It'd been an exact one week since Draco's disappearance. The Z-Titans felt lost without Draco. After all the Z-Titans had been through, Draco was always the one to keep the team together and happy. This past week had been the hardest on Jinx most of all and all she wanted was to be in her Draco's arms again. Jinx was restless every night with worry of not knowing where he was. The other Z-Titans had problems coping as well; Mortuary was missing his best friend and hated not being able to be there to help him out.

Mortuary was riding his way back to the Tower after his weekly visit to his father. After telling his father the situation, Mortuary was given a device that Harker Tech had been working on for a while. The device was called Full Throttle and it was very similar to the Hyper Inzecter in terms of its base function. Mort was getting tired of waiting for Ant and Ryan to send a report so this time he would be taking action.

In his room, Mortuary examined the Full Throttle. It looked like a hi-tech arm brace and was colored white. Mortuary decided he was going to try it out outside of the Tower. When Mortuary entered the common room he saw Shadow sitting on the couch sitting on the couch watching soccer, or football as he called it. Mortuary decided to walk by without saying anything.

"Let me guess." Shadow spoke up "That's another brilliant invention from the hackers, I mean scientists of Harker Tech."

Mortuary gave Shadow a dumbfounded look and asked, "What are you talking about?"

Shadow tapped on his head and said, "I'm psychic, I know these things."

"You've been reading my mind?" Mortuary yelled in accusation.

Shadow stood up, "More like keeping track. Just because Draco trusts you, for some goody-goody reason, doesn't mean I trust you that much. You tried to kill him and first impressions are something that I take VERY seriously." Shadow said while giving him a stern look. "Pluto analyzed your Timefire system and it was quite a coincidence on how similar it was to our Clock Up system."

"Are you calling me a thief?" Mortuary accused.

"Believe me, there are other things I can call you," Shadow said as he stood up and glared at Mortuary with his red-on-black eyes.

Mortuary stared at the Full Throttle on his wrist and said, pointing at it and showing it to Shadow, "This thing might very well help us find Draco. I'm sick of waiting for Ant and Ryan to report in and tell us when or if they find him! We have to act NOW!"

Shadow eyes narrowed but then took in Mortuary's words. Despite their differences, he knew that Mortuary cared about the other Titans, like Terra and now Draco. He just didn't like the fact that Smart Brain's technology was being stolen and duplicated by a competitor. However…this was for a good cause…

"Alright, I'm willing to turn a blind eye," Shadow began, "But, on the condition that you find Draco and bring him back here, alive and in one piece. That includes you too. I don't want to lose anymore friends because of this."

Mortuary smiled, "You got it!"

"Oh and I'm hoping to have a duel with you soon," Shadow said as he showed his Zodiac Deck to Mortuary. "I never really got the chance to fight you as a Knight."

"You're on!" Mortuary then ran out the door, passing by Terra.

"Hey, Mort," Terra greeted.

"Later, Terra!" Mort greeted back.

She blinked in confusion and then asked Shadow, "Where is he off to?"

"Going after our wayward Dragon."


Mortuary was outside of the Tower, getting ready to test the Full Throttle and go look for his friend. He was ready activate the system until he saw Jinx approaching him.

"Jinx? What are you doing out here?" Mortuary asked with an eyebrow raised. Brimstone was there too.

"I'm here to thank you for taking this risk in finding Draco and to wish you good luck," Jinx answered, smiling

"Hey, you're my best friend's girl, what else can I do?" Mortuary said before he pressed a switch on the device and by doing so a bright light emitted from his body and formed the Throttle suit. The Throttle suit was a white bodysuit with blue gloves and boots and a gold belt and holster for the Death Buster. There was also a blue crest that ran down the middle with Harker tech's emblem on the chest.

Mortuary walked up to Jinx and put a hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eyes and said, "I won't come back without him." Mortuary then walked towards the water and shouted, "Face on!" which covered his head with a helmet that was white in the front with a black visor and the Harker Tech symbol on the forehead. The helmet was also blue on the back with two flashing red lights on the side when the helmet was activated.

Mortuary looked back at Jinx and gave her a reassuring nod before creating a portal and walking in.

"Please bring him back." Was all that Jinx said as she watched Mortuary vanish into the portal. One of Pluto's spy bots had been watching and relayed the image back to Pluto who was analyzing Mortuary's new gear. Shadow was with the Dog Knight in his lab.

"What have you learnt?" Shadow asked.

"It'll take me about an hour to finish my analysis," Pluto reported. "I'll tell you when I'm done."


Sokka drowsily woke up after being roused awake while Toph sat up awake as well, smacking her lips.

"Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud," the Blind Bandit said, "Now it just tastes like sand. I never thought I'd miss the taste of mud so much."

Katara went over to wake up Aang. However, he was already awake before she could even touch him. He told her, "I'm awake. I couldn't sleep." Ryuki frowned. Aang depression over losing Appa was getting worse.

"Well, we need to keep moving if we want to get out of this sandpit," Katara told everyone.

Aang and Katara suddenly spot something in the sky and Ryuki looked up as well to see large bison-shaped object fly past the moon.

"Appa!" Aang cried out joyfully, with a smile that Ryuki had missed.

Sokka said something, still under the influence of cactus juice, "Appa? Why would Princess Yue need him? She's the moon! She flies by herself!"

We then realized it had only been a cloud.

"It's just a cloud," Katara said sadly. "Come on, let's keep moving." She looked at her water pouch. They were running low.

"Here, let me," Ryuki offered and Katara handed him the water pouch. He combined his ice and fire powers to fill it up with water before handing it over to Katara.

"Thanks."

"Aang-san, let's go," Ryuki said as everyone got going. Ryuki could see that Katara was trying to keep everyone together.

"Why can't you summon another one of those animals to help out?" Toph asked Ryuki and he shook his head.

He told her. "In this world, I have to use my own energy and Dragonzer's to keep them materialized. In my own world, they just draw power from the Mirror Dimension. I have to wait before I can do another summon. If I still had Dragonzer, this would be a whole lot easier."

Ryuki had told them about the Mirror Dimension. Too bad it didn't exist here. It would've made it easy for them to travel out of this desert.

Katara began to read the star map, leading the group. After a few moments of walking, Toph suddenly tripped and fell. She spat out some sand and grumbled. She rubbed her stubbed foot. Next to her was a wooden object, sticking out of the sand.

"Ow! Crud! I am sick of not being able to feel where I'm going!" she complained. "And what idiot buries a boat in the middle of the desert?"

"A boat?" Ryuki asked.

"Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations," Toph confirmed.

Sokka sighed as Aang stepped forward and swung his staff in a wide horizontal arc, kicking up sand. When it cleared, a sand glider like the one used by the Sandbenders was revealed.

Katara exclaimed happily, "It's one of the gliders the Sandbenders use! And look! It's got some kind of compass on it! I bet it can point us out of here! Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're going to make it!"

Everyone turned to see Sokka laughing as he buried Momo in a pile of sand. He turned towards the others and gave two thumbs up as well as a large grin.

"Katara-san, your optimism is inspirational," Ryuki quipped. He actually did mean it but they would need a miracle to get out of this desert, a big one.

After Ryuki dug up the glider using his telekinesis, they were able to get it to work and pretty soon were seen racing through the desert on their newly acquired vehicle. Aang was driving it forwards by bending powerful gusts of air into the sail. Katara was standing in the upper platform and navigating using the compass and star map.

Katara reported, "The needle on this compass doesn't seem to be pointing north according to my charts."

Sokka spoke dreamily, "Take it easy little lady. I'm sure the sand folks who built this baby know how to get around here."

Yaminekoryu began speaking as his spectral form appeared beside Ryuki. "Oi, Aibou, what's wrong with you?"

((Nothing)) Ryuki replied telepathically. He would've been seen as crazy if he began talking to himself now.

"No way it's nothing!" Yaminekoryu snapped. "It was that dream, wasn't it?"

Ryuki mentally nodded.

"Your father used to have dreams that were actually premonitions. Maybe since you have the Power of Pisces, it could be a vision."

Ryuki took in Yaminekoruyu's words. Maybe he was right. It could've been a vision, but what about that Keyblade thing?

Sokka was sitting behind Katara, holding Momo by the tail as the Water Tribe girl gasped. She was looking at a giant rock up in the distance.

"That's what's the compass is pointing to!" she cried in realization. "That giant rock! It must be the magnetic center of the desert."

Toph looked happy, "A rock? Yes! Let's go!"

