I swear my friend is plotting my death. I was wearing some 'Nightmare before christmas' socks she gave me for my birthday on our wood floor and nearly broke my neck. I guess that's what I get for calling her short so often. Anyhoo. SHOUTOUTS!

ZukoPunk: Well, I hope you didn't hurt yourself falling out of your chair. And I know you didn't mean that, I was just messing with you. Really, most the stuff I say can't be taken seriously.

Lovergal1227: Yes, I am 17. But really, can anyone ever be too old for cartoons (I say this so I don't sound like a loser). Even if I am too old, my excuse is that cartooning is a field I want to get into when I eventually grow up, so it's best to have a strong background in it;-)

Khazia: I'm glad you like the ukujo. And I'm sorry I forgot to answer your question earlier, yes I am a Napolean Dynamite fan. In fact I'm wearing a 'vote for Pedro' shirt at this very second.

Newsiefreak9er9er: I'm glad that you were happy to see Appa. I still don't know if I'll bring the trio into the story though. Ideas at this point are welcome.

Plutobaby494: Yay! excitement!

Zulaya: Yes, I fear going back to my biology class tomorrow. I know boxing and yoga are a weird mix, but I know boxing because my dad and brothers practically forced me to learn it and I do yoga to prove that I have free will.

MitariWaterDragon: I must say, I've never been glomped before. You're fan-girlyness always brings a smile to my face. I would love to be your cousin, but as soon as we become related I will forget your name. That is what has happened with all my other relatives. So it's better if we're just buds.

Well, I don't feel to strongly for this chapter. I should probably go through it and retype some stuff to make it clearer, but to tell the truth I'm just too tired and lazy right now and have a paper due tomorrow. So ya'll get it as it is.

When Katie woke up on her fifth day in the avatar world, Zuko wasn't anywhere to be seen. She had just washed her face when he walked in the room.

"Good morning." Katie said cheerfully wiping her face on a towel.

"Yes, and you as well. We have stopped to restock supplies. We'll take you ashore, but I need to talk to you first." He sat down on his bed and motioned for her to sit next to him. He rubbed his hands over his face trying to think of where to begin. "I want you to tell me where you're from."

"I already did." Katie said with a shrug.

"Ah, yes. Yew-ta. But how do you get there from here?"

"I don't think you can get there from here." Katie said and began fiddling with her toes.

"You're not being very helpful." He said, she could see that his teeth were clenched. Katie had nearly forgotten about his short fuse.

"I'm sorry, but I can't explain where I'm from or how I got here."

"And why not."

"Because I don't know. Like I told you, I just woke up and I was here." Zuko rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward with a sigh.

"Well then, the next question is what are we going to do with you?"

"That's what I've been asking." Katie said gazing up at the ceiling. Zuko thought back to his conversation with his uncle about turning her in to the authorities, but so much had changed since then. The biggest factor was Admiral Zhao. He was afraid of what he would do if he managed to get a hold of her. And this would be no problem due to his rank. Another factor was that Zuko was really starting to like Katie. He had never experienced actualfriendship before; he had never thought it was important. But he felt like his head was clearer and his heart was lighter since she had arrived.

"Well, we can either leave you here on this port. I have some distant relatives that livenearby that could help you. But there's a good chance that Zhao would come after you because of the whole occurrence the other day. Or, I will allow you to stay on my ship for a short time longer." Zuko tried to hide how much he wanted her to choose the latter. Katie pretended to think it over for a while, but really there was only one plausible choice.

"Zhao can't touch me as long as I'm on your ship right?" There wasn't really a guarantee, but Zuko nodded anyways. "I think I would rather stay here then." Zuko tried to hide his smile.

"Then if you don't mind. My uncle wishes to take you clothes shopping, and he wants you to wear armor into the city so that Zhao doesn't suspect anything." He stood up and walked over to his closet. He pulled out a suit of armor and handed it to her. Katie was surprised at its weight. How could these guys wear these all day, let alone jump around like a bunch of squirrels. Zuko left the room so she could change into the gray underclothing, then stepped back in to help her put on the armor. The whole thing weighed almost fifty pounds and it was extremely uncomfortable. Katie rolled her shoulders trying to shift it to a less pinching position. Zuko gave her some flour/water paste gunk to put on her face to cover her bruises and thenshe put on a helmet, which weighed another ten pounds

"Do you think you'll be able to move in this?" Zuko asked with a smirk as he fumbled with one of the last straps. Katie snorted.

