Eventually, the Penguins have swum all the way to shore. Exhausted from the long journey, they crawl up onto the beach. The early afternoon sun heats their countershaded backs and the sand is coarse against their bellies. Each one is more tired than the last, but they had found shore. For now, that is enough. Despite their best efforts, all four conk out on the beach.

It seems that they are not the only ones who have spotted land. From afar, the seals watch the Penguins. The trail of smoke only led them so far, since the helicopter had submerged quite a distance from the shore. The rest of the way, they had to rely on their sense of smell.

"We've got a visual, Aspen." Leo cups his flippers around his eyes, like makeshift binoculars.

Aspen emerges from the water next to him. "Let's go. They'll be easier to catch now that they're conked out like that."

Leo smirks, bemusing how easy the mission will be from here. "Like taking penguins from a beach."

"No, that's like exactly –" Aspen starts. The wordplay seems to have gone over her head.

"Yeah, that is exactly –" Leo is quick to defend himself.

Eventually, they're both talking over each other. "- what we're doing."

Leo still feels the need to make himself clear. "No, that was the point."

"All right. Seals?" Aspen commands, getting the attention of her lackeys.

On her command, the seals proceed diving into the water. They begin porpoising with their minds set on the shore. Like ungraceful dolphins, they dip in and out of the waves with a sloppily coordinated motion.

However, the drive towards the shore is brought to a standstill. The splashing of their bodies hitting the water repeatedly is enough to attract the sharks still looking for lunch. As soon as fins start slicing through the water and heading their way, the seals turn right back around. Luckily enough for the seals, there is a cluster of rocks for them to evacuate to.

Leo and Aspen are the first to leap from the water and onto the nearby rocks. "Sharks! Sharks! Sharks!" They both shout, nearly in unison.

They should be able to evade the sharks so long as they wait them out. Unfortunately, that could take hours, as the sharks are circling with no sign of slowing.

Aspen looks down at the bloodthirsty fins. "On second thought, let's wait."

Leo nods. "Waiting. Yep! Let's do that." He certainly isn't going to argue with that. A few hours' inconvenience was better than competing with sharks.

All of a sudden, Skipper is back in Antarctica once again. He is still himself, but just in a completely different place. As he looks around some, he realizes that he is back home in the bungalow. It's an awfully bright day, as the sunlight off the snow nearly blinds him. His eyes hadn't gotten accustomed to the snow, after all it had been many years since he had been home.

"Uh… Hello?" He calls, as he investigates the empty hut.

A familiar voice responds almost immediately. "Skipper?" It was warm and loving and, in an instant, he recognizes his mom's voice.

He rushes out of the bungalow, following the sound of her voice. "Ma? Is that you?" He is both relieved and surprised at the same time. Is it really her? How is this possible?

Skipper rushes out to find her and can hardly believe what he is seeing. Out by the point, stands his entire family – perfect and whole again. Kowalski, Private, and Rico are standing there talking with their mom. There's someone else there too.

"Dad?" Skipper's voice crackles.

"Hi there, Skipper." Ivan responds with the casual demeanor of someone coming back from an hour fishing trip. He pats his son on the shoulder.

He smiles warmly, standing close to Gwen. There it is – what Skipper had always wanted – a big, happy family. Somehow his father is now miraculously standing there in front of him. He's tall like Kowalski but rounder like Rico. His voice is friendly and high-pitched. The sight of him just caused a wave of joy and warmth to wash over him.

"What's going on?" Skipper glances at each of his family members. It seems that he is the only one mystified by this sight.

"It's all okay now, Skipper." Gwen reassures her son, as if he is a chick again.

Private chimes in. He is as cheery as can be. "We're all together, see?" He brings both Kowalski and Rico in for a squeeze on either side of him.

Kowalski leans down to examine his brother. "Are you feeling okay, Skipper?"

Now, that Kowalski mentions it, Skipper isn't looking too good. He looks a little pale and there are bags under his eyes. "You don't look so good." Private concurs.

