The Storm (Chapter 1)
#2 of Club Penguin
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On the morning of January 30th, 2017, EPF scientist and inventor Gary the Gadget Guy was on his way to his lab, ready to begin another day of experiments and inventing. As he entered the Everyday Phoning Facility, he was distracted from his thoughts when Molly, the front desk penguin, said his name.
"Morning, Gary!" she said.
"Hello Molly," Gary answered distractedly. His mind was still on his new blueprints. "Lovely morning, isn't it?"
"Sure is! Oh, hey-" Molly added, "Before you head to the Lab, The Director wants to see you in HQ. She said it's urgent."
This statement made Gary feel uneasy. What reason could The Director have for seeing him? He hoped it wasn't anything serious, but something in his gut said that something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Doing his best to ignore the feeling, Gary thanked Molly and quickly made his way to the secret entrance located in the waterfall just behind the front desk. He quickly made his way to the large table in the center of the room, and wasn't surprised when he saw the group that was gathered there.
Rookie was sitting in one of the large chairs, looking restless and fidgety. Beside him stood Jet Pack Guy, silent and stoic as ever. When he saw Gary enter, he gave a brief nod of acknowledgement.
Seated to the right of them were Dot the Disguise Gal and Ace, the agent who had single-handedly saved the island from more disasters than anyone. Ace and Gary made eye contact for a brief moment as Gary seated himself, before Ace returned his attention to Dot, with whom he was currently engaged in quiet conversation.
Turning his attention back to Jet Pack Guy, Gary was about to ask where The Director was when Aunt Arctic herself strode out of the doors leading to the Lab. Instantly everyone stood up and saluted. All except Rookie, who saluted but remained seated. Beside him, Jet Pack Guy noticed and nudged his shoulder. Taking the hint, Rookie looked flustered and quickly stood up, blushing slightly with embarrassment.
"At ease," said Aunt Arctic. "Be seated, everyone."
So they did. Aunt Arctic looked around at each of them in turn, before finally speaking.
"I have gathered you all here today," she began. "Because I have news that concerns the entire island."
Out of the corner of his eye, Gary noticed the way Rookie's eyes shifted nervously to Jet Pack Guy. Whether the stoic red penguin had reacted to the news at all, Gary couldn't tell, but he had a feeling that Jet Pack Guy was listening carefully to everything that was said.
He noticed, too, the way Dot and Ace had reacted. Both agents had leaned forward slightly in their seats, their eyes sharp and focused on Aunt Arctic.
"As you know, Gary and a team of researchers have been carefully monitoring the ocean currents, and weather patterns," Aunt Arctic went on. "Today, I was informed early this morning that our initial suspicions were right. There's going to be tsunami."
Dot put a flipper to her mouth in shock, Rookie turned pale, and Jet Pack Guy's flippers clenched into fists.
"So what's the plan?" Ace said. There was an intense look of concentration about him. Gary remembered him looking that way the day he'd stopped Herbert from completing Operation Blackout. "Do we know which direction it's coming from or when it'll arrive? Is there anything we can do to protect the citizens? Gary?"
"As far as the researchers and I can tell," Gary said, "The first wave will come from the south east and strike on March twenty-ninth. As to whether there will be a second wave, we're not sure."
"So we'll begin with clearing that part of the island first," said Aunt Arctic. "Everyone will need to be moved to the highest and safest ground - and our food supplies will need to be stored in the safest caves we can find."
"Won't penguins panic when they find out about it?" asked Rookie.
"It's up to us to keep them calm," said Aunt Arctic. "But they must be informed of the danger as soon as possible- don't worry, I'll have the newspaper handle that. Dear penguins, this will be a hard time to live through. Thanks to Gary's warning we may be able to prevent any loss of life, but the days afterward will be long and hard. Jet Pack Guy, take charge of securing the food supplies, with plentiful seed stores, but not all in the same place, just in case."
Jet Pack Guy nodded. " I'll see it done, ma'am."
"Still, there may be hungry days," said Aunt Arctic. "But we've been through worse disasters before. We can stand together through this. Now Agents, go. Begin preparing the island for the storm." Then as everyone stood up she said, "Remember: Be resourceful, be remarkable-"
"Be ready!" they all said together.
When they all had gone, Aunt Arctic turned to Gary. "I hope we both live through this, old friend."