Well then... here we go, once more. Should I reintroduce myself again? My name is Anna. Back in the good ol' days (2010-2011), I was a fairly regular writer of PoM humanized fanfics. I dropped off the face of FanFiction and kind of abandoned this story. 2 1/2 years later I finished the chapter that I had left off at and published it, and then started writing this chapter, which I didn't finish. Now, here we are, another year later, and I've spent the last hour finishing this chapter (time: 12:41 am). Maybe I'll finish this story by the time I finish college...
As always, thanks to the chapter seven reviewers: ...oh wait, there were none. Probably because no one cares anymore. I'm guessing that if anyone reads this now, it'll be an all new audience. So I hope you enjoy this. Heads up: there are a couple of OCs: the parents, of course, and some siblings. All the main characters are ≈ 8 years old, Mort is 4; Josh is Mort's 16-year-old brother, Kylie is Maurice's 4-year-old sister, and Riley is Skipper's 12-year-old sister. Let us move on with this 4 year old story!
When They Came
Chapter Eight: January 2nd (continued)
King Julien had to push every single one of the shiny buttons on the elevator, of course, so the 'penguins' beat the 'lemurs' to the seventh floor quite easily. They nonchalantly sat down in front of Skipper's apartment and looked natural.
The elevator arrived, and the family stepped off. Julien ran ahead of everyone else, but screeched to a halt when he saw the 'penguins'.
"Hey! How did you peoples get up here? We were in the eley-vator thingy!" Julien complained.
"We took the stairs, Ringtail," Skipper answered. He couldn't be bothered to remember the obnoxious boy's name; all he remembered was that his last name was Ring-something.
"First of all, my last name is Ringers," Julien reminded him. "Number two, you may refer to me as King Julien. Or His Royal Majesty Who Owns At All Things Awesome. I answer to either."
"Julien…" Mr. Ringers said, annoyed.
"What?"
His father gave him a Look. He turned to the door across the hall from Skipper's. "Well, this is our apartment. Maurice, Kylie, you and your mother have that one down there," he said, pointing to the left. "Josh, Mort, you and your parents have that one." He pointed to the right.
"Can we see ours?" Kylie asked.
"I don't have the keys to yours," Mr. Ringers said. "But they all look the same." He took out his key.
"Why do you need a key?" Julien asked.
Skipper was astounded. Wow, this guy is thick. "To unlock it."
"But why does it need locking?"
"So that other people can't get in!"
"Oh!" Julien was a bit confused. "We did not have a lock on our house in Madagascar. But no one else ever came into it." He gasped in realization. "Father! We did not lock our house! What if strangers take it over?!"
"Julien, we're not going back there. It's okay if someone else moves in." Mr. Ringers answered.
"No, it is not!" Julien was very adamant that if he couldn't live in his beloved childhood home, no one could.
Mr. Ringers was becoming very exasperated with his son. "Julien, we will talk about this later."
Julien sighed. He hated being shoved off like he didn't matter; he was the king, he mattered the most! Before he could think too hard about that, another thought popped into his brain. He turned to face Skipper. "Why are you peoples following us? It's very stalkerish."
Skipper rolled his eyes. "We live here too, Ringtail. Right in this very hallway." He gestured to the apartments behind them.
"What?!" Julien cried. He pulled on his father's arm, who had been delayed in opening the door because he was wondering what was taking the other adults so long. "Father! We need to switch apartments! I do not like these creepers, and apparently they're our neighbors!"
Mr. Ringers looked up the sky. "You're testing me, aren't you?"
"Why are you talking to the Sky Spirits?"
"No reason," Mr. Ringers said, turning to face his son. "We can't switch apartments, Julien, it doesn't work like that."
"Wait a minute," Maurice spoke up. He had been silent on the way up in the elevator. "You said we're all in our own apartments, right?" Mr. Ringers nodded. "How many bedrooms do each of them have?"
Julien's father thought for a moment. "They each have three, I believe."
"So that means we all get our own beds?" Maurice asked, astonished. Julien, Mort and Kylie looked expectedly at him.
Mr. Ringers smirked. "Did I not mention that?"
