The twenty-four hours following the introduction were exceedingly uneventful; they had camped near a river somewhere in the mountainous region, and so far managing to avoid the subject of other-worldly beings or "strange poofy lightbending" as Sokka labled it. The morning after proved to be especially disturbing; that is, the only person disturbed was Vegeta.
Even after taking the time to rest and do nothing per the bald child's advice, the Saiyan prince had yet to show any signs of recovery; his body was just fine, just as strong and resilient as always. Of course, perhaps "strong" wasn't the right word: he was currently attempting to lift a huge boulder off the ground, but no matter how much effort he put into it - and we're speaking of planet-destoying degrees of effort - the rock wouldn't budge. There was nothing wrong with his Saiyan muscles, he would have noticed, but he still was unable to utilize or atleast feel the unrivaled power flowing throughout his body (unrivaled on this planet, that is; had the half-breed accompanied him, that would not have been the case...).
Vegeta ran out of breath trying to move the rock; after a few seconds, he tried lifting it again. It was such an alien feeling to him; he couldn't even fly or lift objects more than twice his own size - something he was able to do literally since birth, and he meant literally: as a boy, he would listen to accounts of doctors and nurses of a Saiyian infant firing out of his mother's vagina like a living baby cannonball, at such a velocity that they didn't even have to severe the umbilical cord, smashing the doctor's rib cage inward and rendering him a paraplegic for life. Whenever Vegeta walked, it was only to look imposing in front of others; he never once in his wildest dreams believe it to become...necessary.
He learned quickly not to threaten his new "escorts" - his only guidance to civilization, seeing as he wasn't quite sure how strong he was without his ki; frankly, experience has taught the warrior not to flaunt whatever advantage he had until he knew for sure his opponents weren't holding back a reserved power, and by "experience", he meant "Freiza", or "Cell"...or "Brolly" or...or basically anyone he met succeeding his battle with Kakarot; he didn't care how degrading it was, the Saiyan was not taking any chances with these human children. You can call him paranoid, but only after you get your tail chopped off by an obese samurai...
"So you're not an earthbender after all, huh?" inquired a shrill voice.
Vegeta's concentration broken, he whipped around to see the teenager known as "Sokka", wearing nothing but a white cloth wrapped around his loins to pass off as underwear, his arms crossed.
He sighed, glaring at the boy."Is there something I can help you with, human?" Vegeta demanded as he laid his bare back against the boulder. The "waterbender" had strenuously persuaded him to remove his suit and armor so that she could attempt to scrub off the burn stains; they were currently drying on Appa's horn, so at the moment, he, like Sokka, was stripped down to a pair of flexible black boxer shorts, and he didn't need to reopen his eye to tell that the boy felt emasculated by the Saiyan's physique.
"Actually, yes," answered Sokka," I don't know what life is like on 'your planet', but in this world, when people from a group and are on a journey, the work is evenly divided. I don't care how close we are to Omashu, you better start contributing to the group, or you might as well leave now..." Sokka asserted, and the next thing Sokka knew, Vegeta jammed a good-sized rock into his mouth, effectively silencing him save for the muffled grunts and squawks as he struggled to pull it out.
"There, that contributing enough?" The Saiyan smirked. At the very least, he could still put ninety-pound weaklings in their place...
Despite the violent gesture, the other children giggled at this as they continued their supposed training, which looked more like textbook seduction from where he was reclining."Guess that crosses 'Shut Sokka Up' off the daily to-do list..." the girl joked.
"Or for the morning at least..." the unknowingly seduced bald child added."By the way, Vegeta, you still haven't told us anything about where you came from. I mean, are there any different kinds of benders? What's the name of your bending?"
Sokka would of course had made another skeptical comment, but he was too busy with the rock in his mouth.
The Saiyan just crossed his arms and looked away,"I already told you: there's nothing special about the planet I left; that's why I left it," Vegeta dismissed irritably; he had a feeling if told of the fate of his true homeworld, it would be too much for these naive youths. Besides, that was entirely his business, "Just take me to this 'Omashu', and I'll be out of your hair."
"Out of our hair? Why would we ever want that?" the girl interjected, walking onto dry land,"This is literally the most amazing event in world history! Two worlds, two races converging for the first time; I know you probably do plenty of space travel yourself, but for us? It's like, a turning point in the development of mankind! It could potentially end the conflict that's engulfed our people!"
Vegeta felt the bridge between his eyes: If he had a space-soda for every time he'd heard this speech, he would have some serious gas problems.
"Besides," the boy beamed, walking over to the Saiyan,"I've made it a point to make friends with everyone I meet. And if you really are the prince of another world, that means I can make friends across the universe!" he explained, holding Vegeta's hand.
The space warrior immediately jerked his hand away as if Aang were on fire; no one touches the exposed hand of the Prince, "Grr-Whatever! Just as long as you don't break into song about it..." he grumbled as he spun around, rubbing his violated hand.
Strangely enough, the surrounding area hummed with a faint tune. The Saiyan immediately whipped around and seized Aang up to eye-level."WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY!?"
"That's not me!" Aang quickly defended himself.
As the tune grew louder, the four unison looked over towards the direction it was coming from. Out of nowhere, a small group of humans with odd sorts of clothing seemed to rise up from the horizon as they played on, slowly entering the campsite without even realizing it.
The man in the front, a tall scrawny fellow with a weird red hat and a halfway put-on shirt appears to be leading the way, whichever way that was supposed to be, strumming a pinkish-purple pipa. They continued to sing and dance to some annoying love song blissfully before stopping before the camp.
The kids had only silence to offer; even Vegeta's regular scowl briefly vanished.
"Heh-hey, river people!" The skinny musician beamed.
"We're not river people," Katara replied.
"You're not? Then, what kind of people are ya?"
"Just...people..." was all Aang could think to say.
"Aren't we all, brother? Whoo..." the man lamented.
"Perfect, just what I was hoping for on this planet: hippies..." thought Vegeta, which in his subconscious translated "target practice"...soon as he recovered, that is; he hoped these people had an address until then...
After expelling the rock out of his mouth by slamming his fists painfully into his abdomen, the half-naked teen stomped over to the man, pointing an accusing finger."Who are you?"
"I'm Chong, this is my wife Lily," he gestures to the woman, who curtsies,"We're nomads - happy to go whereever the wind takes us."
"You guys are nomads?" Aang repeated,"That's great! I'm a nomad!"
"Hey, me too!" Chong replied. .
"You already told us that..." Vegeta reminded.
"...oh..." Chong recalled, scanning Vegeta,"...Hey, nice underwear..."
The Saiyans expression couldn't have been more flat."...Is my suit dry yet?" He asked the waterbender rather hastily.
It took a while, but Vegeta was eventually fully dressed like everyone else, having walked quite a distance to find the ideal place (he wasn't changing anywhere near that pipa playing freak...)."Alright, I'm ready to depart, onward to Omashu," the prince ordered his "subjects", just then pulling on his glove.
The bald child turned to the Saiyan with a smile."Hey, Vegeta, you should hear some of these stories. These guy've been everywhere!"
The hippy stopped playing his instrument."Well, not everywhere, little arrowhead. But where we haven't been, we've heard through songs and stories..."
"Tch, 'everywhere'..." Vegeta scoffed," I have traveled across the entirety of the universe, I've seen everything that is to be seen. Why, I was even sent to the pit of Hell once, and miraculously resurrected by sheer technicality..." he tightened his fist in remembrance,"I doubt you insipid neanderthals have even yet to breach your own atmosphere!"
The whole area seemed to stare at him awkwardly...
"...I've seen a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow..." the fat one recalled lethargically.
Vegeta's scowl-less expression returned.
Sokka sighed."Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara's busy, I guess it's up to me.." he began, with his sister shooting him a breif glance,"Vegeta's right, need to get to Omashu. No sidetracks, no waterfalls, and definitely no Hell." he counted with his fingers.
"Whoa, looks like you guys've got a case of 'destination fever'; heh, you're worried too much about where you're going..." the skinny hippie explained.
"You've got to focus less on the 'where', and more on the 'going'," the hippie wife added.
"O..." Vegeta began.
"Ma..." Sokka continued.
"Shu..."Vegeta finished.
"You're right, guys," Katara consigned,"We need to get to Omashu so that Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe. We're also escorting an alien prince to the nearest city so he can recover from his injuries."
Completely unoccupied, the teen took the opportunity to facepalm.
"Well, sounds like you guys're headed to Omashu," Chong deduced, causing the Saiyan to facepalm as well," There's a story about an old secret pass...right through the mountains..." he explained like an old ghost story.
"Is this real or a legend?" Katara inquired for confirmation.
"Oh, it's a real legend - as old as earthbending itself," Then, to Vegeta's greater annoyance, began playing an even more annoying love song then before...
"Two lovers, forbidden from one another
The waaar diviiides their peoplllle
And mountain diviiides them apart...
Built a path to be be together
"Duh, I forgot the next the couple 'o lines, but then it goes..."
"SECRET TUNNLE!
SECRET TUNNLE!
Through the mountain,
SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET-!"
That was all the singer could say before the Saiyans snatched the instrument from his hands and savagely broke it in half with his knee." ENOUGH OF YOUR MUSIC!" he roared, throwing the pieces into the river.
The group was momentarily stunned from his outburst...until Chong simply pulled an identical pipa out from behind him."When it comes to music, I'm always prepared." he said to no one in particular and started playing the tune again, just humming this time.
Vegeta was on the verge of a stroke at this point..."...That's it, I'm out of here..." he finalized, turning around and walking out of the camp.
Aang and Katara naturally threw a concerned glance at the alien."Vegeta, are you sure you want to leave now? There might be a bunch of Fire Nation scouts out there, and this cave could be the only safe route to Omashu..."
"Please," the prince blew the comment, not even facing him,"I don't need your sympathy. Ki or no ki, I'm an unequaled fighter; these 'firebenders' you speak of poeses no threat..."
"LAUNCH" the Fire Nation commander ordered, his subordinates launching multiple flaming sulfur boulders and fireballs, all shelling Vegeta like a carpet bomb, blowing him away Team Rocket-style.
Vegeta fell to the dirt right in the path of Aang and the nomads, "On second thought, I could use the company..." the energy-less calmly Vegeta reasoned, his suit once again stained with burn marks and his head covered in ashes.
After another wash, The group were now on they're way to the cave, walking along a road with ruined temples in the background.
"This tunnel'd better be real, hippie..." Vegeta threatened.
"Actually, it's not just one tunnel," Chong explained,"The lovers didn't want anyone to find out their love, so they built a whole labrynth..."
Sokka wheeled around in shock."Labrynth!?"
"I'm sure we'll figure it out..." the musician mused.
"All you need to do, is trust in love," Lily said,"...according to the curse..."
At this, the teen paused long enough for the others to pass him; then when no one was looking, he attempted to release his frustration a quick burst of writhing and convulsions...it didn't work..."Curse!?" he whined.
The Saiyan clenched his fist in annoyance. The almighty Vegeta, force to navigate through a cave like some ant! In any other senario, he'd just fly over to the city on his own, and leave these insects to slowly starve to death underground. But no, the divine entity that oversees creation itself (he couldn't whether it was that King Kai person that taught Kakarot the Kaio-thingy, or the little green Namekian...") has decided to strip the prince of his mobility and drop down amongst the lesser beings. At least insects can fly...
Though the Saiyan was still perplexed as to how that could've happened. Could it be that the gravity of this world is so intense that it takes an exeptional amount of energy just to walk? No, that couldn't be it; if it took that much effort, the prince would obviously be aware of that since he would have to use his ki to stand upright; and, if it were that difficult, a simple transition to Super Saiyan would be enough to resist it completely, which he was also unable to do as if he had never done it before. He shot a distrustfull glance at the children. It could very well be that these inhabitance had downed his spacepod and drugged him with somekind of ki-draining poison, leading him into a trap within this cave. After all, few tounges in the universe had gone without spreading word of the terror that is Vegeta, let alone the Saiyan race, and these supposed "humanoids" could be in fact a band of alien bounty hunters, perhaps each one a member of a species rendered criticly endangered by some of Frieza's global purges, that have gathered to take revenge for their lost kind upon the only being left to be credibly held responsible for the tragedies. After all, there' no way people of any race could be this stupid...although, if the late Kakarot were any indication, he wouldn't put it past them just yet...
Before he knew it, they were standing before an enormous opening in the face of the mountain, more than lage enough to accomodate the bison. There was a small plague in the wall, no doubt the name of the labrynth in some alien writing, which suspicously resembled the Japenese caligrafy of the previous Earth.
"So, about this so-called 'curse'..." Vegeta inquired.
"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make through the caves," Chong continued," Otherwise you'll trapped in them forever..."
"...And die..." Lily added.
"O-Oh yeah, and die..." he paused..."...Hey! I just remembered the rest of the song..." he stroked his pipa dramaticly.
"And diiiiiiiie..." he sung in a deep voice.
"I don't suppose you have a third one of those...?" The prince asked preemptively.
"Nope, this is my last pipa, sorry..."
"Good," Vegeta replied before seizing the instrument and snapping in two the same way as before, casually tossing the pieces aside and crossing his arms...only for the musican to seemlessly pull a different intrument out of nowhere.
"Good thing I brought a sitar!" Chong beemed.
At this, the Saiyan instantly fell to the ground anime-style.
The group stared at him awkwardly as he got up."How'd you fall over?" Aang wanted to know.
"Oh nothing, just paralyzed by a blast of pure stupid..." Vegat blew it off, fully upright.
"Wow, I didn't know you could get hurt by something like that. Is that a weakness of a your species?" Katara wondered.
Once again, Sokka face-palmed.
"Is that a weakness of your species?" Vegeta retorted, gesturing to the boy.
"mmNo, it's mostly Water Tribe-exclusive..." was the girl's response as the sound of rumbling machinery echoed throught the crevice.
The group turned around to see several steam-powered tanks in the distance barreling straight towards them.
"Blast, they found me!" thought Vegeta.
"Oh, so that's where that's where that smoke was coming from..." Chong realized.
"What!?" Sokka inquired,"You mean you saw the smoke? Why didn't you say anything!?" he lunged into the musician's face.
"I dunno, I just thought it might be some smoke-breathing, mountain monster..." the hippie explained.
"You mean...it wasn't a campfire?" the fat one asked slowly.
The bald child turned over to Chong."So, all you need is love to get throught the caves?"
"That's correct, master Arrowhead..." Chong confirmed.
The boy's glance shifted towards the waterbender, seemingly mesmerized by the older girl even from behind.
Chong and Lily faced each other and smiled deeply.
Vegeta noticed the fat one standing next to him was gazing upon him romanticly as well; his face lost some color...
"Everyone into the hole!" Sokka commanded, the rest following (with the Saiyan quickening his pace).
As soon as they were at least sixty feet into the tunnel, they heard futher rumbling as they whelled around and saw the entrance crumbling behind them, their light scoucre being gradually cut off until it was completely dark...
As soon as Chong lit a torch, the bison, apparently afraid of caves for an unknown reason, was seen franticly searching for a another exit, digging at the pile of rocks with his clawless feet.
"It's okay Appa we'll be fine...I hope..." Katara tried to comfort the animal.
"Hey, Vegeta..." Aang hatched an idea,"maybe if you're recovered, you and I could combine our airbending to blast our way out of this cave!"
"I already told you, boy, I'm not an airbender! And believe me, if I were recovered, you'd know..." the Sayain retorted, crossing his arms.
"I'm just tossing ideas around..." Aang replied.
"Don't worry, Vegeta, I'm sure you'll get your bending back soon..." Katara tried to comfort Vegeta, using the exact same tone as on Appa
"Riiiight. Any way, Chong, how long do those candles last?" Sokka asked
"Eh 'bout two hours each..." he said.
"And we have five torches, so that's..." Lily gathered all the canldes and lighted them all at once,"ten hours!"
The teen balked, then snatched the candles and stomped them out."It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!"
"Ohhhh, right..." the woman realized.
"Somehow, I doubt this world will be known for its logic puzzles..." Vegeta lamented, shaking his head.
"Oh yeah? What's your world known for, Space-Man?" Sokka retorted.
"Wait till the next full moon and you'll find out!" the Saiyian replied, stomping over to the teen.
"Guys! Seriously!" Aang interjected, his hands raised pleadingly; he sighed."Look, Sokka, you should make a map to keep track of where we've been. Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through." he explained.
"Good-thinking," Sokka said, producing a piece of paper,"Who's got a pen?"
"I have one!" the fat one beamed, taking one out from his underwear.
Vegeta twitched,"This is going to be a looong enterprise..."
