/\(th'Rust)%B0nD\/=: Soul~$eaparate W@ves Aboat us*

Buck was watChin the frog burrow unwaveringly, which Fin earlieReleased.

"Wail you can stand around trying to blame a restless heart," Trent shrugged. "Or we can march on before we get scheduled for remorseless Assassination."

I was surprised to hear someone lacking social status defend the Tyrant. "Finally someone speaks sense..." Dallas voiced his thanks.

Rovo sighed. "We're gonna have to put an end to this Traditional escapade." His dark eyeSank through me with every regret of a cover up. "These connections spread too deep. Some of us already almost died, and we all just ate dust."

"Well I believe FalCannO was supposeDo something about that?" piped Fin. "Regardless every kid should take a few gambles while they still goTotaLimbs to punch triggers. Otherwise they'll only have sTales wortHardly revisiTelling."

Some of us peeked back toward the boat, where Falco was absorbed with his magiCalLady.

Becca hoppeDown from the boat, gingerly flexing her shoddy~knit shin; nose remaining pointed to the sludge, observing untidy lumps along the tibia. "A sucker punch is too mind-rattling to absorb in a handful of seconds; but firm your bellies for a sheltering roll: Falco & I come across bizarre things on a regular basis. Few else spend time hunting them out, orrr actively pushing to connect; so when caliber approaches that can't easily be categorized, most people simply distance the memory. There are always Sphinxes braiding fuses, but just realize the fierce don't go about reque$ting assistance from mere homebodies. The initial clash pitted us nearly prepped as much as any geared Squad; equivalenThey maGEstured impressed by our resources, not merely external...That was nothing short of a formal invite to share of their delecTables = we're too valuable for them to sour at this current phase of whatever stunt they're forming. And while I'm essentially the only who could have predicted interceptors more than wildlife or police, hex, most of you get bored with lounging two consecutive days or you wouldn't have jumped out here, am i right?"

Trent glanced at his caked sneakers. "I kinda prefer my moxie and might to stay at a safe distance on TV..."

Rovo looked like he was wishing the same thing, but wanted to maintain any shred of his Goth bravado. Of course, he had mass to leverage, and tech sort of evens the playing field.

"Naw," Buck protested. "Finster knoWhat'Solid - gamBowl."

"Doesn't bother me," I responded. "ReguLore people walk down the street, masking which meds they pop to sooTHEir frustration, including who's gunna pop the nexTeasing gag to feel tough..."

"Forget about it, freaks," The Tyrant brushed off, glaring back at his watch in agitation. "Two minutes and ticking to appear before pirate business turns tail - or we won't go back to Saturday and sunshine. Circle up with your game faces."

"Dismiss everything but your own consequences," Nika freaked. "We contracted volunteers have otherworldly Voyages to mind saddling."

A gust of wind sweeping in from the river suddenly had Falco imbibing air considerably. "I smmmell mortified miasma with minimal traccce of Industrial revolution. And at leassst duo Radi'Oils from before Bubonic plagggue. There's undead fish swwwimming with those Scallywagggs."

SiGrouched, "HermannNo; Windy hail deed'ju gain ESP unNear mi nose??"

"That seeed was planted by a TV programmm, and webfeed article about Resonation freeequencies," Saul admitted. "Then welded over with widely forgotten insigggnias to encase varyinggg exuberance."

"Y'all think Fairies is fogCotton souls?" Buck asked earnestly, coincidentally irritating The Dictator endlessly +=+

"That's saliently relevant," Gutt answered. "The entire reasseMorphing scene back at my Joint, wrapped me totally nostalgic... yet Strangely enough, I can't place a finger on what it brought to mind. No vivid images, just a thirsting to revisit subconscious memories, a familiar burn of determination amidst chaos."

"When all the PHibers were being summoned," Phoenix lurched. "I felt like I was about to retrace with something precious discarded, like a wasted opportunity," she linked. "Or I were to learn I had another sibling who'd been given away at birth." Her voice softened. "And though I would never have met them, it would feel like a piece of me was missing - and I'd be compelled to search them out."

So that reminiscing about inspirational seasons had permeated us all, without directly anchored memories. More, parallel~threading; oxymorons.

Pheo faced Ruby. "Did you notice any specifics about how the Dryad might be drawing power?"

There was a pause as she seemed to be selecting her response shrewdly; yet i could gather glints of amusement beneath those drapes of hair. "They had something Collective going on to regroup with that speed. I'd gander either the Horns, or due to interlacing the planetary polarization around their more genuine AgriCoopstics."

"No two ways about it:" Dallas' eyes were shifted some Paradox else, as if wintry appendages thawing by the fireplace, their dense sheen vacating with properties of steam. "I felt like It swallowed my body with hopeful cheer like a hug, flaky hearts chipping their way to uplift my frustrated one." His brow abruptly jostled back into crags set with steel traps. "Just fucking kidding! That's what y'all sound like trying to frame me a surrealistic painting."

"No two ways about that," Gutt assured. "You sound fantastic when you offer your soulLight."

Capone wretched & pitched: "Nobody can even describe how a soul operates, old school fool!" - Then stormed off between the clawed morasSprouting bushes {audaciously with or without us.}

Fin adjusted, as we started to follow tread into the brush: "Self-awareness could stand to involve a ton of layers."

"Trends of evoLotion would say," Siggy linked. "Every stunning occurrence just poiNest a long series of timely events combing together. Day slim chances have to skip into play @ some point. Triggers forced to fire, despeRaid to bond, & offspring embraze some pattern variation. Al'Left to wonder is where da firs' nerve shot root."

Becca didn't ascribe fully or knock the SigGestions. "Adaptive signals within bodily surges are more representative of resiliency to stimuli - You won't ever see a computer chisel its own chips or erect its own monitoring frame, although it may eventually tangle enough relay ports to devise a language or lawJig of its own. Both sides of that coin exist."

"Out of two diverggging angggles, igggniteSss'aul complexity of interplayinggg loops," mentioned Saul. "Who cares where the first nerve fomented? - scroll manneRemainSpinninggGrowth cycles."

Gut rubbed a crusTwitching eye. "Well when you're contemplating Life-Articulating Intelligence... ya wonder exactly what could be scurrying through that Bestower's Mind - that's to say whatever behavior the Pro*Grammar approves. Even if you ascribe to SILPHistory accounts, the first igniting velocity was blind to its own course, until folded enough times. So Sig and brotHalf seaMost accurate when they reefer to a sort of... desperational pulse."

Amy jumped in like switching train stations: "Desperate thirst like the way those baddies were measuring our capacities? Especially the detail concerning Pyro's triple Storm ingrained boneDials or whatever? I don't think they bought your change of mind for a minute, sweetheart. You're too eager."

We kept peeling thorough vines, as a reluctant smirk peeled away my stubble. "Oh, they were probably just buttering me up," I denied Larger forces. "I'm not a great multitasker or anything, nothing like Ruby or Falco." Before today I would have said something like, sure Mother Nature has her way, and humans can't interfere because we were born like rodents among the valleys & mountains, and as such pebbles, could feasiBally only operate on levels beneath Her. But Heck, I could've died several times today. And seriously, back in that weapons' warehouse, we were able to select a contraption that functioned in just a way we needed it to, set up just in the nick of time, and between 8 settings we got saving results? Was RandoNature responsible for all of that? Or was it Nurture?

More incredible events had to be gearing up backstage just behind the coiling drapes of some grandiose Tablecloth. "Besides," I doubleDown, feeling sheens of sweat slobbering down my sides. "SILPH's General seemed to be casting the most extensive hype toward the Prowleys, Falcion, & Aimes."

Amy seemed to shrink like a mouse inside her outfit. "Half the time was like They knew what I was thinking..."

"One them was willing to place a bet on me, Cauldron..." Nika made sure we didn't forget.

"Admiration in your cases it seemed," Pheo concluded, hacking branches & stems. "But I won't forget when Ruby told us how they're skittish around Flame - very difficult to reduce momentum of an inferno. BuThose Fibers really pissed off my entire week so far. I may not be accompanying the next Outrageous Trip, but I will be taking Magi Classes with y'all for any future disturbances."

***

We popped out onto a wiggle of riverbank under several popcorn clouds deflecting searing sunrays; the drifting morsels a classic sign it would likely rain by midnight. A thick black snake heralded our arrival as it charged into the slow river from where it had been tanning between white poppies & wild roses.

This particular fingerleTrench of water was called Passano Flattes—really only sailors would need to know that in order to plan routes avoiding the shallows. It was about five miles inland from the fattest estuary (or spot connecting to the Sea). Toward the east, you could glimpse the hazy brink of the Gulf's mouth, The Atlantic.

I spotted Pheo still stomping ahead; the virulenTone she'd opened fire on our Invaders was still lingering in my ears. Since Rovo had returned from the sky, she'd wavered off into shadowy corners that ought to be investigated.

