~000~
Chapter Eleven: Battle at the Palace
~000~
Zuko explained before Appa reached the palace quickly. "My sister is expecting us, she'll probably have arranged her troops around the palace to attack us."
"Sounds like there might be a lot of them." Sokka said. "What should we do?"
"We should split up. If Azula's smart, she won't just be sitting around without getting ready for us. She's probably planned every single part of this day."
"And how do we find that out?" asked Toph.
Zuko nodded as he explained. "You, Sokka, and my Uncle secure the palace. Katara and Aang are with me, we have to find Azula and finish this."
"But there's going to be so many of them. How can we get through?"
"Leave that to me." Toph nodded.
"And me." Zuko explained.
Sokka noticed this. "What're you going to do against a small army of earthbenders?"
"You'll see." Zuko said as rocks began to fly towards Appa, the bison roaring as he dodged out of the air. "We're getting close, no matter what you do, stay together!"
When Appa landed immediately it became apparent just how strong Zuko was after training with Jeong Jeong and how much the Gamer fueled his abilities. His fire was hot enough to melt rock, so all Earthbending attacks were ignored as long as he could keep blasting through them.
"How'd you learn to do that?" asked Aang following him inside the palace as he guided rocks away from him with his bending.
"Focus on the mission!" Zuko said hitting the doors to the Palace so hard with fire they burst open.
Seeing Dai Li strike from every corner of the throne room, Katara dodged rocks with her water while speaking. "Some plan you made, now where are you supposed to go?"
"Can you two stop talking for just two seconds and follow me?" said Zuko.
Taking a deep breath, Zuko pushed his hands forward, focusing all of his energy into a wave of fire so large it consumed five Dai Li in the blast. Despite it being a simply larger version of a [Fire Press], Zuko executed it with both of his hands and all at once. As the men ran for cover they were burnt and singed, most of the throne room was caught on fire as well.
Acting quickly, Zuko chained together his attacks, using the fire from previous attacks to build up his strikes like a wave. Their rock and stone attacks burnt away from Zuko's flames, most Dai Li were overwhelmed. Seeing her troops fail utterly drove her mad, Mai appeared and threw a torrent of knives towards Zuko.
Before she could start fighting her fellow member of the Fire Nation Katara doused her with water. As Mai fell, Zuko and Aang swept away the ten or so Dai Li guarding the throne room.
"You should pay for what you did to Jin." Zuko raised Mai's chin, making her look up at him. "Where's Azula?"
"You wouldn't hit a girl." Mai squinted at him.
"True, but she wouldn't." Zuko tilted his head towards Katara who raised her water covered arms.
"Fine fine." groaned Mai. "She's under the palace in the Catacombs."
Zuko shook his head. "She knew I was coming. This is my fight."
"No. It's ours." Aang assured. "Where're these catacombs?"
"I won't tell you that much." Mai shrugged.
Seeing the look on Zuko's face, Aang put a hand on his shoulder. "Wait, it's fine. We can have Toph help us."
Before they left Mai spoke out. "You won't be able to stop her. You know Azula better than any of us, she's planned every part of this since the moment she stepped in Ba Sing Se."
Saying nothing Zuko started running out of the throne room with Aang and Katara to find Toph.
~000~
Toph, Iroh, and Sokka were having trouble from the sheer number of Earthbenders there were. Raising his Water tribe club up, Sokka took cover with his comrades behind a palace pillar.
"Azula probably filled this palace with enough troops to stop every one of us! How can we stop her!?" Sokka said flinging his boomerang to no effect.
Sighing, Iroh rolled his old neck. "It's time for you children to learn why I became known as the Dragon of the West."
"Why what're you gonna do? Just- Oh my god!" Sokka nearly recoiled in fear from how much fire Iroh began breathing out of his mouth.
While the Dai Li had enough time to lower their caps in time to block the strike, it gave Toph the opening she was waiting for. In one precise strike, Toph bent a wall of earth to rise up from the ground and knock five Dai Li away.
The others kept striking but Zuko and Aang attacked them.
Overwhelmed, the remaining twenty Dai Li and various Earth Nation soldiers found their attacks dodged at best and null at worst against Zuko's stone burning fire and the Avatar himself.
