Chapter 7: Plan B

Penelope and Isabella were in pajamas and talking about things while getting ready for bed. Isabella brushed Penelope's fur as Penelope doodled in a journal. She sighed happily, "Perry and Penelope Platypus... why, Izzy, Perry and I have the same last name!"

"Well, it must be destiny then. It's a good thing destiny doesn't control my love life," said Isabella.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, look at me. If it did, I would have no chance with true love."

"That's right. As a servant, you have more rights toward love than I do." Penelope looked sad and Isabella put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it'll work out. I mean, you are the princess. Perhaps you could change the laws."

"I just want everyone to be with the ones they truly love... and not be stuck with someone on account of 'code' or 'law.' " Penelope sighed. "I'll see to it you have a chance with musketeer Phineas."

"What? I never said his name!"

"No, but you were thinking about it." Penelope took the brush from Isabella and began brushing herself. "I also know that you think musketeer Pinky would make an adorable pet."

"Well, I..." Isabella sighed. "I wish things were simpler."

"I do too, Izzy. I do too." It wasn't right for a platypus to have the weight of the world on their shoulders, much less a girl, much less anyone. This whole love affair was forbidden, all because of the law, a law that would have to change should Isabella or Penelope expect to get anywhere close to having true love in their hands.

When Penelope was preoccupied with her thoughts, Isabella took the opportunity to seize a pillow and whack Penelope in the head with it. "Pillow fight!"

"Hey, you mussed up my fur!" Penelope grabbed a pillow and the two began beaming each other with pillows, laughing like little children all the while.

Meanwhile, Doofy was at his post, doing patrol. "Two, three, four. Two, three, four," he said to himself, counting his steps. He wasn't the best at the French language, so English was his next best bet. His lanky form did nothing to make the patrol look serious though. On the contrary, it was almost comical to see the man with his long legs and big feet making steps back and forth across the area. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud creak as a door opened down the hall. A light shone from the room and Doofy got his sword pointed to the target and at the ready. "Bad guys..."

A silhouette that looked vaguely like Perry showed up on the door. "Attention, Musketeer Doofy!" said a voice with a poor impression of Perry.

"Perry, is that you?" asked Doofy.

"Of course, it's me, Musketeer Doofy."

"Your voice sounds strange is all."

"Oh, I was just eating escargot and almond brittle." The voice laughed it off.

"Hey, save some for me!" Doofy let his sword clatter to the ground as he went in the direction of the shadow. The silhouette kept disappearing and reappearing further and further away from Doofy's post.

"Over here!" it said one time. Another time, it said, "Follow me, Doofy!" Doofy was so convinced it was the real Perry that he followed it. The voice led to a dark alley where a certain Silver Viper was waiting and snickering like a snake.

"Perry!"

"You're almost there!"

"Perry! Aw, man. Where did he go now? Perry! Perry!" The lights in the alley dimmed as a sinister silhouette appeared and Doofy knew he was in for trouble. "Uh oh," he said as the lights went out.

Back at the castle, Pinky was at his post. His constant shivering making his steps uneven, making the sword in his hand quiver worse than it should have been (especially considering the fear in his body). "Dos, tres, cuatro, Ay! Dos, tres, cuatro- Aye!" The little dog yelped. He had backed into something and thought it was a bad guy. He slashed the thing with his sword with all his might. When he finally took a good look at it, he saw that it was a plant and his sword had carved it into the shape of him when he was in fear. "Hola, Señor Guapo. ¿Qué tal?" he asked, making small talk with the plant. He was comforted, for a moment, to finally have a friend among the moonlit and dark surroundings.

Then, he heard footsteps coming down the hall and saw three masked figures appear around the corner. The crude masks matched the Engima's face with an angry expression. Pinky was confused at the random strangers. "What the?" he asked.

"Booga, booga, booga, booga!" they all said together as they moved back and forth "menacingly". The small one kept saying the word for a little longer than the other two did, possibly out of enthusiasm. When the little one finally stopped, he almost sounded embarrassed.

"Aw, hit the road, gringos," said Pinky, batting a hand, annoyed.

The three were surprised at Pinky's sudden courage. "I told you twits these Enigma masks wouldn't work! Let's go to Plan B," said one of the tall ones. They took off their masks.

"Hey, you're the bad guys! Don't move!" Pinky aimed his sword at the trio. Though shocked, the three immediately recovered by pulling out nine times the weaponry Pinky had. He let out the most terrified yelping as he threw his hat and sword on the plant, threw it their way, and ran out of the palace. He ran so fast, a cloud of dust collected behind him. He finally found an empty barrel to hide in and did so. With the lid sealed, he hoped he was safe... but he wasn't. The three bad guys had followed him and, as he heard their laughter outside, he felt the barrel being rolled roughly along.

All the tossing around left him a little dazed when the lid of the barrel finally opened. He squinted in the light beyond. The bad guys poked their heads in, scaring the living daylights out of Pinky, so he broke the bottom end of the barrel to try and escape. However, he wasn't watching where he was going, so he fell into a guillotine and couldn't get his head out. As he struggled, he tried to get calm. "What's going on here?" he asked. Then, upon looking around, he noticed a painting on the wall of Princess Penelope in a small cage with Captain Enigma on the outside in kingly garb, laughing at the poor girl's fate. Pinky looked to another wall and noticed three tombstones, all with the names of he and his friends. Then came the sound of evil laughter as a shadow appeared over Pinky. He looked up and noticed it was... "Captain Enigma?!" Pinky asked, horrified.

