Chapter 20 – Brochure (Maurice and Mort's Story)
It was yet another beautiful day inside the Central Park Zoo. It was just after closing time, and all of the animals were keeping themselves busy while they waited for their chance to really enjoy their free time.
The penguins, for instance, were about ready to head back down into the HQ to get ready for a mission that came up just recently. However, before they could hop down, Alice suddenly walked by, and the four of them quickly adopted their normal cute and cuddly routines.
Alice wasn't really paying attention to them, though; as she was too busy talking on the phone.
"Look Maurice, I don't know if we're gonna be able to afford another photo shoot with the amount of times we've changed the brochure cover…No! We can't just reuse old pictures! The people are going to notice!"
Alice sighed.
"Fine, we'll do it again. Just make sure to let the higher-ups know that if I have to go through yet another photo shoot after this one, I am going to have something to say! And believe me, they won't be very nice."
Disgusted, Alice shut her phone with a loud snap, stuffing it into her pocket as she angrily stomped away.
"Good work, boys. She didn't suspect a thing." said Skipper as he turned towards the rest of the team.
"Well, that is most likely because she wasn't even looking at us." pointed out Kowalski.
"Thank you for the input, Kowalski." said Skipper, giving his second-in-command a glare.
Kowalski just coughed nervously before deciding to change the subject.
"Anyway, did you hear what Alice said? They're doing another photo shoot for the zoo brochure!"
"Really? That sounds like the perfect opportunity for Private to take the cover back from Sad Eyes! How does that sound, Private?"
"Well…as much as I wouldn't mind being on the cover again, wouldn't it be a little…um…not nice to try to take it from Mort?"
"Nonsense, Private! I'm betting the zoo overlords must have thought that it was time for a change from having Sad Eyes on the cover all the time."
"Well, since you put it that way, I suppose I could try, but I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to pull it off myself."
"I wouldn't worry too much about that, Private."
"Why's that, Skippah?"
"Because we're gonna help you win it! Isn't that right, boys?"
Kowalski, who was about to head to his lab to work on an experiment he wasn't able to finish, stopped dead in his tracks as he tried to make his way to the hatch.
"Kowalski? Where are you going?" asked Skipper, giving Kowalski a glare.
"Um…down to the lab?"
"Come on, Kowalski, this is for Private. You can do your silly experiments after we've got the zoo brochure cover back."
Kowalski sighed, defeated.
"Alright Skipper, I'll help."
"Good. Now how about you, Rico? Are you up for a little sabotage?"
Private's earholes perked up upon hearing Skipper mention the word sabotage, but before he could speak up about his misgivings, Rico nodded vigorously, and Skipper considered the matter closed.
"Alright men, let's head out!"
The four penguins hopped out of their habitat and headed over to the lemur habitat, intending to do some recon before finally putting their plan into motion.
Inside the lemur habitat, King Julien was doing what he always does, lounging in his throne while Maurice and Mort fan him with palm tree leaves. However, Julien soon began to notice something was amiss. Annoyed, he looked down from his perch and found that both of his subjects weren't fully putting themselves into the fanning.
"What is de meaning of dis? I am not feeling de wind on my beautiful face. Why am I not feeling de wind on my face?"
The one thing that Julien failed to notice when asking that question was that Maurice and Mort were completely tired out. Julien was very particular about the speed at which Maurice and Mort were to wave their fans so that he could get the perfect amount of air on his face, so it took a while for him to finally be satisfied.
Unfortunately, with the two subjects being as worn out as they were, there was little chance for Julien to get back to the amount of wind he liked. Sighing, he looked towards the sky for a moment, wishing he had better subjects.
"Alright, if you want to be taking a break, I suppose dat your king will let you have one."
Maurice and Mort immediately dropped their fans, collapsing to the ground as they were finally given a chance to rest. However, they didn't really get much of a chance, though, as Alice walked by, or at least she attempted to before her phone rang again.
Sighing, Alice pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened it.
"What do you want?...I thought we went through this already! Look, just pick the animal that you think is best and take a picture of it. It's that easy!...What do you mean being on the brochure cover is more important than that?...I don't care, just do it!"
Alice snapped her phone closed once more, sticking it back in her pocket as she angrily stomped off.
As for the lemurs, they heard pretty much everything Alice said, and Maurice turned towards Mort.
"Mort, did you hear what she said?"
"Umm…no. What did the nice lady say?"
Maurice sighed, wondering whether anything gets through that little skull of his.
"It looks like they're looking for a new animal to be on the cover of the zoo brochure. We need to convince them that you're still the best choice for it, and we're gonna help you! Isn't that right, your majesty?"
"What? Are you kidding? Why would I want to support him when I can show dem dat I am de best choice for de picturey ting?"
Although Maurice was slightly annoyed that King Julien wasn't willing to help, he was well aware of the fact that it wasn't worth it to try to convince the lemur king to help, so he picked himself up and headed over to Mort.
"Come on, Mort. We need to get you lookin' good if you're gonna keep the cover."
"Ooh, that sounds fun!" said Mort gleefully as he followed Maurice.
As for King Julien, he stared at the retreating forms of Maurice and Mort for a few moments, considering whether he should try to get them to help.
"Well fine! Don't help your king become de next superstar! I can get de picture all by my lonesome!"
Huffing, King Julien turned away from the other lemurs, heading towards his throne as he prepared to wow the judges.
After managing to find a private area, Maurice turned towards Mort, pausing as he considered the best course of action.
"Alright Mort, we're gonna need something big if you're gonna keep the cover. Just being your normal self isn't going to cut it."
"Ooh, I like how this is going!" said Mort.
Maurice chose not to reply to Mort's comment, instead remaining silent as he took in the picture of Mort in front of him. Finally, an idea came to him, and he snapped his fingers as he began speaking.
"Aha, I've got it! We're gonna have to make you extra cute! That'll blow them all away!"
Mort just looked on as Maurice began talking to himself, formulating a plan to enhance Mort's adorability.
"Come on, Mort. We're gonna need some supplies."
Not wanting to waste any valuable time, Maurice decided to grab Mort's hand and pull the mouse lemur with him instead of letting Mort follow him.
After a few minutes of traveling, the two lemurs found themselves in front of Marlene's habitat. Having just crossed the pool of water separating the otter from the edge of the habitat, Maurice and Mort were noticeably waterlogged, but Maurice was more focused on getting what he had planned done, so he tried his best to ignore the wet dog smell coming from him as he called into the cave.
"Hello? Marlene? Are you in there?"
Nothing happened at first, which made Maurice think that she might not be home. As he was about to leave, though, Marlene suddenly popped out of the cave.
"Hey guys. What's up?"
Maurice didn't answer immediately as he wasn't exactly sure how careful he should be when broaching the subject. He still remembered Marlene's sleepwalking incident, and while he didn't really know exactly what Marlene felt about it, he didn't want to risk getting Rico sent after him again.
Thankfully, though, she looked like her normal perky self, so Maurice decided it was probably a good time to ask.
"Hey Marlene, we were wondering if you had any…um…makeup or something that we could borrow?"
"Uh…okay. What are you guys up to?" she asked, giving Maurice a weird look.
"Well, they're looking to change the cover of the zoo brochure, and I've been trying to help Mort convince the humans that he should stay on there. So, I'm hoping that I could pretty Mort up some more so that he could be extra cute, at least compared to how he normally is."
Marlene was still noticeably put off by the measures that Maurice was going to, but she tried her best not to let it get to her.
"Look, even if I did have any beauty products, I wouldn't give them to you anyway. You guys really need to figure out better ways to spend your free time."
"Oh come on, Marlene! Can't you at least point us to someone who has some makeup?"
Marlene paused, looking at Maurice for a moment before finally sighing.
"I've heard Pinky talking about getting ready for a date tonight. I'm guessing she must have some sort of makeup. I'd move quickly, though. It sounds like she's not gonna be around for long."
Grateful for the information, Maurice grabbed Mort's hand before rushing off.
"Thanks for the help, Marlene!"
Marlene awkwardly waved for a moment or two before sighing, rolling her eyes before heading back into her cave.
Maurice wasn't willing to risk missing his chance to ask Pinky for her makeup, so he was running as fast he could manage while dragging Mort behind him. With how fast the aye-aye was going, though, Mort wasn't even on the ground anymore, as he was waving up and down in the air while clutching Maurice's hand.
Finally, the two of them reached the flamingo habitat, and Maurice somehow managed to sigh in relief through all of the air he was trying to suck in when he saw that Pinky was still there.
"Hey Maurice. What's going on? You look like you've ran a mile."
Maurice didn't answer immediately; as he was too busy trying to catch his breath. Finally, once he was able to breathe easily, he stood up and addressed Pinky.
"Sorry about that. I needed to see you before you left on your date."
"Who told you I was going on a date?" she asked, giving Maurice a weird look.
"Marlene. Anyway, I was hoping that we could borrow your makeup if you happen to have any. I need to up Mort's cuteness so that the humans don't take the cover of the zoo brochure away from him."
"Uh, don't you think that you're taking this the wrong way, you guys? Putting makeup on him is just gonna make him look weird. Besides, you're guys. Guys don't wear makeup."
"Can't you just make an exception, just this once?" asked Maurice, having not listened to a word Pinky said.
Pinky sighed, figuring that there was no point in trying to get them to understand.
"Look, I'd love to help you guys, but my makeup kit's disappeared! I've been trying to look for it for the past half an hour, and there's no sign of it."
"Really? Who would want to take it?"
"If I knew, would I really be standing here freaking out about it?" said Pinky, giving Maurice an annoyed look.
Disappointed that he lost out on the makeup, Maurice figured that he was going to have to go in a different direction if he wanted to help Mort out, so he began walking away, lost in thought as he tried to figure out another plan.
As for Pinky, she stood there, slightly annoyed that Maurice didn't show any respect for her plight. She decided, though, to just ignore him and return to searching for her kit, hoping that her date wouldn't be mad.
As Maurice and Mort headed back to their habitat, Maurice was still very much lost in thought as he tried to figure out another way to help Mort out. The two of them attempted many different methods to help accentuate Mort's sheer adorability, but nothing seemed to pan out, mostly because of the fact that anything that they've tried to borrow from other animals was somehow missing from their belongings.
"I don't understand. How could everyone have lost something in this short of a time frame?" asked Maurice, exasperated.
"Oh, I know! Maybe we should find who took that stuff!" said Mort as he watched Maurice sit down and put his head into his hands.
"I would do that, but there's no time. King Julien said that the judges are going to be here any minute!"
Mort opened his mouth for another quip, but before he could say anything, an idea somehow managed to pop into his tiny head.
"Ooh, I have an idea!"
Surprised, Maurice turned to look at Mort, waiting for him to spit it out. However, what Mort ended up saying made him face palm.
"Um…I forgot what it was."
Maurice sighed, defeated.
"Let's just head back home, Mort. I'm sure whoever gets the cover is really going to deserve it."
Maurice hopped back up on to his feet, heading back towards the lemur habitat while Mort followed behind him, still quite oblivious to what was going on around him.
Once Maurice and Mort finally returned to their habitat, they were met by King Julien, who was currently doing some random poses that Maurice had no idea was about.
"Uh, your majesty? What are you doing?"
"Ssh! I am doing what dey call Tai Chi. I heard someone say dat it is supposed to mentally prepare you for what is ahead, which in dis case is when I win de cover of de brochure."
Although Maurice had no idea what Julien meant by Tai Chi, he decided not to bother asking.
"Uh, okay. You do that. Mort and I will be over at the juice bar."
"Oh! Dat is de perfectest of timing! Your king is thirsty from all de Tai Chi, so he demands a mango smoothie before he performs for de judges!"
Even though Maurice wanted to wallow in his failures in helping Mort out, he knew that he couldn't refuse an order from King Julien, so he walked over to the bar and began making the smoothie.
However, he had no real chance to complete it, though, as two people came through their area of the zoo. One of them was obviously Alice, who didn't look too happy that she was still here and not at home. The other person had a camera around his neck, so Maurice assumed that it must be the judge.
Shutting the smoothie mixer off, Maurice walked around to the other side of the bar and sat down on one of the stools, deciding to watch as King Julien did his performance.
Unfortunately, it was a bit of a wait, though, as Alice and the judge was currently in front of the penguin habitat. Maurice watched as Private did his normal cute and cuddly routine while Skipper barked orders in the background. He heard Skipper mention the word "hypercute" a few times, but nothing came from it, so Maurice decided to forget about trying to figure out what it meant.
Once Private was done with his routine, Maurice watched as the judge wrote some things on to his clipboard before walking over to the lemur habitat. King Julien immediately perked up, and launched into his planned performance right as they walked up. This earned him a bit of a weird look from Alice, but she didn't say anything, choosing to let her mind wander as she thought about what she was going to eat once she got home.
Finally, King Julien finished his performance and took his bow, backing off so that he could give the humans their space. However, once he made his way behind a palm tree so that he was hidden from view, Julien kept a close ear on the proceedings as he listened to what the two of them said.
"Is that all of them?" asked the judge.
"Pretty much. I narrowed it down to the best ones a few hours ago, and the two that I showed you were the ones."
The judge sighed, not liking the lack of choice. However, before he could make a move to decide between Private and King Julien, he noticed Mort out of the corner of his eye.
Turning to face him, he watched as the mouse lemur was busy playing with his tail, even chewing on it a bit.
"Hey, isn't that the animal we used for the last picture?"
"Yeah, that's the mouse lemur. Why? Didn't you say that you wanted to change the animal on the cover?" asked Alice, confused.
"Yeah I did, but…I'm not really hugely impressed with the crop of animals that you've given me. I'm beginning to think that we should hold off on making that change, at least for now."
Annoyed at being held up at work for no reason, Alice considered chewing out the judge for a moment, but she thought better of it, choosing to begin shooing him out of the zoo so that she could close down.
"Alright then, if that's the way you want it, I guess there's no reason for you to be here any longer! Bye!"
Despite the photographer's protests at wanting a new shot for Mort, Alice managed to get him through the gates, shutting it and locking it behind her as she headed towards her office to grab her belongings.
As for Maurice, he continued to sit at the juice bar, staring blankly at where Alice and the judge were originally as he contemplated what just happened.
"Wow, I guess things must have worked out on their own. Works for me, I suppose."
Shrugging, Maurice returned to working on the smoothie as King Julien lamented his loss in the background, a smile on his face as he was happy for Mort retaining possession of the cover.
As for the penguins, things weren't exactly as hunky-dory as the lemurs.
"Why didn't you do the hypercute, Private? We would have had that cover in the bag!" said Skipper.
"Hey, I promised myself that I would never do that again. Nothing is going to convince me otherwise." said Private, sounding surprisingly defiant for someone of his personality.
Skipper sighed.
"Oh well, I guess there's always next time. Come on, men, we need to return all of the stuff we swiped before the others get any ideas."