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StoriesAreMagic aka, Sam: Expect the unexpected ;)
Chapter 7
Private stood on Julien's cage, looking around. He spotted something below his feet; it was a coarse, white penguin feather. He sniffed it; it smelled like fish and explosives. Private looked up, the vent had a visible dent in it and he was sure that it wasn't he who did it.
Can it be? He thought, staring up. He wasn't even distracted by the footsteps of Josie entering cautiously.
Julien gasped as Josie came in. "Josie, you're okay!"
"SHH!" Josie pressed a paw to his mouth.
Marlene watched Private curiously, "Private, what are you doing?" She asked.
He didn't answer, but leapt down and examined the feathers on the ground. "They're identical…" he whispered to himself, staring from the feathers on the ground to the one on his flipper."
Back in the laboratory, Kowalski was tinkering with the water they were given. He set out a cup and there was a bubbling noise that went unnoticed by Simon. "Boy, I'm thirsty!" Kowalski said, turning around and taking a gulp of water from the cup he had put out.
"I suppose we could use a water break." Simon muttered, heading over to the emotionless penguin.
He gulped some and grimaced, "Yuck! What do they put in this water?" he asked. "What are you doing?" he eyed Kowalski's sudden move towards the robot.
He turned around and opened his beak, "Hello, I am Kowalski. And you are about to be knocked out." He smirked.
Simon glared and opened his mouth, but he was too groggy to respond; he swayed and fell to the ground with a thud. Kowalski shut him in a cabinet and locked it.
He bolted to the robot and started it, then there was an explosion from somewhere above and thumps followed them. Kowalski steered the robot out and entered the room where Skipper and the others were being held.
"Kowalski!" Private squealed, jumping out of the robot's path.
Kowalski pressed the button he installed and out of the robot's claw shot a chainsaw. He swiped the bars twice, creating holes for the caged animals to escape from. He let out a triumphant smile.
Blowhole and Koru burst into the room.
"It was you who threatened Natty." Kowalski stated angrily.
"YES! An EMPTY THREAT!" Koru smiled evilly, "We DESTROYED that riverbed of otters before your friend JOINED US!"
"You lied to her!" Kowalski growled, gripping the controls
"Setting a trap for me upstairs, hoping I would DIE? I suppose you think you're geniuses, eh?" The dolphin yelled madly, he smacked a button and a giant metal fist came down from the ceiling. "I will ELIMINATE you, just like your little friends!"
Kowalski got out just in time, the fist smashed the once gloriously built robot; metal and glass flew across the room.
Kowalski put his flippers up, ready to fight; Skipper stood next to him; Mort hid behind Maurice, whimpering; Julien held onto Josie and Marlene was hiding behind Skipper.
"We didn't set any traps!" Private protested; Koru tackled him to the ground.
"Oh? And who DID? A GHOST? WAHAHAHAHA!" Koru said, digging his flippers into Private's feathers.
Private screamed in pain, Skipper and Kowalski started forward when Koru was hit from behind and knocked off of Private.
"ME!" a raspy voice came from behind.
"RICO!" The penguins, Marlene, and lemurs except Mort, yelled.
"YOU? I thought you were dead!" Blowhole growled.
Rico hacked up a bat and smashed Blowhole's controls.
"No…WHY?" He wailed, glaring at Rico.
"SELF DESTRUCT IN ONE MINUTE."
Dr. Blowhole looked around and saw Nat smashing a remote. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, LEMUR?"
"PAYBACK!" Nat screamed, "You tricked me!"
Rico blew a hole in the wall and pushed Julien towards it.
"RUN!" Julien screamed as he pulled Josie through the hole; Mort and Maurice ran after them.
"SKIPPER, HELP!" Marlene was being pinned to the wall by Koru, his smelly beak an inch from her face.
Skipper punched Koru and wrestled him to the ground. "Marlene, run!" Marlene ran outside and found the lemurs, hiding.
"You are DEAD!" Koru screamed.
"I'll gladly drag you with me!" Skipper yelled, slamming him into the ground.
WHAM! Skipper was pinned to the wall, choking.
BAM! A webbed foot collided with Koru's skull, leaving him in a daze.
"Brilliant, Private." Skipper gasped, massaging his neck.
