A/N: I am convinced all of my teachers meet during lunch just to plan out how to make my day suck… DX I barely had time to type at all, so it's a miracle this got up in time. The next one should also be up on time, but no guarantees due to semester finals. AP Art History is going to kick my ask… Anywho, I lied last chapter- the baddies don't come in until next chapter. They were supposed to be here, but then this chapter would have been unbearably long and I never would have gotten it up in time. I seem to be able to type about 1K words per week… Ah, well, this story's under the Suspense category, right? XD

It took the better part of two hours for them to reach the large island, following Rev up in the sky as he led them to it. The approaching storm quickly got closer, and the winds got even stronger than before, billowing about at almost impossibly high speeds and kicking up the already high waves even further. They had gotten there just in time; any longer and they would've been swept under, unable to keep themselves afloat.

Once they had been able to see the island over the crests of the waves, Rev had gone on ahead to see what the island was like and see if he could find any other boats around. He planned to stay in the air for as long as the weather would allow him to. The others reached the island with enough time left over to catch their breaths and get bored waiting for him to come back.

From what they had seen of the island on their trip in, there was dense greenery covering its entirety and sheer cliffs surrounding the perimeter making it almost impossible to get ashore. However, there was a small inlet that was just barely visible from a distance, and as they got closer, they joyfully realized that it was a small, sandy beach, so that was where they came ashore, letting their pieces of floating debris from their boat float away in the rough surf. They couldn't go much farther, though; the beach was surrounded by cliffs on both sides, a steep incline behind them, and nothing even remotely looking like a trail in sight. Tech, Slam and Ace were looking for one, but without much luck. Duck had quacked to the top of the cliffs, leaving the girls alone to rest.

"Well, this is fun," Lexi stated sarcastically. She was lying down in the sand next to Sive, her hands intertwined behind her head and staring up at the angry clouds above.

"Beats being in the water, though," Sive commented as a particularly large wave crashed ashore and almost came up far enough to get their feet wet, which spoke volumes of the sizes of the waves considering how they were sitting more than half way up the beach.

"This is true. At least it's warm, though." Lexi turned on to her side to face Sive. She was lying on her back, hands crossed on her middle, staring pensively up at the increasingly dark clouds above them. "Something on your mind?"

Sive took a moment to think of an answer. "I think I'm just being paranoid, but… Something about all of this isn't sitting right with me."

"Is there anything about this that could sit right?" Lexi asked jokingly.

"No I mean… This is a fairly isolated island, right? Don't seagulls always inhabit islands, especially when there isn't any other land nearby?" At this seemingly random question, Lexi focused on her hearing and realized with surprise that there weren't any of the annoyingly loud birds within her hearing range. She hadn't even noticed their absence. "And then what about those rocks? Those don't just spring up overnight- why weren't they on any map? And for that matter, how can an island this large and relatively close to trade routes and a tourist area possibly be uncharted?" Sive sat up and shook her head confusedly, rubbing her temple. "I think all this salt water's going to my head. There's probably a reasonable explanation for this, there always is. …Well, usually, anyways."

Even though Sive was dismissing it, Lexi thought about it further in the ensuing silence and realized that her friend was onto something. Nothing about this made much sense. Until she had more information, though, she had no idea what to think. Nothing she came up with made any sense. She was pulled from her musings when she heard the boys walking up to them, returning from their search for a trail up the cliff. She also heard Duck approaching from the top of the cliff.

Ace reached them first, and he plopped down onto the sand next to Lexi. "We found some kinda trail, if ya can even call it dat," he said to answer the unspoken question. "It's a bit of a climb up, but I think we can make it. It's not as steep, and dere are a bunch of hand and foot holds that'll make for an easy climb to da top."

"That's good; I'm not up for a rock climbing expedition after that swim," Lexi said, leaning against Ace when he wrapped his arm around her. They had all been pretty shaken by the day's events, so she welcomed the contact.

Slam plopped himself down next to Ace and grunted an agreement to Lexi's comment. Tech moved as if to sit next to Sive, only for Duck to suddenly quack in about a foot off the ground and land in a purposeful sitting position next to her, spraying her with sand and prompting an indignant "Oi!" Lexi noted with mild amusement and interest that Tech shot an annoyed look at Duck before sitting down next to him.

"Did ya find anythin' worth talking' 'bout, Duck?" Ace asked conversationally.

