Oh look, I'm starting another story even though I have an in-progress one. Too bad, because I liked this idea too much to pass it up. So this will be a series of short stories inspired by the songs from the soundtrack of the movies. I'll probably go in order, so the first movie songs, then the second movie, etc. We'll see what happens. Enjoy and review please!

Madagascar

Track 1

Best Friends

*takes place during "Dr. Blowhole's Revenge*

Very rarely would Skipper bestow King Julien of all people with the title of 'friend'. This only happened on special occasions, such as the lemur being useful, or being less annoying than usual. He'd also have to catch the penguin in a good mood; unfortunately, Skipper's chipper mood usually went down the drain the moment the lemur king walked in the door. Skipper labeled the ring-tail as a 'frenemy' at best most of the time, and the term 'best friend' had never even crossed his mind until his arch nemesis had proclaimed them as such.

"Look at you two! Obvious BFFs!"

Best Friends Forever. If 'Friends' was difficult enough to swallow, 'Best Friends' was gagging. And 'Forever'? That was choking to death. Skipper hardly wanted to be in the same room as Julien for ten minutes, but forever? What had he done in a past life?

Clearly, his past life had done something to Blowhole's past life, otherwise the lemur wouldn't have been taken by the evil dolphin. Skipper pushed down the feelings of concern, shrugging them off as his protective instincts wanting to make the rescue, as he and his team made their way to Coney Island. He wanted nothing more than to find Ringtail, defeat Blowhole, and try to scrub the picture of him and the lemur as 'BFFs' out of his head.

"That little traitor…" Skipper thought, as he watched Julien whirl around on his red scooter, his face showing no remorse for his betrayal. "Wonder if Blowhole still thinks he's my best friend." Even if they were frenemies, Skipper still considered the lemur an ally- most of the time- and honestly didn't think that Julien would have the brain capacity to consider a move like this.

Fortunately, Sad Eyes dropped in- literally- at just the right moment, freeing the penguins to fight off the crustacean warriors. As expected, they proved to be less than a challenge; Skipper didn't anticipate, however, that Blowhole would actually get to creating the Chrome Claw. Hadn't he proposed that forever ago? His arch enemy sure was a procrastinator.

With some help from the boys, the monster was defeated; but as per normal, Kowalski made things worse before he made them better, and Blowhole's taunts were not appreciated. As penguin and dolphin engaged in their tussling ritual, Julien tried to get Blowhole's attention.

While Skipper wrestled, he spared a glance at his neighbor, who was casually sipping at a juice box and leaning back on his scooter. Today apparently was not kind to Skipper, as it had been continuously throwing the unexpected at him. Even if Ringtail had the intelligence to betray his neighbors, the penguin definitely didn't think he could keep up the ruse of being a double agent. Skipper was mildly impressed; he had convinced Blowhole, who was no idiot, that he was on his side. The commando had to give Julien credit; the king was a decent actor. He had even saved the day, by disarming the Ring of Fire operation.

Skipper hadn't expected Marlene to believe anything they said about Dr. Blowhole; he thought she was better off living in a fantasy world where no one had enemies. The less she knew, the better. However, he also understood Julien's frustration with her. Who wouldn't want credit for their victory? Taking his actions into account, Skipper decided to comfort his fri- neighbor/ally, and make him an honorary penguin; after all, he had been clever, brave, and had saved the world from utter doom. Heck, he deserved it.

"Does this make me your BFF?"

Skipper hesitated. He didn't want to use that particular terminology, but… well, Skipper enjoys saving people. Julien needs a lot of saving. He guessed that they went together, somehow. And sometimes, like today, the tables were turned and Ringtail got to save him. Skipper knew that behind the abbreviation was an actual meaning, and even if he didn't always like the lemur… maybe if the whole thing was kept on the down-low, Skipper could try harder not to hate the king so much.