Happy Feet Two

by Paul Livingston

  “Jump off!” cried Mumble from the top of the rise. But it was too late. Erik and the fish ramped into a large bump in the ice. Woooosh! Erik and the fish became airborne.

  Erik flapped his tiny flippers and squealed. “Up-uppity-up!”

  A gust of wind lifted Erik even higher in the air, but a moment later, he fell back onto the ice with a thud. He slid out of control toward the long drop down into Emperor Land.

  Desperate to save his son, Mumble threw himself down the hill, landing heavily on his injured shoulder. He just managed to slide ahead of Erik and, with only inches to spare, stopped him from going over the edge.

  “Don’t ever do that again!” scolded Mumble.

  But Erik was not shaken by the close call. In fact, he was delighted.

  “I was flying! Really flying!”

  “Erik,” snapped Mumble, “we are penguins! We can’t fly!”

  “Sven is a penguin and he can fly!” protested Erik.

  Atticus arrived right in the middle of the heated argument.

  “I don’t know what kind of penguin Sven is,” Mumble said. “But we are Emperor penguins—we can’t fly and we never will!”

  Trying SvenThink, Erik put his flippers to the sides of his head and cried out, “But if everyone could learn to fly, Mommy could get out of there!”

  Just then, Mumble and Erik heard a familiar voice from below.

  “Hey! What’s going on with you two?” asked Gloria, who had heard the disagreement.

  “Just working things out,” Mumble called out sadly.

  Gloria requested a word with her son alone. Mumble sighed and headed off to catch more fish. Atticus stayed with Erik.

  “Erik? I want to be right there by your side. But I can’t, so I need you to close your eyes,” said Gloria reassuringly.

  Erik was too upset to really listen to his mother. But then, Gloria began singing a beautiful lullaby. Her exquisite voice floated up and washed over Erik, soothing him. Soon it affected all the penguins around her until they, too, began to hum and sing along with her. And little penguin chicks nearby went into a deep sleep.

  Gloria’s uplifting song helped all of the Emperors forget their misfortunes and made them feel like a whole nation again.

  The stars glowed bright in the night sky, and Mumble sighed as the sweet song reached him on his way back to the sea. On the Doomberg, Erik and Atticus snuggled up and soon fell asleep.

  Mumble was a lonely figure as he trudged across the moonlit ice shelf to get more fish for the trapped penguins.

  Deep in the ocean, it was extremely dark … except for two lonely krill glowing faintly.

  “Will?” whispered Bill. “Are you asleep?”

  “Yes,” said Will. “Deeply.”

  “Then wake up and tell me … is that a swarm I see before me or am I dreaming?”

  Will cast a sleepy eye over a large, glowing shape gently swimming past them.

  “You’re dreaming,” said Will.

  Bill was seeing a family of luminous jellyfish floating past—two parents and their many children. There were hundreds of them. Bill thought they looked calm and happy.

  “How wonderful,” said Bill.

  “I wonder if they’re edible,” said Will.

  “Will, don’t you long for the patter of a thousand tiny feet?”

  “I, for one, don’t have the means to bring up so many kids. I mean, the birthday presents alone …”

  “I’ve already picked out the names for mine,” said Bill. “Phil, Jill, Syl, Gill, Dyl, Hil, Billy, Lilly, Wilma, Willis, Wilbur, Wilhelmina …”

  Will was getting tired of his sentimental friend’s chatter and swam off.

  “… and there is even a Will,” said Bill, following him. “You know, Will, we could start a little swarm of our own!”

  “We’re both males, Bill.”

  “We could adopt?” Bill offered.

  Will stopped and turned to Bill.

  “You adopt, I’ll adapt. Now if you don’t mind, I’ve got slaughtering to do.”

  Will was off again.

  “Fine. That’s fine,” said Bill, calling after him. “You go off, then. Quench your bloodlust. There’s plenty more krill in the sea!”

  Bill looked around. It was dark and he was all alone. He quickly swam back to Will’s side.

  “You are all the swarm I’ve got, Will!”

  “Suit yourself,” said Will. “But no hanky-panky, okay?”

  The sun was rising as Mumble headed back to Emperor Land once more, weary from fishing. He limped across the ice with fish spilling out of his beak and more tucked under each flipper. He even kicked a large fish ahead of him with his tired feet.

