Their Lost Days:
Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby were currently being expected by merchant as the sand benders tried to sell them off. "How's their tempers?" the first merchant asked.
"…Pretty good," the sand bender lied. That was when Appa roared while Ruby and Sapphire smacked at the ground with their tails. "…Uh, most of the time,"
A second merchant turned to the first one and said, "I bet someone will pay a fortune for him in Ba Sing Se."
"Alright," the first one nodded. "You've got yourself a deal." He handed the sand bender a chest and the sand bender quickly left with his prize. Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby were bounded and dragged onto a large sled. It was uncomfortable and a tight fit for the three large creatures and then they were caged in.
However, the three tried to escape as they heard a familiar whistle from Aang's bison whistle. They managed to break out of the cage and tried to fly off. "We need the shirshu spit darts!" The first man shouted.
"Got 'em." The second one said, bringing out a blowgun. He shot and that was how Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby went down for a nap.
"We've got to get rid of these." The merchant said. "They're too much trouble."
"We could sell them for parts." The second merchant suggested.
When they woke up, they were in three separate cages. Ruby and Appa were in two cages next to each other while Sapphire was in a cage across from them. A circus trainer stood before them.
"Oh, I understand you've had hard times lately," the man said softly. "That's too bad. You probably felt like you had no choice but to behave outrageously like a wild animal. But don't worry, you won't anymore…because I am going to break you." All around the room, there were different animals locked up in different cages.
The man pulled out a cart carrying cabbages and tossed one to a nearby platy-pus bear who quickly ate it. He passed Appa and the dragons and fed the creature next to them. "Hungry?" he asked, smirking at the three of them. "Don't worry, I'm going to feed you all too. But not yet, first I am going to show you how you'll earn it." He left the cabbages and opened a cage to let a griffon out. The griffon flew to the top of the tent they were in and the man, now known as a fire bender, since he made a whip of fire appear in his hand, cracked it at the griffon.
Appa took a breath in and made a gust of wind blow the cabbages closer. Appa started to eat while Ruby grabbed one with his tail and ate it. He grabbed another and threw it to Sapphire to eat and he kept doing that.
"Of course, when you perform, the hoops will be flaming and if you're careful, you won't get burned." The circus trainer said, completely obvious to what the creatures were doing. That was when Appa let out a loud belch. The trainer spun around angry. "You're about to be sorry." He snapped, snapping his fire whip at them. All three back up as far as they could in their small cages.
"It's obvious that whoever your previous owner were, they had no idea how to handle such creatures properly." He glared.
That night, a loud fire nation boy about twelve was walking past the animal tent, only to stop when he saw Appa and the dragons. Sapphire and Ruby were resting but Appa was trying to get a thing of hay over to him by blowing again but he wasn't doing it hard enough. The fire nation boy was about to enter the tent when a large man, his father, walked over and said, "I am going to get a bag of sizzle-crisps. Stay here and stay away from those monsters. Behave yourself, or you'll regret it," the boy quickly nodded and the man left. The boy ignored his father and rushed inside to push the hay over to Appa.
Appa licked him before eating the hay. However, hearing someone coming, the boy quickly ran out the tent to watch the circus trainer. "They are difficult creatures, stubborn and willful all of them. I need more time with them. It's too risky right now." The trainer said to the ringleader.
"Too risky?" the ringleader demanded angrily. "What are you talking about? This is the circus, home of fear and danger. I want the wind buffalo and dragons to perform tonight," the ringmaster quickly left.
The circus trainer turned and glared at Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby, "If you don't behave yourself, you'll all regret it." He said, putting large torches in front of each of them. They reared back in shock, trying to get away from the flames. The trainer pulled the flames away and stomped off. The little boy still watched, looking sad that such beautiful innocent creatures were being treated like this.
The large man came back and quickly pulled him away. The boy waved to Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby before he was pulled away.
Inside the circus, two women were spinning plates on long sticks while two platypus-bears were balancing on large beach balls, and then there were a group of men stacked up like a pyramid. The crowd cheered, and the young boy from earlier were watching.
"Ladies and gentleman," the ringmaster said loudly. "Now for something truly special, three noble beast so magnificent and rare, it hasn't been seen by human eyes in generation. I give you the wind buffalo and flying dragons!"
A curtain pulled away to reveal to the crowd, Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby dressed in ugly fire nation clothing with hideous makeup covering their faces like a clown.
"Up," the circus trainer commanded but they refused. "Up, the insolent cow and stupid lizard." He cracked a fire whip at them and they reared back.
"Run away!" the fire nation boy shouted, crying out. "Get away from him!" the man pulled him back down and Appa, Ruby, and Sapphire took to the skies. However, Appa caught fire that Sapphire and Ruby had to beat out with their tails, from one of the hoops before they managed to escape.
