One month later, Private had gotten to know the team and the zoo animals reasonably well. He felt comfortable in Central Park. Everyone was friendly (except Joey) and Private could imagine himself living there, quite happily, for the rest of his life.
Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.
It was in the middle of training, one day, when the team heard a voice coming from inside the H.Q.
"Peng-you-ins" it said, "I have a message that I think you will want to hear." Private was confused. The others weren't. They immediately stopped what they were doing and entered the hole under the fish bowl, each one bearing a deadly serious expression on their face. Private entered after them, closing the hole with the fish bowl. A dolphin's face was on the TV screen, looking directly at them.
"I see you have a new recruit. A bit young, don't you think?" said the dolphin.
"Get to the point, Blowhole." said Skipper, returning the dolphin's malevolent gaze.
"My crustation army have created a nifty little device that can make entire countries... how do I put this? Evaporate. Dissolve into the air. Leaving nothing but a desolate wasteland behind. With this threat at my command, I will rule the world. You, by the way, are part of the world."
"We know, Blowhole."said Skipper, "You don't have to patronise us." Skipper spat onto the screen when he said the "P" in patronise.
"You can't stop me this time, Skipper. I have secured my lair with the latest technology AND several lobsters. Especially where the world conquering device is kept. You and your team will probably be captured and/or killed before you can even get close to my lair." He gave a hoarse, shaky laugh. All dolphins had a laugh like that. The TV turned off.
"Don't worry about that so called security, men. We'll just carry on digging that new underground escape tunnel that we've been working on."
They spent days digging. They couldn't dig all the time, because they had to entertain the people when the zoo was open. Otherwise, they might have began to get suspicious. Kowalski had drawn a map of where they needed to dig. It went under water.
But what the penguins didn't know, was that Dr. Blowhole's lair had moved. His old lair had been destroyed.
About a week into their dig, the penguins began to take turns, two men at a time. It was Manfredi and Johnston's turn, when it happened.
As soon as they broke though, into what they thought wound be Dr. Blowhole's lair, the underground escape tunnel began to rapidly fill with water! Bewildered and astonished, the two penguins began to swim back to the lair. Suddenly, a large white tail broke through the wall of dirt that was between the tunnel and the Ocean. The underground escape tunnel had lead them to the business end of a beluga whale! The beluga whale had obviously been hypnotised by Dr. Blowhole, because beluga whales eat fish, but this one was trying, with all it's might, to eat Manfredi and Johnston! The two penguins would have screamed, but they were under water. They swam as fast as they could. Luckily, this was very fast. Otherwise they would never have lived to tell the tale.
After that, Manfredi and Johnston couldn't speak for a month. And even then, it was jibberish.
Nothing could have prepared him for what happened next.
It was in the middle of training, one day, when the team heard a voice coming from inside the H.Q.
"Peng-you-ins" it said, "I have a message that I think you will want to hear." Private was confused. The others weren't. They immediately stopped what they were doing and entered the hole under the fish bowl, each one bearing a deadly serious expression on their face. Private entered after them, closing the hole with the fish bowl. A dolphin's face was on the TV screen, looking directly at them.
"I see you have a new recruit. A bit young, don't you think?" said the dolphin.
"Get to the point, Blowhole." said Skipper, returning the dolphin's malevolent gaze.
"My crustation army have created a nifty little device that can make entire countries... how do I put this? Evaporate. Dissolve into the air. Leaving nothing but a desolate wasteland behind. With this threat at my command, I will rule the world. You, by the way, are part of the world."
"We know, Blowhole."said Skipper, "You don't have to patronise us." Skipper spat onto the screen when he said the "P" in patronise.
"You can't stop me this time, Skipper. I have secured my lair with the latest technology AND several lobsters. Especially where the world conquering device is kept. You and your team will probably be captured and/or killed before you can even get close to my lair." He gave a hoarse, shaky laugh. All dolphins had a laugh like that. The TV turned off.
"Don't worry about that so called security, men. We'll just carry on digging that new underground escape tunnel that we've been working on."
They spent days digging. They couldn't dig all the time, because they had to entertain the people when the zoo was open. Otherwise, they might have began to get suspicious. Kowalski had drawn a map of where they needed to dig. It went under water.
But what the penguins didn't know, was that Dr. Blowhole's lair had moved. His old lair had been destroyed.
About a week into their dig, the penguins began to take turns, two men at a time. It was Manfredi and Johnston's turn, when it happened.
As soon as they broke though, into what they thought wound be Dr. Blowhole's lair, the underground escape tunnel began to rapidly fill with water! Bewildered and astonished, the two penguins began to swim back to the lair. Suddenly, a large white tail broke through the wall of dirt that was between the tunnel and the Ocean. The underground escape tunnel had lead them to the business end of a beluga whale! The beluga whale had obviously been hypnotised by Dr. Blowhole, because beluga whales eat fish, but this one was trying, with all it's might, to eat Manfredi and Johnston! The two penguins would have screamed, but they were under water. They swam as fast as they could. Luckily, this was very fast. Otherwise they would never have lived to tell the tale.
After that, Manfredi and Johnston couldn't speak for a month. And even then, it was jibberish.
