chapter 14
The group kept running, until they slowed down near some old holes. Stanley took a peek in one.
"Whoa!" he said. There were dozens of yellow spotted lizards lounging about inside.
"I say, we stay away from these holes as much as possible." Nina said, looking in another hole.
"Agreed!" everyone said. Then, they saw a overturned boat, lying on the ground.
"Shade!" Donald yelled, running towards it.
"Wait up!" Goofy yelled after him. Nina and Stanley were walking together for a moment.
"They're kinda crazy guys, aren't they?" Stanley asked
"Yes, but their my crazy guys." Nina said
"Guys! I think we found something!" Goofy yelled from over by the boat.
"What is it?" Stanley asked
"It's not a what, it's a who!" Donald yelled
"What did you say?" Stanley and Nina asked simultaneously. They reached the boat, and saw feet sticking out from beneath it.
"Zero?" Stanley asked. The feet pulled itself in and out came Zero.
"You're alive!!" Everyone said, hugging the boy.
"I won't be if you keep squeezing me!" Zero gasped. He was put down on the ground.
"Sorry. We're just glad you are still alive." Donald said
"It's okay." Zero replied.
"You can understand him?!?" Stanley and Nina nearly yelled.
"Yeah." Zero said
"Cool... Uh, look we have to go Zero. You will die out here if you stay too long."
"My dad tells me a lot of stories about people who died in the desert from lack of water, so it'll probably happen-"Nina said
"What's Mar yelou?" Zero asked out of the blue.
"What're you talking about?" Stanley asked
"It's on the boat." Zero pointed to a spot that had the words 'Mary Lou'.
"It's Mary Lou. The Y doesn't make a yeh sound when..." Stanley was talking, till he looked at the mountains in the distance. "What do those look like?" Nina held up a thumbs up. "I think I know how we can survive out here. Come on!" Stanley began running towards the mountains, leaving a confused group in his wake. Everyone got up and began chasing him.
"How are we going to survive?" Nina asked
"We're going to climb the mountain!" Stanley said, like it was the most simple thing to do in the world.
"Yeah, climbing a mountain is kind of the opposite of surviving in the desert." Nina said. They reached the mountian base and stopped.
"My great grandad almost died out here, but he managed to find shelter on the top of God's Thumb." Stanley said
"So we have to climb all the way up?" Goofy asked
"Yep." Stanley said. "Let's get started." They began finding the side with the least slope, and began free climbing up it. It was painful on their blisters, but if they would survive up there, they didn't care.
"What helped your great grandfather live on the top?" Zero asked
"Maybe a giant ice cream." Stanley said. What they didn't know, was that they needed to hurry.
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"We secure the areas here, and here. I want around the clock survealance of all water towers." The warden said. "When two weeks have gone by, we'll order dogs, choppers, the whole nine yards."
"But, by two weeks, there'll be nothing left." Mr. Sir said
"Exactly." the warden said, while Mr. Sir went away. "And I'm gonna make sure of that." She pulled out the heartless caller, and pressed the symbol. It began blinking on and off for a few minutes, before it had a continuos glow.
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"Give me another word." Zero asked
"R-O-C-K." Nina said
"Rock?" Zero asked
"Right! You're getting better!" Stanley said proudly. They were all in an area where they were able to walk. The slope was low, and Nina stopped, looking stunned.
"Gawrsh Nina, what's wrong?" Goofy asked
"They're coming!" Nina said. They heard growling behind them suddenly. They all turned around, and saw giant yellow spotted lizards, but not like the ones they usually saw. They were pitch black, with purple claws on their hands and tails, their spots were still yellow, but there was also a heartless symbol on their bellies, and when they opened their mouths, everyone saw their large purple fangs. Yellow Spotted Shadows went through Nina's head.
"Stanley, take Zero, and keep moving." Nina said. "Go!" Stanley and Zero high tailed it out of there, while the trio summoned their weapons.
"I've been needing a heartless to thrash!" Nina yelled, clenching her keyblade in her fists. With a mighty roar, they ran in and began battling. Donald tried a fire spell, but one reflected the fire with it's tail. Goofy was doing good whacking anything that moved with his shield, and Nina was doing great with her keyblade. When she had a lizard pinned, she fell to the ground and had her shirt torn in the back. There was no lizard to attack her from behind. She looked up and saw a buzzard with swirly yellow eyes and green and purple wings, the heartless symbol on its chest.
"Guys! Watch out! The buzzards are heartless too!!" Nina yelled as Buzz Beaks went through her mind.
"Nina look out!!" Goofy yelled. Another buzzard flew down to slash Nina in her back, trying to pull her heart out. Nina fell to the ground as a lizard pinned her down. She closed her eyes and waited for the bite, but she heard a whack and it never came. She opened her eyes to see Stanley standing over her, shovel in hand.
"Need some help?" he asked with a smirk.
"Yeah. Lets do it!" Nina said. He helped her up and an organgish glow seemed to envelop them both.
"Dig it!" they both yelled. Stanley stuck his shovel under a big rock and Nina swung her keyblade on it raising the stone in the air to squash the buzzards, one by one. Then, to finish this battle, Stanley stuck his shovel in the ground and Nina pounded on it so massive amount of sand flew into the air. Everyone could see, except the heartless. When the dust settled, all that remained were the heroes.
"Was that..." Donald started
"A limit move?" Goofy finished. Nina and Stanley looked at each other.
"I think so!" Nina said. "Where's Zero?" Stanley's smile dropped, and began running. He reached a little niche where Zero layed unconcious.
"Gawrsh, what happened?" Goofy asked
"He passed out from the heat." Stanley said
"That means we don't have that much time to reach the top before his time's up!" Donald said
"Nope. Still don't understand you!" Nina said
"Same here." Stanley said. "Here, I'll carry him. We have to keep moving." Stanley lifted Zero on his back and began carrying him up the mountain. They kept climbing the slope and one voice kept running through Nina's head, ever since Stanley started carrying Zero.
You must carry Madame Zeroni up the mountain, said the voice, and sing while I drink from the stream, so I can get strong.
Too tired from walking after hours, Donald, Goofy, and Nina collapsed on the ground as the sun was finishing its setting.
"If I have to take one more step..." Nina said. There was a growling behind her.
"Please tell me that was your stomach Goofy." Nina stated blankly. She rolled over to her back to see the yellow spotted heartless. They were about to strike, when they suddenly caught a whiff of something and disappeared in their usual black hole thing.
"That was strange." Donald said. Nina got up, took a step forward, and then stumbled into something she didn't expect.
"Why is there a stream up here?" she asked aggitated
"Stream?" Goofy asked
"Water?" Stanley asked. He set Zero leaning on a rock and kneeled down to drink the sweet water. Everyone else followed his example. Stanley splashed some water at Zero and he woke up to drink the water. There were plants and Stanley plucked one of them.
"Onions!" he said. He took a bite.
"This is the best onion I've ever had!" he said. He just layed on the ground, and then he sang...
"If only, if only the woodpecker sighed, the bark on the tree was as soft as the sky. While the wolf waits below hungry and lonely. He cries to the moon if only if only."
An image of an old women, who looked like a fortune teller who was smiling flashed through Nina's mind. She turned to Zero, and asked one question.
"Hey Zero, what's your real name?" she asked
"Hector," he said, "Hector Zeroni." Nina's simply smiled, and now understood what the women meant when she spoke, and why she was smiling.
"Hey Stanley!" Nina said."Luck is on our side!"