Madison woke up in an unpleasant way that morning. She had fallen off of her bunk which; unfortunately, had been the top one. She grunted and looked up to see Rico standing before her, staring down at her curiously with that possibly hint of worry. She smiled sheepishly as she pulled herself up. The mute bird quickly grabbed her hat that had fallen with her and put it backwards on her head.

Rico smirked with a quiet chuckle before going off to the other side of the HQ.

"Madison, are you ok?" Sara asked as she lazily got out of the bunk while rubbing her sleep filled eyes. She nearly fell over onto the ground as well but she managed catch herself.

Madison nodded faintly and looked up at the bunks to see that Amber, and Flora weren't even in there. She tilted her head to the side in confusion. Where were they? She guessed that they went outside. She jumped towards the ladder and climbed to the top. She poked her head out of the fishbowl entrance slightly, looking around curiously. Sure enough, Amber was up there with…Skipper? Madison raised herself up a little more on the rung so she could see what they were doing and saying.

Amber was glaring at him as she said, "Look, we do things my way. I train with the girls, but I agree to the terms that we will do what we can to entertain the people. Otherwise, we operate the same way we did back home, no exceptions and no interruptions."

Skipper glared at her after hearing those words.

"That's just how we go." She glared back.

Madison shifted her feet. The position she was in was getting uncomfortable.

Skipper's glare hardened but a glint was in his eye this time. "You've made it obvious that your military, sister," he began, further provoking the female before him. "So I'm betting 'your girls' are too. I'm proposing a flipper to flipper combat session to see what you females got." A smirk lined his beak. "But I'm sure my men can beat some helpless girls."

"We are not helpless!" Amber growled. "So bring it on!"

Only once Madison saw Amber get up did she go back down. She jumped over to where Sara was sitting and offered a smile, in a good mood with the knowledge of the future violence ahead. She just hoped Amber didn't notice her spying. It happened once…never again. The younger penguin returned the smile and gestured for her to next to her. Madison relaxed and complied, slumping next to her against the wall.

Rico, who was still groggy, suddenly caught her attention as he rubbed his eyes and yawned, scratching his side as he went to their mini fridge. She waved over to the psychopath that was pulling out some fish for breakfast. He waved back with a wide grin. Madison smiled, got up again, and went over to join him for some breakfast. They were warming up to each other real quick and it had only been two days.

Sara looked around the place curiously, somewhat lonesome. Where was Flora then?

Skipper and Amber jumped into the HQ at that time but Flora wasn't with them. Skipper waddled towards Rico, who was still preparing breakfast, and Madison to join them as well.

Sara then saw Private at the corner of her eye getting out of his bunk. She smiled, happy to have someone to talk to, got up, and merrily skipped over to him. "Morning Private!" she greeted cheerfully.

Private grinned widely when he saw her. "Good morning Sara!" he greeted also. "Do you want to watch something on the telly?" he asked and pointed to said object. Sara nodded happily in response to his request. They waddled over towards the T.V, picking up the remote as they did.

Sara sat down as Private turned it on, announcing that this was his favorite program. She was then in the place of watching a show that Private said was called 'The Lunacorns'. She liked it so far. No. She loved it! Something about a magic hair brush in a magical wardrobe got her to smile. Her thoughts soon drifted off to Flora though, making her frown slightly. 'Where in the world is she? And where's Kowalski?'

For some reason, Flora couldn't sleep very well after that 'mission', so she decided to go outside to clear her head. She didn't really pay attention about how loud she was though. All she needed was just fresh air and some time with her thoughts.

She had jumped outside and sat at the edge of little island to think. She had been swinging her feet along the water, staring at the clear liquid. The stars and moon were mirrored in the water as well as the city's lights. A nice cool but warm breeze had ruffled her feathers to only add to her relaxation. She decided to dip her flipper into the water, sending ripples through the pool. It felt nice, so she went to take a swim in it. When she swam through the water it felt like bliss.

Flora hadn't been that care free in the water for a long time, since Antarctica was never a place for that. Usually, she was alert for enemies or predators and, due to a past experience, she was afraid to be in the water alone. So it's simple to why she freaked out when she had heard someone call out her name in the darkness.

"Flora?"

The brown feathered bird had been scared enough to jump up on the island and tackle the unexpected visitor to the ground, which caused a brief struggle till she was towering over the stranger with its appendages pinned. Flora took a good look at it once it was firmly trapped under her. She instantly realized who it was, much to her own embarrassment. "Kowalski? What are you doing?" She had gotten off of him and shook her feathers to rid of the water that clung to them.

