ImpulseSV's POV:

Well, dirt is not tasty, why does that surprise me?

Shadow travel is a weird thing to describe, you have to experience it to fully understand it. At first, it'll feel like you are falling down, and it feels like being covered in sand and then, you feel like you can't breathe and suddenly you are hit with pure oxygen.

But this time Tango shadow traveled me, I was hit with a face full of dirt. And I by mistake, swallowed a mouthful of dirt, in surprise, I tried moving my legs and hit one of the Hermits.

"Ouch! Impulse, chill, you're uh... upside down in the dirt." A voice whom I recognize was Zed's.

I tried to yell but it came out like a mutter, "Melp! Ma stumk im mhere! Mull ma mout!"

"What?" Zed asked.

"Just melp ma!" I muttered from the dirt.

After a short while, I was out and breathing and still alive. I signed a breath of relief, "Where're the others?" I asked looking around.

Not far from here, I saw the hermits altogether, some still stuck in the sand and some looking out for anyone to come by. We are all on a breach of some sort.

"They're fine, though some of them got sand stuck in their eyes and Tango and Grian are knocked out cold," Xisuma said, brushing off the sand I had in my hair.

Yikes. I hate having anything stuck in my eyes, so I shared a look of empathy.

"You should wash your hair," Xisuma said, still brushing off the sand off my hair.

"Where? In the middle of the sea, with no shampoo?" I grinned at Xisuma.

Xisuma shoot me a blank look, "You have sand in your teeth."

"Ah, where?" I asked, using my fingernail I pointed at my teeth.

"Everywhere," Zed answered.

A fade thud heard in the far distance, Mumbo was the first to point it out, "What is occurring over there?"

False, pulled her hair into a ponytail and reached for her sword, "In any case, there is a high chance of that being a monster. Stay aware."

Xisuma looked worried, "Well, Iskall went over there, I'm worried for him." Xisuma stated, looking down at his feet.

"Well, he's a son of Ares, he can take care of himself." A shaky voice claimed. I looked back and saw Grian, now conscious and sitting up. His now very pale face alarmed me.

"You shouldn't try to move too much!" Joe replied, gently pushing Grian down.

"Alright, but just in case, you can go and check on him." Grian weakly smiled and fainted again.

False straighten up a bit, "Well, I'm going to check on him, I am the only one that can beat him up."

Zed's hand shoot into the air, "I'll go! And Impulse can come with me!"

I stared at Zed, "Did you just?"

Zed stared at me back, completely unaware of the situation he dragged me into. He grinned, "Well, let's go!"

Xisuma chuckled "I'll come with you as well."

I readied my crossbow, named Hawkeye, and said "Well fine, let's go."

Zed was ahead of us when we heard the second thug, which was much louder.

I froze in my tracks, "Did you hear that?"

False hauled her sword, "Be careful."

And we reached a small alleyway, and then we saw Iskall and a red vending machine which looked like it's seen a lot.

"Arbete! Din dumma maskin! Frickande gudar!" Iskall said and kicked the machine.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"When Iskall gets mad, he usually speaks in his mother tongue," False said, a mildly annoyed tone in her voice.

Iskall cursed under his breath, picked up the vending machine, and... started SHAKING it.

"What? What is he doing?" Xisuma questioned.

Iskall put down the machine with such force, that the ground shook.

"Ah, that was the thud that we heard before," Zed said.

"Iskall? What are you doing?" False asked, stepping out of hiding.

"Jag försökte få den här automaten att fungera! Men det är en dum sak hos mig och-" Iskall mumbled angerly and False looked in confusion.

"Iskall... go into English mode." False chuckled.

Iskall's face turned red, "Oh, whoops."

Zed burst out laughing, "We thought that it was a monster that was gonna attack you!"

Iskall's mouth pressed into a thin smile, "Nope, it was a vending machine being stupid."

I smiled and took a guess, "Let me guess, a drink got stuck?"

"Yes! And it is still stuck! It's getting so... stupid!" Iskall was flustered.

To show his point, he kicked the machine, causing the vending machine to titled a bit, but the drink was still firmly stuck between the glass and the shelf area.

"I would get mad at that too, but I don't think I will destroy it." Xisuma stared at the damaged vending machine.

"You can use your sword to cut the glass," Zed suggested.

"Oh, I never thought of that," Iskall said.

After a while, he got the drink, and we went back with Zed leading the way.

Cleo was the first hermit that asked about the sound, "What was that sound?" She was holding an umbrella.

Zed exclaimed happily, "It was a false alarm! Iskall got this drink stuck, and why do you have an umbrella, do you burn in the sun?"

