All over the place was white and freezing. The temperature is dropping and the bouldering glaciers are coagulating. There were no signs of life except a swarm of jolly penguins feasting on the bitter shore and a large igloo was situated at the frosty coast.
The igloo was remarkably bulky and a distortion to their habitat. Yet the penguins decided to stay, populated, and made the igloo as their territory and landmark. It was a winter chill that day, but these animals were celebrating like a summer vacation.
By and by, a guy wrapped in piled jackets appeared out of the igloo. He was carrying a bucket full of fresh fishes. And it was his job to lure the penguins away from the road because they were so overcrowded that they blocked the entire possible entry.
"(Exhales sharply) of all the animals loved in the zoo, I hated them the most (gulps)." The man complained as he begins his job.
The task was so simple but it seems that he finds this too difficult. And although the penguins did not notice him because they were so busy fishing; it was obvious that the man was so afraid for any possibilities that he might call their attention towards him.
So slowly, he passes through the snoozing penguins as he carries the bucket away from the igloo. Not long and finally he got far and carefully poured the fishes into the ground. He was about to finish his mission when accidentally the bucket slipped into his hands and made a loud clang.
--TAK!—
Eventually, all of the penguins were alarmed and their attention was drawn towards him and not on the fish. The man was clearly harmless but the moment they spotted him, their auras became ominously feisty. They were preparing for the attack when the man suddenly throws his bucket and run as fast as he could.
"I knew this would happen..!" the man shouted as he run away from the squawking penguins.
Hurriedly, he raced back into the igloo as the penguins are rampaging towards him. The feeding didn't work and now it looks like he was the fish to them. So as soon he reached the door, the man immediately went inside and closed the entry.
Panting, he took a deep breath and leaned against the door. He was about to sigh a relief when all of a sudden, a loud thud and a horde of violent pecking began to knock on the foyer. Instantly, he peeked on the porthole and there he saw the angry mob of penguins squawking behind the door.
This threatened him and not long then his anxiety was triggered. His heartbeat rushed faster, his hands began to shake, and his body quivered in fear. He knows he still has a job to do but the rampaging penguins are making him insane.
The penguins were so furious and very determined to hunt him down. So nervous, he gave up and run away from the door. Panicking, he accidentally bumped into a Chinese man in his sixties covered in thick winter jacket. However, this did not prevent him and he scampered away like a coward.
"Hey, where you going?" concerns the old Chinese man.
"Run away, Dr. Chan..!" he shouted vaguely as he run downstairs.
"What's wrong with him?" Dr. Chan wondered for he did not clearly hear his warning.
Shortly, the snow scavenger truck arrived and old Dr. Chan noticed this. The truck notified him through a beep and he gestured by the porthole to send confirmation. Cluelessly, he pulled down the lever and the igloo's entrance began to gradually split in half enough for the truck to enter.
Old Dr. Chan was about to step outside when suddenly a horde of penguins began to flock their way to the igloo. There was a stampede and he was trampled down to the ground. There were so many penguins that the truck was blocked to break through.
"(Coughs) not again…" Old Dr. Chan grumbled.
While struggling on the floor, Old Dr. Chan determinedly pressed a button on his micro earpiece which sent a distress signal directly to Mr. Connor. The message was relayed and it traveled to a six hundred foot drop tunnel reaching the boss. The message arrived and his micro earpiece bleeped.
"ELSA, identify the alarm" says Mr. Connor
"DR. CHAN HAS SENT YOU THE DISTRESS SIGNAL." The female AI ELSA replied.
"Dr. Chan..? Ok, tap me to him ELSA." Mr. Connor orders her.
"PROCESSING… YOU'RE NOW CONNECTED TO DR. CHAN." ELSA obeyed.
"Thank you, ELSA." Mr. Connor thanked her.
"MY PLEASURE," ELSA ended.
"Prof. Chan, report the status."
"(Coughs) I think~ I'm in trouble Mr. Connor (coughs)…" Old Dr. Chan uncomfortably replied as the penguins began to squawk.
--QUACK!—
"A-are you alright? And why are you squawking?" Mr. Connor asked concernedly.
"(Grunts) actually, we're under attack," Old Dr. Chan replied.
"Holy sweet tooth..! Identify the target." Mr. Connor demanded.
"(Grunts) penguins…" Old Dr. Chan exclaimed.
"Penguins..? Please, give me visuals." Mr. Connor requested as he swiped his hand in the air and a floating monitor suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Are those~ penguins..?" Dwaine interrupted as she saw the rampaging penguins on the highly advanced screen.
"Those forsaken birds, they try to terrorize our igloo. ELSA, immediately send help to Dr. Chan." Mr. Connor orders.
"MEN DEPLOYED," ELSA replied.