It felt as if hours had gone by, though it was only about fifteen minutes, not that being trapped underground with some new-age fops made life more pleasant. And as if Fate (Be he Kaio-sama or Little Green) couldn't be more cruel, the closest hippie's name in question just happened to be "Moku" - one letter away from his arch-nemesis, who was probably laughing at him from up there; or perhaps the clown felt jealous of him, as sick as his low-class mind was. It didn't, however, take any more than five minutes for the prince to decide he was sick of these hippies in general, particularly the one called Chong; the Sayian would have felt welcome to brake his latest instrument, but he really didn't care to see how many more he was concealing.
Vegeta could, at least for the time being, distract himself with the intellectual discussion taking place...
"Are we there yet?" Chong asked.
"No," Vegeta replied mundanely.
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"Are we there yet?"
"No..."
"Are we there yet?"
"No.."
"Are we there yet?"
"NO..."
"Are we there yet?"
"NO...!"
"Well how do you know? You're just as lost as I am..." the musician reminded.
The Vegeta spun around."THEN WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME!?" he demanded.
The skinny hippie shrugged."I just thought we were playing twenty-questions..."
The Saiyan stared at the man befuddled for a few moments..."FINAL FLASH!" he roared at top of his lungs as he shoved his cupped hands inches from the hippie's face. Nothing happened, but his sudden blaring voice scared Appa's fur off, causing the huge mammal to go crazy and ram the sides of the wall, causing the tunnel to quake, which in turn caused tons of rocks to fall, saparating the group from Aang and Katara, and not to mention the entrance to/only known exit from the labyrinth.
Sokka began frantically digging through as futility as the bison, who was with the other two now.
Chong calmly put his hand on Sokka's shoulder."Yeah, it's no use. We're separated. But at least you have us," he chuckled.
Sokka looked between him, his group, and Vegeta..."NNNNNOOOOOOOOOO!" he shrieked, clawing at the stone even harder, resulting in a much smaller cave in to cover his head.
The Saiyan blinked."Hm...whoops..."
"Yoouuu..." hiss the teen, turning around and arising menacingly,"You did this! We're trapped down here forever because of YOU!"
"Watch your tone, 'Sohka', or else I'll send you to oblivion..." Vegeta crossed his arms.
Lily paused in confusion."But, how can you send us anywhere if we're trapped in a cave forever?"
Sokka charged Vegeta, intending to tackle him, but instead he only ended up hurting his head against Vegeta's Saiyan abs, Sokka's fingers twitching.
"By Dende's antennae, you're the most pathetic human I've ever seen..." Vegeta shook his head, shoving Sokka onto his back.
"At least I didn't cause a cave-in, you maniac!" Sokka snapped.
"Well of course not," Chong said,"The buffalo did it."
"Once I figure out how to kill this guy, you're next!" The teen growled with clutched fists.
"Will you relax?" Vegeta dismissed."You forget you're talking to a Saiyan; I can go through these pebbles in less than a second." he said as he paced over to said pile.
Sokka couldn't palm his face rapidly enough."How many times do I have to say this!? You're NOT a space-man! You don't have any powers!"
"He's from space?" Lily asked.
"Wha-No! I just said he wasn't!"
"What planet are you from?" Moku wondered.
"Planet Vegeta," he answered in a beat.
At this, the teen, again, facepalmed."Seriously!? You came from a world named after you?"
"No, I came from a world named after my father, whom conquered it, whom I am also named after." Vegeta explained.
"Wait, I'm confused," Chong scratched,"Which is Vegeta: the planet, your dad, or you?"
"YES!" Vegeta cried as he swung his gloved fist against the stone, rocking the tunnel with a sound, echoing crack...unfortunately, while the stone was indeed cracked, the endeavor far from effortless.
The Saiyan's eyes were blood shot, his body frozen, his fist twitching."...fffffffffffFUUUUUUUUUU-!"
"Prince Zuko! Watch your language!" Iroh rebuked."We're in the middle of company!"
Zuko glared at Iroh."That wasn't me!"
Song's eyes became quizzical."I thought you said you're name was Lee...?"
The Fire Nation fugitives stared at eachother nervously.
A rather disturbed expression grew on the facee of Song's mother."Did...you just call him...Prince Zuko...?"
The temperature of the living room decreased from the tension.
"RUN!" General Iroh exclaimed.
