Author's Note: Special thanks to everyone on the "Penguin Fans Unite" forums for the help! Readers, it would be nice if you stopped by for a visit. Kick back, chat with us a it, play a few games with us. Anyway, back to the story!

"Good job, team! Stealth training is done for today! Resume your positions!" Skipper said as he gave everyone a high-five.

"Hey, Private!" Carmen called as they went back to what they were doing before.

"What do you guys do for fun around here?" She asked.

"Well, we usually play a game or two." Private answered.

"Such as?"

"Chess. Or hockey! But there's no ice to play hockey. There's also a good game of hide-and seek for training purposes, capture the flag…"

Carmen began growing bored, when suddenly an idea hit her like a ton of bricks. Addie saw the smirk on her beak and waddled toward them immediately.

"Are you pondering what I'm pondering?" Carmen asked with a smile.

"I think so, but you're going to be in a massive amount of trouble if you try to act on this idea." Addie answered with flippers on her hips.

"I could use a good practical joke about now." Carmen said absent-mindedly.

"Practical joke?" Private echoed with curiosity.

"No can do. This isn't Antarctica. It's not like teasing the leopard seals while they're on land. We just got accepted into this community, Carmen. Can't you try to be more…" Addie paused, searching for the right word. "Mature?"

"But you love practical jokes!"

"But your jokes always backfire, which get us in trouble."

"Like your jokes haven't?" Carmen retorted. Addie merely rolled her eyes, and Private was thinking through the pros and cons about the idea.

"Might I ask, who's the joke on?" Private asked.

"You're not really going with this, are you Private?" Addie asked in shock.

"Just wondering."

"A joke on King of the Squirrels!" Carmen replied happily, pointing toward the lemur habitat.

"I don't know. If we get caught, King Julien might punish us in some odd yet effective way." Private said.

"You don't have to if you don't want to. But I'm going ahead."

"No, no you aren't." Said Addie pulling Carmen back before she had the chance to make her retreat. Carmen looked back at her with a hurt expression.

"If you're so restless, we might as well do maintenance." Addie suggested.

"Maintenance? Since when do we choose chores over jokes?" Carmen asked.

"Maybe it's time to grow up?" Carmen thought for a second.

"Ok. Fine. You take the lower section, I'll see what I can do up here!" Addie arched an eyebrow, suspicious about Carmen's sudden surrender. Usually Carmen would fight about it, as annoying as it may get. Little sisters really can be a big pain.

"Alright…" Addie reluctantly retreated to the lower sections of HQ.

Carmen couldn't believe how easy that was. She was thankful for her sister's intense attention to detail, since it'll keep her busy for quite some time.

"You didn't see anything." Carmen winked, leaving Private to his duties. Carmen made her way towards Rico. Surely he would be one to enjoy a joke on the lemurs as much as she would.

"Hey Rico! How are ya?" Rico smiled, high-fiving Carmen as a greeting.

"Could you be a pal and help me out with something?"

It was another glorious day in King Julien's life. Of course it could be better without those annoying flightless birds, and a few more followers, but it was a glorious day none-the-less. Julien awoke from his royal nap. Rubbing his eyes with his tail, and getting up to stretch and yawn, his 'waking-up routine' was completed. But now what shall the royal king of the lemurs do before the zoo's closing, and before he gets his party on?

"Maurice! What is on my schedule after my royal nap?" Julien shouted. After a few seconds he called for his right-hand man once more. No answer. Julien rose from his seat and wondered around his kingdom, when suddenly-

"FEET!" The annoying puffball called Mort burst from the bushes and darted for the royal feet.

"No! Stay back! Help me, great sky spirits above! Help!" Julien cried as he ran, only to be tackled down by the ball of fuzz.

"Urgh! Get off, you silly, annoying little thing!" Julien began kicking, but Mort wouldn't let go.

"Oh, so you want a rough play, do you?" Julien ran, galloped, kicked, skipped, and did everything in his power to be rid of the infernal 'rodent'. He panted. Giggling, he thought he had finally gotten rid of Mort, but looked to see the mouse lemur still clinging on with dizzy eyes. Mort groaned in malaise, and tried getting away before Julien went for more drastic measures, but found himself to be stuck tightly on Julien's foot with no way of escaping.

"Get OFF! Don't make me use… drastic measures!" Julien threatened.

"I can't! I can't get off!" Mort said, beginning to cry.

"No! Stop it with the crying and get off!" Julien shouted, kicking once more.

"What on Earth is going on here?" Asked a concerned Aye-aye.

"Maurice! Help me. Mort won't get off the royal feet!" Julien pointed to the lemur as though he were pointing to a spider, or some other unpleasant creature. Maurice rolled his eyes and approached Mort. Tugging as hard as he could, but Mort simply wouldn't get off.

"Mort, what are you doing? Get off Julien's feet or things will end up pretty ugly." Maurice said calmly.

"I can't get off!" Mort repeated.

"That's strange. Hey, Julien. What was the last thing you did before you realized Mort was stuck?" Maurice asked, trying to figure this out.

"I kicked and ran, and galloped, and-"

"Before that."

