1 Chapter 1

"Welcome to The academy of the elites! We'll be your guides today!" Two boys greeted the girl.

"Oh? Nice to meet you two. I'm Crescent but I'm sure the school told you already" the girl looked at them, skeptical.

Crescent? Born to a family banned from the school, it was a miracle the school let her in. With an icy facade of black hair and harsh uranium blue eyes, her uniform made her look superior. Standing at 5'6, she glared at them through her black lashes. Her black, heeled, combat boots tapped on the ground impatiently.

"Here's your brooch. This signifies your rank at the school. If you are unhappy with it, you can always become a champion at the school" A boy piped up. "My name's Mint by the way"

Mint was the school's student body president. Ranking in the fifth group, he had a lot to take care of. On top of all that, he was the son of the reigning champion's family. Towering over the girl, he stood at 6'0, his uniform pants barely covering his ankles. His emerald eyes smiled at the girl as he pulled out his black hair.

A golden brooch with a diamond and a sapphire rested in his hand. Crescent picked it up and pinned it.

"Thank you. Can I go to class now?" Crescent glared.

"Of course, your first class is this way" the other boy nodded.

"Thank you?..."

"Ice"

Ice, the school's student body Vice President, was not an exception from the school's line of rich families. Standing at 6'1, his silver hair and blue eyes scared many. His eyes held depth that no one dared question and his eyes always stared off into space. Being the son of one of the past school champions, he dared not to step a foot outside of the school's rules.

"Your first class of the day, meditation for spiritbending" Mint hummed.

"Ew. Am I allowed to skip?" Crescent looked at the door in disgust.

"Only if you manage to outbend a student council member. Or even become the champion. We can also switch your schedule" Mint listed.

"So one of you guys? I heard there was a way to rank up here" Crescent analyzed at the class, wondering if she really needed to be there in the first place.

"Quite eager aren't you? You can rank up by fighting one of us, or by fighting the champion, principal, vice principal, or become an elite" Ice explained.

"How to do so?"

"You have to be the daughter of a champion or a prodigy." Ice shook his head.

"So the rich get a position, and the poor suffer with the nonbenders"

"Essentially"

"How do I challenge someone."

"The coliseum. Wanna go there?" Mint asked.

"Sure. Can't wait to kick some rich kid ass" Crescent mumbled.

The three wandered to the coliseum, bumping into a group of elites along the way.

"Hey Mint. What's up! Did you miss me?" A girl beamed. "Oh who's this? Skipping class? With my boyfriend? Tsk"

The girl was dressed in their typical uniform, the only difference was her brooch, three elements rested on her chest in an anchor formation, fire on the left, water on the right, and earth on the top. Her blue, red, and emerald highlights rested in her brown hair as her golden eyes stared her up and down. Looming over the girl as well, she glared at her.

"You're no different miss Elite. School rules state that you're supposed to be in class too. I'm exempted because it's my first day here." Crescent noted.

"you! Do you even kNOW who my dad is?" She spat. "Your yearly salary can't even buy what I'm wearing right now!"

"I'm afraid I'm not here to bicker with you. I'll talk to you when I become your superior." Crescent scoffed.

"What are you doing here Crécelle? You said you'd be on vacation for a few days." Mint saved, before the situation escalated.

"I'll take you while he sorts out the problem." Ice lead Crescent away.

"Who was that?"

"Crécelle. One of the school's elites. Her family runs the school, both her mom and dad are president and Vice President. She's essentially the queen bee. Quite a rude one if you'd like." Ice chuckled.

"I'm not allowed to kick her ass am I?" Crescent huffed.

"You wouldn't get a rank out of her. She'd just get you blacklisted and then there goes the rest of your life" Ice rolled his eyes. "We're here. You just ring the bell and then you'll start fighting your opponent. You can also train in here if you rank high enough."

"Can I?"

"Nope. But I can train you and then it works"

"Can we? I feel like Mint's gonna be gone for a while."

Ice stared off for a moment. "Alright. We'll see how good your waterbending is"

"YESSSS" Crescent cheered. "Are there outfits or do we bend in out uniforms? This is a bit tight"

"Out in the back. There are rules about what is allowed and what isn't allowed. I'll meet you out here in 5"

"Alright"

Crescent wandered into the changing rooms as she looked at the portraits of the reigning champions from before. She stopped at the portrait of her mom.

