Okay Skilene fans, the moment you've all been waiting for…Skilene!!
Oh, and a BIG thank you to everyone who has reviewed my story! I really appreciate it!! :)
Oh, and I have some judo in here for when the penguins train. I know nothing about judo, and I just googled it to get some of the names of the moves…and they might be totally incorrect and none of it might not make any sense. So I'm sorry to all of you who are learned in the art of judo and find my description of it totally wrong. I just wanted to make the penguins seem more, well rounded in fighting and stuff. Lol!
"Okay guys, and girl, chow time!" Alice hollered as she dumped a bucket-full of fish onto the cement platform.
"Feeeesh!!" Rico screamed happily, and he chortled as he clapped his flippers together in anticipation.
He hurriedly gobbled five fish and sighed with content before laying back and lazily munching on a sixth.
Skipper tossed up a couple of fish and caught them in his mouth, showed satisfaction for their taste and continued eating a few more.
But while Rico and Skipper enjoyed their afternoon meal, Nadine, Kowalski, and Private hardly touched a single fin.
"Kowalski! Private! What's up with you two? You can't avoid a meal, it lowers your stamina! Is something up?" Skipper asked, squinting hard at them.
Kowalski grimaced while he picked up a fish by its tail and wiggled it weakly. "No, Skipper, my palate is just not in the mood for halibut," he lied, and he set the fish down with a plop.
Skipper then turned to Private, flippers on hips, as if saying, 'well, what's your excuse?'.
"I just--I…think the Evol bug has taken a turn for the worst," he muttered, and he gave a sidelong glance at Kowalski.
Skipper raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he pressured them no more. Then he saw that Nadine wasn't eating as well. "Fish and chips! This is nonsense! You too, Nadine?" he cried out.
Nadine jolted up, having been deep in thought moments before, at the sound of her name. Her eyes were wide, and she shook her head before half-heartedly lifting a halibut up and started to nibble it.
Skipper turned aside disgruntled, and he tapped his foot impatiently.
"Come on, men! Judo lesson, on the double," Skipper ordered.
Rico groaned and he reluctantly got up from his enjoyable meal, while Private and Kowalski merely stood up blankly.
"Kowalski! Private! You two are up first! Let's see if you can learn what lack of food does to the body. Kowalski! Perform the attacks seoinage, seoiotoshi, ukiotoshi, haraihoshi, and hanegoshi in succession and Private, perform the necessary counter moves. Then, switch position of attacker and attacked. Repeat transition until all moves are able to be blocked. Begin!" Skipper commanded.
Rico started in shock. That was a little tough! He gulped nervously, glad that he didn't have to go first.
Nadine had no idea what was going on, but she knew that Skipper was giving them intense work. She couldn't help but feel guilty when she watched Private and Kowalski toss and block one another, so she waddled inside.
"How…could you…do this to me?" Private grunted as he just succeeded in countering Kowalski's seoiotoshi. "I…trusted you!" he groaned under the strain.
"Well…I think I might…be…infatuated with her…as well!" Kowalski managed to grunt out as he flipped Private over using ukiotoshi.
"But…we're friends! You could have…told me!" Private moaned as he impacted with the ground. You could tell there was a tinge of hurt in his voice.
"I realized it…too late!" Kowalski muttered under the strain of unsuccessfully giving Private a haraihoshi.
"Since we…both like her…none of us should have her!" Private panted, as if this seemed obvious to him.
This news jolted Kowalski into shock long enough for Private to counter his haraihoshi.
Of course! I most assuredly could have taken that route of action, why didn't I think of that before? Kowalski realized with regret.
"I'm…sorry!" Kowalski blurted out with a moan as he hit the ground hard. "I…wasn't thinking," he admitted apologetically.
"Well…now what do we…do?" Private asked as he was flipped by Kowalski's hanegoshu.
They then traded positions, and Private was now the attacker.
"I believe…you should have…her," Kowalski wheezed, countering Private's seoinage.
"But…you two…were getting along…nicely," Private uttered with contempt as his next move failed as well.
"True…," Kowalski muttered, before realizing what he just said. "No wait…I didn't mean it like--" and he then countered Private's ukiotoshi.
