The Main Attraction
Chapter 29: A Trust That Is Contested
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It hurts to say your name. How could you do this and walk away?
-Liars Inc, Freakhouse
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"Come on! We are almost there!" Dr. Crobat shouted back at the children. He had stopped for a moment in order to let them catch up. "Keep up the pace!"
Penny opened her mouth and panted heavily. She struggled to take in a breath, trying to keep up with the zoner that was leading them down this path. She tried not to glare at him. She understood the urgency and she couldn't really blame him for wanting to go fast. But sheesh, he could at least give them some time to catch up with him.
Mint was having some trouble as well. And why shouldn't he? Why shouldn't they? Dr. Crobat wasn't the one who was stuck in the quick sand. He was not the one who had been struggling to get up to the surface and try to breathe. He was completely fine, from the looks of it. He should be taking that into consideration.
"We're doing the best that we can, Dr. Crobat!" Penny called back to him. She gave a few heavy pants before she continued. "We're trying to keep up!"
"Well try harder! You know you can't stay out here for that long!" The bird-like zoner called out to her. There was a slight impatient tone in his voice, something that made Penny flinch. "I don't want you captured again!"
Penny let out a groan and she struggled to quicken her pace. It was a little difficult keeping it up, however. Especially considering the fact that, well, she, and surely Mint as well, was still affected by the quicksand situation earlier. Her body felt weak and shaky. Her throat still ached as she had accidentally breathed in a little bit of sand. Adrenaline may have left her body, but she was still afflicted by its affects.
She still could not believe just how close she had come to dying. It would have been so easy, too. All she had to do was stay under long enough and she would have...
This was a surprisingly smart move, but not something she did not expect from Sandra. She clearly wanted them out of the way. She was taking no chances this time. She wanted to make sure that anyone standing in her way was stopped. And she was trying to do that with her and Mint the most permanent way possible: by killing them.
She lifted her head and looked out ahead, beyond Dr. Crobat, who was walking in front of them. She was not sure just how long they had been walking. But she knew that they had covered quite the distance. She could already see the distant shape of that hideout they were in coming into view. Despite what Dr. Crobat said, they still had some distance to go. It would take a little while before they got there. The sooner they did, the better. So she pressed on, moving herself as quickly across the ground as she could.
She turned her head to make sure that Mint was able to keep up as well. He was moving along mostly okay, though his legs were a bit shakier and more wobbly than she herself was walking. She narrowed her eyes slightly in concern. She looked back at Dr. Crobat for a moment, a bit miffed that he hadn't offered to help Mint. That was strange, but she dismissed it due to the tension of the situation.
She moved back and stood right next to Mint. She looked at him, noting his confused expression. She then moved in closer and grabbed onto his arm, looping it across her shoulder. "Here, let me help you." She said as she steadied herself, allowing Mint to use her to keep himself from falling over. "I think this will help things go a little faster."
Mint looked at in her shock, clearly not expecting this gesture. "Um..thanks. I..hope I am not..."
Penny shook her head. "No, it's not a problem at all!" She gave him a gentle smile before she started to move forward, carefully helping Mint along with her. "Now let's get going before Dr. Crobat leaves us behind..."
They continued on their way, trying to stay close behind Dr. Crobat the best that they could. With her helping Mint, they were able to keep up a relatively good pace, keeping themselves from falling to far behind. It was a little hard at times to keep Mint from falling, but all in all, they were making good progress. Penny didn't mind holding up his weight. Compared to what she did for her mother, this was almost nothing to her.
She narrowed her eyes as she tried to think of what they were going to do when they got back to the hideout. She hadn't noticed any Beanie Boys on patrol, but that did not mean that they weren't there. Or Sandra... She might be occasionally flying around, looking to see if there were any intruders. And who is to say that she wasn't going to check on the quick sand trap to make sure they were absolutely dead?
They would need to be very careful. They would have to find another way in. Sandra might have figured out how they got in and had some kind of security in place there. They would also need to figure out just how they were going to defend themselves, and how they were going to find Rudy and Snap and rescue them. Even with Dr. Crobat helping them, it was not going to be an easy task. They were going to need to really think about this before they even tried to re-enter this place.
