Journey To Kimbara: Part 1

It was unanimous.
All of the koalas wanted to go to the wild outback, where it was told that the koalas originated from. If the koala spirit stone was stolen, then it would have been in Kimbara, therefore Kimbara would be a new land earlier due to the other animals looking for it and freeing the land.
"So, get packing, and get ready! The overlord Abigail is female, but the kangaroo tribe there is even more of a threat. I was hoping we could free the Forgotten Valley or the Sand Pyre,  but I let you guys pick." said Cosmo, smiling.
Indiana cuddled Cosmo, now a young koala that no longer looked up to Cosmo as a professor that taught her all about the delicate balance between spiritual and natural: he was a father to her.
The koalas, some naturally colored and some looked like they were dyed in paint, all cheered around the bright campfire and immediately ran to pack up the tents.
All the while, the cool valley mist swirled around them like a blanket of cool.

The next day, when the roosters crowed and the sun extended its rays over the tall, snow-capped mountains, the koalas awoke and got to work getting ready to follow the river to the arid outback.
Indiana rose quite fitfully, saying that Mira told her that she was about to let all Jammers enjoy the thrill of battling phantoms.
Cosmo chuckled as his apprentice tried to convince him to go back and tell the other Alphas.
"Don't worry, Indiana, I just got a dream message from Sir Gilbert saying they also got the dream and have staked out an abandoned quarry behind Miroza's door and are getting the mana fields (for portals) and the rescue attempt to save Miroza ready." said Cosmo, patting Indiana.
"Bu-but shouldn't we postpone the trip to help them with the efforts?" stammered Indiana, her hibiscus flower on her ear twitching.
Cosmo smiled, the deep wrinkles on his face smiling like bright suns.
"Alas, we are supposed to free more land to make room for the ten million Jammers within Jamaa. Don't worry, the others are exempt at building and will do well without us. Lets hope Peck will subdue her 'Anonymously Annoying" attitude."
Indiana smiled, remembering the bunny. She had to work on keeping her place, Tunnel Town, well and healthy with her apprentice Samantha, but Peck always seemed to find time to annoy the other Alphas with loud karaoke and pranks.
Just then, Orlando the koala ran in, the skull trinkets (including the skullies that were removed from all Jammers due to problems with corruption spreading through them) rattling on his fur as he ran into their tent.
"We're all ready, Father Cosmo. Most of the koalas are lined up near the Rio River, and ready for the long travel ahead." panted Orlando. Most koalas practiced life magic... but Orlando practiced death magic, so Cosmo took a liking to him for uniqueness, even appointing him personal messenger for him.
Cosmo did a peace sign, trying to look calm and young.
"Sure, great job! You guys were quick, we'll see you out in a moment, k?" said Cosmo, winking.
Orlando smiled.
"Got it."
Indiana and Orlando smiled at each other for a moment, then they both dashed out.
Cosmo sighed as he said the two young koalas get the troop organized.
"I swear, they're so nice to each other, you'd think they were in love." said Cosmo. He shook his head.
"Eh, romance is fun, Cosmo, but you need to focus. The tent needs to be packed up, and the koalas taken through enemy territory, so I need to hurry before the phantoms here can sniff us out. Agate and DarkBreath were spotted by a patrol near here earlier, so I'd better get everyone out of the way of those dangerous generals."
He stood up from the bed of dried leaves on the tent, and stepped out into fresh, dewy air. The others did a good job masking the signs of campers here, as the campfire had been buried so well he thought Tango did it, and all of the koala scents were masked by wolf urine they carried all the way here. Any animal without a steady mind and a little magic would think nobody ever lived here.
"Crumple."
Holding up a paw and channeling his thoughts, Cosmo made the tent fold into a shiny, green square. It mesmerized him to see such a large, pine green tent fold itself as if it were origami paper folded by an expert paper-crafter.
As if it were a frog, the tiny square leapt up with a twangy BOING and landed in Cosmo's paw.
Cosmo pocketed the little tent, and ran over to his koalas.

