꧁ chapter five꧂
the secret tunnel

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"YOU GUYS ARE going to be done soon, right? We have a lot of ground to cover if we're going to make it to Omashu today" Sokka asked, laying in the water with his hair completely covering his eyes and Momo resting on his stomach.

"What, like you're ready to go right now, naked guy?" Katara smiled smugly.

"I could be ready in two minutes,"

Meiluna gave him a look.

"Seriously, whenever"

"Yeah right" Meiluna muttered as she pointed her index finger towards him, shooting a small stream of water on to Sokka's face.

Sokka looked over at Meiluna, narrowing his eyes as she laughed while laying back down with her eyes closed.

A smile made its way onto Sokka's face as he approached the girl, grabbing her legs and pulling her underwater.

"Sokka!" Meiluna sputtered, expelling all the water from her mouth as she quickly emerged back to the surface. She looked at the laughing boy in disbelief.

"Meiluna!" He copied her tone as he laughed, laying on his back again, floating beside the Princess.

"You got it?"

She heard Katara ask Aang as she stood directly behind him.

"Oh, yeah," Aang stuttered out, completely flushed from being so close to Katara, "Thanks"

Meiluna nudged Sokka, pointing her head towards the two as she made a kissing face. Sokka pretended to gag watching the two, making Meiluna laugh quietly.

"Da, da, da. Don't fall in love with the traveling girl. She'll leave you broke and brokenhearted"

Sokka fell off his leaf into the water at the unexpected singing.

"Hey, river people!" The man stopped singing to point at the group in the water.

"We're not river people" Katara replied, looking confused.

"You're not? Well then, what kind of people are you?" The man asked with a puzzled expression.

"Just... People" Aang answered unsure of what was going on.

"Aren't we all, brother?" The man chuckled.

Sokka walked over to the pair of strangers.

"Who are you?" He asked accusingly.

"I'm Chong and this is my wife, Lily. We're nomads, happy to go wherever the wind takes us" Chong answered happily as he strummed his instrument in a crazy fashion.

"You guys are nomads? That's great! I'm a nomad!" Aang said excitedly.

"Hey, me too!" Chong repeated.

Meiluna and Sokka looked at each other, raising their eyebrows.

"I know, you just said that" Aang said blankly

"Oh," Chong then noticed Sokka, "Nice underwear".

Sokka's eyes widened realising what he was wearing and quickly grabbed Momo in an attempt to cover himself up.

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"Hey Sokka, you should hear some of these stories" Aang said, wearing a wreath of pink flowers on his head.

"Yeah! These guys have been everywhere!" Meiluna added, her eyes sparkling with excitement while she lay with her head on Katara's lap with her own blue flower crown.

"On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow!" Moku continued in a dreamy voice.

"Did you hear that Sokka? A never-ending rainbow!" Meiluna repeated happily as she saw Sokka's unimpressed expression.

"Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara is busy, I guess it's up to me." Sokka said standing in front of everyone.

Katara shot him a glare as Lily braided her hair.

"We need to get to Omashu. No sidetracks, no worms and definitely no rainbows" Sokka requested, sending Meiluna a pointed look.

"Boo!" Meiluna stuck her tongue out at Sokka to which he rolled his eyes.

"Wow, sounds like someone has a case of destination fever. You're worried too much about where you're going" Chong observed.

"You've got to focus less on the where and more on the going" Lily explained.

"O-Ma-Shu" Sokka said impatiently.

"Sokka's right, we need to find King Bumi, so Aang can learn earthbending somewhere safe." Katara admitted.

"Sounds like you're headed to Omashu" Chong spoke up.

Sokka smacked his forehead in frustration.

"There's an old story about a secret pass right through the mountains" Chong told the group.

"Is it real or a legend?" Katara asked.

"Oh, It's a real legend. And as old as earthbending itself" Chong continued before he started playing his instrument and began to sing.

"Two lovers, forbidden from one another, the war divides their people and the mountain divides them apart! Built a path to be together!"

