Glorious Quest of the Golden Unicorn

"Captain, I don't think we're in Australia anymore."

"Not the time, Miss Withers." The captain walked towards the map on the wall. "We've nearly crossed the desert, and we're just about to enter the jungle now." He pointed at the location on the map. "I see no reason why we shouldn't make it back to our base in a week's time. We have enough food for a month's worth of journey, so there's no need for panic either."

"Yes, sir," Miss Withers replied, her hands shaking behind her back. She looked at the other four members of their expedition team - Mr Sticky, Captain Shady, Fred, and Sergeant Blunt. They all had looks of worry. They were clearly not sure if they should be happy or scared. In fact, they looked ready to cry. All they had was one week of food supply left in their rucksacks, and they hadn't seen a living soul in three months' time since they started their quest to search for Australia's national treasure - The Golden Unicorn.

That day when they were drinking in the pub late at night and woke up to realise that they had lost two weeks out of their memory and were not able to recall any details of what happened during those two weeks. They decided to set up an expedition team and start searching for those lost two weeks after getting them back. They didn't know what happened during those two weeks because they couldn't remember anything from that time period. All they could recollect from that time period was -- nothing! That's why none of them knew what happened during those two weeks when everybody was nodding off as if under some hypnotic trance! But whatever it was, it must have been something bad enough to cause them great fear and loss of appetite now!

"Sir!" Mr Sticky shouted from behind him suddenly with a face full of fear. "There's someone lurking behind us!"

Everyone turned around immediately to look for the stranger menacingly approaching them from behind! But there wasn't anyone there! Nobody but them was present on that lonely desolate beach! The wind had suddenly stopped... All was silent... Then a voice spoke up from behind them!

"Hello?" a small voice spoke up from behind them suddenly! A small girl in a dirty red dress stood there holding a yellow umbrella with a disfigured golden unicorn horn tied onto its tip! She smiled innocently at everybody in front of her... As if she didn't notice anything unusual about them being startled by her sudden appearance out of nowhere!

"Who are you?" Captain Shady asked angrily at her rude intrusion into their privacy! He glared at her suspiciously through his brown sunglasses with his one hand resting on his waist while taking long strides towards her threateningly. But she didn't seem intimidated in any way by his threatening mannerisms or his imposing 6 feet 5 inches tall frame towering over her like a giant blocking out the sun from above her head. She just stared back at him curiously while smiling as if looking at some bizarre creature she had never seen before! Not even a hint of fear could be seen on her face! It seemed as if he wasn't even looking at an ordinary human but some strange alien species! It didn't help matters when he noticed that she had hooves instead of feet instead of human feet, and horns on top of her head like animals had - only bigger than theirs! Who the hell is this strange little girl? Was she part of some prank somebody was trying to play on them? She looked too real though... Too normal... Like any other kid he'd pass by on the sidewalk every day when walking down his street back home... He felt like shaking her violently till she fainted from fear and then asking questions later once he got hold of her again when she gained consciousness again... But there she stood innocently smiling back at him like nothing unusual was happening here... What kind of joke is this anyway? This is not funny at all... And who is going to pay me back my money once I return home after returning empty handed? I'll strangle whoever thought this would be funny! Damn you... Damn you all!!! He took one more step forward towards her threateningly as if hoping that might scare away this strange apparition before him causing him so much trouble... But then suddenly she started laughing uncontrollably with tears rolling down her eyes uncontrollably while still staring back at him curiously. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw confusion written all over everyone else's faces who were watching this strange scene unfold before their eyes without understanding what was happening here or why this strange little girl found everything so amusing? Why did nobody see anything wrong with what he just did?! And why did she find something so funny about it?!