Hello, People.
This is chapter 7 of the story, I hope you enjoy this one, as I'm taking another break after that one.
I'm sorry for the delay of this story, but I'm seriously busy nowadays, so I hope you forgive me
anyways, I hope you like this one and don't forget to review please :)
Have a good read.
Ryu decided it was time for the avatar to get back to business, since Ryu has gotten much better and can currently take care of himself at home, Ryu told him to go back to the workshop, despite Aang's complaints, he eventually got through to him, and Aang had no choice but to succumb to Ryu's nagging.
But before he went back to the workshop, Aang decided to visit some old friends that he visits daily, but for that to happen, he has to make a way to outside the city of Yu Dao, he decided to use his airbending to boost his speed since nobody was around the city at dawn, he finally got to the cave outside the city where he kept them safe.
"Hello, boys." Aang said upon arriving inside the cave, he carried a bag filled with food on his back.
His old companions lunged at him as if they had seen him for the first one, the big one knocked him down and licked his face, making the food bag fall to the ground, but fortunately for Aang, he tied it tightly as if he expected his friend to do this, his small friend however, didn't knock him down, merely chirped happily.
"I missed you too, Appa." Aang said to his big flying bison.
Momo chirped again, but this time his chirping was somewhat angry, Aang scratched the back of his head nervously as he realized his mistake.
"And I missed you too, Momo." Aang said, but the flying lemur had none of it, he just looked away in annoyance.
Aang decided to change the subject, he brought out the bag of food, "Look what I gotcha." Aang announced happily to his friends, as he opened the bag of food and put it to the ground, there was a lot of food there for the both of them.
Appa and Momo looked very happy as they launched themselves at the food and they started to eat hungrily.
Aang looked at them with a fond smile on his face, ever since he left his friends, he's been keeping Appa and Momo here in this cave, for their presence would immediately give away his identity, the identity that he's been fighting for so long to hide, he even allowed himself to have very long hair which is contrary to the air culture just to keep the people from seeing his arrows,
he's been constantly wearing things on his forehead to cover the tip of the arrow which wasn't covered by hair, things such as headbands and desert scarfs wrapped tightly around his forehead, all to hide his identity, making excuses such as that he has a scar on his forehead which is really embarrassing to show, anything to keep his identity hidden.
So definitely Appa and Momo's presence would make his efforts meaningless, as they would immediately give away his identity, so he decided to hide them, occasionally get them out to get some air from time to time, but mostly hidden in that cave.
There has been a rumor going around Yu Dao that there's a man who went outside the city, he found this secret cave and went inside, only to find monsters roaming this cave, two demons, one is a six-legged giant, the other is a flying devil, he came out of the cave running upon hearing their voices and seeing their figures, and he spread the rumor inside Yu Dao, which prompted the people to never come near that cave.
That person was actually the avatar himself in disguise, and the funny thing is, his trick worked, and the people never came near that cave which had the two demons, Appa and Momo, inside.
Aang chuckled upon remembering it, the people in Yu Dao are so silly, but he just loved living among them for some reason, perhaps it's for the same reason, because he's had enough of smart, scheming, all-knowing people.
Aang's train of thoughts was cut off shortly as he heard a voice in the distance saying,
"I knew nobody could run that fast but you."
Aang's eyes widened as he recognized the voice immediately, he turned around just to make sure he's not hallucinating, and it was indeed his scarred friend,
"Zuko?"
The two warriors arrived at the place, it was a bit difficult to find as it were well hidden, but they weren't strangers to finding well hidden places, they arrived at the base of the new Ozai society, time to speak with Lord Ukano about the new plans.
Azula and Berserker entered the room of Lord Ukano to find him sitting there alone in a room that looked like the war room in the firenation palace, with a huge painting of Firelord Ozai behind his office.
Lord Ukano rose up upon seeing the former princess, his servant Shun rose up as well and stood by his master.
"Princess Azula, it's a pleasure to see you again." Ukano said as he bowed his head to the princess.
Azula smiled crookedly at him, "You too, Lord Ukano. You too."
"Hello, wimp." Berserker said, addressing the young man standing beside Ukano, which is his servant Shun.
Shun stuck out his tongue in disgust, "I've decided I don't like standing in this side of the chamber. Master Ukano, may I go to the other side of the room?"
"Be my guest." Ukano responded, giving Shun the approval to go away.
Berserker chuckled at this, making Shun even more angry as he left quietly to leave them to their discussion.
"Wow, it must be my lucky day, when did you learn to smile?" Azula asked Berserker.
Berserker just shrugged and looked at her, which gave away immediately why he was so happy, unfortunately for him, Azula couldn't understand the remarks and so she didn't give him the reaction he expected, he knew that it would take him forever to explain something like this to a war machine like Azula so he decided to get into business so to save himself the energy, he looked at Lord Ukano and started right away,
"We've brought the princess back, but unfortunately we couldn't get Zuko." Berserker announced.
