"Momo spoke quietly, "Child, we must run away into the wilderness," and for himself, he added, "And survive on nuts and berries..." He paused.
"...And human flesh."
Aang turned and looked upon the small lemur and replied, "But... I'm a vegetarian..."
"Then," Momo said, "You must become the human flesh that I survive on."
Aang sat in the grass, holding his head. "Then," Aang began. he then looked up at Momo, a crazed expression on his young face, "I shall become carnivorous!"
"No..." Momo's eyes were wide with deep fear, "No... NO!"
Aang's tattoos and eyes began to glow, but not the usual bluish hue. This time, they were a shade of red, the color of blood and tearing flesh. He looked at Momo hungrily. His voice layered with the thousands of Avatars before him covering his own, he shouted, "FEED ME!"
Momo turned around, starting to run, but he turned his head and said, "...Creep."
The boy's eyes stopped glowing, and he descended to the ground, falling into the grass, fainted. After a couple seconds, he looked up at his pet lemur, saying, "Ugh, Momo, I just had the strangest dream..."
Momo ran over to his master and stroked Aang's forehead, "I will... For you are my only... Creeper... With... A brain."
Aang closed his eyes, sighing. He loved when Momo stroked his forehead, especially on his arrow. It calmed him. He pulled the small lemur into a hug. "Yes... I have a brain, though it is feeling quite strange after it got fried along with all of my other internal organs. It's...ticklish. Continue stroking, dear pet."
"And," Momo struggled to say, "I have a confession that I need to make."
"Yes, what might that be?" the twelve year old asked, leaning into the grass as he continued getting his arrow stroked. Momo's hand dropped as he spoke.
"My fur is made of... Santa's magical, mystical beard..."
Momo gasped as his fur started to glow. He wasn't supposed to have told!
Aang gasped as Momo's fur suddenly lengthened and started forming into a beard. It quickly enclosed the boy in glowing hair. Aang bended some air into his hands as he got sucked into the white hairiness, so he would have something to breathe. He felt like he was being strangled in the flowing glowing wonder. The airbender wondered what the heck was going on.
Momo heard a, "Ho, ho, ho!" ring through the air. He looked up from his body of glowing beardiness. His jaw dropped. "Father!"
Aang gasped and pulled his head out of the beard. He was greeted by the sight of Santa, yes, Santa Clause. "Ho, ho, ho! Hello there, little airbender! Would you like to come with me and my son to the North Pole?"
"S-S-Son?" Aang stuttered. "I... Uh... Isn't the Northern Water Tribe at the North Pole? Is that where you live?"
"Oh, ho, ho! You're not my son!" Santa's belly jiggled as he laughed his deep-bellied laughs. "I'm talking about the beard-lemur!"
"That's what I meant, Santa! Momo is your son? I've adopted Santa's son? And Santa lives at the Northern Water Tribe... What's going on? Where are Katara and Sokka, and Toph?" The child grasped Momo's flowing beard in fear. "Momo... I'm scared."
Suddenly, Momo grew to human size, rising in a globe of glowing gold sparkles and ornaments. He let out an ear-piercing scream. Aang also screamed, for he was stuck in Momo's beard. They rose into the air. Aang was screaming along with Momo, scared enough to kill someone. He was completely entangled in the glowing beard, though, so attempting to bend would be useless. he gave up struggling to get out and just yelled, "What the heck is going on?"
The boy squinted as the extreme brightness of Momo's beard burned at his corneas. His pupils dialated to an enormous size.
A small but strong coal black hand reached into the beard and grabbed Aang by his head. Aang wondered in surprise. He looked up into the floating glowing gold sphere, trying to get a better look, but the globe soon collapsed. A dark body fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. Aang went to the body's side, examining it. Then it dawned on him... It was Momo in human form.
The Avatar gasped. He had never thought about what his small pet would look like in human form. Momo's appearance was astounding. He looked slightly like young Michael Jackson, but also not at all. He had a small, curly black afro and his skin was very dark. Momo felt the urge to dance. Emotionally, he was only similar to Michael Jackson in the way he let his feelings out...
Dance.
