The dreaded day finally came. Kowalski had had it noted down in his mental calendar for the past week, ever since they heard Alice talking near their habitat.
As Skipper woke up, Kowalski, Rico, and Private were all seated at the table, prepared for Skipper's reaction to the news. Private fidgeted in his seat, and Kowalski kept sliding the beads on his abacus back and forth. Rico meanwhile played with a rubber band wrapped around a salmon scented rag, just in case.
"What's with the long faces, men?" Skipper asked, grabbing his mug of coffee. Kowalski took a breath before explaining.
"Well sir, it's our annual doctor visit today," he started.
"And?"
"It's also our annual vaccination time." Kowalski winced back, waiting for the overreaction that was to come.
Doctor visits were important, and nobody knew that more than Skipper. The only problem was his severe fear of needles. It seemed whether Skipper knew about a vaccine beforehand or not, he always had a similar reaction, that being pure panic. Numerous times he'd even attempted to escape the zoo, only to be dragged back by his teammates. He still received the shot no matter what.
"Sounds good, then," Skipper nonchalantly replied, sipping his coffee. The other penguins were surprised to say the least. Their mouths all dropped in stunned silence.
"That's, that's all?" Private finally asked. "You aren't worried about the shot this year?"
"Not a bit, young Private," Skipper answered. "I knew that I finally had to get this fear of mine under control, so I took some time to try out a few exercises online. No need to restrain me this year, boys. Believe me when I say I'll be right as rain."
"That's wonderful, Skipper!" Kowalski praised. "It's extremely mature of you to combat your phobia like that."
"Are you sure you're completely fine though?" Private questioned. "You don't want us to assist you at all this year?"
"Not needed, I can assure you." Skipper pumped a wing into the air. "I'm going to be in and out of that doctor's office faster than you can say 'fish sticks!'"
"Fish sticks!" Rico echoed.
"Well then, if we're all set, shall we head topside to await the visit?" Skipper asked. The other penguins saluted in agreement. Once Skipper set his mug down, they all leapt up the ladder and onto their island.
As they bided their time performing small acts for the tourists, Private kept glancing over to Skipper. It wasn't like he didn't trust his leader, but Skipper seemed to have a knack for believing something would always turn out one way, when it would end up failing brilliantly in his face a few minutes later. Bonus points if it involved himself.
In fact, Private now remembered when they all had to get a shot a few months ago, after a virus was detected in their fish. Put short, Skipper was close to swimming out of Manhattan before Kowalski's latest invention bound him back.
Oh, he knew it wasn't his concern, but Private couldn't help but be concerned for Skipper. After so many issues in the past, how couldn't he be? He decided to reassure himself by going up to his leader during a break in visitors.
"Skipper, I don't mean to repeat myself, but are you sure you're going to be ok taking the shot alone?" Private asked.
"100%, and not a percent less," Skipper declared.
"Well I mean, what about if you run away again, and we won't be able to stop you this time? Remember when we all got ill from the fish and-"
"A lot has happened since then, Private. What makes you think this will be like then?"
"I'm just worried that you'll freak out again is all, and without us being able to intercept like previously-"
"Private, which one of us is the elder here?" Skipper laughed. "I'm telling you now, I will be fine for the shot. So stop worrying over me so much. That's an order, soldier!"
Private sighed, glancing down at the floor. "Aye, Skipper." He waddled away, back to business as usual then.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that Alice arrived to scoop them up and take them to the zoo clinic. Skipper still seemed as calm and collected as this morning during the trip there. Maybe he was right, and Private shouldn't be worrying his head over his leader. Skipper's strong, he knows himself best anyway.
After Alice attached their ankle tags and set them in their cages, the doctor arrived.
"Alright, let's see…" The doctor looked over his clipboard, flipping through each sheet of paper before landing on the last one. "Ok, seems like you're going first."
The doctor opened Skipper's cage, gently picking the penguin up and over his shoulder like a child as he walked into the exam room. Skipper took note of the smiles on his teammates' faces just before the door shut.
The regular checkup went smoothly as normal. Nothing to worry about at all. Then of course, came the tricky part of the visit.
"I understand your issue with needles, but just remember. Just a quick pinch, and you'll be done before you know it," the doctor assured. Skipper rolled his eyes at the comment. As though he hadn't heard that phrase a million times over from multiple sources. But whatever, that was all in the past now.
"Alright, just going to position you like so…" The doctor slowly reached his hand out to turn Skipper around, but Skipper stepped away the second his feathers made contact with the glove.
"Every year…" the doctor mumbled under his breath. "Please don't make this difficult, I'll still need to get to your friends after this."
Skipper mentally slapped himself in the head. What was he doing? This was the opposite of what he promised his team! Despite Skipper's attempt to suck it up, he still noticed how his muscles stiffened as the doctor turned him around this time, and set him belly down on the table.
"You're doing good so far," the doctor praised. "Now, just one second…"
From behind, Skipper could hear the needle being picked up. In just a second, he knew that needle would be closer to him, and closer before poking and digging into him and hurting him and he couldn't help but turn around to see oh fuck the needle is right there.
Skipper jumped away like a cat, the needle only an inch away from his bum.
"Listen, I know you don't like this," the doctor groaned, "but you're only prolonging it by moving away. Please try to relax and stay still."
That turned out to be the only thing Skipper was incapable of doing. Stay in the exam room, 100% can do. Be set up in the position for taking the shot? Piece of cake. But the anticipation of the needle hitting flesh was too nerve wracking to stay still for, he couldn't help but wiggle away from it. Even the mere sight of the needle made his heart jump in his throat, yet it was impossible to take his eyes off it.
