Well, this was an idea for a story I made years ago, but even at that point that I would have to admit that the characters and the plot were pretty weak. So, I reinvented it a bit. You guys should know, that second only to the Smurfs, The Penguins of Madagascar is my all-time favorite cartoon series.
Anyway, I would appreciate no flames since this is my first time with this in quite a while, but I will accept comments, ideas, and constructive criticism. Nothing mean, though. Thank you.
I don't own Penguins of Madagascar (though it would be awesome if I did). I only own my characters: Art, Zoey, and Hope. Enjoy!
"C'mon! I saw them go that way!" A man in an 'Animal Control' uniform waved before taking off down the street on Fifth Avenue. An entire group, all shouting and waving their nets, followed him. Even a large van zoomed down the road with the light traffic there was at two o' clock in the morning.
Nothing moved and nothing made a sound for a good five minutes. Then, at the edge of a dark alley, a black flipper appeared from behind a garbage can lid and set down on its side. A young penguin peeked out from behind, her beak hung open a bit from her light panting.
This particular penguin, from the looks of it, was not all that far into her adult life, but just enough to have gained worldly experience. She wore a black choker with a red rose as a centerpiece that she fidgeted with a bit as her aquamarine eyes scanned the area for 'Animal Control'.
"Okay," she finally whispered. "It's safe."
"Ew!" groaned another female voice. Another penguin stepped out backwards, shaking her foot from a piece of rotten garbage.
This penguin was about an inch taller than the first, and her eyes were a bright honey brown. She wore, unlike the first, had on a yellow butterfly necklace.
"What now, Art? Hope's out for the count and Animal Control's hot on our tail feathers."
"I know…" 'Art' rubbed her beak with her flipper, then her narrowed eyes widened in realization. "Zoey! Find a map! I'll try and figure out where we are now."
'Zoey' groaned and winced as she cautiously dug through the garbage. Art merely edged to the entrance of the alley. She poked her head out and looked around, and then blinked at the street sign that read 'Fifth Avenue'.
"…Found one!" Zoey cringed as she tossed a dirty Manhattan map away from the pile of garbage. She whimpered and scooted away from all the filth.
Art shook her head and flattened out the map. Her eyes scanned around the map before she grinned.
"Yes! That's the answer!"
"Yeah!" Zoey cheered, pumping her flipper in the air as she also grinned. "Why are we celebrating?"
Art scoffed and pointed down, "We're right here on Fifth Avenue," she then moved her flipper a few inches, "and right here is Central Park. Which is home to…"
Zoey's non-existent eyebrows together in obvious confusion. Art sighed and snapped, "The Central Park Zoo, Zoey! Try to keep up!"
"Okay!" she put her flippers up in defense. She then rested them on her hips as she asked, "And your point is…?"
"The point is that with every zoo, there's a penguin habitat-"
"What makes you think that there's a penguin habitat there?"
Art's confident stature immediately vanished and she turned a narrow-eyed glare onto Zoey. The penguin rolled her brown eyes before waving her flippers.
"Sorry, your majesty," she half-joked. "Continue."
Art sighed, "Face it, Zoey. There's always a penguin habitat in a zoo. We just need to get from here to the zoo. We'll have to convince the residents to hide us until the heat from Animal Control dies down."
Zoey nodded, now encouraged at the new plan, "Yeah…this could work. But how are we gonna get to Central Park without getting caught?"
"Excellent question," Art muttered, tapping the bottom of her beak with her right flipper.
The two jumped and pressed themselves against the brick wall. Warily, the two peeked around the corner and saw what could be considered a god-send. A bus had creaked to a stop and the doors slid open. A wrinkled old man, who seemed to tremble uncontrollably, gripped the wheel with his bony fingers and wheezed out,
"All aboard! Next stop: Central Park!"
As a few people stepped off the bus, Art and Zoey turned to each other with sly smiles.
"You grab the feet," Art started.
"And you grab the flippers," Zoey finished, the two sharing a high-five before diving back into the alley.
