Author: Before I start off this chapter, I have a small announcement. Those of you who asked me if there will be a filler arc, answer is: it depends on the vote. I already decided to have it be a multi-cross. The poll is up, so readers, please vote. You have until the end of this story to vote.
Aki: If they choose one of the two 'yes', I'll be able to reunite with everyone else.
Author: What the-?! Where'd you come from?! And keep your thoughts to yourself!
Aki: Again, can't your favorite character from one of your favorite anime come and visit? Besides, it's true, isn't it? And I don't just mean the Signers.
Author: How are you even sure that there will be a filler arc after this? And even if there is, you're giving away too much.
Aki: I don't know if there will be a filler arc. But it'll be nice to see everyone again. And visit here every once in a while. Especially since it's a bit funny to see your reaction with the sudden visits.
Xion: I agree with her on that part.
Author: YOU! WHY YOU HERE?!
Xion: *giggle* See? It is funny.
Author: Just go back to your story!
Aki: *smirk* I think someone's a bit cranky.
Xion: I couldn't agree more.
Author: Who are you calling cranky?!
Xion: *takes out Keyblade* Sleep.
Author: *affected by spell and gets drowsy* *THUD*
Aki: Ah. Peace and quiet. Well, since she's out and Xion's going back to this chapter, partial credit of this story goes to EvanderAdvent. OH! And she never mentioned this before, although it is obvious that she doesn't, she doesn't own One Piece or Kingdom Hearts.
Continuing on to our journey to Yuba, let's just say that we discovered one of our nakama's weakness.
"Aaah... Aaah... Aaah! I'm burning... Not even sweating anymore..." Luffy complains, as he continues to walk with a long stick for balance. Where did he get it? I will never know.
"Enough with the 'Aaah's Luffy," Nami spoke as she fanned herself. "You'll wear yourself out."
"Aaah..."
"It will never go through his think skull," I simply told her.
"I can't take this. I'm perfectly fine with the cold, but I can't stand the heat," Chopper-kun said in my arms. The poor hybrid collapsed not long ago and, being the older sister I am to him, I carried him in my arms. He was being as careful as he can with the water I bought for him. Maybe a bit too careful.
"At least drink the water I bought you. That's why I left it hanging around your neck."
"Oh yeah." He forgot about the small barrel around his neck.
"Why don't you just take off that animal costume? Then you'll cool off," Usopp suggested from behind us. Like Luffy, he also has a long stick to help him keep his balance.
"Nami. Hold Chopper-kun for me," I spoke, handing the navigator the small Devil Fruit user. After passing him to her, I gave Usopp a good beating. "Thanks for holding on to my little brother."
"Sure," she passed him back to me.
"I should've kept my mouth shut," the beat-up long-nose nakama of ours said, as he tried to continue walking after us.
"And that you should've done."
"The heat doesn't seem to affect you much at all, Vivi-chan," Sanji stated.
"I was born and raised in this country; I'm used to it," the princess replied.
"But still, why are these dunes so freaking tall?" Usopp complained. "I thought deserts are supposed to be flatter than this."
"Aaah...!" Luffy sighed.
"It's because this is an ancient desert. Sand dunes are said to be at least three hundred feet tall," I answered.
"Th-... Three hundred feet?! We might as well be climbing mountains!"
"Xion, how did you know? Do you remember about being in a desert once?" Vivi asked.
Her questioned got me wondering how I knew. "Good question. How did I know?"
"Guess it's going to take some more time being around in the desert for you to remember," Zoro guessed.
"Aaah... I can't take it... It's too hot," our captain complained.
"Luffy! Just one mouthful! Only enough to fill your mouth!" Nami told him. And a big mistake on her part. Due to his rubber powers, to us normal humans, THE BOY TOOK WHAT COULD'VE BEEN AT LEAST TEN MOUTHFULS!
"THAT'S TOO MUCH!" She and Usopp punched Luffy in the head, causing him to spit out the water.
"Save some for me, too! You just took eighteen mouthfuls!"
"Hold it! You just had some before! It's my turn next!" Sanji demanded, as he, Usopp and Luffy began to fight over the barrel of water in our idiot captain's possession. Why they entrusted him with the water? Again, I'll never know.
