Archive of Our Own

Blue pressed her flippers together in front of her face, closing her eyes for a moment. Across the table from her, G pulled nervously at his collar, doing his best to dodge her gaze.

After a few seconds passed, she opened her eyes again, drawing in a deep inhale and pointing with both flippers at him. “So. What you’re telling me is that you built a bunch of robots inspired by famous penguins around the island for the Anniversary Party tomorrow.”

“Yes, Agent B, that is correct,” G mumbled.

“And said robots began to malfunction a few hours ago and are now going crazy out there, scaring everyone and being a danger to the public.”

“... yes.”

Blue sighed, dropping her flippers and looking up at the large screen at the head of the table. “Please tell me why do we still let G build robots? His track record sucks.”

“Because the consequences of forbidding him from doing that would be even more dangerous, I believe,” the Director sighed, although the amusement in their voice was unmistakable.

She couldn’t help but huff under her breath as well. “We got any idea of how this happened?”

“Absolutely none so far,” G admitted with a dejected sigh. “The chances of every single robot malfunctioning like this, in the exact same way, at the exact same time, is extremely low. We cannot rule an outside attack just yet… even if the robots did have a few known glitches…”

“... elaborate on that, please?” Blue asked, raising a brow.

G fixed his glasses nervously. “Well, the idea to build them for the party came to me… considerably recently. So their current version isn’t exactly finished.” He fidgeted with his tie. “Also, to cut some development time, I did base their design on the, um, older models I had around.”

She blinked. Then blinked again. “Gary.”

“Yes?”

“Did you make these robots based on the Test Bots?!”

His silence was a more damning answer than anything he could have said at the moment. Blue groaned, burying her head into her flippers.

“Now hold on a moment - before you judge me, I will let you know that I worked hard to fix the most dangerous glitches that afflicted the Test Bots,” G declared, crossing his flippers. “It took a whole night and a lot of coffee.”

“Well it clearly didn’t work!”

“Gary. We will have a conversation later about the lack of security protocols for your robots and reckless caffeine binges,” the Director deadpanned. “For now, please let us focus back on the matter at hand.”

Blue let out a heavy sigh. “Alright. What’s the plan, then? Am I disabling those robots?”

“That is correct,” G nodded, sliding a flipper across the surface of the table and making several diagrams appear on it. “We cannot allow them to endanger the anniversary celebrations. I have already enlisted the help of other penguins, so you will not need to handle all of the robots. But due to some… safety concerns, we believe it would be better to have one of our agents take care of some of them. And you, of course, are our first choice for that.”

“Safety concerns? So they are dangerous,” she frowned.

“They can be, although that is not what I’m talking about,” G mumbled. “To be more specific, we want you to deal with the robots modeled after EPF agents.”

“... oh. Okay, I see,” she nodded. “So, do we have a plan for that? A robot-disabling gadget I can use or something of the sort?”

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t build one in such short notice. You will have to manually access their hardware to disable them. But for that to happen, you will need to find a way to get the robots to stop, since they, um.” He cleared his throat. “They move around. A lot.”

“... alright,” Blue raised a brow. “Any suggestions for that?”

“Luckily, yes. The robot’s intelligence and personality modules are based entirely after the penguin they emulate - that includes their preferences, dislikes and, of course, fears,” G said, fixing his glasses on his face. “Exposing them to something they are deeply afraid of will likely cause a phobic feedback overload and stun them momentarily.”

“So you want me to scare them?” she asked. That meant she’d need to know what scared them, to begin with… she was starting to understand why they wanted her to deal with this. “Alright. I think I got it. Am I gonna be doing this alone?”

“I will be available on the earpiece, and so will the Director. Dot, Jet Pack Guy and Rookie are on standby and will also join you later for some of the other robots,” G explained. “You’ll be the one getting your flippers dirty, but as always, we’ll be here for support.”

“Good to know,” Blue grinned, fixing her hat on her head. “Alright, I’m ready to head off, then. Do we know where those crazy robots are?”

“Thankfully, their tracking system hasn’t stopped working. Currently, we know the Gary Bot is causing trouble at the Mine Shack,” G said, pointing at a digital map of the island that appeared on the table, with a red dot marked on it. “So that will be your starting point.”

“Got it,” she nodded, pulling out her phone to teleport out. “Let’s go save the Anniversary Party, then.”

-

The thing about the Club Penguin anniversary falling so close to the end of October is that, more often than not, it happened at the same time as the Halloween Parties. Not that anyone minded that - twice the parties, twice the fun, right?

That meant that, currently, the whole island was decorated for Halloween. The dark storm clouds above them made the night even darker than usual, the main sources of light being the flickering jack-o-lanters scattered around the rooms and the occasional lightning strike.

It made for a remarkably eerie atmosphere.

It was perfect for Halloween.

Not so perfect for hunting crazy malfunctioning robots, however, as Blue could barely see past her own beak as she approached the outskirts of the Mine Shack. The area wasn’t as decorated as the rest of the island, leaving her to rely solely on the faint moonlight that managed to get past the storm clouds as her eyes slowly got used to the darkness.

It was also way too quiet for a place that was supposedly under a robot attack. “Hey, G, uh. You sure your robot clone is here?” she asked quietly into her earpiece, looking around in an attempt to catch any signs of movement.

“Positive. Keep an eye out - and maybe start tracing a plan to deactivate it, if you haven’t already.”

“I’m working on it,” Blue mumbled.

There was an awkward pause before G cleared his throat. “If you need more information on things that would scare the Gary Bot, well. I suppose I could…”

“Nah, I got this,” she reassured him. No need to make the guy give her an essay on his worst fears - she’d known him for years, she had enough to work with. “But I’ll let you know if I need anything.”

“Please do. Keep us updated on your progress, Agent B,” G requested, followed by a ‘click’ as the line went silent.

With a deep breath, Blue continued to scout the area for any signs of robots. She approached the mine tracks, checking the single minecart at the entrance, tilting it slightly to the side to test how much it weighed - just enough that she could flip it over with a certain ease, which was probably good news for anyone wanting to Cart Surf. She did a full loop around the shack and returned to the front, but found nothing to show for it - no signs of disturbance, no tracks on the snow, and no crazy robot.

She was about to call G again when a strange noise reached her ears.

Footsteps - heavy ones, crunching over the snow. Metal scraping against metal. Heavy breathing and unintelligible mumbling, except it sounded more like a glitched recording with bad audio quality; there was something metallic about the sound, too, like thousands of needles scratching against each other. It was impossible to pinpoint where any of it was coming from, the noise echoing in every direction all at once.

