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99 AG, The Earth Kingdom Forests
Zuko still had his crew following him, but they were more on the down-low. They’d travel long distances in their tank-train, make camp, then Zuko would look around for the Avatar with Mai and Ty Lee. Ty Lee liked to call them Ozai’s Angels. Mai thought the name was clunky, but Zuko liked it just fine.
The trains were not slow, but they certainly were not fast, and that irritated him. He needed to find the Avatar because if he found the Avatar, Azula and Uncle wouldn’t be too far. He could kill three birds with one stone. “What’re you brooding about,” Mai rasped, placing a hand on Zuko’s left cheek.
He leaned into her hand and kissed it, smiling at her. “I’m not brooding, I’m thinking about important things. Like how could we make our little chase faster,” Zuko laughed.
Mai leaned into his side easily and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer in. “Well, I think we could get the train to stop now. It’s been a while since we looked around. It’s midnight, the targets should be asleep. We can search now.” Mai said.
Zuko nodded and signed for the Captain to stop the train. He stepped out first, waiting at the door to catch Mai and Ty Lee. “Ever the gentleman,” Mai snickered. Ty Lee giggled too, hopping onto her eel hound.
A Fire Hawk flew and landed on Zuko’s shoulder. “Hello, Meiyo,” Zuko chuckled, scratching under its chin. He’d need to take the bird anyhow, after all. If he found anybody he’d need to send a message back to base camp. He was confident that he’d find somebody.
He took the food from Lo and water from Li.
“You need nutrition on the go,” they said at the same time. Creepy.
Zuko rolled his eyes and placed the food in his pack, leaving the waterskin on his person.
Ozai’s Angels set off, Meiyo flying by Zuko’s side.
After speeding past the forest a while, they stopped and got off their steeds to give them some rest. Zuko observed the area around them, searching for signs of anybody. There was a small pot and a few burnt logs. Somebody had camped there. It could be anybody, really, but most refugees steered clear of the forests. It was very likely that it was one of their targets. Zuko picked up the pot and put it in his eel hound’s satchel. The earth in the area had been moved unnaturally too, probably an earthbender’s doing. “Look!” Ty Lee exclaimed, pointing at the river. There were clumps of white fur in it. Fur the same colour as the Avatar’s bison.
Ty Lee picked up the clumps and made shapes with them on the rocks while Mai pulled a disgusted face. Zuko paid attention to none of this, only thinking about his next course of action. “Mai, Ty Lee,” he called out, commanding their attention. They stopped fooling around and turned to him. He turned around to look back at them as well. “I will send a message back to base camp saying that we’ll be on the go for a few days. We have caught wind of the Avatar’s trail, and are going for the chase,” Zuko said curtly as he wrote it down on a piece of paper, tying it to Meiyo’s back. Zuko let out a short whistle, and Meiyo flew back to the base camp, letter in tow.
Zuko followed the trail of white fur that spanned from the river through some trees. The areas where a lot of fur was accumulated were the ones the Avatar had camped at. He was so close he could almost smell the victory. The sun had just risen, and he felt more energised than ever. He whipped the eel hound, and it sped up, Mai and Ty Lee following suit. They had already visited two campsites. Eventually, they’d catch up to the Avatar.
They visited a third campsite, quite far from the previous one. One their way there, Ty Lee was talking non-stop. One could only hear so much about auras before going bonkers. “Zuko, I think we should take a break. The sun’s setting and we’re all tired. Let’s stop before we go crazy,” she sighed.
“No!” he snapped, but he regained his composure once he saw the shock in Mai and Ty Lee’s eyes. “I’m sorry. What I meant to say is that we can’t stop now. We could lose our edge, which is discreetness. What if the Avatar catches on that we’re chasing him while we’re resting and runs too far, too fast, out of our reach?” Zuko exclaims.
“I think we should sleep too. Mai’s right. Get some shut-eye and chase the Avatar after,” Ty Lee echoed.
Zuko sighed, dismounting his eel hound and sitting on the ground. “Fine. Ty Lee, gather some sticks, please. Mai, could you take the sleeping bags from your pack? I’ll get the food,” Zuko said as he rummaged through his pack for food.
As Ty Lee passed Zuko the sticks, he arranged them properly and lit them on fire. His blue flames cooled down to a gentle orange, shrinking and growing with his breath. Mai tossed a sleeping bag to Ty Lee and sat down next to Zuko, shoving his into his lap. She leaned on his shoulder, eyelids drooping. He reheated the spicy noodles and dumplings, putting them in the small bowls Lo had given. He passed one to each girl, then took a bite himself.
After their silent dinner, Zuko retired for the night. Mai slept right next to him, leeching off of his warmth by cuddling into his side. Ty Lee slept to their right, by the fire that was extinguished.
