Disclaimer: huh..once again i don't own the avatar or the fma series...another wish for my christmas list...XP

Author's Note: yes this chapt is boring...but will help you to understand what is going to happen..

CHAPTER 2...

A PLACE TO STAY, AND GETTING SUCKED IN

"Wow, this one is purple." Katara held up some purple leaves and held it up so Aang could see.

"Isn't this place great? They even have food for Appa here!" Aang said happily as he shoved a hand full of huge leaves into a bag. Sokka was next to Aang with the same looking bag. He was storing vegetables and fruits in his bag.

"One of this…and one of that…ooo definitely this one…and some more of this…." Sokka murmured to himself as he paid the lady some money and kept picking more food. He waited for the lady to give him his change, turning to face Aang and Katara. He noticed a familiar man in red. Sokka squinted to take a good look at him, he was walking to the other side of the tea market, asking for…what was it? He couldn't really hear, there were too many people talking and walking for him to see the man clearly.

Sokka strained his ears. "How much is this one?" he asked. The lady looked at it. "Ginseng, eh? That's 4 silver coins per pack, sir" The man nodded and handed her the amount. She gave him the pack of leaves in a brown paper wrap, and he started walking to where Sokka and Katara were.

Sokka received his change, and moved slowly to keep his view of the old man. He came closer, and when he was right behind Aang, he yelled something that made Sokka and the rest of the trio twitch like they've never twitched before.

"Prince Zuko! The apparels and armor are over here! Come and get yourself some new clothes!" Then a teen in red dragged his feet towards the man.

"Uncle, I'm perfectly comfortable with the clothes and armor I have." Zuko slumped next to his uncle. Sokka didn't move, hoping to blend in. If he moved, he might be given away. He couldn't understand how the guy they had out run just 5 days ago was standing 6 feet away from him.

"Nonsense, Zuko. Even I have to live a little. It wouldn't hurt to get just one new chest piece, would it? Just one!" Iroh pointed to some fine armor.

"Uncle, it's green." Zuko said.

"..Oh…yes…..well…." Iroh looked at all the armor.

"And as you can see, even if I don't wish to buy new armor right now, what makes you think I'd get them in gre -" Zuko noticed the back of a boy's bald head. He was wearing orange, and was right next to a girl in blue. wait…..no…it's the kid…it's the avatar in his idiot girl companion...what are they doing here?..

Iroh, confused at Zuko's blank look, turned around. He saw what Zuko had been looking at.

Aang, who for some reason felt the presence of eyes on his back, slowly turned and looked at Zuko and Iroh, all their expressions speechless. Katara turned around and gave a low gasp.

Sokka stared at them too, but one second was enough. "Aang!" Aang got out of his trance, just as Zuko ran straight for them. Aang whirled his hands forward, bringing a gust of high winds only to Zuko, being careful not to hurt the people around him.

Zuko jumped from the wind and lit both his hands with large fireballs, sending them straight to Aang. He blocked it with a wall of air, grabbed Katara and Sokka, and ran as fast as he could from the markets, heading for Appa.

But Zuko ran after them, jumping and ducking from the air attacks that Aang had been sending at him. He's not getting away this time…that bald monk is as good as mine….. Zuko threw his arms into a circle, allowing fire to consume his hands. He could still see them running off into the beach, where he saw a big, white bison. Aang and the others were almost there, but Zuko was only a few feet away, and he could easily catch up…if there weren't so many people.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Zuko yelled as he pushed 2 men to throw even more fireballs at Aang. Iroh ran to catch up with Zuko, but not as fast. Katara and Aang had gotten on top of Appa, and Sokka was just about to push himself on, when Zuko had jumped from behind him and hit him across the neck with a sharp blow. Katara screamed, but Aang yelled "Yip Yip!" and quickly grabbed and held tight to Sokka before Zuko could hit him again. Apparently, Zuko knew how to make people collapse with one hit.

"You're not getting away this time, avatar!" Zuko yelled.

"Sokka !" Katara screamed. She looked desperately at her brother, then glared at Zuko who was dangling from Aang's hands. Zuko grabbed hold of Sokka's arms, but fell back when Katara sent a water whip on Zuko's face, making him let go of Sokka and fall back into the ground as Appa flew higher into the air.

"Avatar!" Zuko yelled as he ran to his ship on the other side of the beach. Iroh had just gotten into the ship, carrying his little bag of tea leaves and what not.

"Prince Zuko, what happened?" Iroh asked as Zuko jumped on board and commanded the captain to follow the bison.

"What does it look like, Uncle? I was so close! He was right there and I didn't even touch him!……Now I've got his trail, and it will only be a matter of time before I get that avatar!" Zuko said. He paced around the deck, still keeping one eye on the bison, who was now a tiny dot in the sky.