Blue’s head whipped around, her feathers ruffling with unease as she tried to find what was causing it - and then she spotted, to the right of the Mine Shack, what she could only assume was the Gary Bot.

It looked like G, alright. The glasses, the lab coat, the deep blue color, it was all there. But that was where the similarities stopped. The robot in front of her was in a massive state of disrepair, the outside shell dirty and scratched in some places and dented or outright missing in others, like someone had ripped it apart by force to expose the inner gears and wirings. Its head was moving unnaturally, twitching and contorting in ways that couldn’t have been programmed, and almost too fast for it to be physically possible. Its bottom jaw hung open like it was broken, revealing two sets of sharp-looking teeth, and its eyes were two pinpricks of neon green light breaking through the dark - and staring right at her.

“What in the…” Blue breathed out, taking an involuntary step back. This was far from what she’d been expecting. The thing looked messed up - there was no way G actually designed it to look like that.

The bot tilted its head to the side, in a near ninety degree angle, and took a heavy, dragged out step towards her.

“GGG-G-Greetings, AgeNT>>>;;” the robot rasped out, its voice stuttering and dissolving into static at the end, quickly followed by a high-pitched beep. Underneath all that, however, it was clearly trying to speak with G’s voice, which was all kinds of disturbing.

Blue winced, taking another step back, this time on purpose. Did this thing actually recognize her? Or maybe it was just her uniform?

Either way, she couldn’t let it put her off for long. Time to start taking charge of the situation. “Heyy, G,” she said with a nervous grin. “How’s it going? You, uh, have any missions for me today?”

“MIss-ss-mISSsSss-” its voice once again faded into loud white noise. With another violent twitch of the head that caused the wires in its neck to spark, its eyes shut off, turning into just two white dots in the dark for a few seconds before going back to the green. “[Error: file not found]”

“... okay, taking that as a no,” she said. This thing was supposed to still have G’s personality, right? There had to be a way for her to use that. “Say, you have the time to answer some math questions for me?”

She did not blink. She did not.

And yet, one moment the Gary Bot was standing in front of her, and immediately after it was nowhere to be seen. She whirled around, finding it had somehow ended up all the way across the room - although it was now slightly closer than before. It still had its eyes on her, despite the continued glitches, low static leaking from the back of its throat.

Swallowing dry, Blue took a step to the side, closer to the minecart tracks. “So, uh - what’s. What’s the cube root of 48,659?”

The robot froze, all movement ceasing in an unnatural manner for a long second before it lunged forward, getting even closer before stopping again.

“36.5079,” it responded clearly, its jaw not even moving to pretend it was forming the words.

Okay, so it could be distracted with math questions. She could work with that. “Right! I’ll, uh, take your word for it. And what’s, uh…” she took another step towards her goal, searching her brain for the hardest thing to ask. “What’s a logarithm?”

Gary Bot’s head twitched as it creeped closer. “The logarithm of a number;; is the expoNENNnnt by which another fixxxx-f-f#FFFFFF_/ [the logarithm of a positive real number x with respect to base b] the sum of the nUMBers beINg multiplied-plied-plied- ERROR. RETRY”

Blue winced at the glitched noises coming from the robot, immediately regretting her choice of question. By now, she’d reached the minecart she’d inspected earlier, her flippers gripping the front as it stood between her and the robot. “Right. And- what’s the sum of every number ever?”

The robot barely hesitated. “-1/12”.

“... wait, really?” Blue frowned. “There’s no way that can be right-”

Before she even finished her question, the bot jumped towards her with an ear-shattering screech, its eyes burning even brighter for a moment. Blue held back a scream as the robot ran into the minecart, pushing it several steps and forcing her to step back as well, and began to climb on top of it, metal flippers outstretched towards her.

Before it could fully step into the cart and add its weight to it, Blue reached down and, just as she’d been planning to do, flipped the cart over. It fell on top of the robot, knocking it down to the ground and trapping it underneath - and then she jumped over the cart, pushing it down with all her weight to ensure the robot couldn’t escape despite all the banging and screeching coming from inside it.

The noise continued for several seconds, all of which Blue spent mentally thanking G for not giving these bots super strength, at least - before it was interrupted by a sharp electric spark that silenced everything. She waited for a few more moments, taking the chance to try calming down her breathing, and only when she was sure the bot was out did she step down from the cart and flip it over to reveal her capture.

As much as the robot under her had gone completely still, its eyes were still lit up, which was enough for her to know that it hadn't been fully deactivated. So to finish the job, Blue pulled open the hatch on its chest, grabbed a handful of wires and tubes and yanked with her bare flippers until they snapped, shutting down the robot for good with a shower of sparks and one final violent twitch.

Still breathing heavily, she dropped the wires onto the ground, reaching for her earpiece instead. “Gary, what the heck.”

A moment passed before she got any response. “I just pulled up the live surveillance footage from the Mine Shack. It seems like you handled the Gary Bot.”

“Yeah, I did- why didn’t you warn me this thing was like that?!”

“... sorry, like what?”

“You know. Like that,” Blue repeated, gesturing vaguely at the damaged robot. “It looks like it came out of a horror movie. You didn’t make them like that, did you?”

“I assure you I did not. Any strange behavior or disturbing physical feature is a result of the malfunctioning.”

“Even the sharp teeth?”

“Why, pray tell, would I have given a robot based on myself sharp teeth?”

“As if you need a good reason to do half the stuff you do,” Blue huffed.

“... if I may ask, what did you use to disable the robot?” G asked, some hesitancy in his voice.

“Your, uh, claustrophobia. Shoved it inside a minecart,” she replied with equal unease. Even though years had already passed since G had any big incidents involving his fear of confined spaces, it wasn't exactly a fun topic to bring up.

“I figured. Well, I suppose it was remarkably effective,” G huffed a silent laugh. “More than my suggestion of using decaffeinated coffee would have been, at least. It is no surprise that I trusted the right penguin for the job.”

Blue held back a fond laugh at those words. “Alright, you need me to get this thing over to you?”

“Please do. If I can take a better look at it, I'll be able to find out what is causing the bots to malfunction. In the meantime, there has been another sighting at the Dock, so please head over there.”

“Will do,” she nodded, taking out her phone to teleport the deactivated bot over to the Command Room. “... by the way, is the sum of every number actually -1/12?”

G huffed with amusement at that. “That is a conversation we will need to save for another time.”