They continued their trek forward. They kept close behind Dr. Crobat as they made their way. Up and down the tough terrain, moving around and over rocks, whatever they needed to do. Despite getting gradually closer, it still felt like it was taking forever, and she felt herself start to pant heavier, causing her throat to hurt a little more.
She wasn't sure how much more time had passed at this point. She would imagine that they had walked at least another fifteen to twenty minutes. Maybe even longer than that. It was so hard to tell when the sun never moved. She could still feel it beating down on her, making her feet hotter. She normally could handle this, but she hadn't been stuck in the desert for this long having to carry something heavy with her while having to keep a quick pace to get somewhere as quickly as possible. This was so draining on her.
She started to feel an ache in her shoulder. She hadn't realized that she had been walking a while with Mint. She hadn't walked this much with heavy things for her mother. Despite her pain, however, she still kept in going, keeping her grip on Mint secure.
But she wasn't able to pull it off for long. It wasn't that it was causing her extreme pain or anything. It was just..she was not used to having so much pressure centered at one point like this. Mint was heavier than she was, after all. And to have him lean on her like this for so long... She couldn't stop her legs from starting to buckle slightly and she was wobbling a little to the side, despite her efforts to keep herself from falling over.
"Penny?" Mint grabbed onto her and held her up, keeping her from falling over. "Are you okay?"
Penny nodded her head slowly. "Y-Yeah...I'm fine. I..."
"Don't lie to me. I can tell you are having a hard time standing up. Please, let me help you." Mint moved in closer, attempting to loop Penny's arm over him. When the girl pulled it away, he narrowed his eyes. "Penny, don't fool around like this. We need to get going or..."
"I told you I'm fine!" Penny tried to wriggle away from him. When she managed, she walked a couple feet away. "See? I'm..." Penny suddenly felt weak in her legs and she nearly toppled over.
"Penny!" Mint called out as he rushed to her side. He grabbed onto her arm and held onto it. He helped her to the ground, onto her knee. "You see? Something is wrong! What did..." His eyes suddenly wideend and it was easy to read the guilt on his face. "It's because of me, right?" He spoke in a soft tone of voice. "You helping me for that long...you overexerted yourself. I'm..." He placed a hand to himself. "I'm so sorry, I..."
Penny shook her head. "No, it's all right. I just..." She seethed as she placed a hand on her forehead. "I'm just not used to moving heavy things in the heat for this long without rest or water.." She widened her eyes and she stared at Mint, realizing what she said. "I'm not implying that you are fat or anything."
Mint smiled gently. "Don't worry. I know exactly what you mean." His more serious expression returned. "Are you sure that you can keep walking?"
Penny nodded her head. "Y-Yeah, I think I..."
"We can rest, you know." Mint offered.
"But our friends.." Her eyes widened.
"I know. But you won't be of any good to them if you exert yourself to death, now would you?" Mint reached over and touched her shoulder. "It will be all right. Five minutes won't hurt. I seriously doubt it's going to make that much of a difference."
Penny flinched at this. "I do hope you are right.."
"Hey, what's the hold up?!"
Penny and Mint flinched at that almost harsh tone of voice. They looked over and they saw Dr. Crobat coming back towards them. His eyes were a little narrowed and he looked less than pleased. Strangest of all is that he did not seem to acknowledge that she was tired. Perhaps he really was just anxious about this whole thing, but still...
"We can't be sitting around here! We need to get to that castle!" Barked Dr. Crobat, raising a wing up towards the air. "You know very well what could happen if we don't get there in time!"
Mint nodded his head almost stiffly. "Yes, but..." He looked over and stared at Penny. "She needs just a little bit of rest. She overworked herself." He looked back at Dr. Crobat. "Surely a few minutes wouldn't hurt."
Dr. Crobat gritted his teeth. "I don't care! We are not wasting time!" He glared down at Penny. "Get up now before I make you get up! And hurry it along! Time is a wasting and there is no time for stragglers like you!"