"Maybe we'll be able to find someone that can help us," said Ryuki.

Aang muttered darkly, "Maybe we'll find some Sandbenders." The tone of voice worried Ryuki.

They finally reached and set foot at the rock. It was now dawn and the sunlight brightened part of the sky.

"Ahhh…" Toph sighed. "Finally, solid ground!" She lay flat against the surface of the rock, moving her legs back and forth to create an earth angel. Ryuki chuckled and recorded this with his DRA-Cam.

Several strange, round caves could be seen. The group entered one of them. Covered all around the cave's surface was a yellow, gooey substance that looks like honey.

Sokka was breathing deeply as he held his head, "I think my head is starting to get clear from that cactus juice." He pointed on the walls, "And look!" Sokka grabbed some of the yellow substance and so did Momo and they both put it in their mouths. Sokka then spat it out and made gagging noises. "Ugh, tastes like rotten penguin meat!" He held his head, feeling nauseous, "Awww…I feel woozy."

Katara looked irritated at him, "You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day and then just lick something off the wall?" Ryuki chuckled in amusement.

"I have a natural curiosity," he replied.

"I don't think this is a normal cave, guys," Toph said. "It feels like it was carved by something."

"Yeah," Aang agreed, "Look at the shape."

Ryuki then froze and cupped his ear, "Do you all hear something?"

"There's something buzzing in there!" Toph yelled, "Something that's coming right at us!"

The group quickly ran out of the cave as the buzzard wasps came flying out. Apparently, the rock was actually a hive for these creatures.

"I guessed we aren't welcomed," Ryuki said as he ducked when a buzzard wasp came at him. He froze it in ice.

The buzzard wasps began screeching as they flew around the group and from their behavior they were anything but friendly. Aang swung his staff and blew one back with a gust of air. A buzzard wasp landed near Toph. Sensing it, she bended a pillar of rock out of the ground, sending it flying. Another buzzard wasp landed between the two of them and she stomped on the ground. A boulder popped into the air. She lifted it and smashed it down, inches away from Sokka.

"What are you doing!?" Sokka cried. "That rock nearly crushed me!"

"Sorry, I can't tell them when they're in the air." A buzzard wasp flew past them.

"I got this one!" Sokka was swinging his machete blindly back and forth.

Ryuki told him, "Sokka-san, there's nothing there." Sokka realized that he had been right and he had only been attacking air.

"I guess my head isn't as clear as I thought." A buzzard wasp flew towards Sokka from behind but Ryuki quickly dealt with it as he shot it down with his DRA-Blaster. The gun was set to stun. He aimed up and around and kept shooting at the attacking swarm, protecting his friends. He also sent several rocks flying, knocking them down. Katara was using her water whips to smack them away.

"We have to get out of here. I'm running out of water to bend!" Katara told them. Ryuki holstered his DRA-Blaster and provided ice for Katara to use for her bending. "Thanks!"

Momo was crouching on the ground behind Aang and Katara. He was suddenly snatched by a buzzard wasp. Aang watched as the buzzard wasp flew towards the rising sun with the winged lemur.

"Momo!" Aang shouted. "I'm not losing anyone else out here." Aang opened his glider and flew after the buzzard wasp.

"Everyone, come together!" he told them and they regrouped with him. Ryuki looked down at his deck and summoned his belt, sliding it into his belt. "Henshin!"

In a flash of light, Ryuki was clad in armor, but it wasn't the same suit of armor they had seen him in before. It was black with a white chestplate, matching white gauntlets and boots and worn over a black bodysuit. The helmet was also rounded, black and simplistic with a silver mouthpiece and round white eyes. His card reader was a panel attached to his left forearm.

"Blank Form?" Ryuki said as he looked at his hands and groaned, "Alright, this is not good." He drew his gun again and fired at the buzzard wasps, providing cover for the others.

"Come on! We're going down!" Katara ordered.

Buzzard wasps were flying everywhere as Ryuki continuously shot them down. Sokka, Katara, Ryuki and Toph were making their way down on a narrow ledge. Katara placed her hands on Toph's shoulders and turned her to face the buzzard wasps.

Katara instructed, "Toph, shoot a rock right there. Fire!"

Toph stomped down and popped a cluster of rocks into the air before shooting them forward with a double palm strike. The rocks made a direct hit with the buzzard wasp.

