CHAPTER 12: CHASING GHOSTS, PART 1

Conflict is one of the primary driving forces of life, pushing forward and pulling back many life forms among various paths to lead them to the various fates and destinies that form their lifespans. As the first life forms had spawned out from inorganic matter, there was a need for energy in whatever form it could consume in order to sustain itself, i.e., the original form of conflict.

Each instance of energetic consumption has led to life growing and becoming more complex, creating the need for more energy to be consumed than before. Life had eventually become complex enough to be aware of its own existence, bringing forth the anomalous by-product of life known as consciousness.

Consciousness has bred many ethereal concepts which give new definitions to the limited understanding of the universe that life forms carry of it, born out of their interpretations of their surroundings. The end result is akin to an artist attempting to paint a sunset to recapture its beauty; it can be expressed through the artist's limited sensory input of the natural phenomenon, but the final result is not the reality itself.

Nonetheless, this has not stopped life, particularly sentient life, from creating and partaking in various activities in which they may stimulate their senses, feeding another organ which has grown a new need for the body. It is another form of conflict which has been bred and nurtured here, driving life to the creation of recreation.

The surfer partakes in recreation made out of riding the ocean itself, casting himself along the waves brought forth by the gravitational pull of the moon. He has been riding these waves for a long period of his life, taking his helping of pleasure out of the careful art of balancing himself on a board to maintain himself on the waves.

But he has recently fallen off of his board into the water, brought about by another, less benevolent form of conflict.

With the creation of consciousness, the simple chemical reactions we call emotions, defense mechanisms evolved to drive life from its dangers and push it towards shelter and reproduction, have been perverted and overcomplicated, removed far beyond their original intent, to create negative emotions in a self that prevent the further continuation of life.

The surfer has many inner conflicts regarding himself, questioning where is or why he does what he does, no longer content with simply riding the waves. There must be a greater reason for why he does what he does; the simple act itself nor the pleasure it once brought are enough for him.

He desires more.

And in his confused, insecure desire, he has been brought out past where he once knew, sent along the waters to a less familiar territory. He knows that the area around him is a body of water, much like his own home turf, but this particular body of water is not his home turf.

It is far too removed from what he is familiar with, and the conflict of life has now been given an extraneous, undue challenge imposed upon itself, forcing him to find another means to survive here; to learn more about his new surroundings, to maintain himself in this new place, and make this place part of his own comfort zone.

The waters are unfamiliar and intimidating, more than enough to deter any life that dare survive here, but this does not deter the surfer. Failure to live is not an option.

The morning starts to rise for all in Ocean Shores, including the abode of Ray Rocket, gifting his home with the morning sun and its light as it began to rise; the Earth beginning its next rotation around the massive star that held the planet tightly in its gravitational pull.

As its primary and longest resident has long since been awake and conscious, Noelani, his wife, had risen from her sleep as well. Heading into the kitchen, Noelani began to prepare breakfast for herself and her husband to begin the day, retrieving a pan from the cupboard to begin.

Retrieving a pack of bacon and carton of eggs, she began cooking the meat and poultry in the pan, letting the food simmer within as the breakfast began to heat up to an edible temperature. She is not known to be as good a cook as her husband, but having a cook for a husband is help enough to pick up the most basic of cooking skills, which she applies well on this morning.

While Noelani began to cook breakfast, she had found that Ray was awake as well, finding him sulking at the table in a state of melancholy, in a sharp contrast to the high amount of energy she had on this morning. The cup of coffee seemed to offer no aid to his lethargic state, indicating his troubles were psychological rather than physical.

Leaving the food behind to cook, Noelani took a seat beside him at the table to see to his needs, hoping to help him out of his troubles.

"Good morning, honey. Sleep well?" Noelani asked.

Noelani's voice snapped Ray out of a moment of deep thought and concentration, bringing him to look at his wife upon hearing her call.

"Huh? What? Oh, yeah. Slept just fine." Ray replied.

"Sure doesn't look like it. Are you sure you're okay?" Noelani asked.

"Yeah, fine, really. I'm sure."

"You're not still upset about last night, are you?"

Ray found himself slow to reply to his wife's questoin, but brought himself to answer after a deep breath, the response too obvious not to be lied about or dismissed.

"Yeah... I guess I am." Ray said.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. You tried your best to patch things up. That's more than a lot of fathers would do in your position." Noelani replied.

