Pabu

"neutral"

- Oh, oh, I got it! I got it! I've been training Pabu to do circus tricks. Now people would pay good money to see that!

Pabu is a mischievous fire ferret that belongs to Bolin. He is always getting into trouble, but his agility and sharp teeth make him nonetheless dependable in sticky situations. More than once has he been Bolin's partner in crime while playing practical jokes on Mako.

History
Bolin found Pabu scrounging for food on the streets of Republic City, rescued him, and made him his pet. Bolin taught Pabu how to perform circus tricks and had him perform them at the base of Zuko's statue at Central City Station in order to raise the thirty thousand yuans needed for the Fire Ferrets to compete in the pro-bending championship tournament. To perform his trick, Bolin had dressed Pabu in a jacket and placed a fez on his head. The ferret needed to walk over "the ladder of peril", which was a thin plank elevated on two cups, upside down. After Bolin had dramatically announced the goal of the trick, Pabu had missed his start as he was still cleaning himself. After a gentle nudge from Bolin, the ferret walked over the plank on his front paws and somersaulted off the plank, to land while balancing on one front paw. However, this trick only made one yuan.



Later that night when Korra, Mako, and Naga were going to the Triple Threat Triad's headquarters to look for Bolin, they found Pabu along the way. Naga chased him up a lamppost, but backed off when Korra told her that "Pabu [was] a friend, not a snack." After the two animals sniffed each other’s nose, Pabu perched himself on Mako's shoulders as they all continued the search for Bolin. However, the search became a chase when they found Bolin being kidnapped by Equalists. When Korra and Mako were disabled by a pair of chi blockers, Pabu joined Naga in scaring the enemies away from their human friends by screeching at them.

After that skirmish, they returned to searching the city again, heading toward Republic City Park. Pabu was comfortable enough with Naga to stand on her head to get a drink of water from the fountain, and later fall asleep on her back.

Before the pro-bending tournament, Mako and Bolin briefly discussed Korra as dating material while Bolin gave Pabu a bath, something the fire ferret was not particularly fond of. During the conversation, Bolin picked up Pabu and said, "You know what I'm talking about, Pabu; talkin' bout real love."

Later, Pabu, stomach distended, lay in a bowl formerly filled with noodles at Narook's Seaweed Noodlery. He was there providing some comfort to Bolin as the latter drowned in his sadness after seeing Mako kiss Korra the night before. Bolin protested Mako's attempts at getting him out of the restaurant by mentioning that Pabu was now the only one he could trust.

Trivia

 * Like several other characters, Pabu was revealed on July 23, 2011 at San Diego Comic-Con.
 * In Tibetan, the name Pabu means "puffball".
 * Skoochy incorrectly called Pabu "some kind of monkey rat".