Chap. 16

Jealousy of the Avatar Part 3

"Oh, look at this!" Iroh said, as he examined another curio from the stand.

"Um, that's cool Iroh, but we have to get back searching." Fuego said, as he gently pushed the curio back onto the stand. The two of them had been looking around te market for close to an hour looking for any sign of Aang. But they'd been delayed by Iroh's inability to curb his buyer's nature.

"I know Fuego, but there is no reason we cannot get a good deal at the same time." Iroh replied, as he continued to look over the stand.

The red man shook his head and muttered, "Christ, how can anyone be this annoying? I'd never be like this." Sighing, he turned back to Iroh and said, "Listen, we have to keep moving. Aang's location is not going to fall out of the sky."

But as Fuego said that, a man ran up the market screaming, "RUN! IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT'S HOLY RUN!"

Both Iroh and Fuego whipped around at that, and the former general quickly reached and pulled the man over to them as he ran past them.

"Calm down man." He said, as the man struggled in his grasp. "If you tell us what's going on, we might be able to help."

"No, you can't! It's a hurricane! It'll destroy everything!"

"Where is it?" Fuego asked urgently.

"The western market! Let me go I have to get away!" the man screamed as he escaped Iroh's grasp and continued to run off screaming.

"Well, I guess I was wrong." The red man said, as he watched the man run off. "Come on, let's get going."

"Indeed." Iroh agreed. "As soon as I get this."

"Oh for God's sake…"

"I'm kidding, let's go."

"So what the hell do we do now?" Agua yelled as he grabbed Katara and led her back to the anchor of his trident.

"I can't believe it." Katara said as she grasped the tridnet without thinking. "I didn't think… he's always so…..he's never been that angry."

"No he hasn't, but it doesn't matter." Oscuridad yelled. "If we want to stop him now, we have to take him down!"

"What! NO! We can't hurt him!" Katara yelled back.

"What other option do we have!" Agua cried out. "He's completely out of control and even you can't calm him down!"

"Right, but what do we do!" Zuko yelled out suddenly. "We need to think of some way to attack without actually hurting him!"

"Like what?" Agua yelled. Zuko was stumped for a moment, but then his eyes widened as a new problem arose. A huge wooden stand, ripped off the wall by the force of the winds, was heading towards them. Worse still, with the winds going towards them, none of them had any attacks that could break from the wind's current.

"Oh SHIT!" Oscuirdad yelled as he and the others braced themselves for the impact. But before the stand hit, there was a crack of thunder, as a bolt of lightning shot through the air and shattered the stand. As the splinters flew harmlessly around them, the group turned and saw Iroh and Fuego, using Fuego's spear as an anchor.

"What happened?" the red man yelled.

"He's gone crazy! Even Katara can't calm him down!" Agua said.

"We've got to fight him!" Oscuirdad said.

"Why! Can't we just knock him out or something!" Iroh yelled.

Zuko's eyes widened at that, but Oscuridad said, "With what! We can't use our powers with the winds, and Katara will never let you shoot lightning at him!"

"What about Zuko!" Fuego asked suddenly.

"What about him?" Oscuridad replied, as he turned to face the young Firebender.

But Zuko was gone. Shocked, the bat whipped his head around to see the former prince slowly making his way to the floating form of Aang.

"Zuko, get back here!" the bat yelled out. "You can't fight him!"

But Iroh yelled back, "Let him try! Zuko is no fool; he must have some kind of plan! Besides, there isn't much we can do ourselves. "

Oscuridad snarled at that, but he knew that Iroh was right. If Zuko had an idea, then the only option at this point was to try it before Aang was totally lost to the Avatar State. His face uncertain, Oscuridad turned and watched Zuko inch his way towards Aang.

Zuko meanwhile, continued to move forward as he ran over his plan. What the Firebender was planning was a dangerous move, and one that he might not even pull off. But Zuko knew that if he could do it, it would stop Aang easily. He knew, because he had once been on the receiving end of it. Before he had been banished, Zuko had watched as his sister had begun her training in lightning. While he had been jealous that Azula could reach this stage so quickly, Zuko had tried to hide it from her. But Azula was dammingly perceptive, and quickly began to mock him. After a few day of her constant taunts, Zuko had finally fired back, telling her to shut up or he would burn everything in her room. She'd become quiet then, and Zuko had turned to leave, thinking the argument over. But then there had been a crackle in the air, and before Zuko could move he had been hit by a small but still powerful bolt of lightning. It had hit him in the nerve cluster right on his neck. There had been blinding pain, and Zuko had been unconcious for six hours. However, he had suffered no injuries when he awoke, only a slight numbness that faded quickly. Zuko had always remembered that, and now, as he moved to stand behind the Avatar, he was glad he had.

