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Description
Chapter 1

Razputin Aquato jumped, two-footed out of his father's caravan and landed on the familiar ground of Whispering Rock psychic summer camp, a bright smile stretching from ear to ear.  With a deep "humph", his father Augustus Aquato got out beside him. He looked past the wooden gates to the sprawling landscape of the camp beyond, then back down at his obviously elated son.  He shook his head, he still didn't like it too much but he knew there was no stopping him. All the boy ever wanted to be was a Psychonaut, and at this camp, three years ago, he had achieved his dream in just two days.

Now he was hell bent on becoming the best Psychonaut there had ever been.  Augustus sighed; it was a noble dream to be sure, however, Raz was missing quite a lot of information as to who and what the Psychonauts were. There are many harsh truths about the organization that he was too young and naïve to comprehend. Raz himself had come face to face with the danger that can come from repressed memories and inner torment in a psychic mind but it had done nothing to mar his golden dream.

Augustus paused and noticed his son wasn't at his side anymore. Confused, he looked around the caravan to see the red-haired boy lifting his large duffle bag out of the back.  The bag seemed to float out of the back and fly into Raz's hands. Perhaps a little too fast however, for the bag wished past his outstretched arms hit Raz's chest.  He fell over with a winded "Oof!"

Augustus raised and eye brow at his downed son. Raz shrugged up at him from the ground the bag quickly lifted itself up and floated obligingly in the air till its owner picked himself up.

"Guess I'm a little rusty," Raz excused.  His father looked away; it was in a way a half hearted jab at the fact that he had refused to let Raz practice his powers when they were at home.  He had already explained to him that some people might be scared of his powers. However, the Psychonaut was never really satisfied with that answer.  Somehow, Raz always seemed to know when you were lying to him. It might have had something to do with those mind reading powers he was developing.

After brushing off the dust, Raz adjusted his ruby colored goggles perfectly so they sat strait on his forehead. Raz's fashion sense hadn't changed much over the years.   He was still wearing a lucky, green turtle neck with olive stripes and his ruby red aviator goggles but due to the slightly hotter temperature this summer was bringing he had abandoned the over coat and switched his long pants in favor of capris.  Raz's auburn hair was a little longer as well. He had decided to grow it out at the cost of his pilots cap, as it was really hard to get all the hair under it now.

Raz delicately brushed one of strands of hair back behind the strap of his goggles before walking ahead passed the wooden gates of the secret training facility. His bag trailing along behind him like a well trained dog. Raz's father followed his son, unsure of his surroundings.  Raz on the other hand was right at home. The cool wind making soft rustling sounds as it rustled the levees of  the many trees almost like whispering, the slightly off mildew smell of Lake Oblongata and, most off all, the powerful psychic energy of the hidden Psitanium deposit. Raz spotted a glowing purple gas escaping from the ground a few feet away.

He took a step forward and mentally plucked the small violet arrowhead out of the ground. He held gingerly between his thumb and index finger and tilted it slightly watching how the light played off the dull edge.  It was in that moment Raz really realized how much he had missed the old camp over the few years of renovations it had undergone.

After the incident involving Truman Zanotto (who happened to be Lili's father as well as the leader of the Psychonauts) getting kidnapped. Raz, along with his team mates Sasha, Milla, and Oleander had managed to rescue him from a cleverly devised hostage situation and, even though the kidnaper was never caught, the Grand Head was so grateful to them that he offered to give a huge grant to fund the Psychonaut cadet training program at Whispering Rock.

The downside of this however was that the camp had been closed for a good few years as the updates were made.  It had been sort of rough for Raz who usually depended on the camp to provide a rich environment for honing his powers since he wasn't allowed to use them at home and although he had the occasional mission to blow off steam Raz had still felt bottled up.

He breathed out deeply and tucked the arrowhead into the black messenger bag that Sasha had given to him for his twelfth birthday. He fiddled absentmindedly with the shoulder strap as he gave the small crowd at the entrance to the camp the once over. He spotted Dogan first. His tin foil hat was rather blinding on a sunny day. Dogan was standing next to what must have been his mother and father. Raz gave the smaller boy a wave and a smile. Dogan glanced up at smiled back.

