"Ever worked something like this before?" I gave Lili a curious look as we took our first steps into Ford's little submarine. "Looks a bit funky."

"There's stuff like this all over the Motherlobe. It's all brain powered through energy waves and stuff."

"Really?" I looked over the dials on the walls and dash as Lili walked right over to the pilot's chair as if she had been in the machine a million times before. "Even then, I bet if all else fails, we can try other things like pushing it through with your hydrokinesis or something."

"Plan B for the plan A, always good to have." I shrugged a little to myself as I decided to take the co-pilot chair beside her. "We should have a few other plans just in case though." Lili reached out and flipped a few switches before giving me a curious look.

"Nervous there, Raz?" I swallowed hard as I looked out the main window ahead of us. The lake water glistened in the morning sun still as I felt a pit grow in my stomach.

"Just, that creature." I closed my eyes for a moment as I let the memories of the creature's feelings wash over me. The pain, the fear, and the anger took me for a moment before forcing the connection shut once more. "It's out there and it's got a job to do. It's already a furious little thing. I doubt it's going to go any better with us fucking around in its stomping grounds."

"Did it feel hostile? When you connected with it?"

"Not exactly hostile but enough of the most harmful emotions to say that they're definitely not someone to cross." Lili nodded her head slowly before leaning back in the pilot's chair.

"Well, at this point all we got is the plan we have now. Adventuring out into the unknown and finding out ourselves. Hell, maybe it can keep from more kids getting their head's emptier than they already were." I nodded along as she reached over and placed a hand on my forearm. "We just have to go by some old words my dad lives by."

"And what's that?" I tilted my head a little as a wide smile took over the girl's lips. Her brown eyes had a fire within them as she gave my arm a small squeeze.

"If you don't try, you'll never know. But I enjoy my way of it better." I couldn't help but chuckle a little at her as we decided to strap ourselves in.

"And what's the Lili Zanotto way of it?"

"Fuck around and find out!"


"I am not enjoying the Lili way." I gripped onto the sides of the co-pilot seat as I could feel the submarine ripping through the lake water at a neck-breaking speed. It was obvious that it was slow as hell to Lili with the dull look on the girl's face. But since my psyche is connected to the water itself, I could feel just how fast we were really going with each ripple we were causing.

"You good over there, grandma?" I turned my head to shoot Zanotto a glare, as I knew the pale look to me wouldn't let the glare keep its intent.

"Mind slowing it down?" She glanced over toward me before giving me a wide-eyed look before pulling on the steering wheel she was holding.

"If it helps you look less like a ghost, absolutely." We slowed just a little, which caused the water to calm just enough so that my mind felt a bit more at ease. "Good to know that rippling water messes with ya though."

"A lot of things that affect the water effects me." I relaxed a bit into my seat as I let out a soft sigh. "Didn't think traveling across it would do that though."

"So you can feel what the water feels, basically?"

"More or less. I can connect with it and it can connect with me."

"So the water was screaming out to you there?"

"More like I could feel the ripping water within my own skull."

"Oh, so it's like when flowers are being pulled out of the ground."

"Flowers scream when that happens?" I shot her a curious look as her face was now purely focused on the water path before us.

"Yes." She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone before continuing. "You are basically ripping them from their home and sometimes leaving pieces of their bodies behind. It's like getting your toe stubbed in a door." I cringed at the idea before turning my attention toward the large windshield of the submarine.

"Remind me to never pluck flowers ever again."

"And remind me to go slower on the water in the future." I couldn't help but chuckle at that as I loosened my grip on the armrest of the seat.

"Honestly, I'd rather just part the lake on the way back."

"Like some kind of psychic Moses?" I let out a full-hearted laugh as Lili joined along. "Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night, Mr. Jesus."

"Well, my name is Razputin."

"Did you folks name you after the story of Rasputin?" I shrugged at the idea as I crossed my right leg over my knee.

"Names mean a lot in Grulovian culture. They have power over the kind of person your child will become, at least that's what Nona always said."

"So what does Razputin mean in Grulovia?" I blushed a little as I muttered the English translation of my name.

"Badly behaved child." This caused Lili to burst out laughing as my blush only deepened. "Hey!"

"Sorry, but you? Bad behaved? Never." Lili put a lot of sarcasm into the last word as I crossed my arms over my chest. "What about your siblings? Do their names have any specific meanings?"

"Dion's means child of heaven, Frazie's has ties to freedom, Mirtala is crown of thorns, and Queepie is well," I hesitated for a moment as I tried to find the best way to describe my little brother. "Queepie."

"Heaven, freedom, nobility, and then trouble child." I rolled my eyes as Lili just giggled at the idea. "Aw come on, you gotta agree that's ironic as hell."

"Well you're named after a flower and you're nothing of the likes either."

"If that's to poke at the idea that flowers are normally delicate and squishy, I take that as a compliment." I glanced out of the corner of my eye to see a wide smirk across the girl's face that caused me to swallow hard in reply. "Because after all, I kick ass, Aquato." The blush from before reoccurred as I did my best to play it off with an eye roll.

She really is something, that's for sure.

"Hey, did you see that?" I snapped my attention ahead of me once more as I scanned the lake water area for anything out of the ordinary.

"What?"

"I thought a saw like a shadow or something. The thing was huge though." I narrowed my eyes as I tried my best to take in as many details as possible. My brain allowed my connection to the water to seep in as I was tracing for any source of disturbance nearby.

"I don't-." I cut myself off as I felt a surge of angry rushing toward us. Not from in front of us though, but from behind.

"Lili, step on it!"

"Are you-!"

"Step on it!" I tightened my grip on the armrest as Lili pushed the steering wheel forward to punch it into overdrive. Her eyes narrowed as it was obvious she was trying to give the little engine all she could fuel-wise. We lurched into action at neck-breaking speed as I screwed my eyes shut at the sudden change. We were making good distance now, but the source of anger was still on our tail. "Lili! It's coming still!"

"Trying here!" The submarine bobbed suddenly as a loud smack could be heard from the rear. "Shit!" I tried my best to focus on the water around us as I tried to see if I could give us more momentum. I mentally pushed the water's energy down against us to give us something like a boost to give us a bit more distance between us and the monster.

"Keep it up!" I snapped my eyes open, the glow reflecting back at me from the windshield as I pushed my arms out behind me, the motion causing us to launch faster into the water at great speed. "I got us some extra gas!"

"Good going, Raz!" I gritted my teeth and put all I could into focusing on having the water project us faster as I felt the angered presence slip further and further away from us. The being slowly but surely deciding that we weren't worth the effect to keep up with the faster I was able to get us going. After a few moments of the angered creature retreating, I dropped my arms to my sides and severed my connection to the water, just enough so that we were back to the original speed that Lili had us at. Soon enough, we were back to our original speed before the encounter.

"What the fuck was that?" I tried my best to take calming breaths as it was obvious Lili was taking a breather there as well.

"I have no clue."

"Whatever it is, that's the thing I felt earlier."

"Good to know that going water jet mode is enough to make it back off." Lili gave a small laugh for a second before becoming serious once more. "At least for now. I doubt it'll leave us alone for much longer."

"Look," I gestured toward the windshield as a familiar shape appeared just above the waterline. "Seems like we won't have to worry about that for now."

"Good gods." I silently agreed at Lili's decree as we both took in the sight above the water. The site sitting on the island looked more like some kind of decrepit graveyard at first instead of an asylum. Large metal gates seemed to loom over with a menacing embrace as the tower's unsettling presence loomed not too far behind it. "Even creepier in person." I felt a chill run down my spine as the echo of drills and screams filled my head from when I visited this place in my mind.

"And it's only just begun there, Lils." I took a deep breath as Lili pulled on the wheel to get us above water and pulled the submarine to a shallow stop. I instantly unstrapped myself from my seat as a new determined emotion swelled within my chest.

Let's get in, get out, and keep each other safe.

I looked over toward Lili, who had just powered down the submarine, and got out of her chair as well. The mutual look of determination in her eyes caused a smile to spread across my lips with ease.

Let's save some campers, shall we?

We shall.