Despite this, Skipper can't help but laugh. The joy springs up within him and so much so that he can't contain it. "Yeah, uh… I just had the craziest dream. We were travelling the world when all of a sudden, these seals –"

Skipper is unable to finish his sentence, before the light blue sky drastically morphs into a dark, blood red. The sight gets everyone's attention as they all turn towards the point. Just as this is happening, a ginormous shadowy figure emerges from behind the point. It comes up so fast that Skipper is unable to quite decipher what it is until it has made it up beyond the point. Within a second, Skipper can now see what is towering over them. Like a grotesque sea monster, Shawl rises up. He is undoubtedly the size of a blue whale, if not larger. He lets out a deep, bass chuckle causing the Penguins to shutter. Without hesitation, he opens his mouth to reveal pointed teeth, like icebergs. He lunges forward, mouth agape, as Skipper stares up at the oncoming pearly whites.

"Gahh!" Skipper screams, only to find himself staring back up at a light blue sky.

Dazed and confused, he looks around to survey his surroundings. Underneath his body, he feels warm, scratchy sand. He props himself up with his flippers and sees the ocean in front of him. That's right. They had swum to shore. He is relieved. They had made it to shore.

However, this relief converts to urgency, as he immediately thinks of his boys. Sure, he had made it to the beach, but where is his team? He turns to find them all sprawled out on the beach. There is just one tiny problem. A flock of seagulls are currently pecking at them.

"Hey! Cease and desist, seabirds!" As he shouts at the ones sieging his brothers, he notices two on himself. One has been aimlessly pecking at his ribs and the other has Skipper's entire leg in his mouth.

The seagulls startle at the sound of Skipper's voice. They all stare at him in disbelief, too busy in their dismay to continue their attempted snacking.

Finally, one speaks up, spitting out Skipper's orange leg from its beak. "Oh, sorry mate!" He has some sort of accent. "We thought you were" he clears his throat, pausing to put it as delicately as possible. "well …" Unable to find the words, he lifts a wing and runs it in front of his throat and makes a choking sound.

"Well, we're not." Skipper puts his flippers on his hips. Those low-down, scavenging seabirds couldn't wait, could they?

Skipper leans to his right and slaps Kowalski awake. This emits a startled response from the much taller penguin. "Wha?"

This sends the three seagulls that had perched onto him flying. "Crikey!" One exclaims in response to the sudden change of pace.

Private and Rico wake up as a result. Rico is quick to send the seagulls scramming off. He sits up and grunts at them with his normal gibberish. Needless to say, this gives them enough of a scare. Private, on the other hand or flipper, does not have it so easy.

Private asks sheepishly. "Um, I would like that flipper back please, if you don't mind." He lifts his flipper to reveal a straggling gull who is still determinedly tugging at Private's flipper. The gull proceeds to chew into the fleshy flipper, thinking maybe if he tries hard enough, he can at least make off with a small treat.

Skipper scoffs, not wanting to have to intervene.

The seagull who had the first to speak takes the lead again. He calls over to his friend disapprovingly. "Don't be a drongo."

The gull lowers himself in disappointment and releases Private's flipper.

Before they take off, the authoritative gull speaks to the other again. "Alrighty, mate, looks like we won't be eating penguin this arvo."

The Penguins regain their footing, as the gulls fly off overhead. Private rubs his flipper. That gull had really been determined. Despite this, he is just happy that he and his brothers are safe and sound… wherever they are. The warmer weather is rather nice, though sunglasses wouldn't hurt. Even the water was a bright blue color. They could have a marvelous time on this beach for now by the looks of it.

"Kowalski, analysis." Skipper orders.

"Well, based on the vernacular of those seagulls I would say we are somewhere in Australia." Kowalski came to this conclusion rather easily.

From behind him, a digeridoo begins playing. Skipper is not in the mood however. This is no time for a cultural exchange. "Rico." He calls, without even looking.

Rico drops the long instrument in the sand and lets out a giggle. "Hehehe." Who knew he could play the digeridoo?

