Chapter 81 - Graduation Ceremony

---Mael POV---

Subsiding the storms I created, I returned to Magnolia and shifted back into my Normal Form. In all honesty, I was surprised I pulled off the Demon King's appearance so well as it had been something I decided to do on the fly. I didn't actually think I could do it, but it was an amazing success and I learned I could control the weather at will too.

Removing the barrier around the city, I approached my guildmates with a big grin on my face. Relieved that I didn't go full psycho on them, I patted Laxus on the shoulder as I teased him a bit.

"Let me know when you want that rematch.", I chuckled, "I am ready whenever you are."

"...I...I will take a rain check on that...", Laxus said as he returned to the city looking a bit paler than usual.

Following suit, several of the other people left with him leaving just my lovers and I behind. Once they were gone, I started laughing with excitement. Getting to be the Demon King even for a short time was a real thrill, and getting to cut loose on the Dark Guilds was really nice too.

"You should have seen the looks on the Dark Guilds faces when I showed up.", I chuckled, "It was even better when I showed up to the Magic Council building. I think the treatment of mages will be improved substantially now."

"So why did you use that form now?", Mirajane asked, "I haven't seen you use it before."

"Well that cloud of black particles Keyes created was anti-magic particles. If you or anyone in town had breathed it in, you'd have gone into shock and potentially died.", I told them, "Protecting innocent people is important, but ensuring all of you stay alive is my top priority."

"HEHE!!", Juvia laughed jumping into my arms, "Juvia likes it when you get protective of her."

Having Mirajane gather the souls of the Demons the I killed, I had her do so she could further increase her power. Once she was done, I took everyone home to have tacos for lunch. Helping me prepare the food in the kitchen, I remembered that today was also the day Katara and Yue both graduated from Pakku's class. Swapping out with my body double, I went over to attend the small ceremony.

---Avatar World---

Find myself sitting between Azula and Ty Lee, I wasn't the least bit surprised to that only five people managed to graduate this month. Of those five everyone, but Yue and Katara, had been in training for over a year which made this all the more exciting for the two women. Receiving several scrolls from Master Pakku, he left with some words of wisdom.

"Never forget that the journey of a Waterbender never ends, there is always room for improvement and learning.", Pakku advised them, "I have been reminded of that again over this last month."

Grinning ear to ear, Katara and Yue graciously thanked him then promptly left the small stage with the others. Running over to us, the two women were thrilled to have become officially recognized Waterbending Masters. Congratulating both of them I gave them a hug, and said they deserved it after putting in all those long hours of study and training.

"Now we can head out of this frozen place right?", Azula asked after our hug, "It will be nice to be somewhere warm now."

"Yes, now we can leave.", Katara said with a smirk, "I know you don't like the cold that much."

"It's not only the cold, its also the fact that I have seen and done everything I can in this city nearly twelve times already.", Azula stated with an exhausted look, "Outside of the city is a barren wasteland if you didn't notice. Exploration is nearly impossible with the constant snowstorms that blow through."

Returning to our home, we got everything packed up on Barry for departure. Coming out to see us off, Arnook and Pakku came wish us good luck on our journey. Telling us we were welcome to comeback to visit anytime, I got us going before Arnook could try telling Yue to seduce me...again. She had been telling my body double about it over the past two weeks, and it was really beginning to wear thin on her patience.

This past month of living together with us had made us a couple, but she didn't tell her father that. She opted not to simply because he would have pushed even more difficult requests onto her. Fortunately Katara and Azula were happy to add her to the fold because they had grown to like here quite a bit. Even Ty Lee was on board as Yue had taken an interest in her acrobatics and martial arts, something that Ty Lee was more than willing to teach her.

"Ah, nothing beats flying in the sky!", Ty Lee said nestling into Barry's fur, "So where are we going again?"

"We are going to see the Beifong Family.", I told her as I pulled out a map, "They have a lot of pull in the political scene all over the Earth Kingdoms. If we can get their support, travel will be extremely easy."

"You are the Avatar, why are you concerned about that?", Azula inquired.

"Avatar I may be, but I am also a Prince of the Fire Nation. Not only that, I am Iroh's son...they don't have a particular fondness for him here.", I reminded her.

Seeing my point, Azula argued that as the Avatar I should still have enough flak to make it through without much issue. Agreeing with her, I said the Beifong's influence was mainly for Ba Sing Se and the surrounding area. Looking at me for further details, I pulled out several of the more recent intelligence documents we had on the city state.

"Officially Ba Sing Se is run by the Earth King, but that is just a façade. The real powerholder is Grand Secretariat Long Feng, the head of the Dai Li.", I told them, "From what our spies have gathered, anyone that creates any problems for the city vanish in the night and reappear several days later completely different people."

