Chapter 11 – Snacks (Julien's Story)
It was another beautiful day at the zoo, and the penguins, for once, decided to enjoy it by taking a walk around the zoo. Unfortunately, Kowalski seemed to be the only one really reluctant to be joining them, considering he just had a scientific breakthrough right before he was pulled out of the lab by the commander.
As they continued to walk, Skipper breathed in, before suddenly coughing thanks to the less than clean air in New York.
"Man, that city air really gets to you sometimes." he said as he cleared his throat.
"That's what pollution can do to people, Skipper." said Kowalski.
Skipper gave Kowalski a look, not quite grasping the connection.
"Right…anyway, let's keep moving. I think we should be getting back to the HQ soon."
However, just as they were about to reach their home, the peace and quiet was shattered, as a loud voice came from the lemur habitat.
"Maurice! Where is de king's royal smoothie? I have been waiting for it for two whole minutes!"
"Coming, your majesty!"
Annoyed at having the peace ruined, Skipper face palmed.
"Oh, for the love of…of course it has to be Ringtail who ruins the moment!"
Skipper began making his way over to the habitat, intending to give the lemur a piece of his mind, but Kowalski got in front of him.
"Listen Skipper, let's let cooler heads prevail here. I'm not sure if you're even going to be able to get through to someone like him!"
Skipper looked at his second-in-command, unconvinced.
"Oh, really? I seem to remember getting through to him pretty well after that party he had a few weeks ago."
"Yeah, and you smashed his tape player as well!" said Private.
"Thank you for the input, Private, but I've got this under control."
Skipper turned back towards Kowalski and waited for the analyst to continue to try to argue his point. None came, though, and the commander adopted a smug look, knowing that he won the argument.
"Nothing to say, Kowalski? Alright, now if you'll excuse me, I've got a lemur to yell at."
Skipper once again attempted to walk past Kowalski and enter the lemur habitat, but he was stopped again.
"What is it, Kowalski? I would kind of like to get this over with so we can get back to the HQ!"
Kowalski sighed before replying.
"Are you sure yelling at Julien is going to do anything? It might be a better idea to do something else to him so that you can show him that you mean business."
Skipper paused as he thought about what Kowalski said.
"You know, that's not a bad idea. I have just the plan for Ringtail as well."
"Really? I didn't expect you to come up with something that quickly. What is it?"
However, instead of replying, Skipper whispered something in Rico's ear. Once the weapons expert nodded giddily, Skipper made his way over to the fence and hopped over it, forcing the rest of the penguins to run to keep up with him.
Inside the lemur habitat, Julien was once again lounging on his throne, attempting to find a comfortable position, while Maurice was busy making a mango smoothie for the king. As for Mort, he was trying to help Maurice with the smoothie, but considering the fact that their stock of mangoes were locked up tight, there wasn't much the mouse lemur could do. And even then, Maurice would lightly kick him away every time he tried to ask, as he was starting to get tired of Mort's constant interruptions.
"Maurice! What is taking you so long? De king is getting to be mighty thirsty!"
The stress of getting the smoothie right was starting to get to Maurice, and while he adopted his normal voice when speaking to Julien, in his mind he wanted nothing more than to leave and never come back. However, he knew that Julien wouldn't be able to function properly without him (and Mort would only make things worse), so he reluctantly focused back on the task at hand.
Unfortunately, his progress was once again interrupted, as he saw the penguins walking up to them. Maurice was slightly confused, wondering what the penguins were doing inside their habitat, but before he could ask, Julien suddenly stood up in his throne, raising his hands in the air.
"Hello, penguins! I was wondering where you three were. Now, would you mind telling Maurice to be getting on with it with my smoothie? I have been waiting for so long!"
Skipper stepped forward.
"Can it, Ringtail! I am getting really sick of your loud mouth. Please, just shut up for once in your life!"
Julien opened his mouth to retort, but Skipper held up his flipper, silencing the king.
