Well, I got some good reviews with my last story, so thankies! XD
Well, this is a pretty good chapter, but the end in the best part in my opinion.
Also, the annoying squirrel is in this chapter too! :D
"Uh…well, we can…" Kowalski stammered looking down trying to think of something. "I'm now sure." He said a little embarrassed.
Doris sighed exhausted, but she went over to Kowalski and hugged him. "Well, it's almost over. I mean we can always walk there." She said rubbing Kowalski's back in comfort. "I mean how hard can walking a few miles be?"
A half an hour later. . . . .
"Are we there yet?" Lilly whined after walking for what seemed to be years. "I wanna go home!"
The group of once again escaped animals trudged passes the hundredth tree at 4 am. "Keep walking little duckling. The sooner we hit home, the sooner we can rest." Skipper said, but he wasn't cheering with joy about this walk in the part as much either.
"My knee hurts!" Peanut whined holding his leg.
Marlene sighed. "Which knee?" she said in a small growl.
Peanut's blue eyes widened. "Uh…my elbow hurts!" he lied.
Marlene sighed and picked up the pup. "You're gonna be in for it when I think of a plan mister." She said as Peanut drifted off to sleep on her back. She started to tire out. "Whoa, this was a lot easier when you were a baby!" she grunted.
Skipper looked over to Marlene. "Here Marlene, let me." He said taking the pup in his flippers.
"Oh, Skipper that's alright!" she said with a small laugh as she rubbed her sore back. "I'll just need to get him to stop eating sweets before bed."
Skipper gave Marlene his legendary smirk. "I don't mind Marlene. Peanut's like one of my own, and I wouldn't want you to break your back getting out of here." He said as he placed the sleeping Peanut on his back. He grunted a little too. "Boy what are you giving this kid? Winkies by the dozen?"
Marlene held in a snort. "Hey, he's a kid! Boy when Halloween comes around…" she said shaking her head. After walking a few more moments silently, she decided to speak up. "Who is she?" she asked facing Skipper with an innocent look on her face.
Skipper nearly dropped Peanut, who was snoring and laying his head on his back. "What?"
"Well, Dr. Blowhole said that you fell in love, so who's the…uh…lucky lady?" she asked. Please say Marlene! Please be me! Please be me! She screamed inside her head.
Skipper blushed. What should I say? Classified? Lola? The truth? He thought to himself as the two walked along together with a silence again, but this time it was awkward. "Uh…Lola" he blurted out.
Marlene face fell and her heart felt like it had dropped too. "Oh…uh, who's Lola?" she said with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
Skipper would've kicked himself in the butt for saying Lola if Peanut weren't lying near it, or his feet could reach that high. "She's my ex-wife from Africa." He said realizing he wasn't going to get out of this one.
"ex-wife?" Marlene repeated a little excitedly. "Are you sure?"
"Well, I think I'd know!" he said with a small laugh.
"Riiight" Marlene said a little embarrassed.
"Yeah, I thought since we weren't married anymore, I'd trade her in to get Rico his doll." Skipper continued and pushing Peanut up on his back a little more.
"Huh?" Marlene said confused stopping in her tracks. "You traded in your wife for Rico's doll?" she repeated not even believing what was coming out of her own mouth.
Private walked up to the two. "Are you telling Marlene about the time you married that bobble head doll back in Africa Skippa?" he asked, showing he had been listening.
Marlene snorted. "You married a bobble head doll?" she repeated still not believing what was coming out of her mouth.
Skipper gave a harsh glare to Private.
Private smiled nervously. "I'll be going back now." He said backing up to the back of the group where Elli, Haley, Carrie, and all the lemurs were.
"Wow Skipper, I'm impressed." Marlene said with a small laugh. "I didn't know you'd have the guts to tie down."
Skipper blushed. Thank Private. He thought to himself.
"You really married a bobble head doll?" Peanut asked showing he had been listening too.