This caused the two teenagers to immediately freeze, their eyes widening as they stared at the zoner in utter shock. They fell silent, unable to say anything. The only thing they could do is stare, their minds swirling around as they tried to process just what happened.
Penny's initial reaction was hurt. How could Dr. Crobat say something like that about her? Wasn't he supposed to be her friend? Or at the very least, an ally? And he was a doctor for crying out loud. He shouldn't be saying stuff like this about those he is with who are injured or uncomfortable. He should be asking if she is okay and trying to help her feel better, not suddenly treat her like she was nothing. Just...how could he do this...?
Her next reaction was anger. It took her all her energy not to frown at him. She did not want to escalate things of course. But the fact that he was acting this way at all... She couldn't help but feel a sting of disappiontment. She would have expected better from this guy.
It seemed Mint could not keep himself still or quiet or long. Penny turned her head to watch him as he started to take a few steps forward. She felt her heart twist as she repeated over and over in her head about Mint being careful. Though she could not get herself to raise her voice enough to actually speak those words.
Mint stood in front of her, glaring intently at Dr. Crobat. The stand off between the two was quite tense. There hadn't been any words spoken yet, but Penny could just feel how thick everything was getting. She wanted to say something, but she ended up just remaining quiet and watching from the ground, wondering what was going to happen next.
For the next several moments, Mint was utterly silent. He glared intently at the bird zoner, small fists forming in his head. Dr. Crobat looked equally irritated. His beak gritted a little and he pulled his head back, looking as if he wanted to shout again. Mint remained a little calmer looking, though Penny was not sure how long that was going to last. And when she saw Mint move a little closer, she feared the worst.
Mint clenched his teeth and gave a soft seethe for a moment, and then he opened his mouth and, at last, he finally spoke. He managed to keep his voice low and calm, despite the fact that he was clearly still angry. "Are you feeling all right..." He turned his head to the side. "...doctor...?"
Dr. Crobat took a small step back. "I have no idea why you're even asking that. Look, we need to get going, and we can't be..."
Mint cut him off. "I ask you again. Are you feeling okay?"
Dr. Crobat growled under his breath. He placed one of his wings against his head and shook it. "And I don't know why you're asking! Of course I'm not fine! We're standing around here, wasting precious time, when we should be moving!"
"I see..." Mint nodded his head slowly. It was almost incredible the way that he was able to remain calm during this. Penny would have thought that he'd raise his voice. But no, Mint's voice remained as soft as ever. "Well, it's just that... I've seen you under pressure before and you've always had remained calm. Or at least, calmer than this." He motioned his hand towards the bird. "I'm just wondering if you feeling unwell. Surely something must be going on for you to act so...snippy."
"What?! Me? Snippy?!" Howled Dr. Crobat, his voice raising in volume. "I-I'm not the one who is snippy! You are!" He pointed a feather in the teen's direction. "You are the one who is deliberately stalling for time! Are you hiding anything?!"
Mint calmly shook his head. "I can assure you that I am not." His eyes narrowed slightly. "I think something is wrong. I don't think you would be acting like this if there wasn't. So tell me, Dr. Crobat..." Mint paused for a moment, staring intently into the bird's eyes. "What is wrong with you?"
Dr. Crobat's feathers ruffled up for a moment. "Nothing is wrong with me! You...You Enemy Creator!"
Penny took in a sharp gasp of breath at this. She put her hand over her mouth, unable to believe what she just heard. She could feel her heart racing in her chest, twisting slightly, a sickening feeling rushing through her gut. Dr. Crobat...would never say something like that...would he? She just...this didn't make any sense. She looked up at Mint, trying to see his expression.
From this angle, she could not see much. But she was able to see enough that Mint had noticeably flinched at the comment. He remained still, however, doing nothing to respond just yet. If anything, he looked...like he had expected that comment. But..how?
Then, after several moments of silence, Mint spoke through a slightly gritted mouth, "You...are not Dr. Crobat. Are you...?"
Penny's eyes bulged at this. She stared at Mint in shock, wondering how he could have made such an accusation. But then, it all started to make sense. Looking back at the bird-like zoner, although he looked like Dr. Crobat, he certainly wasn't acting like him. Even if this was his body, the mind occupying this body was...something else. Or at the very least, something was going on. And somehow, Mint was able to detect it. She still wondered how he noticed, and she did not.
