Sloth crosses the street and EV shakes his head as he looks back down at the lush green color of the bank that encompasses the round river. He looks back out to see the other three looking down, likely discussing something. What’s out there, he wonders. Will they be alright without the rest of us?

Sloth laughs out loud, breaking EV’s concentration. “Look at this dork,” Sloth says, gesturing at a manikin in a large display window. EV starts to venture over and Gluttony seems reluctant to cross as he looks down at the road. “Who would wear something like this,” Sloth asks, looking back at EV. The manikin has on cold weather gear and a flannel hat with floppy ear coverings. EV shrugs. “Hey Glu--” Sloth cuts off as he turns, EV jumping back. Crash! Clatter. Clink. Clink. EV shakes his head as Sloth slowly turns back to see his boomerang swinging out from the large display window. “Well then—I guess there’s no harm in checking out the inside…you know, since it’s already open.”

“Yeah,” EV replies. “I wonder how that happened.”

“One of life’s great mysteries.” Sloth extends his weapon up to scrape away large shards that dangle from the top of the window frame. He then reaches in, plucks the hat of the manikin, and grins broadly as he slides it onto his head. “What do you think,” Sloth asks, turning his head, posing and waiting for approval.

“I think you answered your own question—the one about the kind of dork that would wear that hat.”

Gluttony hurries across the street but then looks disturbed as he focuses on Sloth. “What’s wrong with your head?”

“Oh come on,” Sloth rebukes. “I expect EV to be jealous but you too?—Everyone’s a critic.” He turns back and steps up on a platform inside the window before stepping down onto the floor.

EV follows suit and circles back to unlock a nearby door. “Thanks,” Gluttony says, meeting him at the door. “These places sure are something.”

“Yeah,” EV says, eagerly. “All the old world stuff seems neat. I can’t even imagine what half of things are for though.” Some things clamor to the floor and the two turn their attention to Sloth as he looks behind himself in a nearby aisle. “What’s he breaking now,” EV asks, shaking his head.

“Oh, he’s just scrapping everything off a shelf as his weapon drags across it—you know, normal Sloth things.”

EV turns to look back out of the broken window and gestures out towards the river. “Are you worrying about the others?”

“Mmm—not really. I mean, they can be pretty headstrong but I think they would tell us if they needed more help, you know?”

“Maybe. They said the Yoi are draining life from other stuff right?” Gluttony nods. “If that’s true, do you think they did something with the chasm you were talking about? Maybe eroded away the ground or something?”

“I really don’t know. We’ve never come across anything like this before. All I’m familiar with is moving water, the guardian and the Yoi usually being by itself. I didn’t even know there was a color difference until you said something about it. No one has ever mentioned that before.”

“Hey guys,” Sloth calls out. “Check this thing out.”

The two look back to see Sloth prodding at something hanging from the ceiling. EV begins to smile as they approach it. “What is it,” Gluttony asks.

“I don’t know,” Sloth says. “Maybe it’s like a seating area—if you have a lot of dirty stuff around you, because then you could sit and be away from the dirt.” He nods to himself as he looks up at it and EV just shakes his head.

“No,” EV replies. “It’s actually an answer to our problem because it’s something we can use to get to the center of the river.”

“Ugh, I don’t follow. How’s a clean seating area going to get you across rapids?”

“Because your seating area floats and it’s called a boat.”

Sloth squints up at its elongated shape, being flat on one end and pointed on the other. EV’s light pulses as his dagger shapes in his hand. He quickly throws at one of the three ropes tethering it to the ceiling. Strands break away as the dagger embeds in the ceiling.

Sloth snorts, then laughs. “Good one.”

EV reshapes his dagger and throws it again, severing a few more strands. EV huffs and glares at the rope. He reshapes again as Sloth places his hand on EV’s shoulder.

“Let me help you with that,” he says, gently pushing EV aside. Sloth presses the blade of his weapon against the rope and tries to saw at it but the entire display shifts away from him as he applies pressure. He then pulls back the weapon and after bumping into a nearby shelf, he tries chopping at the rope. More strands sever and the end of the boat breaks loose, crashing to the tile floor.

“Hey,” EV protests. “Don’t break it.” Sloth shrugs and sets into the other ropes. He stops occasionally to adjust the hat on his head but they liberate the boat from its perch above the rest of the shop. EV ushers them to help get it out to the water and Sloth looks on unsure as EV slides the point into the water.

“Huh,” Sloth says. “I guess it does float.”

“Hold it still,” EV says before crawling up to the front end.

“We’re really doing this huh,” Gluttony asks as he eases his way into the center.

The boat slips off of the grass and Sloth rushes forward to plop down in the back end. The boat rocks wildly as it gets carried away in the current, EV and Gluttony death gripping the outer ledge of the boat.

“Be careful,” EV barks.

Sloth tries to sit up and look around them. The boat is slowly turning and passing around the outside of the river. “So,” Sloth asks. “Do these float things just spin around like this?”

EV sits up straighter and tries to look around them, realizing that they are missing something. The boat seems to turn at a varying speed as the three of them look around. EV then sees the crook of Sloth's weapon bent over the back of the boat. “Hey, your weapon.”

Sloth looks under his arm and notices it half in the water. “Oh, that’s my bad.” He begins lifting it from the water and the boat’s turn becomes more of an aimless drift.

“Put it back in the center and see if you can make us go straight.”

Sloth slides it back into the water and rests the crook over the back of the boat. It slides back and forth across the back end but he manages to hold it in place and pivot the weapon like a rudder. They get the boat angled towards the center but the boat continues to pass around the outside. “Just hold it there. I’m going to try something.” EV pushes his back into the point and grips the sides of the boat. He begins flapping his wings, thrusting the air towards the back of the boat, and causing them to start moving inward. The boat’s bow grinds against the rocky bottom and wedges before the back end starts to swing around in the current. EV rolls out and holds onto the boat before they float away. The other two scramble up onto the bank where they pull the boat out of the currents.

EV just rolls over on his back and breathes heavily. “We made it.”

“Yeah,” Sloth replies. “But I don’t know what you’re so worked up about it. It wasn’t that bad.”

“Are you—kidding me? I basically—pulled you across.” Sloth doesn’t answer, instead sloshing through the water to look over into a hole that the water is passing over into. EV climbs back to his feet to go look as well.

“I can’t go any further,” Gluttony says from behind them. EV looks back to him but glances around in the hole again. “There’s no way down,” Gluttony continues. “I might can glide down there but there is no way I’m getting back up again—not this way at least.”

“You think that chasm leads back out,” EV asks.

“I don’t know but it’s not worth getting stuck down there trying to figure that out.”

“Well,” Sloth says as EV looks back over at him. “Go on in and see if the others need any help.” EV raises an eyebrow at the suggestion. “Don’t look at me like that. We can tell you’re itching to check it out down there.—So head on in and I’ll look after the big guy.”

EV looks back at Gluttony who nods back. “Go on. We’ll be fine. We’ll make sure the boat doesn’t get away.”

“Alright,” EV says, standing again. “Thanks guys. And I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He steps into the water enclosed tube, vanishing before appearing as a light and zipping away.