Aang's Rampage

Chapter One:

Eccentric Old Men

"Are you sure this guy can help me?" Aang asked Katara while pointing to the rash on his ribcage, which had popped up randomly about two hours ago.

"The villagers here said he's famous for curing strange things." Katara replied, slipping a knapsack onto her back.

Sokka and Toph sat on a small rug, Toph snuggling next to Sokka as she always did. "How long do you think it'll take you guys?" Sokka piped up

Katara thought for a moment, "With Appa, we should be there by tonight. So about a day or two, I suppose."

Sokka shrugged and sat back against the wall. "Whatever. We'll explore the village a little while you're gone."

The group had stopped to rest by a small forest, which they found out later, was inhabited by an earth village. An extremely small one. There were probably no more than twenty or thirty people living there. Still, they were welcoming and as Toph described it, it was "quite cozy".

The funny thing was that Appa had to sleep on the outskirts, since he was bigger than the 'town' itself. They had stone houses,( a few empty ones incase rare travelers dropped by), and a bizarre, which was located in a tree house just above the head house, selling only clothing, food and little toys bent from rock and clay.

Although it was small, everyone seemed happy, and they had a messenger, who went out to hear gossip about the war. They were secluded, but wanted to be safe. There was no crime or murdering here, and it reminded Katara of the South Pole. She smiled, unknowingly, but her attention was diverted back to Aang.

"You must've fell in something. Can you remember stumbling into some shrubs or anything?" she asked him

Aang stared at the ground in thought. "Well... not really. Wait! I was practicing some funny earth bending tricks and fell off of Appa and into a bush! It had some purple berries on it." Aang said

Katara raised an eyebrow. "Did you eat any of these berries?"

"No. But I did smash some when I fell in." Aang confessed

"Then it probably was the berries." Katara concluded as she climbed onto Appa.

Aang yelled the usual 'Appa, Yip yip!' and the bison flew away.

They had been traveling for but a few hours when Appa came upon some rocky hills. Katara's sleepy blue eyes looked down at the map and she immediately woke up. "Aang, that's it!" she pointed towards the rocks.

"Great! I'll be cured in no time." Aang yelled happily

Appa landed on a large cliff while Aang and Katara walked on, finding a small 'dent' in the rocks. It was too small to be an actual cave, but it was large enough to hold a one story house fit for one person.

Katara knocked on the door shyly. She heard a grumpy voice within.

"What, I build my house on a gosh darn cliff and I still don't get any privacy?! How do those villagers always know where I am?"

He practically threw open the door, preparing to yell at Katara, but stopped. "Well, hello there." his grumpy expression was replace with a warm grin. "It's been a while since Ah had such a pretty youth visit meh." he looked up and put his finger on his chin in a thoughtful expression, "Exactly thirty-two years. Now what's wrong with yah? Yah look purty healthy tah me."

Katara blushed and back away a bit. For such an old-looking man, his features were intimidating. He had eyes as shiny and black as coals, he had a crooked nose and very chapped lips. He was about as wrinkled as a basset hound. And he wore only a torn white sash over his thin body. White hair stuck out in every direction from his head, as did his beard from his chin.

The scariest feature was that his fingers were long, and so were his nails. They looked like the kind that would reach out from under something and grab you.

"Um... a-actually, it's me." Aang piped up, pointing to his ever-growing rash.

The old man simply shook his head. "Yah city slickers. Just landed on some faffleberries, eh? Were they long 'n' purple?" he leaned towards Aang's head.

"Yeah!" Aang remembered.

"Just as Ah thought. Come on in." he gestured and the two children hardly hesitated.

The old man went into a back room, which Katara could see he had a lot of medicines and scrolls. He certainly seemed knowledgeable for an old man.

Aang and Katara sat at a table staring at a thick formula, which was supposedly supposed to be tea. Aang had already removed his shirt and waited for the old man.

He returned with a teal colored lotion contained in a bottle. "Rub this on yah. The rash'll heal in no time." he said, handing Aang the bottle. "Say... you must be tha Avatar, huh?"

"Yes, sir!" Aang replied furiously rubbing the lotion onto his ribcage.

"Don' call me that. Name's Kone. What might yah'll's be?" he asked

"My name is Katara, and this is Aang. We're traveling, so Aang can learn all the elements. Well... I guess he already has." Katara laughed a bit.

Katara could've sworn she saw Kone smirk. But her mistrust quickly faded. He was just smiling. "That's good. Somebody's gotta protect us cowards." he joked

"Yup. We're about to make a move on the Fire Nation." Aang said

"Really. That's interestin'." he mused

"I don't mean to be a burden," Katara piped up, "but can we stay here for the night? We're staying at a small village and I don't think we'll be able to find them in this dark."

Kone sighed. "Sure yah can. Ah can understand. Ah know how small they're village is, 'cause they wanna be this secluded li'l group. Geeze, Ah couldn't have any normal neighbors, could Ah?" the old man waved his arms and walked into his room.

He peaked his head back out. "That room behind yah is mah guest room. Sort of, at least there's a bed in there. G'night." he waved and closed his door.

"He sure is trusting." Aang pointed out, poking at the sticky lotion.

Katara nodded, as the two of them went into the guest room.

That night, Katara woke up extremely hungry. 'Gee, I didn't each much during the day...' she realized.

Quietly, she snuck out of the room to find a small snack in her knapsack she had left on Appa's back. Suddenly she heard a voice.

"Whatcha doin' up so late, girl?" Kone asked suspiciously.

Katara jumped, startled by his surprisingly calm voice. "Sorry, I got hungry. Did I wake you? I was trying to be as quiet as possi..."

"Stop talkin'." he ordered "Hmm... Look up at me."

Katara reluctantly made eye contact with him. He laughed a bit before speaking again. "You're a powerful Water Bender. Ah can tell. See, Ah was born with this special gift. Ah look intah people's souls an' ah can tell what kind of bender they are an' how powerful. Neat, huh?" he smiled

"Yeah. I am a Water Bender!" Katara confirmed his assumptions.

"That's nice. But see, I get a little bored up here. So Ah need tah ask you a question..." he moved closer to Katara

Katara did not answer, but merely gulped. Kone laughed. "It's nothin' like that li'l lady. I just want to know..."

Katara was afraid now. He had cornered her. "Think yah can hold your own against the Avatar?" he let out an evil laugh, and gave her a twisted smirk that would scare Zuko.

First Chapter. I know I started off slow, but it will get better.

BTW, this was based off a freaky dream I had. I thought the plot was very excellent and ironic for a dream, and made it into a fanfiction.

(Yes, said dream did star the Avatar characters. Therefore, the story would not be right if I used any other show).