The Tale of a Dog Hero

Zuko's way

Editors note: [{(So. This chapter is gonna be a bit different; nothing too far off. It's just gonna be from Zuko's perspective after their small fight against Oscar. The intro is a little wanky, so bare with me on it.)}]

Zuko left the scene after seeing Oscar run away and went back to the crowd  at the event. "Sorry for that everyone, but may I assure you that it has been handled. Now, then, I believe I guessed all the cards right, so go ahead and pay the amount due..." Zuko sat at the edge of the stage and collected everyone's wagers and went on his way. When he made it back into the town, Zuko headed to a local bar to find more people to trick. He walked in and headed for the counter where three people sat. "Excuse me. Bartender? One water please. Don't add ice." As the bartender made his water he looked around the room before listening to the three people at the counter. A male coyote, a female minx, and a male lizard. The coyote was talking to the minx. "So? How has it been going?" "It's been a really big project I've been spending years making." "Oh? How far along is it?" "Well, it can only change small creatures like bugs and such. Soon I plan to make it capable of recreating the DNA of squirrels and birds, but the only thing is, it's just so hard to find pure animals anymore." "Well, I heard that there was a place called-" Zuko interrupted their talk to discuss his bet. "Pardon me gentlemen. I seem to have lost my pen. Would any of you have one you could lend me?" The coyote spoke up. "Uhh. Yeah sure. Here." He reached into his back pocket and fumbles around till he finds a pen to hand to Zuko. He takes it with a big smile and looks away for a moment. The bartender drops off the water next to Zuko. Zuko acts like he is writing something down before turning to give back the pen. "Say. Would any of you be interested in a friendly wager?" The minx spoke up as she turned to face Zuko. "You mean a bet? Guess it depends on what it is." "Well, I have purchased myself a water here. I 'bet' that I could make all the ink in that pen spill into the cup of water, then turn clear again. Just to prove its water, I'll be willing to give you a sip." "Hm. Alright. I'll take that bet. How does 20 bucks sound?" She takes a sip of the drink. "How about 100?" "For some water and a pen? Nah." "Very well. How about 50 dollars? It must be impossible for me to succeed in my proposal." Zuko and the minx shook hands and the coyote gave the pen back to Zuko. He took the pen apart until all that was left was the ink tube and drawing tip. Slowly, Zuko lowered the top into the water, then flicked the bottom of the tube. Very quickly, all the ink spilled into the cup. "There we are. Now. Are you all ready?" Zuko stirred the cup to ensure the ink mixed with the water. As everyone was watching closely, Zuko lifted the cup... And poured the liquid into his mouth. "Eeew!" the whole group winced in disgust. Zuko leaned over the cup and spit out clean, clear water. "Woooah." All of them leaned forward and stared at the cup. Zuko grinned to himself and stuck his hand out. "Alright, alright. Here." The minx gave Zuko five 10 dollar bills. Zuko gave a look of satisfaction and turned to leave. "Hey. How did you do that?" Zuko stopped, turned to face them, then shrugged his shoulders.  The coyote got up and walked toward Zuko a bit.
"What do you mean you don't know? There had to be some way that it turned clear again." Zuko shook his head and tried to walk off, but the coyote grabbed his shoulder. "Hey. Why ain't you talking any more? What do you have in your mouth?" Zuko tried to back away, but the coyote grabbed his cheeks. When he squeezed, ink flowed out of Zuko's mouth all over the coyote. "Ahhg! You cheated us!" "And you all fell for it." He reached into his mouth and pulled out two small bags. "Get him!" The lizard yelled as he grabbed the minx and ran towards Zuko. The minx was thrown trait for Zuko. With his quick reaction time, Zuko easily sidestepped and began walking toward the lizard. To further show off Zuko's skill, he put his left hand in his pocket and motioned for the lizard to continue with his other hand. As the lizard began throwing punches, the minx was back up and had crept behind Zuko. When she pulled her arm back to throw a punch, Zuko simply lifted his right leg and kicked her in the face without looking. While blocking the incoming flurry of punches, Zuko spun to his side and kicked the lizard in the stomach, which resulted in him falling back with a loud grunt. Zuko turned around calmly, took his hand out of his pocket, and grabbed the minx by the collar of her shirt. "Listen closely now... I won the wager. You will drop this fight and you will either leave, or enjoy your drinks." The coyote got out of his seat and walked out of the bar in a calm manner. The lizard got back up and ran towards Zuko. "Leave her alone and pay us back!" Zuko turned to face the lizard. They grabbed each others shoulders as Zuko was being pushed back towards a window. Zuko fell to the floor, propped his feet under the lizards chest, and pushed him through the window before getting back to his feet and approaching the minx again. "So. do you agree with my terms?" She nodded her head and Zuko helped her up. "Well... I apologize for your friend. Although it seems your other friend was smart in the overall run of things. I'll take my leave then." Zuko walked out of the bar and began stomping towards the now beaten Lizard. "You... YOU  DIRTIED MY OUTFIT!" Zuko began kicking him before he could say anything. "You made my tailored suit touch a DRUNKEN BAR FLOOR! How will you pay for this?!" The lizard began coughing as he attempted to pull his wallet out of his pocket. Zuko stopped and took the wallet before emptying and dropping it on his face. "Hm. you're lucky reptile. if you didn't have any money, your tail would have came off. think twice about dirtying a man's duds." He spit next to the lizard and walked off towards a nearby tailor shop. There, he bought a new pair of polyester dress pants and a button up shirt with a layered vest. Zuko looks at the sky and notices that it has gotten late. He heads for his home to rest for the night.

         Zuko wakes up and begins his day with a fresh meal and a new outfit to wear. when he makes it to town be begins shopping for supplies, food, a new deck of cards. He makes it back home and begins setting up the supplies in a bag. Afterwards, Zuko spent the next few hours carefully inserting metal pieces in the edges of his new cards. By the time it was finished, noon had already came. He set everything up and started his objective to find Oscar. "Alright Kitsune. Lead the way to Oscar." The kitsune flew out of Zuko and began spinning slowly until it pointed in a direction. Zuko started following the wisp through town until it reached Oscar's house. It had police tape up and Evidence markers all over. "Woah. What happened here?" He began looking through a nearby window, but couldn't see anything. He tried the other side of the house and peeked in before looking away. Inside was a big splatter mark on the ceiling, two body bags, a knife laying next to one, and a broken table and wall. "Must've been some fight. Is?... Is Oscar in one of those?" The wisp shook its head and pointed into the woods. "Ah... Good. Nobody is allowed to kill him but me." Zuko began heading into the woods with the wisp. He seemed to be walking blind, but the wisp knew exactly where to go. 

Editors note: [{(Hey again. this one was sorta shot because no much happened for Zuko besides hiking and following the wisp. He set up camp and whatnot at night, but continued in the morning yada yada yada. Oscar did more important stuff on day two. Next chapter is gonna be much better, I promise. Leave any comments about the story so far, what you like and don't like. Enter your input! I would love to hear it. It helps me understand what I could improve upon. Hope you all enjoyed so far... )}]