OMG LMNOP! :D I am UBER excited because someone is going to send me CYBER COOKIES! Well even if they're for my computer, they're still COOKIES! xD NOM NOM well anyways, there was one comment that particularly sparked my interest and it gave me a possible idea to use in this story...well enough said, enjoy! (NOTE: there IS a bit of a time skip a little later in this chapter, so don't be confused lol!)
~th3rdhal3~

"We've totally got this." Toph confidently encouraged everyone. "We've got em outnumbered, three on four!"

"Um actually Toph," Sokka stepped in, finally getting rid of his sleeping bag. "There's five of us." He corrected, pulling out his boomerang. Toph giggled briefly at her minor mistake.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't count you-you know, no bending and all." she shrugged it off,still smiling slightly. Sokka's eyebrows narrowed furiously as he glared at the small girl. His eyes bulged out and they were bloodshot; most likely from frustration and lack of sleep.

"I can still fight!" The Water Tribe boy protested. Despite the tension, it was a humorous moment for a short time. However, I couldn't bring myself to laugh.

Toph planted herself firmly on the ground, ready to face our three pursuers at any minute. My cousin's arms were up in tight fists at the ready, just how I had taught her. I knew deep inside that I, too, should show no sign of fear. But I highly doubted myself at that time.

Out of the corner of my eye, a figure who was not part of our group stood about ten yards to my left. His pants were torn up at the knees and his shirt was sleeveless. He wore a white headband which was tied in the back of his head. Brown, spiky hair spilled out everywhere. I didn't think the others could see him because even Sokka was looking in the same direction as me and hadn't said a word. The mysterious boy glanced up at me with stormy, gray eyes. He made his way over to the very edge of the peak and peered over the ledge to see the three girls making a beeline for us. The strange boy kept looking at me, the ledge, then our foes down below. Finally, he deepened his stance into that of an earth-bender's and pushed both fists out into the air before disappearing. I blinked, the boy was completely gone. It was then that I knew what I needed to do.

I hopped several feet forward, burying the flats of my feet into the earth. I threw my arms out in defense, almost locking them like the guy in my vision had done. I raised my fists as well as my upper body as I watched plates of rock emerge from within the peak, acting as a shield. Ha! I thought. Let's see them get through THAT!

A piercing, crackling sound followed by flashes pf blue light came from behind the wall. Within seconds, smoke and dust clouded the air after a loud impact. Once the air was clear, Azula, atop the lizard creature, burst through the hole she had created, followed by Mai and Ty Lee.

"Everyone on Appa!" Aang hollered, sounding the retreat. The others didn't need to be told twice. Mai galloped alongside her cohorts. She whipped her arm out, sending half a dozen arrows out from the insides of her robe at Toph. Fortunately for my cousin, she could hear the projectiles whistling through the air before reaching her. The blind girl rose up into the air, and the arrows missed, striking the rock she used to spring herself up with instead. Toph gracefully leaped of the boulder and into the sky bison's saddle with the rest of the gang.

"Karuna, let's go!" Sokka cupped his hands around his mouth. The three girls were so close then it was scary. Even in the dark, I could make out Azula's golden eyes staring into my very soul. The Fire Nation Princess drew her arm back, and I didn't need to stick around to find out what was going to happen next. Just as Aang snapped Appa's reins, I jumped up and grabbed hold of the side of the saddle; the beast was taking flight as I leaped, and had I been a second late I would have been a goner. I swung my body upward, starting at my torso down, to land inside the saddle when I heard something streak across the sky at me. I arched my back as the blue surge of light grazed my lower back and shoulder blade. I tumbled into the saddle moments later.

Down below, Azula cursed her luck silently; glaring up at us with hungry, sharp, eagle-eyes. Hunting, watching, waiting for the next encounter. The look in them still haunted me long after.

I gasped, lying up against the inside of the saddle. I felt my chest rise and fall rapidly. I could breathe now, I could rest. A sigh of relief came from behind my chapped lips. Katara rushed over to me immediately. "Are you okay?" She lifted me waist up, so that I was almost sitting, in a gentle and caring way. Her royal blue eyes were wide with concern.

"Moksha?" It came out as a breathy plea, and as soon as I realized what had just come out of my mouth, I wished I hadn't said it. For the sake of my dignity, I pretended to be dazed and confused for much longer than I actually was.

"Oh spirits, she's delirious!" The water-bender reported to the rest of the crew, over her shoulder.

"Katara, I'm fine." I reassured her, trying to sit up on my own. The darker skinned girl prevented me from making any sudden moves too quickly.

"I think you should just relax for now." She suggested. I wasn't about to argue either; she was most likely right anyway. I mean, I was almost blasted to bits by lightning only moments ago.

"She'll be okay," Toph spoke for me, a little behind Katara. "Right Sifu?" I managed to mumble a 'yeah kid' in response. "But what I want to know is, who were those three girls?" My cousin asked. She was lucky to never have encountered them before. But then again, Toph had dwelt in Gaoling her whole life and hadn't had the chance to run into anyone really dangerous who wasn't part of the Earth Kingdom.

"They're from the Fire Nation." Katara explained, still remaining at my side for some odd reason. "They're bad news, and it looks like they've been following us since Omashu. I guess they've joined Zuko in the hunt for Aang." She added darkly. My ears perked up and my eyes widened a tad. Zuzu? So they had run into him in their travels. I quickly replaced my awestruck expression with a bland poker-face. I wasn't sure how the gang would feel if they knew I was a friend of the banished prince.

"Who's Zuko?" Toph asked.

