Determination
Zuko and his crew made their escape to the crash site of their ship, under the assumption that it was so obvious and stuck out like a sore thumb it would be the last place the conniving Azula would think to look for them, since it was the first place logic would dictate to check, and Azula was too smart to think Zuko was that dumb. Once there, some of the troops went back into the ship for supplies they'd left behind.
Zuko, meanwhile, stood up to address the troops. "I'm certain you're all aware of what just happened," he called out. "Azula's conniving has worked against Uncle Iroh and I. We are now classified as traitors to the Fire Nation. Whether it was Father's will or a trick on her part, we are all now on the run."
"Where do we go then, Prince Zuko?" one of the troops called out. "What are your orders?"
Seeing the murmurs of agreement, Zuko realized the entire crew intended to follow him into treason, and the fierce expressions on their faces indicated they'd fight the whole Fire Nation to protect him. He was rather touched by the show of loyalty...loyalty he felt he needed to dispel, or at least redirect. "I'm a traitor," he explained, "not a Prince. Not anymore, anyway. I don't have the authority to give you orders anymore." Seeing the pugnacious glares, he relented. "I can only offer suggestions."
Once all were listening, he continued. "All of you have two choices now. Risk the Earth Kingdoms, or the Fire Nation soldiers."
"If we're captured by Earth Nation, we'll face certain death!" one of the soldiers called out.
"If we're captured by Fire Nation, we'll face Azula," Lieutenant Jong countered.
Dead silence greeted that statement. "Earth Nation it is, then," the vocal troop replied meekly, a chorus of agreement meeting his words.
Zuko did his best not to show his amusement at that response. Before he could speak again, however, Lieutenant Zhin exited the ship with several of the troops, carrying large bundles of drab brown cloth. "They came out okay!" he called out as the cloth was distributed.
"What's all this?" Zuko asked.
"Zhin noticed your preference for discreet investigations," Jong explained. "Last Earth Kingdom port, he bought up Earth Kingdom outfits in peasant colors for the entire crew, in case we wanted to sneak in. He got them tailored well, so they'd look uncomfortable - like the only thing available to throw on - but actually be quite comfortable when worn. He even got an all-covering cloak for Cadence."
"That was good thinking," Zuko replied. "And rather fortuitous." He turned back to the crew. "Since we're going to be trying to avoid the Fire Nation, we'd best split up into groups of no more than five. Each group should head their separate ways. If you want to be extra safe, try to make your way to Ba Sing Se. With these clothes, it will be easy to disguise as war refugees."
"And you, sir?" the talkative troop called out as many began changing their outfits for disguise purposes.
"It's likely the only place I'll be safe from Azula," Zuko replied evasively.
It wasn't long before everyone had changed outfits, stowed everything Fire Nation related in the crashed ship, and parted ways. Zuko then turned to Iroh and Cadence. "You two should get going too," he replied. "Ba Sing Se's probably a good destination for you as well."
"What about you?" Cadence asked worriedly.
Zuko shrugged. "Azula's primary focus is me. If I end up dead, she's the only one who can become Fire Lord after Father. While anything you might tell Father could be problematic for her, it will be a minor thing if she's able to finish me off. So I'm going to make sure she's on my trail, and my trail alone. I'm going to set off alone. After all, even if I do this..." Reaching up with a knife, Zuko severed his topknot. "There's not much I can do to hide this." Lowering his hand, he pointed to his scar. "So I'll just make certain I'm the one who's followed." He bowed. "Uncle, Cadence, thank you both for all your help. I hope we meet again someday. But if not...know that my love and concern go with you both." Turning, he shouldered a pack of supplies and headed out into the wilderness.
Iroh and Cadence watched him go for a time. "So, Cadence, what should we do?" Iroh asked softly.
"Didn't Uncle Ozai ask us to look after Zuko before we left on this journey?" Cadence inquired.
"Indeed he did," Iroh agreed.
"Well, Father...has he told us anything to the contrary yet?"
