The next day, King Julien and the others had begun their day by going to the Cove of Wonders to pay Timo a visit again. The lemur king had had something big in mind for a while now, and felt this was the perfect time to share it with him so he could aid them – an idea he had already quickly discussed with his peers on the way there. The five animals once again were now sitting around the cozy fireplace in Timo's home. The scientist tenrec donned his purple hat and sat in his padded chair in front of the four lemurs, as they all (except Mort) shared a much-needed warm cup of Brown Julien. Unlike the last time however, there was no snowstorm to keep them locked in.
Timo put down his mug on the table and wiped his lip. "So, what you're saying is... you all want to become Santa Claus?" he asked with great disbelief.
Julien nodded as he took a longer sip of his own. "Yep, that's right. I've already arranged it all in my head, and with your help, we should be able to do it no problem!" Then he pointed at the festive hats sitting on his and his friends' heads, "I mean, we already look the part – that alone means it's going to be a big success! We will spread joy to all my peoples and make tonight the most magical night ever!"
Maurice looked very happy to hear this, even though he had already been told about it. "Your Majesty, I'm so proud of you! Think of how happy everyone's gonna be!" he stated, and the king nodded in silent agreement.
"How exactly are we gonna pull this off though? I dunno how, it seems like one hell of an undertaking. Even more than when we had to carry that giant tree the other day," Clover mulled reluctantly, so Julien looked at Timo again, ready to tell him the exact reason they had come here (aside from him wanting to enjoy the fireplace again, but that was beside his point now).
"Timo, you said the fat alien - whatshisname - flew around in a magical sleigh or something, right?"
The scientist was beginning to see where this conversation was going. He shifted in his seat. "Er, yes, that's what I said. Santa Claus," he corrected, "comes into houses through the chimney and places gifts under the Christmas tree. However, as we all know, we don't have magic, or reindeer – or chimneys for that matter," he added with a short snorty laugh.
King Julien shuffled closer to the fire and said, "No problem, I'm sure you and your crazy sciency wizardry will figure something out. The thing is, we need you to build us a sleigh just like his!"
Boom. Exactly what Timo had thought he'd say. He was already making all the calculations in his mind when the king took out a long list filled with names and handed it to him.
"Here's the list with every person in the kingdom and what their gift will be. I don't know how we're gonna get any of these, so I'll just leave that part to you as well," he said with a casual grin.
Timo was starting to feel pretty overwhelmed. This was a daunting task, even for someone as work-eager like him. He readily gathered his wits however.
Julien continued to rave on unconcerned. "Tonight's gonna be the night!" he then turned to look at his fellow lemurs and stood up so fast his hat almost fell off his head. "And I'm happy to say that you three will be joining me- He had to stop talking as he had to use his foot to shove Mort away from his unattended coffee mug, "as we take to the skies and shower the kingdom and the peoples with happiness only a stunning king such as myself and his kingly squad could give! Timo, you've gotten us this far, you think you can do this task of life-or-death importance?"
Timo again calculated all the processes in his brilliant mind. Then he answered, "Well, I may have to do some compromises, but I think I do have sufficient parts to build a working sleigh – no reindeer or magic involved of course," he snorted again. "I can get started right away; I calculate it will take several hours to finish, but enough to be ready by sundown." He then took a thorough look at the list he had been given. "As for the gifts, I'm sure that with a little... magic touch from this here erudite, they can simply be ordered from the Internet. Humans do it all the time."
Julien clapped his hands. He still wasn't done though. "Excellent! Because apart from that, there's something else I also want to plan for tonight... Something a little more... laid back, but still full of cheer and jolly spirit!"
What Maurice, Clover and Mort hadn't known while on their way here, is that the royal king had a second plan for tonight as well. One he hadn't disclosed to anybody, until this very moment.
"Before we go flying, I'll be hosting a huge festive feast at my house!" he then announced joyfully. "There will be lots of friends, lots of food, lots of games and lots of parties!"
These news prompted the other four to share an excited look between themselves. This was certainly looking up to be one of the best nights of their lives.
