Disclaimer: I do Not own Avatar the last Air-bender or it's associated properties.

After the mess with General Fung the Gaang decided to take a small break before going to Omashu. So, now they were currently hanging out by a river and currently striped down to their undergarments.

Sokka was in his loincloth sarashi, Katara was in her own sarashi which was chest bindings with a skirt and thigh wrapping combo, Aang had just his pants on, and Dijin was in his green shorts.

As Aang and Katara practiced Water-bending Dijin and Sokka just floated in the water on huge leaves relaxing.

Sokka and Dijin just continued to float with Momo relaxing on Dijin's chest while Sokka glanced at the two Water-benders saying "You guys are gonna be done soon, right? We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today."

Katara just slumped forward annoyed at her brothers pestering. She then placed a hand on her hip and said sarcastically "What, like you're ready to go right now, naked guy?"

Sokka just replied indigently saying "I can be ready to leave whenever, trust me."

Dijin just let out an annoyed sigh saying "Ignore him Katara. The less time we spend in that saddle the better. So, keep on practicing."

Katara just smiled and shook her head at her flight challenged friend before Aang spoke up saying "So, you were showing me the octopus form."

Katara then got serious and placed her hands on her hips saying "Right. Let me see your stance."

Aang then got into wide stance keeping his arms and legs apart as Katara inspected him.

She placed her hand on her chin with a puzzled look before walking over to Aang and getting behind him. She then leaned in close and grabbed his arms while saying "Your arms are too far apart." She then gave him a caring smile while adjusting his stance saying "See, if you move them closer together, you protect your center. You got it?"

Aang had a hard time replying at first because he was blushing up a storm due to Katara's breasts pressing into his back. Not to mention her sarashi left her stomach and legs bare leaving nothing to Aang's imagination.

Aang finally snapped at out of his stupor saying "Oh. Yeah. Thanks." Aang then gave her an awkward smile. Katara smiled back before heading back over to her previous spot across from him.

She then got into a fighting stance with her legs apart and her arms held parallel horizontally in front of herself. Once she was ready, she said "Ok, let's see what you got."

Aang nodded his head and bent down waving his hands close to the water. Then as Aang stood back up he brought the water upwards as well creating eight Water-tentacles around himself.

Once Katara saw Aang was ready she started attacking him by forming her hand into a knife-shape and started throwing foot long Ice spikes at him.

Aang quickly waved his arms back and forth while rotating his body and at the same time the tentacles around him would either grab or whip the spikes away.

Katara smirked before moving herself forward and standing horizontally. Next, she started throwing spikes at Aang in rapid succession.

Aang however, waved his right arm and the tentacles blocked the spikes while he subtly wiggled his left hand and sent one tentacle at Katara's leg. Then once he saw the water surround her leg, he clenched his fist making the water tighten around it.

Katara looked at her leg shocked before smirking at Aang saying "You make an excellent octopus, Pupil Aang."

Aang responded by making the water cover himself creating an octopus head as he waved his arms up and down while puffing out his cheeks.

Suddenly the group started to hear music being played and someone singing.

Dijin and Sokka both looked up from their leaf's and saw a group of travelers heading their way.

A man who appeared to be the leader of the traveling musicians was singing a song as he approached them singing 'Don't fall in love with the traveling girl... She'll leave you broke and broken hearted.'

The musicians stopped playing and walking once they saw the Gaang swimming in the river. The leader leaned in closer and said in a laid-back tone "Hey, Hey. River people."

Aang just replied "We're not river people." Just then Sokka fell off his leaf and into the water while Dijin stood up with Momo on his shoulder.

The lead musician then asked "You're not? Then what kind of people are you?"

Katara just replied "We're just people."

The musician just held his arms wide saying "Aren't we all sister."

Dijin chose then to stand with Katara and Aang and got a good look at the travelers.

The leader had black hair that was spread out under a red fez like hat, he had black eyes that looked care free, he had stubble all across his face, he wore a necklace of white daisies, he also had on a blue robe with yellow accents that had the right sleeve hanging loose, the robe itself was tied together with a teal sash, he had on blue puffy pants that were stuffed into a pair of brown boots, and to finish his look he had his trusty instrument strapped around his shoulder which was a shamisen.

