Thunderfunk the Superchicken - Chapter 3

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Gecko flexed his legs and came to a graceful landing in front of a rather blank looking cliff wall, completely uninteresting and unremarkable. "According to our information, this is it," he said confidently.

Alighting beside him, The Chameleon swivelled his eyes, watching his leader and a distant plane at the same time. "That is what you said at the last three cliff walls. Could it be that our fearless leader is just guessing?"

"Chameleon, old chum, this is no time for dissent in our ranks. Thunderfunk the Superchicken is a scourge upon this planet, a pox that must be eradicated for the good of all the world. But be not deceived by his innocuous moniker, he is likely to be the deadliest foe against whom we have striven. The slightest miscue may very well be our downfall, and he will use every advantage over us that he can. So I pray that each of you keep your wits about himself, and Chameleon, whatever problem exists between us, please put it aside for now. You are the most cunning among us and we will need your skills if we are to emerge victorious."

Chameleon stared hard at Gecko, but only with one eye. The other eye was still on the plane far overhead. "You are right, old friend. Together we can defeat him; he stands no chance."

Newt scurried around excitedly, climbing partway up the cliff wall and jumping down to land on Lizard’s back. "Yeah, he’s going down!" He hopped to the ground and sat at Gecko’s feet, his eyes shining with hero worship.

Lizard laughed. "Excitable little guy, isn’t he? Now Gecko, how do we get in?"

"That’s easy," came a voice from behind them all. They whipped around to see Frog standing there, hands on hips. "I’ll just kick it in, smash the wall until it comes down." Before anyone could object he had hopped over them and was winding up to do just that. But Gecko quickly leapt to stand against the wall.

"If you do that," he warned, "then anyone within a twenty mile radius of here will know that we have arrived, and the element of surprise will be gone. This is one time when stealth is necessary. Trust me, once we are inside there will be enough use for your legs. Let’s try to keep them fresh until then."

Grumbling good-naturedly, Frog lowered his leg and stepped back. "Well then, how do we get in?"

"An interesting conundrum indeed. Newt, I believe it is your moment to shine."

"All right," exclaimed an excited Newt. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small computer. His hand dipped into the bag a few more times, pulling out an assortment of electronic gadgets until he had an entire workstation set out in front of him. Soon he was typing away, whistling tunelessly. He stopped suddenly, and looked around suspiciously before returning to his work. With a triumphant flourish he clicked a final key a watched as a section of the wall before them suddenly developed a seam. Slowly a door appeared and swung open.

"Good work, Newt," said Gecko, clapping him heartily on the shoulder. "Everyone keep together and watch each other’s backs. We must be on our toes." With that the R-5 entered the dark tunnel.


High above them Straw Daq radioed down. "They’ve taken the bait, Thunder," he said. "I’ll be down in a minute."

"Rofer," came the reply.

Straw rolled his eyes. They must be good cookies.