"I wonder how much long you could've reigned if you had stayed..." she mumbled.

Changing into a simple outfit of a tube top and shorts, she headed back out, to find the coliseum changed into one for waterbenders, the floor filling up with a thin layer of water.

"So the rules work like this. You know what a traditional Agni Kai is right? It starts out like that. Except you cannot kill the other"

"Nice." Crescent's eyes glimmered.

Ice clicked a button as an automated voice echoed throughout the coliseum.

Commencing in 3

2

1

Ice started first, stomping on the floor to freeze the floor into a layer of ice, trapping Crescent's feet in it as he prepared his next move. Crescent lead a wave of half of the coliseum's water into a tsunami to wash him off. Freezing it in midair, he continued his rush toward her. Crescent kicked the water around her to form her extensions. The girl sent a hoard of lassoes of water at the boy. Ice, caught off guard, was knocked out of balance when the girl switched effortlessly from the liquid lasso to smooth ice. Trapped in the mere thing he was named after, he bent the water to loosen and sent an iceberg to her. Flipping on top successfully, she grinned and delivered a slash to the boy. Successfully causing a scratch on his face, she let the water under her melt down. Ice, seeing the perfect opportunity for a win, froze her full body to the ground with a wave. Straddling her, he delivered a soft smack to her face before grabbing her brooch.

"I win! Pretty nice for a dual bender though. I wonder how you'd do if you got both elements haha" he laughed, getting off of her.

"When you grow up in the streets in secret, you pick up quite a couple of fighting techniques that people have forgotten about." Crescent grinned, getting up.

"You two" Mint's voice rang out from the entrance. "Did you guys have fun?"

"It was nice. The new girl is quite agile." Ice bent his sweat off.

"Maybe I'll battle her sometime."

"Right now if you'd like. I can't earthbend but i can most certainly airbend" Crescent coughed.

"Nice. Give it 5 minutes. The water will seep in and then we'll have earth again." Mint tapped another button.

"Isn't most of the school managed by benders? Why do we still have machines?"

"Ever heard of simplicity? It makes things easier" Mint tapped the ground twice with his foot. "The ground is ready"

"I don't think either of us can win? I mean air and earth can't really do much"

"True huh? I guess we could call in someone else later. Wanna finish the tour then?" Mint smiled.

"Sure. Lemme change" Crescent headed back to the locker and changed back into her uniform. Sighing on her way out, she couldn't help but wonder how her days here would be like.

"Ready?"

She nodded.

"So over here we have the canteen. You can kind of tell that the chairs and tables are the same here. The newer ones go to the elites, so they don't get them scrapped paint or something. Student body gets it as well. Do you wanna sit with us during lunch?" Ice paused.

"Sure. If Crécelle shows up I'm leaving." Crescent rolled her eyes. "How do ranks here work? I never got the full explanation."

"Grab some popcorn this is gonna be a long talk" Mint sighed.

Ice glared at him. "The top rank is Champion. It's tied with the avatar if they decide to attend this school. If the avatar turns down the offer, then the champion is the top. Under it is the principal and Vice principal. Despite it being a position for adults, students can still beat them for the title and power. The current ones are rather strong. Crécelle's parents if you may."

"Ew"

"Under that are the elites, not subject to the principal's power, but have to abide by school rules nonetheless. Elites are often prodigies, royalty, discoverers of a new bending... etc. Under the elites are the student council members. President, vice, secretary, treasurer, normal members. The positions aren't easy to get, but with patience and skill, and if you manage to sign up for the competition, you can win it by grabbing a scroll. I'll elaborate on that later. Under that are the scholarship trial benders. Benders of 3 elements are right under and then scholarship, dual, scholarship, mono, and then the scholarship, nonbenders."

"There's nonbenders?"

"A few. They stay to themselves and no one bothers them. They're here because they're often the daughter or son of a nonbender investor."

"Ooo. So how to student council positions work?"

