Doctor Mei 1

A/N: As you're all interested by my new stories, I'll post the two chapters I have here. Doctor Mei is a Essence CYOA and right from the start Mei, the MC destroy canon by existing. In this fanfiction, I'm making ATLA a bit more like cultivation.

Synopsis: Those are the adventures of Mei in Avatar: The Last Airbender. The first element that she bends is Air. She meets her master and little by little meet the Gaang as she travel to the South Pole. How will she influence the world from then on?

Essence: Mad Doctor, Isekai Starter Kit, Home

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Doctor Mei

# # #

Part 1: Arrival

# # #

1 year and 6 months before Avatar Aang's awakening
Southern Air Temple

It's been one week since I arrived in the world of Avatar, at the Southern Air Temple. The temple was empty, nature, animals, and strange birds having reclaimed it. I got here as a reward for saving the Earthly avatar of some cat Goddess from being run over by a truck, but I died in the process. My love for cute, fluffy things and animals was my downfall, just like mom said it would.

The unnamed cat Goddess offered me three vials and the world of my choice to be reincarnated into. I chose the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender. With the three vials, I crafted my new enhanced body, and I became prettier than I was. I even found a safe home with modern amenities that would later allow me to move away from ATLA if I grew bored with the shenanigans there. Those are not my words, but the Goddess's. She also told me that she will come often to see me because we're friends now.

I took a deep breath and then looked up and up at the giant tower. The entire temple was atop a mountain. It was eerily silent and drafty.

Though the air on this planet was decidedly cleaner than Earth's was, it also helped me think more clearly that the Essences I had were limited in their scope. Despite all my advantages, there were things that my essences didn’t protect me from, conceptual stuff that I, being a mortal, can’t shrug off.

I guess it was time to change that, the essence of Mad Doctor showed me multiple ways to achieve that; the one I liked the most was by ingesting an elixir based on the blood of powerful creatures such as Dragon, the tears of a Phoenix, the scales of a Kirin or Immortal ranked fruit like a Peach of Immortality, or one of Idunn's apple.

Quickly, I found a warm place inside the temple, the kitchen, and I spent another hour cleaning it to have a clean workspace. The water in the nearby well was clean and cold, but it was enough to clean the dust, cobwebs, and grime from the living space using soap and detergents from my Home.

Placing myself before the solid wood table that I cleaned, I started opening my alchemist bag. I pulled three empty vials, uncorked one, and summoned the blood of an ancient gold dragon, filling the vial. I did the same for the tears of a Phoenix and the scale of a Kirin. Then I directly summoned a peach of Immortality and an apple of Idunn.

I pulled from my bag a small magic stove, a magic cauldron, a sturdy mortar and pestle, as well as a smooth leather sheet. I spread the sheet before me on the table, placed the stove in the middle of it, and positioned the mortar and pestle to my right. 

Placing the cauldron on the stove, I opened the lid and summoned pure water inside until it was filled. Pushing the button on the stove, a blue flame started burning. I needed the water to boil to a precise temperature without it evaporating.

Like the Goddess showed me before leaving me here, I started circulating the Chi in my body and injected it into the cauldron to begin the process of Alchemy to make a pill.

I started with Idunn's apple, peeled it with my knife, and when that was done, placed it inside the mortar and began turning it into mush. Once done, I put the mush and juice inside the Cauldron. Next, I cleaned the mortar with pure water and started the same process with the peach of Immortality before placing the mush in the cauldron again. I kept the seeds of both the apple and the peach to plant in the garden of my Home. I put them in different vials.

Before using the blood, tears, and scales, I needed to treat them. I started with the scale and turned it into powder with my chi. It was fortunate that I had limitless life force, because this process was supposed to be exhausting for the alchemist cultivators handling them.

For the blood, I used my chi to imbue it and create a centrifugal effect to separate the impurities from the practical element. The impurities flew telekinetically inside a separate vial. I placed the treated blood inside the cauldron, then added the Phoenix tears and Kirin scale powder as the final ingredients, and finally put the lid on the cauldron. 

