Book 1: Souls Chapter 3: Sneak Attack

"How old are you, Yuki?" Master Jinora asked as she was circling around me while I was standing straight up. "Uh, 17 in September. Why?" She nodded. "Mhm, and if you're almost 17, why do you have the mindset of a 5 year old?" I was confused. "Um, what do you mean, Master?" Was this another test? Just standing in the tall grass, waiting for her instructions? She stopped circling me and stood in front of me, staring straight into my soul. "What I mean is that you've never pushed yourself to what you could do, only to what you can do now. You try to fight at the level you're on, and people will take you for a street performer. Bending is more than just fancy tricks." I kinda felt a little attacked at this point, but I should've expected this from my teacher. "Uh, so what should I do?" She crossed her arms in a thinking position. "Well, what do you think?" she said tapping her chin. "Uhhh....Oh! You..want me to answer that? Uh-I kinda thought you had the answer-" She put up one finger abruptly to silence me. "You failed the first test."

Wait, that was a test!? "Relax your stance, and answer the question this time." Ok, second time's the charm...? She asked me once again, "What could you do to improve upon your elements?" I thought for a moment, wanting to answer this honestly. "I'm having trouble with air, obviously." Master Jinora waited for me to explain. "I-I don't think I can do it. I don't know what's going on! Literally I can't get one puff of air out of me." She chuckled, leaving me kind of confused and offended at the same time. "What is it?" She smiled and sat down nearby tuff of grass. "Avatar Korra said the same thing when she was training."

"She did? But she's a legend!" I exclaimed. "Even legends need to start somewhere. You don't just wake up a fully realized avatar, you have to work for it." She replied. "Remember, I'm here to help with your air bending, so you don't need to feel rushed just yet. Speaking of which, lets bring out one of my students for you to spar with. You could learn a thing or two." Master Jinora got up and walked out of the grass field to the temple.

I heard footsteps and turned around to see it was her. "Who did you bring?" I asked. I walked to get a closer and....wait...is that- "*Hena?* You want me to fight *her?*" Master Jinora nodded as Hena looked just as surprised as I did. "You told me I was training with a nomad! Not Yuki!" She crossed her arms, looking betrayed in some way.

"No, I told you that you were training with a *student*, not a nomad. Big difference, yes?" Master Jinora replied with a sly look on her face. *Very funny, Jinora. REAL funny....* "Now, now, she's not going to hurt you, Yuki is just going to pay attention to what you do, and defend herself." She ran over to me and whispered in my ear, "I trust you will go easy on my assistant, ok? Just a little tripping is allowed" Master Jinora walked away giggling. She's way cooler than I thought! Hena was now in front of me, making it easy to check her stance and movements. *This should be easy,* I thought.

I lunged forward, running at full speed. *If I could just get around her...*I jumped onto a nearby wall and spun myself around mid-air so I could get Hena onto the ground. But, completely out of nowhere, she took a little step to side, sending me landing face flat on the ground, and not Hena. "Ouch." I groaned. She held out her hand to help me off of my feet. "At least land on your feet next time." She said. I heard the sound of clapping, and saw Po and Toka behind us. "WOW that was just...pathetic." Po said. I stuck my tongue out at him, then glared at Toka, daring him to make a comment. He sat down on the ground immediately after I gave him the look. "D-doin' great! P-please don't hurt me, by the way."

Master Jinora waved me back over to my spot. "Try again. Hena, you attack first this time." Oh boy. Ok, this time I was going to be more alert. "Begin!" she shouted. I waited for her move. It was just death glares between us now. Fast as lightning, she circled me, creating a tornado around me. *Uh, how do I get out of here???*

I could barely see, but I knew she was closing in, making it harder to fight. But when I had looked down for something to get me out of here, it dawned on me. *Hold on, I'm an earth bender! Hellooo, What am I doing?* I bent a small spiral tunnel and climbed down. Now I just had to wait. I know its seems like I was just hiding and waiting for her to stop, but I had a plan.

