In this part, Cheren will spend time with Sectors W and IC.

Free Time – Sector W

After arriving at the McKenzie Household, Uncle Harvey told me Anthony was training in the yard. I approached my younger cousin as he was lifting ten boulders with his earthbending. "Oh, hi, Cheren! You need something?"

"Well, I had a free day today, and I was wondering if you'd like to hang out for a while."

"Sounds good to me. Hey, I know! Let's play volleyrock! I'll throw this boulder at you and you hit it back with your Mirror Shield."

"That sounds… unsafe, but sure."

We spent a good while playing volleyrock. I was quick in using my Mirror Shield, but Anthony made several curves and kept knocking me down. When we (or rather I) got tired, we stopped to catch a break. I then gave Anthony a present.

"A ball?"

"It's actually a rock that's been perfectly broken up and smoothened."

"Ooo, neat!" Anthony seemed pleased by the toy. "Y'know, with my new stonebending, I can kinda do stuff like this."

"You've really gotten great at earthbending, Anthony. Heh, I remember back then when Viridi—"

"Cheren, we never speak of that." His tone turned serious. "That is a law."

"Oh, right. Hehe, I feel you."

"But I appreciate it." He grinned proudly. "I remember a time I still looked up to you. But then you got age-frozen and now you look up to me! Ha ha!"

"Yeah, you and everybody else…" I blushed.

"I'm kidding, though. But speaking of, me and the other earthbenders were always curious how strong our ancestors were. You think Sector IC would let us go back in time and fight them?"

"There's always the risk of you guys never existing."

"Good point. …" Anthony frowned just then. The topic made him think of something. "You think it's true what they say, Cheren? Your weaknesses make you stronger? 'Cause like, if I could travel back and meet my old self, there's a hundred things I would change."

"If you changed those things, you might never realize that you didn't like them, and you would just do them anyway. But I get what you mean, wanting to erase certain things you did or said. But before you knew, you'd be erasing yourself entirely. You remember that?"

"Oh, yah. Ha ha!" He seemed to recall what I was referring to. "But yeah, I guess those embarrassing memories aren't too bad… so long as they don't appear on the KND files."

"Y-Yeah, there you go! Hehehe!" Yeah, I hadn't really deleted those files. Hey, some memories are important.

…

I found Fybi Fulbright in Sector W's hangar, shooting light arrows at distant floating targets. "Oh, hesu, Cheren." she greeted in a Skypian tongue. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Just wanted to know if you were free. I'm doing bonding activities."

"Prithee, I hath always been curious: how far canst thou fly? Thou useth fair sail to glide across chasms, dost thou not? Mayhaps thou wilt enjoy flying with me?"

"I don't see why not."

I held my Pirates' Sail above me as Fybi used airbending to make me fly. We kept fairly low to the ground as we flew all around Ashland, kids pointing at me in joy. However, my arms got tired, so we returned. I had lots of fun with Fybi, so I gave her a pink butterfly necklace.

"My, what a lovely charm!"

"Yeah! Maybe it'll bring good luck while flying."

"Verily… and now that I recall, thou were able to fly for a time."

"E-yep." I didn't like being reminded of that. In fact, Fybi was one of the ones who rescued me from that.

"My apologies." She seemed to read my thoughts. "You know what I find odd? Non-Nimbi must achieve Logia level in order to fly without wings. In doing so, they must abandon their greatest desires. Yet, despite my natural power of flight, I am filled with burdens."

"You are?"

"Why, of course. We never seem to go long without a crisis. How I wonder if we wilt survive or be lost? Even as I fly with freedom in my heart, I always fear the possible dread that tomorrow brings."

"I feel the same way…"

"Cheren, though I know we art not close, thou hast no clue how much I worry for thee. I believeth thou art our guiding light and we can always depend on thee in dark times. When we learn of terrible things befalling thee, I feel as if my wings grow heavier."

"Wow, I…I'm glad to hear that, Fybi." I smiled. "Really, it means a lot."

"And based on my mother's tales of your father," she smiled wittingly, "thou art a stark improvement. Even though thine ego remains similar."

"What?!"

"Hmhmhm, I jest! Or doth I? Ah ha HA!"

I chuckled in embarrassment. She resembles her mother more than I thought.

…

I found Harvey Harper in his and Sally's room, which resembled a therapist's office. "Hi, Cheren. Up for dumping some emotions?"

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind crying a bit."

I had Harvey use his emotionbending to force me to cry. I wasn't legitimately sad, but it was always good for my eyes. When I felt dried out, I thanked Harvey and gave him a Yin-Yang Yo-yo as a present. (Don't worry, it's not the magic one.)

"Oh, a yo-yo. Sure. Because obviously, the identical son of Lee Harper just LOOOOOVES yo-yos."

"I'm… sorry?" He seemed displeased with the gift.

"My dad entertains a lot of people with his yo-yo tricks. He has a lot of annoying fans and they all expect the same from me, even though I quit frickin' PLAYING with yo-yos when I started EMOTIONBENDING TRAINING!"

"Okay, I'll take it back! I didn't think it would offend you."

"Sigh… I didn't mean to get upset, Cheren. I know it seems like a weird thing, but I'm frickin' sick of people obsessing over yo-yos. …And people wanting me to say 'Cool.' I'll tell you what's cool, my f*** butt."

"I can see how that would get annoying."

"Yeah. Yaaaaawn… I think I might take a nap. Y'know, thanks, Cheren. I'm always listening to peoples' problems, but I like doing the talking once in a while. Having someone to vent my rage to."

"Glad to hear it. You know, I think what most people forget is, we have feelings, too. Even though we're the heroes people look up to, we like to let our anger out, too. So, you can let your anger out on me whenever you want." I grinned.

"Heh heh. Sweet. …Ugh, I gotta kick that."

…

I saw Sally Harper practicing her yo-yo in the living room. I approached her and asked, "Hey, Sally. Can I practice with you?"

"You wanna learn to use a yo-yo?"

"It couldn't hurt. I'm good with a lot of other weapons."

I tried performing yo-yo tricks under Sally's instruction. She made it look so easy, but I had a super hard time with it. I thanked her for the lesson afterward and gave her the Yin-Yang Yo-yo.

"Oh, this looks beautiful! Thank you, Cheren, I'll make good use of it."

"That's cool, but… don't use it too much around Harvey. Trust me."

"Oh, OK. But can I ask you about something? Do you think the KND still even has use for someone with my skill?"

"Sigh, don't tell me you feel like your teammates don't need you."

"Hehehe. I guess a lot of operatives share the same story?"

"All I'm gonna say is this is a matter you should discuss with your team. Either way, you shouldn't think your talent is useless. We both know you've made great use with your yo-yos in combat. Heck, if there was a school for the most talented people in the world, you would totally be accepted!"

"Aww, that's kind of you, Cheren! But as for the other thing… don't worry. I don't think I want to leave Sector W. Anthony appointed me as vice-leader all those years ago, and he says I'm still the best candidate when he's not available. And if he trusts me that much… then I don't want to betray him. Besides, we just aren't complete without a Yo-yo Master!" She spoke passionately. "Harvey and I need to continue our parents' legacy and inspire more junior operatives!"

"I'm glad you think so, Sally!" It's too bad Harvey doesn't quite feel the same way.

…

Aranea Fulbright was doing acrobatics in her room, which had pretty sky wallpaper. "What up, Cheren." She greeted.

"Hi, Aranea. Are you too busy?"

"For what?"

"Just some hang time, hehe."

"If you're trying to sound cool, it ain't working. But sure, I'll hang with you."

We went for a walk, mostly talking about our past missions. We ended up buying gum at a candy stand and we tried to blow it as large as possible. Mine kept popping, but she was naturally gifted at gum-blowing. We shared a laugh over the fact, and after we returned, I thought it fitting to give her some Cloud Gum I had bought.

"Oh, this is from Skypia! I bet I can blow a huge bubble with this."

"Hehe, I never knew you were so into gum."

"I didn't know either; I guess it's just one of those quirky things I like. You have anything like that?"

"Besides games, I can't really think of any. Now it just makes me feel weird that I don't."

"Well, next time you see me, try to find one! Then we can see which of us can do our weird thing better."

"That sounds like a weird date, but I'll take you up on it!"

"Hm-hm, I can probably already guess what it is."

"Uh… You can?"

"Yeah, but I won't say. See ya!" And she exuberantly returned to the treehouse. It plagued my mind, trying to think of what she meant, but regardless, I really enjoyed our talk. For some reason, I was eager to find my quirky thing…

It was getting late that day, so I headed home and looked over papers before goofing off the rest of the night.

Free Time – Sector IC

I arrived at Sector IC's treehouse the next day and met George King in his room, which seemed fairly average with baseballs and old videogames. "Ah, Cheren. Here for a hang-out session?"

"Hehe, did you foresee it?"

"No, but MaKayla did. Wanna kill each other in Mario Kart 64?"

"All the time, bro."

George brutally killed me in the racing game, mostly 'cause I wasn't used to N64 controls. He seemed to be a wizard with it, and I was intrigued that his old consoles and TV looked so new. When our playtime concluded, I gave him a yarn Yoshi toy that had the colors and pattern of an SNES.

"Whoa, where did you get this?! It's so cool-looking!"

"Kinda just won it at a fair one time. What, you a Yoshi toy collector?"

"Uh…A little…"

I guess I just found his little quirk. "You seem to really like classic games. Does that NES even work?"