"'Tried my best'? I shouted at my own son, calling him a loser, a failure. What kind of a father do I have to be to do that?"

"One who... means well, but maybe doesn't know how to word things in the best way. It happens to the best of us. Maybe you could use a little work on saying what you mean, but it's nothing we can't handle."

"Sometimes, even saying the right thing doesn't always help. You remember what it was like raising Otto. You stepped in during the teen years, the roughest patch you go through raising a kid. He just doesn't listen to anyone. All he cares about is being the best at sports and making it big on some internet channel that isn't working, even if it means shirking his responsibilities or throwing his life away. I was supposed to make a responsible man out of him, and everything he's done so far makes me feel like I just completely failed. He's a grown man now, and he still acts like a boy."

"Men at that age are still boys. They just get their bearings on life, they start to think like adults, but they don't know what they're doing yet. You probably had it just as hard back then, didn't you?"

"At a lot of times, yeah, but I got my ass in shape. I stepped up to the plate and I took my place in society. I did what I was supposed to do."

"But you got there on your own, didn't you?"

"Eventually."

"Then there's no reason to think Otto won't get there, too. I know you love him and you're doing this out of love, but you can't force nature. If you hold on to someone too tight, they'll often just push themselves further away. Sometimes you just need to let something go for a while before it comes back. Right now, maybe Otto just needs some time to himself."

"He's had plenty of time to be himself. How much more does he need? I just want him to do something better with his life than living like a bum. Worse yet... am I a bad example to set? He said it himself, for years, I was flipping burgers so he and Reggie could do good in school and live successfully on their own. Sure, cooking is my passion, but it doesn't mean anything in comparison to raising my kids. But I'm still struggling, too. Is he just going to look at me and be less inclined to even try? Is this my fault? I sure hope not. Reggie did pretty well for herself, but Otto... I just want him to be the best he can be, too."

Noelani laid a calming hand on Ray's thigh, providing him with a physical sympathy to ease his troubles.

"He will, Ray, in time. You just need a little patience. Like you said, I put up with the teen years, so, at this point, everything else'll be a breeze." Noelani joked.

The jest allowed the two a light laugh, making their reflection on their conversation one easier to make with some laughter to ease the medicine. In the midst of the quiet moment that followed, a ring on the doorbell was heard, taking their minds of the discussion and towards their apparent visitor.

"You relax, honey, I'll go get it." Noelani said.

Noelani temporarily left Ray at the table, going to the entrance of the house to answer the door. Unsure of who might be coming to visit at this hour, she found Reggie Rocket at the doorway, providing an obvious and anticlimactic answer to her own question.

Nonetheless, the sudden and early appearance of Reggie is still a surprise, albeit a pleasant one for Noelani to see her step-daughter once again.

"Reggie! Back so soon, sweetie?" Noelani asked.

"Yeah, I guess. I just wanted to see if you and Dad were doing alright after last night didn't go so well. I was in the neighborhood." Reggie said.

"Oh, well... Ray's... still not feeling too happy about it."

Not pleased to hear the bad news, Reggie gave an unhappy look, looking towards the ground to prevent Noelani from seeing her scowl.

"Damn you, Otto." Reggie mumbled.

"Now, don't worry about all that. I'm having a talk with Ray about it now. Things should go over fine in just a little bit. He'll feel better once I get a little breakfast in him." Noelani said.

Reggie let out a sigh, preparing herself before sharing her full thoughts regarding the matter of Otto and their father.

"No, Noelani. Things aren't going to go over fine. Otto's not even been trying to fix this family one bit since he moved out. I don't know whether or not you've noticed, but this is not healthy for any of us, especially not Raymundo. The one time, the one fucking time, he actually shows up for anything, and he just eats, throws a fit, and leaves. Well, I'm sick of this shit. Excuse my French, but I can't take this anymore." Reggie said.

Making plans to bring functionality back to her family, Reggie turned around and proceeded to walk back to her car, intent on finding Otto and speaking directly to him regarding her issues. Her sudden turn and departure is plenty reaction enough to bring Noelani concern, calling out for her to stay.

"Wait, Reggie! Where are you going?" Noelani called.

"I'm going to drag Otto's ungrateful little butt over here, and he's going to sit down at the table with Ray again until the two are on good terms again, even if it kills me doing so." Reggie replied.

