Are any of you feeling the Marski love yet? No? Yes? Well, which ever one you said (except maybe if you answered pancakes) I've got a whole new chapter that will give you some more so that those who answered "no" will say yes, those who said "yes" will say "YES!", and those who answered "pancakes" still won't get any, but they'll have probably forgotten about them enough to be able to answer my question.
Speaking of pancakes, Blouper; once, twice, three times THANKS!!! (don't ask me what that has to do with pancakes...)
Hallucinations
The zoo will open in approximately an hour; he had to act quickly, not only to save his friends, but also to get them back in time.
Kowalski toboggans through the zoo's main path. He gets to the gate and realizes that it's still locked. With nothing else to do he begins climbing over it, hoping no one would take notice.
Hiding rapidly behind a trashcan, he looks around the city for the building on which the nest stood. Luckily it was close up; he slides to it and looks up at the stairs. Marlene was almost to the top, and the lemurs, which were the closest to the bottom, were already too far up to hear him.
Kowalski climbs up to the edge of a nearby dumpster and from there jumps to the edge of the stairs. Swinging himself up he back-flips into the rail and begins climbing up the stairs as fast as he can. He looks up; they still seemed so far away. He thinks about calling to them but he discerns they were too far up and that the city noises would drown out his voice. He sees Marlene climb over the edge of the roof. Desperately, he pushes himself to go faster. He had to make it.
Marlene looks up at the grand piece of architecture before her. She had to admit that it was very impressive. Sitting upon a pile of metal bars sat the eagle's nest. The bars were heaped one upon another, the ones at the top ending in a "V" shape. The nest itself was made up of many different things; ripped clothes, soda cans, crumbled paper, shredded pieces of mattresses, and other unrecognizable things, all arranged together into a bowl-shaped container. She looks around at the rest of the apartment's roof and sees a few scattered feathers littering its surface, along with some small fish bones.
She begins climbing on the metal, using one paw to hang on to the bars and the other to hold her gift basket. She couldn't help smiling as she climbed up; she was about to meet a new friend. Maybe this one would be someone she could be close to, whom she would be able to talk and joke with. She plans-out what to say as she climbs.
What would be good? Maybe: "Hello there. I'm Marlene." Not very original, but it was the only thing she could think of. She wondered what Skipper would do when he found out she had done this. Her mouth twists into a smug smile. She'd show him.
Her paw feels a difference as she grabs onto the edge of the nest. It was surprisingly soft and warm. She pushes the basket up on her side and sets her face on a bright smile to greet her new friend.
The eagle was big. Very big. Her 'hello' gets stuck in her throat as her eyes take on the large bird before her. She hadn't seemed that big from the telescope. Marlene realizes that the eagle was breathing too deeply and slowly, and that its eyes were closed. It was sleeping.
Its white eyelids blended in with its head, which was snowy-white from the neck up. The rest of it was a rich brown that made her beak seem even more vibrant yellow. Marlene stands in awe, not even noticing when Julien climbs over the ledge.
"Here I am!" He exclaims loudly, "You can now commence with the beholding of me." Marlene snaps out of her stupor and puts her finger to her lips.
"Shh!" She snaps pointing at the eagle. Julien glares at her childishly, placing his hands on his hips.
"You do not "shh" me. Only I can shush myself, and even I don't allow me to do that." Marlene puts her paw over his mouth, ignoring his protests.
"Can't you see she's sleeping?" She snaps. Julien looks at the eagle more closely.
"Ohhh." He says nodding his head expertly, "I know exactly what to do." He jumps off of the nest, disappearing from sight. Marlene looks over the edge, wondering what he had in mind. Julien runs to Mort who had a large object on his small arms. Marlene gasps as she realizes what it is.
"Wait!" she scream-whispers, knowing that it would be useless to yell loudly. Julien doesn't hear her and presses a button on the boom box. Loud music erupts from it and Julien begins to dance. Marlene stands in horror and turns to look at the eagle. Its eyes snap open, showing dark brown pupils that focus sharply on her. Marlene ignores the jagged shivers that travel down her spine and she forces back a scream, instead setting her face on what she hoped was a warm smile.
