Reopening An Old Portal for New Problems
"Korra, wait up!" Mako chased after Korra outside and forty feet away from the little campsite.
"Look, I know you feel like destroying a mountain after hearing about your father's past and never telling you about it either." Mako said.
"Oh, I feel so angry that I want to destroy three mountains and make them erupt like volcanos!" Korra stomped her foot and caused a nearby ice mountain making it pop up into the air before coming back down.
"But you have to understand that your father didn't want his past to be involve with your future, probably didn't want to make you feel like the daughter of a banished man." Mako explained.
"When you put it like that, I guess I can understand that." Korra scratched the back of her head.
"Even so, I still think he could have at least told me the story back when I was training before going to Republic City." Korra pouted a little.
"Still, you got to admit that something seems off about the story." Mako said.
"What do you mean, something else that my father has been hiding from me?" Korra asked feeling a bit of a pouty mood.
"No, not your dad. It's about the bandits from the story, don't you think it was strange that the bandits decided to hide on the spirit forest." Mako mentioned.
"Isn't it because they thought that forest would protect them?" Korra asked.
"But why the forest being the first thing to hide than any other places like a cave, doesn't sound like something a group of bandits would do to hide from the authorities." Mako find this to be strange.
"Wait, are you saying someone told them to hide there?" Korra asked surprise.
"I'm not entirely sure, but I get the feeling that there is something more of what happened in the past." Mako looked up at the dark sky of the night.
(With Southern Air Temple)
"Come, Jinora. I think you're going to love this place." Tenzin gestured as he and Jinora enters the tall tower.
Jinora becomes amazes of seeing lots of statues inside the tower, and these aren't just ordinary statues because each and every one of them are the previous Avatars before Korra from the past, including one that of Avatar Aang.
"Wow, the statue room." Jinora smiled.
"That's right, Jinora, the most sacred place in the entire Southern Air Temple." Tenzin explained and they look around seeing more statues.
"Here, you will find statues of every Avatar who ever lived." Tenzin said as he did a little airbending through the statue room.
Tenzin see his oldest daughter is really taking a liking to the statue room as she wants to learn everything she can about the previous Avatars, but then notice something is missing in his picture and realize that none of his other children are here too.
"Where are your brother and sister?" Tenzin asked.
But before Jinora could give a respond, Meelo and Ikki suddenly appeared behind Tenzin racing around on their air-scooters with the wind around them causing Tenzin's robe covering his face.
"You can't catch me! I've the greatest air scooter-er of all time!" Meelo proclaimed with a cocky smirk.
But Meelo's racing ended too soon when he didn't pay attention to where he was going and crash into one of the statues.
"Meelo!" Tenzin horrified of his son getting hurt inside a sacred place and hurry to his aide.
Meanwhile, Jinora looks at the statue of her grandfather Aang again gazing at the eyes feeling like her grandfather is looking at her right now, wondering if she could somehow communicate with him to hear all the adventures she heard from his own words.
Suddenly Jinora felt something appeared behind her and turn around only to find nothing is there.
"What was that?" Jinora wondered; she knew she felt a presence here just a second ago.
(Back with Korra's Group)
The group have once again travel through the giant white field of snow to make their way to the Spirit Portal with Mako flying again and Korra riding on Naga, she turns around to see her father pulling up closer to her on his snowmobile.
"Korra, you have every right to be mad at me. But I don't want you to make the same mistake I made." Tonraq wanted to talk some peace with his daughter.
"Don't worry, I'm not mostly angry at you anymore thanks to some with Mako and I do see how you wanted to make sure your sins wouldn't past onto me." Korra assured making her dad smile.
"Glad to hear that, but I'm more concern about going to the center of the South Pole. Spirits and the physical world should remain separate." Tonraq stated.
"I know that should be something to remain, but it's my job to be the bridge between the spirits and the physical world, meaning it will be my responsibility to see how this will go down once the portal is open." Korra explained strongly.
"In other words, you'll try to do the very best you can even though that best can lead you into trouble." Tonraq chuckled.
"Hey, you're making it sound like I'm a magnet for trouble!" Korra snapped a bit.
"But he is not far off from that. Remember the time you fought off two old ladies just to get some pieces of candies for Ikki of an errand?" Mako recalled that time.
"Hey, those two gals didn't show any mercy and it comes to those sweets, even though I think they lost their taste years ago, and the candies were also on sell." Korra explained.
"I think the amount of trouble you get into are as many as the stars." Mako commented.
"Speaking of stars." Unalaq decided to cut into the conversation.
"Look to the sky. Where I'm from, the spirits are at peace, and they light up the dark." Unalaq mentioned.
"The Northern Lights?" Korra asked.
"Yes. There used to be lights at the South as well, but during the Hundred Year War, the South was thrown out of balance and the lights disappeared. When the War ended, the North helped to rebuild you physically, as a nation, but we have not rebuilt you spiritually. Now the spirits no longer dance in your skies. Instead, they rampage in the Everstorm." Unalaq explained.
