Eventually, the next day came and everyone met up with Sweet at the Medical Clinic in the Southwest as discussed last night.
"Sam's a long-time field agent of Mr. Whitmore's," Sweet informed them. "He's best at digging up hard-to-find objects. Only this time, I think something found him."
"And you say he mentioned killer coyotes in a sandstorm?" Milo asked.
"Mm... No, not exactly," Sweet declined as he continued. "More like a sandstorm made up of killer coyotes who were made up of sand."
"And here I thought things couldn't get any crazier." Lionel remarked dryly.
"Sounds like an Equestria thing if you ask me." Cherry shrugged.
"And this is unusual in your world?" Kida soon asked.
"Oh, yes," Sweet chuckled and nodded. "More than a little bit."
"But I do not understand why you wanted ME here." Kida then said.
"Because of this." Sweet replied as he took out a talisman with certain writing on it.
Kida soon took the talisman and examined it before gasping. "Milo, it is Atlantean." she then realized.
"Where did you find this?" Atticus asked.
"You'll have to ask Sam." Sweet replied, gesturing to the old man in bandages in a bed right next to them who seemed to be lying motionless in the bed.
"I can't tell if he's breathing." Lee commented.
"Maybe he's dead." Vincent guessed.
The man soon grunted a bit and snored lightly.
"Oh, he's just sleeping," Sweet reassured them. "After what he's been through, I'm sure he can use the rest."
Irwin soon tried to wake the man awake before flinching slightly.
"Hey. Get away, you furry carcass rats!" Sam soon glared once he woke up.
"Or maybe he's already well-rested..." Lionel muttered.
"It's all right, Mr. McKeane," Milo smiled at the man gently. "You're safe now."
"Mr. Whitmore sent us, sir." Otika added, coming beside her father.
"Oh, good old Preston. Best man I ever scavenged for," Sam nodded calmly. "Say, young fella, could you fluff up my pillow?"
Milo nodded and soon decided to do that.
"Ah! Now how about a sip of water?" Sam then asked. "My gullet's awful dry."
Kida soon found the glass of water beside him and held it out to him as he took the straw and sipped with it before crying out.
"What's wrong?" Audrey asked as she leaned in.
"Got a little sleepy in the foot," Sam replied as he held his grotesque looking foot out in front of her face. "Would you mind givin' it a rub?"
"Eww!" Audrey and the kids complained.
"And you say coyotes did this to you?" Akito spoke up.
"No. 'Twernt no ordinary coyotes," Sam shook his head before Atticus's eyes widened suddenly and he activated his vision power to see what Sam could see while all anyone else could do was listen to the story. "These was cantankerous sand coyotes. 'Twernt a lick of wind all day, but I sure heard it howlin' up on the mesas that night. I thought I was loco when I saw them dust devils materializing in moonlight. Their red eyes like to burn a hole right through my soul. Came screamin' off that ridge like a pack of ghosts. I ran back to my shack and bolted the door. I figured I'd be safe if I stayed inside. I was wrong. Scratched me up like a two-sizes too small wool sweater on a hot afternoon," he then concluded before taking out a jar with a proud smirk. "Luckily, I had plenty of bacon grease to rub all over my hide to ease the chafin'."
Milo simply nodded and grinned nervously so he wouldn't say something he would regret.
"So I see." Atticus then remarked once he snapped back into the main reality.
"Doesn't it look like something out of Equestria?" Cherry asked him. "Like the timberwolves or the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major or any weird creature from The Everfree Forest that Twilight told us about when she stood up to Triixe before we met her?"
"It sure does and I have a feeling we'll all be able to see them up close in the future." Atticus nodded to her.
"Good grief..." Lionel remarked.
"Dinnertime," A nurse smiled as she stepped inside with a food tray for the patient. "Mr. McKeane, what have we told you about the bacon grease?"
"Works better than any of your darn fool fix 'em-ups," Sam scoffed before whispering to the others. "I stood a better chance with them coyotes."
"Is he going to be all right?" Estelle asked the nurse.
"Oh, yes. We're moving him to the hospital in Scottsdale where he'll be their problem." The nurse nodded with a smile as she gave Sam his food tray so that he could eat before she left the room.
"So where did you find this?" Milo soon asked as he examined the talisman.
"In a pot." Sam replied as he began to eat his dinner.