"Calm down, Zuko." Iroh said to him, putting a hand to his shoulder. "We're on the course of the avatar, we can still see him, and I've got loads of tea." Iroh held up a bag of tea leaves. "You will have to save all your energy. You cannot waist all of your strength, stressing over the avatar. Come, have some-"

"Tea? Uncle I-"

Iroh raised his hand. "You'll need plenty. I've also got some soothing herbs to help relax your body and most importantly, your mind. Besides, they were 30 off! How could I resist?" Iroh said with a smile.

Zuko glared at his uncle for such a blinding tea obsession. Out of all the times he could think of tea… He finally sighed, and nodded. "…fine…but then I'll have to get back up here to meditate." He turned to one of his men who was busy cleaning the deck. "Tell the captain to inform me when we reach the avatar." With that, Zuko left with Iroh to his uncle's room. ( the only place where tea sets and ma jong tables were located on the ship)

Aang sighed. The avatar steered his bison to the left avoiding a flock of flying geese. He lifted Sokka to his side, and Katara took Sokka, laying him down and putting some hot soaked herbs to his neck.

"How could Zuko do that? How can he do that? What kind of mo-" Aang cut her off.

"Don't worry, Katara. It's just temporary, he'll wake up in about…mm…a few hours? And-" Katara widened her eyes with rage.

"HOURS! I thought when you said temporary, you mean that he'd wake up IN A FEW MINUTES!" Katara yelled as she looked at Sokka's "sleeping" face. "That ignorant moron. He's so careless...what was he thinking..."

"Katara..Sokka isn't dead or anything…that hit that Zuko did….it's a move where the…opponent masters and knows the location of every nerve and muscle of the body…even the ones that can make your heart stop..or in Sokka's case..pass out….it's nothing really…just some simple body stuff….and I'm sure Zuko's the kind of person who'd know that kind of stuff…" Aang said.

Katara paused. Wow……but why did it have to be Sokka?…it could've been me….ugh…. She looked at her brother. Wake up soon…please….Sokka…

"Hey Katara! Look, it's the air temple! Please, can we go back….just for a couple of minutes!…please?" Aang turned to Katara and pointed out the temple. Katara remembered the last time they were there. It was the time where Katara and Sokka told Aang that they were all family.

Katara nodded and Aang happily looked around. "There!" he said, pointing to a big hut beside some trees. "We can hide Appa and ourselves until Zuko passes." Katara lifted Sokka up and got of Appa. She carried him into the hut, and Aang led Appa into it as well. As they unloaded their possessions, Katara noticed a weird, but faint outline of a star inside a circle near Appa. It was purple, and chipped away by the years.

"Aang, what's that weird circle over there?" She asked him. Aang turned to look at it.

"Hmm…I don't know. I never saw that there before…Katara, can you help me feed Appa for a bit?" Katara turned from the circle to him, and nodded. "Sure thing, Aang." She walked over to the ag of leaves next ti him, and took a hand full out.

Ed opened the door to "The Black Bottle" and stepped inside, followed by Al. They looked around. It was dim lighted, and there were about 9 hard wooden tables all around. There were about 3 people in the front having a beer, and never even noticed them coming in. The bar tender was rubbing his jugs and cups clean. He too didn't see them coming.

"Hey brother, look over there!" Al pointed at the small table in the back. "That flower! That's probably the table Mustang wanted us to go to."

"Finally, I can open this stupid letter." He took the note out of his pocket and walked to the table with a small vase of flowers on it. Al moved the table aside, and below it, they saw an outline of a transmutation circle.

"Well, what does the note say?" Al asked curiously.

"Number one. Place any chair on the circle and transmute it into any form of jewelry, like a stone on a necklace…yup, I bet this is just anotherattempt toembarass me, isn't it?" Al shook his head.

"Mustang has to have a reason for this, and I'm sure it's a good one. Now just try and follow it. It won't hurt to try.." He said, placing a chair on the circle.

Ed sighed. "Okay, but if this hurts me or you in ANY way, I'm gonna kill that bastard!" He said, kneeling down to clap, and placed to arms to the circle. Sparks flew, and a red rock on a string appeared in its place.

"Now what?" asked Al, looking at the pendant.

"Number 2. Wear the jewelry and hold on to each other." Ed scowled. "What kind of moron is he?I mean, honestly?"

Al placed the necklace around Ed and held his hands. "I guess something is supposed to happen now."

"That show off. I never should have wasted our time coming here and listening to some fr- AL!" Ed yelled as Al began to sink into a purple fog, and was being sucked into the floor beneath them. NO! NOT AGAIN….THAT BASTARD!…THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING……..PLEASE…NO!

"ED! HELP ME!" Al yelled. Soon Ed began to sink in to. He looked at the people around the bar, who didn't seem to notice anything that was going around, probably drunk. He looked desperatlety around the room, who was gone from the waist down.

"AL!" Ed yelled, and that was the last thing he had said.

Is this story getting good? I may not update for a while, considering the fact that i'm moving, but one can be sure that I'll update on the weekends...please R'R! ID LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!