Australia, huh? A continent chock full of adventure and danger. It would normally sound like a dream to Skipper. However, at the moment, they are in the middle of an important mission. They don't have time to tango with the perils of the outback.

"All right, boys. That means we need to stay together and stay alert. There is more than a plethora of dangerous animals here in the outback, waiting to strike!" Skipper gains the attention of his men. They approach him and form somewhat of a circle.

"Like the goanna." Kowalski illustrates Skipper's point with an example. They are fascinating but ferocious creatures.

"Or crocodiles." Skipper adds. Wouldn't want to get clamped in the jaws of one of those.

"Or the Taipan snake." Kowalski adds.

Rico finally has one of his own to add into the mix. "Ooh! Tasmanian devil!"

Private quickly loses interest in the topic at hand. He knows that any place can be dangerous. Skipper had warned him many times before of the dangers in the world. Instead, he personally tries to occupy himself with the brighter side of life. As he looks back at the brush that lines the beach, he notices tiny pawprints trailing back towards it. He scrutinizes the little prints and begins to follow their path.

The other three are still preoccupied on their listing of predators. Skipper congratulates. "Nice one, Rico! Oh, uh, dingoes."

"And brown snakes." Kowalski adds. If it's one thing he knows… actually he knows many things, but biodiversity is one of his strengths.

"You already said that one." Skipper interjects. This isn't fair if Kowalski is going to exaggerate each itty-bitty difference.

Private follows the trail as it leads him into the brush. His brothers are too focused on their own argument to notice his straying from the group.

"Nah-uh, I said the Taipan snake." Kowalski gets sassy, placing his flippers on his hips.

"Pfft! They're both snakes." Skipper argues.

Rico utters a reply. "Mmm hmm."

Kowalski lifts his flippers up in mild frustration. "What? So, we're just classifying snakes all under one category now?"

Skipper chuckles. "Hey, if I see any snake bigger than me, slithering my way, you bet I'm not stopping to find one what type it is."

"What he said." Rico backs Skipper, requesting a high one. Skipper returns the favor.

"Fine." Kowalski turns away, crossing his flippers. He may have been outnumbered but he knows that there is in fact a difference between the two snake species.

Skipper smugly looks around but freezes when he notices something missing. "Wait, where's Private?" There is a slight panic in his voice.

The beach is completely vacant. Where could he have possibly gone? Just as they are mystified. They notice the thick brush at the edge of the beach. Since nearly anything could be hiding in there, this would be the worst possible place for Private to have wandered off to. Given the emptiness of the beach though, it is the most likely option.

As the three search the beach, Skipper's panic sinks deeper into terror as the little penguin is nowhere in sight. His head and heart are pounding. "Private?!"

At Skipper's call, Private makes his way to the border of the bush. While his brothers have been fretting and searching, he appears to be his normal self. He is completely unscathed. However, in his flippers he is holding a small, brown animal. It is soft and fuzzy, smiling up at Private with puffy cheeks.

"Hi, guys! Look, I made some friends!" Private announces happily.

Now the Penguins are standing across from Private. Still on the beach, they look down to see multiple pairs of eyes and furry, smiling faces looking up at them.

Skipper goes directly from panicking to nagging. "Private, what did I say about wandering off?"

Private hadn't been paying attention admittedly. Granted it is difficult to focus on anything other than the scenery at this place. "Um… that I shouldn't do it?"

Skipper continues with the same energy as before. "Yes! And that in the outback there about half a million things looking to eat you and half a million other looking to maul you just for the sheer fun of it."

Private tilts his head. He hadn't heard Skipper say that. "I don't remember you saying that."

"Well, it was more of an implied thing." Skipper defends his wording, folding his flippers over his chest.

Kowalski whispers over to Skipper, trying to save him some embarrassment. "Uh, Skipper, I don't think those stats are completely accurate."

