Permafrost

27: Storm

⭐️Chapter 27: Storm

So about an hour or so had passed, and the group had snacked a bit to keep themselves going. Not much had changed in the scenery around them unfortunately. They still hadn't run into any civilizations, foes, or friends. They'd seen a few birds fly by, but they were too high up for them to call them down for help. They also saw some wild ones as well.

There were still ice patches along the way, and the group had to be careful when near them as not to slip. The air hadn't gotten any warmer, and the trail in the woods had led to an open field that was just flat dirt. The Infernos didn't want to cross it because 1: they would have no way of knowing what direction they went, 2: they could be attacked by anything out here, and 3: there was currently no source of food, water, or shelter. However, there was no other path from the forest here, so they figured they might as well try and cross it. It didn't get windier or anything while they walked on it, so that was a plus.

There were no dust storms that kicked up, and the few bits of sun that shine through the clouds didn't bother them. They looked for a house or anything as they walked across, hoping that it would be easy because of the flat ground. Unfortunately, it was easier said than done. All they saw in the backgrounds was more flat land, and what they thought were mountains. They even got bored at one point and sat down to rest.

Nothing approached them, but they still felt like...something sticking up from a flat surface. For all they knew, they could be walking in the wrong direction, or worse, towards their doom. They didn't want to give in though. They had wanted to try. They were hoping the mountains had something in store for them.

The more Ryn thought about it though, the more she realized that they didn't really have a plan for what to do upon actually GETTING to the town. Heck, they didn't even have the name of the place, as all they knew was that it was by a place called Frostcap mountain.

"Hey uh, guys? What do you all think the first thing we should do upon getting to the town should be?" she asked, continuing to lead the group as they walked through the dirt field.

Silvia thought for a moment.

"If it was me, and me only, I'd go for food, then shelter, then figure stuff out. Unfortunately though, money isn't our best thing here, and this IS a living space that requires it..." she replied.

"I wanted to get a hotel first, since Tide said that that was the thing we could go to" Cosmo said.

"And yet we still haven't found it" Jack grumbled.

"Well, maybe the hotel could provide food or something. Anywho, Jack, what would you do first if we got there?" Cosmo asked.

"Make sure the place isn't a scam and that there aren't too many suspicious people around" Jack replied.

"That is true though, we wouldn't want this long trip to be for nothing" Silvia said.

Ryn thought so too.

"So Silv, how do you suggest we get money for the place?" she asked.

"That was what I was unsure about. I was hoping that one of you would have an idea, but since you don't then I'm stuck as well" Silvia replied sheepishly.

"Ah, no worries," Cosmo said, looking around to make sure they weren't being followed, "we can always just-"

Suddenly, he saw it.

A huge mutant stargazer, charging RIGHT at them. And almost for no reason, too. Cosmo quickly warned The Infernos, who had no time to think as all of them quickly dodged out of the way as the stargazer sped past them and skidded to a halt, turning around and growling at them. This was an average mutant, and it wasn't one of those weird snowy ones. However, it did seem off, since regular mutant fish usually wouldn't attack you unless they were hungry or had a reason to.

The Infernos brought out their weapons, ready to knock this thing down and out if they had to. To be honest, they could probably take bones and such from its body when they were done and sell them or money. The stargazer shook its head and charged at them again. They dodged, and Jack swung his dynamo down at its tail as it went by, and hard. Sure enough, he pinned the tail under it, and the stargazer felt it and yelped in pain.

Ryn began shooting at it, and so did Silvia, but the stargazer wriggled free from Jack's dynamo and turned on them. It leapt forward with great speed, knocking Silvia down hard as Ryn leapt out of the way. Silvia had been knocked out by the impact, but nothing was seemingly injured. Cosmo rushed forward in an attempt to save Silvia while Jack readied another swing. Unfortunately, the stargazer had figured out a few things, and swatted the dynamo down onto Cosmo with its claws before Cosmo could get within sloshing range. Cosmo was knocked out like Silvia, and since Jack was in the stargazer's sight (as Ryn was behind it), it turned on him.

Ryn got up quickly and ran towards the stargazer, shooting at it in hoes that her ink would be enough. Unfortunately it wasn't, and the stargazer had tough skin, and had already taken a missed dynamo swing as a chance to attack Jack. It successfully knocked him down due to the Dynamo weighing so much, and was batting at his head to see if he was still up. Ryn hadn't gotten her special, but she realized she didn't have time, as this thing looked like it could easily be just as fast-possibly even faster-than a swimming squid. She tried to sneak up behind it to drop a bomb...

But it turned around to check on the rest of its prey and saw her. Before she could dodge, it had knocked her down, its weight keeping her from moving too much. The splattershot was knocked out of her hand, and scratching at its legs with her fingers did nothing. The stargazer readied a claw and began knocking Ryn around like it had done with Jack. Ryn felt the blows from being hit in the head repeatedly as the stargazer kept striking her over and over...

She began losing consciousness from such hard blows...

And everything faded to darkness...