The Waterbending Kid: An Avatar Story (Part 2)
By mrmonster
"Good afternoon.” I told Mr. Tanaka the moment I saw him. He was still in his work uniform, so he had clearly come here straight from his shift at the docks. “Thank you so much for agreeing to do this.”
"Yeah yeah." He mumbled. "Let's start with a basic push-and-pull exercise."
He bent a ball of water out of a nearby pond and pushed it towards me. When I tried to catch it, I ended up dropping it.
"Okay, looks like we're going to have to get even more basic." He said. "Just lift some water."
I bent as much as I could, and quickly then dropped that too.
"You're trying to pick it up like a solid object. You can’t do that with water." He instructed. "You need to make it flow, the way water is meant to."
I tried again, but instead of just trying to pick it up, I tried to make it flow, and it started to work. The ball of water flowed up and across my arms, and Mr. Tanaka instructed “Great, now pass it to me.”
I pushed the water to him. He caught it and pushed it back to me, but when I tried to stop it, the water just ended up splashing right in my face.
“Again, you’re trying to stop it as if it were something solid.” He remarked as he used his bending to dry me and my clothes. “You must make it flow by redirecting it’s momentum. Again."
I bent another ball of water out of the pond, and pushed it towards him. When he passed it back to me, I tried to pull it across my body, and it almost worked; almost. The water ended up kicking back and hitting me.
“Again.” Mr. Tanaka ordered.
"Don't you have any advice?" I questioned.
Which he answered "Why yes, as a matter of fact I do. I advise that you try again."
Long story short, we spent an hour trying to pass the water to each other, and each time, it ended in failure.
He ended our session by telling me "Well, I'm getting hungry, so I'm going back to my apartment to fix myself some dinner. Tomorrow, be ready to do this again."
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When I got home, my mother was preparing fish in our oven. The first thing she wanted to know was “What took you so long?”
“Sorry, some kids in my philosophy class let me study with them.” I answered. “I’ve got a lot of studying to do if I want to catch up to the rest of the class by finals week.”
“Oh, it’s good you’re making friends already.” Mom exclaimed. “Your father should be home soon; I can’t believe he’s already had his first full day of work. Go across the street to the seafood market and see if they have any good fish seasonings, I want tonight’s dinner to be extra special.”
"Alright, I’ll be right back." I responded as I went across the street.
Mr. Tanaka was leaving as I entered, and unsurprisingly, kids were taunting him again.
"BARNACLES, BARNACLES!" They shouted, and Mr. Tanaka ignored them.
I turned to them and yelled "Hey, cut it out."
They looked confused. "You talking to us?"
"Yeah, I am. Now cut it out.” I ordered.
"Jae, it's fine." Mr. Tanaka grumbled.
"No, it's not." I replied. "He's a respectful and wise man, and you're going to stop taunting him."
"Why don't you make us? You could try, if you want to get your butt kicked.” One of the boys threatened.
"Really Jae, it's fine." Mr. Tanaka said. "Just come inside the store."
As we started walking in together, one of the kids shouted "Yeah, you'd better walk away."
That tore it. I looked around for any water I could use. The store had an outdoor lobster tank, that was enough. I bent a small amount of water out of it and threw it right at the little jerks.
“Jae, what are you doing?” My father shouted.
“Dad, I didn’t know you were…”
“She hurt me.” One of them whined.
“Don’t be dramatic, I did not…”
“Jae, get inside, now.” My father scoffed as he used his bending to dry off the boys.
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"What were you thinking?" My father angrily scoffed.
"I was thinking that they were bullying our neighbor and needed to be taught a lesson." I explained.
"That wasn't your place to decide. And if you do this again, you're grounded. Understand?"
"But…"
"Understand?" He repeated, more forcefully this time.
"Yes father, I understand." I said.
He calmed down and explained “Jae, I know you can never resist helping people, and that’s a good thing. But you have to learn when it’s appropriate, and when you’re just making things worse. Now go get ready for dinner.”
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The next day at school, my first class was philosophy. My daily schedule flip-flopped every other day; some days it started with History, and others would start with philosophy. Thankfully, Aito and Daichi were in that class as well.
When Aito saw me, the first thing he had to say was “Nice going.” and surprisingly, he wasn’t being sarcastic.
I was confused, and replied “What are you talking about?”
“We heard you got some old barnacle scraper to defend you against Narin’s gang.” Daichi explained.
“Well, I guess that explains his nickname.” I mumbled to myself. “Anyway, what does that matter?”
“Didn’t you hear? Apparently someone saw the fight and reported it to the police, and now the three of them are on probation. If they fight us or anyone else for the next six weeks, they’re going to jail.” Daichi explained.
“I don’t know how you convinced him to help you, but you saved us a whole forty-two days worth of beatings.” Aito said.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m serious.” Aito replied. “Those jerks seriously can’t beat us up for six weeks.”
“That’s not what I meant. You have a month and a half to prepare for them. If you work hard, they might not be able to beat you up anymore.” I explained.
“Jae, I like your optimism, but it’s just not our place.” Daichi begrudgingly said. “Our place is taking their beatings with our heads held high until we graduate.”
“But it doesn’t have to.” I said. “Just promise me you’ll train a little harder at your bending school, okay.”
“Fine.” Daichi responded.
“Whatever.” Aito retorted.
I wanted to get them a little more motivated, but our philosophy teacher walked in and exclaimed “Good morning class. I’m assuming everyone read the first two sections of The Dialogues of Guru Pathik, so let’s just dive in and discuss.”
“Shoot.” I grumbled to myself. I planned to read it after training yesterday, but forgot about it after everything that happened.
“What was that?” The teacher questioned and as she turned in my direction.
“Oh, nothing.” I replied.
“Well, while I have your attention, why don’t you tell the class how you interpret The Allegory of the Farmer and the Wagon.” The teacher instructed.
“Um, I think it was all a metaphor.” I said.
“Well, yes. All allegories are metaphors. What did it mean?” She quizzed.
“It meant, um, peace and love.” I answered.
Aito cut in and explained “What I think she’s trying to say is that the story was a parable Guru Pathik used to demonstrate how he viewed the divisiveness of the world. In the same way that the farmer was not able to move his crops to market until he was able to unite the parts to form a complete wagon, he believed that the world could not truly advance until we moved past the divisions of the four nations and became one united people.”
The teacher responded “Very good. Now, let’s discuss the individual parts of the wagon and which parts of the world they represent. It is believed that the axel symbolized…”
“Thanks.” I whispered to Aito.
“Don’t mention it.” He whispered back. “Actually, feel free to mention it all you want. My ego could use a boost sometimes.”
I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing out loud.
The teacher continued lecturing on the writings of Guru Pathik until the bell rang, and it was time for my next class, chemistry. Unfortunately, I didn’t have Aito or Daichi for that one.
While in the hallway, I passed Narin and his friends. I instinctively expected them to fight me or at least insult me, but they just sat there.
“I guess you guys aren’t so tough when you’re on probation.” I mocked.
Narin got up and told me “The moment these six weeks are up, I’m going to give you a beating that’ll make you wish you never left whichever frozen wasteland you came here from.”
“We’ll see about that.” I mocked as I walked towards chemistry class to go learn about all the different types of known gases.
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Three more class periods later, and I was let out for the day. After school, I went right back to Hakoda Park for another lesson with Mr. Tanaka.
"So, are we gonna pass water around again?" I asked.
"Yes." He answered. "We can't move on until you get this right. Now pass me some water."
I picked some up and handed it to him. And when it came time to catch it and pass it back, it once again just splashed in my face.
"Come on, at this rate the pond will be empty by the time you learn the technique." He mocked.
We tried again, and again. After five more tries, I was able to pass and redirect the water only to drop it along the way. And after eight more tries, I was finally able to get it back to him successfully.
"Good, you've done it." Tanaka exclaimed. "Now let's change things up do another basic technique: the water whip. Here, let me demonstrate."
My flicked his hands in my direction, and the next thing I felt was a sharp pain in my leg.
“What was that?” I shouted.
“That was the water whip.” He replied. “You concentrate the flow of water into one quick motion with the intention of causing a quick but painful blow to your opponent. Now you try; don’t be shy, give me your best shot.”
“No need to tell me twice.” I mumbled under my breath as I readied myself to try the technique.
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