"I'd need to take a closer look at your body. Is that alright?" Aang's voice was uncharacteristically grave, his silver-gray eyes searching Li Ke's for any sign of hesitation. "I swear on my title as the Avatar, I don't have any... ill intentions."
Li Ke didn't even blink. He simply extended his arm with a dry, practiced indifference. "Relax, kid. You don't exactly look like the type who's into guys."
The quip hung in the air, a sharp contrast to the mystical weight of the moment. In truth, Li Ke wasn't worried about being "found out." He had already done the math; once he'd gathered enough Energy Points to secure his next move, he planned to drop the act anyway. There was no point in playing the "mysterious traveler" forever when he could just admit he wasn't from this world and be done with it.
Li Ke felt a flutter of nerves as Aang placed a hand on his forearm. The Avatar's eyes and the arrow on his head suddenly flared with a brilliant white light. Li Ke felt a surge of strange, ancient energy pulse through him.
The sensation vanished as quickly as it had arrived. Aang's eyes returned to normal, and he looked at Li Ke with a puzzled expression.
"It seems perfectly normal? Do you feel any different? Your bending is identical to everyone else's. It just looks like you've never had any formal training, so your energy consumption is a bit... inefficient."
Hearing this, Li Ke couldn't help but ask the burning question.
"Does that mean I could technically figure out that lightning-generation trick on my own?"
After Li Ke asked his question, Aang scratched his bald head in frustration, while Zuko shook his head immediately.
"It's not possible," Zuko said firmly. "Lightning Generation is far too dangerous. Even if you have the potential, trying to figure it out on your own will only end in you hurting yourself. If you truly want to learn, you can come to my country. I'll find the best masters for you, but it's too risky right now. You're currently just outputting raw fire; you lack any real finesse or control. At your current level, it would take at least three to five years of foundational training before you could even touch Lightning Generation."
Zuko spoke with dead seriousness, and Aang nodded in solemn agreement. He felt Zuko was right—Li Ke's raw power was formidable, but his control was visibly crude. For someone like that to attempt a technique as volatile as lightning was a recipe for disaster.
Aang remembered how much he had struggled to master lightning redirection, let alone generation. For Li Ke, it would be even worse.
"I see. Sorry about that," Li Ke replied casually. "I just wanted to do a bit of independent research since it's so powerful... and it looks pretty cool."
He wasn't bothered by their refusal. He'd already gathered that the technique was rare since Azula had tried to use it as a bargaining chip. But now that he knew it was technically possible for him, that was enough.
"No worries," Zuko added, nodding. "If you ever decide you want formal bending training, just let me know."
Aang flashed Li Ke a bright thumbs-up. "Me too!"
Li Ke returned the gesture with a smile. One thing was certain: these guys were genuinely good people.
In a rare moment of generosity, Li Ke shared some of his stash of beef jerky—a rare delicacy he'd brought from the Food Wars! (Shokugeki no Soma) world. The two didn't eat it right away, instead tucking it into their robes as they headed back out to continue their search for Azula.
Left to his own devices, Li Ke decided to head into town to find a "pleasure house" or similar establishment. It wasn't just about his urges; he wanted to conduct some "field research" on the aesthetics of people in this world. Plus, he figured since Toph was busy helping Zuko, he might as well find an alternative way to unwind.
But...
"Why is there nothing here?"
Li Ke sat in his room, utterly speechless. He couldn't decide if Zuko was a good king or a terrible one. On one hand, the guy was neglecting his royal duties to run around a small town. On the other hand, this town was so "clean" that there wasn't a single brothel to be found.
Just as he was about to settle in and watch a downloaded movie on his device before bed, a figure suddenly vaulted through his window. Li Ke turned his head, exasperated, and—to no one's surprise—found himself staring at Azula.
She still had that vacant, manic glint in her eyes, but she had changed into fresh clothes and clearly put effort into her appearance. Under the moonlight, she looked strikingly beautiful.
Looking at the perfectly unharmed Azula and then thinking of the Avatar's team still fruitlessly searching for her outside, Li Ke was at a loss for words.
"Isn't Aang supposed to be the strongest person in the world? And isn't this Zuko's country?"
Azula ignored the tension and sat down right next to Li Ke as if they were old friends.
"Because Avatar Aang's mind is entirely on that Water Tribe girl. He's essentially in heat," she sneered. "He's never been good at tracking things. As for Zuko..." She let out a sharp, mocking laugh.
"He only sits on that throne because of the Avatar. Many people don't respect him; they still recognize me. He helped the Avatar end the war and brought defeat to the Fire Nation—people aren't happy about that. Yet he insists on his path, keeping the world divided."
Understood.
Li Ke nodded slowly. He reached for his weapon, ready to just end the headache and shoot her on the spot.
However, Azula simply smiled. She began to unfasten her robes, letting the fabric slide down to reveal her pale, flawless skin.
"I was a bit... uncivilized yesterday. I've come to make amends. I am yours now, darling... uh, what was your name again?"
