Categories > Cartoons > Avatar: The Last Airbender > Magma
Chapter 12: How to Bathe a Lemur
0 ReviewsZuko and Toph have to give Momo a bath, but the lemur is not cooperating.
Magma
Chapter 12: How to Bathe a Lemur
Once Zuko, Toph, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Momo and Appa were back in their temple home, they retreated to their respective rooms and changed into some clean clothes, except Momo and Appa who didn't really need to wear anything, but they still needed to get cleaned up.
The dirty clothes were placed in a basket, which Katara reluctantly picked up. She eyed Aang and decided it was time for some water bending training. "Aang you're helping me do the laundry, it will be part of your water bending training."
"Aw, but I was going to bathe Appa..." Doing the laundry was one of Aang's least favorite chores, and the down side to being able to bend water. Water benders often ended up with water related chores.
"Sokka can bathe Appa." Katara reasoned, much to her brother's dismay; though the water tribe warrior dared not protest when faced with his sister's glare.
"Then who's going to bathe Momo? You know how he gets at bath time..." Aang tried once again to slip away from the chore of doing laundry. It would be especially bad with all the stains.
"We'll do it!" Toph immediately volunteered herself and Zuko.
"What?" The fire bender was not exactly pleased with his assigned task.
"Shut up dancing dragon, it's better than scrubbing stains off clothes." Toph had a point, if they already had an assigned task, then they wouldn't have to help deal with the laundry.
"Alright then it's decided," Katara agreed and dragged Aang off to do the laundry.
Sokka grumbled about having a bigger pet to bathe and not having any help, but as Momo squeaked and took to the skies, he realized that maybe bathing Appa would be easier after all. At least the sky bison actually liked to be groomed.
"So, how are we going to catch him?" Zuko asked. It was a good question indeed.
Toph shrugged. "How should I know, I can't really see him if he's flying around." Toph was so independent and capable; it was easy to forget that she couldn't see with her eyes and used earth bending to get around. But if the lemur they were trying to catch was no in contact with the ground, then it would be very hard for Toph to stop him.
"You're the one who volunteered us so you have to help!" First Toph dragged him into the chore, and now she was apparently leaving him to deal with it alone. Zuko would not accept that.
"Fine, just tell me which way Momo went..." and thus began the wild chase to catch the sticky lemur.
Their strategy was simple, Zuko would be the eyes of the operation, and Toph would close the vertical distance between them and Momo with towers of earth. This resulted in a seemingly endless field of towers sticking out of the ground, a very frustrated Zuko and an almost Toph, but not quite.
"He's getting away!" Zuko pointed at Momo, then realized it was useless. "Up and to the right."
"Enough of this, Momo can bathe himself..." Toph was sick of chasing after Momo and she was not going to continue doing so.
"You're the one who volunteered," Zuko reminded her.
"This isn't working, Momo flies too fast and you don't give me directions fast enough. We have to find another way," Toph started to think of possible traps.
"I have an idea," Zuko announced. "Get some berries or something as bait and I'll set up the trap."
"What kind of trap is it?" Toph asked.
"One that will work," Zuko assured her.
A few minutes later Toph had brought the berries and Zuko had the trap all set up. "Here's the bait."
"Good, because the trap is done," Zuko admired his work, he had placed a stick on the edge of a box keeping it up with enough room for Momo to slip in for the berries. There was a small rope tied to the stick, which would trigger the trap, causing the box to fall on Momo trapping him inside. Zuko was thankful that Toph couldn't see the trap, because his masterpiece didn't look half as good in real life as it did in his head. Even so, Zuko thought it was worth a try. "Okay, now we have to hide and wait for Momo to come get the berries."
"We can hide inside this hollow bolder," Toph suggested.
"What boulder?" A hollow boulder would be an odd thing to find, and he didn't see any boulders with holes in them. There were plenty of boulders, but none looked hollow.
"This one," Toph made the boulder with Earth bending. It was of a similar size to the surrounding boulders but it had a hollow space on the inside. Toph and Zuko crawled into the boulder, and Toph closed it, leaving a small space open so Zuko could keep an eye on the trap and pull the rope.
