Pro-bending Arena

[The Wild Hunt]

XXXXXXXXXXXXAVATAR HAN
The discourse between Elites was not one that he expected, and ironically it was not one that amused him. Instead he could only feel a lingering fear each moment that passed, a fear so compelling that he could barely speak in the voice he'd crafted for his ruse - Wei Long had gone away, and instead left behind a frightened, painted Avatar with a convincing costume but without the attitude to match. He said nothing at all, at least, not enough words to attract attention to his voice - one that had been heard on Republic City radio, one that others might notice. A somewhat deep toned voice, but only emitted through a developing throat, a young boy not even a man speaking as the Avatar.

The more moments that passed, the greater the swelling of fear grew within him. He could feel something . . . not directly here, not directly around him, but in the distance somewhere where he could not wrap his head around; moving quickly, ever stirring. There was always this feeling to some degree, and every year it worsened as the spirits emboldened. That was why he knew this feeling to be linked to one thing - the incursion of a spirit, the arrival of one you could say, often stronger the more malevolent the being was. His past lives - the tainted ones - grew ever more vile within him the closer he came to a Dark Spirit. Kyoshi would appear, hiding behind obstacles, her dark red eyes glaring at him and heralding the parting of her wretched lips to reveal sharp fangs. Roku would smear ash among the cadavers of the dead, taunting Han, calling his name.

AVATAR. They would refer to him by no other identity. He was nothing else but that before them - the person mattered far less than the creature he was, one they wished to corrupt and destroy. He could be here no longer - not as things were right now. He heard a wail. Perhaps not audible to the ears, but to his mind, a scream pierced him. The spirit had come, and he had slain someone. The Avatar watched specters pass, bending masters. He slipped past them before they even had the audacity to notice him, and retreated to the restroom. Others, fans, individuals fearing the spirit - they fled in all directions, some following him to the bathroom and some running past the bridge that held the Arena and the City together. Han closed his eyes and stood before the mirror. Even so, though, even as his eyes closed - he could only see Kyoshi's red glare staring back at him. Roku's fiery maw. A dark streak running across the horizon all around him.

This Spirit was powerful. Enough to beat all of the bending masters, he could even imagine. There were few spirits of such ability, but he feared that some reigned in this world. Unstoppable Force, he whispered to himself.

I can fight the Spirit - prove I'm not nothing. No one even has to know that I'm the Avatar. I could never let them know, here. Too many enemies . . . and the white haired woman - she wants to kill me. But he could barely imagine the reaction if he were to be nearly defeated, and then slip into the Avatar state. His emotions had been so volatile since he'd been awoken to his powers. The Avatar state was something he'd often fallen into, and he could rarely control himself. "But I have to do something," he said under his breath. Some strangers glanced at him, though they didn't consider it odd that he'd speak to himself in this situation. People often needed to console themselves in the face of battle.

"The Avatar can't always just let the bad guys do what they want, while he hides. Squirms." He nodded his head. There was no elite escort to be found here. No protection. But that was alright. If he was to die this very moment, at least the memory would be of him battling Spirits and saving lives. That was what he'd hoped, at least. The man stepped out from his hiding place, though he retained his disguise as Wei Long. No one had to know just who he was - not yet, not when the stakes were as high as they were.

When he came out of hiding and saw them, he'd discovered that there was more than just one entity, there was multiple. It would explain why he'd felt such volume to the energy - why he imagined not even the masters would be able to hold them back. The numbers were the problem, rather than the strength of one entity. There was another problem, too. He could feel that they were seeking out life - they didn't search for great masters to battle against, but rather feeble and weak humans such as children and the elderly. At any moment, the benders would find them slipping away. These were Liferenders - that was what he called them. They were the auxillery force that hunted human life to assure the completion of the genocide against the species. One of them approached him, tried to sniff out his energy. He could feel the creature's gaze smothering him. With a lifting of the earth around him, he launched a large stone wall at the Spirit, punching both fists forward to accelerate the lunge. The entity was hit directly, though it only reeled back and paused for a moment. Spirits were perhaps scariest for how well they could take a hit.

