The glow of the portal seeped past the widespread overgrowth that concealed it, appearing brighter as the two waded through vines and grass. Nature hummed with its fullness of life, as it did ever since the entrance to the spirit world had opened and found a relative peace in its Republic City location; the overabundance of energy leaked in and out to the whims of the spirits, traveling back and forth between dimensions. Life bounced vibrantly in the area around the portal, but as Asami approached alongside Korra, she maintained the same dissonant stare, her head fogged with uncertainties about the future.
Korra had led the way dutifully for them both, but as she turned back to Asami, she became slow with concern. “Still thinking about the exposition?” she asked.
Asami blinked, lured out of deep contemplation. “Well, what else could I be thinking about?” she sighed, putting on a smile to soothe Korra’s worry for her. “It’s still a month away, but Varrick is already bragging about his presentation.”
“Varrick? Bragging?” Korra scoffed, proceeding towards the center of the clearing where the portal shined. “How unlike him.”
“This time, he’s got good reason to gloat,” Asami continued dimly. “He’s got an impressive line-up of cutting edge tech. He’s in a prime position to swipe my investors. It could be a huge hit to Future Industries’ reputation if I go on stage with nothing to wow them…”
“You’re a certified genius, Asami. I’m certain you’re going to make some good impressions with whatever you present on stage.”
“Perhaps, if I have something to present, that is…” Asami looked away, but her stare was drawn back to the portal and the electric tingle it applied to the air. Her eyes glistened from the brightness. “Maybe I could find some inspiration inside the spirit world…?”
“I think science has gone far enough lately with the spirit world,” Korra said, only half-joking as she looked from the portal to the world around it -- all of it, the result of scientific ambition left unchecked. “Besides, we’re not going to the spirit world to do research. Remember?” She pointed down, pushing Asami to glance at her feet. They were bare, and had been all day, dusted with the dirt of walking for hours. “Those were the new boots you got me -- the best pair I’ve ever had! Are you sure one of Wan Shi Tong’s foxes grabbed them…?”
Asami giggled, weakly hiding her amusement as she rebalanced her bag of supplies. “It must have mistaken them for a pair of books,” she shrugged.
Korra scoffed into a smile. “In any case… if you’re busy here, I could always do this by myself. I don’t want to distract you.”
“And you are so distracting,” Asami teased flirtatiously, playfully poking her partner’s strong shoulder. “But I insist~ Maybe you won’t let me start any experiment, but I think a breath of some fresh spirit world air could give me some inspiration.”
“I suppose that’s alright,” Korra agreed -- quick to be convinced. “Maybe there’s a small way I can help out with your exposition… Well, are you ready to--?”
Just as the Avatar neared close, the portal flickered, dimming and brightening in an arrhythmic pulse. Sparks cracked, sharp enough to startle Asami and have Korra pull up her guard. Both women edged away from the pillar of light as they observed the unusual reaction, how multi-colored branches of electricity spilled from the opening and buzzed in their ears. From the center appeared a blackness within the glow, a color that shifted in shape like a blob, expanding in stretches before finally shivering into its fullness; it claimed part of the portal, bending away the rays of light to allow its own existence inside of it. Even after that was complete, that snapping energy continued to flash around the portal’s borders, like creeping claws threatening to shock any that neared too close.
Asami stood baffled, quickly turning to Korra for an explanation. “Uh, you expected it to do that, right?”
Korra was still, then shook her head. She appeared as equally perplexed as Asami, but was bold enough to approach, a hand lifted forward. “N-No, but…” she began, tilting her head with focus put into that darkness she glared at. “I… hear something. Do you?”
Asami’s fingers curled into her jacket. She gravitated to Korra’s back, “I’m not hearing anything…”
“It sounds like… chatter. Like someone-- people are trying to…” It was a difficult and unusual sensation to explain, and so Korra stopped, putting her arm down and stepping closer up to the portal. “... I think the spirit world needs me in there right now.”
“Really?” Asami blinked at the entrance, still unable to sense anything from it. “Is it in danger…?”
Korra chuckled. “I guess I’m going to find out. I’ve got a feeling it’s business of the Avatar, one way or another.”
Asami silently agreed, but that made her no less hesitant while Korra leaned into the portal. Where she was skeptical and uncertain, Korra was reactive and headstrong, entering through the dimensional door and soon disappearing into its light. Asami felt the gap in her heart when Korra vanished, that hollow drum in her chest that her beloved was gone from this world -- and burned by that feeling, Asami chased after her, calling to Korra as she too traveled between worlds.
It had been assumed by both that they would journey to the spirit world as the many times before, briefly transitioning from one realm into the next. They had assumed wrong, and realized immediately, when their bodies were inflicted with the harsh experience of being plunged elsewhere -- somewhere far away, if distance could even be measured by what the portal’s corruption had bound for them. They would not open their eyes to see the fantastical qualities of the spirit world, instead seeing nothing when a flash of white left them unconscious and unaware of where they had gone.
Stillness and quiet greeted Asami as she awoke face-first in a plot of grass. It was all her arms and legs could stretch out into as she slowly returned to consciousness, her head burdened with fuzzy memories and a swirling dizziness. She overestimated her stamina, lifting herself too high too quickly in an effort to grapple with her surroundings, and so she fell lazily back into a seat. Like disembarking from a fast flight, Asami’s body was heavy to lift, but was given a kick when she parsed that Korra was not to be found nearby -- indeed, fogged as her vision still was, she could make little sense out of her surroundings. The earth was plain around her, but two walls stretched on either side of her, dark hills made of some navy color, connected at one point in front of her.
“Korra…? Are you here…?” Asami muttered, pushing herself to stand. Those weird hills fascinated her with their mysterious form, reflected on both sides of her in a shape unlike any geography. Strangely, Asami felt an answer lump up into her throat, a gut instinct that she denied until she could see more clearly. The doubt she had began to fade as she gawked still at where those log-like landforms joined into one plump hilltop, that bizarre explanation to her situation becoming frustratingly accurate. Asami brushed her wrist into the sweat dotting her forehead; “This… is Korra…?”
Asami shivered into her own embrace as the reality sunk into her fatigued form. She gradually understood that she stood between Korra’s legs and the cold-resistant pants she wore, the Avatar caught flat face-down. Judging by the dash of distance between her and what was inarguably Korra’s crotch, Asami mentally noted that she was between her love’s thighs, gawking up the cliff that was her ass until the sun above was too blinding.
“She’s… b-big…” It was all Asami could stutter as conflicted as she was. If this was a prop or illusion, it was frighteningly convincing. Compelled to test her reality, Asami staggered up to a thigh and pushed into it, first with one hand, then both, her palms massaging into the fabric well past the point of confirming its truth.
