"Wow, so your mom is avatar Roku's descendent?" Aang asked in wonder as Zuko made small talk while he placed the colorful frogs in the mouths of Katara and Sokka.
"Yup." Zuko collapsed next to Appa, letting his back rest against the soft fur. The long journey had exhausted him. The constant use of fire bending had drained his chi to a point he felt himself being pushed away from the body he possessed. Since his work was done, he decided to just let it go.
And just like that, he was once again a floating mustard gas ghost. Meanwhile Aang, who was back in his own body almost fainted from the wave of exhaustion.
"Yeah, you just take your rest." Zuko said as he looked at his own ghostly arms." Imma go ahead. "
"You are leaving already?" Aang asked while trying to keep his strength. And Zuko shrugged.
"It's not like I can control any of this stuff you know? You are supposed to be the avatar right? If anything, you should be able to deal with this type of stuff."
"Hey, I'm just a teenager. The past reincarnations of the avatar completely different people from me."
"So, does that mean, if you are reincarnated as a woman in the next cycle, it won't be actually you but a different 'you'? Should I marry my son to you?"
For once Aang looked horrified.
"RAH HA HA HA HA HA,"
Zuko laughed heartily as he faded into, motes of spirit energy. Even though he was kidding, he had to admit, despite all the stupid decisions and arrogant acting, Korra was one pretty lady. So was Kyoshi.
Zuko left the next day early. He didn't bother awakening any of the villagers. But before he left, he cut off a massive chunk of meat from the remaining meat.
'What a waste'
Zuko gritted his teeth as he looked at the massive carcass from atop the hill. He gripped his massive bag with a defeated sigh. Never in his life had he ever envied Luffy's ability to stretch more than now. Zuko reluctantly turned away, tears almost threatening to fall down from his eyes as he tried to take his mind off the sheer waste of such a delicious treat. But just as the heaven giveth, it taketh away. Oh, how unfeeling the heavens were.
He moved his feet one by one, slowly. His journey awaited no one. Hardest choices require the strongest will afterall. His destination? Ba Sing Se. He and his sister was in for a long fated meeting.
The journey was tiring. Not that he had yet finished his journey. But still, the lack of any excitement made the journey boring. It's been the same old forest for hundreds of kilometers, and Zuko was starting to feel frustrated.
His next stop was the misty palms oasis. Since he decided to take the desert route to Ba Sing Se, it would be the last place for him to gather supplies and prepare for a long journey through the fiery sands. He hoped to cross the desert before the Gaang does. He wanted to visit Wang Shi Tong's library if he had the chance. Nothing serious, just some sword techniques, and meditation practices. Maybe some records of energy benders. But if anyone asks, his reason was to study spiritual philosophy. Yeah, he was all about that spirit stuff.
Still, he was not yet at misty palms oasis. He was not even halfway there, because he hadn't crossed the mountain range that was in the middle of the woods. Since he's taking a direct route, straight through the forest, he had to cross the mountain range. The same range he could see, just near the horizon when he climbed onto a tree. Yeah, this was not going to work. He didn't have ariel superiority that the avatar had, so he was stuck on the plain old dirt, going around in circles.
There was only one logical conclusion.
'I need a mount.'
There was no way he was going to walk all the way to misty palm oasis. Nope. Zuko peered down from the tree, looking for something that could carry him.
Too bad for him though, there were almost no other creature than him and a squirrel bat that kept staring at him.
He closed his eyes, sensing the surrounding area. A pack of monkeys, a couple of racoon rabbits, a couple of underground things.... there weren't any animals that could support his weight in the nearby area.
He was disappointed, but at the same time smile on satisfaction was there.
'This bootleg haki really works don't it? All I need to I do next is figure out the aura farming haki. And I should rise from mid boss to hidden boss level.'
Since he had already exhausted his supply of Unagi meat, he had to hunt and forage daily, which kinda sucked cause every minute spent not travelling is a minute more taken to reach his destination. And if he starts running, then he's gonna end up exhausted, which means he'll need even more food to replenish himself. Until he unlocks the celestial chi, and end up with a never ending source of chi supplement, he's gonna be recovering his chi the old fashioned way. And right now, he was on a clock.
Zuko sat down on the branch, not even bothering to get down from the tree, and thought deeply. What a problem. The tree swayed with the wind and rocked like a boat on the waves. And as he looked down the nearly thirty meters to the ground, Zuko had a wonderful idea.
Thirty minutes later, he was ready to implement it, with a sword between his teeth, and a rope between his hands as hugged the tree using his forearms. The rope was tied to the foot of some other trees behind. And once he had a good grip on the rope, zuko slowly began pulling the rope.
The tree began bending slowly towards the ground. So Zuko pulled again, the the tree got closer to the ground. Again, the tree was almost horizontal when it began creaking.
Crrooooaaaaakkkkk
That didn't sound good.
Zuko pushed his chi to the trunk as he gripped the rope with both his hands. If one looked close enough, they would see that his face was already bright red as he huffed unnaturally while spitting the pieces of bark that tried to enter his mouth as he inhaled.
Heeehhh huuuuu, heeeehhhh, huuuuu
He wheezed through his mouth,forcing his lungs to inhale even when they were being crushed by the force of the tree. Yet the salvation was at hand. The tree top finally touched the ground without breaking thanks to chi.
Zuko turned his head around, and turned his head back and forth as he moved his sword. Grinding his face against the tree bark and making his skin redder than that of a tomato.
Crack ptish
And then, he was gone. The squirrel bat who had followed Zuko around looked at the sky with a forlorn expression as he watched the man soar in the sky with freedom, his joyful expressions and exclamations alerting all who were at a hearing range of the tale of freedom and joy.
"AAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH..."
How majestic!