Chapter 11: Outburst
Aang was lost in a trace as he looked at Avatar Roku's statue. Katara brought him out of it by lightly shaking his shoulder.
"Are you okay?" She inquired, and Aang nodded.
"This is Avatar Roku," he suddenly mumbled. He knew the name without me even seeing anything.
But I quit paying attention to them and looked around the room some more. The place was filled with Avatar statues, and only that engraving hidden well within the shadows stood out as something different.
By how it was written and the shaky carving, it was done by a well-made knife. But the writing was done sloppily, meaning that he was in a hurry. Almost as if he had entered this room without permission and then hurriedly done this while other Air Nomads were chasing him.
[By identifying the writing you have been able to deduce the most likely scenario, you have gained 1 Intelligence]
[Observation Skill has leveled up]
Oh? I didn't even use Observation, because it said that this was a normal rock with carved writing in it. Seems like active skills can be leveled up like this without even using them.
Suddenly a humming noise brought me out of my thoughts. Aang and Katara too seemed protruded by it and hid behind the statues, on the other hand, I looked at them like they were fools.
"Sokka! Hide!" Katara murmured harshly at me.
But I just shrugged and moved to greet the newcomer. "Yo there, my name is Sokka."
I saw Momo look at me weirdly and tilt its head. Aang and Katara were still hidden, though they were perhaps intimidated by the shadow the flying lemur cast.
Momo made some cute noises and flew on my shoulder. I nodded. "Yes, we will be best buddies forever, right?"
[You have got a new skill: Animal Training]
I ignored the notification and scraped Momo's chin. "Aren't you just the cutest guy there is~"
He purred in my hand and licked my finger. Yeah, he looked like a cat and I was sold. We are taking this little guy on the journey.
"A flying lemur!" Aang yelled out in excitement, scaring off Momo. The little guy attempted to fly off, but I caught him by the nape of his neck and held him up, away from Aang's clutches.
"You already have Appa, I get this little guy. He will be my fierce hunting partner," I claimed as if it was a fact already.
Aang appeared bewildered. "But flying lemur's don't eat meat."
Ah… that kinda ruined my adventure plans with Momo. But true friendship can endure such hurdles, and when he got on my shoulder, I and Momo were already like long-lost brothers.
I will give my life for this little guy… okay that was a bit of an overstatement. But Momo and I were best friends already.
The flying lemur looked at me and jumped into Aang's head, looking at his reflection on the bald, reflective surface.
"His name is Leviathan the 3rd," I announced, full of confidence.
"What?" Katara was perturbed by the name. I could recognize the disgust on her face. "That's a long name, how about Levi, that is easier to say, and cuter too."
"Oh? Then how about I call you Kat?" I grumbled. "No, the name stays as Leviathan the 3rd."
"I am okay with you calling me Kat."
"What about Leviathan the 1st and 2nd, what happened to them?" Aang of course asked the important questions, like always.
We continued arguing about Momo's name for a little while. I and Katara were arguing, while Aang just went and named him Momo.
I was okay with that, in reality, the whole name thing was to shift Aang's outlook on what he was about to witness. He hadn't found anything about what happened to the Air Nomads, and I knew a place where he would eventually step into during exploration.
This temple had only so many places left to explore. Aang went his way happily while talking with Momo, they went around exploring.
Katara was about to go after them, but I put a hand on her shoulder and shook my head. "I think you should stay back for a while. Keep an eye on things."
"Yes?" She was perplexed by my sudden change in attitude but accepted the decision nonetheless.
I smiled at her one last time and went after Aang. The last time he had entered Avatar form he didn't recognize me, and this could end in my death if I wasn't careful. Even the Gamer Interface didn't have the power at the moment to fight against Aang in his Avatar Form.
Walking along the hallways that were like a Maze, I could see Momo guiding Aang somewhere. Though I didn't know the exact location, this was a new part of the temple that we hadn't explored.
Eventually, we came close to a tent-like building and I stepped backward as Aang went inside.
I caught a glimpse of the Fire Nation soldiers that littered the ground. How was Gyatso able to achieve that? It seemed like in his last moments he wasn't that peaceful of a Monk. The corpses littered around seemed like they were unable to put up a fight while Gyatso held a meditating position.
So, the only conclusion that I could come to was that he had created a circle of vacuum around himself. All of the Fire Nation soldiers passed out and died due to the lack of air, as soon as they entered the circle.
