A/N: To make up for last upload's near lateness, this one is posted at 12:10 in the morning of Saturday. There!

Okay, honestly, I was just dying to post something.

This is a very laid-back chapter...nothing especially noteworthy happens, just more group-gathering. I promise, things will pick up a bit next chapter, and especially in Chapter 5.

Oh, I suppose this is a good time to mention something important to the fandoms: pairings. There are pairings hinted in this, and I might act on them later, but they won't be central. For simplicity's sake, I'm going to use canon pairings from Avatar (so, Katara/Aang, Zuko/Mai, Sokka/Suki) even if Korra doesn't maintain them. As for Digimon, I'm even more hesitant, so I haven't decided on anything at the moment. This is an adventure/friendship, not a romance. Keep that in mind, please!

Thanks for reading, and leave a review if you feel so inspired! I have a lot planned, but if you have any ideas for interactions between characters, I'd love to hear them!

Zuko sat under a tree in a courtyard of Ba Sing Se, sipping a cold drink. He wasn't sure what was in it, but it had a refreshing fruity flavor that he was sure his uncle would enjoy. Next to him, Sokka was busy conversing.

"So. Dark blue. Triangles. I respect your coloring…reminds me of the water tribe, actually," he was saying, looking pointedly at his Digiegg. Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Sokka, is there a reason why you're talking to an egg?"

The nonbender grimaced as if the answer were painfully obvious. "Well, it's obviously from…" He leaned closer to Zuko, his eyes widening conspiringly. "…up there." He slowly pointed a finger upward.

The Firelord frowned in confusion. "From the cherry tree?" he said, squinting as he looked up at the dark branches.

"No! From there!" Sokka said, pointing at the blue sky overhead.

"…are you saying it's from an Airbender?"

Sokka looked irately at his friend. "Zuko, stop talking, please." He put the egg in his bag, closing it securely. "Good, now it can't hear us."

"Sokka, eggs don't have ears."

"How are you to know? If it's from the stars, it could have eyes and be watching us, for all we know!" He waved his arms around energetically.

Zuko looked dubiously from the bag to Sokka. "From the stars? Uncle said it was from another world…"

"Another world, as in another planet! From an alien species, looking to take over the Four Nations and turn us into mindless zombies!" Sokka got up and started walking in a limping manner, his hands in front of him.

"…I don't think that's quite what he meant…" Deciding to ignore Sokka's protests, Zuko looked around. Ba Sing Se was peaceful, of course…in the two years he'd been at rule, only minor skirmishes of the privileged nobility had besieged his peace attempts. Most of those were cleared up now—the army remained in half force, practicing for the improbability that something would come up to threaten their nation.

It wasn't hard, ruling in this day and age. With the Avatar back, people felt they had a spokesperson again, someone to defend their rights. Indeed, Aang did just that. Even without any wars to fight in, he was constantly busy, fighting the lowest of each nation. Some people didn't like having the Avatar…interfering in their business, they said. Some didn't like him being friendly with the Firelord…not stating his friends in the Water and Earth nation as counting as well. But most enjoyed the steady ruling and the new peace.

"…and then, after they gut you, you'll turn into one of them, and they'll take over the world, and the only reminder of our life will be this boomerang, kept for sentimental value as belonging to the fearless leader who fought so valiantly against the alien zombie saber-tooth moose-lions!"

Losing his train of thought, Zuko frowned at his friend. "Um, why are they moose-lions? Would another world even have those?"

Sokka turned red. "Um…yeah, bad experience with a moose-bear a few years ago. Anyway, we can ask once they land here…"

"There aren't any aliens! He meant another world, as in separate from our universe!"

"Did he tell you that?" Sokka said defensively. Before Zuko could reply, he continued. "I thought so! You're keeping secrets! That's not fair! Spit it, or feel my wrath!" A few people walking by looked curiously at his outburst.

Zuko's face scrunched up. "…did you get any sleep last night?"

"Er…well, this egg wouldn't let me sleep! It was part of their mind control…see, it's working already!"

Sighing, the young fire bender leaned against his chair, resolving to never be alone with Sokka again.

Toph yawned. She'd never had a thing for teaching. Sure, she helped Aang learn the element, and she was one of the best Earthbenders around. Not that people on the street admitted a blind girl could beat them any day. But still, she was the best person for the job.

