Third Person

Professor Pikalus let out a long sigh and stumbled to the nearest chair to sit down in. He took in a deep breath, then let it all out again and slumped down, his eyes flickering. Sleep started to descend upon him as he let his body go limp. Normally, he'd go home to sleep but Professor didn't feel like moving.

Despite the chair being uncomfortable, the scientist was exhausted. He had worked all day and after finally fixing all the damage done, he was ready to do nothing for hours, if he could. For some reason, there was always something breaking in his lab, whether it be a tank or just the coffee maker. He swore it was some sort of curse or something, but he didn't look too much into it. The only downside to it was that Professor was normally the one who had to clean it up.

His mind began to clear and fade the longer he kept his eyes closed and he was just about to succumb to sleep when a voice interrupted him.

"Sir? Professor Pikalus?" Just from hearing it, he could tell it was an intern. They called him 'Sir' first and there was a sense of hesitance in their voice. Had it been a more senior scientist, they would have just shaken him a bit to wake him up, and then got to the point. Never waste time, that was a big unofficial motto in the lab.

The mad scientist grunted but slowly shifted himself until he was facing the intern, blinking slowly at them. Just like pretty much everyone in the lab, they wore a lab coat and she had her long hair up in a pony tail. Her eyes glanced around as he started to wake himself up again. "What?" Pikalus asked finally. "Spit it out."

"We've got a couple... Potential problems on our hands." He raised my eyebrows and gestured for her to go on. "Well, the portal for one thing. It's hard to explain but... Come see for yourself." She gave him a signal to follow her and started to walk towards the main area. Professor sighed. He swore that he never could catch a break.

Slowly but surely, he followed where she had gone and into where most of the others worked. Though most would often just work on their own assigned project, today they were all gathered around the supercomputer. Professor couldn't help but question it silently to himself on what the heck was going on.

Jerold was first to approach him. "What's going on?" He inquired. Professor could tell that something important was going down. The portal was an important piece to Atlantis and helped keep it safe, without confining it to never be found again. The lead scientist huffed, eyes moving between Pikalus and whatever data the computer was showing.

"Take a look for yourself. One thing is for sure: The whole council needs to know about this."

Professor's heart nearly stopped. The council wasn't called for just anything and Jerold never joked around. This had to be huge, there was no doubt in his mind. Swimming over to the supercomputer, he pushed his way to the front and read the data for himself.

His eyes widened and Professor involuntarily took a step back.

"This isn't good..." He mumbled to himself, head shaking rapidly. "This-... I gotta call Cody."

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Cody was minding his own business when he got a message he didn't think he'd get today.

Cody was planning on playing video games the whole day. Today was one of his less busy days, where his kingly duties weren't needed as much and where he could just slouch around.

Cody was planning on doing just that, when a text came in. Picking up his phone, he found he was now in a group chat, one with the entire council, and anyone else who was called when important things happened. The message was a bit cryptic, but it still made Cody nervous. Professor Pikalus was the one to send it.

CODE RED! It said. CALLING A COUNCIL MEETING, EVERYONE GET THERE QUICK!

And that was all.

Cody was among the first to get there, Rasmus and One Eye being before him. One by one, each person showed up. Even Tanith was invited and though she wasn't an official member, the penguin did hear that Rasmus was considering it, given she did have a unique perspective on things. After all, She had been living for hundreds of years and most of which was in war. She knew the hardships of battle, arguably better than anyone.

Cody might have been the king, but Rasmus always sat at the head of the table, and he let him. He was lead counsellor after all. As Professor Pikalus rushed in, last to make it, he stood in front of them and started to address everyone.

"I bet you're all wondering why I've brought you here today..." Pikalus slowly grinned but quickly shook his head. "Sorry, always wanted to say that. The point is this: We have a huge problem on our hands."

A murmur spread throughout the crowd, but Cody and Tanith just raised an eyebrow and exchanged worried looks. Professor's tone set off millions of alarms in their head. It was serious. Deadly serious.

"In fact," Professor added, pulling out his laptop and started to set it up on the table. "It's really better if I show you, rather than explain it all." He said. The Irishman pulled up a couple of tabs, but settled on one. On the screen, there was a green line that continuously spazzed out, kinda looking like a heart monitor hooked up to a distressed person.

"Is that-" I heard PebbleTeen whisper in disbelief. Professor just nodded.

"The portal. It's under attack."

Suddenly, everyone on the room who hadn't caught on before now reacted. Nyanta's tail fluffed up, both Rasmus and PebbleTeen's feathers ruffled and Spartacus' horse half nervously tapped against the floor. Tanith let out an alarmed hiss and reeled back. Cody shot up in his seat immediately and when he stood up, the quick movement knocked the chair onto the floor.

"ATTACK?" He shouted, getting looks for everyone. Sheepishly, he asked again, but much quieter. "Attack? Explain Professor!" He demanded.

Professor huffed. "We've had this monitor for a long time. It's always there to tell us if someone is trying to get in, or out. If something is attacking it, this thing," He pointed to the ever moving green line, going up and down at rates that made everyone's heart stop. "Is made to see how bad it is. And it's getting pretty bad."

"Couldn't it just be a persistent shark banging its head into the portal?" Cody asked.

Professor let out a low chuckle. "If only huh? No, why would a shark behave like this? The force is way too strong for it. Besides, I decided to run the radar we have to see what's going on and..." He clicked on the tab next to it, bringing up a radar.

From out the portal, there was a lot of green with some black spots here and there. Cody examined it before giving up. "I don't get it..." He sighed.

"The green means there's a living being there."

Fear shot throughout the room, and all from one sentence. "Oh." Cody uttered, unable to say anything else. Pikalus gave a grim nod. "We need to get to the bottom of this... Is there anyway of communicating without opening up the portal? Maybe we can see what's going on."

The scientist thought to himself for a moment but nodded. "Yeah, I can do that. Come down to my lab, we'll figure this out."

Cody and Tanith both sat back and watched as Professor Pikalus typed on the computer at such a speed that both would consider inhuman. Both could tell his actions were fueled by anxiety. The pair wanted to calm him down, but found it hard when their own fears were taking the reins of their lives as well.

Tanith furiously started to play with her hair, starting to put it up in a way that made it look like a strange three parted pony tail, then would take it all out, just to do it all over again. Cody fumbled with his spear, flipping it around and his distress was not only causing the crystal to glow, but some slight reactions from Tanith when the fear increased from worried thoughts. Fear was consuming his entire body, making him think that he'd lose Atlantis any second. Like everything that he cared about would slip in between his flippers and be gone in an instant.

"It's going to be fine. Probably just a misunderstanding." Cody looked up to see Tanith had locked eyes with him. He took in a deep breath and nodded. Though they didn't completely go away, his fear did go down a bit, even if the comfort was simple.

"You're probably right." He stopped his nervous habits and took a moment to calm down. When he did, he noticed Tanith's shoulders relaxed. It suddenly occurred to Cody that they were connected by her bonding. Of course she was so tense, he was too! She would often feel what he felt, and if he was feeling intensely, she'd get the echo of it.

Cody was going to apologize but Professor interrupted them. "Annnnd, we are ready! Get over here!" He called over. Cody rushed to his side with the other following closely behind. "I'm sending out a little pulse now. Assuming that they have the technology which I'm guessing they do from the damage they're doing to the portal, they should get it and be able to message us. Hopefully it won't take too long."

Over an hour later, they still waited a response. "Maybe I was wrong." Professor whispered, his head in his hands. Cody huffed but a little 'Bing' made the three of them sit up. A message had been passed on.

A audio message.

Professor clicked the play button and soon, the computer was filled up with a loud clicking sound. It went on for a minute before ending. Professor and Cody stared at the computer.

Tanith was first to speak. "Could you play that again? They were talking kinda fast for me."

Both turned to face her with the same blank stare. "You could understand that?" Cody asked, head tilting slightly. She nodded hastily.

"Yeah actually! I've traveled around a lot so I've had to learn a lot of languages. I've forgotten a lot of them over the years, but you're lucky that's among the few I actually remember. It's Tokozalo." The king and scientist continued to stare at her, blankly. "It's a underwater species. They have big jaws full of teeth, glowing silver eyes and kinda look like fish people with claws at the end of their fingers. They're known for two sides: Good and Evil. Either the nicest people you'll ever know, or will try and stab you the second they see you. I've encountered both and it's no telling which it will be without talking to them. Now," She cracked her knuckles. "Replay the tape."

Professor tweaked the tape a bit, slowing it down and playing it again. Tanith listened carefully, writing it down and have it be played a couple times before getting it. "Okay, the gist of it is, "Greetings, lost city citizens, we," She paused, looking over her notes. "Okay, they either said tacos or Tokozalos, and I'm assuming the latter so, "We the Tokozalos wish to speak with the monarch of this realm." She finished. "Ten coins say that the monarch is you." She nodded at Cody.

Cody nodded back and took in a deep breath. "Can we send a message back?" Pikalus nodded. "Great, let's send a response." He then turned to the hybrid. "Think you can translate?"

Tanith grinned. "Gladly!"

