Here's the link for chapter 1: link
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Two years later…
Skipper opened his eyes. It was early in the morning and his teammates were still asleep. He sat on the edge of his bunk and looked at the clock. 5 am. He quietly got out of his bunk and decided not to wake the others up yet. He took his coffee mug and climbed up a ladder. The new day greeted him with bright sunbeams of the rising sun, fresh morning breeze and sough of a pond in Central Park.
Seemed to be a next normal day… but it wasn’t so ordinary.
It was Day of the Fallen. The day created by military for all fallen heroes. For soldiers who were fighting to the last strength left in their bodies and to the last drop of blood. It was also 2nd anniversary of the day when the special team of the best skilled soldiers defeated Blowhole’s mysterious machine, that no one knows what evil could have crawled out of it, with their own lives. Nobody would ever forget that sacrifice, even Skipper. For the reason, a part of him wanted so much to forget it but another one, maybe even bigger, wanted to remember.
The mission was left classified, under the name Mission Mystery. The mission has gone to oblivion, except for the brave soldiers. The military, of course, wanted those heroes to be remembered but for some reason they didn’t want to reveal any information about the mission. The military has never shown anyone the secret file of it. Of course every proof was burned but they still had information about Blowhole’s invention or whatever it was. The file was probably hidden somewhere but no one cared to check it. Skipper himself could do that. It would be way too suspicious if he appeared in the MAPB after about 7 years.
He woke up from his thoughts when he saw a shape on the blue sky. It was nearer and nearer, so there were two options: It was a bird or it was a military aircraft. The thing suddenly fell and landed in the pool of penguins’ habitat with a big splash. Then, it climbed on the platform and sat next to Skipper. It was a grey pigeon who definitely wasn’t very good at flying.
“Your status and target, grey bird” Skipper said emotionless.
“Oh, yeah, I’m Tony, military’s letters-and-newspapers-bringer” The pigeon said with the pride.
“You mean a postman?” Skipper corrected the pigeon.
“I said letters-and-newspapers-bringer, right?”
“You’re a beginner, correct?” Skipper asked.
“Yeah! How did you know? Are you a space squid?”
“Um, I don’t think so”
“Wait, why am I here?” Tony looked around “Oh, right. I was told to bring it to you” he took a newspaper from his backpack and handed it to Skipper.
“Is it military’s newspaper? They know that I already don’t work for military and don’t read their lies in these newspapers since Shinjin has left” Skipper said and threw the newspaper away.
“My task is complete!” He said proud of himself and then whispered “But if you find out that you are a space squid, you know where you can find me” Then he saluted and flew… right into a tree.
“Why are they hiring such clumsy people” He said to himself as he watched the bird flying away “Today’s military is so naïve” Skipper turned to the newspaper. Since he didn’t have anything else to do, he took it and looked at the first page.
The most important military’s day.
Day of the Fallen
is the day of…
Nothing that he wouldn’t know, he looked at second page. His sight stopped at a few pictures. There was a name under every picture. All the faces were familiar to him but he saw a few ones that caught his attention. Katherina Snow.
Yes, he has known her for many years, they’ve been training together in Shinjin’s Military and became one of the HSB (Highest Spies Base) best agents. He still couldn’t get used to the fact that he will never see her again. It was two years ago when she died as a commander of Mission Mystery. Though he didn’t know what happened there, he knew that Katherine would never leave a mission undone or get neither herself killed nor her comrades. What caused their fall then? He still regretted that he hasn’t said the last goodbye to her… He could have visited her before her mission, he thought he would congratulate her after the event…
The next two names, Johnson Black, Manfredi Black. Skipper smiled as he recalled the memories of them. These two brothers have always kept together. No matter what happened, they would never leave anyone who needed a help. Actually, they once saved his live. Without them, the military has never been the same. And then, Karen…
Skipper almost jumped when he heard a noise which had come from the HQ. He threw the newspaper away and jumped down. The HQ was filled with grey smoke. Kowalski and Private were sitting on the floor coughing.
“What happened?” Skipper asked.
“Well, Rico ‘accidently’ spat out a gas bomb” Kowalski said innocently pointing at Rico who was still sleeping in his bunk.
“Nothing unusual. I want to see you three outside within fifteen minutes, ready for the training” Skipper said and went back upside. After a couple of minutes Kowalski and Private managed to wake Rico up and they all were standing in front of their leader.
“For today’s training you have to do 20 laps in the poll and that’s all” Skipper said.
The three penguins looked at each other. Normally they had to do more labs, like 50 or at least 40. And then other exercises. Was everything ok with Skipper? Not that they were complaining, they were going to have a free day, right?.
After about half an hour they finished the task and went to their own activities. Kowalski, of course, went to his lab saying something about a memory-laser thingy. Rico was making a fish cocktail for his doll. Private wanted to watch the Lunacorns but he didn’t do so. He was wondering what was wrong with Skipper who didn’t come to the HQ. He was still upside deeply thinking about something. Something was definitely wrong. Private climbed up the ladder and saw Skipper, sitting at the edge of the platform. He slowly approached the leader.
“What’s it, Private?” Skipper asked without looking back at the young penguin. Private sat on the edge of the platform.
“I just wanted to ask… what’s wrong, Skippah?”
“Why should something be wrong?” Skipper replied. But he knew the look of Private’s face and it was obvious that the penguin won’t give up until he gets the answer “Well, I’ve been thinking… today is the Day of the Fallen, I think I told you, Kowalski and Rico about it once” he finally said and Private nodded “I’m just recalling the memories of my old friends, you know, Manfredi, Johnson…”
“You’ve never told what really happened to them”
“That’s a long story for another day” Skipper simply replied. Private normally would still ask if Skipper could finally tell him the story. But he knew that Skipper wasn’t in a good mood for that, so he remained silent. “Today, everybody who lost the comrades in a battle or a mission goes to the place where everybody pays a tribute to the fallen. It’s a quite big military celebration” he said emotionless. He couldn’t show that he cared about the special day, it would be too painful, the memories were still too fresh.
“Then, why don’t you go there too?” Private asked.
“It’s not a good idea. I mean, I can’t leave you three here. The last time I did, I found our HQ ruined” Skipper replied smiling a bit at the memory. Now he found it quite funny.
“We can go with you, Skippah! Please???” Private exclaimed suddenly at the thought of visiting a new place.
“No way, it’s far from here”
Suddenly Kowalski, followed by Rico, jumped out of the HQ. He looked very excited and was holding a phial with something sparkling on the bottom of it.
“I am genial!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah, I don’t get it why you earned the pseudonym Mr. self-admire” Skipper said rolling his eyes.
“No one call me like that!” Kowalski said “Already not”
“’walski get ‘o the ‘oint” Rico said.
“Oh, right. I’m building a machine which can take us to the past”
“Really, again? The last time it started from wanting to hit a hippie and ended on an almost-a-world-apocalypse”
“I know, but this time, it will only take us to the past as a ‘ghosts’. And the past will be based on memories of us. We will be able to recall all the forgotten events. That’s great, isn’t it?!”
“Uh,… Kowalski, don’t you think it would be a little boring? And as ghosts? No wait, it would be irritating to stand next to a hippie and not being able to slap him, On the other hand, it would be a good use of combat. Thing of all those old strategies we can use”
“And this way won’t lead to the world’s end… I think” Kowalski said and laughed nervously.
“Okay then, what do you need?” Skipper sighed.
“I have everything except for the one important ingredient. This substance” Kowalski told pointing at the rest of the purple sparkling substance in his flippers “We need to get to Texas. Killeen.”
“Kowalski, are you insane? Do you know how far it is from here?!”
“Come on, it’s only like 2847,6 kilometers. Anyway, I knew what your reaction would be, so I had built this before” Kowalski said and reached out something which looked like a remote control. “This is a pocket-teleporter”
“Kowalski, you know that we don’t have any pockets, right?” Private noticed.
“Is it a big difference what the name is. Can we go to Texas, pleaseeeeee?”
Skipper though for a moment. Then he got an idea “Yes, actually, I have something to do there…” he said and smiled “I have a thing in Killeen*” he said to himself.
“Okay, everybody, hold this thing and I’ll teleport us there” Kowalski said and pushed a button on the remote.
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Mission get-the-substance went quite good, of course not including landing in the middle of the traffic jam and escaping from the cars’ tires. It appeared that Kowalski’s invention didn’t work exactly how he imagined it, which wasn’t something unusual.
“Kowalski, I understand that your invention, as always, got us into a situation which was dangerous for our lives. But using it again wouldn’t have solved our problems!” Skipper said as they were hanging on a windowsill of a 7-floor building “And honestly, I prefer avoiding cars on that highway rather than falling down from a stupid windowsill and crushing down on the ground”
“Sorry?” Kowalski said innocently, feeling the annoyed looks of his teammates. “Give me a second and I’ll teleport us to a save place”
“No!” The three penguins yelled and grabbed Kowalski, which actually was a huge mistake that caused them to fall.
“Rico, a balloon or something would be nice!” Skipper yelled and Rico spontaneously spat out a chainsaw. Before they could yell and get crushed on the ground they felt something soft under themselves and they flew again. They opened their eyes to see a group of animals and a big, very big, ball.
“And we have always thought that a chainsaw doesn’t solve problems” Private stated.
“T’old ya!” Rico said laughing “Aga’in! Aga’in!”
“How did this ball get here?” Kowalski asked feeling a bit dizzy after the fall.
“We saw you falling so we intervened” one of the animals told. It was a squirrel with a helmet and something like an ID, he was holding a file “Case 5; falling from a 7-floor building”
“So I understand that you always carry a mattress with you?”
“It is often case. That’s why it is case 5 not case 2045” The squirrel replied.
“Nevermind. We’d like to thank you for the help” Skipper said shaking the squirrel’s hand, who nodded.
“It was an honor to help you, commander Skipper” he whispered, so only Skipper could hear that. They exchanged the well-known looks. “I’m kinda in hurry, goodbye” the squirrel said and followed the rest of the animals.
“It was pretty weird” Private said.
“It’s Killeen, everything can happen here” Skipper simply replied.
“Can we go now to get my substance, please?” Kowalski pleaded.
“Yeah, on one condition” Skipper said “We will never use that again” He said and handed Kowalski’s teleporter to Rico. “Rico, do the honors” A second later Rico destroyed it with a hammer with a maniacal laugh.
“Aw” Kowalski said as he looked at his poor invention “How are we supposed to get back to the HQ now?”
“We will work it out later. And to make it clear, it’s already late afternoon and I don’t want any unexpected accidents out of my control to happen. Any questions?” Skipper said.
“Um, do unexpected accidents under your control can happen?” Private asked raising his flipper. Skipper just face-flippered himself and they walked through the pavement.
“Is today a kind of a celebration or something? The city is so crowded by the animals…” Kowalski asked.
“Actually, today is Day of the Fall-“ Private started but was interrupted by Skipper.
“What day?” Kowalski asked. He thought for a moment. “Ohhh, I forgot! Today is Day of the Fallen!”
“Why did’t u tell’ us, ‘kipper?” Rico asked.
“Well, it not my favorite day of the year” Skipper said “But if you could go to get the thing you need, I would go to pay a tribute to my old friends..”
“So you let me go on my mission? As the leader?” Kowalski exclaimed with excitement.
“Well, sure, why not. I think you’re trained good enough to go on your own solo mission. Um, solo mission with those two” Skipper said pointing at Private and Rico.
“According to my calcu-“
“Kowalski, stop calculating, okay! You’re a soldier, use your guts. Rico, control him”
“Aye!” Rico said and spat out a hammer.
“Um, that’s not what I meant… Rico, give me a walki-talkie, I’m not 100% sure about the success of this mission. Let’s meen here in two hours”
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Skipper finally got to a big park crowded with animals, each of them had an ID. Skipper made his way the edge of the park where he could take a fresh breath. He looked around, expecting to see a familiar face. He was surprised by the fact that humans hadn’t noticed how many animals there was and that the park was unusually beautiful. The trees were decorated by the lights and on the edge of the park there was a big platform with candles and a microphone for someone who gives speech.
“Skipper, my friend, I haven’t expected you here” He heard a familiar voice and turned to the speaker. It was a tiger with a helmet and a scar on his face.
“General G, well, I haven’t expected that either” Skipper replied.
“Just call me Garett, you’re not my student already. I haven’t seen you for ages and I haven’t got a chance to congratulate you for the highest military status and being one of the best US agents. What have you been doing for the past few years?”
“I decided to quit my spy-military life and train my own team, you know the story..”
“You must be proud of them”
“I am. Actually, they are on a mission right now”
“You’re not already afraid that Blowhole can get them?”
“I thought that the base know about him and his lost memories by his own invention?”
“There’s something you should know...” Garret started in a whisper but looked away “Buck Rockgut’s coming”
“Garret, Skipper, I was looking for you” Buck said as he made his way to them.
“Why did you think that I’ll be here?” Skipper ask.
“Why shouldn’t I think that you will be here? Anyway, have you seen the red squiller?”
“Um, from what I know, you’ve already kidnapped him, sir” Skipper said.
“But how do you know that he didn’t have a twin brother?”
“Why should he have a twin brother?” Garret asked.
“Why shouldn’t he have a twin brother?”
“Anyway, I was going to tell Skipper the red-leak information…”
“General G, it’s a top secret information, we’re not allowed to talk about that” Rockgut said “And naturally I’m not going to follow this order” He added. They sat on a bench and made sure that no one could hear them.
“You see, Skipper, there are some people in the bases who don’t want you to know some certain information. Not only you, but everyone who is not in the military or the agency. You see, important people of our military world are dangerous for the ones who are planning against us.” Garret started.
“You temporary quit. And some people used it against you. Since the you-know-which mission the security levels in all bases have lowered. They are not safe anymore and we don’t know who we can trust. The only base where the traitors haven’t managed to get into is the MAPB. Commander Tryan is never off the guard” Buck said.
“And why haven’t I got any information about that earlier, It’s not like everyone in the bases is against me”
“The secret files and information are so classified that even some of the workers don’t know about that. The only way to smuggle information is a meeting, like right now. The spies who work for our enemy, whoever it is, want to turn the others on their side, that’s why they want to get rid of the dangerous people like you, Skipper. And also like Garret and me.” Buck told.
“Anyway, The conflicts between our bases are coming, the rebellions. It all is planned so that the enemy will attack us when we will be weaker”
“Any suggestions who is the enemy?” Skipper asked and Garret and Buck looked at each other.
“You see, That’s about the red-leak. We have been observing Blowhole while his stay in water park Seaville as Flippy. But we had one moment of inattention, it was a few-seconds system failure and… Blowhole just disappeared. His lobsters couldn’t do that alone, they had someone to help. So now we have no idea where he or the lobsters are”
“Blowhole is hiding somewhere, plotting a conspiracy against us and I didn’t know about that!?”
“Calm down, Skipper. We already have a plan…” Garret started but was interrupted. A well-build penguin with a helmet walked to the platform and took the microphone. Skipper could barely see him since the only illumination were the candles around him. However, despite the illumination Skipper immediately recognized the penguin. It was Commander Tryan, the leader of the whole MAPB, the most skilled spy and most dangerous soldier. Skipper’s idol.
“My friends” he started his speech “We gathered here to honor Day of the Fallen and pay a tribute to our fallen comrades. They all sacrificed their lives for us. We can be here now, thanks to them. They’ve saved many innocent beings and they knew what fate was waiting for them. Despite that fact, they have never let us down. And we will do the same”
The speech, as always, was beautiful and full of old memories. It reminded them all the missions during which the heroes died. Skipper shuddered as he heard the name of one of the missions.
“The Mission Mystery, yes, it’s still one of the most terrifying missions of our MAPB. We lost the best agents who could have lived and be with us right now. It all happened just because of the stupid mistake we made. And the enemy’s target is still unknown for us. I personally think, that it’s high time for the file to be revealed” Tryan said and all of the animals raised their heads. Some of the high-ranked bases’ staff who were standing behind him moved.
“Commander it is forbidden” one of them hissed. Tryan just ignored them.
“What really happened know only Blowhole and our fallen soldiers. But there’s one clear thing. It all was planned. Blowhole didn’t have the thing we had thought he had had. He wanted us to send there our best soldiers but he didn’t intend to kill them. He wanted something he couldn’t get and he still wants it. We all have to be on be on guard, because none of us knows what he’s planning to do in order to get the thing. And it became obvious that he’s not working alone. There’s an enemy stronger than ever. We just don’t know who…”
“That’s enough, Commander” One of the staff said and Tryan nodded.
“Now, let’s honor our fallen by a few minutes of silence in our candles tradition” he said and they left the platform. Everybody walked to the nearby river and each took a candle with a flower. Skipper took his walkie-talkie.
“Kowalski, do you copy?” he said and waited for the answer.
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Meanwhile, somewhere in one of the Killeen’s labs, three penguins got into a little trouble. Private was hiding behind the cupboards while Kowalski was testing the substances and Rico was ‘playing’ with the guards with his favorite flamethrower. Private looked at the walkie-talkie which was laying on the floor and picked it up.
“It’s Private” he said.
“Private? Where’s Kowalski?” he heard Skipper’s voice.
“Um, he’s kinda… busy. We have a little security trouble” Private explained.
“Why am I not surprised?” Skipper said to himself “Just end the mission and meet me near the Tear River*.” He said and switched off the walkie-talkie and quickly caught up to the others. Private slipped through the floor and headed towards Kowalski.
“Kowalski, we don’t have time for that. We need to get to Skipper”
“Give me a second. I need this” Kowalski said as he finally made sure that the purple substance was the right one “Rico, get us out of here, quickly!”
Rico nodded and spat out TNT to destroy the wall. The security guards jumped back a little shocked and ran to the stairs, while Rico laughed and got them a paraglide and no one knows how he managed to spat it out.
“Seriously, Rico?” Kowalski asked.
“Don’t ‘omplain ‘Walski” Rico said and used the flamethrower to speed up.
“Any suggestions where the Tear River is?” Kowalski asked.
“Um, Kowalski, options?” Private said and looked down “There, I can see a crowd heading towards that river” Rico threw the flamethrower and set the paraglide towards the ground.
“Um, not to complain, but I think we’re getting dangerously close to the ground, Rico” Kowalski yelled. Rico just smiled and when they were about to crush, he turned their direction and they landed in a pond.
“Again! Again!” Rico yelled.
“No more stuffs like this, Rico. At least for today”
They waddled toward the animals. It wasn’t comfortable to look for Skipper, they could barely see anything in the crowd. Fortunately they noticed the familiar face of Buck Rockgut, followed by Skipper. They quickly made their way towards their leader.
“Mission completed, sir” Kowalski saluted.
“Good job soldier” Skipper said “As soon as this ceremony ends we need to get to the HQ as fast as we can” Skipper said.
“Why?”
“It’s just a feeling” The leader replied. He knew something was about to happen. He trusted his guts. And his guts had never failed him before.
“So, what is this ceremony?”
“It’s a memorial thing. Everybody lays a candle with a flower on the river and it will be carried by the water. That’s all. The Staff are the first ones to do so” Skipper said and pointed at Commander Tryan and the rest of the staff on a small wooden bridge. They laid the candles and were soon followed by others.
“For some reason they always choose a red rose for each candle. This is lame” Skipper said and took two candles. “These are for Manfredi and Johnson. They’ve always said that they would like to be honored with the simplest of the flowers. Just daisies” He said and handed the candles to Kowalski and Rico so they could lay them on the water. Although three penguins didn’t know Manfredi and Johnson, they had the respect for them.
“This is for a very dear friend of mine… Karen has always adored violets” Skipper said and gave it to Private. It was time for the last one “And this… this is for Katherine. She’s never really cared what flower she would have on her memorial candle, she wanted it to be chosen by her friends. She hated roses. She had the reason…” Skipper closed his eyes for a moment “But her favorite flower was actually a tiger lily” He said and laid the last candle with a tiger lily on the water. “She was too young for her fate. You may rest in peace, sister…”
“S-she was your sister? You had a sister?” Kowalski asked shocked.
Suddenly a noise was heard and a panic slowly went through the crowd. The animals started to run in different directions and some gunshots were heard. Some of them formed an order of battle and pulled out the guns. Skipper looked around trying to find the reason of sudden action. Someone grabbed his arm.
“What is happening?” Skipper asked as he turned to face Commander Tryan.
“We’re under attack. I predicted a situation like this. Take that and get your team out of here” Commander said and gave him a gun-looking thing.
“But I want to help..”
“I know Skipper. But at the moment those three aren’t safe here. We will handle that” Tryan said and disappeared. Skipper sighed and pulled the trigger. He knew that invention well, from the arsenal of MAPB. It teleported them back to the Central Park Zoo.
“What was all of that?” Kowalski asked.
“I found out many information today. It’s high time you got introduced to the military world…” Skipper said and sighed. This day had to come…
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Meanwhile, far from everywhere, where no ways lead, deep in a cave, almost invisible light started barely shining in the unpenetrated darkness. Soon, it was followed by the other ones and the crystals in every color filled the mysterious cave with its lights. As the first light awoke, the deep breath was heard. The breath that has brought the end of the ages of silence in there.
There was a penguin, lying on the bed-like stones in the end of the mystic cave. The rise and fall of her chest caused her to breath. Slowly, her hair-like feathers started to get the color and the shining again. Her black and white feathers were getting soft and pure. The colors ran through her face, her eyelids, down her cheeks and finally to the end of her beak. Her lashes were once again dense and long. Her heart finally returned to life. Something moved in the brain.
I’m Alive…[i/]
The memories turned back. The fire, the tears, the coldness, the last breath and the loneliness in darkness. Those memories started to fill her head causing the pain. The pain meant life. The one true feeling to keep her consciousness and to relieve her mind.
She finally got her senses. The sense of [i]hearing. She could hear the sound of million drops of water falling down in the waterfall. The sense of touch. She could feel every detail of the surface under her flipper. All her senses were so heightened. She was afraid to make a move. A single move could destroy the stillness and calmness she kept. It was burning from inside like a fire with no intention to let go. She had to take the risk.
The blood was rushing in her veins faster as she gathered all of her strength and moved her flipper. She barely moved it, as if it was as heavy as a rock, but she could feel as everything had just vanished. Then, all of sudden, the feelings returned and she knew that she was ready. The sense of sight.
I’m alive…
She opened her golden eyes.
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I haven’t updated for ages! Sorry guys, I don’t have much free time recently. But, this chapter was longer and I hope you liked it. I wanted to end this with a mystery.
Thank you guys for reading, the next chapter’s up soon!
I couldn’t be on fanpop for some time, but I love reading, and if you want me to read your story, feel free to ask! I’d love that.
Pleasee, let me know what you think, I would love to hear your opinions! :)
Here's the link for chapter 1: link
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Two years later…
Skipper opened his eyes. It was early in the morning and his teammates were still asleep. He sat on the edge of his bunk and looked at the clock. 5 am. He quietly got out of his bunk and decided not to wake the others up yet. He took his coffee mug and climbed up a ladder. The new day greeted him with bright sunbeams of the rising sun, fresh morning breeze and sough of a pond in Central Park.
Seemed to be a next normal day… but it wasn’t so ordinary.
It was Day of the Fallen. The day created by military for all fallen heroes. For soldiers who were fighting to the last strength left in their bodies and to the last drop of blood. It was also 2nd anniversary of the day when the special team of the best skilled soldiers defeated Blowhole’s mysterious machine, that no one knows what evil could have crawled out of it, with their own lives. Nobody would ever forget that sacrifice, even Skipper. For the reason, a part of him wanted so much to forget it but another one, maybe even bigger, wanted to remember.
The mission was left classified, under the name Mission Mystery. The mission has gone to oblivion, except for the brave soldiers. The military, of course, wanted those heroes to be remembered but for some reason they didn’t want to reveal any information about the mission. The military has never shown anyone the secret file of it. Of course every proof was burned but they still had information about Blowhole’s invention or whatever it was. The file was probably hidden somewhere but no one cared to check it. Skipper himself could do that. It would be way too suspicious if he appeared in the MAPB after about 7 years.
He woke up from his thoughts when he saw a shape on the blue sky. It was nearer and nearer, so there were two options: It was a bird or it was a military aircraft. The thing suddenly fell and landed in the pool of penguins’ habitat with a big splash. Then, it climbed on the platform and sat next to Skipper. It was a grey pigeon who definitely wasn’t very good at flying.
“Your status and target, grey bird” Skipper said emotionless.
“Oh, yeah, I’m Tony, military’s letters-and-newspapers-bringer” The pigeon said with the pride.
“You mean a postman?” Skipper corrected the pigeon.
“I said letters-and-newspapers-bringer, right?”
“You’re a beginner, correct?” Skipper asked.
“Yeah! How did you know? Are you a space squid?”
“Um, I don’t think so”
“Wait, why am I here?” Tony looked around “Oh, right. I was told to bring it to you” he took a newspaper from his backpack and handed it to Skipper.
“Is it military’s newspaper? They know that I already don’t work for military and don’t read their lies in these newspapers since Shinjin has left” Skipper said and threw the newspaper away.
“My task is complete!” He said proud of himself and then whispered “But if you find out that you are a space squid, you know where you can find me” Then he saluted and flew… right into a tree.
“Why are they hiring such clumsy people” He said to himself as he watched the bird flying away “Today’s military is so naïve” Skipper turned to the newspaper. Since he didn’t have anything else to do, he took it and looked at the first page.
The most important military’s day.
Day of the Fallen
is the day of…
Nothing that he wouldn’t know, he looked at second page. His sight stopped at a few pictures. There was a name under every picture. All the faces were familiar to him but he saw a few ones that caught his attention. Katherina Snow.
Yes, he has known her for many years, they’ve been training together in Shinjin’s Military and became one of the HSB (Highest Spies Base) best agents. He still couldn’t get used to the fact that he will never see her again. It was two years ago when she died as a commander of Mission Mystery. Though he didn’t know what happened there, he knew that Katherine would never leave a mission undone or get neither herself killed nor her comrades. What caused their fall then? He still regretted that he hasn’t said the last goodbye to her… He could have visited her before her mission, he thought he would congratulate her after the event…
The next two names, Johnson Black, Manfredi Black. Skipper smiled as he recalled the memories of them. These two brothers have always kept together. No matter what happened, they would never leave anyone who needed a help. Actually, they once saved his live. Without them, the military has never been the same. And then, Karen…
Skipper almost jumped when he heard a noise which had come from the HQ. He threw the newspaper away and jumped down. The HQ was filled with grey smoke. Kowalski and Private were sitting on the floor coughing.
“What happened?” Skipper asked.
“Well, Rico ‘accidently’ spat out a gas bomb” Kowalski said innocently pointing at Rico who was still sleeping in his bunk.
“Nothing unusual. I want to see you three outside within fifteen minutes, ready for the training” Skipper said and went back upside. After a couple of minutes Kowalski and Private managed to wake Rico up and they all were standing in front of their leader.
“For today’s training you have to do 20 laps in the poll and that’s all” Skipper said.
The three penguins looked at each other. Normally they had to do more labs, like 50 or at least 40. And then other exercises. Was everything ok with Skipper? Not that they were complaining, they were going to have a free day, right?.
After about half an hour they finished the task and went to their own activities. Kowalski, of course, went to his lab saying something about a memory-laser thingy. Rico was making a fish cocktail for his doll. Private wanted to watch the Lunacorns but he didn’t do so. He was wondering what was wrong with Skipper who didn’t come to the HQ. He was still upside deeply thinking about something. Something was definitely wrong. Private climbed up the ladder and saw Skipper, sitting at the edge of the platform. He slowly approached the leader.
“What’s it, Private?” Skipper asked without looking back at the young penguin. Private sat on the edge of the platform.
“I just wanted to ask… what’s wrong, Skippah?”
“Why should something be wrong?” Skipper replied. But he knew the look of Private’s face and it was obvious that the penguin won’t give up until he gets the answer “Well, I’ve been thinking… today is the Day of the Fallen, I think I told you, Kowalski and Rico about it once” he finally said and Private nodded “I’m just recalling the memories of my old friends, you know, Manfredi, Johnson…”
“You’ve never told what really happened to them”
“That’s a long story for another day” Skipper simply replied. Private normally would still ask if Skipper could finally tell him the story. But he knew that Skipper wasn’t in a good mood for that, so he remained silent. “Today, everybody who lost the comrades in a battle or a mission goes to the place where everybody pays a tribute to the fallen. It’s a quite big military celebration” he said emotionless. He couldn’t show that he cared about the special day, it would be too painful, the memories were still too fresh.
“Then, why don’t you go there too?” Private asked.
“It’s not a good idea. I mean, I can’t leave you three here. The last time I did, I found our HQ ruined” Skipper replied smiling a bit at the memory. Now he found it quite funny.
“We can go with you, Skippah! Please???” Private exclaimed suddenly at the thought of visiting a new place.
“No way, it’s far from here”
Suddenly Kowalski, followed by Rico, jumped out of the HQ. He looked very excited and was holding a phial with something sparkling on the bottom of it.
“I am genial!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah, I don’t get it why you earned the pseudonym Mr. self-admire” Skipper said rolling his eyes.
“No one call me like that!” Kowalski said “Already not”
“’walski get ‘o the ‘oint” Rico said.
“Oh, right. I’m building a machine which can take us to the past”
“Really, again? The last time it started from wanting to hit a hippie and ended on an almost-a-world-apocalypse”
“I know, but this time, it will only take us to the past as a ‘ghosts’. And the past will be based on memories of us. We will be able to recall all the forgotten events. That’s great, isn’t it?!”
“Uh,… Kowalski, don’t you think it would be a little boring? And as ghosts? No wait, it would be irritating to stand next to a hippie and not being able to slap him, On the other hand, it would be a good use of combat. Thing of all those old strategies we can use”
“And this way won’t lead to the world’s end… I think” Kowalski said and laughed nervously.
“Okay then, what do you need?” Skipper sighed.
“I have everything except for the one important ingredient. This substance” Kowalski told pointing at the rest of the purple sparkling substance in his flippers “We need to get to Texas. Killeen.”
“Kowalski, are you insane? Do you know how far it is from here?!”
“Come on, it’s only like 2847,6 kilometers. Anyway, I knew what your reaction would be, so I had built this before” Kowalski said and reached out something which looked like a remote control. “This is a pocket-teleporter”
“Kowalski, you know that we don’t have any pockets, right?” Private noticed.
“Is it a big difference what the name is. Can we go to Texas, pleaseeeeee?”
Skipper though for a moment. Then he got an idea “Yes, actually, I have something to do there…” he said and smiled “I have a thing in Killeen*” he said to himself.
“Okay, everybody, hold this thing and I’ll teleport us there” Kowalski said and pushed a button on the remote.
________________________________________
Mission get-the-substance went quite good, of course not including landing in the middle of the traffic jam and escaping from the cars’ tires. It appeared that Kowalski’s invention didn’t work exactly how he imagined it, which wasn’t something unusual.
“Kowalski, I understand that your invention, as always, got us into a situation which was dangerous for our lives. But using it again wouldn’t have solved our problems!” Skipper said as they were hanging on a windowsill of a 7-floor building “And honestly, I prefer avoiding cars on that highway rather than falling down from a stupid windowsill and crushing down on the ground”
“Sorry?” Kowalski said innocently, feeling the annoyed looks of his teammates. “Give me a second and I’ll teleport us to a save place”
“No!” The three penguins yelled and grabbed Kowalski, which actually was a huge mistake that caused them to fall.
“Rico, a balloon or something would be nice!” Skipper yelled and Rico spontaneously spat out a chainsaw. Before they could yell and get crushed on the ground they felt something soft under themselves and they flew again. They opened their eyes to see a group of animals and a big, very big, ball.
“And we have always thought that a chainsaw doesn’t solve problems” Private stated.
“T’old ya!” Rico said laughing “Aga’in! Aga’in!”
“How did this ball get here?” Kowalski asked feeling a bit dizzy after the fall.
“We saw you falling so we intervened” one of the animals told. It was a squirrel with a helmet and something like an ID, he was holding a file “Case 5; falling from a 7-floor building”
“So I understand that you always carry a mattress with you?”
“It is often case. That’s why it is case 5 not case 2045” The squirrel replied.
“Nevermind. We’d like to thank you for the help” Skipper said shaking the squirrel’s hand, who nodded.
“It was an honor to help you, commander Skipper” he whispered, so only Skipper could hear that. They exchanged the well-known looks. “I’m kinda in hurry, goodbye” the squirrel said and followed the rest of the animals.
“It was pretty weird” Private said.
“It’s Killeen, everything can happen here” Skipper simply replied.
“Can we go now to get my substance, please?” Kowalski pleaded.
“Yeah, on one condition” Skipper said “We will never use that again” He said and handed Kowalski’s teleporter to Rico. “Rico, do the honors” A second later Rico destroyed it with a hammer with a maniacal laugh.
“Aw” Kowalski said as he looked at his poor invention “How are we supposed to get back to the HQ now?”
“We will work it out later. And to make it clear, it’s already late afternoon and I don’t want any unexpected accidents out of my control to happen. Any questions?” Skipper said.
“Um, do unexpected accidents under your control can happen?” Private asked raising his flipper. Skipper just face-flippered himself and they walked through the pavement.
“Is today a kind of a celebration or something? The city is so crowded by the animals…” Kowalski asked.
“Actually, today is Day of the Fall-“ Private started but was interrupted by Skipper.
“What day?” Kowalski asked. He thought for a moment. “Ohhh, I forgot! Today is Day of the Fallen!”
“Why did’t u tell’ us, ‘kipper?” Rico asked.
“Well, it not my favorite day of the year” Skipper said “But if you could go to get the thing you need, I would go to pay a tribute to my old friends..”
“So you let me go on my mission? As the leader?” Kowalski exclaimed with excitement.
“Well, sure, why not. I think you’re trained good enough to go on your own solo mission. Um, solo mission with those two” Skipper said pointing at Private and Rico.
“According to my calcu-“
“Kowalski, stop calculating, okay! You’re a soldier, use your guts. Rico, control him”
“Aye!” Rico said and spat out a hammer.
“Um, that’s not what I meant… Rico, give me a walki-talkie, I’m not 100% sure about the success of this mission. Let’s meen here in two hours”
________________________________________
Skipper finally got to a big park crowded with animals, each of them had an ID. Skipper made his way the edge of the park where he could take a fresh breath. He looked around, expecting to see a familiar face. He was surprised by the fact that humans hadn’t noticed how many animals there was and that the park was unusually beautiful. The trees were decorated by the lights and on the edge of the park there was a big platform with candles and a microphone for someone who gives speech.
“Skipper, my friend, I haven’t expected you here” He heard a familiar voice and turned to the speaker. It was a tiger with a helmet and a scar on his face.
“General G, well, I haven’t expected that either” Skipper replied.
“Just call me Garett, you’re not my student already. I haven’t seen you for ages and I haven’t got a chance to congratulate you for the highest military status and being one of the best US agents. What have you been doing for the past few years?”
“I decided to quit my spy-military life and train my own team, you know the story..”
“You must be proud of them”
“I am. Actually, they are on a mission right now”
“You’re not already afraid that Blowhole can get them?”
“I thought that the base know about him and his lost memories by his own invention?”
“There’s something you should know...” Garret started in a whisper but looked away “Buck Rockgut’s coming”
“Garret, Skipper, I was looking for you” Buck said as he made his way to them.
“Why did you think that I’ll be here?” Skipper ask.
“Why shouldn’t I think that you will be here? Anyway, have you seen the red squiller?”
“Um, from what I know, you’ve already kidnapped him, sir” Skipper said.
“But how do you know that he didn’t have a twin brother?”
“Why should he have a twin brother?” Garret asked.
“Why shouldn’t he have a twin brother?”
“Anyway, I was going to tell Skipper the red-leak information…”
“General G, it’s a top secret information, we’re not allowed to talk about that” Rockgut said “And naturally I’m not going to follow this order” He added. They sat on a bench and made sure that no one could hear them.
“You see, Skipper, there are some people in the bases who don’t want you to know some certain information. Not only you, but everyone who is not in the military or the agency. You see, important people of our military world are dangerous for the ones who are planning against us.” Garret started.
“You temporary quit. And some people used it against you. Since the you-know-which mission the security levels in all bases have lowered. They are not safe anymore and we don’t know who we can trust. The only base where the traitors haven’t managed to get into is the MAPB. Commander Tryan is never off the guard” Buck said.
“And why haven’t I got any information about that earlier, It’s not like everyone in the bases is against me”
“The secret files and information are so classified that even some of the workers don’t know about that. The only way to smuggle information is a meeting, like right now. The spies who work for our enemy, whoever it is, want to turn the others on their side, that’s why they want to get rid of the dangerous people like you, Skipper. And also like Garret and me.” Buck told.
“Anyway, The conflicts between our bases are coming, the rebellions. It all is planned so that the enemy will attack us when we will be weaker”
“Any suggestions who is the enemy?” Skipper asked and Garret and Buck looked at each other.
“You see, That’s about the red-leak. We have been observing Blowhole while his stay in water park Seaville as Flippy. But we had one moment of inattention, it was a few-seconds system failure and… Blowhole just disappeared. His lobsters couldn’t do that alone, they had someone to help. So now we have no idea where he or the lobsters are”
“Blowhole is hiding somewhere, plotting a conspiracy against us and I didn’t know about that!?”
“Calm down, Skipper. We already have a plan…” Garret started but was interrupted. A well-build penguin with a helmet walked to the platform and took the microphone. Skipper could barely see him since the only illumination were the candles around him. However, despite the illumination Skipper immediately recognized the penguin. It was Commander Tryan, the leader of the whole MAPB, the most skilled spy and most dangerous soldier. Skipper’s idol.
“My friends” he started his speech “We gathered here to honor Day of the Fallen and pay a tribute to our fallen comrades. They all sacrificed their lives for us. We can be here now, thanks to them. They’ve saved many innocent beings and they knew what fate was waiting for them. Despite that fact, they have never let us down. And we will do the same”
The speech, as always, was beautiful and full of old memories. It reminded them all the missions during which the heroes died. Skipper shuddered as he heard the name of one of the missions.
“The Mission Mystery, yes, it’s still one of the most terrifying missions of our MAPB. We lost the best agents who could have lived and be with us right now. It all happened just because of the stupid mistake we made. And the enemy’s target is still unknown for us. I personally think, that it’s high time for the file to be revealed” Tryan said and all of the animals raised their heads. Some of the high-ranked bases’ staff who were standing behind him moved.
“Commander it is forbidden” one of them hissed. Tryan just ignored them.
“What really happened know only Blowhole and our fallen soldiers. But there’s one clear thing. It all was planned. Blowhole didn’t have the thing we had thought he had had. He wanted us to send there our best soldiers but he didn’t intend to kill them. He wanted something he couldn’t get and he still wants it. We all have to be on be on guard, because none of us knows what he’s planning to do in order to get the thing. And it became obvious that he’s not working alone. There’s an enemy stronger than ever. We just don’t know who…”
“That’s enough, Commander” One of the staff said and Tryan nodded.
“Now, let’s honor our fallen by a few minutes of silence in our candles tradition” he said and they left the platform. Everybody walked to the nearby river and each took a candle with a flower. Skipper took his walkie-talkie.
“Kowalski, do you copy?” he said and waited for the answer.
________________________________________
Meanwhile, somewhere in one of the Killeen’s labs, three penguins got into a little trouble. Private was hiding behind the cupboards while Kowalski was testing the substances and Rico was ‘playing’ with the guards with his favorite flamethrower. Private looked at the walkie-talkie which was laying on the floor and picked it up.
“It’s Private” he said.
“Private? Where’s Kowalski?” he heard Skipper’s voice.
“Um, he’s kinda… busy. We have a little security trouble” Private explained.
“Why am I not surprised?” Skipper said to himself “Just end the mission and meet me near the Tear River*.” He said and switched off the walkie-talkie and quickly caught up to the others. Private slipped through the floor and headed towards Kowalski.
“Kowalski, we don’t have time for that. We need to get to Skipper”
“Give me a second. I need this” Kowalski said as he finally made sure that the purple substance was the right one “Rico, get us out of here, quickly!”
Rico nodded and spat out TNT to destroy the wall. The security guards jumped back a little shocked and ran to the stairs, while Rico laughed and got them a paraglide and no one knows how he managed to spat it out.
“Seriously, Rico?” Kowalski asked.
“Don’t ‘omplain ‘Walski” Rico said and used the flamethrower to speed up.
“Any suggestions where the Tear River is?” Kowalski asked.
“Um, Kowalski, options?” Private said and looked down “There, I can see a crowd heading towards that river” Rico threw the flamethrower and set the paraglide towards the ground.
“Um, not to complain, but I think we’re getting dangerously close to the ground, Rico” Kowalski yelled. Rico just smiled and when they were about to crush, he turned their direction and they landed in a pond.
“Again! Again!” Rico yelled.
“No more stuffs like this, Rico. At least for today”
They waddled toward the animals. It wasn’t comfortable to look for Skipper, they could barely see anything in the crowd. Fortunately they noticed the familiar face of Buck Rockgut, followed by Skipper. They quickly made their way towards their leader.
“Mission completed, sir” Kowalski saluted.
“Good job soldier” Skipper said “As soon as this ceremony ends we need to get to the HQ as fast as we can” Skipper said.
“Why?”
“It’s just a feeling” The leader replied. He knew something was about to happen. He trusted his guts. And his guts had never failed him before.
“So, what is this ceremony?”
“It’s a memorial thing. Everybody lays a candle with a flower on the river and it will be carried by the water. That’s all. The Staff are the first ones to do so” Skipper said and pointed at Commander Tryan and the rest of the staff on a small wooden bridge. They laid the candles and were soon followed by others.
“For some reason they always choose a red rose for each candle. This is lame” Skipper said and took two candles. “These are for Manfredi and Johnson. They’ve always said that they would like to be honored with the simplest of the flowers. Just daisies” He said and handed the candles to Kowalski and Rico so they could lay them on the water. Although three penguins didn’t know Manfredi and Johnson, they had the respect for them.
“This is for a very dear friend of mine… Karen has always adored violets” Skipper said and gave it to Private. It was time for the last one “And this… this is for Katherine. She’s never really cared what flower she would have on her memorial candle, she wanted it to be chosen by her friends. She hated roses. She had the reason…” Skipper closed his eyes for a moment “But her favorite flower was actually a tiger lily” He said and laid the last candle with a tiger lily on the water. “She was too young for her fate. You may rest in peace, sister…”
“S-she was your sister? You had a sister?” Kowalski asked shocked.
Suddenly a noise was heard and a panic slowly went through the crowd. The animals started to run in different directions and some gunshots were heard. Some of them formed an order of battle and pulled out the guns. Skipper looked around trying to find the reason of sudden action. Someone grabbed his arm.
“What is happening?” Skipper asked as he turned to face Commander Tryan.
“We’re under attack. I predicted a situation like this. Take that and get your team out of here” Commander said and gave him a gun-looking thing.
“But I want to help..”
“I know Skipper. But at the moment those three aren’t safe here. We will handle that” Tryan said and disappeared. Skipper sighed and pulled the trigger. He knew that invention well, from the arsenal of MAPB. It teleported them back to the Central Park Zoo.
“What was all of that?” Kowalski asked.
“I found out many information today. It’s high time you got introduced to the military world…” Skipper said and sighed. This day had to come…
________________________________________
Meanwhile, far from everywhere, where no ways lead, deep in a cave, almost invisible light started barely shining in the unpenetrated darkness. Soon, it was followed by the other ones and the crystals in every color filled the mysterious cave with its lights. As the first light awoke, the deep breath was heard. The breath that has brought the end of the ages of silence in there.
There was a penguin, lying on the bed-like stones in the end of the mystic cave. The rise and fall of her chest caused her to breath. Slowly, her hair-like feathers started to get the color and the shining again. Her black and white feathers were getting soft and pure. The colors ran through her face, her eyelids, down her cheeks and finally to the end of her beak. Her lashes were once again dense and long. Her heart finally returned to life. Something moved in the brain.
I’m Alive…[i/]
The memories turned back. The fire, the tears, the coldness, the last breath and the loneliness in darkness. Those memories started to fill her head causing the pain. The pain meant life. The one true feeling to keep her consciousness and to relieve her mind.
She finally got her senses. The sense of [i]hearing. She could hear the sound of million drops of water falling down in the waterfall. The sense of touch. She could feel every detail of the surface under her flipper. All her senses were so heightened. She was afraid to make a move. A single move could destroy the stillness and calmness she kept. It was burning from inside like a fire with no intention to let go. She had to take the risk.
The blood was rushing in her veins faster as she gathered all of her strength and moved her flipper. She barely moved it, as if it was as heavy as a rock, but she could feel as everything had just vanished. Then, all of sudden, the feelings returned and she knew that she was ready. The sense of sight.
I’m alive…
She opened her golden eyes.
________________________________________
I haven’t updated for ages! Sorry guys, I don’t have much free time recently. But, this chapter was longer and I hope you liked it. I wanted to end this with a mystery.
Thank you guys for reading, the next chapter’s up soon!
I couldn’t be on fanpop for some time, but I love reading, and if you want me to read your story, feel free to ask! I’d love that.
Pleasee, let me know what you think, I would love to hear your opinions! :)
Here's the link for chapter 1: link
