Private followed the average routine of the challengers. He was named, weighed, and taken to the arena. The smells of pagkain taunted him as he moped in like a zombie. It got even worse when he looked down and found his challenger. Max's big petrified eyes stared up at him begging for a chance to live. He took a deep breath and the shot rang out.


Skipper's body was thrown in the dumpster. As the man walked inside, something began moving. It was Skipper! He climbed the repulsive heap of trash and corpses. He swung a leg out of the garbage. In the motion of moving his other leg a flipper grasped it.
S: "Hey! Let go!"
?: "Please, help!"
S: "It's you! You're alive?!"


When the battle was over Private felt dizzy and nosciuss. He couldn't believe what he had just done. His mind went to Skipper and how he must have felt. Private held Max in his flippers and cried. I wasn't something he wanted to do he just had to do it to survive.
P: "I'm so sorry!"
Private felt despicable. Thoughts went through his mind like: "You're a monster!" and "You don't deserve to live."

After the girl bathed him a man placed him in Rico's room. Obviously, Private was headed for trouble. When Rico got his flippers on him he'd be infuriated and damaged deeply.


Skipper reached out his flipper and the ibong dagat took it. Covered in grummy and scummy feathers stood Killer.
Ki: "I see you had the same idea too."
S: "This is perfect! You're not dead! I didn't kill you! I can ipakita you to Private and he'll like me again! Everything will be back to normal."
Ki: "Oh, yeah about that ...."
S: "You are coming back for him, right?"
Ki: "Um .... yeah, of course, it's just that things aren't going to be normal."
S: "What do you mean?"
Ki: "Private just sinabi .... he was sick of living with you and his other 'friends'. He's going to live with me."
S: "Did he really say that? And what did he mean sa pamamagitan ng friends?"
Ki: "Oh, you know, Private, or maybe you don't know him that well."
S: "Sure, I know him the most."
Ki: "Let's start walking shall we?"
S: "I guess, because we've got a long walk ahead."
They began their march to the zoo. Once it got later they became exhausted.
Ki: "We should probably stop for the night."
S: "Stop? No, I have to keep going. My team needs me."
Ki: "Sure, but if we're fatigued now. Tomorrow will be worse."
Skipper finally agreed and they rested under a bench. The wind's gust was unruly.
S: "Now, when Private thought I was dead ..... how did he you know .... cope?"
Ki: "I don't think he cared much."
S: "No, you're lying,"
Ki: "Why would I have a reason to lie? If you didn't try to kill me, I might actually like you."
S: "If you weren't trying to take away my son away from me ... no, I still wouldn't something about you is off."
Ki: "Is it?"
S: "Yeah, I just haven't figured it out yet."
Ki: "Good luck, but I think you just don't like hearing what you are. Say, how did he react when he thought you killed me?"
S: "He hated me."
Ki: "That doesn't suprise me,"
S: "What do you mean sa pamamagitan ng that?"
Ki: "Well, I am his father. I wonder if he would have been different if I came out of that fight. He'd probably be madami happy and you just want him to be happy, right?"
S: "You're not his father! He just met you! You're a stranger who's trying to pretend to be his father. You've never been there for him!"
Ki: "Well, you can think that, but Private's opinion matters most."
S: "That's the first thing you've sinabi all araw I agree with."
Once Killer was sure Skipper was asleep, he crept out from under the bench they slept under. His left foot tapped the sidewalk, and Skipper jumped to his feet stunned sa pamamagitan ng what he saw.

N: "I'm so sorry about your friend, Kowalski."
K: "My calulations were right. There was no way all of us would make it out of here sane. It would be against all odds."
The scientist was both right and wrong.

The susunod thing Private knew he was lying on the floor. Rico was towering over him growling.