Iroh grinned widely. "No, Cadence, he has not."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
Grinning widely, Iroh shouldered his pack, picked up Cadence, and headed off after Zuko, making sure to stay just far enough behind that Zuko wouldn't notice them, but close enough to keep track of his trail.
Zuko had walked as far as he could before the sun began to set. Once it was nearly fully down, he'd set up camp and curled up to sleep. He was awakened the following morning to the scent of cooked food. Sitting up quickly, he saw two more bedrolls laid out, and Lieutenant Jong cooking breakfast.
"Good morning, Zuko," Jong greeted blandly. "Hungry?"
Zuko frowned, knowing Zhin couldn't be far behind. "What do you two think you're doing?"
"Just following orders," Jong replied blandly.
"But I told everyone to make their separate ways to Ba Sing Se!" Zuko snapped out.
"That wasn't an order," Zhin countered as he returned to the camp from his watch. "You said yourself that you didn't have the authority to give orders anymore, and it was all suggestions and advice."
"Then whose orders are you following?" Zuko demanded angrily, struggling to hold his temper back. He'd been trying to protect these idiots!
"Yours," Jong replied. "The last orders that, by your own words, you had the authority to give us."
"Huh?"
Zhin smirked at Zuko's confusion. "You told us to watch your back."
Zuko stared at them both for a long time. "...nothing I say is going to change your minds, is it?"
"Nope," Jong confirmed. "And don't think of trying to run away from us. The troops are still close enough for a signal if we need more to keep you safe."
"After all, we still have authority to give orders," Zhin added with a joking grin.
Groaning, Zuko buried his face in his bedroll. Still, he was also hiding a smile. Them being so devoted to him like that felt...nice.
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I like this chapter, its a good one!
It will be interesting to see how things pan out from here, with Zuko on the run from Azula, and Iroh and Cadence tailing him.
6671983 I agree.
Loyalty holds us together
Niiiice, just when i was getting impatient about another Tatsurou's chapter
Blue Spirit time?
Loyalty... hard to find but happy to have!
Nice!
The joke has been made!!!!
It was about time
I love the differences.
Okay, first thing Zuko does when he's Fire Lord, give those two a promotion straight to general.
Ahh, loyalty feels great, don't it, Zuko?
This chapter was excellent. I'm also beginning to notice that Loyalty is playing a huge role here. It's making me wonder if you plan on the Elements of Harmony playing a part in this story.
Magic - Cadence
Laughter - Iroh
Loyalty - Zuko
Honesty - ???
Generosity - ???
Kindness - ???
Theory set! Now let's see whether or not it gets debunked.
So now, how will Zuko Alone change? One of the most heartrending episodes of Book 2. You better not skip that.
I'll read this when it's done...although I feel this needs an Alt. Universe tag as it seems to change the canon of both The Last Airbender and Friendship is Magic.
ok this is bettter then the ariganul
6672205 fair warning, these stories can get kinda big so if you do that prepare for a lot of reading
6672332
I read therefore I am.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
That was great to see Zuko's men loyal through and through.
6672195
Somewhere in there might be Jong and zhin
Oh oh oh and maybe zukos girlfriend
That's what's known as friendship forged in fire!
6672470 Zuko's girl hasn't really received enough screen time to apply an Element to her. As for Jong and Zhin...
I could certainly see them somehow sharing the Element of Loyalty, but if that happened Zuko would need a different Element. Honesty maybe? He is going out of his way to be fair and just. Tatsurou explained a while back that this Zuko wasn't a fanatic, and currently truly believes that harmony and balance can only be brought about through the subjugation of the Avatar. Zuko acts as his heart dictates, rather than a fanatical devotion to the restoration of his honor.
.........Now I want to change my previous comment.
Magic - Cadence
Laughter - Iroh
Loyalty - Jong and/or Zhin
Honesty - Zuko
Generosity - ???
Kindness - ???
So, how long until they notice they are being followed, and not by Azula yet? A week? A month? Another five minutes? Because Cadance needs to hang around him, and Iroh wants to keep imparting his advice to the one person that will listen to his teachings on state craft, and balance. Zhong and Jin are going to become the Firelords body gaurds. Because loyalty like that should be rewarded.
