Chapter one (APC)

I'd like to thank Avatar wiki and the Transcript team.

As I stood at the bow of my ship heading towards the Southern Water Tribe, with the cold air beating against my skin; I couldn't help but think of the last three years. When I arrived back in time, I promptly began eradicating undesirables. Among which were the Sand benders, Beetle-headed merchants, Buzzard wasps, Xai Bau and his entire base in Gaipan, Gow and his lackeys. The Freedom Fighters were spared; excluding Jet and Smellerbee. I've even prepared hideouts for myself and uncle, along with secured vaults to hide my amassed wealth. Of the hundreds I killed; their life-force and chi was absorbed into my own.

I finally saw the pillar of light in the sky.

"Finally!" I exclaimed. "Uncle, do you realize what this means?!" I asked, using a rehearsed lines.

"I won't get to finish my game?" He asked calmly, while looking over the tile he was holding towards me.

"Well, yes. That, and, it means my search is about to come to an end." I said, with an optimistic smile. I gestured at the light while facing my uncle. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source!" I said, as the light dwindles and disappears.

"It has to be him!"

"Or it's just the celestial lights. We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing. Please, sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming Jasmine tea?"

"I'll enjoy calm when I'm dead, uncle. I need to capture the Avatar!" I said, with slight anger. I turned myself to face a soldier.

"Inform the helmsman to head a course for the source of that light." I ordered and the soldier promptly did so. I sat and began mentally reviewing my first fight against Team Avatar.

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(The Next Day)

The crew was lowering the bow for me, when they finished it, I descended from the ship followed by two guards. I heard Sokka let out a battle cry and charge at me. When he reached me; I caught the club, took it from him and kicked him off the ramp. I enhanced my strength with chi and broke his club in half, throwing the pieces on each side of the ramp.

"Where are you hiding the Avatar?" I asked, with an angry demeanor. I pointed at Kanna. "He'd be about her age, master of all elements?" Having Received no response, I swung my arm out and released an arc of blue flames that passed just
over the heads of the townsfolk, causing them to cover their heads and cry out in fear.

I heard Sokka running at me, I stunned him with lightning. Sadly, he wouldn't be a worthy opponent for a while. I quickly teleported out the way of Aang's attempt to knock me down, to everyone's surprise.

"Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka." Aang said, cheerfully.

"Hi, Aang. Thanks for coming." Said Sokka, moodily, sitting on the ground and rubbing his chest where the lightning hit.

Aang looked back at my soldiers, and me. Upon my signal, my men spread out, surrounding Aang while I assumed a fighting stance. Aang assumed a fighting stance as well, his staff held firmly in front of him as he was being surrounded
by the soldiers. He swiped the ground side-to-side with his staff, showering the men with snow. He subsequently slammed the ground, sending a rush of snow at me; one that I easily melted with a blast of blue flames.

"Looking for me?" asked Aang.

"Aang?" Katara asked in surprise.

"No way!"

"Silence girls." I shouted towards them. Making Sokka fume in impotent rage. "No, I'm looking for the other Avatar." I said, sarcastically. "Of course I'm looking for you, you idiot!" I added with an angry tone.

Aang resumed his fighting stance.

"I had hoped our eventual fight would go down in history, but I see that won't happen. Surrender or I'll order an attack on this village." I said in a bored tone.

"If I go with you," Aang held his staff in front of him as an offer, making sure I understood that he did not wish to fight. "Will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

"Of course. I simply want to take you prisoner. They mean nothing to me. I wouldn't hurt them unless I had too." I said, as if it was obvious.

Aang was apprehended by my men, who took his staff. Katara ran forward as they lead Aang away.

"No! Aang, don't do this!" Katara said, sadly.

"Don't worry, Katara. It'll be okay. Take care of Appa for me until I get back." Said Aang.

"Head a course for the Fire Nation. I'm going home." I ordered my troops.

"This staff will make an excellent trophy for me." I said, while inspecting the staff.

"Take the Avatar to the prison hold." I ordered, my soldiers. "And I'll take this to my quarters." I said. I waited until Aang was out of sight to teleport to my room and place the staff there. I decided to visit the bathroom, as I thought it to be fine idea to kill some time.