"(Sounds very deep for you.)" Mako thought glanced at the uncle.
The group keep traveling through in one direction until Mako spotted something out far that appears to be a dangerous place none should even look at.
"I think we're here." Mako informed everyone.
Everyone stop for a moment seeing they have arrived at the Everstorm as Korra and Unalaq look sad upon seeing this spiritual place, feeling like something dark has consume the forest and has gotten worse over the years with the spirits being dark and rampaging bunch.
"So, that's the Everstorm. First seeing this myself, and it looks beautiful." Eska complimented with a flat expression and excitement from within.
"Too bad we're not here for the dark scenery." Bolin pointed out.
The group enters the dead frozen area with some putting up their hoods to keep their faces safe from the harsh cold wind as Mako does his best to coated himself with Ki to keep himself warm, but this place seems to be even colder that he couldn't keep up the warm. Bolin saw his brother starting to feel the cold and tosses him a coat which the older brother was grateful for as he quickly puts it on.
"So, the portal is in this forest?" Mako asked Unalaq.
"Yes, as it has always been for thousands of years and soon it will be open once again to start bringing true peace." Unalaq believed strong earning a look from Tonraq.
Then they heard a loud roaring sound that came from a distance, yet the sound makes it like whatever made that roar was closer at the same time.
"Is that what I think it is?" Bolin asked worry.
"We must keep moving." Unalaq said as he does not want to give up on this mission.
They continue moving forward as another loud roar was heard.
"Oh man, I really don't like this." Bolin hugged himself, hoping this nightmare would end.
"Bolin, just stay calm, there's no reason to-" Mako's sentence was cut off when one little dark spirit popped out of the snow and tires to attack as Mako dodges it.
"Panic!" Mako surprised as he finishes his sentence.
Mako punch the dark spirit with his Ki-coated fist sending it flying through an icy wall as some more dark spirits came out attacking the others, they even grab the supplies knocking them down and one dark spirit latches onto Naga's face.
"Hey, her face is not on the menu!" Korra Ki blasted the dark spirit off from her animal best friend.
Korra jumps off from Naga to fight off the dark spirits remembering to use her Ki blast to push them back and knocks them down. Mako punch another dark spirit away then suddenly another one wraps its body around Mako's neck making him struggle to breath, and more dark spirits came piling on the monkey boy to pull him down even grabbing his tail that made him start to feel a little weak.
"Mako!" Bolin gasped as he wanted to go help his big brother, but a dark spirit goes into the engine of his snowmobile.
"Oh no, it's in the engine!" Bolin freaked out.
The dark spirit causes the engine to explode a bit and when it came out, the snowmobile starts to move on its own going out of control, taking Bolin and the dark mood twins away from the others as Bolin tries to get the thing to stop.
Tonraq create an ice wall and use the snow to waterbend against the dark spirits even though his strikes don't do much as before, then he saw his daughter taking the air and pushing back some dark spirits away with her Ki blast. He became worried when he notices two dark spirits about to sneak attack her from behind.
"Not on my watch!" Tonraq swiped a water-wipe at the two dark spirits getting their attention.
The two dark spirits charges at the man who put up an ice wall to defend himself and made an ice pillar below his feet to jump away from the dark spirit, he looks over to see Mako is being piled by more spirits.
"You guys are really starting to get on my nervous." Mako grinded his teeth, feeling his anger raising up again.
Four more dark spirits appeared in front of Mako and attacking him hard on the face at the same time and at a superfast pace, the punches from the spirits don't seem to hurt much but they are starting to get really annoying, and the anger is getting worse from within.
"Okay, if you guys are trying to make very angry then you're gonna get what you want!" Mako yelled the echo from the icy wall around them.
Mako's power raise so much with his emerald-green aura and sending all of the dark spirits away crashing around the area as he instantly stood on his feet, energy balls form within his hand starts shooting them at all the dark spirits even though they don't hurt the dark spirits exactly, they can still push them back.
"Yeah, think you can take me on with just numbers alone! Get real!" Mako yelled as his power grew more and cracks appeared around him.
"Oh no, he's gonna lose control of his power again." Korra worried and hurried to her boyfriend's side.
"Let see how you spirits can handle this!" Mako formed an energy ball two times bigger than him own body.
"Mako, wait! You could end up destroying the entire area with that blast!" Korra gasped and increased her speed.
"I hope you damn spirits enjoyed punching my face because now I'm going destroy your faces into Hell!" Mako yelled as his voice starts to sound a little eerie.
Korra goes back down on the snowy ground and sliding right front of Mako and unleash a strong Ki blast she can muster to push that giant energy ball away from him and very high into the sky which they exploded causing a strong shockwave.
"Oh man, that was close." Korra sighed.
"Oh, so another spirit wants to mess with me too!" Mako angered as he glares down.
"Will you snap out of it!" Korra slapped Mako right on the cheek that left him stun and shocked for a second.
