Kidnapping Skipper ch. 9
by
Mastermindhunter
Private saw everyone sleeping soundly. The lemurs slept in the corner, curled up tightly. Marlene was slumpt up against Rico, snoring loudly. Destiny's head was layed in Kowalski lap. Kowalski stroked her head, wide awake. She twitched and thrashed in her sleep. It was sort of the same way Skipper was, before he was taken. Kowalski frowned and sighed. Private looked back at her, and he looked back at Kowalski. He was staring at Private. He jerked his head away, trying not to seem rude. Things were tough enough for the penguin already. He didn't want to be caught staring at her.
"It's my fault, you now." He heard Kowalski mummured.
It didn't make much sense, the statement. "What do you mean? What's your fault?"
Kowalski sighed. "It's my fault she never visits the HQ. You see, as soon as Rico came back with the crack along his beak that morning, Destiny told us the the story, but she left the part with Blowhole out."
(flashback to the morning following the Coney island incident)
"I wrapped a bandana around the cut. I'm not sure if will leave a scar, but I tried my best." Destiny hugged Rico close to her, and looked up to him. Skipper looked at the open cut, that was slowly starting to heal. It was scabbing, so that was good. Rico held his wing over his cut. Skipper removed his wing from his face, and took a glance at it. Rico hesitated as Skipper was about to lay a wing on it. It was trickling a bit of blood, but the only thing on Destiny's mind was the dolphin that she saved. She felt like she had let the massive creature down. A deep intake of breath was heard, when Skipper laid a wing on his beak.
Kowalski held Skipper's wing back. "Careful Skipper. The cut is deep. You don't want to scar it up worse than it already will." Kowalski pulled out a medical kit, and opened it up. A dark chocolate colored glass bottle was pulled out the bag, and Kowalski dipped a cotton swab into the concoction. "Now Rico. It will sting, but don't touch it."
"Ow!" Rico said. The swab gently massaged the alcohol onto the cut, and a bandage was placed over the area that was cut.
Destiny touched the side of Rico's face. "Will he be okay?"
"Oh sure Destiny. It'll heal. It just needs time. I'm not so sure about scarring, but I think it'll be okay." She smiled, and nestled into Rico's feathers.
"Alright. I hope you get better soon Rico. I'l just uhh . . . "She pointed in the direction of the Bronx. "Get back to my place. I'll just see you all later. Get well soon Rico." She kissed him on the cheek, and dove into the water, to surface jumping out of the other. "I'll see you boys later." She blew them all kisses. "Bye Skippy. I love you." Skipper smiled and waved. He was about to go back into the HQ, until he saw his sister looking around suspiciously. He didn't like secrets kept from him. He called Kowalski over, and whispered something into his ear. After the command was shared, he pointed to the direction his sister dissappeared off to. Kowalski nodded, and followed. Rico knew that Kowalski would find out about the dolphin. He promised he wouldn't tell Skipper about him, but Kowalski wouldn't understand. If by some crazy chance he did understand, he wouldn't care. Skipper would find out, and the siblings would fight. He tried to stall him. Unfortunately he could think of anything, so he punched him square in the face.
Meanwhile Destiny was headed back to that dolphin she saved from the inferno. She got there as fast as she could. What fun to meet the dolphin once again. She tried to remember his name. Blowhole, she thought. The main question was would he remember her? She remembered telling him that morning that she would return to the medical ward to meet him. She was so bent on having this mammal remember who she was. It was weird. Why though? She had saved countless animals in the past, so why was this dolphin thing so important to her? She had laid that question to rest because the subway had suddenly stopped at coney island.
The humans on the subway all headed to the theme park. Not a single human was headed straight to the aquarium with flowers. How rude. She crept in. The smell of burnt metal invaded her nostrils. It was awful. She looked over at the area that was engulfed in flames last night. Some firefighters were pushing things around, looking to see if there were any casualties. She knew there weren't except the dolphins eye. The blonde girl that the dolphin saved was near the pool, talking to Chuck Charles from the news. She had a white soft pad on the in dip of her back. It must have been where the ring slammed into her back.
"Well it was Blowhole's fault, but I don't blame him. He made one mistake, and that's it." How dare she? Blowhole saved her life. The only reason she didn't blame him was because he saved her life. She owed that dolphin her life. Destiny was shaking with anger. How could this human be so cruel? She brushed it off, and looked toward the medical ward. It was abandoned when she went in. There was no noise. Not a sound at all. The only sound was that of the smalldrops of water coming from the ceiling, and down into the pool from the pipes over head.
She walked in, looking for any sign of the large bluish grey animal she saved last night. "Hello?" When she looked up, she saw a sign that said, large mammals in intensive care. It was around the corner. She looked in to find a sad sight. The dolphin was laying in a small pool, with large ropes, that went across his stomach. They must have been to keep him held up as not to drown. A big white square gauze was across the spot where his right eye had been. He stared straight ahead, and hardley moved. His blowhole was breathing slowly, and shallowly as if it had just woken up. He was no doubt exhausted.
The big mammal looked in her direction, and weakly smiled at her. "You!" He blinked lazily "You're the bird who saved my life." He smiled, and lifted a flipper out of the water toward the tiny bird. She touched the center of the massive flipper with the rim of her wing. She nodded, and looked at the gauze she could see a faint pinkish color.
The sigh broke the silence of the water dripping. Her beak crept up to a smile. "Yep that was me. I promised I would be here, and so here I am. I was afaid you would foget me." Shudders rang off the walls, when she laid her body on his bottle like nose. Worried that it was painfulfull for the dolphin, Destiny pulled back wide eyed. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you. I just-"
Blowhole laid his flipper lightly on her crown, and stroked gently. Something about his smile showed a bit of humor. What did he find so funny? "It doesn't hurt. I was actually enjoying it. I've been touched by children, just because they've never touched a dolphin before. It's been a long time since someone hugged me." He laid his flipper on her back and leaned his head closer to her. "I'm sorry. I'm . . . not used to feather light touches."
Destiny giggled. "Well that would be the right words to use for a touch from a wing." Blowhole smiled at the irony. It made great sense, and was uplifting for some reason. She laid her whole body against his nose. He let out a rugged breath, as she stroked his nose. She looked up at his lost eye, and suddenly started to feel her eyes water. "I'm sorry." She sobbed "I'm sorry for everything. I'm . . . I'm so sorry." She buried her face in his his skin. Blowhole was suprised by this. He pulled Destiny up and looked at her in the face.
"Hey, what are you sorry about?" He touched the chin of Destiny's beak, and tilted her face up. "You saved my life, and pulled me to safety. I'm the one who should say sorry to you." Destiny's beak was trembling. She couldn't look at the dolphin in the eye.
"I've trained myself to save animals in need of help." Blowhole felt her wings tremble as they slowly turned to fists. She was grinding her beak. "I should have gotten to you sooner, and maybe you wouldn't have lost your eye." Blowhole was staring down at her. They both felt guilty, and knew that the other one shouldn't have felt so bad about themselves.
Blowhole grabbed the little penguin's face. She was keeping her eyes closed, and sobbing, her feathers getting soaked. "Look at me, little black and white bird." She opened her eyes, and stared at him. "I will not let you degrade yourself. You did what few humans could do. " He saw a stray tear fall, and took his flipper to wipe it off her cheek. She smiled at the gesture. Blowhole picked her up, and off the floor, and held her close to him, in the water. They closed their eyes, and enjoyed the loving embrace. "That reminds me. I never quite caught your name. May you tell me what it is?" He asked with his eye closed.
"Destiny" She whispered her eyes resting closed.
Blowhole let her name ring out through the room, in a whisper. "Destiny." He hummed slowly, as if absorbing the name. "I like that name. It's as if it was my Destiny to meet you last night. To be perfectly honest I would rather live with one eye, than not meet you." She smiled, but then stared at a clock on the wall. It said nine thirty. She was late to going home.
"Oh my goodness. It's late my fellow penguins will wonder where I am. I'm sorry, but I must go." She sighed. The mammals head looked down, but nodded.
