Disclaimer: I don't own nothing in this chappy...except of course Tourniquet...She's mine! All mine! Rawr!

Part 3

Chapter 10

"If this Flipper Boid ain't Touinaquet, I'm killin it." Dino grumbled under his breath as they continued to follow the footprints in the snowy ground. Hearing those words, Siefer rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, like da last time we had Flipper Boid, it toined out so well." he replied sarcastically. Dino gave a slight smirk.

"I said I'd kill it, not eat it. Dere's a difference."

"Well," Vinni started. "After what happened last night, I don't dink I'll ever be able to eat another Flipper Boid again." This got a few nods of agreement from the other birds and silence fell on the group as they continued on, thinking about the night before. About Tourniquet's big sad eyes looking at them in horror after catching them eating that chick. It broke their hearts, to be honest.

What if the reason she ran away was because of them?

"Hey." Frankie said, lifting his head upon spying something. "I think da footprints leads towards dose dings!"

Spotting the strange looking stuctures, the skuas took off and fluttered towards them. Indeed the footprints led right into one and the Flying Birds landed around the entrance, peeking in. There was lots of kelp and fish and...

"Touinaquet." All four bird relaxed instantly upon seeing the little Emperor chick. Tourniquet barely shifted at the sound of her name, but she did respond.

"Go away..." she muttered softly. It was clear by her shaky voice that she was starting to cry again. Pausing, the skuas went inside the strange cave, approaching her slowly.

"Touinaquet. Listen. We have to go back home now." Seifer said with great gentleness, reaching out a wing to touch her. But the chick jerked away, still not facing them.

"Go away!" she repeated much more firmly and much more loudly.

"No. We need to bring you home. Da boss is very worried bout ya."

"No he's not!" The skuas jerked as the chick practically screamed out her words, turning to face them angrily. They've never seen her so mad before. "He doesn't like me no more! He killed Mommy!"

The gang was just as surprised and shocked as Rojas was when she made her words of accusation. And like that previous situation, the chick gave them no time to properly react as she rushed at them with quite an...unusual request.

"Mommy's gone now! So eat me!"

She's finally lost it. The skuas stared at her with wide eyes, not knowing what to do or how to calm her down. Tourniquet wasn't backing down and rushed straight for Dino.

"I said eat me!" She started hitting Dino uselessly with her flippers, not causing any harm and only adding to the confusion. "I want you to eated me!"

She wasn't thinking clearly, if she was thinking at all. Dino simply froze, knowing the chick was trying to anger him into fulfilling her wish. Backing up, he glanced at his companions for a second before looking back at Tourniquet, who continued to hit him pitifully.

"Stop it, kid! Your not helpin!" Dino told her as Seifer moved forward and tried to pulled the penguin away. But the chick was still upset and yanked herself away, making one last ditch effort by biting Dino's leg as hard as she could.

The skua jumped before finally giving in to his irritation and giving the chick a hard swat with his wing, causing the chick to yelp and fall on her face.

"Dino!" Seifer immediately reprimanded, glaring at the other skua, who glared right back.

"'Dino', nuttin! Dat lil brat got what she deserved!" He shifted his glare to the fallen chick, muttering with venom. "Stupid Flipper Boid..."

Tensions were high as it was, and it wasn't getting better as Seifer charged the other skua and bit him in reprimand. However, Dino didn't feel like being passive as usual and returned the bite. Needless to say, the two birds began fighting viciously in no time. Frankie stayed out of it, not wanting to be a part of the conflict, and Vinni immediately went to Tourniquet.

"You alright?" he asked. Tourniquet began to sniffle and cry, not bothering to get up. Vinni began his reassurances by settling gently over her and leaning down to preen her, trying to ignore the struggling and hissing from the feuding birds.

"I want my mommy back... Why'd he take her?" the chick responded between her sobs and hiccups. Vinni hesitated, trying to think of the right words to say.

"It'll be alright kid. And listen...Look at me, lil one." Hesitantly, the chick peeked up at him, face matted and eyes still flowing with tears. "Whatever you hoid and whatever ya dink, Rojas didn't kill your mommy."

"B-but...But Oskay said her mommy..." She cut herself off when Vinni shook his head.

"Rumors, kid. Don't believe 'em. I was dere. Frankie, Seifer, and Dino was dere. We saw what happened to your mom. Trust me, Rojas was tryin to save Whisper, not tryin to kill hers." Deciding to come clean with the truth, he continued gently. "Your mom was coming back home when a bunch of orcas tried to eat her. We all tried to save her, but..." Closing his eyes, Vinni turned his head away from the confused and distressed chick. "We didn't wanna tell you. Your much too young, kid... Everyone just wants ya to have a happy life..."