Cody would normally take his time writing the perfect speech, but given these people wanted to get into Atlantis and were breaking down the portal to do so, he had to speed it up a bit. From that, Cody handed the reins over to Tanith, who translated it into the native language and spoke it. Cody's speech went a little bit among the lines of, "Hello, I am the King of Atlantis, Cody Maverick. Why are you breaking our portal? What do you need? Are you here on peaceful terms?" and such.

Once done, they sent it out and waited.

Thirty minutes later, the response came. As the half human listened, blood drained out of her face. Though short, something told the king that it wasn't good. Fear started to form out of nowhere, and Cody started to feel the effects of Tanith's emotions.

"What is it?" Professor asked as she froze.

"I... They..." She gulped and took a deep breath, pushing whatever fear she had, down. Filled with determination, she faced them. "They wish to come into our land and conquer. If we do not give in immediately and let them rule, they want to kill all possible threats, and basically start a war to take over." She finished. Cody watched something flicker in her eyes. A fear he had seen himself, and definitely felt as well.

The fear of losing everything.

Cody paused for a long moment before turning away. He couldn't deny he was scared, but right now, he couldn't let any of them see that. Be strong. He whispered to himself. Be strong for your city.

Always have to be strong.

"Gather the council, everyone in it. You too Tanith, we'll need your insight." He told them, keeping his voice from shaking. Whether it was anger or fear, Cody didn't know but something consumed him. He couldn't lose Atlantis. No... He wouldn't lose Atlantis.

Not without a fight.

"We're going to war."

Cody sat with the council all around him and cleared his throat. With a detailed map of Atlantis in front of him, he would have to plot it all out. "Everyone, as you all know, we are going to war."

"Is there any backing out of it? Any sign of peace?" General Guppy asked immediately.

Tanith decided to answer his question. "No." All eyes turned to her. "Whether they are good or evil, all Tokozalos are stubborn. If they have their eyes on something, they will follow through with it, sometimes even to death."

Rasmus's eyebrows raised, and decided to ask a question of his own. "What's your history with them?"

A look lingered in her eyes for a moment before disappearing, one Cody couldn't quite place, but almost looked like guilt. "One of the wars I was in. Two cities, one had a variety of species including some good Tokozalos, and the other strictly them. They went to war so, I came to help. W-we won but..." Her voice trailed off and when she spoke again, it was a ghost of herself. "At a terrible cost."

Suddenly, she jumped in her seat and wildly looked around before locking eyes with the penguin. "Cody! Battle plans!"

"Right!" Cody accidentally shouted, getting a look from Rasmus that quieted him. "Right." He repeated in a normal volume.

Pointing to the portal, Cody started. "The enemy will enter from here. According to Professor's radar, there will be a lot of them so no telling what number we're up against. Tanith," He nodded towards her. "Already told me on the way here that they're weakness in their stomach area, both front and back. Hitting there with a weapon could prove fatal but also that these are very fast creatures. Fast, but not strong so prepare our defense to be hit quickly but leave no weak spots. It'll take a lot more effort for them to break through stone than just taking us on. Shields are highly recommended. PebbleTeen!"

PebbleTeen sat up straight in her seat upon hearing her name. "Yes?"

"How are the troops? Do we have enough for war?"

She nodded firmly. "Certainly. We've been rallying a ton ever since the invasion of KrakenKid's army. All in tip top shape!"

"Perfect. Nyanta!"

"Yes?"

"The public, how can we help them? Obviously we need to get the houses closest out of there as soon as possible and keep some guards back to protect them. Possibly using our more armed and dangerous citizens to help out with this. I do know quite a few people who aren't in the army but could protect the innocents."

Nyanta thought to themself for a moment. "That sounds good but we'll need ways to keep them calm. Purrhaps you can help out with that?"

"Well of course! I've rallied Atlantis before, I can do it again. Now, battle formations and minimizing damage."

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"Three hours? Atlantis is lucky that Cody can keep that sort of thing up." Tanith smiled softly. Professor chuckled and nodded in agreement.

"That's actually just normal for Cody. He can ramble, which I guess comes in handy when he actually needs to. Half the time I have no idea what he's going on about."

The hybrid sat on the edge of one of the couches in the lab while Professor worked on the computer. Other scientists or interns were working on separate things, given they weren't needed for what he was doing.

Other than that, the pair were mostly alone. By mostly, there was one other living being with them, but they stayed silent given they couldn't exactly speak. Larry the Luggage slept on Tanith's lap soundly as she pet him. Professor glanced back at the pair and finally decided to comment.

"So... Why'd you bring along your pet?"