I placed both hands over the handles of the cauldron, without touching it, but I kept injecting my chi inside. In my mind's eye, I could see the ingredient and the energy inside the cauldron slowly swirl together as my chi mixed everything.

Little by little, the ingredient coalesced into a pill over time. Five hours later, after the pill had formed, I opened the lid and used my chi Telekinesis to pick up the round medicine.

“The Immortal Golden Pill. With this, my immunity to sickness, poison, and diseases is complete. I am never going to age beyond twenty years old already, but I am even more Immortal with this.” I said as I popped the pill into my mouth and… potent Chi infused into my body.

My body became even stronger, and I felt my already super-enhanced senses becoming even sharper, so much so that I started spotting stuff that I couldn't see… like the spirits and the ghost of the monk who had been watching me for a while.

“I think the pill attuned me to my spiritual side without me wanting to…” 

I think that by shedding my mortality with the Immortal Golden Pill, I made myself into something of an oddity, it seems…

The diminutive translucent monk floated up toward me, made a slight bow, and said, “Greeting, young lady, may you give me the pleasure of knowing your name?”

# # #

One day later…

“It should be right about here.” The ghost of the old monk pointed at the ground in the annex behind the Air Temple's library.

Monk Gyatso was a good old man whom I had recognized from the cartoon I watched in my childhood. He offered to teach me how to Airbend because he could detect that I was able to, because the air around me seemed to passively move around to my will, like the toddlers who discover their bending for the first time.

I didn't refuse, but I told him that I would not shave my head or become a pacifist and that I liked meat. The man didn't even seem phased by my demands and agreed with a smile; that is why we were looking for the secret storage room of the library.

The library was looted and burned by a Sozan Comet-boosted Firebender from the Fire Nation 149 years ago. The old man led me to a secret trap door hidden by a half-burned rug. “Is this it?”

I pulled the rug off and rolled it away, and miraculously, there was hidden a metal trap door with a lock. A creature that I recognized as a lemur somehow appeared and landed at my side, with a key in its hands. Correction, this looks like a lemur but it wasn't an animal, no, this was a spirit.

I crouched slowly before the spirit so as not to startle or make it attack me. Presenting my open palm to it and said, “Hi, is this for me, Mister Spirit?” 

Monk Gyatso chuckled and fondled part of his long mustache. “Oh oh, you realized it so easily, young Mei?”

I received the key in hand, the faint haze of white energy around the lemur being visible to my eyes. “Yes, I can see the… halo around him and sense that strange atmosphere that I feel from you as well.”

Gyatso praised me for just seeing what was going on. “Your spiritual senses are highly developed, another sign that you'll become a powerful and talented Bender.”

I frowned, I wanted to be strong, but still loved cute stuff and the prospect of killing anyone was daunting. Don't misunderstand me, I wasn't a doormat, if someone sought out trouble with me, I would make them regret it, permanently if I must… However, I wasn't a bloodthirsty murderer. What this realm will do to challenge my beliefs and morals, I am not excited to know.

There was a reason I was happy that my new Goddess pal made me a doctor. I always wanted to be a magical healer since I've played DnD with my friends.

“Powerful, maybe, but I am still a doctor. My profession is to heal.” I said with a thoughtful tone.

“You're wise beyond your years, young Mei, and don't seem to want to be trapped in the vagaries of power.” The ghost monk remarked.

With a smile, I replied, “An elderly man in my hometown once told me that with great power comes great responsibility.”

Gyatso started to laugh. “A great saying! I wish I could meet such a wise man.” 

“He unfortunately passed away.” I said sadly as I thought about Uncle Ben. 

This was another reason Monk Gyatso wanted to teach me. Doctors and alchemists needed to learn how to defend themselves in this realm it seems. But I felt that the man tested me constantly to take my measure.

I took the key and put it in the lock. With a loud click, it unlocked the trap door, and when I opened it, I saw stairs descending in a penumbra-filled basement. 

“I advise you to seek out a torch or a candle to light your way.” Monk Gyatso helpfully said.

