Suki had offered to take Izuku for a tour of the rest of the island, and Izuku had been eager for some nature therapy to take his mind off of the emotionally exhausting conversation they'd just had.

She'd shown him the port where they exported fish and rice and imported other supplies and wares. She had told him about the small flea market that was set up when trade happened so sailors could buy trinkets and goods.

She'd shown him the usual paths through the forest and the ample-sized clearing surrounded by curtains of violet wisteria that encircle smatterings of fragrant wildflowers, crossed by a dainty stream. Perfect for friends and lovers alike looking to sneak off to a secluded haven for a little rendez-vous or late night trysts in the spring and summertime.

Next she had taken him to the town square which was kept lively by the squealing laughter of the island's youngest inhabitants and the comforting chatter of the townspeople going about their daily errands.

She'd shown him the cliffs that overlook the sea shore and forest near Kyoshi's shrine. Suki had even promised a trip to an offshore cave pool she had found a few summers back while out fishing.

Izuku's nose was filled with the scent of sea spray as he and Suki finally settled on the beach, watching the amazingly massive and beautiful elephant koi, and waiting for the unagi to show itself.

"Hey Suki," he spoke up, breaking the silence that had tentatively fallen over them, "can you tell me about this world? I've told you so much about my home but I barely know anything about yours."

Suki nodded and launched into a tale of four nations in balance until the greed of one threw the world into turmoil as they wiped out the air nomads. She told of a figure of peace who has the wisdom of previous generations and a team of friends to help them. That the Avatar has been missing for 100 years since the Air Nomads were wiped out by the Fire Nation.

The end of Suki's tale was interrupted by the appearance of the unagi. Izuku jumped back and screamed at the sight of the giant sea monster.

Suki didn't react.

"What the fuck is that?!" Izuku yelled.

"The Unagi," Suki replied nonchalantly. "Legend has it that the only one to befriend the creature was Avatar Kyoshi herself. Some say it was her companion animal, though we know she actually had a fox. Others say that she raised it and it protects these shores to honor her kindness."

"You were going to feed me to that?!" he cried, his face the picture of absolute terror, completely missing Suki's words beyond 'Unagi'. His head a blur of green as he swiveled at an inhume speed between Suki and the massive, inky black and yellow serpentine creature. It let out a shrieking roar akin to a pterodactyl before sinking into the calm cerulean waters and slinking away to await any unwelcome trespassers.

Suki shrugged, letting her eyes harden and all playfulness slip from her tone, "it's our standard threat."

She held his gaze a second too long before breaking into hearty cackles.

"Spirits, you should've seen your face!" Suki wheezed.

"E-eh," Izuku stuttered out in confusion, traces of fear still present on his freckled face.

Suki only laughed harder at this.

"You don't ever actually feed people to it?... Right?"

Suki abruptly stopped laughing, fixed her gaze on him, smirked and said nothing.

"Suki!" he squeaked in light panic, "Suki c'mon!"

As Izuku pestered Suki for an answer, the ocean began to swallow the sun bathing them in the comforting golden glow of sunset when Suki suddenly spoke up, "Hey Izuku? What would you say to training with us?"

Izuku was taken aback at the subject change… and the offer.

"Training with… your Kyoshi Warriors?!"

"Yep," Suki affirmed, expression soft.

"Really?!" Izuku was now practically vibrating with excitement.

"Yeah!" Suki exclaimed, trying to match his enthusiasm.

Izuku's star struck demeanor faltered slightly. What if this was some kind of joke and he was getting his hopes up for nothing. He'd been there and trust him, it hurt. A lot.

"Aren't- aren't you girls-only though?"

"We've been known to make exceptions, you'd have to wear our uniform though," Suki said firmly before Izuku could be carried away with his doubts.

"Oh that's not a problem, Suki, I was raised by a single mother. I think I can handle this. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I won't let you down, I swear!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth was he barrelling toward Suki, enveloping her in a hug.

She chuckled warmly, "We'll be glad to have someone as driven and determined as you. Just try not to distract the others with your cuteness, alright?"

"I could kiss you right now, I'm so happy."

"Oh really now?" she quirked her brow, eyes shining in amusement.

"Did I really say that out loud just now?" Izuku flushed pink with embarassmentment.

"Yeah Izu, you kinda did", she smirked teasingly, patting his head.

