Avatar: Awakened Gamer

Chapter 110 - Peace at Heart



***
Crumbling, breaking, shattering.

That was what Sokka thought as he watched Earth Rumble, the tournament that Toph would win again undoubtedly. He was looking from the sidelines, originally he had planned to convince Toph to come with him over a longer period of time and built trust between them. But he had to rush things, which made some things less certain. 


‘Seems like even Aang and Katara weren’t able to find the place.’ - thought Sokka, knowing that his sister and friend were already in Gaoling, but they hadn’t been able to find the tournament like they originally did in the show.


“UOHHHHH!!” The audience loudly cheered, the creams are almost deafening, and Sokka it as a cover for what he came here for. 

Toph is the strongest here and she can beat everyone else. But these wrestlers carry an amount of fame and integrity, and he is here for a recruitment bid. 

“AND NOW IT IS THE FINAL FIGHT! Ladies and Gentlemen! I welcome you! The BLIND BANDIT!”


Sokka sighed. For the people here this might be interesting, but to him, it was kind of boring. He already knew the ending, and how the fights would go.


***
On Ba Sing Se. 

Zuko stared at his sister, his mouth agape in shock. “What did you just say?”


He couldn’t believe what he just heard. This was outside of his expectations. Azula, who was loved by her father as she grew up planned to have him killed as soon as he got in her way.

“I always thought you were kind of slow, Zuzu. But can't you understand words? I am going to kill father and you would be a great help to that.” Azula explained, as if she wasn’t talking about killing her father, but how the weather was.

Zuko suspected this was some kind of trap. Maybe a trap to test his loyalty? Was Azula petty enough to kill her father for just-... who was he kidding, of course, she was petty and ruthless enough to do this. Zuko was conflicted at this, touching his scar, the one his father had given him. “I…” he wanted to say something, refuse or accept. He wasn’t some saint, he was angry at his father. No, Fire Lord Ozai, as no real father would do to their son what he had done. “I am not sure…”



*sigh* “What did I expect of you? Of course, you will be a coward no matter what. And I was planning on maybe making you the Fire Lord. But someone as indecisive as that will only hurt his people.” Azula got up, and without having touched her tea walked out, with Ty Lee and Mai following her. The latter, Mai, stared at him with a strange gaze that Zuko couldn't decipher. 


After everyone walked out, Zuko was left in an empty room, staring at his teacup. Did he make the right decision? He didn’t love his father anymore, he didn’t care about honor either. For the first time in a long time, Zuko was happy. Sure, he might just be a waiter at a tea shop and not the Fire Prince or Fire Lord. But just Zuko… No, his name was Lee now, the simple waiter in a simple tea shop.

“My goals have changed,” he muttered under his breath. Getting up and getting the full teacups back to Iroh. The old man with a smile on his face was both the waiter and tea maker. When he saw his nephew, the man known as the Dragon of the West smiled. 
 
“How did the talk with your sister go?” He made sure to not mention Azula’s name as there were still customers around that might hear them.


“Uncle, am I making the right decision?” Zuko asked, the question was more directed towards himself than his uncle. Thoughts of glory went through his mind, and he wondered just how things would go, where this one decision would take things. 


Iroh on the other hand only smiled. “You will know you made the right decision when you pick the hardest and most painful choice but your heart is at peace.”


Zuko chuckled at his uncle’s words and didn’t say anything if he made the right choice instead. The Fire Prince went and picked a tray. “Where is the next table’s tea? I will take it to them.”


Iroh smiled, and Zuko smiled back. Was his decision the right one? Zuko didn’t know, he wanted to be the Fire Prince, he wanted his father’s approval, he wanted to restore his honor… but his heart felt at peace.



***
Mai stared at Azula’s back as she strode forward, her fists clenched. If she didn’t know any better she would think that Azula might blast a bystander and burn their heads off. As of late, she had been less and less able to read Azula. That was a little worrying, but Mai couldn’t do anything about it except sometimes ask Ty Lee about how her so-called ‘aura’ felt.


“Umm, Azula? What are we gonna do now?”


Mai was glad that there was a friend in their group dumb enough to ask the questions she needed an answer to but didn’t dare to ask. Can you blame her? To Mai, Azula was a ticking time bomb. People like Kuzon might be able to handle her, but she wasn’t.


“What’s next?” Azula rhetorically asked, the cold glint in her eyes seemed to disappear as she looked at her friends. “We need to wait until we’re found out.”


‘What?...’


Mai was confused by what Azula was thinking. Where was she going with this?


***
At the same time. On Gaoling. Xin Fu, the promoter of the Earth Rumble Tournament, looked on with a frown on his face. Again, his wrestlers had lost while the Blind Bandit, that little girl, had beaten every one of them easily and taken the prize money. While having a reigning champion was good, having one who goes on for so a long time that can beat everyone so easily makes the tournament dull for the watchers. 


A small man wearing circular glasses came forward with a book in his hand. “Xin Fu, sir! Bad news!”

“Yes, yes, I know. Revenue is down and the Blind bandit took the prize money again.”

“That’s not all, a huge bet was placed and the winner got a huge amount of money. We lost so much money during the bet and the next Earth Rumble might have to be canceled.”


Xin Fu frowned.


‘Tch, which naive bastard did that? Well, we require some funding, and some rich piggy came to our front door. There is no reason for us to be merciful against some retard.’


He smiled, thinking that he might get some profits out of this. “Take me to our benefactor. I want to see and… congratulate him.”


A cold smile adorned his face, as Xin Fu felt like the world sometimes made rich fools like them for the other better, smarter, and stronger people to devour. 


…
When Xin Fu went to meet him, the earthbender was a little surprised by how young the man was. His tan skin and blue eyes stood out. He didn’t remember any rich family with those traits, but then again he wasn’t the most educated guy around and understood that. 

Instead of doing what scholars do, Xin Fu planned to do what he was good at. “Young man, I heard that you won quite some money in the last bet.”

“Did I? Well, I am still waiting for my earnings. Where are they? Also, why did we have to meet in a cave without any other people around?”

“Well,” Xin Fu smiled, his long horse-like face showed a nasty impression as he didn’t bother to hide his feelings on the matter. “Well, after taking your money, we will threaten your family for a ransom and kill you off anonymously. Sorry kid, but the world isn’t all flowers and daisies, the strong take advantage of the weak, that’s the rule of the jungle and it will never change.”