A/N: As before, all licensed characters belong to their rightful owners. I own nothing but my imagination.
The Fire Nation ship rested off the shore of the island. It had made it far enough to stop, just before the boilers gave up. Until they could be fixed, they were stuck.
Zuko had stomped off to his room in a foul temper at this newest delay in their progress. Uncle was out on-deck with a cup of ginseng tea, calmly watching the waves beat gently against the sandy beach.
"Mm…" he took a sip of the tea, savoring the taste of the drink. "Such delicious tea – if only my nephew were able to appreciate it better…" he sighed quietly at the memory of Zuko's fierce obstinacy.
Ah, well, Zuko is young, Iroh told himself. There is still plenty of time for him to learn of the better things in life.
Iroh took another drink of tea, enjoying the faint, cool evening breeze.
He blinked mildly as something rustled the brush at the edge of the island's jungle.
He blinked again, eyes widening in amazement as a bizarre creature came shuffling ponderously out of the trees and along the beach.
The creature had a small, narrow head on a thin neck – that connected to a massive, bulky body, with two rows of kite-shaped plates running up its back and down the tail. At the end of the tail were four large bony spikes that were undoubtedly weapons.
It was nearly thirty feet long, and stood nearly twelve feet high at the hips; its forelegs were shorter than its hind-legs, and consequently the animal's head was only about a meter off the ground.
The Stegosaurus was rather colorful, with its legs and belly a shade of yellowish-green; the scales higher up on its body were a darker shade of green, with the plates on its back being a dark red, tipped with a dash of black at the edges.
Iroh stared in disbelief at the ridiculous-looking animal, as it slowly plodded along the length of the beach. Eventually it disappeared out of his line of sight.
The old noble gazed at his teacup, a somber expression on his face.
"Such a pity," he stated wistfully, "This tea appears to have gone bad."
With great ceremony, he sadly emptied the tea over the side of the ship, and returned to his quarters.
Evening was falling on the island now.
Since the herd of giant long-necked creatures, Aang and his friends had seen a few other bizarre animals out and about:
Flocks of two-legged lizard-like animals; swift and bird-like despite their scales, they darted about across the plains or skirted the edge of the forests. There were different types of these creatures: one group of the creatures, uniformly green with darker spots, were nearly as tall as Sokka, while a different flock of similar-looking creatures (these ones were beige-colored with a thick blue stripe on each flank) were only half as high as Aang. Chirping faintly, the Hypsilophodon and Dryosaurus darted in and out of sight amongst the vegetation.
A herd of beasts, each one almost as big as Appa, had lumbered through the plains. They looked almost like the komodo-rhinos of the Fire Nation, except that instead of lizard's claws they had thick, elephant-like feet. They had a large, bony frill at the back of their skull, protecting their neck; and instead of a lizard's snout, they had a parrot's beak for a mouth. Their hides a pale brown, mottled with light yellow splotches, the Triceratops had gone on their way, far enough from the camp for Aang and Katara to safely admire their size and majesty.
Sokka wasn't nearly as happy as they were.
He anxiously checked their firewood supplies, hoping they had enough to keep a fire going through the night.
As he prodded the coals with a stick, he wondered just what was wrong with his sister and the Avatar. Didn't they realize what kind of dangers might be out on this island?
This place was full of animals that none of them had ever seen before, let alone heard of. And some of them were even huger and more of a gigantic monster than Appa.
Didn't they realize that there had to be something out in those woods that ate those giant creatures?
Just what kind of predators were out and on the prowl for an easy snack right now?
As the sun sank out of sight and dusk turned to dark, this worry lingered in his mind, and he worked to keep the fire going as long as possible.
"Don't worry, Sokka," Aang cheerfully tried to reassure him, "We've got Appa here to protect us, right boy?" The giant white bison rolled onto his side, and rumbled deeply in answer.
Sokka wanted to retaliate with his theory about predators hunting the giant creatures, but decided not to risk an argument, and so he grumpily crawled into his sleeping bag, and watched the campfire gradually die down and the coals turn to ash.
During the night, occasional noises would drift out of the jungle: insects buzzing, a distant rustle of brush, animals calling…
Sokka, despite his concerns, eventually closed his eyes and slept.
The sound of Momo chittering loudly woke up Katara.
Aang was already awake, trying to soothe the lemur, who was hissing in agitation, his fur puffed up and eyes wild.
"What's wrong with Momo?" the waterbender asked in concern as she climbed out of her sleeping bag.
"I don't know!" Aang looked at her with worry, "I think something's got him spooked, but I don't know what!"
"Whuhshappenin?" Sokka mumbled blearily as he sat up, boomerang in hand. "Issit Fire Nation again?"
They all froze as they suddenly heard a noise in the darkness of the landscape around them: a rustling of ferns, a soft-but-heavy tread of animal footsteps… cautiously prowling right towards their camp.
Suddenly wide-awake, Sokka frantically scrambled out of his sleeping bag and worked to get a torch lit. Aang brought out his airbending staff, his eyes wide and afraid; Katara checked her waterbending flask, and wished for the thousandth time that she knew some combat forms.
The tread drew closer, before it suddenly stopped. But now, they could better hear a new sound: a low, rumbling sound that rose and fell in pitch.
It was the breathing of whatever was out there, in the darkness just outside their camp.
"Come on, come on!" Sokka muttered frantically, working to strike the flint together on the torch that he had rapidly scrapped together.
"Yes!" he whooped as sparks flew from the rocks, and managed to ignite the pitch on the end of the torch. Flames blazed to life, and Sokka boldly held up the flaming brand to fend off the predator-
Only to scream as the flames illuminated the beast, standing not five feet from the ruins of their campfire.
The creature let out a hoarse shriek – almost like the howl of a giant wolf – as it was suddenly confronted with the torch's light.
It was taller than Sokka was, standing about two meters high on powerful legs ending with bird-like claws. It was reptilian like all the other creatures on this island; a thick, crocodilian tail lashed in agitation, and it spread little, clawed arms wide in a posture of fury.
The creature had a large head, with a horn on the end of its snout and a short, bony crest above each eye. It roared again, loud and shrill, as it opened its mouth – showing off long fangs like daggers – and prepared to lunge.
Sokka shrieked, eyes bulging at the sight of the creature's toothy maw, open wide enough to bite his head off.
"SOKKA!" Katara didn't think, she just reacted. The cap exploded from her water-skin, and a powerful spray erupted forth as she lashed out with her waterbending; the powerful jet of water arcing over her brother's head and striking the predatory beast right in the mouth.
The creature's roar turned into a pained screech as it was staggered by the torrent of water.
Aang launched a powerful gust of airbending at the creature, knocking it onto its side and sending it sliding further back from their camp.
Sokka snapped out of his frozen state of panic and ran to stand behind the Avatar and his sister for protection.
Bedraggled and confused, the Ceratosaurus shook its head to clear away remaining water, clearly deciding that it would look for an easier meal elsewhere. It let out a final screech, clambered to its feet, and swiftly retreated away from the campsite and into the jungle.
Aang, Katara and Sokka all watched its departure, until the beast was well and truly out of their line of sight.
None of them spoke for a long moment. Finally, Sokka broke the silence.
"I love you, Katara," he threw his arms around his sister, and she returned the hug too, deeply relieved that her brother was alright.
For a moment, the two siblings enjoyed the hug. And then…
"And a big, fat help you were, Mr. Sky-Bison!" Sokka suddenly, angrily snapped at Appa, who had slept through the whole tense encounter.
The great white bison merely rolled over, and continued to slumber through Sokka's outrage.
