Hello, guys! This is my first time writing for The Penguins, so please please please tell me how I did! Constructive criticism is welcome, although all flames will be banished!!!
Also, this story may also include a Skipper/Marlene pairing..... What do you guys think?
Okay, beyond this point is the magicalness of the story... Hope you guys enjoy!!!
(Also, tell me what you think about the title as it is subject to change...)
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Marlene stood with a lead pipe in her paws, glaring daggers at the self-proclaimed lemur King as he cowardly hid behind his "subject" Maurice, who stared up at the steaming otter in fear, wondering if she would really hit them or not. Judging from the blazing look in her eyes, he backed up into Julien as a natural reaction, sending them both tumbling off the lemur's green bouncy and onto the hard pavement of their enclosure.
"Maurice! Your buttocks has done it again! It has pushed me off of the royal bouncy! I will be sure to punish your large bottom harshly!" Julian barked at a dizzy Maurice, who's face suddenly turned to terror.
"King Julian, look out!" The shorter, stouter lemur leaped up and yanked him out of the way just moments before their enemy landed on the ground. an almost manic look in her fuming brown eyes.
"Marlene...look...it was an accident, Julian didn't mean to destroy your birthday cake! ...and your party...and your gift...but I assure you he's very very--" Maurice frantically tried to explain, that is until the taller ring-tailed lemur cut him off,
"Outraged and offended that you did not enjoy my very lovely party gift! Now what is this you are saying? Me? The lemur party King actually ruining something that he is King of? Oh, no. no. no. no! Make her take it back, Maurice!" He pointed at her, making a few wild hand gestures, before crossing his arms in a pout.
Maurice slapped a paw to his face, King Julien never ceased to amaze him sometimes....
"Yeah, uh huh. Your so called 'gift' ruined everything! You greedy little... Oh when I get my paws on you, you are going to wish that Kowalski would have built a time machine!" She lunged for him, but was instantly stopped by Mort, who had grabbed onto her feet, halting her sudden attack.
"Mort?! What the... What are you doing now!"
"Please don't hurt King Julian!" He looked up at her with the saddest, biggest eyes she had ever seen in her life, and as usual, the smallest lemur's natural talent to be adorable melted her heart.
She slowly shifted her gaze to Julian, who was once again quivering behind Maurice. Feeling her gaze upon him, he quickly flashed her a sheepish grin and waved.
"Fine Julien..." She growled out."Your off the hook this time, although by all means and rights, everyone here knows you shouldn't be!" She crossed her arms, obviously frustrated with the whole situation in general, threw the pipe in a random direction (which ended up slamming into Mort sending him flying) and stormed off.
Julien and Maurice stared after her for a few moments before J ulien crossed his own arms and turned to his adviser.
"Maurice... I am still very unhappy with your overly large booty for pushing me off the amazing bouncy! Please to be punishing your booty at once!" He crossed his own arms in a childish manner, before his face broke into a crazy smile. "Oh...and fix me a smoothie, mango please...." Maurice lifted himself off the ground, inwardly rolling his eyes at Julien's usual odd requests. Nonetheless, he went off to carry out his King's orders.
Marlene slowly made her way to the penguins habitat.... Err, she meant HQ. She wasn't sure why she had chosen this particular destination, but she knew she didn't want to be alone, and the last person she wanted to come into contact with was that deranged Ring-tail...
That seemed to be the trend around the zoo. It's not that she hated Julien. In fact, she considered him to be a friend of hers... Which is more than she could say for most of the animals in the zoo. Still, she was upset that he had shown no remorse for ruining her party. Not that she expected any more or less out from him. Still.. His usual selfish behavior seemed 10 times more annoying today, for whatever reason.
She pushed aside the fish bowl covering the secret entrance to the penguins HQ, and hopped down the hole leading to their home, without taking the pleasure of knocking, seeing as they never seemed to express the same courtesy when randomly popping up into her own quarters.
"Hey guys, wha'chya..." She stopped mid sentence, her eyes frozen to the unfolding scene of a slender young she-penguin, who was currently tending to a small cut on Skipper's, the lead penguin's, left flipper. She arched an eyebrow, wondering what on earth could have happened within the last couple of hours?
"Up too.....?" She finished awkwardly, finally deciding to walk cautiously over to the youngest penguin, Private, who she noticed sat quietly at a table, bearing a nervous expression.
"Ah!" He yelped in a fright, and within seconds he and a taller penguin known as Kowalski had a very upset Marlene pinned to the ground.
"Oh, Marlene... It's only you. So sorry!" Private, the youngest of the group, frantically backtracked, releasing her arm at once. He looked around nervously.
"D-Did Mina see that?" He stuttered, nervously glancing towards Skipper and the female penguin tending to his minor wound.
Kowalski scanned the area. "Luckily....no."
Marlene stood up and crossed her arms, once again arching an eyebrow.