Zuko woke up the moment the sun rose. Mai was still sound asleep. He gently moved her head off his shoulder and stood up. He put his blanket on top of her and kissed her forehead. He turned around and saw that Ty Lee was awake too. She was looking at the horizon, fidgeting with her hands. She turned around slowly, and stilled when she saw Zuko.
She wiped her eyes quickly and smiled at him. “Good morning, Zuko!” she said shakily.
Zuko walked closer to her and looked at the horizon. “What’s the matter?” he asked, not wavering his gaze.
“It’s Azula. I miss her so much but it’s been so long since I’ve seen her. I don’t know how she’s changed. Is the person I miss even there anymore? I mean, three years is a long while,” she murmured, kicking her feet at rocks.
“I know how that feels,” Zuko rasped.
He really wasn’t much help when people around him were sad. He was very awkward, what with barely talking to anybody outside of the palace. “She may have changed a bit, but she’s still Azula at heart. That can’t change. And you’ll have the pleasure of getting to know her again,” he comforted.
Ty Lee softened a little at that, sniffing one last time and hugging the boy. “Thanks, Zuko,” she said into his shirt.
He patted her back and let go, mounting his eel hound. Mai had already woken up, so they were set to leave.
Zuko glared at the trail of fur ahead of them. “That way. Continue North-east till we find the Avatar’s next camp,” he said.
They were quite close to the next site, apparently. They only had to cross a few hills to get to it. It did take another day, but it was worth it. They had found the Avatar. His large bison was impossible to miss. The eel hounds scampered up the hill towards the Avatar and his companions. There was a new one, a short girl wearing green. She earthbent some rock pillars to block their way, but was unsuccessful. The eel hounds simply leapt over the obstacle. The earthbender tries again, this time bending a humongous rock wall. Zuko whirled his arms around, feeling energy coursing through them. He extended his left arm, two fingers pointing straight at the wall, and released lightning. The blast created a gaping hole that the eel hounds slithered through. Mai threw her arrows at the earth bender then quickly bent a shield for herself, and launched herself onto the back of the beast. The Avatar and his companions fled the fight, leaving nothing behind but white fur. Zuko shot a stream of fire out of his left fingertips, but the beast dodged. It was but a dot in the sky.
The sun began to rise once more, blessing Zuko with its energy and life. The Avatar was so close this time. Closer than ever. The next time would be the one where Zuko catches him. The chase was thrilling in a way, but frustrating as well. The joy one got from chasing was like playing a game of fire-tag, but with higher stakes. The only irritating part was losing.
Well, the Avatar was definitely long-gone. He’d be in the vicinity, but not near enough for Zuko to reach him. The eel hounds were fast, but lacked precision. Zuko needed to capture the Avatar on foot for the best results.
He surveyed the land around them as they went down the hill. Clumps of fur were everywhere. As they reached the base of the hill, he found a trail of white fur leading out of the forest. He looked around for more information to file into his brain and saw that there were a few trees in the forest that had been destroyed from the trunk up. It could only have been done by the Avatar’s beast.
“Seems the Avatar is trying to give me the slip,” he muttered, glaring at the trail.
“Mai, Ty Lee, you follow the broken tree branches. I’ll follow the fur trail,” Zuko said plainly, climbing his eel hound to follow the trail.
He was led to a ghost-town with run down buildings. Probably one of the abandoned colonies Father had mentioned in passing.
The Avatar had to be there.
Defeating the Avatar’s crew the first time had been fun. Mai and Ty Lee had won easily, but it was interesting fighting new opponents. Fighting them a second time and putting them to shame was less exhilarating. They were still on their bison, but that didn’t mean Mai couldn’t throw things at them. She threw knives at them in quick succession, but the waterbender caught them all in a big puddle she summoned from the river beneath them. Right, fighting a waterbender next to a river was suicide. But at least suicide was more interesting than an easy win. The bison landed on the other side of the river, and the girl jumped off to cheer. Her brother joined her and they embraced. (The earthbender was not there, for whatever reason. She doubted that the idiots were planning an ambush, though.) Mai truly wondered if they were stupid, or just toying with her. Did they not know that eel hounds could swim?
Mai whipped her steed and it sped forward crossing the water with ease. Ty Lee followed suit, and somersaulted off of the creature. She began fighting with the non-bender, trying to paralyse him with chi-blocking. That left Mai with the waterbender. She bent the water from the river to crash over Mai’s eel hound. (Seriously, were they stupid? Eel hounds could swim! Drowning them was basically impossible.)
Mai still hadn’t dismounted her eel hound, and she wasn’t planning on it. She threw a few knives at the girl, who retaliated with her own ice shards. Mai dodged them with ease, and threw a few more knives. It was awfully repetitive.
