All Roads: Detour with the Avatar - Part III (Patron Reward) (Patreon)

[The following story is a reward for a patron. Thank you so much for your support!

The following is an Avatar: Legend of Korra fanfiction, featuring Korra and Asami traveling to a different world where Korra is 100 meters tall. Content includes giant fighting/rampage/destruction; feet/stomping; handheld; gentle/romantic.]

It was the peak of dawn, before all the night had retreated; a blue shade that slowly turned pink across rows of residences, a setting held at a standstill that early in the morning. No pedestrians on the walkways, no vehicles cruising through the streets. The cube-shaped homes lay dormant within their narrow lawns, lifeless scenes even as time crept forward. From those samples of suburbia was a view into the city nearby; between the buildings were glimpses of bright colors, the preparations for festivities in honor of World Peace Day. Yet the air was stiff and hollow, as though it was before the world had woken up – a tepid peace undisturbed, until a rumbling ran under the foundation of the neighborhood.

From faraway, there were echoes of crunched terrain; trees splitting apart, roads breaking into mudslides, houses collapsing flat. Picturesque moments of daybreak were suddenly dwarfed into shadow, then obliterated – a reptilian claw of giant proportions lay waste to everything beneath it, replacing the inviting scenery with a grim crater of vague remnants. The claw then lifted away remorselessly, meteoring elsewhere in a sweeping arc. Soon after its leave, the desolate scene would be grounded even further, bulldozed by a dragging alligator tail, with ridged scales so strong that it raked seamlessly through the ankle-high homes and apartments.

The Eidolon had appeared, lumbering destructively from where nature bordered civilization, and was bound for the metropolis ahead, lingering only so that electric sparks could feed into her tail from any machinery she passed. She snarled in disappointment, discovering the areas she passed through to be deprived of chi energy and unworthy of her time. The residential districts had long-since been evacuated and the energy grid completely shut down, making it a null zone. After having absorbed the raw power from the military’s chi generator, anything more that the Eidolon obtained was simply extra, but humanity could not risk her having any more of an edge that she had already; it was defeat enough that so much developed land had to be forfeited as it were, but it would all be for naught if the monster arrived at the metropolis’s chi generator, a well that would supercharge the juggernaut into a supreme being – and very likely turn miles of the city into dust from the resulting overload.

It was both habitual and tactical for the Eidolon to devour what few sources of energy she did end up finding. She crouched low above the residential streets that were divided by highways, sniffing out where leftover sources of energy could be harvested, her swampy hair brushing the rooftops. A corner store with rechargeable chi stations was aptly bitten into by her massive jaw, an entire corner of the building chomped away; once swallowed, a croak-like giggle expressed her satisfaction, but she still craved more after licking her maw. By her nature as an Eidolon, enough was never enough, and her senses were keen to point her to where more chi could be found – like a compass, she was drawn to where it was densest, directed on a detour towards a suspension bridge of bottlenecked traffic.

Though the evacuations had begun even earlier than dawn, the Eidolon had struck sooner than the government had predicted it would, and so efforts to move the population away from the city and into bunkers became congested and conflicted. There was no sharper example than what unfolded at the river: a suspension bridge, long across and high above the water, had become completely stalled from too much traffic being forced through to the other end. Civilian vehicles were locked bumper to bumper, and crowds of pedestrians inched forward just as slowly along the sidelines; that was despite all lanes of the bridge being dedicated to evacuation, and with packed monorail buses superseding above the jam. City security teams operated diligently to keep the flow of people steady, a challenge that erupted out of their control when tremors reached the bridge, spurring the anxious crowds into a roar of worry. Shrieks shot up alongside emergency sirens: the Eidolon was fast approaching, cutting through lines of businesses straight to where that chi energy waited.

The rising sun extended the length of her foreboding shadow across much of the bridge’s distance. Citizens and soldiers alike were humbled by her arrival, her impressive form unphased by artillery resistance peppering her scales; they awed at her gigantic image, hypnotized with how something so heavy could move with such purpose, until her closeness was too dangerous to stay idle around. There was, unfortunately, plenty of time to witness the monster, as she stomped around the mouth of the bridge and into the riverbank; she tread knee-deep in the water, sloshing onward unburdened by its current, her tail drifting behind her and sparking when waves splashed onto its conductive prongs. It trickled in anticipation as she gravitated towards the center of the bridge, choosing there to be her point of attack.

Using the speed of her approach, the Eidolon turned and curved her tail into the bridge, lifting it just above the river’s surface in a glide towards collision. Boooom! The club-like limb slammed hard into the bridge. Metal whined and ripped apart, resulting in ripples cracking up the pavement of the road; suspension cables snapped, some all at once, others failing in quick succession, causing more of the structure to creak and groan without balance. The initial impact upheaved the lanes into a steep angle, forcing crowds and cars to slide and tip over the ledge, followed by a rapid rattling effect that pulsed to either ends. Alarms popped amongst an uproar of voices as everything and everyone was strained by the Eidolon’s effortless assault, but the next effect would then silence those machines and dazzle those people: chi energy zapped from the vehicles and utilities, leaving their vessels to be absorbed into the tail’s glowing prongs.

The Eidolon hissed pleasantly, enamored with the chi that circuited into her being; though not quite the feast as the military’s generator, she was content with having a middling meal on the way to the metropolis’s core. Almost a minute passed before she finally dislodged her tail from the dented bridge, having drained its machines dry of fuel. Vehicles no longer operated, including the monorails that grinded to stops above the traffic; every light source was killed to black, and similarly were the sirens silenced without power. She had taken every charge of chi, even that of the littlest personal devices, stranding the humans upon a faltering, fissured structure.

After taking what she desired, the Eidolon callously departed, turning back towards the bank and away from the bridge. She thundered to the array of mortars that had been shelling her all that while, deciding to make use of the newly acquired chi by channeling against their pitiful defenses. Her scales glowed teal with electric charges, energy that visibly concentrated in her chest, and then her throat; her long maw parted wide, and she then unleashed a lightning strike of a counterattack, beaming explosively through the military arrangements and anything else in that vicinity. The Eidolon was heard cackling as she stepped out of the river with gallons of water pouring off of her reptilian shape, unopposed in the disasters she drew.

The evacuation route was in shambles, literally falling apart as the bridge further segmented and swayed. People stampeded recklessly up the bridge, obstructed by debris falling around them and fissures appearing in their path. Though the bridge had been built to be resilient, the Eidolon had crippled the structure’s core, and all feared its inevitable dissolution, wary of when it would give in and plummet their lives into the water below.

But as the crucial centerpiece seemed ready to snap under its own weight, the panicked crowds took notice of another phenomenon – another titan from the opposite side of the river, appearing from between buildings similar to her own height. Civilians called out that it was a second Eidolon, when one such monster was plenty overwhelming. Paranoia swelled, but it was obvious that the entity was different from the beast that wreaked havoc on them; they distinguished her purely human body and the immaculate condition of her physique, that which her outfit – red athletic clothes, with bracers on her wrists and ankles – proudly boasted with details that glistened under the dawn’s rays. Unlike the Eidolon, her strides between streets were graceful and lightweight, thoughtful of the environment at her bare feet, but not without urgency, hastily responding to the disaster above the river. Though she was an enigma to the citizens, they were enamored with her heroic image, which was accompanied by the radiance of their trusted military closeby; unknown to them yet was that it was the Avatar of myth rushing to rescue them.

Korra raced to the riverside while scoping ahead at the situation. “That bridge is gonna collapse any moment,” she warned to her earpiece communicator. “I’ll hold it steady for as long as it can last, but– w-wow, that’s… a lot of people!” As she neared the riverside, her speed dropped and she could more clearly estimate how many evacuees were in danger. Rather than crash her foot into the riverbed and risk flooding the coast, Korra eased into the water first, impatient though she was; it was itching her all anew to comprehend how many tiny eyes were looking up at her, an extra anxiety in an already pressing circumstance.

“Unfortunately, the Eidolon started up again sooner than the military predicted,” explained Asami, communicating from the other end. “This district was the last being evacuated out. Be careful out there, Korra! These are civilians you’re dealing with now!”

Thus was why Korra wished to sprint forward into action, more so than during her brief training as a giant; her instincts flared to save innocents, but too much power from her massive body could very well cause the collapse sooner. It was a delicate balance – she was confident, however, that if she could balance the four elements, she could balance her tremendous size.

Treading through the river as swiftly as she was allowed, Korra was soon at the bridge’s middle, knee-deep in water with the damaged road level with her waist. No later did the final few suspension cables snap, causing the structure to shudder and tilt steeply– but Korra was there to receive it. Both hands gripped the underside to make the structure mostly level again, and her core pressed forward to support the faltering tower, catching it center between her breasts. The evacuees she saved were awestruck by her heroism, marveling at her magnificent abs and arms that kept their passage stabilized and safe to cross again. Though not especially heavy in her arms, the broken bridge proved awkward to hold, constantly wanting to shift and deteriorate; Korra exhaled cooly and concentrated, “How’s it look down there, Asami?”

