Before I begin, this story is meant to be scary. Sure, it isn't really, but there's freaky things in it, like these strange figures.
Chapter 1
I stood there, staring at the figure. He was hidden away in the thickness of the snow. No movements. It didn't look like he was alive. But I heard his soft breathing. His breath was icy cold. No penguin was like this. For all I knew, he could be a monster. My eyes blurred, and I wondered if he truly was there. He must be. Crunch! I heard flippers bouncing through the snow behind me. It was Sensei.
"What are you doing out here, grasshopper?" shouted Sensei.
"Uh, just looking at your magnificent dojo." I lied.
"It's a grand thing isn't it? I built it myself, back before all of you penguins were even born. The modern generation is so hard to teach Card-Jitsu!"
"Uh yeah. I'm only an orange belt." I replied, yet again lying to him. I hadn't a clue what Card-Jitsu was. Sensei moved along, and greeted some ninjas. I stood there watching him.
Then I looked back, deep into the snow. It wasn't moving. It didn't seem to care about the snow. I slowly waddled away, unaware of the consequences of my actions.
Chapter 2
At night, I heard a rattling noise. It wasn't just the wind. Tommy heard it too.
"What time is it?" he called out from the other room. I glanced at the clock.
"Four o'clock in the morning!" I called back. He grunted, rolled over and fell back asleep. Gradually, I got up out of my bed and waddled over to the window. There were more figures. Exactly like the one I had seen before at the dojo. They were arriving. I knew what they were. I visually imagined the dark secrets that they held. But I didn't know what they were. What they did. Why they were here. Something was wrong!
I woke up early the next morning, and I decided to go surfing to cheer me up. After a frightful night, I hoped I wouldn't see those strange figures ever again, and that they were gone. I walked past Tommy in the morning. He had already woken up - he always woke before me. He had dressed in a casual green cap, with his favourite t-shirt and some sunglasses.
Before long, I reached the forest. He was there. He stood there still. I didn't need a warning. Without thinking, I rushed down the steps to the Cove and left him alone. I didn't dare surf after seeing him. He was there every day. Watching me. It was Sensei. He was hidden in a long thick coat, and nobody was crowding him. He followed me. Down the steps, and past the hut. Quickly, I grabbed my silver surfboard and caught the waves. He would never catch me there.
Eventually, I ended up surfing until I was in surrounded by sea. The island was just a small speck from where I was. I was catching the waves when I noticed something in the water. It wasn't a shark. It was the figures. Just lying there, sinking down below the water. But what was the creature? I leapt up in shock, and missed the surfboard. I scrambled as the waves pulled me down below. I gasped for air, but none came. I was underwater, being dragged by the strange figure. It pulled me tighter until we were at the bottom of the ocean. I tried to scream, but water gushed through my mouth. I kicked rapidly, and the figure let go and I quickly swam back up to the surface. I shouted for help, yet nobody heard.
Chapter 3
Another surfer had seen me, and had quickly come to rescue me. He was part of the rescue squad, and helped me get back to shore. Sensei was there. I had a feeling that he was watching me all of the time. After recovering, I headed back to the Dojo to discover more about these figures. Now I knew what they looked like. They wore silver cloaks, and they were penguins. I didn't see much else, but I was going to find out more. The walk up the mountains were tough, and I got bruised and fell a few times. After all that pain, I managed to arrive at a deserted dojo.
There was nobody there, not even a ninja. That's when I saw it - in the windows. Moving back and forth, throwing snowballs at me. Then it froze. It literally froze. I moved outside and to my surprise, I saw a frozen figure - frozen in ice! Somehow, I caught a glimpse of it's outline - a penguin shape, and--I was attacked. He grabbed me by my beak and pulled me up in the air. He whispered something in my ear,
"We are rising. Don't get in our way!" He put me down, and vanished.
Chapter 4
I couldn't sleep. The endless hours, the endless night. Noises came from all around me. I thought of figures, and watched the endless minutes pass by. It was like the whole world was stuck. The clock moved slowly. One o'clock. Two o'clock. Three o'clock. I heard Tommy's snores. I glanced at the window, and I saw more figures - more and more, heading towards the mountains. I must of finally got some sleep, because I woke up late the next morning, from the sound of the blender. Tommy was back from his walk with the puffles, and was making himself a drink. I yawned and walked into the kitchen.
"What you been up to then?" he asked me.
"Lookin' at the Dojo and stuff." I replied.
"Well, I just got today's issue of the penguin times and I see your name written all over it!"
"What's the story?"
"A penguin, asked not to be named, nearly drowned yestarday as he was attacked by a 'strange figure' - looks suspicious to me!"
"Yeah, alright, it was me."
"Thought so!" We sat down and ate breakfast, and I told Tommy about the figures. How they froze, threw snowballs and were hidden away.
"Nonsense!" he said, "You've just been having bad dreams, and you're not a very good surfer either!" I left the table after that, and ran away, ashamed of myself. That's when it happened - the dark secrets of the figures began to unfold in front of my ocean-blue eyes. They suddenly became clearer, and started to appear everywhere. They were training for something. I knew it. Who else would get up in the middle of the night and head for the mountains? But here they were again, outside my igloo. Tommy came outside, shouting for me. He said he was sorry. Then he gazed at the mythical creatures surrounding us. They were snowmen.
Thousands of them had been rising. Up and out of the snow, hidden away in their cloaks. There were tons of penguins crowding now, and the snowmen ran faster, up to the mountains. Now everyone had seen them. They knew I wasn't insane. Reporters were already taking photographs. Everything was fitting into place. They had stopped messing about with me. They would leave me alone. But they didn't.
Chapter 5
Everybody followed. That was their first mistake. I followed too, and without thinking, we were all climbing up the mountains to see these extraordinary snowmen. Sensei was there, staring at me. Tommy was close by. The winds were blowing rapidly now, and it looked like it was going to snow. The snowmen reached their destination, and we watched. We sat and watched, like hawks. Nothing happened. Then a voice came from a speaker nearby:
"I bet you're wondering why I've gathered you all here today," said the voice, "Well, you are about to witniss the Club Penguin takeover. Snowmen are gathering up, and materalising in the snow. Every night, they head up the mountains, and then..." We stood there, waiting for the speech to continue. But it didn't. And then a storm started to form, quickly. Penguins of all sorts of colours were shocked...
