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                        Dawn's POV
        The next day, while it was a time consuming endeavor, Jon eventually managed to heal the majority of Nick's wounds, leaving him with only a few scratches and bruises. Nick seemed increasingly grateful throughout the process, as he continued to thank and praise Jon as he shakily worked. When the work had been done, Jon flopped backwards, panting heavily from the effort used to heal the wounds. Nick glanced back at his bat-like wings, smiling as he flapped them in a synchronized pattern just enough to lift him a foot off the ground. He laughed, falling back onto his feet. "Impressive." Remarked Cory, to which Nick just nodded with a smirk. After Jon recovered, Uni looked in my direction with a soft smile. "Well, Dawn, load up the map...We've got a destination to reach." I nodded, the holographic map exploding from my chest to appear before our group. "Where're we headed now, Dawn?" Cory asked curiously as we encircled the map. "It appears we'll be entering the De Calor desert. It's not particularly large, but I assume it won't be very pleasant." Tommy's ears went back in response to the desert name, and I noticed that his claws were working as his trenchcoat nervously.

        That's when Ashlie cleared her throat, "I'm sorry...A desert?" She repeated in surprise. "Uh... What's a...'Desert...?" Jon's small voice followed behind. We all turned to the small jester, staring at him silently for a moment. He shrunk under out gazes, "I've, um, heard that somewhere before...But I don't know what it means...We don't learn a lot of geography back in my old town..." He explained shyly. Tommy spoke first, "Well, brutha, you're in for a treat, I'll tell you that much." He mumbled, nearly seeming amused. "You'll see when we get there, Jon, you'll see when we get there..." Nick sighed as we continued walking.

                               -
      "Oooohhhhh, so this is a desert!" Jon exclaimed as he looked out upon the sand-covered land before them. The group stood on the border where green forest began to thin out into a sandy hell of which we would soon travel. "Yep, in the sand." Ashlie answered, not exactly looking stoked for this chapter of our journey. "Well, it's not going to get any cooler or shorter of a distance if we just keep standing here." Uni sighed, and we began walking, nobody except Jon seeming remotely excited.

        "Ughhhhhh....Guyyssss, I don't think I like deserts!" Jon whined as we walked. We were approximately 30 minutes into the journey, and to a stranger it would appear that we were already half dead. Uni was limping, holding onto the arm of Cory, as he soon learned upon entering the desert that the hot sand burned his sensitive feet through his broken shoes and the unstable sand made his senses nearly impossible to use. Jon and Ashlie were hunching their backs as they walked, neither were used to the hot weather, as they'd lived their whole lives in a forest setting. Cory's posture also showed extreme exhaustion, he'd removed his jacket and taken too tying it around his waist. He continuously glanced back to check on Uni, his black camera face region understandably burning extremely to the touch.

       Tommy and Nick seemed to be doing okay, well, Tommy seemed to. Tommy still walked with a straight posture, though he was continuously wiped to sweat out from under his mask with the sleeve of his trenchcoat that he had yet to remove. Nick's wings dragged behind him in the sand as he panted quietly, dragging his feet. My metal body radiated heat, it was nothing I couldn't handle, but my software clearly didn't appreciate it. I'd survived much before though, including a fire in my own home, I was well equipped for the heat, it seemed. "D..Dawn, how much farther?" Cory panted. I mentally assessed the map, "We are a little more than 1/4 through the desert." I answered, disappointed. "What?" Ashlie questioned harshly.

       "Ugh, I have red hair, I'm going to die out here!!" She whined. "Red hair? I'm a vampire, Ash, I'm as sun-sensative as it gets!" The two began bickering, breaking the silence. Nobody stopped them, until Tommy stiffed in realization. His ear folded back, and he shushed them loudly. They silenced, and all of our eyes trailed onto him questioningly. "Are you two creamweasles out of your minds!? Do you want to get killed?" He snapped, but nobody made a sound. "There are sand serpiente so big all of us could fit in their mouths at one time! And there's desert diges that dig holes that would swallow us up the moment a single on of us pokes it with our big toe! It's dangerous out here, guys! And arguing isn't going to help us stay alive!" He whisper yelled.

       After a long moment of stunned silence, Jon spoke up. "When did you become such a desert expert?" Tommy didn't even look at Jon as he gruffly answered, "It doesn't matter." We continued on our journey after that, but now we were more hesitant. A lot more hesitant. We walked in silence for over and hour. It was then that from behind us, we heard a soft thump. Our small group looked back, worried to see Jon laying on the ground, trying weakly to get back up. "Jon! Are you okay??" Ashlie asked, crouching next to him. "I...I think I'm dying...I hate deserts!" He whined dramatically. Tommy walked over, pulling a canister out from beneath his trenchcoat. He opened the top and crouched beside Jon, he pressed it against his lips, "Here's some water, Jon." He said softly. Jon took a few gulps, and he panted as Tommy pulled it away. 

       "You've had water this whole time?" Cory questioned. "U-Uh...Cory...?" Uni suddenly mumbled, tugging on his arm. Cory ignored him, "You didn't think to say anything about that earlier?" He said, sounding unamused and angry. "Cory, Cory..." Uni continued, but Cory put his hand up to halt his speech for a moment. "It was for an emergency, Carl. This desert isn't that big, we'll survive." Tommy replied. "Cory!" Uni whisper yelled. "What!?" Cory snapped back, his tone harsher than he'd clearly meant it to be. The atmosphere grew thick as Uni uttered a single statement...."I feel a heartbeat."

        At that, we all froze. "A heartbeat...? Is it one of ours?" Ashlie questioned. He shook his head shakily, "It's a big heartbeat, and it's... It's right under us." He shakily explained. We all slowly looked down, "Don't. Move." Tommy suddenly whispered, his head and ears trained on a specific direction. My robotic eyes followed his gaze, and my joints froze in alarm. From beneath a large pile of sand protruded a pair of orange, glowing, serpent-like eyes. Though that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that the eyes were trained directly on our sweating, weak group. "Sand Serpiente..." Whispered Tommy.

A/N I'm pretty excited for the next 2 chapters, honestly. Though, I hope you enjoyed this one!!! Have a great day, guys!!! Stay safe!!!!