"I'm just gonna go crawl into a hole and hide away forever now," the poor boy murmured awkwardly, twisting his fingers together.

"I couldn't let you do that," Suki said before pressing a chaste kiss to Izuku's cheek, laughing as the boy just about overheated.

"Anyway, Kyoshi brought you here for a reason right? From what I know about her she probably wants me and the girls to turn you into a complete badass."

"Sure. Apart from the whole not dying thing," Izuku joked, having recovered from his Suki-induced haze.

"Fucking finally!" a nebulous voice burst from the heavens followed by a gasp and an 'oops'.

"Who said that?" he said aloud. He could ignore the weird laughing, but that was too much.

"Said what?..." Suki questioned voice trailing, a mix of concern and confusion falling onto her features.

"Sorry, there was a voice. In my head I think? I've been hearing this random woman's voice laughing occasionally, but that time was words."

Suki was rather alarmed, "What did she say?"

"Um, 'fucking finally'," Izuku repeated in baffled confusion.

"Weird," Suki considered, "Grandmama Ake did say you had a connection with Kyoshi. ...Maybe we should go talk with her."

They arrived at Ake's residence, a quaint cottage-like dwelling in the village center, the door adorned with sea shells and various odds and ends. Ake awaited them at the front door.

"I thought you'd be coming to see me sooner or later. You get back to the Warriors, Suki, I'll look after him," she waved Suki off, ushering Izuku into the living room.

"Okay Grandmama. Bye Izuku. I'll pick you up for dinner." Suki called, leaving him to get better acquainted with the old woman.

"Make yourself comfortable dear, I'll make tea."

"Would you like any help?" he asked, moving to follow her into the kitchen and carefully carrying the tray of tea and cakes, setting it down on the table.

Ake smiled good naturedly at him, "My what a polite young man you are, your mother must be so proud."

Izuku smiled softly at that.

"Now, what can I help you with?" Ake questioned, sipping her tea and settling into a more comfortable position.

"Well," Izuku spoke fidgeting with a pillow in his lap, "I've been hearing a strange voice laughing at me. Just now when Suki asked me to join the warriors and train, she spoke to me, well, more like she yelled."

"I see," she took another sip, "sounds like Kyoshi."

"So it's been Kyoshi this whole time?"

"It's likely. I believe her to be the one that brought you here."

They sat in silence for a few moments.

"So Suki's letting you train with the warriors, then?"

"Yeah, I'm really excited," Izuku smiled to himself.

"I've trained in some combat skills, we all do on Kyoshi Island. It means we can stay neutral and defend our land. But my main role is as our healer and spiritualist. And a historian, of sorts."

"Can you tell me more about the history of this island then? About Avatar Kyoshi? And Avatars in general?

Ake gave a mysterious smile. She put down her tea and shifted into a more comfortable sitting position. Then she spoke.

"Almost ten millennia ago the spirit portals allowed travel between the physical and spirit worlds. A man named Wan decided to eschew the company of other humans and lived among the spirits, becoming their friend and driving off hostile humans. One day he found two spirits engaged in battle, they were the White Spirit Raava and the Dark Spirit Vaatu. Raava scolded Wan for intervening and Vaatu cried foul, asking Wan for help and that he had been tormented by the other spirit for 10,000 years. Wan, not realising the chaos Vaatu would spread, attacked Raava and Vaatu escaped. Wan realised his mistake and joined forces with Raava. While he could already firebend, with Raava's help he was able to learn how to wield other elements, but only on their own. When they fought Vaatu during the Harmonic Convergence."

"Harmonic Convergence?"

"A phenomenon occurring every 10,000 years where planets align and spiritual energy is amplified. This causes spirit portals to open at the poles and merge together enveloping the earth in spiritual energy. During this event Raava and Vaatu must battle to determine who controls the fate of the world until the next convergence.

During the convergence, Wan permanently merged with Raava, allowing him to use all four elements simultaneously and becoming the first Avatar. They trapped Vaatu in the Tree of Time and Wan sealed off the spirit portals so no human could physically enter and release Vaatu by accident. He established the Avatar as the bridge between the physical and spirit worlds whose duty it was to maintain balance in the world.

The closing off of the spirit portals was widely regarded as a bad move. Kyoshi refers to it as a 'firelord kinnie moment,' her words not mine, in regards to the public's poor reception to this decision. That people were just 'salty' about being cut off."

Firelord kinnie moment? …salty? Izuku choked. He reeled for a second at the disparity between Ake's age and the language she was using. That was pre-quirk and modern slang from his world! What. The. Actual. Fuck.

"When Wan eventually died, Raava reassured him that his quest of bringing peace to the world would continue in his future lifetimes and the Avatar Cycle began as he was reincarnated. Since then, the Avatar has been born in a cycle of Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and so on, each mastering their element then the other three and trying to keep balance in the world. The last known Avatar was Roku, a firebender who died a few years before the fire nation invasion. They destroyed the air nomads in hope of killing the Avatar for good, and the Avatar has not been heard from in 100 years.

The Avatar before Roku was Kyoshi, the earthbender who founded this island and was the longest lived Avatar of them all, living more than 200 years.

Before her was Kuruk, the lout, a waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe. He neglected his duties and abused his status. Embarrassingly getting killed in his 30s, he left the world without a true Avatar for 16 years before Kyoshi was found.

The airbender before him was Yangchen, who, despite the air nomads' stance of pasificism, did what was needed to maintain world peace and was respected enough to ward off conflict for years after her death.

Each Avatar is guided by their predecessor and can contact the spirits of the past Avatars for knowledge and guidance. And that concludes the tale."

Izuku had been so entranced by Ake's storytelling, that for once he had no trouble holding his questions back.

When she finished her tale, she answered Izuku's myriad of questions as well as she could.

"Perhaps you may find more answers at Kyoshi's shrine. Where you arrived."

Izuku stepped into the shrine of Kyoshi, taking a longer and better look than when he had first arrived. He stared at the mural, now with a better grasp of this world's history, understanding the references to the Avatar cycle. The figure was still achingly familiar but Izuku couldn't place her outside of being the Avatar the island was named for. He finally turned back to the room he had arrived and saw something strange poking out from behind an offset set of panels.

He walked over and it was his backpack! The one he had left on the roof back at Aldera, how was it here, did it get knocked off when he jumped? He opened it, finding his phone, gone flat from sitting still overnight, not plugged in. He started shaking it in his off hand while he dug further into the pack; Izuku had saved up for a kinetic-charging phone because of how cool he found the technology. He found his pencil case, Hero Notebook #12 that All Might had signed - Izuku's stomach flipped at the sight of the signature so he quickly put it aside - and two blank notebooks.

Izuku sat, leaning against the pedestal the bust of Kyoshi was sitting on and pulled out a pencil and one of the blank notebooks and started scribbling his notes about this new world he had found himself in.

He was writing down the new information for so long that his writing slowed as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Mid-word the pencil slanted down the page as Izuku dropped off to sleep.

He woke up in a strange space, a white void. Izuku heard voices and sound effects/music and turned around to see a very tall lady sitting on a couch in front of a tv. It seemed to be playing an episode of The Disastrous Life of Saiki Kusuo.

"Um, are you Kyoshi?"

"Shh, the episode's almost finished," the woman waved a hand at him, eyes glued to the screen.

Izuku stared at her for a few moments. Was she serious? He took a moment to take in her unique personage. The first thing Izuku noticed was how tall she was. Anyone else would look like an awkward mess of lanky limbs but kyoshi sat elegantly folded in her seat completely at ease, knees bouncing absentmindedly. She appeared to be in her late 20s, her face was bare, a galaxy of freckles strewn over her olive toned skin, features soft, emerald eyes twinkling with mirth and mischief, rich chocolate hair loosely plated on both sides of her head. Kyoshi wore a mint wrap shirt, pajama pants printed with a familiar gremlin cookie and fuzzy purple socks. Izuku couldn't have imagined her more differently.

Then he shrugged and sat down on the other end of the sofa reaching over to grab a handful of popcorn for himself and shove it into his mouth.

He watched the episode with her until the end credits played, when she finally turned to him and jumped.

"Oh shit, you're not supposed to be here yet. I thought you were Yangchen."

"Huh?" he said, swallowing a mouthful of popcorn.

But she didn't respond, too busy transforming before his very eyes.

She was standing at her full height, an intimidating figure in full armour and face paint, matching the statues of Kyoshi and the couch and television vanished. Izuku could have sworn he heard a stage light click on as kyoshi was bathed in dramatic backlighting, casting ghoulish shadows over her form. White smoke started billowing out from either side of her rolling over the floor. Was she floating? Oh- no nevermind, that's a podium smoke machine and a … karaoke mic?

