Disclaimer: I do not own Penguins of Madagascar and Fortress Game. I don't know who created Fortress Game *) but I certainly do not own it.
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"This is boring. How can we do a mission if there are no important events? This winter is sucks," Skipper groaned. "Besides, we've already played many games like chess, monopoly, or such things. What other games can we play?"
This year was winter, the last season of the year. In the morning, the penguins were at their HQ, doing their own activities. Skipper was sipping his coffee mug –looking the morning newspaper, Kowalski was at his lab—doing who-knows what, Private was at the telly—watching Lunacorns, and Rico was at the corner—brushing Ms. Perky's hair.
Everything was in peace, until Skipper groaned and sighed in desperation. It appeared that he was a bit irritated of the peace in the zoo. And it also appeared that Private was also bored.
"Well, we can play something outside," the youngling suggested. "I have watched this episode all over, so I'm a bit bored of it."
"Yeah!" Rico agreed, standing on his feet, leaving the brush on the floor. "Game! P'ay game!"
"I agree," Kowalski chimed, sticking his head out of the lab. "I think I need some air to finish the finishing touches of my invention. The electric wires cannot sync properly, and it makes me a bit frustrated."
"Well, I'd like to ask you this question; what kind of game?" Skipper asked, raising his eyebrow. He then turned to the analyst. "Kowalski, option!"
Kowalski pulled out a notepad and a pen out of nowhere. "Alright, give me a minute," he muttered as he scribbled down to his note. Finally, he turned back to the leader. "Skipper, I think I've found one game that might interest you."
"Shoot."
"I haven't found any name for this game, but this is the instructions. We need more than two animals to play this game—probably more than four. But in order to keep it balanced, we need an even number of animals—because we will be separated in two groups. Each group must hold a flag that resembles the groups' symbol. The groups must guard their flags safely from the other group. Each group members must shout 'charge' then disperse to anywhere they want, but try not to be caught by the other group. When you see a member that does not include in your group—let's just say, your opponent, you must shout the member's name along with 'BANG'—resembles a gunshot. He or she who had been shot is disqualified; they must get out from the area of the game immediately. The group who has the other group's flag wins the game and shouts 'independence.'"
"That's an interesting game," Skipper grinned. "So we don't need to keep the number of our members, but if we already have the other group's flag, then we win?"
"Exactly," Kowalski answered. "All you have to do is to defend yourself and grab the flag."
Private lifted his flipper. "But what if we wrong to shoot our friends, not our enemies?" he asked innocently.
"The one who had shot their friend is disqualified," Kowalski declared. "It's the same as the one who had been shot by the enemy."
Private wore horror face. "We don't get to be revived?" he asked.
"No rules of that," Kowalski reasoned.
"What's the purpose of this game?" Skipper asked.
"To teach our battle strategy and our compactness in defending our team, because we really need that in this game," Kowalski answered. "Also, it probably helps us lose some weight, reminding that our fish consuming capacity is rather increase than we thought."
"How so?" Skipper asked.
"Well, we always run here and there to avoid the enemy. We also run to look for the flag," Kowalski explained.
"Wait a minute," Private said, lifting his flipper. "Speaking of flag, where should we put the flag?"
"Ah, I was getting to that," Kowalski said, turning to his notepad. "The flag must be secured at a hidden place that no member of other group can find. But even so, you must guard the flag so one could take it from its place. One grab and it's finished."
"Understood, compadre," Skipper grinned in satisfaction. "Now, it's only us—let's tell the others about this game."
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"As I said earlier, we need to have an even number of animals. How can we start the game if there are eleven animals joining?" Kowalski asked. "We have two options at flipper: one, we have to find more members to join; two, we have to take one member out of the game."
It had been a while since Kowalski came up with this interesting game, and everyone in the neighborhood had agreed to join the game. But the problem was they were 11 animals; the penguins themselves (which means four), Marlene, Julien, Maurice, Mort, Bada and Bing, and Roy. They were excited to join the game, but they had to have an even number of members. How could they leave such an interesting game?
"I'd say the first option," Skipper declared. "We need one new recruit and we better find one than to ask one member to leave the game."
"That's right," Private chimed in. "Penguin credo; never swim alone."
"Fine, then," Kowalski agreed. "Because we can't just ask one member to leave, we decided to gain more members to join." At the time Kowalski finished, the game member—minus the penguins—cheered happily. It seemed that the whole members were really excited to gain more players.
