How many people here can't resist an afternoon nap?

Robi's Garden

Robi McKenzie didn't like school. This was common for most 6-year-old boys like himself. It wasn't necessarily because school was long and boring, but it was because of all the rowdy, immature students. He felt cramped and stuffy in the classrooms, the seats uncomfortable, and he would find himself gazing out the window, longing for the beautiful day outside.

Robi was a small and soft-spoken boy, and his appearance reflected his gentle, fluffy, and soft demeanor. His hair was orange and frizzy, he wore a cozy green sweater and brown khaki pants. He had dark-green glasses over his lighter green eyes, as well as freckles and buckteeth. Robi disliked wearing shoes, though because of his large feet, he liked to wear heavy clothes to make himself look proportional. However, his other distinct attributes were the feathered butterfly-shaped wings on his back.

Robi's mother was a Nimbi, while his father was a terrific earthbender, so Robi inherited the best of both worlds. On some days, he loved to sleep on fluffy, drifting clouds, and on others, he just wanted to relax in his grandmother's garden. Robi's back and rear had been cramped from sitting in school all day; true, he tried to relax during recess, but impolite students would always disrupt his rest by throwing balls at him or something. Robi didn't even bother to endure the bus ride home; he would rather give his wings a needed stretching and fly across his neighborhood.

"Snoooooooore…snoooooore…"

Once free from the burdens of school, Robi was where he loved to be: sleeping in his grandmother's garden like an overgrown butterfly. The weather was mildly chilly, but it only helped to relax his soul. Of course, Robi wasn't alone in his rest: his friend, Lily had flown in for a visit.

Lily was an inch-tall Kateenian with light-green skin and pink flower petals around her antenna ball. She wore a darker-green dress with pink petal slippers. She and Robi met at a playground when she was 4 years old, and he was three. Although Lily had a peaceful, gentle upbringing, growing up in her mother's garden, something sparked inside her when she was brought to the playground that day.

An older boy named Jason had gotten into a brawl with a girl named Christina. Their fists met each other's jaws in a violent fashion; their bout wasn't based on spite, but their smirks indicated it was a friendly game. To Lily's little eyes, it was like watching two young titans engage in a world-shaking battle. She had never seen a fight this intense… but watching it was so thrilling. It made her little heart race. The child wanted to observe every detail of this spectacle, watch every droplet of blood fly out. So, she walked steadily closer. Of course, walking too close would result in the little girl being smashed in their aimless brawl.

Alas, Christina landed an upper-cut that caused Jason to fly back. Lily's life would end under the strong, young titan, her squashed remains mixed with the dirt accumulated on his shirt. But then darkness enveloped Lily in the form of big, gentle hands.

She was shaken up from the impact and could feel the world vibrating. …But after a while, the kind hands opened to reveal a pair of concerned green eyes on a battered face with a bloody nose. "Are you okay?" Robi asked in a meek, but sweet tone.

"Uh…I am." Lily turned a shade of blue from blushing.

"Oh, you're a girl. Huhu…I thought you were a bug."

"Tee hee hee!" Lily giggled at his utter cluelessness.

From that day, Lily found herself positively infatuated. Robi possessed a big heart that was as warm, sweet, and kind as he appeared. Robi had injured himself from taking Jason's impact, all to save a tiny girl who he didn't even know. As she would then learn, Robi adored bugs and thought they made better company than people. They were small and peaceful like he was, and they couldn't pick on him or push him around like big kids. Even bees acted peaceably around Robi, though if a spider crawled on him, he would gently shoo it off.

Still, he found Lily to be much better company. He wasn't at all intimidated by the little Kateenian and felt he could talk to her about anything, and he simply adored her cute, sweet voice. Unlike the noisy students at his school, Lily soothed his ears with her voice, and he was always delighted whenever she climbed and played around on him. Lily would love to curl up in his tangly, frizzy hair, or ride in his fluffy wings as he fluttered about the sky like a butterfly.

Lily came to visit him whenever the need arose, whenever she wanted some peace and warmth. As Robi rested in the soft soil of the garden, Lily was tucked cozily under the collar of his sweater. Their hearts and auras were in pure unison. Lily's element was plants, and since Robi's was Earth, their chis mixed in a perfect combination, naturally melding with one-another in their undisturbed slumber.