Dr. Crobat's body had stiffened up at this comment, and he moved another step back. His whole body soon started to tremble as his widened eyes locked onto Mint's. He stammered and he struggled to speak. Anything he said was just incoherent, or a few little words like 'you' and 'why'. This lasted for what felt like several long, tedious minutes before he finally gave a response.
A physical one.
Before Mint had a chance to react, Dr. Crobat had charged right at him. One of his feet was lifted up and it struck him against his chest. Mint let out a pained cry as he was rammed into the ground. He rolled across the ground before he stopped several feet away.
Penny watched this with widened eyes. "Mint!" She shouted in horror. Then, hearing a growl, she turned her head and saw that Dr. Crobat was racing towards her, wings spread out and beak split wide open. She let out a scream and brought her hands up in self defense. Moments later, he collided with her.
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"Aaaaahhhhh!"
Rudy immediately jolted at this. If he still had working legs, he would have jumped straight into the air at this. He stiffened up seconds later, looking left and right as he tried to figure out just what could have made that noise. It took him only a relatively short amount of time before he realized just what that was.
"Snap..." Rudy whispered under his breath. He turned his head slowly, his eyes matching up in the direction that he had heard that sound in. He could feel his heart start to twist. "Snap...!"
Although he knew that it would do him absolutely no good, Rudy started to try to bang his way out. With a tightly formed fist, he began to strike against the bars as hard as he could. Again and again, he struck down, attempting to break it open. Each slam caused an increase of pain in his hand, spreading upward along his arm. Buth is desperation prevented him from stopping, and he just kept going.
He had to get out of here. He had to try. He couldn't stop. Epecially not for something as lame as 'his hand was hurting'. No, that was no excuse at all. He had to keep trying to free himself, no matter what. Snap was in trouble. That scream...it was clear that he was calling out for help. And he had to be there for him. He was his best friend. He couldn't let him down.
He wasn't sure how much time passed as he kept banging his hand against the metal bars over and over again. Time seemed to have stood still, and he was no longer really paying all that much attention to it. Right now, he had a bigger issue in trying to get out of here. He couldn't give up. He wouldn't give up. Snap wouldn't give up on him. He couldn't give up on him in return. He just needed to keep trying. Sooner or later, these bars would have to come down, right? He just needed to keep going and...
"Stop it! Please, stop it!" Jyker suddenly shouted. This caused Rudy to jolt once before looking back at the hyena zoner. "Y-You are not doing any good! Just stop b-b-before Sandra decides to g-g-give you a reason to stop!"
Rudy stared at him for a moment before narrowing his eyes. "I can't stop! My friend is out there!" Rudy shifted his head back towards the bars. "If you don't want to help me, fine. But don't..."
Jyker cut him off. "You won't be able to break them down! Trust me, I've t-t-tried!" Jyker's weakened voice had a bit of hysteria in it, a little more energy. It made Rudy wonder for a moment if he was afraid of something. "Just stop it, okay? Y-Y-You aren't going to do yourself a-any f-favors..."
Rudy ignored him after that. Jyker did continue to speak, but Rudy just drowned him out in his own thoughts. He kept his attention on the wall before him, his eyes narrowed into slits. He had to find a way to break this thing down and fast. He looked down at his hand, still feeling the ache going through it. Then he turned to his other hand. It wasn't going to make much of a difference, but, it was the only thing that he could do.
With his other hand, he started to punch against the bars as hard as he could, just like before. He just kept on striking, ignoring Jyker's pleads for him to stop. Eventually Rudy did notice one or two of the bars start to wobble and shake a little. It was not much, but it was still enough to encourage Rudy to try hitting harder. Maybe if he targeted a weak spot repeatedly, it would be enough to...
Suddenly he felt something grabbing onto him. He let out a yelp of surprise as he was pushed into the ground by something kind of heavy, and furry. He kept his eyes squeezed shut as he gritted his teeth for several seconds. Then he opened his eyes and looked up.
