Permafrost

36: Iceberg

⭐️Chapter 36: Iceberg

For clarification, Fang was NOT befriending the Infernos. He was using them, using them to get his friends free and nothing else. Once the rest of the Wave Crashers were free, they'd ditch the Infernos and go find Thrash if he wasn't up this mountain already. Luckily, the Infernos didn't seem to hear the crunching of the rocky path as Fang grumpily stomped up after them. Cod, why did this mountain have to be so big?

The Infernos meanwhile, were still going up the path almost completely unaware that Fang was behind them. It felt like they still hadn't gone that far, but it was hard to tell with such a huge mountain and a spiraling path. They just hoped they wouldn't get any major catastrophes, like an avalanche or an angry sea monster or something. Ryn felt bad about leaving Fang behind, but hey, she wasn't gonna force him to join them. She believed in her childhood friends well enough to trust that the four of them could do it together.

"I wonder if it'll take longer than a day to get up there..." Ryn panted.

"Well, only way to find out is to keep going!" Silvia replied cheerfully.

"I'm still nervous about Tempest..." Cosmo said worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she wouldn't kill us" Jack reassured.

"And just how do you know?"

"Well she didn't try to kill us when we first met, right?"

"I guess you have a point..."

"But what about Fang? Do you think he'd backstab us?"

"Oh for sure. After all, he's-"

"Hey guys? Is that breathing I hear?" Silvia asked, stopping and turning around.

The rest of the Infernos turned around as well to see Fang running up to them. Naturally, they stood still and stayed in their spot to let him properly catch up. Once he reached them, he paused to catch his breath. Ryn wondered what he possibly had to say, since he seemingly didn't want to go beforehand. What had happened?

"Wow, you actually followed us?" Jack asked in a lightly sarcastic tone.

Fang just gave him a look.

"Well, you're kind of the only source of entertainment on this blasted place, so."

Jack wanted to slap him, but held back from it. If he was going to help, he should. Jack just hoped Fang would keep his end of the deal by joining them.

"Alright. Whatever you say."

And Jack turned back around and kept going up. Cosmo was glad a fight hadn't broken out, but....he was a little concerned for Fang.

"You sure you'll be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Keep...keep walkin', okay?" Fang grumbled, still trying to catch his breath.

Cosmo decided not to say anything with the other three, so the rest of the Infernos began up the mountain. They still had a long ways to go, but if Fang was now on their team, they had a new member to account for. He used a tenta brella, which was a better shield than Silvia, but took a longer amount of time to fire shots from. Fang could also just swing the brella without opening it, but it wouldn't have as much force as a dynamo. The only question remaining was, could he do anything to Tempest if she were to appear?

"H...Hey Fang? You know we have a...an icewing that could potentially attack us, right?" Ryn asked.

"Oh yeah, her? What was her name...Temple or something? Yeah, I know," Fang grumbled.
"Wait, you know her?" Silvia asked.

"I mean, I encountered her on the way to here. She asked me why I was going up the mountain and I just told her to move so I could get to my teammates."

"Oh...how did that go?" Ryn asked.

"None of your business," Fang sassed.

"I mean...you just told us how you met her so you might as well say that..." Silvia mumbled.

"I don't have to, do I?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Then I ain't gonna."

Silvia sighed, deciding not to argue any further. Fang was an...odd one, if anything. The Infernos as a whole would have to get used to the way he acted, even if they couldn't figure out why he did what he did. If the entire rest of the Wave Crashers were like this, Silvia and Ryn weren't prepared to have them as allies. Fang, despite his name, seemed to be the tamest of them all, so once another Wave Crasher was added, the Infernos were taking NO CHANCES. They planned on splitting off the two the second they joined. They didn't need bullies in their nice little friend group.

The hike was still quiet, and while nobody wanted to say anything, it was starting to get awkward. Everyone felt themselves get slower the longer they kept going. Fang however, has more energy due to having been on the ground for a while beforehand. He didn't know how long the Infernos has actually been walking, and he thought that them walking slow was just them walking slow. He was irritated at this, wasn't this rescue mission supposed to be going faster?

"Can we move any slower?" Fang grumbled.

Jack sighed angrily.

"Well, we WOULD, but we're kinda-"

"Enough of this. Let me through, you slowpokes."

Fang marched right past Ryn, Cosmo, and Silvia without hesitation. As he passed Jack, he elbowed him hard and continued on. Jack lost his balance, and tripped over a rock that was behind his shoe. Ryn yelped in alarm as he nearly toppled off the side of the mountain, but caught him just in time. Silvia and Cosmo also ran over to help tug Jack up, who was doing his best not to die at the moment.

Silvia glared at Fang, who'd continued on without a second thought. He needed to be taught some manners when this was over. Assuming he wouldn't help, the Infernos worked together to get Jack back onto his feet in a mere minute. Once he was back on stable ground, the Infernos exchanged glances. They couldn't let Fang do things like this to them and get away with it.
All of them groaned quietly, and looked up the path, where they could see Fang starting to turn to another side of the mountain.

They still had a long ways to go...