Hello, and welcome to my first attempt at a fan fiction! Meet Jinora-Tenzin's oldest daughter, and Skoochy-a mere street urchin living in Republic City, and not to mention his odd crew.

Enjoy, and pleeeease review!

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN LoK. as much as I love Korra and Jinora and Skoochy and everyone else, I do not have the amazing skills needed to own them. Sigh...

Earth. Fire. Air. Water. 70 years ago, my grandfather, Avatar Aang, master of all four elements, ended the 100-year war against the Fire Nation. With help from Firelord Zuko he created Republic City, my home. According to my father, Republic City is at war. Amon, the Equalists, and the non-benders of our city have begun a rebellion against all benders. They think we have repressed them because of their inability to bend an element.

Avatar Aang has long since passed, but the new Avatar is here—Korra. She will find a way to bring light to the darkness. She has to.

...

Jinora felt her skin shiver with the feeling of being alive as she made a silent descent into the empty alley beneath her. Her glider fwiped shut as she glanced around carefully, not wanting anyone to see the young airbender make her landing in the middle of Republic City, a city full of benders and non-benders alike. Then the young girl set her stack of four books down on the dirty alley ground, silently saying her apologies to her friends on the floor. Careful not to reveal the air nomad trademarks of yellow and orange, Jinora held the cloak she had stolen from Asami's endless revenue of clothing over her monk clothes and felt the thick cloth weigh her small body down. Asami, the beautiful daughter of the Sato-mobile creator, Hiroshi Sato, had recently come to live with Jinora's family on Air Temple Island, and she probably hadn't realized the young airbender had swiped something from her closet just yet. Jinora couldn't help but hold back a smile as she walked out of the shadowy alley and into the streets of Republic City. Being off in the City, alone, as a young bender…Jinora wrapped the cloak tighter around herself when she thought of what her father might think when he found out where she had been instead of airbending training with Korra, and her two younger airbending siblings Ikki and Meelo.

No. Jinora shook off the thought. She was here, not only to return a book to the Republic Library, but also to show to her overprotective father that she was tough enough to face the troubles of Republic City. The airbender-in-training knew why her father had been keeping her and her younger siblings awful close to Air Temple Island—the Equalists were growing stronger every day. The Equalists was an activist group of non-benders led by Amon, another non-bender with the ability to take away a man's bending forever. The Equalists fought against the Republic City for the same rights as normal benders—they were repressed because of their inability to bend an element. If Jinora, Ikki, or Meelo lost their ability to airbend, the ability to repopulate the Air Nomads would diminish until there is once more, just one airbender left. Just like her grandfather, Avatar Aang, was 70 years ago. Jinora thought of her grandfather and the adventures he'd had around Jinora's age. No. Jinora had to be in Republic City—she had to be here.

The young girl, although she did not show it, had always had a side of her that wanted to go off and perform daring things, like the heroines in her historical fiction books did. Jinora had never shown this daring side of her to anyone before, maybe because she was afraid of it but really, it was because the airbender wasn't brave enough to go out into the world and show everyone who she was—who she wanted to be. The real Jinora inside had been locked away thanks to the Equalists…and maybe even her father.

The door of the Republic Library came into view as Jinora turned another block. The 10-year-old felt happiness take over her body at the sight of her sanctum, and a burst of air led her forward, causing an old woman behind her to lose her balance and trip into another bustling city-dweller.

A car honk sounded, too loud and too close to Jinora's ear. She turned and gasped as a Sato-mobile continued approaching her at a fast pace. "Oh my—" Jinora was suddenly frozen to where she stood, with the small stack of books in front of her, her brown eyes from her mother's side widening as the high beams of the car came closer and closer. Her father was right; Republic City wasn't safe for a girl like Jinora. Never had she felt so terrified before—this was like something in a book Jinora had read somewhere, about the ancient times and how a water tribe girl was about to be run over by a foreign Eel-Hound when—

"Watch out!" a voice shouted, and a wall sprouted from the ground in front of Jinora. She heard the sound of metal crunching against earth when the ground beneath Jinora began to tremor just slightly. Gasping for air, Jinora took back the control of her limbs, dropped her books on the ground with a thud, and leapt into the air just as the force of an earthbended rock jabbing from the ground propelled Jinora out of the way.

From high up, Jinora began to take in what happened, and the scene below. There was a green and blue Sato-mobile, the snout of it pushed against the wall of earth that had popped out of the ground. Smoke was beginning to rise from the scene of the crash as the driver shoved open the door and stumbled out. Jinora began to slowly float back down to Republic City, and back onto the sidewalk. She landed lightly on her feet, just so that when her toes touched the ground little tufts of dusts rose up. Jinora felt the fear ball up inside of her as her gaze fell upon the books that lay forgotten in the street. She reached out to get them when another hand, similar in size but dirtier, whipped out and slapped hers away. "What were you thinking?" the voice demanded. It was the same voice as earlier, and Jinora looked over to see who it was.

The first thing Jinora noted was the dirt that was littered all over the boy's clothes and face, his scowl and glittering eyes. Next, the hat that covered his dark hair, and the grungy clothes. Finally, what the boy was yelling at Jinora came to her.

"What were you thinking, just walking out in the middle of the street like that? It isn't safe out here, nimrod!"

Jinora furrowed her brow; his comment just begged to get a blast of air in the face. She jabbed a finger in the boy's direction. "Nimrod? Who're you calling nimrod? At least I'm not covered in dirt!" Never before had Jinora had an outburst like this—out of all of Tenzin's children, Jinora was the quietest and the most mature.

"It's not dirt!" he yelled back. "This, by the earthbender's definition, is a healthy coating of earth! But of course you wouldn't know, being all airy and—and…BENDY."

"Oh, is that the best you can come up with?" Jinora shot back, fury lining her face with red. She had yet to notice that the cloak once tight at her neck had come loose, revealing the dead give-away colors of orange and yellow, the one thing that had tipped off the boy that she was an airbender.

The boy growled exasperatedly at the sky. "This is what I get for saving your life?"

Slowly, everything came back to Jinora with a new kind of perspective. She glanced down and shifted her gaze to the side, the fury she once had in her now gone like the winds off the sea. "Well, thank you…I guess."

The boy tipped his hat in Jinora's direction, the gesture making her flush ever so slightly. Just then, the man driving the Sato-mobile ran up to Jinora and the boy. "Are you crazy or something? Running in front of a mobile like that? You could've been killed young lady! Where are your parents? I am taking you home right now, so—"

"Hey Pops." Judging from the look on the boy's face, Jinora thought that the boy and the driver knew each other. The driver looked over at the boy with a frown. "Hey Pops," the earthbender boy said easily. He reached out his hand. "Since I got you here, my bosses want to know when their payment will be getting to them."

The man looked flabbergasted at the sight of the boy. "I gave the money to them personally! I don't know why they need more…" his voice trailed off as Jinora jumped back into the street and collected her books. One seemed a little bent up, but other than that they were fine. She floated back to the man and boy, who were still talking; they hadn't even noticed she'd gone. Judging by the lack of interest from the boy, Jinora had to guess that he was dominating the conversation.

"Run along, Pops!" the boy was saying, and kicked the ground with his good shoes. The earth around the Sato-mobile man swiveled, turning him towards his car. Then the ground beneath him pushed him into the air, and onto the roof of the driver's Sato-mobile. The man fell in a heap, and the young airbender thought she heard the air leave him with a whoosh.

With that, the boy brushed the dust from his hands and turned to see Jinora trying to sneak into the library with her books. "And where do you think you're going?" he called after her.

"Away from you!" Jinora called defiantly over her shoulder. "You're crazy!" Jinora had never felt this way before—mad and terrified and blissful and confused all at the same time. It was almost like it was out of one of her historical novels! Suddenly the ground beneath Jinora became mushy and soft, and she sank into it, and just as it softened the ground hardened around Jinora's feet. Jinora stifled a petrified gasp and dropped her books back onto the ground. She tossed away her distracting cloak and tried to pry her feet up.

As she struggled, the boy slowly walked towards her. "I'm not done with you yet." He grinned mischievously.

Jinora looked up at him, anger glowing in her brown eyes. "Let me out!"

The boy just sat back on his heels and crossed his arms against his scrawny chest. "Not yet, new girl. First, I need your name."

"What?" Jinora shouted. She looked around as the Sato-mobile that almost killed her drove past in a flash of light and dust. There was no one else on the street. "You're crazy!" she repeated.

"Not crazy. Just…in need of a payment." The boy rubbed his fingers together as if to prove a point. "But in order to do this right, I'm gonna need your name."

Jinora huffed out a blow of air that pushed back the boy's long black hair, revealing his glittering eyes to be a sort of auburn. She rolled her own as she said, "My name's Jinora."

The boy grinned. "Nice name, Genie. Now, it's usually accustomed to know who you're paying. I'm Skoochy."

Skoochy…the name sank into the girl's brain mindlessly. She bit back an odd sort of smile, and shifted her feet in their entrapment. As she held back the certain curl of lip, a gurgle of laughter escaped Jinora. Skoochy narrowed his eyes and beckoned a rock into the air. "You laughing at my name, Genie?"

Instantly Jinora gulped down her giggles. "Maybe. And it's not Genie, it's—"

"For a nimrod you talk too much." Skoochy noted, and let his rock fall back onto the ground.

"For a street urchin you're not very smart." Jinora retorted, and with a gust of wind shot into the air, shattering the earth that held her firmly on the ground. Smiling at the pure joy of being free, Jinora glided back down to face Skoochy to find that he was just a few inches taller than her, and she had to tilt her head up a little to look into his dark eyes. Jinora raised an eyebrow at the gawking Skoochy.

"You—you're an airbender!" Skoochy managed to get out.

The young bending girl stooped down to pick up her books. "I thought we already established that." She said easily. As she picked up another book, Jinora felt Skoochy moving backwards; he was spitting dirt onto the front of her pants. She looked up, but Skoochy was already running around the block and away from the girl with the Republic City Councilman father.

Jinora felt something dim within her, something she had only felt when she read about the romances in her historical fiction books. She took the hardbacks and Asami's cloak in her arms, opened the door with a single blast of air, and stepped into her sanctuary, her lips skewed in a confused look. The door closed softly behind her.

...

Skoochy watched the door shut from behind the block corner, feeling the emptiness in his pockets weigh him down. The pick-pocketing earthbender had tried to pick Genie's, but came up basically empty-handed; the girl had had a change purse, but to the pick-pocket's efforts it was empty. There were also the books, yes, but you can't buy food with a book. And besides that, Skoochy couldn't read anyways.

He straightened his vest and hat, and began to walk off down the street, sort of glad to be rid of Genie. Skoochy dug his hands into his pockets and kicked around a rock for a while as he continued down the sidewalk. Then he heard something behind him. Skoochy stopped in the mid-step, and shook his head with a toothy grin. "You can't fool me, Rai." There was a shuffle of small feet, and a small boy in raggedy red clothes appeared beside Skoochy.

The young boy rolled his eyes at the older. "Yeah right. And you thought you could fool me by running off again? I thought you saw some loose pockets, but then I saw that girl. She was pretty cute." Rai teased, and pulled a small rough hand through his jet black hair.

"Put a rock in it," Skoochy muttered, and bended a chunk of earth into Rai's mouth. He cut in front of Rai so the boy couldn't see him redden. The earthbender stepped into an alley that cut behind some apartments in the rough part of Republic City. He nodded at some older hoodlums hiding in the shadows, who nodded back.

"Hey!" Rai's muffled voice yelled, as he spit the rock out. His small legs ran to catch up to Skoochy, marks left where Rai's feet hit the pavement. "Besides, she looked like a rich girl. Not something we wanna mess with, huh, Skoochy? Skooch?" Rai waved a hand in front of Skoochy's vacant eyes, but the gesture was lost on the 12-year-old as he stared up at the open sky, the whisper of wind blowing back his dark hair. Rai looked to where Skoochy was, but all he could see was a flying orange and yellow blob that flew in circles throughout the sky until it vanished, going out towards the water.

"That was weird." Rai reached up a dirt-encrusted hand to scratch his head. Skoochy saw Rai's state and made a mental note to take his gang to wash up soon. "You don't think…"

"No. I don't." Skoochy turned away from the sky and back to the shadows, the one thing Skoochy was familiar with. He patted Rai roughly on the head, shoved his hands into his pockets and put his head down. Then the earthbender started walking, ignoring the pain of stubbing his peeking toes on the ground as he did so.

"But it did look like…"

"Come on, Rai, its getting dark. Let's go home."

Thank you for sticking with me! Please oh please, help me out and review(: