Pebble and the Penguin fanfic. The movie from the leopard seal's POV. I couldn't resist. But beware, there's is a lot of complaining when it comes to the character and food... thought it was fair to warn you...
Disclaimer: I do not own Pebble and the Penguin or any of the songs. It was just one of my favorite movies when I was little…
I was starving. I hadn't eaten anything in who knows how long. Where's a penguin when I needed one!? I'm sick of swimming around my territory on an empty stomach. Anything to munch on would be nice, even the scrawniest little fish in the ocean.
But not even that.
I paused, floating, twitching my whiskers. My stomach complained for the millionth time today. Exactly how hard would it be for this world to provide one tiny scrap of edible substance to a seal? Honestly…
I'll take anything!
I continued swimming until I got to a cliff face. By that time, I needed air. I surfaced quickly and went back under. If I actually took the time to look around, I would find just what I needed: food!
I didn't. And if I had left sooner, I would have completely missed a chance to fill my belly. But luck was on my side and a splash exploded not too far from me.
I took the time to stop and assess the situation.
A penguin! A pudgy adelie penguin with a red hat and yellow scarf wrapped around his neck. I paused as I took that in. I never usually take time to notice what my food is wearing. I suspected that it had something to do with the fact that I'm dying of starvation here!
The penguin treaded on the surface as the water rose all the way up the cliff. For a second, I was scared he'd make an escape. But the idiotic bird didn't and floated on his back, relaxing.
How foolish…
I rose up quickly and opened my mouth. I felt and tasted the tiny morsel laying on my tongue. Ha ha! I won't be hungry for much longer! I heard someone call out.
"Hubie!" it went. What kind of a name is that? Hubie…pah!
The penguin (must be this 'Hubie' character) in my mouth finally took notice of me and my teeth and screamed. I snapped my jaws shut, but it was one second too late. The cursed thing got out. I dove after it and it wasn't too long before it was clinging on my nose.
Grinning, I snapped my jaws repeatedly, to either force him off or get lucky and maybe catch his tail feathers.
This Hubie didn't cooperate and climbed across my head and back, no doubt to swim the other way to safety. Not willing to let my meal go, I slapped my hind flippers together in the hope of stopping him.
Again, one second too late.
My hunger must be slowing me down…or this would have been over by now.
My dinner jumped onto this iceberg, thinking that'll save him. Please! I won't be stopped by a simple maneuver like that. I swam at full speed before throwing myself out of the water. I opened my mouth wide.
The Hubie screamed and jumped back into the water while I crashed atop the ice, breaking it to pieces on impact. That stung my chest a bit, but I ignored it.
This penguin's mine!
I snapped at him. Missed! I tried again. And again I missed! On my third try, this large ice cube got in my way and clogged my mouth. Startled and discomforted, I watched the Hubie escape into the dark water.
Growling, I tried to claw the cube out of my mouth. When that didn't work, I bit down on it as hard as I could. Seeing that it only took flakes off the side, I swam to the cliff face. There, I grinded the ice against rocks.
That got the outside part off…
Great! Now I got this block of ice that kept me from closing my mouth. How great is my luck!?
I swam onto another berg and waited, relying on my breath to melt the nuisance. I was in for a long night…
--
I awoke the next morning to find a significantly smaller block in my mouth. I bit down and this time succeeded in freeing myself of it. I spat the remainders out and slid back to the water. I hoped I would find myself some food.
I didn't.
--
There was singing in the air this evening. Even from this distance, I could tell where it came from. The adelie rookery. I wasn't swimming all the way over there. I was already half way to my destination and had no intention on wasting my time on zigzagging.
But perhaps I could listen for a bit. It was female, that's obvious. She sounded really sad.
"Sometimes I close my eyes…And say a prayer…That finally today will be the day…I watch the far horizon…no one's there…but somewhere you are safe and on your way…"
She paused and I didn't stick around for the rest. I was still hungry and maybe if I tried another part of my turf, I'd have better luck with my life.
Again, no luck…and it would be the next evening before I've gotten another chance.
--
I took a breath at my breathing/fishing hole before settling in for another hungry night. I swam into my little lair and laid myself on a large rock that will serve as my bed. Trying to ignore my ever-aching stomach, I closed my eyes and dozed off.
It wasn't long before I was awoken again. At first, I thought I was dreaming, but I felt something climbing over my face. I dismissed it, until it happened again a few seconds later.
I popped my eyes open and growled at this intrusion. I looked behind myself to find to penguins: a rockhopper with a purple bandana around his neck and an adelie. I instantly recognized the adelie. It's that Hubie thing again!
