Grunt Work

Thunderbird

I know a fair bit about the Thunderbird, not gonna lie. A bit more than some random person.

I'm not a fangirl or anything, but I do know more than most.

Grab some person off the street and ask them why they called themselves the Thunderbird and they'd probably say, 'oh, because they're Native American?'

Which is true. They are Native American - of the Ojibwe tribe, specifically. But that's not why. It's not just that they wanted something significant and symbolic of their culture. It's because the last two North American fire Elementals were called Pyro the Dragon and Pyro 2: Electric Boogaloo and they wanted something that wasn't chosen by an internet poll. Bloody Americans.

I know that the Thunderbird, the person, can turn into Thunderbird, the giant bird forme, and that when they do so they become the bird. To be honest I'm a little confused about this, but I just go with it. They're a person, they're a bird. It's the 21st century, don't be so judgy.

I know that they've been the Thunderbird for nearly eleven years and have fought twenty three major battles and saved the world four times. It's a pretty good run, to be fair.

I know they graduated from Princeton, likes herbal tea and antiquing, and has a bulldog named Iroh, who has his own Instagram account.

I know all of this because on top of training with Mr Huggles, I also had to study the Elementals, with particular attention to the Thunderbird.

It's my job to know these things, because this was all part of the Kaptain's plan. This is why I'm here. This is why I had to wait and watch.

I was the answer to the Thunderbird. Or rather, Mr Huggles was. But it's one and the same at this point, to be honest.

The grunts ran past me. Some looked up, knowing I was these, probably hoping for me to jump in, but I knew I had to wait. The Kaptain said to wait, so I wait.

The Kaptain ran past me. He paused to gather his strength, create a large shield of water, then with a thrust of his arms the shield flew up into the air, stopping the Thunderbird in mid-flight. Just for a brief moment. The Kaptain ran away, and the Thunderbird swooped overhead in pursuit.

In all that time, learning about the Thunderbird, I learned something important:

The Thunderbird forme is really fucking big. Like, huge.

What that meant is that it has a few blind spots. Behind it, obviously, and, if it was focused on chasing something, it couldn't easily see underneath it. Something it had already flown over.

Like me.

As the head of the giant bird swooped over, I took up my controls and aimed Mr Huggles at its underside. With a press of my triggers, the kraken shot out two long tentacles up into the air to grab hold of the Thunderbird's left wing. The bird let out a loud shriek but it couldn't stop, and as it soared by us, Mr Huggles and I were swept up into the air, our climb made all the faster as Mr Huggles reached up with more tentacles, to hug the wing better. But as soon as we'd shot up, we went down again. The Thunderbird couldn't fly with one wing, and when Mr Huggles squirted his ink into its eyes, it definitely didn't want to stay in the air, and we all crashed hard into the jungle that bordered George Town's waterfront.

Mr Huggles was safe, though, don't worry. He'd got onto the bird's back and used it as protection from the ground. I bit my tongue though. It bloody hurts.

The bird disappeared and the person that was the Thunderbird returned, lying still on the ground, and it was easy enough for Mr Huggles to pick them up and take their unconscious body to Kaptain Kraken's submersible, which was waiting underwater, five hundred metres from the shoreline.

And that's how we captured the Thunderbird.