A/N: The following is rated R; for reunions.
It uses dialog, where appropriate, from S2E8 "The Chase."
Reader discretion is advised.
Chapter 8 "The Chase"
Early Spring, year 11 in the Reign of Fire-Lord Ozai
The Sun had been gone for several hours…
…and Katara wasn't there.
Normally she would have mentioned it, an adorable pouty look on her face, if she had reason to believe that she might be absent.
Not that she'd ever been right about that.
She had always appeared, smiling that amazing smile, as the sun disappeared behind him.
I will not be stupid, Zuko thought, forcing calm. She's probably just busy… With… Hero stuff. Some village under threat from… rabid badger-moles. Or saving terminally ill orphans from a burning building. Or something. She can take care of herself, you KNOW that.
He nodded firmly, throwing off his doubts, his eye still locked on the horizon.
Or, he countered silently, she was attacked by bandits en route to here and is currently bleeding out in a ditch whimpering my name, hoping I hear her.
…Shit.
He took off at a near sprint.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
He hadn't found her.
He had found an odd set of tracks instead.
Whatever made this was heavy, he thought as he sat on his haunches, a palm full of flame illuminating the scowl on his face just a clearly as the deep ruts carved in the earth. They looked like wagon treads, but Zuko had never seen a wagon that would be strong enough to bear the weight required to leave tracks this deep in Earth-Kingdom soil.
Whatever it was, it seemed to be traveling east, roughly along the same trajectory as the Avatar's group. The only other thing Zuko knew for certain was that, whatever it was, it belonged to the Fire-Nation.
He could still smell the coal-smoke, heady and pungent in the air.
I am NOT getting involved in this, Zuko thought, his scowl intensifying. I am NOT taking sides. I am OUT. Finished. Uninvolved! He narrowed his eye, looking east along the trail. Alright, I am FOLLOWING, but I am NOT getting involved.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
He jogged through the night and into mid-morning.
Whatever this thing is, it's not fast, Zuko mused, a dark circle under his eye making him look even more malevolent than he usually did. Point of fact, he was quite sure that he had actually gained on it, the smoke smell had grown noticeably sharper and more powerful a few hours ago. It is, however, persistent. It's essentially the same situation as when I chased the Avatar to the Shrine of Roku. They'll run him to ground, and then force a battle when he's too exhausted to continue.
While it was much in keeping with the Avatar's typical strategy of cowardice, Zuko knew perfectly well that fleeing from a force of greater mobility was suicide, strategic idiocy. You needed to find a place where the terrain suited defense and engage the enemy with intent to disperse and weaken if you wanted any chance of victory. Make an ambush if possible. Force them to fight on your terms, not theirs.
Then again if the Avatar had been smart enough to do that he'd probably have been smart enough to not leave such an obvious trail.
Appa, it seemed, had begun to shed his winter coat, leaving a trail of white and silver hair shining like a signpost once the sun has risen over the desolation of the badlands.
I'm going to have to have a talk with Katara about this. All the skill in the world won't save her if she doesn't learn better strategy.
Oh, they were going to have to have a serious talk.
If he ever managed to catch up.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
It was a train.
A train without tracks, parked next to a scant bit of greenery on the banks of the winding river Senjo.
Zuko couldn't help but remember the wonder he'd felt the first time he had seen a train; the last time he had been on the home island. His uncle had found its smoke and constant rattling quite distasteful, but Zuko had enjoyed the idea. At the time he had equated it to fire's natural superiority over water; boiling it out and forcing it into the service of the Fire-Nation. Now, however, he was put more in the mind of a collaboration, of fire and water working together.
Of course… fire was still the more important of the elements, but he had recently begun to… appreciate certain merits of water as well. Not that he would say any of this to Katara. They argued enough already.
This particular train was different than the one he had seen before. There were treads where the wheels would normally meet rails, and it only had two armored cars behind the engine compartment.
An interesting concept, he thought as he examined the engine. Although I do wonder about its fuel efficiency. It must take a great deal of coal to operate and there can't be anyplace to refuel out here. The Earth-Kingdom hasn't even figured out steam power yet. Primitives.
"Hey! You there! Ronin! Back away from the transport!" an angry voice called out.
Oh good, somebody is here to give me answers.
A younger Fire-Nation soldier exited the cab of the train and strode over to Zuko, attempting to project strength.
"I said back away from the-" he froze, words failing him as he got a better look at Zuko's face. "ASH! Yo- you're the banished Prince," he cried, startling back. "S-stay back! I'm warning you!"
Zuko just stared at him, his single yellow eye burrowing into the soldier's hazel pair.
"AKASH!" the soldier roared, screaming his family name as he flung fire at Zuko.
Moving almost entirely on muscle memory, Zuko seized the man's flames, making them flare dark red. Then, calling on his recent practice in water style, he whipped the flames around himself in a circle and sent them streaming back at the panic-stricken man, magnified ten-fold. With a gesture and a flex he made the fire burst before it hit, the concussive force of it slamming the soldier into the side of the train.
Good to know I've still got it, Zuko thought, bemused, as he strode forward and grabbed the man by the throat, lifting him off his feet and slamming him into the side of the train again.
"We will now discuss this fascinating vehicleof yours," Zuko intoned, face twisted into a feral grin.
"Zuko!" snapped a familiar pair of matched voices.
Zuko released the man, and his grin, and both fell at his feet as he swiftly turned and bowed. "Akodo Lo, Akodo Li. Honored aunts. I am pleased to see you again."
His great-aunts had exited from the cab of the train as well and stood staring at him with matching scorn. "You should not-" one started "-be here," the other finished.
"Why yes, thank you I am doing quite well. And you?" Zuko said with false good humor.
"Where is your uncle?" the ancient twins said in sync.
"Not here," Zuko growled, his false cheer falling away. "Where is my sister?"
"Not-" "-here," they replied, their faces expressionless.
Sun's name that's creepy.
Zuko had always found his great aunts to be mildly off-putting. The fact that one was a Lion and the other a Scorpion had always unsettled him, as he never could tell which was which.
While his aunts' were skilled at court manners, their faces a pair of unchanging masks, the soldier obviously was not. His eyes widened, and he'd drawn a sharp intake of breath when Zuko had said "my sister." Obviously, this was Azula's train, although that had already been relatively clear from their Aunts' presence.
Zuko glanced around, taking in the large beast footprints impressed in the soil. Three tracks, two heading east, one heading south continuing to follow the trail of silver-white hair.
"I assume that Mai and Ty Lee went east?" Zuko said looking at his aunts but keeping the soldier in his vision as well.
His aunts, of course, remained still as statues, giving nothing away. The spare on the other hand visibly gasped in surprise, confirming Zuko's theory for him.
Pathetic. I TOLD Azula to pick better flunkies and she responds with THIS idiot?
"This is a remarkable contraption," Zuko offered, once again projecting false good cheer as he strode around his Aunts, admiring the engine. "Truly a marvel of Fire-Nation superiority. Although the weak point of any steam-powered vehicle-" a dagger of fire, as hot and solid as he could make it, burst from his hand and he rammed it into the train several times, causing water to begin to drain out "-is the boiler."
"Overdramatic," one aunt chided. "Like his father," the other rejoined.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
It's not a very clever trick, Zuko mused. Only a fool would believe that this trail was the same as it was before, and my sister is no fool.
It had been somewhat obvious to Zuko, given the massive clumps of fur in the river Senjo, as well as streaked across its banks, that the boy had given his bison a bath and then created a false trail leading away from his friends. Just the kind of strategic selfless idiocy he'd come to expect from the Avatar.
Only the boy could leave a trail like this, and Azula will most assuredly be in pursuit.
Which was why he'd elected to follow this trail instead of the one he was sure would lead him to Katara.
She can handle herself. She and the Bandit should be able to handle two non-benders, even if they are as skilled as Katara seems to think.