Skipper snaps. "It doesn't matter!" He takes a breath, while everyone takes a second to recover from the tension. His tone lightens but there is still an edge of uncertainty. "Now, Kowalski, what are those uh… happy, furry creatures?"

Kowalski responds, keeping a level head. "No need to be alarmed, Skipper. Those appear to be Setonix Brachyurus, otherwise known as quokkas."

"Oh, okay… are they dangerous?" Skipper takes a step back instinctively.

Private can't help but giggle at Skipper. How could Skipper be afraid of these little guys? They're so cute. He remarks back with a little bit of cheekiness. "Well, they don't seem very dangerous."

Rico laughs as well and begins to pat one on the head. He is not very gentle, despite his best efforts. The quokka endures it, doing her best to maintain her smile.

"D'awww!" Rico stands up back, completely placated by the adorability.

Skipper leans forward with his flippers on his hips. If Private wants to get sassy with him, he can play along too. He knows what he's talking about. He's been in this game longer than Private. "Well, looks, Private, can be deceiving."

The quokkas begin chattering at Private's feet. One scurries up Private's back, as if he is a feathered tree. The feeling of the tiny claws tickles Private and causes him to squirm and laugh. Once the quokka reaches Private's shoulder, he lays a necklace around Private's neck. It is an assorted string of shells, beads, and flowers.

Private expresses his gratitude. "Aw, thank you friends!" Then turns to Skipper. He can't resist getting another playful jab in at his brother. "See? Harmless."

Kowalski adds his expertise. "According to my knowledge, quokkas are relatively peaceful creatures." It appears that he's not wrong either. Anyone who gives their friends a necklace can't be too bad, right?

More chattering arises from the quokkas, as they all begin to pitch in this time. The noise gets louder and louder. However, the Penguins can't make out a single word that is being said. It all sounds like gibberish. The quokkas that are sitting on Private's shoulder and flipper leap down to the ground. Then, suddenly one in the front points at the three of them.

Skipper starts to get suspicious again, speaking slowly. "Wha – what's he saying?"

"I don't know, Skipper." Kowalski has never heard this language before. Perhaps, is some sort of dialect that is isolated to Australia?

"No clue." Rico shrugs. Even he can't tell what is being said.

Private thinks that maybe he can get them to translate. It would be rude for them to intentionally exclude the Penguins from their conversation. "Um," He bends down. "Hello. Could you repeat that, please?"

One of the quokkas turns at Private's request. She begins speaking to Private, but it still sounds like high-pitched gibberish. Not an utterance is making sense.

Private looks back to the team. "I don't think we speak the same language."

The other quokkas try desperately to speak to Private. They are talking over each other. It is getting hectic, in fact.

"Any idea?" Skipper asks Kowalski discretely, still facing the quokkas.

"I'm not sure." Kowalski shrugs.

Skipper claps his flippers together and the cacophony of chattering stops. "Well, it's been fun." Skipper puts on a cheery façade. With both flippers, he yanks ahold of Private and begins dragging him closer to the beach. "Good talk. We'll have to visit again. Maybe…"

As Private's feet begin to tread the beach, the quokka become startled. It is not the typical response you would expect from a friend leaving. It is much more drastic. The prattling gets louder and more chaotic. Eventually, several grab onto Private's flipper. The one that had just recovered from the gull bite unfortunately.

Skipper looks on in terror as the quokkas begin piling on and, as a whole, have enough force to pry Private out of Skipper's grasp.

"Skippah!" Private yelps, as the quokkas swarm him.

The quokkas then begin move underneath Private and lift him up with their small arms. As an entire mob, they begin carrying Private off, deeper into the brush. They are surprisingly fast for being so small.

"Private!" Skipper gasps, as the Penguins take off running after the unit.

As they are running, Skipper turns to Kowalski. He can't tell what they would want from them other than a possible meal. "You're sure they're not carnivorous?"

"Yes!" Kowalski, nearly out of breath, assures Skipper. "But I don't know about omnivorous…" He nearly squeaks.

This gets Private's attention who calls back. "What?"

