The Adventure Begins

Rrrrrrrrummmble...

Books were falling off the shelf, their dust filling the air. Reeze coughed and staggered to the door. "E-eart-th-qua..." he managed to croak as an enormous crash filled the room. A threatening, black crack was splitting his igloo straight down the middle. Reeze choked out a few coughs and dragged himself out the door. The street was in chaos. Penguins of all colors and sizes were struggling out of their homes and toward the Town. "H-help! Help me!" Reeze turned toward the strangled cry and gasped. A penguin about the same age as him was dangling dangerously in a wide crack in the ground. Reeze drove the panic aside and ran to help the poor penguin. He reached out his flipper and gritted his teeth in pain as he tried to raise the penguin out of the ground. "Help!" he shouted. Suddenly, a green figure appeared next to Reeze. "Aunt Arctic!" he gasped. "Oh my gosh... Can you please help me lift this penguin?!" "Of course! I heard you screaming and I knew I had to come quickly!" she explained. The two penguins heaved with all their might and yanked the penguin out of the crack. "Are... are you... are you okay?" Reeze managed to ask. The penguin was wearing a blue cape, a Music Jam shirt, green sunglasses, and a party hat. "I... I think so..." he responded slowly. "I'm Bman2007Jazz. Bman for short... I was... walking down the street to my Grandma's house, when..." "The earthquake started?" Reeze finished. "By the way, I'm Reeze. I think you know who this is..." he motioned to the green penguin sitting next to him. "Aunt Arctic!" Bman squealed. "But... but..." Before he could finish his sentence, a flash of green light forced the three penguins to shield their eyes. "That must be Herbert! The only thing that can make that bright of a light is Penguinium- we have a whole stash of it in the vault- but it's highly radioactive. This is terrible. That light means that it's exploded... so Herbert is..." Aunt Arctic trailed off. "Dead?!" Reeze shrieked. "What!? But that means no more missions! No! No! No!" He covered his face with his flippers. "I always wished Herbert would be gone for good, but now..." Nobody responded. Reeze slowly slid his flippers away and stood frozen. Nobody was moving. Even the dust was suspended in mid-flight. Suddenly, the world came to life again. "That must be Herbert! The only thing that can make that bright of a light is Penguinium- we have a whole stash of it in the vault- but it's highly radioactive. This is terrible. That light means that it's exploded... so Herbert is..." Aunt Arctic trailed off.

"What? You just said that..." Reeze muttered, confused. Bman and Aunt Arctic looked at him like he was insane. "You did! You just said those exact same things."

Before anyone could speak another word, Bman shot up into the air. He disappeared in the sky. "What?!" Reeze yelled. "I... I..." He couldn't finish that sentence before a red beam zapped out of the sky. A horrible scream filled the air as Bman tumbled to the ground. "Aunt Arctic! We've got to do something!" Reeze complained urgently. "What are you doing?! This is no time to write a story!"

"I'm not writing a story... I'm using my imagination. Writers always must think ahead, child. I'm writing what I think should happen to make an interesting story in the future. You see, if we think strong enough, our thoughts will come true. At least that's what my grandfather used to say. I'm hoping it works now!" As if related to what she had just said, a giant trampoline appeared on the ground just as Bman was about to hid hard, cold, earth.

"Wha...?" Bman looked dazed.

Reeze looked back to the point where the light came from. "Guys, I have something to tell you... For a moment, time stopped. Like, you weren't moving." They all looked confused. "Then, I think I went back in time somehow... That's why I thought you repeated that sentence, Aunt Arctic. I think that light... made us different. Bman, that would explain you flying and shooting a laser, as weird as it sounds. Aunt Arctic, I think you have the power to bring what you write to life."

Aunt Arctic narrowed her eyes. "Of course that's what happened, you fools." Bman and Reeze shrunk back. "It took you this long to figure out? I was the one that gave Herbert the code to the vault! I planned this all! I knew Herbert would die... But I didn't know you two little brats would be involved."

"What are you going to d-do?" Bman asked nervously. He was crossing his eyes in an attempt to make the lasers come, but nothing happened.

"Of course you'd ask that. You'll find out soon enough!" The mysterious green penguin scribbled a note and vanished.

Reeze and Bman looked at each other in terror. "What now?" Reeze stuttered.

"We're going after her, of course," Bman responded. "Do you think there are more of us?"

"Only time will tell..." Reeze said as he turned his gaze toward the sky.