 

[___youwillknownihilism]

As soon as the beast began to approach he landing sight, Ban, covered in an armor of metal shot up from the ground behind her. She could feel that in the area the stands and hall way had cleared, and people were either getting out or... or not getting out. Making an executive decision, the Bending master raised her knee as high as it could, and stomped it down hard enough that the ceiling and floor both rumbled. The Spirit turned to see her straining as cracks appeared around the wall and floor. A tight fist on either arm punched to her left, rotating her body with it as the very section of the room the monstrous spirit was on came unattached and flew out, far enough away that perhaps the city police, who'd be arriving soon, could work together to take care of it. As it sailed she looked to see Anika and Mei handling their own issue, and then her eyes fell to where the avatar was. Though Ban knew not who he was, something compelled her to intervene and help the man. With another bit of earthbending, she threw herself atop a large section of the solid rock that made up the stands she was upon. She kept stuck to the boulder like shape as it flew just over the spirit that he had hit with the wall, and with the flying spider technique she'd practiced her whole life she slammed the heavy mass down on top of the thing. The spirit was crushed, even if only temporarily, and the impact seemed to draw the attention of a few other spirits. She punched her fist one way, knocking a chunk of rock off of her structure into one approaching spirit, delaying it's advance for the moment. A flying spirit drew her ire as it made a bee line. With a leap and a rotating kick she turned a piece of her armor into a small projectile using the unstoppable force mastery she'd attained over the years. The piece of metal smashed into the side of the creature, knocking it away. She landed safely, but didn't stop moving. She ran around as the spirit below the boulder began to squirm and approached the man known as Wei. "That was both brave and stupid, standing up to that spirit. I like your style kid," she said patting his shoulder, panting a bit as well. Even for a master, she'd had adrenaline fueling her daring motions up until that point. "We need to get these people out of here. Look, I can feel your heart, I can tell you're scared... I am too. But it's up to us to hold these things off until the police force arrives... if only the avatar were... here..." she trailed off feeling the foot steps behind her.

She turned to see her form, her glaring red eyes, the two fans in either hand. She took the stance of the Kiyoshi warrior, one Ban had learned in youth. A wall of earth raised at a twitch of the spirit's hand, and this wall had spikes on the side. Ban dropped low as it was pushed forward towards her, tensing her muscles. With a deep exhale she jumped with her knee extended. The ground responded to her command, and like an extention of her body aspear of earth shot from the ground and slammed cleanly through the wall, destroying it. Her jump placed her right on top of the creation, and she wasted no time punching forward. The spear shot forth, Ban in a strong stance on top of it aiming to crush the Kiyoshi warrior. A blast of air and fire combined and hit the spear, sending Ban flying away from the angry spirit. She landed cleanly on her hand and flipped over a coming whip of water just in time. In this match she was not favored to win. However, she had to try, regardless of her own sake. She looked to Han, a silent message for him to keep the citizens safe as they ran or run away himself. Ban had her mind set on Kiyoshi and the daunting battle ahead of her. Taking a powerful horse stance, her hands open palmed north. She had to take this seriously. She hated being serious. Kiyoshi's spirit was intimidating for sure. Beads of sweat fell from her face as Ban felt her heart trying to free itself from her chest. Kiyoshi seemed undaunted as she made the first move. A wave of fire came from a sweeping kick along the ground. Ban was like a mountain as she threw her fist down, and then up as if she were pulling something from it. At the last second a wedge formed of stone picked itself up and split the wave in two. She stepped forth and pushed an open palm, sending one half of the wedge at the warrior who avoided it by gracefully leaping over it's head and bringing a foot down with the power of wind. Ban moved the other half of her wedge into the way, and though it barely worked... it worked. Ban called upon every bit of knowledge she had as Kiyoshi pressed her assault. Ban was skilled sure, but this was a fight she had little faith in winning. She was a master of the Earth... the daughter of it in fact. But Kiyoshi... well if she was the Earth's Daughter Kiyoshi was it's grandmother. Ban brought two large walls of metal down from the roof, and they fell quickly beside her, much to the surprise of Kiyoshi... or at least Ban hoped so. Her feet were glued to the floor by the metal armor she had procured for herself, allowing her to stay mobile, but as she controlled the walls of metal with her arms she had limited herself to defending against the onslaught as long as she could. Kiyoshi was nimble, she was strong in her aggression, throwing the landscape with superior earth bending, attempting to use the water around the arena behind her to quash Ban. The metal walls held fast, as did her ability to move about and avoid the gale force winds. All she could hope was that the civilians could get away as she blocked as much as she could.

As was inevitable... Ban was finally stuck by a rather blunt impact from the wind. It sent her flying back into a wall, and she bounced off of it painfully. A barrage of water pushed her right back against it, and she fell to the ground in pain. She stood up, frowning as she did so but strong against the spirit as she prepared another attack. The walls of metal flew through the air at her beck, locking together and shoving against the jet of flame Kiyoshi released. It began to melt down, but ban did not relent. The Melting metal fell over at the spirit, and as far as Ban could see she hand at least sent it back to wherever it came from for now. She fell to her knees, and panted heavily, leaning forward supported only by shaky arms. "Did I just... did I just beat an avatar spirit? What the flying ferret," she coughed out through shallow breaths.