The woman to the left of him had brown hair that reached her upper back, on top of her head was a brown head wrap with a white lily on the front, she had green eyes that also showed a care free look, she wore a brown dress that went to her shins with white accents, for shoes she had a pair of sandles with brown fabric covering the top of her feet leaving her toes and the back of her feet bare, and lastly, she had a green satchel on her shoulder which held her flute that she was playing.

Behind the leader was large man who had a bald spot on the top of his head, He chose to wear a rice hat to cover the spot while he still had black hair at the sides of his head, he had brown squinted eyes that had a laid back look to them, he had a pointed black mustache, he wore a white Tang robe that had black clasps on his right shoulder but split at his waist, on his lower body he wore white puffy pants and black curled slippers for shoes, Lastly He had a two-sided drum that he wore around his neck.

Then on the leader's right were two more people, one a man and the other a woman.

The woman had long red hair that went all the way to her butt with a blue and yellow bandana tied around her head, she had hazel eyes that showed friendliness, she wore a red dress that had yellow and black stripes which split at her knees, she wore multiple bracelets around her wrists that jingled when she moved, for shoes she wore brown slippers that had a strap across the top of her foot, and as far as the Gaang could see she had no visible instrument.

Finally, they looked at the last member of the troupe, the man mentioned earlier, he had on a pointed blue hat which covered most of his dirty blonde hair, the rest of his hair splayed out around his shoulders messy and unkempt, he had light blue eyes which showed friendliness as well, he had a small dirty blond pointed mustache and a soul patch, he had on a light blue short-sleeve shirt with dark blue accents and pictures of spirits, he wore a pair of grey loose-fitting pants, on his feet were a simple pair of flip-flop sandles, and like the woman before he did not have any visible instruments either.

After getting a good look at the group Sokka marched up to the travelers and pointed at them saying "Who are you?"

The Leader replied "I'm Chong." He then motioned to the woman on his left saying "And this is my wife Lily." He then motioned to large man behind him saying "That there's Moku." He then pointed at the other man and woman saying "The lady there is Dama and the brother man is Za-Cao."

The two waved at the Gaang while Chong said "We're nomads. Happy to go wherever the wind takes us." he then did a ridiculous solo on his shamisen while singing gibberish.

Aang excited to meet fellow nomads exclaimed "You guys are nomads?! That's great! I'm a nomad!"

Chong gained an excited smile saying "Hey! Me, too!"

Aang gained a dry look as he said "I know. You just said that."

Chong scratched the back of his head saying "I did? Well-" he then stopped mid-sentence noticing Sokka's attire and commented "Whoa. Nice Underwear."

Sokka glanced down and saw he was still wearing only his sarashi so he quickly grabbed Momo from Dijin's shoulder and used him to cover his shame as he went to get dressed.

After Sokka left the others chose to dress themselves there and hang out with their new companions. Chong was laying on one of Appa's legs as he played his instrument, Dama was currently braiding the fur on Appa's forehead, Lily was braiding Katara's hair and also placing flowers in it at certain parts, Aang was learning some dance moves from Za-Cao, and Moku and Dijin were just sitting down playing with Momo.

Suddenly Moku looked at Dijin and said "Hey Dijin, have you ever wanted to Air-bend?"

Dijin confused asked "What do you mean? I'm an Earth-bender. Why would I-

Moku cut him off waving his hand and saying "No, no. What I mean is..." Moku then reached into his robe and pulled out a foot long dragon pipe and a bag of green flowers before saying "Have you ever wanted to Air-bend?"

Dijin smirked wildly before saying "Why didn't you say so! Let's Air-bend brother!"

Moku smiled wildly as well before the two started to take turns with the pipe while Sokka came marching back to the group.

Once Sokka was close enough Aang stopped dancing and said "Hey, Sokka, you should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere."

Chong let out a chuckle before saying humbly "Well, not everywhere, little arrowhead, but where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs."

Sokka was about to make a sarcastic reply until he sniffed the air and said "Ugh! What smells like a Skunk-Cat?" He then looked over at Moku and Dijin and witnessed his Lava-bending friend exhale a huge cloud of smoke while holding a dragon pipe.

Dijin then started coughing roughly and while he coughed, he tried speaking saying "Damn... this stuff... is better than... what King Bumi has."

Sokka just slumped forward while thinking to himself "Of course Dijin and Bumi would be doing THAT in their free time."

