A\N: Thx sweety kneul for reviewing. ^.^

The tunnel was narrow and low, so they had to basically crawl. They had to walk so low that their knees were almost touching the ground, so in favor of their backs, they crawled. Private at that moment was glad he wasn´t claustrophobic or something. That would really be bad. Guzo directed them skillfully. As it turns out, it wasn´t a channel that went straight ahead, no, they wished. It had sharp curves, hills, ditches, and dizzy corners. Blue one time had the rushing urge to throw up. Thankfully, he didn´t.

"How much longer?" Martha groaned. "We still have quite a bit ahead of us." Guzo answered. "How about a song?" Ted asked cheerfully. "NO!" Everyone shouted. Ted scowled. "Fine." He grumbled, less cheerful. Private looked behind him. For a second he thought about the possibility to escape. He didn´t know why he didn´t try sooner.

Maybe because he was scared. Or maybe because he didn´t want to think about going back to the Central Park Zoo. Rico was either still looking for him or had gone back to get Kowalski. Or maybe they were planning Skipper´s funeral. The small penguin stopped dead in his tracks.

Of course they were planning a funeral for the fallen leader or even had already buried him! And Private wasn´t there! "Oh no!" He gasped, and began crawling backwards. "Hey! What are you doing?" Blue yelled, noticing Private´s break. "The prisoner is fleeing!"

Kowalski hooked up some wires to his gut, where he had been hit. His brows were furrowed in concentration. "Alright." The scientist muttered. He reached to the "on" switch, ignoring the fact that this test might go horribly wrong. Deadly even. Kowalski shuddered as tiny tingles of pain raced up and down him. He glanced at the screen. It showed abnormal reactions. "What in Newton´s-"

Marlene, who was laying peacefully on a rock, drying her wet fur in the setting sun, shot up as a giant explosion shook the ground. "An earthcake!" Julian screamed in absolute terror. The Asian otter dashed over to the penguin´s HQ. "Kowalski!"

The girl fought through the smoke and scorched debris trying to get to the genius. She found him out cold lying around some ashes and scalded wires. Marlene grabbed his flippers and hauled him out of the room to the open air. "Kowalski! Wake up!" She gasped, slapping him in desperate attempt to get any reactions from the limp bird. Finally he stirred, rolling over to his side.

"Just five more minutes, Skipper." He mumbled. Marlene got some water from the edge of the pool and splashed it on his face. Kowalski shot up. "Yes, I´ll get it right away! What´s going on, Marlene?" After she filled him in, he remembered his test. "I need to get those results!" He squeaked, jumping back into the HQ.

After that encounter with the old lady, Skipper was already considering going back. ´No! Private needs me!´ He thought fiercely. ´I´m not going to let him down!´ "Rico!" The maniac immediately coughed up a chainsaw. "I meant continue with sniffing out the Private." "Oh."

Private turned, and began sliding down the tunnel. For the lemurs it was a bit harder since they had to run lowly as they chased after him. Guzo saw the commotion and quickly thumped his fist into the wall. As the rocks crumbled away, a small screen came in view. The otter´s fingers flew over the touch-screen.

Private suddenly saw, no felt, a wall blocking his path to freedom. "Ouch!" But it didn´t just stop him, but also began pushing him back towards the locals. Blue tried to be angry and lecture his hostage about the punishments of running, but couldn´t really quite pull it off (much to the surprise of Martha and Ted). "Let´s just keep going." Guzo suggested. Blue now walked behind Private, who was lost in his own world.

Kowalski came out, coughing violently, but he had the rectangular screen tucked underneath his flipper. Marlene hurried over to see if he was okay. "I´m alright, Marlene, this is not the first time." He managed with a smile, then got serious. The penguin turned the screen over and the two bent over it. "Holy smokes!"

"Lok!" Rico pointed over to the castle. "We´re here?" Max asked, not sure if he should be relieved to be away from the spooky figures outside, or terrified for yet another creepy looking place. Skipper mustered the castle. "Let´s go." He ordered. The trio came across a door, with no opening. There were darker colored stones in a rectangle in the wall, making it look similar with a door. "How do we get in?" Max asked, swishing his tail nervously around.

Skipper shrugged. "Beats me." He ran his flippers over the rough surface. Then the penguin remembered dealing with something like that in the early years. He began pressing each stone hard or tried to pull them out. "What are you doing?" His cat friend asked. He got no answer. "What is he doing?" Max asked Rico. He again, got no answer. Instead, the maniac began joining Skipper. "It´s no use." The leader finally groaned. "There´s no secret passage or anything!"

They sat against the wall in defeat, until Max had an idea. "How bout we climb over?" Skipper sprang to his feet. "Great idea soldier!" He said. Rico hacked up a grabbling hook and the leader fired it. It landed over the wall and caught something. The three held their breath. Nothing. "Let´s go." Skipper whispered. He began pulling himself up. Rico followed, Max last. The leader jumped down, his flippers up in defense. He looked around, not one soul around.

He gave Rico the green light. The penguin landed next to Skipper, Max wasn´t so lucky. He slipped and fell on top of the birds. "Uff!" Suddenly there was a dreaded tapping sound. Skipper opened an eye carefully. He almost couldn´t see anything because of the mess of feathers and fur, but that small view was enough. "Ahhh, visitors. How pleasant!"

"We´re here." Guzo said. A huge, gnarly, old door hovered over them. No knob, no keyhole, no surprise. Guzo knocked loudly. "Who is it?" Asked a hoarse voice. "Láthatatlan Kó." Guzo answered. Martha gave him a strange look. "Seriously? That´s your code name? That´s not even Danish." Guzo shrugged. "I had the shortest straw." The door opened and a figure stepped out. He was blind and about a hundred years old. Guzo approached him. "I´ve come with some visitors."

He explained in Danish. "Durch, schnell!" The shadow snapped. They did exactly what he said without a problem. "Pinguin?" asked the shadow. "Ja." Then they were gone. Private shivered. "He looks to be about a few centuries old." Blue said in astonishment. "He is." Was the answer.

A\N: I rlly need to pick up the pace in writing. I hope to publish the next chapter soon. R&R! Q=] (BTW, the TD´s almost finished!)