Welcome to chapter 4. Time to break more people out of wherever they are. Let's go.

CHAPTER 4 – Options Man

(P to Blowhole somewhere on the east coast)

"Doc! Doc!" Red One was shouting to me. "What?" I asked. "In the last few hours, two of our defeated enemies have disappeared," Red One said. "What?! Weren't you supposed to be watching all of them?" I asked, angry.

"We were! But Matthew literally vanished from his zoo and Marlene is no longer at the Oakland Zoo," Red One said nervously. "What?! We had lobsters at both zoos! Send all available lobsters and other henchmen to the other zoos! Knowing those two, they're trying to stop me again!" I ordered Red One.

(P back to myself) "What's the best option?" I asked the three. We all thought for a moment. "Wait! The GPS chips! Dad and the guys got theirs before they came here originally," Anna said. "You're right!" I agreed. I quickly scoured my phone, hoping Kowalski had also put the GPS chip finder inside. "Got it!" I exclaimed.

I mirrored my phone to the TV so we could all see it. "There they are!" Sam exclaimed, seeing a map of the US with seven location dots. Three were ours, so we disregarded them. Marlene hadn't gotten her chip until after what happened last year, so there was no location for her.

"So Kowalski's in San Francisco, Private is in Sacramento, and Rico is in Los Angeles," I said. "Dad's in New York. How are we supposed to get all the way there? And how has he not broken out yet?" Anna asked. "Blowhole… Mind Jacked… Skipper," Marlene said sadly.

"No spirit guide this time? Darn it!" I exclaimed in frustration. "Kowalski looks like he's the closest. Maybe he can help us figure out how to get there and fix this," Marlene said. "Agreed. So over the bridge or around the bay? The San Francisco Zoo isn't anywhere near a BART station," I said. "How many people still live in San Francisco after all this time?" Anna asked. "Well, Blowhole did scare everyone into hiding when he came here in the first place," I said.

"Did they come out after we stopped him?" Marlene asked me. "Actually, you guys were revealed to the world when they came back out. But because of that, I stopped the company that formerly owned you from messing with your world. But Blowhole probably took control, seeing as you all still exist," I said.

"Interesting. Tell me later, please. But the bridge should be a fine option in the meantime," Marlene said. "We agree," the kids said. "Alright then. But first I'll need more gas for the car," I said. "Can you pay with your phone for that?" Anna asked.

I sighed. "I sure hope so. Paying for gas isn't as simple as paying for a ticket to go somewhere though," I said. "We've got to try at least," Sam said.

"I really hope it works," I said. We headed out to the car and drove to the gas station. There was no one there, but cars were passing it by. "You three stay here. And try to stay out of view of the security cameras. We don't know if Blowhole can use them or not," I said. They all tried to hide in areas of the car that had shade while I got out casually and walked up to the pump.

"Hmm… when did they add this option?" I wondered, seeing a familiar payment system. It was one of the Internet payment systems. I punched in my login and it worked. "I guess I still have cash there," I thought to myself.

I took the pump out and selected the cheapest gas, since I didn't know how much I actually had. After about five minutes of dispensing gas, the car was full again. I put the pump back and selected no receipt since it wouldn't give me any useful information anyway.

I got back into the car. "Did it work?" Anna asked. "Somehow, it did. But not from my phone, it actually worked with one of my online payment systems," I said, starting the car. "Lucky for us that Blowhole didn't touch that," Sam said, after we all buckled back up and started driving. "That's an interesting oversight of his. Of course, to him at the time, I was just some human," I said. "He did use truth serum on us," Marlene said sadly.

"What information did he get out of us?" I asked, curious. "For Skipper and I, he found out how long we had loved each other and then severed our connection," Marlene sad sadly. "For you, he got information about… your family," Marlene continued. "What did he do with them?" I asked nervously. "He sent them to our world, I think. Other than that I don't know," Marlene said. "Better your world than anything else," I said.

