Name: Liang Xian Age: 28 Sex: female Team: Legendary Lion-Turtles Role: Firebender Appearance: Liang stands just barely over 5 feet. Her face is quite pretty - though little scar runs from the left tip of her mouth to her chin. Her eyes are golden in color. Liang keeps her black hair cut very short from the front and the longer back part is held on a bun most of the time. Her left arm is missing - having been cut off just above the elbow in a horrible freak accident caused by an opposing team's blatant cheating. Liang wears a sort of prosthetic arm which is fixed behind her back as a part of her pro-bending uniform, mostly for helping her keep her balance. When not pro-bending she either wears a blue jacket with it's left sleeve tucked in a manner which hides the stump of her arm, or a bit longer red coat with the sleeve fixed in a similar manner. If she's making some kind of a public appearance she wears a slightly different prosthetic which she either tucks in one of her coat pockets or fixes behind her back. In addition to the coat or jacket Liang usually wears either gray or black pants with knee high boots that have a large buckle at the front and a red sleeveless shirt. Personality: Liang is a very quick thinker, she's able to come up with a strategy at a moment's notice. She trusts her friends more than anyone and does her best to never let their hopes down. Liang loathes cheaters to such a degree that if her team members do not step in she might actually cause some serious injury to the cheating party - be it in or outside the ring, even if it would cost them the whole tournament. Luckily she's easily calmed down by both Shin and Gen. Due to her rather volatile temperament Liang has a hard time controlling the intensity of her firebending - especially if she's frustrated - which can, and most likely will earn their team a penalty. Background: Liang Xian was born and raised in the Republic city to a relatively wealthy - if not overtly so - family of mixed heritage. Her father had been an above average pro-bender - he actually was the original captain of the Leaping Lion-Turtles well to his 50's until his back simply couldn't manage the work as a member of the Metalbending Police Force and his hobby of pro-bending. Her mother had tried her best not to encourage Liang in to following at her father's footsteps and instead work with the electric company she was working in. Their daughter however was enamored with the sport the moment she saw her first mach and after some arguing, a few tantrums and other such happenings Liang took over the captaincy and the legacy of the Leaping Lion-Turtles at the young age of 16. The new generation of the Lion-Turtles was a true force to be reckoned with - even though they were relatively young and at first quite untalented the group won their first championship during their first year and went on to dominate the Pro-Bending scene for the next 3 years. Their magnificent streak of victories and domination - which came at first from a combination of their opponents underestimating them and their skill and Liang's tactical thinking and later their near unrivaled teamwork and downright amazing stunts and sheer strength - came to a rather gruesome end. The opposing team cheated their way to a tiebreaker round where Liang faced the opposing team's firebender. Their match was very even until the opposing team's earthbender used a sharpened stone disc to brutally maim her arm. The opposing team was immediately disqualified and the Metalbending Police Force quickly took them in to custody. The Leaping Lion-Turtles won the championship at the cost of Liang's dominant arm and left the sport altogether for nearly 8 years. Sadly Liang's arm was so badly damaged that it had to be amputated. This however didn't stop her from bending. On the contrary she's spent a good portion of her free time to teach herself a new firebending style that only uses one arm. Just before the beginning of the tournament Liang gathered the old team together again and signed up as the Legendary Lion-Turtles. Though she knows they are all a bit out of practice they have not been forgotten. With luck their former success and fame gives them an edge over the competition - though no-one's going to underestimate them this time. Name: Shin Yu Age: 29 Sex: male Team: Legendary Lion-Turtles Role: Waterbender Appearance: Shin stands at just under 6 feet tall, he's quite broad shouldered - which makes him seem rather top heavy due to his thin arms and legs. His eyes have a warm brown color. His shoulder length hair is kept on a very simple topknot held in place by a thin strap of blue cloth. Shin has a bit effeminate facial features and a very kind and charming smile. Outside the ring Shin more often than not lends his blue jacket to Liang and just wears a white long sleeved collared shirt and blueish-gray pants with soft leather boots. Personality: If Liang is the