"What pot?" Cherry asked.
"In the crate."
"What crate?" Sweet asked.
"In my shack."
"What shack?" Everybody then asked together.
Sam soon told them where to go and once they had the required information, they nodded at him and parted ways with him, meeting up outside.
"Wait here, kids, we'll get ready to go." Mo told the young ones before meeting up with the other adults.
"Well, guys, looks like we're headed for a shack now." Cherry told the others.
They soon met outside and got ready to go down there. Irwin waited with the other kids before he looked around and decided to try to pick some flowers to give to Otika as they talked with each other while waiting for the adults to get ready.
"Oh! Irwin!" Otika smiled at the bespectacled boy. "Are those for me?"
"Uh, y-y-yeah," Irwin nodded and blushed. "...I thought you would like flowers... You do like flowers, right?" he then asked.
"Why, yes, I do," Otika replied as she accepted the flowers. "That's so sweet of you."
"I try..." Irwin smiled bashfully as he rubbed his arm.
"I shall remember this Thanksgiving forever as the time you brought me flowers and we all came together for Team Atlantis." Otika beamed as she held the flowers with pride.
Irwin blushed even more at that, while LJ and Zofia applauded for him, with David suddenly popping out of a vortex and clinging to LJ's back like a koala.
"Whoa... Where did he come from?" Akito blinked once he saw David appearing from nothing.
"Who knows, really?" shrugged LJ. "It's always a mystery with this one, but that's what makes it fun."
"Is that right?" Estelle commented.
David cooed and babbled a bit, of course, no one really understood him.
"Oh... That sounds super interesting!" Estelle then said as her babysitting studies showed that that babbling for a while simply meant that a baby was trying to tell a story that couldn't be understood by adult ears.
"What's he saying?" Lee asked Estelle.
"I dunno, that's just something babies do sometimes." Estelle replied.
As David finished his story, he proceeded to gnaw on his elephant toy's rubber ear. The others lightly chuckled.
"All right, troops! Let's move out!" Cherry called out.
The kids then walked off together and went to go down on the road together once they were ready to go.
Eventually, they remembered where to go and soon found the shack that Sam had told them about.
"I'm not surprised this is where he lives," Sweet remarked once they came to observe. "You saw the man eat, right? Lives like he eats. Sloppy."
"Makes sense to me." Mo nodded in agreement.
"Phew... Must be the maid's day-off..." Jenny said as they came inside as the inside looked rather messy.
Mole soon got on his hands and knees and tasted the sand on the floor.
"I'm afraid to ask, but how does it taste?" Cherry asked Mole.
"Quartz, silicate, mixed with local clay," Mole soon told her as he examined the substance by tasting and observing it closely. "Slightly nutty to the taste. Nothing unusual."
"Sand isn't the only thing here that's nutty." Audrey muttered under her breath, while Kida felt the glass.
"Everything here seems to have been rubbed smooth," Kida vocalized. "Even the windows are etched! From the sand?"
"McKean said they were sand coyotes," replied Sweet. "I see lots of sand, but no coyotes. Not even any footprints."
"Looks like the crate's missing," Atticus said. "Let's call Mr. McKean."
And at that, they gave the man a call, but he didn't sound very happy.
"Missin'? Dang blame it! I know just what varmint done took it too," Sam complained on the other line. "It'd be that shifty-eyed, back-stabbin' rattlesnake Ashton Carnaby. He runs a tradin' post outside of town. You best be careful. He's slicker than a sweaty toad in a rainstorm."
"Wow." Atticus said.
And so, they went on the road again and went down to the Carnaby Trading Post, driving right in.
"Hopefully this is better." Vincent said as Jenny nodded to him.
"Let's look around a little first," Milo suggested as they got out of the car to explore. "We don't know for certain that this Carnaby guy took Sam's crate."
Obby soon came out after Milo, tackling him down suddenly and licked his face.
"No, Obby! Stay! Stay!" Milo cried out and laughed before getting Obby off of him.
A couple of people at the scene looked concerned and curious as the man held his camera, standing beside the woman with him. They looked even more worried as Obby suddenly stretched his tongue out and ate the camera instantly.
"He's a Brazilian iguana," Sweet told the people there. "Eats just about anything. Trust me."
The people just blinked, feeling confused and even more concerned.
Soon, the group was inside of the trading post and looking around.
"There are pieces here that are hundreds of years old..." Milo exclaimed, amazed.
Audrey reached into a basket and pulled out an old toy bow and suction-cup arrow. "Look, an antique," she remarked dryly before firing the arrow, striking Mole off-screen.
"How are people to use these things if they're locked behind glass?" Kida asked as she examined the glass case.
"It's for protection." Milo explained to her.
"I know what the spear is for, but why is it in a glass case?" Kida then asked.
"No, the glass case is for protection." Cherry replied.
"Wouldn't the spear be better protection than a glass case?" Kida then asked.
"Yes. No! It's there to protect from someone who might want to steal it." Mo replied before she held her head as she was suddenly getting a headache.
Kida blinked in silence for a few moments. "...Why would someone want to steal a glass case?" she then asked, still not getting it.
The others just groaned and sweat-dropped.
"Apologies for my mother's not very observant behavior." Otika said to the others.
"Oh, that's okay," Emi replied. "It happens... Sometimes... I think."
The others just politely grinned and walked away.
"Hm... Pretty neat rock," Atticus said as he found a special kind of rock before Mole suddenly took it from him. "Hey!"
"Calcified limestone more than 25 million years old from the Cenozoic Era," Mole smiled as he took the rock and licked it a bit before tossing it aside as he observed a couple of pots. "Hydrated aluminum silicates with basalt found primarily in the southern Colorado River Basin," he then licked one of the pots before grimacing and tossing it over his shoulder. "Plastic! Bah!"
Obby then caught the plastic pot and ate it up instantly once he caught it with his tongue.
"Well, I'm glad at least you like it." Oliver looked sheepish around Obby.
Kida found a small ceramic totem on another shelf. "Milo! Look at this," she told her husband. "It looks exactly like an Atlantean guardian!"
"Well, not exactly..." replied Milo. "It's been modified to Nachomi design."
"Either way, I am buying it." Kida stated.
"Ho-ho. That's what I like to hear," A man chuckled as he was soon shown to be in the room with them. "Because I want to sell it."
"You must be Mr. Carnaby." Mo guessed.
"That's me!" Carnaby smirked as he approached Kida and examined the totem. "Now, that painting's of Crystal Guardian who crawled from the earth with weapons of blue fire. He was a great teacher and healer of the sick," he then told Kida. "Or so the legend goes."
"How much is it?" Kida asked hopefully.
"And it better not be how much we got." Mo added firmly.
"Well, that's a museum-class piece." Carnaby replied.
"I'll bet there's a museum-class price to go with it too." Sweet huffed.
"It is rare, and I've had offers." Carnaby then said.
Kida soon reached into her pocket and took out several dollars. "Is this enough?" she then asked.
"Mama, that looks like too much-" Otika spoke up, but it was too late.
"Sold! One Crystal Guardian." Carnaby grinned as he accepted the money proudly.
"So, Mr. Carnaby, where exactly do you get all of your artifacts?" Milo then asked as he stepped over to the man.
"Well, uh, here and there," Carnaby shrugged innocently. "But the older pieces are 100% authentic, I assure you."
"I sure don't doubt that." Cherry huffed as she carried David in her arms.
"Well, we're looking for a crate that may have been taken from a Sam McKeane." stated Lionel.
Carnaby got a suspicious look on his face. "...Who are you, anyway?" he asked.
"We're associates of Mr. McKeane," replied Sweet. "He's asked us to help locate the missing crate."
"Yeah." Atticus added.
"Uh, can't help you. McKeane has a tendency to tell stories," Carnaby replied. "I think he gets lonely out there in the desert."
"I can imagine." Estelle commented.
"I know I would." Lee added.
"So you don't know anything about it?" Milo asked.
"If McKeane lost a crate of pottery, that's not my problem-" Canarby replied before gasping as he saw Mole licking one of his bowls. "What in the Red Rock River Valley are you doin'?!"
"Sampling the bowl. It is very nice," Mole smiled before holding the bowl out to the man. "Would you like some?"
And then suddenly, they were kicked out and the door was then slammed in their faces.
"Well, that could have gone better." Zofia scoffed.
"To say the least," replied LJ. "That Carnaby guy definitely sounded like he had something to hide."