Eventually, the doctor let out an exasperated sigh and picked up Skipper again. A rush of confused emotions filled the penguin's head. Was it over already?
"I'll give you some time to calm down," the doctor said, setting Skipper back in his cage. He proceeded to grab Rico and walked back into the exam room.
"Skipper?" Private called out. "Is everything ok?"
Skipper's head hung at Private's question. He felt too… he didn't know what he felt, but it was too much of it to face his friends now.
"You're all healthy I assume?" Kowalski asked.
"Yeah, yeah. Clean bill and all that," Skipper mumbled. There was a brief pause. The air grew tense with the inevitable question.
"What about the shot?" Private was the one to ask it. No response, but that was all that needed to be said.
"Well, on the bright side, we aren't having to track you down!" Kowalski tried to chuckle to lighten the mood. It only made things more awkward until the doctor briefly came back, swapping Rico for Kowalski.
Calm down, huh? Skipper knew that was doctor speak for "You made things too difficult, so I'm getting through the easy stuff now before I get to you again." Not that Skipper could blame the doc. He supposed he hadn't improved after all based on what went down. How could he even call himself a leader to his men if he couldn't get through a visit to the doctor without being hindered by his crippling phobia?
Private sat in his cage, resting his head in his flipper while staring at the door to the exam room. He knew that deep down, his leader really did want to improve. After seeing Skipper's demeanor now, he knew that his calmness beforehand couldn't have just been a facade. He was genuinely determined to get through the checkup without any problems.
Private wanted to help Skipper out, but he also wanted to respect Skipper's decision to go it alone. Perhaps light conversation would cheer his leader up? It would at least clear the awkward air in the room.
"So, uh, Skipper?" Private asked. "What's the plan after the clinic?"
"Hm?" Skipper tilted his head up slightly. "Oh, uh… I guess lunch, or aquatic combat drills, whichever comes first."
"Combat drills eh? What's the plan for those?" Suddenly, the doctor came back again, this time to swap out Kowalski for Private. Skipper didn't notice.
"Same as usual, Private," he explained. "The swivel, the backflip, and the sea snake." He made little gestures with his flipper to highlight each move. "Swivel, backflip, sea snake." He stared at his flipper making the motions like it was the most interesting thing in the room. Granted, it kinda was. No matter, Skipper felt more at ease repeating the moves to himself with the gestures. It helped to have something comforting to focus on.
That's when a lightbulb went off.
"Eureka, that's it!" Skipper exclaimed. "Private, you just gave me the best idea." He stood up and took a deep breath, grinning at his flipper. "I think I can handle that needle again. Thank you, soldier." Just as he finished talking, the doctor was back again to bring back Skipper. Private had only managed to hear the thank you before Skipper left.
"Uh, you're welcome?" Private said. He turned to Kowalski. "What'd I miss?"
Swivel, backflip, sea snake.
Skipper recited the words in his head like a mantra as he was positioned on the table yet again. Swivel, backflip, sea snake. Skipper was tempted to look back to see if the doctor was grabbing the needle, but he knew that was the wrong option. Swivel, backflip, sea snake. He tried to imagine himself in the water, performing each action flawlessly. Swivel, backflip, sea snake. He wasn't at the clinic, awaiting a long, sharp, pointy-
Skipper's thoughts were cut off with a sharp yell that he soon realized was coming from himself.
"There! All done!" the doctor proclaimed. "See, that wasn't so hard."
Skipper wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry in that moment. He ended up exhaling so much that he passed out briefly. He woke up again after a few minutes. The first thing he noticed was he was back in his cage. The second thing he noticed was his ankle tag finally gone.
"Ah, glad to see you're doing ok," the doctor said, writing something down on a clipboard. "No complications, Alice will be in shortly to take you home. All your friends are already back in their habitat."
Skipper was speechless the whole journey home. It was over. He did it. Another year complete. He didn't even try to run away this time. Skipper wasn't sure he felt a bigger rush of euphoria since he beat his amnesia caused by Dr. Blowhole.
He jumped back into HQ, greeted by his teammates applauding him.
"What's the occasion? I just got a shot, men, it's not that big a deal," Skipper laughed.
"We know it's not, but we're all proud of you," Kowalski said. "We figured that's worth a brief congratulations."
"Yay!" Rico cheered.
Skipper chuckled dryly. "That's very kind, but I feel it's unwarranted." His expression grew solemn. "It still took me a while to get the shot, all because I looked back. Heh, what kind of a leader am I if I rebound just as I'm getting better?"
"Skipper, you remember back when I told you that we don't think any less of you for being afraid of needles?" Private asked. "That still rings true. You're still our skipper, Skipper."
"No matter what," Kowalski added. "And don't forget that you're still improving, even if you go back a little. It's all a part of the process."
Skipper huffed. "What did I do to deserve a unit like you?" he asked the floor. Everyone shared a smile over that.
Rico made a couple of noises that translated to, "So, what's the plan now?"
"Oh yeah, you said either lunch or aquatic combat drills, depending," Private mentioned.
Skipper tapped his chin, his eyes looking up to their hatch. He could hear patrons above.
"You know what? How about we head up and treat the guests for some lunch?" he suggested.
"Sounds like a plan, Skipper!" Kowalski agreed. Private and Rico nodded.
"Double time, then, men! We've got some fish to catch!"