So You Want To Learn Firebending
Tony Wyzek was walking along the streets near some apartments down by the river when he spotted something odd. A figure that appeared to be male was pouring something from a can onto a pile of debris in front of one of them. Suspicious, Tony moved closer and noticed that the can was a gas can! Remembering seeing a news story about a man who wanted to build a shopping mall on that spot, Tony realized that would be a perfect way to convince the tenants to move out and clear the way for the mall. He had no proof the man worked for the shopping mall builder, but he still had to be stopped.
The man lit a match and dropped it on the doused pile, which immediately burst into flames! Tony was enraged, and without thinking, charged the man. They tussled briefly and with Tony’s next punch, the flames leapt toward the arsonist, burning him badly! The fire drew the fire department, who called the police. The police arrested the man for arson, and the weak-willed man spilled his guts, admitting he worked for the man building the mall, who’d hired him to set the fire to make the tenants afraid to stay so he could build on the property.
As a witness, Tony would be called to testify as to what he’d seen, but in the meantime he’d be allowed to go home. As he left, he was approached by a man who introduced himself as Kai, a firebending master who taught at a bending academy down by the docks near the East River, and informed Tony he was a firebender as well. He offered to teach Tony how to firebend, but Tony refused to believe that he had caused the flames to redirect toward the arsonist. However, his fury caused small flames to form around his hands, convincing Tony of the truth of Kai’s words. He could conjure fire and control it, which made him dangerous. He needed help. He and Kai went to his home where, between the two of them, they managed to make his parents realize he needed Kai’s instruction.
The next day Tony arrived down at the docks to find Kai there waiting for him in front of a door with two torches on it in the middle of an intricate design that Tony at once saw couldn’t be lit the traditional way. He greeted him briefly and then instructed him to watch him. Kai then shot two fire blasts (one from each hand) and lit the two torches on the door. The door opened and they stepped inside. Tony looked around, amazed, and saw that the room they were in was designed to look similar to a dojo with areas that opened onto the water, enclosed areas, and areas that opened onto cliffs and paths outside. In the areas near the water, Tony saw several students in blue practicing sparring with water flowing between them, while over in the enclosed areas, Tony could see some students in red and orange outfits practicing shooting fire and lightning at each other. Still others wearing yellow were scooting around the room on balls of air that were almost transparent, and others wearing green were moving boulders without even touching them. It was an amazing sight. Tony noticed that even though all of their uniforms were different colors, all the uniforms were the same essentially, pants and/or leggings with protective pads on the knees and thighs, non-slip shoes a short-sleeved shirt covered by a top similar to the gi worn by karate practitioners, and a belt also similar to karate students. The main difference was that the girls had a sort of long cloth piece over the leggings and protective gear. Other than that, the uniforms followed the same standard for all students.
Kai then took him to the boys locker room, where he found a uniform similar to those worn by the firebenders he’d seen waiting for him. To his surprise, it fitted like a glove. When he asked Kai how they’d known his measurements, he only grunted and motioned for him to follow him. He followed him over to where the other kids in red were sparring and introduced him to the other students. He told him he would have an opportunity to meet the other students and teachers later. Tony began to practice with the others and he had a lot of fun and learned a lot. He even actually looked forward to going back the next day. Finally, Kai announced that they were done for the day and the students all went to change. In the locker room, Tony met a young boy named Aiden who was another firebender, Adam, an earthbender, Keanu, an airbender, and Dax, a waterbender. They changed quickly and headed out of the locker room, where they met Moria, Aeola, Assana, Brande, and Terra. Terra was an earthbender; Moria and Aeola were airbenders; Assana was a waterbender, and Brande was a firebender. The ten of them quickly became fast friends and hung out together frequently outside of school. The next day Tony met the teachers of the other groups: Zola, the earthbending teacher; Lyn, the waterbending teacher, and Makani, the airbending teacher. All of them were very nice, especially Lyn, but Zola seemed a little tough. Tony began to really enjoy himself at the school even thoughKai was a rather demanding teacher teaching him to firebend by making him do it again and having a low tolerance for mistakes. Soon Tony was among the best students in the class and could spar with the others on equal footing. One day, however, his secret would be discovered by the last people he wanted to know.
One day a week later, Riff and the other Jets were walking down near the docks when they saw a flash of light around the corner. They snuck around there to see what it was and were suddenly hit by a blast of fire that knocked them down. “That’ll teach you to come sneaking around here like that. Now, who are—?” Tony broke off abruptly in shock as he realized exactly who he’d just attacked. “Oh my gosh! Riff! Are you guys okay? I’ll get some help,” Tony said as he noticed the burns on his friends. Riff had a lot of questions for his friend, though, such as how he did it. Tony explained everything to them, demonstrating his firebending to open the door and showed them the school. The boys were amazed to see all the kids sending fire at each other, scooting around the room on air balls, shoving boulders across the room, and even flicking water at each other. Luckily Kai was busy with another student because Tony had a feeling he wouldn’t be happy with non-benders in the school. Just then, Lyn saw them and came over. She got upset that Tony had brought non-benders into the school, but when they promised to keep it a secret, she allowed them to see the school. However, she cautioned them not to come back too much because the other teachers weren’t as understanding as she was, particularly Kai and Zola.
During one of their visits a week later, Makani offered to teach the boys some of the martial arts style moves they taught young airbenders. Only Baby John accepted because he wasn’t as tough as the other boys in the gang. It soon became clear that Baby John wasn’t as ordinary as the rest of the boys, though. The air began to act funny around him and Makani realized they had a fledgling airbender on their hands. They offered to let Baby John start at the school the following day, at which point they’d have a uniform in his size. So the next day Baby John came down to the school and met Makani outside the airbender door, where he was shown how to open it. Within a few days, Baby John had it down and could open it himself. It wasn’t hardly a week later, though, before things began to go wrong. The government found the bender school and saw what the students were practicing. They quickly lumped the bender kids in with the mutants and treated them the same. Several of the firebender students began to rebel, led by Aiden, which pitted friend against friend and student against student. Tony was one of the few firebenders who didn’t fight with the others, and ended up pitted against his friend Brande, who was sorry to fight him, but felt she had no choice.
Tony, Baby John and the others defended the townspeople against the rebels, and soon they began to realize that the benders weren’t the problem—they were. They’d immediately assumed that the bender kids were like the mutants and the kids had only acted to defend themselves. The people then promised the kids that if they would swear not to use their powers destructively ever again, that they wouldn’t be persecuted. Brande immediately apologized and promised, but Aiden and some of the other more stubborn firebenders took longer to apologize. Finally, they did, though, and the battle was over. The benders and normal people lived together in peace from then on.
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