Permafrost: Thunderbird

Chapter 12: That Was Shocking

⭐️Chapter 12: That Was Shocking

Naturally, Thrash still consulted George about this afterwards. For once, George agreed with him, and stated that electric ink was banned from turf unless she got some sort of nullifier to make things more fair. That earned a smug grin and a talk from Thrash, though the Infernos politely addressed the issue and said they wouldn't involve Bird any more. Bird was fine with it anyway, she was just glad she got to learn what turf war was like. The group was walking away, ignoring the angry comments from the Wave Crashers as they left. Bird had also returned N-Zap while she was at it, and the Thistlins had joined the walk too.

"You did a great job, Bird!" Ryn happily exclaimed.

Bird gasped and her eyes widened.

"R-really? I thought I did pretty badly..."

"Well yeah, you definitely could use improvement, but still. Beginner's luck, I suppose..." Jack replied.

"I'm just glad you got to shoot the big bad with this baby!" Clara chuckled, spinning the N-Zap around.

"Well, it was nothing...after all, I still made mistakes. That game was really lucky, and I'm glad I don't have to deal with throwing bombs again!" Bird admitted.

"Oh? Was it that hard?" Glade asked.

"Yeah...I wouldn't consider myself good at the game of I'm being honest. But it definitely wasn't like any of the games me and the others-er, my other friends have played before!" Bird replied.

"Who are these other friends?" Silvia asked. "And what games do you play?"

"Oh, just some cephalopods I was raised with..." Bird replied, trying to be vague. "Games included playing with a ball, puzzles, fighting each other, climbing things, races..."

"Wait, fighting each other? Physically?! Or was this pretend fighting?" Ella asked.

"Oh no, it was real! I lost lost matches, but I won some! I didn't know my ink was electric until now, though," Bird explained. "Maybe it just didn't...kick in? I haven't used it in a long time."

"Oh. I see, then..."

"You didn't...break anything, did you?" Sai asked, now concerned.

"No, and I was lucky not to! I knew a few experiments who indeed broke or tore parts of their bodies...but I don't know where they are now," Bird replied.

Ryn winced at the thought of that. Jeez, these scientists...anyone ever taught them about treating things humanely?

"Well...maybe when we defeat the scientists, we can figure out what to do with those other experiments. They sound like they need to see the light of day again," Jack said.

"Yeah...I don't even know where some of them came from. They could've been made in a lab or taken from their homes and experimented on!" Bird replied.

"Wait. Taken from their HOMES?!" Ryn exclaimed.

Bird nodded. "Yup."

"Okay, I'm preeeetty sure these scientists have broken the law by now," Clara said. "I think we have to stop them at this point."

"Have they killed anyone? Does that mean we get to kill them?" Glade asked impatiently.

"No, no. Like we said, we don't want murder on our tab," Silvia replied calmly.

"Uuugghh!"

"Yeah, I get it I want to do some damage on these guys too, but it's not like that malevolent spirit Misty. These guys are people," Jack replied.

"Are they though....if they've been around for who knows how long, and they've been treating all these other species like this..." Ella muttered.

"I don't know where the line for being sane is drawn at this point," Silvia sighed.

"Well, perhaps we'll find out if we manage to find out just what they're up to...or locate their lab!" Cosmo replied.

"Hey yeah, actually...why don't we find their lab and take it down?" Clara suggested.

"We could try, only...we don't even know where to start!" Ryn exclaimed.

"Oh yeah, I guess we don't have a trail..." Jack said.

"Until we get one, we can't even start our search!" Glade replied.

"Unless...you remember where the laboratory is, Bird?" Ella asked.

"I...hmm..."

Bird quietly tried to remember just where she's seen the laboratory. However, unpleasant memories came up the more she thought about it. They weren't exactly in the way of knowing where the location was, though. She remembered a bottom of a hill, and surrounded by trees...but not much else. She told the group what she knew, and mentioned the fact that she couldn't recall other features due to the suffering she'd had.

The two teams understood, and kept talking as they went on their walk through town and around their homes. They'd continued their conversation for quite a while, though a lack of information on their supposed foes had led them to change topics quite a lot over the course of time.

"What should we do now?" Ryn asked. "There isn't much prep work we could do since it's not like we have armor or anything. We don't have many allies to call either."

"Well, I say we resume our day like it was normal!" Clara replied. "Prepare to execute our plan with the scientists if any show up, but yknow!"

"Yeah, I guess we can do that. In the meantime, we still have to keep Bird away from everyone else..."

Ryn came to a halt as she drifted off from that sentence. No, that wasn't right, something was off about what she said. She had a sinking feeling she knew what it was.

"Wait...the Wave Crashers know that Bird exists now! And they're pretty untrustworthy...oooh, what if they practically lure the scientists here out of their own greedy desires?!" Ryn exclaimed, now starting to panic.

"Calm down Ryn, they wouldn't do something as crazy as THAT," Glade reassured her.

"Even if they did, we'd stop 'em!" Cosmo added.

"Are you sure? I don't think you realize what they're capable of..." Ryn asked worriedly.

"I think we'll be fine! It's not like the Wave Crashers are going to try to find some way to get us again, Bird's already been banned from turf! I don't know what else they'd want!" Clara said.

"Well, they probably want ME out of turf, but yeah, you got a point," Ryn replied.

"We won't let you get kicked from turf if we can help it," Silvia smiled.

"Yeah, don't you worry about that," Jack added. "Just be glad the Wave Crashers lost to us and we have the ability to deny them a match now."

"Heh, I'd like to see them try to get revenge anyway," Clara laughed. "What could they possibly do?"