Me: Hello glorious readers! Welcome to the next chapter of...
Kia: The Penguin Credo!
Me: Sorry it took so long, I've been hecka busy. But it's here now.
Kia: Yay!
Me: Anyways, there isn't much to say right now...
Kia: Except...enjoy!
Kia's breath hitched as she turned around, then again, and again, chills running down her back. She was in a room, one that appeared to be an abandoned laboratory of sorts, though it was hard to tell, as the lights kept flashing, her head pounding, and the walls closing in around her.
That's what really got her, the walls closed in, her vision blurred, and before she knew it, she was breathing faster and faster. "Stop! Stop!" She yelled out, voice breaking as her cries echoed throughout the room in a desperate plea for it to all go away, though sadly, that plea was made in vain, as nothing changed.
"No, stop! You can't do this!"
Voices began to fill the empty space-whatever of that was left anyways, and things only got worse from there.
"Oh I think I can, and now, it'll be your turn, Kia! To watch the people you care about, the people you love die, to crash and burn!"
"...Please, don't."
"It's too late for that, Kiki. Enjoy the last few minutes of your miserable little life."
"I'd love to stay and chat, but...I don't want to miss my flight."
Tick.
Tick.
Boom.
Just like that, everything was over.
Kia jolted awake, breathing hard as she looked around her bunk, momentarily forgetting where she was, and suddenly, it seemed that these walls were encasing around her too, leaving her with nowhere to go.
She had to get out of there.
So, in a flurry of panic, Kia took a step out...and then fell to the floor with a loud oomph.
She stayed there for a moment before getting up, not bothering to look back as she made her way to the table in the distance on wobbly feet, making it just in time to collapse against it, resting her head against the cold surface, feathers brushing up against it as she rubbed her flipper across it, finding comfort in the coolness the table held.
Taking a shaky breath, Kia closed her eyes, trying to focus on nothing but the cold.
Familiar, chilly, sturdy...home.
Suddenly she was back in Antarctica, sliding through the snow, not a care in the word, all she had to worry about was the snow and ice, everything else melting away into the distance, lost from her thoughts.
"Kia?"
Slowly, she blinked open her eyes, having calmed down enough to remember where she was, the stone gray inside of the HQ sending a new sense of resentment through her, and though she couldn't see who was speaking to her, it was easy enough to guess from the British accent.
"Yes Private?" She asked with a sigh, lifting her head up to look over at the smaller penguin, long head feathers sticking out in all sorts of places.
Private tilted his head to the side, fiddling with his flippers as he looked at her. "Are you alright? I heard a crash and you looked like you had a fright," he explained, looking worried for her, and although the concern was appreciated, Kia could only feel embarrassment flood through her in waves as she realized that he had seen her spectacle.
She felt heat rush to her face as she looked back towards the bunks, glad to see that the other three were still asleep. The last thing she needed was to have all four penguins wondering what that was all about. "Oh...I'm fine, Private. Really, I am," she reassured, looking down at the floor. "Just...Just had a bit of a nightmare."
"Oh," Private said, waddling over to sit down beside her. "Did you want to talk about it? I have found that talking about my nightmares, always helps me," he told her, offering her a reassuring smile.
Kia shook her head. "No," she said firmly. "I don't need to talk about it, I just need a minute to breathe," she explained, looking away from him. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to any of these penguins about her problems, much less what her dream had been about.
Private didn't quite seem ready to let that go. "Are you sure? I wouldn't tell any-"
"Private," Kia said, standing up. "Thank you for the offer, but talking about my nightmare isn't going to make it go away," she told him, her gaze hardened slightly. Though once she saw the younger penguin look down, as if not sure what to do next, she had to let out a sigh. "Look, I'm fine, really, I promise, just...just go back to sleep, I'll go back to my bunk soon," she told him.
Though he seemed unsure, Private got up and waddled back to the bunks all the same. He cast her one last look before climbing up into his.
Once he was lying back down, Kia let out a sigh, bringing her flipper up to brush some of her feathers out of her face. "This can't keep happening...That happened months ago, Kia, it's time to get over it," she told herself in a quiet whisper.
Though, getting over her team was a lot easier said than done.
TPC
"Kowalski, how's our cover?"
The tall penguin shot a glance to the penguin habitat, his chest puffing out proudly as he turned back to Skipper, a smug look on his face. "Up and running sir," he said, gesturing back the the four holographic penguins that waddled about on the fake iceberg.
Skipper nodded in approval. "Good work, Kowalski," he said and then turned to Rico. "Rico, weapons check," he ordered and Rico gave his belly a jiggle before sending Skipper a nod to let him know that they were all set on weapons.
"Good, and Private-" Skipper then turned to look at the last penguin there, who was holding a rolled up piece of paper in his flippers. "You got the map?" He asked, though it was pretty obvious, given the map was right in front of them.
"Aye, Skippah, but are you sure we should be doing this without-" Private never got a chance to finish his sentence, as just then, another penguin flipped over to them, landing softly.