"Don't fight! You'll waste your strength!" Vivi tried to convince them.
"Hey! You made me spit it out!" Luffy complained.
"Well you're the one to blame for that aren't you?!" Nami pointed out.
"That's right! You had it coming!" Usopp agreed.
"Please calm down you four. It's not like we're going to die if we waste a barrel," I said.
"There's a possibility that we will!" they shouted back.
"But Xion-nee brought fifteen more barrels in case if Luffy wastes them. And she even has them all cold," Chopper-kun told them.
"WHAT?!"
"Where?! As your captain, I demand you to give it all to me!" the rubberboy ordered.
"No way, Luffy. You'll just drink it all," I pointed out. "I bought those barrels for everyone; not just for you. Just because your my captain doesn't give you the right to take what should be for your whole crew. Would you feel alright if we don't give you any meat while we eat our meal? Or if we tie you up and have you watch us eat?"
"Well... No..."
"Then there you go. Besides, even though you spat out that water, at least a little bit of it should be enough."
"But-"
"No 'but's, Luffy. I'll give you some water when we rest somewhere. Same goes for everyone else. Chopper-kun is okay, since he has a small barrel of water around his neck." The said reindeer was drinking his portion of water.
"Hey! No fair, Chopper! Give-!"
"Graviga," I spoke, without giving Luffy his chance to finish his order. The spell caused him to be somewhat buried in the sand. "I thought I told you that Chopper's portion are in the small barrels I bought. Our's are in the big barrels. Understand?"
"Ech. I umbersan (Yes. I understand)," he replied, giving me a thumbs-up.
"That's what I thought."
It got dark out. What they say about the temperature in the desert at night is true; it does feel chilly.
"I'm starving~!" Does he ever stop being greedy?
"Quit being greedy! It's still raw! Don't eat it!" Sanji scolded. "Nami-san~! It'll be ready soon, pwease wait a little bit more~!"
'Is it just me, or did his 'ladies man' persona got worse?' I wondered.
"Smells good!" Usopp complimented.
"DON'T TOUCH IT!"
"Why not?! They're done! Let's eat!" Now I don't think it's just Sanji's wanting a girlfriend problem.
"DON'T TOUCH IT!"
"It was so hot during the day. What happened?" Nami asked the princess.
"In the desert, where there's nothing to absorb the heat, the days are burning hot and the nights drop below freezing," she informed.
"This is just one of the unexpected dangers you will have to face in the desert. While you have to try to stay cool during the day, you also have to do something to keep yourself warm during the night," I added. "There are many other unexpected dangers. One of them being the Desert Strawberry."
"Desert Strawberry?" Usopp listened in to our conversation.
"What's that?" Sanji asked.
"It's a poisonous breed of spiders that looks like a strawberry. If you eat one, you'll die in a few days. And after a few hours, a contagious poison will spread from the corpse. Or so I heard from the townspeople back in Nanohana and read from this book that one of those people gave me." I took out the said book.
"And that's actually a true story. It happened once in our country. One of the people even sacrificed themselves to save the whole country from the poison," Vivi agreed.
"But man, there sure are a lot of things here that I've never heard about in this book. I know the basic disasters in the desert, such as sandstorms and quicksands. But there are a lot more disasters here."
"You didn't need to bring that with you though."
"Better to take extra cautious than not to."
"Look at all the stars..." I heard Chopper-kun speak from the other side of the fire.
"You could see stars from your Winter Island, can't you?" Usopp questioned.
"On a Winter Island, the sky is always filled with thick snow clouds. This is the first time I've seen so many stars!"
Seeing Chopper-kun that happy brings me to peace. In all my life with him, I've never seen Chopper-kun have such a peaceful look on his face. I've always seen a happy or a scared expression on that cute little face, the scared part is due to a certain witch doctor. I'm glad that Chopper-kun joined our crew.
Looking back up and at reality, I noticed that he's being hugged by both Usopp and Luffy. Then again, it's not really like they're killing him, since it is as cold as winter during the night in the desert. If they make him uncomfortable, however, or if Luffy is doing this as a way to get Chopper-kun's water barrel, I will give them a quick beating or two.
