Pets I
"Ready?" Aang asked his dog.
"ARF!" Appa barked back.
"Sit!" Aang ordered him. Appa sat, but his eyes kept fixated on the worn out tennis ball in his master's hand. Aang jolted his hand forward a bit, but Appa did not move. Then Aang pretended to throw the ball, but Appa didn't fall for it.
"He's good." Toph said, sitting on the stone wall in front of his basement window.
"GO GET IT!" Aang yelled and threw it for real. Appa ran to the other side of his backyard, jumped up and caught it in his mouth. "Good boy Appa, good boy." Appa ran the ball back to him and Aang rubbed his floppy ear.
"How old is he?" Toph asked.
"Appa is about…um…four years old. He'll be five in March."
"Grrr." Appa growled as Aang tried to take the ball out of his mouth, even though Appa wanted him to throw it again.
"March. You're born in March, aren't ya?" Toph asked.
"Yep. He was a gift when I turned eleven. Appa, drop it!" Aang ordered and Appa let go of the ball. Aang threw it and Appa ran after it again. "Gyatso knew the woman who owned Appa's mother. She had to give away all of her puppies away but there was one pup that no one wanted. So Gyatso adopted him too…like me."
Toph changed the subject when she saw Aang's frown.
"What kind of dog is he?" She asked.
"A Great Pyrenees."
"A what?"
"It's a rare breed."
"I'm just gonna call him Big White Dog, okay?"
"Fine." Aang said. Appa jumped up, put his dirty paws onto Aang's shirt and shook the ball in front of Aang's face, showing it to him. "Good boy. Now give it to me."
"Grrr."
"Give it!" Aang took the ball out of his mouth. Appa watched the ball and waited. Aang threw it and, with Appa leaping off his chest, his dog ran after it. Appa ran so fast that he pushed Aang down to the ground…hard.
"You okay?" Toph stood up.
"Yeah. Fine." Aang rubbed his backside and wiped the dirt off his shirt. Toph held out her hand to help him up, but instead of Aang's hand, Toph felt Appa begin to slobber over her thin fingers.
"Gross!" Toph yelled, but giggled.
"Appa, no!" Aang said. Appa looked at him, winced, and then began to lick Aang instead. "Aahh! Toph! Get him off me!"
"What do you want me to do? He's like twice my size!"
"Just throw the ball!" Aang yelled. Toph grabbed the tennis ball, which had fallen by Aang's side, and threw it. Appa heard the ball bounce and ran off of Aang.
Toph helped him up immediately after the white giant left.
"Thanks." Aang said. He wiped the drool onto his sleeve.
"You alright?"
"Yeah. He's just a big, fluffy teddy bear. He didn't mean any harm." Appa ran back and began jumping around Aang's feet, with the ball proudly held between his teeth. "Good boy, Appa. Good boy."
"ARF!"
"See that?" Aang smiled widely. "He understood what I said!"
"You are such a dork." Toph said.
Appa looked at Toph. "ARF!" He nodded slightly.
"Hey. I guess he can understand people." Toph smiled.
Great Pyrenees is a real type of dog. Type it in Google Images. You'll take one look the dog and think 'Appa'.