"What're you guys doing here?" Toph said jutting forward with the help of some earth before cracking a Dai Li across the face with her fist. "Weren't you all supposed to find Azula and the King?"
"We did. We need your help!" Aang said as he bent earth and air as fast as he could towards a row of Earth Nation soldiers.
Zuko did a jumping front flip fueled by a [Fire Blast] that he used to land behind the Dai Li and using both of his hands at the same time. Punched both of them away in one quick [Fire Press.] Zuko then spun around on the ground with his hands creating loops of flames strong enough to batter away lines of Earth Nation troops that came forward to attack him.
Ty Lee almost would've struck Zuko's elbow had Iroh not intervened. The Tea shop owner grabbed her hand and swept her off her leg. When Ty Lee fell, Toph bent rocks in place to capture her.
The remaining Dai Li were either driven off or quickly disabled by Zuko and his yellow colored stone burning attacks.
Seeing that they had some breathing room before Azula's troops regrouped, Toph turned to Zuko and Aang. "Now, what was that you needed me for?"
"Mai said something about Azula being in the catacombs. Think you can find them for us?" said Zuko.
Getting in place, Toph spoke. "Let me think." she struck the ground to sense the crystals underground. "Huh, she wasn't kidding. There's miles of caves down there. The biggest one has about thirty or so Dai Li sitting in 'em."
"That's where Azula must be." Aang said.
Toph hit the earth beneath her feet before turning away. "Follow that tunnel and it should take you there." before anyone could say anything she sprinted off with Iroh and Sokka to chase down the remaining enemy soldiers.
Aang bent rock out of the way as Zuko lit a torch in his hand.
"Are you nervous about facing your sister?" asked Katara as Aang led the way down.
Zuko shook his head. "I've long since parted with that side of myself."
"What about Jin?" Aang said.
Shaking his head, Zuko sighed. "There's more to life than romance. In a lifetime of failure I've learned that there are more important things than just what you feel is right in the moment."
"Hm. That was actually pretty wise, maybe you're more like your uncle than you thought." Katara smiled as Aang bent more earth out of the way.
"I wish I was. I'm actually hoping to end up like him. He runs a tea shop so popular we've managed to get an apartment in the inner ring, he's a master Firebender and everyone respects him."
Aang bent the last rocks out of the way to reveal Azula and her soldiers.
"So you managed to defeat Mai and Ty Lee. Expected, but pointless. Seize them."
As the Dai Li leveled a series of boulders at the group, Zuko, Aang, and Katara hit them with Fire, Water, and Air, creating a huge explosion of rock in the middle of the catacomb.
As the Dai Li stood their ground, Zuko struck the floor of the catacomb with a [Fire Press] so strong only Azula was able to remain standing.
As the Dai Li faced off against Katara and Aang, Zuko and his sister circled each other in the center of the chamber.
"I've waited so long for this moment. None of this would mean anything without you. You know I can't win today. Join me and you can complete your destiny. We can rule the world together brother, you know we can." Azula hissed promisingly.
Seeing Zuko hesitate out of the corner of his eye, Aang battled the Dai Li while speaking to him. "What're you waiting for?"
"For her to answer the challenge. Agni Kai." challenged Zuko.
"Fine. But we do things my way."
Despite the Gamer clearly noting how Azula was a Firebender about five levels higher than him, Zuko showed no signs of worry. The Gamer had more than proven that he could overcome the slight advantage she had with how much it powered his technique.
The duel began with Azula sparking up so much lightning the entire chamber glowed with light. Zuko breathed in, stretching his arms out remembering what Jeong Jeong and Iroh taught him. Without fear and completely focused, Zuko prepared to channel the entire attack. As the lightning spiraled and as it was prepared to launch towards him, Zuko visualized his redirection.
The lightning would enter his fingertips, travel across his chest and be released at the wall of the cave behind him. All of his Chi, all of that energy inside of himself he wanted to release into fire at his hated sister would have to wait. It would have to act as a bridge, a link between Azula and the spot on the catacomb behind him.
Just as Zuko had planned, Azula's lightning traveled from her fingertips to Zuko's, and flew directly to the wall behind him.
The entire catacomb shook under the power of the explosion Zuko had created, and not wasting any time, Azula and Zuko dueled.
Azula's flames should've normally outmatched Zuko's but he had the Gamer on his side. Sick of hearing how she was always the prodigy of the family, Zuko spun flames around so hot the entire catacomb glowed seemed to almost grow several degrees higher.
Wiping the sweat off her face as Zuko battled Azula behind her, Katara used the waterfall and canals around her to so much effect a few Dai Li were washed away in one attack. The ones who were able to block in time bent rocks at her from multiple angles, the girl dodging just in time to avoid being hit.
Aang was having trouble too, simply from the fact that he was facing fifteen or so Dai Li at once with three elements at his disposal.
Zuko bent flames that seemed to gasp the air around it of any moisture from how hot they became, Azula's torrents of flames seeming to match them in strength. When the collided, they whisped together away, yellow meeting red in a colorful display.
Azula was a bit faster, but Zuko had much more stamina. Zuko was stronger, but Azula could cut angles in a manner that far exceeded Zuko's. Everytime one sibling thought they had the advantage over the other, one would come back with strikes the other could barely hang on to avoid.
Having enough, Azula flew towards her brother igniting the air behind her with what acted as a launcher for her strike.
Not wanting to be caught in an attack that'd likely incinerate him, Zuko flew forward as well building up his own flames in the palm he wasn't using to fly towards Azula. Both brother and sister were building up a fireball so hot in their palms that they seemed to be carrying small suns as they flew towards each other.
Like two trains crashing together, when Zuko and Azula's fireballs collided, the two siblings flew back from the power of the explosion, their dark hair fluttering about when they landed on the rocks behind him.
Both Azula and Zuko were hurt badly from how hard they hit the rocks, gasping loudly in pain when they landed on the ground.
Zuko was weak to rise but he knew the price of losing an Agni Kai. And so did Azula, their duel more than showing their desire to settle this once and for all.
By the time both had recovered after a small moment of Katara and Aang's battle raging around them, Zuko and Azula were building up an attack that would likely burn both of them.
Yelling, Zuko began to build up fireballs in his hands using an edited part of one of Jeong Jeong's most simple but powerful firebending forms. Recognizing his stance and the form, Azula knew what was coming, getting ready to stop the attack with all she had.
Releasing the final move from [Fire Stomp], Zuko summoned up walls of flame in front of them that a small portion of the catacomb almost seemed to rise up in fire. Then, Zuko spun on the ground, using as much momentum as he could to send the walls flying towards his sister.
Azula punched the ground in front of her and released a smaller but hotter wall of her wall to act as a small shield, stopping the attack by simply minimizing the effect it had on her. The yellow flames from Zuko's walls and fireballs began to tear apart the very foundations of the Catacomb by melting away parts of the pillars.
Covered in sweat and seeing her brothers reaction to this, Azula laughed loudly. "What afraid the party's getting too hot? Let's finish this!"
Seeing Azula launch towards him, Zuko knew that if he met her attack again it could possibly kill either one of them or both of them. He had no time to consider the implications of either of these outcomes because he was instead running towards Azula as quick as he could.
Expecting an easy end to the fight, Azula cackled loudly while building up her fireball. Before she could release it however Zuko had slipped under her arm and grabbed his sister. Slamming her onto the ground as hard with all he could muster, Zuko did a perfect throw with nearly impeccable timing.
The only problem was Azula didn't properly finish her firebending technique, exploding and catching them both on fire while she screamed in pain from being slammed onto the ground.
Zuko would've been scared had not he had zero fear of being caught on fire, turning to his sister with no fear as she groaned on the ground beginning to recover from the throw.
Seeing Zuko approach was almost like seeing her own worst nightmare. Zuko had become a far more powerful firebender than her, he was ignoring the fact that he was mostly on fire, snapping while tearing across the air in front of him to convert all of it into a whip.
The sound of Zuko's snap seemed to echo across the catacomb, nearly drowning out all the noise of Katara and Aang's battles. His yellow [Flame Whip] growing so hot it seared the ground it touched a scorched black.
Stepping through the flames as if they were nothing, Zuko had had enough of Azula trying to kill him again and again. He slapped his sister around with his whip before she could barely muster a counter, mostly because she was partly paralyzed with fear, exhausted, and had been hit on the ground flat on her back.
Seeing Azula being beat was not enough, he knocked her around the catacomb with no mercy, yelling angrily as he tossed her about. Azula shrieked as Zuko's fire whip wrapped around her stomach and slammed her again into the floor.
"Enough!" his uncle's words snapped him to his senses, appearing out of the hole Toph and Aang had created. The old tea shop owner used his firebending to disperse his landing while walking towards his nephew. "Can't you see you're hurting her?"
"She's trying to kill all of us! She's a monster!" replied Zuko.
"Don't let her turn you into one either." Iroh said.
Azula gasped for air when on the ground. "Traitors! The both of you! You'd side with the Avatar to save your own skins!?"
"We protected Ba Sing Se today." Zuko restrained himself from cracking her across the face with another fire whip. "And I would again."
Seeing his leader in trouble, one of the Dai Li picked up Azula from the ground. "We must leave m'lady."
Placing his hand on Zuko's shoulder, Iroh restrained Zuko again. "Wait. Your father must learn of what happened here one way or another. Let her go."
"But she'll bring back an invasion! She could have us all killed." Zuko protested as the Dai Li began to flee.
"Sometimes it is better to know when you have won a battle single handedly." Iroh turned to an exhausted and hurt Katara and Aang. "Then waste the energy of your friends."
Grunting loudly as he hit the pillar behind him, Zuko yelled. "Can't you see this is not the way I wanted things to end? Can't you see I finally beat her?"
"You are letting your emotions control you." Iroh explained to his nephew. "What are you going to chase down Azula and all of the Dai Li all by yourself?"
"No but-"
Iroh turned Zuko back to him. "Listen to me! You are misunderstanding the entire purpose we had today. It's not about you, it's not about your honor! It's about the true way things should be."
"And how is that?" asked Zuko.
"With balance. And patience. It will take your entire life to find out the man you should be, it doesn't take one day." Iroh explained. "Stop exhausting yourself and your friends." Iroh splayed hand to the barely standing catacomb. "You'd have buried yourself and both the Avatar and her friend alive had it meant defeating Azula. You would have done exactly as she desired."
Zuko fell silent. "I'm so sorry Uncle."
"Don't be. You're taking your new found strength as an opportunity to believe you can do as you please. It takes years before you can fully master your abilities."
"But I beat Azula."
Iroh nodded. "For now. But like you, Azula does not take defeat lightly. When she returns, it will likely be at the head of a great army."
Aang collapsed, quite injured from fighting the Dai Li. Katara ran to him as he groaned, "I'm fine." he said. "Did we. Did we win?"
Zuko helped the Avatar up from the ground as he spoke. "Sort of, you should get some rest, Toph and I can get the Earth King in a second."
Iroh spoke before he left to collect Toph knowing Aang was in no condition to rescue the King. "Don't think this conversation is over. We have much to discuss."
~000~
Being reunited with his bear, the Earth King laughed. "Bosco!"
"Are you all right, Your highness? How long did they keep you down here-" Zuko was cut off when the Earth King suddenly hugged him.
"You did it! You saved the Earth Kingdom!" the King cheered.
Toph cleared her throat. "Um, we have a lot to talk to you about actually."
"Yes yes that can all come later." the Earth King waved a hand. "For now we can celebrate! Come on Bosco!"
As the bear followed the King, Zuko turned to Toph. "Azula almost annihilated us. And Ba Sing Se. Now he wants to celebrate."
"Something tells me this guy isn't the right man for the job with all that's been going on." Toph said, raising an eyebrow.
"You think?" Zuko sighed. "Let's get out of these damned caves."
"Lets." Toph chuckled as the two began to walk out. "Something tells me you're not in a good mood again."
"Why should I be? I nearly killed Katara and Aang, and me and my sister. And all so I could get my stupid honor back."
"I think you did all right. If I had a sister that bad I'd do anything to get her out of my hair. Guess that's the fun of being an only child."
Zuko looked at the much shorter girl. "So wait. You took on an entire platoon of Dai Li and troops all by yourself?"
"Well your Uncle was there. And Sokka can't bend so it was mostly just me and him. Your uncle's a really sweet guy, did you know he can breath fire?"
Sighing, Zuko rubbed his eyes. "Yeah. Said I was never ready to learn it. Something about, not having the proper breath."
"But you beat your sister. Why not?"
Zuko shook his head. "I disappointed him today. He understands me better than I do most of the time. It's actually kind of annoying."
"Well when you're sixteen and you have an uncle that wise, it must be." Toph shrugged. "Come on, the Earth King said we should celebrate. We avoided disaster today."
~000~
"Does my hair look all right?" Sokka asked.
"Sh!" Katara said jutting her elbow into his side outside the throne room as servants pulled on the large doors. "The ceremony's about to start!"
Wearing the best clothes they had, Sokka, Katara, Zuko, Toph, and Aang entered the throne room of the Earth Nation palace as all the most important people in the Earth Kingdom were arrayed.
Lines of soldiers stood at attention as the five generals stood in line next to the Earth King who was waiting with five medals on his arms. The group of five walked down the aisle of rows of nobles and soldiers as a Royal Earth Kingdom band played a triumphant tune.
Zuko had to admit the Earth King had really done a lot for them as they were presented with medals. It really seemed to be a very extravagant and honorable ceremony.
As the five knelt in front of the Earth King, the Earth King raised his hands. "The Earth Kingdom has been saved by its most noble servants. The Avatar has delivered us from the Fire Nation and destruction!"
One by one, the Earth King laid a medal on all of their heads before applauding. "All hail the protectors of the Earth Nation!"
Soon the entire hall applauded together as Sokka gasped seeing who was in the front row with the Kiyoshi warriors. "Suki!" he gasped running to her wearing his medal.
Zuko tried to smile but the Earth King spoke again. "Let the festivities begin!"
~000~
All of Ba Sing Se celebrated their liberation from the Dai Li and the Fire Nation's attempted coup to occupy the city. Zuko, Sokka, Katara, Aang, and Toph all stood on a small platform while everyone came bearing gifts and congratulations.
Zuko however was off to the side frowning, not wanting to take part in any of the dancing or celebration despite all the smiling and fanfare.
He leaned on a railing overlooking the passing crowds of dancing and cheering Ba Sing Se-goers as a familiar voice spoke to him.
"You don't seem too happy. This party's all for you, remember."
"Jin!" Zuko gasped. "I thought you-"
"Save it. You have a lot to say to me about but we can talk about it another night. Don't forget, you broke my heart." the girl said, taking his side at the railing. "Seeing the Earth King give you a medal made me change my mind about a lot. I heard about what you did in the caves today."
"You did?"
Jin chuckled. "Everyone did dummy. The whole city did."
"But I lied to you."
"I heard about something else too. Something your sister leaked when all of the Dai Li's schemes became public today. You've been protecting Ba Sing Se since before we were dating. The Blue Spirit?"
Zuko sighed, covering his face. "Oh god. You know about that."
"Hey. Don't be embarrassed. You cared about me. About the whole city since long before you even knew who I was. That counts for a lot. You should've mentioned that when you confessed. Zuko." she said not using 'Li' anymore.
"Forget the medal." Zuko took it off his neck and offered it to her. "It's yours."
"That could probably feed my family for a month. But since we're not technically dating anymore, it'd be rude of me to take it."
"Jin. I'm so so-"
"Sh." Jin rested her finger upon his lips. "Do you want to apologize to me. Or do you want to dance?" Jin offered her hand.
Nodding, Zuko accepted happily.
Aang bobbed his head along slowly to the cheery music as Iroh appeared at his side. "So. Are you enjoying the festivities?" Iroh asked.
"Of course I am!" Aang said.
Iroh smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. But we have something serious to discuss."
"Do we?"
"I know this is hardly the time but before my brother returns with an army, you must seek out Guru Pathik to help you master the Avatar State. Today was but a fraction of the devastation Azula and Ozai seek to bring, and we will need you more than anyone else Aang."
