Obligatory disclaimer - Once again, I don't own Avatar-the Last Airbender. If I did, my name would be Nickelodeon and I'd be RICH RICH RICH! Ahem...but its not...so...I'm not.

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"Faster"

The words were spoken with an insistence and impatience of one anxious to catch his prey. Indeed, Prince Zuko longed to capture his prey. The Avatar was a legendary master of all four elements that will reincarnate endlessly. He was also the only true threat to both the prince's throne and his lost honor.

Behind the young prince his men, the only soldiers left to him due to his exile, sighed inwardly. The Prince's obsession would be the end of them all, but still, they followed willfully with honor and loyalty. Though the prince was only 18, he was a strong man, one who inspired his men, even though at times he allowed his emotions to override his judgment. It resulted in a mouth that sometimes spoke to quickly.

Zuko crossed his arms at his chest as he stood on the bow of his ship. It was one of the smaller ships of his father's Fire Navy and not very impressive. The ship served his needs well however, as it was one of the fastest. And right now, speed was what he wanted. A tiny smirk creased his lip as he felt the increase of speed.

The waters they glided through were that of the Earth kingdom. The homes and farms of the fishing villages they passed were brick huts of stone and mud and poor. He barely glanced at them, uncaring about anything not involved with his quest. Though his casual indifference had nearly cost him the Avatar's trail when he happened to overhear a woman talking about the Avatar.

The Avatar was a fourteen year old Air bender named Aang, who traveled with two water tribesmen, one of which was a female water bender. They traveled on a flying bison, which was the only real reason, the prince surmised, that kept them out of his grasp. His prey was careful, but not careful enough. Like all Earth kingdom, the woman was timid against the might of the Fire nation and told Zuko the Avatar was headed to the village of S'ang to visit an old friend.

The prince cared little for the why, only the where, and they left quickly, navigating up the wide river easily.

It was two days after they changed course and Zuko was on deck training with his uncle Iroh. Iroh was an old fire nation general, and the Fire Lord's younger brother, and Zuko's uncle. Now mentor and teacher, he turned his attention towards jasmine tea, mahjong and his nephew's lessons.

Which were, for the moment, not going quite the way he'd liked.

"Teach me more powerful moves, Uncle." Zuko snarled angrily. This was not the first time they had this argument. Zuko knew that if he was to defeat the Avatar and end his exile, he would need more power. Impatience won over. "I know these things you teach me already."

His uncle, nonplussed by Zuko's outburst, simply tilted his head. "You are not ready Prince Zuko. You have not mastered the basics yet."

The prince growled in frustration. It was impossible to deal with Iroh some days. Even ordering him to teach him more was of no use. To vent his aggravation he turned to the side of the ship and sent a massive fireball into the foliage at the water's edge with a snarl. "Fine then uncle. Have it your way."

Iroh looked at the prince passively then past him. His eyebrows closed slightly. "Perhaps we should speed up."

Zuko looked at him in confusion briefly then turned to see what he saw, and he blanched.

A creature of rock and river mud stood up slowly. Much of its body was made of earth and grasses, grasses that were burning from the fireball. Its eyes were two endless black eddies that glowed with a sickly purple light, and it turned its head to regard the ship angrily. It lifted its bulk of a head and roared, a sound like a rockslide, loudly, before it began to slog through the shallow riverbank towards Zuko's ship.

"FASTER!" the prince commanded before he turned back towards the creature as he started into a kata that would end in a spectacular eddy of flame that flew unerringly to slam into the creature's chest. It roared again, but it did not stop. Indeed, it sped up.

Now it was Iroh's turn, and he mimicked the same kata, and like Zuko's, it ended with gouts of flame that surged forward towards the river spirit. Though, unlike Zuko's, Iroh's was much larger and more concentrated. It was a further testimony to Zuko's ability level. The difference was not lost on Zuko, but he let it pass as there were more pressing matters.

"Uncle!" Zuko cried as the creature raised a massive club-like arm and slammed it into the water causing a wave to slam the ship sideways and all aboard to fall to the deck. It had reached the ship and stretched its arm towards Zuko with murderous intent when a column of flame engulfed its arm.

As the flame spread from its arm to its body, Zuko turned to see his uncle in a dance he had not seen before. Iroh manipulated the flame like water along the creature's body, and it screamed with pain and anger. The creature backed away clearly losing its battle with the fire and large chunks of it began to drop away into the water.

As the creature appeared to die Zuko went to his uncle's side with a scowl. Not from the victory, but from the inconvenience of this battle. They had lost time. As he reached his uncle and opened his mouth to voice his complaint he was thrown back as a pillar of black earth spiked into Iroh. The impact threw him backwards against the far railing and impaled him there, as black ichor dripped from the earth and pooled on the deck.

One final fireball slammed into the already dead creature and it sunk into a boiling mass of black water that quickly dissipated and returned to calm. Zuko didn't watch however, as he ran to his uncle's side. "Uncle!" he cried as he fell to the deck beside his stricken mentor. The young prince was aghast from the amount of damage he now stared at.

Iroh had been pierced several times with wickedly barbed earthen spikes that dissolved even as Zuko grasped them in order to yank them free. The black pus ran down over the prince's hands and over his uncle's body. Zuko watched in horror as his uncle shuddered uncontrollably and he called for the ships medic.

The elderly man hurried to Iroh's side, a full complement of healing herbs and remedies on hand. Feverishly he worked over the stricken man while the young prince hovered nearby. Finally he sat back with a frown.

Zuko immediately stepped forward, concerned. "What is the matter medic?" He could tell something was horribly wrong. His uncle wasn't going to be fine.

His fears were substantiated when the medic looked at the prince fearfully. "My prince," the man said with a bit of trepidation. "You're uncle has been poisoned." He began, unsure of how to continue. "He will die if he does not receive special treatment, treatment that I do not have the knowledge to give him."

Zuko spun away, partly to hide his anger at his man's seeming incompetence, and partly to hide his anguish. His uncle was the only friend he had been left with since his exile. He did not, could not, lose his uncle now. He would be left alone. And that thought scared him. "What kind of 'special' treatment?" He asked finally.

The medic held his hands out helplessly. "Perhaps herbs, my lord. I have never seen such a horrible wound. He was injured by a spirit, perhaps one knowledgeable in the ways of the spirits can help him."

The prince nodded, his jaw set, his lips in a tight line. "Then we will find help for him. Head to the nearest village, and we will make them help us."

The crew hastened to obey the prince's request, even as several of them carefully took Iroh's body to his room to rest comfortably.