The Polarbear Dog's Friend
by: Watches Foxes
Welcome to my story. This one is just a cutsie little one off responding to another prompt at Ficbender. This time the prompt was for Meelo and Naga to go on a joyride and become total BFFS as little boys and dogs are likely to. I couldn't not write it and while I'm still trying to make sure I've got the characters right and not sure the ending is tight enough I had fun doing it. All recognizable elements of this story are the intellectual property of Bryke, Nickelodeon, Viacom and so forth. Please enjoy.
"Daddy, can we go play catch?" Meelo zoomed up to his father on an air scooter, clutching an old, worn ball and wearing a hopeful expression.
Tenzin knelt down to be more level with his son and frowned sadly. "I'm very sorry Meelo, but I can't play right now. I have to get over to the mainland for an important meeting with the council." He sighed at the heartbroken look on the five-year-old's face. "I should only be gone for a few hours. I will be back by dinnertime and after that we can head out to the court yard and we'll play then. Maybe I'll take you out on my glider with me. How does that sound?"
Meelo brought a hand up to his chin and thought about it for a moment before visibly brightening. "Okay. That could work."
Tenzin stood and straightened his robes with a smile. "That's my boy. In the mean time why don't you go see if you can find your sisters. Maybe they'll play with you."
"Oh!" The boy turned on his heel and was off, giggling wildly on his air scooter. "Yeah Okay Byebye Daddy!"
"Have fun!" Tenzin called. "And be good for your mother!" He shook his head and took off for the mainland.
It did not take the little boy long to find his older sisters. They had finished their afternoon meditation and were having tea and playing a card game on the pavillion.
He bustled over to them and beamed. "Ikki, Jinora, guess what! Daddy's gonna take me on his glider when he gets home!"
Jinora smiled tolerantly at her little brother. "I'm sure that will be fun." She placed a card down on the little pile before her.
"Yeah," He agreed happily. "Wanna go play catch with me? I brought my ball." He held it up to show both girls.
"Well, we're right in the middle of our game..." Jinora said hesitantly. Meelo frowned and turned hopefully to Ikki who was staring at the hand of cards fanned before her face very intently.
"Jinora...I don't have any air cards or threes. How do you always know what to put down?" Ikki complained and drew a card.
"You need to stop telling me what you don't have." The older girl said with a wry smile. She turned to her brother. "We can play ball right after we finish our game of Last Card." She offered.
"Or I could play with you guys!" Meelo bounced on his heels excitedly.
Jinora raised an eyebrow and Ikki frowned. "We already started though!"
He pouted and looked miserably at Jinora. "But I love Last Card!"
"Last time you said you hated it and used airbending to throw the cards all over the island." Jinora said gently and calmly examined her cards.
"That's 'cause I was losing." The five-year-old's shoulders raised simply. "And that was forever ago!"
"It was three weeks ago." She smiled patiently and set down a card. "Ikki, draw four. Oh and the element is fire."
Ikki scowled at her sister and rolled her eyes irritably as she picked up her cards.
"I promise I won't this time though!" Meelo wheedled impatiently.
"Meelo," Jinora sighed. "We've already been playing for a while. But it shouldn't be too much longer. You head up to the court yard and we'll be there as soon as we finish."
"Last Card can last forever though!" Meelo huffed. "Never mind. I didn't wanna play with you boring old girls anyway." His big grey eyes were extra wide and beginning to pool with tears that told a very different story than his words.
"Meelo-" Jinora started apologetically. It was too late he was off and crying and zipping away on a gust of wind.
He landed in the kitchen and flung himself at his mother's legs, crying and with his nose running wildly. She looked startled and set her knife on the cutting board and carefully knelt in front of her son.
"Meelo, what on earth?" She fished a handkerchief from her pocket and dabbed at his face. "Are you alright, sweetheart?"
He looked up at her miserably and blinked owlishly. "Nobody likes me, Mama!"
"Oh, darling, where did you get that silly idea?" She smiled affectionately. "That's not true at all."
"Nobody wants to play with me today." He pouted and wiped his nose on his sleeve. His mother winced and stroked the side of his face gently.
"Baby, that doesn't mean nobody likes you." She sighed in relief.
"Jinora and Ikki won't let me play Last Card with them." He frowned.
"Didn't Korra have to fish Jinora's cards out of the bay last time you played Last Card?" Pema thought for a moment.
"Only some!" Meelo defended.
"I'm not really sure I can blame Jinora for not wanting to play that game with you just yet." Pema laughed.
"She won't play catch either. And its my ball, not hers!" Meelo protested.
"Maybe she just doesn't want to play right now." Pema said soothingly.
"Why will she play with Ikki and not me then?"
"Are they already in the middle of a game?" Meelo nodded. "Well then that's why. Maybe she or Ikki will be able to play later."
"I don't want to play later" He complained. "Daddy's gonna take me on his glider when he gets home after dinner!"
"I'm sorry sweetheart. I'd go play with you, but I'd really like dinner ready on time." Pema frowned.
"Can't Daddy and the boy Collies do it like last night?"
His mother chuckled and kissed his forehead. "You mean Acolytes, Meelo. And it isn't fair if the girls or boys do it every night, baby. That's why we switch."
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "It isn't fair that nobody can play with me."
Pema held a hand to her back and slowly stood up. "You'll just have to wait until the girls are done or Korra and her friends get home from Asami's race. In the mean time you can go play by yourself for a little." She smiled shrewdly. "Unless of course you want to help Mama cut onions for dinner.
"Aaaagaaah! Nonono! I don' wanna cut onions, Mama!" He wrinkled his nose and flailed his arms into the air. He grabbed his ball and had conjured his air scooter faster than she could've said she was kidding.
"Heh. Thought he'd respond that way." Pema chuckled and shook her head before picking up the knife again.
Meelo landed in the training compound with a sullen scowl. "I just want someone to play with me!" He snapped at a curious lemur who froze before him with a moonpeach clutched in its paws. "And none of them care..." His bottom lip trembled and he dropped his ball to the floor. "Agh! I just wanted to play!"
He kicked the ball as hard as he could and flung himself to the floor. He crossed his arms and stared at the sky trying to see if he could manipulate the clouds into funny shapes while lying down. However a moment later the sky turned all white. He shouted nervously and jumped to his feet. Korra's polarbear-dog was standing in front of him, wagging her tail. She was holding his ball in her teeth.
"Hey that's mine!" She dropped his toy and nosed it toward his feet. She shuffled around and stared at him expectantly and gave a sharp bark. Startled, he quickly picked it up. She dropped her whole front end into a crouch and her tail was wagging so hard it was pulling the back half of her body from side to side.
Meelo looked from her to the ball and back again. "You want me to throw it?" She barked and he took that as confirmation. He experimentally tossed the ball over her head.
With what he decided was a happy bark she turned and bounded after the ball. He laughed as she dropped it at his feet again and crouched excitedly.
"Good girl!" He laughed and threw it again, harder this time. Within seconds she'd brought it back. This time however she crouched low but kept the ball in her mouth.
He reached for it and to his surprise she jumped backward a few steps. "Okay, give it back now." He smiled and reached again. He grabbed at the ball but she kept it firmly in her teeth and tugged at it gently. "Naga! If you don't give it I can't throw it again!" He laughed and she released her grip.
This time he threw the ball as hard and far as he could. She raced after it, barking the whole way and dropped it proudly at his feet when she caught it.
"Good doggie." He patted the side of her leg. "I bet you were real lonely too, weren't you? 'Cause Korra isn't here to play with you very much since she made friends with those boys." Naga whined a bit and batted the ball with one of her massive front paws. "I know how you feel. But it's okay. I'll play with you and you can play with me. That way we both have a friend. And I won't ever say no like Jinora and Ikki. Because you're my friend" He informed her happily before tossing the ball again. This time he pushed it even further with a burst of air. "Oops! Oh no!"
He watched helplessly as the ball soared away, too far. It flew straight over the low fence and careened down to the water below.
He zipped over to the fence and stared down the cliff side in dismay. He could see his ball, floating orange against the water. But it was much too far for him to get, even with his airbending. He didn't even think Jinora could do it and she'd been airbending for longer than Meelu o had been alive. He huffed and turned apologetically to Naga.
"Sorry girl. The ball's gone."
Naga lumbered over to the edge and stared down. She suddenly lunged over the fence and bounded down the cliff side at an impressive speed. When she got closer to the water she threw herself in with a mighty splash and paddled toward the ball. She raced back up the side of the hill triumphantly with her catch safely between her teeth.
"Wow that was amazing!" He cheered. "I didn't know you could swim!"
She cocked her head to the side and deposited the ball back to the boys hands. She the proceeded to give a mighty shake to toss the water from her fur.
"Aaaaa!" Meelo threw his arms up to cover his face and a moment later he stood dripping. "Well...least I won't hafta take a bath tonight." He laughed. With a quick inhale he airbent his clothes dry and used a gust to blow himself up onto her shoulders where he scratched her behind the ears.
