Chapter 3: Chapter 3 : Leaving and Experimentation
*Nana's office*
I and Nana were sitting looking at each other across her desk.
"You wanted to talk about something Hanzo?" She asked with a kind smile.
Nana was a sweet 80 years old lady with a round face, pale green eyes, and grey medium-length hair done in a bun. The woman wore a kind smile and always knew what to say to both kids and adults.
"I wanted to inform you that I'm going to leave to search for an earthbending master." I state firmly waiting to be reprimanded.
"Already?" She asks me with a knowing smirk.
"I know that this may come as a surpr- Wait! You know I can earthbend!?" I ask in disbelief, instantly scraping the whole speech I had prepared.
"I'm old, not stupid Hanzo." She smirks at me.
"Does that mean I can go?"
"I might not be stupid but I'm still old I can't keep you here and I know that look, that fire I see in your eyes all I can ask is to listen to an old lady."
All I do is nod in agreement.
"You're a smart kid Hanzo especially for a six-year-old, don't think I didn't see you breeze through all the books in the orphanage within two weeks. Or the way you look out for the kids and the donations from 'mysterious' earthbender 'master'."
I blush a little when getting found out by Nana.
"Hanzo, just please be careful. I know you want to do good but fighting is not always the answer. You have a gift so don't lose yourself in violence as so many already have." At the end of the speech, she basically begs me, probably talking from experience. 'If only she knew what I did.'
"Ok." Is all I can answer.
...
The next morning with a backpack full of supplies I looked at the orphanage one last time and left Omashu for Foggy Swamp.
Along the road, I mentally check the map I memorized a while back. It will take at least a week to enter the Foggy Swamp region, maybe even longer with my short child feet.
*Three days later*
At least my seismic sense is seeing some progress as it takes less and less conscious effort to 'see' around me. Still can't do it without at least lightly tapping my foot on the ground though.
As I ponder over my progress while walking I sense the road blocked by a log and some people further in the woods getting ready to ambush me. 'Fuking bandits' is all I think.
A bit cliche if you ask me but what did you expect with an earth queen like ours. She is the reason most of the earth nation is still rural and most people barely scrape by.
Coming up to the log I stand and wait for the bandits getting ready to ambush a six year old kid.
As five guys surround me and slowly come out of hiding a short bald man looking like the leader steps forward with a vicious smirk trying to unsuccessfully intimidate me speaks up.
"Hand over everything you have brat and we might let you leave" The leader demands.
I sign and tell the group in my most bored voice. "I listen here pal because I'm only going to say this once. You all drop your weapons and leave or there will be consequences."
Bandits stay silent for a while, looking at one another, and then burst out laughing. After a while, the leader speaks up while wiping a tear away. "You're a funny brat. What can a snot-nosed kid like you do?"
He then gets serious and pulls out a knife and threatens. "Now hand over anything of value or suffer"
" You know I was trying to solve problems without violence." I sigh again. " Baby steps Hanzo"
*Ten minutes later*
""We're sorry young master!"" All five goons with varying amounts of bruises say in unison, kowtowing to me while I pack up the last of the metal daggers they had.
"Now what are you going to do when I leave?"
""Get a real job young master!""
"And you all understand what will happen to you if I catch you doing this shit again?" I ask with sharp eyes looking at each one of them.
They all nod furiously, frightened of what happened in the past ten minutes.
"Good. Now scram!" I yell as they scramble to make themselves scarce.
The 'fight' was nothing special as none of them were benders or good fighters in general. As soon as my bending came into play they lost all motivation to resist.
At least I got some metal to practice on for later. Nothing but five poorly maintained knives but better than nothing.
…..
Finally reached my destination but I don't know how to proceed now. Toph has retired already and even before that time, besides her time in the metal bending academy she didn't take in personal apprentices.
Although I don't know exactly where she is in the swamp, I do know that she already knows I'm here. How? Well from what I remember from the show she said she can see her children from the swamp, so she can definitely see me.
For now, I will try to find Toph but if I'm unsuccessful by the end of the day I can spend the rest of my time here experimenting with earthbending and confirming some of my theories as back at the orphanage my time was limited.
*One day later*
With my seismic sense I should have made some contact by now so either Toph knows How to mask herself or the swamp is doing it for her. Either way, if she doesn't want to be found my untrained and inexperienced ass is not going to find her.
Anyway, what do I know about bending? On techniques? Nothing. But I do know that it's fueled by chi… whatever that is. I mean I know that has something to do with life energy. What is it exactly? Bio-electricity generated by cells in our body? The union between body and spirit like in Naruto? something entirely different? Can you increase it or do you have a set limit of how much you can have? Let's experiment.
First I stand casually in a clearing I used to camp out at night. With the casual stance, I raise a block of ground and hold it in the air for exactly a minute. Then I do the same thing, just instead of the casual stance, I use the one earthbender who abused me used.
Sitting down cross-legged I review my findings with the help of panmnesia. The first obvious thing is the speed at which the earth moves from point A to point B. With a proper stance, the earth is thrice as fast. The second is how much effort I use. If you had it to compare something then it's like swimming in the water compared to swimming in the mud.
I spend the rest of the morning experimenting with how far and long I can earthbend, how much control I can exercise and how fine it is. My findings show that proper technique and stances improve almost every aspect of my abilities. The running hypothesis is the flow of the ever-elusive chi though my body is influencing the results. The best way I can put it is by comparing a punch using only your arm and using your whole body, the difference is very noticeable.
But enough about that nerd shit. My body needs more than dry rations, I'm a growing young man who needs nutrition!
The hardest thing to adjust to in this world is probably animals… No, I'm serious! Almost every animal is crossbreed! And sure there are some cute new additions but most of them are just creepy. You would think it ends here but no, it gets much much worse, you see what the Avatar show didn't tell about is the insect ah the insects! Almost everything is a part spider! Spider-bat, spider-fly, spider-wasp, spider-spider!
After taking a few deep breaths I went and found a flock of screeching birds. Taking out a few pebbles and sneaking up to unsuspecting victims I shot with rapid succession. In the end, I came back to my camp with four birds. Unfortunately, I lost one learning how to skin the darn thing.
The camp is nothing special, it is just at the edge of the swamp. A clearing surrounded by trees with a small river close by and a shelter made out of rock pillars.
As I set up a campfire and let the meat roast I look up into an already red sky and ponder over my life. Living at the orphanage I always had something to do, either helping the other kids or my adventures as Omashu nutcracker or just training earth bending. Never a minute alone but now, sitting in butt-fuck nowhere alone with my thoughts.
I'm here! In the world of Avatar! Mastering my abilities, hatching plans for future endeavors. It's kinda surreal thinking about it. I hope this time I don't fuck this up.
"Wait! What's that smell!" I exclaim as my 'hard' earned meat burns.
"NO! Not my meat!!!"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone