A/N: And here we go! No flames, thank you very much :3
"Kowalski! Intel!" Skipper ordered, pointing at a large crate in the middle of their habitat. "It is apparently designed to home a living organism, so I can draw the conclusion it's a penguin inside of here. Probably the new recruit the HQ sent us." Kowalski "briefly" explained, circling the crate. Rico hacked up a crowbar and opened the crate. "Make yourself known, soldier! Name, age, rank and current social status!" Skipper barked. "Ok, ok, geez." The whole team stared as a female penguin stepped out of the crate. "Natasha, 24, Lieutenant, err...single?" Natasha finished off the sentence awkwardly, wondering why the Hell this penguin would want to know her social status. The penguins stared in awe. She was a tall, slim penguin, smoother and WAY more curvier than them, wearing small lunettes (they're like semi-circle glasses, with the flat side pointing upwards) shaded in blue and large blue cloth bag. Her raven black hair, yup she had hair, was tied up in a neat bun near the back of her head with bangs falling on either side of her face, a blue ribbon entwined in the bun. Her eyes were a very dark aquamarine, cold and calculating. "And since when were female penguins allowed into commando?" Skipper asked, laughing at the whole situation. In a split second Natasha had extracted a katana from her bag and was pinning Skipper down, the sword at his throat. "Don't. Try. Me." Natasha hissed, her glasses sliding down her beak a little. "Oooh, femme fatale, ok, I get it, you caught me unprepared this time." Skipper still laughed and Natasha fought the urge to smack him in the face. "Ok, you know what? Get up. One on one combat. We'll see who wins." Natasha stood up and took her stance on one end of the habitat. "Fine, but don't expect me to go easy on you." Skipper stated, positioning himself on the opposite side. Kowalski, Private and Rico stood by the fishbowl, unsure of what to do, all secretly cheering for Natasha (Especially Kowalski; ooh la la! X3!). Natasha shot forwards and Skipper prepared for her attack, but about mid-way she threw some shurikens at him and Skipper ducked. Catching the moment, Natasha tackled him to the ground and pointed a dagger, appeared out of nowhere, at his throat. "Happy now?" Natasha asked, not breaking a sweat. "You used weapons, no fair!" Skipper grumbled. "Fine." Throwing her bag to the side, which was where all weapons seemed to materialize from, she took her stances once again. Zigzagging from left to right, she performed a butterfly kick right on Skipper's face when his head was slightly turned trying to follow her, and then she tackled him, sitting on his chest as she swung her fist at him to punch him in the face, but stopped inches from his beak as hand-to-hand combat training requires (I think. Makes her look more honourable). All four penguins stared at her in shock, Skipper included. Finally Kowalski spoke up. "Wh-Where did you learn all that?" He stuttered, wowed. "Nothing special. Just basic training with specialization on white weapons (Weapons which don't shoot, i.e.: the katana, shurikens and the dagger). Apparently unlike you lot. Now where's your leader, maybe he'll be more adequately trained." The four penguins fell into an awkward silence. How were they to tell her that she had just beat the leader without shattering Skipper's remaining dignity into a thousand pieces? "Errr...he's-" Private spoke up, but Skipper interrupted him. "Right there!" Skipper pointed at Kowalski with a flipper, and when Natasha turned her head to look, he clapped his flippers together in a pleading motion. "Yeah. Me." Kowalski sounded totally unconvinced, but Natasha shrugged it off. "Let's see what you've got. No weapons." Kowalski took his stances in front of Natasha, trying to concentrate. When she leaped at him, he felt like he'd anticipated her roundhouse kick and ducked to the side, Natasha skidding to a halt in a blank space. "You've already lasted longer than flat-head over there." She commented with a smirk, before leaping forwards with a high kick. Skipper felt himself burn in the face, but tried to push the colour down. "She'll probably think I'm a Private or something." He thought inwardly with a sigh. Kowalski ducked again and aimed a kick at her back, but Natasha disappeared from the spot he flew into. They continued sparring like that for ages, each not being able to land one single attack. It was almost as if they had a bond which permitted the other to know what the opponent was thinking. After Natasha missed yet another attack, they found themselves in the same original starting stances as before, each panting heavily and colour in their cheeks. Natasha's hair had come loose near the end of the match, perfectly straight hair falling down up to her mid-flippers (Our elbows, let's say). "Hmpf. Finally a worthy opponent." She commented, picking up her ribbon and tying her hair back up with a swift few movements of her flippers. "Now how about we go inside?" She asked, gesturing towards the fishbowl whilst picking up her bag again. "S-Sure." Kowalski slid open the entrance and hopped inside, Natasha and the other three penguins following. "We only have four bunks, so we'll prep up a bed in my lab until Rico's finished carving a new one." Kowalski explained, motioning for her to follow him into his lab. Natasha's attitude morphed immediately as she entered the room, whizzing from one place to the other. "No way! Is that a subatomic-microspace nuclear-fusion-powered particle multiplier?!" She asked with a gasp while she picked up a laser. Skipper, Rico and Private groaned. They already had one exceedingly annoying brainiac. Kowalski, on the other hand, was shocked. She was seriously smart. He'd known of only one commando class, and he'd obviously been part of it, able to make it into the course which studied those topics, and there had only been one female in the class... "I can't believe it. Are you...Lily Greylance?" Kowalski asked, looking at her curiously. Natasha stiffened up at the use of her old name, and turned to look at Kowalski. "Do I know you?" She asked, a mistrustful expression on her face. "We were in the expert-advanced class of astronomophysics in the last three years of training." Kowalski explained. Her eyes widened in realization, but she immediately fell into battle-stance. "Kowalski...Long time no see." She smirked evilly. "Lily..." Kowalski smiled in the same way, and also fell into battle stance. "That part of my life is over. My name is Natasha now." She precised coldly, her eyes never leaving his for a second. "Erm...I'm getting the impression you two know each other?" Private asked, a little uneasy. "The two top students of the entire scientific division of the commando training program." Kowalski started to explain. "Not one test without full marks, not one question unanswered in class without the fullest explanation possible, but always in competition." Natasha finished, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "The headmaster could not decide who the top student was, so he made us fight each other to see who would win." Kowalski continued. "And then you pulled that stunt-" Natasha was interrupted. "YOU pulled that stunt!" Kowalski hissed. "I don't remember tripping anyone in that match." Natasha remarked sarcastically. And I don't remember giving anyone an uppercut to the jaw while making it seem like I'd stopped beforehand!" Kowalski shot back hotly. The other penguins had curtly left, not wanting to get caught into anything.
"Tripper!"
"Puncher!"
"Goody Good!"
"Mr. Perfection!"
With each insult the two penguins stepped closer until their beaks were almost touching. They held each others' furious glares for a second before it snapped. Both penguins, moving closer, captured the other's beak with theirs, their tongues tying in a rough fight. Pushing her up against the wall, Kowalski blocked her by placing a flipper on either side of her head, Natasha holding his head to hers with her flippers. Breaking the kiss, they both realized what had happened, their faces flushed. After holding his gaze for another moment, she stormed off, leaving Kowalski alone in the lab. "Just like old times..." He whispered, but this time let a small smile appear on his face.