"H-hello." She says holding out her paw, "I'm Marlene, and I just-"
Marlene falls backwards as the eagle swoops up into the air. She lands painfully on her back.
"Yes! Now the party has really started!" yells Julien dancing along to the music. Marlene stares wide-eyed at the eagle. It seemed to be flying higher and higher up. Julien looks at Marlene.
"Hello! You are supposed to be partying. Nobody likes party-poopers!" Marlene ignores him, watching the eagle's course through the air.
"Marlene, you are very much being the pooper of parties right now!" yells Julien trying to pull her up.
The eagle finally stops going up and hangs in the air for a second before angling down, plummeting quickly towards them. Marlene screams and gets up, hastily shoving Julien aside. Julien gets up huffily and stomps towards her but he falls down again as a quick blast of air goes by him. Marlene runs faster, her heart beating rapidly. She could hear the eagle getting closer.
Marlene feels the air in her lungs leaving her; her legs seemed to not be listening to her anymore. She falls to the ground, closing her eyes. She hopes that the eagle was flying too high up to reach her, and if it wasn't, then Marlene hoped she would live at least.
Something hits her on the side, though it wasn't as painful as she had expected. She opens her eyes and finds Kowalski's face only inches from hers. He doesn't seem very happy, his beak was twisted into a scowl and his eyes were narrowed in fury.
"Didn't Skipper tell you not to come?" He yells. She looks up at him unable to think of an answer. She hears a loud shriek and looks over Kowalski to find that the eagle was coming at them again.
"You can lecture me later." She says pulling him out of the way. Kowalski turns and dives away. He stands with his flippers out in front of him searching for the threat. The eagle turns and charges at him again, her claws reaching for him. Kowalski jumps into the air and lands on her back. He holds onto her feathers, trying to stop her.
Marlene looks around for the lemurs. Maurice was already running to the stairs, his hands out in front of him. Mort was curled into a tight ball, rocking on the ground. Julien was standing calmly in spot inspecting his fingernails. She looks back at Kowalski who was covering the eagle's eyes. Marlene realizes that Julien was right in the eagle's path. She runs to him and shoves him to the side, turning in time to feel the eagle collide against her painfully. Marlene, Kowalski, and the eagle all go tumbling.
They land on the floor twisted in awkward, scrambled positions. Marlene pulls her leg out from underneath the bird's back and, ignoring a sharp throbbing on her side, helps Kowalski up. The eagle flips over by kicking her legs in the air. She seemed even angrier than before, the once rich brown feathers now covered in rust and dirt. Marlene and Kowalski begin to back up.
"N-n-now, listen here, umm, Mrs. Eagle," Marlene begins, hoping to appease the creature, "we only came here to-to welcome you to the area." The eagle seems to be paying attention. She nods her head, signaling that she should go on. Marlene looks up at Kowalski for help, but he just looks at her crossly. Marlene breathes deeply and gulps, facing the gigantic bird again; she could probably have her for a snack if she wanted to.
"Umm, you see, I, well, we- we just felt that you might like to get to know us and maybe we could talk. And-and we really don't mean you or your egg any harm. Really." The eagle lowers her wings, bending her head to their level. Marlene relaxes, feeling that the danger is over.
"Hey guys! Guess what I just found!"
Marlene, Kowalski, and the eagle all turn to see Julien in the eagle's nest. In his hand he proudly held up the eagle's egg.
"It's my new JJ! Finally, a heir to the throne has been found!" The eagle faces them again, her eyes once again furious.
"Wait!" Kowalski tries to hold her back but the eagle was too quick, she grabs onto Julien with her sharp claws and begins pulling him up into the air. Kowalski jumps and hangs onto Julien's leg.