"There's not a lot of space here..." Zuko would have shifted uncomfortably, but there wasn't even enough room to do that.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Toph teasingly asked.
Zuko was thankful that he wasn't claustrophobic, or else Toph would surely use that against him, and she could tell if he lied about it. "No, I was just saying that there's not a lot of space here."
"If I make the boulder too big it'll be obvious, and one more thing..." Toph leaned close to Zuko's ear, which didn't take a lot since they were already very close to each other. "Boulders don't talk," she whispered.
Her warm breaths so close gave Zuko an odd sensation, but it wasn't an unpleasant one; not unpleasant at all. He remained quiet and waited for Momo.
Luckily, the lemur didn't take too long to find the berries. However, Momo was a lot smarter than he was given credit for; he tossed the box aside, then sat down to eat the berries. He didn't even bother flying away with them, as if mocking his would be captors.
"Momo disabled the trap," Zuko whispered.
"Some trap that must have been..." Toph didn't really have high expectations for the trap to work, but she played along with it anyway.
"We could still catch him if we surprise him," Zuko wasn't going to leave his assigned task unfinished, and he knew Toph was pretty determined too. They would keep at it until they won.
Toph earth bent them free of the boulder and Zuko jumped on Momo. He landed ungracefully on the group, as Momo slipped away once again and flew high above them making little noises that founded like he was laughing.
It was mother nature who would stop Momo's mocking laughter and end Zuko and Toph's mission. Water poured from the skies in a sudden outburst of rain, soaking Momo, Toph and Zuko. It was then that they decided that the best way to bathe a lemur was to wait until it got caught in the rain.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I do not own Avatar. There was only a small portion of fluff in this chapter, but it works to produce more interaction between Toph and Zuko, having them work as a team. This also sets the stage for chapter 13, which will have a lot more toko. HarvestMoonGlows mentioned rain and being lost and once again it was proven that toko fans think alike. The rain will serve a special purpose to be revealed in the next chapter. As for the lost theme, we'll get to that in a future chapter, but I need to get Zuko and Toph to a certain point first. I won't say anything else, everyone will have to read and find out. Look at that, I actually have plans for the future of this story, to think it was totally improvised when it started. Thanks for your support everyone!
Chapter 12: How to Bathe a Lemur
Once Zuko, Toph, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Momo and Appa were back in their temple home, they retreated to their respective rooms and changed into some clean clothes, except Momo and Appa who didn't really need to wear anything, but they still needed to get cleaned up.
The dirty clothes were placed in a basket, which Katara reluctantly picked up. She eyed Aang and decided it was time for some water bending training. "Aang you're helping me do the laundry, it will be part of your water bending training."
"Aw, but I was going to bathe Appa..." Doing the laundry was one of Aang's least favorite chores, and the down side to being able to bend water. Water benders often ended up with water related chores.
"Sokka can bathe Appa." Katara reasoned, much to her brother's dismay; though the water tribe warrior dared not protest when faced with his sister's glare.
"Then who's going to bathe Momo? You know how he gets at bath time..." Aang tried once again to slip away from the chore of doing laundry. It would be especially bad with all the stains.
"We'll do it!" Toph immediately volunteered herself and Zuko.
"What?" The fire bender was not exactly pleased with his assigned task.
"Shut up dancing dragon, it's better than scrubbing stains off clothes." Toph had a point, if they already had an assigned task, then they wouldn't have to help deal with the laundry.
"Alright then it's decided," Katara agreed and dragged Aang off to do the laundry.
Sokka grumbled about having a bigger pet to bathe and not having any help, but as Momo squeaked and took to the skies, he realized that maybe bathing Appa would be easier after all. At least the sky bison actually liked to be groomed.
"So, how are we going to catch him?" Zuko asked. It was a good question indeed.
Toph shrugged. "How should I know, I can't really see him if he's flying around." Toph was so independent and capable; it was easy to forget that she couldn't see with her eyes and used earth bending to get around. But if the lemur they were trying to catch was no in contact with the ground, then it would be very hard for Toph to stop him.
"You're the one who volunteered us so you have to help!" First Toph dragged him into the chore, and now she was apparently leaving him to deal with it alone. Zuko would not accept that.
