'The walk was surprisingly not antagonizing. Well, when you teleport that is. That means you don't need to walk!'
Cassie finally got a connection on her phone, and typed out those words for a post. She couldn't attach a photo, as it was still rather dark. However, the post was just deleted due to her seeing how dumb it sounded.
"Ah yes, the Sherbert Desert! Oh that's just what they call it." Beep-0 would interrupt the silent winds howl. "I do say it is quite, uh, physics defying? Weather defying?"
It was called the Sherbert Desert for a reason. It was a desert, with red sand and orange sandy rocks that raised towards the stars like pillars. Yet, the other half told another tale, as fresh snow was laiden upon the sand, not melting into warm water. Icicles hung from cliffs, and jutted out of the ground like mountains. The night however made the sandy part look bluish green. And it was freezing no matter where you stood.
Luke was quick to get on the jacket, staying close to Cassie for warmth.
"This place is freezing!" He complained.
"Yeah, I know." Cassie would say, looking towards Beep-0. "So, Roomba with ironic rabbit ears, what's the plan?"
Beep-0 would turn around, not hearing the insult. "Spawny has slowed down at the moment, so we can catch up! However, there is a gate in our way."
The AI would point behind the two teenagers to a large gate made of ice.
"My readings tell me that through that gate is the way the the peaks. He should be heading up there. We will need some sort of key however..."
It was true that the gate had a keyhole, rather small in size.
"Well, if it can get us out of the cold quicker, let's go!" Luke would rush past Beep-0 in the direction they were facing beforehand, bworb in hand and ready to rumble.
This was such a strange shift for him! Beep-0 sensed it from Cassie during the fight against the math teacher. Ever since the sun went down, Luke had not been as timid, dare he think weak. He was braver, much more at home in the dark. Perhaps....
After some time, the sun started to rise, painting the snow bright oranges and yellows, and the rocks began to have color once again. The air grew warm, and more joyous melodies filled the air. It was already known that back in the Ancient Gardens, flowers would blow out songs of brass, a nice ambience for the heroes. This new song was more focused on the backbones of a song, the exotic dumming against petals. It wasn't long before the heroes came across the flora that was responsable. Half of it's vines were a shiny blue, the other of oranges and green. One vine slid across the sides of a light flower, making a sound like that of a flute, while the other vine pounded in a exotic rhythm. Luke quickly wrote this down in a spare notebook he brought along.
"What you got there?" Cassie tried to sneak a peek into what he was doing.
"I've been logging down the various flora, fauna, and 'enemies' we encounter! Check it!" Luke would give the book to Cassie.
Inside she would see many drawings of those Kongos, Ziggies, and even a detailed look into Firetrap Rex. She'd never really seen something like this from Luke. Maybe she didn't know all that there was to Luke.
Beep-0 would take the lead as Cassie and Luke looked through the notebook. Suddenly, the robot would bring the team to a halt, pointing to a small cliff nearby.
"Look!" He would state. "He got trouble!"
At that, the heroes would get their weapons out and hide behind a snow drift to watch. What they saw were about three Ziggies, sporting new looks made from fluffy wool and cactus skin to keep warm. On their ear muffs were of course, fake rabbit ears just like the Ziggies from the gardens, these however more rounder and almost heart-shaped at the tips. There was actually two, as Beep-0 pointed out the one that was on top of the cliff was different. It did not sport rabbit-eared ear muffs, yet sported those same shapes upon cuffs on their arms. The main identifier was a backpack that had a antenna with a glowing red orb planted on top.
"What is that?" Luke would ask.
Some yelling was heard between the Ziggies and the unknown backpack person. That same person would then chuck what looked to be a cactus bomb at one of the Ziggies, blowing up and knocking the Ziggy out cold. The backpack person would laugh like a maniac before pulling off their backpack, pressing it down as a green light would surround the Ziggy, bringing them to their feet.
"That is a Supporter!" Beep-0 would say after watching the event unfold. "They use that backpack to heal others in the battlefield, as well as toss around bombs."
"That's going to be a problem..." Luke would respond.
Cassie wasn't paying attention to the two. "I want that backpack!"
She would suddenly launch herself out of her hiding place, rushing through the sand towards the fight. The Supporter would watch this with a look of horror on their face, and would rush behind cover. Luke watched in utter shock as Cassie picked up a Ziggy dressed in green by his feet, and tossed him at the wall. Green was rather short here, so Cassie easily was able to do so.
"Augh! Null! Help here!" Green would whine up to the cliff that Cassie was now attempting to climb.
The Support, now with a name, would look down at Green. "...Tough luck!" They stated before trying to jump off the cliff, failing to do so due to nervousness.
Luke heaved a sigh, and would run over to Cassie to try and drag her down from the cliff face. Once he arrived, he tried to drag his friend down by her shoe, but she just used him as a stair to get up to the top and face Null. Luke would shout, trying to get up there.
"Cassie! It's no use!"
He was still down here with two Ziggies, two pretty much mind-controlled citizens that needed to be freed. So while Cassie was in the midst of wrestling Null's healing backpack away from them, Luke was busy dodging blasts from Crimson, and just pushing Green back down. Crimson would get a little too close, so he would slash his nails over his face before he jumped back.
"What the hell kid!?" Crimson would whine, holding a hand to his face. "Ugh...that hurt!"
How could a dumb scratch hurt so much that he was complaining? Luke would ponder this. He was interrupted when Crimson would try to dash Luke, yet only just slid onto his back. Luke used this as a opportunity to fire a bworb lazer at him, resulting in the enemy to disappear in particles of green sparkles. Now that was a change from blue! Blue was getting boring.
Of course, Cassie was still with Null. The supporter had been running laps around the cliff top like a frightened cat, sometimes tossing bombs but overall not doing much. Finally, Cassie caught hold of the backpack, tearing it off of Null's shoulders.
"Yes, finally!" She would cheer, holding it up like a trophy.
Null looked shocked. "All you wanted...was THAT!?" They would shout, stuttering and spitting out the words still nervously.
"Get lost dummy." She would snap back, putting on the backpack.
Null didn't say anything back to her. They just would climb down the cliff and run away, Cassie following. As she jumped down, she would find Luke sitting with Green by the edge of the wall. The two had cones with them, looking like snow cones but with a tint of food coloring and the color of the sand.
"So, how was it?" Luke would say, taking a bite out of the cone.
"Uh..." Cassie didn't respond, but was instead just watch him eat the 'sand cone'. "What is that?"
"A sand cone!" The Ziggy named Green would respond. "Sherbert Desert delicacy! We got both snow cones and sand cones, all with the many flavors of hot and cold."
Well, first off, they were eating sand. Second, this Ziggy just decided to not be violent. Cassie would shrug, and take Luke's from his hands to try it. It was literally sand! Flavored sand! She spat it out away from the others, and put it back in Luke's hands.
"Gross! How can you eat sand?" She would still be trying to get it off her tongue.
Luke would stand up and shrug. "Well, it tastes good! And I don't think it's actual sand-"
"Well, I think we best be going!" Beep-0 would appear out of nowhere, seeming to sense the awkward talk after Null had run past him. "Spawny is on the move, and we shall not miss him!"
As the AI began to drag the two heroes away from the battlefield, Luke fist bumped Green.
"Thanks for the sand cone!"