  Just then, a shadow passed over him. Mumble glanced up and saw a fierce-looking Skua bird hovering above him. He knew Skuas were aggressive scavengers—vultures of the ice. This particular Skua was known as Yellaleg.

  “Hey, buddy,” squawked Yellaleg with contempt. “Ya goin’ back n’ forth all night. Are you ever gonna give up? Ya half-dead already, so why not go all the way?”

  Yellaleg was soon joined by his buddy Brokebeak.

  “Yeah, you hit the deck, and we take care of the rest. No mess, no fuss, dat’s us!” Brokebeak cackled.

  Mumble started walking faster.

  As dawn broke over Emperor Land, penguins who had been searching for an escape route reported to Noah the Elder.

  “What news have ye?” Noah asked.

  Seymour spoke for the search team.

  “Noah, we have searched every nook and cranny, but we’ve found nothing.”

  “Then look again,” Noah urged. “Go back and search a hundred times!”

  Another elder penguin, Eggbert, stepped up.

  “But, Noah, there’s no way out! It’s pointless!”

  The sky darkened. Noah and the others looked up as thousands of Skua birds swooped down over Emperor Land.

  “My all-time favorite,” cawed Yellaleg. “Doomed penguin, packed in ice!”

  “It’s a smorgasbird,” chirped Brokebeak.

  High on the cliff above, Erik and Atticus were woken by the noise of the attacking Skuas. The two terrified penguins ran for their lives and took shelter in a small, icy crevice. Atticus whimpered softly, and Erik put a protective flipper around him.

  A deep unease spread throughout Emperor Land as even more Skuas swept down and circled above the entrapped penguins.

  Noah stood tall on his tower of ice, rallying the fearful penguins.

  “Stand together! Hold fast! They are scavengers. Cowards! They prey only on the weak, and what weakens us most is fear!”

  The Skuas surrounded Noah’s tower but he stood his ground.

  “Though we stare famine in the face, we will not yield! Though imprisoned on every side by colossal walls of ice, we will not forsake our heritage. As long as this tower stands, so shall we, this glorious Emperor nation!”

  There was a moment of silence, and then a large dollop of Skua dropping plopped onto Noah’s face. This was the signal for the Skuas to launch a full-scale attack on the colony. Chaos broke out as penguins scattered in every direction. Parents herded their young into caves and crevices as the Skuas snapped at them with their beaks!

  Trapped and under fierce attack, would the penguins survive?

  When Mumble arrived back at the Doomberg, he dropped the fish at the terrible sight of Emperor Land under attack below. Not far from him, a gang of Skuas flapped around the small crevice where Atticus and Erik were huddled. Luckily, the kids were just out of range of their sharp beaks.

  Enraged, Mumble flopped onto his belly and torpedoed down the slope. He slammed into the Skua pack, sending the birds flying. Then, Mumble saw Gloria down below trying to herd hundreds of frightened baby penguins to safety. Cackling Skuas swooped toward them, beaks snapping.

  “Gloria, behind you!” cried Mumble.

  Gloria turned just in time to see Yellaleg snatch a stray baby chick in his beak. Gloria raised a flipper and clobb
ered Yellaleg. The Skua let out a screech and hit the ground hard, freeing the terrified chick.

  “Pick on someone your own size, creep.” Gloria bristled.

  Yellaleg backed away.

  “Oh, I will, princess. I’ll pick on you first! While you’re still fresh. Before you’re stiff and stinky,” spat out Yellaleg before flying off.

  Mumble watched helplessly from above as Gloria, Seymour, and Miss Viola battled with all their strength against the vicious scavengers. But it seemed only a matter of time before the Skua birds would overpower them.

  Until …

  Mumble heard a faint call, a distant but distinctive, “Yodelay-ee-too!”

  Miss Viola recognized the sound immediately and responded with her own “Yodelay-ee-too!”

  As Mumble turned and Atticus and Erik poked their heads out of the crevice, they saw a little penguin charging over the rise toward them. It was Bo! And she was not alone. Behind her, Ramon and his Amigos led an army of hundreds of Adelie penguins.

  “Bo! You did it!” Mumble called. “Ramon! You brought all your friends!”

