Disclaimer: The series and characters of "The Penguins of Madagascar" belong to Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell, as well as Dreamworks and Nickelodeon. The only things that Kat owns are this story and her OCs. The only ones she'll be using are Savanah, Mika, Chiko, and Beth. The other OCs, Allison and Sam, belong to R. Snowflakes –InvisibleNinja.
Kat: This is a dedication story for RS for her birthday, which was on April 6th. Whoo! I know, way overdue, but better late than never. Right? :D
Also, there are slight pairing hints of Allico (Allison and Rico), Privanah (Private and Savanah), and Koeth (Kowalski and Beth). Allison would be in her twenties in this story.
!
"Happy Birthday, Allison!"
!
The sixth of April was a special day. In the middle of the Central Park Zoo, on a sunny afternoon, an important plan was underway within the confines of a certain hidden headquarters in the penguin habitat platform.
Inside of penguin HQ, three of the four familiar penguins were standing in a straight line at attention. Kowalski had his personal 'options' notepad tucked under his left flipper, Rico was holding a miniature calendar close to his chest, and Private had his eyes focused on the pacing leader in front of them.
After a bit of pacing, Skipper stopped and turned to address his team.
"Men, this may be our most important mission today. Failure is not an option…especially on account that this is for Rico's girl."
Rico beamed and lifted up the calendar for display. The sixth of April was circled in black marker, and the words 'Allison's B-Day' were scribbled.
"It's a good thing that Beth can read and write," Private reminded with a smile, referring to a brown-and-white female penguin friend who resided in the aquarium section of the zoo. She may have been, as the other animals put it, 'loony', but she was pretty useful when necessary.
"It's also a good thing that she and Sam agreed to keep Allison distracted for us," Kowalski added. Sam, as the four penguins knew, was Private's younger sister who was a bit of a tomboy. Her feathers were all white due to a scientific accident by the smartest penguin, though it was to help her.
"Affirmative. Kowalski, we need options for a birthday surprise!" Skipper ordered.
Kowalski was quick to pull out his notepad and scribbled down a few drawings of the materials needed for the mission. When he was finished, the notepad was flipped the other way to show his fellow teammates.
"First and foremost, we will need an ideal location to hold the surprise. I have narrowed the choices down to either the lemur habitat or the tiger habitat."
"I don't trust those lemurs well enough, and Ringtail would just hog all of the attention away from the birthday girl. The tiger habitat it is," Skipper declared. At least he could trust the three tigers who resided in the zoo. Rico seemed to agree with this idea as he eagerly nodded.
"Very well," Kowalski continued. "Also, we'll need to invite the other animals, or at least those who are interested in attending, and decorate the location of the party. Last but not least, we need a cake."
"Chocolate!" Rico exclaimed, as he knew what flavor Allison liked the best.
"Alright, men, listen up! Private, go ask the lady tiger for permission to use her habitat. When you get the okay, Rico will do decoration duty. Kowalski, you spread the word of the shindig. I will take cake duty. Let's move!"
!
Meanwhile, at the otter habitat, Beth and Sam had taken Allison to see Marlene and talk about the special day. The birthday girl had been lucky enough to receive a few gifts early from a few of the girls; she had received a colorful beach ball from Marlene, and a picture frame decorated with seashells and sand from Sam.
"I cannot thank you enough for your gifts. They're very lovely," Allison said with a grateful smile.
"No problem, Allison. You're our friend after all," Marlene replied happily.
"Yeah, what she said," Sam said while she grinned. She chuckled when she saw Marlene raise a brow at her.
"Ha! Good one!" Beth exclaimed with a giggle. "Hey, Alli! KoKo and I are both giving you a gift together," she explained, using her pet name for Kowalski which she used since her very first day at the zoo.
"That's great, Beth…but please don't call me Alli," Allison reminded with a sigh, not being a fan of nicknames. It was then that she thought of the other penguins and smiled. "Speaking of the guys, I wanted to go see Rico. I'll see you girls later-"
"NO!" Marlene, Sam, and Beth quickly moved to block Allison from leaving the cave. This startled the Cherry Coke-colored penguin as she was taken aback.
