Bound By Our Hearts Chapter 14: The 'Three'd Sanctuary, an earthbound fanfic

Couldn't think up a good chapter title.

So enjoy a crappy pun.

Chapter Fourteen: The 'Three'd Sanctuary

Anthony blasted another plant-humanoid, letting Sapphire bash aside the ones that got too close, while Willow took care of any grouped up monsters with Fires.

"Batter up!" A leafy head flew by, courtesy of Sapphire, who spun and knocked yet another monster aside.

"How many more of these creatures are there?!" Anthony growled out.

"Enough that we'll level up a ton!" Willow cheered, throwing out a Freeze at a lone enemy.

"We aren't in a video game!" Anthony groaned back, shifting his laser rifle to blast away several sprouts before they could begin siphoning away Sapphire and Willow's PSI.

They were slowly making their way through the valley, towards a cave that seemingly led to where the sunlight was being sucked to. But all along the way, they fought back against plants, sprouts, and mushrooms, one after the other, slowly exhausting them. But they had finally reached the entrance, where the seemingly dozens of monsters were coming from.

"Sapphire! They are clumped together via the entranceway to the cave! Use your PSI, swiftly!"

"Right! PSI Hope β! Get blown away!" The explosion instantly vaporized most of the enemies, while also expanding part of the cave entrance by melting away some of the stone. As the smoke cleared, only a few mushrooms remained that Anthony easily cleaned up with his rifle. "Ready to do this, guys?"

"Heck yeah!"

"Let's."

They walked in, instantly seeing a difference from the outside. It was much damper inside, several normal mushrooms growing in darker spots. A butterfly suddenly fluttered out of a crack into a wall and settled onto Sapphire's shoulder. The PSI sensitives felt their energy return to them, while Anthony felt his exhaustion lower.

After a moment, they all sighed before continuing forward. The cave wasn't large, a simple pathway with a large chasm to their right. However, it seemed darker than it should have been. Sapphire looked up and saw what looked to be a stream of light, flowing through the cave towards the end.

As they approached a dark doorway, a dark and menacing aura fell over them, weighing them down. "So… you've finally arrived…"

Sapphire narrowed his eyes, PSI flickering over his form. "We have."

"This is the third of your Sanctuaries… but it's mine now. Take it from me… if you dare."

"Oh, we dare all right! In fact, we double-dog dare!" Willow called out, sparks flying from her fingers as she stuck her tongue out.

"Don't provoke whatever monstrosity is hiding in there," Sapphire snorted, hiding a smile behind his raised bat. The darkness in the opening lifted, revealing… a pile of dirt with a mouth, and two eyes directly below a stalk with two leaves. "What."

"Fufu… frightened?"

"I am literally the farthest thing from frightened in the universe."

"I am known as the Trillionage Sprout… by absorbing the sunlight falling upon the earth I will extend my life, while also creating hundreds and thousands and millions of plant minions, all for Lord Giygas!"

"So technically photosynthesis, but you're also using it to assist other plants in their growth… I would also assume that Giygas' influence would also decrease the growth time of the plant-humanoids while…"

The Trillionage Sprout blinked as Anthony continued to mumble. "Does he do that a lot?"

"Yes."

"Yep."

"In any case! With the amount of sunlight I have absorbed, I have become as immortal and almost as powerful as Master Giygas! I can now live for trillions of years, hence my moniker! The power I wield shall destroy you all as easily as you would squash a bug! You shall be crushed, as easily—"

"PSI Freeze β."

"—As one would— AGH!" The frozen air began freezing over Trillionage's body, causing it to howl. "HOW DARE YOU?! Sprouts, destroy!"

Several tough sprouts and mushrooms began marching out from behind the dirt pile, to which Willow replied with, "PSI Fire α."

"GAH!" All of the plants and fungi were burnt up, while the Trillionage Sprout began burning up. "YOU WILL SUFFER!"

"PSI Freeze β."

Once again, Trillionage Sprout's body froze up. "NO!" The Sprout on its head turned black, burning up, while it's dirt body turned a darker brown from all of the nutrients dying due to the freezing temperatures. "How could I lose to such children?! This is impossible!"

