Splatroad: Before Time - Artifact Adventures

Overheated

Deserts were a pain to walk through.

Even if you were wearing the minimal amount of clothes required, it didn't matter. Sweltering heat, burning hot sands, humid air that was hard to breathe...it was torture. And yet, a group of Inklings dared to come here anyway. This was the Overheat Desert, and it was actually at one of its lower temperatures now. Even at night it was hot, though it was a little less painful than the day.

The group of Inklings had set up camp by an oasis with water and plants, but were ready to get out of here at a moment's notice. However, they had a mission to accomplish first, and without that mission done, they couldn't leave this place until they were in such a bad condition that they required hospital help...or, so they'd been told anyway. The Serpent's Pendant was their target, an ancient artifact that was lost to time, but was very rare. It gave the user the ability to poison anyone they wanted with a mere touch, and was considered one of the more dangerous artifacts of the land. That didn't stop the group from seeking it though, especially when their mission was to retrieve it to prevent evil forces from getting it first.

Unfortunately, the desert was a cruel place. It kept making images of water appear when there was only sand, and taunted the group with cacti they didn't know if they could eat safely.

"I'm telling you, the pendant HAS to be here!" one male Inkling groaned to a female.

"The captain said it would be around here...but I'm not seeing the Titanoboa Temple he described..." Spitfire, the female Inkling, muttered. "Maybe you should help look instead of complain, Fissure. It's what an agent should do."

"Maybe it's hidden under the sand and we have to dig it up?'' another male Inkling, Firefly, suggested.

"Yeah, or maybe we have to shoot at it with our weapons to reveal it!" an Inkling nicknamed Scythe exclaimed, pulling out a blaster-like weapon.

He started shooting out into the open, since the group was equipped with ink tanks anyway to help fight off any hostile beasts. So far, it wasn't hitting anything.

"Really? You're going to waste your energy on that?" another female Inkling, Queen asked.

"Well do any of you have a better idea?"

A few eyes landed on the group's information grabber and idea maker, a female Inkling named Sakura. Despite her mysterious persona, she seemed just as lost as the others.

"We could just keep walking and looking around," she shrugged.

"Yeah, but that's boring! And I don't have time for that!" Scythe exclaimed.

He kept shooting the air as Spitfire, Terry, and some others groaned. They never understood why Captain Cuttlefish allowed HIM to join of all people...

"I sure hope the guy hurries it up," a tall male Inkling growled. "A champion should not be kept waiting by his team members."

"Now, now, King. We have to keep calm. You know Amber and Savannah did their best to help us with this mission, and we can't blame anyone for simple things like time," Queen said. "Just be patient, dear."

"You're lucky you decided to tag along on this thing. I regret this already."

"Oh, honey..."

Yeah, King and Queen kind of had a thing for each other. Queen may have been the real agent, but she'd tugged her crush along with her on missions because of his battle skills in turf war. As Slythe kept shooting around though, a group member named Yuki noticed a glint in the distance. Unfortunately, he wasn't too sure if it was a hallucination, so he waited until the group got closer. They kept walking through the sand towards it, but Yuki was starting to lose track of where he'd seen the glint. Maybe it really WAS his imagination? Sakura noticed Yuki focusing on that one area.