Kowalski and Rico slammed into Blowhole and sent him falling off his segway.
"TEN SECONDS TO SELF DESTRUCT, TEN…NINE…"
Rico and Private jumped out the hole and landed on the grass below.
"Come on, soldier!" Skipper ordered, but Kowalski didn't move.
"KOWALSKI!" Private shouted.
"Natty, let's go!" Kowalski yelled.
Nat remained rooted to the spot. "No, it's my fault; I have to pay the consequences."
Five seconds. Skipper thought. I can't believe I'm about to do this.
Kowalski was knocked off his feet and shoved through the hole. Private and Rico dragged him away.
Skipper rushed towards Natty as the place gave a rumble.
"THREE…TWO…ONE... BYE-BYE."
BOOM!
Fire spouted from the center and a column of smoke billowed out, followed by falling rubble. A black and gray blur streaked across the ground, between the falling pieces. Another bang sounded and rubble was shot across empty meadow, burning near the trees.
The building glowed in the dark meadow. The flames flickered and crackled. A rumble came from the center. Blowhole rose from the ruins of his base, he was on a hovercraft surrounded by a bubble. Koru was knocked out and lying on the hovercraft.
They were covered in burns and cuts. "Y-you haven't seen the last of us." Blowhole gasped, "I am going to DESTROY ALL OF YOU!" He zoomed away without another word.
"Coward." Julien scoffed, "I would've taken him."
Josie rolled her eyes.
"Skippa?" Private called, running towards the ruins.
Private heard a groan and saw shifting metal. Skipper was attempting to edge his way out, dragging the unconscious Nat behind him. Kowalski and Rico lifted the chunks of metal from on top of Skipper; Julien and Maurice helped Skipper out; Private, Marlene and Josie carried Nat away from the fire.
The group collapsed, panting, on the grass near the forest.
Josie clutched her belly in pain. She withdrew a paw to find blood; her stomach had been hit by a piece of glass.
"Josie!" Kowalski gasped, he ran up to her and examined the glass. He began to pull it and when Josie didn't scream in pain, he pulled it out faster and it appeared to be a piece the size of Julien's ear. "How far are you?" Kowalski asked, giving her a concerned look.
"Two months." Josie said, feeling all over her stomach. She stopped in one place and held her breath. Then she exhaled, looking satisfied, "Kick. I think the baby's fine."
"All the same, we should have you checked out-" The rest of Kowalski's sentence was blocked out by a high-pitched wail; flashing lights told them that firefighters were responding to the smoke.
The animals fled through the meadow and ran through the trees to find a river. "Where are we?" Mort cried in despair.
Nat groaned and slowly opened her eyes to hear Mort crying.
"Shush silly Mort, We are obviously in Central Park." Julien snapped.
"No." Skipper said, "This is the Hudson River, we're in Riverside Park."
Private gasped, "But that's miles away from Central Park, let alone the zoo."
"I know. Rico, did you happen to put our car in your gut?" Skipper asked hopefully.
Rico shook his head, but he coughed up two skateboards, a mini rocket and a rope.
"Better than nothing." Marlene said, helping Nat to her feet.
Julien, Maurice, Mort, Nat and Josie climbed on the back skateboard as Rico tied the rope around it. He tied the other end to the front skateboard which Marlene and the penguins stood on. Rico was in the back of the front board, he lit the rocket and they shot off.
"Head for 66th street!" Skipper hollered.
In a blur of black, white, gray and spots of brown, the group shot down 66th street and zoomed to 65th. Skipper saw Central Park looming closer and warned Rico to let go of the rocket soon. They entered the park and Rico let go of the rocket. The rope became tangled in fallen branch and they were thrown off their transportation. They skidded to a stop; the familiar red brick wall was barely visible.
The group trudged home; Skipper yawned and looked at the clock tower: four o' clock in the morning. The animals entered the zoo and made it to their habitats before collapsing with exhaustion. Marlene fell asleep in her cave immediately; the penguins barely managed to jump in their bunks before falling asleep; the lemurs, except for Nat, fell asleep on the bouncy as soon as they set foot on it.
Nat, eyes sagging with exhaustion sighed and walked out of the habitat and towards Alice's office.
Hours later, Josie woke to find herself in the animal hospital. The doctor smiled and put more medicine on her and she realized that it stung. "OW! Careful, I have a baby in there!" She squealed, smacking the hand away.
The doctor bandaged her and spoke, "Do not worry, the sting doesn't last forever. What were you doing anyway? You want to be careful because you are about to have a baby in a month or so."
"Yeah, I know." Josie retorted, knowing that he could not understand her.
"I just finished bandaging two of the penguins. Did they get in a fight over you?" The doctor raised his eyebrow at the lemur.
She shook her head. "No, I like Julien…wait; you're talking to an animal." Josie stifled a giggle.
The doctor laughed too, "Of course not, you're all friends."
Alice entered the room, "Hey Doc, are you done now?"
"Yes Miss Alice. I was wondering if the girl ringtails got in a fight over the male ringtail." He replied.
Alice took Josie carefully, "I don't know, but it won't happen." She responded, "We transferred out the other female a few hours ago. I came to work and there were transfer papers for me."
Josie squeaked as she was taken away
Alice placed her on the grass and left to check on Marlene.
Josie searched the habitat; the boys were sleeping on the bouncy, but Nat was nowhere in the habitat. She gasped and jumped over the wall and climbed the fence to the penguin habitat. Entering the fishbowl entrance, she hurried down the ladder and proceeded to poke Skipper awake.
"INTRUDER!" Skipper twisted out of his bunk and struggled in his blanket before realizing who had entered. The other three had woken at Skipper's yell and watched their leader untangle from the blanket, then he stood to face Josie.
"Josephine, what the deuce are you doing?" Skipper began.
"Nat's gone, she left hours ago. There were transfer documents on Alice's desk." She told them.
Kowalski sank back into his pillow and stared at the top of his bunk; a small tear escaped his eye.
The visitors were less impressed today because the penguins, lemurs and the otter were tired and sad. News of Nat's disappearance spread through the zoo like wildfire. At closing time, the thin trickle of visitors left and Alice closed the gates happily.
Six o' clock found the penguins and Marlene in Alice's office along with the chimpanzees.
Phil, the lighter brown of the two read the screen and signed to the dark Mason who translated in a thick British accent. "Lemur transfer to…ugh, Phil are you sure?" Mason asked; Phil nodded sadly. "She's transferred herself to Hoboken." Mason concluded with a shiver; Marlene left to tell the lemurs.
Skipper shrugged, "Eh, good place for her." He slid out of the room, followed by the other three.
"Skipper!" Kowalski yelled as the leader came to a stop. "You can't honestly mean that." Kowalski said furiously.
"Yes, I can." Skipper said bluntly, watching the chimps return to their habitat. "She betrayed us. I took pity on her and rescued her from death, but I will not rescue her from Hoboken."
Private gasped, "But-"
"No." Skipper said. Rico was about to protest when Skipper held up a flipper. "My decision is final, I order you to stop trying to convince me otherwise." He disappeared into HQ.
Private looked upset, "Now what?" he asked the other two. Rico was halfway regurgitating a hammer when Kowalski shook his head. Rico swallowed the hammer and waited for Kowalski.
"Now, we do as Skipper ordered." Kowalski said, "Even if we want to, we can't. I stand by Skipper even if I don't agree with him, he's the reason I survived thirteen years ago."
Private and Rico nodded, following Kowalski onto the imitation ice floe. Kowalski looked out onto the horizon while the other two disappeared inside HQ. He looked in the direction of New Jersey; the sky was a faint darkening blue with splashes of reddish gold. He remembered Emma telling him that sometimes the sky foretold things. The colors reminded Kowalski of blood and friendship.
So, he thought. Struggles are coming our way, but we'll remain united. He noticed a particularly red spot over the lemur habitat. No. I'm sorry Emma, but that's not logical. He thought he saw a face flash across the sky, it looked like a penguin, but it was gone quickly. "Good luck, Nat." he mumbled before wandering down the fishbowl.
A/N: Thank you! This story is far from over though, please read and review. Also PM me, I wish to hear your thoughts and questions. Tell me what you liked, didn't like, what was confusing, what you want me to add, or what I can improve on. Nat will return! The next chapter will be one month later, Josie's about to have the baby and I'll summarize what happened in the month since Natty left. -T.K
