HEY YOU. GOOD YOU'RE FINALLY AWAKE. YOU WERE TRYING TO CROSS THE BORDER RIGHT?
OK I'M JUST KIDDING! DIDN'T EXPECT MY STORY TO BLOW UP RIGHT AFTER THAT LAST CHAPTER. WELL IT DID HAVE LOTS OF WORDS BUT I DIDN'T EXECT IT TO GET QUITE POPULAR. ANYWAYS ENJOY THE STORY!
RATED T FOR VIOLENCE, THREAT, SEX REFERENCES AND (CENSORED) SWEARING.
DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FALLOUT OR A;TLA. FALLOUT IS OWNED BY BETHESDA (1,2, NV OWNED BY INTERPLAY/BLACK ISLE STUDIOS/OBSIDIAN) AND A;TLA IS OWNED BY NICKELODEON.
It had already been a day since the incident back at the Earth Kingdom base. The whole gang took a stop by a nearby river. Besides Ryan, the others took a swim in their underwear with the two benders practiced their waterbending.
The Californian finished patching some old road signs and bumper stickers onto DAVE, "You really need to stop getting yourself damaged. Look how dents you've gotten!"
"Tis but a scratch," DAVE replied.
"It's more than a scratch, look how many rods and pieces you've lost."
"They're just gear wounds."
The wastelander for the millionth time sighed.
"Ryan, don't you wanna come in?" Katara said from the distance.
"No it's fine! I've never had a good time with rivers," Ryan replied.
At that moment, Aang splashed Katara with an octopus form. Katara splashed back.
"Why aren't you comfortable with rivers?" asked DAVE.
"Well..."
A FEW YEARS AGO - LAKE MEAD
Ryan dipped his hand into the lake, and drank some of the fresh water. Something growled, he jerked his head to the right. Woefully, there was a large pack of lakelurks.
He gulped.
"Oh sh- oh sh- Oh my God!" The wastelander ran from the multiple abominations chasing him.
"No reason at all," He said.
"So you're fine with waking up to an environment that's built by frozen water but you aren't fine with actual rivers?"
"I guess I'm just like that."
Sokka laid on a large leafy float with cucumbers on his eyes and momo resting on top of him. His float budged onto the shore. "Ryan, do ya mind if you-" Before Sokka could finish Ryan interrupted by pushing his leaf back onto the river. "Thanks!"
"Omashu seems like a good place to search for your friend," said DAVE.
"Maybe, but it's highly unlikely that we're gonna find out where she is straight away. Unless... Hey Aang! D'you know who can help us when we get to Omashu?!"
Aang stopped his training for a couple moments, "Yeah! My friend, King Bumi!."
"Another person of authority huh? We might find her after all if we get authority figures twice in a row."
Ryan saw some people in the distance, there looked to be four of them wearing clothing of multiple colours, they seemed to be playing some music and singing.
One of them, a man, said to his comrades, "Hey look! River people."
Everybody in the gang stopped all of a sudden. "We're not River people," said Katara.
"Then what are you?" The man asked.
"Just... people," said Aang.
"Aren't we all? Brother?" said the man.
"Sokka exited his leafy float, he questioned distrustingly, "Who the heck are you?"
"My name is Chong and this is my wife, Lily."
"How does she have the most western name in this world?" Ryan muttered.
Chong continued, "We're Nomads, go wherever the wind takes us."
"You're Nomads?" Aang asked, "That's great. I'm a Nomad!"
"You are? We are too!"
"Yeah you just said that," mentioned Ryan, "Are you guys on drugs or something?"
DAVE scanned the people, "Not on drugs." He then imitated Ryan's earlier words, "I guess they're just like that."
"Whatever you say, metal dude," said Chong, he looked at Sokka, "Nice underwear."
Sokka grabbed Momo from his head and covered his underpants, embarrassed.
Some time later, everybody was relaxing around Appa. Well except for the older kids and DAVE. Aang had a crown of pink flowers on his head, the Bison and Katara were getting their hair braided.
