Dreaming in Black ‘N’ White

Chapter 3 – One Fight. One Skipper

    Marlene and Kitka brought out their wings and hands (paws) respectively as they charged one another. The two came together in the center of the penguins’ habitat, as Kitka’s wings wrapped around Marlene. The two females began to aggressively push and shove each other as they continually growled at each other. “You’re going to pay, Kitka, for even trying to go after my Skipper!” Marlene snarled. In the meanwhile, Kitka was somewhat gaining the advantage over Marlene, pushing her a few feet backwards. “Your Skipper?! Oh please! He’ll be better off with me tonight!” Kitka then threw Marlene to the ground. “He doesn’t need some pathetic otter going with him!” Marlene became absolutely furious. He quickly got up and lunged at Kitka. She pinned her to the ground, and made her point clear. “Listen, Kitka!” she boomed, “You’re going to be the one that looks pathetic around here! You’re all bark, and no bite! Don’t underestimate me!” She put her right paw against her neck. She continued, “Or I promise you that you’ll regret thinking less of me!” “That’s my Skipper. Back… off…!” Kitka yelled, as she pushed Marlene off of her with her talons. She got back up, and the fight was back to square one. The two females charged each other again. This time, however, the two came at each other with what looked like kung fu moves, as punches and kicks were attempted.

    Meanwhile, at the lemur habitat, Julien was sitting on his throne, minding his own business, when he heard the noise coming from the penguin habitat. He quickly noticed the fight below, but didn’t recognize what was truly going on. “Uh, Maurice. What’s going on at the penguins’ habitat? Who are those creatures? And why do they appear to be dancing, without the king?” he asked. Maurice also looked down, and realized what was going down. “Your majesty. That’s Marlene and I believe Kitka down there. And I don’t think they’re dancing. Looks like they’re fighting!”

    “The Falcon Lady?! Why would she want to take on Maurice?! Does it have something to do with me?! Tell me yes.”

    “Uh…”

    “Maurice…”

    “Actually, your majesty. They’re fighting over Skipper, not you."

    “Fighting… over Skipper?!” Julien laughed, “Please tell me you’re joking.”

    “I’m not.”

    “Why would they fight over that silly penguin; when they could be fighting their one and only king?!”

    “I’ll fight for you.” Mort said, as, once again, he hugged Julien’s foot.

    “Eh, Mort… Noone asked you!” He kicked him off, and the little lemur landed just outside of the habitat.

    “Now, Maurice, tell me why those two ladies would even dare fight over that silly penguin.”

    “If I’m not mistaken, I think they’re fighting each other to see who gets to be Skipper’s date tonight to the dance.”

    Julien spat all over Maurice. “They want to take him to the dance?! Not if I, King Julien, have anything to say about.”

    Before he could take off, Maurice stopped him in his tracks. “You shouldn’t interfere, your majesty.”

    “Why not, Maurice?!”

    “You should know not to interfere with a cat fight.”

    “There are no cats fighting!”

    “That doesn’t mean… Oh… Forget it! The fight over there is really intense. If that’s the case, then we should let the two females settle it themselves.”

    “Then, we will change their minds.”

    Maurice sighed and slapped his paw against his forehead.

Back at the penguin habitat, the fight was raging on, and grew more intense with each passing second. The two females looked to me evenly matched, with neither one backing down. Kitka was up in the air, trying to slash Marlene with her talons, as Marlene clutched her paws into fists in an attempt to block the slashes. It appeared to be working for Marlene. Kitka, however, kept up the assault. “What’s the matter, Marlene?!” she smirked, “Can’t handle a creature that can fly?!” She slashed Marlene on the cheek. “I told you that you couldn’t beat me!” she continued, as Marlene writhed in pain. She knocked Marlene to the ground, and then put her right talon against her chest. “Now… Surrender… Or I will have a little pre-dance dinner!” Skipper looked on, as Marlene grimaced in pain. She would gather herself back together and angrily cried out, “He’s… my… Skipper…!” She tripped Kitka with her right leg, and lunged at her again. She made contact, and the two started to roll towards the edge of the habitat. Marlene quickly gained the advantage by wrapping her hands around the falcon’s neck near the throat area. Kitka tried desperately to break free, by pecking at her arms, but to no avail. “This will teach you who not to mess with!” Marlene yelled. However, Kitka slapped Marlene with her left wing, and Marlene’s grip was released. After the two broke apart, Kitka again smirked at the otter, convinced that she had this fight in the bag. On the other hand, Marlene was confident that victory was hers. The two females prepared for one final assault.