He found them coming face to face with a set of hyena eyes. Jyker had him pinned down to the ground, his paw-like hands gripping his arms and holding him there. He was panting heavily, still looking pretty unnerved like from before, his eyes hinting at some kind of anxiety. Given his injuries, Rudy was impressed that he could move that quickly at all, but this was soon overshadowed by his own frustration.
"Get off of me!" Rudy tried to kick the zoner before realizing that his legs do not work. So he had to resort to trying to strike at him. But with both his arms pinned, the most he could do was squirm left and right. "I said let go of me!"
"No! You have to stop this!" Jyker kept pushing Rudy into the ground, doing nothing to let up on him. Even when Rudy struggled even harder, still this was not enough to make the hyena zoner let go of him. "Please stop it! You're only going to hurt yourself more!"
Rudy continued to thrash and yell on the ground, showing no signs of slowing down. His teeth gritted tightly as he squirmed about, trying to do whatever he could to get free. He had no idea what this hyena's problem was. But he was not about to stop. He refused to stop. Not while Snap still needed his help. If Jyker was just going to get in the way, then...
Rudy managed to free an arm and, before he realized what he was doing, he had struck Jyker in the jaw. The hyena zoner let out a yelp of pain. His grip on Rudy had loosened up enough, allowing Rudy time to wriggle his way free. He kept strucking and punching at Jyker, desperately trying to get him of. He felt a little bad for what he did, but his swirling mind was too focused on getting out to really fully register his guilt.
With Jyker off of him for the moment, Rudy crawled his way back over to the bars. He formed a fist yet again to start striking. However, he wasn't able to get that far when he felt Jyker grabbing onto him again. The hyena's arms wrapped around his body and he was yanked back hard. The force was enough to case the two to land on their backs, Rudy pressed up against Jyker. He immediately started to struggle again, trying to grab onto the hyena and pull him off. Jyker held him even tighter than before, not reacting to Rudy's attempts to strike at him.
"No! No! Let me go!" Rudy cried out as he continued to struggle frantically. "Release me now! You stupid hyena! Let me go! Do you not want me to save Snap?! What the hell is it with you?! Why don't you want me to save my friend?!"
"You're in no condition to help your friend! Please, s-s-stop this before you h-h-hurt yourself more!" Jyker replied, tightening his grip on the boy.
Rudy had no idea how much longer he kept this up. A rush of adrenaline prolonged things for a while, giving him the strength to continue fighting back. He jerked and he twisted to each side. He released a series of loud shouts and a few insults here or there, his burning, panicking mind temporarily unable to put on a filter.
Over time, his strength began to leave him. He could feel it sapping through his fingers, disappearing into nothingness. He still kept struggling and fighting back for a little while, but it soon became obvious that he was getting too weak to fight. There was no way that he could keep this up forever. He could feel himself start to go limp from exhaustion. And soon, he collapsed.
He laid there for several moments, his mind swimming. He stared up towards the ceiling as he heard yet another scream from Snap. His stomach churned and he felt as though he was going to through up at any moment. Yet he could do nothing except just...lay there. Helpless. Unable to do anything.
And all because of Jyker. How could he...
No, it was not Jyker's fault. No, it was his own body. No, it was Sandra. She is the one who took away his legs. She is the one who took away his chalk. She is the one who put him here. It's her fault that he couldn't save Snap. It was her fault that he was useless. He could feel tears forming in his eyes as he realized just how useless he truly was right now. And all because of Sandra.
The emotion swelled up inside of him, burning his eyes, making his teeth clench. He struggled to hold it in. He tried to fight back. But it became rapidly futile. As the first tear started to shed, he could already feel the emotional dam inside of his head explode. Unable to hold it back any longer, he began to cry.
He could feel Jyker shifting himself around, sitting up. He could feel the hyena's sympathetic eyes looking down at him. He could feel him wrap his arms around him and pull him into a gentle, secure hug. Rudy didn't try fighting back. He didn't try to speak to him, nor did he react to Jyker's gentle comments. The only thing that he could do was just...lay there and continue to sob.
