Marlene remembered feeling so cold. Suddenly she was shifting everywhere and bubbles and ice swirled around her. She didn't remember hearing a sound either. It all happened so fast and without warning, she couldn't even react. Now she stopped floating, and suddenly she felt much colder than ever before in her life. She couldn't stop shivering, and frankly she didn't have much energy left to do anything.
She opened her eyes and saw only blue sky and white clouds. She slowly sat up and a harsh wind blew against her immediately. She quickly wrapped her arms and her tail curled around her hind paws. She looked around her and realized she was all alone on a small piece of floating ice. Her teeth chattered and she could see her breath freezing up as it hit the frosty air. These arctic waters were definitely no place for an Asian otter that lived comfortably within temperature controlled environments. This could prove fatal to Marlene.
"H-h…" Marlene shivered. Her word seemed as if it was frozen up in her throat, but she tried again to speak. "H-h-hello?"
Her voice cracked, but at least she can still speak. She just couldn't believe she was alone. Where was the team?
"P-P-Private?" she squeaked. "Rico? K-Kowals-s-ski?" She swallowed and spoke again. "S-Skipper? Fey? A-anyone?" She took quick breaths. "H-help… please."
She tightened her grip on herself, and then tried to rub some warmth against her fur, but it can only do so much good. This was not a good scenario. It won't be long till she could develop a frost bite. This was probably it.
"Well, you're up," a voice cut through the icy air suddenly.
Marlene slowly turned herself around and her eyes widened to see sleek, black feathers.
"Y-y-you," Marlene spat.
"Me," the albatross replied indifferently.
Marlene couldn't stop shivering, and she felt so ashamed to look so vulnerable to a possible enemy.
"J-just…go aw-w-way. I'm warning… you," Marlene sneered between teeth.
"Or what?" asked the albatross. "You can barely make a sentence."
Marlene shook her head, "B-but it doesn't mean… I'll… give up q-quietly."
"WROOOHHH!"
Marlene whirled around and panicked to see a large, ugly mouth with a pair of razor tusks hovering above her head! She screamed and immediately ran the opposite direction of the thing. Suddenly the mouth breathed fishy air out as if it sneezed and crashed back into the water. Marlene gripped on the ice at the opposite end and watched the huge, furry, brown body splash back into the ocean.
"W-what," she cried. "What was that?"
The albatross had flown into the air and then returned back beside her.
"Elephant seal," he answered. "Bless you."
Suddenly the ice began shifting violently and Marlene clawed at the ice for support. Then- Boom! Marlene lurched backwards and tumbled. The she stopped tumbling when she bumped into something hard and warm. Then the next thing she knew, another ugly face appeared from behind also with huge tusks and roared its fishy breath into her face. Marlene got scared and she quickly up and ran the opposite direction. Suddenly she fell onto the ice and sand and then quickly sat up staring at a weird and ugly creature she's never seen before.
"Are… are they otter eaters?" asked Marlene when she realized it was another elephant seal.
The albatross flew right beside Marlene and shook his head, "Nah, they're plant suckers. Welcome to Elephant Seal beach."
Marlene awed at the sight of the hundreds of elephant seals that lounged all over the icy beach. They didn't seem to notice the two newcomers among them. Marlene had never seen creatures like them before, but she trusted the albatross' word on them. And suddenly another harsh breeze hit her again and she felt extremely cold again. She remembered her uncontrollable shiver and teeth chatter and wrapped herself in her arms.
"O-okay," Marlene turned to the albatross. "So… what are you gonna do with me?"
The albatross looked overhead and nodded. Suddenly while Marlene least expected it, the albatross grabbed hold of Marlene shoulders despite its webbed feet and carried her into the air! Marlene yelped for a second, but she just didn't have enough strength to actually scream or do anything to stop him.
She saw all the elephant seals below her passing by her quick. She didn't remember thinking about anything at that moment. All she wanted was to feel warm again. To finally stop shivering… anything. Someone please make this stop.
Meanwhile the penguin team remained on the floating ice. There was still fog lingering, and the further the ice floated to, the more ice the team could see. Rico had regurgitated two long paddles and he and Private pushed the ice along. Kowalski kept a compass and made sure the ice stayed on south. Fey kept quiet and watched Skipper and Kowalski argue over options. Sincerely Fey hoped Marlene was alright, she still needed her. But right now it didn't look as if there was much she could do now. She sighed and waddled over to Skipper and Kowalski.
"We've been at this for hours, Skipper," Kowalski said. "I know we should uphold our streak with no member loss, but let's face it. Marlene could not last in these freezing waters for so long."
"It doesn't matter," Skipper protested. "I said we'd find Marlene, so we will. Regardless if she's alive or not."
Fey smiled and sighed before she spoke, "Skipper, I admire your ambitions. But perhaps this might be a mission failure after all. I can't execute this mission without her. It was well worth a shot."
Skipper snorted and turned away from her, "You might be satisfied with a broken streak miss Fatale." Then he turned himself back around towards her. "But I'm not. I always find my teammates regardless. Even if what I find may not seem pretty. Just ask Manfredi and Johnson, Lord knows how far into the extreme I've gone."
