chapter 3

This was it. This was happening. He was about to beat up a bunch of Fire Nation

soldiers.

"New quest created: Defeat the Fire Nation Soldiers."

There was probably something Ryga should address before beating up a bunch of

superpowered thugs, though. Namely: how the fuck do you fight??

"Bit late to be asking that question, isn't it?"

"Shut up, Dave."

"New quest created: Learn to Fight."

"What did I just say??"

Well, at least he had that going for him - his instinctive talking to the voice in his head

served to confuse the hell out of pretty much everyone around him. The Fire Nation soldiers had

paused mid-firebend to look at each other in confusion. He needed to strike now, while he had

the advantage.

Problem was, he had all these great skills and no clue at all how to use them. It wasn't

like he had a controller on hand, press A to fuck up the Fire Nation or something. "You're really

not gonna help me out at all."

"I thought it was obvious," Dave said, distracting Ryga almost too much to notice the ten

fireballs coming for his head. Apparently these assholes saw him as a threat. Just fuckin' great.

"Focus on the skill you want to use, imagine yourself using it, and do what you imagine."

"How would that be obvious??" Ryga demanded just before face-planting into the dirt as

a brilliant dodging maneuver. "It's freakin' stupid. What, I just manifest it into existence?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, would you rather burn to a crisp?"

"Fuckin' asshole," Ryga muttered to himself - quietly; this was a kids' show, after all.

"Okay, bud, hit me. What's the best skill I've got?"

"Your most powerful move is Core Enforcer, rank S. Deals 100 damage with 100%

accuracy."

Ryga ducked behind a building just in time to not get incinerated. "How do the damage

points translate, exactly?"

"Does it matter?"

Ryga shrugged. "Guess not." He closed his eyes, took a deep breath. "Okay. Core

Enforcer. Gotta enforce... my core."

He concentrated. Thought of his energy, moving throughout his body to his core. All

coalescing into an unstoppable force, so strong he could swear he felt it.

He let out a yell and opened his eyes just in time to see a flash of green light knock the

Fire Nation soldiers back.

"Holy shit," he whispered. "Thanks for the assist, man."

"Thanks for getting off your ass."

"Hey, I literally just thanked you two seconds ago. No need to get all snarky."

"In case you hadn't noticed, they're still coming."

Ryga peeked back out from the house he'd taken cover behind. "Shit, yeah. Do I have

PP here? I mean - ugh, that sounds gross -"

"You have unlimited access to your skills, Ryga."

"Thanks, man." Ryga jumped out, faced the slightly terrified-looking Fire Nation soldiers

head-on. "Hey, fellas! Ready to get spammed into oblivion?

Turned out, now that he'd already fully visualized and seen it in action at least once, it

was much easier to conjure the second time around. So much so, in fact, that he could just...

think it really fast, and then it would happen. The brain equivalent of spam-clicking - and way

more satisfying than mowing down enemies in a video game. Ryga couldn't help but laugh,

watching the soldiers get knocked back again and again, although he did relent when it became

obvious they were just trying to get away. He wasn't just powerful; he was totally

incomprehensible within this universe. He did feel a little bad; they might be ruthless killers, but

they were also human beings under the control of a dictatorship. Still, he couldn't help waving

goodbye as the Fire Nation forces retreated.

The crowd that had backed away from him before was slowly gathering around him

again. "What... what was that?" somebody stammered.

Ryga looked down, sighed. This was going to be fun to explain. "I'm... well, my powers

aren't exactly like normal bending. I..." He hesitated, then decided there was literally no sane

explanation he could give and went with the truth. "I'm not from this world. I woke up here with

these crazy powers, like I got reincarnated or something -"

"So it's true!" someone gasped. "You are the Avatar!"

Ryga facepalmed. "No... no, like, not like traditional dying-and-getting-reborn

reincarnation. I sort of just... got transported here? Look, it's weird, and I get it if you don't

believe me, but -"

He saw the looks on the crowd's faces, broke off abruptly. They were staring at him with

something like awe.