"Well, I could ask you the same thing," Kowalski had said almost suspiciously and got back up to his feet.

"I couldn't sleep," Flora had replied simply. She was getting more comfortable around the guys every hour. She adapted easily, which was a good skill to have in her opinion, and Amber thought so too. Still, she was as wary as she looked. "Why are you out here?"

"I heard something, and I thought I would check it out," Kowalski answered simply, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but he hardly made it sound obnoxious for her to be upset. Honestly, he was a bit wary of these girls like Skipper was but they seemed nice enough. Besides, he could trust them, right?

Flora had looked at him apologetically. "Well, sorry for springing at you like that." She checked the large clock for a moment to see the time before looking back at him again. "And for waking you up at two in the morning."

"It's alright." Kowalski shrugged as if it was no big deal, hiding an amused smile. His face brightened for a moment. "Do… you want to see something?" he had asked her hopefully but nervously, as if she would be rejecting something absolutely wonderful.

Flora let her own curiosity cloud her judgment and nodded to his request.

Kowalski practically jumped five feet in the air at that. He had grabbed her flipper, brought her back down into the HQ and to the door Skipper said they were not allowed to enter. Kowalski opened it, and helped her back up with a brief apology. "This is my lab!" he had announced dramatically, completing it with an over exaggerated gesture.

She had to do a double-take. 'A lab? I use to have one back at Antarctica!' "You have a lab? You're a science guy?" she practically squealed.

He nodded and, though curious, obtained a growing grin. "You like science?"

"Of course I do!" Flora exclaimed. Despite how much she endangered them getting caught by someone if they woke up, she couldn't contain her excitement. "And all kinds of subjects!"

He shushed her and what he said next had gotten Flora even more excited. "Want to see my inventions?" he asked with a high tenor, just as thrilled to find someone who was as interested in science as him. Flora nodded vigorously with the widest grin she ever had since they got here in New York. He had led her into his lab to show off his inventions and that's where they were now.

Kowalski had so far shown her jetpacks, old parts from a spaceship he made, a super ray, a mind switching device, and he just finished showing Flora an invention that had ping pong paddles with jumper cables that were attached to a car battery. It had been made to see if the electricity would hurt Rico. She thought it would, but you never know. Rico was a bit...off.

"And this is my Shrink ray!" Kowalski announced proudly, holding up yet another invention. He seemed elated to share a passion of his, especially with someone else who wouldn't humor him but actually enjoy it as well. He found himself becoming fonder of Flora then he had been before. "Another one of my great inventions I might add."

"Amazing!" Flora was completely awed at what he had made. "Back home, I couldn't build this kind of stuff because I didn't have much material," she admitted. "I pretty much could only do math and small things with chemicals."

"Well, you're welcome in my lab anytime," Kowalski said with warmth and found himself getting flustered when she smiled at him again. He looked like he was blushing under his feathers so he tried to hide it with a clipboard, but it only worked for distracting her.

"You've got a lot of equations." The tall female reached for the clipboard shielding his face and looked through them all. "Oh, you forgot to carry the two here." She pointed out without any thought, skipping curiously through the many pages.

"That's why my spaceship is a wreck," he grumbled to himself with a bit of annoyance but he quickly recovered with a bit of shock. "So you really understand all this math and science?" Kowalski asked in faint surprise. Having interest in it was one thing but understanding it was another.

Flora felt faintly offended that he thought she wouldn't, but even she had to admit that these were complex for most to understand. "Of course! It's my passion!" she announced.

"Mine too!" He put his flipper out at her with an excited grin. "High five for science lovers!"

They happily did a high five, if it was a bit awkward, before settling back down. Flora sat down on a swivel chair and looked through his many equations once more. She would make comments and he would often answer back; otherwise, nodding and humming along as he analyzed her movements. He hesitated before deciding to ask a question that had been bothering him.

"Might I ask…why is your friend's…Amber is her name right?" he asked. He received a nod of conformation so he continued. "Why is Amber's feathers such a…unusual color? We've all been wondering about this oddity."

Flora waved it off. "It's fine, most do." She spun a bit in the chair, a thoughtful look on her expression. "I've never been sure but I know she was born with it, though she hardly talks about, she has told me that much." She frowned a bit. "I do wish she would confess more…a shame she won't for the sake of science."

Kowalski accepted this answer, believing this was the best he would get, and then moved to his next question. "Your species…it's an African penguin isn't it?"

There was a brief hesitation but she nodded. "Yes, yes I am."

"Then why don't you have the particular pattern they have?" he questioned, almost suspicious on her unease at the subject.

She sighed. "It's complicated…" She looked back at the clipboard and was quickly distracted, whether on purpose or not. "You have plans for a time machine?"

Kowalski's ego blinded him yet again and he smiled proudly, if a bit smugly. "Why, yes I do."

"Fascinating," she murmured and went back to studying the contents of the clipboard, analyzing and memorizing every bit of it. After a while of this, Flora felt like she was being watched, so she looked up to see Kowalski with a weird expression, just staring at her. It was...kind of creepy to be honest. "Um, Kowalski? You ok?" Flora asked nervously. His stare was a little bit uncomfortable. She wasn't use to attention and it made her stomach tie up in knots.

Kowalski shook his head and snapped out of it. "Oh yes, of course! I'm just fine," he chuckled nervously while rubbing the back of his head. He was blushing like mad, and Flora couldn't help but giggle, only making it worse for him. Their time together was interrupted when the door suddenly opened.

Skipper came in. "Kowalski! How did I know you were in here?" He looked at Flora and frowned critically. "And with Flora here? That I didn't know," he muttered, a deep scowl penetrating his non-existent brow. "Flora, breakfast is on the table." A subtly hint to say she had to get out.

Flora's stomach growled. "Thank goodness; I'm starved!" She gave Kowalski his clipboard back and slid out the door without a second thought.

"Why was that dame in here?" Skipper demanded after he closed the door shut.

"I was just showing her some of my inventions," Kowalski answered sheepishly. He still felt the slight heat on his cheeks. 'Why did I stare at her like that? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!' The strategist unknowingly started to repeatedly smack himself with his clipboard.

Skipper dismissed his actions. "Kowalski, she could be a spy along with the others! How could you just casually show her your inventions?" he demanded and threw his flippers out in a gesture.

"Well, she likes science too," Kowalski mumbled without much thought, though he knew it wasn't a good reason and would only aggravate Skipper. What kind of excuse was that anyway? After all, he knew fully well it wasn't helping his position.

"Kowalski..." The flat headed bird shook his head. "You should know better, you of anyone. I mean, come on, most of this stuff is classified! You can't just show her everything!"

Kowalski was almost afraid the others would hear him. "Skipper, I'm positive they're not spies," he told him confidently but with a soothing edge. It did little to calm his leader down but at least he stopped yelling.

The commanding officer let out an aggravated sigh. "Just don't show her anything else and try to keep the things you did show her quiet. Comprende?" Skipper held out his flipper in an act of simple diplomacy, which was rare.

The tall penguin sighed and shook his flipper. "Ok Skipper," he agreed reluctantly.

The flat headed leader smirked. "Now c'mon, Rico has some freshly cut Ahi on the table."

Kowalski's stomach rumbled, making him realize how hungry he actually was. Now just how long had he been in the lab with Flora? Skipper went to open the door, and they both hastily waddled out of the lab.

Sara and Private were watching 'The Lunacorns', sharing a plate of fish, while Flora sat nearby with her own. Amber was settled down at the table, playing cards with Madison and Rico, with a big plate of fish at the middle of the table.

Skipper went to get his own ahi and salmon while Kowalski simply sat next to Flora, barely minding the kiddie show playing in front of him. He looked at her with a renewed smile on his face, which she returned with a wide grin.

Flora looked at him, then at her plate, then back to Kowalski again. "Would you like some?" she asked politely, holding up a piece of cut fish, specifically salmon.

"Well, it's yours, you can have it." He waved it away.

"Nah, its fine," Flora dismissed with a shrug, smiling softly. "I got a lot, see." She pointed to her plate.

Kowalski just then noticed how much she had. 'Approximately ten fish...she eats a lot doesn't she?' Flora held the fish piece back up to his face, silently insisting that he should eat it. Kowalski chuckled and took the piece of delectable fish. He gingerly tossed it into his mouth and sighed in content at the taste, which resulted in Flora giggling, making Kowalski's face heat up again.

This delightful time extended over for a couple of hours, bordering on three. Watching television, eating fish and playing little games like cards or chess. Everyone was comfortable, and they were all enjoying each other's company until a little announcement.

"Ok men, we got to do recon before the Zoo visitors get here," Skipper announced. This earned disappointed sighs from everyone. It did little but make Skipper feel faintly guilty, though he didn't show it.

