It's Only Natural

"It's Only Natural" is a comic book that takes place between Book Two: Earth and Book Three: Fire, originally released by Nick Mag Presents: Avatar: The Last Airbender on September 18, 2007, and later released by Dark Horse Comics in The Lost Adventures. Certain local bookstores put this edition of Nick Mag Presents on the market a few days earlier than advertised, making "It's Only Natural" available on September 14 in select locations.
== Overview ==
Annoyed by the pampered nature of Kuei's pet Bosco, Sokka decides to employ his skills in teaching Bosco how to live in the "wild" despite the bear's lazy tendencies.
== Synopsis ==
Shortly after the fall of Ba Sing Se, Team Avatar has gathered with other allies at Chameleon Bay. Sokka is chatting with Toph about how spoiled Bosco is when he decides to head into his tent for some sleep. There, he discovers Bosco in his tent. The exiled Earth King Kuei, when demanded of an explanation, says that the bear is not used to sleeping without a roof over his head. As a result, to his ire, Sokka shares his tent with Bosco. The next morning, upon seeing Kuei attempting to teach Bosco how to live in the wild through an encyclopedia, Sokka takes it upon himself to educate the bear about the outside world.
The first lesson is in how to acquire food. Sokka leads the king and his bear to a hive of scorpion bees. Kuei questions how they will reach the beehive, which is located at the top of the tree, and Sokka reveals that Bosco's claws should allow the bear to climb the tree easily, only to notice they are manicured. Sokka tries to get Bosco to climb the tree by lifting him up, but he is unable to do so. Kuei wonders if there is another way to catch food.
Sokka leads them to a lake to try fishing. Bosco attempts to use a fishing line, but Sokka stops this by saying a bear uses its hands. He leaps in to try and grab a fish as a demonstration, but struggles to capture it and falls in the water, emerging disgustedly with seaweed all over him.
Next, Sokka tries to explain the importance of shelter. He leads Kuei and Bosco to a cave, explaining that shelter is a necessity. However, when he walks in, boar-q-pines chase him away, causing Kuei to note that the shelter should be unoccupied.
The third lesson is territory. Sokka explains that one needs to sound ferocious to defend one's territory, and asks Bosco for his best show of roaring. Kuei explains that Bosco does not roar, but is a lovely whistler. Bosco whistles, to Sokka's disgust.
The final task Sokka tries to explain is self-defense. He pretends that he is a wild hog monkey who wants to steal Bosco's food, trying to get the bear to defend. Sokka punches Bosco, who goes down easily. Sokka's frustration reaches a high point, and he says Bosco will never make it in the wild.
As the sun sets and the three return to camp, Sokka calls the day a waste of time; however, Kuei remarks that he learned something. He realizes that there is a lot in the world he does not know about himself, like Bosco does not know how to be a good bear. Kuei decides he will experience the world as a humble man. He and Bosco tear off their royal clothing, Kuei revealing casual clothes underneath, and the two ride away. Sokka watches the two depart with a look of shock, and proceeds to put on Kuei's crown and asks Toph if "King Sokka" sounds good, but Toph tells him that she is not calling him that.
== Production notes ==
=== Transcript ===
=== Trivia ===
* This comic was released in the second issue of Nick Mag Presents: Avatar: The Last Airbender along with "Fruit-Stand Freestyle", "The Bridge", "Going Home Again", and "Gym Time".
* In early drafts of the story, Toph was going to play a more prominent role, but this idea was scrapped.
* "It's Only Natural" uses the spelling of boar-q-pine employed by the original Nick.com website for Avatar, which makes sense in the fact that the comic was edited by Nickelodeon. However, this spelling is considered incorrect with the release of Avatar: The Last Airbender—The Art of the Animated Series, which contains the accepted spelling of the word.
* Although this comic takes place between Book Two and Book Three, because it is under the "Earth" section of The Lost Adventures, it receives a green coloration on Avatar Wiki.
== References ==
== See also ==
* List of Avatar: The Last Airbender comics
de:Das ist nur natürlich
es:Es Natural
nl:It's Only Natural
ru:Зов природы
uk:Поклик природи
Category:A to Z
Category:Comics
Category:Real world