Feathered F(r)iends

Week 1

“Ahem, are we all present?” Birdo Chesterfield sat himself at the table next to Spike McPokerton and Baron Von Smashbeak. “Present. Cuckoo cuckoo!” Cuckoo clocker raised his hand. “Here.” Cross Crow also raised his hand. “And uh… Buzzer Beak, you here?” Birdo tapped his clipboard. “Scraw!” The smallest one called out. “Alright, so my fellow Feathered Fiends, Tae Kwon Crow is no longer with us.” Birdo was in the middle of an announcement as Cuckoo Clocker started crying. “No, you fool! He’s alive, he’s just on the Skylander side now.” He hit Cuckoo Clocker on the head with the clipboard. “Ouch, sorry…” Cuckoo Clocker rubbed his head. “Anyways, as I was saying, Tae Kwon Crow is a Skylander now, condolences to him.” Birdo sat back down. “Any questions or may we go on?” He rested his head on his hands authoritatively. 

Baron raised his hand “Uh… Actually, never mind.” He put it back down. “Alright, well so good news or bad  news?” “Cross Crow thinks we should start with good news.” Cross crow spoke in 3rd person. “Alright. The good news, is we get Taco Tuesdays now.” Everyone started to cheer at the table. “The bad news, is we have to help sort the entire Skylands library in the Academy.” Everyone went silent and the cheering came to an abrupt stop. “Yes, we’re going good, but at least I feel like we have a better future for us at the Academy. Think about it, we get places to stay that aren’t cramped crystal traps, Taco Tuesdays, warm beds, and all we have to do is sort a library, how hard can that be?"

“Oh no.” Birdo looked up at the shelves. “This is a, uh, big task for 6 birds…” Birdo started to sweat, and the rows of shelves appeared endless. “Oh don’t worry, You only have to sort the Adult Romance section alphabetically.” King Pen nodded. The what section? “You’re making us sort the Adult Romance section?” “Yes.” Well, that was blunt. Birdo tugged at his collar. “Baron, do you know how to read?” “Uh, not really.” Baron shrugged. “Spike?” Spike shook his head as his lop tongue flailed. “Cuckoo?” “Mayybee? No. Cuckoo!” Birdo was sweating. “Buzzer Beak?” “Scraw!” “Cross Crow?” “Cross Crow knows his ABCs?” “Good enough guys, let’s start.” Birdo clapped his hands and the crew ran into the section. King Pen laughed a little bit before making his way out.

“Cross Crow wonders, how do you sort alphabetically?” Cross Crow scratched his head. Okay let’s see Birdo, we have to work out a system… “Alright let’s make some piles, we’ll start with making a pile of every book that starts with an A alright?” The birds nodded and they started to pile up books. Birdo Chesterfield was slightly proud of himself for thinking of a system that worked. Baron pointed to a book with a particular risque cover “Hey Birdo! Check out this cover hah.” “Baron, that starts with an R.” “It does? Looks like an A to me.” Oh no, oh no they all don’t know the letter A except for Cross Crow, at least he thinks he does. “Everyone stop! Alright, do you guys know what the letter A looks like? Raise hands.” Cross Crow and Buzzer Beak raised their hands. Nobody else.

Birdo pinched his nose (beak?) bridge. “Guys, look.” Birdo picked up a book that started with a capital A and a lowercase a. “These are the letter A, got it?” Everyone nodded. “Alright let’s get back to it.” Birdo clapped his hands and the 6 of them scrambled around and piled up books that started with an A. Surprisingly, nobody made any other mistakes. They spent around an hour until they thought they got all of them. Then they moved on to the letter B, then C, and so on. An entire day had passed and they were all very fatigued. “Can we go to sleep?” Baron Von Smashbeak fell onto the floor with a loud, resounding thud. “No… we have to… finish…” Birdo stopped floating and hit the floor, falling asleep. Cuckoo Clocker started to make a nest of every book that started with an R since there seemed to be a lot of them, he carried the other sound-asleep birds and himself into the nest and fell asleep.

Day 2

Birdo yawned. “Alright, a new day a- is that an egg?” He looked at Buzzer Beak who was sleeping on something round. Birdo started to wake the others up. Buzzer Beak woke up and started to shift on the object. “Did he lay an egg?” Birdo turned to Baron. “I don’t know, maybe it’s another round thing?” Baron shrugged. Birdo poked Buzzer Beak and lo and behold, there was an egg. “How did he- He’s a male! How did he lay an egg?” Birdo exclaimed. “You know what, let’s disregard that and finish up our letter piles, then we have to sort it all alphabetically.” Everyone groaned. They all better hope this will be worth it.

The entire day they spent sorting books. Birdo managed to control the team and helped by teaching them the basics of the alphabet. They haven’t even gotten a lunch break yet, or breakfast, or dinner.

“Hey, does anyone know where the cafeteria is?” Baron sat on the floor. “Cross Crow is starving…” “Scraw!” And yeah, Birdo was really hungry too. “Well, maybe we can go look for it? I’m sure they won’t mind.” Birdo started to lead the group out of the library, they snuck under the “Library Closed for Cleaning” sign, well they tried, Baron and Cuckoo were a little big and they hit the sign while crawling under, but nobody seemed to hear them. ” Roll!” Birdo whispered, they all turned a corner and looked at a map of the academy, the cafeteria was on a different island. 

Despite them all being birds, only Birdo and Buzzer Beak could fly. “Ah good lord,” Chesterfield remarked. “Come on, we’ll latch onto a cargo ship.” He beckoned as they ran to the loading dock. The academy was packed, and getting around without anyone seeing them was tough. Birdo knew an invisibility spell but keeping all 6 of them under a cloak would take too much energy. “I wish Marf were here to help us.” Baron whispered. Alright Birdo, you have an idea. “Baron, I need you to carry me, I can’t be using my magic to float while I do this.” “Right.” Baron picked up Birdo and he cloaked everyone. “Move move!” He commanded the others, and they all made the dash across the academy entrance without bumping into any Skylanders. They turned around a corner and ran towards the loading docks. They loaded up onto a truck that had a big logo for a food company, assuming that it was going to the cafeteria. 

“Hey, Birdo.” Spike McPokerton spoke up as they sat in the back of the truck. “Why didn’t we use the student train line?” He sputtered everywhere. “There’s a train line?! Cuckoo?!” Cuckoo Clocker yelled. “Shush! Don’t give us away!” Birdo scolded him. “Sorry…” “But why didn’t we use it?” “Well for one, I cannot keep us cloaked for the duration of the ride, for two, people would freak out at the sight of us and probably attack us, and three, we don’t have ‘Reformed’ licenses yet. Why would they believe us if we were to tell them we wouldn’t attack? They would think we’re planning an ambush. Our best bet is to remain in this truck and get to the cafeteria.”

King Pen walked into the library. “Hello, we have forgotten to give you lunch…” He looked at the piles of books on the floor, and the only partially sorted shelf. “Ah, I see.” He walked out.

The truck stopped and Birdo started up their cloak again so they could escape the truck. A mabu opened up the back and they all rushed out, albeit careful to not bump into the worker. They did manage to make it into the cafeteria. They burst through the doors, completely blinded by their hunger they forgot that the students weren’t supposed to see them. Heads started turning.

“Uhh hello?” Birdo grinned and waved. Students got up and some drew weapons. “We’re not here to fight, we just want to grab lunch and go, we’re reformed, and we’re cleaning the library?” Birdo motioned to the others and they all put their hands up and shuffled over to the lunch bar, where a mabu was working. “Uh, can we get six cheeseburgers? And uh, what do you guys want other than that…” “Scraw!” “And some fruit salad for this guy.” “Cross Crow wants no cheese please.” “And uh, remove the cheese from one of the burgers. Are we good?” Everyone nodded and the mabu served their plate with a flat face. Birdo took some money out of his pocket and paid for the food. “Ah um, thank you.” He nodded at the worker. He turned around and saw everyone still staring at them. 

