Night Of The Monster Raptor
Raptor is another name for a bird of prey like the eagle, hawk, buzzard, etc. But, as the news on the TV in Chapter One said, what the guys are dealing with is no ordinary raptor.
Disclaimer: I do not own PoM. It belongs to Nickelodeon and Dreamworks. I don't own Alexander either. He belongs to 13thsense. Thank you, 13thsense for letting me use him!
The Forum
Skipper came into the HQ, eyebrows furrowed a bit. Private was on his bunk, still unconscious and Rico was playing with his doll girlfriend. The leader penguin proceeded to the lab where Alexander was examining Fred's wound.
"What did you find out?" Skipper asked.
"According to its depth, size and the way it cut the patient's skin, I conclude that it was possibly caused by some sort of beak," Alexander explained as he moved his face from the gash and turned to his commanding officer. "And not just any beak. Probably one that belongs to a bird of prey. A very large bird of prey."
"Will Fred survive?"
"The wound's actually a lot less bad than it appears to be. It wasn't deep enough to penetrate the spinal cord, so we could just call it a scrape or something like that. Not a lot of blood was lost either. This is one lucky squirrel."
The medic added in some disinfectant and wrapped the gash up with bandages after the examination was done. A few minutes later, Fred woke up abruptly and sweating heavily.
"Wh-Where am I?" he inquired, sounding quite terrified.
"Calm down, Fred. You're in our HQ," Skipper answered, "now tell us – "
"It was scary. Very scary."
"I'm sure it must've been. Who – "
"It suddenly came in out of nowhere and took them."
"Them?"
"My friends Archie and Antonio. It cut them to pieces with its sharp claws and ate them and it tried to go after me but I escaped."
"Who cut them up? Who ate them?"
"This big bird that looked like an eagle, except that it was not an eagle. You could tell because it had these wicked talons and a cry that made chills run down your spine and red eyes that burned your very soul when you look at them. It killed Archie and Antonio mercilessly and devoured them greedily and… and…"
Fred passed out again before he could go any further. Skipper wanted to wake him up but Alexander stopped him.
"He's still in a state of shock. Let him rest," he said.
"We need to discuss about this," Skipper declared, "and when I mean 'we', I mean everyone in this zoo. Gather every zoo animal into the Zoovenir Shop in 1200 hours. Everybody deserves to know what happened and how this happened."
Later at the Zoovenir Shop…
All the animals were chattering, creating so much noise that you thought that there was some kind of riot. Skipper flipped onto the counter top and faced them.
"Everybody… QUIET!" he yelled and it became silent. "Thank you. Now, I'm sure all of you heard of what had happened earlier – "
"What did that to the squirrel?" someone from the crowd suddenly inquired.
"Will he live?" another question barged in.
"Is the Monster Raptor the one who attacked him?"
The last question made the animals buzz again. Julien and his lemur entourage hopped onto the counter top and the lemur king made a shrill whistle.
"No need to fear, my people," he called out, catching everyone's attentions. "This 'Monster Raptor' is obviously a guardian the Sky Spirits have sent for me. My guardian only attacks those who do not worship my kingly kingliness. So, for your own safety, I advice you to kneel, bow down and start adoring me and my awesomeness. My guardian will see this and not attack those who do my command."
Willing to believe anything just to be safe, the animals were about to drop to their knees when Skipper laughed haughtily.
"Seriously, you're all believing in Ringtail and his nutjob explanation?" he questioned, laughing again. "Should I even call it an 'explanation' or a 'joke'? Besides, if what Ringtail says is true, then we should blame him for directing those killings, right?"
The animals seemed to agree and shot glares at the lemurs.
"Okay, okay! The Monster Raptor is no guardian of mine," Julien confessed, close to tears, "I'm just really afraid and I don't want to get eaten and – "
"No one will get eaten. Not on my watch," Skipper said, determined then faced his audience, "okay, here's what I want you to do! Alert every animal outside to come in and seek refuge here. I've already sent Private on the alley cats, Rico on the pigeons and Alexander on the rats. All there's left is the park."
Everyone stirred yet again. Skipper raised a flipper to hush them down.
"I want you to share as much space as possible with the animals from outside," he continued, "make them feel at home 'cause this will be their home. Temporarily. Once everybody's inside, my team and I will search and perhaps put an end to the Monster Raptor's antics."
The animals nodded. The chimps, the lemurs and the badgers volunteered to warn the park residents. The ones left behind, on the other hand, fixed up their habitats to make room for the outsiders. Skipper sighed. Wherever he is, Kowalski will have to wait
Few hours later…
The zoo was overflowing with animals of different kinds. However, it still maintained the much needed peace. Alexander slipped a drug in Alice the zookeeper's drink that would make her sleep for a week, so that no human would find out.
The team watched from the clock tower as Marlene, Becky and Stacy gave out rations of food to everyone. Though it may seem like a mix-and-mash of animals, it was orderly and peaceful. Skipper made sure it would go like this.
"Skipper, do we have any idea where the Monster Raptor is?" Alexander asked.
"I…never thought of that," Skipper admitted, facepalming himself.
"I wished we had an eye in the sky so that we can have a full view of the city," Private sighed.
"Of course! " Skipper exclaimed, jumping onto his feet. "We need an eye in the sky! But who?"
The four thought and thought and thought until Rico came up with an idea. He began to caw and flap his flippers and act like a girl.
"Wait, are you suggesting her?" Skipper questioned and Rico nodded. "Well, I think that I and she can get along, just as friends. Come on, men! Let's search the tops of buildings for her nest."
They said their goodbyes to the animals and went to the city.
"Who are we looking for exactly, Skipper?" Alexander queried.
"Oh, just a good friend of mine," the leader replied, smiling coolly. "Make sure to be on her good side. I think lizards are also on her diet."