Okay, the next chapter is up! :D Sorry to anyone who was confused about the squiggly lines note for the previous chapter; apparently, FanFiction doesn't like squiggly lines (at least, five squiggly lines slapped next to each other and center-aligned), so I went back and used regular horizontal lines instead). ^^; Anyway, let's see what that annoying ring-tailed lemur is up to now.

Julien made his way into the park. He still had a few invitations, so he decided to post them on various trees throughout the area - after all, he didn't want to leave the park residents out; they were part of his kingdom, too. He somehow managed to acquire a stapler and used it to attach the invitations to the tree trunks.

In his excitement, he stapled one over a hole in the side of a tree without noticing. Soon after Julien trotted off to litter Central Park with more party announcements, a dimwitted, two-toned squirrel poked his head through it, effectively destroying the poster: It was none other than Fred.

"Huh? What's this?" He studied the paper for a while. "Somebody gave me some shutters. Nice!" He looked around to see who was kind enough to give him such a lovely gift but saw no one. The squirrel hopped down from his home and walked over to a nearby tree, which had another party invitation on it.

"Hmm. . . It looks like they're giving them out to lots of animals." He tapped his chin. "This one must be a different model." He noted, referring to the lack of holes in the paper. Slowly, his single-cell brain clicked and he realized that the paper had info on it.

"Hey, this looks like an invitation to a party. Maybe I should go." He said to himself. "I wonder if they'll have acorns?"

Somewhere else in the park, Julien finished stapling the last invitation on yet another tree and stared at it in satisfaction.

"There. Now I must return to my royal kingdom to prepare for the party." He headed back to the zoo.

In another area of the park, someone was sneaking around. They popped their head out of a bush and slipped behind a tree, grumbling under their breath. A few seconds later, the animal hid behind another tree. Who was this sneaky character? It was a penguin, but not just any penguin. It was Special Agent Buck Rockgut, and he was on a mission to recapture The Red Squirrel.

"Squirrel. . . I'll get you, Red!" He muttered, diving behind some bushes. The red-eyed penguin meticulously scanned the area. His eyes landed on a piece of paper with scribbles on it. Rockgut slid over to get a closer look.

"What's this?" He inquired, squinting at the invitation. There was a lot of information scrawled on it, and Rockgut took his time scrutinizing every detail. The penguin crossed his flippers.

"Some lollipop with a fluffy tail is throwing a party tomorrow night, huh?" He said to himself. "Well, you know who else likes parties? THE RED SQUIRREL!" Just then, a random animal, who happened to be walking by, stopped and stared at the penguin. Rockgut glared back.

"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!" The critter scampered off in terror. Rockgut returned his attention to the paper. "I'm gonna check this place out. The Red Squirrel is bound to show up and when he does, I'll nab him. . . AGAIN."

During the random character appearances, Julien returned to his habitat. Now that the invitations had been passed out, the next step was getting the actual party ready.

"Okay, my loyal subjects! We must now prepare the party!" He announced, throwing his hands up in excitement. Mort did the same.

"Yay!"

"So, what are we doing for this party?" Maurice asked. Julien smiled and rubbed his hands together mysteriously.

"I'm glad you asked, Maurice. . ."

Several hours later, after the zoo closed, the penguins were relaxing in their HQ playing a card game. Private looked up from his cards.

"Rico, do you have any threes?"

"Uh, nope. Go fish." The young penguin reached out and grabbed a card from the pile in the middle of the table.

"Ah, nothing like a nice game of cards after a hard day's work, right, men?" Skipper said, glancing at his teammates.

"Skippah, it's Monday. We hardly did anything after morning training and investigating that incident in Alice's office." Private replied. The leader shot him a tiny glare.

"Way to ruin the moment, Private."

"Sorry, Skippah."

"Private, do you have any sevens?" Kowalski inquired. Private looked at his hand and gave the lieutenant two sevens.

"Hey Skippah, do you ever feel like you've forgotten something?"

"Many times," Skipper answered, not looking up from his cards. "Why?"

"I feel like we have. Didn't someone talk to us today?" Skipper stared at the ceiling as he thought.

"Hmm. . ."

Flashback

The penguins returned to their habitat to clean up the underwater minefield. Kowalski and Private refused to jump into the pool until it was bomb-free, so Rico, being the weapons expert, took care of the explosives. Skipper was watching him when Marlene showed up.