Cleo facepalmed a bit and said, "No! That's a zombie thing, and I am a vorvolakas! I just sunburn easily ok?"

False went ahead and told everyone what happened.

Joe went to Xisuma, "Well, they're both awake, but still a bit tried."

Xisuma nodded and turned to the sea, "Well, how do we even get to the sea?"

Jevin walks up, "Well, I can travel by water, but it takes a lot of time."

Zed strolls up and pokes Jevin, "I don't think you're solid enough for us to ride on."

Grian drops into the conversation, he still looked pale, "Well, what about a ship?"

Jevin struggled to hold back laughter, "And where do you think we can buy a ship that cheap; we don't have a lot of money on us.

Grian's lips went into a sinister grin, "Who said anything about buying anything."

Xisuma catches on Grian's train of thoughts, "Grian no. Just no."

Grian smiled, "It's easier, and I will return it back to the owner later."

I laughed, "The last time you said that is with the high-pressure magic compact wings me and Mumbo lend you, and you still have it on your back."

Grian put his hand in his pockets, "Mumbo said I could have it!"

Xisuma crossed his arms, "We are still not doing your dirty crime!"

Grian puffed, "Well, you have any ideas how to sail everywhere in the ocean?"

Xisuma looked around, "I think we can build one." Then he was quickly shut down by Scar, "Nope, that takes too long, and we don't have any resources to build one."

Ex put his hand on his brother's shoulder, "Just go along with Grian's plan. You don't have to have to go with him when he steals the boat."

Xisuma signed and nodded, Grian fist-bumped the air; he then said, "Oi! Cleo, I may need your Charm-speaking skills" Cleo nodded and opened her umbrella.

Zed who at this point is asking for a death wish asked to go along, then you asked me and Xb as well, "Why not! It'll be fun!" was his response to us asking why.

"I guess so, but I am dragging Beef along." Xb replied, at which Beef turned his head and mouthed "Why me."

So, we all went boating seeing, Zed keeps getting more and more excited at each boat, then Cleo pointed at a moderate-sized ship, "That one, so we won't look too shady with a small boat in the middle of the sea."

"Sounds great, let's go." Grian nodded.

At the front of the ship was guarded by the live-coast guard, he noticed us with his brown eyes, "Are looking to board this ship, if so, you are terribly late and lucky, the ship was about to leave."

"Oh my, we are actually the helpers of the captain, paperwork was blocking us to come here early, I am terribly sorry for that," Cleo said, adjusting her tone to sound more professional.

"I don't recall the Captain Carols to have a few helpers..." The guard lowered his bushy eyebrows.

"Don't worry, Carols is our good friend, he trusts us, and he'll be very upset if he knows you are blocking our way, now go and guard another ship, and please forget we even came here." Grian convincingly said, going along when Cleo.

Xb looked at me and mouthed "Is this even gonna work?" I nodded, charmspeak is a very powerful thing, and when someone is a Master of It, there is no way of resisting charmspeak, and Grian and Cleo are Masters of It.

The guards' eyes turned glassy, he nodded slowly and said, "Welcome to the Arcing Falcon, whoever you are." With a forceful tone in his voice and eye, he awkwardly walked away.

"Woah, you have to teach me that," Zed said as the guard walked like a penguin in the background.

Cleo looked around; the sun is getting low, she swiftly said, "Later, no time, we have to move fast, monsters strike at night."

She and Grian went in first, following closely are Zed; Xb, Beef, and I hurdled together, we passed a few corridors of the ship, "I don't like this plan." Beef muttered, I nodded, "My gut is telling me this isn't going to go well." Xb whispered when we hid a room door, next to the door was a message.

'Control center/ Carols' headquarters' it wrote.

"Well, get ready, if the situation becomes too dangerous, run." Grian faced us, Cleo and him then walked in.

The room was quite small, so we just peeked from the doorway, Carols was a chubby middle-aged man with blond hair and green eyes, he looked at us with a confused look at his face,

"May I help you?" He asked.

"I am your new replacement," Grian said, going with the flow.

"We." Cleo corrected.

"I don't remember getting fired." He narrowed his eyes.

"You did! In the most embarrassing way too!" Cleo went along.

Carols' eyes turned milky, "I remember now, I spilled coffee..."

"It went everywhere on your boss's shirt and computer!" Grian continued then looked at Cleo.

"And you slipped on the ground because of a... banana peel!"

He nodded, "I think I'll go now, I'm very embarrassed."

Cleo nodded, "Yes! You are very embarrassed; you should never come back!"