"Wait! We just need to give him time!"

"He's had plenty of time. I'm fixing this right now. What he did last night is unacceptable, and he's not going anywhere until he makes this right."

Despite Noelani's pleas to keep her from furthering the conflict between the father and son, Reggie ignored her calls and headed to her car, driving off to collect Otto and bring him back. Noelani, disappointed at being left unheard, sighed as she closed the door, walking back to the kitchen to accompany Ray.

"Who was that, honey?" Ray asked.

Not wanting to place any more stress on Ray, Noelani lied about the true identity of the visitor to keep him from the troubles he already faced.

"No one, honey. Just a door-to-door salesman." Noelani lied.

"Door-to-door salesman, huh? Haven't seen those around Ocean Shores since most people moved out, kinda weird that-" Ray began to say.

Before he could finish his sentence, Ray sniffed the air, his senses catching something in the house that did not seem normal.

"Is something burning?" Ray asked.

Having the simple word of 'burn' enter her ears, Noelani remembered the breakfast that she started cooking, now having neglected it during her conversations both with her husband and step-daughter. Anxiously turning her attention towards the stove where the breakfast she had begun cooking was, she immediately found the reason behind the burning smell.

To her shock and horror, the bacon and eggs, having been on the heated pan for far too long, began to set fire, creating a flame that reached a good 2 feet tall.

As Noelani let out a scream, Ray yelled out a frightened...

"OH SHIT!" Ray panicked.

Thinking quickly but not clearly, Noelani rushed to the pan, picking it up and placing it in the sink. Turning on the faucet, she aimed to extinguish the flames with water, operating on the common knowledge that water puts out fire. However, as testament to her amateur cooking skills, she forgot what the result of mixing water with a grease fire amounts to...

...making her scream once again as a huge burst of flame shot out of the pan, the flame nearly burning her dress.

As Noelani ran away from the flame, Ray quickly and heroically rushed toward it instead, ready to extinguish the flame correctly. Taking a lid from out of the cupboard, Ray turned the sink off and covered the pan with the lid, snuffing out the flame and extinguishing it, ending the emergency.

With the danger of the grease fire gone, the two now let out a sigh of relief, taking a moment to catch their breath.

"Maybe I should make breakfast instead." Ray said.

"Good plan." Noelani replied.

The human species as a whole has always been subject to the technological advancements brought forth by its brilliant, select few, left to learn and understand the machinations that only science and invention can bring forth. It is a simple case of 'follow the leader' that creates new technological trends, instilling a new standard to be followed by the masses.

It is not unlike how one of the first inventions came to be: The fire. Ancient humans had discovered how to generate a combustible chemical reaction which brings forth warmth and energy, and others have come along to improve upon the invention. There was first the stick, introduced to the fire to carry it anywhere humankind pleased, to the fireplace and heater, allowing warmth to be accessed at their disposal.

Sam Dullard is not unlike how the first humans felt upon prodding their sticks into the fire; obtaining the hoverboard taken from Otto's attackers by Otto himself, he carefully inspects the board, taking his time to examine the board. He is careful with each and every piece he moves, using his several tools and equipment as delicately as a surgeon with his scalpel.

But the examination he gives is not like a life-saving operation. It is more akin to performing a vivisection on an alien lifeform which he is the first to discover.

He has been long at his work after a long night of fighting off sleep, the shock and anticipation of the newly-discovered technology keeping his attention, along with several helpings of Blue Buffalo energy drinks courtesy of Otto and Twister. Conversely, the latter two, alongside Tito, awoke minutes ago after what constituted as sleep for the group.

Wasting no time to continue inspecting their discovery from last night, the group went straight to the garage, recovering from a long night of sleep to see Sam's process on the board. Deeply immersed in the new discovery gifted to him, Sam barely takes notice of the others entering, keeping a superhuman hyperfixation on the board and taking mental and physical notes of all he sees.

"Morning, Squid. You find anything out about that hoverboard?" Otto asked.

Otto's entry nor greeting seemed to get any particular reaction out from Sam, responding to him in a casual manner as if the two had been speaking seconds ago.

"I've never seen anything like this in my life. Nothing in the consumer marketplace has anything even close to this." Sam said.

"What does that mean? Does that mean, it's, like, super-rare?" Twister asked.