Azula paused halfway through the act, looking at Li Ke with a hint of awkwardness. Li Ke just sat there, feeling even more speechless than before. She was halfway out of her clothes and didn't even know his name. This was truly getting ridiculous.
"Li Ke," he said, finally giving her his name.
"Oh! Your surname is Li! Forgive me, I'm just… a bit overstimulated. Can you understand that?"
That manic mask slipped back over Azula's face.
"I am currently offering up the most precious thing a girl possesses just to trade for an answer I should have known years ago! An answer my parents should have given me, yet one I must seek from a man I've only met once—an answer that threatens to negate everything I've ever stood for…"
Li Ke's expression went flat. "...You're the one who came here begging me, remember?"
"Exactly! And because of that, I've realized something: I want you to pity me! I want to increase the odds of you giving me the truth! So, if I sleep with you, will you actually tell me?"
Azula leaned in close, her eyes wide and wild. Li Ke looked at her frantic state and let out a long, weary sigh.
"Keep your 'purity.' Just tell me the secret to Lightning Generation, and we're even."
Azula didn't even try to haggle. She began speaking immediately.
"The secret to Lightning Generation is the collision of two opposing forces—but the most critical part is the release! Here, I'll show you the forms and the mantras!"
She stepped into a standard bending stance. Li Ke didn't hesitate; he pulled out his smartphone and recorded her movements from a 360-degree angle, making sure to capture every syllable of her explanation.
Azula showed zero shame, performing the entire technical sequence while still half-undressed.
Li Ke had no intention of practicing this immediately. At the very least, he'd wait until he'd scavenged some high-grade Medkits from his system. For a "slacker" student like him, this Bending style of manipulating elements and supernatural forces felt much more intuitive than chanting complex spells.
Besides, when he actually started training, he'd run the forms by Toph to make sure Azula hadn't slipped in any lethal "bugs."
Once the recording was finished and he'd double-checked the details to ensure nothing was missing, Li Ke finally spoke.
"The reason is simple: You used it in the wrong place."
"What do you mean?" Azula asked, her voice dropping.
"You admit that you don't like people who hurt you, right? Yet, you believe that as long as there is enough fear, you can keep people from ever betraying you. Is that it?"
"Yes," Azula nodded solemnly.
Li Ke asked his next question with clinical calm.
"Then tell me: Can you make someone who doesn't fear death afraid of you? Fear only works because people are afraid of losing something. But if the thing they fear losing is already being taken away by you, does your fear still hold any power over them? You can certainly use fear to manipulate people, Azula—but you've fundamentally misunderstood its essence. You tried to control those closest to you without ever seeing the truth of what fear actually is."
Azula froze. Her mind flashed back to Mai—a woman who loved Zuko more than her own life. Mai had stood against her because her fear of losing Zuko outweighed her fear of Azula's wrath. Mai had explicitly told her that her love for Zuko was simply stronger than her fear of her.
To Li Ke, these were just the kind of tired platitudes he'd heard a thousand times back on Earth until he was sick of them.
"Azula, fear is rooted in love," Li Ke continued. "A person fears death because they love being alive. They fear losing their wealth because they love the comfort it brings and dread a life of misery. You only saw the control that fear provides, but you never understood where that fear comes from. You saw your mother and brother fearing you, but you didn't realize they were actually terrified of losing you forever. It's not that using fear to control people doesn't work; it's just that you're terrible at it."
He leaned back, his voice taking on a lecture-like tone.
"If I were you and I wanted that throne, I wouldn't have used such a boneheaded approach. I would have made Zuko so afraid of me being upset or our relationship souring over the crown that he'd desperately try to please me. He'd be so eager to see me smile that he'd hand the throne over voluntarily just to keep me happy. You don't use fear to give someone a reason to rebel; you use it to make them want to serve you."
Li Ke actually felt a bit self-conscious. Why was he suddenly spouting this "chicken soup for the soul" nonsense? Given his actual personality, if he were royalty, he'd happily spend his days in luxury and let whoever wanted to be Emperor deal with the paperwork.
If his life was in danger and he had no hope of succeeding the throne, he'd just start a rebellion. Either he'd win and live like a king, or he'd die taking his brothers down with him—a win-win in his book.
Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't waste his breath on someone like Azula.
But his intuition told him: Don't overthink it. Just keep talking. There's something in this for you.
So, he followed that gut feeling and let the words fly.
"Is that... how it is?"
Azula's eyes went completely vacant for a split second. Then, in the next heartbeat, her gaze and expression snapped back to "normal" with terrifying speed. Her smile shifted, becoming noticeably more seductive and predatory.
Before he could react, she lunged at him, pressing her lips firmly against his. Li Ke struggled, breaking away for a breath, but she didn't let him speak. She used a delicate, imperial-style grip to pinch his chin, looking down at him with an aura of absolute arrogance.
"I think you would be quite suitable to tutor my children, Li Ke," she declared proudly. "Therefore, by my authority as a Princess of the Fire Nation, I hereby command you to become my husband. Furthermore, in the name of the Crown, I am seizing your... 'seeds' of pregnancy!"
Li Ke: "..."
Dammit. She's still batshit crazy.