"Agh!" Skipper exclaims and begins gaining ground on the tiny attackers.

Just as he has almost caught them, they come to a halt. It appears they had led the Penguins deep into some sort of jungle. Not prepared to stop, Rico and Kowalski come barreling in. Kowalski who is leading does not realize Skipper and the quokkas have stopped until it is too late. He bumps into Skipper's backs, and Rico collides with Kowalski soon after. As the three are regaining their balance, the quokkas drop Private down onto the forest floor. The landing was a bit rough on the bum, but he'll live.

Skipper takes a look around and can't believe his eyes. "Is that…?"

Before them lays an entire village of huts. Rather than being built from snow, these homes seem to be heartily built from bound sticks and layers upon layers of leaves. It appears that they and the quokkas are the only ones there. It is like a ghost town in one of those old western movies that Skipper would watch.

"A village." Rico states.

One of the quokka scurries forward into the village and squeaks loudly. He waves his little arms up in the sky and continues rattling on. It's as if he's speaking in front of a large, invisible crowd. The Penguins exchange glances.

That is until, little by little penguins begin poking their heads out of and from behind the huts. Each face reflects a different variety of concern or prudence.

Kowalski is in awe. "I don't believe it."

A hatchling begins to waddle out of one of the huts, but is nabbed back in by a pair of flippers.

"Why are they so afraid?" Skipper asks.

Soon, an elderly, female penguin begins to approach them. She is old but no one would describe her as fragile. Like the other penguins, she is quite solid and short. However, the feathers on her head are more stylized and curled. The grayish tint shows her age. Silently, she waddles up to the quokka who had just completed his oration. The quokka continues babbling but with a much quieter voice. He is talking just to her now and turns to point to the Penguins who are standing at the village's edge.

As this is happening, two more penguins join her. She is followed by two younger penguins. They are much younger than her but around the same age as the team. On her left comes a male penguin, Koen, he has a similar build to Skipper but a bit thinner and taller. The feathers on the back of his head are tied back. The other penguin is Jedda. The feathers on her head are more like the older female's. Hers are also tied up in bunches on both sides of her head like puffs.

After listening thoroughly to what the quokka had said, the older penguin smiles warmly and pats him on the head. "Thank you, friend."

The quokkas then scurry around the village, as more penguins begin following the elder's lead. It soon becomes apparent that the quokkas are friends of this group. They begin to intermingle and disperse themselves amongst the crowd of penguins.

The old penguin looks back up at the team. "Can it be?" She is just as shocked to see them as they are to see her.

The younger female speaks up confused at the sight. "Wait, are you… penguins, just like us?"

"Theoretically, yes… Why?" Kowalski answers. Why were they so surprised to see other penguins? He and his brothers were shocked to see penguins living in this jungle, but they seemed surprised to encounter any penguins in general.

"Hi, my name is Medika, and I'm the village's chief." She pauses, still mystified. "Where are you from?"

Skipper answers quickly and confidently, breaking the awkwardness he is feeling. "Well, my name's Skipper, this is Kowalski, Rico, and Private. We're from New York City. Well, Antarctica originally… um, Chief?"

She responds softly. "Please, call me Medika."

The male beside her, Koen, addresses them. "You must be tired, coming from such a long way." He does not reveal a lot of emotion in his sentence, trying to get a read for their visitors.

"Us?" Skipper laughs it off. Though they are exhausted, he doesn't want to admit it.

"Yes!" Private blurts out.

The other three look over at Private. He is once again not on the same page.

Medika turns to the village behind her. "Let's show our guests some hospitality. Does anyone have extra food that they can share?"

Skipper was not one to accept gifts from strangers. "Oh, no. We don't need –." He didn't want to trouble them either.

"It's really no big deal." Kowalski chimes in. He felt embarrassed by all the attention. Plus, it would be rude to impose.

Medika takes Skipper by the shoulder kindly. "You're our guests. It's the least we can do." Skipper can hear the sincerity in her voice.