"Help!" screams Julien frantically. Kowalski flips in the air and once more gets on the eagle. In an effort to get him off, Mrs. Eagle begins to do a series of turns and flips in the air. Julien screams loudly, letting go of the egg in his fear. Marlene sees the fragile egg fall through the sky and runs to it. She stretches out her arms in front of her, looking up in hopes of catching it. The egg falls neatly in her paws, not a single crack on it.
Marlene smiles but her success laughter gets suck in her throat as she feels only air beneath her. Her stomach bursts in uncomfortable butterflies as she falls, making her feel like throwing up. The air whistles past her, and, remembering what she held in her arms, Marlene clutches on tightly to the egg, trying to protect it with her body.
Kowalski saw Marlene nearing the edge and couldn't help gasping in dread. He grabbed a handful of feathers from the eagle's belly and plucked them out, knowing that it would hurt. The eagle had shrieked and gone down to the floor again. Julien fell to the side screaming all the while. They head a loud cry and turned to see Marlene disappear, the egg in her arms. Both Kowalski and the eagle scrambled up quickly towards the building. They looked down and saw nothing. The alley was empty; there was no one there, no otter or egg in sight.
"Marlene!" calls Kowalski. The eagle also lets out a shrill screech that echoes through the passageway, the sound of it so sad and broken that Kowalski couldn't help but feel sorry for her. The eagle swoops down and begins searching for her lost egg, all the while repeating her piercing call. Kowalski jumps down into the stairs, diving from rail to rail not caring if it was dangerous or not. Halfway there he meets an out of breath Maurice sitting on a stair.
"Maurice! Have you seen Marlene?" He asks.
Maurice gasps and shakes his head, unable to answer anything else. Kowalski nods and begins flipping down the rails again. He gets to the dumpster and lands on its lid, slamming it down on the way. He stands on it looking around anxiously. The eagle flies around too, looking for her egg. They both search and go around, looking closely at the ground and at the surrounding areas to no prevail.
Kowalski begins to grow frustrated and he curls his flippers into fists, letting out an angry growl. Whether it was to himself, or the eagle or to the entire world he didn't know, but he did know that this was completely illogical. How could Marlene have just disappeared?
The eagle stops flying and sits on the stairs, grapping her sharp claws on the rail. Resignation fills her eyes as she looks up at him. He recognizes the frustration, anger, and helplessness that he too was feeling at the moment reflected in her eyes. He noticed, though, that there was something else in them, something that, though he was close to, he still hadn't experienced. It was a dead look that he had only seen few times in his life.
Lost hope.
The eagle spreads out her wings and flies into the air. Kowalski watches as she leaves the alley, getting smaller and smaller in the sky. He opens his beak to call her back, but no words come to him. What could he say, when he himself had no idea what to do or whether there was any hope?
Kowalski sighs and goes to lean against the trashcan. How would he explain this to Skipper? How would he ever find Marlene? And where was she? He rubs his temple with his flippers; he could feel a headache developing. He hoped desperately that she wasn't hurt. He would never be able to live with himself if he ended up responsible for her...no, Marlene couldn't be dead. The possibilities of that were...all pointing towards it, but he knew that she wasn't dead. She couldn't be dead. He cringes at the word, how could he have let this happen? He had to find her, whatever it took. Groaning anxiously he sits on the ground, feeling all the while that perhaps this was a lost cause.
"Marlene where are you?" He mutters looking around the empty valley. No answer- not that he had expected-
"Psst! Kowalski!" He looks up and sees Marlene peeking out of the dumpster.
"Marlene?"
"Is she gone? Did the eagle leave?"
Kowalski nods, barely noticing that he was doing so. Maybe he had finally lost his mind and this was all just some crazy hallucination he was having.
Marlene climbs out of the dumpster and brushes trash off of her. A very unpleasant odor reaches him and he holds back the urge to throw up. Marlene grimaces at his expression and begins cleaning up something in her arms. Kowalski stands and realizes that she still had the egg. Maybe this was just a sick and twisted dream that he was having, soon there would be another giant calculator coming at him like last time.
