Omashu, the second largest city in Earth Kingdom, surpassed only by Ba Sing Se in terms of significance and size. A major stronghold with the ongoing war against the Fire Nation. It was just a city within a fictional story I watched as a kid. Now I was standing here myself, with an apple on one hand as I watched the busy street with interest.
It's not everyday that you see people in ancient clothes, medieval era transportation methods, and buildings so old that you would think they would crumble when hit by a 2.0 magnitude earthquake.
I looked over the massive hill that houses many houses with the massive palace standing on top of it. I had seen the pyramid of Egypt myself but this still managed to surprise me. I would be more amazed had this been built by hands alone, but it's built using Earthending and this probably took hundreds of years to make.
So it's not fair comparing a fictional structure over a real one. However, that doesn't mean that I couldn't admire it. I'm now a citizen of this city and the Earth Kingdom, a human being on this world so I would act as much.
I held out my hand towards the palace on top of the hill, the sun was hitting me directly but it wouldn't be able to damage my eyes.
"Soon, I will sit on that throne," I said. I'm not planning on being passive in this war, I have a plan. But for that to work, I have to be on that throne.
But first, I have to know what time I'm currently in the timeline of the canon. As far as I am concerned, I haven't heard anything about Aang or Avatar returning after one hundred years from the gossip around nor the king being talked about so I do not know who is the king yet. I'm just hoping that it's not Bumi since that would imply that I have a very short time limit and despite my current strength and potential, it will be extremely hard to become the King.
Although I don't have any information on how someone could become a king here, Bumi himself wasn't from a royal nor noble family and he managed to become a king. That means there's likely a chance that due to his strength and mastery of Earthbending, he was given the title. It was also possible that he was a military commander before he became the king.
"It's not like I'm going to use legitimate actions to take that throne," I mumble at myself. I don't want to serve someone until my hair grows white to reach the highest rank of the military. No, I'm going to take that throne by force.
I don't even want the title of the king and the responsibility behind it. The thing I'm after is military control and influence. So if there's a way for me to get hold of that military without needing to be the King, I would take it.
The Fire Nation advance military prowess and their control over all the fire benders is a threat, everyone knows that and many experience it. I don't want to just sit around, build a family and lived a happy life while everyone is getting demolished and killed by a colonial nation. I will live because of my power but I never want to be ruled by a warmonger family.
And since I had all these powers within my hands, sitting and being passive during this war doesn't feel right no matter how you phrase it. I get it that Aang will save the world, but I don't know if the canon will be followed as it is. I can't trust the fictional TV show now that I'm inside it.
"Get back here you brat!" An angry man yelled behind me.
"Just let me take this one, old man!"
At the same time, I suddenly felt someone bumping into my back hard. I had a upperhand in body so the kid who bumped into me fell down like he just hit the wall.
"Ouch, why the hell is there suddenly a wall he-" He stopped talking as he realized I wasn't a wall he was thinking about.
"Are you okay?" I ask while offering a hand to help him stand up, seeing that his forehead was swelling.
Wait a second... I suddenly realized that this kid was extremely familiar. Spiky tomato colored hair wrapped around his head with a green bandana, missing tooth and a crazy expression as if he just escaped a meeting with his psychiatrist.
Isn't this Bumi?!
Bumi didn't take my hand and instead crawled his way behind me like a scared kid. Don't tell me…
"You little brat! Not only did you steal it from me, you even dropped it on the ground!" The man said as he picked up the apple on the ground then proceeded to glare at my direction. He was panting hard with a stick on his hand, ready to give Bumi a beating of a lifetime.
"Are you with this brat too?" He asked me.
"N-" Before I could answer.
"YUP!!!" Bumi yelled, then started catching his breath after running for how long.
The man immediately narrowed his eyes on me, observing my appearance.
Don't tell me he was actually believing it? I may not look rich but I wore decent clothes, and my physical appearance itself would be enough to make anyone think I'm some sort of noble.
Having long black hair reaching my collarbone, a good jawline for a kid and overall right amount of handsomeness, no one would consider me even a little bit related to the crazy looking kid behind me. I also wore only a big black coat and baggy white pants. There's no way this man actually believes Bumi for a second.
"Don't worry kid, I can see that street rat was lying so leave this one and go with your day," the man said as he slapped the stick on my palm with a smirk.
I shook my head, "Why don't you let this one go, old man? It's just one apple."
"No! That brat has been stealing from my stall multiple times this week. This is the only time I caught him so I need to teach him some lesson that his parents failed to do, so out with you!" He said, this time with an irritated expression. He clenched the stick in one hand and was ready to attack anytime.
Meanwhile, I could hear Bumi grinning behind me.
"Enough with this!" He ran towards me, preparing to slash out his anger.
His movements were so slow that my eyes were able to track his movements and avoid it just in time by swiftly moving to the side. I also pulled Bumi with me, but he was caught off guard so he fell on the ground when I stopped.
"Keuk! Hey, you should tell me when you're going to do that!" Bumi complained as he rubbed his shoulder out of the dust.
I ignored him as the man who attacked us slashed diagonally, intended to hit my face directly. If not for my high perception then we would have been hit by it. After all, we're still kids. We might be agile but our small stature can't possibly contend with an adult.
Bowing my head down to avoid getting hit, I swiftly move closer to the man. Then I jumped with fist clenched on my side and directly punched the man's jaw. His mouth closed shut with an audible clunk, teeth wanting to break apart from the impact.
"Kuggghhh!" The man staggered backwards, holding his mouth subconsciously to protect it. I didn't hit him too hard since he was obviously the victim here but that doesn't give him the right to beat a kid.
Looking at the side, I could see many onlookers were surprised by the development. They wanted to see thieves getting beaten the hell out but they got the opposite instead. My modern mind can't adapt to this.
"You got him!" Bumi said.
I don't want to escalate things further so I stared at Bumi and gave him a nod before running off. I could see that he understood what I meant as he ran beside me.
Soon we arrive in a secluded alley after running for about ten minutes straight. Bumi was out of breath and let himself collapse on the wall, while I just stood there removing any dust that was on my pants. Not out of breath or tired.
"Haaa, why did we run this far anyways? I feel like my lungs are being sucked out of any air!" He said with a crazed smile. "But that was hella fun!"
"Why did you even steal anyways? Where's your parents?" I asked with raised brow.
"Heh, I live alone and haven't had a job since I was just a kid so I steal food to survive! I don't even steal from one source alot, I varied them so they don't lose too much profit but they're still too mad at me for some reason."
I stared at him deadpan. I could understand that he needed to steal to survive but not expecting people to not get angry when you're stealing from them is what I would expect someone like him to do.
"Don't look at me like that, you wouldn't understand since you look like you're living well." Bumi for the first time looked serious. "By the way, thanks for the help, I will make sure to repay you when I become something big one day!"
I smiled. "What makes you think I live well? I don't even know who my parents are nor do I have a house."
I'm telling the truth, I still haven't retained the memories of this body yet nor I think that will happen. I also woke up on the street alone so I don't know if the predecessor has any sort of family or home.
"We are the same? Oh, I forgot I have a house," Bumi said. "Well, that's cool, see ya!"
"Wait a sec, why don't you help a brother. I don't know where to stay tonight so let me stay for one day and you won't owe me anymore," I quickly stopped before he could run off.
"Well, I'm not really sure if you'll like it there. I sleep on the floor without any anything but it's still better than no roof," He said hesitantly.
And I agree, that's a lot better than sleeping on the streets. Though sleeping with any support for the head sounds tough.
"That's fine, I don't think it will be that bad."
Bumi grinned. "Kekeke, don't complain later."
"By the way, what's your name?" I asked.
"My name is Bumi, just a crazy kid wanting to be something big someday!" He laughed like a proud maniac as he said that.
I thought for a second. I don't know my predecessor name and I can't really use my modern name since it will be so out of place. I don't really have a choice so I? Creating a name that fit for this kingdom on the spot is tough.
"Im Guan, nice to meet you, Bumi."
-+-
Author Note : Read the Auxiliary chapter if you wanna know Guan powers.