Nightmare of Culldrome

✅

The Nightmare of Culldrome is the story revolving around the two brothers, Chub 777 and Buhc 777, and their struggle against the forces of evil. Along the way, many lessons are learned, much adventure is had and the destiny of the Adelie Family is started to be written.

Chapter 1: Chaos at the Airport
Chapter 1: Chaos at the Airport 7:32 PM September 14 2012 Cody Maverick Regional Airport, Shiverpool, Antarctic Peninsula Chapter Theme

A large blizzard was howling across the small, quaint town of Shiverpool, right on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Shiverpool was a town that relied heavily on the fishing industry. The seas were also choppy and due to this, the fishing boats are stranded and were still docked in the harbour to avoid being tossed around.

The blizzard had damaged several buildings including the capitol, the tallest building in the town. Penguins were huddled tightly in buildings for warmth, since the power station had been knocked out, also disabling the heating. The Adelie brothers were at Cody Maverick Regional Airport disappointed that their flight back to Club Penguin was delayed. They had visited Shiverpool as part of an aerospace conference.

“I don’t get it!” exclaimed Chub 777 while quickly pacing through the airport lounge. “The continent is always buffeted by blizzards and this one time we can’t get home!”

“You clearly didn’t pay attention at flight school, did you?” asked Buhc 777 half sarcastically. “First off, there is close to no visibility. Second of all, in case of engine failure, it would be really hard to bring the plane to a full stop. Third, the control surfaces would have ice form in such cold wea-“

“But we live in a continent with low temperatures. This is like a normal occurrence!” interrupted Chub.

“Blizzards this strong aren’t normal occurrences!” retorted Buhc.

The argument continued and within a couple of minutes, a small crowd had gathered around the two. The crowd had strategically positioned themselves so that the Adelie brothers could not notice them-

"HEY!"

-unless they break the Fourth Wall, of course. The argument continued for what seemed like half an hour before Chub conceded defeat.

“Okay, fine. Aircraft would not and should not fly in weather like this.”

“Looks like I’ve made my point,” said Buhc with his head up high. Then he picked up a newspaper from a nearby table, sat on a lounge and began reading it. The crowd melted away within seconds. Chub glanced quickly at the title of the newspaper.

“The Shiverpool Times?” read Chub.

“Yes. It’s the local newspaper of the town,” said Buhc.

“Well it looks like they’re very self sufficient.”

Chub glanced at the picture below the title and a header underneath it.

“Culldrome Isles Celebrates 10th Anniversary of the War of Porcyals? I’ve never heard of the ‘Culldrome Isles’ before, nor have I head or the ‘War of Porcyals’ before.”

Buhc made a grunting noise that sounded similar to a “Huh?” before closing the newspaper and looking down at the front page.

“Oh yeah. The Culldrome Isles are near here...somewhere...” said Buhc blankly. “They’re a very interesting island chain, apparently.”

Chub looked at his brother. "But how come I’ve never heard of it…and you have?”

“The Culldrome Isles are near Shiverpool. I got a pamphlet from the guy at the reception desk.”

Buhc handed Chub a small piece of paper. It had, in large red writing, ‘War of Porcyals-10th Anniversary’ and a picture of a penguin with (what Chub thought) was a Snow Ball gun pointed at the sky. Chub took a seat next to his brother and flipped the card so that he could see the writing on the back. He read in his mind:

"It has been 10 years since the War of Porcyals began and 10 years since the attack on Treshurr Isles. About 300,000 creatures, not limited to just penguins, fought well and defended the cities and the islands. Many of those creatures were captured by the Ninjas and sent into prisons or were defeated in Card-Jitsu matches. In total, about 282,000 of those 300,000 were either captured or defeated. Those defeated creatures spent up to a week recovering from the massive power that the Ninjas had discovered. Not many people know about this power - only the small task forces that went inside the Ninja fortress and invaded Skullhome. These creatures, or Special Ops, were undercover and if found the penalties were severe, including listening to Polka Music. These Special Ops members that were captured endured these penalties and fought until the war ended. After 4 years of battling, Skullhome finally fell and peace was restored at last. It has been 10 years since the start of this mighty war that shook the archipelago and it has been 10 years since the creatures of Culldrome united and fought the Ninjas as one. Even after 10 years, those creatures that fought bravely are still remembered."

- -Mark Jebbson, Mayor of Culldrome City Culldrome Isles

"Interesting history," commented Chub. "Why did these ninjas even attack that place...Treshurr Isles?"

Chub started reading the other parts of the pamphlet when the PA chime came on.

"All passengers of Club Penguin AirFlights 218, please board at Gate 15. CP AirFlight 218 to Gate 15, thank you."

"Ah. Finally," said Chub, picking up his suit case and folding up the pamphlet into his pocket. "Isn't Gate 15 that way?"

Chub and Buhc continued through the concourse, passing by many gift shops, money converters, fast food outlets and even (to Chub's surprise), a store that sells model rockets. After a few minutes or so, they had reached Gate 15. The two were greeted with a long line of angry passengers.

"Give us our money back!"

"Let us board the plane!"

"REFUND! REFUND! REFUND!"

"All I wanted was a simple and relaxing holiday!"

"What in the world is going on here?" asked Buhc.

They got into the line that had formed and peered to see what was happening in front of them. They spied the large LCD screen hanging from the ceiling with flight details.

"Flight 218-Now Boarding," read Chub. "I don't see whats with the confusion. As if on cue, the screen above them flashed and the status changed.

"Flight 218-Canceled," read Chub again. Annoyed, he kicked his suitcase (which he had settled on the floor). Buhc muttered under his breath, "Why did they even call us?"

Chub whipped his personalized IcePhone (which was colored light blue and was enclosed in a robust case) from his courier bag. He located the "Flight Information" application and executed it. Chub scrolled and found "Club Penguin Air-218". He pressed his flipper on the touch screen and a full read out of the flight was present.

Chub elbowed Buhc. "Hey look at this," he said and began reading. "Club Penguin Air Flight 218 is currently landed at Club Penguin. The airplane, a Snowing 737-800 (N-133OL), conducted an emergency landing there after the number 2 engine exploded - Cause is unknown."

Chub and Buhc exchanged looks with each other.

"My best bet is that ice got sucked in the engine," said Chub blankly.

"Then answer this: how did ice get sucked into the engine?" asked Buhc almost sarcastically. "Those intakes are placed forward enough so that wing ice doesn’t get in."

Chub, spotting the flaw in his hypothesis, stayed silent. After a few moments, he answered back. "Supercooled water?"

Buhc thought for a moment. "Possible. Very possible."

Chub steered the conversation back to reality. "Then what do we do?"

"Looks like the thing thing we can do is wait."

The crowd, however, could not wait; it did not calm down. The Adelie brothers decided to sit on the lounge seat near the terminal. Chub pulled out his IcePhone and started to play games on it, forgetting everything about the pamphlet-

"Oh!"

Chub fumbled about in his pockets before he found the pamphlet. He began to research the locations mentioned. Around an hour later, the crowd calmed down as a penguin in a suit (who everyone guesses was the CEO of Club Penguin AirFlights) waddled up to the boarding desk at the front of the line and began to speak.

"Attention! Attention! Everyone? Okay." The Penguin cleared his throat and adjusted his tie.

"As you may know, Flight 218 has been canceled. It has landed back in Club Penguin after one of its engines exploded."

A murmur floated above the crowd as the penguin in the suit raised his flipper, quieting everyone.

"Everyone onboard is safe and sound. Due to this the plane has obviously not reached Shiverpool. A replacement flight will arrive here shortly. You will all receive refunds and a ticket for a free flight on our airline. Thanks again for your co-operation and on behalf of Club Penguin AirFlights, I apologize for any inconvenience caused. Thank you."

As the penguin walked away, the crowd continued is talking.

"About time!"

"Free flights?! Even a refund!"

"AWESOME!"

"Hey, YOU!"

The Adelie brothers turned around and saw a penguin wearing sunglasses gesturing for them to come to him. Chub and Buhc exchanged looks.

"Who's that?" asked Chub to Buhc.

"I don't know," shrugged Buhc in total confusion. "Should we...go?"

"Err...sure."

The two stood up from their seats, picked up their luggage and moved towards the mysterious penguin.

"Err...you called us?" asked Chub.

"Yes, I did, replied the penguin as he took off his sun glasses.

"The name's Boom...Sonic Boom...Agent Sonic Boom. I am part of the Culldrome Secret Intelligence Agency, or CSIA for short."

"Well, I'm Chu-"

"We know," interrupted Sonic. "We need you."

"What for?" asked Buhc. "Why have we only heard of you now?"

"I'll explain later," replied Sonic, putting his glasses back on. "In the mean time, follow me."

Chub exchanged looks with Buhc again before shrugging and following Sonic. He was wearing a grey coat with a grey hat and grey shoes. Chub was reminded of a certain person due to Sonic’s appearance. They walked through a door with “NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL” emblazoned on a brass plate above the door. On the other side of it was a long corridor that looked derelict, with the paint on the walls peeling off and flickering lights. The corridor lead to a large metal door. Sonic swiped a card (with "CSIA" stamped all over it) on a scanner and the door opened.

The three were greeted by a blast of cold air as they walked onto the tarmac. Planes were parked at the gates with their engines turned off. A plane was on final approach on one of the runways. It’s lights were illuminating the runway ahead of it. As it rushed past in an amazing blur of light, They continued walking to a tractor with empty bag carts behind it.

"Get on," said Sonic calmly as he uncoupled the bag carts. Chub and Buhc sat on a seat at the back of the tractor. Sonic hopped on and started the tractor. There was no roof and enclosed area, so Chub, Buhc and Sonic shivered-

"Penguins are used to the co-"

-as they drove around on the tractor. After a while, Sonic approached the tractor to what seemed like a blimp.

"Isn't that...an airship?" asked Buhc.

"Yup!" replied Sonic proudly. "In fact, it is an MDA."

"Wait, weren't there only three of them?" questioned Chub suspiciously.

"No. Two more were secretly built."

The tractor halted on the concrete near the MDA. A penguin in a bright orange reflective suit approached them.

"She's fuel'd up an' ready to roll," said the penguin to Sonic. Sonic pulled out a remote from his pocket and pushed a button on it. At once, the air was filled with a loud roaring sound as the Ditto engines on the blimp started up.

"THANKS!" exclaimed Sonic over the noise. He shook hands with the penguin and turned around to face Chub and Buhc. "GET ON BOARD!"

The two nodded as they ran up to the MDA and entered a door on the gondola, wanting to escape the noise. Sonic followed them in and then closed the door. The noise became muffled but was still loud.

"I guess the adventure starts now, doesn't it, brother?" asked Buhc to Chub.

Buhc nodded with agreement. "Yes it does, brother, yes it does..."

Sonic locked the door in place and pointed to the front. "SIT OVER THERE!" The Adelie brothers followed suit and sat on two swivel chairs at the front of the cockpit. Chub looked around the room. Sonic sat behind them, on a raised platform; he was captain of the airship. Chub looked to his front. There was a long panel of controls and dials wrapping around the room. Buhc sat to his left and in front of them both was a large panoramic window stretching the length of the control panel.

The trio fastened their seat belts as Sonic spoke to air traffic control. Within a few minutes, they were off into the windy, blizzard air.

Chapter 2: Flight of the Bumbl- I mean Airship
Chapter 2: Flight of the Bumbl- I mean Airship 8:59 PM September 14 2012 In the air, Above Shiverpool, Antarctic Peninsula Chapter Theme

The airship was carried in the wind, swaying and lurching along. Alarms were blaring in the cockpit. Red lights were flashing all around.

"What if you try SCE to A-"

"I got this..."

Sonic began to frantically tap on the keypads in front of him. More alarms came on and so did more lights. The cockpit was as loud as a rock concert; a concert of alarm bells, buzzers, warnings and notifications. The wind wooshed as the airship was caught on an updraft and suddenly surged upwards.

"ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN HANDLE THIS?!" shouted Buhc over the noise. He began to scan the control panel in front of him. He was greeted with all kinds of strange dials and knobs that he did not know about.

"Umm...what does...this do?"

Buhc pushed a red button and the airship swung to the right in a sudden motion, making Chub hit his head on the panel.

"OW!"

Chub's head pressed more random buttons on the panel. Even more alarms went off and the whole airship was filled with flashing lights. The airship continued to swing and lurch left and right; up and down; forwards and backwards...wait-

"How do you lurch forwards and backwards?" asked Chub, rubbing his head.

All kinds of mechanical sounds came on as the MDA continued on its violent ascent. As they went higher, snow started to smack into the windshield, blinding Sonic's view of the outside. He promptly responded with a push of a button. Hot water squirted onto the windshield, melting the snow off. More alarms came on, one of which caught Sonic's attention.

"Mhm? WHAT?!?"

A small screen came up next to Sonic's control panel. The screen displayed a radar scan, with the MDA in the middle. As the scanner swept around in a circle, a small plip of orange came up in front of the airship...and it was approaching...FAST!

"BATTLE STATIONS!" shouted Sonic at the top of his lungs.

"Wh-wh-w-what do we do?" asked Chub, still rubbing his head.

"Follow that door over there," said Sonic, nodding his head towards to door. "Follow it to the end and open the door. Shoot anything that shoots us."

"W-With wh-"

"GO!"

"O-O-ON OUR WAY!"

The Adelie brothers unbuckled their seat belts and precariously moved back towards the door. They held onto the edges of seats and the control panels, careful to not loose their balance as the airship continued swaying. They opened the door and went through it. They ended up inside a long corridor. The lights on the ceiling flickered on and off as the wind's howling grew louder. Chub and Buhc walked to the end and opened another door.

On the other side of that door was a small room with non-slip metal flooring everywhere. They were crates stacked onto the side, moving from left to right as the MDA swayed. Not thinking anything, Buhc opened one of the crates-

BOOOM!!!

The crate exploded, leaving a gaping hole in the floor.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" exclaimed Chub.

"Uhhh..."

Chub picked up two Snowball Guns on the wall and tossed one of them to Buhc. He found a coil of rope and secured it onto the wall. He tied the other end around his and Buhc's waists, so they wouldn't fall. There was a deafening roaring noise as a dark shadow passed under the hole.

"WHAT WAS THAT?"

"SHOOT, SHOOT SHOOT!"

Chub aimed down his Snowball Gun and fired several shots at the shadow, all missing. Chub began to frantically shoot everywhere down the hole. Eventually, he hit the shadow. The roar got louder before fading out. The two peered down the hole and saw a bright, orange flaming trail follow the shadow.

BOOOM!

The streak exploded in another bright flash. There was another roar, this time it was smaller. Again, the two looked down the hole to search for the source of the roaring, unanimously deciding that it was a plane.

"Fighter jet," corrected Buhc. "It doesn't sound familiar-"

The MDA lurched again; the walls creaking and groaning with the stress. There was another large lurch as the airship was hit, knocking Chub off his balance and into the hole.

"WOAH!"

"..."

"HELP!"

The rope that was holding Chub and Buhc together began to fray.

"GIVE ME YOUR SNOWBALL GUN!"

"WHAT?!?"

"JUST GIVE ME IT!"

Chub passed up the gun. Buhc held onto the other end of the barrel.

"DON'T LET GO!"

Buhc pulled with all his might to try and get his brother back up. The rope began to fray even more; Buhc kept of pulling.

"COME ON!"

Buhc kept on hauling Chub up. The rope frayed even more and was now down to its final strands.

"ARGH!"

The MDA was hit with another attack, knocking the entire airship to one side. Buhc slipped on the metal flooring and also fell down the hole.

"NOO-"

Suddenly, Sonic appeared and pulled the rope holding Chub and Buhc. He pulled with all his might as the rope finally began to give way.

"ARGH!"

With a burst of strength, Sonic pulled Buhc and Chub just as the rope snapped into two pieces. The trio lay on the floor catching their breath.

"Well," said Chub. "T-t-thanks for that."

"No problem," replied Sonic. He stood up, brushed his suit off and pulled Chub and Buhc up. However, the threat was still not over.

"Okay, there's only one fighter plane still flying around," said Sonic. I wan-"

A loud roar came from the hole followed by a dark shadow. Sonic stepped up to it, pulled out a Snowball Pistol from his pocket and fired aimlessly into the darkness. A few seconds later, there was a deafening bang and a bright flash of light as the plane was downed. Sonic laughed at himself before turning around.

"Well, let's just get this turbulence problem sorted and then we're done."

A few swaying, lurching moments later, Sonic pulled a large, red lever on the control panel in the cockpit. Suddenly, there was a loud mechanical whirring sound before yet another roar. The airship became stable. Sonic enabled the auto-pilot before hopping out of his seat.

"So," said Sonic, smiling. "Would you two please follow me to the briefing room?"

The Adelie brothers stood up and walked to a door at the rear of the room. Everything was quiet now besides the Ditto engines whirring in the background. The door was a rusty, metal door. There was a lever on it, which Sonic pulled, opening the door. They walked in and were greeted by a smell of coffee and a waft of warm air.

The room they had entered had a large mahogany table in the centre with black, leather seats surrounding it. Lamps on the walls lit up the room. There was a projection screen rolled down on the opposite end of the room. In the middle of the table was a projector pointed at the projection screen. A large TV was on one of the sides of the room.

"Have a seat," said Sonic calmly. They all sat on the leather seats.

"Well," said Chub. "What did you want us for?"

Sonic tapped a few buttons on the projector. Then he pulled a remote from its holder.

"You know of the Porcyal War?"

"Yes," nodded Chub. "What does that have anything to-"

Sonic raised a flipper to silence Chub. "The CSIA, or Culldrome Secret Intelligence Agency is a top secret agency, much like your PSA or EPF. Its objective was to keep an eye on the ninjas. We had to make sure they didn't blow up the island again."

