A.N.- And here is chapter 21! I estimate around 2-3 more chapters after this one :D Please enjoy!
Chapter 21: The New Commander
A week later, Adriana wakes up really early next to Pedro feeling nauseous. She just lies there for a moment, hoping that the feeling will just go away on its own because she really doesn't want to get up yet.
It doesn't.
She hops up from the bed and slides quickly into the bathroom and just barely makes it to the toilet before she starts throwing up. Pedro drowsily yawns and half-opens an eye and sees that she is missing from the bed. He slowly sits up and stretches some with a weird and slightly concerned look towards the bathroom and the vomiting sounds within. "Adri? You okay in there?" He yawns, slowly getting up and waddling over to the bathroom door. He sleepily opens it and looks at Adriana. "Adri?"
Adriana gives him a glance. "Wh-What?" She manages to pant between vomiting.
"You okay?" Pedro asks half-asleep still.
"Yeah, because throwing up at 3 in the mañana is completely normal. " Adriana sarcastically replies as she has finished throwing up and gives him a look. "Just go back to bed, Pedro."
"Okay." Pedro yawns, nods some, and sleepily goes back to the bed. He is really soon back asleep and snoring. Adriana sits there a bit longer as she lets her stomach settle again before wiping her beak and flushing the toilet. She gets up and waddles out of the bathroom and rolls her eyes some as she sees that Pedro is already sound asleep again. She then waddles to the kitchen and gets herself a cup of water with a small yawn to hopefully get the sour taste from her mouth. Once she has finished her water, she goes back to bed.
Pedro wakes up as his alarm clock goes off a few hours later. Adriana mumbles something in her sleep and turns over with the covers. Pedro turns off the clock and looks over at his girlfriend with only a vague memory of how she had been throwing up a few hours ago. He gently feels of her forehead for a fever. She doesn't feel like she has one to him, but he still frowns a little. He knows he is no doctor, but he figures that throwing up at 3 AM really isn't normal or healthy. "Psst. Adriana, wake up." He says softly and nudges her shoulder.
"No." Adriana yawns and snuggles more under the nice and warm covers. "Too comfy..."
"Adriana...Wake up, please..." Pedro says softly again and softly rubs her flipper.
Adriana gives him an annoyed look and stretches some. "What do you need, Pedro?" She yawns.
Pedro looks softly at her. "How are you feeling now? Still sick?" He asks.
"No. I feel sleepy. And now, if you'll let me, I'm going back to sleep." She yawns, turning back over. "Good morning." She falls back asleep.
"Okay..." He murmurs and softly kisses her on her cheek before getting out of bed and starting to get ready to go for training at the base. He remembers hearing from someone yesterday that they were going to meet their new commander today. He grabs and puts on his belt with gun and slides from the house to the base. Once there, he goes to his locker and puts his keys away in it. He closes his locker and jumps as he sees Bob standing there, leaning against the lockers with his flippers crossed. "For Cuzco's sake, Bobby! Stop that!" He says.
Bob laughs a bit and stands up straight from the lockers. "We'll see, Ro." He says. "Anyway, want to do a few rounds at the course before we have to go to that assembly?" He asks with a smile.
Pedro nods a bit. "Sure." He says with a small smile and motions for Bob to lead the way. He still is thinking about Adriana's throwing up earlier. He is a bit worried, but he figures it was probably just from his cooking last night. He remembers Adriana commenting before they tasted it that it hadn't looked like it was the correct color. Pedro shakes the thought away and follows Bob to the shooting range in the base.
"So, do you know the name of the new Commander?" Bob asks as he gets some protective gear from the rack and tosses a pair to Pedro, too.
"No, do you?" He replies as he catches the gear and begins putting it on.
Bob shakes his head. "No, that's why I was asking you..." He says and then shrugs a little. "But I suppose that we will learn that soon enough, won't we, eh, Ro?"
"Sí." Pedro nods and starts heading to one of the targets. The two friends then shoot at the targets. Pedro tries in vain to out-shoot Bob, though he knows that it would have been impossible before he even starts.
Adriana sleeps for about an hour more before she yawns and gets up. She has a theory of what had caused her to throw up, and in her opinion, it is worse than possibly having food poisoning from Pedro's failed attempt at lasagna last night. Adriana waddles to the bathroom and fixes her feathers and makeup before sliding from the house to the closest store. "Good morning, Ma'am. Is there something I may help you with?" A penguin fixing her ponytail at the counter asks her as she waddles in.
"Ehm...Maybe?" Adriana says a bit unsure and looks at her. "Would you happen to know where the pregnancy tests are?" She asks.
The penguin smiles some at her. "Aisle 17." She says. Adriana nods to her and slides over to that said aisle. She looks at the shelves and finds them. She gets one of the boxes and brings it over to the counter penguin. The cashier rings the item up and tells her the total. Adriana nods and hands her Pedro's credit card. The employee scans the card and looks at her. "Euhm, Ma'am? This card says it is a Pedro F. J. Mateo's?" She says.
Adriana nods. "Yes, I've lost mine." She lies. "So, I'm borrowing my novio's card." She says.
"Oh, okay." The girl says with a nod and presses something's on the touchscreen monitor. "And do you have a PVS card?" She asks.
"Uh, no? Adriana replies.
