Summary: A strange shadowy figure has been spying on the penguins and when Kowalski stumbles upon plans for some sort of dimensional portal, is it all some coincidence, or were these plans left for him on purpose. Inventing the machine, the penguins are sent across many different dimensions, meeting their alternative selves from rebellions, to assassins, and even to the greatest evil villains in the universe! Can the penguins return back to their dimension before their alternative selves destroy them first?
CHAPTER 1:
It was one of the quieter days at HQ. Skipper was sitting at the table, sipping on his usual mug of joe, Private was watching Lunacorns on television, Rico was brushing Mrs. Perky's hair, and Kowalski…well, let's just say there were no recent explosions from the scientist's lab for a while now. Normally Skipper would have had all of them doing drills outside but Skipper decided to give everyone the day off. Well, it was mostly because it was raining outside, but that doesn't mean Skipper wouldn't count this as one of their few free days. Besides, this gave him a bit of time to look over previous mission logs. Sometimes it was laborious work to look through old mission logs, but you could never under look any small detail.
Private giggled softly such as a school girl at the jokes emitting from the television, although he couldn't help feeling a bit bored. Sure, he enjoyed the day off, but he was used to having a set schedule throughout the day. Getting up early for some drill, followed by drill, and even more drill. Well, that and their routine, the smiling and waving. Private shifted his head to look at Rico, singing love ditties to his doll while brushing her hair. He couldn't help but wonder how their love came to be…although it was just a doll. He smiled slightly and decided to drop the wondrous thought and returned to watching his beloved Lunacorn show.
Rico still sang ditties in his best singing voice that he could…even though that voice wasn't the most melodic. His trigger happy mood at a standstill as he enchanted his lovely girlfriend.
Private couldn't take too much more of this looming silence. "So Skippah, we'll be back to our normal routine tomorrow, right?"
Skipper looked up from the many files in front of him, "Huh, what? Oh yeah, of course Private. Well, of course we have to make up today's work tomorrow also. I'm thinking maybe even some extra recon."
Private frowned at this. More drills meant being more exhausted than usual. And recon on its own was quite boring. Not a whole lot of action and excitement come out of recon…at least not normally. Occasional things would pop-up, such as the time Private has spotted the Skorka on night recon. That was quite a scary event.
Seeing that Private was upset at the news of extra work, he chuckled a little. "Young Private, we have to make sure we're always prepared for the unexpected. You never know when something is going to happen."
As if on cue, a loud explosion emitted from Kowalski's lab. The other three penguins threw themselves up and to the door. Rico upchucked and knocked the door down with a stick of dynamite even though it wasn't absolutely necessary. Skipper rolled his eyes but pretended to ignored this as they walked into the lab. Smoke looming in the air, fading slowly.
Skipper looked around, trying to eye the strategist. "Kowalski, sound off soldier."
About five seconds later, Kowalski slowly rose from behind his lab table, coughing vigorously. "Aye Skipper."
"Kowalski, what happened in here?" Private looked at the scientist concerned as he took off his soot covered goggles. It had been quite a while since Kowalski had a failed invention explode in the process of building it.
"Do you mean other than what usually happens Private? It's obvious that one of Kowalski's inventions didn't work properly and exploded shortly before being finished." Skipper said before sighing. "Kowalski, you haven't been experimenting with unstable power cells again, have you?" Skipper shooting his second in command a half annoyed look.
Kowalski slowly grabbed his clipboard that had a few notes on it as he cleared his throat. He quickly grabbed his abacus from the table and quickly flipped some of the beads. He sighed half-heartedly and looked at the other penguins. "Heh, I guess I forgot to carry the 2…again…but not to worry, I can fix this!"
Rico, being a weapons and explosives expert quickly gathered that the explosion was isolated onto one spot of the room, although a lot of debris was spread around. He pointed toward the origin of the explosion, "Ka-boom?"
Kowalski looked up from the clipboard and glanced in the direction of Rico's flipper. He laughed half-humorously and glanced back over to the others. "Yeah, my latest invention did explode but thankfully it was just an isolated incident. I'll just have to reconstruct it properly this time, now that I have my math correct."
Skipper still looked half-annoyed toward his lieutenant. "Kowalski, how bout' we give the inventing a break for a bit. And when I say we, I mean you soldier." He said this as a suggestion but the strategist knew it was more of a command than friendly advice.
"But Skipp-"
"No buts Kowalski. Try to find something else productive that won't destroy our HQ or the world while we're at it."
Kowalski sighed in frustration and sadness. Private felt sorry for Kowalski in these types of situations. He knew the scientist would always take his lab over a game of chess, television, or any other activities the penguins had in their base.