'Oh! I almost forgot about the Dream Eater!' I reminded myself. I took out my Keyblade and some of my Dream Eaters ingredients, as well as the recipe for our new ally.
"Oh! Xion's going to make the new ally!" Luffy announced.
"Oh! Let me see! Let me see!" Usopp exclaimed, coming closer to me.
"It's better than to just wait for the food to be done cooking," Zoro stated.
"Oi, Ace! You come and see this! It's really cool!" the Devil Fruit user told his brother.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming."
After fishing out the needed items for the little one's revival, I pointed my Keyblade at them and shot out the beam of light at them. After that, the light died down and revealed a colorful sea lion, with a beach ball next to it.
"Oh! This time it's a seal!" Luffy excitedly identified.
"No. It's a sea lion," Sanji corrected.
"So this is a Dream Eater," Ace thoughtfully said.
"That's right. And this isn't just any seal, Luffy. This is a Juggle Pup," I corrected my captain.
"But what's with the beach ball next to it?" Usopp asked.
"Let's see." Chopper-kun went up to the ball and tossed it to the Dream Eater, who bounced it on its nose. The next thing we knew, the young creature spun the ball on its fin and tossed it above its head. Imagine our surprise when it ate the beach ball as it was falling to the Juggle Pup's head.
"Oi, oi. The thing just ate the beach ball," Zoro said out of disgust. He said that just to be corrected when the Dream Eater somehow had the ball appeared above it, bouncing it on its nose again. "Never mind."
"That was an amazing trick, though," Nami complimented. "It's like magic."
"So, what are you going to name it, Xion?" Vivi asked.
"Hmm. I think I'll name it... Gamble. According to this recipe, this Dream Eater's Link Action is called Lucky Dice."
"Lucky Dice?"
"What's that?" Chopper-kun asked me.
"... The only thing this recipe says about that link is that it causes various effects to Juggle Pup's friends and foes, depending on the dice roll," I explained, reading the link's info. "So it's basically gambling."
"Oh. Wonder what kind of effects it does." I suddenly see Chopper's face slowly change into a really happy one.
'Must be thinking about the positive effect it will have on him,' I thought. "In any case, we should all get some shut eye. We have to get to Yuba as fast as possible, don't we?"
"Yeah! Good night, guys!" Luffy, Usopp and Chopper-kun immediately went to sleep.
I had Gamble to go into one of the blank cards and went into one of the tents that Sanji set up for us girls. As I sleep, I couldn't help but wonder about the guy Vivi mentioned earlier.
'If he is involved in this, just what exactly is the organization planning to do? If only I can remember.'
*DREAM*
I was on the outskirts of the city in the desert. Apparently, I was on a mission to defeat a Heartless that was causing sandstorms. It's weird, though. Roxas should've took care of that Heartless. That's what I told Saix, who said that there was another Heartless and, since Roxas was busy with his mission, I have to be the one to take care of it.
It wasn't long as I was walking, when my target decided to reveal itself. I kept attacking it with everything I got, even using my magics on it. When the Heartless sunk within the sand, I thought that it admitted defeat. I was proved wrong when the desert started to shake and the target rose out of the sand. I used my Blizzard magics on it and hit the bombs it sent to me back at it to have it go down so I can defeat him. Just when I thought I got it right where I wanted it, the Heartless rose again and began to shoot out laser beams. I avoided the attack and was shocked at the damage it caused. Sure, the size of the beam was big; but the damage it caused was five times worse than the size.
'That could've been me!' I thought in shock and fear.
The moment I looked back, the Heartless was already done charging it's next beam and fired it at me. I couldn't move; I couldn't breathe; I couldn't-
"UWAHHHH! I found a shrimp!" came a sudden voice.
*REALITY*
My eyes shot open and I quickly sat up from my spot. Sweats were dripping down my face and I was breathing heavily.
'What was that dream?' I wondered.
"Think we can eat it?" I heard Usopp ask from outside the tent.
"Why not? I've eaten crayfish before," followed Luffy's voice. I put on my black coat and walked out the tent to see what they were conversing about.