"Wha-Peanut, I thought you were sleeping!" Skipper yelled looking up at the little pup, who was clutching Skipper's flat head as he carried him along.
Peanut laughed. "Well I couldn't with all the noise! And marrying a bobble head doll interests me in many ways!"
Skipper sighed. "Did anyone else know about this?" he said a little too loudly.
"Yeah" everyone said.
"It's pretty quiet out here at night." Doris said.
"Cat's have pretty good ears." Haley said.
"I was there." Kowalski said.
"Oh, can we just go home?" Skipper yelled glaring at the animals.
Everyone got quiet and it stayed pretty quiet.
A few hours later. . . . . . .
Marshal nearly fainted after walking for hours. "How much longer will this torture last?" he hollered falling over on his belly with a thud.
Skipper sighed. "Peanut, I think I've carried you long enough." He said as he placed the pup down and picking up his son when he waddled next to him.
Marshal smiled. "Thanks dad." He said making himself comfortable on his dad's back.
Skipper grunted at Marshal's weight on his back still a little sore from Peanut. "Sure thing son"
Doris, who was pretty exhausted, sighed. "I think we made a wrong turn somewhere. I don't remember it taking this long to get to the Hoboken Zoo." She said facing Kowalski, who was holding Ariel and Athena in his flippers.
"Well, we were driving a vehicle of some kind heading over there explaining our faster pace. Also, we didn't have to carry our travelers." Kowalski said looking down at Athena and Ariel, who were both asleep in his arms.
"Maybe we could ask for directions. We've been walking for hours; someone here has to know where a big zoo is!" Carrie said. She turned and saw a big tree with squirrel inside of it. "Hey, that guy can probably help us out!" she said before running over to him.
"Carrie, that's not a good squirrel to talk to." Private said, but the slasher had already run over to him.
"Hey you there!" she yelled up the tail of the squirrel that was sticking out of the hole.
The squirrel looked down at the red cat. "Uh hey there stray cat." He said with a small wave.
"Stray ca-whatever." She said shaking her head. "Do you know where Central Park Zoo is?"
"I remember there being a zoo." He said looking up. "Why do you want to go? Does the zoo allow cats in now?" he asked looking down at the cat, who was getting a little annoyed.
"HAVE-YOU-SEEN-A-ZOO?" she asked clearly. "Don't change the subject, or ask another question." He ordered with the tips of her claws already popping out of her paws.
"Humph" the squirrel said looking away from her. "I won't answer your questions with that tone."
"You didn't even answer my question in the first place!" she yelled with her brown eyes narrowing at him.
It started to thunder and sprinkle a bit.
Carrie sighed. "Okay, will you please tell me and my friends where Central Park Zoo is?" she asked as sweetly as she could.
He smiled. "Sorry, I don't know."
Carrie growled and almost attacked, but Kowalski jumped in front of her. "Don't kill him! He's just annoying!"
"Hey, those black and white birds are from the zoo! Ask them!" The squirrel said pointing at Skipper, Private, Kowalski, and Rico. "Uh…who are those other ones?" he asked pointing at Athena, Marshal, Elli, Buttons, Ariel, and Doris.
"They're our kids." Kowalski answered.
"Oh, they look young! Maybe they can play with my kids!" he said smiling at them.
It thundered harder this time. Boom!
"Eep!" Haley squealed as the rain touched her fur.
"You have a kid?" Skipper asked in disbelief.
He nodded. "Let me get them." He turned his head around in the hole. "Honey, Get Buck and Jack out here!"
"Okay" a female voice called out in the tree.
Just then two little squirrels came out. "Hey dad, what's going on? It's raining!" a grey squirrel said standing next to his brother, who had brown fur like his dad.
"We've got some playmates!" their dad said pointing down at the kids.
Athena and Elli smiled and waved a little nervously.
It thundered even louder. BOOM!
"Oh, it looks like you're gonna get wet!" the brown furred squirrel teased.
"We'll let you stay in a building if you play with us!" the grey one said.
BOOM! The thunder roared as it started to pour.
Athena sighed. "Deal"
In their temporary shelter. . . . . . .
The lemurs, penguins, ducks, otters, squirrels, and cats walked into the storage building that Archie used in "Mask of the Raccoon"
"Well, this looks nice." Elli said a little happy that she could rest.
"Now we can play in the dry!" the brown furred squirrel said happily.
Haley seemed the happiest. "Yes! It's dry! Dry, dry, dry, dry, dry!" she cheered.
"Yeah, Archie just went out to get some popcorn, so he should be right back." The annoying squirrel's wife said. She had the same appearance as her husband, but she had grey fur and long eyelashes on her blue eyes.
"Thanks" Skipper said plopping down. He leaned over to Kowalski. "Make sure everything in Rico stays in Rico. That raccoon has sticky fingers!" he whispered.
Athena looked towards the two squirrels. "So, what do you want to play?" she asked getting ready to dread the moments ahead of her.
The grey furred squirrel smoothed the fur on the top of his head. "Ever heard of spin the bottle?" he asked leaning to the side on one of the many crates of the storage room giving Athena a small wink.
Athena's beak dropped open. He just went from annoying to flirty in an instant. "Excuse me?" she asked when she was back in reality.
The other squirrel went up to Elli. "What's up cutie?" he asked with a wink.
Luckily for the squirrels, the penguins' dads were in the other part of the building.
Elli blushed. "Thank you?" she said, a little confused herself.
He tapped his brown head. "Oh where are my manners? I'm Jack." He said holding out his hand.
Elli held out her down feathered flipper to Jack, but instead of him shaking it like she had thought, he grabbed it and kissed it! She quickly took it back. "Oh, you're too sweet." She said with a blush again. Yeah, TOO sweet! She thought to herself.
The other squirrel, who had to be Buck, continued to flirt with Athena. "So, how about we take the play out of 'play date' sometime?" he asked trying to hold her flipper, but she took it out of his reach.
"No thanks" Athena said a little annoyed by Buck's flirting.
Buck looked at her with his big blue eyes. "Aw come on! We could have a lot of fun!" he said acting like a child again.
Athena sighed and rolled her brown eyes. "Listen, Buck, if I can call you that."
"Call me at 555-67"
"Buck, sorry, but in your dreams!" she yelled in a whisper.
He sighed and put his little grey ears down sadly. "Yes, yes they are. I've seen you at the zoo before and thought you were the prettiest thing there. My brother, Jack, likes your sister."
"Well, Elli's not my sister-wait! Jack's flirting with her too?"
Buck nodded his head.
Athena looked over to Elli and Jack and saw Buck was telling the truth. She faced the squirrel, who was crushing her. "Listen, Buck, I'm awfully flattered, but I'm not interested in that sort of thing at the moment."
Buck smiled. "Then you'll wait for me!"
"I didn't say that."
"You'll wait for me, I knew it!"
"But, I didn't say that!"
"No, but I saw the signs! I read the message!"
"What message? The only physical contact that we've had was you trying to hold my flipper?" she said a little angrily.
Buck ignored her. "Anytime you step out of the zoo! I'll be there my dear! I will!" he said before giving Athena a big kiss on the side of the beak!
Athena sat there still for a minute, but then she got angry and started to slap him on the head. "You-are-a-jerk!" she said as she continued to hit him.
"Oh, uncle, uncle!" Buck said blocking Athena's hits with his little arms.
"Oh, yeah, you don't want to meet my uncles you…I'm not good at the whole name calling thing like Marshal, but I know you wouldn't!" she said when she was done slapping him silly.
"Fine, fine, Jeez!" Buck said, but then he smiled again. "You know you want me! I'll be waiting every time you step out of the zoo my dear!"
"Every time" Athena repeated. "Doesn't that make you a stalker?"
"You don't want me to stalk you?"