Suddenly, Ty Lee popped up behind her and tried to hit her shoulder. The girl pushed back with force, keeping Ty Lee as far away from her as she could. The boy threw a boomerang at Mai and nearly domed her in the head, but she leapt off the eel hound and stayed down so that the boomerang wouldn’t hit her on its way back. At least the fight was a bit more interesting.
She decided not to climb back onto her steed, fighting from the ground instead. She immediately went for the waterbender, throwing her knives at her as she ran in her direction.
Ty Lee was busy fighting with the non-bender. She had already paralysed both his arms, so he stuck out his leg to block her attack. She simply paralysed that instead. As he hobbled on one leg, she tried to chi-block his neck, but he blocked her with his forehead.
As Mai is still hurling knives at the girl, the waterbender bent a large stream of water. She was probably planning on dousing Mai. Before she could do anything, Mai sent three shuriken flying at her. Two pinned her wrists to a tree and the other cut into the tree bark near her head. A warning shot.
“I thought when Ty Lee and I actually caught you guys, it’d be fun. Oh well, victory’s boring, I guess,” Mai drawled.
Just as she said that, she felt a whoosh of wind from behind her, kicking her and Ty Lee into the air. It was that bison again. The force of the wind knocked them into the river, leaving them soaked. Mai hated being soaked.
The Avatar was sitting at the far end of the small village, facing away from Zuko. Did he even know Zuko was near? He should, since Zuko didn’t bother with subtleties once he got close enough. The dust cloud he kicked up using the eel hound surely would have alerted the Avatar. “Alright, you’ve found me. Now who are you and what do you want,” the boy yelled.
He was trying to look big, but Zuko knew he was weak. The boy was tired, frustrated, and had nowhere to go. This was going to be easy. He turned around to face the prince, clenching his glider in a vice grip.
“You don’t recognise the familiar face? I’ve been told I look just like my sister,” Zuko mused, observing his fingernails.
“You’re Azula’s brother?” the Avatar exclaimed, eyes bulging out of his face.
“Ding, Ding, Ding! You get a prize,” Zuko said sarcastically.
The prince raised his hand up into the air and sent a stream of fire at the Avatar who jumped up into the air to dodge it. He used his glider to propel himself, landing on the rubble of a building. “You can run, Avatar, but I will chase you down,” Zuko threatened, sending quick bursts of fire at the boy.
“I’m not running,” the boy said through gritted teeth, standing at the top of the building and glaring down at Zuko.
The Avatar jumped down, landing gracefully on his two feet. “Do you really want to fight me?” Zuko taunted with a smirk.
“I know I do,” a feminine voice said.
Zuko whipped his head around and nearly went slack-jawed, but caught himself before any emotion could be displayed on his face.
“Azula!” the boy yelled alarmedly, whipping his glider around, ready to fight.
“Oh, Lala, I was wondering when we’d bump into each other again,” Zuko said plainly.
“Lala?” the boy snickered.
“Back off, Zuko. The Avatar’s mine!” Azula growled, her hand hovering over her swords.
“Fine, have at him,” Zuko said smugly.
Kill three birds with one stone.
He shot a quick blast of his blue flames at Azula, and she deflected them with a fire shield. The sheer force of the blast still pushed her backwards, and she got knocked into a wall that was falling apart. “Wow, sister, I guess you picked up a few things from your travels,” Zuko drawled.
The Avatar seemed to be going back on his word of not running as he hopped into the air and glided away. Zuko sent another stream of blue fire at the boy, forcing him to either deflect it or get burnt to a crisp. The boy spun his glider around rapidly and touched down on the ground, glaring at the prince with his tired eyes.
Zuko surveyed his surroundings and looked for any way to get an advantage on the Avatar. It clicked that he’d need height and speed to beat him, so he leapt into the air and kicked off one of the rubble walls. He landed on the windowsill of a partially torn down building, and clawed his way to the very top. He ran along the beam of the building, gaining momentum, then leapt into the air with fire streaming from his fingertips, landing on the ground with poise and grace. The boy dodged the fire by a hair. Zuko almost got him. (almost isn’t good enough)
He sweeps his leg around, sending a stream of fire the Avatar’s way. The boy simply jumped into the air and avoided it. As Zuko was generating lightning, ready to stun the boy, his charge-up was interrupted by a blast of fire near his chest. He quickly deflected it, but he glared at his sister, who had finally gotten up. She sent more angry blasts at him, grunting heavily as she sent the fireballs at him haphazardly.
“Why can’t you just let me have this?! You have everything!” Azula yelled through grunts, still trying to hold her ground against Zuko.