Chong paused his playing for a moment,

"Yeah I forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes... Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountains, secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! Yeah!"

Meiluna gave them a round of applause with a bright smile.

"I think we'll just stick with flying. We've dealt with the Fire Nation before. We'll be fine" Sokka deadpanned, looking unamused.

"Yeah, thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground. And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable" Aang explained as he gave the nomads a smile.

Unfortunately for them, it wasn't too long before their attempt at dealing with the Fire Nation failed horrifically with soldiers pelting unstoppable balls of fire their direction, leaving them to resort to the questionable cave.

Aang, Katara, Meiluna and Sokka walked past the nomads, completely covered in ash and scorch marks.

Sokka pointed forward,

"Secret love cave, let's go"

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"How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka asked.

"Actually, it's not just one tunnel. The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth" Chong clarified.

"Labyrinth?" Sokka halted.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll figure it out" Chong brushed off casually.

"All you need to do is trust in love," Lily explained, "According to the curse"

"Curse?" Sokka squeaked in terror.

"Hey-hey! We're here!" Chong announced.

"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka questioned.

"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it though the caves. Otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever" Chong recited.

"And die" Lily added.

"Oh yeah, and die," Chong smiled, "Hey, I just remembered the rest of that song!"

Chong moved to stand before the entrance of the cave and strummed his lute while singing,

"And die!"

"That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!" Sokka blurted out.

"Hey, someone's making a big campfire" Moku pointed out the gray smoke that rose from the horizon.

"That's no campfire, Moku" Katara replied solemnly.

"It's Fire Nation," Sokka added, "They're tracking us"

"So all you need to do is trust in love to get through these caves?" Aang asked, making sure he got it right.

"That is correct, Master Arrowhead" Chong nodded.

Aang turned to admire Katara for a moment before smiling and answering,

"We can make it"

"Everyone into the hole!" Sokka commanded motioning to the cave. Meiluna followed everyone else whilst humming under her breath.

That secret tunnel song was very catchy.

Suddenly a myriad of boulders tumbled down, closing off the entrance they walked through. Appa began to grow frantic as he pawed at the walls of the tunnel.

"It's okay, Appa. We'll be fine," Katara assured softly, "I hope"

"We will be fine. All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last?" Sokka asked.

"Uh, about two hours each" Chong answered.

"And we have five torches, so that's ten hours" Lily smiled as she lit up the rest of the torches.

"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" Sokka said exasperatedly as he grabbed the torches, stomping out the fires.

"Oh, right"

"I'm going to 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 spoke, explaining his plan.

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"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to" Katara complained.

"This doesn't make sense. We already came through this way" Sokka stood at a loss.

Meiluna let out a loud groan,

"I don't think I've walked this much since,"

Meiluna paused to think while Sokka, Katara and Aang stared at her expectantly.

"Ever. I've just never walked this much" Meiluna sighed as she dragged her feet to follow Sokka.

"We don't need a map, we just need love, the little guy knows it" Chong said, looking over at Aang.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map also" Aang gave him a sheepish smile.

"There's something strange here. There's only one explanation," Sokka began as he turned to face the whole group, "The tunnels are changing"

"The tunnels, they're changing. It must be the curse! I knew we shouldn't have come down here!" Chong started to freak out.

"Right, if only we listened to you" Sokka replied sarcastically.

"Everyone be quiet. Listen" Katara spoke as she raised her hand.

A low snarl came from within the darkness of the tunnel.

Sokka held the torch up when suddenly a wolfbat flew out towards the group causing everyone to panic. Sokka attempted to swat the creature with the torch in his hand, accidentally throwing several hot cinders at Appa. The bison roared in pain and began running around the tunnel, releasing a discharge of rock and debris.

Aang quickly airbended Sokka, Meiluna and the nomads out of the way as he grabbed Katara pulling them away from the impact of the falling rocks. Sokka looked at the barrier that separated them and desperately tried to dig his way through.