"Korra?" Mako puzzled with his expression becoming calmer and started to gain back his senses as he looks at Korra.
"Man, you were really going wild with that temper of yours." Korra exclaimed with a small smile.
"Sorry, guess those spirits really try to get on my own nerves and they succeed too well." Mako apologized.
"No worries, at least the dark spirits are gone now." Korra looked around seeing no more dark spirits. She can guess that Mako's power must've scared them away when he powered up.
"Quite the power you have there, almost like that kind of power is responded to your rage." Unalaq surprised.
"It tends to happen when I get angry, but not to worry. I always managed to stay cool even under pressure while I'm still trying to get this power under control." Mako explained as he looks down at his hand.
"Is everyone okay?" Mako asked for everyone being safe but notice Bolin and Korra's twin cousins aren't with them.
"HELP ME?!" Bolin shouted getting their attention.
The out-of-control snowmobile is still going and heading towards an icy cliffside as the earthbender is panicking like crazy.
"I can't stop it!" Bolin cried, then Eska and Desna grabs onto his suit.
"I'll save you." Eska said blankly before the twins jump off with Bolin.
The twins land on the snow with their feet sliding like they're on a snowboard except there is none and drop Bolin on the snow for him to slide back to the others, then his suit suddenly inflated, and Pabu pop his head out of the suit.
"I'm a raft!" Bolin commented, thinking this is a little fun.
Bolin came back to the group with Mako stopping him with his tail and looks down at his little brother with a slight surprise look.
"Well, I guess your ego didn't grow in your head." Mako said.
"Very funny, now can someone please deflate me?" Bolin asked, then Eska formed a spiked ice through the suit causing it to deflate in seconds.
"Thanks." Bolin thanked and got back up.
"Oh, great. There goes our equipment. Now what are we supposed to do?" Mako asked.
"There's only one thing to do. We have to turn back." Tonraq suggested.
"No! The solstice is tonight. And we're so close." Unalaq stated.
"Somehow, I knew you were going to say that. I'll leave then and wait for your return." Tonraa sighed.
Tonraq got his snowmobile ready to leave as Korra and Mako gave him a goodbye hug, and Mako seem to whisper something into Tonraq's ear making his eyes widen a little. He hops onto his vehicle and leaves the group.
"Let's open this portal and lead your father and the entire Southern Water Tribe in the right direction. We don't have much time." Unalaq said.
"Then what are we waiting for." Korra excited with a grin and make their way to the portal.
They power through the snowy storm until they arrived at the South Pole where the portal is and seeing frozen trees there too.
"Trees frozen in the ice." Korra surprised.
"It's just like the sacred forest Tonraq destroyed in the North." Unalaq recalled.
"So, what do I do?" Korra asked.
"You must find your way to the heart of the forest where the dormant spirit portal lies. From here, you're on your own." Unalaq explained.
"On her own? I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with this." Mako worried.
"Yeah! If she goes, we go, too!" Bolin stated.
"The Avatar must go alone." Unlaqa said firmly.
"But I don't have any connection with the spirits. In fact, it seems like they hate me." Korra pointed out.
"You have to believe in yourself, like I believe in you." Unalaq advised.
"He's right, you got to trust in your own instincts and heart." Mako nodded with a kiss on the cheek.
"I guess I'm just so used to people telling me how to do things that I forgot what it was like to have someone trust in me." Korra mentioned.
"Korra, all the past Avatars live on inside of you. Let them guide you. Let them help you find the light in the dark." Unalaq smiled.
Korra smiles back with a nod then look toward the South Pole as she goes in alone to find the portal within the icy fortress-like place, but she also had to run away from some dark spirits.
It took a while until she finally found the portal under the ice and tries to get it open with fire and Ki blast though it doesn't seem like it's easy to melt the ice, then some dark spirits attacked her again though she was able to pull through and enter the Avatar State to open the portal causing a pillar of light to shoot at the sky and lights appearing in the sky.
"The spirit portal. Amazing." Korra smiled.
Korra made her way back to everyone who greeted her with a cheer, the twins were being silent as always and Unalaq smile proudly for his niece.
"You never cease to amaze me." Mako smiled and they kiss.
"I am pretty awesome; I can't wait to tell Tenzin the news when we see him!" Korra excited.
Everyone made their way back to the Southern Tribe city to see her parents again, but to her and the others shock that there are Northern troop ships coming to the city.
"What are all your Northern troops doing here?" Korra asked.
"Opening the spirit portal was only the first step in getting the Southern Water Tribe back on its righteous path. There's more difficult work to be done before our two tribes are truly united." Unalaq explained.
This got Mako and Korra to feel very concern of the man's words and worry this much will cause some trouble.
KO a new chapter is done and hope you all enjoy it!
The spirit portal of the South Pole has been open letting the spirits roam freely through the icy land only with Northern Tribe troops suddenly showing up, and you can bet that Mako and Korra are gonna try to prevent something hopefully before it could cause a problem.
KO comment, favorite, and follow through of how this story will go!