Bo scoured the area around the foxhole until he found a familiar figure hopping around a familiar tree. Tree, he thought. He chided himself for thinking that it was called death. His younger self was such an idiot. I'm smarter now, of course, he thought smugly before promptly tripping over his own feet.

With an unperturbed sense of joy, he bounded over to his best friend.

He called out to her: 'Twig!'

Slightly startled, the falcon chick took a moment to collect herself before addressing her constantly hyper-active friend. 'H-hi, Bo.'

'You wanna go on an adventure?'

'W-wasn't Lima B-bean super m-mad the l-last t-time we did?'

'It's different this time! I asked and she said yes!'

'B-but wasn't s-she r-really tired from practicing w-with Michi?'

'That's the whole point! If she's tired, she can't point out the dangers of going on an adventure!'

'B-but-'

'Hey, defect,' a voice called from above.

Bo looked up to see a group of six birds slightly bigger than Chase fly haphazardly down the ground. They had light blue feathers instead of green, which Bo found cool. He hadn't seen many falcons with colors other than green and those he had were warded off by Brutus, who always seemed to be in the area.

He noticed that Twig hunched over in the presence of these blue-feathered falcons. Was she scared of them? It made sense. Twig was scared of a lot of things.

Except when it came to throwing herself off her nest tree; she did that fearlessly in her desperate efforts to fly.

He was about to ask who these new chicks were when the lead one spoke: 'So you're hanging out with mammals now, defect?'

Twig lowered her head in shame. 'N-no. We're j-just-'

'Oh, please,' another interjected. This one was rather...plump. 'My ma says that since you can't fly, you're entertaining land beasts now!'

Indignantly, Bo snarled at the plump chick. 'Hey! Twig can fly!'

Another chick spoke; this one was especially thin and was rather tall: 'Oh, yeah? Twig, fly right now!'

Bo turned to his best friend. 'That's right, Twig! Show 'em!'

She cringed and shuffled backward. 'B-bo, I can't-'

'See!' the first chick said. 'She's a defect! What kinda bird can't fly?'

A spark of information hit Bo's brain and he muttered, "Penguins, ostriches, kiwis, emus, cassowaries, rheas, tinamous, and more."

Every chick looked at him in confusion. Plump asked: 'What?'

Bo blinked at him and said: 'What?'

Shaking his head, Leader turned back to Twig. 'You can't fly!'

'Yes, she can!' Bo protested.

'B-bo,' Twig said nervously, worried he was riling up the boys' feathers.

Tall/Thin sneered. 'You see her wing? Only defects have wings that can't carry them in flight! That's what my Pa said!'

Bo shook his head. 'It just hasn't had enough time to grow yet!'

'Idiot!' Plump shouted. 'Bird wings don't grow like that! Don't you see how small and crooked it is? That's not normal!'

'But-'

'Yeah,' Leader grinned maliciously. 'And defects only sour the falcon name! They shouldn't have wings at all!'

Twig's eyes widened in fear and she took another hop. 'N-no. You c-can't!'

Leader shrieked: 'Get 'er, boys!'

The small army of chicks rushed the stunned Bo and the terrified Twig. By the time Bo realized what was happening, all six of the chicks had surrounded Twig.

Two held her down by her wings while the rest pecked fiercely at her wings. She cried out in pain, struggling to free herself; her efforts landed her nowhere.

'Stop it!' Bo tried to charge the army, but a bulky chick stepped away from the pecking party and stopped him. No matter what Bo tried, the bulky chick blocked his path.

Bo hadn't wanted to hurt the chick, but Twig's cries were getting louder, which made him desperate. A poorly-aimed [Tail Whip] knocked the bulky chick to the side, giving Bo enough time to try and rescue his best friend. 'Leave her alone!' 

He started [Tail Whipping] the chicks, not bothering with harmless blows. By the time he freed Twigs, her wings were nearly in tatters. Her helpless sight spurred him into a rage.

He let out a familiar battle cry, which rang out across the Falcon Plains. It was so loud, it was heard by a certain Human trio, locked away in a dungeon...

Sydney looked up when she heard the roar. Looking over at Marco, she asked, "What was that?"

"How am I supposed to know?" he said dryly. "I'm locked up in here with you, aren't I?"

She grunted in reply when a small movement caught her eye. Sighing, she looked over at the girl who was still feigning sleep.

"Hey," she called. "Can you stop acting now? We can't do anything; we're tied up, too."

"Chained," Marco corrected.

"Chained," she agreed.

Much to her chagrin, the girl remained still. Rolling his eyes, Marco looked at Sydney. "So...got any ideas on how we should escape?"

"I dunno...I mean, in all the reincarnation stories I've read, the MCs have never been imprisoned..."

"Bah! We can't rely on stories! This is real life!"

"Yeah, but at least some part of them are true. Like, when we say 'Status' a status screen appears."

Marco frowned. "Fine. I'll concede on that part. It's still upsetting I didn't end up as some cute, little elf girl in a castle or something!"

"Pervert," the mysterious girl mumbled before stiffening and clamping her mouth shut.

"Ha!" Marco exclaimed. "Gotcha!"

"You are still a pervert, Marco," Sydney told him.

"I will, again, concede to that point. Anyway, girl, you wanna tell us your name?"

She finally opened her eyes; they were large, round, and hazel green. If her face wasn't so gaunt and dirty, she might've been pretty. Sydney herself only counted her appearance being slightly above average with an athletic build, plain brown eyes, and even plainer brown hair. Of course, she spruced up her look by shaving one side of her head, letting one grow long so it covered her left eye, and dying it all green. She thought it complimented the nerd, sorta-kinda-emo look she was going for.

"Megyn."

"Megan?" Sydney asked.

"No, Megyn."

Marco leaned forward. "Meghan?"

Her eyes flashed. "It's Megyn, you-"

Marching footsteps interrupted their conversation. A pair of guards stopped in front of their cell with a tall, hooded figure. They opened the cell, threw them in, and walked off without another word.

The figure stirred and, somehow, easily slid the hood off, revealing an...elf?

Light blonde hair, handsome features, and pointed ears.

The three humans stared at their new cellmate who gave them a shy smile and said, "Um, hi. The name's Lofflaren."

Schwab

Another longer than intended chapter. But whatever. It got the point across. The mysterious girl is finally un-mysterious. And there's an elf! Huzzah! I like having the tidbits with these side characters at the end. They're fun to write.

The issue with the chicks, Twig, and Bo will be resolved in the next chapter, which will be Monday.

Anyway, I'll see you around.