After I finished relieving myself, I teleported to the ship's deck and waited.

(Minutes later...)

Aang landed on the deck as I stunned him with lightning. I watched him fall onto the deck with a smile.

"Do you see how hopeless it is, Avatar? Honestly, escaping wasn't even a good idea. I could have returned to the tribe and wiped it out." I said, to Aangs horror. "I could even amputate your limbs to hinder your bending." I said, causing Aang to be afraid. "I wouldn't wipe out the tribe of course. There is no glory to be gained from it and it's dishonorable. Never try to escape again, Aang. For all you know I could be an evil person who would actually do those things."

"I understand." Aang said, before we both heard Appa's growl. I looked into Aang's mind with my spiritual powers, he still planned to escape. "I know you lied about understanding, Aang. Fight me in the Avatar State and you truly will
understand that you have no hope." I said, with a smile. I could fight on a Comet-Enhanced level for several days now and Aang looked unnerved by my confidence. Sokka and Katara are getting off Appa to fight, cute.

"Aw. Your girlfriends want to fight me." I mocked; enraging them both. "This works to my advantage. Aang still believes that he can escape and possibly defeat me." I said, as all my soldiers and uncle arrive on deck. "I simply need to defeat him at his strongest; while he's in the Avatar State." I said, to several trooper's shock. "So go into it, now." I ordered.

Nothing happened.

"Nothing? Oh well. Fortunately, I'm an expert in getting what I want." I stunned Katara and Sokka.

"No!" Aang yelled, trying to escape my grasp. I let go of him as he ran off to check on them.

"Yes," I said, in a bored tone. As I advanced on him, he sent an air blast and I teleported behind him to evade it. I enhanced my strength and threw him overboard, to everyone's shock. "Wait for it..." I said, while taking flight. I was really glad that I mastered several Siddhi's and achieved flight like Airbenders, all without needing to let go of earthly tethers.

I saw him erupt from the surface, riding a humongous spinning water vortex. He glared at me.

"Let's test the power of Fire Lord Sozin's bloodline against the power of the Avatar!" I yelled.

"As you wish." Said the combined voices of the Avatar. I fully realized the weight of my actions when they began preparing to use all four elements. Which was surprising, I had hoped he could only use air and water. Suddenly, a large amount of rocks were pulled from beneath the sea, as it gathered around Aang. Water also rose, gathering around Aang as he created a ring of fire around himself. The earth began to create a ring inside the air sphere as the water
continued to rise up and form another ring inside the earth sphere. Aang was now surrounded by a ring of water, one of earth, and one of fire, along with a sphere of air.

I unleashed a massive flame blast on the Avatar, not using blue flames to conserve energy. The Avatar struggled to hold back the blast as he was pushed back. I needed to draw the Avatar away from the ship, and then defeat him. I unleashed my full power. I barraged Aang with one blast after another, to get him away from the ship. The Avatar finally moved back as I pursued while attacking.

(Minutes later...)

We finally got a safe distance from my ship. Now, I just needed to defeat him quickly. I formed a wall of fire in front of him, and Aang stopped.

"No more running!" I yelled. Aang sent hundreds of small rocks at me, as I deployed a barrier that could only be broke by fire. Aang continued the attack as I teleported out of the line of fire, just in time to avoid actual flames. I knew that needed to regain my momentum.

I unleashed another massive flame blast and follow it up with a weaker lightning attack. I let the smoke clear and saw that the lightning hit a rock, damn. I moved to attack and got hit with an air blast. I quickly created a clone of myself and teleported away from the attack, directly towards behind Aang, inside the air sphere. Aang continued attacking the clone as I hit him with lightning from behind. I caught his body and teleported us back to the ship. Finally! I meant to beat him into submission quicker. I wanted everyone to believe I dominated the Avatar in a fight, which I did. But I wanted to do so even faster.

I arrived back on the ship moments later, by which time Aang was awake.

"I won." I said, with false exhaustion. Everyone cheered except Sokka and Katara of course. I laid Aang down on the deck, for the next part of my plan, and looked down at him. "Even in the Avatar State you were no match for me. Even with the power, skill, and knowledge of thousands of past Avatars . Now, I'm taking you and your girlfriends prisoners, they'll never see water again. They'll never get to bend, nor will you." I said, getting the desired result.