However, teaching Earthbending to the Avatar was just a little more fulfilling than attempting to teach Metal bending to the king of the Earth Nation.

King Bumi had taken rule reluctantly; for a year, he evaded becoming more than the ruler of Omashu, stating that there was someone better than he for the job. After the year was up, and this other person not yet found, Aang had cornered the ancient man, demanding to know who was better than Bumi.

Bumi had laughed; in his crazy yet truthful way, he had told Aang that he himself was now ready to rule. According to Bumi, a year ago he wasn't right for the job—he had his own city to worry about. Now that it was repaired from the Fire Nation's stay in it, he could devote his time on the whole Earth Nation, not just on individual cities. In his logic, he was now the better ruler than he had been when they had first asked him to take on the responsibility.

Thus relenting—and with Aang more than a little confused—Bumi was now ruler of the Earth Nation, and it prospered under him.

According to him, however, he still had a lot to learn. And one of those new lessons included Metal Bending.

Two years had passed, yet Toph Bei Fong remained the only known Metal Bender in the world. Not for lack of trying on her students' parts, of course. Aang had stopped trying the day he started; confident in his ability, believing he had felt the metal for what it was, Earth, he had hit the piece Toph had been leaning against. As Iroh later told him, it was lucky his hand hadn't broken from the impact. However, the swelling that lasted the following week kept him from trying again; he flew away whenever Toph mentioned it.

Bumi was her newest victim/student attempting to master the unique ability to bend the rock in metal. He'd been trying for two weeks; despite the lack of success, he was persistent to not give up.

"The metal is just rock, the metal is just rock, the metal is just rock," he told himself, his new mantra running through him. Toph rolled her eyes. Keep telling it that, and it'll just hit you for giving it a headache. Really, teaching was not her thing. Yet she kept on getting new students.

With a 'hah', Bumi lunged forward, hitting the metal. It responded with a sharp clang, and Bumi fell backward, wincing and holding his hand. "…that didn't work quite the right way…"

"You think?" Toph asked, only slightly under her breath. Louder, she said, "Okay. Stop calling it metal. Metal bending is the same as Earthbending, just a little more complex. Imagine all the rock used to make this steel…bend that, not the steel."

Bumi nodded, more to himself than to her. "Bend the rock, not the steel…bend the rock, not the steel…bend the rock, not the steel…" He lunged forward yet again, this time with his other hand.

The resounding clank was barely heard under the king's cursing.

"You know, maybe we should continue this tomorrow…" Toph said, trailing off. Next to her, Bumi nodded.

"Sure." He sat down, grabbing a towel from a rack nearby. "Now, Toph, what's wrong?"

Caught off guard, the girl stuttered. "Wr-wrong? Nothing. Why would you ask?"

"You aren't telling me how I'm not trying hard enough. That's a first for you. So what's going on?"

Toph frowned. "Nothing…not really. Just…well, Iroh keeps mentioning this 'other world' when we showed him these eggs we got…" She explained the situation with the collection of eggs they had found on their bedsides two days beforehand.

Bumi nodded; whether in understanding or just to show he was listening, it was hard to say. Either way, the effect was lost on the blind girl. "I think you should just wait and see what happens."

"Wait…what? But…"

"If it was important for you to know right now, Iroh would have told you. I would trust him and wait patiently. It will make sense soon."

Toph felt the ground. Bumi was standing straight a few feet away from her. "You know what the eggs are for, don't you?"

The king smiled mysteriously. "When you're a member of the White Locus, you learn some things. Just wait. You'll figure the eggs out before too long." With that, he moved away, toward the door. Toph stood still, frowning.

"Adults just can't be straightforward, can they?" she muttered to herself before following Bumi inside.

"Now, a nice circle…yeah, that's it…then thrust forward…no! Stop, stop!" Katara called out. Aang fell over, using air to bring himself erect once more.

"What did I do wrong?" he questioned, looking at the ground. "I did the circle like you showed me…"

"It was the thrust. You don't just leap forward. You have to shift your weight onto your toes, then fall forward, catching yourself last moment. Like this," the Waterbender responded, demonstrating the proper technique. Aang sighed, kicking a rock along the stream.

"I'm never going to get this!"

Katara smiled patiently. "You will. You just have to practice."

"That's what you said about the last technique, and two minutes after you said it, you had us move on to this one," he complained.