“I’m on a mission and right now you’re in my way,” Zuko said, bringing his hand down to the ground with a stream of fire following it. Azula leapt out of the way, diving to the ground. As she was grounded, Zuko sent a blast of fire at the Avatar once more. The boy was in the largest building in the area, and the stairs to it were still intact. He left his sister on the ground and ran up the stairs, fists clenched at his side.
As he reached the top of the stair well, he stopped abruptly, momentum nearly knocking him to the ground. There was a gaping hole on the building’s second story. The Avatar was floating in the air, clutching it close to his chest.
There was the sound of angry grunts and heavy footsteps racing up the stairs. Probably his sister. She had the misfortune of bad timing, and she fell from the second floor. At least it wasn’t face first.
As Azula landed on the ground, lacking any grace and the Avatar ceased his floating, falling to the ground slowly. Zuko sent a nimble blast of fire at him and set the hay on the first floor on fire. The blue fire cooled down, turning an angry orange. Azula was still groaning on the floor, recovering from her fall.
The Avatar ran out of the building jumping to the top of another. Zuko stayed on the ground, eyeing the building. He shot a stream of fire and sliced the wooden roof off, leaving the Avatar flailing in the air as he hopped to another spot on the roof. Zuko sliced that part off too.
Alright, the fun of the chase was finished. It was time to secure the target. Zuko took a deep breath in through his nose and moved his arms in the circular motion he was so familiar with. He felt the energy coursing through his veins and just as he was about to release it, a tentacle of water curled around his arm and threw his aim off. His lightning flew into the sky, hitting nothing at all. He frowned, displeased.
Another boy dressed in blue tried to swing a machete at him. He frowned deeper, ducking his head to avoid the hit. He ran backwards, shooting quick fire blasts at his enemies. He ran himself into a corner, surrounded by the Avatar and his two friends. Oh well, he could still win. As he got ready to fight, Azula popped up beside the machete-boy, her fists clenched and ready to attack. Great, he could win and capture two of his three targets. Then Uncle showed up, a small girl wearing green by his side.
Nope, he couldn’t win this fight. Not against this many people. Definitely not if his uncle was one of them. (He learnt his lesson from the last time he fought a master.)
“Uncle?” Azula asked, not believing her eyes.
“Save the family reunion for later, Azula,” Uncle said ominously, glaring at Zuko.
“Well, isn’t this a sight,” Zuko said snidely, “The traitors of the Fire Nation working with the enemy. I wish I could say I was surprised,” he rasped.
“Oh well, I know when I’m beat. A prince surrenders with honour,” Zuko said plainly, raising his hands up in the air.
As his enemies let their guard down, (the fools) he shot a burst of fire at Uncle. Hard enough to keep him down for a week but not hard enough to kill him. After all, Father wanted the traitors back alive.
“Uncle!” Azula let out a pained shriek, and fired at her brother. He shot lightning into the sky, kicking up dust and ozone with it. He left in the commotion, gone without a trace.
He was so close. So close. And his perfect plan had to get foiled by some little children playing at war. He almost got the Avatar. Almost. But almost wasn’t good enough. “I’ll get you next time, Avatar,” Zuko muttered, clenching his fists.
Zuko had vanished, leaving Uncle writhing on the ground in pain. How could he hurt Uncle like that? Azula let out an anguished groan, putting her head in her arms and wiping away tears. She hated the smell of burning flesh. Smelling it once in her life was more than enough. But no, Uncle was burned. He was probably going to die!
She felt the Avatar and his friends surround her, felt their pity. “Leave,” she muttered.
The waterbender walked closer to them, clearly not understanding her. “I said leave!” Azula yelled, sending a stream of fire at the girl, who leapt backwards to dodge it.
“Azula, I can help. Please, just let me,” she pleaded.
“Yeah, Katara has magicky-healing powers. They work great on burns,” the non-bender said.
Azula looked up at the girl, tears in her eyes. “Can you really save my uncle?” she asked meekly.
The girl met her gaze with her own determined one. “I can try,” the girl, Katara, said.
Katara knelt by Uncle’s side and bent some water out of her waterskin. She pressed it to Uncle’s wound. His breath hitched and he tenses, face contorting in pain. Azula held his arm protectively, looking at the waterbender with fear in her eyes. The girl, however, showed no worry. She continued bending the water that began to glow. The burn’s red colour faded to a light brown, and the smell of burnt flesh left the air.
“Thank you,” Azula sobbed, hugging her uncle’s body and feeling his breathing.
The girl smiled and left, just as Azula had asked. They boarded their bison and took to the sky.
As her Uncle’s breathing evened out fully, she helped him up. They had to find a way to hide from Zuko. Clearly, he had gone mad.