By now, the seven had finally left the city and reached the edge of the desert.
"So how far is this town?" Amelia asked.
"Not that far," Gusty said. "It's just a few hours of walking."
"A few HOURS?!" Zaire complained.
"If you have a faster way of getting through the desert, I'm all ears," he added.
"Now that you say that, I haven't seen a single car since we got here," Bro pointed out.
"Car...?" Luna babbled. "What's a car?"
"Wait," Zaire froze. "You're saying cars don't exist here?"
"Again, what's a car?" Gusty asked.
"That's a no, then. I wonder how you guys carried your materials and made those skyscrapers," Bro commented as he led the way.
The walk was long and tiring. They trudged through miles and miles of sand, and although Luna and Gusty were fine, the siblings were exhausted, with Bro facing the worst of it for one specific reason.
"Bro, why don't you take off that jacket?" Lily complained. "You're making us hot wearing that!"
Bro stopped and looked at her. "Lily, are you familiar with what a security blanket is?"
"Isn't it a blanket that gives someone comfort?" Porter asked.
"But it's not a blanket," Lily said, "it's a jacket. And besides, it doesn't make a lot of sense to be wearing it in the desert."
"But without it, I feel exposed... So exposed..." he protested, shuddering.
"Sorry, but I have to agree with her, Bro," Zaire said. "It's hot out, and you could get heatstroke!"
"Ugh, fine," he sighed, taking off his jacket... just to have an identical jacket under it.
"Seriously, Bro?" Lily groaned.
"Like I said– security blanket," he replied, before continuing to walk.
"He's definitely getting heatstroke," Zaire whispered to Lily.
The seven continued to walk in silence until Luna said she was thirsty.
"Don't worry, Luna. We'll get you something to drink soon," Amelia said.
"Right, because getting a drink in the middle of the desert while the sun's out is easy," Lily muttered to herself.
"Wait, look! I see water!" Luna said, running ahead of Bro and up a dune.
"Luna, wait!" Gusty shouted, taking off after her and forcing the others to chase them. However, Gusty tripped over his own two feet and rolled down the dune, turned into a ball of sand and crashed into a cactus at the bottom.
As for the others, they stopped at the top of the hill, where Luna was looking around in confusion.
"Water?" she babbled, pointing at the sand below. "There was water right here, I saw it..."
"Nope, what you saw was a mirage," Zaire replied, "'cause there's no way there'd be water out here."
By now, Gusty managed to catch up with everyone else, pulling spines out of him. "Like Amelia said, we can get something to drink when we get to our destination," he said.
Bro looked over at another dune and saw a dark cloud of dust rushing across the sands before turning in their direction. "Is anyone else seeing what I'm seeing?" he asked.
"You mean that totally-not-ominous cloud heading straight for us?" Lily asked.
"Oh, good. I thought I was seeing another mirage," he sighed.
"That's not how mirages work... Right?" Porter said.
"Bro, you alright?" Amelia asked. "You don't look so good..."
"I'm just fine, but I hafta ask... why do I see three of everyone...?" he slurred before blacking out.
With a gasp, his siblings surrounded him.
"I totally called it!" Zaire exclaimed. "Help me get him out of that jacket!"
As they struggled to get Bro out of his jacket, the moths stood by and watched.
"Gusty, what's wrong with Bro?" Luna asked.
"N-Nothing! Bro's just tired, that's all!" Gusty lied. "He'll wake up soon!"
After a minute, they were able to get him out of his jacket. Unfortunately for them, by the time he laid on the ground, they realized he was wearing yet another jacket.
"Now what?!" Porter questioned.
While the siblings tried to revive Bro, Gusty looked back at the cloud moving closer to them and was about to panic when he noticed something in the mass.
There was some sort of machine in the cloud. It had four wheels, no doors, and in the front was a cat woman seemingly in control of it.
"Wait, is that...?" he said to himself.
