Welcome to Chap. 2. This is where the craziness begins.

Please read and review and oh, name definitions for some are given at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. I own the sorceress and the demons and the ship.

Chapter 1 – Miko

There was swirling black water all around him. He was falling through the water to the bottom. Sharp rocks waited to greet him.

This had to be the place where sailors went to in the Spirit World. Well, the evil ones anyways.

He shivered, squinting in the darkness as he thought he saw something move. Something dark swam to greet him and he gasped at the reptilian body. Wings spread out as it stopped before him, glaring at him through gold eyes. The dragon snarled and opened its mouth, ready to devour him whole.

He fought but the wings wrapped around him, holding him still as the head lowered and the jaws began to snap him in half.

Grunting, he fought still but was losing strength. The dragon dropped him and swam off, moving gracefully through the water.

He continued to fall and found the darkness to be very…

Soothing.

"He's waking up," a deep voice said above him.

"It's about damn time," someone growled. This one was slightly feminine.

"Can I eat him?" asked another voice.

"No! I didn't waste my potions so that you could eat him!" the woman shrieked.

"He's Fire Nation!"

"Don't care. Now shut up! He could useful."

Zuko forced his eyes to open as the argument stopped. His head hurt but that might have been from the argument. Groaning, he pushed himself into a sitting position, finding that his body only slightly ached. After a fall like that, he was surprised he was alive and in one piece. The blanket covering him pooled in his lap and he was thankful he still had on his shirt and pants.

"Welcome back to the living."

He looked up and nearly died of shock.

A demon was sitting in a stool next to him. And not just any demon, a very dangerous looking wolf one. Both the triangular ears on the top of the demon's head twitched and he grinned, showing off very large fangs. The gold eyes glinted in the lamplight even though they were mostly hidden by a curtain of blue-gray hair.

"Ookami, you're scaring him," someone said and the demon flinched from a blow to his shoulder.

Luckily when Zuko looked up, he was not staring at a demon. At least, not any demon he had heard of.

She looked to be about twenty. Black hair was braided into a single strand and reached down past her shoulder blades. Grey eyes, though the right one looked cloudy and slightly paler, watched him with a laugh. She looked to be about his height if not a bit smaller. A red shirt and black pants completed her ensemble as a strange black hat rested on her head.

"Took you long enough. We've been waiting for hours," she said. She gave the demon a nod and he stood, giving her his stool. "So, let's start off. I'm Sorano, that demon is Ookami, and the one above you is Nezu."

At that, Zuko's head turned and found that another demon was watching him from the rafters. He had slightly more demonic features than the wolf one but was still slightly human looking. Large, round ears protruded from the sides of his head. Whiskers twitched as he raised a clawed hand. He grinned, showing off bucked teeth and two small fangs. A rat's tail twitched behind him as he squeaked and began to climb down from the rafters.

"So, who are you?" she asked.

He turned his attention away form the rat demon and faced her again. "Uh…" he muttered, confused. What the hell was going on?

"You really have been out of it, Sorano," the wolf demon called out from his place by the wall. "That's the Fire Nation Prince."

The woman blinked in surprise and then turned back to the prince. She then pushed close, very close, and stared him straight in the eyes.

He was really not liking this place.

"So it is!" she called out, startling the prince from his thoughts. "Well, welcome aboard the Houou!" She leapt into the air, twirling suddenly.

The wolf demon slapped his hand to his head.

The boat suddenly lurched sideways.

"Calm down!" the wolf cried, grabbing the cabinet next to him. "You're gonna sink us!"

She blinked but stopped. The ship balanced out again and the wolf gave a frustrated sigh. The woman grinned widely and plopped back down on the stool.

Zuko had just recovered from that sudden burst of energy and stared at this woman. There was no way she was normal. She didn't look like she was from the Water Tribe either so that ruled out Waterbender. That could mean one other way that had happened and she had roped in two demons.

"Witch!" he cried out, staring at her as she blinked again.

"Ah, come on. Witch is such a negative word. I prefer Sorceress or Miko," she commented. "Besides, I'm not old enough to be a witch. Or am I?" The woman suddenly blinked and frowned. "Damn. It did it again," she mumbled. She was suddenly walking and before he knew it, she was gone.

"Gods, why did I ever agree to this?" the wolf demon grumbled before following out after her.

Zuko struggled to figure out what to do. He was on a ship with a witch and maybe dozens of demons, all who were all supposed to feed on humans. Witches were the worst though. They could enchant anyone they didn't like into bugs or toads or remove body parts or experiment on people.

He had to get off.

The prince stood up from the couch he had been lying on and looked around the room. The rat demon was still there, watching him with large black eyes. He shrugged though and disappeared through the door. Worrying his lip, he spun around, seeing if there was a secret way off the ship.

A window large enough to fit him was found to be magically shut. He couldn't budge it open anyways. The only other exit was the door.

He sighed, stepping through the crowded room. This place was filled with chairs and tables. The floor under him suddenly turned to metal and he stared down, finding the floor was a patchwork of metal and wood. He looked around the room, finding that the entire room was like the floor.