Nodding, Aang spoke. "Thank you Iroh. I will."
"This came together quite well. You and my nephew are quite brave."
Aang chuckled seeing him dance happily with Jin. "It's a surprise to see him so happy. I thought he'd be all gloomy after today."
"He and I have much to discuss too. But for now, I should let you all enjoy tonight." Iroh nodded.
~000~
Seeing Iroh enter their cell, Mai and Ty Lee grew surprised seeing who it was, hearing the music play in the distance. "Shouldn't you be out enjoying the Earth King's Festival?"
"Yes. But I brought some treats for you girls." he said revealing the pastries. "I'm sure Earth Kingdom prison food must not be tasty."
As Ty Lee took it happily she spoke as she chewed. "What did you want to talk to us about?"
"My nephew did something very brave today, and very brash. It is clear that he and I will need your help in defending the city from a siege."
Mai raised an eyebrow, refusing to try a pastry. "We should be on trial for treason against the Kingdom. What'd you need our help for?"
"Zuko cares deeply for you both as friends. He needs you both if we're ever to win this war. He will need someone to help train the large number of non-benders for battle."
"Why not use actual soldiers?" Mai was still skeptical.
"I can talk to the Kingdom Generals and Zuko about it later. For now I wanted to let you know that my offer stands." Iroh left the basket of pastries before leaving. "Or you can enjoy this wonderful new cell you girls have. Your choice."
"Why are you giving us these things?" Mai asked. "Why would you help us?"
"The Four Nations are coming together to defend Ba Sing Se. It would be unwise to leave what little we have of the Fire Nation out of it because of a misunderstanding."
"But we-" Mai said as Iroh turned around.
Ty Lee smiled as Iroh left the cell. "He's nice. I hope he brings us more sweets."
"He wants to use us to protect this filthy city from our King. The true King." Mai threw her nose away. "Zuko does too."
"He's gotten stronger, not to mention way nicer and less grumpy. Maybe you should be like him too." Ty Lee suggested. "Plus didn't you say you hoped he'd join Azula when she captured him?"
"No. I didn't." Mai threw her head back. "Why does defeat suck so hard?"
"Hey we might actually leave this awful prison. Sounds nice to me."
"I hate it. I hate this city. I hate Zuko. I hate you." Mai said looking back as she leaned her head on the prison wall hearing the music play in the distance.
~000~
Seeing Zuko speak to a group of Earth Nation nobles, Katara spoke to Suki. "I'll catch up with you later."
"So you're actually the Fire Lord's son? And you defended the city today?" an upperclassman asked.
Zuko shrugged. "It was nothing. Least I could do after staying here for so long."
Katara smiled and crossed her arms over her stomach. "Nice to see you lightening up after today."
Zuko nodded and spoke as one of the five Kingdom Generals laughed loudly behind him. "Yeah, it was a bit crazy for all of us."
"Zuko, are you okay after everything that happened today? You almost died fighting Azula. You almost killed her. You almost killed all of us."
He still made eye contact with her. "Well I don't plan on just letting things get that bad next time. I'm going to train with Uncle, and help him defend this city again."
"Well I'm glad you're helping us. Great job standing up to your sister today."
As Zuko watched Katara walk off he wondered about how uncertain everything seemed now despite the Festival that was conducted and the medal he received.
'This Gamer power, what does it truly offer me besides all these points I got for doing things like defeating Azula today? Why does it make me grow stronger so much faster than I would've normally? What is its true purpose? What more could it do?'
'When will Azula and my father be back for a siege? Who would come to help them? How would they possibly defend against the full might of the Fire Nation.'
Shaking his head, Zuko waved his thoughts out of his mind. He had a party to enjoy, and it might be the last peaceful night he gets in a long time.
~000~
That night as Zuko slept, he awoke in some sort of strange dream. Only it wasn't a dream, Zuko was in something that looked as real and physical as Ba Sing Se. He was in a strange white room that seemed to be completely empty except for a strange figure standing in it.
Screens greeted Zuko.
[Congratulations! After completing the Royal Palace Battle quest you have unlocked the Abyss!]
