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Undertow	By : pronker Category: +M through R > Penguins of Madagascar Views: 11341 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I make no profit from this fanfiction set in Dreamworks' Penguins of Madagascar franchise. I do not own its characters, basic premise or settings.

Chapter List
- 1-1/?
- 2-2/?
- 3-3/?
- 4-4/?
- 5-5/?
- 6-6/?
- 7-7/?
- 8-8/?
- 9-9/?
- 10-10/?
- 11-11/?
- 12-12/?
- 13-13/?
- 14-14/?
- 15-15/?
- 16-16/?
- 17-17/?
- 18-18/?
- 19-19/?
- 20-20/?
- 21-21/?
- 22-22/?
- 23-23/?
- 24-24/?
- 25-25/?
- 26-26/?
- 27-27/?
- 28-28/?
- 29-29/?
- 30-30/?
- 31-31/?
- 32-32/?
- 33-33/?
- 34-34/?
- 35-35/?
- 36-36/?
- 37-37/?
- 38-38/?
- 39-39/?
- 40-40/?
- 41-41/?
- 42-42/?
- 43-43/?
- 44-44/?
- 45-45/?
- 46-46/?
- 47-47/?
- 48-48/?
- 49-49/?
- 50-50/?
- 51-51/?
- 52-52/?
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- 54-54/?
- 55-55/?
- 56-56/?
- 57-57/?
- 58-58/?
- 59-59/?
- 60-60/?
- 61-61/?
- 62-62/?
- 63-63/?
- 64-64/?
- 65-65/?
- 66-66/?
- 67-67/?
- 68-68/?
- 69-69/?
- 70-70/?
- 71-71/?
- 72-72/?
- 73-73/?
- 74-74/?
- 75-75/?
- 76-76/?
- 77-77/?
- 78-78/?
- 79-79/?
- 80-80/?
- 81-81/?
- 82-82/?
- 83-83/?
- 84-84/?
- 85-85/?
- 86-86/?
- 87-87/?
- 88-88/?
- 89-89/?
- 90-90/?
- 91-91/?
- 92-92/?
- 93-93/?
- 94-94/?
- 95-95/?
- 96-96/?
- 97-97/?
- 98-97/?
- 99-99/?
- 100-100/?
- 101-101/?
- 102-102/?
- 103-103/?
- 104-104/?
- 105-105/?
- 106-106/?
- 107-107/?
- 108-108/?
- 109-109/?
- 110-110/112
- 111-111/112
- 112-112/112
- 11
- 12
- 13
On a temperate October noon, Skipper pierced each member of his team with an adamantine shard of regard as they stood at attention to let the lunch of swallowed smelt settle successfully. He rubbed his front as if needing the fish to stop complaining that they were swallowed. "I reported today to the Big Boss about the events of two weeks ago at quitting time on their side of the Big Pond, morning mackerel time on ours. She ordered me to get tougher on discipline."
A muffled squeak may have come from Private, but all kept stony faces.
"I bow and curtsey to her experience and agreed to present the options" --- Skipper stopped pacing directly in front of his lieutenant who stared over his leader's head at the banner that still showed Marty The Zebra --- "that she favored. In the interest of fairness, I include myself in any action that we as a team decide."
Private turned questioning cornflower blue eyes on the penguin sharing his Happy Place since Little Egg Harbor. "Skippa, why does she need to know everythin' personal, I don't think it's her blinkin' business and you said that the team hasn't changed, not really deep down where it counts --- "
"Opinion noted and discarded," Skipper growled. "Of course I didn't report everything. My focus as your commander is to optimize efficiency in protecting this zoo, not in gossiping about who does what to who. I don't give a flying purple braap about that and she doesn't, either. Now shut up and listen."
Private flinched as Rico and Kowalski exchanged sidelong glances at Skipper's harshness to someone they knew he had guarded since babyhood from chilling downpours, adult situations, and his own sharp tongue. With the five cutting words still ringing on their faux floe, perhaps only Kowalski's observant scientific mind noticed two blinks out of sync that were followed by a frown and downward glance from their commander before the voice sounded less like Buck Rockgut's and more like Skipper's own. When the order came to stand at ease, none of the team knew what to expect.
Skipper opened his beak to speak, but Private took advantage of at ease to dart a question. "Why did you wait two honkin' weeks?" There was challenge and no hint of hurt feelings in the tone. It was Skipper's turn to waffle, as much as he was capable of it.
"Um, I had important things to mull over, a strategy to plan, tactics to consider, and it doesn't really matter. Now everyone pay attention." Private crossed his flippers and planted his feet while Kowalski and Rico edged a scosche closer to one another.
"Option Number One: Gentlemen, we could have wrecked our car. Do I have to put saltpeter in our fishcakes?"
Kowalski's pupils flared to the size of black Spanish olives. "No! No, sir!"
Rico looked to his partner, who whispered Scientific Facts into his earhole. "Ahgrommtzno. Nuh uh." He swayed on his feet, looking faint.
"Wot's --- "
"Later, Private. Just know that the glop is something none of us want in any way, shape, or form. I dedicate this power lunch to take on the, er, differences in our team since Åland." There was rumbling in the ranks. "Not that they're bad differences, just differences to adjust to, more than we have, I mean."
Kowalski stepped one pace forward, drawing attention enough to make his teammates gasp. "I request that Rico's and my shared bunk be upgraded to a SuperKing."
"Granted."
Agog at the simplicity of his success, Kowalski needed a tug from Rico and Private to step back into ranks. Private was next.
"I w-would like, if it isn't too much to ask, to ask, I mean to request, the r-reason wh-why you ordered me to get behind you when our runaway car revved up like Lewis Hamilton's McLaren team racer on Santa Pod Raceway." His voice firmed. "Was it because you think I need protectin'?"
The expected roar did not come. "No, Private. It was because I wanted you at my back for any encounter with an unknown enemy, which at the time Kowalski and Rico were."
Kowalski and Rico joined in, though perhaps they shouldn't have stepped on the moment. "Skipper trusts you to get his six each and every battle, Private. Never doubt that."
"Yah!"
Private fixed his gaze on the banner showing Gloria The Hippo. "Mmmmmhm."
"So! Changes all around, hey? The good, the bad and the indifferent! So! Anything else, men? Are we ready for a sweet treat at Luigi The Snowcone Man's cart?" Nattering did not suit Skipper. "Oh, heh, yeah, right! Option Number Two from the Big Boss involves you, Kowalski, and you, Rico. It's about rubadubdubium."
"Rubadubdubium, sir?"
"Option Three is from me. What is the name of the stuff that blows up when it mixes with water?"
Kowalski's smile was indulgent. "And we all know how you love sets of three, sir. You meant to say rubidium."
"Thanks, soldier, and for that other thing you said oh hell let's move along. Rubidium. Brief us some more." The Big Boss's true-but-unhelpful observation that her Central Park Zoo team relied too much on Rico did not sit well with the team's commander. When her suggestion involved scouting the environment for explosive ordnance options, he paid attention as he shut away the scenario that somehow, some way Rico would be out of combat and they'd need other ammo sources. He didn't want to think how a Rico-less future would play out.
Kowalski took a deep breath. "Rubidium is the twenty-third most abundant element in the Earth's crust, slightly more common than copper. It's an alkali metal found often in carnallite for commercial purposes with an atomic weight of --- all right Big Guy, I see you're bored, so think of an element resembling a fuzzy blob of white soan papdi."
"Yummmmmbaby!"
"You mean the flaky candy with nuts that melts in your mouth --- Private, drool on your own time --- and is sweeter than the cotton candy Marlene is gaga over --- Rico, save it for after the meeting --- that stuff there?" Skipper wiped his beak. "Sweet dandy candy, now I want some."
"On track, sir, on track! We'll make a run to Bailey's Snackatarium soon! Yes, it's an element that explodes when it gets wet. Lepidolite and pollucite also contain it but you realize, Skipper, that I've not actually seen lepidolite or pollucite on any mission. Carnallite, either." He mined a better spin on the intel since Skipper accommodated his request so readily. "I will keep a lookout for it, however. Its reaction to water generally ignites the hydrogen gas it produces. Rubidium can even ignite spontaneously in air!"
"Luvvit!"
"Yes, Rico, I knew you would. I'll keep an extra special eye out for it, just for you." The two shared a fond look.
More than anything, Skipper needed to pound home the basics. "Options noted and accepted grudgingly about the rubidium. What with Manhattan paved over like chocolate coating on a frozen banana, shit now I want one of those, it's not likely we'll ever see the stuff." He turned east and hollered, "Get that, Big Boss? I discussed all the options with them!" He turned back again. "Is your last disciplinary chore cranked out, Rico and Kowalski?"
"We finished dunging out the elephant pen at dawn, sir. Burt thanked us and Alice's eyes bugged when she showed up with her shovel with nothing to do there at mid-morning." The team chuckled as the tension eased. Skipper pursued his back-burner projects.
"Anything weird about Alice per Marlene's intel?"
"She looked nauseous."
"By all that's warmblooded, faced with policing Burt's usual elephant pies, I would, too. Anything else strange about her?"
Rico answered this time. "Nada, 'Kipppaaaah."
"Puzzling, indeed. Let's keep surveilling her when time permits. I never discount Marlene's intel." Skipper's elbows dropped to his sides. "And now for you, Private."
Private felt the world spin beneath him as he snapped back into attention. "I'm ready, sir!"
Out of nowhere, a kiss landed on his cheek. Private staggered. "W-w-wot just happened?"
"I'm formally asking you out on a date, Private. How about it? Er, I mean, I'd like us to pat the Petting Zoo bunnies now that they're our friends and have a snowcone afterwards, what do you say?" The words sounded as divine as anything Private had ever heard, in the egg or out of it.
"Yes! Oh, yes!"
Skipper closed his eyes for a count of three before turning to Rico, who had swayed shoulder to shoulder with Kowalski. "All right with you two?"
This development took Kowalski's breath away. From the time Momma Duck's brood left the penguins' care after their last babysitting gig and Skipper blurted about 'my' Private, a germ of suspicion grew to a crusty pink and red scum in the Petri dish of Kowalski's mental lab. He'd watched it carefully since that time, not feeding it nutrients because there were no more bits of evidence to suggest a culture bubbling to full, rich fungus maturity. But today! A date! He withdrew from speculation to ask Rico's opinion.
Kowalski's partner stood beside him, his head on Kowalski's shoulder and his talented tongue hanging out as far as it ever could. "Hwarg," offered Rico.
Yes, that was typical of his love to be overwhelmed with feelings when situations roiled with emotions laced with serious consequences. It had been the same way in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Skipper waited patiently for three minutes and then broke out with, "Don't keep me hanging, men. You're on this team, too. Black and white lives matter." The voice rumbled a deeper register, the kind his commander got when addressing Momma Duck as a peer. Commanding, parenting, the two were alike enough in Kowalski's mind to explain the rapport and respect duck and penguin had for each other. Kowalski's own experience with commanding may have been limited, but he got it, he really did. He would pat himself on the back for upping his emotional IQ some other time.
"Well? Kowalski, you first." Of course, their skipper perceived that Rico imploded with the revelation that his little brother and his leader planned an actual date. The fallout from the kaboom must rival 9/11's Ground Zero dirt pile in the explosive expert's psyche. Still, Rico was not flummoxed into a faint and must have guessed something was up. Kowalski would ask later, when they were in bed.
"Grkhrk," attempted Rico.
"Yeah, that's not helpful, Rico. Kowalski, come on, man." Since they all knew each other so well, if he said no way José would Skipper actually halt the date, if not the feelings? Would Private? He studied Skipper as much as he had the imaginary Petri dish. A hopeful gleam in his eye, firm, direct, yes that was the skipper he had known for so long. As he watched, Skipper deflated a smidgen to take refuge in bluster as he tapped his chest to signal indigestion. "We're behind schedule for our after lunch workout, gotta keep trim, et cetera et cetera et cetera --- "
Oh Skipper, Kowalski thought, you just don't get it. He took a flipper from each. At a loss for his usual multisyllabic words, he smacked their flippers together and pressed them between his own. "Here. This is the way it ought to be." He waddled away to start his workout without a backwards look, just like he ignored any explosions behind him in their danger-filled lives. This time, the metaphoric blast effect did not even singe his tailfeathers.
IOIOIOIOIO
Maybe penguins couldn't fly, but Private soared above Kitka swooping above Central Park, yet below an A-10C spewing a contrail near the stratosphere. He hardly heard the command to start crunches.
Rico rolled his tongue back into his beak as he operated on auto pilot. Crunch forward, crunch oblique left, crunch oblique right, rinse and repeat.
Skipper burbled exercise counts rather than barked them. The pleasant day wasn't even half over and he felt great! A date! He hadn't had one since Kitka flew the coop! Way to go! Get in shape for whatever the date brings! Yeah, baby! You're in the groove! You've got fearless moxie and because of that you've got Private!
Kowalski launched into Crunch #34 before his mind slipped from neutral back into first gear. Passages, changes, permanent scary stuff that ends status quo for individuals and teams alike. Crunch #35 did not happen for some time as he lay flat on his back, staring up at the sky. Skipper and Private as a couple? Now don't project, Kowalski, he chided himself; they were not a pair at the moment. He and Rico formed one solid relationship and that was enough to challenge any team. If the leader and the youngest team member had enough feelings for each other to out them to himself and Rico, could that inspire a certain scientist to move along to the next logical plateau in his own relationship?
He snorted as he spotted a flock of ducks angled in a vee towards Central Park's smaller pond. Without half thinking about it, he picked out Momma Duck's outline. She had no problem conceiving a solution to how do I contribute to the gene pool by, um, conceiving a clutch of eggs that hatched into the ducklings that Private swooned over. He had made Jiggles followed by numerous Jigglei in his lab, so why couldn't his brain conceive a way to continue the penguin species via two males? It was possible! It had to be! He could make it happen, but how? His mind failed to sprout idea seeds that might blossom into options. He fell into a funk as the ducks quacked to each other to stay in a group to their targeted pond. When their quacks halted suddenly, he roused and looked up.
Ah, crud.
A falcon plunged into the flock, talons outstretched in its dive. It carried one duck earthward before leveling out to head towards Hallett Nature Sanctuary. The luckless duck struggled in the grip, pecking with all its might to escape a gruesome death. The distance proved too much to discern the identity of either falcon or duck. Kowalski's teammates grunted as they neared the end of the set of crunches and missed the whole drama.
Kowalski was shaken. Life could end at the snap of a nonexistent penguin finger. By hook or by crook, he would determine a way to make Life the victor. He turned his head away from the distressing sight and regarded Rico.
IOIOIOIOIO
- 11
- 12
- 13
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