The penguins come up to the team with their families in tow. All of them have items that they are willing to share with their guests.

"Here, I have some carp." A mother penguin extends a whole bowl of fish towards Skipper, who is speechless from their generosity.

Rico gladly accepts the fish and begins to eat what's in the bowl greedily. Private is timid to reach in, as he might lose a flipper at the rate Rico is chowing down.

Another penguin offers. "And I have some leftover trout."

Pretty soon the entire village is out, looking at their guests. Many of them are offering assistance to the Penguins with food, water, or just about anything else.

Skipper is even more taken aback by this. Who are these penguins? Why are they so friendly? "Why, thank you. I don't know what to say."

Medika turns to the crowd again. She's just thrilled to see that there are more penguins outside of the village. Of course, they would be hospitable to any of their guests, but their arrival meant something more now. Seeing that there were more penguins out there symbolizes hope. "Let's have a celebration the arrival of our new friends!"

The penguins get to work setting up tables and aligning them down the center of the village. It is long enough to seat the entire population. They all work quickly and collaboratively, as the team tries to make sense of what is happening.

"Are you fleeing the seals, too?" Jeda asks, her eyes opening wide.

"You know about Shawl?" Kowalski is the first to respond. Is it possible that they shared the same foe?

"Unfortunately, yes." She sighs, looking to Koen to elaborate. He could explain it better, as he had experienced the terror himself.

He steps in, gesturing to himself. "We're voyagers, some of us explored other penguin villages across the sea. That is until recently. Once we saw the destruction that Shawl has wreaked on other penguin villages, we went into hiding."

The chief tells the remainder of the story. "We lost most of our voyagers to Shawl. We thought we were the only ones left."

Private had never heard that before. Is it possible that Shawl had captured so many penguins? "The only ones left?" He looks to his brothers for reassurance.

Instead, Kowalski looks back at their hosts. "In the entire world?"

Rico's eyes widen. "Woah." He feels as if he should sit down.

Skipper doesn't let the notion bother him. They haven't eliminated the other possibilities. "Well, there's only one way to find out." He extends his flipper out to the side. This is enough of a signal to instruct Rico.

Rico begins to hack. This receives attention from villagers, with a variety of responses. As some of the older residents cringe at the sight, hatchlings display amazement and intrigue. They've certainly never seen a penguin like Rico before. The map comes shooting up from his gullet and lands perfectly in Skipper's flipper.

"Cool!" One of the hatchlings whispers, leaning forward.

Skipper points to the map in his opposite flipper. "We need to crack the code to this map, so we can see just how busy Shawl's been."

Medika is even more astonished than before. "You have their map?" How could they possibly have managed to retrieve that?

Jeda immediately steps forward to the task. "I can help you." As a matter of fact, it looked sort of fun… you know, without the emanant danger aspect.

The old penguin nods. "Yes, Jeda is our village's brightest engineer."

She smiles back at her chief. "Thank you, Medika."

The interaction between the team is rather different, as Skipper calls upon his lieutenant. "Well, Kowalski, why don't you two have at it?" He slaps him on the back, causing the tall penguin to clumsily stumble forward.

As Kowalski and Jeda head off to work on deciphering the map, a bunch of quokkas come rushing back up to Private. It seems they have formed quite the attachment to him. Two begin tugging at his flipper and pleading with their big eyes.

It's difficult for Private to refuse the cute creatures' request. He turns to Skipper. "Can I go with the quokkas, Skippah?"

Skipper answers. "Sure thing, Private. Just don't wander off too far." It seems safe enough. Now it's just him and Rico with the chief.

Rico turns to find a bunch of the chicks from the village gaping up at him. Confused by their fascination with him, he grunts a greeting. "Uh, hi."

The little hatchlings glance at one another and giggle. Rico doesn't understand what is so funny about his greeting. It starts making more sense when one of the small penguins grabs an apple. She begins to swallow it whole and attempts to cough it up just like Rico.

"Hey! Wait a minute…" Rico exclaims. He isn't sure if they are mocking or admiring him.