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"Are you sure about the results so far, Sarando?" Bell spoke, his voice unusually calm. "You have given me the exact results like I asked of you?"
Sarando nodded his head quickly. He did not hesitate to answer. "Y-Yes, sir! That's what the data gathered said!"
"Hmm.." Bell looked down at the paperwork that had been handed to him. His eyes skimmed over left and right, reading the results over and over again to make sure that he had looked at them correctly. "This is quite interesting..."
"Sir?"
Bell didn't respond to Sarando right away. He kept his eyes focused on the paperwork. Interesting how these results were accurate. No alterations or anything, like he had expected to be the case. According to Sarando, this is the results that came of their little experiment. It hadn't yet ended, but he had wanted the results of how it was going currently. And he was pleased to see that it was going splendidly.
But it was too early to celebrate yet. He needed more data. He needed more time to figure out if this is going to be useful later on. He did not want the testing for the Signal to be rushed; he had to take his time to really perfect it. At the same time, he could not draw attention with it. That was way only a few individuals were really affected at this point. And only one of them was the focus of their primary testing.
There was a little bit of guilt twisting in his stomach. He hadn't really wanted to use an innocent zoner for the testing. He had wanted instead a villain. Someone who would have deserved to be manipulated like that. But he didn't have a lot of time to choose and there weren't any villains he knew of walking around in the streets at the time. He had to choose randomnly, and the only one that he could think of at the time was...
...ah well, at least he would be able to get the results that he needed. Even if he was hurting an innocent zoner in the process, at least it was all going to be worth it in the end. True, not many would agree with him on this, and he was going to get a lot of hate if word got out. But the ends justify the means, right?
But as he told himself before, there was still more testing to be done. More data to be acquired. More things that needed to be taken care of. If he was going to have the Signal be on stand by just in case, he wanted it perfected. He was going to need to run more tests with it with their current specimen. He cringed at using that terminology, but..that is what that zoner was to them right now, right?
He realized that this testing could make their subject do something incredibly stupid. A dead zoner was not worth much in terms of testing, and it was not good for morale. He could only hope that the test subject in question would still be smart enough to avoid danger. Sarando indicated that he did, but something could change. The Signal was still being worked on. There were surely a few kinks. It was entirely possible that something could happen and...
Well, at least this subject was also a doctor. He should be able to treat himself afterwards, right? This provided a little bit of comfort to Bell. A reduced chance of losing this zoner to this rigorous Signal testing.
He soon realized that he had been rambling mentally a little too long about this and he turned his head over to where Sarando was waiting. The crane-like zoner had his head lowered and adopted a slightly cringing posture. He was waiting more his next batch of orders, clearly. He looked as if he wanted to speak up, but he was too afraid to utter another word without permission.
Bell narrowed his eyes slightly at this. He wondered if he should do something about Sarando. He had been pretty loyal so far and did what he was told. But at the same time, he wondered if he would ever become a problem later on. Sarando did not fully agree with what he was doing, and had been partially opposed since day one. He hadn't tried to rat him out or anything...yet. That all could change quickly.
Yes, perhaps he should take care of Sarando.. But not yet. He had one more thing he wanted Sarando to take care of first before he decided if he needed to deal with the crane zoner or not.
"Sarando!" He barked.
The crane zoner immediately jolted at this. He looked up at the bull zoner warily, taking in slow, slightly shaky breaths. He swallowed nervously and took a slow step forward. "Y-Yes, sir? What is it?"
Bell paused for a moment, letting the crane feel the tension in the air for a short time. Then he said, "I need you to go to our test subject's current location. I am sure you have it on your little GPS thing that I gave you."
Sarando held up a small device in his hand.
"Good. Use that to find him, and then gather more data." Bell said, setting the paper on the table. "But this time, don't tell me just of his current behavior. If there is anyone with him at all, let me know how they react. I want to know if the Signal bounces off of people and still affects others, even if only one is being targeted." The bull narrowed his eyes softly. "If there are any noticeable changes, let me know. I need to tweak this thing so I can target individuals directly. I cannot have the Signal bouncing off of people. Do you understand?"