Aang smiled. Momo was amazing! His similarities to Michael Jackson amazed the boy. Even his dancing was great! Aang dangled there by the coal black hands that held him by his head, which now bore black-brown hair. Watching Momo dance made him want to dance, too. Aang couldn't believe he had been with this person in lemur form for almost a year, and hadn't known his true form.
The hands dropped Aang on his bottom. Momo was about to speak. Aang's mouth hung open in anticipation. Momo's mouth opened and the words slipped out in a Jamaican accent. "Aang, my real name is... Michaemomo."
Aang's eyes widened while he rubbed his bum. "Oh, my spirits! It's like a hybrid mixture of Michael Jackson and Momo!"
The boy was about the same age as Aang, maybe a little bit younger. He ran to Aang, his afro bouncing to and fro. Michaemomo hugged Aang. "It's been so long!" He looked around, "Wait, where's Papa?"
Aang's face scrunched up in confusion as he was hugged by Michaemomo. "Um... What?" Aang asked, running his hand through his hair. He had a major headache, not to mention his butt hurt from being dropped on it earlier. He was so confused, so lost. Where was he? How had he even gotten there? Where was everyone else? He sighed.
Michaemomo tried to restore Aang's memory with his magical afro. Being the son of Santa, his hair HAD to be magical. Michaemomo made eye contact with Aang, his hand on his shoulders. His eyes started to singe red around his corneas. "Where is Papa?" he said in a hoarse voice that sounded creepy.
Aang's eyes widened in fear. he stepped out of Michaemomo's grasp and went down on one knee. The boy placed a hand on the earth and closed his eyes, concentrating. He focused on Santa's energy, and soon found it. He stood and looked at Michaemomo. "Follow me."
Michaemomo followed Aang but grew long strands of afro to hold Aang where he could not escape from him. "Aang, this will all be over soon. It's for the good of the world," he said in the hoarse voice, tightening his hair's grip around Aang's neck. "All in good time, my fellow. All in good time." Michaemomo's voice now flashed between his Michael Jackson voice and his creepy voice.
Aang looked at Michaemomo as long pieces of afro continuously wrapped around the airbender's neck. He winced as the last piece was tightened quite harshly against his skin. "What... What are you going to do?" Aang asked, his voice cracking.
"As I said, fellow human. All in good time... Wait." They heard a crackling in the leaves behind them. A twig cracking. A trigger pulled. They turned around slowly and cautiously. Using his hair strands, Michaemomo pulled Aang close to him, covered his mouth with his hand, and threatened who was there that he would kill Aang.
"Mph!" Aang yelled into Michaemomo's hand as he was pulled next to him, a knife to his throat. "Mph, mmpphhaaaphh! Nmh!" Michaemomo kicked Aang's foot, gesturing for him to shut up. "Mkay," Aang whined. He looked up at the twig-cracking thing, which was now revealing itself...
It was a strange old man, but he looked very athletic for his age, which Michaemomo guess was around eighty-two. The man had a gun. It was loaded. He pointed it as if it were to shoot, and if shot, it would shoot through them both. His finger was on the trigger. In the swift motion of him pulling it back, his eyes rolled back, white as ping pong balls. He shot, but it was as he fell so he shot upwards, straight above him. They waited in stunned silence, so long that the bullet fell back down, struck the man and took his last breath. The boys looked behind the old man. Something had caused him to fall, but whatever it was, it had run away.
Aang stared at the dead old man on the ground as Michaemomo pulled back all of the strands of hair holding him until just one remained like a thin leash around his neck. He shushed Aang and motioned for him to grab his hand. His afro inflated and floated them off of the ground. He swiftly covered ground as he chased the noise. They had finally caught up. Aang was hoping it was Katara or Sokka but it surprised them both when they found the murderer of the old man, but their savior, was Azula.
Aang let go of Michaemomo's hand as they slowly fell to the ground, though the leash sort of choked him since he went down a bit faster than Michaemomo. He took up a fighting stance. "What do you want, Azula? Mad I'm still alive after Ba Sing Se? That's right, you DIDN'T kill me."
Michaemomo shoved his hand over Aang's mouth and whispered in his ear, "Shush, she has a gun, child." Aang, though disappointedly, stepped back and Michaemomo placed his hands on Aang's shoulders. "Greetings," he said to Azula.
