“Whoa, Skipper” berkata Kowalski, stumbling backwards. “What are anda doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?” berkata Skipper. “I’m going to finish this before anda seriously hurt someone.” Skipper kicked out at Kowalski and Kowalski did a backflip to avoid it.
“Are anda two okay?” Skipper berkata hurriedly to Private and Rico. Much to Skipper’s surprise, the two penguins ran over to Kowalski and stood in front of him, shielding Kowalski from Skipper.
“Skippa, stop!” berkata Private. “Kowalski didn’t do anything! And if anda want to hurt him, you’ll have to go through us first!”
“Is this part of your fiendish plan, Kowalski?” berkata Skipper. “Brainwashing my soldiers and using them as shields?”
Skipper stood in front of Rico and Private for a few moments, as though sizing them up, then screamed and pointed behind them. “Leopard seal!”
“Aah!” berkata Private, and he and Rico cowered on the floor. Skipper took the opportunity to dash between them and run straight towards Kowalski, who had spun around in alarm but not ducked on the floor. Before Kowalski turned back, Skipper had already knocked him across the room, where he hit a dinding and slid down.
Skipper ran over to Kowalski, who seemed dazed oleh the impact. Right as Skipper reached down to investigate the cloth wrapped around Kowalski’s head, the pinguin, penguin casually slapped Skipper’s wing away, then sprang up and began to run. Skipper was surprised but quickly began to pursue Kowalski, who was running towards his makeshift organ, but before he could reach it, Skipper grabbed his ankle and pulled it out from under him and Kowalski fell to the ground.
oleh now, Rico and Private had gotten up and were running over to Skipper, trying to stop him.
“Skippa, leave him alone!” berkata Private.
“What did anda do to them?” berkata Skipper, staring at Kowalski. Kowalski simply shrugged, knowing Skipper would never believe him if he denied it. Then he tried to wiggle out of Skipper’s grip, but Skipper just twisted his ankle to get him to stop.
“Now, you’re coming with me back to the headquarters, Kowalski, and if anda don’t get up and walk, then I’ll drag you” Skipper said. However, right at that moment, Private grabbed Skipper from behind and began to tickle Skipper’s belly. Skipper giggled and loosened his grip on Kowalski, which was enough for Kowalski to break free. He saluted Private before running off into the darkness.
“Private!” berkata Skipper in the midst of his fit of giggles (Skipper was very ticklish in certain places) “Stop…hehe…stop that!” he pushed Private off of him, but Private just jumped back on and kept tickling him. “Rico…please…hehe…help me!” Rico just watched.
Finally, Skipper grabbed Private’s flipper and whiplashed him over his head into the sewer. As Private swam to the shore, spitting out filthy water, Skipper sprinted off into the darkness after Kowalski.
Unfortunantly for Skipper, it was very dark in the sewer and eventually smacked into a wall, which he could not see. As he stumbled around, dazed, light suddenly flooded the section of sewer which he was in. He looked up towards the light and saw Kowalski had kicked open a manhole and was climbing a ladder, trying to escape.
“Kowalski, stop!” berkata Skipper, momentarily panicking as he knew that particular manhole led to a very busy street. But Kowalski did not slow down at all and in a few detik had flipped off the ladder and out of the sewer. Skipper took a running jump towards the ladder and managed to grab onto the middle rung and started to climb as fast as he could. But he was blinded oleh the glare of the daylight and as he was squinting, trying to block the light with one flipper he heard a small thud, followed oleh the screech of car brakes. A car slid into place right over the puncak, atas of the manhole, blocking out the light and allowing Skipper to climb at puncak, atas speed. He popped out of the hole and whacked his head on the car.
“Oh man, what did I just hit?” berkata a man’s voice, and a car door slammed shut. Skipper peeked out from under the car and saw Kowalski lying motionless in the rumput several feet from the side of the road.
Before the man could see what he had hit, Skipper dashed out from under the car and grabbed Kowalski and dragged him under the car.
“What’s this?” berkata the man, and Skipper peeked out from under the car once again. He saw the man bend down and pick up what appeared to be a small (large for Skipper) glass beaker, the kind that Kowalski used in his lab. The man turned it over and a few drops of liquid fell out.
The man just dropped the beaker and got back into the car, apparently deciding that he had not hit anything. Then he drove away.
“Skippa? What are anda doing?” berkata Private from inside the sewer. Skipper ignored him and put Kowalski selanjutnya to the manhole, then walked out to retrieve the beaker. He wanted to look it over, but he didn’t want anyone to spot him outside the zoo so he grabbed Kowalski in one wing and the beaker in the other and jumped back down the manhole. Then he slid the cover back into place.
Rico and Private were waiting at the bottom of the ladder. Skipper found it difficult to climb while carrying Kowalski and simply dropped him onto Rico, who collapsed under the weight. Private pulled Kowalski off of Rico, but one he realized Kowalski was not moving at all atau even breathing, he turned to Skipper with a look of shock on his face.
“What did anda do to him?” berkata Private.
“Come on, Private, it’s obvious he’s just faking” berkata Skipper trying to sound confident but it was easy to tell that he was actually very nervous. He slapped Kowalski several times. “Kowalski, it’s over. anda can’t run any more.”
“Did anda shove him under a car atau something?” berkata Private, looking anxiously at Kowalski.
Skipper sighed. “I chased him up the ladder and before I was even at the puncak, atas a car hit him. There was nothing I could do.”
“You’re lying!” berkata Private and began to whack Skipper in the chest. It didn’t hurt but it was annoying so Skipper just slapped Private in the face. “Knock it off,” he berkata irritably. Ordinarily he would done something like ban Private from watching TV for awhile but he was far too concerned about Kowalski to care about Private’s actions.
Skipper sighed and slung Kowalski over his shoulder, then began to carry him back towards the pinguin, penguin habitat. Private and Rico followed along, not talking, and after a few menit they had reached the headquarters.
Skipper put Kowalski on his bunk and began to inspect him to see if he was still alive. After listening a few detik for his heartbeat and feeling for a pulse, he sighed and walked away.
“He’s dead,” berkata Skipper as he walked passed Private and Rico.
Private burst into tears. Rico picked up Private and hugged him, then began to cry too. Skipper just sighed again and went into the bathroom. A small click signaled that he had locked the door.
“No! I don’t believe it!” berkata Private stubbornly and walked over to Kowalski, making Rico, who had been leaning on his shoulder, topple to the ground. As Rico grumbled and picked himself off the floor, Private put his head on Kowalski’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. After about six detik with no sign of one, Private began to cry even louder, soaking Kowalski’s chest. Then he heard it. One tiny, fragile beat.
“Kowalski?” berkata Private, his crying immediately stopping. He listened for a few lebih seconds, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it.
About seven detik later, another tiny heartbeat sounded. Private squealed and hugged Kowalski, that ran over to Rico.
“Kowalski’s alive!” berkata Private. Rico ignored him and gave a heavyhearted sigh.
“Humph” berkata Private. He went over to the bathroom door and was about to knock when he heard a sniffling noise coming from inside. He put his head up to the door and listened very intently, but it wasn’t hard to tell that Skipper was crying.
Not softly, either. It sounded as though he had just blown his nose on a tissue and was now crying his eyes out into the tissue. Private was a little taken aback, since he head never heard his commander cry before, but then again he had never had a member of his team die because of Skipper, at least not when Private was around.
“Skippa! Kowalski’s alive!” shouted Private from outside the door, deducing that if he bothered knocking then Skipper would probably run him off anyway.
“Go away Private” moaned Skipper. “Go pester Rico atau something…just leave me alone.”
“But Skippa…” begged Private.
The door opened and Skipper jumped out, looking positively livid, but as he was about to yell at Private he dissolved into tears again.
“I thought it would be for the good of the zoo, taking out Kowalski...well, not like this, anda know…but losing a teammate…a friend, especially in an accident which you’re responsible for…you don’t know what it feels like” berkata Skipper.
Private patted Skipper on the back and Skipper suddenly picked Private up in a bone-crushing hug. Private could barely breathe until Skipper finally put him down.
“Yes…sorry for tickling anda as well. I don’t know what came over me,” berkata Private, thinking that telling Skipper that Kowalski wasn’t even going to hurt them would only make him feel worse.
“Oh, I forgive anda Private,” berkata Skipper without looking at Private. “You know, it’s just so odd,” he continued, stopping his crying for a second. “Even after Kowalski kidnapped anda two and perhaps even mind controlled you, I still feel…”
“Yes. Kowalski was a friend, Skipper. It’s natural for anda to feel like that and it shows that anda were a true friend,” berkata Private, cutting off Skipper.
Skipper forced himself to stop crying. “Well, I guess that now all we have to do is put Kowalski to rest.”
Private gave a confused face. Skipper sighed and berkata “Bury him, have a funeral, whatever anda want to call it.”
Private looked scandalized. “But Skippa! Kowalski’s still alive! I felt his heartbeat!”
“Oh, anda tell me now?” berkata Skipper. “Besides, I checked Kowalski myself, his heartbeat’s gone. anda must have been imagining it.”
Rico was standing around, looking at pictures of all of the penguins playing bola voli and crying. “Come on Rico, we’re going to give Kowalski a proper funeral.”
“No! I won’t let you!” berkata Private frantically.
“Rico!” berkata Skipper, and Rico slapped Private.
“Much better sir” berkata Private. “Perhaps I was just imagining it after all.”
Private decided to check on lebih time and put his head on Kowalski’s chest. Just to make Private feel slightly better, Skipper did too. They waited for a good eight seconds. No heartbeat.
“I could have sworn…” berkata Private.
“Sometimes anda can go a little insane when anda lose someone like this, Private. I remember what happened to Manfreeti back in Ecuador when he got the news his mum had been killed oleh an angry leopard seal…” Skipper shuddered.
Private felt the oddest mix of relief and despair.
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A few hours later the three remaining penguins, Marlene, the chimps and Maurice were assembled oleh a bare patch of ground behind one of the zoo storehouses. Mason the chimp was dressed in very formal looking black clothes complete with a puncak, atas hat and tie while Phil shoveled dirt onto the hole in the ground containing Kowalski. Maurice and Marlene stood and watched in respectful silence as the penguins put little bunga and a ikan on puncak, atas of his grave. Everyone was wondering why the ikan was there, since Kowalski wasn’t going to eat it, but no one berkata anything.
Mason recited some funeral passages in a very mechanical tone of voice, as though he didn’t want to be there and was wishing he were somewhere else. After he was finished, the penguins came up and berkata some final words (I’m not going to write them all because firstly I fail miserably at conveying dramatic emotions for any amount of time longer than a few minutes. Also, Private stood up and spoke for about an hour, and for me to write everything he berkata would be tedious on my poor fingers). Not wishing to attract the attention of the humans atau other binatang around the zoo, instead of sticking a gravestone atau something into the ground Phil simply wrote in the dirt with his finger:
“Here lies Kowalski: 1998-2009”
After crying for a few lebih minutes, the binatang realized how late it was and berkata hasty goodbyes before scurrying back to their habitats. A half an jam passed.
Then a black flipper poked its way out of the grave.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” berkata Skipper. “I’m going to finish this before anda seriously hurt someone.” Skipper kicked out at Kowalski and Kowalski did a backflip to avoid it.
“Are anda two okay?” Skipper berkata hurriedly to Private and Rico. Much to Skipper’s surprise, the two penguins ran over to Kowalski and stood in front of him, shielding Kowalski from Skipper.
“Skippa, stop!” berkata Private. “Kowalski didn’t do anything! And if anda want to hurt him, you’ll have to go through us first!”
“Is this part of your fiendish plan, Kowalski?” berkata Skipper. “Brainwashing my soldiers and using them as shields?”
Skipper stood in front of Rico and Private for a few moments, as though sizing them up, then screamed and pointed behind them. “Leopard seal!”
“Aah!” berkata Private, and he and Rico cowered on the floor. Skipper took the opportunity to dash between them and run straight towards Kowalski, who had spun around in alarm but not ducked on the floor. Before Kowalski turned back, Skipper had already knocked him across the room, where he hit a dinding and slid down.
Skipper ran over to Kowalski, who seemed dazed oleh the impact. Right as Skipper reached down to investigate the cloth wrapped around Kowalski’s head, the pinguin, penguin casually slapped Skipper’s wing away, then sprang up and began to run. Skipper was surprised but quickly began to pursue Kowalski, who was running towards his makeshift organ, but before he could reach it, Skipper grabbed his ankle and pulled it out from under him and Kowalski fell to the ground.
oleh now, Rico and Private had gotten up and were running over to Skipper, trying to stop him.
“Skippa, leave him alone!” berkata Private.
“What did anda do to them?” berkata Skipper, staring at Kowalski. Kowalski simply shrugged, knowing Skipper would never believe him if he denied it. Then he tried to wiggle out of Skipper’s grip, but Skipper just twisted his ankle to get him to stop.
“Now, you’re coming with me back to the headquarters, Kowalski, and if anda don’t get up and walk, then I’ll drag you” Skipper said. However, right at that moment, Private grabbed Skipper from behind and began to tickle Skipper’s belly. Skipper giggled and loosened his grip on Kowalski, which was enough for Kowalski to break free. He saluted Private before running off into the darkness.