Before he could say another word, the cat woman parked the machine and sprang into action, leaping out of the machine and running up to the crowd. Upon closer inspection, she had a green top, khaki shorts, golden hair, and what looked like a grapple gun attached to her hip.
"What happened here?" she asked.
"Our brother just passed out!" Amelia cried.
The cat woman put a hand against Bro's face and shook her head. "This is not good. He's dehydrated."
"What are we going to do?" Porter asked.
The cat woman looked at her vehicle before looking back at the siblings. "Load him in my Sand Blazer," she ordered. "He can rest at my place."
"Your what-now?" Gusty stammered.
"Put him in the car!" Zaire shouted, helping Porter and Amelia place Bro in one of the seats.
"You call this thing a car?" Gusty asked.
"It's a car where we're from," Lily answered, climbing into one of the seats. After a while, everyone was loaded up and the car took off.
As they sped through the desert, nobody said anything, something the cat woman caught on to immediately, so she tried to start a conversation.
"Gotta say, I didn't expect Luna and Gusty to be traveling with company," she said, not getting a response from anyone.
"Well, I'm Katssandra," she continued, "and I can tell you're very worried about your brother. He'll be feeling better when we get to my house."
"Yeah, okay," Amelia whimpered.
"Wait– Gusty said he and Luna had to pay a visit to a couple of people in the desert," Porter recalled. "Is it safe to say you're one of them?"
"She's one of them, yes," Gusty confirmed. "Me and Luna visit her every so often to keep them company."
"You make it sound like I'm an old lady!" Katssandra responded. "Even though we aren't related, they sometimes refer to me as their big sister."
"Can you not tell everyone about that? It's embarrassing!" Gusty whined.
To prevent Gusty from being embarrassed further, Zaire introduced himself and the other siblings to Katssandra, and added that while he might look like it, they weren't from here.
"I can tell," Katssandra admitted. "We don't see humans here in Noctum anymore. The Hiding was something that should've never happened."
"You know about that too?" Lily asked.
"Anyone who remembers what they looked like when they were human knows about The Hiding," she answered. "It consequently affected how everyone lives. It's tragic."
Zaire wasn't entirely sure, but he thought Katssandra was annoyed by the memory, given how the vehicle sped up.
Soon, they reached Katssandra's house– a large cozy-looking cabin next to a small oasis.
"We're here!" Katssandra said. "Get your brother out and I'll put him somewhere comfy."
In response, Lily and Zaire picked up Bro and followed her into the house, Luna, Amelia, and Gusty closely following.
"So this is a car?" Gusty asked. "That's weird. She didn't have that the last time we visited her."
"Did she build it?" Amelia questioned.
"I doubt it. But if she didn't, there's someone else who might've, and that would be..."
"Pepper! Get up! We have company!" Katssandra shouted.
A small groan could be heard from one of the cabin's rooms before a coyote girl with brown hair, a black top, and blue shorts stepped out of the hall, stretching.
"Now, what were you saying? Something about company?" she yawned, pausing her stretches when she saw the siblings.
"Oh my gosh, humans!" she exclaimed, running up to Lily and Porter and pinching their cheeks. "Look at y'all! So adorable! So squishy!"
"Alright, alright, we get it!" Lily squeaked, squirming out of Pepper's grasp.
Katssandra cleared her throat. "Pepper, one of our new friends needs some water. Could you get some for him?" she requested.
"Thirsty!" Luna chimed.
"...And a juice box for Luna," she added.
"Gotcha. Be back in a sec," Pepper replied, hurrying into the kitchen to fetch the beverages.
Meanwhile, Amelia walked up to Katssandra to ask her a question. "Excuse me, do you know what a car is?"
"Car? I'm afraid I don't," she admitted. "Is that a type of animal?"
"Wha– no!" Lily exclaimed. "So, you're saying you've never played with toy cars and trucks when you were little?"
"What are those?" Pepper questioned, walking into the room with a pitcher of water and a juice box.