“Alright, we’re on our way out. Let’s uh, go.” Birdo motioned towards the door. They all shuffled sideways with their hands in the air until they got to the entrance where they exited. “So Birdo, how do we get back?” Baron asked. “Ah, I did not consider that.” They all sat there in silence. “Let’s just sit down and eat near the loading docks. We can think about this later.” They all took out their food and munched away for a few peaceful moments. Baron finally spoke up. “It’s kinda funny how we’re like a family, I’m the dad.” He proudly announced. “I’m the dad actually.” Birdo stood up. “Aren’t we married? We’re both the dad.” Baron motioned for Birdo to sit down. “Cross Crow is the emo cousin.” Cross Crow spoke with his mouth full. “And I’m the violence-prone son. Cuckoo!” Cuckoo Clocker lay down in the grass since he’s already finished his burger. “Scraw!” “And Buzzer Beak is the son who has a successful job and a stable income.” Birdo pointed at him. “And Spike is the dog.” “Hurgh?” “Nothing.”

“Well, we best think of a way to get back. Let’s try the student train, their lunch break will be over soon.” And just after he finished speaking, students started to pour out of the cafeteria and over to the train stop. “Let’s… We’ll keep our hands up and show that we mean no harm.” Everyone nodded at Birdo’s suggestion. They all walked over to the train stop and held their hands up in the air. Students side-eyed them. Some clutched their weapons, and others ignored them entirely. The train came by and one by one they scooted on with the students. They stood smack in the center of the train cabin where everyone had a clear view of them, the stares made everyone uncomfortable. “Cross Crow’s arms hurt.” “We can’t put them down, they’ll attack us- As long as we show we mean no harm we should be good.” Birdo muttered into Cross Crow’s ear socket since birds don’t actually have protruding ears. The stares felt like there were holes being drilled into them. Cuckoo Clocker’s right eye started to twitch. “STOP STARING AT US! CUCKOO!” He boomed. Big mistake.

Students stood up and had drawn weapons pointing at them. One sword was barely grazing Cuckoo Clocker’s neck. Birdo kept his hands in the air. “We mean no harm? We’re trying to earn our ‘Reformed’ licenses, Cuckoo Clocker here just has anger issues…” He was sweating bullets at this point. Nobody appeared convinced. “Well, the Skylander code states that you cannot attack us unless we have provoked you.” Good thinking Birdo. One student spoke up, “But you did provoke us, by yelling.” They glared at the birds. “He has anger issues!” Birdo snapped back. “He doesn’t want to hurt anyone here, you were all staring at us first! He hasn’t touched anyone, he’s trying his best! The old Cuckoo Clocker would have smashed you all into the ground!” Nobody moved. Everyone stayed like that for the rest of the ride. As students shuffled out of the train, the birds walked back to the library, hands visible in the air. Some fully fledged Skylanders at the academy watched with peeled eyes, looking for any slip-up. 

Once the 6 got back to the library, they all took a deep sigh. “Alrighty then…” Birdo sat down and exhaled. “That was scary… Thanks for that back there Birdo. Cuckoo cuckoo!” Cuckoo Clocker grabbed an armful of books and started to sort them on a shelf. Birdo gave a quick smile and nodded toward Cuckoo Clocker. “Cross Crow almost had a heart attack. Cross Crow is prone to seizures. But Cross Crow had just wondered, Where is Buzzer Beak’s egg?” “Scraw!” Buzzer Beak flew over and pulled the egg out from under his hat. “Scraw!” He proudly squawked as he put his egg back into his helmet. Baron sighed. “Hey, Birdo, how long do you think this will take?” “Probably a few days at the most.” Everyone groaned. Birdo picked up a few books and started sliding them into shelves. “And yes, we will be taking the train to the cafeteria for convenience.” “Seems more like an inconvenience,” Baron remarked. Spike McPokerton was doing surprisingly well at sorting books in the back. Cross Crow sighed. “Cross Crow thinks it’s better than hitch-hiking food delivery trucks. Cross Crow knows that we can’t guarantee the trucks will go to the cafeteria. Cross Crow says we got lucky this time.” He spoke as he shuffled through books. They were on the letter ‘C’ now. 