Her tongue lolled out and her tail swished happily. Suddenly she froze and raised her head, sniffing frantically. Before he realized what was happening she gave a booming bark and took off. He shrieked as they bounded clear across the island. Naga stopped at the lemur feeders and sniffed around the base of one of them.
The feeders were full; somebody must have just put out fresh fruit. There weren't any lemurs around, they were smart enough not to lurk where the Polarbear dog could reach them.
"Wow, you're fast." Meelo commented as he slid down her neck until he was sitting astride her back. "Really fast. I bet you could go as fast as one of Asami's racecars if you tried." He patted her happily. "Maybe next time Korra will take you too." He thought for a second. "You could be a champion race dog. I could be you rider." He leaned up to her ear and whispered conspiritorially. "But we'd haveta keep it secret from my Mama. She wouldn't like it very much."
He sat quietly for a minute as Naga continued sniffing around the feeders. "We should run some more. That was really fun." He laughed and gently jabbed her sides with his feet. She gave a soft woof and took off running again.
"Hey kids, How'd the race go?" Pema greeted the quartet of teens as they strolled into the kitchen. She was rinsing some salad greens.
"Asami kicked some serious butt." Korra said appreciatively.
"I wasn't all that great." Asami smiled shyly and let her hair fall in front of her face.
Bolin stared at her with disbelief etched onto his face. "Uh...no! You won the whole thing. And there were like a hundred other people there. Man, you have got to teach me how to drive like that!"
Mako smiled and rolled his eyes affectionately. "I'm getting grey hair just thinking about you behind the wheel of a racecar, Bo. And you were pretty good Asami." He frowned in concern at Pema. "Do you need any help getting dinner ready?"
"Sweet of you to ask, but I think we've got everything under control. Everything's almost done. Aya will be ringing the dinner bell in about ten minutes." Pema laughed airily. She paused suddenly. "Actually I haven't really seen the kids in a while. Maybe you guys could go find them and see that they wash up for dinner?" She asked hesitantly.
"Sure." Korra nodded. "Any idea where they are?"
"The girls were playing card games, I think." Pema dried her hands on her dress and gently smoothed the wrinkles over her large belly. "Spirits only know where Meelo's got to though. He was upset nobody would play with him earlier. He could be anywhere on the island really."
"Not a problem." Korra grinned. "We'll take Naga and she can track him."
"You're sure you don't need any help in here?" Mako insisted.
"Absolutely positive." Pema chuckled. "You can help tomorrow with Tenzin and the other guys. But if you're absolutely bound and determined to be useful I've never yet turned away a volunteer for dish duty."
"Bo and I will be happy to help with the dishes." He assured her, ignoring the disgruntled glare Bolin shot him. "It's the very least we can do, since you've been so kind and welcomed us into your home like this."
Pema was taken aback, she clearly hadn't expected her offer to be accepted. "Well thank you. And we're glad to have you." She picked up the large bowl of greens. "And thanks for fetching the kids."
The teens left the kitchen and found the girls quickly. Jinora and Ikki were just finishing their card game at the nearby pavillion but neither had any idea where their brother was.
"If anyone can find him, Naga can." Korra told the others after the girls headed in the direction of the kitchen. "Speaking of where is she anyway? When I leave her here she's usually waiting for the ferry when I get back."
She gave a shrill whistle and frowned when no giant white ball of fur came barreling toward her. She took off at a sprint toward the bison stables where Naga was supposed to sleep, thinking maybe she'd gotten locked in or was napping. Korra threw the door open and whistled once more.
This time there was a response. Immediately the polarbear-dog's head perked up and she was visible over the gate in the last stall. Korra felt relief wash over her as she rushed to greet her friend.
"Naga, you had me worried!" She stated in a tone that would have been stern if she'd been able to keep the affection out of her voice. Naga huffed sleepily and lay her head back down. Korra rolled her eyes and swung the stall door open. She had every intention of calling her companion out of the stall but the words died on her lips and melted into a big "awwww". Between the polar bear-dog's massive front paws, Meelo was curled up, fast asleep.
I have no actual idea whether this is remotely what the prompter initially wanted, but I had fun writing it. I'm sorry if my portrayal of typical five-year-old's behavior falls off the mark; I have a long history of babysitting but its been a long time since I had charge of a five-year-old. To my defense Meelo is a little eccentric anyway. I hope you enjoyed reading. I'd love a review :)