“Private!” berkata Skipper in the midst of his fit of giggles (Skipper was very ticklish in certain places) “Stop…hehe…stop that!” he pushed Private off of him, but Private just jumped back on and kept tickling him. “Rico…please…hehe…help me!” Rico just watched.
Finally, Skipper grabbed Private’s flipper and whiplashed him over his head into the sewer. As Private swam to the shore, spitting out filthy water, Skipper sprinted off into the darkness after Kowalski.
Unfortunantly for Skipper, it was very dark in the sewer and eventually smacked into a wall, which he could not see. As he stumbled around, dazed, light suddenly flooded the section of sewer which he was in. He looked up towards the light and saw Kowalski had kicked open a manhole and was climbing a ladder, trying to escape.
“Kowalski, stop!” berkata Skipper, momentarily panicking as he knew that particular manhole led to a very busy street. But Kowalski did not slow down at all and in a few detik had flipped off the ladder and out of the sewer. Skipper took a running jump towards the ladder and managed to grab onto the middle rung and started to climb as fast as he could. But he was blinded oleh the glare of the daylight and as he was squinting, trying to block the light with one flipper he heard a small thud, followed oleh the screech of car brakes. A car slid into place right over the puncak, atas of the manhole, blocking out the light and allowing Skipper to climb at puncak, atas speed. He popped out of the hole and whacked his head on the car.
“Oh man, what did I just hit?” berkata a man’s voice, and a car door slammed shut. Skipper peeked out from under the car and saw Kowalski lying motionless in the rumput several feet from the side of the road.
Before the man could see what he had hit, Skipper dashed out from under the car and grabbed Kowalski and dragged him under the car.
“What’s this?” berkata the man, and Skipper peeked out from under the car once again. He saw the man bend down and pick up what appeared to be a small (large for Skipper) glass beaker, the kind that Kowalski used in his lab. The man turned it over and a few drops of liquid fell out.
The man just dropped the beaker and got back into the car, apparently deciding that he had not hit anything. Then he drove away.
“Skippa? What are anda doing?” berkata Private from inside the sewer. Skipper ignored him and put Kowalski selanjutnya to the manhole, then walked out to retrieve the beaker. He wanted to look it over, but he didn’t want anyone to spot him outside the zoo so he grabbed Kowalski in one wing and the beaker in the other and jumped back down the manhole. Then he slid the cover back into place.
Rico and Private were waiting at the bottom of the ladder. Skipper found it difficult to climb while carrying Kowalski and simply dropped him onto Rico, who collapsed under the weight. Private pulled Kowalski off of Rico, but one he realized Kowalski was not moving at all atau even breathing, he turned to Skipper with a look of shock on his face.
“What did anda do to him?” berkata Private.
“Come on, Private, it’s obvious he’s just faking” berkata Skipper trying to sound confident but it was easy to tell that he was actually very nervous. He slapped Kowalski several times. “Kowalski, it’s over. anda can’t run any more.”
“Did anda shove him under a car atau something?” berkata Private, looking anxiously at Kowalski.
Skipper sighed. “I chased him up the ladder and before I was even at the puncak, atas a car hit him. There was nothing I could do.”
“You’re lying!” berkata Private and began to whack Skipper in the chest. It didn’t hurt but it was annoying so Skipper just slapped Private in the face. “Knock it off,” he berkata irritably. Ordinarily he would done something like ban Private from watching TV for awhile but he was far too concerned about Kowalski to care about Private’s actions.
Skipper sighed and slung Kowalski over his shoulder, then began to carry him back towards the pinguin, penguin habitat. Private and Rico followed along, not talking, and after a few menit they had reached the headquarters.
Skipper put Kowalski on his bunk and began to inspect him to see if he was still alive. After listening a few detik for his heartbeat and feeling for a pulse, he sighed and walked away.
“He’s dead,” berkata Skipper as he walked passed Private and Rico.
Private burst into tears. Rico picked up Private and hugged him, then began to cry too. Skipper just sighed again and went into the bathroom. A small click signaled that he had locked the door.
“No! I don’t believe it!” berkata Private stubbornly and walked over to Kowalski, making Rico, who had been leaning on his shoulder, topple to the ground. As Rico grumbled and picked himself off the floor, Private put his head on Kowalski’s chest, listening for a heartbeat. After about six detik with no sign of one, Private began to cry even louder, soaking Kowalski’s chest. Then he heard it. One tiny, fragile beat.
“Kowalski?” berkata Private, his crying immediately stopping. He listened for a few lebih seconds, just to make sure he wasn’t imagining it.
