I'm holding off one more update until I enact my new rule, because I really, really want to do this one. Morals & Quandaries will definitely be next on my list, so don't worry about that. Anyway, this idea came from fuwa2-kyara on deviantART and the picture she made entitled PoM: Not My Shoes. I'm not going to waste words describing it. I think you guys should probably go look at it. It's good. Also, I did send a note to her asking if it was okay to do this, but she hasn't replied at the time of this writing, so if she doesn't want this up, I'll replace this with something else.
Chapter 5 – Switch (Kowalski's Story)
It was another beautiful day at the zoo, and the penguins have just completed morning exercises. As they were getting ready for another day of entertaining the humans, Kowalski decided to take a few minutes to finish up an experiment he was working on.
After the incident at the Winky factory, Kowalski was running as many tests as he could think of to determine what prevented the box of Peanut Butter Winkies that they got their hands on from being incinerated from the factory's explosion.
However, nothing has worked. This hasn't stopped the analyst from trying, though.
At this point, Kowalski was starting to run out of things to use to test on the Winkies, so he decided to try out some of the chemicals that he has only discovered recently and haven't given a name to yet.
After some careful consideration, he grabbed a tube of a green-colored liquid and walked over to the remaining Winkies. He removed the cork, holding his breath to avoid breathing in the fumes as he slowly began to tip the test tube over to drip the chemical on to the Winky, when a loud, commanding voice suddenly interrupted him.
"Kowalski, we've got twenty seconds to get up top before the zoo opens! Let's move, soldier!" said Skipper.
Panicking, Kowalski hastily slapped the cork back on the tube and placed it back into its original spot, before running off to join the rest of the team. However, Kowalski failed to completely seal the tube, which allowed the fumes to seep out from the tube and slowly spread throughout the lab, and eventually the rest of the HQ.
And as the penguins returned to the HQ after the zoo closed, none of the penguins noticed that they were all breathing in an unknown, potentially dangerous gas. It wasn't lethal, thankfully, so they went to bed just like they normally do, unaware that something strange was about to happen.
The penguins woke up the next day early in the morning as they always do. It was a holiday, so the zoo was closed, and the animals were given the day off.
Normally, when the zoo was closed, Skipper saved morning exercises for a little later in the morning, so Kowalski decided to spend some more time working on the Winky experiment. As he walked toward the lab in a haze, he failed to notice the fact that everything that was around him looked higher than usual.
Once he reached the lab, he gave himself a couple of slaps to wake up so that he could focus fully on the task at hand. However, once he was completely awake, he finally realized that everything in the lab was higher up than he remembered.
At first, he thought that one of the other guys must have played a prank on him and moved some of the stuff to where he couldn't reach it, but then he realized the most likely candidates, being Rico and Private, probably would have ended up spilling some of the supplies on the floor, and he didn't see any broken glass or chemical spills around.
"Strange. If the others didn't move my supplies around, then why do I feel so short?" he thought to himself.
As if to answer his question, Kowalski turned around and caught himself reflected in one of the metal tables. And what he saw made his beak drop open in horror.
He still felt like Kowalski inside, but outside he looked exactly like Rico, down to the Mohawk on his head and the telltale scar on the side of his beak.
He started panicking and grabbed his notebook, trying to frantically write something down that would hopefully help him figure out what was going on, when he heard footsteps coming revealing Skipper, as well as his own body moving by itself, which made him freak out even more, especially once he heard the voice coming out of it.
"K'walski, what's going on? Why are Rico and I suddenly in each other's bodies?" asked Private.
"I have no idea, Private. I am curious, though. How did you know it was me when all you see is Rico in front of you?"
Private in Kowalski's body nervously scratched at the back of his neck with a flipper before responding.
"Lucky guess, I suppose. Rico and I figured out we were in these bodies a few minutes ago, and I saw my body as we were on our way here. I assumed it was probably Skippah due to the way he was acting."
"What do you mean by acting?"
"Well, I didn't really get a good look at him, since Rico and I were on our way here, but Skippah seemed like he had something on his mind."
As soon as Private finished, the three of them heard another set of footsteps coming their way, before the door to the lab was roughly pushed open, revealing Private with an angry look on his face.
"Kowalski! Explain yourself, soldier!"
The actual Kowalski yelled in surprise, shielding himself with his notebook, but Skipper ended up going for Private in Kowalski's body, jamming a flipper into his chest.
"What is the meaning of this? What did you do to me?"
Confused, Private looked back at Skipper.
"Skippah, I'm Private! Honest!"
Skipper stared at Private for a moment, unsure of whether to believe him.
"Then who's Kowalski?"
Actual Kowalski began nervously shuffling off, but he was stopped in his tracks when Private pointed at him, and Skipper angrily glared at him. Kowalski turned to face Skipper before turning his head to speak to Private.
"Psh! What are you saying, Private? I'm- uhh, I mean…"
Realizing that he was blowing his cover, he adopted a dumb look on his face and tried to speak like Rico would.
"Duh…I'm not Kowalski!"
Needless to say, his impression was terrible.
"Nice try, but you're not fooling anyone. Now I want answers!" said Skipper.
Caught, Kowalski returned to his normal voice and mannerisms.
"I honestly couldn't begin to guess what happened, Skipper. Either I've suddenly begun sleep experimenting, or I might have been a little lax on securing something in my lab."
"I knew it! I had a feeling Blowhole had something to do with this. He must have sent one of his lobsters in to steal one of your chemical doohickeys and released it into the air, causing us to switch bodies!" said Skipper.
"Well, uh…I suppose that is a possibility as well, but I think it's more likely to be something I did."
Skipper was slightly disappointed that the nefarious dolphin wasn't involved, but he perked back up once he realized he needed to take charge to make sure this mess gets fixed.
"Alright team, spread out! I want a thorough search of the lab and everywhere in the HQ. We're not going to rest until we find out what the heck happened."
The team split up to begin their search, except for Rico, who realized that now that he was in Skipper's body, he had no one who could tell him when he could or couldn't blow anything up. A devious smile appeared on his beak before he adopted an authoritative stance, acting like he was Skipper.
"Wico, woo can bow famthin' ap!"
Rico returned to his normal self, making it look like he was having a conversation with himself.
"Ookae!"
Rico began running off, his flippers in the air.
"Eyaaay!"
However, before he could get away to do his dirty work, Skipper was there to grab his flipper and hold him back.
"You stop right there…"
Rico gave him a dirty look, but joined the search without an argument.
The search didn't take long, as Kowalski looked at the container of unnamed chemicals and noticed the poorly sealed cap on the one he used yesterday.
"I think I've found the offending object, gentlemen."
As the other penguins joined Kowalski, he began explaining what happened.
"You see, I was working yesterday on that box of Peanut Butter Winkies we got from the factory, and I figured why not try one of the new chemicals and see what happens? When Skipper called for me due to the zoo opening for the day, I must have not completely sealed the tube in my rush to get topside. Most of the chemicals I have in this container give off fumes when not sealed, which is why I make sure that every time I'm done with them, they're sealed tight."
"So, from what I understand, the fumes from the chemical managed to spread through the HQ and we ended up breathing it in, which is what made us switch bodies. But how did we not notice it last night?" asked Private.
"Some of the gases don't give off an odor or color, so I'm guessing the one we breathed in was one of them."
"So, what are we going to do now, K'walski? I don't want to spend my life inside your body!" said Private.
"'Walski, opshins!" said Rico.
"Hey, that's my line!" said Skipper.
Almost as if by instinct, Kowalski pulled out his notebook.
"Our only real option is for me to create an antidote. The only problem is that I have only a vague idea of what the chemical consists of, so I'm going to have to do some more tests."
Without missing a beat, Kowalski put away his notebook and began shoving the rest of the penguins out the door, which was much easier with Rico's bulk.
"I just need all of you to leave me alone for a while. The silence helps me think, and that means we might get our answer quicker."
Skipper opened his beak to retort, but he was met with the lab door slamming shut in his face. Grumbling, he joined Private and Rico at the TV. The three of them nervously glanced at each other every so often, knowing that in the two out of the three cases, the penguins were staring at their own bodies.
The silence in the Penguin HQ was palpable, as nobody said a word to each other, anxiously awaiting news from Kowalski. Then again, boredom was also starting to set in as well, considering Kowalski was taking forever.
Finally, after an hour of nothing, the lab door popped open to reveal Kowalski covered in soot, yet gleeful as ever knowing that he finally had a breakthrough.
As the three of them looked back at the triumphant Kowalski, Private couldn't help but giggle at the way Kowalski's expression looked coming from Rico's face. This earned him a dirty look from the analyst, but he immediately went back to smiling.
"So? What did you find?" asked Skipper when Kowalski didn't immediately start talking.
"Well, I'm not really going to go into detail, considering we'd be here all day. Do you guys happen to remember that one time we switched Rico's mind with Roger's?"
The other three penguins nodded.
"Well, it turns out the chemical is actually pretty similar to a chemical I used in that device I put together. However, instead of switching minds, it switches consciences. Honestly, it seems kind of redundant, but what can you do?"
"Did you find an antidote, K'walski?" asked Private.
"Why yes, I did. The only problem is that I'm missing a few of the components for the mixture. We're going to have to go into the city to get them."
"Fair enough. Let's not waste any time, men. Commence Operation: Body Switcher!" said Skipper.
After the penguins made their way out of their habitat, they were about to head towards their car, when Private noticed something going on in the lemur habitat. He quickly walked up to Skipper and tapped him on the shoulder, which admittedly felt odd considering it was his own shoulder he was touching.
"What is it, Private? We're on a mission here!"
"Um…Skippah, doesn't it look like there's something…strange going on with the lemurs?"
"What's your point? Ringtail's always been weird."
Instead of replying, Private pointed towards the lemur habitat. Kowalski and Rico joined the rest of the team, and Kowalski vocalized what they were all thinking.
"Einstein's undies! Not them, too!"
The lemurs were all standing next to each other, except for Julien, who was busy cuddling his own foot. Meanwhile, Maurice was busy yelling at Mort, while the mouse lemur had an annoyed look on his face.
Skipper immediately reacted, reaching his flipper out to cover Private's eyes from the scene in front of them, but considering Private was now much taller than him, his flipper only managed to hit Private's stomach with a soft thwap. Undeterred, Skipper turned his head towards the young penguin.
"Cover your eyes, Private."
Private did as he was asked and covered his eyes, staying behind as the rest of the team walked up to the lemur habitat. Skipper yelled out to get the lemur's attention.
"Hey Ringtail! What in Sam Hill is going on?"
Julien, who was in Maurice's body, looked up and immediately shrunk back, as he was still a little nervous being around Skipper after the party incident. This forced Maurice, who was in Mort's body, to explain what was going on.
"Well, you see, we needed some sugar for our smoothies, and Julien suggested getting some from you guys. After that thing with the party happened, Julien was too nervous to ask for it face to face, so we uh…snuck in while you were sleeping and got it. And then when we woke up the next day, we were like this."
"De Sky Spirits are mad at us for stealing, so dey changed us into each other!" said Julien.
Kowalski sighed before speaking up.
"Look, this has nothing to do with the Sky Spirits or anything. There was just a small chemical leak. We're on our way to get some supplies to fix up an antidote for this."
Julien perked up upon hearing this.
"Oh, dat is wonderful! I really do not want Mort to be in my body any longer. Let us go find dese supplies for de fixing!"
