During the time it took the blimp to approach the South Pole, Team Avatar and the young airbenders were telling Tenzin and Lin about their experience in the other world, from their infiltration of Shredder's lair and escape to their time in the lair.
Although they focused more on the part where they were told that Korra was exposed to the mutagen and her energy was running out to the point of extinction forever. Tenzin hoped, as did everyone else, that his mother might be able to heal her.
After a couple of minutes, they finally arrived at the Southern Water Tribe, more specifically at the Royal Palace, landing a short distance from the entrance.
They all came down quickly and ran to the palace gates. Asami knocked on the door and waited for someone to open it. Soon after, the door opened, revealing that it was Senna who opened.
"Asami?" asked Senna surprised by the arrival of the engineer. "What are you..." asked Senna before being even more surprised when her eyes fell on the mutants that accompanied her, but what she noticed most was that her daughter, who had her eyes closed, was being taken by Mako.
"What's going on?" asked a voice from the Tonraq, who came over to his wife's side.
Needless to say, he was also surprised to see the mutants and even more surprised to see the state of his daughter.
"I know you will have many questions and we will be happy to answer them, but this is more important." said Splinter.
"Is my mother here?" Tenzin asked.
"We need her help." said Asami with concern and despair.
"My help?" asked a very old voice.
Tonraq and Senna stepped aside, allowing everyone to see Katara and her to see the others. At first, she was surprised to see the mutants, but then she made a serious face.
"Follow me." said Katara, allowing them to pass.
Everyone was taken to a room where Mako introduced Korra to a pool. Katara knelt down to examine her.
"Tell me, what happened to her?" Katara asked.
"She was exposed to a substance called mutagen. It has the ability to alter anything or anyone, transforming it into something else. It's causing her energy to be depleted... until it's totally shut down." explained Leo.
Korra's parents gasped at that. Senna covered her mouth with both hands.
"Can you help her?" Mako asked.
"Please, Gran Gran, you have to help her." Jinora asked desperately.
Katara lowered her head in shame.
"I... am not so sure." said Katara to the surprise of the others.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT SO SURE?!" shouted Asami angrily.
Bolin and Donnie had to grab her to calm her down.
"That... 'mutagen'. I've never heard of anything like it. I could try, but I don't know if it will be enough." Katara said.
"We can help." said Leo stepping forward with Splinter.
"We know a special healing technique that could help in this case." said Splinter.
"It's okay. You know more about this than I do." said Katara before putting her hand in her pocket and taking out a small container with a drop of shiny water inside.
"What is that?" asked Mikey.
"It is water from the spiritual oasis of the North Pole. I've been saving it for a special occasion and I think this is that occasion." explained Katara before she dropped the drop in Korra's mouth. "We don't have any time. We must act now." said Katara, standing next to the Avatar.
Splinter and Leo knelt on the other side and closed their eyes to concentrate.
"Let's start." said Katara moving her arms, making the water in the pool light up.
Leo and Splinter took a deep breath and a white aura began to surround them.
"What is that?" asked Mako curiously.
"Healing hands. An advanced ninjitsu technique." Donnie explained.
"Can you heal people?" asked Bolin, surprised by this.
"Just them." said Raph.
"Will it work?" asked Ikki.
"It should. Those hands were even able to cure my poison." said Karai.
"But now, all we can do is wait." said April.
"They can handle it. I know." said Casey confidently.
Leo and Splinter made several hand gestures as they sang in unison.
"Rin, Pyo, To, Sha, Kai, Gin, Rets, Zai, Zen."
As they sang, they both placed their hands on top of Korra, extending their white aura towards her. Katara continued to move her arms in a circular motion. Korra grunted and began to squirm as the three continued the healing process.
Asami and the others stood by and watched with trepidation the process that could save Korra.
Leo and Splinter sang the same thing, but with more words and faster than before, while Katara continued with her method.
It was as if they were trying to remove the mutagen in a game of tug-of-war.
Leo and Splinter sang the same thing again, but with more words and much faster.
Korra would start moaning and grunting in pain, as if trying to remove a very large thorn stuck deep in her body. Asami wished she could hold her hand for support, but didn't want to interrupt the process.
Leo and Splinter sang once more, with more words and with greater intensity.
Suddenly, Korra's skin lit up in a sort of mix of white and neon green. Both colors moving like two waves trying to overcome each other. It was as if Raava was fighting from within to bring out the mutagen.
Finally, after all...
"RIN, PYO, TO, SHA, KAI, GIN, RETS, ZAI, ZEN!"
After saying to sing that, Leo, Splinter and Katara opened their eyes wide and Korra screamed as a beam of neon green energy escaped from her mouth, piercing the ceiling to reach high into the sky, like the column of light from the spiritual portal.