"Sure does. A neat little thing about us timebenders is that toys and equipment take a lot longer to wither or break down. As long as we like it, our aura subtly enchants it with extra longevity."

"That's pretty neat, really."

"I know… Cheren, I know the new KND is about growing up and stuff, but there are a lot of things I hope don't change."

"You still want decommissioning?"

"Oh God, no." He chuckled. "I'd just like it if some things like these games can be preserved… just so future generations know where we came from. Like your Master Sword even. That's the one thing that ties all of Link's lives together."

"I see what you mean. When I think about how Link lived back then… it makes me glad we have indoor plumbing."

"HA HA HA! I guess that's one way of looking at it."

This talk taught me to treasure my old possessions. Even if they no longer interested me, they were still parts of me that I valued.

…

Next, I went to see MaKayla meditating in her room. She had a lot of yoga stuff and clocks. "Wanna meditate with me, Cheren?" She foresaw my arrival. "Nothing stretches the mind like a Spirit World flight."

"You know it, sister."

MaKayla separated our bodies and souls as we flew around in the Spirit World. My heart felt aloft and I felt like I was dreaming, my body relaxed while my mind roamed free. I guess that was literally the case, for I had to stretch my limbs when we returned. To thank MaKayla for this time, I-

"Thanks for the hourglass watch you're going to give me!" She grinned.

"Eh…" I laughed awkwardly and gave her the gift. Seeing her with it made me think of something: "Say MaKayla, do you have access to the Sands of Time?"

"You mean those hourglasses that tell when people are gonna die? Yes, but I don't use them. To be honest, I don't wanna know when or how people will die. If I do, I might be compelled to influence the fact, and that may make me responsible for their death."

"When you put it like that, I guess you have an awkward job."

"I do. It makes me feel like I shouldn't be here at times… but I'm not gonna leave, don't worry."

"At least if there's ever a huge crisis, we have you to rely on just in case."

"Assuming I'm even able to handle it. Truth is, though, assuming I'll have a kid one day, I'd hate to burden them with my duty and position. But technically, I can be the Ghost of Time long after I die. When I'm an actual ghost."

"What if you don't wanna be the Ghost of Time yourself?"

"Then I'll give the job to Sigmund and become a yoga instructor. I have looked into that possibility. The same way I saw you taking lessons from Augustus in picking up women."

"WHAT?!"

"HA HA HA HA! Relax, there's like a… 5% chance of that happening."

"Ehh… your powers scare me sometimes."

On that awkward note, we parted ways.

…

Lola Stork was hanging upside-down in her room like the bat she was. "Hey, Lola! Come down!"

She woke up and flew down to me. "Yo, Cherry. You up for a thinking exercise?"

"Does that involve hanging upside-down like you?"

"Sure does! I even have a rope to tie you with."

Lola tied my ankles together and hung me from the ceiling. Blood was rushing to my head, but I didn't feel much smarter. I wonder if this is how Batman was so smart. After a while, she finally cut me down. Since this was a thinking exercise, I thought she might like this juice pack designed like a brain.

"I won't even question why you happened to have this, but I'll just suck it dry, anyway." Lola said, sinking her teeth into it.

"To be honest, Lola, I never pictured you as the brainy type."

"Eh, I'm not; not totally. It's mostly an exercise to teach myself restraint; y'know, because I sometimes drink Kayla's blood in my sleep."

"I don't think that's a matter of restraint if you're unconscious."

"But you know what doesn't make sense? I'm supposed to be a SPANK-Happy Vampire, not the blood-sucking kind! Mom and Count Spankulot were never obsessed with blood! Or do you think Spankulot took up spanking to kick the habit?"

"If that's the case, you oughta find a habit that isn't really harmful to anyone."

"Helloooo? We were just hanging upside-down?!"

"Haha! I mean, instead of getting addicted to blood or spanking, get addicted to that brain juice I just gave you."

"Dude, that just means I'll want to suck on peoples' brains."

"Oh, right." I blushed. "I guess we'll just keep hanging upside-down until we think of something."

"That's why I does it." And so she went back to hanging. I guess ditching habits is harder than it looks.

…

Terry Stork was lying on the couch in the living room. "Hi, Terry, do-"

"You wanna hang out with me for your bonding exercise. Kayla told me." He spoke in a gruff tone.

"Hehe. Yeah."

"Cheren, I don't really feel like doing anything. But I have to ask, is there a real productive reason for doing this?"

"'Productive' is a matter of perspective. But if you wanna get spiritual, I think having more people in your life can make your spirit stronger, and you'll wanna keep living and fighting for their sakes."

"Fair point. But not everyone shares your ideals, but they still try to make friends. Why do you think that is?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Well, from my perspective, some people only make friends because they want something, even if that something is just to avoid being lonely. And when that happens, they may not even care about the other person. To be honest, I had that happen to me once. It was annoying."