With Robi's Seismic Sense, he could feel the world around him. He felt the cars driving on the streets, the carefree children running about their yards or the sidewalks, and parents walking with the younger children. And of course, he could feel the plants dancing in the wind. With Lily's chi mixed with his, they felt everything the other felt. They felt the birds feeding their chicks in the trees, felt the beetles munching on the tomatoes, the caterpillars burrowing through the apples, and the bees collecting pollen. The world and nature were in perfect harmony. There was so much life and soul all around them.

But although Lily loved to be around Robi, and though she appeared sweet and perfectly gentle, her aspirations far differed from his own. "Yaaaaawwwwwn!" She was always the first to awake from an afternoon nap. Now that her muscles had time to relax in warmth, the Kateenian was pumped full of adrenaline. The snores of her big-hearted friend and the puffing of his neck served as a pleasant lullaby, but now she was awake. Lily clambered up onto Robi's harmless, sleepy face, brushing the petals of her flower crown against the interior of his snorting nostril.

"Huhuhuhu! Huhuhu!" The nerves of his nose sent the tickly sensation throughout his body. The Nimbi awoke, having to rub a finger over his nose to ease his nerves.

"Come on, Robi, we can't sleep all day! Let's go meet up with the others!"

Lily had climbed onto Robi's left lens, jumping on the glass. Her form was very blurry at this proximity, but it nonetheless made Robi's heart dance from seeing her so pumped and happy. "…Mmmm…" She could see his magnified eyes narrow with hesitation, the boy moaning sheepishly. Robi had been like this for these past few months: his 7th birthday was coming up soon.

"Robi, why don't you wanna join the Kids Next Door?"

"It's just… After we join, we won't be able to do this much, anymore. I know it doesn't feel like much, but… I just love laying in the garden. I love watching the clouds float by. Aren't you happy like this, Lily?"

"But laying around all day is boring! I love napping with you, but you're way more than this, Robi!"

"Why are you so excited to join the KND? You almost got squished back then."

"That's why I train, Robi! I practice my plantbending every day, and I move super fast so I don't get squished! Just like you, Robi! Hehe, I get so excited when I watch you and your dad kick boulders at each other! I wanna watch you smash a ton of bad guys with your earthbending!"

Robi flushed at the very idea of him getting so violent. "I only train 'cause my parents want me. But I… thought you liked me like this, Lily."

"Aww, of course I do, Robi. But I know you're more than that." Lily jumped down to his neck and squeezed it in a hug. "I can feel the enormous power inside you! I felt it ever since then! When you protected me, you were so brave and kind, you didn't care that you got hurt. You would've protected me even if I was just an ordinary bug. If you would protect a bug from getting hurt, why wouldn't you wanna protect the world?"

"Because… the world is way bigger than bugs. It's way bigger than you or me."

"That's why we have our friends, and not to mention all the other kids!"

Robi sighed, "You just wanna get in a bunch of fights and watch other people fight. But it's gonna be real dangerous, Lily."

"Then protect me!" Lily bounced her way up to his nose. "Don't let me get squished, Robi! And I promise to not let anyone squish you, either! But you have to promise to protect yourself! Don't let yourself get squished, and I won't either! When we're together, no one's gonna squish us!"

"Hmmm…"

"Hey, Robi!"

"MMMMPPHH!" A gush of sand suddenly fell and smothered the boy's face. It got into his nose and mouth, the boy coughing and bending it out of him.

"Yo, you sure you're ready for the KND?!" asked Spiny, a boy with spiky black hair and a purple top with matching shorts. His ankles had bands with small, spiked conch-shells on them. He was seated on the garden's fence. "All you do is lay around, seriously!"

"Hey!" Robi yelled. "Lily was on me, you coulda hurt her!"

"It's okay, Robi!" Lily cheered, brushing the sand off as she had dropped to the ground. "I'm all right!"

"Hah, Lily's way tougher than you are!" Spiny snorted. "Even Kent can't beat her, what a chump!"

"Only 'cause I'm bein' nice!" yelled Kent as he pushed up one of the fence boards. Kent wore a yellow Hawaiian shirt with brown shorts, his brown hair in a flame design and his skin red with a tan.

