Mask of the Gamer Chapter 4: The Mask and the Spiders, an avatar: last airbender fanfic

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Chapter Four: The Mask and the Spiders

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What Zuko was looking at was honestly pretty embarrassing to him.

[Congratulations! After extensive practice, you have improved a |Crafting Skill|: Level 3 Tea-Making!]

Zuko felt like facepalming. He came from the line of the most powerful fire benders to ever live and here he was, helping his uncle run his tea shop. Routine set in and Zuko was wondering if his teenage life could ever be more monotonous.

He opened the tea shop with his uncle. Made dumplings, set teapots to boil, Jin came into the shop with a smile. Then nighttime fell, he closed up the shop and he and Jin kissed each other good night.

The next day was the same.

After another day, the |System| took notice of this.

[You have leveled up a |Crafting Skill|: Level 4 Tea-Making]

"Zuko, the next batch of tea needs to be set." Iroh bowed to a customer who handed him a few coins.

Zuko went into the kitchen the tea shop had and made sure no one could see him. He expelled a few flames from his hands and lit the stove without using any fire setters.

When Iroh walked in looking for something in the pantry, Zuko spoke to him. "Er...uncle? Do you miss firebending?"

Iroh stayed silent for a second. "No. Do you Zuko?"

He nodded. "Can't stop thinking about how long it's been since I bent for real."

Iroh reached into the pantry. "You must've not resolved your feelings about capturing the Avatar if you still wish to cause violence without reason."

"Uncle it's that...I haven't been able to do any exercise since I got here in the city with you. I want to wear the Mask some nights but you..." Zuko stopped himself but Iroh sighed.

"We have a good life here...better than those most have here. Why risk that over a silly nightly escapade?"

"But I...nevermind."

After Iroh left the kitchen, Zuko checked his |Interface|. He remembered how he still needed to help that shopkeeper recover his papers. He'd put the mask on that night, regardless of what Iroh said.

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Sitting on the edge of a rooftop crouched, Zuko's fist tightened. He knew he was skilled at dual wielding his dao, but he was considering fire bending if things got too out of hand.

After sprinting and flipping over rooftops, Zuko found the shopkeep's store marked with the red lantern outside it. The man gave a sigh of relief when he saw Zuko appear. "I'm glad to see you! I almost thought you'd forgotten-"

"Where's the hideout?" interrupted Zuko from behind his mask.

"Some gambling den on the western edge of the Outer Ring. No one knows where it is but-"

Zuko had already disappeared, the pottery merchant wondering where Zuko could've gone to after he escaped his sight.

He was already flying with all haste westward, crouching on top of an earthbender driven train. A man from below saw him and squinted at him, but after a few seconds, Zuko had already disappeared and flown into the night.

Zuko eventually came across the gambling den which was noticeable by the two thugs standing outside its door with their large arms crossed.

After reading the blue boxes only Zuko could see over their heads, Zuko rubbed his mask covered chin. 'They're earthbenders. Should make this quick before they make any noise.'

The two men didn't even notice how Zuko had snuck up behind them and was ready to knock them both out. One took Zuko's elbow to his teeth, and before the other one could bend Zuko had already swept his leg and kicked his head.

With both of them out of the picture for the time being, Zuko crouched on his way inside the gambling den. Men were playing multiple different games, drinking and laughing loudly as Zuko used the shadows as his hiding place. A bit of wall separated the hallway Zuko was hiding in and the men gambling at their game tables.

A servant holding a tray of food and other drinks was passing by as Zuko stuck his sword out from the shadows and pressed it to the man's side. "Don't. Move."

The man gulped and nodded with a question. "What do you want?"

"Put that tray down slowly." demanded Zuko. The man set it down without a hint of noise and Zuko kept speaking. "There are some papers that were stolen from a pottery seller. Where are they?"

"In a small chest in a room back there. Please, d-don't hurt me."

"Don't worry about it." Zuko used the bottom of his dao's grip to knock the man unconscious. After Zuko hid the man away in a small broom closet, Zuko avoided walking thugs to sneak up to the room.

Zuko grunted when the doorknob was shut, knowing he couldn't bust the door down without a distraction, he came up with a quick plan. Zuko snuck over to a dark corner of the gambling hall and lit a tiny fire with his bending, afterwards, it grew and the men were distracted to put it out after it grew.

Zuko used the commotion caused by the fire he started to break the door to the room open and look around it. There was a desk and other assorted things but Zuko knew he only had the time to get the papers and get out.

"Hey!" one of the thugs guarding the gambling den said.

Zuko watched as the thug bent large pieces of stone out of the ground and sent them flying towards him. Zuko drew his swords and cut them out of the air. Other thugs began appearing and Zuko rolled around to avoid earth as he picked up the chest in the room. Jumping out of the window of the room, Zuko had pieces of rock flying in his direction as he vaulted into the air on another rooftop.