hotblooded tactician of the team and Gen is the strength Shin is the mediator and diplomat. He seems to have a knack of talking the group out of any situation that Liang's temper or Gen's furious stubbornness have gotten them in to that time. He is quite overprotective of the rest of the team - especially after what happened to Liang - which oftentimes makes it seem like he has no sense of self preservation during matches. He often makes downright stupid stunts to keep his teammates out of harms way - usually it costs him either a knock back a zone or some minor injury. Background: Shin's family had been on the move ever since he could remember. Both is father and mother were skilled healers who seemingly had a need to help anyone in need of healing. The good part was that this actually kept the family well fed, but the bad part was that Shin really didn't have that many friends while growing up. When Shin was 17 - his family had settled down in Republic City for the time being - he made his first real longtime friends mostly by accident by intervening in a fight a really hotheaded girl had gotten into. It wasn't long until the girl - Liang - managed to convince him to join her Pro-Bending team which soon gained a third member in the form of a perhaps the most hardheaded earthbender Shin had ever met. The Leaping Lion-Turtles had their time in the spotlight and after the horrible accident that crippled Liang the team was disbanded. Shin has spent the last 8 years healing people in his small clinic near the Pro-Bending arena and though he has kept out of the ring himself he's still an avid fan - occasionally people recognize him which gives him a chance to for at least a while go back to the glory days of the team. When Liang suggested that the team should reform Shin was at first a bit skeptical, but eventually Gen's stubbornness and Liang's excitement won him over. Name: Gen Gan-Jin Age: 31 Sex: Male Team: Legendary Lion-Turtles Role: Earthbender Appearance: Gen stands at an amazing 7'2 feet, he's noticeably more muscular and larger than the rest of the team to the point that if the group has to be found in a crowd spotting him is the easiest way. His black hair has a thick reddish-brown lock on the left temple which he keeps away from his eye with a silver hairpin. Gen has a very strong jaw and his nose has been broken a few times judging by the angle it has twisted to. Despite that he's quite handsome and used to be the face of the team - though Shin did most of the talking especially when Liang was frustrated over something. Outside the ring Gen wears a wide sleeved black shirt with way too many buttons on it and over it he drapes a gray overcoat that extends just below his knees. Despite wearing a very stylish pair of pants - that have way too many pockets - Gen doesn't wear any shoes if it's not cold outside - in his own words it 'cramps his style'. Personality: Gen is a very stubborn individual - though quite nice to chat with and most of the times polite - he just has a very bad habit of not agreeing with people even when he's wrong, though eventually he might cave in and admit that he was wrong. His sheer size has made him slightly overconfident in his strength and he's usually the first target the opposing team goes for - not that it bothers him to the slightest since he's very good at taking and causing damage. Gen still tries to act like the young, handsome and lady wooing fellow he was 10 years ago, but nowadays he does it mostly to annoy his teammates. Background: Gen had never been much of a fan of Pro-Bending even though his father had taken him to watch the matches since he was 4 years old. There had just been something about the sport that kinda went over his head. He was in his early 20's - well 19 to be exact - when he was coerced in to trying the sport by a friend of his father. His father's friend had been a captain of a pro-bending team for nearly 30 years as a side hobby and the team had managed to get a few wins under their belt. He joined the team quite reluctantly - after all the captain of the team was just an annoyingly hotheaded girl and the waterbender was an annoyingly pretty boy with an annoyingly nice smile. The team however worked surprisingly well and Gen had to admit that the attention they were getting from fans was something he really liked. The team's heyday came and went, the team was eventually disbanded due to Liang's injury and Gen ended up joining the Metalbending Police for a brief while before working on different odd jobs. Nearly 8 years passed and while Gen kept close contact to his former team members and stayed in touch with the sport - even stepping back to the ring for a brief while - he really didn't feel at home without his friends. When Liang suggested that the old band was to be put together Gen was more than delighted to join and eventually he and Liang managed to convince Shin back to the team as well.