"Hi, Raz!" He yelled perhaps a little too loudly. Quite a few heads turned to face the acrobat. Same old Dogan. He sighed before making his way over to him keeping his slightly confused father in tow.

"'Sup Dogan?" Raz asked once he was within earshot.

"Nothing much, but to tell the truth I feel kinda good to be back," Dogan replied.

"I know how you feel," Raz agreed. The woman standing beside Dogan who, he had to admit, was probably the second tallest person he had ever seen (the first being Fred) tapped her son and the shoulder and inquired, "Dogan, who is this?"

"That's Raz, mom. You remember I told you about him," Dogan reminded her.
"Oh yes, nice to meet you. Dogan has told us all about your daring adventures," she informed Raz keeling down to be at eye level with him. Raz couldn't help noticing that her hair seemed to move unnaturally; almost like it was a wig, but before Raz could get a good second look she had stood back up and addressed Augustus who was standing rather uselessly behind his son.

"You must be his father the circus performer." She assumed grinning down at Augustus.  Raz looked back at his dad. This time it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.  To his credit this was the first time Augustus had met any of the other parents.

"Er… yeah. That's me," Augustus answered awkwardly.

"How nice to meet you! I'm Violet and this is my husband Carl." She stepped aside and the short man behind her gave a gruff hello. Raz chuckled. Dogan's parents sure did look strange. Dogan and Raz took a few steps away from the adults to continue their talk.

"So Dogan, what have you been doing all this time?"  Raz asked

"School mostly... I haven't been kicked out of the new one yet."  Dogan explained. Raz decide it wouldn't be a good idea to ask why he was kicked out of other schools. It probably had something to do with heads exploding.

"What about you?"  Dogan countered.

"Oh well I finally mastered the kaboom, but I'm still working on the triple flip" Raz replied forgetting he wasn't talking to a fellow acrobat.

"What's a kaboom?" Dogan questioned tilting his head to the side, mystified.

"Oh, it's when you do a front drop then a front flip in the air to a back drop then…" Raz trailed off seeing that none of this was registering with Dogan. "I'll show you it later, Ok?"

"M'kay" Dogan nodded.  They just stood there for a moment after that. It wasn't an awkward pause more like a calm silence. Then Raz had a thought.

"Hey Dogan, have you seen Lilli yet?" Raz asked. Trying to sound casual despite the fact he was extremely anxious about seeing her again.

"Yep, just now in fact. She's right behind you."  Dogan replied flatly. Raz stared at Dogan for a second in shock before his sanity snapped back. He then turned on his heels to face… Nothing.  Raz sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Ha, ha. Nice one Dogan… You really got m-" suddenly Raz felt a hand on his shoulder his head turned slowly to the side till he was looking directly into Lilli's olive eyes.  Another long moment passed, Raz's eyes not straying from Lilli's. Raz tactfully pushed back the wave of panic that the sudden appearance of his old girlfriend had unleashed and miraculously was able to simply say-

"Oh, hi Lilli…"

"Nice to see you again, tree sitter," she countered using a nickname she had thought up herself. Raz was to this day clueless as to what it meant. However the jibe did a lot to bring back Raz from his stupor he took a step back and did his best to regain his composer.

Lilli was dressed in a checkered vest on top of a clean white polo shirt. Her bottom half was sporting a short plaid skirt. Black leggings covered her legs up to just past the knees and a small gold pattern decorated the fabric just before it ended. Then the small stretch of skin before the rest was covered by her black sneakers.

Raz was almost surprised at himself. He had never been one to look so closely at something a girl was wearing but this was no normal girl. Raz had to admit she looked good. However, as attractive as her clothes were, Raz couldn't help noticing the small lumps in the front of Lilli's vest.  Raz shook his head to clear it of the poisoned thoughts that flitted to the front of his mind. He could feel a familiar feeing raising its ugly head in his chest.