"S-so... he didn't kill mommy?" she asked. Vinni nodded. With another sniffle, she continued. "And...he won't kill me?"

This earned a soft, reassuring chuckle from the golden skua. "He won't. I don't dink he'll kill a helpless lil chick, and certainly not you. I promise."

Silence, or as much silence as it could get with the squabbling duo nearby. Tourniquet said nothing, still sniffling and wiping her tears away before nodding softly in understanding. Vinni nodded back and the two turned their attention to the others.

"Why they fighting?" Tourniquet asked, voice still shaky. She didn't seem to remember her previous outburst. Vinni gave a half-hearted smile.

"We all know Dino's got anger problems."

Finally, the fight came to an end when Seifer's beak managed to firmly grip onto Dino's and forced him to the ground, refusing to let go no matter how the other bird struggled. After a full moment of being buffeted by his superior's wings, Dino stopped moving in defeat, grumbling as soon as his beak was freed. Seifer gave one last glare to make sure the other bird stayed down before walking off towards Vinni and Tourniquet.

"It's gettin late. Touinaquet..." He looked down to the chick, noting that her tears had stopped, at least for now.

"I wanna go home now." She muttered softly. Seifer nodded before glancing towards the entrance. It was dark.

"We'll leave in da morning. This'll have to do to shelter us for da night." Settling down, the lead skua allowed the chick to shift under him, freeing Vinni to move and sit next to Frankie. The golden skua knew Dino had a habit of snapping at Frankie whenever he lost a fight and so was ready to protect his companion. Luckily, Dino stayed where he was, nursing his feathers and his pride.

Everyone was utterly exhausted and it wasn't long before most of them was deep asleep. Except Seifer, of course. He was still too stubborn to risk not waking up in the morning. After giving Tourniquet one more reassuring preen, completely ignoring his feeble hunting instincts this time, he walked out the strange cave to help stay alert.

The snow was very fresh here and he began snow-bathing, shaking the powder into his coat and rolling about in it. It was cold and very soothing to his injuries.

Suddenly, he felt like he was being watched. Seifer frowned and sensed its gaze behind him. His feathers stood on end. Was it another Giant Petrel? Or something much worse? Cautiously, he looked and almost sighed in relief. It was just a puny snow petrel. No threat here.

But his relief soon turned to anger. How dare this bird, this prey item snuck up on him like that! Unintentional or not, it wasn't going to be spared.

"C'mere!" Seifer exclaimed and charged at the smaller seabird. It would be rather refreshing for him to clamp his beak on its neck and hear it beg for mercy. But just as he was upon his target, he felt an unnatural chill and stumbled right through the other bird.

Beak open and gasping in disbelief, he looked at the snow petrel with wide eyes.

"What da... How...?" he studdered. The petrel calmly turned to look at him.

"How what?" it, she, asked, cocking her head. Seifer studied her intently. She appeared normal, solid, feathery. He reached out a wing and touched the top of her head. She was as real as anything he's ever known.

Folding his wings, Seifer studied the bird again before he made another charge, more carefully this time. He felt the chill as he passed right through her.

He stared. "Your some kind of...ghost."

The petrel smiled and ruffled her feathers. "I guess I am."

"Can't be killed a second time..." Seifer muttered. "Who are ya?"

The petrel merely closed her eyes and began to fade. "I have to go now..."

"Hey!" Seifer whispered angrily, trying not to yell and wake the others. The petrel was still fading, but her head jerked up in alarm as if she sensed something.

Seifer looked in the same direction and gasped. Aliens! All too familiar aliens. Coming in some machine. Coming fast.

Seifer jerked his gaze back to the petrel only to find her completely gone, no imprints in the snow or anything. No time to question it! He rushed back into the strange cave. "Wake up!"

The others opened their eyes groggily.

"We have to get outta here!" the banded skua yelled.

"Right now?" Vinni asked sleepily.

"Yes, now! No time to lose!" Seifer answered, nudging Tourniquet awake.

"Why?" Frankie asked. He got his answer sooner than he thought. Some kind of cover closed the entrance and there was the sound of machinery.

They were trapped...

Just saw Happy Feet 2 today! It was AWESOME and has given me even more inspiration to continue! I'm just gonna let ya know that the movie won't have much, if any effect on the progress of this story! I'm gonna continue just as I originally planned it! Whooooo!

Preview:

The group tries to survive in their prison.