"…wow. I'm not even disappointed that it was that easy, I'm just shocked that the battle to get here was harder than the actual battle." Sapphire shook his head. "Well, let's—"

"HAH!" The nearly dead pile let out one last laugh. "You may have defeated me, but I'll take you with me!" Its eyes flashed with malice, and something more.

DANGER!

"ANTHONY, MOVE!" Sapphire shoved aside the blond, just in time. From what, he wasn't sure. For about two seconds anyway.

First, he felt slower, and it was harder to move. Like someone was holding all of his joints, trying to prevent him from feeling his arms or legs. Next, Willow gasped. "Sapphire, you're body, it's…" he looked down, and he saw what was happening. All across his skin, small stones were growing. Actually, less growing, more that his flesh was transforming.

As it occurred he felt his limbs growing heavier, weighed down by the hefty stones. "Oh dear, that's not good," Anthony murmured.

"Oh, ya think?!" Sapphire began moving towards the opening in the rock behind where the Trillionage Sprout had sat, Willow and Anthony grasping onto his arms to help pull him along, his limbs quickly growing too heavy for him to move on his own. "Agh, come on, get me into the Sanctuary!"

"Why?! Just use your healing ability!"

"PSI Healing β!" Nothing happened. "PSI Healing β! β! β! Dang, it's not working! Just keep moving me!" He stumbled, his knee completely transformed into the gem-like Stone, meaning he couldn't bend it. Not just his skin, but he could feel the bones, muscles, tissues, everything turn to stone.

"What is with this Sanctuary that requires you to get to it so badly?!"

"It can heal anything," Willow explained. "It even fixed our clothes in the last one!"

"That's… whatever," Anthony sighed, grunting as Sapphire stumbled again, his other leg becoming fully diamondized. They now had to drag him by his arms, the stone creeping up below his clothing, covering his groin, stomach, and chest.

Anthony and Willow felt the stone underneath their fingers as his arms converted, and continued dragging him until they felt something off. They looked down and saw that the stone was transferring to them. "Aw, no!"

"What is this?!" Anthony shook out his hand, trying to get the stone off before his hand became stuck, the stones slowly making their way up to his forearm.

"Come on, we have to get to the Sanctuary!" They continued dragging, stepping out into the sunlight. Outside was a small valley, nothing inside of it except for the spring of the white liquid at the center.

Sapphire suddenly couldn't see, stone covering his eyes. "Guys?! GUYS?!" He could barely hear Willow reassuring him before gemstones covered his ears. Pretty soon the stone would begin eating at his brain, and he wasn't sure what would happen. Could a Sanctuary restore someone who was technically braindead?

Willow groaned, dragging both Sapphire and Anthony. Anthony was now almost as covered as the dark-haired boy, having one arm and both legs completely stone. She wasn't going to get them there! But… she wouldn't lose her friends! She refused! "PSI Thunder α!" Lightning shot up from her body before she willed it to curve around midair and slam into her back. She was shot forward, Sapphire and Anthony in tow, and she watched as Sapphire's body fell into the puddle.

The diamonds had grown too fast… He couldn't feel, see, hear, nothing. There had been a bump a moment ago as if he had been thrown, but that was it. Except for one thing- In his pocket, something felt hot, even through his stone skin. He suddenly heard a voice, or, he thought he heard a voice.

It sounded like his mother's, and it came from far away… she said, "Be a thoughtful, strong boy…" He felt the stone inside of him begin to turn back to flesh, while the stone covering his skin began flaking away. His clothes, as well, mended, and finally able to move he grasped the Sound Stone and held it out towards the Milky Well. The stone began playing music once again, continuing from where it had left off at Lilliput Steps.

In his mind, he saw a vision of the next Sanctuary. It was an area completely covered in snow, silent and peaceful. Except for one spot, a large puddle, with a light drizzle falling into it forever, even though the rain fell nowhere else.

Sapphire blinked and shook his head. Looking down, he saw that the Sound Stone had filled in another notch. It had the odd cracked object in the center of the well, spewing up the white liquid. The Sound Stone played all three collected melodies, calming Sapphire.

He grinned, standing up and holding it up towards the sky. "I am Sapphire, and I've claimed this Sanctuary!"