Aang's eyes lit up as he blasted me off the ship and into an iceberg, I feign unconsciousness and watched Aang defeat my soldiers and get on Appa. I teleported onto my ship and feign dizzyness, seeing uncle, and seeing Aang fly away.

"Shoot them down!" I yelled angrily.

Uncle and I perform synchronize a firebending move and fired a powerful blast at the bison. Sokka and Katara stared at the incoming attack in horror while Aang leapt onto the saddle. He opened the small tail wing of his staff and swung
his glider around, using a powerful swipe of air to redirect the fireball into a nearby cliff. The impact caused an avalanche fall.

Well so far my plan was working. I had shown my power. And Aang was moving along on his journey. Maybe I could even get my plan to succeed quicker than expected.

"Good news for the Fire Lord. The Fire Nation's greatest threat is just a little kid." Uncle said, calmly.

"That "kid", Uncle, just did this." I pointed to the damaged ship, the whole front was covered in ice and snow. "I won't underestimate him again. As soon as everyone is unfrozen, dig the ship out and follow them!" I ordered, before walking to my cabin.

"I hope that the next time I fight Aang in the Avatar State, I am alone, so that I don't have to worry about appearances. I really want to test my skills against the Avatar in a prolonged battle. I see no reason to truly befriend Team Avatar this time around". As I began building up my power and skill with trainers I grew mentally, even seeing good in frowned upon powers. Bloodbending could have had medical uses and saved many lives, but almost all of Team Avatar opposed it.

I spent decades studying. First under Lo and Li; learning what Azula knew, they even acknowledged me as their greatest student, which I found extremely surprising. I mastered control under Jeong and by the time I time-traveled to my thirteenth year, I had surpassed him. I was even given Energybending by the same Lion turtle that gave it to Aang, with the abilities full capabilities. To this day, I still wonder why I was deemed worthy. Uncle furthered my training, teaching me all he knew. I even developed blue flames around this time.

I learned all Guru Pathik knew and was acknowledged as a Guru. That was an extremely useful skill set, as I eventually discovered how to become weightless like Air benders. I became able to survive without food for several days. I developed immunity to cold and to high temperatures. I could move wherever thought went, meaning teleportation, astral and spiritual projection. I could see things far away. I could hear things far away. I had unrestricted access to all planes; I could even physically enter the spiritual world and retain my bending, which allowed me to take my powers even further.

I began spending my sleeping hours in the Spirit world; as it was there I met Hundun. I managed to convince him to train me, as I only had to admit I wanted to defeat the Avatar. He saw me as kindred spirit and ally, he taught me everything he knew. If he didn't, then he found a way to beat my spiritual powers, which turned me into a lie detector.

I spent centuries perfecting my power and skills, while stewing over my unfulfilled life. How did I live centuries? Energy bending. I absorbed life-force and chi from various low lives. Unfortunately, by the time I learned to do that, my family had actually passed on. I was a bitter, lonely old man who was disgusted with himself and the world. I looked upon my legacy and was unimpressed. The United Republic of Nations, a failure. It was so unstable and corrupt it should have been burned to the ground. My daughter, Izumi was too soft and too weak. She would allow crime to infest the Fire Nation or eventually overtake it. Her bloodline wasn't any better.

I watched as my life's work was increasingly meaningless. But I kept training until I was five-hundred and thirty years old, as by that time I was confident I had discovered every sub-skill of fire bending: lava bending, light bending, lightning bending, metal bending; with magnetism from advanced lightning bending, gravity bending; through an even more advanced application of magnetism, I could now bend light and shadow, heated air and water. In addition to this; I could further enhance my speed, strength, and durability with chi, though it burnt the energy quite quickly. I could also project an aura of Chi.

I had finally peaked around this time. I was left alone to watch a hellish world continue Its downward spiral. But, eventually I got tired of it. I researched the Tree of Time and while I gained a lot of secret knowledge it wasn't useful for my plans.