Aang oblivious to what was going on said excitedly "They said they could take us to see a giant night crawler."

Moku just finished exhaling from the pipe as well before he said "On the way, there's a waterfall That creates a never-ending rainbow!" Moku then fell on his back and stared at the sky completely zoned out.

Sokka after witnessing this grumbled to himself before saying "Look, I hate to be the wet blanket but since Katara's busy and Dijin is..." Sokka glanced at the Lava-bender and saw he was just as zoned out as Moku before saying "Indisposed, I guess it's up to me." Katara glared at her brother for making fun of getting her hair done while He continued speaking saying "We need to get to Omashu. No side tracks, No worms, and definitely No rainbows."

Chong raised his hands at Sokka saying "Whoa! Take it easy my man. Seems like you got a case of destination fever. Your worried too much about where you're going."

Liliy finished her husband's sentence saying "You gotta focus less on the where and more on the going."

Sokka just gave the carefree couple a deadpan stare while saying "OH...MA...SHU!"

Katara looked at the couple apologetically saying "Despite Sokka's rude way of putting it, he is right. We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn Earth-bending somewhere safe."

Chong sat up from his spot saying "Well, sounds like you're headed to Omashu."

Sokka facepalmed himself after hearing Chong's aloof comment before Chong spoke again saying "There's an old story about a secret pass...Right through the mountains."

Katara having gotten used to the troupe's aloof attitude looked at Chong skeptically before asking "Is this a real story or a legend?"

Chong smiled at her saying "Oh, It's a real legend and its as old as Earth-bending itself." Chong then started to play his Shamisen while singing way off key, Lily started playing her flute, and Moku started beating his drum while Dama and Za-Cao were dancing to the music as Chong's song started.

'Two lovers... forbidden from one another... a war divides their people... and a mountain divides them apart... built a path to be together-' Chong stopped singing to say "Yeah, so, I forget the next couple verses, but the finale goes like-" Chong then started strumming his Instrument while singing in a loud climatic voice saying 'SECRET TUNNEL! SECRET TUNNEL! THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN! SECRET, SECRET TUNNEL! YEAH!"

Aang and Katara clapped politely to Chong's performance while Dijin stared at his hands as he clapped still a little zoned out. Sokka however just crossed his arms with a frown saying "Nice song but I think we'll stick with flying-"

Sokka was suddenly cut off by a now suddenly sober Dijin saying "What! No! Let's go through the cave with a song written about it. That's so much better than flying!"

Sokka and the rest ignored him while Sokka continued his earlier statement saying "We've dealt with Fire Nation before and we'll be fine, flying or otherwise." Sokka then went to pack his things onto Appa.

As Sokka and a reluctant Dijin packed up Appa Aang spoke to Chong next saying "Thanks for the help and advice, but Appa hates going underground. And we gotta do what makes Appa happy."

Dijin felt a sudden chill go down his spine as he said "Why do I have feeling that comment is going to come back and bite us?"

10 minutes later...

"AND HOW IS THIS BETTER THAN WALKING THROUGH A CAVE GUYS!" shouted a terrified and pissed off Dijin as the Gaang dodged flaming metal boulders while flying on Appa.

After the Gaang had taken off to go to Omashu they were immediately ambushed by a battalion of Fire-benders with trebuchets. However, unlike before when Dijin could just bend the boulders away the Fire Nation had updated their ammunition to metal boulders after the Battle of the North Pole. Now due to this turn of events, they were forced to dodge and weave their way around enemy fire while trying to find an escape route.

Then after what seemed like hours of dodging enemy fire and flying in multiple different patterns the Gaang was able to finally lose their pursuers.

So now they were all walking on foot each of them covered in black soot as they approached Chong and his group again.

Chong looked at his young companions shocked but before he could say anything Sokka held up his hand in the stop motion before pointing in the direction of the path they were walking on and saying "Secret Love cave, let's go." He then marched forward not bothering to wait for anyone.

Chong just shrugged his shoulders before he and his group grabbed their things and joined the others in catching up to Sokka

xxLine Breakxx

After the Gaang got cleaned up Chong and his troupe led them on a hike to find the Cave of Two Lovers.

As they walked Sokka asked Chong "Hey, how far away are we from the tunnel?"

Chong replied from his spot up front saying "Actually, It's not just one tunnel. The lovers didn't want anyone finding out about their relationship. So, they built a whole labyrinth."

