| "A bunch of pets are missing. They were separated from their owners during the evacuation and the families have asked me to find them." |
| — Korra to Meelo. |
"Lost Pets" is a comic short written by Michael Dante DiMartino and drawn by Jayd Aït-Kaci. It was released by Dark Horse Comics on May 5, 2018, as a part of Free Comic Book Day, and later as part of the Patterns in Time anthology on November 30, 2022.
Overview[]
When Meelo shirks his duties at the refugee camp, Korra recruits him for a top-secret, super-important mission: tracking down a pack of lost pets!
Synopsis[]
At a refugee camp in Republic City, the Air Nation, led by Tenzin, serves food to those displaced by Kuvira's attack on the city. Ikki is among those serving the refugees and is mildly annoyed by Meelo, who is lying on a stack of boxes behind her and playing with Poki. When she asks him to help, he casually claims he has already done his part, and that, if anything, the refugees owe him for his service. Now much more aggravated, Ikki snaps at him, accusing him of being a "self-absorbed, self-obsessed, self-centered person", but Meelo is unfazed by her outburst. Ikki takes her problem to Korra, believing that Meelo simply lacks a reason to work.
Korra finds Meelo lying on his boxes and tells him she has a "top-secret, super-important, potentially deadly assignment" that she feels only he is capable of doing. He immediately perks up excitedly and accepts the mission. As they make their way to Naga, with Meelo wondering if Zaheer escaped from prison or if Amon has come back as a zombie, Korra gives him some pictures, one of which is of a cat owl named Nibbles. She explains to a disappointed Meelo that several pets were left behind or lost by their families when the city was evacuated and that the families are searching for them. Meelo sours at the realization, but when Korra appeals to his emotions, asking how he would feel if he lost Poki, he agrees to help.
Using a toy with Nibbles' scent, the two begin their search on Naga. They wander the streets aimlessly, Naga with her nose to the ground and Meelo impatiently asking if she has found anything, for several hours until Naga suddenly happens upon Nibbles' trail. They find the cat owl grooming herself in a tree; Korra whispers for Meelo to be quiet, to keep from scaring Nibbles, but Meelo flies straight up at her while yelling her name. Startled, Nibbles hisses at him and flies away. As Korra facepalms on the ground, Meelo gives chase through the trees, eventually following Nibbles to an abandoned building.
As he is about to grab her, Meelo notices there are other animals in the room as well, among them a wooly pig, two young turtle ducks, a lop-eared rabbit, and a chameleon. Meelo recognizes them as the other animals from the pictures Korra gave him and yells to her that he has found the other missing pets, only to have a voice from behind him respond.
The voice belongs to a firebender named Jobal. He asks Meelo who he is and what he is doing. When Meelo tells him he intends to take the animals back with him, Jobal brandishes a flaming fist at him. He tells Meelo the animals have lived with him since the evacuation; he ignored the evacuation order and took in the lost pets afterward. However, his insistence on keeping the pets with him vanishes when Meelo shows him the pictures of the pets with their former families. As Jobal says his goodbyes to each of the pets, Meelo asks him to come with him to the refugee camp, offering him food, a place to stay, and company, as well as a bath, which he sorely needs according to Meelo. Agreeing on all counts, Jobal leaves with Meelo and the pets.
That evening, as Korra and Meelo finish returning the pets to their families, Meelo brings a bowl of food to Jobal and, pulling out his lemur whistle, summons a group of ring-tailed winged lemurs. They fly past Meelo and land on and around Jobal, who is ecstatic to have a new group of pets to care for. Ikki walks up behind Meelo and asks him if helping someone besides himself made him feel good. He agrees that it did, at which point she shoves a mop into his hands and insists he help her clean the camp's outhouses. As Ikki triumphantly drags the despondent Meelo away, Korra watches them and smiles.
Production notes[]
Transcript[]
- Main article: Transcript:Lost Pets
Trivia[]
- Unlike the other comics, "Lost Pets" is the first comic that is not available in certain countries, such as the UK, due to copyright restrictions in the region.[1]