chapter 6

From the short time that Ryga had been there, he'd gathered that the Southern Water

Tribe was tiny, empty, and yet somehow crowded at the same time, a place where the only

things to do were fish or talk to people (neither of which Ryga particularly enjoyed).

As they strode through the icy streets of the Northern Water Tribe, Ryga found himself

wishing he were back at Sokka and Katara's home.

Sure, the city was absolutely stunning, an architectural masterpiece the likes of which

he'd never seen, whatever. But from what the show of Avatar had shown him, it was also deeply

rooted in fucked-up tradition that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

Not that he was going to mention that and kill the mood. The others were having a great

time exploring the city, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything in sight. He sighed, watching his

breath wisp away on the frigid breeze. In just a few days, maybe a week, the tribe's serenity

would come to an end. He couldn't say he was particularly looking forward to it.

He looked over at Katara and couldn't keep himself from smiling at her awed expression.

"I've never seen anything like this..." she whispered.

Some jackass waterbender would burst her bubble soon. Then the Fire Nation, and

Aang getting lost in the Spirit World. But Ryga was learning that telling the group not to get their

hopes up didn't prepare them for what was ahead. It just made them anxious and angry. So...

might as well enjoy the moment while it lasted, right?

He looked up, allowing himself to marvel at the incredible beauty all around him, and at

that exact moment, his foot hit a particularly slippery patch of ice, and he fell to the ground,

wincing. Yeah, just his luck.

"Are you all right?" Katara leaned over him and reached a hand out. Ryga hesitated,

then took it, letting her pull him up. And even though all this was only temporary, even though

Sokka and Aang were both laughing at him, even though it made his heart race, when he was

back on his feet, he only gripped her hand tighter. She gripped his back.

"You didn't tell me that one of your friends was a girl."

"What's it to you?" Ryga asked before Aang had the chance, semi-conscious of stepping

protectively in front of Katara. "She's a great waterbender and a great fighter."

The man looked down his nose at them. Like they were pathetic. Worthless.

The same way his parents would look at him every single day.

"Women have no place in combat. Your skills are for medical use exclusively. Now hurry

off so I don't have more than two children wasting my time."

"No!" Katara shouted. "I didn't come all this way to be told 'no' just because I'm a girl."

She looked genuinely furious, maybe for the first time since Ryga had met her. "You're gonna

teach us all waterbending, or -"

"Or what?" the man interrupted. "Tell me, what horrible pains are you going to inflict upon

me?" He paused. "So I thought. Tell you what, while we're playing this game. You give up your

foolish ideas and never return here, or I refuse to train your friends." And that goddamn -

condescending - smirk

Katara let out a hic, and Ryga was alarmed to see she was choking back tears while still

glaring daggers at the man. "Fine," she spat. "But not because I agree with you. Just for Aang.

And for the record, I think you're an ignorant old jerk!"

The man sighed, as though they were the ones doing him a great injustice. "Now, now.

Let's not get hysterical -"

Thwack!

Ryga leapt back as the water ball from his Flip Turn smacked the waterbender in the

face before he had the chance to stop gloating. The man turned his head ever so slightly to

glare at Ryga. "Why, you insolent little -"

"Guys." Katara's voice stopped Ryga in his tracks just as he was gearing up another Flip

Turn. Aang reluctantly settled back from a fighting stance. "It's not worth it, really. This is

important. Aang needs to learn to waterbend."

The man smirked. "Finally, she listens to reason. Run along, now. You too, loudmouth,"

he added, pointing at Ryga. "No one who shows me such disrespect can be allowed to learn

from me."

Ryga flipped him off and ran after Katara.

"It's not true, you know."

Katara looked up from the snowbank she had slumped down into. "Huh?"

Ryga lay down next to her and spread his arms and legs out in a lackluster attempt at a

snow angel. "You're a great waterbender. And even if you weren't, it wouldn't be because you

were a girl. That guy seriously sucks."