"He calms me." She answered. "And he's more of a companion really. He's not any less of a being than the next." The hybrid replied firmly.

A smirk formed on his face. "Had him a week and already attached? You weren't kidding about your "Tendency to get easily attached" were you?"

Her head shook but she stayed silent. Another war, going on in Atlantis. Tanith always felt like war followed her around wherever she went, and though it was her job to be in it, she was starting to get used to the peacefulness of the city. She couldn't catch a break, could she?

Everyone was doing a job. PebbleTeen and the other generals were rallying troops, while Cody, Nyanta and Rasmus all went to rally the people. Cody would once again have to give a huge speech. Tanith wondered how he could do it.

"So, what are you doing again?" She asked. She had tagged along with Professor on his own mission. "We were supposed to be with Guppy to work with weapons but then you got a text and now we're here, so what's going on?"

Professor paused in his typing but continued once he spoke again. "Remember the transmission I sent? The signal?" He didn't wait for a reply. "I got another one, but one that wasn't from our enemies. When I sent it out the first couple of times, I sent a lot of different ones to find which one worked best. One is known for always lasting a lot longer than needed and traveling far. Someone or something picked it up and sent us back a message."

His simple typing turned into furious keyboard mashing, alarming both Tanith and Larry. Larry woke up but Tanith just kept petting him in an attempt to get him to fall asleep again. "If I can just-" Clicking started to join in with the madness. "Get it to- THERE WE GO! WOO!" He threw his hands in the air in triumph. Whipping around, he grinned wildly. "Guess who just got it!"

Tanith slithered to his side in a matter of seconds, holding the luggage in her arms before carefully putting him down. Larry snuggled up to her side. "What is it?"

"Another audio message with some pictures I guess? Should we see it now or wait for Cody?"

The pair hesitated. Both knew that waiting was the best option, but curiosity was getting the better of them. "Cody is gonna take a while." Tanith pointed out. "We'd just be making sure it's worth of his time."

"... Screw it." Pikalus brought up the files.

As they went through it and listened to the message, slowly, their excited faces turned to absolute horror. "Oh no." They whispered at the same time.

Is that... Does this mean what I think it means?" The mad scientists grim nod made her heart sink further. "Oh..."

"No... No, no, no! Why now? WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO HAPPEN NOW?" Professor slammed his fists on the table, a blue-ish tint in them. So badly he wanted to destroy everything out of rage. Why now? He repeated in his head. WHY NOW?

"We... Cody... Oh no, when Cody finds out he's going to-"

"I know." He cut her off. He didn't need a reminder. If he reacted badly, only one thing would tell how the king would. "But we have to tell him... Come on."

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Cody, Nyanta and Rasmus all laughed joyously as they entered the palace. Cody held a glass of soda in his hand, and would sip on it from time to time. "I'd say that was a complete success, don't know about you two! I kept them calm, ready and with our battle plans, we're going to kick their tails!"

Rasmus looked almost the happiest Cody have ever seen him, even more than when they went sword fighting and had a heart to heart.

As they made their way downstairs, two figures near the thrones spoke in hushed tones. Cody instantly recognized his two friends. "Professor! Tanith! How are you two doing? What's going on?" Cody grinned, striding forward. As they whipped around to him, his heart sank to see their horrified expressions. "W-what's going on with you two? Why the long face?"

The scientist and doctor exchanged a look that Cody couldn't decipher. "You do it!" Professor hissed to the other. "You're good at the whole comfort thing!"

"You've been his friend longer and you'll be better with this! You tell him!" She replied in the same tone.

"Tell me what?" Cody butted in. Tanith looked away, her hands went up to her mouth. Professor looked at her before sighed and stepped forward.

"Cody... I wish it could be any other way, and I really don't want to tell you this now but... You have a right to know."

All it took was three words for Cody's heart to stop.

Three. Simple. Words.

"Joe is dead."  

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Wow... I've been waiting to drop that bomb for a while. Probably one of my best cliff hangers too. Oh boy, I can already see the reactions right now.

Remember that line I said in last chapter when Cody had so much hope for Joe coming back? Yeah, I might have been planning that for this moment. Man, I feel really evil right now. Poor guy hasn't even appeared really and he's dead already. I swear he dies in half the things he's in...

Ah yes, the portal. My moment to, uh, do some things. Next chapter going to be a lot of "Fun" to make, because I'll have to do a LOT of things. A LOT. SERIOUSLY, A TON OF THINGS. SO MANY REACTIONS.

Anyways, I hope you liked this and don't completely hate me for this. Be sure to comment your thoughts and anything else and goodbye!

--JustAnAtlantisWriter