Azula looked at Aang, "Hmm, who's your friend, Avatar? I guess it doesn't matter if you're black or white, haha, Michael Jackson." She laughed a frog laugh and sat down. "What? You're mad at me for saving your life? Some people can change their ways, especially if they've found their mother..." she looked at Michaemomo, "Or father..."
"I've been watching you two since Santa delivered me here. How about you tell me what's going on?" Azula asked Aang.
"That's what I'd like to know!" Aang yelled. "First of all, where am I? How did you get here? And what do you mean?" He fell to his knees, not caring about the leash ripping his neck skin. Aang dug his fingers into the earth. "I'm just so confused!" He shook his head and stood back up. "Take me home," he demanded Michaemomo.
"What?" Michaemomo asked.
"I SAID take me home!"
Michaemomo shook his head, "No, no. You don't have a home. This is home now, Aang."
Aang stared at him, then Azula, then him, then said, "Nevermind..."
Azula whispered to Michaemomo so that Aang couldn't hear her. That automatically made him suspicious. Azula quickly used a tranquelizer on Aang, and Michaemomo, on reaction, whipped Azula with the hair of Aang's leash which he released from Aang's neck. Michaemomo then beat Azula to unconsciousness and awakened Aang.
He signaled for Aang to follow. Aang had become rather nervous, but he did, for he somehow believed Michaemomo now about him having no home. They hurried out of the small circle of trees and to a cave about two miles from Azula.
Michaemomo looked at Aang and pleaded, "Aang, I'm sorry, but please help me find my Papa..." All of a sudden, the hoarse voice returned. Aang could hear Michaemomo's voice struggling to be heard underneath it. "Quick! Hurry!" Michaemomo gasped. Aang had a burst of energy, his forehead and whole body was hot, everything glowing around them. he could sense Santa, but he had to help Michaemomo with the demon.
Aang, now in some form of the Avatar State, placed his hands on Michaemomo's head and shoulder. Out of nowhere, strange ancient chants began flooding from his mouth, with words he had never heard before. Aang's voice got louder and louder, the creepy chants starting to echo throughout the cave. Soon, Michaemomo's eyes began glowing a greenish color as the demon left him, and then they stopped, as did Aang's eyes and arrows. Aang fell to the floor, exhausted, limp and unconscious.
Michaemomo was relieved, but saw Aang was in pain. He ran to Aang and cried. But his head perked up as he got an idea. It used to be that when he was little, his Papa would sing and dance for him until he felt better. So Michaemomo found the song that best fit the mood and started to dance and sing. "Heal the world... Make it a better place... For you, and for me, and the entire human race... There are people dying... If you care enough for the living, make a better place for you and for me..." he broke down crying as it rose sad memories of him and Santa. He went to Aang and sat down by his side.
Slowly, Aang lifted his eyelids, but then squinted them shut. He waited a few seconds then opened his eyes again, letting them adjust to the light. he found Michaemomo sitting next to him, crying. Aang thought about sitting up, but then voted against it. His head hurt and the rest of his body felt like it was on fire. "Michaemomo?" he said quietly. "Are you okay?"
Aang could barely hear it, but he made out, "I miss my Papa..." and he knew it was pure sorrow. Michaemomo had been away from his father for generations, he knew how it must feel, as Aang wanted to see his parents. When he thought of his parents and how he had never truly met them, he began crying, too. They cried into the night and fell asleep in the cave, unaware of the creeper lurking to discover them, vulnerable and wet from their own tears.
Aang awoke not long later to the sound of extremely loud tapping. Aang sat up halways, using his arm for support as he still felt a bit weak. He started shaking Michaemomo until he woke up.
"Michaemomo," he said, panting slightly, "Do you hear that tapping?"
Michaemomo listening for a second, and then nodded. The noies sounded like it was inside of the cave. They both followed the sound and as they turned their heads to the ceiling, they discovered merely a giant ant, but as everyone knew, they were harmless. Little did they know that that was the least of their problems. They went back to bed and as they did, the Creeper snuck up to where they had fallen asleep. He quickly and quietly inserted tranquilizer shots into their veins and stuffed them in a bag, as they were both small and light. The Creeper snuck out the cave entrance to a deep pond with no animals or dangers around, except the water itself.