Sokka cheered, "Yeah! You got it! She got it, right?"

Katara nodded, "Yes, now let's move." She then asked Ryuki. "What happened to your armor? It didn't look like this before."

"Because I don't have Dragonzer, I turned back to this," he answered. "Those things are still coming. We have to fight our way out of here!"


Aang was chasing the buzzard wasp that had captured Momo. He flew underneath it and rolled over, bending a gust of wind with a strong kick that forced the buzzard wasp to let go of Momo. Momo began to fall, but quickly gained control and flew next to Aang. Aang glared as the buzzard wasp that was trying to fly away. He glided close to the ground and closed his glider. Still flying forward, Aang swung his staff down and shoot a powerful blade of air that split the sand. The buzzard wasp, now just a black dot against the sun, is hit by the attack, cutting it in two. It fell from the air and hit the sand with a dull thud. Aang stared coldly and walked back to the giant rock. Momo followed, but was clearly frightened by Aang's merciless act.


Katara, Ryuki, Sokka and Toph were nearing the bottom. Katara shouted, "On your left!"

Toph smacked a rock and shot it at another buzzard wasp, which shrieked on impact. Ryuki aimed and shot at them continuously, taking more of them down. The buzzard wasps were hovering around the foot of the rock and the sand glider. Suddenly, gigantic pillars of sand burst upwards, scaring off the swarm of buzzard wasps. They flew upwards and back to their hive. Sokka, Katara, and Toph, all shield their eyes. Ryuki didn't need to since he was wearing his helmet. When they open their eyes, several Sandbenders were surrounding them. Aang landed and the group got themselves ready to face the Sandbender. Ryuki holstered his gun and gripped his fists, his eyes narrowing under his helmet.

The leader of the Sandbenders, a bald man with a beard confronted Aang, Ryuki, Katara, Sokka and Toph. His name was Sha-Mo.

Sha-Mo demanded, "What are you doing in our land with a Sandbender sailer?" He then added, "From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe. "

Katara answered, "We found the sailer abandoned in the desert. We're traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se."

A younger Sandbender next to the leader stepped forward and raises his voice and clenched his fist.

The Sandbender said, "You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailer?"

"Excuse me, when did we accuse you of stealing anything?" Ryuki inquired. "We didn't say you stole it, we just said it was stolen. Why would you think we were talking about you?"

The Sandbender froze and then growled, "You should show your face when speaking to someone." Toph's eyes narrowed when she heard the young Sandbender's voice.

Sha-Mo scolded, "Quiet, Gashuin. He is right. No one accused our people of anything. If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality."

Gashuin apologized, "Sorry, father."

Toph's eyes widened upon realization of who the young Sandbender was.

Toph said, "I recognize the son's voice. He's the one that stole Appa."

Katara asked, "Are you sure?"

"I never forget a voice."

Aang took several steps towards the Sandbenders and brandished his staff threateningly. Ryuki got ready to intervene if this suddenly turned violent and judging by the angry Aura he was sensing from Aang, it was going to get VERY violent.

Aang accused angrily, "You stole Appa! Where is he? What did you do to him?"

Gashuin cried out, "They're lying! They're the thieves!"

Aang swung his staff down and obliterated a sand sailer with a blast of air.

Aang growled, "Where is my bison?" He shouted, "You tell me where he is now!"

The Sandbenders watched in shock as Aang swung the end of his staff upward and destroyed another sand sailer.

Sha-Mo said to Gashuin, "What did you do?"

Gashuin stammered in fear, "I-It wasn't me!"

Toph added, "You said to put a muzzle on him!"

Aang was enraged, "You muzzled Appa!?"

Ryuki's green eyes widened under his helmet. He could feel Aang's aura rising to terrifying proportions. The only thing he had felt that was close to being this powerful was Trigon's own aura...or when Shadow or Raven got mad.

"Aang-san...?" Ryuki croaked. "What's happening to him?"

"He's entering the Avatar State!" Katara answered in fear.

Aang's eyes and tattoos glow as he began to enter the Avatar State. He twirled his staff around and demolished one of the few remaining sand sailers.

Gashuin apologized in terror at Aang's power, "I'm sorry! I didn't know that it belonged to the Avatar!"

Aang spoke in an unearthly voice, "Tell me where Appa is!"