[You have leveled up your skill in |Level 11 - Acrobatics!|]

"Go after him!" Zuko heard the men he almost escaped yell.

Soon earthbenders were chasing Zuko across rooftops. Zuko was only holding one sword as his other arm was clutched around the chest he stole from the smugglers.

Rock and bricks which were made out of dried clay were sent flying toward him and Zuko could only cut them away with one sword as he escaped. Zuko eventually reached the far western edge of the wall surrounding Ba Sing Se and was surrounded by thugs on rooftops.

There was nowhere to run and his swords would be at an ineffective range. He knew this was a long time coming.

The men prepared bricks and stones to bend and Zuko dropped his swords and the chest he was carrying. A piece of rock was bent at his head but he dodged it and sent out a gout of flames from his fists at the man who did.

He went flying off the rooftop with a yell and the men stood shocked. They grunted out of it and attacked.

Zuko's shoulder was hit by a brick and he grunted in rage. He lost control and adrenaline took over for the duration of the fight. Zuko created large fireballs from his feet as he kicked towards his attackers with everything he had. Only a few managed to summon enough bricks from the rooftops to prevent being burnt, but others were left scorched from the multiple attacks.

Due to the immense amount of [Chi] Zuko burnt bending at his enemies, and the fact that he was using his feet instead of his fists to attack, the |System| recognized this and responded.

[You have unlocked a new |Fire Technique|!: Flame Kick (Level 1: 010/90)]

Zuko had only disabled around half of his attackers but he was left panting beneath his mask. A notification from the |System| alarmed him.

[325/650 CP]

He felt himself recover as the men around him recovered as well, tired from bending earth at a boy who avoided or scorched anything that came at him. However, Zuko's |STA| stat came in handy as he regenerated his Chi faster than his opponents and descended on them with a fury.

Zuko's leg that was set aflame knocked another man of the rooftop from the adrenaline overload and Zuko's |STR| stat. One bent a large number of bricks at him throwing his arms around in Zuko's direction, but Zuko used [Blaze].

A large fireball exploded from Zuko's fists, both of his arms were expelling fire into a combined attack that burnt the projectiles sent at him.

Zuko dodged a brick as he ran up to a thug and swept his leg. His friends paused their attacks as Zuko was too close to their ally to strike. Zuko raised his foot upward in an axe kick and brought a large flame down on the man's back, burning it and causing him to shriek.

There were only around seven men left standing on the rooftop, and they all decided to bend bricks nonstop at Zuko. Zuko countered with another [Blaze] and when the smoke cleared from the flames he sent, the Blue Mask came out striking with his whole body set on fire.

Seeing their friends being burnt while they screamed by what appeared to be a blue masked demon lit on fire caused pure fear in the men. Some men used this fear to randomly attack Zuko out of pure survival with their fists. But Zuko simply dodged or blocked and countered in kind, flaming strikes disabling the few that remained.

Zuko flew away into the night carrying his swords on his back and a chest wrapped under his arm, using a large jet of flames from his fist to propel himself into the night's sky.

Because the |System| recognized his improvement at fighting from his victory, Zuko received a notification that he ignored as he did with most.

[Congratulations! You have gained +2000 EXP from fighting, and have improved in the following Fire Techniques:

-Flame Gout (Level 13, 107/110

-Blaze (Level 9, 041/100)

-Fire Punch (Level 29, 031/130]

The Blue Mask made a shadow against the moon, fire around him and swords and chest carried tightly.

He was feeling more alive than he ever had the past few days and found himself on the edge of a corner of a particular rooftop to open the chest he stole from the men he defeated. He cracked the lock off with one of his swords and checked what was inside.

[Inventory Update!: You have gained +40 Earth Kingdom Silver Pieces, +30 Earth Kingdom Gold Pieces, and the |Pottery Merchant's Papers|]

Zuko didn't want to use the nervous and bumbling pottery vendor as his only source of information so he decided to read through the papers that were extorted from him. Most of it was names of people Zuko didn't know, but one thing caught his eye.

It was a transaction for what the parchment described as a flying bison. Zuko knew what that meant. He pocketed the coins he found in the chest and the papers, leaving the chest there on the rooftop as he flew towards the merchant's shop.

When he landed next to the red lantern and walked back inside, the potterer laughed when he saw Zuko approach and hand him his papers. "Oh thank goodness! You're a lifesaver!"

[Quest Update! You have successfully completed the quest |Unraveling the Spiders Web|!

You have gained +1500 EXP, +20 Earth Kingdom Copper Pieces, and +200 to |Reputation| with |Shopkeeper|]

[You have unlocked a special Quest Route: |Bringing Down the Dai Li|!]

