***

Sokka saw the familiar man sleeping on the streets, it was the cabbage merchant. He seemed to have somehow lost his cabbage cart again.

Getting closer to the man, Sokka smiled gently at the pitiful sight. "Oy, you know, if you stopped being so obsessed with cabbages you would be a successful merchant."

He knew that for a fact as in the future the cabbage merchant's company would be the biggest privately owned company in the world. Normally, Sokka wasn't someone who would care for other people, but this guy had some benefits attached to him. If he could get him to his side, then it would be very beneficial. Especially since he planned to develop the Southern Water Tribe in the future and become the leader of it.

"Who are you?" asked the cabbage merchant, his nose red from the cold night.

"Sokka? Are you coming or not?" The guards called him out, trying to get him to come and drink with them.

"Sorry guys, I have to take care of something, I will be back." He waved them off, already having forgotten about what he was going to do before. Because in front of him, he saw a desperate man… one that he could take advantage of.

***

-Sokka POV-

The cabbage merchant was quite an important character. He would become a powerhouse in the future. As long as he stopped messing around and trying to have his business be involved with cabbages. Though I wasn't exactly overjoyed while seeing Korra, I knew that Cabbage Corp was a very big and key company to the automotive industry.

"I am Sokka, the son of the chieftain of the Southern Water Tribe," though that sounds impressive I didn't have any power. Political or otherwise with that title. People in the Southern Tribe might respect me for being my father's son, but that was it. They were poor people and didn't have the time to listen to what a snot-nosed brat might say. At least in their eyes it would seem like that.

The cabbage merchant didn't know that and looked at me with stars in his eyes. "So? What do you want from me?" He asked with a suspicious frown. "I have no money, so there is nothing you can steal from me."

I wasn't a thief, but if I was, he still had shoes, clothes, and good organs. Though I wasn't a thief, so I won't steal those. But even the poorest person had something that could be

taken away from them.

"I am not a thief," I took out a couple of earth kingdom coins I had gotten from Kyoshi Island, and gave them to him. "It isn't good to sleep in the streets like this."

The man saw the coins and tiredly got up, and quickly put them in his pocket. He looked at the guard's backs as they walked off to go and drink. "Aren't you going with your friends?"

"No," I shook my head, while I would like to see how Lee's relationship ended. There were more important things right now. "How could I enjoy eating and feasting while people were sleeping on the road?"

The cabbage merchant chuckled. "If you keep thinking of the sadness in the world, then you will never be able to enjoy anything."

"I am just a human, so I can't solve the world's problems. But if I can help someone who seems in need of help in front of my eyes, then I see no problem with helping them," the words that came out of my mouth were bullshit.

I would never risk my life or help someone if it wasn't at least a little beneficial to me. Life wasn't a charity, and I wasn't some saint that would go around helping everyone.

But the cabbage merchant was different. I planned to make myself seem good enough in his eyes. This was something I needed for the deal that we will have later in my life. People liked making deals with honest people more than those that seemed like they would backstab you.

Plus, I wasn't the kind of guy who would stab someone in the back or betray them… maybe...

Now, I don't like stabbing people in the back. But if the situation came where the benefits were overwhelmingly good with doing so, then I would probably do it. Who am I kidding? No, I would definitely do it.

Getting up, I offered the cabbage merchant a hand. "Wanna come and try some Earth Kingdom food? The meal is on me."

He smiled and nodded, taking my hand as I pulled him up. "Well, if it's something unrelated to the cabbages, then I have no idea on what to make of my business."

Suddenly, I got a new quest notification.

—————

[Help the desperate Cabbage Merchant (Chain Quest)]

The Cabbage Merchant had fallen in hard times. Help him and he will remember this favor in the future. The more you help him, the better the more grateful he will be. The minimum requirement to complete the quest is to help him find shelter for the night.

Completion Reward: 1,000 Exp.

Increased closeness with the Cabbage Merchant

???

—————

Chain Quest? So it's something that will continue even after I complete this Quest, then I will get another after it.

This was an opportunity to help the Cabbage Merchant accomplish something big, I knew he had the talents, so no matter the investments it was almost 100% certain that he would make it big.

***

Bumi stood at the peak of one of Omashu's highest buildings. When he saw Aang, he could barely hide his excitement.

But now, he had calmed down and a smirk was apparent on his face. There were a thousand problems he had and a thousand more would be added if he let the outside world influence him.

