Chapter 3:
Love Is In The Air

We made it back to the zoo. It was pretty convenient that we arrived in this dimension on a Saturday night. We got to the penguin habitat and moved over the fishbowl and climbed down the ladder.

"Uh...What are you two doing?" Private and Ash were leaning in so close that it looks like they were about to kiss. "Nothing!" they blurted out in unison, backing away from each other to look at us. "You know what? Gem said the exact same thing when I asked her that..."

They both blushed. Marlene walked over to me. "I think they like each other..." I then whispered back, "I think the same for Gem too. She has been acting weird ever since she saved Rico..." We all helped the three injured penguins onto the table so Ash could treat their wounds.

"So, what's your full names?" asked Gem. The four looked up and answered. "Henry Skipper Jackson. But call me Skipper..." Private replied next. "Private. Private Riley Goodwin. But please, I'd prefer Private..." Kowalski then answered for himself and Rico. "Alfred James Kowalski. And he is Rico Dela Santos. But just call us Kowalski and Rico respectively please..."

Nick and I blinked. "Hey! You didn't tell us your full names the last time we met!" I said. "Well, you didn't ask..." Nick did a faceflipper. "Nevermind..." Gem then said that they had great names. The four smiled, knowing that she doesn't think their names are a bit silly.

"Well, I'm Ashley Carter. But you can call me Ash..." She pointed at Gem. "And she's my step-sister, Gemma Jones..." She shook their flippers. "Please, just call me Gem" Ernie then said out loud, "Sup! Name's Ernie Jenkins. But it's just Ernie..."

By the time we finished this conversation, Ash was done tending to their wounds. They had it worst than Private. Rico had some fractured ribs, Kowalski had cuts in his back from the whipping and Skipper had burns on his left flipper. They all also had various cuts and bruises all over their bodies, including Private.

Now, they look like penguin mummies with all those bandages around them. We gave them some fish and water as they too were starving and dehydrated. We then helped them up into their bunks so they could get some rest.

Sunday morning came to Central Park pretty fast. The four of then were still asleep. We let Gem and Ash sleep in the bunks that Rico had carved out for us last time we were here. Marlene was kind enough to bring some extra pillows and blankets from her habitat for us to use. She was sleeping in too.

Somewhere in the afternoon, I arose from my sleep. I looked over and saw that the two bunks were empty. I turned and Ash was by the four, sitting quietly and staring dreamily at Private as she changed the bandages on his foot. He was awake as well. Gem, however, wasn't there.

I sat up and asked Ash where her sister was. "Oh, she went to the pool up top for a little swim. She does this all the time at home. Says it helps her relax..." I nodded and went up to check on her.

As told, she was swimming briskly in the water. She was actually swimming so fast that I could only catch a glimpse of a black and white mass zoom past in the water.

"Having fun?" I asked sarcastically. She stopped and climbed out. "Wow! That was the best swim I ever had in my life!" Nick then popped out from the fishbowl door.

"I know right? Hey Gem, you want to do something even better?" Gem nodded sheepishly. "BELLYSLIDE!" Nick then got to the other side of the fence and bellyslid. Gem tried too and caught up pretty fast.

They then stopped and went back on the penguin island. "So, when are you telling him?" Nick asked. Gem gasped at this. "H-Him?...W-Who's him? And t-tell him what? Cause if it's that Rico guy, then..." Nick glared at her. "Oh! Who am I kidding! I don't know if I should even tell him! What if he doesn't like me!?"

She put a calming flipper on her shoulder. "You can do it. I know you can..." she said. Gem gulped and asked. "What should I tell him? And how?" I waddled up to them. "Tell him how you feel. He'll understand. And besides, he had black eyes, so he hasn't seen you yet. Who knows? He might fall for you too..." She smiled. "Ok, I'll do it"

We got back inside and noticed that everyone was finally awake. They were all eating some fish around the table. Ash and Ernie were surprisingly eating it too, since she's a badger and he's a lemur. We all then sat round with them.

"How in the world are you two able to eat raw fish?" Nick asked. "We LOVE sashimi!" they replied at the same time. She just did a faceflipper and helped Gem eat her share of raw fish. "You sure 'bout this?" She nodded and Gem slowly ate one fish. "You know, it's not half bad...I like it!" She greedily swallowed the rest of the fish. "That's cause your a penguin, Captainne Obvious..." she said to Gem.