"Wait wait wait... Okay, Who exactly, is Mina?"
"She scares me..." Private whimpered.
"Skipper will probably want to organize a proper introduction later." Kowalski himself looked a bit uneasy.
"Uh, anyway, s-sorry about your party Marlene..." Private changed the subject, though Marlene could tell his mind was far from the the party.
"Yes... It was quit the inconvenience that Julian gave you his annoyingly adorable little subject. A pathetic attempt at a gift, I might say so myself." Kowalski added. He did not look quit as nervous as Private, though she could tell his mind was also elsewhere.
Rico walked up to them, and a moment later, coughed up a stick of dynamite. With a manic grin and a vengeful look in his eye, he madly pointed to the weapon, hoping she'd agree. Whatever had been effecting the other's did not seem to have done the same to Rico.
"Ah, Mort didn't mean any real harm... After all, he's just a baby!" She shrugged it off, hiding any true disappointment with her usual perky grin, and taking a few nervous steps away from Rico and his dynamite.
"Maybe next time Rico..." Kowalski comforted his friend, patting his back with a flipper, as Marlene relaxed a bit.
"Bedside's, I think Julien got his just desserts." The otter reassured with an evil smile, remembering the terror in the fake King's eyes as she chased him around with a metal pipe.
"So anyway... Who's this Mina you guys mentioned earlier?" She quickly changed the subject upon realizing all eyes now focused on her.
"Marlene! What are you doing here?!" Skipper's voice bellowed from across the room, noticing her presents for the first time. In seconds, he had her shoulders in a firm grip .
"What!" Marlene exclaimed, startled at his sudden actions. "I-I just wanted..." She searched for something to say.. Luckily, she didn't have too.
"How on earth did you manage to bypass security?" He released her to glare at his men accusingly.
All three penguins looked at the floor shamefully.
"Hmm... Unauthorized personal in th e Penguin Headquarters?" The penguin Marlene guessed had to be Mina, walked up beside Skipper, wearing a skeptical glare.
"Whoa, whoa, wait... Unauthorized Personal?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, yeah... Someone wanna explain what's going on around here? Who's this?"
Skipper sighed. This was going to be a long day.
"Marlene... This is Mina. She's new to the zoo, a true army's brat, and a fine nurse to fallen recruits. She's worked with some of the best drill Sergeants on several different continents." Skipper filled her in, his face wore a tired smile.
"It's truly quite an honor to be in her presence."
The she-penguin smiled politely.
"I'll whip these boys into shape." She grinned at them, before turning to Marlene.
"Nice to meet you, lower mammal." Mina held out a friendly flipper. Marlene gritted her teeth. Lower Mammal? Who gave this bird any right to judge her like that?
"Right... Ya know, I have a name.. Yeah, it's Marlene." She replied with only a hint of resentment in her tone.
"Right." Mina smiled confidently.
"Oookay, I believe Marlene was just leaving." Skipper jumped in hastily. Seeing where this was going, it was a basic maneuver to try and prevent a possible cat fight.
"I was? Wait, what?" She whipped around to glare daggers at him.
"Marlene.... " He pulled her aside, cupped his flipper around her ear. "Mina is here under vary important, classified business! And we don't need anyone getting on her bad side!" He whispered fiercely, before releasing her.
Marlene never got a chance to register this, or even make an attempt at coming up with a reply, because at that vary moment...
"Hello, neighbors!" An all too familiar voice reached their ears. The two turned simultaneously to come face to face with none other than King Julien himself; the route of the penguin's normal annoyance. Trailing behind him were his two lemur "subjects" Maurice and Mort. They were the only ones who had come with him on his grand trip to Africa, and eventually, the Central Park Zoo. Why or how they had came there exactly, remained a mystery.
Marlene, upset and on the verge of a mental break down, let out a frustrated scream while Skipper palmed his face.
"Ring-tail?! I demand to know how you of all mammals got past our new security system!"
Kowalski instinctively began writing things down on his clipboard, trying to come up with an answer for his leader.
"We came to steal-- I mean borrow some delicious foods!" Julien exclaimed happily.
Skipper merely stood there with a blank expression on his face, motionless. Though Marlene could have sworn she could see a trail of steam rising from the top of his head.
Getting the feeling the penguins were in no giving mood, Julien quickly pushed Mort and Maurice towards the refrigerator.
"Hurry my, subjects! We are having no time to be wasting. To the magic box of food stuffs! PUSH, Y OU LAZY LEMURS! PUSH!!" He screamed frantically, and began jumping up and down much like a mad man, or a little child throwing a temper tantrum. The two lemurs did as they were told, only they weren't nearly as strong as Julien would have liked, because the refrigerator barely even budged.
Rico appeared beside Skipper. spat up a BB-gun, and handed it to him. Marlene let out a gasp, and covered her mouth. She knew Julian was annoying, but this was going a bit too far, even for him...
