My Note: Here it is! Chapter 9! Hope you enjoy! (I can't apologize enough for the delays so, sorry again!) Please review! (I think I've put enough disclaimers for people to know I'm not claiming the Penguins of Madagascar as my own.) Please review!


At The Vet's Office..

"Dr. MaGreen! Sage! Sage! Come here! Quick!". Eliza yelled across the room. Sage jumped up at the sound of her voice. He dashed to her side near the unconcious otter.

"Eliza! What? What is it?!", he asked anxiously. Eliza pointed to Marlene's heart monitor. Sage stared at the screen in disbelief. "No. No, no, no, no, no! This can't be happening!", he quickly picked the otter up and checked her pulse.

One.

…...

Two.

…...

Three.

" No, her pulse.. it's deteriorating.", Sage laid her down and raced back to his desk. "There's got to be something, maybe some disease, maybe postpartum, maybe..", he continued mumbling to himself in a frenzied manner as he dug through papers of research on the matter at hand.

Eliza looked at the otter sadly, "If we don't come up with a cure soon... She'll-"

"-I know. And I'm not about to let that happen.", Sage interrupted Eliza; still searching through the many stacks of papers on his desk.

Marlene laid there, almost lifelessly, as the two vets struggled for a reason, a diagnosis, something! Eliza took in the otter's appearance and said, "She needs more blood. Look how white she is!"

Sage took note of her appearance. Her fur was deathly pale and her black lips were lightening as well. "Right. Let's find that penguin, and get some help. This is bigger than us." Eliza nodded and picked up her gun.

Sage gave her a weird look, "Do you really need that?". Eliza rolled her eyes and walked out the door. Sage shrugged his shoulders and followed after her.

Beep...

...

Beep...

The two vets raced to the penguin habitat and were surprised to find the one they were looking for already outside.

Skipper shot up at the sight of the two humans. He had just been getting some fresh air after a few hours of no sleeping.

Sage signaled Skipper to come with them and started heading for the Vet's Office building with Eliza. Skipper's pulse quickened as he slid to the building. ' What's going on?! Is she OK?! Is she... Is she...',

Skipper couldn't allow that thought to be finished.

He came up to the building and the vets held the door open for him. Sage shut the door behind Skipper and walked to where Marlene was laying.

Skipper followed him in a panic and jumped up onto Marlene's bed. He looked down at her with tired, worried eyes.

Sage checked the monitor again.

Beep.

.….

Beep.

...

Beep.

Sage sighed and looked at the otter. He averted the penguin's gaze as he said, "If her pulse continues to decrease... at this rate... she'll...well..."

Skipper shut his eyes tight as tears threatened to escape. He looked at Sage with a hard, determined face. He pulled out the Speak-N-Spell again and typed out, "THERE. MUST. BE. SOME-THING. YOU. CAN. DO."

Sage ran his fingers through the tangled mess of his hair and replied, "If we could just give a diagnosis for what she has, then we'd be able to come up with some kind of cure that could bring her back."

Skipper typed again in reply. "WHAT. IF. I. SAID. I. KNEW. SOME-ONE. WHO. WORKED. ON. HER. AND. COULD. WORK. WITH. YOU. TO. HELP. MAKE. A DIAGNOSIS."

Sage raised an eyebrow in disbelief and replied, "...Who?"

Without a reply, Skipper dashed out of the building. Sage looked on, confused, and waited for about three minutes, before Skipper ran back in with another animal behind him.

"You've got to be kidding, me..", Sage said as soon as he saw who it was.


My Note: OK, you should know who it is by now, but if you don't then, CLIFFHANGER! Hope you guys enjoyed! Told you I'd update again today! Even though it's not real long.. Ah, well! Next chapter will be longer!Review please!