Skipper has the team standing beside the mid table of their little underground base. All the escape tunnels are locked tight forcing Kowalski, Private, and Rico to all realize this is no joking matter. The only time Skipper orders everything to be closed is when classified information is going to be mentioned. Private is shuddering at the mere possibilities—any slight indication of a nemesis in the area (Dr. Blowhole the unbelievably relentless dolphin… Hans the puffin with the manic desire to finish off the Skipper… Savio, Clemson…) they all could drive Skipper into utter paranoia. Quick thinking, hasty reaction times are just few of the things the three penguins watching Skipper knew they needed to be capable of. The team will abide to the frantic orders given by their leader at any cost—all of them understanding if the matter isn’t taken care of immediately, it could come back to haunt them like the sting of a needle. Be prepared for anything. Leave no penguin behind (except for the few exceptions like Manfredi and Johnson, and even then all the penguins knew they had only been left behind because of a terrible mistake).
The penguins would learn to be positively certain they always could always make the quickest decision of their friends and foes.
“Alright, men,” Skipper surveys the team with an all-knowing eye. They drop their salutes as he casually continues on. “I’ve retired, and Private is now in charge. What are you going to do, Private?”
Upon his words, Private nearly leaps back in pure anguish and surprise. He miraculously recovers and attempts to find the correct words.
“Well, um, I—” he interrupts himself. He turns around; glancing back at Kowalski and Rico’s own expressions of confusion, and eventually lays his eyes back upon his ex-leader.
“Sir, I’m not sure I’m the right—”
Skipper impatiently cuts into the nervous cadet’s excuse, rumbling sternly, “Private led you all into a mission without a clear mind and has sadly passed away. Congratulations Kowalski! Because you’re the commander now.”
Private shuts his beak, oddly staring at the ground for comfort. Ironically at the moment he wasn’t in a clear mind due to how out-of-style Skipper was acting.
Noticing his cue, Kowalski begins to grin. It takes him a few seconds to check himself.
“It’s strategically simple, Skipper. Mourning Private’s death and your retirement, Rico and I would go on to carry out missions on our lonesome. We would possibly enlist a few men; perhaps even begin a SCIENCE agency. And after years of taking it slow, we would become an efficient, reliable elite unit… unstoppable!”
Skipper sighs in exasperation, “We’re already that, Kowalski.”
“Yes, well…” he starts uncertainly before building confidence, beginning to smirk again as if his personal plan is unbeatable. “That’s true, however I can ensure I’d always have to team under complete control—n-not that you don’t. I just would... organize the complete team and all its new enlisted men into classes. Charts and graphs to indicate every and all transferable data brought in by a everyday basis. I would also make sure everyone knew their math into a tip-top form in order to make certain—”
Private cringes at Kowalski’s last remark.
“Ok, it sounds like you have it all nice and planned out. Got the whole future ahead of you,” Skipper says, crossing his flippers, measuring out his lieutenant’s words emotionlessly.
“Yes,” Kowalski can’t refrain a giggle. “I’d only want to make sure—”
“Oh, look at that, Kowalski! Doris just called!” Skipper fights a smile as he sees his second-in-command go completely into elation.
“R-Really?!” he already sounds love-drunk.
“She says she’s moved into a relationship with a dolphin of her own species…”
Kowalski’s face falls as Skipper modestly continues.
“…Meaning she DOESN’T like you-like you anymore, and most likely never ever will.”
Rico whistles in amazement to Skipper’s low-blow. In return, Kowalski acts exaggeratedly heart-broken. His left eye unyieldingly begins twitching as he stares blankly at Skipper.
Skipper continues after the dejected penguin calms down slightly, “Directly after discovering the truth, a very emotionally-compromised Kowalski leads his “elite team” into a mission objective too big for their capabilities. Sadly, Kowalski was killed in mid-raid. Rico, you’re leader now, what do you do?”
Kowalski stretches his gaze to match his leader’s eye level.
“That’s unfair, Skipper! You can’t honestly expect—”
“You died, Kowalski!”
“B-But, sir…”
“D. E. A. D! Dead. Men. Can’t. Talk!”
Already succumbing to the fact he’ll never win in an argument against Skipper, Kowalski allows his commander to continue on with the randomness displayed without any further interruption.
“So Rico: Private and Kowalski have both passed away! I’m retired, possibly passed myself, and you’re the only one left to carry the team… What do you do?”
Kowalski and Private both feel their hearts drop in their chests. In a simple, amazed exchange of glances, they understand. With a single nod to each other, they turn back to see what the last-capable penguin of the team standing might say.
And Rico, the penguin most probable to say the most out-of-context, unpredictable things at chance sequences… doesn’t opine a single sentence. He rather stares at the floor, back slumping as if the entire Central Park Zoo has been placed upon his shoulders. The mere task ahead of him weighing him down. Skipper nods.
“Anything can happen at any time, boys.” He places a flipper on each of them lightly, trying to show this was nothing more than a test. “Wit, strength, and speed are sometimes not enough survive a hard time. There will come a time all of you will have to make a hard decision—whether you’ve already made one in your lifetime or not—and you’ll likely either praise yourself or regret it the entirety of your life…” Skipper fades, clearly distracted briefly by his own experiences of his past. Not one penguin had the lack of respect to intrude in his moment of silence.
Roughly, Skipper shakes his head.
“My point is, Kowalski, Rico, Private, is sleep on it. You can choose whatever decision you’d want as a leader or penguin, and we’ll all be alongside—or not—to respect it. Anything can change at any time. Wisdom is a penguin’s best trait: it’s when all those years of experience finally allow you the leverage to an oncoming hard ordeal. It takes more than just a few minutes of half-hearted brooding to make some conclusions... I’ve found this all out by my personal accord, after years of... rueful regret…” His frown increases. “And I now know sometimes if you linger too long…” He suddenly laughs coldly at himself as he glances at a few of the shut escape paths. The other penguins (who had swiveled their gazes to the floor) turn their eyes up in surprise.
“You may regret not making that last decision a more thoughtful one.”
---------------------------------------------------------------
Private: D-Did something happen Skipper?
Skipper: That’s… very classified information, soldier.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Skipper: Oh, and uh heh… sorry for killing you in the object lesson, Kowalski. Doing that sort of contradicted my final point.
Kowalski: Heheh… naaaaailed it!
The penguins would learn to be positively certain they always could always make the quickest decision of their friends and foes.
“Alright, men,” Skipper surveys the team with an all-knowing eye. They drop their salutes as he casually continues on. “I’ve retired, and Private is now in charge. What are you going to do, Private?”
Upon his words, Private nearly leaps back in pure anguish and surprise. He miraculously recovers and attempts to find the correct words.
“Well, um, I—” he interrupts himself. He turns around; glancing back at Kowalski and Rico’s own expressions of confusion, and eventually lays his eyes back upon his ex-leader.
“Sir, I’m not sure I’m the right—”
Skipper impatiently cuts into the nervous cadet’s excuse, rumbling sternly, “Private led you all into a mission without a clear mind and has sadly passed away. Congratulations Kowalski! Because you’re the commander now.”
Private shuts his beak, oddly staring at the ground for comfort. Ironically at the moment he wasn’t in a clear mind due to how out-of-style Skipper was acting.
Noticing his cue, Kowalski begins to grin. It takes him a few seconds to check himself.
“It’s strategically simple, Skipper. Mourning Private’s death and your retirement, Rico and I would go on to carry out missions on our lonesome. We would possibly enlist a few men; perhaps even begin a SCIENCE agency. And after years of taking it slow, we would become an efficient, reliable elite unit… unstoppable!”
Skipper sighs in exasperation, “We’re already that, Kowalski.”