"Unless plants suddenly became an interesting topic of conversation, no," he retorted, annoyed with what he found, or the apparent lack thereof. "It's a jungle up there; the forest is so dense, I can't see more than twenty feet away. There's a trail of some sort, but I didn't follow it very far. It just leads to more jungle. No animals, though- kind of weird when you think about it."

Lexi and Sive shot each other a look at that, but both kept silent, neither finding reason to share their inconclusive, possibly over-paranoid thoughts with the others. No reason to make their situation seem any worse than it already was, difficult as that may be.

"Where's Rev, anyways?" Duck continued. "Shouldn't that red motor mouth be back by now?"

"He'll be here any second now, I'm sure," Lexi said firmly.

"I hope so; da wind's pickin' up," Ace stated with slight unease, looking up at the darkening clouds above as they moved faster and faster away.

"Rev's fine," Tech stated. "He would've called us by now if he-" He stopped short, staring straight ahead with a blank expression for a split second, before burying his face in his hands and hanging his head. "I feel incredibly stupid right now."

"That's a first," Duck muttered dryly.

"What is it, Tech?" Ace asked.

Instead of verbally replying, Tech raised one hand and pointed to the green device on his gauntlet- his comm. unit. The same type that everyone else had in their respective colors. The thing that was like a mobile, fairly sturdy satellite phone.

Everyone else felt equally stupid.

Tech allowed himself another moment of feeling like a complete idiot before actually using his comm. to try contacting the Coast Guard. No matter how lazy they were, they were the only ones who could help them reasonably quickly at that point. However, the call didn't go through- all he got was static interference. He tried calling Zadavia with the same result.

"Maybe it got damaged...?" he offered to his equally perplexed teammates, giving it a scrutinizing glance. "Somebody else try theirs."

Ace tried his, but with similar results; an unending static storm on the other line. "Dat's…not good. Maybe mine also got damaged…?"

"Unlikely," Tech replied shortly as he opened up his comm. and looked at the internals of the device. Everything seemed to be in working order, and no water had gotten in. He looked up as four more bursts of static interrupted the relative quiet of the beach, and saw the increasing unease on his teammates' faces as they, too, found their comms. inoperable.

"How is this possible?" Lexi asked, mirroring the examining look that everyone else was giving their comms. "They can't all be damaged beyond functionality…maybe we're out of call range…? No, wait, they're satellite…"

"Which means something's jamming them," Sive stated matter-of-factly. "Great. And today has been going so well…"

"Odds are it's just coincidence," Tech stated calmly. "Certain minerals can divert satellite communications, and there could be deposits on this island. Or the geographic makeup could bounce them around- the elevation could be high enough for that. The storm may even be screwing with it if there's a lot of lighting up high where we can't see." Sive noted that despite his words, he didn't seem totally convinced. No one else seemed completely reassured by his words, either.

"Here's some good news," Duck interjected. "I see Rev." Everyone turned their eyes to the sky, and were very relieved to see the contrasting streak of bright orange flame against the blackening clouds signaling Rev's arrival. He seemed to be having trouble staying exactly on-course in the blowing winds, but seemed to be alright. A few minutes later, he made a shaky landing on the beach when a sudden gust of wind threw him off balance right as he would have touched the ground. He ended up sliding a bit, but still managed to stay on his feet.

"Wow-this-wind-is-incredible-I've-never-seen-anything-like-it-not-even-when-we-fought-Weathervane-well-okay-that-might-be-a-bit-of-a-stretch-but-I-can-barely-even-fly-straight-I'm-a-bird-we're-not-built-for-flying-in-these-conditions-not-that-I'm-techinically-built-for-flying-at-all-but-"

"Rev!" Lexi and Sive shouted simultaneously to get the ranting roadrunner to stop talking, if only for a moment.

"Did ya see anythin'?" Ace asked just short of eagerly. "Any boats? The general direction to Acmetropolis from here? Anythin'?"

"No-sorry-I-didn't-see-anything-no-boat-no-birds-no-land-nothing-and-I-can't-even-tell-which-way-Acmetropolis-is-from-here-so-I-can't-fly-back-not-that-I'd-leave-you-guys-anyways-and-I-suppose-I-could-use-my-GPS-but-did-you-guys-try-calling-anyone-or-something?"

"Yeah, we only thought of that right before you got here," Lexi admitted sheepishly.

"Something on this stupid island is jamming our comms, though," Duck stated sourly, prompting a mildly alarmed look from Rev.

"Rev, do you think you could fly out of range of whatever's jamming the comm. system and call for help?" Tech asked.