After filling up their canteens with pristine mountain water from the glaciers around Jamaa and collected herbs and berries for food, the koalas set off on a journey along the river. They say many new species of frogs and other animals, and even discovered a plant that ate sheep! Cosmo, of course, wrote down everything, details, profiles and all... then usually started looking for food right after for some reason. Weeks passed without much progress, and sometimes they had to fight back phantoms and rogue wyverns, all while watching the rest of Jamaa through the veil that was the giant wards that protected Jamaa.
Just as they were tiring, they reached the border of the Kimbara Outback, where a musky scent of kangaroo droppings and phantom auras overwhelmed the koalas. Orlando, however, seemed right at home for some twisted reason.
"Ugh! I hate the smell of evil and decay. Lets hope the water is clean, I want to take a bath and drink up." said Indiana.
"Don't!" yelped Orlando as Indiana bent down to drink.
"Why?" asked Indiana, raising an eyebrow.
"The water of Kimbara is full of... ah... stool and gasoline leaking from merchant trucks and helicopters. Otto sometimes comes here and trades with the locals." said Orlando.
Cosmo stepped forward, pushing Indiana, Orlando and the rest of the thirsty and bedraggled koalas back.
"Let me purify it, at least a clean field for us." said Cosmo, stress lines across his forehead.
Before Orlando could protest, Cosmo held up tiny paws, and channeled his thoughts of clean waterfalls and the wide, vast ocean. Slowly, the muck cleared up from the river, stool dissolving and being eliminated and the water clean for drinking. The traveling koalas watched, awestruck by the sheer wonder of his power.
Cosmo smiled, and stepped back.
"I feel like the Kimbara Imports should be better. Let's proceed onwards." said Cosmo.
The koalas followed, despite weariness from their travels.

After trudging over arid, hot red earth, they got to a waterfall, where the thirsty koalas started to drink.
Koala and Indiana, immune to impervation of anything, turned away to try to ignore the loud slurps of koala lips.
"Yuck, did Mira have to give us loud slurping noises?" winced Indiana as she heard koalas start to scream at each other.
Cosmo shrugged.
"It happened, we have to get over it." said Cosmo, voice simple and hard to pick up any undertones in... do you catch my drift?
Indiana sighed, and just trudged up the worn path up the mountain to the cave where the kangaroos lived, ignoring the blue penguins and scorpions.
As the koalas slurped and splashed each other, Cosmo sat on a hot rock (after wiping it to remove any ants or droppings, that is) and sighed. The journey was going well, but it was too peaceful. Alphas and their apprentices had a very strong aura, attracting evil anytime they weren't in an area that had strong wards- making stealth hard sometimes. He was sure that the Jamaasian Heroes were even worse off due to the links within their souls to Jamaa's well-being.
He thought about the Jamaasian Heroes to pass time.
They were all very, very powerful and kind, but there still were five more that were yet to be recruited. A horse named Bunny with powers of wind and a koala named Chunky that had technomagic were strong suspects, but weren't exactly official or close friends of theirs. They had much on their shoulders, as if enough were subdued or even killed, the fabric of reality around Jamaa would start to collapse, which meant that Apophis would be forced to keep them well and alive if he were to not risk damage in destroying himself in sinking the world under the ocean. But how, and would that be a weakness that the heroes could exploit? And besides, Snowyclaw was a killer robot as of late, despite many rescue parties trying to save the world-famous activist, and he had a strong suspicion that Ledra would be next. Her powers of copying and transforming needed a cooldown if she used it too much or stressed it, and sometimes she could accidentally copy a malicious thing... could hat be her downfall.
Just when Cosmo's philosophical mind started to truly get boggled weighing the pros and cons of the Jamaasian Heroes's existence as he thought about the heroes training in Hyrestia, the slurping stopped.
"Hey, Cosmo. Lets go to where Indiana is. We need to hurry the trip up, else we're going to get nowhere." said Orlando, above Cosmo's pondering face.
Cosmo snapped out of his trance of deep trains of thought.
"Oh, yeah. Lets go." he said, as if he were hypnotized by a hypnotist.
Getting up, he saw some bone dams down the river, cracks in them and kangaroos dressed in tribal clothes taking bones out, causing more leaks.
What was that all about? he wondered.

As the weary koalas entered the dusty cave, they saw two kangaroos surrounded by lavish furniture smoking drugs imported by famous drug-smugglers, such as the rare-clothed Julian and the controversial company NorthernKingAndQueen. A lightbulb swung overhead, creaking like one of Marco's rusty boats, even though it looked fairly new. As soon as the kangaroos saw the sudden visitors, they threw the drug packets and cigars out the window and smiled yellow teeth.'
"Why hello there. We rarely get visitors. Come on, sit down on one of our stone benches. No worries, they're covered with cushions." squeaked the large, burly one.
The koalas were eager to get some rest after their journey, and sat down, slumping on the large couches, thrones, and chairs galore. Some snored right away as they sat down on the cushions stocked with pegasi feathers, while others sipped Diet Coke that were conveniently placed near them.
There was no rhyme or reason to the placement of furniture, and some of the furniture was so hastily placed that they were upside down or awkwardly placed. Some were even stacked on each other. It was like the furniture was there just for display, not for any sort of need.
Cosmo sat down near the two kangaroos, and saw that the kangaroo girl near the burly kangaroo was playing Sonic Lost World, even though that game wasn't released yet. Did the kangaroos have contacts with game hackers/smugglers?
When he saw the tasty mooncakes, shortcake, carrots, ice cream, pizza, chips, clam chowder, berries and other things on a table, Cosmo's eyes gleamed, and he lunged for the food.
"Nom nom nom! Food!" cried Cosmo.
The girl seemed disturbed by his bad table manners, but the burly kangaroo was indifferent, as if he himself ate in a yucky manner.
"Well, we are glad you seem to enjoy our food! We are picky with what our chefs make, and try not to let food go to waste." hissed the kangaroo. "The Sand Pyre attracts most of the travelers due to the majesty of the Pyre and wyvern tribes, making Kimbara Outback's tourism business very weak. The travelers that do come here... leave quickly."
Orlando raised his eyebrows in alarm, as if he sensed something suspicious... or delicious. All the while, Cosmo was in a trance as the koala ate, ate ate.
"If you don't leave, travelers, we have carrot soup ready this evening. Its delicious, trust me!" said the girl, despite being wrapped up in her game of Sonic: Lost World. Going at lightspeed was a big toll on your attention, as sudden spikes or badniks could really be a ring-destroyer. There was also a MegaMan X: Maverick Hunter game, a MegaMan Powered Up game, a Wii Sports U game, and other shiny new games at the paws of the girl, piled up. There were games that weren't supposed to be released, such as MegaMan Legends 3 by her, which puzzled Indiana. She wasn't any gaming lord, but knew her basic video games. Somehow, that girl had enough power to get any game she wished, even ones that were clearly cancelled.
"Ooh, carrot soup? Tasty!" remarked Cosmo.
The burly kangaroo chuckled, pulling in his breath as if each breath hurt.
"You seem tired. We have thousands of plump beds you can lie on, koalas." said the kangaroo.
Orlando seemed very uncomfortable at this point, which Cosmo didn't notice due to the tastiness of the food.
However, the weary koalas slumped on the soft couches and chairs were eager to get some rest.
"C'mon, where are the beds?" exclaimed a tiny koala that was hanging upside down from a chandelier.
The kangaroo girl, barely looking up from a heated battle with one of the Deadly Six, sighed.
"Look for a trapdoor behind the fake wall. This place isn't so big, you see. Its just one small, teensy room on the outside. We are in the hologram part, but there are more hologram walls beyond here. Just walk through, and sleep." sighed the kangaroo girl.
As soon as she stopped speaking and was immersed in the game again, the koalas stampeded through the hologram wall, disappearing as  quickly as light.
As Cosmo got up and stretched, he asked a question that would ring in his head for years afterwards.
"What are your names, nice kangaroos?" asked the lazy koala.
At that moment, Orlando and Indiana passed by, Orlando's face written with concern for their leader.
"My name is Gerbill, and this is my niece, Macedonia."