"Oh-ho, this is gonna be fun..." Zaire chuckled awkwardly, laying Bro on the couch. "How do you explain what a car is in a world where they don't exist?"
"Well, we can start with the Sand Blazer," Porter answered. "Where we're from, that's a car. Cars have wheels, seats and several other things that get it to move. They also help get us from one place to another faster than walking."
"It's also something we could've used hours ago," Lily added quietly.
Pepper took a swig out of the pitcher before speaking. "You know, I didn't know that thing had a name. I just built it to help Katssandra get around the desert faster... It came to me in a dream."
"The idea of a car... and everything you needed to know to get it to move... came to you in a dream?" Zaire asked.
"I know it sounds crazy, but yes."
"If it works, it works," Gusty said. "I'm not gonna question it."
As Pepper gave Luna the juice box, Katssandra poured some of the water into a small cup before letting Bro drink some.
Slowly, Bro's eyes opened, and the others breathed a sigh of relief. He, on the other hand, was very confused. "What happened? Where are we?"
As he looked around, he spotted the sand cat and the coyote. "And who are they?" he asked.
"Bro, meet Katssandra and Pepper," Amelia said. "Katssandra helped us get to shelter, while we just found out that Pepper made the car that got us here."
"Car? Yeah, right," Bro sneered. "Last time I checked, nobody here even knew what a car was."
"We kinda got that cleared up," Porter responded. "Apparently, there's only one car in Noctum, and it's called the Sand Blazer."
"Made by yours truly!" Pepper chimed.
"What, you think we just carried you through the desert all the way here?" Lily asked.
"No, no, that makes sense," he said. "Thanks for helping us out, Katssandra."
"Just doing my job," Katssandra chuckled. "By the way, one of your siblings mentioned you all weren't from around here. If I may ask, where do you come from?"
"Seallium," Bro replied. "To keep the explanation simple, it's got more humans like us, more cars like the Sand Blazer, and people go to bed when the moon's out."
"Don't forget the toy seals!" Amelia added. "Probably wouldn't be called Seallium without them!"
"Seals!" Luna repeated.
"Aaaand now that you've said that, Luna wants to visit that place more than ever," Gusty sighed.
"Don't worry, we will!" Lily promised. "Bro, call Lini and ask if she's got her machine working!"
"She'll let me know when she does," Bro said, pulling out his phone. "But I guess it's worth a shot."
He spent several minutes calling Lini's number, but only got her voicemail in return. "Nothing, as expected."
"Did she say anything important the last time you spoke?" Amelia asked.
"She said if she had some help, she could fix the Dimensional Gateway faster, so I told her to do what she needed to," he explained. "Though given how long she's probably been working on it, I wouldn't be surprised if she decided to get some rest first."
"Speaking of rest," Katssandra added, "you should get some more after being out there for so long."
"Excuse me, but we were out there just as long as he was!" Lily protested. "Why can't we rest too?!"
"Did you faint in the desert as well?" Gusty retorted.
"Fair enough."
"Nothing's stopping you from staying here, but if it interests you, I'll be heading to Dune Town in a few. If you want, you can come along," Katssandra offered.
"As long as I don't have to walk again, I'll go," Zaire said.
"I second that," Porter agreed. "Sorry, Bro, but I'm going with them."
"So am I!" Amelia added, following the three outside.
"You going too, Lily?" Bro asked.
"Well, I feel obligated to now," she answered, hurrying out with the rest of them.
"Family always has your back, am I right?" Pepper chuckled.
"I'd go with them too if I wasn't told to stay here," Bro grumbled.
"At least you know she takes helping others seriously," Gusty said. "Pepper would know a thing about being rescued."
"You got rescued by Katssandra? I was under the impression you two were friends," Bro said.
"We are, but we met while she was saving me," Pepper explained.
"What did she save you from?"
"A sand pit. After that, I told myself I was going to help her any way I could."
"Since then, she's remodeled Katssandra's house, made what she calls a grapple gun, and now built what we now know is a car," Gusty added.
"Not to sound like I'm judging, but don't you think you're doing too much?" Bro asked.
"No way! In the desert, you need all the help you can get! And if I'm able to help her in any way I can, I'll be satisfied," Pepper answered, her tail wagging.
Bro shrugged before yawning and laying on his side. "I guess I'll get some more rest. Wake me when the others get back."
With a nod, the three walked into the kitchen, concern on Gusty's face.
"So... When they get back, how do we break it to him that he now has a tail?" he whispered.
Meanwhile...
"What do you mean what happened to me?" Ixin asked. "What happened to you?"
"What are you talking about?" Umbrish questioned. "You're the one who looks like a fox!"
Hearing those words, Ixin quickly pulled out a pocket mirror and took a look at herself, gasping in disbelief.
"What happened to me?!" she screamed. "No, what happened to us?!"
She then turned the mirror to Umbrish, who got a good look at himself, and screamed when he did. "Why do I look like a bulldog?! How did we end up like this?!"
The two began to panic, but after looking at each other, they took a moment to assess the situation.
"Okay, we're animals now, great," Umbrish sighed. "Where are we exactly, and is there any way to turn us back into humans?"
While the two were thinking, they noticed a plume of sand streaking across the dunes.
"What's that? And where's it going?" Ixin asked.
They climbed to the top of a dune, where they could get a better look. Sure enough, they could see a small town below.
"I think we've found our answer," Umbrish said, "and a place to finally get a drink."
"Now that you say that, I am parched," Ixin admitted. "Let's head down there and see what we can find."
Without missing a beat, the two carefully made their way down the hill.
As for the other five, they saw Dune Town slowly crawl into their line of sight. While the siblings waited to reach their destination, they decided to spark another conversation. After all, what's a few words between new friends?
"So tell us about yourself, Katssandra," Zaire said. "You seem to remember a bit about yourself while you were human."
"You wouldn't be wrong," Katssandra admitted. "My name used to be Cassandra, but after being turned into a sand cat, I got it changed to Katssandra."
"You changed your name because you turned into a cat? That's an odd life decision," Lily commented.
"I think you're the only one we've met who's changed their name because of The Hiding," Porter added.
"Again, The Hiding was something that shouldn't have happened," she grumbled.
That immediately shut everyone up, and the atmosphere grew awkward, as if someone said something they shouldn't have.
"You think she wants to be human again?" Amelia whispered to Zaire, who looked back at her and shrugged in response.
In minutes, they arrived in town, where Katssandra parked the Sand Blazer between two cacti.
"Anyways..." Katssandra said, getting out of the vehicle, "welcome to Dune Town!"
To the four, Dune Town looked like a settlement from the west– it had an old-fashioned bank, some stores, and even a saloon nearby.
"You know, this is exactly what I pictured when you mentioned a place called 'Dune Town,'" Zaire admitted as he and the others followed Katssandra into a general store, where a vulture lady was sweeping the floor.
"Kats!" she exclaimed. "Been a hot minute."
She also noticed the presence of Amelia, Porter, and Lily and got confused. "And who're these younglings? No wings, no tails, no scales, what are you?"
"We're just visitors," Lily answered. "Visitors from somewhere else."
"Why are you saying it like that?" Porter questioned. "She was human too. She'd still be if it wasn't for The Hiding."
Katssandra glanced over at him and shook her head.
"Humans? The Hiding? What is this nonsense you're speaking, boy?" the vulture lady growled, causing him to step back.
"Maybe you guys should wait outside," Katssandra stated. "I won't be long."
Without a second thought, Porter quickly shuffled outside, leaving the other siblings to go after him. As they left, Katssandra turned back to the vulture. "I'll be brief– I need to pick up something important..."
Outside, the four were watching the hustle and bustle of the town– a lone tumbleweed drifting across the ground and bouncing between buildings.
