Disclaimer: I do not own The Penguins of Madagascar or any of its characters, but I do own Alex the penguin, Sam, Ethan, and Victoria.
It was late in winter and a blanket of snow covered the Central Park Zoo. Every animal was trying to keep warm. The chimps were huddling together in hopes of sharing their warmth. Marlene managed to stay out of the worst of the cold in her little cave, under a heated blanket, while the other zoo animals found their own ways of keeping warm in the freezing weather.
The only animal who wasn't cold was Tawny, the young dolphin. The zookeepers had heated up her pool and she swam around underneath the water, enjoying herself. Then there were the penguins, warmly tucked inside their hidden HQ. Earlier in the season, their hideout had been destroyed and only just a few days ago did they finish rebuilding it, and now the leader of the commando team stared out the window at the frozen water, a cup of coffee in his flipper.
He pushed the fish tail aside as he took a sip of his morning beverage, remembering his archenemy blowing up their lair and kidnapping Rico and Sam. It was several long, difficult days, and finally they can get back to normal. But Skipper promised himself that he won't be caught off guard again. He would always be on the lookout for Blowhole; that evil dolphin will never infiltrate his team again.
He turned around when he heard footsteps approaching, but he relaxed when he saw that it was his oldest daughter. She had a big smile on her face as she waddled over to him, and he wondered what was on her mind. But before he could ask her, the door to Kowalski's lab opened and the tall penguin called to her.
"Hey, Alex!" he said, running to her. "Can you help me with something?" Skipper realized that Kowalski's been asking the female penguin to help him in his lab a lot lately, ever since she talked him into inventing again. Kowalski had lost all his creations in the explosion and he considered giving up and never making anything again. He seemed to have lost all motivation to invent, but Alex pushed him until he made something and suddenly he got the will to create again and he's been using Alex to bounce ideas off and help him focus his mind. And Skipper noticed with approval that with Alex as a helper, Kowalski's inventions were more useful and almost none of them exploded anymore.
But Alex shook her head. "I'm sorry, honey," she said. "I was about to go topside."
"Why?" Skipper asked, coming to join them, and placing his coffee on the table as he passed it. "It's far too cold out there!"
Alex turned surprised eyes on her father. "Don't you like the cold?" She glanced at her boyfriend, then back at Skipper. "You're penguins! You're built for this kind of weather." She paused before adding," I grew up in Florida, so I never saw snow. And with that whole Blowhole situation, I couldn't enjoy the first snowfall like I wanted to. I love the crispness of the air and the feel of the snow beneath my feet."
Suddenly Private's head appeared through the hole in the island. He turned to Alex, emotion in his eyes, and Skipper couldn't help but remember the months where Private was totally emotionless, mind controlled by Blowhole. Skipper felt a rush of relief every time he saw Private's eyes or face show any kind of feeling.
He dropped down and spoke as he walked over. "We tried escaping to Antarctica once because we believed penguins didn't belong in New York City." He paused beside them, eyes flashing with memory. "It sucked."
Alex turned to him, tilting her head to the side. "Sucked?" she echoed. "Snow is great!"
Skipper frowned. "What's so great about snow?" he asked.
Alex widened her eyes. "What's so great about snow?" she gasped, shock in her voice. "Oh, dad," she said, shaking her head. "Everything! Just come out and see for yourself!" She edged toward the ladder, but before climbing it, she paused and looked back at Kowalski. "Are you coming up?" she asked him.
The strategist seemed to consider this for a moment, before shaking his head and scooting closer to his lab. "I'm sorry, Alex," he murmured. "I have to get back to work." Then he disappeared back into the smaller room, the door shutting behind him. Alex sighed and climbed the ladder, hopping out of the HQ.
Skipper exchanged a look with Private. Worry shone in the young penguin's eyes and he glanced at Kowalski's lab. "I'll talk to him," the leader promised, patting Private on the shoulder.
Private gave him a relieved look and then went to watch TV.
Taking a deep breath, Skipper took a step toward the lab and knocked on the door. When he heard Kowalski call out," Come in!" he opened the door and poked his head in.
He found the strategist hard at work, but he had no idea what he was working on, and he really didn't want to ask him, because he knew if he did, he wouldn't be able to shut him up. So he just stood there in silence, watching him snap a rubber band in place as he pushed a broken bottle in the middle.
"So…" Skipper began, but Kowalski interrupted him.
