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The beach of the main continent of the Fire Nation was calm, waves slightly brushing up against the untouched sand of the western coast, not a single sign of civilization nearby. The trees along the coast casted their ever-loving shadow down to the sand, shading it from the horrid heat of the late morning sun. Along the borderline between land and seawater, a group of circling seabirds, sea toucans, were stirred up from their roosts by a particular object.
Something new on the beach.
Each bird landed around the large object, curiosity overflowing them as they hopped and walked around the object. This huge object had 4 paws, frontal set much larger, white fur, and a head of a Labrador, and a metal strand wrapped around its front right paw...
The object was Naga.
Naga simply laid there, unconscious from her sacrifice to save Team Avatar from the Qishi. She didn't move an inch as the birds fluttered around her. Not until one of them landed in front of her face, and peaked at her snout, when Naga started to come to. Her eyes opened up to a bird right in her face, as Naga gave a huff. Her huge body staggered, scaring the birds away, as the polar bear dog got to her feet. Her muscles ached, her fur covered in sand, her mind slightly hazy, but it was enough for Naga to remain standing. She couldn't exactly grasp what happened yet, but after some aimless observing, her position was deeply clear...
She was on her own...
And she had to find Korra...
Naga looked away from the sea, towards the land, and began to move towards the land, her paws struggling to support her properly, occasionally losing her balance, but not enough to fall off her feet. Even if her body wanted to quit, her mind, and instinct to join back with her master, kept her going. The birds, although aware that the new object of interest was alive, continued to pester her, squawking around her like mad, curious. To get the dumb birds to back off, one loud bark and swipe of her claw was enough to send them away from her, each bird flying off far away. Naga had no time to deal with those birds at the moment, Korra was her top priority, and something deep inside of her told her she was around.
...somewhere...
The Polar Bear Dog, although her mind was still slightly hazy, could remember her loss rather well; the Qishi flying around the ship, Team Avatar trying to save her, her snapping the cable still wrapped around her paw. All of it began to replay in her mind as she continued her steady walk on solid ground, the sand turning to gravel as she headed inland, the small rocks grinding under her claws, which wasn't making anything easier for her. She didn't know where Korra was, but one thing she did knew:
She must get to her.
~~
The day grew extremely long for Naga, and hot. Since her species lived in the North Pole, suddenly shifting to a habitat like the Fire Nation was like trying to adapt a fish to go on land in just a weeks time; it was impossible. Sure, Naga had traveled with Korra through various locations in Republic City, and the Earth Kingdom, but they weren't as warm as the Fire Nation was. It didn't exactly help that she was, eventually, going through forest rather than open plain either, another thing she wasn't too used to. Even if her body was telling her to quit, the willpower to reunite with her owner greatly outweighed the physical pain. Even so, that didn't mean it didn't affect her completely...
Eventually, after about a good 3 hours of walking since she woke up on the beach, she had to rest somewhere before continuing on her way, just a small rest was all. However, looking around, there wasn't anywhere in particular to rest for her. So, not seeing much better options, Naga walked over to one of the many trees, and began to dig with her large claws to get to the cool earth underneath. Not the cleanest spot ever, but the most convenient she could get. Besides, she'd much rather take cool dirt over wet sand any day. As she was digging, however, the act didn't go unnoticed, as something in the nearby foliage noticed Naga's digging, and ventured over to investigate. Naga was too busy to notice them at first, as she finished her own spot so she could have her 'dirt nap' (literally). Naga circled around once before laying down, only then noticing the company nearby.
The group itself was, believe it or not, a group of stray spirits! Naga wasn't expecting any spiritual encounters on her trip, as the group went over to her.
The spirits included a cyan seahorse Horse hybrid, a small blue fennec fox, a golden hummingbird, a pair of giant fireflies, a deer-sized wooden elephant, and a green elk whose horns glowed a midnight hue.
Naga simply stared at the spirit group, though she could tell that they weren't there to harm her in any way. If they were, she'd have known second they showed up. But they looked more concerned rather than aggressive. The Fox, Hummingbird, and Firefly spirits went over first, as to not threaten Naga. Among them all, the only one Naga recognized was the Hummingbird Spirit, being Ikki's companion for a while before arriving to the North Pole.
Interesting...
The spirits themselves loomed around her, the smaller ones resting by her side as the larger ones rested nearby, as if they knew Naga would be safe with them. Or they'd be safe with her, either way, they wouldn't leave Naga's side. At first, Naga questioned their decision to stay with her...until she looked up in the sky, along with the other spirits. Just up in the sky were a group of the Qishi again, the Blimpus, but they didn't seem to notice the group far below. Naga gave a low growl, but noticed the spirits around her cower towards her, eyes on the flying jellyfish. Luckily for them, the Blimpus simply flew away, not bothering with them. Hot, bothered, and having company to watch her back, Naga closed her eyes. She just needed one rest...