All four penguins walked out of the lab, all returning to their previous activities, except for Kowalski of course. Skipper glanced at the clock to notice the time being 2200 hours. It was about time for them all to bunk. "Alright men, we bunk in 10 minutes, so finish up your shenanigans. Tomorrow we drill harder than normal because we didn't have any today."
Rico began to finish brushing Mrs. Perky's hair, Private began to watch some of the news because the Lunacorns were now over. Skipper began to make his last analysis of the mission logs as he slowly put them away one by one. Kowalski sat down against the wall next to the bunks. At least he still had his clipboard. Skipper told him to take a rest on inventing, but that didn't mean he couldn't create ideas, could it? He tapped the pencil against his beak as he mused what inventions could possibly help out the team in future missions. A freeze ray? Nah, what uses could a freeze ray have other than making icicled bad-guys? Or perhaps a shrink ray? Oh wait, he had already invented that one. What else was there to build?
Skipper never liked banning his men from their creative muses and hobbies, but he couldn't help but feel responsible if one of them were to get hurt from it. Especially Kowalski. He was always in that lab, sometimes not coming out for hours, days even. And all the explosions. What if an explosion one day was bigger than anyone could predict.
He glanced over to Rico, the weapons expert. The explosion-happy penguin had one of the most dangerous hobbies of exploding objects for pure enjoyment. But Skipper felt he could handle stopping Rico before he could make any grave mistake of any kind. Private really didn't have a dangerous or risky hobby. He really enjoys his Lunacorns, but he supposed Private on a sugar high could be dangerous. He gets a bit rambunctious and a bit unfocused. Then Kowalski, his second in command. Being around this penguin the longest helped him know his habits a lot more than the others on the team. Kowalski loves science to the point of it almost being like his way of life, or possibly a religion. He even claimed at some point that without science he had nothing, falling into a weeklong depression. His inventions have almost destroyed the world on many occasions as well as put the team in danger on even more occasions than the possible destruction or the world. He sighed as he thought about this, putting away the last mission file. "Alright boys, bunk time."
All the other penguins slowly got up from their activities and put away their belongings. Bunk time was actually sounding quite nice around this time. All filing into their appropriate bunks, (although the bunk arrangements changed often), they quickly fell into a blissful sleep.
Slowly shifting around in his bunk, Kowalski couldn't sleep. He felt as if he didn't get enough accomplished today in his scientific desires. He knew if he was caught in his lab, Skipper wouldn't allow him to enter for weeks. So instead he quickly look at the others to make sure he didn't wake them and climbed up the ladder and out of the HQ hatch. Kowalski strolled around the zoo for a long while in the moonlight. The breeze for a while felt nice between his feathers, but soon the air became a bit nippy. Kowalski was about to head back to the HQ when he noticed a letter tucked under a rock. That was strange, he could have sworn that wasn't there before. Kowalski had strolled around the zoo several times and never saw the note with the rock. Curiosity getting the better of him, he walked over to it but debated picking it up. He looked around in confusion as to who left this here. Was it perhaps intended for one of the animals in the zoo? Or perhaps someone had left it here by accident? That really didn't explain why it came out of nowhere so suddenly. He took the rock off the letter and noticed it was addressed to himself. Sure, he didn't know how to read, but he knew what his named looked like when written in the English alphabet. He realized that this letter WAS intended for him. But wouldn't this mean that someone was watching him. How else would someone have known to leave this letter in Kowalski's path back to HQ, along with the fact that he was even outside. The penguins rarely left the HQ at night, or even the daytime unaccompanied.
He took a deep breath and slowly picked up the letter, still cautiously eyeing around. If he had learned anything from being with Skipper, is that one could never be too careful. But he also realized full blown paranoia wasn't the most logical approach to any situation. He opened it and noticed that the contents weren't just a letter but also some blueprints to some sort of contraption. He couldn't read the letter inside but assumed it had some sort of instructions or note for the scientist. He huddled the papers close to his chest as he felt someone watching him. He looked around frantically but couldn't pinpoint any other being than him. He sighed and thought to himself, "I just need to relax. I'm just letting my own paranoia get the better of me. There's no one else in the zoo out and about other than myself. But I still do wonder how this letter got here." He looked at the letter in confusion and then in happiness. "Perhaps I should think this more over in the morning before I completely lose it. I'm probably just tired out. I've been out for a while and I do feel a bit drowsy."
Kowalski headed back to the HQ, the letter and its contents in tow. He hadn't noticed that there was indeed an unknown figure watching him from behind the clock tower bell. The figure was covered in a black cloak, smiling smugly. "Yes, let your curiosity fuel your scientific muses. I haven't seen such a brilliant mind in so long, but that's all about to change now, Kowalski."
The figure cackled and disappeared into the night. Almost as if he literally vanished, through some sort of black void in the middle of the open air.
This is my first ever story :( So any reviews would be most helpful and :) Thanks for reading.