Another Penguin To The Zoo
Chapter 15
Spring War
It had seemed like ages since Hades had last caused trouble, yet Blowhole on the other hand had many destructive ideas. In order to hold Blowhole at bay, the penguins had to always be prepared and train there best. The first time Lindsey was part of an attack from Blowhole was when the five penguins were skiing and were suddenly attacked by Blowholes' iron crustacean and were brought to his base. It was the first time Lindsey dared to fight and not flee, but Rico made a big fuss off it, saying that she should be more careful. They got trapped, but as Blowhole suspected, the penguins managed to get away somehow and ruin his 'Operation Ataaack'. Not even the penguins themselves knew precisely how they escaped, although they were so adept at it. This made them happy enough that they managed to stay calm even when ring tail came over.
Yet Kowalski got slightly grumpy when he heard Lindsey talking to Julien, looking perfectly content in the lemur's company. That day he had excused himself, returning to his lab, saying that he had a classified, but valid reason for it. Nevertheless, Lindsey still knew better than that. Kowalski may have been smart, but his reasoning did not always reflect his intelligence.
The other attack happened three days before what had happened most recently. It was nearly Easter and Blowhole assumed that It was time to try his new invention - a antipenguiniser. The machine didn't quite live up to the name, but in away it worked in a similar matter. The penguins managed to get surprised, just like Blowhole wanted them to, but instead of turning them to humans, it turned them into opposite genders and made their personalities and abilities the complete opposites. Unfortunately for Blowhole, now that the boys had also a girl in their team, the girl could easily them what they could do to make life (and fighting) easier. On the other hand the boys could clue in Lindsey into the life of a male, making it simpler to get used to these knew states of being. It really didn't take long before they managed to return thing in to normal again. In fact, it was sadly one of the easier mission the penguins have accomplished. Blowhole was so angry at this turn out, that he nearly turned himself into a female.
Yet all these attacks were just like trailers for a film, they were only an intro to the real thing. The penguins were doing recon watching out for any signs of movement. Suddenly out out of a bush walked out a bloodied crane, who looked mortally wounded. "ge- gener- general Kent... needs backup... " the crane rasped, gasping for breath. "H-he attacked us... I am the only mes- messenger left." With that, the tall bird collapsed down against the zoo wall as the penguins ran to him. His wings looked broken, his beak was scarred. Kowalski had examined the crane, but all he could do was confirm the seriousness of the damage. The crane was black and white, with a red diamond on his head.
"You're from Japan aren't you?" Kowalski asked and the crane nodded wearily. "That means that this must be a real emergency!"
"Rico, Kowalski, Private and Lindsey we are leaving first thing tomorrow. No excuses, no extra luggage, " Skipper exclaimed. "Kowalski, see if you can heal the crane, Lindsey help him."
"Yes sir!" both penguins said faithfully. They headed into the HQ gathering all the medical equipment for the work. Rico checked that they all had weapons and Private got food and maps ready to the journey. Skipper planned an attack strategy.
The next morning, the penguins said their goodbyes and Kowalski wrote a message to Alice saying that the penguins were temporarily transported to another zoo. Lindsey was going to miss the calm way of life, but war was war. The crane luckily had got better and insisted on going to Antarctica with them, to join the force. The crane managed to lead them to a helicopter explaining that he'd seen the helicopter when he was flying this way.
The journey in the helicopter was long and not very fun, but if the penguins wanted to protect their mother land and all the other countries they had to risk this journey. During the flight, the male crane introduced himself as Laki and stated that he lived in the northern island of Japan. Laki was trained in Japan under former captain Socrat, but apparently as they were spreading the news of the attack on Antarctica the older crane lost his life. Laki also told the team that Hades had been sighted with a group of strange mutants, or at ;east that's how the creatures behaved and looked like. Their cackle was described as the 'cackle of a hyena' but Laki thought that was slightly offensive (to the hyena).
The journey in the helicopter was long and so they passed time by talking about how Hades managed to get such a group of maniacs. Laki thought that the maniacs were Hades' relatives, but Skipper highly doubted that.
"How can any normal animal join such a maniac?" Skipper asked, which made Laki feel guilty as he assumed that he had said something wrong. Skipper suspected that either the other maniacs were the murderer's clones, or Hades invented a machine that change the animals behaviour and make them obey him. Private hated listening to their chat, as he was nervous, believing this might happen to them, so he decided to talk to Lindsey instead.
When the 6 animals got to Antarctica, they were in awe as they saw the beautiful yet barren land.
"Sweet motherland!" Skipper exclaimed grinning. In the middle of this land stood a Military HQ, bigger than any human building. Around the HQ stood a crowd of animals from Antarctica and the Arctic, bickering with one another.
On a podium infront of the massive crowd, stood a tall, emperor penguin female and spoke to the crowd. "Dear soldiers, lieutenants, captains and all other defenders of the icy lands, I have come to speak to you," the female spoke out loud," because a certain penguin has decided to destroy the world, a penguin called Hades. I have posted defences elsewhere in the world but your place is here."
Shock ran through the crowds as they heard the name of the enemy. They must have known this maniac, because whispers spread through the crowd at the speed of light. As general Kent finished speaking, chaos was in the crowds. Some animals went for weapons, others planned and others panicked, hoping they'll survive an encounter with the maniac. Yet the five penguin that had come from Central Park, remained calm.
"Hello general Kent," Skipper greeted her as he found his way through the crowd. His teammates followed him. "What job do you have for us?" he asked.
The general thought about it and said," you will be the ones in the first group. Since you know how to battle. Don't worry, I don't think there is much chance of you dying, but I still will put you on the last line of that group. I would have to deal with some very angry animals, if one of you dies, but I can't promise anything."
"We are fine with these circumstances," Skipper replied, with a salute. They headed of to their room.
Lindsey was slightly anxious about the upcoming battle, but seeing that Laki had survived the attack and managed to give them the message was the living proof that they had a chance of survival. Kent had also later informed them that Laki was now in their group, something that oddly relieved Lindsey. Perhaps it was because it was she that had tended to the crane back at the zoo, or because of the sadness she felt when she thought about the death that had followed him too.
Skipper thought that they should all go to bed early in order to fight better tomorrow. Yet sleep did not come to him. Nor to the others of his group. The fear of death was prowling about, picking out the weak. It was hard not to surrender to it.