"I know what you're about to say, and yes, I realize that I can't just tell you to shut up and you'll do it. This is why I have a job for you to do. We're low on snacks, so I want you to head out to the city and get some for us."
"And what makes you think I would do dis silly task for you?" asked Julien, giving Skipper a condescending look.
Instead of replying, Skipper turned towards Rico.
"Rico? Go grab that blender for me."
Rico nodded and slid over to where Maurice was, pushing him out of the way and shutting the blender off. As he reached for the cord to unplug it, Julien hopped down from his throne.
"Maurice! Mort! Stop him from taking my smoothie maker!"
Both lemurs ran over and attempted to separate Rico from the blender, but they were thrown off quite easily due to the strength of the weapons expert. Finally, Rico managed to unplug the blender and grab it, quickly running back to the rest of the team, brandishing it over his head like a trophy.
"Until you come back to us with a suitable amount of snacks, we're gonna be hanging on to your blender here." said Skipper.
"No, you cannot be doing this to me! How am I to be making it without my smoothies?"
"You'll manage. Besides, Maurice and Mort are going with you as well. I know better than to send you out by yourself. Also, I'm sending Rico along to keep an eye out on you three. I don't want any funny business."
"And what happens if we do something wrong?" asked Maurice.
Rather than reply, Rico simply formed a fist with one of his flippers and hit it into his other flipper menacingly.
"Oh…I see."
As Skipper began walking away, he turned back around to say one more thing.
"Get to it, boys. I'm sure you don't want to waste any time if you want your blender back soon."
Rico handed the blender over to Private, who bobbled it for a second before finally getting a good grip on it. As Kowalski, Private and Skipper began heading back towards the HQ, Kowalski caught up to Skipper, intending to ask him something.
"Skipper, are you sure this is wise? I'm sure the lemur's intentions will be good with Rico breathing down their necks, but they aren't exactly the most competent group of animals you'll see."
"And your point is?" asked Skipper, looking at Kowalski expectantly. When no answer came, he continued on.
"Look, I'm fully aware that there probably isn't much of a chance that they'll complete the mission satisfactorily. Frankly, I'm more looking forward to the beat down Rico will most likely give them. God knows at least Ringtail deserves it."
"Well, what about Maurice and Mort?"
"Collateral damage. I'm not gonna be there to stop him, so I doubt he's gonna stop at just Ringtail, considering his psychotic disposition."
Kowalski fell back, staring at the back of Skipper's head as he wondered just what has gotten into his commander all of a sudden.
Back with Rico and the lemurs, the weapons expert has led them to their car and hopped into the driver's seat, looking expectantly at the three of them.
"Ge' in." he said, pointing towards the seats around him.
"Um, are you sure it's safe in there?" asked Maurice, eyeing the car like it was about to attack them.
"Maurice is right for once! Why should we be going anywhere in that car? It looks very dangerous." said Julien.
Rico, however, was having none of it. He jumped back out of the car before roughly grabbing the lemurs one at a time and putting them into the car, locking their seatbelts tight so that they couldn't get away.
Julien, admittedly, was the only one who was still trying to get away, considering Maurice was busy trying to keep his mind off of the impending travel, while Mort was oblivious as always.
Unfortunately, they didn't have any real time to prepare, as Rico immediately slammed his foot on the gas pedal, sending the car shooting off like a rocket. The last thing anyone in the zoo heard before they left was Julien's screaming.
After a breakneck journey through the city, Rico and the lemurs finally came to a stop in front of Bailey's. Rico parked the car off to the side and hopped out, only to see Julien and Maurice barely able to hold in their lunch.
"Ugh, remind me never to get in the car when Rico is driving." said Maurice.
"Agreed. Dat was de worst feeling I have ever experienced."
Mort, meanwhile, was busy staring into space, no doubt having no idea where he was at the moment.
After finally recovering, the lemurs all unbuckled themselves before joining Rico, who was up against the corner of the building surveying the front of Bailey's.
Not realizing the situation they were in, Julien walked up to where Rico was and loudly asked a question, causing the weapons expert to jump.
