18 The Southern Tribe
Two youths traveled through the icy waters on a canoe with bone-ended tips, wearing thick, blue, fur-ended coats and gloves. Small and large icebergs of many sizes and shapes could be seen as the duo traveled carefully. Both of them had the hoods of their thicker coats pulled up, only revealing their faces.
The duo would see the flickering and quickly swimming bodies of fishes almost the size of an arm. Seeing this, the male placed the pedal back on the space of the canoe and pulled the bone-tipped spear belted over his back alongside a sleek bone club with the curving end attached to a heavy sphere painted blue for an even greater strike force and a sheathed... boomerang?
Grasping the spear well, the youth smiled, greed flickering in his blue eyes that formed a contrast to his dark brown skin and his voice a little gruff due to natural cold. Hints of facial hair and slightly darker eyebags reveal his exhausting lifestyle in this unbearable cold that all the tribespeople are born into.
"See that, Katara? Mmmgh, I can already smell our dinner!" He stabbed with fervor. The spear pierced into water.
And nothing more.
The woman behind him, Katara, aside from her face revealing similarly darker skin and a set of blue eyes, also had two locks of her hair tied into some loops that began from the sides of her hairline and hid into the furry hood of the hide coat.
"The only thing we will eat based on your hunting skills is boiled water. This is how it's done, Sokka," Katara smiled confidently. She was brought here for a reason because she had proved herself valuable many times because of her innate ability. It was tough getting a hang of it in her early years, but now? At least she had some idea as to what she was doing.
Taking off the glove on her left hand, Katara gazed at the fish swimming about. Her gaze concentrated drastically, but her body loosened up slightly.
'Just like water... just like water...' Katara began beckoning the water around her with gentle waves of her left palm as her spread-out fingers worked wonders. The water around the fish seemed to have stopped following the flow of the sea but instead got attracted to whatever Katara was doing.
*Plop*
With a knocking pop came a water bubble with the fish still swimming within its confines. Sokka licked his lips seeing this while Katara's gaze revealed her satisfaction after this accomplishment. She was controlling the water! A sight mysterious and miraculous to Sokka, but it had been years, and he had grown used to it. Besides, this freak was his sister. He couldn't possibly shun her out just because of some weird abilities, right?
"Go, magic water!" He cheered, but his tone was still soft, afraid of startling away a few other fishes around.
"It's not magic water—" Katara instantly frowned when Sokka waved his spear, "Just keep it right!"
*Splash*
The spear pierced the small bubble, trying to 'pierce' their dinner, but the fish could still move, and it did. Twisting around the slightly blunt tip of the spear, the fish survived as the bubble burst apart due to the loss of concentration from Katara's side and the harsh stab itself. With the bubble right above Katara's head, the cold water splashed onto her head, drenching her face.
"I said I would handle it, right? Why do you always have to screw things up?" She snapped instantly, "And what magic water? It's waterbending. It's traditional art, alright? We have two more waterbenders in our tribe now, mister!"
Katara shouted while Sokka pursed his lips as their canoe picked up speed for some strange and 'magical' reason. Still unaware, Katara waved her hands, their pace rising harshly.
*Thud*
The canoe shuddered suddenly, making the two of them fall over each other in the gap as they suddenly entered a swift channel of a stream surrounded by multiple icy chunks of death that struck the canoe.
"Katara! Magic up!" Sokka shouted.
"I'm trying!" Katara flailed her hands in panic, not even registering the same insult she was so offended by earlier.
"If I die! It's because of your magic water!"
"Let me concentrate, dimwit!"
*Thud*
Two more chunks of ice struck as their canoe was directed against a hill-shaped iceberg with water striking its surface and parting, foreshadowing their demise.
"Mom... I'm coming!" Sokka sucked in a breath of cold air while Katara gritted her teeth.
'Ice is just water... ice is just water!'
If she couldn't control the erratic water then—
"Hang on!" She shouted as Sokka firmly grasped the pedal in his hand.
'Please...'
Katara began moving her arms and directed her complete attention to the iceberg with her hands powerfully slicing in the air, and while still thrusting her hands in the air, she felt resistance! Not from the space in front of her but the slow and gradual cracks spreading on the iceberg from the middle.
'Please break!' Katara closed her eyes. Even Sokka closed his eyes, hugging the pedal.
*Crackle*
*Fssshhhhhhhhhh*
The iceberg suddenly cracked further, letting out a pressurized gust of wind that slowed their eventual collision. The wind felt too moist and warm, making the two open their eyes.
"Go... waterbending..." Sokka sighed as the air stopped flowing while they gently reached the iceberg.
However, before they breathed their sighs of relief, the water around them trembled, and Sokka looked back only for his eyes to widen.
"Move!"
