Time for chapter 9. As usual, *'s means notes at the bottom, (P) means a perspective change from one character or scene to another, and italicized words means I'm quoting someone. Let's read.

CHAPTER 9 – A Last-Ditch Option

"We're running out of options," I said to Marlene as we dodged and she kept firing. We managed to get behind a counter in a restaurant and Marlene fired again. Suddenly she ran out. "That was our final dart," she said. "There's got to be another way to stop him," I said. "I think we've only got one way left," Marlene said softly.

I looked over to her and nodded. "I'm sorry you have to do this Marlene. But I won't let you go too far," I said. "I hope it doesn't go that far," Marlene said. (P to Marlene)

"Going feral isn't ever fun, but it seems like that's all we've got. I've got to try," I thought. I started growling softly to myself, then getting louder and louder until I roared, going feral. I think I frightened both of them as Blowhole backed off away from the restaurant and Matthew just backed off into another area. I guess I can frighten anyone when being feral.

"What is that?!" Blowhole shouted. "Well, that's our final option," Matthew was saying as I kept trying to lay a punch on Blowhole. Darn him for getting around so fast on that Segway. "I mean, literally, what is that?" Blowhole was asking, while dodging me again. "The specific question, is whom. That little otter is Marlene. I swear, you've been watching the Penguins for years and you never knew?" Matthew asked of Blowhole while I still tried to lay a punch on him.

"I never check outside of the…" Blowhole started to say as I finally got him down. I threw him around the street, trying to get him weak enough to stop him so we could Mind Jack him, but not enough to hurt him very much. "You go, Marlene!" Matthew was shouting as I was attacking Blowhole.

"Note to self: Avoid feral… Ouch!" Blowhole was saying before I threw him against a wall. "There's got to be some way to Ouch!" Blowhole said as I threw him against the ground. It looked like he was getting up, but collapsed. "Now's our chance, Marlene!" Matthew shouted.

Realizing what he meant, I ran over to Blowhole's Segway and pressed the red button and the Mind Jacker appeared out of the Segway. I pointed it at Blowhole and shot him with it, then pressed the orange button, which pulled out the laser again. I shot the laser at him and he was entrapped in a cage.

Finally, it was over. I felt such power in myself as I finally had defeated Skipper's and now my archrival. It felt great to be powerful. Nothing stands in my way. "Wait, what?" I thought. "I'm not a monster. I'm a peaceful otter from New York who wouldn't hurt a fly." I realized what was happening. It was going too far. All I could say was "Please help me."

"Just relax, Marlene. Try to relax," Matthew said. I was trying to stop myself, but I was getting on all fours! "It's not working," I squeaked out. "Think of Skipper, then. Think of your dates with him," he kept encouraging.

I thought of my dates with Skipper. The time he gave me snow cones. The time he introduced me to hot snozzles. The time we both swam in the pond. It was slowly working, when my claws started trying to appear!

"Help," I squeaked once again. I was on the verge of losing it completely. "Think of your first kiss with Skipper!" Matthew shouted. "My first kiss with Skipper. It was so beautiful. Finally right then we had admitted we loved each other. We were finally going to be married soon. That kiss was so great and freeing," I thought to myself.

Upon that thought, my claws stopped trying to come out. My fur was no longer standing on end. I got off all four paws and sat down gently on the floor. It worked. I was finally back again. "Thank you," I simply said, shaking a bit. "I'm sorry we almost lost you again. That was too close," he said. "I agree," I said, still shaking a bit. "At least it worked. I really don't want to cause a problem upon the one we already have," I said. (P to myself)

"We got lucky. Look at it, you're back and Blowhole is Mind Jacked. We did it," I said. "So let's figure out how to send him to Seaville," I said. We walked over to the Segway and pushed the blue button. A screen popped up out of the Segway. "This seems simple. It looks like a touchscreen. It should be easy to send him back," I said. I programmed the Portablizer to send Blowhole to Seaville back in their universe.

"Would you care to do the honors, Marlene?" I asked her. "Would I ever. Let's get him out of the cage," Marlene said. I blasted him and he was released from the cage. He started waking up. "Where am I? Who am I?" Blowhole said. "Your name is Flippy and we're sending you home," Marlene said. "Oh, good," Blowhole said, absentmindedly happy.

I activated the Portablizer and a portal appeared nearby. "Bye Flippy," Marlene said. "Bye, otter lady," Blowhole said cheerfully. She threw him through the portal and then I closed it.

"That was awesome!" I said. "One hundred percent mammal awesome. Whoo!" Marlene shouted. "Up high, Marlene!" I shouted back. We high fived at the perfect angle and speed. "So now what?" I asked. "Well, we should probably clean up whatever damage Blowhole did," Marlene suggested. "Good idea," I replied.

We took Blowhole's Segway and both rode it and shot the items that had been in cages and got rid of them. "So what should we do to celebrate? Have a snow cone, have a hot dog or eat some oysters?" I asked. "How about hot snozzles?" Marlene suggested. *

I laughed. "Sure. Also, you're sounding like Skipper again," I said. "I love the taste of hot snozzles. Skipper gave me one on a date," Marlene said. "Well, let's go find pretzels, snow cones, and hot dogs," I said. Thanks to being in downtown San Francisco, we found some quickly.

"I can see why you guys like these, they taste great," I said. "I told you. Now we've got to find the Penguins," Marlene said. "How did you do that?" someone asked. Marlene and I both turned our heads towards the direction the sound came from.

That's it for chapter nine. See you in the next one. Please rate and review this one. Time for a quick note.

* Referencing "I Know Why The Caged Bird Goes Insane" with Skipper's plan of getting hot snozzles from the food cart vendors.

BONUS: This chapter went through a revision, of a sorts.