I know I hated it when I was left with a cliffhanger or a teaser while reading stories, so I decided to post this chapter as soon as it was finished. I just want to say in my defense that those are incredibly fun to write. Anyway, there's more notes at the bottom in order not to give it away. Nathan has something to say to you.
Nathan: *waving flippers* Hey, everybody! I'm back! I know I wasn't out for long, but did you miss me?
Me: *rolls eyes* All right. Just get to the part already. They want to read the story!
Nathan: Jeez, sour puss. I'm going. Disclaimer: This author does not own any characters from the Penguins of Madagascar. The author only owns his OCs and plot line. This goes for all future and past chapters. There happy? Did I miss anything?
Me: I think you did a pretty good job.
Nathan: Aww, I never knew you were so sweet.
Me: *picks up baseball bat* I'm not.
Nathan: Review please. And don't worry if you miss me, I'll be along later. Just don't leave me for somebody else whose name I cannot mention.
Me: Nathan!
"Skipper?" Private's voice rang out. "Is it absolutely necessary to do recon in a fog?"
"Of course," his leader replied. "It's the best time for an enemy to strike!"
Kowalski shivered in the cold. "Yeah, assuming the enemy can see through fogs," he mumbled.
He raised his voice. "I don't think anyone would be crazy enough to be out here, Skipper. How can he see when we can barely see each other? No one wants to be out in this weather."
Skipper pointed to Rico. "Rico seems to be enjoying himself."
"That's because Rico is Rico!" argued Kowalski.
"I see something!"
The two penguins turned to Private's direction. "Rico!" ordered Skipper. "Stop fooling around!"
They waddled over to Private's side. "What is it?" asked Skipper.
Private shrugged. "I'm not sure." He pointed to the shadowy shape.
"Kowalski, analysis."
Kowalski took out his clipboard. "It's too small to be a human, Skipper, and it couldn't be a space squid in its natural form."
Skipper rubbed his beak thoughtfully. "Who are you?" he called out. "Are you a friend or foe? What do you want?"
He received no answer. The strategist turned to his commander. "Perhaps he can't hear you," Kowalski suggested.
The shape began moving towards them. "Skipper!" cried Private. "What do we do?"
Skipper replied with the only answer he had. "Attack!"
The team moved as one, coordinating with the occasional commands from Skipper. Usually, they would also rely heavily on hand signals, but considering the fact that a fog was in the way, the idea was thrown away. "Kowalski, left. Rico, right. Private, back."
His team nodded and went their separate ways. However, the intruder must have heard him, because he or she flipped over Skipper's head and landed perfectly on the fake floe before turning around to face them. Skipper and the team knew that they were facing a professional.
By now, the fog had lifted slightly and revealed a penguin. The penguin smirked and curled his flipper in a taunting way –the universal sign for come-and-get-it. Skipper glared at him before getting into his signature battle formation. "Give it all you got, boys!"
With a cry, they launched themselves at the intruder. The fight was suspenseful –neither side was getting an advantage. Private aimed a kick at the penguin, but the young soldier met no resistance and crashed into the fence.
The stranger blocked a punch from Kowalski before landing the scientist one of his own. Kowalski hunched over, gasping for air. Rico managed to sweep the feet off the stranger before hurrying to help his fallen comrade.
Skipper and the penguin locked eyes with each other. The penguin knew enough not to attack Rico while he was tending for his teammate. The fight was down between Skipper and the intruder. However, before either of them could make a move, Private jumped up with a cry and latched himself onto the penguins head. "Private!" cried Skipper.
The penguin stumbled around blindly as Private held on for dear life. They neared the pool and fell. Private released himself and swam up to the surface. The other penguin was right beside him. Wasting no time, the stranger flipped up on the habitat. Hurriedly, Private followed as well.
It was one against four again. Although Skipper felt that the odds were uneven, he reminded himself that they were doing it for the sake of the zoo. If it was a one on one duel, well, that was a different matter.
They were evenly matched. However, time soon showed its toil when the stranger's movements became slower. The team had an advantage with numbers –none of them had to fight as hard as the penguin did.
"Now, men!"
Simultaneously, they jumped on the penguin, pinning him down. Although he put up the best struggle he had left, the penguin was soon tied up. Skipper stared grimly at him. "Rico, dart."
The weapons specialist regurgitated the required item and handed it over to his leader. Private looked on worriedly. "Sorry about this," said the young penguin. "It's for your own good."
Kowalski, on the other hand, was still slightly hunched over and scoffed. "I, for one, am not."
The tied up penguin looked around at the faces surrounding him. He felt a prickling pain, then the whole world turned black.
There the first chapter is read and done. What do you think? Not sure if you think of this ending as a cliffhanger or not, but the next one will be posted later (once I have finished writing it out). The good news is that I have it all planned out, so hurray!
Not sure what you'll think of this, but this story is probably going to be much longer than I Work Alone. It's not set yet, as sometimes the characters like to take me on adventures that change the entire plot line. By the way, if you haven't read I Work Alone yet, I suggest you do, or else this might be confusing to you. The good news is that you'll probably pick things up as we go along.
Unfortunately, I also need to finish Great Migrations before I get too caught up in this story. Great Migrations is a bit of a holiday from my more suspenseful stories, but I figured out that these type of stories isn't my style. However, I do intend to finish it, as I like how the ending works out.
Yeah. Yeah. Long note, I know. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you had skipped it. Anyway, if you had, you probably wouldn't be reading this. Oh I's talking for too long. Bye and stayed tuned!
Nathan: Bye!