"Yeah, that's great and all, but I'm now completely wet," Anthony grumbled, flicking the white liquid from his clothes.

"Be glad you're wet and not stone," Willow giggled. Sapphire snorted alongside her, and Anthony shook his head.

"Come on guys," Sapphire spun the Sound Stone, before sticking it in his pocket. "Let's get going."

Sapphire climbed back up the ladder, reaching down to help up Willow. After she was up, he reached down and helped Anthony up as well. Although he seemed to be blushing again for some reason. He always seemed to be blushing after climbing up a ladder below Willow… eh, he was probably just tired.

They looked around, finally seeing what Threed was like without the depressing storm clouds covering the sky. Or at least, the wooded area near the graveyard. "Wow, it's so much nicer!" Willow laughed and spun, hair and dress flowing as a breeze blew by.

"It certainly is," Anthony agreed, a small smile forming.

Sapphire grinned, brushing his hair back as his bangs waved in front of his eyes. This, along with freeing Happy-Happy Village from the Mani-Mani Statue, and saving the Mr. Saturns, felt like an incredible feat. They'd saved a town from eternal darkness… they could really do this!

As they began making their way back into town, they saw that several people were waiting near the entrance to the graveyard. "Thank you, Thank you! Thank you for bringing back peace and happiness to Threed!"

"I never would have thought children could save our town! You have my thanks!"

"Peace, love!"

"With the monster's gone, the ghosts in the tunnel have disappeared! Buses can finally get through!"

Anthony visibly swelled with pride, and Sapphire and Willow looked at each other snickering. The blond boy was definitely going to let all the praise go to his head.

They continued walking through the graveyard until they reached the town. Walking through it, more and more people seemed to recognize them, somehow, as the heroes of the town. "Hey, let's go check on the circus tent. See what happened to the zombies."

"Good idea," Anthony nodded. "Perhaps they need assistance with destroying them." They made their way towards the tent, visible over some of the smaller buildings, and entered. The most noticeable difference was that inside of a cage at the corner of the tent, the zombies groaned and sat, unable to escape.

The people inside the tent were ecstatic to see them, however. "You've made our lives peaceful again!"

"We can't thank you enough!"

The three Chosen were bombarded with more thanks until they asked if they needed the zombies destroyed. "Oh don't worry about that, we can handle it! You have to move on though, right? We'll handle Threed from here on!"

As they exited the tent, Sapphire smiled. "It feels really good, knowing how much we helped."

"Yeah! It feels great!"

"Let's take a photo to commemorate! Photos taken instantaneously!" Sapphire groaned before they all got into position, the photographer setting up his camera. "Ready? Say… Fuzzy Pickles!" A quick snap and a flash, and the man was gone.

After that interruption, they finally made their way to the bus stop in front of the Threed hotel. Sapphire checked the schedule, reading through it. "Alright, looks like it'll be a few minutes until the next bus to Fourside comes."

"Great!"

"Perfect." They day down on a bench and waited, Sapphire closing his eyes, Anthony messing around with his Laser gun, and Willow humming and kicking her legs. When the bus finally arrived, they paid the six dollar fare and hopped on.

Most of the benches were filled up, people wanting to get to Fourside already on the bus. They eventually found a bench at the back of the bus, but it would only fit two people. "Well that's great," Sapphire groaned. "Who's gonna stand?"

"Not me," Anthony snorted, moving to sit down.

"Oh, I have an idea!" Willow pushed Sapphire into the window seat, and sat on his lap, before patting the open seat next to them. "Now you can sit down as well, Anty!"

Anthony smirked, eyeing Sapphire. "So, sure you're not dating?"

"I can end you with a thought," Sapphire muttered, looking away. He grabbed the bench's seatbelt and handed it to Willow, letting her clip them in. The bus began moving, driving east through Threed. Outside the windows, they could see people cheering and laughing as they celebrated their town being from monstrous control.

Eventually, the bus left Threed's limits, entering a tunnel east of the town. As the bus moved through it, Anthony had to hold in laughter at the look on Sapphire's face as Willow's hair kept getting in his face.

"Wi— Ptha, Wil— pthss, Willow, move your head!"