"I already have the guest list all planned out," King Julien wrapped his arms around his lemur peers, "you three are tasked with handing out invitations to everyone, which are also ready and will be given to you later. Timo, since you're here I'll just tell you right now - you have to be at my royal hut exactly at nightfall! That be enough time to finish your totally easy and insignificant work?"
The inventor immediately looked like he was going to jump out of his skin due to the surprise. "Me? Invited to a dinner?" he blinked incredulously before a big smile worked its way through his lips. "Wow, thank you so much, King Julien, I don't think I have been to one of those since I was around twelve years old, when my obsession with science and mechanics took me over and I lost all sense of societal knowledge!" he let another unintended snort escape.
"Man, you need to get out more..." stated Mort indifferently while still trying to get a hold of his king's coffee mug. "Please King Julien, just a little sip! I swear my smart self isn't in my head at the moment!" he begged through the royal's constant refusals.
Timo felt slightly taken aback by the comment the mouse lemur had made and tried to excuse himself, even though said lemur wasn't paying any attention to him anymore. "Well, it's mostly the intellectual differences between me and the commonfolk that make it so... uncomfortable. Turns out most people I talk to aren't interested in rocket science and quantum physics, let alone the fact that their IQs aren't high enough to even understand what I say in the first place..." he said with subtle disappointment in his voice.
"Cut it out man, those weird words are making my brainy parts hurt!" Julien yelped as he clamped his eyes shut and rubbed his temples, while Maurice and Clover restrained Mort to get him to settle down. "Anyhoo, I'll organize a meeting at the clearing and tell everybody that Santa-whatever is about to take a flying tour of our kingdom! I just hope they'll like the thought of being unwillingly visited by a fat, ugly alien sneaking into their homes in the middle of the night, while they sleep..."
"Well, when you put it like that... maybe you'll have to sugarcoat it a bit so the people can actually sleep tonight." Maurice told him as he scratched his nape. Julien took a mental note of this advice.
"Oh, I know what I'd do if that were to happen to me..." Clover then remarked with an evil smirk as she clenched one of her fists. "That fatty Santa guy'd be a bloody red pulp before he could say Merry Christmas!"
Julien rolled his eyes at his bodyguard's bloodthirsty statement, then signaled with his finger for everyone to come closer. The five huddled up in a group, and the king murmured quietly, "Now, we have to keep this whole kingly-squad-Santa thing a secret between us. No one can know it's us doing this, or the magic of it will be broken! I mean, think of the children! What we just discussed never leaves this space pod thingy, am I clear?"
They all agreed to this. No one was to know what they would do tonight. What they didn't know however, is that someone already did.
Unbeknownst to any of the five animals, the entire time they had been talking, two uninvited pairs of ears had been close by, eavesdropping on them. Two almost-invisible figures, camouflaged with snow all over their bodies, quietly slipped away from the pod and retreated back to the jungle. When they were sure they were alone, the individuals removed their frosty cover, revealing a shivering Abner and Becca.
The blue-eyed lemur rubbed his arms for warmth. "Did – did we really hafta use all this sn – snow for cover?" he mumbled.
Becca was busy wiping snow off the top of her already white head, trembling slightly. "Of course, ya dummy! How else did ya wa – wanna sneak 'round without bein' seen? There're eyes ev'rywhere, Abner! Ya never know when someone might get the jump on ya..."
Abner leaned against a tree and folded his ruffled arms. "Yeah, I hear ya. Anyhoo, ya heard what King Julien said? About wanting to shower the kingdom and all that? That don't sound too good to me..."
"Yeah, who's that tyrant think he is? First he fools ev'ryone and turns them to 'is side with all this dumb Christmas baloney, and now this! He's plannin' to shower us all with death, I'm tellin' ya! He thinks it's all a joke – we hafta do something!"
Abner scratched his head. "Yer right, but what can we do? My noggin's blank and all this snow on it ain't makin' things better."
Becca tapped her chin in thought. After a short silence, she snapped her fingers, an evil grin spreading across her face, "I know! They was chattin' 'bout a sleigh to fly on or somethin', right? Well, if King Julien wants to fly so badly, I say we let 'im! Under our own... conditions of course..."