"Quest Defeat the Fire Nation Soldiers Complete. Quest Learn to Fight Complete."

Yeah, thanks, buddy.

"You guys want me to go, or...?" Ryga asked tentatively.

From the small uproar that resulted, Ryga guessed the answer was no.

Being a Christ figure was not as profitable as Ryga had expected.

Then again, just thinking about the money in the first place probably made him a pretty

crappy Christ figure to begin with. Maybe that was why he was flat broke.

It was sad, leaving that town behind. Recognition was nice, and, corny as it sounded,

being able to help people and make a difference was even better. But the cost of living was just

too great. Plus, all the reverent whispers and unabashed staring was starting to get seriously

weird.

Ryga took one last look behind him at the tearfully waving citizens. Checked one last

time through his bag, and sure enough, two copper pieces gathering dust and nothing else. He

sighed. "Dave, could you get Enamorus in here?"

"Sure thing. Just one moment..."

Ryga opened up his hand, and after a moment, a cool, smooth ball appeared within it.

He hurled the Pokeball, and Enoramus sprung forward. "Hey, girl! How's it going?" He

awkwardly clambered up her shell, painfully aware of the confused, almost afraid looks he was

attracting. "See you guys!"

The Pokemon took off, and as Ryga lay back on her shell, he was struck with one

pressing question that he'd been seriously procrastinating on answering: where was he going??

He could try the Northern Water Tribe. Get there early, bond with Yue (who he most

definitely did not have a crush on, thank you very much), maybe beat up her shitty fiance (not

out of jealousy, out of principle) -

"I can literally read your mind, Ryga. You don't have to pretend not to like Yue."

Shit. Ryga rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh... yeah. Sorry. Just... kinda embarrassing,

you know?"

"Sorry. Would you like to pretend I hadn't said anything?"

"I would like that very much, thank you."

Anyway. Northern Water Tribe it was, then. Although it would take a pretty long while to

get there. He was pretty sure Enamorus was faster than a flying bison, but even then, he'd need

to prepare for a serious road trip. Or whatever the equivalent of a road trip was when you were

flying on the back of a giant turtle thing.

"Hey, Dave - how does the whole time thing work? Like, when I go into your weird wheel

room, does this world just... pause?"

"Yes."

"Cool." Ryga had been a little worried about falling off and dying the second his soul

disappeared from this reality. "I guess I'll head over - huh?"

Ryga glanced down at the ground, and maybe it was his imagination, but he had

watched and rewatched Avatar enough times to have the layouts of all the major towns and

cities down pat. "Holy shit, is this Toph's village??"

"Yes. Also, just a reminder: you are sixteen, and she is twelve."

"Ugh." Ryga made a face. "Why would you feel the need to clarify that? What do you

take me for?" He shook his head. "Whatever. That's not it. She's a main character from this

world, man! And an earthbending fiend. I just want to meet her, maybe save her from her shitty

parents and give my crippling hero complex an outlet."

"...Your thoughts indicate that this is true. But I'm watching you."

"Yeah, dude, I know. Have some faith in me, alright? And what is it exactly about me that

screams 'total creep'?"

Enamorus touched down on the earth and twisted her head around to give Ryga a

nudge. "Alright, girl. Guess this is our first stop." He dug the Pokeball out from his pocket,

tossed it into the air, and with a flash of light, Enamorus disappeared. "Mind storing that for me,

Dave?"

The Pokeball disappeared from his hand. "Stored in World One."

"Thanks, buddy." Ryga looked around, noticed people staring - namely, every single

person in the general vicinity of where he'd touched down. Not exactly surprising; even for this

universe, a giant flying turtle creature was pretty out there. "Hey, guys," he said, waving a hand

awkwardly. "So... anybody hiring? I'm a heck of a cashier.