"Blow u-"

"I was actually one of the Special Forces trained to infiltrate Skulldrome, during the war." Sonic pulled out a case from his pocket and slammed it onto the table. It opened up and inside were about half-a-dozen shiny war medals.

"I also notified the CSIA of this...new plot."

Sonic pointed the remote to the projector and pressed a button on it. A map of the Culldrome Isles came up. He continued speaking.

"The 10th Anniversary of the war is in a few days. The CSIA have received classified information about thie plot. I tell you now that this is top secret, understand?"

Chub and Buhc both nodded. "We're part of the EPF, anyway," said Buhc. "You can trust us." Chub and Buhc both whipped out their badges and threw them onto the table, next to Sonic's badge case.

"Ah, yes!" exclaimed Sonic. "That reminds me; the CSIA and EPF joined forces recently."

"Joined forces?" asked Chub.

"Yes," replied Sonic. "You see we might be on the brink of another war, here and we're going to need all the help we can get."

Sonic pressed a button on the remote and the map of Culldrome changed to a newspaper article titled "TEWT WAREHOUSE DESTROYED."

"Ninjas from Skulldrome have reportedly smuggled some TEWT weapons from Culldrome and other places around the USA. "We don't know what weapons they have stolen yet, as the keep of destroying the warehouses where they steal from. This effectively destroys any evidence."

"How do you know that they are ninjas?" asked Buhc.

"We have security footage of them."

Sonic again pressed a button on the remote and up came black-and-white security footage. It was only a few frames long and was continuously looping. A black blob bounced around on the screen and settled upon a box. On the next frame, both the blob and the box disappeared. A few frames later, everything went white before static came on. The footage looped back to the start and kept on playing.

"So, where do we come in?" asked Chub.

"Well, out of the PSA and the CSIA, you are the two best agents we currently have. Everyone else is on a holiday."

"Well, we could do with a holiday," blurted Buhc, under his breath.

"What is our task then?" questioned Chub. Suddenly, the large TV screen on the wall turned on with a loud screech of static. The screen displayed noise for a while when suddenly-

"Greetings, Agents," announced the Director.

"Why hello there, Director!" exclaimed Chub and Buhc in unison. The two turned to face the screen and both saluted.

The Director saluted back and nodded.

"I see that you've met Agent Sonic here." The two nodded a 'yes'.

"Agent Sonic is, as you probably know, is part of the Culldrome Secret Intelligence Agency, or the CSIA. Has he briefed you two on the situation?"

"Yes, Director," replied Buhc. "What are your orders?"

"Well, I'll let this penguin here let you know..."

The screen split into two sections. On the left was the Director and on the right was static noise. Suddenly it turned to the picture of another silhouetted penguin.

At once Sonic, who was beginning to fall asleep in his seat, got up and also saluted.

"Why it's the Elite Leader!" shouted Sonic. He also saluted.

The Elite Leader saluted back.

"Good evening, Agent Sonic," said the Elite Leader. He turned to face Chub and Buhc.

"Agents, as you may or may not know, I am the Elite Leader - the director and leader of the Culldrome Secret Intelligence Agency. I am pleased to meet you, two."

"The pleasure's all mi-"

Buhc elbowed Chub.

"The pleasure's all ours," said Chub, correcting himself.

The Elite Leader continued.

"As you have been briefed by Agent Sonic here, the anniversary of the Porcyal War is in a few days."

The faces of the Director and the Elite Leader both went smaller on the screen as a countdown popped up. In big, red numbering, the countdown read out, '1 DAY, 10 HOURS, 36 MINUTES AND 51 SECONDS UNTIL PORCYAL WAR ANNIVERSARY'.

"...And the ninjas from the nearby Skulldrome Isles are planning an attack. If they are, then this will be their third invasion. The first one in the 1800s and the other one being the Porcyal War. We really cannot afford another war."

"So what's our mission then?" asked the trio of agents impatiently.

"Okay, okay. Your mission is to investigate more in this matter. You are currently headed to South Pole City. There you will travel to the large city of Inland, to this location, specifically."

A whirring sound came from underneath the table and in an instant; Chub and Buhc were holding a note in their hands. The note read "57 Crossrange Street, Inland, Eastshield, USA".

"Once there, you will investigate the matter of stolen Deletion Missiles from a TEWT warehouse. You will meet one of our agents there."

"What about me, Leader?" asked Sonic.

"You are to report back to Culldrome. There you will oversee the final stages of the major security operation that we have there."

The Director began speaking again. "Well, Agents. Good luck on your respective missions. Be resourceful, be remarkable and be ready."

With the Director signing off, the Elite Leader said a goodbye and also signed off. The screen on which they were on still had the ticking countdown.

The room was filled with silence. The only noise was the whirring of the engines and the occasional creak of the airship as it traveled through the turbulent blizzard.

"Well..." began Sonic, breaking the silence. "Anyone up for some coffee?"

- 7:52 AM September 15 2012 In the air, Above South Pole City, Eastshield

A few hours later, they were flying so high up that you could see the sun over the horizon (it was currently winter and darkness prowls over the continent at that time). The golden rays of sunlight illuminated the airship, turning it into a giant, gold floating balloon above the capital. The remnants of the blizzard from the night before was making its way out onto the horizon. The airship was well out of it now and was nearing South Pole City, the capital of the USA.

"Ah, beautiful, isn’t it?" asked Chub to Buhc who were both staring out the window of the conference room.

"Indeed," agreed Buhc. "Why aren’t we landing at the Inland-Genesee Airport again?"

"Airport congestion," replied Chub. "The backlog from the blizzard is setting in."

Sonic (who was in the cockpit) called over the PA system.

"We’re landing in a few minutes, guys. I’m going to let some of the helium out of the airship balloon so we can descend. Strap yourselves in."

The airship began to descend. Chub and Buhc returned to the cockpit, sat down in their seats and put their seat belts on.

"Everything's fine and smooth today," said Sonic. "No blizzards or turbulence. The weather looks fine for the capital and is also good for Inland.

Sonic put his headset on and began to speak into the microphone.

"Good morning, SPC Tower. This is Mike Delta Alpha zero-four heavy, requesting a landing."

There was a silence in the cockpit as the air traffic controller spoke to Sonic.

"Land on runway three-one, zero-four heavy."

Sonic pushed a button on his control panel. A loud whirring noise issued from the floor followed by a thump. The MDA had been upgraded to have landing gear.

"Sweet! Landing gear," exclaimed Chub.

"How did you know?" asked Sonic suspiciously (as he did not know about the Fourth Wall).

"Uuhhh…errr...airships don’t land on runways do they?"

"No...no, they don't..."

The airship descended even more rapidly. Around 5 minutes later, the landing gear touched the tarmac and the craft slowed down to a nice pace. The MDA taxied to a parking space. The air stair fitted on the MDA opened up and the three disembarked.

"You two, go to Inland!" exclaimed Sonic over the engine dying down. "I’ll lead onwards to the Culldrome Isles! Until then, farewell!" Sonic waved and began to hook up tubes to the airship.

"I guess we take a bus or something?" asked Buhc.

"We could use our dad’s car," suggested Chub.

"How do we get to the Adelie Manor then?"

"Fine, we’ll take public transport."

"I suggest we take a bus to the Grand Pole Station. There we can take the Antarctic Express to Inland."

"Well," said Chub while checking his IcePhone. "The next train leaves in around 30 minutes. From here...it would take roughly 15 minutes to get there. We can make it."

"Let’s go then!"

Chapter 3: Antagonists and Evil Hench Penguins
Chapter 3: Antagonists and Evil Hench Penguins 8:55 AM September 15 2012 Warehouse 1337, Skulldrome Isles Chapter Theme

A group of ninjas were hurriedly pulling a cart with a rectangular crate on it. Panicking, one of the ninjas tripped over his belt, hitting his face on the concrete floor.

"Ah, Puffles!" shouted the ninja. He got up and started to rub his head.

"NO TIME! MOVE!"

A high ranking ninja waddled over and pushed the other ninja onto the cart, nearly knocking the crate over. The group hurriedly continued pulling the cart, speeding away from the high ranking ninja.

Another ninja waddled up behind the high ranking one. This ninja wore a dark grey outfit with a white cape trailing behind him. On his waist was a neatly tied belt and in the middle of it, was an ominous looking, glowing, purple crystal. On his face was a ninja mask and his evil, red eyes. He tapped the shoulder of the high ranking penguin, frightening him.

"WOAH!"

The caped ninja looked him in the eye.

"S-s-s-s-sir!" The ninja saluted.

The caped ninja began to speak in his rough voice.

"What is the status of the loading?"

"L-l-let me check! S-SIR!"

The ninja saluted and ran off. The caped ninja looked around. There were hundreds, maybe even thousands, of ninjas running around the warehouse. Some were pulling carts with crates on them, and others were shouting commands at other ninjas. There were even some ninjas taking a break in a corner of the warehouse.

"HEY!"

The caped ninja shouted and waved his flipper at the ninjas in the corner.

"GET BACK TO WORK!"

At once the ninjas hurried away and began to look busy. The caped ninja smiled an evil smile and noticed many other ninjas running away from him.

"At last, we meet...GRAVITY!"

Gravity, the caped ninja, turned around and faced none other than the famed kaiser of Snowzerland, Swiss Ninja.

"Ah, Swiss Ninja. Glad you could make it."

Swiss Ninja was being flanked by two soldiers in the Snoss Army, standing tall and each holding a Knicicle.

"Well what is it you want with me? I didn't fly hundreds of miles for nothing, did I?!"

"Follow me."

Gravity lead the way, followed by Swiss and the two soldiers. The warehouse they were in had a large open door through which cargo would come in. The group exited through there and waddled around the warehouse. Outside, was a giant red cargo ship. Cranes on the dock were moving around, picking up vivid coloured shipping containers and planting them on the ship.



Ninjas were everywhere. Outside on the dock, some were driving forklifts and others drove trucks. There were Fire Ninjas shooting balls of fire on the side of the ship, welding what seemed like a giant fan on the hull. Gravity continued to lead on and waddled up a wooden gangplank and onto the ship. After entering several rooms on board the ship, they had finally reach their destination.

"Finally!" exclaimed Swiss Ninja.

They had arrived in a room decorated with a mahogany desk, red carpet, red couches and an old tapestry hanging from the walls...

"Take a seat," said Gravity, as he nodded toward the couches. Swiss Ninja shook his head.

"I have no time from this, Gravity! TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!"

Swiss slammed his fist onto the desk in a fit of rage. The shouted surprised the soldiers who pointed the Knicicles at Gravity.

"Okay, okay. Here's the scenario."

Gravity sat down on a chair behind the desk and pulled the desk drawer open. Reaching in, he pulled out a glowing, purple crystal, about the size of a crown. He laid it down onto the desk.

"You see this? This...this...is a Porcyal. There are only a few in the entire world."

Swiss' eyes were shining in delight as he stared at the crystal.

"You want this?" asked Gravity. "WELL...!"

He smacked the crystal off the desk, making it fall to the floor. At once the crystal began glowing.

"Uh oh."

Gravity grabbed the crystal, opened the porthole in the wall and flung the crystal out. Swiss pushed him to the floor and stuck his head out of the porthole, watching the Porcyal as it exploded in a bright shower of sparks. He pulled his head back in and looked at Gravity, who had now gotten up.

"What is it that you want?"

"Troops, vehicles, War Bots, weapons, anything! Perhaps even your army..."

"What for?"

"You see we ninjas here, have...always wanted those crystals." Gravity waddled over and grabbed a staff leaning on the wall and pointed out the porthole.

"What is so special about them, anyway?"

"These Porcyals are not just any other crystal. They contain unlimited amounts of energy. You can do anything. Move mountains, change the seas..." Gravity stopped and sat down on his seat. He looked up at the kaiser and continued, "...Rule the world..."

"In exchange for?"

"These crystals. Once we invade the Culldrome Isles tomorrow-"

"TOMORROW?!" Swiss looked at Gravity and began to slam his fist on the table again.

"YOU'RE PLANNING THIS...ATTACK...WANT MY TROOPS...AND TELL ME THE ATTACK IS TOMORROW?!"

"Well I couldn't conta-"

"LISTEN, NINJA!"

Swiss upturned the couch in another fit of rage.

"ONE DOES NOT SIMPLY SEND AN ARMY TO WAR!"

"Yes, yes, yes. I know how it works-"

"Oh come on! Who's even planning this attack?!"

Gravity and Swiss Ninja turned around and looked at the door. The soldiers stood up straight and pointed their Knicicles at the penguin who was standing at the door. The penguin at the door showed up as a dark silhouette due to the light coming in from behind. The dark shadow raised a staff and pointed it at the soldiers. Instantly, a blob of green liquid hurled out of the staff and to the soldiers, stunning them. The soldiers fell to the floor.

"What are you doing?!" exclaimed Swiss.

The penguin took a step forward into the room.

"Ah, at last, you're here..." said Gravity.

The penguin took another step forward.

"You're a ninja, too?"

"Swiss...meet Chub 667X."

Chub extended his staff towards Swiss. Swiss, however, rejected the "handshake" and moved the staff aside.

"Oh. So you're that X-Antibody of that astronaut guy?"

"Well what's he doing here?" asked Swiss Ninja.

"Why exactly?"

"Mr. Hochstadt, have you heard of the Porcyal War?"

"Maybe..."

Gravity tossed a coin onto the desk.

"I don't know..."

Gravity tossed another coin.

"No. I do not."

"Well it's a war that happened, oh, EXACTLY TEN YEARS AGO!"

"...And?"

"You see, we ninjas have tried to invade Culldrome in search for those Porcyals. Chub over there has another one."

Chub 667X pointed his staff at the pentagon on his chest. In the middle was a purple glow; the glow of a Porcyal.

"You see if we unite our forces, not only will we get these Porcyals, but we can also accomplish our goals. I can take over Culldrome and you can...let's see...if you don't want to take over the world-"

"I do! I want to take over everyth-"

"-You could take over the United States of Antarctica..."

At once, Swiss Ninja's eyes lit up. Gravity smiled and stretched out his flipper.

"So what will it be, kaiser?"

Swiss thought for a moment. Finally taking over the USA...a dream come true. After a few moments, Swiss also stretched out his flipper. Gravity and Swiss Ninja shook their flippers. They had made a deal of evil that would change things forever.

"I shall have a ship arrive here ASAP. Inside it will be troops, vehicles, ammunition, food...anything."

"Pleased to have this deal with you, kaiser."

Gravity, Chub 667X, Swiss Ninja and his two soldiers (who now had a head ache) exited the room and made their way down to the dock.

"GRAVITY!"

The group walked down the dock and towards the warehouse.

"GRAVITY!"

Gravity started showing Swiss the large crate of imported Snowzer Cheese.

"GRAVITY!"

" WHAT?!?  "

He turned around and faced a high ranking ninja.

"They've started to sing...sir."

"...Finally..."

All of the ninjas in the warehouse began to chant and sing.

"POR-CY-AL!" A song by Gravity
 MELODY 

{Music starts} {Ninjas start moving crates around} PUSH, PULL, PUSH PULL, PUSH, PULL HAUL, CAR'Y, SHOVE TURN, DRAG, SHIFT LIFT, MOVE, DROP SHOVE, HAUL, SHIFT

AAAAHHHH! (PULL, PULL, PULL!) AAAAAHHHHH! '' AAAAAHHHH!   AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! '' (PULL, PULL, PULL!)

Gravity! Gravity! To the islands you'll lead! For Skulldrome! For the war! For the ninjas glo-ry! For the Porcyal Wa-ar! For the justice of us! Gravity! Gravity! All the Porcyals for us!

{A ninja with a trumpet comes out and plays a tune}

Porcyals. For who? For us ninjas! For us! For us! Give those Porcyals! Give them! Hand them over to NIN-JAAS!

YEAH! YEAH!

{Ninjas resume moving crates}

(PUSH, PULL, PUSH PULL, PUSH, PULL PUSH, PULL, PUSH PULL, PUSH, PULL PUSH, PULL, PUSH, PULL...)

{All the ninjas stop doing their work and rush to the nearest opening in the warehouse}

POR-CY-AL!

{Shockwave from shout smashes into buildings}

FOR SKULDROOOOME, AND THE WARS, THAT WE FOUGHT! We'll invaaaade! Capture 'drome! For gooooooooood!

We will have our Re-venge on those Who stole crystals!

Gravity! Gravity! To the islands you'll lead! For Skulldrome! For the war! For the ninjas glo-ry! For the Porcyal Wa-ar! For the justice of us! Gravity! Gravity! All the Porcyals for us!

MARK 'nd!, MARK 'nd!, MARK 'nd! YAH!!! Mark 'nd! Mark 'nd! Mark 'nd! YAH!!! {Ninjas disperse and continue with their jobs}

The shock-wave from the "POR-CY-AL" shout rocked the whole of Skulldrome. Dust was whirling everywhere. Many of the crates in the warehouse had fallen over and smashed. Cracks appeared in the ground and the lights hanging from the roof shook. The shock traveled outside and slammed into the ship, causing it to tilt over to the side, nearly spilling the cargo. The cranes on the dock swayed dangerously as the ocean water crashed into the docks on the side.

Swiss was in awe.

"T-T-That's a nice presentation you have there..."

"Why thank you," replied Gravity. "It took four months to master that."

Swiss muttered under his breath. "Jock should not find out about this..."

Gravity continued speaking. "If your first squadron arrives this evening, then we'll need our second squad..."

Chapter 4: Inland Bound
Chapter 4: Inland Bound 9:14 AM September 15 2012 On board the Antarctic Express, En route to Inland, Eastshield Chapter Theme

Chub an Buhc were both sleeping in their train compartment, not noticing the enemy talking through the Fourth Wall.

"Huh? Wha?" said Chub as he began to wake up. Buhc began to wake up too.

"Mm? What time is it?"

Chub took out his icePhone and looked at the time.

"About 9 o' clock. We'll arrive in Inland in around half an hour," said Chub, sliding the phone back into this pocket.

"Well what should we do to pass the time?" asked Buhc.

"I heard that there's a buffet car, somewhere..." Chub peeked out of their compartment and looked at both ends of the carriage.

"Well see if you can get...hot chocolate or something. This train is freezing!"

Chub got up exited their compartment and waddled off.

Buhc looked out of the window. The Antarctic Express was speeding along the rails, running parallel to Highway 2. Cars and trucks travelled on the road, but were reduced to a blur due to the speed. The small stretch between South Pole City and Inland was mostly flat, with the Trans-Antarctic mountains a misty blur on the horizon. Buhc looked around the compartment. He was sitting on a leather couch with another one opposite of him. To his left was a wooden wall with a door and windows on it. In front of Buhc was a small mahogany table attached, with intricate carvings on it.

A few quiet minutes later, Buhc was startled as Chub opened the compartment door.

"Here, two hot chocolates!" announced Chub, balancing two cups on one flipper. Buhc helped him close the door and Chub sat down, plonking the two cups on the table.

Buhc took the cup and sipped.

"Thanks," he said. "The view seems nice."

"Yeah," agreed Chub, taking a sip. "We're really traveling fast, now."

"These trains cruise at around 200 kilometers an hour. Pretty fast." Buhc took a sip.

"Wait-"

"Don't ask why its taking half an hour."

The ride was smooth and there was an occasional tilt as the train turned around curves at high speed. The clouds were clearing and snow was falling on the window. Buhc sipped his hot chocolate while Chub placed his IcePhone on the table and began to open the casing using a screw driver-

"Where did you get that screwdriver?" asked Buhc.

"I don’t know actually," said Chub. "Maybe the Mayor made it appear in my bag."

Chub unscrewed the case and began to fiddle with the silicon chips inside.

"What are you eve-"

"Trying to boost its signal and overclocking it while making sure battery consumption doesn’t change."

"Er...good luck with that..."

Chub pulled out a silicon chip out of his pocket and began to hammer it on the phone using his flippers.

"Anyway," said Buhc, over the hammering. "I have to say, this ride is smooth."

"Well, yeah," said Chub half focusing on the conversation and half focusing on his phone. "It’s new and eco friendly. Good ol’ electric trains!"

"Technically that’s not old."

"You get my point." Chub was now using soldering iron. Smoke filled up the entire compartment and Buhc had to open the window. The smoke poured out as the cold wind seeped in. Buhc took another sip of hot chocolate to warm him up. Just as he put his cup down, his phone began to ring.

"Hello? Buhc speaking," he said into the phone. "Oh, uhh, well…" Buhc pressed a button on his icePhone and the Director appeared on the screen.

"Director!" shrieked Chub. He dropped his hot soldering iron and burnt himself. "ARGH!" Chub was clutching his right hand with his left. "Sorry about that. Hello, director."

"Yes, hello," said the Director, half annoyed.

"I’m joined here by the director of the CSIA, the Elite Leader."

The director shifted to the side of the screen. A silhouette of another penguin appeared on screen.

"Greetings, agents," said the Elite Boss in an accent eerily similar to Mayor Mcflapp’s. "I’m sure you’ve met Sonic, one of our top agents."

The Adelie brothers nodded.

"As you already know, he’s currently on his way to Culldrome to oversee the final security preparations."

The Adelie brothers nodded again.

"Well, you’re currently headed to one of TEWT’s many warehouses. There, investigate the stolen weapons. After you have some intel, head over to Culldrome. You can stop by Club Penguin or whatnot to 'gear up' for your adventure. You may use any type of transport to get to Culldrome, what ever it is, just get there A.S.A.P. When you get there, meet up with Sonic where you will be further briefed, depending on your situation."

The director began to speak again. "Do you two know what to do?"

"Yes," replied Chub and Buhc in unison.

"Right, good luck on your mission," said the Director. "Be resourceful, be remarkable and be ready."

The phone turned off.

"So, should we stop by our house?" asked Buhc, while putting his phone in his pocket.

When he looked up, Chub was using a spot welder (whipped out of nowhere) to affix the chip to his phone.

"Yeah, might as well," said Chub after lifting his welding helmet up. "Should we bring Oh-Ho?" Chub had a pet phoenix named Oh-Ho that could harness the powers of Card-Jitsu.

"Yes," agreed Buhc. "We could use those Card-Jitsu powers to defeat the ninjas or something."

Chub took another sip at his hot chocolate, which was now cold. His IcePhone was now disintegrated. Melted plastic was all over it (well what remained of...it...) and was half stuck on the table.

"Well at least that chip is now attached," pointed out Chub.

The IcePhone’s memory chip was also melted.

"Luckily I have a backup.

Chub’s backup of his IcePhone was over 2000 miles away at his igloo.

"WHAT?!? Oh come on!"

Chub began to dislodge his phone from the table.

"Look at the table," commented Buhc. "You've destroyed the intricate decorations."

Chub continued pulling and replied with a, "Meh..."

"Are you even sure that this will work?" asked Buhc.

"Nope. We're going to need something a little bit more powerful than flippers..."

Chub pulled out pieces of a jackhammer out of his hammerspace bag. He began to assemble it as Buhc took another sip of hot chocolate.

"Are you seriously using a jackhammer?" questioned Buhc. "You're just going to-

He was too late. Chub had already assembled the jackhammer and began chipping his phone off. A train conductor waddled in front of the compartment door and looked sternly at the two. Chub ignored the penguin and Buhc just facepalmed himself.

"Hmm...this isn't going to work..." muttered Chub under this breath. He reached in his bag and fiddled around for his Banana Blaster.

"Oh no yo-"

Splattered banana was now covering the table. The IcePhone had not dislodged a tiny bit.

"You’re clearing this up," said Buhc firmly.

Chub ignored him and used his jackhammer to cut a hole in the table. His IcePhone was now free, yes, but a gaping hole now occupied where it was. Chub covered the hole up with random pages of a newspaper from his bag.

"There," said Chub, his eyes darting from left to right. "Nothing happened..."

Suddenly, static came over on the PA system. Then-

"Attention passengers. The Antarctic Express will be stopping at the Grand Inland Station in a few moments. Please prepare to disembark. Thank you, for riding on the Antarctic Express. We hope to see you again on a future journey."

"Finally," sighed Chub. "How do you suggest we get to the warehouse?"

"I guess we could walk," answered Buhc. "Besides, we need the exercise anyway."

"Wha-WHAT?!?"

"Okay, okay, fine. We’ll go to the bicycle shop. We can buy a foldable bike there."

"Where's the shop?"

"Don't worry," said Buhc as he smiled, pulling his phone out. "I'm the one with the functioning ph-"

Chub smacked Buhc with left over banana ammunition.

"Well, anyway that's our plan. Are we supposed to leave these cups here?" asked Chub, looking into his half empty cup.

"Yes. We’re in first class," said Buhc, wiping his face. "Those waiters clean it up."

"Are yo-"

"Leave it!"

The train tilted even more before slowing down. The snow had stopped and the sky was nearly clear. The iconic "thump-thump-thump" of the train’s wheels on polished rail became louder. The train was slowing, slowing, slowing...

"Inland: End of the line!" called out the driver over the PA system. "For connecting services, please board the train at platform 2. Again, thank you for riding on the Antarctic Express."

The train pulled in the station until it hit the buffer stop. The doors on the carriage opened and the Adelie brothers walked out, carrying their luggage (and Chub clutching his ‘IcePhone-table’ with his left flipper).

Grand Inland Station was very much like Grand Pole Station. Lights were dangling down from the ceiling; restaurants squashed up on the sides of the station. Many penguins were running around, getting to their office.

"Ah, yes," said Buhc. He checked his watch. "It’s the early morning rush-hour."

A loud dong echoed behind them (which made Buhc jump). They both turned around and saw a large bronze, bell. It was hanging from the roof from a thick, strong rope. The bell had letters in an unknown language (Chub guessed it was Ligurian) carved onto the bell near the bead line. A rusty gong was hitting the bell at a spot that had formed a dent over the years. Steam was coming out from a large plastic pipe protruding from the roof.

"I wonder how old this is?" asked Chub.

*ding*

"Well it's very old," replied Buhc.

*dong*

"Well then, lets get ourselves a bicycle.

*ding*

"So, where is the bicycle shop?"

10:15 AM September 15 2012 Outside the TEWT warehouse, Inland, Eastshield

"By the looks of my GPS, we turn right, here, onto Endeavour Street."

Chub and Buhc were riding their new foldable bicycles on the path. The roads next to them were clogged with cars; traffic from the ongoing rush-hour. A small cloud of smog had formed a few feet above the cars.

The Adelie brothers tilted to the right and turned onto Endeavour Street.

"Turn right - Crossrange Street," announced the Micro Hard and Soft Sam voice on the GPS.

The two stopped pedaling.

"Are you sure it's this way?" asked Chub. They both peered down the narrow cobblestone alleyway that was Crossrange Street. It was chock full of tipped garbage cans, boxes made soggy in the rain and yellowing newspapers.

"Uhhh..."

Chub looked up and saw a rusty sign saying "CROSSRANGE STREET".

"Yes, turn right here..."

Chub mounted his bike and turned into the street.

"...Seems legit..."

Buhc also got on his bike and sped around the corner.

The street was narrow; very narrow. It was so narrow that they had to travel in single-file. It was also like an obstacle course - you had to avoid the trash littered around the pavement.

"53...55...here we are! Number 57!"

The two got off their bicycles, folded them up and put them in their bags, barely managing to fit them in. A small, old sign hanging from a rusty rod above them read "NUMBER 57. TEWT WAREHOUSE - INLAND BRANCH" They waddled up to a steel door underneath the sign and rang a door bell.

"This is an odd sort of place, isn’t it?" asked Buhc.

The door swung open and they were greeted by a scruffy looking janitor penguin.

"Yes? Who 'r' you?" asked the penguin.

"Agents from the EPF," said Chub. He whipped out his badge followed shortly by Buhc.

"We’re 'xpecting you. Come in."

The penguins walked through the door. They looked up in awe as the janitor closed the door behind them. From outside, the 'warehouse' looked like an abandoned factory. On the inside, however there were thousands of wooden crates, stacked upon each other. The stacks stretched onward and onward to the other end of the warehouse. There were several cranes on the top thatwere moving; picking up crates and placing them elsewhere. Penguins wearing hard hats were running around frantically, carrying clipboards.

"Oh! Tha' reminds me! Take these an' wear 'em!"

The janitor took two hardhats and tossed them to Chub and Buhc. They caught it in time and wore them on their heads.

"So," started Chub. "May we please see the head of this warehouse?"

"Why 'es of course! Come 'n! 'ollow me!"

The janitor waddled over to a counter. Reaching underneath the table, he pushed a button. A compartment opened up on the counter and the janitor pulled out a microphone.

"St'v'n t' th' main entr'nce, please!" shouted the janitor into the microphone. His voice echoed throughout the warehouse.

"Wait h're..."

The janitor put back the microphone, got his mop (which was leaning against a wall) and began to mop again. Moments later a penguin dressed up in a suit waddled up to the brothers.

"Ah, the Adelie brothers, is it?" asked Steven, the head of the TEWT Inland Branch.

"Y-y-yes!"

"I see."

Steven nodded, stood up tall and introduced himself.

"I'm Steven Constance, head of the TEWT Inland Branch. It's really a pleasure to meet you two."

He shook hands with Chub and the Buhc.

"Agent Chub," said Chub as he shook.

"Agent Buhc," said Buhc as he also shook.

Chub leaned in to Steven as whispered. "Hey, uh...mind if we talk somewhere...private?"

"Oh, why yes of course! Come, follow me! Follow me, now!"

The three began to walk in between crates stacked high to the ceiling. Light was straining in from windows on the roof. Forklifts were driving here and there, carrying crates. Inside all of these crates, are weapons - Snowball guns, Ditto guns...even tanks. The warehouse was (in itself) a "museum" of weaponry, cached and ready for deployment. They rounded a corner and waddled through a corridor. The stepped up to a door with "STEVEN CONSTANCE-HEAD emblazoned on it. They waddled in.

"Take a seat." Steven pointed to two seats in front of a desk.

The Adelie brothers sat in the chairs. Steven sat in his chair behind the desk. On his desk, there was a pile of paper, a golden lamp and a golden name plate with "STEVEN CONSTANCE - INLAND TEWT BRANCH - CEO" written on it.

"We’re EPF agents. We have come to investigate the stolen weapons," said Buhc.

"Yes, I know. It all began a few days ago, on the 7th. Our security cameras have recorded this."

Steven opened his drawer, fished around for a remote and turned on the old, dusty, cathode-ray-tube TV in the corner of the room. There, appeared a black and white ‘film’. It showed a walkway suspended from the roof. Surrounding the walkway were crates.

"THERE!"

Steven hit the pause button. A large dark object had bounced onto a crate. The video resumed and the dark object was gone along with the crate it had bounced on.

"How do you know that this is a ninja?" asked Chub.

"Well at first we contacted the EPF. They said that the ‘blob’ looked like a ninja. We asked the ninjas at the Club Penguin Dojo. But, nothing - they had not stolen it. The EPF recommended the CSIA. We contacted them and said that it might be the ninjas from Skulldrome.”

Steven turned off the TV.

"The 10th Anniversary of the Porcyal War is coming up in a few days. They said that they were connected. Their agents said something about the ninjas having revenge."

"Have you found out what were the contents of this crate?" asked Chub.

"Yes...I have bad news."

The Adelie brothers held their breath.

"The crate contained a Deletion Missile ... and we believe the have more of them."

Many things happened at once. Buhc fainted and slammed his head on the desk. Chub muttered something about the Fourth Wall. He pulled him up as the lights went out. Alarms started blaring throughout the warehouse. Steven stood up quickly (knocking his chair back in the process) and bolted out the door. Chub was now carrying Buhc on his back and walking out of the door.

"What’s going on?!" called Chub out to Steven (who was already a hundred feet away).

"We’re under attack! Go! GO!"

Chub dragged Buhc. Many of the crates were falling to the ground, breaking apart on impact. The windows on the roof were broken open as glass fragments lay on the floor. Ropes dangled through the windows. Many black blobs were darting around the place nearly at the speed of light. Chub had reached the front door.

"Move, MOVE!"

The shock sensitive Deletion Missiles fell to the floor. This activated its deletion mechanism. Several sections of the warehouse were disappearing. Chub pulled out his snowball gun and began to shoot at the blobs. His accuracy was heavily lowered due to him carrying Buhc. The snow balls hit the staff members instead of the blobs.

"Ah, snowball this!"

Chub carried Buhc outside of the door. He assembled his bicycle and began to ride it. He had to get away whilst carrying Buhc. Chub turned the corner at Endeavour Street and looked behind. The roof of the giant warehouse was collapsing onto itself. ROFLCOPTERs were hovering above. Chub began to fire at them but with no avail. The staff of the warehouse had escaped and was flooding the already crowded streets. A loud explosion was heard inside the wreckage. The sound woke Buhc up from his ‘sleep’.

"Huh? What happened?" He looked at the large pile of wreckage and the fleeing ROFLCOPTERS.

"WHAT?!?"

"We were ambushed by ninjas just after you fainted," answered Chub. "Then chaos ensued and well...no more Inland branch."

"Wow," sighed Buhc. He propped himself up on the wall and watched as the warehouse roof fell into a giant crater. Chub and Buhc shielded their eyes as a cloud of dust burst from where the warehouse stood.

"I wonder how much money TEWT will get set back by?" asked Buhc after the dust had cleared. "You’ve seen all those weapons. What if the ninjas have gotten hold of them?"

"I guess we have to contact the Director and the Elite Boss. It seems that we’ve failed very badly."

"It’s not that bad. At least we got information-"

"-But no physical evidence."

Buhc pointed out to the pile of rubble.

"Evidence," said Buhc, pointing into the distance. "Evidence everywhere."



"True...now, where’s your IcePhone?”

Chapter 5: The Adelie Manor
Chapter 5: The Adelie Manor 12:39 PM September 15 2012 Megatopa Library, Inland, Eastshield Chapter Theme

Chub and Buhc were huddled around Buhc’s IcePhone. They were sitting on a couch in a library with the phone staring at them from the old, oak table in front of them. The Director and the Elite Boss appeared on the screen.

"Greetings agents," announced the Director. "How was your assignment?"

"Well," said Chub, swallowing a gulp. "Buhc here fainted while the whole warehouse exploded and deleted itself."

Buhc elbowed Chub very hard causing him to yelp in pain. However, his yelp was drowned out by the director.

"WHAT?!?" exclaimed the Director. "What do you mean deleted itself?"

"Ninjas from Skulldrome invaded us. They ambushed the whole place and knocked some deletion missiles over, causing the whole stockpile to implode."

The Elite Boss stepped in front of the Director.

"Travel to Culldrome, NOW! We will need you."

The Director pulled the Elite Boss back.

"They’ll get there soon. Firstly, you two go to Club Penguin, the Adelie Manor, or what not. Gear up and head for Culldrome. We’ve still to organize a rendezvous point. We will notify you A.S.A.P."

"Do we also get briefed at Culldrome?" asked Buhc.

"Yes," answered the Director. "These are dark times. Proceed with caution. As always, be resourceful, be remarkable and be ready."

The two secret agency leaders came off the screen. Buhc picked up his phone and turned it off.

"So, where to first?” asked Chub. "Adelie Manor or Club Penguin?"

"Any. Might as well pay a visit to the ol’ manor," answered Buhc. “We could fly my Lea-"

"Smearjet," corrected Chub.

"Yeah, that."

"Well then, shall we go?"

The Adelie brothers stood from their couch and departed the library and walked towards the exit-

"Oh!" interrupted Chub. "I need to buy a new IcePhone."

Buhc sighed. "Okay, we’ll stop by the Peach store, first."

The two waddled over to the Peach store. Chub bought a brand new IcePhone 6. They headed for the bus terminal that would take them to the airport. They sat at the back of a bus. Chub was checking out his new phone while Buhc was fiddling with his phone.

"Oh iOS," said Chub calmly. "You are my favourite phone operating system."

-  4:24 PM September 15 2012 Adelie Manor, South Pole City, Eastshield

The Adelie brothers stood outside the gates of the Adelie Manor. There was a large sandstone wall wrapped around the manor. Huddled into the side of the wall was a small room – the gatehouse. The gatehouse was made of brick which now had moss growing on it. Panels of windows are located on the front of the gatehouse, allowing the one inside to see visitors. Chub peered into the windows but saw no one there. He then waddled over to a pot plant.

"Should we open it?" asked Chub as he bent over to look behind the pot.

"Yes," agreed Buhc. "I wonder where our Butlerbot 3000 went...??

Chub pulled out a key from behind the pot plant he waddled over to the gatehouse door and unlocked it. There were many bookcases inside the gatehouse. Books were scattered everywhere – some on the floor and some on a dusty pinewood table in a corner. Papers were also scattered here and there. A bottle of ink had spilled onto a book, rendering it unreadable.

Behind the windows was a long timber counter. On the counter there were many levers, each with its own label underneath it. Chub pulled a large lever labeled MAIN HYDRAULIC POWER. A loud hum filled the room. After a few seconds, the humming stopped and Chub pulled an even larger lever labeled GATEHOUSE. Heavy, metal clanking sounds came from the rear of the gatehouse. The large iron bars that formed the gate were whisked away. Chub pulled the hydraulic lever again, followed by a ‘hum’. The two walked out and Chub deposited the key in its hiding place behind the pot plant.

They walked through the gate. The Adelie brothers were greeted by a lush green meadow. The large sandstone wall protects the meadow from the encroaching snow. The meadow is also protected from the snow by spraying warm water from sprinklers scattered around the area. Right now, the sprinkler system was turned on and was melting the snow on the cobblestone path. Chub waddled over to a steel bust of a penguin wielding a sword. Behind it was a concealed hatch.

"You stay guard while I close the gate," ordered Chub to Buhc. Buhc stayed put while Chub descended down the hatch. Down the hatch was a long corridor with unlit candles running along the side. At the other end was another ladder leading up to the gatehouse. Once inside, he pulled the hydraulic lever yet again. A ‘hum’ reverberated throughout the gatehouse. Once the humming had finished, Chub pulled the gate controlling lever. Once again, the iron bars descended down onto the ground, locking the Adelie Manor from any entry or exit. Chub pulled the hydraulic lever one last time before waddling down the ladder, through the corridor and out the hatch. Chub and Buhc waddled up the cobblestone pathway towards the actual manor.

Buhc knocked on the large oak doors.

About five seconds passed. A series of locks sounded. Then the doors opened to-

"Hey, dad!" cried out the brothers.

"Hello, there!" replied Matthias Adelie. "What brings you two here?"

"We’re on a mission to the Culldrome Isles," answered Chub. "We’ve come to get supplies and whatnot."

"Well you better come inside then."

They all went inside into the Great Entrance. Many grandfather clocks were positioned around the walls. A large, dusty rug was laid out on the floor. Above the room, a chandelier hung proudly on the high roof. Old paintings were hung above entryways to other rooms. They waddled straight ahead into the Great Dining Hall. The hall roof was as tall as two of the steel penguins outside stacked onto of each other. The length of the hall rivaled that of an entire city block. On the walls hung a large tapestry that depicted a penguin holding a sword and a shield.

"Stay here, I’ll get a Butlerbot."

Matthias waddled out of the hall and into a smaller room. Above the doors to the smaller room, a golden plaque read "BUTLERBOT SERVICE ROOM". A Butlerbot was a robot that Matthias had invented to help with running the manor-

"Yes, we all know that-"

-Chub and Buhc took seats at the large dining table in the hall; Chub sitting next to Buhc.

"Well, we haven’t been here in a while, have we?" said Chub while smiling.

"Hahaha," laughed Buhc. "A while..."

Their father came out of the service room followed by a robot. A phoenix was perched on the Butlerbot’s top hat.

"Oh-Ho?" cried Chub and Buhc in surprise?

"Ah, yes," said Matthias. "That little phoenix of yours turned up here a few hours ago."

The phoenix perched on Chub’s shoulder, almost knocking him over. A Butlerbot wheeled up to the two.



"WHAT WOULD YOU TWO LIKE?" asked the Butlerbot in its monotone, Microsoft Sam-like voice.

"I’ll just get small refreshments," said Chub. "Some Poritos...a glass of juice...actually make those Poritos into nachos."

Buhc’s face came out from the behind of Chub’s shoulder.

"Make those two glasses juice...and extra large nachos please!”

Chub face palmed himself as the Butlerbot inputted their order on his keyboard panel on his left arm. It wheeled over to Matthias and asked for his order.

"Yes, make those three glasses of juice and a gigantic plate of large nachos!"

The trio laughed as the Butlerbot went into the kitchen. Oh-Ho flew off from Chub’s shoulder and over to the large fire place on the far side of the hall. With a flap of its wing and a breath from its mouth, the long logs in the fire place ignited.

Chub looked around the hall. Above hung a large, ornate chandelier from which glowing crystals hung. In the centre of the chandelier, was a large lamp. It was the main source of light in the room, since the candles on the walls were not lit.

Above the fireplace mantel was the shield of the Adelie Family. A single, golden penguin stood in the centre flanked by two swords. Above the penguin was a sparkling, crystal crown. Below the penguin was a fleur-de-lis. The entire shield was covered in a heavy layer of dust.

"You said you were on a mission to the Culldrome Isles?" asked Matthias.

"Yes," replied Chub.

"Well, I have to say, the Adelie family has had a lot to do with the Culldrome Isles. Have I told you two before?"

The two brothers shook their heads. Their father looked perplexed and spoke.

"You've already forgotten that I used to be an Abbottess?"

"We do, now that you mention it," started Buhc. "But what's that got to do with the Culldrome Isles?"

"I used to be an Abbottess in Culldrome, don’t you remember?   Until I took a a spanner to the knee...

"Wh-"

"Nothing."

"Well...wow," exclaimed Chub. "I thought it was in Rusca..."

Matthias sighed.

"Well, after we eat I’ll lead you to the library. I'm pretty sure...I'm really sure that there is one book about the Culldrome Isles...in the history section or something. We'll just get a Butlerbot."

Buhc remembered something. "Speaking of Butlerbots..."

At the mention of its name, the Butlerbot wheeled out of the kitchen carrying a plate of nachos as large as a Mullet! The robot butler had to use both of its hands to deliver it and thus had the Cream Soda drinks balancing on its top hat. The Butlerbot swiftly placed the plate onto the table and caught the falling drinks. It distributed them before saying "ENJOY YOUR MEAL", and wheeling off.

The steaming plate of nachos was covered in a layer of oozing cheese. Meatballs, peppers, olives and Hot Sauce were laid out on the nachos. The tortilla chips were laid out on the plate, where a bowl of more Hot Sauce-

"CAN WE EAT?!"

Half an hour later, the trio was saturated. The mess of a thoroughly enjoyed meal was laid out in front of them on the dining table. The Butlerbot had wheeled in and was cleaning up.

"Ok, ok," started Chub. "Now can we go to the library?"

"Wha? Oh, right. Yes, yes," replied his father. "Shall we?"

Matthias, Chub and Buhc all stood up when the large oak doors opened, letting in a flurry of snow. The doors creaked to a close as Blowey Adelie, the mother of Chub and Buhc, waddled in from the entrance hall.

"Why hello there!" exclaimed Blowey. "What brings you two here to the manor?"

Buhc began to say "Sort of top se-"

"We’re on a mission to the Culldrome Isles," said Chub.

"Ah, Culldrome. I’ve heard of that place" replied Blowey. "We Adelies have quite a history there. There should be some old information at the library."

"We were headed there now," said Matthias. "Come on, boys!"

Blowey waddled off to another room as Matthias, Chub and Buhc went off into a corridor. The corridor was small and old, with creaking floorboards and deteriorated paintings. The corridor lead to a larger room full of stairs. Chub glanced up at a bronze plaque with "MAIN STAIR WELL" written on it. They waddled flight after flight of stairs until they arrived at another room. The room had red velvet couches and pot plants on one side. On the other side was a double door. Matthias pushed open the doors and lead the two brothers inside.

Through the doors was a large hall. The floor was made out of shiny, polished wood. On the sides of the hall were hundreds of shelves, holding thousands of books. Above the hall, there was another floor identical to the lower floor. There were large oak tables with wooden seats tucked in. On each table was a small Peach laptop, fully charged and ready to go. The three went to sit around a table.

"We’re on a tight schedule, here," said Chub. "What have you got?"

Matthias pulled the laptop to face him and typed in a few commands.

"Well, let me search the archives for a moment, the file should be here..."

Matthias continued typing out things.

"Here we go! The Culldrome Isles – by Sir Baden Plorer , lower floor, isle 7." Matthias adjusted his glasses and pointed into the distance. "That way. There should be an old, red book."

Chub and Buhc got up and went over to isle 7. They scanned the bookshelves for the old, red book. There were no red books on the shelf at all.

"Are you sure it’s red?" asked Buhc.

"Yes, pretty sure," replied Matthias. He got up, went over towards the brothers and showed them the picture of the book on the laptop. Sure enough, it was red.

"It doesn’t seem to be here..." commented Chub. "Are you sure it’s in the library, at all?"

Matthias nodded. "The tagging system says that it should be right here."

They all wondered why the book wasn’t there. They continued to look on the shelf, but no red book was present. After half an hour, they gave up and went back to the table.

"Well, no information then," sighed Chub.

"Is there another book we can look for?" asked Buhc.

Matthias continued typing about. He looked up. "Nope, it’s just the one book."

"I thought you said the Adelie family had a lot of history surrounding Culldrome," said Buhc.

"Yes," replied Matthias. "Ever heard of the War of Porcyals?"

"Yup," replied the two brothers in unison.

"Well, long ago..."

FLASHBACK: Mark the Warrior
10:21 AM January 26 1854 Culldrome Bay, Culldrome Isles

The Bernard crashed into the white sandy beach of Culldrome with a mighty thud. Mark fell and slammed his face on the wet, wooden deck of the ship. The rain poured down from the dark grey clouds and the wind lashed like a mighty giant blowing. The sails on the Bernard waved about. The weak, ropes that held together the sails gave way and the battered canvas flailed in the wind. Mark got up and spied out the Gabriel and the Periwinkle about to crash onto the beach.

"Come about!" shouted Mark to the ships. It was too late however, and the ships ploughed into the sand comically. The timbers creaked and groaned as the wet sand got squashed by the ships.

Mark waddled towards the bow of the Bernard, grabbed onto a string of rope and slid down it onto the beach. Taking the first step onto the island, he went to the top of the dunes and took out a battered handkerchief and tied it to a stick. He planted the stick down onto the ground and turned around the address the congregation watching from the ships.

"I know we've come from far and wide," began Mark. "We have been searching for the Porcyals for many, many moons. We have sailed here, to this island in search of the Porcyals. BUT, we also came here for another purpose – to explore and expand the Antarctic colonies!"

A mighty cheer came from the penguins on the ship; most gathered at the bow, some holding onto the the masts and sails.

"We have discovered this island! We will explore this island! Even if the island doesn’t have the Porcyals, we will establish a colony! We will live here!"

Another cheer erupted from the penguins.

"So, I declare this island, and all surrounding islands, for Antarctica! This land shall henceforth be known as..." Mark paused. "The Culldrome Isles!"

A cheer larger than any heard before, was shouted by the penguins.

"May this newly found colony be a signal of peace to everyone everywhere forever more!"

Another cheer rent the air, much louder than before.

"Come on! I invite you all to the Culldrome Isles!"

The rest of the penguins came down from the ships and jumped onto the sandy beach. -  10:21 AM February 1 1854 Culldrome Bay, Culldrome Isles

Mark got out of his tent. He looked around and saw some penguins ready for the scouting journey. The fire in front of his tent was now only a smoldering ash. The storm was over and the sun was rising, a phenomenon Mark hadn’t seen happen so quickly. He was used to the slow, month long nights and days back down south.

He rubbed sleepiness from his eyes and yawned. He went back into his tent to fetch a large green backpack containing supplies for about a week. He fastened the pack onto him and waddled around the camp site on the fringe of the sandy beach.

The Gabriel was in the process of being stripped down for wood. The large hunk of wood was sitting in the bay and on its side. The Bernard and Periwinkle were bobbing up and down, their masts stripped down to make tents. The two were still stuck in the sand, probably never to sail again.

The situation at the camp was grim. Fresh water and food was nowhere to be found and supplies were running low. This was why Mark decided that a scouting expedition take place. Just as he waddled over towards the main square (which was makeshift and just a patch of ground), clouds began to cover the sky and a soft flurry of snow fell on the campsite.

Mark scaled a stack of barrels and faced the penguins in the square.

"Well, are we ready for a little journey, eh, fellas?"

The penguins shouted a cheer and soon they were off hiking towards the south-east. There were many trees, but gradually the snow began to fade away. The scouting team expected rocks but instead saw dewy grass. The grass was new to the penguins and the botanists who came with the scouts began to study it. After a while of persuading, they continued again.

Around midday, the team stopped for a break next to a small stream. The stream contained fresh water.

"This small stream will not be able to suffice," said Marty. "We must explore uphill."

And so, after the break, the team followed the tiny stream uphill. They followed until night fall where the team set up camp next to the stream. This journey following the stream continued for several days, until the stream went wider and turned into a river. The river stretched on as far as the eye could see. The scouts continued navigating around the lake and went north.

Eventually, they reached a point where they decided to call the place home. Mark planted a flag to ceremonially mark the place. A few weeks later, the whole colony shifted to the new spot. Mark decided to call the area Culldrome City.

Clues
5:00 PM September 15 2012 Library, Adelie Manor, South Pole City, Eastshield

"...And that was how Culldrome was founded," said Matthias.

"Well, now that we know that, do you have any other information?" asked Chub.

"That story goes on for a few hundred years. There were the Heroes of Truth and Ideals, the Porcyal hunt, the ninja invasion-"

"Wait, wait...WHAT?!?" screamed Buhc.

"What?" asked Matthias.

"That bit about the ninja invasion," said Buhc.

"Oh, that. Well ninjas from the neighboring islands invaded Culldrome and the colony. Why? Well that brings me on the next subject..."

The two brothers leaned in excitedly to hear about the upcoming story.

"No, no, no," chucked Matthias. "No flashback this time."

The brothers groaned.

"Well, I’ll tell you about the Porcyals," said Matthias.

"Yes, what exactly are they?" asked Chub, leaning back into his seat.

"These, Porcyals..." started his father. "They were curious things...I believe they were purple and were very rare. Only found in some places. It is said that Porcyals have extraordinary powers. They can power machines, weapons, entire cities even."

"What did penguins want of them so long ago, before the advent of machines?" asked Chub.

"The energy could be harvested…by living things..."

Outside the manor, it began to rain and a thunder clap echoed. A storm had brewed up.

"That's odd," said Buhc. "It doesn’t usually rain here."

"Mhm," murmured Matthias. "AS I WAS SAYING, the energy could be harvested and channeled into...YOU for instance."

"Did they make you powerful?" asked Chub.

"Yes, yes!" replied Matthias. "That energy powers you up. You could fly, you could run fast, you could move mountains, you could rule the lands, even."

"Well," said Buhc. "Who wouldn’t want that?"

Matthias sat back in his chair. "So, shall we resume our book hunt?"

"I guess so," said Chub. "It’s also getting kind of late." Chub checked his watch. "We really should be going, saving the wor-"

Chub paused as a piece of paper in the corner of his eye got his attention.

He spun around, bent down and picked up the paper.

SSCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The paper was attached to a book.

"Oops," said Chub. He bent down and grabbed the remainder of the book. He plonked it on the table.

"The Culldrome Isles," read Chub aloud.

"Well it seems we’ve found our book," said Matthias.

"Open it," said Buhc.

Chub just stared in awe and opened the book.

And...

And...

And...

And...

And...

"AND THERE WAS NOTHING IN IT!" exclaimed Chub. Indeed there wasn’t. A deep indent was present in the middle of the book. No actual pages were present put inside the indent was a scroll.

"What’s this?" he asked curiously as he pulled the scroll out. Chub untied the knot fastening it. The scroll was yellowing with age and crumpled up.

"There’s something written here..." Chub began to read.

 “A CLUE BE HID In this very building Lies a very interesting shielding. Past the mighty ballroom and into the haughty hallroom. Above the place of embers Is where your item shimmers. A CLUE BE HID Once you find the item You'll find solution. A CLUE BEHID One of the few who seek Shall be the one who they speak. Bravery and courage; dare to seek the fallen lair. A CLUE BE HID”

The three just stared at the scroll in silence for a while. They were taken aback at the sudden find of information. However it seemed to be coded up...

"A clue be hid..." murmured Chub. "What does that mean?"

"That there’s a hidden clue?" asked Buhc.

"Well of course there's a clue hidden...but what?"

Matthias pointed to the first few lines.

"See this? 'In this very building, lies a very interesting shielding'. That may be talking about the Adelie shield in the hall.

"Why of course!" shouted Chub.

Buhc continued. "'Past the mighty ballroom and into the haughty hallroom.'" He looked up at Matthias. "We have a ballroom?"

"Yes we do," replied Matthias. "It was abandoned long ago. It’s around the dining hall, I believe."

"The dining hall must be the haughty hallroom," concluded Chub.

"True," said Matthias. "But there are many halls in the manor."

"Well, 'Above the place of embers is where your item shimmers'. What’s the place of embers?"

"Embers...embers...flames...fire...fire...fireplace!"

"Ah, yes! The fireplace! The dining hall has a fireplace...and above that is the Adelie Shield."

"Of course!" The trio were getting good progress done.

Chub took his turn at reading. "’ Once you find the item you'll find solution.’ What’s the item?"

This question set the team back. Five minutes, ten minutes, soon half an hour. They hadn’t figured out this item. Coffee had been delivered to the trio.

"This could be anything," said Chub as the sipped his coffee.

"Indeed," replied Matthias. He too sipped on his coffee.

"Well it could be a Porcyal," said Buhc. His coffee hasn’t been touched yet.

"Why didn't we think of that?" said Chub as he facepalmed his head in dismay.

"Well lets continue," said Buhc. "’One of the few who seek shall be the one who they speak. Bravery and courage; dare to seek the fallen lair.'"

"I'm guessing that we’re the ones who seek," said Chub. He continued to sip his coffee.

"'Shall be the one who they speak...'" echoed Matthias. "The one who speaks?"

"Umm...Culldromians? Whatever they’re called," asked Chub.

"I think the correct term is Culldroms," replied Buhc.

"Do you know about any Culldrome folklore, father?" asked Chub.

"Not really," he replied. "Not folklore, anyway."

"'Bravery and courage; dare to seek the fallen lair,'" continued Buhc.

"Fallen lair...hmm."

They all thought for a while. Matthias broke the silence.

"That would be Skulldrome."

The two brothers looked up in surprise.

"The place where the ninjas who attacked Culldrome come from," replied Matthias. "Some say it was once part of the Ninja Archipelago."

"Hence the ninjas," said Buhc quietly.

"Precisely," answered Matthias.

"Wait, ho-"

"So apparently, we are hunting for Porcyals to fight off the ninjas?" questioned Chub.

"Wasn’t that our mission...ish?"

"True," replied Chub. He finished his coffee. "So, I believe that we’ve got to head o-"

"What about that thing about the Adelie Shield and the fireplace?" asked Buhc.

"Well let’s check it just in case."

The three exited the library; their brains now full of new information. They deposited their cups at the kitchen before standing in front of the fireplace in the Grand Dining Hall.

"Well?"

They looked around the mantel piece on the fireplace. Dust.

"Someone needs to clean this place..." commented Buhc.

"It’s very hard to clean a manor," retorted Matthias.

"Butlerbot?" asked Chub.

"They’ve been malfunctioning, recently. I haven’t bothered to repair them."

"Well let’s try this..." Chub began to scale the fireplace. He placed a flipper on the shield and pulled back. He pulled and pulled, but nothing happened. Buhc began to pull Chub and Matthias pulled Buhc. Still nothing happened.

"So we can’t pull it..." said Buhc

Chub made a face. "OH REALLY!?" He pulled out a whistle from his messenger bag and blew it. Within a moment, Oh-Ho appeared at the scene.

"Oh-Ho, try and pull that shield."

"OH-HOOO!"

The phoenix’s talons grasped the edge of the shield. It budged ever so slightly.

"Let’s help!"

Soon, Matthias was pulling Buhc who was pulling Chub who was pulling Oh-Ho who was pulling the shield. Eventually, metal fatigue came into play and the shield ripped off the wall. The four were dragged to the ground.

"It worked!" exclaimed Chub, rubbing his head which hit the table.

"What’s that?" asked Buhc as he straightened his hat. They all got up and stared...at a vault in the wall.

"Well we did get somewhere," commented Chub.

"Someone got a stethoscope?" asked Buhc.

In an instant a stethoscope appeared out of nowhere and dropped at Buhc’s feet.

"Thanks, may-"

Buhc picked the stethoscope up and placed the end piece on the vault. He began the tedious process of trying to unlock it. After ten minutes, they had still gotten nowhere.

"1, 1, 1? Nope. 1, 1, 2? No..."

"We could just try and bust it open, can’t you Oh-Ho?" said Chub.

"Oh-ho-oh-ho!" exclaimed the phoenix.

Buhc slammed the stethoscope hard on the floor, breaking it. "Fine, go ahead."

"OH-HOO!"

Oh-Ho summoned a ball of fire from its wings and shot it at the vault. It created a small dent.

"That’s one tough vault," commented Chub.

Oh-Ho continued to pound the vault. After what seemed like an hour, a hole was created.

"THERE WE GO!" exclaimed Matthias in happiness.

They all opened the vault door, which was now smoking due to the heat.

"Ah-ha!"

Inside the vault was another scroll, a map and a book. They all took it out and placed it on the table. Buhc took the scroll, opened it and real it aloud.

 "A BE CLUE HID Ah ha! You have found the clue. Now unscramble the phrase and you Will find a clue. A CLUE BE HID Found it yet? Or not yet? This clue is who Will rescue the towers. A CLUE BE HID Double are we? The eldest shall fight; The youngest shall rule. A CLUE BE HID Now find the clue! A CLUE BE HID”

"This ‘A CLUE BE HID’ stuff is driving me crazy," said Chub.

"So the phrase is ‘A CLUE BE HID’. Now it tells us to unscramble it."

"You mean an anagram?" said Chub. He pulled out his new IcePhone.

"Here we go, let's unscramble this mystery." Chub began to type in the phrase.

“Let’s see, now...'A be hid clue'...'Bah! Ice duels'...

Chub looked up from his IcePhone in surprise.

"What?"

Chub looked down and read the next anagram.

"Chub Adelie."

Chapter 6: WHAT?!?
Chapter 6: WHAT?!? 7:28 PM September 15 2012 Great Hall, Adelie Manor, South Pole City, Eastshield Chapter Theme

"Er...very appropriate chapter title there," said Buhc.

"What a minute," said Chub. "That would mean..."

Chub moved his flipper on the touch-screen so that the page scrolled.

"'Buhc Adelie'."

"Why, it seems we’re at a cross roads here, eh?" said Matthias.

"W-w-wait," interrupted Buhc. "Just wait. Look!"

Buhc pointed to the parchment, now on the table, and began to read.

"’The eldest shall fight; the youngest shall rule’...then its just ‘A CLUE BE HID’ all over again."

Matthias turned around and faced the fireplace, which now had a gaping hole in the wall.

"Remember that a long time ago I was Abbottess?" asked Matthias.

"Yes..." replied Chub and Buhc in unison.

"Well..." Matthias turned around and faced the two.

"Technically the Abbottess is a ruling position. Buhc, I believe that your destiny is to become Abbottess of Bluetower Castle."

"B-Bluetower Castle?" asked Buhc.

"Yes, I ruled there once."

Matthias continued with his conversation. "My point is, Buhc is apparently destined to be a ruler and you...a warrior?"

Chub was shocked. "Me? A warrior? WHAT?!?"

Matthias nodded. "You do know that Mark the Warrior was an Adelie."

"Well many penguins are Adelie pe-"

"No, not that!" Matthias waved his hand dismissively. "He’s our ancestor!"

"Ohhh," said Chub. "That explains everything."

"So that means Mark the Warrior was, no, is our ancestor."

Matthias nodded and there was an awkward moment of silence.

...

"So, how does this help us with our mission?" asked Chub.

"Oh my, I forgot all about the mission," exclaimed Matthias. "You two should better go!"

Chub and Buhc were both ushered out into the entrance hall. Chub bumped the book and they had gotten from the wall vault. The two fell to the floor just as Chub was about to walk over it.

"WOAH! We forgot all about this!"

Chub picked up the book and map and laid it out on the large dining table. Matthias and Buhc waddled next to him and craned their necks to see the book and map. Chub sat down on a chair and inspected the book. It was dusty, red and the pages were yellowing. There was golden text on the leather front cover.

"The Culldrome Isles," read Chub.

"Finally! The book we were hunting all this time!" shouted Buhc. He facepalmed himself in annoyance.

"Quickly, open it," said Matthias.

Chub opened the book and stared at the first page. He read aloud:

"The Original Detailed Map of Bluetower Castle, as drawn out by Mark the Warrior,"

Chub flipped over to the next page. It was a map, which plotted out one of the locations of Bluetower Castle. It was a maze of ink that sprawled out. Chub began to flip through the book, finding that every page was filled with diagrams, notes and the like. There was an occasional blot of ink that spilt on the pages. Near the end of the book was a page that had nothing on it but a title.

"’'The Original Detailed Map of the Warrior’s Manor, as drawn out by the Bluetower Castle Community'’," read Chub. "Now, that’s a title."

Chub began flipping through this section and saw the same thing. A plethora of ink sprawled and spelled the various rooms of the Warrior’s Manor. Chub continued flipping until he spied a ripped out page. Looking at the page before it, he read a tiny note on the side.

"Hey look at this," said Chub. He pointed to the note and read it. "’Entrance Hall’..and look at this...’Great Dining Hall’...next to it is...’Hidden Vault’."

"Wait, so you’re saying-" started Buhc.

"-That this Warrior Manor is the Adelie Manor?" finished Chub. "It’s possible..."

"That is indeed a possibility,” said Matthias. “But, why is there a ripped page?"

"You’re right," said Chub. "Why indeed?"

Buhc held up the map, and shook it in front of their faces.

"Uh, guys, this is the missing page," said Buhc.

Chub received the page from his brother and laid it out flat on the table.

"This seems to be underneath the Dining Hall...which is currently under us."

Chub continued to inspect the map. Amongst the many labels and notes were ‘TRACK’, ‘RED STONE CONTROL’ and ‘CART DEPOT’. Matthias spoke up.

"I think that there’s a train station under my house," he said.

"You mean directly under the manor," asked Buhc.

"Seems so," replied Chub. "Directly under this very room, in fact."

There was a loud banging noise. The trio turned around and saw Oh-Ho busting a hole in the floor.

"Oh-Ho?" asked Chub.

"MY FLOOR!" cried out Matthias. "MY BEAUTIFUL WOODEN FLOOR!"

They all stared at the phoenix, powerless and shocked. There was loud creaking and cracking which echoed throughout the gigantic hall. Oh-Ho continued ramming the floor, which now had a dent in it.

*Boom*

*BOOM*

*Creaaak*

*BANG!*

Dust floated everywhere and blocked the view. Oh-Ho flapped its wings and cleared the dust. Chub, Buhc and Matthias stared at where Oh-Ho was and saw a large hole. The three peered down and saw a dark abyss; seemingly endless and deep. The light from the hall seeped into the hole, illuminating thick bars of wood which held up the hall. Cobwebs littered the bars, which were us surprisingly good condition. Chub pulled out a flash light from his bag, lit it and leaned down into the hole.

"Seems like there’s a giant hole right under the manor," said Chub sarcastically.

"Yes, there is," replied Buhc, also sarcastically.

"My floor...MY BEAUTIFUL FLOOR!" exclaimed Matthias.

"Eh, well...sorry ‘bout that," apologized Chub.

"ANYWAY," said Buhc, "We should explore this place."

"Lower us, Oh-Ho!" ordered Chub.

"OH-HOO!"

Soon after, Chub, Buhc and Matthias were lowered into the hole. The gathered at the bottom of it. The light from the dining hall shone down the hole, illuminating the floating dust moats. Oh-Ho flapped down and perched on Chub’s shoulder.

"Good work, Oh-Ho," said Chub as he stroked the phoenix.

"This place hasn’t been touched in years!" exclaimed Matthias.

The Adelie brothers both grunted an agreement. Chub again took out his flash light and turned it on. The three gasped in amazement. In front of them was a large cavern that was as tall and wide as the manor itself.

"Well, let’s go!" shouted Chub. He waved his flash light forward and the trio waddled onto the gloomy distance. Oh-Ho, following behind, exhaled a flame to light up the cave. The walls were rocky and grey; the floor and roof was cold and icy. The steps of the penguins echoed in the cave.

"What’s this?"

Buhc picked up a plank of wood that was randomly placed on the floor. He inspected it and twirled it around in his hands. Suddenly, there was a loud echoing noise as pebbles fell from the roof.

"I...dont't think that that's good..." said Matthias.

The sound of the falling pebbles grew louder. Timber was falling from the roof. Rocks and boulders started to fall onto them.

"CAAAVE INNN! RUUUUUN!"

The enormous falling rocks smashed into the floor with loud crashes and bangs. Craters formed at the floor and the rocks from the floor flung out at high speeds. More wood came down crashing upon the rocky mess. The rumbling noise was as loud, no, louder than a jumbo jet thundering down a runway

Chub, Buhc, Matthias and Oh-Ho were speedily escaping the barrage of falling rocks. However, the barrage of falling rocks was catching up to them. They could feel tiny pebbles hitting their backs as they try and escape the cave in.

With the massive amount of shifting rock, the Adelie Manor, above ground, had started to collapse onto itself-

"WHAT?!?" exclaimed Matthias. "FIRST MY FLOOR, NOW MY HOUSE?!?"

"JUST CALM DOWN AND RUN!"

-And run they did. In fact, it felt like they had ran for hours. The cave in still would not stop. The cave itself was getting smaller and narrower. In the distance, the penguins saw the path split into two.

"AWW WHAT?!? Which path do we take?" asked Matthias.

"Umm..." started Buhc. "Eeny, meeny, min-"

"OH, COME ON!" exclaimed Chub in protest.

In one swift motion, Chub reached into his pocket and pulled out the map. With a flick and twirl of his wrist, the map opened up. Chub grabbed the other end of the map and scanned for their location.

"WHICH ONE?"

"Uhh..."

"QUICKLY!"

"T-t-take-"

"HURRY!"

"RIGHT!"

Chub, Buhc, Matthias and Oh-Ho rushed into the right of the fork. They ended up in another tunnel. The rock blasted its way into the tunnel and kept going. Just as the trio were about to run out of breath, the cave in finally stopped. Tiny pebbles still continued skipping along the ground but the large boulders had stopped moving.

"Well," said Chub, as he was heavily breathing. "I-I-I guess that we’re *cough* stuck *cough*."

Matthias and Buhc puffed out a grunt of agreement catching their breath as well. Oh-Ho flew down onto the floor and coughed out a flame, lighting up the cave. Chub, Buhc and Matthias sat down and warmed themselves by the flame.

"I wonder what’s happened with the manor," said Matthias.

"Hopefully it’s safe," answered Buhc. "Probably is."

"You don’t know how much it is going to take to re-build that."

"Well I could sell my boat to pay off for the repairs," said Chub.

Matthias shook his head and answered, "I’ll just pay up for it. We should have some money left over in the bank."

"Let’s worry about this stuff later. We’ve got a world to save."

Chub laid out the map on the floor as they all stared at it.

"Okay, so we took a right turn here and were are now here."

"What would’ve happened if we turned left?" asked Buhc.

Chub looked up sarcastically, smiled and said. "Giant chasm."

The sound of falling rocks echoed from the other side of the tunnel wall.

"Anyway, if we follow this path, we will soon arrive at a large room. Apparently, this is a train station."

"Train station?" asked Matthias. "Under here?"

"Seems like it," replied Buhc. "Where does it lead?"

"Hmm..." They all pondered on it for a while. "The train line just goes off the map," said Matthias. "It definitely goes somewhere..."

"You know what?" Chub stood up and brushed his sleeves off. "Let’s just get to the train station, get a ride to...wherever, and just see where it takes us."

"Well we don’t have a choice now, do we?" Buhc stood up.

"That’s the spirit of an adventurer!" Matthias also stood up.

"Now, ONWARD!"

The tree penguins and the phoenix traveled eagerly down the tunnel in anticipation of the train station and where it leads to. The tunnel was long, dark and cold. Droplets of water fell down from the top as Matthias shuddered at the fact that there would be another cave in. Eventually, they reached a larger room. Chub looked at the map.

"Main train terminal," read Chub. "Looks like we’re here."

They all looked up at the towering ceiling far, far away but above them. It was dark, but a small amount of light shone in from the roof. The room was a huge cavern that had been carved out from the stone. Wooden pillars rose from the ground and towered above them, supporting the stone roof and making sure it won’t collapse on them.

"So where’s our ‘train’?" asked Matthias.

Buhc waddled to the side and pulled a knife switch on the wall. Immediately, a loud roaring noise of an engine echoed through the cavern. Soon smoke started to pour out of a stone pipe on the opposite side of the cavern.

"What’ve you done, Buhc...?" said Chub.

"Uhh..."

The smoke increased and a small cloud began to form in front of the pipe. The roaring got louder and louder. The floor started to shake.

"Oh," sighed Matthias. "Not another cave in..."

The roaring got even louder. The cloud of smoke began to fill the entire cavern. Then all of a sudden the noise stopped.

"..."

*WOOOSH!*

The trio stepped back just as a mine cart came whizzing past in front, almost hitting them.

*WOOSH!* *SCREECH!!!*

Another mine cart sped past them. The first cart came around a corner, emitting sparks as it sped around the track.