Gashuin answered, frightened, "I traded him! To some merchants! He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now! They were going to sell him there! Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can!"

The air around Aang slowly began to pick up and spin around Aang as he fully entered the Avatar State, pulling in sand and creating a small tornado.

"Aang-san! Stop!" Draco shouted.

"Just get out of here! Run!" Sokka shouted.

Sokka grabbed Toph by the shoulders and pulled her away from Aang. Toph, Sokka, Momo and the Sandbenders all flee for their lives. Katara and Ryuki, however, stay and face the danger. The sand tornado grows larger and spreads quickly as Aang slowly lifted from the ground. Katara and Ryuki made their way through the fierce wind and each grab Aang's wrists. He looked down at them with anger and hate, but was only met with Katara's sad expression. Katara and Ryuki brought Aang back to the ground and the girl hugged him by the shoulders. Ryuki stepped back to give them their privacy, relieves that it was all over. Sokka and Toph brought their hands down from shielding themselves as the wind became less violent. Tears were streaming from Aang's glowing eyes, and Katara was doing her best not to let go of him. The wind finally died down. Aang left the Avatar State and let his head rest against Katara. The screen fades to white.

Ryuki's armor vanished and he let out a sigh. Seeing the touching scene reminded him of himself. Whenever he would go berserk and enter his Orphenoch form, Jinx was the only person who was able to calm him down and bring him back. She was his anchor as Katara was to Aang. Ryuki's eyes narrowed at the Sandbenders as he stepped over to Gashuin and lifted him by the shirt. Seeing Ryuki's glowing red eyes caused the Sandbender to cringe in fear.

"There was a red dragon with the Bison. What happened to him?" Ryuki demanded, "And don't try to lie to me, I'll know if you are."

Gashuin answered, "That thing was ferocious so we had to reign it in and tie its jaw close. It tried to eat us!"

"Did you sell him?" Ryuki asked again, his free hand starting to ignite with fire. Gashuin nodded.

"Yes, but to another group merchants!" Ryuki dropped Gashuin. He was tempted to feed him to Dragblacker. Ryuki walked over to his friends.

"Is he going to be okay, Katara-san?" Ryuki asked regarding Aang.

"He will be, he's just a little tired," she told him.

Ryuki drew out a card and summoned Dragblacker. The black dragon roared at the Sandbenders. A few of them fainted at the sight of the red-eyed-black dragon.

"Let's get out of here," Ryuki said and they all hopped upon the black dragon.

"Why couldn't we have done this before?" Sokka asked as he got on.

"I told you, remember?" Ryuki said.

"Really?" Sokka scratched his head. "When?"

Ryuki shook his head and took hold of Dragblacker's horns. "Let's go."

Katara held onto Aang as he wouldn't let go of him. Exhausted, he fell asleep in her arms. They then flew off.


"Alright, let's move," Ant said as he and Ryan left the village after restocking.

"You think we'll be able to find Ryuki?" Ryan asked.

"Aunt Wu said so, didn't she?" Ant answered, "She told me that if I kept searching, I'd find what I was looking for."

"That is if the Hyper Inzecter and Ryuki are in the same place," Ryan added.

"Well, the largest city in the Earth Kingdom is Ba Sing Se. If we move now, we can get on a ferry headed there."

"So, where are we headed, Azula-hime-sama?" Kat asked Azula as they left the village. (Hime means princess. Kat had opted to call Azula this)

"Ba Sing Se," the princess replied, savouring the words. That would not be its name for long.

"Hey, Kat, what's wrong? You're even gloomier than Mai!" Ty Lee said as she skipped beside the Cat Knight. Mai frowned.

"Just thinking about what Aunt Wu told me," Kat said.

"What was it? Was it about love?" Ty Lee inquired eagerly.

"Nothing important," Kat forced a smile but then she thought back to what she had been told, 'Darkness? My future is to drown in darkness AND bring it forth? What is that supposed to mean?'

As the quartet of girls left the village, dark creature rose up from their shadows but slowly vanished again.


A/N: Everyone is headed to Ba Sing Se. Will they all reach it in time? Well, just wait for the next chapter. And what about Mortuary? Will he meet up with Ryuki? Stay tune for the next chapter. Also, Mort picked up a little stowaway. Zombi138 helped with the intro, btw.