"Yes, I understand!" Sarando cried out as he gave a few swift nods of the head. "I will get right on that, sir!"
Bell grinned at this. "Excellent."
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Mint gritted his teeth as he off in the direction of the bird-like zoner. Not far from the zoner, he could see that Penny had gotten back up to her feet after wrestling with Dr. Crobat. Or rather, who looked like Dr. Crobat.
Mint's mind swirled as he trie dto figure out just what the heck was going on here. What was wrong with Dr. Crobat? Or was this even him? He wasn't sure. And right now, there was very little time to even be thinking about that. He glared off at Dr. Crobat for a few moments, watching as he approached Penny. Then, kicking his feet against the ground, he rushed over.
Dr. Crobat raised his wings up, staring intently at Penny as his body was hunched. Penny glared back, raising her hands up, forming tight fists. She was still a little shaky on her feet, however. And as soon as she had a little trip up, even if it wasn't much, Dr. Crobat used that opportunity to lunge at her. Penny grunted as she was forced into the ground, Dr. Crobat standing on top of her with his long, bird-like feet.
"Hold still!" Squawked the bird zoner. "This will go a lot easier if you just...!"
Penny, however, wouldn't have it. With her eyes narrowed into slits, she pulled her foot back and she kicked Dr. Crobat. Her foot pushed against his stomach, knocking him backwards away from her. Before he had time to get up, while he was still holding his stomach and wheezing, Penny got herself back up to her feet. She remained there for a few moments before she charged towards him.
Dr. Crobat noticed her coming. He attempted to try to attack her, raising up one of his feet to strike. Penny managed to move herself to side quickly, before the claws had a chance to strike her. She then, with a fist formed, struck him against the side of his face. The force of this blow caused the bird zoner to start stumbling backwards.
And that was where Mint came in. He moved as quickly as he could, his feet pounding against the ground with each stride. He saw that Dr. Crobat quickly recovered, flapping his wings to regain his balance. He could see just how pissed off he was about this turn of events, and it was clear that he was not going to let her get away with that. He growled softly before he launched himself at Penny, fully intent on tearing into her with his claws.
Mint, however, would not allow this. Only a second after the zoner launched himself, so did Mint. He flew through the air, and he wrapped his arms around the zoner. Dr. Crobat let out a surprised grunt before the two crashed into the ground.
Dr. Crobat, down on his back, let out a loud screech at Mint. Mint flinched, wanting to cover his ears. He resisted the temptation, however, as he gripped onto the bird's wings and held them down, trying to keep him still. However, this did not stop Dr. Crobat from striking out with his feet. Mint let out a cry of pain as one of the feet struck against him, raking him with those sharp talons. Blood dripped down his arm.
"Mint! Are you okay?!" Penny called out.
Mint lifted up his head and saw that Penny was coming towards him. He was about to respond to her question before he suddenly felt another slash, this time across his face. Partially blinded by the blood leaking into his eyes, Mint let out a loud scream and stumbled backwards.
"Oh my gosh.. I'm so sorry, Mint!" He could hear Penny shout, her voice slightly shrill and frantic. "Are you... Aaargh!"
Mint could not see what had happened, but he could hear Penny's grunt of pain and the loud thud that followed quite easily. He could hear a series of pained sounds and striking. With his heart twisting in a knot, he knew that Penny was being attacked by Dr. Crobat. He had to help her. But...how was he going to do that in this condition?
He struggled to open up his eyes. Each time, he felt a sharp sting in his eyes and a flash of red where the blood was still leaking in. He placed his hands over his face and let out a series of small whimpers. He could feel the blood seeping through his fingers, his body shaking in response. Though he knew it may not be a good idea, he rubbed at his eyes furiously, tears pooling from them. He kept struggling to open up his eyes, repeatedly forcing his eyelids open, only to have them close seconds later.
All the while, he could still hear sounds of the fight going on. He could hear some pained sounds from Dr. Crobat. A bit of a relief as this meant that Penny was putting up a fight. But each time he heard her cry out, he flinched, and his struggling increased greatly. He had to help Penny, before Dr. Crobat, or whoever this was, did something worse to her.