"What? Oops, sorry Sapphy!" She moves her head so she lay on his shoulder, and Sapphire immediately shot Anthony a glare before he could say anything. Anthony just held up his hands innocently while smirking, before making a kissy face.

"I will end you. There will be no place to hide from my wrath," he growled.

Eventually, the bus exited the tunnel, driving through the green countryside for about an hour before entering another tunnel. By this point Sapphire had fallen asleep, car and bus rides easily tiring him out. Willow herself had begun yawning, feeling comfortable sitting on Sapphire's lap while watching the landscape go by, and Anthony just began diligently working on his next invention.

"…If I screw this? No. What the heck was this thing even supposed to be?" He turned over the machine that Apple Kid had sent them, trying to figure out what it was even meant to be in the first place. "I can put some kind of screen here… but then what's this control panel for? Some kind of weapon?"

They exited the tunnel, and the first thing visible outside was endless sand. Oh, and dozens of cacti. "That's a lot of sand," Willow noted.

"Of course," Anthony noted. "It is known as the Dusty Dunes Desert, and its expanse is massive, miles upon miles of sand with few oasis's."

"Good thing we're taking a bus!"

"Don't jinx it." A few hours later, the bus stopped.

"…"

"You had to say it. You just had to."

Sapphire awoke when someone shook his shoulder. "What? What's going on? Are we there?"

"No, we stopped for some reason."

Sapphire got up and made their way to the front of the bus and questioned the driver. "Excuse me, sir, but why did we stop?"

"Take a look for yerself, kid," the driver said, chewing some gum. Sapphire looked, and saw dozens of cars ahead of them, all stopped. "It's bumper to bumper, might take hours to clear up. If ya want to get off and walk yer perfectly free too. I'll even give back tha fare since ah' didn't drive y'all all the way."

He walked back and informed Anthony and Willow. "What do you guys think?"

"Waiting for several hours isn't exactly ideal," Anthony murmured.

"But would walking through the desert be any better?"

"Well… technically if we walk at a speedy pace we'd be through in just a few hours… after all, we were driven most of the way already, so we should be fine…"

"Why not run?"

"Oh I'm sorry, do you want to get dehydrated and die from thirst in the middle of a desert? We are not running. We shall be briskly walking."

"Alright, that settles it then." They exited the bus, but not before grabbing their fare from the driver. Immediately, they were hit with a wave of heat so intense they almost thought it was a PSI Fire. Sapphire turned to get back on the bus, but Willow and Anthony grabbed his shoulders and dragged him along behind them.

On either side of the road were massive boulders, blocking them from just entering. The desert. Instead, they had to backtrack a bit to where there was an opening, allowing them to enter the desert proper. However, before doing so they saw a small shack next to the entrance with a sign that proclaimed it was a small drugstore.

They quickly entered, and Sapphire set out to buy as many water bottles as he could, while Willow and Anthony looked around the rest of the store. "Running low on money…" he muttered, checking his wallet. He turned towards an old atm at the side of the store, inputting his card to withdraw some money, and choked at how much was now in his account.

"God, dad, really?!" His bank account now held more than fifteen thousand dollars. "This is insane…" nevertheless, he quickly withdrew a small amount and bought as many water bottles as he could.

"You want a cooler and some towels too, Kid?"

"Towels?"

"You can use the cooler to keep your water cold, and then pour some on the towels to prevent sunstroke and heatstroke."

"Sure, that sounds great!"

"Sapphy…" his smile twitched. He knew what that tone meant. "Could you buy this for me please?" She jumped in front of him and held out a frying pan, it looked fancier than the Thick Frying Pan she already had, as well as a bit sturdier. He stared blankly at her as she blinked innocently.

"…fine. Whatever."

"Yes! You're the best, Sapphy!"

As he paid, the man behind the counter chuckled at their byplay. "What a nice lad you are, paying for your girlfriend."

"Ugh…" he groaned, heat rising to his cheeks, even as Willow snickered.

"Yeah, isn't he great?" She wrapped an arm around him, "the best boyfriend ever!"

"We aren't dating!" He finally cried, causing her to break out into laughter.

