Author's Note: Thank you thewriterstory for shoving me off the cliff to continue this story! I'm totally into it now and hope to really get it going! Review guys, c'mon please?

~Natty.

Habits Die.

~PoM~

[ONE WEEK EARLIER.]

"C'mon Kowalski, you can do better than that!" Skipper exclaimed through the megaphone. "Put your beak into it! Literally!"

Private watched the fish pie eating contest with a frown. He stood beside his leader. "Skippah I don't think I understand this training exercise…"

"Private, it's a fish pie eating contest." The leader said off to the side. "What's not to understand?"

The private blinked. "Well, a lot actually…"

Kowalski started choking on a piece of fish while the weapon's expert Rico was going through his pile of fish in the pie tin like nothing.

Skipper spoke through the megaphone loudly. "C'mon, K'walski! I knew your gut was bad but I didn't know it was THAT bad! Put your beak into it! I think I said that already!"

The analyst coughed and gagged. "Sk-Skipper…I a-agree with-" Kowalski coughed. "…P-Private. What is the point of this contest?"

Skipper shrugged, making Private's and Kowalski's earhole's ring as the megaphone sounded. "Nothing." The leader answered. "It's just fun to watch Rico beat your sorry tail feathers. YOU GO, SOLDIER! SHOW THAT FISH WHOSE BOSS!"

Rico gulped and slurped and chomped non-stop, just gobbling down the fish pile. His head was engulfed in the pile and he showed no sign of stopping until the task was completed.

Private grimaced in disgust beside Skipper, watching on while Kowalski did the same from his seat beside Rico who just kept at it.

It proved to be too much for Kowalski as his flipper went up to cover his beak, his nausea getting the best of him. The scientist ran for the nearest fish pail and fulfilled his needs of it in the form of barfing.

The private covered his own eyes at the sight, frown deepening. The exercises sure were graphic today.

Skipper tsked at the scientist through the megaphone. "C'mon, where's your team spirit?"

Kowalski panted weakly, shuddering as his face came up from the bucket. "I believe that has exited my body along with my breakfast, Skipper…"

"Done!" Rico announced, flippers up in the air in victory. He licked the inside of his pie tin happily. "Aw-gone!"

Kowalski gulped as another wave went through him, eyes widening in panic. "And I believe my lunch is doing the same!" He ran for the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Skipper shook his head, stepping up to the table with a grin. "Congratulations Rico! You win by a landslide! And for Kowalski's sake, a gut-slide."

"Woo!" Rico cheered. "Ey, wha I get?"

"More fish!" Skipper exclaimed and pulled a random string that hung down from the ceiling.

Rico rubbed his flippers together with his tongue sticking out of his mouth gleefully as a pile of fish fell into his pie tin, overflowing it as his reward. "Yeh feesh!" He dived right back in.

"THAT is a good man!" The leader praised.

Private added in. "It must be good fish then too I suppose."

Kowalski hacked in the bathroom.

The weapon's expert ate on, despite everything.

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(Current Time.)

Kowalski grimaced and shuddered in utter disgust. "That was disgusting!"

"Mmm feesh!" Rico hummed, smacking his beak.

Private blinked. "Actually that morning was comparably normal to what happened next."

"Who could forget?" Kowalski scoffed.

"That was where everything went wrong, wasn't it?" The private remembered glumly, looking down.

Kowalski narrowed his eyes as he recalled, his voice bitter and unforgiving as he spoke the name. "Dr. Blowhole…"

Rico growled.

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[ONE WEEK EARLIER]

"Blowhole!" Skipper growled at the television screen.

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(Current Time)

"No wait…" Kowalski stopped the flashback. "That's too far forward."

"Back!" Rico instructed.

"Should we go back to you puking then?" Private suggested.

"What? But-!" Kowalski grumbled and sighed. "Oh FINE…"

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[ONE WEEK EARLIER]

The analyst gagged and heaved from on the other side of the bathroom door.

"Um, are you okay in there K'walski?" Private knocked on the bathroom door politely.

"He'll be fine." Skipper reassured. "It's just the tuna talking to him, on the inside, with its fists."

Private pondered. "I didn't know tuna's had fists, sir."

"They DON'T!" Kowalski cried from the bathroom, suffering.

"They do." Skipper said outside the bathroom door with Private. "Learned that the hard way."

"How Skippah?" Private questioned.

Skipper frowned at the boy. "I said the hard way. Weren't you paying attention?"

Inside the HQ bathroom there was a flush and Kowalski slowly exited, holding his gut.

Skipper pat the lieutenant on the back in support. "You may have lost the battle Kowalski, but that war in you still rages on strong."

This caused Kowalski's stomach to jerk suddenly, igniting another less than pleasurable up-commence of bodily nutrients. The smart penguin was about to dash back inside the facilities when something caught all four penguins' attention. It was the fizzing of static, like that of the television and it was. Kowalski swallowed what was about to come up and turned his head.

Rico's head went up from the fish pile. "Huh…?"

Private looked to his leader in concern. "Skip-"

Skipper held up a silent flipper to silence the young penguin. His eyes narrowed, the leader slowly and cautiously neared the television which had turned on with static. He stood in front of it and gestured for the rest of the team to hide on the side of it or behind it.

Kowalski and Private hid with their backs to the side of the TV while Rico hid with his head peeking out behind it on the same side silently.

The leader was still cautiously nearing the television when it flicked on suddenly and he stepped back, eyes narrowing to slits at the all too familiar sound of stuttering high pitched evil laughter. "Blowhole!"

The evil laughter didn't cease and echoed throughout the HQ.

Private whimpered and exchanged looks with Kowalski and Rico.