[You have deduced a move most likely to have been used in Monk Gyatso's last moments.]
[You have gained 1 Intelligence]
I didn't have time to celebrate reaching my goal for the intelligence stat as the air around me started suddenly getting thinner and I had difficulty breathing.
As if it had a bomb inside, the tent Aang entered explodes, destroying everything around it. The explosion even pushed Momo back, as the flying lemur flew off and landed behind me. I on the other hand pulled a brand new spear from my inventory, one of those that I had gotten in the Fire Nation ship in the South Pole.
With a sphere of air surrounding him, Aang rises like some kind of God. The clouds parted as he slowly flew up, though he hadn't attacked me. I could sense his power even from here.
[Skill: Sense Danger leveled up]
[Skill: Sense Danger leveled up]
[Skill: Sense Danger leveled up]
[Skill: Sense Danger leveled up]
Yeah, this wasn't the best situation. But at least Katara was back enough and it would take her a couple of minutes to run all the way here.
"Aang!" I called out, my voice sounded more like a growl than a call. "Listen to me! You said that you won't run away from responsibility this time! Show yourself as the master of your fate!"
Even after saying all that cheesy stuff, it didn't seem to be able to bring him down.
"You have us as a family!" I yelled out as a last resort. That seemed to calm him down, as he slowly descended back to the ground and I caught him in my arms. Tears came out of his eyes as he fell uncontrollably.
I looked at Gyatso's corpse, his skeleton bleachy white and covered in a little snow. It felt like he was looking straight at me with the way the corpse was positioned. "Don't worry old man, I will take care of him."
At that moment Momo flew and landed on my shoulder, rubbing his cheek against mine as Aang woke up.
"Sokka, sorry about my outburst," he mumbled an apology. Slowly getting less groggier and looking at Momo. "Now it's just me, Appa, and Momo that are left. Only we are what we have left."
"Well, you have me and Katara too. Don't worry, I will help you fix all of this, and then we can rebuild a new Air Nomad culture and civilization." I consoled him, not going into exact detail. But building another peaceful civilization was a bad idea, humans and peace didn't go that well.
We are creatures of greed and passion, no matter what training or lifestyle we have. That passion and greed will always burn within our hearts as long as we live.
Chapter 12: Kyoshi Island
We left the Southern Air Temple after burying all of the corpses there. Though by now only bones were left of them.
It was a hard experience for Aang, but an awakening one too. He now understood what had to be done and the devastation of the Fire Nation.
After setting off from the Southern Air Temple we decided to take a course of where we would go. Well, I did while Katara was sewing something and Aang tried to impress her by having three rocks float in a circle around his palms. It was a very lame trick, no wonder Katara wasn't impressed.
[Skill Leveled Up]
[Navigation Lvl 1-2]
Since I had been the guide and navigator, we didn't get lost thankfully. Finally, Kyoshi Island was within sight and Aang called at us. "Look, look, Kyoshi Island!"
He was excited at the mention of land and how he would go to a place named after one of the previous avatars. I explained to him a little about the place.
Katara had been a little suspicious about my knowledge, which I just thwarted and said that it was one of dad's stories.
"Yeah, we can see it," I mumbled tiredly, unlike Aang who was very energetic I could get tired. Well, theoretically of course, since in reality I didn't have any fatigue and was just training my meditation skill.
[Meditation (Lvl 5)]
After we landed, I took our baggage and set it down. Aang ran about excitedly.
"Katara! Look, I caught a crabfish!" He showed her a crab that had a fish's head. There were some weird animals in this world.
Of course, my baby sister was unimpressed by it and sarcastically responded. "Oh~ that's amazing~"
Yeah, she was tired of Aang trying to impress her, and I couldn't blame her for that. If I was a girl, I too would have been tired of him by now. Though then again, I have Gamer's Mind, so probably not.
Fwish!
Suddenly, an attack came from the left. It was meant to knock me out, but I moved instinctively and grabbed the wrist of the hand trying to attack me.
[Suki (Lvl 30)]
She was at a higher level than I thought.
She attacked me again with her other hand, and this time she used her fan to hit my hand that was holding onto her wrist.
Though the pain was enormous, I still held on as it subsided a second later.
"Who are you?" I asked Suki, she formed and tried to kick me in the balls.
I moved my leg to block it, but it was a trap as she threw her fan… hitting me straight between the legs. Even with Gamer's Body, the pain jolted me enough to let go of her wrist.