“Yes, well…” he starts uncertainly before building confidence, beginning to smirk again as if his personal plan is unbeatable. “That’s true, however I can ensure I’d always have to team under complete control—n-not that you don’t. I just would... organize the complete team and all its new enlisted men into classes. Charts and graphs to indicate every and all transferable data brought in by a everyday basis. I would also make sure everyone knew their math into a tip-top form in order to make certain—”
Private cringes at Kowalski’s last remark.
“Ok, it sounds like you have it all nice and planned out. Got the whole future ahead of you,” Skipper says, crossing his flippers, measuring out his lieutenant’s words emotionlessly.
“Yes,” Kowalski can’t refrain a giggle. “I’d only want to make sure—”
“Oh, look at that, Kowalski! Doris just called!” Skipper fights a smile as he sees his second-in-command go completely into elation.
“R-Really?!” he already sounds love-drunk.
“She says she’s moved into a relationship with a dolphin of her own species…”
Kowalski’s face falls as Skipper modestly continues.
“…Meaning she DOESN’T like you-like you anymore, and most likely never ever will.”
Rico whistles in amazement to Skipper’s low-blow. In return, Kowalski acts exaggeratedly heart-broken. His left eye unyieldingly begins twitching as he stares blankly at Skipper.
Skipper continues after the dejected penguin calms down slightly, “Directly after discovering the truth, a very emotionally-compromised Kowalski leads his “elite team” into a mission objective too big for their capabilities. Sadly, Kowalski was killed in mid-raid. Rico, you’re leader now, what do you do?”
Kowalski stretches his gaze to match his leader’s eye level.
“That’s unfair, Skipper! You can’t honestly expect—”
“You died, Kowalski!”
“B-But, sir…”
“D. E. A. D! Dead. Men. Can’t. Talk!”
Already succumbing to the fact he’ll never win in an argument against Skipper, Kowalski allows his commander to continue on with the randomness displayed without any further interruption.
“So Rico: Private and Kowalski have both passed away! I’m retired, possibly passed myself, and you’re the only one left to carry the team… What do you do?”
Kowalski and Private both feel their hearts drop in their chests. In a simple, amazed exchange of glances, they understand. With a single nod to each other, they turn back to see what the last-capable penguin of the team standing might say.
And Rico, the penguin most probable to say the most out-of-context, unpredictable things at chance sequences… doesn’t opine a single sentence. He rather stares at the floor, back slumping as if the entire Central Park Zoo has been placed upon his shoulders. The mere task ahead of him weighing him down. Skipper nods.
“Anything can happen at any time, boys.” He places a flipper on each of them lightly, trying to show this was nothing more than a test. “Wit, strength, and speed are sometimes not enough survive a hard time. There will come a time all of you will have to make a hard decision—whether you’ve already made one in your lifetime or not—and you’ll likely either praise yourself or regret it the entirety of your life…” Skipper fades, clearly distracted briefly by his own experiences of his past. Not one penguin had the lack of respect to intrude in his moment of silence.
Roughly, Skipper shakes his head.
“My point is, Kowalski, Rico, Private, is sleep on it. You can choose whatever decision you’d want as a leader or penguin, and we’ll all be alongside—or not—to respect it. Anything can change at any time. Wisdom is a penguin’s best trait: it’s when all those years of experience finally allow you the leverage to an oncoming hard ordeal. It takes more than just a few minutes of half-hearted brooding to make some conclusions... I’ve found this all out by my personal accord, after years of... rueful regret…” His frown increases. “And I now know sometimes if you linger too long…” He suddenly laughs coldly at himself as he glances at a few of the shut escape paths. The other penguins (who had swiveled their gazes to the floor) turn their eyes up in surprise.
“You may regret not making that last decision a more thoughtful one.”
---------------------------------------------------------------
Private: D-Did something happen Skipper?
Skipper: That’s… very classified information, soldier.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Skipper: Oh, and uh heh… sorry for killing you in the object lesson, Kowalski. Doing that sort of contradicted my final point.
Kowalski: Heheh… naaaaailed it!