"Different how? Like do they come back with rabbit ears and a bushy tail?", Ty Lee giggled.

"If that was all, it wouldn't be so bad.", I chuckled, "No, the people that come back have a completely different view of how the city should be run. They no longer cause problems and become a shell of their former selves. It's so bad that they will willingly sell out their family and relatives to the Dai Li should they break the law."

"Brainwashing...", Yue stated.

"Exactly, I think the Dai Li brainwash the people then return them to the streets. Killing them would only come back to bite them as the body count continues to rise.", I remarked, "The Beifong's are among the wealthiest people in the Earth Kingdoms with connections in nearly every country. If we can get in their good graces, we can hopefully avoid any run ins with them at the beginning."

"The beginning?", Azula questioned with a smirk, "I like the sound of where this is going."

Telling them that I wanted to remove Long Feng from his position, I said the people needed to be free and the Earth King needed to wake up. If things kept up the way they were, anyone with enough bravado could theoretically stage a coup using them as their pawns. In reality, that was exactly what Azula, Ty Lee, and Mai did in the series, but now that they weren't an issues...eliminating that threat before it happened was important.

"I see, so in the end this trip will be quite exciting.", Azula said with a smile.

"Precisely, doing this will not only free the city state but also go a long way towards rebuilding relations between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdoms.", I stated with a smile.

"So we get to be ninjas!!", Ty Lee shouted using some of her acrobatics to mimic what she believed ninjas did.

"Haha! Is that really how they do it?", Yue laughed.

"Oh yeah, I have read many books about it.", Ty Lee remarked with a firm nod.

Telling her about her ninja fixation, I sat back to enjoy the ride. Pulling Katara and Azula next to me, the two of them blushed a bit more than usual. Congratulating her again, I gave Katara a kiss with a warm smile. Praising the both of them for their hard work, I suggested that once we were done in Ba Sing Se that we go take a brief vacation at one of the Royal Summer Homes our family owned.

"Probably be a good idea to go to one of the private ones.", I chuckled making them both turn red with embarrassment, "By the way...were you both genuine in what you said a few weeks ago?"

"Yes.", Katara said shifting around sheepishly, "If you want...we can do it-"

"We can wait till this evening when we have a private room. I don't intend to do it here on poor Barry.", I stated with a wink, "Let's find a comfy inn this evening."

---Several Hours Later---

Taking our time to reach the Northern Earth Kingdom, we found a decent sized city where we could rent a room. Walking up to the counter, I asked for a single room with a large bed. Looking back at the four women then me, the innkeeper mumbled something about kids these days. Opting not to cause a scene, I took our room key and headed to our room.

"That innkeeper was pretty judgmental.", Azula stated having heard her comment.

"She probably has a reason for saying that.", I said looking out the windows as we ascended to the second floor, "This looks like a vacation spot judging by how wealth the area looks. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if a lot of young men come here looking for some fun."

"You didn't pick this place just for that, right?", Katara questioned as she stared at the back of my head.

"Heck no, I have four beautiful fiancées to keep me company. I don't need to go looking out there for company, I already have it.", I chuckled pulling a betrothal necklace.

My body double had made one for me, and this one had the shape of a polar bear carved into it. It was Yue's favorite animal hence why it was carved onto it. Accepting it with a big smile, she gave me a hug after I put it on her. As soon as we got to the bedroom, the women grabbed their bathing necessities then ran off to take a bath.

Knowing that they wanted time to prepare themselves, I decided to take the time to tweak the Magic Radar. Pulling it out of storage, I popped the back off of it and took a look. As expected, I had no idea what any of the parts did as I had no knowledge of Magic Engineering. Realizing that it wasn't going to be as simple as I hoped, and I idea popped into my head.

'Hold on, can't I use Creation to tweak it? Since I have seen the device, Creation should be able to alter it.', I thought.

Thinking about this carefully, I opted to make an exact copy of the unit first with Creation then modify. If I messed up the process, I could destroy my only method for tracking the Slimes down and finding the homeworlds of the people I rescued. Once I made the copy and confirmed it worked, I held the device between my hands and started to focus on what I needed it to do. After a few moments of intense concentration, the device started to glow brightly.

When it stopped glowing, I checked to see if it was working. Turning the unit on, I now had new menu options that would allow me to track down specific Magic Traces to their source. Testing it out using the Dark Slime's signature, the screen turned into a compass and pointed in the direction I needed to go through the Omniverse.

'Awesome!!', I thought toggling the feature off, 'Now I have something to work with! Tomorrow I can start...wait a second, why does it show a magic source here?'

Looking at the radar, it showed that there was a magic source between this city and our destination. Trying to remember if there was any magic in Avatar, I couldn't remember anything like that in the series. Deciding to check it out after my meeting with the King tomorrow, I put the devices away before the women came back.