A lone radio crackled to life, picking up a message distorted with static.
"Panic in Republic City!" the famous announcer started, "Bizarre new creatures have started appearing in the Spirit Wilds! Citizens have reported seeing scaly monsters of various sizes roaming around the city, invading properties and making themselves right at home in the ruins left from the Avatar's battle with Kuvria! Despite repeated efforts of the police force, lead by Chief Beifong, the monsters remain unmoved! As more and more creatures start to appear, the one question on everyone's mind is, Where is Avatar Korra?!"
In hindsight, the impromptu Spirit World vacation was a pretty bad idea. Not that the Avatar didn't have a good time, in fact she had the best time of her life; and if the smile constantly plastered on Asami's face was any indication, she had a pretty good time too. It's just that...they probably should have told someone where they were going and how long they'd be gone. Mostly so that the whole flippin world didn't go into a state of panic.
They ended up staying a month. A whole month to themselves and whatever it was that they wanted to do. Asami met Iroh and had the most intense game of pi sho Korra had ever seen. So intense that spirits started placing bets, though to everyone's displeasure (or relief depending on what they had bet) the game ended in a tie. There was cliff diving, long hikes and incredible views, even a bit of flight with the help of some friendly spirits. But, of course, the highlight of this trip was the beginning of their romantic relationship, however that's a story for another day.
What's interesting is what happened when they got back home.
When the Avatar and the engineer walked out of the spirit portal hand in hand, the last thing they expected to see was a rather confused looking...thing. Whatever it was was massive, easily bigger than Naga, with bumpy scaled skin and a large crest that arched from its head and over its back. It's grey and black striped body rippled when it bellowed at them then thundered away, shaking the earth as it went.
"Holy-" Korra's exclamation was cut short when she saw what exactly the beast was running towards.
It was a heard! A heard of...whatever they were, gathered on the rim of the crater the portal left. The curious one that the pair had spooked was welcomed back into the fold with snuffles and rubs from the other creatures, before they all moved on.
"Asami..." Korra began, "I want you to hit me as hard as you can. I think it's time for me to wake up."
"I'm not punching you." the engineer dead-panned, "And you're not dreaming either. What in the world was that?!"
"I dunno, it didn't look like any animal I've ever seen! Or spirit for that matter!"
The pair stood baffled at the spirit portal, just staring at the bizarre, dopey looking creatures as they lumbered across the crater's edge. They varied in size, the biggest easily as big as a flying bison. Those moved along the outside of the herd, but Korra caught glimpses of much smaller ones trotting along inside the formation.
If they were lucky, these guys would be too spooked by the noise and cars in the city to go inward and cause damage. But Korra, being the optimist she was, was dreading having to take the fall for potholes, damaged houses, and giant piles of monster leavings.
"Well," Asami said, followed by a long sigh, "At least they seem docile, right? They didn't attack us at all."
Korra rubbed her face with her free hand, "Yeah, I guess so. I just can't wait to see what other messes showed up while we were gone. I bet you every single one will get blamed on me."
"We were only in the spirit world for a month," Asami said with a reassuring squeeze of her girlfriend's hand, "How bad could it have possibly gotten?"
If Korra didn't love her girlfriend she would have punched her in her beautiful face for saying that.
The moment someone saw them, the entire city was clamoring to get an answer out of the Avatar about a myriad of things. Pads of paper, cameras, the works. They bomarded her and Asami about a myriad of things. Most of them pertaining to the large beasts that had started appearing. Others were about the repairs of the city. Only a few asked where they had been and what her relation to Ms. Sato was. The Avatar resisted to lift up her engineer and bolt back to the spirit portal. She also resisted the urge to airbend all of them away.
None of those things were necessary, thankfully. A particularly angry chief of police cleared a path via earthbending straight to her satomobile. Without even thinking about what Ms. Congeniality would have to say to them, Korra and Asami bolted through the opening and practically dove into the vehicle.
The Avatar and the engineer leaned against each other, taking that moment to catch their breath.
"I'd never thought I'd be happy to see y-"
"Korra I have half a mind to beat you senseless." Lin nearly roared, "Eloping with Asami for a month without telling anyone where you went, while everything here goes to the pits?! Monsters are running amock-..."
As if to illustrate her point, Lin swerved out of the way of one of the big dopey ones as it stepped out onto the road.
"...And you thought it was a good idea to take a vacation?!"
Korra put on a definent scowl, "Yeah, hello to you too Lin! Good to see you! We totally knew about these things and just decided it'd be better to do nothin' about it!"
Asami's hand on her shoulder kept the Avatar from ranting further. It wasn't a fight she was going to win. Korra crossed her arms and huffed like a pouting child, "...Not like I just saved the world or anything."
"And I'm sure everyone is extremely grateful." Asami cut in so as to help calm Korra down. "Lin, we're here now and we're going to do everything we can to help."
The police chief grumbled to herself before she began, "Bolin and Mako are back at the station. Those two and the Airbenders have been helping to keep the monsters under control. We'll get the two of you up to speed."
Between dodging out of the way of giant dopey monsters and nearly running over civilians, it took them a lot longer than normal to reach the police station. And of course, the place was swarming with people complaining about large monster droppings on their lawns and little ones rooting through the garbage.
Lin shoved her way through the crowd, clearing a path for Asami and Korra who both kept their heads down. One ambush was enough for the day. Only when they were in the relative safety of Lin's office did the pair relax.
Of course, seeing how this day was going, it wasn't a surprise when that didn't last very long.
Bolin, being the overexcited lovable dunce that he was, immediately and enthusiastically pulled both Korra and her girlfriend into a tight, rib crushing hug.
"Hey!" he shouted in his usual boisterous way, "Welcome back you two!"
"Bo," his weary looking brother said with a smile, "They're turning blue."
"Oops, sorry."
Korra laughed for the first time since they got back, "It's good to see you too! Nice to see a friendly face after all this..." she waved her arms in reference to the absolute madness that was going on outside the office walls.
"We can catch up once this all settles down." said Asami, straight to the point, "What in the world happened?"
"Don't know." Mako replied, "Just...one day those big ones with the crests showed up. I mean, they weren't that much of a problem, they just meandered about. But then...others started appearing."
Asami and Korra traded concerned glances with each other before he continued.
"I don't know if you've seen them, but they're these little orange and purple ones that move in packs. By themselves they're no problem, its when they get in groups that they get brave."
"Not to mention the king one." Bolin added, "He's huge!"
"Luckily, that one stays in the Spirit Wilds most of the time. He only comes out at night, if at all."
This was a lot to take in for their first day back. It was like they had missed a few classes and now they had to be caught up with everyone else.
Before either of them had a chance to inquire further, an officer lead a very nervous looking man into the office.
"Chief," he began, "This one says there's something in Avatar Korra park. Something big."
All eyes turned to him, his hands fumbled about with the ends of his worn coat. "It was...I don't know!It was big, really big, looked kinda like a big rock with a crown, and was covered in mud!"
Lin was the first to pry further, "When did you see it? Is it still there?!"
He nodded, "I saw it only a few minutes ago. Near the river."
"Well then, we better get moving then." Lin commanded, "Call the airbenders and get them down there. I need a squad of officers to clear out the park and set up a perimeter in case this thing gets mad. Korra we're going to need your help with this one."
Before she could even protest, she was being dragged along by the arm with Asami and the others following close behind.
Well if the city itself hadn't shown signs of monster occupation, Avatar Korra Park sure did. The herds of big dopey monsters had made themselves right at home, as was evident by the knocked over trees and short grass. Not to mention what these big eaters left behind. But there was something serene about the large open fields populated with these seemingly gentle beasts. They weren't hurting anybody, they just kind of wandered about.
But Korra and company weren't here to admire the view, the large footprints reminded her of that. Judging by how deep it was, whatever had left it must have been heavy. Three toes shaped similar to a frog's pads, splayed out wide possibly for distribution of weight. The officers agreed that this mystery creature had to be huge.
...So where was it?
"A creature this big couldn't have gone missing." Lin said, scanning the park for anything that wasn't a grazer, "He said it was down by the river."
"Yeah, and there's the river. But no monster."
"The herd monsters don't seem nervous either. Maybe it moved on?"
While Lin and the officers debated on their next move, Asami tried to piece together the case of the missing beast. They knew it was big, that was easy enough. The citizen who reported it said it was huge, and the footprints confirmed that. He also said that it looked like a large rock with a crown. Well, there weren't any large rocks in the park so that ruled out the idea of camouflage. Could it be in the river? It was certainly deep enough to hide something that big, but Asami doubted that what they were dealing with something aquatic.
A barren patch of land caught the engineer's eye. The grazing monsters must have liked whatever was growing there, since it was just a mud field right now. A herd of them was resting in the mud pit at the moment, oblivious to the situation at hand. She would have lingered on the mud further, but a commanding Befong kept her from thinking about it for the moment.
Lin and the officers decided to split up to cover more ground. A group went with Mako to check near the river, Bolin and another went to create a perimeter around the park and evacuate stragglers. Asami and Korra stuck together, while Lin drifted between groups to make sure everything was running smoothly.
Asami was once again drawn to the mud patch, but no because of pure curiosity. A pack of the orange monsters Mako had mentioned were crowding around the smaller herd. The little carnivores jumped around, barking and biting at any part of the grazers they could get. Korra caught sight of this as well, and being, well, herself she charged at the orange beasts, waving her arms about like a lunatic.
"Hey!" she shouted to them, "Leave them alone!"
The Avatar sent a burst of flame at the little monsters, which seemed to do the trick. They yelped and scattered across the mud pit in a panic.
The earth rumbled beneath them, and a small outcrop of rock they didn't take notice of, shot out two geysers of steam. It shook, and with a powerful roar, a massive armored beast exploded out of the mud, flinging an orange pest that had been unlucky enough to stand on its head.
This thing was massive! Over fourty feet long by Asami's estimate. The citizen's report of this thing was spot on too. Bipedal, looked like a big rock, crown thing on its head, and of course covered in mud. Asami couldn't tell where the mud ended and the armored hide began. Its beady red eyes focused on the Avatar, who looked genuinely terrified of the massive and bizarre creature that had erupted from the ground. The monster huffed out another geyser of air from the crown on its head, then reared back and let out the a deafening roar, one that caused Korra, Asami, and everyone within the park to recoil back and cover their ears.
The engineer knew Korra, so when the Avatar started throwing rocks and fire at the beast it didn't surprise her in the slightest. She ran up to her girlfriend, grabbed her by the back of her shirt, and yanked her out of the way of the beast's foot.
This thing was mad. It did not like either of them being there, as was evident by its unrelenting pursuit of the two women. It tired to slam its thick skull down on them, hit them with its tail, and even cove them with the mud from its body. The pair were just barely out of its reach, with Korra trying and failing to slow it down with all four elements.
"Why isn't this working!" Korra shouted as she flung another chunk of rock at the beast.
Lin, Mako, and Bolin met up with the pair, followed by a squad of police. The earthbenders put up a wall to halt the creature's rampage. Its thick head combined with how fast it was running made the wall crack and shudder. They thought they had stopped the monster and prepared their metal cables to tie it down. The beast wasn't impressed by the thick wall of earth, and proceeded to ram its head into the wall over and over again.
"Go now!" the chief commanded, "Get that thing tied down!"
Her metalbenders flanked the wall, and shot their cables to their partners on the other side of the beast. The cables were then dug deep in the ground, pulling the beast down and trapping it against the earth. It struggled and roared but the cables held firm. Lin and Korra brought down the wall to face the trapped beast. When it roared, bits of spit flew out from between its peg shaped teeth. She assisted in tying down the rest of the monster, mainly its powerful tail that was wildly swinging about.
"Will those cables hold?!" Mako asked, frantically glancing between the monster and Lin.
"They better."
The mud monster snarled at the people restraining it, and it appeared like it was going to try and force itself out of its binds, but instead it put its crown like growth to the ground, and to everyone's shock, it started digging into the earth! In a few short motions, the monster disappeared underground.
"Oh this thing is full of surprises..." Lin grumbled to herself. She bent the sole of her shoes off and slammed her foot onto the ground. This thing couldn't hide from her, the earth was her domain, not this monster's. Especially not with how much it was moving around down there!
"Korra, Bolin!" she shouted, "It's heading for the river! Cut it off!"
They took off like shots, Korra leading the charge on an air scooter. Both of them could feel the earth shudder and feel where the beast was heading, even without seismic sense. This thing was burrowing through the ground as fast as a badgemole, maybe faster! Korra just barely beat it to the river. As soon as she hopped off the ball of air, the monster burst out of the ground and roared at the Avatar.
"Bolin get ready!"
The monster pawed at the earth with its padded toes, eyeing the Avatar with fierce red eyes. It lowered its head, its crown scraping the grass, and with a huff it charged at Korra.
But that was exactly what she was hoping it'd do.
Focusing her strength, Korra struck the beast right in it's crown from below with a large pillar of earth. The sudden force flung the beast backwards, and thats when Bolin struck with another boulder in the same spot. As soon as that second rock made contact, an enormous crack echoed across the park. A large portion of the monster's crown had broken off and lie next to the wounded beast. This must have cause it incredible pain, because it just writhed on the ground, kicking its legs and flailing its shovel shaped arms.
Cheers sounded from behind, the officers shouting praise at Korra and Bolin. Though those praises ceased when the beast stood up again.
It rumbled at Korra, its tail curled around its legs and body lower to the ground. It didn't attack, it just took tentative steps away from the Avatar. The moment Korra looked back at the others, it started to run away.
With the help of Lin's officers and a fleet of satomobiles, they were able to make sure the monster was successfully forced into the Spirit Wilds. While everyone cheered, an exhausted Korra leaned on her engineer's shoulder.
"Some welcome back party, huh."
AN: Welp this was an idea no one talked me out of. Have a test chapter. If you got a favorite monster you want to see in here, leave a review or drop a pm. I'm kinda digging the idea of a "monster of the week" sort of deal.