"This is the first time I've seen a real shrimp!" came Chopper-kun's voice.
'Hang on a second. Shrimp? In a desert?' I wondered. I looked at what they were looking at and saw that Luffy was holding a sco- WHY THE HELL IS HE HOLDING A SCORPION?!
"Luffy-san, that's dangerous! Throw it away!" Vivi warned him. Looks like I wasn't the only one woken up by Luffy's voice.
"No! I'm not going to waste it!" ARE YOU STUBBORN OR JUST PLAIN STUPID?!
"Let go of that before it's too late!" I warned, running towards them with Miraculous Blossom in hand. "Stop!" I stopped their time just enough for me to snatch the scorpion out of Luffy's hand and toss it away.
"Thanks, Xion. Though, you could've done it in a way that doesn't involve using magic. Doesn't it worn you out?" Vivi asked me.
"Not really."
"AHH! Xion! What was that for?! That was food!" Luffy complained to me.
"That would've killed you, if Xion didn't act fast enough. It might look like a shrimp, but it's actually a scorpion. It's small, but its poison is deadly. If it stings you, you'll die," Vivi reasoned.
"EHHHH?!" Chopper-kun gasped in shock.
"You mean it would've killed us?!" Usopp questioned.
"If I didn't react fast enough, it would've," I answered. "Now look here, in a desert, not everything is trusting. You see something that looks like food, you will then find yourself dead in the next few days, hours, even minutes. So if you see anything that looks good, don't just go ahead and touch it or eat it. Got it memorized?"
"Yeah. I got it," the reindeer and the sniper replied.
"Man, are we glad to have you here? Even if Vivi does reason us on these kinds of things, a certain someone will most likely do the opposite," Usopp said, giving our captain a weird look when he said the last part.
"Actually, I should've told you in the first place," Vivi said.
I noticed Chopper-kun had a serious and uneasy look on his face.
"What's wrong, Chopper-kun?" I asked.
"Something's... coming..." he simply said.
I looked at the direction he's looking at and noticed how odd the sky and the winds are. It took me a second to realize what this phenomenon meant.
"And 'something' would be... what?" Usopp asked.
"Take cover," I told them.
"What was that, Xion?" Luffy asked.
"Did you not hear me? I said take cover! The 'something' that's going to come... is a sandstorm!"
"Huh?!" the ones out all went back in hiding under the rocks.
"What a pain! This desert has too many sandstorms!" Luffy complained.
"I forgot to mentioned it before, but sandstorms are one of the many dangers in the desert!" Vivi shouted.
"TELL US THINGS SOONER!" Usopp yelled, as we were about to be covered by the sand.
Some time later, the storm passed and some of us were buried in the sand. Luckily, we weren't buried that deep. After getting ourselves out of the sand, we all continued out way to Yuba. Not even an hour passed and Luffy was already hungry.
"Oi, Sanji! Let's eat our bento! Pirate Bento!"
"Not yet! Not until Vivi-chan says so," our chef answered.
"Vivi! Let's eat our bento! I'm out of power!"
"But we're still only 1/10 of our way to Yuba, Luffy-san..." the princess tried to reason.
"Aren't you foolish? Haven't you heard of the saying: 'If you're hungry, eat'?"
"There's no such saying," I said.
"Xion's right. You made that up," Usopp agreed.
"Besides, you see Usopp out of strength and he's not complaining."
"But I'm hungry~!" Why did I end up with him as my captain?
"I understand. Then, how about we take a break at the next outcropping of rocks we come to?" Vivi suggested.
"Yes! Next outcropping!" the rubberman agreed.
"Hey guys! Let's hurry up to the next outcropping! Whoever wins at Janken carries all the baggage!" And he says he's out of power.
"Don't decide things on your own!" Usopp protested.
"Isn't it usually the loser who carries the baggage?" Sanji asked.
"All right! Here we go! Jan... Ken... Pon!" Everyone, except me and Ace, all did as he said and purposely lost against him.
A couple of hours later, we all continued to the next outcropping. Luffy was way behind us. Usually, my bad habit would've come and want to help him carry some of it, but since it's because he said that the winner has to carry it, it didn't come. Either that, or it's the heat.
