"Water, Earth, Fire, Air… My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days. A time of peace, when the Avatar kept balance between Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But that all changed, when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless Firebenders, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.

A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother, along with our friend, Brooks, to look after our tribe.

Some people believe that the avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world!"

Book One: Water

Chapter One: The Boy in the Iceberg

"It's not getting away from me this time." Sokka announced, for about the hundredth time that day. Katara just looked back at him, her brow furrowed. "Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish." He continued, grinning smugly at her, before turning back to aim his bone spear at the wriggling shape in the water. Katara just rolled her and Brooks, who was sitting next to her, snorted amusedly at Sokka.

"Sokka, you've said that since you first saw that fish and you haven't even come close to actually catching it!" Like Katara and Sokka, Brooks was wearing the blue and white colored parka that showed him as part of the water tribe. His unusual blondish-to-light-brown hair was ruffled in a not-unpleasant manner, and his amber eyes smiled along with his mouth.

Katara laughed quietly at this and returned looking at the water. A squirming, darkened form under the water caught her eye. A fish! She thought. I wonder if… She took off her mitten, pointed her hand at the shape and took a deep breath. Suddenly, a ball of water soared out of the rest and into the air, the fish encased inside. "Sokka, Brooks, look!" she cried to her friends, struggling to keep the ball in the air. Brooks looked and grinned widely. Sokka, however, wasn't as polite.

"Shhh, Katara, you're gonna scare it away! Mmmmm, I can already smell it cookin'."

"But Sokka, I caught one!" She said, looking back at her brother.

"She did, Sokka, just turn and look!" Brooks replied to Sokka, a disapproving look on his features. Just then, Sokka raised his spear suddenly, poised to drive it down onto the unexpecting fish… and shattered Katara's water sphere and breaking her concentration. The sphere splashed onto Sokka with a "plop".

Looked turned back at her with anger scrawled upon his face. "Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?" He growled miserably.

Katara looked at him with the same look. "It's not magic, it's Water-bending, and it's-"

"Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself." Sokka interrupted, squeezing the water out of his ponytail.

"You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water." Katara retorted, smirking as him as he realized he was doing just that and started to glare back at her.

"Come on guys, let's just-" Brooks said, but was suddenly cut off as the boat gave a unnerving jerk and was caught in some rapids. Sokka grabbed his paddle and struggled as he fought against the flow, attempting to draw the boat away. The boat started to sickeningly tilt and went faster, thoroughly caught in the current that was now drawing them into a field of icebergs.

"Watch out! Go left, go left!" Katara screamed, as Sokka predictably went right, smashing directly into the icebergs, stranding all three of them on the glacial island.

"You call that left?" Katara grumbled at him.

"You don't like my steering? Well then, maybe you should have waterbended us out of the ice!" Sokka replied sarcastically.

Brooks, sensing a fight coming on, said very carefully, "Hey, we're all stranded here now. Why don't we use our energy thinking of a way out instead of fighting…?" Katara wasn't appeased.

"So it's my fault?"

"I knew we should have left you at home! Leave it to a girl to screw things up."

"Ouch, low blow…" Brooks muttered under his breath. Katara's face contorted with uncontrollable rage.

"You are the most sexist, immature, nutbrained… ugh… I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" She exploded, to the sound of cracking ice. The enormous chunk of ice behind her was cracking as it reacted to her water-bending! "Ever since Mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!"

"Uh… Katara?..." Both Brooks and Sokka whimpered.

"I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, NOT PLESANT!" She roared

"Katara, calm down!" Brooks pleaded.

"NO! That's it, I'm done helping you! From now on, you're on your OWN!" Katara concluded, as the huge chunk of ice split open, sending huge waves crashing over the three teenagers. It was all they could do to hold on as they were pushed further away.

As the water settled, Sokka looked at Katara. "Okay, you've gone from weird, to freakish Katara."

She looked back at him and asked, "You mean, -I- did that?"

"Yup, and it was totally awesome! I didn't know you could do that!" Brooks said to her grinning. Katara couldn't help to grin back at him too. Suddenly, a glowing light appeared in the water under them. Something was coming to the surface… and it was BIG.

A huge chunk of light blue ice burst through the waves, startling them. Inside, they could see two dark figures, a enormous one and a smaller one. "What…?" Brooks started to ask. Suddenly, the smaller one's eyes opened, to show two glowing orbs.