"Skippah, do we have to?" Private groaned, hardly even wanting to tear his eyes away from the screen.

"Private, you know we have to do recon."

"Sorry Skippah," the young cadet apologized. "But I'm having a good time right here. There's a Lunacorn marathon!" he cheered and glanced at the screen.

Madison and Rico groaned loudly together, only making Amber chuckle and lay down her cards, knowing the game was done for the time being. She was going to win soon anyway.

"C'mon boys!" Skipper encouraged and went topside with his team reluctantly following at his tail.

Sara sighed, clearly disappointed when they left. "Now what are we going to do?" she asked Amber.

"Do what we do every morning…train!" Amber yelled with enthusiasm and posed dramatically just to cheer them up. The girls smiled and went out the fishbowl entrance for some training. They started stretching out in the open and, once they were done, they began punching and kicking the air.

"Punch, kick and-" *SMACK* "Oops…" Amber turned around to see Julien holding his nose.

"The royal nose!" Julien cried.

Madison snickered, still carrying a strong distain to Julien. Her commanding officer didn't like him any better.

"What do you want?" Amber groaned, rolling her eyes.

"I was looking for da bossy penguin," Julien answered, stood up and brushed himself off, Maurice and Mort, for once, were not with him.

"He's busy right now, come back later," Amber said bluntly but with a subtle hint in her tone that said, 'Leave and don't bother coming back'.

King Julien wouldn't have that. "I need to be speaking with him now! My smoothie maker is all broken because of that stinky aquatic bird!" Julien yelled as he pointed towards Madison. He paused and brought a paw to his chin. "Then again...I might be needing the brainy penguin's help."

Amber rolled her eyes in annoyance. She looked at Madison, who was making a swinging motion with her flippers and let a low whistle before she made an explosion sound with her colliding flippers. Amber nodded her head in approval with a sly smirk that told a story of pleasure.

Madison laughed diabolically and, before Julien knew what was happening, literally tossed the lemur back to his habitat.

The girls all fell onto the ground laughing as they heard him screaming like a girl when he soared high in the air back over to his habitat. They could be so mean.

"Hey Skippah, isn't that Julien?" Private inquired curiously as he saw a shape soaring across the Zoo during their early morning recon.

Rico nodded as he heard his girly scream, trying to hide his smile. He wished that he had been the one to inflict that onto Julien but settled with a gleeful, and sadistic, giggle.

Skipper eyed the private carefully. "Private are you seeing things again? Did you have some more peanut butter winkie's!" Skipper questioned, gripped Private's head and examined his eyes with careful suspicion. "You know lemurs can't fly!"

"Unless they develop flying technology, which it highly unlikely due to their lack of intelligence," Kowalski commented and reached for the binoculars, though his statement went unnoticed.

Private shook his head vigorously, escaping Skipper's grip, and denied, "No, I haven't, I swear!"

"Sugar and swearing? I might need to give you maintenance duty soldier."

The strategist picked up the binoculars and looked through them. "Skipper, I think that actually is Julien flying. And screaming like a little girl, I might add," the strategist confirmed, snorting back his amusement. He grinned when Rico started to laugh.

"Huh. Interesting." Skipper rubbed the bottom of his beak, hiding a smile.

"I don't think he'll bother us for a while." Amber sniffed, picked herself up and turned toward her team of girls. "Ok, we're going to fight each other for some real combat practice." She got a positive response of smiles, so she allowed her own and continued her instructions. "Flora you're up against Sara. Madison, you're with me when they're done."

Flora and Sara immediately got into their fighting stances as the two other females backed away to give them room. Madison and Amber sat down at the edge of the island to watch.

"And…" Amber paused for dramatic effect. "GO!" she yelled in signal.

The two fighting penguins circled each other slowly, just waiting for the other to make a move. Suddenly, Sara lunged at Flora, who dodged out of the way, but the teal eye colored penguin was just able to hook her flippers around Flora's feet. The female strategist tried to push her off but that made Sara slip into the water while still clinging onto Flora's feet. The young bird ended up pulling Flora down with her into the cold water with a yelp.

"A water fight, nice!" Amber exclaimed in excitement with her mute companion silently cheering. She and Madison waited a few seconds before they saw bubbles coming up from the water. Something was happening down there alright.

Sara was then flung back onto the island, looking dazed but surprised. Flora soon came up afterwards, panting while Sara was still trying to catch her breath. Flora took the opportunity and shot over, promptly putting Sara into a position that she couldn't get out of. Sara kept squirming and then, realizing she was beat; sighed in reluctant loss.

