Chapter 19: Run for the Thumb
In almost the blink of any eye, Ryan ran back to the digging fields, finding the others, who had almost finished with their holes, "GUYS! GUYS!"
"He moves around quick," Joyex murmured.
"Okay, so, Warden Lady? Was talking with these folks in cloaks and said they can help her find what she's looking for, which I'm not sure what that is but it doesn't sound good at all," ADHD rambled on and on.
"Whoa, whoa, li'l mate, deep breath," Croccer said. ADHD obliged, breathing in then out. "Now, what was it?"
"THESE CREEPY FOLKS WANT SAKUZY AND I DON'T WANNA KNOW WHAT THEY'RE GONNA DO WITH US!" ADHD shouted, frantically.
"Wait, what's this 'bout creeps and Koo-" Yozora suddenly froze. A thought had occurred to him… and he already dreaded confirming it. "Were they… wearing colorful hoods?
"YEAH! Red and pink. Kinda clashes, but don't think they're supposed to be color coordinated," ADHD said.
"Oh no..." Joyex said, looking fearful. "And we're out here in the middle of nowhere, in a prison camp, and they could show up at any second..."
"Got bad experiences with 'em, mates?" Croccer asked.
"They tried to abduct me," Yozora said with a meek voice. "So I busted their ride in two."
"I believe ya," Croccer immediately nodded.
"Wait...what shade of red?" Joyex asked.
"Bit of an orangish red, I think," ADHD said.
"OH CRAP!" Joyex cursed. "We REALLY need to get outta here! We need Kooz, we need Luce! We need to be ANYWHERE else!"
"Oh, this sounds baaaaaad," Yozora murmured.
"How many of these guys are we going to run into?" Becca asked
When Lucy dragged Sakuzy and Stanley back to them, Joyex immediately grabbed them.
"Guys, we NEED to get outta here!"
"You good?" Lucy asked.
"Remember Emerald, Amber, and Sapphire?" Joyex asked in a hushed voice. "Well, sounds like they got friends and they're looking for us!"
"Oh no, THOSE guys?" Sakuzy asked, now scared.
"And apparently one of 'em really scares him," Yozora whispered. "And I dunno 'bout you... but if one of 'em really scares him? I don't wanna find out why."
"Why? Why'd they scare you?" Sakuzy asked.
"I just don't want to deal with them. But that's beside the point," Joyex said. "What IS the point is we gotta get out of here NOW!"
"But what about the ship, what if there are still pieces here?" Becca stated
"Ship means less than lives!" Joyex barked.
"True," Becca said. "Wait...weren't you harping on me for wrecking that?"
"But how do we get outta here without a ship?" Yozora pointed out with confusion clear in his voice.
Sakuzy looked over at the truck Pendanski used to bring water. He then looked over at ADHD. He tapped the younger kid's shoulder and pointed to it. A mischievous smile crossed ADHD's face as he slunk away.
"Hey, Zero," Sakuzy said as he sidled over to the shorter kid before handing him a shovel. "How about you take this and...uh...do what we were all thinking to Pendanski."
Zero looked at the shovel smiling
"Guys, just get ready to run," Sakuzy said.
Becca nodded. Lucy felt her leg muscles tense.
"Moral of the story," Yozora said glibly, as he limbered up, hopping on the spot, "Don't make it your life's work to get on someone's nerves... then give them a shovel."
A clang was heard as Zero had beamed Pendanski in the face
"That had to hurt," Becca said as she ran
"JAILBREAK!" Sakuzy shouted, running to the truck.
"BYE, EVERYONE! I'LL REMEMBER YOU IN THERAPY!" Joyex yelled.
Zero kept running into the desert.
"GO, ZERO, GO!" Stanley shouted as he piled into the truck with Lucy, Becca, Yozora, Croccer, and ADHD.
"Yaaaahhh!" Lucy shrieked as she kicked her legs, trying not to fall out of the truck!