I hustled to greet alongside her. "Feeling alright?"

Pheo swiveled her foot upon sands, waxen beneath the hues of her hair, slowing back behind her brother and waving him to scoot out ahead with a jerk of her stubby neck. He complied, leaving us, & then she scratched her neck. "It's apparent Capone's intending to dangle Amy or even myself as cultivated, dispensable goods. One of my toenails needs to be cut, and it's honestly trying to use the boot to get it done - but i can't loiter beside my brother, or I'll appear weak. Siggy's really the only other stringent male with both a bravado balanced to fortified intellect. But judging by those death-glares he hung from the balcony & testy speech after our boat Crash, he's mega-distracted ~ so I actually want you hovering in my back pocket. I think he's bent about Falco accepting the SILPH ambitions."

"Partially," I said, starting to panic. "However he & i had a… misunderstanding. He should get over it by the Weekend. Or he better. I mean, what does Sig think I am, untouchaBullet-proof? Haven't had time to inform him what I was up against when his necklace was stripped of me." Frickin' portals, consuming darkness, and sum obscure jewelry snatcher. Oh great, and here comes a headache, probably from smashing my head into metal walls. Phoenix was looking at me like, 'Up against what other than Druids?' (Expulsion of breath) "Siggy's going to look at me just like that after I tell him the story. Y'all must have imagined fetching the guns was simple as picking berries. Your minds shook up over one beastly Druid pack—but I jumped through multiple portals!"

"But hey," I slowed. "Something's bothering you also - It's Amy. Can't the two of you share me?"

She clenched her jaw momentarily, but no sooner it retracted poutily. "She's not even resourcefulll - (Dead weight!)"

"Somebody's gotta look out for the soft," I vowed.

Murderous blaze churned out between her lashes. "Shit, you're not wrong," she objected. "Anyway you gotta toss me the full scoop on your underground escapade."

I sighed. "Alright, but you can't tell anyone, even if they visiTorture upon you as many times & many places as a sleazy salesman," I pleaded. "Or I'll get more upset with you than Siggy is with me."

She nodded frantically. So with a deep breaThen, I recounted how Gutt led me to a confidential Vault, about hidden dimensions speaking up when our return seemed hopeless (omitting my suicide attempt) and how the necklace got dislodged from safety while attempting to corral all the Gear into the hovercraft before it zipped off.

"That's some..." her hands slid slowly across her cheeks in mental stupefaction, behind inability to relate to such a mix of Tragedy & inspiration. "Tough luck. Non-refundable expression of adoration, dude!" She crammed an itch along her forehead.

My stomach was dropping like a hunk of iron in water. "Look, I didn't want to Guard it in the first place. He didn't offer me much choice."

"Maybe it won't matter in the long run," she guessed. "How long has he been pursing SiennAnyway?"

"Basically," I meandered, checking memory banks like tapes on super-rewind, "Something approaching two years now." About the time he ceased doing very much with me: always too busy flaring the romance with her. We had gone water skiing. Last summer. This perilous venture was the first time in 3 quarters of a year we'd done something more memorable than floating texts.

If he was considerate, he'd initiate more time. One of them was being wrapped around the other's finger. I felt stiffening arms, and actively had to shake them.

"Ymph," Pheo pulled her mouth into a tight little thing, "Sounds like he's seriously committed."

"I think she's so boring that he hardly has time to get a chill-pill down before she tugs him to go fawn over some place out of town," I explained, grouchily. Then with one fist I mimed a person getting dragged back & forth by the collar. "Quite literally strangling him by that necklace like a grappling python. Maybe it's a spell he should actually wake the fuck up from..."

"Unfortunately, as I am cursed to isolation in such areas, Romance won't even permit me such a half-decenTitle." It became quiet for a stretch.

Just off-shore to our right, waded a Black & blue ship proudly absorbing the sun, which carried the image of 2 people waterskiing on eels that twisted into the moniker: The Silent Cave. Far above, along hundred-something foot Masts, three flags puffed their chests: one lustrous gold, one undead smoke, one royal violet. I suspected the Retro-Sails were just for Flavor.

"Ah," I rolled. "The same old same old," slinging my arm over her shoulders. "Two star-crossed lovers - shouldn't we just hook our boiling plasMurk together which everyone else is afraid to toy with? I mean heck, you did a damn solid job of taking the guesswork out of things today."

She chewed her lip seriously. "Don't you think we'd explode?"

I smirked. "In progressive kind of waves ~ Ashes can't blow far from a Phoenix can they?..."

"Okay," she squeezed my hand hastily. "Let's work this angle later when we're not basting barbeque over scorching sand."

At leasTen paces ahead, our Ringleader heels streaked toward it. We padded across the sand after his shallow bootprints, a haunt of jailbirds compulsed to trail the Rogue.

"It's not me I'm worried about," she blurted. "But this higher sense of awareness is a new league -- we may handle life with a new quality of living, should we spawn some durable SedimenTrough channels."

I squeezed her shoulder. "Yea no reason for humanity to hold us back if we make it back to Becca's-- but hey just in case I never get another chance -" I pressed a short kiss just underneath her ear.

Her shoulders bounced. "Chili... but not digging the extra humidity."

Gushing adrenaline, I teased: "It's not like I licked you. Your flavor is what's spicy like chili."

Her fingerprinTraced the affected spot. "It's slick, scoundrel." She wiped the glisten away. "You're quick as a hummingbird..."

I swear I hadn't extended my tongue. Liquid was starting to behave wacky around me. "Must have been magic," I said shakily, wondering whether I was gaining or losing form.

"Nexxxt up on Animal Planet -" Trent blessed in passing: "When two mountain beastsss collide!"

When I looked out over beyond his rotund Torso, 6-8 figures wading inside a longboat shaded by an awning of flashy feathers, slowly aroused nudges and shoulder-peeks. A similar boat floundering a couple yards further covered by what appeared to be pachyderm skin, contained a handful of less colorful gypsies. The nearest company stood, making a pointed show of adjusting baskets & common seeming items strapped around the folds of their breaches as if they were more than their function appeared - while settling their eyes to consume our advance. It was weird to have a band of seasoned adults regarding us in earNest. I spotted two personas that undoubtedly maintained hair on the other side of longevity.

But those eyes of age were merely background noise against some woManster whose armpits equaled the forehead of the tallest in their midst, the black dude drifting to the forefront that even 50 yards off, clearly had milk eyes without defined pupils. Okay I had been forewarned of Planchorva's unshifting gaze, but nothing about someone who could palm Gwain's head. I was feeling very out-classed... until I realized they wouldn't expect us to have powers like Lancing earth spikes. But could there really be lasers burrowed along the Bow & sternum of the Silent Cave? The giant's christmas-like eyes were showeR*~ippling oddly like some scanning device... Could she carve things with them, like her rigid pink lemonade mow-Hawk?

The Turncoat Sturgeons, Coatrack (or increasingly referred to as The Undeclared Antidote towards the north) were the bunch of bandits waiting our time for commerce. Commerce as far as mercenaries go. I was told their annual route took them from Meso-american islands during Winter seasons, up through the Chesapeake Bay by July, where they capped off their Bracket doing insider bargains with Suits from Washy D.C.

They'd be in their territoriaLoop up the Coastline this time of year, northern-bound ghosts the New York minute following a Deal in ink. They did not monkey with trite theft—woodcarving was the most honest thing they stooped to; they were hornswogglers. Carving organs catered to their humor bone. I sometimes wondered how often they hung sailors from their tongues and genitals along some of the headline Heists & sea fiascos that came across the national news. {Seemed little of the sort was ever investigated to the point any capaBurly culprits were declared}. The Loose Cannons answered requests for their promised piece of pie, not their customers' cue, and by golly, if you showed up & turneDown every spice or tried to slide slippery, that's when you might witness a great deal more into some of the globe's deepest cogs than could be healthy. Cause they loved chastising shortcoming.

I'd heard that there was practically nothing The Anti-dotes didn't stow for sale (including some livestock): opiates, liquor, medicine, instruments, furniture & fireworks (among crude bombs), cooking appliances with ingredient bundles & sedatives, exotic pelts & fabric, tricked-out vehicle parts, insider surveillance, encrypted chips & robo gadgets, musty maps whose terminal destinations promised riches eternal, plus lost "Art"-inTacts with supposed comprehensive histories, camping and hunting and sports equipment, disguises that could hide about anything but a Wendigo's reek in the heart of Los Angeles, along with scalped info & some of the most authentic fraudulent I.D.'s a mortal could obtain to inflict an identity crisis.

Except I was soon to reeKover signs howLeasht half their Brigade may have lost no sleePunching tickets to conventions quite a naSTride beyond simplistic hueMONetarry affairs... Both from past and future.