《Lightning lacks fire》


 Chapter 1

    Rick, to his own surprise,wakes up confused. He had just been lying in his hospital bed waiting until the disease had finally run its course, and he was certain that he died. Rick takes a look arround and sees that he is surrounded by darkness and cannot see anything other than his own body.


    "If this is the afterlife I''d like a refund." He said jokingly to himself. "Well it seems dying hasn''t altered your sense of humor I see." A voice rung out.


    Surprised by the voice, Rick spun arround to see that the voice came from what appeared to be blue glowing squirrel floating in the air.


    "Not exactly what I imagined God would look like." he then said. The squirrel released a chuckle.


    "While I''m flattered, I am by no means God."


    "Well forgive me for asking but what are you then?"


    "I have many names, one you might have for me is perhaps the world, or perhaps truth. I am all and I am one."


    "That''s great and all but could you explain it English please?"


    The squirrel gave Rick what appeared to be an annoyed glance, although it was hard to tell with its facial features being that of a squirrel.


    "Youngsters these days, no respect for elders. Look, all you need to know is that I am currently the being that will decide your fate."


    "About that, I thought I was dead. what the hell happened? And what do you mean decide my fate?"


    "For your first question, after you died I brought your spirit here. As for deciding your fate, I get bored quite a lot, so I thought it would be fun to make a bargain with a human."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    That last bit intrigued Rick, he wondered what a spirit would want to bargain for.


    "What kind of bargain?"


    "Ah, now we get to the best part. I''m willing to bring you back to life-"


    "Really? Sweet!"


    "-on a few conditions"


    Shit Rick thought. "And what would these conditions be?"


    The squirrel got into a more comfortable position, "Well first of all, you''ll be living your life in another world of my own choosing. Second, you won''t be reliving your life from baby to adult, you''ll keep your current age."


    Rick gulped. Another world could be a lot of things. For all he knew this squirrel could literally send him to hell.


    "And what world will I be going to?"


    "Well I hope you are familiar with the tv show "The Legend of Korra"."


    "Seriously? I was a mad fan of the last airbender but I never really got to watch the sequel even though I really like the 1920''s-1930''s setting. I heard the show was terrible."


    "Meh, it depends who you ask, but back to business. Since leaving you there to die is hardly entertaining I''ll give you 1 element of your choice to be able to bend."


    As the last sentence rang in his mind, Ricks thoughts raced with ideas. What element should I choose? What about sub-elements? Why can''t I get all 4? After some carefull thinking Rick stumbled across a very interesting idea.


    "You said you liked to bargain right, well I have a bargain for you." Rick said with a grin on his face.


    The squirrel, curious about his implication said "Well you have my attention, out with it."


    Rick''s grin grew bigger. "If i give up firebending so that I can only bend lightning, will you make it better?"


    "Well, that''s quitte an interesting idea indeed." The squirrel said as it went into thought. "hmmm, you know what? you deserve points for the idea alone, I''ll accept that bargain. And just for entertainment, I''ll throw in a little extra."


    As the squirrel finish it''s sentence a blue glow enveloped Rick and his clothes began to change. Before he got a better look though he was blasted away in a fiery blue spiral.


    "Don''t worry, you''ll get to examine the goods when you arrive. And remember to keep it entertaining." The squirrel yelled as Rick fell further through the spiral.


    Never thought my day would go like this, Rick thought. But I''m sure as hell not complaining about it.

 Chapter 2

    Rick woke up with a splash of water to his face


    "what the fuck!" he shouted as he stood up. As he did he saw a man of incredible height before him.


    "Watch your tongue boy! We''ve arrived in Republic City, it''s time for you to get of the ship." the man said.


    "oh, uh yeah sure. But uuh, where''s the exit?."


    The large man let out a sigh. "Just follow the signs that say "EXIT" and you should find your way out."


    "Okay, thank you."


    Rick then made his way out of the boat and into the streets of Republic city. As he did so he was marveled by all the things he saw arround him. A giant airship being the main attraction for his eyes. But he soon regained his composure, the most important thing to him right now was checking if his bargain with the squirrel spirit worked and he really could bend lightning. And so he looked for a quiet alley where he wouldn''t attract too much attention.


    During this he passed by a shop where he saw his own reflection in the glass.


    Rick hadn''t realized the fact that the spirit did not just alter his attire, but his appearance as a whole. Where he once had hair black as the night it was now white as snow though his eyes remained as blue as before .


    ''Seems like that squirrel is into albinos'' Rick thought. It wasn''t a bad thing though, the white accentuated his almost glowing blue eyes quite nicely so if anything it kind of enhanced his looks. his skin remained the same as it had before,


    the standard caucasian color was still there.


    As for his clothes, Rick had to admit that the squirrel had a sense of style. Rick was wearing an all black outfit that stood in stark contrast with his newly colored hair. The clothing consisted of a pair of tipped shoes which were custom for the time period he was in, black 1920s pants, a long sleeved shirt and a longcoat that reached his knees. All in black of course.


    "Interested in a phonograph sir?" A small elderly looking man asked Rick. Rick then noticed what was behind the window that he had used to admire himself.


    "What? Oh, uh well while I enjoy good music I don''t really think I can afford a phonograph right now." Rick said.


    "Oh, well that''s a shame." The elderly man said as he starts looking a bit dissapointed "It doesn''t seem like many people do these days."


    "hey, don''t worry about it. I''m sure some people do." Rick said


    "Well thank you sir." the old man says as he goes back into the store.


    Rick then made his way into an abandoned alley not far from the phonograph store. "Alright now let''s see what I can do." he said to himself.


    As soon as he tried to will lightning out of his hand sparks flew between his fingers with the crackling sound of electricity. "Nice!" he shouted to no one in particular. Out of curiosity, he also tried firebending which, unsuprisingly, produced zero results. What followed was a series of tests to see what he could change about his lightning, and most importantly, if he could make it non-lethal.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Luckily for him, after about 4 tries he discovered that he could somehow feel how damaging his lightning would be to others. Almost like knowing the difference between a punch you throw with full force and one where you hold yourself back. Another thing he discovered was that depending on how he outed the electricity, the lightning output would change. Using 2 fingers would create a focused arch of electricity, whereas using his entire hand as a conduit would result in a more open blast with less range. Though Rick thought that the safest, and least lethal, option was likely direct contact with someone as this close proximity would give him the most control.


    Practicing all of this made him think back to the earlier days of his life, before he became bedridden. His father was a teacher of mixed martial arts and used to practice with him back then. Rick wondered how his dad would take his ''death'', after his mother passed away his dad became quite protective of him as evidenced with his insistence that Rick learned to defend himself. Rick shook his head and shoved those thoughts away, thinking about such things would only make him feel miserable.


    Feeling satisfied with his experimentation, Rick left the alley. As he did he began thinking of what his next move would be, the safest bet would be to align himself with the avatar. Unfortunately for him he knew next to nothing of the show since he never watched it, he didn''t even known what the avatar looked like.


    It was then that he saw a luxurious car park itself with 3 distinct people stepping out of it and approaching the phonograph store. The one with the grey longcoat then spoke to the old man from before. "Mister Chung, please tell me that you have my money. Otherwise I can''t guarantee the safety of your fine establishment.". ''Petty criminals'' Rick thought, ''Should be a great opportunity to test my skills''.


    Rick went to approach the criminals as he saw the one in black and red firebend to break the phonograph that Mr Chung held out. "My friend here is not a music lover, give me the money or else-".


    "Or else what hoodlum?" a young looking girl seemingly from a water-tribe asked the criminals. "What she said" Rick uttered as he went to stand beside the girl.


    The criminals then started laughing quite heavily. "Since you two are obviously fresh of the boat let me explain some things. You''re in triple threat triad territory and we''re about to put you, in the hospital."


    "You''re the only ones who are gonna need a hospital, and for your sake, I hope there''s one nearby." the girl told them whilst cracking her knuckles.


    "Who do you think you are?" the triad with the longcoat asked.


    "Let''s just say we''re concerned citizens." Rick said.


    The triad in the longcoat twitched his eye and then reached into his coat and threw a ball of water at the girl, ''A waterbender and the one in black and red is a firebender, the green one must be an earthbender if the colors are right.'' Rick thought.


    The girl caught the ball of water and shot it back at the owner, encasing his head in ice. During this Rick rushed toward the traid in green before he could react and grabbed his head, sending electricity through him, knocking the earthbender out cold.


    The girl kicked the waterbender in the head, smashing his encased head against the fancy car, breaking the ice around his head. The firebender threw a stream of fire at the girl, the girl split the stream in two grabbing the firebenders hands and threw him into a nearby window.


    Having seen the girl bend water and fire both Rick concluded that the girl was either some kind of double bender that the show introduced or she was the avatar though he found the latter to be more likely.


    "Not too bad water girl." Rick said.


    "You weren''t too bad yourself, I''ve never seen someone bend lightning like that. How did you do that?" the girl responded.


    It was then that the conversation was interrupted by a group of metalbenders in uniforms descending.