It was said that once one was sucked into the pond, they were never to be seen or heard from again. The Creeper stood from a tall, steep boulder. He was passionate enough to keep them tranquilized while facing their deaths, but still, it was death. The Creeper grabbed hold of the bag and threw it as far into the pond as he could.
Just then, a twig cracked and he faced away from the pond. A face stirred and his foot slid to a rock, which easily broke off. He slipped. And fell.
The time in which it took for the bag containing the two boys to hit the water would have seemed like eternity, had they been awake. They hit the water hard, creating a loud and painful sounding splash. Just because they were underwater didn't mean they weren't unconscious, however. They were still breathing. The bag held in oxygen for a while, for the Creeper wanted them to be breathing and then breathe in the water when is seeped in. That eventually did happen. The bag recieved a puncture from a rock when it reached the bottom of the pond, and water began streaming in. Aang was just where the water was coming in, and so he was starting to get wet. After a while, he sucked in a breath, only to begin drowning in his sleep. Soon, Aang was completely underwater and the water had begun to reach Michaemomo's nostrils. Aang was now already slowly dying. Suddenly, Michaemomo awakened, gasping as he sat up away from the water as much as he could. Aang was still unconscious, so he began hitting the boy to get him to wake up, for he knew Aang was the Avatar and therefore could bend the water away, or at least use it to get them out of there.
Eventually, Michaemomo resorted to pulling out the knife that he kept in his pocket and sort of stabbing Aang in the leg. The airbender opened his eyes immediately, grasping his leg in pain, but sucking in more water utnil he almost lost consciousness. Then like a repeat of when he froze himself 100 years before, he went into the Avatar State and slashed the bag in half with the water. He then waterbended the two out of the pond and onto the ground.
They panted. Aang held his bleeding leg, screaming at Michaemomo. "What were you doing?"
"Hey," Michaemomo shrugged. "It was either that or we could have died drowning. Don't worry. I'll bandage it for you, and then we should get away from here, I still need to find my Papa."
With that, Michaemomo pulled a first aid kit out of his afro, opened it, and began treating the wound. Finally, he bandaged it.
"Okay... How did we end up in a pond, anyway?" Aang asked.
"I'm not sure," replied Michaemomo, "But I'm sure my afro can help in some way."
A strand of his afro grew and touched the bag, sensing who had touched it. Then, in his mind, the afro led Michaemomo to where the person was.
"We're going in," he told Aang. "Do what I say. We'll hop into the bag. Bend air into it so that we can breathe, and whenever the oxygen gets low, filter air through the water into the bag for us to breathe."
Aang nodded and hopped back into the bag, which Michaemomo held open. His afro inflated and he hovered them over to the middle of the pond.
"Get ready... NOW!" he dropped himself into the bag, closed it and deflated his afro as they sunk down into the depths of the water.
Aang took a deep breath, and bent the air into the bag as they fell into the water. He shut the bag closed tight and began to filter clean air into it. He could feel them sinking to the bottom slowly. The airbender continued filtering as they reached the rocks. "Okay," he whispered. "Now what?"
They reached the bottom. Michaemomo told the plan to Aang, "You'll need to bend an air bubble around each of our heads, but refresh the air in them every once in a while."
Aang bended the air around their heads like helments, but a bigger one for Michaemomo than his because he had an afro. Michaemomo was the one who started venturing first. Strangely, the water at the bottom was clear and blue, while above them it was dark, green, mucky, and you could see giant predatorial fish prowling above them. He looked around. There weren't as many seemingly dead bodies as he had expected.
They heard a faint sound. The faint sound of music coming from a humongous underwater cave. They entered...
The cave was very dark inside. Michaemomo and Aang could barely make out the outlines of bodies around the cave. They weren't able to tell whether the bodies were dead or alive, though. Aang filtered the air, sighing. Maybe this was all just a stupid dream, and any minute now he'd wake up and be attacked by Fire Nation soldiers. That didn't sound quite bad at the moment. He thought it would be better than being with some random afro-headed kid in an underwater cave filled with bodies. They went further into the cave and the music began growing louder.