Katara sighed. "Yeah, I know." She lifted her head a bit to look over him scissoring his

arms and legs and smiled, following his example. "I know, just... it's kinda hard to believe

sometimes. It wasn't this bad back at home, I could still waterbend, but girls weren't allowed to

fight. That's why Sokka was such a sexist pig when you first met him." She turned her head,

pressing her cheek against the snow. "It wasn't his fault, really. He was just listening to what

he'd been told all his life: the strong men have to protect the weak girls. And sometimes..." She

swallowed. "Sometimes it's hard not to think that myself."

Ryga's mittened hand brushed against Katara's. She smiled at him, blushing, and took it.

"Take it from me, Katara. Whatever strengths and weaknesses you have, or anyone has, they've

got nothing to do with gender. You're just you, and you're... incredible." He was blushing too by

the end of the sentence.

Katara smiled at him and touched her forehead against his. "You're sweet, Ryga. Thank

you." He smiled back - and then, just as he was starting to get lost in the moment, Katara

jumped to her feet. "And you're right! That guy is terrible and wrong, and I'm gonna learn

waterbending no matter what."

Ryga pulled himself to his feet, much less gracefully. "Glad you're excited."

"You bet I am! No way can I just sit back and let him win." She paused, thinking. "That

stuff, about how Sokka used to act just like that... ever since we left, he's been a lot more

open-minded. Do you know what happened?"

"We went to Kyoshi, and those warrior ladies kicked his butt." One of the hardest things

about adjusting to the world of Avatar was not cursing.

Katara snapped her fingers. "That's it! Thanks, Ryga. You're the best." She pecked him

on the cheek and raced off. "HEY!" he heard her shout. "WATERBENDING GUY!!"

Ryga brushed some excess snow off his pants, stretched, and headed off to witness the

ass-kicking of the year.

It had always bothered Ryga how quickly the misogynistic waterbender changed his

whole worldview.

Not that it wasn't a good lesson for children - even the worst people can see reason -

and children were after all the target audience. But it wasn't right. It wasn't true.

Sokka's sudden 180 was a bit more understandable. He was young and well-intentioned,

easier to turn around. But this man had been inundated in the Water Tribe's sexist culture for

what, eighty years? You couldn't change that overnight.

Katara won the fight this time. Ryga was glad; it might've been realistic that she lost in

the show, but it was also totally unsatisfying. But the man still recognized her necklace, and they

still had that whole 'I miss my runaway bride' routine. And yeah, maybe realizing that your dated

attitude was what really drove the love of your life away would be a pretty strong motivator to

change. Still, Ryga had a hard time joining in the celebration. He'd had too much experience

with cruelty to believe it could truly be erased over the course of a twenty-minute parable.

"Katara, good form! The rest of you, try to take a lesson from that girl and stop

embarrassing yourselves! That means you, grimace!"

Ryga grimaced harder. He'd been able to bend the Pokemon rules a bit and modify Flip

Turn to work in a few different ways, but he was still leagues behind everybody else in terms of

'waterbending'. "Dude, I'm trying! I'm taking this seriously!"

"Good. Then you won't mind staying late to practice."

"Man, he got you good, huh?" Katara teased, flicking a sopping tendril of hair off Ryga's

forehead.

"I don't want to talk about it." Ryga shook his head like a dog, trying to dislodge some of

the water that was starting to freeze over his body. It did not help.

Katara's smile faded as she looked at him. "You know, you are kind of far behind

everyone else."

Ryga's throat closed up. "Yeah, thanks."

"I mean -" Katara shook her head. "No, sorry. Just - maybe it works different for you.

You're special, you can obviously use more than one element, but maybe that comes at the cost

of strength."

Some of the tension left Ryga's shoulders. "Yeah, maybe."

Or maybe he finally needed to get some new skills.

He wasn't quite sure why he hadn't yet. Maybe he'd forgotten, been too busy from one

near-death experience to the next. More likely, he'd been too proud to admit that he couldn't just

shape the System on his own, that he needed help from whatever cosmic fuck-up had sent him

here in the first place.

Katara scanned his face, seemed to mistake the resignation there for dejection. "I'm

really sorry. I... didn't mean that the way it sounded."

