Prologue - Falling Stars from a Foreign Sky - Credits to my Co-GM, @Lewascan2, for the contents of the post.

Unknown Location - Unknown Time

---

You died.

“Please, accept my deepest apologies.” The boyish voice was accompanied by a deep bow. “But my time is short and my measures truly desperate.”

Perhaps that was a rather underwhelming way to describe your present situation, but there wasn’t really a way to beat around the bush here. Of course, by its nature, death was something most humans feared, for good reason even. Be it uncertainty about what was to come or the worry about their death being painful, most people did not anticipate the day it came. And for you, sadly, that death was most likely one of the latter.

“As the one who should be a keeper of the Balance, I have committed an unforgivable sin upon you, taking you away from your well-deserved rests, from the afterlives you were promised to.” Still bowing, the being that had evidently pulled you here was shockingly young in appearance, a boy dressed as a monk, bald… and with a rather distinctive set of blue, arrow-shaped tattoos standing out against the skin of his forehead and hands. “But… if you can find it in yourselves to let me explain… Please, I need your help.”

You died.

”You all probably recognize me, eheh…” A sheepish smile crossed the boy’s face, as he straightened up. “I’m Avatar Aang, and it’s exactly because you already know who I am that I really need your help.”

You probably had a lot more to live for, but in the end, reality was harsh. Your time on the mortal coil was now over, and as awareness of your body faded… a brand new one came to be. It was almost a strange proprioception-like phenomenon, an alien awareness of your own existence as a soul cast from their body. You were a shapeless light in the dark, a single shooting star in a sky filled with many like you.

”The Balance of my world is in danger. I’m…” He frowned. “I’m still trying to fully understand what happened, but what you need to know is that someone replaced me. You all know how the events of my world should have gone, how I should have fulfilled my destiny as the Avatar, but in my world -in my dimension- something went wrong.”

You were being pulled. Inevitably. Inexorably. To what destination? You couldn’t rightly say, but perhaps you could make an educated guess or two. Bereft of a body, however, you were left with little more than your thoughts, with time to reflect, perhaps regret, perhaps not. Yet, you could sense that your destination was arriving swiftly. And then…

”While I was frozen in the ice of the Southern Water Tribes, I was hidden, but as it turns out, I was also vulnerable. Unconscious and still yet to really come into my potential as the Avatar, I was subjected to a spiritual attack. I tried to fight back, but it was useless. My attacker managed to boot me out of my own body, reduce me to a drifting spirit that they then locked outside my world entirely in this strange prison.”

Then it wasn’t.

”Thankfully, Raava was able to awaken and help me, and we managed to eventually break free… mostly.” He rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling. “Well, more like we managed to poke some holes in the thing, big enough to reach through. But when I looked back at my world…” He shook his head, frowning. “...it was muddled to my sight. Yet, I was able to sense a great disturbance in the Balance, a warp so great that it threatens to disturb even neighboring worlds.”

Lost in a sea of souls, you could only bear witness as something broke through the flow like breaching the surface of a rushing current. A shining presence, a pair of warm comforting hands, glowing gold, white and blue, as they swept through the spiritual currents with shockingly sure and delicate motions, with a care befitting a parent handling their newborn.

Aang gestured outside the cage. “I don’t really fully understand it, but this prison was made for me with a sort of… hardened crystallization of concepts, of these things called ‘tropes’, ‘memes’ and ‘narrative energies’. They gave my attacker strength I could not oppose at the time, strength I can’t even really oppose now, considering how strong the shield around my world is, a shield also made of the same material that crafted my prison.”

As those hands pass through, you feel them scooping you up, along with a cluster of other souls, rising up now, breaking free of the spiritual waves. The world dissolves then, from an ocean to a near blinding kaleidoscope of chaos, a cacophony of sensation and incomprehensible sights that the hands soon move to shield you from.

”I need your help, because even though I’ve broken my prison enough to reach outside it, it’s still keeping me from leaving and going back to my world to stop this… Imposter.” He gestures to you all, a smile on his lips. “I chose you because you all understand my world, which means you might know what needs to be done to save it. With Raava’s help, I was able to dip into the cycle of reincarnation itself, to find souls with a will to live and make a better world. You. If you are willing, I can help you live again. With the ability to influence the flow of souls, I can act around the shield blocking me and send you all in through the reincarnation cycle.”

And then you arrive to what you can only really describe as a bubble of broken reality, a sphere of shattered shards that shine with a prismatic, kaleidoscopic light. It is as if you are being pulled into the core of a shattered planet, a small nebula of orbiting chunks.

Aang bows deeply again. “Please, save my world and help to restore Balance. As the Avatar, my duty is to uphold the peace of the world, between humans and spirits alike, but trapped here like this, I can do nothing alone.” He swallows thickly. “Because of that… my only choice is to ask you for help, to ask you to be reborn into a world that may not even be exactly what you expect, to face some malevolent force that was even able to completely remove the Avatar as a threat. I can’t even truly tell you who they are or what they want, only that it can’t be anything good.”

And as you pass through that shattered, prismatic orbit’s outer layer, you find yourself becoming more aware, more tangible, more stable. Your sense of your body becomes clearer, echoes of sensation and control returning, even as the hands drawing you inward gently retreat, allowing you and the rest of the souls to spread out, to grow and expand in full.

Aang sighs deeply, but as he straightens up, his expression firms. “But don’t think I won’t aid you in this task…” He reaches to the side, and one of the broken shards of his prison floats over to his hand. “These shards contain strange powers… powers the Imposter exploited to trap me… but maybe, I can turn them into your advantages, allowing you to turn a portion of the Imposter’s power back on him.”

And what you find awaiting you there is a single human figure, floating there in the center of this shattered sphere with a strangely familiar alien creature of white and blue looming behind him, before it dives back and is absorbed into his body.

Turning several shards over under his gaze, he frowns. “Three… Two or three. That’s as many of these ‘cheats’ as I can grant each of you, as many as your souls can handle safely.” Nodding, he smiled now, looking a bit more confident. “With this power, I can give you all a chance, and better still, I can at least exert a bit of control over where you will be born.” Glancing outside the cage, he sighed. “From what I understand, you all probably-”

"Eh, just put me in the Fire Nation, I guess."

In the present, the stunned silence of the group of gathered souls was broken by a feminine one amongst them, a bold soul that stepped forward radiating impatience and unease.

Startled, Aang chuckled. "Ah, hold on a moment, are you sure you don't want to-?"

"Yeah, it's fine." The woman dismissed whatever he was going to say.

Aang blinked. "...Well, if that's what you prefer." He cleared his throat. "Then I appreciate the enthusiasm. But before I send you off, there's also the matter of the shards I could grant yo-"

"Meh."

"Uh-"

"Just whatever is probably fine."

"Are you su-"

"Yeah yeah, just give me whatever feels 'helpful' and toss me down already. I'm getting the willies being a disembodied soul."

"Are you-"

"On with it already!"

Giving a bit of a startled noise, Aang -looking a bit hesitant- still complied, the white and blue glow of Raava’s power beginning to rise from his skin again, as his brow pinched in concentration.

At a wave of his hand, a trio of shards shot out from the orbit around them, flicking into the bold soul’s chest with a flash, and as they did, a golden glow enveloped her. A crackle of kaleidoscopic energies sizzed whatever passed for air in the crystal-filled void, before the woman’s soul compacted into an orb of light and rocketed out of the prison in a flash.

There was a long silence for a moment, as Aang lowered his hands and sighed, the glow of Raava’s powers disappearing... And then, the Avatar’s brow twitched. He blinked, a look of something like comprehension and a wince passing over his visage, before he awkwardly cleared his throat and sheepishly grinned back at the rest of the group.*

"Oops."

“Okay, like… You know I’m really hyped to meet you and all, Avatar Aang, but… Oops? Oops?” came the voice of another woman amongst the disembodied souls. “I sure don’t like the sound of oops anywhere near my immortal soul!”

Wincing again, Aang gave a nervous chuckle. “Sorry sorry! I just realized I may have handed out something to that girl that I…” His cheek twitched. “...probably shouldn’t have. And um…” Clearing his throat, one finger pulled at the collar of his robes anxiously. “W-well, that was my first time trying this whole ‘reincarnating someone else’ thing out, so it’s understandable that there were some issues…?” Grimacing, he shook his head. “No, I’m sorry, that’s no excuse.” He bowed deeply again. “Now that I understand fully how this works, I swear that nothing like that will happen with the rest of you.”

“Eh…?” The other girl uttered. “And what exactly happened?”

“Well…” Aang straightened up. “Before she interrupted, I was going to tell you that you could choose what sorts of ‘cheats’ I grant you to help you out… within reason, of course.” Leaning against his glider staff that had... somehow taken a spiritual form with him, he added, “Of course, there are many of these shards that your souls simply wouldn’t be able to handle carrying even if I only gave you one of them, and there are others that contain powers…” He grimaced, before a hint of steel glinted in his eyes. “-that I would never willingly inflict on my world, no matter how much they might serve a greater good.” He shook his head. “Some prices simply shouldn’t be paid, like for example… ‘tropes’ that disturb free will.”

“Well shoot,” another soul snapped their fingers with a chuckle, “and here I was looking forward to getting myself that infamous harem that every other isekai fanfic features.” At Aang’s long, unamused stare, they raised their hands in surrender. “Joking. Joking.”

“As I was saying,” Aang continued, “If you can tell me what ‘cheats’ you want, I can probably find one of these ‘tropes’ that can give it to you. Just about any power really, be it local or even ones that might originate from other worlds. That will be your gift and asset, to let you survive whatever might lay ahead of you and defeat the Imposter.”

“Hoh?” the second girl from before said, her soul radiating glee and anticipation. “Yeah… I might be able to come up with a few ideas.”

Aang nodded. “On top of that, the other piece of good news I can give you is that I can provide you some time to prepare before the Imposter becomes an immediate problem.” He smiled, panning his gaze over the group of souls. “Since I can tap into the flow of reincarnation a bit, I can roughly control not just where your souls will end up but when. Not too far back, but… up to about sixteen to eighteen years before my stolen body breaks out of the ice. That’s as much time as I can give you. Beyond that, if you have reason to be born later, I would recommend trying not to give yourself a shorter grace period than twelve years to grow up. Please keep in mind, you’re going to be truly reborn as a native of this world in a brand new body, not transported with your old body. You’ll need time to train, to ready yourselves for what could be coming.”

Aang paused then, allowing that statement to sink in, as he shuffled through a few more of the drifting shards around them, a small collection of them gathering beside him in apparent preparation, before he spoke again. “Having heard all that then… will you help me? Please, know that I will respect whatever decision you make, and if you wish to simply move on, I can return you back to where I found you and let you pass on as you should have. But if not… If you are willing to help me…” He bows one final time. “Then you will have my deepest gratitude.”

Of course, recalling all this, you know precisely what choice you made.

One by one, you all made the only real choice, didn’t you?

You chose to be reborn. You chose to be empowered.

You chose to enter a world threatened by a looming darkness, returned to consciousness as a squalling newborn, and yet… As you did, as you breathed the air of this new world and perhaps almost imagined you felt the distant buzz of alien potential hovering over it… In the quiet of your own mind, perhaps you truly understand this for the second chance it is… unfettered by even the observation of your patron.

Yes, this is a world in need of saving, a world you were literally born to save, but now that you have been… Well, the Avatar -bleeding heart that he was- never laid down any way to truly enforce that mission, did he? Indeed, he would not truly infringe on your free will, lest he be a hypocrite, even for the greater good.