"It means you can't just pick this up at a pro shop, Twister. This kind of technology shouldn't even exist. It makes Samsung look like Colecovision."

"Obviously, it does exist, I'm smart enough to know that. But who'd have it and what for?" Otto asked.

"Stuff this advanced is usually government or military tech, reserved for super-top secret projects, Area 51-type stuff. If the guys you fought were using stuff like this, then these are no ordinary criminals we're dealing with."

"Then who are these guys? And what kind of group like this would recruit a jerk like Lars?"

"Why they'd recruit Lars I have no idea, but who they are I have even less of an idea. These guys must be some kind of underground gang, people who stay out of the papers."

"You mean nothing helpful?" Twister asked.

"No. I mean nothing at all, like they don't exist. We're dealing with a group that's totally new."

"You think it's some of those guys from Hillwood? You know, the Green Eye and the people he fights?"

"The Green Eye's just some street vigilante who managed to stop a school shooter and beat some crime gangs, the whole mythos around him is mostly a press thing, I'm sure it's a fad. No, these guys are something else."

"So, what are these guys doing blowing up an electronics store? People with this kind of stuff wouldn't just bomb some random store, I'd imagine they'd want to take on a world government James Bond style or something. No offense, Squid." Otto said.

"None taken. You have a good point. It doesn't make sense. What kind of high-tech criminals would destroy small businesses in a near-abandoned city?"

"Maybe they want someplace where there's not a lot of people so they don't get caught as easy? Maybe they're, like, trying to test this stuff or something. You said it's totally new, right? That would explain why we've never heard of them before."

"Maybe. That still leaves up to the imagination what their goal is and what they're planning, neither of which we still know."

"You seem to be taking this all pretty calm, cuz. These people blew up your business, you must've put a lot of work into the place." Tito said.

"Believe me, I'm not happy about my store being blown up in the slightest. I called earlier about the incident, I'm still waiting on my insurance to get back to me on this incident. In the meantime, being angry about the situation doesn't help when we have no evidence that these guys did it, let alone exist."

"The fuck are you talking about? I saw them do it myself!" Otto protested.

"That's just your account of the situation, and there are no other witnesses to the incident to verify that's what happened. To the cops, that's worthless. You might as well claim Osama Bin Laden rose from the dead and bombed the place. The most I can do is try to find out who these guys are, and fast, and this thing is the key to finding that out. Besides, this technology is so advanced I can't help but be excited to study it. I could use something to take my mind off this whole thing and get some stress relief."

"I usually just smoke weed, jerk off, and sleep when I need that. Did you, like, not sleep at all?" Otto asked.

"Nope. I took a couple of power naps here and there, but mostly I was working on this. Oh, speaking of which, I helped myself to your very groovy energy drinks, hope you guys don't mind."

Sam pointed to a large collection of empty cans of Blue Buffalo on the desk and floor, bringing concern and dismay to the copious amounts of caffeine consumed.

"Squid! How many of those did you drink?!" Otto asked.

"I don't know, you guys only had a few left. I needed it to stay focused." Sam said.

"That was, like, our whole stash, dude." Twister said.

"Yeah. No offense, but, the second you start making some money again, you're paying for all that. You know how many videos I had to post to earn enough for those?" Otto asked.

"Well, I don't know about you, little cuzes, but I think we all may be in way over our heads. Don't you think we should go to the police for something like this?" Tito asked.

"We have no solid evidence that they did this, Tito. The board, while definitely something that would get their attention, doesn't say that these criminals exist. Even with Otto's testimony, that isn't enough to warrant arrests for people we don't even know." Sam said.

"But, wait, Otto, didn't you say that Lars was of these dudes?" Twister asked.

"Yeah, I did." Otto replied.

"Well, since we know Lars is one of them, he obviously knows who the rest of these people are, right? Maybe he knows where we can find the rest of these guys. If we could manage to find him again, we can turn them over to the police. If he gets turned into the police, he might make some kind of plea deal to the cops and turn them over. He's already been arrested for a shitload of other crimes, so he'll definitely be more desperate to give them up, and he's not exactly the most loyal of people anyway. Boom, Lars gives up the goods, the bad guys are in jail, and we win. We keep them from destroying any more of Ocean Shores."