They barely made out a small hole at what seemed to be the end of the cave. They squeezed though and were blinded by an electric blue light. When they finally blinked it out, they were amazed. There were tons of people breathing in the water. But when they looked cloer, the people seemed in a trance from the music.
Aang stared at the people before him. Looking more closely, he realized their eyes were blank, hazed over with a purplish color. He just stared... And stared... The music started reaching his ears more and more, the tun was rather catchy. Soon, he could feel himself leaving the natural world, if one could consider this cave natural, and slipping into a trance.
Michaemomo covered his ears with his afro and grabbed Aang and ran out of the small cave inside of the cave. But before that he noticed his afro pointing to a man... It was the Creeper.
"Splendid," said the Creeper, his cold, raspy, scary sounding voice echoed. "A new addition to my collection, I've never had a child before, nor the Avatar for that matter." Michaemomo tightened his grasp on Aang, but he could feel him being pulled away. It was like the Creeper was using the force. He was standing a few yards from them, but was tugging Aang toward him.
Michaemomo was trying to figure it out. Perhaps the Creeper had fallen into the pond after them? The Creeper had been chosen by the maker of 'this' and was put in control and still had a will. Or maybe something else had happened... But he couldn't think now, Aang was slipping from his grasp and sliding toward the cold Creeper.
Seconds later, Michaemomo's hands were empty. He looked up to find Aang in the Creeper's hands, his eyes blank, but bluish rather than purple. The Creeper snickered, running his hands through Aang's hair creepily. Michaemomo took a step forward, but then stopped as the Creeper said, "It's no use... He's mine now."
Michaemomo's afro started glowing, then turning white, it grew to the size of seven feet in diameter. Then he fell, and a white pom pom appeared from the afro, then a red hat, then...
Santa! Santa crawled out of the afro and took a karate stance, his belly like jelly. He ran at the Creeper, stopped right before him, and since his belly hadn't stopped running, it flew out and hit the Creeper, who flew out of the way and hit the cave wall.
The Creeper got up and whispered something into Aang's ear before holding a knife up to the Avatar's neck. "Step any closer," said the Creeper, "And I'll make sure the Avatar dies. Right here. Right now. Painfully." Santa stepped forward to see if the Creeper actually meant it. Apparently he did as he began pressing the knife hard into the boy's skin. Santa froze.
"My son," Santa whispered, making sure only Michaemomo could hear, "Use the 'fro..."
Michaemomo began running toward the Creeper and quickly appeared next to him. Surprised, the Creeper's knife sliced Aang's skin, but stopped at the bone. Glowing blood began pouring out.
The Creeper, angry since he hadn't meant to do that, violently pulled the knife out and sliced at Michaemomo's head, chopping off half of his afro. Michaemomo fell to his knees, holding his cut-off half-afro and crying.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Santa watched in horror. He couldn't have imagined anything worse. Well, actually, he could. Like maybe having his beard shaved. Or maybe his belly dieted down. But still, to cut off his child's afro was cruel. He ran to the creeper, took the knife and said in a deep voice, "Slicing into a child's neck and cutting off half a kid's afro comes with a price! NOW, YOU WILL PAY!"
Santa stabbed the Creeper once, and he was dead.
"Papa!" Michaemomo cried. "My afro! It's been sliced! Now it's magic is dead..."
"I'm so sorry, son."
Together, father and son cried for the lost afro. That is until they heard something sturring next to them. They looked over to see Aang, his eyes glazed over red, sitting up. The boy's neck was still bleeding rapidly and it only added to the creepiness.
"Prepare," Aang whispered, his voice not like his own, but more like the Creeper's, "To...Die..."
The Creeper had inhabited Aang's body just before Santa had stabbed him. That was the reason why he hadn't screamed. In Aang's body, Aang was trying to push the Creeper out, but he was still weak from his neck. Barely, from under the Creeper's voice, you could hear Aang's saying, "Help, help!"
Michaemomo looked to his father with fear etched upon his face. "Papa! What will we do? We cannot kill Aang!"
