Well hello all my fellow readers! It has certainly been a long time since I had updated this story. Probably almost a year ago. And once again I am very sorry. I will be updating more often, though this is the last chapter of Stranded: Separated. I'm not sure if many of you remember, but I'm going to be making "Stranded" into a trilogy. Therefore, there will be a third stranded right after this one. It was originally going to be called "Stranded: Trouble Among Us", but I decided to change it. Not quite sure what I'm gonna name it, but if you keep looking at my profile every few weeks, I'll have a name as well as a sneak peek for what's going to be in the story. We last left off where the 5 agents had met up with each other, but now there's a big problem, they're inside a dome that is meant to be detonated! Not a good sign. Now, without further ado, I shall get you off of this cliff, *helps readers off of the cliff* and I shall move out of the way so you can enjoy this final chapter of "Stranded: Separated"!
All of the agents stared at Gary with wide eyes hoping that there was maybe just a small bit of falsehood in his statement, but sadly there was not. Gary was 100% serious.
"My apologies agents, but it's true. Look closely at the mechanism." Gary said as the agents crowded around the small device. "Listen closely." He said. The agents did as they were told and grew silent so they could listen better. Just barely, a faint beeping noise could be heard from the item. The agents glanced at each other in worry. Gary backed away from the device and began to speak again. "And one would assume that where there's a detonator, there's also a timer somewhere counting down."
Dot spoke up. "Now G, I don't mean to interrupt, but this thing is stuck to the ground and there's no timer attached to it anywhere. So maybe this thing isn't a detonator."
"Whoever placed this device here is cleverer than we're giving them credit for. The timer could be right under our beaks and we'll need this timer because this thing could go off at any given time!" Gary replied. (And yes I did my research, apparently "cleverer" is a word.)
"So should we split up again?" Jet Pack Guy asked crossing his flippers.
"As useful as that would be," Gary began, "it's not the best idea at the moment considering the fact that we were just reunited not too long ago. We will stick together."
"Perhaps if we figure out who placed the detonator here, we'll sort of have a clue as to where the timer would be." Dot said sounding intelligent. (That's a first.)
"I think it was Herbert." Jet Pack Guy said
"Now that would make the most sense. But let's think about this for a minute. What is the climate of this island?" Gary asked
The rest of the agents thought for a bit before answering. "Well, it's pretty warm here." Rookie said.
"That is correct, what else do you all notice about this island?" Gary asked
This time Dot answered. "Well, it's really big, we wouldn't have known that we were in a dome if I hadn't thrown that rock in the air."
"Also true, but there is something else that is strange about this island." Gary said facing everyone. "This island has no 24 hour cycle."
The agents all looked at each other before looking back at Gary. Bellykid spoke this time. "No 24-hour cycle? As in, there's no day and night?"
"Precisely. Take a look up at the sky." Gary said. All the agents did as they were told. They were shocked in noticing that not only was there a sun in the sky, but there was also the moon.
"How is that possible?" Dot asked in amazement at both the moon and the sun being in the sky at the same time.
"Well, it's very possible actually. Not a lot of penguins know this, but the moon is always in the sky, it never disappears. It's the fact that the sun is so bright, that the moon isn't noticeable. But this is strange because the moon is very noticeable, which could only mean that the sun isn't shining as bright as it should be. Though if you take a closer look at the sun, it seems to look like a perfect circle rather than just a ray of light. Usually the sun is too bright to see the roundness of it. (Do not look directly at the sun boys and girls.) I just noticed something else as well, agents. If you look behind the sun and the moon, then you notice that there is a light coming from behind it rather than coming from it." Gary explained.
"Maybe it's a fake moon!" Rookie shouted. (That was oddly intelligent.)
"A fake moon….now there's only one being I can think of that would have anything fake." Dot said.
"Yes, I do believe that it was Herbert. Though, perhaps he wasn't working alone." Gary said
Jet Pack Guy gave Gary a look of uncertainty. "How do you know that, G? What makes you think he's working with someone other than Klutzy?"
"I've seen Herbert's work up close and personal. He's clever enough to create a cryogenic chamber meant to freeze and every one of us. Though one thing I have noticed in certain missions, is that he's not quite clever enough to think of separating a detonator from a timer. There must be another mastermind behind this." Gary explained.
"Well the important this is we know who's halfway behind it, so we have a pretty good idea of where to find the timer." Dot said. "Herbert is clever, yes, but he's usually simple minded. The timer is probably big and in plain sight. What's the most noticeable thing on this island?"
Rookie pointed up at the moon. "There! The timer is on the moon!"
Everyone looked up and sure enough, the timer was huge and attached to the moon. "Wow Herbert, this is low even for you." Jet Pack Guy said.
"What's the time on it?" Bellykid asked ignoring Jet Pack Guy's statement.
"We have less than 2 minutes! We must find a way off of this island!" Gary shouted.
"This is a dome! The most logical thing to do would be to crack it! This time we'll each find our own ways of breaking the dome, if we try to work together it could cause an argument and we don't have time for that!" Jet Pack Guy shouted also sounding intelligent. (Cut it out, Jet!)
At that moment, each agent split up and got to work finding ways to crack the glass. Jet Pack Guy thought of attaching his jet pack to a rock and shooting it through the roof of the dome and escaping through the spare jet pack that apparently he always has with him. Gary was busy working on a new invention. The "Breaktheglassfromadome 3000" that'll just break the glass wherever he wanted it to break (How creative). Dot tried designing a disguise to dress up as a mysterious penguin in hopes that Herbert would find her and lead her out of there (Wishful thinking). Rookie used a rock to try breaking it, which was actually doing a pretty decent job at producing a crack. And Agent B was trying to dig her way out. Eventually a minute passes and each agent was working hard at cracking the glass. It was no use until Gary pulled out his machine.
"Alright agents, here it is. The Breaktheglassfromadome 3000! This gadget will break even the toughest of glasses! Including mine." Gary started up his machine and as usual it started breaking down. Smoke began erupting from the pores of the metal and every agent knew that meant explosion. Just then, at the right moment, Jet Pack Guy used his jet pack and attached it to the machine. The gadget flew up into the air and exploded, causing the glass from the top of the dome to break.
"Yes! Now everyone hang on!" Jet Pack Guy said strapping on his jet pack and flying off with all agents grabbing on to him in some form or fashion.
"We did it! We escaped!" Dot exclaimed with glee.
"Wait a minute, where's Rookie?!" Bellykid asked as each of the agents looked around them and noticed that he wasn't there.
"I-It'll be alright, we'll just head back down and-…." Dot was robbed of her thoughts when a huge boom was heard and everything began shaking. "That's not a good sound…"
All of the agents looked down below and saw that there was shattered glass everywhere and a huge cloud of dust. The dome had exploded with Rookie still there. All of this chaos was erupting right in front of a certain brown penguin's eyes.
"Everything is going just as we planned, Herbert, just as we planned."
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's the end of this story! Expect a few weeks before I actually start the next Stranded in the trilogy, and expect a few days before I have a new title for the next trilogy and a nice little sneak peek for those of you who stalk my profile. Now I don't expect many people to still follow me after such a long hiatus, and I don't expect anyone to actually pay much attention to the stuff I'm saying. But if many of you are still here after so long, you don't know how thankful I am to have you faithful readers. I still am very sorry for leaving you guys for so long, and making it seem like I was abandoning Fanfiction or abandoning this story or you guys. I'm still pretty active on Club Penguin, believe it or not, and I still enjoy the site very much. But I'm back and I'm ready to start back up on Fanfiction with my old readers and new readers. And I'll throw some cool parties on Club Penguin too! Or at least I'll try, with me being a nonmember and all. Anyways, oh no! The island blew up with Rookie still on it! Did he survive? If so will he survive long on his own? Who's the mastermind behind this? Find out in the next Stranded story!