Ryga shook his head, put on a fake smile. He didn't know how convincing it was. He'd

never bothered with fake smiles before, in his old life; preferred to just let himself naturally drive

away the people around him. But now he had someone he genuinely cared about, and it was

necessary. "Yeah, it's fine. And I get what you mean." He looked up at the sky - the nomad

equivalent of checking your watch. "Getting kinda late. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Katara walked back to the inn they'd been staying at, and Ryga walked out into the night.

The pause screen had been a little unnerving at first. Strange, watching the world stop

around him. Now, it just felt... peaceful. A much-needed escape.

Over the weeks (months?) he'd been in this world, Ryga had amassed 20 Skill Tickets

and four Summon Tickets. He was saving the latter for a max-tier Pokemon, but the former...

Obviously he needed more Water-type skills. It was necessary for the situation. But... he

did have plenty of tickets to spare.

He did the math in his head. He should get at least three Water-type skills and at least

one Ice-type skill, which would leave him with eleven tickets to spare. He could, of course, save

them for if the plot demanded them.

But fuck the plot, right? Fuck it all.

He spun the Water-type wheel first. "Soak." He frowned, reading the description. "How's

a Type change even going to -" His eyes widened, and a smile spread across his face. "Oh...

this'll be fun to use." He shook his head, spinning the wheel again. "Time for goofiness later.

And... Scald." He winced. "I mean... I know he's not actually Todoroki, but I'd still feel pretty

fucking guilty using this on Zuko. Anyway. Last one... Surging Strikes!" Ryga pumped a fist in

the air. "Awesome. Completely and entirely awesome."

Ryga clicked over to the Ice wheel, then hesitated, shook his head again. He really

should conserve his tickets, and Surging Strikes alone could carry him pretty far. Also, he was

just tired. He'd been getting less and less tired lately, probably from the stamina he'd gained as

a result of the dramatic increase in physical activity the journey had necessitated, but after

today, he felt drop-dead exhausted. He unpaused, took a moment to adjust back to the chilly air,

and headed back to the inn.

Was he too cynical?

The answer to that was an obvious yes, so he decided to rephrase. Was he being too

cynical about the old waterbender?

Maybe not. Maybe he was just being realistic. Sane. Logical.

But he was quite literally in a cartoon world now, following cartoon logic. Real-world logic

wouldn't get him very far.

Ryga relaxed back into his pillow, letting himself enjoy the simple luxury of a bed. Maybe

I am overthinking things. Maybe just a little nudge really is enough for somebody to change.

Maybe if he could change, I can change too.

Maybe I can become someone people love.

Maybe I can become someone who deserves love.

Who deserves... Katara.

Ryga closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, it was with something

resembling hope.

SKILL MENU:

PLOT ARMOR

TYPE: N/A

RANKING: N/A

DESCRIPTION: Received upon first entering the System; grants the user the inability to die, as

well as the ability to grant the inability to die to a maximum of three others.

FLIP TURN

TYPE: WATER

RANKING: 2/5

DESCRIPTION: After making their attack, the user rushes back to switch places with a party

member in waiting.

BATON PASS

TYPE: NORMAL

RANKING: 2/5

DESCRIPTION: The user switches places with a party member in waiting and passes along any

stat changes.

RAGING FURY

TYPE: FIRE

RANKING: 3/5

DESCRIPTION: The user rampages and spews vicious flames to inflict damage on the target,

then becomes fixated on using this move.

WATER SPORT

TYPE: WATER

RANKING: 3/5

DESCRIPTION: Weakens Fire-type attacks while the user is in battle.

KING'S SHIELD

TYPE: STEEL

RANKING: 4/5

DESCRIPTION: The user takes a defensive stance while they protect themself from damage. It

also lowers the Attack stat of any attacker that makes direct contact.

SOAK

TYPE: WATER

RANKING: 4/5

DESCRIPTION: The user shoots a torrent of water at the target and changes the target's type to

Water.

SCALD

TYPE: WATER

RANKING: 3/5

DESCRIPTION: The user shoots boiling hot water at its target. This may also leave the target

with a burn.

SURGING STRIKES

TYPE: WATER

RANKING: 5/5

DESCRIPTION: The user, having mastered the Water style, strikes the target with a flowing

motion three times in a row. This attack always results in a critical hit.