In the not-so-distant past, the world plummets into war as the nation's greatest leaders conspire to betray their homeland.
Following years of conflict, Alice from the Ninja clan appears, and vows to bring down the leaders in her Goal to restore lif...
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With the intensity of the morning having dropped to a state of calm, Alice and her team left the former battle zone behind to travel southward. They believed this to be the location where the main population of Desert Dust resided and were determined to arrive as soon as possible. Their focus was to gather clues about the next target, the Rogue Leader known as Chariot.
The group was traveling in their usual square formation with Alice and Seth in the front position, followed by Julie behind Alice and D'Milo behind Seth. Passing the time with some banter made it more bearable, but traversing a dry, widespread desert made finding its conclusion a priority. The blinding sun remained high and seemed to intensify the dryness of the widespread landscape.
"Can you see any sign of civilization, Alice?" Julie asked, following behind, as her eyes squinted from the intense glare on the white sand. They had been traveling for around 45 minutes at a decent pace, but none of them could tell how far remained before reaching any other inhabitants of the nation.
"Well...." Alice said, squinting her eyes and staring off into the horizon, covered in a haze of rising heat. She held her hand up over her face to provide shade, "....it looks like....Gah, I can't tell! It's all the same to me."
"It feels like we've been walking for hours," Julie complained, before catching D'Milo's awkward posture out of the corner of her eye. The humidity pushed the amphibian girl to her limit as her breathing began to increase in rhythm.
"D'Milo, what's wrong?!" a concerned Julie asked, abruptly stopping in place. Alice and Seth glanced behind at the scene.
She lifted her head slightly and said, "I'm fine, Julie! *cough* Don't worry about it!" forcing a smile and waving her hand. Julie observed her palm was dry and wrinkly, a sign of dehydration.
"Ah! You haven't been drinking enough water, have you? You're dehydrated," she scolded.
"Well, it is *inhale* *exhale* getting a little hard to breathe *inhale* *exhale*" D'Milo admitted, with no fight in her to try and justify the neglect she put her body through.
Julie stepped closer and poked the band around her neck, noticing it didn't drip any water and was difficult to run her gloved finger across. Without saying a word, she placed the orb of her scepter up to the fabric and gently drizzled a stream of water directly onto it. The band absorbed the liquid instantly and started to expand - a sign that it was being transferred into the girl's body. Within moments, a vocal sigh of relief could be heard as D'Milo's breathing returned to normal, picking her head up in full. Julie tapped the remaining four bands placed on her limbs with the orb, and let them retain some fluids too. Combined, they became so full of water, that a small stream emitted from a couple of them as their capacity was full.
"Please, D'Milo. Don't hesitate to help yourself to our supplies or abilities," Julie said, finishing the job.
"I just don't want to be a nuisance to the team," D'Milo sheepishly stated and took a deep inhale to catch more of her breath.