"Well, I awoke from my royal nap and called out for you… twice!" Julien stated accusingly. Maurice nodded, used to these kinds of accusations.

"Then I got up to look for you and saw Mort running out of the bushes, and I pleaded to the sky spirits-" Julien stopped in mid-sentence with a face of horror.

"THE SKY SPIRITS DID THIS TO ME!" Julien screamed.

"WHY SKY SPIRITS? WHY?!" He bellowed. Maurice tried to calm him down before every eye in the zoo had the chance to stare.

"But…" Julien sniffed. "Why would they do this to me? After all, I am everything a king should be! Handsome, charismatic, brilliant, and of course, humble." After that statement, a huge explosion shot from the sky. The lemurs screamed, and Julien jumped into Maurice's arms from fright (Like in Scooby-Doo!).

"Maybe you should try being more humble, and… kind?" Maurice suggested as Julien regained dignity, and dusted his fur.

"Do not be trying to complete the mission of the impossible, Maurice! How can I possibly be more humble and kind?" Julien questioned.

"Be more neighborly? Let's think, what do the penguins want or not want you to do?"

Julien thought more a moment.

"Maybe I should go over and ask them. While we're there we can 'borrow' some snacks! My tummy is craving some delicious grapes!" When he took his first step outside the lemur habitat, a small explosion occurred before Julien. He thanked every spirit and god he knew of that he was not in the explosion.

"Ok, scratch that. We're staying here." An idea struck him.

"Come along! We must meditate and thank the spirits for all they have given us. Perhaps some sacrifices, yes?"

"But what could we sacrifice?"

"I once heard the definition of something called 'Karma'. When you respect this 'Karma' and do good things, good things happen. We must, as you say, be more neighborly, and sacrifice our more yummy-in-the-tummy possessions to those silly penguins." Said Julien, piling on coconuts, fish, and a huge assortment of fruit into Maurice's arms.

"Now take these gifts to the penguins, Maurice, for the sooner we get this over with, the sooner this curse shall go away!" Maurice did as Julien said. Despite the veins in his temples throbbing with anger and frustration, he fought the habit of kicking Mort away, knowing that there would be no point until this curse was lifted. Little did Julien know, two giggling penguins were hiding behind the leaves of a nearby palm tree with explosives at hand, and struggling to keep their giggles from becoming the most boisterous laughter possible from a mute and a young penguin.

"You! Lower mammal! What do you think you're doing here?" Questioned Skipper.

"And with all that fruit! Wow!" Private exclaimed, eyes on the piles of fruit and other goodies Maurice was holding.

"Julien's been cursed, and believes by doing good things, the curse will be lifted." Maurice grumbled, struggling to keep all the things he was burdened with from hitting the ground. Private noticed, and took a portion of the large pile to relieve Maurice of the heavy load.

"Tell Ringtail curses don't exist, but thanks for the return of our borrowed snack provisions." Skipper said, also taking a portion of the pile.

"I could use some help out here!" Skipper shouted, hoping for Kowalski, Rico, Addie or Carmen to take in the remainder of the pile. Addie appeared from the headquarters, eyes wide as soon as she beheld the scene.

"What on Earth is going on?"

"Do good things, and good things happen." Was all Skipper said.

"Ah, Karma. The concept of 'action' or 'deed' in Indian religions understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect." Kowalski explained.

"Are you sure you've never read a book before?" Addie asked, not understanding how one can possess so much information from observation alone. "Anyway, what's all this got to do with Karma? Did something bad happen?"

"Julien's been cursed by the sky spirits and thinks by being more neighborly, the curse will be lifted." Maurice answered.

"Surely there's a more logical explanation. What exactly happened, and if there is a curse, what could Julien have done to deserve it?" Addie asked skeptically. Skipper couldn't help but stifle a laugh when he heard the last part of the question. Private and Kowalski looked away, not wanting to go into detail about Julien's actions in the past, while Addie stood there confused. After hearing Maurice tell them what happened, the three penguins looked at each other thoughtfully.

"Explosions from the sky? That's very odd." Kowalski commented.

"What I'm confused about is how Mort got stuck." Private added. It didn't take too long for Addie to connect the dots.

"Have you noticed there are only three of us here?"

"You're right. Where are Rico and Carmen?" Private wondered.

"Rico is the weapons expert, correct?"

"Yes… but what- oh." Kowalski figured it out.

"I think I know who cast this so-called 'curse', and where Rico and Carmen are." Addie said bitterly. 'After I specifically told her not to pull any practical jokes!' she thought.

"Well, I guess we should put them on maintenance duty for the next few days." Skipper said, but Addie pulled him back into the huddle.

"I hope this doesn't come across as insubordination, but if you don't mind, I'd like to sentence her a punishment."

"And why is that?"

"You're the leader. I'm her older sister. It's a completely different relationship. Besides, I'm personally responsible for this."

"Very well." Skipper was shocked to find a devious grin take shape on Addie's beak.

"What are you planning?" Skipper asked suspiciously.

"I say we fight fire with fire. Here's what we do…"

O Joy, another note: The next chapter is coming slowly, but it is coming. It'll take a bit of a wait, though.