Okay...

"Young Izuku," she thundered, "I am Kyoshi, Greatest Avatar in recent history. I have brought you here so that you may learn inner strength, and to fight so that you can become the hero you are meant to be!" then she scrunched her nose and muttered in a normal voice, "Ew, I sound like All Might."

Izuku blinked owlishly, not really processing her words. "If you're trying to intimidate me, it's only half working."

She deflated then glared grumpily at him. "It's barely evening, why are you even asleep?"

"I dunno! I've had a big couple of days!" Izuku cried defensively, "Everytime I hang out in the shrine I pass out apparently."

"I had this whole thing planned but then you had to show up early! I knew I shouldn't have started another episode," Kyoshi pouted.

"Well, sorry! Send a schedule ahead of time why don't you," he grumbled sarcastically under his breath.

She sighed, "It's whatever. Anyway, let's get down to business."

(Under her breath Kyoshi continued 'to defeat the huns'; Izuku didn't hear it over him mentally doing the exact same thing.)

Kyoshi conjured a desk with a chair on either side, sitting down in one and motioning Izuku to take the other. Even sitting he still needed to crane his neck a little to meet her eyes.

"I'm sure you have questions, so go ahead."

"Um, okay. You brought me here? To this space or this new world?"

"Kinda both, I brought you into the 'new world' from your world. I also opened the connection so you could access my part of the Avatar Space but you came here as you slept."

"Why?...did you pull me through the worlds I mean."

"You remind me of myself as a child. Bullied, lacking confidence, your self-esteem is doing the limbo in hell, following my best friend around cleaning after him. Believe it or not I too was considered a loser. I couldn't control my power well and lived as a servant.

"How did you even know all that about me?" Izuku was shook.

"The afterlife gets rather boring after a couple hundred years. Especially without my wife," she sighed, "I've been watching universes like television shows. Yours is a pretty interesting one, especially your life." she smirked.

"Well that's not creepy at all. Are you the weird laughing voice in my head? And that said 'fucking finally' when Suki offered to train me?"

Izuku didn't see Kyoshi blush under her face paint. "Oh... you heard that."

"Can I get back home?"

"Yes, on the winter solstice, the next one of which is in two months, or you could stay until next year's solstice. The current Avatar will assist you guys to get back."

"But Suki said the Avatar's been missing for 100 years!"

"The Avatar will return soon, he's been in a sort of stasis for the last century but is set to be freed in the next few weeks."

"Okay, a couple months or like a year. That could be worse. I'm guessing I didn't leave a dead body behind, hopefully?"

She leant back in her chair, "Nah, you're all good"

"So what am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

"Train. Become a badass. Assist the Avatar on his quest if you wish. Then kick Kacchan's ass when you get home"

Izuku's eyes bugged at the last statement. "Um, okay. How do I find the Avatar to help him?"

Kyoshi rolled her eyes. "Of course that's what you're going to do. He'll visit the island soon enough."

Kyoshi sat up straighter and brought both palms to the surface of the desk.

"Now," she continued, "I'm not really supposed to teach you much of anything, but bringing you here was also not the most scrupulous of moves so I don't really care. Suki will train you with the other warriors and now you've connected to the Avatar space, I can access your dreams and we train more as you sleep, sound good?"

"You'll train me! Really?"

"Yeah kid, I'm not gonna bring you all the way here then leave you to fend for yourself."

Izuku grinned, tearing up, "Thank you Kyoshi."

"You're welcome, sprout." Kyoshi smiled and the space they were in started to blur and swirl, "go have dinner, and sleep well."

He jerked awake to a girl his age standing over him, shaking his shoulder.

"-uku! What are you doing up here? I was looking everywhere for you! I went by grandmama Ake's to pick you up and you weren't there. I was so worried.

"I met Kyoshi," he gasped.

"What?"

"She's really weird."

Just then Izuku's stomach growled.

The girl sighed, "You missed dinner, let's get your food and you can tell me about it."

The girl's voice was really familiar, he looked closer at the bare face.

"Suki?"

Kyoshi watched as the boy vanished from her space. Then morphed back into her comfy, casual clothes, sighing, "That's one down. Just gotta work out what to do with the stowaway."