Chapter 6:
"Give it up, Larry-Boy!" the Bad Apple taunted the hero. "You're not going near these penguins!"
"Oh yes I will!" Larry-Boy argued.
The two waited for the precise moment to strike. Suddenly, the Bad Apple charged at Larry-Boy with one sharp spider leg pointed towards him, but the superhero was too fast for her. Quickly, he made a side step to the right, letting the apple pass by him. Seeing that she missed, Appley growled in frustration.
"Hold still, hero!" the Bad Apple snapped.
"Says who?" Larry-Boy asked playfully, knowing that that would get under her skin.
"SAYS ME!" the apple yelled back and charged at Larry-Boy again.
Now noticing that his hero was in danger this time, Private stood up in the cage. "I got to save my hero!"
"I believe that would be possible," Kowalski concurred, "if only there was a way to get out of this cage. If you can wait a moment, Private, for me to make some quick calculations…"
"But there's no time!" Private whined. After that, he sucked in his gut and slid through between two of the cage's bars. The other Penguins' jaws dropped as they witnessed their conrad escape from the cage.
"Private found a way out!" Skipper said.
Before the evil apple could force a sharp spider leg at Larry-Boy, Private jumped in between the villain and the hero. Appley stopped abruptly when she saw the penguin.
"How…?" she stuttered. "How did you get out of the cage?"
"That doesn't matter right now, evil apple!" Private said. "I won't let you hurt my superhero."
Larry-Boy looked down and smiled at Private.
All of a sudden, Private went up to the Bad Apple and flipped a kick right at her face, sending her colliding into one of Blowhole's computers. After the forceful impact, the wiring caught hold of her and zapped her unconscious.
"You saved me!" Larry-Boy said to Private.
"Well, Larry-Boy, it's the least I can do since you're my favorite superhero," Private replied. "I mean, I get to fight bad guys all the time, just like you."
But before Private could say anymore, he was being swooped up by a pair of flippers… evil flippers!
"Well, Private," he could hear Dr. Blowhole say to him, "You may have brought down my partner-in-crime, Appley, but you still haven't brought me down!"
"Let me go!" Private struggled.
With that, Dr. Blowhole sped off into the darkest part of the lair with Private as hostage. His evil laughter and Private's pleas for help echoed as the villain absconded from the scene.
The other Penguins, now seeing what happened, get into fighting mode.
"We gotta help Private!" Larry-Boy told the Penguins.
"Alright, boys, and cucumber in the fancy-smancy suit!" Skipper told everyone. "It's time for Operation: Saving Private… uh, Private! Saving Private Private."
"Uh, question," Larry-Boy pointed out. "Do you always name stuff like this as operations?"
"Why… yes I do," Skipper answered. "I mean, I'm leader of Team Penguin here." He pointed to his buddies and they waved at the hero. "What would you call this?"
"Um, never mind," Larry said, "can we just work together to save Private?"
"Oh! Right!" Skipper said in realization. "Boys, commence Operation: Saving Private Private… NOW!"
The Penguins slid on their bellies in the direction where Dr. Blowhole went. Larry-Boy followed. As the Penguins and the superhero pursued the remaining villain, they were careful of their surroundings.
"Be alert, boys!" Skipper whispered. "We don't want to fall into another trap!"
Five seconds later…
"How did you find us?" Dr. Blowhole whined.
"Uh, it's so obvious," Larry-Boy answered. "You left the lights on in here."
"In my bedroom?" Blowhole complained.
The Penguins and Larry-Boy looked around and noticed that they, in fact, were in Dr. Blowhole's bedroom. There was a waterbed and a bed stand at one corner of the room. There was a closet on the opposite side of the room. There was a desk near the bed. Posters of dolphins were scattered all over the walls, as well as a dart board with the Penguins' picture on it. But what caught Larry-Boy's eye was the giant poster of the Bad Apple with a huge heart drawn around her face with a red Sharpie.
This shocked the Penguins and Larry-Boy.
"So…" Kowalski spoke uneasily. "You're not in love with Doris… but with the Bad Apple?"
"Yes I am," Blowhole confessed. This made Kowalski smile. "YES! YES! Doris must still be in love with me!" he said to himself proudly.
Larry raised an eyebrow. "Who's Doris?"
Private went over to him and whispered, "I'll explain later."
Dr. Blowhole turned to face the Penguins and Larry-Boy. "YES! I'm in love with the Bad Apple! So what?"
"I ought to have you and the Bad Apple share a jail cell, because…" Larry-Boy said, and then giggled. Afterwards, he resumed, "… you two really deserve each other." With that, he and the Penguins burst into laughter.
Seeing the perfect opportunity, Private jumped out of Blowhole's arms and joined his buddies. The villain saw this and growled in frustration. "I should've known this was a ploy to distract me! I should've known!"
"And now to bring you to justice, Dr. Blowhole!" Larry-Boy proclaimed.
"My thoughts exactly!" Skipper agreed.
"But I have other plans, peng-you-ins and superhero!" Blowhole exclaimed. Suddenly, his Segway turned into a flying escape bubble. As the bubble went up in the air, the Penguins and Larry-Boy panicked.