  “You kidding?” said Ramon. “These are just my cousins.”

  Ramon pointed with his flipper. “Those are my friends.”

  Mumble could not believe his eyes. More penguins swarmed over the rise, all carrying fresh fish in their beaks. There were penguins of all shapes and sizes: squat little Adelies, blackbacked Magellanics, tiny Fairies, and bearded Chinstraps all carrying fish and marching toward Emperor Land. Leading the group was Lovelace, his colorful vest standing out in the crowd.

  Realizing they were greatly outnumbered, the Skuas fled to the skies. Upon seeing their penguin brothers and sisters at the top of the Doomberg high above them, the Emperor nation cheered.

  Mumble was humbled.

  “Ramon, you’re such a true friend. Thank you, amigo.”

  “Don’t look at me,” said Ramon. “I had nothing to do with it.”

  Mumble turned to the other penguin likely to have done this.

  “Well then, Lovelace! Thank you!” he said.

  “You got the wrong penguin, brother,” said Lovelace.

  “Then who … ?” asked Mumble.

  “Hidey-ho there,” chirped Sven, hovering into view.

  Erik’s face lit up at the sight of his hero. “I knew it!” he cried.

  “Sven, this is such a wonderful thing you’ve done,” said Mumble.

  “Friends, fans, and chums,” Sven announced as he settled on top of Mumble’s head. “There is much works to be done! We never rest until everybody is fatty! Okay?”

  Down at the shore, penguins of all kinds went to work catching fish for the hungry penguins stuck in Emperor Land. They tossed their catch onto the ice, where hundreds more formed a long line and passed the fish from beak to beak all the way back to Emperor Land. Sven flew above the supply line, encouraging them. Then he swooped down into Emperor Land, giving the trapped Emperor penguins a sight they had never seen—a flying penguin!

  Soon the first wave of fish arrived, pouring over the edge of the Doomberg into the eager beaks of the waiting penguins below. Sven even flew up to where Noah stood on his tower and dropped a fish into the grateful elder’s beak.

  Up on the Doomberg, Mumble listened as Atticus, Bo, and Erik told Gloria all about Sven.

  “He can carry more fish than any other penguin that ever existed!” Erik exclaimed.

  “Ever!” repeated Bo.

  “And, it’s all due to his uniquely large, red beak!” Atticus added.

  “Very impressive,” said Gloria.

  Mumble signaled to Sven, who fluttered over.

  “There’s someone down there who’s very special,” Mumble said, pointing out Gloria.

  Sven could not deny her beauty. “Ah, so exquisite.”

  Mumble nodded and offered a small fish to Sven.

  “Knowing Gloria, she won’t eat until everyone else has been fed. Do you think you could take this down to her?”

  “Mumbley, please! She is your soul mate. She deserves only the very best! Courtesy of me!” Sven insisted as he flew off toward the open sea.

  Just below the surface, Will swam along an ice wall, stalking for prey. Bill floated beside him.

  Suddenly, a group of penguins appeared before them, catching fish with great enthusiasm.

  “A predator convention! Why wasn’t I invited?” yelped Will, charging forward.

  Bill’s heart sank. His friend Will was getting himself into more trouble than he realized. With all eleven legs, Bill grabbed onto Will.

  “Get off me!” Will bristled.

  “Don’t go, Will. You’ll never survive!” Bill protested.

  Will finally said what had been on his mind for a long time.

  “Bill, I think we should split up.”

  “If it’s personal space you want …,” said Bill, shifting a little to one side. “How’s this?”

  “No,” said Will. “I mean really split up. This is my life now.”

  Will was eager to join the pack of feeding penguins. “I’ll see you around,” said Will, swimming off.

  Tears welled up in Bill’s eyes.

  “Don’t leave me, Will!”

  Will turned back to Bill. “You’ll be fine, Bill. There’s nothing to fear,” he said.

  Just then, a black hole bore down on Will, and he was instantly swept up into the mouth of a fish. This fish was followed by many other fish, all of which were being chased by Sven. Sven scooped up all of the fish into his beak and headed for the surface of the water. And, just like that, Will was gone!

  “Please! Somebody? Anybody! I’ve lost my Will!” Bill whimpered.

  But now he was quite alone.

  Sven soared high above the ice, his beak full of fish. And dangling from the mouth of one of those fish was Will, his courage shrinking fast.

  Sven hovered above Mumble, and then spiraled down to where Gloria was busy feeding the little chicks.

  “Single file, with a smile,” she chirped. Sven landed beside her.

  “You must be Sven,” said Gloria, somewhat startled.

  Sven flicked back his golden head feathers.

  “Pleased to meet you. I am delightful!” he said through a mouthful of fish. “I bring premium seafood to Glorious!”

  Mumble watched from above as Sven moved closer to Gloria, his beak wide open, dripping with fish. Gloria hesitantly leaned in, and Sven unexpectedly lunged forward. There was an awkward moment as their beaks met. This was the perfect moment for Will, still dangling from one of the fish in Sven’s beak, to make his escape. Will let out a tiny scream that no one could hear as he jumped. Luckily, he made a soft landing on the head of a baby penguin.

  Gloria chose a fish from Sven’s beak and swallowed it.

  Sven moved closer to Gloria. “If you are not feeling a full Svensation, you can have more.”

  “Thank you, Sven, but I’m sure there are plenty of others more hungry than me.”

  Sven swallowed the rest. “See you for supper then?”

  “I’m kind of busy,” said Gloria.

  As Sven fluttered away, Mumble called down, “Honey, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” said Gloria. “Are you sure he’s not related to Ramon?”

  Mumble and Gloria shared a chuckle. Erik was not amused.

  “You shouldn’t make fun of someone just because he’s different,” protested Erik. “Especially someone who has come all this way to save us.”

  “You’re right, Erik …” Mumble began to apologize.

  “Yeah, and when Sven teaches everyone to fly, they’ll be uppity-up and out of there!” Erik added.

  “Erik, that’s not going happen,” Mumble attempted.

  “Wait and see. You just wait and see!” Erik declared as he stormed off with Bo and Atticus.

  “Well, it looks like I’ll never make the daddy hall of fame.”

  Meanwhile, down below, the citizens of Emperor Land watched in dismay as the number of fis
h dropping over the edge slowed and then stopped.

  Sven flew off to investigate the holdup in the supply chain.

  When Sven reached the shore, he found all the penguins that were fishing now standing on the water’s edge, staring out to sea. Something was out there … something large and red. Sven instantly recognized it. It was the scientific research ship that he and Lovelace had abandoned in such a hurry. But for some reason, Sven was not happy to encounter the humans again.

  Lovelace, on the other hand, was delighted to see them!

  “Summon them to the aid of our Emperor brothers!” he told Sven.

  To Lovelace’s surprise, Sven flew as fast as he could away from the ship.

  With Sven gone, all the other penguins were confused about what to do next.

  Suddenly Lovelace had a thought: Perhaps the humans could help! But the ship was not stopping; it was passing right by them.

  “Sven has gone backward … so I can go forward!” Lovelace announced just before he dived into the sea and swam toward a large iceberg nearby.

  Onboard the research vessel, something caught the eye of one of the scientists: a small, colorful figure on the peak of an iceberg. Looking through binoculars, the scientist realized that it was their long lost friend Lovelace.

  Lovelace thrashed his flippers about wildly and whipped his head back and forth, playing his imaginary guitar.

  The scientist ran back inside the ship and returned to the deck with an electric guitar and amplifier. As he played, the sound boomed out across the ocean and Lovelace whirled and twirled his flippers in time to the guitar.

  The deck of the ship soon filled with other delighted crew members as Lovelace played his air guitar with great gusto. And when he saw that he had their full attention, he dived into the sea and swam back to shore.

  “Follow that penguin!” the scientist called from the deck. Slowly, the ship turned toward the shore. The scientist didn’t know exactly where Lovelace was going, but he could tell Lovelace wanted them to follow!

  Meanwhile, Sven landed and huddled behind an ice ledge out of sight of everyone. He breathed fast, trying to fight a sense of rising panic. But he could no longer hold back the distant memory of what happened that day he escaped from the ship. That day he flew up onto the window ledge of the ship’s kitchen … and witnessed a terrible thing. The chef was roasting a whole row of chickens! This was the moment he realized that these humans fed and fattened up birds … to eat them?!