"Dr. Chan, your help is on the way. And I need you and the guest to be here in five minutes. Do you copy?" Mr. Connor assured him.
"Yeah, copy (grunts)…" Old Dr. Chan replied.
"Hang on there, old chap." Mr. Connor bids his goodbye and ended the call.
--TOOT--
"Wait. Are we… in North Pole..?" Dwaine wildly guessed.
"Close enough lass but not exactly. Now come on." Mr. Connor denied and led her pass through the working bees.
"Alaska!" Dwaine continued to guess as she follows behind Mr. Connor.
"No." Mr. Connor replied.
"Greenland..?" Dwaine pursued.
"No." Mr. Connor replied the same.
"Russia."- Dwaine
"Never,"- Mr. Connor
"Antarctica..?"
"(Exhales sharply) Like I already said Ms. Kingsleigh, you don't need to know. Now, take this body vest and wrapped it around your body." Mr. Connor instructed her when they reached the end of the south wall where a bunch of body vest is lined up on the hedge.
"Just a hint, please..?" Dwaine insisted as she subconsciously took the body vest that Mr. Connor gave her.
"(Sighs) well… this place is where birds don't fly." Mr. Connor replied as he helped Dwaine to wear the body vest.
"Birds don't fly..? You mean the penguins?"
"Guess whenever you like, lass."
'PENGUINS... HMM…' (Dwaine deeply thought)
"Now are you ready?" Mr. Connor asked her.
"What do you mean?"
"We're going to the fortieth floor up." Mr. Connor informed her.
"Oh! So, where's the elevator?" Dwaine thought they would take the lift.
"There's no elevator. You have your vest." Mr. Connor corrected her.
"Pff, are we gonna swim on this?" Dwaine misunderstood.
"No, we're gonna fly."
Mr. Connor replied as he pressed the button
A few minutes later and finally, Mr. Connor was the first one to reach the fortieth floor. When he got there, right away he pressed a button on the vest which immediately stopped his pace. Not long and Dwaine likewise arrived, but she doesn't know how to stop.
So seeing this, Mr. Connor took her and pressed the button intended to stop her pace. Dwaine regained her balance and suddenly, a holographic scanner eventually scanned the both of them. By and by, the door opened and both of them went inside the hive as the door automatically closed.
Mr. Connor took out his vest and Dwaine followed also. Then after which, he proceeds to the inner room and Dwaine likewise trailed behind him. And as they got inside, Dwaine was even mesmerized by the environment. It was so cool, so futuristic, and so systematic.
There were so many agents sitting on their desks and statisticians critically assessing the various statistics portrayed on the holographic screen. But they just passed through them and went deeper to the last ivory pickle door. Mr. Connor pushed the door and both of them entered.
When they got inside, she saw an outstanding elongated U-table on the center with ivory egg-shaped chairs lined up to the table. The walls were remarkably sculptured and the ceiling is brightly lit with modern lights. Dwaine look further ahead and she saw three women and four men with a purple poufy cat seated at the center most chair of the room.
'OH SHOOT, HERE COMES TROUBLE.' (Dwaine guiltily thought as she recognized the two figures)
"Everyone, please be seated." Mr. Connor orders them as everyone followed.
Mr. Connor clapped his hands twice and eventually the lights dimmed. The projector functioned and it portrayed the current conditions of the nine planets in the solar system. There were nine numerical figures representing the distances of each planet. And a time countdown was shown on the upper right corner of the screen.
"Now hear me well ladies and gentlemen. We have four days left before all the planets align. And as ya'll already know, this amorphous monster who calls itself 'Destiny' is now trying to take possession of all the significant pieces of the Celestial Sundial or known as the 'Clock of Fate', which was scattered to different planets including our Earth. And thanks to our valiant discoverers, we have gained access and knowledge to one of the segments of our universal history. Mr. Matt, you can now take the floor." Mr. Connor explained as he gave the rest of the discussion to a well-built Negro man, named Matt.
"Actually, my team has only found a fraction of our universal history, which we discovered just three days ago from one of the elders of the Shinto priestesses in Mt. Fuji, Japan. And that time also, Mr. North has crashed into our planet to warn us about the possible invasion that was left unattended in our own solar system. And now, that 'Destiny' is unlawfully encroaching on to everyone's planet to rebuild the 'Clock of Fate' again. In which, a long time ago it was intentionally destroyed so to protect everyone's safety and of the universe. And now, I believe it is our time to do the protecting." Matt discussed.
"Thanks Mr. Matt, you may be seated. Now, I want everyone in this room to be part of this expedition. And Ms. Dwainecell Kingsleigh over there will be your connection to the Bunnyterrian King named Codemus. If you all remember last night, he stole one of the significant elements of the timepiece in Wacken's Museum. And for your knowledge, it was the gluttonous power source of the 'Clock of Fate' that'll make the pieces complete. Hence, we need to retrieve that rock as soon as possible before it gets to Destiny's hands. We already had it in our hands but we even failed to protect it, how pathetic. But thanks to Dwaine, we have given the chance to still track that rabbit down and this time we must not fail."