The day’s final bell rang. They heard students shuffling through the hall outside the library. Day 2 was finished. “We’re on a good track guys!” Birdo gave a quick fist-pump. “Cross Crow thinks we should sort out our sleeping situation. Cross Crow thinks that we cannot use Cuckoo Clocker’s book nest much longer, Cross Crow says we will damage the books.” He pointed to the makeshift nest. “Ahah!” Cuckoo Clocker slammed his fist into his palm. “We have printer paper over at the desk, We can take some packages, tear it all up, and make a nest without damaging books! Cuckoo cuckoo!” He ran towards the front desk and grabbed a large cardboard box. “Come on guys, help me out, if we all take a box we can carry I'm sure we’ll have enough to make a nest for 6! Cuckoo!” The other 5 birds nodded. Birdo struggled to carry a more medium-sized box, Buzzer Beak could barely carry a single package of paper, but the other 4 managed to get much heftier boxes, with Cuckoo Clocker and Baron Von Smashbeak carrying the biggest loads. Eventually, they cleared a spot near the ‘Adult Romance’ section to build their nest. One by one they opened their boxes and ripped the paper into shreds left and right. “Nyghraah!” Spike tore the paper apart like a rabid animal. Birdo, Buzzer Beak, and Cuckoo Clocker took the paper shreds and started laying out the base for the large nest. The other 3 tore apart paper as if they would all die tomorrow. “Quiet down you *snrrk* ruffians!” Birdo laughed before he could finish his sentence. Everyone laughed and poked fun at each other as they built their perfect nest.

Day 3

Cuckoo Clocker and Baron Von Smashbeak lay sprawled out at the bottom of the nest as the largest birds. Spike McPokerton slept at the foot of the nest. Birdo Chesterfield laid on Baron’s chest. Cross Crow was lying squished in between the two large birds, although it was surprisingly comfortable, none of them really thrashed in their sleep. Buzzer Beak slept on Cuckoo Clocker’s head, gently bobbing up and down as he breathed. They all woke up in their sloppy paper nest, one by one. Birdo sat up and stretched. “Another day of sorting books. I think we’re almost done with C.” The others started to get up and stretch. This paper nest was much comfier than the book nest, the hardcovers were hard on the back.

In the middle of the day, they hopped on the train again. Of course, it was still uncomfortable. Buzzer beak acted more as an ‘emotional support’ to Cuckoo Clocker on the train ride. It seemed a lot more bearable and less eyes were on them. They got their food and made sure to purchase dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast. “We need a way to earn money, we can’t afford food this entire time if we continue at this rate.” Birdo thought for a bit.

King Pen walked into the library with a broom, assuming that the birds bailed. “Oh.” He looked at the shelves, they were more sorted, what were the birds up to right now? “Great eons-” He found the paper nest. “What a waste of trees. They’ll have to pay for this paper eventually. But it is not a problem right now.” King Pen walked out and left his broom in the aisle.

The 6 birds came back to the library with their food. They set tomorrow’s breakfast and today’s dinner on the ‘X’ shelf since it would be a while until they could get to it. “Look!” Baron pointed to the broom. “More nest material!” He grabbed the broom and peeled all the bristles off. None of the birds considered that the broom would be there to convince them to clean their nest, instead, they all became, a little too excited, over more material for the nest. “Nest material!” They all shouted in unison.

The rest of the day was uneventful, but they did seem to get a lot more done on this day rather than the last. Birdo assumed that it was thanks to him establishing a schedule. Let’s see, they’ve finished A, B, C, D, E. They all considered that ‘good progress’. Well, back to sleep they go.

Day 4

The students on the train didn’t seem to pay as much attention as before. Except for a select few who were convinced that the feathered fiends would attack them at any moment, still clutching onto their weapons. When they got to the cafeteria bar the mabu spoke up. “King Pen stated that he would be paying off all of your food for the duration of your library cleaning duty.” they stated in a low monotone voice. “We- can we take anything? It's all paid for?” Cuckoo Clocker pointed to the cake. “Sure.” the mabu shrugged. The 6 birds had to put all of their efforts into not screaming for joy right now. “Do you know what this means?” Birdo sat on Baron’s head. “What?” Baron poked at Birdo gently. “We can go to the shopping district!” Birdo fist-pumped. “Let’s get our food and put it back in the library first.” All of the birds grinned, they got their food, ate, and took the train back. After putting their food in the library they decided to sort a few books before heading out. “Let’s leave a note here first.” Birdo grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down something that the others couldn’t read and taped it onto the bookshelf ‘We are at the shopping district if you need us.’. “Let’s go!” “Shop-ping Di-strict! Shop-ping Di-strict!” they all chanted and ran out.

“It’s a whole mall!” Baron exclaimed. The birds didn’t look out of place here, they actually appeared to be normal denizens of Skylands, they even saw other birds in the district. Even Birdo, Baron, and Spike, who were purple, appeared normal. “Where do we go first!?” Baron rubbed his hands together. “The bookstore!” “The jewelry store!” “Cross Crow wants to go to the board game store!” “Scraw! (bird supplies store!)” “Hnggh raghh!” “Now now,” Birdo spoke up. “Just because we have our lunch paid off doesn’t mean we have infinite money. Let’s sit in the food court and count out funds.”

Let’s see… In total, they had 12,931 SkyShillings. “12,931 SkyShillings, I think we have enough to get some pretty nice things!” They all cheered. “Though we do have to split our money fair and square.” Cuckoo Clocker pointed out. “Cross Crow says we should just go for it, Cross Crow says we need to be able to finish a shelf today.” “You’re right, let’s stroll.” Birdo collected the currency and put it in his bag. 

They stopped at a furniture store. “Why are we here?” Baron asked. “To buy pillows.” Birdo answered. They walked into the bedding section and had to use every last ounce of willpower to not jump on the beds, Cuckoo and Baron would break them if they did. They all came to the pillows and grabbed their preferred firmness and size. Pillow cases and blankets too, just for the long run. 

Next, they stopped at a self-care store. Baron quickly snuck off to buy red nail polish while Birdo and the others just purchased feather gel and other necessary hygiene products. They purchased toothpaste too despite their lack of teeth.

“Alright, we have 8,930 SkyShillings left, I would say we’re making good on our spending.” Birdo filtered through the coins in his bag.

Then, they stopped at a board game shop.

 ...

“We have 930 SkyShillings left…” Birdo sighed. They walked out with bags of dice, figurines, comic books, Skystones packs, and expansion packs for Trouble and Trogs (T&T). “I say we should head back.” He closed his wallet and put it in his pocket. The other birds agreed and waited for the train. It would be a bit before the train arrived so they started to plan out their characters for their T&T campaign. “I’ll be a Skeleton Cleric, who believes that his teammates should not meet the same fate as him, so he has dedicated his magic training to become a healer.” Cuckoo Clocker grabbed a skeleton figure with a long robe and staff. “Very well thought out!” Birdo remarked. “Cross Crows thinks he should be a…” He paused and tapped his chin. “Cross Crow will be mabu monk. Cross Crows says he will be skilled in fist combat. Mabu monk will be loyal to the death, and will wear a long green cape. Mabu monk will be named… Cat.” Cross Crow grabbed a mabu figurine and held it up. “Cat will wear cat ears.” Cross Crow smiled. The other birds laughed, not in a way as in ‘Wow that’s so stupid’ but as in “that’s really funny’. Cross Crow laughed too.

As the train came by, they filtered on alongside the others who were getting on the train. This train wasn’t the Academy line train, but this would take them to a station with the Academy line. Nobody batted an eye at them, they liked that. They sat peacefully for the ride and looked out the window at the islands that passed by. Once they got off, they merged onto the student train line. Nobody has drawn weapons toward them anymore but some still side-eyed them. Birdo looked at one student who had their hand clutching their bow and looking at them. Birdo tried talking to them. “Have you heard the one about the chicken and the egg?” He looked at them. More students on the train looked at the birds. The student responded. “Yeah, everyone has.” Geez, tough crowd. Birdo had an idea. “But have you seen it?” “Huh?” Birdo reached back, grabbed Buzzer Beak, and held him out toward the student. Buzzer Beak reached under his hat, pulled out his egg, and made his best chicken sound. “Scraw!” Okay well, it wasn’t much different than his normal call, but he tried his best.

The egg started cracking. The train went silent. Everyone had their eyes on the egg. It started to move, the birds didn’t even know this would happen. Pop! The top came off, and a baby chicken popped out. The angry student’s hand loosened around their bow and they started to laugh a bit. Cuckoo Clocker started laughing too. Then Baron, then Spike, and more students, soon everyone in the train cabin was laughing. They will remember that train ride.

They walked back to the library, they felt that they didn’t have to keep their hands in the air anymore. Crawling under the “Closed for Cleaning” sign. They set their bags down on the ‘X’ Shelf and grabbed their dinner. “Well, we made it back in good time. Buzzer Beak, You and I will set up the nest, you other four are strong enough to carry most books on your own.” Birdo and Buzzer Beak started unloading their pillows and blankets into the messy paper (and broom bristle) nest, the tiny chicken followed. Afterwards, they continued to help sort the books.

They have now finished shelves A, B, C, D, E, and F, and were starting on shelf G. But of course, it was getting late. With their new pillows and blankets, they got cozier much faster and fell asleep. Better sleep quality makes for better work quality after all. The tiny chicken slept underneath Buzzer Beak on Cuckoo Clocker’s face.

Day 5

As they got on the train to pick up their lunch, they managed to actually get seats instead of standing in the center of the train cabin. Nobody really batted an eye at their presence anymore, actually, people seemed to like them now, mainly they liked the baby chicken that followed them everywhere. The birds had contemplated on a name but had thought that Buzzer Beak should be the one to name it, unfortunately, the only thing Buzzer Beak could say was "Scraw!" which wasn't really an appropriate name for a child. So they have decided on not naming it for now.

The 6 sat, squished together and on eachothers llaps. It was much better than standing at least. They invented a system in the library, for each shelf sorted, they earn one hour of T&T. So they have all collectively decided to save these hours until they had at leat 10, which would take a while.

The train came to a stop and they went back to the library. Setting down their food they started sorting again. "I think that I've learned to read just by staring at all of these letters..." Baron Von Smashbeak placed a book on the shelf. "This book right here is called Great Glades of Hope, I think." He scratched his head. "You learned how to read just by-" Birdo stammered. "Well, color me impressed I suppose." He flew over and confirmed the title of the book, it was indeed, Great Glades of Hope. "Cross Crow ony knows his ABCs." Cross Crow examined a book and placed it back in the pile.  Buzzer Beak was attending to his kid near the nest.

They went on with their random chatter every once in a while. Until the sun set and the final bell rang. King Pen walked in. "Ah, so glad to see that you have not betrayed us, or else we would have to start a man-hunt." "Huh?" Birdo was about to ask what he meant before King Pen continued. "We are working on constructing a quarters for you six to live in, we hope you will enjoy it." The birds almost started cheering before he started again. "You will also have to pay for property damages. The paper you have shredded has come to 7,500 SkyShillings. The broom was 600 SkyShillings. Food stains on the library carpet, 3,000 SkyShillings to rent a carpet mop. Stolen egg from hen house, 300 SkyShillings." The birds glanced at Buzzer Beak. "Missing sticky note, 40 SkyShillings. Damage to delivery truck, 250,000 SkyShillings. Damage to 'library closed' sign. 200 Skyshillings." 

Geez, was the Academy stingy. This was going to take a while.

Day 6

The birds once again woke up, one by one.

Today they have rented a laptop to watch the seasonal races. Today was the day where Skylanders, Villains, and other racing fans would compete for the Sky Cup. The birds kept the live event running as they started sorting books.

‘Welcome race fans to the annual Sky Cup!’ The birds listened to Pandergast introduce the competitors. ‘Here we have the first pilot to win 6 Sky Cups! Stormblade! What do you think, do you think you’ll win this one too?’ ‘Oh, I don’t plan on losing!’ ‘Wonderful!’

The birds continued to sort shelves. “What if we made our own plane after all of this?” Cuckoo Clocker climbed down his ladder. “Maybe we could give it a cool title like, ‘The Birdhouse’ or ‘The Chirp Silencer’ or something along those lines. Intimidating.” He started to imagine what it would look like. Birdo tapped his chin. “Hmm, maybe we could make a gunner below deck? One of us could drive. We could have someone manning the weapon, and we could have someone be the engine…” Birdo took out a piece of paper that had miraculously not been shredded and took out a pen. He drew a basic plane shape and made a gunner deck with Cross Crow sitting inside. He drew Cuckoo Clocker in the front acting as the plane horn yelling “Cuckoo!!!”. Baron was in the back running the engine, and Buzzer Beak was launching eggs. Spike was driving and Birdo was making a magical shield. The other birds nodded. “But do you think they’ll allow six birds to pilot just one plane?” Baron questioned. Birdo shrugged. “Ehh, we can check the qualifications later, right now we have books to sort.”

