The Battle of Central Park
Plot Summary: After discovering a stash of paintball guns, the penguins start using firearms in their missions. But after refusing to let King Julien 'play' with them, an all out Penguin-Lemur war breaks out which devastates the entire zoo.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Penguins of Madagascar
-*Note*-
I'm back baby!
Greeting friends, and fanfic readers. After about two weeks of absence due to sick leave, I've come back to continue the stories I love to read and write. I have decided to write this short story since I feel I'll need to sharpen my writing skills since I wasn't even allowed on a computer (can you believe that!) and I've gotten a bit rusty. I'll probably finish this first before continuing 'Only when I Sleep', since I never write when in a bad mood or just not feeling what Panacea447 calls 'the writer's vibe'. I thank you for your patience for updates and to those who wished me well, I cannot thank you enough. Thanks also to EppopinkfangirlXDXDXD for granting permission to use her character Hope from her story 'Girl' (If you haven't read it, you should since it's just plain epic!). Big thanks to Panacea447 for continuing 'Only when I Sleep' when I was gone. It really means a lot to me. As always, please R&R, I'd love to hear your opinions.
~From the DrunkenTavern, DrunkenRookie
Part One: A 'Trip' to the Zoo
"Alright Kids! This is – uhh – a lemur.", stuttered Alice in a thoroughly bored voice, extreme dislike for her job radiating throughout each syllable. The group of visiting school children tailing behind her, barely listening to what she had to say, since she just had to read off the information tablet adjacent to each respective habitat.
"The lemur is native to Madagascar, and is also a primate, just like the chimpanzees, and gorillas we also have at the Central Park Zoo." Alice drawled while gesturing towards a dancing white-furred lemur with a black and white tail that attempted a moonwalk.
Alice' vision drifted away and sought for a moment of respite while the children enjoyed watching the three lemurs dance for them. Her gaze lingered on a tiny mouse-lemur that all the girls were giggling at, before it focused on the nearby penguin habitat. She smirked when she saw the stupid birds waving at a crowd of tourists. The penguins were more trouble than they were worth. The Zoo officials actually thought she was crazy that she accused such "cute and cuddly" birds of attacking people, stealing objects all around the zoo, and assaulting the lemurs. They dismissed her case, and the only one who believed her was a large former animal control officer who refused to tell her his name for some stupid reason. She was lucky enough to keep her job, but left her knowing she wouldn't deal that card ever again.
Deciding the Lemurs had hogged enough of this school group, she yelled at them to follow her, wanting to get the tour over with as soon as physically possible but not to the point of violating the recently added 'at-least-five-minutes-per-habitat-or-you're-fired' clause in her contract. She was either too bored or too concerned about this that she didn't notice the two.
"Kitty, I don't even know why you asked mom to take us to the zoo. I hate it here!", Leo complained silently to his older sister, repeatedly glancing at the zookeeper nervously underneath his cap. He hefted his heavy and rather large backpack over his shoulders.
"You know I like it here at the zoo. It's been my favorite place to be other than home." Kitty replied peevishly, also glancing up at Alice.
"Just because you like it here?" scoffed her brother. "I'd rather go smash some dweebs on my Pony Slaystation than go back to this dump!"
"First of all it's not a dump. Second, that zookeeper lady is not smart enough to know we're not part of this field trip. I can see it in her eyes, she hates her job, maybe more than she hates kids, so she won't notice us as long as we stick to some kids on field trip. Third, if you think it's such a dump, then our friends will think the same thing, and we won't have to worry about spies snooping on our strategy."
All Leo could do was smirk, but nonetheless accepted his sister's idea. He was small and wiry, his untidy golden-blond hair partially covered by a cap that cast most of his light-complexioned face into shadow, the only light coming from his aqua blue eyes. Sweat from his back clung to the crumpled T-shirt he was wearing, and dripped onto the jeans he was wearing. He walked slowly behind the eager group of fifth graders on sneakers a size too large. It was easy to spot the contrast between him and his sister. Kitty was half a head taller than him, hair the same color as her brother's that reached to her back tied up in a casual ponytail. She wore a white shirt tucked into large flowing jeans that had enough extra material to make a second pair for her brother. She walked alongside Leo in extremely-white trainers that reflected the light from the afternoon sun. Like her smaller sibling, she also sported a large backpack. They followed the children to the otter enclosure, paying no attention to the semi-aquatic mammal as she performed acrobatic feats but discussing something else, something more important to them.
"No, I say we use Johnny, Leah, and Stan to draw most of their fire, then us two with Erik, Ann, and Nathan flank them from the left and right. Smart plan, right?" Leo smiled.
"Yeah, if you were trying to give them a quick win.", said his sister sarcastically. "Penny's smart, she'd be expecting that from us. She'll outflank us if she notices only three of our people firing on them from the front, best if we stick together. I still don't get why Shadow and Ghost are on their team. It's not fair!"
"Sure it ain't fair; they're the best when it comes to the whole stealth thing. Still, why don't we try deathballing them?"
His sister shook her head as they followed the group of schoolchildren to the penguin habitat, the animals inside performing stunts that elicited 'oohs' and 'ahhs' from the crowd. Leo watched halfheartedly while Kitty smiled and watched the Antarctic creatures perform nosedives and back flips into the water with renewed interest. She was interrupted when her brother groaned and turned his head away, muttering something about 'stupid birds' and she forcefully turned her gaze away. A pout formed on her face and she twisted her head to scowl at her brother, but she came face-to-face with the lady zookeeper. A look of surprise formed on her face, and the red-haired woman eyed her suspiciously. Deciding whether to run for it or not, her blue eyes searched for her brother, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh, why are you carrying such a big bag for a field trip?"
"Ummm, these are the books I'll need for a report." Said Kitty, her voice a faint whisper, doubtful the zookeeper would buy such a tall tale. But to her surprise, she did.
Shrugging in apparent disinterest, she veered off to lead the students to the next attraction. Sighing heavily, she closed her eyes, but opened them immediately when she heard someone beside her.
"Whoa, 'books for a report'! Nice save sis." Leo smirked, hefting his backpack in mockery.
"Where were you!" she snapped, watching his smirk grow into a grin. "Thanks for the backup then!"
"So, what's your plan on checkmating Penny?"
"I don't know right now. We'll just have to talk with our team and plan it from there on. A mousetrap opener or maybe Dante's Death Machine?"
"Can't we just spy on – " Leo began, but shut his mouth as he turned his head to see the four penguins staring at the two with blue eyes.
"Don't worry, they're just penguins, and they don't bite unless you're a fish." Assured Kitty, and placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, and then turned to veer him away from the penguin habitat, but froze when a voice called out to them.
"Kitty, Leo! There you two are!"
"Oh no, Mom!" Leo groaned louder, and turned to see their mother striding towards them, a little girl beside her holding her right hand, her left clutching her purse.
Their mother was alarmingly similar to Kitty, only having aged thirty years, with her golden-colored hair short and cropped that clashed horribly with the khaki business uniform she was wearing. The little girl beside her, though, was looked far different than her siblings. Her hair was a deep-brown color that made you think of old oaks, her eyes a dull grey, and her rather thin frame made you think she was going to be swept away by the wind if she had not grasped her mother's hand. The elegant white dress she was wearing was the only contrast to the otherwise ragdoll appearance.
"Kids, I said you could have fifteen minutes at the zoo, but it's almost twenty. Now come on, we're going to be late for little Hope's recital." Said their mother impatiently, the girl beside her doing a small, stationary dance routine while she hummed the tune of 'Swan Lake'.
"Sure Mom." Kitty answered curtly as Hope gave a squeal of delight and ran to her and wrapped her arms around Kitty's waist.
"But Mom," Leo complained. "I don't want to go, it's just an auditorium filled with parents, cameras, and dancing kids!"
His mother's eyes narrowed crossly, a pout forming on her lined face and her blue eyes showing hints of a storm brewing beyond the coastline.
"Thomas Leonardo McGrath, you will see your sister's recital!" replied his mother in a last-word-voice.
"The whole family's gonna be there right?" Leo replied sarcastically.
"Look Leo, just because Hope here was adopted, it doesn't mean she's any less a part of this family than you are. Now come on, we're going to be late."
"Mama," squealed a voice around Kitty's legs. "What is abopped mean?"
"It's 'adopted' sweetie, and it means you're part of a very happy family."
"Cool Mom, but is it alright if we use the bathroom here? The next one isn't for a couple miles more and we really need to go." Kitty said quickly. "Right Leo?"
"What? You go, I don-t wan-OW!" He began but was interrupted by a punch that met his left shoulder before he was practically dragged by his sister away from his mother's sight.
"What was that for!" He demanded when she peeked her head out behind a corner.
"Shhh! Mom can't know we brought our 'equipment'. We'll just have to hide it here then come back for it tomorrow."
"Are you nuts sis! We can't hide anything at the zoo, they'll find it!"
"Not if they don't know where to look." Quickly retorted his sister, and she knelt by the padlocked entrance, took out a hairpin she had in her pocket and began to pick the look. "This is the Zoo's storage facility, they only check in here once a day to get food for the animals. We'll just hide it to make it look like a damaged appliance or something. I just need to get this stupid door open. Should just take me a f – There!"
With a loud click, Kitty removed the hairpin and the padlock, and entered the Storage room, her brother behind her. Despite the darkness, it was easy to see the room was vast, and filled with sacks of supplies, coolers, and various other objects they couldn't even name. The girl approached a small cluster of rusted dumpsters and threw her backpack inside it.
"There. They wouldn't bother to check in here."
"How would you know that?" Leo asked skeptically, but did the same with his backpack.
"Because these zoo employees are addicted to routine, it's kinda day-in-day-out for them. They don't even notice anything weird happening around here. Hey, are you even listening?"
Kitty turned to exit the storage room but saw her brother muttering to himself.
"I swear those penguins are up to something. I mean, the way they keep looking at me, it's like I'm being studied, and I swear I even caught one of them hurling up dynamite."
"Wait, what? That's ridiculous!" she said, walking towards the exit with her brother. "Penguins don't hurl dynamite!"
"Oh yeah! My buddy Ronald even said those penguins tried to give him a wedgie, chased him to the museum, tried to steal his notebook, and even brainwashed our teacher. I didn't believe him at first, but – well – maybe he's right."
"I'll say it again: that's ridiculous!" she scoffed, locking the door again and replacing the padlock, and then walked towards the penguin habitat, her brother behind her.
"It isn't ridiculous! I mean, aren't you even a little curious? You can't be so blind that you can't see what's happening? Dad even told me this story of how an animal control officer buddy of his claimed the penguins were always up to something, like stealing and trying to kill him. That's not crazy! And how come Hope keeps on having dreams of penguins all the time? It can't just be a coincidence."
"Come on! You can't seriously believe that peng – " Kitty began but stopped abruptly when she saw her little sister kneeling before the penguin habitat, giggling and playing with a short, chubby penguin outside the enclosure. She turned her head to look for her mother, but she was nowhere to be seen. She looked around to see Leo staring at Hope and the penguin doing a small jig for her, a look of pure disbelief on his face. Curious, she walked towards the penguin habitat, only to see it empty.
"Hey, weren't there four of - ?" she asked but was interrupted by the sudden reappearance of their mother, two sticks of cotton candy in each hand. Kitty turned to look at her, but instead saw Hope beside her, munching on the treat her mother brought. She spun around so fast it was a blur, only to see the lone penguin smiling up at her and waving from inside the habitat. Her eyes narrowing in suspicion, she opened her mouth to talk to the bird, but was interrupted once more by her mother's voice.
"Done? Alright kids, let's go." She said, giving a stick of cotton candy to Leo, or at least to his hand. He was still staring dumbstruck at the place Hope and penguin were a moment before. His daze was broken when Kitty gave him a hard nudge in the ribs. He turned his head to retort, but froze when he saw Kitty pointing at the distant forms of their Mom and Hope. The two siblings followed them, nervously meeting each other's eyes and glancing repeatedly at the small penguin waving to them.