    As the fight appeared to drawing closer to a conclusion, Skipper watched the spectacle with more interest, instead of just sitting there and relaxing. “I never would’ve thought that Marlene would last this long. Perhaps I was always wrong about her.” he thought to himself, “She may be worth my while. But… I’ll have to see how this fight ends first.” Skipper watched as Marlene and Kitka violently shook their heads back and forth, and then charged each other one last time. They came together. Both girls traded blows back and forth, without any means to defend themselves. They growled and writhed in pain as each was hit. Marlene lunged at Kitka with her right paw, trying to smack Kitka on the cheek. However, Kitka dodged it, and smacked her hard with her left wing; knocking the otter hard to the ground. As Marlene lay there, Kitka flew into the air, and proceeded to lunge at her with an aerial dive. Kitka quickly approached, but, unbeknownst to her, Marlene was ready. She jumped into the air, grabbed Kitka by the wing, and slammed her to the ground, chest first. A huge plume of dust formed, as Skipper looked on in awe. When the dust settled, Kitka’s body was motionless on the ground, as Marlene stood over her to her right. Marlene put her left leg on Kitka’s back, and roared in victory over the downed falcon. The fight was finally over.

    Kowalski, Rico, and Private, who were inside the penguin base, poked their heads out of the opened fish bowl, and looked at the scene in front of them. “Wow! Marlene actually won!” Private said in amazement. “Affirmative.” replied Kowalski, “I guess that ends the dance date debate.” “Yep.” Rico said. Kitka began to open her eyes. Before she could get up, Marlene grabbed her right wing, and laid her head and chest on her neck. “What was that you said about me being a pathetic otter?!” she asked, while smirking. Kitka just growled in frustration. “I guess the predator isn’t always more powerful than its prey.” Marlene continued, as she intensified her grip on the falcon’s wing, “Now, listen to me. I’ll spare your life this time. However, if you ever come back here and go near my Skipper again, I promise you that you won’t fly out of here in one piece.” “Fine.” Kitka replied, angrily, “You won. Skipper’s yours. Don’t think this means that we’re finished!” “Oh… You know it’s over!” Marlene stated, as she released her grip, “Now… Get out!” Kitka said no more and flew away.

    Skipper got up from his chair, and walked towards Marlene. “Marlene… That was… well…” “Hmm…” Marlene said, with a slight grin on her face. “I’ll admit… Kitka’s not the best fighter in the world. That’s for sure.” “That’s all?!” Kowalski asked, loudly, “Come on, Skipper. You have to say more than that.” “I’m about to, soldier.” Skipper boomed. He turned his attention back to Marlene. “Actually Marlene, I have to say that I was really impressed with you.” “Really?!” she asked, as she blushed a little.

    “Of course. I was really impressed at the fact that you weren’t scared of Kitka. I was wrong about you. You are a good fighter.”

    “Why would I be?! I knew I had to fight for you. It didn’t matter to me who or what I was fighting. Besides, I learned from the best.”

    Skipper blushed. “Well, Marlene. You just learned the number one rule of fighting.”

    “Which is…?”

    “You always fight for defense; never vengeance.”

    Marlene nodded. Skipper then looked over towards Rico. “Rico! Oysters please!” Rico quickly threw many oyster shells out of his mouth. Skipper gathered them up. “Now, a blindfold!” A blindfold came out of Rico’s mouth (beak). “Marlene, put this on.” Skipper told her. “What’s going on?!” she asked, excitingly. “You’ll see, Marlene.” Marlene put on the blindfold, as Skipper whispered to Rico to let out some candles as well. Skipper gathered all the pieces together. Within moments, he took the blindfold off of Marlene. “Marlene, open your eyes.” There before he were oyster shells, which spelled her name. However, the candles were still not lit. “Private, light these candles!” Rico threw up some matches for Private, and he lit them. He proceeded to light all four candles. However, on the final one, he would accidentally burn his flipper a little. “Ow…! Hot, hot, hot!” he screamed. He quickly dipped his flipper in the water. “Ah… That’s better.” He backed away, and Marlene continued to look in absolute awe. “Skipper, you really didn’t have to do all this.” she said. “Yes, I did. You earned it. You also earned yourself a dance date tonight.” Marlene just blushed again. “I have one more thing for you.” Skipper grabbed a pink flower that was next to his chair, and put on her, near her left ear. “I found this earlier. I had a feeling I might have needed it.” “Skipper, this is beautiful.” Marlene replied. “Tonight will be just as beautiful, Marlene.” Skipper declared. Both of them blushed, and leaned their foreheads against one another as they stared, cutely, at each other. Meanwhile, Julien and Maurice watched from the lemur habitat. Julien only had a gross look on his face, and walked away to avoid looking at the scene. Maurice remained there, and looked down. “Well done, Marlene. Well done. You got exactly what you wanted. I’m proud of you.” he thought to himself.