Sokka ran up to him before shouting "A labyrinth!?"

Chong just gave Sokka a carefree smile before saying "I'm sure we can figure it out."

Sokka just growled in annoyance before reluctantly continuing on the path.

As the group continued Lily spoke up saying "All you have to do is trust in love, according to the curse at least."

Sokka just stopped walking before throwing his arms out in exasperation while shouting "There's a curse too!" The group just ignored him while he quickly caught up to them.

Finally, after 30 minutes of walking the large group came across the entrance to the Cave of Two Lovers.

Once they were close enough Chong shouted happily "Hey, hey! We're here!"

Sokka noticed a plaque by the entrance that read 'enter at own peril' before he asked "What exactly is this curse?"

Lily spoke up saying "The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through these caves."

Chong finished her thought saying "Yeah, otherwise you'll be trapped forever and die." Chong then brightened up saying "hey, hey! I remembered the last verse to that song!" Chong then strummed his shamisen and sung deeply saying 'And Dieeeeeeeeee'

Sokka having heard enough shouted "That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!"

Suddenly though Moku pointed in the direction they came from and said a little zoned out still "Hey look! Someone's making a big campfire."

The Gaang looked at where Moku was pointing and saw a cloud of black smoke. Dijin recognizing the familiar sign spoke with a hardened gaze saying "That's no campfire Moku. It's the Fire nation they've caught up with us. Aang tell Appa sorry but we have to go through the cave now."

Aang looked at the dark cave and then Katara before asking "So, this cave. We only have to trust in love and we can make it through?"

Chong smiled and snapped his fingers saying "Correctomundo, master arrowhead."

Aang nodded his head before saying "Okay, let's go." he then calmed Appa down enough to start leading him into the cave as the others quickly followed.

Then just as the group disappeared into the darkness of the cave the Fire Nation showed up in a squad of tanks.

Once the tanks came to a halt one of the hatches opened reveling a soldier as he shouted "The Avatar went inside the cave! Do we follow sir?"

A hatch on another tank opened revealing a soldier in a commander uniform as he shouted "NO! Are you crazy!? Haven't you heard the song?" The commander then glared at the cave and said "Trap them inside. Let the cave do the rest."

The soldier nodded his head as he gave the order and then all the tanks aimed their grappling hooks at the top of the cave before opening fire. One by one the hooks embedded themselves into the rock before the tanks retracted the chains attached to the hooks making the entrance collapse.

xxLine Breakxx

Inside the cave the group hadn't gotten very far before they felt the entrance collapse behind them and rocks started falling from the ceiling.

Once the dust settled Appa roared in distress and ran towards the entrance and tried to claw the rocks away but to no avail.

Aang walked up to his bison and said "It's gonna be ok buddy. I'm right here with you."

Sokka just had a smirk and said "Well, luckily we have a solution to this dilemma." Sokka then started to wave his hands in a jazzy fashion before saying "May I present to you... Dijin the Earth-bender!" Sokka then presented Dijin like a prize while said Earth-bender looked at him with a frown and said "Why do I feel like punching you right now."

Sokka just chuckled nervously before saying apologetically "Please move the rocks?"

Dijin just sighed and said "Just stand back." Dijin went to approach the entrance and once he was close enough, he tried to move some rocks from the top by raising his hands but as soon as the rocks so much as jiggled the whole cave started to shake making Dijin immediately stop.

The Earth-bender looked around the cave saying "Whoa. Okay, so it looks like due to how old these tunnels are and the Fire Nations stupid move the whole tunnel systems integrity is compromised."

Chong and all the other musicians just looked at him all saying "What?"

Dijin sighed and simplified it saying "If I Earth-bend the tunnels will collapse."

The musicians all said in unison "Ohhhhh."

Sokka chose then to speak up saying "Well, time for plan B then." Sokka then looked at Chong and Lily who had some torches on them and asked "Chong, how long do those torches last?"

Chong looked at the torch in his hand then the bundle in his bag and said "Um, I'd say about two hours each."

Sokka nodded his head before climbing onto Appa to grab some supplies. He then climbed down holding a blank piece of parchment and a charcoal pen. He then placed the parchment on the ground before starting to draw and say "I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been. Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through."

Sokka then picked up his map and began walking leading the others while sketching the path ahead of them.