"Good job Flora. Sara, you should react a little quicker." Amber then got up and snapped into a fighting stance. "Now it's you and me Madison."

Madison manically cackled with an evil glint in her eye. She took off her cap and handed it to Flora and, she too, went into a stance. This time, she would beat her leader!

They stood there for what seemed like eternity. Then, quick as a flash, Amber ran toward her heftier soldier and tried to give a hard slap to the cheek. Madison blocked it with her own flipper just in time and chuckled darkly. The angered leader glowered and started to make quick jabs at Madison, but she blocked each one. Madison growled as she swept her foot under Amber's to make her fall over. The mute bird was about to pin her when Amber threw herself at her gut and ended up pinning her down instead.

"Do you give?" Amber smirked confidently.

Madison let out a low growl and shoved Amber away and into the water. She took the time to jump back up and prepare herself for another strike. Her eyes darted side to side in anxious anticipation, waiting for the faintest of movements.

Amber then shot out of the clear liquid pool and smacked right into her, which knocked her into the water. Madison came out as quick as she went in. She tackled Amber, and they tussled on the floe with grunts and growls resonating from the back of their throats.

Finally, Amber had Madison in a position where she couldn't move. Her flippers were pressed forcefully against her back with her face uncomfortable squished on the concrete, possibly forming a bruise on her cheek. Madison struggled and finally, after a long silence, she grunted in defeat.

Amber immediately released her grip. Madison flopped down and panted from the exercise. "Not bad Madison. You're definitely getting better," Amber commented. The silver bird didn't put much effort into the fight but she wasn't about to crush her soldier's spirit by saying that.

Madison simply snorted and allowed Sara to help her up.

After a while of training, stretching and multiple bruises; the guys came back from uneventful recon.

"Did you see Julien flying across the zoo?" Private asked the girls once they came back. "Someone must have hurt him awfully bad."

The girls looked at each other and shared knowing looks.

"Maybe." Amber smirked but this went unnoticed.

Skipper looked at the clock. "Hoover dam! The Zoo is about to open. Cute and cuddly boys!" Skipper jumped into position with the rest of his team and prepared to start their routine. The girls just stood there and didn't move, casting bemused looks.

"Can you do anything that would entertain the visitors?" Kowalski asked skeptically when he noticed their confusion.

The girls exchanged looks, a jumble of mixed emotions.

"I think we can handle that." Amber smirked finally in confidence but, in her core, she deeply loathed the people.

Alice walked over to the gate with her daily work clothes on with that same scowl and bored expression on her face. Key at hand, she came to open the gates for the awaiting visitors so they could look at the animals. They've already heard about the female penguins, so they were the first course.

"That's Alice over there," Private told Sara, pointing toward said Zookeeper.

Sara nodded understandingly. "She doesn't look very friendly," the young female bird commented uneasily.

"She's not. She's a riddle wrapped in mystery and dunked in nasty sauce," Skipper stated ominously.

As soon as Alice opened the gate, tons of people went toward the penguin habitat to see the new female penguins. The red head zookeeper walked away, grumbling something about, 'stupid tour group questions' as a bunch of people followed her from enclosure to enclosure.

"Alright girls, just act…cute," Amber ordered flatly.

Madison growled distastefully and took her hat back from Flora. She put it backwards on her head and flipped into the water, going into a dive at the last second. She didn't want to entertain people. 'Good for nothing things…'

"I don't think I want to do this," Flora said nervously and backed away with large eyes as the visitors came to the penguin habitat to see the females. The people were staring at her and the other girls for the most part. Flora didn't like the attention.

"Oh, look at the new penguins!"

"What's up with the silver feathers?"

"And that brown one!"

"Should that penguin have a hat?"

"They're so cute!"

Flora took an apprehensive step back and flinched when she bumped into Sara.

"Don't worry Flora, we're right behind you," Sara reassured, placing a comforting flipper on the taller bird's back.

Flora sighed, a bit doubtful. Then an idea formed in her head. 'If I go into the water then I can't see them.' That was bound to help push down her anxiety and fear. She jumped into the water, joining Madison in swimming. They swam through the water and did a couple of tricks in there just to satisfy the people for the time being.

Sara started waddling around and did basic cute poses and would smile and wave like the boys. Amber slid on her belly and would join Sara with cute antics as well. Deep, hateful fire burned in Amber's eyes to the people but she masked it with a large smile and blinked her soulful amber colored eyes at them.

