[color=fff79a]"You heard me, the Avatar stunt."[/color] Sho chuckled as he stopped walking, looking down towards the ground as he shook his head. Kira and Lon stopped, raising their eyebrows as Sho's short comrade looked to his reluctant leader. [color=fff79a]"What? We did it before!"[/color]

Sho wiped away the imaginary tear from the corner of his eye as his gaze fell on Li. [color=red]"Do you remember what happened last time we ran that show, Li?"[/color]

Kira, dressed in her traditional Northern Water Tribe robes, rolled her eyes and wrapped an arm around Sho to lean on him. [color=00aeef]"Oh, wasn't this the time that I had to save Li from getting some earth benders after he was trying to brag to their girlfriends about being the Avatar's best friend, or the time we were stalked for like a month by some shady figures who thought you actually were the Avatar? Hmm... Oh, of course, that was the same time."[/color]

Li opened his mouth to speak, his eyes looking to his hulking brother Lon for help... only to find his brother folding his arms and shaking his head in his direction. Li turned around in a huff and just continued trudging forward while everyone followed. The Elements had been on the road for years at this point, and they'd grown accustomed to marching long distances on foot at this point. Lon was carrying a large pack that had most of the group's camping supplies, while the others carried their own personal equipment. Li, without a word, simply raised his left hand with two fingers as he was walking forward, and Kira immediately responded by uncorking her waterskin. With a simple wave of her arms, she managed to extract one small globules of water from the waterskin and float them in Li's direction. Li turned his head and opened his mouth, and one slow motion from Kira moved the water into his mouth. He let the cool water cool his tongue before simply nodding his head and shooting a thumbs up behind him.

Sho's eyes weren't on the road or his companions. He instead glanced between the treeline on either side of him as the group was marching through a forest path once again. At the sound of any branch snapping or leaf rustling, Sho's head would snap towards the direction it came from. The memory of those people stalking his friends had set in a relapsing paranoia. Something in the firebender's gut told him that something wasn't right. They hadn't seen anyone on this trail at all that day, and they'd been marching for nearly four hours in total. They were about another day's journey from the next town... but surely they should have seen someone at this point. Anyone. There had to be something going on.

Sho's fears were confirmed correct when he felt the ground beneath him seem to shake slightly. Having lived in the Earth Kingdom for years, the feeling was familiar, and always unnerving. The path had shifted slightly, with two hills on either side of the path as the river the path followed bent around the right hill. A large stone wall lifted up in front of Li, who immediately began backpedaling until he lost his balance and fell on his ass. Kira instinctively uncorked her waterskin and held her other hand near it, ready to strike at any given moment. Sho, on the other hand, simply stepped forward and looked to his left and right, seeing two men in green tunics sliding down the hillside to flank the travelers. Before he could say anything, the two strangers landed in the dry riverbed. [color=gray]"Sorry to interrupt your trip, but you're going to have to pay if you want to continue on here."[/color]

Sho raised an eyebrow, his expression serious as he examined the two men. The one on the left, the one talking, seemed to be a bit older. Mid thirties by the look of him, and a bit more built. The man on the right seemed to about the same age as Sho, and of an average build. The looks on their faces, though, was what made Sho's blood boil deep inside. They both sported smug grins as they looked down on Sho. The Element's leader spent only a moment looking between the two before he decided on his response. [color=red]"Why?"[/color]

The stranger on the right seemed confused as he looked to his partner, whose grin transformed instantly into a grimace. [color=gray]"The local militia keeps this road safe from bandits, and you've got the pay the militia to be under their protection."[/color]

Sho looked back to Kira and nodded. She knew what to do when the time was right, and took a few steps off to the side. Sho's gaze fell back on the two militiamen. [color=red]"Bandits... you mean the kind of people who strong arm travelers into handing over their coin int he middle of the forest?"[/color]

The stranger on the left clenched his hands into fists and took a small step forward,standing up a bit more straight as he looked down towards Sho. At the same time, Sho's stance shifted slightly as he placed all of his weight onto his back foot to ready his left foot to strike. Before either could make a move, the other stranger took a step forward as well and placed a hand in front of his comrade before speaking. [color=gray]"Look... you hand over some coin and this doesn't have to get messy, alright?"[/color]

While the man on the left seemed to back down slightly, Sho remained ready to strike. [color=red]"I see... well... the problem is we don't exactly have any coin on us..."[/color]

The man on the right shook his head and gave an exasperated sigh. [color=gray]"We'll take something other than coin if you've got anything worth while..."[/color]

A small smirk graced the edge of Sho's lips. [color=red]"I see... Well... I suppose we could trade some water..."[/color]

On cue, Kira quickly sprung into action at the peripheral of the two militiamen's vision. She jumped forward into the air, rolling her arms over her head and forward as a wave of water was pulled from out the river and over Kira's head to crash down on the two men. While the water torrented onto them, she lifted her hands towards her lips and pushed towards the water while blowing air to freeze the water. Before they knew it, the two men's bodies were covered in a block of ice as their heads remained free and clear. They began struggling to break themselves free, but this hadn't been Sho and Kira's first shakedown. Li and Lon seemed as stunned as the militiamen as the two foreign benders simply smiled and turned towards their earthbending companion, motioning towards the stone wall in their way. Lon was able to lower the wall easily after planting his feet and swinging one fist down towards the ground, and the Elements continued on their merry way to the sweet sounds of swears and pleading from the two men who had tried to shake them down.