The group of teachers and Chonglin step out of the satomobile, walking into the compound to see Bohei and Jin staring at a pebble. "What are you two doing?" Meihua loudly asks, catching the attention of the two boys. Bohei rushes over to them with furrowed eyebrows, making everyone sigh and expecting him to be angry.
ㅤ"Did you guys hear what that fake Zaheer said?" he questioned.
ㅤ"Yeah, we were literally there, but how'd you hear it?" Youta asked curiously.
ㅤ"The radio, that's besides the point." Bohei groans. "I should go down to Republic City and show him and the rest of the Black Lotus who I am."
ㅤ"You'd die if you tried it." Dawa imparts his wisdom on the challenge.
ㅤ"Oh, please, I could handle all of them, one on one or all on me." The Avatar boasts.
ㅤ"With that earthbending of yours?" Qiu bellows in sarcastic joy.
ㅤ"No, with my earth, water, fire, and airbending. I'm still a fire and waterbending master."
ㅤ"And, air, if you were a nomad, you could probably get your tattoos." This statement from Dawa distracted Bohei.
ㅤ"Mom, can I get tattoos?"
ㅤMeihua was shocked at the question, having been talking to Youta: "You're not a nomad or a natural airbender."
ㅤ"Okay, what about waterbending tattoos?"
ㅤ"Like what?"
ㅤ"Lines that go down my arms that are made up of symbols."
ㅤMeihua sighed. "How about this, you draw it up, and I'll see what we can do about it."
Bohei smiles and looks at Jin, cheering with each other about the idea of Bohei getting tattoos. With the moon high in the sky, Youta yawned, walking over to the large patio that circled the arena and centered the compound. The rest followed, choosing to be seated if they were going to be forced to listen to Bohei.
ㅤ"We have one more week until my fight with the Fire Princess."
ㅤ"You mastered the basics of every element at like... eight, why do you have to keep training?" Jin asked, sitting on the ground and leaning back on his hands.
ㅤ"How do you know that?"
ㅤ"I asked around about you." Bohei turned to the teachers, glaring at them after hearing Jin talk.
ㅤ"That's not creepy at all." Chonglin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
ㅤ"Does this mean I mastered the elements before I was ten?" Bohei looked at the teachers with raised eyebrows.
ㅤYouta pursed his lips and said, "Well, you've mastered fire."
ㅤMeihua nodded, agreeing with Youta, "And water."
ㅤ"And Air." Dawa's soft voice rose up.
ㅤ"You also mastered earth." Jin said it with a smile.
This gave the entire group of teachers a small shock; they all looked at Qiu, who was seething in his seat.
ㅤ"He hasn't mastered earthbending; he can't even properly bend it!" the man yelled.
ㅤJin shrugged and stepped back. "Go ahead." He commanded.
Bohei nodded, stepping to the middle of the area. Away from everyone, he bends a column of earth up under himself. Bohei jumped down, the ground turning to sand as he hit it and cracking slightly. He got in the horse position, chopping downward, making the column fall down. Bohei stomped on the ground and lifted his hands up as if he were picking up something heavy, causing four large boulders to slowly rise from the ground. Bohei moved his arms in a circular motion, causing air to form around him, and then pushed the boulders in an x formation, avoiding hitting anyone or the buildings. He looked into Qiu's eyes and pulled the rocks back to him, putting them back in the ground.
ㅤ"Admit it, I'm an earthbending master."
ㅤ"I'll admit it when you can outskill one."
ㅤ"I already outskilled Jin with fire."
ㅤ"With earth?"
ㅤ"Fine. Get in the ring."
Bohei walked to one end of the arena. Youta chuckled, covering his mouth, as he giggled.
ㅤ"Why me?" Qiu looked at the other teachers but they all looked away, not taking his side.
ㅤ"You're the only one here who disagrees with everyone else. So come on, earthbending master, let's fight."
Qiu sighed, standing in the arena. Qiu was a stubby little man with bushy eyebrows and a bushy mustache. His light brown eyes and amber eyes stared into Bohei. Qiu stomped on the ground, throwing blocks of earth at Bohei. Bohei put his arms up as if blocking his face, causing a wall of earth to shoot up, blocking the earth. He sliced the wall in half, sending one half to Qiu and then sending the other immediately after. The older man moved the first half out of the way, not expecting the other to have it push into his body. Qiu put his hands against the half, and Bohei made his hand into a fist, causing it to burst into a cloud of smoke. Qiu jumps up, a thin pillar of dust forming under him as he charges at Bohei. "Dust-stepping. A technique of Kyoshi." Genji comments. Bohei backflipped, the ground cracking and turning into small pebbles under him. Once he landed up right, a pebble flew up, and he punched towards Qiu, causing the pebble to fly at the man. Qiu blocked the pebble with his arm, but it was flying with such force that it threw him off of the pillars. "I'll use that," and that's exactly what Bohei did, starting the jump, or step in place, and rising on the ground. Qiu looked up at him, launching a boulder at Bohei. Bohei was quicker, dropping all of the pillars under him and getting into cannonball position. Qiu recognized the technique and jumped up, but once Bohei hit the ground, it created a shock wave that shook the entire compound and the air surrounding it. Throwing Qiu into the ground. Bohei got out of the small crater he made, punching the ground, causing it to open under Qiu, and he began to close him within it.