About seven detik later, another tiny heartbeat sounded. Private squealed and hugged Kowalski, that ran over to Rico.
“Kowalski’s alive!” berkata Private. Rico ignored him and gave a heavyhearted sigh.
“Humph” berkata Private. He went over to the bathroom door and was about to knock when he heard a sniffling noise coming from inside. He put his head up to the door and listened very intently, but it wasn’t hard to tell that Skipper was crying.
Not softly, either. It sounded as though he had just blown his nose on a tissue and was now crying his eyes out into the tissue. Private was a little taken aback, since he head never heard his commander cry before, but then again he had never had a member of his team die because of Skipper, at least not when Private was around.
“Skippa! Kowalski’s alive!” shouted Private from outside the door, deducing that if he bothered knocking then Skipper would probably run him off anyway.
“Go away Private” moaned Skipper. “Go pester Rico atau something…just leave me alone.”
“But Skippa…” begged Private.
The door opened and Skipper jumped out, looking positively livid, but as he was about to yell at Private he dissolved into tears again.
“I thought it would be for the good of the zoo, taking out Kowalski...well, not like this, anda know…but losing a teammate…a friend, especially in an accident which you’re responsible for…you don’t know what it feels like” berkata Skipper.
Private patted Skipper on the back and Skipper suddenly picked Private up in a bone-crushing hug. Private could barely breathe until Skipper finally put him down.
“Yes…sorry for tickling anda as well. I don’t know what came over me,” berkata Private, thinking that telling Skipper that Kowalski wasn’t even going to hurt them would only make him feel worse.
“Oh, I forgive anda Private,” berkata Skipper without looking at Private. “You know, it’s just so odd,” he continued, stopping his crying for a second. “Even after Kowalski kidnapped anda two and perhaps even mind controlled you, I still feel…”
“Yes. Kowalski was a friend, Skipper. It’s natural for anda to feel like that and it shows that anda were a true friend,” berkata Private, cutting off Skipper.
Skipper forced himself to stop crying. “Well, I guess that now all we have to do is put Kowalski to rest.”
Private gave a confused face. Skipper sighed and berkata “Bury him, have a funeral, whatever anda want to call it.”
Private looked scandalized. “But Skippa! Kowalski’s still alive! I felt his heartbeat!”
“Oh, anda tell me now?” berkata Skipper. “Besides, I checked Kowalski myself, his heartbeat’s gone. anda must have been imagining it.”
Rico was standing around, looking at pictures of all of the penguins playing bola voli and crying. “Come on Rico, we’re going to give Kowalski a proper funeral.”
“No! I won’t let you!” berkata Private frantically.
“Rico!” berkata Skipper, and Rico slapped Private.
“Much better sir” berkata Private. “Perhaps I was just imagining it after all.”
Private decided to check on lebih time and put his head on Kowalski’s chest. Just to make Private feel slightly better, Skipper did too. They waited for a good eight seconds. No heartbeat.
“I could have sworn…” berkata Private.
“Sometimes anda can go a little insane when anda lose someone like this, Private. I remember what happened to Manfreeti back in Ecuador when he got the news his mum had been killed oleh an angry leopard seal…” Skipper shuddered.
Private felt the oddest mix of relief and despair.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few hours later the three remaining penguins, Marlene, the chimps and Maurice were assembled oleh a bare patch of ground behind one of the zoo storehouses. Mason the chimp was dressed in very formal looking black clothes complete with a puncak, atas hat and tie while Phil shoveled dirt onto the hole in the ground containing Kowalski. Maurice and Marlene stood and watched in respectful silence as the penguins put little bunga and a ikan on puncak, atas of his grave. Everyone was wondering why the ikan was there, since Kowalski wasn’t going to eat it, but no one berkata anything.
Mason recited some funeral passages in a very mechanical tone of voice, as though he didn’t want to be there and was wishing he were somewhere else. After he was finished, the penguins came up and berkata some final words (I’m not going to write them all because firstly I fail miserably at conveying dramatic emotions for any amount of time longer than a few minutes. Also, Private stood up and spoke for about an hour, and for me to write everything he berkata would be tedious on my poor fingers). Not wishing to attract the attention of the humans atau other binatang around the zoo, instead of sticking a gravestone atau something into the ground Phil simply wrote in the dirt with his finger:
“Here lies Kowalski: 1998-2009”
After crying for a few lebih minutes, the binatang realized how late it was and berkata hasty goodbyes before scurrying back to their habitats. A half an jam passed.
Then a black flipper poked its way out of the grave.