"I understand." Silence followed. It wasn't a very uncomfortable silence. It was a little scary since neither moved. "When will I see you again?" He looked hopefull, but at the same time, so lonely. How could she leave him here to be near no one? She had to be with this dolphin, if it meant keeping it a secret from everyone. Kowalski, the female's of her team, even her own brother, Skippy.
She touched his snout, and smiled. "I'll meet you tomorrow, wherever they keep you. It'll be in the evening."
He smiled carefully, and tilted his head. He thought of where he would most likely be tomorrow. "Well, if my surgery goes according to plan, I'll most likely be in the large pool on the west side of the aquarium. It's meant for the healing mammals, like killer whales, and things like that. It's larger than the aqua theater was, so be on your toes." She looked down feeling a warm feeling in the pit of her stomach. She was going to jump out of the water, but felt a slick flipper under her body. Blowhole had picked her up with both flippers, and placed her on the floor, above the rest pool. She held her wing up. The large greyish blue flipper met hers, and slowly slicked away as she turned towards the exit. She waved when he wasn't in reach. She darted off, then slid off on her belly. Her smile couldn't be erased. She felt funny feelings when she was around him.
The next day, she woke up with a smile on her face. She could only think of the wonderful dolphin, and seeing it once again. The humans watched as she swam in the waters. Her teammates were so curious as to what was going on with her that day, and why she had been so kookey. She wouldn't say a word to anyone. She just kept going on with her usual antics. She waved to the humans and ate when she was hungry, but her smile would not fade away.
It was about five when she went over to see the boys. For some reason Kowalski had a big black eye, and was staying away from Rico. She didn't quite understand why. When she asked, Kowalski said it was just an accident. It seemed like a secret, but she thought it was nothing. Skipper looked at her as if she was hiding something. It was alright if she was hiding something, because he would find out what it was. He was sneaky like that. He and his sister loved keeping secrets from eachother, and they laughed when one found out the others. For some reason Destiny wasn't giving any hints to what was going on.
Rico and Destiny sat side by side. Rico noticed a glow radiating off of Destiny. She seemed different from the other day. There were only few times, Destiny looked like this, and Rico never understood why this happened, but didn't ask why. He just figured it was a girl penguin thing. His cut had left a scar, but it wasn't too bad, just a bit distinguishing. Rico took it quite well. Destiny was glad it didn't get too bad. She hugged Rico, knowing he would feel better with a hug.
Kowalski kept a close eye on Destiny. He also noticed her strange personality. Why was she acting so peculiar. He knew this was something he would have to look into. Destiny had always been a sweet penguin to the boys. Of course she didn't like it when Kowalski took the role as big brother to her, but still her heart was in the right place for them all. She loved the boys, and they loved her back. This just seemed a little to cheery. Kowalski looked over to Skipper, and nudged his head in Desinty's direction. Skipper saw it, and nodded.
"So . . . Destiny, has there been anything new to your habitat, like a boy penguin, perhaps?" Kowalski smiled to Skipper, raising his eyebrow that was over his good eye. Skipper exchanged the glance. He knew that would be it. The signs of her perkey attitude would be that she had a new boy at her zoo, and that she clearly had a thing for him. It must have been chaos, with twenty five girls all clamouring for one penguin. It sort of made the boys jelous, but it made them even happier that Destiny had finally found someone.
"Nope." Was her only response. She stared at the boys, and kept her consistent smile up for them all to see. They were surprised that wasn't the case. If it was they knew Destiny would tell them they were right. She wasn't one to keep secrets forever. "I'm just in a really pleasant mood. Is that so wrong?"
Skipper held his wings up defensively. "Oh no, deedee. I was just wondering is all." She snickered, and looked down. Rico looked at her, and she smiled in his direction. She nodded slowly. As the boys were whispering to eachother. She had a glitterish sparkle in her eye. He had assumed that she really did find someone, but he knew she really was telling the truth in saying that there wasn't a new penguin in the habitat in the Bronx. Maybe it wasn't a penguin. He thought of other birds, but then he thought . . . Oh no. Could she have really fell in love with the dolphin?
