Permafrost: Thunderbird

Chapter 1: What A Lovely Day

⭐️Chapter 1: What A Lovely Day 

Ink flew around the turfing stage as each member of their respective team tried to cover as much ground as they could. It was just your average every day turf match that happened some weeks after the whole "Rinkling invasion" thing. Infernos vs Wave Crashers, and for the....god, they never even bothered to count. They'd just gone back and fourth between winning and losing, and boy was it a pain. No matter how hard the Infernos tried to avoid the bully team, they somehow found themselves running into each other again. It was practically pointless to have this sort of rivalry, and yet it existed anyway. 

The last (and more recent) time the group clashed, The Wave Crashers had absolutely demolished the Infernos with a very very large victory, practically a 70% to 20% win (The Infernos being the lesser number). This time, things were starting to get more equal as each group traversed the easy-to-turf stage, Flatfish Fields. It was similar to an area Ryn had heard about called "Port Mackerel", since it was flat as well with obstacles creating narrow paths on the stage. Nonetheless, the Infernos were hoping to win this fight. The timer was counting down, and in a few seconds, both teams would get to see who won.

Just a little bit longer...

-----

The Infernos lost.

At least it was by less this time, they'd gotten around a 40% in comparison to the Wave Crasher's 50%. But nonetheless, they had still lost. They said nothing as they readied themselves for the boasting and insults coming from the Wave Crashers, who'd already gotten large, nasty squit-eating grind on their faces.

"Well well well! Looks like we've won twice in a row now!" Thrash cackled. 

"Guess that's gotta mean something, eh?" Thorne sneered.

"I guess we ARE better than you! Can't even win twice in a row like us, eh? Pathetic!" Spyke laughed.

"Oh, I'll show you..." Jack growled under his breath, unable to tolerate this for as long as he'd thought he could.

Ryn glared at Fang, the member who'd helped out the Infernos before. He simply gave a shrug, as if he was apathetic about the whole situation. God, what was with him? What happened to that persona the Infernos got to know beforehand? The more protective yet slightly caring one Well, whatever. Until further notice, that Fang didn't exist anymore. There was only this mean, original one in his place. Jack was getting riled up with Thrash again despite being at least a foot shorter than him.

"Hah you're so bad even a minnow could do better than you, REDHEAD!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK, TRASH BIN!"

"MAKE ME!"

The bus to take them back to Laocrah town soon arrived, and the group went quiet. There was an agreed-upon silence as they rode back since none of them knew how to get back home from here, and if they destroyed the bus then they'd probably have to pay fees and get involved with legal action or something. Tensions were still high and rude gestures were exchanged (mostly by Thrash and Jack, anyway), but Ryn simply did her best to drown it out. Once they got out and away from the lobby, Jack and Thrash continued shouting at each other. They were outside, and not many people were around, so it was okay...sort of.

"WE COULD BEAT YOU IF WE WANTED, YOU GUYS JUST PLAYED DIRTY LAST TIME!"

"WE ALWAYS PLAY DIRTY, STUPID! AT LEAST WE DON'T CHEAT BY GIVING OUR INK SUPERPOWERS OR SOMETHIN'!"

"HEY YOU KNOW WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT THAT!"

"WELL SUCKS TO BE YOU, WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT HOW WE WORK EITHER!"

"GRRR!"

The other members of the groups didn't interfere, though Spyke and Thorne were quietly cheering for Thrash through egotistical grins. Silvia and Cosmo just have them a look, and Ryn scowled. God, would anyone ever actually do anything to teams that behaved this way? Sure, it wasn't like they'd committed a crime, but would a rule of being polite and civil hurt? As they stood around, Ryn was doing her best not to shoot her ink at the Wave Crashers. That would only spark an even worse fight.

Fang on the other hand, had to admit, he thought this was all just a one time thing. The Wave Crashers and The Infernos would collide once or twice, maybe even three times, and then never see each other again unless there was a tournament or something. Yet...here they were, clashing over and over again...why? He hadn't seen Thrash this picky over a turf match...ever. What was going on?

Maybe it was because of that girl with boiling hot ink...what was her name, Ryn? Yeah, he'd never seen something like that, but why did it matter? If she splatted someone they couldn't feel it, and she hardly ever managed to land hits with her ink that didn't splat and would therefore burn, so what was the problem? Nonetheless, Thrash was as stubborn as ever to prove to this inkling that cheating wasn't tolerated and normal people could still beat them. But what did that matter? They'd probably lost hundreds or thousands of regular turf matches before, like any other normal person.

Fang sighed in irritation as he started to walk away. Thorne soon noticed he was leaving.

"Hey, where ya goin'? Wanna make fun of these losers with us? You can smack 'em with your brella if you want!"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I have work at home to do."

Ryn watched as Fang left the scene. That was probably a good idea, to leave this fight before it got worse. Jack and Thrash were already exchanging blows via punch since ink was a little more dangerous, especially with no respawn point nearby. Ryn called out to Jack and asked him to come back with the rest of the group. She explained what was going on and the group nodded before turning away to leave those meanies alone. Of course, it really just made Thrash, Thorne, and Spyke more confident if anything.

The Infernos walked away as they heard the Wave Crashers guffawing behind them. God, as much as they wanted to see them suffer, there really wasn't much they could do except train. Train for another turf war and pray to cod that they would do better next time, actually kick butt. Ryn personally felt it was her fault, since she was the leader of the group. As each member split off to go back to their homes to cool down, Ryn held back a sniffle and a sob.

Man, she sure felt like a failure today.