The bus, once again, creaked to a stop in front of the walls of Central Park. The old man slowly let the doors slide open for the people to board and exit. From the steps, Art and Zoey jumped down, each of them holding both ends of a third penguin, Hope.
Her neck accessory happened to be a light green ribbon that wrapped around her neck and was tied in a nice bow. The poor thing was out-cold, which could easily be explained from the tranquilizer sticking out of her lower back.
"Good," Art grunted as the two began to trudge along into the park. "Now we just keep up this pace and we should be there by morning…"
"Morning!?" Zoey groaned, throwing her head back in despair. "But I'm exhausted! Can't we take a break and start in the morning?"
The female leader shook her head, "No-go. If we have any chance of these guys taking us into their habitat for a while, we'll need to get in there before any of the human workers do. I know it's tedious, but I promise after we get settled in, we'll have a nice, relaxing day off."
Zoey suddenly stopped, making Art stop before she could drop Hope by her flippers. She narrowed her eyes as she asked, "Day off…and sleep-in privileges for the next day?"
Art groaned, rolling her eyes as she answered, "Fine. You and Hope can, but I'm keeping up on my physical training."
"Agreed," Zoey nodded, then continued to waddle with Art and Hope, hopefully, in the direction of the Central Park Zoo.
There was a few moments of silence as they went on their way. Honestly, it would be strange to anybody, human or otherwise, to see animals carrying one of their own as if he or she were dead.
"So…" Zoey started a bit awkwardly, rolling her eyes as she dragged out the word. "How long do you think it'll take for the heat to die down?"
ZOOM! ZOOM! ZOOM!
Art and Zoey gasped and snapped their heads of where the rushes of air past them. Three tranquilizer darts had dug themselves into a nearby tree.
"Dang it! Missed!" cried an 'Animal Control' officer. He lowered his gun and talked into his walkie-talkie, "Targets have been spotted! Area 18. Central Park. I need back-up! I repeat, I need back-up!"
"Shake your tail feathers, Zoey!" Art shouted, lifting Hope over their heads before sprinting off. "Go! Go! GO!"
Zoey shouted as she just nearly got a shot of tranquilizer in her backside, but had jumped up to dodge it. They ran through bushes, over and under any obstacle possible, and many more to throw off the officer.
Art suddenly gasped, a gigantic smile creasing her beak, "The zoo! Zoey, we made it!"
"Awesome," Zoey wheezed, her feet still working at overtime to keep up with her leader. "But…can we celebrate after we lose the Animal Control?"
With a nod, Art panted, "Agreed."
Coming to the gates of the zoo, Art and Zoey shoved Hope through the bars before sliding in themselves. They panted as they got up and turned to the gates. The Animal Control officer grunted as he pulled at the bars of the gates, but to no avail.
"Ha! That's what ya get when ya mess with penguins!" Art and Zoey smiled as they shared high-fives again. They picked up Hope and waddled forth into the zoo.
"Guys? Marks here," the officer said into his talkie. "I've got the three cornered. They're in the Central Park zoo."
Meanwhile…
"Okay…we're right here," Art muttered, pointing to the red arrow that said 'You are here!' "And it looks like the penguin habitat is right there. Right in the middle of the zoo."
"Great," Zoey sighed, rolling her shoulders a bit. "Let's get moving so we can get to sleep already!"
The two conscious females waddled to the center of the zoo, where they found the concrete island surrounded by water. 'Penguins' was what Art read on the sign.
"Okay, we don't want to cause too much noise and scare them…wherever they are," Art raised a non-existent eyebrow as she looked around.
"Yeah, where are they?" Zoey looked around, hoping to find something black and white and feathery, but none could be found.
Art shook her head, "Whatever. Let's do this. Sorry about this, Hope. On three?"
"On three," Zoey nodded. She and Art began swinging Hope back and forth.
"One!" Art shouted.
"Two!" Zoey responded, and finally…
"THREE!"
The two grunted as they tossed their comrade over the fence and winced as Hope slapped face-down onto the stone island.
