November 2007
NGin and Tropy were getting along recently and decided to go on a voyage together to collect penguin test subjects for Brio's new experiments. Tropy had also mysteriously lost the ability to time travel freely, he doesn't know why so he just assumed the Time-crystal in his arm-wrist device had run out of power and will one day find the time to look for another. This has led him to develop a bigger interest in Brio's and NGin's experiments to occupy himself. Josh was welcomed into the academy but only works there helping out Derek with security and general maintenance. Josh and Nina were also very good friends and he didn't mind being with the anthros that were there.
NGin and Tropy were both in the canteen finishing a meal that Rusty had made.
"Mmm, thanks Rusty." NGin said putting his cutlery together on the plate.
"Your welcome sir, for dinner I've got lobster alright?" Rusty replied with his Somerset accent.
"Ooh my favourite!" NGin said.
"Will we ever have anything other than fish?" Tropy asked.
"We're at sea so what do you expect?"
"The occasional beef or chicken, it would not hurt to have a better galley installed would it?"
"If the galley was any bigger it would mean less room for my weapons."
"that only seem to be there for show" Tropy murmured.
"What?!?"
"Nothing." NGin looked at him suspiciously.
"Why did you want to change the location where we got the penguins from?"
"*sigh* Have you not thought of the consequences of a huge unidentified ship with ridiculous missile launchers and canons sticking out everywhere and highly evolved rhinos, someone with a steam engine on his back and a midget with a mortar sticking out of his head capturing penguins on a public beach would have."
"But we would get there at night and be gone before anyone noticed."
"You fool! You have no idea how many ships pass around the Cape Peninsula every hour at night do you? You know what, forget it, I really can not be bothered explaining something so simple to you."
"The ship's electromagnetic engines would have hidden the ship."
"It still would have been too risky because the engines would not have been able to stay on long enough," The ship was travelling through the ice caps breaking some on the way until they hit the main body of ice bringing the ship to halt. "Finally! I was wondering when that automatic sailor of yours was going to get us there!"
"Its only been a day or two."
"Still, it feels like forever."
"Let's go have a look shall we?" NGin put on some Arctic gear then they both went to the main deck and saw they had hit a huge iceberg with a flat bottom around it that the ship had broken through up to the main peak of the iceberg. There were bits of metal and debris sticking out of the ice. NGin knew this must be the remains of Cortex's iceberg lab. "If Cortex is still here he's most likely already dead, I doubt he would survived the cold for long."
"Who the hell cares about Cortex?!?"
"I thought he was the reason you decided to come."
"That pathetic fool? No."
"Then why are you here?"
"The Penguins that Brio asked for."
"Are you really interested in our experiments?"
"Times change." The two of them lowered a ramp and started exploring the ice cap. They decided to split up a bit but not too far in case something happened. *THOK!* NGin looked down at the ice and noticed he had just kicked something wooden. He bent down a brushed the top snow away to reveal Uka's mask half submerged in the ice.
"Tropy! I've found your friend!" Tropy quickly came over in response.
"Where? Let me see!"
"Here, doesn't seem to be any life in him though."
"I'll be the judge of that, why not go and look for Cortex if you're bothered or just find the penguins we came here for." NGin went to the main concentration of the lab's debris while Tropy got out his turning fork and carefully began breaking the ice around the mask. He eventually got it free but its lifelessness became more apparent. He tried shaking it a bit "Come on, wake up!" he yelled to it.
NGin found a lump of snow standing out quite clearly at the base of the peak. He went over and poked it with his foot, he noticed the lump of snow had turned to solid ice. He thought there was something more to it so he got a piece of metal lying around and began using it to scrape away at it. Unsurprisingly he found Neo Cortex still holding onto a piece of metal sticking out of the ice with his eyes squinting and his mouth open as if he had frozen instantly. He looked at Neo's corpse for a while in deep thought, probably looking back over the years. He finally smiled a bit knowing that he would no longer have to put up with him and his mad plans. He continued round the island and was satisfied to find the penguins loitering on the ice and in the water fishing. He decided to check how Tropy was doing.
"Any luck?"
"None yet, I'm starting to think his soul has moved on."
"Are you sure you want to bring him back? I mean he's more evil than Cortex and I can imagine what he'll be like when he returns after spending all this time like an ice cube."
"I have to, I owe it to him."
"Really, Why?"
"A long story that I will not tell you some time."
"Ooook." Suddenly out of nowhere black clouds appeared above them. "That's odd." NGin said.
"You best back off a bit I think I know what is going to happen." Tropy held the mask up higher to the sky. As NGin stepped back looking up at the flashing clouds a bolt of black lightning struck the mask throwing Tropy into the snow, he was slightly stunned but did not look as surprised as NGin. The mask's eyes lit up, it raised a few feet in the air looking around before seeing Tropy and NGin. Uka Uka was back.
"It's about time someone found me! Where have you been?!?"
"We've been carrying on with life without you that's what." NGin said. Uka frowned.
"Tropy, I strongly suggest you make this freak here know his place before I teach him some respect!" Tropy then got his fork and jabbed the mortar sticking out of his head making scream in pain.
"You behave yourself now, understood?" NGin replied with a dirty look in submission.
"Where is Cortex?" Uka demanded.
"He's frozen in the ice round there, I don't see what use he is dead." NGin said
"Show me!" Uka demanded and the two of them followed . When they got to his body NGin scraped more of the top ice away revealing more of his corpse.
"His body is still intact, right, I'm going to melt the ice around him then you two are to carry him back to the ship carefully, if one crack forms it could go right through the ice and his body giving us unwanted mess to clean up afterwards even if he does still survive. I shouldn't be long." Uka said and proceeded to melt the ice with his laser power.
"I'll go get some of 's minions from the ship to help us carry it. , you go get what we came here for."
"You mean what I came here for, so this is why you wanted to come to Antarctica instead."
"Well done Sherlock now do what I tell you before rip that thing out myself!" Tropy said gesturing towards his mortar. "And I still would have made you come here even if it was not for Uka." NGin said nothing and returned to the ship and sent out some minions, four with tranquillisers to collect the penguins and two more with a cage on a flat-bed trolley. An hour later the minions returned with two families of penguins and Cortex was loaded up onto the trolley next to the cage.
"Take cortex to the freezer in the galley immediately! It is important that we keep him frozen, the thawing of his body is a very delicate process." Uka warned them. The minions looked at each other as if to say 'Who the hell does he think he is? Giving us orders'. NGin was watching from the main deck.
"Do as he says!" NGin shouted. The minions returned to 's ship without question. Uka and Tropy waited a bit before following.
"So where have you been?" Tropy asked.
"Nowhere." Replied Uka. Tropy remembered that 'Nowhere' was in fact somewhere between different realities.
"The Hyperspace temple?"
"Its location has been moved."
"Do you know how long you've been gone?"
"Of course I do! And I've spent that time making my new plan and I will need your former field of expertise. You will need to find a way to the main land and into Sydney. I'll explain further details on the way back."
"And what about Cortex?"
"You do not need to worry about him, I just need him alive."