Coming to Reality:

Chapter 1:

Confusion. That is the only word to describe the agents of EPF Squad No. 1. The file to a case that made no sense had been placed on the main desk of the squad's office. It made about as much as sense as Rico eating Puffle O's, which, if you didn't know, made no sense whatsoever.

Several penguins have been disappearing from the island…without a trace. Several EPF officials have been dispatched to all locations. Several have returned, some haven't. No blood has been found. Nothing in the way of physical harm to any penguin has been found. It is almost like the penguins have been vanishing off the face of the island for no purpose.

"How do penguins vanish off the island?" asked Rico, the leader of the squad. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"That's what I'm sayin'," Jet Pack Guy, tactical lead, replied.

"Hey, what if they DID vanish? Maybe they went into the Time Trekker? Maybe they got sucked through the windshield and…?" Rookie, communication lead, paused. "Yeah, you're right, that didn't happen…"

"Whoever is doing this is really good at covering up the evidence of murder," Dot, stealth lead, replied.

"Maybe so," Rico said. "I'm just getting this feeling, though, like it has to do with me…"

"Maybe it's because you're ugly?" Rookie asked.

"Ugly?!" Rico said. "You've gotta be kidding me…" He said, remaining sleek.

Dot rolled her eyes. "There's a reasonable explanation for this, though,"

"Yeah, but what is it?" JPG said.

"Well, squad, that's what we're here to do," Rico said. "The Director gave us this case because she knows we can do it. So, that means we're going to solve it. We've never failed the Director, even the most desperate of times. Let's do this," Rico said, setting the bar high for no reason. He was speaking in a random cheerful, sarcastic voice.

"So, do you want to like, investigate, or something?" Rookie asked.

"Yeah, sure, let's do that," Rico said, going back to his normal voice.

"Alright, where to?" asked Dot.

"Let's go check out the Town," JPG replied. They all headed out of the squad's office to go investigate.

Before we continue on with the present time, let's go back to this morning, when and where it all started…Rico's igloo…

The weekend. It was a time where most penguins would get to sleep in. Most. Not all. The ones that were included in the 'not all' category were the EPF agents. Including Rico.

He awoke to the sound of his phone buzzing multiple times. He didn't know what the heck it was.

"BEEP, BEEP, BEEP!" Rico's phone kept beeping. The Director was calling.

Rico threw the covers off, thinking he was being targeted by a nuclear bomb. "HOLY CRAB APPLES, IT'S COMING, IT'S –" He realized it was just his phone. "Oh," He grabbed it and answered it.

"Hello?" Rico answered in a tired voice, hoping the Director would notice so she'd hang up and not make him come in today.

"Rico, I hate to disrupt your weekend, but we have a rather urgent case that we need you to investigate," the Director said.

"When do you need me there?" Rico asked.

"Take your time, just don't take too long," the Director said. "Thank you…" she hung up.

It was 10:23 AM. He usually woke up later on weekends. But the old saying goes, 'an agent's work is never done', which meant he was destined to be awake at all times. He got off the couch (penguins sleep standing up, unless you're an EPF agent, because after all your hard work, you just want to fall over and die) and went into his kitchen. He looked in the fridge and remembered that he still didn't have any food.

"Fridge, why do I have to hate you?" Rico mumbled. He closed the door and went over to the pantry. Nothing there but a box of Puffle O's. He looked around. He didn't have any puffles. They had all ran away when his igloo exploded. He thought about.

Rico, don't do it. Remember what happened last time? Aw dang it, I'm so hungry. What do I do, hmm…what now…hmm…I know! I'll add salt to them! He grabbed some salt from behind the box that he kept for his purple puffle. He grabbed the box of Puffle O's and went over to the stove.

Sure, it wasn't smart to put the box of Puffle O's on the stove. But he did. He grabbed a bowl and poured some Puffle O's into it. He added some salt and some milk, forgetting they were Puffle O's and thinking it was cereal. For an agent of the number one EPF squad, he surely wasn't acting like it. He grabbed a spoon and dug in.

He had eaten Puffle O's many times. They all resulted in visiting the hose. This time was the WORST. He took one bite and he spit it out. His mouth was already burning. The salt added 1.43% spiciness and the milk didn't help. He ran to the sink and washed his mouth out with water. It burned for five minutes and he kept the sink spray-thing on his mouth for five minutes.

He had to stop eventually, and he did when there was a knock at the door. He turned off the sink and headed for the door. He looked around at the security cameras.

"Well, if this is a murderer, at least there will be some evidence that it wasn't suicide," he murmured. He waddled over to the door and opened it.

"Hey, Rico, how is it going?" asked the penguin at the door. It was his friend who also worked in the EPF – Snow.

"Hey, Snow. What brings you here? And why so early? Don't you know I try to sleep around this time?" asked Rico rudely.

"Yeah, yeah, I realize that – listen, I came here to gather some weapons for the Director." Snow said.

"Ah, yes," Rico said. A day earlier, the Director had asked for some of Rico's weapons. They were all stored in his secret igloo chamber, or what we'd call a cellar. It used to be hidden in the ice blocks of his igloo, until his igloo exploded. After the explosion, the only way for it to work was to add a trap door in the ground and raise the igloo a little. "Right this way," Rico led Snow to the trap door.

"Nice igloo," Snow said as Rico led him through.

"Yeah, well, I just burned my mouth out with Puffle O's for the thirty-billionth time," Rico said, making no point whatsoever.

"I don't know how to respond to that," Snow said.

"Neither would I," Rico said. They arrived at the door in the ground. It was well hidden. Rico grabbed a key from his pocket and opened in. "So, just go down there. Get the ones you need from the WCC touch screen and come up when you're ready…"

"Alright, thanks, Rico!" Snow said. He headed down the stairs.

Rico went back to business. He looked at his island surveillance cameras. Nothing was interesting to report. He headed back to the kitchen and cleaned up.

"I'll just head out for a coffee at the Coffee Shop," Rico said. He put the dishes in the sink and cleaned them. He wasn't always lazy. He, like others, was one that felt weird leaving things different from how they were. When he was done, he grabbed his blue duffle coat and his phone and headed out.

As soon as he left, he realized what an idiot he was (after 5 years, he finally comes to reality and realizes he's an idiot? Wow!). He headed back inside and grabbed some paper. He wrote a note for Snow:

Snow –

I ran to the Coffee Shop and then to the Command Room. I hope you found what you needed.

-Rico

He headed back out of his igloo and headed to the Coffee Shop. He was too caught up in what he was doing; he didn't even hear the "AAAAAAAAAH!" coming from his cellar.