Fueled by her curiosity, Asami overcame her exhaustion and began to climb up the leg, the material of Korra’s pants a fair surface to find footholds to scale. It would have made sense for this all to be a dream, but she was too confident in knowing how little time had passed since stepping into the portal. It had been minutes at most, and the air she breathed was unlike the spirit world’s, nor like that which was normal to her. At the peak of Korra’s rear, Asami hoped to find answers.
It was an entertaining hill to surmount, Asami had to admit as she stumbled up onto a cheek. The higher perspective immediately granted her a view up Korra’s back, which stretched farther and wider than any street in Republic City. The three brown ponytails and how they trailed down her rocky shoulders assured Asami that it was unmistakably Korra she was on top of, which confirmed just as well that she was standing upon a giant ass as if she had championed a mountain. She had marveled and caressed and pinched this impressive part of Korra so many times in the past, but now she found herself admiring the sheer mass of it like it were a plot of land.
Asami bubbled into a smile as she hopped lightly where she was, feeling the bounce of Korra’s butt under her feet. She giggled and thought to keep playing, but she could not be so distracted from all else that had yet to surprise her. As she looked up and around her and Korra’s surroundings, Asami could conclude that they were in a far-reaching plain encircled by stony mountains, the distant bases of which were dotted with clusters of squat buildings organized around the clearing. It was from those gray structures that Asami saw arrays of vehicles on the approach, clouds of dust kicked up behind them as they quickly made their way inwards from a swarming eight different angles. It was striking enough for Asami to have happened upon other humans in this place, and simply worrying that they debuted with what were undeniably machines for combat -- jeeps and trucks drove in beside various tanks, but their designs were cutting and slick, lacking the shakiness that was frequent in the technology Asami worked with.
“Uhmm… Korra? I think you should be awake for this…” Asami called out to Korra, but failed to get a response. With the platoons pushing in closer, Asami pounced onto the ground that was the seat of Korra’s pants and pressed into it with her whole body. She groaned, remembering how heavy of a sleeper her girlfriend could be when she was not the length of a train. “Korra…! Wake up, darling!”
Suddenly, Asami felt a stirring beneath her, followed by a jolt of motion that made her flinch upwards from the ass. Shivers of movement suggested correctly that Korra was waking, much the same as Asami had minutes earlier, but with denser consequences to every action; mighty limbs stretched with intimidating power, working together to suspend the much greater body into rising. Korra’s knees dug underneath her and her rear lifted high, propelling Asami along with it up into the air. After stretching her lower back to satisfaction, she continued to rise into a momentous yawn, bellowing out unabashedly as her bottom was planted into her upturned feet. Sat like she was, Korra gradually awoke, coming to terms with why she had been asleep in the first place.
“Mmm… This… doesn’t feel right,” Korra sleepily said, massaging her brow and resisting a second yawn. A first glance at her surroundings naturally left her with much to wonder about, but the emptiness was the most apparent, that there was no one and nearly nothing around her. She shifted worriedly in her seat, “Is this the spirit world… or…?”
While Korra grappled with these details, she was unaware of the life encroaching upon her position, her gaze casting far above the heads of military units and their vehicles. Nonetheless did they continue to hurry inwards, stopping in strategic positions just outside arm reach of the giant -- a distance that was still dangerously close to a being so huge, and clearly intelligent. The latter quality was an important factor, and what drove a leadership figure nearer towards her. She was the General, as designated by her uniform and rank, and she approached the Avatar with a serious face that would look down on her, if she were not so towering even while sitting down. She came prepared with just a military grade megaphone -- and the troops stationed behind her, of course.
Though the Avatar was overlooking the circle of soldiers, the knowledge of their approach burned inside Asami as she found herself unable to alert Korra -- not while trapped where she was, completely wrestled between Korra’s upturned soles and her ass which nestled into their curvature. “Korra! Y-You’re on top of me, Korra!” she screamed, as best she could under the circumstances, but there was little chance her voice would reach her partner. Relying less on being noticed, she wriggled her way underneath the massive rear, clawing her way to a less restrictive area. Wise as she was, she embarrassingly understood that she was navigating herself into the middle of Korra’s seat, where the crevice of her cheeks would allow marginally better movement.
The strain and struggle to navigate around the soles asserted a deeper respect for Korra’s hugeness. It was a lesson in humility, but a lesson with delightfully enticing perks, Asami had to admit. Upon unleashing her upper-half free to the open air, she first turned over and marveled at her beloved’s high-stretching back, captivated in her lowly perspective. Though she could do without the crushing sensation over her body, Asami well appreciated her intimate position. She only wished they had less complex matters to worry about; pushing away from the ass and feet, Asami returned her attention to the military, her waist still caught between Korra’s features.
Asami could only make blind guesses as to what the spirit portal had gotten them involved with, but as she tried making sense of things, she heard something of an explanation. Her ears perked towards Korra’s front; it was someone’s voice, amplified, and spoken sternly as steel. But more than just the distance muddying what she heard, Asami came upon another difficulty: Is that… a different language? Or… an accent…?
The scientist proved too curious and stalled where she was pinned in her wonder. Interrupting everything then, however, was Korra’s rumble of a voice, accented by not-so-subtle shifts in her weight. “Asami? … Asami, aren’t you here?” the giant spoke up, still seeking out her companion, sure that she had been brought along through the portal. The worry for her beloved was all she could think of, and that resonated directly onto Asami, struck with a wave of romance for having to see Korra this concerned for her.
But the truth was that she was not far away at all, and even trying to contact her. Asami gathered her breath and shouted skywards, “Korra! I’m right beneath yo-- oouuaaahhh!”
The titanic form was moving, her immenseness inspired to rise for Asami’s sake. One foot crashed forward to push her up, cratering the ground between her and the yet-unnoticed jeep. Her ascent swiftly spun the soldiers into a frenzy, urging them to be on the ready to take fire -- or, more possibly, to retreat. The General and those accompanying her in the jeep were particularly impacted as the quake of Korra’s stomp made their vehicle bounce and nearly break apart; the stoney appearance of the General was instantly disheveled, her confidence halved by how powerful the singular footfall had proven itself to be.
And yet, the Avatar still stretched taller, the peak of her head eclipsing the sun for the farther units that circled ahead of her upon standing at her full height. Her size entirely on display sent shivers of intimidation across the army even as she remained still, but that moment lasted briefly. “Asami…?” A hand brought to Korra’s mouth pushed her call outward as she began to trek forward -- as good a place to begin her search as any, but that was unknowingly in the direction of the General below.
