Avatar: Rise of the Dualbenders [PG-13 | Started / Accepting]

[Birkeland]

[center][url="http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/255229-avatar-rise-of-the-dualbenders-pg-13-started-accepting/"]OOC Thread[/url][/center]
[spoiler=Plot][center][i]"Long ago, in a parallel world, I, Iroh, the firebending Master of Awesome, befriended an incredible child! But my foolish evil brother wielding a giant ego stepped forth to oppose him. Before the avatar's destiny was complete, I tore open a hole in Ba Sing Se and saved it from destruction, where my legacy is left! Now, my brother has been beaten by the child, and bright is the future that has risen..."[/i][color="#FFFFFF"]It had to be done. I had no choice.[/color][/center]
200 years have passed since the end of the war, where Avatar Aang had saved the planet from it's destruction at the hands of Fire Lord Ozai. Having gained strength from their friends and discipline from their experiences, Avatar Aang and the new Fire Lord Zuko have united to resurrect the fallen, war-torn wold and lead it on the path to salvation. In this time, the nations of the world have finally attained long awaited times of peace and prosperity. It seems as though the world itself has been healed.

Before the end of his days, Aang had thought on the role of the Avatar and how his role affected so many lives. One person alone was supposed to save the world, but in reality, it was the culmination of many different individuals which truly saved it. Another recollection was his conversation with Guru Pathik: [i]"The greatest illusion of this world is the illusion of separation. Things you think are separate and different are actually one and the same. Like the four nations. Yes. We are all one people, but we live as if divided. We're all connected. Everything is connected. That's right. Even the separation of the four elements is an illusion. If you open your mind, you will see that all the elements are one. Four parts of the same whole."[/i] This ideology gave rise to another, which Aang steadily made reality.

After years of guidance and hard labor, Aang was successful in teaching the first person of a new era: a Dualbender. As the names implies, with enough skill and training that would also later be passed down through genetics, a normal bender could become capable of bending two different elements as opposed to one. With this, Aang had achieved the first step of his goal to bring about understanding and equality to the world. If people were able to discipline themselves with two different elements, they would also be able to discipline themselves with two different cultures. Everyone in the world would eventually come to accept one another and live in harmony without the need to place the burden upon a single person.

This is not without consequences as the natural order dictates that if there are those who seek peace, there will be those who seek war to oppose them. Many people, some of whom are dualbenders, are still set in the ways of the old that were unable to accept their loses or want revenge that peace will not allow. To aid in Aang's dream becoming reality, other dualbenders continue to strive for uniting the world by using their unique talents and experiences. This is the new era whose fate rests in their hands, this is the Rise of the Dualbenders.[/spoiler]
[center][i]
"Water... Earth... Fire... Air...
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang. We traveled the world, meeting strong allies and even greater friends. When the time came on that fateful day, Aang defeated Fire Lord Ozai and realized his destiny. But the world wasn't saved just yet. After the Fire Lord, a new threat came to surface. Now our journey continues in the hands of a new generation: the Dualbenders"[/i]

[size="3"]Book One: Moon
Chapter 1: Rising Stars[/size][/center]
The sun was beating down hard on the desert sands of Si Wong Desert. The seemingly endless sand spanned across the horizon for as far as the eye could see. Far and few fauna existed in these sandy depths, with equally scarce flora. The most activity within the Si Wong Desert resided within it's very center at a large mesa. The affectionately named Si Wong Rock stood tall and out of place compared to its surrounding. Dwelling within said mesa was a colony of terrible creatures that appeared to be a chimera of wasps and buzzards. They attack anyone who would disturb their colony with a ferocious swarm.

However, another figure stood atop the mesa despite his unwelcome presence. The male was of average height and build for a teenager, lean muscles signifying training in the martial arts. Hereditary tanned skin was being cloaked by Water Nation attire while gray, shaggy hair concealed black, focused eyes. His arms and head were also being cloaked by a loose, white undershirt and hood. Zhong, as he was called, was training himself atop the Si Wong Rock on this day, practicing and honing his skills. Slow, rhythmic movements of the arms began to mix with hard punches in quick succession.

Before long, the teen had taken an upright stance to practice breathing. Even under the blazing sun and somewhat heavy clothing, he remained strangely unaffected by the heat. In fact, the heat seemed to be fueling his energy to push forward with his training. Leaving his stance, Zhong focused his energy into his palms. Steam began to emit from them before bursting into small flames hovering just above his skin. Hands were place together to merge the two embers and create a larger ball of fire which he carried in his left. His right hand directed it's energy toward a heavy water skin located at his waist. The water within sprang to life and emerged from its container to meet with his hand. Two elements were located in either hand: Zhong was a dualbender.

Zhong took a deep breath and sighed with uncertainty. "Today. I have good feeling about today. It will happen. Right here and now" he said to himself. For years since his dual talents were realized, Zhong had tried time and again on a certain technique. He had heard of other dualbenders who were successful in their attempts, but he could never seem to duplicate them. The water from his right hand stretched and spiraled around the ball of fire, created a rotating spring-like formation around it. Responding, the fire compacted itself into a smaller orb around the size of his fist. The two elements began to spin rapidly while matching the others' size before melding together. Zhong started to sweat profusely, concentrating with great intensity and even greater determination.