Not expecting Twister to come up with such a brilliant and well-thought out idea to catch the criminals, the entire group looked to the maker of the unexpected suggestion in surprise, as if looking at a real sighting of a UFO landing. Twister, not realizing how big of an event his revelation was, looked to the dumbfounded group in confusion at their reactions.

"...What?" Twister asked.

"No offense, Twister, but... since when do you come up with good ideas?" Otto asked.

"What idea? I don't know what the fuck I was saying, I was just quoting some cop show I watched, I was hoping you guys would understand that means."

"Well, as the ancient Hawaiians used to say; 'Even a rotten coconut still has enough juice to fill a man's belly'." Tito said.

As none of the group could ever understand Tito's cryptic metaphors, everyone was left scratching their heads in attempt to decipher the Hawaiian proverb. Disappointed that his advice again went misunderstood, Tito shook his head in annoyance at the younger generation's ignorance.

"Well, anyway, Twister's right. Some of us should go look for Lars and try to get him to tell us who these guys are." Sam said.

"Otto and I can handle that. We know Ocean Shores like the back of our hands, there's no way Lars can hide from us." Twister said.

"Tito, maybe you should get Reg in on this too. We could put a 'wanted' ad or something like that in her newspaper to find Lars." Otto said.

"Hold on, little cuz, I don't think that would be a real good idea." Tito replied.

"Why not? Wouldn't keeping more eyes out for him help?"

"It'd also mean dragging someone else into this mess, someone who could get themselves hurt pretty bad. We don't know nothin' about these guys, and we don't know what they'll do if they find us."

"So what? Fuck Reggie, she's a bitch."

"Hey, now, cuz. Like it or not, Reggie's your family. I don't wanna hear you talkin' like that about your family. What happened last night was bad enough, and I haven't even had the chance to talk to you about that. Sure, you might be mad at her now, but what happens if she actually did get herself hurt? You think you could live with yourself if that happened?"

Given a stern talking-to from his metaphorical uncle, Otto was shamed into silence, forced to retract his cruel statement regarding his sibling.

"Ungh... Okay, fine, you're right, Tito. Better keep Reggie out of this to keep her safe and shit." Otto said.

"But, wait, hang on a second. We already know that Lars is one of them, and Lars knows all of us. Who's to say he hasn't already told his people about us? That still puts Reggie in danger, along with the rest of us." Sam reasoned.

The point brought the group back to a discussion, hoping to find the correct response to make regarding Reggie.

"Shit, that's right. Okay, okay. How about this? We can let Reggie onboard, she might be helpful with her journalist skills or something, maybe she can find something we can't. But we don't let Raymundo or Noelani on this. They'll raise up a hell of a storm about this whole thing and try to stop us from stopping them." Otto said.

"But Reggie's, like, a big suck-up to your dad. Wouldn't she tell them? Or does she have, like, that attorney-client sacrilege that news reporters have that won't let her tell him?" Twister asked.

"You think Reggie's a suck-up to Raymundo? That's kind of demeaning." Sam asked.

"Well, that's what Otto says to me."

"Squid, why do you care if that sounds demeaning? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were in love with her or something." Otto said.

"Well... 'Love' is kind of a stretch, but... I always did think your sister was pretty hot... and I did see her the other day, she wanted me to fix her phone for her... and I did it for free... and she did grow up to be really pretty... and I did kind of tell her that we should see each other again..." Sam trailed.

"Oh, fuck, no. I am not having this conversation with you right now."

"What?"

"Are you trying to fuck my sister?"

"WHAT?! No, I-! Well, I mean... I'd be lying if I said 'no', but... I mean... I do really like her, you know?"

"Oh, that's fuckin' great. It's bad enough I'm already related to that bitch, now I gotta have one of my friend go off and marry her?"

"WHAT?! I didn't say anything about marriage!"

"But you wanna date her and shit. That all leads up to marriage and kids in theory, right? So, in a way, you're setting that shit up for the future."

"I-I... Otto, why the fuck do you even care? You don't even like her!"

"That's right, man. But I do like you, and that means, whenever I hang out with you, that means I inevitably have to spend time with her as well, and I gotta listen to her bitch and whine about what I do, just like my fuckin' father!"

"Guys, I think we're really getting off-topic here about the-" Twister tried to say.

A sudden knock at the door snapped the group out of their conversation in an instant, sounding across the house with multiple bangs and beating upon its entrance. The unexpected arrival of a visitor cut into the current situation at hand, creating the need to dispose of the visitor to ensure the secrecy of the board. The immediate assumption was that the visitor was one of the criminals, coming to bring them harm...

"OTTO! IT'S REGGIE! GET YOUR LAZY BUTT UP AND OPEN THE DOOR!" Reggie shouted.

...but upon hearing the shrill scream of an angry Rocket sister muffled behind the door, the suspense was diminished significantly, but still present to be addressed.

"Shit. What the hell's Reggie doing here?" Otto asked.

"Probably still mad at you from last night, from what it sounds like, cuz." Tito said.

"Okay, let's let her in and she'll get to see the board and stuff. We can bring her on board right away." Twister said.

"No, no, no, we haven't decided yet if we're going to let her in on this or not. We gotta at least get rid of her for now." Sam said.

"Well, how the fuck are we gonna do that? She ain't gonna leave until she gets what she wants." Otto asked.

"Then why don't you go talk to her and get this over with?"

"Because then she'd be in the house and probably never go away for hours, and maybe make her way to the garage and fuck up the whole plan. She's gotta go."

"Hold on, cuz. I got an idea. You all just wait here." Tito said.

Departing from the garage to tend to the incessantly-knocking Reggie Rocket, Tito stepped to the front door, grabbing the door knob and twisting it. The noise it made upon turning finally put Reggie's knocking to a stop, signalling to her that her knocking had done its job.

As soon as the door opened, Reggie opened her mouth after a deep breath to prepare a scathing statement to Otto, but stopped upon finding Tito instead.

"Reggie! What brings you here, little cuz?" Tito asked.

"Tito? I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing at Otto's house." Reggie replied.

"I, uh... came here last night on a peace mission, then I ended up having a good smoke session with them."

"'Peace mission'?"

"Yeah, you know, about last night. We've been talking about what happened, and I think we worked it all out. I'm sure he'll make things right with Raymundo soon."

"That's not good enough. Otto's word's not any good. You know how he is. Let me in, I need to talk to him."

"About what?"

"What do you mean, 'about what'? You know what about. I came to get Otto to come back to Dad's house and have a more civilized discussion with him."

"But I told you already, cuz, I talked with Otto and worked it out. He'll go when he's good and ready."

"Tito, I love you, and you're a great uncle, but you can't defend Otto on this. He's coming with me whether he likes it or not."

"Well, I know you mean well, little cuz, and I know you got noble causes, but they're not here right now. Maybe you should just come back later."

"I'm not leaving without bringing him with me. I'm going to wait right here inside for him until he gets back."

Reggie attempted to walk past Tito and enter the house, wanting to patiently wait inside for Otto to arrive back from his supposed departure. Trying to prevent her from discovering the secret, while simultaneously trying to spare her from the sensory-assaulting smells of the house, Tito tried to close the door before she could do so.

"Whoa, Reggie, you might not wanna come in here right now, it's pretty messy for company." Tito said.

"C'mon, Tito, I've seen Otto's room when we were kids, it can't be any worse than that. Stop kidding around and let me in." Reggie replied.

Exerting more energy to step inside, Reggie pushed on the door with her body, causing Tito to do the same to keep the door closed.

"Little cuz, now is really not a good time. I really think you should just come back another time." Tito said.

"Tito, knock it off! Let me in!" Reggie said.

"I can't do that, little cuz, it's really not suitable for others right now!"

"Open the door!"

"No!"

"OPEN THIS DOOR!"

Reggie's last words were followed with a forceful opening of the door, barging her way past Tito and stumbling to catch her balance again as she made it inside. However, as she finally made her way inside the house, she began to regret her decision in the instant she achieved it.

As she entered, her senses were immediately assaulted with the pungent odors of many unspeakable horrors of neglectful housekeeping, causing her eyes to immediately water, and her nose began to crunch and wrinkle from the disgusting smells. Expired semen and moldy food swept through the house, coupled with sweat and burnt cigarette paper.

Reggie, in a desperate attempt to retain her sanity, immediately had to cover her nose to guard herself from the horrible stench.

"Oh, holy fucking god! It smells like death in here! What the hell is wrong with those two?! Oh, god, I think I'm gonna..." Reggie began to say.

