After the battle, Copy X and the others cleaned everything up by throwing the human bodies into the river. Ciel had recovered from her horror a bit, and objected to dirtying the water, but Ema assured her that the river crabs would make short work of everything. The Reploid bodies, those still marginally intact, were stored in the Bad Penny's hold. Apparently, they would have value as salvage and scrap metal at their next stop, a small town named San Fernando. A puzzling name, since they recognized it from Neo Arcadia, but the history of mankind had consisted of many migrations and colonizations. Who knew when the place had been named? In Neo Arcadia, it was an old name.

The next day, Zero woke up with a very peculiar feeling. He frowned, slowly easing himself out of the hammock X and the others had provided for him.

Glancing around, he saw that X, Axl and Ema were gone. That was unusual. At night, they ran the ship on a very slow auto-pilot function, with a single person on the deck to watch for trouble. That let everyone get enough sleep, and with seven of them to share the duty, it was even easier. Zero checked his internal timer. It was dawn, but just barely dawn… X and Axl should still have been asleep. Ema always took the early morning shift. But that wasn't the source of his feeling… no, there was something else wrong. Something that had woken him prematurely.

Zero suddenly blinked as he realized what it was, and he reached over to gently shake Leviathan awake. She woke up with a gasp, and almost fell out of her hammock.

"Shhh," Leviathan started to say something, and Zero shook his head. "Shh. The engine's off." Leviathan's eyes widened, then narrowed as she understood what he meant. The fusion generator that kept this ship running had been shut off. But why?

The two of them cautiously left the cabin, letting Ciel and the Rebellion soldier sleep. When they got to the deck, they saw something rather peculiar.

X and Axl were pushing the ship along with long, metal poles, one on each side. Ema was tapping a drum as Copy X sang…

From the Barque in the Harbor I went roaming on shore,

And stepped into a pub where I was oft times before,

And as I was sitting and enjoying my glass,

Who chanced to walk in but a young Spanish lass.

Ema joined in on the chorus, her soft, sweet voice weaving with X's deeper, but still tenor voice. The melody they made was sweet and firm. Zero would have interrupted, but Leviathan squeezed his arm, her eyes wide.

Don't you leave me Jolly sailor were the words she did cry,

Waving and weeping and wiping her eyes,

When you reach home in your own Newfoundland

Think of the young Spaniard kept squeezing your hand.

Then Ema sang alone… even Zero was enchanted. Her voice was like a bird rising, into the dawn mist of the jungle river…

I'll give you fairwell on a fine summers' breeze,

But love don't forget me when you're crossing the sea,

And when you are married and enjoying your bride,

Think of the young maiden who lay by your side…

Finally, the song finished, and Leviathan let go of Zero's arm with a small sigh. Zero stepped out before they could start another.

"Why is the engine off? And why are you using those poles?" He asked. X and Ema started, surprised by him, but Axl looked over with a lazy smile.

"There's leeches in the river here." Zero and Leviathan exchanged a puzzled glance.

"And this means you have to turn off the engine why, exactly?" Leviathan asked, tilting her head to one side. Axl grinned at her.

"Jump into the water and see!" Leviathan eyed the water dubiously, and declined with a headshake. "Well, you see, the leeches here are a bit… aggressive. Heat and vibration attracts them, and they secrete this really nasty acid. If we ran the generator in this water, they'd eat right through the hull and sink us. They can get through titanium, too, so they can be dangerous to Reploids." Not too terribly dangerous… it took them some time to work though armor… but dangerous. "They're a natural mutation, and they prey on Dozers."

"Dozers?" Zero asked, frowning slightly. He didn't like all the strange plants and animals they had encountered on this trip. The jungle wildlife was definitely showing the effects of exposure to radiation. Axl nodded, poling in time with X, and Zero suddenly noticed that Ema's slow, rhythmic drumming had a purpose. She was keeping them in synch.

"Nasty little scavengers. Some people say they were created by the Mavericks in the last war, to clean up the battlefields. They're based on armadillos, and their organic, but they take bits and pieces of shattered metal and glue it to themselves as a shell. Weirdest thing you ever saw… especially when you can recognize Reploid armor in there." Zero shook his head at the thought, and glanced into the water again… then frowned as he saw something long and dark clinging to X's pole. It dropped off after a moment, but he blinked as he saw a groove in the metal. This explained why there were more than two poles on the ship… there were several others lashed to each side of the rail, but he'd never really thought about them before.

Things were uneventful until mid-morning, when they encountered an old woman poling her own boat slowly down the river. It was much smaller than theirs, almost a canoe, but she showed no signs of being interested in or intimidated by them at all. Actually, she gave them a dirty look, although Zero couldn't imagine why. X shoved his pole into Leviathan's hands.

"Here, hold this," he said, and jumped up onto the rail. "Hey! Lady! How far is it to San Fernando?" There was no reply, as she avoided even looking at X. He queried her several more times, before getting fed up and shouting as she was almost past them. "Hey, you old bitch, can't you hear a word I'm saying?" That finally got a response, although not the sort Copy X wanted. She raised her pole and neatly slipped it between X's feet, knocking him off the rail and into the water. "AAAAIIIEEE!"

The next few minutes were full of surprise, confusion and frantic attempts to get X out of the river. X assumed his Seraphim mode after a few minutes, and rocketed out of the mucky water, covered in thick black leeches. He immediately dropped into his angel armor and hit the deck.

"Get them off, get them off, get them off!" He yelled, almost panicking. Ema had calmly gone for a spray bottle, and she used it now, industriously spraying all the leeches with a concentration of salts. The leeches shriveled and immediately dropped off. Most hadn't gotten through his armor, but a few had, and bodily fluids joined the river muck on his armor.

"What was that witch's problem?" Axl asked, astonished, as he picked up and threw leeches back into the water. Ciel knelt down to help, as Zero and Leviathan kept the ship on an even keel. Ema looked thoughtful as X whined at the pain and damage to his armor.

"We're close to Manna. I wonder if she could be one of the village elders who escaped?" If that was true, it would explain why she hated their guts. X looked up, his red eyes suddenly blazing.

"I should go after her and kill her!" But Axl shook his head, reaching over to pat X's shoulder.

"If she has any sense, she's already tied up that canoe and hit the bush. You'd never find her. Just stay still." X whined again, but did that as Ema cleaned out his wounds.

"Besides, you were asking for it." Ema said, carefully cleaning away any vestiges of the acid. Then she frowned. "X, it's not THAT bad, stop whining! You sound like a dying puppy!" X tilted his head to meet her gaze, expression pathetic, then whined again. "Oh… alright!" Ema sighed, then laughed and gave X a kiss. "Manipulator."

"Mmm hmm." X agreed with a smile, looking more cheerful. "Thanks Ema." He rested his head in her lap, closing his eyes with a sigh. Axl shook his head, and got up to take over one of the poles.

Finally, Axl looked at the water skeptically. It was still dark and gloomy, but… "Hey Ema! I think we might be past the leeches. Could you get the tester?" She nodded, and pushed X's head off her lap before going downstairs into the ship. She came back up with a little generator in a hard titanium box, on a spool of thread. Starting it up, she slowly lowered it into the water. After a few moments of waiting, she drew it up and smiled. There were no leeches on it. "Okay, let's get the engine started again."

"Right away." Ema went down below, grabbing the bottle of rum on her way before X could grasp it. He slumped back down on the deck.

"Aw, but I'm hurt…" Axl laughed at his self-pitying tone, and Ciel giggled. Soon, everyone was laughing at him, and Copy X looked at them all with a rather offended expression. "It's not funny!"

"You got your ass kicked by a little old lady, X," Axl said with a grin. "Yes, it's funny."

"Pttthhh…" X sulked as they puttered down the river.

His sulks didn't last long, though. Soon, they reached San Fernando, which cheered him up immensely. "At last! Good food, wine, women and song!" X tried to wipe the muck off his armor, and only smeared it. "And a bath!"

"A bath!" Ciel went starry-eyed at the mention of that long forgotten thing. She had been making do with water taken from the river and purified through several layers of canvas, but that didn't allow for more than a sponging of important areas and a quick hair rinse. Ema and Leviathan looked equally blissful at the prospect. Zero, Axl and the Rebellion soldier weren't nearly as interested, but they were men and not covered in goo like X. "They have baths here?"

"Oh yes." Ema laughed. "Although I should warn you… they're co-ed." That made Ciel pause for a moment, but only a moment.

"I don't care if they have trolls in them, I want a bath!" Copy X laughed merrily as he jumped down onto the dock and tied up the boat.

San Fernando, as it turned out, was a sleepy little town that just barely rated the name of city. Unlike the other places they had seen, the structures were mostly built out of stone. Apparently, some quirk of geography tended to spare this place from typhoon damage. Compared to Hell's Mouth, the dockworkers were very lazy with their duties, unloading ships slowly. But there were very few ships, beyond a few fishing boats. Some trade came down this river, but apparently the vast majority dealt with sea traffic. Although…

"I thought you said Larkspur did manufacturing?" Zero said with a frown. "How do they transport their items?"

"With shuttles," Copy X answered promptly. "Getting big shipments from Larkspur to the river would be a pain, and even if they did, the river isn't big enough for the kind of ships they'd need. Air freight is safe as long as it's for short hops."

"I see… why do shuttles crash, around here?" Zero knew they did, because Neo Arcadia had tried to send several before embarking on this mission. None had returned, and X's story of how his own shuttle had malfunctioned was pretty clear. He was lucky he could fly, and Axl had been close enough to save him. But Copy X only spread his hands with a shrug… that was a question he had no answer to.

Quite soon, they found the bathhouse. Every resident pointed them that way almost before they asked, to the girl's embarrassment and the guy's amusement. X broke off another link of his chains, and added a gold bead to have the clothes laundered and armor cleaned. Then they went into the changing room.

"Aren't you going to get undressed?" Ema said to Leviathan and Ciel, slightly confused. X and Axl were already stripping off their armor, and Zero was following their lead… although it hadn't quite occurred to him that he would be stripping off his clothes in this room, too. Ciel blushed brightly as Leviathan blinked.

"Uh… right here? In front of them…" Ciel turned slightly to look at Copy X, and he gave her a saucy grin. "Oh no way!" Ema snorted.

"Ignore the lecher. But yes, there is no separate room for men and women. Why should there be, when we'll be sharing the bath?" She stripped free her shirt. "You'll have to change here." There was a great deal of hesitation, still, but then a treacherous idea occurred to both of the girls. Zero was about to be naked…

Ciel gulped, and slowly started removing her clothes as Leviathan started on her armor. They both occasionally peeked at Zero's progress… it took some effort for Axl to convince him that yes, he really was supposed to take off his jumpsuit here. X was already gone by that time, interested in getting clean and impressing the girls with his manly body. And it really was a good body, Ciel had to admit. She'd made it herself and- No, no, down treacherous thoughts!

The bath itself consisted of two separate pools. One was smaller, and obviously reserved for children, since a group of small ones were playing a water polo game in it. The other pool was lightly populated with adults, and steaming warmly. Ciel blinked as she saw all the signs of high technology in this setup. The water was being continuously heated and filtered to create this pleasant environment, and it suddenly occurred to her why the baths were co-ed. Creating two separate areas for adults and children had probably been expensive enough, without segregating the sexes. And given how rowdy the children were, compared to the quiet adults, this had probably seemed wiser. No one paid any attention as they slipped into the water. Ciel took another peek at Zero, and blushed… Zero was blushing and looking quite embarrassed, which was really very cute.

Copy X, on the other hand, was comfortable with his nakedness and already chatting up a pretty girl. Leviathan watched them curiously for a moment, then glanced at Ema, who was scrubbing her hair. "Ema? Doesn't that bother you?"

"Hm, what?" Ema looked up, then followed Leviathan's wave to where X was nuzzling the girl. "No, not really," she said with a grin. "They can have him in the ports, but the rest of the time he's mine! Besides, half the time I go along with him…" Leviathan blushed at that picture, and glanced over at Zero, then Ciel, speculatively. But no, that probably wouldn't work…

X lost his companion to a man who practically had FATHER tattooed on his forehead in neon lettering. The look he gave Copy X was so flinty, it could have been used to strike sparks off iron. X took the loss philosophically, and immediately started looking for someone less well defended. Coming up dry, he swam over to Ciel, much to her embarrassment.

"So, momma! Having a fun time?" X said brightly, his eyes twinkling as Ciel tried futilely to shield her chest from him. Just to be a pain, he leaned over to get a better view. "Why are you trying to hide those? They're really quite nice-ow! Ema!" X winced as she lightly smacked him.

"Stop looking at your mother's breasts, X." Ema said serenely, making Ciel turn brick red and Leviathan suppress a laugh. "Or this could end up like Oedipus, and I think he gouged his own eyes out."

"Wow, how bad did his mother's breasts look…? I'm going, I'm going!" X swam away with a grin as Ema menaced him. Leviathan did laugh, then, as Ciel looked like she wanted to die a thousand deaths. Especially when Zero swam over.

"What's going on?" He asked curiously.

"Nothing!" Ciel said, her voice more high pitched than usual. "Nothing at all!" The sight of Zero's bare chest, his beautiful hair flowing around him, right after X's comments was winding her up like a jack in the box. And she wasn't at all sure what was going to happen when she popped. Zero looked puzzled, glancing at Ema's amused expression, and Leviathan, who was making odd little choking sounds.