Sokka didn't even factor into the equation.
Also, I have to thank my sister for these lovely gifts, Zuko thought with a smirk as he set his new komodo-lizard to a gallop.
The creature burst to a remarkable speed very quickly, almost making Zuko lose his seat. He was used to rhino-lizard cavalry, whose powerful bodies and heavy armor took a while to build up momentum. This komodo-lizard was slight of build and bred for speed. Zuko assumed the remaining one he had found in the second compartment was a re-mount and had not been used recently as it seemed eager to be let loose and to move as quickly as possible.
Azula will follow the trail, but the boy will head to ground in the nearest landmark. Tu Zin.
Vaguely remembered intelligence reports about the southern earth-Kingdom mentioned Tu Zin as a former mining town, the last vestige of whatever passed for civilization in this region before the great expanse of the Burning Sands.
Armed with that knowledge Zuko knew he could make a beeline for the ruined town, hopefully catching up in time to see the battle.
Should be a good fight.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
"…I must capture the Avatar to restore my honor!" Azula growled in a false deep voice, covering her left eye and scowling in an exaggerated pose of fury.
The Avatar seemed nonplussed.
"It's ok," Azula said, smiling unkindly, "you can laugh. It's funny."
Zuko had climbed up onto a rooftop overlooking Tu Zin's main road as Azula and the Avatar squared off. He'd reached the top just in time to catch the tail end of the "banter" phase of the fight, although he had missed whatever part of that conversation had led to his sister making an awful impersonation of him. But, luckily, he hadn't yet missed the fun part.
The part where the Avatar got his ass kicked.
Zuko sat down with his feet dangling over the edge of the roof and loudly popped the cork on a bottle of plum wine he had looted from his sister's now ruined train.
Azula and the boy both started in surprise.
"Oh, don't mind me," Zuko said, pouring some wine into his Fire-Nation man cup. "Not bad Azula," he said after taking a sip, "not bad at all."
"Zuko?!" Aang said in alarm.
Azula narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Hello, Zuzu. I was wondering when you would show up."
Aang sniggered. "Zuzu?"
"Does father know you've been drinking Azi? Or were you saving this for a late-night slumber party with your friends?" Zuko said dryly, shaking the bottle at her.
"Ohhhh!" Aang said brightly, turning to Azula. "You were supposed to Zuko!" He giggled. "That was funny."
Azula and Zuko stared at him. "Idiot," they both said at the same time.
"So… now what?" Aang said.
"Now? Now, it's over," Azula snarled, fixing the boy in place with a stare. "You're tired and you have no place to go." She grinned triumphantly. "You can run, but I'll catch you." She took a firebending stance.
"I'm not running," Aang said, brandishing his staff.
"That will be a first," Zuko muttered to himself.
/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\^/\
The Avatar fled.
From an outside perspective that was really the simplest way Zuko could describe his fighting style, fleeing. Fleeing with style perhaps, but still fleeing.
Divorced from actual physical involvement in the fight Zuko could really begin to watch and analyze the boy's technique. While he had no basis for comparison he was quite certain that the boy was an airbending master. His speed and command of his element could only be described as masterful.
To say that air was earth's opposite was one thing, to see it played out in front of him, to really grasp it, to understand it, was another. Where earth stood firm, air stood nowhere. Where earth shrugged off blows, air simply avoided them in a mobile circular pattern. Like earth and water fused together. Constantly mobile, primarily defensive.
On the other hand, there was Azula.
She was good. Fast. Her flames beat in a steady rapid tempo. Zuko hadn't really had a good opportunity to appreciate just how skilled she had become when they had last seen each other, but she was everything one expected from a modern firebending prodigy. Precise. Powerful. Predatory.
That said, Zuko could see that she quickly grew frustrated.
Her skills were amazing, and her blue flame could blast through the stone buildings lining the street with all the ease of a hammer through a paper screen. The issue was, as it always seemed to be, that the Avatar simply wasn't around to be hit. He was only dedicated to defense, and his speed was just a hair greater than Azula's.
Where Zuko was sure his flames would've begun to grow wild in anger and setting the surrounding environment aflame, Azula's flames simply became larger but no less focused. Thick burning ropes of blue flame that she used to great effect, tearing the roofs off of buildings and hemming the boy in.
Zuko could see the tempo increasing, could feel the crescendo of the duel approaching and became increasingly certain that his sister would win.
The Avatar was exhausted, dark sleepless circles under his eyes visible even from Zuko's rooftop perch. His major advantage, his ability with other elements was rendered moot by the dryness of the landscape and the fact that, according to Katara at least, his earthbending wasn't very good. Azula, on the other hand, was fresh, and fast and fought with a ferocity that made Zuko's heart swell with pride.
She drove the coward before like a prey animal, cutting off lines of retreat and escape routes with a methodical precision. She finally managed to corner the Avatar in an abandoned building by completely burning a rooftop out from under him as he attempted, again, to flee.
At a gesture, the ruined building caught fire and she entered into it to finish the Avatar.
It would have been the end of him… had Katara not chosen that exact moment to arrive.
Zuko's heart leapt into his throat as Katara bent a whip of water through the doorway that his sister had entered only moments before. A bolt of lightning, obviously thrown off course by Katara's whip, burst through the wall of the burning building and into the sky.
Azula screamed in rage, and pursed Katara out of the building, flinging jets of fire after her. Zuko's knuckles grew white with the death-grip he had on the bottle of wine as Katara blocked the flames with a sweeping gesture with her tessen, conjuring a wave of water which then turned into small spikes of ice which flew at Azula.
Not getting involved. Not getting involved. NOT GETTING INVOLVED!
Zuko's eye was wide in panic as he sat on the rooftop, frozen with indecision. Azula dodged Katara's ice, then dodged again, even more rapidly as Sokka appeared from a nearby alleyway, and lunged at her with a machete. She backflipped away, stuck the landing as always, and glared furiously at all three of her opponents, as the Avatar emerged from the building he had recently been cornered in.
Water and Air and Steel, Azula fought all three of them to a standstill, her face a mask of concentration and fury.
Ash and bone, Zuko thought, his heart rate dropping back down into merely elevated levels as the fight stabilized into a new, and less intense, pattern. If the Shinjos are here, then where is-
As though his thoughts had summoned her Toph burst from out of the ground at Azula's feet, almost landing a solid uppercut. Azula must have felt her coming, because she managed to flip away at the very last possible moment. Taking in all four of her opponents now, she conjured a searing arc of fire and sprinted down a nearby alley, out of Zuko's sight, and pursued by the Avatar's party.
Damn. Azi will be disappointed, Zuko thought exhaling a huge relieved breath. He took another sip of wine, listening to boom and bursts as the fight continued the next street over.
After a moment, when he judged it semi-safe, he dropped down from the rooftop and cautiously began to follow the path of battle. It would not do to poke his head out, only to get it torn off by an overzealous combatant.
This is good though! He thought. Azula's smart enough to know she's got no chance now. She'll disengage, and neither she, nor Katara, gets hurt. Azi learns a valuable less in humility and the importance of keeping a decent number of troops around her. Katara also gets to learn just how dangerous my sister is, which will stop her from making poor strategic choices in the future. All in all a good outcome for-
An utterly massive, ringing, explosion nearly took him off his feet.
Zuko's eye went wide and, forgetting caution, he ran towards it.
He made it to the next road as a thick black smoke began to clear. His eye found Katara, retching with the smoke but otherwise unharmed, and his shoulders sagged in relief.
Thank the ancestors. What in the ashpits was- his eye fell on a body collapsed on the ground. Who in the flame is tha-?
The bottle of wine tumbled from his nerveless fingers, a fan of dark liquid staining the dirt.
"…uncle?"
Iroh wasn't moving.
"No! Nononononono," Zuko shouted sprinting forward, falling to his knees before his uncle.