Julien walks down the stairs with Maurice and Mort behind him carrying the boom box. Julien walks up to them and sniffs Marlene.
"Oh, gross! You smell like Mort! Maybe even worser." Julien pinches his nose with his fingers, trying to block out the smell. Marlene glowers, but otherwise ignores the comment. She continues to pick the trash off of the egg, being especially thorough. Julien notices the egg in her arms and shudders, stepping back a few steps. Kowalski looks at her and then at Julien. He blinks as he looks at them.
"Am I dreaming?" He asks.
What a ridiculous situation, Marlene taking garbage off of an eagle's egg, Julien telling her that she stinks, Maurice and Mort holding onto a boom box in an alley, Julien shuddering at the sight of an egg, and he, Kowalski, standing in the mist of it all like a nitwit.
Kowalski feels the scenario in front of him sink in and he begins to laugh. He knew that he was on the edge of insanity as soon as he heard the hysterical laughs burst from him but he couldn't stop. Marlene looks at him confused and then does the only thing she could think of. She slaps him across the face. It obviously hurt, she hadn't meant to hit so hard, but Kowalski doesn't object. He stops laughing and looks at her again.
"That hurt." He says casually. She nods her head. Kowalski nods back and stands still for a few seconds. His features change from bemused to thoughtful. Julien, Maurice, and Mort back away from him.
"I haven't woken up, which means that I'm awake." He says. Marlene keeps staring at him. She hadn't realized what a nutcase Kowalski really was.
Kowalski continues muttering to himself. Marlene leans in closer to catch what he's saying.
"So if this isn't a dream and I am really awake than that must mean-"
Kowalski looks up suddenly.
"We have to get back to the zoo!" He exclaims. Marlene's eyes go wide as she realizes that he's right. They both turn at the same time and begin to run towards the zoo. Marlene turns to the lemurs.
"Guys! We have to get back! Hurry!" Maurice and Mort begin their slow approach to them, the boom box holding them back. Julien walks in an aggravatingly slow pace. Marlene runs back to them and pulls on Julien's arm.
"Come on Julien! We have to go now!" Julien slaps her hand away.
"I am the king and will go when I decide to go. If you are wanting me to go faster than you shall have to carry me." His eyes glow with mischief as he sees her expression. She sees Kowalski taking the boom box from Mort and placing it on his shoulders. It seemed like heavy work, but as always Kowalski wasn't complaining.
She turns back to Julien who still had a large smile on his face. She sees people already crowding around the zoo gates. Only one thing to do Marlene…
"Julien so help me, you will run to that zoo or else I'll make sure that you never enter it again." She holds her free fist up to his face threateningly. Julien raises his eyebrow arrogantly.
"Are you trying to threaten the king?" He asks amused. Marlene feels the heat rise to her head.
"Listen here you conceited gray ball of fur, I have been attacked by an eagle and fallen in a dumpster full of many more things than I will ever want to be near to, so if you think that i am merely threatening you than I have news for you." She pulls his face closer to hers and narrows her eyes. Julien wrinkles his nose at how she smells which only fuels her anger more.
"If you don't get in that zoo in the next three seconds i will personally make sure that you end up as eagle snack nip you obnoxious, over spoiled, ridiculous lemur!" Julie holds his arms up in front of him and steps to the side laughing nervously. Marlene growls.
"Oh right, yes well, I will now be deciding to go in then." He takes off into the zoo, running so quickly the humans don't even notice him as he goes by. Marlene goes to Kowalski and helps him carry the boom box with her free hand. He gives her an amused look that she decides to ignore; he had seen her mad before.
"How do we get in?" She asks him motioning to the gathering crowd at the gates.
"There's an available stroller up ahead." He points to a mother who held a pink stroller in her hands. A baby with soft brown hair sat drinking her bottle on it. The mother passes by and Marlene jumps in quickly on the bottom part, placing the egg carefully beside her. Kowalski goes back to get Maurice and Mort, shoving them in hastily. They sit in the hammock-like place and watch as the mother waits for the gates to open. Kowalski pretend scribbles some notes on his flipper and looks at them. He shakes his head and stands up.