"LET'S ROLL!" Sakuzy grinned as he put the pedal to the metal, taking off into the desert and freedom!
...
For about five seconds before it crashed into a hole.
"I might've thought this out better," Sakuzy commented.
"I'm still the better crasher," Becca said
"Not something to brag about. You BOTH suck," Joyex stated.
"Next time," Yozora began, "Can I dri-"
"NO." Joyex's tone was firm.
"Well, onto plan B. ON FOOT," Croccer laughed as he and ADHD jumped out before taking off after Zero.
"Yeah, just start running," Sakuzy said, getting out and following them.
Becca followed grabbing Lucy's hand. Lucy squeaked quickly as Becca pulled her forward. Yozora's response?
Next thing anyone knew, and to Stanley's abject horror, Joyex and Sakuzy had been HURTLED into the air, and were now both being manhandled over Yozora's shoulders as he booked it.
"WHOA!" Sakuzy yelled. "THIS IS...KINDA COOL!"
"RUN, YOZE! GET US FAR, FAR AWAY FROM HERE!" Joyex shouted.
As Pendanski tried staggering up, the runaways slowly vanished into the desert. He gently placed his hand to his temple and shook the stars away, "Anyone get the number on that truck...?"
Eventually, they came to a stop at what looked like an overturned boat. What this was doing in the middle of the desert was anyone's guess, but it provided some shade and was a good place to rest up a bit.
"Why do I keep forgetting how strong everyone is?" Sakuzy asked, looking at Yozora.
"H-how did you even...?" Stanley breathed out shakilky, eyes wide in disbelief.
Yozora just shrugged, "My guess is 'push ups, sit ups and a whole lotta juice'. I'm still learning a lot of things about myself too."
Becca looked looked at the boat looking at the letters 'MARY LOU' on the side.
"Well, seems like a fine place to settle down," Croccer grinned as he sat on top of the boat. "Away from it all and has a great view of the whole desert, wouldn't ya say, mates?"
"Yeah you could say that..." Lucy said as she felt the sun beat down on her. Becca was just silent as she looked at the boat.
"So, what's the plan now?" Croccer asked.
"Not sure, mostly just wanted far away from that place," Joyex murmured.
"Mr. Sir brought up that the only water supply's back there...so, means we gotta find something or else we're in trouble," Sakuzy said.
"Then this is a good ol' bloody beauty, ain't it?" Croccer asked, sardonically.
"Ugh, guess there's no point in hiding it anymore…" Lucy said as she opened up the front of her jumpsuit revealing a black tank top underneath. She quickly tied her sleeves around her waist.
"Wait, what?" ADHD asked.
"Luke's a girl, mate," Croccer commented.
"WHAT?!" ADHD shouted, now quite shocked.
"You didn't tell him?" Becca asked Croccer, also taking off her jumpsuit showing her armor plate and her wayfinder.
"BECK, TOO?!" ADHD shouted.
"And miss THIS reaction?" Croccer grinned, ruffling ADHD's hair. "Not on yer LIFE, mate!"
"You're awful," Becca said, poking Croccer's forehead
"Just part o' me boyish charm," Croccer snickered. ADHD just folded his arm and began muttering to himself.
"Hey, wait," Becca said, reaching down and picking up a Gummi Piece, "AHA!"
"Huh...blessing in disguise, though," Joyex said, taking the Gummi.
"There could be some that fell all the way out here?" Becca asked Joyex
"Yeah, so there's that," Sakuzy nodded.
"Y'know, " Yozora commented as he looked intently at the ground while experimentally weighing his shovel, "There was a lake here once, right? Surely... the water didn't just all disappear."
"Though I don't think five feet by five feet alone is gonna cut it there," Stanley pointed out, slowly sitting himself up. "If there's even a speck of water here, it's way further down than any of us can dig in the desert heat."
"Well...maybe something like this can hold us over, then," Croccer said, reaching into the boat. He plucked out a jar and sniffed it. Then he pulled the lid off and took a deeper breath. "Ah, the fresh smell o' spiced peaches. These might help hold us over for a bit."
