Genji nodded after seeing Zuko act calmly before standing up and training.
This time, his movements were a bit clumsy, but they revealed the gentleness Zuko had figured out.
He didn't practice with the ferocity and explosiveness he had earlier, now he was practicing with a calm mind.
These changes might be small now, but in the future, Zuko would be known as the Imperial Dragon.
Much like his uncle, Zuko would be known for his amazing firebending. Granting him the dragon title, which was only affected by becoming the ruler of the Fire Nation.
This, however, was a story for the future.
"Keep up the good work," said Genji as he smiled a little. "Prince Zuko, would you be willing to train a young boy by the name of Jin?"
"Train a young boy?"
Zuko came to a halt and listened to Genji in curiosity after hearing Genji's formal tone.
Seeing the faint smile on Genji's face and his eyes that had a distant look, Zuko seemed to have understood why Genji asked this question.
"Yes, his talent for firebending is very terrible. However, I have already given him a training method specifically designed for him," continued Genji.
Nodding to Genji's question, Zuko said, "I can have my uncle train him-"
"No, this is your next form of training," said Genji as he gave Zuko a knowing smile. "By having you train him, it will help you look at yourself in a better perspective. Wisdom is not born from nothing, you must face trials in order to become someone wise.
Especially when you're going to become a ruler…"
"…"
Not knowing what to say, Zuko could only remain quiet and mull over Genji's words.
"I…"
Bang…
Suddenly, the sound of metal breaking resounded within the metal prisons.
A sound which made Genji have cold water splash over him. With a nervous smile on his face, Genji turned to look at the metal door worryingly.
"What was that?"
Zuko raised his eyebrows in surprise of the loud sound and just before he could walk over to the door to check what it was, the door was blasted open forcefully.
Bang!
The metal door was bent with brute force and opened before revealing an angry figure behind the door.
"GENJI!"
"Toph…"
Genji looked at Toph with a slightly nervous expression, worried about what she was going to do to him. He wasn't worried about being hurt or not, he was more worried about what she was planning on doing to him.
"Looks like you managed to refine your Earthbending…" said Genji with a nervous smile.
"Oh… this?! It's nothing! Just some metalbending I created…" said Toph as she stomped over to Genji with a fierce look on her face.
She may not be able to give Genji a fierce look, but he could felt the coldness in her voice.
"You deserve some punishment for what you made me go through," Toph muttered into Genji's ears as she placed her hands on Genji's arms and gave them a strong squeeze. "Now… let's get you to teach me that one technique while I punish you…"
"Aha… haha…" Genji gave Toph a weak smile before waving goodbye to a stunned Zuko as Toph dragged Genji away.
"What just happened?"
Zuko's eyes were wide and he looked at Genji disappear. From beginning to end, understood nothing of what had just occurred.
He could only turn to look at the bent metal door and shuddered.
***
"How about we calm down, Toph?"
Genji helplessly said as he was dragged away by Toph.
It wasn't that he was completely helpless as to what Toph was doing, but Genji saw no reason to refuse. He more or less knew of what was coming to him, so who was he to deny Toph.
"Calm down? Like how I 'calmed down' my bladder?"
"Not at all! How about we take a step back and look at the benefits gained from this! You managed to create, what? Metalbending? That's pretty amazing!
You should be celebrating instead!"
Genji watched as Toph continued to drag him through the ship before they finally arrived at her room.
"Celebrating? I'm celebrating by punishing a certain bad boy," said Toph as she brought up Genji in front of her.
Holding Genji by the collar with her two hands, Toph moved quick and pressed her lips onto Genji's.
"Hmm! Muah! Now, stay quiet and let me do what I want or I will stop," said Toph as she separated herself from Genji with a small blush on her serious face.
Genji stayed quiet and only raised an eyebrow at Toph's demanda before she dragged him into her room.
***
A couple minutes earlier, Azula was talking with Suki at the deck of the ship.
Ever since Azula had Suki watch Genji and the rest from the shadows, Suki had been too embarrassed to see Genji.
Right now, Azula was planning on having Suki join her and Genji as a concubine.
Although Genji won't become the Fire Lord, he will still be marrying into the royalty of the Fire Nation. Especially when Genji has no last name, something which he had forgotten and not even the system had knowledge of.
"Hmph, your will is so weak. I don't believe you truly love Genji," said Azula with a sneer.
Hearing Azula, Suki couldn't help but furrow her eyebrows as she lowered her head. She used to be such a fierce and noble warrior!
Yet now, she was only a shell of her former self.
After the Kyoshi Warriors and her had separated under the attacks of various dark spirits, Suki was eventually captured by the dark spirits.
She was held captive for two days with no food or water.
It wasn't until the third day that the dark spirits used some forceful methods to speed up the birth of the baby in her womb that had yet to properly form.
Her body had its energy and vitality forcefully drawn into her womb where a baby slowly formed.
