Chapter 2: Meeting the Monster Himself

It was a scorchingly-hot summer's day in the Central Park Zoo, where 4 penguins labored on in the heat. Private, Rico and Kowalski were doing push-ups as Skipper watched and pushed them on.

"61, 62, 63-" Skipper yelled.

Private collapsed onto the hard ground and Rico and Kowalski stopped, as well. "Sk-Skipper," pleaded Kowalski, "we've been laboring at hard physical exercises for hours on end."

"Yeah, Skippa, can't we take a break?" asked Private. Skipper slapped himself in the face.

"That's too bad, soldier. You need to stay in good physical condition!"

"Hot." grunted Rico. He rolled over onto his back and regurgitated a huge pitcher of water, which he gulped down in five seconds. When he had licked the last drops clean from the container, he threw it aside and it hit Skipper right in the face accidentally.

Skipper didn't move a muscle but glared at Rico, making him feel terrified. He thought that Skipper might hurt him or something, because he certainly had been harsh on them before.

Well, he was half right, because Skipper did tell Kowalski to slap him in the face to get him to come to his senses.

"Men! Pull yourselves together! I know it's hot, but that doesn't excuse you from daily training!"

They all groaned loudly as they returned to a push-up position.

Babies, thought Skipper as he counted on. "64, 65, 66, 67, 68...69......." He got slower and slower at the sound of a truck approaching from behind, and eventually he stopped counting altogether. He turned around to see the cause of all the commotion, and upon seeing that their leader had turned away, the three exhausted penguins fell on their backs and rested, sighing loudly.

Skipper narrowed his eyes as a crate was being delivered to another exhibit very far off. Well, it must have been, because after driving past several other exhibits it turned a corner and disappeared from sight. Judging by the size of the crate, this was no small animal. Something in his gut told him to go check it out.

"Team," he said, not even turning around to look at them, "I'm off on an important mission. I'll be back soon, but while I'm gone I still expect you to continue with training! Remember, don't stop until you get the 85 push-ups, then carry on with the other exercises."

The team groaned and resumed with push-ups as the leader mysteriously disappeared.

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Skipper snuck along in the direction that the truck went with the crate, trying to stay hidden. He slid on his belly through open areas, which were thankfully deserted due to the zoo being closed. He hid under benches and remained in the shadows, until eventually he spotted a crate in a nearby habitat.

Excitedly, Skipper slid up to it and tried to read the sign for a clue as to what the animal might be. Unfortunately for him, he was unfamiliar with this newly-opened exhibit, not to mention reading was not his forte. Or, rather, he couldn't read at all. (If only he had brought the chimps along!)

"Aw, fish." Skipper cursed to himself. "I guess there's only one way to find out what it is now."

Glancing around to double-check that no one was watching, he finally climbed up the fence and flipped through the air, all in one swift motion. He landed on his feet inside the unknown, quite possibly dangerous animal's mysterious realm.

Looking around, he realized that he was surrounded by strange-looking trees and rocks of bizarre formations. Curious, Skipper held out a flipper to touch a pine tree, but when he made contact with the edge of a sharp needle it made him jump back ten feet.

"What is this place!?" he wondered, searching for some sort of life anywhere. "Hello? Anybody home?"

When nothing was to be heard but his own voice echoing off the rocks, he finally decided to walk up to the crate from behind. Due to his minor paranoia, he approached it from behind so as not to be ambushed or taken by surprise.

"Um, is anyone in there?" He cupped his hands around his ears, waiting for a response, but none came. He took a step backward, and, looking around one last time, he lunged forward and kicked it across the exhibit.

It whooshed through the air with ease, crashing into a rock wall and shattering into a million pieces. Nothing was in it.

"What the- hello? Hello! Is anyone here?"

Not a soul answered.

Defeated and confused, Skipper turned around to leave when suddenly the wind blew a map of the zoo in his face.

"Hmm... well, I guess whoever it is that lives here got lucky already. Took me years to collect everything in the HQ. Wonder where this animal is now..."

Skipper shook his head, carrying the map back with him, and waddled back to his own habitat, where he hoped his team where doing as he told them to do...

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Back at the exhibit, Kowalski, Rico and Private were swimming lazily on their backs in the water, laughing wildly. Among them was a new animal that Skipper had never seen before. Immediately he grew suspicious of him.

"Boys? You're supposed to be training! And who is this intruder!"

The three penguins looked up and stopped laughing instantly. None of them said a word as they stole glances at each other, terrified.

Eventually, Kowalski spoke up. "Um, Skipper, this is Randy, the new animal. He is a grizzly bear from a zoo in Ohio." he said, pointing to an enormous animal with dark-brown fur covering his entire body. He hesitated, turning his big furry head, but finally he spoke up.

"Pleasure to meet you, Skippy." Randy said a little TOO enthusiastically, flashing his teeth at him. Nobody else seemed to notice, so he went on. "I'm sorry to interrupt your training and barge in like this. I'll leave now."

Pretending to be remorseful and sad, the bear swam up to the front of their exhibit and was about to climb out. "The name's Skipper!" Skipper shouted after him.

Private glared at Skipper. "Skippa, he's new here and you just sent him away? He just came 5 minutes ago!"

Skipper glared right back at them. "That's no way to talk to your commanding officer! And I don't care if he's the king of France, you three are supposed to be training! Duty is duty."

Private, embarrassed, glanced at his feet. "Sorry, Skippa. You're right. Duty is duty."

Randy sniffled loudly as he jumped down on the other side of the fence. "I understand. How rude of me. I won't bother you guys anymore."

Kowalski and Rico looked miserably after him, and even Skipper's expression faltered. Eventually, he caved in.

"Oh, alright, you bunch of knuckleheads! He can stay and you can skip the rest of your training. But just for today! Don't expect this all the time."

"Yeah!" Kowalski shouted in his nerdy voice as he and Rico high-fived and Private jumped for joy. Randy happily jumped back in, and the three penguins resumed partying.

Skipper sighed. This could be something he would regret later on.