"What do we do now?" Private asked. "He's gonna get away!"
Rico shook his fist at the villain.
Then Larry-Boy had an idea. He shot a plunger at the bubble's glass and followed Blowhole upward.
"Larry-Boy!" Private called out to the superhero. "What are you doing?"
"I'm gonna take down the bubble?" Larry-Boy shouted back.
"But how?" Private asked.
Larry-Boy didn't respond. As he dangled from the bubble, he croaked, "I could use some help, though."
"Up in arms, boys!" Skipper proclaimed. With that, the Penguins scrambled to help Larry-Boy bring down Dr. Blowhole once and for all.
"Rico! We need some rope! Pronto!" Skipper shouted to Rico, who had already threw up a long piece of rope. After throwing the rope to Skipper, the penguin leader quickly tied it into a lasso and started to lasso it into the air. After a few rounds, Skipper threw the lasso at Larry-Boy. Luckily, the lasso caught the hero's waist. Unfortunately, the pull of Dr. Blowhole's escape vehicle pulled Skipper with him.
The other Penguins immediately grab Skipper and pulled, leading to a dangerous tug-of-war with Blowhole. Larry-Boy squirmed to take his plunger off of the bubble's glass but failed miserably.
"Ha!" Blowhole taunted inside his escape bubble. "Even your lame superhero can't defeat me! I guess I win this time, peng-you-ins!"
"Oh, no you don't!" Larry-Boy struggled to say. Suddenly, he started bumping himself against the glass. The bubble moved violently to the bumping. Blowhole saw this and panicked.
"What are you doing?" the mad doctor shouted.
"I'm bringing you down!" Larry-Boy answered.
After one hard bump, the superhero held on as the bubble started to malfunction and descend. During the descent, Dr. Blowhole was frantically pushing button after button to resolve the malfunction but failed. The bubble crashed against the wall and the glass protecting Blowhole cracked.
Seeing this, the Penguins lassoed Larry-Boy back onto the ground. "Thanks, guys!" the hero said to them.
"No problem, cucumber hero!" Skipper said coolly.
Now frustrated, Dr. Blowhole retreated out of the broken bubble and wheeled towards the group on his Segway. "You have foiled my plan for revenge and my escape," the villain snarled, "but you haven't seen the last of me… or the Bad Apple!"
"Oh, you don't say?" Larry-Boy commented. "Why, since she's past out, I think I'll surprise her by having her come to in prison. Feel free to share a cell with her, if you'd like."
"But Larry-Boy," Kowalski cut in, "the best punishment for Blowhole is to put him back into captivity."
"You mean here in Coney Island?" Larry-Boy asked.
"Yep," Rico spoke.
"That punishment…" Dr. Blowhole spoke up. "I can't believe I'm saying this… but that would be totally fine with me. Know why? 'Cuz Larry-Boy has no jurisdiction here, in case you peng-you-ins haven't noticed.
"So, I can't be arrested like the Bad Apple. And I'm certainly not going to join her in a cell."
"I thought you said you were in love with her?" Private questioned.
"Yeah…" Blowhole admitted. "But now I have no feelings for her because she had failed me. So… so much for that."
Just then, Dr. Blowhole made a break for the exit. This stunned Larry-Boy and the Penguins.
"What are you doing, Blowhole?" Skipper shouted after him.
"Like I said, peng-you-ins and cucumber freak," Dr. Blowhole shouted back, "Larry-Boy has no jurisdiction here. Also, I only said that going back to captivity was a good idea since I can't be arrested like the Bad Apple. I didn't say that I agreed to that!"
Blowhole threw his head back and laughed wickedly as he escaped his lair in a flash.
"Whoa," Larry-Boy was surprised. Then he asked, "Now what?"
"SELF-DESTRUCT IN TWENTY SECONDS," the group all heard from the intercom.
"That mad doctor has this place in self-destruct!" Kowalski concurred. "I suggest we all leave right away!"
"Uh-huh!" Rico agreed.
"Quick! To the LarryMobile!" Larry-Boy ordered everyone. So he and the Penguins raced over to the LarryMobile to escape the self-destruction of Blowhole's lair.
"And that was what happened!" Private concluded. The Penguins and Larry-Boy were having tea with Archie in the LarryCave.
"That was exhilarating!" Archie commented. "I can't believe you all escaped from that lair!"
"Indeed we did, tuxedo asparagus," Skipper replied. Then he raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're not a penguin yourself? 'Cuz the suit you're wearing…"
"Who? Me?" the butler asked. "No. I am all asparagus, I assure you."
"If you say so…"
"The technology here is incredible!" Kowalski marveled as he looked around the place. "This, indeed, is science heaven!"
"Oh boy," Rico muttered, rolling his eyes.
"So you said Dr. Blowhole got away, correct?" Archie asked.
"Yes, he did," Private said sadly.
"Don't worry, Private," Larry-Boy assured him. "We'll catch him some other time… or my name isn't…" The hero stood up and did a dramatic heroic pose and resumed, "Larry-Boy!"
The Penguins and Archie giggled at the superhero.