She didn't even get to see the birth of her baby as she fell unconscious from what had happened to her. All she could remember was the crying of a baby that made her heart ache.
The next moment when she opened her eyes, Suki had found herself in the middle of nowhere. All she could see was white snow as far as her eyes could see.
She stood up, her legs wobbly, walking around aimlessly as she mumbled to herself.
'My baby…'
Suki couldn't even cry because she didn't have the energy for it.
It was a miracle she was still alive.
It wasn't until she saw a person standing before her that Suki had fallen unconscious.
"You can't even stand up for yourself. How will you even get together with Genji like this?"
Azula didn't stop and continued to berate Suki, causing her to lower her head and clench her fists.
"Hmph… with such a weak will, finding your baby will be impossible…" said Azula, her eyes revealing a mocking gaze. "A noble warrior… All I see is a timid coward."
Suddenly, something seemed to have gone back into place within Suki as she lifted her head and stared right at Azula with a serious yet fierce look in her eyes.
Standing up, the previous timid Suki seemed to vanish.
Inside Suki's head, all she could hear was Azula's mocking words constantly. It was like a broken record player as it continued to replay over and over.
It was like Suki's clouded gaze slowly became clearer and clearer.
"I will find my baby, and I WILL make Genji mine," said Suki slowly revealed a smile under her serious gaze.
"You…" Azula looked at Suki with a surprised look on her face before revealing a smile herself. "Haha… HAHAHAHA! You're hilarious… I'd like to see you try, Little Warrior."
Suki's smile widened and she outstretched her hand before nodding subtly, "Same here, you Snake Princess."
After giving each a shake in the hand and 'friendly' nicknames, Suki walked away more confident than ever. Her eyes were bright and she had regained her hope and strong will.
Azula remained where she was and watched as Suki walked away.
"My sly Baby better be glad for what I did for him," mumbled Azula as she turned to walk away with a smirk only to stop and look at two figures with a bit of shock.
Within her eyesight, Azula could see a beautiful and tall woman with perky breasts and a peachy butt dragging away a young man with golden eyes.
"Genji?"
Azula watched in amusement as Toph dragged Genji away.
As if hearing Azula, Genji had turned to look at Azula and winked at her with a silly smile on his face before waving to her.
Waving back, Azula chuckled before turning to look from where they had come from.
After walking for a bit, Azula found herself in the hold of the ship where there were some prison cells for earthbenders.
Walking through the hold, Azula eventually came across her brother Zuko who was going to relax for the day.
"Hell~lo Zuzu," said Azula.
Zuko lifted his head in half-surprise before greeting his sister back, "Azula…"
"…"
Stopping in her tracks, Azula watched as Zuko walked right past her. She looked at him for a second before facing forward and continuing to walk.
The moment Azula continued to walk, Zuko had also stopped and turned to glance at his sister before walking away as well.
A lot of complicated feelings were still hanging around the both of them. Even when both began to grow as better people, their past still followed behind them.
If Genji was here, he would have forced both of them to talk to each other in the name of 'accepting their past and making it a part of them'.
It would be the only thing that could help mend their relationship between brother and sister. Ignoring their past will only end up making things more difficult.
Azula was still too proud to admit the torment she had done to her brother in order to apologize to him.
On the other hand, Zuko had no reason to attempt to smooth the relationship between each other. He might feel bad for ignoring his only sister, but he believed he had a reason to do so.
A reason he couldn't really think of at the moment…
In the end, both siblings could only sigh a little as they walked away from each other. They could only leave this problem for another day.
…
After walking for a while, Azula found herself in front of two prison rooms that were in a mess.
Walking over to the prison room closest to her, Azula took note of the door that was bent in.
She looked closer at the area where the metal door was bent and noticed a fist mark. Looking at the door with interest, Azula touched the door before raising her eyebrows.
'This door is quite firm, whoever did this is quite strong,' thought Azula as she left the prison room and walked over to the next one before widening her eyes in surprise.
What was right before her eyes was a completely destroyed room.
Every single inch of the room had dents of varying sizes. Azula went on ahead and inspected every single indent and was surprised to find out that they were made with various limbs of the body.
Feet, knees, hands, elbows, even some headbutts could be noticed.
Even Azula couldn't help but gasp in amazement as she examined the room. After a while of inspection, Azula could more or less deduce what had happened within the room.
In her mind, everything had played out exactly like it had occurred within the room.
In her mind was Toph punching at the wall.
After a while, her movements suddenly became more fierce as if she had sensed something within the walls.
Her movements became stronger and more firm and as she continued to punch the wall, her fists began to form indents in the wall.
As the indents began to form, she slowly moved from place to place as she used different limbs to attack the wall and cause different indents.
By the time Azula finished replaying the entire event in her mind, she stood before the door Toph had removed from her room.
The door was completely warped and didn't even resemble the door as it was deformed in waves.
"This… it's a new method of Earthbending!"