BACKUP-ISSUES
Outside the lair of the thieves, a leopard seal floated through the rigorous oceans. Suddenly, three blades stuck into it's side and pulled it to the surface. The attacker swung his dusters, throwing the seal onto land. Dor-Toh stepped out of the ocean, cleaning the blood from his dusters. He said "I'm not through with you just yet, Ardel" as he headed for Emperor Land.
Back in Emperor Land, Ardel, wearing a light blue and orange attire, was brought to see Mumble and Winter. He said "my old man must have been real lucky to have friends like you", Mumble answering "well, you're certainly Hellas' son"
"And I have the DNA to prove it!" A.P.R.I.T.I.O.N said.
"Must have been awful though" Winter said. "Trapped by those bandits"
"Uh oh" Alex said, put off by the risk of exposing Ardel.
"I uh... often try to block out the memories" Ardel said, Winter answering "oh yes, of course. Well, don't worry. Not another word of it"
"Great. So, you're Mumble Happy Feet?"
"Uh, yeah" Mumble answered, Ardel laughing as he said "thanks to you, my mom can rest in peace. Ha ha ha, thank you!" before embracing Mumble tightly.
Hellas smiled and said "it worked, A.P.R.I.T.I.O.N. They love 'im!"
"I know. It's always nice clothes that's the key to popularity, sir"
"No. It's more than that. All he needed was a second chance" Hellas said happily as Ardel said "it's so comforting to be among family again"
At the Antarctic Academy cafeteria, Gloria laughed as she talked to Meg and Katniss, Meg bragging about the incident with the Castle of Criminals.
"I stuck it to old fishin' Ivan, didn't I! Ha ha ha!" Meg laughed. Katniss was about to talk about the time when she beat up Gloria, before Mary said "lap of honor, ladies. Lap of honor!"
"Hey. You really made a risotto outta that Dor-Toh, Mary! Ha ha ha!" Katniss cheered, before Meg whispered to Gloria "she really surpassed my expectations. Which were admittedly very low"
"So, Gloria" Mary said as she straightened her "hair" back. "Does this mean that I can hang out with you guys now?"
Gloria answered "not quite yet. First, you must perform the other eleven mighty tasks, of Mary Corningstone!"
"Oh yeah, what are those then. Kill the Hydra? Defeat the Minotaur? My head's in the game and I'm ready for anything!"
"Not exactly, no. Your other tasks are... to shove off, clear off, push off, hop it, go away, go right away, take your silly headband off, get a feathercut, get lost and never flirt with Mumble again. He's mine!"
Once Mary finished noting her "tasks" down, she said "but Gloria. That's only ten" before Gloria answered "and your final task. Survive this!" before punching Mary in the beak, causing her to fall over. Mary pulled herself back up and thought for a moment, straightening up and turning around. But before she could leave, she turned back and grabbed Gloria into a headlock before throwing her on the ground.
Gloria looked at the blood on her beak, before Katniss stood up and said "okay, nobody hits my number one gal! Except me! Put em up, ya stinkin' Divergent!"
Gloria stopped her and said "don't worry Katniss. I can take care of her alone!"
Meanwhile, Mumble talked to Winter.
"It's just great, isn't it?" Mumble said. "Hellas looks so happy. Seeing his son again"
"Yeah" Winter answered, thinking for a moment and saying "it almost makes me wish my kid could do the same"
"Mumble! Mumble!" Meg shouted as she ran over. "What is it Meg?"
Meg panted with exhaustion as she said "(breath) Mary...(breath) Gloria...(breath) out of control!"
Mumble looked over the ledge, hearing Gloria and Mary shouting as they fought, sighing as he said "argh, not again!"
Mary shoved Gloria into some icicles before the latter tackled her to the ground, headbutting her before they both fell back in pain. Gloria picked herself up and gripped Mary's head feathers before Mary returned the favor. As they both stood screaming as they pulled each other's feathers, Mary bit Gloria on the cheek, pulling off some feathers with her vice-like bite. Gloria clutched her cheek as she threw Mary on the ground, saying "you little sh-"
Mumble grabbed Gloria as Alex restrained Mary, Ozcar stopping Katniss from attacking anyone, saying "okay Katniss. Let's not get too violent, dear"
Gloria said "let go of me, Mumble! I'm gonna rip her fishin' head off!"
"Not if I rip off yours first!" Mary said angrily as Petey helped Alex to pull her further away.
