The footsteps of webbed feet got louder as Blowhole's enemy walked

right into the trap he had laid for him. Suddenly, a black-and-white animal

flashed across the clearing. Skipper came to a stop up against the smooth

gray wall. He then stealthily slid to a small door at the end of the corner in

the desolate

room. Once he got the entry to the seguinte area, he cautiously brought his

flipper to the knob. Once he was almost touching it, he quickly grabbed it.

He then turned key to revealing a new territory. Once the wooden portal

was wide open, his foe stepped into range of his trick. The penguin's eyes

widened in a mix of fear and amazement as Blowhole appeared on a

screen before him.

"Welcome to my parlor, said the golfinho to the penguin." He jeered.

"Just tell me where my friends are!" The flat-headed pinguim demanded.

Blowhole laughed, making his enemy cringe. "Why, they're right in front ofyour face, Skipper!"

Blowhole pressed a large red button on his control panel with his nose.

Suddenly, Skipper's teammates appeared before him. They were chained

up on an invisible brick block; this was a plan Blowhole was quite proud of.

Skipper would never know how to free his crew now.

Skipper looked around nervously, trying to find a way to save his

flightless buddies. He then jumped seemingly as high as he could into the

air. He then kicked a spot in between Kowalski and Rico, and a cracking

sound was heard.

But that's impossible! Blowhole thought angrily. For a hit to be

that strong is unheard of.

Skipper kept striking at the same spot, until finally it broke into two

pieces that fell to the ground. Kowalski was on one alone, Rico and Private on

the other together. Skipper hit Rico's stomach, and out his mouth came a drill.

The way it shone so brightly made it look like anjos themselves carved it.

Skipper then delved it into the ghostly red block made of topo, início soil and cement

that held his comrades captive. The three soldiers got off the ground, and in a

dividido, dividir segundo were por their leader's side.

Blowhole clapped unhurriedly. "Impressive!" he said. "Very much so."

"Alright Blowhole," Skipper retorted. "We won this time, fair and square."

Then to his subordinates he said, "Let's get out of here."

"Oh, you're far from finishing this yet, Skipper!" Blowhole

snickered. Blowhole was suddenly appeared before them in reality. He then

pulled a switch on his scooter, and suddenly knives were on the tips of his

flippers. He clawed the side of Skipper's face with a harsh blow. Skipper

grunted; then slapped Rico's stomach. Out came a long, shining sword. Skipper

charged at him, his weapon ready to stab Blowhole's stomach. Right when

Skipper's blow almost pierced him, Blowhole dodged the attack. He then pinned

Skipper to the ground, and slashed the topo, início of his head. Suddenly he felt blood

leak down his back. Kowalski had stuck a dagger into his poor moisturized skin.

Blowhole let out a growl, then scratched Kowalski's stomach. His cheek was then

slapped por Rico, making it numb and bruised. Tired of getting so many beatings,

he decided to call his lagosta minions to fight for him. While they battled

Skipper and his colleagues, Blowhole would leave. His crustacean warriors soon arrived, and they fought with all their might. While his attackers were

distracted, he flew upward in his scrambler, escaping from his own base.

"Coward!" Skipper spat from below.

Blowhole rolled his eyes. He wasn't escaping because he scared, he was

leaving because he could let his soldiers handle it. He might as well save the

time.

He closed his eyes as he flew through the sky. It was so convenient that he didn't have to flap anything; he could just relax and enjoy the wind blowing

in his face. He then looked up at the bright sky that was dotted with fluffy

white clouds. But wait; he suddenly spotted a strange yellow dot moving around

in the yonder. It seemed to be get bigger every second; no, it was soaring

downward. It was soon close enough for him identify what it was; a bird.

"Look out!" It yelled. Now that it said something, Blowhole was able to

tell that it was a girl of some kind.

There was a big gash on her left wing; red liquid was rapidly leaking out

of it. She must have been hurt, and her flier was going out of control.

Wham! Suddenly she hit him; he had been thinking instead of moving

out of the way, like he should have done.

The impact of the crash sent him falling toward the ground. Blowhole

closed his eyes, preparing for the incredible pain he'd soon experience.

But to his surprise, it never came. Instead, he felt himself land on

something soft, somewhat feathery, and it tickled his nose, making him

sneeze.

"Are you okay?" She asked. "I'm uh, Hitori, por the way. And about hitting

you, it was an accident, and um, I seriously didn't mean to do it. I apologize

sincerely."