The two were chasing these goldish colored fish. Let them. The more they eat, the more I'll get. I followed them slowly, still a bit sleepy, but already in my hunting mode.
This time, I will not fail!
The duo cornered their fish, making themselves cornered in my opinion, so I couldn't help but grin. The scaly things saw me floating behind my targets and swam off in fright. The Hubie and his friend finally got the point of looking behind themselves.
My smile didn't fade, until they decided that now is the time to make my life harder and swim away.
I didn't bother on following. It might end in getting another ice cube in my mouth. And I don't want to relive that. But I couldn't believe that I was going to stay hungry. And how easily I gave up.
A pebble fell from where the birds retreated and settled in front of me. Now I was being mocked by cruel Nature here. I frowned and glared at the shiny green stone. This wasn't fair! This wasn't right!
Suddenly, the Hubie came zooming back in front of me.
Now it's fair! Now it's right! I love this mocking Nature that I live in! Although it briefly went into my mind on why this penguin came back, I didn't care. This was so easy; it'll be stupid to question it.
As the penguin proceeded in fumbling with this rock (Why risk his life for that rock? It's pretty, I'll admit, but completely not worth it…I'll never understand penguins…), I growled at this turn of events and opened my mouth to take a bite outta the Hubie.
It's like every attack I make on this guy is one second too late. The rockhopper had to come to the stinkin rescue. To the point, I cramped down into the rocky platform the Hubie was previously on and broke it to pieces.
Angry, I snapped over and over again. Stupid cursed birds! Why can't they ever just accept their fate and swim into my mouth!? It won't be that hard!
I chased after the rockhopper, pissed off at him for ruining my chances of an easy meal. I charged right through a rock tower. I didn't feel a thing, that's how ticked I am.
I snapped at him and missed.
He grabbed the Hubie by the scarf and dragged him along. Perhaps I'll succeed in getting the adelie from his grip. I tried, and it took only a few tries to achieve my goal.
The Hubie was in my mouth! After days and days of nothing to eat, it was a great sensation. What's even better is that I receive a two for one special. The rockhopper came back at me and I snapped him into my mouth.
Things couldn't go any better for me.
Suddenly, there was a noise inside my mouth. Arg! It's so loud; it's giving me a headache. I ended up vibrating at the call, that's how intense it was. And in my stunned state, my mouth invariable opened and freed both my catches.
I shook out of it and chased to pair up for the surface. They were headed for my breathing hole! They won't escape! I won't let them! I opened my mouth and just before I caught up to them, we blasted out of the water.
I crashed back down, breaking the ice, back into the water. Empty flippered.
I growled, tensing as my anger swelled up inside of me. This was the second time that I was given a chance to eat, and failed! Why does this happen to me? Why not any other leopard seal? Huh!?
I went back to my lair to go back to sleep.
--
It's been a whole month and a half since I've gotten a bite to eat. I pretty much assumed that I'd starve to death. Give me another week and I'll be a dead corpse on the sea floor. I saw a silhouette far off in the distance.
Probably a killer whale. I swam for it, hoping it's a seal-eating transient. Might as well speed up the process of my death. I'd rather not suffer.
It wasn't a transient. It wasn't a fish-eating resident. It wasn't an orca. It wasn't even alive. It was a submarine. I'd seen a few of these human things. They weren't edible.
Look at this…Nature's not through with me yet. I saw the same penguin duo on top of it. Perhaps I should give this one last try…As the submarine surface, I jumped on top of it. Almost the instant I did, I felt a pain on my muzzle.
The rockhopper had kicked me…pretty hard too. I shook my head, but was still dazed. Another pain occurred on my muzzle. The Hubie took his turn. The force pushed me back into the water.
I didn't feel angry anymore. I was kind of expecting my failure. In my normal state, such strikes from a penguin wouldn't even bother me. But you starve yourself for as long as I had and you see how you manage getting kicked!
But hey…I received a break. A couple days after that, there was a rumble in the water near me. I felt it in every square inch of my empty being. I would've paid it no mind. Who cares about a random rumble…I'm practically dead right now…
But, us leopard seals are curious creatures…so I decided that I might as well see what made it before I leave this world in death.
They say that Curiosity kills. But in this case, it did just the opposite. There was a huge pile of rocks and boulders in the water. There was also a dead-looking penguin among it. It was bulky and meaty with a red cape.
It was actually alive and it woke a bit. It stared wide eyed at me, but was trapped with nowhere to go…
Good enough for me…
I wanted to add an ironic thing in this chapter (You'll understand if you watched the movie). That bulky penguin (Drake) was responsible for Hubie's first leopard seal encounter, throwing him over in the hopes that he'll get eaten. Well, now look at who gets eaten!
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