As the winds twisted around him, Zuko finally reached his destination. Moving carefully, so as not to lose his footing, Zuko began to move his body into the lightning stance. From behind him, Iroh saw what his nephew was doing. Part of him told said to stop Zuko, before he harmed himself. But another part wondered if perhaps Zuko could do it, now that he freed himself from his pride and learned of true humilty. It was this part that won out, and gave no answer when Agua called out, "What in the hell is he doing?"

Zuko began to feel the energy move around as he brought his body through the stance. He had to be careful now; before, he had felt the energy seperate just before it had exploded on him. He had to keep them in imbalance until he could ready himself. Part of him was still fearful that his idea would fail, but he buried those feelings of aniexty. Zuko knew this would work, not because he was a great Firebender, but because of what he felt. In the week that he had spent with the Avatar, Zuko had felt more at peace then he had in three years of banishment. He saw the nobility and honor in this group that was so lacking from the rest of his family, his homeland. He had been regretting his attacks on them ever since, and now he had a chance to make up for it. It was this feeling that guided him, as he began to move his arms in the final position of the stance.

As Iroh watched from the side, Zuko felt the energy begin to leave his body. As he contiued to move, he emptied his mind of everything but guiding the lighting. The air began to charge around him, as the lightning began to race down his arm. Zuko kept his mind open, and then when the lightning was charged, he point upwards and released it. The lightning streaked towards the form of Aang, striking him right in the back of his neck. While Zuko's lightning had not been as straight or powerful as what his sister and uncle had created, it did it's job. Aang screamed in pain, as the lightning raced through the nerves on his neck. The winds began to die down, as he slowly lost consicousness. Finally, Aang's eyes and tattoos stopped glowing, and he fell to the ground. But Zuko, moving quickly, managed to leap under the boy and break his fall.

"Aang!" Katara yelled out, as she and the others ran towards him. As the last of the winds died, Zuko gingerly sat back up, and turned the unconcious Avatar over to Katara. The Wtaerbender took the boy quickly and then yelled at Zuko, "What did you do to him?"
"Oh, I don't know, stop him from ripping this place to shreds!" Zuko snapped back.

"You shot lightning at him! You could've killed him! And when did you learn to do that anyway?"
"Just now I think." Iroh said, as he bent down to look at Aang. Gently, he turned the boy over to look at the back of his neck. Just as he'd suspected, there was a small burn mark there.

"You remembered Azula's trick, didn't you?" Iroh asked Zuko with a grin.

Zuko nodded, which prompted Fuego to ask, "I'm guessing Azula did something like that to you?"

"It is an old technique, but a good one." Iroh explained. "It involves guiding the lightning into the nerve cluster on the back of the neck. It hurts tremoundously and always makes the person pass out. But there are no other side effects. It is a very effective knock out blow."

"So Aang will be ok?" Katara asked, still holding the boy's body.

"If it's like what she did to me, he'll be asleep for about six hours." Zuko answered. "But he should be fine after that, save for some temproary numbness."

"All right." Oscuridad said. "But there is still one thing I want to know. If you couldn't do lightning before, how did you know it would work correctly now?"

"Frankly, I didn't." Zuko replied. At that, everyone looked each other for a moment, then Oscuridad said, "Zuko, you did a good job today, and we're thankful for it. But please, never do anything like that again."

"I promise." Zuko said.

"Good. Then, let's go home before something else happens." Fuego said, as he got to his feet. The others followed, as Oscuridad took Aang from Katara and slung the boy over his shoulder. As they moved forward, Katara moved next to Zuko and said, "I'm sorry I blamed you. I should've known you wouldn't hurt Aang like that."

"It's ok. He's important to you." Zuko said. "I'd feel the same way."

But at that, Katara pulled back a little and said, "What do you mean he's important to me?"

"I just meant that he's a good friend, that's all." Zuko said in surprise. "What's with you?"

"Uh, nothing, sorry." Katara said. "I-I thought you meant something else. Come on, they're getting ahead of us." As Katara ran forawd to catch up with the others, Zuko looked at her with a puzzled look on his face, then began to wonder if she wasn't as oblivous as Fuego and Luz believed.

"Anything yet?" Toph asked

"You mean in the ten minutes since you last asked me? No." Aire muttered, as he looked over at his staff.