Skipper instructed his men during their routine to do their basic cute antics, sometimes adapting it for a little something new and to work with what the girls were doing. He was currently smiling and waving with Private, who was his usual cute and cheerful self, at his side. He would watch the girls ad-lib their performance but; otherwise, he focused on what he and his men were doing.

"Kowalski, Rico, execute dance maneuvers!"

The two soldiers did as instructed, gaining awes from their audience.

The commando smirked to himself, soaking up the day's rays and scenery. He watched the girls jump and skim through the water, and his men delivering their everyday adorability. The people were clearly enjoying it. 'Today is nice. Good one on you, Mama Nature...'

Eventually, the Zoo's visiting hours ended, and the people left. To show for the penguins work, they had tons of fish from their wonderful performance. They all laughed as they ate some of the fish they had obtained, the rest to be stored and eaten on some later date.

"Humans think anything is cute," Amber snorted.

Flora looked at Amber after swallowing a fish whole. She risked a grin. "They thought Madison's growling was cute," she laughed.

Madison growled angrily, which only made Flora laugh even harder.

Skipper licked his beak when he finished his daily dose of the sea. "Alright Amber, you promised me a fight," he reminded her warily.

Amber nodded and ate one more fish. "Oh right. Shall we begin?" she asked when she finished.

"Yep! First two up, Sara versus Private," Skipper announced.

"What?" Private and Sara yelped. They were both shocked and weren't aware about what was going on at all. No one had been informed of the fight from earlier, so of course they were surprised, except Madison, who had overheard.

"You. Guys. Are. Fighting. Each. Other," Skipper explained slowly, like he was speaking to young children...or Mort.

Sara sighed. "Well, let's get it over with then," she muttered.

Private couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You actually want to do this?" he squeaked.

"Let's just do it, besides; I want to know what you can do." There was a glint of excitement in her eyes that he never saw before.

He nodded and shakily went into a fighting stance. The others sat down to watch as Sara also got into a fighting stance.

Kowalski abruptly stood up and jumped in between the two but still facing the others. He gestured to the direction Private was in. "On this side of the habitat, weighing at a startling-"

"Hey!" Private whined objectively, a frown on his face.

"Weighing at an unnamed amount pounds," Kowalski continued without fault, using his best announcer voice. "Is Private, the Lunacorn lover!" This caused some laughter which only made Private scowl. "On the other side of the habitat," Kowalski said aloud as he gestured in Sara's direction. "Weighing at a, uh…" He leaned over to Sara and quietly asked how much she weighed. She glared at him and opened her beak to protest but Amber beat her to the punch.

"Never ask a woman her weight!" the silver bird shouted and glared feverously at Kowalski.

"And age," Flora added.

"That too!"

"Weighting at a certain unknown amount of pounds," Kowalski continued. "Is Sara, the small!"

Said penguin frowned a bit. "Am I really that small?" she questioned.

"Not entirely but that's what I'm going," the strategist admitted. He immediately got back into his announcer voice. "And now, I want a good clean fight…and begin!" He jumped away with screech when Rico rang a gong that came from his stomach's endless space, making most of the penguins plug up their ear holes.

Sara didn't hesitate and tackled the surprised penguin. She retaliated immediately by hitting him in the head and shoving him toward the edge of the island, causing him to fall into the water in result. Amber shouted out a praise at this. Sara waited for Private to come out and attack her, otherwise ignoring Amber's praise. With caution, she slowly went in a circle with her flippers held up in defense.

Then Private jumped out of the water and tackled Sara. She pushed him off and jumped back up before he could get any hits when she was down. Sara quickly launched herself to Private and started landing hits on his belly as he tried desperately to block every hit. Private then used his foot to shove Sara back by pushing at her abdomen. Surprisingly, it worked, and he took the opportunity of her confusion to land some hits of his own.

She was so surprised by the sudden turn that she got hit in the head and was flung into the water. Now it was Private's turn to wait. He panted and tried to get his breath back but was hit from the behind before he even knew it. Sara pinned him down and used most of her weight to keep him down.

Private struggled from her grip but used all of his strength to push and shove her back, pinning her down with all his weight. Private was quite a bit heavier than her and the more she struggled the more she realized she was stuck.

"I give," Sara murmured, a bit humiliated.

Private hastily got off of her and offered a flipper. She took it with a sad smile. "Sorry Sara," he whispered apologetically.

Skipper smirked at Amber. The silver bird growled and stubbornly turned her head away from the smug penguin. "Kowalski and Flora, you're up!" they yelled simultaneously.

