DR. KOWALSKI AND MR. RICO

BY THE YOUNG AND FREE DRAGON

"It is one thing to mortify curiosity, another to conquer it. "

~Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

CHAPTER ONE: PARTY PREPARATIONS

An explosion of bright light came from the open fish bowl entrance of the penguin habitat, and ¼ of New York was knocked off the grid and left without power. The penguins were rubbing their eyes and blinking trying to see in the glow of the explosion. They heard a metal clang as the door of the machine was thrown open, and heard a hiss and the padding of footsteps as something ran past them and out of the habitat.

Once their eyes were cleared, they all looked into the machine, and as expected, no one was there.

"Marlene must've been eager to show off her new appearance," Private observed.

"There's a slight chance I might've made an error..." Kowalski murmured as he studied the machine's wiring.

"What would have happened to Marlene?" Skipper demanded.

"Nothing that I know of... she might not have any fur on," Kowalski mumbled.

Private and Rico began laughing hysterically, while Skipper's face took on a serious tone unlike any other.

"She'll be mortified if anyone sees her!" He gasped and ran for the entrance. "Stay here men! I've got to find her!"

After Skipper had exited and Rico and Private had brought themselves under control, Kowalski opened the door to the machine again after making some altercations, and put his flipper on the power switch.

"Who's next?" He asked.

The two penguins fell silent, neither one of them wanting to have his feathers removed. However, by the way Kowalski was looking at him through his protective goggles, they knew he wasn't going to take no for answer. Someone had to go... Rico picked Private up and tossed him inside. Private let out a cry of protest, but Rico slammed the door and held it, and gave Kowalski the go ahead.

Another fourth of New York went dark as looters and criminals had begun to ransack the streets of the part that had already lost power. The machine hissed and let out another explosion of light. Rico and Kowalski cleared their eyes and looked to the machine, waiting for Private to let himself out (since Marlene had had such an easy time getting the door open from the inside).

After a moment there was a banging on the door as Private tried to get out, but obviously could. Kowalski opened the door and he and Rico recoiled at the smell that burst from the machine. A body flopped out, and slapped the ground hard. As they looked up, covering their noses, a half rotted penguin mummy stood up. Private's eyes were pointing in different directions as though Skipper had just smacked him as hard as he could, and is body was now dry and smelly like that of a real mummy's. Private turned to them, stumbling about and let out a long groan.

"It's a success!" Kowalski cried, grabbing Private up and swinging him about merrily.

Private simply continued to look like he had been bashed over the head and groaned. As Kowalski swung him about, flakes peeled off of him and floated down to the ground. Kowalski put Private down nervously, as he noticed this.

"Of course I'm sure there's some way I can bring Private back to life..." He murmured, under his breath as he looked back at the machine.

"Pa'ty..." Private groaned and began stumbling toward the fish bowl exit.

"But why not let him enjoy his new look!" Kowalski said happily, feeling success cloud his mind again.

After Private had clumsily left for the party, Kowalski and began scrawling calculations, trying to figure out the implications of his device and what it might mean for the future of the team. Rico on the other flipper was growing more and more impatient by the second.

"I must try this!" Kowalski said in amazement as he finished his calculations. "This... this is the discovery of the century!"

"Nu uh! My turn! "Rico squawked.

"Rico, this could be my big moment! The thing that will define me in front of all other scientists! You wouldn't take it away from me, would you?" Kowalski asked.

"Uh-huh!" Rico shouted and leaped for the machine.

Kowalski however, wasn't expecting Rico to have a sense of compassion and tackled him in mid-air, wrestling with him as he shouted about scientific progress, as Rico screamed incoherent phrases. Eventually, the tussle threw Kowalski into the machine, knocking it back against the wall and crushing some of the wires in the back, causing sparks to fly. Not to be out done, Rico hopped in the machine as well, trying to throw Kowalski out, but was unable to before the door slammed shut due to the machine's angle, and a blinding light exploded from it, as the rest of New York went black.