There was also a girl behind the fence, one with a frilly white dress, white strap-on shoes, and blonde hair in pigtails.

"Robi, ain't you supposed to be the 'leader' of the Earth Children?" Spiny remarked, kicking down onto the garden. "Shoot, I oughta be the leader if you're just gonna be lazy."

"Come on, Spiny, don't pick on him." the girl said, raising a rock platform to see over the fence.

"Why not, Jolene? He's supposed to be the Firstborn Guardian, he's gotta prove it." The spike-haired began to wave his hand, sending soil up into Robi's face.

"Hey—stop mess—my grand—'s garden!" Robi yelled in-between face-fulls of dirt.

"What're ya gonna do about it?!"

Throbbing with anger, Robi stomped the ground and sank Spiny into a ditch. He clapped his hands and closed the ditch, crushing the older boy. "Aaaaahh! Hey, too tight, too tight!"

"Hee hee hee!" Lily giggled. "Let me help, Robi!" The Kateenian bent up some roots and wrapped them around Kent's neck and limbs, raising him to the air.

"HEY, I wasn't even doing anything! Stop it!"

"Kids, no fighting in the garden!" They turned to the house as Angelie McKenzie stepped out. The earthbending legend was in her fifties, yet still maintained a healthy, youthful demeanor in her old age. "Robi, I thought you knew better than that."

"B-But, but…"

"Spiny started it!" Jolene yelled, jumping into the garden. "He was making Robi eat dirt! Which I know it's an expression, but he was literally making him…"

"Kids, you can fight all you want on the playground or wherever else, but in this garden, we enjoy what the earth has to offer us. Everyone at the picnic table."

The kids sat at a round, white garden table as Angie served them their produce of choice. Kent was fed some Spicy Tomatoes, easy for the lavabender's tongue to adjust to. Spiny ate some Burst Grapes that would pop into juice inside his mouth, making it as purple as his clothes. Jolene munched both a red and green apple that caused her blonde hair to glimmer in the sun. Robi was munching on a melon, Lily giggling as a seed got wedged between his buckteeth. And Lily herself was in delight, for she had a whole meat patty with cheese and ketchup to herself.

"Why is the plantbender a meat eater?" Kent asked.

"Eating animals is a part of nature~" Lily inferred.

"I don't wanna be on a team with Spiny…" Robi mumbled.

"Come on, buddy, I was just testing ya!" Spiny playfully shoved him.

"It's common for friends to keep each other on their toes." Angie said. "But make sure you don't push each other around too much, or you won't get along. You kids are going to be the new Earth Children, the new Sector W. The 'W' stands for 'World,' you know."

"I thought it stood for 'West Virginia.'" Robi said.

"Then why isn't it 'WV'?" the grandma inquired.

"Hm hm hm! You'll be perfect for the KND, Robi!" Lily cheered. "Just like you defended this garden, imagine all the millions of gardens that bad guys are trying to hurt! Don't you wanna protect them, Robi? Don't you want all the kids in the world to feel as happy as you feel, napping after school?"

"Mmm…I guess you're right. But why do you wanna join us, Lily? Don't you wanna be in GKND?"

"But staying in space all day is boring! I wanna be an Earth Children, too!"

"There's nothing wrong with that." Angie smiled. "After all, you can't have Earth without plants. You kids will be an unbeatable team. Just remember to keep your heads in the game and protect and support each other."

"But the Earth is more than just rocks and plants." Jolene said. "We also need a waterbender, and an airbender… maybe not a lightbender because sunlight doesn't really come from Earth, it's from the sun, but we CAN create light, like with bulbs and flashlights and-"

"Okay, stop thinking about it." Kent stated. "We're already missing a metalbender because Mack would rather be with the water girls."

"Ha ha ha!" Robi laughed. "Well, at least if we join the KND, we'll be able to skip school."

"That's one incentive, I suppose." Angie said.

"Haha! Don't worry, Grandma. I promise to do my best." Robi grabbed the seed in his teeth and pulled it out. He held the little seed before his spectacled eyes. "I'll do my best for Lily, Aunt Michelle, and for afternoon naps everywhere!"

Point of inquiry, if two Firstborn Guardians procreate with each other, they'll give birth to twins. …'Cause being a Guardian of two Firstborn is hella OP.