Chapter 1

Hello! This is my newest story! It is dedicated to catty-cat-cat, who asked me to write this in the first place. I hope you all enjoy it! And for those people reading The Locked Box, don't worry, I'll continue with that story also. This is not related to that in any way.

It was 1300 in the Central Park Zoo, and all was quiet. Too quiet. Perfect for a certain penguin, the one named Skipper. He stood at attention in his habitat, proudly observing his serene surroundings, as if he was the one responsible for the calm.

After a minute or two more of this, he began speaking. "I know you're there, Private. What do you want?"

He didn't sound angry, but Private was still ashamed. He hadn't meant to disrupt his leader in the middle of his quiet time. "Nothing, sir."

Skipper spoke again, this time turning to the younger penguin. "I haven't heard a peep from ringtail all day now. It's giving me the creeps."

As if on cue, loud music began to blare obnoxiously from the lemur habitat.

"Well, there goes that thought." He turned to the other two penguins, who were at the far side of the habitat, watching Alice. To be more exact, one was watching Alice, and the other was daydreaming about explosions.

"Men! Front and center!" Shouted Skipper. The three other penguins immediately rushed forward, standing in line in front of him. The tallest, Kowalski, had pulled out a clipboard, and he was preparing to scribble down some notes.

Skipper began pacing back and forth. "As you all have noticed, Julien has started up his music again." Groans were heard from the two tallest penguins, but Skipper ignored them and continued. "Our mission today: apprehend his noise and restore peace to this zoo. Kowalski, make a note to remove all spare batteries from the Zooveneir shop when this is over with."

"Aye, Skipper." Said Kowalski, making a few scribbles on his clipboard.

"And Rico." Skipper continued, addressing the penguin with the mohawk, "We need duct tape, 15 yards of rope, a plunger, a mattress, aaannd... A blimp."

Rico regurgitated all these items, and they landed in a pile at Skipper's feet. When it came time to regurgitate the blimp, Rico's mouth unhinged like a snake, and a blimp the size of their whole habitat slowly grew and inflated before their very eyes. By the time Rico was finished, it was floating above their heads ready for action.

"Do we really need all of this, Skippah?" Asked Private naively.

"Of course!" Answered Skipper automatically. Then, after a moment of thought, he changed his mind. "Well, maybe not. Sorry Rico, I guess we just need a crowbar."

Rico stared at him dully, and then, while still giving Skipper that look, he pulled out a pin and popped the blimp. It flew across the habitat, knocking over a few lampposts and three of the four penguins. All the while, as chaos surrounded the habitat, Rico never broke the aggravated stare, until finally the now-empty blimp floated down and landed on his head.

He then hacked out a crowbar, which hit Private and sent him flying across the habitat into the water. Skipper picked up the crowbar and ignored Private's splashing and spluttering.

"Let's move out!"

One by one they vaulted over the fence. Skipper did a backflip, and Kowalski struck a pose in midair. Rico simply hacked up a lightbulb while he flew. Private followed after them. He jumped to the top of the fence, and then, ever so gracefully, fell onto the sidewalk, face first.

When they finally made it to the lemur habitat, the music had gotten louder, and there was some shouting and cheering to be heard as well. The penguins hopped up onto the wall, and stood there as the scene unfolded before them.

The habitat looked like a war zone. As the music blared from the boom box, two lines of animals stood, facing each other. After a moment, they could see that one line consisted of the lemurs (minus Maurice), along with a few chameleons and Marlene. The last seemed a bit under-enthused, but the others looked quite excited, especially King Julien.

The other line of animals was simply the baboons. They stood together, coolly taking in the scene before them, with an air of confidence.

Several animals stood around the edges of the habitat, cheering for one group or the other. Maurice was standing between the lines, and he gestured for the animals to calm down. When they did, he started talking in a loud voice.

"And now, the moment you have all been waiting for... Let the dance off begin!"

Private turned excitedly to Skipper, thrilled to watch such a fun event, but Skipper was gone. He saw him heading across the habitat, towards the boom box.

Maurice started the music once more, and both lines of animals advanced and started dancing. They had only started getting into the groove when the music was shut off abruptly. Everyone turned to the boom box, where Skipper was standing.

"Turn that music back on!" Shouted Darla.

"Yeah! What de red-butt freak said!" Added Julien.

All the baboons turned to him with a glare, but they decided to let it slide just this once.

"Just turn on the music." Said one baboon with a huff.

"No can do, sister." He retorted. He then pushed the boom box off the wall with his foot. It fell to the ground and busted into several pieces, damaged beyond repair.

Several animals gasped, and Julien ran up to the shattered remains and shouted, "No! My boomy box is broke-ed!" He abruptly stood up and clapped his hands together. "Come, chunky monkey Maurice! Beat him up! Break him like he broke de boomy box."

Maurice made no move, and he said, "Are you sure that's really a good idea?"

"What is this "good idea" of which you are speaking?" Answered Julien, making air quotes with his hands.

Darla cut into the conversation, "Forget it, darlin, we'll take care of this tuxedoed menace." Then she and the other baboons turned to Skipper.

"Eh. We can take you." Said Skipper confidently.

"Sure ya can." She answered, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She then pulled out a jar of green liquid. "Time for some back-woods magic."

"There's no such thing as magic." Said Skipper. Kowalski smiled in agreement. He moved to join his leader on the concrete platform, but before he had taken two steps, the baboons had grabbed Skipper and tied him up.

Private panicked, "Whoa! Kowalski, what do we do?"

He turned to find the scientist already halfway to the wall of the habitat.

"We run!" He shouted back wildly. Rico, too, was running from the habitat in a panic, completely forgetting the penguin credo.

Private turned one last time to see the lemurs pouring the green liquid onto Skippers head. He then turned and ran as fast as his penguin legs would take him, leaving his leader (or, what was left of him) behind.

And that concludes chapter 1. Like my cliffhanger? Thank you for reading, and stay tuned for more action! Also, please review!