Author's Note: Birb-creeper. We also get other birbs. Birbs.

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 Ren:

 I rubbed my eyes.... I'm probably dreaming right? A chicken, that looks roughly like Doc, can't be here.

 " Bawk?" the chicken stirred as I shook my head. The large scale and feather covered bird tried to stand up, but its body refused to let it stand up. It looked at its single wing and squawked as its red eye came on.

 That's Doc alright. 

 My tail twitched as I kneeled down next to the bird. Doc turned his head to look at me fearfully, " BAWK!" he tried to move, but his little legs got him wrapped up in his coat. I shook my head and pulled the bird out of the coat.

 " Doc....? You're a chicken my dude... This... This is insane!" I held him as his neck feathers fluffed up. I know he was scowling at me, but with his little beak, he looked adorable. 

The bird sneezed and looked at his lack of another wing. He opened his other wing and examined it curiously. The chicken shook himself out and glanced back at his short tail. 

 I sighed, " We need to go to X. Maybe he can fix you." I told him as his sighed. Flopping onto the bed, Doc made a pathetic noise. I scooped him up and stroked his head making him let out a cooing noise. 

 " Well, let's head out Docky!" I grinned as I slipped my shoes on and walked outside.

 ((Travel skip again))

 I made it back to the shopping district and found X in the central area with a blue and brown chicken nestled against his chest. The bird was sleeping calmly as it cooed occasionally.

 X looked at the Doc-bird I had in my arms, " I was afraid of that when Joe passed out." he sighed as he looked down at the bird. I stood next to him, " Did Poultry Man attack Joe as well?" I questioned as X shook his head.

 " No, he just passed out and started changing in front of me." X answered with a frown. X looked at Doc, " Well, Doc here got attacked, and his body turned rather painfully in front of me." I told him as X studied the Doc-bird. 

 Doc squawked with an annoyed look as he tried to wiggle out of my arms. X took a step back, " Yep, that's Doc alright... You're still unhappy with people looking over you 'ey?" he smirked as Doc huffed. The feathers around the hermit's neck puffed up again. 

 I sighed as my ears twitched, " What do we do now?" I questioned as X looked around, " I'll message everyone with a chicken to drop them off at my base. This is mainly because I think Zedaph is allergic to chickens, and I don't think he'll want to deal with his cousin. In the morning, you, myself, and Iskall will get together and figure out a way to find Grian if Iskall hasn't already." he explained.

 With that plan in place, X tightly held onto the still snoozing Joe and took off towards his base. I looked at Doc as the chicken struggled, " Hold on Doc. Let's get back home and then I'll set you free." I sighed as Doc squawked. 

 ((Timeskip to the morning brought to you by Ren sleeping with Doc curled up on his head))

 Doc's loud squawking woke me up the next morning. He kept pecking at my communicator with an angry look, " Squawk!" he flapped his wing and sat down. 

 I sighed at him as my tail twitched, " What is it Doc?" I frowned as I stretched out. The chicken pointed down at my communicator with his beak. I crawled forward and picked it up. 

 " Come over. Iskall hasn't found Grian, but I've got all the chicken hermits. -X" the message read. I looked over at Doc and nodded. The chicken stood up and waddled around. I scooped him up after attaching my communicator to my arm.

 I shifted Doc around in my arms and got all my gear together before leaving the stock exchange building. 

 We quickly flew over to X's place and went inside.

 X was sitting at his computer desk, and Iskall was sitting on the floor. Surrounding Iskall on all sides, the other chicken hermits were sitting around. 

 Iskall looked up at me as I placed Doc on the floor. He looked at Doc and chuckled slightly.

 Doc made a hissing sound as he slowly waddled over. He kept making angry noises until he could peck Iskall's leg. The Swede flinched as he put his hand on Doc's head, " Okay, I'm sorry dude. Don't wake Mumbo, please."

 Iskall motioned down to the sleeping Mumbo, who was making a little chirping noise. The now chicken was twitching occasionally, " Chirp... chirp...." he put his neck on Iskall's leg and nuzzled against him.

 Doc flapped his wing and made an annoyed sound before nodding. He sat down in front of Iskall. I walked over to the bunch and sat down.

 I looked around at the others.

 Tango and False were nuzzled against Joe. The smaller chicken looked warm and comfortable. X explained that Joe was still asleep after turning, so when False and Tango were dropped off the two immediately decided to join Joe. 

 I looked off to the corner where a bed was placed. Scar was sleeping on it and using a chicken hermit as a pillow. 

 Cub.

 " I assume that Scar didn't want to leave Cub?" I questioned as Iskall nodded. He stroked Mumbo's head as the chicken made more cooing noises. Iskall explained that he scanned Scar when the hermit came here. It turns out that Scar was affected by the same sleep magic that Joe was. 

 X let out a sigh, " Scar wakes up for a couple of hours, but when that time is up, he passes back out." he mumbled as he started to type on his laptop. I looked over at X, " What are you doing?" I questioned as he leaned back.

 " I'm trying to track down Grian."