Alright, originally I had different plans for this chapter, but considering I haven't actually seen the episode that I'm basing it off of, I don't think I'd be able to pull it off. So, if anyone can point me to where I can find a good video of the episode entitled "Otter Things Have Happened" that doesn't cost anything, I would really appreciate it. And I tried Youtube, by the way. No dice.
Chapter 9 – Roommates (Marlene's Story)
It was yet another beautiful day at the zoo, and Marlene had just woken up, preparing for yet another day of entertainment when the gates finally open.
As she walked out of her cave, about ready to hop in the water and go for a swim, she suddenly noticed something was wrong.
"What the-"
It turns out that there wasn't any water at all. She could clearly see the bottom of the tank, which greatly confused her.
"What's the deal? Why would they just take all of my water without even asking?" she said to herself.
Shrugging, she decided to head over and ask the penguins to see if they knew anything about it. The only problem was that she couldn't actually get to the other side, due to the large gap between her and the outside of the habitat.
Marlene quickly looked around, trying to see if there was anything she could use to bridge the gap. Unfortunately, the only thing she could see was the board that Alice uses to cross the gap herself, and it was on the other side.
Unable to think of any other options, she walked over as close to the edge as possible and peered over at the penguin habitat, hoping that they weren't inside the HQ. Thankfully, they were all topside, so Marlene cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling as loud as she could.
"Hey you guys! I need some help over here!"
Marlene waited, hoping that one of the penguins heard her. She finally saw Skipper's head turn a few seconds later, and she waved to catch his attention. She saw him say something to Kowalski before finally heading over to her.
However, before she could warn him, Skipper hopped over the fence and fell face first into the ditch with a yelp. Marlene looked into the ditch as she cringed.
"Sorry, Skipper. I tried to warn you that there wasn't any water."
Skipper grumbled before getting up.
"What's the deal, Marlene? Why don't you have any water in here?"
"You got me. I was hoping you guys would know."
"Well, we don't. Now, would you mind helping me up?"
Marlene reached out her hand, grabbing Skipper and pulling him up.
"Now what?" she asked.
Skipper didn't reply. Instead, he placed the tip of his flipper into his beak and whistled loudly. Slightly confused, Marlene waited to see what was going on when she saw Kowalski, Private and Rico hop out of the pool back at the penguin habitat and head their direction.
Thankfully, Skipper was more prepared this time, as he stopped them in their tracks just as they got up to the top of the fence separating the habitat from the pathways.
"Marlene? What are you and Skippah doing all the way over there?" asked Private as he looked at the empty chasm separating them.
"I wish I knew. I just woke up, and all of the water in my tank was gone!"
Kowalski suddenly hopped off of the fence without warning, disappearing from view. As Marlene looked on confused, the analyst suddenly hopped back up a minute later carrying a large yellow sign.
"I think this might have something to do with your problem, Marlene."
Suddenly beginning to understand, Marlene looked back at Kowalski expectantly.
"Really? What's it say?"
Kowalski studied the sign for a few moments.
"I don't know. Judging from the color of the sign, this must be some kind of warning."
"Oh my god, I knew somebody was going after Marlene. Come on, we need to take you some place safe!" said Skipper, grabbing Marlene's hand.
"Skipper, wait! I doubt that it's anything that bad. It's more likely something to do with her habitat then with her."
Skipper was slightly disappointed it wasn't what he thought it was, but he didn't dwell on it.
"Alright, we should take this sign over to the monkeys and see what it says."
Kowalski, Private and Rico saluted as they hopped off of the fence.
"Hey! Get back here and help us, soldiers!" said Skipper.
The rest of the team hopped back on the fence, slightly embarrassed, as they formed a chain, allowing Skipper and Marlene to climb out of the habitat.
A little while later, the group found themselves inside the monkey habitat, looking at Mason as he intently studied the sign that Kowalski gave him. Finally, he shrugged and showed the sign to Phil, who started signing, translating to Mason what the sign was supposed to mean.
"This habitat is closed for repairs. Was there some sort of damage to your habitat, Miss Marlene?"
Marlene thought for a second.
"Well, there was all that damage Rico caused. I thought we cleared that all up?"
"Well, there is a possibility that we might have missed something during that night that Alice must have noticed. That must be why she drained your pool." said Kowalski.
"Then why would she leave me in my habitat instead of putting me somewhere else?"
"Well, we all know what Alice is like, but let's not dwell on that. The real problem we're facing is where you're going to live while your habitat is getting repaired. We don't want you to have to spend your nights living in a cage, or worse." said Skipper.
Marlene paused as she thought about what she wanted to do.
"How about I live with you guys?"
"Absolutely not. We can't afford to be giving away our secrets to an outsider, even if it is you." said Skipper, shaking his head.
"Oh come on, Skippah! We can't just leave Marlene out in the cold!" said Private.
Skipper looked around at the rest of his team. Rico was of course being Rico, but from what he could tell from Kowalski's expression, he seemed like he wouldn't mind. Reluctantly, Skipper sighed.
"Fine, but only until the damage to her habitat is repaired. Once it's fixed, she's gone. You got that?"
