Episode #1: Enter: Hidoi - First Job (The Beatdown, 1,372 WC)

”Just hurry up and get it over with, yeah? No way would I ever let you guys do this on my head again!”

Tattoos. Hidoi's older brother and sister were each touching up the arrow tattoos that showed he was a considered a master of Airbending: one extending from the base of the spine to the forehead, one for each arm pointing to the hands, and likewise for the legs and feet. This pattern is an emulation of the flying bison's natural markings, as they were the first airbenders. He was only 14, but Hidoi himself thought he still had a long way to go. The kid was definitely something special to be so talented at such a young age, yet he wasn't one that basked in praise or the admiration of those around him. He didn't let it go to his head to be literal.

After putting up with the stinging pain and fighting with himself to remain still long enough so that they could finish, it was over. “See? All done,” said his older brother, who, like their parents and sister, were traditional Air Nomads. His sister wiped the excess ink from his arms and back. “That wasn't so bad was it?”

”Finally! You guys were torturing me!”

“Oh grow up you big baby,” retorted his sister. “Be glad we didn't have to re-do the one on your head.” His hair had recently grown back in, hiding the arrow on his head under black hair.

His father came into the living room next as Hidoi carefully began putting his black shirt back on. “Listen son, I know you don't like it when people compliment you, but most of the things you can do usually take long years of practice. Remember what I was telling you about being a prodigy?”

”Young people that have the abilities of wise old men or something like that. But so what, right? We don't live in an Air Temple anymore, we're here now, in Chokujou. If you all are still off into that kinda stuff that's okay with me, but give me a break huh? I was just getting used to being stupid Hidoi.”

His father just grinned and shook his head, because he saw big things for his youngest son, even if he himself didn't see it yet. His pacifist nature made it so he never argued or got out of line with his kids or family, even if the siblings got into it every once in a while. “You walk your own path and I respect that. I'm really curious to see where it leads you, so to help you out I want you to have this.” Hidoi's father handed him his old cape. Hidoi put it on with sort of a surprised look.

”You're giving this to me now? Like, it's mine?”

“Well, I don't need it anymore, and you've taken to using it in ways I would have never imagined. I see many episodes in your future, you'll need it. You might as well take my old Mind Stick as well.” He handed over  a container with a red stick inside, with rope tied to the container for hands-free transport. Hidoi liked to tie it to the red sash at his waist whenever he would play and practice with his father's old staff, sort of like a sword. “I don't ask much of you Hidoi, but i'd like you to start helping out in your community. With great power comes great responsibility, you know. Can you at the least try not to make too much of a mess if something serious arises?”

”Great power and responsibility? I thought you didn't like comic books, dad.”

“You get my meaning. If you have the ability to change something, to make a difference, then do so. Why not become just like one of your famous comic book heroes then? Just... don't get carried away, and be in before dark. We don't need your mother getting loud like she does...”

Indeed, there were many things going on all over the floating city. A rise in violence and crime, residents needing assistance, things of that sort. Hidoi had always been in the position to do something about it, but was forbidden to do such by his parents. Now he was being given permission to do what he pleased, as long as he didn't make a mess of things.

Most Airbenders needed the assistance of a glider to take flight, and Hidoi had one himself, but he'd long evolved past that. Controlling the air currents around his lightweight body with such precision that he could lift himself airborne was something he could do since he was about 9. In conjunction with the cape and expanded Mind Stick, Hidoi could stay airborne for very long periods of time without touching the ground. The child took to the air and began floating around the flying city of Chokujou.

If he did run into trouble, Hidoi figured he'd have the element of surprise on his side, as most wouldn't be expecting much from a seemingly harmless little kid. One of these days he knew he'd have to go and make friends with his own Sky Bison, as did his father and forefathers before him. His thoughts were disturbed by loud yelling below, and he looked down to see a confrontation between a man and 5 others. The 5 shady-looking men had one ordinary citizen cornered in an alley, scared for his life. Hidoi could hear a conversation which indicated that the citizen owed the 5 men money for a debt. The citizen kept asking for more time to raise the money, as they didn't have all of the funds, but this didn't appear to be what the 5 men wanted to hear. Hidoi decided to do something before the citizen ended up seriously hurt, and moved to go into action...

The citizen saw one of the men just suddenly go flying off of his feet, screaming at the top of his lungs. Another was pelted with a rapid barrage of sphere-shaped projectiles that disappeared when they impacted random sections of his body, and the breezes let off from the impacts hinted that the spheres were made of air. The combo completed when a large sphere came down last, hitting the man with such force that he was thrown from his feet into 2 of the other men, sending them all into a violent tumble down the alley which left them all in a pile, moaning in pain.

The Mind Stick was expanded to it's full length of 6 feet as the child dropped in from above, landing in front of the citizen to slam the staff against the ground and used the build-up momentum of kinetic energy to create an explosion of air, throwing the last 2 of the men from their feet. Hidoi executed a roundhouse kick, which sent a foot-shaped sphere of air from his foot toward one of the airborne robbers. In the same motion from the kick, Hidoi swung the staff from the floor upwards toward the second robber, creating a tremendous gust. Both of the robbers were hit, causing them to ricochet from the walls of the surrounding buildings and smash into each other, then finally the ground. Hidoi twirled the Mind Stick as it retracted to it's original size, then returned it to it's case.

“That-that was a-amazing!” said the citizen, and Hidoi helped the man up. “Thanks a lot, kid! I won't forget this!”

”You alright? Those creeps hurt you or anything?”

“Not too bad, i'll live.”

”Good. Let's get out of this alley, yeah? Stinks back here”

After escorting the rescued citizen out of the alley, Hidoi listened to a brief story of how he got involved with the wrong sort of people and took a loan from them. He failed to pay it back on time, so these wrong sort of people began to make his life hell. Hidoi thought that this would possibly be the first of many encounters between he and these wrong sort of people. The citizen thanked Hidoi once more before he flew off...

Word Count: 1,372