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and working on J now. Progress was slow, but it was there. Ten out of Twenty-Six, not too bad. If they stay focused they might be able to finish shelf L today. “Hey Birdo?” Cross Crow called out. “Cross Crow is wondering if it is ethical to eat chicken as we are birds.” 

…

“I uh… I don’t know…” “Cross Crow says today’s lunch is chicken burgers.” “Chi- Chicken burgers? I uhh… Let’s just avoid eating them around the kid.” Birdo tilted his head towards the baby chick hopping around their section of the library. Birdo didn’t want to admit that he liked eating chicken sandwiches. But again, Captain Cluck’s King Sized chicken was a little questionable given that their CEO was a chicken himself. He looked over at the laptop.

‘And Captain Cluck takes the lead over Stormblade! Right behind the dueling duo we have Chef Pepper Jack coming in hot! Ohh this will be a close one!’

“Chef Pepper Jack is my favorite! Ohh!” Cuckoo Clocker stared intently at the screen. “Nah, I bet Stormblade’s gonna take this race.” Baron bragged. “Cross Crow has his bet on Thrillipede.” He nodded proudly. “Ohh ohh! I hope that Wolfgang comes in!” Spike waved his sword around and pretended to play it like a harp.

‘And Chef Pepper Jack crosses the checkered flag this time! Ten points onto the leaderboard! Let’s see what the rankings are so far!’

‘We have Stormblade rocking in first place still with 28 points! Chef Pepper Jack is trailing right behind with a hot and spicy 26 points! We have Thrillipede right behind with his points from the first race coming in, giving him a solid 23 on the board!’

The birds started cheering. 

‘Astroblast is right behind with a 22 and Wolfgang has a nice, even, 20 points! Jet-Vac has taken a hit coming in 7th place this race, now with a measly 12 points! Dive-Clops is uh… He’s currently hurling into the nearest trash can? Seems like he has his sea legs but not his sky legs yet, with only a pathetic 6 points! Ouch! And we have Pain-Yatta with only 2 points!’

The birds continued sorting while watching the races from a distance, the laptop was tiny and some of the birds had to use ladders or fly. Luckily they had the volume turned all the way up, and Pandergast was a surprisingly good announcer.

‘Ouch! Dive-Clops has been struck down and has to repair his left wing real fast! And Pain-Yatta has overtaken him, ohh Pain-Yatta is using his afterburners and passes 3 other racers! That’s gonna leave a mark!’

The birds would cheer from their places in the library. King Pen walked in. "ʰᵉʸ ᶜᵒᵘˡᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ᵏᵉᵉᵖ ⁱᵗ ᵈᵒʷⁿ﹖" He shouted up to the birds. "ʷʰᵃᵗ﹖" Birdo yelled down at him. "ᵗʰᵉ ˢᵗᵘᵈᵉⁿᵗˢ ⁿᵉˣᵗ ᵈᵒᵒʳ ᶜᵃⁿ ʰᵉᵃʳ ʸᵒᵘʳ ˡᵃᵖᵗᵒᵖ, ᵗᵘʳⁿ ᵗʰᵉ ᵛᵒˡᵘᵐᵉ ᵈᵒʷⁿ." He yelled back up. "ʰᵘʰ﹖" “ I said to turn the volume down! ” King Pen yelled to the best of his ability. Birdo flew down and turned down the volume. “What? I couldn’t hear you.” He spoke. King Pen had to resist the urge to scream. “Please keep the volume lower, it’s distracting the next-door students.” King Pen pointed at the ceiling. “Ah gotcha.” Birdo grabbed a book from the ‘K’ Pile and flew back up.

King Pen sighed as he walked out of the library. “They are strange ones…” He remarked to himself. 

“Who’s in the lead?” Birdo asked. “I think it’s Pain-Yatta?” Cuckoo Clocker squinted. “Wow, What a comeback.” Spike sputtered. “Where’s Stormblade?” Baron asked as he put some books on his shelf and slid down his ladder to grab more. “Oh! She’s in 5th place now, wow.” Cuckoo Clocker announced. “Could we turn up the volume a little more? Maybe?” Birdo set his books down. “Yeah yeah sure.” Baron turned up the volume.

‘Ouch! Stormblade is in 6th place now with Pain-Yatta taking the lead in first place! What a comeback! Pepper Jack is trailing right behind Pain-Yatta and he’s planning on starting a dogfight! Dive-Clops spins out in the back and hurls! He’s now disqualified for this race! Jet-Vac is climbing his way back up the ladder barely crawling into 4th place ahead of Astroblast and Ouch! Pain-Yatta is shot down by Pepper Jack!’

The birds cheered albeit quietly so as to not disturb the above classroom. "So plans for how we'll make our plane?" Baron asked as he slid down the ladder to grab more books. "Scraw!" Buzzer Beak suggested, unfortunately nobody understood him. "Well, Pandergast gives new competitors a basic wooden plane, it's trashy but it'll work as a base." Cuckoo Clocker grinned. Birdo thought for a second. "Huh, not a bad idea. After we get to settle into our new quarters we should ask him for one." Birdo flew down tothe laptop and opened a new tab to check for racing qualifications. 'Amount of racers: As many as you can fit into a 20ft x 50ft plane' Well that was easy.

He switched back over to the live broadcast and went back to sorting. "To maximize our work ethic we should send just one bird to pick up our lunch while the rest of us sort." Birdo spoke. Spike raised his hand. "Oh I'll do it! Me! Me!" "Alright go ahead, you know our favorite foods right?" "Yeah yeah! Catch me up on the races when I get back!" Spike ran off.

The five of them sorted peacefully as Pandergast announced the winners of the 4th race.

Spike hopped onto the train with the other students. Nobody really minded him, except the neighboring students sitting next to him. He kept attempting to start conversations, but his sputtering made people move away.

‘And Dive-Clops snatches first place! Unbelievable!’ 

“Wow, Spike won’t believe us when we tell him this.” Baron remarked, wide-eyed staring at the screen. Birdo’s jaw was gaping open. “Wh- How is that possible?” 

‘Dive-Clops scores 10 points! Which fails to move him up the leaderboard ouch! And now for our sponsor as we’re halfway through our races!’

Spike eventually burst through the door carrying too many lunch bags to count. “Maybe we should Doordash next time-”

Day 7

It’s the end of their first week here. They have allowed themselves to take a break, it was raining outside and since it was a Saturday there were no other students here. “Cross Crow thinks today would be a good day to play T&T.” “You said it. It’s a Saturday, why not relax?” Cuckoo Clocker laid down on the floor and yawned. Birdo started to float back to the nest. “Eh, I want to go back to sleep… We don’t even have a Trog Master.” “Cross Crow has been planning the campaign since yesterday.” He nodded and grabbed the board. “You guys have fun, I’m going back to sleep…” He yawned again and went back to the nest and wrapped himself in everyone’s blankets. Baron yawned too. “Birdo’s yawns make me sleepy too… But I really want to play…” Yawn. “T&T with you guys.” “Cross Crow says don’t worry about it. Cross Crow can make even more plans and prepare.”

Most of the birds went back to bed. Spike McPokerton and Cross Crow stayed up. “Hey, Cross Crow, can I help?” Spike sputtered. “Cross Crow says yes. Cross Crow wishes you will not spit on the props.” “Aye aye sir!” he sputtered again.

Most of the time they were silent, the rain could barely be heard from five floors up. The wind started to kick up outside and a gentle howling could be heard as the air filtered through the brick walls. The room was well-heated, and the wind couldn’t touch them where they were in the library.

Cross Crow yawned. "Cross Crow is also... Sleepy." He yawned again. Spike fell over. "I'm also a liiiiittle sleepy..." Spike waddled over to the nest and tucked himself in. "Cross Crow supposes he could take a nap." He also crawled in. "Cross Crow says that T&T can wait for tomorrow..."

They slept the rest of the day.

Week 2

||Work in progress||