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Azula's plan had worked almost too well, with her dad welcoming her with open arms, with no suspicion whatsoever. I mean, why would he be suspicious of the one that has followed his every order until now? He had no reason to do so.
As for Ozai he was in bad shape, good for me, bad for him though. He had various wounds over his body that limited his movement a bit, and all thanks to my last visit where I was a bit too stupid not to end him, meaning this fight was already looking less complicated for me, but not by much. He was still a fire breathing human, while I was now a simple human with some physically enhanced abilities normal to this world, meaning while I was currently better than him, physically speaking, he still had the power to end me in one strike should I make even one mistake. But, regardless of that, I was happy to see he wasn't in his best shape, broke from our last encounter, leaving him with a weakness I would exploit to the absolute limit.
But for now I had to wait, in the shadows of the royal palace until Azula had… moved her pieces around enough, to trick Ozai into… going where I wanted him to be, where then I would try my absolute best to kill the man once and for all, ending this stupid challenge once and for all.
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As the days passed and I continued to explore the castle I noticed that someone else had… entered the castle the same way I had… which was unexpected. Not many would dare to infiltrate the castle just because. So… who was it, my answer who soon come in the shape of a blade going for my throat that I barely managed to dodge, "Zuko,"
"So you didn't kill my sister," Zuko stated, and I couldn't help but notice he was wearing his blue spirit armor… why though, "What are you doing here? Bending over for my dad?"
"No… and no," I answered his questions, "I came here to kill him, like you," it didn't take me long to understand what was going on. Zuko had already deserted his dad, and had come to kill him instead of going to join team avatar.
"I see," Zuko eyed me for a second, putting his blades back into their sheaths, "He's mine,"
"Normally I would say, go for it… but, I either kill him, or I die," I sighed, "So… no, he's mine,"
"You either… what?" Zuko asked, with a confused tone.
"Spirit shit," I answered.
"Right, I forgot you are the second avatar," Zuko replied, "So… if you don't kill him you will die?" He asked and I nodded, "That's rough,"
"Here, let's make a deal… I kill him, you deal with anyone that tries to enter, and you get the throne deal?" I offered, the last thing I wanted was to waste energy with Zuko on a fight that would inevitably weaken me a lot.
"And is Azula okay with that?" The fire prince asked in disbelief.
"She no longer craves the throne," I nodded, "She's in on this,"
"Very well, there is not much I can't do to stop you anyway…" Zuko sighed, and I chuckled.
"For the duration of this quest, I have lost my bending," I chuckled as I saw his eyes open as wide as possible.
"Are you suicidal?!" Zuko hissed, "Without bending he will crush you!"
"I thought you hated me," I laughed.
"I hated the idea of you outshining me, like Azula had done all her life," Zuko replied with mild embarrassment, "But back to the point… how in the name of Agni, do you pretend to take on the the strongest fire bender in the world with nothing but a pair of swords…." I eyed his blades and he blushed, "I was not pretending to use them against him,"
"Look, I either die trying or die not trying at all… see conundrum?" I sighed, it's not like I needed him to remind me how… stupidly unfair this match was.
"There must be an angle, something you haven't seen," Zuko muttered, "If I learned something from my uncle is that spiritually speaking means what it means literally,"
"I… what?" I asked, tilting my head in confusion, had drinking his own bad tea affected him so much?
"I mean, whatever the challenge is… maybe it's not supposed to be taken so… literally," Zuko elaborated, "What exactly did they tell you?" He asked, and… oh god, I couldn't believe I was even entertaining the idea of telling him, oh well… What do I have to lose?
"Well…" With accurate detail, I told Zuko what the spirits had told me, and… I will never live this one down, but Zuko found a loophole, they said every power I had mastered, which meant every element but… the one I had yet to use in any shape, Air.
"Perhaps if you unlock your Air bending, the fight would be more on equal terms… then again, I'm only speculating… I have no idea if they left you with any bending whatsoever," Zuko sighed, "But it's a start right?"
"I… maybe, but still… I might as well have no bending, Air bending has been my Achilles' tendon for as long as I have been the dark avatar," I replied.
"Oh…" Zuko muttered, "What would my uncle say… think Zuko, think…. oh… Akita to find your power within yourself you first have to find yourself within your enemy, only then you will find the truest version of yourself…" ...…. what
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For days I trained with now friedly Zuko, after he offered to help me out for no other reason but to honor his uncle, and I accepted I mean... what that hell... I had nothing to lose, so day and night we trained not only with the sword but also trying to see if his theory was right about air bending, and so far… nothing. Our fruitless training continued without a point, beyond increasing my swordsmanship to a more adécuate level. Until we saw a very familiar animal flying towards us, Aang's bison.
"I sure hope Aang and his idiotic pacifism are still together," I muttered. Realizing I would lose hard should he try to fight me.
"Me too," Zuko muttered.
"Zuko… Vaatu," Did… did Aang call me Vaatu.
—-Tell the bald brat I do not want to talk to him… I am trying to unlock some power within or anything to win this duel… I refuse to be one with Raava once again! I like it here!—
"His name is Akira," Zuko said, crossing his arms, "And he's with me," seriously Zuko, why the attitude?
Not a good selling point at all, and with Zuko things are not going well, but I can save it! "I am not looking for a fig—" I was cut mid sentence when an ice blade coming from the top Appa almost cut my arm, "But… it's seems you are…"
"Katara!" Aang shouted, "We can here to help him, not kill him,"
"He almost killed you…" Katara hissed, "I wanted to do the same, almost kill him…"
"She's a keeper," I muttered sarcastically, making Zuko snort, who would've thought he had a sense of humor... maybe this was the real him when HONOR wasn't on his ass.
"How did you find me anyway," I asked.
Before Aang could reply, Toph said, "Twinkle toes here just followed his heart, quite literally…"
I eyed the monk who nodded in response, "I… see," well… that wasn't weird at all…
"Well… here is the thing… I can't get help, I either do this alone, or die…" I sighed.
"Not really," Raava spoke, as Aang spontaneously entered the Avatar state, losing control of his body in the process.