(1) Augmentum | Zuko

Chapter Fifty-Four

Ninetails is curled up in front of a campfire, her tail resting on the back of a second large pokemon, the evolved form of Rockruff, who evolved after a run-in with the Fire Nation, so now she is Lycanroc, and she is utterly beautiful, with her golden fur and white mane, graceful and powerful legs. Rana moves through the little camp set up, setting down handfuls of food into little bowls for each pokemon she passes Wartortle, Pichu, Noivern, before she crouches in front of two new pokemon. A little brown and white thing that hatched from that temple egg and a little green pokemon that came from a second she found during her little spiritual journey. Eevee and Chikortia. She smiles softly at them and sets food into bowls for them both. Rana settles against a tree, sliding down to sit on the ground. She's added a black cape cloak thing to her outfit, to hide her ears and tail whilst travelling. She knows she sticks out. And she probably should have done something to hide her appearance a while back now. She lets out a breath and picks at her own food. As much as she knows her duty and her destiny lies with Aang, she does prefer to be out here, travelling with her pokemon, learning to control her abilities...alone. Tracking down the rest of the pokemon eggs, keeping tabs on Zhao and where he is in his search for her, careful to stay one step ahead of him, of the Fire Nation ships. She's been staying inland a lot recently. A few rough run-ins with the ships. Noivern only managing to get her out of that trouble. Lycanroc dumps her empty bowl in front of Rana before staring at her to get her point across.

"You want some more?" Lycanroc nods and Rana looks down at the little bowl. She then moves her hands, concentrating, bending, above them, a branch grows from the tree behind her, erupting into fully grown bluk berries ready for eating. The branch then shakes, dropping fruit into Lycanroc's bowl. Rana sinks a little when she pulls back. A wave of exhaustion hit her. But she's learnt to push through it. It works better to push her limits. She learns faster that way. And she's learnt a lot in the last week. Chikorita climbs into her lap with a yawn and curls up, belly fully. "Don't wander off too far" Rana scolds a little as Eevee disappears into the trees. Rana knows she likes to explore after lunch, she just wishes she wouldn't do it alone, that she'd at least take one of the others with her.

......

Zuko has his hands behind his back as he looks over the market stall, waiting on Iroh who demanded they take some shore leave. Just a few hours to pick up supplies, get a drink, have some proper food. He was against it but Iroh has this way about him, Zuko finds it difficult to argue with him. But he caved because it's been rather quiet on the Avatar front the last few days. Not much in the way of sightings or news. Not much for him to do until gets something. He lets out a breath and looks around the market. Can see his crew moving and talking. They do appear to be slightly more relaxed. He frowns, hearing something. He's not even sure he heard it until it makes a noise again. He turns and shifts his eyes around until they fall on a little brown pokemon. Eevee. Watches him from where it sits next to a large barrel which just makes it look all the smaller. Zuko raises an eyebrow at it. The two of them staring at one another. He doesn't know what it is, so he immediately decides that it must be a pokemon. But he has no idea what it is doing here. His chest aches as he thinks that it might mean that Rana is here somewhere. That this is one of hers. He takes a step towards it before he remembers his line. His choice to not cave into feelings. He can't. He made a stand. He drew a line in the sand. In his dreams, he can indulge in his feelings all he wants with his dream version of Rana, but out here, in the real world. Lines. He hangs his head and backs away, turning his back to the animal.

"It appears to want your attention" Iroh comments as he crouches in front of the pokemon but it ignores him, following after Zuko who walks away. "Zuko" Iroh starts as he stands to follow them. Zuko can hear it behind him, scurrying along. He turns to face it.

"Shoo" He chases it off with a hiss and a fire blast. The pokemon glares at him and then runs away. Zuko looks victorious as he turns to Iroh who shakes his head disappointed.

"They are magical creatures that deserve your respect" Iroh scolds. "And punishing them for the way you are feeling about Rana..." Zuko snaps his gaze to his uncle who sighs. "It is not their fault that you cannot accept..."

"I can accept things just fine" Zuko scolds. "I accept that she turned her back on the Fire Nation, and I have not...." He turns and walks away from his uncle, who doesn't follow this time.

"I could strangle some sense into him" Iroh muses to himself, stroking his beard. "Wonder if locking them in a room would work too?" He turns and walks away, pondering his options.

........

Rana sits in the lotus position among the trees, meditating. Breathing. Nature around her moves with her as she does. Breathing with her. She tries to do this with every element, all nine of them, throughout the day for fifteen minutes, half an hour if she has the time. Just to bond more with them. Just as she is bonding with her pokemon, she is strengthening her bond with the elements. Dream!Zuko was right. She needs to feel them. Not think about them. It has to come from her heart. Eevee watches from the tree line before it turns and heads back into the trees again.

.........

Zuko looks over a market stall alone now, fingers touching the fabric of a dress in a beautiful dark pink colour. It's enough to remind him of Rana. Everything is enough to remind him of her. And it's ridiculous. He feels like he lost her. But he never had her to begin with. He sighs and moves along the stall to a stand of dress pins. These remind him that he has her dress pin and the stake is bent and likely not useable anymore. He feels bad about it. mostly because he was the one that gave it to her originally. Something nips at his ankle, tugging on his trouser leg. He hisses and looks down at the animal with a glare, finds Eevee glaring back up at him before it then goes to walk away, before it pauses and looks back over its shoulder at him. He frowns. It wants him to follow it. He can read that much in its eyes. He won't tell his uncle but he does feel bad for throwing fire at it. It didn't deserve that reaction from him and he does feel terrible. It was completely about him and his feelings for Rana and had nothing to do with the pokemon. Zuko lets out a breath and closes his eyes. Fighting himself. Head and heart raging again. He opens his eyes and settles them on Eevee who nods with its head for him to follow. Zuko nods back.

"This better be worth it" He grumbles and follows after Eevee who leads him away from the market square. Iroh watching from close by, a smile working onto his face.