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[A faint smile]

Anika did as she was told and stayed near Mei as she approached the spirit. She had seen spirit calming before. In fact she knew a great deal about it from her dealings with the Chen Rai. Many spirits became tainted by a darkness and lashed out in rage. These days that darkness seemed to be everywhere. More often than not her organization sat by and watched as people's lives were utterly destroyed by these rampaging spirits. It wasn't until their job was done and it was clear the avatar would not show his face that they relented. But here in the heart of republic city? How long could he sit by and watch the world crumble. Unfortunately for that goal to succeed Mei would have to be removed from the situation. She was far too good at her job to just let her roam around freely subverting the current crisis. Even though Anika had nothing to do with what was happening she knew better than to let a situation like this slip through her fingers. As Mei would put a stop to this one spirit Anika would turn her attention to the scene below. What she saw had her raising both eyebrows in a rather impressive level of surprise. Avatar spirits? Two past lives of the cycle were wreaking havoc, even more than the generic spirits that had arrived first. It never took long for one tainted spirit to pass that on to another and another. But for these particular ones to show their face could only mean one thing; the avatar was near. Where? Which one was he? Anika's eyes scanned face after face as the tension in her body grew. She had stared him down just before her attempt on his life and that scared boy's face had been etched in to her mind ever since that day outside of Zaofu. How powerful she had felt striking him down, how annoyed she felt watching him flee from her. Avatar Han had proved himself a coward time and time again, even now apparently. She looked at the earth benders trying to fight back but to no avail. Mei was moving now, and she would have to as well. Tearing her eyes from the scene Anika swiftly followed behind the woman only to end up with the final master of the elements. She had to actively divert a derisive bout of laughter and remain serious here. They really were all in the right place at the right time. Maybe that was why the spirits chose to congregate here. Their collective chi must have been too much to deny, on top of the avatar's. From this vantage point the battle between two great earth benders was an even better sight than any pro bending match. Ever. A brief flicker of a notion passed her head in which Anika though to join the evil spirit in battle. Surely the two of them could have overwhelmed the earth's daughter, but there was no need for that. There was only one target for Anika, the rest were mere distractions. But the boy that Ban Shi came to help...could it be? He looked different though, but he just happened to be an earth bender as well. It was too much of a coincidence to pass up. She would need to report this. Letting go her faked personality, Anika rushed forth and pressed herself almost directly behind Mei Yun, leaning up to whisper towards her ear. "I would love to take you up on that offer for tea, maybe something stronger? It was fun while it lasted, good luck." With that Anika was off, twirling on the balls of her feet and bolting from the stands and towards the hallway.

The moment Anika rounded the corner the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She could feel the attack coming through the air. Immediately throwing her weight forward the woman took to the air, pulling her knees up and twisting her body clean over the wicked spirit's attempt to claw at her. She landed in a crouch and rolled to her feet, entering a sprint. It was unfortunate that this one was tenacious though. It's body seemed to zoom forward and lose its form as it bolted forward at her. Anika dipped her shoulder down and allowed it to pass her. It looks like there would be no choice in the matter now. Far from the eyes of the ring and stadium the woman finally attacked. After a single step she lifted her leg from the back and flipped over, a slash of wind jetting away from her and towards the spirit. The blast connected and stunned the beast for the slightest moment, but that was all she needed. The moment she landed Anika thrust upward with both of her hands, sending the spirit in to the ceiling. Then with quick jabs she continuously slammed it again and again. As it fell she jumped towards the wall and pushed off with one foot. Angling herself so her body was parallel with the ground Anika sent another blast of air downward. The spirit had been caught in every blast and could do nothing as its descent was hastened and it was slammed once more. Anika moved her arms in a circle as she spun once and entered a sturdy stance. Pushing both arms out Anika filled the wall with a powerful gust, forcing the spirit down the hall and in to yet another wall. When the spirit recovered it set its sights on an easier target. The woman recollected herself, fixing a strand of hair that loosened in the activity. With that she blended in to the crowd, picking the first exit and making her way out. A message had to be sent.
[exit]

 

[Over Yandere]