"Please, take this. It's not much, but it's the least I could do for what you did for me." the man handed Zuko a small bag of copper which he promptly placed next to his other coins in his pocket.

[Inventory Update!: You have gained +20 Earth Kingdom Copper Pieces]

Zuko glanced at this notification and wondered what would've happened if the man didn't pay him. He automatically assumed that this magic, whatever it was, could be a bit strange and needed some fixing.

"Please, if you want to come find me, I'll keep that red lantern outside in case you want some more work."

Zuko nodded. "Who are the Dai Li?"

The shopkeep explained. "A man named Long Feng is using them to keep the news about the war away from the citizens."

"You know about the war?" asked Zuko.

He nodded. "My son and I ran a small farm together in the southern part of the kingdom before we fled here. My son was an exceptional earthbender and Long Feng recruited him to join, that's how I had those papers, I work for them like my son. Like all other refugees, the Dai Li didn't let us talk about the war."

"What were you planning on doing with the papers?"

"To sell them to the smugglers, but then they decided to muscle me out of them. I may need your help in the future to break my son and I free from the Dai Li's grasp, the city would be a much better place without them."

Zuko nodded. "I'll find you when I'm ready for more work. Thank you." The potterer bowed and Zuko left towards Iroh's apartment.

Putting his Mask and outfit away in his closet in his room, Zuko felt gladdened that Iroh was snoring away in his room and had no clue he was out again as the Blue Spirit. Zuko laid on his bed and smiled up at the ceiling, admitting to himself that spending nights firebending and making Ba Sing Se a better place actually brought joy to him.

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Long Feng watched as his lieutenants forced two smugglers to their knees in front of him. "We found them sir." a Dai Li officer said. Long Feng stood up straighter in his chair. "You stole some papers from an administrator of mine. Where are they?"

"W-We don't know. Someone stole them from us."

"Who?" insisted Long Feng.

"It was that criminal the Fire Nation wants, t-the Blue Spirit!" the other smuggler said. "He came into our place and stole some of our money, along with the papers."

Long Feng motioned to one of his officers who brought him a chest. "Is this all the gold you found in their gambling hall?"

The officer nodded. "Yes sir."

Long Feng opened it and raised a quick eyebrow at the large number of coins inside the box. "I'll be taking this into the treasury for the Dai Li. Consider it a payment for keeping you here locked and fed as prisoners."

"F-For what?"

Long Feng laughed by huffing some air out of his nose. "Extorting confidential papers from a government operative, running a gambling operation without a license, and smuggling. It seems to me that prison is a suitable punishment for you and your band of criminals. Now...how did this...Blue Spirit manage to steal our papers from you?"

"He...he had firebending." a smuggler said.

"Impossible." Long Feng dismissed.

"I-I-I can prove it!" the lead smuggler stuttered. "He took down a dozen of my men! Th-They have burns!"

Long Feng looked to an officer and nodded. Dai Li brought in bound smugglers and made them kneel in front of Long Feng who kept speaking and sitting. "Show me."

The lead smuggler nodded to his men. "Show them the burns."

After seeing the scorch marks Zuko left on the thugs, Long Feng fixed himself in his seat. "Are you sure it was this Blue Spirit who burnt you?"

The bound men nodded and muttered 'mhms!'

"Very well." murmured Long Feng calmly. "Take them back to their cells."

After his men took them away, Long Feng muttered to one of his officers who acted as his bodyguards. "Must be quite the firebender to defeat a dozen men. But luckily we have some of the best-trained warriors in the country. Send word to our men to find this Spirit and bring him to me alive along with our papers he has."

"Yes sir." The bodyguard bowed and left the room.

Long Feng smirked and leaned back in his chair, thinking it would be easy to achieve such a thing.

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Short chapter I know, but I couldn't just ignore this plot point. There'll be more of Zuko's firebending and him being the Blue Spirit in the later chapters. To me, it made sense that Zuko wouldn't just use his swords when he was surrounded, outnumbered and facing earthbenders. He'd understand that swords are great but their range is limited so firebending would be the only thing powerful enough to take on a lot of people fighting him.

I understand that the shopkeep can't have an earthbender for a son if he's a non bender himself, but if his wife wasn't and could bend earth then according to canon it's fine.

If anyone interested in RWBY or Jaune Gamer stories or Jaune Harem stories likes my writing and would want to see more of it, feel free to check out Arc of Legend on my profile, I'd really appreciate it and would be very very grateful for the support. Thank you all for reading, reviewing and supporting, and just being all around awesome fellow fans of the Gamer and Avatar the Last Airbender! Peace out and see you at the next update! ~MiyazakiFan18