"Huh? Why?" Allison asked in confusion.
"You can't! Uh, we haven't talked about…your plans for later!" Beth tried to cover for the boys' activities with a nervous smile.
"Well, I'm not sure yet. That's why I want to see Rico and ask for his input," Allison replied as she simply walked around Beth. No sooner did Allison do that when Marlene and Sam restrained her movement by grabbing onto her flippers. "Hey!"
"Wait! Don't you want to get dressed up first?" Sam offered. Allison blinked at the young penguin.
"But Sam, you don't like dressing up."
"It's not for her, though. It's for you," Marlene answered with a wide smile. "C'mon, we want you to look good for your man."
"Yeah, and with makeup!" Beth added before she took out a tube of bright red lipstick that she…happened to find…and chuckled.
"Oh boy…" Allison mumbled with a sigh.
!
"So you see, Savanah, that's why we need the use of your habitat," Private finished explaining to the eldest of the white Siberian tigers.
Savanah stood tall in front of the shortest of the penguins, though in human years she would be in her early twenties. She and two younger tigers, who she has decided to call her adopted children, were taken away from Siberia to be transferred to the zoo nearly one year ago. As the zoo was now home, she has acquainted herself with all of the animals, particularly the penguins.
As of lately, she had developed a secret crush on one of the penguins. To be precise, the one standing in front of her. Though she hid that feeling well, she still could not help but feel happy for his request.
"I see. As ruler of this territory, I grant permission for the party to be held here," Savanah replied, a calm smile on her face.
"Really? Oh thank you! You're a big help!" Private exclaimed gratefully before he wrapped his flippers around one of her arms in a hug. Savanah was surprised by those motion but managed to keep her composure and gently brought a paw to his back to return the gesture.
"'Ey!" Rico called out loud from the top of the tiger habitat barrier, abruptly ending the sweet moment. Savanah frowned at him, but she gave enough room for Private to face his teammate.
"Oh, right! Rico, you may start the decorating now," Private told the maniac, who was all too happy to do his part. Rico felt deep down in his gut that he had what was needed and began to upchuck garland around the habitat like a cannon, bordering all the way around the wall. The garland itself resembled miniature versions of Allison's head, though some streams of garland also had regular black-and-white penguin heads.
"AGH! Garland attack!"
Rico momentarily stopped when he heard the exclamation and looked to the sound of the little voice. He had accidentally fired a decoration at the youngest of the tigers, a male tiger cub named Chiko who was currently struggling to get himself untangled from the garland.
"Chiko, hold still so that I can remove that," Savanah offered as she walked over to the cub. She grabbed the garland by her teeth and gently pulled a bit at a time, soon succeeding when it came off in one piece.
"Sorry!" Rico apologized to the young cub when he jumped down to investigate the damage, though there was none.
"It's okay, Uncle Rico!" Chiko enthusiastically replied. He looked between him and Private before he looked up at his foster mother. "Lady Savanah, what's going on?"
"Yeah, what is all this?" asked the second child of the tiger group, Mika, as she came out to check on her brother. She was older than Chiko, and taller than him but also nearly one foot shorter than Savanah. She was very shy, but also smart as Kowalski knew very well; he was her tutor, after all.
"We're decorating for Allison's birthday party. Want to help?" Private asked the children.
"Sure!" Mika and Chiko eagerly exclaimed in unison. They were given a full of bag of balloons by Rico and started to dig right in to finish decorating in time.
!
"Just a bit more blush here, and a touch of eye shadow there…and some more lipstick!"
A moment later of Beth applying make-up, and Allison was feeling exasperated from the way her friend was messing with her face. That, and she really wanted to spend time with her lover, whom she had no idea where he was at the time. It barely helped that her other friends, Marlene and Sam, were standing close by them and giggling for some reason.
"Beth, are you done yet?" Allison asked almost impatiently.
"Hold still! I'm trying to be Picasso here, even though I can't because I'm Beth!" The brown-dyed penguin paused to chuckle before she picked up the lipstick and smeared a bit on Allison's beak. Beth gave her one last checkup before she grinned. "Okay, you can look now!"
"Thank goodness…" Allison walked past her friends and stepped in front of Marlene's full-length mirror, taking in her new look. This made her eyes widen…in horror. The make-up looked caked on, wrinkly, and a complete mess. The lipstick was wobbly, the mascara was built-up, and the eye shadow was a nasty shade of green…just like the other horror that was the dress that was picked out for her, which was a puke green color.
"So, Allison…" Marlene started while she attempted to hold back giggles. Sam was the same way as she continued. "How do you like your new look?" Both girls exchanged glances before they busted out in laughter. Beth shortly joined them as was amused by the reaction.
Allison turned and glared at them, not finding it amusing one bit. She ripped off the dress and threw it down on the ground before she slid out of the cave, then dived right into the water to wash off the make-up. When she resurfaced and jumped out of the water and onto the otter habitat gate, she saw her three friends and frowned.
"I am outta here. Goodbye!" The deep red penguin jumped in the air to the other habitats, leaving the other three girls to fret for their plan.
"Allison, wait!" Marlene called out, but to no avail.
"We'll get her back, Marlene." Sam was the first to jump out and land on the ground safely before she slid out to find Allison. Beth soon followed the young white penguin behind while keeping an eye on Allison's movements.
"She's heading toward the tiger habitat, Sam!" Beth exclaimed.
"Aww chizz…" Sam mumbled. "Hurry, Beth! We gotta stop her!"
!
In short time within the tiger habitat, the garland, balloons, and banner reading 'Happy Birthday to Allison' had been set up neatly thanks to the combined efforts of the penguins and tigers. Kowalski returned with practically all of the zoo animals. Well, except for the lemurs, but they had already made their way over on their own much to Skipper and Savanah's annoyance. Still, they went along with what they had and set up the chocolate cake in the center of the habitat, still in its box for cleanliness.
"Top notch work, everyone. Now all we need is the birthday girl herself," Skipper instructed. Just as he had finished saying that, a loud shout was heard nearby.
"STOP! ALLISON, DON'T GO ANY FURTHER!"
"STOP IN THE NAME OF LOVE!"
"What are you talking about, Beth? Go away!"
The zoo animals turned their heads to the direction of the shouting and watched in awe as Sam, Beth, and Allison came crashing down into the habitat, the former two landing on top of the birthday girl and keeping her from struggling. Marlene soon jumped over the barrier and landed next to the three penguin girls.
"Let me go! Why are you doing this?" Allison demanded irritably.
"Because, Allison, we were stalling you for this!" Sam exclaimed before she and Beth let go of Allison and stepped back with a smile.
Allison was confused at first, but she stood up and looked over the habitat, only to freeze in shock. She saw the decorations, the smiling faces of her friends and other neighbors, and the delicious-looking chocolate cake that quickly caught her eye. She looked up at everyone, her expression a mix of shock and joy.
"This…this is all for me?" Allison asked breathlessly.
"Of course, Allison. It is your birthday after all," Skipper replied, a proud smile on his face. "The location, the details, the distraction-all our idea. The cake, however, was Rico's idea."
Rico bashfully rubbed the back of his neck and sheepishly smiled. He was met with a hug from Allison as she hurried over to his side.
"Thank you so much! I thank all of you for coming!" Allison said to the other zoo animals. "I thank the tigers for letting my party be here-" Savanah and the children smiled back. "-and even you three for holding me back for so long. Sorry for giving you trouble." Marlene, Sam, and Beth smiled at her, showing that there was no trouble at all.
"It was no trouble at all, Allison. Sorry for giving you a hard time," Marlene apologized.
"Are you kidding? That was funny!" Sam cut in while she chuckled.
"Yeah! Let's do it again sometime!" Beth exclaimed.
"How about the birthday girl open some presents first?" Kowalski suggested as he, and several other animals, held gift-wrapped presents.
Allison gasped in surprise and beamed in pure joy. As she went to celebrate with her friends, she thought about how lucky she was to be with those closest to her and how she would never trade this day for any other…
!
Sorry if this seemed rushed. This is my first PoM story, so review and let me if you liked it and if any changes should be done for future ideas.