-

A dense fog surrounded Blue as she approached her destination. The area barely looked like the Dock anymore, which spoke highly of the skill of the penguins in charge of decorating for Halloween. There were dead trees surrounding the limits of the room, and the open grounds were now occupied by a large spooky cemetery. With every step, the ground crinkled under her feet, the noise caused by dead leaves and candy wrappers alike.

Before she could take a good look around, her earpiece came on after a brief burst of static. “Oh, hello, darling - can you hear me?”

Blue supressed a laugh. “Hi there, Aunt Arctic. Didn’t expect to find you in this line.”

“Gary just called and asked me if I was available to talk to you - it seems like you are about to deactivate that horrible Aunt Arctic Bot that has been scaring penguins near the Dock?”

“Oh, so that’s the one I’m facing now? Good to know,” Blue said, looking around. There was still no sign of any robots around. “Actually, good thing you’re here, then - because I don’t think I know anything you’re scared of. Are you okay with sharing?”

Aunt Arctic hummed thoughtfully. “Well, if I must be honest…”

“Yes?”

“Terrible spelling does leave me rather uneasy, I’m afraid.”

Blue blinked, staring blankly at the space in front of her. “No?”

“What?”

“You- I’m sorry, you’re not afraid of bad spelling, Aunt Arctic. That’s not scary,” Blue argued. “Especially not to someone in your position!”

“You have no idea of how atrocious some of the spelling I’ve seen before in letters sent to the newspaper could be, darling,” Aunt Arctic argued, although the amusement showing in her voice was unmistakeable.

“Still. What are you going to say next, that you’re afraid of unsweetened tea?”

“Now that you mention it…”

Blue groaned. “Please. Do you have anything that I can actually-”

A loud snapping noise to her left cut her off. She turned her head to look, finding nothing but two small green dots glaring at her through the fog, bobbing up and down as they continuously got closer and closer.

The Aunt Arctic Bot, when it emerged, appeared to be in a similar state of disrepair from the Gary Bot - it wasn’t as surprising as it had been the first time, but it continued to be just as unnerving. The robot limped towards her, dragging one of its feet behind itself with a loud scratching noise of metal against stone, the head twitching just as badly as the Gary Bot’s had been.

“ThIS arccc-tic weather is juSssT>> mArveLous.?” The robot tried to say, its voice skipping and sparking with every word.

Blue shifted her feet and braced herself, keeping her eyes on the target. Come on, think; she knew Aunt Arctic well, she definitely could figure out something that would actually scare the reporter - something other than ‘bad spelling’, that is.

Her time to think was cut short by the Aunt Arctic Bot suddenly swiping her feet from under her, knocking her to the ground before she could react - the fast blow somehow knocking her earpiece off her head and sending it clattering a good distance away.

Blue grunted as her back collided with the snow, the air inside her lungs leaving with a surprised gasp. With no time to stand back up, all she could do was raise her flippers to keep the robot back as it landed on top of her, its jaw closing and opening with a succession of clicks as it did its very best to try and bite her face off.

Right. Aunt Arctic did have a black belt in Card-Jitsu combat - and apparently, that meant so did the bot. Blue really was going to have some complaints to take to Gary after she was done with this.

Ignoring the manic screeching of the robot above her, she continued to hold it back with a single flipper, reaching out with the other one to feel the ground around her until it landed on a decorative rock - that she promptly shoved inside the robot’s mouth once it was open all the way. The robot’s head glitched, twitching and twisting as it unsuccessfully tried to get rid of the intrusion, and Blue took the opportunity to kick it away forcefully, scrambling to push herself back up and hopping behind one of the gravestones in an attempt to put as much distance between her and the bot as possible.

“Alright, let’s calm down for a moment,” Blue called loudly, looking back up at the Aunt Arctic Bot from behind her cover - just in time to see it bite through the rock, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Yikes.

Despite its rusted and damaged appearance, the robot was fast - a fact that Blue found herself learning the hard way as it continued to chase her around the graveyard, gracefully leaping over and weaving between the graves, not even the dense fog helping any of her attempts at losing it. Figuring out a way to scare it became a lower priority as her brain focused solely on finding a way to not be killed by a crazy malfunctioning robot that apparently had superspeed and also ninja skills.

And even that wasn’t enough, seeing as she soon ended up on the ground again, this time with her face shoved on the snow as the Aunt Arctic Bot twisted her flipper behind her back, effectively immobilizing her.

“Ow- wait wait, hold on a sec!” she nearly shouted, turning her head to look up at the bot with wide eyes, her free flipper tapping the ground by force of habit as if this was merely a sparring session and her opponent would let her go if she asked. “You better let me go or I’ll-”

A metallic sneer left the bot’s throat as it leaned down, putting even more weight on her flipper.

And thankfully, that was the moment when it finally clicked. A thought crossed Blue’s mind, her eyes widening even further as she clung desperately to it. “Back off right now or the whole island is going to find out your secret identity!”

That got the robot to stop.

She took advantage of the opening, continuing to charge forward with her half-baked idea. “Yeah- that’s right! I know you’re the EPF Director, Aunt Arctic,” she said, keeping her voice low enough just in case there were any penguins nearby - although she was pretty sure they’d all left the area once the Aunt Arctic Bot started scaring everyone around. “And soon everyone is gonna know too and your efforts to keep your identity a secret over the years are gonna go down the drain! How does that make you feel, huh, you dumb robot?!”

The bot remained frozen on the spot, its head twitching a few times, and Blue took her chance - she twisted into her restrained flipper to get face to face with the robot and then lunged at it, wrestling it down to the ground and reversing their positions. She reached for its chest, flinching and hissing in pain as the robot let out a shower of sparks the moment she touched it, but even the mild electrocution wasn’t enough to keep her from opening its chest and pulling out enough wires to shut it down instantly.

She waited for a moment to confirm that the bot was down before letting out a long, deep breath. Standing back up, she rubbed her sore flipper while looking around the nearby area for her dropped earpiece - it took a minute for her to finally find it and put it back on.

“Hello? Aunt Arctic?”

“Oh, there you are, darling. The line seems to have dropped for a few minutes, but Gary just informed me that my robot doppelganger was deactivated. Did everything go well?”

Blue blinked, looking back at the downed bot. “Well, how can I say this…” she began. “You wiped the floor with me, Aunt Arctic.”

There was a muffled, surprised laugh coming from the other side of the line. “Oh dear, is that so? Are you alright? Did you get hurt?”

“Just my pride,” Blue grumbled. “But I got the robot, so it’s fine. And I’m also never going to underestimate you in flipper-to-flipper combat again. Also please don’t ask how I took it down because I’m not telling.”

