The boys continued climbing up the mountain, and it was turning out to be a very long climb.
"It's a long hard climb," Micky sang. "But we're gonna get there . . . ."
"I just 'ope we get there in one piece!" Davy shouted.
"Don't worry," Micky said. "I know a little about rock climbing. It's perfectly safe if you know what you're doing, and I know what I'm doing."
"I should 'ope so," Davy said. "Considering you're in the lead 'ere!"
"Yeah, man, if you fall, we all fall!" Franky shouted.
Micky didn't say anything to that. He just continued climbing, with the others following him. It wasn't easy, though. The other three were starting to tire out, but they couldn't afford to take any breaks. They had a job to do, so they continued on. All they had to do was remember not to look down. As they were climbing, a black swoosh went by. Franky was the only one of the boys to notice it, and then it swooped by again, nearly knocking him off the rope.
"Whoa!" he shouted.
"Hey, cool it down there, Franky," Micky said. "I'm trying to concentrate."
"But Micky . . . ." Franky started, but he was interrupted.
Another black swoosh went by. It happened to be Achroma's blackbird. Franky nervously grabbed onto Davy's belt, which nearly caused the British Monkee to lose his balance.
"Aaaahhhhh!" he shouted, trying to regain his composure. "Franky, what ah you trying to do?! Kill us all?! What's the mattah with you?!"
"That!" Franky yelled, pointing. The bird came back, and zipped passed. This time all four of our heroes, and held to the rope as tightly as they could.
"What was that?" Davy asked.
"I don't know, but it's coming back!" Franky shouted.
The swoosh came back, along with reinforcements. This time, the swoosh got the results it wanted. Davy and Franky lost both their grips and their footing, and were practically dangling. The added weight pulled Peter and Micky down a little, too.
"What's going on down there?" Micky asked.
"An emergency!" Davy shouted.
The swoosh zoomed by again, and careened into Peter's feet. He lost his footing, and slipped as well. Then the swoosh began going back and forth, trying to knock the boys off the mountain. It worked, so far. But as long as they all held onto the rope, they'd be all right. Pretty soon, the only one that wasn't dangling was Micky. And he could barely hang with the added weight!
"You guys have to get back on the mountain!" he shouted.
"How?" Peter asked. "These black streaks aren't making it easy!"
With everybody but Micky dangling in mid air, they figured he wouldn't be able to take the extra weight. Micky gnashed his teeth, groaned, and dug his fingers into the side of the mountain, trying his best to stay on the mountain. But it was no use. He lost his grip and fell.
"Oh nooooo!" he screamed. The birds then flew off.
The boys screamed as they fell. It looked like there was no way out of this one. But fate was with them. The middle of the rope caught a low hanging tree branch, allowing Micky and Peter to dangle on one side of it, and Davy and Franky on the other.
"Thank goodness for low 'anging tree branches!" Davy shouted.
"I know," Micky said. "But how are we gonna get out of this one?"
"Beats me," Franky said. "Anybody got any ideas?"
Micky looked down, and noticed he was close to a ledge. So he untied the rope, and jumped down.
"Everybody untie the rope and climb down here," he said.
Peter, Davy, and Franky climbed down the rope, and onto the ledge. Once they were all off, Micky took the rope, and wound it around his shoulder.
"Well, that was easy," he said.
"Yeah, but we've still got a long way to go before we actually get into the castle," Davy said. "Unless we find a secret passage, I'd say we're stuck."
"Good!" Franky shouted. "I need a break!"
"I think we all could use a break right about now," Peter said.
Davy and Micky had to agree on that one. As they were taking a break, they were thinking about ways to actually get up that mountain. Climbing it was out of the question. At any rate, Franky leaned against the wall, and it opened.
"Yipes!" he shouted, as he fell inside.
"You say something, Franky?" Peter asked. She didn't get a response. "Franky? Hey, Franky, where are you?!"
"In here!" Franky called. "I found a secret opening."
"Yeah?" Peter asked. "Hey fellas! Franky found an opening!"
The boys stood up, and ran for the opening. Franky crawled out, and smiled. Then he led the group inside.
"It's a pretty small hallway," he warned. "Watch your head."
As it turned out, the boys had to crawl on their hands and knees to get in. But they didn't care. They had a world to save. In the meantime, Achroma's bird flew back into her room and sat on his perch.
"Awk!" he squawked. "We got rid of the trespassers!"
"Excellent," Achroma said, then she turned to Mike. "Now there's no one left to save you!"
Achroma laughed and flipped her switch again. She was thoroughly enjoying torturing her captive.
Meanwhile, the boys were trying to figure out the tunnel. They didn't have any kind of light to help them out, so they continued to crawl on their hands and knees.
"Anybody got a flashlight?" Peter asked.
"We should've brought supplies with us before we went on this trip," Davy replied.
"At least nobody here's scared of the dark," Micky said.
"Speak for yourself!" Peter shouted.
"Don't worry, Uncle Peter," Franky said. "We'll be out of here in no time at all. Things will fall into place soon."
Franky couldn't have been more right! As he was crawling, he fell through a large hole, followed by the others.
"You and your big mouth, Franky!" Davy shouted.
"Who knows where we'll end up now!" Micky yelled.
KER-SPLASH!
The boys had landed in some kind of lake. There was a little more light in the area than in the tunnel. They were able to see their surroundings. They swam to the shore and climbed out of the lake.
"That was some ride," Micky said.
"I wouldn't mind doing it again, now that I know you can live through it," Peter replied.
Everybody else stared at him as if he were crazy. Then they groaned and began to walk away, shaking their heads.
"What?" Peter asked, confused. Nobody answered him. They just continued walking.