Reggie's last words were followed by an immediate retch and the feeling of partially-digested food to make its way back up her throat, prompting her to rush to the bathroom to vomit. Running down the halls of the house, she sought out the most likely location of the bathroom, finding it after the first 3 rooms she tried.

Upon making it to the bathroom, however, she regretted her decision, finding that the toilet was even worse than the entirety of the house, only adding to the disgust brought to her and making her barely able to hold onto herself long enough to prolong the inevitable regurgitation that was to come.

Being even more disgusted by the toilet, Reggie immediately ran back outside, rudely pushing Tito out of her way. Upon making it to the green grass outside, Reggie finally released her inhibitions, allowing herself to vomit to purge her feeling of disgust out and finally catch her sanity again.

After finishing her regurgitation and inhaling fresh air, feeling a sympathetic pat of Tito's hand on her back, Reggie finally managed to speak again.

"So... fucking... nasty... needs... bleach... No... flamethrower... bomb... destroy it... burn it down..." Reggie struggled to say.

"Well, don't say I didn't warn you, cuz." Tito said.

Taking in enough air, Reggie at last managed to string together complete sentences again, expressing her next needs to Tito.

"There's no way I can tolerate another second in that hellhole. Please tell me there's a tolerable portion of that house." Reggie said.

"Yeah, there's the garage." Tito said.

The simple statement of fact brought a sharp reminder of the situation at hand, leading Tito to feel an immediate regret over his lapse in common sense. Remembering that Otto, Twister, and Sam were inside the garage, the latter continuing his analysis of the hoverboard, Tito immediately tried to retract his offer and persuade Reggie from entering inside the house.

"Wait! I mean, no, don't-!" Tito tried to say.

Before Tito could correct his mistake, Reggie immediately headed for the garage and reaching for the garage door handle. When Reggie stepped into the garage, her first sight was Otto, Twister, and Sam all looking back at her in shock, realizing that their game had immediately been busted.

Not yet taking notice of the hoverboard, Reggie's focus is solely on Otto, who proceeded to her brother and laid an immediate slap on his face.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Reggie screamed.

Cringing at the painful attack laid on his face, Otto turned back to look at Reggie, keeping what passed for a composed look on his face.

"Uh... wouldn't that insult apply to you, too?" Otto asked.

"Oh, real fucking funny, smart-ass! I don't know why Tito's sticking up for your little punk-ass, but I'm not gonna do the same! You totally ruined the dinner party last night, and destroyed the one attempt dad made to try to bring this family back together again! The one time! Can you at least pretend to be part of this family for once?! To at least pretend to be a functional human being who's part of society and not be a fucking loser who does nothing but run a shitty NewTube channel that makes no money?! Living in a rat's nest of a house?! Do you even realize how fucking bad it smells in there?! It's like the Bog of Eternal Stench!" Reggie screamed.

Attempting to make some intervention in the conversation, Twister meekly raised his hand to try to get her attention.

"Hey, uh, a lot of those smells are mine, too, so, let's kind of be fair here, okay?" Twister asked.

"You shut the fuck up, Twister! It's bad enough you've been helping him perpetuate this awful lifestyle! In fact, I don't know which of you is worse! You're like Beavis and Butthead, you're both horrible and ruin everything, and you just feed your awfulness off each other!" Reggie screamed.

Also attempting to interject and bring a stop to the fight, Sam gently attempted to introduce himself to the discussion.

"Uh, hey, Reg. It's, uh, good to see you again and everything, but this is really not a good time right now. Do you think maybe we can save this whole fight for later? It's really important, what we're doing right now." Sam said.

Turning to Sam, Reggie directed all her anger towards him next as he put himself in her immediate crossfire...

"Oh, look who's here, too! Another of my idiot brother's enablers! God, I don't know what the fuck I was thinking letting you sweet-talk me and flirting back with you, if only I'd known you'd be hanging out with assholes like-" Reggie began to scream.

...but then her anger then subsided with an intense curiosity upon seeing the hoverboard in its dissected state, feeling all of her emotions leave and be replaced with pure wonder and curiosity. Even when missing a good portion of its electronic components, the board had still hovered in the air, showcasing its ability to defy gravity right before her eyes.

And what the eyes see, the brain deciphers, but cannot fully comprehend, making the mouth ask for more information.

"What's that?" Reggie asked.

"Well, so much for not telling Reggie anymore." Twister said.