Welcome to the third chapter. So far, so good, hopefully. Let's go.
CHAPTER 3 – Two Curious Pengotters
It didn't take long for us all to arrive back at the HQ. The Pengotters and I went below around the table. Kowalski went below as well, but into his lab. The rest stayed up above. "So how long ago were you born?" I asked of the Pengotters.
"About 9 months ago," Sam answered. "So who's older?" I asked. "I am," Anna said happily. "She always uses that as leverage against me," Sam said sadly. "Trust me, I leverage that against my brother as well. But it's all in good fun. It's just natural sibling rivalry," I said.
"I still want to know how we're possible," Anna said. "I don't know how either, but if Pengotters weren't, you two wouldn't be here right now. That's a plus," I said. "True. I certainly wouldn't want to not exist," Sam said. "I do wonder if you would wind up as yourselves or humans in my universe, though. You exist outside the realm of the show, so there's no counterpart human," I said.
"So you wind up here as a Penguin, yet our parents stay the same there?" Anna asked curiously. "They all do. It's certainly intriguing. Kowalski probably knows the answer why, but once again, it's a fun mystery," I said. (P to up top)
"It certainly is nice to see Matthew again," Marlene said. "Yup," Rico said. "I agree," Private said. "Me, too. I just hope he doesn't declassify our secrets," Skipper said. "I almost forgot. I trust him, though. But if it makes you feel any better I'll go down below and keep an eye on him," Marlene said. "Thank you honey," Skipper said, kissing her. * (P back to myself)
"So what are you three talking about?" Marlene asked, walking over after dropping down. "We're trying to figure out if we would stay ourselves or become human if we visited the other universe," Sam answered. "You'd probably stay as yourselves, seeing as your father and I do. It would be odd explaining to the press over there how we had humans, seeing as we're a Otter and a Penguin," Marlene said.
"What about Pengotters?" Anna said. "You two certainly are curious. I wonder which one of us you got that from. Like we've said before, we'll tell you when you're older," Marlene said. "So how long ago was their first time outside the zoo?" I asked Marlene. "Actually, in order to prevent them from ever going feral like I used to, we had them outside the zoo," Marlene answered. **
"What do you mean by feral?" Sam asked his mother. "Trust me, you don't want to know," I said. "There's some things better left unexplained," Marlene said. "One day, you and Dad will have to declassify those files," Anna said. "Sadly for you two, today is not that day," Marlene said with a smirk to the kids.
"I swear, all of you sound almost exactly like Skipper," I said. They all smiled. "I certainly wouldn't want to sound like Rico," Sam said. We all laughed at that. "So what's your family like?" Anna asked.
"Well, there's me, my parents, my brother, and my dog. It's nice. I'm the tech person of the family, but obviously Kowalski could beat me at that," I said. "Kowalski beats all of us at math and science," Sam said.
"So what did you mean by a human counterpart?" Anna asked. "Well, this universe was somehow modified by the original copyright owners when they made the first movie. That's when your father and the rest of the Penguins left the zoo to go to Antarctica, while the quadrupeds went to Madagascar. That's where they all met Julien, Maurice, and Mort," I explained.
"There were two other movies as well, plus the TV show that brought me to your father," Marlene chimed in. "Back in my world, there's people who sound exactly like everyone here. They call them voice actors. Ever since everyone here broke what's called the fourth wall, those types of shows and movies have gotten more scarce, with everyone fearing there'd be more animals or people like Blowhole out there," I said.
"Oh, right. Now I remember. You've told us that before, Mom. How could we forget that?" Anna asked her. "Too much information since then maybe," Sam said. "You're probably right," Marlene said. "So do you have anymore questions?" I asked the Pengotters.
They both looked at each other for a moment. "Well, I think that's all the questions I've got, how about you sis?" Sam asked. "I think I'm good as well," Anna said. "If you ever have anymore questions, I'll be glad to answer them, as long as your parents haven't classified the response," I said, winking at Marlene.
Suddenly, Kowalski came out from the lab. "I've done it!" he shouted. "What did you invent now Kowalski?" Private asked, dropping down from outside, along with Skipper and Rico. "The Animal Change-O-Matic," he said. "What does it do?" I asked. "It changes animals into other types of animals," Kowalski answered.
"Now why did you create that?" Skipper asked, questioningly. "Since Matthew changes to a Penguin when he's here, but we don't change into humans, I was wondering if I could get us into humans here before we go there," Kowalski said. "Does it work?" Private asked. "I'm not certain right now. Who would like to be the first one to try?" Kowalski asked eagerly.
I stepped back. "I'm already a human, so I must decline," I said. Suddenly Anna and Sam also stepped back. "We're crossbreeds, so we're backing out, too. I don't know how the machine would take that into consideration," Sam said. "And don't you dare think about testing an invention on my wife," Skipper said of Marlene protectively.
"I guess I'll volunteer," Private said. "Splendid. Please go sit on the stool inside the lab," Kowalski said. We all followed the two of them into the lab. After Private sat on the stool, Kowalski plugged in many tubes into Private. "This should be relatively painless," Kowalski tried to assure Private.
He turned the machine on and it looked like it wouldn't fail. Suddenly, it started sparking and bouncing. Private immediately unplugged himself. "Take cover!" Skipper shouted, but it was too late. The machine exploded and a thick purple fog enveloped all of us. We started feeling like we were going to faint. As we did, the last thing I thought I saw was my normal human hand. Then I blacked out.
That's it for chapter 3. Please rate and review. Time for notes.
* I actually came up with this scenario after writing some of the stuff that's now after it. Filled in some missing details.
** In "Otter Gone Wild" Marlene told the guys she had never set foot outside the zoo walls. By being born outside of them, that negates being feral.
