Hello again! The next chapter is here! Let's see what sort of strange events start happening, shall we? ;)

The penguins made it back with about twenty minutes to spare. After Rico parked the car in the garage, they entered the HQ.

"Ah, it's good to be back." Skipper said. "I sure am hungry for some fish." Rico smiled.

"FISH!" Kowalski started heading over to his lab.

"Well, I'm going to finish my invention. It'll probably be done within an hour." He closed the side door behind him. Skipper and Rico did their normal hobbies to pass the time.

Private sat in the far corner of the room, his back turned to them. He looked at the charm, blew most of the dust off, and rubbed the charm on his tummy. It was now nice and shiny, and Private could see his reflection in it.

For a quick second, Private thought he saw the crystal turn red. He cocked an eyebrow, then shook his head; it must've just been a trick of the light. Private went over to his bunk and slipped the charm under his pillow for safekeeping. He looked at the clock and saw that it was now five minutes until the zoo opened.

"Skippah, Alice will be giving us our breakfast any minute."

"Alright, let's head topside." Skipper gestured for the others to go ahead. Private and Rico climbed up the ladder while Skipper fetched Kowalski from the lab. They joined the others outside.

The penguins stood in a straight line on their fake ice floe, waiting for Alice to arrive. They saw her off in the distance, tossing food to the other animals. Finally, she started heading toward their habitat with a bucket of fish in her hand. As she got closer, Private noticed something.

"Skippah, her shoes are untied." He whispered. The leader looked at them.

"Hmm. . . Kowalski, what are the odds that she'll trip?" The tall penguin did the math in his head.

"I'd say the chances are-"

Before he could finish the sentence, Alice stepped on her shoelace. She fell, losing her grip on the bucket in the process. It flew over the perimeter fence and landed upside down over Kowalski's head, the fish it had been holding scattering all over the platform.

". . . Certain." Kowalski finished, his voice echoing slightly. The other penguins stared at him as Alice looked at her shoelaces.

"What? I just tied my shoelaces! Ugh!" She sighed and retied them. When she got up, she noticed the bucket over Kowalski's head and the fish lying everywhere. She grabbed the wooden plank she used to get onto their platform and approached him.

"Whoops." Alice roughly yanked the pail upward, the handle of it getting caught on Kowalski's beak before slipping off. The zookeeper stepped back onto the pavement, removed the board, and left. Kowalski rubbed his beak.

"Are you okay, Kowalski?" Private asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," He replied. "That was strange; I don't recall Alice ever tripping over her shoelace before."

"Me neither," Skipper added. "Oh, well. Let's just collect our breakfast and head back inside." They grabbed all the fish that were strewn about and slipped back into the HQ.

Kowalski took his share and went back to his lab to continue working. A short while later, he returned, holding up his finished invention, which was covered with a cloth.

"It's done!" He exclaimed. Skipper crossed his flippers.

"Alright, Kowalski. Let's see it." The taller penguin removed the sheet. The device was cube-shaped, with buttons on the side and a door on the front, like a safe.

"I present. . . The Candy-Creator 9000! It makes whatever candy you want!"

"What's with the 9000?" Skipper questioned.

"I thought it had a nice ring to it," Kowalski replied, shrugging.

"Ooh! Does it make butterscotch lollies?" Private asked happily.

"Yep."

"Buttons?" Rico grumbled, tingling with excitement.

"Yes, Rico. It makes candy buttons, too."

"YEAH! BUTTONS!" Rico cheered, smiling maniacally. Kowalski stared at him for a moment before continuing.

". . . Okay. Here, allow me to demonstrate." The lieutenant pushed a few buttons on the control panel, and The Candy-Creator 9000 hummed to life. Just as it looked like everything was going smoothly, the device began to shake and spark erratically. Kowalski frowned.

"Oh, boy." The gadget exploded, sending chunks of metal fragments flying everywhere. The force of the explosion caused the entire zoo to shake. Alice noticed the tremor while sitting at her desk.

"Huh, that was weird." She mumbled. She then continued doing anything but her job.

Back inside the HQ, Skipper and the others got up. As the smoke cleared, they surveyed the damage. Chunks of metal had embedded themselves into the concrete. One of the portholes was cracked, and water from their pool leaked in, creating a small puddle on the floor. Their table had fallen apart and the pieces were scattered around the floor by the TV, which was, miraculously, unharmed. Skipper glared at Kowalski, who was covered in soot and clutching the remains of his invention.

"Well, Kowalski, you did exactly what I didn't want you to do: YOU BLEW UP OUR HQ!"

"I'm sorry, Skipper! I don't know what went wrong! It should have functioned properly!" Kowalski was completely baffled.

"I've heard that before. . ." The leader muttered, rolling his eyes. His second-in-command glared at him.

"No, seriously, Skipper! I know for a fact that all of my calculations were correct this time!" He pulled out his notes and showed him. "Look!"

"Kowalski, you know I don't understand all that science stuff." The lieutenant stared at the ceiling and sighed, exasperated. He turned his clipboard back around and scribbled a bunch of drawings. When he finished, he showed Skipper again.

"I even put a backup system in the device to prevent it from exploding. It was a fool-proof! There was absolutely no reason for that to happen!"

"Fool-proof maybe, but not genius-proof. Kowalski, I don't want you inventing anything for a whole week, comprende?"

"B-B-But-"

"No buts, Kowalski. No inventing for a week. That's an order!" The tall penguin frowned and nodded.

"Yes, Skipper." He turned around and left the HQ.

During the conversation, Private couldn't help but feel bad for Kowalski. Sure, most of his inventions did explode whenever he first presented them to the team, but the way he insisted that it shouldn't have made Private feel like he was telling the truth. What could've caused it to explode?

The water was still seeping into the room. Skipper looked at the porthole and sighed.

"Rico, clean that up. Private, help me fix the rest of the place." He waddled over to the table while Rico hacked up a mop and some items to repair the window. Private joined the leader and began helping him restore the HQ.

Wow, two incidents already. :[ In Kowalski's defense, yes, his invention would have worked if it wasn't for Private's little unicorn charm. (Kowalski: Oh, come on!) XD Speaking of which, the team has no idea he has it, and he's not going to tell them about it, either (I know. . . terrible). I didn't write it in the story, but Private feels that Skipper won't let him keep it if he asked (I mean, he did sneak his lunacorn doll into the HQ in "Hello, Dollface"). ;) So, will Private's charm cause more bad luck? You bet! This is only the beginning, people! XD