The cashier nods. "Would you like to sign up and get a Penguin Value Store card today?" She asks with a smile.
Adriana shakes her head. "Not today, maybe next time." She says.
The cashier nods and hands the credit card back to her. "Have a nice day, Ma'am." Adriana nods a little and gets the card and the bag before sliding out from the store to Pedro's house again. Once there, she slides straight to the bathroom and takes a test. Before looking at the results, she gives a silent plea for it to be negative and that it was only food poisoning earlier.
She then looks at the test. "Well flipping freaking fish-sticks..." She grumbles and then sighs. "He's sooo going to pay for this when he gets home."
A bell rings and Bob and Pedro each look up from their shoot-off and then at each other. "Guess that's the signal for the assembly." Bob says as he takes off his protective gear and puts his favorite little gun away.
Pedro nods in agreement and does the same. "Probably." He says and looks at him. "Where exactly is it anyhow?" He asks.
"Beats me." Bob shrugs. "Guess we follow the crowd."
Pedro nods some and looks out if the shooting area's door. "Seems that everybody is going that way." He says and points after a few IT-techs and agents that have passed by.
"Then that's the way we go, too." Bob says and grabs his friend's flipper. "Come on, Ro." He says and starts dragging him that way. They waddle quickly to the auditorium of the base which is rarely used. Ex-Commander Harold never used it, nor had late Commander Satchel before him, and many of the agents and other base workers did not even known that Base R had one of these. Bob and Pedro, who are two of those that had not known of the auditorium, take their seats and look up at the podium.
They watch as a fairly large penguin sporting both the yellow-ish chest feathers of a King penguin and the black spots of a Humboldt waddles up onto it and straightens a couple of his chest feathers before checking the microphone. "Testing 1, 2." He then looks out at the mass of penguins and a few other assorted animals before him. "SHUT UP!" The room immediately goes silent. "Now that's better." He snorts.
"Well, he seems like fun..." Bob whispers sarcastically to Pedro.
"Now, most of you have probably never have heard of me. I, Beltran Estrada, used to be the General Lieutenant Commander of the German base, and before that I was the General at the Spanish Base." Beltran says and glances down at his speech papers.
"Estrada?" Pedro murmurs, thoughtfully. "Is he by chance related to Adriana?" He mumbles.
"What?" Bob whispers curiously as he had heard Pedro muttering to himself.
Pedro looks at him and shakes his head a little. "Nada." Bob then shrugs a bit and they both go back to listening to Beltran.
"I was offered this maximum security base and the commander position with it in reward for my hard work at the other bases I have worked for." Beltran brags. "So, here I am." He says. "Now, there are going to be a few changes around here."
"Oh, grilled kipper. He's another of those all talk no action commanders, I bet." Bob mutters a bit and rolls his eyes. "If that's the case, I might take that promotion..."
"Promotion?" Pedro whispers and looks at Bob.
Bob looks back at him and nods a bit. "I've been offered a promotion to Lieutenant General at some base in Lithuania."
Pedro looks at him surprised. "Lithuania? Isn't that like in Asia?" He asks.
"Europe actually." Bob says with a small shrug. "I've been thinking of turning it down, though."
"Why?" Pedro asks him silently.
"Talk about it later at the bar." Bob promises and returns his attention to Beltran as he had seen him glare with his emerald green eyes in their direction.
Commander Beltran then pushes a button on a remote and a screen starts to lower behind him. On this screen is a bullet-pointed PowerPoint on everything he plans on changing at the base. "Now, the first thing that will change is how you train. Training is going to be more strict. You will train a specific area each day, not the lax 'whatever you want' training that was around here while that idiot Harold was in charge." He growls. "You will arrive on time at your given time slot and will leave at exactly the moment that it ends. No excuses. Any back-talk will earn you a suspension or other punishment, comprenden?" An IT-tech penguin raises his flipper in the crowd and Beltran rolls his eyes annoyedly. "Yes, you with the raised flipper."
"Is this just for agents or for everyone, sir?" He asks a bit nervously.
"Well, I had thought of it being just for the agents, but now that you've asked and given me such a great idea, I believe this training procedure will be done by all." Commander Beltran Estrada grins. There is a groan throughout the crowd of penguins in the seats and many glares towards the IT-tech. The commander narrows his eyes at this. "Quit that or I'll fire you all." He growls. "Now, my word is law around here. No one else's, got it? I will be addressed as 'sir,' 'Commander,' 'Commander Estrada,' or 'my lord.' None of that first name halibut that some weaker commanders do."
"My lord?" Pedro mutters with a raised nonexistent eyebrow. "He must think really highly of himself, eh, Bobby?" He jokes in a whisper.
Bob nods in agreement. "That or he's already on his way to insanity. I doubt this one will last as long as Harold. I expect mutiny by tomorrow." He silently chuckles.
Pedro silently laughs some and then nudges Bob a bit softly in the ribs with his flipper's elbow. "I'll lead it if you plan it." Bob bites his tongue to keep from laughing, too.
Beltran has noticed them and looks at them very unamused. "You two in the middle. Is there something so humorous that you wish to share with us all?" He snorts.
Pedro and Bob immediately stop laughing and shake their heads. "No, sir." They say in unison. Beltran just glares harshly at them for a couple of minutes and then moves forward with his speech. Everyone is thankful when it is over and the auditorium quickly empties out.