"Well, that's an odd thing to hear when randomly walking into a conversation," Anthony murmured. He handed over some calorie bars and a new baseball bat. "I got some food, and this seems to be sturdier than the bat you are already in possession of."

"Thanks, Ant."

"Don't call me that."

With everything finally rung up, the total came out to a couple thousand. Mostly because the bat and frying pan were unbelievably expensive. At least they got some money back by selling their old equipment, which Sapphire put back into his account.

With everything in hand, they finally exited the store and entered the Dusty Dunes Desert. Almost immediately, Sapphire grimaced. "I have sand in my shoes."

"Are you truly going to start complaining when it hasn't even been a minute yet?" Anthony groused.

"Things to come~!" Willow sang, giggling.

They continued into the desert for half an hour, until they came across a couple boulders, a hole with a ladder and a monkey next to them. "What's a simian doing out here?"

"That's a monkey."

"I should have expected that response. I really should have."

"Ya never learn, Ant," Sapphire chuckled. Approaching the monkey, Sapphire knelt down and tilted his head. "Hello, what are you doing in the middle of a desert?"

The monkey chattered as he hopped up and down, Sapphire and Willow's PSI translating the animal. (Our paradise exists beneath this hole,) the monkey indicated the hole with the ladder.

"A monkey paradise?" Sapphire questioned.

"Pardon?" Anthony blandly asked. "I'm sure I misheard you, Sapphire."

"No, you heard him right," Willow giggled.

"So, what, monkeys have a paradise underneath the desert? You got any leaders or something?"

(Yes, the great and kind Talah Rama! He knows everything, and constructed the underground rooms!)

"Just one guy?" Sapphire questioned.

"That's seriously awesome!" Willow gasped.

"I feel as though I'm missing quite a large amount of context," Anthony muttered.

"Hush, I'm talking with a monkey. Can we see Mister Talah Rama?"

(He is fasting and practicing silent meditation! He is also abstaining from anything that would make him sick or smelly too… Please don't bother him!)

"Alright, just asking. See ya later, monkey." They began wandering away, Anthony questioning his psychic teammates on what exactly the animal had told them.

"So some man named Talah Rama constructed underground tunnels and rooms for the monkeys to live in? Preposterous, one man alone couldn't do that without taking several years, unless he used heavy construction equipment, and with how small that hole was it should be impossible to fit any vehicles down it."

"Never heard of PSI?" Sapphire snickered. "I'm willing to bet whoever this Talah Rama guy is, he's got some wicked powerful psychic energy."

"As much as saying psychic powers explains it hurts my pride as a scientist, it does make the most sense." Willow just giggled and patted the blond on the head. "Of course, even then it would have to be extraordinarily powerful, something akin to your photokinesis but on a manageable scale since that tired you out, or perhaps something similar to Willow's pyrokinesis, but more focused to melt through rock easily."

"You're thinking too much into this, Anty! Just accept the magic psycho powers!"

"Wils is right, Ant. Just don't think too hard about it." The blond boy sighed and shook his head, and they continued walking.

After about ten minutes, Sapphire held up a hand. "Wait- I thought I saw something move." They stopped and looked around, seeing nothing in the unending sea of yellow sand.

Danger.

Sapphire spun and swung his bat, a scorpion that had launched itself out of the sand behind them becoming crushed as his metal weapon cracked its boney exoskeleton. It tumbled against the sand and screeched, waving its stinger in anger.

"Hold on," Anthony murmured, "That scorpion isn't natural…" looking closer, the genius realized what it was. "That creature is undead!"

"What?" Sapphire looked closer himself and sure enough, what he had thought was simply a hard bone-like exoskeleton was really just the creature's skull. All across its body, there were places where the actual exoskeleton was missing, as well as flesh and organs, revealing the stark white bone within. "Oh, nasty!"

The scorpion screeched, and several others began digging their way through the sand. "It would seem that we are surrounded," Anthony muttered.

"What, really? I couldn't tell!" He turned away before Anthony could shoot a glare at him, running forward and bashing a Skelpion. Its bones cracked under the force of his blow, shattering, before another jumped at him. He spun and slammed it away, before kicking at another. "Hyah!"