"Ah…ha! I knew you…didn't want to…give up on her," Private exclaimed, saddened by this true piece of news.
"It's just that…I think I…might…love her," Kowalski groaned, and he avoided Private's haraihoshi.
Private lay stock still before looking down and panting, "I do…too."
"We should…just let Nadine choose…I suppose," Private hesitated, as he attempted a hanegoshi.
But Kowalski beat him to the toss, and counter-flipped Private to the ground. "Yes…I derived at that…as well," he gasped, needing air. Kowalski then smiled down at Private and handed out a flipper to help him up.
Private took the offered flipper in good nature, and smiled backed as well. "Thanks," he muttered, as they were both standing again.
(Apparently…Rico and Skipper were unable to hear this conversation that Kowalski and Private just had…somehow.)
"Nice work you two. Those were some satisfactory flips. Private, you need to work on your strength a bit more, but nice job on countering. Kowalski, try not to bring up your right flipper too high on those moves, got it? Good. Now, I assume that both of you are hungry now, hmm?" Skipper asked, sure that he trained them hard and well.
"As a matter of fact, Skipper, I am hungry," Private responded, a bit happier than he was before. Kowalski nodded in agreement.
Skipper look pleased. "Good! I knew judo would do the trick. Go ahead and have a well earned lunch, boys. Rico and I will perfect our judo as you eat."
Skipper then extended a flipper and cockily waved the tip of it towards himself, motioning the well known 'come and get me' sign.
Rico gulped, knowing that he didn't stand a chance against Skipper, but he yelled out a battle cry and rushed towards him all the same. While Kowalski and Private ate the remaining halibut they watched as Rico's attempted moves were blocked with decisive counter attacks. It was too much!
"Nice try, Rico. Maybe you'll have better luck blocking me, eh?" Skipper chuckled before advancing towards him. Rico grunted as he hit the ground after each of Skippers moves…which he couldn't counter.
As Kowalski and Private winced, feeling Rico's pain, Private looked up at Kowalski for a moment.
"Hey, Kowalski, may the best penguin win Nadine's heart," he said sincerely.
"As to you Private, as to you."
***
Nadine listened to the muffled voices and thuds from above, feeling more guilty at every groan she heard.
This is all my fault! She thought forlornly. I'm just no good at love and-and breeding and…I don't know what to do!
She sat down and buried her head in her flippers, sniffing sadly.
Calm down…I just have to decide what to do. Okay…so, I'm pretty sure Kowalski likes me…or maybe he was just being friendly? But Private…looked so sad when he saw us together…maybe he likes me too…or he was just concerned. Oh! It's useless! I don't know! (Well, I think it's pretty obvious that they like you, Nadine. Man, when you said you weren't good at this, you meant it!)
But, what if you did have to pick between the two of them, Nadine? A voice inside her head asked. Who would you choose then? (Okay, I did not want to make this seem like she had multiple personalities…it just appears this way…but she's just talking to herself. I mean, don't we all?)
Nadine was frustrated, and she thought long and hard. I'm not sure…I don't know either of them all that well.
Well then get to know them, Nadine. Get to know them, and choose then. Her inner voice told her.
Maybe…maybe I should, she thought, and then drifted into an uneasy sleep.
***
The sound of penguins clambering down into the room is what woke her.
"Nadine? Nadine, are you finally awake? You've been sleeping the whole day! You must have been bushed!" Private babbled, relieved to see her awake.
Nadine rubbed the sleepiness from her eyes and sat looking thoughtful for a moment. "All day? No…I just rested my eyes for about 5 minutes…" she said slowly, doubting her words.
"Negatory. By Kowalski's watch, you've been asleep for…how long, Kowalski?" Skipper inquired.
"Five hours, 17 minutes, and…20.2 seconds. But, that's just an approximation," Kowalski stated, clipboard in hand, staring at Nadine from the corner of his eyes.
Rico nodded his head wildly and then pretended to snore while resting both of his flippers on the side of his head. He grinned jokingly.
"We've been training the whole while, and now it's time to hit the sack," Skipper said.
