Money From Wolfbats

OK, first off, I think I have figured some way to get Mako to do this! Secondly, Meelo has been the idea for the second chapter since I first had this idea. Though I was brainstorming some ideas for Shiro Shinobi earlier and they really made me want to postpone this chapter. But Meelo was begging to be done, so the order (for now, it could change!) will be Meelo, then Shiro, and then Korra. I may also do Bolin again.

Chapter 2: Meelo

Ming was the Wolfbat on duty this time. He waited just outside Republic City Park, looking for someone bored and strapped for money. Tahno and Shaozu were waiting in their Satomobile a short distance away. They had lost sight of the former earthbender, but they still had faith he would find someone interesting.

Minutes later, their jaws dropped. Ming was walking towards them with Meelo, the only son of Councilman Tenzin and one of three young airbenders, climbing all over him like a wild hog monkey. Shaozu was the first to speak. "Maybe you aren't going to be allowed to pick people, Ming."

"Why not?" Ming asked, shaking his bangs out of his face as Meelo tried to perch on top of his head. "He said his family was in Republic City for the day. Plus, look at how he's behaving! This will be a hoot!"

"He promised me money," Meelo told the other two Wolfbats before trying to bite Ming's head.

Shaozu grinned while Tahno still remained unsure. "This could be great," Shaozu agreed. He plucked the young airbender from his teammate's head and said, "We'll give you the chance to earn up to a thousand yuans, all of it for you. How does that sound?"

"Great!" Meelo said happily.

Tahno shook his head as he grabbed their equipment. "Do airbenders even use money?" he asked no one in particular.

Getting Meelo ready took longer than they had expected. He squirmed and asked questions about every little thing, though he seemed to accept the rules easily enough. "Whatever you do, don't let anyone know what you're doing, got that?" Tahno asked.

Meelo nodded absently, trying to get his hands on the little device they positioned in his ear. "And don't bite anything! That's expensive equipment," Ming told him.

Once they were certain that Meelo understood everything, they shooed him back towards the park. "Can you hear us?" Ming asked as the three Wolfbats settled into the Satomobile. Meelo nodded as he strolled over to his father. "Great! Here's an easy task for fifty yuans. Call your father "Beardface", and tell him that's your new name for him."

Meelo giggled to himself as he tugged at Tenzin's sleeve. "Hi, Beardface!" he shouted. "That's my new name for you. Do you like it, Beardface?"

"Meelo," his mother scolded from her spot in the shade. "Apologize to your father!"

Shaozu took the microphone from Ming and said, "Another easy fifty: rub your mother's stomach and call it 'Fetey'."

Meelo hurried over to her with the grace and speed of a young airbender. He began to stroke her stomach, feeling his baby brother or sister moving around inside. "Hi, Fetey! How is it in there? Is it cramped?"

"For another fifty, ask your mother when "Fetey" is coming out," Tahno said, muffling his snickers.

"Mommy, when is Fetey coming?" he asked, tapping on her stomach like one would a melon. Above him, his parents exchanged a look.

In his ear, the Wolfbats were talking again. "Great going, kid. You're up to one hundred and fifty yuans. Ask your mother if you can have lunch."

"Mommy, can I have lunch now?" Meelo asked her.

"Meelo," Pema began softly, "we just had breakfast. It's not quite time for lunch.

"Now pout, and stare at that flock of turtle ducks in the water in front of you like you're seriously considering eating them."

Meelo dropped down on the ground and stared the mother turtle duck and her little turtle ducklings down. The mother quacked a warning to her babies. They swam closer to her but did not seem threatened.

"Now say you wonder how raw turtle duck tastes." Tahno said.

"Hmm... how does a raw turtle duck taste?" Meelo said thoughtfully. He smiled to himself at the praise he was given through the ear piece. He was also happy to hear he was up to two hundred and fifty yuans. He was not quite sure what he was going to do with all that money, but he was very happy to be earning his own money.

His oldest sister Jinora stared at him from over her book. She sighed softly. Her brother could certainly be odd, but today he seemed even stranger than normal. "Meelo," she began as she turned the page, "turtle ducks aren't food."

"Yes they are!" Meelo shouted back.

Jinora sighed and returned to her book. In his ear, Meelo heard Ming say, "Don't let her get away with that! Take her book!"

Meelo slowly crept over to Jinora, then snatched her book from her hand. "Meelo!" she shrieked, jumping to her feet. "Give that back!"

"Now tell her you thank her for donating her book for use as Turtle Duck Island."

"Thanks for the book, Jinora," Meelo told her. "The turtle ducks will love their new Turtle Duck Island!"

Jinora's eyes widened as Meelo stepped towards the water. Doing exactly as Ming ordered, Meelo slowly made to lower the book into the water. As Jinora leaped towards him, he quickly turned and tossed it over his shoulder. She landed in the water with a loud splash.

For a moment it looked as though she was going to burst into tears. Instead she dragged herself out of the water, picked up her book, and stomped over to her mother. A shadow fell over Meelo. When he turned, he found himself looking at his father, who was very furious with him.

