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Previous parts(please read first):
Chapter I:
-Part One: Meet the Family
-Part Two: It Comes in Waves
-Part Three: Box of Memories
-Part Four: Do I Know You?
-Part Five: Recovery
-Part Six: The Docks
-Part Seven: Going Up
-Part Eight: Ins and Outbreaks
Chapter II:
-Part Nine: X Lives!
-Part Ten: Blind Eddie


"You ready for this?"

The soft waves rolled beneath a clear sky. Nothing but the ocean sounds could be heard. Gulls, waves, even the odd noises that bounced off the nearby cliffside. Two boards rolled with the waves next to each other. Eddie held onto one tightly, fearing the ocean movement would flip him off. Paulie sat comfortably on the other, his legs moving with the water under his board.

Eddie finally answered the man's question, "No. I think I've changed my mind. I can't see what's going on."

Paulie laughed. He was happy something was keeping Eddie's mind off his losses and frustrations. His adopted son, while clearly uncomfortable, was in the moment and that's what mattered. "It's not about seeing, Ed. You have to feel the waves. Plus," he added, "It's too late to change your mind."


X pressed himself up against the side of one of the dock warehouses. By the reactions of the grunny sitting on his head, he was certian it was a decent enough hiding place. The explosion he had set off was certianally an attention getter. He could hear it getting a lot of attention at this point. A siren stopped its wailing just around the corner. Lights, he was sure, would be flashing. "There it is, again!" a voice said, coming nearer X's location. He gritted his teeth.

"There's what, again?," said a second voice.

"A grunny. I thought I saw a grunny."

"We've got a nasty fire here, and all you can think about is green bunnies?!" X could hear someone get smacked and he stifled a laugh.

X took a step out of his hiding spot a few moments later. "I know what you want to do," he said to the grunnies, "but this place is not like the ship. We have to get going." With that said, he dashed off, leaving his fire behind. If things were going to be pieced together about his being alive, he wasn't about to let them happen too quickly.

As he headed off into the darkness, a few caught sight of the odd sillouette of a man in a long scarf followed by rabbity things. "You won't believe this," someone said as the rain began to trickle down again, "but I swear I just saw LabTech X."

"Impossible," someone answered, "he's dead."


Eddie sat himself up on the longboard and thought carefully about how the waves rolling underneath moved. Their soft forward motion became comforting as he let them pass.

"Good," said Paulie, watching his pupil, "you ready to ride one in?"

"No."

Paulie grinned, "Yes you are. You've got this. You're ready."

"No, I'm not."

"Can't hear you, Ed," he lied, "I'm gonna ride this next one in and you're going to be out here, all by yourself. Bye, Eddie!" He turned his board ever so slightly to the side and paddled a few feet away before stopping. Paulie quietly watched Eddie.

"Wait!," Eddie called, beginning to panic. "I can't do this!" He swung his head around, eyes wide, as if trying to see what was going on. "You can't leave me out here! YOU CAN'T LEAVE A BLIND MAN OUT HERE!!"

He quited himself upon realizing nobody was going to respond or do anything. It was all on him and what he had been taught up to this point. The waves continued to roll beneath him and he focused on the sounds around him, catching something beyond the normal sounds of gulls, waves, and odd echoes of the cliffside. He smirked, knowing what he was supposed to do. Panicing wasn't going to get anything done.

Eddie layed himself back onto the board and began to paddle, riding the wave. He then began to push himself up, slowly moving up to a standing position. The board moved, suprisingly, but he caught his balance. His board shifted again and Eddie fell right off, fliping over in the small wave once before meeting the wet sand.

Paulie rode in just behind and laughed, gliding easily into shore. "Told you you could do it."

Eddie pushed himself out of the sand, spitting some out along with a sand crab or two. He stood up, trying to balance on the more solid ground. "I was standing," he said, pleased with himself, "but I couldn't stay."

"Better than my first time." Paulie gave Eddie a good solid slap on the back and Eddie immediately responded by screaming out in severe pain.