Evolution of Bending [Closed/Story]

This was a rare occurrence indeed. Verrock was finally able to escape from duties for a few days. A celebration in the Earth Kingdom was the cause of his freedom. He knew he could leave the kingdom in the hands of his Dai Li and more specifically his must trusted friend Zach. He was located on Kyoshi Island within a secret training ground meant for the earth king or queen during their off time. There were only a very things he had planned during his off time. Training his bending was the first thing to mind. He knew he would have to work with his fire bending otherwise his mastery would drop. But that was not the main goal of this training session. Verrock wanted to experiment further with combing the elements of Earth and Fire to produce something different. He already knew that combining the two would produce Magma but was there something else he could go out the bending the two elements? Hopefully his experiments will produce something of worth but for now he would just start with simple fire bending.

[1/15]

Raising and extending his arm forward, he would open his palm as a small fire would begin to grown. The fire would continue to increase until it was the size of a full grown cabbage. Removing his hand from underneath the ball of fire he would allow it to float freely bending it to remain in place. Verrock would control the flame to center with his body before thrusting his left hand into the fire. This thrust signaled the beginning of further bending to the flame. From the other side of the sphere would erupt three beams of flame that would hurdle forward in a triangular flight path, smashing into a large boulder. Upon contact the flames would both crushing it and melting the boulder creating small trace amounts of lava. This of course had been nothing but a simple form of fire bending but even this would be enough for Verrock to keep complete mastery over his fire bending. But he had not been yet satisfied. The Earth King had vowed to never use his fire bending in front of other people and he had kept good on that promise. So now if any while he was alone would be a good time to let loose and have fun. But what exactly did he have in mind?

[2/15]

He knew exactly what he wanted to do and it had been inspired by his belt buckle. Verrock would once again summon a flame to his hand. But this time the flame would not expand but cover his hand. However, the flame would not stop the it would began to cover his entire body. It had been a while since Verrock felt the heat of flames against his skin but since they were bending by his own powers the flame would not burn or scorch him in any way. Closing his eyes and breathing deeply both in and out, Verrock would take his focus and bending to the next level. As he began to breath, the fire around his body would begin expand to three times the original amount of his body. Just as the flames would expand to its full size Verrock had decided to bend the flame to the next level. Using his mastery of bending he would began to manipulate the shape of a flame around him. Slowly but surely the flame would began to take the shape of a giant boar similar in appearance to the boar. Verrock would open his eye again as he could feel the mass of flames around his body warming his skin. In battle he could control the flame construct to fight his enemies if he desired but now he just wanted to feel power and feel of his bending...

[3/15]

A group of Non-Benders had been tailing the Earth King from a distance for several weeks, upon command from the one known as Amon. They had managed to stay out of his, and the Dai Li's, line of sight for the duration. Their command was to follow him, turn in any information they gained and then assassinate the king if given the opportunity. There were fifteen of them on this team, each equipped with some of the latest technology and all of them were master chi blockers. They each wore identical clothing as well. A dark cloak that hid their enhanced bio suit, a hood and a white mask with only black colored eye holes. They surrounded the area, in trees and on the ground. On an unseen signal, they launched their attack. 

Five of them started the attack, while ten laid hidden in wait. The five leapt high into the air, two of them launching blasts of lightning at the man while one of them threw three already smoking pellets that quickly ignited into a burning maelstrom of searing ash. The cloud of fire fell over the area the man had been training in only moments before. The five would surround the effected area, each in wait of what would follow their attack.

Verrock had been lost in his thoughts and the feeling of warmth from the fires surround his body. This was so apparent that the king had not noticed the people surrounding him from several directions. In fact his attention would only be drawn away from his thoughts as he saw a build of light out of the corner of his eyes, "What the..." Before Verrock could fully turn his had already known that his light he saw was dangerous. Accompanying the the light was the all to famailar sound generated through lightning bending. Without hesitating any further the Earth King would slam his foot into the ground just quick enough to summon a wall of blocking off the beams of lightning that attempted to harm him. But due to the protective wall he vision would be cut not only by the wall structure but what followed behind the lightning. Three explosion pellets would seem to hit the ground throwing seering ash in the direction of the king. but this ash would do nothing much then restrict the vision of the king. Due to his body being wrapped around the protective flames shaped into that of a boar, he was able to fight off the dangerous flames and heat of the ash.

Anger would began to consume Verrock's eyes. He had been forced to use his fire bending to defend from the violent ash thrown at him. His battle sense were indeed dulling greatly, he should had been prepared for any attacks against him. But since had never encountered an attack at these private training grounds his guard was lowered and it cost him the honor of never using his fire bending in a match. That was not something the king was forgive against this opponents. But first he needed to calm his mind and figured out who and what did his enemies want. He was not sure how many there were here but he was confident that he could handle himself. Verrock would slam both of his hands into the earth causing a pillar to lift him into the sky allowing him to regain his sight. He was immediately able to see five people who he assumed were his attackers but could there be more? For now he couldn't concern himself with that. The king would stand above all that he could see folding his arms before smiling and giving his opponents a warning.