One small rest...
..........
"Naga!"
Naga opened her eyes at the sound of that voice. She knew that voice all too well, yet, she couldn't simply ignore it either...
Korra.
Getting up from her spot, the spirits around her not waking up, Naga began running right for the sound of her owner, her name being called out over and over and over again, becoming louder and louder as Naga ran through the forest, the call guiding her...then she saw her just ahead in a clearing. Korra was smiling right at Naga, very happy to see her. Naga blindly ran right over to her, barking happily in her direction... Then Naga saw her eyes, stained black ink! Naga skidded to a stop right in front of Korra, who suddenly sunk down into the earth in a matter of seconds, the ground around her suddenly turning into cyan blue, water worms! Naga turned to run, but the squirming worms had already started crawling up her forelimbs. Naga was unable to shake them off no matter how much she struggled. Naga could see the horrid worms squirm through her fur like her body was shag carpet, as she suddenly felt another horror: she was sinking! Fast! One quick yelp later, and Naga was sucked underground...
Naga landed hard on her feet, realizing she wasn't underground anymore. In fact, she didn't seem to be anywhere at first until her eyes suddenly adjusted. The Polar Bear Dog found herself trapped in a large metallic room, no doors, no way out, but one air vent above her. The poor creature looked up at the vent, hearing something odd from inside...water... No sooner, water suddenly spewed from the vent into the room and Naga found no way out as the room filled up fast! Naga clawed at the walls, hoping for some sort of exit, but the water was going in too fast, and soon Naga was submerged. Her body suddenly flipped to her side, as flashes suddenly occurred...
In a quick bark, Naga jumped to her feet, breathing heavily, back with the group of spirits again...
A dream...just a dream...
~~
To her annoyance though, she realized she overslept, day turned to night, and raining. The spirits around Naga jumped away from her as she jumped out of her nightmare, unaffected by the rain like she was. Naga just gave a sigh in her breath, and decided to just continue on her way as the rain drenched her fur, the spirits following behind her step. Hours ticked by, the rain still pouring around the Polar Bear Dog, as she continued moving forward, with her caravan of spirits following her. Even if the rain was slightly cooling her down, it didn't help her in navigation, nor her hunger. The dog hadn't had any food for a while, and there didn't seem to be anything to eat anywhere. The fact the water blocked off any scent for Naga to catch didn't help either. The spirits walking with her were at best good company, and at least, an annoyance. Sure they didn't bug her, but didn't help her either, and the fireflies and hummingbird rode on her as the seahorse, deer, fox and elephant just walked by her. It was the deer that got Naga's attention: it seemed to be observing the area around them, ears fully upward, and on high alert...alert of what? Naga looked back up in the sky again, but no other Qishi were around to her sight, so why was the deer spirit still on edge? Some of the spirits started walking ahead of Naga, in particular the seahorse and fox, moving over a patch of ground ahead of them. But when Naga took a step on that patch, the ground suddenly shifted, Naga being lifted right out of the air in a hunters trap! As if being soaking wet and lost wasn't bad enough, she ended up in a hunter's net! The other spirits weren't caught aside from the golden hummingbird and twin fireflies. The spirits on the ground tried to get them free as best as they could, Naga struggling inside the net as well.
Naga howled loud while struggling, her claws wildly slashing around the net. However, the net flipped her on her back, so accuracy wasn't very good for her. The fireflies looked over at the net, and simply flew out themselves (much to Naga's annoyance). The hummingbird also flew out, but tried cutting the binds instead of just ditching Naga. However, the ropes were too thick for the bird's needle beak to slice through. The blue fox continued trying to help, but then heard the fireflies nearby, them both circling around something. After a quick look, the fox saw it was a wooden steak, holding the rope that held the net. Without much thought, the fox quickly rushed over to the rope, gripped it with its teeth, and pulled hard on it. The fireflies tried to help too, pulling the fox for some extra strength. Naga noticed the others by the rope just as the rope snapped, Naga falling to the ground hard.
Naga gave a huff, some rope getting out of her face as the fox came out, giving Naga a lick on the nose, which Naga just ignored. As Naga got herself back to her feet, suddenly the deer gave a quick, rough huff to the other spirits, which suddenly rushed off and hid away in the bushes. The deer soon followed, and Naga tried as well, but the metal strap on her paw got tangled in the net, making her stop. That distraction made her lose that one precious second, as something was shot out of nowhere, landing right on Naga's shoulder! Naga gave a yelp soon after hearing, but her vision suddenly blurred out very quickly...
Then she passed out...
............
Naga awoke to a entirely new area: not even close to the forest like she was. She was dry, her cable on her paw was missing, she felt weightless, floating in a vacuum of space, her ears, tail and fur swaying in the emptiness around her. She thought she was in water, but found she could still breathe, something she could never do in water. The Polar Bear Dog looked around at where she was, seeing nothing but darkness at first...
Then the lights came.
Around her, the aurora Borealis started to dance around her with such elegance, some streams of light passing right in front of her. This was surely a step up from that nightmare before. Eventually, almost without Naga realizing it, her paws felt a flat surface under her, getting a footing. The group didn't feel like anything at first...however, Naga soon realized that the 'ground' she was on was yet another, hot pink Blimpus...only much bigger! Appearing as large as a mountain! Lucky for Naga, it didn't worry about her, and continued flying ahead to some unknown location. A soothing melody chimed from the colossal jellyfish as it flew along, which oddly made Naga relax. Kind of ironic: the same creatures that attacked her before made her feel more secure and calm than when she awoke. Naga then looked on ahead of her, sitting down on the Blimpus, noticing some sort of twinkling lights ahead of her...something started to speak to her...
"Follow the Spirits, young one..."
Naga gave a whimper, knowing that if she did, it wouldn't help her find Korra...and it seemed the voice knew of such...
"You are fearful over your bond with the Avatar...I promise you....You will reunite once again..."
Naga's eyes opened back up again, sun glaring in her face. She must've slept for a while, it was morning now, yet Naga wasn't in the forest anymore. Instead, she was stuck in some sort of pen, iron cage, with her cable replaced by a metal chain and collar, attached to both paws and neck. She couldn't hear too well, but could make out some mumbling from some sort of figures. The figures themselves were hooded, so she couldn't make them out by face. One thing to note: some sort of odd piece of jewelry was on their necks, a U with an orb in the middle of it. One man had on some sort of mask, which was all Naga could gather. Naga didn't care for the marks though, she wanted out!
"You sure this is the one?"
"Just as instructed. Notify of the situation at once," the masked man instructed, the other person leaving the room. Naga started to stir a bit, but felt her body still under the influence of the drug, since her legs didn't come back as quickly as her consciousness did. The man turned to Naga, gave some nod, and walked off himself.
...Weird...Really weird...
But again, Naga didn't care for what the men had on them, nor what they looked like: she wanted out. NOW! Quickly looking around her cage, the Polar Bear Dog could only see the exit where the man had walked out, and the cage she was trapped in, all chained up any everything. What could she do?...
Wait, why was she thinking about this?
After getting to her feet, the angry beast pulled hard on the chains, snapping like ropes, and using her large paws to bend the iron bars like they were nothing. The beast was not gonna stick around, so she took the front door out, and charged out full force. The place she was stuck in was a tent, so bolting out was no issue. The real issue came when the men saw her out, and tried to stop her! Naga of course wasn't having any of that, and charged head long into battle, claws and teeth ablaze, sending foes flying off away from her. Each adversary tried to keep her under control, but the beast wouldn't be denied her freedom, no matter how much they tried. Then the masked man got out, seeing the dog beating up the men all over the place. Naga didn't bother with the man yet, until she saw him. Naga snarled her teeth towards the man, and lunged for him, her front paws swinging the cloak back...Naga's face suddenly turned from anger to horror.
That mask...
That horrid, red-spotted Mask from so many years ago...
The one that haunted Korra's early days, since she first arrived...
Then he slammed an electrocuted hand into the dog's head. All Naga could see was horrid flashes of light in her face, and pain circulating through her body, her bulk slamming down to the ground like a boulder.
....................
Her eyes shot open suddenly, back on the ground, still nighttime, the spirits still around her for some reason...
No dart...
Cable still in tact...
Naga couldn't grasp what had happened to her in that sudden time tumble, other than that voice that had spoken to her, and the advice given to her...Follow the spirits, it said...
As if on cue, the spirits around her started to run again in the same direction, this time the Deer leading, and some of the spirits indicating her to follow. Going along the words said to her, Naga got to her paws, and started following them, forgetting about Korra for the moment. No matter how quickly she ran, they seemed to be just out of reach.
Then they started to disappear!
Naga was a little wary, running faster to keep up with them as each one disappeared, eventually leaving the Deer spirit in front of her. In desperation, Naga tried to grab the deer with her paws, only to have it vanish just as she touched it!
A huge flash covered them both, as Naga tumbled behind the Deer spirit, it finally slowing to a stop for her, arriving at its destination. Naga didn't know what had happened; first thing she knew, she had been in a forest with the spirits, and she ended up...somewhere else.
The area she fell down in looked like a deep cavern, the crystals towering over her like trees, shining a valiant lavender, as if they were full of magic. She noted all of the spirits, tons of them, including the caravan that brought her here, floating around inside. There were so many spirits around, must had been driven there thanks to the Qishi. Naga could sense, however, something else was there...something huge...
"Wait here... She will come..."
Naga didn't know where the voice came from, but did recognize it. Unable to find a way out, nor knowing where to go, all Naga could do was lay down...and wait...
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