One day, the newly adopted Penny decided to go to the Outback in Australia. She and her parents found a cozy cottage in Mugwomp Flats. This seemed a great place to stay for a few days.

They went in, and unpacked, and then once they sat down to relax, a kangaroo rat wearing a hat and a jacket, standing outside the door, said "G'day mates, welcome to the Outback!"

Penny's parents were amazed, a kangaroo rat who could talk. But for Penny, this happened before.

"Who are you?" She said.

"The name's Jake. You could say I'm a bit like Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. I know a boy named Cody, and he has a very special friend. I also knew two mice named Bernard and Bianca."

"Bernard and Bianca? Those two mice helped save me from some crazy woman named Madame Medusa. They were here?"

"Yep! And it was Bernard who saved the day and finally got to propose marriage to Bianca afterwards."

"So they rescued another kid. They are good at this. Why don't you show me this boy named Cody? By the way, my name is Penny."

"Sure. C'mon, mate"

"I'll see you later, Mom and Dad. Don't worry, Jake will protect me."

Her parents waved good-bye as she followed Jake out of the house, went a mile or two and then saw another cottage. Penny knocked on the door and then out came a boy wearing a red shirt and had blond hair.

"Glad to see you again, Jake, who's this girl?"

"My name is Penny. You must be Cody. Jake told me that you have a special friend."

"As a matter of fact, I do. Follow me."

After walking a to a nearby ridge, they carefully climbed down and then Penny saw what looked like a nest, but it was big enough for a full grown man to lay down in.

"Cody, whose nest is this?"

"You'll see in just a minute."

Cody stood on the edge and said, "Marahute, come here, I got a new friend!"

Penny then saw something in the distance, it looked like an eagle, but once it got close enough, she saw that this eagle was the size of a large pterodactyl. The creature perched in front of Cody and Cody stroked the bird by the neck. "How are you, girl?"

Penny was amazed at first, but then walked up to Cody and said, "This must be your special friend."

Cody said, "It certainly is." he turned to face Marahute, "this is a girl I met, her name is Penny." Marahute turned to Penny and and spread her wings out and took a bow. Penny stroked the bird by her neck. "This is just so weird. I've only seen giant animals in books. I never thought I'd actually meet one."

Cody said, "You can meet more than one." He turned to Marahute and said, "Why don't you show this girl your offspring" Marahute gave a quick nod and then turned to the sky and let out a screech. Three eagles, not quite as big as Marahute, came and perched side by side next to Marahute. One was white on the top and the underbelly was gold. One was completely white. One was completely gold.

"This is Wind." He pointed to the gold bellied one. "This is Lightning" He pointed to the completely gold one. "And this is Angel." He pointed to the completely white one. "Y'know what? Now that you've seen them all, it's time you should ride on one. Would you?"

Penny said, "Oh, yes! I want to ride Angel."

Cody said, "Good choice, I'll ride Lightning"

They got up onto the eagles' backs.

Cody said, "You ready? Takeoff!"

Both eagles took off with them hanging on. First, they went through the canyon and then went up above the clouds.

Cody said, "Here's a great stunt they can do."

Both eagles did a midair flip and caught both Cody and Penny by their shoulders with their legs.

Cody said, "Now, nose dive!"

They went almost straight down to a river and then were let go into the river and then the birds quickly went behind them to keep them from falling over. A special kind of water skiing it happened to be. Then when they got pushed to the waterfall the eagles quickly went under and caught them on their backs. Then they went back to the nest and Cody and Penny got off.

Cody said, "Well, now that that's over, why don't you take both of us home, Marahute?"

Marahute nodded and kneeled over as Cody and Penny climbed onto her back. And took off once again. They were taken to Penny's house first, where Penny's parents were even more amazed, first a talking kangaroo rat, now an eagle the size of a pterodactyl. "Mom, Dad, this is Cody. And this…is Marahute. This is that special friend Jake mentioned to me."

Penny's father said, "I gotta take a picture of this monstrosity!" He got his camera and Marahute stood with her wings spread out, as Cody and Penny stood next to her. Then he took the picture. It came out good.

Penny said, "Well, it was nice meeting you, Cody, Marahute."

Cody said, "It was nice meeting you, too." He got onto Marahute and said "Hi, ho Silver, away!" The bird took off into the distance and with Cody holding on.

Penny said to her parents, "I had the time of my life with that bird."

Her parents agreed. And maybe thought until their stay in Australia is over, she can have more fun with that boy and his bird.

The End