*SCREECH!!!*

The second cart went around the same bend. The sparks illuminated the dark cavern in front of them. The screeching echoed throughout the cavern. Then sparks started to come out from the ceiling.

"Now what’s happening?" asked Chub.

The sparks were pouring out of the ceiling. The carts continued screeching along the tracks in front of them. Then all of a sudden, the sparks stopped and many lights from the ceiling came on. The trio dropped their jaws as the lights revealed a larger cavern to what they could see before.

"Oh my..."

The entire cavern was a giant train station. The walls and floor were made of stone, with cobwebs etched everywhere. Wooden platforms supporting railway tracks zigzagged the complex. Tracks went up, down, left, right and in every other direction known to penguin-kind. All the way at the front of the cavern train station, was a golden cart, shining in the light.

"That must be our cart," said Chub, pointing to it.

Chub, Buhc, Matthias and Oh-Ho made their way to the golden cart, bending down and jumping up to avoid the many railway tracks. The inspected the cart.

"Well," said Buhc. "It seems alright."

"You two get in. I’ll push forward," said Matthias. "There must be a booster down the line."

Buhc and Chub got into the cart as Matthias pushed it. As the cart gained speed, he got in and Oh-Ho perched itself on Chub’s shoulder.

"Here we go!"

The cart sped up. Chub looked back and saw the lights of the train station disappear in the distance. The wind was slamming into their faces as the cart gained even more speed. Sparks came out from under the cart.

"WOOOAAHHHH!"

*wub wub wub*

The track dipped down and disappeared into a swirling sea of purple.



“WHAT’S THA-“

*woosh*

And they were gone.

Chapter 7: Defense of Culldrome
Chapter 7: Defense of Culldrome 5:58 AM September 16 2012 Culldrome International Airport, Culldrome City, Culldrome Isles Chapter Theme

Sonic breathed a sigh of relief as he switched off the MDA systems. It had taken him about a day to reach Culldrome in his snail paced airship. At last, however, he was ready for his mission.

Sonic got out of the MDA. Outside, waiting for him, was a small squad of agents and high ranking officers.

"Welcome home, Agent Sonic!" cried out an agent as the engines powered down.

"Nice to be back!" replied Sonic. "Anything new happen?"

"Well, in total, we have around 10,000 troops stationed around the city. The main roads have been blocked and access to the Capitol is down. The Capitol is actually under heavy guard; even the Great Guardian of Charlamander is there!"

"Anything else? Any sight of the ninjas?"

"No sir. We've no sight of the ninjas on our radars."

"Better be careful. They're pretty sneaky."

The group of agents waddled to another group of agents. These agents were Communication Agents of the CSIA. They all sat in a circle, some of them on crates, typing away on their laptops.

"Found anything, agents?" asked Sonic.

"No, sir," replied an agent. "We have nothing on our radar screens. Isn't the attack later today?"

"Our intel says, yes. But we have to be careful."

"Yes, sir. We'll notify you of any new changes."

Sonic and the group continued to waddle around. They gazed off into the distance; the rising sun was reflecting its light onto the Mossy River which glowed green. The towering skyscrapers and buildings filled the land as the roads were empty and clear. Sonic stared up at the sky and saw a bright glowing object.

"What's-"

In a millisecond, the air was filled with a dreadful screeching noise.

The Communications Agent that Sonic talked to raised his hand, smashing his laptop onto the floor.

"SIR INCOMING DELETION MISSILES!"

"EVERYBODY DU-"

A rain of Deletion Missiles impacted the city. Large chunks of debris began to get sucked up into the CyberVoid. Sonic ran and hid behind the MDA, clinging onto it. The nearby air rushed as it filled in the deleted void. Then, as quickly as it started, the barrage stopped! Sonic looked out from behind the MDA.

There were many holes deleted from buildings all around them. All of the agents were ducked on the floor, all in shock and not knowing what to do. Sonic decided to take action.

"EVERYONE UP! MOBILIZE THE TROOPS! EVACUATE THE CIVILIANS! GO! GO! GO!"

Everyone got up and followed Sonic's orders. The scene was chaotic. Sonic pulled out his Spy Gadget from his pocket and tried to contact the Elite Leader. After several failed attempts, he jammed it back in his pocket. Sonic got up.

"Okay, calm down..." he said to himself.

Sirens wailed and smoke billowed as the city began to wake up.

"Wha-"

BOOM

All of a sudden a bridge nearby got deleted with a pop. Sonic looked up and saw a giant red ship (resembling the one in Chapter 3), floating in the air above the city. Giant fans on it's side were spinning to keep it aloft. Then, ropes began to fall from the ship and ninjas began to slide down. Sonic whipped out is twin ice-bullet pistols and began to shoot.

"POR-CY-AL!

A ninja slid down next to Sonic and fired a ball of ice at him. As if everything was in slow motion, Sonic turned around and shot the ball, shattering it into fragments of ice. The ninja then shot a ball of fire in his direction, narrowly missing him.

"これを取る!"

The ninja shot a swirling ball of water. Sonic, in one swift move, ducked down and grabbed a Deletion rifle lying on the floor and deleted the ninja. However, there were too many ninjas. Sonic began to shoot aimlessly in the sky. Suddenly, he had an idea and began to shoot the rifle at the ship.

"What are they doing here?" wondered Sonic. "''They weren't supposed to arrive this early!"

said Chub 667X.

"Excellent," commented Gravity. "All is going according to plan."

The two were on the bridge of the flying ship, looking down below into the chaos. Many other ninjas were gathered on the bridge, also witnessing the destruction.

asked Chub.

A random ninja behind them raised his hand and approached them. "It was m-"

WHACK

Gravity smacked the ninja with his staff. "It was all my idea, I'll have you know."

All of a sudden, there was a loud explosion and a pop. The ship lurched to the side knocking everyone over.

"What was that?" asked Gravity.

An alarm came on from a control panel. A ninja came up and inspected it.

"Hull damage at 1%, sir."

"Well, someone's clever," said Gravity.

"Hull damage at 2%"

questioned Chub 667X.

"Hull damage at 3%"

"The hull can take more damage than this."

"Hull damage a-."

Gravity whacked the ninja with his staff.

Back on the ground, Sonic was busy coordinating an attack via his Super Gadget.

"No, no, no, only squad one fire at the ship."

"Roger that, agent."

At once a Deletion Missile from a tank somewhere in a city was launched at the ship, deleting a chunk of hull. Sonic looked around. He saw citizens being evacuated onto newly prepped planes. A group of high ranking military officials approached him.

"AGENT SONIC!"

Sonic saluted, to which he was saluted back to.

"What is it?"

"It looks like we're going to need a better command post. Can you get the MDA flying ASAP?"

Suddenly a bottle of Hot Sauce fell onto the balloon of the MDA, lighting the balloon on fire.

"Uhh..."

BOOM!!!

The balloon engulfed in flames. The fire reached the Ditto fuel tanks and exploded. Sonic and the officials were knocked down by the blast shock-wave. They all got up and dusted themselves.

"I-I-I don't think...that that is possible...sir..."

"Well, I suppose we;ll have to do this the hard way. Good luck, gentlemen, looks like we have another war."

Sonic turned back and searched for a better gun. The officials all left except for one.

"Agent Sonic!"

Sonic turned around.

WHACK

Sonic pulled off his fake mask as he looked at Sonic, frozen in a cube of ice. - 5:58 AM September 16 2012 ???, ???, ???

"WOAAHH!"

Chub, Buhc, Matthias and Oh-Ho continued to hurl around their cart. They came out of another portal and onto tracks. Then all of a suddeny, they stopped, throwing everyone out and onto the floor.

"Ow," said Chub as he rubbed his head. "Well that was a ride of a lifetime."

"What in the world happened?" asked Buhc as he looked back at the portal.

"Something that's out of this world," replied Matthias.

"Well where are we?"

They were in a dark room. The cart sat on the rails which lead out into the distance to the portal. The only light came from the purple glow of the portal.

"Oh-Ho, light us up!"

Oh-Ho breathed out a flame, lighting up the room. Above them was a stone roof with cracks and leaking water.

"Oh-Ho, smash the roof open!"

"I don't th-"

Oh-Ho formed a ball of fire between his wings and shot it at the roof. The crack spread out wide and the roof collapsed, plunging them all in water. They all made their way upwards and out of the water. They ended up in a cave with an underwater lake and swam out to the "shore".

"Well," said Chub as he caught his breath. "That was fun..."

The cave was lit up by a light coming in from a small grate above.

"Oh-Ho, get us up and out of here!"

Chub, Buhc and Matthias grabbed onto Oh-Ho's leg as he flew upward. They burst through the grate with a deafening clang. They all flew out of the hole, hit the ceiling above the grate and fell back down to Earth.

"WHO'S THERE?!"

The three got up into a defensive stance.

"SHOW YOURSELF!"

"We mean no harm!" shouted out Chub into the darkness.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

"We-we-w-"

"We got lost," said Buhc.

"GOT LOST, EH? DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE?!"

"N-n-"

"YOU'RE IN THE CELLAR! DID YOU TOUCH ANY OF THE FALL SODA?!"

"Fall Soda..." pondered Matthias. "That seems familiar..."

"FAMILIAR, EH? DOES BLUETOWER CASTLE RING A BELL?"

"BLUETOWER CASLTE?!" - 7:00 AM September 16 2012 Above Culldrome City, Culldrome Isles

Sonic awoke from his daze. He opened his eyes and found himself floating in air.

"Uhh...AHHH!"

"Try and squirm around, you won't get anywhere."

Sonic looked down and saw Gravity.



"YOU! YOU ARE BEHIND THIS?!"

"Keep talking, you'll just tire yourself out."

"TELL ME!"

"No, why should I?"

Sonic thought for a moment and began to chew on something in his mouth.

"Oh right!" Gravity pulled out a pill from his pocket. "I have your Ditto self-paralyzing pill right here."

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH IT?! WHAT AM I EVEN DOING HERE?! WHERE AM I?!"

"That reminds me." Gravity pulled out Sonic's Super-Gadget.

Sonic glanced up at his arm and back at the gadget.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH IT? GIVE IT BACK NOW!"

"Nope."

Gravity put the Super-Gadget onto the floor and crushed it into pieces with his staff.

"Well, good day to you...NOT!"

Gravity knocked out Sonic (again) with his staff and exited the room.

Chapter 8: Bluetower Castle
Chapter 8: Bluetower Castle 7:14 AM September 16 2012 Bluetower Castle, Mossroam, Culldrome Isles Chapter Theme

Chub, Buhc, Matthias and Oh-Ho were in the large library in Bluetower Castle, seated around a table. They were all locked in there after they were discovered. Matthias was busy reminiscing about the castle.

"Oh this library...how I used to spend hours on end here..."

At once the doors to the library opened. Inside came in an old top hat wearing turtle and two penguins.

"Ah, hello there!" The turtle introduced himself. "I am Abbottess Tortimort. I am the leader of this fine castle."

Chub and Buhc both replied, "Pleased to meet you," and shook flippers. This however, didn't help Matthias.

"You're the Abbottess? Did you know that I used to be an Abbottess here?"

Abbottess Tortimort stroked his beard. "Is that so? What's your name, fellow?"

"Matthias. Matthias Adelie." He shook the Abbottess' flipper.

"Ah, I think I remember you. Only then I was a small young'un. Pleased to meet you former Abbottess."

Tortimort and the two penguins sat down on the table with the Adelies. He introduced the two others.

"This here with me is Mister Quillson, the cellar keeper, and Miss Careflower, one of our best cooks."

The two said, "Pleased to meet you," and shook flippers with the Adelies.

Quillson was an old penguin who was wearing an old dusty tunic. Careflower, however, wore a bright red dress and had bright golden hair. In fact, Chub thought she was very prett-

"Ooof!"

Buhc elbowed Chub. Tortimort continued talking.

"You bumped into Qullson over here this morning. You were in his cellar."

Quillson had calmed down from the encounter that morning.

"Yeah..." said Chub. "Sorry about that..."

"Don't be," replied Quillson.

"So who were you all, actually? And what were you doing here?" questioned Tortimort.

The trio introduced themselves and Oh-Ho. They also explained their situation and the upcoming ninja invasion. The three were all listening intently until they finished.

"Hmm...I see," replied Tortimort. "I see it that you need to make great haste to Culldrome City?"

"Yes, we don't know if anything bad has happened," replied Chub.

"I see. I also take it that you are all hungry?"

Chub, Buhc and Matthias' stomachs growled at the word 'hungry'. Even Oh-Ho chirped a "I am also hungry."

"Uhh...yeaahhh..."

"Well come on then!" Tortimort checked his watch. "It's nearly time for breakfast!" -- A few minutes later they were in the castle's Great Hall. Chub, Buhc and Matthias were seated up on the noble's table at the front of the hall. This table was only used for important community members and special guests. In front of the noble's table were many more tables, with the many castledwellers seated there. Everybody was already eating and the hall was filled with the sound of talking.

"This the best breakfast ever," commented Buhc as he ate a waffle.

"Hey, can you pass those muffins?" asked Chub.

"Yeah, here you go."

"I agree, this is the best breakfast ever!"

Matthias tapped them both and pointed to a giant tapestry on the wall.

"Hey, boys, look! That's the Bluetower Tapestry. See that penguin? That's Mark the Warrior."

"That's a big tapestry," commented Chub.

"It's survived countless battles and has lasted over a hundred years! In fact, if you noticed, this is similar to the tapestry back at the manor."

"Oh," said Buhc. He looked closer. "So it is!"

When breakfast had finished, the Abbottess stood up. Everyone went quiet and waited for him to speak.

"Good morning, castledwellers! Are we all ready for another day?"

The audience all chanted a loud 'yes'.

"Well, today, we are joined by a few visitors: Matthias, Chub and Buhc Adelie."

The three stood up and the audience clapped.

"Some of you here are old enough to remember Matthias, here, who was a former Abbottess!"

Matthias waved towards the audience. Tortimort looked at Matthias and ushered him to speak.

"I used to live here and I remember this castle like I was an Abbottess..oh wait!"

The audience laughed.

"Anyway," continued Matthias. "I remember sitting in that chair," He pointed to the Abbottess chair.

"I and my two sons are here today, on a...quest...you see Culldrome City is apparently being planned to be invaded by the ninjas from Skulldrome!"

The audience gasped.

"You may remember the Porcyal War...well today is its 10th anniversary. If we don't act now, we may have a repeat of this."

The audience was silent. After a while, Matthias sat down and Tortimort stood up again.

"Well, Matthias here and his sons need to be on their way. We wish them all good hope on their journey."

Tortimort clapped and the audience followed. Everyone helped to clear the tables and soon the hall was empty. Chub talked to Tortimort.

"Well, how do we get to the city?"

"The fastest way is by train. I believe that the next one leaves in a few hours. It is an hour to get to the train station south of here. If you want to, feel free to stay here for a little while."

"Thank you."

Chub, Buhc and Matthias decided to have a look around the castle. They decided to meet up in an hour to journey to the city. Chub was waddling with Buhc in the large castle hallways.

"Well, Bluetower Castle," said Buhc. "Here it is."

"This place is filled with a lot of history," commented Chub.

They waddled over to a statue of Mark the Warrior. He was carrying a shield in one hand and a sword held up high in the other. Chub remembered their investigation last night.

"You the Abbottess and I the warrior?"

"Seems so. But you never know, maybe destiny is false..."

"I see you've seen the statue of Mark the Warrior."

Chub and Buhc were both surprised. They turned around. Behind them was Careflower.

"Hey," said both of the brothers.

"Sorry for startling you there."

"Yeah..."

The three stood in silence in front of the statue.

"So," said Chub. "Nice statue, isn't it?"

"It is," replied Care. "It was a gift to the castle many years ago."

"Hey, Buhc is that an A350?"

"What? WHERE?"

Buhc ran off into the maze of castle hallways. Care giggled.

"This is a nice castle too, isn't it?" asked Chub.

"Mhm," replied Care.

"S-So, how was your day?"

"My, it's only eight o' clock...in the morning."

"Ah, so it is."

"Well, have you seen the Bluetower Tapestry in the Great Hall?"

"Yes! It's quite nice. Probably would've taken years to make."

Buhc managed to find his way back to the statue. He was trying to catch his breath.

"There wasn't any plane in here..." puffed Buhc.

"Well anyway, it should be time for us to move off. Nice meeting you...Careflower?"

"Yes...and you were Chub and Buhc?"

"Yeah," replied them both.

"Well, be sure to visit Bluetower again...after all this battling is over."

"We sure will!"

Chub dragged Buhc off to the Great Hall where they would meet Matthias.

"Your in l-"

"Shaddap." -  10:18 AM September 16 2012 Enroute to Culldrome City, Mossroam, Culldrome Isles

Chub, Buhc, Matthias and now, Oh-Ho were all seated in the carriage of the Inter-Rail Company's CARL train. They were speeding along the tracks with the bright morning sun shining down. Everyone on the train seemed to be dressed in business suits, heading to the city to work. The train's PA system turned on.

"Attention passengers, this service terminates at Culldrome City Central in 5 minutes. Thank you for traveling on Inter-Rail Company's RegionLink. Have a nice d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-"

"I think the PA bro-"

BOOM

A hill outside the train got deleted.

"What was that?" asked Buhc.

BOOM BOOM

Two more hills got deleted.

"Uhh..."

BOOM

A Deletion Missile hit the roof of their carriage, deleting it. The trio looked up and saw a giant floating ship. It was shooting Deletion Missiles across the landscape one of which was headed straight for them. Chub had quick thinking.

"Oh-Ho deflect that missile!"

Oh-Ho flew up. He formed a ball of ice and shot it at the missile. The missile deleted the ball of ice and itself. But soon there was a rain of more Deletion Missiles.

"Keep going Oh-Ho!"

But Oh-Ho was getting tired from using his powers. He was so tired that he fell from the sky, with Chub just managing to catch him. The missiles hit the rails in front of the still running train.

"BRACE YOURS-"

The train sped off the rails and got hit by the rain of Deletion Missiles. Everyone ran out of the train and, thankfully, no-one was hurt. More missiles deleted the de-railed train.

"EVERYBODY GET OUT OF HERE!" shouted Chub.

The passengers ran away. They were near the city so they ran out onto the roads, looking for shelter. Chub, Buhc and Matthias stayed behind to try and distract the flying ship.

"Have any weapons?" asked Buhc, just as a Deletion Missile was headed straight for them.

"Nope," replied Chub. "We're doo-"

WOOSH BOOM

"Cherio, m'lads!"

The trio turned around and saw an armored penguin and a group of terns. One of them had shot a pike at the missile, deleting it. Chub was impressed at their aiming.

"Sorry 'bout that!" The penguin extended a flipper. "M' name's Lunarslash. I'm the Great Guardian of Mt. Charlamander and this is m' army of terns."

They all introduced each other and shook each others flippers and wings.

"T-thank you for that," said Chub.

"No worries! I do say, though, that was quite a noble feat, evacuating everyone. You probably have the guts to join our army!"

"What's that big flying ship doing there?"

"Hah! That big ol' ship 's the enemy! Ninjas from Skulldrome. They've been attacking the city since this morning. 'S incredible that they haven't ran out of ammunition, yet!"

At that the trio's eyes all lit up.

"We need to get onboard that ship!" exclaimed Buhc.

"On that ship?! HAH! Good luck with that! As you can obviously see it's in the air."

"But it's important!"

"Well, your best bet is to...grab onto those ropes, I guess...and climb..."

Lunarslash pointed upwards to a rope dangling down with ninjas sliding down on it.

"I don't think I'll be able to climb that..." said Matthias.

"You can stay down here with Oh-Ho," said Chub, handing him the fainted phoenix. "Buhc and I'll go up. We need to stop those ninjas."

"Are you sure about this?" asked Lunarslash.

"We know our stuff..."

The Great Guardian thought for a moment then nodded.

"Fine. We'll protect you as you climb up. Good luck me lads."

Lunarslash saluted the Adelie brothers, who saluted back. After a quick farewell, Chub and Buhc ran off to the base of the rope.

Chapter 9: The Nightmare of Culldrome
Chapter 9: The Nightmare of Culldrome 10:30 AM September 16 2012 Culldrome City, Culldrome Isles Chapter Theme

Chub and Buhc ran towards the area where the rope fell. They jumped up, vaulted and climbed over the obstacles they faced, determined to get to the rope. The end of the rope dangled down above an old (possibly abandoned) office. Chub and Buhc jumped onto a trash can and climbed onto a ladder on the side of the office.

"Remember, this is going to get harder than the training we did," said Chub.

"Remember training," replied Buhc. "Got it."

They reached the roof just as a ninja descended from the rope.

"HYAA!"

The ninja karate-kicked Chub in the face. Buhc punched the ninja but was hit by a ball of ice.

"OOF!"

Chub got up and fumbled around in his messenger bag for his Banana Blaster. He pulled it out and shot the ninja, spraying him with banana. Chub pulled Buhc up and they started to climb up. The Charlamander army could see the two climbing up the rope. But there were some ninjas descending.

"C'mon, lads, shoot 'em out of t' sky!"

The tern army loaded their bows and shot arrows into the sky. They flew straight and true, managing to hit all the ninjas in the head, deleting them. Chub and Buhc continued to climb up.

"How long is this rope?" asked Buhc, nearly out of breath.

"Don't worry, we're nearly half-way there."

Indeed they were. Many more ninjas slid down but they all met their fate just as they would near the two.

"Almost...there..."

The two reached the top of the rope. Chub, who was the first one up, reached out and grabbed the ledge of the door in front of him. Above, the rope dangled, secured from a hook. Then all of a sudden-

exclaimed Chub 667X as he appeared at the door.

"I WILL DEFEAT YOU!" shouted Chub 777 back as he reached for his Banana Blaster. He took aim and shot his X-Antibody.

Chub X took out some sort of futuristic rifle. It had a purple crystal in it, which glowed purple in the dusty sunlight.



He loaded the rifle and aimed at the hook where the rope was attached.

BANG!

Chub shut his eyes close tightly. He could feel the air blowing against his face as he fell...but he wasn't. Chub opened his eyes and looked upwards. His Antibody was on the floor, rifle in hand. The shot had impacted on the wall, blowing a hole into it. Chub saw his chance and pulled himself up.

"ARGH!"

He pulled Buhc up as well as Chub X tried to stand up. Chub kicked his antibody, knocking him onto the floor again and dropping the rifle. Buhc picked it up and aimed at him.

"Any last words, Chub 667X?"

Chub and Buhc both looked back and saw nothing. They looked back at Chub X, but he wasn't there. Instead he was running off into a corridor

The two were annoyed and ran down to chase Chub 667X. Chub took out his Banana Blaster and reloaded it while Buhc was carrying the Porcyal-rifle. They turned a corner to see Chub X turn another corner. The two stopped at the corner.

"Okay," said Chub. "I hear something there so on three we turn around and shoot. Got it?"

"Got it," replied Buhc. "You do the honors."

"Okay. One, two, THREE!"

BANG BANG BANG RATATATATAT

The two turned around and shot their guns. Chub's hunch was right and there were enemies...many enemies. There were a mix of ninjas and Snoss Soldiers. In each and every direction issued balls of ice, fire and water as well as bananas and ice bullets. Buhc knocked over a stack of boxes and hid behind it.

"Darn, I'm out of bananas," complained Chub.

Buhc tossed him the Porcyal rifle. "Here use this."

Chub began to shoot down ninjas and soldiers, making them fall to the floor. Buhc picked up an ice-bullet gun lying down on the floor and also began to shoot. However they were still vastly outnumbered.

"What in the world is the Snoss doing here?"

"I don't know."

"Look we're at a stand-off. We need to get out of here before we run out of bullets."

"You're right. On three we run towards that corridor over there."

"Okay. One, two, THREE!"

The two ran as fast as they could towards the corridor, shooting anyone that got in their way. When they had got into the corridor, Chub slammed a button on the wall, closing a futuristic styled door behind them.

"Ehh...why not?"

Chub aimed his rifle at the button and shot, destroying the intricate circuitry, preventing the door behind opened from the other side. He looked down at Buhc and saw him sitting on the floor, covered with bruises from the rain ice-bullets.

"Buhc! Are you okay?"

"Uhh...yea...no..."

"Can you get up?"

Buhc struggled to get up. Chub helped him up and eventually he was leaning on the wall.

"I-I-I don't think I can finish this mission..."

"Aw come on! With that attitude you can't."

"You think I can make it?"

"Of course! But, I guess you can hide somewhere and rest for a while."

Chub looked around and saw a door labeled MAINTENANCE. He opened it and saw that it was a small room filled with janitorial items. He helped Buhc into the room and gave him his messenger bag.

"Okay, let me fashion you some makeshift bandages..."

After a while, Chub had created bandages out of random things he found, including his bag's strap. He also found a small first-aid kit in the room and used it on Buhc. Chub also handed him a small walkie-talkie that he found in the room.

"Okay, stay here for a little while 'till you feel better. If you hear or see anything, tell me using this...got it?"

"G-got it."

Chub left his brother in the room, hoping that no-one will find him. Now, however, he wasn't carrying his bag and he could now move more freely. With the Porcyal-rifle in hand, he quietly made his way around the maze of corridors, hoping to find his antibody. After a while of sneaking, he saw an elevator with a sign that read YOU ARE ON DECK G. Next to it was a chart that had DECK A - BRIDGE on it. Knowing that he had to get there, Chub slammed the elevator's buttons.

"Come on...come on..."

DING!

"Final-"

"HALT RIGHT THERE!"

Chub was greeted by a squadron of Snoss Soldiers in the elevator.

"Oh, for crying out loud..."

RATATATATAT BOOM BOOM BOOM

A small skirmish had broken out. After much shooting, Chub made is way into the elevator and kicked the soldiers out (literally). He began to mash the 'close doors' button before the Snoss could get back in.

"Close, close, CLOSE! CLOSE FASTER YOU LUMBERING PIECE OF JUNK!"

A Snoss Soldier managed to jam their gun in between the doors, making it open. Chub retaliated by shooting the soldier and mashing the button again. Eventually, the doors closed and Chub was headed up to the bridge...that was until the elevator stopped.

"Darn it," mumbled Chub. He shot his rifle at the elevator's roof, opening a small hole. He jumped up a climbed up it and into the elevator shaft. Above him there was a clanging sound as a door opened up...and another...and another...

"Aw come on!"

Chub began to scale up the cables holding the elevator. Out of the doors came out dozens of Snoss Soldiers and ninjas all aimed at him ready to attack. He was clearly out-numbered had to get out...fast. Suddenly, Chub's walkie talktie came on.

"CHUB! There's a squadron heading towards the elevators! If you want to reach your antibody, I recommend you take the stairwell!"

"Uhh...it's a tad bit late, now."

A voice from one of the floors said, "Alright men, OPEN FIRE!"

"Oh, this can't be good."

Chub let go of the elevator cables. The soldiers and ninjas shot at where he had been the moment before, causing the rope to strain and break. Chub landed with a thud onto the elevator, followed by the cable. He had an idea and stood up, shooting all the enemies he could see.

"SHOOT THE CABLES! LET'S BRING THIS ELEVATOR DOWN!"

Chub grabbed hold of the fallen cable and whipped it, straightening it out. The soldiers shot their guns at the other cables. Chub whipped his cable again, latching it onto a steel girder in the elevator shaft. With a loud SNAP, the cables holding the elevator broke, sending it crashing down and busting a hole in the underside of the ship. Chub, however had quickly scaled his cable and hid behind the girders.

"Good job. Let's get back to busine-"

"SURPRISE!"

Chub swung like a monkey on his cable and landed in front of a squad of soldiers. With swift movements, he punched them all to the floor and stopped them from getting up with blasts from his rifle. Thinking ahead, he looted an ice bullet rifle and Knicicle from the soldiers. Back on track, he ran off, back into the maze of corridors.

"Ah...I'm on Deck B...close enough."

Buhc came back on the walkie talkie.

"If you want to go up, the stairwells are a-"

Chub aimed his Porcyal rifle at the roof and shot, causing it to collapse. He jumped up and was encountered by one of his enemies.

"THERE YOU A-"

WHACK

said Chub 667X.

Chub got up and aimed the rifle at him.

"IN OVER NINE THOUSAND YEARS!"

Just as Chub was going to pull the trigger, his antibody grabbed the 'barrel' and flipped it so that Chub lost his grip. The rifle was flying through the air as Chub reached out for the ice bullet rifle he stole. Chub X ran for the Porcyal rifle and so Chub aimed and shot. His aim and timing was all that he needed and soon Chub X was on the floor, never having reached the Porcyal rifle.

"Now, let's bring this party down..."

"HALT RIGHT THERE!" exclaimed a robotic voice.

Chub turned around, holding the Porcyal rifle in his right flipper and the ice bullet rifle in his left.

"Who are you?"

"I AM A-HUB, YOUR ENEMY."

"Oh, I see."

Chub shot both of his rifles at the robot, who speedily dodged the attacks. In retaliation, it shot a barrage of grapes out of its built-in Fruit Blasters. The grapes sprayed out and hit Chub.

"That's it!"

Chub sprayed his shots over a wide area, managing to dent A-Hub's metal skin and shatter one of it's glass eyes, revealing a camera.

"SOLDIERS! I NEED RE-INFORCEMENTS!"

"Oh no you don't..."

Chub shot A-Hub's satellite dish on its head, also denting it.

"SYSTEMS DAMAGE AT 16 PERCENT."

Chub shot A-Hub's remaining 'eye'. Electric sparks came out of it as the robot started to glitch.

"SYS-SY-SY-S-S-S-SYSTEMS D-D-D-D-DAAAMAAA-A-AGE-"

Chub could hear the footsteps of soldiers approaching. Taking out his knicicle, he ripped a hole in the robot's chest and began to rip out the wires. Even more sparks came out as the poor robot-

"POOR ROBOT?!"

-was severely damaged.

"S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-SYSTEMS-F-F-F-FAIL-I-I-ING-"

"Take that, you robot!"

"FREEZE!"

Chub looked up and saw several Snoss soldiers pointing their Snowball Guns at him.

"Oh...whoops..." - The captured Chub was taken to the bridge, where the windows revealed a view of the entire city. At the 'helm' of the ship stood a dark, caped penguin and next to him was another caped penguin but had a crown on. A soldier came up to the crowned penguin and spoke.

"Sir, we have found the enemy."

"Good."

The two turned around. Chub began to speak.

"Who are y-"

"SILENCE! How dare you not know my name, for I am the one and only Kaiser Swiss Ninja!"

The soldiers began to chant, "LONG LIVE KAISER SWISS NINJA!"

"As for I, my name is Gravity, the mastermind of this operation. But why should I be telling you? Dispose of him, men!"

"YOU?! YOU SET UP ALL OF THIS?!"

"Why are you so surprised?"

"DO YOU KNOW WHA-"

A soldier waddled up and saluted.

"Sir, the prisoner has destroyed the robot and injured the antibody."

Another soldier waddled up, carrying a box full of the metal and wires that was A-Hub.

"Eh, I never liked that robot," said Swiss. "Dispose of it!"

"What about the antib-"

"Send him to the medical bay. He'll live."

The two soldiers saluted and went off. Swiss turned to face Chub.

"You can do all you want, but you will never be able to stop me."

"YOU EVIL, WRETCHED, VILLIAN, NO GOOD-"

"Oh shu-"

"Swiss, he simply just cannot comprehend our position. You see within a few minutes, the capitol will be under our control and there is nothing you can do to stop me-"

"US!"

"Yes, whatever. Lock him up in the jail cells and get him out of my sight."

The soldiers holding Chub saluted and began to drag him off.

"WAIT! STOP! YOU. MUST. RELEASE. MEEEEE!"

"STOP AND RELEASE HIM!"

The soldiers turned around and saw a bandaged up, injured Buhc, his left hand in a makeshift sling and his right hand holding a broom.

"GET HIM!"

All of the soldiers let go of Chub and ran off to get Buhc. Seizing his opportunity, Chub kicked Gravity in the face.

"NOT ALL OF YOU, IDIOTS! GET BOTH OF THEM!"

Buhc began to use his mop to whack anyone who came near him.

"Come at me! I'll take you all down."

Chub, meanwhile was trying to free himself from the ropes that tied his flippers back.

"Come on!"

He waddled backwards and tripped over accidentally. Then, as he was falling, an ice bullet narrowly missed him and broke apart the rope.

"Wow..."

Chub turned around and punched the soldier who had shot him and stole his gun.

"Thanks for that."

He looked around; the bridge was in chaos. Gravity was still passed out, Swiss Ninja was still shouting and complaining and Buhc was fending off the soldiers with a mop. Chub began to help his brother by shooting the soldiers. One by one, the soldiers fell to the floor. Swiss was furious.

"THAT DOES IT!"

Swiss was furious. He pulled his Keysaber from his belt and turned it on. The red glow filled the bridge as Chub and Buhc backed off. Gravity got up rubbing his head.

"Get them, Swiss!" said Gravity.

"My pleasure," replied the kaiser.

"Oh," said Chub and Buhc in unison. "Run..."

"YES YOU BETTER!" exclaimed the angry Swiss as the bolted towards them. The two brothers ran away but were swiftly followed by him. Soon, they reached a split.

"You go left," said Chub. "I'll go right!"

"Got it!"

The two split up and ran into their respective corridors. Swiss Ninja decided to chase Chub.

"Come fight me you little twerp!"

"Little twerp yourself!"

"ARGH!"

Swiss tossed his keysaber at Chub. It spun around, it some wires on the roof and came barreling back down. Fortunately, Chub ducked just as the keysaber hit the floor in front of him. Chub ran forward and seized the keysaber and turned around to fight Swiss. However, in his hand was another keysaber.

"Didn't think that I'd have two, did you?" taunted Swiss. He swung the weapon forward as Chub backed off and blocked. Thus the epic sword fight began. - Buhc continued running down the corridor until he got puffed out. He turned around and couldn't see Swiss. He stood there and caught his breath. Buhc dropped his mop during the chase, so he had no weapons. Looking for a new weapon, he waddled past an ominous looking door.

"What do we have here...?"

He went back and looked at the door. It was made out of solid steel and resembled the door to Gary's Gadget Room back when the PSA existed. Beside the door was a small console with a keypad to enter a password in.

"Hmm...PORCYAL..."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"NINJA."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"SKULLDROME."

"ACCESS DENIED."

"What could it be...?" Buhc looked around and a symbol on the wall. The symbol was a blue circle with a crown in the middle.

"Of course! SWISS NINJA."

"ACCESS GRANTED."

The steel doors opened as Buhc staggered in. He entered a dimly lit room and the light from the corridor flooded inside. The shadow of a fan painted the floor of the room. Looking around he saw several platforms laid out in a circle, with the fan's shadow falling in the middle. The platforms all had nothing on then except for-

"BUHC!" cried out Sonic. He was floating mid-air, suspended by blue bolts of electricity attached to his feet and hands.

"SONIC!" shouted Buhc in surprise. "What in the world are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you that same question."

"Chub and I boarded the ship to put a stop to all of this. I got into a...er...predicament...yes...but what are you doing here?"