This forced everyone to step back as they watched in amazement as the beam shot into the sky. A couple of seconds later, the column of light faded away and a deadly silence ensued.
Asami quickly knelt down beside her.
"Korra! Korra, please! Wake up!" said Asami desperately with tears forming in her eyes.
Korra's eyes were closed and she seemed not to be breathing. Everyone began to imagine the worst, but that thought faded as Korra slowly opened her eyes and sat down.
When she opened them completely, the first thing she saw was the surprised face of her girlfriend.
"You know? It's nice to wake up to something beautiful." Korra said with a smile.
Asami laughed lightly at what she said as tears of happiness ran down her face before she threw herself into a hug, something she was happy to give back.
The others weren't lost in cheering that their friend had been completely healed. Korra's parents, Katara, Leo and Splinter sighed with relief.
"Dudes! I thought I was going to have a stroke." said Mikey.
"You and me, buddy." said Bolin.
"You're weak." Karai said in mockery.
"Oh, come on. You were the same." said April, hitting her with her elbow.
Karai shrugged.
"Yes! I knew Grandma would make it!" said Ikki.
"Technically, it was her, Leo, and Splinter who cured her." Donnie said.
"I have to admit those hands are impressive." said Jinora.
"I've never seen a healing method like that." said Tenzin.
"Don't ever scare me like that again." Asami told Korra.
"I'll try." Korra said before looking at Leo and Splinter. "Thank you again... for saving me."
"You're welcome." said Leo.
"It's enough for us to know that you're okay." said Splinter.
Then Korra turned to see her teacher of waterbending.
"And thank you too, Katara." said Korra with a grateful smile.
"Don't mention it. Now... I think you have a lot of explaining to do." said Katara pointing her head at the mutants in the room.
"Well... it's a very long story." said Korra.
For the next half hour, at most, the heroes were telling Korra's parents and Katara about everything that had happened in the last few days.
First they told them about what happened in connection with their first encounter with the turtles. Korra's parents and Katara were surprised that there was a group that wanted to kill her for a stupid reason, but they were relieved when they learned that they saved them and helped them defeat them.
Then they were told about the attack by a race from another dimension known as the Kraang. Needless to say, all three listeners were shocked by the appearance of the Kraang and their ambitions.
Then they got to the most shocking part of all. When they were told about Shredder and that he was targeting Korra. Senna and Katara gasped in horror when they learned of some of the man's actions and Tonraq was furious that the man wanted to use his daughter as a weapon for his benefit.
They then told them about how, after suffering two attacks in a row, they decided to hide in the Southern Air Temple, but Shredder set a trap to separate them and attack the temple while the others were away, resulting in Korra being captured by the Foot forces, to the horror of the listeners.
They were then told about his plan to infiltrate Shredder's lair and rescue Korra, but there was a fight with some of his subordinates and Asami ended up separating herself from the rest. She then went on to say that she decided to try and rescue Korra on her own, but fell into a trap.
Korra shook slightly as she told them about Shredder wanting her to join him or else he would kill Asami in front of her. Senna and Katara covered their mouths with their hands while Tonraq clenched his fists in fury at what he had heard. Mentally he wanted to make the man pay for what he had done to his daughter.
Finally, they got to the part where, while fleeing from the Foot's forces, they ended up in a warehouse where there was a giant tank full of mutagen and during the fight against them, Korra accidentally fell inside and escaped and found out what was happening, they decided to go to the South Pole to try to cure her.
"And that's basically it." said Korra finishing the whole story.
Everyone fell silent to hear the three listeners' responses to that story.
"Oh, my God. You must have had a really hard time." said Senna.
"Yes, but I'm glad you had reliable people to help you." said Katara, bringing a smile to the New York group.
"That man..." Tonraq started before he hit the table. "How dare he try to do that to my daughter?" Tonraq asked angrily.
"I'm surprised at that too, Tonraq, but after what he did to just capture her, I'm not very surprised." said Tenzin.
"Yes, that's his style." said Karai.
"During my time in the 100 Year War with Aang I've met many men who were willing to do terrible things to achieve their goals, but that Shredder... is certainly much worse than I could ever imagine." said Katara remembering some of her enemies like Long Fei, Azula and even Ozai.
"How do you feel, Korra, after the... mutagen?" asked Senna, concerned about her daughter's health.
"I'm fine, mom." said Korra before lighting a fireball in her hand. "I don't feel tired at all anymore. In fact, I feel more energetic than before."
"I'm glad about that." said Asami, interlocking her hand with hers.
