Alright, it's time for a second crack at an independent story from "In Our World." Hopefully this goes better than the last one. Of course, I have a lot more experience at writing now, so it probably will be.

So, the usual symbol rules in my bio apply here. Italics means I'm quoting a character, a "(P)" means I'm changing the perspective on the story, and a "*" means notes at the end. The use of any of my OC's is purely coincidental. Let's get started, shall we?

CHAPTER 1 – Panic

(P to Marlene) I was dreaming about last night's date with Skipper. All my mind wanted to do was let me experience it over and over. It was so perfect. After years of us wanting to admit to each other our feelings for one another, we finally did. We didn't know why it took us so long, but we were happy we finally did. *

Skipper had picked me up exactly on time. Not a second early and not a second late. Because months earlier we had finally made it so that I could leave the zoo, we had our date in the park.

We had so much fun. We both walked romantically through the park. And I finally had a snow cone. Skipper had given it to me after getting it from the cart. I kept the paper cone to always remember the date.

And Skipper and I finally had our first kiss. I'm a mammal with a mouth. Skipper is a bird with a beak. But we didn't care at all of our different species. We absolutely loved that moment. It was absolutely perfect.

If we didn't have to breathe, we would have kissed until it hurt. It was the first real date of my life. I might have gone out with Fred, but at first I did it for Kowalski. And I didn't hear any Spanish guitar with Fred.

I definitely felt an attraction to Skipper, though. He was smart, strong, and a nice guy. I now understand why someone might think he's too paranoid. He's just trying to keep us all safe. Every single one of us. It really seemed to me that he really wanted to protect me more than anyone else.

I hoped some day we would get married. Not the next day, but in the future, after a few months of dating each other. We could never have children, due to the fact that Otters and Penguins are two different classes of species, but we still loved each other all the same.

Something was telling me to get up, so I did. As I was stirring, I felt something next to me in my bed. I was confused, as I knew it was just me. As I blinked and rubbed my eyes, I saw some black and white. I was confused, but as soon as I regained my vision I literally panicked! Next to me was Skipper!

(P to 3rd person) Upon seeing each other in the bed, the two literally panicked. They quickly jumped out of it to opposite sides of the cave. They were so confused. They had no idea how they wound up there. All they knew that was after their date that they kissed goodnight and went to their own habitats.

Both Marlene and Skipper were slapping themselves, trying to wake up from this horror. But no matter what they did, they were awake. It was not a nightmare. It was the real deal. After 10 minutes, they stopped slapping themselves and looked at each other nervously.

"Skipper?" Marlene asked him nervously. "Marlene?" he asked her nervously. "We went to our own habitats last night. How… how did we end up…" Marlene tried to ask. "I… I don't know," Skipper said. The two sighed; their memories had escaped them.

"Did… did we, you know…" Marlene tried to ask, nervous and slightly afraid. "Do… do you feel… violated?" Skipper asked her, nervously. Skipper was afraid that he had done that crime to Marlene. **

"Well, no. I don't think so. What about you?" Marlene asked him. "I don't feel like that happened either," Skipper said. They sighed with small relief that they hadn't mated on their first date. But were still so confused.

"Did someone prank us?" Marlene asked him. "I don't think so. The Stopwatch, as we told you when we helped clean everything up, is locked away," Skipper said. *** "But if we went to our own habitats, how did we wind up… in the same habitat?" Marlene asked him. "I don't know," Skipper said.

They both let out an exasperated sigh, confused at why they didn't remember. Both wanted the answer to clear this mystery up. "Do you think everyone else knows what happened?" Marlene asked Skipper. "Maybe. But if not, how might they react to us? Our first date was only last night," Skipper said nervously.

Marlene was a bit surprised at Skipper being nervous. But as to just clear this up so that everything can hopefully go back to normal, Marlene stopped thinking about that. "I… I don't know. But maybe you all have a way that we can remember?" Marlene asked, while suggesting.

"We can check the zoo security footage, if we need to," Skipper suggested. "That sounds like a good idea. But how are we supposed to present ourselves to your team?" Marlene asked nervously. "I'm not sure Marlene. For the first time, I don't know what to do," Skipper said.

They let out another sigh. "Well, maybe we should try to act casual. Just act as if you came to wake me up, maybe," Marlene suggested. "That sounds like an excellent plan Marlene," Skipper said, proud of her for coming up with the suggestion. "Thank you Skipper," Marlene said as they walked out of the cave. Both hoped that they would find their answer from everyone else.

That's a wrap on this chapter. Ooh, this is a fun mystery. How will it play out? Please rate and review this first chapter. I've got a few notes.

* As this is not my "In Our World" series, they have no idea that our world exists. But I'm sticking to the motif that our world interfered with their Skilene.

** You probably know what that crime is, but I want to keep the rating down.

*** Referencing "Time Out" with the Stopwatch. We don't know what happened to Marlene, but since she was paused, Julien probably stuck gum to her as well.