"If I can haul a forty pound pack five miles up the Uintah's in the rain with a pulled muscle, I think I can do this." She said moving her arms experimentally. Zuko smiled and motioned for her to follow him out the room. At first she felt like an invisible hand was trying to grind her into the ground, but by the time they got to the deck she had almost gotten the hang of moving. Katie froze when she stepped out into the sunlight. Up on deck were a dozen very big monsters. Zuko smiled at hertensed figureand walked right up to one of the creatures giving it a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"You don't have to be afraid. These things are the best-trained Komodo rhino's in the entire Firenation. Come here and I'll show you how to mount one, we'll be riding them into town." Katie glared at him. These things were pretty freaky, but she wouldn't say she was afraid of them. She walked confidently up to the rhino Zuko was standing next to, put her foot in the stirrup and hoisted herself up. She made a clicking noise with her tongue and gently kicked the beast's side.

"Are you coming prince Zuko?" she called over her shoulder, steering the rhino towards the plank. Zuko mounted his own beast and caught up with her quickly.

"You are so…"

"Curious, odd, weird, strange. Yes, you've told me."

"Where did you learn to ride rhinos?" Zuko asked.

"I've never ridden a rhino before, but I've been riding horses since I was five." Zuko was about to ask her what horses were but saw Zhao's ship docked a ways down.

"Hm, you should probably pull back with the others now so that nobody gets suspicious." Katie slowed the rhino down and fell back so that she was riding next to one of the soldiers who began humming Cajun Joe. The city where they were going to do their purchasing was a small distance from the dock, which was quite peculiar. It took almost ten minutes to reach a paddock where they paid for the rhinos to be kept. Katie was about to find Zuko and walk next to him when she spotted Zhao. He was glancing around at all the soldiers with a frown. Fear and anger burned inside of her when she looked at him. She wanted to jump back on her rhino and trample the piece of scum into the dirt. Instead she stayed with Zuko's soldiers and watched the arrogant shit swagger up to Zuko.

"Prince Zuko, may I accompany you and your group into the city?" He said putting up the friendliest tone he could, but there was no way for him to hide the acid in his voice. Zuko merely glared at him and began walking away from the paddock. "I was hoping to see your pretty young friend again. I could have sworn you said she would be sold today."

"Yes, and she will be. I'm going to speak to the trader later today." Zuko said evenly.

"Why prolong the inevitable prince Zuko? I'm going to get the wench sooner or later, so I would advise to just put her in my hands now if you don't want her to suffer a longer death than I already have planned for her."

"I was always told that a man is measured by his greatest enemies. It's rather pathetic that yours is a teenage girl." Zuko said with a smirk. Zhao's eye twitched dangerously.

"Mark my words young prince, I will get her and when I'm done with her corpse you will be my next target and your fate will be much worse." Zhao spat and turned, disappearing inside a pub. Zuko stopped and waited for his crew to come closer.

"Men, restock and get back to the ship. We sail at nightfall." He took a step closer to Katie and murmured for only her to hear, "Meet me at a fountain at the north side of the city in half an hour. And be careful." He walked off with his uncle at his side and disappeared into the crowd.

Katie had no idea what she was supposed to do for a half an hour and standing around doing nothing would be too suspicious. So she decided to find the fountain so she wouldn't get lost later. She peered into the numerous shops curiously as she passed, but never went inside.

"Hey soldier, lookin' for a good time?" An overly made-up girl in her twenties asked Katie as she passed the fourth pub in a row. Katie hastily shook her head and scurried away feeling extremely unclean. Katie found the fountain. It was a really pretty stone sculpture, but she had no idea what it was of. She could only figure it was some weird avatar world creature.

Katie turned to browse in some of the shops nearby when she nearly ran into Zhao who was standing right behind her.

"You're from prince Zuko's ship, are you not?" he asked giving a sweet smile.

"Yes sir." Katie heard herself saying lowering her voice slightly.

"Then perhaps you could tell me. Where is the girl? My men just searched the ship but they couldn't find her." Katie took a deep breath searching her mind frantically for an answer.

"I don't know where she is Admiral sir. There is a rumor though that she was sold early this morning before sunrise."

"My men never saw anyone leaving the ship." Zhao said coldly.

"Then I don't know what to tell you sir. We haven't seen her since yesterday. Permission to finish my allotted task sir?" Zhao gave her another piercing stare as though he was trying to see her eyes through the small slit in her helmet.

"Permission granted." He said with disgust. Katie gave him a curt bow and turned. She walked briskly until she was out of sight then leaned heavily against a pillar shaking like a leaf. She looked up at the sky and watched as black storm clouds began boiling towards her. She waited there and kept an eye on the fountain until she saw Zuko and Iroh arrive, then walked out to meet them. She gave a small bow to Zuko to keep up pretences.

