Back in Republic City, things have been going well since the battle with Kuvira that took place there over a year ago, the damage done to city now mostly repaired. This was in no small part thanks to the combined efforts of both Asami Sato and Varrick, who together helped to bring the city back to its former glory while also ensuring that the Spirit Wilds were harmoniously integrated into the new infrastructure of the city. The Spirit Wilds of Republic City had now become an important part of its national character and identity, and as a result the new spirit portal has become a popular tourist destination that regularly attracts visitors to the Spirit World, including Korra and her friends, who by now have all had the chance to visit the Spirit World and experience it for themselves.
Not only has the city itself changed, but so have its people. President Raiko still retains his position as the popular leader of the United Republic after having been reelected the previous year, however his harsh world view has begun to soften up in recent times as a result of him having witnessed so many world altering events, causing his viewpoints and policy measures to shift somewhat. Asami and her company Future Industries have now become very successful, having entered into a partnership with the businessman Varrick, while Bolin has since gone on to assist Varrick in many of his future endeavors. Varrick and Bolin have even gone on to create a new movie together, it being an action packed thriller depicting a highly exaggerated account of Team Avatar's battle against Kuvira during the Battle of Republic City. As for Mako, he has since returned to his former job as a police officer within the Republic City Police Force, often times being assisted by his younger brother Bolin, who has now joined him as a member of the police force.
At the present moment, Mako and Bolin now found themselves sitting in a police car, getting ready to head out to investigate reports which Police Chief Lin Beifong had received about a string of bizarre thefts throughout the city. The airbenders Jinora and Kai were also accompanying them, sitting in the back seats of the car, while Bolin sat in the passenger seat next to Mako and began to read through some the reports about the stolen items.
"I don't get it Mako." said Bolin, looking at the list with a confused expression. "Why would anyone want to steal all this stuff? According to these reports, most of the items stolen were just random everyday items with little value. This just seems more like an inconvenience than an actual crime."
"That's how it seemed at first, but keep reading." said Mako, driving the car and making a turn.
"I see now." said Bolin, reading further into the reports. "Some of the items stolen include artifacts from Air Temple Island, machine parts from the Future Industries production plant, several important documents and items from President Raiko's office, equipment from the Republic City Police Department, and finally power circuits that are essential for the city's water and power systems to properly function. I just don't see what someone could possibly want with all of these things. Even on the black market they won't fetch much of a price by themselves. Is some mad scientist building a doomsday weapon or something?"
"I don't know the answer to that either." said Mako. "Whoever is stealing this stuff, they sure have some strange tastes. This morning I noticed that even some of our own stuff was missing from the apartment. If we don't put a stop to this, it's only going to get worse."
After driving around for a few more minutes, Mako reached the edge of the Spirit Wilds within Republic City and stopped the car.
"This is where the most recent of the thefts was reported to have taken place." said Mako. "Whoever is behind this, they're probably hiding out somewhere in the Spirit Wilds. Even today there's still some parts of them that haven't been fully explored yet, so it would make a perfect place for a thief to hide their stolen goods."
"Do we really have to go in there Mako?" asked Bolin, with a hesitant tone. "I've heard all kinds of weird and creepy stories about the things people have seen in the Spirit Wilds. It's dangerous for us to just walk in there unprepared. What if a spirit jumps out and eats our faces off?"
"Nothing is going to eat your face off Bolin." said Mako, reassuring him. "Those are probably just ghost stories somebody made up to mess with gullible people like you. Since we're likely going encounter spirits in there, that's why I thought to bring Jinora and Kai along with us just in case."
"Hopefully there's nothing in there as bad as the spirit that lives in our bathroom." said Bolin, shuttering at the memory. "Every time I'm on the toilet it just stands there silently watching me from across the room with those cold dead eyes."
The four of them then entered the Spirit Wilds and began their search through the tangled mess of trees, bamboo, vines, and abandoned buildings for the missing items. As they passed through a low overhang, Bolin grabbed onto a vine and pulled on it, causing a rotten branch attached to it to break off and fall on top of him, knocking him over.
"Be careful Bolin." said Mako, as he helped Bolin up off the ground. "Some of the plants in here are dangerous. Try not to touch anything if you can help it."
As the group prepared to move on, a loud rustling sound came from the nearby bamboo shoots, startling the group and causing them to turn towards the source of the noise, and from out of it walked what appeared to be large panda bear.
"A panda bear?" asked Kai, surprised. "I thought pandas weren't native to this area, especially not inside the city."
