A/N: Thanks for the reviews of the last chapter, I'm glad you're still looking for updates… this time at least wasn't quite so long a wait, was it?

As always, I'd love to hear what you think of the story!

Chapter Eight - Let the Water Grow Stagnant

"Mr Plunder," Kwame called as he stepped out of the ship onto a high-rise rooftop. "Your lawyer is on the telephone about the Sternkill Industries Smelter Development."

He said the words in a stilted manner as if he didn't understand their meaning, which was in fact true. Though his English was far better than he had at first let on, many of the things they dealt with were unfamiliar and not yet a part of his vocabulary. "There is a research facility on the stretch of coast you specified, they cannot buy it."

The eco-villain rolled his eyes, turning from the edge where he had been surveying the building work that was going on below and explaining it to Wheeler who was standing beside him. "I know there is, Itold him that. Tell him to get on to the research committee and get the grants revoked! He can make it worth their while. That small outfit will be only too happy to sell when their funding is cut off and there's only a couple of greenie hobbyists using it anyway."

Kwame hesitated, trying to sort out the relevant instructions from Plunder's posturing in his mind to make sure he understood them.

"Oh good grief!" Looten exclaimed, taking the delay as a further example of the boy's mental short-comings. "Jason, go and sort it out... call them yourself if you have to."

"Yes Mr Plunder," the young boy rushed to do his bidding.

The older man took a deep breath and gestured for Kwame to approach him, "Let's try something simpler." He pointed to a factory in the distance, "They sell glass, made to measure. I need a tank capable of holding a dolphin… Do you think you can handle that? Mal can provide you with the specs and the bank account details… no wait, you had better let Alina take care of that side of things."

"Yes Mister Plunder." The African nodded, frustration was welling up inside him but he managed to hold it in check.

Plunder nodded, "Don't take Alina with you, she can sort it out over the phone. She gets sentimental over animals and I want a tank not an aquatic museum. If she asks, we're saving the creature because its habit is going to be destroyed, got that?"

"Yes, Sir… is that what we are doing?" The intelligence in his eyes as he asked that simple question caught the Polluter off-guard for a moment and his eyes began to narrow as he remembered Kwame of the future.

"Hmm yes, I'm underestimating you aren't I, boy?" The question was rhetorical but it held the promise that he wouldn't make that mistake again. He continued. "As a matter of fact that is exactly what we are doing. Would it make a difference to you if it were otherwise?"

Kwame met his gaze steadily "No Sir, as long as the operation is legal. I would not be doing my family or my people any good if I get arrested."

Plunder snorted derisively, "Oh it's depressingly legal, boy."

The African youth frowned for a moment and then gave a little nod. "May I assure Linka that the dolphin is not for one of Doctor Blight's experiments?"

Nodding, his employer became unexpectedly candid, "It's going to be a pet for another member of our little family. Call it an incentive to join us if you like."

"We have not lied to you." Linka said quickly, trying to ignore the moisture gathering in her eyes as she addressed her father. "I promise you."

"We just had to leave out a few things so that you wouldn't think we're crazy," Gi agreed, looking a little lost as she continued, "but now Blight has Kwame too..."

Linka nodded and addressed her friend as if forgetting her parent's presence, "You are older than Ma-Ti, I think you will be next. Can you remember where you were?"

"With Teesa." The Asian girl said in a small voice, trusting the Russian girl to remember her story about her dolphin friend. "In the first place I thought of as home."

"Can you take us there?" the Wind Planeteer asked, with the same expression on her face as she had always had when her father brought home one of her canaries, its life lost for the sake of his men.

Gi nodded and Linka continued decisively, "We should go then. If we are lucky we will get there ahead of them."

"Yes but Linka, what are we going to do when we get there?" Gi protested, "Without Cap, and the guys?"

Mr Orlov's eyes widened and he stared intently at the pretty blond, finally surprising her by stepping close and gently turning her face to him. "Linka? My Linka? I have been watching you… you have all of her mannerisms and you look so much like my wife but… how can this be possible?"

"I guess we know where she gets her brains from", Gi grinned at Ma-Ti but the look he returned was sad.

Linka's tears spilled over, "Oh Papa… you were not supposed to know."

His voice hardened and he gripped her arm, "It is you! Oh my little one, what have they done to you?"

"Nothing… that is." She bit her lip nervously as she gathered her thoughts, then continued in a rush. "We… are from the future. I know it sounds unbelievable but I swear to you that it is the truth. There are five of us, Planeteers, working together to protect the Earth from people like Doctor Blight… but she has travelled back here and taken my younger self, and Kwame and… and Wheeler." She blushed as she said the last name and lowered her eyes away from the older man's for a moment. "He was the first to disappear."

"Let us suppose for a moment that I believe you… what are they doing to my daughter?" He searched her eyes as they were once more turned up towards him, "What did they do to you?"

She shook her head, "I do not know, it did not happen in my timeline, they have changed things. I do not even understand why I am here when my friends are not."

Ma-Ti spoke softly, his voice full of regret, "We need to go. I am sorry but if we are to have any chance of stopping this, we must go now."

Mr Orlov nodded and released Linka, "I do not understand all of this but I know that you did not fake Kwame's vanishing into thin air. There is more going on here than I can explain and my priority must be my daughter. I will go with you."

They tried to argue but he overruled them pointing out that they had already said that both time and numbers were against them.

Ma-Ti chose to pilot their craft as their course of action was based in betting that the girls were in more immediate danger of disappearing, and Gi sat next to him as co-pilot. The two Russian's made themselves comfortable behind them.

Mr Orlov regarded the young woman beside him gravely and though she expected him to start asking awkward questions, his first was not along the lines she had been anticipating.

"This… Wheeler? The first of your friends to disappear yes?" she nodded, "He is… special to you?"

Linka blushed deeply, but as she had never been able to lie to or conceal things from her father she nodded.

The older man looked pained but he said, "Then I hope he is alright."

"Spasiba." Linka smiled shyly. "You would like him I think… Mishka does, and Grandmuska."

"Have I not met him, in your time?" Her father frowned.

The colour drained out of Linka's face at her mistake, "You were not at home and the visit was brief I… I am sorry."

Mr Orlov continued to frown and stated firmly, "I would not be from home when you brought your boyfriend home."

Linka's eyes opened wide, "I did not mean… he is not my boyfriend! And it was not that sort of visit…"

"I see." Her father nodded slowly, putting it down to her shyness and not wanting to make an issue out of introducing him to her family. "But you are close? Does he like you too? Your friends seemed to think he is protective of you, what sort of man is he?"

The Russian girl glanced at her friends, hoping they were as absorbed in what they were doing as they seemed to be. "He is the best sort of man; loyal, brave, strong… gentle and caring, but he does not like people to know that. His is not perfect, he has many faults, but so do I. I would never let him see how I feel and now…"

"Do not give up hope Linka." Her father told her quietly. "It is all I have had these last weeks, and now I have seen my little girl grown into a strong and beautiful woman. I am beginning to believe that just about anything is possible."

They watched the young Asian and her dolphin friend play in the warm water, unaware of what was shortly to befall them.

"Do you know what day you left?" Linka asked the older version of the girl, shifting position uncomfortably on grassy bank.

Gi shook her head, blinking away tears. "I'm sorry. It could have been any time in the next month."

"I do not think we will have to wait that long," Ma-Ti put in, "Blight is moving fast. I have a feeling we will see her before Gi's family move on."

Right on cue, they heard a distant rumble in the sky and looked up to see a black dot rapidly growing larger as it approached.

Realising what they were seeing, the planeteers took cover, and waited for the ship to set down.

Gi's love of technology and especially planes drew her out of the water to investigate the strange craft, apparently fearless in the face of the unknown.

The gangway dropped down from the hull of the ship but to the Planeteers shock, it wasn't the evil doctor who descended but a young red-headed boy.

"Wheeler." Linka breathed.

He stopped, looking back into the ship and then yelled, "Will you get a move on?"

"Do not be so impatient!" Came the reply as he was joined by a pretty blond with a Russian accent.

Linka gasped at the sight of her younger self and her father let out a sigh of relief.

Beside them Gi wrinkled her nose, "What are you wearing?!" and Ma-Ti earned himself a glare as he chimed in with, "It's Mini-Blight."

"Honestly Jason, it is not as if they are going anywhere." The beach was peaceful enough to let their voices carry even though they were no longer shouting. "And look she is coming to meet us."

He started to argue but she shushed him as young Gi approached, moving forward to greet her.

Back amongst the trees and bushes that bordered the bank, grown Gi and Ma-Ti were giggling and the Asian finally gasped out to their perplexed companion's, "There's no difference, they're just like you two are now!"

Linka glared at her but her father chuckled. He'd been surprised to hear the way his timid little daughter responded to the older and more confident young man but given what he had been hearing about their relationship he now felt a little better about her absence.

Down by the ship, the junior water planeteer was asking about fluid leaking from its hull, her young face quite serious. "Is it safe?"

Wheeler looked blank but he said, "Uh sure. Look, never mind that, we've come to save your friend out there."

"Teesa?" the pretty little girl answered in confusion, "She doesn't need to be rescued?"

Linka gave her a sad smile, "I am sorry but it is true. This habitat is no longer safe, it is going to be developed... We do not know all of the details but if we do not take her away now, she is going to get sick."

Gi set her jaw defiantly but there were tears in her eyes "I don't believe you, my parents would not let that happen!"

"They won't have a choice, I'm sorry." Wheeler reached out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder but she flinched away. "We'll be here for a couple of days, it's up to you..."

He and his partner exchanged glances and he nodded towards the Russian to deliver their offer.

Linka didn't look very happy about it but she made it anyway, "You can come too if you want to... Just you, but you would be with Teesa. If it is what you want?"

Gi shook her head, "But my parents..."

"It's not up to us." Wheeler said more sharply than he'd intended. "Mr Plunder only wants kids on his team... so he can like, teach us to take care of ourselves."

"Plunder?!" The Planeteers whispered in unison as the American continued to describe the merits of his mentor, ignoring the face his friend pulled.

"What are they up to?" Gi demanded.

It was grown up Linka that answered, "Just what Wheeler said I imagine, to teach us, theirway. That stupid Yankee is obviously believing everything they say."

The pain in her voice explained her words to her father and he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, "He is just a child, not the young man you know."

"Doesn't look like you're buying their lies though," the Asian pointed out to the wind planeteer, "I know that expression on your face." She looked between the two and then pointed at the younger version, "Um... Her face."

Linka nodded but then her expression turned to one of alarm as her father stood up and moved towards their younger selves, "Papa no!"

"This has gone far enough." he persisted stepping out onto the beach and calling to his daughter. "Linka!"

The little blond's head snapped around and her eyes filled with delight, "Papa!"

Unfortunately the ship's gangway was between them and as Linka moved to cross it, Mal's pincer reached out and grabbed her.

Everything happened at once then; everyone shouting, young Gi screaming and running for her parents, Wheeler and Linka's father going to the young Russian's aid with the others close behind as the leaders of the polluting party emerged from the ship.

"Good work Mal Baby." Blight smirked "You're not going anywhere Blondie."

"Let my daughter go!" Mr Orlov demanded, still futilely trying to make the metal grabber release her, "You had no right to take her.

There were tears in the young girl's eyes as she assured him she hadn't wanted to leave. "Mal tricked me, he said he was my friend but they would not let me go."

"It is alright Linka, we will make them release you."

Blight laughed her usual maniacal cackle, "You hear that Looten, they're gonna make us."

Plunder smirked and addressed the grown planeteers, "That's going to be difficult without Captain Planet."

Mal's face appeared on a side panel, "A couple of eco-geeks short of a team-beam, Planeteers?"

In all the confusion Wheeler had snuck back inside the ship and Kwame caught him coming out of the main bedroom, as he himself emerged from the kitchen carrying a glass of water. "What is going on my friend?"

"Linka's father showed up." The American shrugged but he looked angry, pushing past the older boy as he entered their companion's room to grab her school bag from the corner it usually sat in.

"She was not lying about being kidnapped then?" the older boy followed him to her doorway frowning, "I thought perhaps there was a misunderstanding."

Wheeler passed him again as he headed back towards the entrance but he paused to answer, his shoulder's hunched. "It's true. Blight wanted her, I don't know why, but it's smarter not to argue with her."

He looked up at the view screen which was relaying the struggle outside. "Good thing for Linka I'm not known for being smart. Mal, release Alina."

The AI's face appeared on one of the smaller monitor's, "I am sorry Jason, I can't do that."

"Jason is correct." Kwame came forward to stand beside his friend. "Alina wants to return to her family, it is wrong to keep her against her will. You are her friend, I believe you understand this."

"I understand that Doctor Blight will wipe my hard drive if I do not do exactly as she says. You Meat Things are too obsessed with your feelings." His distinctive voice, though mocking, sounded bitter.

Wheeler glared, "Linka likes you, despite what you did to her, guess she was wrong."

He and Kwame reached the top of the gangway together. Outside they could hear raised voices… it seemed that Gi's parents had come down to see what had upset their daughter and had joined the fray.

"Wheeler." Mal's voice stopped the two boys and they turned back to look at him. "The upper left control panel on the right side of the command chair, you see the light flashing? That controls my main metallic arm. I cannot let you override it…"

The African looked confused, he was in general the more knowledgeable of the two but, always forced to speak in his second language, he sometimes missed verbal subtleties… and besides doubletalk was never really his thing.

Jason on the other hand understood the green face perfectly, Mal would help, as long as he didn't take the blame. He took the water glass from Kwame and threw the contents at the panel, not waiting to watch it crackle and hiss as he ran outside.

To be Continued…