"What do you think of these people, Ryan," Sokka asked.
The wastelander replied, "Well they're harmless. I think they're okay."
"What about you, DAVE?"
"Eh, no opinion. They're a bit weird though," DAVE responded.
"Yeah. No kidding," Sokka went up towards the rest of the group, "Look, we can hang around here for now but we really need to get to Omashu."
"Sokka's right,: said Katara, "We really need to get there."
"You need to focus less on the destination and focus more on the going," said Lily.
"I have to agree to that," said Ryan, "I need to make sure I get to my destination safely."
"No not like that. I mean you have to enjoy the journey," said one of the other Nomads, "And you also need to be sure on where you're going."
"DAVE, please tell me your scanners are still working. Tell me they're on drugs," said Ryan.
"Nope. They're just complete kept on babbling, Sokka and Ryan were getting more frustrated by the second. One of the nomads mentioned a tunnel tat can quickly get to Omashu, saying it was for two lovers to hide their love because of the war and racial diversity being tense.
"Is it real or a legend?" Asked Katara.
"Oh it's a real legend," Chong replied.
"So it's real?" Ryan asked confused.
"Yes. It's real," said DAVE.
"There's a song about it too." At that moment, all of the Nomads started playing a song. Katara and Aang seemed to enjoy it, Sokka really had no opinion but he was sick of their behaviour, Ryan and DAVE absolutely hated the song. Just got worse when they started quickly saying 'Secret tunnel!'
Once the song ended, the eyebot commented, "That song made my ears bleed. And I don't even have ears!"
"That song was terrible," said Ryan, "No offence guys."
"It's okay my friend," said Chong, "You guys heading for Omashu right now?"
"I guess we are."
"You guys should take the tunnel."
"Thanks for the advice but we're gonna take Appa," said Sokka. The whole gang mounted Appa and flew off.
LITERALLY 2 SECONDS LATER
Everybody got off of Appa all covered in ash as earlier, the Fire Nation attacked them.
"Secret tunnel it is," said Sokka. They all went inside the cave, Appa walked inside with refusal but he had no choice, "How far exactly is this tunnel?"
"Not far," the leading Nomad replied, "It's not exactly a tunnel, it's a labyrinth."
"Don't forget the curse," Lily mentioned, "You can only navigate it through love. Those who don't will be forever lost.
Sokka stopped in his tracks, he screamed so hard inside but struggled to hold it back.
the Nomad wearing pink robes pointed out, "Hey somebody's making a large campfire."
"That's not a campfire, Moku. It's the fire nation!" The waterbender claimed.
The Californian looked around him, "Where's DAVE?" He turned around, turns out the British Toaster was dashing all the way back with some tanks coming up from behind him.
"Get the hell inside!" DAVE shouted, "The bloody Fire Nation has god damn tanks!"
Everybody switched from walking to running into the cave. They seemed to be over 100 yards inside, light soon disappeared as the cave collapsed behind them. Ryan turned on his pip-boy light. Others lit up some torches. Each lasted 2 hours. Lily claimed that if they have 5 torches and each last 2 hours then they'd have 10 hours of light.
"Where the hell were you?!" Ryan asked in frustration.
"I fell off of the bison and I encountered dozens of fire nation troops. You could say I committed a massacre on them, before I was outnumbered enough that I was forced to retreat. I'm surprised they have tanks when these people don't even have guns!"
"You suck at math, hippie," said DAVE.
"Oh."
"I've lost all hope in this world."
"Welcome to the club."
"My pip-boy light lasts a long time," Ryan stated. But he never used his light that much and his device seemed to last a long time. Did it really last that long?
"Umm no. It lass at least 3 hours at max power. You might want to initiate low power mode," said DAVE.
"There's a low power mode setting?"
"Yes but it's not well known by vault dwellers or those with a pip-boy."
"Okay I guess," Ryan set his pip-boy to low power mode. Unfortunately it only made the light a whole lot dimmer. "Great now this looks like something from a horror movie."
"On the bright side it'll last a couple more hours."
Instantaneously, the whole group was attacked by what seemed to be a swarm of bats. Only these were different, they had the features of a wolf.
"Wolf bats!" Aang cried.
"The hell's up with all these animal hybrids?!" The robot asked.
"Ryan, use your weapon or something!" Sokka shouted.
"Too small! I'd just be wasting ammo!" Ryan replied. DAVE used his gun to scare off the swarm disintegrating some of them in the process.
"Bloody nuisances," the eyebot cursed, " Well off we go, "I'll scan the caves see if we can find a way out."
The whole conflict and one of the torches scared the bison, he started to jump everywhere, the cave once again started to collapse. The benders, Appa, DAVE and Ryan unfortunately got separated from the rest of the group.
"We're dead," The wastelander said hopelessly.
"Hey! Can you guys hear us?!" Aang called out. His voice luckily penetrated to the other side of the rocks.
Sokka reached through, "We're fine over here! How about you?!"
"We're okay! Find another way out of the caverns we'll meet up!" Katara shouted back.
"DAVE, have you been able to scan the cave? Is there a way out?" Ryan asked.
"Sorry, the pattern keeps changing, the tunnels are changing shapes and sizes," DAVE replied hopelessly.
Ryan checked his pip-boy, but the map wasn't available, he groaned in frustration.
"Explains why low-power mode was so unpopular. I guess we have to make this journey without gadgets or maps," DAVE stated.
"Is there a way I can turn it back on?"
"Yes but it's easier to do it outside."
"Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse. If we can't find a way out today then I have enough food to last us a week."
"Why do you keep a large backpack?" Katara questioned.
"Well I keep a lot of stuff in there. I travel around Nevada a lot so I need a good supply for when I'm far away from my home which I am."
"Do you still have a home? You said you moved around a lot that you ended up staying in one place."
"I mostly live in the barracks of the NCR Embassy in the Strip, if not then Camp Mcarran where my sister is stationed."
"Wait. Vegas still exists?" DAVE asked almost in fascination.
"Yep. Somehow it avoided the bombs, but only the Strip remains. I was lucky enough to gain access, outer Vegas is a total hellhole."
"So it's kinda like 1984?"
"Sorta except it's not dystopian. God I loved that book."
"That 2067 movie ruined it though!"
"Right?'
Everybody continued to blabber once again to pass the time. Almost 2 hours have already gone by. Alas the group had found no way out. The caverns continued to change its form.
"So you people only have sub-animals?" Aang asked.
"Yep. We don't have these wolf-bats or whatever Appa is. Except these days most of the animals have either gone extinct or mutated into horrible creatures."
"So a Platypus-Bear would be..."
"Just a regular bear. Well I don't know what a platypus-bear would look like though. But we do have different variations of animals. Like there's two-headed bears, yao-guai etcetera."
"How does a two-headed bear work?"
"I don't know. I ain't a biologist."
Out of the blue. Everybody stumbled across a huge statue of two people kneeling and kissing. On the wall, text was engraved onto there. The otherworlders could not read it but the benders could.
Katara spoke out the text. It was the story of the two lovers, two people both from feuding towns met atop a mountain. They wanted to be together but could not due to both their people hating each other. They somehow learnt earthbending from badgermoles which eventually made them create the labrynth as a meeting place. Unfortunately the man died during the war, in a burst of rage the woman ended the feud between the rivalling towns. In honour of the couple's love the towns formed the city of Omashu, in name of the lovers Oma and Shu.
"Kinda reminds my of how the NCR was formed. It started off as a small town in the middle of the desert. Until a man only known as the Vault Dweller came and did a lot of things for the wasteland. Inspired by him the small town became the capital to possibly the largest city in the wasteland," said Ryan, "Except for the feud, lovers, caves and all that stuff."
They all turned around at the statues, writing was engraved at the bottom. "Love is brightest in the dark," the waterbender read. She was hit with a burst of inspiration, "The Nomads said we have to navigate the cave with love." She looked at Ryan, "Maybe if.. we kiss we can find a way out."
"Umm no. My woman kissing days are over," Ryan responded, "Try someone else."
"I don't have lips," said DAVE.
"Aang?"
Aang blushed, embarrassed, "Umm. Well.. I... uhh. I don't really want to kiss you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Katara said.
"Well i mean uhh... If I umm... wanted to choose between certain death and kissing you I'd choose kissing you," Aang reassured. Katara stormed off in anger. The Avatar sighed.
"Wow. You're really into her aren't you?" Ryan claimed.
"What? N-no I'm not."
"Oh come on! It's been obvious since we were at the North Pole," said DAVE.
"Okay yes! You got me! Please can you not tell her?" Aang begged.
"Your secret's safe with us. Now please kiss her. I don't want to get stuck down here forever."
"Okay. I'll do it." Aang then ran after Katara.
"Hey. This most likely won't work. Anything you want to say before becoming a cave dwelling savage?" DAVE asked.
"Yep. Tunnel Snakes Rule!" Ryan laughed, Dave raised a nonexistent eyebrow, "Sorry I heard that somewhere I couldn't resist."
In the distance, the two benders were about to kiss.
"I'm gonna give them some privacy," Ryan turned off his pip-boy. Just as he turned it off, bright blue lights started appearing everywhere.
"Do you think that came from the kiss?" Ryan asked.
"No. These rocks only illuminate in total darkness."
"So they didn't have to kiss?"
"No they did not."
"Come on!" Shouted Aang. The benders went to follow the lights. The otherworlders and Appa caught on.
Fortunately, the entire group, including Sokka, Momo and the rest of the nomads, made it out of the tunnel. Sokka for some reason had a red dot on his forehead.
"What the heck is that?" Katara asked her brother.
"It's a bindu, a mark often put on people's head in Hinduism. That's if you do know what Hinduism is."
"Yeah I know what it is. I met an Indian Ghoul who used to be Hindu," said the wastelander.
"No! I just kept smacking my forehead because of these weirdos!" Sokka cried in frustration.
Chong for some reason said, "Hey I think the one with the tattoos is the Avatar."
The southern tribal boy gave a definite 'please kill me look' to his friends.
Aang asked Moku, "Will you guys be travelling with us to Omashu?"
Moku replied, "No we will not. We're nomads remember? Go wherever the wind takes us."
"That's fine. I guess this is farewell."
"See ya!"
"Wait!" Ryan called, "Before you go. Have you seen a girl around 14, wearing clothes made from animal hide and stuff, has like a black mark on her face?"
"I think we saw someone like that somewhere, like a year ago?" Moku responded.
"Yeah, that's not her. Thanks anyway!"
The nomads then continued off on their never-ending journey. Half the group were glad they were gone.
"Well, now that's out of the way. I believe Omashu should be just up ahead, come on!" said Aang.
The whole gang travelled across a ridge, the city was just a long walk away. They eventually came towards a cliffside.
In the distance was a city completely walled. Tall buildings could already be seen from afar, the architecture was already as magnificent as the North Pole.
But there was a problem.
The Fire Nation's banner were spread across the walls of the city.
Omashu had already fallen.
And they just got there.
"I hate my life," said the wastelander.
AND DONE! I'M GUESSING YOU'RE WONDERING WHY I DIDN'T SPLIT DAVE AND RYAN UP IN THE CAVES. WELL TRUTHFULLY, THIS EPISODE HARDLY MATTERED IMO BESIDES KATARA AND AANG KISSING, OMASHU AND THE WATERBENDING TRAINING, I JUST GOT LAZY. I'M SORRY IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH IT, BUT I CANNOT PROMISE THAT I WON'T DO IT AGAIN DEAL WITH IT.
ANYWAYS HAVE A GOOD DAY!