Raz and Lilli had become distant after the camp had closed for renovations. They had never officially broken up but after years of separation Raz was sure he had moved on.  In her absence he had been experimenting more with love and its ways. However none of them had lasted.  Until this moment Raz had been wondering what it would be like to see Lilli would he instantly fall back in love with her? Or would he feel nothing?

Now that the moment was here... Well Raz didn't know what. He was sure as hell feeling something but was it Love? Maybe... and then again maybe not… but it was something. What he did know was that he was confused. Raz found himself instinctually checking his feet for confusion rats. Of course there were none to be found.

"So what do you think of the new camp?" Lilli asked distracting Raz from his rat worries.

"hun? Oh, I haven't had a chance took look around yet. Is it nice?" Raz responded.

"Only if you like air conditioned cabins, indoor plumbing and comfy bunk beds" Lilli smirked.

"Sounds sweet your dad must have done a good job" Raz commended

"My dad's just the wallet. Sasha, Milla, Ole, and culler did the interior design" Lilli reminded him.

They had taken to calling the coach by his childhood nick name ever since Raz had reported the events that took place in the twisted mindscape only know as the meat circus. For the most part oleander took it pretty well.

"Oh yha… well if Sasha had anything to do with the decoration I bet it looks pretty good" Raz suggested

"Not a tacky lamp in sight" Lilli quipped giving Raz a half smile.

Despite himself Raz chuckled at that. Dogan looked at both of them the joke was sadly lost on him who had never gone into Sasha's mind for training.
"So have you seen all the new kids yet?" Lilli inquired pointing over her shoulder in the general direction of the other children

"I noticed a few new faces but are there really that many?"

"Well there were like seven by my last count."

"Wow" Raz admitted

"Yha and a few of them are kinda off even by Psychonaut standers" Lilli surmised.

"Like how?" Raz asked.

"I'll show you..."  Lilli waved them over and directed them to crouch behind a nearby bolder after they were all sufficiently hidden Lilli pointed over to a camper who had their back to the rock. All Raz could see of them was the short blob of fluffy pink hair and the back of a long purple dress. 'And I thought bobby's hair looked like cotton candy' Raz considered as he looked at her almost edible looking curls.

"So… do you think that's a boy or a girl?"

"Girl obviously..." Raz concluded but a quick shake of Lilli head and the camper in question tuning around proved Raz wrong. The camper was indeed male. All be it one in red lipstick and a frilly dress.

"Holy sh-" a fingerless gloved hand covered Raz's mouth before he could finish the swear. Raz looked up confused as to why Lilli had shut him up till he heard the heavily accented German voice behind him.

"Ah Razputin nice to see our little psychic prodigy is back for more"

Sasha, now that was one aspect of camp that hadn't changed. Raz greeted his mentor forgetting Lilli had yet to remove her hand so the words sounded mostly like mumbling.

"Good to hear you haven't lost your determination" Sasha replied either reading Raz's thoughts or taking a very good guess as to what he had said. Lilli tactfully dropped her hand after that.

"Anyway I just came to inform you we have decided to make you the cabin leader for the squirrels this year. Both Milla and I think the leadership practice will do you good."  Sasha informed Raz before slipping a hand into his pocket and producing a shield shaped badge with a brown squirrel embroidered on it.

"Cool thanks! …But what do you mean by cabin leader?" Raz questioned taking the badge from Sasha's hand.

"Didn't you read the new pamphlet? You seemed so interested in the last one. I would have thought you would have memorized it my heart by now."   Sasha commented. Raz cringed did he really used to be that obsessed? Lilli decided to step in and inform Raz of the new arrangement.

"with all the new campers and the cabins being much bigger Milla thought it would be nice to  make little group out of campers bunking together." Lilli explained. Sasha nodded and added

"It was my idea to give each group a student leader it gives some of our more trusted students the chance to practice leadership skills and helps us keep an eye on everybody."  Raz looked again at the badge in his hand.  It took on a new meaning now that he understood that it meant Sasha trusted him with keeping everything in order.

"Thank you agent nein I won't let you down" Raz smiled saluting to his mentor.

"I never had any doubts" Sasha reassured Raz walking away presumably to introduce himself to some of the parents.