"Heavy... So heavy... And hot... I won at Janken... So why?" he complained, carrying everyone's, except mine and Ace's, baggage.
"It's because you won at Janken!" Sanji reminded him. "Shut up and pull."
"Don't let anything fall off now!" Nami told him.
"The idiot shouldn't have suggested that in the first place. I just hope we don't come across any birds," I said.
"Why's that, Xion-nee?" Chopper-kun asked from in my arms.
"Well-"
"Straight ahead! Outcropping sighted!" Usopp informed.
Luffy got relieved to hear that and rushed over to the outcroppings ahead of us. And he ran like he wasn't tired in the first place.
"He would do anything to get things his way," I muttered. "Well, in any case, we should get moving as well."
"EMERGENCY!"
"What? He came back?"our sniper began to question.
"What's wrong, Luffy?" I asked the rubber human.
"There's a bunch of birds over there who are too injured to move!" he answered. "Chopper!"
"Right!" The young reindeer jumped out of my arms.
"Yosh! Let's go, Chopper! We're going to save the birds!"
'Injured birds? Wait a second...' "Luffy you idiot!" I shouted in realization, as I ran towards the outcropping.
I noticed the idiot and Chopper-kun stopped in their tracks when Vivi was going to tell them about the birds he found. That didn't stop me from running to the rocks to prevent our supplies from being stolen from the animals in question.
When I arrived at the outcroppings, everyone's things were already taken. Due to this, I was unsure if I should be happy that I didn't give Luffy my baggage or beat him up for leaving them all here while getting Chopper-kun.
"AHHH!" came the pirate in question's voice.
"All our baggage is gone!" Zoro shouted.
"We've been had!" Vivi exclaimed.
"Oi, Xion! What did you do with our baggage?! And what happened to the birds here?!" That question had another one of my blood vessels to pop.
"Stop..." I had Luffy's whole body to pause. "Rising Rush!" I mercilessly attacked Tweedledum with Miraculous Blossom while his body is on hold. The Stop spell wore off and Luffy was moving around exactly as how I attacked him, ending it with him shooting at the sky screaming. As he fell, I prepared to knock him into one of the rocks. "Muscle Strike!"
'At this rate, I will most likely die soon before regaining my memories,' I thought, as he got himself out of the rock he was knocked into.
"Xion! What was that for?!" he demanded.
"You came across the Warusagis, idiot! They're the types of birds who tricks travelers and steal their belongings!" I answered, strangling him.
"They're also known as 'Swindlers of the Desert'," Vivi added.
"Wha-... What~?" he managed to speak out.
"Birds pretending to be injured? Those were herons?!" Usopp asked in shock.
"That's right; herons..." the princess confirmed.
"I... I was... tricked? Xion... Let go..."
"Not until you die!" I answered, still strangling this idiotic rubber pirate.
"Luffy! Saying that won't change a thing!" Sanji told him, as he joined the strangling. "That was three days worth of supplies! Stolen by a bunch of freaking birds... Now we're stuck out in the desert of all places and WE HAVE NO BAGGAGE!? How do you expect us to go without food or water?!"
"No... No point at... being mad at me... I was tricked..."
"ENOUGH WITH YOUR EXCUSES!" I yelled, giving him a hard punch, ending the strangling event. "In any case, just be glad that my baggage has enough food for all of us."
"What do you mean, Xion-san? This idiot-"
"-didn't have my bag on him. Don't you remember, Sanji? I had it on me this whole time." I put down my two bags (one for the Dream Eaters and the other with food in it) to confirm what I said.
"Yeah! Lucky!" Luffy happily spoke too soon.
"None for you, Luffy."
"Huh?! Why is that?!"
"You let those Warusagis take everyone else's supplies! You have to take responsibilities for your action!"
"But-"
"I don't want to hear it. Stopra." I stopped his movements and had Sanji to get the ropes from the sled Luffy used to carry the other baggage and tied him up. I made sure to tie up his fingers and lip to have him prevent any ways of getting out of the ropes.
"Mmm! Mm mmm! Mm mmm mm!" Luffy tried to speak, but due to his lips being tied up, speaking was useless.