"We didn't see them at the zoo. And they were dogs when we were all humans, so Officer X may have gotten to them," Anna said. "When were we human?" Marlene asked. I pulled my phone out of my pocket again and gave it to the kids to navigate to the pictures. * "About three months ago," Sam answered while scrolling.

"Wow. That's what I look like as a human?" Marlene asked, probably looking at the pictures. I didn't turn my head, as I had to focus on the road. "Yes. Skipper kept thinking you were beautiful. But as humans, you kept pining to kiss his beak," I said, slightly laughing.

Marlene laughed. "That sounds like me. But why am I wearing a dress?" Marlene asked. "It was your first anniversary," I answered. "Blowhole took all this away from me. He is truly evil," Marlene said. "Which is exactly why we need to reverse this," I said. (P to an hour later)

"Time to hide again?" Marlene asked, once we reached the zoo. "Yes. I think I'll get a backpack or something while we're here, since it'll be easier for you to climb in and out of, and you'll have more space," I said. "Fine with us," Anna said. The three jumped into the bag and I carefully put it over my shoulder.

In order for all of them to be comfortable, I first picked up a backpack at the store, which again was done with my phone. After we cleaned it out of the stuff that it comes with, the three jumped into their own compartments, put poked their heads out carefully.

We walked towards where the Penguins were. "Isn't that Kowalski's abacus?" Anna asked as we got close. "It looks like it," I said. I stooped down to pick it up, but stopped when I saw a thin, nearly invisible line attached to it.

"Don't touch the abacus. It looks like it'll activate a trap," I told the three. "Where's the trap?" Marlene asked. I followed the cable with my eyes until I saw a cage suspended above us in a tree. "Up there," I said while pointing. They all looked up and saw the trap as well.

We got out of range of the cage and thought how to get the abacus without being caught. "Who wants to cut the line, but out of range of the cage?" I asked. "I'll do it," Anna volunteered.

I crouched down, so it would be easier for her to get out of the backpack. She climbed the tree and cut the line and the cage fell on the abacus. Anna jumped back into her spot in the backpack and poked her head back out.

It took quite a bit of pulling on the cage to pick it up since it was pretty heavy, but we got it off the abacus. "Now for Kowalski himself," I said to the group, picking up the abacus. We continued walking to where the Penguins usually are.

When we reached there, there were no Penguins. "Where are they?" I wondered aloud. Suddenly, a dozen lobsters popped up out of the grass nearby. The four of us got into fighting stances.

"Where's Kowalski?" I asked the lobsters. One of the lobsters pressed a button on a tree and a hologram Blowhole appeared. "Somewhere in the zoo. But you won't reach him," Blowhole said, having probably heard what I said.

"We highly doubt that," Anna said. "Well, well, two new recruits," Blowhole said, now realizing Anna and Sam were here. Who could possibly want to join your failed group?" Blowhole asked. "You think we'd ever actually tell you?" Sam retorted.

"Whatever. When I defeat you again, then I'll find out where you came from," Blowhole said. I was about to say something about us never actually being beaten, but stopped myself. "A loss for words eh, Matthew?" Blowhole mocked.

"Like that could ever happen. Why don't you act like a true dolphin and face us yourself?" I mocked back. "Like I'd risk that. Lobsters, attack!" Blowhole ordered. The image cut out and the lobsters started to attack.

We all pounced back at them and began punching and kicking them into trees, knocking them out. They almost nicked us a few times with their claws, but as soon as they missed, we punched them.

After 10 minutes, we finally got them all unconscious. "Really? Lobsters? Too easy," Marlene said, cleaning dirt off herself. We looked at her in shock of what she said. "Uh, you didn't see anything," Marlene said, waving her paws like Skipper and blushing. **

"Even after not seeing Skipper for over a year, you still act like him," I said. "Do I do that often normally?" Marlene asked. "Actually, Mom, that's the first time we know of," Anna said. Marlene smiled. "Well, someone has to do that," Marlene said, smiling. "So where could Kowalski be?" I asked the group after a minute. "Let's check that tree. There has to be more than one button on it," Sam suggested.