"Titles are acquired through battling the current people who hold the title. Like you could challenge me to a duel for my position, or Mint" Mint nodded. "Or you could participate in the school's yearly student council battle. 8 golden scrolls are hung on top of the coliseum and people are to grab them first. You only get to use one element."

"Doesn't that put the airbenders at an advantage?"

"The air is thinned to a point where only a prodigy airbender could bend air. It puts them at an extreme disadvantage but we can't do anything to change it. Airbenders have always been at an disadvantage here because of their pacifist ways. I heard one airbender was expelled for doing that. The only positions you could achieve to change that is principal. But so far no one has been able to defeat him. The ones who tried have all been expelled so far." Ice noted.

"Who's been expelled so far?"

"...Kenma. A prodigy trial bender. The elements were a part of them. They were nicknamed chaos themself. They were a force of nature, unstoppable and spontaneous. had he beat the principal, he would've changed history" Mint spoke.

"You make it sound so dramatic" Ice scoffed. "Kenma was a trial bender who fought for the change of the school. They were the champion but they needed to change it from the principal. The principal kept vetoing the reform suggestions so Kenma challenged him to a battle. He lost the battle because the principal cheated by bloodbending. It's banned but apparently when the principal does it it's legal. He broke free but the principal ultimately expelled him anyways for breaking free by bloodbending him back"

"No bloodbending? None of you guys would survive on the streets damn" Crescent coughed.

"Most of us won't need to. Everyone who graduates here is guaranteed a future. All of us come from prestigious families." Ice sighed.

"Lunch is approaching. Do you wanna see what we have for lunch?" Mint asked.

"Sure"

Wandering to the cafeteria, the three settled on food that would benefit their element. So while they grab their food, let's talk more about Kenma shall we? They yield from a poor family, making it in through a scholarship for trial benders. Seeing how unjust the school was under the current principal, they decided to take matters into their own hands when they found one of their friends being bullied. Ranking up straight to champion, he started reform immediately. Finding his efforts to be useless, he opted for principal. Failing only when the principal started bloodbending him. Later on expelled, no one knows where he is now.

"So Crescent. I heard you talking about how your parents were banned earlier" Mint asked. "Why's that?"

"Oh you know, the usual. They tried to reform the school but ended up getting kicked. My mom actually kicked the principal's ass and he lost but the vice principal stepped in and damaged my mom's lungs by thinning the oxygen. My dad swooped in to save her but he was held back because of 'school policy'. The LeBlancs have been running the school for decades now. I'm not surprised Crécelle is an Elite." Crescent noted. "To make things worse, my mom was the longest reigning champion in the history of the school. 8 years. Her portrait is still hung up in the hallway to the changing rooms. As far as I'm aware of, she's the only mono bender to hold the title. My dad was a dual bender, used to be part of the elites. Kicked out after he left the school with my expelled mother. When you get blacklisted by such a big company it ruins your life. I was raised on the streets, picking up bloodbending from the thieves, discovering that oxygenbending existed from gangs-"

"OXYGEN BENDING? EXCUSE ME? THAT'S POSSIBLE?" Mint sputtered.

"It's called moleculebending. It's been banned for decades. No one's been taught it since the school started reigning over the land."

"Does anyone know how to bend it?" Ice gazed at her, curious what life without rules was like.

"An old friend. I grew up with them as my idol." Crescent gazed out the window. "I no longer know if they exist."

"Did they die?" Mint asked, cautious.

"They came to this school. Proceeded to never return to our place. Mom and dad said they were probably executed. The bending no longer exists if they've been killed."

"Our school does not execute people. I am afraid your friend must've died another way" Ice established.

"Believe what you want to Vice President. I know how to get there and I will do what it takes to reveal this place." Crescent waved him off. "Who's the current champion by the way?"

"My brother" Mint pursed his lips. "He's been champion for 2 years now. My family's pride. He joined the school and proceeded to kick me out of my position. He was nice enough to make me president"

"What was his name again? A-Adam?"

Ice and Mint both froze. Crescent tilted her head, confused by their reaction. The reaction only lasted a second, both boys managed to regain their composure.

"His name is Aaron. He's a nice boy"

"I'm still calling him Adam." Crescent scoffed. "What does the pin look like right now? I was told the pin changes with its owner."

"Same as mine. Champagne class with liquid ruby inside. Golden champagne glass.