Slowly, with a lot of great effort, he eventually managed to open up his eyes. His vision was red tinted and the light hurt and he still felt a stinginess. He could also feel wetness from the tears still spilling out from his eyes. He blinked his eyes several times, trying his best to flush them out. He eventually turned his head and looked at where he was hearing the noise from.
Though his vision was still a little blurry and his color vision was a bit brighter than usual, he could still see what was going on. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Penny being knocked up against one of the nearby rocks, held there by one of Dr. Crobat's feet. Despite his pain, Mint did not waste any time and rushed off in that direction.
"Let go of me, you...you doppelganger!" Penny gripped onto Dr. Crobat's foot and tried to push it back away from her.
Dr. Crobat hissed at this and he struck forward with his head. His beak made contact with her shoulder. The girl let out a scream of pain as his beak sliced through her flesh, blood rapidly pouring out from the open gash. "Don't blame me for this, you stupid human! If you had just done what you were told, none of this would have happened!" Penny just glared at him, her eyes twitching in pain. Dr. Crobat gave a small but still twisted smile. "Now hold still... This won't..."
"Leave her alone!" Mint shouted as he grabbed onto a couple of Dr. Crobat's tail feathers. Getting a good, tight grip on them, he yanked back as harda s he could.
Dr. Crobat immediately let out a loud squawk of pain, his grip on Penny loosening up. Penny backed up and stared at Mint with a stunned expression. Mint kept his eyes focused on Dr. Crobat, pulling him back as hard as he could, his hand still gripping his tail feathers tightly. Dr. Crobat attempted to turn himself around and jump at him, but Mint kept on moving back faster than he could keep up. Then, with a single thrust, Mint tossed Dr. Crobat off to the side.
Mint rushed over to Penny and examined her quickly with his eyes. He wanted to ask her if she was okay, but a hiss from the side forced him to stop. He and Penny looked over and saw Dr. Crobat facing off against them, having quickly recovered from Mint's last move.
The tension was still as high as ever. And it only seemed to be growing stronger by the second. The two teenagers hunched their bodies and growled as Dr. Crobat started to walk towards them, his wings spread out. Their injuries started to sting and pulsate as they looked down at the bird's talons, listening to them as they tapped against the ground with each move forward.
Mint narrowed his eyes into slits as he brought his fists up into the air. He was fully prepared to keep fighting this bird. He was even fully prepared to bite him, something he only reserved for the most deserving, if he absolutely had to. He didn't know what was wrong with him. But though a part of him would feel guilty if he was truly hurting Dr. Crobat, the fact of the matter was he was still acting hostile towards them, so of course he would defend himself and Penny as well. And he knew she'd do the same for him.
He and Penny began to pace around in a circle, keeping Dr. Crobat in front of them. They watched him carefully, their eyes narrowed into slits, their hearts racing against their chests. Dr. Crobat did not take his eyes off of them, either. That piercing gaze bore right through them, striking at their hearts. This pacing lasted for several long moments before Dr. Crobat finally made a move.
"It is a shame how you two still continue to fight. I was hoping this would be such a simple job." Dr. Crobat's neck feathers raised up slightly as he spoke. "Of course, you two just had to be difficult! Well, isn't that just a shame...?"
Mint and Penny did not respond. They just glared at the bird zoner, keeping their defensive stances. There was no way that they were going to just let this zoner catch them off guard. Should he make a move, they were going to be prepared. And together, hopefully, they'll be able to stop him and then try to figure out what was wrong with him.
Dr. Crobat smirked darkly at this show of courage, as if it was something truly hiliarious. "You are so noble. How amusing. Tell me..." He tilted his head to one side. "How do you feel about the..."
Suddenly, Dr. Crobat stiffened up before he could finish. The two teens let out a gasp of shock at the suddenness of this. They stared into Dr. Crobat's wide, pained expression, his pupils staring into nothingness. Then a few seconds later, he toppled over onto the ground, landing in a loud thud. All was silent for the next several tense moments before Mint suddenly recognized the person who was standing behind Dr. Crobat. The one who had saved them.
It was Dr. Gelcro.