Inside the HQ…
"Hmm…?" Skipper lifted his head abruptly, blinking wearily at a very sudden, yet very subtle thud. His tired eyes roamed around the HQ, but could find no disturbance. So, he laid his head back down and tried to sleep again.
Outside, on the surface…
"Well. I'd say we're one step closer to safety, Zoey," Art commented after she landed on the island. "I think I'm gonna take a dive. Maybe there's an underground cave or something where they sleep."
"Take your time," Zoey yawned, slowly sitting, and then lying down as the leader dove down into the water.
She jetted through the water, circling the island at least three times as she looked for an underground cave of some sort, but found none. Finally, on her fifth lap, she noticed one of the portholes. She swooped down and pressed her face against the glass, squinting her aquamarine eyes as she peered inside.
Art smiled and shot right up to the surface, doing a front flip as she landed. Zoey snorted a bit before sitting up in startle. The leader snickered as Zoey glared at her.
"Haha, very funny. Any luck?"
"Well, at least I was right when I said they were underground…" she muttered, walking and at the same time looking for a possible entrance. She brightened as she spotted a fish bowl. "But maybe it's a secret entrance. Cool."
She waltzed right up to the fish bowl and, right as she was about to open, Zoey grabbed her flippers, "Hold on! I think by now you'd know what Hope would say if she were…you know, with us."
Art groaned, then said in a high-pitched voice, "It's rude to enter a strange penguin habitat without knocking first. Bah, fine."
She took a deep breath and clenched her flipper, giving three solid knocks at the tin feeding bowl. Meanwhile, down below, the knocks carried out as a loud echo into the underground headquarters.
Skipper's eyes snapped open, now certain that there was something quite off. He leapt from his bunk and held up a defensive pose as the rest of his team slowly awoke as well.
"What was that, Skippah?" Private yawned as he jumped down from his bunk.
The four males looked up when they heard seven more knocks, all of them adding up to a sort of a musical knock.
"Intruders!" Skipper narrowed his eyes, scrambling up the ladder to investigate.
"Not necessarily, Skipper," Kowalski started up the ladder after him. "After all, that was the universal friendly knock."
Art tapped her foot impatiently, her flippers crossed as Zoey sighed, "You really need to relax, Art."
"I'll relax when we're safe away from Animal Control!" Art shouted, then let her flippers fall to her side as the fish bowl slid open, but nothing came out.
What the…? She arched a non-existent eyebrow as she approached the hole. She screamed as a black and white blur lashed out at her and threw them both into the water.
"ART!" Zoey grabbed the sides of her beak as she rushed to the edge of the water. A clearing of the throat made her stop and look over her shoulder. Kowalski, Rico, and Private's heads were sticking out of the hole and looking at her.
"Uh…hi," she smiled, waving awkwardly at them. "Um…So sorry to be barging in on you guys so late in the P.M. and all, but we really needed help."
"Oookay," Kowalski said slowly, looking between Rico and Private. They jumped out onto the island as he continued, "What is it that you need exactly?"
"Well, to make a long story short," Zoey started before gesturing at Hope, "the three of us are on the run from Animal Control and this was the only place we can turn to!"
"Oh dear!" Private gasped, covering his beak with his flippers as he got a look at Hope. "Is she okay?"
"Hmm," Kowalski hummed as he bent down to observe Hope. He opened her eyelids, revealing forest green irises, and then he spotted the dart. "Aha! If this story checks out, this tranquilizer dart obviously came from a rifle wielded by an Animal Control officer.
He pulled off the dart, making Hope wince slightly in her sleep, "By the way, you said that there were three of you, correct?"
Skipper and Art suddenly leapt out of the water, rolling onto the island before Skipper kicked the female off of him and over to the other edge. Art sat up with narrowed eyes and growled, right before shouting and charging at a still-recovering Skipper.
"NO!" Zoey blocked her leader, pushing her back with a surprisingly powerful force. "No, no, no! Artsy, we need them to like us!"
"I'm gonna kill him," Art muttered furiously under her breath, still struggling to attack the commando penguin. "Did you see what that psycho did to me, Zoey?!"