"Just some angry jerk with a ponytail." Sokka answered nonchalantly. I had to bite down on my lip to keep from laughing out loud. Katara placed her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow at her brother; there was a ponytail atop of Sokka's head too after all. "But seriously," he continued. "Now that we have those dangerous ladies on our trail as well, it's another complication on our hands. We need to speed it up with our mission or we're going to run into a lot of roadblocks." The Water Tribe boy had a valid point. We were already stressed for time as it was, and now there were even more enemies to deal with on the way. Aang needed to master the last two elements and fast.

"You're right, Sokka." I agreed with him. "But let's not stress about them too much otherwise they will win. The five of us can pull through-I mean, it can't get much worse from here."

(Time Skippppp! Just FYI)

The blazing, hot sun beat down upon the four of us. Sizzling sweat ran down the back of my neck. For miles around, the only thing visible was the golden sand which we stood upon. Only minutes ago, Aang, Katara, Sokka and I, barely escaped Wan Shi Ton's library with our lives. The wondrous place was now buried deep within the desert once more. We had exited victorious however. We had discovered that an eclipse were to happen sometime in the summer that would leave the fire-benders powerless; the perfect day for an invasion. But once we leaped out of the tower, Aang first, we had come to find that our sky bison friend was gone.

"Hey Karuna, remember that time you said, "it can't get much worse from here"?" My head was reeling. "I hate to break it to you, Sifu, but-"

"Now's not the best time, Toph." I gritted my teeth at my cousin. I had jinxed us for sure. My bad luck came to bite me in the ass again. Appa had been taken by sand-benders, and in a furry, Aang took off on his glider in search of them. I gazed off into the horizon, trying to follow the young Air Nomad, but I could no longer see him. "Why didn't you stop him?" I looked at Katara quizzically. She was our group's voice of reason. Her voice was very soft and a little sad.

"He's in pain. I had to let him go, otherwise- well it's not good to bottle everything up." She clarified. "He needs to let it all out." Katara was right like always. I didn't let her catch on to that fact, though.

I sank to my knees, the sand shifted and gave in a little. I sighed deeply and dramatically, shaking my head as I did so. "We're fucked." I stated blatantly. We were completely stranded in the middle of the desert.

Katara took a step towards me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Now, we're not." She reassured me.

"Katara," I glanced up into the Water Tribe girl's big, round eyes. "Appa's gone, and Aang is emotionally unstable." I argued. "What chance do you have?" There was a moment of silence between the two of us. And the whistling wind of the desert filled in the quiet gap.

"We do have a chance!" Katara emphasized the word. "You even said that the five of us will pull through. We're going to make it out of here alive." Determination sparkled in her deep, blue eyes. "But only if we keep hope alive." She added in a softer and inspiring tone. I shifted my gaze from the sand back to her and exhaled slowly. What other option did we have? We could only try. I had no desire to die in this wasteland. The darker skinned girl held out her hand to me. I still looked on hesitantly. "You've gotta trust me, Kar." She coaxed, using the new nickname the group had assigned for me. Trust. I almost snorted. I wanted to tell this girl exactly what I thought about trust. I wanted to tell her what happened the last time a girl asked me to trust her. But I couldn't. "Please?..." It was the first time I had heard the word the way it was supposed to sound: humble, sincere, and genuine. In all the times I had heard it spoken, never had I heard it like this time. It was this word, too, that swayed me. And in that moment, I started to believe again.

I reached up and grasped Katara's hand. She pulled me up to my feet, and there we stood level with each other. It amazed me that this girl had so much strength and drive within her. The fact that she simply wouldn't give up, even in the situation that we were in, was incredible. Of course, the moment soon ended when a fit of uncontrolled giggles came from Sokka. Katara whirled around. "What are you doing?" She scolded. Behind us, Sokka held part of a cactus which he had sliced open with his boomerang. "You shouldn't be eating strange plants!"

"Actually, it's very thirst quenching." He explained. All of a sudden, Sokka's pupils became tiny, and then his eyeballs themselves grew large. "Drink cactus juice," He said, wiggling his fingers at the plant in his hand. "It'll quench ya, nothing's quenchier. It's the quenchiest!" Katara reached out and snagged the cactus away from him. She poured the juice out onto the sand.

"I think you've had enough." Momo, who had been perched on Sokka's shoulder, took off in flight. But instead of flying in a straight path, the little lemur flew in tight circles only a few feet above our heads'. The small creature went faster and tighter until he was too dizzy to continue and dropped down on the sand. Katara put her head in her hands. Now we had too bozos to deal with. Whatever Sokka had and Momo had drank, it wasn't exactly good.

"Whoa," Sokka exclaimed, examining my cousin up close. "Who lit Toph on fire?" The cactus juice was definitely impairing his judgment. My cousin laughed slightly and grinned.

"Can I get some of that juice?"

Just then, what looked like a giant mushroom-cloud rose up from the ground out in the distance. From far away, it still looked pretty big. "Wow." Was all I could manage. Sokka stared at the mushroom cloud intently, and spread his arms wide open.

"It's a GIANT mushroom..." He marveled at the dust cloud. A huge, goofy grin overtook his face. "Maybe it's friendly!"

"Come on everyone, we need to start moving." Katara encouraged, helping guide Toph in the direction she decided we should head. "I just hope Aang's okay." she quietly added mainly to herself.

Sokka remained where he was at, still ogling at the cloud. "Friendly mushroom!" He began to move his arms in wave-like motions and then started swaying. "Mushy giant friend!" I grabbed him by the back of his tunic and dragged him behind me.

"Let's go, ponytail." Oh god this is gonna be torture...