"Welcome back to Republic City News at night. This is Shiro with a breaking news story! In lieu of the large and dangerous monsters sighted, the Spirit Ruins, as they have been dubbed by the City Council and the Avatar, have been closed off to the public! Avatar Korra stated in a press conference along side President Raiko, that until such a time as the monster problem is identified and put under control, the Spirit Ruins are too dangerous to allow public access! In related news, a number of Airbenders have become naturalists, working closely with scientists to study and classify these new beasts! We'll have more on this story as it develops."
Asami wasn't sure what she thought about Korra going into the ruins left over from the Kuvira battle, but the Airbenders needed someone with enough power to at least dissuade some of the monsters from attacking them. The media sensationalizing everything didn't help her nerves either. She shouldn't be worried, her girlfriend had faced so much worse than a few angry beasties.
In any case, she had work to keep her from worrying too much. She had managed to get a hold of the crown that broke off from the mud monster's head. Its durability was astounding! It had taken the full brunt of two benders, one of whom was the Avatar, and only a small portion of it broke off. Not to mention her normal tools did barely anything to it. She had to break out the special steel tools cured with diamond and the plasma cutter.
"Miss Sato?" Her secretary popped her head into the workshop, "Avatar Korra is asking for you."
A smile crossed her face, "Tell her I'll be right out."
She was covered in grime and sweat from her project, but there wasn't time to clean herself up. She doubted Korra would mind though.
The Avatar stood among a group of Airbenders, all of whom had backpacks, books, and lots of pencils. Korra herself only carried a small bag, but wore some light armor as she would be the one diverting any monster's attention from the Airbenders.
"You think that'll be enough?" the engineer said with worry lacing her voice.
"Positive." Korra replied. "It's only scouting, they don't want me to fight anything. They plan on just getting a look at what exactly we're dealing with here."
"Still, that mud monster was huge. Don't blame me for being worried."
Before Korra could comment, Opal bounded over and grabbed the Avatar's arm. "Don't worry, we'll make sure she gets back in one piece."
Korra rolled her eyes and was dragged away by Opal, but not before giving a quick peck on the cheek to Asami. "I'll be fine, promise!"
The engineer waved goodbye as the group headed towards the Spirit Ruins. With a sigh, Asami turned back to her workshop. Korra would be fine. She was strong, she could handle a few giant, feral, armored,...
Hm, maybe she should get back to working.
If it weren't for her secretary, she would have worked on the crown and various projects all night and completely forgotten to eat something. Korra had apparently left her some take out from Narook's, and asked her secretary to remind Asami to take a break to eat.
The engineer decieded she had to stop looking at the mud monster's crown for a while, so she ate in Avatar Korra Park. Luckily the only things that seemed to be out and about were the herds of peaceful herbivores, and a small pack of orange pests that were preoccupied with chasing fireflies.
She sat underneath a large tree that had a beautiful view of the city and Korra's statue as the sun began to set. After everything that had been happening since they stepped back into the physical world, it was nice to get a moment to relax. Of course she wished Korra and her friends were here to enjoy this nice evening. Maybe when things calmed down a bit she could attempt to gather up everyone for a night out.
As she began eating her food, the bipeadal orange monsters started to get curious. Asami had noticed a few people tossing some extra food their way to get them to wander off, and ti seemed to work. They often got into little squabbles amongst themselves rather than beg for more. In a way they were like birds. Large, orange and purple, scaly,...obnoxious...birds.
They hopped about in front of her, making weird little barking and chirping sounds. Their little purple frills were flared out in curiosity, and their heads bobbed about with Asami's motions.
"...Oh fine!" the engineer sighed, "Here, you little scamps." She tossed the beasts a dumpling, over which they barked and fought over.
She was about to completely disregard the monsters, until she saw a much smaller one trying in vain to get a bit of the dumpling. It was...a pitiful looking creature, down an arm, possibly blind in one eye judging by the large scar across its face.
Oh no...No no no it was looking at her with its one good...sad...soulful eye.
Asami couldn't help tossing one extra dumpling to the runt. It eagerly snapped up the dumpling, swallowing the whole thing greedily. It warbled happily and hopped closer to Asami hoping for more.
Unfortunately, its pack mates didn't like the runt getting special treatment from the engineer. They circled around it, the small monster shrinking back submissively. The biggest of the group flared out its frill and shrieked at it, right in the little one's ear. The others joined in, barking and hissing at the runt.
The engineer knew she was probably going to regret this, but she couldn't let this little monster starve to death because its pack was a bunch of bullies. These things were skittish, they ran from things bigger than them. She stood up, spread her arms out wide and shouted at the pack.
"Hey!" she screamed, "Get out! Go!"
Luckily, instead of turning on her, the pack scurried off, leaving the trembling runt curled up on the dirt alone. Noticing that it wasn't being screamed at, the little monster perked its head up, its frill splayed out it as it looked about.
"Well...they're gone now at least." Asami muttered, going back to what remained of her food. She could eat in peace.
Or so she thought. The runt just...starred at her, occasionally chirping.
"What." the engineer said, as if the creature could understand her, "You're not getting anymore handouts if that's what you're after."
It just tilted its head, letting out a small curious bark.
Asami just ignored the little creature after a while, finishing off the last of her dinner with the reptile curled up next to the bench the whole time. She couldn't deny, even though they were basically monkey-rats and filthy scavenging creatures, they were kind of cute. In a pitiful sort of way. Not that she was about to take this little reptile home.
It was when the streetlights came on that she realized she should probably head home. It wasn't a long walk to her penthouse, but if she wanted to make it there before it was completely dark, she'd have to go now. She gathered up her belonging and was about to set off, when she heard the little pats of clawed feet on the earth.
Sure enough, the little orange reptile was following after her. She sighed, and picked up her pace, hoping that the monster would stay in the park. If she ignored it, maybe it would leave her alone.
Of course that wasn't the case. Just her luck that it would follow her through the streets and turning heads the whole way. It didn't...do anything, it just trotted behind her. When Asami reached her apartment building and closed the front door behind her, she was treated to wonderful sounds that belonged in a animal abuse radio psa. Thank the spirits there was no one around to witness her composure breaking at the sight of this pitiful crippled animal looking forlornly through the glass door.
"Oh, I'm going to regret this."
Korra's expedition, went much better than she expected. The Airbender's plan was to move about the vines and buildings as silently as possible. Aside from one mishap with a very angry mother herbivore, which the Naturalist's and Airbender's called an Aptonoth, they were able to move through the Spirit Ruins without catching the attention of some of the more...ferocious inhabitants.
Some of the monsters that were living in here...Korra wondered if they would ever be able to open up the Spirit Ruins to the public again! However, she couldn't deny that some of these creatures, while dangerous, were fascinating. Some of them commanded the elements like there were benders themselves! There was even one that could turn invisible!
Even with all this knowledge coming in, no one knew where these monsters came from. A popular theory among the Airbender's was that it had something to do with the new Spirit Portal, but the naturalist's disagreed. There was no solid proof that the spirits were involved, and thus they were unconvinced. Korra, the bridge between the physical and spirit world, had no clue one way or the other. It was still too early for her to say.
The returned the following week with books full of notes and sketches about the monsters they had found. Morale was high, they were learning new things, this monster problem was on its way to being solved, and Korra was looking at a nice day off, most likely with Asami.
After a short chat with the engineer's secretary, Korra surprised Asami at her work shop where she was working with the mud monster's crown.
"Knock knock. Who's there? It's me, the Avatar." she said, tapping her glider on the floor to announce herself.
Asami just smirked at Korra, "I can see you, you nerd." She removed her safety goggles and went to meet her girlfriend. "How'd it go?"
"You should have seen some of these things!" Korra began, showing Asami the notebook as well. "They were incredible! Unbelievable!"
As Korra went on, the engineer flipped through the notebook. The Avatar was right..some of these monsters were...wow...If the sketches were anything to go by, this was a much bigger problem than she anticipated. She found a page detailing the mud monster that had attacked the park, and one about the little orange reptiles too.
"To be honest..." Korra said, "I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to clear them all out. The Spirit Ruins might have to be closed off fo-..."
The Avatar stopped when she noticed an orange form curled up next to Asami's workbench. "Um...I don't mean to alarm you but...There's a Jaggi?"
As if he knew he was being talked about, the little reptile popped his head up and trotted over to Asami's side. His little tail wagging the whole time. The Jaggi regarded the Avatar with a tilted head and a slightly flared frill.
The engineer just sighed, "He followed me home. I saw him in the park and he looked starving and crippled and I figured if I tossed him something he'd leave me alone. Apparently, I was wrong."
The Jaggi nudged Asami's hand, looking for another handout. The engineer commanded him to sit back on his haunches before handing him a chunk of fish from a pouch on her belt.
Korra looked between the crippled reptile and the engineer, "Um...when you found this guy, did you see uh...a bigger one of them? One with a bit of fur and was pretty loud?"
"Uh...No? There was a pack he was with, but he left them after I scared them off."
The Avatar flipped through the notebook till she found the page on the Jaggis and the larger version. "Here." she showed Asami the page in question, "I'm worried, because we found out that these guys live in tightly knit packs, and when one defects, they tend to hunt it down. The big one, called a Great Jaggi, is like their alpha male wolf-bat. He leads the pack to hunt the defector, especially if they were male..."
Asami felt barely any attachment to the little orange reptlie, but the thought of him being hunted down by his old pack made her...angry?
"...So..." Korra said, breaking the engineer from her thoughts, "Have you adopted him or..."
Asami shook her head, "No, he just hangs around me begging for handouts."
The Avatar did not look impressed at all, even going as far as to cross her arms over her chest.
"...What?"
"You have a pouch of fish bits tied to your belt, and you make him sit before you give him any."
Well...Korra had her there, "...Okay maybe he has grown on me a bit. But if he's going to be begging for food constantly he might as well be behaved."
The Jaggi squawked and hopped around a bit. "...What a little dork."Korra mumbled.
Asami smirked, "Then the two of you have something in common."
"Oh shut up."
The engineer laughed and affectionately ruffled the Avatar's hair. "Dork."
Korra, the bridge between the physical and spirit worlds, stuck out her lower lip in an adorable pout.
The moment wasn't meant to last, seeing as Opal came sprinting into the workshop out of breath. "Guys! Korra! Great Jaggi!"
Before either of them had a chance to ask what exactly was happening, a whole pack of Jaggi's burst into the workshop. They barked and jumped about the place, their heads low and frilled splayed out. A pack of Jaggi's they could handle easily. Korra bent a stream of fire at the reptiles, they were afraid of the stuff, they'd all sprint out and everything would be okay.
…..Except for the fact that they didn't run. They just hopped out of the way and hissed at her. This wasn't good.
And things just got worse when the Great Jaggi Opal had been shouting about burst through the garage door. Asami's Jaggi yelped and scurried off to a corner at the sight of the large monster. The Great Jaggi reared its head back and howled, the smaller reptiles all rallying to him as he did.
The Great Jaggi lunged, and Asami dove for her shock glove. The reptile's maw just barely missing her leg. The engineer spun and tapped his scaly neck, but the high voltage barely made the Great Jaggi flinch. In fact, it only seemed to make it angry.
"Asami, Opal! Get down!" Korra shouted, followed by a huge sweep of air, staggering the Great Jaggi and sending the little ones flying.
Opal followed up by sliding underneath the monster and shooting a gust upwards, knocking him backwards. He howled and yelped as he slammed against the concrete floor.
Asami had to get something heavy since her shock glove wasn't going to cut it. She glanced around as quickly as she could while Korra and Opal kept the Great Jaggi busy. Wrench? No, too small. Tire iron? Still too small. The only thing large enough was probably-...
Oh this was a stupid idea...
Asami grabbed the Barroth's ridge in both her hands and swung with all her strength. A crunch and a loud whimpering bark echoed when the makeshift weapon made contact with the Great Jaggi's head. She wound up for another attack, and shouted a battle cry as she threw the ridge into his neck. The reptile whimpered and fell flat on his back again.
"Korra! Get the nets!" the engineer shouted, still brandishing the ridge like a club. She pointed to some cargo nets that were piled in the corner.
While the Great Jaggi struggled to get up, Korra and Opal found the weighted nets in question, and with the help of some air bending, they pinned down the monster. The other Jaggis, seeing their leader defeated, ran off and dispersed across the city.
"...Write that down." Asami breathed, letting the ridge fall to the floor and following suit not too long after.