It is time for chapter 12. Lots of Skilene is here. As usual, *'s = notes, (P) = perspective change, and italicized means quoting a character. Let's read.

CHAPTER 12 – I Do

"My wedding dress! I almost forgot! Thanks for remembering!" Marlene exclaimed happily. "No problem," I said while opening the house. The dress was still safely packed away, untouched. We carefully took it out with us, but Marlene didn't put it on yet, in order not to spoil Skipper's surprise later.

"Time to go everyone," I said. "Ready," they all said. I activated the Portablizer and Kowalski set it to send us to inside the HQ in their universe. We pushed the button and the portal appeared, and we drove through it. Inside, it was taking a few minutes, which I guessed was due to crossing universes. Suddenly, a minor pain happened to me. "Oww, that hurts," I said. "What hurts?" they asked. "Everything," I answered.

Suddenly I was getting smaller. "Kowalski, what's happening?" I asked the scientist. I realized my feet were turning into orange little feet and my hands were turning into flippers. "I can't say for certain, but I'd say you're turning into a Penguin," he explained. "Can you work the math on that?" I asked, while growing feathers. *

As Kowalski was doing so, were all blinded by a flash that seemed to be coming from me. After it subsided, we recovered and we were all shocked at what happened. I had become a Penguin, just like the guys! "Kowalski, what's the math on this?" I asked. "The odds of this were 10 million to one, but it happened anyway," Kowalski answered.

"How come we don't turn into humans when we go to your universe?" Marlene asked. "I think that's because technically, human versions of you exist, at least in the eye of my universe. At least this solves the problem of how I'm going to be at the wedding," I replied.

Suddenly, a Portal opened up and we could see it was the inside of the HQ. The five looked relieved to go home, but I was ecstatic. I will finally visit a place I only dreamed of visiting, which was their dimension. We went through the Portal and arrived. "This place is amazing!" I said. "Welcome to the HQ," Skipper said, proudly.

Suddenly the hatch opened up above. "Who's down there?" Becky and Stacy said. "I'll have to watch out for that badger term," I thought to myself. "Relax girls, it's us," Marlene answered. "Great, you're back cousin!" Stacy said. "Where were you?" Becky asked. "We were in his dimension," the five said while pointing at me. "Your dimension?" the badgers asked, confused.

"That's where they were the last time they disappeared, too," I answered. "By the way, I'm Matthew and in my dimension I'm actually a human," I said, introducing myself. "How is a human a penguin?" the badgers asked. "If that's the question, then tell me how a Penguin and an Otter love each other," I said. "Fair point," Stacy said.

"So who are you two girls?" I asked the badgers, not wanting to reveal the show yet. "I'm Becky," she said, eagerly shaking my flipper. "And I'm Stacy," she said right after, also shaking my flipper. **

"So how long were we gone?" Private asked. "About 6 hours, but it's still only 3," Becky answered. Suddenly, we all heard the bell strike thrice. "That sounds even better in person," I commented. "What do you mean?" the badgers asked. "We'll tell you after the wedding," Kowalski answered.

"Do you have your phone still?" Marlene asked, remembering she had promised me that I could be the official photographer. From nowhere, I pulled out my phone. "Somehow I still do. Wow, good service here," I commented, noticing I had five bars. Notifications were still coming in, so I turned them off for the apps that were sending them.

"Kowalski, can I borrow your tripod for this?" I asked of him. "Sure, let me get it from my lab," he replied. When he returned, I put my phone on the tripod and did a test recording. It worked flawlessly. "Let's get going everybody," I said to the seven.

Marlene and the badgers went off to their habitats to put their dresses back on, I assumed. Around me, the Penguins were once again putting on their bow ties. "Here you go soldier," Skipper said, handing me one. "Thank you. So is this an extra one?" I asked, taking it. "Yes. It's good we got a few extra on our missions over the last week," Skipper explained.

"I agree. Thank you for letting me come to the wedding," I told Skipper. "It's the least I can do, seeing as how you and Marlene stopped Blowhole. Where did you send him anyway?" Skipper asked. "Oh, we sent him to Seaville, like you guys did last time," I answered. "That place is worse than Hoboken," Skipper said as he was getting his bow tie and the rings ready.

After about 20 minutes, we were all ready again. I grabbed Kowalski's tripod and my phone and we went to where the altar had been set up earlier. All the animals were there. It was cool to meet them in person. I greeted them, yet left out the part of the alternate universe and the show for now.

After meeting all the zoo residents, I set up the tripod and found the perfect angle for the wedding for the recording. I started recording at the right time. We went through the service, finally arriving at the moment we had all been waiting for. I quickly checked the skies and nothing was there, meaning we would not have any interruptions.

All eyes turned towards Marlene, who was once again coming down the aisle. Finally, she and Skipper would be married, after all this time. Slowly approaching the altar, she was beaming, as everyone was looking at her. She reached the altar, where Kowalski, Private, Skipper, Becky, and Stacy were waiting.

"Do you have the rings?" Kowalski asked Skipper. "Yes Kowalski," Skipper said. It was time. "Do you Marlene, take Skipper to be your lawfully wedded husband?" Kowalski asked Marlene. "I do," Marlene said, smiling. "And do you Skipper, take Marlene to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Kowalski asked Skipper. "I do," Skipper said. "Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride," Kowalski said. With that, Skipper and Marlene kissed in the most loving embrace. We all cheered and clapped.

After a few minutes, we made our way to another part of the zoo, for the party. I was still recording. The first thing to do was to cut the cake. Skipper cut a piece and handed it on a plate to Marlene, but he tripped and it flew into Marlene's face. "Oops," was all he could say. "You call that an oops?" Marlene replied with a smirk. She cut a piece of cake and threw it at Skipper, smashing in his face. We all laughed. "That was tasty," Skipper said. ***

It was time for dancing. Naturally, Skipper and Marlene went first. They looked so happy and carefree, knowing they were now married forever. That was bringing a smile to everyone's face. After a few minutes, all the other animals joined in. With all the shaking going on, it took all my effort to keep the tripod stable, since I was still filming.

After many hours of dancing, toasts, and the animals wishing the best of luck to the new couple for the camera, it was starting to get late. Skipper and Marlene both walked up to the microphone and thanked everyone for coming to the wedding. The other animals went to their habitats for the night.

"Alright, boys. We need to make sure the public doesn't know what happened, so let's perform Operation: Wedding Clean Up. Private, Kowalski, Rico, and I all went around the zoo, cleaning up the tables, the leftover food, and everything else. "Well done boys, a new record. You know what this means. Snow cones tomorrow!" Skipper announced to us. We all cheered, knowing today had been one of the best of our lives.

That sounds like an awesome wedding. Please rate and review this chapter. See you in the next one. Time for notes.

* Being changed into a penguin or another animal when entering their universe is a popular theme. I guess it makes it a lot easier to go to their universe, eh?

** They shook it the same way they shook Marlene's paw in "Badger Pride."

*** That cake mishap just came to me.