"PSI Fire α!" the glass under their feet began melting as Willow blasted the flame forward, scorching several of the undead. However, when the fire died, the Skelpions were still alive… or undead? Either way, they were still standing.

"Don't use pyrokinesis, these creatures live in the desert, they are obviously resistant to the heat!"

A scorpion suddenly jumped onto his back, and he scrambled to grab it before blasting it point-blank. His laser easily shot through it and killed it, and he stepped back to shoot at several others. The scorpions began scuttling around and digging underneath the sand to avoid his shots, causing him to growl and focus on other targets.

Willow swatted one of the Skelpions out of the air as it leaped at her, before ducking as Sapphire swung his bat over her head, smashing away a Skelpion before it could land on her. Smoothly, she turned and shot out a Freeze at an undead that leaped at Sapphire, trapping it in ice and sending it flying away in a million pieces with her pan. Sapphire grinned at her and she grinned back, before a laser flying in between them and shooting down a Skelpion interrupted them.

"Less flirting more killing!"

"I will destroy you."

"C'mon baby, let's do this!"

"Oh, not you too!" Anthony snickered and Willow laughed at Sapphire's whine, continuing to fight the waves of undead scorpions. Anthony suddenly felt a sting on his back and scrambled to grab the scorpion that had snuck onto him. He threw it onto the ground and crushed it under his foot, before reaching back to feel the wound. As he'd thought, it was a singular small wound, done by the pincer of the undead creature.

He knelt down and examined the corpse, checking it over. "Small pincers and a large stinger… oh, these are incredibly poisonous." Anthony suddenly began coughing, the poison starting to kill him.

"Don't worry, I'm on it!" Sapphire ducked and let Willow bat away another Skelpion, placing his hands on Anthony's head. "PSI Healing β!" Anthony flashed, and the poison inside of him was neutralized. Willow suddenly shrieked, a Skelpion stabbing her in the leg. Sapphire ran over and placed his hands on her leg, pulsing energy into her. "PSI Healing β!"

"There's more of them!"

"Alright, enough! PSI Hope β!" Sand exploded upward as the Skelpions were either disintegrated or tossed aside, and Sapphire lowered his arms and sighed. Using three beta level moves in a row had drained him slightly, and they had only been traveling for ten minutes!

He squatted down and breathed in, reaching into his bag for a water bottle. He drank some, before splashing his face. "Hey, look! A butterfly!" Sapphire looked up at Willow's exclamation.

"Great, I can get some PSI back." He got up and approached the butterfly before it flew up out of his reach. "Oi, get down here!" He jumped, but it fluttered away. He began chasing after it, with Willow right behind him.

Anthony just groaned and followed them. "I swear if we die in the middle of the desert because we're chasing a butterfly…"

The run lasted thirty minutes before Sapphire managed to finally catch it by jumping up and grabbing the butterfly. "I am victorious!" Sapphire and Willow felt their mental energy return, while Anthony felt his stamina return. Before anyone could say anything though, a sudden humming noise interrupted them.

Danger.

"Look out!" Sapphire tackled Anthony aside as an orange sphere with a large lipped smile on it burst from the sand. "What the heck is that thing?"

"An enemy, obviously!" Anthony blasted it with his laser, causing sparks to fly as the beam speared through the creature's outer shell, revealing wiring and machinery. "And apparently an automaton!"

"It's one of Giygas' troops then, not an infected creature! We've seen some U.F.O.s back in Peaceful Rest Valley, and I saw what was called a Starman at the beginning of my journey, these must be more of his troops!"

The sphere shot forward and tried to ram into them before Willow intercepted it. "PSI Flamethrower β!" A stream of fire suddenly shot out of Willow's hands, causing the sphere to screech as its armor began melting.

"Whoa, Willow! Flamethrower? Nice!"

"Well, I was thinking about how you said that Talah Rama guy could have a focused version of my Fire, and since I unlocked the beta version of Fire after fighting those scorpions, I thought I might experiment with changing up my PSI!"

The Sphere finished shrieking as its armor finished melting, revealing the sensitive wiring and technology inside. It shot forward towards Willow before Sapphire slammed it skywards and Anthony fired a Bottle Rocket at it. It launched upwards and erupted against the underside of the sphere, finally destroying it.

