Chapter 21: Defeated Aang

While walking down the Fire-Nation section in the Zoo, I marveled at the various beasts, most of which I'd never seen, not even from what I could remember from the show. However, something I quickly noticed was that beasts with fur, feathers, and scales tended to have a reddish color, which I assumed signified their relation to fire, while the beasts from the Water Tribe section were usually either blue or white.

Of course, that wasn't true for every beast, as there were still several beasts with different colored bodies, ranging from blue, brown, and green; just the majority of beasts tended to have a reddish color.

Along the way, I happened to see an employee of the Zoo inside of the enclosures; he was holding a bucket of fish before grabbing one and throwing it into the air, causing several Messenger Hawks to suddenly shoot out from their various hiding spots, lunging towards the fish, yet in the end, only one managed to catch the fish.

The other Hawks, rather than looking ready to fight over the fish, returned to their previous spots while intently eyeing the employee, who tossed another fish into the air, causing the process to repeat until every Messenger Hawk had a fish. With every Hawk satisfied with their meal, the employee dumped the rest of the fish onto the ground before exiting the enclosure, leaving the Hawks to dine on the remaining food.

"They seem well trained." Said Aang lightly, his words causing Gyatso to nod with a faint smile.

"Messenger Hawks are rather easy to tame and, like most creatures, are heavily motivated by food, so they make for perfect long-distance communication." Remarked Gyatso lightly with a glint as he looked at the Hawks before following behind Aang, who continued down the path.

"Did your friend tell you that, Monk Gyatso?" Asked Aang curiously while gazing at a lion vulture, a beast that was a cross between a lion and a vulture, making it a formidable opponent in both air and land.

"Hoho, lucky guess. You're right; my friend gave me a Messanger Hawk so we could communicate with each other." Replied Gyatso with a soft chuckle while nodding, causing Aang to hum in response.

"So then, your friend is most likely of Fire Nation origins, I presume?" Asked Aang as he glanced at Gyatso, who raised an eyebrow before nodding with furrowed brows.

"That's quite astute of you, Aang." Muttered Gyatso lightly as he gave Aang a slightly suspicious look, only to shake his head while sighing.

I didn't respond to Monk Gyatso and simply nodded while observing every beast we came across. Just like in the previous section, there were many beasts, such as the Toucan puffin, Raven eagle, Two-headed fish, Turtle crab, Iguana seal, Flying dolphin fish, Jackalope, Goat gorilla, and Ostrich horse. 

Those are merely to name a small select few; I could name probably a hundred. That was just how expansive this Zoo was, and while I don't remember the zoo from my past life, I find it hard to imagine it could've been larger than this. However, after a while, we eventually reached the end and headed towards the Air Temple section, though since I've lived there for my whole life already, Monk Gyatso and I merely gave it a quick once over before ending our adventure in the Zoo with the Earth Kingdom section, and just like previous, we also gave it a quick once over, after all, during our two-month journey, we've spent a lot of nights in the wilderness.

"So, what do ou think, Aang? Impressive?" Asked Gyatso curiously with a raised eyebrow as he glanced at Aang with a faint smirk.

"Yes, it was quite fascinating, and the beasts were held in a far better environment than I expected; I had prepared myself for the worst, but, thankfully, it seems like it was for naught." Replied Aang with a slight smile as he glanced at Gyatso before gazing back at the zoo they walked out of.

"Hmm, you're sounding rather pessimistic, Aang; that's not usually like you." Remarked Gyatso lightly with a faint frown as he intently eyed Aang, who shook his head.

"You've taken me on this trip, Monk Gyatso, and during this time, I've come to experience the other side of humanity, the cruelty and darkness that we're capable of, yet even so, I've only seen what I believe to be the tip of the iceberg. It's only natural that the way I view the world would alter after witnessing all that stuff; I'm sure you must've been the same when you were in my position." Declared Aang solemnly with a defeated sigh while shaking his head before glancing at Gyatso, who opened his mouth only to sigh.

"Haa, I had been enjoying myself a little too much. I had forgotten why I had taken you with me." Muttered Gyatso lightly with a slightly downcast expression as he lowered his head.

"Though I would like to add that while I may have prepared myself for the worst, I had hoped for the best; rather than being pessimistic, I've become more realistic of the world." Said Aang softly with a faint smile as he looked to his right, eyeing a faucet sticking out from the ground.

Sneakily moving my hands, I created a vortex stream from the tip of the faucet until it was in front of Monk Gyatso, essentially creating a hose using air; thankfully, I didn't have to wait long as a child happened to pump the faucet, causing water to swiftly flow through my vortex stream before splashing Monk Gyatso in the face.

"Be careful, Monk Gyatso, children can be quite messy." Said Aang with a faint smile as he waved his hand, dispersing the vortex stream while gazing at Gyatso, who blankly glanced at him.

"Haa, so this is what it feels like to be pranked." Muttered Gyatso with a smile as he touched fists together before releasing a mighty yet short-lived gust of air that quickly dried him off.

"So, my young prankster, where shall we head next?" Asked Gyatos curiously as he glanced at Aang, who furrowed his brows with a thoughtful expression.

"Hmm, why not the Market? I imagine it'll be over quickly, seeing as neither of us needs anything from there; besides, I'd like to visit it when it's still morning. Don't wish to deal with crowds of Earth Kingdom citizens; they can be quite blunt and hard to deal with, physically and mentally." Replied Aang as he tapped his chin before eventually glancing at Gyatso, who chuckled while nodding.

"Hoho, I see you're not having fun walking through a bustling city." Said Gyatso with a smirk as he grabbed his bo-staff off his back, quickly turning it into a glider as he flew into the air with Aang following closely behind.

"No, not particularly; being pushed around by adults because I'm too small isn't the best feeling." Remarked Aang in slight annoyance as he folded his arms while sitting on his bo-staff, causing Gyatso to chuckle.

After a quick flight above the city, Monk Gyatso and I landed just outside the start of Earth market, and just by looking at the number of people, I was having second thoughts about going in there, but since we were already present, I figured we might as well get this over with.

'Not every experience will be good, but it'll be one I can learn from.' Mused Aang as he took a deep breath before entering the Earthmaket place with Gyatso following behind, their figures quickly disappearing amongst the bustling crowd.

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Hanging my head, I sighed in defeat while walking alongside Gyatso, who couldn't stop laughing at how pathetic and miserable my situation was, which only caused me to sigh once more.

"Haha, c-cheer up, Aang, it's not t-that bad." Said Gyatso with laughter as he looked at Aang, who merely gave him a blank look.

"I'll cheer up when you can speak without laughing." Remarked Aang, yet he couldn't even finish speaking when Gyatso started laughing once more.

We had long since exited from the Earth market, and that was, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst forty minutes of my life; never before had I been treated like such, and just remembering it caused me to subconsciously shiver. I wasn't even angry at how I was treated; I was just defeated; that's all I felt.

'I deeply regret my decision.' Thought Aang with a sigh as he looked towards the ground in complete defeat.

Grabbing my glider, I quickly lifted myself into the air as I headed back towards Appa; after what I had just experienced, I needed someone to cheer me up, and the perfect person was the one and only.

"Where are you, Hehe, going Aang?" Asked Gyatso with a suppressed laugh as he quickly caught up to Aang, who gave him another blank look, causing him to burst into laughter.

Ignoring Monk Gyatso as he laughed to his heart's content, after a few minutes, I arrived at my destination and saw Appa sleeping on the metallic platform, causing me to land right beside him as I lay against his large and fluffy body.

'I'm already feeling better.' Mused Aang lightly as he drowned out Gyatso's laughter.