"Hey, crazy penguin! When are we gonna get dis done so dat I can get my smoothie maker back?"
Julien was only met with a loud shush from Rico before he pushed the three lemurs up against the wall.
"Stay 'ere." he said, giving them a threatening look before heading around the corner.
The three lemurs waited patiently (somehow) for Rico to return, but before the weapons expert got back, Mort suddenly wandered off, having noticed something sparkly in a pile of trash.
When Rico finally returned from the front of the store, he was confused, as he only found two out of the three lemurs in front of him.
"Uh…wher' Mor'?"
"Who?" asked Julien.
Rico began spouting a string of gibberish, waving his flippers around as he tried to describe the mouse lemur to Julien, who still didn't get what he was talking about. Thankfully, Maurice was there to figure it out, as he turned around and saw that Mort wasn't there. He sighed heavily.
"Not again."
He began calling Mort's name, but thankfully he didn't have to look for long, as Mort's head popped out of the pile of garbage he was currently digging through.
"I am here!"
Maurice made a disgusted face before speaking up again.
"Man, get back over here!"
Mort happily ran back over to the group, but everyone began to notice the smell emanating from the small lemur, forcing Rico to take action. He put his flipper out in front of him as Mort attempted to walk towards the door, shaking his head before pointing towards the car.
"You stink!"
Mort just stared at Rico blankly, not knowing what he was talking about. Rico sighed, before gingerly picking up Mort and placing him back in the car, buckling him back up to make sure he wouldn't leave again.
Eventually, Rico returned to the remaining two lemurs, quickly checking himself if he got any of Mort's smell on him. Thankfully, he was still pretty clean, so he led Julien and Maurice to where they keep the barrels that they use for carrying the snacks.
The lemurs obviously had no idea what to do with them, so Rico quickly pantomimed instructions for them. Somehow understanding Rico's instructions, both Maurice and Julien went to one of the barrels and began pushing them towards the front of the store, although Julien was complaining about it the whole time.
"Ugh, I cannot believe that I have to be pushing these circular containers around! These are heavy!"
This earned him another shush from Rico, and Julien reluctantly became quiet thanks to the intimidating look the weapons expert gave him.
The group eventually turned around the corner, and managed to get inside the Snackatarium without being spotted.
When they finally got inside, the three animals moved towards the side of the store next to more barrels that they could blend in with.
Both Julien and Maurice looked at Rico, trying their best not to freak out. The weapons expert put a flipper in front of his face for a few seconds before pointing towards the ground, signaling for them to stay there and be quiet.
The two lemurs traded nervous looks as Rico slid over to the cashier and knocked him out. He quickly hopped off of the register and returned to the lemurs, gesturing for them to head towards the shelves.
However, as Julien and Maurice managed to push the barrels towards the shelves, they looked up at the shelves and found them to be much taller than what they originally saw when near the front of the store. Julien turned towards Rico, giving the crazy penguin a look of contempt.
"Nuh-uh. I am not climbing up dat ting. My royal status does not include climbing up tall tings."
Rico stared at him for a few seconds, annoyed, before roughly grabbing Julien and kicking him upwards, sending the lemur king flying. Thankfully, the store was empty; otherwise Julien's screaming would bring unneeded attention.
Finally, Julien's upward momentum began to slow down, and he began to drop, somehow landing right on the top shelf. Surprised that he wasn't splattered on the floor, Julien laughed, looking down from the top shelf towards Rico and Maurice.
"I have made it! De Sky Spirits, dey have granted me de power of flying!"
Rico ignored Julien, choosing to push one of the barrels towards the shelf Julien was on before attempting to pantomime telling Julien to start pushing snacks off of the shelf.
Unfortunately, Julien couldn't understand what Rico was saying, so Maurice was forced to translate.
"I think he wants you to start pushing some of the snacks into the barrel, your majesty."
Rico then said something else before smacking his fist into his flipper again.
"Oh, and don't eat anything. He won't be happy if you do." said Maurice.