"It's not just any panda, it's a spirit." said Jinora, who seemed to instantly recognize the panda spirit and ran over to hug it. "Hello there Hei-Bai, it's been a while since the last time I saw you."
"You know this spirit Jinora?" asked Mako.
"Oh course I do." said Jinora. "I've met him many times before in the Spirit Wilds. He was a good friend of my grandpa Avatar Aang."
"Maybe he can help us." said Mako. "Can you ask him if he knows anything about the missing items or if he's seen them anywhere in the Spirit Wilds?"
"Hei-Bai, would you happen to know anything about some misplaced items somewhere around here?" asked Jinora.
Understanding the question, Hei-Bai then let out a low moan and turned around, gesturing with his head towards the bamboo.
"I think he wants us to follow him." said Kai.
The four of them followed after Hei-Bai as he led them through the maze-like jungle within the Spirit Wilds until they eventually reached a large tree, which Hei-Bai began gesturing towards with his head. They looked up at the tree and were stunned by what they saw. Entangled within its many branches, leaves, and vines were an assortment of various items from the city, many of which they recognized as the missing items.
"How in the world did they end up in that tree?" asked Mako, still trying to process it. "At least now we know where they are."
Mako then picked up a nearby stick and tried to use it reach out to one of the items caught on the lower branches, but it was too high up. Kai and Bolin joined Mako, grabbing whatever rocks and sticks they could find and throwing them towards the items in an effort to knock them out of the tree, but they still would not budge. Everything they threw into the tree just become stuck within the branches of the tree like everything else.
"Well this is getting us nowhere." said Mako. "It looks like we're going to have to do this the hard way."
Mako then began to climb up the side of the tree and into its canopy, but as he did his clothes started to rip and tear as they became entangled in the branches and thorny vines above. Realizing that it was probably a bad idea continue Mako climbed back down, but his clothes only continued to tear, until a large part of his uniform came off and was left in the tree branches. Now back on solid ground and covered in cuts, Mako turned towards Bolin, Kai, and Jinora with a look of annoyance.
"Great, look what that stupid tree just did." said Mako, now missing the top half of his uniform. "I just had this uniform dry cleaned."
"Let me try Mako." said Kai. "If it's a thief we're dealing with, then a former thief like me might be able to get the job done."
Kai then used his airbending to propel himself up into the air and towards the canopy of the tree.
"Wait Kai, don't do it!" said Jinora, but she was too late to stop him.
As expected, Kai flew straight into the branches of the tree and became stuck, his flight suit getting snagged within the branches and thorns. The more he struggled to free himself, the more his flight suit tangled and ripped. Left with no other option, Kai unzipped his flight suit and slipped out of it, landing on the ground below in only his undergarments and with fresh cuts all over his skin.
"Okay, that tree is evil." said Kai, with a somewhat frightened look on his face. "It's like it has a mind of its own."
"I don't think we're dealing with a normal thief here." said Jinora. "This has to be the work of some kind of spirit."
As soon as she said this, something jumped out of the tree and landed on the ground below, and when the four of them turned to see what it was they came face to face with a small blue, imp-like spirit with a malicious smile. Before they could even react, the creature ran past the group and made a break for the bamboo shoots behind them.
"I'm willing to bet that's our thief." said Mako, watching as the spirit ran off. "Stop right there spirit! We'd like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."
Mako ran after the spirit and tried to catch it, but it was too fast and jumped up into the air, kicking him in the face several times and knocking him to the ground, and then disappearing into the bamboo shoots.
"Just wait until I get my hands on that little blue imp." said Mako, now filled with rage as he got up.
"Too late, it got away." said Bolin. "There's nothing we can do about it now. We should at least head back and report to Lin that we've found the stolen items."
After making their way out of the Spirit Wilds and back to their car, Mako got inside and turned the key, only to find that the car would not start. He then got out and opened the hood of the car to see what was wrong.
"Hmm, the spark plug and battery are both missing, I wonder why?" asked Mako, sarcastically. "I guess we'll have radio HQ to send someone over to pick us up." Mako then got back into the car, only to notice that the radio was now gone too. "You've got to be kidding me!" Mako slammed his fist down onto the dashboard of the car. "A police officer shouldn't have to deal with this kind of nonsense."
In a city where humans and spirits coexisted and lived side by side with one another, it was inevitable that some spirits would cause problems for the people of Republic City, whether they be simply annoying, obnoxious, or just plain malicious. In this case, the spirit responsible for the string of thefts had literally just stolen the clothes right off the backs of Mako and Kai.
"Looks like we'll be walking back now." said Bolin. "There's nothing more we can do here. We should find Tenzin and tell him about this."