Kowalski shushed the young one with a flipper to his beak and a reassuring look that everything would be alright.

On screen the dolphin was still laughing, that is until Blowhole was cut off.

Clemson got in front of the camera. "Skipper! How have you been? You look good! Not as good as me but hey that's to be expected! I don't stress over things as much as you so and I respect that from you, I do! Look all I'm saying is, on our side of things, you don't have to worry about things like the fate of the world and all the unnecessary stuff! No, we worry about ourselves and how we're going to finally destroy your team! It's nothing against you personally, okay maybe it is!" The evil lemur shrugged. "But you know how things go between enemies, the old goodies versus baddies. We've got that thing going on and I like it! I-"

"Oh would you shut up!" The Red Squirrel hissed at the ranting lemur angrily. "You do the talking too much!"

"What?" Clemson whined. "I'm just trying to get reacquainted here. There's no crime against that is there? No really is there? I'm not too familiar with the whole United government thing. Never read up on it. Probably should. Hey Dr. B! You got any books on law? I mean if I'm going to be king of the world I'm going to have to read up on what laws I'm allowed to break! Oh who needs laws? When you're king you make your own!" The brown lemur exclaimed.

"I know something I would like to make my own." Savio said.

"I appreciate the offer, I do! But I'm not open for relationships right now, I got a world to rule here!" Clemson laughed evilly.

The snake grinned. "Who is speaking of relationships? I would like nothing more than a lemur casserole, with a nice side of steamed lobster claws, yes?"

Clemson glared at the serpent while the lobsters shook in blatant fear.

"No one is going to be devouring a-a-a-anyone!" Dr. Blowhole cut in to the pointless on going's. He gave a mischievous look to the leader penguin on his screen. "YET. AH-AH-AH-AH-AH-AH!" The dolphin laughed.

In the penguin HQ, Rico, Kowalski, and Private gave each other scared glances as they heard the voice of almost every villain. The only one missing was-

"What are you all doing on my TV?" Skipper glared at them.

"We can't just drop in? Because I think we can! Free country, guy. Mkay?" Clemson said.

"For a little snack?" Savio added in with a lick of the lips.

"Full of the vengeance!" The Red Squirrel exclaimed in thrill.

Blowhole grinned. "Honestly Skipper, I'd think you'd have been more surprised."

"To see all of you villainous scum working together?" Skipper scoffed. "It was bound to happen eventually. Why should I be surprised?"

The Red Squirrel hissed over to the dolphin. "You said he would be surprised!"

"Oh I am a bit surprised." Skipper reassured with a confident grin.

"Ha!" The Red Squirrel exclaimed in triumph but frowned as his nose twitched. "Wait…what is with the grin?"

The leader laughed on his end of the TV connection. "It's nice to see all of you together doing your thing. Only one you're missing is Ha-"

"Oh…hello Skipper~" Hans greeted, the puffin being visible as the group of villains parted to let him be seen. The Dane was tied up on the ground in the back of the lair on screen.

Something changed in Skipper's eyes, a certain light or emotion at seeing the puffin like that, trapped around all those…

"Hey I do see what you mean there Blowhole!" Clemson observed. "There's that face you were talking about! Yeah it's not looking so good on his end over there but that's just my opinion! Anyone else got one? Love to hear 'em!"

"Uhm, I am thinking I would like to be untied maybies." Hans added his input.

"Be quiet, you are our prisoner and we will let you go when we are feeling like it!" The Red Squirrel snapped at the puffin.

Blowhole gave the puffin a look. "Which, if Skipper has nothing to do with it, won't be anytime soon." The evil dolphin turned to the screen with an evil smirk. "The New York Botanical Gardens, Skipper. We'll be expecting you." The television went blank.

Kowalski, Private, and Rico came out of their hiding places. They didn't look as worried as they were before, in fact they looked humored.

Kowalski scoffed in his laugh. "What, no scheme, no leverage? It's as if he actually expects us to show up to that meeting."

"It is a little ridiculous when you think about it…" Private laughed a bit.

"Heh yeh." Rico agreed, waving a flipper.

Kowalski chuckled. "Right, Skipper?" The lieutenant wiped a tear from his eye and looked to his commander expecting him to be partaking in their laughter as well. Instead their leader was staring at the ground with a hard look in his eyes. The analyst frowned. "…Skipper?"

"Stay here." Skipper instructed suddenly.

Private looked up surprised. "What?"

"Huh?" Rico tilted his head.

"Stay here all of you." Skipper repeated with more haste and started for the ladder, before anyone knew it he was out the hatch.

"Skippah?!" Private exclaimed in alarm.

"Skipper!" Kowalski called in a panicked shout. Their commander wasn't halting and they were losing distance between him and them. He gave the weapon's expert and private a look before gasping, following Skipper as fast as he could.

The three lesser commandoes chased their leader through the zoo, past the lemur habitat but they didn't pay any attention there. They were too busy trying to stop Skipper from running straight into instant doom.

"Skippah wait! You can't!" Private shouted after his leader as they all ran.

Kowalski ran in front of the private holding his abacus as he jogged. "88.8% chance…!" The analyst huffed. "…It's a trap! …Stop! …Skipper!"

"'urt 'kipper!" Rico yelled as a warning.

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(Current Time)

Marlene shook her head, not understanding. "So that's why you guys were running out of the zoo, well why YOU were…but I thought that guy Hans was like, one of them. Why would you care if they had him all, you know, tied up?"

"You don't understand Marlene, Hans and I have an understanding. I HAD to save him…So I ran." Skipper shrugged. "Ran straight into something that almost doomed us all, but THAT would be the second half of the story."