Hey there! Welcome to my third PoM story and 10th overall story since joining FanFiction! (confetti flies everywhere) :D Enjoy this first chapter! :)
It was a lovely spring morning in New York City. In the penguins' HQ, Skipper and his team were enjoying some free time, since they had finished their training early. Skipper was sitting at the table drinking some fish coffee, Rico was in the corner across from the bunks brushing Miss Perky's hair, Kowalski was working on something in his lab, and Private was watching TV. "The Lunacorns" wasn't on yet, so the youngest penguin was casually flipping through the channels with the remote control until something interesting came up.
During his channel surfing, he came across a soap opera. He didn't like them but, since there was nothing else on, he decided to just watch it for a few minutes. The scene was set in a hospital room. A lady, obviously the patient (given the hospital gown she was wearing), was trying to get out of bed when a doctor and nurse entered.
"Mary, you're not supposed to be getting up. You've been through a lot." The doctor said, approaching her and starting to lower her back onto the bed.
The patient, Mary, seemed to comply but, without warning, reached up and hit him in the neck with her fist. The doctor collapsed to the floor. Private, being the cute little innocent penguin he was, had no idea what just happened, until the camera did a close-up to reveal the lady was holding a syringe. As luck would have it, this was the exact moment when Skipper looked up at the TV.
"Private, what are you - NEEDLE!" He jumped up from the table and started running around as Private frantically switched the channel. In perfect timing, Kowalski stepped out of his lab, holding what appeared to be his latest invention; it looked like a small ray gun.
"Gentlemen, I present to you the – oof!" He was slammed into by Skipper, who was still in the middle of his freak-out. The two of them stumbled backward into the lab while the device fell on the floor. A beam of light shot out of it, ricocheting off the metal objects around the room. Private and Rico ducked for cover. In another instance of perfect timing, Julien stuck his head into the HQ from the fish bowl entrance.
"Hello, peng-" The ray hit him square in the face. Julien crashed to the floor and lay there. Private and Rico started to get up.
"Well, that was certainly chaotic," Private said. Skipper was lying on top of Kowalski, the latter appearing to be quite annoyed.
"Skipper, can you get off me, please?" The leader did without hesitation.
"Sorry, Kowalski." He brushed his feathers off awkwardly. The tallest penguin rushed over to his invention, which was lying near the table, and checked it for damages.
"Great. The circuitry is all fried. Now I need to fix it," He frowned at Skipper. "What were you doing, anyway?" It was Private who answered.
"Well, I was looking around for something to watch on the telly, when I came across this soap opera. There was a hospital scene and a needle appeared. Skippah saw it and, well, you know the rest." He looked at the ground, feeling guilty. Skipper rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
". . . Yeah. So, what does this new invention of yours do, or at least was supposed to do before all that happened?" The lieutenant cleared his throat.
"Well, this is my Personality-Tron 1000. It's supposed to take one's personality and switch it with another but, now that the circuit boards are cooked, I'll have to replace them all and start over." He gestured to the device, which was a bit burnt in the back and smoldering slightly.
"Uhh. . ." Rico grumbled. He pointed at Julien, who was still sprawled out on the floor next to the ladder. The others went over to him.
"Are you okay, Ringtail?" Skipper shook him with his flipper, trying to wake him up. Julien groaned in response but stayed in his current position.
"What happened?" Kowalski asked, turning to Private and Rico.
"When Skippah ran into you, your invention hit the floor and went off, shooting a laser beam all over the HQ, and Julien got hit with it." Rico nodded and started jabbing his flippers in the air to imitate laser fire.
"Yeah. Pew-pew-pew!"
"Oh, boy," Kowalski said nervously.
"What?" The others asked.
"I haven't tested the device yet. If it wasn't broken, I could see if Julien's personality was altered in any way. It shouldn't cause any problems, though, since I didn't put any personalities into it yet." Julien started to pick himself off the floor and sat up.
"Eh, what just happened?"
"You were hit with Kowalski's newest invention," Private replied. The lemur rubbed his face and straightened his crown.
"So, are you okay?" Skipper asked again. Julien nodded.
"Do you mind if I ran a few tests on you, just to be sure?" Kowalski inquired.
"Of course I mind, smarty penguin! I am not interested in getting hit in the royal face again by your silly contraptions! I am going back to my kingdom, where it is safe and not reeking with the horrible fishy fish smell." He climbed up the ladder and left.
"He's fine." Skipper said. "Now let's head topside; the zoo is about to open."
Okay, not much happened yet! :) Oh, the needle thing wasn't made up; that was literally what happened on an episode of "General Hospital" one day while I was flipping through the channels. I was cringing for a good two minutes afterward (ugh, needles). X[ But I'm okay, people! :) In fact, that was what sparked the idea for this story in the first place. :D Alright, the next chapter will provide more info on Julien's condition. :)