That didn't seem to help Long's conviction.

Rosen grinned, "Stop being such a sour grape and c'mon!" he said, grabbing Long's hand.

"... I don't know if I'm up for this," he told Rosen.

Rosen waved a hand, "Trust me," he smiled.

Long sighed a little, but he didn't protest any further.

"I'll bring some more pain meds along," he chirped as he led Long back to the chair.

"That's not necessary," Long reassured Rosen.

"I insist," he replied.

"I'm not in pain," Long reminded Rosen. "My body is just weak."

"Okay, I believe you," Rosen said guided Long into the chair, "But I bet even as you are now... you could still beat me up with you wanted to," he chuckled.

Long didn't reply. It wasn't clear if it was because he didn't want to disagree or if he didn't want to hurt Rosen's feelings.

"It's okay," Rosen replied, assuming the later, "I know I'm not that physically strong. I'm just meant to be pretty." He flashed a smile. "Though I'm not totally defenseless like James."

Long still didn't say anything.

Rosen patted Long's head before zooming off towards the Juttles.

Long didn't seem to like the pat on the head, but didn't complain.

So Rosen zoomed to a Juttle before getting off, "So I don't think Wolfe would like me taking you off the base," he chuckled, "... Let's keep this on the DL," he winked before getting on board.

Long blinked blankly, but he didn't say anything.

So Rosen maneuvered the hooverchair in the back, "You should lay down why I get us there," he suggested.

--

Nic soon found that Kale had indeed not been anywhere he was supposed to be and after a week and a half of no contact, it was going to be difficult to track him down.

Long didn't protest, slowly finding a place to lay down.

--

So Nic got to work trying to track Kale down.

Rosen flew for awhile, though after a certain amount of time Long could tell Rosen was flying in circles.

Long was very aware of Rosen's flying, but he didn't comment on it - the longer Rosen flew in circles, the longer he had to think.

After a longer period of time, it became pretty evident that Rosen was lost.

Long wasn't sure what to do. After some more musings he slowly got up and went to check out the situation.

It appeared that Rosen still thought he knew where he was going as he greeted Long with, "We're almost there," even though they were passing over the same island for the seventh time.

So Long didn't say anything as he took a seat near the front.

And so Rosen took them in another big circle before passing over the island an 8th time. "Man, it sure would be easy to get lost around here, right?" he chuckled, "The islands all look the same!"

Long paused before nodding a little. It didn't look like he was going to say anything.

Eventually Rosen looked around and sighed, "Funny, we should be there by now."

. . .

Long still said nothing.

Rosen was silent for another circle before looking down, "Well, change of plans!" he announced, "We'll stop by a resort instead."

Long paused before getting up and walking over to Rosen, putting a hand on his shoulder as if looking out the window.

Rosen blinked up at him, "Everything alright?" he asked good-naturedly.

Long looked out the window as his hand moved on Rosen's shoulder slightly closer to his neck. "... Thanks," he told Rosen quietly.

Rosen blinked again, "For what?" he asked.

"... For being my friend," he replied quietly. But before Rosen could reply, Long squeezed his hand which pinched a nerve that rendered him unconscious.

So Rosen fell unconscious and started to fall from the chair.

When Rosen woke, it was much later in the day. He could tell right away because he was laying on a beach in the sand by the water. It looked like Long had landed the juttle on a small, deserted beach. Long wasn't immediately seen, but the juttle was still there. There was a knife from the juttle on the ground by Rosen sticking up in the sand. Apart from a little soreness from being knocked out, a little more sun, and a little more sand, Rosen was in the same state as when he was knocked out.

Rosen sat up with a grunt. He paused for a fraction of a moment before grabbing the knife, getting to his feet and going after Long.

After a little looking, Rosen found Long on the other side of the island sitting in the shallow water.