She stood up and flipped some of her feathers back, giving them a "what gives" look. "Hey, you guys were planning on leaving on a mission without me?" Kia questioned, folding her flippers as she pieced it all together. "We're a team now wether we like it or not, which means I should be allowed on any and all missions just like the rest of you," Kia started angrily, only to get interrupted by Skipper.
"Negatory. We still don't even know why you're here. We're fine without some fifth penguin walking in and ruining everything," Skipper told her with a bit of a glare. "You are to stay in the zoo, that's an order soldier," he said, pointing his flipper at her.
Kia looked at the flipper in annoyance. "But I-" she paused after a moment, coming to the conclusion that nothing she did would change anything, and so, she huffed. "Fine," She grumbled and turned to stalk off, leaving the penguins alone.
Private watched her go before he looked to Skipper. "Skippah, aren't we supposed to include Kia in our missions? She is part of the team after all," he said, looking from the flat headed penguin down to the map.
Skipper shook his head. "No, she's not, and once the General realizes we don't need her here, he'll send her back. Now, I don't want to hear anymore of this, understand?" He asked, and after a moment, Private sighed and nodded. "Good, now lets head out," he ordered and instantly the four penguins flipped out, on to their mission.
TPC
Kia kicked a rock as she walked around the zoo. "Can't believe this...what am I even supposed to do here?" She questioned, shaking her head. They didn't even let her go on missions with them, she couldn't see how this day could get worse.
"Hello there, girly penguin! It is I! Your king!"
And then she could.
Kia looked up to see a ringtail lemur leaning against the walls to his habitat, a green leafy crown perched up on his head. Kia looked at him for a moment before speaking up. "Do I...Do I know you?" She asked.
The lemur shook his head. "Eh, no, but I am your neighbor! I saw the human lady put you in the penguin habitat yesterday. I am King Julien!" He introduced with a swish of his bushy tail.
All in all, he seemed friendly enough, and that was more than what she had gotten from three of the four members of her new team, so at least for now, Kia was keen to get to know him. "Oh, it's nice to meet you, King Julien. My name's Kia...Technically its Special Agent Kiandra Frost, but uh, Kia's fine," she introduced herself.
King Julien looked at her for a second before he seemed to come to some sort of realization. "Agent? Like the other fishy birds?" He asked and Kia let out a groan like sigh as she looked down and kicked the ground again.
"Yeah, I'm actually the new member of their team...Not that they seem to understand that, they won't even let me go on a mission with them, and I know I shouldn't be telling you any of this, since you're just a civilian, but its just so frustrating! You know?" Kia asked, looking back up at the king.
Who honestly, only looked like he had been paying half attention as he worked on plucking a few loose hairs from his tail. "Oh yeah, those penguins are the poopiest of partiers," he agreed and Kia let out a bit of a laugh, which seemed to please the lemur king, since not many people actually laughed at what he said.
So, he put more of his attention on her again. "Yeah, they are the worst," he continued. "You should come hang out with the king, which is me, I just got a bunch of new stuff, come see," he encouraged, disappearing into his habitat.
Kia hesitated for a moment, because she probably should stay by her own habitat to watch over everything and make sure it ran smoothly...but on the other hand, it couldn't hurt to spend some time with this lemur. Besides...she kind of missed having a lemur around.
So, she smiled and flipped into the habitat to join him, and for at least the moment, she couldn't care less what The Penguins were up to right then
TPC
A light flashed upon a small, gray squirrel that had been tied to a plastic chair. They were somewhere dark, and hallow, a tree of sorts, perhaps. "Alright squirrel," Skipper started as he eyed the small animal suspiciously. "Tell us everything you know. We know you know where the nuts are!"
The squirrel squeaked out in fear, closing his eyes from the light that was shining at them. "Alright, alright, I'll talk!" He got out, instantly blabbing about every nut detail he knew.
Skipper smirked and folded his flippers as he turned to his team. "And that men, is how you get a squirrel to talk."
TPC
Kia let out a laugh as she dodged out of the way of a beach ball, she had one, and the lemurs had one. Apparently, King Julien wasn't the only lemur here, there were two others. Mort, and Maurice, who were part of his kingdom, they were all nice, and at the moment, Kia was beginning to think that staying here wouldn't be so bad.
"You're gonna have to aim better if you wanna beat me," Kia said, teasing the lemurs. "You know, I actually used to work with a lemur. She was one of my best friends, I bet you guys would have gotten along," she said as she got ready to throw the ball at them again, when all of a sudden, a rather angry looking otter made her way into the habitat.
"Julien! Did you seriously steal my ball?" She asked, only pausing once she noticed Kia. "...Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there. Who, uh, who are you?" She asked, clearly put off by the strange penguin...not that Kia could blame her.
"Oh? Me? I'm Kia, I'm new around here, bunking with the other penguins here. Is this your ball?" Kia asked, lifting the beach ball into the air to show her. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it was stolen," she added, shooting a bit of an annoyed glare at King Julien. He had some explaining to do.
