Chapter three: Welcome to the zoo
Disclaimer: I think it's a little ridiculous putting a disclaimer in front of every single chapter, so I'll put it in front of every other chapter. I don't own Avatar, nor, in all likelihood, I ever will.
"I'm hungry," whined Momo. The little simian had been removed from Appa's cage and transferred to a smaller one. Unfortunately, it wasn't very far away. "I'm hungry," he said again. Momo had been repeating this phrase every 30 seconds for the last six hours. Appa had been trying hard not to loose patience with him. He knew Momo must be very distraught about the whole cage thing. Appa was annoyed with it, but compared to being in an iceberg for a hundred years; the cage was a luxurious hotel.
Night had fallen on the camp. The fire burned low on the wood, scattering shadows against the metal boxes that circumferenced the clearing. There were more cages than Appa could count (but then again, he couldn't count very high) some big, some small, and one even had a blanket of sorts covering it. Soft moans and calls came from them, filled with longing and despair.
"I'm hungry."
"Momo, hush!" the bison's patience was gone, chiseled away over the past six hours, "I'm sure you're keeping everyone else awake."
"Oh, no. We never sleep night. Sleep the day, when they watching."
Appa turned around (a task not easy in his small cage) to peer at the exhibit where the voice had come from. A reptilian figure could barely be made out in the dim light.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
"Wake now," the voice was breathy, half a hiss, "sleep later. Sleep when they watching."
Appa didn't like the voice, it reminded him too much of a snake, but he was incredibly curious about the stranger's words.
"Who watches?"
The stranger made a sound like a sneeze, and replied, "Who you think? The people. The people watch."
"You mean, like in a zoo?" Momo asked.
"Course. That's what dis is, zoo."
"I was afraid of that," stated Appa.
"What are we going to do?" Momo was scared, his voice even higher than usual.
"Don't fret," said Appa confidently, "I'm sure Aang will find us."
The shadowy creature made the sneeze-like sound again, and Appa realized it was a laugh.
On the other side of the clearing, in the Ringmaster's tent, Tanzo and Leizuy were deep in discussion. Their voices were low, so no one else would hear them, but they were no less urgent.
"Tanzo, I want us to leave as soon as possible. Tomorrow would be good."
"Um, sir, ah, well, I don't think that's going to be possible. You see, all the boats are booked for weeks, we'll have to wait for a month at least until a boat can give us passage," Tanzo cringed, as if expecting an outburst from his master.
Instead, Leizuy sighed, and said, "We can't wait that long. We'll just have to book passage on-" Leizuy shuddered in disgust, "on that filthy pirate ship. We'll leave the day after tomorrow. I've made arrangements for the merchant to meet us with the last of the Four."
Tanzo bowed, and then exited the tent.
Leizuy sat down on his cot, all alone in the big tent. Sneering, he plotted aloud to himself, "After all this time, I can finally get revenge on that fool of a Fire Lord. Soon, no one will stand in my way. Soon…"
Alright, so far it's only been about Appa and Momo, but the more we go along, the more exciting it'll be. Oh, and in chapter seven I'm planning this HUGE battle scene, it's going to be so awesome. So at least keep reading until then, and if you still don't like, then you can throw a bag of week old meatloaf at me.