She pursed her lips. "I thought we'd try something new, and go back to that one later…"

"So I have to do that again?! Are you trying to torture me?" Aang plopped down on the ground, putting his head in his hands.

Katara looked sadly down upon him. Kneeling, she put an arm around him. "I'm trying to make you stronger. You have all this potential as the Avatar…we shouldn't put it to waste."

"But what if I don't want to be a master at it? I don't mind just knowing enough…when I'm in the Avatar state, it just comes naturally…" the Avatar said, thinking wistfully of that state of perfection, when he knew bending as much as he knew the back of his own hand. Not that he looked at that body part too much, but flying on Appa did get a little boring…

The Waterbender sighed. "Aang, you can't rely on that. I know, it always comes when you really need it, but…shouldn't you be prepared, just in case?"

Aang sighed and lifted his head up. "I know, I'm just tired. One person can't be expected to learn all of this…Toph is pushing me to master Earthbending; not that I mind, but…it's hard to understand Earth when I'm an Airbender. Then Zuko is trying to teach me lightning…that's not working out too well. And I'm getting worse and worse at Waterbending each day!" He started to stand up again. "I think I'm doing something wrong here."

Katara smiled, trying to look encouraging. "You'll get it. Just be patient—you don't need to cram it all in like you did when we had to fight the Fire Nation. You have the rest of your life to work on it. Just keep practicing; you'll figure it out."

"I hope so…" He looked around. Besides Momo chasing a butterfly a few trees away, he and Katara were alone; the good thing about Ba Sing Se was the size: it wasn't hard to find an unoccupied area to practice at. "Katara, what do you think about the eggs?"

"The Digieggs?" Aang nodded. "I'm not sure. Iroh made them sound…important, somehow. I think we should be careful; Sokka looked in the palace library yesterday, and he couldn't find any books about it."

Aang frowned. This was confusing, even more so because Iroh wouldn't relinquish any information that he obviously knew. "Why can't our lives ever be easy?"

"Maybe when the eggs hatch, something nice will come out," Katara said, smiling at the thought. "Maybe a penguin."

They looked at Aang's sky blue egg, sitting on the grass nearby, skeptically. "Somehow, I don't think that's a penguin egg."

Katara sighed. "Me neither."

"Firelord, your Uncle requests your presence," a young man said. One of Iroh's employees—he had a number working under him in the Jasmine Dragon, hand chosen, though for what, his nephew could not say.

Zuko nodded tersely. Standing up, he started to walk away from Sokka, who looked sullen. "Sure, go ahead. Leave me to be zombified. Don't say I didn't warn you!"

The employee looked curiously at Sokka. "Um…Iroh wants you to come too."

Sokka jumped up, grabbing his bag, egg inside, and running after Zuko. "Why didn't you mention that sooner?" he asked the employee angrily.

He chose to ignore the question. "Would you happen to know where Misses Katara and Toph, and Avatar Aang, are? They're to meet in the Dragon as well."

Zuko looked to Sokka, who nodded. "Aang and my sister are practicing Waterbending down by the river…um, east side, by that big wall. Toph was helping Bumi—the king—practice Earthbending. I think." The employee nodded in thanks, setting off toward the river. Sokka groaned. "Why do I know more about who's bending where than anyone else?"

"Um…because you're bored?" the Firelord questioned, amused.

"You know what?" Sokka looked at Zuko for a moment. "You're in my good books again." He took the lead, stepping onto a stone path that would lead down the street to the tea shop.

Zuko stopped. "…when did I get out of your 'good books'?" He shook his head before hurrying after the nonBender.

Iroh brought out a tray of tea and biscuits—he had insisted on serving refreshment as soon as all five teenagers had arrived at the Jasmine Dragon. "Busy day, I assume?"

Sokka sighed, checking his fingernails. "You said it. The walk down to the cherry tree seemed exceptionally long." At this, Katara rolled her eyes.

Iroh chuckled, though more so from his own thoughts than from Sokka's statement. "Someone is here to see you. I let her go on a quick tour of the castle while I got you all here. She should be coming any moment."

Zuko sat up. "Who is it?" He turned to Toph. "You were at the castle, right? Did you recognize anyone?"

If Toph knew how, she would have rolled her eyes. "Maybe one day you'll all realize something. It's hard to recognize people when you can't see in the first place." She sounded calm, however; teasing her friends about their mistaken context was one of her favorite activities, if she was in the mood.