Julien thankfully understood, and he began pushing snacks off of the shelf. Some of them didn't make it into the barrel, but thankfully none of them broke, so Rico was able to put them back on the bottom shelf.
As Julien began slowly working his way down the shelf, Maurice just stood there, not knowing what to do. This led to Rico walking over to him, staring him down for a few seconds before pointing towards the shelf across from Julien's. The weapons expert held out his foot for emphasis, but Maurice backed off.
"No need for that. I know what I need to do."
Maurice began climbing up the shelves as Rico pushed the other barrel under his shelf.
Rico watched as the two lemurs were filling the barrels with snacks, mildly impressed that the two managed to do this without any real issues. Having Mort wait outside was probably a good idea, too. Although he was disappointed that he wouldn't get to beat them up, he was still pretty excited to have some more food in stock.
Finally, the lemurs managed to finish cleaning out the two shelves, and Rico signaled for them to push the barrels towards the front door. Unfortunately, with the added weight of the snacks, this task proved to be a little difficult for the lemurs.
Eventually, they managed to reach the front door. Rico told the lemurs to wait, as he slid back over to the cashier, spitting up the cash that they needed to pay for it.
Suddenly, just as Rico was counting out the money, the cashier began to wake up. Rico heard the cashier's groans and immediately went into action, coughing up a smoke bomb before they would be seen.
Rico quickly slid over to where the lemurs were and wildly signaled for them to get out of there, somehow managing to help the two of them push the barrels out of the store and around the corner to where the car still was. Mort was still there, too, sitting quietly, although he somehow managed to get the seatbelt wrapped around his head.
Rico shrugged, thinking that as long as the mouse lemur was still there, there wasn't a big problem. He began helping the lemurs load the snacks into the car before they all jumped in, and he drove off, thankfully at a slower speed to avoid losing any snacks.
When Rico and the lemurs finally returned to the zoo and parked in the normal spot, the three of them were surprised to find Skipper, Kowalski and Private standing right there to meet them.
"What are you guys doing out here? I thought you were keeping an eye on our smoothie maker." said Maurice.
"Oh, I figured judging from our past snack runs, that you guys would probably have been back by now, so we decided to meet you guys out here." said Skipper.
"We can help you guys with unloading all of the snacks as well!" said Private, smiling.
Skipper paused as he looked over at Rico, who had his normal dumb look on his face.
"So Rico, how'd it go? These lemurs cause any trouble?"
Rico vigorously shook his head before replying.
"It wen' a'ight."
Skipper was pleasantly surprised to hear this coming from the weapons expert.
"Well, I'm actually pretty impressed. I didn't expect you guys to manage to pull this off."
Skipper turned towards Private.
"Private? Go fetch that blender for me, if you don't mind."
Private saluted before sliding off, returning a few minutes later with said blender, handing it off to Maurice.
Skipper smiled, happy that something might have come out of this plan, before his face fell as a foul odor pervaded through the area. He looked around, confused, before finally spotting Mort still in the car, still covered in grime.
"Oh my god, Mort, you reek!"
Skipper quickly rushed over and released Mort from his seatbelt, holding his beak closed as he gingerly carried the mouse lemur and threw him at Julien, who bobbled and dropped him.
"Please leave, now! And don't ever come back until you two get Sad Eyes clean again! God, that smell was horrible. And now we have to clean it out of the car!"
Skipper sighed in disgust, as the penguins quickly tried to remove all of the snacks before the smell contaminates them. As for the lemurs, they headed back to their habitat, but not before Maurice decided to say something.
"Well now, that wasn't so bad, was it, you guys?"
"Are you kidding me? Dat was terrible! I never want to do dat ever again!"
Julien crossed his arms, huffing. However, Mort was continually trying to give Julien a hug to cheer him up, which forced the king to abandon it so that he could prevent Mort from touching him.
Maurice couldn't help but chuckle a bit as they finally returned to the lemur habitat. Unfortunately, they didn't have the ability to give Mort a bath themselves, so they all had to endure the smell throughout the night until Alice came to clean him up.