"Hena, I don't see Yuki anymore!" I heard Toka yell over the wind. "What? That can't be right, I trapped her in there..." Hena replied. I heard the wind stop, but didn't reveal myself just yet. I jumped out of the ground from a different location, but was still behind them. *They didn't hear me come up!* I snuck behind Hena closer and closer, everyone still confused about my disappearance. I quieted my footsteps by smoothing the ground as I walked. I was close enough now. "SNEAK ATTACK!" I yelled, and kicked her in the back, making her fall to the ground and shriek in surprise. Any harder and I would've sent her flying!

Toka and Po burst out laughing, holding their stomachs. I could see that Master Jinora was trying to hold in her laugh, failing automatically. Hena sat up brushing herself off. "How did you get out of my tornado?" She exclaimed, more curious than mad. "I'm an earthbender who is surrounded by dirt and rocks. Don't you think I would've figured something out eventually?."

"You did well, Yuki. I think you deserve a little break. Everyone onto Isil!" Master Jinora exclaimed. We all looked at one another in confusion. Toka raised his hand to ask her something. "Who is Isil?" Po tapped his shoulder and turned him around. "What is i- AH!" Toka shouted. "Relax, its just her sky bison." Po assured him. I jumped up and down in excitement. "Where are we going? Are we going to Kuang's? I'm pretty sure they have some good salads there!"

She shook her head. "We're going somewhere special. I also need you to promise that you all will be respectful to the environment we're going in." We nodded our heads. Maybe we're going to a *nice* restaurant? "Hurry, we don't have all day." She said as she climbed onto Isil. We shrugged and hopped on. "Have you guys been on a sky bison before?"

"No..." We all said in unison. "Oi. You guys might wanna hold on tight." She called over her shoulder.

**MEANWHILE**

It was quiet at the dinner table. The scraping of their forks was the only noise in the whole house. Sei, the youngest, gave her step sister a look, daring her to say something that would break the silence. But she just shook her head and slouched even lower in her seat. Their mother looked up at and saw her posture. "Homura, dear, sit up please. Your embarrassing enough, why would you forget your manners now? It would be chaos if someone looked through a window and saw that-"

"Well then close the curtains. I'm sorry I prefer comfort over being your meal ticket." She replied. Sei gasped as she put a hand over her mouth, knowing there was about to be drama. Kete, their mom, gave her daughter a look. "I don't know why you're so snappy today, but I suggest you remember I am the reason you're getting that scholarship at the academy. Especially since Sei is already succesful when it comes to her education. I haven't seen a bad grade since-"

"Since the last time you paid off her teachers?" Homura said. The whole table was quiet in seconds, because it was true. Her mother had an angry look in her eyes, something that would make any other person faint. But her daughters were used to it by now. "I'm not stupid mom, I even know you got that money from your boss, ruining lives with Red Lotus. You know, the group you said had disappeared after Avatar Korra stopped them? You've been lying to us both!"

Sei laughed, and shook her head. "What? What's so funny?" Homura asked. Now both Sei and her mother were trying to stifle their laughs. "What's going on?!" She shouted over the crazy cackling of her family. Then she realized. "You're in on this? What's wrong with you two? Do you realize what you're doing? You're apart of the one gang that Dad tried to STOP. He wouldn't like this for sure-!"

Her mom slammed her hands on the table, making Homura suddenly quiet. "You're dad isn't here. Trust me, we're just doing what we can to stay the happy family that we are, isn't that right? I didn't get rid of your father just so that the only thing I have left of him are his stubborn genes in my daughter! You want to be just like your dear old dad? Well, pack your things, 'cause your too much of a disgrace for me to think of you as my own."

END OF CHAPTER 3

CREATOR'S NOTE

This took a long time mostly because I was just taking a break from writing, but also because I went back to in-person school a while ago, so that's...great or something...(im an introvert lol) But I hoped you liked this chapter of Yuki's Chapter, because the next one is gonna be epic! if you would like to know more or subscribe, just tell in the comments or message me on my wall! (Also, I just wanted to let you guys know that I named my username after the *character,* not the other way around. Someone from my school asked me "why did you name the avatar after urself" or something, but now u know! lol)