The worst part of it all was the simple fact that he could do nothing about it…
It happened not too long after the team had awoken from their night’s rest. As usual, Skipper alerted the three penguins of the time of day, immediately causing the sleeping aves to roll out from their sleeping slots in the wall. Both Kowalski and Rico hopped onto the cold floor, standing side-by-side with stiff posture. Skipper held his flippers behind his back and stood before the two penguins. It didn’t take the leader much time at all to notice that he was one soldier short.
“Where’s Private?” Skipper arched a brow as he eyed the hole where the missing penguin would normally have been found. Both Rico and Kowalski exchanged glances with one another and then gave Skipper a shrug. In return, Skipper rested his flippers on his sides and lowered his head with closed eyes. After releasing a quiet sigh, Skipper quickly raised his head and looked to the tallest of the four, “Kowalski, I need options!”
The highly intelligent penguin had already taken a step ahead of Skipper, having been scribbling down a couple of notes on his iconic notepad, “Option A: Begin investigation to locate missing Private, or B: Act as though nothing occurred.” Kowalski read aloud, keeping note to annunciate his words in a very clear and precise manner. Skipper rolled his eyes at the two choices, knowing exactly what course of action he was going to take.
“Good work, Kowalski. You’re coming with me. Rico!” Skipper called, attaining the bulky penguin’s attention, “I want you to remain on guard duty, in case the little guy comes waddling home. Got that?” Skipper asked with a smirk as he made his way behind the two penguins and towards the ladder that lead to the surface of their underground quarters. Unfortunately, before Rico could answer, Skipper had already shut the hatch door on his way out.
There was a long, awkward silence that followed the echo of the hatch door slamming shut. Kowalski timidly allowed his eyes to wander towards Rico when he noticed that he was being watched as well. In response, the tall penguin quickly averted his eyes and softly coughed, “Well, I should probably be going, now…” he simply stated; and with that, Kowalski held his pencil and notepad under his flipper, using the other to climb the ladder and exit the area.
The Zoo was illuminated with a blue tint, induced by the morning sun that had yet to climb over the horizon of the city. Kowalski gently sealed the door shut from behind and quickly made his way after Skipper. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found. Kowalski suddenly stopped in his tracks and folded his flippers in disappointment. He wasn’t certain as to where to go from here.
“K’woski!” A dry, raspy voice was heard from behind.
The tall penguin slowly turned to face the source of the voice and discovered the silhouette of the simple-minded Rico, which had appeared to have just finished exiting the hatch. Only, he didn’t bother to close it, afterwards. As expected, Rico simply couldn’t stand to be left out of anything that was taking place without him. Kowalski couldn’t help but smile a bit, finding his teammate’s behavior to be silly and childish. Rico eventually reached Kowalski, nearly tackling him in a loving embrace. This confused Kowalski, for he hadn’t even been gone for very long; at least not long enough to have been missed.
Kowalski soon gave Rico a light push to remove himself from the deadly hold. Fortunately, Rico didn’t seem to be emotionally affected by this action. He simply allowed his beak to become slack, his tongue hanging from the side of his mouth. He was standing with his usual hunched posture, panting as though he were a dog that was ready to play. It almost pained Kowalski to think that he would eventually be required in sending Rico back to the quarters. After all, they were Skipper’s orders.
He heaved a sigh and shook his head, “I’m truly sorry, Rico, but…I’m afraid you have to remain at HQ for guard duty.” Kowalski reminded him, doing his best to sound sympathetic.
However, it appeared, at first, that Rico hadn’t comprehended what was being said. Instead, he remained as he was, wearing a careless expression on his face. This forced Kowalski to try once more. The penguin took a step forward and pointed to the opened hatch door behind Rico, with the use of his flipper. Rico turned and glanced at the hatch before turning back to Kowalski with the same attitude as before. Kowalski narrowed his eyes and made an attempt to shove Rico back a bit, in order to get the message across. This appeared to have had an effect on the manic penguin. His tongue retracted into his beak and his head tilted to the side a bit.
“Go home, Rico!” Kowalski ordered, pointing to the hatch once again, “Go!”
Rico was now fully aware of what was happening, and he wasn’t entirely fond of it. Therefore, he simply shook his head and grunted in disagreement. Kowalski then groaned and raised a flipper to his forehead, “Please, Rico…I’ll return shortly, as soon as you return to your post.”
Sadly, Rico only folded his arms and shook his head again.
“Rico!!” Kowalski burst from the frustration of the situation, throwing his notepad and pencil against the ground. Rico, having not expected such an outburst, jumped from shock. For a while, Kowalski wore an angry expression, revealing hatred in his eyes. It almost frightened Rico, who had very seldom witnessed such behavior exploited from Kowalski.
The angry penguin quickly regained his senses and realized the harm he had inflicted upon a close friend. Of course, before any apologies could be made, Rico chose to turn away and leave as he was told to do. He slowly dragged his feet across the wet grass, sluggishly making his way into the hatch and down the ladder. Kowalski flinched as he heard Rico slam the door unnecessarily loud.
“Hey, Kowalski, where’ve ya been?” Skipper approached from elsewhere. Kowalski decided not to answer. He only bent forward to gather his belongings, keeping his thoughts to himself, “Well, I found Private. Looks like he might’ve suffered a bit of trauma to the head, but we’ll save the questioning for tomorrow. I’m gonna put this little guy to bed…” Skipper noted as he walked past Kowalski and towards the entrance to their quarters. Now that Skipper had entered Kowalski’s line of sight, he could be seen carrying Private over his shoulder as he climbed into the hole.
“Oh, Kowalski! You mind locking up for me, tonight?”
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