"No problem, Skipper. I didn't have any plans on sticking around after anyway." said Marlene.
Skipper nodded, apparently satisfied. Private, on the other hand, immediately hugged Marlene.
"Yay! It'll be like a sleepover!"
Marlene gave a reluctant chuckle, but she did agree internally that it would be nice to spend some more time out of her habitat for once.
Unfortunately, by the time Marlene's living situation was sorted out, the zoo was about to open for the day, so Marlene and the penguins had to quickly run back to the habitat to get ready.
"Alright, men….and Marlene. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we were unfortunately unable to get warmed up for the day, so we're going to have to wing it. I want extra cute and cuddly today. No exceptions!" said Skipper.
The other three penguins saluted, but Marlene raised her hand.
"Uh, what should I do?"
Skipper was about to answer, but he paused as he realized he didn't think that far ahead. Thankfully, Kowalski was there to help.
"We do need to have you visible so Alice doesn't start asking questions, so keeping you inside the HQ is not an option. What you can do is swim around the pool. That should hopefully pacify the humans."
"Great idea, Kowalski! There is one thing I must ask of you, though, Marlene. Please make sure not to draw any unnecessary attention to us."
Marlene was curious, but the lack of time before the zoo's opening prevented her from delving into his reasoning, so she nodded.
"You won't even know I'm here."
"But you will be. Won't you?" asked Private, confused.
Marlene chose not to answer that question, instead hopping into the water just as the crowds started coming in to the zoo.
As the penguins put on their usual routine, Marlene started to swim around in the water, doing tricks every so often behind the penguins.
Whenever Alice showed up with a group of visitors, she was about to launch into her usual explanation about the penguins when she suddenly noticed Marlene in the same habitat. She was slightly confused for a moment before suddenly realizing that she now didn't have to worry about finding a different place to keep her while Maurice dealt with the cracks in the tank.
So, she shrugged, turning towards the crowd and melding together her usual speeches about the penguins and Marlene while also explaining about the repairs being done.
"Good, she's gone. Let's get Marlene down into the HQ while no one's looking." said Skipper.
However, Marlene was starting to get really into her routine, doing flips and making a show of herself.
"Marlene, stop! I told you not to draw attention to yourself!" Skipper yelled.
Unfortunately, her antics drew a group of people over to the habitat, and the penguins were forced to return to their cute and cuddly routine. However, since the humans wouldn't leave, Skipper was forced to hiss to Marlene what he wanted to say.
"Marlene! Stop this right now or I'm kicking you out of here!"
Thankfully, Marlene heard that and immediately stopped, disappointing the people as they began walking off. Skipper took the opportunity to start roughly pushing Marlene towards the hatch.
"Make yourself at home. And please, don't come out until the humans leave. We have some things we need to discuss."
Despite Marlene's protests, Skipper threw open the hatch and tossed Marlene down there, before shutting it again. The other three penguins looked at Skipper confused, forcing the commander to take action.
"What are you all standing around for? Get back to the cute and cuddly, men!"
After a long time of Marlene having to wait inside the HQ for the zoo to close, the penguins finally hopped down the ladder, only for Skipper to quickly make his way over to her and point an accusing flipper in her face.
"What was that all about, Marlene? You almost blew our cover!"
Marlene stared at the flipper for a few seconds before pushing it aside and speaking.
"Hey, I can't help it if I get really into swimming. I'm an otter, just in case you haven't noticed! Besides, what's the big deal anyway?"
Skipper was about to answer before Kowalski stepped in front of him, placing both flippers on his shoulders.
"I think it would be a pretty good idea if you went outside to cool off for a bit. I'll handle the rest of this."
Skipper opened his beak to argue before realizing Kowalski had a point.
"All right. I'll be topside if you need me. And please, make sure she doesn't touch anything classified."
Kowalski nodded, and Skipper made his way over to the ladder, hopping up it and closing the hatch behind him.
"So, would you mind explaining to me what Skipper's deal is, Kowalski?" asked Marlene, looking at the analyst expectantly.
"Well, um…let's just say that Skipper doesn't like being overshadowed by someone else."
Marlene curiosity was piqued at hearing about this, but she tried her best to hide it, adopting a sarcastic attitude.
"Really?"
"Now, don't get me wrong, Marlene. Skipper has always been all about the team. He wouldn't be commander otherwise. But whenever, say, another team happens to be better at something than we are, he can't take it. He has to do something with us that is better in everyone else's eyes than what the other team does. But that's just an example."
Marlene paused as she tried to comprehend what Kowalski just said.
"Wow, that's something. I certainly didn't expect Skipper to be a show-off type of penguin."
"I wouldn't say show-off, Marlene. I would say he's more along the lines of prideful. As I've said before, he's always looked out for us, through thick and thin."
Marlene shrugged.
"Fair enough. I'll believe you, Kowalski. Anyway, do you guys want to do something fun?"
The mood in the room noticeably brightened, with Private the first to speak up.
"Ooh, I've got an idea! Why don't we watch some of the telly? There's a special episode of the Lunacorns on!"
Instead of everyone agreeing instantly, Rico pretended to retch, while Kowalski looked at Private, trying to figure out the best way to refuse while not upsetting the young penguin.
"Look, Private, while I'm not going to stop you if you want to watch your little show, I think the rest of us would like to do something that's a little more in our…ahem…age range?"
Unfortunately for the analyst, Private was still pretty disappointed at being rejected. However, Marlene suddenly spoke up.
"I'll watch it with you, Private."
Both Rico and Kowalski looked at Marlene with shocked expressions on their faces, earning the two of them glares from the otter.
"Oh come on, you guys! Watching Lunacorns can't be that bad for you two."
"Actually, I beg to differ, at least in Rico's case. With the constant need for wanton destruction going on in his psychotic mind, the cute and mushy content in shows like the Lunacorns would make Rico violently ill." said Kowalski.
Marlene was noticeably weirded out, but she shrugged it off and turned towards Kowalski.
"So, what about you, Kowalski? I hope you have a good enough excuse to chicken out, because I won't take no for an answer."
Kowalski looked at Marlene and Private nervously, desperately trying to think of an excuse to get out of watching the show. He had no experiments he could work on, and he couldn't just leave considering he had to watch everyone while Skipper was out.
Reluctantly, he sighed, defeated.
"Alright, I suppose I'll join you guys."
Private beamed now that he had some company at the TV. The three of them walked over to the television and turned it on, sitting down in front of it while Rico evacuated the area as quickly as he could, choosing to keep his attention on combing Miss Perky's hair.
As the three of them watched the show, Marlene decided to have some fun with Rico and Kowalski, turning towards Private.
"So Private, what can you tell me about this show? I've never heard of the Lunacorns before."
Kowalski's eyes widened in fear as he immediately realized what Marlene was about to do. However, it was too late for the analyst to intervene, as Private immediately launched into a long winded explanation of practically everything that had to do with the Lunacorns.
Rico shot out of the room like a rocket, and all they could hear over Private's talking was the sound of Rico actually retching. Kowalski, meanwhile, desperately tried to cover his earholes, wanting to block out Private's yammering, but it was no use, and he was forced to endure it, grumbling the whole time. Thankfully, Private was still engrossed in his explanations, so he had no idea what was going on around him.
Skipper finally returned not too long after Private finished talking. As he looked around, he saw Rico slumped over the table with a dazed look on his face and some puke dribbling down the side of his beak, while Kowalski was in the fetal position, nervously rocking back and forth. He looked over at Marlene, who appeared to be the only sane one in the room besides Private.
"What happened here?" he asked, confused.
"Oh, it was just a small prank. Nothing to worry about." said Marlene, smiling.
Skipper looked at Marlene weirdly for a few seconds, before walking over to Kowalski and helping him up to his feet.
"Come on, soldier. Up and at 'em!"
"Is…is it over?" asked Kowalski, paranoid.
Skipper stared at Kowalski for a few seconds before doing the first thing he could think of, which was to slap his second-in-command.
"Thank you, sir. I needed that."
Skipper nodded before walking over to where Rico was sitting, bringing the manic penguin back to his senses as well.
Once everyone was back to normal, they all focused their attention on Skipper, as it appeared that the commander had something he wanted to say. However, instead of speaking to everyone, he turned towards Marlene.
"Hey Marlene, I just wanted to apologize for the way I was acting this afternoon. I'm sure Kowalski mentioned it to you already, but I can go a bit overboard with things sometimes."
"Oh, it's no problem, Skipper. You're a great commander, even if your expectations can be a bit overblown."
Skipper nervously cleared his throat as he tried to hide his slight blush.
"Now that that is over with, it's getting late, so it's time for bed everyone. I want you all up bright and early for our daily training sessions!"
The other three penguins saluted before hopping into their beds along the wall. However, before Skipper could go to bed as well, Marlene suddenly spoke up.
"Hey Skipper, what about me? Where am I gonna sleep?"
Skipper paused as he thought about what to do. He looked around the room, trying to see if there was a good place she could sleep, but nothing worked out.
"I guess I could share some space with you in my bed."
Marlene was slightly taken aback, not expecting someone like Skipper to want to go that far.
"Wow, Skipper, that's so unlike you."
Skipper sighed, pointing his flipper at his bed.
"Just get in. I don't want to do it, but there isn't really any other choice."
Marlene shrugged before hopping into Skipper's bed, the penguin commander slipping in next to her.
The next day, not long after Marlene and the penguins woke up, the otter came up topside to find that the tank in her habitat was filled up again, and the signs were all gone.
"Oh hey, it looks like they've finally fixed my habitat!" she said as the penguins came up the ladder.
"That's good. Now things can finally get back to normal." said Skipper.
Marlene waved goodbye to the penguins as she began heading back towards her habitat, only for Private to walk in front of her.
"I had loads of fun last night, Marlene. I hope we can do this again sometime."
"Me too, Private. Me too."
She gave Private a hug, and as she walked off, Skipper looked at her disappearing form, regretting his decision to lie about his reasons for sharing beds with her.
In case anyone's curious, the last chunk of the story was a shoutout to all of the Skilene supporters out there. Not only that, it was also a bit of a preview for the next Marlene chapter. I won't tell you what it's about, though.
