"He can stay in those canyons and hills indefinitely," a tall, young man told Gauron. "But I doubt they have the supplies for a long-term stay. They will want to leave quickly and that means aiming for this town here."
"But I imagine Kashim will know that we know this," Gauron commented.
"He will," the young man said. "But doesn't have anyway around it."
"Didn't you two have a little place around here some time ago?" Gauron asked with a cool smile.
"There was, but considering Kashim knows full well that you are the one who destroyed that stronghold," the man noted. "I doubt he'd go there unless he absolutely needed some of the supplies that might still be there."
"And what of the salvage on those unknown ASes?" Gauron asked.
"Already secured," the other pilot said. "But Amalgam seems to have already heard about it."
"Well, I doubt I'd be able to do much without them anyway," Gauron said. "But always nice to have an ace or two."
*****
"North is Soviet territory," Sousuke explained. "If we move south, we will face open ground for miles before we can leave the country and East is cut off by the forces behind us. We will need to head this way."
He pointed to a point on the map indicating a village just past the Helmjastad border.
"No doubt," Bill said. "They will know that as well."
"Indeed," Sousuke said. "And it will be difficult to hide the direction of our movement. If we move, there will be skirmishes or sightings. The sand is shorting out the camouflage, so we cannot ghost through."
"This is supposed to be your backyard, Sergeant," Bill noted. "What do you suggest?"
"Do you know anything about this area that we can use to our advantage?" Grey asked.
"Possibly," Sousuke noted. "But doubtful. There is an old stronghold here, off our straight path."
"Are you suggesting we hide out there until they pass us by?" Andy asked. "I don't much like the idea."
"Negative," Sousuke said, shaking his head. "Gauron is aware of the location."
"Then why bother telling us about it?" Jackson demanded.
"If we appear to be moving in that direction," Sousuke noted. "Then perhaps..."
"A decoy," Baptiste noted.
"Affirmative," Sousuke said with a sigh. "But it is weak. We have no reason to go there and unless Gauron believes that I have forgotten that he assaulted the place last time."
"How would he know that you had that information?" Bill asked.
"Because Commander Kalinin and I arranged to put a bullet in his head not long after," Sousuke explained. "Unfortunately, we were unaware that he had a steel plate from a prior injury."
"The man sounds like he has the devil's own luck," Grey noted, she glanced back toward the demon they had captured. "Metaphorically speaking."
"Okay," Bill said. "We'll head for your old homestead for the next day at least. This looks like the last chance for a passage out of the canyons to the West before we have to hit for your place, is that correct?"
"Affirmative," Sousuke agreed.
*****
Naiki watched as the wave came in behind her and waited for it to lift her up, standing as it did so.
The wave was mildly enjoyable and helped her put aside a little bit of her frustrations of the past couple of days, but a only little.
Maybe she could go hunting or something, she thought she smelled something tasty out there, or maybe she could practice a little bit of magic.
Back on the beach, Kyoko and Shinji had found some watermelons and were setting them out as Kaname explained the game to Eija.
"I want to go first," a loud voice declared childishly under a hand that was thrusting up and down as the owner of the voice called out.
"No, I want to go first!" a younger voice declared, the owner crossing her arms and thrusting her chin out.
"You little brat," the older voice declared. "I get to go first."
"And while Mizuki argues with whoever is the second most immature person in the area," Kaname said as she watched the blonde argue with Izumi Saotome. "We figure out who goes first. Last time we tried this, Sousuke blew up...well let's go, who's first."
"Perhaps Masaru should go first," Eija noted. "It is the Saotome home that we are staying at."
She paused and looked out toward the East.
"No moping," Kaname snapped. "That settles it, you go first."
Eija sighed and nodded.
"Okay, so here comes the blindfold," Kyoko said cheerfully.
Off to the side, Kurz watched carefully over the teenagers and glanced out toward the water briefly before looking back toward Kaname. He didn't stay focused on the kids getting ready to smash the pumpkin as he did a double-take back out to the water.
"And one, two, three," Kaname and Kyoko were saying as they spun Eija around.
"Oh shit," Kurz said as his head craned higher.
"And time to...."
The entire scene was washed out, literally, as a wave of water flooded over the scene, crashing down like a solid wall.
As the water flowed back out to see a good deal slower than it came in, Kyoko, Kaname and Eija lay sprawled, along with most people on the beach, shocked expressions on their face before they started coughing out water.
Meanwhile, in the center of it all, Naiki tried to sit up and pull the watermelon off her head.
"This is game is never going to work, is it?" Kaname asked morosely.
"AGAIN!" Izumi and Mizuki shouted loudly jumping up and down.