Rather than releasing them as he had anticipated, the elder embarked on a monologue about the Banyan-Grove Tree. However, the children were too distracted to pay attention. Even Atlas struggled to listen to the old man. Not only were Mi and Bro engaged in a hushed debate about who should lead the team, but the elder’s tone also evoked memories of Professor Bins’ lectures. It was as if he were reciting from an unaltered script passed down through generations. And the only crucial point lay in the fact that the Banyan-Grove Tree was no ordinary tree. It was a colossal organism that spanned the entire swamp, with nearly every other tree and plant interconnected to it, forming a protective canopy at the swamp’s heart.
What the elder failed to disclose or just didn’t know was that this tree likely possessed more spirit energy than any other entity outside the spirit world. This unique trait rendered it a potential energy source. However, even if Atlas dared to propose severing a few of the tree’s roots, ignoring that he knew his tribe would hunt him down for the rest of his days if he did, harnessing the tree’s energy required technological advancements that were still 80 years away—unless Atlas could propel technology forward by eight decades within the next ten to fifteen years. The problem was that he didn’t even have a clue on how to develop the tools necessary to make the energy usable. And yet, the allure of constructing a superweapon fueled by spirit energy—one capable of obliterating a mountain with a single shot—was too potent to ignore. Even an avatar in the avatar state would struggle against such formidable might and the hero would most likely too.
After the elder ended his lesson, Mi’s and Bro’s new discussion immediately heated up.
“Like I said, you are too stupid to be a leader; it takes a genius like me to lead the best hunter squad in the tribe.” Argued Mi.
“You? A genius? You wouldn’t even be able to catch a possum chicken if it jumped straight to your face. Besides, you are much weaker than me. I should be the leader.” Countered Bro.
Atlas thought that developing Aspiring against the headaches he would get from interacting with the two should become a new priority. But this time the quarrel was something Atlas had to intervene in as it would be good for his plans if he became the leader, not to mention that he wasn’t really keen on being led by a genuine six-year-old. Genius or not? But Atlas realized something. They wouldn’t let six-year-olds lead anything. The senior hunters would train them for a reason. The main one being that they didn’t know anything yet and were too weak to fight anything in the swamp.
“Isn’t the senior Hunter the leader?” Even though it was formulated as a question, Atlas was so sure of it that it was more of a reminder to the other two.
“Right.” Said Mi and looked a little embarrassed. “But… But in the future, I will be the leader.”
“In your dreams.” Answered Bro before Atlas could say anything.
Atlas contemplated how he could turn the situation in his favor and establish himself as the leader early on. It would make things easier, but Mi and Bro didn’t look like logical arguments would convince them. A competition or something similar might work, but it was difficult to compete in leadership if one had no one to lead. But in Atlas's opinion, he would just need to show competence, and he would naturally become a leader. He just needed the opportunity to “show off” a little.
“How about everyone gets a try? Everyone will get one week of being the leader, and after that, we let our senior hunter decide who is the best fit. That way it is fair, and the best will become the leader.” Proposed Atlas.
“But I will be the leader first.” Yelled Bro so fast that Atlas thought he feared Mi yelling it faster.
“No! He will probably kill us as soon as he becomes the leader. I will be first.” answered Mi back.
Atlas was taken aback by her priorities. It was as if dying after she had been leader would be fine. But Atlas thought that being the first in this situation was the dumbest choice, as the last one would have more experience with the team and could learn from the mistakes the others made.
“Mi, you go second. It doesn’t matter in the end. The senior hunter won’t let us die. I will go last.” intervened Atlas and earned himself the surprised looks of Mi and Bro.
“See, even Atlas thinks that I would be the best leader and should start.” said Bro with renewed confidence.
“I said it doesn’t matter who starts. Listening is also a quality a leader should have, Bro.” said Atlas, a little annoyed and half sure that Bro intentionally misunderstood him.
“I listened.” said Mi with a grin full of schadenfreude, and Bro blushed a little in shame and anger.
“Good, now that this is clear, I will go home. I have a field to take care of.” Said Atlas, waving his goodbye.
“Wait, why don’t you play with us. You never played Monster & Hunter with us. It would be good to get to know each other, right?” stopped him Mi.