"I don't know how you discovered this training ground. Even if you trailed me there, was a method meant to lose people who do not have access to this area. That must mean you lot have info from an inside source.... I will need to look into such matters later... I will give you this one and only chance to explain yourselves and away with your lives. Should you choose to attack again I will had no choice but to give you insolent fools a violent death. This is your one and only warning, you must heed the words of the man whose pride you have squandered..."

[4/15]

One of the five would step forward, his hand reaching forwards, his palm facing the hulking Earth King. "You will taste death, Earth Scum! The Fire Nation will reign supreme!" He would then send a blast of fire at the earth king as the others would all do the same. Their mission was to arise distrust between the earth kingdom and the fire nation. They knew that the Fire Prince had been in talks with the king, so it would be easy to say that he had ordered a secret assassination to allow himself to gain control over the earth nation in the Earth King's stead. They poured out gouts and blasts of fire at the earth king as they maneuvered to surround him again. Each one of them leapt and flipped with an unnatural speed, agility and grace. It was clear that they held an almost superhuman quality, in addition to their apparent bending prowess. 

The ten in hiding were watching and biding their time before interjecting. They would attempt to catch the powerhouse that was the Earth King off guard, that was their only chance of survival.

Verrock listened carefully to the word of the one who dared to attack him. The prince of fire had already known that Verrock had bad relations with the Fire Nation in the past. It was impossible for the Earth King to believe that the Prince of Fire who was also an avatar he trusted would go back on his word and attack him this quickly. But as he saw more people surrounding him and the initial ball of fire being launched at him he did not have anymore time to think. "Fire Kingdom? The timing is very peculiar...."

Verrock slightly angered would stomp down on the pillar of earth he had created for himself. In doing so it would allow the pillar to rapidly fall and avoid the initial blast of fire to miss him by a large margin. In addition with further bending, Verrock would use the vibrations caused by the pillar returning into the ground to grind the earth into a pit of sand."WHETHER YOU'RE FROM THE FIRE NATION OR NOT,  I WILL MAKE YOU ALL REGRET SUCH ACTIONS TODAY." Verrock by raising his arms above his head would use the opponents attacks against them. Verrock had two intentions with the sand, to first block the remaining fire balls, and two turn the sand into a form of glass crystals. During the blocking and creation of glass crystals Verrock could that these werent trained benders. Their attacks were linear and easy to predict.

Were they simply trying to implicate the fire nation? Verrock would have to figure such things out later. Continuing his counter attack Verrock would slam his fist forward into the crystal glass wall surrounding him causing the crystal to explode sending a raining volley of sharp glass crystals to impale his attackers. Even if these attacks would succeed he would not dare to lower his guard. It was clear that not even secret areas such as this one was safe from these assailants.

[5/15]

Two of the five were struck down by the glass having pierced their eyes and killed them instantly. The remaining three were injured slightly but would be able to manage continuing their assault. That's when the remaining ten decided to jump into the newly created pit to attack their target. The man was truly a powerful bender, but they couldn't let him live, such was their task. The thirteen assailants surrounding the man shifted their footing in the sand and then sent gouts of fire at the earth king from all directions, this fire would be enough to melt even the glass the initial fire had created, thus erasing that threat from effecting them. If he moved in close, they would use lighting coating their gloves to attempt to stun him, though he was big, it would prove difficult. They kept up their assault though, burning the area with their intense flames.

Verrock was a very proud man so much so that he never used his fire bending in a fight. Even more so that he expected those glass crystals to take down everyone present. Not only did they only take down two of his attacks, and addition ten more masked fighters would appear to take his life.  Verrock was not only angered but he was also ashamed. There was only one way to make this shame go away and it would be to completely demolish those attacks in any way possible. Since fire bending techniques were their only method of attacking if he could cripple that he would immediately have the upper hand. The king knew that his control over even the fire that his enemies would using would be greater than all forms of "fire bending" they were using useless. With that in mind he was willing to discard his sense of pride in attempt to wipe away the shame in his heart and thus his enemies.

"You group should feel truly honored. You have awakened an anger in my heart that has not been touched in over twenty years. I greatly advise you say your prayers now as none of you will be left alive. I shall show you the full power of my bending that I have perfected starting at the very beginning of my life." Verrock would stand completely still as the several lethal bursts of fire near his body. Not a single ounce of fear would be covering his face, only visible rage and disgust covered his face now. Just before the fire would reach his body he would lift his palm to meet the flames sending a powerful wave of his own chi into them forcefully gaining control of the torrent of flames surrounding him and thus causing them to immediately stop inches from his body. While he had never used fire bending in actual combat his control of and ability to bend the flames were masterful.

In forcing his chi into the flames Verrock could more clearly tell that these flames were not being manipulated by benders at all. It would seem that these people attacking him were using some sort of item that allowed them to control flames, however if they wanted to best Verrock in controlling the flames from this point onward they would not be his match. Verrock would allow the flames of his opponent to heat up his body and get his blood boiling for a few moments before he issues yet another counter attack. "Lets see how you lot deal with this!" Verrock would forcefully bend all the fire around him into the ground and began mixing it with the remnants of sand and earth. In doing so he would greatly heat up the earth and sand to form a large medium sized pit of magma around him.

Rasing both of his arms and bending the magma in a similar manner to a puppet master, five medium sized pillars of magma would raise from the ground around him. The pillars with further manipulation would began moving and swaying in a similar fashion to octopus tentacles. With these magma tentacles Verrock would control them to shoot forward in attempt to attack five of the closest masked attackers. If they were to be stuck by this attack not even their bones would be left behind. These attackers would not understand the power of the earth king. Not only was he able to bend earth, fire, crystal, and sand; he was also capable of bending magma. Even despite being able to bend all these elements the king still had a few tricks up his as well.

[6/15]

The earth king seemed to have more power than even their leader had deemed needed to tell them. They decided it would be best to send one to report back, but with five of them having been vaporized, that only left eight of them to defend and then only seven when one left to report. They would need to do their best to defend the one as he ran. The one, known personally, or at least he used to be known personally as Finn, turned to run. His seven comrades stood between him and the angry earth kings lava. They realized they couldn't use fire any longer, not as more than a distraction anyways. They released a heavy fog into the air which was ignited the moment that it came into contact with the lava.

The flash of fire would block the kings view as the one would run, but the others knew he would realize so they split up to cover different areas and become harder to count directly. They would then supercharge their gloves and allow them to shoot small bolts of lightning, weaker than a normal benders, but enough to stun him for a moment to make him an easier target. They each took turns trying to get their lightning through their targets magma defense. It would prove difficult, but should the earthking be distracted for a moment it could give them the edge they need.

Verrock was happy to see the masked assailants to those their lives by the octopus like pillars of magma. As their allies failed it was clear that they would now be planning some sort of escape. But as Verrock said all of them shall lose their lives today. They would truly find out what a mistake it was to attack the king in such an isolated area. If they attacked him in a public area even if it cost him his life he would not resort to using his fire bending offensively. However this was a sealed off area with no one around where he could fight freely. He would just have to be sure to erase the people that saw him bend his fire all the face of the earth. Verrock was sure to pay close attentions to the actions of his opponents so that he could be ready to act on the drop of a dime. Verrock slightly before the enemies used their diversion tactic so that Verrock could lose track of them was able to see one of his attackers running away. It was foolish to think that he could escape, even a smokescreen of flames would not be enough to stop Verrock from disabling that man.

As the flash of fire would appear to obstruct his vision would cover would block the flash from view using one of his pillars of fire. He would be able to keep his vision however it did temporarily block his opponents form his view. Returning the pillar to its natural state he would see that the remaining 7 attackers were charging small amounts of lightning to attack him. "Foolish..." Verrock would once again remain still as he waited to use the sparks of lightning to take down the remaining attacker who was now running away. As the bolts of lightning were fired at him Verrock would masterfully hold his left hand forward pointing his middle and index fingers towards the small bolts. Using a form of lightning bending know as lightning redirection he would absorb and temporarily store the bolts of lightning into his body allowing the mass of lightning to slowly build. After all the bolts had been absorbed, Verrock would now raise his right hand also extending the index and middle fingers. However, this time he was sure to angle and point the hand at the running masked attacker. "WHERE DID YOU THINK YOU WERE GOING?!?" Verrock would release a more concentrated large and incredibly lethal version of the lightning bolt to take down the running target.

"THE MOMENT I WAS FORCED TO USE MY FIRE BENDING WAS THE MOMENT ALL OF YOUR LIVES WERE GOING TO END. IF YOU WISH TO ESCAPE MY WRATH ALIVE YOU MUST KILL ME WHERE I STAND!!!" The king roared those words of anger and it was clear that he meant every word of them. But how exactly would these attackers even be able to take him down? They had not even managed to land a solid hit, in fact the king had not even move from his original position he was in to began with. He forced his opponents to move around him like chess pieces, this is was a true king was, an unmovable and unstoppable force. "NOW COME AT ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT!"

[7/15]

It would seem they were routed and even their attempt to fall back would appear to fail. That was fine, the fact they weren't returning was all their leader would really need to know that the earth king wasn't weak. Five of them would ingest their suicide caplets and simply die, they knew their fellow men could handle the rest. The remaining couple of masked assailants knew their time was short as they watched their only hope get eviscerated by a blast of lightning. There were only two of them left, it would be child's play for him to take them out as they were fresh recruits into the cause after all, not meant to be more than pawns in this massive game of the world. Their leader would surely hear of their downfall and would take appropriate action. The first attacker would simply rush the earth king to throw a simple punch at him, should he miss or be blocked, he would activate his suit to get encased in lightning, killing him, but offering enough juice to stun the earth king for around five seconds. Should this succeed, the remaining attacker would approach cautiously, "The Earth kingdom will fall, Omashu will fall, Ba Sing Se will lie in ruins. Prepare yourself king, the uprising has begun." He would then take his own caplet and would die without another word.