Disclaimer: I do not own FusionFall.

Late October

"According to Sticky Beard, the candy was last seen just north of Genius Grove," Kes reported, standing in front of Double D in the Cul-de-Sac. She saluted as she spoke, then, once she'd finished, wiped a little of the fusion matter on her shirt off. "Stupid Candy Buccaneers," she muttered.

"Good job, Kestrel. Um, do you need to take a shower or see a medic for anything?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her fusion matter-splattered gear. She now wore cargo pants, which usually would be black but were currently an odd shade of green, a black long-sleeved shirt, and a white vest, which was also stained green.

"Ah, no, not really. Thanks, though," she answered. "I'll just trade this out for something later. What do you want me to do now?"

"Would you mind terribly checking out Sticky Beard's information?" he asked.

"'course I don't mind," she responded, snapping off another salute. "I'll head out now."

"Oh, wait one moment." Edd turned and hurried over to Eddy, spoke with the boy for a moment, and returned. "Eddy recently received a hoverboard from a member of the Kids Next Door. He, of course, tried to use it and wound up on the ground..." He smiled faintly at the thought before continuing. "I thought you might like to use it."

"Would I ever!" she cried. "When can I get it?"

"Tomorrow."

"What?! Seriously?"

"Yes. Eddy said that he wants to try it one more time before he hands it off."

Kestrel sighed and scratched her head under her beanie. When she looked at her hand, she saw even more fusion matter on it. After a moment, she blinked and shrugged. "Well, since there's nothing better to do, I guess I could wash up."

"Do. Please," Edd said, a faint frown on his face. "Before your clothing melts through."

"It can do that? Oh, that's not a good thing..."

Kes leaned forward, coaxing a little more speed out of her hoverboard. She grinned, enjoying the feeling of the wind on her face, and swooped around the final corner before the trail up into the hills.

Spotting someone in her way, she slammed her right foot down and grabbed the nose of her board as it came up, screeching to a halt less than a foot behind the figure.

He turned and faced her, eyes wide. "Kes?"

"Tal?"

"What're you doing here?" he asked, eyeing the hoverboard she balanced on.

She grinned. "Like it? Double D gave it to me for all my work."

"That doesn't answer the question."

Kes sighed and put her hands behind her head, leaning back and sending the board into a lazy circle around Tal. "I heard that the crazy candy or whatever is up here, so Edd sent me to check on it. What about you, huh? What're you doin' here?"

"Dee Dee said she saw some Tech Tunnelers moving in from the north and Dex wanted me to check it out," he answered, following her movement.

"Well. Ain't that a co-ink-i-dink," she quipped, hopping off the board and scanning it into her Nanocom. "Since we're both here, wanna work together on this one?"

"Sure. But don't do anything stupid."

Kestrel stopped, a hurt, angry look flashing across her face. "Look, I might do dumb things sometimes, but I'm not stupid," she snapped, hand falling to the pistol at her side.

Tal walked towards the trail, back to her. "I didn't say you were stupid. I said don't do anything stupid," he explained without a hint of remorse.

Kestrel clenched her teeth but fell silent and walked behind him up the dirt path. They said nothing at all the entire way, until the very top.

Tal turned and gave her a guilty look. "Kes, I'm sorry," he said, not meeting her gaze. "I really didn't mean what I said, so..."

"Shh," she hissed, grabbing his hand and pulling him down behind a rock. Her expression was stony, eyes darting about the scene before her. Inwardly, she was ecstatic about Tal's apology, but it wasn't the time for that.

"What's up?" Tal whispered, grabbing Luz's hilt and peering over the top of the rock. His eyes went wide.

"It's an army of monsters," Kes murmured, eyes sweeping over the field before them.

Tal shook his head. "It's not that many," he muttered, taking a quick count. "Maybe seventy-five, tops, and nothing that hits harder than Mad Mower at that."

"Still. It's a lot of monsters in one place."

"You got that right," he answered, bringing up the menu on his Nanocom. "I'm calling Dex. You call Edd. I think we've got a situation on our hands."

They waited and watched the monsters for almost an hour before receiving a response. Dexter appeared on their Nanocoms, a bleak expression on his face.

"Return to the Treehouse," he commanded. "Edd and Ben will both meet you there. They will handle this. Do not engage the enemy."

"But..." Kes began.

"No fighting. Dexter, out!" he said, disappearing.

Tal and Kestrel exchanged a glance. "Guess we'd better do as he says," Tal muttered, grabbing Kes's hand before she could draw her pistol.

"I'm sure we could...!"

"Kestrel."

"What?" she snapped, turning to meet his intense gaze.

"Remember what I said about doing stupid things?"

She narrowed her eyes, but relaxed her grip on her gun. "Don't do them," she growled, sounding like a petulant child.

"Exactly," Tal said with a nod. "Now come on. Let's get back to the Treehouse."

A/N: Co-ink-i-dink is just Kes having fun with the word coincidence, for the record. Hope you enjoyed!