"Peaches..." Becca said looking at the boat and realized this was Sam's boat.
"Right now the thing we have to focus on is... you know, not dying and becoming buzzard food." Lucy said, wiping her brow
"Yeah...right," Becca nodded as she stood up.
At that point, though, there was a rumbling sound. As if something underground was moving...
"Something's not right!" Becca yelped.
"Bloody chunder," Croccer said. For the first time, he sounded worried.
The boat then began to slowly rise from the ground as stones and rocks pulled themselves free, the sand twisting and turning as it formed into a heavy-set, golem-esque monster.
"Oh no," ADHD said.
"Is that a Heartless or one of those Crystalli things?" Sakuzy asked.
"Nah, nothin' like those. This one's tougher," Croccer said, intensely.
"Stanley, get Zero out of here!" Beccca called as she summoned her Keyblade.
"R-Right, on it! You do... whatever it is you do!" Stanley called out, hauling Zero away from the ensuing chaos.
"THAT'S," Yozora said slowly, before he paused, "Wait, you know what that thing is?"
"We had lives before showin' up. Normally, the whole posse's needed, but...well, know ya can hold up there, Yoze. What about the rest o' ya hooligans?" Croccer asked.
"Yep," Sakuzy said, summoning his Keyblade.
Croccer smirked, "Beauty."
"You two should be heading for the hills, too," Joyex said.
"Nah, mate," Croccer said. "This ain't our first rodeo. Ryan, buddy?"
"You got it," ADHD grinned.
With that, he took off running, becoming little more than an orange blur. Faster than anyone...or any typical kid should be. Adding onto that, he wound his hands back and began firing bursts of golden light at the creature. It thrashed around, but ADHD was just too fast for it.
"That was...unexpected," Joyex commented.
"Are...you like that?" Sakuzy asked Croccer.
"Nah, can't do nothin' like that," Croccer said as he unzipped his suit, unrolling the top. "Just THIS."
With that, bony spikes burst out of his shoulders and arms. That he began shooting at the large, stone creature.
Sakuzy and Joyex just blinked in confusion. Becca whistled, impressed. And Lucy just blinked in shock and confusion.
"That makes SO much more sense than the chemical story," Yozora murmured, having hit an epiphany.
"You guys could...y'know what? No," Joyex said, jumping up and running across the spikes Croccer threw on it. "JUST BEAT THE THING FIRST!"
He then whipped his chain around the hand and pulled, bringing it down as the creature lunged forward. The creature, though, lifted his hand, pulling Joyex off the ground.
"Ice!" Becca called sending a blast of ice at the golem
Lucy ran up to the golem and slashed its leg with her sword.
Yozora was a streak of light as he surged forward, warping overhead of the hulking colossus, before diving down with his macuahuitl and shovel. "KYA!"
The colossus recoiled, but quickly swept its arms at the two, knocking them away.
"TAKE THIS!" Sakuzy shouted, tossing his Keyblade in a Strike Raid. The strike bounced off.
"Things made o' tough stuff, mates," Croccer said, shooting more spikes at them as ADHD continued shooting blasts of light at them. "Keep it up and loosen it up a little."
With an overarm haul, Yozora launched the shovel hurtling forward, before extending out his hand, "THUNDER!"
CRA-KOW!
To his immense delight? Once again, he indeed managed to summon a single, vibrant bolt of lightning down, with the shovel's metal head directing it at their enemy.
"NICE!" he cheered.
The colossus recoiled in response to Yozora's attack.
"Perfect shot," ADHD beamed, giving the thumbs'-up.
"WAIT! I GOT AN IDEA!" Joyex shouted as the colossus shook him around. "BECCA! THAT CHARM YA GOT! IT SUMMONS SOMETHING FROM ANOTHER WORLD! JUST HOLD IT UP AND SHOUT 'IMABIGKNUCKLEHEAD'!"
