Enjoy this feature presentation with special guest stars… the minis! Thanks to Ponytail30527 for letting me play with her minis Please review and check out her stories too!
And now…
Chapter 1:
How did I get here? Peanut thought, hiding in the stuffed animal section of the large convenience store, hoping he would get out soon. Oh, now I remember.
Last night: 1800 hours (6:00 pm.)
Eggy sped into the otter cave and almost slammed into Marlene. "Sorry…looking for…Peanut…Marsh-uhh, no reason." He panted.
"Peanut!" Marlene called. Peanut jumped out from under his bed and joined Eggy; Marlene stared at the boys suspiciously as they left. "Stay out of trouble!"
Marshal was waiting at the chimpanzee habitat, standing next to a bag of itching powder, a small catapult, and a pile of-
"Poop? What? Wait, you stole Athena's catapult project didn't you?" Peanut asked, a wide grin spreading across his face; he knew exactly what his friend was up to.
Marshal nodded, "J.J.'s going to pay for ruining our last prank." He opened the bag of powder and poured some in the catapult. Then the poop was placed in a pile on top of the powder.
"MARSHAL!" Athena's scream echoed from the penguins' underground habitat. A frightened Elli rushed towards the boys, hoping to get them to stop.
"Do something!" Peanut yelled.
Eggy stuck out his foot, tripping Elli and causing her to fall into the catapult. Marshal sighed, then, the rope snapped and Elli was flung across the zoo just as the older penguins were coming out.
"My baby!" Private shrieked.
"HEEELLLPPP!"
Rico and Kowalski ran around, trying to catch her until they collided with each other.
Skipper jumped off the wall and reached for her; he missed by inches. She plummeted to the ground and landed on Private.
Everyone sighed in relief, and then glared at the three troublemakers.
Marshal punched Eggy in the shoulder, "Ow! Hey, everything's fine now." Eggy grumbled.
"Not when my Elli gets hurt." Marshal hissed, and then blushed when he realized what he had said.
Peanut smiled "Your Elli?" Marshal was about to reply when Skipper cleared his throat angrily.
"Marshal, Eggy, and Peanut, congratulations on earning yet another punishment." Skipper growled.
Marshal groaned; he knew this wasn't going to be pretty. And he was right; his dad made him scrub the whole mess all by himself and he wasn't allowed to see Peanut and Eggy for a week.
Maddie, the mother duck, gave Eggy the task of cleaning the pond and the surrounding bank.
Peanut, however, was told that he had to follow Elli around and do whatever she wanted for the week as an apology.
He woke up the next morning and groaned, knowing what lay ahead. But it might not be so bad because Elli is so nice. Oh how wrong he was.
Peanut met Elli in the park along with Athena, Haley, Lilly and Nellie.
"What, no Maurisa?" Peanut muttered.
"Maurisa has chores to do, and we're going shopping!" Elli chirped, Peanut started to protest but Athena reminded him of his punishment.
Lilly suddenly yelled that a human girl was approaching. Everyone except Elli scattered, she was too scared, and then she fainted.
"Look mommy! A penguin doll!" she squealed, picking up Elli.
Peanut yelled for Elli; he and the other girls ran after the human holding her.
They followed the girl and her mother into a convenience store and hid in the toy department. Peanut saw the girl put Elli down and had very few seconds to act. Sliding from his perch next to a robot, he grabbed a penguin doll. Seizing the moment the girl looked away, he pushed Elli into the ball pit and dove in after her, leaving the doll in her place.
Athena sighed when the girl left with the doll.
Peanut crawled out of the dark space; Elli, who was now conscious, followed him and was scooped into a hug by Athena.
"Th-thanks Peanut." Elli said, "Where are Lilly, Nellie, and Haley?" Athena spun around, they were gone!
"Attention shoppers, we are now closing." A voice boomed from the intercom.
Athena was panicking now, there was a 64.23% chance that Haley and the ducklings were hidden elsewhere in the store, and a 35.77% chance they had been taken faster than Buttons could chow down dinner.
Peanut was terrified, if anything happened it would be on his furry brown head.
"Wait; think about it, where would Lilly be?" Athena reasoned.
Peanut and Elli replied at the same time, "Clothing department." Where else would a fashion loving duckling run off to?
Lilly's voice came from somewhere in the dress area, "Look Nel, it has glitter and it comes in various shades of pink!" Nellie sighed.
Elli looked around for Haley while Peanut scolded the girls for running off. Lilly tried to argue, but Nellie cut her off. "Does it seem quiet to you?"
The lights suddenly switched off and Elli screamed. "Daddy!"
Athena tried to calm her while figuring out what to do. "It will be okay; our parental figures will come to the realization that we're gone, mount a full scale scour of the city thoroughly and come for us."
Everyone stared at her in confusion, she sighed. "Our dads and moms will find out where we are and save us."
The kids decided to split up and look for Haley; agreeing to meet back to the clothing department in one hour.
Nellie and Lilly split off to search the clothing and shoe department; Athena searched the medicine and electronics department; and Peanut and Elli searched the food and drink department. Peanut openly expressed bad feelings about splitting up.
Elli became excited when she saw the Winkies, but sad when Peanut pulled her away. They entered the fresh fish area and fought back temptations to eat.
Elli was nervous again and held onto Peanut, shaking. "Oh, if only Marshal was here." Peanut smiled. "He's the reason you're here with me, that catapult thing."
"Well, he was kinda funny- uh- I m-mean it, it was funny." She stuttered, blushing.
Peanut thought for a moment, he could tell Elli about Marshal's outburst, but it would hurt the trust between the two.
Elli started talking about Marshal and how funny he was sometimes, and then she started asking questions about him. Peanut started to get uncomfortable; he didn't really consider the opinions of girls.
"Listen Elli, we should focus on finding Haley instead of talking about Marshal." Peanut didn't mean to come on strong, but Elli's eyes filled with tears.
He tried to apologize, but she ran off and he gave chase. "This is all Haley's fault; she's probably playing with a ball of yarn, stupid cat."
"That's another stinking' URBAN LEGEND!" Haley came around the corner with her arm around Elli. "And what did you say to her?"
"Where have you been?" Peanut bellowed, his body shaking.
Haley glared at him; Peanut stomped off towards the electronic section and found Athena working with some metal objects. She revealed that she was making a communication device so she could contact the older Penguins for help. The device was made up of jumper cable, a basketball, some wire, a radio, a telephone, and a computer screen.
She motioned for Peanut to be quiet while the device whirred and the computer screen flashed different colors. The computer was dark for a moment, and then the Penguin's habitat came into view.
"The phone should allow audio." Athena muttered, "HELLO!" Peanut screamed, earning a slap from Athena.
Something moved on the screen, something small and feathery. "Buttons? Buttons! It's Athena! Help us, Buttons, can you hear me?"
Button's face came into view; he was stunned for a moment then grunted happily. "MY ATHENA!"
She blushed, "Yes, where is my dad, or yours, or Marshal?" Static interference came across the screen; Athena snapped her head up to see Peanut playing a video game which she snatched from his paws.
Buttons mumbled something, and then pointed up. "Go get." He left before Athena or Peanut could say anything.
Athena sighed, "Oh, Buttons. What do you think he's doing?" Peanut shrugged.
"He's cute when he's confused." The penguin said, staring at where Buttons had just left.
Peanut groaned. No more girl talk. He thought.
"Do you think he likes me?" Here we go.
"The light really brings out his eyes." Honestly? I don't know. I'm a DUDE.
"Peanut, ANSWER ME!" AAAAHHH!
Footsteps announced Buttons' return, Marshal behind him. "Where are you guys? Everyone's looking for you; Uncle Private actually fainted…twice!"
"No time, Marshal. We're in the big convenience store down the street. It's locked and dark in here."
Marshal said something, but static interference washed over the screen again, and a few sparks came from the screen.
Buttons wasn't moving, the picture was dead, and his voice was barely audible. "NO! BUTTONS!"
Peanut gasped and shook the screen, Athena pulled his arms away, and the whole thing came apart. She gave him a death glare and growled. "We could have been saved!"
Peanut bolted from Athena and ran into Nellie and Lilly, staring at the dresses.
"Oh, Peanut. Which shade of pink do you think matches my eyes?" Lilly asked.
Athena, Elli and Haley came closer, all angry with Peanut.
"There the same color! Why be into fashion if you aren't going to wear any of these things? Get this into your head, YOU ARE AN ANIMAL, NOT A HUMAN!"
"Peanut, stop yelling at her!" Nellie scolded.
The girls rounded on Peanut and started shouting at him.
Peanut screamed in frustration, running from the girls and dove into a pile of stuffed animals. He heard the girls looking for him, shouting his name.
And that's how I ended up here. Peanut thought. This has been the WORST day ever.
He heard something clatter to the ground, and a four voices shouting at once. He came out of his hiding place and ran into Athena. She saw him backing away slowly, and then she tackled him.
"This is ALL YOUR FAULT!" she snapped.
"No, it's yours for suggesting a park adventure." Peanut hissed back.
Kowalski's voice rang out, "Athena?" he scooped his daughter into his arms and gave her a big kiss on the head.
Private was comforting Elli and the ducklings when Kowalski came outside with Athena and Peanut. Skipper and Rico were fixing the door they busted through while Haley cleaned herself. Everyone was silent on the walk home until.
SPLAT!
Peanut groaned, "HEY, watch where you're going."
The pigeon laughed and flew off.
"It'll wash off." Skipper chuckled.
They dropped off the ducklings and entered the zoo.
Peanut and Athena explained what happened while Marshal laughed in the background.
Elli offered to walk Peanut home with Kowalski supervising the kids. "So, was that a yes?"
"What?" asked the stinky and confused Peanut.
"Marshal likes me."
Peanut jumped on the wall, "Uh, well you're friends so…why not? Anyway, I have to wash up now, see you tomorrow." He dove into the pool and took a bath, then walked into the cave with his mother.
Elli took that as a yes and ran home happily.
In the otter cave, Marlene hugged her son. "Well, how was your day?"
"I so don't want to talk about it." Peanut groaned, plopping himself on his bed.
Author Note: Once again, thank you Ponytail30527 for letting me borrow your minis. I'll be continuing my other one soon, I have also changed the title, it's now called Picking up the pieces - T.K.