Sadly, after about an hour walking the group kept constantly running into dead ends. Which led them to their current predicament as they stood in front a rock-wall.

Katara getting a little worried looked at her brother and said "Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to."

Sokka looked at his map and then the wall saying "I don't understand. this doesn't make any sense. We already came this way."

Chong with his carefree attitude said "We don't need a map. We just need love. master arrowhead knows it."

Aang just replied "Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map also."

Sokka looked at the wall and said "There's something strange going on here. There's only one explanation I can think of... the tunnels are changing."

Dijin's eyes widened before saying "Chong hand me a torch."

Chong grabbed a torch from his bag and handed it to Dijin who instantly ignited it and went to the wall. Dijin then started inspecting the wall closely running his hands along certain grooves before he said "Sokka's right! Someone or something created this wall once we left earlier."

Then just as he said that the tunnels started to shake again signifying someone was actually changing the tunnels.

Chong after feeling the tunnel shake started to freak out a little saying "The tunnels... They're a- changing. It must be the curse." he then started to crouch down and hold his head saying "Oh I knew we shouldn't have come down here."

Both Dijin and Sokka frowned at Chong. Dijin frowned because he was starting to get annoyed with the carefree musician and Sokka frowned because he was annoyed period.

Katara suddenly spoke up saying "Everyone quiet! Listen."

The group quieted down and sure enough deep in the cave they could hear a distant wailing that was getting closer.

Momo being the smart animal he was sensed danger and flew off of Dijin's shoulder making the Earth-bender tense up.
Then suddenly a flying Creature with fangs came diving after the group making them all dodge to the sides of the cave.

The creature landed and the group got a look at it. Its body was covered in brown fur, it had four legs and paws, it had two 6-foot-long wings on its back, but the most terrifying thing about the creature was that it's head was that of a vampire bat complete with fangs dripping with drool.

Chong scared yelled "it's a scary flying thing with teeth!"

Moku corrected his friend shouting "No! It's A Wolf-Bat!"

The animal charged again this time at Sokka. Dijin went to save him by making a quick chopping motion to create a small pillar to knock the animal away. However, in his haste to save his friend Dijin knocked Sokka to ground making him drop his torch onto Appa's foot.

The Sky Bison roared in pain and started to jump and run into the walls of the cave making the Wolf-Bat run away in fear.

However, due to Appa's thrashing the caves integrity gave in and the ceiling started to collapse.

Dijin seeing there wasn't enough time to save everyone thrusted his hands forward bending the ground under all the musicians and Sokka getting them out of the way. While Aang seeing Katara was in trouble ran and tackled her out the way as well while the tunnel fully collapsed.

Once the dust settled there was now a huge pile of rocks trapping Aang, Katara, and Appa on one side. While also trapping Dijin, Sokka, Momo, and the musicians on the other side."

Sokka seeing the pile instantly ran to it and started to desperately claw at the rocks saying "Come on we gotta dig e'm out. Dijin, help me with some Earth-bending!"

Dijin looked at Sokka regrettably saying "I can't. If I do any more than I already have the whole tunnel system could collapse."

Sokka looked at him desperately saying "That's my sister on the other side!"

Dijin just said "I know, but you also gotta remember. Katara is a strong woman and can take care of herself."

Sokka just lowered his head in sadness before Chong spoke up saying "Don't worry Sokka. Things might be low now but at least you have us!"

Chong and his friends presented themselves then like a show group as Sokka screamed in despair saying "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

xxLine Breakxx

After Sokka calmed down he took charge again and grabbed his map then started to try and find a way out of the cave again.

Chong however thought it would be good idea to sing about the cave in they just had and started playing his instrument while his friends danced around him as he sang 'Oh, don't let the cave in get you down... Don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into a frown...When the tunnel's as dark as that's when you need a clown...' Chong and his group moved ahead of Sokka and Dijin as he finished his song singing 'Don't let the cave in get you down, Sokkkkka.'

Dijin just frowned at the display and said quietly "I thought the singing was funny at first but now I'm getting pissed off."

Sokka raised an eyebrow at his friend and said harshly "Your just now getting pissed? I've been that way since this whole mess started!"

The two just sighed in annoyance as Chong started to play another song and Dijin growled out "If I hear him play one more song. I'm gonna break that damn instrument."