"I just don't see what your problem is, Gloria!" Mumble said as he struggled to hold Gloria from attacking Mary further, Gloria answering "you told me yourself! You can't stand the sight of her! Oh, and uh, you might also notice there is a beak-mark on my face!"
Later on, Gloria sat with Katniss in their bedroom. It had been a few weeks since Mumble had permanently moved into the LOFAO house, and with Petey taking his place as Mary's room-mate, Katniss had room for Gloria to move in.
"So Gloria, I know this is a few weeks late but... why did Mumble move out?"
"Well, ever since... Christina-"
"Chrysta"
"Right... Left, Mumble didn't have a room-mate. So, when Little Miss face-biter came back, she got his room, and you know what Mumble's like, so... yeah"
"Right. So, is that why you hate Mary?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know. Because she's head over Happy Feet in love with your Prince Charming! Ha ha!" Katniss laughed teasingly. Gloria said "Katniss!" as she shoved her friend playfully.
"Oh come on. Everyone knows you have a crush on him. It's as obvious as yellow snow on a glacier!"
"Prove it then!"
"Well, You seemed kinda upset when you thought Chrysta killed Mumble back when Rodan attacked"
"Of course. Mumble is well, I just don't know what I'd do without him. Have you ever wondered what you'd be like if Ozcar died?"
"Not really. I still have Mumble"
"I suppose s-wait, what?!"
"I still have Mumble. He's my backup boyfriend"
"Backup boyfriend?"
"Well yeah, Ozcar and I agreed that if either one of us died before the other then the one who's still alive would start dating their backup boyfriend or girlfriend. I was Ozcar's after Felicia, and Mumble's mine"
"But I just… d-d-does Mumble know?"
"Of course. I told him. Look, I'll explain"
(FLASHBACK)
After the skuas had left, Mumble returned to the main valley of Emperor Land. He saw Katniss shouting at Oliver, a penguin she liked.
She stormed over to the rock where he was sitting and sat down, wiping her nose as she sniffled. Mumble thought for a moment before saying "Katniss? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Oliver, just doesn't like me, that's all"
"Well... he doesn't deserve you" Mumble said. Katniss smiled and said "hey Mumble. If we're older and... I don't get a boyfriend and you don't get a girlfriend... would you like to be my backup?"
Mumble laughed at this, sarcastically saying "okay then"
(FLASHFORWARD)
"I cannot believe this. You've been dating Ozcar for three months now and you're already planning on running off with Mumble?!"
"Gloria. Honey, sweetheart. I don't think you understand: nothing happens between us until and unless Ozcar is dead"
"I know it's just. Well, I thought, since you had Ozcar, I was gonna have Mumble"
"Well, I'm sorry but, I was the first one to fish in that pond so…"
"Wait a sec? All you did was plan, right? Did you get touchy-feely with him when he was tutoring you?!"
"Yyyyyeeeeeaaaaahhhhh…..no. Well, he was just planning but, one time, I tried to go a little further"
"How much further?" Gloria asked, a scowl on her face as she stood up. Katniss rubbed her eyes and said "it was during the party(see Happy Feet 0.5 Chapter thirty-one). Mumble was upset and well…"
(FLASHBACK)
As their class ended, Mumble walked out alone. He was going back to his usual habit of sulking about Chrysta by the lake. Mumble thought for a moment before he brought some books back into the class.
"Uh, excuse me, Professor Corningstone?"
"Oh hello Mumble. Come in"
"I just came to give these books back" Mumble said as he put the books on the table. The Professor said "thank you Mumble. Also, um, Mumble, are you familiar with my daughter Mary?"
"Oh yeah. We uh, were in Elementary together"
"Yeah. It's just, she's starting here next year so I was wondering if you'd help her out when she's here"
"Uh, sure" Mumble said as he left, groaning loudly once he was in the empty corridor and out of the Professor's hearing range.
Later on, at the party, Mumble sat alone. It felt unusual when he was up dancing with the others to a song he wrote, but he wasn't planning to party on for much longer. He walked into the empty therapy area and sat down to sulk.
A voice said "you okay Mumble?" as Mumble realised he wasn't alone.
"Oh hey, uh… Katniss. That was right, wasn't it?"
"Yes, it was" Katniss smiled as she stood up from her seat and walked over to him. She said "you sure you're alright? You seemed a little on edge earlier. Gloria told me about what happened at the lake"
"Yeah, I'm fine now"
"Good, because I uh… I needed to talk with you"
"Oooookkkkkaaaaayyyyy"
"Mumble. I want to apologize"
"For what?"