"No matter, our forces grow larger every day, and with the princess on our side, we're going to have even larger numbers if we play it right, it's time for you to take your rightful place on the throne, Firelord Azula." Ukano responded.
Azula smiled at the notion, "Firelord Azula? It still seems appropriate…" Azula said, but she immediately remembered something, "But… my father's still alive in prison. How come I'm the one to be Firelord once Zuko's dead?"
Ukano looked at her sadly, "Unfortunately, Firelord Ozai isn't fit to be Firelord anymore. we respect him, we love him, we even had this whole rebel group named after him, but sadly he's no longer a firebender, he won't be able to defend his throne when it's necessary. that makes you the only qualified member of the royal family to take the throne." He said.
Azula looked at Berserker, the assassin looked back at her and nodded, she smiled at him and looked back at Lord Ukano,
"Let's do this." Azula said.
Ukano smiled at her, "Let's crown you properly this time." The old man said.
The last thing the avatar thought would see was one of his old friends in that cave,
"Zuko?" The Avatar questioned upon seeing the firelord.
Appa didn't give Zuko the chance to respond, as he ran towards the firelord and knocked him down, licking his face, making the firelord laugh for the first time in a while,
"I missed you too, boy." Zuko said, at first, he wasn't very fond of Appa at all, but the memories he shared with the giant bison would make anyone fall for him.
Momo decided to join in the greeting, and so Zuko greeted him back as well, he looked at The Avatar to find him staring at him, Zuko stood up and looked at the avatar.
"Well, it looks like Appa and Momo missed me more than you did." Zuko said.
Aang realized his mistake, and his face immediately formed a smile, "Of course not, it's good to see you again, my friend." The Avatar said, before he took Zuko into his arms and hugged him.
Zuko hugged him back, and after a couple of seconds, the two friends broke the hug and looked at each other,
"I can't believe how much you've changed, look at those big muscles on ya. Being a blacksmith has its perks. And look at that long hair. Wow." Zuko said, playing with Aang's shaggy long hair.
Aang put Zuko's hand away with annoyance, "I don't like people doing that, makes me feel like a kid." Aang said, grumpily.
Zuko chuckled at the avatar's antics, "Oh, you've become a teenager now, I know how that feels, the changes all around your body, the voice and everything, Don't worry, it's just a phase, it'll pass." The Firelord responded with a teasing chuckle, making Aang blush, the avatar decided to change the topic as it makes him very uncomfortable,
"Anyways, back to your earlier statement, I did miss you, Zuko. The thing is… I know that you being here, looking for me, it can't be something good that made you do that… so, I'm currently very worried." Aang said, explaining his behavior.
Zuko looked at the ground, "No, it's nothing good, actually… I know the last time we met, I promised to never disturb your peace and that I'll do whatever it takes to keep you out of it as best I can… but this time, it's nothing trivial, The Avatar has to return, Aang." Zuko said, his eyes still fixated on the ground as he said so, he didn't want to bring Aang into this, he wanted to give him time to recuperate, but it's out of his hand at the moment.
Aang realized this from the look on Zuko's face, "What happened?" Aang asked.
The Firelord spent the next twenty minutes explaining the situation to Aang, all the while, The Avatar had his mouth agape from the shock, a firebender that has immense power? But what stunned Aang the most was the fact that his fire formed the shape of a dragon, the information shocked Aang to the core that he fell back a few steps,
"A fire that forms a dragon? So, the reincarnation of Yaketsuku is here, I've heard the legend but I've never thought them to be true." Aang said.
Zuko was astonished by this new information, he now realizes why he felt the power display was so familiar,
"Yaketsuku? You don't mean the ancient firebending master my mom used to tell me bed time stories about? The one who merged with a dragon spirit a very long time ago?"
"That's the one."
"So, I wasn't hallucinating when I thought the power display felt familiar, it's because I've heard the stories from my mother when I was little. But how could a human be part spirit? That's not possible." Zuko said.
"Well, apparently, it is possible according to you." Aang responded.
"I was right when I decided to come to you then, the only person capable of defeating such a creature is you. We need you, Aang." Zuko said, begging the avatar to return.
Aang looked at Firelord Zuko with determination in his eyes, and without any hesitation he said, "I've said it before and I'll say it again, Zuko. whenever you need me, I'll be there."
Zuko smiled at his friend, Aang is finally returning to assume his Avatar role, unbeknown to the firelord, the avatar wasn't fully decided on one thing yet. How's he going to fight the reincarnation of Yaketsuku?
He agreed to Zuko's proposal because he promised his friends that whenever they need him, he'll be there, but he also made another promise, he made a promise to himself that he'd never use violence again.
What's he going to do?
Aang's decision was to go to Ryu's house to do two things, first is to say goodbye to him, and secondly is to seek his guidance.