"We just ate supper, Nadine. Here, I saved you some, it's trout," Private told her, holding out three fishes and blushing slightly.
Nadine looked at them for a second and slowly reached out and took them. She just noticed how hungry she was, having only a few nibbles for lunch.
"Thank you, Private," she responded with a smile, and started to take gradual bites out of her meal.
Skipper cleared his throat. "Aherm, alright, men, time to turn in. Nadine will have the bunks and we will have the floor. Rico, preparations!" Skipper ordered.
Rico choked momentarily before belching out four sets of blankets and pillows, all of them then landed unfolded with pillows on top of them in a neat little row. (How he did that, I'll never know. And I wouldn't really want to sleep on them now…lol!).
"Kowalski, count down!" Skipper ordered yet again.
Kowalski scribbled something on his clipboard and looked at a stopwatch. "Approaching slumber in 5…4…3…2…1!"
And at 1, all four penguins leapt into the air and landed beneath their covers peacefully, already appearing to be sound asleep.
Nadine was impressed at how organized and resolute her four friends were. She then finished munching her last fish before laying down on one of the bunks, feeling wide awake.
While everyone else was trying to sleep, Skipper was running through the day's events in his mind, like he always does. But his mind stopped at when it reached the time he went to visit Marlene. It was pretty exciting, whose mind wouldn't stop on it? His feet tingled and his flippers shook with adrenaline as he remembered what happened. (WOAH!! What exactly did happen?? What, what, what, what, what?!?!?!)
It started out like a normal trip around the zoo, to see what was going on and if everything was satisfactory. He then noticed that Marlene wasn't swimming in the water outside her habitat like she normally does at that time of day, so he decided to go check on her. (Aw!! He's concerned for her!! How sweet!)
"Marlene, my furry friend, where are you?" Skipper asked out when he reached the opening of her cave. He glanced inside and couldn't see her, so he shrugged and walked in, determined to find her. "Marlene? Are you here?"
Marlene actually was inside, but she was in the way back doing some intense cleaning in the corner of her cave (darn mold!) and couldn't hear him.
Skipper rounded a corner of the cave and found Marlene just starting to stand up from her cleaning spot. "Marlene! There you are!" he exclaimed.
Marlene was halfway standing when she heard him, and he took her completely by surprise. She was shocked into losing her balance and she then started to tip over, and she swung her arms wildly trying to regain her composure. "Ah! Oh no--oh, woah!" she yelled.
But just as she squinted her eyes shut to brace for impact, she felt a pair of sleek, muscular flippers around her shoulders, rescuing her from her fall. She quickly snapped open her eyes to see Skipper staring straight down at her face, looking concerned. His grip on her tightened and Marlene blushed as she gazed into his eyes in a dream-like state. (EEP!! SHE'S IN HIS ARMS!!!!)
"Marlene! Are you alright?" Skipper questioned with worry.
"Hmm?" Marlene mumbled dreamily. But then she immediately jolted back to reality and shook her head into focus. "Hm, oh y-yeah, I'm fine, totally fine! Never better! No arms done. Harm done. I meant, no harm done. Eh heh heh! She laughed nervously, looking away from Skipper.
Skipper grinned at her. "Really? Because if you ask me, you seem pretty shaken."
Marlene stared at the flippers keeping a gentle grasp around her. "Uh huh, well, I was just, you know, cleaning my habitat. Mold never rests, so…I can't either. Yeah. I-it grows pretty fast in here since it's, you know, all wet and everything." She stuttered, blushing even more.
Skipper leaned in closer to her face, she could feel his warm, slow breath and it tickled her nose gently. (WOAH!!! He's getting pretty close there!)
Skipper's eyes darted towards Marlene's lips, and Marlene followed his gaze, her heart beating faster once she realized where he was staring. (OH MY GOSH!!!)
Skipper leaned in even closer his beak brushing Marlene's check, sending shivers of anticipation down her body, and making it grow limp in Skipper's reliable flippers. (OH MY GOSH!!!!!!!)