"You need to get in on time. I'll cause a distraction while you climb through the gates. Leave the boom box here, I'll be sure to get it back." Marlene jumps up, trying to hold him back. What was he going to do? Was he out of his mind? Her paw grabs on to empty air, Kowalski was too fast. Her eyes follow him as he slides to the center of the crowd and begins waddling around. The crowd's response in instantaneous.
"Look! A penguin!"
"Oh, it's so cute!"
"Is it real?"
"How did it get out of the zoo?"
Kowalski continues waddling. He looks at Marlene and signals for her to go. She realizes that the people were too engrossed with him to really notice anything else. The crowd "ooh's" and "aww's" and she and the lemurs climb the fence. Marlene climbs more slowly since she had the egg to care for, therefore getting to see the last part of Kowalski's act. He waddles slowly to the edge of the crowd and when they were least expecting it he dives away into the street, disappearing among the traffic.
The crowd stands shocked looking for him. Marlene grips the bars tightly looking around. She spots a slight patch of black underneath a car. She falls on the zoo ground and bends her head down, looking beneath the car. Kowalski was clinging to car's floor, his flippers and feet grasping onto it. She smiles when he looks her way and he waves at her. Marlene runs back to her habitat smiling. She would be able to get to her habitat on time and later on return the egg. It had all ended well after all.
Still, something kept bugging her. Hadn't Kowalski said he couldn't fight?
Kowalski stands before Skipper. He was avoiding his gaze, looking down all through Skipper's lecture.
"Exposing yourself like that, allowing Marlene out of the zoo grounds. And Julien! I could hear that music all the way here! Perhaps I need to cancel this trip, we haven't even left and the zoo is already a mess." Skipper takes a deep breath and speaks more calmly.
"Kowalski, you can tell me right now. Should we stay here? It wouldn't be that big a deal. I myself never really liked long boat rides or airplanes."
Kowalski looks up at Skipper. It was easy to tell when he was lying. This trip was very important to him. He felt a twinge of guilt as he realizes what he was doing. Maybe he should cancel the operation. He wouldn't have anything to study anymore, not after the eagle left.
The eagle left.
Oh no. Oh no, oh no, oh no. Kowalski feels panic rise in him. The eagle had left. And the egg, it was still here. What was he going to do? He had to tell Skipper! But… but then what would be Skipper's reaction? Definetly not something good.
Skipper watches Kowalski, waiting for him to answer. Kowalski takes a deep breath.
"Skipper, I think you should go on that trip. I promise to have everything in order and that no inhabitant in this zoo will come to harm while I am in here." Skipper nods.
"Always knew you'd make a great leader Kowalski."
Skipper goes out to the rest of the team. They were waiting outside to hear the final decision. Kowalski follows him out.
"Boys, we're going back to the Base." Skipper tells them proudly. Private and Rico cheer, high-fiving each other. Kowalski smiles at them. He now realized what a terrible idea it had been to make those fake invitations. But it was too late now. He had to return the egg before Skipper noticed, and in order to do that he would need Skipper to leave. He could use some help from the others, but he didn't think it would be fair to pull them into this.
The team waves goodbye to Kowalski as they leave the zoo. Kowalski places on a fake smile and waves back, three stuffed penguins from the gift shop beside him. Once they were out of sight, Kowalski turns and places a fourth stuffed penguin in his place. The people begin to come into the zoo.
Kowalski goes into Marlene's habitat and watches for a minute as the people the throw fish at the fake penguins. He sighs and knocks on Marlene's wall. He had to get the egg back to the eagle somehow, and he knew that in order to do that he too would have to leave.
And will he? Or is there something else in store that might be worse than that? Well, i'm not telling you right now, so, read the next chapter if you want to know. :P