Instead, out of both desperation and his own optimism, he chose to trust you.

The only question remaining now is… was he right to?

---

GM Notes

It’s the first round, everyone, and the story begins now. To help keep things as smooth as possible, as we advance through what can perhaps be described as a collective background posting setup, we’ve got a few guidelines that should help keep things relatively contained until the timeline has advanced to the year AG 99, otherwise know as “canon start”, the point in time at which shit will really start hitting the fan.

• As you can see, the opening post involved meeting Aang and the reincarnation process. However, don't expect Aang to make any further appearances beyond round one, even to respond to questions. You're assumed to have asked any questions you need to about the process/situation offscreen, before being quickly sent on your way.
• After being reborn, the main goal of the first round is to establish your "starting line" and should involve describing your PC's family/living situation, along with actions (if any) that they can muster enough agency to take that might cause butterflies. GMs may be open to collaborating on or otherwise being consulted for some NPC actions if you’d like immediate (very short-term) results. Your post should not explore events roaming further than a handful of months (a year at most) past your PC's birth.
• Reactions from the world to your PC's births and potential actions will largely occur in the second round, as the GMs shape the general direction of the timeline your PCs are living in.
• After considering the matter, it was decided that players will rather broadly be allowed control over almost all NPCs except where some have been specifically excluded. Major/most Villains, National Leaders and otherwise notable NPCs that GMs have taken to personally controlling in totality (like Ozai or the Dai Li) will be excluded from player control. However, unnamed NPCs are generally freely available for players to manipulate and flesh out within reason. GMs should always be consulted and give permission for cases of influencing the actions of a large organization or nation unless the player has received specific free control over them. As for named NPCs and established characters of canon, as long as they have not been specifically excluded, players are free to control them as they wish.
  
  This was decided upon as a manifestation of the ever-infamous “Fanon/Improper/Flanderized Characterization” trope, as this trope-warped world can thus cause known characters to exhibit wildly different personalities or motives depending on who is writing them. In other words, any canon character you meet? Their actions and personality may very well swing according to whoever is in the driver’s seat at any given time. GMs may set “boundaries” for certain characters to operate in, but within those bounds, they are free to be flexible. And if GMs grant a player exclusive control over a given canon character, they are thus considered to be the sole person allowed to control them aside from the GMs or other people they in turn grant the go-ahead to. So, if you have NPCs you want to have exclusive control of, don’t hesitate to ask about it.
  
  It should be noted, of course, that if a player drops or is otherwise too busy to assume control of a notable NPC they control, the GMs will either assume control themselves or give the NPC to another player that wants to claim them.

---

Unknown Location - Unknown Time

---

---

Earth Kingdom - AG 82 (Spring)

---

In the grand scheme of things, the reborn soul of the young woman would not have said she truly regretted asking her benefactor for the protection of her memories. After all, memories were what made someone who they were. Take those away, and -regardless of some silly technicality like having the same soul- you were basically dead. In other words, it was ego-death, no different than truly dying really. It was one of the things she had truly feared in some dark corner of her mind, the distant worry about growing old and having her own mind, the very bedrock of her selfhood, failing her, leaving her body as little more than a walking corpse puppeted by some blank slate wearing her face and name like a skinwalker. She would honestly rather die than be reduced to such a disgraceful, humiliating state.

And that was why she wouldn't regret choosing to prioritize preserving who she was above all else. No matter the benefits she reaped from this arrangement, no matter the opportunities this new life offered her, it was all utterly pointless if the "her" enjoying them wasn't the "her" that actually mattered. The benefits far outweighed any downsides, those yet realized or otherwise, and she would endure a thousand screaming births in crystal-clear detail before she ever even considered not being herself.

Even so...

Ah yes, so this is what it means to wish you could repress things.

...maybe having a bit of conscious control over what she remembered most clearly would have been nice.

Being an infant again was a special sort of hell, the newly named Xiao Yu decided. It was a roller coaster of humiliation, helplessness, hunger and just general utter mind-numbing boredom.

You couldn’t walk... or talk... or even have any real agency worth a damn. And all the worse, assuming you were actually conscious and lucid in this period of your life, you were also basically illiterate and incapable of understanding anything others said.

Or, at least, that is what she could have been concerned about. Instead, for some reason, despite most of the Elemental Nations being blatantly Asian in cultural inspiration, they all spoke in English dub...

Well, she supposed she couldn't really complain there. It was a small salve against her indignity at needing to relearn bladder control, a relief against the boredom of staring up at a ceiling from her crib, and she'd take those silver linings where she could get them.

Then again...

Well, she certainly had other ways to solve boredom.

Churning in her core, the energy she could now feel at all times these days ebbed and flowed like a crackling tide, an ever-present warmth that tickled her guts with the comforting promise of its existence.

Gooey baby lips twisting into a whatever passed for a sly smile on her dumpling of a face, Xiao Yu stoked and prodded that energy with intent, feeding it her indignity, her anger and determination, and in a flash of orange light-

Trans-Magia

-her helpless saggy baby body was filled with surging power, a wordless coo of glee leaving her lips, as she was draped in tiny segments of black armor and adorned with a crimson cape flowing down her back.

As usual, she found herself grimacing, however, her once weak baby arms now possessing just enough strength and dexterity to rub at the space just below her collar, where a trio of black stars stood out against her skin like tattoos around a larger golden star that was outright imbedded in her flesh.

Already, she could feel the strain on her body.

Magic -MahoAko magic, rather- was peculiar in the sense that part of your stamina in using it came from the actual strength and age of your physical body. Therefore, being that she was literally a months-old infant, she couldn't practice her magic for nearly as long or hard as she wished.

At least, not the more magic heavy powers.

A moment's concentration was all it took for her body to leave her crib, taking flight, as she slipped over to her window and easily lifted it open.

Smiling wide, with glee bubbling in her chest, the emotion feeding further into her magic and bolstering her depressingly small reserves, a single infant soared high into the night sky of the Earth Kingdom, her now magically sharpened gaze casting across long expanses of rich forests and rocky fields.

Feeling the wind in her tufts of hair, feeling the true freedom of soaring closer to the clouds... as Xiao Yu rocketed across the dark skyline of Ba Sing Se at a pace that would have probably put some helicopters to shame, she decided that this had been worth it. No matter how little of this power's true potential she could manifest right now, improvement was just a matter of time and training, and this sense of freedom she had acquired... this sense of truly being able to take her future into her own hands...?

Well, as long as Aang doesn't interfere further or demand more of me than the present task, I suppose it's a price worth paying for this... I may be grateful and all for this chance, but I'm hardly going to commit myself to supporting his every future whim. As much as he should have had the right to choose his own destiny, I've got the right to choose mine.

Of course, tonight, she was on a particular sort of hunt, one she'd been working towards slowly ever since she'd started getting strong enough to secretly leave her home unnoticed by her parents.

Raising her hands towards the air, the infant's face scrunched up in concentration, the golden star on her chest channeling her intent into guided patterns and carving a cloudy dark gate in space into the air.

Abruptly, she gasped -wheezed really- as the drain on her magical reserves from what was supposed to be one of the cheapest magical feats in her entire cheat powerset still nearly knocked the breath out of her.

Guh... if I were just a little older, damn it..

Taking a couple seconds to catch her breath, the infant wasted no time diving through the small dark gate-

-and came out the other side about what she estimated to be halfway across the continent.

The main way she could mostly say that for certain was that she was currently floating high above a point where two massive rivers flowed into a yawning titanic lake behind her. That same lake, somewhere further east at her last expedition's starting landmark, was crossed by a narrow strip of land called the "Serpent's Pass". And directly forward to the west, large forests clustered across the land.

Smiling widely, Xiao Yu let her dark portal close and set off flying again, straight due west as much as she was able... which, admittedly, wasn't too hard. The titanic lake behind her and the connected rivers (or were they more like long, massive water channels really?) were distinctive enough landmarks that as long as she had a map with her, she was not likely to get lost any time soon.

And she did, of course. Have a map, that was.

Stolen, yes, but really, who was going to miss it, right? That map shop had plenty more, after all. And hey, her cheat powerset came from a villainess anyway! So, of course, she was going to use a few questionable methods for the sake of saving the world!

And besides, she was a literal infant right now!

How in the world was she supposed to acquire what she needed in any sort of legitimate manner, eh?! She didn't have time to waste!

So, naturally, she had spent her first nights out with her powers experimenting, then preparing for her future voyages, then stealing a decent quality map of the Four Nations, and then beginning to take periodic nighttime flights out into the world around Ba Sing Se to expand her options.

See, the thing about her portal magic was that visualization was important. She couldn't just imagine a scene from a cartoon and pop right out in the Fire Lord's palace. No, she needed to actually see that place in person somehow and be able to clearly visualize and recall it as a way to teleport back.

Sure, she could have tried to use scrying magic to remotely view the world from the comfort of her home, and -to a degree- she had managed that, even used it to help plan her map heist... But scrying was weirdly a lot more mana intensive compared to just portaling out and exploring personally.

And honestly? She didn't really mind that too much.

Being able to get out and stretch her metaphorical wings... to be free of the stifling existence of an infant even for an hour that she could finally move her body correctly and forget about her currently degrading existence... that was a priceless thing to her right now, this freedom. And she wouldn't give it up even if she had an alternative.

Thus, the plan was relatively simple.

Right now, she was too weak to do much other than fly around and make maybe two portals a day before being tuckered out. But even while that was the case, she had enough resources to be productive.

Therefore, for this first year of her childhood, her primary goal was to visit all the major locations of the world of Avatar she could find and burn them into her memory, radically expanding her options for her portal targeting down the line.

Everything else could wait, aside from trying to mess around with her chi while she was otherwise stuck playing the part of a normal infant. But right now, the important thing was to ensure her dark portals could reach every corner of the Four Nations, the sooner the better.

This was, after all, turning out to be a fairly big world, much bigger than the show had made it seem at least, and once she linked up with her fellow "saviors", she was sure they would rather appreciate not having to make the same sort of treks the GAang did to get everywhere.

Smiling in satisfaction, Xiao Yu soared through the sky with confidence and a sense of progress burning in her chest, the pleasant hum of improvement raising her spirits, as she took yet another step towards her goals.

And that night, when she returned to her crib and released her transformation with a weary sigh that soon transformed into the groan of sleep from her feeble infant body, the reincarnated soul still slept with a satisfied -and perhaps concerningly smug- smile planted upon her lips, satisfied with another flawless operation, no-one the wiser of her absence.

---

Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom - AG 82 (Winter)

---

Honestly, the weather in the world of Avatar was fucking weird. The concept of seasons barely seemed to exist across national borders, as each nation seemed to largely perpetually maintain a single season year-round. Really, about the only thing that seemed to mark the passage of time in the actual series was the movements of the celestial bodies and the night and day cycle.

Which was why living in the Earth Kingdom meant a baby could be wandering about outside barefoot in the dead of what should have been -and technically was- winter and be completely fine.

"Aamamamahhttbbbtt..." Yu babbled mostly aimlessly, as she toddled forth on stocky baby legs. Honestly, she would have done so mostly in silence normally, but working her lips was the first step to coherent speech. And besides...

"You're doing so good, Yuyu~!" cooed her mother, apparently quite enamored with the nonsense flowing out of her child in baby-speak.

Yu resisted the urge to scowl at the baby-talk, because she just knew that her frustration would only make her look even cuter somehow. Honestly, nothing entertained adults like a small, harmless creature looking petulant and trying to appear angry. She would know; she'd been one, after all. At this point, the only thing she could really do was endure the humiliation and fight harder to regain the control of her body that she'd lost.

Case in point, she was currently spending her daylight hours establishing her independent streak from the word go. Already about a year into her rebirth, and she had the basics of walking down, even if it was still more comfortable to use something as a handhold to keep her up.

Like the wooden fence she was currently peering through, staring across a wide expansive field with bright blue eyes at the herd of strange creatures that still made her want to cringe as much as watch in fascination.

The creatures in question were large, flightless bird-like entities... if birds had the tail and head of a horse with a broad and curved beak mounted on the front of the latter. They were mostly covered in feathers, aside from a bit of short course hair around the horse-like parts of the head and the long stream of the tail, and the fully grown members of the creatures towered at what Yu could only eyeball at an easy eight feet tall.

"Hehee~, do you like the ostrich horses, Yu?" her mother giggled.

Again, the baby restrained the urge to cringe at the creatures' name. It wasn't the first time she'd heard it by any means, but she still wasn't even close to getting used to it.

Seriously, what is it with this world and fusing random fauna together? Is it so much to ask for to see more normal animals around here?

"Ablabbrrble," she instead replied sagely in response, wobbling a bit, as she tightened her grip on the fence she was standing against.

Her eyes were drawn to the only human currently out in the field, her father, who was currently mounted atop one of the horse-bird things and running the rest of the herd through what seemed to be tolerance exercises. Namely, that her father would steer his steed over to a group he had yet to accost in turn, dismount... and start earthbending.

It was with utter fascination that Xiao Yu watched, feeling the distant rumble of displaced earth vibrate through her feet, as her father sometimes ripped jutting walls out of the ground and soon replaced them, while other times chucking boulders about and seeing which steeds didn't clear away squawking in offense. Those that didn't sometimes got additional attention, as her father earthbent obstacle courses and other structures, before guiding ostrich horses through them to gradually acclimate them to earthbending in their vicinity.

From what she could already gather about her parents' jobs, it seemed they were some of the latest in a multi-generational series of earthbending ranch owners (her father born into it and mother married into it), who seemed to be raising military steeds. Honestly, that was about the only reason Yu could think of to put so much focus on training the otherwise docile horse-bird-things to not be freaked out by any amount of earthbending. If you were out in the middle of a battlefield, the last thing you'd want is for your steed to panic and buck you off over your own damn attacks... or just generally run for the hills every time you dismounted to get serious.

"Do you like daddy's earthbending?" her mother interrupted her thoughts again, smiling in that way that was casually patronizing and indulgent, even if adults maybe didn't mean it to be.

What do you think, lady?!

"Blyuh." Instead of frowning, Yu just nodded seriously, earning a gleeful little giggle from her mother. Yu rather doubted her mother actually thought her baby understood what she was saying, but maybe if she...

As the thought occurred to her, Yu was struck with indecision. On the one hand, it would be immensely satisfying and make her feel quite smug... On the other hand, was she ready to start distancing herself from the cover of safety in obscurity? Hmmm... perhaps not. Still, as long as she wasn't unlucky enough to attract the Dai Li's attention somehow... it should be fine, and even if it wasn't? Well, she had options they couldn't account for even now.

Fine then. It was decided.

Furrowing her brows, Yu shifted her feet, gripping the fence like a lifeline, as she dared to bend her wobbly baby knees and nearly toppled over. Immediately, the burn of weak baby muscles began to protest, but instead of letting herself fall, she mustered as much will as she could manage to remain in an increasingly crouched stance.

Her knees shook precariously, burning with exertion... but Yu simply looked down, then back up at her father, focusing on mirroring her stance to her father's, as he tore up another line of the field. Sucking in a slow, steadying breath, she closed her eyes and simply let herself... feel and listen.

The key to earthbending is confidence. More than anything else, it is the will to face anything head-on, to endure and power through with brute force and will. To be a true earthbender is to understand the concept of neutral jing, to balance offense and defense to withstand any assault until the perfect moment to act decisively arrives.

Her mother was still chatting at her every now and then, but Yu wasn't really paying her much attention. Instead, she was focused on the soil underneath her feet, on the rumble of every shift of the earth and every heavy footfall of the creatures that lived in it. She focused on perceiving those vibrations, on feeling the way they rippled up her shaking legs. She focused on the way her feet dug minutely into the soil yet further, as she ground her heels and toes into it, deepening her stance as best she was able.

But more than that, earth is a stubborn element, and you must be stubborn in order to bend it. For an earthbender, the only paths are to endure or advance. You must be unyielding and utterly sure of yourself. Fear is the mind-killer. Doubt is weakness. If you do not believe with absolute certainty that the earth will obey you... if you do not impose your will upon it, the earth will not answer.

She listened instead to the sound of the earth around her, to the way it crumbled and cracked, trying to imagine what her father was doing with it based on sound alone. She listened to the squawks and whinnies of the ostrich horses, listened to their footfalls and tried to guess where the closest ones to her were.

In this way, the first step should theoretically be the hardest. After all, somewhere in the back of a normal person's head, they aren't really going believe they can move the earth. They are going to doubt. They are going to question. They are going to hesitate. And they are going to get caught in a spiral of self-reinforcing failure until they get lucky and break through.

She inhaled deep, letting the scent of the earth fill her.

But me?

Xiao Yu let go of the fence, letting her body fully settle into the stance of her wobbling legs. Scrunching up her brow, she tensed, forcing her legs to stop shaking, as they burned harder.

Bitch, I'm a motherfucking isekai insert, and we're simply Built Different.

"HWAH!" shouted the baby just a few months short of a year old, thrusting her arms out through the gaps in the fence, and the soil before her lurched in response. Even as her gut did summersaults with a brand new sensation, a tingling running up her legs and spine, Yu didn't have all that much time to revel in the feeling of triumph, before the shift of nearby earth ripped her own footing right out from under her and sent her toppling back into the grass with a yelp.

There was abrupt shouting, the squawk of a few ostrich horses that she had barely noticed getting closer, and Yu soon found herself scooped up her mother's arms, the wide-eyed woman fretting over her incessantly. Grumbling internally, Yu fumbled to swipe away at the fingers brushing dirt off her clothes and questing over her head in search of fresh bruises.

Wan-dammit, woman, I'm a baby earthbender! I'm not a regular-ass glass cannon of a child. If there's any bloodline that would be born with hardier stuff, it's us! Oi! Are you married to an earthbender, or not?! Where was all this concern when I was toddling around barefoot around the fence in search of splinters, eh?!

Despite Yu's frustration, however, it was still immensely funny to see her mother suddenly round on her father with no few berating words on her lips, chiding the poor, confused man over earthbending so recklessly so close to her "precious baby" and apparently not quite recognizing that it was Yu, herself, who had actually managed the feat, despite doing it right in front of her.

It was, therefore, even more amusing to squirm around in her mother's arms until she finally let her down, before planting herself by her mother's leg and throwing an even more confident punch forward... accompanied by a shifting spray of the dirt in front of her.

And as her parents both stared at her utterly gobsmacked, Xiao Yu finally couldn't stop the peals of genuine victorious laughter from screaming uncontrollably from her mouth, as she tumbled over, finally -perhaps ironically- looking much more like a normal baby for once in the face of her joyous accomplishment.

Grinning widely with her mouth of tiny baby teeth, Xiao Yu's eyes gleamed with triumph.

In the end, with earthbending, it's like a little green troll once said...

Do or do not; there is no try.

---

[Trope Acquisition: Prodigy (Earthbending).]

---

After that little "incident", the rest of her first year of life started to go in a rather more tolerable direction. The knowledge that their child was capable of earthbending at her age drastically ripped the rub out from under her parents' feet as far as underestimating and babying her... mostly anyway.

Yu was still a baby, after all, and suspension of disbelief only went so far. Her parents started to treat her as more capable and weren't as surprised when she started showcasing even more atypical baby behavior, but that didn't mean they started placing unusual expectations on her.

If anything... it was almost the opposite?

Indeed, her prodigal showing, if anything, seemed to make them more worried than proud, and Yu felt she could hazard a guess as to why.

Long Feng and his ROOT knockoffs.

The citizens of Ba Sing Se did not like the Dai Li, the secret police of the Earth Kingdom. Though no-one would perhaps dare whisper of it aloud, plenty of rumors likely told of what happened to those that crossed the tyrannical organization that held the entire city in the quiet iron grip of fear.

Of course, if she thought about them like ROOT, then it didn't take much of a stretch of the imagination to guess why her parents would be concerned. After all, one had to wonder: where did the Dai Li recruit their absolutely loyal earthbenders from? Of course, the most diabolically efficient way would be to just abduct young earthbenders to brainwash as soon as possible, whilst also brainwashing anyone that objected to forget they even existed.

Maybe she was reaching, but honestly, given the shit they had pulled in canon, Yu was pretty confident that she wasn't even half wrong.

And that was why she could understand why her parents were reluctant to indulge her push to learn further earthbending young. Of course, they couldn't really stop her from trying on her own, but every time she tried to get her father to show her more, he would try and steer her towards something else, as if it were so easy to redirect her supposed infant attention span. Her mother, meanwhile, had taken to trying to keep her inside more, filling her time with books and learning.

On the upside, this was actually useful. Being educated faster meant being able to sooner justify communicating through writing the words her mouth couldn't yet pronounce properly. And as for her father's attempts at distractions, it had led to her being introduced more closely to the ostrich horses, and Yu was actually quite interested in getting involved in the family business.

Unfortunately for her parents though, they weren't dealing with a normal infant, and Yu honestly didn't see any reason to delay her earthbending education for a moment. From what she could gather of her family's business, she wasn't the sort of earthbender the Dai Li would probably abduct, because she was part of sustaining an important enterprise. Training war mounts for the Earth Kingdom properly required earthbenders, and thus, thanks to her family's position, even as low-class as they were, that should mean she would be considered more valuable right where she was.

In short, she was pretty sure she was untouchable unless she went out of her way to attract trouble. Making her disappear and covering the tracks would be more trouble than it was worth, given how large a family she'd seen at one of their holiday gatherings and their probable incidental connections due to who they must be actually selling war steeds near exclusively to.

Besides, she was an earthbender, dammit!

Backing down and giving up simply wasn't in the nature of her chi. An earthbender endured hardship and challenges stubbornly, and she wasn't about to let herself falter ideologically from the word "go".

Less than a year old or not, Xiao Yu would be learning earthbending now.

And if her parents assumed otherwise? Well, they were free to be as incorrect as they liked.

---

GM Notes

In order to hopefully help smooth out the writing of the first round, I made sure to have this post prepared in advance. Xiao Yu's Year One post hopefully gives a more concrete idea of the general structure of what we are expecting for the "infant post".

You're technically allowed to keep a bit of a flashback to the reincarnation/crystal void, but it may be simpler not to have it unless you'd like to slightly collab over it, given that Aang will not be making any appearances beyond the first round for the time being. You're free to largely assume your OC had a decent amount of time to have some questions answered about the process before being shuffled off on their way. Post-birth, we'd like to get at least a basic idea of the OC's new family situation in their fresh life, and you can stretch this out to occur over the course of up to a 1-year period IC. You can do so in about as much detail as me, if you like, or you can instead treat this as somewhat of an extension or "part 2" of the backstory on your character sheet and summarize relevant events in more moderate detail.

As a side note? On the matters of birth, while not always the case, benders are often born in the season their bending also happens to be strongest: Water (Winter, Earth (Spring), Fire (Summer), Air (Fall). As to the specific year they'd need to be born in to have a maximum age of 18 before "canon start/AG 99" arrives, you can have them born as early as late Winter (January) of AG 81; simply count up towards AG 87 for those potentially planning to be 12-year-olds.

The latter segment of this post can be viewed as a bit of an example template of how we'd like to see Trope acquisition/invocation carried out. By no means, of course, are players ultimately required to use a similar level of detail in their own Trope invocations (if only in these opening rounds) though, as "long and detailed" is simply my natural writing style. So, don't feel obligated to replicate it.

As discussed fairly openly in the OOC, the OCs are only allowed to acquire a maximum of 1 new Trope in the opening round, and this will count towards an overall maximum total of 6 new Tropes between birth and the start of "canon". OOCly, this limit is for balance reasons and limiting chaos a bit. ICly speaking, you can see this as an extension of the reason Aang didn't load the OCs up with more than 3 starting Tropes. Their souls are still new to this, and they need time to grow into their capacity to safely absorb and actively manipulate further Tropes. As such, within the first year of their life, they will perhaps find themselves able to invoke and absorb a single new Trope before finding all others to slide between their metaphorical fingers for a while thereafter. You are, of course, also free to have your OC not acquire any new tropes at all in this period if you wish and save all of them for the next round and the timeskip.

Ethan Reed had always known he wasn’t going to get a happy ending. Not in his first life.

He never said it out loud, of course. Not to his family. Not to his doctors. Not even to himself when he lay in a sterile hospital bed with tubes in his arms and a paper thin gown over his way too thin body.

But he knew.

He knew when the treatments stopped working. He knew when his mom started crying outside his door instead of in front of him. He knew when his dad, who always tried to be upbeat, sat down one day and just… held his hand without saying anything.

So, when the end came, he wasn’t surprised.

He was seventeen.

He wasn’t angry about it, either. That part shocked him. You’d think he’d rage against it—against the injustice of it all. But mostly, he just felt… tired. And sad. Sad about the little things. That he never kissed anyone. That he never got to graduate. That he never got to try the food from that Sushi place across town. That he never got to be someone.

And when the dark came, when everything slipped away, he thought, “At least I tried.”

And then…

He was cold. Not hospital cold. Real cold. And wet. Soaking, heavy, and bundled in furs.

⸻

He cried the first time he opened his eyes.

He wasn’t supposed to be here. He wasn’t supposed to have eyes anymore. He was supposed to be buried or cremated or whatever his parents chose. He was supposed to be a memory in a slideshow with sad music.

Instead, he was a newborn.

His name was Siku now, and he was a twin.

He couldn’t believe it at first. But when Katara, rolled against him in their crib, he knew. He had watched the show a thousand times.

And Sokka… Sokka was older, sure, but the voice, the shape of the hair, the way he kept talking about how he was the man now?

It had actually happened. He had been reborn into the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The story had gone wrong. The canon was infected. Something about tropes. About broken narrative threads and corrupted archetypes. The world was in danger. But all of that seemed so far away when he wasn’t even strong enough to lift his own head.

—-

Being a self-aware baby was awful. The lack of agency, being humiliated all the time. While he was happy to still have his memories, why was it necessary to be conscious during this? Couldn’t Aang have let him wake up in his older self? Ugh.

But there were silver linings. He and his sister were already close. Sokka was already trying to teach them both how to throw imaginary boomerangs. And Gran Gran told the most beautiful stories in her soft, voice that made him feel like maybe this world wasn’t all broken.

And of course, he had the ability to waterbend. He wasn’t strong enough to actually do anything with it voluntarily. But whenever he stared out at the ocean, he saw the ocean move. Just a ripple, but it was something.

As much as it sucked right now, He had been given a second chance. He had a new family, and above all else, a purpose. He wouldn’t waste it.

Japan - Current Year

Life just sucks.

At first you’re young, full of energy and believe you have so much time to do all the things you want to.

Then life settles in, just like a commercial scam, you find out you don’t have the time to do nearly as much, instead you have to do a cycle of doing the same boring, repetitive things to keep up with taxes, car insurance, healthcare, all with the rising inflation.
Then you also find out your energy is also gone, it is more of a trial period that drops dramatically down past your 30 and then keeps getting worse, it’s like one of those crappy mobile apps that try to hook you in.

Finally you are past 50 and you’re alone, have accomplished nothing and all you can do is keep going until you burn out.

At least it wouldn’t take much longer in this hellhole, before heart disease did its thing. Should have done exercise, should have stopped smoking, it didn’t matter now…

---

Unknown Location (Some kind of Void?) - Unknown Time

Is this the afterlife? What all those religious folk were talking about? Because it’s so… underwhelming.

If it’s heaven, it sucks.

If it’s some form of hell, it’s just boring, not even trying to actively inflict pain or suffering.

If it’s a voidless dimension or limbo, it’s quite terrible at that too, there’s other ’orbs’ ‘souls’ or ’things in here, however you want to call them.

Oh look, they are yapping…

Aang’s words cut right through the silence, detailing his world and the dire situation it was in, body-snatching, tropes, memes and reincarnation. The boy’s wisdom just recently lacking a hundred more, a powerless Avatar in a prison of fanfiction.

This all sounds like the story of a short-lived game.

Moreover this new existance feels like some dream, purposeless and shapeless, what would constitute as ‘moving’ could barely be associated with the feeling of moving an actual physical body. These souls, simply left with their minds and each other’s voice.

One could maybe get used to this, anyone who dies will be forced to as it seems.

As Aang’s continued his explanations and demonstrations, the souls would experience a disorienting sequence of lights, chaos, and eventually the feeling of a real body. Not fully and maybe not for long, but definitely enough to grant a sense longing and distate for this new form, feeling this new immaterial existance is just a fraction of your previous fully real life.

The rest is history. It is pointless to have specific requests for those lacking knowledge fine details on the world and ‘memes’.

Better to move on asap and leave this husk of a form.

---

Fire Nation - AG84 Spring

Being a newborn sucks too, apparently.

Firstly, she didn’t cry, which in retrospect is very weird for a newborn to NOT cry.

Secondly, what the hell was going on with that ’test’ soon after she was born? Some kind of cumbustible oily ball and then it caught in fire, but nobody saw the fire? Or they saw something else?

It was a very weird experience right out of the womb, but it’s better to get used to this weird world fast, just a glance at thise animals and people making fire while breakdancing was enough.

Tengfei
That was her new name, which she picked it up amidst the chaos. Better get used to it.

---

Retaining your adult’s mind and awareness while being an actual baby, THAT is terrible.

Even worse was to think some reincarnates might have it worse than you, powerlessness and humiliation would just be common for the others too.

Best not to think about it and just move on, I’ll do things when I can, which is not now.

Instead it’s better to use this time to learn in what special kind of hell she’s in, like what these chimera animals are and their stupid names, come on, ‘ostrichhorse’ ‘crococat’ , seriously?

Travelling around by ferry doesn’t mean you’ll see as many places as you’d like, the boat does the same few routes all the time and rarely it will go to a new island, if it does it’s because it’s a short-lived trend. The only consistently lucrative destination seems to be Ember Island, which lives off its tourism and has places for rich snobs no less.

Another really important place Tengfei saw, although not for long, was the Fire Nation’s Capital, which is called… Capital City… _{seriously what is wrong with people here and naming stuff?}
The city itself was impressive and quite large, not as if it’s anything like Taipei or Tokyo, this city is old, old-old, and lacks many of the modern amenities she’s used to, ’at least there’s sewers but still I’d rather not get sick and need meds.’

For the other things, life as a ‘non-firebender’ wasn’t that special, although it’s bullshit, I remember that string-ball thing caught fire.

Well, ar least she might avoid the draft by being a ‘second-class citizen’ , hopefully.

Kohaku

They had heard many others ask for the ability to remember everything clearly. Their past life, their skills, their mission, etc. They hadn't wanted that. This was a gift. A new life. A chance to forget. Not everything. Freedom wasn't a relief if you forgot the prior captivity. At least a vague recollection was needed to appreciate the gift given, but only a vague one.

Instead, they'd chosen to remember only one thing, the most important thing, and a tool that would help them. With what? Oh who could say. The mission they'd all been given? Maybe. They'd probably get around to that... sooner or later.

An infant's mind could barely even recall something that happened ten minutes ago. A strange spiritual encounter? That was barely more than a dream. Sometimes whether or not it was even real was difficult to discern. The fact that they had basically flawless recall of nearly the entire history of the world did lend some credence to it being real, though.

Moments of lucidity came and went. The mind they'd brought with them would sometimes focus long enough to overcome the feeble, infant body it was trapped within. Slowly they picked up new information.

"Careful, Zuko. Kohaku is still small and squishy, just like you used to be." Kohaku, that was their name now. What had it been before...? Eh, it was hardly important now. Also, they had Zuko as an older brother, though Zuko was barely old enough to be considered more than a baby himself. He'd only even been walking for maybe a month.

With Zuko as their brother, that meant Ursa was their mother. That... was a strange feeling. Recognizing Ursa as their mother came with a feeling of dread, anxiety, and bitterness. However, there was also warmth. When Kohaku wasn't thinking so much, which was more often than not, honestly, her embrace was infinitely comforting.

It was an unpleasant and jarring dichotomy.

Though it wasn't the most unpleasant thing to happen so far.

---

"I do hope you aren't going to suggest the child has my eyes or some such tripe?" Prince Ozai scowled down at the child.

"You finally come to see your child and this is what you have to say?" Ursa bit back, fighting the urge to flinch when Ozai turn his glare upon her.

"The first was only months old when suddenly you're laden with a second. It's not normal. Why shouldn't I be suspicious? Especially when it barely resembles me."

"It has a name, you know," she told him, "Kohaku. After a few days, being nameless any longer would have felt cruel."

"As if it would have known the difference! It's not a fitting name! It's as if you're trying to draw attention to it."

"How you name your children won't put you or them on the throne any faster. Iroh is already in line and that doesn't seem likely to ch-" She clamped her own mouth shut as Ozai stormed toward her.

"Fix it."

"Wh-what?"

"It's too late for me to easily be rid of it, so give it a better name. I'm letting you keep it, and I'm letting you name it. In return, I'm hoping this is the end of whatever rebellious streak has made you so... talkative this evening."

". . . Kohaku," Ursa said, and immediately one could see the veins on Ozai's neck bulge, "But... for public appearances... I suppose Zuihou could suffice. Do you approve of that? I'm sure Kohaku will be a clever child who will understand."

"Hmph. Very well. Zuihou it is." With that, Ozai left the room without a further word or glance at the newborn.

And so, having barely learned their first name, Kohaku was saddled with a second. A name both Kohaku and Ursa were sure would be the only one Ozai would ever use.

---

So that had been... tense. There had been moments Kohaku had been expecting to be sent right back to Aang's doorstep already. Then again, who was to say Aang could ever repeat the process? If nothing else, it certainly set the tone for what kind of relationship Kohaku was going to have with their father.

More time passed and slowly, but steadily Kohaku's moments of lucidity became longer and more frequent. At the same time, Zuko learned to speak, with his vocabulary growing about as quickly as Kohaku's ability to focus... which wasn't very. Still, to Kohaku's surprise at first, he was a very attentive older brother. Partly this was due to Ursa's coaxing, but when Kohaku thought about it, it made sense. At heart, Zuko was a more sensitive soul than one might assume based on his... later exploits.

Then again, he wasn't even two years old yet, so it was a bit early to say for sure how he'd be as an older brother. Maybe he was just curious or following his mother's lead. Just so long as he didn't follow his father's and "accidentally" roll Kohaku down a flight of stairs or something.

Kohaku had the suspicion that Zuko wouldn't see much of Ozai's influence for another two or three years when he was old enough to learn to fight. That would at least give Kohaku enough time to start walking and talking before things potentially got... nasty. There was a bit of dread and anxiety regarding Zuko as well.

Oh, and there was one more thing to be anxious about. The one thing Kohaku knew they would absolutely have to deal with one way or another. Roughly one year after Kohaku had been born...

"Take a good look, Ozai. She has your eyes."

---

Fire Nation - AG 84 (Fall)

---

Several of the others had chosen to ask for the ability to remember everything from their past clearly. He wasn’t any different in that regard. Starting from scratch wouldn’t have bothered him; if anything, it would have been an even greater challenge, pushing for the top in an even harsher world with nothing but his natural talents once again. But this wasn’t something he could play like that, yet. The other gift he’d requested was one well-suited for him. It may have been a new life, but old habits die hard. He was the second to last one to go, and to be honest, he didn’t dig it.

Awareness came slowly.

An adult mind in a newborn body would have its perks eventually, he was sure. For now, though, all it served to achieve was making things very, very uncomfortable. Who knew being born was so, for a lack of a better word, revolting? He supposed it was a good thing babies weren’t exactly cognizant at birth. In any case, it was a small price to pay for salvation. Maybe.

He didn’t cry at first, though he rectified that soon after. Better to let them know he was healthy the easier way.

It took him only a scant few seconds to notice the ringing in his ears wasn’t normal if the reactions he could see were accurate. The vaguely humanoid blobs around him shifted in a way he instinctively recognised as discomfort.

Huh. He had a good set of lungs on him.

Why was it getting so–

He jerked awake what felt like a second later, never even having noticed he’d fallen asleep. It wasn’t exactly a voluntary decision either, as he found. Someone was moving him, and not entirely gently.

“Be more careful with him! He’s not a brute like you.”

Who was that?

A boisterous laugh was the only response he received, though it wasn’t a response at all.

“Don’t count our son out just yet! He has his grandfather’s blood!”

Were these.... his parents? Once again, his tiny body was shuffled around, and a face peered down at him. Younger than he’d thought, but bearded, smiling and above all, filled with warmth.

He couldn’t help but wonder. Why?

“Trust me, our little Lì Yang will be a tiger unlike any other.”

Hell, yeah!

So, his name was Lì Yang, huh? It sure was nice.... to....

---

Consciousness came and went over the next few weeks.

His mother remained mostly bedridden during that time, so he was held in her embrace for a lot longer than he was used to, with his father stopping by every once in a while to visit them, all smiles and laughs. It was odd to be sure, though.... not necessarily in a bad way. His parents, or rather, parent in his past life hadn’t been the most affectionate, if he were being generous. There was no resentment in his heart for such things, though, as it did allow him to become one of history’s greats. No, that wasn’t a boast. Why?

Still, as welcome a change of pace as his parents’ affection was, it didn’t leave much time for training. It would take some time before he grew enough for them to leave him by his lonesome, at least for a while.

At the moment, the only time he had to himself was bedtime; he hadn’t had one of those in a while. Today was no different, except for the singular window in his room being open, courtesy of his trying and failing to learn how to walk. He’d probably have to rectify that before anyone came to check up on him. It was–

Ssssss....

Huh?

His tiny eyelids blinked. Was he hearing things? That sounded oddly familiar, and not in a good way. Then again, it wasn’t as if his senses were flaw–

Ssssss!

There it was again! This time, he was sure of it. Something in his room was hissing. He strained his eyes against the dimness of the room, and while at first he saw nothing, he eventually caught sight of the source of the sound.

A grey, tubular form slithered across the floor, creeping up the leg of his crib. He watched the reptile as it moved closer and closer. His breath hitched, his body going still as the snake reached ever closer towards his–

Quick as a flash, his hand lashed out, grabbing the grey snake by just below its head, fingers clasped tightly around its neck. Unfortunately, he both overestimated and underestimated himself.

The door to the room opened suddenly, and, for the first time in this life, Lì Yang was at a complete loss. Thus, he decided to do as babies do. A smile of sorts stretched his pudgy cheeks apart, the viper dangling limp in his left hand.

“.... Mmmbbllrr!”

---

Fire Nation - AG 85 (Summer)

---

Understandably, Lì Yang’s parents never let him leave their sight after that incident.

It was less than convenient, but he couldn’t rightly blame them for it. His carelessness screwed him over there. It was pure dumb luck that his parents didn’t question how the snake got in through an “unopened” window, and he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Fighting the horse, however.... Anyway, relying on luck alone wouldn’t work out in the long run. Caution was not his strong suit, but he was nothing if not adaptable. Everyone had to start somewhere.

It’d been several months since then, and for the first time since he’d opened his eyes here, his parents decided to take him outside. It was about time. Being cooped up in one place for so long wasn’t his style, so it was a big relief. If only he hadn’t fallen asleep before they’d even left the building. His first thought upon blinking awake from the sweet embrace of oblivion?

That’s a lot of animals.

And if anything, that observation was an understatement.

What exactly did his parents even do?

“Ammmblrrt?”

As always, his question went unasked and unanswered. Curse his baby vocabulary, or lack thereof, he supposed. Speaking with actual words wouldn’t come for a while, but walking was another story altogether. Which led to his current predicament.

“Aba....”

Little Lì Yang flexed his toes curiously. They were slow, barely responding to his will, but strangely, they weren’t as frail as he’d expected of them. It was obvious, in hindsight, that would be the case considering everything else. Now, all that was left was trying to use his legs. His previous attempt hadn’t been the most graceful, but he was used to failed first attempts. This time, it was going great, all things considered.

Sure, he needed to use a tree to prop himself up, but other than that, he was doing pretty well for his age. All he had to do was keep up the momentum, and eventually–

CRACK!

Face meet floor, er, soil.

.... Hm.

This.... might be more inconvenient than he’d predicted. Fine motor control was nothing but a pipe dream for a toddler, so really, he should have seen this one coming.

Pushing himself up to his feet—and being a lot more careful with his grip this time—Lì Yang wobbled for a moment before clumsily balancing himself. He made a pointed effort to avoid looking at the tree he’d just accidentally assaulted. A chunk of wood was torn from its trunk, the only silver lining being that no one would ever trace it back to him in any way.... he did feel bad about it, though.

“Abaggabuga....”

Sorry, tree friend.

Well, that could have gone better.

Still, it was no matter. Few months old or whatever, that wouldn't stop him. He was going to overcome this challenge just like all the others. All he needed was time, and he had plenty of that right now. Already, he was itching to get back to the thrill of blood-pumping and bone-crunching. Oh, he was getting giddy just thinking about it!

The world wasn’t ready for Lì Yang!

Siku - Response

No one thought to test whether Siku was the long-disappeared Avatar; hope was just that lost. But in time, they would discover that he was a Waterbender too. But in what year? His first year of life, his second one, or the third, fourth, and fifth? By the sixth, he was old enough to be told that he should not go off alone, as the Fire Nation's raids were intensifying. Would he go out during that time anyway?

Whatever the answers to the questions were, he would dream of Aang, the true Avatar, now trapped in the Spirit World, or rather, he would dream of The Imposter, he whose spirit now rested in Aang's Body, in the Iceberg that kept the latter alive all through the decades. And that impostor spoke in his dreams.

Was what Avatar Wan did good, little Siku? Cutting off Humanity from the Spirits? I was lucky that just as Raava's Avatar reincarnated to the future, I reincnarnate backwards into the past. Would this be the case if I were killed? Would I displace the body of say, Avatar Roku should my life end? Or did I only manage to take over Avatar Aang's body as it was busy holding itself together in ice?

As Siku grew up, he would be able to guess just who had taken over Aang's body, and was now harrassing him when he spoke.

Oh, little Siku, all alone, tasked to protect the real Avatar's eventual wife. But how, when your enemy has power beyond imagining even in his icy prison? Power that will one day reverse this spirit-forsaken, materialistic world where people are cut off from meaning. By the way, how old are you now, eight?

Siku would wake up just as the Fire Nation raided his village again, and his mother, Kya, was trying to hide him and Katara from the Firebender, the Captain of the band of specialized raiders who would eventually kill her.

One Chance. Will you save her? Can you?

He could feel it; he had a genuine chance to succeed, to make the next six years happier for himself and Katara, his twin in this new life. But did he succeed?

Whether he did or not, six more years would pass; he would turn fourteen along with Katara.

And fourteen was when the False Aang's iceberg would wash up on his home's shores...

@Crimson Flame

Li Yang - Response

As Li Yang grew, tales spread of his strength, which impressed and frightened his playmates in equal measure. In his first few years, will he make playmates? Friends? People he grew close to? Either way, his parents were well-off enough to send him to a good school, although a good school in the Fire Nation wasn't just a place of learning, it was a place of indoctrination about how 'superior' his culture was, how the Fire Lord was the wise, enlightened ruler of the Nation, and how civilization was being spread by the loyal armies of the country, armies whose personnel may or may not see potential in Li Yang.

Did he make too much mischief as he grew up? Did he feign loyalty to the Fire Nation and the Fire Lord? Did he outwardly support the official policy of imperialism and colonization?

His family was growing richer due to plunder and resources from the Fire Nation Colonies, as well as access to finely crafted steel from Yu Dao. Whatever business they owned was sharing in the bounty and general prosperity enjoyed by the Fire Nation as a whole. And as a typical Fire Nation Family, they had relatives in the armed forces, and one of them, an uncle or cousin or whatever, would soon start bugging them to put Li Yang in a military academy; he was smart for his age and was fond of feats of strength, right? So, why not put him on a path to military advancement?

All it would cost him were his morals from his old life, morals that still applied to this world.

But who knows, maybe Li Yang was too independent-minded for his stuffy relatives in the military. It could be that he was too much of a maverick, despite his fighting abilities. And if he was too open about potentially subversive views... Another path may be open to him.

Fifteen years later, messengers would gather at the local square of his neighborhood, proclaiming a new call for volunteers. Would he answer the call? Had he already done so and was accompanying the messengers? Or was he a miscreant and subversive who was planning to disrupt their efforts now?

@Aku the Samurai

They discovered Siku could Waterbend in his third year. He could move the water while he was playing in the bath. No one questioned it at the time, until it kept happening… Katara was already showing the same skills.

At four though, he demonstrated he could heal wounds with a touch. He was able to heal Sokka’s wounds when he scraped his knees. He remembered Katara wouldn’t develop healing abilities until later on. Sokka started calling him magic hands.

By six, he could move and shape water with the grace of a master. But that was also when the dreams started. The imposter was talking to him in his sleep. He would wake up gasping, and his twin had to soothe him back to sleep, but they just kept coming. Kept harassing him every night.

He was eight when it happened. When the Fire Nation raiders returned. His mother told him to take Katara and run. Katara begged him to get out. But Siku didn’t run. This was his chance. To change something for the better.

Siku moved, stepping between the captain and his mother. The Firebender Captain raised his hand. A flame shot toward them.

Siku raised his arms, and the snow around his feet exploded upwards. The fire slammed against the water, steam billowing into the air with a deafening hiss.

The Captain snarled. “A Waterbender? This far south?” He launched another flame. Siku didn’t have time to think.

Siku didn’t have time to think, he raised his arms, and the water obeyed. It coiled around his wrists, flowed upward like serpents, and formed a barrier just in time. The fire scattered. The force of the impact knocked him back into the snow, but he never stopped bending. He twisted, redirected, shaped the water like he had been practicing this in secret for years.

Then he struck. A single whip of water hit the Captain square in the chest, unbalancing him on the icy ground.

Then, Kya lunged. She slammed the back of her spear into his temple, and he crumpled.

There was silence.

The others retreated, seeing their leader downed, unwilling to face a Waterbender so deep in enemy territory without numbers on their side.

The snow hissed as the last embers died. Siku turned to his mother, and gasped. Her parka was torn open. Her side was scorched, badly. Blood seeping into the snow. “No no no NO!” He pressed his hands over the wound, calling to the water. “Please, please work, come on—” The liquid glowed faintly. It flowed into her wound, but he wasn’t strong enough. Not yet. It eased the pain, slowed the bleeding, but it didn’t undo the damage. Not fully.

Kya’s eyes fluttered open. “You… did good,” she whispered.

When the others arrived, they found Siku cradling her, water still glowing softly around his hands, his eyes red from crying.

Katara knelt beside them, holding their mother’s other hand.

Sokka stood in stunned silence, looking at his little brother like he was someone else entirely.

That night, the healers said Kya would live, but she’d carry the scar for the rest of her life. She would never fight the same way again.

And Siku was just stunned silent. He did it. He actually did it. He changed the story.

Kohaku had greatly underestimated how far Ozai would go to keep up the appearance that Kohaku, ahem, Zuihou was his legitimate child and heir to the throne. With Zuko banished, that technically put "Zuihou" next in line, assuming Zuko didn't earn his title back. To be fair, there was no definitive proof Kohaku wasn't his legitimate child anyway, so it seemed Ozai was just running with it... in spite of all Kohaku's efforts to take advantage of their dubious birthright.

Kohaku didn't want the throne. Getting the throne would absolutely derail the timeline and, quite frankly, sounded like way, way too much trouble and responsibility. Zuko was the best choice and Azula... well at least she wanted the job and was actually meant to exist in this world.

Kohaku took a deep breath and chanced a glance in Azula's direction. Had they not been mentally bracing for it, they might have flinched. Azula was already glaring at them sideways. At first there was a hint of surprise, followed by betrayal, and lastly pure jealousy and anger. Only "Zuihou" had been labeled Crown Princess and Kohaku knew full well that being granted the position of Colonel, even if it was overseeing the legendary Yuyan Archers, was not enough to satisfy her. Even if in turn "Zuihou" was being denied any military rank at all.

Kohaku knew full well what Ozai was doing. He was praising and snubbing both of them in turn. Azula given rank, but denied royalty, while Kohaku was subtly being reminded that they were inferior to Azula in bending prowess. No, more than that, Ozai wanted Kohaku to surpass Azula, or at least try.

It was a not so subtle jab that Kohaku fully recognized for what it was. Ozai would push them until he got what he wanted, or one of them failed so utterly that they weren't worth his time anymore... like Zuko. Once only one remained, they'd get everything they ever wanted, or so Ozai wanted them to think.

---

Kohaku was standing near the exit to the palace. After a short wait, they saw Zuko approaching, flanked by two guardsmen. A bandage obscured half their brother's recently disfigured face. As they drew near, Kohaku stepped into their path and looked at the guards.

"Give us a minute."

"Forgive us, but Lord Ozai has ordered us to escort him to the docks immediately," one of the guards replied, attempting to steer the banished prince past Kohaku.

"And you will. In a minute," Kohaku informed them. The guards flinched, glanced at each other, and then walked past the siblings to wait by the door just out of earshot.

"I... can't talk long. My banishment has already begun. I don't belong here anymore..." Zuko mumbled dejectedly, unable to meet Kohaku's eyes.

"I was there," Kohaku reminded him coldly. "You didn't fight back."

"It... it wasn't supposed to be father, it-"

"Excuses. I would have fought back. You should have fought back," Kohaku berated him, brow furrowing with frustration.

"I-I wouldn't have won! I didn't stand a chance. I-I didn't-"

"Excuses! Why did you even bother speaking up in the first place then!? What, do the troops' lives only matter to you until father tells you they don't?! And you know father wanted you to fight back, so make up your mind! Do you care what he thinks or don't you?!"

"I was scared, OK!? I... I didn't want to fight him! H-he-" Zuko took a step away from their younger sibling. Despite that, Zuko seemed like the small one in that moment, shrinking back from them. Kohaku was already the same height as it was, despite being the younger, but in that moment almost seemed to tower over the elder.

"And there it is. You sure you're the eldest? Because you seem more like a baby to me," Kohaku scoffed at him. "Some big brother you turned out to be, abandoning me here."

That seemed to hurt Zuko the most. With the state he was in one would have thought he couldn't wilt any further, but suddenly he looked more broken than ever before.

"Yeah. I guess I am," Zuko responded in a hollow voice. "Sorry." With that, Zuko made to drift past Kohaku, but only made it a few steps. He was suddenly halted in his tracks as Kohaku's arms wrapped around him from behind. "Wh-wh-" Trapped in Kohaku's grip, he couldn't find the strength to pull away.

"If you're gone too long, you'll eventually forget what this hug feels like," Kohaku told him in a whisper. ". . . so come back before that happens." Zuko had nothing to say this time. There was nothing he could say as his breath caught in his throat, only managing a small, choking gasp.

Finally, he managed, "I'll... try."

Meanwhile, Kohaku lifted their gaze to see the two guards trying to covertly observe them. Kohaku's tender expression quickly corroded into one of pure venom, causing the two to quickly avert their eyes and go back to standing stiffly at attention. Hopefully they'd be smart enough to keep what they'd seen to themselves. If not, Kohaku had ways of making them regret it.

"I have to go," Zuko said, reaching up to pry Kohaku's arms off.

"I know." Kohaku relented and stepped away. There was nothing left to do at that point but watch their big brother walk away. It... hurt more than expected. Kohaku didn't expect the guilt that hit them at that moment. For years they'd known this was coming. For years they'd subtly worked to make sure that never changed. Could they have really stopped it? Maybe not. Had they tried?

No. Not really. The excuse that it was meant to be did little to soothe the pain in that moment.

"Did you have a nice goodbye?" Kohaku could probably hear the smirk. Much like Kohaku had been waiting to intercept Zuko on his way out, they found Azula waiting to intercept them on their way back. Of course she was. Really, Kohaku would have been disappointed if Azula hadn't taken the opportunity to twist the knife.

"You know, if you hurry, you can catch up. I'm sure he'd love for you to wish him well." Kohaku was sure he wouldn't.

"Hmph, why should I care what that loser wants? It's his own fault this is happening!" Watching a young Azula spew the most venomous words was always... an experience. Unfortunately, considering Kohaku had basically just finished telling Zuko pretty much exactly that, they couldn't refute Azula's words -- not and feel good about it. Ozai was a cruel bastard for orchestrating it, but even so... Zuko had made the wrong choice.

"Please, Azula. Can't you see I'm upset? Shouldn't you be comforting me right now?" Kohaku made a show of sniffling sadly. Azula mouth hung open, seemingly in shocked disgust. "All these years, I've tried to be good to you, my dear, little sister." Kohaku went so far as to wipe away a tear that didn't exist. "Barely a year older, but I did my best to look after you... like that time you soiled yourself and cried, and cried, but mother wasn't near enough to hear you, and so I took it upon myself t-"

Azula's eyes shot wide, "Th-that... did not... did... not happen..." Venomous little thing or not, for the time being Azula was still a little girl whose pride and ego were a weak point Kohaku could exploit.

"The point is, dear sister, I was always there for you. Why can't you be there for me now?"

"Did you not just see what happened to Zuko? Father would not approve of such w-" Well if Azula was going talk about what "just happened" to Zuko, Kohaku would just take that extremely literally. Kohaku forced their little sister into an obnoxiously smothering embrace.

"Oh my, dear, little sister, unable to form a single independent thought." Kohaku gave her a condescending pat on the head. "It's OK. If you won't comfort me of your own free will, you'll just do it of mine." Kohaku let out an amused sigh, literally feeling the temperature begin to rise as Azula's temper began to burn away. "You know the worst part?" Kohaku asked, voice breaking a little.

Kohaku's unsteady voice must have given Azula pause, as she actually ceased struggling for a moment, ". . . what?"

"Everything," Kohaku took a deep breath... and smirked, "everything I said was true."

"UGH!" Azula tore herself free of Kohaku's grasp, her face shifting between three different shades of red. If Kohaku had to name them, they'd be shame, rage, and embarrassment. Azula was growing more ruthless and conniving by the day. Before long it would be difficult to mess with her like this, so Kohaku was relishing it while they still could.

Kohaku let out a small laugh, "See? Thanks to you I'm already feeling better."

"Good for you..." Azula seethed.

"That's what family is for, right?" Kohaku smiled. "You're my little sister and I'll always love you."

Azula's mind seemed to lock up for a moment, "Wh-" In her sudden stupor, she was unable to stop Kohaku from their hand tenderly on her head again.

"Remember that. I'll always be there for you. Just say the word." Azula just stared dumbstruck for a moment, but finally snapped out of the shock brought on by the sudden change in tone, quickly slapping Kohaku's hand away.

"What is the world is wrong with you, Zuihou!?"

Kohaku just tilted their head in confusion, glancing around.

". . . Kohaku. . ." Azula grumbled under her breath.

Kohaku smiled again, "Guess I'm just feeling a little sentimental today."

---

'Well played, old man, but I'm stubborn, too.' Kohaku managed to keep a straight face even as Ozai rapidly and without hesitation kicked out the foundations of everything Kohaku had been building over the last decade. "I understand, father. I'll make sure to properly earn the generous reward you've offered." Kohaku had no idea if said land was actually something Ozai would ever actually grant, but... Kohaku certainly wouldn't turn it down if it materialized.

With that, the two siblings left the room.

"If you keep glaring at me like that I might actually burst into flames and then what would you do?" Kohaku smirked wryly at Azula.

"Oh, what a tragedy that would be were our beloved Crown Princess to suddenly combust," Azula sniped back, her voice cold, but Kohaku could detect the tension just beneath the surface.

"My poor, dear sister. Still can't form an independent thought." Kohaku shook their head sadly. Azula's mouth just hung open silently for a moment. Seeking to seize the moment, Kohaku reached out to pat her on the head, but Azula quickly side-stepped it.

"I don't have time for this." Azula turned on her heel to walk away.

"I'll miss you," Kohaku called after her.

"I won't."

"Well, if you change your mind... I'll come running. Just say the word." Azula's stopped walking for just a moment, her fist clenching... but then the moment passed and in the next she'd turned the corner and was gone.

Kohaku sighed, lips curling into a frustrated grimace, "What an absolute pain in my ass," they muttered, referring to nothing specific and just sort've everything in general. They'd been naive to think that determination and a positive attitude would change everything. "And who the fuck is Zouren?" The fact that they didn't recognize that name gave them pause.

There shouldn't have been many names they didn't recognize, meaning this Fire Sage was some form of anomaly or another.

'Welp. Can't avoid it. Might as well get this over with. Ozai did say he'll make me stronger...' So with that, Kohaku made to go find the Sage.

---

Fire Nation - AG 85 - 99 (Fall)

---

Time passed for Lì Yang, day by day.

Maybe it was because he was more aware of himself this time around, but the years seemed to move more slowly than he remembered. Though that might have just been because so many more things had happened in what felt like very little time. His life was a whirlwind of activity, and that served him just fine. He was always an active person, and reincarnated or not, that hadn’t changed one bit.

When he turned of age, his parents sent him to school, with just a tiny bit of protest (whinging). Indoctrination was the name of the game, and it was a game he did not enjoy, which was quite an accomplishment, if a particularly bitter one. Other than that, it was quite odd, being surrounded by children again. They were his age, sure, but that was only physically. He never minded it too much since he (mostly) got along with everyone just fine, due in no small part to his unique talents.

Even with all of that, he didn’t slack off in his training for even a moment. Being strong was great and all, but without technique, it meant nothing. And ever since he stopped being restricted to an infant’s body, he could do something he hadn’t been capable of before. Practice restraint.

Strength of the kind that he possessed had many upsides to it—it was why he’d chosen it, after all—but it also came with its fair share of downsides. Namely, the fact that people were really fragile. Intellectually, he’d already been aware of that; humans were pretty resilient, but they could also be incredibly fragile. He knew that from experience. Before, it hadn’t been too big of an issue, but now....

Well, that thing about glass houses was a bit more literal in his case.

No matter. It wasn’t as if something so minor would stop him. Assessing and compensating for weaknesses was something he’d always been good at, kind of. Not like anyone here would care about that. They were much too captivated by his excellence.

It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that he was something of a celebrity.

There weren’t many people he knew of who could wrestle a platypus bear and win.

By the time he turned twelve, he was already being pushed to join the Fire Nation’s army, rather unsuccessfully. Despite not being a fire bender, his strength was more than enough to draw attention to himself, good and bad. It made him wonder how they would react if they knew the truth....

Speaking of talents, he was starting to get curious about a few (a lot) things in this new life of his. Hindsight being 20/20 and all that, he realised far too late that he should have asked more questions before diving headfirst into the (mostly) unknown. Nothing to be done about that now, though. All he could do was keep moving forward and figure things out along the way.

It was still weird how it all worked.

---

Fire Nation - AG 91 (Fall)

---

“Ow. Fudge and flapjacks.”

It was a familiar sight by now, not-so-little-anymore Lì Yang faceplanting harshly after launching himself from a tree yet again. He didn’t immediately move from his (surprisingly comfortable) bed of dirt, seeming content with remaining face down in his failure for several seconds more. Yet, it wasn’t embarrassment that kept him down, but rather thoughtfulness. His thoughts flowed a lot better after taking a good hit.

“.... This is hard.”

Sure, on some level, he already knew that, but he still seemed to have underestimated just how difficult it would be. He had the strength, he knew the moves, and yet he always faltered at the worst possible moment. It was more annoying than anything else, to be honest. He’d never had this much trouble learning a technique before, child or no. Sure, his limbs were still small and clumsy, and he couldn’t control his strength yet, and, and....

.... and he was rushing too much.

Sigh.... Lì Yang knew he was never much good at pacing himself. That had always been more someone else’s job, keeping him on track. What he needed now was a short break to refresh himself and then try again later.

With that in mind, Lì Yang pushed off the ground, balancing solely on the palm of his left hand. His legs crossed in the air, and he endeavoured to maintain his posture without the slightest tremble. His eyes fell shut, his breathing evened out, and just like that, Lì Yang’s mind wandered off.

*rustle*

....

*rustle*

....?

So, he wasn’t just hearing things! He wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not, yet.

Cautiously, or as cautiously as he could be, Lì Yang cracked open a single eyelid and found himself staring at.... a familiar upside-down snout? No, wait, it was actually positioned perfectly normally. He was the one wrong side up.

.... Why was he doing that again?

Ah, it didn’t matter. This was a far more interesting situation, anyway.

Lì Yang grinned broadly, his free hand waving somewhat awkwardly, given his position, as he addressed his new companion, “Hello~ again, friend!”

The little dragon moose did not respond in kind, merely blinking at him in seeming disinterest, but Lì Yang took the silence in stride as always. He’d get a stronger reaction out of it eventually. Maybe. Who knows what could–

All of a sudden, the little hybrid nudged his forearm. When that didn’t get a reaction, it pushed against the limb more insistently, finally snapping him from his thoughts. Lì Yang looked down/up at the pushy calf, tilting his head at it curiously. With a light push, the formerly upside-down boy flipped himself back to his feet, landing (mostly) without so much as a wobble. Hands on his hips and looking quite proud of himself, Lì Yang peered directly into his animal friend’s eyes now that they were practically eye-level.

“Oh~? Are you in need, friend?”

Naturally, the juvenile dragon moose (he needed to find an easier way of saying that) didn’t answer verbally. It did, however, walk away from him with no sense of urgency the moment he gave it his undivided attention. Naturally.

Lì Yang huffed in half-hearted annoyance, but followed the calf nonetheless. His curiosity was officially piqued, and he wouldn’t rest until he was satisfied!

....

.... Well, he’d said that, but now he had even more questions, and still no answers in sight!

Well, mostly. As it turned out, his dragon moose friend had been leading him somewhere, after all. Success! Of course, he still wasn’t sure of the why, but that didn’t matter quite as much as figuring out–

Hog monkeys!

Whatever train of thought had been going through Lì Yang’s mind was immediately derailed as a new sight took to the tracks. He’d never seen any before since his parents always said they were too unruly to be kept in any sort of confinement for long. There was something else, too, but he hadn’t really been paying attention. They were so, so.....

Lì Yang froze, staring at them wide-eyed as inspiration struck.

.... They were geniuses!

But, as much as he wanted to jump into it straight away, the sun was getting real low and he didn’t fancy his parents finding him breaking curfew. Again. But! He would be back tomorrow to finally put this learning experience behind him.

Lì Yang did not put the experience behind him the next day. Or the day after that, as a matter of fact. It was only on the third day that he made a breakthrough. Or rather, he was made to have a breakthrough. Turns out, the troop of primates had also gotten curious about the not-so-little human that had been observing them for the past few days. Of course, Lì Yang was more than happy to indulge them for as long as he could.

“Hello. Am I bothering you?”

The only response he received was one he identified as confusion. It was easy enough to see, considering he lived surrounded by no less than 50 different animals at any given time. Hog monkeys were new, sure, but not so different as to be inscrutable. If anything, they were easier to read than the others. Still, he would be remiss if he intruded on them. To that end, Lì Yang reached into his pocket and withdrew–

Lychee nuts!

That got their attention immediately.

A grin spread across Lì Yang’s face, and slowly, but surely, an idea took form.

Finally, on the fourth day.

Lì Yang breathed deeply, calmly. His eyes were laser-focused on the forest in front of him as he was watched by his newfound hog monkey friends. So focused was he that he didn’t even notice he’d drawn another crowd. His knees bent slightly, and then he was off, soaring between the trees as fast as he could go, the wind roaring in his ears. The minutes ticked by without him crashing into anything, and the more time passed, the more his smile widened.

He did it! He finally–

Ate dirt once again.

Ground - 2 — Lì Yang - 0

Without pause, Lì Yang bounced back onto his feet, a grin still etched on his face. The hog monkeys jumped and howled in celebration.

Step 1: Complete!

---

_{[Trope Acquisition: Disney Princess Animal Whisperer.]}

---

That had been quite the experience.

Sure, he might have been getting questions than answers, but so what? The more, the merrier, as he always said! Well, he was saying it now.

On to more important things, his neighbourhood town’s central square was crowded in a way he hadn’t quite seen before. A sole messenger from the capital had arrived in the afternoon, accompanied by a small group of soldiers. They brought with them a call for new volunteers for the Fire Nation’s grand army. Well, calling them “volunteers” was giving them too much credit. They weren’t precisely forced into service, but the pressure from their elders as well as their peers was almost as effective. It was fortunate, then, that Lì Yang’s parents were not quite so insistent for him to heed the call.

Still, the fact that this was happening now meant that the time was nigh. All of his waiting had led up to this (near) moment.

“About time.”

Siku - Response

A butterfly didn't flap its wings hard enough, and thus Chief Hakoda's decision to take the remaining Southern Water Tribe warriors to aid the Earth Kingdom did not change. This was counterbalanced by Kya surviving the following years and even recovering a little, while keeping the peace between Sokka, Katara, and Siku, whom some elders began to consider might be the next Waterbending Master of the tribe, or maybe even the new Avatar.

It was then that the Impostor who had taken over Aang's body made his move. As his iceberg washed up on the shore, the Impostor didn't wait to be found, lest Siku pre-emptively warn the Southern Water Tribe of his true nature. Instead, he pushed against his icy prison, causing a lattice of cracks to cover the surface, each crack leaking out sickly purple-tinted light as they grew and shattered the iceberg into many gleaming snowflakes.

The column of light that rose up into the air, a column of that same purple-tinted light, was the signal that the game has begun; the various Reincarnates have a limited window of time before he created a new spiritual age...

---

Shortly after the column of light lit up the daytime sky, a stranger was seen walking towards the Southern Water Tribe village, radiating a sense of unnatural awe and calm. Sokka drew his boomerang-axe, his eyes fixed in suspicion, but found his mother putting a hand on his shoulder; Kya knew this stranger was suspicious, but saw that he was something that no one here can contest. And indeed this is true, for this stranger, a twelve-year-old in Air Nomad Robes, would bend air, water, and earth in circles in front of them all, before conjuring up a few token sparks of fire, and bow deeply, saying:

"Greetings; I am the Avatar, and I have returned from a long imprisonment - The reason for my disapperance was because I have been sealed in the Spirit World by those who thought nothing of the connection between Humans and Spirits. But now, thanks to the blessings of the Spirit World; I have returned much-enlightened, and seek to bring you all not just to victory against the Fire Nation, but to create an age of Harmony that would ensure no one harms us again!"

There was something unnatural in the Impostor's words that sunk into the minds of people, but Sokka, Katara, and Kya managed to resist it, all three launching a series of questions at 'The Avatar' at such a pace and pitch that even Siku cannot know which of them asked which question.

"Why didn't you escape earlier?!"

"Who imprisoned you in the first place?!"

"How did you even be trapped in the Spirit World and not age?!"

Then suddenly...

"QUIET!" Gran Gran Kanna's voice was filled with an uncharacteristic wrath and venom, venom so uncharacteristic that all three members of her family shut up. "Is this any way to talk to our savior?!"

She and the other remaining elders and women of the Southern Water Tribe began bowing to The Impostor, praising him and asking what his wishes were in an out of character manner, and Siku, if he wasn't shocked by his Gran Gran turning against them, would see Fake Aang, aka Unalaq, smirk sideways...

@Crimson Flame

Saving Kya seemed to change everything. Katara and Sokka was supposed to find Aang frozen in the iceberg. Instead, there was purple light in the sky, then shortly after, “Aang” just casually walked up to the tribe. He looked like Aang, sounded like Aang and yet… It definitely wasn’t Aang. He bent Earth, Water, Air with casual ease. He even summoned a little bit of fire just to show off. The villagers gasped in awe.

Everyone except Katara, Sokka, and Kya. They didn’t bow. They didn’t cheer. They seemed to be the only ones that didn’t believe the false Aang’s lies. They immediately started bargaining the fake Avatar with questions, until Gran Gran shut them up. Even Gran Gran the wisest person he knew, had been taken by him.

Then Siku saw that crooked familiar smirk. Like the one he saw in his dreams. This was it. It was happening. Siku staggered back a step. “No…” he whispered, eyes wide. “No no no no…” He muttered to himself. “We have to get out of here,” he whispered to his siblings and mother. “This is wrong...”

Li Yang - Response

When Li Yang signed up, his parents were promptly rewarded with several strings of cash, before the young man was promptly given twelve hours to part with his family before being shipped off - Literally, as he's going by boat to his place of 'training'; a fortress and boot camp across the sea.

This facility of wood, stone, and metal, well-placed in the Fire Nation Colonies, was easy for someone like Li Yang; any shmuck who would try and haze him, even if they were Firebenders, would be easily beaten and humiliated by someone with his physical strength. Now was the time for the Fire Nation to use this for their efforts to continue the subjugation of the Earth Kingdom. So, once they saw Li Yang's strength and endurance, his trainers decided to give it their all to forge him into a living weapon.

He was assigned to fight older, more experienced recruits, some of whom were given actual bladed weapons in the training rings. Then, a trainer had the idea of having him train directly against firebenders, and was surprised that Li's body could endure a direct hit by a fireball. Eventually, they decided to test out whether Li Yang's monstrous strength can allow him to match a tank, and decided to have him 'fight' a tank one on one, a metal tank whose crew included an experienced firebender.

Nedless to say, it was a bad decision for the tank crew; all that needed to be known was how bad.

Upon his unexpected success, depending on how much the tank was wrecked, the teenager would be given the title, "The Monster," not just out of terror, but also from a sense of pride: With him, the Fire Nation can expect a new generation of successful warriors.

His first mission would come just a day before the False Avatar's Awakening, when he was summoned to the local Colonel's briefing room, where the Colonel would give him his assignment.

"Private First Class Li Yang, you have officially been promoted to Corporal; your first assignment is to take a squad of fighters - some older than you - to the forests around the village of Gaipan, one of our outposts in the Western Earth Kingdom. There, a group of partisans known as the 'Freedom Fighters' are attacking Fire Nation troops and the occasional civilian. Kill their leader, a young man close to your age named Jet, and as many of them as possible, but capture a few survivors for public execution."

The Colonel clearly thought Li Yang was someone who would glory in that, an actual monster. Nevertheless, taking out Jet would be a task worthy of the fight-junkie's task indeed... Or would this be an opportunity to betray the Fire Nation? His choices would shape the landscape...

@Aku the Samurai

While everyone was bowing down to the fake Avatar, Siku and his family made a run for it.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” Sokka whispered. His fists were clenched, and he held on to his boomerang like his life depended on it. “Running isn’t going to fix anything. We should fight him. We should—”

“No,” Siku cut in, voice harsher than he felt. “We can’t face him yet. He’s… wrong. Something about him isn’t natural. If we try to take him on now, we’ll lose.”

For a moment, Siku thought Sokka might argue, might turn back and charge at the imposter with nothing but anger and a boomerang.

But then Katara grabbed Sokka’s wrist. “He’s right. We can’t help anyone if we’re dead. We have to live to fight another day.”

Kya, bringing up the rear, cast a quick glance over her shoulder. “Stay close. Keep quiet. We’ll figure this out, but not here.”

And with that the family made their escape in the snow. The sounds of the other tribespeople echoing behind them.

Siku - Response

Sadly for Siku and his family, Unalaq/Fake Aang did not fail to spot them, and as they snuck off, a wall of ice and earth rose in front of them, barring their way. The Dark Avatar walked towards the three, saying, "Ah, Sokka, Katara, Kya, and Little Siku, why the hurry? Don't we have a world to be saving?"

Unalaq/Fake Aang then turned towards the now-scornful members of the tribe, saying, "Forgive these doubters! They merely do not see that our tribe is on the verge of reconciliation with the Spirits! Now, people of the village, prepare to pray for a new spiritual age and the defeat of the Fire Nation! I decree a day of fasting and meditation, even as I cleanse the shores of the South of the hated Fire Nation Raiders!"

The people of the Southern Water Tribe village cheered at that, not knowing they were signing up for their doom. Unalaq/Fake Aang turned to Siku and the others, his expression a mix of a gloat and a sneer, knowing that he had permanently destroyed the past with this intervention.

---

General Iroh had sensed that something was wrong and had hurried to the site of the column of purple light, finding a wounded and burnt Sky Bison whimpering on the snowy ground. Against his nephew's call to kill it, he ordered the crew's veterinarian to tend to its wounds; Sky Bisons were rare creatures, after all. Then he and Prince Zuko, the nephew in question, rushed over to track the footprints of the person who had been frozen in the iceberg, just the two of them, leaving their men behind as this was just that urgent.

They managed to reach the village and bust through the makeshift wall of snow, and all Iroh can do was look at Unalaq/Fake Aang and shout, his knowledge coming from both instinct and experience, "Impostor!"

Unalaq/Fake Aang began bending all four elements again, forming rings of air, water, earth, and fire around himself as he spoke, "Call me that again, old man, I dare you..."

Iroh was the only one who could realistically take on Fake Aang. But can he win, even with Zuko at his side? What can Siku do?

@Crimson Flame

---

Fire Nation - AG 99

---

Lì Yang didn’t think much of it when he signed up. It gave him an excuse to leave the Fire Nation without raising any alarms and allowed him a level of freedom he didn’t have before, ignoring, of course, the terrible, horrible things the military was expected to do. His parents were accepting of his decision for the most part, though he had to endure more than a little worried coddling from his mother before he was allowed to set off with the rest of the recruits.

Military life would be a first for Lì Yang, different universe or not. The facility of wood, stone, and metal, which made up the military barracks of the Fire Nation, was a sight to behold. In this life, at least, he hadn’t seen a sight like it before. It didn’t quite bring about the same sense of scale or majesty that the royal palace had when he’d visited the capital a few years ago, but that was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was the “hazing ritual”, as they called it. It piqued his interest initially, but he lost that interest quickly when he realised what it all entailed.

Ineffectual bullying.

Of course, dealing with them the way he had was bound to draw attention. Once he was brought before his commanding officer, however, it wasn’t for a punishment as he’d believed it to be. Instead, they sought to put his strength to better use; to make him into a living weapon. For Lì Yang’s part, he was more than excited to be put through his paces.

It didn’t last.

At first, he was simply assigned to fight more experienced recruits, some of whom were armed with bladed weapons in the training rings. None of them lasted more than a minute against him. It wasn’t until the tenth unconscious recruit was being carried to the infirmary that they decided it was time for a change. Since regular fighters didn’t stand a chance, someone had the bright idea of letting him get into the ring with a fire-bender, thinking that would finally put a stop to his streak. Lì Yang couldn’t hold back a cheery grin at the look on their faces when he shrugged off getting hit directly by a fireball.

Eventually, they had only a single test left; Lì Yang’s greatest test yet. Going head to head with a fully-crewed Fire Nation tank headed by a fire-bending soldier. Most people in such a situation would be riddled with nerves, at the very least. Lì Yang was not most people. He was more enthusiastic than he’d ever been, and yet he couldn’t act on it.

Restraint. Sigh....

As much as he would have loved to cut loose, in the long run, it would only hurt his future chances to show his entire hand here. The full extent of his strength would have to remain unknown for now. Still, that didn’t mean he was going to lose. All it meant was that the tank would only be “slightly” damaged when he was done.

That was nice of him, right? Right.

---

Apparently, Lì Yang’s definition of nice was a bit incongruous with his peers. He didn’t even know what the problem was! The tank had still been functional, if inverted and a bit dented, when he was done. And, he’d even flipped it back onto its treads after the fact. That was good, right? No one else seemed to think so.

They’d even taken to calling him “The Monster” after that event. It wasn’t quite what he expected his first nickname to be here, but he was stuck with it now. Oh, well, there’d be plenty of chances to get a better one later.

Then came his first mission.

It was midday when Lì Yang found himself standing at attention before the local Colonel, a man named Lao.

“Private First Class Li Yang, you have officially been promoted to Corporal; your first assignment is to take a squad of fighters - some older than you - to the forests around the village of Gaipan, one of our outposts in the Western Earth Kingdom. There, a group of partisans known as the 'Freedom Fighters' are attacking Fire Nation troops and the occasional civilian. Kill their leader, a young man close to your age named Jet, and as many of them as possible, but capture a few survivors for public execution.”

“Understood, Colonel.”

While his face betrayed no emotion, on the inside, Lì Yang was.... well, surprised was far too tame a word for it, but it was the best he had.

As he left the Colonel’s office, his thoughts were troubled.

Hunting the Freedom Fighters? The Colonel obviously thought he would find some kind of glory in that as a citizen of the Fire Nation. Of course, Lì Yang had no way of knowing what exactly was going on inside the man’s head, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Refusing the mission wasn’t really possible at this juncture, but killing people who were fighting against the tyranny of the Fire Nation kind of rubbed him the wrong way. A not-so-small part of him was still thrilled at the idea of taking on guerrilla fighters, despite the obvious issues. It wasn’t like the Freedom Fighters were entirely innocent, anyway....

Ah, whatever, stressing over something that hadn’t happened yet wouldn’t do him any good. It would take several days to get to the Earth Kingdom from this base, so he’d just figure things out then.

He had time.

SUMMER 67 AG FIRE NATION
Asura SAOWON

it felt like being mocked when I woke up like this—trapped in a body too weak to lift its own head, lungs too small for a full breath, wrapped in cloth like some fragile being. The world around me loomed vast and distorted; every sound was too loud, and each ray of light was too bright. The first few days, indeed, were hazy with helplessness. I couldn't speak, couldn't move, couldn't even blink without the extreme effort.

That wasn't the worst part.

It was the awareness.

I remembered.

My old life: my quiet apartment, the scent of old books, the way rays of light slanted down on the walls in late afternoons. I recalled the dying. That seemed peaceful. No pain came along. It was just the slow fading away, probably akin to sinking into deep water. And then...this.

Reborn.

My parents, Jinzuk and Rina, treated me like something precious. My mother would hold me with steady hands, though there was always some tension in her grip for she seemed afraid I might slip through her fingers. My father was different. Not cold, but... watchful. There was something in his eyes when he looked at me. Something heavy. Recognition? Fear? Guilt? I couldn't yet say.

Then came Ursa.

My sister. Three years my senior, eyes as sharp as her wit. She would talk to me as if I comprehended all her words, and perhaps I did. I feel as though she sensed something weirdly wrong. She studied me too intently. When our parents were away, she would sit next to my crib whispering stories--not for comfort, I think, but to gauge me. To see if I would respond like a normal infant.

I was careful not to give away too much.

No one said it aloud, but I could almost feel that iamb: an unwritten rule. Stay quiet. Do not stand out.

Until, finally, at six months, it happened.

I wasn’t doing anything. I wasn’t angry. I wasn’t frightened. I was just overwhelmed. From the heat, social noises, and thick smoke of incense, I was just too much with it. My heart moaned and I felt tingly. Something coiled within me and rumbled up my throat like a living thing.

And then—fire.

Never had I seen such fire.

Not red. Not orange.

Black.

Thick, dark flames gushed from my mouth, the sound reminiscent of oil sizzling in a forge. The air shimmered with heat, but the fire was all wrong: it was too dense and heavy, like liquid shadow taking physical form.

The room fell still.

Ursa did not scream. She simply stared, her eyes wide and unblinking.

My father retreated a step, paling in complexion. Not at shock genuine recognition. As if he'd heard of this before.

My mother fell onto her knees, pressing me to her chest; but this was not the gentle embrace from before. This was panic. This was fright they never spoke of it but something changed after it had the house grew quieter. Fewer visitors. More whispers. I caught glimpses of men in dark robes-Fire Sages, maybe-coming and going when they thought I was asleep. Their voices were low, urgent.


Unusual...
The legacy...
Dangerous...

I didn't understand. Not entirely.

Was this some quirk of reincarnation? A side effect of my soul being shoved into a new body? Or was it something deeper—something tied to this family bloodline?