Sokka just glared at Chong and said "I won't stop you."

The two then made their way up front again so Sokka could map the cave properly and sadly once again they came across another dead end.

Moku having come down from his pipe groaned before saying "Oh, great! Your plans have led us to another dead end."

Sokka just glared at the large man before angrily saying "At least I'm trying to get us out of here instead of walking around stoned! Moku!"

Moku just looked away embarrassed while Dijin suddenly noticed something on the wall and snatched a torch out of Chong's hand before walking over.

Once he was close enough, he saw a small image of the two lovers kissing but noticed a small indentation on their heads so he pressed it. Next thing he knew the wall suddenly slid sown surprising everyone.

Sokka ran over to Dijin and asked "What did you do?"

Dijin just replied "I don't know." He then walked into the opening he made the torch he had lighting up the area.

Everyone's eyes widened in shock and saw that they were in a large room full of tributes to the two lovers. The tributes ranged from many things, paintings, scrolls, chests of coins, and even a hand-woven portrait of the lovers made out of silk.

Dijin looked at the back wall and saw pictures with descriptions on them under the large silk portrait.

He walked over and carefully held the torch so he could see the images and his eyes once again widened as he shouted "Guys! Come and see this!"

The others all came over to him and once they were all close enough, he spoke saying "Look at these." He then pointed at the pictures and said "They tell the story of the two lovers. The legend is real!"

Dijin then pointed at the first picture and started to tell the story saying "The two lovers met on a mountain top that divided their two villages. The villages were enemies, so they could not be together. But their love was strong, and they found a way. The two lovers learned Earth-bending from the Badger-moles. They became the first Earth-benders. They built elaborate tunnels so that they could meet secretly. Anyone who tried to follow then would be lost forever in the labyrinth. But one day, the man didn't come. He died in the war between their two villages. Devastated, the woman unleashed a terrible display of Earth-bending power. She could have killed them all... but instead she declared the war over. Both villages united and helped build a new city where they would live together in peace. The woman was named Oma, and the man was named Shu. The great city was named Omashu as a monument to their love. The two lovers teach us this, that love is always brightest in the dark."

The group looked at the silk portrait in awe while Dijin felt a newfound respect for his home and couldn't wait to share this story with King Bumi.

Sokka spoke up after a few minutes and said "As great as that story is we still need to figure a way out of here."

Chong suddenly brightened then and said "Wait, we're trying to figure a way out? Because I've had an Idea for like an hour now."

Dijin just growled with a twitching eyebrow as Sokka yelled exasperatingly "YES! We are all trying to figure a way out!"

Chong nodded his head saying "Ok, so you know how the story says you need love to make it through the dark?"

Both Sokka and Dijin trepidly said "Yes?"

Chong then smiled and said "Ok, so all we have to do is sing a love song."

Chong then started to strum his shamisen and was about to sing again until Dijin shouted "Enough with the singing!" he then grabbed the instrument and fulfilled his promise by smashing it against the wall completely destroying it.

Chong just looked at the remains of his shamisen and said blankly "Not cool Earth-bender man."

Sokka and Dijin just ignored him while Sokka said "Come on, I think I know another way we can try."

The group then continued on their trek and for once without obnoxious music and singing.

Then after walking for another hour, the group decided to take a small break while Sokka and Dijin went over the map.

Suddenly though they started to hear a familiar wailing and growling. Then sure enough an entire horde of Wolf-Bats came charging at the group. Dijin and Sokka tried to fight them off but for some reason the animals were ignoring the group completely and running straight down the tunnel.

Dijin noticing this stopped resisting while speaking to Sokka saying "Sokka stop. They're not attacking. they're running from something."

Sokka looked at the fleeing animals and said "What in spirit's name can scare a horde of Wolf-Bats?"

Then as if to answer Sokka's question the tunnel they were in started to shake before two sections of the wall burst open kicking up a dust cloud. Once the dust settled the group was scared beyond belief because on either side of the group was a fully grown Badger-Mole.

The creatures were huge being a couple sizes larger than Appa, they had brown fur with a black and white patch going down their head and to their back, they had pointed snouts with black noses, their eyes were pure white showing they were blind, they had two huge front paws that were wide and fat but with claws that were at least ten feet long, their back legs were smaller but had muscle to them, and lastly, they had long white furry tails that swished back and forth in agitation.