"Do you think they're going to keep doing that?" Flora asked Kowalski with exasperation as they got into their fighting stances.

Kowalski shifted his footing. "Chances are, for now, yes."

"Should we be concerned about this?"

They were too engaged into their little conversation that they didn't notice Skipper, and Amber saying telling them to start already or even Rico ringing the gong. That was until their leaders literally yelled at them to go.

"GO, GO, GO!" hollered the commanding officers.

Kowalski and Flora had a moment of confusion, but Kowalski put together that the fight had started, and he jumped onto his feminine opponent. They tussled on the ground, landing slaps, kicks and punches when and where possible. One particular punch got them rolling away from each other. They picked themselves up and panted as they stared at their temporary foe. Flora suddenly lunged forward and threw a punch at his stomach.

It knocked the wind out of him, and he gasped at the pain. 'I didn't realize Flora was so strong!' He made a note to not underestimate her in the future. Flora felt really bad, but she grabbed his flipper, put it behind his own back and pushed him to the ground. His face was uncomfortably smashed against the cold concrete and he moaned, though he didn't bother struggling. He just stayed there and, after a while, Flora released him. They both had bruises but nothing serious.

"I'm very sorry, Kowalski," Flora managed to cough out her apology when the strategist got back up.

"It's alright," Kowalski wheezed. He grinned at her relieved smile and they weakly beamed at each other as they achingly sat back down.

Skipper stated blankly, "Well, that only took twenty seconds." Simply said, he was unimpressed.

"Alright Madison, you're up." Amber smirked as said penguin eagerly jumped up, ready to fight.

Skipper looked at his weapons expert and ordered, "Rico, make the fight fair and don't hack up anything."

"Aw, what?" Rico glanced at him and frowned. The weapons expert sighed but complied, grinning confidently at Madison. "I'm gunna win," he stated gutturally and then jumped into a fighting stance in front of the already prepared female. Her head shook in her disagreement but she smirked at him all the same. Madison showed her exhilaration and desire for violence just by her eyes. The two penguins didn't even wait for Amber and Skipper to give the signal.

They jumped and smacked against each other with as much force as they could muster with a painful sound emitting from the impact that caused the others flinch and cringe. Madison stumbled back but recovered quickly and head butted Rico, making him groan and stumble at the sudden pain in his head. The mute and aggressive bird jumped up and kicked him in the gut. Unfortunately, that caused him to hack up a bomb into her flippers. Madison panicked briefly but acted quickly and threw it over the Zoo walls. They all watched the explosion that boomed over the wall, sending tires and metal everywhere that was followed by a yell.

"MY CAR!"

Rico and Madison chuckled at the funny remark. They quickly remembered their fight and jumped at each other again. It ended with them in a tangle on the ground, trying to hit the other and, at the same time, push the other one way. Madison played dirty and roughly pulled on his Mohawk.

"Ow!" Rico yelped.

If she was going to play dirty, he was going to play dirty to.

He yanked off her hat and hastily threw it into the water. Madison blew a fuse and threw him across the habitat, resulting in Rico getting smacked painfully into the bars. He groaned and slipped into the water. Madison quickly got her hat before it sank into the waters depths and tossed it to Amber, who easily caught it. Rico then jumped up on the floe with anger in his eyes, his sides heaving. She made a small taunting movement to him with her flipper, snickering all the while.

They raced across the concrete island and knocked their heads together….hard. They laughed dizzily and took wobbled steps before they both fell into unconsciousness. Sara and Private dragged them to the side so they wouldn't get in the way of the final fight. Flora started to look them over to see if they had any serious injuries.

Amber and Skipper shook their heads disapprovingly.

"Guess that leaves you and me." Amber got up and sauntered to the other side of the concrete island. Skipper did the same with an air of confidence.

Skipper was quick on his feet with his plan of attack on Amber. He grabbed her flipper and tried to put it behind her back the same way Flora had done to Kowalski. Amber ended up flinging him over her back instead and let her body slam onto his so she was sitting right on top of him. She landed a clean blow across his face, and he reacted by pushing her off, causing her to roll over onto her back. She managed to jump back up to her feet, glaring at the other authority figure.

Skipper and his team hadn't fought like this in a while, it felt invigorating.

They stared each other down, cautiously moving in a circle. Skipper and Amber lunged at the same time, seized each other by the shoulders and tried to throw the other off, succeeding in hurling themselves into the water. The others couldn't see them now, but Skipper and Amber didn't care of course.

They kicked each other underwater with large bubbles escaping their beaks from the impact. Amber only came back onto the floe after two minutes when she finally needed to breathe. Skipper jumped out of the water and into the air and landed a blow on her back. She squawked in pain and faced him, blood boiling and all. She slapped him right across the face that sent him to the other side of the habitat. It was sharp sound that made him fall onto his side. He rubbed his cheek, surprised by the force.

Skipper's eyes narrowed and he stared at Amber as she breathed heavily, both from anger and her wavering strength. He lunged at her once more, and their flippers met. Their fins pushed at each other, they were beak to beak, eye to eye. They both pushed at each other, wanting to gain power over the other.

"Please stop!" Private whimpered as he noticed the growing bruises on their bodies along with ruffled feathers. Amber and Skipper looked at him, confused.

"I thought this was for combat practice," the young female of Amber's team put out. "You two shouldn't be hurting each other like that," Sara said in a barely audible whisper that was choked on by her concern.

Amber and Skipper looked back at each other and, to the penguin's astonishment, they busted out laughing.

"You did good Skipper; you got some guts in there. You did some clean hits too!" Amber complimented and rubbed a sore bruise tenderly.

"You did pretty good too, doll face. I was surprised a slap could have so much force!" Skipper rubbed his cheek where he had been struck and winced slightly.

Something there had been formed...some respect to one another. What transpired was indeed aggressive and rage driven but, looking back, they admired the others skills, even if they were taking the bluntness course of action. That was nothing compared to what they could've done.

The others stared in astonishment at their leaders.

"Good match Skipper." Amber held out a flipper with an honest smirk on her expression.

"Good match." Skipper winked with a smirk of his own and shook her flipper.

Amber was starting to warm up to him after all. At least she had respect for him if not anything.

"Now, let's get some sleep, shall we?" Skipper asked when he turned back to the others.

They didn't hesitate and groaned as they made their way down into the HQ. Amber and Skipper took the knocked out psychopaths down into the hidden headquarters and put them in their bunks.

Sara went straight to her bunk and plopped in with a loud groan. She was just so exhausted. The others followed her example and almost immediately fell asleep. Skipper and Amber, however, remained awake.

"Oh yeah, Skipper, Julien wants you guys to do something about that smoothie maker or blender of his," Amber told him when she remembered what had happened earlier when she was reflecting the day's work.

"Eh, Ringtail can live without a smoothie for a…week," Skipper muttered.

Amber snorted in amusement. She looked over at her friends, deciding that now was a good time to check on them. She strode over to her teammates with a, for once, soft smile on her face. She always checked on her girl's before she went to sleep, it was a habitat of hers the developed when she had first met them.

Skipper made his way to his bunk and chuckled as he saw the boys snoring away. He jumped in his bunk and closed his eyes, waiting for sleep to come.

Amber went over to Sara first, who was threatening to fall off her bunk. The silver bird pushed her back in and placed the blanket over the small penguin's body, lightly pressing her beak on Sara's forehead in a motherly gesture. She then moved up to Flora, who had the second lowest bunk. One of Flora's flippers was dangling over and the blanket was hanging on her face as she snored, making it rise and fall almost comically. She pushed Flora's flipper back in and put the blanket across her stomach, which the taller penguin immediately snuggled up too.

She went to the very top, where Madison was. The mute bird's beak was open and drool would come out soon if she didn't close it. She also had half her body on the ceiling of her bunk for an inexplicable reason. Amber moved Madison's body back down to her pillow and closed her beak. She jumped into her own bunk and got comfortable, wincing slightly at the movements of her shoulders. It was difficult considering the bruises she had but, if the others did it, she could do it to.

The whole time Skipper had been watching her, feigning sleep. Maybe she wasn't as bad as he had originally thought. He risked a slowly growing smile and closed his eyes.

I do know the end was sucky. Also, muhahahahaha, I love to torture Julien! Any who, please review! Also, do you guys think I should have one of my OC's have their own chapter?

Julien: If you are to be doing that, don't make it Madison! SHE'S EVIL!

Madison: *Snickers and pulls out chainsaw*

Julien: AAAAAAHHHHHHH! *Smacks into wall*

Me: So yeah…no penguins were injured in the making of this chapter.

Skipper: Penguins did get hurt in this chapter!

Me: Oh yeah, sorry. Don't take it personally.

Skipper: *Rolls eyes* Whatever.

Rico: Review!