Even Otter Things Have Happened
Plot Summary: Takes place after 'Otter Things have Happened'. Julien tries to make up with Marlene, but she doesn't want to. He enlists the help of the penguins to create a love potion for him, but things don't turn out quite right….
Disclaimer: The Penguins of Madagascar is the property of Dreamworks Animation Studios in association with Nickelodeon. I do not claim ownership of The Penguins of Madagascar.
Rated Teen (T) for Mild/Fantasy Violence, and Minor Suggestive Themes
BIG Thanks again to Kowalski4Evah! and her story 'Uprising' for the inspiration for this chapter and clearing the dreaded writer's block. Thanks to reviewers, Storylover Alpha 01 (So sweet of you. That means a lot to an eleven-year old like me!), noname, Poette O'Deal and xxAznPenguin (then prepare to be surprised!). I was finally able to beat my word record, so this might be a little longer than usual. Oh, Please note that I changed the rating to Teen (T) because of the violence.
~Triksterr206, Junior Member, DrunkenTavern
Chapter VIII: Showdown
"Marlene," Skipper whispered to the prone form suspended by chains. "Marlene, are you alright?"
Skipper jumped and caught the dangling end of the chain, and climbed it to come in front of Marlene, his right flipper supporting him as he held onto the chains that hung from the pipe above, his scaly feet trying to maintain their balance on the makeshift ledges where it opened up. Staring at her face, he dared to lay his other flipper on the side of her face. She looked so peaceful, so serene, almost as if she was…
'No, no, no, no… She can't be dead! She can't be!'
His eyes filling with tears as he slowly closed them; his head leaned forward involuntarily, and after a few seconds, felt his beak make contact with her cheek. Tears flowed from his eyes as he opened them, gazing at her calm expression, and her eyes that would never open again. He broke his kiss, just as grief washed over him with the force of a tidal wave. He leaned his head onto hers, unable to believe it. A part nagged at him that he had to let her go, that emotions were a weakness, and that he was weak. He screamed out all his sorrow, all his grief, and all his rage, at the world around him. He wanted to be with her, just to feel her near him one last time, before she faded into a very painful memory; but a menacing laugh behind him convinced him otherwise,
"I knew you would find your way here … eventually. Nice to see you again, Skipper."
"Blowhole."
Skipper turned his head as he growled the name of Marlene's killer, his vision turning red as it did when he had almost strangled Julien. He growled in a cold voice of pure rage, and pure venom, in a voice that was devoid of any sense of decency or order, a voice that wanted blood.
"Tut tut. Depressed are we? Sad our little love wasn't meant to last … or even begin for that matter?"
His eyes fell on what he assumed was the creation Blowhole spoke of. It wasn't ninja-lobsters, or Chrome Claw for that matter; it was something entirely new to Skipper, something he always thought Blowhole would bring out one of these days: a robot. Clearly designed by the mad dolphin, the mechanical behemoth was thrice as tall as Skipper; its massive torso was about four times as wide, covered in chrome-class metal plating, and supported by two digitigrade legs whose stubby feet had three toes, two in front and one at the back, ending in deadly-looking talons. The thin arms supported a three-fingered fist on the right, and a menacing drill on the other that appeared capable of boring a hole right through him. Despite all the hatred and rage that now surged through Skipper like a white-hot tide, he sensed that his chances to beat such a monstrosity were very slim to nonexistent.
"You'll pay for what you've done." He growled once more, jumping off and landing in front of the robotic leviathan. The metal plating on the chest parted to reveal a monitor that displayed the evil smile on the scarred of face of his archenemy.