"I guess some friendships are like that."

"In fact, how many of your friends are non-operatives?"

"Uhhhh… hehe, that is a good question." I grinned sheepishly.

"See, most friendships survive because both sides are contributing. We contribute to your organization as operatives, and yoooou… well, assign us missions and give us emotional support, I guess…"

"I was also gonna give you this Shade Coffee from Twilight Town."

"Ooo, I kinda like that stuff." Terry took the coffee can with a look of intrigue. "But, anyway… thanks for listening. Most people I tell about this just disagree and walk away. No one likes the truth. Except Ciel from Sector $. We bonded pretty well over this."

"Hehe, that's good to hear!"

Indeed, hearing this talk kind of opened my mind a bit. On TV and stuff, they always go on about how powerful and unbreakable friendship is. But I suppose real friendships are different. Outside the KND, how do other people form friendships, and for what reasons? It was certainly hard to think about…

…

I visited Miyuki Crystal in her dull, gray room. "Hi, Miyuki. You wanna do something together?"

"Mmmm…" She hummed in her toneless fashion. "Can you play me a fun song to dance to?"

"Huh? Okay, I'll try."

I played the Spirit Flute, replicating some fun songs I know to get her to dance. It seemed Miyuki tried to force herself to dance, but could never get into it. Eventually, she felt awkward and I felt tired, so we stopped. For a present, I gave her a new fluorescent lamp that changed color.

"Oh, thanks. This should liven my room up."

"You're welcome. So, Miyuki, are you and Majora still… a thing?"

"I haven't seen him since New Galaxia, so… I dunno. But speaking of that, I don't suppose you have any missions for us?"

"Not really. Heh, wouldn't you like to rest as much as possible before the next big thing?"

"Well, lately, I've really loved going on missions. I feel so determined to win and I feel like I'm making a difference to people."

"I'm glad, Miyuki! I think you've really come out of your shell."

"Yeah… In fact, when I grow up, I think I wanna be a therapist. I'd like to stop people from making the same mistakes that I've made… all because I was depressed. It's like Terry said, no one likes a whiner."

"Ehh…" I wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"I mean, everyone has darkness that needs to be conquered, right? But I think back then, I was just expecting people to give me solace, without trying to find some of my own. I was a real mess back then, wasn't I?"

"I think we were all kind of a mess. And we still are. But I think we're a lot cleaner than before."

"Hehehe." She made an earnest smile. "…Hey, can you play a song again? I think I can dance this time."

I played another song, and with a smile, she was able to dance for a good few minutes.

…

Suki Crystal was playing in the snow by Oil Ice Mountain, wildly throwing snow around with her bending. I bravely dodged and approached her. "Hey! It's Miyuki-chan's boyfriend!"

"Hi, Suki! You mind if I play with you?"

"Okey-dokey! Let's play Hide-and-Seek!" Suki quickly buried herself in a snow pile and formed a bunch of other piles, rearranging them.

I played with Suki in this fashion for 20 minutes. We took turns, but she was way better at finding me than vice-versa. I feel like she cheated. Still, I had fun with the young icebender, and for a present, I gave her a snowman monster toy. I think this was called Jack Frost.

"THIS ISN'T Jack Frost!" Suki threw the toy in the snow and furiously stomped on it. "Jack Frost isn't a monster! He's a nice boy!"

"Well, I couldn't find toys of the real one."

"That's okay." Suki casually formed a mini Jack Frost from the snow. "I can make my own Tiny Jacks! Now I can have him all to myself. Mmmmm!" She lovingly hugged the snow statue.

"Hehehe… So, Suki, do you know what you wanna be when you grow up?"

"I'm gonna open an amusement park and sell lots of ice cream!"

"But didn't you already do that?"

"Yeah, but I wanna make one in every city in the world, and I'll be the Ice Cream Queen!"

"You certainly dream big, Suki! But listen… I wanted to thank you for your help in the New Galaxia quest. I know it must've been pretty hard for you, even though you're not officially an operative."

"It's okay, Miyuki's Boyfriend. Grown-ups have to save the world, right? So, that means I'm a grown-up!"

"True, but I never see the grown-ups pulling their weight that often."

"Ha ha ha! But if something bad ever happens again, I'm not gonna cry, anymore. I won't be a whiny baby! I'll be a grown-up and help you and Miyuki-chan!"

"That's great, Suki! Heh, with how talented you are, I bet a lot of kids at your school admire you."

"No, they get angry 'cause I make school too cold. I got lots of suspensions!"

"Ah… I see."

"TEE HEE! ICY! WHEEEEEE!" And she began surfing giant snow waves. Heh heh, I envied her free spirit.