On the fourth and final day, Lucas, Duster, Kumatora and Boney aimed to finally cross the desert. It was a little past noon when Boney spoke up.
(Hey, is it me or is the sand lighter?)
Kumatora looked down at her feet.
"Actually, yeah. It's yellow now."
"Hey!" exclaimed Duster. "This means we're in the semi desert!"
(Semi what?)
"The semi desert. It's what you call it when the desert is starting to fade away into something else. We're almost out of it."
Invigorated by this new information, the group increased their pace. Suddenly, a rumble shook the ground.
"Just as well," said Lucas. "We have to find out what's causing these."
"Yeah, we've had dozens of these," Kumatora agreed.
Boney, who was ahead, stopped walking.
"What is it, boy?" asked Lucas.
Boney's response was cut off by the sand erupting in front of them.
A massive antlion emerged from the grains of sand. It had tough plates of armour on its body and large, sharp pincers. It roared.
"What the-?!" yelled Lucas.
"It's super mad! We probably invaded its territory or something!" Kumatora told the others.
The antlion shot a stream of mud at them. Boney was hit and he was blown down by the force.
(Owwww!)
It went for another shot.
"PSI Counter!"
Lucas was just in time.
The mud shot was reflected back at the antlion. It scored a direct hit on its face, blinding the creature
temporarily. Lucas cast more PSI.
"Defense Up! Shield!"
"PK Fire!"
Kumatora cast a flaming line of fire towards the creature. The flames hardened the mud around the face of the antlion.
"Right!" said Duster. He sprinted up to it and landed a powerful diving kick on the head. It pierced through the mud and connected with the antlion, emitting a sickening crunch.
Then, with a weak screech, the antlion disappeared into the sand.
"Wow. I didn't expect that," Kumatora said.
"Me neither," Lucas replied.
The sand exploded underneath Lucas. He was flung high into the air by the enraged antlion.
"Aaagh!" he screamed. He hit the sand hard.
"Lifeup!" yelled Kumatora.
Lucas felt a little better. He took his stick and casting Offense Up on himself, slammed his stick into the antlion. Boney bit at its armour. Duster kept a constant barrage of kicks. Kumatora cast PK Freeze at the monster.
Then, weakened. the creature disappeared again.
"Be careful," Lucas warned.
"Oh no you don't," muttered Kumatora. Raising her voice, she yelled, "PK Ground!"
The earth shook for a few seconds, then the body of the antlion popped out of the ground. It landed with its stomach exposed.
"Now, everyone!" Lucas called.
They attacked the antlion together. It shrieked in pain as its soft tummy was hit again and again.
"Guys, let me handle this," said Kumatora.
They backed off, Boney landing one final bite.
She calmed herself and focused her PSI.
"PK THUNDER!"
From the clouds, a strong thunderbolt zipped down and struck the monster. Burnt to a crisp, it sunk into the sand. As the adrenalin faded away, their bodies began to catch up with their brains. The group realised how tired they were and panted with exhaustion.
"Let's... get going..." Duster said. He paused, and added, "After a... break."
It was early afternoon when they reached the end of the desert. They was hot and sweaty from the fight. The yellow sand became a deep green.
"Huh, finally out of the desert," Duster commented.
(I'm glad for that.)
"We must be nearly there," Lucas reasoned..
They continued to walk. The light forest they walked into turned into a meadow without warning. Lucas gasped. A group of houses were scattered along the meadow. They had reached the Saturns' village.
"Well, we made it, but..." started Kumatora.
Their gaze panned across the village.
"Where's that guy?" finished Lucas.
(Hey, do you think this place has a hot spring?) Boney interrupted.
"Well if we look, we might find one... here!" Lucas pointed to steam coming from the centre of the village.
(Wait, shouldn't we ask before...) Boney started.
Too late. The others had already run over and slipped into the hot water.
"Ahhhh..." sighed Lucas.
The hot spring worked wonders on their sore muscles. They were relaxing in the water.
"Who you, boing?"
A Mr. Saturn walked over to the hot spring.
"Oh!" Lucas said. "We're... um... travellers."
"Wait, I remember!" said the Mr. Saturn. "You went into fire mountain!"
"Y-yeah." Lucas was taken aback by the statement. "Yeah, that was me."
"What you doing here?! Zoom!"
"We're looking for a man," Kumatora told the Mr. Saturn. "He's... he's, uh, tall, with dark hair, and-"
"There's no need for that. I'm here."
They looked past the Mr. Saturn and found the man studying them with a calm and knowing look.
"I've been waiting for you. It's good that you were able to stick to your schedule. When you're ready, get yourselves dried off and follow me."
He walked away into a house. The door closed shut behind him.
There was a moment of silence.
"Well, should we go now or...?" Lucas asked the others.
"Nah. He said 'When you're ready'," Kumatora responded. "And we deserve this, anyway."
After a half hour soaking in the hot spring, the group dried themselves on towels the Mr. Saturns provided, said thanks and went into the small house.
The man was standing, waiting for them.
"Have a seat. I'll explain everything that's happened, and then you may ask questions."
They obligingly sat down on wooden chairs. Boney sat on the floor.
"Now..."