Breaking Barriers

No Matter What

Pinto Pengino:
We, a group of 20 penguins all being processed, were finally taken to the "holding pen" after finishing. I remember everyone was crowded like sardines in a can, and it felt scary cos there was no one I knew. I pushed through the zoo of people, tears rising in my eyes and fear surging all through me. I couldn't cry. Not here. I couldn't give the Puricians the satisfaction of breaking me. But little did I know, I had one saving grace.

"Pinto!" I whipped around at the sound of my name. But it could easily have been another penguin. There must be dozens of penguins with my name, but whoever had called my had one more trick up their sleeve that revealed their identity.

"Pendejo! Come here!" They yelled. That voice was too familiar to ignore. There was only one person I'd ever known who'd use an insult as a term of endearment and throw it at me across a courtyard, their voice clear as the blue sky.

"Coming, Idiota!" I hollered back and begin running in their direction, all my tears and anxieties evaporated. I caught sight of a puppy around my age with blue eyes sparkling with mischief and relief.

"Jane!" I yelled, laughing giddily in relief and throwing my arms around her tightly. For that moment, we just squeezed each other tightly. Screw the world's idea of a family. I had a not-so -adopted older sister, and I loved her.

"Is Peso with you?" She asked, peeking through the white and black mass that was the penguin gaggle I'd just come out of. I shook my head and looked behind me. I'd lost track of Peso once we'd been shepherded into line, and I was shunted back into the line, and I haven't seen him since. But for that moment, it seemed my luck happened to turn around on me.

"LIL MATEYS! C'MERE!!!!!!" Someone yelled through the crowd. I could only think of one person who was likely to be here with that thick of a pirate dialect who could scream that loud. I smirked at Jane, and she smiled back. Oh yeah, Kwazii found us, and he just had to let everyone here know.

The penguins to the left of Jane and me began to grumble to someone to "Watch where they were going." Seconds later, a rather short orange cat with an eyepatch and pirate clothes with a strange black star that clashed horribly with them on his sleeve. He appeared and grabbed us both into a crushing hug and held us both at an arm's length.

His visible eye was roaming all over us; he seemed to be looking for something. His eye finally went from the six stripes on my arm to the five on Jane's. His eyes grew wide, and he grabbed us both tightly.

"Lil mateys, we better leave now." He gripped our hands tightly in his own and began to steer us out of the crowd.

"But-" I protested.

"We haven't found everyone else yet." Jane finished for me.

Kwazii bent down to our level. "That's the least of our worries right now, little matey. You're a five and a six stripe. By the Puricians' government they can do whatever they want to you. But don't you worry lil mateys, I'll keep you safe." he reassured us.

"Kwazii! Jane! Pinto! Over here!" A deep, rich voice called out, all three of us looked to see a tall, large white figure fighting his way through the crowd to get to us.

"Oh! Thank goodness!" He put his paw over his heart, and looked us over, "Are you all OK?" We all looked at one another. There was nothing wrong with us other than the labels that marked us as 'defective" on our clothes. He had a black star pressed onto his shoulder too.

"Come along now," the Captain gestured to the crowd, we've got to get out of this mob." We wove our way in and out of the crowd and emerged to find Tweak and Inkling.

We waited for a while, Octonauts began to drift over to us with the captain as their guide, all wearing different labels on their clothing.

"Is everyone accounted for?" The captain asked. Everyone seemed to be here. The truck we were supposed to be leaving on was the exact same one we came in on, but this one looked as though it didn't have the ability of hauling 11 creatures. Nevertheless, we had no other choice, so we got in. The trip back was torture; it seemed to be TRYING to kill us. The truck lurched and rattled and moaned the entire trip, bouncing us all around. Once the truck finally screeched to a sudden, grinding halt, everyone was more than anxious to get out. Once I emerged from that dark metal cave and saw the Octopod gleaming orange in all her glory, I couldn't help but smile. This was my home. Once we got to her, even the Captain couldn't hold back his excitement and threw the door wide open. We all followed him going from the door to the Launch Bay. As he emerged in the Launch Bay, all the Vegimals came spilling out of the chutes, and tightly hugged his ankles. Once they caught sight of us, we got swept.into the storm of Vegimals hugging us, so happy we were home. Even with the Puricians around, ther wasone thing they couldn't take from us, love.