“Good job once again, Agent B,” G said, joining the line. “Do you need a break before moving onto the next bot?”

“Nope, I’m ready to go,” she assured him. “And I’ll prepare myself better this time. Where am I going and who am I scaring?”

“The radar is showing the Dot Bot is near the Cove - Dot herself is already there, although it seems like the bot hasn’t shown its face around yet,” he said. “Go meet her, and be prepared for a possible round of hide-and-seek.”

“Will do,” Blue nodded.

-

The Cove was surrounded by the same dead trees that made their presence known everywhere else around the island. Other than the occasional jack-o-lantern here and there, the only major source of light was the campfire - the flickering flames that are always a comfort for the penguins visiting the area now only added to the unsettling atmosphere of the room, projecting long shadows that were always moving in the corner of Blue’s vision.

“Ace,” she heard the voice before seeing the penguin, looking over her shoulder to find Dot approaching her with a relieved smile. “Good seeing you here. What a way to spend the night before the Anniversary Party, huh?”

“Tell me about it,” Blue snorted. “So, what’s the situation over here? You found your evil clone yet?”

“Nope. No idea where it could be hiding. I already searched all the spots where I’d be hiding, if I was… well, me, but it seems like G’s bot is somehow a step ahead,” Dot sighed, clearly unhappy with that fact. “But that’s why you’re here, yeah? I’m good at hiding, but you’re good at finding.”

“I’m still gonna need your help before I do that,” Blue pointed out, crossing her flippers. “G already told you I have to scare the bot, right? So, what’s something that would strike fear into the heart of our one and only Disguise Gal?” she teased.

Dot merely grinned. “Luckily for you, I came prepared,” she said, reaching for a bundle of cloth that had been on the ground next to her and dropping it onto Blue’s flippers. “First, you put this on.”

Blue unfolded the cloth - revealing one of the most hideous sweaters she’d ever seen in her entire life. She gave Dot a flat look. “Really?”

“What? Ugly clothes are scary to me,” Dot said, clearly holding back a chuckle. “But that’s not the whole thing. If I know myself, and I do, that bot isn’t gonna be expecting anyone to find it when it’s hiding like this. So if you can figure out where it is, and then get close without being spotted to give it a good scare… well, it should be enough to put it out of commission.”

“... and the sweater is gonna help with that?” Blue asked, raising a brow doubtfully.

“The sweater is gonna help with that,” Dot confirmed, giving the piece of clothing a gentle pat. “Now go ahead, put it on.”

Blue sighed. “If you say so,” she said, removing her suit jacket and holding it out for Dot to hold before pulling the ugly sweater over her dress shirt. It fit well enough, and she brushed it down a few times to remove the excess of puffle fur clinging to it before looking around. “You’re gonna help me look or you’ll be hiding as well?”

“Nah, I'll get out of your way,” Dot said, and Blue looked over her shoulder to find the other walking away while putting a jack-o-lantern mask over her head. “Have fun, ace!”

Blue snorted. “You too. Just please come back to give me my suit back after I'm done.”

Over the years, Blue had more than enough practice in helping Dot ‘refine’ her stealth skills - a fancy way of saying their disguise expert often made Blue look for her all over the island while she tried to remain hidden for as long as possible. Not an easy task, considering that Dot was their stealth lead for a reason; and as much as Blue was praised for being perceptive and finding things other penguins often missed, Dot was the one to give her the hardest challenges in that regard. It was good training - and good fun - for them both.

Right now, however, Blue wasn't dealing with Dot. And as much as the Dot Bot had all of her skills and knowledge, it was never going to be able to hide as well as her; not when these robots had glow-in-the-dark eyes and continuously made scrapping metallic noises with their involuntary twitching.

It still ended up taking her a while, considering Blue also had to stay hidden herself while searching for the bot - but eventually she spotted it, lurking behind the surfing shack among the decorative dead trees, the glow of a nearby jack-o-lantern working nearly perfectly to disguise the light of its eyes, which had been reduced to two small white dots.

Without being able to tell for sure just how perceptive those robots were, Blue decided to be safe and go the long way around in an attempt to surprise it from behind, doing her best to move silently and keeping her eyes on the thing at all times. It took a while, but as soon as she reached the right spot, she took the opportunity to tackle the Dot Bot to the ground, both of them falling out of their hiding spot and onto the open ground. The bot twitched underneath her, its head spasming, but Blue managed to hold it down.

“Y-yYYyou dID iT! YoU found=== meeeEEEEE-<<” it tried to say in a cheap imitation of Dot’s voice before shorting out, allowing Blue to flip it onto its back and open the chest hatch - this time being more careful and avoiding electrocuting herself as she ripped out the wires to shut it down.

“Okay, good thing this one was a lot easier than the others,” she said with a relieved sigh.

“Good job, Ace,” Dot grinned, appearing next to Blue out of nowhere and nearly making her jump out of her feathers. “You dealt with that bot like a pro.”

“Starting to think that I am one,” she chuckled. “Now, my suit, please?”

“Here you go.”

While she changed off of the hideous sweater, her earpiece crackled to life, G’s voice coming from it not a second later. “Agent B. Report.”

“Just finished dealing with the Dot Bot,” she said. “It has been deactivated.”

“Good, because I need you to check something for me. Does the bot by any chance have an antenna attached to its neck?”

With a frown, Blue leaned closer to check. Indeed, right above its right shoulder, there was a small antenna connected to the metal casing, glowing a deep shade of green. “Huh. It does, actually. I hadn’t noticed it before.”

“Interesting. The bots you sent to us also have this antenna - which wasn’t a part of the original design. It has been added by a third party, and I am beginning to suspect that it may be related to the malfunction that has affected them.”

“You mean they were sabotaged?” Dot asked, joining the conversation.

“Indeed. If that is the case, your job has just changed from merely deactivating the bots, Agent B - we’ll need you to find out who was responsible for this and deal with them appropriately.”

“On it,” Blue nodded, a serious look appearing on her face. “I’ll keep an eye out from now on. Where should I go next?”

“Rookie and Jet Pack Guy have cornered the Rookie Bot inside the Pizza Parlor, which has currently been evacuated. According to their reports, they are in need of some assistance.”

“Got it, I’ll head over there right now,” she said, finishing putting her suit back on. “Dot, you mind getting this hunk of scrap metal to the Command Room?”

“I’ll handle that. Good luck out there, Ace,” Dot gave her a brief nod.