"Not happening, Ringtail! This is a penguin-only mission!" said Skipper.
"Don't worry, Julien. Once I make the antidote, I'll make sure that you guys get it as well."
"Thank you so much, penguins! I will make sure that all of you are to be recognized for saving de king from a lifetime of torment of having to watch Mort touch de royal feet when I do not want him to."
Skipper rolled his eyes before turning to the rest of the team.
"Men, we need to pick up the pace to make up for lost time. Move out!"
The team followed Skipper's order and slid away, heading for their car.
After a half an hour of having to endure Rico's manic driving, the penguins finally reached their destination, a science lab near the outskirts of the city. When they skidded to a stop, Kowalski was the first to speak up.
"According to my research, this lab should contain all three of the missing components that I need to complete the antidote. We're going to need a stick of plutonium, five ounces of Macguffium-239, and a lot of dry ice."
The penguins were about to head into the lab to retrieve the components when Kowalski suddenly stopped, causing the rest of the penguins to bump into him.
"Oh, I almost forgot! We're going to need to get our hands on a fog machine as well."
"And why do we need a fog machine, Kowalski?" asked Skipper.
"Because…um…it would look cool when I come out the lab door with a bunch of fog?"
Kowalski looked at Skipper with a nervous smile on his face, but Skipper's flat stare pretty much told him his answer. Dejected, Kowalski turned back to the door.
"Right. Not the time. Let's go grab those components."
The penguins went up to the door and headed in, with Skipper leading the way as always.
There was a large amount of guards and scientists in the lab today, so getting around was slow going for the team. Thankfully, they were able to take out everyone without any real issue, despite the disadvantage of being in different bodies.
Once they reached the first item on the list, which was the stick of plutonium, Skipper huddled them together to review the next steps.
"Alright team, we don't have much time before one of the humans wakes up and sounds the alarm. So we're going to have to move quickly to get everything and get out. Any questions?"
Kowalski raised his hand, irritating Skipper.
"Make it quick, Kowalski."
"I can't really shake this feeling that something is going to go wrong. Why are there so many guards for as small a place as this lab?"
Skipper grumbled, feeling that the question was a waste of valuable time.
"Look, as I said, we just have to get the supplies and get out. We won't have to worry about guards as long as we move quickly. Okay?"
Kowalski nodded, and Skipper turned around, rolling his eyes.
The first two items were grabbed without a hitch. Once they reached the container where the Macguffium was kept, that was where they ran into a problem.
"That is a really thick lock on that door. I don't think we can break through that." commented Kowalski.
"Rico, give it a shot." said Skipper.
The weapons expert hopped up on to the door, which was thankfully angled so that he could stand up, and chopped at the lock. But considering the difference in strength between Rico's actual body and the body he currently inhabited, the lock fought back. Rico clutched his flipper in pain as the lock remained as imposing as ever.
"Any other bright ideas, Skipper?" asked Kowalski, unable to resist a smug look on his face at knowing he was right.
"Well, you can…wait a minute. Why am I thinking of the plans? You're the options guy, so give me some options!"
Kowalski sighed before pulling out his notebook.
"Well, the case looks like it's locked up tight, so the only real option I can see is to break the glass. But unfortunately I see that there's an alarm attached to it, so our stealth option goes out the window for our exit."
"Hoover Dam, you're right! Rico, when I give you the signal, smash through the glass and grab the MacGuffium. Then we're going to need to move our butts out of here, pronto! You got that?"
Rico nodded vigorously, hopping over to the table and grabbing a hammer, which was there despite them being in a lab.
The other three penguins walked over to the door, preparing to make a run for it, while Skipper held up a flipper. The commander lowered it a couple of seconds later, and Rico roughly smashed the hammer through the glass, grabbing the tube of MacGuffium and hopping off the container, following the penguins as they slid away.
It was complete chaos in the lab, as scientists and guards were running everywhere to find, or in the case of the scientists, run away from the intruder. This forced the penguins to weave through a lot of feet as they quickly made their way to the front door.