"Why would you say that? Did you see the way Katssandra and that lady looked at us?" Lily hissed.
"I thought they knew!" Porter stammered.
"Katssandra, maybe, but we don't know a thing about the other lady!" Zaire argued. "The way you brought it up, it's like trying to keep a secret from someone when the person you're trying to hide it from is standing right next to you!"
"It's more like an open secret..." Porter grumbled before looking at Amelia, who was focused on something. Or rather, someone.
"Guys, look over there! Don't those two kinda look like Ixin and Umbrish?" she asked, pointing to a fox and a bulldog as they entered the saloon. At the same time, Katssandra had just left the general store, clearly unhappy.
"I-I'm sorry if what I said offended anyone," Porter stuttered. "Can we pretend no one heard that?"
"You didn't say anything wrong," Katssandra sighed. "I just didn't want things to get more awkward. You see, no one in Dune Town knows about The Hiding. There's those who don't remember what they look like, and then there's those who don't know what caused it."
"How do you know what the Hiding is, then?" Lily asked.
"Because I went looking for answers," she answered. "I didn't think having a tail or ears somewhere else on my head was normal, since my parents didn't go through that. So, when I was old enough to move out, I went to the city to see if anyone could answer my questions."
"And the result?"
"...Long story short, I got the answers I wanted."
She watched the sun descend and let out a huff. "We should head back. Your brother is probably waiting for us."
"Before we do, can we check something?" Amelia requested. "I want to head to the saloon to confirm some things."
The five walked into the building, where everyone froze and gave the siblings weird glances. Even the pianist paused their playing to look at them. Porter got nervous and hid behind Katssandra.
"Never change, Port," Lily snickered. "Never change."
Zaire and Amelia walked up to the bartender, a buzzard man as he was cleaning a glass.
"What'll it be?" he asked. "Milk, water, or apple juice. I can tell your age just by your looks, you ain't slick."
"We aren't here to get anything," Zaire responded. "Have you seen a fox and a bulldog come in here not too long ago?"
"Far back," the bartender grunted. "Asked for ice. Just ice."
Amelia and Zaire motioned for the other three to follow them into the more isolated part of the saloon, where sure enough, they were still there, chewing on ice. Their approach didn't go unnoticed, and was met with hostility.
"Can't we ever get a break from you?!" Umbrish growled.
Zaire chuckled. "Guess that confirms it. Nice seeing you too, pal."
"I take it you guys know each other?" Katssandra asked.
"That's an understatement," Porter answered, peeking out from behind her.
"How did you two end up here?" Amelia questioned. "Did Zetal send you to this world with one of his tests?"
"More like your friend sent us here!" Ixin shouted. "Literally shoved us into a portal thingy in her basement before stranding us!"
"Bro did say she had to close the portal and that we'd be here for a while," Zaire said. "Must've left that detail out at breakfast."
"Speaking of details..." Lily added, "I'm loving the new looks, fellas! Umbrish being a bulldog really fits him, and you're finally a true vixen, Ixin!"
"Shut up!" both of them growled. "We have been through enough– getting thrown into the middle of a desert, spending an entire day walking with no direction, being tired and thirsty, being turned into animals somehow, and finding out that you're here too has ruined our day," Umbrish sighed.
"Glad we could make your day just a little more worse," Zaire laughed.
"At least we're not suffering alone," Ixin smirked, pointing at Lily.
Lily looked behind her, and noticed a dog's tail attached to her. "When did that get there?"
"Uh, guys?" Porter mumbled, looking at his hands– or lack thereof, as they were now the flippers of a seal.
"Oh no," Katssandra groaned, "the effects of The Hiding are starting to get to you too..."
"The Hiding? What in the world are you talking about?" Umbrish asked.
"Look, we'll explain, but you'll have to come with us," Zaire said, offering his hand to the two.
"Go with you guys?" Ixin scoffed. "Why? Just so you can mock us even more?"
"I don't think we have the right to do that anymore," Amelia replied, feeling the cat ears on her head.
"Come on! With us, what have you got to lose?" Lily persuaded.
"Besides our sanity?" Umbrish retorted as Zaire grabbed Ixin's hand and pulled her out of her seat.
Together, the seven ran out of the saloon and rushed towards the Sand Blazer.
"So, what is this 'hiding' that the cat lady is talking about?" Umbrish asked, getting into the car.
"To put it simply," Lily explained, "it's an event that happened thirty years ago. The animals vanished, and what were humans are now animals."
"Your brother has always been a mouse," Ixin pointed out. "Why hasn't he vanished?"
"Maybe it's because he's not from Noctum? Maybe it's because he already looks like one of us? I don't really know," Katssandra admitted.
Lily felt a fuzzy muzzle on her face. "Floor it, Kats!" she shouted.
Immediately, she took action, and the vehicle sped across the sands. In minutes, they arrived back at the house. By now, Lily was a retriever, Amelia was a calico cat, and Porter had taken the form of a harp seal with legs.
They burst through the door, causing Bro to wake up and Pepper and the moths to head to the living room where the commotion was.
"What happened? Where's the fire?" Bro yawned before looking at his siblings. "Oh, you're back! I think. Am I still dreaming?"
"What makes you think you're still dreaming?" Lily retorted.
"Guys, what happened to your adorable human selves?" Pepper asked.
"I don't know how to break this to you gently, so I'm just going to say it," Gusty said to Bro. "Compared to when we first met, you look different now– very different."
"What...?"
Hearing that, Bro immediately ran to the bathroom and splashed some water on his face. What he saw in the reflection horrified him and made him scream so loud it would scare off the birds in the area– if there were birds. He was now a tabby.
"A-Are you okay, Bro...?" Amelia quietly asked as Bro walked back into the living room.
"Am I okay? Am I okay...?" he chuckled before exploding in rage. "Do I look okay?! Look at us! We're hideous! We can't go back to our world and in public looking like a bunch of... a bunch of... animals!"
He looked over at the Noctumites and added, "No offense."
"None taken," Katssandra, Pepper and Gusty responded in unison.
"Oh, I had a feeling this would happen..." Porter mumbled. "In the back of my mind I was calling it!"
"It's not like we could do anything about it," Lily said. "We still haven't heard anything from Lini yet."
Bro looked back over at Ixin and Umbrish. "I was hoping we wouldn't run into you two," he groaned. "Now we have to take you with us and get you back to normal."
"Glad we could make your day just a little more worse," Umbrish said.
"Actually, their day is just getting started," Amelia replied, looking out the window. The sun was just about to disappear below the horizon.
"At night? Is this some kind of joke?" Ixin questioned.
"No, ma'am, everything's more active when the moon's out," Pepper replied.
"Then why did that town go about its business while the sun–"
"...Unless you're out here, anything goes." she added.
Luna walked up to Bro, who was sitting on the couch, clearly unhappy, and took a seat next to him. "Are we still going to see the humans and seals?" she asked.
"Luna, I don't think now's a good time to bring that up," Gusty said, butting in. "Bro's dealing with something right now, and I think it's best to give him a bit of space–"
"No, it's fine," Bro said. "I'm just still in shock, is all. To answer your question, we'll see them soon. We just need to wait. It could be another hour, it could be another day or two..."
Just then, his phone rang. The incoming call was from Lini.
"Or it could be right now," he sighed in relief as he answered the call.
"Bro, I finally got the Dimensional Gateway working again!" Lini announced. "It wasn't easy, but I'm ready to bring you guys home."
"About time!" he exclaimed. "We'll be bringing a few visitors over as well, so I hope you don't mind."
"I wouldn't, but he might..." she muttered, but Bro didn't hear it. "Not at all. Where are you guys?"
"The desert."
"Where in the desert? What are your coordinates?"
"Coordinates? I don't know, a cabin surrounded by sand? Look, just drop the portal somewhere and we'll find it soon," he suggested.
After a few seconds, she let him know that there was one in the area and told him to be careful before hanging up.
"So, good news and bad news," Bro stated to everyone. "Lini finally made us a portal home..."
The siblings all cheered.
"But we've got to find it somewhere in the desert," he added, causing them all to groan.
"Can't she just create a bunch of portals until one shows up near the house?" Lily complained.
"Don't you remember what Lini said while we were taking Belle back home?" Zaire reminded her.
"The Dimensional Gateway can't create more than one portal at a time, and for some reason, I can't create a portal from here to anywhere else in Seallium."
"Stupid engineering limitations..." Lily grumbled.
"We can search around with the Sand Blazer," Katssandra said.
"This is all well and dandy," Umbrish interrupted, "But how are all of us supposed to fit in that car? That car can fit seven or eight people, and there's 11 of us!"
"We'll make it work," Zaire said, heading outside. "For starters, you two can sit in the trunk."
"...I hate you people," he growled.
The eleven began to head out to the car. By now, stars filled the sky, brighter than ever before as the wind blew the sand into the air.
"Where are we going?" Luna asked.
In response, Amelia picked her up. "We're finally going home, where the humans are!"
"Yay! Humans!" Luna squealed, bouncing in her arms.
"You don't think anyone will notice your new looks, do you?" Gusty asked.
Porter and Bro looked at each other before shrugging. "We'll both say we got new haircuts," Bro said.
One by one, they all squeezed into the car until there was barely any room to move. Once everyone was ready, the car sped off.
Minutes passed, but there was no sign of the portal– just sand and rocks as far as the eye could see.
"So, what exactly does this portal look like?" Katssandra asked.
"It's green, it looks like a ring, and it looks completely out of place anywhere?" Lily answered. "You'll know it when you see it."
As they drove, the wind whipped violently and sand slammed against the car's windshield like heavy rain.
"Seeing it is gonna be ten times harder with this sandstorm!" Pepper shouted.
"This is not a good time to be in a car without doors..." Zaire said.
The wind rocked the car as it drove, and the sand started to batter everyone, with the sole exception of Luna.
"Just hang in there, guys!" Katssandra shouted, her voice barely audible over the howling of the wind.
"I think I'm getting sand in my ears!" Amelia complained.
Bro leaned his head out of the car and saw a faint green glow in the storm.
"Katssandra, turn right!" he ordered. She did... and nearly collided head-on into a cactus. As she evaded it by swerving, Gusty nearly tumbled out of the car, only being saved by Zaire grabbing him and pulling him back in.
"Don't get out yet, we're almost there!" he shouted.
"I wasn't trying to!" Gusty shouted back.
As they got closer to the portal, the harder the winds blew, and the more the sands stung, until the feeling grew unbearable.
"Brace yourselves!" Katssandra yelled as she floored the gas and drove into the portal at full speed.
Seallium Realm
The car emerged out of the portal and nearly drove off an edge, stopping just short thanks to Katssandra's human-like reflexes.
Porter was the first to flop out of the car, covered in sand and gasping for air after being in the cramped car for so long. "Finally! It's so good to be back home!"
He then looked at his flippers and immediately grew downcast, as they haven't changed.
"Wait, where are we? This isn't Lini's basement..." Bro said, getting out of the car and looking around at the dark sky.
"Bro!" Lini exclaimed, running up to and hugging him. "You're back... and you're a cat."
She then watched everyone get out of the car and realized that everyone inside was either an insect or an animal.
"What happened to everyone?" she gasped.
"We'll explain later," Bro said. "Where are we?"
"Well... long story short, I got some help... and let's just say I had to venture far from Seal Island to get it..." Lini admitted.
"How far?"
She pointed over his shoulder, and when he turned around, he saw Zetal, smiling at him.
*To Be Concluded...