In the midst of cheering, Private silently muttered, "The more players we can ask, the better."
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After some time, the penguins were finally done the player searching. They had asked most of the whole zoo animals and lots of them excited to join—except for the two chimpanzees. Mason declined to join while Phil couldn't join due to his lack of talking. The more players they had, the better they would enjoy the game.
"Now, that we're on the park—Kowalski, read the last players we've asked for the game," Skipper ordered. Kowalski then opened the notepad, flipping each pages.
"Right," Kowalski muttered. "According to my intellige—I mean, according to my notepad, we've already asked for more than five zoosters." Kowalski then lifted his notepad up and we could see those scribbling around the page.
Players:
1. Skipper
2. Private
3. Kowalski
4. Rico
5. Marlene
6. Julien
7. Maurice
8. Mort
9. Bada
10. Bing
11. Roy
12. Burt
13. Pinky
14. 5 chameleons
15. Barry (not allowed touching anyone)
16. Roger
"Twenty players should be enough," Kowalski said. "Because we have bigger animals, we need a bigger area, since the zoo cannot hide bigger animals properly. So the area of the game consists the park and the zoo."
"So the game area will be the zoo and the park," Skipper muttered.
"Exactly," Kowalski said. "Now we will need to break the players into two groups." Kowalski began to scribble around the page of the notepad, and a while later he faced the leader. "I've already made two groups. Group one consist you, Private, Maurice, Bada and Bing, three of the chameleons, Barry, and Roger. The rest is me, Rico, Marlene, Julien, Mort, Roy, Burt, Pinky, and the two chameleons. So each group consist ten members."
"Excelente," Skipper grinned. "Now what do we do before we start?"
"We must hold a flag and secure it in the safest place," Kowalski instructed. "Rico has the flags. Rico?" Kowalski turned to the weapon specialist, who then quickly hacked up two different colors of flags; red and blue.
"I'll take the blue one," Skipper muttered as he picked the blue flag. "Then what else?"
"We need to secure this, and then return here, face your opponents before shouting 'charge,' then we'll disperse," Kowalski explained.
"Well, then," Skipper muttered, before he turned around facing his team. "Alright, men. We secure this thing first then we'll gather here ASAP!" he shouted to the team. "Move out!" Then the whole group consisted two penguins, one lemur, two gorillas, three chameleons, a poison dart frog, and an alligator flashed to a place where they would secure their blue flag.
Meanwhile the red flag team, they also had disappeared too.
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~Blue Flag Team~
The blue flag team was in the midst of hiding the flag. They ran into the woods here and there just to look for a perfect place to hide the blue flag, where they could keep an eye on the flag so it wouldn't be caught the other team. But the problem was; where could they find that place?
"Where do you think we should secure the flag, Skipper?" Private asked innocently.
"We should secure this thing to where the enemy can't find it easily!" Skipper answered in determination. "But where can we find that kind of place?"
"I think I just know where to hide it," Barry said.
"Oh?" Maurice turned to the frog.
"I think we should bury it underneath the ground," Barry suggested, grinning.
"They'll find out!" Maurice declined. "They'll definitely find out! Kowalski is the head of the red team! He'll inspect every inch of our place!"
"That is their advantage," Skipper commented. "They have Kowalski and Marlene there. Ringtail would be their disadvantage, and I bet he'll be disqualified once the game starts. Our only strategy is to weaken their defense first, and then we'll get in and snatch that red flag."
"If the flag isn't being guarded by a bunch of big and dangerous animals like Roy and Burt," Maurice replied. "If we have weakened their defense and get in, what's next?" he asked.
"We'll charge," Skipper replied. "Bada and Bing are our advantages. They can weaken the front attacker while we sneak in and weaken their back attacker. Private or Barry—or any other small animals here can go search for the red flag and snatch it!"
"That would be a great idea!" Barry commented.
"What about us?" Private asked.
"Bada and Bing are our defenses," Skipper explained. "I'll be the front attacker. Maurice and Roger are joining me."
"Wait, what?" Maurice shocked, turning around, facing the leader. "I am joining the front attacker?"
However, Skipper ignored him. "Private and the three chameleons can be the back attacker while Barry can take the flag, go, and hide it somewhere where no one can find it easily. Barry, keep an eye on it. One or two chameleons can join him too, and Barry is not allowed to touch someone."
Barry frowned. Skipper continued. "However, I did not say that you can't shot the enemy down, right?" he smirked, much to the poison frog's desire. "We should win this game!"
