Zuko meditates in his cabin while I guard the outside of the door. It's been 2 days since he challenged Zhao to an Agni Kai and eventually becomes victorious. I can't help stop thinking about our encounter with him. When seeing me for the first time, he had a look of lust and aspiration. Almost as if I should be his.
I cringe at my thoughts and focus on my duty.
Iroh walks in my direction through the hallway and gives me an unfortunate look.
"Did you get any hits on the Avatar's location?" I ask him quietly, not wanting to interrupt Zuko's meditation session.
Iroh shakes is head. "My nephew is not going to like the bad news I'm about to tell him."
I let out a unrelieved sigh. "I know but we has to update him either way, whether we have the Avatar's whereabouts or not."
"I hope that he does not get mad about we're about to tell" Iroh tells me.
"Me too." I replied and I open the door peeking through Zuko's room, who is still meditating. He notice me despite having his back turn.
"The only reason you should be interrupting me, is if you have news about the Avatar?" Zuko tells me calmly.
I open the door completely and enter the room.
"That's what Iroh is going to you about." Iroh enters the room as well, holding a rolled up scroll in his hands.
"Well there's news Prince Zuko, but you might not like. Don't get too upset." Iroh warned.
Zuko is sitting motionless, still assuming his meditative stance. "Uncle, you taught me that keeping a level head is a sign of a great leader. Now, whatever you have to say, I'm sure I can take it." he reassures Iroh, remaining calm.
I
roh tugs his small beard. "Okay then. We have no idea where he is" he informs him hesitantly.
The flames of the candles suddenly erupt in a fiery mass, brushing the ceiling.
"What!?" Zuko yells as he rises to his feet in anger.
I shut my eyes tight at the brightness of the stream of flames, feeling it's intense heat on my face and body. Iroh shields his face from the flames, merely pulls out a fan from his robe and begins waving it to cool himself down
"You really should open the window in here."
Zuko snatches the scroll from Iroh's hand. "Give me that!" He unrolls it, scanning over the parchment.
"Well, there have been multiple sightings of the Avatar, but he is impossible to track down." Iroh restates.
"How am I going to find him, Uncle?" Zuko asks him desperately. "He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering."
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Later on, a servant hands out the news and is serving cooked fish at the table of Iroh, Me, and Zuko. Zuko quickly stands up.
"The Avatar's on Kyoshi Island?" He asks while leaving the room. I read about it. It's an Island created by Avatar Kyoshi and home to a group of female fighters named The Kyoshi Warriors. Iroh looks at Zuko as he walks away.
"Uncle, Akira, ready the rhinos. He's not getting away from me this time."
Iroh casually points at the plate of smoked fish in front of him. "Are you going to finish that?" he asks his nephew.
Zuko turns around and snatches the plate off the table aggressively " I was going to save it for later!"
He leaves the room and Iroh crosses his arms, turns around, and sulks. I put my hand on his shoulder for comfort.
"I'm gonna get us some dorayaki and onigiri if you like some?" I ask him.
Iroh's frown immediately contorts into a smile of delight. "That does sound very delicious."
"Great! I'll be right back." I walk out of the room to kitchen. I came back in the room with onigiri and dorayaki. After the 2 of us ate all of it, we get out of the room so that we can rally up the rhinos to hunt for the Avatar.
Here's a link to pictures of onigiri and dorayaki. Sorry if I made any of you hungry. LOL! 😂😋 https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F3d%2Fc4%2F3d%2F3dc43d36d3228175f54ee0d35ba5bb64.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Ffr.pinterest.com%2Fpin%2F503347695824744156%2F&tbnid=C1kgqXrK7I-8tM&vet=12ahUKEwiBtp_IxsvtAhUKLq0KHVjACggQMygFegUIARC0AQ..i&docid=lT-QNeMOS3qsfM&w=960&h=854&itg=1&q=onigiri&hl=en&safe=active&ved=2ahUKEwiBtp_IxsvtAhUKLq0KHVjACggQMygFegUIARC0AQ
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.justonecookbook.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2011%2F10%2FDorayaki-New-500x400.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.justonecookbook.com%2Fdorayaki-japanese-red-bean-pancake%2F&tbnid=Bvmczi1DIoKU9M&vet=12ahUKEwiQrLjyxsvtAhUyja0KHdTWDNAQMygBegUIARC-AQ..i&docid=3_2-HOCsUNjQlM&w=500&h=400&q=dorayaki%20tradional&hl=en&safe=active&ved=2ahUKEwiQrLjyxsvtAhUyja0KHdTWDNAQMygBegUIARC-AQ
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The ship reaches shore at the same time a large dorsal fin submerges into the water. Zuko, Me, and 3 other soldiers mounted in Komodo rhinos with Zuko taking the lead.
