(Mitch's POV)

The headphones person stood up immediately. “We have to leave,” he said, which seemed to be unnecessary to tell everybody except for Ian and myself; every single one of them had gotten up and started to move towards the door. Subconsciously, I got up too and dragged Ian with me, following the tide.

In a matter of moments the headphones guy had everybody standing outside. “Where are we going?” the person wearing purple asked-Seto, that was his name. The mudkip-thing looked around, as if expecting demons to appear around every corner. Wait, not demons... squids.

Mr. Headphones-who for some reason had red eyes and bracelets-took a deep breath. “We're heading back to the ocean,” he said, stepping onto the sidewalk.

Adam stepped down, too, but only to ask him a question. “Isn't that a kinda stupid thing to do? We'll just be walking right into their arms!”

“They won't be expecting it,” Mr. Headphones explained. “And besides... somebody has to attack the base before it gets out of control.”

Apparently this was an unthinkable thought, as everybody who wasn't Ian or I let their mouth fall open. “Are you crazy?” the space guy said. The bat who had been in the room with us was now perched on his shoulder.

“Do you have a better idea?” Mr. Headphones shot back. He turned around without waiting for an answer. “I thought so. Now c'mon, it's about a two or three day trip.” He looked at Ian and I. “You guys don't have to come if you don't want to.” Then he looked at everybody else. “None of you do, in fact.”

I laughed. “Are you kidding? The one chance I have to be in a real combat situation, and you think I'm going to let it pass me? No way.” Okay, I had barely known this guy for five minutes. So what? These people looked like they'd be fun to hang around with, and something told me they weren't lying about squids trying to transform us all.

Jerome grinned. “Same here.”

Adam and Jason both looked at him like he shouldn't have needed to ask. “Seriously, you thought we'd say no?” Adam asked.

Seto opened his mouth to say something, before closing it and simply walking over to him. “If you go, we all go.”

“I don't want anybody to have to go through that,” the mudkip said, stepping over as well. Without saying anything, Ian came over as well.

Mr. Headphones surveyed his team. “Well then, we'd better get going, hadn't we?”

(Seto's POV)

“Rise and shine!” Jerome sang. “We've got to get to the ocean ASAP, guys!”

I groaned and crawled out of my tent, which I had been sharing with Ian and Mitch since they joined our group. Apparently having magic fused into your body didn't help you when it came to getting up early. I hadn't told anybody about it. I didn't really want them to think I was a freak, and besides, how would it help us?

I found out that the only people already up besides the chewbacca were Jason and Ian, though, with Ty climbing out of their tent a little after I got out of mine. As usual, Adam was the last to get up, his hair a mess and his sunglasses crooked.

Mitch yawned loudly. “Notch, that was uncomfortable,” he said, stretching. “Remind me not to ever sleep in a tent again.” I saw Ty shoot him a look, and I couldn't blame him; if he was that pampered, he probably wouldn't be much help at all. Mitch tilted his head to one side and added, “At least not one that has that many spiders crawling in it.” Okay, maybe he wasn't that pampered.

“Are we going or not?” Jerome asked impatiently. “We should make it to Jason's by nightfall.” Jason and Adam had told us of where their houses were, and we were planning to spend the night at each of them to avoid sleeping out in the open where the squids could target us much more easily.

“Fine, Mr. Pushy,” Mitch said. After only a couple of hours together, they had become extremely close friends and were joking around like there was no tomorrow.

***

“And this would be my house,” Jason said, opening the door. Dillon hopped off his shoulder and flew into the house, hanging upside down on a bar that was probably made specifically for him to use. Adam and Ty were the first ones in, and I brought up the semi-rear with Jason himself right behind.

His house was fairly simple, a stereotypical one-story farmhouse complete with fireplace. The furnishings were a little different; modernly carved wooden table and chairs and futuristic things made of metal, paintings of the stars and even a small telescope in one corner. Apparently he had been a fan of outer space even before he got his spacesuit.

“Make yourself at home,” he said, pointing down a hallway. “Guest rooms are that way.”

Adam sprinted down one of them, calling over his shoulder, “Don't worry, Fluffy, there's food in them!” Jerome laughed and headed after, Mitch following close behind. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jason take off his helmet completely and give the floor a half-smile, like he was remembering something. I shook it off and headed down the corridor, pushing open a door that lead to a small room with one bed.

I double checked that the door was locked before I sat down on the bed, staring at my hands. A small wisp of purple smoke erupted from them before vanishing into the air. I shook my head and clenched my hands into fists. That wasn't supposed to happen. Then again, neither was a squid apocalypse. I sighed and laid down on the bed, not even bothering to stop my hands from glowing purple. A few more tendrils of mist snaked out of my fingertips, moving around the room like living things. I rolled over and buried my head in the pillow, forcing myself to fall asleep and forget everything that had happened since leaving the group.