"But she's not yet ready to go to space." Old Dr. Chan objected.
"Yes. And that's why you're here to prepare her for that in two hours." Mr. Connor replied.
"Two hours? That's insane! It has to be two years. And you know that." Old Dr. Chan still refused.
"Well, do you still have enough time Dr. Chan? I believe you're the best instructor there is in the world." Mr. Connor convinced Dr. Chan.
"And you're worst guy there is in the world, Connor." Old Dr. Chan finally agreed yet still doubtful about this.
"I'll take that as a yes. Now, chop, chop everyone. Let's get down to business." Mr. Connor finished and everyone except the two figures silently stayed in the room with Mr. Connor, Dwaine, and Old Dr. Chan.
"Um… Mr. Connor..! What are we supposed to do..?" Dr. Holly asked standing right behind his back.
"Oh, yes. And as for you Dr. Holly please prepare as well for the expedition. You may bring Mr. North with you as well." He replied.
"Ok, copy that Sir." Dr. Holly gladly replied and took the weakening cat Noirren from the table.
"Well… you're awfully silent today Mr. North?" Mr. Connor asked him.
"(Grunts) ask the cursed witch beside you Connor. Sue it all to her." Noirren replied as he glared furiously at Dwaine.
"Oh, I see. Dr. Holly," Mr. Connor called.
"Yes Sir?" Dr. Holly replied.
"Maybe you should bring him to the infirmary first. It's best to be in best condition in going out to space." Mr. Connor suggested.
"Yes, I was actually about do that Sir."- Dr. Holly
"Good. Now get going!" Mr. Connor rushed her.
"Right away, captain!" Dr. Holly awkwardly replied get out of the room. But when she was about to exit, she suddenly remembered to ask something. "Um… Ms. Kingsleigh..?" She called out loudly.
"Yup..?" Dwaine responded.
"Um… are you still a virgin..?" Dr. Holly shamelessly asked.
"Seriously, of all places Dr. Holly..?" Mr. Connor rebuked her carelessness.
"No, it's ok Mr. Connor." Dwaine seems to be fine about it.
"Are you sure about this?" Mr. Connor was disturbed.
"Yes." Dwaine confirms.
"Then so be it. Dr. Chan..! Ears..!" Mr. Connor permitted and gestured to Old Dr. Chan to cover their ears.
"Ah, yes." Dr. Chan agreed.
And as soon, the men covered their ears, loudly, Dwaine screamed…"-----"
"(Sighs) so that's why… thanks..! And good luck..!" Dr. Holly finally got the answer and left as she bid her luck to Dwaine.
"Um… am I supposed to welcome her about that?" Dwaine was confused.
"You women really don't know where to reveal you're nasty secrets, do you?" Mr. Connor began as he and the Old Dr. Chan took off their ear buds.
"Well, can you say no to a friend?" Dwaine replied.
"So, you're considering her a friend, huh?"
"Isn't she a nice person?"
"Well, that's a surprise. You must have a bad taste in choosing your friend, lass. Well nevermind, so going back to our main discussion, Dwaine, this is Dr. Dac Kee Chan. He will be your space instructor and I will put you under his hands for two hours. Then after that, I am quite sure that you'll be the new person more different than you are now. Because you see, he's the best instructor there is in our organization. So you better be grateful to him." Mr. Connor reassured her.
"Well, thanks. Nice to meet you Sir," Dwaine greeted him politely.
"Tic-toc-tic-toc Ms. Kingsleigh… time is running out." Dr. Chan purposely replied.
"Wait… are you… (scoffs) no way, you're Mr. Wurm!" Dwaine gladly guessed in disbelief.
"Correct." Dr. Chan agreed.
"Oh, I missed you old man. Wait, where were you last night?" Dwaine began to ask.
"Hey, don't call me old man young lady." Dr. Chan disciplined her.
"Oops sorry Mr. Wurm… I mean~ Dr. Chan." Dwaine apologized.
"So, I guess everything is all settled then. Best of luck Dr. Chan and likewise to you too, lass." Mr. Connor rests his case and left Dwaine to Dr. Chan's custody.
"Leave everything to me, Connor." Dr. Chan confidently assured him.
"So, what am I goinna do?" Dwaine began.
"You're gonnna undergo physical, mental, and emotional training, junior." Dr. Chan briefly explained.
"(Gulps) you're not gonna knock me out with your kung fu, right..?" Dwaine fearfully asked.
"No kung fu. It's exercise."
'YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME…' (Dwaine thought)