The Earth Kingdom was losing the war, and quite terribly at that too. It was only a matter of time before Ba Sing Se and Omashu fell. Bumi could see that clearly.

The people needed the Avatar as a symbol to tile behind and a great General to lead the army. Bumi's eyes wandered towards a young man helping a certain cabbage merchant fallen on hard times.

Bumi's smirk turned into a full-blown smile. "Heh, a General. Someone intelligent and cold enough to know when to make the right decision… I have just the man in mind."

Back when they had met, Sokka had asked Bumi's age and the old man's answer had been "Older than most of you" which had shown that he knew Aang's age.

No one else would have caught it, but Bumi could see Sokka's intelligence shine through like a beckon. He had figured it out within an instant.

"What a scarily intelligent young man," muttered Bumi. If Sokka had been on the enemy's side that would be a problem, but now that he was an ally, the old King couldn't help but think of some tests he could put the young man through.

"Kekekekekekeke~" Bumi's cackles rang through the night as he started jumping from building to building, returning to his palace. "Things have just become so interesting."

*

Katara and Aang stood in their prison room that was more like a luxurious hotel and looked around.

"There has got to be a way we can escape out of this," mumbled Aang, speaking his thoughts out loud. Even he could see that King Bumi was crazy and didn't want to stay around and figure out what the crazy old man had planned for them.

"Aang," Katara sighed, a little tired. There was no way to escape the room, they had been searching for hours. "Let's just go to sleep."

She was feeling mostly worn out because of her brother's actions. Sokka had annoyed her a lot with his behavior. He always seemed to go around and do whatever he wanted, without thinking of the consequences.

Sometimes to Katara, it felt like he had become a different person. But she knew that he was still her brother.

Suddenly, the wound of the door opening rang out and Sokka came in with a flushed face and smelling full of alcohol. "Hello everyone~ goodnight~"

Baam!

His face planted into the ground, and the sound of snoring.

Katara clenched her fists and veins popped in her forehead. She wanted to punch her brother so hard that his brain would finally be set straight. But seeing his peaceful sleeping face, she sighed and picked up a blanket, throwing it over his body to help him sleep.

Aang saw this and didn't say anything, he knew that they wouldn't be able to escape and went to sleep in one of the couches. Katara slept on the bed.

The only one awake was Momo, and he kept staring at the unconscious Sokka. The flying lemur tilted his head and made some soft cute noises.

*sigh* Suddenly Sokka sighed, and casually got up, staring at the flying lemur in the eyes. There was no look of drunkenness in his eyes, and he wasn't stumbling, showing that his actions before were all an act. "For a weird cat and bat combination, you are quite smart."

Sokka looked at Aang and Katara, using [Observe] to make sure that they were sleeping, and looking through the Map he also saw that no one was spying on them. After seeing that, he pulled out a spear out of his inventory and started practicing. He then took off his shirt that smelled of alcohol.

Fwish!

His spear cut through a dozen of his imaginary enemies and cut through the air like a whip. Hearing the sound, Sokka's swipes got softer so he wouldn't wake up Aang and Katara. Still, each swipe of his spear cut through the air like a surgical knife.

**

When morning came and Katara woke up, she saw that Sokka was washing his face in the sink at the corner of the room.

She raised her hand, ready to waterbend and try to freeze his face for a little to teach him a lesson. That was when Sokka suddenly stumbled and clenched his forehead.

"Ugh," he grunted. "My head is killing me."

She frowned and in the end, stopped her plans and sighed, unable to bring herself to even jokingly hurt her brother.

What she didn't notice was Sokka's smirk, as he had seen her through the mirror and could guess that she was about to do something. So he played at her heartstrings and acted like he was sick.

By the time they went to meet King Bumi again, Sokka was still holding his head and grunting to avoid Katara's judgment. But as soon as they entered the throne room, he straightened his back and looked completely normal.

Katara noticed this and looked at him strangely.

Sokka made a peace sign towards her. "You snooze, you lose, sister."

It was childish, totally childish. But Katara couldn't help herself as she finally caught on to what was happening. But it was too late because they were in the presence of a King and she couldn't do anything now.

"Avatar!" Bumi yelled out loud suddenly, making Aang flinch.

"Y -Yeah…" Aang answered nervously.

"I have a challenge for you and your smart friend here," Bami's smile was so wide that it almost seemed to split his face.

Sokka was surprised, he remembered that only Aang had been tested and challenged by Bumi during the series.

He couldn't help but wonder what obstacles Bumi was going to throw at him.