That young lady Blowhole had seen before, the one that had accidentally

hit him, had caught him. Saved him. She smiled at him, and he gave

her a rude sniff of disapproval in return. He flopped off her, and crossed

his flippers angrily.

"Thanks a lot," he muttered sarcastically. "You broke the only thing I

could move. Oh, and quite frankly I couldn't care less about what your name is."

Hitori gasped. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "There must be something I

can do to make it up to you."

Blowhole thought for a moment. She had wings; well, obviously. If she

could just take him back to his place, which, hopefully, Skipper and his crew

were no longer at, where he could make himself something else to shift with.

"Take me back to where I live; I should be able to handle things from

there."

Hitori nodded. "Okay, I'll do my best. I injured my flight feathers when I

hit the ground, though. It might be kind of a bumpy ride."

"Fine," Blowhole groaned. "I guess it'll have to do."

Hitori squirmed on the ground until she could get under Blowhole, and

heave him up. Blowhole had to hold on tightly to Hitori. She then made a few

hops, getting ready, and soon they were up in the air. Blowhole had to steer

her in the right direction, as she didn't know where to go. Suddenly Blowhole

noticed he had a cut on his shoulder. He gritted his teeth together. Getting

that bandaged up so that it wouldn't get infected was just another thing to do;

and give him less time to think of evil plans.

After a while, they reached their destination. Hitori let out a deep

breath of relief when Blowhole got off her. Blowhole assumed he had been pretty

heavy; Hitori was pretty small, after all. Blowhole had to slither on the

ground like a snake to move. He went into his home, grabbed a piece of white

cloth from his medical cabinet, and handed it to Hitori.

"Fix yourself up. It's not that good, I know, but for now, it's all I've

got. Just be grateful that I gave you anything at all. I don't do things like

this for most."

"Thank you," she replied wrapping it around her minor wound.

Blowhole shrugged. The it randomly began to rain. Blowhole slapped his

forehead in frustration; his fortress had no roof. Droplets of water fell onto

his head, and Hitori shifted her talons uncomfortably due to getting wet. The

normally bright arco iris, arco-íris glow around Hitori's body then started to become dull. The sky soon became so dark that Blowhole couldn't tell if it was dia or night.

But he was so exhausted from all the recent awkward happenings that he decided

to go to sleep at that time regardless.

Hitori still hadn't left. "Let me guess," he said. "You want to stay the

night here."

"Well, yes." Hitori looked down at the ground in embarrassment. "If I can."

"You may; whatever. You're welcome here as long as you want, if you

don't bother me, anyway." Hitori didn't mover her head, but her eyes shifted

upward, looking at Blowhole, and a slight smile formed on her face. Suddenly

there was a great boom: thunder. A storm was approaching.

"Now," he continued. "Follow me. Unless you want to get struck by

lightning."

Hitori followed him as he led her to under a table. It wasn't very

spacious, but it was the only place with a roof.

"Good night," Hitori whispered once they had both settled down.

"Yeah," he replied quietly. "You too." He was surprised that he bothered

to give her any response. He'd normally ignore something like that. He hated to think it, but it was true. He kind of liked Hitori. Well, not really, he just

tolerated her mais than most others. At least she didn't annoy him.

Soon it was day, and the thunderstorm had stopped, and there were puddles

dappled all over the floor. The air felt moist, and the scent of nearby pine

trees was much mais noticeable.

Hitori squeezed her way out from under where they had taken cover. Her

nose twitched uncomfortably, so Blowhole assumed she wasn't found of the rain

smell that now lingered in this place.

After a few hours of work, Blowhole had made something he could

mover on.

They were just pads he put on his bottom flippers; they allowed him to

float, and were much easier to use than that old thing he had to drive

around. His stomach then growled, reminding him of his hunger. He

hovered over to his comida supply and grabbed some fish. He'd normally have his lobsters get him his

breakfast, but it was very early, and he'd rather not wake up one of his army

members at this hour, as that would make them tired and bad at work later. He

went into the other room and dropped his meal onto the table. He soon noticed

that Hitori was staring at his eats.

"Have some," he offered exasperatingly.

Hitori smiled and took one. She took a quick, small nibble, and after a

bit of chewing, obviously struggled to andorinha it.

"You don't like it, do you?"

Hitori slowly shook her head with a look of discontent. Blowhole sighed.

"I'll try to find you something else."

