Welcome to the 13th chapter of this story. The last one was a bit wild, wasn't it? I actually didn't expect your reactions to go the way they did. Thanks! Let's go to the day after, shall we?

CHAPTER 13 – A Temporary Goodbye

(P going back to Marlene) I woke up to someone kissing me. I immediately knew it was Skipper, so I began kissing him back. "Good morning Skipper," I said to him after opening my eyes. "Good morning Marlene," he said to me. Further back in the cave, Annabelle and Samuel were still peacefully sleeping.

"They're so adorable, aren't they?" I whispered to Skipper, to not wake them up. "They sure are. They must have gotten that from you," Skipper said. "Well, if that's true, then they got their cuteness from you," I said to him. We kissed again.

"You really think that he might be the one?" Skipper asked, returning our attention to last night. "I think so. But I do wonder how our children will factor into that," I said. "I wish that Otter had given us a few more details before vanishing," Skipper said. "Me too. We'll have to try and keep a close eye on the kids whenever we either go there or if he comes here," I said. "I concur," Skipper said.

With that, we walked out of the cave. We saw Emily practicing in the pool for later today. It made both of us sad that we wouldn't see Emily for a few months after today. But at least this time when an Otter was moved to New York, it would be her and we would be a full family. And even bigger, whenever her prophecy came true in the next few months.

She jumped out of the water and shook it off her fur. "Good morning," Emily said to us. "Good morning sis," we both replied. She chuckled. "That's still a bit odd," she said. We both knew she meant, so Skipper and I chuckled as well. "We know. But you've got someone interesting in your future as well," Skipper replied.

"Yeah. A mammal, but not an Otter. There's too many mammals to even try and guess," Emily said. "As long as it's not a lemur, then we're all for it," I said. "After you told me how this Julien person acts, I really hope it's not him. But based on the way you told me how he doesn't really do anything, then it's probably not him," Emily said happily.

"Well, when we find your mate, we'll immediately let you know," Skipper said. Emily smiled. "I'm looking forward to that day. But it's certainly going to be weird to explain to them what happened last night," Emily said. "We'll certainly try to help you with that," I said. Just then, the kids woke up and started coming over to us, so we ended that talk.

"Good morning Mom and Dad. And you too, Aunt Emily," they both said to us. "Good morning," we all said to them. "So what were you talking about?" Annabelle asked us. "Classified," we replied. "It was about us, wasn't it?" Samuel asked. "You could say that," Emily said. "One of these days you'll have to tell us how we're possible," Annabelle said. "Well for now, think of it as a fun mystery," I said to them.

"We'll really miss you Aunt Emily," Samuel said. "I'll miss you two as well. You're certainly an interesting nephew and niece to have," Emily said to them. They both smiled. "Yep. Pengotters. Still the coolest species," Samuel said cheerfully. "Yes, you certainly are, Emily said to them, kissing their foreheads. That made them giggle.

"So where are you headed next?" Emily asked us. "Well, first we're going to hija… borrow the truck to go to see if there is a version of Matthew's town up north. Then we'll be going up to Seattle," Skipper said.

"Seattle sounds fun. I've heard of some of the humans asking talking about their home cities. I heard something about five Penguins and two Otters in New York a few weeks ago. I never knew that was you guys all along," Emily said happily. "Sounds like people like us long after they're gone," Annabelle said happily. "They sure do, if they're still talking about you all the way over here," Emily said, agreeing with her.

"And maybe it could be three Otters eventually sis," I said to her. Skipper, Emily, and I knew what that meant of course. "That'd be fun. Then we could be together again," Samuel said happily.

"That'd be great! Do you think you could ever get me transferred there?" Emily asked us. "Most likely. All we have to do is get into the transfer system and get you moved to New York," Skipper answered. "Great! Just do it when you know that it's a good time," Emily said. Skipper and I knew what she meant. "We will sis," I said to her.

Everyone else came out of the caves. We all said good morning to each other. After talking for a few minutes, we saw two crates being carried and knew that they were for us. "We'll see you soon," I whispered to Emily, while hugging her.

"Just make sure to keep me informed," she whispered back. Skipper and the kids also hugged her before the humans collected us. "Goodbye sis," I said to her as I was put into the crate. "Goodbye Marlene," she said to me.

