Okay, let's pretend Katara learned bloodbending at the North Pole or something, because if I put Toph in here, she would have felt it, and Aang was more likely to go riding animals back in the first two seasons.

Dislaima: I don't own Avatar. Sadly.

Chapter 1

The sun was shining brightly through the treetops, making the forest floor glow. The creatures of the forest were suddenly coming to life, making the morning even more lively, and there was a nice breeze, hardly a cloud in the sky, and just the smallest bit of heat, that, when mixed with the coolness of the rest of the weather, added the perfect touch. It was a beautiful day, that, in Aang's mind, was full of possibilities.

And of course he had awoken first, as he always did, and his Water Tribe friends were still deep asleep, Sokka's snores accompanying the forest life. So the twelve year old boy just sat atop his sleeping bison's saddle, and stared into the forest. His senses took in everything, from the delicate scent of the fresh air, to the rays of sun that seemed to be moving, which they probably were, when he spotted something big and brown a little far into the woods, not too far but not too close to their campsite.

A saber toothed wolf-lion-bear.

A childish grin spread across his face. He had wanted to ride one of these since he was what? Seven? But he had never caught sight of one of the rare beasts. They were infamously hunted for their soft, but strong fur, their delicious meat, and their saber teeth.

I gotta hurry if I wanna catch him! Aang thought, looking down towards his sleeping friends. He decided he would let them rest. He wouldn't be gone very long, anyway. So with that, he grabbed his staff, slammed it against Appa's saddle, which brought it into glider form, and took to the skies. He flew around for a minute or so until he finally spotted it. Then, he quietly descended, landing without a sound behind the animal.

Sneaking up on it, he got a running start, and began to jump onto the giant animal's back [AN: Which was, say, about ¾ of Appa's size] , and was in mid-air when the wolf-lion-bear turned around, and clamped down onto the boy, it's saber teeth impaling his stomach. He screamed out in pain, his voice ringing through the forest.

!

Back at the camp, Katara slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes, as did her brother. "Was that…" Katara said, looking around the camp, to find no- "Aang? AANG!" she yelled, discovering who the scream must have belonged to. She jumped up out of her sleeping bag, pulling on her shoes and saying, "Sokka, I'm going to go find Aang." The already sleeping Sokka replied with a snore.

!

The angry wolf-lion-bear began playing with its food, thrashing a bleeding, barely conscious Aang around, whacking him against the ground. The airbender's clothes were stained with his own blood, the yellows and oranges a nasty red. He hardly found the strength to groan everytime he was thrashed around.

The pain was surging through his body, the animal's teeth slowly going farther and farther into his body, the thrashing, the whacking, hitting, biting, was almost too much. He tried to slide himself off of the saber teeth, only to bring him more pain. He soon discovered why the animal was so angry…He couldn't get him off of his tooth.

Katara was running through the forest, following the sounds, and soon enough, her eyes met the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. Her best friend was being thrown around, his small, bloody body deeply impaled by some huge animal she had never seen before. Blood was rushing out of his head, mouth, and stomach, and he seemed to be barely hanging onto life.

Her mind was racing. What was she supposed to do? There wasn't really any water around at the moment, and her small skin of water wasn't going to be enough to take this thing down without hurting Aang. Crap, she thought, But if it means saving Aang, then…

The water bender raised her arms to the sky, concentrating on the animal in front of her. The beast was charging towards her, Aang still in it's grasp. Before it could stampede over her, it was frozen in it's tracks. Seeing as the animal was confused, Katara slightly smiled, still scared out of her mind for her and her friend, mad at herself for having to do this, but somewhat proud that she was able to save Aang, and said, "Never met a bloodbender, huh?"

She closed one hand into a fist, and lowered the other, so that the animal was laying down. Now came the hard part. While bending the wolf-lion-bear's blood towards the ground, she also blood bended the child off of the animal's giant saber tooth and next to her. She hated having to blood bend. It just felt wrong to be in control of someone else.

She released her hold on the animal, and it ran off, having no idea as to what had just over taken it. Katara hurriedly picked up the boy and rushed off to the camp. His breathing was rapid, and his eyes were barely open. He was conscious, but just barely, and didn't really know what was going on. Blood was pouring out of him, and he had a lot of bruises. Katara wondered how he was still alive.

Next Chappy comin' soon! I promise. Kinda. Haha. Hope you enjoyed!