"I want the Avatar alive." he tells us as we ride off the walkway and onto the island.
We mounted on Komodo Rhinos that are standing at the base of Avatar Kyoshi statue.
"Come out, Avatar!" Zuko yells as several villagers are hiding in nearby houses.
"You can't hide from me forever!" We moved away from the villagers over the street.
"Find him." Zuko orders and the rhinos we're riding on move into town.
One of the Kyoshi Warriors quickly passes us by behind some houses. She runs atop a snowy roof. When she pushes herself off, 3 more Kyoshi Warriors come jumping toward us from atop nearby roofs, knocking off some of the riders. A Kyoshi Warriors lands in front of the lead rhino and opens her fans. The rider stabs at her with his spear. She moves to the right, disarms the rider, and jumps up to knock him off his steed with a spinning kick.
A girl with short auburn hair wearing a Kyoshi Warrior uniform runs towards Zuko, who aims a fire blast at her but she moves to her left to avoid the attack. She jumps over another blast in the air and tries to attack Zuko, but he turns his rhino. The rhino slams the Kyoshi Warrior away with a mighty sweep of its tail, knocking her to the ground. Zuko shoots a fire blast at her, but before it could burn her, the boy Sokka wearing a Kyoshi Warrior uniform and makeup jumps in front of her and decimates the flames with the sweep of his fan.
Sokka prepares to fight Zuko, but another Kyoshi Warrior jumps off a nearby rooftop and knocks a surprised Zuko off his rhino; the beast dashes away.
"I guess training's over." Sokka states.
I get off of my rhino and channel my firebending into my fists, preparing myself to fight. "Yes it is."
Sokka glances at the auburn-haired girl and runs towards the downed prince. Zuko angrily wakes up as Sokka, a Kyoshi Warrior, and the other girl take on a fighting stance. Zuko gets up and I firebend a stream of flames at them. They ducked their heads and the aurburn-haired girl and Sokka charge at me while the other Kyoshi Warrior fights Zuko. Sokka and the girl attack me with bladed fans, but I use the bands on my forearms to block them. In the struggle, I push the 2 several feet away and Zuko knocks a Kyoshi Warrior he fought into a house. He rapidly spins around on his hand while shooting fire swirls out of his feet, slamming the auburn-haired girl against a wooden pole, where she collapses in pain.
Zuko proceeds with a lower fire kick in Sokka's direction. The Water Tribe Warrior jumps over the fire. As soon as he lands on his feet, I sweeped his legs from underneath and Sokka falls on his back. Zuko leaps over him in the middle of the street and angrily looks around.
"Nice try, Avatar! But these little girls can't save you." he yells.
"Hey! Over here!" the Avatar calls to us.
We turns around. Aang stands in the middle of the street, holding his staff in front of him like he is challenging the 2 of us.
"Finally!" Zuko states and commences the fight by sending two fireballs in Aang's directions.
Aang ducks underneath the first and uses his staff to decimate the next fireball. He rapidly spins the staff over his head, propelling himself in the air. He lands in front of Zuko, who immediately kicks the staff out of his hands. Aang jumps up and lands between two fans of a Kyoshi Warrior that is lying on the ground. He stands up and picks us the fan with his airbending. I prepare myself with fire in my hands and Zuko madly charges Aang with his fist already held stretched out before him. Aang spins around a few times to create a bigger momentum and uses the extra power of his swirl to blast us in a nearby house with a strong blast of air. I dodged but Zuko is sent to a house in the process. I shoot a fire blast at the Avatar, but Aang flips behind me and I felt myself my body flying into a house, my head hits it and then everything else is black.
As I slowly regain my conscience, I can smell smoke. Then my blurry vision decreases and I see that the village is on fire. Why do we always have cause destruction everywhere we go to capture the Avatar?!
"Akira?!" "Akira?!" I hear Zuko yell as he runs towards me.
"What?" I ask him in confusion while a hold my head in pain.
Zuko pulls me back on my feet. "We're heading back to the ship. The Avatar and his friends left this village and we can't lose sight of them." he explains as we along with his men are just about to turn and run to the cost where our ship is docked.
But all of a sudden we see the Avatar on top of a head of a dark grey giant eel, holding its whiskers. Aang pulls the eel's barbels and it begins gushing water which rains over the town. The village houses that were on fire is put out by and rain. Zuko, Me and the rest of the soldiers mounted on the rhinos are drenched in the process. Zuko's face contorts in anger, the men looked surprised, and I shiver at the coldness of the water.
Another day. Another day.