It was a quiet night at the South Pole. In a cabin in the middle of the snowy desert, there was a young Korra, boasting of her ability in water, earth, and firebending.
"Yes! I am the Avatar! The guardian of the world!" said Korra with childlike excitement.
However, there was something that caught her attention. Silence. Nothing could be heard, no people, no animals, not even the wind.
"Mom? Dad? Are you there?" asked Korra, but received no answer.
Curious, she left her room, looking for her parents, but she didn't see them anywhere.
"Mom! Dad!" called Korra, but received no answer.
She went out through the doorway of her house to widen her search.
"Where are you?" asked Korra.
Suddenly, her vision met with something that made her gasp in horror. Only a few feet from the cabin were two bodies standing in pools of blood. Although it was night, she could easily recognize who these people were.
"Mom! Dad!" shouted Korra running towards them, kneeling close to her father. "Wake up! Wake up, please!" begged Korra with tears forming in her eyes.
"They won't." said a voice that Korra somehow recognized. It was a voice that terrified her. Looking ahead to see a shadow approaching, when he got close enough, she could see that this figure was Shredder. "But don't worry, you'll be joining them in no time."
"No. No. No. GET AWAY FROM ME!" shouted Korra sending a small flare to Shredder, only for him to dissipate it with a wave of his arm.
"Such power wasted on a foolish child. Let me put it to better use." said the figure.
Shredder began to walk slowly towards her. Korra, more terrified than ever, ran out, trying to get as far away from him as possible.
"HELP! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP ME!" shouted Korra as she ran, hoping that someone would hear her and save her from the man.
"No one can hear you and no one can help you." said Shredder whose voice sounded as if he were right next to her.
Korra looked back to see that Shredder was truly close, but she saw no one. Because she wasn't looking where she was going, she ended up stumbling and falling into the snow.
"Do you think you can get away from me?" Shredder asked, causing Korra to jump. She looked up and was horrified to see Shredder right in front of her. "Nothing and no one escapes Shredder!"
His sudden appearance caused Korra to scream and throw a large amount of snow at him, but she seemed unaffected. Korra didn't focus on that and got up to run away from him again.
"I am what will keep you awake every night, the fear that will reside forever in your mind." Shredder said.
At this point, Korra noticed that she was approaching the Southern Water Tribe. She smiled hopefully thinking that the people there would help her get rid of the man, but when she got to the tribe, she had to stop and look in horror at what was in front of her.
Fire. Fire covered every street and house of the tribe and the bodies of bloody people filled the streets. Bodies of men, women, old people, and children, even of the animals that lived there.
Korra took a couple of steps back until she hit something, or rather, someone. She turned around and gasped as she saw Shredder once more in front of her.
Before she could do anything, Shredder hit her, sending her crashing to the ground with a whimper. She looked up to see Shredder walking towards her with his claws extended.
"There's no place you can hide from me, because I'll find you eventually." Shredder said, standing in front of a frightened Korra. "You can't beat me." Shredder said, lifting his claws high.
Korra screamed as Shredder lowered his claws at her.
Korra woke up screaming, but quickly covered her mouth to avoid waking anyone up. She took multiple quick, deep breaths to relax while looking around.
She lay on a couch with a blanket over her, Asami slept on another couch while Mako, Bolin and the young airbenders slept on the floor thanks to the sleeping bags the turtles provided.
Talking about them. After learning that the Foot was completely patrolling the city, the Mutanimals went to patrol the sewers to make sure no unwanted guests came. April and Casey decided to stay in the lair for safety, and they, along with Karai, Splinter and the turtles, were sleeping. Well, except for Donnie, who, because of the light coming from the lab, he continued to research Korra's DNA sample.
Korra wiped the sweat off her forehead. "It was just a nightmare." Korra thought, relaxed.
Seeing that she couldn't go back to sleep after that, she got up to walk around the lair, not realizing that Asami had opened her eyes and watched her girlfriend walk away.
Her walk took her to the lair dojo, where she glanced at the tree in the room. Just looking at it made Korra feel safer and calmer, as if that tree was connected to the spirits or something.
Her gaze turned to a shelf. She saw it when the turtles gave them a tour of the lair and was curious about it, but decided to leave it for later, even though with all the business of learning the history of the Mutanimals, she had forgotten about it.
On that shelf there was a black and white picture framed. She went over and took it for a closer look. In that picture she could see a man and a woman with a smiling baby. In fact, the woman reminded her a little of Karai.
"Can' t you sleep?" a voice made her jump up and turn around to see Leo near the entrance.
"I had a nightmare, that's all." said Korra trying not to disturb him.
"It was Shredder, wasn't it?" asked Leo as he entered the dojo and approached her, gaining a look of surprise from the Avatar. "I guessed it. He's the kind of person who would appear in your nightmares." said Leo.