"Let's wait for Korra to come back from her mission to Omashu." said Mako. "If this is something spirit related, then we'll need her help."
Mako, Bolin, Jinora and Kai then collected their things from the car and got started on their long walk back to the city, Mako and Bolin heading off in the direction of the police station while Jinora and Kai took off towards Air Temple Island.
Korra and Opal had just arrived back in Republic City from their trip to Omashu, with Opal's sky bison Juicy landing outside Air Temple Island. There Pema and Asami were waiting to greet them.
"Glad to see that you're finally back Korra." said Asami, the two of them greeting each other with a hug. "How did it go?"
"Besides the fact that Zenbei threw explosives in my face every ten seconds, caused a landslide that I had to use the Avatar State to stop, and that I got yelled at by the governor of Omashu for all the damage it caused, it actually went pretty well." said Korra. "We captured Zenbei in the end, so I consider that a win."
"Sounds like things turned out okay." said Asami, smiling. "By the way, Mako and Bolin are looking for you."
"What do they want?" asked Korra.
"They need your help with some kind of spirit problem." said Asami.
"Oh boy, what is it this time?" asked Korra, not sounding surprised at all.
"I'll take you to the scene." said Asami. "Tenzin is there too, but even he can't seem to do anything about it either."
Feeling the urgency of the situation, Korra, Asami, and Opal climbed onto Juicy's back and left to go find their friends.
A few minutes later, Korra, Asami, and Opal arrived at the scene of the crime near the edge of the Spirit Wilds. Standing there were Mako, Bolin, Kai, Jinora, Tenzin, Lin, several police officers, and a large group of people and spirits who had gathered to watch the scene unfold. Curious as to what was going on, Korra made her way towards Mako and Bolin as soon as she landed.
"So what's this I hear about a spirit taking people's stuff and putting them in a tree?" asked Korra. "People are calling it the Taking Tree. What kind of ridiculous mess have you gotten yourselves into now?"
In the short period of time that Korra and Opal had been away on their mission to Omashu, news of the missing items and the thieving tree spirit responsible had spread like wild fire throughout the Republic City and caused quite a stir among its citizens, with the people having nicknamed the tree in question the Taking Tree.
"Korra, I'm glad you're finally here." said Mako. "We've run into a bit of a problem of the spirit kind."
Mako quickly filled Korra in on everything that had happened up until this point. Already worn out from her trip to Omashu Korra decided that she was having none of it and immediately stormed off into the Spirit Wilds to find the spirit responsible, with Mako, Bolin, Kai, and Jinora following closely behind her.
"Show me the way Mako." said Korra. "I'm going to give this little spirit a stern talking to." After trekking through the Spirit Wilds they reached the Taking Tree, and next to it was the spirit Hei-Bai, who was closely watching it for signs of activity. "Alright, come out you little trouble maker!"
As soon as Korra said this, the spirit dashed out of the tree and made a run for the edge of the bamboo shoots. Hei-Bai let out a loud roar and began to chase it down, cutting off the spirit before it could escape and catching it with his jaws, giving Korra enough time to run over to the spirit and firmly grab hold of it.
"Thanks for the help Hei-Bai." said Korra, who then picked up the spirit. "As for you, we're going to have a little talk."
Korra began to walk away while dragging the unruly spirit behind her and disappeared into the nearby bamboo shoots. A few minutes later the spirit finally emerged from the bamboo shoots with an absolutely terrified look on its face as Korra followed behind it.
"Well Mako, I think that about solves your spirit problem." said Korra, walking over to Mako. "He won't be giving you anymore problems anytime soon."
"You can be really scary sometimes, you know that?" said Mako, shocked by the spirit's sudden change in demeanor. "What did you do?"
"As an adult, I gave him some much needed discipline." said Korra, smiling. "Although it's a spirit, this one seems to have a very child-like demeanor. He didn't quite understand that what he was doing was wrong, because to him it was all just fun and games. He promised not to do it again, and that next time he'll know better."
The spirit, now seemingly cured of its rampant kleptomania, returned to its home within the tree and as part of its promise with Korra now had to return all the stolen items to their rightful owners.
"It seems like we've both been having a rough day." said Korra, leaving the Spirit Wilds with Mako and giving Hei-Bai a pat on the head before parting ways with him.
"Tell me about it." said Mako. "I just want to go home and get some rest."
"Me too." said Korra, sighing. "I'm completely drained."
After spending some time catching up, Korra, Mako, Bolin, and Asami said their goodbyes to each other and went off in different directions towards their homes, the four of them finally ready to call it a day.