However, once they finally got to the front door, they found it to be blocked off by a cage door.
"See? I knew something was going to go wrong!" said Kowalski.
"Oh no! We're trapped! What are we going to do, Skippah?" asked Private.
Skipper turned around to look behind him and noticed that the guards have spotted them and were making their way over to them. He quickly looked around the room, trying to figure out another way to get out of this predicament, but when none came, he knew he had to go for the last resort.
"Rico?"
The weapons expert turned towards Skipper.
"You know what to do."
It took a few seconds for Rico's brain to register what Skipper meant, but when it did, the weapons expert started laughing maniacally, before beginning to heave. When nothing came out, he was confused for a moment, before suddenly remembering that he was in Skipper's body.
So instead, he rushed over to Kowalski, who was busy scribbling solutions into his notebook, and jammed an elbow into Kowalski's stomach, causing the analyst to vomit out a bomb. Rico grabbed the bomb and rushed back to the door, leaving Kowalski as he clutched at his beak in embarrassment.
As Rico went to work, Skipper couldn't help but make one comment as the bomb exploded and Rico rode the explosion back to where they were, landing with a soft thump.
"I look good!"
With the now wide open hole to the outside, the penguins were able to easily escape with the supplies, driving off in their car while the guards could only watch.
Once the penguins returned to the zoo, Kowalski shut himself into the lab and began working on the antidote, coming out a few hours later once again blackened with soot.
"Well, do you have the antidote?" asked Skipper.
"Of course."
"That's great news, K'walski! Let's go grab the lemurs and get this all fixed." said Private.
The penguins did just that, returning a few minutes later with the lemurs as Kowalski brought out a machine and began explaining what it does.
"This machine, with the help of the dry ice, should convert the antidote into a gaseous form, which should help us all to breathe it in and hopefully return our bodies to normal."
"Well den, what are you waiting for? Turn that thing on!" said Julien.
Kowalski did as he was instructed, turning on the machine. When the antidote began spreading through the HQ, everyone in the room began breathing in deeply, making sure to get as much of the antidote in as they could.
Suddenly, everyone went rigid and collapsed, as their consciences floated out of their bodies and wandered around the room, searching for their right bodies. Eventually, they all found their correct bodies, and the animals woke up just as the machine shut off.
"So, did it work?" asked Private, unsure.
"Somebody go find me a mirror." said Skipper, rubbing his sore head.
Kowalski managed to find a mirror on the table and decided to take a look in it himself before he handed it over to Skipper.
"Newton's Knickers! I'm me again!"
Kowalski passed the mirror on down the line, and the rest of the animals found out that they were indeed back to their normal bodies. The seven of them celebrated for a little while at having everything back to normal.
Once the celebrations died down, and the group stood there not knowing what to do, Skipper decided to take the initiative, walking over to the lemurs.
"Now that we're all back to our normal, and in our case cuddly, selves, I'm going to have to ask you to get out of our HQ. Now!"
The lemurs protested, but Skipper was having none of it, roughly pushing the lemurs out of the HQ, before punting them back into the lemur habitat.
When Skipper came back down the ladder, he found the other penguins all planted in front of the TV. The commander decided to join them, sitting next to Kowalski as he decided to say something.
"Well gentlemen, it's been a wild ride over these last two days. But I'm glad to be back in my own body."
"I am too, Skippah. But it was great fun experiencing being in each other's bodies."
"True. But it's not going to happen again, because if Kowalski doesn't properly take care of his chemicals, and this happens again, he's getting double the amount of morning exercises. You got that, Kowalski?"
Kowalski gulped.
"Uh…yes, Skipper. I understand."
"Good. Now let's just sit back and enjoy some good old fashioned TV."
Quick Note: Everything having to do with the chemical and antidote was completely made up, so sorry if the realism is a little out there.