Her partner looked as befuddled as ever. "I'll be honest, ya lost me, hun."
She let out a low growl and facepalmed. "I mean we kidnap 'im while he's all alone and steal that sleigh! Then we fly up into the sky and drop 'im like he was rock! No one'll be able to catch us when we're so high up! Then it's just a matter of lettin' gravity do its fancy work! The tyrant'll be nothin' but a smudge on the ground!"
Abner grinned maliciously, finally understanding, "And this kingdom'll finally be free of that corrupt dictator! Now that's a great plan if I ever saw one, hun!"
Becca stuck her head up proudly. "Right? Came up with it all by myself, with this 'ere brain o' mine! Now - Timo said he'd get that flyin' gizmo ready by sundown, so we better be prepared... In the name of LALA!" she added and raised a fist.
"In the name of LALA!" Abner repeated.
And with that, the two rebellious lemurs hastily covered themselves in snow again and sneaked away in the direction of their hideout.
"Wait, which direction was it again? The color change from green to white's made me all confused," Abner suddenly asked as they stopped moving.
Shortly after, King Julien and Maurice were standing in the clearing near the giant Christmas tree. Timo was back at the Cove of Wonders, hard at work building the sleigh the four lemurs would fly in on tonight. The king meanwhile had already told everyone about "Santa" coming to their village and, following his advisor's earlier recommendation, said it in the best-sounding way he thought of. Thankfully, it had worked, and the lemurs, while very thrilled, remained tranquil enough.
Maurice held in his hands two items: on his left, a list of guests for tonight's feast, and on his right, a small invitation clad in gold, which had Xixi's name scribbled on it in large lettering. He read the latter out loud.
"Dear subject, if you're reading this then you're officially invited to a king-sized feast and party at my royal hut." He lifted a brow as he went over the next part. "Unless you stole this invitation, in which case, stop reading. If you're legit, come to my house at nightfall to have an awesome time. Trust me, you can't miss it. P.S: bring party supplies if you can. Signed, the Illustrious One and Only Amazing Master of the Universe Himself, King Julien the Thirteenth..." Maurice slowed down, and his eyes almost rolled all the way back at that last part. He then took a quick look at the guest list. All in all, there were sixteen names written on it.
He lifted his eyes off it to glance at his taller friend. "Your Majesty, this is a lot of people! And that's without the four of us! You think everyone will fit in?"
"Mo-Mo, we've held parties in my hut with like double that number more times than I can remember," he responded as he attentively observed his subjects. Maurice noticed that for some reason, His Majesty didn't sound or look all too thrilled all of a sudden.
He shook the thought away, "Yeah, and it was so cramped we could barely dance at all. Remember that little detail? We even had to kick out several people to make room!" he countered.
The royal waved his concerns off. "Er, the point is, twenty people isn't a big deal! Man, you really gotta stop worrying about everything." He then produced four more invitations and handed them over to his advisor. "Now, take these remaining invites and go hand them out while I make the preparations. Clover and Mort already beat you there!" Indeed, he had sent the two a little earlier to deliver their corresponding invitations while he and Maurice went to talk to the subjects.
"Sure, Your Majesty," Maurice said, but before he walked off, he noticed a sad look settling down upon his best friend's features, as he appeared to stop paying attention to his surroundings and lose himself in thought. It was as if he was waiting till he left, but the aye-aye had caught it nonetheless. He came closer, his once-happy expression now holding concern.
"Are you... alright, Your Majesty?"
For a while, the king didn't reply. He just let out a sigh and cast his eyes down. That is, until he realized Maurice was still standing right next to him, which snapped him back into the real world. "Oh – Maurice, you're still here? I thought I told you to go!"
As his best friend, Maurice naturally sensed something was bugging Julien. "King Julien, what is it? Something wrong?" he questioned him again.
"No! Everything's fine, totally fine; why do you think something's not fine?" the ringtail hurriedly blabbered in an attempt to shake him off.
But Maurice wasn't convinced, and kept pressing. "Come on, you know you can tell me. What's troubling you? I'm sure I could help," he persisted. He wasn't leaving until he got answers. Eventually, Julien relented. He knew he wouldn't be able to get his advisor off his back otherwise.
"...Fine, I was thinking about..." he paused. It took him a short while to confess. "About Karl, okay? I couldn't help but think about how I said some things that, looking back now, didn't sound too good... I'm really not very happy with how things turned out yesterday. I mean – I know things between us never turn out good like, at all, but yesterday was... I don't know... different I guess. Like, he did crash our game and he brought all that happened after upon himself, but still... I just feel... bad, man. I know it's weird; I should resent him for what he did, but... I don't."
Maurice nodded, as it was no real surprise to him. The king had always been known for having a kind heart, caring even for his worst enemies and willing to forgive anyone with no regard for the circumstances. Whether it was a result of naïveté or foolishness on his part was another story altogether. Whatever the case, he felt proud of him for it since after all, what was a king without forgiveness? People such as his own uncle served as ghastly examples of that kind of ruler.
Maurice motioned for his downcast friend to move over to a rather more secluded area to talk. Once they were out of everyone's earshot, they both sat down on a snow-covered log under the shade of a tree.
Then the aye-aye spoke, "Look, Your Majesty. I know you and Karl are mortal enemies and all, but if it bothers you this much, I personally think you should at least try and talk things out. You may not solve your differences, but at least you two could reach some sort of agreement for the duration of the festivities. It would be beneficial for us all. And who knows, maybe you'll discover a side of him you never knew before and vice-versa."
For a moment, Julien didn't say anything, as he processed what Maurice had said. Then he spoke, "He is my mortal enemy. Or at least that's what he says. I honestly see him more as this dude with an unhealthy obsession with me – kinda like Mort, but evil and without the creepy foot stuff. I don't hate the guy or anything, I just... kinda feel sad for him. We've known each other pretty much since we were teens, yet I always ignored him. Maybe that's why he's the way he is now... Maybe that's why he went nuts when I refused to fight him yesterday..." he then closed his mouth and looked down at the ground.
Maurice intently listened to every word His Majesty was telling him. "King Julien, you don't have to fault yourself for any of this. Karl chose his own path long ago, while you chose yours. I guess he just... went down the wrong one."
Julien swiftly glanced at him, before setting his vision on the crowd again, then the lit-up Christmas tree. He kept staring at a particular red light near its middle - it had nothing special to it, but he kept his eyes fixed on it for whatever reason. "Anyway, the thing is, I do want to say sorry for what I said to him – about not having friends and stuff, even if that was me being honest. But I'm not sure how he'll react. Maybe he'll just get his wish and wipe me off the face of the earth with a laser the moment I show my face."
The aye-aye placed a comforting hand on his gray shoulder. "King Julien, if you wish to go talk, me, Clover and Mort will come with you. You don't have to go by yourself, and nothing will happen with us around." He then put a hand on his own chest while lifting the other one. "This I swear."
"Yeah, I think it would be best if you guys came along." The king formed a little smile that faded away as fast as it came and shifted his focus to the snow around his toes. "You know I'm not the best when it comes to apologies, I'd probably only screw it up and make things even worse."
His advisor's voice hardened a little bit, and so did his expression. "Even though Karl is the one who should be apologizing to you, not the other way around. As you said, what happened yesterday was entirely his fault, you had nothing to do with it and should not feel guilty."
"Maybe, but I got this... feeling nagging me, and I know I have to do something about it." He then smiled more sincerely, "and if he tells me to go to hell, at least I'll know I tried."
Maurice's heart swelled when he heard that. "That's a very mature thing to say, Your Majesty! And although I believe you shouldn't need to do it, know that I fully support your decision!"
Julien closed his eyes and exhaled. He felt like a boulder had been lifted off his back. "Thanks for the talk, Mo-Mo, I needed that – don't tell anybody." His eyes then opened and he stood up, as his expression was filled with earnest resolution once more. "But that will have to wait a while; now we have to focus on tonight's events! Like I said, you go hand out those papers while I make the preparations at my house. See you later bud, we got a real big night ahead of us!"
