~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Skipper was surrounded. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, his flippers up and at the ready, and his heels were slightly off the ground so he could move fast when it became necessary.

"Steady, men," Kowalski said.

Rico chuckled and coughed up a chainsaw and brandished it with a wild look in his eyes.

Private looked around nervously. "You sure you want to do this, Skipper?"

"If you three think you can take me down, then you're dreaming," Skipper replied with a smile.

"Now!" Kowalski ordered.

Rico and Private both jumped at Skipper at the same time. Skipper simply stepped aside and caught Rico under one flipper, causing the chainsaw to shake uncontrollably towards Private, who squeaked and ran in the opposite direction. Skipper reached over for Rico's other flipper to disarm him, which also caused him to go off-balance, and Skipper easily pushed him aside. While Skipper's back was turned, Kowalski jumped forward to attack, knocking Skipper to the ground. Private started back towards them, but the struggling pair rolled towards him and he couldn't move out of the way and he was bowled over.

Skipper turned so Kowalski's back was to him and he reached around his neck. Kowalski blocked the choke, broke free, rolled away and got to his feet while Skipper did the same. Rico and Private got to their feet and started towards them when Kowalski held up a flipper.

"He's mine," Kowalski said.

Kowalski's eyes were glued to Skipper's and vice-versa. They circled each other, their fins up on guard. A slow smirk spread across Skipper's face, which caused Kowalski's concentrated frown to deepen. Skipper went to move forward, which made Kowalski flinch back, and then Skipper lunged forward for real. He went to kick, but Kowalski blocked and countered with a punch. Skipper faded back and moved forward again, Kowalski met his attack with a block, and so it went; attack, block, counterattack, the two moving lightly on their feet, their flippers flashing as they struck.

Suddenly Kowalski felt his feet being swept out from under him, the air left his lungs as his back hit the ground hard, and it became even more difficult to breathe when a weight settled on him and he was pinned to the floor.

"Game, set, match," Skipper said with a smile.

Kowalski sighed. "I give."

Skipper stood and offered a flipper to help Kowalski up. "Not bad, team, but it still needs work."

"We attacked you with everything we got, Skipper," Private protested slightly.

Skipper gave the younger penguin a look. "You hold back. You practice that with us, it'll happen during missions. What if you had to take one of us out?"

Private only frowned at his superior.

"Rico, rely on something other than that chainsaw. It's becoming predictable."

"Uh, uh," Rico said with a salute.

"And Kowalski, not a bad assault, you just need to work on your grappling skills a bit more."

"Thank you, sir."

"Hey guys!" Marlene said brightly.

"Intruder!" Skipper shouted.

Rico wasted no time and in a blur of motion, he had Marlene pinned to the ground in the same way Skipper had just had Kowalski.

"Good work, Rico," Skipper said.

"Um, Skipper, it's just Marlene," Private said.

"Oh."

"Get off of me, Rico," Marlene said, shoving the penguin away.

"Marlene, you should know better than to sneak up on us," Skipper said.

The otter rolled her eyes as she stood. "I know, I should remember that this is the raging paranoia habitat."

"What's going on, Marlene?" Private asked.

"Oh, right, well do you guys remember the new habitat that they were building? It's going to be part of this huge experiment on repopulating lobster communities."

The four penguins exchanged a look.

"Hm, sounds a bit odd, then again, humans have proven themselves to be quite the odd species many a time," Skipper said.

"I suggest we get a full intel of the new habitat," Kowalski said, scribbling on his notepad. He turned it around to show the others his sketch.

"Let's move out, men."

Marlene sighed as the four belly-slide out the door.

"Why do I get the feeling that this isn't going to end well?" Marlene said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The four penguins made their way to the new habitat. They peeked around a corner at the tarp that covered it.

"Okay, time for recon, gentlemen. Private, you and Rico take the right flank, Kowalski, the left, I got center. Let's do it!" Skipper ordered.

The four took off to their targets and signaled when they were in position. Skipper glanced to his sides before giving his own and the four slipped under the tarp.

The habitat seemed to be much like their own, mainly water, and random rocks jutted out of the water to allow the lobsters to rest and sun themselves during the day. There was a larger, flat rock in the center where a group of lobsters seemed to be sleeping.

Skipper waved another signal to his men and they all swam silently to a rock.

"Analysis," Skipper whispered.

"So far it seems to be a simple lobster habitat, Skipper," Kowalski said, pulling out a device. It scanned the area and showed radar picture of the habitat. "Its size indicates that it can hold about thirty lobsters, and so far about ten are present. There are a total of thirteen rocks and the water is roughly ten feet deep."

"They're all sleeping on the rock over there," Private said, pointing at the sleeping lobsters.

"Well, perhaps it's time we introduced ourselves to our new neighbors, eh?" Skipper said.

"Aw, but Skipper, they're sleeping, can't we meet them in the morning?" Private asked.

"A morning rendezvous would decrease any hasty misunderstandings and also decrease any of our chances of meeting the wrong end of those claws," Kowalski agreed.

"Uh huh, owwwww," Rico said, rubbing his backside.

"Oh, all right," Skipper said. "We'll meet with them at eight hundred hours. Tomorrow's Sunday so the zoo is opening later."

The penguins slipped out of the habitat, the watchful eye of a camera following them out unnoticed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A/N: -scratches back of her head nervously- Okay, gave in to the urge to write a fanfic for this fandom, so, here I am. Reviews are always nice and much appreciated (it fuels me to continue writing, seriously), and will update as soon as I can!