The Avatar kept Appa and Momo in the cave, he put the desert scarf back on to hide his arrow, and went with Firelord Zuko back to the house, as soon as they arrived there, they were met with a sight that Aang wanted dearly to avoid.
"Hello, Bomaang. We've been waiting for you." Xo announced upon the avatar's arrival, making Aang's skin crawl.
Not now. Aang thought as he looked at Xo and his gang around Ryu's house, as if they were waiting for him to return.
"What's going on, Xo? What did you do to Ryu? Haven't you done enough?"
Xo made hissing sound, "Actually, we haven't done anything yet. Ryu is sleeping inside peacefully. And talking about what we've done? What we've done was a reaction to what you and your master have done, your master tried to attack us first using a knife, and you owe us money, how come you think we're the bad guys for doing what we've done to Ryu?"
The Avatar couldn't believe that Xo believed the words he just said, he said them genuinely as if he was indeed an innocent man and the avatar was the monster,
"Are you kidding me? Ryu used that knife to protect himself, you were the ones that wanted to attack us in the workshop, and that money you say that I owe you, I didn't take it from you. You think just because you stand guard over this territory that we owe you money for doing your duty. No, you were tasked by the mayor of this city to protect this territory, the people aren't supposed to pay you anything." Aang shouted.
It was still early in the morning, so his loud voice woke up the neighborhood, everyone was looking at the quarrel from balconies and door steps.
Xo was getting angry at this point, he noticed Zuko beside the avatar, his eyes widened and he looked at him as if he's seen a ghost,
"I know that scar, you are firelord Zuko, aren't you?" Xo asked.
Zuko's eyes widened, which gave away his identity immediately to Xo and his gang, Zuko knew that everyone in the neighborhood was looking at them right now, and everybody in the neighborhood now knows that he's in the fact the firelord.
The bad thing was, that this particular neighborhood is filled with earth kingdom citizens, a lot of them hated the firenation royals and apparently Xo was one of them.
Xo looked at Aang, "What are you doing with the firelord, Bomaang?"
"Well, I-" Zuko was about to explain, but Xo interrupted him.
"Shut Up, Ashmaker!" Xo shouted at the firelord, he took out his hammers and used them to lunch rocks at the firelord.
Aang has always noticed the two hammers at Xo's side, he knew that Xo was an excellent earthbender, not just because the people said that about him, but because Mayor Morishita wouldn't have kept someone as despicable as him if he wasn't useful.
Zuko didn't expect the blow, but he tried his best efforts to avoid it, he couldn't and he was knocked to the ground immediately.
"Teach the ashmaker a lesson, boys." Xo ordered his gang to attack Zuko, he wasn't too stupid as to kill the firelord, but he's seen enough at war from the firenation that he resents them so much, he knew merely beating up the firelord was a mistake, but he's too angry to think straight right now.
All the while, The Avatar was watching as Xo's gang started their beating, Aang ran towards Xo to beg him,
"Please, you don't need to do this." Aang begged Xo to let Zuko go.
"Get off me, Traitor!" Xo shouted as he threw Aang away.
Aang looked at the scene to find the gang beating up Zuko, he kept looking and looking, seeing every kick, every stomp, every punch, Zuko's moaning and calling for help, it was too much for Aang to bear.
The Avatar couldn't take anymore, he took an earth bending stance and with one move, he encased all of Xo's gang in cones of rock, completely immobilizing them.
Aang's back was to Xo's face, The earthbender was too stunned by Aang's display of power that he couldn't take any actions at the moment.
Xo then came out of his daze and chuckled, "You didn't tell me you were an earthbender… no matter, I can take care of you too, traitor." Xo said as he took out his hammers and took a fighting stance in front of Aang.
The Avatar then turned around to look at Xo, not realizing that his desert scarf fell off, he then took a different fighting stance, a fighting stance that Xo was very familiar with, although he didn't need to see that fighting stance to know exactly who was standing in front of him, as the arrow tattoo on his forehead gave it away immediately.
The fighting stance was an airbender's, the arrow on the forehead belonged to an airbender, so that means one thing.
Xo's eyes widened at the realization, the person he's been beating down all this time, the person he's been bullying and taking money from all this time, the person he thought was a blacksmith all this time, he knew those fiery silver eyes were familiar, they belonged to someone he once shared the battlefield with.
That explains why he was walking with Firelord Zuko, that explains why it felt like he was holding back when he didn't protect Ryu.
Xo just realized that it was too late to share battle stories with him, as his opponent was far too angry to reason with at the moment.
The realization of what's about to happen sent shivers down Xo's spine, it frightened him to the core, he just realized that in a couple of seconds,
He's going to go one on one with the strongest force on the planet, The Avatar himself.
Hope you liked this one
Don't forget to review
and Have a good one :)