Some Things Just Can't Be Understood

"Okay!" Pheobie chirped. "What kind of sandwiches would you like? Oh, and how much should I make? Will we be away from the ship long? Should I make anything else?"

In her eagerness to please Maple, she had a million and five questions. When she realised she was being annoying, she stopped with a blush. "Sorry" she mumbled, looking to her feet.

"Ham and cheese, 3 or 4, popsicles, as long as you want," Maple answered, plucking a deflated beach ball off the highest shelf before pausing. "Or was it 'popsicles' and then 'as long as you want'? Blah, my memory is crap."

Pheobie giggled softly. "Right away Maple" She smiled. She rushed off to the kitchen to gather all she would need. It wouldn't take her long to make everything, but she would need to find something to put it in...

Maple wandered around in the storage room, picking up anything beach-like and stuffing it into his bag. While he roamed through the whole mess he wondered if he should tell her his first name. He usually didn't bother since he usually didn't know people that long, but she would be traveling with him for at least a little while.

After raiding all the shelves and peering in all the boxes, Maple carried his (now-bloated) bookbag outside to wait. It made him feel like a schoolkid, with this backpack that was too heavy. Boy, that had been a while ago.

Pheobie came out a little bit later. The cat had miraculously led her to a cooler to store the food in. "I made everything you asked for" She smiled happily. "I hope you like it."

The cat meowed at her ankles as it followed.

"Alright! Then off we go!" announced Maple, taking over his GS and pressing a button on it to open a nearby door to the outside. He led the charge to vacation. "First stop...wherever we feel like!"

"Yay!" Pheobie giggled. "Will you teach me how to swim?" she asked with a small smile. "I never got to learn, because I never went near any deep water before"

"Eh...I'm not that great of a swimmer myself. Maybe we can find somebody who can teach you though. Perhaps me too while they're at it," Maple answered.

The world outside was perfectly sunny, the area around them surrounded by purple and lavender palm trees. Just beyond that was the beach, with its pale sands and wide ocean.

"Lovely day, I must say! Surprised there's not more people out."

Pheobie gazed out at the ocean in awe. "What's that? I've never seen so much water in one place before!" she blushed as she looked to Maple "Its so pretty!"

" 'Tis the ocean. And yes, you won't find as much water anyplace else. In fact, there's probably more water than land on this planet," Maple explained, walking toward the shore. How much has this girl been kept inside? Even most people who haven't been to the ocean know what it looks like from a picture or something.

"Wow~" Pheobie grinned. "Its really really pretty! I can't wait to learn to swim!"

"Well, before anyone's going swimming we need swimming clothes," said Maple, spotting a small clothing store back on the land and changing direction. "You know, bathing suits, trunks, that kind of thing."

"Like what the boys used to wear when they went swimming in the pond?" Pheobie asked. "Why can't we just swim in our clothes?"

"Because they'll be wet and soggy and heavy and possibly see-through," Maple answered. "Don't see anyone around, but it would be most awkward if anyone was watching if some of our regular clothes got lost in the tide."

"Oh. I spent the last of my money... On food..." Pheobie mumbled. "I don't think I can buy anything"

"No matter! This world takes a different currency. Even if you had a million of your money you'd still be poor as a mouse," Maple explained, pushing open the store door. "But I've got plenty, so we'll be fine."

Rows and rows of bathing suits and bikinis lined the store floor. On the sides were sun hats, shots glasses with palm trees painted on them, sandals, and various other things that may or may not have been practical but were loved by the tourists. The only missing was the people.

"Hello?" Maple called at the empty clerk desk. "Helloooo? We want to buy stuff! We've got mooneeey."

Still no response.

"Hmm...is this place closed for the season?"

Pheobie shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe its a ghost town." She stated.

"Shouldn't be. This place is popular," stated Maple, now wary as he looked around. "And even if it's the off season, the locals should still be in their stores. And even if they aren't, they wouldn't leave their door unlocked for anyone to waltz in and take their stuff."

He glanced at the GS machine on his wrist and dialed a few buttons. A silver bar appeared on the lucid screen, going halfway. Maple frowned.

"There's corruption here."

Pheobie tilted her head. "What's that? Its bad right?" she asked, taking note of his tone. "What do we do?"

"It basically means that this dimension, or at least this part of it, is unstable," Maple explained. "Let's hope that everyone's just staying away because it's strange, but...anyway, we'll get back to the ship and try to get a better analysis. It's my job to fix stuff like this, even on vacation. How typical, to go on vacation only to work."

"Okay. Want me to carry the stuff?" Pheobie asked. "I want to be useful"

"Eh, you better not," Maple advised. "You might need to-"

Maple froze when he noticed the young boy staring at them from a few feet away. For all appearances he seemed to be a normal boy, maybe a bit short for his age. But when he opened his serenely smiling mouth, what came out was a garble of noises, suddenly raising and lowering in pitch and volume.

"Run," Maple hissed, as his GS's lights shifted to red. "Run to the ship, now."

Pheobie was transfixed by the boy, but hastened to obey Maple. She blocked out the noise and run like she used to back home. She made it back to the ship, only stumbling once.

The ground warped around the boy's feet like water, as it took on a silvery tone. Then the liquidized sand rose up in tendrils and lashed out at Maple.

Maple's GS machine brought up a shield that neutralized the corrupted blows on contact, causing it to fall away into harmless sand. He lowered the shield briefly to fire a golden blast of energy from his GS device. It stuck the boy, which let out a garbled cry of pain. He flickered like a bad TV reception, but did not fade away.

Maple fired a few more blasts at the boy-like thing before retreating. He needed to get back to the ship. The GS was set to '2X Run', and Maple's fleeing doubled in speed.

Pheobie waited at the ship, wrought with worry. When Maple finally got there, she jumped to her feet. "What was that??" She asked