“No need, Mister Gyatso.” Lifting my right index finger in the air, I conjured a small ball of chi, and light burst forth as I elementally shifted the construct with the light element. 

I saw his old face change into a shocked expression. “How are you doing that?”

It was easy, I just channeled my chi and gave it the properties I was thinking about. It was just a matter of mind over matter, and I have a lot of willpower to control the boundless energy inside of me. “It's an application of energy bending.”

“You mean…” Gyatso's eyes widened even more. 

I nodded. “This is the same art as the Lion-turtle, yes.” Or at least I think so, I need to test on a local human's body first to see if they all have similar meridians and physiology to the people from my original world. As I thought that, slowly, I descended into the basement's storage room.

# # #

Baguazhang, that's what the airbending forms remind me of when I saw Gyatso showing me all the katas and moves. When I compare it to YouTube videos that I can see in my home, it is clearly apparent. In the storage room, we found many books and scrolls that Gyatso asked me to take in my custody, and at the same time… I ‘read’ everything my hands fell on. I placed all of them on the shelves of my Home I would give them back to Aang when I met him. 

One of my Essences allows me to obtain the knowledge and information from any data storage device or book just by touching. I received a lot of information about this world that wasn't in the wiki and comics about bending, social, and historical knowledge about the four nations. It was mainly about etiquette, animal rearing, laws, philosophy, and religious texts.

Then there were scrolls about airbending and other nations' bending styles. I was less interested in the scrolls full of old versions of bending, because I could see how they've evolved in my mind.

My days were spent training and doing medical research thanks to the anatomy and biology texts I found in the storage room. Thanks to my Essence, it took one week for me to be proficient in airbending. I started to shape and manipulate air almost immediately, mimicking the movements from the airbending scroll and Gyatso's demonstration.

Airbending was all about circular, evasive movements and redirection. For instance, I moved my arms as I built up a large amount of energy and momentum, which I then released through powerful movement to create a tornado for a brief moment, sending the dummy I was facing flying.

When it fell on the well-carved stone ground, I punched and created an air blast at it, sending it overboard, down the mountain. 

At the same time, Monk Gyatso looked from where the dummy had fallen back to me; there was an awed expression on his face. “Are you sure that you never learned airbending before?”

I broke into a kata and stabilized my breathing, then I abruptly stopped moving and let out a slow breath, exhaling a warm exhalation. Looming at Gyatso, I said, “Never, but I did practice martial arts in my hometown. So my previous skills are translating in airbending.”

It was even true, I practiced Tai Chi, Wing Chun and swordsmanship in my previous life because of my long term boyfriend who was a action movie stunt artist. Michael lured me in the gym by saying that martial arts helped keep fit and that I could eat anything I wanted if I trained right after…

I miss him… and hoped that he moved on from my death.

Gyatso must have felt that I didn't want to say more and that the subject of my past was rather delicate. “I see, it's only been one week since you started under my tutelage. I will teach you more about the physical side of being an Airbender, then we will start on the spiritual one.”

I frowned at his expression, the old man looked rather… excited. “Is it going to be hard?”

A sly smile spread on the old man's face. “Nothing worth having is easy to obtain without effort, my pupil.”

Those words spelled my doom, now that Gyatso noticed my ‘talent’ I spent the next four months training five days a week the physical side of air bending and on the weekend he made me meditate to get in touch with the spiritual one.

Master Gyatso, as I've taken to calling him recently, noticed that I recuperate faster than anyone he has met, so he pushed me harder than any he has taught. At least that's what he has told me when I complained about the pressure I was under.

We were in the outdoor training area, and I was sitting across from Master Gyatso on the meditation mat I had found.

“You are doing so well, little Mei.” The old monk said with a lilt in his voice.

He has warmed up to me since we started training all those months ago.