"Just call me the squirrel manger" Raz grinned holding his badge up for Dogan and Lilli to see.

"Don't get to full of yourself" Lilli suggested producing a similar shield but with a large looking bee sewn on it.  "You're not the only one who's a cabin leader" Raz leaned closer to look at it.  Not noticing the shadow the fell over his back. Till his father cleared his thought noisily.

"Hay dad, done talking to Mr. and miss. Boole" Raz grinned

"Yes, but it was more like escaping than finishing. That woman can sure talk about buttons" Augustus concluded.

"That's because she has a collection of them" Dogan explained

"Come on Dogan" Lilli suggested waving goodbye to Raz and dragging a bewildered Dogan behind her. The two Aquatos watched them go. Raz looked at his father simultaneously wondering what he wanted to tell him and realizing that it must be time to say farewell for the summer.

"Well I…"  Augustus started Raz rolled his eyes his father was never good with goodbyes.  Deciding to take the first step the tween went up to his dad and gave him a hug. Augustus was a little surprised but not unpleasantly so.

"Bye dad" Raz stated simply.

"Goodbye son... You be good ok."  Augustus instructed. It was a somewhat cliché statement but a sincere one.

"I will dad..." Raz agreed stepping back from his dad. Wordlessly Augustus handed Raz his duffle bag which he had been left with before Raz went off with Dogan.  Raz touched a few fingers to his temple and the bag floated up and returned to his side.

Raz's attention shifted to Milla who was waving to him to hurry up and get to the reception area for the welcome speech. Raz gave his dad a last smile and began to hurry towards the camp leader but he had only taken a few steps before he turned back and added said one more thing

"Thanks dad."

With that the young Psychonaut was gone, running up the hill at an impressive speed his bag bobbing along behind him. Augustus sighed as he watched his son go. Even though he knew Razputin couldn't hear him he still answered.

"You're welcome son, but promise you'll be careful. You don't want to end up like your poor mum."

With that Augustus made his own way out of the Psychic Summer Camp.

Description
Chapter 1

Razputin Aquato jumped, two-footed out of his father's caravan and landed on the familiar ground of Whispering Rock psychic summer camp, a bright smile stretching from ear to ear.  With a deep "humph", his father Augustus Aquato got out beside him. He looked past the wooden gates to the sprawling landscape of the camp beyond, then back down at his obviously elated son.  He shook his head, he still didn't like it too much but he knew there was no stopping him. All the boy ever wanted to be was a Psychonaut, and at this camp, three years ago, he had achieved his dream in just two days.

Now he was hell bent on becoming the best Psychonaut there had ever been.  Augustus sighed; it was a noble dream to be sure, however, Raz was missing quite a lot of information as to who and what the Psychonauts were. There are many harsh truths about the organization that he was too young and naïve to comprehend. Raz himself had come face to face with the danger that can come from repressed memories and inner torment in a psychic mind but it had done nothing to mar his golden dream.

Augustus paused and noticed his son wasn't at his side anymore. Confused, he looked around the caravan to see the red-haired boy lifting his large duffle bag out of the back.  The bag seemed to float out of the back and fly into Raz's hands. Perhaps a little too fast however, for the bag wished past his outstretched arms hit Raz's chest.  He fell over with a winded "Oof!"

Augustus raised and eye brow at his downed son. Raz shrugged up at him from the ground the bag quickly lifted itself up and floated obligingly in the air till its owner picked himself up.

"Guess I'm a little rusty," Raz excused.  His father looked away; it was in a way a half hearted jab at the fact that he had refused to let Raz practice his powers when they were at home.  He had already explained to him that some people might be scared of his powers. However, the Psychonaut was never really satisfied with that answer.  Somehow, Raz always seemed to know when you were lying to him. It might have had something to do with those mind reading powers he was developing.

After brushing off the dust, Raz adjusted his ruby colored goggles perfectly so they sat strait on his forehead. Raz's fashion sense hadn't changed much over the years.   He was still wearing a lucky, green turtle neck with olive stripes and his ruby red aviator goggles but due to the slightly hotter temperature this summer was bringing he had abandoned the over coat and switched his long pants in favor of capris.  Raz's auburn hair was a little longer as well. He had decided to grow it out at the cost of his pilots cap, as it was really hard to get all the hair under it now.

Raz delicately brushed one of strands of hair back behind the strap of his goggles before walking ahead passed the wooden gates of the secret training facility. His bag trailing along behind him like a well trained dog. Raz's father followed his son, unsure of his surroundings.  Raz on the other hand was right at home. The cool wind making soft rustling sounds as it rustled the levees of  the many trees almost like whispering, the slightly off mildew smell of Lake Oblongata and, most off all, the powerful psychic energy of the hidden Psitanium deposit. Raz spotted a glowing purple gas escaping from the ground a few feet away.

He took a step forward and mentally plucked the small violet arrowhead out of the ground. He held gingerly between his thumb and index finger and tilted it slightly watching how the light played off the dull edge.  It was in that moment Raz really realized how much he had missed the old camp over the few years of renovations it had undergone.

After the incident involving Truman Zanotto (who happened to be Lili's father as well as the leader of the Psychonauts) getting kidnapped. Raz, along with his team mates Sasha, Milla, and Oleander had managed to rescue him from a cleverly devised hostage situation and, even though the kidnaper was never caught, the Grand Head was so grateful to them that he offered to give a huge grant to fund the Psychonaut cadet training program at Whispering Rock.

The downside of this however was that the camp had been closed for a good few years as the updates were made.  It had been sort of rough for Raz who usually depended on the camp to provide a rich environment for honing his powers since he wasn't allowed to use them at home and although he had the occasional mission to blow off steam Raz had still felt bottled up.

He breathed out deeply and tucked the arrowhead into the black messenger bag that Sasha had given to him for his twelfth birthday. He fiddled absentmindedly with the shoulder strap as he gave the small crowd at the entrance to the camp the once over. He spotted Dogan first. His tin foil hat was rather blinding on a sunny day. Dogan was standing next to what must have been his mother and father. Raz gave the smaller boy a wave and a smile. Dogan glanced up at smiled back.

"Hi, Raz!" He yelled perhaps a little too loudly. Quite a few heads turned to face the acrobat. Same old Dogan. He sighed before making his way over to him keeping his slightly confused father in tow.

"'Sup Dogan?" Raz asked once he was within earshot.

"Nothing much, but to tell the truth I feel kinda good to be back," Dogan replied.

"I know how you feel," Raz agreed. The woman standing beside Dogan who, he had to admit, was probably the second tallest person he had ever seen (the first being Fred) tapped her son and the shoulder and inquired, "Dogan, who is this?"

"That's Raz, mom. You remember I told you about him," Dogan reminded her.
"Oh yes, nice to meet you. Dogan has told us all about your daring adventures," she informed Raz keeling down to be at eye level with him. Raz couldn't help noticing that her hair seemed to move unnaturally; almost like it was a wig, but before Raz could get a good second look she had stood back up and addressed Augustus who was standing rather uselessly behind his son.

"You must be his father the circus performer." She assumed grinning down at Augustus.  Raz looked back at his dad. This time it was his turn to raise an eyebrow.  To his credit this was the first time Augustus had met any of the other parents.

"Er… yeah. That's me," Augustus answered awkwardly.

"How nice to meet you! I'm Violet and this is my husband Carl." She stepped aside and the short man behind her gave a gruff hello. Raz chuckled. Dogan's parents sure did look strange. Dogan and Raz took a few steps away from the adults to continue their talk.

"So Dogan, what have you been doing all this time?"  Raz asked

"School mostly... I haven't been kicked out of the new one yet."  Dogan explained. Raz decide it wouldn't be a good idea to ask why he was kicked out of other schools. It probably had something to do with heads exploding.

"What about you?"  Dogan countered.

"Oh well I finally mastered the kaboom, but I'm still working on the triple flip" Raz replied forgetting he wasn't talking to a fellow acrobat.

"What's a kaboom?" Dogan questioned tilting his head to the side, mystified.