"Well-in-theory-sure-but-not-until-this-storm-blows-over-because-the-winds-are-still-picking-up-even-though-it-doesn't-seem-possible-and-I've-flown-around-so-much-today-I-wouldn't-make-it-very-far-anyway-so-we'll-need-to-wait-a-while," Rev explained as he sat down next to Tech.

"Darn," Sive huffed, earning an agreeing nod from most of the others. Not a moment later, they were all shielding their eyes as a particularly strong gust of wind sent sand flying up and around them. They all stood up and shook themselves off after it all settled; sand and fur or feathers weren't a good mix. "I'm thinking we should maybe head inland and find some kind of shelter before it starts getting really ugly out here."

"Oh-that-reminds-me-I-almost-forgot-how-could-I-almost-forget-that?" Rev asked himself, looking like he had an I-feel-like-a-moron moment just like the others had. "I-flew-all-the-way-around-the-island-and-this-place-is-really-big-and-there-are-lots-of-cliffs-and-canyons-and-rivers-and-jungle-and-forest-and-brush-and-all-that-but-on-the-far-side-a-couple-miles-away-from-here-there-was-this-big-clearing-and-in-that-big-clearing-there-was-this-really-big-house-and-I-thought-it-would-be-abandonded-but-it-looked-pretty-modern-and-I-saw-a-bunch-of-dogs-in-a-fenced-in-area-so-that-probably-means-we're-not-alone-here-right?"

"…How could you possibly forget that?" Duck spluttered in outrage after a moment of stunned silence.

"Well-I-did-get-an-impromtu-interrogation-the-second-I-got-here-so-it-just-slipped-my-mind," Rev stated, somewhere between sheepish and angry.

"Well, now we at least have somewhere ta go," Ace said optimistically as he stood up and started heading for the 'path' in the rocks, closely followed by the others. "If we're lucky, dey have a phone we can use. If we're really lucky, dey might have a boat and can give us a lift back ta Acmetropolis."

"Yes, because our luck has been absolutely perfect so far," Duck said, voice dripping with sarcasm. The others opted to ignore Duck's special brand of pessimism, especially when Slam asked something that sounded like 'other boaters'.

"Oh, yeah! Maybe they know something about the Free Spirit," Lexi agreed. "With those rocks where they are, this can't be the first time they've had someone wash up here. They've probably seen some debris, at the very least."

"We'll have ta ask 'em," Ace said as he started climbing up with little effort, Lexi following him. There were little nooks and crevices perfectly spaced to act as hand and foot holds, so it really was an easy climb. "Though ya have ta wonder about 'em if dey live out here…"

"I bet they're creeps," Duck stated, following up behind Lexi.

"Duck, we know you're unhappy with what's happened, but why don't you keep the pessimism to yourself?" Sive asked up to the mallard, who shot her a half-hearted glare in response. He then realized exactly what he was doing and proceeded to quack the rest of the way up.

"A-little-solitary-maybe-put-the-place-looked-normal-enough-to-me-and-yet-looks-can-be-decieving-but-that-doesn't-mean-they're-too-weird-or-anything," Rev commented as he waited for the wind to die down a bit before putting on a quick burst of fast flight and landing on the edge of the cliff above.

Slam started up next, and in the interest of not getting squished should he fall, the two coyotes waited until he reached the top before they started climbing the fairly short, 20 foot cliff face.

"Hey, Sive? Is it just me, or is something…not sitting right about all this?" Tech asked once Slam was about halfway up, and just barely out of earshot.

"Oh, good, I thought Duck's pessimism was becoming contagious," she said, sounding mock-relieved. "That, or I had extreme paranoia… But something is definitely wrong about this. No animals, those rocks and this island all uncharted, no comm. service, and now people live on this, I repeat, uncharted island? It's a little far-fetched."

"I agree." He paused for a moment as Slam reached the top and was helped up by Rev and Ace. Tech then started climbing up, and he was closely followed by Sive. "I have a feeling these people may not be…amicable. We should keep an eye out, just in case. Especially since the others don't seem to sense that anything's wrong."

They both paused momentarily and looked up as thunder boomed overhead. It still sounded a bit of a ways off, but it was a little too close for comfort. "Lexi thinks something's up, too; we just didn't want to unnecessarily worry anyone."

"Ditto."

"Then why did you say anything to me?" Sive asked good-naturedly as Tech reached the top and easily pulled himself up.