The elements gave off a low light before exploding in his hands, leaving this world as nothing but water vapor. The sudden burst of energy had left Zhong on his back, only injuring his pride. "Steam once more. I haven't even been able to maintain that steam long enough to bend it. Perhaps tomorrow" The exhausted bender took a sip of water remaining in his water skin and dosed off into sleep. He wouldn't allow himself a long rest, though. Dehydration wasn't a problem as he had another fully stocked water skin on his person. The aforementioned Buzzard-Wasps, whose cave was located only a few feet behind him, were the problem. "One hour should be...*yawn*....enough", the dualbender remarked as his eyes closed and his mind wandered off...



On the outskirts of this barren desert was a small cantina known as Misty Palms Oasis, the only haven one may have should they escape the Si Wong Desert. Unusual and unique to the cantina was a small iceberg located near its entrance, which provided much need relief from the dry, inhuman heat of the desert. Even after 200 years from Avatar Aang's encounter with it briefly, the iceberg resisted the trials of the blazing sun and held strong. A well was built around the iceberg as over time it was required to dig deeper into the sands to fetch more life-sustaining ice.

Within one of huts of the cantina was a group of armed warriors, drained and irritated by the scorching desert conditions. Each one showed off their heavily-muscled bodies and equally large weapons to the other petty criminals located in the hut.

"This is drive me crazy! Why did we come here in the first place?!" a bald man shouted to his cohorts.
"Because we're being paid and our mission said so" an earthbender spoke up.
"I know that! But why did they come to this forsaken place?!" he responded.
"What better location to hide than in an area no one would dare traverse?" a sandbender remarked.
"Benders. Dirty people," an older man started, "thinking they can rule the world while those of use without powers are worthless? You two," he directed toward the earthbenders, "disgust me. You're lucky we can find common ground in our hatred for dualbenders, otherwise..." He kept a firm grip on his sword.
"As soon as we kill those dualbenders, we move on to rebuilding Sozin's Fire Nation" the bald man revealed a Fire Nation tattoo on his arm. "Fire Lord Zuko's descendents share his ridiculous notions of peace among the nations. We'll make sure to put a stop to that!"
The sandbender slammed his hands on the table. "We're only doing this mission to kill the three or so dualbenders we heard were in the Si Wong Desert. We have no intention of helping your corrupt Fire Nation be reborn!"

The warriors continued their argument as others within the same hut overheard their conversation.

[ANBU]

Kazuya walked through caldera making short comments of hello with some of the nobles he knew who walked past in a kind manner before putting his cape on as he reached the gate 5 fire benders standing there in clothing similar to his a he walked past, 4 following in a rough 'V' shape whilst the other followed directly behind Kazuya. "Now is the time to make the Earth benders pay.." he then said his voice in a more natural tone much darker then that he used when talking to the nobles previously as they walked reaching the Harbor quickly and boarding a boat with ebony wood on other side making a pattern that looked very close to the symbol of the fire nation except for a small arrow at the bottom probably a reference to the Nomadic Air benders due to Kazuya's still training skill in air bending which he used to try to start the ship moving taking a few minutes before managing to start the ship moving by which time the wind had naturally picked up and was already pushing them along. When the boat neared the large gate separating the ocean from the inside of caldera the 5 fire benders with Kazuya sent fire up in a pattern to tell them to open the gates, Kazuya preferring doing this then talking to them beforehand. The boat moves through the gates as they opened closing behind the boat as the Fire benders moved through a door to go belo9w deck to rest leaving Kazuya on deck steering the boat.

Kenshin Stood on the side of a white mountain making a hand movement and stomping fiercely as what appeared to be a Giant Chess 'Rook' slid across what looked to be a white and Red Chessboard, "Checkmate.." he then said loudly as the white square began to fall as he lost concentration upon their hitting the ground they shattered any people below most likely angry at Kenshin for such a mistake as he and the other earth bender moved the remaining red squares and giant chess pieces back inside the rock as if they were never used. Kenshin then made what appeared to be a sliding pathway down the mountain jumping onto it and sliding himself down lazily rather then walking back from the mountain pathway he was on. walking towards the Agrarian Zone to find the spot where he practiced as a child again.

[PikMan]

In Misty Palms, there was an individual hidden by shadows. He had long red hair, wore a black scarf, red cape, and a white bandana on his head. His name was Jovin. He didn't bother looking around, even though he was on the lookout for Dualbenders; His seismic sense took care of that. He had learned this talent from a descendant of an extraordinary Earthbender who had used this sense to bend metal. The metal part he could never figure out, but that didn't matter now; What mattered was his ongoing hunt. He absolutely hated Dualbenders, and would do just about anything to rid the world of them. In fact, he had done some pretty nasty things...

Jovin then took note of a conversation between a group of people who evidently also hated Dualbenders. They wanted to rebuild Sozin's Fire Nation, but he didn't really care; All he cared about were the Dualbenders. He was obsessive and he knew it. Everyone who knew him knew it... But what nobody knew, was why he was like this. OK, I was getting off track there. Listening to their conversation, he started thinking... And decided that being involved in their plot was the best course of action. Jovin strode casually towards them. "I couldn't help but notice, fellows, that you all harbor a resentment towards Dualbenders." He chuckled. "I can sympathize with that..."