[You have unlocked LV 1 Mana Abilities!]
[You have unlocked a LV 1 Dungeon "Mask's Haven."]
[You have unlocked the Achievement System!]
[You have unlocked (Max) Gamer's Mind!]
[You have unlocked (Max) Gamer's Body!]
"What is all this!?" Zuko asked in surprise looking around the room.
"It's the Gamer power. In its purest form." a voice said, revealing himself as the familiar figure from his dreams.
"You." Zuko stood up, in awe that the Blue Spirit was finally speaking to him. "It's you!"
The Blue Mask nodded. "Yes. It's me I suppose."
"But you're. This is."
"Must be confusing." the Blue Spirit shrugged. "For now you're with me kid. Those old geezers Iroh and Jeong Jeong might teach you all about firebending. I'll teach you what really matters."
"About what? What do you have to teach me?"
"To reach the final quest. Your true journey. What all this Avatar business really means to you."
Zuko looked at the Spirit. "What true journey?"
"Jeez do I have to spell out everything for you?" the Spirit sighed. "To find your mother and defeat your sister. You're never gonna do that without proper control over your firebending. Last time that happened you nearly killed yourself and all your friends."
"But it's grown stronger."
"Exactly. Way too strong. You're 16, and you're handling enough firepower most armies couldn't handle for generations. There's a reason Jeong Jeong didn't teach you fire focus techniques, you'd have blasted your own sister and everyone in that cave apart without proper control."
"Wait, I can learn fire focus?"
"With the Gamer you can pretty much learn anything in about a few weeks at most." The Spirit patted a small spot on the cube that rose to make a seat for him and Zuko. "Have a seat Zuko. I have a lot to explain to you."
Zuko nodded, waiting as the Blue Spirit spoke. "See the Gamer power is not of your world. It's not of my world or our world either. It manifests in all sorts of universes, in a multiverse of sorts. That's not really important right now, but what matters is that in your world, the Gamer power manifests in your world once every five hundred years."
"Five hundred years. Where have I heard that before." Zuko patted a finger in the air.
"Yup. In those stories your mother used to read to you before bedtime. See the original Blue Spirit lived in early history, he was the first Gamer in this world. It's how he became a one man army."
"Was he. You?" asked Zuko.
Chuckling, the Spirit shook his head. "No. I chose him. But he brought back the Fire Nation from annihilation, and now you must do the same. Your father wishes to burn the entire world down, and if you don't stop him and your sister, he will succeed."
"Sozin's Comet. How much time do I have?"
The Spirit stood up leaving Zuko sitting. "Well that's the thing." he raised his hands. "In the Abyss, you exist in a dimension removed from your own. You have as much time as you choose. That's where we first met, where you chased me around the city."
"But why're you here? I thought you were just a strange part of my dream."
"That was no dream kid. You were testing out the Abyss in Ba Sing Se's environmental Dungeon. You have, no clue what a video game is don't ya?"
"Not a clue no."
The Blue Spirit sat down next to Zuko. "Well I used to exist as a video game character out of your world. Then, I couldn't die properly, ended up being warped over to your world as the Blue Spirit. See I wasn't just sitting around waiting to choose who I'd reincarnate as either, the Gamer gave me a choice. I've been watching you grow since you were banished kid, you haven't disappointed."
"Yeah well I should've." Zuko tutted. "Went crazy today."
"That's what Gamer's Mind's for." the Blue Spirit patted his shoulder. "Now that you've unlocked the Gamer Ability in its truest form it's time for me to explain to you something crucial. I chose you, from the moment you started putting yourself in harms way for others you started down the right path. When you rode alone and helped those villagers. The path to redeem yourself and your country, can't say you've messed up because of one little toss up."
"Um. This is a bit strange."
"I can imagine." the Spirit said. "I barely understand it myself. I was supposed to die properly, stupid arcade machine broke. Plug got pulled." he snapped his fingers. "Single glitched line out of code and bam! Sucked into the Abyss."
"What is this Abyss?"
"Well the Abyss is like a spider's web, if every string was connecting different universes together. See this part of the Abyss is just a string like any other, it's what gives the Gamer his power. It's what lets you level and learn anything exponentially faster than you would have normally. It also lets you do crazy stuff like this."