"Yeah, it's no use. We're separated. But at least you have us!" Chong celebrated.

"No!" Sokka yelled out horrified.

Meiluna dusted herself off, turning to Sokka,

"Hey! What about me?"

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"You know, these two lovers really should've made a nicer tunnel for themselves, it's so dusty in here" Meiluna scrunched her nose, feeling herself about to sneeze.

As she continued to rub at the dirt marks on her clothes, she looked up, noticing the lack of response to see everyone giving her a strange look.

"Oh yeah, I'm the weird one for not wanting to have dirt stuck under my nails"

Sokka continued to guide the group when he came to a sudden stop once again.

"Oh, great! Your plans have led us to another dead end!" Moku complained.

"At least I'm thinking of ideas and trying to get us out of here, Moku" Sokka defended as he glared at the nomad.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. We're thinking of ideas? Because I've had an idea for like an hour now" Chong informed him.

"Yes! We're all thinking of ideas!" Sokka yelled angrily, waving his arms about dramatically.

"Well, then listen to this; If love is the key out of here, then all we need to do is play a love song!" Chong said before he broke out into a song.

Sokka gave Meiluna a weary look before rolling his eyes for what seemed like the millionth time today.

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Low growls could be heard from the darkness in the caves.

Meiluna didn't think she could handle more wolfbats.

Suddenly, apparently just to spite Meiluna, several wolfbats started racing towards them.

She let out a small scream as she jumped behind Sokka. He waved his hands erratically in an attempt to scare the creatures off, instead they flew straight past him.

"Hey! you saved us, Sokka!" Chong praised.

"No, they were trying to get away from something" Sokka observed.

"From what?" Chong questioned.

All of a sudden, two giant badgermoles burst through the caves, causing everyone to become hysterical.

One badgermole pounded the ground with it's paws and raised a wall of earth, blocking off the exits, while the other used earthbending to create a split in the earth between the nomads, and Sokka and Meiluna.

Meiluna slowly backed away as Sokka tried to avoid the badgermoles' swipes, when he was suddenly blown back several feet.

He hastily moved back, accidentally hitting the lute.

The badgermole cocked it's head to the side curiously upon hearing the musical note.

"Hey, those things are music lovers!" Chong exclaimed.

"Badgermoles coming toward me," Sokka sang nervously,

"Come on guys, help me out!"

Meiluna looked at Sokka apprehensively before she started singing too.

"The big, bag badgermoles" She sang nervously, urgently looking for help from the nomads who continued to sing.

"Who earthbend tunnels, hate the wolfbats, but love the sounds!"

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"Sokka! Luna!" Katara called out happily as she ran over to the two, hugging them.

"How'd you guys get out?" Sokka asked curiously.

"Just like the legend said, we let love lead the way" Aang said as he gave them an embarrassed smile.

Meiluna thought that was the most adorable thing she'd ever heard.

"Really? We let huge, ferocious beasts lead our way" Sokka explained as the two badgermoles waved to them making their way back into the cave.

"We'll miss you!" Meiluna said as she sent a flying kiss to the creatures while they closed off the cave.

"Why is your forehead all red?" Katara asked.

"Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you, I think that kid might be the Avatar!" Chong spoke as if he had an epiphany.

Sokka smacked his forehead, accentuating the red spot on his face even more.

"So are you guys going to Omashu with us?" Aang asked the nomads.

"Nope" Moku replied simply.

"Okay, thanks for everything, Moku" Aang smiled as the nomads started to walk away.

"I hope you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey" Chong said to Sokka, placing a flower chain around him then giving him a hug.

"Just play your songs!" Sokka said irritably, a blush covering his face.

"Hey good plan!" Chong laughed as he walked away playing his lute, singing a song.

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"The journey was long and annoying, but now you get to see what it's really about, the destination," Sokka began dramtically, "I present to you the Earth Kingdom City of O-"

Sokka stopped abruptly looking at the sight before him.

Meiluna followed Sokka's line of vision,

"Oh no"

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