summersault forward followed by an upper kick and a vertex causing the rocks to swarm around her before flying at Tarri who was unable to see the rest of the earth plates to break apart and form into tiny spheres condensed of heavy rock all pointed at Tarri.
"If you move, you will be moving very little for the next few days." Korra warned, watching Tarri's every small movement.
"I'm not losing to a kid!" Tarri punched the ground causing the ground to ripple making Korra lose her balance and the rocks fell. Tarri punched and kicked at her unaware of the thin but very strong layer of earth covering her torso, back, legs, and arms hidden under cloth. A final boulder delivered to Kora's chest sent the Avatar plummeting to the ground unmoving, her rock armor scattered on the ground around her.
Tarri smirked in triumph as the crowd roared only to be thrown off her feet seconds later by Korra that now stood in front of her.
"How'd you move so fast?" Tarri demanded while the crowd cheered in surprise.
"I'm a kid from the streets. I gotta be fast to survive." And with a final attack Korra lifted Tarri from the ground using the ground as leverage before shoving her into a wall over and over until Tarri lost consciousness leaving the crowd roaring at the defeat of their undefeated star.
"Korra! Korra! Korra!" The crowd cheered, her name now known as the best fighter in the Earth Kingdom, unaware of her heritage as the Avatar. Korra grinned and sent the crowds a roar of victory to which fired up the crowd even more.
"Korra, you are the winner. Take these tokens and continue on as the best street fighter of the Earth Kingdom. If you so chose to represent us at the pro-bending matches, we give you this pass of citizen ship to Republic City. Good luck to you kid, but I don't think you'll need it!"
Korra grinned and put the bag of gold coins over her back before tying the championship belt around her waist. Before Korra left she said one thing to the audience, "For all future reference do not refer to me as Korra, but as the Bear Spirit."
"Why did you ask for them to call you the Bear Spirit, Korra?" Tovrir asked when they were far away from the Earth Kingdom. Korra looked back at Tovrir, both no longer wearing raggedy clothing of the Earth Kingdom but now semi-neutral colored clothing for their journey. Tovrir wore brown pants and a heavy grey jacket while Korra chose black pants and a black sleeve-less shirt. an Earth arm brace covered the upper part of her left arm in a similar design of the title belt she had earned street bending at the Earth Kingdom.
"After the one who raised myself and Naga when we were just cubs."
"Your father then?"
Korra shook her head. "Unfortunately no, my father died soon after I was born. A polar bear dog had found me beside my father's body and took me in as one of his own."
Tovrir looked at her in astonishment. "You were raised by polar bear dogs! I hear they are fearsome beasts."
"We are only beasts if we act as one. Beasts had killed my family, and only Naga and myself survived," Korra replied, voice hardened with icy resolve.
"I, I'm sorry Korra. I think I understand what you mean now. You're very strong, especially for one of your age."
"I survive, that's all strength is."
Tovrir shook his head.
"Korra, strength is overcoming a deep struggle and moving on from it with a will to become stronger, not simple survival. Surviving something isn't the same as learning something. Surviving and you learn nothing but the fear of the even. Overcoming it and learning from the event is what makes us wary, and stronger."
Korra shrugged, but then stopped. "I suppose you're right, Tovrir. I guess you do come to some use," Korra joked causing Tovrir to cross his arms with a grumble.
She laughed, and pulled out a nameless ID. "So, wanna head to Republic City, Tovrir?"
Said man uncrossed his arms and pondered the idea before saying, "You know I've always wanted to see the Foggy Swamp, I hear the oldest tree has roots running through the entire world and anyone with sensoring abilities can see the entire world but not with their eyes but rather their soul!"
"Ha! Yeah right, sounds a bit much don't you think? I hear the Republic City has the best rides Tovrir, their vehicles are said to be faster than a man without the use of bending!"
Tovrir cocked a skeptical eyebrow at Korra. "You rather drive a car when you have Naga who will grow to be a ferocious and unbelievably fast companion instead of seeing the entire world without your eyes?"
"Well... I, I see your point," Korra relented.
"Alright then! Foggy Swamp it is then!"