Rico looked at her his mouth wide agape. Destiny slowly shook her head. "Please you can't tell them. They won't understand." Destiny whispered. Rico looked at the two that were whispering amungst themselves. Well, he never did have very good skills with talking, so what was the the point in telling them, when you can't talk. He smiled, and hugged her close. She felt safe, nustling Rico's feathers. "Thank you, Rico. You are the best." She glanced above the boys, and stared at the clock. It said six. She was late!
"Sory guys, but I gotta go! There are things I must see to." She blew kisses to all three, and jumped out of the habitat. Skipper noticed it.
"Kowalski, I want you to check in on her at nine o clock. Head to the Bronx zoo, and find out what she's doing. If she isn't there at nine, then look for her. I don't care how long it takes. You find her." Kowalski nodded. Rico looked sadly up at the hole of the HQ. How would he explain this to Destiny
By the time she arrived, the stars were out, and glistening. The pool was in the distance. She saw a dorsal fin gliding barely above the surface from side to side in it. She assumed it was him. She got close, and smiled. The water was sparkling. When the dolphin got out, she noticed something was built up over his right eye. It was was crescent shaped, and circled around his head. In his eye area, a red laser looking barrel beamed out. It glowed like it could see. Destiny figured it was a bionic eye. She got closer, and spoke.
"Hey Blowhole" She whispered slowly. He darted up, hearing something from around him. "How are you? I see you got a new eye." He looked around, and saw her as he smiled weakly, and stared at her.
"Yes I got it from the humans. It's supposed to be some kind of futuristic eye. They said that if I could see from it, then they would try it on humans." She smiled to him, and sat on the edge of the waters. Blowhole rolled his good eye, and nudged his head foreward. "Wel don't be shy. Come on in." He laughed. He dove down head first, and did fun little flips through the water. Destiny smiled, and slid in slowly. The water was nice and warm. It wasn't every day she was swimming with something so large, such as a dolphin.
She swam over to the center, and looked as Blowhole smiled to her. He dove down, and was barely below the water. A flipper showed up at the surface, and pointed downward. She nodded, and sank down. She looked at Blowhole glide gracefully through the water. She watched as Blowhole seem to be soaring through water. She saw him swim up to her. She was getting awfully nervous, and tried swimming back as not to get hit. He grabbed her wing, and held on tight. She wasn't used to such a fast swimming speed. She was being carried along the water, and it felt good to not work so hard in swimming, but rather be pulled along.
She smiled at him when he looked back behind himself. She was let go, and she swam right next to him. He slowed down as to where she could catch up. They spun in circles together. They felt so happy as they orbited around eachother. You could say it was like syncronized swimming, or almost dancing. Bubbles spurted from the dolphins hole on his head. Bubbles also spurted from the tiny penguin's nose. They surfaced at the same time, and stared at eachother.
Blowhole started talking first. "Listen, Destiny. I know I'm fairly large in comparison to you, but please. Will you be my sweet heart?" He looked down at the little black and white female bird. Destiny didn't know what to say. She had never dated a mammal before. It seemed like something that wouldn't be so bad. She had tears in her eyes. Now she knew why she was so anxious to see him all the time. It was because she had fallen in love with him. She smiled through the tears, and nodded slowly. Blowhole had a shocked, but delighted look upon his face. He picked her up, and hugged her close. A wet lick made Destiny's feather's turn upwards. She giggled at the feeling, and smashed her feathers back down. She reached up to kiss his cheek.
"I think that would be a wonderful idea. Nothing would make me happier." She sighed. He saw her lids growing heavy. A large yawn emmited from her mouth. It reminded Blowhole of a baby bird. He smiled, and laid foreward in the water, putting Destiny on his back. He could smell her, through his Blowhole. She smelled of fresh fish, and flowers from the zoo. "It's so late. I hope my team doesn't notice I'm gone." She yawned. "I know I should head back to them for the night, but I don't want to leave."
"Then stay here. They should trust you. Besides, who would be looking for you this late at night. I think it would be much safer to stay here for the night. Who knows what could happen out there this late at night." She looked at the sky, and nodded yes.