They soon rode back off into the desert. Oliver panted a bit before Jenny got him some water as she wiped her forehead, feeling a bit sweaty herself.
"Does it strike anybody as odd that Carnaby knows the missing crate contains pottery?" Milo soon asked the others. "Because I never mentioned what was in it."
"You are right." Kida agreed as Otika nodded.
"I don't trust that Carnaby," Sweet shook his head. "Don't like him one bit. Didn't like his attitude. Didn't like his shifty little eyes. Eyes are the windows to the soul, you know?" he then advised.
"How would you like to gaze into the windows of my soul?" Mole hopefully asked Kida.
"Uncle Mole, she's married, remember?" Otika asked the man as Kida shoved him away.
"...Did anyone else see that guy back there?" Atticus asked.
"What guy?" Cherry asked.
"...I must be seeing things," Atticus shrugged as he drove along, but a guy seemed to be shown again. "Wait, that was him!"
"I'm not sure who that was." Mo replied.
And the rule of three soon came into play as Sweet took notice of that. "Twice is a coincidence, but three times? I think someone's trying to tell us something." he then said.
The cars soon stopped to see the mysterious man.
"Hello. Can we offer you a ride?" Milo greeted and offered. "It's a long walk to anywhere."
"My name is Chakashi. And, yes, a ride would be welcome." The mysterious man grinned since they stopped for him.
"Alrighty then; climb aboard." Lionel replied as he scooted to the left.
"My gratitudes." Chakashi nodded and soon went to sit down with the family.
"Triplets?" Cherry shrugged as they rode along.
"Uh, yes, sir," Zofia spoke up. "Do you have a brother or two?"
"There are many Noshoni men who walk alone in the desert and we look all the same to the eyes of outsiders," Chakashi informed before looking over to see what Kida had in her lap. "Ah! Crystal Guardian, our great teacher and protector," he then educated the others. "He revealed many secrets to the Noshoni. The path of the stars, the time to plant, how to heal themselves and like Crystal Guardian we will also protect our sacred beliefs from outsiders. Those who would plunder our lands to betray our secrets will answer to the ancient forces of the desert."
"Good to know," Akito and Estelle replied in unison. "Jinx!"
"Plunder lands... Betray secrets..." muttered LJ. "Sounds like Carnaby to me."
"He must be a pirate." Zofia replied.
"A pirate?" The others asked.
"Hey, plundering lands and betraying secrets sounds like a pirate if you ask me." Zofia shrugged innocently.
"Not to mention most of those objects he sold at his trading post were of questionable legitimacy." nodded Cherry.
Atticus shook a chill down his spine as, unknown to either to them, the sand coyotes were on their way and they were coming in fast. They formed together to make thick and huge patches of sand which was hard to see through for the drivers.
"A sand storm? Where did that come from?" Audrey wondered.
Mole looked out from the back and gasped. "We are followed!" he then warned the others.
"There are ancient powers that will make certain our secrets are kept, and you, more than anyone, should understand this." Chakashi advised as his eyes glowed red which filled the room with a dark red aura before he looked directly at Kida.
"Vincent, I'm scared." Jenny frowned as she hugged Oliver.
"Me too, Akito." Emi added.
"Don't worry, girls, I'm sure we'll get through this together." Lee said as he sat with Estelle.
"Something tells me we picked a bad day to start helping out hitchhikers!" LJ exclaimed.
David growled in response. The sand coyotes soon started to bang up the cars and even shatter the windshields of the cars.
"They're trying to drive us off the road," Audrey complained. "I just put in that windshield."
"Are you kids and Mr. Chakashi okay back there?" Cherry asked.
LJ, Zofia, David, Akito, Estelle, Vincent, Emi, Jenny, Oliver, Lee, Otika, and Irwin soon looked over before looking wide-eyed and confused.
"He's gone!" Irwin gasped.
"How? Where could he go?" Otika blinked in confusion.
"People, we got bigger problems," Sweet warned the others as the sand coyotes caused chaos for them. "They're in here with us."
"No. Dust doggies, go away!" Mole cried out and tried to blow them away.
Atticus and Akito even tried to do the same with their super-breath, but because of reasons, their breath wasn't strong enough to blow them away, but then soon... CRASH! The cars crashed in the dust storm, making the situation a whole lot worse, especially for one certain mechanic of the group.