Danny was the first to come out of the river. Adem was second, his strange aquatic suit morphing back into robes as Danny's quills started morphing back into normal skin. Then came Priest and Zarch.
"Where's Baxter?" Danny asked.
Everyone looked at the river. No sign of him.
"He was with me but we got separated in the confusion," Zarch said.
"Shit!" Danny said. His quills grew back before they could completely disappear, and he jumped back into the river.
Swimming against the tide proved to be extremely difficult but not impossible. Danny adapted his lungs so he didn't need to breath, which gave him all the time in the world. The problem was that Ozzy's time was probably running out.
After swimming for a bit Danny saw Ozzy sitting in the bottom of the river in spite of the strong current, crosslegged and holding on to the little air he had left inside his mouth. When he noticed Danny he raised an arm and touched his wrist with a finger from his other hand, meaning "About damn time!".
Danny reached Ozzy and morphed his legs into the heaviest thing he could think of so the current wouldn't drag him, and his arms into the strongest thing he could think of so he could pick up Ozzy take him to safety. The aussie from the future looked incredibly weird with giant elephant legs and big gorilla arms.
"He's taking too long..." Adem said. "Should I go in there too?"
Before anyone could say anything, something came flying out of the river and fell heavily to the ground.
"Ouch," Ozzy said, arms and leg spread in the dirt.
"You're welcome," Danny said as he came out of the river.
"What now, chief?" Priest asked as he and Zarch helped Ozzy get up.
"Retreat, regroup and reattack." Danny answered.
"Sounds like a plan," Priest replied.
As the group started getting back on the move, Zarch approached Danny.
"I don't know if this is the best time to say this or even if it makes any difference," he said, "but I wasn't in the Strikeforce."
"Xiang said all your references checked," Danny stated.
"Epicenter was in the Strikeforce. I hopped into his body in Antarctica, after he quit."
"You were in Antartctica?" Danny asked. A hint of regret for not going himself could be heard in his voice.
"Yeah. When the body I was using got killed I jumped into Epicenter."
"Then you were lying about what you told us about the Strikeforce?" Ozzy asked.
"I wasn't lying," Zarch said as he turned to look at Ozzy. "See... my memory works in a strange way. The memory of the people I inhabit, rather. Some things I remember when they're asked to me, like the stuff about the Strikeforce. Others, stuff like skills and technical knowledge, come when I have to use them. Most memories come through dreams."
"That's interesting," Danny said. "You were right."
"About what?" Zarch asked.
"It makes no difference. Let's get going."
