Welcome to chapter 5. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom, a (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another, and italicized words means I'm quoting what someone said before. So let's get reading, eh?

CHAPTER 5 – San Francisco

After Blowhole flew away from the camera, both Marlene and I locked our phones. I was nervous, but since I couldn't see Marlene I didn't know. But based on the minor shaking of the bag, I guessed she was. "Are you sure you want to go through with this Marlene? I mean if you want to turn back now, I'm fine with that. Honestly I'm nervous, too," I said to her.

She didn't respond for a minute. Then Marlene said, "I think we should go through with this. We need to fix whatever damage Blowhole's done and find the Penguins. We're not going to stop until I'm back with Skipper!" she shouted.

"Wow. Just, wow. You really sounded like Skipper there," I said. "And you're right. We should go on. Imagine the shock Skipper would get if we defeated Blowhole. It'd make him darn proud of you," I finished. Suddenly, Marlene realized what she had said.

"Wow. You're right, I am getting to sound like Skipper. I would also love to see the look on Skipper's face if we defeated Blowhole while they were out of commission. So how far are we from our stop?" she asked.

"Well, we're in the transbay tube under the bay right now, so we could get off at the next stop but let's wait for the third stop in the city, which is Powell. Prepare for a shift in angle, I'm going to put you over my shoulder again," I said. "Ready," Marlene replied. I carefully picked up the bag and slowly turned it until it could be put over my shoulder.

Once again I asked, "Are you sure you're alright in there Marlene?" "That was a nice, slow transition, not a fast and rough one. Thanks for being careful and yes, I am," she answered. "Ok, good. We're at our stop now," I said. "No turning back now, huh?" Marlene asked. "Nope. No turning back now," I replied.

I went up the elevator this time and went through the gate no problem. "Almost there, Marlene. We just need to get up on an escalator and we'll be above ground," I said. When I reached the top and stepped out, I was shocked at what I saw. "Whoa. Blowhole really scared everyone away," I said. "What do you mean?" Marlene asked. "I mean there's no one here. I've never seen San Francisco so empty," I answered.

"Well, we're not singing, so that's a good sign," Marlene said. "We should still try to find somewhere out of the open, like Moscone... Ok, that's a good idea," I said, just thinking of it. "Where and what is Moscone?" Marlene asked. "It's about five short blocks away. They usually hold conferences at it and there's actually one this week I was planning to go to anyway," I answered.

"What's the conference? It's not dogs, right? They'd smell me instantly," Marlene said fearing she might be discovered. "Nope, it's not a dog show. It's actually a computer show called Macworld/iWorld. * It's been going on for nearly 30 years," I answered.

"So where will we hide?" Marlene asked. "Well, the ticket is on my phone and we'll probably be able to hide in one of the many conference rooms when one isn't going on. They're fairly big and no one hangs around them long after a conference is over," I answered.

"How am I going to get in?" Marlene asked. "Well, just don't move around much until we get inside. Everyone thinks we've all got iPads in our bags, so if you stay still, we may be able to get through," I answered. "I'll try to stay still," she answered.

Suddenly an energy blast passed over my head. I didn't care what it was or where it was coming from, but I started running away like a maniac. "What's going on?" Marlene asked, stuttering a bit from the bouncing. "I think Blowhole is shooting at me!" I replied. "What's he shooting at you?" Marlene asked. "I'm not sure. It's an energy blast, I think," I said, while still running and dodging blasts. (P to Blowhole)

"Well, it certainly got boring after all the humans fled," I thought to myself. I was expecting at least a few of them to try and stop me. They're such a weak species, in any universe. Suddenly I noticed a human coming out from underground and stealthily waited to see what he would do if he spotted me.

He appeared to be talking to someone, but I couldn't hear as he was too far away. All he appeared to have was what looked like a canvas bag and a smartphone. He suddenly started walking away. I slowly followed him on my Segway, carefully going slow so he wouldn't hear me approaching.

I started to get bored with him after a few minutes and decided to have some fun. I pressed a button on my Segway and out popped my invisibility blaster. I waited until the opportune moment to fire. I fired and purposefully missed over his head.

I then could only make one word out what he was saying, which was Blowhole. That confused me for a moment. I never said to any of the humans what my name was. Obviously, this human knows more than the others as to what is going on. I'll have to keep tabs on him. I wonder what he's carrying in that bag of his. (P to myself)

"How far away are we from safety?" Marlene asked the best she could. "About…one…more…block," I said, breathing heavily. All of a sudden, the blasts stopped. I still didn't slow down, not for one second. But I looked in a car's rear view mirror and saw Blowhole had stopped following us.

Now I slowed down. "I think he's gone Marlene. He's stopped shooting at us," I said. "Are you alright?" I asked. "I'm a little shaken up and a bit dizzy, but otherwise I think I'm good. What was he shooting at us?" she asked. "Unfortunately, I'm not sure. The blast color did look familiar. It looked like the color Kowalski's Transmatterer makes when it shoots a blast, which is green," I explained. **

"An invisibility ray? That's better than a disintegration one by far. But if he hit you, I wouldn't know where to go after I can't see you. And if he hit the bag, he could've seen me. That would've sunk our plans immediately," Marlene said. "I don't even want to know what would happen if he saw you," I said.

"He'd have a powerful bargaining chip against Skipper. But I promise that'll never happen," I said. "Really?" Marlene asked. "Really. Also, being an honorary penguin is tough!" I said.

"It definitely is. Skipper made me one after he trained me on our dates. I never thought I'd have to go on an actual mission. Fighting X in the Snackitarium was hard without actual training, but fighting those Lunacorns was even harder," she replied. ***

"You did really well, though. You took down the most feared animal control officer in New York and someone who's destroyed countless worlds," I said, trying to cheer her back up. "But Skipper helped me both times. If it had been just me, I probably would have failed," she said, sighing.

"But you're not on your own now. I'm sure we'll find a way to trick him and defeat Blowhole," I explained. "You're right," she replied. "We're here, Marlene," I said, after we arrived at Moscone. I walked inside and scanned my ticket in the scanner. Mysteriously, though, no one was outside of the main hall and the door was closed. I decided to go upstairs into one of the conference rooms like Marlene and I had planned earlier.

Upstairs, the booths where people normally are were empty and all the doors to the rooms were locked, except for one. I went inside and no one was there. "You can come out now, Marlene. Also, there's no windows, so Blowhole can't see in here," I said. She poked her head out and then came out.

"Well, we certainly got lucky with that plan working," Marlene said, now sitting on a chair. "I agree. Now the hard part is figuring out how to beat that dolphin," I said. "What about that disguise plan you had?" she asked.

"I think that idea's been thrown out the window at this point, unfortunately. I had counted on people to stay and stare, but I guess everyone's gotten smarter at this point. I don't think we could make it all the way to Ghirardelli Square to get you your disguise without him spotting us again," I said. ****

Sounds like we're in a bit of a fix here. Please rate and review the story. Time for the usual notes.

* Google it. It's an awesome trade show. So many cool products have been on display in the last 30 years. Also, it's usually in March, but since it's been a few months since my adventure, it works. Also, yeah, I love Apple products.

** Reference to "Invention Intervention" when one of Kowalski's inventions yet again goes wrong.

*** Reference to both "Snowmageddon" and "Operation Lunacorn Apocalypse".

**** Google map the distance. It's a 45-minute walk though, in case you decide not to map it.