Avatar: Awakened Gamer

Chapter 117




…
-Lao Beifong-


‘Who the hell does this bastard think he is?!’ Lao Beifong clenched his fists in righteous fury. Having a bratty teenager talk to him like that fueled the raging anger within him. 

When did the Beifong Family become something any bare feet brat could come and insult?!

“Guards!” he called out, and immediately a tall and broad shoulders man, wearing green earthbender armor walked in. 

Immediately the tall and intimidating man bowed to one knee. “How may I be of service to you, Lord Beifong?”

“Call Colonel Oa,” there was a Fire Nation camp a couple of days past here. “Tell him that I need a pest kicked off my lands.”

“Immediately, Lord Beifong,” the big man got up and walked out.

Lao Beifong was grateful to Sokka for helping his daughter, but he wasn’t just going to throw his family away for that one favor. Also, Sokka was just a kid, with nothing to offer to the table except threats that he can’t carry out. 

Lao beifong wasn’t blind, he could see Sokka wanted Toph, and if he could kill him then the kid would have already done so, but he can’t. The Fire Nation can.

This wasn’t about what was the right thing to do, but what was more logical. If Sokka had come with a large army behind him, Lao would have welcomed the proposition with open arms. After all, there would be a threat backing him up.

Making threats you can’t keep was childish and naive.


***
Fun Shi walked amongst the roads of Gaolin. He was born amongst the streets of this place, the slums that no one seemed to care about. The place that somehow smelled worse than it looked.

Now he works as the Guard Captain of the Beifong family. His post was envied by many, and revered by some. He was known as the big-bodied earthbender, and some whispered his name, calling him the Beifong Dog.

At the end of the day, Fun Shi didn't mind the insults that much. The money he earned from his job helped diminish anything he might feel insulted over. 

People always acted like this because they were just jealous of his success. 

Still, Fun Shi contemplated his latest order. He couldn't help but sigh. Lord Beifong had asked him to go and talk with Colonel Oa of the Fire Nation. 


Many people didn't know the darker part of the Beifong family. A family like that couldn't stay on top even after a hundred-year war that enveloped the country. They should have been the first one to perish even, as they held such influence in the Earth Kingdom and that could proven fatal to the Fire Nation. 


'Gold makes the world move around.' Fun Shi sighed. The Beifong Family wasn't going as far as to directly support the Fire Nation. Publicly they even rooted for the Earth Kingdom, praying for their success. 


But what good were prayers? Nothing. 


Fun Shi stopped as soon as he was outside of Gaoling Town. He looked at his calloused hands, decades of earthbending had made his hands as rough as the stone he bends. 


He closed his eyes, memories long forgotten surfaced in his mind. How the last head of the Beifong family took him in and he grew up being Lao Beifong's personal guard.


"What is this life? Where am I going?" Asked the man, hoping that there might be any sign if he was doing the right or wrong thing. He didn’t like this part of the world, where he had to betray the thousands of people who died in this war. Unlike Lord Beifong, who hadn’t ever spent a day with a normal person, Fun Shi grew up with people like that. 


Unlike what people called him, he wasn't a dog that would follow Lord Beifong without a second thought. 

Fun Shi was human too, and he felt lost in life. He had grown up and been trained to be the best bodyguard possible for Lao Beifong. But what did HE, Fun Shi, want to do? 


His fate was always decided for him. Since the day he was born, he was fated to be a nobody in the slums. When picked up by the previous Lord Beifong, he was then fated to be a bodyguard.


"What do I want?" He asked to the air once again hoping for a sign. But once again, 

Once again, the thoughts that had been plaguing him for decades went unanswered.


"You know the answer to that already, don't you?" Suddenly, a voice came from behind one of the trees. A man with spiky white hair, blue warrior armor, and red eyes came out from behind the tree. "If you want freedom, don't just play around with the idea of it. But instead, declare it to the world."



"Who're you?" Fun Shi was immediately on guard against the unknown man. 


"Tobirama, just another man lost in the road of life," he introduced himself. 


There was something strange about the white-haired man, Fun Shi could feel it deep in his bones. An eerie presence around him. 


"Fun Shi, the guard of the Beifong Family," Fun Shi introduced himself. 


"Just that?" Tobirama asked. "Nothing more to your life? Just being a guard? No family, no friends?"


Fun Shi thought about this, he had friends but they too were guards. As for wife or woman? He didn't have the time for it. Yet, most of his friends of the same age were married and already had kids. 

He wanted a family too, someone or something to show that he existed in this world. But even with such thoughts in mind, Fun Shi shook his head. "If you're here trying to get me to do something that hurts the Beifong Family, then you're out of luck."



***
-Sokka-


For a split second, Sokka had stopped considering the outside perspectives in this world. The so-called background characters didn't have an importance in the original story. 


Of course, as soon as he had walked out of the room, he had used a water clone to take his place as he spied on Lao Beifong. 

He knew Lao beifong had connections with the Fire Nation, but not to the point where he could call upon a Colonel. Was that rank important in the Fire Nation army? I have no idea, if Azula was here she would be able to explain it to me.

Sometimes he did wonder what she's been up to lately? Well, he could worry about that later. Now wasn’t the time.

"I don't want to hurt the Beifong Family in any way," lying through his teeth in the Tobirama disguise came even easier than usual. "But are you sure what is doing is the right thing for them?"

Fun Shi frowned, clenching his first and it was apparent that he was ready to attack Sokka at a moment's notice.

Fun Shi, Fun Shi… Sokka was sure that wasn't a character that was mentioned in the original story. Yet here he stood, as his key to success. 


"Leave right now, if you know what's better for you,” the man snorted and turned around. Fun Shi kept acting like he didn't care and only followed orders. 

But no one can be like that, no matter how hard they try to express it. Sokka knew it.


Sokka’s first thought had been to go and massacre the Fire Nation outpost. Show Lao Beifong the power he possesses. The Fire Nation camp seemed to be a little too well guarded, he was confident in taking out at least their leader.

But doing that would lead Lao Beifong to be scared of him, and have no choice but to play along with his wishes. But loyalty won through that kind of fear wasn't the best. Lao would be too fearful of him and might decide to try and find a gap in Sokka’s armor to stab him in the back. 


An ally like that could cause an enormous amount of damage. Sokka didn't want to look behind himself while fighting against the Fire Nation. Even Gamer's Body had limits to how much it could handle. 


Fun Shi continued walking away.


‘How should I go about this? Try to scare him into lying? No, this needs some more time to think it through.’ Sokka contemplated. 

He took every outcome, good and bad, into consideration. Trying to get the best out of this situation, and see how things could develop.