We gathered around the tree and indeed saw multiple buttons. "Interesting, they're even labeled. How'd no one see this before?" I wondered. "Maybe after you broke me out, they installed this," Marlene suggested.

"That's quick work for that," I said, looking for a possible button to find Kowalski. "Hey, this one says control the penguin habitat," Sam said, finding one on the opposite side. "Press it," I said, after looking at it.

Sam pressed it and the penguin habitat flipped over, revealing all of the Penguins. "Each word, each syllable consumes more and more of our precious oxygen!" I heard Kowalski shouting from within the group. ***

"Kowalski! You're out! You have unlimited oxygen now!" I shouted. Suddenly the screaming stopped and we all saw a very confused and curious Kowalski emerge from the group of frankly frightened Penguins.

"Marlene? Matthew? What are you doing here?" Kowalski asked us, very curious. "Breaking you out to help stop Blowhole," I answered, while offering my hand for a handshake.

I hoped he would take us being here than Marlene did of myself being at the Oakland Zoo all of a sudden. Kowalski shook my hand, but didn't lose his gaze. "How did you get away from your zoos and lobsters?" Kowalski asked.

"I'll tell you on the way out," I said, motioning for the group and Kowalski to follow me to the exit and get on our way. Everyone followed me; since the lobsters were defeated, there was no longer a reason to hide in the backpack.

"Who are you two?" Kowalski asked, now seeing Anna and Sam. "I guess you don't remember them either," Marlene said. "I'm Annabelle," she said, introducing herself. "I'm Samuel," he said, introducing himself. They both shook their flippers and paws with Kowalski.

"It's nice to meet you. But where did you come from?" Kowalski asked. "Based off what they've told me, I think… me," Marlene said. "I can understand Annabelle, but Samuel?" Kowalski asked.

The three of us who remembered sighed as we all got into the car. After we got our seatbelts on, I handed back Kowalski's abacus to him. After about 15 minutes, we had explained everything to Kowalski.

"Interesting. Blowhole changed the past, but technically I saved you three," Kowalski said. "And my phone. But for some reason, not the suits," I said. "I see the problem there.

You did fall out of your bunks in the middle of the night. I may have gotten to your phone first and was about to do the suits when time changed," Kowalski said to me. "Well, now we can forgive you for that, since it wasn't your fault that you couldn't do the suits," Anna said. "So those worked without malfunctioning?" Kowalski asked.

"Unlike when you made us humans, they did. We must have gotten lucky," Sam said. "You must have, like you two existing at all," Kowalski said to Anna and Sam. "Speaking of that, where are we headed?" Kowalski asked.

"After Marlene and yourself, Private is the closest, followed by Rico, and Skipper," I said. I once again gave Anna my phone to show Kowalski the GPS chips' locations.

"Skipper was right. Those chips were a good idea," Kowalski said. "Yes, but how are we supposed to get to Skipper? He's thousands of miles away," Marlene said. "And you've said jet packs built from parts here won't fly," I added.

"Well, with that information, it would take a week of driving and three days by train," Kowalski explained. "I wish they had gone ahead with the Hyperloop," I said. ****

"What is that?" Kowalski asked. "Basically a super bullet train. It can go 760 MPH (1,220 KM/h)," I explained. "Yes, that would be a much better option. But we should fly on a plane, since that would be the quickest option," Kowalski explained.

"How are we all supposed to get on a plane? We're not human at the moment," Marlene said. "Maybe we could go around airport security through the air ducts in the airport," Kowalski suggested. "We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it I guess," I said. With that, we continued on our way to Private.

Got Kowalski. Now we need the other guys. Please review the chapter. Reviews seriously will always mean a lot. Time for some notes, as usual.

* Remember, in Book 3, we all took pictures of us as humans.

** Referencing whenever Skipper does that in the movies or the show. But for a good example, look around the beginning of "Truth Ache." Also, I couldn't resist Marlene using a Skipper quote.

*** Referencing "Snowmageddon" when Kowalski, Private, and Fred were stuck in the tree.

**** Search for it online. It's super cool.