Fanfic / Little Zuko v the World

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Little Zuko v the World is an Alternate Universe Avatar: The Last Airbender Fan Fic written by MuffinLance. The story starts with Zuko finding Aang within a month of his banishment except instead of being thirteen when banished he's twelve. To go with that Azula and Ty lee are ten, while Mai is eleven. Everyone else however, is still the same age: Sokka is still fifteen and Katara is still fourteen with Aang being the twelve year old kid we all adore.

It's not very surprising to see more shenanigans happen with a younger cast of antagonists. You can find the fanfic here.

Little Zuko v the World provides examples of:

• Achievements in Ignorance: Zuko manages to blossom into successor to rival Azula and a credible threat to Ozai's rule without even meaning to. Luck makes it so that he flushes the Avatar out literally one month after his banishment and the same year as the Eclipse and the Comet, which is taken as an omen of his destiny to capture the Avatar. Then, circumstances make it so that his attempt to save the 41st Division allows him to take control of Omashu through a Combat by Champion, without any blood spilled. Because of that, his popularity in the Fire Nation skyrockets. The events of the North Pole ends up with Zuko officially engaged to princess Yue and in control of most of Zhao's fleet, and he later goes on to negotiate with the Earth Kingdom. At this point, Ozai is convinced his son is maneuvering to gain enough support to overthrow him. Of course, Zuko himself isn't fully aware of how much of a dangerous rival for the Fire Lord he's become, and isn't actually intending to overthrow his father. That is, of course, until Ozai inevitably attempts to betray and kill his son. Then, Zuko having won the loyalty of Zhao's former fleet, the 41st Division, and a good chunk of the Fire Nation and Court, as well as having built alliances with the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom comes really in handy.
• Adaptational Badass: Zuko learns the Dancing Dragon style at age 12 instead of 16, and can also bend lightning.
• Adaptational Sympathy: Azula's Troubling Unchildlike Behavior and abuse of animals are portrayed in a more sympathetic way by the narration compared to canon - in that it's shown she's genuinely trying to understand empathy but simply can't because her mother has a hard time explaining things to her and her father nurtures her bad tendencies.
  Years and years ago when people still called Azula a child, there had been an assassination attempt on grandfather. This was back before her own branch of the family had become important enough to attract such killers, though the man had come through their apartments on the way to more politically relevant targets. Perhaps he hadn't thought there would be as many guards there, or he'd thought that father hadn't already started pulling the court's strings to ensure his family got the very best.
  Azula had slipped her nanny and her mother, and tugged on Zuko's hand, and they'd gotten to the hall in time to see the blood still wet on the floorboards. Zuzu had promptly cried, thus ruining their stealth, and mother had wrapped them both up in hugs and scolded their nanny and taken them, quote, away from that awful place, end quote. It had all been very dramatic. Azula had craned her neck over mother's shoulder, trying to get one last glimpse, trying to see. The blood had looked the same as it did on the kitchen chopping boards, no different even though it was human and everyone acted like humans were more special. Zuzu had cried, which told her here was something to cry about, even if it was by his own admittedly low threshold. Azula hadn't felt anything at all.
  Maybe if she saw the death for herself, she would feel different.
  [...]
  Not long after the assassination attempt, a royal ostrich-horse, one of the feathery beasts gifted to them by some Earth King trying to curry favor, broke its leg. Some noble had taken it joyriding over particularly craggy volcanic grounds. Azula wouldn't have cared, except that she heard the courtiers gossiping: apparently these creatures were as weak as the kingdom they hailed from. They could not heal from a broken leg, and the animal would need to be put down.
  Azula watched the stablemaster crone sweet things into its ear as she slipped the knife in. The woman closed her eyes and kept stroking the dead thing's feathers for a long time after. Clearly this was a very moving experience, but Azula still didn't feel anything.
  Perhaps it would feel different, to kill with her own hand.
  [...]
  Not long after the ostrich-horse, Azula looked down at Zuzu's stupid ferrekeet and still didn't feel any different. He didn't talk to her for a week except to shout, which was completely unfair because he never shouted why.
  At least he shouted. When father found out, he smiled.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Due to being younger and (slightly) more innocent than in canon, Azula's relationship with Zuko isn't as stained. Of course, Azula being Azula, her games with Zuko often involve a risk of death, but she nevertheless still loves him. From his part, Zuko is aware his sister is dangerous, but he still cares about her. In Book 3, Azula ends up betraying Ozai, leaking his plans for the Comet to Zuko and Yue and fleeing the Palace. Zuko thus rushes to rescue her, and both are reunited - leading them to play "lightning tag" with Iroh's lightning redirection technique. During Zuko's final Agni Kai with Ozai, she shoots lightning at Zuko so that he can redirect it towards their father and take him by surprise - winning the fight. The narration leaves it ambiguous whether she truly meant for him to redirect the lightning or not, but leans more towards the former. If anything, she remains loyal to him afterwards, and still is during the epilogue.
  Her brother’s fists started smoking as he yelled, even as he stayed sitting exactly where he was at her side. She laughed so hard along with everyone else that she leaned against his side and cried. Azula was ten years old, which was not too old to want an older brother who wanted to rescue her.
• Age Lift: Whereas Zuko was 16 and Azula and her friends 14 at their introductions, Zuko is 12 and Azula and her friends 10 here.
• Amazon Chaser: After Zuko witnesses Yue (with whom he's engaged as part of a political maneuvering) stab Zhao with "all the sweet words and deceit of a proper princess", he thinks to himself that "he could maybe see himself marrying her, a little".
• Animal Lover: Zuko, of all people, turns out to be one as we quickly come to find out when he's determined to make Appa his pet and rename him 'Honor'. He didn't even have the heart to firebend at it. He shot at it sure but he purposefully missed. It becomes much more tragic when we find out that all his pets have either been eaten, killed by Azula, being the child-psycho she is, or being forced to give them away because Azula kept on attacking them.That's why he's so paranoid with showing how much he adores them in public.
  Azula: Zuzu, really. A prince should be able to protect his own. Don't complain to me if you keep failing them."
• Anti-Villain: Zuko is technically trying to capture the Avatar, which would mean depriving the world of its last hope to stop Ozai. He's also a good-natured animal-loving twelve year old (albeit one with a short temper) who wishes to regain his father's love and protect the subjects of his nation. He treats his opponents with honor. Case in point, after Bumi surrenders to him, Zuko becomes furious when he hears of the "Bumi Box" and gets him placed in the refurbished chamber that was once bad. The Gaang barely regards Zuko as a threat, let alone a villain. To the surprise of no one, Zuko eventually has a Heel–Face Turn.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Azula tends to kill any pets Zuko had unless he was quick enough to rehome them. She would blame Zuko and said pet for not being strong enough to resist her. It's later implied that she's just trying to understand while people feel sad when loved ones die, because she's got a stunted sense of empathy that her father encourages to remain that way.
• The Bet: When Aang encounters Zuko outside of Omashu along with the Fire Nation military, he challenges him to an Agni Kai to leave Omashu alone. Zuko takes the challenge on the condition that if he wins, Omashu has to unconditionally surrender. Zuko narrowly wins the bet.
• Blasphemous Boast: When Zuko regains his firebending after visiting the Sun Warriors and meeting the dragons, he briefly wonders if Agni is still mad at him for disobeying his father. But he ultimately decided even if Agni is mad, Agni could take a hike; Zuko is proud of himself for doing the right thing in saving the 41st.
• Bothering by the Book: Since Adrimal Zhao ordered that no one interrupt his speech and blatantly refused to listen to Yuyan commander Shinu's concerns, Shinu lets Aang and Zuko escape and kept trying to interrupt Zhao, knowing Zhao would refuse to listen to any concerns.
• Chekhov's Gun: The bag of mail for the 41st Division. It reminds Zuko of his desire to stop the plan to sacrifice the lives of 41st Division before it enact. He take the mailbag, disguises himself as a mailboy, sneaks into Fire Nation territory despite being banished to try to warn the 41st about the plan and plead with them to not go forth.
• Children Are Innocent: Once Azula is surrounded with better role models and outside support, she begins acting more like a normal child, indicating her father's toxic influence was what inflamed her more sadistic and antisocial tendencies.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • Played for Laughs when Iroh gives one to Zuko after he freaks out when finding out his ponytail looks stupid on him and he couldn't just cut it off because it's a symbol of his honor. The hug had a limited effect though because Zuko has no idea what a hug even is just calling it a weird thing his Uncle does.
  • Sokka gives Zuko a hug everytime he mentions a piece of his traumatic past.
  • Zuko gives one to Azula when he's reunited with her after she fled the palace and was captured by Hama, and she begins to cry. She's at first wary of the gesture due to her Lack of Empathy, but ends up returning it when he explains hugs are like a fealty pledge between family and friends; that you can hurt each other, but you won’t.
