________________________________________________________________ MAY 28, 1953 The school bell rang in a melodious manner as various young bird chicks made their way out of the schoolhouse and to their homes, ready to enjoy the weekend. As most of the birds have already flown off, a few birds have remained behind to help clean up. "Just my luck. I get stuck with you guys on cleaning duty." complained Jayden, a scrub jay. He felt a slight slap on the back as a voice behind him said in a sarcastic tone "Yep. Aren't you lucky?" The voice came from none other than Penelope Pinfeather, a housefinch. "Oh HAR HAR! Remind me to laugh next time." said Jayden in an equally sarcastic tone while clapping the erasers free of chalk dust. "I mean, I'm wasting a perfectly good Friday afternoon cleaning up the entire schoolhouse." "Well, you shouldn't have dipped Suzy's pigtails in the inkwell." scolded Penelope as she finished sweeping the floor. "Besides, you owe us big time for agreeing to help you clean up the schoolhouse. After all, It WAS your punishment. Besides, do you want to become like 'Birdie'? He wears that dunce cap like it's a purple heart." The scrub jay looked at her and stuck out his tongue. Penelope gave out a simple "Hmph!" as she went to put the broom away. At the opposite end of the room, three canary triplets were putting books back on the shelf, which took only half the time it would normally take as all three of theme were working at once. The "Canary Sisters", Betty, Gloria and Diane by name, had finished their task and went to check on another student. That student was Suzy Sparrow. The aforementioned student was currently getting ready to leave as she gathered up her school books, only to be stopped by the canary sisters. "Hello Suzy!" the triplets said in unison. "Oh, hello you three." Suzy greeted them. Diane spoke up "Are you okay Suzy?" She asked. "Yeah, especially after what Jayden did to your hair." stated Betty as she examined Suzy's pigtails. "I'm fine." Suzy said in a slightly forlorn voice. "I just wish that bird would grow up for once." Suzy then walked over to where the others were finishing up. A few minutes passed as Professor Owl, who supervised the clean up as he sat at his desk, grading papers, looked up and out the window, taking note of the dark and ominous storm clouds on the horizon. "Hmm...that looks like quite a nasty storm." he thought to himself. He got up and walked over to the students. They saw him walking over and gave him their full attention. "I'm very proud of you all for doing a good job of cleaning up the schoolhouse." Said Professor Owl. "Now run along, and do hurry. The weather looks terrible and I'd hate to think of what would happen if any of you got caught in the middle of a storm." The students thanked their teacher as they headed off for their homes, completely unaware of the events that wre about to unfold. ________________________________________________________________ MARCH 17, 2011 "C'mon Gadget luv, wake up!" said Monterey Jack as he gently shook Gadget awake. "Whuzzat?" asked Gadget as she yawned. "Morning already...AW SHOOT! I must've dozed off." said Gadget. "I'd rather you doze off than work yourself to death. You've been up for days working on that project of yours." said Chip as he entered the room with breakfast for the female mouse. "It's not healthy to stay awake for days on end like this Gadget." Gadget tiredly took a piece of toast into her mouth and started on the 'brakfast-in-lab' as Dale jokingly called it when Gadget had pulled an all-nighter last month. "But I'm so close." She said with her mouth full. She finished chewing before continuing. "All I need are just a few more hours and I'd have done it." "And just was is 'it' Gadget luv? You 'aven't told anything about this project of yours ever since we returned from our last rescue mission." said Monterey. "I'm currently trying to work on a teleportation device." Gadget said as Dale poked his head through the doorway. "Did somebody say TELEPORTATION?" Dale asked in his usually enthuisiastic manner. "Yes Dale. After getting caught on our last mission, I thought that a teleporter might be a good way to avoid any unneccessary injuries on our next mission." Gadget explained. "So what you're saying is that if the situation gets to risky,we can pull out from a current mission?" asked Chip. Gadget finished up half of her breakfast before walking over to a large panel in the middle of the lab. "Exactly. The only problem is is that I just need to feed it enough power, and I can't seem to figure that part out." As Gadget futher explained the properties of the teleporter, Dale noticed that the device was hooked up to a generator...or it would be if not