Central Park Zoo Grounds.

As promised he went for one walk around the zoo. All the habitats were dead silent, all except for the commotion coming from the lemur habitat. Some animals were still there at the party, others were back in their own habitats trying to get some sleep.

On his walk he passed Marlene's habitat, this one was empty and the lights were off. So the otter was still with the lemurs. He sighed and continued walking. The leader supposed he'd talk to Marlene about what he wanted some other time.

Skipper passed Bada and Bing's habitat. The two gorillas were fast asleep in two heaps on the ground. How those two slept through all that racket was beyond him. Then again, their heads were like rocks. Rocks didn't have ears.

He passed by Burt's habitat. The elephant wasn't there, so he was at the party too. Then he passed Roy's habitat. The rhino was there glaring disapprovingly at the blasting music being played. The leader tossed him a pair of earmuffs that landed perfectly on his head.

The rhino smiled at the fact that he was now deaf, and called louder than necessary to the penguin that saved him from not having a good night's sleep. "Thank you Skipper!"

Skipper nodded once and kept walking. He passed by Alice's office and the Zoovenir shop, the two places completely dark and voided.

He continued his trek around the whole zoo, passing the chameleons, flamingo habitat, kangaroo's, and polar bear's. None were home. After that he passed the koala and ostrich homes. The nocturnal koala bear lay fast asleep face-planted at the bottom of the tree and much to his dismay and annoyance, the ostrich wasn't sleeping and happened to notice him strolling by.

"Has Rico ever talked about me since the incident? What does he think of my legs? Does he find them attractively long? Oh, does he miss me? I bet he does, doesn't he? I knew it! I miss him too! Tell him I miss him too, but keep it on the down low…I wouldn't want him to think I was insane or anything. Could you believe some people think that? Me, insane? Really? As if…" Pause. "Unless Rico likes insane, then I'm all about insanity! I'm completely insane, I'm an utter whack-job! What do you think? Will you tell him I'm crazy? I want you to really sell it! I want you to pretend I'm insane so I can get Rico back! Will you do it?"

Skipper blinked after she was finally finished. "…Pretend…RIGHT…" The leader shook his head and walked away from her enclosure.

"Tell him to call me!" The ostrich called after him.

The leader 'tsk tsk'ed' and walked away. Soon he came to his round's end and was back in front of his own habitat, and the lemurs. The music blared to the max and silhouettes of all different shapes of animals danced around.

He sighed, finding himself tempted to enter the lemur habitat and stop by maybe. He felt a smidge bad about completely rejecting Julien's hospitality and rudely declining to come to his party. Skipper took a step towards it, thinking to apologize but he dismissed such an idea. Julien was probably just going to humiliate him in front of a majority of the zoo. So the penguin opted it to be better that he just wait until morning to go over and talk to ringtail. Skipper turned on his heel and hopped over the fence to his own habitat. Unbeknownst to the penguin, someone from the party had seen him.

Skipper smiled when he spotted the fish bowl that covered his entry way back to his boys. There was no one else in the world that he loved more than those three knuckleheads. He hoped they understood that all he did was for their behalf. He just wanted the best for his team, and that wasn't too much for him to bargain for. He'd show them that first thing in the morning, show how much he truly cared for his friends. He had to push them because he never wanted to lose them. If something ever went wrong and it cost him one of them, he really wouldn't know what he'd do. Maybe one day he'd be able to tell them that much.

The leader took another step towards the hatch before he was grabbed and pulled into the surrounding water. He swung his hammer and he felt his air cut off. The flashlight shattered on the concrete but the music raged on through the night.