-

The door to the Pizza Parlor creaked menacingly as Blue walked in, taking a good look around the place.

It was dark - just like every other place she’d been to that night, the only sources of light in the room were the few jack-o-lanterns on the piano and the counter, its flickering orange glow so dim it barely helped her see anything. Unlike the outside areas, however, the Pizza Parlor was a building with lightbulbs and electricity, which made the fact it was this dark even more concerning.

Letting the door fall closed behind her with a soft ‘click’, she took a hesitant step forward. As familiar as she was with the layout of the Pizza Parlor, she still wasn’t confident she could just walk around like this without bumping into anything-

A loud thump from across the room had her freezing in her tracks. She squinted through the dark, trying to catch any hint of movement; after a few seconds, the dim glare of the lantern’s light reflecting on a metallic surface caught her eyes, and she looked up just in time to see two white dots turning to stare right at her from the other side of the parlor.

Before she could react, something grabbed her flipper and tugged her forward - she yelped as she was dragged under one of the tables, whoever it was also covering her mouth to stop her from making noise.

And they were really, really lucky it didn’t take long at all for Blue to recognize them, because she’d been more than ready to start kicking and biting.

“What the heck was that for, Jet?” she hissed quietly, pulling his flipper away from her face and turning around to glare at him.

Jet Pack Guy, to his credit, didn’t seem rattled at all. “Be quiet - or do you want to draw that thing’s attention?” he whispered sharply, gesturing for her to stop talking.

This time, she didn’t mind following his lead. The two penguins stayed crouched and hidden underneath the table, waiting with bated breath as an oppressive silence fell over the room - until, finally, more heavy footsteps were heard as the bot they were hiding from went back to walking aimlessly around the Pizza Parlor.

“C’mon,” Jet muttered, ducking out of cover and leading Blue to the kitchen, the two moving as fast and quietly as they could.

The kitchen was just as dark as the parlor, the Pizzatron 3000 also turned off - Blue was beginning to suspect that the power was out for the whole building. The sole source of light in the room was right in the center, where Rookie was sitting on the floor with a tablet screen in his flippers.

“Oh! Blue!” he greeted in a whisper that somehow sounded both scared and excited at the same time. “We were hoping you’d come!”

“What’s going on here?” she asked quietly, crouching next to him - Jet mirroring her action on the other side. “That’s the Rookie Bot out here, isn’t it? Why haven’t you guys managed to deactivate it yet?”

“We were going to,” Rookie explained. “Like, I told JPG we should use a clown mask for that, because everyone knows that clowns are terrifying. But we couldn’t find any!”

“And then the whole building went dark, and, uh. It seems like that robot is faster when there are no lights. I couldn’t get a drop on it,” Jet grumbled, crossing his flippers.

Blue held back a sigh. “So we have a super stealth, super fast robot and no way to shut it down. Got it.” She rubbed her forehead. “Why is there no power in the building? Any chance we could fix that?”

“Dont think so. G said it was probably the lightning storm affecting the power grid, and it should come back on its own eventually,” Jet said. “So our plan was just to wait it out. It doesn’t seem like the bot can walk into the kitchen, for some reason, so we’re safe in here.”

“And I figured out a way to track it!” Rookie declared proudly, showing her the tablet screen - a live camera feed showing the Pizza Parlor was on it, the grainy black and white image seeing through the darkness in a way their eyes couldn’t. “I’ve been watching the Rookie Bot in case it does something weird. So far it’s been pretty mild, though; just a lot of head twitching, evil laughing, and seemingly teleporting from one side of the room to another.”

This time, Blue did sigh. “Okay. We still need a way to shut it down, though - you got anything else that we could use to scare it besides clowns, Rookie?”

“Hmmm,” he hummed, bringing a flipper to tap at his beak. “I dunno, honestly. A lot of things are at least a little scary to me. Like, remember when-”

A loud crash came from the other room, startling all three penguins.

“What was that?!” Blue shot to her feet, every single one of her feathers standing on edge.

“I’ll go check, you two stay here,” Jet declared, walking towards the kitchen entrance.

“Uh, Blue?” Rookie got her attention once more, gesturing to the tablet. “You might wanna take a look at this?”

With a frown, she did so, sitting down on the floor next to him and taking hold of the tablet. The Rookie Bot was still there, but instead of walking around like it’d been doing before, it was now standing deathly still in one of the corners, just barely visible - only its head still moved with the occasional spasm, and even its eyes weren’t as bright as they were supposed to be.

Before Blue could point it out, the camera feed suddenly turned to static; it lasted for a few seconds, but once the image cleared, the bot was nowhere to be seen.

“What…?”

“There it is!” Rookie said, pointing at the screen, where his robotic twin was now standing behind the counter, stiff as a statue - and it remained there for a moment before the whole image dissolved into static once more.

“Why does that keep happening?” Blue grumbled, tapping the side of the tablet as if it would help somewhat.

“We could try one of the other cameras,” Rookie suggested, scrolling through a list of cameras on the right side of the screen and tapping one of them.

After a few more seconds of static, the video changed, this time showing mainly the Pizza Parlor entrance and the stage in the corner instead of the whole room.

“Wait, no, we need to see the whole room to find it,” Blue argued, going back to the main feed.

This time, when the static cleared once again, there was no sign of the robot anywhere.

“Do you see it?” she asked Rookie.

“Nope. And I’m normally good at these games of finding things.”

“It has to be somewhere, though?”

“Let’s check the other feeds, maybe it’s hidden in a corner somewhere and another camera has a better view of it,” Rookie suggested.

Blue flipped through the other cameras around the Pizza Parlor, doing so as fast as she could while still making sure to check the images thoroughly to find their missing bot. Nothing.

“This makes no sense,” Blue mumbled. “I’m gonna go join Jet out there and see-”

The sound of a wheezing, metallic breath coming from behind them had both Rookie and her freezing on the spot.

They glanced at each other, wide eyed, before slowly turning their heads to look behind them. And standing right there, looming above them, was the Rookie Bot, its bright green eyes bearing down on them. With another violent head twitch, it screeched, metal flippers outscretched as if to grab them.

The tablet clattered to the floor as Blue and Rookie clung to each other, their startled screams echoing loudly through the empty building.

Before they could do anything, however, something lunged past them and hit the bot, sending it to the floor with a loud crash. At the same time, all the lights around them turned on as power returned to the building, causing Blue to flinch at the sudden brightness.