"You're right. The aqua theater is much safer than the trip home. I guess I should wait till morning." She curled her body up into a full circle, and laid down onto the dolphin. "Wait. If I weigh too much, won't you sink? You can't swim, if you have me on your back."
Blowhole laughed a squeaky laugh. "Oh don't worry. I can sleep perfectly fine. We have a kick tail reflex. Normally we can sleep with one half of our brain hemisphere, while the other keeps us kind of awake." Destiny smiled, as she listened. She lightly traced the hole on his head, making sure not to clog it. "However in captivity, we can sleep with all of our brain. We still hold that kick tail reflex though."
Destiny giggled. "Well I guess that's much less stressfull. So you're alright with me on top of you to sleep tonight?"
Blowhole nodded. "Yes. I'll keep you safe, out of the water."
"All night?"
"All night."
Destiny woke up early, that morning. Blowhole was still sleeping, lightly cruising. Destiny looked down, and smiled as he was soundly asleep. She traced his hole once again. Her wings were placed under her chin, as she slowly adjusted to the bright light of summer. Blowhole was the next to wake up. A big breath of air escaped the Blowhole causing Destiny's feathers to turn upright. She laughed, and he yawned largely.
"Good morning sleepy head. Did you sleep well?" Destiny rubbed his head. Blowhole responded with a lazy smile, and a nod. Destiny was glad to hear that. She laid her head down on the side of Blowhole's head.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
The startled couple sat upright hearing a high pitched girl like scream. When they looked around, Destiny saw the last person she ever expected to find. Kowalski stood there with his black eye slowly starting to heal well. He was close to the water. His beak was hanging slightly opened, his eyebrows knitted together. A wing was pointed at Destiny, then at Blowhole, and back at Destiny. Destiny wasn't so sure what to do. Everyone was completely frozen. Destiny held herself up laying down, being held up by her wings. Blowhole was laying in the water, not moving at all.
Finally Destiny whispered over to Blowhole. "Leave this to me. Don't startle him." She sat up, and smiled to Kowalski. "Hey Kowalski, buddy. Umm hows everything at Central Park?" She slid down blowholes slick skin, and swam up to Kowalski. He stood there with his look of startlement still on his face. She knew she was in hot water now.
"I . . . you . . . that mammal . . . Are . . . Did I see you sleeping on top of that dolphin?" Kowalski was babbling, trying to make sense of seeing his baby sister with such a large monsterous beast. Destiny wasn't quite sure what to say, or even how to get herself out of this mess. All her brain could muster up was a simple head nod. Kowalski was shocked when he saw the head nod. "Oh no please don't nod to that. Anything but that. You saved this thing last night didn't you? Now you can't leave it alone!" He shouted in a freaked out voice. He wasn't scared of what would happen to her, but what would happen to himself. "Well if you can't deny that, then at least say you don't have feelings for this . . . thing." Destiny responded with a grasp on the bridge of her beak. Kowalski was totally shocked at this new found knowledge.
Blowhole thought this would a be a good time to interviene. "Look buddy, it's not her fault. This whole, 'Stay here with me' thing was my idea." He explained. "Don't get upset with her. I was afraid to send her through the streets alone." Kowalski looked over at the large mammal, with a look of instant hatred.
Kowalski moved Destiny over, to look at the large dolphin. "Don't even try to push your luck with me pretty boy. You're already on my list. Let's just hope you aren't on her little brother's list." Kowalski turned back to Destiny. "How could you fall in love with this thing? Does anybody else know about about this? Rico was here when the stage blew up. Does he know about you and this beast?"
"HE'S A DOLPHIN, AND HIS NAME IS BLOWHOLE!" she shouted. Kowalski raised his eyebrows quite shocked that his little sister would hollar at him like that. She put her flippers over her beak. "And yes he does know, but don't blame him. As if he would tell you." She sighed. "I'm sorry Kowalski, but I'm not a little girl anymore."
Kowalski stiffened. "Well you will always be my baby sister. Plus, it seems that you are, in saying that you can't make the right decision. What do you think Skipper would say? Don't bother guessing, because I already know what he say. He'll say Kowalski you're dead for letting this happen. That's what he'll say. I'm heading straight home, before this gets out of hand, and I get blamed." He ran towards the gate, but Destiny jumped on him, pinning his wings straight down.
She looked at him terrified. "Kowalski." Her eyes were moist with tears. "You can't do this to us. If Skipper finds out, then I'll be dead meat. Please he won't understand." She whimpered. "Please. I'm asking you as a sister. Please just keep it a secret, please. sister to brother?" Kowalski gazed up at the desperate little penguin. She must have been kidding.
"Are you seriously asking me to tell a king sized lie to my commanding officer, your little brother? I'm not an idiot, Destiny." He saw the predicament presented before him, and the little penguin laying on top of his stomach. He did what came naturally to himself. He started considering options. "Listen Destiny, Skipper, Rico, and I all know plenty of male birds. If we can just find one of them willing to be with you, you can dump the dolphin and-" His option was cut short, when he saw her face drop to shame and misery. When he looked over to Blowhole, Blowhole slowly lowered his head down, and sighed, with pain in his eyes too. "and . . . " he then sighed knowing how much they meant to each other. "And then you'll both end up lonely with nobody to love you." He finally pushed Destiny off of himself, and stood up straight. "Fine you two. I'll try to keep you both as secrets as long as I can. I don't know how, exactly, but I'll find a way."
Destiny was ecstatic, and hugged Kowalski tightly. "Oh thank you Kowalski. You might actually be a good big brother after all." He rolled hs eyes and smiled. She giggled and kissed him on the cheek.
"D'oh get off me. I still think this is a bad idea. If your brother finds out, all three of us are as dead as a fish in a cup of coffee." He grumbbled with a nervous shaky look. His nervous attitude changed to accomplishment, when he saw Destiny run up to Blowhole, and jump into his flippers. Maybe this wasn't such a bad couple after all.
The day had gone by considerably well. Destiny had headed home under the watchful eye of Kowalski, the expert secret keeper, and Kowalski headed home. Things didn't seem so bad, they were more wrong than they could have imagined. Kowalski was working on some old invention later that evening. Destiny wasn't in their home, and Rico was heading out to go swimming in the moat. Skipper was about to ask Kowalski about the night. Rico was just climbing out of the HQ. Skipper waited till he climbed out, and pulled the fishbowl over the cover. Skipper turned towards Kowalski with a smile, ready for the report. Kowalski was acting nervous. He walked over, and laid a flipper on Kowalski's shoulder.
"Uhmm kowalski. I think I would like that report on Deedee."
"Oh, umm, Destiny? Oh well here's the thing. She went to her habitat, safe and sound." He turned back to his table, and tried to keep working. This was not what he wanted to talk about. He didn't want to tell Skipper the biggest secret Destiny now held, and nor did he like lieing to Skipper. There wasn't much trouble not telling him what happened, but when he had to tell him something that didn't happen, it felt even worse.
"Well then, why did you wait till sunrise to come back home?" Kowalski was stumped now. "That seems a little off."
He was mentally yelling to himself not to tell anymore lies. It would only dig him even deeper into the hole. Regardless, he tried to cover up his lie with going even deeper. "Well she made a few stops, You know picking up snacks for her team." A lump in Kowalski throat formed, when he saw Skipper getting aggravated out of the corner of his eye.
Skipper glared at him. "It doesn't take that long to get snacks." Kowalski swallowed the lump in his throat, knowing his was in trouble now. "Kowalski" He swirled Kowalski around, and stared him in the eye. "I know there's something that I'm not being told." Kowalski was getting frightened. His knees were shaking, and Destiny was going to be found out. "Tell me what you know"
"I . . . I"
"Tell me what I don't know or else."
He was whimpering with fear. He grabbed the shorter Skipper with his flippers, and stared him in the eye. "OKAY I CONFESS! He's big, he's got a bionic eye. He's a mammal! His skin is slick, his real eye grey like smoke. I tried to tell her to stay away from him, and date normal birds!" Kowalski suddenly figured out what he just blurted out. He quickly slapped his wings over his beak.
"What? Okay! Now I'm upset." He pushed Kowalski down to the cement to sit down. "You are going to tell me the whole story, and you leave no details out. Destiny is my big sister. I want straight facts. No more lies. Tell me everything."
The Bronx penguins were listening to kokomo by the beach boys. It was filling the HQ. Destiny was picking up her maps off the floor, a big googly eyed smile on her face. The girls were smiling, since they were introduced to the dolphin known as Blowhole earlier that day. They seemed to be dancing while their chores were being done. They were glad to finally meet the mammal. All of the girls were very delighted to see him. Most of the girls were very attracted to him, but they knew better to get between Destiny and a boy she liked. There were so many smiles. That dolphin was something else to them. "So whoever wants to see my man once again say Yeaha!" Suddenly there were voices screaming."Yeaha!" The voices erupted from the HQ. Destiny pulled from the stack of maps, a picture of him, that one of the girls took. She hugged it against her chest sighing heavily. Suddenly Rico came down into the HQ, and ran up to Destiny. "Rico? What are you doing here?" She said shockingly, hiding the pictures in Coco's stomach.
Rico pointed towards the Central Park's direction. Destiny didn't exactly know why, but Rico wanted her to follow him, for some reason. Destiny didn't know exactly what was going on, but she was willing to follow him. She hadn't seen the boys today, and figured that it would be nice to hang out with them. Something seemed different though. Rico seemed to be upset for some reason.
When she got there Skipper was outside of the HQ. His face didn't show friendlyness. It look like it was angry, and upset. Rico sighed pointing towards Skipper. Behind Skipper Kowalski stood, looking down acting as if were ashamed. It didn't take Destiny long to figure out what had happened. Kowalski told him everything. She glance at Kowalski, and slowly shook her head. Under her breath she growled. "Kowalski. You didn't." Her anger was obliterated when Skipper started shouting.
"Destiny! Are you out of your mind? Is this true that you went somewhere else other than your habitat? AFTER DARK? AND STAYED THERE?" Destiny could understand that Skipper was angry, but knew that she was the older penguin, and wasn't going to stand for her little brother to yell at her.
"Skippy, please."
"Don't Skippy please, me!"
"Skipper, listen. I didn't want to go out there alone, or at night." She tried explaining. There was worry in her eyes. It was worry that she wouldn't be able to find a way to calm her brothers down. Though she was shorter than her younger brother, she tried to sound wise in her reasoning. " I was safe. I was with a reliable animal" She hoped that made Skipper feel like he could trust her.
Skipper was not phased. "Yes. I heard." He stared at Kowalski apreciatively. Destiny was not so joyous of kowalski's betrayal. "I also heard it was an animal that you rescued from the blaze. A male animal. Not only that, but he was a mammal!"
Destiny couldn't believe it. Was this really happeneing? "I had to! What would you have done? Would you have let him just drown?" A little glow in Skipper's eyes pointed out to Destiny's horror, that Skipper was considering agreeing to that thought.
"Well while I don't have anything but ccontentedness for mammals, still I would save him. Though through that, I would never want to see such an atrocious mammal. If I heard correctly he has one eye." What did that matter? So what? Skipper was not being reasonable, and if Destiny heard right, raising his voice.
"Well if it makes you feel any better, he doesn't look like a mammal! What is so wrong with mammals anyway? Why are you so hateful against things that are a different species from you?"
Skipper stared at Destiny as if she was crazy. She stared up at him not showing a hint of weakness. Skipper stared down at his shorter yet older sister, trying to show her that he meant business. "Do you think that looking different makes a difference? You have to understand, Deedee! He might look different, but you have to see it! He's still a mammal and mammals are all the same! They try to draw you in with with their smooth skin, and fur. Next you fall for them like a hatchling. They might seem like a great friend, but then they get attached to you, and when you pull yourself away, they get angry, and try to hunt you down. Do you know why they hunt you down?" Destiny was positive that she would be answered without asking why. "It's because we're birds. Mammals eat birds, for crying out loud!" This made Destiny very angry. It made her so angry, that she up and yelled at him.
"Skipper, I love him!"