The two of them had been sitting in the inn for close to an hour and a half, waiting for some kind of word from the others. While both of them were still glad to have escaped the market (Aire thought it smelled as horrible as Toph did) they both wished that something would actually happen while they waited here. But Aire wished for it a little more; Toph had almost no patience and few other interests then Earthbending, and sadly, none of those other interests were of any interest to the falcon.

"This waiting is stupid, I'm going back outside." Toph said suddenly, getting to her feet.

"Could you please not make it sound like the earth is coming apart then?" Aire asked, knowing she just wanted to Earthbend.

"Then what am I supposed to do; hold a bunch of rocks in the air?" Toph snapped back.

"That would be great. Then I could read my book in peace." Aire said, holding up a manuscript he had taken from the library in the desert.

"Oh big deal. What's so much better about a book then Earthbending?" Toph sneered.

Aire started to say something but then realized that there was no reply to that, and simplt muttered, "God, what I wouldn't give for a Braille book right now.

"What are you babbling about?" Toph asked in confusion.

"Something from my world. It's not important." Aire said. He would've said more, but then he noticed his staff beginning to glow.

"I think we've got something." He siad, as he grabbed the weapon. Activating the stone, he said, "Joe's Creamatorium, you kill 'em, we grill 'em."

"You are a sick man, little brother." Oscuridad's voice said as it eminated from the stone.

"Duh. What's up, did you find him?" Aire asked.

"Yeah. It took some work to get him down, but we've got him. Agua is calling the others to call off the search right now. Listen though; I need you and Toph to make a space for Aang to rest on. We had to knock him out to bring him here."

"Right. No problem." Aire said. "Do you think we should get those smelling salts Fuego bought too?"
"I'd prefer keeping him unconcious for a while, until we know how to deal with him." Oscuridad replied. "We don't need him ripping the inn to shreds too. We should be back soon, so just get the space ready."

"Got it, see you then." Aire said, as he broke off communciation. Turning to Toph he said, "Come on, you heard the man." But Toph didn't move from her spot.

Sighing, Aire said, "Come Toph, I know you don't like this stuff, but we talked about you carrying more weight after…."

"Someone's coming." Toph said suddenly.

"Yeah, I know."

"No not them. I can hear someone coming in this direction. It sounds like they're on a wagon. And it's slowing down."

Aire cocked his ear then, as he tried to hear whatever it was that Toph did. It took him a few minutes, but then he did hear the sound of a wagon jostling it's way over.

Damn, she's good. He thought, as he outwardly asked her if she wanted to check it out.

"Why not, it's better then making a bed." She answerd, as the two of yhem walked to the door. Walking outside, Aire saw Jouku dismounting a wagon carrying several large barrels.

"Hey Jouku. I thought you were supposed to be gone for the week." The falcon said.

"My trip was delayed." The innkeeper answered. "I had to bring these supplies back for the inn. And don't touch them!"

"Oh like we'd want to." Toph sneered.

"Your friend still needs to learn to watch her mouth." Jouku snapped back.

"Hey I'm sorry, but she's just a kid." Aire replied. "You know how they are."

"No I don't. And don't bother defending her. I forgot she can't watch her mouth, or anything else."

Before either Aire or Toph could say anything to that, Jouku pushed his way to the door and slammed it shut.

"Jeez, what crawled up his butt?" Aire asked aloud.

"I don't know, but I know just how to force it out." Toph said behind gritted teeth as she moved towards the door. But before she could go through with whatever painful plan she had in mind, Aire sidestepped her.

"I have a better idea." Aire said. "If you really want to pay him back, let's see exactly what's in those barrels, and just how much damage they can take. After all, we can't beat him up, but he deserves some kind of punishment."

That idea put a very wide grin on Toph's face, and she turned to face the wagon as Aire leapt over her and used his staff to pop one open.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Looks like clothes." The falcon replied. "Gimme a sec to see what I can find to stain them with."

As Aire moved over to another barrel, Toph sighed with good humor, and begna to search in her own way. Stamping her foot on the ground, she felt the vibrations as they traveled along the ground and up the wheels of the wagon. As the barrels began to vibrate, Toph 'read' them and got an idea of what sort of thing was contained inside. But while a few barrels contained regular things, Toph 'saw' something else. She read the image of things crouched in the barrels, things too big to be animals, one of which was in the barrel that Aire was trying to open.

"Aire, WAIT!" she cried out as the falcon popped the lid…….