" Days with the Down Feathers"

Thanks for the reviews everyone. They were fantastic. Now here's the next chapter. Please enjoy and thank-you for you patience. Warning: Chapter may be revised, again.

Chapter 9

" Okay," Skipper retorted. " I'll stay behind and watch Ace, while you two commence Operation: Rescue

Momma and Daddy." Rico and Kowalski nodded at him then got into a shoulder stand, with Kowalski on top.

Kowalski turned the doorknob, opened the door then jumped off of Rico's shoulders. Next the penguin

brothers saluted each other and ran off, leaving Skipper behind to take care of Ace. About a half an hour

later, Rico and Kowalski returned with saddened expressions on their faces. Skipper, who was now cradling

Ace in his flippers and rocking him, while leaning against the crib, along with his crutches, looked over at his

returning brothers. He hastily hopped over to them. " Any luck," Skipper questioned then looked at their

faces.

" We failed," Kowalski mumbled, quietly. " We tried to stop that human. We really did, but one of the other

humans snatched us and stuck us back in here. Before we knew it Momma and Daddy were taken away by a

metal, transporting machine and vanished without a trace."

" Vanished," Skipper squeaked, worriedly and shrugged. " Vanished like how?"

" We lost track of the direction the metal, transporting device was going," Kowalski started to sniffle. " After

that…" Suddenly, he and Rico wrapped their flippers around Skipper and started to bawl their eyes out. "

We're sorry we failed the mission," Kowalski sobbed. " Please forgive us."

" Kowalski," Skipper held back his tears as he wrapped one of his flippers around both of his bawling

brothers, in a half hug, while supporting Ace with the other. " It's okay. We did all that we could to rescue

them. Now come on. Let's contact Uncle Nigel, so we can get his tail feathers over here to help take care of

us."

" Okay," Kowalski sniffled as he wiped a tear from his eye.

Soon, the brothers let go of each other then went up to the walkie-talkie. They all stared at it. Trying to

figure out how to get it to work. " Now what did Momma tell us to do, again," Skipper scratched the top of his

head with his free flipper, starting to feel stressed all of a sudden. " Oh, yeah." He pressed a random button

on the walkie-talkie.

About a few moments later, somebody responded. " Bonjour," a soft French woman's voice blared through

the speaker. " Bonjour?"

" Bonjour," Rico repeated back, happily.

" Hello," Kowalski grabbed the walkie-talkie. " Uncle Nigel? Listen we…" The woman gasped as she heard

squawking coming from her walkie-talkie. She thought it was somebody pulling a prank then shut it off. "

Hello," Kowalski stated then shrugged. " Must have been the incorrect code." He then looked up at a list of

frequency codes and located the one that connected to their Uncle Nigel's walkie-talkie. " Ah-hah," Kowalski

smirked then punched in the code.

It took several minutes, but a male's voice had finally answered the walkie-talkie. " Hello," the voice stated,

cheerfully in a deep British accent. " This is Nigel the penguin's residence. May I ask who's calling?"

" Hi, Uncle Nigel," Kowalski smiled, glad to hear a familiar voice. " This is Skipper, Rico, Ace, and Kowalski."

" Oh my, goodness," Uncle Nigel gasped. " Maggie's and Juan's kids?"

" Yes, Maggie's and Juan's kids. Who else's kids would we be," Skipper stated, grouchily as his feelings from

his parents getting taken away started to eat at him. He was still trying to refrain him self from crying about

it, but it was backfiring. Ace, who had sensed Skipper's stress, began wailing.

" Skipper," Kowalski snapped as he took Ace from Skipper's flipper and cradled him in his. " Look at what

you've done."

" What I've done," Skipper snapped back. " He was fine a minute, ago."

" Skipper," Kowalski glared at his brother, trying to keep calm. " You may not now this, but babies can sense

feelings from others easily that can make them cry. And if I'm not mistaken, I'd say that you being uptight

about Momma and Daddy being taking away has caused him to do this."

" Uptight," Skipper growled, defensively. " I'm not being uptight. And another thing…"

" Now kids," Uncle Nigel's voice stuttered. " Don't get your knickers in a twist. Now, tell your dear old Uncle

Nigel what happened."

The kids stopped arguing then relaxed before speaking. " Humans took our parents," they all bawled out

simultaneously, except for Ace, who just cried.

" Humans, eh," Nigel retorted, thoughtfully. " I knew they were trouble. Once they have one taste of blood

they come back for more."

" They're going to eat our parents," Kowalski squealed, worriedly.

" That's disgusting," Skipper's voice cracked.

" Blood," Rico raised an eyebrow.

" No," Nigel retorted, defensively. " They're not going to eat your parents. They're just transferring them to

another area is all."

" Oh," the three responded, suddenly feeling silly.

" Let me guess," Nigel began, curiously. " Your mother asked me to come take care of you kids, if something

went wrong. Am I right?"

" Affirmative," Skipper responded, feeling much better now that he had finally cried.

" Alright then," Nigel responded with joy in his voice. " I'll be up at the Central Park Zoo sometime tomorrow

or the day after. Bye." He shut off his walkie-talkie. On the other side, the boys shut off their walkie-talkie

and turned to each other.

" Well," Skipper shrugged. " Now that that's out of the way. What should we do?"

" I say we stay here and don't go anywhere, except to zoo school and back," Kowalski suggested.

" Scary movies," Rico cheered.

" No scary movies," Skipper jumped. " Those bore me to death."

" How about we go constellation hunting," Kowalski smiled, but frowned when everyone just stared at him

blankly. " Or not. How about we check our homework? Except, Rico and Ace. Of, course."

" But it's Saturday," Skipper whined.

" Yeah? So," Kowalski raised an eyebrow as he waddled over to put Ace in his crib and came back to where

his brothers were.

" I don't even do my homework until Sunday afternoon," Skipper squeaked then scoffed. " And as for

checking it? Forget it."

" Skipper," Kowalski slapped him self in the face. " Did you know that the sooner you get your homework

done and check it, the more time you have to relax not worrying about it?"

" You know," Skipper brought a flipper to his chin. " I've never thought of that, but I still like the idea of

waiting until Sunday."

" Just do your homework and check it," Kowalski grumbled. " It's not that difficult of a task to do."

" Who do you think you are," Skipper growled. " My father?" Upon hearing this, Rico slipped away from his

brothers and climbed into his bunk, which was right underneath where Kowalski slept and cried himself to

sleep. He was getting tired of his brothers arguing and what is worse, their parents were no longer there to

help keep the peace between them.

" No. I'm your sibling, who is the complete opposite of your personality and knows better," Kowalski snarled.

The emotions of losing their parents had come back to the elder brothers, right away.

" Oh? I'll show you who knows better," Skipper screamed as he lifted one of his crutches up at Kowalski. He

was going to hit his brother in the head with it, but was trying to restrain him self.

" Go ahead," Kowalski shrugged, angrily as he put his flippers up; knowing what Skipper was intending. " But

it's not going to make you or any of us feel better about this."

" I…can't," Skipper sighed as he slammed his crutch back down on the floor then sniffled. " I just can't. I'm s…

sorry, Kowalski. It's just that…" Before he could finish, he began bawling. Suddenly, he wrapped his flippers

around Kowalski for comfort.

Kowalski, who did not expect this, wrapped his flippers around Skipper. " I miss Momma and Daddy, too," he

whispered as tears formed in his eyes, again. " And I wish they were still here, but things happen for a

reason."

" Give me one," Skipper stopped crying then pulled back, rubbing his watery, irritated, eyes.

" Well, it gives us a chance to learn survival and trust skills, for one," Kowalski smiled. " Plus, it also gives us

each a chance to learn responsibility."

" Yeah," Skipper sniffled as he put a flipper to his beak. " You know? Daddy did mention something about

having to learn responsibility."

" See. There you go," Kowalski retorted then wiped the escaping tears from his eyes. " Now. Shall we make

peace, work on our homework, and forget this whole argument ever happened?"

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Wow. I can't believe that Skipper almost did that. Whew. Glad he had a change of heart. Anyways. Coming up next in Chapter 10. Catch Skipper's answer to Kowalski's question. Also see how the penguins take care of themselves without their parents around. Please stay tuned and find out more. BTW: If anybody is out of character, I apologize for it.