A dire shadow consumed the jeep and its passengers. After one glimpse of the toned sole lifting above them, the driver of the jeep was physically pushed to get them going out of there. In a rush, he stomped the pedal and sped forward to slip just under the foot -- a risky, but successful maneuver. Yet while they barely avoided the house-sized heel behind them, the footstep’s tremor quickly caught up to them, the earth fissuring apart and thrusting their vehicle to flip forward into the air pathetically, all control lost by the driver. Screaming soldiers and the General alongside clung to the jeep as it tumbled into a ditch, an alcove shaped into the dirt from where the Avatar’s chest had pressed into it. After freeing each other from the steaming, upside-down wreck, they gawked at the departing giant, flinching to the tempo of her thundering footfalls.
The General, in her baffled stare at what had surpassed them, took notice of a peculiar addition tagging along with their target of interest. She heard a squeal from what she determined was a person of unknown origins, seen to be latched to the very end of the giant’s pant leg. Intrigued by this detail, the General raced out of the ditch, curious as to who this outsider was meant to be -- as curious as she was about what the legendary Avatar turned out to be.
Asami had latched onto the pants when the foot she was stranded upon began curling to launch forward -- it was either that, or be dropped and abandoned where Korra had been. She had hoped to get Korra’s attention this way, but the first step and its dramatic landing shocked Asami with the reality of their sizes. Gasps of fear bubbled from her as she was flung by the cuffs of Korra’s pants, slapping into her tendon when her foot decidedly planted itself. The mundane rhythm of footsteps had transcended into a pattern of incredible pounding, and only for so long could Asami keep her grip. She felt it coming, the flex in Korra’s legs, her muscles tensing in preparation for a full step forward--
“Korra!” Asami gasped, her doubt persuading her to release the pants and be dropped. It was better than later, choosing to fall while close to the ground rather than gamble her safety mid-step. Asami still hit the ground gracelessly, rolling through the grass multiple times before stopping. She needed to catch her breath, but when that subsequent footfall hammered the earth, it sent a jolt through Asami that kicked her into sitting up. Left behind, she could only watch as Korra continued off, increasingly enthralled by the massiveness the Avatar herself was still unaware of. Watching Korra’s strides at such scale absolutely mystified her, an experience grander than any of the wonderful creatures her homeworld could offer.
Asami’s wide-eyed stare was interrupted by the distinct shuffle of soldiers taking position behind her – a rainfall of marching that puttered beneath the thunder of receding footsteps. A command was barked at her, a word she instinctively recognized based on assertiveness alone; even without it, it was clear that the soldiers that had approached her were demanding she submit to them, their weaponry firmly pointed at her while they kept a fair distance apart. Asami swallowed a sarcastic remark as she obediently raised her hands above her head. She had dozens of questions to ask, but had only the option to comply.
Korra, however, was an uncontrollable force let loose in her pursuit of Asami. After only a few strides through the plain, Korra had crossed a significant distance, trampling through platoons underfoot. She thought nothing of where she stepped, not once considering the odd terrain, whereas the tiny soldiers suffered gravely for those mundane decisions. Tanks, jeeps, and trucks of all varieties flattened universally when the Avatar’s feet smashed into their ranks, the deceptive softness of her soles laying waste like bombs unrivaled. Startled orders of retaliation swept the scattering soldiers, but their comparatively minuscule guns and explosives could only strike her ankles with consistency -- and to no effect. Korra continued unimpeded by the army’s counterattack, drawn to what she saw as unnatural patches of gray across the ground that were, in reality, the wide-spanning military base, including its airfields and railyards that funneled out the mountain range.
“And… what’s this supposed to be? A tile…?” Korra inquired quietly. Without a clue otherwise, she hoped it would perhaps hint to Asami’s whereabouts, but there was truly only one fact she could infer. Looking again at her unusual surroundings, she concluded, “We definitely did not make it to the spirit world…”
Rather, the world she was in appeared eerily mundane compared to the spirit world. There was hardly a unique feature to speak of, at least until something rose into her vision. Turning back to face the gray floor, Korra blinked and hesitated upon seeing flying creatures floating up from the ground. Her eyes brightened with curiosity, but her body tensed with wariness; she had seen oddities from both worlds, but never something so angular and metallic, the sprite-like shape hovering by the power of a propeller. Korra tried to focus on just one of these camouflage-patterned helicopters, but it seemed she had disturbed an entire family.
“Oh? And what are these little guys…?” Korra mused, her lips curling into a dim smile. She tilted her head and leaned forward with interest, noting how the supposed creatures swayed away from her approach. “I guess… some sort of bug? Hmm… I’d find you kind of cute, if you all weren’t…” she stopped, scanning around herself and counting the numerous helicopters hovering around her, “... staring at me.”
Korra’s eyes settled on the most central helicopter in front of her. Propping her fists on her hip, she lurched forward to observe it more closely. To the soldiers flying the vehicle, the avatar had lunged at them with her huge face suddenly overtaking their field of vision. Stressed under the weight of her indomitable eyes, the pilot veered backwards while enabling the helicopter’s lock-on weapons system.
“Have you seen Asami?” Korra joked to herself, bringing a delicate finger to point at the helicopter caught in her gaze. “... You’re not venomous, are you?”
An unexpected answer came in the form of sparks of heat suddenly pinching Korra’s cheeks and the arc of her nose. Phasing her like a quick static shock, the effect was more surprising than it was damaging -- that was the pitiful result of the combat helicopter’s barrage of rockets directly striking their target. Yet, to their tiny perspective, the effect was monumental as it made the titan blink and flinch backwards, reeling away with an expression of disgust that limited how proud the pilot responsible could feel. Though the attack had been successful, it had seemingly only drawn the giant’s ire onto himself.
“Hey!” Korra winced, her reaction a blast of sound that rattled the buzzing chopper. An arm rose to massage where she was struck, which acted as well to wave the helicopter aside. “Was that necessary? I thought I was being polite…” Korra grimaced at the bug, coming to terms that it must be nothing more than that, alien as it may be. A curiosity, however, had her raising a brow in thought; “What was that, anyway…? Firebending…?”
She had thought to walk on and bypass the swarm, but when she tried, a series of those warm flicks ran lines of red all over her. The other helicopters were firing upon her, unloading not only guided missiles, but streams of bullets that raged from onboard turrets. Her clothes utterly deflected the assault, and though her arms and shoulders were exposed, her bronze skin proved too durable to do more than leave trace burns. The military’s only advantage was their sheer numbers confusing Korra with attacks from all directions, but that would only last until the Avatar focused her mind.