• Cryptic Conversation: Iroh does this. Constantly, to no ones surprise and Zuko's absolute hatred. It's gotten to the point where Iroh uses it as a punishment with Zuko.
• Cuteness Proximity: Zuko is enchanted with Appa due to him being friendly, big, being able to fly, and fluffy. He is conflicted with wanting Appa as a pet and keeping Appa far away from Azula as possible.
  • Zuko himself seems to induce this in a lot of people he meets, most prominently being Sokka and Katara. Sokka adopts him as his Nephson. Hilarity Ensues, and Hakoda has a headache.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: After Zuko wins his match with Aang, he's so badly concussed that he keeps voicing every thought that comes to head, which unfortunately includes a lot of unflattering opinions about other people.
  "Congratulations!" a hunched-over old guy dressed in really terrible purple was… pouting at him? "You don't like my new outfit?"
  Oh. Zuko had said those other things out loud. "I can burn it for you, if you want," he offered.
  The old guy threw back his head and laugh-snorted. "Well, at least I'm surrendering my city to an honest man!"
  Oh. King Bumi. Zuko had heard he was insane, no wonder he'd even agreed to this I'm talking out loud again aren't I—
  "Yeah you are," Sokka said, and when had the Water Tribe peasant gotten here? "Been here for a few minutes. Could you stop sitting on Aang? And you should probably get someone to check on those multiple head wounds, Aang really kind of… bounced you around at the end. A lot. Do you remember that part…? Easy, just kind of slide off, maybe don't try to stand yet—Or do, that's fine, no need to take advice from a Water Tribe peasant."
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Due to a combination of her sociopathic tendencies and Ozai's influence, Azula is unable to understand empathy or feel sadness or guilt. It's Played for Drama, as the narration shows she's genuinely trying to understand it but fails due to not having good role models around her.
  Not long after the ostrich-horse, Azula looked down at Zuzu's stupid ferrekeet and still didn't feel any different. He didn't talk to her for a week except to shout, which was completely unfair because he never shouted why.
  At least he shouted. When father found out, he smiled.
• Exact Words: Without Aang realizing, his words are deliberately interpreted as Zuko having to leave if he loses the Agni Kai. The Fire Nation military made no promises to the Avatar and were planning to continue their invasion of Omashu if Zuko loses. Zuko won by a slim margin.
  • Later on, Zuko's crew takes exception to Zhao trying to murder him by blowing up their ship. They corner him in his cell after the battle (and Yue stabbing him). Jee reports Zhao died of his injuries, not clarifying which injuries.
• Famed in Story: Everyone in the Fire Nation believes it is Zuko's destiny to capture the Avatar and being glory to Fire Nation.
• Fan of Underdog: After each of Zuko's exploits (finding the Avatar in one month and surviving a clash with him, taking control of Omashu through a Combat by Champion, building an alliance with the Northern Water Tribe), the Fire Nation grows more and more admirative of him. Several people of the Fire Nation choose to aid his quest at various points of his journey, often unbeknownst to him - such as Fire Sage Kaito, or later Colonel Shinu and the Yuyan Archers, who all hinder Zhao's attempts to capture the Avatar so that Zuko can be the one who does it. Across the story, Ozai becomes more and more paranoid that his own people might betray him for his son. A fear which is founded, as during Zuko's final Agni Kai with his father, the entire crowd ends up lining up behind him.
  Zuko was twelve. Zuko was not a master firebender. Zuko was just here to do what was right, because no one else was doing it and someone had to and if he’d learned anything from his last Agni Kai with—
  (—his father—)
  —with Aang it was that sometimes—
  (—suffering was his teacher)
  —just not giving up was as good as winning. So he didn’t give up. Didn’t stay down. And the crowd started cheering for him, cheering for the wrong side, when his father finally did kill him they were all going to be in so much trouble.
  (Ozai couldn’t kill all of them. If they all just didn’t give up—)
• Folk Hero: Prince Zuko's accomplishments are more noticeable through out the story.
• Fingore: Iroh's hands get crushed by earthbender soldiers.
• Friend or Foe?: During the siege of the North, Zuko attacks the Ocean because it's trying to kill all the Fire Nation soldiers, without realizing that the Ocean has actually merged with Aang. Zuko's lightning attack actually stops Aang's heart, and only Yue/Tui's healing saves him.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Ozai isn't pleased that Zuko is becoming more popular and adored than him.