Korra, wanting to change the subject, turned her gaze to the photo.
"Leo, who are these people?" asked Korra.
Leo smiled at this. "That's Splinter when he was Hamato Yoshi before he mutated." began Leo pointing to the man in the photo. "That's Tang Shen, his wife." he continued pointing to the woman in the photo.
"Wait. If that's Splinter and his wife, that means..." began Korra realizing something she had noticed before.
"Yes. That's Karai or Miwa, as she was called at the time." said Leo.
Korra looked at the photo with a smile. "They look so happy." Korra said before her smile disappeared. "I can't believe anyone would be cruel enough to hurt a family like that." Leo turned his gaze to the Avatar.
"During my years as an Avatar, I have faced many people who have hurt me in some way. Amon took away my bending, Unalaq severed my connection to the Avatars of the past, and Zaheer tried to end the Avatar by poisoning me. What Shredder did with this family and the others makes what they did child's play."
"Korra." Leo said with concern for his friend.
"Do you remember when I told you about when I disappeared for years because I was afraid I would be hurt again." Korra asked. "I thought I was over it, but when I saw Shredder about to kill Asami, that fear came back. I'm afraid of being hurt, but not physically, but by hurting the people I care about." said Korra.
"I know how you feel." Leo said, feeling sympathy for her.
"How do you do it? How can you fight someone like that and not be afraid?" Korra asked.
"Who said I wasn't afraid?" asked Leo, making the Avatar look at him in surprise. "Any of us is afraid of him." said Leo.
"Really? Even master Splinter?" asked Korra.
"Even he is afraid of him. He lost his wife and for years he thought he had lost his daughter and even though he got her back, he is afraid of losing her as well as us. He's even afraid of what Shredder would do to hurt all of us." Leo said.
"But just like you did in that moment, instead of escaping that fear, face it and get over it. And if you can't do it alone, don't do it. That's what your friends, your family and your girlfriend are for. You can always count on them to support you." Leo said with a smile.
Korra smiled at him before embracing him, much to the turtle's surprise.
"Thank you, Leo. You're a great friend." Korra said.
Leo smiled before hugging him back.
"You're welcome." Leo said.
"Am I interrupting something?" a voice made them both look towards the entrance to see Asami smiling at the loving scene.
"Asami." said Korra as she parted from the hug and was surprised to see her girlfriend. "How long have you been there?" asked Korra.
"Since Leo arrived." replied Asami before her smile faded and she approached the Avatar. "Korra, I don't blame you for being afraid of that man, especially after what he did to us before. One half of me wants to escape as far away from him as possible."
"One half? What about the other?" asked a confused Korra.
"The other half wants to make him pay for what he wanted to do to you." said Asami, bringing a smile to her girlfriend's face. "I know you don't want us to get hurt, but I don't want you to get hurt either. You are very important to me, too."
Both women shared a loving embrace with each other.
"That's why I love you. No matter what happens. You always manage to cheer me up." Korra said.
"It's one of the many things I do best." said Asami.
When they parted, they looked at each other with sweet looks. In fact, they didn't care that Leo was by their side, they just wanted to share a loving kiss with each other, but that thought faded when Korra fell to her knee.
"Korra?" asked Asami with some concern.
"Are you okay?" asked Leo.
"I-I don't know. I feel... very tired. Like my strength is running out." said Korra.
"You probably need to rest." said Leo.
"I don't think that's it." said a voice.
The three of them looked out the doorway to see Donnie with a face that said 'bad news'.
"What do you mean?" Leo asked.
"Wake up the others, you have to see this." Donnie said.
After a few minutes, everyone in the lair woke up and gathered in Donnie's lab to hear what he had to say.
"Donnie, what's going on?" Raph asked.
"One second, the data is being processed." Donnie said, entering a few commands into his computer before displaying a picture of human DNA, but different from the normal one.
"What is that?" Jinora asked.
"It's a picture of Korra's DNA that I got from her blood sample. As you see here, it looks like a normal structure, like all living things." Donnie said.
"Can you stop talking in a scientific way and talk in a normal way?" asked Mikey.
"Yeah, most of us don't understand the whole DNA thing." Mako said.
"Okay. From what I've found out, there seems to be some sort of barrier protecting Korra's DNA. It's probably Raava, the spirit of the Avatar." said Donnie.
"So, was she the reason Korra didn't mutate?" asked Asami.
"That's right and that's the bad thing." Donnie said drawing confused looks from others. "The mutagen didn't affect Korra's DNA, but it did affect Raava herself."
"Raava has mutated?" asked Korra surprised to learn what had happened to the spirit of light.
"Yes, and I'm afraid that's the worst of it. Somehow the mutagen is affecting Raava's energy and slowly reducing it." said Donnie.