"I'm in such a good mood," said Captain Enigma before he pulled a lever, dropping the guillotine blade. Pinky panicked and (as impossible at first glance as it was) finally got his head through out of the guillotine. He ran off and the Enigma, as foolish as he was, went through the same hole to try to retrieve the little dog.

"Come back here, you little quivering coward!" the Enigma called out as he made his way through. Unfortunately, as he was making his way through, his wooden leg wasn't able to make it and got chopped off by the guillotine blade. He fell over and shed a few manly tears over the second loss of one quarter of his body.

Back at the palace, Steve was skittering down the hall, making his croaking noises all the way. He was urgently looking for Perry. When he found Perry, the platypus cried out, "Steve! Steve, slow down, boy, what is it?" Steve stuck out his tongue and attached it to Perry's hand and dragged him away. He took Perry to where Doofy was supposed to be. "Hey, where's Doofy?" Steve croaked sadly with meaning. "Pinky," Perry said in realization. He went over to where Pinky was supposed to be, but found nothing but the plant with Pinky's hat and sword still in place. "Something strange is going on around here."

After he said that, both Steve and Perry heard an insistent "Psst, psst," coming from one of the suits of armor.

"Who's there?" asked Perry. "You better come out of there or I'm coming in after you!" his voice didn't convey the amount of strength and bravery he had originally intended. Despite his fear, he was ready for anything. The armor opened and the little shaky form of Pinky came out, looking shakier than normal. "Pinky? What's the big idea?! Come down from there!" Pinky did and Perry asked, "Why aren't you at your post?"

"We have to get Doofy and get out of here, man!" Pinky said, grabbing Perry's tunic in urgency.

"Doofy? Where is he? He isn't at his post either."

"Oh, no! He's already got Doofy!" Pinky grabbed Perry and tried to drag him away, but Perry needed answers.

"Wait, who's got Doofy? Pinky... stop!" Perry broke free of Pinky's grasp. "Pinky, are you nuts? What's going on?"

"The Enigma is going to kidnap Princess Penelope so that he can become king because he's really a bad guy and he has a secret lair and it's really dark and scary! So, the point is, he's gonna kill us if we get in his way, so we should run now as far away as we can!" Pinky's strong Latino accent didn't sound very close to English when he said this. It was worse so than normal, so Perry and Steve gave him blank stares. Steve, on Perry's wrist, looked at Perry and Perry looked back. Once they saw that neither of them knew, Perry had to say it.

"Pinky, I can't understand a word you say."

"NO!" Pinky was too exasperated to repeat it and too scared to stay. He scooped Perry up and began running.

"Put me down! We can't leave our posts like this; what would Captain Enigma say?"

"Captain Enigma is the bad guy!" Pinky said, as clearly as he could.

"Captain Enigma is the bad guy?" Perry repeated, sure that he heard the words, but not believing them. On his first chance, he grabbed onto something that could pull him away from Pinky's grasp. The thing happened to be a statue on one of the exits of the palace. Pinky stopped, noticing Perry was no longer in his grasp.

"Enigma's trying to kidnap the princess?" Perry asked after re-thinking the words Pinky had said earlier.

"Exactamente!" said Pinky, glad to finally have gotten his point across.

"But... but he made us musketeers."

"It was all a lie!"

"A lie?" Perry was a little heartbroken, but he knew where his duty lied. "Well, lie or no lie, musketeers don't run from danger and, as long as we wear these uniforms, neither do we!"

"You said it!" Pinky tore off his musketeer clothes, leaving only a little collar and his hat (featherless) behind. "It's every dog for himself!" He started running off, but Perry's voice stopped him.

"Pinky, wait! Together, we can stop Captain Enigma! Remember how we rescued the princess?"

Pinky faltered. It was truth time... and he had hoped to have a few years before he revealed the secret. "I, uh... I was hiding," he said, ashamed.

"Hiding? Well, tonight you came back to warn us and that took courage, Pinky." He paused. "Come on, I'll be right beside you, because we're friends." Perry held out his hand, believing Pinky would take it.

"I just can't. I'm sorry." He ran off into the night.

"Pinky!" Perry watched his friend's silhouette disappear into the fog of the night. "Pinky?" Perry said sadly. At his feet, Steve was there with Perry's hat over him. He croaked sadly as Perry picked up the hat. "Thanks, boy." He put his hat on and wiped away the tears of loss from his eyes. As he did so, Steve skittered around, eyes darting about in all directions. "What is it? What is it, boy?"

It was revealed in the form of evil laughter. The dark silhouette hobbled out of the darkness to reveal Captain Enigma. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the one musketeer," the Enigma said mockingly.

"Captain Enigma, by the power vested in me as a musketeer, I arrest you!" said Perry, determined. He and Steve were the only brave ones left.

The Enigma laughed. "Oh, that's a nice one, mate, but how about this for size: By the power invested in my fist, I clobber you!" Perry gasped and tried to draw his sword, but the Enigma's fist came down on him before he could draw. He was knocked out cold. Steve skittered away. He needed to get help... and fast.

Well, this all seems... horrible (Avengers reference). Will our three heroes escape? Will they still save the say? Find out next chapter! Please keep reading and reviewing, thanks :)