Mikey, with a curious face, raised his hand.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Katara." said Mikey, drawing the attention of the senior waterbender. "Just out of curiosity, why weren't you surprised when you saw us? I mean, we're a group of mutants from another world."
Katara smiled at the young turtle's words. "Call it the ravings of an old woman, but I feel like I've seen most of you somewhere. Especially you, Mickey." said Katara.
That only served to further confuse the mutant turtle, who shrugged his shoulders as he had no idea what she was talking about, deciding to let it go.
It was then that April realized that Donnie was watching something on his T-Phone and from the look on his face, it wasn't good.
"Donnie, what's wrong?" April asked, drawing everyone's attention.
"Guys, we have a problem. A REAL and BIG problem." Donnie said.
"What do you mean?" asked Jinora.
"It turns out I updated the spy cockroach with Kraang technology so we could see and hear what was going on even though we were in another dimension. And right now, he's recording something VERY important in Shredder's lair. Look." Donnie said, putting his T-Phone in the center of the table so everyone could see what was going on the other side.
In the Foot's lair, Shredder was standing in front of his throne and under the stairs were Tiger Claw, Rahzar, Fishface, Stockman, Bebop, Rocksteady and Hakan. None of them knew about the spy cockroach that was stuck on the wall sending a transmission of what was happening.
"Are all the forces ready?" Shredder asked.
"Yes, master. Over 200 foot-bots are ready and waiting for your orders, more of them are being created and prepared as we speak." reported Tiger Claw.
"Excellent." Shredder said before addressing everyone in the room. "Now I'll get to the details. You have three missions, the first is to finish off Hamato Yoshi and the turtles, the second is to capture Karai alive and unharmed, and the third, and most important, to completely destroy Republic City, not only to erase it from the planet, but also to annihilate all of its inhabitants, including the Avatar and all of her friends".
That caused surprise and confusion in the listeners.
"Master Shredder, you know that I am loyal to you, but I don't understand why to destroy that city. Besides, why does you want to eliminate the Avatar after admitting that you wanted to use her?" asked Rahzar.
"Bradford, you remember what Hakan said about the Avatar's story. When an Avatar dies, he is reincarnated into a new host following a cycle of reincarnation." explained Shredder, earning a smile from the mutant dog.
"Oh, I get it. Once we eliminate the Avatar, we just have to look for the new one." said Fishface.
"And once he's in my hands, I'll raise him as a son and train him as a Foot warrior." said Shredder.
"Let me discuss that, lord Shredder. There is a special ability in the Avatar and that is that he has the ability to communicate with the Avatars of the past, and although I have heard that the current Avatar has lost his connection with them, the new Avatar will be able to communicate with her." said Hakan.
"It's possible, but Stockman has been able to undo her powers before, surely he can find a way to undo that connection." said Tiger Claw.
"Of courzzzze. I would juzzzzt need to do zzzzome rezzzzearch." said Stockman.
"Hey, dude, aren't you worried we're going to destroy that city?" Bebop asked the general.
"Republic City isn't my home, I don't care what happens to it. Besides, Kuvira once tried to invade it, so that's good for me and for her." said Hakan.
"But that snake girl, it's going to be hard to keep her locked up." said Rocksteady.
"It's true, but with the data Stockman protected, it won't be long before he develops more mind control serum. Karai will once again be mine and both she and the new Avatar will be the ultimate Foot warriors who will carry out all my orders without hesitation." said Shredder.
"And as she sees all her friends being wiped out, her spirit will fall and she won't even want to escape." said Rahzar.
"Exactly." said Shredder. "Stockman." called Shredder and the mutant fly flew up to him. "Are the preparations ready?" asked Shredder.
"Yezzzz, mazzzzter. Azzzz zzzzoon azzzz we arrive, we can begin the procezzzz of making him an airbender." said Stockman.
"How long will the process take?" asked Shredder.
"I think, conzzzzidering that it'zzzz a firzzzzt attempt and that you have to learn to control it, I'd zzzzay about 48 hourzzzz." said Stockman.
"That's enough." Shredder said before addressing the rest. "While I'm getting ready, round up as many soldiers as you can, the more we are, the better. When I am ready, we will march on Republic City."
At the Royal Palace, all those who saw the broadcast were left with expressions of shock and horror at what they had heard.
"It's... it's... it's impossible!" said Korra with horror and disbelief
"There's no way Shredder can become an airbender! That's against nature!" Tenzin said.
"With Stockman in their ranks, nothing is impossible." said Karai.
"If Shredder can do that... If he gets more DNA samples, he could get an army of benders under his control." Leo said, horrified by the idea, as did everyone else.
"That's awful!" Meelo said.