After many decades I found a way to send my spirit back in time; complete with all my knowledge, skills, power, and even theoretically retaining muscle memory. As time-traveled, I found all the theories were correct. This time no misguided
idealists or self-righteous idiots would ruin this world. This time I had the power, skill, means, and experience to achieve my goals. I even spent a few decades studying engineering and the sciences; to help me achieve my goals. I had every confidence that I could reverse-engineer spirit weaponry, mecha tanks, Biplanes, Mecha suits, electrified gloves; as well as countless other technologies. This would make my great nation the greatest once more.

I was disturbed from my thoughts by a knock on my door.

"Enter."

Uncle entered my chambers.

"We'll be going to a harbor to repair the ship." Uncle informed me.

"The harbor is commanded by Zhao, he must not find out about the Avatar. If he opposes me; I will have to hurt and humble him, possibly break his pride." I said, angrily. I wouldn't let myself kill him. The Fog of Lost Souls was a far more fitting punishment and I could give him plenty of bad memories to experience for all of eternity.

"What did he do in the future?" Uncle questioned me with interest and concern. My hatred must have been obvious.

"Interfering in my search for the Avatar and slowing me down. Attempted to have me assassinated. Attacked me from behind during an Agni Kai. He slandered me by calling me a traitor and ordered ships to fire on me. He falsely declared all the Fire Sages traitors to save face. He lead a fleet to it's extermination, which he indirectly caused." I said, to uncle's increasing horror. "His crimes were of such a scale that upon his death he was imprisoned in the Fog of Lost Souls, by the spirits. I had suspected he committed crimes I wasn't even aware of, due to such a great punishment. Rest assured, I will prevent the loss of the fleet and arrest of the Sages."

"That's good." Uncle said, in relief.

"Yes, and on a more cheerful note. When I take the throne again, I'll have a lot of experience. I'll be able to repair the world and prevent needless suffering. Which sadly was a major issue in the future." I said, to uncle's interest.

"What happened in the future?" Uncle asked.

"Corrupt and unstable leadership in the Earth Kingdom, even centuries from now. The Northern Water Tribe usurping the south's autonomy, eventually escalating to a war that changed the world forever. Sadly, my daughter, who I made Fire Lord
when I abdicated, lacked the nerve to fight for any cause. The world needs someone with my foreknowledge to fix it. Before I came back in time, I was disgusted with the world. I had watched it only get worse. Even watching as my legacy; a world of peace was eradicated." I said, angrily. Though not angry towards uncle, which he was aware of.

"You have suffered a lot, Zuko." Uncle said, sadly. No doubt feeling sympathy for me.

"I had a lot of happiness too. When I was studying engineering and the sciences, I had a lot of sex. Hundreds of women who were legal age, but, young enough to be my great great granddaughters. I had centuries of sexual experience, and I
was ruining them for other men. When all the other guys going to the university realized that, they attacked me and were quickly defeated." I bragged, to uncle's disapproval.

"I had a few good friendships too. I mostly trained, I was quite weak compared to you, Azula, and father. When I started getting stronger, I was proud and confident, to an extent that allowed me to enjoy that feeling. For once in my life I had a chance to be equal to or even greater than you or father. I think I did well, I have recently beaten the Avatar in a fight." I said, to uncle's amusement.

"You're most likely to be the most powerful fire bender to ever live. No one in recorded history has ever defeated an Avatar in the Avatar State." Uncle says.

"While holding back truly lethal attacks." I added helpfully, making uncle smile.

"Yes, while holding back truly lethal attacks." Uncle acknowledged in humor. "You may be added to the history books soon, nephew. I wish I could see your father's expression when he realizes you're more powerful than he is."

"I might teleport there just to see it. Though if I laugh; I'll get caught and get in worse trouble."

"Promise you won't do that." Uncle said, seriously.

"I promise." I said, in amusement.

"Good. Now I'm going to go take a nap." Uncle said, before yawning.

"Okay, Uncle."

He exited my cabin moments later.

Authors Note: The abilities Zuko learned due to being a Guru are inspired by Hinduism and Siddhi's. Hundun is a canon character; unless I'm mistaken, he has many incredible and unique abilities. Which I felt would be useful. I realize Zuko beating the Avatar is surprising, it has nearly 10000 years of experience. Zuko won due to uncommon and hard to counter abilities. He could probably beat the Avatar though.