Zoey nodded, giving an apologetic smile at the boys, especially as Private started to shrink behind Rico, "I saw, Art, but that's really no way to be treating these guys right now. Besides, you're the leader here! Act like it!"
"He started it!"
"And now I'm ending it," Skipper interrupted, standing back on his two webbed feet. "State your business!"
Private, stepping slightly from behind Rico, whispered, "Skippah, Zoey already did."
"On the run from Animal Control and seeking a hiding place, apparently," Kowalski explained. Then he pointed down at Hope, "They already got one of their own with a tranquilizer dart."
Skipper looked from the dart in Kowalski's flipper, Hope, and then to the remaining females. He narrowed his eyes and rubbed his beak with his flipper. Suddenly there was a clanging of metal followed by a loud creaking sound. Zoey and Art gasped as they turned towards the entrance of the zoo, where Animal Control officers were pouring in.
"Friends of yours?" Skipper sarcastically asked, turning to the one named 'Art.'
She turned back to him with a glare, "Look, I'd be willing to take a lie detector test if we had the technology or the time, but right now, we don't!"
He smirked, looking over his shoulder slightly, "Kowalski?"
"I'm on it," the intelligent penguin nodded, jumping down into the hole.
"Well, shall we take this somewhere more private?" Skipper asked the two females. The two blinked, obviously surprised as they looked at each other, then back at him.
Art straightened up, all hostility seeming to have vanished as she said, "Uh…yeah, sure."
Private and Rico grabbed onto Hope and pulled her down. Art and Zoey followed them, and Skipper kicked the bowl up before flipping down into the hole, the feeding bowl landing perfectly on top of it.
"Hey! Where'd they go?" Officer Marks cried out after they searched the entire zoo. "I swear they went right in here!"
One of the other officers sighed, setting a hand on his shoulder as he said, "Marks, I think you need some time off."
Rico flicked on the switch of a flashlight and pointed at the three girls, who were siting against the wall. Skipper stood between him and Private as they observed their new guests. Aquamarine eyes narrowed as they met hard sapphire ones, which narrowed as well.
"So…" Zoey said slowly, trying to break the awkward silence. "Nice place you guys've got here. Build it yourselves?"
"Oh, yes!" Private nodded enthusiastically, only to get a slap on the back of the head from Skipper. "Right, sorry sir."
Kowalski suddenly slid into the main room, "Skipper, the 'Truth-Seeker 5000' is all set."
Art suddenly turned to him with a confused glance, "You mean…a lie detector? Why not just call it that?"
He sighed heavily, almost as if he had been asked that question many times, "That's already been done, thank you very much."
"Right," Skipper pointed at Art. "You're up, dollface."
Art's eyes widened dangerously, "Never ever call me that again. If you wanna call me anything, call me Art."
"Fine, Miss Art. After you," Skipper carelessly gestured to the door to Kowalski's lab. Art got up and followed Kowalski inside, "Rico, you're with me on persuasion duty."
Rico cheered, hacking up a hammer before rushing into the lab. Zoey's eyes widened and her beak fell open in shock, but before she could ask anything at all-
"And me, Skippah?" Private asked.
Skipper sternly pointed to Zoey, "Stay here and make sure these two don't go anywhere."
Zoey crossed her flippers, her back pressed against the wall as she muttered, "Yeah. Animal control up top, you four down here and no other means of escape. We're really going to be all over the place."
The door had slammed shut as she finished. There was a bit of a silence before she asked uncomfortably, "Please tell me that guy's hacking things up isn't a habit."
Meanwhile…
"Helmet, check," Kowalski muttered, setting a wired helmet on Art's head. He then went to a large machine and flipped a few switches, turned a few knobs, and pressed a large button. "The 'Truth-Seeker 5000' is all ready for action."
"So, Miss Art," Skipper began coldly. "Is the story you gave topside legitimate?"
Art sighed, "In the event you didn't notice the Animal Control officers up there, then yes. The story that Zoey told is true."
A green light flickered, followed by a loud ding. Kowalski nodded, "True."
