Alright.. so.. this is my first fanfic on here… I hope you all enjoy!

**2011 EDIT: Please note edits and revisions. It's been a long time since I've revisited this story… but I've noticed how much attention it still gets and that when I wrote this so long ago, I had left many errors in it! I'm glad to say my writing has indeed improved (as has my editing as I no longer use an editor but my own sweet self haha) soo….here ya go!*

P.S…I DON'T OWN AVATAR…but ooohhh. If I did lol

Chapter 1 – The Storm

The storm pounded on mercilessly as the water tribe warrior boy attempted to steer the waterlogged bison through the stormy skies. Lightning flashed and was quickly followed by a clap of thunder so loud that it shook the bison and his passengers.

"Sokka! We've got to land!"

"I know! I've been trying to find land for the past hour! It's impossible to see anything two feet in front of your own face!" Sokka turned his head from the reins looking at his sister Katara, along with their other friends, Aang the Avatar, and Toph, the blind earth bending master and the most recent addition to their team. Katara nodded, knowing he was right. For the past few hours they had been flying over pure ocean, it wasn't until dusk that a storm started rolling in, reaching its peak an hour earlier.

"Try flying above the clouds again…" Aang chimed in; he was cut off by a large clap of thunder. Sokka looked to him,

"Is it worth even trying it? Last time we almost got hit by lightning! And I don't know about you, but I prefer not looking like a piece of fried meat!" Aang looked a bit taken aback as he shrugged lightly.

"Well try to find some land, Appa can't fly like this much longer."

"Don't you think that's what I've been doing? If you think it's so easy to steer a 10 ton bison in a storm like this then you get up here and do it!"

"He's only trying to help Sokka." Katara defended.

"Well maybe I will!" Aang talked over her as he walked to Appa's head. Sokka huffed, half

tossing the reins at Aang. Katara sighed, shaking her head.

"Men…"

"Are you sure you even wanna call them that?" Toph joked. Katara looked to her and smiled, chuckling.

"You're right." The girls continued to watch the fight go on between Sokka and Aang. Katara stood up, ready to break it up when a large bolt of lightning struck down in front of them. It all happened so quickly; Appa roared loudly as he swerved, just missing the bolt, the whole group yelled loudly, and a high-pitched scream was barely heard over the thunder cracking. Aang dove out to the edge of the saddle.

"Katara!" He reached out for her but she was falling fast. Toph and Sokka looked toward Aang, Toph feeling helpless that none of her element was around. Sokka attempted to steer Appa downwards, seeing Aang getting his glider reader to fly out and save Katara. He was just about to jump off when another bolt of lightning just barely missed them, the thunder shaking their bones. Appa spooked and swerved to the side, throwing Aang fall back into Toph.

"Hey! Watch it!" She pushed him off roughly and he looked to her embarrassed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Sorry."

"And I thought you were light on your feet Twinkle-Toes."

"Hey! Will you two stop flirting for two seconds? We've got bigger problems!" Aang and Toph nodded, ignoring the flirting comment. Appa moaned loudly, wanting nothing more than to get out of this storm and into someplace dry and warm.

"Gah! Let's go!" Sokka steered Appa downwards so that they could scan the ocean.

Meanwhile, Katara's heart raced as she fell. She swooped her arms around, trying to use the water to slow her down. She continued to fall, and her heart continued to pound. She looked around fearfully, a slight whimper escaping her lips. She was being deceived by her own element. Her body finally made contact with water after what felt like hours of falling. With a large splash she fell into the ocean, her body screaming at the freezing temperature. She looked around hopelessly.

"How am I going to get out of this? Sokka… Aang… anybody…"