Skipper inched closer and closer to Marlene's lips, both of their hearts were thudding really fast against their chests, and both of them could feel it. Marlene closed her eyes and pursed her lips, waiting for Skipper's beak to meet them. (OH…MY…GOSH!!!!!!!!!!)
But it never came. She peaked and she saw Skipper quickly retreat from her awaiting lips and he then swiftly set Marlene steady on her feet.
He blushed, embarrassed at what he almost did. "Eh, er…sorry, about that. Don't know…don't know what came over me." (NO!! You were supposed to kiss her!!)
Marlene's heart sunk with disappointment. "What? Oh no, no, no, no. It's fine! Totally fine! Yup! Sure is! Ha ha!" She laughed, trying to play it off coolly (But seriously, she wasn't all that cool about it).
Skipper's eyes shifted around and he shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "Well, I uh, just wanted to check up on you…see how you were doing. Everything…satisfactory?"
"Oh, yeah! Sure! Everything is satisfactorily satisfactory!" She said, faking happiness. Suddenly, it hit her. That new girl penguin, Nadine! Here for the breeding program…here with Skipper!! Oh no! Is that why he held back his kiss?
"So, uh, h-how's everything with…Nadine? Everything good with, you know, Nadine?" Marlene ventured to ask, expecting the worst. (Hey, wait a minute! Their names rhyme! 'Marlene' and 'Nadine,' ha! I wasn't planning on that, but cool, huh?)
"Oh, good, good, she's fitting right in," he said with a chuckle. (Uh…bad choice of words, Skipper.)
"Ah…I-I see," Marlene murmured, crest-fallen.
It took Skipper a while to see where Marlene's mind had wandered to about Nadine.
"Oh wait! No, I mean…we haven't done anything! No, we agreed not to…you know. It's best for the team and for her. She's not really even my type," Skipper added, blushing even deeper.
"Oh, really?" Marlene asked, perking up at this. "W-well, what is your type, e-exactly?" she asked unbelieving of her own ears that she asked that. Her face reddened and she quickly looked away.
Skipper glanced around, as if he was making sure that no one was watching. He then looked at Marlene and smiled. "Well, I like mammals. Mammals with soft brown fur and gorgeous green eyes," he said, advancing towards her with every word, blushing as he tried to keep eye contact. "I also like dames who are down to earth and always look for the good in everyone," he continued, getting even closer, and looking even more embarrassed at what he was saying.
Marlene blushed and her pulse raced, "A-and, do you have anyone in mind who fits your…'type?'" She asked, looking downwards and scuffling her feet.
As if in response, Skipper took Marlene by her shoulders, gazed into her eyes, and slowly but surely leaned in to give her a sweet, meaningful kiss…right on the lips!! (OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHMOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!!!!!!)
Marlene practically melted, and she leaned into Skipper and enjoyed the warmth that his body emanated and she enjoyed the feel of his nervous heartbeat against her own. She grew hotter and hotter with the moment, not wanting it to end. Skipper held her so gently and so closely, they've both never felt this way towards another ever before!
Sadly, it had to end. And Skipper gently released his beak from her lips, but kept his face close. They both panted out of not getting a reasonable breath of air for quite some time (Wow, the kiss was that long!!! EEEEP!!!!). Both faces were incredibly red, but they were loving every minute of gazing at each other's excited and embarrassed faces.
Skipper reluctantly turned away from Marlene, saying that he had to return to his team before lunch.
Marlene sighed with happiness and love. "Okay, Skipper. I-I hope to…see you soon," she murmured, turning aside, smiling sheepishly.
Skipper had the same sheepish grin, and he twirled around to leave the cave. Seconds before exiting, he faced Marlene once more and uttered, "Marlene…I love you." And he then raced out of her cave, his face on fire! (OH MY GOSH GOSH GOSH!!!!!!!!)
Skipper sighed with the memory of his first kiss, the feel of it still on his beak. He nestled even deeper into his blanket, content in the arms of love. He gradually fell into a sweet, deep sleep, and slept the best he had ever slept before.
Woo hoo!! It was a lot of fun writing the Skilene part!! I hope that it met your standards. Please comment on what you thought of it! Thank you!!! :)