While the gigantic Avatar stomped and splashed into placement, her army entourage weaved fluidly through the chaos and towards the heart of the scene. Mobs of traffic were parted for jeeps and ambulances to set up base at the mouth of the bridge, allowing faster teams to zip through the emergency middle lane. Frontlining the ground-level mission was Asami, leading the pack on a military motorcycle; behind her helmet’s visor, she called out directions for other units to peel off and address problemed evacuees, ensuring no one was being left behind. As her response team drew closer to the center of the bridge, those problems accumulated quickly, with survivors straining to escape from fissures in the road and pile-ups of cars. So too did these road hazards endanger Asami as she drove bravely onward, bypassing the obstacles with daredevil jumps and turns en route to where Korra supported the bridge.

Asami braked and called out to scrambled survivors, leading them to emergency vehicles that could whisk them out of harm’s way. She diligently scanned a cleared-out area for anyone left behind, but found the crowds were being processed smoothly enough. “It looks… better than expected,” she then replied to Korra; even under pressure, her gaze still turned selfishly towards her beloved’s body, glimpsing at her impressively solid stance in between surveys of the situation.

The savory view narrowly distracted Asami from an incoming threat: from overhead, the above-road monorail was on the verge of collapse, announced with a broken, metallic whine and the roar of panic from those packed inside. The rear-most car particularly teetered over a severed edge, its tilt made worse when a rail section snapped and plummeted towards the pavement – where a citizen had tripped hard over a fissure. Asami whipped into action, jetting over on her motorbike and rescuing the evacuee by the arm; a moment later, the rail crashed into the nearby cars to smokey effect. After making a quick turn, Asami urged the citizen to safety, then turned back to the mayhem – “Korra! The monorail!”

“I noticed…!” Korra strained, sensing how the structure’s integrity was running thinner and thinner. Her fingers twinged into new positions, but the slightest misplacement meant more of the bridge cracking and crumbling. Korra bit her lip, preparing to be swift as the monorail slipped closer to falling. “Alright… Hold on!” Following that warning, Korra’s left hand abandoned its spot under the bridge, moving dexterously to the chain of train cars – in its place, Korra craned a foot up and out of the river, using its side to stabilize the road. It was a delicate balancing act, but her posture was masterful, held in that position while she carefully moved to relieve the monorail. Korra hissed under pressure, detecting the vibrations of life cowering inside the cars, faces of the people pressed anxiously against the long windows in awe of what transpired. The Avatar huffed and peeled the train off its path, then gently lowered it onto the road below. Passengers poured out immediately through the exits, but there was no time for them to keep gawking at their savior, not while the bridge’s center continued to deteriorate; Korra pressed the urgency, “Get outta here! Run!”

The crowds flushed into the emergency middle lane where ambulances and other vehicles could hurry them away from the danger. As the fissures spread faster, Asami stayed the most behind, circling the center one last time in search of those in need. “All clea–” she began to say, but a strong shudder through the bridge jostled her into a gasp, the road behind her shattering into wide gaps that swallowed vehicles.

“Asami! It’s coming undone…!” Korra warned, struggling to find any position to support the bridge. The fissures soon became too large to contain, long segments disconnecting from the structure and splashing into the river. Korra made what few adjustments she could with her foot and hand holding the underside, but she could see the destruction catching up to her beloved. “Asami…!”

Avoiding cars and cracks, Asami fell silent with resolve inside her helmet. Right behind her back wheel was the road folding under itself, disappearing from her rearview mirrors, but in front of her was almost as much chaos – including a steel pillar timbering across the abandoned traffic. Dust billowed all around the crash site, but Asami found a slope-shaped shard of the street to ramp up; her bike ran the incline, flew over the pillar – all well, until her planned landing was compromised, severing into a surprise gap while she was in midair.

Asami’s heart stopped in suspense. She closed her eyes, held her breath, and her hope was rewarded: at the peak of her daring jump, she and her bike were suddenly snatched up by a giant hand. Korra had caught her, safely within the confines of her fist, which turned and opened palm-up so that she could confirm her beloved’s health. Though Asami was imbalanced after the leap and rescue, her well-being earned a smile of relief from Korra; in some sense, she wished protecting her friends could be as easy as plucking them away from harm’s reach.

A consequence of Korra’s altruism, however, was the bridge’s center completely buckling into the water. It was abandoned altogether by the Avatar, left to fall apart as she shifted to a stable section, where a border of soldiers herded civilians away from the collapse. As Korra approached, those crowds shivered nervously, still unsure what to think of the giant woman – but those undecided opinions swayed as they witnessed her hand lower and level next to the military, allowing Asami to drive her bike off the fingers and onto the street. Her presentation of heroism thawed the citizens’ distrust; some erupted into applause, cheering for the Avatar with the rest of their crisis-caused adrenaline.

After admiring the positive reception, Asami turned her head up towards Korra. She spoke slyly into the communicator, “It looks like you’re starting to develop a fanbase here.”

“I hope they’re not expecting autographs,” Korra joked back, smiling bashfully over the glowing attention she received. As though reliving her debut as the Avatar, she stopped momentarily to appreciate the applause. She appeared proud and reliable above the crowds, relaxing one arm down her side with the other resting on her hip – until, all at once, that grace dissipated, replaced with electrified flinches and spasms. “Rrnkk!” Korra whined, surprising the crowds with a strained grimace.

From the river around her legs leaped a lightning shock up her body, cast by the Eidolon’s tail from farther upstream. While Korra was paused after the bridge’s collapse, the Eidolon had crept out of the water and onto land, where she charged energy through her tail’s pylons and then slapped the limb hard into the river. More than affecting just the Avatar, the electric current spread for at least a mile in either direction: ships and boats along the surface popped from the surge of power, and entire piers were zapped into fires that threatened to expand along the coast’s buildings. The Eidolon hissed laughingly only at Korra, satisfied to see her disabled so easily; with her out of the way, the Eidolon would be unstopped in reaching the chi generator.

But it was then the monster’s turn to be ambushed, triggering a military surprise attack as soon as her reptilian foot soared past a specific street. Springjets launched high into the air, having been hidden between houses and trees, dormant until the Eidolon was in position. A squadron was upon her, too many and too fast for her to count how few there actually were; in her slowness to respond with a body so heavy, the springjets were able to maneuver fast around her, latching onto the environment as well as her scaly hide to become a swarming menace. Even when she unleashed static outbursts, the machines persisted, unphased by her attack and allowed to counter with their own. As they swirled around the Eidolon, the springjets released their tanks of anti-Eidolon vapor, that distinctly purple chemical that blossomed into a wide haze. Familiar with the substance, the Eidolon snarled – slowly, turned weary as soon as she inevitably inhaled the vapor, her eyes and muscles wanting to untense.

That change in mood was excitedly observed by Asami from afar; her plan worked perfectly, with the Eidolon acting exactly as she expected. “She’s smart to target you first,” she told Korra, whipping her bike away from the crowds dispersing from the bridge. “Not smart enough to know it was a trap, though.”

Korra chuckled as she lifted her head up and out of the shock – proving that the electrical attack had less effect than she let on. Indeed, it was the special weaving of her clothes that nullified much of the damage; Korra slid a palm over such a wrist band, grateful that the material truly did work as promised. The river churned as she then directed herself towards the Eidolon, where storm clouds circled in the sky, prepared for the upcoming battle of titans.

The Eidolon worked up a yawn-like roar that quaked through the air, destabilizing the speeding springjets mid-motion around her. With just a lazy swing of her claw, she severed the tether of one such machine, throwing it off course into an emergency landing elsewhere in a neighborhood – even with the vapor debilitating her, the Eidolon’s strength was unquestionable, her weight just as incredible as her feet stormed uneasily in the roads. She did the same trick with her tail, lifting it through the chords of springjet wires so that they were effectively torn out of the sky. The military’s advantage was quickly crumbling, as evident by their frantic back-and-forth comms, but Asami assured them that help was on the way – a truth that the grounded units soon felt rumbling across the ground.

Bombastic footsteps blazed through the suburbs, carrying Korra furiously towards her enemy. The Eidolon, sensing her approach, had turned to face her opponent, but the Avatar was upon her sooner than she could respond. All were impressed, including the monster, when Korra’s sprint changed into a forward dive-kick – her massiveness speared through the sky, arching high above rooftops, with such speed that winds rolled wildly in her shadow, river water raining off her flying form. It was an awesome amount of force to propel someone so huge across that distance, and when her foot firmly struck the Eidolon in her core, that force fully transferred forward. The Eidolon squawked when hit, bounced away into a tumble that crashed her flat on her back amidst an array of evacuated houses, a drop so heavy that a surrounding ring of empty homes blew apart just as well. In those ruins, the giant monster groaned and coiled, while Korra stood balanced in the street, poised for the fight to continue.

It was a heroic arrival, except for when the Avatar sniffled sickly, having inhaled in the lingering vapor in the area. “Ugh… Can we make this quick?” she mildly complained. “I think both of us could benefit from some fresh air.”

The fallen Eidolon coughed, expelling a puff of purple from her jaw and snout. She shifted up from the wreckage, uncaring how her swampy hair was tangled with debris, concentrated solely on the Avatar ahead of her as she rose back up to her feet. But when her alligator eyes nearly closed and her vision blurred, Korra took the chance to cut the distance between them, charging close with an upward kick to the Eidolon’s elongated chin. Struck into a stupor, the Eidolon was even more vulnerable, blank-faced as a roundhouse kick whipped into her chest, followed by a chop to the shoulder, an elbow to her cheek, and then a straightforward punch between to her jugular. Blitzed by that flurry of blows, the Eidolon spun and flailed her tail in defense – Korra leaned back to dodge, then immediately sneaked in a kick to the back of a knee that tripped the beast off that leg. Put into a winning position, Korra wound up her hands together, centralizing energy, and then sprung forward with a double-palmed push, thrust into the Eidolon’s middle with enough power to knock her off her feet. The intensity of the attack resonated through the area, matched only by the Eidolon’s crash landing, barreled into the first building of the downtown district.

The moment swept the onlooking soldiers into awe. After such rapid tremors and explosions, there was a heavy stillness to the scene as everything settled; Korra reset her posture and exhaled the tension, steadying herself between two streets after that burst performance. She similarly surveyed the destruction, instinctively grimacing when she looked at the collapsed building – grateful as she was that downtown had long-since been cleared out, she regretted what had to happen to the structure. Subsequently, Korra paid attention to the damages directly beneath her, noticing the craters made by her footwork, acknowledging also the scrapped cars and fissured yards. Her toes curled out of sympathy, but that habit caused more harm to the pavement, crunching and cobbling a section of each street.

Nevertheless, Korra remained fixated on her opponent, cleansing her thoughts of distractions as the Eidolon clumsily dug herself out from the rubble of the building. Electricity visibly trickled around the beast’s tail, the pylons sparking erratically, but there was no indication of an attack; it almost assured Korra that the Eidolon was promptly defeated, but her instincts said otherwise. She tensed again, ready to jump forward if the foe tried to stand, ignoring the drizzle coming down from the clouds overhead – a rain that gradually grew heavier until it was a pour, heavy enough to start soaking Korra’s hair and attire. Rough weather was nothing new for the Avatar, but when she assumed it was an unrelated storm, she had then stepped into the Eidolon’s own trap.

A pressure rumbled from those dark clouds. There were flashes in the sky, the crackle and snap of electricity, followed by fully-formed bolts – all leading up to a single strike that dropped out of the air like an arrow shooting for Korra’s head. She only caught a glance of the lightning before it connected– “G-G-Gu-gahhh-g-h!” Her limbs splayed out in a dance of spontaneous pain, her mighty body convulsing frantically; she went down on her knees, then on her palms, resulting in destructive impacts that blew apart roads and residences beneath her. Smoke lifted from her red clothes and bracers, the special weaving pushed beyond its limits to mitigate the electricity. All of Korra’s senses had been reset, returning gradually as a blur of feelings – though enduring as best as she could, those that witnessed her stagger and collapse feared the worst for their hero.

But no one’s emotions flared more intensely than Asami’s when she watched her beloved be struck down. She panged for Korra from afar, en route via jeep to the nearest bridge to combine military forces on the one side of the river – when the lightning flashed and the Avatar kneeled, Asami sprung out of the passenger door, forcing the driver to halt. “Korra!!” she called out, dashing to the edge of the road, torturously too distant to comfort and inspire. “No…! She needs me there!”

The rest of the envoy drove past Asami without her, and the Admiral urged her on the comms to keep moving, but that route around the river was too long for her aching heart. She needed a faster method, and when she looked back at the passing trucks prepared to deploy another series of units, she realized her quickest means of getting to Korra. She waved down a specific transport that carried a clean-coated springjet – fresh out of the factory, it was created with Asami’s own personal touches, and she was willing to risk the first run of its newest features.

The Eidolon huffed victoriously as the rain fell harder over her scales. Glaring down at the smoldering Avatar, she turned back around and stomped onward to her prize: the city’s chi generator, located in the central power plant. Along the way, her tail swished from one side of the highway to the other, absorbing latent electricity from the nearby facilities and abandoned vehicles; the energy rejuvenated her from that round of combat, so that she was recharged as she invaded the city center and its dense design.

Between the monster and her destination was a single, long road that branched into the thinner streets. It was the heart of the city, the main road, built extra wide for plentiful traffic of all kinds. A hub for community events, on the day the Eidolon attacked, the area had been prepared for a fantastical parade that would have begun tomorrow; vibrant colors were on display along the walls and pavement, and pavilions were propped up on the pathways. Most significant of the decorations were the huge blimps and balloons that floated right above the highway and level with the rooftops, an assortment of various designs depicting logos, characters, and landmarks – all in celebration of World Peace Day, which marked yet another year of their ongoing era of unity.

Those proud images that embraced peace were shattered by the Eidolon’s arrival. Though the parade had long since been left behind – so hastily that it was left in its near-complete status – the carnage of the titan’s trek was no less impressive, each footfall causing a geyser of debris to launch up into the air. Her claws tore through overpasses and street signs; her tail smashed down television displays and building-side features; the blimps were barely obstacles to her, slashed aside and sunken out of her way one at a time, left behind in a trail of deflated piles.

Without an equally-huge opposition, the best challenge against the Eidolon were the springjet elites and their anti-Eidolon vapor. They successfully ambushed her as she proceeded through the parade, jumping out from hiding behind an idle balloon and swarming her suddenly. Though they speedily weaved and barreled through the sky in graceful maneuvers, the Eidolon was advantaged in the more confined arena of the main road, able to sweep her claws and tail through the ranks mid-flight; by catching onto any of their wires, she could swing them off-course and thus dismiss them as a problem. She managed to snatch a springjet right out of the air, which she then pitched out elsewhere in to the city; with a kick, she caught wires between her toes and flung two springjets straight to the ground. The assault was chaotic and rowdy, to the extent that the springjets could not release their banks of vapor, lest they deplete the resource at an ineffective moment – the Eidolon roared almost laughingly, so in control of the situation that she could afford to relax and mock.

But then, a particular springjet buzzed into the battle, zipping past the Eidolon’s side. The monster thought as little of it as the others, letting it swing and gain momentum, before deciding to step forward with a dismissive counter. Her tail lifted from crumbled pavement and destroyed cars, perking up and then lashing at the springjet’s trajectory; to the Eidolon’s surprise, her tail was dodged, and even utilized for a comeback swing when it was tethered to by the vehicle. The sprigjet spun, then released into open air, proving itself only that much more capable than the others before –  but its full potential had yet to be shown.

The Eidolon, however, was unimpressed as she flailed with additional attacks, swarming the solo springjet with slashing claws and thundering stomps. It was a monster-sized tantrum that would have cleaved the last series of springjets, and even she realized that something was different about her target. Her reptilian eyes focused sharply on the flying metal shell, learning then that it was equipped with something unlike the others – a pair of wings that enabled gliding maneuvers that ordinary springjets could never execute. More than just drifting in the air, the wings could even flap in rapidfire pulses, allowing the daring pilot to completely shift directions or even pause mid-flight.

That pilot was none other than Asami, warding the massive creature on her own while Korra was yet to recover. She had crossed the river faster than any other military unit with the help of her special springjet, that which she had designed herself shortly before the raid. Even as she was under pressure in the cockpit, sternly handling the throttle and managing her momentum, she was smiling proud of her achievement: taking inspiration from her own hummingbird fliers, Asami had combined the two technologies to create a spingjet with far more aerial control than its predecessors. Military engineers were blushed by what she designed, and they were surely agasp again as they saw the vehicle in motion, swerving and diving in otherwise unfathomable ways.

More importantly, those cunning maneuvers were vital to keeping Asami alive, long enough to launch a proper initiative against the Eidolon. After avoiding the beast underfoot and tethering to the torso, the springjet swung up in a sharp arc – directly towards her elongated maw. The Eidolon opened her toothy mouth, choosing to snap the springjet into her appetite if it so chose to come towards her. The terrifying cavern threatened to engulf Asami, but with the mobility of her wings, she leaned into a last-second redirection: she narrowly changed course, but was as near as she needed to be, close enough to release the anti-Eidolon vapor down into the monster’s throat.

The Eidolon screeched into a cough. The raw hit of the vapor’s flavor on her tongue was disgust-inducing, stealing her ability to breathe. She clapped her alligator jaw closed, sealing it shut with one hand while the other grabbed at her neck; though it was just the one spray of vapor, the direct inhale was as effective as an entire team’s. Blinded as she choked, the Eidolon swung messily at wherever she expected the springjet to be, missing completely and instead wrecking into billboards and broad walls. Those aimless flails turned into stumbling as her sense of balance deteriorated, grabbing at rooftops to sustain her great weight. Her huge tail smacked into buildings and wiped away abandoned vehicles, whipping around with all the anger the Eidolon could not express elsewhere. Succumbing to the vapor, she crashed to her knees within a circular plaza, shrugging aside the blimps and balloons that bobbed into her.

Asami, meanwhile, had perched her personal springjet atop the ledge of an office complex, overlooking the thundering fall of the Eidolon. She glared at the choking, hacking monster without sympathy; forcing vapor down her throat had been payback for how she hurt Korra, while the rest that followed was just her duty. “Eidolon down!” Asami beckoned into the comms. “Shell her while you can!”

From up to a mile away, platoons of artillery steadied themselves in the streets and took aim from afar. As soon as generals had their coordinates, they motioned for the attack, unleashing a tactical barrage of firepower. Missiles and rockets seared the sky as they arched high over the city, speeding down into the Eidolon’s scaly exterior with explosive effect. Each blast made the beast shudder lower to the ground, pushing her prone from her knees; the ballistic rain continued until the plaza was covered in a smokescreen so thick that it hid their target from sight – until she rose and bellowed with rage. Though the barrage was furious, human weaponry could only do so much to the Eidolon, only able to pin her in place, and only for the time being.

Asami understood as much as she shielded her eyes from the fiery showcase. If missiles could have solved the world’s Eidolon problem, then the Avatar never would have been required. She looked down the main road to where Korra had been felled, aching with concern. “Korra, it’s up to you!” she said, swallowing the worry from her tone. There was no response; “K-Korra, come in… Speak to me! The Eidolon is down, it’s up to you to finish it! We need you– …What the…?”

She stuttered and her eyes went wide. She awed at an usual sight, creeping out from the smoke, drifting lazily in the air. A blimp, one from the idled parade, constructed to resemble a cartoon animal; floating on its own untethered, what made it miraculous was its obvious glow of energy emanating from it. Zaps of static visibly danced across the shape, a foreboding effect that contradicted the balloon character’s goofy expression. Asami blinked in a moment of hesitation – realizing too late that it was a trap, she spasmed her springtjet into gear, but only swung so far off the rooftop before–

Zzzztt–pthhoooom! The plaza erupted into a storm of windy noise, everything within it blown back by a dazzling explosion of static air. Vehicles on the road were toppled over like toys, walls of glass windows shattered all at once; a pulse passed through the plaza and its defining properties, spreading a static effect onto every surface exposed to the blast. That was only the beginning, as that one bombastic event triggered a net of extra explosions – another blimp popped with similar suddenness, and so did another, a chain of effects that rattled the city center as loud as the military’s earlier attack had been.

Within that radius of chaos was Asami and her attempt to take cover, an effort that was too slow against the overwhelming blow-up. She had tried weaving sharply behind the office complex’s walls, but was caught by a jet of wind that hurled her off-course. As stiff as a rock, the springjet was slammed into a concrete corner, ricocheting off it and spiraling into the street below; she bounced off the roof of a service truck and crashed into a grass median, a drop that spun her several times before she was dully stopped in the dirt. In that whirlwind of motion, the hummingbird-like wings of her specialized springjet were snapped off, and both of its tethers were snagged and subsequently broken – with electricity trickling all around her machine, Asami untensed in her seat to find herself stranded in an inoperable, upside-down vehicle.

It was worrying enough to be powerless in the springjet, abandoned with unresponsive controls and a cockpit door that could not open, but when Asami felt the trembling pattern of Eidolon footfalls, she froze in fear – then rocked with effort. “C’mon, move…!” she hissed like steam, throwing her body to the sides of her seat so that the springjet might roll over and off its hatch door. Yet she only strained and exhausted herself; between tries, she glanced out of the cracked visor of the vehicle, where the flipped image of crashing claws was growing closer and closer, disappearing cars and trucks with each quake-causing stride. Sweat dropped off the tip of Asami’s nose and passed her eyes, “Korra…” Thoooom… “Korra!” Thoooooom…!

The Eidolon crawled, then rose to her feet. She trampled across traffic and stepped high over the deflated remains of the blimps laid lifeless up the road. A final wheeze expelled the last shivers of the anti-Eidolon vapor, and with an extra huff to refill her lungs, her status was recovered. Though marked with blackened spots of where her scales absorbed an assault of explosives, the Eidolon was otherwise returned to her mission, stomping onwards to the city’s chi generator. Her route was determined, but one little glimpse of a disabled springjet in her path changed the pace of her direction, so that she would enjoy crunching that pesky machine flat underfoot.

Another step bounded forward, taking aim at that green median – when suddenly, the Eidolon was pulled short of completing that stride, stumbled to a hard stop. She gasped at being dragged backwards, so unexpectedly that she was tripped to her knees and hands, bent in a bridge that loomed above Asami’s uneasy position. The monster glared over her shoulder, as there the Avatar was revived, both hands gripping the prongs of her tail like handlebars to tug on. Korra stared back with equal anger, embittered by the Eidolon’s intent to crush her beloved Asami.

The Eidolon hissed threateningly, but that did not discourage Korra from pulling on her alligator tail again, forcing her another span of distance away from the springjet. She squirmed wildly to break free, clawing into neighboring buildings, until her arms were taken from underneath – Korra grappled her from behind, locking her in place and then lifting her off her feet with a grunt of effort. The tremendous mass of the monster was then arched above the skyline as the Avatar performed a giant-scale wrestling maneuver: a suplex that flung the Eidolon backwards and drilled her headfirst into the pavement. Her own weight worked against her, striking the street with an incredible boom of power that cracked the ground into a web of fissures.

Gracefully, Korra unbent and untwirled herself from that suplexing pose; poised then to pin the Eidolon where she had been shambled, if there were not other perils to address. “Asami!” she immediately thought of, turning to where the springjet was left – there in the median, where the surrounding structures were collapsing forward like a line of dominos. Though her overthrow of the Eidolon had been decisive, it was not without a ringing of consequences, that the land of the plaza had been distorted by the ripples of her wrestling move. One such building fell quickly to the earthquake, crashing close to Asami’s springjet – a narrow miss, but of which the next buildings up were fated to fall upon. Korra surged forward into action, “No! Asami…!”

Asami persisted on the trapped door, but shuddered herself still when two bare feet fell from the sky and struck the ground nearby like more bolts of lightning. It was Korra, having leaped over a spill of ruins to put herself above Asami – between the collapsing buildings. Korra crouched low, turning her body into a barrier that would endure the destruction; walls and floors fell into her, crashing against her muscles and becoming a pour of powder-like debris. The heaviest chunks of materials – planes of concrete, remnants of furniture – rolled down her frame and into a smokey pool around where she stood, but she allowed nothing to cover over the springjet, keeping it safe from harm just under her glutes.

After several seconds of crumbling cacophony, the sound of rain was left alone, sprinkling off the waves of devastation. Korra had kept herself statue-like, resembling a hero’s monument in the middle of the main road, painted in gray and dark splotches of the buildings that broke against her; when the ruining ceased, she moved from her stillness, causing dust and debris to shiver loose. She breathed as she shifted the sandy mess aside with her palms and feet, creating a clearing for the springjet. That, too, was also maneuvered, the vehicle rolled rightside-up with the push of a finger.

“Asami…?” Korra creaked with concern, ignoring the rain that soaked her hair and the dirt that stained her skin. There was a worrisome motionlessness from the springjet – finally, the hatch opened with a metallic whine, and a helmeted head rose from the cockpit. Asami was found unharmed but definitely dazed after being flipped, spun, and nearly stepped on; her senses only began to settle when she leaned back and looked up, gazing long up pillar-like thighs and a bridge-like waist. Korra’s smile peeked past that mountainous musculature; “Thank goodness you’re safe!” Korra sighed, loosely fixing an undone tail of her hair. “I may have gotten a bit carried away back there…”

Asami removed her helmet and wiped aside a wet smack of her own hair from over her face, still blinking up at Korra’s looming pose – a rather rewarding view for what she had endured. “...It was worth it,” she joked weakly, certain her stamina would be restored sooner under her partner’s presence.

Thoom-thrrrm-Thrrmmm…! Under the roar of the storm, the tremors ran quickly behind Korra – a crescendo of something massive. The Avatar was only fast enough to turn and see the Eidolon rushing up the main road, lunging low like a slithering snake – once in range, she spun with electric speed, her tail soaring and skimming above the destruction in the streets. It rammed Korra where she was knelt, a vicious bludgeoning that kicked her farther up the main road. Her hugeness drew a streak of destruction, pointing to where she was stopped, cratered back-first against the front of City Hall.

It happened all at once from Asami’s perspective, a sudden turn in the tides: Korra was blindsided by a cruel blow, like a skyscraper ripped away by a whirlwind. The terrible quakes of that giant tumbling urged her to bunker down into the springjet, waiting out the rumbling – but the Eidolon had no such patience, proceeding past Asami with a footstep swinging right over her position. She watched helplessly as the clawed feet stomped towards Korra, and thus she was ambushed by the tail sweeping the streets behind the Eidolon, sticking to the cockpit as the springjet was crudely dragged some meters of distance. Sparks showered up from the grinding metal until an idle swing of the tail dislodged the vehicle like a pebble, letting it spin free and into a landslide of some toppled structure. Asami then spilled out into that debris, staggered and sickened, but dutifully looking to where the Eidolon trekked – past the parade and beyond where she left the Avatar fallen.

Asami seethed from soreness, hugging her torso where the belts of the springjet seat had pressed tight against her. She rose shiftily from the ruins and stumbled forward, through the path of deflated parade balloons that the rain increasingly flattened; the weather soaked her just as much as she powered forward on a limp, as though she were giving chase after the monster. It could not be her, however, to keep up with the Eidolon, and so she pushed herself towards City Hall, where Korra twitched and groaned atop its entrance, every movement cracking the marble stairs beneath her.

“Korra, c-c’mon… It’s getting away…!” Asami stuttered as she hobbled closer to the collapsed Avatar. There were only electric spasms as a response; Korra was still plagued by the aftereffects of being struck by lightning, which compounded every new pain put upon her by the Eidolon. Asami’s stomach sank with sympathy, but there was no time to let her beloved rest. “The Eidolon… is almost to the chi generator…!” she explained, hoping an update might inspire Korra; “Th-The military can only hold her off a little longer… Korra, we all need you…!”

Korra curled forward slowly, enough to get her head off the ground. “Rrg… Right…! I-I’m… just…” Even talking was too hard when electric pulses made her clench and pause. Before rising any higher, she fell back down onto another side – a shockwave made the many puddles jump, yet Asami stood her ground unphased. Korra gasped, “Sorry… My muscles are all… numb, or on fire… or both…”

“I can imagine…” Asami muttered, scanning the width of where Korra lay, stretched out across the road’s last intersection. She winced with Korra, studying the assortment of injuries and the stains that implied more, all clearly countable in the windows of her red-colored sportswear. It was a condition that tugged at Asami to comfort her lover, to rest her head on her lap and tend to those wounds, if that were at all possible. Yet moved as she was, Asami still met Korra with a tender touch, placing a hand on her hip against the many beads of rain that trickled down the skin. She stroked that spot before leaning her head against Korra; “I’m sorry… This shouldn’t have to all come down to you. I should’ve had a better plan…”

When huge fingers then curled around Asami, she knew instantly it was Korra’s protective grasp, recognizing the calloused knuckles and dried palms, and so she did not flinch when she was lifted off the pavement. The hand reshaped into a seat under her as she was taken above Korra’s chest, held where she could be looked over. Though her rain-soaked hair and dimmed expression spoke of defeat, the Avatar maintained a reassuring smile. Too little to help, Asami still offered her affection, kissing up and down a ledge-like thumb as if it were her partner’s neck and shoulder.

Another lift higher took Asami directly into the thralls of a giant kiss – brought to Korra’s lips, slightly puckered to accept her beloved’s smaller body. Asami allowed herself to be pushed into place, prompted to embrace the excess softness around her. Her face disappeared in the connection, appearing from afar as though Korra was kissing her own hand, but there was nothing less about their romance, unchanged by their scale to one another. Under the heavy rainfall, the two women produced a warm glow around themselves, a brief moment of peace over a backdrop of storms, tremors, and explosions.

Korra chuckled after peeling Asami back, “I needed that.”

“I’m sure you did,” Asami replied – minimally relieved from the ordeals, still burdened by the Eidolon’s progress to the power plant.

“No, really,” Korra affirmed, “I’m… feeling livelier. Better.” As an example, her other arm rose and flexed, boasting the return of strength in her muscles – Asami watched with wide eyes, rumbled by Korra’s movement as she curled forward into a seat. “This feeling… is familiar. Like my breath is returning to me – it’s tingly…”

“What? But, why…?” Asami asked, flustered with theories. “I-I mean, that’s good! But… how?” She examined Korra as best she could, looking back across the injuries again. It was almost too slow to notice, but Asami pointed to it: a bruise gradually undarkened, then faded completely, as did others at their own rate. So too did cuts start to close by themselves, including older wounds from Korra’s first bout with the Eidolon. More miraculous than that was the uplifted spirit within Korra, as life returned to her eyes and her shakiness eventually ceased; though she was still decorated in damages, the Avatar was undoubtedly rejuvenated, and Asami was bent on having an explanation. One possibility crossed her mind: “If the Eidolon can heal itself with chi energy, then… perhaps…”

Both had the same idea when they looked at the city’s chi generator, that skyward spire that rose higher than any other structure, twice the tallness of either titan. Though its grid through the community had been shut down, it was nonetheless a beacon of energy waiting to be accessed. The Eidolon’s pursuit drove through the generator’s defenses – she marched over the stationed military, ignoring their attacks against her armor of scales. She cut directly through the facility’s administrations rather than follow either path around it, putting herself in a maze of cables and towers – obstacles she similarly forced herself through, creating a trail of electrical bursts behind her. Amidst the rain were plumes of smoke wherever she stomped, black clouds that were flashed by the colorful sparks and flares. Her tremendous presence triggered a series of traps that encircled the generator’s perimeter, activating dispensers that sprayed purple vapors straight into the air; the anti-Eidolon vapor surrounded her, yet she broke free from its debilitating effects, far sooner than she had in prior encounters. A swipe of her tail easily tore down those traps, earning little more than a snarl and cough before the Eidolon continued.

It was a despairing, destructive scene to witness, but from those bombastic details came a revelation to Asami. She choked on the thought before putting it into words: “The Eidolon is strengthened by chi energy,” she said, “and so are you, Korra! It’s the city’s chi generator – that’s what’s healing you!”

Korra digested the explanation as she adjusted her seat, propping an arm over City Hall’s remaining rooftop and peeking over at the Eidolon’s rampage. “That… sort of makes sense,” she replied. “I guess Avatars and Eidolons aren’t so different. But if the generator makes us both stronger, it’s not really much of an advantage…”

“There could be a way to change that,” Asami thought aloud. Her face was solid with seriousness; “If the Eidolon can consume and utilize chi power, then perhaps…you can, too.” She stood up in Korra’s palm and turned to face upwards at her. “You’ve got to get me into that spire! It’s already been evacuated– but if I can access the controls to the conduit, I can reverse the flow and give that power to you!”

“I believe you!” Korra smirked, hinting that her understanding was loose, but that she was as committed as ever. Concern then paled her enthusiasm; “Is that…safe? H-How do you get there without the Eidolon catching you?”

“I wouldn’t call it safe,” Asami began, “but I’ve thought of one way to get me there. We have to hurry! Before it gets to the generator first!”

A roar bellowed from the power plant, edged with electrical snaps and emphasized with a bolt of lightning. Another barrier of buildings and gates was breached, despite constant gunfire drilling into the invader’s underside. The Eidolon’s claws consistently made quick work of any resistance at her ankles, trampling humanity’s defenses and letting her tail sweep aside any of its remains. Few efforts were capable of just distracting the giant for a moment, accomplishing only seconds of slowness as the Eidolon punished them with thundering attacks. Missiles launched from afar struck all around her, but even direct hits were futile; from the smoke of these explosions, she continued on her course, rapidly recovering from any worthwhile wound and shrugging off everything less.

Sparks shot from transformers; wires and cables caught ablaze. The presence of the Eidolon was enough to break all things electrical, creating a chaotic show that debuted her arrival – she was upon the chi generator’s rising spire, that which harvested and contained the energy she sought. It was the only technology to stay stabilized, but the Eidolon’s weighty footsteps yet made it creak and shiver, with electric zaps running up and down its length. She looked to the top of that tower, where the power was centralized, out of reach for even a giant beast like herself – and so she grabbed the outer rigging of the spire, utilizing its cage-like design to climb higher after her prize.

“Yes… Yes…!” the Eidolon hissed, her long maw licked by a wanting tongue. The rigging whined and bent under her pressure, broken by her ripping, clenching claws. “Come back to us… the Light…!”

That breakthrough in chi power was almost in reach, until the Eidolon was drawn down a tier in the rigging, pulled by her tail. She fumed ferociously, flashing a glare at what dragged her: her Avatar opponent, steady at the spire’s base with both hands grasping the tip of her tail. The Eidolon’s pupils sharpened; her tail surged side to side, she stomped down at Korra’s head, but she could not loosen herself free from her, not while balancing herself on the rigging. Each effort to resist put more pressure on the structure, until it could withstand no more – the metal sundered under her weight, and all at once, the giant monster was crashing downwards, gasping in a struggle as she tore through level after level of the spire’s ascent, culminating into an explosive crunch of a landing.

“Forget about me?” Korra chuckled, confident through the rainfall. “We have a fight to finish…!” Her muscles flexed before she reasserted her grip on the thick tail, pulling the beast out from the wreckage and farther from the generator. The Eidolon clawed at the ground, but in a surge of strength, Korra tugged and whipped her aside – though the Eidolon was slugged through the power plant facilities and forced away, a wall of rubble swept up with her broad shape. Korra’s maneuver finished with her in a battle-ready stance; “Final round, just you and me.”

But before she could dive into combat, Korra had one last task, remembering as much when prompted by a tickle in her waistband. Her fighting posture shambled as she shied aside to retrieve Asami from the front of her spandex, the only pocket that her electric-proof outfit could fit someone – and the only someone she would ever try fitting there. Korra’s fingers were careful when moving the little body, her eyes swelled with concern for her safety; Asami, however, was in fair spirits from her brief journey in her beloved’s waistband, meeting that sympathy with coyness to say, “I could’ve gotten used to that~”

Korra was not so lighthearted in the moment, hesitant to let Asami go on her own to the conduit, but she knew also that it had to be done. “Be careful,” she urged as she leaned into the broken rigging, looking for a high-level location to allow her partner into the generator’s inner workings.

As Asami was being raised into place, something then wrapped around Korra’s ankle. The Avatar was tugged backwards, and so too was Asami stumbled in her hand – the Eidolon's tail had whipped into Korra’s feet, sweeping her off-balance. She dropped to her knee, but before she could bounce back, the tail sprung at her again, charged with an electrical boost. Korra flinched in reaction, realizing the danger Asami was in; the rigging cracked from the shockwaves of giant movements, another length of it at risk of collapsing. There was no time to think, however, as the tail flailed into Korra’s leg with an audible zap; “Gghah!” Korra stammered, her body made momentarily limp and left to lay on the spire.

The Eidolon moaned awake as she unburied herself up from the power plant debris, her tail reeling behind her after a successful strike. Similarly did Korra rise from the base of the generator, staggered with electric aftershocks, but rather than exchange glares with the enemy, she looked to the spire – up where Asami had been lifted, then lost in its destruction. Metal girders bent and dropped from the rigging, like illusions of small bodies dropping to the ground; Korra was only so relieved to discover Asami clinging to a ledge of the spire, having jumped that far when the tail attacked.

In a kick of acrobatics, Asami flipped to a better foothold, balancing on the rain-slick metal. Despite her perilous predicament, she was quick to find Korra below and offer a nod of reassurance. “I’ve got it from here! Go!” she called down to Korra, but then shouted– “Korra, look out!!”

Korra felt a trill in the air, a vibe of energy being drawn behind her. Where Asami pointed was to the Eidolon, whose maw was opened as wide as it could, collecting sparks of electricity – charging power for another beam attack. The Avatar was locked in her sights, and so was the spire beside her; the beam would surely shoot through either one, a blink away from blasting from her mouth. Korra had to react that instant, and no less from her prone position. Her leg lunged outward and upward in a singular front-flip motion, the very tips of her toes extending just long enough to catch the Eidolon’s jaw with whirlwind speed. Though only a knick of a hit, what Korra’s kick did was redirect the oncoming lightning, angling the Eidolon’s attack skyward – far away from threatening anyone or anything, piercing a hole through the rain clouds.

Asami first felt the buzz of the beam as it streaked past the spire, paused by the spectacle while climbing up to the roof of the conduit room. The lightning might have missed, but the sheer power of it passing so near was enough to make the damaged tower waver and whine – a gradual tilt that threatened to roll Asami right off the rooftop, had she not grabbed the ventilation grate to hold on. She hastily ripped the hatch off and dropped inside with a slosh of rain water following her; the lights within flickered and dimmed in response to the battle outside, a violent and unsteady hum resonating from the machinery, yet Asami soon found the control panel from which she could reverse the power flow. She was thrown into it, in fact, when a tremor propelled her forward suddenly; as staggered as she was, she worried more for the spire’s integrity, whether it could withstand the shockwaves long enough for her to give Korra the advantage she needed.

The Eidolon was aggressive in her series of attacks – claws and kicks with tripping tailwhips, unleashed in a flurry. Korra danced defensively, but her opponent was in her element, enhanced with electrical agility that made her more difficult to avoid. To weave in her own punches meant allowing the Eidolon a window to cut into her, her skin gashed with wounds while her bracers and top were damaged with rips. In spite of those injuries, Korra pressed her own attack, landing impacts that spun the Eidolon farther away from the chi generator. The Eidolon uprooted heaps of power plant debris to be lobbed as weapons, but Korra struck down the projectiles with an offensive approach, closing the distance with fluid mobility. The Avatar breezed into a heavy two-handed attack – without restraint, unrestricted by the presence of people to be cautious of – a critical blow to the Eidolon’s core, a swift connection that pulsed a curtain of rain away from the combatants. A dry heave was forced out of the Eidolon’s throat, a dire indication that she was on her final footing.

Yet she was far from finished fighting, resolved with bestial instinct. With the chi generator so close to being claimed, the Eidolon proved capable of ignoring the pain so that she could snap with a counter – an audible crack of noise matched a strike of lightning, the vicious sound of her alligator jaws chomping into Avatar muscle. There was a beat of intensity just before Korra’s agonized shout, a sharp cry from being bitten into – a deep, double-sided injury that wrapped around her shoulder and included her neck. Korra’s fingers pushed into the razor teeth in an ongoing effort to pry the maw open, but the Eidolon was lock-jawed onto her, refusing to budge an inch in a commitment to keep her opponent trapped and tormented. If Korra resisted any less, then the bite would certainly sink even deeper; her bone was crushed as it was, but there was a real risk that the Eidolon could worsen the wound, or outright rip it out.

Neither titan relented. They were posed like marvelous statues, frozen in the thrall of each other’s might above a pool of power plant ruins. Rain poured over their skin and scales, creating a mist that surrounded their tremendous sizes as they fell shiveringly still and tense. The sound of the storm was all that lingered, until a hiss of a voice breathed down Korra’s neck; “You cannot keep the Light from us…! The Light within you… will join us…!”

Korra’s concentration was unbroken by the Eidolon’s words, but no matter her persistence, she was unable to pry the jaw open. She punched at the snout and grabbed debris to smash into her head, but the Eidolon proved more resilient. In her toiling to escape, Korra collapsed to her knees, struggling for a better center of balance; in retaliation, the Eidolon shoved her lower and hooked a leg around her torso, grappling her into an even tighter clasp. It appeared as though the alligator-woman was to consume the Avatar, wrapped over her body and gradually sapping her strength – a winning position that saw Korra diminish and deplete in a struggle.

But before any conclusion– Booom! Booom! Fiery explosions erupted around the Eidolon, a blast for every screeching sound of a rocket zooming onto the site. After a scatter of near-misses, there was a direct hit– Booom!! A missile hit its mark, striking the Eidolon’s mid-back with a spine-shuddering impact. The military advance had finally caught up with the titans, positioned outside the power plant to bombard their monstrous target. The general commanded the barrage from within a ring of tanks, responding swiftly to assemble the artillery and have them shelling the wrestling giants with patterned assaults.

Yet the string of explosive was not enough to spring Korra free. Though the military attack helped loosen the lockjaw bite, the Eidolon was otherwise unflinching against the missiles; her armor dampened every blow, shaking her stability but failing to injure her. Korra strained to put herself in a better position, but could barely get one step forward under the Eidolon’s weight and the downpour of rockets, lacking the power to turn the tides – a fact that drilled into her head as piercingly as the alligator teeth in her shoulder.

Asami, however, saw an opportunity opened by the artillery. She had reprogrammed the conduit’s flow of chi energy, but required a way to reach Korra and provided the supercharged effect – grappled as she was under the Eidolon, that had proved impossible, until the military’s explosive involvement caused the spire to quiver and creak even more. Tilted as it was, the whole structure was on the verge of bending over its lower half. It would have been another disaster amidst the war, but Asami had the inspiration to make it a miracle. She channeled the general directly on her communicator: “Aim past the Eidolon!” she ordered. “Hit the chi generator!”

There was no response from the other side. Asami bit her lips, glaring fiercely at the Eidolon and her beloved Korra curled under her; through the cracked window of the conduit control room, she reached for Korra, helplessly far. Was her command to the general out of place? Was it too much of a risk to damage the generator?

Boooom! As Asami’s hopes nearly faded fully, she was jumped by the loudest shockwave yet, a ripple that flung her into the panel and then threw her back. The military had struck the chi generator’s base – overcoming hesitation and caution, the general approved the attack, and so a corner of the base was blown to shreds. Without that crucial leg keeping the rest of the structure up, it began to crumple and crash – no teetering or creaking, the top-half buckling forward and collapsing mid-fall. Metal plates of the walls burst open, revealing thick wires and cables of the infrastructure, many popping ablaze from sparks shooting from the tears. As the spire fell violently, it became a lightshow of electricity dashing wildly up and down its height, a blinding spectacle that Asami was in the very middle of – and from where she desperately needed to make an escape.

Korra gasped sharply, “Asami!” From where she was trapped, she witnessed the spire be struck and start to fall, staring into the control room where she last left her beloved. The worst was expected, as it very would come to be if she did not act immediately – if she failed to do her part and absorb the chi energy from the generator. As it cradled in her and the Eidolon’s direction, the tension narrowed into a span of seconds, both titans looking up at the peak that was hurtling towards them. The Eidolon growled and clamped tighter with her teeth and claws, but Korra made a lunge with her other arm, a long-reached try to stop the spire from crashing.

The round head of the spire landed in fingers. Korra diligently took hold of it – it took hold of her, with a static grasp that refused to let go. She winced as a resonance traveled through her, visible as a shiver that coursed through her body and cast her skin aglow with a pure, yellow color. She gasped from an uncomfortable, yet familiar feeling; imbued with a fullness that rapidly rejuvenated her stamina, pulsating with power that was difficult to keep centered within herself – a power that required discipline to control, and something more to have mastered. Her eyes strained closed, then reopened with new spirit and a white-blue illumination – the mystical image of the Avatar State.

Renewed strength won Korra out of the Eidolon’s painful grapple, rewarded with the power to forcefully twist her arm free from the jaw. The Eidolon was enraged, yelling as she was shoved aside into a stretch of utilities and walls; she spun up to her feet, sweeping away a radius of property with her tail, clearing the area around her for a stable stance. Korra rose and prepared herself in that time as well, confident and poised in her empowered form, compared to the Eidolon’s shambled shape, agasp that the power she sought had been taken by her enemy. Her nostrils flared, “Take the Light if you insist…! I’ll devour it from you if I must!!”

The storm rumbled more greatly as the air became charged. The Eidolon’s teeth trickled with electricity, centering energy in her throat as she took aim at the interloper for one final strike. With a firm step forward, she projected a beam of electricity from her mouth, a jet-speed attack that soared over ruins and dashed through the rain. It crossed that distance in flash, striking her target dead-on with a thunder of noise. The impact was heard and felt for a mile out into the city, but the blinding glare was faster, stunning the military onlookers before the quake reached them; when their visions cleared, they immediately looked to that climax, where the fate of their civilization was to be decided.

But where they expected to witness a single victor after such a bombastic attack, they instead gawked at a scene more miraculous. Their gigantic ally had not fallen, nor had she been staggered or hurt. Korra’s pose was solid and tuned, unrattled by the blast; with fingers pointed forward like a fork, she had in fact absorbed the lightning beam, containing its volatile energy in her own system. When she moved, it was deliberate and focused, a careful dance that saw electricity rippling over her glowing form – a balanced performance to bend lightning.

Korra moved as fluidly as she breathed. From her left fingertips, she cycled the energy to her center, then out through her right hand, as effortlessly as an exhale – but the lightning was released dramatically, a surge that erupted straight into the sky where she pointed it. All over the city, the beam could be seen like a beacon, shooting into the storm clouds with such ferocity that it tore a hole in the weather, piercing upward endlessly into the atmosphere. The stunning display impressed everyone that watched – the military, the Eidolon, Asami – except for the shining Avatar herself, who ended the redirection unscathed and with perfect poise. She raised her head against the scaly beast before her, determined to cast her final judgment.

The Eidolon’s slit-eyes narrowed onto Korra after witnessing her negate her attack. “The Light…!” she growled. “Wh-What has it given you?!” Her claws clenched and a hiss passed her teeth; electricity dashed up and down her tail’s pylons, flaring up for an offensive. “You’ve stolen it…! Return it…! Return it to us…!!”

She was charged for battle, but the moment her first step cracked into the pavement, Korra responded – by pulling her fist down, she sunk the Eidolon’s foot into the earth, trapping it where it had stomped into power plant rubble. Before the Eidolon could react, her back foot became entrenched as well, pulled down by a similar motion. The staggered effect pushed the Eidolon into a sharper rage, but when she tantrumed to break free, the rain drops turned against her – grabbing her claws and tail with shackle-like shapes, manipulated by Korra’s swirl of gestures. Withheld as she was and still fuming with emotion, the Eidolon resorted to another electrical attack, charging a bolt of lightning within her mouth, then roaring the energy loose like a cannon. The beam raced at Korra, but she was unflinching with her stance; with a push of her hand, she gave order to the unruly winds to create a barrier around herself, a shield of air that defused the bolt into stray static. Desperately, the Eidolon shot again and again, but as her attacks thinned, Korra was able to approach her with steady steps, closing the distance until she was within arm’s reach of the mad monster.

The Eidolon resisted as much as she was restrained to. She snapped and snarled and spat sparks, with lunged attempts nearly escaping her water bindings, yet Korra had no reaction to her efforts. Her glare over the Eidolon was deeply critical, scanning her body – assessing her chi, comprehending the energy that made her what she was. In her Avatar State, Korra could see the Eidolon like a flame of life, and so she conducted a means to fade that fire.

The jaws of the Eidolon jumped at her with vicious power, but in an instant, that bestial rage was paralyzed by a touch. A finger pushed between her eyes and down on her snout; another finger pointed into her heart. The Eidolon trembled, as if her breath had been taken away, struck with a mystical sensation. The Avatar had grabbed her by the spirit, holding the energy still while a blue color enveloped her form – and from her, that color spread to the shivering Eidolon. Korra’s mouth and eyes shot open to the sky with projections of light, calling upon the chi of the world to flow according to her guidance, so that the chi of the Eidolon would be returned to nature.

It was an incomprehensible scene to those that watched from afar. What they witnessed was pure magic, as glorious as it was terrifying; the military posted outside the power plant could not put the Avatar and Eidolon’s state into words, baffled by effects that disregarded science. The general was especially awestruck, unable to voice a command for her units – hesitant to put any personnel too close to powers she simply did not understand, powers she and her research team never predicted.

Asami was similarly winded by the phenomenon from where she witnessed the event: dangling from snapped cables that hung loose from the toppled spire, safe enough while the titanic battle ended. Though she had seen her beloved utilize the Avatar State before in their own world, it was yet more inspiring to observe at giant scale, and after Korra had been removed from her bending abilities since entering the Spirit Portal. Asami felt a cheer swell up in her throat, but rather than an explosive conclusion that saw the Eidolon downed and defeated, she continued to watch as a different result came to be – that the chi-eating threat was becoming diminished, shrinking under Korra’s force of will, her massiveness shedding into discarded motes of light.

Korra bent forward as her opponent was reduced, maintaining connection as she dispersed the Eidolon’s chi into the environment. It was a slow but consistent transformation, a remarkable peace at the peak of tension; the Eidolon’s defeat was not punctuated or announced, but calmly determined, as order was restored without her gigantic presence. She shrunk into a valley of metal ruins, where she was eventually released from the Avatar’s touch, left standing in a total daze until she fell onto her knees. Korra’s bending of energy itself had reduced the Eidolon’s height to her ankles; the beast was still a rightful behemoth, bigger than an up-right bus, but it was a size humanity would find much more manageable.

With the danger defeated, the glowing colors of the Avatar State were dispelled, and a wake of quiet followed. Korra uncurled from the ground level and rose to her full, dignified height; above her was a stream of daylight that separated the storm clouds, replacing the dying drizzle with refreshing sun rays. She met that clear streak of sky with her face aimed upwards, her shoulders relaxing as she took a well-earned breath of success – before falling limp even more, overwhelmed with exhaustion to the point of swaying, then collapse– Brr-oooom! Giving in backwards, Korra crashed butt-first into a plot of debris, smashing the site into a seat-shaped crater as her back unrolled across the pavement. It was by no means a comfortable place to rest, but after enduring as much as she had – the harsh weather, the Eidolon’s lightning, the logic of a different dimension – it functioned well enough as a hero’s bed, where she would remain laid out for as long as she could get away with.

“Korra! Korra!!” Her name was celebrated in chimes directly overhead, sprung from the voice she loved most. From the lopsided conduit tower, Asami waved down at her, swinging side to side from the broken cable she clung to. Korra blinked to clarify the small image of her partner, a smile breaching her weariness; she was put more at ease to know that Asami had survived, and was in fact alive with plenty of spirit. “I knew you’d do it, Korra!” Asami called down louder. “You saved the city, and everyo– wh-whoaa!”

Perhaps too energized by their victory, Asami’s movements caused the cable to stretch, rip, and then tear-off entirely. She flipped and twirled to catch herself, but she dropped through empty air, spiraling to the tower’s base. Fortunately, she was rescued mid-plummet – caught by Korra’s quick reflexes, safely enclosed in the grasp of both hands. Her descent was drastically slowed, softly lowered the rest of the way down, so that her landing was upon the slope of Korra’s nose, draped over the arc between her eyes. That final surprise of excitement sparked life into both women, allowing them to share a sigh of relief together. Korra left a finger on Asami’s back to keep her lovingly pressed to her face, a position she was delighted to be in, her little hands stroking swirls across the sensitive skin as her head nuzzled into a crook.

The intimacy was soon interrupted by the mechanical sounds of jeeps and tanks rolling across rubble and speeding through puddles. Korra lifted her head with Asami still on her nose, noticing then the military encroaching the subdued Eidolon, making their way through the power plant destruction. The general led the movement, calling out instructions for capturing and transporting the deflated monster back to the base; before long, the Avatar was surrounded by cheering soldiers, pushing aside the time and privacy she wished to enjoy. But both she and Asami welcomed them and the order they represented, content enough that chaos had been vanquished in this strange world – if only for now. Other Eidolon threats still existed in other regions of the globe, but having won the immediate battle they were brought for, Korra and Asami could safely begin wondering what it would take to get back to their own home…

Stories of the giant Avatar and her battle with the Eidolon rang all throughout the city as recovery was underway. From the broken bridge and the dismantled parade, to the mangled ruins of the power plant and its surrounding buildings, people repeated the information gleaned from the media, comparing those details to the evidence around them – observing the craters and tears in the infrastructure, imagining the titans that were responsible. Scenes of dismay were compounded by the lack of chi power, the city left effectively lifeless until the generator could be properly restored; it would be a major project, but the citizens swore to persevere, grateful that not all had been lost.

Yet the world’s dilemma was far from resolved. Though one city had been rescued from a dire threat, other Eidolons still roamed around every nation, disrupting society and endangering lives. Humanity had perhaps achieved a means to control these monsters, but there was much left uncertain about the Avatar and her ability to manipulate chi as she had; there would be great debate over the reliability of such an extreme and unorthodox method, but there was no doubt that the imminent threat of an Eidolon was extinguished where no other effort was successful.

The population had the interdimensional travelers to thank for that, even if their origins were still largely unknown to the public. Korra was celebrated as a glorious champion, her spandex-clad image displayed honorably in candid photos and video clips of her in action; Asami’s involvement was less announced, a footnote in the reports, but she had all the appreciation she could ask for in the form of her tremendous beloved to dote on her. As the rest of the afternoon unfolded, the city made broad promises to pay the heroes for their victory – promises that would first have to pass through the military – but the two women had only one humble reward that they asked for specifically.

The day was winding down as reconstruction efforts steadily continued. The sun hovered at the horizon, casting an orange glow that illuminated the wide pool of a water reserve – a dam between the city and the military base, utilized then as a bath for a gigantic warrior. The facility had been repurposed for Korra’s arrival, with the water levels lowered so that her entrance would not flood too dramatically over the edges; one leg at a time, the city’s hero claimed the reserve for much of her exhausted body, fitting into the space as best she could, wary of how easy it would be to break open the concrete barrier. She carefully nestled into a reclined seat, relaxing with a long sigh that signaled her muscles to rest. Her eyes closed under the soothing sensation of the makeshift bath, gently lifting gallons of water to rinse down her untied hair or be washed across her chest. Korra’s smile was bright and persistent – satisfied most to have a moment of privacy.

Privacy that was, of course, best shared with a loving partner. “Well~ Don’t you look cozy?” Asami teased upon appearing along the dam that was behind Korra’s shoulders. Her hair was still wet from her own appropriately-sized bath, her body cloaked in a robe of loungewear. “I’ll be honest, I didn’t think you could actually fit in this…”

Korra turned a lazy smirk to Asami, shifting in the pool so that much of her chest huffed above the wavy surface. “Is that what you’re thinking about?” she chuckled, untensing her neck so that her head laid against the ledge. “As full as it is in here, I’m sure I can make some room for one more. Care to join me?”

Asami melted to Korra’s voice, biting her lip as if it were what kept herself together. She went nearer to the giant physique, traveling up along the arm that Korra had rested, all the while admiring its shape and length, including the firm rigidness of the shoulder pushed against the dam. Her next words were a stutter because of how she scanned the wet nudeness of her partner – keenly noticing the redness of where her combat outfit was most stressed, outlines that emphasized the Avatar’s fortitude; there was marks and scars where the Eidolon had injured her, details that retold tales of combat as they healed in the bath. If it were the conclusion of any other battle, Asami would have draped her arms down her beloved’s neck and chest, a healing embrace to ease her weariness and reward her for her deeds. She compromised instead by leaning into Korra’s shoulder blade, stroking the broad selection of skin and bone as far as her arms could spread, carefully avoiding any wounds; though much tinier in scale, her affection had the exact effect on Korra as if there were no difference in size between them.

“You know that I would love to join in,” Asami hummed dreamily, itched with hesitation– “but… we’re not alone-alone. Have you noticed…?”

Korra nodded subtly, maintaining her grin as she glanced at the corners of the dam – where security cameras were stationed, certainly recording anything that occurred at the water reserve. Farther out, there were watch posts of guards occupying nearby facilities, where it was assumed they were sorting the footage and keeping an eye on her. Though her task with defeating the Eidolon threat may have been accomplished, the military was still very enthused with the Avatar they brought to their world, no less interested in her capabilities and how they could use her. Korra was celebrated as a hero, but still underwatch as a scientific phenomenon.

“Yeah. A little annoying,” Korra admitted, raising a brow towards one of the cameras, but trying not to give it much attention. “They don’t have to get in our way, though. They promised this would be private, didn’t they? If they see something they don’t like, heh, they can try and stop us~”

Asami rolled her eyes with a huff of laughter, nuzzling her face against the plentiful muscle of Korra’s shoulder. “I’m not so worried they’ll dislike seeing anything,” she scoffed. “I suppose I’m just already homesick. I had no idea hiding your boots from you was going to take us on such an adventure…”

“Hah, who could have guessed it would?” Korra chuckled, rocking the pool as she turned slightly, enough to catch Asami in the corner of her vision. “...You hid my boots?! B-But you said Wan Shi Tong’s foxes took them!”

Asami stiffened, realizing her slip of the tongue, but found the whole situation humorous now. “I was going to surprise you with a brand new pair!” she explained up to Korra’s angled expression. “You go through boots so quickly, I had a custom pair designed for you. I was going to give them to you in the Spirit World – until the portal had a bigger surprise for both of us… Now, I’m not so sure they’d fit~”

Korra shook her head in disbelief – that their strange course across dimensions began because of Asami’s cute trick of a gift. She was compelled to turn around completely, the water of the reserve churning as she twisted herself around to face Asami on the ledge; Asami was gifted a beautiful view as Korra’s dripping body rose from the surface, a cascade of water running off her breasts which were impeccably displayed as she rotated. Korra placed her arms crossed over each other to make a chin-rest for her head, perched at a level that was comfortable and close to her beloved. Her amusement was apparent and warm, that regardless of the journey that led them where they were, they had crossed the trials together.

“You didn’t need to go through so much trouble,” Korra said softly, “just for my feet~ That inventor’s expo has got to be more important than little ol’ me.”

“Darling,” Asami giggled, leaning on Korra’s wrist, “nothing is more important than you. Varrick can gloat all he wants about his inventions – being with you on adventures like these is all I could want.” Saying as much put redness to her cheeks, struck with another thought. “Besides… with everything I’ve learned here today, Future Industries is going to have a lot to announce when we get back.”

Korra controlled her laugh, lest the motion shake Asami off her arm. “I’m glad this detour worked out for you in the end~ So…” She shifted again, her restlessness spreading turbulence in the reserve – a vibration Asami felt in the dam’s concrete. “It sounds like we have a lot to celebrate then~”

A gentle grasp wrapped around Asami’s sides, enclosing all of her from the chest down, tenderly lifting her off her feet. She gasped, but no more surprised by the giant hand than if she were hoisted suddenly into Korra’s arms, as her partner so often enjoyed doing at normal size; the same affection was felt in her palm, curved delicately to her shape as it propelled her to Korra’s lips, a destination pushed forward invitingly. Though it was all in Korra’s control, Asami happily greeted the kiss that awaited her, reaching forward with both hands to guide her body into their softness, her face centered to return the love – an effort that meant kissing all along the width of the lips, bearing the steamy breaths that her beloved exhaled, her face graced with an intimate humidity. When next peeled from her, Asami gasped with delight, regaining her breath so that they could entangle again right away, arms spread apart to hug as much of the mouth as she could. She would then be lifted higher from the dam’s ledge, as Korra rose taller in anticipation, brazenly revealing her bust over the edge as she grew increasingly amorous.

The future was unclear, but neither woman ever expected it to be anything else. Wherever destiny might take them, they would happily travel those fates together, in any shape or size. As powerful as Korra was as both a giant and an Avatar, she knew herself to be stronger with Asami at her side; that strength of their bond would very well be needed in the coming times. More threats were on the rise, and from shadows neither thought to expect – their adventure in a different dimension had only just begun.