She slowly blinked her eyes open, finally managing to see the scene in front of her - the Rookie Bot knocked out on the floor, a broken chair hanging around its neck after presumably being crashed through its head, and Jet standing right next to it, wiping his flippers.

“... dude. Did you just hit me in the head with a chair?” Rookie asked, flabbergasted.

“No, I didn’t. That was a robot, not you. A robot that was about to attack you, if you recall.”

“It still has my face!”

“No, it doesn’t? That looks nothing like you??”

“I’ll tell G you said that,” Blue chuckled, standing up and offering Rookie a flipper to pull him up as well. The trio gathered around the robot, looking down at it.

“Is it off, then?” Rookie nervously asked.

“Not yet,” Blue shook her head. “I need to-”

The robot twitched, startling all three of them once more.

“WelL dONE;;;; you got me dDDown.” It buzzed loudly for a moment, a grating noise that had Blue itching to cover her ears. “bUT you;ll nEVer find.: the BEAR// secrET lair underneath th-th-th-eeeeeeeee [Coffee Shop].”

“Wait, what did you say?” Blue asked, eyes widening.

“The bear? As in, Herbert?!” Rookie said loudly.

“He’s the one behind this?” Jet frowned down at the robot.

There was a long silence as the Rookie Bot continued to look up blankly at them - before bursting into electric sparks.

“... Oops. [running: scared.exe] ShUTTiNG DooOOoown"

“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” Jet grumbled, nudging the bot not so gently with his foot. It didn’t react at all, completely down for the count.

“It got scared?” Blue mumbled, her brows furrowing, before her eyes widened in understanding. “Aww, Rookie, is one of your fears revealing classified information by accident?”

He looked away, rubbing his flipper in clear embarrasment. “W-well how am I supposed to not be scared of that?! Look at this!” he gestured sharply at the downed bot. “Even a robot based on me still says more than it should!”

“Hey, don’t feel bad. It helped us a lot this time,” Jet said with amusement, bumping Rookie’s side with his elbow.

With a chuckle, Blue leaned down, opening the robot’s chest hatch and removing the wires to shut it down permanently. “Jet’s right. Now we can go solve all this mess straight at the source,” she said. “Time to go pay our favorite polar bear a visit. Rookie, can you handle things over here at the Pizza Parlor and make sure it can open again?”

“On it!” he saluted.

“I’ll take this trash heap to G and tell him what we found,” Jet said. “Go do what you do best and deal with Herbert, B.”

“You got it,” Blue grinned, giving him a playful tip of her hat.

-

The bell above the Coffee Shop door rang as Blue made her way in, taking a look around at the lively room. Other than the usual customers, a group of penguins from the Party Committee was currently decorating the room and making space for the cake that would be delivered for the Anniversary Party the next day.

From where she’d been busy helping clean the shop, Hazel, the barista, looked up at Blue’s entrance, a smile appearing on her face when she saw her. “Oh, Bee, hello! How are-” she stopped, her eyes flickering up and down as she took in Blue’s appearance. “Oh no, someone’s on the job. What’s the trouble this time?”

“What makes you think there’s trouble?” Blue raised a brow, an amused smile on her face as she stopped next to her girlfriend.

“I know that face,” Hazel simply said. “Do you need my help?”

“... actually…” Blue made a face. “I kinda need everyone to leave the building now.”

“What? Why? Is there something wrong with the Coffee Shop?” Hazel asked, concern appearing on her face as she looked around - some of the customers and other penguins were also turning around to listen to their conversation.

“I’ll tell you later,” Blue said quietly. “I’m gonna try to be as quick as possible so you guys can finish getting things ready for tomorrow here. But this is kinda urgent. And… bear-related,” she nearly whispered.

Understanding appeared on Hazel’s face as her eyes widened minutely, but then she nodded fiercely. “Alright. I’ll close the shop until you finish dealing with whatever’s going on here. Be safe, Blue.”

“Thanks, Hazel,” Blue smiled softly.

The two of them working together quickly managed to let everyone know the building was being evacuated for ‘classified reasons’ and get all the penguins to leave in a calm, organized manner. And as soon as she was alone in there, it was easy enough for Blue to enter the employee’s room, immediately looking under a rug for a nearly forgotten trapdoor.

Jumping down through it, she found herself in a cave that was supposed to be empty - but the faint noises and the dim light coming from up ahead told a different story.

Holding back a tired sigh, Blue prepared herself to walk forward.

“Agent B,” her earpiece crackled to life with G’s voice a few steps in. “I was just informed that you’re off to confront Herbert at the Coffee Shop. Please, keep us informed.”

“Will do,” she whispered, keeping the line open so G could listen to what was happening.

After walking forward some more and going down a short flight of stone steps, she finally reached what was definitely the main area of Herbert’s lair - from her spot ducked behind a wall, she could see an armchair in front of a computer, a workbench covered in bits and bolts, and a surprisingly large amount of Halloween decorations - including two jack-o-lanterns carved to resemble Herbert and Klutzy (and she was not ashamed to admit the Klutzy one was adorable).

The rest of the room was too dark to see, except for a platform higher up above the workbench, where the bear and crab themselves were standing.

“... and those pesky penguins just managed to disable another one of my bots! Can you believe that, Klutzy?! All that work to install my corrupting hardware so those silly robots could scare away the pathetic birds, and they’re managing to ruin my plans once again!”

“Click click.”

Well, that was a convenient explanation of what had happened, at least. With another short sigh, Blue made her way into the room without bothering too hard to be stealthy; still, Klutzy was the first one to spot her, snapping to attention and clicking several times until Herbert finally noticed her presence as well.

The shock he showed for a brief second quickly changed into annoyance. “And of course, here’s the penguin of the hour. Agent B,” he spat her name with disdain. ” Why am I not surprised that you’re the one who’s destroying my robots out there?”

“Hi, Herbert,” she waved, voice filled with fake cheerfulness. “Long time no see. I really thought you’d learned not to do this kind of thing anymore this time.”

“How did you even find my hideout?!” he glared at her.

“Rookie Bot gave it away,” she shrugged.

Herbert groaned, covering his face with a paw. “Really? Even a robot based on that guy still says more than it should?!”

“Watch it,” she glared back at him, crossing her flippers. “Anyway, you know what I’m here for, right? Your plan failed, your robots are down, you got nowhere to run, and you’re under arrest. Are you gonna come with me quietly instead of making things worse for yourself this time?”

Herbert laughed. “When have I ever, my dear fowl fool?” he grinned, reaching for a lever on the wall next to him. “But I'm not done yet - quite the opposite, in fact. It’s a good thing that you like your job so much, because you're about to have your hands full with my newest invention!”