"And... what will happen to me?" asked Korra with the feeling that she wasn't going to like the answer.
"You'll gradually run out of power until... long story short... you turn off." Donnie said.
"Turn off? What do you mean?" asked Meelo confusedly.
"That I'll end up like a blown out candle." Donnie explained.
"WHAT?!" shouted Korra in shock. She started breathing in a way that looked like she was going to have an anxiety attack. "How long?" Korra asked.
"According to my tests... about six hours." Donnie said.
Korra ended up passing out from the pressure, being caught by Asami.
"Please, Donnie. There has to be a solution." said Asami.
"Donatello." said Splinter.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know how to fix it." Donnie said.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO FIX IT?!" Karai shouted.
"You can't give up!" said April.
"Yes, dude. You're the science nut. Can't you use that knowledge to find a solution?" asked Casey.
"I'VE TRIED AND IT'S NOT working!" Donnie shouted in response.
"Isn't there some kind of antidote for the mutagen or something like that?" asked Bolin, worried.
"There is, but it's a very ancient spirit that has been affected by the mutagen in a way never before seen. We don't know what the consequences of that might be." Donnie said.
"Then create something to cure her!" said Leo.
"We don't have time!" Donnie said.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Ikki.
"Even if I know how to work with a mutagen, I don't know anything about the Avatar's powers or the spirits. I've never seen anything like this and I don't know exactly how it works. By the time I could find the slightest possibility of creating an antidote, it would be too late! Sorry, guys, but unless you know someone who knows about this stuff, I'm not much help." Donnie said, lowering his head to his work desk.
Splinter and April came over to put a hand on each shoulder to comfort him.
"Does anyone know about this? You mean... a healer?" Ikki asked.
The moment he heard those words, a great idea went through Jinora's head.
"Healer? THAT'S IT! Ikki, you're a genius!" said Jinora.
"Huh?" asked Raph, Meelo, Ikki in confusion.
"We know someone who can help us! Gran Gran!" explained Jinora.
"Your Gran Gran?" asked Leo.
"It's true. Katara is one of the best healers in our world." said Korra remembering her former teacher of waterbending.
"Wait, are you referring to the waterbender who helped Avatar Aang end the 100 Year War and helped found Republic City?" asked Donnie showing his knowledge learned from that world.
"Do you think she can help us?" asked Splinter.
"We've seen how he acts in person. There doesn't seem to be any other option anyway." said Mako.
"If there's anyone who can help save Korra, it's her." said Asami.
The others smiled as they saw that there was a possible solution to the situation.
"That's great." said April.
"And where is she?" asked Mikey.
"Oh, she's in our world, in the Southern Water Tribe." said Bolin smiling, but this one was erased when he saw the smiles of others being erased as well. "Oh, I see the problem."
"Great." Raph began by slapping his face. "Now how are we going to get back there?" Raph asked.
"Why don't we do what we did when we first got here." asked Meelo.
"That gate left us on the street, to do that we'd have to go to the gate they used to get here." said Karai.
"And I'll bet you that bucket-head has that place more guarded than a bank." said Casey.
"But there has to be some way to travel back to our world." said Mako.
Donnie's eyes opened when he remembered something. He reached into a desk drawer and pulled out something he'd been holding onto all along.
"I think there is." Donnie said, showing everyone the dimensional inducer.
"What is that?" asked Asami.
"It's a dimensional inducer. It's what the Kraang use to travel between dimensions. In fact, this is what brought us to your world the first time." Donnie said.
"It seemed to me that he was forgetting something." mentioned Raph, recalling that Donnie put that thing away and they didn't talk about it again until now.
"And could that thing help us get back to our world?" asked Korra.
"Yes, I would just enter the coordinates of Republic City and as soon as we cross the portal, we'll be there." Donnie said.
"Great! So, let's go." said Meelo.
"It's not that simple." said Donnie.
"What happens now?" asked Mikey eagerly.
"To activate it we need a lot of energy to activate it. I could plug it in here and open a portal, but it would take hours, days even." Donnie began.
"What about the quick option?" Karai asked.
"The fastest option would be to connect it to the Shellraiser and activate the inducer using kinetic energy, but for that we'd have to move." Donnie explained.
"Wait. Wait. Wait. Are you telling us that the only way to quickly open a portal to go to Republic City and then to the South Pole for Katara to heal Korra, is to ride the Shellraiser through the streets of the city that are being completely guarded by Shredder's minions waiting for the moment to attack us?" asked Bolin commenting on what was happening.
"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." said Donnie.
"It's all right. We don't have any other choice. Everyone, grab everything you need for the trip. Raph, call the Mutanimals. We'll need all the help we can get. We'll meet at the Shellraiser in a few minutes." Leo said.
Everyone nodded and left to prepare for the most complicated trip they could ever make in their lives.
