Hey peoples! Sorry it been, like, over a week since I've updated, but the internet died. I don't know how, it just did. But it's back now! Thanks to all the people who liked my poem and reviewed! Also thanks to my dad, who edited this chapter for me! This chapter has some action, so buckle up!

Disclaimer- I doesn't owneded the Penguins who yeild from Madagascar.

Chapter 5: Love Can Be Shocking

A soft breeze blew through the early June evening. I sat on the edge of the concrete flow slowly tracing my foot through the icy water. I watched my reflection ripple away as my tears hit the water.

As the ripples began to disperse, I saw a black shadow come up from behind me. I felt something grab my shoulder and I jumped a mile high. Quickly, I scrambled to my feet and whirled around, ready to defend myself if need be.

"Aly calm down, it's just me!" I heard a familiar British penguin's voice say. It was Private's, and I soon I realized who it was, I got out of my defensive position.

"Sorry Private," I apologized "But you really shouldn't sneak up on me like that."

"I didn't mean to give you a fright." He said meekly. He really did sound guilty too.

I smiled sadly "It's fine" I mumbled quietly as I sat back down, and resumed tracing my foot in the water.

Private sat down next to me and began tracing his foot in the water as well. We sat like that for several minutes until he broke the silence.

"Are you alright, Aly?" He asked. I could sense the concern the worry in his voice.

I sighed "Yeah. I'm just sad that I won't see any of my family for three months. The worst part is they don't even know if I'm dead or not. My mom's probably crying now. And I don't even have a place to stay!"

Private looked dismayed "I'm sure your family has every reason to believe you're still alive and well. They miss you too, but three months with us will pass by before you can blink!" He said, attempting to cheer me up.

"Promise?" I asked.

"Promise." He affirmed "As for a place to stay, you can just stay with us until Kowalski makes an antidote."

I was skeptical "Yeah right. What about Skipper? He's already made it very clear he doesn't trust me!"

Private considered this "I'll talk to him." He said confidently.

I blinked, then rushed into him with a hug. "Thank you Private! I think these next few months will be easier with you around."

Private froze, but slowly returned the awkward hug. I let go of Private and glanced his face. It conveyed a wide-eyed, crooked grin. I smiled shyly and let out an embarrassed giggle.

"Um, maybe we should go see if Kowalski got the collar off of Mary yet." I suggested.

"Sure." Private agreed and helped me up. He went in front of me and I followed. I had barely taken a step, however, when my collar started to beep.

Confused, Private paused and turned around.

"Why's it doing that?" He wondered out loud.

I was about to reply that I didn't know, when electricity coursed throughout my whole body. I screamed loudly

"Aly!" Private cried as he rushed over to me.

I kept screaming as I waited for the pain to end, but it never came. I clawed at my neck in a desperate attempt to get the collar off. All this accomplished, though, was causing me to trip. My vision blurred and suddenly I found myself plunged deep into the icy water. I could feel my strength ebbing away. I tried to remain awake long enough to swim to the surface, but I was too weak. Right before I passed the border into unconsciousness, however, I felt a strong force grab my flipper.

Private's Pov a minute earlier:

Aly's sudden hug really took me by surprise. But, not wanting to be rude, I returned it. I smiled, I was rather pleased that I had succeed in my personal mission to cheer her up. Aly probably hadn't realized it, but I noticed her crying when she left HQ. I don't know what it was, but something tore at my heart when I saw that, so I decided I had to make her happy again. Aly then pulled out of the hug, and let out a soft giggle that sounded as pleasant as butter on hot toast.

"Um, maybe we should go see if Kowalski got the collar off of Mary yet." Aly suggested.

"Sure." I agreed.

I went ahead so I could open the fish bowl entrance like the proper gentleman my mum taught me to be. Also, I was eager to get that wretched collar off her neck before something bad happened. Knowing Blowhole, he could have installed a secret camera in it or something, just waiting for the right moment to strike.

As if to answer my thoughts, (perhaps it had mind-reading capabilities?) I heard a strange beeping noise from behind me. Turning around, I identified the noise as coming from the collar. I was confused.

"Why's it doing that?" I wondered aloud.

Aly opened her mouth to answer, but the only noise that came out of it was an ear-piercing as she twisted around in pain. It was as clear as country air- she was being electrocuted.

"Aly!" I cried as I ran to her.

I cursed myself for not being closer. Aly was clawing at her collar when abruptly she tripped and fell into the water. She didn't surface.

"No!" I yelled, as if that would do anything.

Not pausing for a second, I dove straight into the water and began frantically searching for Aly. But, the sun was setting and the pool had no evening lights, so it was rather difficult to see. Finally, much to my horror, I spotted her near the bottom, struggling in semi-consciousness to swim to the surface. I darted toward her with expert speed that can only come from years of Skippahs' training. I reached her just as her body went limp. I grabbed her flipper and swam to the surface, dragging her with me.

We came to the surface, right where the edge of the concrete flow. I thrust Aly onto it, then climbed onto it myself. I paused for a millisecond to catch my breath, then looked over at Aly to evaluate her condition. I gasped in horror when I realized she wasn't breathing. Quickly I put my flipper on her neck, searching for a pulse. But to my dismay, I couldn't find one. I knew what I had to do.

Placing one flipper on top of the other, I began doing chest compressions to a count a thirty. While I was counting, I silently thanked Lunacorns for teaching me CPR when Princess Self-Respectra had to give it to Prince Shares-A-Lot one episode.

Now I had to do the hard part. Not even thinking about what I was about to do, I leaned over, opened her beak, and blew in three breaths of mouth-to-mouth. Then I resumed the compressions.

I continued this pattern: Thirty compressions, three breaths, thirty compressions, three breaths. Aly still wasn't breathing, but I couldn't will myself to give up. I wouldn't allow Aly to leave the world like this. My heart lurched in pain a thousand times greater then when I saw her cry at the thought of losing her. Only, this time I knew the source of my pain. It was because, I realized all of a sudden, I loved her.

Suddenly Aly twitched and started coughing violently. I immediately got out the way to give her room to breath.

"Aly! You're alive!" I cheered.

Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of my voice. She lifted her head and looked at me weakly.

"Private," She whispered wearyingly "You saved me." Then her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her head fell back as she once again passed out. But, thankfully, this time she was breathing.

I had to get Aly back into HQ. I didn't have much medical knowledge, but I knew her heart was very weak from all the added strain, and it could still give out. I had to get her to Kowalski.

Careful not to disturb her, I picked Aly up in a bridal style and carried her to the fish bowl. Then, I placed her over my shoulder gently, so I could have a flipper free to open the entrance. With a grunt, I climbed down the ladder. I would never mention it out loud, but Aly was really quite heavy.

The second my feet hit the ground I called out to Kowalski's lab "Kowalski, I need your help! Aly's collar-"

"I know!" Kowalski interrupted as he came out his lab. His distraught face mimicked how I was feeling. "The same thing just happened to Mary!"

He ran over to me and helped carry Aly into the lab. There I saw Mary lying, conscious, but weak, on one of the lab tables. She was hooked up to a bunch of medical equipment, those of which all I recognize was a heart monitor. Rico was sitting in the corner brushing his doll.

Mary looked up from her temporary bed, and gasped when she saw who we carrying "What happened?" She demanded. I tell that she wanted to get up, but was too weak to do so.

We reached the table next to Mary's, and carefully placed Aly onto it. Kowalski began hooking up the same medical machines to Aly, so I turned to Mary to explain what happened.

"We were sitting on the edge on the concrete flow, just talking. We had just decided to come down here to check your guy's progress, when Aly's collar started to electrocute her."

"Ah yes," Interjected Kowalski "That must have been I was tinkering with Mary's collar. I had almost sawed it completely off, when I triggered a sensor causing it to shock her. I managed to finally get it off, but not before it did some serious damage. My guess is that when Mary's collar was tampered with, it sent a signal to Aly's collar, and they were set off."

"Anyway, I was a few feet in front of Aly, when she tripped and fell into the water. I dove after her and pulled her to the safety of the concrete. Unfortunately though, she wasn't breathing, so I had to give her CPR." I blushed in embarrassment as Mary's eyes lit up with interest.

"And now that I got Mary's collar off, I can get Aly's off also." Kowalski pointed out.

I was confused "Won't that set off the collar again?" I asked.

"No. The water shorted it out." He answered as he got out a small electric saw.

I looked away as he turned it on and began cutting the collar. I didn't want to see it if he slipped up. I heard a distinct clink! noise and then the saw turning off. Slowly turning toward Aly, I noticed she was collar-free and unscathed. I cheered.

We sat around the lab for several minutes, Kowalski constantly monitoring the two girls conditions while I offered any assistance I could. Then in the silence I noticed the lack of presence of a certain paranoid penguin. I decided to ask Kowalski about it.

"Kowalski, where's Skippah?"

Kowalski looked up from his clipboard, where he was solving a random equation "He went on recon in the sewer shortly before the girls were electrocuted. If my calculations are correct, he should be back any minute now."

As if on Que, Skipper walked in. He seemed oddly at peace. That is, until he saw Mary and Aly laying on the lab tables- one unconsciousness and the other barely conscious- and his eyes filled with an inconceivable rage.

"Absolutely not!" he yelled, pointing at the two girls "We will not be housing spies!"

"But Skippah," I begged "They were shocked by Blowhole's collars, and Aly almost drowned when she fell into the water!"

This just angered Skipper more, and I could tell he was about to yell at me for insubordination, when I was saved by Kowalski "It's true, sir! In their current state, neither of them are capable of doing anything for the next few days."

I thought Skipper was going to get cross with Kolwaski as well, but instead he pinched the bridge of his beak and sucked in a deep breath "Alright. They can stay here, but only because I think I can observe their spy activities better with them here."

I silently cheered that I had kept my promise and convinced Skipper to let them stay. I knew-

Skipper interrupted my thoughts "Time to turn in boys." He said. I glanced at the clock. It read ten p.m. sharp.

Rico, who was still sitting in the corner brushing his doll, got up and he, Kowalski, and Skipper headed out the door. I followed.

Right before he left, Skipper turned to face Mary, who was almost asleep "Remember, spy, I sleep with one eye open" He warned.

Mary nodded, too tired to argue the fact that she wasn't a spy, and we went into the main room.

Suddenly a thought occurred to me. I grabbed something from my bunk and raced back into the lab, telling the others that I had left something behind. I checked Mary to see her chest rising and falling in a slow, steady pattern. I quietly waddled to Aly's bed.

Very gently, as to not disturb her, I placed my favorite Lunacorn next to her. To my surprise, she grabbed it immediately and hugged it tightly. She smiled.

Leaning over her, I whispered "I love you, Aly" And left the room.

What I didn't know was that Mary was still awake, and staring at me with one open eye.

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