Avatar; The Royal Firebender.

The Mad King's Trials.

Zuko was spooked awake by the sudden sound of the stone walls moving on their own. As he gets his bearings, the first of the red flags goes off in his mind. The others are missing, including Momo. Turning towards where the sound is emanating from, he sees that the wall has opened revealing one of the guards of Omashu standing there. Zuko blasts a small burst of fire off of the stone bed as he jumps to his feet. He assumes a fighting stance ready to face off against the guard.

"What have you done with my teacher?!" He yells, creating daggers of fire protruding from the back of his fists. The guard ignores this shout and posture from Zuko and ignores his display.

"Your friends are fine, but the King wishes for your audience, Avatar." The guard explains before turning and walking down the corridor he had opened as they entered the refurbished chamber. Zuko groans as he breathes some fire from his mouth before marching out of the room clearly agitated that he had been both rudely awoken and ignored.

Coming back to the royal throne room, Zuko sees Aang, Sokka and Katara being held by three guards. Aang and Sokka have had their staff and weapons confiscated by the guards and are now being held in shackles by them. Zuko gives Aang a questioning look wondering why he just doesn't airbend his way out of the Guards grasp but notices that his shackles bind both his ankles together and cover the majority of his hands leaving only his fingers exposed. Turning to face the deranged king he notices that the garb he is dressed in has now changed, instead of the typical earth kingdom green, it is now a vibrant purple set of robes with an extravagant feather adorned headdress.

"Ah, welcome young Avatar Lee." The king greets with a half crazed laugh as Zuko gains his attention. "I bet you're wondering why I've summoned you this early."

"Get to the point old man. If anything happens to them I'm going to burn this whole city to the ground!" Zuko exhales fire from his mouth to emphasize his displeasure with what's happened.

"Now that is something I'd like to see. How hot would your fire have to be to set rocks and stone on fire? That would be interesting, but no. No harm will come to them, that is if you can pass my deadly challenges." With a nod of his head the guards holding the rest of the gaang pull their arms forwards and place a ring on their outstretched pointer fingers. Aang's is a soft red color, Sokka's is purple and Katara's is green. "Those, young Avatar, are rings made from the 'creeping crystal'. You'll have to complete my tests in order to save your friends."

"Ah! It's already creeping!" Sokka girlishly screams seeing the crystal glow slightly before growing up his finger. "Zuko you better get these done quick man!"

"So much for keeping my identity a secret. Thanks Sokka, you idiot." Zuko responds sarcastically as Katara manages to smack her brother on the back of the head before being restrained again.

"Oh, I was aware you were the runaway son of the Fire Lord, Prince Zuko, that changes nothing. You complete my tests and you and your friends are free to go. Now, test number one. What... do you think of my robes?" The mad King questions getting Zuko to tilt his head and give him a bewildered half mouth open stare at the insane question.

"What?"

"Come on, I'm speaking the common language around here, what do you think of my outfit?" The King repeats himself, Zuko still stares at him as if he's looking at a madman, granted he is but he stares on anyways.

"Uh... it's very... purple." If Sokka could, he would smack himself in the face with his own palm at this response from Zuko, however the King's laughter interrupts this thought.

"Isn't it? Purple is a royal color around the world, very expensive indeed, now let's go to your first trial."

"Aang, if we get out of this, I'm going to kick your ass." Zuko growls at his airbending teacher as he's led down the corridor towards the first test.