"Hey, guys!"

"Hi!" Private chirped. Skipper turned around to face her.

"Hello, Marlene." Kowalski simply waved. The otter noticed Rico defusing the bombs in the pool and raised an eyebrow.

"What's with the mines?" She inquired, pointing at them. Skipper stepped in front of her to block her view and waved his flippers mysteriously.

"You didn't see anything. . ." He murmured.

"Right. . . Whatever." Marlene said, rolling her eyes. She decided to change the subject. "Anyways, how about you guys come over to my habitat after closing? I have a special limited-edition box of Peanut Butter Winkies I'm willing to share with you guys!"

"Ooh, that sounds lovely, Marlene!" Private smiled. "Can we go, Skippah?" The leader rubbed the underside of his beak as he thought about it.

"Hmm. . . I don't know, Marlene. . ." Private waddled in between them and gave Skipper a cute smile.

"Please, Skippah?" Skipper glanced at him and sighed in defeat.

"Alright, fine." Marlene grinned and started to leave.

"Great! I'll see you at 7:30!" She hopped over the fence and walked away.

End of Flashback

Skipper slapped his cards down on the table.

"Hey, you're right! Marlene wanted us to come over."

"Oh, yeah!" Private exclaimed. "She said she had a box of limited-edition Peanut Butter Winkies that she wanted to share with us." Skipper glanced at the clock; it was 7:25. He stood up and headed for the ladder.

"Well, let's go." The other penguins got up and followed him out of the HQ. They entered Marlene's habitat a minute later. She waved upon seeing them.

"Hi, guys! How is everything?"

"We're fine, thank you for asking," Private said happily. Marlene handed them the box of Peanut Butter Winkies and walked over to her bed. She picked up the invitation from earlier and rejoined the others in the middle of the room.

"Look at this!" She showed them the paper. "It's an invitation to a party Julien's throwing tomorrow night. It must be pretty special if he sent these out." Skipper rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Oh, don't tell me it's 'King Julien Day' again." He said, using air quotes.

"No, I don't think so. It sounds like a fun costume party!" She looked at the paper and read it aloud. "For example, 'Ladies can wear fun accessories, like ribbons or hats. For the guys, tuxed. . ." Marlene's voice trailed off as she looked up at the penguins, who gave her unamused looks.

". . .os." She rubbed the back of neck awkwardly. "Uhh. . . Never mind. I guess you already have those." She chuckled nervously. Skipper placed his flippers on his hips and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to overlook that. . ." He said, slightly annoyed.

"Sorry!" Marlene covered her mouth with the invitation, trying to stifle a laugh.

A while later, the penguins left Marlene's habitat. As they walked along the cobblestone pathway, Private spoke up.

"I wonder why Julien didn't invite us to his party?" Skipper rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I wouldn't want to go to his party anyway, even if he came over right now and invited us personally." Just then, Julien walked up to them, waving.

"Hello, fishy penguins! I am having a fantastical party tomorrow night, and I wanted to come over to invite you personally." Private giggled at the coincidence. Skipper crossed his flippers.

"What happens if we say 'no'?" Julien began twitching and shaking, pretending to lose control.

"Oh. . . Here it comes. . . THE FREAKOUT!" The lemur glanced at Skipper. The lead penguin was now in a combat pose, staring at him with determination. Julien straightened up immediately.

"Eh, okay, scratch that." The party lemur quickly thought of another tactic.

He took a deep breath and made the saddest puppy-dog look he could muster. Skipper stood up and glared at him, not caving in. Some movement caused the leader's gaze to shift: Private was now standing next to Julien, making the same face. Skipper tried his best to stay firm, but Private's adorability became too much for him. He closed his eyes and face-flippered.

"Fine. We'll go." Julien grinned and high-fived Private for helping him. Kowalski and Rico smiled as well; they were hoping that there would be candy at the party.

"I'll see you tomorrow night! Goodbye, silly penguins!" The lemur ran off and jumped over his habitat wall. The penguins went back to their HQ.

Well, Julien (with Private's help) successfully invited the penguins to his party. It also seems that Fred and Buck Rockgut are going to attend, too (by the way, this is my first PoM story to have Rockgut in it). :) So, there's just some last-minute things the lemurs have to do to get the party ready. We'll see exactly what that entails in the next chaoter!