Then, one chick leans over to pick up a bunch of fish bones from the ground below. He begins passing them to the other chicks and proceeds to take one for himself. Extending his flippers up to the top of his head, he bunches up some feathers and secures them with the fish bone. The other penguins join in, imitating Rico's tuft of feathers.

This warms Rico's heart and he lets out a laugh. "Heh, cute."

He then takes a step back and begins coughing. From out of his stomach, he spits up various objects including an anchor, a stick of dynamite, and a kitchen sink. The queue of little penguins stare on with their eyes aglow.

Skipper does a quick scan of the village for his team. Presently there is no danger to be accounted for, but that could change at any minute. It is best that he keeps tabs on them at all times. At least, that's what makes him feel the most comfortable. He looks over to Private who is preoccupied with the quokkas and chicks. They are sitting in a circle together, as it appears that the quokkas are teaching them how to make necklaces. Rico is still running around causing mischief with his newfound fan club. Kowalski is tinkering vigorously with the map, as Jeda appears to be offering suggestions. Those were his boys for sure. Skipper smiles.

"They're quite the bunch, huh?" Medika interrupts his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What can I say? They're my team." Skipper sighs contently.

"So, how long have you known them?" She begins walking around the village. Skipper follows.

That was a silly question. One he hadn't gotten much before. He chuckles begins. "Well, for my entire life pretty much. They're my brothers. Kowalski is really the brains of the team. We wouldn't be where we are without him. The same could be said about Rico." He laughs once more to himself. That guy could sure get them out of tricky situations. "He's a loose cannon, but he's our loose cannon. And then there's Young Private. He has the biggest heart. I taught him everything he knows, well, besides having a big heart. He's actually adopted."

"You must be very proud."

This statement puzzles Skipper as well. He had never put this feeling into words before, but it seems that she's right. "I guess, I am."

She stops, overlooking the penguins preparing for the celebration. She sighs, shakes her head, and says. "I feel the same way about my village. There's nothing I wouldn't do for them."

With that, a little hatchling comes running out of one of the bungalows. "Medika! Medika!" She waddles right up to the old penguin with her flippers outstretched.

"Hello, little one." She smiles down kindly at the little chick. She then ruffles the feathers on the chick's head. The tiny penguin smiles up at Skipper and Medika before joining in on the crew that goes running by with Rico.

Medika turns back to Skipper with flippers on her hips. "I'm practically the village's mother." She laughs warmly.

He joins in her laughter. A natural, serene smile falls on his face. There was no danger here. Perhaps, they could even hide out here for a while until they regrouped. Something about her made him feel safe and protected. Her mannerisms and the way she interacted with the others seemed so familiar. She made him feel safe in that moment, like he could tell her anything and she could come up with a solution. He hadn't felt that way in a while.

"It's hard sometimes, you know?" Skipper sighs, beginning to take down his machismo persona just for a second.

She raises her brow. "Leading?"

"Yeah, I mean, I couldn't imagine being chief to a whole village." Skipper chuckles to himself. This is uncharted territory for him to speak so freely. Perhaps, he needed this in a way.

Medika pauses. She thinks long on this and finally nods. "Well, I think honesty is what serves me best."

"Honesty?" Skipper is taken aback. He'd be lying if he said the thought didn't make him uncomfortable. It's almost as if she knew. It sits like a rock in his stomach.

"It's my number one rule to be honest with the village. They need to know what's going on, so I'm open with them. It gets difficult… but I'm sure you understand." She continues speaking her truth.

With that, Skipper slides back into his old ways. The discomfort was too much and he'd rather not think about his own dishonesty anymore. "Oh, yeah. Totally." He straightens back up.

Medika states firmly, her eyes are focused on the village still. "Especially when it comes to the stuff I don't know. I just have to be real with them."

Skipper's pensive eyes follow Rico as he runs by again. This time he is showing them how to do a roundhouse kick. They mimic his movements and go chasing after him on their stubby legs.