"I don't know, son, this is a hard one... Wait! Listen!" They were silent, listening quietly. From under the harsh breathing of Aang, they could hear the real Aang, his childish voice screaming for help. It was strange - two people in one body, fighting each other. Aang thrashed around on the floor, clawing at himself and making pained faces. "Help me! Help, he's trying to kill m-!" Then there was silence.
Aang lay still on the floor, eyes open and blank, but now a calm blue color again. Michaemomo placed a hand on Aang's chest.
"No pulse.. But he's breathing..." Michaemomo said.
Santa too his son into his arms. This was bad. This was quite bad.
Inside, Aang felt like giving up. It would just feel so nice to fall asleep... Forever. But then he remembered Michaemomo. He was kind of weird, but he had been his pet for almost a year now. And Santa... He gave him Christmas presents. Oh, and he also remembered Toph, and then Sokka. He knew he was missing someone. But who?
Then he remembered Katara... His arrows started to glow. The Creeper was pushed from Aang's body into the air, and since a soul cannot remain without a body, the Creeper vanished. Michaemomo somehow knew what had happened, and exclaimed, "Hooray for Kataang!"
Aang was on his hands and knees, panting like a dog that had just ran a ten thousand mile marathon. He'd done it. He'd done it for Michaemomo, for Santa... For Katara... Katara. he really missed his friends. But that wasn't something to think about right now. He had killed the Creeper.
The airbender fell onto his side, closing his eyes and holding his bleeding neck. "Michaemomo?" he said.
"Yes, Aang?" Michaemomo asked.
"I'm really sorry about your afro..."
"It's okay," Michaemomo responded. "It wasn't magical when I was a lemur..."
Aang still felt sorry. Santa started moving the bodies in the cave.
"We better get out of this cave but not until I save all of the people trapped here in this cave and get coffins for the dead people in the entrance." Santa told the boys to head to the surface, gave Aang a surge of power to bend the air from water, healed him and gave Michaemomo a big hug.
"Bye, son. I won't be seeing you for a while, but I promise I'll see you after that."
"Bye, Papa," Michaemomo managed sadly, and they headed to the surface, made it, and crawled onto the shore.
"So, where do we go now? If Santa is taking care of everything down below, and the Creeper is dead... What now?" Aang paused for a second, then said quietly, "Maybe I can... You know... Go back to my world... Er, wherever, you know... Before Sozin's Comet comes? Speaking of which, what's to-"
Michaemomo interrupted him loudly, "No, Aang! DON'T LEAVE ME!"
"Should've seen that coming..." Aang mumbled. "Okay, then... Now what?"
"We've got to find some way to change me back, because if anyone else sees me like this, you know, not from this world, I'll vanish and I won't be able to come back ever, no matter what," replied Michaemomo.
Aang, hearing this, knew he'd never see his precious little pet lemur again if that happened. "Alright, how do we do that?"
Suddenly, something overcame Michaemomo. In a voice that sounded like the oracle, he said, "Take me to the place where you were first found in this world, when I changed into my humanoid form..." He stood up and jumped on Aang's back, piggyride style. Aang was surprised but figured it was the best idea he could go with, so he ran off to find the wilderness he had been offered to run away into.
They finally reached the place where Aang had first awaken after hitting his head arriving into the world. He let Michaemomo down from his back and then kneeled at the place where their footsteps from before were. "We're here," Aang stated. Michaemomo stood next to him, "Good."
Michaemomo searched for the exact spot in which he had fallen crumpled to the ground as a human. "Aang, once I turn back to Momo, I shall not be able to communicate with you orally anymore as I have been, nor will I ever be able to turn back to my human form again. So I must say goodbye..."
The boy hugged Aang and looked around. "I know Santa's beard sheds sometimes, so there must be a beard hair around here somewhere..." Michemomo said thoughtfully. "There it is!"
He picked up a long, white, dirty beard hair and once he took it into his hands, his afro started fluttering as though being pushed back by a strong wind coming from the hair, and the sparkly gold ornamented globe took hold of him and floated once more. Michaemomo then fell to the ground as Momo, in another world, the one from which Aang had come from.
To be continued...