"He's alive! We have to help!" Katara cried, stealing Sokka's club from off his back. Brooks trailed off behind her, his own club slung over his shoulder.

"Wait, Katara! Brooks! We don't know what that thing is!" Sokka yelled after them, following.

Katara slung the club against the ice three times, before a mist burst out of the circular iceberg and a huge cylinder of white light burst from it.

Meanwhile, a dark metal ship dragged on through the cold waters of the South Pole. On the boat was a young man in dark red armor with lighter red trim and a scar burned onto his left eye. He ran his amber eyes over the light and muttered, "Finally… Uncle, do you realize what this means?" He asked, turning to a chubby old man behind him, playing a game on a small table along with a teapot.

"I won't get to finish my game?" The man asked.

"It means my search is about to come to an end." The old man sighed as the younger continued. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source. It has to be him!"

"Oh, it's just the celestial lights! We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing. Please sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming Jasmine tea?"

"I DON'T NEED ANY CALMING TEA! I NEED TO CAPTURE THE AVATAR!" Zuko snapped. "Helmsman! Head a course for the light!"

Katara, Sokka, and Brooks all huddle together as the small figure rose from the remains of the ice.

"Stop!" Sokka yelled, pointing his spear at the figure. The figure then seemed to faint and Katara rushed up to grab him. Brooks followed and looked down at the figure… that turned out to be a boy with the tattoo of an arrow on his head. Sokka poked the boy in the head with the butt of his spear and Katara and Brooks glared at him.

"Stop it, Sokka" Brooks said, turning back to the boy.

The boy opened his eyes and looked at Katara. "I need to ask you something. Please, come closer…" Katara leaned in closer and the boy said, suddenly awake, "Will you go penguin sledding with me!"

"Sure, I guess?"

The boy seemed to hover to his feet and looked around. "What's going on here?"
"You tell us!" Sokka replied. "Why were you in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?"

"I'm not sure…" the boy said, before looking like he remembered something and jumped back into the ice.

"Appa!" A small cry from within it.

The three walked around to be met with a huge furry thing being petted by the boy. "What is that thing?" Sokka asked staring at him.

"This is Appa, my flying bison."

"Right, and this is Katara, my flying sister." The bison put in his word by sneezing all over Sokka, who began rubbing his head on the ground.

"So, do you guys live around here?" The boy asked them.

"Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy!" Sokka glared at the boy.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy! You can tell by that evil look in his eye." Katara said sarcastically. "The paranoid one is my brother, and he's Brooks." Brooks waved at the boy, smiling. "You never told us your name?"

"I'm A-a-ahhhhhhhCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The boy sneezed and flew high into the air, before landing and continuing. "I'm Aang!"

"You just sneezed, and flew ten feet in the air!" Sokka cried, looking at him as if the world turned upside-down.

"Really? It felt higher than that."

"Wait… that means you're an Airbender!" Brooks said, grinning even wider.

"Sure am!" Aang replied, nodding.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, Airebenders, I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." Sokka turned to leave, before remembering he was stuck.

"If you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a ride?" Aang offered.

"Yeah! How often do you get to actually get to ride on a flying bison?" Brooks grinned.

After much coaxing on Brooks' and Katara's part, Sokka finally got on Appa. "Okay, first time flyers, hold on tight! Appa, yip-yip!" Aang snapped the reins and Appa launched himself into the air!... just to fall right back into the ocean.

"Wooow, that was impressive!" Sokka grumbled sarcastically, earning a piercing glare from Brooks and Katara.

"Appa just needs some rest, then he'll be flying through the air. You'll see!" Aang said to Katara, smiling. Katara smiled too and started to turn away before looking back. Aang was still smiling at her.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She asked him.

"Oh… was I smiling?" Aang replied, receiving a groan from Sokka and a spurt of laughter from Brooks.

Later that night, Brooks and Katara leaned over Appa's saddle. Katara looked at Aang and asked, "Hey, we were wondering, you being an Airbender and all, if you might have an idea about what happened to the Avatar?"

"Uhh… no, I didn't know him, I mean, I knew people who knew him, but I didn't, sorry."

Katara nodded and said, "Okay, night!"

"Night!" Aang replied.

Brooks smiled at him, but as he turned away, he thought caught a glimpse of a nervous frown on Aang's face.