He quickly caught Katara's wrist and rushed out of the canoe.
"Hey—"
*Crash*
Behind them, the canoe was instantly smashed into wooden and bony splinters by another massive iceberg. The body of ice they barely found their balance on shuddered once again.
*Crack*
*Crack*
Cracks spread on its surface once again, and from deep within, a giant bolt of light skyrocketed into the sky as if a pillar, and the sky over them lightened up in layers of multiple colors.
While Katara grew fascinated by the phenomenon, Sokka pulled her into a tight embrace as he turned around, sticking his back against the chunks of ice erupting like a miniature volcano.
"What's going on?" He shouted as Katara instantly grew aware of the danger they were in.
"I don't know. I didn't do this!"
"That's why I wanted to come alone!" Sokka argued. There was a time and place for everything, sure! But if they're going to die, he might as well win an argument one last time.
"We would've starved!" Katara shouted back but hugged Sokka still, her grip tight and her heart slightly terrified.
"We could have just caught one of the penguins!"
"They would have destroyed our village!"
Both of them hugged each other tighter, but nothing happened.
The trembling grew calm as they quickly parted.
Looking at each other with annoyed expressions, they began bickering yet again.
"We can always capture one of the Penguins at night," Sokka scowled.
"And who would eat it? I refuse to dine on them!"
"And fishes are fine, you hypocrite?!"
While they glared lightning, they heard something behind them and finally turned their attention to the broken cap of the iceberg only to see a boy with his eyes glowing white similar to the arrow-shaped light on his bald head. The yellow and orange-colored clothes on him were too thin to be considered extreme northern or southern as they swayed without wind until his eyes rolled up and all the light vanished.
"Hey!"
Katara ran, quickly catching the boy as it slid through the gentle slope of the ice while Sokka followed.
"Ugh..."
The boy uttered, barely opening his eyes.
"H-hey... can I ask you something?" he whispered as he looked at the girl before looking past her towards the sky. Even Sokka came to a sudden halt, his mouth and eyes wide in shock.
"Yes?" Katara inquired.
"Why... is there a naked man over you?"
"What?" Katara looked up.
*Thud*
A large body instantly fell on her and the boy.
---
Nik opened his eyes and slowly sat up, quite a bit confused. Knowledge was already provided that anything on him would be stripped during the world transfer. In essence, he can only travel naked for now. Then why was he clothed and in somebody's bed?
He observed his surroundings momentarily before his head began aching with shooting pain traveling through his body.
"Ugh..."
He groaned. The screen of Infinity appeared in front of his gaze involuntarily.
[Transmigration Successful.
Authority Rank: 0
No Benefits Detected.]
[Optional Objectives from Transmigration Paradise detected.]
[Objective: Deviated from the intended course of action, the Phoenix rules the four aspects. Dethrone him or kill him.
Mission Rank: 1
Rewards: Silver Mystery Box, 15 AP (Rank: 1)
Time Limit: —
]
[Objective: Derived from the deviation, the Phoenix rules the four aspects but fears the arrival of the proper order. Find and remove his worries by locating the Avatar and killing him.
Mission Rank: 2
Rewards: Golden Mystery Box, 15 AP (Rank: 2)
Time Limit: —
]
[Voluntary Return Protocol Activated in— 163:43 hours.]
Nik silently gazed at this and pondered.
If Infinity informed him accurately, only seven days would have passed in his homeworld irrespective of the time spent each 'traveling.' This means he should be able to spend a fair bit of time in this world, months even, and only seven days would pass in his new homeworld. And the fact that he could return anytime after seven days in this world relieved him greatly.
It was already clear to him that it wasn't Infinity who sent people to different worlds. That mysterious existence would only bring the dead into a different world for another chance at life for the condition of continuously devouring things and still rewarding AP. Honestly, it was too sweet of a deal, and Nik had grown to appreciate it slightly. On the other hand, the Transmigration Paradise is the entity that would send lower-ranked members of this organization into a different world for various tasks as seen in his notifications as 'objectives.' Nik didn't know what Paradise earned by completing these objectives, but he'd been informed about the 'Mysterious Boxes' and would try completing a mission if possible.
Again, Nik was in no position to question what the Transmigration Paradise earned, and he didn't think it was wise to uncover too many damn mysteries of the world when the entity in question was capable of godly feats like this.
'Anyway... where am I?'
Nik looked around. He didn't rush to purchase the local language. It could be Japanese or his mother tongue. He hoped, at least.
Trying to stand up, Nik felt his stomach hurt for a moment. Looking around, he found himself in a tent made from an unknown material. The interior was simplistic. A few folded clothes were set on the corner. The tent's entrance was still closed, but the light through the gaps announced daytime. Nik shivered as a chill crept inside the tent the second he pushed the entrance's flap away. But the clothes worked well.
The moment he walked out, the daylight made Nik narrow his gaze momentarily as the chilling surface of snow and ice underneath made him curl his toes, but it wasn't a terrible sensation for the time being.
"The naked man woke up, too!"
A shout filled his senses.
'Have to purchase the language... sounds about right,' Nik's lips twitched as he could slowly start to observe his surroundings.
"Whoooo! Yeah- hahaha- ugh!"
"My watchtower!"
There was too much information to digest—A bald boy in thin clothes glided without any wind as he crashed into a poorly constructed watchtower built from ice and snow, unlike the few igloos around that looked rather sturdy. Only children and women were around him, the only man in this small village, presumably, running towards the crashed watchtower. A poor excuse of an ice wall surrounded the settlement, too.
[Acquire the language of the temporary world?
Cost: 1 AP (Rank 0)]
Since Nik did not plan to drag the same nuisance he had back to the homeworld here, where that man was carrying a dangerous club and a spear and gave Nik a good enough reason to understand his surrounding quickly—he accepted the deal.
[1 AP deducted. Sole language detected.]
The literary and oral practices of this world's language filled his head, sending him into a momentary but painless daze.
"Hush, not so loud," Nik heard a middle-aged woman speak up as she lowered the hands of the boy pointing his gloved fingers towards Nik.
Another woman, much younger than her peers looked at him before clearing her throat.
"Um... good day, traveler?"
"Hey! You're awake! How did you appear out of nowhere? Will you teach me? Was that an airbending trick?"
The bald youth with a blue pointed arrow tattoo on his forehead quickly rushed up to Nik while the man walked over with a tight grip on his club and a suspicious gaze, "You will only get a single chance to explain yourself. Are you one of those fire nation spies running around and assimilating the surrounding territories after winning this damned war?"
Nik blinked.
"Uh... no. What is airbending?" He inquired.
"Some magic," the club-wielding man replied without skipping a beat.
"Not magic!" the girl uttered a groan, and at this point, a little boy threw a snowball at the man.
"It's called bending! I'm the best snowball bender!" he stated fiercely, baring his... well, 'yet to grow' set of teeth.
"Now, now, Jerkzu," the woman sighed, making Nik blink again.
'Did she just say Jerkzu?'
"Yeah, jerk, knock it off!"
Nik heard the youth speak up.
With a scoff, the man looked at Nik again, "So... how can you prove that you're not a fire nation spy?"
"Um, I don't have anything?" Nik spread his arms as the man pursed his lips. He clicked his tongue with a sigh, "Fair enough, welcome to the Southern Water Tribe. This here is my sister, Katara. She and a few other freaks love categorizing themselves as the followers of some ancient art when it nearly gets me killed daily."
"And this is Sokka," Katara pushed Sokka away with a shove, "He thinks everyone is a Fire Nation Spy and is a useless braggart who can only call other freaks."
"Because you try and control the water when the sea should only be tamed by a man of the sea! Like me!" Sokka huffed.
"Oh, yeah?" one of the little girls shouted as she quickly collected snow and threw it on Sokka.
"Men! Attack!" A young boy shouted as everyone began destroying Sokka with snowballs while he swung his club... rather well.
"Hey, I'm Aang! Nice to meet you!" The bald boy looked at Nik and smiled widely.
"Nik, nice to meet you, too," he nodded.
"So, Nik, how did you get here?" Katara instantly inquired.
"And naked!"
Aang questioned, to which Katara lowered her head slightly.
"What?" Nik feigned well-developed ignorance.
"Yeah, you fell right on top of me and Katara. I mean, weren't you cold at all? Even I would shiver naked in the south pole here," Aang pointed the end of the staff in his hand towards the outer region.
"Oh, I'm sorry about crashing on the two of you," Nik apologized and continued, "But I don't remember how I got here..."
Just like that, his life in this new world of 'magic' began where bald boys could fly, and little boys were named Jerkzu.
***
Alternate Title: It Ain't Magic, Bitch!; The Bickering Siblings; The Brother, The Sister, and The Fish; Popped Bubble; Real Life Bootleg Titanic; Sokka: Ew! Stop Hugging Me!; Naked Nik Strikes Terror Again; Objectives?; Mystery Boxes?; Rewards!; Understanding Limits; Learning New Language Instantly; A World of 'Magic'; Jerkzu, The Best Ball Bender; The Naked Man Awakens; A Seven Day Hyperbolic Trip!; Nik Is Not a Spy!; The Bald Boys Fly in This World; Aang: Yep, That's a Nutsack Above Your Head. Sokka: Yep. Katara: Huh? *Looks Up and Sees Her Future Bloodbending Training Stick*