Nick then nudged her. "Come on then..." She groaned. "Alright..." She stopped eating and cleared her throat. "Uh...I got something to say...uh...to Rico..." They all looked at her, ready to hear what she was about to say. Rico was paying the closest attention among us all.

"Uh...well...I'm not sure how to put it but...um...Rico...I...kinda...sorta...you know..." I then bugged in as she was stalling. "She likes Rico..." She glared at me and blushed a bit. "What? You were stalling..." Everyone awed and Rico smiled at her. "Me like you too..." he grunted, showing off his softer side. She lit up and ran to give him a hug.

"You like Rico? COOL! That means we don't have to keep it a secret anymore!" Ash said. They glared at her as she hugged Private. "Ok, now that's just weird..." Skipper claimed as the four lovers hugged each other, Gem with Rico and Ash with Private. It was sweet, to be honest.

I then disturbed the four lovebirds so everyone could hear what I wanted to say. "Ok. Now, I want to say something serious. I've got an idea on how we can stay here without Alice losing her mind..." They all listened carefully to my plan.

"Another transfer! Great, now I got more coming in from...Copenhagen? Whatever, let's just put you where you guys need to go..." It was now the morning of Monday and Alice just received news of a transfer from the Supermax Zoo, Copenhagen.

She went over to the penguin habitat and placed the crate on the island. "Huh...the penguins are missing...whatever. They're probably raiding the zoo storage or something. Not my problem..."

She left the crate on the island, not caring about opening it as she has enough experience to know that the crate WILL be open by the time she comes back with a crowbar or something.

"Ok, on three. 1...2...3!" The crate burst open, revealing five figures. It was me, Nick, Gem, Ash and Ernie. "Well, it's a good thing that we borrowed that crowbar from Rico..." We walked out of the crate and felt the warm sun. "Yeah! Vitamin D!" Ernie said randomly. Like I said, randomness spazzes, even smart talk like that.

We knocked on the fishbowl and the four of them came out. "You sure they won't be suspiscious?" Skipper asked, still covered in bandages. I nodded and they made their way to the vet, for more proper treatment and an alibi for not being there.

"Ok, listen up. Gem, Nick and I will be staying here. You, Ernie, will go and stay over at Julien's while Ash, your gonna have to stay at Becky and Stacey's in the Badger habitat..." Ernie and Ash raised their paws. "Uh, this Julien guy's a lemur, right?"

I nodded. I faced Ash to answer her question. "And you?" She proceeded. "Well, who's Becky and Stacey?" A gave a face that may give her a slight clue. "American Badgers, like you. They are either friends, sisters or something..." She nodded.

"And cause the penguins are currently at the vet, we're gonna have to do Operation: Cute and Cuddly for them, which is basically how we get our lunch..." I finished the briefing and we all headed out.

Private's POV:
The four of us made it to the vet. I felt sorry for Skipper, Kowalski and Rico, as they had it worse than me. But even though what had happened was an awful experience, I felt lucky today. Ever since Josh, Nick and their friends saved me, I actually found the one of my dreams.

As Ashley was taking care of me with Marlene, who was pretty much just napping away, we chatted about whatever popped up, and found we had a lot in common. She told me that she was actually born in Britain too, saying that she lost her accent when she moved to Singapore for her studies or something.

She said that when her parents passed away after she reached 7 years old, her best friend Gem told her that she could stay with her. A year later, Gem's parents adopted her and they have been together since. She also loves candy like I do and she always tries to stay happy.

Long into the conversation, something inside me warmed up. I never felt it before, but as I looked at her, she seems to feel the same way too. We seemed to be under control of a spell or something as we felt ourselves lean in closer to form a kiss. Unfortunately, we got cut off when the others got back...

"Private. Private? Private, snap out of it!" I shook my head and saw the others looking at me strangely. "You ok Private?" asked Kowalski. "Sorry, just...thinking..." I replied.

Skipper rolled his eyes and proceeded in knocking the door. "Coming!" A few moments later, the vet appeared from behind the door. "Oh my! What happened to you four? You look like mummies! I'm guessing the Versuvius Twins again..."

We all nodded as we couldn't say no, as he might investigate. Anyway, the Versuvius Twins did do these kinds of things pretty often, and not just us go to the vet often cause of them.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll fix you all right up. Hmm...Seems that someone has done it already. Well, I guess you guys just have to stay here till your wounds heal, which may take about a week or so..." And with that, he brought the four of us inside.