“I’m not sure what you are, so let me take a closer look…” Korra explained herself aloud, unflinching as she ignored the waves of attacks. Her body moved to the flow of an inhale, readying for a fluid strike -- the helicopter pilots were mesmerized by the smoothness of the giant’s motions, and just as much were they nervous of her intent. With masterful dexterity, Korra launched a hand forward and caught a targeted helicopter, pinching it with two scissor-like fingers. The pilot was shaken hard by the sudden loss of control; not only unable to direct the vehicle, he was reeled into Korra’s daunting gaze, helpless against the woman’s supersized strength that was in just the one hand alone.
Korra studied the creature she had caught, twisting and turning the unfamiliar thing even as the rest of its kind continued to attack her. The pilots that she was unaware of were strained to hold themselves in their seats, fighting gravity as the giant casually manipulated their vehicle between her fingers. Their restricted view outside the cockpit’s windshield kept their perspective directed at wherever Korra happened to point them, ever unsure what she might do to them. They roared into worry when her nose, of all things, suddenly came upon them; it was so much bigger than they expected, applying upon them a true sense of her scale. Korra merely sniffed at what she assumed was an otherworldly insect, but her comparatively huge nostrils ripped at the helicopter with each vacuum-like inhale -- strong enough to shatter the windshield and expose those within.
After a second evaluation, Korra could still not conclude what it was that swarmed her. Had she been less attentive, she would have discarded the vehicle aside, expecting it to fly off like any other bug she knew. However, when she glared closer at the front, she noticed the broken “visor” of the creature and the writhing things inside of it. She blinked, and her pupil narrowed -- details of her eye that were terrifyingly vivid to the tiny passengers that she had only just uncovered. Initially doubtful to believe they were people, their distinctly human-like fear gradually convinced her, and thus made her sharply reassess everything around her.
“These… are people, s-so that would mean…” Korra whispered the realization aloud, still warding the disbelief of whatever situation she had found herself in. Making herself as still as possible, she allowed only her head to rear back and turn, scoping out the swathes of that same vehicle buzzing all around her. The dozen of them that she counted struck Korra with the comprehension of what predicament she was in, made more evident as she looked down at her feet. Lifting a bare sole onto its side, she found herself to be standing on top of military barracks -- whatever was left of them -- which itself was surrounded by garages, airfields, and other facilities that shook in her presence. “Oh, I’m… big.” Her toes curled and then wriggled where they were rooted, dislodging large chunks of debris as though they were pebbles. “Real big.”
Dawned upon by her own enormous size, Korra shivered uneasily, swirled with an uncharacteristic dizziness. She staggered backwards a pace, intending to retreat and pose less risk to the swarm-- the scramble of military helicopters. In her looseness, her fingers let free the helicopter she had stolen out of the sky, disastrously allowing it to plummet that high of a distance to the ground. A heroic instinct took over in a flash, and Korra kicked a foot outward and low, her movement just as precise as it had been earlier; the helicopter was caught again, though not in her hand, but wedged in the pinch of her toes. It was a harsh stop for the passengers, and it cost the propeller being severed by her toenail, but Korra had ultimately prevented a more fiery fate.
As balanced as Korra kept herself positioned that way, she was internally out of form, mentally cringing whenever she thought of one huge aspect of herself or another. She stared down at her toes with the most remorse, where the combat helicopter was suspended in its fall; “I am so sorry about… this,” she winced, thinking of how to explain herself. Her nervous deposition was still just as unflinching to the warfare hailed against her by the rest of the army -- she was oblivious to the reinforcements that had joined, peppering her with motors and gatlings, and so her apologetic expression was uniquely belittling. “Uh, I’m just going to… let you go now,” she stammered on, a chuckle hidden in her tone as she lowered her foot gently to the ground and released the toy-like vehicle onto its side. The pilots stumbled out hurriedly, yet even in their rush, they were compelled to gawk up at Korra, overwhelmed not only by her towering presence, but by the earthy smell that radiated from her bare sole.
Despite her careful and merciful method of a response, the military’s attacks only fumed more furiously. Now that the giant was no longer holding captives, a surge of firepower was called upon by commanders, unleashing a pattern of missiles that sped into their unmissable target’s ankles and knees. It amounted to little more than how embers could flick from a campfire in a strong wind, the missiles smoldering against her skin and clothes harmlessly. She still thought to shield herself from a ground-based attack, hovering a foot just above a bunker of mortars so that her calloused sole would endure the assault. The stream of bullets and rockets were absorbed by her foot, her toes squirming back at them as if tickled by a heated massage, but Korra could not deny every angle of attack so luxuriously -- she was far too big to even consider it.
Though the Avatar was capable of vast patience, Korra had none to spare in the circumstance she was in. Asami was her priority, which had wavered when she became flustered by this downscaled world. “I get it -- you guys aren’t actually bugs,” Korra griped, turning her shoulder against the attacks of a helicopter, “but you’re just as pesky as they are…” As painless as the pin-sized attacks were, they proved annoyingly incessant as the army refused to disperse.
The offensive assembly culminated in an airstrike of bombs dropped by jets streaking overhead. Korra heard the shrieks of their speedy approach, but did not predict the power that would be behind their attack; it proved to be the most effective blow the army could deal, the scatter of powerful explosions causing her to falter. Her backfoot, needed then for support, bulldozed through a line of the army’s trailers as her heel slid into a balanced position. Detecting her ruinous error, Korra lifted her heel out from the debris; though compelled to apologize, she levied some of that fault onto the army itself for pushing her so unexpectedly.
“I’m not trying to fight you all!” Korra announced scoldingly, backing away step-by-step with keen attention to where her feet could be planted. Calm as she tried to be, a growl still escaped her when a tank’s bombardment popped against the underside of her breasts; “If I was serious about fighting back, can’t you admit I surely would’ve won by now?” It was tempting to let loose and counter the tiny people surrounding her, especially so when they marched inwards onto her -- they were chasing her, prolonging the very battle she wanted to end. “Getting confident, huh?” she grumbled, second-guessing her passivity. Deciding on an indirect approach, Korra reclaimed some ground by stomping back where she had been, rattling the entire ground-level opposition into a span of submission. Steeply intimidated and with much of their equipment toppled, many soldiers turned to flee, but the airforce was unphased. Another pattern of combat jets was then fast approaching Korra, prompting her to wave at them with an open-fingered smack. It disorganized the batch before bombs could be dropped, some planes speeding around the giant digits and up past her arm muscles, but it would not take long for them to loop around for a follow-up attempt. With so many numbers behind them, Korra readied herself for round-after-round of action.
But just as she buckled herself into a fortified stance, a high-pitch sequence of sirens alerted her to a change in the situation. She first glanced elsewhere for an explanation, but when her focus went back to the helicopters, they were spreading thin in the air. Once distant enough, they uniformly flew past Korra, slowly buzzing around her. The same movement was noticed down below, where the infantry was expeditious in repositioning; tanks, jeeps, and trucks alike were seemingly surrendering and hauling away the numerous troops.
Korra was gradually abandoned in her perplexed state. True, she had ordered the army to forfeit, so she would not argue with them on that matter. Where the soldiers were headed to, however, was something she was privy to learn. Surely the siren, which repeated still, was an alarm for something serious -- more serious than an upscaled Avatar let loose on a military base, so it seemed to Korra.
Wordlessly, she studied the movements of the tiny people below, watching them as if they were ants on a mission. Leaning forward, Korra loomed above the highly-organized traffic, following their paths to where they all converged into a station. She situated herself into a squat nearby -- only after finding the leg-room to do so -- and observed closely as soldiers piled into train shuttles. Like clockwork, the shuttles would load up with people and cargo before launching them down a railroad, not unlike the trains of her own world, but faster and more efficient. They moved with arrow-like speed, all towards the same exit out of the mountain range.
Korra rose and stepped over the station, too drawn into her curiosity and instincts to think of how close her footfalls were to the railroads. She cared only to avoid anything directly underfoot as she moved to the edge of the military base and looked well beyond it. Her eyes narrowed in a faraway gaze, a view of a long landscape with dips and hills, woven through by railroads and bridges. Arranged in the terrain were wind turbines and their actively spinning blades -- Korra mistook them as windmills, unaware of how they churned energy for the base behind her.
But the beauty of the valley was lost on Korra as she put her focus on where the military was forwarding all of its forces. It was happening a sprint away from where she stood, at the opposite end of the long field, where the streaks of missiles led to bursts of fire. It was an outside perspective on a scene she was an actor in only moments ago, a battle between a swarming military and one behemoth opponent -- except that this giant foe utterly lacked the remorse and tact that Korra had expressed. This titan, appearing only so similar to a human woman, mercilessly fought back against the barriers built to deny her. She trampled through the railroad bridges, breaking down the vantage points from which the military attacked her from; she flailed at jets and helicopters, fewer of which were willing to fly within reach. Unlike the Avatar, this was a true monster: a reptilian-humanoid bearing a toxic-green hide, a protruding jaw with lines of teeth, black hair that swamped down her back, and the slit pupils of a cold-blooded predator. Dragged behind her, and swung with the heft of a club, was a thick tail edged with uniquely-shaped spines -- they proved to have a distinct purpose, trickling with static whenever the tail whipped into enemy defenses. Indeed, they were akin to prongs for conducting electricity, instantly disabling military machines and shocking whoever was at their helm. The monster bellowed a sigh of satisfaction when she cast her natural weapon into the army below, taking significant delight in how the electricity sparked to her whims.
Soldiers abandoned their posts en masse as the monster carved deeper through the trench-like valley, tearing apart the waist-high bridges to open the path forward. Their retreat would have failed as her gigantic form pushed onto them, but her progress halted, long enough to allow the military beneath her to scurry away. Her attention was hooked onto what was ahead of her, a sight that her eyes were unaccustomed to seeing: that of something as huge as herself, posed opposite of her across the field of wind turbines and railroads. Her stare clashed with Korra’s, confusion shared between them, until the reptilian giant snarled, appearing as opposed to the Avatar as she was with the military.
Korra had intuited that the creature would turn out to be unfriendly, but did not expect an outburst of an attack to happen so quickly. The monster had commandeered an entire train as a weapon, ripping it from the bridge she had most recently demolished so that it could be hurled as a projectile -- seemingly, she had no patience to begin a bout with Korra, engaging so hastily. Korra gasped, comprehending the consequences of a train full of soldiers being launched across such a distance. More than just dodge the attack, Korra swerved and dipped around the shuttles, expertly catching the line of cars into her grasp and twirling away the excess momentum. It was a dangerous and unpredictable ride for the soldiers within, clinging to their seats and railings until the massive Avatar had them safely in her possession. Her observant eyes blinked at the many windows only once before the train was set aside at her feet -- it was all the aid she could spare before the beast was bellowing at her to battle.
“No one wants to try and be friends in this place, huh?” Korra bemoaned, gracefully handling her weight above a wave of soldiers retreating behind her. She took a fighting stance in what little space she had to work with, her fists clenched tight and her toes curled solidly into the ground. She smirked with readiness, “At least I don’t have to be so careful with something like you…!”
The beast was fast on her way towards Korra, a rush that the Avatar was keen to capitalize on, as she would any opponent. She stepped forward assertively, less generous with how much she restrained her power for the sake of the tiny people; she danced into the next motion, her body expertly propelling a punch into the open air -- with a harsh exhale, Korra expected to firebend her own projectile at the beast, confident as she ever was when it came to bending, but her attack never sparked into being. No embers or smoke, a complete absence of any elemental energy. Korra blinked, her ego flattened as she processed the failed attempt; she looked into her fist, as if the hand itself was responsible, and then punched forward with the other. Korra blinked again, struck with the discovery that her bending was unavailable.
“... Why?!” Korra gasped, still searching for an explanation. Too many times in the past had she lost grip of her bending, but this feeling was distinct from the others. Her form was perfect, her spirit was strong -- something else was lacking. “For some reason, I-I can’t bend in this world, can I?” She said aloud her conclusion, so drawn into this worry that she forgot about the giant reptile woman slithering up to her, and thus was she an open target for her attack.
Caught flat-footed, Korra bore the brunt of a tailwhip against her torso, the air forced from her chest as she stumbled backwards. The army that had positioned behind her was flushed into fleeing again, hurrying away from the aimless footfalls of an unbalanced Avatar -- first her feet, and then her ass, as she inevitably tripped and cratered into the valley floor. Tanks and train cars were abandoned in her shadow as her rear crashed down, followed by the wave that was the rest of her back rolling into place, her musculature immune to the metal debris beneath her.
As momentous as the impact appeared to the audience of soldiers, the massive body did not stay collapsed for long. Korra recovered quickly from the blunt blow; she curled into herself, then sprung up onto her feet, making light of her immenseness with the way she so fluidly moved. She did not overlook the consequences of her size, noting the huge dash in the terrain her fall had created, and feeling the prick-like impressions on her skin from where unfortunate vehicles had been crushed. She wished to do more to minimize the destruction she caused, feeling not just guilty, but equally embarrassed from all the attention.
The beast continued after Korra, hissing as she lunged forward with her claws. Close-quarter fundamentals served Korra in countering the attack, grabbing the wrist mid-motion and following through with an open-palm punch into her opponent’s neck. The maneuver successfully staggered the monster, leaving her open for a kick that shoved her away. She crashed into one of the army’s bridges, her arms falling along its length to support herself and stay standing. Korra’s quickness had surprised her, but her rage was unfettered.
Korra had created that distance for a reason, hoping to divert the action somewhere less occupied. She darted up the valley path, stopping midway to improvise a weapon out of a wind turbine; the head was broken off, the fan utilized for its three blades as if it were a ring of long knives. It gave her an extra edge on her approach, an advantage she needed in order to avoid the reach of the beast’s thick tail; Korra slashed at the creature, warding it deeper into the valley with each swing of the makeshift weapon.
It was an effective strategy, until the beast intercepted the fan by grabbing it by two of its blades and locking it down. Korra winced as the weapon became contested between them, both giants pushing into each other in an effort to bully their opponent down. Their feet sunk into the valley floor, their huge weights pressured by each other’s forces -- a stalemate, that which held the thousands of soldiers in suspense as they continuously repositioned. Korra was content to keep the monster pinned this way and to wear her down, but the beast had an out: her tail flickered with electricity, catching Korra’s attention too late before it was whipping into her side. A touch was all she needed in order to shock the Avatar into painful spasms, disrupting her balance enough that she could win over the weapon. The fan was torn out of Korra’s grasp and thrown away into a hillside, allowing the monster to launch forward and grapple her foe by the waist.
It was an astonishing feat to the many watching the fight unfold: one titan uprooting the other, an extraordinary amount of weight piled onto one shoulder. The beast grappled Korra as she was still riddled with electricity, lifting her into the air with a growl of effort. Crowds of soldiers steeled themselves for what was to come: after a spin to pick up speed, the beast threw Korra down the valley, back towards the military base she had begun the encounter from. Like heralding a meteor cutting through the atmosphere, the army marveled at Korra’s massiveness hurling through the open air, preparing for the earthquake that was sure to commence--
Thoooom!! Korra crashed into the terrain, adding a scar in the ground that was deeper and longer than her fall moments before. A wind turbine was toppled beneath her chest, and lanes of railroads were ripped apart by her bulldozing arms and shoulders. Stations collapsed as tremors pounded away at their foundations, becoming rubble over top of where Korra lay. The mounds of dirt and debris piled on her were then sifted off as she shivered to life, rising from her crater until she was hunched onto her elbows and knees. Straggler soldiers that were caught in the avalanches of her impact scurried away from her, enduring injuries and obstacles in their hurry towards shelter; Korra was undistracted with them, thinking only of the fight as she spat the taste of the ground off her lips.
But before she could surge back into battle, Korra heard a high-pitched squeal -- a siren that beeped sharply over the ongoing wail of the other military arms. The noise stung her ears unlike anything else, opening her senses to a voice calling out to her: “Korra! Korra!” Korra stuttered blankly in reply; the amplified voice was critically familiar, that despite the urgent tone, there was a warmth to what she heard, a strong concern. She had to locate the voice immediately when she recognized who it was in a gasp: “Asami?!”
The beast lurked towards Korra from behind, a pressing matter that paused her search for Asami. She thought to prepare herself for another bout, but as she turned to look back at the monster, something sped past her, with speed rivaling the jets she had encountered earlier. It was a squadron of machines, the size of a small tank but with aerial mobility that was incomparable to any other vehicle; rocket fuel enabled the machines to hover and glide, but what largely propelled them were high-power grappling hooks that pierced into the valley terrain to be thrust forward. Korra felt a faint sting in her shoulder just then, when one such machine speared her body to be launched off of it along with the others -- boldly into the engagement range of the giant beast.
Korra expected them to be disabled instantly, just like all else that had been lobbied against her, but when the beast kicked at the machines, they expertly dodged in the air, spiraling out of harm’s way and encircling her from different angles. Once in position, several of them opened fire, unleashing multiple packs of missiles that drilled into her scaled hide. Unique to these explosives was the chemical they released, conjuring a cloud of purple smoke that consumed the beast. She roared as electrical pulses fizzled around her tail; Korra inferred as much that the chemical was a neutralizer of sorts, as observed by the creature’s increasingly sluggish movements. The elite task force was lacking in raw firepower to down the monster, but they had certainly adapted to doing what little they could, managing to mitigate her -- and allow Korra the chance to find Asami.
“Korra! To your right!” That same alarm was sounded again, fetching Korra’s attention to a docking platform of various vehicles. A jeep there was slanted and loaded with uniformed people, except for one among them standing in the back -- Asami, a sight that bewildered Korra with relief and anxiety and so many questions. Her rocky demeanor visibly smoothed when she realized Asami was safe and nearby, but just as much worry filled her eyes as she shifted closer to the platform and the toy-like vehicle; Asami was with her in this world, but for reasons unknown, she was as little as its inhabitants.
From Asami’s perspective, however, it had always been that Korra was a giant -- every strength and feature, the details Asami adored, all amplified to a 100-meter height. That number was nearly-exact, as specified by the military that retrieved her. Ever since having been overlooked by Korra where they had arrived, she had been chasing after her, driven along by the General and her guards. Asami was amazed by what she witnessed, a lowly observer to the antics of her gigantic girlfriend, following her trail of destruction to the valley-end of the base; she studied the footprints left behind, the many of them that there were, reckoning with the immensity of her beloved. It was a positive sign that Korra had soon learned of the life in this world, but that was dashed when the Chi Titan invaded.
Asami thought of how to summarize so much information to Korra -- everything she knew had only just been explained to her by the General, and via a language only partially similar to her own. It was necessary she reach out to Korra and provide some sense, for it was why the military was willing to bring her so far, to be used as a medium of communication. With a military-grade megaphone in hand, Asami had managed to get Korra’s attention, but it was exactly that which turned her speechless and flustered, that all-encompassing stare as her partner’s head craned so close. Asami choked on the vision, her eyes flicking between the point of Korra’s nose, the tremble in her lips, and the bend in her brow -- so much concern in a face she wished to caress, but was still so far away, hovering above her, huge and admittedly overbearing.
“A-Asami…?” Korra whispered, suddenly thoughtful of how forceful her voice could be, now that her girlfriend was involved. “Wh-What happened to you-- or, me? And who are--” Her eyes widened, and the glow she had for Asami was replaced with a glare that aimed onto the General with strict precision. The guards could feel the flare of tension in her face; “Let her go,” Korra commanded. Without hesitation, she drew her pointer finger like a weapon, a single digit that was as threatening as a cannon. There was no question that, on a whim, she could crush the General where she sat in the jeep -- a reality that cast the General and her guards into cowering, devoid of any pride they had sustained, fearfully accepting the Avatar’s will.
But Korra was wrong about their dynamic, and Asami stuttered as she realized as much. “Korra, no!” Asami ordered through the megaphone. “Put that away! Now!” She spoke with a disciplinary tone, the same with which she would scold Korra back home for reckless indoor airbending or tracking in mud with Naga. Despite the steep difference in scale, their relationship was unchanged, and Korra was an obedient listener, curling her finger away and looming less over the platform. Asami exhaled and continued, “I-I’m not their hostage! And they’re not your enemy -- the Chi Titan is!”
“Chi Titan…?” Korra repeated, glancing down the valley where the elite task force was still engaged with the reptilian woman. She scoffed dismissively and looked back at Asami, “That has to wait. Asami, a-are you safe? I-I can’t believe what I’m looking at! Y-You’re… just, so… so, so…~!” Korra’s demeanor melted through stages; anger, worry, and then restrained laughter, giggles leaking through her lips as her fingers measured a gap to estimate Asami’s height. “... tiny! And so cute~”
Asami burned bright with embarrassment -- fortunately, her only peers were the General and her guards, all of which were still deeply sunken into their seats from when Korra’s finger weighed overhead. Truly, it spoke to Korra’s unflinching resolve under stress, that regardless of the war-like conditions, she could still be overcome with such joy. Lest it became a distraction, Asami ignored the commentary: “I’m fine, a-and there’s a lot that needs to be explained, but--”
“Rrhhaaaa!” A beastly screech ripped through the air, louder than any of the sirens, even as it bellowed from the middle of the valley. The elites could stall her no longer, having depleted their missiles or been swatted out of combat -- it was by design, the best humanity could do to ward away these giant monsters. As the chemical clouds slowly lost their suppressive effect, the Chi Titan roared with energy returning back to it. Sparks from the prongs along her tail turned into a current of electricity, which was then unleashed in an electromagnetic pulse that instantly disabled the high-mobility machines. The elites plummeted from whatever trajectory they last had, leaving the Chi Titan unopposed.
“Don’t let it get to the military base!” Asami shouted through the megaphone. “If it reaches the chi generators, it will harness more energy for itself! You’re the only thing in this world that can stop it, Korra!”
An incredible responsibility, but Korra was accustomed to it. There was much to question about what was still happening, but she trusted Asami and took seriously the urgency of the situation. “Alright,” Korra chuckled as she pushed her torso up from the debris, “but tell them that they should introduce themselves nicer the next time they need my help.”
Asami giggled warmly at Korra’s humor, but then gasped sharply at what she saw incoming. Korra followed the shocked expression behind her, rearing around from her prone state to realize a wind turbine was flying their way like a spear. The Chi Titan had utilized one such machine by snapping it off from the ground and then hurling it as a projectile, forcing Korra to react in a bad position. Yet she was quick, flashing into motion by twisting fully around and intercepting the turbine with both hands striking it aside. It saved Asami and those else in the jeep, but the eruption of the turbine still rattled them atop the docking platform, proving its danger -- just as a second wind turbine was ripped and thrown.
Disallowed a better maneuver, Korra’s only option was to guard against the projectile head-on. She solidified her posture into an earthbending squat, a sturdy stance that kept her rear pushed behind her and above those she was protecting. Her muscles bulged in preparation, a highlight that Asami risked her neck to see, hiding behind the seats of the jeep. In the next moment, Korra was struck-- “Unhh!” she grunted, her crossed-arms bearing the brunt of the turbine’s shaft while her shoulder was unfortunately sliced into by one of the blades. Its destruction flowed over Korra’s body like a wave washing over a shield, the shredded pieces and parts of the machine continuing to fly past any openings in her defense -- but she buckled the blow expertly, her legs sinking into the ground where they were rooted, her body jostling but not giving in. Though the soldiers below believed her butt would crash over top of them, they were saved yet again by the attack, spurred more than ever into a speedy retreat.
Korra was grateful when she heard the squeal of the jeep behind her, assuring that Asami was getting somewhere safe and away from the battle. A cradle in the valley had been cleared for her and the Chi Titan, but the giant monster was already in the middle of that field, zoning her opponent into a corner. Korra bounced light on her feet -- relative to her massiveness -- as the distance between them narrowed, opting for swiftness over strength. It was a wise decision as the Chi Titan neared with an aggressive flurry of claws, all of which Korra dodged and then countered with a high-kick to the creature’s protruding jaw. It was a critical point to have hit, dazing the Chi Titan extensively so that Korra could follow-up with a straight kick to the abdomen.
“Ooh, what’s the matter?” Korra asked tauntingly as she centered herself. “Are you not used to fighting someone your own size?”
“My… jaw…!” the creature hissed; a surprise to Korra, who had assumed the beast was unable to speak. The Chi Titan stroked her snout, tender where the underside had been struck. She winced, exposing her teeth in a seething anger. “Haah… You’ll regret that, Outsider…! For that, I’ll rip you apart limb from limb…!” The dark voice crept into Korra’s hearing like a slithering whisper, but the crackle of her tail was what Korra dreaded.
The Chi Titan flung forward, flailing first with another claw, but quickly rotating into a tail whip. Korra predicted the trick and avoided the electric results, first swerving away from the claws before making a daring hop over the tail as it passed under her. It was a close call, the touch of static felt against her bare soles, but once landed, Korra was primed to counter. Confident she could outmaneuver her foe, she shot forth a punch directly at the Chi Titan’s jaw, intending to score another vital attack.
Snap! The sound struck Korra before the pain could be realized; Korra winced, then gasped, “Urh!” Her arm had been bitten; her fist failed to connect when the Chi Titan lashed wildly, catching her arm up to its elbow in the unforgiving clench of her jaw. Hundreds of teeth stabbed into Korra and ripped at her skin, complicating an already-serious wound. Korra tugged backwards, but the Chi Titan’s grip was too tight, and with a whip of her head, she sprung Korra into a flip, a harsh jerk of motion that twirled Korra hard on her back and with a dislocated shoulder -- Thoooom! The military, spread far as they were, were shaken by the earthquake of her hugeness being thrown to the valley floor.
As the dust of the impact cleared, it was presented to the audience of soldiers that Korra was pinned where she lay, struggling against the bite into her arm. It refused to open, the Chi Titan seemingly savoring the taste of the wound, but after a sinister chuckle, she released her grip. Korra squirmed on the ground, grabbing at the rows of wounds as the Chi Titan stepped over her. The beast turned her back to the Avatar, lifting her tail high and allowing it to charge to its max -- to thunderous effect, the Chi Titan slammed her tail onto Korra. The weight alone was crushingly painful on her ribs, but the electric shock was a full-body agony that was inescapable, a lightning blast that sent her into spasms. The monster whipped down at Korra again and again, repeating the motion until her electricity was discharged, and her opponent drained to only itches of movement.
Unobstructed, the Chi Titan slithered forward. Her tail draped off of Korra, dragged behind her and through the carnage of their fight. After a few steps forward, she hacked and hissed, her claws stroking at wounds she was unaccustomed to having – in contrast, she continued to shrug off the mortars and missiles, the little flicks of fire that the military was back to resorting to. Her approach towards the military base was met with as much resistance as could be afforded, but there were no barriers between her and what she sought – the delicious purpose for having ventured so far.
Ankle-high buildings were tread upon first by clawed feet, and then a wide-sweeping tail. Manless tanks and jeeps were thrown aside like feathers, but crashed into the pathways of the military base as heavy as they truly were; dodging the rainfall of ruins were the many soldiers, bravelessly running away from her scaly footfalls. Gunfire puttered down as survival was prioritized, positions abandoned in a pitiful retreat. The base was forfeited, and so too was the Chi Titan’s reward: the precious chi generator, a central spire of a facility that was half her height and radiant with the energy dense within its chamber.
Emergency sirens wailed with piercing affect, so sharp and loud that it reached Korra’s ears and stirred her senses. Still jittering from the electric damage done to her, she could barely keep her eyes open enough to catch glimpses of the scene ahead – the results of her defeat. By having failed to stop her, the monster was able to wade deep into the military base and claim what she came for. With the same bite that fell Korra, she tore into the metal walls and protectors of the chi generator, ripping apart its outer shell and exposing the contents within. Through the gashes that she made, a chemical steam poured out, filling her nostrils with an addictive scent; she inhaled deep, and was thus inspired to feast fully on the energy. She gnawed and slurped, messily bending the spire so that her long reptilian snout could access every corner, visibly buzzed by that which she ingested.
By breaching the generator, the Chi Titan had popped one final trap that the military had prepared. Turrets activated and automatically took aim, positioned plentifully around the circular base of the spire; they were loaded not with bullets, but the neutralizing gas, the same that had been utilized earlier by the elite units to stall the monster. Purple smoke shot up like geysers from the feet of the Chi Titan, quickly conquering the air around her. It made a veil over the destruction, but highlights of green sparks and discharges still flashed from the clouds; she persisted on eating, even as the numbing effect weighed on her body, until her hugeness shuddered with imbalance above the ruined power plant.
A zap like lightning, a jagged noise that bled into a bestial roar. The Chi Titan announced her departure like the victor she was, and with a hard slash of her tail, she spread the purple smoke away. Stray artillery bombarded her from lowly positions, but their attacks made no difference in how she staggered outward from the generator. Her scaly hide passively shrugged off their efforts as she made a route into the mountains, the prongs of her tail continuously sparking with the energy she had absorbed. The military chased her only as far as out of the base before being recalled – back to the valley to survey the vast damages.
Helicopters and jets sped through the sky, and the ground rumbled with the constant movement of trains and tanks. The warzone ambience, contrary to its brutal nature, had a slowing, heavy effect on Korra and her swirling head. Sickened with electrical twitches, she remained dropped on the valley floor, struggling to lift herself. In her dazed state, Korra reflected on what brought her to being prone. Beyond just the battle with the Chi Titan, she wondered why the Spirit Portal took her to the world, and why it made her huge like that monster; she wondered about the military and their aggression towards her, questioning their motives and thus her reason for fighting for them.
But the most pressing concern swelling in her heart had its answer called to her, a voice she recognized even in her deepest weariness: “Korra!” Asami’s voice rang above the gritty rhythm of treads and tires. Like a bell, it awoke Korra from the trance she was shocked into, her eyes willed open so that her beloved could be found. Much to her relief, Asami appeared well, though visibly struck with fluster over her partner’s condition. She was driven up to Korra in the General’s jeep, and once close, she leapt from the back and ran the rest of the distance through thick foliage, rushing into Korra’s wrist and embracing as wide of it as she could in a hug.
“A-Asa-ami…” Korra shivered, biting down on the last trickles of electrical shock. She stared at her partner through a toss of her hair over her eyes, eased by Asami’s arrival, but it was her touch that revitalized her. Her fingers curled through the grass and ground, a return of strength that Asami felt as a pulse through her veins; “That… thing… I-I didn’t really know what to expect…”
“Darling… All things considered, you held yourself well out there,” Asami assured her, a soothing tone to match the softness of her stroking. Her expression was less comforting, tinged with worry that she assumed Korra was too large to tell. “I’m still not completely sure what all is happening here…”
Korra chuckled – a hint of her recovery. “I can’t expect you to have all the answers, but I can expect myself to do better than this.”
“K-Korra, you shouldn’t–”
“I-It surprised me, I’ll give it that…” Korra lifted herself onto a knee, her hand kept low to stay with Asami until it was just a fingertip held in her little grasp. She huffed and fixed her stare on the split in the mountains that the Chi Titan had gone. “I won’t be caught off-guard a second time…!”
“No, Korra! Now wait a moment…!” Asami cautioned her, pulling on the fingertip as though she were heavy enough to hold Korra back – she was lifted off the ground, insistent until she let go back to the ground. She stumbled, still waving for Korra’s attention. “Y-You can’t go after her! I know you can get the best of her, but… not in this condition! You’re injured, and that thing just got supercharged.”
Korra winced at what she was told, begrudgingly turning her attention away from the monster’s path and back down onto Asami. The stubborn part of her wanted to argue, but that effort was swallowed with bitter acceptance – Asami’s assessment was regrettably true, and so Korra sighed, remaining knelt as the Chi Titan left their sights.
In the absence of that threat, the military moved expeditiously to new stations and posts, which included forming a broad circle around Korra’s coordinates. Jeeps and tanks surrounded her like a dotted line she could easily step over; troops took aim, but with weapons that had proven ineffective. Yet Korra chose to remain on her one knee, wary of the soldiers but bending to their directions. Likewise did Asami keep herself close to her giant beloved, until the General motioned and called for her attention, prompting her to step aside. Korra watched the conversation, but blinked heavy with weariness, too exhausted to listen in on a tiny conversation.
Korra waited in suspense for Asami to return, and so too did the soldiers hold steady. “What happens now?” she asked her. “This isn’t the part where I get tied down on my back, is it?”
Asami was flat to the humor. “... She told me the Chi Titan– err, or whatever they’re actually called– will recover soon,” she began with a serious edge, “and that she’ll target the next closest chi generator… located in the city. They want you to get recovered, and they… want you to fight it again.”
Korra strained through aches to scoff and chuckle. “I’m happy to go another round with that creature,” she said, “but I don’t think this toy army is in position to tell me what to do. I have a whole other world I’m supposed to be the Avatar for.”
“Th-That’s kind of the thing, Korra,” Asami stuttered, nervously bringing her fingers together. Her cold shift drew Korra’s concern. “Th-There’s a lot to unpack, but according to the General… you’re the Avatar – of this world, too – and they’re all expecting you to save it.”