"That ninja...Gravity...he captured me and placed me in this...cell..."

"Uhh...hold on for a minute. I'll see if I can get you down from there..."

"Over there, Buhc, is a console. Try and disable these things from there."

Sonic shifted his head towards a corner of the room. The corner had a small console on the side, complete with a screen, camera and many buttons. Buhc rushed over to it and pushed a few buttons. Nothing happened...except for the screen coming on.

"What is it?" asked the soldier on the screen. "Hey, who are you?"

"I-I-I...u-u-um-um..."

With a powerful swing, he punched the console hard with his good arm. The camera exploded in a shower of sparks and the screen went blank. There was a thud and Buhc turned around. He saw Sonic on a platform, no longer floating.

"You alright?" asked Buhc as he slowly waddled to Sonic. His was shaking his fist since the punch had hurt.

"I'm good," replied Sonic as he got up and dusted himself off. "You?"

"Yeah. We must make great haste, for Chub was chased down by Swiss Ninja-"

"Swiss Ninja?"

"Yeah, that Snoss egomaniac."

"So he's behind this as well..."

"Hurry, maybe they're both locked in a duel-"

"WAIT! I have an idea. I've heard of a certain place on this ship...I'll show you if you follow me."

"Uhh...okay...I hope you know what you're doing." - Meanwhile...

"SURRENDER YOU SNOSS SCUM!"

"YOU DARE INSULT ME IN MY FACE?!"

Chub and Swiss were battling it out in a large cargo hold. There were several Snoss soldiers and ninjas gathered around, all in awe about the fight they were witnessing. The two clashed and slashed their keysabers like there was no tomorrow. The intensity of the fight had actually cause both of them to sweat-

"PENGUINS DON'T SWEAT!"

"WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?"

"POWERS THAT YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND!"

"BAH, YOU'RE JUST CRAZY! IT IS TIME FOR ME TO END THIS. ONCE. AND. FOR. ALL!"

Swiss Ninja drew his keysaber back over him and then brought it down on Chub with full force.

"CHUB! CATCH!"

"SWISS! CATCH!"

Buhc and Sonic had reached the cargo hold. Buhc had a mysterious, glowing purple...thing. With all his might, he threw it upwards towards Chub. On the other side of the room was Gravity, who had finally caught up. He had a Deletion Pistol in his hand which he threw towards Swiss. As if everything was in slow motion, Swiss was about to slash Chub with his keysaber as Chub tried to block. The two items flew in the air, with Swiss and Chub both holding their spare flippers out to catch them. On opposite sides of the cargo hold stood Buhc, Sonic and Gravity, all powerless to do anything. On the other two sides of the hold were Snoss soldiers and ninjas, watching with utter suspense as the end of the battle drew closer and closer.

"GOT IT!"

'''SWING! PEW! BANG!'''

No one could watch. There was a bright flash of light and then a loud noise. With a woosh of air, everything went quiet. The suspense was extreme. They all knew that the outcome was reached, but no-one dared to look. However, destiny had no time for this. The duel spectators looked up to see a cloud of dust (wait, WHA-). The ship's internal fans whirred to clear away the obstruction. Then it was there. They all knew the outcome, and the dust cleared to-

"ARGH!"



Chub had absorbed the Porcyal into himself, transforming him into a purple glowing giant.

"What in the world is going on?!"

He looked around looking for Swiss Ninja, but the only thing he saw was a deactivated keysaber on the floor.

"Bis nachher!" (See you later!)

Everyone turned around to see Swiss jumping out of an open door in the side of the cargo hold, with a parachute on his back. Chub turned to Gravity and picked him up.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!"

Chub busted a gigantic hole in the roof of the hold and climbed out with Gravity in his hand.

"THE NINJAS WILL TAKE OVER CULLDROME ONCE AND FOR ALL!"

"OVER MY DELETED BODY!"

"THAT CAN BE ARRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Chub tossed Gravity out of the ship and into the great ocean in the distance. Buhc and Sonic looked up at the giant Chub.

"Let's bring this ship down!" shouted Chub.

Sonic immediately stopped him.

"No, DON'T! We need to bring it down over the countryside, so the civilians don't get hurt."

"Fine, then. I just want to end this monstrosity. Both of you go to the bridge and steer the ship out of here. I'll cover you."

"Right!"

Buhc and Sonic battled their way towards the bridge as Chub stopped anyone from getting in their way. At last they were on the bridge.

"Chub, you should stop using that Porcyal," said Sonic. "If you use it for too long, you might-..."

"No, I will stop once this is all over. Steer the ship!"

Buhc and Sonic did what they were told and soon the giant flying ship was heading south towards the Collwall Mountains.

"Get out of here," said Chub. "I'll bring it down."

"WHAT?!?" exclaimed Buhc. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

"Just go."

"No, we're staying," said Sonic.

"We ar-"

"We can finish this mission together..."

"So be it..."

Chub, using his Porcyal powers, ripped off the giant fans keeping the ship aloft. He threw the fans off into the distance and crashed in the forest. The ship suddenly began a drop; Buhc and Sonic were pulled back and pinned to the wall with gravitational forces. Chub was out on the bow of the ship, weighting the front end down. Then with an almighty explosive boom, the ship collided with the ground, ripping up trees and devastating the ground. The ship ploughed through the soil as if it was just water. Eventually the ship stopped and the stern settled back down, with a wake of thrown up dirt and trees behind it.

Buhc and Sonic were on the bridge, pressed upon the control panels from the impact. The two both got up.

"We need to find Chub," said Buhc.

"Come on," replied Sonic. "Let's go."

The two rushed out of the bridge to find debris blocking the exit.

"Out the window."

They made their way out of the shattered windows and onto the outside of the bridge superstructure. The ship was a mess. It's hull had buckled and dug half of itself into the ground. The loading cranes and stairs on the deck had fallen over.

"I wonder where he is?"

"CHUB?! CHUB?!"

Sonic pointed to the bow of the ship.

"He's probably down there."

"Come on."

The two hopped their way down to the bow. Buhc was slightly cringing at the pain from his earlier injuries, but he was fine. Smoke billowed out from random places of the wrecked ship. There were even some burning trees in the forest around them. In the distance, the afternoon sun illuminated smoke from the fires in the city. The two made their way down onto the bow, which was half stuck in the ground. In front of the bow was Chub lying down with the Porcyal dropped and out of his flipper.

"Chub! Are you okay?!"

Buhc got down and tried to slap Chub awake. Sonic rolled his eyes, pulled out his gun and shot at the sky, waking Chub up.

"Chub! Are you okay?"

"Yeah," replied Chub in a weak voice, coughing a bit. "You?"

"Yeah, fine."

"Mission accomplished, eh?"

"Mission accomplished."

"I don't think we've finished yet..."

Sonic was looking off into the distance, with a horde of ninjas approaching.

"ARGH!"

Sonic whipped out his two Deletion Pistols. Chub tried to get up but Buhc stopped him.

"No, stop," said Buhc. "You've done enough already."

"What about you?"

"I'll manage...thanks to you."

Buhc left Chub and found a lightly damaged ice bullet pistol in the ship's wreckage. Sonic and him formed a semi-circle around Chub, warding the ninjas off. As more and more poured in, the barrier started to get smaller and smaller, until the two were right up against Chub.

"We can't hold them off!" shouted Sonic over the battle cries.

"It's a stand off! We need to get out of here."

Buhc backed off and started to help Chub up.

"No, my brother." Chub picked up the Porcyal and slapped it in Buhc's flipper. "Use it."

"I do-"

"Trust me."

Buhc took hold on the Porcyal and concentrated on it.

"You ready, Buhc?! I can't hold them off for much longer!"

"Oh, I'm ready alright."

Sonic stumbled backwards, overwhelmed by the ninjas. The ninjas began to close in. Chub shielded his face as Buhc absorbed the Porcyal.

Chapter 10: The Nightmare is Over
Chapter 10: The Nightmare is Over 5:30 PM September 16 2012 Culldrome City, Culldrome Isles Chapter Theme

Matthias was with the Great Guardian and his army near the outskirts of the city. Oh-Ho had also recovered and was perched on Matthias' shoulder.

"The ship went down over there. We must hurry!"

"I know, m'lad! We need to be careful though. Them ninjas could be o'er the-"

BOOM!

"What was that?!"

"The explosion 'appened near th' ship! C'mon!"

The squadron and Matthias ran off down a road leading off into the forest.

"Wait...what's that?"



"CHUB! BUHC!" cried out Matthias.

Chub, Buhc and Sonic were shuffling along the road as the golden sun set behind them, signaling the end of the evil ninja tyranny...for now, anyway. However, it was a time of celebration as Chub held the Porcyal up high, shining and glistening in the sun light. That signel Porcyal had managed to defeat the ninjas and save them, if not, the whole Culldrome Isles. Smoke from fires everywhere filled the air, fogging it up a bit. Many buildings were destroyed, with parts of them completely obliterated. The sunny haze shone upon the city as Matthias ran up and embraced his two sons.

"I'm glad you're both okay!"

"We're good," replied Buhc.

"Yes...nice to be back..." said Chub as he coughed. He handed over the Porcyal to his father.

"This is impressive..." commented Matthias as he inspected the Porcyal. "Where did you find it?"

Chub turned to face Buhc and Sonic.

"Yeah, where did you find it?"

"There was a cache of Porcyals on the ship," replied Buhc. "Sonic here had told me about it after rescuing him."

"Ah, it's nothing," said Sonic.

The Great Guardian and his army went over to Matthias, Chub, Buhc and Sonic.

"Why, if it isn't the Great Guardian Lunarslash!" exclaimed Sonic.

"Ah, a Culldrom, I see?"

"Yes, indeed."

The two shook a greeting. A single Culldrom soldier was running towards them. He stopped in front of Lunarslash and saluted.

"SIR! The ninjas are retreating back towards Skulldrome!"

"Then it's all over," commented Chub.

"Mission...finally...accomplished," said Buhc with a sigh.

"Be best we all 'ead 'ome!" said Lunarslash.

"This army here saved you as you ascended to board the ship," told Matthias. "You have a great army here."

"Ah, 'tis bally nothin'"

At the word bally, Chub, Buhc and Matthias all burst out into laughter. Sonic, the soldier, Lunarslash and the army soon joined in as the sun set on the wondrous Culldrome Isles. - 7:32 PM September 16 2012 Bluetower Castle, Mossroam, Culldrome Isles

Chub, Buhc, Sonic and Matthias were waddling a small dirt road towards Bluetower Castle. The very last rays of sunlight were sneaking their way past the horizon and it was starting to get dark. The sky was a deep blue color with white, wispy clouds floating about. High up in the sky, the residual smoke from the city battle was floating, nearly having cleared up. The evil had finally gone and peace reigned over the land. Oh-Ho was flying above in the sky, circling around as he waited for the penguins to catch up. Soon, they had all arrived in front of the castle gates.

"Umm...hello?" called out Matthias. Buhc knocked hard on the wooden doors. The doors opened up wide with the Abbottess and a scruffy old penguin.

"Ah, my friends!" said the Abbottess, approaching them with open arms. "You're all safe!"

"We've saved Culldrome!" boasted Buhc. Chub immediately elbowed him.

"I knew you would. The ghost of Mark the Warrior told me that you would all be alright."

They all gasped.

"Really?"

The Abbottess replied with a nod.

"Well Chub and Buhc here are quite injured. Will you ne able to take care of them?" asked Matthias.

"Yes, yes. I'll send them off to the infirmary. After they have recovered, the shall have a large feast to celebrate! Now, come on in!"

The Abbottess ushered them all in and then stopped Sonic.

"Sonic? Is that you...?"

"Why, it's Tortimort! How are you!"

"It's been good, my boy. Come let us talk."

They all went inside the castle walls. Chub and Buhc limped their way as they followed the Abbottess. The very last rays of sunlight started to come past the horizon as the sun finally set.

"Wow, it's been quite an adventure, these past two days," commented Chub.

"Two days?" replied Buhc. "Goodness, it was only two days?"

"Time flies when you're having fun."

"Fun?!"

Chub chucked. "We saved Culldrome. If not the world."

They all continued to walk through the castle grounds. In the distance was a penguin running towards them.

"Who's that...?"

As the penguin got closer, Chub recognised the penguin's golden flowing hair.

"CHUB!"

"OOF!"

Careflower ran into Chub, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. Chub nearly fell over but hugged her instead.

"DAWWWWW!" said Buhc as Matthias and himself backed off and stared. Tortimort and Sonic continued to walk and talk, leaving Sonic looking back over the Abbottess' shoulder.

"Oh, shut up, Buhc," said Chub.

Buhc chuckled. "Time flies when you're having fun, indeed..."

"Come on, now," said Matthias. "Let us get you two to the infirmary."

Buhc and Matthias followed Sonic and Tortimort as Chub and Careflower held hands and followed behind. - 9:26 PM October 21 2012 Command Room, Club Penguin

"Ah, finally good to be back here."

Chub and Buhc waddled into the EPF Command Room in Club Penguin. They had both recovered well and had been arranged to speak with the Director.

"Ah, agents! Welcome back."

Gary went up to them and greeted them both.

"What are you doing here?" asked Buhc. At once the large screen in front of the conference table turned on.

"Greetings agents," said the Director.

"Greetings, Director," replied Chub, Buhc and G.

"First of all, Chub and Buhc, you two have both shown bravery in the Culldrome Isles. You two went above and beyond the call of duty to serve and protect. Truly, you both deserve recognition and thanks."

"Thank you, Director," replied Chub and Buhc.

"Both of you truly deserve a spot in the EPF's Division 3, the Elite Division. What say you?"

"I would be honoured to accept the position," replied Chub.

"As do I," said Buhc.

"Good. You two are one of the EPF's best agents. I hope that you continue to serve us valiantly and with honour."

"Thank you."

"Now, onto my second point. G here has something to tell you."

"Okay, after hearing about your little...battle, I thought that you should be able to use the EPF's weapons," said Gary. "Banana Blasters won't suffice. This is why I took the liberty to design new weapons for both of you to use."

The circular hatch in the middle of the conference table opened up to reveal some weapons.

"Here is a brand new invention of mine," said G handing over a strange looking rifle.

"What is it?" asked Chub.

"This is a miniature air-cannon. It is a non-lethal weapon and uses air as ammunition."

"Air?" asked Buhc in puzzlement as he inspected the cannon.

"Yes. You can fire compressed air at enemies, pushing them away. I thought it would come in good when clearing out many enemies. Here let me show you..."

Gary grabbed Buhc's cannon and fired at a bookshelf. There was a loud bang as a blast of air pushed the bookcase over and scattering many papers. Gary handed the cannon back.

"Impressive," commented Chub.

"Why thank you," replied Gary. "There's more, though. Here I have grappling hooks to assist you when climbing. I heard you two have good freerunning skills."

"Ehh...nah..." said Buhc.

Gary handed them grappling hooks. But there was another weapon.

"I've decided that you two can wield this, especially after your duel, Chub."

Gary handed the two their very own Keysabers.

"Oh nice...very nice," said Chub.

"Thank you. I decorated the hilt for you. Do you like it?"

"It looks nice, G," answered Chub.

"Again, thank you agents," said the Director. "Remember: be resourceful, be remarkable, be ready."

The screen turned off and the hatch in the middle of the conference table opened up again to show two badges.

"Are they for us?" asked Chub.

"Our new badges," replied Buhc.

The two picked them up and pinned them on their shirts.

"Well, it all turned out nice for everyone," said Chub as he inspected the badge.

"It sure was, brother," said Buhc. "It sure was..."

"Come on," said Chub. "Let us end this adventure...AND PREPARE FOR NEW HORIZONS!"

Epilouge
"Ladies and gentlement, the Supreme Leader of the Culldrome Isles."

There was cheering as the Supreme Leader of the Culldrome Isles, Steven Snowen, came on the television in a nation wide address. An orchestral theme came on as the Supreme Leader came up onto a podium and began to speak.

-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUIWUNzyVTI

-

"Ladies and gentlemen of our great nation. Today...September 16th...2012...a date which will live in infamy...the Archipelago of the Culldrome Isles...was suddenly and deliberately attacked...by Skulldrom and Snoss forces. Previously, these two nations had great relations with Culldrome. But today...the Skulldrom and the Snoss...invaded and attacked us on home soil. Today, we all woke up to our cities and our country under attack. In this attack, some of you may have forgotten, but today...marks the tenth anniversary of the start of the Porcyal War. Today was to be a day of remembrance...but what we got was an attack...by ninjas...again. I assure you, that our military and secret service are down on the trail, looking for motives for this attack. Unlike ten years ago...we will not plunge into another civil war. We all do not want more losses. We will find out why...the Skulldrome Isles and Snowzerland attacked us on this day. We will make sure that there will be no more attacks, and we will continue to ensure that this country remains the safe haven that it is. Good evening and thank you."

The Supreme Leader stepped back and out towards the back of the podium. In a few moments, the TV broadcast ended. - Swiss Ninja secretly met up with Gravity in an old derelict warehouse.

"Our attack was a failure," said Swiss Ninja. "I'm disappointed in you."

"But your troops-"

"-Performed well."

"Look, I do not want to argue. But I think another attack would need to be necessary..."

"I think that as well..."

"The lure of the Porcyal...it's just too great...unlimited power...who wouldn't want that?"

"Well, when do you think we should have our next attack?"

"Soon...very soon. We still have to built up our forces again. But do not fret my friend, I assure you that we will be back..."

"I am an impatient penguin...when?"

"Oh," said Gravity ominously. He raised his pistol and loaded it. "The battle of Culldrome has only begun..."

THE END!