Of Sentience and Predator

A7: Tourist Trap

They got out of the vehicle and looked around. Nearby was a sign that read 'Welcome to Sparksville'. Kevin said, "Sparksville? Is there even electricity here?"

"Last I heard, there were Nosdeenians nearby, but I'm not too sure," EightEight gurgled, beginning to walk towards the town.

"What's a Nosdeenian?" Ben asked, following her along with Kevin and Gwen.

"A small creature that can control electricity," EightEight explained.

"Huh," Ben hummed.

They were silent until they got to a plain-looking building. On the building was a sign that said 'Mayor's Building'. The quartet entered it, following EightEight.

A man with peach skin, blonde hair, and bored blue eyes looked up at them as they entered. He sat up, mayoral clothes wrinkled a bit before saying, "Hello, what do you need?"

EightEight took out a circular item, the item looking like a disk with the image of a simplified dragon on it. She showed it to the mayor, who stared blankly at it for a moment before sighing.

"Let me guess, that dragon dressed fellow sent you here?" the mayor groaned. EightEight nodded. "Mm. Entrance is next to the rubber ball barn."

"Rubber ball barn?" Kevin blinked.

"Mm. Don't touch it," the mayor added before slinking back down onto his desk. EightEight motioned for the trio to follow her and left.

"What's the rubber ball barn?" Kevin asked, looking at EightEight. She shrugged. She had no reason to see what that was.

She brought them to a square, grey building next to a large barn. Kevin observed it for a moment, stalling before continuing to follow. The quartet entered the building, the door closing behind them.

From first looks, it just seemed like a simple store that was decently stocked with random objects like canned food and souvenirs. A tall, buff human saw them before smiling and staring at them.

"Afri-mask. Didn't expect to see you here," the human mused. When EightEight didn't reply, the human added, "Don't be a stranger, EightEight. We're part of the same group after all." The human tapped something on its face, a costume of a pigeon now covering it.

"Who are you?" Gwen asked.

"Hey, name's Pigeon-mask, or just Pigeon if you want. The Sparksville base is pretty chill though, so you can call me by my actual name, Tai," the man replied.

"Erm, can we tell him?" Ben asked, looking at EightEight. After a few seconds she nodded. "I'm Ben."

"I'm Gwen," Gwen quickly added. "That's Kevin." Kevin nodded, but kept looking back.

"Cool," Tai nodded before putting three of the same disks EightEight had on the counter. "You'll need these for Dragoon bases. You'll have to enter your name and mask and stuff, but it's useful to have around."

"Didn't Mice-mask program some of them to hack into Plumber bases?" EightEight asked. Ben looked at her weirdly.

"Yea, but those actually look like Plumber badges," Tai answered.

"Context please?" Ben asked.

"Guess none of you heard of the Plumbers before?" Tai asked after a few silent seconds. When they nodded, Tai answered, "Galactic peace organization. They try to say peacekeepers, but most of the time they don't even have any say in a conflict. The last conflict I'm pretty sure they were in that didn't end with executions or assimilation was... the Kinet-Pyros Conflict? What is it with Pyros and wars, anyways?"