"IMABIGKNUCKLEHEAD'!" Becca said. After a moment, she shot him a look, "I thought you were over everything!"
"I am. I just wanted to hear you say it," Joyex smirked as he swung himself around, yanking his whip free. He took out his own charm, which had an apple on it. "Like this. GIVE ME STRENGTH!"
With a burst of light, a small figure appeared. It was furry and...seemed to be somewhere between a chimpanzee and a dog.
"Great prince!" it proclaimed. "Give Gurgi crunchings and munchings!"
Gurgi then zipped away, hopping onto colossus. The behemoth lunged around, but Gurgi nimbly jumped and hopped away.
"Whoever wants to hit that thing, do it NOW!" Joyex shouted, a broad grin on his face.
Becca did a Strike Raid on the behemoth. Their enemy recoiled, but reached out for her.
Sakuzy pulled out his charm and held it up, "GIVE ME STRENGTH!"
"Here's a lesson in street savoir faire from New York's favorite quadroped," in a flash of light, a Jack Russell Terrier with a red bandana around its neck appeared. He held out his paw to Sakuzy, who made for a high-five, but then swiped his paw away, playfully.
Sakuzy swung his Keyblade around like a guitar as they began singing, sending out bursts of sound in the process.
"Why should we worry? Why should we care? We may not have a dime, but we got street savoir faire! Why should we worry? Why should we care? It's just bebop-ulation! We got street savoir faire!"
With that, Dodger and Gurgi vanished, the creature battered from the attack, but still good to go.
"Give me Strength!" Becca shouted, holding out her Charm.
At that moment a short, chubby, rodent-like creature appeared. It was covered in yellow fur with two horizontal brown stripes on its back. It has a small mouth, long, pointed ears with black tips, and brown eyes. Each cheek is a red circle that contains a pouch for electricity storage. It has short forearms with five fingers on each paw, and its feet each have three toes. At the base of its lightning bolt-shaped tail is a patch of brown fur.
"Pika Pika!" it called, smiling as it hopped onto Becca's shoulder.
It started to run around the behemoth's feet, catching it off balance. It ran back to Becca who clapped her hand with its tail as sparks came out of it cheeks.
"Thunder!" Becca called as she called out her lightning spell
"Pikaaaaaa...chuuuuuuu!" The creature called sending its own lightning combining with Becca's.
The force of the combined blast sent the behemoth toppling backwards, making it crash onto its back.
The shovel soared through the air with an arc, blue magic rippling around it. In a flash of light, Yozora reappeared, swinging his macuahuitl down with a heavy, crushing Warp Strike.
"SHOCKING, ISN'T IT?!"
The behemoth roared as its body split in half. Croccer then bounded up, shooting spikes into the boat, reducing the aged wood into splinters. Whatever the thing was, it stopped moving.
Croccer sighed as he dusted his hat. "Crikey, mates, thought this was too out in the sticks to attract one o' those buggers."
"What even WAS that? And how could you do that bone...laser stuff?" Sakuzy asked.
"That's...a long story, probably best for safer quarters," Croccer said.
"Whatever it was...? It...was tougher than the average Heartless," Yozora commented, wiping his brow. "Whoo..."
Becca looked at where the behemoth once stood. It seemed familiar but she couldn't remember where, exactly.
"Yeah... let's get moving before another one shows up!" Lucy said.
"But where?" Sakuzy asked, looking around. "It's just...desert. And MORE desert."
"Oh there's gotta be... something..." Lucy said, narrowing her eyes. Turns out, she just found what she was looking for, something.
A large outcropping of rock in the distance, one that looked oddly like a thumb.
"A thumb?" Becca said
"God's Thumb," Stanley said, looking up and holding up his thumb. "My great grandpa, the first Stanley Yelnats, said he found refuge on God's Thumb after he was robbed by Kissin' Kate Barlow..."
