Hello everybody, and welcome to yet another exciting installment of Lost Girl. Before we begin I have a few things to set straight for everyone. 1. I am sorry for the lack of excitement in this chapter. I promise the next one will be more interesting. 2. I also want to apologize for the unoriginal tittle of this chapter. I promise the next one will have a much better tittle. 3. After this chapter, there are now only three chapters left of Arc 5. So don't worry, it's almost over. 4. Legend of Korra is owned by Nickelodeon and Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is owned by Marvel and Disney. Now enough of with the formalities; ON WITH THE SHOW!

Chapter 37: The Swamp.

Birds…

That was the first thing Korra's senses registered as she slowly regained consciousness.

The sound of birds chirping overheard.

As her awareness returned, the young Avatar began to notice other things as well. The sound of mosquitos buzzing, the unpleasant aroma of rotting algae, the warmth of the midday sun on her skin; little by little she pieced together a mental picture of her surroundings.

After another few minutes, Korra was finally able wake herself up and have a look around.

From what she could tell, she appeared to be in some short of large metal raft; floating, oddly enough, in the middle of a vast and fertile swamp. Everywhere she looked she saw large groves of cypress trees, cute little frogs happily croaking sitting on lily pads, and whole families of alligators coming up to the surface for a breath of fresh air; it was all quite beautiful, in a smelly wetland sort of way. However, in spite of this, one question still remained.

"Where the hell am I?"

"You're in Florida, Sugar." replied a mysterious voice with an all too familiar twang. "In the Everglades to be precise."

Korra nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard that voice. Slowly the young Avatar turned toward its source and there, at the bow of the raft, sat him.

"Tahno…" she blurted out in astonishment. The poor girl could hardly believe her eyes. She had heard many unpleasant humors about the fate of her former rival before her banishment, most of them involving some form of suicide, and yet there he was, just as she remembered him.

Well, perhaps not exactly as she remembered him. His wardrobe appeared to have been updated quite a bit. In place of his familiar attire was a pair of designer rope sandals, a pair of worn blue jean shorts, and a black t-shirt that read "Pirates of the Caribbean" in bold silver letters. In short, the once proud Pro-bending champion now resembled your run-of-the-mill college slacker.

"Nice to see you too, Cutie Pie." The former waterbender said playfully. "Though, you're much… rounder than I remember." He let out a cheeky chuckle. "You really need to go on a diet, Pumpkin."

Ordinarily, Korra would've taken great offense from such a comment, especially if it came from someone as annoyingly arrogant as Tahno, but under the circumstances, she decided to let it slide. Besides, she had more important things on her mind at the moment.

"Tahno, why did you attack us?" the plump young Avatar asked in a harsh and serious tone. "And what the hell are you even doing here? You're supposed to be dead."

This earned another chuckle from the former pro-bender. "Oh… it's a long story, Sugar. But I'll give you the short version. You see…"

"The moon sets," a weak voice interjected, startling the two. "Is there yet light to see?"

Korra turned around and there she saw Doom at the stern of raft; lying on his side with a glazed look in his eyes and babbling like a fool.

"Good! Begins now the Dance… the Dance of the Hunger of Kaa. Sit still and watch."

"What the **** is he talking about?" the young Avatar asked her captor, clearly disturbed by her companion's ramblings.

"Yeah… he's not doing so good." answered Tahno sounding more than a little uncomfortable. "I fixed him up as best I could, but he's lost a lot blood. Plus, I think I might've kicked him too hard."

"Bandar-log," the metal monarch continued on his delusional rant. "Can ye stir a foot or hand without my order? Speak!"

"He's been carrying on like for about an hour, and it's just all kinds of creepy."

"Stop changing the subject!" Korra demanded, her eyes narrowed in anger. "Now tell me what's going on before I ram a thousand gallons of swamp water up your ass and out your eye sockets!"

"Alright, alright, no need to get violent, Sweetie Pie; I'll tell you anything you wanna know." The former waterbender said before clearing his throat. "It all started about seven months ago."

XXX

~You mustn't swim till you're six weeks old,

Or your head will be sunk by your heels;

And summer gales and Killer Whales

Are bad for baby seals. ~

"SHUT UP!" shouted both Korra and Tahno simultaneously. Doom's inane babbling was bad enough, but his singing was just unbearable.

"Jesus! How long is he gonna be like this? He's driving me nuts!" said the young Avatar while she massaged her temples in frustration.

"How the heck should I know?" replied Tahno, who was also massaging his temples. "So anyway, I was heading back to my home in Foggy Swamp when I ran into this weird old guy on the side of the road. Said he heard about my little run-in with Amon and wanted to help out. Said he could give me back my waterbending if I agreed to do a few favors for him. Figured he was some kind of nut, but I didn't have anything left to lose so I said okay. Next thing I knew, I was waiting in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Magic Kingdom. I was lost, confused, and terrified, but Baby, I was whole again." To illustrate his point, Tahno summoned single water whip and used it to cut away a low hanging branch.

"Whoa…" Korra said aloud in astonishment. "Neat story, but that still doesn't explain why you knocked me out and brought me to Florida."

"Who is Nag?" Doom interjected, still babbling like a lunatic. "I am Nag. The great god Brahm put his mark upon all our people when the first cobra spread his hood to…"

"SHUT UP!" shouted the young Avatar for like the tenth time. "So you were saying?"

"I was saying that your little quest has caused quite a ruckus with my new employer," replied the former pro-bender, his tone growing stern and cold. "And he has asked me to put a stop to it."

"Up, dog!" Doom wailed. "Up, when a man speaks, or I will set that coat ablaze!"

"SHUT UP!" Korra screamed for the eleventh time, before turning her attention back to Tahno. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm just trying to get back home! I haven't done anything wrong!"

"In the last five days, you've committed high treason against the United States, murdered one of my master's most loyal followers, and aided in the murder and mutilation of two others. Oh yeah Babe, you're a regular saint." replied the former wolfbat, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Five days? Has it really only been that long since I left the Avengers? Feels more like an eternity.' Korra mused to herself sadly, before her mind processed the rest of Tahno's speech. "Wait, murder! What murder? What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice suddenly laced with terror and confusion.

"Oh, don't you worry tour pretty little head about that, Darlin'." The young swampbender said in his trademark snarky tone. "The Boss will explain everything once we get there."

"Get where?"

"I am an eater of turtles… a fisher of frogs. Ngaa-yah! Would I could get good from chewing branches!"

"Oh for the love of god, would you just…" before Korra could finish her insult, the raft came to a sudden halt; causing her to fall flat on her face.

"Ow…" the poor girl whimpered as she attempted to soothe her aching nose. "What the hell was that?"

The former pro-bender let out a slight chuckle, clearly amused by the Avatar's antics. "We're here, Baby."

Korra was about to ask 'Here where?' but the words suddenly died in her throat when she looked up and saw what the arrogant young swampbender was talking about.

Directly in front of their humble little raft was a large grove of cypress trees. Granted such a sight was not uncommon for a swamp, however this particular grove was unlike anything Korra had ever seen before. All of the trees were at least four or five times their natural size and their roots and branches were so overgrown it was almost impossible to tell where one tree ended and the other began. It was as if the trees had all banded together to form an impenetrable barrier; like there was in the center of the grove that needed to be hidden away from the rest of the world.

Korra was about to ask Tahno why he had brought them to this strange place, when a deep and congested voice arose from the impenetrable grove.

"Who knocks at the Guarded Gate?" asked the mysterious voice; sounding like it had come from a throat filled with mucus.

"One who has been made whole again and seeks his audience." Tahno replied, his voice sounding solemn and serious.

"Proceed." the voice answered back, sounding equally solemn and serious.

Moments later, several of the trees began to bend and stretch at impossible angles; forming an archway into the grove.

"I hope you're ready, Dumplin'" said Tahno to Korra in a playful tone. "Cuz from here on out, things are gonna get weird."

Without another word, he used his waterbending to push the raft through the dark and foreboding tunnel; which suddenly closed behind them.

Deeper and deeper into the darkness they sailed, until not a single trace of sunlight be seen.

And as if that weren't bad enough, Doom started singing again, even louder than before.

~In August was the Jackal born;

The Rains fell in September;

Now such a fearful flood as this,

Says he, 'I can't remember!~

Korra wanted to yell at the babbling old monarch, but she chose to remain silent; she was much too terrified to do anything else.

After several minutes of drifting in total darkness, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel and for a brief moment all the fear in the young Avatar's heart faded away.

However, this sweet relief was short-lived. For the terror returned tenfold once they were close enough see the light's source.

'Oh… my… god…' Korra thought to herself as she stared at the… thing standing before them.

It was quite possibly the most bizarre thing she had ever seen; a great mass of algae, vines, fungi, and many other forms of swamp vegetation shaped, albeit only roughly, like a large man. It stood at about seven or eight feet tall; though its exact height was impossible to tell due its legs being half sunk in the muck. Its body was large and muscular, with arms as thick as tree trunks and hands that looked like they could crush a boulder. Its face, for the most part, lacked any of the essential facial features; consisting only of two bulbous, glowing red eyes and three short tentacles that dangled down from its eyebrows and what she assumed was its mouth. All in all, it was a most grotesque sight to behold.

At first the young Avatar assumed it was some kind of statue or weird landmark, but this theory was dashed when the… whatever it was started moving.

"Oh ****…" Korra said aloud as the slimy behemoth looked down at her with its large unblinking eyes and stared straight into her soul.

"Are you the Avatar?" the man-thing-whatever asked in a mucus filled voice.

"Uh… yeah… that's me… I'm the Avatar." She stuttered in response; completely astonished that this creature could even talk.

"I see…" it replied before turning toward Tahno. "Does she know?"

"No, I haven't told her yet." The young swampbender answered in a somber tone. "I thought it'd be easier if I let him explain it all to her."

"I understand." The slimy creature said with a nod before turning back to Korra. "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for wha… AAAAAHHH!" she started to ask, only to be cut off when the great green behemoth grabbed her by the waist and lifted her high into the air. In the flash of an instant the poor girl's entire body was enveloped by an intense burning sensation; it was as if all of her blood had been replaced with molten rock.

After several minutes of unadulterated agony, the creature dropped the plump young Avatar and she landed face first on the cold metal raft.

Slowly her vision began to fade; the world around her started to blur together.

Just before she lost consciousness, Korra managed to hear Tahno say something that sounded like, "I'm so sorry, Babycakes." Followed by yet another of Doom's delusional ramblings.

"For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack."

Then everything faded to black.

End Notes: Well that's the end of another one folks. FYI, All of Doom's ramblings are actually quotes from various poems and short stories in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. Which by the way, is quite possibly the greatest Christmas present I have ever gotten. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and please don't forget to leave me a review before you leave. I really love reading those. Until next time, my faithful followers. Excelsior!