A year and a half later.
Our tale of Team Avatar's next great adventure begins with the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu. The modern day city of Omashu is now noticeably larger in appearance than it had been during the time of the Hundred Year War. Since then it has gone through several expansions and has spread to the tops and sides of the surrounding cliffs and canyons, with a modern railway system connecting it all together. Despite all these changes, the main city itself still retains its basic cone-like shape as well as its unique delivery system, which has also been upgraded along with the city infrastructure. Located near the center of the city were a number of large tower-like buildings, and at the top of one of these towers a large explosion suddenly erupted.
Shortly after the explosion, a man jumped out of a window on the lower floor of the building and landed on one of the delivery lines below, immediately sprinting away as though he were fleeing from something, or more specifically someone. Not long after, someone else jumped out from the same window and flew down towards him on an airbending glider. The person flying the glider was Avatar Korra, and she was now in hot pursuit of a wanted criminal. As she chased after him she was led through many different parts of the city, and as the chase continued it become progressively more destructive, causing unintentional collateral damage to the city. As Korra closed in on him, the man leaped down from the delivery system into the streets below, continuing his escape through the narrow alleyways. Korra, not willing to give up on the chase so easily, grabbed onto a zip-line hanging above and used her airbender staff to slide down and quickly reach the streets below. As she slid down the zip-line, an airbender in a flight suit appeared next to her and followed alongside her in the air, the airbender being Opal Beifong.
"Korra be careful." said Opal, calling out to her. "We want to try to minimize any damage done to the city. People could get hurt."
"Try telling that to him." said Korra, gesturing towards the fleeing man. "He's the one blowing everything up with those bombs of his."
The individual who Korra and Opal were now chasing after was a man called Zenbei the Bomber, a criminal known for using various types of explosives, bombs, and grenades in many of the high stakes crimes he committed, resulting in him being placed on the Earth Kingdom's most wanted list in recent years. Back in the United Republic, Korra and Opal had taken on the job of capturing Zenbei after Tenzin had received reports of him being spotted near the border of the Earth Kingdom province they were now in. Once they had entered the province, they quickly picked up on his trail and eventually following it to the provincial capital of Omashu. There they had tried to apprehend him as he was attempting to make a monetary transaction inside a bank on the top floor of one of the towers in Omashu. Needless to say things didn't go quite as planned for Korra and Opal, leading Zenbei to create the earlier explosion in an attempt to escape, and beginning their chase through the city.
As Korra reached the end of the zip-line she jumped down into the streets below, catching her breath and resuming her chase after Zenbei through the many alleyways and marketplaces. It eventually led her to the train station, where Korra finally caught up to Zenbei as he tried to board a train. As the train began to leave the station, a fight ensued between Zenbei and his two pursuers. Trying to gain the high ground, Zenbei then climbed onto the roof of the train with Korra and Opal following after him, the fight continuing above as the train was in motion.
"Give up Zenbei." said Korra. "There's no use in trying to run away anymore. Just surrender already."
"As if I'd surrender just because you told me to Avatar." said Zenbei, who then pulled out a handful of bombs from his coat pocket and threw them at Korra.
Thinking fast, Korra immediately made a swift motion with her hands, using her airbending to send the bombs flying away before they could reach her. What Korra did not immediately realize however was that the bombs she had just blown away would land near a support structure in the city below, and that the ensuring explosion would create a miniature landslide from the collapsing buildings. Realizing what had just happened, Korra quickly stopped what she was doing and flew off the train with her glider, landing directly in the path of the landslide. As the landslide approached, Korra went into the Avatar State and began earthbending the ground to create a barricade to stop it. Seeing what she was trying to do, Opal joined Korra and lent her aid by using her airbending to help push back the advancing landslide. After struggling for a while, they finally managed to get things under control and the avalanche of earth was stopped in its path. As a consequence of this however, Zenbei had been given plenty of time to escape from their grasp and he was now too far away for them to catch up.
"What was that about me giving up Avatar?" said Zenbei, laughing and gloating as he stood on the roof of the train. "It looks you're the one who has given up. You'll never catch me now."
The train then violently jerked and came to a sudden and abrupt stop. Turning towards the front of the train to see what had happened, Zenbei noticed that it had just collided with a pile of earth and rubble that had fallen onto the tracks, most likely originating from the earlier landslide he had caused with his explosives. He desperately looked around for another potential escape route, but soon found himself completely surrounded by a large group of police officers from the city of Omashu. Zenbei had just eaten his own words, and through his actions he had inadvertently caused how own capture. As the police officers closed in, Zenbei cursed his luck and this ironic twist of fate.
