Hello, People of Fanfiction!
I'm Back once again, chapter 8 of this story is here.
Hope you enjoy it :)
It's been ten minutes since the fighting began, a weak and injured Ryu was looking from the window as the avatar was humiliating the leader of the gang, his eyes widened at the reveal that his apprentice turned out to be no ordinary boy named 'Bomaang'.
He knew there was something about this boy that intrigued him, there's no way a mere boy could have such emotional damage, he knew he was hiding something, but it alluded his mind that he might be hiding something as big as this.
The Avatar works for me? Ryu realized.
He kept looking as The Avatar was fighting Xo, it wasn't much of a fight as Aang just kept slamming him around, he didn't tap into the avatar state, just his normal bending, and he was showing a fake warrior like Xo what a true warrior looks like, but if he kept this up, he would end up having more regrets added to his account.
Ryu now understands why he was hiding, killing the firelord must have had its toll on his emotions, and now he's fighting Xo relentlessly, if he killed him, he would return to his former state, Ryu decided it was time to stop this.
Laying on the ground beside the fight was Firelord Zuko who was still unconscious from the beating he took from the gang, Ryu decided it was time to get out of the house.
He limped his way to Zuko's place as the fighting started to shift away from that place.
He started to wake him up, "Firelord! Sir, Please, wake up." He said as he kept shaking him roughly.
Zuko opened his eyes slowly, he was so beaten up that he struggled to control his facial muscles when he woke up, he grunted as his entire body was in pain.
Ryu spoke again, "Firelord, Please, Wake up!" Ryu said, but to no avail, The Firelord still couldn't respond.
Ryu decided it was no use, there was no way the firelord was going to stop the avatar anyways, he has to do it himself.
He rose up and looked at Avatar Aang, who at the moment encased Xo in a cone of rock, trapping him inside just like his gang.
Aang was about to deliver the final blow, before Ryu shouted, "Stop!"
The Avatar stopped, he looked back at Ryu, who was astonished at the expression on the avatar's face, just pure anger, pure devastation, Ryu didn't even recognize him.
Ryu sighed and decided to speak up to the avatar, "You let your anger out… now, let it go. Forgive him, before you do something you're going to regret."
Aang's eyes widened as he remembered saying the same thing to Katara, he couldn't believe what he's become, he couldn't believe how far he's fallen, he turned back to look at Xo's face, to find a man quivering in fear, he couldn't believe that he was going to murder this man, that he was going to murder someone again.
His arms fell to his side and he released a fear stricken and beaten-up Xo, who immediately collapsed to the ground as soon as he was released from the cone of earth.
"I'm sorry." Aang whispered, tears started to fall from his eyes as he saw what he did to Xo, "I let my emotions take over, I was weak."
Ryu walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "You're stronger than you give yourself credit for."
Aang turned back sharply, "Stop sugarcoating things! Look what I've done to this poor man, I used my power on a weaker opponent when I should be using them for good. What kind of person does that make me?!" The Avatar yelled at the shopkeeper.
Ryu didn't take offense at Aang's sharp outburst, instead he simply smiled, "it makes you a defender of mankind. You're different than the rest of us, you don't have the choice to stop fighting, it's your destiny to keep fighting for the rest of your life. But it's your choice to make your fighting mean something. You saved firelord Zuko from being severely injured or worse, I know you out of love for one of your best friends, but in the grand scheme of things, you just saved us from another war with the firenation, that's something to be proud of." Ryu said.
Aang remembered his fallen friend on the ground, he looked back to find him still laying on the ground unable to move, he rushed to his friend's side and yelled his name,
"Zuko!" He lifted his head up in his arms and started to wake him up, "Zuko, Are you okay? Please, respond."
Zuko grunted but he was able to voice out some audible words this time, "I'm… fine." He responded.
Aang smiled at this, "Oh, thank the spirits."
"Why did you do this, Avatar? Why did you assume another identity?" Ryu asked.
Aang looked back at him with sadness in his eyes, "I was trying to run away. But you made me realize that I should stop doing this for the sake of the world. Like you said, I have no choice, it's my destiny to keep fighting for the rest of my life."
Ryu smiled at him, "That's a plan I can stick behind."
Aang brought out his bison whistle, it's finally time to use it, he blew it to signal Appa, who appeared in less than two minutes, making people marvel at him.
The bison grunted and landed on the ground, Aang carried an injured Zuko and used his airbending to propel himself up to the saddle, he put his friend down gently, allowing him to rest.
He then got back to the ground and looked at Ryu, "I'm sorry for lying to you all this time."
Ryu smiled at him again, "Don't be. I will cherish our time together until my death, you've been a great apprentice. Now, go be an even greater avatar, I know you can do it." Ryu encouraged, making the avatar smile.
Aang hugged the man, "Take care of yourself."
"You too." Ryu responded.
