Avatar: The Last Airbender/Appas Lost Days/Recap

""I guess this means we'll always be together.""

A Perspective Flip detailing Appa's journey from being captured by bandits in the The Library to his eventual arrival and capture by Long Feng in The Tales of Ba Sing Se. We watch as Appa desperately tries to escape his captors, only to be drugged and sold to an abusive circus. There the bison is physically and mentally abused to force him into ridiculous performances, and a fear of fire is instilled in him. Even after a young boy helps free him, there's no luck; he nearly starves in the desert, is attacked by giant buzzard-wasps, farmers and a porcupine boar, before simply giving up to die in a cave. Thankfully, the Kyoshi Warriors (led by Suki) find him- but before they can bring him back to Aang, they are attacked by Azula, Ty Lee and Mai.

Suki forces Appa to flee by scaring him with fire, leaving their own fates unknown to the audience. Afraid and rejected again, Appa finds himself at another Air Temple he remembers from him youth, now abandoned. But...not completely. There's one person there: an old guru. He spiritually heals the bison, and gives him direction towards Aang. With hope renewed, Appa sets off for Ba Sing Se, following the sound of the bison whistle...

...but there's a catch. Aang's asleep. So who's blowing the whistle?

Oh Crap.

Tropes:
"Azula: "What are you, the Avatar's fan club?""
 * Bolivian Army Ending: Invoked with Suki and Azula charging at each other, but subverted in that we eventually find out what happened.
 * Bond Creatures: We see that Aang and Appa share the same dream of when they met at the exact same time.
 * Cliff Hanger: What happened to Appa?
 * Continuity Nod: The umbrella from "The Fortuneteller" is found in Appa's luggage by sandbenders.
 * A Day in the Limelight
 * Disturbed Doves: Happens during the fight between Appa and the boarcupine.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Hakoda and Guru Pathik.
 * Full Boar Action: Appa's battle against the boarcupine.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Said to the fan-blade wielding Kyoshi Warriors:


 * Hilariously, Ty Lee is Late to The Punchline. She looks vaguely confused for a moment, before going "Oooh, good one, Azula!"
 * Shoo the Dog: Suki does this to Appa when Azula finds them.
 * Tear Jerker: If the countless amounts of abuse against the animal doesn't get you, his desperation to find his best friend will.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback