A.N.- Aaaaaand enjoy the next chapter :D

Chapter 3: The Search for Rico

"Are they back yet?" Liam asks as he waddles into the HQ.

Another male penguin looks up at him from a laptop and shakes his head. "Nope…" He says and looks over at the old invention. "Though, they haven't really been gone long…"

"I know...But still, Martial…" Liam sighs and sits down.

Martial looks at him and rolls his eyes a little. "I see why Gweny calls you Romeo. You're getting all sappy and stuff over Nova. We've got larger fish to fry right now, Liam. We are in the middle of a war! If anything we will probably never see them again if this goes right and they prevent the war." He shrugs.

Liam blinks his brown eyes some and looks away. "Never see her again?" He shakes his head some, unbelieving. "No...I thought they were just making the future better...Not completely erasing it and starting over…"

Martial gets up and pats his friend on the back a little. "That's what they hope, though it is possible that the second thing happens…It'll just be as though none of us ever existed...Maybe we will but a little differently afterwards…"

"How different?" He looks a little weirdly at him.

"I don't know, maybe genderswapped?"

Liam looks even more weirdly at him and leans away some. "Ew! How does your mind even go there?! You must have spent too much time with Rico."

Martial shrugs with a small grin and looks back towards the computer. "Speaking of Rico…" He starts and returns to his computer. "I...Well, Mom might have found a trail left by him."

"Oh?" Liam comes over and looks at the computer. "I didn't know Aunt Marlene did things with computers much?"

"She's pretty smart." Martial shrugs some and pulls up a picture. "Anyway, I agree that this looks like a spot we should check out...Maybe Rico got separated from the others and needs help?"

"Or it could be a trap. Mom could easily have set that as a trap for us, knowing we'd be looking for them." Liam counters.

"Sure, sure...Though we should probably still check it out."

"Of course, I wasn't saying we shouldn't, just that it is probably a trap." He grins a little.

Martial grins back and they flipper-five. "I'll just tell Mom to watch the HQ for us and that we are just going on a patrol."

"Mhmmmhmm?" Then a female voice says. Both boys turn their heads towards the door. "Yeah, I don't think so." Marlene says with a look. "It's bad enough Skipper and the others are missing, I don't want to lose the two of you, too...Speaking of you...Where are the others?" She glances around.

"Ahah...Funny story…" Martial starts. "You see...They kind of...Went back in time?" He says.

"What?!" She exclaims. "When?! Why?! How?!"

"Easy, Mama, you have already called out four of the six question words!"

"Actually...I think there are fourteen of those?" Liam interrupts.

"Well, just six major ones…" Martial looks unamused. "You've been around Nova too much." Liam growls a little at him and gets nearly into his fighting position.

Marlene separates them. "My questions?" She then says.

"Nova, Gweny, and Elliot went back in time to back before that lemur king was killed to see if they can possibly get it prevented so that this war may never have happened." Liam explains. "And if it is prevented then nearly anything can happen to us, like the future could be totally different."

Martial nods. "And we might be genderswapped in some other future." He adds.

"You worry me." Liam looks at his cousin. Martial only shrugs some and looks at his mother.

Marlene is shocked and then thinks some. "Well...Then let's hope they succeed…" She sighs and then looks more at her son and hugs him. Martial has a slightly annoyed and awkward look that Liam tries to not laugh at. "I guess you may go look about Rico, but Uncle Ethan will be going with you." She says.

Liam frowns some. "Why does Dad have to go?! We'd be fine by ourselves! We're not chicks anymore! We're grown, Aunt Marlene!"

"You're not grown yet. You're fifteen, that's a teen, not an adult." She says with a look. "And either your father goes, too, or neither of you go at all."

"But Rico may need help!" Martial says. "Mom!"

"If I know anything I know that Rico can take care of himself. As your father says, he's a maverick." She says and puts her paws on her hips.

Both boys sigh and nod a little. "Alright…"

Marlene nods satisfied with a small smile. "Now, Ethan's over at the East exit already waiting for you." She says. "Good luck." Her son and nephew nod and then slide out.

Trixy softly rocks baby Elliot with a yawn. It is now late at night and the skippers and the future penguins are having another discussion in the lab...Technically, Gweny is discussing with them, Nova has already been kicked out of the lab because she stopped cooperating respectfully. Nova frowns some and waddles over to Kowalski and Marissa with a curious look at them. "What are you working on?" She asks.

Kowalski looks at her. "We are testing some of the sludge from the sewers to see how radioactive it is." He shrugs.

Nova nods and watches them. She then curiously gets out her notebook. "Ehm...I'm not sure how helpful you could be with this, but…" She pushes her blueprints to him. "I've tried just about everything and checked my calculations a lot, but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong...And I can't really ask you in the future since you're both missing…" She says a bit quietly.

Marissa looks curiously at her and the sheet and looks over Kowalski's shoulder at it. "You tried dividing by zero…" She says and points. "Right here."

Nova looks at it surprised. "I did?!"

Marissa nods and looks back further in the equation. "Yes...Though I believe you meant to write and use eight there...Composition error, it happens to everyone." She smiles some. "For example, Kowalski tends to always forget to carry a number…" She glances at him.

"Hey, you're not perfect either! You'll forget to leave numbers once they are cancelled and try to continue them in the equation!" He shoots back at her.