ㅤ"Admit it!"
ㅤ"No!"
ㅤ"Fine!" Bohei made one of his hands into a fist, causing the earth around Qiu to turn into sand. "Admit it or suffocate."
ㅤ"Bohei, don't overdo it." Jin walked over, placing a hand on Bohei's shoulder. "You already won."
ㅤ"Yeah! You see that? I'm the master of the four elements!" Bohei jeered at Qiu, pointing at him.
Bohei sent pebbles into the nearby clay jars, bending the water around him in the form of dual rings that made an X. He lifted himself in the air on a spout of air, shooting fire from his mouth to go down the middle of the X while the pebbles launched up, wrapping around the ring horizontally.
ㅤ"Is that... an elemental sphere?" Youta looked up at Bohei.
ㅤDawa looked at the display, dropping his cup of tea. "I mean, Roku and Korra were both known to bend all four elements without the avatar state."
ㅤ"But to be in an elemental sphere is unheard of." Meihua scratched her chin.
Bohei pushed the elements away from him, landing on the ground softly as Dawa and Meihua walked up to him. "Does this mean you're ready to begin avatar state training?" Dawa was ecstatic. Bohei had mastered air pretty fast, so Dawa didn't have much time with the boy, but he genuinely enjoyed Bohei's personality. Before Bohei could answer, his eyes began to close. Jin kicked the ground, and a small wave of earth charged at Bohei, turning the ground under him to sand and softening his fall. "He's having a vision."
The world around Bohei rippled as he entered the black void. "Again?" he complained, looking around. A blue light shone on him, and he turned, facing Avatar Aden. Avatar Aden was a massive man, surpassing the height of everyone Bohei has been around, but not Jin. "You're like 6 feet and 10 inches." Bohei watched as Aden walked around him. "So are you choosing to speak to me finally?"
ㅤThen Aden said, "This time is different."
ㅤ"How?"
ㅤ"Something or someone is tampering with the spirits of the spirit world in an attempt to become more powerful. It created a powerful enough surge of spiritual energy that allowed me to yank you here to talk rather than just give you a vision."
ㅤ"Someone's tampering with the spirit world; in what way?"
ㅤ"You recall the story of Wan? Korra?" Bohei nodded at Aden. "This created a ripple effect; people tried to fuse with spirits to create some form of deification, to become more powerful. Unalaq, uncle to Avatar Korra, fused with Vaatu. Yun, the ally to Avatar Kyoshi, consumed part of the Spirit Father Glowworm."
ㅤ"Right." Bohei started putting pieces together.
ㅤ"Someone's replicating these in an attempt to become more powerful."
ㅤ"How many, and what spirits?"
ㅤ"Two people and the spirits are the sun and earth spirits."
ㅤ"Do the earth and sun have spirits?"
ㅤ"If the moon and ocean have spirits..."
ㅤ"You're right."
Bohei and Aden continued to talk about the possibilities of someone fusing with the sun and earth spirits. Aden explained to Bohei that it'd take three days for them to get to the Fire Nation. Aden told Bohei to contact him immediately as they set off through meditation, as Aden had much more to tell Bohei.
ㅤ"Is that all you wanted to tell me? A warning?"
ㅤ"No, you'll be starting avatar state training, and I must warn you of the challenge you will face."
ㅤ"And how will you do that?"
Aden walked through Bohei, turning into a cloud of blue mist. Bohei closed his eyes in a blink, but once he opened them, he was standing on a boat.
Bohei looked around, noticing that this was part of Aden's history. He felt his body look up. There was a Fire Nation flag and another flag that was only partially visible; it had a black symbol, but Aden couldn't see it. Aden rolled his eyes and put his hands in his pockets. A man stumbled his way to Aden.
ㅤ"Avatar Aden, how are you feeling?" Aden felt suspicious of the man and the ship but wasn't sure why.
ㅤHe shrugged. "I'm fine." He strategically answered everything so he wouldn't reveal too much information.
ㅤ"Well, we'll be at the Fire Nation soon, unless you want to waterbend the entire fleet there." The man chuckled, but it felt insincere. "I have to go man the ship; just remember not to go too far downstairs."