Her eyes watched with disappointment as the water bender before her simply froze the spirit inside a block of ice.That's not going to do at all.... I better intervene. her foot moved to walked forward as she once more began to bend energy in the environment around herself. As she did so Mei could feel the battle down the hall, including the large source positive spirit energy but paid it no mind. That wasn't her fight and she wanted nothing to do with the avatar as that was the last thing in this world that Mei wanted to do was get involved with its fate. So shutting out that part of the battle from her mind she went to work with cleansing the frozen spirit. Golden gyrating rings appeared around it's body as it slowly changed color. As she worked Mei felt the body of "Ana" on her back before whispers met her ear. 'Stronger is fun, so is mystery' she whispered back without skipping a beat. The ruse is dropped, but I wonder if it was merely traded for another? After all perhaps all the pieces are not yet on the pai sho board. A moment later and the spirit was fully cleansed. Mei's golden red eyes turned to look upon the fallen student and the water bender. "It's alright kids, now be good for your teacher and calmly make your way with him to the nearest exit" she smiled before walking off after Anika.

As she rounded the corner she managed to catch sight of Ana airbending shortly before the woman joined in with the fleeing crowd. Mei was about to tail her when she had to hurriedly flip backwards. Flame singed the tips of her hairs as she narrowly avoided a blast of fire. Entering a stance reminiscent of a fencer she looked to see who her opponent was. No........ Her face actually soured into a frown as single finger on her left hand began to twirl. The attacker before her bore fire nation clothes from nearly two hundred years ago, had a long white beard, and the prince's crown. Despite the glowing red eyes and dark appearance she knew immediately what this abomination was. s**t, why couldn't they have just taken the damn tickets? was all she thought before a bolt of lightning was cast down the hall. She knew there was no hope of beating this spirit fire to fire so she had to hope her modernity could beat an ancient avatar spirit. Another jet of flames was spawned to counter her lightning but the bolt pierced right through. In her opening gambit Mei had the advantage. The extrapolation of lightning from fire wasn't around in Roku's time so the old spirit would be caught off guard by it. She rolled to the ground out of the way of the remaining flames while her attack collided. Electricity rolled over the spirits body as Mei used her movement to generate a second more powerful attack. This time with a large orb situated at the front. Roku managed to produce a week wall of earth that was easily obliterated by the follow up attack from Mei. The second one was strong enough to stun it so Mei set work on trying to cleanse the spirit. Golden rings soon formed around Roku as the cleansing process began but then suddenly the rings turned a purplish black and exploded into shards of energy as a powerful shock wave knocked Mei on her a**. Her eyes flashed with the same dark purplish color before she shook her head and cleared her vision. As she started to stand up a pillar of earth knocked her into the air before a great gust slammed her into the wall. She cried out in pain from the sheer force of the assault. Before pushing off the wall and thrusting out her left arm for another jolt of lightning. This time the current was formed into a net, and once more taking the spirit by surprise as the shape confused it. Spinning around she shot another bolt into the wall behind to blow it open and reveal the outdoor air. While the net had delayed the spirit of Roku for a moment it was soon on the warpath again. An immense wall of fire came shooting down the hall, filling the entire space. With no room to dodge Mei did the only thing she could and ran. With absolute faith she lept from the hole in the building out into the night air before shooting out jets of flame from her palms and feet to propel herself out over the water. She looked back to see the spirit of Roku standing in the hole she'd made doing something with his hands. A moment later a massive gust of air slammed into her from above, sending her body crashing down into the bay below. The last thing she saw as she fell spinning towards the ocean was the spirit dissipate, presumably out of the energy to remain in this world. [Exit]

{Location: Outer Halls| Chi Levels: 950 / 1200 | With: Ban Shi Dan, Ana, Soha}

 

[The Wild Hunt]

XXXXXXXXXXXXAVATAR HAN
This woman was unique. She seemed very headstrong but there was a kindness to her that he could sense, Avatar or no. Considering Mei and Anika had dispersed at some point into the battle, Han immediately felt considerably more comfortable - not enough to reveal himself quite yet, but he knew that Ban was the Earthbending Master and this opportunity was so rare he would take it with any associated risk. He just needed to find an opportune moment to reveal himself.

The man nodded in agreement; they would need to defend the civilians against the spirits. After all, these spirits were of the branch that was focused on ravaging the human population. If left alone, they would go into the Arena and kill every last spectator. Hundreds, perhaps even thousands, were at risk. Further than that, if the Spirits had grown this active without yet being responded to, this meant that the Republic City Resistance Force - the guys who fought the Spirits back - could no longer be completely relied on. He could recall that in the early stages of the spirit's wrath, the officials would respond to their attacks within a minute of their initiation. But as years went on, surely the casualties rose fiercely, and the number of people who sought to join must have diminished too. It didn't help, either, that the Spirits so actively targeted benders - the number of individuals left to defend humanity was thus lost over time, with their genes falling away from the cycle of reproduction.

