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"An how will we do that? Climb up over whoever gets the short straw?" America was one part short temper one part morbidly sincere in her question.

Otto gave Candace an irritated look."How the ******** should I know? I don't talk to these ********> He grumbled, his icy gaze flicking to the strange hunters. Their behaviour was odd, yes, but his give a ******** was broke.

And he was trying very hard not to puke after having seen thousands of bugs under the sand.

"They can find Home on their own. I'm havin' a ********' ball in the Sahara."

Eight

Candace narrowed her eyes at Otto until realization suddenly hit her. "A flat surface to balance our weight on! Would that work? I've never dealt with quicksand...I have no idea where there's any solid ground, just the tables and those who have broad, flat weapons."

Like Tenya.

Stormy obediently moved towards Abbie. The words "going home" had triggered something, a sort of odd reaction in the stilted way she moved. The sand was churning around her now, excitedly, occasionally one of the strange, long insects crawling up her side to curl around her arm and escape back insider her coat.

Lucky too was more than happy to follow Mimsy, along with the promises of home. He doggedly moved in closer, the insects squirming happily around him, several not even subtle in the way they wriggled out of the sand, and curled into his coat. "I am so happy," he said, and as he said happy one complete thin centipede-tapeworm escaped his mouth and dropped into the sand, like thick black drool.

The fog began to coil thicker as insects scurried and bounced along the sand, thanks to the efforts of the attack team. This time it was a lot more obvious as something grabbed a hold of Dakota -

- And then hundreds of thousands of insects descended upon him, filling in that void as the sand finally covered them all.

A few seconds later the Moon Hunter popped up again, looking mostly good for wear, escape the random insect that crawled out of his hair.

Otto was going to object to using Tenya for anyone but himself, but the sight of more bugs caught his attention more. More specifically, Dakota being taken over by them. Crawling all over him.

Sickness crept within his gut, his head heavy and woozy, fighting to not let his memories and instincts take over his actions.

"Wh...urp.... why do you need a bro...broad flat surface." He asked queasily to Candace, very green in the gills.

It must have been the promise of home that drew Lucky closer, if the response was any indication. The sight of the strange arthropod escaping his mouth made Mimsy giggle excitedly, eyes bright and cheerful. She touched his arm as if she were petting him, watching the insects with intrigue.

"I am so happy too," she assured him, and it sounded like she meant it this time. That feeling was reinforced as she witnessed Dakota's disappearance, consumed by more of the creatures, and she began to giggle again as she reached to take Lucky's hand.

"We will go home, and you will be even happier there. I promise." It was as if everything was back to normal. Except better, of course.

Candace didn't get a chance to even say anything else when she suddenly felt something crawl over her neck. She gasped and stared horrified as bugs crawled up and over Dakota, covering him, pulling him away from her. She let out a strangled cry and reached for him until he disappeared in the sand.

And then he reappeared, and there was a bug in his hair.

He looked fine. No. No. Not him.

"Dakota?" She squeaked out, completely forgetting her idea from before.

The fact that the Not!Stormy and the green haired guy looked more animated at the promise of being taken home but that someone else was captured was rather disheartening. Not sure what to do, Abbi gave her Not!Friend a strange sort of tilted smile before she turned a worried expression to Nevada. Not wanting to go this alone, the teen reached out toward the older girl and wiggled her fingers at her in a gesture of hoping she would take her hand first. Two was better than one, especially if it meant that maybe together they could do something.

Turning back that same tilted smile to Not!Stormy, Abbi took a deep breath.
"So what's your favorite thing about Home? Its like... Really neat, right? Do you remember how we get back?" Prying more information certainly had to yield something, didn't it? The teen shivered without her coat but kept on moving cautiously forward, her other hand still held out to the strange buggy version of her friend.