Disclaimer: I do not own Happy Feet or any of its characters (except Michael, Andrea, Matt, Eddie, Paul, Mr. Willis, Sarah, and any others that I might make up later). Also, I do not own any of the songs used in this story. This is merely a Fanfiction meant only for entertainment purposes.

Chapter 7: Shake It Off

The day was calm as the colony's penguin chicks, alone for the first time in their young lives, endeavored to spend the first day without their parents beside them. Some chattered eagerly as they went about their day, while others were quiet, keeping to themselves. Matt was one of the latter, going through the school day without really trying to participate. Fortunately, he was not alone in his sentiments, and the teachers that had remained behind for the moment, some subbing in for those teachers who were parents that had left to feed, went easy on the chicks for the day and kept their lessons light and brief.

When school let out, Matt found himself wandering around rather aimlessly, trudging along through the thin layer of snow-covered ice, occasionally kicking up a cloud of frozen flakes. He had no real destination in mind as he waded amongst the horde of other penguin chicks. All he knew was that his Mommy had just left him, his Daddy was away still, and he was all by himself. Not literally, of course. He was well aware that he was surrounded by hundreds of others like him, but it wasn't the same.

He wanted his parents. He missed them both terribly. He'd only just gotten to know his Mommy a little bit. And his Daddy had been with him since the day he'd hatched, up until Michael had to leave to fish.

It felt weird, not having a parent there with him. Weird, and frightening. He didn't like it.

"I hope Daddy comes home soon..." he murmured as he kicked up another clump of snow.

Suddenly, he heard a weird, honking sort of noise. He looked up and was surprised to find that he had wandered quite a ways from the main group of chicks. They were several yards behind him, and in front, all he could see was icy whiteness, stretching on for miles, and dotted with small bumps and mini pillars of ice, each covered with a light dusting of snow.

How long had he been walking without realizing how far he'd gotten from the others? A shiver of nervousness went through him as he beheld the vast, empty expanse of ice before him. Somewhere, out there, lay the ocean. At least, that's what his parents had told him. Somewhere, far beyond this ice, his parents, everyone's parents, were out fishing. A surge of nervous excitement shot through him at the thought. How long would it take to actually get to the ocean?

Not, of course, that he really wanted to go out there. No, not just yet. The ice stretched on so far ahead of him, and it seemed suddenly huge and terrifying, and he really didn't want to leave the place where he felt safest. Home. He couldn't help but think his parents must be so brave for leaving home to journey to the ocean...

Another honk, louder this time and slightly echoing, jolted him out of his thoughts with a start, so much so that he actually squeaked.

What... was that? He peered out over the ice, but he didn't see anything.

Nervously, Matt shifted his weight from one foot to the other, torn over whether to investigate this mysterious sound. "M... Maybe I should... just go back," he muttered softly to himself, and had just turned around to do just that when he heard the strange noise a third time, this time even louder, and more of a screech than a honk. He squinted, but still didn't see anyone. He waited, and the noise came again, just as awful and loud, making Matt cringe. Yet, something about it seemed... oddly familiar.

The boy thought about it for a moment, until the realization struck him that this sound was... quite like the loud, awful noise he had heard on the first day of school.

And as it screeched itself into being for a fifth time, the young penguin realized that it was coming from a small icy rock several feet away.

Or... rather like it was coming from something behind it.

Matt turned back toward the noise and took one step closer, but then he froze. He wasn't sure that he should even approach the rock, but he really, really wanted to know what was behind it. But what if it was a skua? Or a penguin chick who was hurt?

Fretting, he looked back toward the distant gathering of hundreds of chicks, and safety, then back to the rock. 'I... What should I do?'

Another piercing screech-honk rang out, and, wincing at the sharp, unpleasant sound, Matt's curiosity won out. He took a cautious step again, and then another, and another. Soon, he was quickly, if still cautiously, moving toward the rock.

He eventually reached it, covering his ears from the next earsplitting shriek, which was now right there in his ears. When the noise finally subsided, Matt braced himself and peeked behind the ice-encrusted rock- only to come face to face with his friend, Mumble.

"...Mumble?" Matt queried, utterly bemused to find the blue-eyed chick here, all by himself. The hypocrisy that he himself had wandered off alone as well was completely lost on the boy for the time being.

"Waah!" With a startled yelp, Mumble tumbled backwards into the snow, his little legs and flippers flailing as he landed on his back. Clearly, he had not been expecting any company. Matt, no longer afraid since it was only Mumble and he trusted Mumble, approached the other boy, standing over him and peering down at him with a confused expression. "Mumble? What're you doin'?"

"Matt! Er.. hey!" the other chick blurted, his blue eyes radiating the surprise he felt at Matt's unexpected appearance. "Um..." Seemingly struggling to formulate words, the other boy flailed a little more, before finally rolling over and getting to his feet, fidgeting nervously and smiling shyly at Matt while dusting snow off his down.