Atlas contemplated for a moment. He was sure that it would be beneficial for getting to know his “peers” in the tribe and getting closer to Mi and Bro as well. The problem was that these games for children were out of his comfort zone. He hated it when Jason forced him to play football, and he wasn’t a great fan of other childish activities in Hogwarts like collecting chocolate frog cards or playing Gobstone. Not even wizard chess looked interesting to him, even though he knew that it would be part of the trials for the philosopher's stone. He always thought that he could spend time improving himself by reading or training. Later on, spending time with Hermione became equally important, but except for training people who he thought might become useful, he didn’t spend time with the others. The fact that he started to consider some of them friends while doing that didn’t change that.
He sighed before accepting Mi’s invitation. Maybe he could use this “game” as training as well.
“Yeah, I will even let you choose the role you want to have. Monster or Hunter? If you don’t want to be the monster, I can be it one more time. And Bro also promised to be the monster sometime, so what do you want to be?” said Mi enthusiastically.
“Can you first explain the rules? I never played it before.” Admitted Atlas
“What!?!” asked Mi and Bro in unison.
“Never…Played…Monster..&..Hunter? How is that possible? Don’t you want to become a good hunter?” asked Bro aghast.
“What has that to do with playing a stupid game?” asked Atlas a little irritated that Bro and Mi took the game so seriously.
“It has everything to do with it. How else do you prepare yourself for becoming a hunter?” asked Bro as if Atlas was stupid.
“Bro, I think it’s better if we explain it to him. He will realize it as soon as he plays it.” Said Mi.
“So the rules are simple. For every six hunters, you have one monster. We all start at the center of the tribe. The monster gets three minutes to hide itself in a close area around the center. The monster isn’t allowed to leave the area until one of the hunters tries to throw a net towards the monster or until the monster touches one of the hunters. After that, the monster needs to escape to the border of the village without getting stopped. The hunters win if the monster is caught in a net. If you get touched by a monster, you are out for ten seconds.” Explained Mi.
“Now do you understand why it’s so important?” said Bro, nodding at Mi’s explanation.
Atlas wasn’t sure if he liked it more or less when Mi and Bro were on one side in an argument. But the game rules were a bit surprising. He had to admit that the game itself might be considered training. At least it would make them physically fit enough for real hunts, even though he doubted the applicability of the tactics developed in this game.
“Fine, in this case, I will play the monster for the first round and the hunter in the second.” said Atlas and even forced himself to smile. He wanted to play monster to win some goodwill from the other two, and he would also use it to see how good they really were.
As soon as they were at the town center, Atlas could see that half of the kids that visited today’s class were also present. A few older and younger kids were also there. Atlas could see a child no older than five checking a seaweed net for holes and damages like his life depended on it, while a few of the older girls were trying to convince a younger boy to play Monster.
A few adults that came by also smiled at them, and Atlas could hear some of them talking about the time they used to play the game. It was as if Monster & Hunter was some kind of national sport in the tribe.
“Folks, we brought a new player with us. Lets greet him with a group catch!” yelled Bro, and out of nowhere, around ten nets were thrown at Atlas.
Atlas could see how the nets unfolded in the air, and he immediately realized why no one wanted to play the monster. It was an indescribable, unpleasing feeling to be treated like an actual animal or monster that was meant to be caught.
He reacted quickly and rolled to the side, dodging all the nets before they hit the exact spot he was standing on a second ago. The training these children had at throwing nets was shocking.
“He actually dodged it. Bro, he is awesome. Please tell me he plays as monster.” asked one of the older boys, who had also thrown a net.
“He will. He definitely will.” Said Bro with fighting spirit in his eyes.
“Bro, that was unnecessary. He is on our team now. You shouldn’t do something like that to a team member.” Said Mi, a little angry.
“You are just angry because he managed to dodge and you didn’t when you played for the first time.” said Bro, teasing Mi.
“You didn’t dodge it either. We were caught at the same time, remember? Idiot.”