Zuko watched in surprise as the Blue Spirit raised his hand, completely surrounded by some sort of blue light, before zapping the wall behind him with a blast of power.
"What was that?" Zuko asked.
"That was Mana Shock. You'll learn it much later on but for now that's about the gist of it. You can bend Mana, which exists as Chi in your world, into whatever you want here." The Blue Spirit materialized a bow and arrow out of Mana. Pulling it back, the Blue Spirit released another explosion that surprised Zuko with how easy he made it look despite its power. "Or. Almost whatever you want."
"Wait so, all this is to find my mother?"
"Not really. After you die about five hundred or so years later I'll find someone else who really deserves it. Fire Nation probably. Think the Avatar Cycle except I actually choose who and when I reincarnate."
"So it's not about me?"
"Eh. In a way it both is and isn't. For now you will probably get a handle of Fire Bending, Lightning Bending and Mana Abilities that will probably knock your sister out without needing to kill 'er."
Zuko still had a lot of questions. "You think I'll find my mother? That she's still alive?"
"That I don't know. I only know what the Gamer can tell me. You have a quest if you beat your sister and your dad named 'To Find Ursa.' Don't know where she is or if she's alive. I'm basically just your guide to master the Gamer and its Abilities."
"Wow. This is just. A lot to take in."
"I'll always be with you." The Blue Spirit comforted Zuko. "Don't worry. You don't have some divine destiny to restore balance to the world or something. The Gamer is what you make it. You and only you get to decide what to do with it."
"Thank you. Makes this all seem a bit less odd."
"So." the Blue Spirit said. "Here's the part where I ask you. What do you want to do with it?"
Zuko took a moment before responding. "I want to reach that quest. I want to defeat Azula and my father and then find my mother. No matter what it takes."
"Excellent choice." the Blue Spirit clapped his gloved hands together. "Music to my ears. So. Let's begin."
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So, I'm back. And I have something to note.
First, Katara will eventually join Zuko's pairing with Jin, Mai, and Ty Lee, and here's why. Aang won't OOC'lly decide to just leave her and forget his feelings for her, I'll get to that. So no one assume that she's basically gonna fall in love with Zuko in five seconds and dump Aang in the trash.
That's disrespectful to both characters, and Pathik's training will basically determine all of this without throwing the pacing out the window. However, Zuko is paired with four girls, Jin, Ty Lee, Mai, and Katara so that's a lot of stuff I have to write. I considered adding Suki, but someone made a really good point that I should keep all the canon ships.
I mean having a romance going with five girls seems pretty insane, even for Zuko who according to the Avatar Fandom is a Chad/God among men. I can see Zuko and Suki happening, in fact this is basically the only ongoing story with more than 800 followers that would include that but that would get absurd.
Buuuut….Zuko growing to have enough power to basically flick Azula off his shoulder like a fly while having him collect girls like Pokemon is not the intent of this story. Tiny harem if you can call it that, slowly stronger but not instantly OP Zuko.
I hope this chapter made it clear that Zuko's true journey, the endgame goal, is his mom. And making her proud.
Again, I want to write this well but not over indulge in fan service. In fact I'd argue a large portion of this fanfic, aside from most of Zuko's character development is mostly just that cutesy fanservice romantic fluff Jin/Zuko.
And that's not a bad thing, but considering I have followers like Dragon Bone Z, JRZ, and OriksGaming who really know wassup when it comes to proper and well written fanfics, I don't want to let them down, and I don't want to let you guys down either. At the same time, I want to write this how I want to, and this is the way.
So yeah, slow burn mini harem of four, slow OP Zuko.
Mostly because a) I like Zuko and Jin b) I like Zuko and Mai c) Ty Lee d) and of course Katara. Suki though? Yeah that'd be awesome but Sokka and her are already a thing by this point in canon, can't just be like?
"Yeah that never happened. Canon isn't real, cover your eyes folks."
And Toph is way too young (she's 12!) and Azula is his sister. Gross guys ugh!
That's it folks, I'm not here to butcher any characterizations. That's never my intention. Thanks for reading!