The four kids let out happy cheers. "Yes! I no longer have to share a bed with this one!" " Julien yelled, jumping up and down and pointing to Maurice.
"You had to share beds?" Skipper asked, a bit stunned. "What kind of savage place did you people come from?"
"I told you, Madagascar!" Julien exclaimed, before walking up to Skipper angrily. "And how dare you call my homeland savage!"
"How is it not savage?" Maurice asked him. "There are wild animals everywhere. There was a fossa in our front yard once!"
"Oh yes!" Julien remembered fondly. "And it almost ate Mort! That was hilarious!"
"No, it really wasn't," Julien's father said firmly. He decided to not wait on the other adults any longer and finally unlocked the door. "Alright, who's ready to see this place?"
Four kids and one increasingly moody teenager moved themselves into the apartment. They looked around, curiosity peaked.
"Where is my bedroom?!" Julien asked
Mr. Ringers pointed. "I believe they're through that hallway; you can pick any one you want." King Julien eagerly ran to select the best of the rooms.
The penguins were still standing in the hallway, watching through the open door. "Ryan!" a voice behind them called.
Skipper whipped around. "Riley! There are people here!"
"Sorry, Skipper." Riley, Skipper's older sister said. "So, the new neighbors you've been panicking about are here?"
"I wasn't panicking, I was preparing."
Riley stared at her younger brother. "By making attack plans from under your bed all week?"
Maurice, who had been listening, stepped out into the hallway. "Attack plans?" he asked, a bit unnerved.
Skipper's eyes narrowed at his sister. "Don't you have anything better to do?!"
As Skipper argued with Riley, Kowalski turned to Maurice. "Forgive him, he's extremely paranoid. We've had bad experiences with new neighbors before. He's not actually going to attack you… unless you're spies, or something."
Maurice looked at Kowalski with a blank stare. "...yeah, we're not spies."
Kowalski nodded. "You should be safe then."
Maurice's mother finally made her way to the apartment. Julien's father looked at her, exhausted. "Why do you people leave all five children with me? That is extremely stressful, you know."
"Well, I can take two of them off of your hands." Mrs. Ayein looked around. "What did you do with my daughter?"
"You see, I was forced to throw her out the window because she was just so gosh darn irritating."
Mrs. Ayein had to smile. She and Mr. Ringers had been friends for many years, so joking about throwing each other's children out of a seven story window was not really out of line.
Julien's father gave her the real location. "She followed Julien to look at the bedrooms."
"Kylie!" she called down the hallway. "Come on, you can pick your own bedroom."
The four-year-old came barreling back into the living room. "Can I unlock the door with the key?!" she asked excitedly.
"Sure, if you can reach it." her mother replied, locating her son and daughter's suitcases among where the luggage had been dumped and picking them up.
Kylie ran to her brother and tugged at his hand. "Come on, Momo, let's go!"
Maurice groaned. "I told you to stop calling me that!"
"Bye Momo!" Julien called from the bedrooms down the hallway, overhearing that his friend was leaving. The penguins snickered a bit at the nickname. Maurice growled under his breath and let his little sister drag him to the apartment that Mr. Ringers had pointed out to them earlier, their mother following behind.
Josh sighed. "Come on, Mort. Let's go sit in front of our door and wait for Mom and Dad."
"Yay!" Mort cheered. He found his own suitcase, which was bigger than him, and lugged it out the door, his brother in tow, who shut the door behind them.
The penguins watched the two boys sit down on top of their suitcases, and observed the little girl trying to reach the keyhole of the door. "So Skipper," Kowalski asked. "Do you still think they're spies?"
"They don't have the intellect for espionage," Skipper admitted. "But that doesn't mean that they aren't up to no good. Keep your eyes peeled, boys."
The four friends returned to their own apartments. That night at bedtime, four children happily bounced up and down on their brand new beds that they didn't have to share, and they were all grateful that they no longer had to be careful not to bounce their bed mate onto the floor.
So... like I said, maybe I'll finish this by the time I finish college. Hard to believe I started this story in 8th grade and now this fall I'm going to begin my last year of high school.
Well, now that you've read it, you obviously have to review. Not really. But you should. I haven't gotten a review on a story since July 2014. I miss them. I'll give you a virtual cookie. :)