And with another laugh, he pulled the lever.

The part of the room previously shrouded in darkness lit up with a bright flash of electricity, revealing what had been hidden in there and making Blue take a hesitant step back as a pair of eyes with a now-familiar green glow turned to stare at her.

It was a robot shaped like Herbert. The similarities to the bots G had built were striking - although, unlike the penguin bots, which had been built to look nice and presentable before whatever malware Herbert infected them with, this one seemed to have the dented, scratched and stained metal plates built into its very design, the dirt and ugliness adding to its unsettling appearance. The robot was also massive, larger than Herbert himself and nearly three times Blue's size.

“Behold!” Herbert shouted gleefully. “My HERBOT!”

“What…” she stared at the bot with wide eyes. “How did you build that?”

“Oh, it was easy,” Herbert gloated. “Especially since your nerdy, glasses-wearing friend shared the blueprints for his bots with me through the newspaper. It was way too simple to adapt them to better serve my plans after that.”

“He did what,” Blue stared blankly at Herbert for a moment before lifting a flipper to her earpiece. “Gary…”

There was an audible shifting on the other side of the line. “W-well, Agent B, I happen to believe that science should be freely available to the population - my inventions belong in the public domain! You cannot fault me for that philosophy!”

“You- fine, whatever,” Blue held back a groan. “We'll talk about this later.”

“You’re not defeating me this time, Agent B!” Herbert laughed. “My brilliant plan is unstoppable!”

Herbot’s head twitched once before it turned to look at its creator, a grating noise that almost sounded like a laugh leaving its speakers.

“Incorrect,” it stated, sounding far more coherent than any of the other bots had been. “MY brilliant plan is unstoppable!”

It then reached for the nearest wall, grabbing a lever that had been hidden in the shadows previously, and pulled it down with a janky twist of its arm and another glitchy spasm of its head - causing a large metal cage to fall down from the ceiling right on top of Herbert and Klutzy, trapping them inside.

“What the-” Herbert’s eyes widened as he pulled at the bars of the cage, to no effect. “Let us out of here, you rusty bucket of bolts!”

“Negative,” Herbot stated, sounding almost as smug as the real deal. “I ran the calculations. Your lower intellect and aggravating personality would only get in my way.”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY?!” Herbert shouted angrily, hitting the cage. “You’re based on me, trash can!”

“I am the superior version,” Herbot said with a condescending tilt of its head and another laugh. “Which is proven by the fact you’re trapped in a cage and I’m not. You cannot argue against the evidence.”

“Darn it, I’ve made you too clever, Herbot!” Herbert shook a fist angrily.

Blue watched the exchange with a worried frown before raising a flipper to her ear. “Gary, what in the world did you put in these robots’ intelligence modules?”

“Now is not the time to question that, Agent B. Please focus on deactivating the bot before it can leave the lair and cause mayhem on the island!”

“Got it,” she nodded. “Herbert! Quick, what are you afraid of the most in the whole world?”

“What?!” he turned to stare at her, looking deeply offended. “Why would I tell you my fears?!”

“Because that’s what we’re using to deactivate the bots! Or do you want your evil clone to keep insulting you?”

“As if! I’m not telling you anything, you’re just gonna use that against me in the future!”

“Fine, you still built this thing - you probably had a way to shut it down, right?”

“It’d probably take a direct shot from a laser weapon to overload Herbot, you think I just have those laying around inside my lair? Are you stupid?”

“Herbert, I swear- if you don’t cooperate right now I’m gonna keep you trapped inside that cage once I’m done here!”

“Blargh mlergh! I’m not listening!!” he shouted, going so far as to turn away and cross his arms like a petulant child. “I don’t recall asking for your help, to begin with!”

“Oh for the love of-”

“Agent B,” Herbot spoke up suddenly, stopping Blue on her tracks as it turned around to glare at her. “You are still a threat to my plans. Prepare to be defeated.”

… shoot.

“Alright, guess it’s up to me, then,” Blue grinned to herself, reaching up to fix her hat. It’s not like she needed Herbert to tell her anything about his fears, anyway - after having to deal with him for so many years, she knew the guy well enough to know what to use against Herbot.

It was just a matter of getting all the pieces in the right places, and making the play that would win her the game.

And luckily, that had always been her favorite part.

As Herbot began to move, dashing aimlessly around the hideout, Blue quickly fished her Spy Phone from her pocket, scrolling through the list of locations on the teleporter as she slowly walked closer to the robot. It was only a matter of waiting for the right moment.

“Let's take this somewhere else, shall we?” she asked, tapping the screen the moment Herbot came within a flipper’s length of distance, teleporting them both away - in a flash of light, the two of them appeared at the Beacon.

The sudden bright light from the giant lightbulb (still just as efficient even while decorated as a giant pumpkin) after the time spent in the dark lair had Blue squinting her eyes - still, she didn't waste time before quickly putting some distance between herself and Herbot, making use of the fact the bot seemed deeply disoriented by the sudden change of location.

“So, what's your deal, anyway?” Blue asked loudly, getting the robot's attention once more. “You're gonna defeat me, then what? What's your ‘brilliant’ plan about?”

Herbot laughed - admittedly, it was a little uncanny just how much it sounded like Herbert's laugh. “You foolish bird, I will take over this entire island!”

“Okay, kinda vague, but alright,” she shrugged. "You'll have to get through me first, though, so good luck with that. If you're based on Herbert, then this is probably not gonna end well for you.”

This time, the bot growled angrily. Apparently, it really was as easily provoked as Herbert. “Do not compare me with him - I will show you what you're dealing with!”

And with that, he lunged at her.

Already expecting it, Blue quickly dodged the wide swing of its arms; she ducked and stepped back, one of the blows barely missing her head and landing straight on the glass case around the beacon, a spider web of cracks quickly spreading through the surface.

“Hey! Careful with that, Rory's gonna have to fix it later!” she taunted, even as the robot forced her to dodge another swipe - one that had her very thankful the Herbot seemingly had no claws.

Blue continued to lead it past the jet pack launch pad and around the beacon, at which point, through a stroke of luck, one of Herbot's swinging attacks finally hit its target. The impact sent her flying back, her back hitting the safety railing with a painful clang. She quickly held onto it with one of her flippers to remain standing, the other pushing her hat up and out of her face just in time to see the bot charging for another attack. At the very last second, she rolled to the side, standing back up just in time to watch both of Herbot's fists land where she'd just been - with enough force to dent both the railing and the robot's own casing.