Dijin spoke sarcastically to Sokka saying "Does this answer your question?"

Sokka just slumped forward defeated saying "Yeah, and I hate it."

The Badger-Mole to their right suddenly acted slamming his front paws down and Earth-bending a wall behind itself so the group couldn't run.

The quickly turned to their left and saw the second Badger-Mole slam its paws down before curling them inwards. Then the Earth erupted around the group creating an Earth-ring trapping them.

Dijin looked at the Badger-Moles and realized that they were the ones messing with tunnels. His eyes then widened as he remembered something from his training with King Bumi.

Dijin without a word suddenly ran forward and got in front of one the Badger-Moles and started to lower and raise his forearms creating small Earth-pillars in a certain pattern.

Sokka looked at his friend as if he was insane before shouting "What are doing?! your going to get yourself killed!"

Dijin just frustratingly yelled back saying "Shut up Sokka! I need to concentrate here. Don't interrupt!"

Suddenly the Badger-Mole in front of Dijin started to respond to him creating slightly larger pillars but in a pattern as well.

Sokka watched in amazement as Dijin seemingly talked to the Badger-Mole using Earth-bending and soon after a few minutes the Badger-Moles put the tunnel back the way it was. Then both of them lowered themselves to the ground implying for the group to climb on them.

Dijin looked at the group and said "It's perfectly safe. They understand we are just lost and trying to find the exit so they said they'll give us a ride out of here.

The Musicians were instantly onboard and climbed onto one of the large creatures while Sokka looked at his friend with a raised eyebrow saying "How did you know to do that?"

Dijin just shrugged his shoulders saying "Back when King Bumi was training me he kept a pair of Badger-moles as pets and also as Sparring partners. So, eventually I picked up since they're blind, they speak and see through the vibrations in the ground."

Sokka just looked at the Lava-bender with a hanging jaw before saying "Only King Bumi would spar against a Badger-Mole."

Dijin just started to climb onto the Badger-Mole before looking back at Sokka saying "What are you talking about? The Badger-Moles were for me to spar with."

Sokka jaw just started hanging again before falling back in shock.

Once Sokka composed himself The Badger-Moles started to Earth-bend their way through the labyrinth and before they knew it, they came bursting out of two sides of the wall next to the exit.

Dijin and Sokka looked down from their mount and saw Aang, Katara, and Appa already outside and waving at them.

They climbed down off the Badger-moles along with the musicians. Dijin quickly said goodbye to the helpful creatures with Earth-bending. Then the Badger-Moles went back inside their home and resealed the holes they made.

Sokka ran over to his sister and hugged her before asking "How did you guys get out?"

Aang answered for her saying "Just like the legend says—We let love lead the way."

Sokka just said "Neat. We let giant Earth-bending creatures lead our way."

Aang seeing the musicians were ok went to go talk to them while Chong approached Sokka and Dijin saying "hey guys, don't say anything but I think master arrowhead may be the Avatar."

Sokka instantly had to hold Dijin back as he shouted "Let me hit him once! just once! I'm sick of his dumb remarks!"

Chong oblivious to what was happening said "Well, I hope this little adventure has shown you guy's that you shouldn't focus on the destination too much and more on the journey."

Sokka still holding Dijin said "Just go play your songs."

Chong just smiled and said "Hey, hey! Good idea." Chong then out of nowhere pulled a brand-new Shamisen from his back and started playing while singing 'Don't fall in love with the travelling girl. She'll leave you broke and broken hearted..." Chong then walked away with his troupe to go on their own adventure while the Gaang started their trek to Omashu.

xxLine Breakxx

Since the Gaang had taken the Cave of Two Lovers route the time to reach Omashu was cut in half and now they were about to cross the final hill that led to the gates of the city.

Sokka who was upfront started to say "Well, it's been a long a hard journey but I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of—Oh... Oh No."

Dijin walked next to Sokka and said "What's wr-" Dijin didn't get to finish his sentence because he instantly collapsed to his hands and knees and stared at the horrible sight in front of him.

The great city of Omashu the city Dijin was in charge of protecting and the place he called home was now bearing the Fire Nation flag on its main gates, black smoke bellowed from within the city, and Fire Nation soldiers walked in and out of the city walls freely.

Dijin clenched his fists into the ground as he lowered his head and said in absolute despair "Omashu has fallen."