Matt blinked, then looked around, past Mumble, then away, beyond the rock, turned and looked behind him, then turned back to Mumble, utterly lost now. If it was just Mumble here... Surely there was no way any penguin could make the sounds he'd heard. "Mumble! What are you doing here?" he asked again. "I heard a weird noise just now. Did you hear it? I thought it was coming from behind this rock, but..."

Mumble's eyes widened, and he shifted around for a second before concentrating on his feet. "Oh, a sound? Yeah, um... That. Well, I was... um... I mean... well... I..."

"You were what?" Matt asked, suddenly suspicious. He got the distinct feeling that Mumble wasn't telling him something.

"I was... er... It's not important." Mumble was clearly attempting to evade the issue, but he couldn't seem to hold up beneath Matts' probing gaze, and sighed. "I was... practicing my singing..."

"Practicing your... singing?" Matt asked, tilting his head slightly in his increasing confusion. "I didn't hear any singing. It was a really loud noise. Like a weird, screechy, honking sound."

Matt raised his flippers as he described the noise, holding them wide and over his head as if the gesture would aid him in describing it, and Mumble visibly winced. He opened his beak to respond, but Matt kept going, and he closed it again. "Maybe it was a Skua. Do Skuas make sounds like that?" Matt asked, still trying to imagine what could have made the sound, because there was just no way that-

Without warning, Mumble opened his beak and let out a screech-honk so ear-splittingly startling that it was Matt's turn to jolt in fright and tumble backwards into the snow. "Woah!"

Finding himself on his back in the cold snow, Matt stared up at the blue, blue sky, contemplating for a fraction of a second the meaning of life itself before Mumble hurried up to him, the tables having turned as now it was Mumble looking down on a completely shocked Matt. "Oh no! M- Matt, are you... okay?" Mumble fretted, looking him over. "I didn't killed you, did I?"

Matt's brown eyes blinked, the boy trying to catch his breath as he stared up into Mumble's concerned face. Finally, it hit him, and before he could think better of it, blurted out, "Wait... That was you!?"

Mumble's smile turned almost wistful, and he gave a tiny shrug of his shoulders, tilting his head a little. "Oh... Yeah... That was me."

"Y- You made that sound on the first day of school then!?" Matt sputtered, eyes wide as everything clicked. He quickly rolled to his belly and scrambled to his feet, still regarding the other boy with shocked eyes, his beak hanging open.

Mumble cringed again and looked away. "Yeah..."

It suddenly dawned then on Matt what exactly Mumble was saying. "You... can't sing..."

Mumble looked down as his ever-fidgeting feet in shame and sighed. "No..."

"But... H- How?" Matt just couldn't comprehend it. How could there be a penguin who couldn't sing? All penguins could sing! Every penguin had a song in their heart to sing, Mommy had told him that! If a penguin couldn't sing, then... He didn't even know what that would mean for a penguin. He looked down at his own feet, starting to feel a little bad now. What did this mean for Mumble?

He suddenly looked back and met Mumble's gaze, brown orbs searching blue. "H- Hey, but... if you keep practicing, you'll get better at it, right?" he asked, hoping that that was the case. Mommy and Daddy had both told him that it was important to keep practicing to get better at things. Surely, such logic could be applied to Mumble's situation!

Mumble didn't seem to think so, swinging his flippers lacklusterly and looking down again as he traced a trail in the snow with one foot. "I dunno..." he confessed, sounding sad. "I keep trying but nothing good comes out. Pa says I gotta get my singing muscles big and strong, but..." He sighed again, looking at Matt again. "I even tried with one of the best singing teachers, but I still couldn't get it."

"You just gotta keep trying, Mumble!" Matt exclaimed, a spark of excitement igniting in his chest as he imagined his friend improving. "Hey, maybe I could practice with you!"

The corners of Mumble's beak slowly started to curve upwards, and he blinked, clearly surprised by the offer. "Really?"

"Yeah!" Matt said, visibly growing more excited over the idea with every second. "We could try to sing something together, maybe! Or, well..." Remembering the screech-honk, that idea might not go as well just starting out. Mumble seemed to have the same thought, as his gaze fell again, his forming smile vanishing once more. "O- Or!" Matt stammered, wracking his brain, determined to think of some way to help. "Hmm... He touched a flipper to the tip of his beak, pondering, then raised it high as an idea came to him. "Ooh! How about I sing a line, and then you try and copy me, okay?"

Mumble looked quite skeptical at this, but gave a small, hesitant nod. "Okay..."

Matt beamed, by now eager to help however he could, and thought for a moment about what to actually sing before beginning. "Okay. Let's try this one." Taking a deep breath, he began to slowly sing.