Zuko and Iroh immediately snatched all the food from the table that they could get their hands on, and dashed out of the small cottage, stealing their ostrich horses and using them to bolt off into the horizon.
Vegeta rolled around the dirt, snarling out every bad word in the universe he had ever heard.
"...I think that hurt..." Chong deduced.
The brilliant observation earned another face palm from Sokka.
The Saiyan found his body curled up and rocking back and forth like a little child with a paper cut. He yanked his glove off to see the damage...only to be shocked that there was none. Vegeta was dumbfounded, there wasn't a single scratch on his bare knuckles, yet he felt as though Qui had once again shoved Vegeta's hand into a dark matter meat grinder (Though few were privy to this, he was kind of a loser at King Cold's Middle School for Planetary Conquest)
Sokka hunch over."I tried to warn you; but nobody listens to the guy with no bending..."
"What the hell is this place made of!?" The Saiyan demanded.
"Something really hard," Sokka replied,"it's called 'earth'; and unless you're an earthbender, you can't punch through it."
"You have no right to tell me what I can or can't do, you human primitive!" Vegeta barked.
"You're welcome to try again..." Sokka crossed his arms.
Vegeta spun back to look at the wall of boulders; in that moment, it seemed to be even larger than before, and he had merely put a crater in one rock. He halfheartedly spun back." I don't suppose you have a better idea?"
"Look, this labyrinth was carved by people, meaning the tunnels were likely designed to intersect at some points so they wouldn't get lost..." explained Sokka
"Wasn't getting lossed the point of making a labryinth...?"
"Moku! Not helping! All we have to do is navigate through the tunnels until we regroup with Aang and Katara, and make it out of this stupid cave and into Omashu. In the mean-time, we'll just follow Aang's plan and trace our steps with a make-shift map."
"Fine but I'm making the map," Vegeta replied, snatching the paper and pen from the teen's hands, pacing forward, "I'm not going to let you idiots drag me along any further..." he concluded on his way.
"Lead the way, veggie-man..." Moku encouraged.
One Hour Later...
Oh, don't let the cave get you down...
Chong played on with his sitar...
Don't let the falling rocks turn-you-smi-le intoafrown...
When the tunnels are darkest, that's when you need a clown-HEY!
Don't let the cave get you down, Space Maaaaaaan..." he leaned over to the scowling Sayian as he stopped for now.
"...Is there any song you know that ISN'T about CAVES!?" Vegeta growled.
The musician held his chin in contemplation for a second...
Oh I'm a gopher-bear...
Yes I'm a gopher-bear!
I'm a fuzzy, chubby, cabbage-eating gopher-bear!
Vegeta's head hung low...
Two Hours Later...
"Oh great, your plans have led us straight to another dead-end!" Moku complained, as even he had grown weary of the song's.
"At least we're thinking of ideas, Moku..." Sokka retorted.
"Whoa, Whoa, wait a minute, we're thinking of ideas?" Chong realized." 'Cause I've had an idea for, like, an hour now..."
Sokka slowly pressed his palm against his face, then slowly dragged his fingers down his lips."Yes, Chong, We're all thinking...OF IDEAS!" he reminded.
"Well listen to this: if love is the key out of here, then all we need to do is play a love song!" he speculated, playing his instrument once more.
Sokka eyed Vegeta."How hard can you smack someone else's face?"
"Throw in an extra ten thousand Zeni, and I'll send your disembodied head flying..." Vegeta answered.
Suddenly the ground begins to quake again, catching the attention of the entourage.
Out of nowhere, an enormous furry beast erupted through the wall behind them; then another beast burst through the dead-end.
"BADGER MOLES!" Moku whaled.
The other players dropped their instruments in terror.
While Vegeta was momentarily taken off guard, he snorted and tossed the map aside."Oh what, you think I'm intimidated by these over-grown rats?" he assumed a battle posed.
"What part of 'you have no almighty space-powers' do you not understand!?" Sokka reminded fearfully.
"Please, even without my ki, I've still been endowed with the natural dexterity of a Saiyan Super-Elite!"
A second later, the badger mole in front decided to stomp over to Vegeta and back-handed him into a wall.
