The Invention Gone Wrong

Chapter 2: Go for it, Katie!

Katie's POV

"What is it, Skipper?" I asked him.

"Can you make another contraption like…" Skipper paused as he pointed to the burnt out invention. "…that? I mean… without destroying it…"

"Hmm… I believe I can reverse engineer it, but we don't really have the time. I mean… with all the exercises and missions, I can't squeeze 12 hours for reverse engineering. And you know that we need rest every night." I said.

Skipper slumped. "Aw, cheer up Skipper." I patted him in the back. "I'm sure it's not that important. By the looks of it, it looks like an experimental invention. And believe me. I do not want that kind of experiment."

"Ugh… At least you have more sense than Kowalski." Skipper muttered.

I chuckled. "Thank you but… who is this Kowalski fella? I think he would be offended. Hehe…"

Skipper rolled his eyes. I don't know why. "Bye, Skipper." I said, stroking his neck feathers before climbing out of the hatch.

Skipper's POV

I felt a warm sensation in my face when she left. Is that a blush? No! No… I bet it's not. I shook my head and reviewed everything that happened. Okay… First, Kowalski's invention overloads, then everyone's gender is swapped, then… An explosion outside interrupted my thoughts. "What in the name of Gundy's Nun chucks is going on out there?!"

I climbed out of the hatch to see Rica jumping happily.

"Rica! What's goin' on out here?!" I asked her when I noticed a burnt down Kangaroo habitat.

"Oy! Jessy don't like visitors, especially if dey burn down Jessy's home!" A female kangaroo exclaimed.

"Sorry… It was supposed to be a bomb prank… But it kinda got out of hand… hehe" said Rica, still giggling.

"Don't worry Joey-JESSY! I mean Jessy… We'll make sure Rica here gets the right punishment for disturbing you like this. Now, hop along and continue doing whatever you were doing…" I said, nudging Rica back to the HQ.

Once we arrived at the HQ, I told Private to help Rica in the repairing of Jessy's habitat. Then I heard Alice shout – "Lunch Time!" in a grumpy way as always… wait… ALICE? She's still female! I guess she came to work late. I got out of the hatch and waited for the fish. I saw Rica and Private still at the Kangaroo habitat and signaled them to come and wait. When we had more than enough fish for us, I decided to take a nap.

I yawned. "I'm gonna catch some shut-eye boys… I mean ladies." I said, climbing into my bunk. Boy it's so weird to say that, I thought before closing my eyes and letting exhaustion overwhelm me.

Private's POV

Rica and I have just finished rebuilding the Kangaroo habitat and we were headed home. It was about quarter to four. Katie told us that Skippah was sleeping and told us not to wake him. But I didn't listen. Skippah's not gonna wake himself, you know. So I approached him and shook his flipper. "Skippah… Skippah! Time to get upsies!" I said, in the most calming voice.

Skippah pulled his flipper out of my grip, rolled and faced the wall in his bunk. "Private… You know how I feel 'bout those touchy-feely baby quotes." He muttered.

"Skippah…" I said, shaking him gently. "It's nearly four o'clock, Skippah. You have to wake up."

Skippah grunted and sat up, rubbing the sleep off his eyes. "Ugh… Why did you wake me, Private?"

"It's nearly 4:00pm, Skippah. You should have woken up one houah ago. Here, have a fish." I said, grabbing a fish from the table near me.

Skippah pushed the fish out of my flippers. "No thanks. I'm not very hungry, Private."

"But you didn't eat any lun…"

"I'm not hungry." He said angrily. "Now go mind your own business. I'm fine." He said, dismissing me with a wave of his flipper.

I frowned, picked up the fish from the floor, and walked toward the lab. When I opened the door, I found Katie drawing on a blue paper. "Hello, Kaite!" I greeted.

"Oh… hey Private." Katie replied, not looking away from the paper.

"What'r you makin' there?" I asked her.

Katie crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash bin, which was full of blue papers. "Ugh! I can't do it! I can't make the perfect invention!" she said grumpily. "I usually come up with great ideas easily, but now… something's different…"

"Oh, Katie… By the way… I woke Skipper up. He's acting a bit…. Different."

Katie's eyes lit up when I mentioned Skipper. "Skipper's up? I'll go see him."

I smirked and blocked her way with my flipper. "You like him, don't you?" I said.

Katie blushed and tried to push me away. "Shut up."

"No gurl! You like Skipper! Why don't you go tell him?" I urged.

"No, Private. The world isn't like that. You wouldn't know. You're too young to understand LOVE…"

"Aha! You do like Skipper. No… not like… LOVE! You said it yourself! You love Skipper! You love Skipper!" I taunted.

Katie pinned me to the ground. "SHUT UP! I DO NOT LIKE SKIPPER…. Well… he is pretty cute…" she confessed, loosening her grip.

I kicked her off me and stood up. "You love Skipper! Haha!" I teased. "Katie and Skippsie, swimmin' in the sea… K-I-S-S-I-N… OUCH!" I stopped when I was slapped by Katie.

"Sorry. But it was the only thing in mind that could make you shut up… Just shut up okay?" Katie said, blushing again.

Katie's POV

After slapping Private, I grabbed the fish from her and stepped out of the lab. I fixed my ruffled feathers and approached Skipper, who went back to sleep. I giggled. "Skipper. Hehe…. I know you're awake." I whispered.

"No. The Private woke me." Skipper said, fidgeting.

"Private told me you were acting strange. Are you okay?" I asked.