He then ran off with lifted spirits, while Maurice remained in place to admire the view and ponder about the talk they just had. He thought about how maturely King Julien was handing conflicts such as this, and how more importantly, the entire merry scenery before him right now and all the cheeriness that had come with it had all come to fruition thanks to him and his persistent efforts, and he was unbelievably grateful for that.
Then after a while, the aye-aye at last got up and checked the invitations he had forgotten he still clutched in his hand. "Okay, first one to go..." his face instantly fell when he read the name. "...Hector. Damn, I guess I do always get the hardest job..." he mused in a despondent mood before he trudged away, dragging his feet behind.
On the branches above, a small six-legged being skittered away unnoticed. He had heard everything.
Mort was strolling around Dr. S and Nurse Phantom's cave. This was the third place he had stopped by to deliver an invitation. He waltzed along among all the discarded skulls, ribcages and other countless bones randomly scattered around till he found Rob, standing in front of an empty gurney and absentmindedly wiping his dark red gloves with a stained towel that matched them. Was that pomegranate juice or...? Nah.
"Hiii!" he called out to the nurse with a wave, his voice bouncing and echoing off the dark rocky walls.
Rob perked his head up as he heard him. "Oh, hey Mort! What brings you over here?" he drawled as he threw the towel into a bin. "Nice hat by the way, looks good on you."
Mort then heard a hiss as Dr. S came slithering down from the ceiling. "Yes Mort, have you come to volunteer as a test subject for my latest super dangerous and absolutely illegal experiment OUT OF A CAAAAVE?!" he suddenly screamed so loudly that the walls rumbled, and all three heard the expected crash of lightning outside. As he uncovered his ears, Mort briefly pondered how Rob could put up with this everyday. Maybe it was because one of his ears was paralyzed, and therefore, lessened the impact of the constant screaming.
"Uh, no, I've come here because King Julien is hosting a Christmas feast tonight at his house, and you creepy guys are invited!" he told them as he took out the two golden papers.
Nurse Phantom picked the one with his name on it and proceeded to read it. The half of his face that was able to, smiled. "A feast, with a party included?" He slurped the spit dangling from his droopy lip and turned to the cobra on the ceiling with newfound exhilaration, "That sounds incredible, doesn't it, Dr. S?" The sifaka lemur was especially happy, since he didn't have much time for the parties he had always loved as a result of his job. This was a great opportunity to relieve some of those good old days.
The mad doctor squinted his eyes as he read his invite and rubbed his scaly chin with the tip of his tail. Then he said, "Hmm, nope, sorry. Can't go, I'm busy tonight." He then dropped the little paper without a second thought and turned to his disfigured co-worker. "You can go if you want though, Nurse Phantom, I can fuse those two rats' bodies together by myself. Getting a chance to use the saw is always more fun than any feast or party!" he added with a low, creepy laugh.
Mort was taken aback by this. "Wh... what?"
"Nothing," Rob intervened. "Just tell Julie I'll be there."
"Okay!" Mort said happily, already forgetting about what the deranged cobra had said. "Bye and merry Christmas!" and with that, he turned around and hopped away as he hummed a little song to himself. Next stop: Masikura's place.
When their small visitor was gone, Dr. S flashed a crazed grin at his nurse. He slipped a rubber glove over the tip of his tail, its fingers flopping around each time the snake flexed it. "Come, Nurse Phantom, there's still plenty of time to carry out our work! Gather your tools and let's pay those rats a visit, OUT OF A CAAAAVE!"
As Mort walked around outside, the sky shimmered as lightning streaked the clouds once more. He looked up and shielded his eyes.
"Hmmm, looks like we're in for nasty weather..."
He then shrugged, adjusted his hat, and kept moving.
Meanwhile, Clover was somewhere else out in the jungle, standing next to the open hatch that led to Abner and Becca's hideout, having just returned from Willie's hut. She held their invitations in a crushing grip. She'd rather tear the small papers apart, skip these two and go to the next person, but an order was an order, so she jumped down the hole. The pair gasped in fear when they heard the thump of her landing and saw her standing there - at first they thought she was here to arrest them or to beat the living daylights out of them. But the orange lemur simply held up the invites and tossed them at the pair.
"You two, listen up. As much as I don't wanna tell you this and as much as I don't understand why, King Julien has invited you to a feast in his hut. Time's nightfall. Do try and miss it if you can," she told them, her voice devoid of any emotion.
Not wishing to waste any more time in the villains' presence, she then jumped back out, leaving the two alone. After a few seconds of puzzled silence, Becca skipped over to the ladder leading outside and closed the hatch to ensure the bodyguard wouldn't be snooping around to listen in on them.
"A feast? What's that all 'bout?" she asked her partner as she climbed back down.
Abner bent down to pick up his invitation from the floor. "I dunno, but it sounds good enough. Can we go? As much as I hate 'im, he did invite us and I gotta say, I'm kinda tired of eatin' dog food all the time... Maybe we could even get one of those comfy-lookin' hats like the one Clover and 'er pals were wearin'."
Becca's face turned into a wrathful scowl, her revolutionist mind clicking all the pieces into place. At least that's what she was thinking. She stomped over to him and slapped the golden paper off his hand.
"Never! Are ya forgettin' 'bout the plan? Don'tcha see it's all a trap? He wants to tempt us all with fancy stuff like that, and then poison us, clearly as part of a new gov'rnment conspiracy! He failed to get us when he poisoned the waterin' hole that one time so he's tryin' again, this time with food! Get yerself together, Abner, are ya gettin' blind to the truth or what?" she then shredded the small paper to pieces.
Abner sighed as he observed the myriad of minuscule golden bits slowly float down to the floor. "Sooo... we ain't goin' then? Guess it's back to them cans again, and the cold..."
Becca pulled out one of said cans from a shelf stockpiled with them and opened it. "You'd rather eat that poisoned trash the tyrant was gonna feed ya? Dog food's delicious and the more sensible choice! And I'm sure those hats would mind-control ya if ya put them on! Gee Abner, sometimes I think yer goin' soft," she scolded him as she walked off, dipping her finger into the brown mush.
A lonely run-down, snow-covered airship stood out deep in the jungle. The metallic framework of the downed zeppelin was completely covered in snow, and short icicles dangled from its underside. There was not a single sound anywhere in the desolated area, except for the occasional creaking of the ancient duralumin girders. Inside the crashed gondola that had been repurposed into a lair and secret lab, Karl resided. He was sitting at one end of his wide, extensive mahogany table, his only company being the hum of a small electric heater he had quickly built himself to keep the unforgiving cold away from him and Chauncey.
So many seats on this table, yet no one to fill them...
He sat there in silence with both elbows on the table, thinking, his eyes looking at nothing in particular. An empty golden chalice once filled with coffee sat in front of him, which he had just recently finished. He was so deep in thought he didn't hear the low skittering noise approaching him and crawling up the table's leg and onto his arm. Only when his loyal cockroach companion reached his shoulder and chirped something on his ear did he react.
"What? Oh. Pardon me, Chauncey. I was just... reflecting. I'm glad to see you're back. Did you do as told?"
The tiny arthropod told him in a series of high-pitched noises his affirmative answer. Karl's eyes filled with anticipation. He was all ears to what he had to relay.
"Then tell me. What did they talk about?" he asked, and Chauncey leaned closer. "He said what? ...Did he? Really?" His eyes widened somewhat. "Hmmm..."
This got the fanaloka thinking deeply again. He let the insect finish his report, then hopped off the red velvet chair.
"Come, Chauncey. We have some important matters to attend to."
He unlocked the large rusted steel door and, after some hesitation, pulled it open with a piercing screech and stepped into the cold. He noticed the barely-visible sun concealed behind the shady clouds was setting, as it unnoticeably but steadily descended behind the treeline. He felt uneasy, but if he wanted what he had in mind to work, he would have to do it now. And so, taking a deep breath he proceeded through the colorless, frozen jungle.
This was the chance he had been waiting for.