"We have a task for you soldier. Come with us." Zuko said to her giving her a phantom of a wink. She followed them out of the city and into the edge of a forest. Iroh helped her out of her armor and gave her a kimono to put on as well as a small purse filled with coins. When she had changed into this they surprised her by pulling out a long black wig. She couldn't stop laughing as she put this on.

"It's best if you don't walk close to us. Zhao is still around here somewhere." Iroh told her as he helped tuck her bangs up into the wig.

"Yeah, I know." She gave them a brief summary of her run in with Zhao. Iroh and Zuko left the woods and Katie circled around a ways before she came out. All she could see of Zuko was his ponytail, which would stick up above the crowd. She watched them disappear into a clothing shop and waited for a few minutes before following them in. This shop was extremely crowded so she could browse the selection next to Zuko without anyone thinking it odd and it was too noisy to be overheard. Katie picked out several tunics and pants; to this she received several glares from Zuko.

"You do know that women wear dresses right?" He muttered as he leaned over pretending to inspect a red shirt.

"Yes, they do. But this one doesn't." She said chewing on a lock of hair from her wig. She glanced up and saw Zuko scowling at her. "Fine fine. I'll pick out one dress." She reached and grabbed the first one that was her size. Zuko gave an exasperated sigh and rifled through some clothing folded on a table. He saw a strip of cloth that was slightly wavy and picked it up inspecting it closely.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked curiously when Katie walked over. She took it from him and stared at it until realization dawned on her.

"OH THANK YOU GOD!" She cried and rushed into the back changing room. Zuko frowned and picked up another one trying to figure out what the strip of cloth was for. Katie came out a few minutes later grinning contently. She looked different, but Zuko couldn't quite place how. She stepped up to him and picked through some shirts. He gave a little cough and raised the strip of cloth.

"So what is this?" he asked quietly. Katie looked back and forth from the cloth to Zuko smiling.

"That there's a bra, prince Zuko."

"A what?" He asked a blank look on his face.

"Um," she scratched her nose blushing, "It's an article of clothing meant to give support to…the girls."

"What girls?" Katie let out a little choking laugh and nodded downwards. Zuko looked down as well. "Your feet?" he asked cocking an eyebrow. Katie felt like she was going to burst with compressed laughter. She made sure nobody was nearby that would be suspicious and put a hand around Zuko's neck, pulling him down so she could whisper in his ear.

"Zuko, the girls are a name for the two meat sacks hanging from my collarbone." Zuko pulled back and looked curiously at her chest. When realization finally made it through his thick head he blanched and dropped the bra immediately. Now he knew why she had looked different to him. Certain proportions of her body were higher and rounder. Katie couldn't hold the laughter back any longer. "Oh, I can't wait to tell your uncle about this one." She turned and began making her way back to Iroh who was inspecting a silk robe.

"Katie no!" Zuko hissed going after her.

"Iroh, you're really gonna get a kick out of this." Katie said when she got to Iroh.

"Then I can't wait to hear it." He said smiling. Katie opened her mouth to begin the story but a hand clamped tight around it.

"No, you're not going to wait because you're not going to hear it." Zuko said dangerously. Katie stuck her tongue out and licked his hand until he released his hold on her with a cry of disgust. Iroh gave a little cough to get their attention and nodded to the door. Zhao had just entered the shop and began scanning the crowd, five soldiers entered after him. Katie walked away from the other two silently and began sorting through shoes. Zhao glanced around until he saw Zuko and Iroh. He gave a little smirk and walked towards them.

"Zuko." He said nodding to the young prince.

"What is it now Zhao?"

"I would merely like to speak to you, privately." Zhao said. "If you would please come with me, we can do this the easy way or the hard way." Zuko tensed getting ready to spring at a moments notice, but his uncle placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"We will go with Admiral Zhao, Zuko. There is no need to risk the safety of civilians." Iroh said shifting his eyes in Katie's direction.

"I'm sorry General, but I mean to speak with the prince alone." Zhao said. He made a hand motion and two guards stepped forward, each grabbing one of Zuko's arms. Zuko hesitated; he glanced over at Katie catching her eye. He looked back at Zhao and fixed a scowl on his face but followed without a fuss. Katie rushed to Iroh's side after they left the shop.

"What are they going to do with him Iroh?"

"I don't know. I do know we can't trust Zhao's intentions, but we can't face all of Zhao's men alone."

"Then you go get the crew and I'll keep an eye on Zuko." Katie said over her shoulder as she ran out the door.

MEGA GASP! What is going to happen next! Review if you really want to know (evil grin).