The Desert is Cold in the Dark [Dark Data]

[Dr. McNinja]

"Well, at least we know something, right?"

Ogong scratched his head and reached behind his back for his staff.

"Oy!" the monkey snapped, "Yeo-ee-pil! Wake up!"

The staff hovered in mid-air, then seemed to stretch, as if it was a dog rudely awakened from a nap.

"Why?" the staff mumbled, "we expecting company?"

"Apparently," Ogong said through grit teeth.

The excessively armored soldier was staring at the weapon. "Is... how does that thing work?"

"Hm?" the monkey replied, "Oh, that thing. It's magic. Don't worry about it."

The weapon snapped one end towards Ogong, as if it was a head. It started smacking the back of the monkey's head.

"The hell do you mean, 'that thing'? I am a noble and legendary weapon crafted by millenia of-"

Ogong snatched it out of the air, whispering, "Quiet. We have no idea what these things are or where exactly they are."

The staff silenced itself, but wriggled out of Ogong's grip. Its voice became exponentially quieter.

"Good thing you called me then. You think these are the Darklings that we're hunting?"

"Well, at least it'll beat all this walking," Ogong mumbled, cracking his knuckles, "Hey, given how fast these things are apparently moving, you think maybe they're riding something? We might get there fast-"

A gust of wind exploded at the ground beneath the monkey's feet. He barely had enough time to cover his face, though sand still inexplicably got into his eyes and mouth.

"Okay, whatever these guys are, I think they just blew sand into my face," Ogong reported.

"They're not here yet," Jim replied.

"I refuse to believe that that was natural."

The ground where the sand had exploded from was now trembling. Ogong gripped Yeo-Ee-Pil tighter, prompting the weapon to straighten and fall silent. Somerled lifted his bullwhip, for some reason. Jim lifted his huge glowing club, pointing the tip at the spot. He had explained that it was not a club, but something called a "rifle", whatever that meant.

The sand exploded once more, revealing a worm that was too big for its own good. Somerled let loose the whip, wrapping around the worm and pulling to closer. Ogong clubbed it, casting a spell. Jim's "rifle" started blasting tinier fireballs at it so fast it almost tore the worm in half. Then Somerled hit it with a lightning bolt, followed shortly by Ogong's fireball.

The only remains left of the sand worm were its rather annihilated ashes.

"Well," Jim said, his visor lifting, "I think we got it."

"That was easy," Ogong scoffed.

"I think you spoke too soon," Somerled said, "my device is still reporting two hostiles, still coming in hot."

Ogong glanced at his own device. "So... in other words, we just annihilated a random sand worm?"

Jim lifted his rifle again. "Get ready."

Ogong raised an eyebrow and looked where he was looking. The clouds were coming closer.