They let go of each other, allowing Aang to return atop of Appa, Momo made his way to Aang's shoulder as he stood atop of Appa, the avatar looked at his flying lemur and smiled, "it's a new beginning, buddy. Let's do this." Aang said, before he got on Appa's head, "Are you ready, Appa?"
The bison growled in approval,
Aang smiled at this, he waved farewell to Ryu, who returned the wave,
And then he yelled, "Yip Yip!", at this, Appa slammed his tail to the ground and he propelled himself up in the air, soaring the skies once more.
Azula, Berserker and Lord Ukano were sitting inside the meeting room of the new Ozai base, it's been a while since they started planning to take over the palace, with Zuko and the firenation army in his back, they wouldn't be able to infiltrate so easily, but with the power of Berserker and Azula, and Lord Ukano's strategies, they might just have a chance.
"We'll need a solid plan to enter the palace, take out Zuko without someone knowing that it was us. As much as I hate to admit it, but we need the trust of the firenation people before taking any step further." Azula said, hating the fact that she needs the approval of the common people to become a monarch.
"We've already been on it for a while now, the new Ozai society has been spreading its wings all over the city, we've been turning people against Zuko and his soft methods, he's not fit to be the ruler of our great nation, and so he needs to be taken down." Ukano responded.
Azula smiled at this, "That's great. And as soon as we win the people over, the army will turn against Zuko and so I'll be able to take back what it's rightfully mine, the firenation throne."
"I promise, I won't rest until you're back on that throne where you truly belong, your majesty." Berserker said, looking at Azula, who looked back at him with a soft smile this time.
Ukano noticed this, he knew that Azula and Berserker have a soft spot for each other for a while now, but he didn't realize it would be enough to make Azula smile upon seeing him, that relationship must be so deep.
Ukano smiled internally at this, he might find it useful afterwards.
But his train of thoughts were interrupted as someone came barging into the room,
"Lord Ukano! Lord Ukano!" It was Shun, Lord Ukano's servant who came barging in.
"What's it, Shun?" Ukano asked eagerly.
"Firelord Zuko has left the firenation, he's not in the royal palace!"
Ukano's eyes widened at this, while Azula smiled menacingly.
"He must have left to search for the avatar, It's my lucky day!" Azula said.
"Let's not be rash about this." Ukano tried to reason.
"No, Firelord Azula is right, if there's any time that we could take over the palace, it's now." Berserker said,
"And when Zuko and the avatar do arrive, we'd be holding hostages that would make them surrender, the throne will be mine!" Azula continued.
"That's actually not a very bad plan, except that the watertribe siblings and Lady Mai are still in the palace, they might be able to stop this." Shun said, which grabbed Ukano's attention.
"What's my daughter got to do with this? I won't tolerate with you risking her safety again, just leave her out of it." Ukano threatened, his words directed at Azula.
Azula was about to respond when Berserker just stood up abruptly.
"You're not gonna tolerate? What are you gonna do about it?" Berserker said, taking slow steps towards the old man, who cowered back at the big man's approach.
"You dare threaten her majesty again, and you won't live to see her victory." Berserker gave a threat of his own, but unlike Ukano's, this threat appeared genuine.
"Don't you threaten Lord Uka-" Shun was about to speak, before he was interrupted with a fire blast at his foot, it was so fast that he didn't even see it coming, the boy screamed at the sight of fire.
"Ow!" He took off his shoes immediately as they started to burn.
"Are you nuts?!" Shun shouted at the man.
Berserker turned his attention to Shun, he came in front of him with incredible speed, looking down on him,
"Maybe I am. What are you going to do about it, wimp?" He said as he looked at him menacingly, Berserker put his hand on Shun's neck and started to choke the boy, who coughed loudly,
"St-stop-" Shun barely voiced out as he was getting choked by the berserker.
"Stop, you are gonna kill him!" Ukano said, but he was unable to move.
Luckily, Azula came between the two men, separating them, "Calm down, Berserker. I'm sure they don't mean any disrespect."
She turned around and looked at Ukano, "Do you, Lord Ukano?" She asked, her voice sounded menacing.
Ukano looked at her with fear in his eyes, "I just hope you would spare my daughter."
"I promise that nothing bad will happen to her… if she stayed out of our way." Azula said, smiling menacingly at the last part.
Ukano got the message, he took a mental note to be present during the mission, to make sure his daughter doesn't do anything rash.
Azula then turned her attention to Berserker, "Now that the time for planning is over, Let's burn them all." She said, giving him the signal to start the mission immediately.
Berserker smiled at her, "At your service, your majesty." He said.
Ukano was starting to regret that he chose Azula to rule the nation, but he still believed that anybody would be better than Zuko, so he decided to go on with the plans.
It's time to take over the firenation.
Rather short, but I hope you enjoyed reading it all the same.
Don't forget to review and have a good one :)