Clearing his throat, Zuko blushed slightly. "Uh…yeah." He turned back to his uncle. "Who is it?" he asked again.

Before Iroh could speak, however, the door to the Dragon opened, and a young woman stepped through. Sokka was the first out of his chair. "Suki!" he exclaimed, grinning broadly.

She smiled warmly back, accepting a hug from him. Without Kyoshi robes or makeup on, she remained alert of her surroundings…the first rule of a good warrior. You couldn't be ambushed if you knew exactly what was going on around you. Dressed in a loose purple robe, she allowed Sokka to sit her between him and Toph.

"Suki, why are you here?" Aang asked, smiling. "Not that I mind or anything…but aren't you in charge of the Kyoshi Warriors?" They had visited Kyoshi many times in the last two years; the elite fighting force located on that island were among the Avatar's greatest allies and friends.

"Yeah, I am. I left Ty Lee and Kama in charge…both are new, but I think they can handle it," she explained, taking a sip of the tea. "I'm here because I sent a messenger hawk to Iroh for advice, and he told me to come here as soon as I could."

Five pairs of eyes looked at the aging man. He put his hands up, admitting defeat. "I would have told you, but I thought to keep it a surprise."

Katara took a bite out of a biscuit. "Suki, what did you need advice about?"

Suki looked at Iroh; he nodded her to continue. "Two days ago…well, it was nighttime, but that's not important…I found this on the island." She pulled, out of a deep red bag, a sea-green egg. Aang, Zuko, Katara, and Sokka all gasped.

Toph looked amused. "I'm assuming she just showed you a new egg, right?"

"How did you figure that out?" Aang asked, looking with confusion at the egg.

"Well, that's the only new thing going on that we all have in common. If it had just been a sky-blue cabbage, I don't think you'd all have been so simultaneous," she explained, clearly not too concerned with the newest egg.

Suki had frowned as soon as they gasped. "You recognize it? Please say it isn't Unagi…"

"No. At least, we're not sure…" Aang said before grabbing Katara's bag. Carefully, he pulled out two eggs, handing Katara hers. Silently, Sokka and Zuko took theirs out was well.

Suki stuttered, looking from egg to egg in confusion. "You…you all have them too." She looked inquisitively at Toph.

The blind girl sensed being watched. Raising her hands, she said, "Hey, I'm not grabbing mine just to add to effect. I'm perfectly comfortable here, and I'm sure it is as well. On my bedstand."

"Then…we all have eggs…why?" the newest arrival looked to Iroh, her forehead furrowing. "You know, don't you?"

"You all assume I know about the eggs," Iroh complained, taking a large draught of his fresh tea.

Katara put her egg on the table, and, passing a cup of tea to Suki, said, "Well, you do. Don't you?"

Iroh grimaced. "Well, yes, but you must wait." He looked around at all of them, all six. "I'm becoming predictable, aren't I? That is not a good thing."

Zuko rolled his eyes, turning to the other teenagers as Iroh went back to the shop's large stone kitchen. "They're called Digieggs. Uncle says they're from another world, but he won't explain any further than that."

"He just keeps telling us to wait," Aang put in, sounding slightly impatient.

Suki nodded, deep in thought. "Maybe that's exactly what we should do, then."

"What do you mean?"

"Sokka, don't you see? If we rush into trying to figure this out, we could very easily miss something," the girl explained. The other five leaned toward her; she had started to whisper, shooting furtive glances at those seated around their small table. "The most important thing about strategy is keeping an eye open. We should apply the same concept to this mystery."

"Wait," Toph interrupted, loudly. She lowered her voice to a mutter. "You want us to ignore this?"

"I want us to follow Iroh's advice. He's never led any of us the wrong way before."

"But…Suki," Katara said, her voice thick. "What if he wants us to research into this? Knowing Iroh, that's as likely as anything else. He likes to be the teacher, but he also likes to observe what we do…"

Suki nodded at the other girl. "You've tried researching, haven't you?" Looking down, Katara nodded. "I asked the Kyoshi historian…he had no idea. I doubt you have any, either." Katara and Sokka shook their heads. "Iroh wants us to wait. I think something's going to happen…and the most we can do right now is watch and learn what we can, and prepare for when that time comes. Take the element of surprise away from it."

