Jack was curious. He knew how much Endermen hated water - he could confirm that himself. So why on earth was the Great Rogue Lady Drakonia on a ship, turning the wheel in the middle of the ocean. After a moment of thought, Jack teleported up to the helm beside her.
     She glanced at him emotionlessly. Her lips formed the ghost of a smirk. "So are you actually part of the crew or are you just stalking me?"
     "Neither." Jack replied. "I'm a passenger."
     Drakonia raised one eyebrow. "Oh? From where?"
     "Port Colwald." Jack leaned his back against the railing, resting his elbows on the top. "A few Sky Army friends of mine sorta dragged me into it."
     Drakonia laughed shortly. "Oh, the irony. An old friend of mine associated with the Sky Army once got me onto a ship much like this one. Can't say I enjoyed it..."
    Jack smirked. "So what'd you do to get hanged?"
     "Nothing." Drakonia replied. "To be honest, I was there to rescue our dear mute as well. But you lot got to him first." She smirked. "Should've known the army would've gotten involved. How'd you get in with those numbskulls anyway?"
     "I'm not one of those numbskulls." Jack answered, crossing his arms. "I'm just a friend of a friend of a friend of the Commander. A rogue, like you."
     Drakonia eyed him curiously. "You and I have quite a lot in common, then, don't we Stillman?"
     Jack smirked. "Yeah I guess we do."
     Drakonia looked out over the deck and noticed Venom, Ziska, and Thalia talking. "Do you know them?"
    "I know the two brunettes." Jack replied. "Thalia and Venom."
     "Hmm..." Darkonia hesitated, then looked at Jack. "Stillman, can you take the wheel for a moment? I have something I want to ask the Skylord."
    Jack shrugged. "Yeah sure."
    "Thanks." Drakonia smirked. "By the way, I like the accent." She saluted and teleported out of sight.

"I hope you're happy." Ziska growled at Thalia.
     "I quite am actually, considering I'm alive." Thalia replied.
     "Would you shut your cocky, Skylord mouth?!" Ziska glared at her, clearly unamused. "Now we're stuck in the middle of the ocean with no supplies!"
     Thalia blinked. "Oh."
     "Well, surely there's got to be another port nearby we could go to." Venom said.
     Ziska sighed and shook her head. "Not that I know of." She replied. "Closest one I can think of is Sandy Island and we can't go back there thanks to you."
     Thalia hesitated for a moment before getting an idea. "You said not that you know of." She said. "Is there a map anywhere that we can look at?"
    "Yeah, here." Ziska opened her satchel and pulled out a rather large sheet of old-looking parchment paper. 'Perfect for a treasure map,' Thalia thought, smiling dimly. Eve opened it up and held it so the three of them could see. "See, we don't have many options here." Ziska said exasperatedly.
     "What about that port there?" Venom pointed to a port labeled 'Grimsdale'.
     Ziska shook her head. "For whatever reason, those people don't seem to like us. They only take care of their passenger ships, even if we try to pay them."
     Kevin walked past the three of them in the direction of the stairwell to the helm, but noticed the map and stopped beside the girls. "Wait, are we close to Grimsdale?" He asked.
     "Yeah, only a few hours off." Ziska answered as she rolled her map up once more and stuffed it back inside her satchel. "Problem is, those people have made it very clear they don't wanna help us out."
     "That's not a real problem." Kevin said.
     "Oh?" Ziska asked skeptically. "And why's that?"
     Kevin crossed his arms, a smile on his face. "Grimsdale is my home town." He explained. "I could pull a few strings and your crew could get everything they need. We'll be on our way to Colwald in the morning."
     Ziska raised her eyebrows. "You serious?"
     "As the flag." Kevin replied. Venom and Thalia exchanged confused glances before both realized Kevin had probably switched 'plague' with 'flag' on purpose, knowing him. "But it's gotta be a one-time thing. I don't want you assholes mooching off my town, alright?"
     Ziska sighed and nodded. "Understood... Well, I oughta let the helmsman know about this..." She muttered as she headed up the stairs to the helm.
    Thalia turned to Kevin immediately. "You're from Grimsdale?!"
    "Well I had to come from somewhere, didn't I?" Kevin smirked. "Everybody's got a hometown. Well... Not you... Or Jack..." Kevin rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as Venom rolled her eyes and walked away. Kevin ran after her, leaving Thalia smiling after the pair. She was alone barely five seconds before someone spoke from behind her.
     "Skylord?"
     Thalia jumped and spun around at the unfamiliar voice, but relaxed as she recognized her face. "Oh, it's just you..." She said, eyeing Drakonia curiously. "You're the one that helped my friends not die, aren't you?"
      "If you mean I freed the one with the accent from a couple guards, then yes." Drakonia answered, crossing her arms."
     "Well, that's a friend in my books." Thalia held out a hand. "Skylord Thalia Kal, at your service."
      Drakonia smirked, but didn't make any movement to shake her hand. "Sorry, dear," She said. "But like a told Jack; I don't do friends."
     Thalia didn't waver in the slightest. "Well that's just too bad, because the way I see it, you've already made one."
     Drakonia stared at her for a moment before smiling just a little and uncrossing her arms, shaking Thalia's hand. "Drakonia."
     "Ooh, sick name." Thalia said with a smile. "Can I call you Drak?"
     "No." Drak replied mildly, turning away.
     Thalia rolled her eyes. "That's what Ginger said." She said to herself.
     Drakonia perked up. "Who's Ginger exactly?"
     "Him, over there." Thalia replied, nodding over to the ginger she meant who was currently being told about the Grimsdale stop by Kevin and Venom. "Real name's Logan, but I like calling him Ginger. He calls me Skylord back, but that's more of rank thing..." Thalia said, rubbing the back of her neck.
      Drak smirked. "Aww, how cute. You have nicknames for each other."
     Thalia's face flushed, but before she could say anything in reply, Drak winked and teleported off somewhere else on the ship.

"Kathy, honey, go feed the chickens, would you?" The mother called as she turned on the sink to wash the dishes.
     The one who answered, a girl with long, straight blonde hair around twelve or thirteen sighed and closed her book. "Alright." She said, even though she clearly didn't want to. On the other side of the room, another teen with ear-length, equally curly blonde hair who had to be around seventeen smirked at her from behind his own book. "Sucks to be you." He teased.
      "Oh shut up, Aaron." Kathy stuck her tongue out at him, and Aaron did the same back to her, marking them clearly as brother and sister. She set her book down beside her and stood, heading for the front door past Aaron. She stepped through, grabbing the bag of seed by the door and making her way to the chicken pen on the side of the house. She leaned her elbows on the fence boredly as she tossed seed to the six hungry chickens who scrambled to get their daily fix.
     As she tossed handful after handful to the chickens, she subconsciously looked out at the ocean, lapping up against the beach and the dock. Their house was at the top of a grassy hill. There was a path winding down to the town street through an alleyway, and from there it was only a short walk to the dock. Kathy had always loved the ocean. It had to be maybe an hour or two before sunset. The sky was just turning orange as the sun slowly sank down behind the ocean oh so far away. As she watched the boardwalk, she realized a ship was being tied to the dock; one called the Raymond.
     She cocked her head to one side curiously. "Hey mom, there's a ship here!"
    "Why, I never!" Her mother replied in surprise through the open window without looking up from the dishes. "We never get any visitors anymore..." She looked back into the house. "Aaron, could you please dry the dishes?" She called.
     "Yeah." Aaron called back, and after a moment he appeared beside the window with a dish towel in hand, glancing through the window at the ship.
     Kathy continued on feeding the chickens, but was very distracted by the ship. She stared at it, her eyes narrowed slightly. As she did, she saw the passengers start to walk off, and noticed that one of them had black hair that stood straight up. She froze as he turned around and she recognized his face. The seed bag fell into the pen and spilled all over. The chickens immediately covered it and started to eat it dry, but Kathy didn't pay any attention. A smile appeared on her face, her eyes wide. "KEVIN'S HOME!" She shouted.
     "Ken?!" Aaron exclaimed, his head snapping up. But Kathy didn't respond. She was already sprinting down the path to the town, laughing with excitement. Aaron ran after her, the dish towel in his hand and a wide grin on his face.
     Kathy ran as fast as she could down the winding path, then entered the tons through an alleyway. People saw her passing by and laughed at her energy, but she ignored them all. She saw a cart of hay passing by ahead and leapt over it, then ran down another alley before she came to the boardwalk. She ran past all the empty ones before she came to the one with the ship labeled 'Raymond'. She beamed as she skidded to a halt at the end of it and saw that her brother really was home.
     Kevin had his back to her, but Venom noticed and smiled. "Hey Kevin." She said quietly.
     "What's up?" Kevin turned around and froze. He smiled. Kathy let out a small scream and sprinted down the dock, practically tackling her big brother. Kevin laugh and caught her spinning her around and setting her back down again. "Oh my god, Kathy, you're so big!" He looked down at her and smirked. "Still blonde though. I should fix that sometime."
     "Don't you dare." Kathy growled.
     Kevin just laughed and hugged her again. As soon as he'd let go, he felt something soft hot his shoulder with a lot of stinging force. "Ow!" He spun around and glared at his older brother. "The hell was that for?!"
     Aaron whipped him with the towel again. "Why didn't you come home more often?" He snapped. "It's been three years, Ken! Three damn years!"
     Kevin just smiled and hugged him. "Yeah, yeah, I know... I'm sorry."
     Aaron sighed and hugged him back, dropping the dish towel. "You're a handful." He muttered.
     Kevin smiled cheesily. "But worth it!"
     Aaron rolled his eyes. He pulled back and suddenly noticed the other four passengers watching. "Are these your... friends? Since when did you have friends other than Venom?!" He grabbed Kevin by the shoulder and looked him in the eye, his own brown eyes wide. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?!"
     Kevin rolled his eyes. "Kathy, Aaron, these are indeed my friends. Thalia, Logan, Jack, and - of course - Venom."
     Aaron smiled and hugged Venom quickly. "Good to see ya again, kid."
     "You too, big guy." Venom replied.
     "Aaron, d'you think mom would mind if I brought say... Four friends over for dinner?" Kevin asked.
     "Not at all." Aaron replied. "You know how she is. Always cooks for thirty."
     Kevin smiled. "Things haven't changed much, then have they?"
     "Actually, the stable was renovated 'bout six months ago, but other than that... Nope, not a bit."

Kevin's mother had been waiting on the porch. She smiled wide and ran over to him, hugging him. "Oh dear, you're taller than me now..." She whispered.
    "Aww, mom..." Kevin replied. He pulled back and smiled. "You've still got Kathy, haven't you?"
   Mrs. Murphey just smiled stand let go. She noticed Venom and hugged her as well. "Gene, it's good to see you dear."
     "You too, Mrs. M."
     Jack blinked and looked at Logan in confusion. "Who... Who's Gene?" He whispered. Logan just shrugged in response.
     Mrs. Murphey pulled away from her hug as well and looked at the other three with her hands on her hips. She glanced at Kevin. "My, getting popular, are we?"
     Kevin just shrugged.
     Mrs. Murphey smiled and looked back at the newcomers. "Come on then, introduce yourselves."
    "Um... Well, I'm Thalia." Thalia said. "This is Logan and that's Jack. He's sorta... Special."
    "Ooh, cool tattoo!" Kathy said, meaning the semi-circle around his eye.
    Jack rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Well it's... It's actually a birthmark, but... Yeah..." He looked away.
    "Wait, how do you mean 'special?'" Aaron asked.
     Kevin crossed his arms and looked at Jack. "Care to demonstrate, Jackie?"
     Jack nodded once and teleported out of sight in a flash of purple. Aaron's eyes widened. "What...?"
     "That's so cool!" Kathy exclaimed. "How's he doin' that?"
     "I'm half Enderman." Jack replied as he reappeared beside Kevin's mom with a mushroom.
     "Oh that's so cool!" Kathy said again.
     Thalia eyed him curiously. "What's with the mushroom?"
     "I don't really know, actually..."Jack looked down at the red and white spotted fungi in his hand. "I wanted to prove my point by  getting something from a biome that's not this one, and I sorta just... Grabbed one..." He held it out to Kathy. "Here, you can have it."
    "Aww thanks!" Kathy took it and put it in her hair as though it were a flower. Logan stared at her in confusion, seeking to be the only one who thought it strange.
     Mrs. Murphey huffed. "Well then, I won't have you all just standing out here. Come inside, dinner's almost ready!" She turned and headed inside, followed closely by Aaron and Kathy.