Atlas was unsure what to say. He hadn’t expected to be “attacked” before the game even began but refrained from saying anything until he knew what this was all about. As it seemed to be some kind of entrance ritual for the new ones, he couldn’t really protest it now. Especially since he had managed to dodge it. But he still felt a little betrayed by them.
“I was only caught because you stood in the way!” protested Bro.
“Shut UP! Both of you. Is it too much to ask for that you two don’t fight at any opportunity?” yelled Atlas at them and immediately regrated it. He didn’t want to lose his temper, but the two of them just didn’t stop.
The surrounding kids looked at him a bit shocked and Atlas shivered from the attention.
“I thought we wanted to play. If I’m the monster, you are on the same team. Behave like that,” said Atlas to break the awkward silence. If he already yelled at them, he could as well finish reprimanding them.
The two just nodded, too stunned to protest.
After that, the first round started quickly. Atlas and two girls and three boys were selected as monsters, and they needed to run away.
As Atlas ran in between a few shacks, he came upon a small pond. He had the idea of submerging himself in the pond. He was already good enough at bending to create an air bubble underwater to breathe for five minutes. By then, the hunters should be past him. The major issue was that not only would it be boring, but it would also do little to convince the others of his abilities. And he was sure that with the training he had done until now, he could outrun even the kids that were two years older than him.
So instead of doing that, he splashed some water in the surrounding area and hid behind a shack from where he could touch the puddle he created.
A minute later, he heard three “hunters” running in his direction. The moment he heard the first splash in the puddle, he froze the puddle, causing the three “hunters” to slide and crash next to the pond.
He quickly went to the three of them and touched them on the shoulder. The next second, he saw out of the corner of his eye how Bro threw a net after him from behind the same shack he had been hiding at.
Atlas blocked the net with a blast of water before running away.
“Hey, that is cheating.”
“You never said anything about water bending not being allowed. So catch me if you can.” taunted Atlas and ran.
Bro was quite fit for his age, but compared to Atlas, who had trained as soon as he could “play” in the mud, he was still lacking. Atlas ran the path he was most familiar with and could quickly see his home, which was at the border of the village. Even after the village expansion, there were at most two more rows of houses after it.
Just when he thought that he had shaken off Bro, another green net flew towards him from the side. It was Mi who had hidden in his field.
The throw was timed so perfectly that Atlas couldn’t even dodge it as he was running at full speed. He managed to slow down just enough to not crash down at full speed. It still hurt a little, which probably was another reason everyone disliked being the monster.
“Ha, I knew you would run past your home because you never played the game. Newbie mistake.” Said Mi while Atlas was struggling to fight himself out of the net.
He might have been able to cut the net open with the water from his field before Mi reached it, as apparently the catch only counted if she touched him while he was caught, but destroying the net surely was against the rules of the game. It annoyed him a little that he had lost in such a childish game, but he had to admit that predicting his route based on the fact that he played the game for the first time was remarkably smart.
“Are you fine? Normally people don’t run so fast when they are caught.” asked Mi a little concerned and Atlas just nodded.
“Ah, ah, good. You got him. Ah, damn, you are fast, Atlas. And that bending was so cool. You have to show me how to create ice. Father is always too busy to teach me.” Said Bro still panting from the long run.
Atlas didn’t need to think long about this request and immediately agreed. He needed strong allies, and teaching Bro and Mi how to use a more diverse set of bending was already part of his plans.
“Me too, me toooo. I want to learn cool bending techniques as well. My dad is always preaching about mastering the basics first. So pleaasee,” pleaded Mi immediately after hearing that Atlas could use waterbending to create ice.
“Yeah, I will teach you both. How about I teach you after every lesson. You just need to come here to my field. It has everything we need for training.” Said Atlas with a smile as he finally freed himself from the net.
“Yay, okay. Now let’s go back. We still need to play another round. Bro, you remember your promise. You are the monster now.” said Mi with a cheerful smile.
The next two rounds, Atlas was on the hunter team, and even though he wasn’t as accurate at throwing the net as other kids, he was far faster. As Atlas thought of it as a training exercise, he always dashed at full speed as soon as he saw a target, earning him the nickname Mad Dasher.
Yeah I’m glad you put the game in it feels more natural if that makes sense and yes def a time skip