More Than A Friend

Chapter 1

It Would Be a Surprise

Hunter sighed to herself. It had only been a day that her penguin friend had gone and she already missed him terribly. He was the only one who trusted her and he was her first and only friend. The cold Antarctic waters weren't for the faint of heart, she knew that Private needed to leave but she could not help but miss him. She wished he could have stayed.

"Dinner's ready hun!" her father called after her. "It's squid... again." Her father hated Antarctica, but he used to love it. That was before people came and left them with no fish, just squid and penguins. Hunter hated anyone who ate penguins and her father, who was saved by Private, couldn't bare to upset his daughter by eating penguins.

"Okay dad, coming," she replied with a lonely sigh.

The big leopard seal looked at his daughter. I wonder what's wrong with her, I'd better ask, he thought. "What's wrong honey, bored of Antarctica?" he asked. She shook her head.

"George- I mean dad, do you think my friend will come here sometime?" she asked, hopefully.

"Nope, see how boring this place is? But you can surprise him and visit him," George offered with a small smile. He knew this would cheer his daughter up and it did.

"Yum, squid!" Hunter exclaimed, rejoiced by those words and dived into the glacial waters of Antarctica. George slowly followed chuckling. I wish you could see this, Sandra, I really do, George thought as he remembered the times that his wife was here.

Soon enough the two caught a big enough amount of squids for a whole week! But it was nowhere hear as good as being full of fishes, shellfish and all the other food that the sea was emptied from. "I sure do wish there was more types of food here, it's getting a bit dull, I mean our diet is," George mourned sighing. When his wife was alive, the seas and oceans were filled with dozens of types of fish.

Hunter was content. She didn't mind that there was less fish, all that mattered was that she was full and that she didn't eat a single penguin.

As sunlight came for Antarctica, Hunter realised that she was going to do something about her loneliness, she had an idea. She would set out a couple of days before Christmas and hopefully she will be able to surprise Private. She knew that she was going to leave soon. Very soon. "Dad? May I set out for my visit tomorrow?" Hunter asked. Her father nodded.

"But promise you will come back after the festive season, hun, and please be careful," her father said, worried. He was going to miss his intelligent little pup. So much like her mother.

Elsewhere...

As the sun rose of the city of New York, the zoo was already lively. Within one of the most popular enclosures, four penguins resided on an artificial, grey island, surrounded by water. Oddly enough, they were improving their skills in martial arts, fighting one another with more skill than one would expect from a bunch of cute and cuddle penguins.

Nothing could surely be more crazier and more abnormal than this, nothing except their lives. The smallest one wasn't behaving like usually. He would usually block his opponent straight away, but this time he was too slow.

A flat headed penguin noted this, and could not help but question his younger teammate. "Private, you seem a little down soldier. What's wrong, Lunacorns were cancelled?" the penguin asked.

Private shook his head. "No Skipper, it's just that... Do you think I will see Hunter any time soon?" Private asked sadly.

The flat-headed penguin smiled. "I am sure you will see her, but unless you return to training you won't survive to see the day!" Skipper reassured the youngest penguin, attacking him again. Private blocked the attack and then counter attacked.

He smiled. "If that's the only thing left to do, then it's going to be easy Skippah!" the cute penguin acknowledged.

Skipper nodded. "Kowalski, is there a chance he will see Hunter this Christmas?" Skipper asked the tall penguin.

The tall penguin knew that he'd be asked and so he already had the answer. "Well, due to the fact that the two are friends and Hunters' speed, there is a fifty percent chance," Kowalski answered.

"Then it shall be a pleasant surprise if it happens, eh Rico?" Skipper said, nodding to the penguin with a scar that was looking up to the Sky.

The penguin nodded. "Surprise!" he grunted.

The four penguins had a long day and were prepared to go to sleep. Private spent most of the night twisting and turning, hoping that he will see Hunter again sometime.

Privates' Dream...

Private was in the enclosure with Hunter talking happily. It was Christmas and it was his happiest day of his life. His gentle and playful, silver friend was beside him, admiring the snowflakes.

"I know it may be a stupid question to ask, but does it snow in Antarctica a lot?" Private asked, smiling sheepishly.

Hunter shook her head sadly. "It isn't a bad question, really. We may have ice, but that's mainly compressed snow and frozen ice water, that built up over the years because of the cold. Snow is nice but rare, in Antarctica," she informed him with a gentle smile. "Hey want to play water tag?" Hunter then asked. As soon as she did that, the two dived down joyfully into the water.

They chased each other like kids until they were tired to swim any longer. They laughed and laughed. "You know what happened to me once?" Private asked. Hunter shook her head, she didn't know anything about the friendly little penguin. "I accidentally dressed up like a mermaid!" Private explained.

The two of them giggled. "You're funny!" Hunter said," and cute!" This made Private blush.

"And you look very pretty," Private complimented his friend. She hugged him and smiled. This was the best day of his life, Private thought.

End of Dream...

Private woke up to see it was late at night. It must have been the dream that awoke him. Speaking of the dream, it had left him with a rather odd feeling. He suddenly felt so close to Hunter, yet he was so far away from her.