Skipper waddled away from Fey, leaving her in a dark mood. Fey didn't say anything more though. Even Kowalski waddled away, keeping his head low on his compass. Suddenly her eyes narrowed. She glared at Skipper. She licked her beak and smirked. Then she blinked.
"AHHHH!"
Everyone jumped as Private's scream echoed into the frozen air. Suddenly Private slid on his belly away from the edge of the ice where he stood, barely missing snapping jaws. Then everyone was shocked to see a roaring leopard seal's head emerge from the water! It snarled and bit into the air, but Rico immediately swished his paddle into the air. Rico landed a hit onto the seal's head, but it snarled and kept snapping its jaws at the group. They all backed up as far away as possible from the beast.
"Rico, I think you can do better than that," Skipper said.
Rico growled and immediately regurgitated a flamethrower. Rico cackled maniacally as he threatened the seal. It growled ferociously at him, but soon it back down and submerged back into the water. Rico smirked triumphantly.
"Way to go, Rico!" cheered Private.
"See?" Skipper praised. "I told you, you can do better."
"Mm hm," Rico nodded happily. "Yeah."
Suddenly he pulled the trigger on the flamethrower by mistake and unleashed a fire power toward the ice! Rico stopped immediately before anymore damage could be done. But it was too late, now there was a big hole in the middle of the ice.
"Uh oh," Rico muttered.
Suddenly the seal stuck his right through the whole and snapped fiercely. The impact of its body crashing through the ice broke it in pieces! All the penguins yelped and jumped off the breaking ice and found more ice to escape to. As Skipper balanced himself on the slippery ice, below his webbed feet and ice, he could see the dark silhouette of the leopard seal swim by.
"Move out!" barked Skipper. "Go, go, go!"
All the penguins got on their bellies and followed Skipper forward onto more ice. The leopard seal was right underneath them, simply waiting for the right time to attack. The penguins took care not to dive into the water and if they had to leap onto another ice block, they made sure there wasn't enough space for the seal to leap up and grab them with its jaws. The birds leapt over the spaces, still sliding and sliding for their lives.
"Kowalski, options!" called Skipper.
"I'd say we use evasive maneuvers," replied Kowalski. "Shake it off our tracks."
"Right, scramble everyone!" called Skipper.
Everyone zigzagged along the ice, which actually worked. The leopard seal saw too many figures moving so fast for it to catch up. Only several times did it decide to leap out of the water and tear through the ice, but it had no luck. There was one close call with Private when the leopard seal actually crushed from underneath him. Luckily Rico was close enough to him, to save him from the attack by kicking a powerful blow against the leopard seal's face. It snarled and dove back in the water.
"Up ahead, everyone!" called Kowalski. "The ice there looks thick enough to avoid the beast! We're almost there!"
Everyone picked up the pace, but the leopard seal wasn't going to give up to easily. It tried for the final time to crash through the ice towards a shadow. The ice shattered and the seal snapped its jaws- Skipper found himself flying in the air!
"Skipper!" his team cried.
Skipper's eyes widened in shock and fear as half his body was just inches from the seal's razor sharp fangs. He could see all its saliva flying out and his tongue reaching to touch him. He could even see the seal's tonsil, and he was seconds from becoming this seal's meal!
WHAM! Fey had sucker punched the seal's lower jaw, giving Skipper the chance to kick the seal away and escape its mouth. Skipper and Fey returned back on their bellies and kept sliding ahead. The seal fell backwards and crashed through the ice and back into the water. After a moment, all the penguins made it onto the thick ice. They stop as they barely reached it though; they all kept going until they just felt tired, really. After another moment, they all turned around and got back up on their feet, panting and catching their breaths. They never saw the leopard seal again.
"Ko…walski?" wheezed Private. "Are we safe?"
After Kowalski took more deep breaths, "Affirmative. We won't have to worry about it anymore."
Rico chuckled nervously before he hung his tongue and let himself fall onto the ice. Skipper wiped his forehead and sighed a breath of relief.
"That was," Skipper panted. "Too close. We gotta be more cautious with the hostiles around here."
Fey approached Skipper, "Look who's talking."
Skipper turned to her, "The son of a gun knew its stalking abilities. He just caught me by surprise."
"Hmph," Fey rolled her eyes, but then she looked back at him.
Skipper rubbed under his chin before he drew another deep breath, "And uh… thanks for the help."
Fey nodded and smiled, "No, Skipper. Thank you."
Everyone couldn't help but feel uncomfortable suddenly. Skipper's breath began to slow.
"I almost hadn't allowed you four to come along," Fey continued. "I guess I owe you for doubting you all." Fey waddled to Skipper closer and her eyes began to shine. "All that action was certainly exciting… and Marlene was right to say you penguins were very different from all other penguins. I'm more than confident we'll find our friend."
The three boys gulped, but Skipper shook his head.
"Alright then we better get going," Skipper immediately stated and waddled forward passed Fey. "C'mon, boys, we can't waste any more time. Where are we Kowalski?"
"Well by the looks of all the ice and snow and the mountains ahead, I believe we've reached our destination," Kowalski smiled.
"Antarctica?" asked Rico.
"Yep, Rico," Skipper nodded. "The motherland."