"Well, the desert's gotta end somewhere," Yozora said. "Gotta just keep on walking. That seems as good a start as any!"
"Yeah, let's head THERE," Sakuzy said, leading the way. Croccer cracked his knuckles before walking off, singing to himself. "Don't give up, never give up. We won't stop givin' all we got..."
The group walk off as Becca noticed that the behemoth had dropped some Gummi Parts.
"How far did these things scatter?" Joyex asked, gathering the pieces up.
"I don't know but maybe we'll find more on our trek," Becca said
"Yeah, for now, a little mountain climbing," Sakuzy said, walking towards the peak.
"And let's hope the buzzards don't get us…" Lucy chimed in
The group began to walk toward the God's Thumb.
The path was long and arduous, they nearly died at least three times (none of which were Becca's fault), but after great trials and tribulations, they made it there...
And found an oasis.
A pool of water, surrounded by plants. Stanley pulled one out to show it was an onion.
"NEVER been happier to see an onion," he said, chomping into it.
"Well, think we'll be good here for a bit," Sakuzy said. All things considered, a little...hesitance was probably warranted.
Joyex came across another Gummi piece, "Oh look. Just a little closer to fixing our way out of this sand pit."
"How much closer?" Becca asked
"I dunno, think we got just one thing left to go," Joyex said.
"Hopefully, it's somewhere," Becca said.
"So...about what that was about?" Sakuzy asked Croccer, sitting down at the edge of the pool.
Croccer looked surprised at the remembrance of this. Then he just gave a chuckle. "Well, ya got us, mates. Ryan and I...we ain't exactly what ya'd call 'normal people'."
"I gathered that when you were shooting lasers and bone spikes, oddly enough," Sakuzy said.
"I kind of agree," Becca said.
"I gathered that when I watched 'ADHD' dig a hole at super speed," Yozora quipped with a laugh, "Lasers just confirmed it. Besides, what even IS normal?"
"Yeah, fair enough," Croccer chuckled. "But he an' I? We're a little...different. Small variations in DNA means we kinda got..."
"SUPER POWERS," ADHD exclaimed.
"Wanna say somethin' more like 'metahuman abilities', but for all intents and purposes," Croccer nodded. "With Ryan 'ere? He gets more powerful depending on how much sunlight he absorbs. Means he can go fast and shoot lasers. With me? Well, human body's got about 206 bones in it. With me, though...it's a li'l more negotiable."
Lucy sat down criss-cross applesauce and bit into an onion, "Yeah, I'd call that having superpowers."
"One o' my mates said it's somethin' else, but...yeah, superpowers," Croccer laughed.
"So, that whole 'blinded someone' thing?" Sakuzy asked.
"Yeah, with actual sunlight," ADHD said, sheepishly. "Back when I was still getting the hang of things, someone jumped me and I just sorta...boom. Guy was fine, but...y'know."
"Oh my," Becca said.
"Li'l guy's got a lotta stuff in 'im, but that's what makes 'im so lovable," Croccer said, pulling ADHD into a headlock before giving him a noogie.
"And there are others like you?" Becca asked
"Yeah, three. Far as we know, anyway," Croccer said. He reached into his boot and pulled out a photo.
On it were Croccer and ADHD, in more casual clothes. ADHD was hanging around Croccer's shoulders while his arm was around the hip of a girl around his age with short, brown hair, wearing mostly purple, and had a pair of goggles. There was another young man, looking a bit uncomfortable, wearing mostly black. The last one was a tall, gangly man with a coat and scarf that covered most of his body.
"April, Jason, and Markus. Just the five of us, driftin' around, callin' no man 'mister'," Croccer said. "Considerin' who's back in that camp, says a lot 'bout how far we fell down, eh?"
Becca looked at the photo. It made her feel...warm. The man, Markus, looked sort of familiar, but she couldn't place it but for some reason she rubbed the back of her head as if it had been hit.
"Man. You and this 'April' are really close, huh?" Yozora mumbled, staring at the photo. Something about it... stirred something in him. A phantom pain. But a poignant one.