The sphere fell back down to earth, becoming embedded in the sand. "Nicely done team!" The sphere suddenly started beeping, causing them all to look at it cautiously. Flames started flaring up, all over the machine. "Maybe we should back up…" The machine began sparking, before it exploded, sending out a wave of fire and shrapnel. "Shield α!"

The shield sprung up just in time, the explosion throwing out incredible amounts of force, while Anthony and Willow hid behind him. "K-KONO POWA!" They were all suddenly thrown back, tumbling through the sand. "H-holy crap! That… was awesome!"

"Right? It went kablooey!"

"My shield took it all as well, that was so cool!"

"Yeah, Nice job!"

"Yes, yes, very well done. I simply have one question: Do you happen to know how to get back?"

"Uh…"

"Because that chase seemed to twist and turn through the desert, and after fighting that sphere, I don't recall how to get back to the highway." Anthony narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. "I do hope that you can recall how to get back."

Sapphire and Willow looked at each other and shrugged. "Uh… I'm not sure…"

"Me neither…"

"Ugh… Of course…" He pointed towards the sun, which was still rising but was near the apex. "That way is the east because that's where the sun is rising from, but we still don't know how far we are from the highway, so we'll head in a southeast course until we reach the highway, and continue walking east."

"Nice! That's why we have ya, Ant!"

"Yeah, good job, Anty!"

He simply sighed as they began walking. "I just hope that we don't run into any more distractions."

I always make sure that chapters are at least 5,000 words, but even then they usually reach 6,000 or more until I reach what I think is a good stopping point, but today this felt like an alright one. I really want to try and have a Chapter that's solely a journey through the desert, or at least mostly desert, while the rest of the chapter is some shenanigans I have planned in Fourside.

But yeah, I hope that was entertaining. I'll admit that I've planned for the Trillionage Sprout to be a short battle, even in this battle/character-focused story, simply for the comedy aspect. And also the fact that other than it's diamondization ability, it would be hard to write a difficult fight against an enemy rooted in place. That pun was unintentional btw.

I would have liked to spend more time in reverted Threed simply because it's one of the first times that you really felt like you've made a change in the world around you, with how happy everyone gets and how they all thank you, but story-wise it wouldn't have made much sense, since they're trying to save the world and wouldn't mess around in Threed for any longer.

So, the Dusty Dunes Desert is up next boyos. Shenanigans shall be afoot. I've made a few short omake's to make up for the slightly shorter chapter, even though it hit my always intended minimum of 5,000 words. Enjoy.

"Waiting for several hours isn't exactly ideal," Anthony murmured.

"But would walking through the desert be any better?"

"Well… technically if we walk at a speedy pace we'd be through in just a few hours… after all, we were driven most of the way already, so we should be fine…"

"Why not run?"

"Oh I'm sorry, do you want to get dehydrated and die from thirst in the middle of a desert? We are not running. We shall be briskly walking."

A day later, they finally exited the desert, hot, tired, and sweaty. "We… we made it…"

"Thank… god…"

Sapphire huffed and turned, blinking and groaning. "Guys… look…"

Anthony and Willow turned, before facepalming. The entirety of the traffic that had held back their bus… it was all gone.

"…who's idea was it to walk through the desert instead of waiting it out?" Willow and Sapphire turned to Anthony.

"…crap." The blond boy began running into the tunnel leading to Threed, with Sapphire and Willow angrily chasing him.

And one more.

On either side of the road were massive boulders, blocking them from just entering the desert. Before they could backtrack to find an entrance to the desert, Sapphire held up a hand. "Wait a minute—" he turned and looked towards the traffic jam. "Can't we just walk in between the cars?"

His fellow companions fell silent a moment. "…how did I not think of that?"

"Let's get going, Sapphy!" And so, they walked in between the cars, easily reaching Fourside before night fell, because they had common sense.

I know that to make you go through the desert you can't just walk in between the cars, but really, you know that if Earthbound was real the Three Chosen would just walk straight in between the cars, lol.

But yea. Leave a review on everything you liked, or just a "good job" if you want. Both are always nice to read.

See y'all next time!