Like last time, Skipper, the kids, and I were all put into one crate and the guys in another. As we were being carried out, we heard some humans talking. "Did some of the Penguins hug an Otter?" one of them asked another.

The other human laughed. "You must be out of your mind. That's about as far-fetched as a Penguin and Otter having offspring," they said. We would have snickered, but the humans might have gotten suspicious of the noises we were making.

Like last time, we were put into a truck and were heading up to the airport. When we got into the Bay Area, we borrowed the truck and directed it to see if Matthew's hometown existed in our world. It did, but as far as we could tell, some stuff was the same, while others were not. We then drove back to the Airport and put ourselves back into the crates. We then got loaded into an airplane and were sent on our way up to Seattle.

(P to Samuel the first day of Book 3) "So did we do good Dad?" Anna asked Dad. "Yes, you both did well, as usual," Mom answered. That made us smile. "Thanks Mom and Dad," Anna and I said, giving them hugs. The training ended and I decided to go below to just grab a fish to eat. As I was walking past Kowalski's lab, I heard a ringing sound.

"Curse my curiosity," I thought to myself as I opened the lab. One of Kowalski's inventions was doing the ringing. Suddenly, a voice came out of it. "Hello? Is anyone there?" the voice asked. I picked up the device. "Now which one of Kowalski's inventions are you?" I asked it. "There actually is someone on the other end of this phone you know," the voice replied.

(P to Annabelle) After swimming for a minute, I went down below to grab a fish. I then heard Sam talking to something in Kowalski's lab. I wondered what he was doing, so I also went in. "The only phones I know of are the ones my parents and their friends have, along with the humans," Sam said.

I knew Mom and Dad had told us not to touch any of Kowalski's inventions, especially after the problem with Blowhole's Segway, so I spoke up. "What are you doing Sam?" I asked him. "Quiet Anna, I'm trying to figure out what this is," he said to me. He must have forgotten what Mom and Dad said, so I reminded him.

"You know Mom and Dad said to never touch Kowalski's inventions," I said. In order to make him stop I also fibbed something. Well, not entirely. "Besides they left me in charge because I'm older so I'm ordering you to put that down," I said. As I said that, I realized how much fun Mom and Dad have doing that to us.

"You're only a few minutes older than me," he said to me. "Yes, but that gives me an advantage over you, so I'm still ordering you to put that device down," I said. I really liked doing this until Dad dropped down. "What are you two doing?" he asked us. "This device started speaking to me, so I started talking back," Sam answered.

"Let me have it. It's only the Universal Walkie Talkie. I guess we forgot to tell you about this invention. Now go and help your mother clean up," Dad said to us. Sam handed the invention to Dad and we headed up to the platform.

"So what do you need help cleaning up Mom?" I asked her. "What do you mean?" she asked us. "You didn't put Anna into charge just before she came down right?" Sam asked Mom. "No. Why?" she asked us. "I knew you were fibbing," Sam said to me. "Hey, it worked," I said happily, smirking. "Now why did you act like you were in charge sweetie?" Mom asked me.

Just as we were about to explain, Dad came back up. "Change of plans for today everyone," he said. "What do you mean?" Sam and I asked him. "Apparently in his world, Matthew has had a PR problem since we were last there, so he's taking a vacation here," Dad explained.

"Oh, we haven't seen Matthew in a year!" Mom exclaimed happily. "So is this the Matthew that helped you marry each other?" I asked Mom and Dad. "Yes. Now we need to make sure he's been keeping up on the training we gave him, so you get to use that today," Dad said to us.

"Kowalski, get some tennis balls and your Transmatterer. We'll pelt him with some and then try to push him into the water," Dad said to us all. We all got the tennis balls and used Kowalski's Transmatterer to make us invisible. "This is so cool!" Sam exclaimed as we climbed back up.

Just before we reached the top, Dad went into the lab pushed a button on the Universal Walkie Talkie and pressed the alarm button to count down for a minute until it rang. Some weird pink glow came from the HQ as we all hid on the lampposts.

And now, we're back in the timeline at the beginning of Book 3. And don't worry; this isn't the last of Emily at all. Not by a long shot. Go to the epilogue for details. I have no notes today.