Avatar: The Lost Path

Chapter 1: Sacrifice

Five Years Later

As Naoki stood, she made aware of her surroundings. By closing her eyes, she opens up the opportunity for her other senses to take over. A gust of air comes her, and she effortlessly dodges it. Water comes gushing towards her, and she builds a wall of earth in front of it. With her barefoot feet, she uses seismic sense to identify a line of earth being bent towards her, but right before she is able to stop it, a phone starts ringing.

About 20 years after a radio and larger phones were in use, smaller handheld means of communication were starting to be put into use.

As the three battlers opened their eyes to see the fourth opponent who caused the disturbance, they rolled their eyes.

"Sorry guys" Noren said with a sheepish look on his face, as he grabbed his phone. Ikem, Toph, and Naoki looked at the young man in an accusing and angry manner as he had disturbed one of their sparring sessions. The dynamic of these sessions would occasionally change. It would go from being boys vs girls, the couple Ikem and Toph vs Noren and Naoki, two separate one on ones, etc. This time however, they did a classic 3-on-1, with all the focus going towards Naoki.

In the five years following the incident where they found out Naoki's secret, everyone on Air Temple made the decision that they would keep quiet about their discovery, in a sense. It would be announced to the world that the Avatar has been identified, but made the decision to not disclose her identity to the world, because they knew of the confusion that would arise amongst the people. It was agreed among the "family" that Naoki's identity would be exposed when she became the age of 15, or before if any danger requiring the Avatar arose.

At this point Naoki was 14, along with Ikem and Toph, with Noren being 15. In the three years that Naoki had been training, many discoveries were made.

It was discovered that Toph had in fact developed bending, just presented it later in life. With this discovery, Ikem, Noren, and Toph would also train with Naoki. It was also discovered that Toph's little brothers the now 5 year old twins twins Jin and Jain, unlike their older sister, discovered from an early age that they were both earthbenders. Jin was discovered to be a metalbender, and Jain was discovered to be a lavabender.

The Air Temple family that consisted of the Air family, Lin, Bolin and Mako's family, and Noren and Ikem all considered themselves a giant family. The adults had come together and over time discussed the possible explanations for how Naoki could be the avatar.

The Avatar did reincarnate, since Naoki was stillborn and regained life only after her mother died. The Avatar after Korra was to be an earth Avatar, and Naoki could've received that "earth" gene from her grandfather San, Mako's father. 

The truth was, Korra didn't die due to any complication during childbirth like everyone said she did. When Naoki was stillborn, it broke her heart. This was Korra and Mako's first child, and they greatly bonded with her while she was in the womb. It hurt Korra that she was the avatar, this powerful avatar, and throughout all the pain and suffering she had gone through in her life, she at least thought that she would be able to have a happy family. It hurt her to be so powerless.

And then it hit her.

She remembered the story or Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, who was stillborn and was given life by the Moon Spirit. That's when Korra meditated into the Spirit World to speak with the Avatar Spirit Raava, with whom she made the deal to be able to give up her life, and that Raava would reincarnate within and give life to Korra's daughter. Raava saw the selflessness Korra had, and how she was willing to sacrifice her life for her daughter, and then, somehow, Raava agreed. Korra died, and the Avatar was reincarnated within Naoki, the next Avatar. 

One day Naoki revealed this to the family, and it helped make more sense as to how this happened. But Naoki being the previous Avatar's daughter wasn't the only confusing thing, but the fact that Naoki had control of all four elements by the time that she and Toph were attacked five years prior. The avatar is supposed to have difficulty with the element that is the most opposite to their personality, but that was not the case for Naoki. Naoki had always been a sweet, yet fiery girl. She could be quiet and shy but also be outgoing and loud. She could be gentle and graceful yet also tough and hard hitting. With no training, she had proper control over bending all four elements and the Avatar State. She barely had any practice, and yet she had proper control, something that was unheard of for Avatars. Naoki, along with practically mastering the elements, has also mastered lightning rending and redirection, lavabending, metalbending, and spirit projection. No Avatar ever possessed the ability to bend all these elements and subelements, and there was no doubt among those who knew about Naoki that she was an extraordinarily strong Avatar who was one that the worls had never seen before.