Liar, Liar, the Mage's Desire Vol. 3 (Return of the Oumeno)

Kokichi and Himiko's Great Penguin Rescue (17)

    "Well...that just happened," Six muttered in shock.

    "HIMIKO!!!" Kokichi yelled, plunging straight into the water and leaving his subordinates behind. 

   "Um...so, who's gonna be the new supreme leader if the boss doesn't make it out?" Four asked hesitantly.  Deep under the freezing cold water, Kokichi swam desperately to find Himiko. Strangely, he couldn't feel how cold the water was. He thought that he'd struggle or slow down, but he found himself swimming with ease. As he descended deeper and deeper, the water grew darker. Finally, he found the leopard seal. Its mouth was empty, but to Kokichi's horror, it was now attacking Himiko. He dashed towards the leopard seal, grabbing Himiko, and kicking the leopard seal away from them. The leopard seal gnashed its teeth at them. Kokichi thrust his hand forward to push it away, giving the leopard seal an opportunity to bite him. As it tried to, however, a small force field appeared over Kokichi's hand. The seal kept trying to bite his hand again and again, but to no avail. Soon, it gave up and began swimming towards Pinkwin again. Himiko lunged forward, but Kokichi kept hold of her and began swimming up to the surface. Once he broke the surface, he hoisted Himiko up onto the ice. 

   "PINKWIN!!!" she gasped. "HE'S STILL DOWN THERE!!" 

   "Stay there!" Kokichi ordered Himiko before diving back into the dark water. Like a bullet, Pinkwin flew straight through the water with the leopard seal right behind. Kokichi reached his arms out, allowing Pinkwin to swim into them. The leopard seal swam right at them, its angry, hungry eyes intent on killing. Kokichi held his arm up to block the seal, but right as the seal approached him, the same force field popped up, protecting Kokichi and Pinkwin from the seal. The leopard seal tossed its head in frustration before swimming away. Kokichi swam back up to the surface. Just as before, his clothes and skin were completely dry. He gave Pinkwin to Ten before clutching Himiko's shoulders.

   "You!! Don't you ever do that again!! Are you out of your mind?!" he yelled. "Don't you ever do anything stupid like that again, Himiko!!" Himiko's lips trembled as she shivered in the cold. 

   "I'm...sorry..." she mumbled in a teary, quivery voice. Kokichi sighed deeply and hugged Himiko tightly. 

   "Er...I hate to dampen the mood, but, um..." Ten said. He showed everyone Pinkwin, whose foot was broken. Across his tummy was a gaping wound. 

   "H-H-He's hurt!" Himiko exclaimed, shivering violently. 

   "We'll help him," Kokichi assured. "But we need to get you out of those clothes, Himiko. Guys, let's hurry up to the other side!" Quickly, everyone slid over to the other side of the lake. Kokichi immediately removed his coat, and then Himiko's. "Takehiko, did you bring extra clothes?"

    "Um...I only managed to save a few pairs of socks, a pair of pants...and a blanket," Ten replied.

   "That'll do for now," Kokichi said, removing his mittens and handing them to Three and Five. "Keiko, Emi, help Himiko remove her clothes, and help her put the pants and socks on. Wrap the blanket around her upper body, and put my coat and mittens on her. The rest of us will help Pinkwin."

    "Got it!" Three and Five replied in unison. As they helped Himiko, Kokichi and the rest turned to Pinkwin. 

   "Sss...gosh, that wound looks pretty deep!" Two muttered, wincing as he eyed the baby penguin in pain.

   "Ooo! The first aid kit!" Four said. "That would help!"

   "Let me have it," Kokichi said, holding his hand out to Four. Four rubbed his arm sheepishly.

   "Yeeeaaaah...um...the first aid kit would help...if it hadn't sunk to the bottom of the sea with the boat...hahaha..." he sheepishly mumbled. 

   "Urrgghh..." Kokichi growled in annoyance. "Daisuke, hand me your scarf." Two untied his scarf and handed it to Kokichi. Kokichi tore a small strip of the scarf. He wrapped the bigger part around Pinkwin's body to keep him from bleeding out, and the torn bit of scarf around Pinkwin's foot. "Okay, hopefully that'll be enough until we get to the headquarters," Kokichi said. "It's in the middle of the afternoon. We have to get to headquarters before dark!" He turned back to Three, Five, and Himiko. "Is Himiko ready?"

   "Yup!" Three answered triumphantly. Himiko shivered less in Kokichi's coat, the pants, and the extra pairs of socks to keep her feet warm. Kokichi handed Pinkwin to Himiko, then placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

   "You okay, Himiko?" he asked. Sniffling, Himiko nodded her head. "'Kay. Take, give her a lift again."

   "Pardon me for the second time, Supreme Lady!" Ten said, scooping Himiko into his arms. Kokichi looked at the base of the mountain before them all, and noticed a rocky path clear of snow zigzagging up the mountain. 

   "It looks like a trail," Kokichi said. "We'll reach headquarters soon enough. Let's go, guys!" With a bit more hope and bounce in their steps, everyone followed the trail up the mountain. Kokichi checked in with Himiko every now and then to see how she was doing. Due to her fiasco with the leopard seal, along with her depleting magic, she felt completely exhausted. Kokichi assured her and everyone else that they were almost there. Finally, after an hour of walking, they reached a part of the trail that led them to the other side of the mountain. They looked below them and spied a large, gray building with the D.I.C.E. logo on the side.

   "There it is," Kokichi breathed. 

   "Good, cuz I'm hungry," Ten said, his stomach growling. 

   "I hope they don't serve food like whale blubber or polar bear burgers down here," Five muttered. 

   "Polar bears don't even live at the South Pole," Seven replied.

   "It doesn't matter, let's just hurry up and get down there, already," Six said impatiently. 

   "Rikuto's right. Let's keep moving," Kokichi said. 

   "Oh, wait, wait! I'm gonna call out to 'em and see if they hear me!" Four said. 

   "Ichiro, don't you dare!" Kokichi warned, but his warning came too late. Four cupped his hands around his mouth and inhaled deeply. 

   "YODEL-AY-HEE-HOOOOO!!!" he called. Ay-hee-hooo! Hee-hooo! Hooo! His voice echoed through the sky. "Hahaha...cool!" he chuckled. 

   "Uh...anybody else hear that weird sound?" Three asked with concern. They all stood still for a few moments. Above them, they heard creaking and cracking sounds, as if the earth itself was breaking. The snow around them began to shift. Large chunks of snow and ice fell around them. They looked up to see massive amounts of snow giving way from the top of the mountain. 

   "It's an avalanche," Kokichi breathed in horror.