A/N: Hi everyone, I'm back again! Now I know what you're thinking - What in the world took you so long?! Well, for one thing, life kept me busy for awhile. And for another thing...have you ever had one of those times where you have an entire basic plot of a story planned out, but there's just one chapter or two that gets to you? That's the trouble I had with this chapter for awhile! But now, I will hopefully be able to update my fics a lot more often! Anyway, enough rambling, I know you're all wondering what's going to happen next, so I won't keep you waiting!

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Sokka, Suki, Toph, Zuko, Mai, Ty Lee, and Iroh were all desperately searching for any type of clues, as Appa and Momo trailed behind them. Zuko had sent several guards to watch over things at the palace while they went to look for Aang and Katara. Unfortunately, they weren't having much luck.

"How are we ever going to find them?" Sokka exclaimed as they wandered through the outskirts of the Fire Nation. "We've asked just about everyone we've met, and no one seems to know anything about where Katara and Aang might have been taken!" Sokka muttered under his breath about how Azula was going to get what she deserved the moment they found her.

Suki tried to calm Sokka down, as he looked like he was about to explode. "They can't of gone too far in one night. We'll find them, Sokka."

Zuko furrowed his brow in confusion. "It just doesn't make sense. There are guards stationed all around the palace - it would be extremely hard for anyone to get past them unless they were very quiet, yet able to jump out and attack at any moment.

Sokka groaned. "That kind of reminds me of the Dai Li who worked for - " he stopped in the middle of his sentence, his eyes suddenly narrowing. "Azula must've used the Dai Li in order to get to Aang and Katara!"

Ty Lee coked her head at him, looking slightly nervous. "You mean those earthbender spy-people who would just seem to pop up out of nowhere?"

Toph nodded affirmatively, lightly kicking the ground with her foot. "They're the ones. I thought I had seen enough of them for one lifetime! And I can't even see!"

Mai sighed. "Then how are we supposed to find them if no one seems to have seen anything?"

Iroh, who had been quiet for the past minute or so, suddenly got a strange look in his eye. "I have an idea," he said, as he started to walk toward a small building. Everyone followed in the direction where Iroh was walking, but as Zuko saw a small sign next to the building, he let out a frustrated groan.

"Uncle!" Zuko exclaimed impatiently, "This is no time to be thinking about tea! We have to look for Aang and Katara!"

Iroh didn't seem to be fazed by Zuko's exclamation. "I may be going here for a bit of tea, but there's someone I think you might like to talk to." Iroh entered the building as he continued to explain. "The Kun family might have seen something."

"Do they own this place?" Zuko asked, still hoping that his Uncle had a very good reason for coming there besides tea.

Iroh nodded. "Indeed they do. The Kun's have a 13 year-old son. If the rumors of what he can do are true, he might be able to help us." He glanced over to a table nearby, where a fair-skinned boy with dark brown hair was sitting, leaning over something. "I think that's him right there."

As the Gaang approached, the boy seemed rather quiet, concentrating on what he was drawing. He almost didn't seem to notice them at first, but the moment he saw them, he stood up and bowed. "It is an honor to meet you, Fire Lord Zuko. And you as well Fire Lady Mai."

"Thank you," Mai and Zuko both said. But before they could comment any further, Sokka hurriedly spoke up.

"Did you see anything suspicious last night?" Sokka demanded.

"Huh?" the boy said, startled by what Sokka had said.

"Our friends were kidnapped last night," Suki explained. "We've been asking around if anyone saw anything last night that might give us a clue as to where they've been taken."

The boy's brown-eyed gaze turned serious. "I didn't really see anything," he said slowly, "but I think I might be able to help in some way."

"Really?" Suki said excitedly. "Oh, thank you...uh.."

"Gen," the boy answered with a slight smile. "My name's Gen. Who are you guys?"

"I'm Suki," Suki said, "and this is Sokka, Toph, and Ty Lee." She gestured to each of them in turn. "And I can see you already know Zuko and Mai."

Ty Lee's attention, however was turned to the drawing. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to the picture that the boy had drawn. "It looks almost like a footprint."

Gen smiled. "That's what it is."

Mai looked slightly confused. "Why in the world would you draw footprints?"

Gen turned back to his drawing as he answered. "It's part of my work. I'm able to detect people's footprints, and remember who's they are." He made several final brushstrokes on his drawing. "I guess being an earthbender kind of helps with that."

"You're an earthbender?" Toph exclaimed. She smiled a little.

"Yup."

"But you live in the Fire Nation!" Sokka said, confused.

Gen slightly frowned at Sokka, with a look that clearly said I get that a lot. "You think that all benders only live in their specific nation? For all you know, there could be firebenders living in the Earth Kingdom!"