He stood up, "So embarrassed, so embarrassed." He said in a trance and walked toward to door.

Zed looked amazed at the powers of charmspeak and looked at Cleo with amazed eyes.

Cleo went limp onto the chair and signed, "Now for the passengers..."

Grian grinned, "Let me take care of that."

He cleared his throat and lowered his voice to sound like Carols, "Excuse me for the delay, but due to a possible thunderstorm, it'll have to be canceled.

The ship went into annoying moaning mode, "I am so sorry for this, now please leave." Grian continued, struggling to hold his laughter.

"Hey, Impulse you mind checking the ship?" Grian uttered then collapsed onto the ground.

"Yeah, sure," I said.

I walked out and started walking down the corridor, checking all the rooms and bathrooms, because I caught one of the guests in the bathroom, the kitchen which smelled wonderful, gods I am now hungry. Anyways, the ship is around 90% clear. Then I went to the vending machine and brought some chips.

I walked back into the control room, "All right, It's all clear." I grinned.

Zed gave me a thumbs up. Grian nodded.

"Do we even know how to drive a ship?" Cleo asked.

"The better question is if I could have some chips?" Zed asked.

"No, I brought it with my own money." I held my chips up higher to show my point.

Grian was folding a paper airplane, Beef asked, "What are you doing?"

"Making a letter to Jevin, I am not going through that again because we crashed this ship."

"No, it's kind of fun actually," Xb said.

I nodded my head in agreement and disapproval, Grian threw the letter out, "Jevin and all other hermit come soon."

Beef laid on the ground, "I guess we chill for now."

I followed and laid on the ground, "Man. I think this is the first chill moment we have so far."

Grian chuckled, "Funny, it feels like time is going faster, though we are not having fun."

Cleo laughed, "Oh gods, we stole a ship named Arcing Falcon, we have to rename it."

Grian giggled as well, "We'll need the whole group."

Stress's voice came in, "I'm sure that the floor is not clean."

We looked at the doorway, the whole group is here, well most of them.

I looked around, "Where's Mumbo?"

Xisuma chuckled, "Checking out the ship's engine, don't worry."

Ex patted Beef on the shoulder, "Nice, you stole something, so you feel guilty?"

Beef looked uncomfortable, and stared at his shoes, "Well now you say it..."

Ex laughed like a manic and said, "I was joking, good job! You chose a real fine ship."

Beef's voice turned into a whisper, "Well, Cleo was the one that did all the work..."

Xisuma said, "Exy! Stop giving Beef such a hard time!"

Ex laughed at that and noticed the chips in my hand, "Can I have one?"

I was getting annoyed at being asked that, so I just ate all the chips in one big bite.

"Hey! no fair!" Zed chuckled lightly.

Jevin came in, nearly breaking the door, "Oh my god, this is the coolest ship ever!"

Grian looked up, "You say that about every ship."

Jevin's eyes gleamed and Grian signed a bit, Jevin squeaked, "Leave, I'll need to learn this ship's controls."

Zed seemed upset to leave the floor, so I had to drag him out, but he was too heavy for my weak noodle arms.

I grasped for any sign of strength, and wheezed out, "Help me, Zed's heavy!"

Iskall was learning on the wall, "Na, I'm busy with my own trouble."

With my last bit of strength, I finally pulled Zed out of that floor, he seemed to be spaced out on the deck.

I glared at Iskall, "What is more troubling than needing to pull your friend out of the room?"

He opened his hand a bit in there is a capped bottle, "This... damn bottle."

I stared at the bottle, "It's a bottle of water."

Iskall looked flabbergasted, "No! It won't open!"

I watched at Iskall's attempt at opening the bottle, "Do you need some help?"

Iskall shook his head.

False walked up to us, "What's wrong?"

I replied, "First, Zed is spaced out over there, and Iskall can't open his bottle."

False and I stared at Iskall who was trying to open the bottle again.

False just took his bottle and opened it with ease, "You were turning the cap the wrong way, idiot."

"Oh." Iskall's cheeks redden a bit.

Meanwhile, at another corner, Xisuma questions his life choices, he keeps muttering about how guilty he feels for being on a stolen ship.

Zed was still spaced out.

Jevin drives on a stolen ship that he has no idea on how to drive.

Beef said that he feels sick and said he's gonna go to the bathroom.

Great way to start off your quest, right?

TLDR:

Half of the Hermits tasted sand, Grian stole a ship, Jevin becomes the true son of Poseidon and Beef vomits. A lot, oh gods, Beef vomits a lot.