"Oh, it's when you do a front drop then a front flip in the air to a back drop then…" Raz trailed off seeing that none of this was registering with Dogan. "I'll show you it later, Ok?"

"M'kay" Dogan nodded.  They just stood there for a moment after that. It wasn't an awkward pause more like a calm silence. Then Raz had a thought.

"Hey Dogan, have you seen Lilli yet?" Raz asked. Trying to sound casual despite the fact he was extremely anxious about seeing her again.

"Yep, just now in fact. She's right behind you."  Dogan replied flatly. Raz stared at Dogan for a second in shock before his sanity snapped back. He then turned on his heels to face… Nothing.  Raz sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Ha, ha. Nice one Dogan… You really got m-" suddenly Raz felt a hand on his shoulder his head turned slowly to the side till he was looking directly into Lilli's olive eyes.  Another long moment passed, Raz's eyes not straying from Lilli's. Raz tactfully pushed back the wave of panic that the sudden appearance of his old girlfriend had unleashed and miraculously was able to simply say-

"Oh, hi Lilli…"

"Nice to see you again, tree sitter," she countered using a nickname she had thought up herself. Raz was to this day clueless as to what it meant. However the jibe did a lot to bring back Raz from his stupor he took a step back and did his best to regain his composer.

Lilli was dressed in a checkered vest on top of a clean white polo shirt. Her bottom half was sporting a short plaid skirt. Black leggings covered her legs up to just past the knees and a small gold pattern decorated the fabric just before it ended. Then the small stretch of skin before the rest was covered by her black sneakers.

Raz was almost surprised at himself. He had never been one to look so closely at something a girl was wearing but this was no normal girl. Raz had to admit she looked good. However, as attractive as her clothes were, Raz couldn't help noticing the small lumps in the front of Lilli's vest.  Raz shook his head to clear it of the poisoned thoughts that flitted to the front of his mind. He could feel a familiar feeing raising its ugly head in his chest.

Raz and Lilli had become distant after the camp had closed for renovations. They had never officially broken up but after years of separation Raz was sure he had moved on.  In her absence he had been experimenting more with love and its ways. However none of them had lasted.  Until this moment Raz had been wondering what it would be like to see Lilli would he instantly fall back in love with her? Or would he feel nothing?

Now that the moment was here... Well Raz didn't know what. He was sure as hell feeling something but was it Love? Maybe... and then again maybe not… but it was something. What he did know was that he was confused. Raz found himself instinctually checking his feet for confusion rats. Of course there were none to be found.

"So what do you think of the new camp?" Lilli asked distracting Raz from his rat worries.

"hun? Oh, I haven't had a chance took look around yet. Is it nice?" Raz responded.

"Only if you like air conditioned cabins, indoor plumbing and comfy bunk beds" Lilli smirked.

"Sounds sweet your dad must have done a good job" Raz commended

"My dad's just the wallet. Sasha, Milla, Ole, and culler did the interior design" Lilli reminded him.

They had taken to calling the coach by his childhood nick name ever since Raz had reported the events that took place in the twisted mindscape only know as the meat circus. For the most part oleander took it pretty well.

"Oh yha… well if Sasha had anything to do with the decoration I bet it looks pretty good" Raz suggested

"Not a tacky lamp in sight" Lilli quipped giving Raz a half smile.

Despite himself Raz chuckled at that. Dogan looked at both of them the joke was sadly lost on him who had never gone into Sasha's mind for training.
"So have you seen all the new kids yet?" Lilli inquired pointing over her shoulder in the general direction of the other children

"I noticed a few new faces but are there really that many?"

"Well there were like seven by my last count."

"Wow" Raz admitted

"Yha and a few of them are kinda off even by Psychonaut standers" Lilli surmised.

"Like how?" Raz asked.

"I'll show you..."  Lilli waved them over and directed them to crouch behind a nearby bolder after they were all sufficiently hidden Lilli pointed over to a camper who had their back to the rock. All Raz could see of them was the short blob of fluffy pink hair and the back of a long purple dress. 'And I thought bobby's hair looked like cotton candy' Raz considered as he looked at her almost edible looking curls.

"So… do you think that's a boy or a girl?"

"Girl obviously..." Raz concluded but a quick shake of Lilli head and the camper in question tuning around proved Raz wrong. The camper was indeed male. All be it one in red lipstick and a frilly dress.

"Holy sh-" a fingerless gloved hand covered Raz's mouth before he could finish the swear. Raz looked up confused as to why Lilli had shut him up till he heard the heavily accented German voice behind him.

"Ah Razputin nice to see our little psychic prodigy is back for more"

Sasha, now that was one aspect of camp that hadn't changed. Raz greeted his mentor forgetting Lilli had yet to remove her hand so the words sounded mostly like mumbling.

"Good to hear you haven't lost your determination" Sasha replied either reading Raz's thoughts or taking a very good guess as to what he had said. Lilli tactfully dropped her hand after that.

"Anyway I just came to inform you we have decided to make you the cabin leader for the squirrels this year. Both Milla and I think the leadership practice will do you good."  Sasha informed Raz before slipping a hand into his pocket and producing a shield shaped badge with a brown squirrel embroidered on it.

"Cool thanks! …But what do you mean by cabin leader?" Raz questioned taking the badge from Sasha's hand.

"Didn't you read the new pamphlet? You seemed so interested in the last one. I would have thought you would have memorized it my heart by now."   Sasha commented. Raz cringed did he really used to be that obsessed? Lilli decided to step in and inform Raz of the new arrangement.

"with all the new campers and the cabins being much bigger Milla thought it would be nice to  make little group out of campers bunking together." Lilli explained. Sasha nodded and added

"It was my idea to give each group a student leader it gives some of our more trusted students the chance to practice leadership skills and helps us keep an eye on everybody."  Raz looked again at the badge in his hand.  It took on a new meaning now that he understood that it meant Sasha trusted him with keeping everything in order.

"Thank you agent nein I won't let you down" Raz smiled saluting to his mentor.

"I never had any doubts" Sasha reassured Raz walking away presumably to introduce himself to some of the parents.

"Just call me the squirrel manger" Raz grinned holding his badge up for Dogan and Lilli to see.

"Don't get to full of yourself" Lilli suggested producing a similar shield but with a large looking bee sewn on it.  "You're not the only one who's a cabin leader" Raz leaned closer to look at it.  Not noticing the shadow the fell over his back. Till his father cleared his thought noisily.

"Hay dad, done talking to Mr. and miss. Boole" Raz grinned

"Yes, but it was more like escaping than finishing. That woman can sure talk about buttons" Augustus concluded.

"That's because she has a collection of them" Dogan explained

"Come on Dogan" Lilli suggested waving goodbye to Raz and dragging a bewildered Dogan behind her. The two Aquatos watched them go. Raz looked at his father simultaneously wondering what he wanted to tell him and realizing that it must be time to say farewell for the summer.

"Well I…"  Augustus started Raz rolled his eyes his father was never good with goodbyes.  Deciding to take the first step the tween went up to his dad and gave him a hug. Augustus was a little surprised but not unpleasantly so.

"Bye dad" Raz stated simply.

"Goodbye son... You be good ok."  Augustus instructed. It was a somewhat cliché statement but a sincere one.

"I will dad..." Raz agreed stepping back from his dad. Wordlessly Augustus handed Raz his duffle bag which he had been left with before Raz went off with Dogan.  Raz touched a few fingers to his temple and the bag floated up and returned to his side.

Raz's attention shifted to Milla who was waving to him to hurry up and get to the reception area for the welcome speech. Raz gave his dad a last smile and began to hurry towards the camp leader but he had only taken a few steps before he turned back and added said one more thing

"Thanks dad."

With that the young Psychonaut was gone, running up the hill at an impressive speed his bag bobbing along behind him. Augustus sighed as he watched his son go. Even though he knew Razputin couldn't hear him he still answered.

"You're welcome son, but promise you'll be careful. You don't want to end up like your poor mum."

With that Augustus made his own way out of the Psychic Summer Camp.