"Heh, yeah," Croccer grinned...but in a more bashful way than usual.
"But what about YOU, Dundee?" Joyex asked. "You brought up ADHD's bit. What's YOUR story? Just wanna make sure we're on the same page here."
"Uh, well, see..." Croccer said. Clearly, this wasn't something he was prepared for. He then gave an embarrassed laugh. "Crikey, I thought I'd have been able to BS somethin' by now..."
"You can't remember anything either?" Yozora asked curiously, titling his head.
"Yeah," Croccer nodded. "Last thing I remember...was me mate, Markus, wakin' up in the middle o' nowhere. Didn't know how I got there. Didn't even know my own name. Markus called me 'Scott', I picked 'Highflier', meself."
"Sounds kinda familiar," Sakuzy said.
"Heh... small world. I got my name from a video game," Yozora admitted with a sheepish smile. "It's not so bad though. Having no memory of the past...means we can just focus on the now."
"That's what I figured," Croccer grinned, pointing at them. "Whoever I was before that...maybe 'e 'ad it comin'. So, I want nothin' ta do with that. I'm who I am NOW."
"But...I still wanna KNOW," Sakuzy said. "Don't you ever wonder why?"
"Eh, not really," Croccer shrugged. "If I forgot all that stuff...maybe there's a REASON for it."
"Besides," ADHD said, hugging onto Croccer's shoulder. "If he hadn't? Then we'd never have met! Scott's awesome, April's cool, Markus is...kinda spooky, and Jason's fun even if he keeps punching me!"
"And we met YOU," Croccer said, giving them a smile. "Never thought I'd meet a buncha blokes like ya. But, what can I say? Ya really grew on us."
"Destiny," Stanley said. "That's what this is."
"Maybe it's easier to not know who you were?" Yozora offered with a shrug. "I dunno. Maybe that's just me, but... I'm Yozora now, and... maybe Yozora is what I'm supposed to be. So... I'mma just ride the train, see where it takes me."
Sakuzy remained quiet. All he knew was that...he just made a bargain for just that...
Did he make the right decision?
As Zero drank from the water of the pool, Stanley fell on his back, singing a song that Becca recognized on an instinctual level...
"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"...
Meanwhile...
"So, they're gone..." the Crystalli in pink said, looking over the empty wasteland, covered in holes. "The Nobody, the primitives...Sakuzy..."
"Lovely… what a place to get lost in." The other Crystalli replied, clearly unimpressed
"But, it's not like they can hide anywhere for long, right?" the pink Crystalli asked. "They gotta come back sooner or later."
"Exactly, and when they do… we'll have a little get together with them." The red crystalli added. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"If...if Sakuzy shows up..." the pink one said.
"Mmm have a thing for him?" The red one leaned on the pink one's shoulder with both her hands. "Can't say I blame you..."
"Really?" the pink one asked.
"Hehe really... let's see what he's made of when they come back..." The red one said. "I can hardly wait..."
Hitchhiker's Entries:
Gurgi:
An unusual creature from a magical land. His voice and demeanor make him the ideal distraction for enemies when Joyex calls. He doesn't care. He just wants apples. He had his crunchings and munchings in The Black Cauldron (1985).
Dodger:
A cool dog from the streets of New York who helps his owner by petty theft. The cats love him, though. When Sakuzy calls, he expresses his chillaxness in the musical stylings of Billy Joel. He began showing how much he DOES, in fact, care in Oliver & Company (1988).
Pikachu:
A small, highly marketable electric mouse from a world of strange animals that are used for competitive fighting. Ethics aside, when Becca calls, it uses its speed and electric powers to attack enemies. It made its shocking debut in Pokemon (1996).
Behemoth:
A massive creature that's composed of random objects. Apparently, Croccer and ADHD are familiar with it. It's neither Heartless nor Crystalli, but something different altogether. But who cares what THAT means?