Vegeta was sprawled against the wall, his "dexterous" body forming an impression in the stone."Grrfltpnighulserfn...mem..." he mumbled as he gradually slipped from the earth and flopped onto the ground. Vegata strenously pushed himself beck into concsousness, soon enough to notice a giant shadow looming over him. The Saiyan shook the dizziness out of his head and jumped to his feet."It's going to take a lot more than a huge furry bitch-slap to falter the pride of a Saiyan...!" He announced as he epically lunged into the beast fact with a cocked fist, only to be slapped again, sent screaming and rolling down the tunnel...Vegeta then sprung from the darkness with another might yell, again assaulting the huge monster, resulting in him being sent tumbling down to the tunnel again...then he dashed out from the darkness and charged the giant badger again, only to be again sent rolling down the tunnel...this pattern continued on like clockwork.
The other badger mole swerved its large head towards Sokka with a quizzical glance.
"Don't look at me; I just met the guy..." Sokka dismissed.
Fed up with this repetition, the other badger mole made sure its next swing would come from above smashing the incoming Saiyan into the ground, leaving him once again stuck in the rock.
"You see...?" Vegeta hazily taunted,"I am completely unharmed, I merely feel tremendous pain...ow..." he wheezed.
With Vegeta dealt with, the badger mole smacked him back against the wall, while the other badger mole isolated the teen from the group with earthbending. It sent a shockwave that knocked Sokka into the wall near Vegeta. Sokka crawled backward, nearing the Saiyan as both moles closed in; however, Sokka's arm happened to come across something on the away - another one of Chong's guitars. His finger accidentally grazed one of the strings, the tune echoing through out the cave; the beast stopped growling as they heard it. Vegata and Sokka paused in confusion until they realized the truth...
"H-Hey! They're music lovers!" Chong vocalized.
Sokka immediately grabbed the instrument and repeatedly stroked the same string, singing off the top of his head as he did so..."Badger moooles, coming toward me; com'on guuuys, help me out..."
That was all the teen could muster before the Saiyan rented the sitar from his grasp."Give me that, you moron! CAN'T YOU PLAY FOR YOUR LIFE!?"
The pair of beasts were clearly aggravated at Vegeta for interrupting Sokka's song; noting this, the prince immediately began rapidly striking random cords on the sitar with all his fingers, and began singing the first lyrics that popped in his head: "Mysteries abound, made up a deep energy, Foes all around, but I will go, fearless and free...!"
The animals were far more intrigued by this new song...
It wasn't long before the whole group was riding the two beasts, all happily playing and singing in unison along with Vegeta...
"Don't stop, Don't stop, we're in luck now!
Don't stop, there's so much to be found!
We can find paradise,
All we have to do is go! go! Free your sooooooouuuuuul,
DRAGON SOOOOOUUUUUULL!"
As soon as they stopped playing, the two moles exploded through one more wall finally reaching the outside. They instantly noticed Aang, Katara, and Appa stading before them in awe.
Sokka and Vegeta slid down the moles; the teen ran excitedly while the Saiyan took his time.
"How'd you get out?" Sokka wondered.
"It's just like the legend says: we let love lead the way..." Aang left explained.
"Really? We let huge ferocious beasts lead the way..." Sokka said, waving the badger moles goodbye along with the band, the beasts rentering the caves and sealing their exit with earthbending.
Chong placed a friendly hand on Vegata's shoulder."I gotta admit, Vegeta, despite what was said in that tunnel earlier, you truly have to be one of the greatest singers in the universe..." he said warmly, removing his flowery necklace and hanging it around the Saiyan's neck,"Although I'm not gonna lie, you were really startin' to annoy the crap outta me..."
All the Prince had to offer in return was his blankest expression yet... "...Just leave now..."
Chong bowed in respect." As you command..." he then departed with the other hippies as he sang Cha la Head Cha la to himself, prompting Vegeta to do a double-take.
A little while later, the kids, bison, lemur, and Saiyan were pacing up a small hill.
"Well actually, it's more like a plateau..." Vegeta replied.
"What?" Sokka asked.
"Nothing."
Sokka paid no mind." Well, the journey was long and annoying, but now you get to see what it's really about: the destination..." he announced, speeding up to the top, "Vegeta, I present to you, the city of O...oh no..."
The group soon saw what his shock came from. As they stood on the top, they could see a huge mountain-like city spewing with smoke and surrounded by a large metallic wall, where the banner of the Fire Nation hung for all to see...
"...Seems pleasant..." Vegeta said off-handedly.