The old man continued speaking. “Thanks to your private spirit world, you have abundant food and water, medical skills, and an enhanced physiology that allows you to recover very fast. You're any master's dream pupil, five months in, and you're almost close to mastery…”

I was proud that what should have taken me at least ten years was reduced to almost half a year. The Isekai Starter Kit essence was no joke. Another thing was that master Gyatso wasn’t even surprised by the Home, I just said that I was gifted it by a cat spirit, and it wasn’t even a lie.

The old man put on a wistful expression as he reminisced. “If we had you when the fire nation attacked one hundred and forty-nine years ago… we would have more air nomads who survived.”

His mood put a damper on my little rant about wanting to have some free time. I sought to raise his spirit by saying, “But Master! They did survive by escaping to the Earth Kingdom.”

I watched the cartoon for both ATLA and LOK, and even read the comics, so I knew that the air nomad survived, but they did at great cost…

Gyatso stared at me and seemed to know what I was thinking. “They abandoned their culture for survival. It was one of the plans to implement if something like the air nomad genocide happened, go and mingle with the populace of the Earth Kingdom and never use our bending to avoid detection.”

Ah fuck, I made him worse. “Ah, how saddening…”

The ghostly monk lowered his head and, with a thoughtful look, added, “I agree that the pace I set for your bending was due to my excitement to have such a hardworking and talented student. I will give you four days of physical airbending and three days of spiritual training. What do you think?”

I sighed in relief, my shoulders slacking. “I will take the deal, Master.”

I've been learning non-stop, sure I was patient and couldn't get bored, but I wanted some time to learn about the airbender culture and continue my project on how to cure blindness. I wanted to help a special little girl that I would soon be meeting.

Monk Gyatso nodded and, with a warm smile, told me about his decision. “Very well, we will go back to the tried and true formula of working hard, studying well, eating and sleeping plenty. With your talent, we have the time to make you a master of airbending, little Mei.”

With a breath of relief, I relaxed my body. I liked that he was being considerate of me, so I smiled back at him. “Thank you.”

It was right at this moment that something peculiar happened; I felt like I detached myself from my own body. I was standing and seeing Master Gyatso look surprised, then I looked behind me and… saw myself.

I looked at my body; my new form was very pretty. It didn't stop that I was a bit weirded out by the experience of seeing my own body. Huh, I was made into a teenager… then I observed my spiritual body, which was all translucent and blue.

Master Gyatso stood up and began walking around me with a thoughtful expression and his arms behind his back. “You succeeded, you've projected your spiritual body out of your physical one.”

He smiled at me as he stood before me. “Now, let's see if you can do it again.”

Paf! He hit me with a palm strike that made me fall back toward my body. Next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes back in my own physical form; with a frown, I looked at the old man. “Huh, Master, how come you could touch me and send me back to my body?”

“I am a lost soul that hasn't re-entered the cycle of reincarnation yet. For now I am like those spirits people meet from time to time in a forest.” The old man explained.

I see… but then this gave me an idea about something else that seemed possible. “Interesting, but Master. Can you bend in that state? If you can, we could spare!”

The old man laughed. “Hmm, for that to happen, you must first succeed in using your spiritual projection.”

“Challenge accepted.” I said by cupping a fist with my hand and looking at my Master with determination. 

# # #

(Monk Gyatso)

Gyatso shouldn't have taunted his new student; in barely two hours, she had mastered projecting her spirit from her body, and now he had to deal with the fact that he could interact with her in that state. The girl possesses a remarkable talent for understanding concepts and her own abilities. The world was lucky that little Mei was uninterested in such things as power and fame; the ghost monk had been testing her since he saw her appear on the island.

Still, how lucky that an Airbender with no control over her abilities and very attuned to the spiritual, enough to see him, would appear on this island? This was simply Fate at work.

Mei being able to use her spiritual projection opened many avenues to speed up her training. Gyatso now could touch her and fix her stances and teach her how to navigate the world with her spiritual form, phase through the ground and walls to spy and gather intelligence. 

There was also the ability to project themselves to people they have a strong emotional connection. Gyatso hoped that Mei would be ready soon; he could feel that his time on this side of the pond was slowly coming to an end.

The old monk was glad; it meant that his reunion with his wayward student was coming soon.