"For treating you like… you know, squid bait"
"Oh, well, that's okay. I forgot all abou-"
"No, it's not. Mumble, we were all wrong to treat you like that just because you couldn't sing. So, from the deepest, darkest part of my heart, I'm sorry"
"Well, Katniss, it's absolutely fine. I was never really listening to what everyone used to say about me"
"You're a strong penguin, Mumble. You know, I wish I could be as confident as you" Katniss said as she flicked her black-feathered fringe back seductively. Mumble pretended not to notice as he said "oh come on, Katniss. You're funny, smart, beautiful. What else could a penguin ask fo-
Mumble was surprised when Katniss grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him deeply. Mumble said "(muffled) Um, Katniss-maybe you could just… get off for a second"
Mumble eventually pushed Katniss off of his lips and held at flippers length, pulling away awkwardly when he realized he was holding her upper torso, saying "alright, before you start getting all touchy-feely, that was not intentional!"
"Something wrong, Mumble?" Katniss asked, before Mumble ran out in a panic.
(FLASHFORWARD)
"So... you came on to Mumble?" Gloria asked.
"Sort of... but that was it. You alright?" Katniss asked before Gloria smacked her across the face. Katniss felt her stinging cheek as Gloria said "I should kill you for that!"
"Gloria, come on. You're just mad about Mary. Let's not fight about this. Think about all we've been through together"
"Oh, you mean when you punched me because I missed your recital?"
"You know I don't mean that! I was talking about the fun times. When we use to study, talk about boys. And, even the stuff nobody else knows about"
"Besides, what makes you think Mumble would want you anyway?!" Gloria snapped. "You said so yourself, he pushed you away!"
"Ha ha! Gloria, honey. Aren't you a little on the chubby side yourself?"
"What? It's not fat! It's just curves! Very seductive curves"
"Of course. You must be on the seafood diet. Cause when you see food, you eat it! Ha ha h-AAAHHH!" Katniss said before Gloria tackled her to the floor, slapping and hitting her frantically.
Gloria snapped out of her crazed state, sitting on her bed facing away from Katniss, who walked away terrified.
Later on, Mumble was talking to Marshall when Katniss said "hey Mumble, can I just talk to you for a sec?"
"Uh, sure" Mumble said, Marshall saying "got it. I'm not even here"
"Okay. So Katniss, what is it?" Mumble asked, Katniss breathing heavily as she said "it's over. I'm sorry"
"What's over?"
"Us. We're over. The backup boyfriend thing"
"Oh... I didn't know you were being serious about that"
"Yes, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry to drop this bombshell on you, especially with Chrysta and stuff, I understand your heartbreak"
"Sure, sure. Heartbreak" Mumble said, trying to hold back laughter.
"Oh, and by the way. These love notes you keep giving me, I appreciate the thought, but they're literally two pages long and you gotta stop sending those. If Ozcar found out, he'd probably... well, I don't know, kidnap Gloria and drop her down a clock tower or something like that"
"Katniss, those are study cards. I give those to all the penguins I'm tutoring"
"Oh... right. That explains all the stuff about volcanoes and avalanches. Okay, keep sending them and I'll stop leaving kisses on them when I give them back"
"Ah, so that's why there's always lipstick on the ones I give to you. Good to know" Mumble said sarcastically.
Meanwhile, in the land of Incafra, the cowardly Dagmar walked through his patrols as night fell. A voice said "well, look what we have here. The ultimately underrated soldier"
"Who are you? Show your face?"
"I hear you're having trouble catching the Master Thief" the penguin said in the shadows.
"What's it to you?"
"I might be able to help you with that" the penguin answered.
"Okay, what's the catch. What do you want out of this?"
Dor-Toh stepped into the light and said "I'll just sleep better knowing he's behind bars"
CAST
MUMBLE
ANDREW GARFIELD
GLORIA
EMMA STONE
KATNISS
JENNIFER LAWRENCE
MARY
SHAILENE WOODLEY
MARSHALL
KRISTEN BELL
MEG
ELIZABETH OLSEN
ALEX
AARON TAYLOR JOHNSON
OZCAR
DANE DeHAAN
A.P.R.I.T.I.O.N
PAUL BETTANY
HELLAS
MICHAEL FASSBENDER
ARDEL
EVAN PETERS
WINTER
SEBASTIAN STAN
YOUNG MUMBLE
E.G. DAILY
YOUNG KATNISS
WILLOW SHIELDS
DAGMAR
ALAN TUDYK
DOR-TOH
JUDD NELSON