Lord of Fire

CHAPTER 1: PRINCE ZUKO

"Sokka, you are smart enough to realize that what I say is true," Victor warned him.

"Yes, as you say I am smart," Sokka answered. "Smart enough to realize the absurdity of what you are proposing. Not to mention what you did to Aang."

"The Avatar is simply a means for my greater plan. I cannot enter the Fire Nation without his capture," Victor explained in a calm and clear voice.

"Why do you need me to enter your own kingdom!?" Aang suddenly jumped in from beside Sokka.

Katara was standing behind the two of them. As expected, she looked troubled by his presence here.

The rest of the Kyoshi warriors stood a ways off to protect the villagers.

"Avatar Aang, you are but a small child. In your current state, you have no chance of defeating me," he readied his bo staff by Victor’s words.

"Remember what happened at the South Pole," he warned him. His resolve, however, stood firm amidst the threat.

"How can you say you come in peace while still threatening to destroy the village and Aang if we don’t comply with your demands?" Katara jumped in.

Victor turned to her for a moment, taking her into his vision. Taking her beauty in real detail. A few seconds passed until he realized he was staring at her.

"I came alone, didn't I?" he answered her. "As you can see, I only came in a small little boat, the rest of my crew are a ways away."

"What exactly do you want Prince Zuko, heir to the throne of the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked.

Judging by the tone, Victor knew Sokka emphasized he knew of his status. His real question was why should we trust the Prince of the Fire Nation.

Indeed, Victor was Prince Zuko, the crown Prince of the Fire Nation. So how exactly did he find himself in this predicament?

Standing alone in front of the Avatar and his crew and surrounded by a group of highly trained operatives.

Like any good story, this story starts at the beginning like it should.

His name is Victor Krane. He was born and raised in a not well-known nation on the southwest coast of Africa.

Victor barely remembered much of how it happened. Almost a fortnight prior, he was walking home from work after another night of working until late.

It was a dark and drizzly Friday night. The rain continued to pour heavily, and yet again he was working late.

It's not like he didn’t have a life, but he was the only one who can do the job. Fixing computers, that is. Most of the others only knew the basics, but he actually went to college but he now worked in a little repair shop.

He worked for a big tech company for a while in the big city. Due to family reasons, he had to return home.

He made roughly the same as he did in the city, which was a good thing. Living a pretty comfortable life with the same things as in the city but without all the noise and urine smell.

Our story gets underway as Victor finished the latest computer that was left for him by the boss.

He closed up the shop and put on the raincoat. He exited the shop from the back and started on his walk towards the taxi rank.

The streets were empty like a ghost town. The only sound around was the raindrops hitting the ground. He continued towards the taxi rank only to see it was completely empty.

With a frustrated figure, he turned back towards the shop. He decided to call for a ride. Just as he began to cross the road, he heard the screeching of tires.

Next thing he knew, he saw a strange light heading straight for him. His mind went blank for a moment. He desperately tried to jump out of the way but his legs were stuck on the ground.

The gigantic truck twisted and swerved as it headed straight for him. Immediately his mind went to his family.

How would they manage without him? It was not like before when he was the only breadwinner since his folks died.

His older siblings got decent paying jobs, so there was that. He also had insurance, so his family would be more than comfortable for at least a few years.

His importance to the family wasn't simply as the breadwinner. His nieces and nephews looked up to him as the only member of his family to go to college.

Just the second to graduate from high school. He only knew he would be sorely needed but at least there was his older brother.

With him around, the family would be in safe hands.

That didn't make him feel better though. He didn't want to die. There were things he wanted to do himself.

Finally travel to Japan and see the world. Not to mention finally settling down with Ruzan and end his bachelor days. Countless one-night flings got old fast after more than a decade or so.

His mind continued to be filled with memories of his life. All the things he did, good and bad. Regrets of not going for his actual dream of being an Astrophysicist.

Being a grown-up, he naturally had to accept that some things were just beyond his control. As the truck came, the last image he saw was her.

Not any girl he met in his life but a certain prodigy princess of the Fire Nation. For a reason he had yet to understand at the time. Her image flooded his mind.

Everything went dark for a moment.

“Prince Zuko!!” A loud manly voice suddenly woke him from his slumber.

He didn’t know how or why, but he was still alive for some reason.

‘Prince Zuko? Did I leave the TV on?’ He wondered.

He slowly opened his eyes. Expecting his room or a hospital room, he sat up on the bed. With groggy eyes, he looked around the room. He immediately noticed the metal walls and the candlelight.

For some reason, he was in a metal chamber.

“Prince Zuko, your Uncle Iroh requests your presence on the deck!” The same voice came again.