"I thought he was a wicked guy, but this... this is beyond wicked." Lin said.
"I thought you deleted all the Foot's files!" Raph told his scientist brother.
"I thought so too! I hadn't had as much as I could have backed up!" said Donnie.
"Now it's too late to think about it." said Splinter.
"It's true. There are MUCH worse things on the way." said Mako.
"We have to go back to Republic City and warn everyone!" said Asami.
"You're right." said Leo.
"I will go with you." said Tonraq, to everyone's surprise.
"Dad, no. It's too dangerous." said Korra trying to protect her father.
"Korra, this isn't a simple battle. It's a war and I can't sit around knowing that man is aiming at you." said Tonraq.
"As much as I understand you." began Karai. "If Shredder is going to become an airbender and come with a massive army, we're going to need all the help we can get." Karai said.
Korra saw what the kunoichi was saying and although she didn't like the idea of her father taking on Shredder as a bender or not, she had to accept that she was right.
"Okay, you can come." Korra said.
"Thank you, Korra." said Tonraq.
"Be careful, okay?" said Senna, hugging her husband.
"I will." said Tonraq.
Katara walked over to Korra and grabbed her hands.
"I won't lie to you, Korra. This could be your biggest challenge; I just ask you not to forget who you are." said Katara.
Korra smiled gratefully at her before embracing her. "I won't, I promise." said Korra.
Katara smiled before returning the hug.
"Thank you again for your help, master Katara," said Splinter bowing to the senior waterbender before addressing the others. "Let's not waste any more time, we have to leave right away." said Splinter.
Everyone started running to the blimp to go to Republic City and prepare the city for the war that would come in two days.
What none of them saw, was that after the transmission was cut off, something else happened in Shredder's throne room.
The leader of the Foot was following Stockman to the room where his 'transformation' would take place, but he stopped when he reached the door.
"Tiger Claw." Shredder said, drawing the attention of the mutant tiger. "Take Hakan into the room. You know what to do."
Tiger Claw nodded as Hakan was confused by what he said, but decided to follow the mutant tiger wherever he had to take him.
The two of them walked for a few minutes until they reached a room where there was a platform with holes and a tank of mutagen on top of it, which further confused the general.
"Hakan." began Tiger Claw standing next to a computer and drawing the general's attention. "In two days, we will be at war, so I ask you, are you still loyal to Kuvira?" asked Tiger Claw.
Hakan gave him a serious and determined look. "As I said, I am only loyal to her and no one else. I follow lord Shredder's orders because he can help me fulfill my ambitions. I don't care about destroying Republic City, I don't even care if you kill me right then and there. If that's how I achieve my goal, I'll do whatever it takes."
Unexpectedly, Tiger Claw smiled.
"I have to admit that you have impressed me, Hakan. In fact, I'm not going to kill you." Tiger Claw revealed to the general's surprise. "I brought you here because master Shredder saw that you were more useful than I thought, so he decided to offer you something."
"And what could that be?" Hakan asked.
"Power." responded Tiger Claw, drawing his attention to himself. "No doubt you are strong now, but if you really want to help us, you can become stronger than you can imagine. So, tell me, do you want that power?" asked Tiger Claw.
Hakan began to discuss it. Yes. He was very strong, and for a reason he was given the title of 'the immovable'. But so far he has seen the abilities of the turtles and even Tiger Claw and the other mutants. He took a look at the mutagen tank and knew what he meant by 'power'. He knew that it would change him forever, but in order to free Kuvira and restore the Earth Kingdom, he would need much more power than he had now and he could only get it that way.
"Yes, I want it." said Hakan, bringing a smile to the mutant tiger.
"Get on the platform." said Tiger Claw, pointing to the platform next to him. Hakan walked to the center. Tiger Claw began to introduce a series of commands. "Master Shredder had a feeling that you would accept, so he chose, personally, the animal DNA to be introduced to you. Know that it can be painful."
"I don't care about that; I can handle it." Hakan said.
"If you say so." said Tiger Claw, smiling before pressing the button.
Then, the contents of the tank fell on Hakan, covering him completely with mutagen. At first nothing happened, but soon after, Hakan began to scream as his body underwent a metamorphosis.
Although you couldn't see what kind of transformation he was undergoing, you could see Tiger Claw smiling with satisfaction as the general continued to scream.
After a couple of minutes, Hakan stopped screaming and the mutagen remains on him fell off. Hakan, now mutated, fell on his knees and hands while he took several deep breaths.
"Well, how do you feel?" asked Tiger Claw.
Although his face wasn't visible, you could see his eyes open wide.
"I feel... I feel better than ever." Hakan said in a deeper voice.