"You know, I almost cried at the thought of not witnessing your demise; but then I remembered installing this into my newest piece of mayhem. I was quite relieved, since now I can witness every second of your agony before I do the same with your friends. I particularly loved the moment you shouted out right after you kissed her; I could sense all your anger, all your hate. Could we get a second take of that? My angle wasn't really so good. What do you say we upload it on the internet? Hmmm? I might just win an E-Drama award…"
Intense hatred rose up inside Skipper, threatening to drive him into a full blown rage. It shattered his heart into myriad pieces when he had come too late to save her, and here that maniac was, mocking him with it as he played a recording of Skipper's cry of anguish. That was the last straw, and so he allowed all the anger and hatred to build up within him to a fever pitch, and then released it in battle cry of fury and sorrow. He charged at the giant; all thought of his opponent's unknown capabilities completely vanished as the red haze that filled his vision intensified. He heard maniacal laughter emanating from the twisted dolphin as he dodged the drill that came to meet his charge, countering with a strike from his flippers against the monitor on the torso. It resulted to nothing except some throbbing on his flipper. Landing behind the behemoth, he cradled his injured flipper, trying to think clearly in spite of the bloodlust. The armor was just too thick to be dealt with directly; he needed to find its vulnerability.
"Now, now Skipper. Do you want to fight, or just play hide and seek?"
The mechanized giant's torso swiveled to look behind it, trying to find Skipper. A split-second later, it reared its ugly triangular head and aligned the target with its line-of-sight, the three red orbs on its head lighting up in response. Almost instantly, a hatch opened on its left shoulder, and a launcher filled with innumerable missile pods emerged as a targeting laser deployed from the 'eyes' of the robot. Its beam fell on the penguin, and the missile pods rocketed towards him as he slid on his belly in a serpentine motion, avoiding the missiles while more erupted from the leviathan.
"Gah! Hold still will you!"
Fortunately, the missiles weren't of the tracking type, but what they lacked in that aspect, they made up for in sheer numbers. Skipper was hard pressed to avoid each missile as more and more rocketed towards him, and the ones that missed him exploded on the floor, sending shards of shattered tiles into a storm of debris.
"Grrr! Just let me kill you! You know it'll happen sooner or later, and then you'll be able to join her."
The words stung Skipper deeply, and thoughts of Marlene clouded his mind, muting the sound of rockets flying and exploding, and seeing the face of the one he had ever truly loved. It was entirely his fault. If only he had had the courage to have told her what he had truly felt for he, at least she would have known of his love before she died. His trance of guilt and pain came to an abrupt stop as a missile exploded a few inches away from his side, sending him flying to the left, the sounds of war thundering around him. Exhausted of its missile supply, Blowhole's invention turned its legs to align with its torso. In doing so, Skipper spotted its weakness: its size was taxing its mobility heavily, and he had to exploit it.
"Why not just surrender yourself to oblivion Skipper? If you give in now, I might just spare you the sight of me torturing your friends into a painful, agonizing death. Come on, give up. Sooner or later, you'll mess up, and wouldn't it be easier to just give up now?"
Despite the red haze of hatred and anger, Skipper couldn't deny sensing the truth in the dolphin's words. He could also sense that the missiles were merely the first of what was to come, and it had already taken a heavy toll on his energy reserves. As much as he was skilled in battle, it wasn't physically possible to keep fighting like this. Still, he wasn't one to give, and he slowly rose from his position on the ground. He raised his flippers in a combat stance, much to Blowhole's annoyance. His raised flippers filling his red-tinged vision, he noticed several cuts and bruises lining the limbs. He felt pain all over his body, concentrated on the side which received the brunt of the explosion. He felt a stinging pain on his side, and looked down to see a shard of the tiled floor embedded on his side, blood oozing out of the wound and matting with his feathers as red clashed with white. Adrenaline did its best to keep the pain at bay as Skipper reached down, and with a grunt of pain, pulled the jagged shard out of his side, throwing it away. The smashing sound it made barely registered in his senses, as he felt a growing numbness on his side. He knew that all his inner strength and will power could only last so long against such a machine. Nevertheless, he wouldn't give up, not now, not ever. He would avenge his beloved, or die trying.
"So predictable aren't you Skipper? So be it!"
Blowhole savored every moment of agony Skipper went through, clearly relishing his opponent's pain. The camera installed in the red orbs on the mechanical head continued to feed data to the controlling dolphin sitting comfortably in a chair so far away, as he pressed one of the numerous buttons on his control panel. Another hatch on the opposite shoulder opened up, and a rather large laser gun appeared on it, charging and ready to blow the tired penguin to smithereens. The targeting laser on its head pinpointed Skipper's position, and a blast shot forth from the laser. The agile penguin leapt above it, splattering droplets of blood and made toward the monstrosity as the laser continued to track him, leaving scorch marks on the already heavily damaged floor. Skipper reached the base of the machine, hiding underneath its wide torso thus avoiding the bright-red laser, and started hitting the leg joints with all the force he could summon, despite the growing pain on his right side.
"Hey! Get away from there you little son-of-a-!"
The leg swiveled in a roundhouse, trying to catch Skipper in its range, the torso remaining in place while the lower half rotated, trying to strike Skipper. The penguin reacted instantly. Evading the roundhouse, Skipper leapt and grabbed onto a finger, swinging himself upward. Using it to channel his momentum, he flipped and aimed a strong but swift kick to the metallic head. With a satisfying sound of breaking glass, the strike met its mark, and the two of giant's eyes were broken, the red light fading from the damaged mechanisms. Landing a few feet away from the partially blind machine, Skipper placed a flipper on his side, feeling the strength diminish as easily as how Marlene had once siphoned all his strength to reduce him to nothing but a crybaby not so long ago.
"Little rodent! That was a lucky strike! Merely a setback, though, merely a setback; I gave you the chance to surrender, even the chance of a painless death, even the chance to see your girl in the next life! But now it's too late for that."
Skipper could sense he wouldn't last long now, as blood now gushed freely from his side, and his vision started to blur. The red haze dimmed and Skipper dropped on one knee, both flippers on the wound to try and stem the tide of crimson life that now pooled on the floor. He could see the machine straightening, the monitor showing Blowhole pressing buttons on his control panel. He could make out drops of his blood staining the shiny chrome plating as his senses started to recede from his mind.
The commando's eyes started drooping, the darkness starting to take him. Still, he wouldn't give up so easily. Rising from his kneeling position, he lifted his head and focused his vision on what would soon be his death. Sensing his will power overwhelming his disorientation, he raised his bloodstained flippers in defiance. He parted his scaly feet, completing the combat stance. Focusing all his inner strength on his last stand, he narrowed his vision and saw the laser emerge once more, and started to power up. Aware that even though he had crippled its targeting system, he was very doubtful that he could evade the blast to come. Feeling himself slipping into lightheadedness, the dolphin's voice sounded distorted and eerie, as if coming from the depths of the ocean.
"Farewell Skipper. You have always been a worthy opponent; I feel I'm almost going to miss you…"
"Marlene, my love forever and always," came Skipper's labored and last breaths. "I come for you…"
The laser had fully charged, and was about to blast the injured penguin into oblivion. Unwilling to die appearing so weak, Skipper stared into death's eyes: one black and filled with coldness; the other red, mechanical, and utterly soulless. Blowhole pressed another button, and the laser primed, he wouldn't want to miss. Skipper clamped his beak tight, straining to hold his stance despite his draining strength.
"Goodbye, peng-you-in!"
"I come for you…"
*BOOOOOOOOM!*
Blowhole faltered in surprise as an explosion rocked the entire reptile house. Skipper was also caught unaware, and he turned his head to source of the explosion: the cracked and damaged wall to his left. After a brief pause, a second, more powerful explosion boomed, and the wall crumbled as clumps of stone and concrete battered the two fighters. Blowhole looked just as shocked as Skipper, staring into the dark expanse of night stretching beyond the wide hole as three figures leapt in.
"Gah! What fresh hell is this!?"
"EAT THIS BOTTLENOSE!"
His will power finally faltering, Skipper fell backward, the last of his life-force spent. His vision blurred, and his senses numbed. The last thing he would feel was the body he would be leaving soon hitting the hard, cold concrete floor – but he didn't. Instead he felt two soft but strong flippers catch him as he fell, and Private's soothing and distorted voice echoing in the depths of his mind.
"I gotcha Skipper … I gotcha."
...