• Harmless Villain: Well, that's bound to happen when you compare an angsty, brooding sixteen year old teenager to a somewhat less hardened animal-loving twelve year old.
  • It gets to the point though where the Gaang doesn't even consider Zuko as much of a threat. Aang actually willingly agrees to be temporarily taken hostage just because Iroh makes really good tea. They, particularly Sokka and Katara, end up adopting him.
  • Even Sokka, the guy that's suspicious of everything and hates all Fire Nation, starts to warm up to Zuko after he starts getting subtle hints that he's had a really terrible childhood. A good example of this is when Sokka actually leaves Katara with Zuko, when she was kidnapped by Zuko after stealing that water scroll, to keep an eye on the kid. Hell, they even end up adopting him.
• Hollywood Healing: Defied as it has been a month since the Agni Kai, so Zuko's scar is still healing with scabs, reopening wounds and all. In many moments in the story's beginning, the scar gets agitated or reinjured.
• Hometown Nickname: The Kuzons of the 41st differentiate themselves by their hometown. The two most prominent Kuzons being Aomori and Caldera.
• Identically Named Group: The 41st Omashu Division is full of New Meat all named Kuzon. They differentiate each other through their name of their hometowns.
• I Know You Know I Know: Invoked and weaponized by Iroh. In this alternate version of the story, Zuko isn't here to help Iroh in time when he's captured by soldiers of the Earth Kingdom, so the latter only escapes after his hands are crushed, making him unable to protect Zuko. However, being an expert at court intrigues, he manages to conceal his injury for quite some time by pretending he's sending subtle messages. When interacting with Zhao, he keeps his hands concealed all the time, which the Admiral interprets as Iroh making veiled threats against him - hiding the moment he'd strike and making him wonder if the tea served to them is or isn't poisoned.
• Important Haircut: Zigzagged, after internalizing Sokka's insults about his hair and Iroh failing to confirm or deny his concern of his hair, Zuko shaves all of it off. Over the course of the story, it starts to grow back symbolizing how Zuko has begun to internalize new perspectives.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Despite Zuko's attempts, the Gaang don't seem as a threat as much as misguided child.
• In Spite of a Nail: Unfortunately, Kyoshi's Village still burns down while the Avatar's in town courtesy of Zhao instead of Zuko this time around.
• Jurisdiction Friction: The Yuyan archers and their commander, an elite army sniper squad, don't like working under Admiral Zhao, a naval man.
• Kids Are Cruel: Azula is at that unfortunate stage where she is too young to realize empathy and can be very nasty, which is a tendency nurtured by their father.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Both Zuko and Aang have this reaction when they realize that they almost killed each other during the siege of the North. Made even worse for Zuko because his lightning attack actually stopped Aang's heart, and only Yue/Tui's intervention brings him back.
• Noodle Incident: In the epilogue, we learn that Azula and Toph went to Ba Sing Se for a few weeks after the events of the story, more accurately after the Fire Nation's advisors suggest an Arranged Marriage between Azula and Kuei to try and build a Fire Empire through Altar Diplomacy instead of conquest. Whatever they did in Ba Sing Se, the result is that the Earth Kingdom is now transitioning from monarchy to republic, and the first elections are taking place during the epilogue.
• Not Hyperbole: Zuko laments to Katara that Azula never lets you know when she going to kill you. Katara initially thinks he is exaggerating, only to find that he's being quite literal when Azula leaks Katara's stay on Zuko's boat to Zhao in order to get her killed. Iroh laments how Zuko doesn't exaggerate.
• Parental Substitute: Iroh to Zuko, as usual, and latterly to Azula, in an attempt to undo Ozai's influence. Katara and Sokka adopt Zuko, who's annoyed, but goes with it, especially since he gets a grandfather - Hakoda - who didn't want him dead, unlike Azulon. This is enforced with much hugging.
• Parrying Bullets: Played With
  • Enforced: The Yuyan archers deliberately weaken the power of their arrows and do trick shots to avoid hurting Zuko and Aang while still looking like their doing their jobs.
  • Lampshaded: Zuko is flabbergasted on how he is deflecting arrows.
    How was he deflecting arrows with his swords, that wasn't a thing people did outside of plays, Master Piandao had always told him if you ever try that for real I will deny ever having you as a student, so how—?
