Elsewhere...
Iggy adjusted his cape, and strode into his secret command center. Massive computer banks towered upwards, curving beyond sight to form an unseen, but massive sphere, glittering with small lights. Several large screens lined the walls of the central atrium, with penguin technicians scanning and adding information on smaller consoles below. But by and large, most of the penguins were relaxing, playing tabletop games, or playing hacked versions of Starcraft II and SPORE.
"How'd you guys get that!?!"
"Our hackers got them, didn't you see the narration?" shouted one penguin.
"Okay... why don't you have the finished editions and all of the expansions? One of the advantages of the Multiverse is a lack of constraint from regular time, isn't it?"
"Well, with infinite time, we could play a perfect game. But that would just be boring, so we just play whatever's happening in your time and release spoilers onto the internet."
"So you're the ones?"
"I said nothing." murmured the penguin, wiggling his flippers hypnotically. Iggy turned away and wandered off to another area.
A voice came from behind.
"Nice cape Iggy." commented Gris, "What happened to the hoodie?"
"I was in a cape mood."
"Why's your cape on wrong?"
"Wrong?"
"Yeah, you're wearing it sideways!"
"That's intentional. Capes look far cooler if they're off-center."
"It looks stupid!"
"No, it looks cool. It covers all of one arm, and none of the other. You get much cooler cape movements from moving your arm in sweeping motions this way."
"Well..."
"There's no point in arguing Gris, I wrote your script for this story. Don't make me rewrite it and tell everyone about that thing-"
"Okay! Okay! You win!"
"Excellent." Iggy stretched out his arms, moving the cape in a dramatic flowing motion, "Anyway, were you going to tell me anything, or just making small talk?"
"I had a reason actually. It's about NESLife."
"Ooh, excellent. What is it?"
"Well, we've got us a live Viparix, for examination."
"Awesome, I've been waiting to see one of these things."
Iggy followed Gris down a few levels, to a holding area. Inside a cage, chewing on some chicken (My leftover Chicken! Damnit, now what'll I eat with my cranberry sauce?), was the Viparix.
"It's adorable!"
"Watch out, it's a violent one- sir!"
Iggy had crawled into the cage. He extended his hand out from under its cloak to pet the animal's colourful crest. It snapped up, spearing Iggy's hand, hacking it off, and drawing it into its mouth, dropping the chicken to the floor.
"There we go, once it's tasted its master's blood, it'll recognize me and be peaceful."
"That doesn't make sense sir. And your hand-"
"A decoy Gris!" laughed Iggy, revealing his real hand from beneath the cape, "I told you these things were useful."
The Viparix leapt up and tore apart the recently-revealed hand.
"Whew, good thing I went for redundancy." noted Iggy, detatching the second hand, "Maybe I should get out of the cage."
"I'd say that's a good idea."
Iggy climbed out, looking back to make sure that the animal was satiated with some chicken meat and two left hands.
"So, what's your evolution plan? Or are you gonna keep on evolving that stupid Chungus thing?"
"That was self-interest, actually. They're delicious!"
"It's an acidic mushroom!"
"It's an acquired taste. And it's not a mushroom, it's a-"
"Chungus, yes, I know. Frankly the name's stupid."
"urCHin fUNGUS. What's stupid about that?"
Gris just kept silent.
"So..." the penguin ventured, "Any plans for the Ytes and Ixes? Or even the Exes?"
Iggy flipped open his sketchbook, and made a few notes.
"I certainly do... oh yes, do I ever..."
For no particular reason, Iggy broken into an evil laugh. 'Bwahaha's echoed throughout the facility ominously.
"No, they're not really bad. Here, have a look."
"Cool. When are you going to show them to everyone else?"
"When Daft comes back and updates. Hint hint."
"Hmm? He can't hear you, you know. This is the most secure base in the universe."
"Except for that one time. Remember when Thlayli crashed his command ship into here? Then the mods came in and nuked the place?"
"It's not impervious to acts of mod. Besides, I'm posting a recording of the last few minutes anyway."
"So much for secrecy."
"Hey, if you wanted to be secretive, maybe you would wear camo instead of a bright red bandana."
"Maybe you wouldn't wear a cape."
"Touche. But irrelevant. I posted the story."
"Damnit!"