Aang woke up to thunder cracking. He quickly grabbed Appa's reins as they both spiraled into the ocean, screaming. Suddenly, Aang's eyes began to glow, and the water around them began to freeze into a large chunk of ice…

"Aang, wake up!" Katara's voice broke through Aang's dream. He sat up quickly in a cold sweat. "Hey, are you okay…?" Katara asked him as he quickly got dressed.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Aang replied. Katara nodded and pulled him out of the tent and in front of a rather small crowd of people. They were all wearing blue parkas and they were all women, except for some of the children who were boys. Sokka was sitting away from the group, leaning on an igloo. Brooks was sitting on the igloo looking down at Aang with a curious, pondering look on his face. He slid off the igloo and landed next to Aang and asked him in an undertone, "Sleep well?"

Aang nodded as Katara introduced him to the village. "Aang, entire village. Entire village, Aang!" The people were looking at him with a look of almost fear on their faces.

"Why are they looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me again?" Aang asked, looking down at his clothes.

An old woman stepped forward and said, "Well none of us have seen an Airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct."

"Extinct?" Aang gasped, looking at the old woman as if she had just appeared out of thin air.

"Aang, this is Sokka and my grandmother." Katara explained to him.

"Call me Gran-Gran." The old woman grumbled.

Just then, Sokka came over and snatched away the staff that Aang was carrying. "What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this!"

"It's not for stabbing, it's for air-bending!" He then folded out large, orange wings that spread out from the staff. He then got under it and jumped off the ground and began to soar over the village. Below him, Brooks looked up and muttered, "I wish I could be him… Up there, among the clouds…"

Over in the distance, Aang spotted a huge group of penguins. "PEEENGUIN!" He yelled and began soaring off to catch one.

"Uh, Katara, I think we should probably go follow him, don't you think?" Brooks asked, looking over at the girl. Katara nodded and they both ran off after the flying boy.

Brooks and Katara found Aang rolling among the penguins attempting to catch one to ride.

"Hey Aang, I was wondering if you could help me with my water-bending?" Katara asked him after pulling him away from the penguins.

"You're a water-bender? Cool!" Aang said with a huge grin on his face. "Except the problem is that I'm an air-bender, not a water-bender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?"
"No. You're looking at the only water-bender in the entire South Pole…" Katara replied sadly.

"Oh... Well, what about the North Pole? Isn't there a Water Tribe up there?" Aang asked curiously.

"We haven't had word from the tribe at the North Pole for a very long time, Aang." Brooks said softly. "I got here about ten years ago when I was five, and they haven't had word since."

"Wait, you're not from this tribe?" Aang looked at Brooks, surprised. Brooks shook his head.

"No, he's not. He was brought to us after being found at sea five years ago by my father and the rest of the tribe. They never really told us where, though." Katara interjected.

"Well, Katara, if you want to find a teacher, Appa and I can take you to the North Pole!" Aang cried.

"I-I don't know… I've never left home before…" Katara said, speaking softly.

"I think it would be a great idea, Katara. You deserve to learn how to bend." Brooks said, turning towards her.

"Then it's settled! Katara, we're gonna find you a water-bending teacher!" Aang announced. "But first, can you help me catch a penguin?"

Katara smiled. "Very well, young one. The art of catching penguins is a ancient and unique art. Observe." She pulled a small fish out of her sleeve that she had concealed earlier and tossed it to Aang. The penguins were soon swarming around him again, burying him in a pile of black and white feathers.

After they had all caught a penguin, they were sledding down the hills at breakneck speeds. They were all laughing loudly as they sled through tunnels of sparkling, light-blue ice and snow. As they emerged from the last tunnel and slowed to a halt, they looked up. Encased in the ice was a large metal ship.

"What is that?" Aang asked softly.

"A Fire Navy ship." Katara answered. "And a dark memory for my people."

"Let's go explore it!" Aang yelled, darting after the plank leading onboard.

"Aang I don't think-" But it was too late. Aang had darted inside.

"We'd better get him." Brooks said. Katara just nodded, and they both headed onto the darkened ship after the Airbender.

Hope you all liked it! Sorry it took longer to complete than I thought. Please review this and rate. I'm only going to continue if I get some good reviews! If you all do that, I am planning on doing every episode of Avatar. Yes, that includes Korra.

Yours insanely,

Purechaosman