The pink petals on the sand were, in fact, really pretty. I had fun with 05-001 as he led me past 05-002 and 05-003 who were entertaining human civilians and the other military men. Because they were AEP units, they disclosed it in advance. Once on the beach, he wanted to play a game. I asked what game he wanted to play. He cocked his head over to the net for beach volleyball. I sighed and nodded. I had never played in my life. Doing it in sand with my body sounded awful. I was not going to say no. He had that innocent puppy face they all had due to their childlike dispositions. We played, but it was clear I was out matched. The final score was 25-7. 05-001 simply dominated. As long as he was having fun. Now that that was over, I excused myself. I told him that I needed to get back to my clan. Dawg and 12-001 were both with us and I wanted them to behave themselves. At the mention of 12-001, he glared at me. "Why'd you have to bring them here!? It's not safe when they're around." he said. That was true. "That is why I need to get back." I conceded. He let me go off.
Making my way back to where we started was easy enough. I saw that 12-001 and Dawg were glaring each other down. I groaned as I knew this would happen. I walked over and put a firm hand on both of their shoulders. "I'm not sure you noticed, but this is Water Clan territory. If you make a scene here, they will shoot you. Cut it out!" I hissed at them. Both of them turned to me. They had heard from one of the rank and file PEP units that there was a pool nearby. It was a hold over from the days where the shoreline was still filled with mechanical monsters. This one was the spot all of the PEP units liked going to. There was no risk of hurting themselves. Public pools did not use salt water. They treated it with chlorine to keep the water clean. It was easy on the PEP units' skin. Apparently, 12-001 wanted to show how much better than the humans and Advocate faction PEPs he was by being a troll and beating them in races. I did not think there was much wrong with it as long as there was no violence. The world was filled with assholes. Dawg said he would stop him by winning the races.
Pretty bold to take that on himself. Then again, it was probably reflexive as it was an Advocate on Conqueror rivalry. Sparks were flying between them. Looking around, I saw most of Sixteenth Notes Clan had already left. The humans wanted to enjoy their paid vacations. The cyborgs wanted to explore a new area and see what they local cyborgs did for work and entertainment. This outing had promised a ton of fun for everyone. Paul and Brett were still there, watching them. Honestly, they had it all under control. It was fun to watch them squabble. I knew they would not hesitate to step in if it got to a place of violence. Zetsubō and Desespero were also there. They were both waiting for me to come back. That was cute. I looked at the AEP unit rivals for a moment. Both were looking at me, just waiting to challenge me if I did not let them continue fighting. "Fine. Let's go to the pool. As long as neither of you cheat or attack anyone, you can go play. This is a vacation for everyone. That means even you can have fun in here." Both of them dragged me to the pool roughly. The others came.