"You're making it sound like a battle. It's a food item. Chickens lay them," Zuko said, frowning. "Even if this is too big for a chicken."

Suki looked at him. "Everything's a battle. Life is made by trying to win it."

The next day, the six of them gathered in Iroh's private kitchen for breakfast. It was much smaller than the brewing and baking kitchen located next to the café; consisting of only two granite tables, a few cupboards, and a stove, it was only used by Iroh and, when around, friends and family.

"Up already, I see?" the grey-haired owner said, smiling as he entered the kitchen and set a flame on the stove, a kettle atop the flame on metal bars. His smile faltered slightly when he looked up to see the ensemble staring at him. "I'm not still in my pajamas, am I?" He looked down at himself, then looked up, frowning.

"Uncle." Zuko spoke, his voice steady and calm. "We've decided to follow your advice. We're going to wait." Iroh smiled at his nephew.

"However," Aang added, looking serious, "we're not leaving this kitchen until you tell us why you can't tell us anything more."

"What happened to waiting?" Iroh asked, frowning.

"We are waiting." Katara crossed her arms. "Right here." Beside her, Suki and Sokka nodded, high-fiving under the table.

"When did you decide this? It's not as if you're early risers," the aging man inquired, looking at Sokka and Toph at the last statement.

"So we're just going to sit here and twiddle our thumbs?" Toph asked, looking at her friends skeptically. "Pretty boring plan, if you ask me."

Suki smiled, her thought fully formed now. "That's exactly what we're going to do. We might have to wait to figure this out, but Iroh knows something, and we'll stay right here until he gives us something useful to go on."

"What happened to waiting and watching? Being a warrior?" Sokka asked, looking amused.

"Inquiry and…resisting influence are part of the watching bit."

"Last night," Toph answered to Iroh, smirking.

"I…" He was spared from answering when a young employee stepped in, her braided hair already becoming undone from the morning shift in the larger kitchen.

"Sir, there's a girl here to see you, Iroh. Says she's from Capital Island, she claims," the serving girl said, looking around curiously at the group of teenagers crowding the private kitchen.

Iroh frowned. "Please send her in, Mathil. No need to be rude." Mathil left, half bowing her way out. A few moments later, she returned with another girl, this one with dark hair, sleek and shiny, her red dress out of place in the Earth kingdom kitchen. Iroh and Zuko both smiled at the new arrival.

"Mai, why didn't you tell me you were coming?" the Firelord exclaimed, jumping up to hug her. Sokka shook his head, mumbling something about the plan backfiring. Suki elbowed him.

"I didn't know myself," the new arrival said, grinning wryly at the ensemble. "Just jumped on the nearest boat and used it to get across. Figured that this would be where all the action was…looks like I was right."

"Action? What action?" Aang asked, scooting over to admit Mai to the table, now seriously groaning under the spectacle of young adults situated around it.

Sokka nodded, handing Mai a plate. "Nothing's going on. We're just sitting here, trying to execute a brilliant plan to learn the secrets of the universe." He twiddled his thumbs, obviously pleased with his statement.

Mai motioned Mathil, who set her suitcase down next to her before leaving the family kitchen. "If the secrets of the universe include this thing, I'm game."

Everyone gasped for the second time in two days.

"You know, that's really getting old. So what, another egg. Big deal. They're popping up all over nowadays, aren't they?" Toph stated matter-of-factly.

"So…seven eggs. That we know of. Why us?" Suki asked, looking piercingly at Iroh.

The old man cleared his throat, raising his hands in defeat. "You'll all learn soon enough."

"Funny. You said that three days ago," Katara noted, turning to offensive. "Are they dangerous? Why do we have them? Why not someone else? Iroh, I know you know. Can't you just tell us?"

Iroh grinned at her, his eyes sweeping over the table full of children before turning back to his kettle, which was starting to whistle. "Patience. I don't think you'll have to wait long." He stirred some leaves into a cup, swishing scalding water on them before blowing on the concoction and taking a long draught. "Tonight, I think."

"Tonight?" Zuko asked. "What's happening tonight?"

Iroh looked at his nephew, eyes gleaming. "Who knows? But, I think, many things to your advantage. And theirs."

"Theirs? Who?"

But Iroh left the kitchen without a glance back. The room was silent for several minutes, until Mai spoke up.

"So. Looks like I was right. This is where the action is."