Iroh wasn't breathing and Zuko's hands began to shake.
The AVATAR did this!
Zuko stood slowly, and face twitching madly he turned and found the boy staring wide-eyed.
"What… did… you… DO!?" Zuko roared, and every flaming piece of debris in the village turned a ruby red and leapt a foot higher.
Does it matter? A voice whispered. We all know what YOU did. Absolutely NOTHING!
Guilt tore through him like a scythe through grain.
Aang, Toph, and Sokka turned to run. Only Katara stayed where she was.
"Zuko… we didn't…"
Burn them. Burn them ALL!
"Zuko, I can help him!" Katara said, reaching for him.
"Get AWAY from us…" Zuko spat, his entire body trembling with unbelievable fury. "I… can't… can't-"
He was cut off by a hacking cough from behind him, followed by a low and miserable groan.
He's ALIVE!
Zuko sagged as the rage, its initial source of fuel gone, vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.
"Oh moon," Katara whispered, her eyes wet with concern. "Zuko are you alr-"
"KATARA!? What the fuck are you doing?! Come on!" Sokka shouted worriedly from the across the street.
Katara now looked panicked.
Oh shit. Rule Nine.
"Uh… BEGONE FROM THIS PLACE… PEASANT!" Zuko roared as loudly as his exhaustion would allow. "Sorry," he finished with a wince and a whisper for Katara's ears alone.
"Are you ok?" she whispered, exhaling in a puff as Zuko nodded. "MAYHAP I SHALL… KNAVE!" she shouted.
"Mayhap… Knave?" Zuko whispered incredulously.
She shrugged and began trotting away, blowing a kiss over her shoulder as she made the alleyway.
Iroh groaned again, snapping Zuko back to the present and he crouched back down to begin rationally assessing the damage.
A burn? Why is he burned? Did the boy learn firebending already? he thought as he began to use his bending to leach the excess heat out of the blistered patch of skin at Iroh's shoulder.
No. But Azula certainly has.
"Damnit Azula," Zuko growled.
A/N: Hello, hello and welcome to the last author note of September! Here's hoping you enjoyed it! But as always if you didn't (or if you did) you're always welcome to comment and tell me why! I love, nay, CRAVE feedback.
The chapter marks the end of a nice little fluffy section we had in this story and now Zuko is back on the rails of canon. Mostly. As always alterations in motivation, characterization and all around tone are present. LOOK FORWARD TO THEM!
(/sound of trumpets) META-BITS!
Fire-Nation technology: To once again state this, there are NO tanks! Not in this world. It's one thing to have railroads and what, to my eye at least, looks like pre/early WWI ships, but tanks? Nope. Doesn't fit the theme, or the idiom, or the… je ne sais quoi. Anyway, I have always been confused by the FN's technology level. No gunpowder obviously, but still a train that runs on the ground? If I could have thought of another way to do what Azula and Co does without it I would have, but there it is. You need a mechanical method of chasing down the biological Appa. Animals get tired, machines do not.
Why this bothers me (ok maybe not bothers but concerns me) is that it informs the relative cultural level as well. L5R exists in this sort of feudal state reminiscent of the Sengoku Jidai period of Japan. Trains, on the other hand, just scream Meiji restoration, with it's ensuing liberalism and westernization. It sort of messes with my internal picturing of events. So, to resolve this in my head as such. Zuko, and in fact the whole FN aristocracy, are very old-fashioned. The common people, and the tech level, live in a more late-1800s world while the nobs are living in a more early-1600s world. Just a thought, let me know what you think.
In closing, I would like to thank each and every one of you who took the time to review/comment over the last view weeks. You are all marvelous and HIGHLY motivating!
Thanks again!
.
.
NEXT WEEK on a very special "Avatar: The Last Dragon"...
The past is discussed, secrets are discovered and Iroh drinks Tea.
TUNE IN. Same Zuko time, Same Zuko channel!
Original post date: 30 September 2018