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Played With. Zuko and Yue ends up engaged without their consent because of the Northern Water Tribe's political maneuvering, but both end up making the most of the situation. However, in a twist of the formula, it's not because they end up falling in love - though Zuko does develop a bit of a Precocious Crush after he witnesses Yue stab Zhao, and the epilogue remains willingly vague on their relationship. They end up satisfied with their Arranged Marriage because for Yue it means she'll be able to reject any other marriage proposal for four years (due to Zuko being too young to marry yet) and then she can always break off the engagement, and for Zuko it means he has a way to end the conflict between Zhao's fleet and the Northern Water Tribe through Altar Diplomacy.
• Police Code for Everything: Zigzagged, The Yuyan archers have signs for "Should I shoot" and "No, it's endangered", but they don't have code for "Don't shoot the Avatar or Prince Zuko". They compensate by using established signs out of context, such as using their "endangered" sign to refer to Zuko and Aang instead of an endangered animal.
• Poor Communication Kills: While Momo understands that Katara is saying that she wants water, he doesn't know how to use her waterskin. So Momo gets whatever he could find, hoping that it's filled with water, since Lemurs find water in fruits or plants.
  • Zuko, due to a misunderstanding involving Momo glued to an Yuyan arrow and a scrap of Aang's clothing, thinks Sokka is trying to coordinate Aang's rescue with him. He didn't know that Sokka never sent a message due being delirious with fever.
  • When Zuko defects to the Gaang, he deliberately doesn't tell Iroh because he thinks his uncle is genuinely loyal to the cause and to avoid forcing Iroh to choose between their nation and him. Unfortunately, Zhao has his ship blown up, so Iroh now thinks that Zuko is dead.
• Precocious Crush: Because of the Northern Water Tribe's political maneuvering, Zuko ends up engaged with Yue in spite of the four years age gap. Both decide to make the most out of the situation - as Yue is happy to have a way to prevent any Arranged Marriage attempt for four years and Zuko is happy to have an excuse to settle the conflict with the Northern Water Tribe diplomatically. However, after Zuko witnesses Yue stab Zhao with "all the sweet words and deceit of a proper princess", he thinks to himself that "he could maybe see himself marrying her, a little".
• Psychosomatic Superpower Outage: After defeating Aang in Agni Kai over Omashu proiritizing his sense of justice over his honor to Fire Lord Ozai to save the 41st Division from being slaughtered by bait, Zuko temporarily loses his bending.
• Reassignment Backfire: Zuko was told to find the Avatar by Ozai in hopes of it being a demeaning Impossible Task. With Zuko's unintentional success of finding the Avatar within a month of his journey, the same year as the Eclipse and the Comet, it makes his hated son look like The Chosen One.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Just like in canon, the Ocean Spirit is furious when Zhao attacks the Moon and tries to destroy the Fire soldiers. Luckily for everyone, Yue/Tui is able to mitigate some of the damage.
• Running Gag: Everyone notices the really gaudy dagger Katara stole from the pirates and keeps in her boot. People can't get past how gaudy it is. Yue even pouts that the one she gets for her birthday isn't as gaudy as Katara's.
• Silent Snarker: Yuyan archers Fujita, Ritsuko and Toriyama quip and talk back to each other in Military sign language.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Princess Yue is sweet, courteous, and gentle. She also helps the Gaang overthrow the patriarchy in her tribe by having women learn fighting and men learn healing, and is getting knife-wielding lessons from Katara. The 'Hiding Steel' part becomes literal when she stabs Zhao with a hidden dagger.
• Take a Third Option: Colonel Shinu is faced with the choice of freeing Aang and Zuko and facing severe consequences from the Firelord or not freeing them and gaining the ire of the Fire Nation over stopping Zuko's epic quest. Shinu and the Yuyan decide to let them go and frame Zhao for their escape.
• Team Mom: Katara, as lampshaded by Sokka. After they effectively adopt Zuko, he tends to snuggle up to her, even though Sokka is more inclined to forcibly glomp him.
• Too Unhappy to Be Hungry: After receiving news that Admiral Zhao had captured the Avatar, Zuko lacks appetite and anguishes in his room.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Azula at age ten has displayed sadistic tendencies as animal cruelty and deliberate harm to her older brother. What makes it worse that Azula isn't intentionally malevolent in her cruelty.
• Xenofiction: There is a part in the Pohuai Stronghold arc on Momo's perceptive with Momo and Katara frustrating each other over getting water.
• You Can Keep Her!: After Zuko rescues Katara from the pirates, he attempts to ransom her back to the Gaang. Being assured of Katara's safety and to punish her for stealing, Sokka decides just to leave her with Zuko.