"And are you or your lady friends working for any secret spy organization?" Skipper asked, his tone now more suspicious than ever.
Art furrowed her brows together, "What? No!"
Another green light with a ding.
"All right, then," Skipper rubbed his head. "Just how long do you three plan on staying here?"
Art simply shrugged, "I don't know. Until the heat from Animal Control dies down, I guess."
There was another green light, and another loud ding.
Skipper narrowed his eyes, "Are you three clean? If there's anything I can't stand in my own HQ, its dirty houseguests."
Art giggled a bit, something that was a bit out of character in Skipper's perspective, "Don't worry. Zoey's germ phobic; nothing dirty lasts long while she's around."
Everyone looked to the 'Truth-Seeker 5000', which took a bit longer than usual. Then, there was a green light and a ding.
"Are you done with you questions, now?" Art asked. "We've been running all day and my girls and I would really like to rest."
At the next ding, she grunted as she threw the helmet off of her. She crossed her flippers as she looked questioningly at Skipper.
"Gentlemen, let's get these ladies to the loading area," Skipper ordered. "Alice will be suspicious if there're three more penguins in our habitat in the morning."
Art's eyes were wide as she looked over the crate that towered over the seven penguins. Rico and Kowalski tossed Hope in from the top before jumping down.
"Well, it's a surprise delivery label, but it's still a legitimate delivery for three female penguins straight from the Philadelphia Zoo."
"Excellente, Kowalski," Skipper praised. "Well, there's your box, ladies. Make yourselves comfy."
"Great," Zoey smiled as she walked forward. She stopped and looked over her shoulder, sighed heavily and walked back, "You know you're gonna have to get in the crate, right Art?"
Art made no sound, nor any movement at all. Zoey groaned and pulled at her flipper, only it seemed like her feet were cemented to the floor.
"Could I get a hand over here?" she squeaked out after trying to push her from behind.
"Come on, Miss Art," Skipper started, pulling on one of her flippers. "Do we have to do this the easy way, or the hard-"
"AAAHH!" Art suddenly shrieked, slapping him hard across the face. Out of complete surprise, he fell onto his back as she tried to make a break for it.
"Stop her!"
Private and Rico jumped onto Art before she could get away, pinning her to the ground. She struggled and kicked, even managing to get Rico in the stomach, which made him cough up a crowbar. He stumbled backwards and grabbed his stomach, making Kowalski take his place.
"You'll never take me alive!" Art cried out, struggling to get out of the grip of her captors.
Zoey scoffed and shook her head. She grabbed Rico and whispered into his ear hole. He listened with great interest, then a maniacal grin creased on his beak. He nodded eagerly before rushing off, scooping up the crowbar as he went right at Art.
"Please, Art. This is for your own good!" Private grunted, now starting to become overpowered by her struggling.
"Don't worry, Art. It's only a box. Nothing can hurt you-" Rico cried out, jumping up in the air with the crowbar raised.
"RICO! NO!"
CLANG!
Art groaned painfully before letting her head fall forward as she lost consciousness. All of the male penguins (the sane ones, anyway) looked down in shock.
"Soldier, that was just uncalled for!" Skipper angrily barked.
"No…no it wasn't. I…kinda told him to do it."
They turned to Zoey, who was sheepishly fidgeting her feet, "I'm sorry, I should've said something. Art's got a bad case of claustrophobia. Don't really know where she got it from, though."
"Doesn't matter," Skipper panted, rubbing the spot where he was hit. "Load her in."
Art was lowered in by Rico and Kowalski, and then Zoey jumped up onto the box. She took in a deep breath before saying.
"Look, I know my leader's a bit rough around the edges, but just let her rest a bit and I swear she'll be much better. And I know she really appreciates what you're doing for us. So, thanks."
Zoey jumped into the crate, and then the box was sealed shut. Rico slapped the sticker on the crate and the boys began pushing it to the delivery area.
"Skippah? Do you think Zoey meant that?" Private whispered. "I mean, about Art being grateful to us."
"Can't say for sure," Skipper grunted. "But I'd like to hear those words right from her own beak in the morning."