That was the moment every thing seemed to shatter. Destiny held her wings over her beak, suddenly wanting to kick herself, for what she just said. Skipper's face was one thatwas mixed with both shock and anger. His facial features were shocked, and surprised, but murder engulfed his blue eyes. He took a minute to absorb the sheer betrayal of his only sister. he then let out a long breath, and squinted his eyes. "Fine, then. I'm your little brother, and I will always love you no matter what. However I will never be subtle with the fact that you are dating him." Destiny lowered her head, not letting Skipper see her beak quivering. "I will always hate him. Kowalski!"
It seemed as though he could hardly speak, as if guilty of betraying his only little sister figure. "ye-yes, Skipper?"
"I need the name of this dolphin."
"Uhmm Blowhole Skipper." He said disappointed of his own actions.
"Good this Blowhole will be our number one newest arch nemesis." Destiny was appauled at his actions. She couldn't believe Skipper would go to these extremes. "I need to know everything. I want to know when he eats, when he sleeps. If a butterfly lands on his snout, I want to know about it. Rico you're in charge of finding his weakness. We'll go out tomorrow morning to make hostility." Skipper turned towards his HQ hole, and was about to move the fishbowl. Destiny clutched Skipper's shoulder tightly, and spun him around to meet her gaze.
"Skippy, please I-"
Her attempt to reason with Skipper was cut short unfortunately. A loud crisp slap sound was eminated. Destiny was slapped painfully in the mouth. She fell back onto her back, quickly. She didn't look surprised, but she felt it. Her face showed shame for her brother, and a feeling of true hurt. Skipper looked at her with a face of shock, and fright. He had barely been able to believe what he had done. She started to let the look of sadness fade away. Skipper reached a flipper out carefully, feeling like he had made the biggest mistake of his life. In an instant Destiny's face of shame changed to one of sheer fright. She fumbled trying to get to her feet. The first person she ran to was Rico. She hid her face in Rico's feathers crying with pain in her sobs. Rico stared at Skipper without much to say. His gaze then dropped down to Destiny. Skipper looked at both of his flippers as if they were soiled with blood. It was only hard enough to make a red spot on her face. He ran into his HQ, wis wings hiding his face shamefully. Rico looked at Destiny, and sighed. She was crying quietly, but still crying from emotional weight nonetheless. He rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.
Kowalski watched as Skipper ran straight into the HQ. He then stared at Destiny, rather embarrased. He slowly waddled up to her, and tried to form words. There wasn't much to be said that was already laid out. Still he tried the best he could. "Destiny, I am so sorry . . . I . . . I can't tell you how-"
She whimpered, turning around. Tears made dark streaks in her white feathers. Kowalski was astounded when he saw a pink mark on the left side of her face. "Please just leave me Kowalski. I will never burden you with a secret ever again." She turned back to nestling herself in Rico's plumage. Rico was surprised at what he heard. He looked down awe struck. Kowalski winced, closing his eyes tightly, a frown clearly visible when he looked to his feet. He slowly waddled away, his head between his shoulders in shame. Rico returned to consoling her. He laid his cheek on top of her head. He started to slowly cry along with her.
(present day)
"We haven't seen eachother since that day, until of course today." He said, slowly rubbing Destiny's back as she slept. "I feel like it was the sickest thing I have ever done to anyone. I don't know if I can ever be her older brother figure again. It was that day that she cut off all visits from us. The only way we ever got contact, was when Blowhole told us about her, and how she was, and that was if he felt like telling us. I just wish I could just close my eyes, and just wish it a ll gone." He closed his eyes, as if it could really happen. It was then that a voice came up from the speaker.
"Alllll right ladies and gentlemen, we are about to land. Please fasten your safety belt, and refrane from leaving your seat until after the plane has come to a complete stop. We thank you once again for choosing our airlines. Enjoy your stay at Las Vegas Nevada."
Kowalski leaned down, and whispered in Destiny's ear, lightly laying a wing on her back. "Hey . . . Deedee . . . come on. Wake up." Destiny flinched lightly, and breathed in deeply. She fluttered her eyes open, and looked up at Kowalski.
"What is it, Kowalski?" She was squinting, smiling at her gentle wake.
"We've made it. We're here." She smiled, and laid her head back down, with a thump!