He wondered if the person was talking to him. Having watched quite a few number of anime and light novels, he immediately jumped off the bed and inspected his body thoroughly.

Indeed his hunch was correct. It was definitely it. This was not his body as he suspected. He had been isekaid for some reason. He already knew whose body he was in, but he just needed to confirm it.

He turned to the drawer by the bed and rummaged through for a mirror. Looking at the clothes should be sufficient enough.

After a few moments, he finally found a small hand mirror. He held it up to the candlelight to see his reflection. It only confirmed his suspicion.

He was now the inhabitant of the body of Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. Judging by the memories flooding into his mind, he figured he was just at the beginning of the story.

He wasn't sure exactly when, but he suspected Aang should wake up any minute now. This was at the start of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

He couldn't help but smile thinking of what this could mean. His family was well off enough to survive comfortably. The only regret he had in life on Earth was he didn't get to travel the world and pursue his dream of becoming an Astrophysicist.

He was now the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, the most powerful nation in the world. He guessed he did something right to get this opportunity.

“Prince Zuko?” the voice called again. He forgot about him and got caught in his thoughts. “Are you alright, sir!?” the voice asked.

“I will be up in a minute!” He answered with a bit of annoyance in his voice, hinting he didn't want to be bothered.

He could hear the footsteps walk away and turned back to relax back on the bed.

‘So... Prince Zuko huh? His personality should be easy to emulate, given the memories and my knowledge of him from Earth.’ He thought. ‘The burning sensation in my throat that feels like I swallowed tar confirms I can bend fire.’

‘I have all his memories on the basics of firebending. If I can combine it with my knowledge of firebending from watching the show, I should become a serious threat, maybe even greater than Fire Lord Ozai.

I think it's safe to say he's the most powerful firebender at this time. The closest could be General Iroh, but I don't want to debate about that. We never see him going full out in a fight in the show except for when the lotus took back Ba Sing Se, so I think to be safe I should assume my ‘father’ is the strongest firebender.’

He would be stupid to ignore a genius like Iroh. He could be trained to use lightning. He just needed to be careful in not altering too much of how Zuko behaved.

---

A few minutes passed by in a blur. He found himself seated around a table with his uncle. An assortment of breakfast foods decked on the table.

“What was the urgent call for, uncle!?” He asked the old General.

“Our search for the Avatar has gone on long enough, Zuko,” he began. “I believe it is about time we have a small break and get a fresh perspective on things.”

Very typical of the old man from the series. He was urging on Zuko to forget about his claim to the throne and build a new life for himself. It took Zuko a long time to realize his lessons.

Unfortunately for Iroh, Victor was not as soft as his nephew. He had a basic plan for his new life and it would be better without his naive passive personality.

Fortunately for Iroh, he was needed to learn to use lightning.

‘Once I can muster lightning at will, I will no longer have any use for him.’ He decided.

“My honor! In order to regain my honor, I must capture the Avatar, dead or alive! There will be no rest until I am back by my father’s side as the Crown Prince and heir to the throne!” He spouted some typical Zuko drivel.

Iroh placed the cup of smoking tea back on the table. His demeanor quickly changed to show his displeasure at the naivety of his nephew.

“Capturing the Avatar is not going to restore your honor!” Iroh retorted. “Your honor should not be focused on the whims of a sociopath like my brother. You need to find your own way and restore your own honor.”

Victor continued to chow down while Iroh continued his rant. Victor honestly knew he had a point. He was just not going to take his advice just yet. He had no intention of returning to the Fire Nation any time soon.

He twisted his face into an annoyed look and stood up to storm off.

“Listen to me Zuko!” Iroh snapped.

“Enough Uncle!” Zuko fumed. “We will not give up on the search for the avatar. It is my destiny!”

He walked to the front of the ship and looked out into the frozen tundra of the south pole. Just a few minutes in this world and he was witnessing a sight he never thought he would ever see.

This only made up his mind even more. Everything he missed on earth and did not get the chance to even think of exploring were now entirely possible. He didn't have the responsibility of his family. Which meant he only had to take care of himself.

BOOOOOOOM!!!!!

Suddenly a huge explosion started rocking the ship. He immediately looked in its direction and saw a streak of light flash across the sky.

That could only mean one thing. ‘He’ had already awakened and that was most likely the Fire Nation ship ‘he’ and Katara tricked.

“Prince Zuko! It was an old Fire Nation ship that sent up the flare!” A soldier reported.

Turning back, he saw the captain looking in the direction of the explosion with the scope.

“Chart a course for the direction of the explosion!!” He ordered the soldier coming to report.

‘I expected to meet you in a week or so, but it's now or never. See you soon Avatar Aang.’