"Okay, okay!" Sokka said defensively, putting his hands up in the air.

"So, this footprint thing," Toph said slowly, "how does it work?"

Gen turned around and closed his eyes. "All of you, stand in different places."

The Gaang obeyed, all the while wondering exactly what Gen was doing.

"How can he tell anything if his eyes are closed?" Sokka whispered.

"Uh, hello!" Toph snapped, frustrated that Sokka seemed to have forgotten - again - that she was blind, and she was able to earthbend with the best of them. "They didn't call me the Blind Bandit for nothing!"

"Sorry!" Sokka whispered.

Zuko hushed them. "We'll find out what he's doing in a minute."

Suddenly, with his eyes still closed, Gen turned around and placed his hand on the floor. He almost seemed to follow an invisible path, following it until he reached Sokka.

"Found you, Sokka," Gen said, even before he opened his eyes.

Sokka looked completely astonished. "What the-?! How did you-?!"

Gen stood up as he opened his eyes. "That's my 'footprint thing'" he said, quoting what Toph had said earlier.

"But how did you do that?" Sokka's eyes were still wide with astonishment. "I'm wearing shoes!"

Gen laughed a little. "It doesn't matter. Your foot aura still shows through."

"So you see the auras in people's feet?" Zuko asked. If we can get him to help us... he thought, impressed by the boy's skills.

"What are auras?" Ty Lee asked before Gen could answer.

"They're a person's energy," Zuko answered.

"Exactly," Gen said. "I can detect who a person is through their aura. You'd be surprised at how much feet can tell about a person. It's like palm reading. For example," he placed his hand on the floor, then turned to Toph, "you are a lot like me - you can earthbend, you can tell a lot about a person through your feet, and you are very firm in what you believe in."

"Toph's eyes widened and she smiled, impressed. "Wow, you're good!" No one seemed to notice, but a slight blush had crept up onto her cheeks.

"So can you come with us?" Sokka quickly asked, "to help save our friends?"

"According to his parents, yes," a voice spoke up. It was Iroh. "I told them about our problem and they said he could come."

Gen grinned. "Awesome!"

As they walked out the door and Gen waved good-bye to his parents, his eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "What are they?!" he asked, pointing a startled finger at Momo and Appa.

"Oh," Sokka said casually, "that's Momo and Appa. Appa's the big furry bison."

Gen's startled gaze got that serious look again as he turned directly to Sokka. "Who are your friends?"

"My sister, Katara," Sokka answered, "and our friend Aang."

"Avatar Aang?"

"Yeah," Sokka confirmed, starting to look furious. "I am going to make sure Azula and the Dai Lee pay for this!"

Upon hearing this, Gen's gaze hardened, and his eyes narrowed.

"What is it?" Suki asked, concerned.

"The Dai Li," he said softly, "I've always had my suspicions about them. I went to Ba Sing Se once, and everyone told me they were just trying to protect the city, but-"

"They're wrong," Zuko said. "They work for my sister now."

"Exactly." Gen sighed. "At least now they're beginning to realize that the Dai Li are bad!"

"How does that help us?" Mai asked. She clearly didn't see any advantage to him having met the Dai Li once.

"It helps us," Gen said with an exasperated sigh, "because I memorized their footprint auras. I never forget one." Before anyone could comment further, he placed his hand on the ground and closed his eyes, seeming to search for a particular footprint. Suddenly, his eyes opened, and pointed in the direction they were headed. "They went this way."

Everyone let out sighs of relief. They had just gotten a huge step closer to finding their friends.

Toph smiled a little at Gen, impressed by his ability that was similar to her own. "Now we can go find Sugar Queen and Twinkletoes!"

"Huh?" Gen asked, a confused expression on his face.

"Toph's nicknames for Katara and Aang," Suki explained as Gen led the way.

"Cool," Gen commented before running ahead. "Come on, let's go!"

Zuko smiled, regaining his hope of finding his friends. Maybe this would be easier than he thought.

Finding a cure for Aang, however...that was another story.

And all of them prayed that, when they did finally find their two friends, it wouldn't be too late to save the young Avatar's life.

And little did they know, their friends might have less time then they thought...both of them.

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A/N: I know, cliffie at the end! I know you're probably wondering why Katara and Aang weren't in this chapter, but I feel like I needed a chapter partly to introduce Gen, and partly for a little comic relief. Don't worry, I will put up the next chapter as soon as I can (probably next week, or a few days from now), and that one will have a LOT of Kataang. Then that will explain the cliffie (at least, part of it)! I bet with Gen around, you'd think the story is close to being over. Well you'd be absolutely...wrong! There's a lot more going on than you might think so far...if you want a bit of a hint at what might happen, just look at the fanfic title. Read and review!