Essentially, what he believed was that this would grow worse as time went on. These attacks . . . they would grow more frequent, and Republic City would fall over time. A new way needed to be found.

Of course, while he was lost in thought and combating the Spirit before him, he was always aware of the movements of the wretches that followed him - Kyoshi chief among them, the previous Earth incarnation seeking to haunt the present. Han did not react to her, as reacting always led to an inflammation of her violence. But Ban Shi . . . did react. She actively attacked the spirit, whose skin fluttered between serene porcelain-like beauty and scarred, flaky rot. The woman battled her with Earth as she did the other spirits, with metal, and she defended at first against the Avatar incarnation. The Spirit used her variety of elements to her advantage. However, this was strange to Han; he could not recall Kyoshi fighting in this manner. Whenever she sought to torment him, she would always act only with spiritual energy. She would act more as a wraith than an active combatant.

Kyoshi almost killed Ban. The Earthbender did not realize that, it seemed. When she knocked the Master back against the wall and set fire against her metal, she had begun to churn the earth around Ban to mutilate her with thousands of projectiles from all angles. Yet somewhere in the midst of brewing that attack, she vanished.

"You did not beat her. You cannot beat her. She will be back." Han would reveal himself now, as the danger had passed - not the Spirits, but the Chen Rai, the organization that he knew virtually nothing about yet one that had nearly killed him several times. He grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and smeared off the face paint, as well as returning his hairstyle to its naturally flowing state. "In my early days being found as the Avatar, the White Lotus held me up in a fortress and attempted to cleanse my mind. They sought to defend me against Kyoshi, Roku, Taa'vu, Misoka, Chenmai - all of these corrupted Avatar Spirits. There must have been a hundred benders from the White Lotus, all of them skilled and apt; the best of the best. And each of them was lost, one by one, three by three, ten by ten. Kyoshi was the most violent, and she would cleave their numbers by the day - no matter how many times they thought to defeat her, she came back."

He frowned and stared at Ban. He should not have revealed all of this, but the truth was this: he had ran out of allies. Everyone that sought to protect him had died. The White Lotus, the Big Bad Badgermoles - a gang of vigilante Earthbenders; even the Fire Nation Monarchy, who sought to atone for their bringing of the End, had nearly been destroyed as a result of trying to protect Han. He had run out of options, and thus could only migrate; could only keep hoping the Spirits and the Chen Rai wouldn't recognize him. That life was growing tiresome, and while he didn't grow any stronger as he ran away, his enemies grew stronger from his cowardice and inaction.

"I am Avatar Han. The Great Miscarriage, as I've been called."

 

[___youwillknownihilism]

As Han spoke to her the woman composed herself once more and rose from the ground, a single swipe on her shoulder brushing away all of the dirt and grit that had accumulated. So this was him? This was "The Great Miscarriage?" She was not surprised in how weak he seemed. For an earthbending master, one of the few virtuoso's of the strongest of arts, she looked quite dainty as well. But in his eyes she saw fear, in his heartbeat she could feel no fluctuations. No. She was sure he spoke the truth and there was a heavy burden on his words. He'd watched teachers and friends die. Roku, Taa'vu, Kiyoshi...all of whom were supposed to guide him had turned upon him. That would have even unearthed and disheartened even Ban. But she didn't presume to understand what was going on in his head, nor should she. Either way this was her secret motivation for coming in the first place. She allowed him to finish speaking, all the while, watching the violent environment. People were escaping, and that was good. Some were not... and that was probably good too; better spare them a life knowing what they knew. Soon, a militia formed among the benders of the city arrived, and the hell raising spirits had a contention of fighters who had experience with this sort of thing against them. They could do well as a diversionary tactic while she escaped with the Avatar, and she looked to him with a look of uncertainty. Could she leave them? They wouldn't... they couldn't last. Silently she made a choice. She took her stance, northern mantis like the progenitor of metalbending, closing her eyes. She pushed her palms out, exhaling like a breath from the planet itself as she turned the stadium itself into her weapon. Groaning metal, a vein on her forehead, all showing her power. From above them, the seating area far higher up than their level audibly complained as she seperated it from the building. The spirits upon it scrambled all but too late as she launched the massive projectile towards the center arena where a mass of the spirits were being hereded by the militia. They barely had enough warning to move as the slab of earth, metal and dead civillians flew. "Han. We must go now," she called running towards him. "There are simply too many," she would admit almost in a defeatist tone.


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