"Uh, well…" Tech began nervously, turning around and watching Sive climb up the last couple of yards. "It's just…good to have more than one set of eyes on the lookout." He didn't feel the need to protect her by warning her of the possible danger. Not at all.

He reached down and pulled her up when she reached the top, and only then did they both look at the scenery around them. There was indeed very dense forest, borderline jungle-like, filled with trees, tall grass, and many different kinds of plants, many of which, Tech noted, couldn't possibly have grown there naturally- they would have to have been introduced to the environment. Following their teammates, Duck showed them where he had found the trail on his earlier search of the area. It wasn't even a pathway beaten in by being walked on frequently; it was just a continuous patch about two feet wide that was more dirt and weeds than grass where nothing else had decided to grow.

"It's better than nothing," Lexi admitted. "Rev, which direction is the house in from here?"

"Oh-yeah-it's-" He cut off suddenly, his eyes glowing red, signifying that he was using his GPS. He had a confused look on his face that remained there as his eyes stopped glowing. "That's odd…" he said slowly, his obvious confusion leaking into his voice and slowing his speech.

"What's up?" Ace asked, giving the roadrunner a worried glance.

"Well…my-GPS-doesn't-seem-to-be-working-which-is-just-plain-weird-this-hasn't-happened-before-how-could-that-be-happening?" Rev asked, looking all the more perplexed as he tried using his GPS again to no avail. "Everything-looks-all-staticky-when-I-try-like-looking-at-a-screen-and-I-can't-make-out-anything-I-wonder-why-that-is-maybe-I'm-broken?"

"I highly doubt that you're broken, Rev," Tech stated, though a knowing look was passed between Sive, Lexi, and himself. "Do you remember which way the house was?"

"That-way," the still confused and slightly dazed roadrunner stated, pointing North, Northwest.

"Alright, dat way it is," Ace said, taking the lead and following the path. It was close enough to their intended direction that they felt comfortable following the path.

Not that they all felt comfortable to begin with. Sive felt more and more unease the further they walked, the dead quiet of the forest, punctured only by the occasional thunder and distant sound of trees falling in the wind, rang in her ears. She became even more suspicious of the island's inhabitants when they crossed over a sturdy, wooden, well-made bridge going over a river that looked like something out of a Home and Garden magazine. By the sound of it, they were fairly well-to-do, which prompted the question of why they would be living out there. Sure, there were plenty of eccentric people among the rich, but wasn't the purchase of a private island usually documented?

The walk was indeed a few miles, but it didn't take them that long. That may have had to do with the fact that they started jogging at around the halfway mark when lightning flashed overhead and it just barely started misting. When they came within sight of the house, it was at a heavy drizzle, but the trees had protected them from the rain.

It was like standing in two different worlds. They stepped out of the line of trees, and all of a sudden, the area was clear of foliage. The grass was trimmed, the area fairly picturesque in better weather, and surrounded on all but one side by cliffs with long drops to the angry seas below. The trees and dense foliage ended suddenly in a straight line, separating the two areas like a wall. The most prominent feature, however, was definitely the 'house,' if it could be called that. It was simply huge, and it looked more like a three story mansion, with a large, 15 foot metal fence surrounding it on all but the front side. Dogs could be heard barking behind the house. The walls were made of stone, there were large, barred windows and double doors made of wood, and the black roof was on a barely-noticeable incline. The place looked like a castle. Or an impregnable fortress.

"It-looked-smaller-from-the-air," Rev said in wonderment as they all took a moment to take in the mansion before taking off at a run across the clearing as the rain picked up.

They came to some stone steps that led up to an overhang in front of the door, and they all stood there a moment, catching their breath and watching as the rain picked up to such a strong pace, it would probably hurt to stand in it. Lightning flashed every few seconds, but the thunder cracks were fewer and further between. Based on the noise level, there was no way that the storm was completely overhead yet.

"No doorbell," Ace stated after a quick look around at the large doors. They looked to be made of some type of old wood, which was an uncommon building material for that time. There were large, ornate knockers that looked as though they were made of bronze, and looked like lions that would snap at your hand if you attempted to use them. "Looks like we're doin' dis de old fashioned way, den."

He picked up one of the knockers, unsurprisingly heavy, and let it fall with a resounding boom that rivaled that of the thunder.

A/N: Is it cruel of me to end there? XD Yeah, probably, but I'm not exactly known to be a nice person. Ah, well, next chapter will be more interesting! Bad guys get introduced, and the plot starts getting nice and thick! R&R!