"Nice."

The bell rung. Signalling the end of lunch.

"Do I still have a tour? Or do I actually have to head to class now?" Crescent groaned.

"Wanna visit the gym? OH yeah, we need to get you an animal guide" Mint clapped.

"You miss Spice don't you" Ice rolled his eyes.

"Of course. I bet you miss Snow" Mint shot back.

"What odd names." Crescent hummed.

"You'll need an animal guide. Everyone in the school has one." Ice beamed.

"Do they have to fit in with one of my elements? I wanted something for an earthbender or something. Badgermoles are cool" Crescent's eyes glimmered.

"The animal choses you. You do not chose the animal" Ice recited.

"So any animal could chose me?"

"We bring you to each breed, and then if the animal tries to break out of the cage, you get to keep it!" Mint grinned.

"Alright..." Crescent gazed at the endless rows of cages. "So... locked up... So Suffocating" she mumbled.

"We're gonna head to our animal guides! If you find one, let us know. We'll open the cage door."

Crescent passed through the cages of the sky bison, winged lemurs, walking through her first element, wandering to the water animals, none seem to react to her. Not even the polar bear dogs that she had learned to tame. Sighing once she passed both of her elements, she walked to the earth kingdom animals. Skeptical if she could even find one, she continued down the hall. Passing the final turkey ducks, she found herself in the fire section. Large cages holding dragons, puffins, hawks...

BANG

Crescent turned her head to the sound. Running to the sound of struggling, she found herself face to face with the only phoenix in the hall. Staring at the girl, the phoenix calmed down, observing what gave him the scent of a companion.

"Crescent? CRESCENT?" Ice's voice rang through the hall.

"Here!" She waved.

"What are you doing so deep into the caves? You should've met your animal guide already!" Mint chased after Ice.

"The animal was thrashing against the cage though... I wanted to make sure it was ok" Crescent stared at the bird.

"You're not even a firebender? How?" Ice asked.

"What are you gonna name him?" Mint asked.

"Hold on. She can't have him! She's not even a firebender" Ice pointed out.

"But the animals chose their companions. The phoenix has spoken" Mint patted Ice on the back, his eel hound blinking at Ice's polar bear dog.

Ice opened the cage reluctantly as the phoenix flew around the girl. Landing on her arm, her neck glowed a faint gold.

"The phoenix mark. I didn't know he was able to mark people anymore. Nice to meet you phoenix queen" Mint smiled.

"TOO MUCH IS HAPPENING! WhAT iS GOING ON? WHAT'S A pHoEnIX qUEeN?" Crescent screeched.

"I'll take you to the animal manager. The man's over 1000 years old. He'll explain. I bet he'll be more surprised than us." Ice huffed.

The three and their guides headed to the caretaker. Catching him while feeding one of the animals, he was surprised to see the animal out of the cage.

"A non firebender with a phoenix? Did she bribe him?" He asked.

"Nope. It's a miracle she hasn't been burned alive if she did" Ice scoffed.

"Stop being salty that the fire bird chose me and not someone else" Crescent hissed.

"The phoenix mark? That's new. I haven't seen that since Hakora left." The caretaker hummed. "The phoenix mark is often marked on a partner they can trust with their lives. Few have been marked. There used to be an entire rank for the marked. The other phoenixes have all died because of spiritual ties with their masters. He's the last one, take care of him." The caretaker smiled. "I can sense why he trusts you. Did you come up with a name for him?"

"What was the name Hakora gave him?" Crescent grinned.

"He called him Ignes. Cyrus as well."

"Ignes." Crescent looked at the bird. "Would you like to be called that?"

The bird nodded.

"HE REACTS" She gasped.

"Yeah. Alright should we get him into a new cage?" The caretaker asked.

The bird let out an unholy screech.

"Can I carry him around? Wait no that's a dumb question. Can I let him roam free in the school? As long as he causes no chaos?" She begged.

"No chaos and no outside the force field."

"You hear that Ignes?" Crescent patted the bird.

The bird flew off as the final bell rang.

"School's over. Good luck in class tomorrow" The two boys smiled.

"Fuck school" Crescent huffed. "Can't wait to meet my classmates"