Legosi was not supposed to be born. It's a crime. Legosi was especially not supposed to be born as the avatar - and that makes it even worse.
The last avatar passed away 18 years ago. The next was supposed to be a reptile. The world has spent the last 18 years searching and failing to find the new avatar among Clan Squamata, and most people have given up. "The balance is missing," "the bridge must have died," and society edges ever nearer to new clan wars.
Legosi has tried to stay hidden for so long, and it is killing him. Being the avatar is eating him up from the inside out, trying to break out, but all Legosi really wants to do ... is watch his classmates bending...
Avatar: The Lost Reptile Bender
is a crossover combining the settings of Beastars and Avatar: The Last Airbender / The Legend of Korra. The Avatar reincarnates through a cycle of species rather than element, with benders of all four elements appearing in each animal clan. After the last Avatar passed nearly two decades ago, they were expected to be reborn as a reptile. With no sign of a reptilian Avatar and the tenuous inter-clan peace beginning to crumble, Legosi must navigate the last years of his adolescence as a pro-bending fanboy with barely-passable earthbending abilities while keeping his komodo ancestry and its spiritual consequences well away from a society that frowns upon interspecies romance. He doesn't do the best job of it, but he's managing to make it work.
This fanfic provides examples of:
- The Ace: Riz is considered the number one member and unofficial leader of the pro-bending teams.
- Adaptational Badass: Elemental bending powers are one hell of a great equalizer in the carnivore/herbivore dichotomy here.
- Haru's an extremely good and dangerous airbender. She's actually already master-level!
- Kibi's an agressive and strong earthbender, to the point that a running joke in Cherryton is that if Tao (who's a waterbender) tried to devour him, Kibi would kick his ass effortlessly.
- Allohistorical Allusion:
- Once again, a member of a big club (here, the pro-bending club) is murdered. But instead of Tem, it's Ellen. And the murderer isn't Riz, but Dolph (the hippo, not the Shishigumi).
- "Season" 1 ends with a herbivore in danger of being devoured by the Shishigumi. It's Els, not Haru. Hell, Haru's part of the rescue effort!
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Dosei, Juno's father. "Eccentric", the word she uses to describe him, is an understatement.
Therapybear: I'm not saying all the earthbending masters are insane, but... *gestures at Toph, Bumi, and Kiyoshi* ...there's a high incidence rate. - Blow You Away: Haru and Tem, among others, being airbenders.
- Cassandra Truth: In chapter 7, Legosi tries to warn Oguma that something is seriously wrong with Louis. Alas, the old deer isn't interested in listening to a carnivore. Something he regrets a lot later.Oguma: I should have listened to that wolf! I knew it, I had a bad feeling then, but he seemed like he was just a stupid dog and now Louis is fighting alongside the avatar and, and setting fire to Felidae gangsters! Where did I go wrong??
- Dishing Out Dirt: Legosi, Riz, Kibi and Voss, being earthbenders.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: A Played for Laughs example in chapter 39. As Oguma moans where he went wrong in Louis' education (having learned that Louis helped the Avatar in attacking the Shishigumi earlier), Yuta, his butler, tries to comfort him by asking him if Louis would really be "the kind of person who would go out with the avatar in the dark and start setting criminal carnivores on fire"... and immediately realizes with horror that yes, he would.
- Killed By The Adaptation: Instead of Tem, it's Ellen who's murdered at the beginning of the story.
- Elemental Powers: It's a crossover with Avatar: The Last Airbender / The Legend of Korra, what were you expecting?
- Foreshadowing: A Played for Laughs example. In chapter 35, Haru notices that all the people of the Artio clan she knows (except Pina) are now dating big buff carnivores (Louis and Legosi, Tem and Riz, Els and Bill), and jokingly wonders if all Artio people are like that, asking Louis if his father dates a big buff carnivore (which doesn't make Louis laugh). Four chapters later, Oguma does start dating a big buff carnivore: Ibuki.
- Making a Splash: Jack, Els andTao, being waterbenders.
- Playing with Fire: Louis, Bill and Gouhin, being firebenders.
- Official Couple: Five for now:
- Kibi and Tao starting with chapter 20.
- Legosi and Louis starting with chapter 26.
- Riz and Tem starting with chapter 27.
- Bill and Els starting with chapter 32.
- Ibuki and Oguma starting with chapter 39.
- Restoration of Sanity: Legosi manages to heal Louis' brain and cause the trope in chapter 12. Though it's explicitly stated that the damages are still here and that Louis may benefit from multiple healing sessions. Legosi compares it to treating long term injuries and arthritis.
- Secret-Keeper: At the beginning, Jack's the only one to know that Legosi's the Avatar. Gradually, more people discover it: Haru, Louis, Gouhin, Bill, Riz, Tem, Els, Kibi and Tao.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Tem lives in this fic (it's Ellen who dies instead).