for the fact that it was currently unplugged. He turned to Gadget and asked "Are you sure it's not unplugged?" with a mischevious grin. "I...Don't think it is. Thank you Dale." Gadget and the others then saw that he was trying to hook it up to the generator. "NO DALE! DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Yelled Gadget. But it was to late. The machine came to life as a blinding light filled the lab, bathing everyone in an eerie blue light. Then the machine shut down, as did all of the lights. Thankfully, Gadget managed to locate a flashlight and quickly turned it on. "Dale, that is the LAST STRAW!" shouted Chip as he bonked Dale on the back of the head. This quickly lead to one of their trademark quarrels. "Just another day at the office, Right Gadget luv?" monterey joked. "Gadget chuckled slightly before she notices very faint movement out of the corner of her eye. She walks over to the telepoter, shocked to find some creatures laying unconscious on the panel. "Guys! Cut it out and come over here, quick!" Gadget said, signaling the others towards the panel. The others were shocked. "You've REALLY done it now Dale." said chip as he looked at the figures on the panel. ________________________________________________________________ Penelope's eyes snapped open. She sat straight up, noticing she was on a bed. A bed that was not her own. She had no recollection of how she got here in the first place. The last thing she remembered was that she and the others had been flying home when it began to rain, lightly at first, but it soon evolved into a thunderstorm. That's when there was a flash of lightning... Her mind drew a blank when she tried to remember anything past that. After the general feeling of disorientation had passed, Penelope now realized that whoever might have put her here might not be the most affable creature she would have the pleasure of meeting. She jumped when she heard the doorknob turning and quickly got under the covers, hoping that this was all just a bad dream and that she was safe and sound in her room. Penelope then feigned sleep when she heard the door slowly creak open, followed by soft footsteps. _______________________________________________________________ Jayden slowly made his way over to the bed, hoping not to disturb Penelope. As he edged ever closer to the bedside, Penelope felt as if her heart was about to burst from her chest. The moment Jayden put his wing on her shoulder, he felt intense pain on the side of his head as he got knocked back a few inches. Penelope gasped in horror as she realised just who it was she hit. Immediately, she flew over to his side as he held his beak in pain. "Ohmigosh! I am so sorry!" Penelope said as Jayden tried to stand up. "That one packed quite a wallop. You know for a girl, you hit pretty hard." Jayden chuckled before he winced a little as pain shot through the right side of his face. Penelope just smiled, knowing that He would be okay. "I thought whoever put me in this room had returned." Jayden just laughed. "I fail to see how even you could find this situation the least bit humorous." "I'll explain later, but for now, I want you to come with me." said Jayden. "But what about the others?" Penelope asked. "Where do you think I'm taking you? Come on, they're in the other room. Follow me." answered Jayden. _______________________________________________________________ Meanwhile, in the foyer, Gadget was pacing back and forth, muttering words to herself. She nearly jumped when she felt A hand on her shoulder. She turned around to face Chip, who had a reassuring look on his face. "It's okay Gadget." "No Chip, it's not. I think we might have screwed up big time." she said, panicking slightly. "You mean DALE screwed up." said Monterey as he motioned towards Dale, who could only give a nervous chuckle and shrugged. That's when Jayden walked in with Penelope. "Sorry about taking so long." He looked around curiously. "Where are the others?" As if on cue, the front door opened as Suzy and he canary sisters made their way inside, followed closely by Zipper. "Thank you very much for showing us around the place. You know, you are kind of cute for a fly." said Suzy as she pat Zipper gently on the head as he squeaked in a manner that could easily translate to "Aw shucks.". That's when Gloria noticed Jayden and Penelope and smiled. "Hey, you're alright." she said as betty cut in. "You're both okay." said Betty as Diane noticed something. "Why is your beak bruised?" Diane asked. "It's a long story." said Jayden, blushing at the fact that he nearly got knocked out by a girl. *Ahem* Gadget cleared her thought. "Sorry to interrupt the reunion, but There's something I like to discuss with all of you."