"Strange nothing…" Ciel made a sound like a teakettle getting ready to blow, and Zero suddenly decided to change the subject. He had no idea what was going on here, but it looked like finding out might be bad for his health. "Axl's going to go find us rooms at an inn, and he wanted to know if you two will share?" Their tentative plan was Ciel and Leviathan in one room, Zero, the Rebellion soldier and Axl in another, and X and Ema in the last.

"S-Sure!" Ciel said, still too high pitched. Zero quickly swam away, and Ema shook her head with a grin.

"That was smooth. Why didn't you invite him into your room? A little tension relief…" Ciel finally popped with a small scream, jumping out of the pool and running back to the change room. Leviathan toppled over into the pool, twitching with laughter… even more because she'd been thinking the exact same thing earlier. Ema looked after Ciel, then down at Leviathan, faintly bemused. "You people are strange." That only made her laugh harder.

Was that the pot calling the kettle black, or what?

Finally, they reached the village of Marran, where they intended to leave the ship. The villagers did indeed recognize X, and did not greet his presence with warmth. But they did refrain from spitting on him, even if it was mostly out of fear. Copy X seemed indifferent to the muttered comments and the glares they were receiving… until he calmly and smilingly told one man who pushed it a bit too far what would happen to him if he used that word again. They were avoided after that.

The village itself wasn't very interesting. Much like the fisherman's village they had stopped at early on, only larger and filthier. Zero wrinkled his nose. Hell's Mouth had been filthy, but it had been a lively organic filth, the filth generated by something young and growing. This little village stank of decay. There were many abandoned buildings, and he estimated that it had been much larger at one time, perhaps as large as San Fernando. He wasn't really surprised, now, that these people had cooperated with pirates. Unlike the fishermen, who had never had anything, these people had once had prosperity and wanted it back.

X went to negotiate with the town elders, and this time, he refused to take Zero along. Zero grimaced as he remembered what had happened in Hell's Mouth…

X was facing a tall, powerful looking Reploid with deep black skin and jade green armor. Two other Reploids were there, animal types, obviously his bodyguards. The frightened apothecary was trying desperately to get some of his stock, the most expensive, out of the room. If the fragile glass shattered, the expensive spices would be worth nothing.

"Raphael. It's been a long time," X said with a pleasant smile, and the other Reploid matched it with a smile that was equally pleasant. Zero was reminded of two cobras, slowly circling each other…

X was still speaking, but Zero couldn't concentrate on it. He could feel weakness welling up inside him, and gritted his teeth. Not NOW. Anytime but now. That man was vicious as a snake and if he got any scent of weakness…

No use. Zero collapsed to his knees, there was a shout and the sound of shattering glass. Zero was vaguely aware that X had swept several jars off the wall, smashing them into the enemy to hinder their attack, before he passed out…

It had been a very brief attack, fortunately. Zero had come to in time to help out with the battle, then sprint with them back to the ship. But his weakness had triggered the attack. The situation in Marran wasn't as bad, but Copy X still didn't want to risk looking weak in front of people who clearly hated him, even if he had only given them their just dues.

It took some time, but X, Axl and Leviathan finally came back to the ship. X was cheerful, Axl was thoughtful and Leviathan looked plain murderous.

"What happened?" Zero asked, reflecting that he seemed to be asking that a lot lately. X grinned widely.

"Oh, the new village elder is a slime bucket! A cretin! A complete ass with rather good taste in-ow!" Leviathan had hit him sharply over the head with her staff. After a week on a boat with him, she'd gotten over any lingering respect for Master X. Or at least, had separated this copy from her own, in her own mind. Axl broke in, trying to diffuse the situation.

"He suggested we could pay for storing our boat here with services from Leviathan. We declined, pointedly. He finally accepted some of X's emeralds." Axl gave Copy X an amused and exasperated look. "And someone thinks all of this is hilarious."

"Funniest thing to happen since Ciel in the bath," X agreed with a grin. "And I think he was actually serious! This place must seriously be running short on elders if they elected the village idiot."

"Well, we did kill them all last time. X, catch!" Ema said, tossing down a backpack. X caught it easily, and slipped it over his shoulders. Axl's backpack followed, then Zero's and Leviathan's. They were ready to embark on the next leg of their journey. Overland, through the jungle.

Zero vaguely wondered exactly how unpleasant it would be.