Penguins of Madagascar In: Cold Case

Summary: The penguins have dealt with tons of missions, but how will they react when one of their own teammates gets sick?

Author's Note: I do not own Penguins of Madagascar.

Skipper, Kowalski, Private, and Rico were doing one of their daily training missions, or "playing videogames," as Marlene called it.

It was Rico's turn, and, grunting twice, he signaled an enemy up ahead.

"Steady, Rico," Skipper ordered, watching the TV screen intently.

Rico squawked once more then slowly moved the control stick upward until a small red circle appeared on the screen. Directly in front of Rico's character was a large group of about 8 or 9 people. He quickly pressed a button, and the soldier onscreen coughed up a stick of dynamite.

None of the penguins really knew how, but one day, when King Julien was "visiting" the penguins, he stepped onto the gaming controller while Rico was playing on his way to the refrigerator.

Then, while Rico screamed at Julien, the TV blinked a couple of times, then Rico's soldier coughed out a grenade. Skipper was about to protest and kick Julien out for creating a game glitch when Kowalski realized that it was just like Rico.

Now whenever the penguins played this game, they always made sure to invite Julien beforehand to help with their training.

"Excellent move, Rico," Skipper complimented, "But let's see how you do on Expert level."

Rico was about to continue with the game when they heard a sloppy sounding splash! overhead.

"Lunchtime, boys."

The penguins waddled through the door and swam up to the surface, climbing onto their ice floe and gobbling up the fish that Alice had thrown them. Sniffling, Alice wiped her nose on her arm and lazily tossed another handful of fish to the penguins, one hitting Private on the head.

"Ugh, this darn bug going around is killing me. Why can't I ever learn to take a day off?" she complained.

"Is that what's going on?" Private questioned, chewing bits of the fish that had previously been on his head. "A bug is flying around? I remember she hit poor Rico this morning."

"Negative, Private," Kowalski responded, pulling out his notepad. "'Bug' is a human term for an illness, namely the common cold."

"We won't let any weak human illnesses stop us, right boys?" asked Skipper, always one to never let anything stand in their way.

The penguins all nodded eagerly and continued stuffing their beaks with fish.

Later that evening, however, while watching Kowalski and Private play a game of chess, or "strategy practice," as Skipper called it, Rico suddenly had a long coughing fit and fell over, exhausted.

"Rico!"

"Rico! What happened?"

"Rico! Are you all right?"

Skipper propped him up and Rico coughed a couple more times in response. Then he made a wet, hacking sound and hit Private in the eye with a regurgitated basketball.

"Ouch! Hey, Rico, I thought you said we lost it!"

"I never knew that a basketball could manage in a penguin's digestive tract."

"Enough chat, men," Skipper cut in. "Are you alright, Rico?"

Rico let out a few pitiful squawks and groaned.

"Kowalski, analysis," Skipper ordered.

Kowalski pulled out his trusty notepad and carefully observed Rico, who was currently doing absolutely nothing.

"Well, Skipper," Kowalski began, "Rico appears to be showing more signs of exhaustion than usual. His beak seems to have an unnatural amount of excretion and his limbs-" here Kowalski proceeded to lift and drop each of Rico's arms- "are weak and limp. How do you feel, Rico?"

Rico sighed.

"Just as I thought."

"Skipper, he looks a lot like Alice when she delivered our lunch today, remember? Her nose was all drippy and she said something about a bug," Private pointed out.

"A-hah!" Kowalski exclaimed triumphantly. "That's exactly right, Private. He's showing signs of the human common cold. Although now, I suppose it comes in penguin form."

"Oh no!" said Private, who never liked it when any one of them was not well. "Rico, do you think you'll be fine by tomorrow?"

"He has to be," Skipper answered. "A member of our elite strike force won't stay down for long, right Rico?" he said, slapping him on the back. "You'll be as good as new after some shut-eye."

Rico gave a weak smile and nodded.

"Speaking of which," Skipper continued, "it's about time we all turn in."

Suddenly tired, the penguins yawned and climbed into their bunks.

"Good night, men. Rest up, Rico," Skipper said.

"Hope you do feel better tomorrow, Rico."

"Argh."

Skipper clapped twice and suddenly the room went dark as they went to sleep for the night.

How'd you like it so far? This is my first Madagascar Fanfic, so I hope I'm doing well! By the way, I am not a veterinarian nor do I know about the illnesses of penguins, so sorry for any inaccuracies! This is fictional, after all. Review, please! :]