Instead of answering a bunch of questions as to why I'm suddenly updating this story, I'll just let all of you figure it out by what happens in the chapter. KevinBlu…! I expect a chapter out of you after this! I'll send you the synopsis!

The Lost Two Weeks

Chapter 5

Welcome to Ross Island

The puffin grasped the two young chicks in his feet as he soared through the very bitter nighttime sky. There wasn't even a shadow of doubt in his mind that these two little Emperors were newborns, and had for sure wandered off without their parents knowing about it. As they flew, Sven look looked down and saw Lovelace following him by sledding down the mountain one his belly. Sven found it remarkable how the strange rings of colors his rockhopper companion was wearing didn't tear off as the penguin slid down the mountainside, but he tried not to think about it too much. As focusing on something irrelevant might cause him to drop of the chicks he was carrying. Age and Hayley however were stunned at how fast they were moving compared to when they were trudging their little fluffy bodies across the snow and ice on the ground. To them, this idea of flying was something completely new, and they loved it! It was almost as much fun as dancing and partying!

For Sven's sight, he saw a large group of penguins moving around and he heard loud music and singing coming from the ground. He assumed it was where the two little chicks lived, and he quickly made haste to swoop down and attempt to land by hovering a few inches above the ground, dropping the chicks gently and landing himself. The little ones started hooting and hollering, as if they were ready for Round 2. "Again…again…!" Squeaked a young Hayley.

"I agree…! That was so much fun! Can we do it again?" The young and naïve Age asked the puffin.

"No…!" Declared Sven… "Once was tiring enough on my part! I have no intentions of hauling around two weights on my feet every day." Sven didn't sound nice at all with his explanation, but he was just trying to shoo the kids home to their parents, which I'm sure is what their parents would've wanted as well.

"Mighty Sven…!" Lovelace yelled as he raced towards them still on his belly, retaining the momentum and gravity from speeding down the slope to follow them. He turned himself sideways and skid on the ice and made snow powder fly on top of Age and Hayley's heads, but they giggled, and this also made Lovelace slow down. "I decree…by the power I now have by standing in your presence, that you should reap the benefits of your…said heroic actions! Saving two…helpless…little…probably meatless little penguins from getting lost on this barren slab of rock, couple with giving them the ride of their life…that, my brother, deserves some praise!"

Sven had no intentions of syphoning rewards from this act, so instead he decided to amuse Lovelace. "You make goo point Lovelace…" The puffin stated, and placed his wing under his beak as if he was thinking, meanwhile the chicks were still giggling that they had been covered with snow. "I shall find these parents, and make do with what is rightfully mine…!"

And so, the puffin started to walk like a penguin towards the large crowd of penguins they had landed near, but he found himself unable to get anyone's attention. So, he decided to try something a little more drastic. He shot into the sky and flew over the stage, Gilbert and Renée saw the black figure fly overhead of them and they instantly stopped singing and partying. Sven flew towards the mound and landed in front of them, but before Sven could say anything, Gilbert threw at him,

"What are you…?"

"I'm a bird…like you my friend…" Sven responded, and before anyone else asked a dumb question, Sven started right up again. "I have two little runaway chicks with me I found near an ice shelf, do you know who these little troublemakers belong to?" He didn't have to say anymore, Gilbert knew right away who they were. He made a frowning face and shook his head.

"Cold…Hayley…!" He yelled, and from the side of the crowd their little bodies were heard running through the snow towards the stage to Age's father.

"Hi Pa…! We were off exploring that thing you called a mountain…you made it seem really interesting, so we decided to go and check it out!" Age said to his Pa, but Gilbert wasn't so keen to stand for his son's dangerous moves.

"Cold…you should know by this point it's not good to wander off. Besides, even though you had Hayley and this bird here was kind enough to show you guys back here, it's never a good thing to get lost. Most of the penguins from our colony that get lost stand that way, and they never find their way back here!" It was a lesson in intimidation, but Hayley was curious why.

"Why Mr. Gilbert…? Why do most penguins like us get lost forever?" She was interested to know, but the little twosome would probably have to know the little detail of their home that they were being told.

"Uh, well…the thing is…this nation of our…it's not exactly connected to the other ones." Gilbert said, rubbing his flipper on the back of his head.

"What do you mean Pa?" Age asked him, now even more intrigued than Hayley was.

"It's broken away from the rest of the other nations because, well…our nation is completely surrounded by water for most of the year. That mountain you see isn't the only one around here, there's three more. That's not even the biggest one. The biggest one is over on the other side near where those Adelie penguins make their home." An island, an island connected by an ice shelf when the water froze during the winter, no way on or off until the water became liquid bone, and when it grasped the rest of the land like a skeletal hand.

"Wow…so, we're stuck here forever?" Hayley asked her friend's Pa for more information regarding the topic.

"No…we could always swim, or wait until the water freezes, but I guess in theory, we are." Gilbert told them, but they both got confused looks on their little faces.

"Uh…Pa…?" Age started to question, "What's 'swim' mean?"

Gilbert felt himself dumb, even though his son was a new born, he still should've known about swimming, fishing, and climbing by this point. "Uh…that's a lesson you'll have to learn in school."

Just then, panting was heard from behind all of them, and they all saw a small, chubby little penguin running towards them; he was waving his flippers as if he was trying to get Sven's attention. The flying one rolled his eyes and flew over to Lovelace, and in the more sincere voice he could manage, he said, "Yes, Lovelace my friend…?"

"There lives…a great and powerful force…within this shadow of a mountain you all call home!" He was trying to speak, but the sheer shock and mild terror in his eyes stopped him from saying much more.

"What…?" Sven said.

"I know what he speaks of…" A random voice said, everyone turned around and saw the head penguin of their nation. She walked among them, turning her head from side to side looking on to everyone as if she was trying to subdue their inner fears at what the rockhopper just said. "He referrers to the warmth inside the mountain; we know not why it's there or how it got there, but it has been the source of the life for our nation since long ago, even before my Grandmama was a little chick. We have nothing to fear from the peak, we've all lived under its shadow for generations, and we've all co-existed peacefully. This new generation we have among us, including our two little explorers…" Point her beak towards Age and Hayley, who were shaking their little bodies under the moon, feeling rather proud of their discoveries. "This shall be no different, our songs fill the sky and the water on this night as they've always had. Please, return to your homes for the night, I have things to discuss with a few select individuals." The penguins wasn't a young one at all, she was quite old, clearly well experienced and most likely older than any of the other penguins in the nation. She walked up to the stage towards Gilbert and Renée, along with Sven and Lovelace heading back to the mound. As the old one walked up to the family and Hayley, she only smiled and looked right at Gilbert. "Your son is just like you Gilbert, he adventurous, spunky, and so spirited. He's also quite the trouble maker, isn't he?" Gilbert nodded his beak.

"He sure is Great Grandmama…he sure is…" Age noticed what his Pa said, and he turned to the old one.

"Great Grandmama…?" Age said up to her. She only looked down and smiled at him.

"Did you know you had a Great Grandmama…? Most penguins don't live to be my age you know?" Age was all excited, he had another member of the family, and if this woman was his Pa's grandmama, that means that he's sort of like royalty. It was exciting for him, and he was really amped to continue speaking with her.

No author's note this time, I'm just gonna call it early and explain everything later. Hope you enjoyed this, these chapters are the shortest in the whole series, and they're all going to be this way, so get used to it. Not that some of you won't like a few short chapters, after the first chapter of "Hear My Voice" was 14k words! Also, you should look into Ross Island, it's really a beautiful place!