Why does she have to be so picky? Blowhole thought, annoyed and

taking back every somewhat positive thing he had thought about her the night

before. He tried offering her pão and even a flower, thinking she might be

mais of an omnivore, but she stuck her nose up at both. He was now going to try

giving her an apple, but if she didn't like it either, she'd just have to have

it anyway, because he was sick of going on a wild ganso chase just to find

something for someone he hardly knew.

"Okay, you better like this." Blowhole handed Hitori the bright red fruit.

He could tell por the light that instantly flickered into her eyes when she took

a bite that he had finally found something she favored. There was no need to

even ask her if she was enjoying it.

Blowhole spent the rest of the morning showing Hitori his base. His

workers seemed to be pleased with Hitori's presence.

por the end of the day, Blowhole had to admit to himself that he had grown

quite fond of Hitori. The world seemed to be new to her, as she didn't know

what many things were. He wasn't sure he should ask where she had been all her

years yet, as it could be something she wasn't comfortable with talking about,

but he must admit that he was curious.

A bit before they were going to go to bed, they heard a crash. Blowhole's

eyes shrunk in surprise. The penguins had busted in! Teeth gritted, Blowhole

growled. It was quite unusual for them to come back this quickly.

Skipper ran into the room, but to Blowhole's shock, he wasn't after him.

He was after Hitori.

"So," Skipper snarled, just then noticing that Blowhole was there, too.

"You're after the phoenix as well."

Blowhole blinked. "The what? Tell me exactly what you're talking about

before you jump to conclusions."

"He doesn't even know what she is," Skipper mocked him, glancing up at his

teammates. "That is a phoenix. You know, the bird of legend. And she's the last

one; as far as anyone knows, anyway."

"Skipper, maybe we should leave. I don't see why we have to do anything to

her." Private whispered to Skipper. The flat-head slapped him, harsher than

usual.

"Cymric's orders, Private. We're not going against his word."

Private didn't look convinced that whatever they were doing was as important as Skipper described. But he obviously didn't want to argue with his

leader any longer. "Yes, sir." His voice was meek, and he seemed to shrink half

his size.

Blowhole wasn't liking what was going on. It was suspicious. Grabbing a

small word on a nearby table, he rushed at Skipper, and tried to jab him. But

his foe dodged the attack, and hit Blowhole with a blow that made him spit

red liquid out. Something wasn't right here. Skipper was much strong than usual.

Kowalski and Rico had got a hold of Hitori, and Private just watched, a

look of doubt that they were doing the right thing clouded over his face.

Hitori let out screeches of fear as she was restricted. Suddenly, Blowhole felt

filled with rage. He wouldn't stand for these stupid pests constantly after

him, and seemingly others, any longer. He pushed Kowalski and Rico off Hitori

and climbed onto her back.

"I know you're still probably hurt, but at least try try to get us out of

here." He demanded.

"I'll try," Hitori nodded and sounded as determined as he was to leave.

She struggled to stretch out her wings, and then soared upward. The penguins

below them tried to reach them, but they were too high up already. Blowhole

grinned, and narrowed his eyes, at Skipper. He had grown tiresome of him and

his team constantly raiding on him. Little did they know that there were times

he wanted peace, too. Blowhole groaned at the thought of them always

bombarding him.

"I'm going to assume you know them." Hitori looked at Blowhole expectantly.

"Yeah, for a long time. They're constantly trying to get in my way and stuff."

"I'm sorry." Hitori needlessly apologized, frowing. "They don't like me,

either. Well, we don't really know each other, it's just that their commander

wants me because the drop of a phoenix's blood can give the gift of

immortality." After a pause, she reminded him that he still hadn't let her know

who he was. "Um, excuse me, I hope I don't sound rude or pushy or anything, but

you still haven't given me your name."

Blowhole sighed. "Blowhole," he let her know her reluctantly. Then he

shrugged, realizing it probably wouldn't do any harm.

"Oh, okay." For a couple of heartbeats, there was silence. Then she spoke

again. "Would you mind if I stuck with you a while? I'm afraid to be alone,

with those guys we just encountered constantly after me." She admitted.

Blowhole thought for a while. He didn't necessarily want to become

anyone's bodyguard, but he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Hitori. He

almost felt the same way, and with the same pests, too. If he let her tag along

with him, wherever he might go, the penguins would follow them, and he might be

able to destroy them once and for all.

"Alright," he decided. "You may stay with me. But no pestering me. In

fact, I'd prefer you avoid talking to me at all costs."

Hitori landed onto the grassy ground. "Don't worry, I won't be a burden."

Then, she solemnly added, "I promise."