"Oh, shut up," Sanji growled.
"In any case, while we're taking a break and you guys are eating, I'll be training for a bit," I told them, getting into position. "I'll make it quick as possible. Chopper-kun, you know what to do while I'm training."
"Okay, Xion-nee." At that, I went into my DTH (Dive to the Heart).
"Xion. Why are you here?" Voice asked me.
"Why else? I came here to train," I simply answered.
"What for? I believe we already went through everything so far."
"That may be, but it's not enough for me. I'm not satisfied with the results. And it's not just the Limit Break or the Shotlocks. I also need to practice my links with the Dream Eaters; mostly the Link Style. Especially that one style." My mind went back to that time when I did the challenge on Little Garden. I did my Link Style with Fang, and my mind went blank. That's the one style I need to practice on more than anything else.
"I understand. However, now's not the time," Voice said, confusing me. "If we begin your training with that, who knows what would happen to your body in the outside world? Even my own power has its limit, Xion. If you wanted to practice with that, I suggest doing it when you're not around your nakama. Surely you don't want to hurt them with your unstable power, don't you?"
Thinking about it, I know that Voice is right. I don't want them to get involve with this problem, for it might kill them and scar my life for eternity. "I guess your right. But I still want to practice with my Limit Breaks and Shotlocks. As well as the Command Style."
"Very well. Then let's begin our training." That said, he had Heartless fit for the desert to surround me.
"I don't know if this is for training or if you just want to kill me when you do this," I muttered, taking out my Keyblade and a few Dream Eater cards. "Summon: Fin Fatale, Iceguin Ace!" Torpedo and Ace appeared from their cards. "Let's go, guys!"
Less than an hour later, the three of us took out less than half the Heartless. Just when I was about to attack a Pot Spider, it and all the other Heartless just disappeared.
"What's the deal, Voice?" I asked, not happy with my training being interrupted.
"Your friends want you to return to the living. They finished their break. Oh. And there's also a camel with them."
"I'm not going to ask why, but if that's the case, then we will continue this later."
I returned to my body and saw that what Voice said about the camel is true. Not only that, Nami is riding on it.
"Now what should I call you?" Nami wondered.
"Idiot/Dumbass/Moron," Luffy, Sanji and Usopp suggested.
"Eyelashes it is," the navigator decided.
"That's the weirdest name of all," Zoro said.
"Mind if I ask what happened while I was training? And how did Luffy untie himself?" I questioned.
"Oh. Xion-nee. You see, just when you went off to train, Luffy was warning us about those birds that took our stuff and went ofter them. Then when he came back, he came back riding on a camel that he found while chasing after the birds with a big lizard behind them. Then he, Zoro and Sanji fought and defeated the lizard. Then another big lizard came from behind us and would've ate us if it wasn't for Ace. After that, it was decided to have the camel to travel with us on our way to Yuba. However, the camel only let the females ride him."
"I see. And how did Luffy get out of the situation I placed him in?"
"I don't know. He got himself out before he came back."
"Hmmm. I see. He didn't do anything to me while I was training, did he?"
"No. I watched him while watching over your body."
"That's a good reindeer, Chopper-kun." As usual, when I said something good to him that would make anyone happy, the young reindeer denied that while doing his happy dance.
"It looks like we can go a little faster this way," I heard Nami say. "We have to get to Yuba as quickly as possible and persuade the rebels to stop."
"No kidding. If we dilly-dally here, it would be good-bye to this country, right?" I asked, walking up to them with Chopper-kun in my arms.
"Oh, Xion? You're back. Well, now that you're up... Forward, Eyelashes!" the navigator commanded the camel. With that, we took off.
"Oi! Wait a minute!" the guys, except Ace, shouted.
"Hey, you guys! Hurry up! If you fall behind, you'll never be able to get out of this desert!" Nami told them.
"Quit joking around!" I heard Usopp protest.
"You want to die in this heat or don't you? Now move it!" I ordered.
"HOLD IT!" was what they said in reply to that. Looking behind me, I saw that they've picked up their pace.
'What a predicament this has become,' I thought in amusement.