"I have often dreamed... of a far off place... where a hero's welcome will be waiting for me..." Matt cut himself off there, already feeling the lull of the music calling to him. The drive to sing was strong in every penguin, and, once started, it wasn't always easy to stop. The boy already wanted to keep going, but instead, he looked to Mumble, smiling and waiting for the other boy to give it a try.

Mumbled swallowed, clearly nervous again. It took a couple moments longer for him to work up the courage, but, then he opened his beak, and...

"I haVe OFTennn DReaMeD. OFFF-Uh faR OfF PlaCE. WheRa HEEEERRROooooO's WeeellLCoMe-"

Matt cringed, fighting with all his might not to cover his ears as Mumble all but shrieked through the song. That was... Yeah. Really bad...

He very nearly sighed aloud in relief when Mumble was done, but somehow managed to refrain from doing so. He gave a half-hearted smile when Mumble looked at him, and Mumble smiled back, though both of them knew. It was bad.

"Oookay. So!" Matt piped up, trying to move things along. "Maybe we could try something faster. More bouncy, with less long notes?" Mumble appeared to consider for a moment before nodding in agreement, and Matt beamed. He already had an idea for this one.

"Ahem..." Clearing his throat, he let the music start to flow through his head, and began. "I stay out too late! Got nothin' in my brain! That's what people say, mmm-mmm. That's what people say, mmm-mmm. I go on too many dates-"

Before he knew it, Matt was getting swept up once again in the lure of the music. He should stop, and give Mumble a try, but... Closing his eyes, it just... felt so good to sing, and... huh? What was that... tapping noise? He stopped singing, opening his eyes just in time to catch Mumble doing some strange motions with his feet. Had he made that sound too?

"Woah woah woah," Matt interjected quickly as Mumble abruptly stopped what he was doing and froze as he realized he'd been seen. "What was that!?"

"Ummm..." Mumble let the sound drag for a bit, obviously struggling to come up with either an explanation or an excuse as he was suddenly looking anywhere but at Matt. "Nothin'. What was what?" Oops. A deflection and a denial? Both of those together weren't going to work, Mumble...

"That tapping sound," Matt said, now fully focused on whatever Mumble had just done with his feet, which the brown-eyed boy was now pointing to. "You just did something with your feet. How'd you make that sound?"

Mumble opened his beak. Closed it. Opened it again. "I- I didn't-"

"Do it again!" Matt ordered, eyes wide and bright with interest, and Mumble looked very taken aback by this. Was Matt's request so unexpected? Well, Matt suddenly realized sheepishly, it hadn't exactly been a request... "Um... Can you do it again?" he asked, trying to reword it to sound nicer. His parents had told him that is was always more polite to ask for something than to demand it. "I can sing again too, if you want me to..."

Mumble still looked surprised, but appeared to be calming somewhat, if not fully relaxing. "Umm... O- Okay..."

Fully invested now in seeing how Mumble had made the tapping sound, Matt shook himself out, any powder left over from his previous fall in the snow coming out in a white, puffy mist, and then he cleared his throat.

"I never miss a beat," he began again, watching Mumble's feet as the other boy started to move them. "I'm lightning on my feet." The sides of Mumble's feet swept aside the thin layers of snow covering the ice as his claws and the scaly bottoms of his feet began to produce that same tapping sound when they made contact with the ice itself. How even- "And that's what they don't see, mmm-mmm. That's what they don't see, mmm-mmm. I'm dancin' on my own. I'll make the moves up as I go."

Suddenly, nothing in the world but this mattered. Matt, Mumble, the song, and the tapping. As Matt let the music take over him, Mumble seemed to fall into the same sort of focus with his tapping, and for some reason, Matt found the sound of it addictive. He'd never heard a sound like this before. Why didn't other penguins do this sort of thing? It was incredible!

"But I keep cruisin'. Can't stop, won't stop groovin'. It's like I got this music in my mind, sayin' it's gonna be alright!" The goal of this singing session had apparently ceased to exist at this point, for all Matt cared about now was hearing more of that tapping going along to his singing.

"'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play, and the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate. Yeah, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake. Shake it off! Shake it off! Heartbreakers gonna break, break, break-"

By now, Matt was even trying to dance along with Mumble, bouncing around while attempting to copy the motions of his feet. It was a little tricky to figure out how to get exact sounds at first, Matt realized, as feet on snow and feet on ice made different sounds altogether. And then, it also seemed to matter what part of his feet hit the snow or ice to make a certain sound.

Still, he was picking it up pretty quick, or at least, he hoped that he was. Everything came to a grinding halt, however, when at the chorus, Mumble let out another deafening shriek that echoed out across the ice.

"Ack!" Matt cried in surprise, losing his balance and falling back into the snow once more. Well, snow. We meet again.