Skipper sat up and scratched the back of his neck. "What do you mean strange? I just lost my appetite." Skipper lied.

I heard his tummy rumbling and cocked my brow at him. "Lost your appetite, huh?"

Skipper blushed and covered his belly with his flippers. "It's nothing." He said.

"No, no, no Skipper. You're hungry." I gave him the fish. "Here. Eat this." I said, putting the fish on his lap.

"Weren't you working on a blueprint or something?" He asked.

This was obviously a distraction. "Ok, Skipper. I'll get right on it, provided that I see you eating that fish." I said, smirking.

Skipper rolled his eyes and gobbled the fish down. I gave him an approving nod before returning to the lab.

Skipper's POV

As I watched Katie go, I felt a touch of sadness in my chest. I grunted and walked toward the ladder. A bit fresh air will get me up and running in no time. Rica was out taking a swim in the pool. The lemurs were planning their party, and all the other animals seemed fine. Marle… I mean… Milo was eating clams. Maybe I could ask him for… I sighed. Marlene was a boy now. I don't feel comfortable talking to him at all… I just had to fix this gender swap fiasco. But I needed help.

I'll just see how this will play out until I figure out how to fix this… I'll let nothing distract me from this. Fixing this will be my top priority from now on.

Private's POV

"THAT'S IT? You hardly even talked to him!" I exclaimed after hearing what had happened.

"Well, you said he was acting strange, so I helped him. End of story." Katie said, crossing her flippers.

"Oh really? Are you sure that's all you did?" I cocked my brow.

Suddenly Katie tackled me and pinned me to the wall. "Private! Just be quiet! You're starting to annoy me. And… why am I even talking to you? You're just a young naive penguin." She said. Then she let me go and sighed. "Just… Get out of here." She told me.

So I ran out of the room confused. Why would Katie do that? I bet she's in LOVE! Heehee…

Katie's POV

Ugh… Why does Private always have to be so nosey? Poking her beak wherever she's not supposed to. She should learn to mind her own business! I thought … Then again… She is right about my liking for Skipper. But why would a brave and fearless penguin fall for a smartypants like me?

Private's advice replayed in my mind. Should I really tell him. *sigh* he'll just get angry at me anyway… And if he knows I'm keeping secrets he'll get angry at me too…. Well…. It's worth a shot… I giggled.I'm gonna tell him!

I ran outside and saw Private. I was hoping to see Rica because Private will just taunt me…

"P…Private? Have you seen Skipper?" I asked her.

Private was about to taunt again, but I gave her a glare that made her beak stay shut.

"Answer me in the proper way, Private. Where is Skipper?" I said, still glaring at her.

"H…he w…went …. Up there." Private said, pointing to the hatch.

I patted Privates head then ran up the ladder.

Skipper's POV

I heard footsteps behind be and instinctively pinned whoever was behind me down.

"Skipper! It's just me, Katie!"

My eyes widened. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Boy, Skipper. You're so paranoid sometimes." Katie quoted.

I rolled my eyes. "What are you doing here, Katie?" I asked.

"Um… I… I just …" Katie hesitated.

"Yes?" I said impatiently.

"I just… needed …..help making a new computer... Private doesn't want to help and Ric…"

"Just stop all the Jibber jabber. I'm gonna help you. I have nothing else to do anyways." I said, jumping into the hatch.

Katie's POV

Ugh. Nice move, Katie. Real smooth. I thought sarcastically. I followed him into the lab. Okay gurl, you made the excuse. Make it look like the truth. I took out a box of wires, metals, tools and other things. "Here are the things I need." I told Skipper, who was leaning on the wall.

Skipper looked at me with confused blue eyes. "You mean… You didn't start yet?" he asked.

I gulped. "Yeah. I just needed help starting." I said, not looking away from the box of wires as I began unpacking wires of many colors.

Skipper neared me and said, "Here, give me those wires."

I gave him the wires and he placed them in a pile.

"I'm… uh… using this as a monitor." I said, holding up a TV screen.

Skipper got the screen from me and placed it on a table. C'mon Katie! Make your move!

"Um… er… Skipper?" I said.

"What is it, Katie?" Skipper replied, plugging wires into the TV.

"You're … um… the red wire is connected to where the white wire is supposed to be." I told him.

"Oh. Sorry." Skipper said awkwardly, pulling the red wire out of its place.

I mentally slapped myself. Focus, Katie! FOCUS!

"…. Skipper?" I asked, scratching the back of my neck.

"Yeah?" Skipper said, cocking his brow at me.

"Well… uh… I…I've been thinking lately… and uh…." I started.

Skipper put a flipper on his hip.

"I… I don't know why I feel this way… b…but I… I kinda.."

ENK! ENK! ENK! ENK!

OH C'MON! I thought.

"Hans is raiding the weapons lab… again…" Skipper announced.

"Who's Hans?" I asked

Suddenly, Private and Rica barged into the lab.

"Skippah! What's the siren for?" Private asked.

"Is there an emergency?" Rica said.

"It's Hans! He's in the weapons lab." Skipper told them.

Both Private and Rica looked at each other in confusion.

Skipper rolled his eyes. "Just move out!" He grumbled.

And we all slid toward the weapons lab.

TO BE CONTINUED…

So that's the end of chapter 2! Oh! And By the way, my school has started, so I'm going to update slowly on these chapters… and when I mean slow, I mean really, really slow. This is the end of my gift! So… THANKS!