"Fuck!" I swore out loud and my legs buckled.
"Heh, you men are all the same," Suki said mockingly and kicked me in the head. At least she tried to, as now the pain had subsided and I could move again. I grabbed her leg and kicked her in the stomach. She tried to dodge, but I copied the trick she did on me and used my other hand to punch her in the chin.
She was trying to dodge the kick so she didn't notice the punch.
Baam!
I didn't go easy on her either and she fell unconscious. But before Suki fell on the ground, I grabbed her and sneakily took out a knife from my inventory and pointed it at her throat.
The other Kyoshi warriors had knocked out Aang and Katara already and were in the same hostage holding position as I was.
"You are some mighty fine warriors." I commended them. "Though sadly it seems like you are from the Fire Nation."
"We are not from the Fire Nation." Answered one of the Kyoshi Warriors.
[Oma (Lvl 20)]
She was lower leveled than Suki, but I didn't doubt her words. I knew that already. Yet I still had to act like a clueless guy a little longer. "Oh? Then what are you? After all, no one holds a knife to the Avatar's throat except the Fire Nation."
"You are the Avatar?" Asked another one, she was holding Katara hostage.
"No, the guy with the Air Nomad tattoos is." I pointed at Aang.
"He is a kid," mumbled the one who was holding Aang hostage.
"And you are a teen."
"Umm… I am actually twenty-three."
"...!" I acted surprised. "Really? Wow… well, anyway. We can talk this through."
The woman who I just indirectly complimented nodded with a smile. "Okay, you don't seem too bad."
Now that is a good fake smile. I smiled back at her. "Oh… thanks. By the way, my name is Sokka. She is Katara and he is Aang."
Pointing at each unconscious individual I introduced everyone and let Suki down. "We are sorry for startling you." I dropped my knife too and put my hands forward. "Since you don't seem like Fire Nation. Then you can tie up my hands. I know how you will need to be cautious with outsiders."
The girls smiled at my understanding and looking at each other they seemed to communicate silently.
They let Aang and Katara down too.
"Sorry about that. But we will extend you the same courtesy. Whether the tattooed kid is the avatar or not doesn't matter, you are welcome in our village."
The one who spoke was Oma. Was she some kind of 2nd in command after Suki?
Going back to the village was a very leisurely walk. Sokka talked with the girls and asked them about the local area's history and traditions.
"So you're telling me that Kyoshi split the island from the mainland and pushed it far away!!" Sputtered Sokka in surprise.
The girl chuckled at his shocked look, and how he seemed to believe their stories. People usually questioned them suspiciously when they told stories of Kyoshi splitting an island off the mainland.
"Did she also teach you guys how to fight?" He asked with a starry look in his eyes.
Oma nodded proudly. "Yes, Kyoshi left behind many techniques that would allow even a girl to overpower a grown man."
"Overpower?" Sokka frowned. "But to me, it seemed like you guys were like water or air. Using my force against myself. At least the girl I fought did that."
The girls stopped for a second in surprise. Sokka had discovered the main principle of the Kyoshi Fighting Style by just battling against a Kyoshi Warrior for the first time. Plus the fight was so short.
'Is he some kind of martial arts genious like Suki?'
The thought crossed each of the girl's minds. After all, Sokka seemed like a smart young guy that didn't immediately disapprove of girls being warriors.
They contemplated explaining to Sokka how their martial arts worked but in the end decided against it. Suki was the one in charge of the Kyoshi Warriors so they couldn't go spilling their secrets to a guy they had just met not even half an hour ago.
The girls were tempted to explain their fighting styles and brag about how great Kyoshi was. But they barely held it in.
After that, the village finally was in sight and some girls immediately ran off, leaving only Oma behind.
"Hm? Did I say something wrong?" Sokka seemed confused by their actions. "Sorry if I did." He added.
"No, it's not your fault." Oma shook her head. 'None of them have met a charming young man. The village boys we grew up with were weak. So these girls need to cool off a bit.'
To them, Sokka not only was cute but even had that naive charm to him. It seemed like he said just the right thing at the perfect time. Even Oma felt this a little.
Sokka looked at the buildings and smiled innocently. "Wow, I haven't been to a lot of places till now. So can you show me around later?"
If he had asked to look around alone, then Oma would have refused. But now that he said it that he would go with her… that changed things a little.
'As always, he just seems to say the right thing at the right time.'
A/N: If you wanna join my discord server. Or have any questions about the story.
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