"Skipper don't you think that's going a bit too... Oh I don't know... far?!"
He glanced at her, but kept the gun trained on the lemurs.
"I have to agree with Marlene, Skipper! Julian doesn't mean any real damage..." Private spoke up nervously, regretting having ever spoken.
"Maybe you two are onto something.... Wouldn't want to see perfectly good ammo wasted on such a minor cause."
Once again, Rico sighed sadly as Skipper handed the gun back to him.
Private and Marlene let out a breath of relief, and Kowalski walked over to once again, console his fire loving friend.
"Now get the heck out of here Ring-tail, before I change my mind!"
"A King leaves whenever a King pleases! How could you not know this penguin? How tiny is that little brainy thing of yours!" He exclaimed, momentarily forgetting the refrigerator that his two subjects were hopelessly trying to push, to walk over and tap Skipper on the head.
The lead penguin seethed as everyone (besides Julien, who had crossed his arms and was currently glaring at Skipper) backed away.
"Get out! All of you!" He pushed Julien and his posse, along with Marlene, towards the ladder.
"Oh there's no need for that... We can just take Julien's secret passageway." Marlene shot him a cold glare as she passed. Julien merely leaped for joy and rambled on about kings and secret doors, while Maurice and Mort merely followed behind them, relieved they no longer had to move the heavy object.
Marlene placed her paw to a certain brick and as if by magic, it slid over to create an opening.
"Just get outta here, all of you!" Skipper barked, and moments later, the four quickly sped into the opening and the brick slid back to it's original place, but not before Marlene gave Skipper one last death glare.
He put a flipper to his aching forehead, and simply stood there.
Private walked up, gave him a look of concern.
"Are you alright, Skipper?"
"Never been better, Private." He reassured, though his voice lacked the same authority it usually held.
Somewhere in the mist of all the chaos, Mina was standing off in a distance, just close enough to receive a great view of everything that had just unfolded, yet she had made sure to stay far enough not to be noticed. silently watching them, she wrote down notes of all the events she had witnessed.
She eventually walked up to the others, a wide grin spread across her face.
"Well done, Skipper. They won't be back anytime soon... In the meantime, we need to improve security."
Julien sat on his thrown, which was really only a funny looking chair made of wood, knees hugged to his chest, sulking.
Marlene, having nothing better to do and still not feeling the mood to be alone, had reluctantly followed him and the others back to the lemur habitat. She paced back and forth angrily, still upset that Skipper had kicked her out... her , of all animals! Weren't they supposed to be friends?
"I can't believe that penguin..." She paced back and forth. She had been doing this for awhile now.
"I mean, who does he think he is? Kicking me out...I mean me of all... I thought we were friends!"
Julian glanced down at her.
"What are you to be meaning?" He stood up and laughed as if she had just uttered the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard.
"Why are you acting oh so surprised, Marlene? The silly penguin does not have friends... But what he does have is that magic box of food stuffs I am to be borrowing!" He glared at Maurice and Mort. Each exchanged a sheepish look, and came forward.
"We're working on it, your Majesty." Maurice said with a crooked grin.
"We'll get your magic food box!" Mort exclaimed happily, lunging for Julien's feet.
"Do not touch the feet!" He screamed, sending the youngest lemur rocketing into the sky.
Marlene stopped and placed her paws on her hips.
"Wait, hold up, wait a sec! Of course Skipper has friends! What about Private, Kowalski, and Rico! They're his friends..." She glared at the ground.
Julien merely let out a boisterous laugh, and slung a lazy arm around the otter's shoulders.
"Oh Marlene... My silly willy otter friend.. They are not his friends. They are his slaves. Would you just look at the way he is constantly ordering them around? Not like me... I am a great, noble king who does not treat his subjects as slaves like the silly penguin.... Ha! He is not even King! Eh, excuse me for a minute..." He marched over to Maurice.
"Maurice! Why are you not blowing more air into my bouncy? Blow, you naughty little monkey!"
"But you just said--"
"I said blow, Maurice! Or I will to be most personally make sure you will be punished quite harshly!"
"Yes Sir..." The shorter of the two stalked off to do as he was told.
Marlene watched the scene unfold, and merely rolled her eyes. She glared at the penguins habitat, just across from the lemurs.
"He has no right to kick me out..." She whined.
"Actually, it is his home. So technically... He does kind of have that privilege." Maurice muttered as he passed.
"But, but, but I've never kicked him out of my house!" She protested stubbornly, refusing to admit she was wrong.
"Actually Marlene... You have... Or at least you have tried... But do not be sweating over such an unimportant little thing such as the penguin! He kicks me out all of the time... And I am king of things!" He said angrily.
"Yeah... Well... I am going to go over there and give Skipper a piece of my mind!" She headed in the direction of the penguins HQ.
"Wait! Eh... When you do, would you mind exchanging it for the magic box of food stuffs?"