Early the next morning, Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby were flying over the desert. However, they landed in the hole in the desert where the library once was. Realizing their friends were nowhere, they nearly lost hope before they took to the skies again. They were aching with hunger and was about to somehow split a large egg they found on the ground, when a bipedal lizard ran up and stole. Appa got so hungry, he tried to heat a cactus but that only hurt him and Sapphire and Ruby were unable to help him so they went flying again.
They stopped at a large mud hive in the middle of the desert, the one with all the buzzard wasps. They flew in, only to fly out seconds later with dozens of large wasps flying after them. Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby escaped, all of them licked up at the honey on Appa's leg from where he stepped in it.
The sun was going down and they found rest for the night in a barn, after stuffing themselves with the hay inside.
Appa dreamed about the day he met Aang, when Aang was barely six and Appa was just a bison cub. Him and his brothers and sisters were given to air benders to choose from. Appa had taken a quick liking to a young Aang.
In Ruby and Sapphire's dream, they remembered how they met the guardians. Ruby and Sapphire were in small eggs when they were found by the ten year old guardians. They took the eggs to the air temple where they waited for them to hatch. Finally, Ruby and Sapphire poked their little lizard dragon heads out of the eggs. The first thing Ruby saw was Ember and Jade. The first Sapphire saw, was Aqua and Lin. That moment, the two dragons and our ten year old girls made a connection that would last them a lifetime.
Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby were awaken by a scream of the farmer. The chains still tied around Appa's feet, and the chains strapped to Sapphire and Ruby's neck clang loudly as they escaped.
They were flying over serpent's pass and over an earth kingdom ship, the refugee ship sailing into Ba Sing Se. Iroh, the only one away, watched shocked as they flew over. Jade and Ember shifted in their sleep, unaware that their missing friends were flying just overhead.
Appa, Ruby, and Sapphire finally stopped in a cave. They were about to sleep when an enraged porcupine-boar came running at them and the four creatures went rolling down a hill. Ruby and Sapphire had a flew scales come off while porcupine quills stuck deep in all their sides from the contact. They even broke a tree before Appa tossed the creature deep in the forest. Appa tried to bite the quills out of Ruby's side, while Ruby tried pulling Sapphire's out while Sapphire worked on Appa but they couldn't get many out. It hurt so much that they finally just stumbled up the hill and fell over in the mine to sleep.
The next morning, down the hill, the kyoshi warriors were gathering barriers when one of the female warriors noticed a clump of white fur on a branch, covered with blue scales and red scales.
"Must have been some fight." She said, picking it up.
"Wait, let me see that." Suki said taking the clump of fur covered in scales. "No…it couldn't be." She slowly looked up the hill where the trail led. She quickly climbed up the hill, only to find the dirty and exhausted sleeping bison and dragons. "Oh no," she gasped, waking them up. They growled at her. "It's going to be okay," Suki said sadly, placing the berries and fruit she had on the ground. She quickly ran down the hill to get her teammates. Meanwhile, Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby sniffed at the fruit before eating every bit of it.
It was a few minutes later, Suki was leading the kyoshi warriors up the hill. "No sudden movements," Suki said. "They've been lost for a while, and they look like they're hurt. They're shy around people and scared. Stay low and stay quiet."
"I can't believe you found the avatar's bison and the guardian's dragons." One of the warriors said. "Didn't you see them just a few days ago?"
"Yes, so they can't be too far from here. It's our responsibility to get Appa, Ruby, and Sapphire to them safely. This could be our most important missing yet." They finally reached the top of the hill and the dragons and bison noticed them. They started to growl.
"Give them space," Suki announced and the girls backed up. Suki slowly walked closer. "Appa…Ruby…Sapphire, it's me, Suki. I'm a friend. I want to help you, you're hurt. We can make you feel better. And we can help you find Aang…and Aqua. And Lin. And Ember. And even Jade." Suki said, even though Jade was the only guardian she hadn't actually met yet. Suki put a hand on Appa's nose and he slowly relaxed. She moved to his side to Sapphire and she lay down. Suki moved to Appa's other side and pet Ruby until he too, relaxed.
It was hours later, the kyoshi warriors had pulled the quills out, took the chains off, and Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby were now cleaned up and looking better already. That was when a bolt of blue lightning hit a nearby tree and everyone turned to the source surprise. Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee rode in on mongoose dragons.
"My, my, you're easy to find." Azula smirked, holding a white clump littered with blue and red scales. She tossed it aside and said, "It's really astounding my brother hasn't captured you yet." The kyoshi warriors stood in front of Appa, Ruby, and Sapphire ready to fight. The animals growled and pulled out their fans and shields.
"What do you want with us?" Suki demanded in the front.
"Who are you? The avatar's fan girls?" Azula mocked.