"I'm not going outside, Skipper." The tall penguin turned to him. "I'm sorry." He sighed. "But what Alex calls 'fun'-" He lifted his flippers and bent them when he said the word 'fun'-" isn't fun to me. All of this is my fun. My inventions, my plans, my brain." He gestured to the thing he was working on and then some blueprints nearby, and finally his head which Skipper guessed he meant his mind. He sighed deeply. "I wish I could enjoy myself like Alex does, but I just can't. And I know she finds my fun, science and inventions and everything, really boring…"
Skipper felt sorry for his teammate, but he wasn't sure what to say. Comforting people wasn't his strong suit. He considered ordering him to go outside, but he knew that if he forced Kowalski outside, he'd be miserable. So instead he just patted his back and walked out, closing the door behind him. Private was still watching TV, but he glanced at Skipper as he appeared, a question in his eyes.
Skipper shrugged and started heading toward the ladder.
Once topside, he spotted Rico building something out of snow. Skipper braced himself and did a flip in the air and landed beside the crazed bird. Rico jumped in surprise, dropping a long stick. Looking closely, Skipper saw that it was a piece of dynamite, and his teammate had created a snow animal.
"What are you doing?" Skipper demanded.
Rico grunted something and picked up the dynamite, pushing it into the side of the snow animal. Skipper realized with surprise that it was his archenemy, Dr. Blowhole, made out of snow. Rico took out a match and quickly drew it across his backside. A tiny flame burned on the end of the match, and Rico brought it toward the dynamite.
Rolling his eyes, Skipper licked his flipper and put out the flame. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked. "Do you want our lair to blow up again?"
Rico sighed, but shook his head.
"Use a bat instead," Skipper suggested. "Destroy Snow Blowhole instead of blowing him and our HQ up."
Excitement sparked in Rico's eyes, and he coughed up a bat. He knocked the head off the snow dolphin, then slammed the bat down onto its body again and again until it was a pile of slush.
Skipper laughed lightly, before looking around. "Where's Alex and Sam?" he asked.
Rico looked up. Then he gazed past him, and Skipper turned, growling when he found himself staring at the lemur habitat. "Why are they there?" he asked, but Rico just shrugged.
The leader jumped over the gate and dropped to his stomach, sliding all the way to their neighbor's habitat. When he got to the wall, he flipped over and landed on the outskirts of the lemurs' home. At first he didn't see anyone. Then he spotted someone he never, ever wanted to see anywhere near here. Anger burned inside him, almost diminishing the chill of the snow under his feet. He jumped down, landing not far from his daughter. He heard a surprised squeak from her as she skidded to a halt and fell backwards. He towered over her.
"What do you think you're doing here?" he demanded.
She regained her footing fast and looked him in the eyes bravely. "I can go wherever I like," she growled back. "You can't be having a leash on me like I'm being some dog!"
Skipper almost gasped aloud when he heard his youngest daughter speak like that spoil, entitled lemur king– No, more like his son. Blinded by rage, he puffed out his chest. "I've told you countless times before to never come over here." He had to keep himself from screaming at her.
Suddenly he noticed that Rico had followed him, and was now staring at him with round eyes. Skipper shook himself. He was only trying to protect his daughters. A thought struck him. "Where's Alex?" he demanded.
Sam huffed and looked up. "With the king, I think," she responded. "I was playing with Ethan."
As if his name summoned him, the young prince came running around a corner, but he halted when he saw the angry Skipper. Maurice was right behind Ethan, calling him back; when the aye-aye saw the flat-headed penguin, he stepped in front of the young lemur, hiding him from view and taking another step toward the penguins.
"Is there a problem here?" he asked, keeping an eye on Ethan, who was shivering from either fear or cold, Skipper couldn't tell.
Growling, Skipper grabbed Sam's flipper and replied to the lemur," I just came to get my daughters." Looking up at the tall platform, he could faintly make out voices. "Alex!" he called up.
A few heartbeats passed before the female penguin and the lemur king poked their heads over the side of the platform, and looked down at the angry penguin. "Come on!" he snapped. "We're going!"
"But dad–" Alex tried to protest, glancing at Julien, but she stopped talking when Skipper glared up at her. She sighed and murmured a goodbye to Julien, before jumping down to join the others.
Skipper noticed Sam glancing at Ethan, but he pushed her in front of him as he got ready to jump over the wall. Rico went first, then Alex. Sam glared at her father, and Skipper thought she was going to refuse to leave. He was suddenly aware of the lemurs' eyes on them. He let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding when she jumped over the wall. He followed her, glaring at the lemurs one last time before chasing after the other penguins.
Please review!
Thank you!