6672581 Well, If Zuko is doing as his heart dictates, I'd think it might be more something like this:
Magic - Cadence
Laughter - Iroh or Aang
Loyalty - Jong and/or Zhin
Honesty - I want to say Mai or Toph, but they'd each have arguments against that. Although with Mai's actions so far in this story...
Generosity - Katara or Iroh
Kindness - Zuko
Zuko as kindness would be a good contrast from the canonical Rage which he is lacking here. By acting kinder in this story and being more level headed he has fostered the loyalty of his crew we're seeing now.
To be honest anyone who chose the latter deserves whats coming to them.
*This chapter fills you with DETERMINATION.
6672996 This isn't an Undertale crossover!
It was a good chapter, but it felt a liiitle too convenient to just have those earth nation peasant clothes for the whole crew, I mean I see how they could have thought ahead on that but idk it just feels weird to me.
6673041 I had to make the reference given the name of the chapter.
So, all things considered, not a terrible chapter, although the Deus Ex Machina with the peasant robes was mildly hard to excuse.
... Also, when can we expect an Undertale crossover, since you're clearly in it's thrall. ... Especially with goatmom and sans.
6673041 Good idea for later, though.
6673041
6673072
Funnily enough, I was thinking of posting a blog tagging this story mentioning a plan for an Undertale crossover, because of the chapter title.
6673108 I can get behind it. The only upcoming problem is figuring out who to get who to adopt.
6673108 The news of an Undertale crossover fills me with DetEMMIEnation.
6673123
Woona.
Toriel.
Not a PWNYverse story.
6673155 The catch: Woona isn't canon.
6673189
Woona, as in baby Luna.
6673193 Still, never seen in the show, or any canon, unless you count Journal of the Two sisters, and even then, that was just a reminisce.
Read from beginning to this chapter in a couple of days. Really love the alternate universe going on here, especially with Cadence. It's great to see how things looked more from the Fire Nation's (Zuko and Iroh's) parts in the series, and of course, because it has adorable filly Cadence!
On the flip side to this, though, is the diminishing of Aang, Katara and Sokka's role in the story, but I don't see much in the way of avoiding that. Or at least not without doing the same to Cadence's -- which this is her story anyways, along with the alternate of Zuko and Iroh's. So, minor complaint anyways.
Love the characters added with Zuko's crew, especially Zhin and Jong as there was really no time or opportunity in the actual show to explore Zuko's crew. Unless I'm mistaken, the only episode would be The Storm, and it wasn't a whole lot. So seeing these two is a very pleasant surprise.
Eagerly waiting for more~
6673366
Best way to think of it:
Except where their presence causes changes - like the North Pole - any Gaang activities not covered by this story happen exactly as they did in the show.
*reads title of chapter*
Must, not, make, reference...
Must, not, make, reference...
Must, not, make, reference...
......screw it......
Reading this chapter's title, fills me with DETERMINATION!
Sorry I had to
I love Jong and Zhing. They're competent, loyal, able to think outside the box. Zuko could have worse allies. I can't wait to see his reaction to Iroh and Cadence following him.
You know, doesn't Zuko still have the means to send letters to his father through his girlfriend?
So, did Zuko outsmart Azula, or outstupid her therefore outsmarting her?
Yep.
Aye, but they LIKE you. THey'll follow you to the grave if they have to.
Wise choice.
Clever.
Smart Zuko.
Aye.
Zuko...
Clever mare...
Heh.
Eenope.
Heh.
6673601
yup. I think
6673601 Tats explained this in the comments last chapter. Zuko believes Azula knows about his letter system, so he doesn't want Mai to be implicated as a traitor through his communication with her. That's also why he didn't send a letter after the Deep One attacked at the North Pole, explaining what happened.
Many good writings. Much enjoyment. Such wow.
I can't really convey how great I think this chapter is appropriately, so therefore I use DOGE.
That was fun, may I have another? Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
6673443
...I don't get it...