Dangerous And Cold 2: Call Of The Spirit

The Next Clue

"Great... and there's a whole lotta snow to look under!" Darington said.

"And a whole lot of cute penguins!" Gabby cooed as penguins began to slide toward them.

"Hey... Dad's last letter mentioned them! Maybe they know where to look!" Crusher gasped.

"Stripes, can you ask them if they know anything?" Blaze asked.

"I can try-- I do know a little penguin." Stripes cleared his throat as the penguins approached him. "Ack, ack ack ack ack ack, ack ack?"

The penguins glanced at each other before nodding and speaking in response.

"They say they know where the next clue is!" Stripes said.

"Great! Lead the way, little cuties!" Pickle cried.

The penguins belly-slided off, with the group following after them. Swoops waved them off.

"Good luck, fellas!"

"Thanks, Swoops!"

They soon made it to where a lone penguin stood. He was elderly compared to the others as he waddled towards the group slowly.

"Who is that?" AJ asked quietly.

The elderly penguin gave a weak noise. Stripes nodded.

"He said that he's the Elder Penguin," he told them. "And he's got something for the ice prince,"

"For me?" Crusher asked. "Um... thank you."

The Elder Penguin gave an envelope to the dark blue truck.

"Read it, Crusher! Read it!" Pickle urged excitedly.

Crusher opened the letter to read.

["You have found my home, but not the door,
My roof is what you consider the floor,
You'll find a ditch with an icy test,
And there you'll find an ice at rest."]

"Okay, let's think about this," Blaze said, beginning to pace. 'The roof is what you consider the door...'. That means that his home must be underground."

"But what does 'And there you'll find an ice at rest' mean?" AJ wondered.

"We can worry about that when we get there," Stripes told them. "But first, do you penguins have any idea of how we can get under this ice?"

The penguins nodded and pointed over to a far off direction.

"I... guess we go that way..." Crusher said unsure. "Thanks again!"

The penguins bowed before sliding off. The group drove off towards the direction pointed to them. As they did, they failed to notice a pair of golden eyes spying on them from afar.

"Argh... guess I'll have to increase the danger level..."

He stomped the bottom of his scythe on the ground, causing a major earthquake that caused the ice to break.

"EARTHQUAKE!!"

They screamed as the ice broke at their tires. Crusher hissed and stomped his tire on the ground in attempt to repair the ice.

"Come on... come on...!!"

After some effort, the ice was repaired. Drained, Crusher collapsed on the ground, panting in exhaustion.

"Man... that was too close!" Blaze sighed.

"Come on, Crusher," Pickle grunted as he and Blaze helped him back up. "Let's keep going."

"Okay, okay..." Crusher nodded and drove with them.

They soon reached where the penguin pointed and found themselves at a ditch near an ice statue covered in darkness.

"Whoa..."

"How are we gonna get across this ditch?" Stripes asked.

"Hey... maybe Starla could rope her lasso around that icicle up there, and then we can swing across one at a time!" Blaze said, pointing.

"Good idea!"

Starla twirled her lasso, ready to attempt the idea. As she did, Crusher closed his eyes and felt another call.

"Ina-yuki... come to me..."

"It's Dad! His voice is close!" Crusher cried out.

The staff gave a glow before it floated above from his tires before flying down into the ditch.

"Oh no..." Crusher hissed.

"What it doing?" asked Zeg.

The staff floated back up into Crusher's tire. Crusher was confused until the staff dragged him down into the ditch.

"WHOA!!!"

"CRUSHER!!" everyone shrieked.

"Hang on, Crusher!" Blaze said as AJ hopped into his cab. "We're coming!"

They all headed down into the ditch, sliding down and down until they reached the bottom.

"You okay?" AJ asked the prince.

"I'm fine, but... what is going on?"

The staff glowed towards deep into the ditch. There was an envelope stuck to the wall, which Stripes grabbed.

"Got it!"

"What does it say?" Blaze questioned.

Crusher opened it.

["Here is my lair, welcome inside,
It's where I like to stay in and hide.
My child, you found me, listen close.
Frozen in ice, is the host."]

"Dad is frozen in ice?!"