Zenbei was now in handcuffs, the police officers putting him into the back of a police truck and shutting the doors. Korra and Opal on the other hand were now speaking with the governor of Omashu, who seemed to be very upset with them.
"Do you have any idea how much it's going to cost to fix all the damage to the city?" asked the governor, addressing Korra. "You were supposed to capture him, but you ended up destroying two whole city blocks in the process."
"That wasn't my fault." said Korra, retorting. "He was throwing all those bombs at me. The landslide was his fault. I was only trying to stop it."
"At least your efforts helped put that dangerous criminal behind bars." said the governor, now calming down and seeing that Korra was not to blame for the incident. "A lot of people were injured because of that landslide, but luckily nobody was killed. If you hadn't been there to stop it when you did, then many people could have lost their lives. For that I thank you Avatar Korra."
"It's no big deal." said Korra, surprised to find that the governor was actually thanking her for her efforts, a sharp contrast to President Raiko. "Saving the livers of innocents is one of the Avatar's duties after all."
After they were done talking, Korra and Opal left and made their way out of the city. As they were walking down the road leading out from Omashu, Korra turned to speak to Opal.
"I can already see it now." said Korra, sighing. "When we get back to Republic City, I'm probably going to get an earful from Tenzin, Lin, and President Raiko once they hear about all the damage our chase caused."
"Sorry I couldn't be of much help." said Opal, feeling sympathetic for Korra. "You're the one that did most of the work."
"Aside from that, did you manage to complete your other mission Tenzin gave you?" asked Korra. "Were there any signs of new airbenders here in Omashu?"
"I didn't find a single airbender unfortunately." said Opal. "The information that Mako received a while back about airbenders supposedly being here in Omashu seems to have been outdated. I asked around the city, and according to some people there really were airbenders living here at one point, but even if that were true they're all long gone now."
"That's too bad." said Korra, frowning. "It seems like this whole trip was a waste of time for you as well."
"I wouldn't say that." said Opal, smiling. "Before we go, there's someplace I want to check out. It's something I once read about in the one of the Air Temple libraries. You might find it interesting too, given that it has a connection to the Avatar Cycle's roots."
"Alright then, take me to it." said Korra, now cheering up and sounding interested.
Korra began to follow after Opal as she led her down a winding path that descended into the canyons below Omashu.
Korra and Opal now found themselves at the bottom of the canyon which the city of Omashu overlooked, and there they found the entrance to a cave. Upon entering the cave, Korra was surprised to find a network of tunnels and caverns which were illuminated by green crystals.
"This cave we're in now is directly beneath Omashu." said Opal. "Take a look around Korra. Do you notice anything?"
Korra carefully examined the inside of the cave and was astounded by what she saw. Embedded throughout the walls of the cave were what appeared to be the fossilized remains of some enormous creature from the distant past, its petrified bones coming together at the ceiling of the cave where they fused together and formed what looked to be a massive shell attached to the creature's back.
"Is this what I think it is Opal?" asked Korra, mesmerized by the sight. "The remains of a lion turtle, right here under Omashu? This is the discovery of a lifetime, yet nobody ever talks about this?"
"Does it all make sense now?" asked Opal. "In Omashu there was once a legend that the city got its name from the first two earthbenders, Oma and Shu. Where do you think they got their earthbending from? It had to have been from one of the lion turtles that once inhabited these lands. Before Omashu was named after them, it used to be one of the lion turtle cities from the era of Avatar Wan. When this lion turtle died, the people who were living on it continued to build and expand their city on top of its remains. Even in death this lion turtle still protects the people living on its back by providing a natural defense for them."
"This is amazing, but also a little morbid too." said Korra.
After spending about an hour exploring and appreciating the wonders of the cave, Korra and Opal were finally ready to leave. As they went outside Opal took out her bison whistle and blew on it. Moments later her sky bison Juicy appeared from behind the nearby cliffs and landed beside them.
"This trip was exhausting, though in the end it was worth it getting to see that cave." said Korra. "I hope everyone else back in Republic City is having a much better day than we are."
Opal nodded in agreement as they got onto Juicy's back, and with that they flew off into the horizon, leaving for Republic City.