The otter looked at her for a moment, tentatively reaching for the ball. "Yeah that's mine, and its okay, I don't blame you. I'm Marlene, by the way," she introduced herself, taking the ball from her.
Kia offered a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Marlene," she said before turning her attention to Julien, who looked like he had stopped paying attention. "Julien, did you steal Marlene's ball? You said it was yours," she said, putting her flippers on her hips as she began to realize she may have been wrong about these lemurs.
Julien gave a shrug. "Eh...isn't everything in my kingly kingdom mine already?" He asked and Kia gave a frown.
"That's not how the world works, Julien. Did you steal anything else? Because we need to return all of this, it's not ours," Kia stated, folding her flippers as she looked at him.
However, before he could answer, Maurice did it for him, pointing to the other ball. "That's Joey's ball," he explained, making his way to the smoothie bar without caring all that much about the betrayed look King Julien was giving him.
Kia sighed and went to pick up the other ball. "Alright, that's it, fun and games are over, let's go return this to this Joey guy," she said and looked up to realize the other animals there were all giving her weird looks. "...What?"
Marlene clutched her own ball close to her chest. "The guys haven't told you about Joey, have they?" She asked, and all Kia could do was shake her head. "He's the zoo's kangaroo, and he doesn't like visitors," she warned.
Kia let out a good natured laugh. "I've put up with grouches before, I think I can handle one kangaroo," she decided, reaching out to grab Julien by the arm. "Now come on, you're coming with me to return this," she explained, dragging him off before he could get much of a say in about it.
Marlene watched her go, shaking her head lightly. "She's going to get clobbered alive..."
TPC
It didn't take long for them to get to the kangaroo habitat, and once they got there, Kia threw the ball into the air, catching it again. "Alrighty then, I'll just slide this into the habitat and bing bang boom, we'll be done, easy as pie...metaphorically speaking of course, there isn't anything easy about making pies," Kia said with a small smirk as she got ready to put the ball back when King Julien stopped her.
"Wait! As the king, I should be the one who will be putting Joey's ball back," he declared as he took the ball from her and she glared.
"You? You didn't even want to come!" Kia objected, however King Julien had already taken the ball and jumped up to the wall, jumping down the other side. Kia waited for a second before she sighed and followed him in.
Julien put the ball down with ease. "Pfft, that was not so hard. It was easy for the king, which is me. That Joey, he thinks he is so big and tough, but he's not, he is no real match for me," he bragged and right then, a rather large kangaroo hopped over behind him.
"Oi, what you saying about Joey?" He asked and Julien slowly turned around, letting out a nervous chuckle.
"Oh, Joey! What a surprise! We were just talking about you!" Julien said, extending his arms out as Kia quickly started to approach behind him.
Joey glared down at the smaller animals, getting his fist ready for a hit. "Joey don't like visitors," he warned and right then, Kia lunged forward and grabbed Julien's wrist, tugging him away as Joey slammed his fist down.
"Run!" Kia yelled, leaping up to the wall, while dragging Julien along. They were lucky to have made it out of there unscathed.
Then, once they were out, and had ran for awhile longer, Kia stopped, beginning to pant as she glared over at him. "...You...and...I...need to...go over...a few...ground rules..." Kia said in between her breaths.
Julien, who was also panting a little, looked at her in surprise. "We do? The king does not need to be following anyone else's rules!" He stated and Kia glared at him.
She remained silent for a few moments before shaking her head. "You know what? Forget it. I can't deal with this today, I'm going back to the penguin habitat, once you come to your senses, you're welcome to come over. Until then, I ask that you stay in your habitat," she said, waddling off and leaving a somewhat confused Julien behind.
TPC
It wasn't until later that day that The Penguins came back, and one by one, they all waddled into the HQ, which Kia had taken the time to clean, not that they really seemed to notice. Each of them had a snow cone in their flippers.
Kia watched them for a few moments. "...Good mission?" She asked and they stopped to look at her.
Kowalski lifted his head as he looked at her. "It was fine, perfectly completed," he said and turned to Skipper. "If it's alright with you sir, I would like to work on a new project of mine for awhile," he said and Skipper gestured for him to go ahead.
"A project?" Kia asked as she watched Kowalski start to the lab. "Can I help?" She asked, which made Kowalski pause for a moment to look over to her, giving a stiff nod.
"Thank you, but I'm fine working on it on my own," he said before walking in and closing the door quietly behind him.
Kia opened her beak to say something, yet nothing came out, and instead she just watched as everyone slowly leave to do their own things, and even though they were all back, Kia still felt just as alone as when they weren't here.
Me: And with this we reach the end of the chapter.
Kia: Man, I just cant catch a break, now can I?
Me: Nope! Also, I know that it might be annoying for the penguins to still be cold to her, but it's not as easy as pie.
Kia: Nice reference to the chapter. But she does have a point, it's just not that easy, and it will probably be explained in more detail later.
Me: Yep! Alright! Go review, and I hope you all have a great day!
Kia: Bye guys!
Me: Bye!
