Bab 79: The Reunion Part 4.3
Back in the Sahara, Bulkhead and Miko were right where they wanted to be. But they kind of landed in the middle of nowhere. Miko was out to see if she could find the way to an Oasis.
"Okay, now where do we go? It's maybe there. Or maybe there. Or maybe…" Miko said as she pointed to some random direction.
"Uh, Miko? You do know where we're going right?" Bulkhead asked as he couldn't help but worry.
"Of course I do." Miko reassured him.
"Miko, please don't tell me you didn't study the maps." Bulkhead said with worry etched in his tone.
"I did but it's not that easy you know. But not to worry, I brought a map with us. It's right here in my duffle bag. Just give me a moment." Miko said as she opened her bag.
Miko took off the seatbelt so that she could see inside her duffle bag. She came out of Bulkhead and that's when she started to feel the heat and the sun was very bright and hot as she wiped her forehead from sweat.
"Aw man… It's so hot." Miko said as she wiped another bead of sweat rolling down her forehead.
She then opened the door to the backseat where she had put her duffle bag. She opened it and started to look inside for a map but it looked like it wasn't there.
"Let's see… Oh, come on. Where is that thing? it's gotta be here. Come on, come on." She muttered.
Miko looked and looked around in her bag but sadly didn't find any map.
"That's weird. I thought for sure I put a map on the bag. Let's check the list." She muttered and took out her phone.
Miko began to check the list she had made on her phone. She scrolled down the whole content. Everything was checked yet something had caught her attention. In the whole list, there was no mention of a map or whatsoever. She had realized that she totally forgot to add the map on her list of things to bring for that trip and it caused her to facepalm and groan.
"Oh scrap… Uh, Bulkhead? Something funny just happened. I sort of… forgot… to bring a map." Miko said as Bulkhead looked at her with his side mirrors in disbelief.
"You, what?" He said in disbelief as she closed the door.
"I know, I know. But there's no need to worry. We can use the GPS on my phone." Miko said as she pointed to her phone.
Miko tried to use the GPS on her phone but sadly since there was no signal. It didn't work and there were no bars or signals.
"Scrap… No signal. Hey, Bulkhead, think you can use your GPS?" Miko asked as Bulkhead tried but nothing.
"I can't, this place is interfering with my signal." He said with a small groan.
"Well, this is going great… I guess our best option is to drive and see what we find. Let's get a move on, Bulkhead." Miko said as she got inside Bulkhead and put her phone away.
"A move on? But where? We don't know where we are." Bulkhead said as Miko gave him a deadpan look.
"Stop worrying, dude. We just have to drive. With any luck, we might find what we're looking for." Miko said as she buckled her seatbelt around her.
"I hope you're right." Bulkhead said as Miko agreed.
"Me too. Hey, do me a favour. Turn the air conditioner on. It's so hot that it makes me sweat like crazy." She said as Bulkhead did so.
"Sure thing." He said as he turned on his air conditioner and that helped Miko feel a bit fresh as she relaxed against his seat and enjoyed the cold air from it.
"That's better. Now let's go." She said enthusiastically.
Bulkhead started to drive as he and Miko both hoped that they would find a nice place to relax. An hour and a half had already passed and so far they had not found anything yet. The heat of the desert was becoming unbearable. So unbearable that the air conditioner was starting to be a bit useless for that kind of temperature. Miko opened the window but that only made it worse. The poor girl felt like she needed to take some of her clothes off like her boots and socks. So she took them off and put them on the backseat so that way her feet wouldn't get too hot. With the unbearable heat and not finding a good place to relax, Miko had enough of driving around like that.
"Okay stop." Miko said as she had to wipe more sweat with her handkerchief.
"What is it? Did you find something?" Bulkhead asked but Miko shook her head.
"No, I didn't. Just do what I say, please." Miko said as Bulkhead was curious but agreed.
"Okay." He said and hit the breaks.
Bulkhead stopped driving like Miko told him to and when he did, Miko opened the door and was about to step out and Bulkhead saw she wasn't wearing any footwear.
"Uh, Miko, I don't think that's a good idea." Bulkhead told her worriedly.
"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing." Miko reassured him.
Miko thought that nothing bad would happen if she walked barefoot in the sand. But when she did, she immediately started to regret it. Due to the sun, the sand of the Sahara was very, very hot to the touch. That kind of heat made her feet burn like crazy and it caused her to scream loudly.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! IT BURNS, IT BURNS!!! MY FEET IS BURNING!!! AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" Miko screeched in pain.
The scorching sand was hurting Miko's feet so much that it made her scream at the top of her lungs. It also made her run around like crazy. She then started to run fast straight to a dune and Bulkhead became alarmed.
"Miko, wait!" Bulkhead called out to her but it fell on deaf ears.
Miko didn't hear Bulkhead because of the pain of the sand burning her feet. Without realizing it, she had reached the top of the dune and slipped as she started to roll down the whole thing. When she stopped rolling, her face was in the sand. Her hair was a mess and she had a bit of sand in her mouth which was gross.
"Puahhh!!! Puahhh!!! Gross…" Miko gagged.
When she got up, she started to spit out the sand that was in her mouth by accident. She then started to shake off the sand that was in her hair as she groaned.
"This is just great, not only are we lost, but on top of that my feet got burned real bad. And worse, I got some sand not only in my hair but in my mouth too. This is the worst." Miko ranted.
"Miko! Are you okay?!" Bulkhead asked loudly in the distance.
"I'm fine!" She yelled.
"Hold on, I'm coming." He said and turned on his engine.
Bulkhead started to drive and reached the other side of the dune to get to Miko but the sand made it pretty hard on him since it kept sliding down from under his tires when he tried to climb up.
"This might take a while. Just stay where you are." Bulkhead said.
"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." Miko replied.
Miko got up slowly but suddenly stopped because right in front of her there was something weird. She saw grass in front of her. It looked a bit like some sort of tropical forest and right at the center of it there was some sort of lake. It looked like a beautiful oasis. A crystal clear lake as she raised an eyebrow.
"An oasis? Oh man… I bet this is a mirage for sure. This heat is driving me crazy." Miko grumbled.
On the other side of the dune, Bulkhead was struggling to reach Miko as he put the pedal to the metal.
"Come on, come on." He muttered.
And thanks to a bit of effort, Bulkhead finally reached the top of the dune.
"Whoo-hoo, I did it!" He cheered.
Bulkhead was proud that he had reached the top of the dune. Sadly that victory didn't last long. He was starting to slip due to the sand and he was feeling it too.
"Uh oh… Uh, Miko?" He called out worriedly.
Miko heard Bulkhead's voice and started waving her hand at him to make him see where she was standing.
"I'm here!" She said and saw something was wrong.
"Get out of the way! I'm slipping! Whoa!" Bulkhead cried out as he started to come down.
"Oh no." Miko's eyes widened in alarm.
"Ahhhh! I can't stop! Get out of the way!" Bulkhead exclaimed.
"Oh dear, what do I do now?!" Miko panicked.
Miko started to look at the water and had an idea. She still thought that it was a possible mirage and that she would end up with more sand on her mouth and hair.
"Another sand bath, coming right up." She muttered in dismay.
Miko got out of the way quickly and jumped in the lake. She avoided getting hit by Bulkhead. When she got up, she was soaked and had some water in her mouth and Bulkhead reaching the down part of the dune had made some sort of a tiny sand cloud that went away easily.
"Puahh!!! Great… More sand in my… mouth? Wait a minute." Miko spitted out the water which she thought was sand before she stopped as she realized something.
Miko thought that the lake was a mirage and that she would land in the sand again but it turns out that it wasn't a mirage. It was a real lake. The water was very real. Everything was real as she started to grin.
"That's water. Real water. I feel soaked… and fresh. Oh my gosh. We found the oasis! Bulkhead, we found it! Whoo-hoo!" Miko cheered happily.
Miko started to jump from the happiness she felt.
"We found it, we found it. Oh my gosh, we found it. Oh no… Ahhh!!! Cold water, cold water! Ahhh!!! Ahhh!!! Ahhh!!!" Miko yelped loudly.
The cold water made Miko jump like crazy because she didn't like the cold water soaking her feet. She got out of the lake and sat on the grass from the ground and it made her sigh in content.
"That's better now. I can't believe we found it, Bulkhead. For a moment there, I thought we would never find it. What do you think, Bulkhead? Looks like a nice place to relax right?" Miko said and asked her guardian but didn't get a reply as she turned around.
"Right? Bulkhead? Are you there?" Miko said as she didn't see him.
Miko started to look around and there was no sign of Bulkhead. It's like he had vanished without a trace.
"Bulkhead?" Miko called out.
Miko started to walk around in search of Bulkhead. The sand didn't bother her feet much since they were wet. Although it made the sand become a bit muddy and she didn't like that as it stuck to her feet.
"Oh great. Bulkhead, where are you? This isn't funny!" Miko called out loudly.
Bulkhead, who heard her, transformed slowly and without realizing it, he was covered in sand that fell on him. When Miko heard the transformation sound, she turned to where the sound was coming from and saw a giant monster made of sand. It scared her so much that she let out a loud and shrill scream.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Miko screamed loudly as well as the so called monster.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
They both screamed like crazy but Miko immediately stopped screaming since the scream from the giant sand monster was familiar and it sounded a bit girly too. There was only one person who could scream like that.
"Hold on a sec. I know that screaming. Bulkhead! BULKHEAD!!! Stop screaming, it's me!" Miko yelled to calm him down.
It worked and Bulkhead stopped screaming when Miko told him to.
"Oh, Miko, it's you. You scared me. Sorry for the screaming." Bulkhead said in relief.
Miko was very, very angry to calm herself, she started to breathe in and breathe out which is not working for the record.
"Calm down, relax and talk slowly. More like you scared me big guy. For a moment there I thought you were a huge alien monster made of sand! You could've told me you were covered in sand! Why didn't you say anything?!" Miko started but exclaimed angrily.
"Sorry, I thought you knew. I should've told you I was covered in sand, my bad." Bulkhead apologized.
"Ugh… Nevermind that. At least, we found a nice place to relax." Miko said as she calmed down somewhat.
"We did?" He asked as Miko smiled.
"Yeah, look." She said happily.
Miko points out at the oasis and when Bulkhead saw it, he was amazed to see a nice beautiful crystal clear lake and a nice green grass around it.
"Wow, you're right, we found the place. It's so beautiful." Bulkhead said in awe.
"You said it, buddy. Enough talk, it's time to have fun." Miko said excitedly.
"Right, just give me a moment." Bulkhead said with a chuckle.
Bulkhead started to shake like crazy to get rid of the sand. When the sand got off him, he started to stretch so that way he could check if there were some in his articulations which he hates the most.
"Finally. No more sand. I just hope that when we get out, I won't get any of it stuck in my articulators." Bulkhead said before he noticed someone wasn't there.
"Miko? Are you there?" He called out in confusion.
Bulkhead started to look around to see where Miko was but she was nowhere to be found which started to worry him.
"Where did she run off to? Miko! Miko, where are you? Please stop fooling around." Bulkhead said worriedly.
"Mmrhthre."
"Hmm?" Bulkhead blinked when he heard the muffled noise.
Bulkhead heard a muffled sound that was coming from a small mountain of sand. He got close to it to ask if Miko was there.
"Miko? Is that you?" He asked and it was.
Miko shakes off the sand on her and Bulkhead helps her get rid of the rest that was in her hair.
"There you go." Bulkhead said but stopped when he noticed her expression.
Miko's expression spells out that she was gonna blow a gasket any second now.
"HOW ABOUT YOU TRY GIVING ME A HEADS UP THE NEXT TIME YOU PLAN ON SHAKING THE SAND OFF!!! THAT'S THE THIRD SAND BATH I GOT TODAY!!!" She yelled angrily as he raised his hands in a motion for her to calm down.
"Sorry. Do you want me to get your stuff out?" Bulkhead asked as Miko huffed. She can't just yell at Bulkhead all the time. The heat was probably getting to her.
"Duh. How else are we gonna start our beach day without the stuff?" She said while she crossed her arms.
"Right, give me a moment." He said.
Bulkhead opened his chest and made Miko's duffle bag come out. And that's not the only thing that came out. Her chair and parasol did too. Everything was there and suddenly something that wasn't part of her stuff came out. A whole bunch of sand came out of him and covered Miko again. Four sand baths in just one day is a new record. When Bulkhead laughed sheepishly, he felt bad about it.
"Hahaha. Sorry… I didn't know." He apologized with a sheepish smile.
Miko came out of that other sand bath again, and the look on her face says that she was very angry, really angry. And Bulkhead was thinking that it was a sign for him to run away. Of course since she was human, she couldn't hurt him that much and yet her look was like the one of a cat that was about to scratch someone. Actually more like a cheetah. After getting rid of the sand, again, Miko slowly grabbed a tree branch that she had found on the grass.
"Uh, Miko? What do you intend to do with that?" Bulkhead asked her nervously.
"Oh not much. Except hitting the big fool that covered me in sand twice in a row!" Miko said as she was really peeved right now.
"Miko, wait." Bulkhead tried to stop her.
"No way. Now you're gonna get it! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Miko yelled and started to hit Bulkhead's leg with the branch but he wasn't really feeling the hits and let her do it to let off some steam.
"Miko, stop please. I'm very sorry." Bulkhead apologized.
Miko didn't hear Bulkhead's apologies because she was too angry. But after a while, she calmed down as she let out a breath.
"Okay, I think I'm calm now." She said with a small sigh.
"Yeah… calm." Bulkhead said as he looked down at his charge.
"I'm sorry I got mad." Miko apologizes as she looks up to him sadly and he just smiles at her and pats her head with his digit.
He couldn't blame the girl he viewed as a daughter for being mad at the sand baths she went through.
"It's okay, I get it." He said with a chuckle as she giggled happily.
"Come on. It's time we had some fun. I just hope the guys are enjoying their clean up assignment. I sure am since I'm not there to clean." Miko said with a cheeky grin.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone