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.
8 Years Ago
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.”
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