"Fine, just tell me which way Momo went..." and thus began the wild chase to catch the sticky lemur.
Their strategy was simple, Zuko would be the eyes of the operation, and Toph would close the vertical distance between them and Momo with towers of earth. This resulted in a seemingly endless field of towers sticking out of the ground, a very frustrated Zuko and an almost Toph, but not quite.
"He's getting away!" Zuko pointed at Momo, then realized it was useless. "Up and to the right."
"Enough of this, Momo can bathe himself..." Toph was sick of chasing after Momo and she was not going to continue doing so.
"You're the one who volunteered," Zuko reminded her.
"This isn't working, Momo flies too fast and you don't give me directions fast enough. We have to find another way," Toph started to think of possible traps.
"I have an idea," Zuko announced. "Get some berries or something as bait and I'll set up the trap."
"What kind of trap is it?" Toph asked.
"One that will work," Zuko assured her.
A few minutes later Toph had brought the berries and Zuko had the trap all set up. "Here's the bait."
"Good, because the trap is done," Zuko admired his work, he had placed a stick on the edge of a box keeping it up with enough room for Momo to slip in for the berries. There was a small rope tied to the stick, which would trigger the trap, causing the box to fall on Momo trapping him inside. Zuko was thankful that Toph couldn't see the trap, because his masterpiece didn't look half as good in real life as it did in his head. Even so, Zuko thought it was worth a try. "Okay, now we have to hide and wait for Momo to come get the berries."
"We can hide inside this hollow bolder," Toph suggested.
"What boulder?" A hollow boulder would be an odd thing to find, and he didn't see any boulders with holes in them. There were plenty of boulders, but none looked hollow.
"This one," Toph made the boulder with Earth bending. It was of a similar size to the surrounding boulders but it had a hollow space on the inside. Toph and Zuko crawled into the boulder, and Toph closed it, leaving a small space open so Zuko could keep an eye on the trap and pull the rope.
"There's not a lot of space here..." Zuko would have shifted uncomfortably, but there wasn't even enough room to do that.
"Are you claustrophobic?" Toph teasingly asked.
Zuko was thankful that he wasn't claustrophobic, or else Toph would surely use that against him, and she could tell if he lied about it. "No, I was just saying that there's not a lot of space here."
"If I make the boulder too big it'll be obvious, and one more thing..." Toph leaned close to Zuko's ear, which didn't take a lot since they were already very close to each other. "Boulders don't talk," she whispered.
Her warm breaths so close gave Zuko an odd sensation, but it wasn't an unpleasant one; not unpleasant at all. He remained quiet and waited for Momo.
Luckily, the lemur didn't take too long to find the berries. However, Momo was a lot smarter than he was given credit for; he tossed the box aside, then sat down to eat the berries. He didn't even bother flying away with them, as if mocking his would be captors.
"Momo disabled the trap," Zuko whispered.
"Some trap that must have been..." Toph didn't really have high expectations for the trap to work, but she played along with it anyway.
"We could still catch him if we surprise him," Zuko wasn't going to leave his assigned task unfinished, and he knew Toph was pretty determined too. They would keep at it until they won.
Toph earth bent them free of the boulder and Zuko jumped on Momo. He landed ungracefully on the group, as Momo slipped away once again and flew high above them making little noises that founded like he was laughing.
It was mother nature who would stop Momo's mocking laughter and end Zuko and Toph's mission. Water poured from the skies in a sudden outburst of rain, soaking Momo, Toph and Zuko. It was then that they decided that the best way to bathe a lemur was to wait until it got caught in the rain.
To be Continued
Disclaimer, I do not own Avatar. There was only a small portion of fluff in this chapter, but it works to produce more interaction between Toph and Zuko, having them work as a team. This also sets the stage for chapter 13, which will have a lot more toko. HarvestMoonGlows mentioned rain and being lost and once again it was proven that toko fans think alike. The rain will serve a special purpose to be revealed in the next chapter. As for the lost theme, we'll get to that in a future chapter, but I need to get Zuko and Toph to a certain point first. I won't say anything else, everyone will have to read and find out. Look at that, I actually have plans for the future of this story, to think it was totally improvised when it started. Thanks for your support everyone!
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