"Meelo, apologize to your sister," Tenzin said sternly.

"Meelo, don't apologize. Instead, we want you to give your father a big wolfbat howl," Tahno said into the microphone. When Meelo did nothing, the three former pro-benders let out a hearty "AWWWOOOOOO!"

Meelo nodded as though understanding, then he sucked in a great breath and let out a very loud "AWWWOOOOOOOOO!" of his own. His howl combined with his airbending abilities caused a small breeze to blow his father's clothing. Tenzin stared at his son, startled but not fully confused. Meelo, after all, was the wildest of his children. He sighed and continued to stare at Meelo, still expecting him to apologize.

"Do you see that man over there, painting?" Shaozu asked. "Go borrow some of his paint and use it on your family's bison. When your dad asks what you're doing, tell him you're painting the bison because it told you to."

Meelo stepped over to the young man near the pond. Paints, brushes, and canvases were spread around his feet. "Can I borrow this?" Meelo asked, holding up a small pot of bright blue paint. The man nodded absently. Meelo thanked him and hurried over to Oogi, who was sleeping in the shade of several trees.

Meelo used his air bending to climb onto Oogi easily. The bison let out a groan but resumed his sleeping. The young airbender dipped his finger into the pot of paint and began to finger paint Oogi's arrow blue.

"Meelo, why are you painting Oogi?" Tenzin was trying to be calm, but the Wolfbats burst into laughter.

Covering the microphone, Shaozu pointed to their view of Tenzin on the screen in the back of the Satomobile. "Do you think he could get mad enough to explode?" he asked, trembling with laughter.

"I don't know," Tahno said, cackling himself, "but a part of me wants to find out."

They managed to stop laughing long enough to hear Meelo say, "Oogi said he wanted his arrow to match yours, Beardface!" That sent the three young men into another bout of laughter.

"OK, Meelo, great job," Ming said once he ceased laughing. "You're in the second round now. That means you get a hundred yuans for each of the three things we tell you to do. Understand?"

Meelo nodded as he tossed the paint to his father and airbended back to the ground. "Do you see that protestor over there, talking about Amon? Well go over there and bite him."

Meelo hurried over to the protestor as Tenzin tried to clean the still sleeping bison. He smiled sweetly at the protestor, who stood atop a table. When he realized he had not been seen, Meelo tugged at his pants.

"Oh look, a little airbender," the protestor said sarcastically. "Are you trained in the ways of oppressing non-benders?"

In response, Meelo grabbed his hand and bit it, hard. The protestor yelped in pain and jumped back, toppling backwards off his perch. "What was that for?" he demanded.

Following orders, Meelo shouted, "I'm a rabid fire ferret, rawr!" He then hopped over the protestor and hurried back to his family.

"Meelo, we need you to catch a turtle duck. This is going to be hard, so it will be one hundred yuans if you can catch one."

Meelo let out a whoop of glee before diving into the pond. Tahno chuckled into the microphone and said, "I didn't mean jump in with them, but whatever works." The three of them shouted encouragements to the young bender as he struggled with catching a turtle duck for several minutes. His other sister, Ikki, eventually waded barefoot into the water to get a closer look.

"What are you doing?" she asked sweetly.

"Catching a turtle duck."

She giggled. "Are you that hungry?"

Meelo did not answer her. Shaozu had informed him that a turtle duck had bitten his sleeve and was stuck. "It's an easy catch," Shaozu said.

"Got one!" Meelo shouted as he removed the animal from his sleeve. It quacked and struggled in his hands.

"Hang onto it," Shaozu told him. "If you get your sister to kiss it, that's one hundred more yuans."

Meelo held the struggling creature out to Ikki. "Kiss it, Ikki," he told her.

Ikki stared at the turtle duck, confused. She reached out and stroked its head. It immediately calmed down. "It had better not bite me, Meelo," she said as she bent down and quickly kissed the animal's soft, feathery head.

"Speed round time," Tahno said into the microphone. "It's the last thing you have to do, and it's worth three hundred yuans. Grab something from the lunch your mother packed. It could be anything. I want you to eat it while racing around using your bending if anyone tries to stop you. You only have thirty seconds, so once you finish, hurry back to us and we'll pay you."

Meelo sneaked over to the picnic his mother had packed. She and Jinora were busy talking so it was easy for him to reach in and grab a small moon peach pie. When he took a bite of it, his mother turned around. "Meelo!" she said with a heavy sigh. "We're going to eat soon. Can't you wait?"

Meelo's answer was to create an air scooter and hurry away from her, munching at the pie as he did. He rode around his parents and sisters, hurrying to polish off the pie. "Ten seconds," Ming warned. He began to count down. Meelo finished the dessert and hurried over to the Wolfbats' hiding place with two seconds left.

"That was great!" Shaozu told him as Meelo wiped crumbs from his face. "Here, you earned all of this. Don't spend it all in one place!"

Meelo grinned at the three of them. "That was fun," he said. "I wish I got paid money more often to get in trouble!"