"Aah! S- Sorry!" Mumble stammered, hurrying over to help Matt up. "I didn't mean to... I- I just really wanted to sing along, and-"

"It's okay," Matt said, accepting the help to get back to his feet. He could understand. Really, he could. It was sometimes really hard not to sing along when someone else was singing. When a song stirred you deep inside, well...

"That was so cool!" Matt suddenly burst out, surprising Mumble yet again.

"R- Really?" the other boy questioned, still a little doubtful, it seemed.

"Yeah!" Matt exclaimed, shaking himself off thoroughly, snow particles sparkling as they fell off of him. "I never knew you could make sounds like that with your feet! That was awesome! Can you show me how? I was trying a bit, but I don't know if I-"

"Oh, y- yeah!" Mumble blurted, a smile spreading across his face as Matt's infectious excitement over this new and glorious thing spread to him as well. "Well, I kinda just use the sides of my feet to move snow out of the way so I can use the ice, and then I-"

"Hey Matt!"

Matt and Mumble turned around, abruptly quieting as Eddie approached, followed by Paul. "Eddie? Paul? What's up?"

Paul kept a bit behind Eddie, waving shyly for a moment. Eddie meanwhile appeared to be taking in the scene for a moment, Matt and Mumble standing there looking surprised, with disturbed snow and footprints about. Matt blinked and turned fully to face his friends, and after a moment, Eddie spoke.

"Me an' Paul were looking for you," he said, casting a brief glance at Mumble before seemingly dismissing the blue-eyed boy and returning his gaze to Matt. "We're gonna have a sing-off. Me, you, Paul, and some others from our class. I bet I'm finally gonna beat that Sarah girl!" he boasted, a cocky smile parting his beak.

Matt perked up, a little more alert. A sing-off? That sounded... kind of fun, actually. And Sarah was going to be there? Why that mattered, he wasn't sure, but color him intrigued.

But... wait... He glanced back at Mumble, suddenly torn. They'd been having so much fun, and now they... If Mumble couldn't sing, he... Wait... The tapping thing...

"Hey, maybe Mumble can-"

"It's okay, Matt," Mumble interrupted, smiling despite the disappointment in his eyes. "You should go hang out with your class. I'll... see you later, okay?"

Matt opened his beak, wanting to protest, because why shouldn't Mumble be able to join in too? Eddie was quick to take advantage of the situation, however, and brought a flipper around Matt's shoulders. "Come on! They're all over by that big wonky ice thingy," he said, gesturing with his other flipper at a distant ice formation that Mr. Willis' class often liked to play around during recess. "Let's go!" Releasing Matt, he took off, as hyped and energetic as always, Paul followed meekly along, and Matt, after once last look in Mumble's direction and receiving a nod from the other boy, followed as well, eager to spend time with his classmates and friends, and yet, at the same time, disappointed that his fun with Mumble had been cut so short.

Hopefully, he thought to himself even as he picked up speed, his excitement for the approaching sing-off growing, they could do the tapping thing again soon. He bet that his friends would think it was as cool as he himself did! He took one last glance back toward the icy rock Mumble was hiding behind, guilt warring with excitement to hang out with his friends and classmates, wishing he could have included Mumble somehow, but... maybe next time.

Welp. I didn't get this out on the last day of 2020 like I wanted, nor did I manage to get it out on the 1st or the 2nd, but... January 3rd, 2021? It still feels early enough in the year to say Happy New Year, so... XD Happy New Year, everyone! I finally found some drive to work on this fanfic again so, surprise! :'3

... Holy Miltanks, I actually started this chapter on 12/12/13. And I only just now finished it. O_O I swear that I never meant to take 7 years to update this story. XD Procrastination and me are longtime friends, it seems. :'D I have really nothing I can say in my defense except that I am so sorry for the ridiculously long wait, and if anyone has still stuck around from way back when to keep reading my silly little Happy Feet fanfic, thank you, and I hope you enjoy, and that the wait was worth it. For sure, I fully intend to complete this story, in case anyone was worried, and I promise I'll give it my best. :)

I wasn't precisely planning on Mumble revealing his tapping skills to Matt in this chapter (he was mainly just gonna reveal his awful singing :'D), but then, it was always a possibility, and I didn't have a clear layout for how this chapter was gonna go otherwise, so I guess I let it take me where it would, and now, here we are. XD It took some time to decide on songs for this chapter, and I almost went Backstreet Boys for one of them, but I think I'll save their delicious music for later. ;) I was having a bit of trouble imagining tapping going along to "Shake It Off", but after writing the scene out, I actually went to Youtube and looked up "shake it off tap dance", and, lo and behold, some people have tapped to that song. :D I found a nice tap solo video with it, and that's kinda how I imagine this going with Mumble and Matt now. X3

Anyways, I wanted to wish you all, once more, a Happy New Year! :D We made it through 2020. Let's make 2021 the best year that we can! Please take care, all of you, and stay safe out there!