"Yeah!"
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~ Red Flag Team~
"Well, we've already hid the flag, now what are we gonna do?" Marlene asked with anxious tone. They had already hid their red flag in one place the blue team would never find it—in the zoo's storage unit. Now they just had to make a battle strategy. "We're not just going to stand here and wait until they snatch our flag, are we?"
"Of course not, Marlene," Kowalski answered. "We just need to make a battle strategy."
"Well, you're the strategist—not me," Marlene commented.
"I doubt they will find our flag!" Pinky said in proud tone.
"It's not like they will not find it once the game starts," Burt commented. "They have Skipper. He's their advantage!"
"That's why you should listen to me," Kowalski groaned. "I know Skipper is our leader, but I've beat him in most of our chess game moments. So I'm supposed to be able to defeat him."
"Show off again," Marlene rolled her eyes.
"I'm not showing off!" Kowalski denied. "Never mind—I know they know our defenses, and they know I know their defenses. I'm certainly sure they will choose Bada and Bing as their defenses and am sure that they guess that our bigger animals are guarding the flag, so this is what I suggest; Burt, Pinky, and Roy will be the front attacker while I and Rico will be the back attacker. All chameleons should join us while Mort can join Marlene to keep an eye on the flag."
"I like keeping eye on flag!" Mort cheered.
"Eh, excuse me!" a familiar voice echoed, and all of the members turned around to see a familiar gray lemur. Julien huffed, "Are you to be ignoring me? I am the king—I am supposedly to attack the other team and be keeping an eye on the reddish cloth-y thing!"
Kowalski rolled his eyes. "Fine, Julien," he said. "You can be bait."
Julien paused. "Eh, I am not betting with the blue-ish team," he said.
Kowalski exhaled. "Not bet, Julien—bait, you do know bait, don't you?"
Julien's mouth formed an 'oh' meaning he understood. "Oh, I thought you are to be saying bet," he said. A second later, he faced the analyst. "Eh, what's a bait?"
Kowalski face-flippered, Burt, Roy, and Pinky groaned, Marlene muttered something about they were dead meat if Julien was in their team, Rico stood still, smiling around like a maniac, while Mort shouted, "I like bait!"
"No, you do not, Mort! Only I, your king, can be a bait—although I don't know what's a bait," Julien said.
"This is going to be a long day," Kowalski silently muttered.
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"Charge!"
Once they yelled the word, the two groups dispersed and hid among and behind the random things, behind the snow, and even buried themselves in the snow. The blue team hid among the woods, in the snow, and the properties in the park while the red team hid among the properties in the zoo and the zoo's entrance.
Bada and Bing did their job; to protect their territory. Skipper and his men—Maurice and Roger—were sneaking in to the enemy's territory while Private and the three chameleons waited for Skipper's command. Barry, did what he was told, leaped in to the woods with the flag as he searched for a perfect place to hide it.
Red team, Burt, Pinky, and Roy were in front of the zoo's entrance—hid among the properties of the zoo well. Kowalski, Rico, and the rest of the chameleons were hiding in the reptilian house, waiting for the most possible attack that might be coming. While Marlene and Mort did what was they were told—guarding the flag.
Skipper and Maurice of Blue Team moved silently through the trees, trying to keep themselves unseen, while Roger tried to remain still at the pond as a log, silently moved along with Skipper and Maurice.
"Right," Skipper began as soon as they stopped at one branch, still tried to remain unseen. He faced the aye-aye. "We've already left our territory. It's our only chance to break their defenses, sneak in, and weaken their moves and snatch their flag."
"I told you," Maurice replied. "They won't leave their flag unguarded. They must have Roy or Burt to guard it."
"Hey, guys," Roger called from the pond underneath the tree the two were on. "I think I caught the sight of Burt and Pinky around the entrance."
Skipper stunned, and—still remained unseen—he took a good look at the entrance. Just as Roger said, Burt and Roy were there. Not also them, but Pinky was also caught in his sight.
"Maurice, I think your estimate is incorrect," Skipper muttered.
"How so?" Maurice raised an eyebrow.
"It appears that Burt, Pinky, and Roy are the defenses," Skipper replied. "He knew we would guess that the bigger animals will guard the flag, so he sent those bigger animals to guard the entrance. He himself or someone else is guarding the flag."
"Who do you refer as he?" Maurice asked.
"Kowalski, no doubt," Skipper answered.
"Now what are we gonna do?" Roger asked anxiously.
"Roger, you stay. I and Maurice will sneak in," Skipper commanded. Roger nodded and hid among the water, pretended to be a log as Skipper and Maurice made their way to the zoo entrance—once again remained unseen.
The park and zoo was in a complete silence and tension. They were anxious if their enemy would found them. Although this was just a game, the tension was still filled throughout the zoo and the park. There was a silence until...
"Ri-Julien, BANG!"
"What?!"
Skipper's and Julien's voices echoed through the air, and the loud bang sound made by Skipper was just making the tension got worse.
Skipper and Maurice, hid behind the trashcan, caught the sight of Julien wondering around the zoo. Maurice was about to shoot him before Skipper, immediately, shoot lemur before Maurice even made a move.
Kowalski, in the other hand, heard Skipper's cries and face-flippered. "I knew Julien wouldn't last long," he muttered to himself.
Skipper high-fived Maurice and once again hid, while Burt, Pinky, and Roy were dumbfounded to find the flat-head penguin and the aye-aye could sneak in to their defenses and shot Julien. How could they sneak in? And most importantly, when did they sneak in?
Barry, still leaping around the woods, was thinking to hang the flag around the tree branch but cancelled it due to the lack of foliages. The red team would figure it out easily.
"Ah, why did I agree to hide this dumb flag in the woods?" Barry muttered under his breath.
Suddenly he caught the sight of a big tree. The tree was hidden enough among the withered trees in the woods. Feeling happy, Barry finally leaped behind it, stuck the flag behind the big tree, and adjusted it enough to be unseen. Once he finished, he leaped away from it and covered himself in the snow so no one could see him with bare eyes.
Meanwhile, in the zoo...
"Burt, BANG!"
"Roy, BANG!"
Skipper and Maurice shouted in unison, as if shouting would satisfy their hunger of victory. Once they had shot Burt and Roy, Pinky was turning around to look for Skipper and Maurice, but both penguin and aye-aye had hid right after they shot Burt and Roy. Skipper and Maurice, felt that was the right time to shot Pinky, finally showed up and faced the flamingo.
"Pinky, BANG!"
Pinky was startled, disappointed, and slowly moved to the 'jail.' Skipper and Maurice finally made their way to the other places to find Skipper's second-in-command and weapons expert.
Kowalski who heard this decided that he had had enough and commanded Rico and the two chameleons to sneak in to the Blue Team's defenses to balance their position. The four made their way silently and tried to remain unseen from the Blue Team.
Once Kowalski, Rico, and the two chameleons arrived outside of the park, they moved to the defenses of Blue Team.
"Oy," Rico called Kowalski. The analyst faced the weapon expert. Rico pointed to the log-like figure floating in the pond below the tree they were on. "Whazzat?"
Kowalski rolled his eyes. "Can't you see it's a log? Rico, I don't think you need spectacles for this," Kowalski replied. "We have an important thing to do now than to take care of the log below."
"Rico, BANG!"
"Wha?!"
Roger, as fast as a lightning, quickly dived into the pond as soon as he shot Rico.
Kowalski gasped. "It's Roger!" he shouted. "He used camouflage—that's not fair!" he whined. "We don't have any camouflage ability!"
Hearing Roger's cries, Rico's sudden startle, and Kowalski's complaints, Private and the three chameleons gasped, realized that the Red Team were getting close. "We have to go!" Private instructed. "Go, go—now!" The three chameleons and he himself flashed to the woods where Barry had just been into. Private belly-slid, leading the three chameleons into the woods to find a perfect place to hide themselves from the red team.
Skipper and Maurice of Blue Team were still leaping from one ornament to another, keeping themselves unseen from the Red Team.
"Skipper, do we really need to go this far?" Maurice asked.
"What do you mean?" Skipper asked back.
"I mean, I don't what has gotten into me, but I think there's something wrong back at the territory," Maurice explained.
"Don't worry, I got myself a walkie-talkie," Skipper replied as he lifted a walkie-talkie in his flipper. "I also got the feeling something's wrong in the base. My gut says that there's an intruder—one or two. Or maybe more than that."
"See? I think we need to go back," Maurice reasoned.
"I'll see what they have to say about it," Skipper said. He then adjusted the walkie-talkie for a moment before he lifted it up and said, "Blue Alpha to the Flag; can you hear me?"
"Blue Alpha?" Maurice questioned.
There was a static before the other receiver across the walkie-talkie replied, "Very loud and clear, Skipper!" Barry's voice echoed.
"Wait," Maurice said. "You've given Barry a walkie-talkie? When did you—"
Skipper ignored him. He kept facing the walkie-talkie. "Is there any enemy around the flag area?" he asked firmly.
"So far, no," Barry replied. Then a gasp followed. Barry's voice was heard, "Private, there are Private and the chameleons over there—why are they here?"
"Private?" Skipper asked. "What are they doing there?"
"I don't know. Maybe they—wait! There's Kowalski; I saw him! Kowalski's in the woods! He's searching for Private!"
Maurice widened his eyes. "He wanted to balance their position! We've take their defenses and it's their turn to take our defenses!" he said.
"Oh, this is not good," Barry replied.
"What is it?" Skipper asked anxiously. "Is Kowalski gone—?"
"No," Barry cut in. "Private has hid, but Kowalski and his other chameleons insisted to search for him. We have code red here, Skipper!"
"Why won't Private shoot at the time he saw Kowalski?" Maurice asked.
"He's afraid the other chameleons will notice his movement so he stuck in there," Skipper answered. "Maurice, can you find the flag? I'll deal with Kowalski."
"No, you go find the flag. I'll deal with 'im," Maurice insisted. "You're the leader; you're the one who should grab the flag."
Skipper widened his blue eyes in shock. Since when Maurice could be that patriotic? "Well, I guess you're right. But be careful with Kowalski. He's the strategist in here—everything is in his sight. Just don't let him get you off guard, or we'll lose." Without saying any words, Skipper then took off, leaving Maurice with the walkie-talkie.
But under his breath, Skipper, leaping from one ornament to another, muttered, "I'll definitely find the flag."
Maurice stared at the penguin's back before inhaled, frowned in determination, and leaped off to his team.
Two of three chameleons of Private's had been disqualified. Kowalski found their movement and quickly shot them. Now Private and the chameleon hid, both embracing each other, shivered and feared Kowalski would find them. They hid among the withered bushes in the woods, trying hard not to shiver in fear so Kowalski wouldn't find them.
But accidentally, the chameleon Private was hugged broke one of the branches, making Kowalski who was searching for them turned to the source of the cracking sound. Feeling Kowalski turned around, Private held his breath, suddenly frozen with the chameleon.
"Who's that?" Kowalski asked, particularly to no one. He approached the bushes where Private and the chameleon were hiding. He mentally readied himself with something dangerous that might be coming.
Hearing Kowalski's footsteps made Private shivered in fear. Kowalski had two chameleons and he only had one chameleon. If he showed up and shot Kowalski, the two of the chameleons could shot him and his chameleon.
Ah, what to do?! Private thought as he hugged the chameleon tightly.
"Ah, where would it be?" Skipper asked to himself, still leaping to one ornament to another until he arrived in front of the zoo's storage unit. Feeling curious and suspicious, he finally leaped in through an opened window. Then it hit him. That's weird, he thought. Are they deliberately let the window opened? He stared at the opened window for a while and decided to shrug it off.
He jumped in and looked for the red flag. He searched behind the boxes and crates, under the table, and even in the crates. He was tired of searching when he spotted a cloak of red. His sapphire eyes shone.
The red flag! He thought. He grinned automatically as he approached the flag and rubbed his flippers in delight. "That was easy than I thought it would be!" Skipper said as he lured his flipper to reach the flag.
But when he was about to grab the flag, a loud thud was heard along the room. He stopped and turned to the source of the sound.
"Marlene?" Skipper was dumbfounded.
"Skipper?" Marlene was surprised.
They both lifted their flippers and paws, ready to shoot, but stopped in the middle. They both hesitated, unsure if they should shoot or not.
Should let her win, or shoot and take the flag? Skipper thought.
Should I shoot, or let him take it? Marlene thought.
Ah, what to do?! Apparently, love was more difficult for them.
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The End ?
A/N:
*) Fortress game is actually 'Bentengan' game, a traditional game from Indonesia. If you haven't heard of it, please check on the Google.
Hah, the ending is really a cliffhanger. Should I continue/make a sequel or not? xD I really wanna put mistletoe at the ceiling where Skipper and Marlene were standing under. They could've kissed each other... xD *fangirl moment*
And please note that I did this without any beta-reader. So if you want me change my sucked grammar, PM me. Wanna ask me about anything, also PM me. And flames are not accepted.
Dedicated to my class and my teacher who had played this game.
Review, please...