Avatar; The legacy Of Genji

Chapter 2 The Past Avatars

Genji panted as Karia stopped on the ground to catch her breath. This was the third time they had nearly been kidnapped. Ever since the White Lotus discovered Genji was the avatar a week ago during "avatar" Jian's speech in Ba Sing Se, they constantly faced the threat of being kidnapped.

   The white Lotus had many upper hands. For one, they were made up of an elite group of masters, bending and non-bending. Two, they were the most respected group, that last you'd think would be involved in huge conspiracy that determined the fate of the world. And the last advantage being they were up against two teenagers with no combat experience or training. Absolutely none.

The only advantage Genji had was that public. The White Lotus never ambushed them in front of larger crowds. They were scared he'd go into the avatar state, and this time they couldn't blame it on him being an actor. Genji and Karia made sure wherever they went they were surrounded by people, but occasionally they'd find themselves cornered.

   That's when they'd escape with their lives. Genji was a talented sand bender, but that was only a sub element of earth bending. And sand bending was different than regular earth bending, it was feeling every single grand of sand rather than feeling the earth itself.

Karia was a non bender who had no idea how to fight. Why would she have ever needed to know how to? She didn't know she'd end up being tracked down by the White Lotus in a plot to silence Genji. Genji just barely managed to keep them both safe while they traveled. Their plan was to get out of Ba Sing Se and to Republic City. There, they could get help from the old team avatar, and prove Genji was the avatar. They ended up selling most of the air nomad artifacts to scrape by. All except the meditation beads, which Karia insisted on keeping.

With the money, they bought train tickets for one that would take them right to Republic City. In the meantime they were camping out in the woods. They had been walking around the train station, waiting for their train,when Karia spotted a white Lotus pai sho tile on a bench. She immediately grabbed Genji and ran into the most crowded stop. They stood they're panting, and Genji though he recognized a man who attacked them the other night.

    It was a strange sensation to know there was someone who wanted to capture you, 10 feet away from you, but they weren't doing it in fear of people seeing the fight. Over the intercom the familiar robotic voice said that train to republic city was taking off. Genji bit his lip as he saw the train was on the other side of the tracks. He looked over at Karia, who nodded. They knew what to do, but they also knew they were being watched.

Suddenly he felt as Karia grabbed his hand and jumped over the train tracks.

"Rotten sandbenders!" They heard people shouting behind them disapprovingly.

   Genji saw the white Lotus men about to jump across the train tracks. Karia once again grabbed his hand and started to run towards the train they were supposed to catch. Genji could see the doors closing and worried they wouldn't make it.

Just before it closed they got on. The conductor didn't seem to pleased. As they handed him their tickets he muttered about how they probably stole the tickets. Karia let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Finally we're safe." Genji gave her a cold look. He was exhausted and frustrated.

He knew Karia was right, and he has to fulfill his duty as the avatar, but he was miserable. For one he left his mother. The thought alone broke him. There was no way to contact her, the closest telephone wasn't until the Misty Palms Oasis. He knew he was scaring his mother and he felt an immense wave of guilt. Second he was terrified.

   Genji didn't ask to be the avatar, and he didn't know people would be after him. For the past two weeks he had been hunted down by a powerful group of people, and it was physically and mentally draining.

"We're not safe yet Karia, They saw us get on this train and they know exactly where it's going. They'll probably be there waiting for us." He snapped.

He looked over to see her hurt expression. The last thing he wanted to do was make her sad.

"Look I'm sorry, but this is all so overwhelming. I'm not prepared to be the avatar, I'm probably the least ready, I mean I just found out now at 17. "

Karia offered him a sympathetic smile.

"Well avatar Kioshi didn't know she was the avatar until she was seventeen either."
Genji snorted.

"Kioshi was an amazing earth bender. I'm probably the only avatar in history who hasn't even mastered their native element."

Karia tilted her head up. She always did that when she was thinking.

"Well, I mean yes, but no one expects you to bend three elements at birth. Well except Korra-". Genji rubbed his temple.

"I'm the least prepared person to be the avatar." He slumped down in his chair.

Karia put her hand over his and Genji silently prayed he wouldn't start to blush.

"Well every avatars story is unique. Do you want me to tell you about them?" In his mind he was rolling his eyes.

He knew about Karia's obsession with Avatar history, and had heard it millions of times, but he saw how happy she got when she talked about them. He felt so lost it may have actually been helpful to hear about.

"Okay well you're not too ecstatic to be the avatar, and neither was avatar Aang. You found out about it super late, just like Kioshi. And you found out by entering the avatar state, Aang and Roku only knew when someone had told them. And then Korra figured it out herself because of the bending three elements at age four, you know? You are probably the only avatar to not be a master in their own element.." she trailed off and Genji sighed.

He knew it was true.
"What else makes me extremely late to being an avatar?"

"Well I'm not sure how spiritual you are. There are barely any spirits in the desert so that might be a set back. It's gonna be harder to talk to Korra that way, but Korra was the least spiritual person for so long. I mean she went 18 years being able to bend everything but air because of that. But she ended up having the strongest connection the spirits out of every avatar. I mean this woman opened a new spirit portal, which reminds me there's tons of spirits in republic city, so befriend them so you can talk to Korra.-"

"I really want to talk to Kioshi. She's the previous earth avatar, she can help me" He saw Karia roll her eyes.

"This is how I now you don't pay attention to me Genji, you can't talk to Kioshi, avatar Korra lost her connection. The cycle restarted. That's why it's important to read about the past avatars, or they'll be forgotten." Genji was taken aback.

He already felt such as strong bond to Korra, he couldn't imagine what it must've been like to loose her past lives. He unintentionally started to frown.

"If it helps Korra could metal bend. Imagine if you became the first sand and metal bending avatar."

"As an avatar I'll have a lot of firsts. First avatar  to only know a sub bending, first avatar to you know, have the world think there's another avatar, first to not have a team avatar-"

"First avatar to not have an animal guide." Karia added.

Genji's eyes widened.
"I completely forgot about that part."

"It's not your fault. I mean you grew up extremely isolated from the rest of the world. It wasn't like a turkey vulture was supposed to be your guide. Maybe you'll find a pet in Republic City."

"Maybe. We have to find the old team avatar, I'm so sick of being hunted down." Karia bit her lip.

"Genj, they may not even believe us. I mean Bumi is in the white lotus. Bumi as in avatar Aang's son. It's not like we can prove it. We can't force you into the avatar state and you can't bend more than sand right now. It could be risky. I know we're headed to republic city, but maybe we should lay low there until we find you a fire bending teacher. And a better earth teacher if we're being honest."

   Genji nodded as he looked out the window. The entire world thought Jian was the avatar. How was a sandbender from XianCun with no animal guide going to convince people had family in the White Lotus. He started at the window noticing the forest scenery started to change, and he saw buildings in the distant. Everything was about to change.