I would advice to read 'King Julien is a girl's best friend' to understand this story completely.

Chapter 7-

Kowalski hung from the chains around his flippers that restrained him. His head flopped on his shoulder as his eyes fell heavy with exhaustion. He was aching all over and not even his brain could remember the last time he had eaten. The intelligent penguin managed to perk up the energy to lift his head to examine the chains around his flippers.

"If only Rico was here...I could get him to regurgitate a paper clip so I could pick the lock...Although, if he was here, I wouldn't need to pick it, he'd just blow it up..." Kowalski spoke aloud to the empty room, in which he was contained, smirking as he remembered his team mates, "And Private would say something cute and naïve about the hole situation... And Skipper, well, he'd stand and watch and say something cranky yet caring... I miss you guys..."


The two penguins flew their small red planes at the speed of light to get to North Carolina. They noticed the cave like lair that Private had described and landed just outside.

"Okay solider, have you got the weapon supplies at the ready?" Skipper asked, receiving a nod from Rico, "Good. We don't know what monstrosity poor Private has faced to have cut off his Bluetooth line...Why Private?! It should've been me!"

Rico glanced at the ground with whimpering eyes. The leader shook of his guilt and signalled to move on inside. They went straight to the wall of the cave, shuffling along with their backs pressed against it. Skipper noticed a trip wire and alerted Rico, before stepping over without any issues. Avoiding the trip wire meant that the axes weren't trigged, making it a safe journey across that part. Rico tapped Skipper before pointing to scorch marks on the ground.

"What the deuce? Why the hell did I send Private on this pyscho mission?!" the leader exclaimed, putting a flipper to his forehead in shame. Rico patted Skipper on the back, in an attempt to comfort him. With a sigh, Skipper moved forward with Rico by his side. A sensor was triggered by their movement, signalling grenades to fall from the ceiling. They widened their eyes.

"RICO!" Skipper screeched. Without an actual order, Rico regurgitated a baseball bat, throwing it to Skipper. The leader used the item to whack away the grenades. They burst into flames when they hit the ground, but they were too far away from the penguins to have made an effect. "Come on, we need to keep moving".

They marched forward cautiously, unsure of what they were next to face. Arrows suddenly shot out of the walls, firing towards the penguins. Skipper chucked the baseball bat to Rico, who then used it the hit the arrows away from his direction. The leader challenged the arrows, using his karate moves to leap in the air, dodging some while kicking and slapping the others out of his route. He landed on the ground, rolling skilfully to his feet, without a scratch on his body. They were both out of the clear, with no arrows flying at them any more.

"Umm...Skipper..." Rico stuttered, his leader turning to face him. Skipper widened his eyes. Rico had been hit...


"Maybe I could use my beak!" Kowalski exclaimed, growing desperate for an escape and becoming slightly insane. He pressed his beak against the lock on the cuffs, in an attempt to unlock the chains. When this failed, he extracted. Kowalski groaned, throwing his head in a circular motion before holding it upright. "Maybe I could, well, maybe...Maybe, maybe, maybe! I'm sick of the uncertainty!" he began to shake his shackles, "I can't be here any longer!"

Doris entered the room on her Segway, looking anxious.

"Would you pipe down! My brother isn't happy with the noise your making and he isn't as understanding as I am!"

"Then make me understand why you are doing this!" the penguin shouted. The room fell silent.

"Kowalski...Your such a nice lad...You've always remained so loyal to me, yet I've done nothing to deserve it..." she stumbled for words.

"That's love, baby" Kowalski gulped, before letting a smile slip onto his face. Doris' eyes bared an expression of realisation and welled up by his sweet words. She shook away her emotions.

"No Kowalski, I like you but I will NEVER like like you...Now I suggest you keep quite before my brother gets angry" she demanded, turning around her Segway to the exit before anymore could be said. The penguin looked down at the floor in disappointment.

"I've heard it said so many times...Yet each recent time it's said hurts the most..." he whimpered, blinking hard to shed a tear, which rolled down his bruised face.


Rico dropped to the ground, turning pale as blood poured from his side where the arrow had pierced. Skipper leapt to his friend's side, getting onto his knees and holding him.

"Stay with me soldier!" he demanded, his voice shaking, "And that's an order!"

"Aye...Aye...Skipper.." Rico groaned, his eyelids blinking heavily. Skipper tapped Rico's cheek, repetitively, to try and keep him awake. In desperation, Skipper reached for the arrow, yanking it from Rico's flesh, which continued to bleed uncontrollably.

"Rico, up chuck a cloth or something" he pleaded. Rico wheezed, the corner of a piece of material hanging out of his beak. Skipper pulled it from his mouth and held it on his wound. Within seconds, the cloth had turned red and the deep pierce continued to bleed. "Kowalski, Private and now you...Well played Blowhole, you evil fiend..."

"Skipper?!" a familiar voice exclaimed. The leader strained his eyes, staring into the darkness. A figure stepped forward, a short and chubby figure...

"Private? Is that you?" Skipper hyperventilated in astonishment, as the young penguin agent waddle forward into the light, "Your...Your alive?!". Private dashed to Skipper's side, throwing his flipper's around his leader in affection. He extracted himself from the hug when he noticed the blood on Skipper's feathers. The young penguin then glanced down to his other friend.

"Rico! What happened?!"

"He was hit by an arrow. I've tried healing it but it hopeless, the tip of the arrow must've been covered with poison..." Skipper explained, swallowing the tight knot in his throat as he refused to cry. He looked up at Private. "And what happened to you?!"

"Oh, an anvil fell on me, but luckily it landed half on a rock so I managed to wiggle out" he replied, examining the bruises and scratches on his body. He touched his black eye, flinching in pain.

"True marks of a soldier" Skipper smirked. Rico wheezed, returning Skipper's attention to him. "Hold on compadre, you'll pull through".

They waddled back to the planes, Skipper carrying Rico over one shoulder and Private limping on his sprained ankle. Skipper placed Rico into his plane.

"He's in no fit condition to fly, and neither are you. We'll all have to pile into my plane".

"What are we going to do about Rico? He won't make the journey!" Private whimpered, clambering into the same plane as Rico.

"He'll have to, we can't do any more until we get back to HQ. We'll use the medic kit in Kowalski's lab to heal him and then you two can rest while I figure out how to use the map tracking device to find Kowalski himself" Skipper explained, glancing at Rico who was starting to spit blood, "And we'll have to do it fast".