Chapter Five

"WHAT?" Skipper practically screamed at the assembled group, getting ready to blow a gasket. "What do you mean, Eggy's family was kidnapped by Dr. Blowhole? He told us that his family left for Cancun for the migration! Eggy wouldn't lie to us!"

"But Skipper-" Private began before the leader cut him off.

"No buts, Private, I want to hear it from Eggy himself! Did you lie to us about your family leaving for the migration?" Tearfully, the little duckling nodded.

"I... I'm sorry, sir," he choked out. "But he said he'd hurt my mom if I told anyone, especially you! I- I didn't know what to do."

"Give him a break," Marlene said. "He was afraid! I don't believe all this evil dolphin supervillian stuff, but something has him scared out of his mind!" Kowalski nodded.

"Dr. Blowhole is a serious threat, and it's a bad idea to take anything he says as a bluff..."

"Blaargh," Rico agreed.

"Alright, alright, the kid had legitimate reasons for not saying anything. But he should have known that nothing will happen to him or his family, not on my watch!"

"Kaboom?" Rico aked hopefully, caughing up several sticks of unlit dynamite. Marlene and the badger sisters shrank back.

"Is that really totally necessary?" Becky asked.

"Yeah, doesn't dynamite like, explode?" Stacy added.

"Yes, ladies, it is necessary," Skipper replied confidently. "Dr. Blowhole is a pure evil, cruel, unadulterated villian! Dynamite is necessary more than ever now that we know we're facing him!"

"So... Kaboom kaboom?" Rico asked again, more impatiently this time. Skipper grinned.

"Yes Rico, kaboom."

In the end, Kowalski ended up giving the girls a crash course on what to expect while facing down the evil Dr. Blowhole. Becky and Stacy were very eager to help, Becky even going so far as to say "What kind of jerkbag would kidnap the family of an adorable duckling?"

"We'll kick his butt!" Stacy added, her hackles already raised.

"Ladies, fighting Dr. Blowhole isn't something you just rush into willy-nilly!" Kowalski tried to say, but both of the badger sisters pretty much ignored him, already lost in their own world of plans for how they were going to get little Eggy's family back safely.

Private and Rico immediately got to work gathering arms. Rico swallowed pretty much an entire crate of dynamite while Private perused the extensive collection of weapons Skipper had collected over the years, as well as Kowalski's collection of inventions, ranging from the mildly annoying to the postively lethal.. Eventually, he decided on a rather impressive arsenal, and for transport, Rico ate those all, too.

Skipper, meanwhile, had taken Eggy aside to have very serious conversation with him. "Every minute you didn't tell us what had really happened, your mother was put in more danger," he said. "I know that Dr. Blowhole is scary- terrifying, even! But you do know that he's no match for us, right? We would never let him hurt you, your mother, or your siblings. We are going to find them, and we will get them back safely." Eggy nodded, contrite.

"I'm sorry, sir... I was so scared, and didn't want to show it," the duckling mumbled, shyly.

"There's nothing wrong with being afraid. It's when you let that fear control you that it becomes a problem," Skipper replied, patting Eggy on the head. "Now, let's go save your family, huh?"

"Mama, what do you think is going to happen to us?" one of the ducklings whispered quietly to Mama Duck. The older duck glanced around, worried that the psychotic dolphin may have overheard. He seemed to hate it when any of the kidnapped ducks made any noise whatsoever, and often reacted violently. Luckily, it seemed as though Dr. Blowhole hadn't overheard anything, and Mama Duck sighed very quietly.

"I don't know, baby," she murmured. "Whatever happens, though, I want you to know that I love you."

"Awwww... now isn't that just adorable?" a mocking voice taunted. "Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you, at least not yet." Dr. Blowhole suddenly loomed up next to the cage and offered the ducks a rather alarming smirk. "Humans love ducklings, you know. In a few days I'll be taking your children out into the city. As soon as the humans stop to go 'awww.' thet's when I'll strike. No more will the humans underestimate me! Sea creatures didn't work... baby ducks will!"

"But what if they get hurt?" Mama Duck was horrified.

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," the dolphin shrugged. "It's not like I can't get more ducklings." One of the baby ducks began to cry, hiding under his mother's wing.

"Mama, I don't want to!" he sobbed.

"Sssh... don't worry, baby, it's not going to happen." Despite her brave words, Mama Duck was crying too. That evil, evil dolphin. Obviously he didn't care what happened to her children, and from the way he talked it was almost like he expected them to die in the line of duty. They were just children! How could he? How could he sleep at night?

"She's right, you know," a different voice said. The ducks and Dr. Blowhole all turned in shock. A rather ragtag group of creatures was standing in the wreckage of the door to the dolphin's lair, a psychotically laughing penguin waving a disentigration gun around maniacally.

"Kaboom kaboom kaboom!" he laughed. A badger looked at him, exasperated.

"Rico, we didn't actually blow anything up," Stacy sighed. Rico glared at her.

"Wharrblargh ark awk KABOOM!" he insisted.

"OK, OK, fine, we blew it up," the badger finally said.

Dr. Blowhole surveyed the newcomers. Well, this was unexpected. But he was willing to write it off as the penguins being nosy, meddling varmints, until he noticed the duckling standing proudly next to the tallest penguin. And his face darkened.

"That... that duckling betrayed me! I specifically told him not to tell anyone, especially not those penguins! And you- duckling! Prepare to see your mother die for your disobedience!" he began laughing maniacally, giving Skipper an opportunity to turn to his team.

"Let's do this," he said, clapping his flippers together.

To Be Continued

Author's Comments:

Ugh, I can already tell this is going to be a long night. I'm sick (probably with the flu), and my idiot neighbors are back to having one of their stupid all-night whatevers next door. Not much I can do, though, with the possible exception of going over there and infecting them.

Anyway, we're down to two more chapters left to this story. The next update probably won't be for another week or so, because I really do need to prepare for my Resident Life hearing regarding my stupid neighbors on the 11th. Anyway, thanks for reading.

By the way, writing Rico's dialog where he says "kaboom" was weird for me. I felt like I was writing my Internet name over and over again. :P

-Kaboom