This had to be the weirdest ship he had ever been on.

The door was surprisingly open and he made his way through the maze of hallways. It was only slightly easy and he made it up onto the deck in minutes.

A breeze blew past as he blinked against the glare of the sun. The storm had passed and he stared around in wonder. Sails rustled against the wind and he could distinctly hear the roar of an engine. A mast rose from the middle of the strange ship and he found more patchwork pieces. This thing had to be held together by magic.

"Sweet smell…wonderful at this time in the year…fruit most likely…"

He looked up into the sails and found the witch sitting on a rope. She seemed to be lost in thought and continued to mumble to herself. Zuko watched her as she snapped to reality and scaled down the rope. She dropped besides the Firebender, her hat clutched in her hands.

"Head north. There's an island with excellent trees!" she commanded. She shoved her hat back on and turned on her heel. Her right eye was an almost blank white. "I'll be in my quarters making potions!"

"Aye, Sorano!"

That was a different voice and Zuko turned to figure out who else was here.

He found another demon resting on a steering wheel. This one was more human looking though. Zuko would've guessed he was human first until he noticed the long pointed ears and the two fangs he revealed when he grinned. A hat covered his mess of blond hair while gold eyes glittered at the prince.

"Ah, you're our lil' human then?" he asked, grinning slightly.

Zuko nodded, not knowing what else to do.

"You took a mighty big fall back there, we were worried that you were dead when you hit the ocean!" he called out, turning the wheel slightly.

The prince was at a lost. This was obviously a demon and yet there had been no threats and he was almost…friendly. Then again, the others hadn't been too demonic either, except the rat one. That was the one who had wanted to eat him.

"Come on up and join me, it gets boring up here anyways," the demon called out.

Blinking, Zuko found himself walking up the stairs to the demon. He stood before the strange creature as he grinned.

"The name's Hoshi," he said, holding out his hand.

Zuko shook it, still in slight shock. "Zuko," he managed.

"Ah, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation," the demon laughed. "Sorano ran up here hollerin' something like that. Don't try to excite her; she'll rip this ship apart like last time." The demon grinned and glanced down at the lower deck. "Getting' a bit off course." He turned the wheel to the left.

The prince looked down to where the demon had glanced and gasped as he found a large compass on the deck. He stared as it moved and the large 'n' pointed towards the front of the ship.

"Sorano enchanted that on the ship. Makes it easier for me to figure out where the hell I'm going," he explained. "You can only see it from above though."

Hoshi gave the prince a grin and leaned on the wheel. "Confused?"

All Zuko could do was nod.

"Yeah, Sorano's confusing to say the least. I don't know why she saved you, knowing you were Fire Nation and all. She actually hesitated before she jumped in after you and it looked like she was fightin' with herself. But she jumped in and grabbed you so you're welcome on this ship by my standards." The demon glanced down at the compass again.

"So she won't turn me…?"

"Nah, she's not that," Hoshi reassured. "She'll let you stay on as long as you want. I think she misses talkin' to humans," he said. "That and we're the only company she usually gets."

Zuko took in the information, very glad that the rumor wasn't true. He was still confused on what he was going to do though. Nothing surrounded them but clear water so they had to be a ways off from the island.

"How old is she? Where is she from?" he found himself asking out of nowhere.

"Guess," the demon responded, giving him a grin.

"Twenty?" he said, watching the demon's face. "Twenty-one? Nineteen?"

The demon burst out laughing. "You're not even close!" He calmed and gave the prince a smile. "She's twenty-seven. Or twenty-six. She's not real sure herself." Hoshi grinned at the young man's stare. "I don't know how she looks younger than she is. Ookami bets she uses some charms."

The Firebender sputtered and then quieted. Of course she probably used charms. Probably to attract men to take their hearts out for potions.

An explosion rang out as the ship rocked violently. A long stream of curses followed afterwards. Zuko was surprised to hear as many as he did.

"Don't worry," Hoshi said, keeping the boat on track even with the rocking. "If she were really upset, she'd be spitting like a cat and screaming up a storm in whatever that sorcerer's language is."

Boots clicking up stairs caught their attention as the sorceress suddenly burst out of the hatch. She looked pissed and pinned the demon with a hard glare. "Whose been messing with my ingredients?" she yowled, snarling.

"You have. You needed some other kind of ingredients and replaced a couple of your own with them," he responded calmly.

"I have?" she asked, blinking in surprise. "Oh." She shrugged and turned on her heel, disappearing down the stairs.

"You see what I have to be with every day?" the demon asked. "She's so forgetful so I usually end up being her mind."

Zuko gulped. 'I hope I live.'

"Oh, forgot about the other question," Hoshi remembered. "Guess where?"

The demon was grating on his nerves with the guessing but didn't say anything. Who knew what he could do. "Earth Kingdom?" was his first guess.

"Ah, I'll give you a freebie." The demon beckoned him closer and checked to make sure the witch didn't appear again.

"She's from the Fire Nation."

Sorano – Of the Sky

Ookami – Wolf (not too hard)

Nezu – Rat (so clever)

Houou – Phoenix

Hoshi – Star