This is what ticked Aden off—why shouldn't he be allowed downstairs? There were a lot of people on top of the ship, but most of them were busy. Aden glared at the man as he walked off and put his hands in the air, causing a thick fog to appear.
ㅤ"We'll be moving into a fog!" the man who talked to Aden yelled.
ㅤ"A fog? That's quite sudden." Aden heard one of the men say he was confused.
As the ship entered the fog, Aden began to bend the fog to be thicker, making everything and everyone invisible inside the fog. He walked towards the door to the inside of the ship and put his hand out, pushing the door open with airbending. He continued to bend the fog around him even as he entered the ship so that he still couldn't be seen. He got closer and closer to the bottom of the ship, and he felt a sinking feeling enter his stomach. He dispersed the fog, and he was staring at six individual cages. "Oh, my Raava." Aden started attempting to bend the metal; granted, he wasn't a metalbender, "It's platinum," making Aden facepalm. Aden was about to question what they were doing there and what the Fire Nation was doing to them.
ㅤ"Oh spirits, no, while we were taken against our wills, we were pregnant prior to being put on the ship." One woman explained, "They told us that we'd be giving birth in the Fire Nation to create the next generation of leaders of the Black Lotus."
This triggered something within Aden; he closed his eyes and began to think. He remembered that flag that he couldn't see. Aden gasped, realizing it was a Black Lotus flag. He looked around the room. There was more Black Lotus imagery, but it was subtle; you'd need to be looking for it to see it. He bent the fog around him and to the top of the ship. He dispersed the mist and looked around the ship.
ㅤ"Are you okay, Avatar Aden?" The captain of the ship yelled down at him.
ㅤ"You're all Black Lotus." Aden stared up at him.
The captain's soft face hardened. He sighed and shot a ball of fire at Aden. "No." Aden was hit by the fire, and he was pushed backwards. "Raava... I know we haven't been able to connect in the past, but now would be the perfect time." Aden whispered to himself but got no answer from the white and blue spirit. "She may not be able to help you, but I can." Aden was about to question what the void was, but his eyes shut and then opened, an orange glow shooting from his eyes. Aden stood up and chuckled. The captain shot out a jet of fire, but the air was taken from the flame, forcing it to extinguish. The water shot up as a large geyser. The ship began to rock, and the tectonic plates under the ship shook. The plates at the bottom of the ocean cracked, rubbing against each other and causing a tsunami to immediately form. Aden roared, causing one of the tectonic plates to shift, making the head of a volcano rise from the ocean, forcibly erupting. The men on the ship fired attacks at Aden, but the fire was repelled by Aden, creating a shockwave of air to push them away. The lava from the volcano quickly hardened as it hit the ocean. Aden's body began to rise into the air, allowing the waterbenders of the ship to try and push it forward. He noticed the rest of the fleet of ships, so he created a shockwave of air, pushing the ships away and then pulling them back. Aden moved his arms into a circle, causing the water to shoot into the air and then surround them in a giant vortex. The tectonic plate that he cracked began to rise out of the ground, molding itself into the island created from the hardened magma. "You dare trick the avatar in the ocean?" The sky became cloudy above them; he had summoned a storm. The water of the vortex began to fold inwards on itself, shooting into the water and creating large omnidirectional waves. "Aden!" He heard a soft, feminine voice yell out at him. Aden's body was kicked out of the avatar state, and his eyes returned to normal. He said he was floating back to the ground of the nearly-made island and closed his eyes, passing out.
Bohei's eyes shot open. Everyone was looking at him and asking, "Uh, hi?" Bohei raised his eyebrows, sitting up. He stood up and bent the dust and dirt off of his body.
ㅤ"Well, you passed out for, like, two minutes." Jin started.
ㅤ"That's the shortest it's ever been; we were making sure you weren't having visions." Meihua added.
ㅤ"I was?" Bohei scratched the back of his neck, and everyone nodded. "I'm ready to go to the Fire Nation."
ㅤThis made Youta smile and clap silently. "I'll notify the Fire Lord." He began to rush away.
ㅤ"I'll get the White Lotus ready and the ships." Qiu walked away.
ㅤ"I shall pack for me and Chonglin." Dawa silently strolled away.
Jin looked at Bohei and then at his dad with starry eyes.
ㅤ"Dad, can I go with you guys?" He begged.
ㅤ"I don't see why not."
ㅤ"Oh, come on, I've never seen the Fire Nation in person. I'm the one who trained Bohei, so I'm basically a member of the White Lotus. Bohei likes me being around, and if anything, I should be the one to go instead of Qiu; he is the on-" Jin was cut off.
ㅤ"I already said you could go."
ㅤ"Oh!"