The damage dealt to itself was seemingly not enough to get it to back down, as it continued to move towards her.

Which was exactly what Blue wanted - and as she finally got within reach of the Beacon's telescope, the bot was exactly in the right spot that would allow her to fight back as she reached for the one item in the room she needed at this moment.

Grabbing the wooden crate on the floor next to the telescope with both flippers, Blue swung it around and threw it straight at Herbot's head with all her might.

The air was filled with the reverberating sound of wood hitting metal, even louder than the thunder that continuously rolled through the clouds above them. Herbot stumbled back into the railing, losing his balance for a moment from the impact as the now broken wooden box remained stuck over its head and he struggled to get it off.

Which meant it was time for the final play - and as the bot finally managed to free itself, it was just in time to see Blue lunging at it, catching it off-guard and off-balance as her weight sent it toppling over the railing, the two of them careening down towards the ocean below.

Herbot hit the water first, the massive splash caused by the heavy impact swallowing Blue a full second before she also went through the ocean’s surface. It was so dark underwater it was nearly impossible to see, but that didn’t stop her from quickly orienting herself and, with the ease of a bird that was made to swim, making her way back to shore.

She climbed up onto the rocks behind the Lighthouse, pointlessly trying to brush some water off her suit and running her flippers through her wig - her hat had fallen somewhere in the water - before turning around. Herbot, too, had floated back to the surface, but it was still visibly, although slowly, sinking, as the water made its way inside the bot’s frame.

Looking down at it, Blue chuckled. “So you really can’t swim either, huh? Tough luck.”

As it finally processed the situation it found itself in, Herbot’s head spasmed again, sending weak splashes of water around itself. “[erROR] sYStems oveRLOADed-ed-ed-EDDDddd_# deaCTivAtinG>>.”

And with a final showcase of sparks flying everywhere, Herbot stopped moving, sinking fully under the water. Blue was pretty sure she wasn’t even going to need to yank any wires for that one.

A gentle wave broke by the rocks under her feet, this one bringing her hat and depositing it right by her feet. With a quiet laugh to herself, she bent down, picking it up and placing it back in its rightful place atop her head.

This time, hopefully, she was truly done robot-hunting for the night.

“... and once again I must say, superb job dealing with those bots yesterday, Blue.”

“Aw, shucks, Gary. It was nothing,” Blue chuckled, adjusting the string of the anniversary party hat under her beak. “Just doing my job, as always.”

“We must still thank you for that. After all, if you hadn’t dealt with Herbot, it is unlikely we’d be currently celebrating as we are,” G chuckled, fixing his own colorful hat.

The Anniversary Party was currently in full swing at the Coffee Shop, the whole room decorated with flags, balloons and lights in several different colors - as well as a massive cake with too many layers to count and even more candles. The building was full of penguins walking left and right, talking with each other, dancing, celebrating, and sporting the newest anniversary party hat, another addition to a collection that kept growing with each year.

“It’s a shame Herbert and Klutzy had already escaped once you made your way back to their lair,” G sighed. “I should have directed someone else to arrest them. But I suppose you can’t win them all.”

“It’s fine,” Blue waved him off. “The important thing is that they’ll definitely not be causing any trouble today.”

Walking through the crowded room with some difficulty, Hazel reached the pair, offering Blue a plate with a slice of cake. “Here you go, Bee,” she said with a grin.

“Aw, thanks, sweetie,” Blue took the plate with a soft smile before Hazel turned away, continuously busy with making sure everyone attending the party had food and drinks. “Hmm, chocolate cake. Yummy.”

“Is it just me or is B’s slice of cake bigger than the one we got?!” Rookie called out as he approached the duo, Jet and Dot right on his heels - each of them also sporting party hats and with a glass of fruit juice in their flippers. “That’s so unfair!”

“That’s the size of a normal slice, Rookie,” Dot said with an amused eye roll.

“Nu-uh. I don’t think so. She has cake privileges because she’s dating the Barista.”

“Jealous much?” Blue teased, taking a huge bite of her slice.

“There’s enough cake for everyone, Rookie,” Jet stated, crossing his arms. “I’ll go get you some, if you want.”

“Nah, not right now. I’m good.”

“... then why were you complaining??”

“By the way, Blue - I’ve wanted to tell you something else about yesterday’s mission,” G spoke up once more, redirecting her attention back to their interrupted conversation. “I read what you wrote in your report about how you deactivated Herbot, and while it was a very clever idea to throw it in water, I think it is possible that it wasn’t Herbert’s fear of the ocean that caused it to be shut down.”

Blue blinked. “What do you mean? You think it was just normal water damage?”

“No, the bot definitely suffered a phobic feedback overload. I just believe it is possible that the cause was something other than being dunked in the ocean.”

“What? No way,” Blue snorted. “You haven’t seen how scared Herbert is of water, G. Even just dipping his toes is enough to cause him to freak out. What else could have caused it?”

“Well, don’t you think something else could have happened around the same time? Something that Herbert could probably fear more than the ocean?” G asked, an amused smile appearing on his face.

“... no?” Blue frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that.”

“Nevermind,” he laughed quietly. “You’ll probably realize it by yourself eventually. And it’ll be very amusing to watch.”

“Oh, so now we’re joking at my expense, are we?” she glared playfully at him. “At least I’m not the one the Director put on timeout from building robots after yesterday.”

“... we don’t need to talk about that right now.”

“Aww, man, I’m out of fruit juice!” Rookie complained loudly, looking at his own empty glass. “I’m gonna go get more. And a slice of cake, too!”

“I thought you didn’t want cake?” Jet asked, raising a brow.

“Yeah I do now.”

“Let’s all go together, then, since Ace here is already well served in that regard,” Dot laughed, reaching out to take G’s flipper and pulling him along as the four of them left.

Blue watched them go with amusement for a moment, before reaching up to fix her party hat and waddling in the opposite direction. On a separate table, near the stairs up to the Book Room, the newest Yearbook was on display - another staple of the Anniversary Parties, another item added to a collection that grew with each year of Club Penguin history.

With a smile, she flipped it open, eyes falling on the first page. The tales registered in these words were ones that she had lived through and knew like the back of her flipper; and while she’d never get tired of looking back on those moments, with every anniversary she grew more and more excited about the adventures that awaited for them in the future.

Because one thing was certain - no matter what happened, as long as their little penguin community existed, their island would go on.

“Happy anniversary, Club Penguin,” Blue whispered softly to herself, turning onto the next page.