Cross over between POM and The Hunger Games. The characters belong to the creators of POM completely and you may recognise some parts from The Hunger Games, although it doesn't follow that story plot completely. Thank you.

Chapter 9-

They spent most of the day searching for a safe place to rest, shiftily moving through the forest to avoid being sighted. It was so quiet now. There hadn't been a sighting of another competitor for what seemed forever, however it was preferable to them to stay that way. The three penguin friends still were horrified that the youngest had died. Though they didn't let the tears flow, the were all aware of one another's grief. They eventually found a cave in depths of the forest, approaching it cautiously. With Rico on his back, Skipper remained still as Kowalski pulled out an arrow from the bag, placing it in his bow and edging forward into the darkness of the rocky cove. Skipper waited in anticipation, narrowing his eyes and straining to see. The taller penguin emerged from the cave, giving a nod, implying that it was all safe. With that, they all entered the cave. Carefully, Skipper crouched on the cold hard surface and allowed the injured Rico to gently slide off his back to sit on the floor. Kowalski slumped down next to Rico, applying another heavy dosage of the remedy he made to Rico's scold. Skipper let outa sigh, remaining on his feet and pacing before them.

"We will not let Private's death be in vain" he started, placing his flippers behind his back as he began his speech, "This has made me realise that this all has to stop. Blowhole has got away with this for too long. How many more lives will it take for this to come to a halt? Well, I say enough is enough! Private was a peace lover, and that's what we must bring to this earth..."

"Skipper, I admire your will to avenge Private but there's no way we can win...Not unless you're suggesting..." Kowalski gasped, staring at his leader.

"I'm afraid so boys. We have to win, we're the only ones who have faced Blowhole before. And to get to him... We have to eliminate the other competitors..." Skipper sighed, before turning to the opening of the cave. The skies were becoming dark, clouds swirling together and letting go of the rain they were cradling. He turned back to face his team. "Let's get some sleep men, we need our energy to...You know..."

As much as he knew it was their only option, Skipper felt so guilty at the fact that, to proceed with his plan, he had to kill innocent fellow penguin agents.


Kowalski stirred, rolling over on the hard cold ground to face the others. He saw Rico, sat up right and very much awake, who was viewing his wound. The taller penguin pushed himself up on to his tail feathers, sliding his back up against a rock he had used as a pillow.

"Can't sleep, huh?" he asked, getting his friend's attention.

"Nah-uh..." Rico sighed, looking up at Kowalski.

"Me neither" the taller penguin replied, before looking past Rico to see their leader huddled up in deep slumber, "I don't know how he's so serene, when we have to..."

"Um..." Rico interrupted, signalling his desire to hear no more. Kowalski let out a forlorn sigh.

"I know Skipper begged us to protect Private, but I don't think he was ever the one we needed to preserve...I mean, obviously he needed help, but if this is ever going to end, only one of us needs to make it through".

"Wha'?" Rico frowned, shocked at Kowalski's defeatist attitude.

"If we are both to die, which I fear is invertible, we need to assure one thing; Skipper is to survive. Think about it, he's the only one who can actually defeat Blowhole, he's the only one who can end this madness" Kowalski groaned. Rico, though his replies were often short, kept his response shorter and just gave a nod. Kowalski stared at him. "I mean it, Skipper must survive...Even if we don't..."

"Uh-huh..." agreed the mute penguin, rolling over to lay on his stomach, clicking his beak to fall into a nap. Kowalski looked down at him before settling down, lowering himself down to lay flat. He stared up at the cave roof, not really paying attention as his drifted off into a daze. It was a grim reality that they were now living, and horrifying to think that is the world as they'll know it before they die...

"I don't think it's sunk into Skipper's head that only one of us can survive... He still seems to think we can win as a team" the taller penguin continued, letting out a forlorn sigh. A loud snore bought his sight to Rico, who had fallen to sleep very quick. Kowalski shuffled on his back, agitated with thought.


Rocks crumbled and a cloud of dust arose. With a cough, the leader bolted himself upright, his eyes scanning with fright. The cave was dark, but not from the night. His sight was clouded by demolition dust from the collapsing cave walls.

"Kowalski! Rico! Get up now!" Skipper growled, turning to the two sleeping penguins. He grabbed them both by the feathers on their chests. "That's an order!"

They jolted to attention by his shout. Skipper let go of them and paced around the cave.

"Kowalski, analysis..."

"This is no natural cause," the scientific penguin pondered, getting to his feet, "That means that someone has found us"

"They're going to bring this cave down!" Skipper bellowed.

"We can't go out there, they'll kill us before we have chance to escape" explained Kowalski.

"We'll die if we stay!"

"Ahem..." Rico interrupted, getting the attention of the arguing penguins. He regurgitated a helmet that had a drill on the top, and placed it loosely on his head before diving head first to the floor. With their eyes suddenly full of optimism, Skipper and Kowalski watched Rico as he disappeared down a tunnel that he was drilling, before shortly following him down. They tunnelled down and, when they eventually surfaced, they made a quick dash away.

"Quick thinking Rico" panted Skipper, putting a flipper on his hip and leaning over to catch his breath.

"Why thankyou" Rico beamed, accepting the compliment. Kowalski hyperventilated, inhaling before standing to his full height, composed. Skipper turned to him.

"Kowalski, how many competitors are there left?" he asked.

"Judging by the amount of noise and potential weapon usage just then, I'd say that we're not the only ones that have teamed up... I'd say that there was about four penguins just then" analysed the scientist.

"Hoover dam! We're out numbered!" Skipper gasped, "It can't be, only we came up with the idea to team up"

"You did speak pretty open about it in when we were training" muttered Kowalski.

"Curse their listening earholes!" the leader cringed through a gritted beak, "It's fine, we've got my leadership, Kowalski's brains and Rico's weaponry wonders. That reminds me...We need to start eliminating the others, it's for a better cause..."

"I estimate that there, in total, including us three, there are seven of us left".

"So only those four? This will be easy" grinned the reassured Skipper.

"I don't think so..." sighed the taller penguin, "They're in a team, it'll be tricky to sneak up on them..."

"But they'll be too paranoid by eachother, besides they aren't as solid as the team we are" the leader smirked, "Rico, weapon me".