"Well, at least I typically notice by the end!" She replies and puts her flippers on her hips.

"And I notice mine after double checking...Usually." He does the same as her.

Nova quietly watches them and clears her throat some. "Ehm...I wasn't trying to start a fight…" She says.

They now both look at her. "We're not arguing, we're debating." Marissa shrugs.

"No, I'm pretty sure we're arguing…" Kowalski says.

"No, it's a debate. Arguing is fighting. We aren't fighting, we are simply having a discussion about common mathematical mistakes we make and how I am better at catching them than you."

"But you aren't, Marissa!" Kowalski snorts. "You're no better at it than me!"

"Am too." She sticks her tongue out at him.

"Are not." He crosses his flippers.

"Am too." She does the same and looks at Nova. "Now you may say that we are arguing…"

"We are not! We're discussing how you're not better at it than me!" Kowalski says.

Nova sighs and looks at the ceiling. "I'm so confused…" She then retrieves her equation from Marissa and sneaks back out from the lab to rework it using eight instead of that zero.

Trixy watches Nova take the equation to the table and then smiles softly at Elliot, who now has fallen asleep. She then takes Elliot and lays him in her bunk. "Sleep well…" She mumbles softly and covers him up. She then looks over as Gweny, Skipper, and Skippsy waddle out from the lab.

"So, we need to watch Ringtail. Big deal." Skipper shrugs. "That's too easy."

"Better easy than a world war beginning from something as seemingly insignificant as that." Gweny says with a look. "Trust me, I am really too young to be trying to lead a military team. And, I am certain Liam would prefer to not have his family separated by this war."

"I didn't say we weren't going to do it. I just said that it sounds too easy to have been what started the war." Skipper shrugs.

"Agreed...Though, that is how wars start...With the assassination of some ruler." Skippsy nods and goes towards the coffee maker.

"No." Skipper mutters to her with a look. His sister rolls her eyes a little and gets some non-caffeinated soda instead. He then returns his look to Gweny. "So...We prevent the Lemur War or whatever from preventing the death of that pest. What else does it stop?"

Gweny takes out 2 pictures and hands it to him. "You'll have to keep a watch out for their rise to power."

"Clemson and Fluffington?" Skipper says.

"You know them?" The future teen asks.

"We've tangled before, yes." He nods. "But, Clemson wouldn't come to power if the Lemur War doesn't happen, correct?"

"Wrong. They happen because he becomes dictator." She shakes her head. "Then he has his spies sneak in and kidnap and execute the lemur king...Or kills him in another way...You would tell different stories, I have trouble remembering the exact details…"

Skippsy looks at him. "So you Manfredi-ed and Johnson-ed the Ringtail assassination story. Dang, you must have been hit hard by his death. Ha." She chuckles. Skipper looks unamusedly at her; his sister only shrugs with an amused look.

"This is not a laughing matter! People died!" Gweny then exclaims. "Why can't you take this seriously?!"

"It's hard to when Ringtail's involved." Skipper shrugs. "I mean, have you met him? There isn't an ounce of serious in him!"

"No, I have not met him, because in the future where I am from he is DEAD!" She says, getting frustrated.

Skipper pats her on the head. "We get it, calm down, soldier." He says. "We'll keep surveillance on him. If you want to return to the future now, you can. We've got it covered."

Gweny gives him a look. "You didn't have it covered the first go around, why should I trust you will the second. No." She shakes her head. "Nova, Elliot, and I will stay until we either disappear or whatever the heck happens after this thing is prevented."

"Whoop-di-doo." Skippsy says, but doesn't sound thrilled. "Just what we've always wanted...A back-seat 13 year old skipper…" She takes a sip of her drink.

Skipper looks at her and then at the teen. "Don't mind her she's—"

"—I know what she is, sir." Gweny interrupts him. "But, she should still be able to help in this, even if there is fighting involved."

Skipper looks unsure at her and then at his sister. "We'll see…"

Nova then waddles over to them. "I just finished, I think, a trans-time communicator." She says. "To test it I'd of course have to send one into the future…"

Gweny looks at her. "Wouldn't it already be there if you made it in the past?"

"Not necessarily...I mean, this technically isn't happening right now." She shakes her head. "And if it is there...I wouldn't know where the heck to tell Liam or Marshal to look."

"Point made, your lab is a mess." Gweny chuckles.

Nova nods some and then waddles back towards Marissa and Kowalski. "I need to borrow your Chronotron to send this thing to the future." She says. "Hopefully Liam or Marshal...Or Marlene maybe, will be there to get it."

"Eh…" Kowalski then says and waddles to his lab. "I, eh...Am a little short on Maguffium, though…" He says. "And by that, I mean I am out. I used the last of it on the Love-U-Laser 2.0 a while back..."

"Can't we find more?" Nova asks.

Kowalski nods a little slowly and thinks. "Probably...I'll just have to locate some more…"

"Please do that, Daddy, this is a really important thingy and I need to make sure it works!" Nova smiles and for a moment things feel nearly normal for her.

Marissa looks at them from her computer. "The nearest Maguffium is in the Lab of the University of Connecticut." She says.

Kowalski nods and looks at Skipper. "Sir, we need a Magiffium 239 rade." He says.

Skipper looks over at him and nods some. "Alright, take Rico with you and Marissa...Private, too." He then adds.

"Roger that." Kowalski nods.