Okiie this is my first fanfic ..ok ok...u can laugh but u can also tell me wut is wrong with the fic so i can improve. (my teachers never taught me anything that we keep me writing at my age. (dun ever move to New York they have bad public shools! (woah! paranthesis in paranthesis...thats illegal in writing ..o wells. Haku..doesn't dat seem familiar? yes he is from Spirited Away but i didn't steal him . i am not claiming him as my character so fans..plz dun accuse me of stealing. i juss love the name Haku and i juss love his dragon form so this story is dedicated to my frends who love Spirited Away and Avatar at the same time lolz ...well enjoy my awful fic :P

Dragon Scales

''C'mon you slowpokes! The river awaits!'' Aang shouted cheerfully behind him. It was such a beautiful day. No thundering clouds, no flooding rain, no biting winds, no nothing. The blue sky smiled down benignly down at the trio. And the sun was shining brightly in the sky.

''Aang! Wait!..'' Katara panted from behind. Sokka was already pooped from climbing the sloping hill. He was breathing heavily and had his hands on his knees for support. Aang stopped running and looked back to see two tired watertribers leaning back and taking the cool refuge of Appa's shadows.

''C'mon guys! This is the most beautiful and largest river in the world!''
''You rather set camp here on the hills?''

''Yea, we..love it here…''Sokka said in a sarcastic tone.

However, this got Katara interested. '' Is this the famous Chin Soo River you've been talking about?''

'' Yep'', Aang said proudly. ''The largest, deepest, safest and not to mention cleanest in the world!.''

'' Wow.'' Katara said with widen eyes.

''I always used to play in the river with my friends, Akira and Haku and-….''

Aang stopped talking abruptly. His cheerful emotions felt it has been corrupted with something painful. Akira and Haku..they were born over a hundred years ago…and cannot possibly be alive like him. ''But I survived!'' a voice in his head cried. Aang hung his head. Tears was forming behind his eyes. He tried to block them out. ''But they're not the Avatar…they are not like me..'' He said to himself. Katara's smile faded when she saw Aang's face fall. She saw his eyes begin to water. Then she finally understood.

'' I know you miss them but there is nothing you can do.'' Katara said soothingly.

Aang sniffed and blinked back the rest of the tears. ''Yea..I know.'' Aang thought he'd be a little less emotional about his friends in the past. He missed getting into mischief with his Fire Nation friend, Kuzon. And he now figured out that another two of his friends weren't existing in this world anymore.

''Shall we make camp at the river?'' a voice asked behind them.

Aang and Katara jumped. They forgot that Sokka was with them. He obviously wanted them to snap out of their thoughts.

''It's ok Aang, We got your back.'' Sokka smiled beside his sister and she grinned back in return. Now Aang remembered how he could cope with these emotions. He always had Katara or Sokka to cheer him up. Aang answered back with a fresh smile. His happiness was flooding back and filling in his chest.

Momo chirruped as flew passed them and towards the river.

''Hey! That's not fair! You got a head start!'' Aang cried and he started racing the lemur.

Katara and Sokka was relieved to drive Aang into happiness again and they ran up the hill after them. Appa hurrying along in their wake.

(bottom of the slope on the other side of the hill)

Momo was getting to the river first. He was determined to beat Aang so he can gloat his victory of something he won. But when hearrived to the bottom of the hill. The lemur noticed the sudden drop of temperature. Momo chirped in a confused fashion and landed on the grassy slope. This isn't how Aang described the Chin Soo River. It was warm on nice days and was always beautiful no matter what season it was. He also described the wildlife resting there. The lemur was even more confused. Has Aang been lying to him? There was no sunlight hitting the river or its banks. The river was covered with a blanket of thick fog. Shivers went up in the lemur's spine. The river looked ghostly and deserted. No sunlight. No wildlife. No sounds except for the silent lapping of the river. What's going on?

Momo heard footsteps behind him and alerted the lemur of the arrival of his owner.

''Aww man…you got here firs-..Hey wha-? What's wrong with you?'' Aang asked, bemused by the lemur's behavior. Momo bolted straight to Aang and hid behind his back. His tail and fingers clinging tightly to Aang clothes. Something obviously freaked Momo out. Aang tore his eyes from Momo to the river. His jaw dropped slightly.

His first question was, What happened here? And second was, Where is all the life? Animals? Sunshine?. He didn't notice the sudden absence of sunlight until now. And why did it get a bit chilly? What's going on? So many questions filled inside his head. Yet none of them were answered.

Aang stared out to the river. His eyes were scanning the surface of the river. He was hoping to have these questions answered by discovering the problem. But he can see nothing..just..fog. The blanket seemed endless.

''Aang?'' Katara asked cautiously. Aang haven't noticed their presence entering the bottom of the slope but he didn't jump. His body was motionless but his eyes were quickly scanning the vast river for anything suspicious. Silence followed behind him. Katara and Sokka was obviously awed by the eerie sight in front of their eyes.

Then Aang saw something. Near the bank. The figure was almost obscured by the layer of cloud. Aang approached it cautiously. Momo slipped off his back and ran to Katara to cower in her arms. Katara and Sokka hung back. They didn't want to get near the figure.

Aang was advancing ..nearer..and nearer, until he can make out what the figure was. It was a person. The person didn't look up when Aang was close enough to see him a bit more clearly. He had his arms around his legs and face buried in knees. Aang could make out his apparel and hair. His hair was darkish green or brownish or green and ackss!…Aang couldn't make up his mind. His clothes were white and darned in several places. Then he saw something familiar. A pendant was hanging sideways from the boy's neck . It was dangling slightly off the boy arm. It was shiny and was slightly bigger then Momo's hands. The chain didn't hold a jewel or anything precious looking...

No..It held a dragon scale! Aang gasped.

…… Haku?...