"Uh let me think…no!"
Buck shrugged. "Too bad!"
Athena sighed, and practically thanked the sky spirits when the storm stopped a few moments later. She probably was going to pull her feathers out if she had to stay there one more minute!
"Well, it's time to go!" Kowalski said happily taking Athena's flipper into his as they followed the other animals out of the door and stepped on the soggy wet grass from the rain.
"Sorry Archie couldn't make it!" the mother squirrel said standing next to the door with her sons' shoulders in her grey arms. "If you ever visit again, be sure to tell me and I'll get him to come over."
Skipper smiled. "It's quite alright mam, I'm sure he wouldn't have been too fond of our presence anyway."
Athena looked back at Buck, who mouthed every time to her with a smile. She shuddered.
Back home. . . . . . . (finally)
As soon as every last one of the animals were in their homes, they plopped on their beds as exhausted as ever, but when the kids were laying down, they remembered something.
"Tomorrows Father's Day!" Marshal said popping up after laying on the concrete for a few minutes. "Man, all we have now is that stupid little card we made!" he said angry.
Skipper looked over at him. "What are you talking about Marshal, that card's beautiful? It's a one of a kind and I'll treasure it forever. In fact, it's framed on the fridge over there." He said pointing to their fridge that had the card right on the front of it.
Marshal smiled and waddled over to it. "But you and the others deserve something better than that! You protect the entire zoo, and you still come home and put up with us! Even when you didn't have to." he looked at the colorful construction paper with poorly drawn pictures and sloppy signatures. "That's just a piece of paper."
Skipper smiled and picked up his son placing him on his leg. "Marshal, what do you mean I put up with you?"
Marshal frowned. "Dad, I'm not yours. You chose to keep me and still do your job. That deserves more that a cruddy picture." He mumbled looking down.
Skipper hugged him. "Marshal, I'd still put up with you even if you didn't give me anything. You may not be mine, but a dad isn't someone that's related to you."
Kowalski waddled up to them. "It means the male parent who exercised paternal care over others. We've done a pretty good job at that wouldn't you say Athena?" he asked looking down at her with a smile. He still was holding her flipper.
Athena smiled. "That's 100% true dad." She then hugged his side.
Elli smiled and ran up to her dad. "I love you daddy!" she said before jumping on Private knocking him over on the ground. "Oh, uh…sorry" She said helping her dad up. "I got caught up in the moment I guess." She said with a giggle.
Private smiled. "It's alright Elli. I love you too."
Buttons got caught up in the excitement too. "Dada!" he said running into Rico's open flippers.
"Buttons!" Rico said accepting the hug.
Doris waddled in with Ariel next to her. "Oh, uh is this a bad time?" she asked looking at the eight hugging each other. "Sorry, it's just that I can't stay at the dolphin habitat if I'm not a dolphin, so uh…can I stay here for the night?"
"My mom wants to see Kowalski!" she said. Then she covered her beak. "Spoke out again, didn't I?" she said.
Doris smiled a little embarrassed. "Yep"
Kowalski let go of Athena and walked up to the new penguins. "It's alright. I'll turn you back into a dolphin first thing in the morning. I'm just too tired to do anything tonight." He said with a yawn.
Marshal smiled his trouble grin. "You might not have time for that Uncle Kowalski." He said.
Skipper got suspicious. "Marshal, what are you up too now?" he asked crossing his flippers.
Marshal smiled and looked up at his dad. "It's a surprise!" was all he said.
Then the 10 penguins went to sleep for the night.
Oh boy! What's he up to now! Find out soon what they'll do for Father's Day in the next chapter and yes, the annoying squirrel got married and had two kids who are obsessed with Athena and Elli now! (They're going to be in other stories of mine, so look for em!)
Bye!!
The whole elbow and knee hurting thing I got from Up!
Oh yeah, and I forgot to put that the quote "Once the wool's off your eyes, it's not coming back" I got from Ninjagirly!