"Oh, I get it!" Ty Lee exclaimed seconds later. "Good one Azula."
"If you are looking for the avatar and guardians, you're out of luck." Suki said.
"I knew it was a waste of time." Mai said disappointed.
"No avatar and guardians, huh?" Azula shrugged. "Well that's ok, any friend of the avatar or guardians, is an enemy of mine." Azula jumped off her saddle and kicked a blast of blue fire at the warriors. The warriors formed a shield in front of the bison and dragons, using their shields to deflect the blast of fire. Mai and Ty Lee quickly got into the fight and Mai threw knives from her sleeve and pinning a warrior to a tree by her clothes. "You're so colorful, it makes me nauseous." Mai said. Mai spun around and flung another at another warrior but that warrior dodged before attacking Ty Lee.
Ty Lee struck the female down with a few pressure points hits. "You're not prettier that we are!" Ty Lee declared with her hands on her hips.
Suki, meanwhile, was the only thing standing in the way between Azula and Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby. They ended up setting a tree on fire and Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby jumped back from the flames.
Azula saw this and smirked, "Afraid of fire, I see." Azula smirked. "That's good, you should be!"
Suki pulled out her sword and shouted, "Go guys! Fly away from here! Get out of here!" Suki cried as they took to the skies. Suki ran at Azula but she knocked Suki's sword out of her hands. Azula tripped her and was about the finish her when Ruby knocked Azula over with her tail.
"Get out of here!" Suki cried, grabbing a branch and using it as a torch. She swung it at them and they flew off as the fight started again.
Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby were flying over the forest before they reached an ocean where southern water tribe ships were sailing. On one of the ships, Hakoda watched in wonder before they disappeared over the horizon.
Appa and the dragons finally made it to the eastern air temple to rest. It looked so familiar to what they grew up around, except it was weary and old with age. There was no flying bison's, jittery lemurs, or fun loving monks. It wasn't soon before they reached the top of the mountain. But Appa mistook an old bald man sitting there for Aang. When Appa realized he was wrong, Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby growled.
"Hello, I am Guru Pathik." The old man said surprised. "I know I am not the person you expected. And I didn't expect to be licked by a giant tongue right now. The world is full of surprises.
The guru lay still on his back. A few hours later, the guru slid his eyes open a crack. When he did that, Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby growled. He closed his eyes and they quieted down. It was that night, when the bison and dragons were fast asleep when the guru finally stood.
The guru walked over to them and one by one, put two fingers on each of their necks and a hand on their chest. He sighed depressed, moving around, "You've all been through so much recently, hurt and betrayed, so twisted up inside." He put a hand on their bellies and smiled. "You're all still full of love." He sighed. "But fear has moved in where trust should be. I've been expecting you and the young avatar and guardians for quite a long time. I had a vision many years ago of helping them. That's why I came to the Eastern Air Temple." He stopped long enough to put a hand on their heads. "Ah, your emotions are so turbulent. Like swirling storm clouds, let the clouds in your mind be gentle, peaceful ones."
It was the next night when they woke up, but they were alone. However, they noticed three pieces of fruit were on the ground as if waiting for them. They quickly ate them up and found three more on the steps. They followed the trail of fruit, eating as they went and finally, they reached their destination.
The guru was meditating and without looking up, he said, "Someone looks very-resting, judging by your bed head, sky bison." The guru said. Sapphire and Ruby laughed as Appa shook himself to rid himself of the bed-head. In the end, Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby were lying next to the guru as he meditated.
The guru finally stood an hour later and turned to them. "I have prepared a message for Aang, Aqua, Lin, Ember, and Jade may I attack it to your horn?" He asked. Getting permission, the guru tied the letter onto Appa's horn. "Appa, you and the Avatars' energy are mixed. Just like Sapphire, Aqua, and Lin. Just like Ruby, Ember, and Jade. You have unbreakable bonds. By reading your energy, I can sense where your friends are." He was rewarded by three consecutive licks, "Funny, what invisible strings connect us all."
The guru closed his eyes, put a hand on Appa's head, and a pale light emerged from them, making a light trail to where there friends waited. "I will see you again, great beasts." The guru said as a farewell. Appa, Sapphire, and Ruby left, following the trail to Ba Sing Se.
Using the full moon as their light, they passed over the inner wall, but Dai Li agents watched as the bison and dragons flew over them. Trying to locate their friends was harder than they thought, but at least they had limited it to this city. However, that was when they heard the familiar bison whistle Aang always carried and they were off.
However, in a house in the upper ring, Aang was curled up asleep, the bison whistle lying next to him. It was untouched and unused for the night.
Meanwhile, Long Feng blew his own whistle. Appa left a footprint in the mud as they tried to escape, but they fell in a trap floor deep beneath the city.