It was midnight by the time the meeting could be held. Julien and Maurice had to make sure the penguins were far away exploring the Cove of Wonders and scavenging for any potentially useful material, without the king's permission of course, but he was forced to let this one slide.
As to be expected, once Julien reached the part where he alluded to the freaks possibly ditching them, the other lemurs panicked and it was utter pandemonium inside the plane.
"The fossa are attacking!"
"We're all gonna die!" Willie cried.
"It's a cookbook! It's a cookbook!" a Verreaux's sifaka cried while holding up a book titled "To Serve Lemur".
"Maurice, this is not going well?" Julien lamented.
"Settle down yall! Will ya calm down!" Maurice shouted while pressing his foot against the button that caused the "Fasten Your Seatbelts" sign to flash.
"Don't panic! Nothing bad has happened yet!" Maurice continued shouting.
"Will you pipe down, you perturbed primates! Our kingdom's secrets have not been leaked!" Karl, who was standing in a front-row seat, exclaimed, before adding in a lower tone, "Not yet at least."
"Yes! Yes!" standing next to the fanaloka, Timo tried to calm them while holding up a small hand-held device with a screen. "The penguins are still at the Cove of Wonders and far out of earshot! Our drone footage confirms that."
The crowd finally calmed down, and the two brainiacs sat down again, with Karl rubbing his forehead.
"You know, Timo?" he glanced at the tenrec. "I'm starting to see where those penguins are coming from?"
"I know." Mort, who was sitting between them, giggled. "Once you get past the scales and the tiny bones that get lodged in your throat and will likely suffocate you, fish are surprisingly tasty."
"Do not worry, my peoples. As you can clearly see, I, your king, have everything under control." Julien announced from his throne. "For one, the bossy penguin might have one egghead, but he wasn't counting on me having two of those! As the old saying goes, "Two eggheads are better than one!", right?"
He pointed at Karl and Timo, the former waving proudly while the latter shrank and blushed nervously.
"Aww…King Julien?" Mort clutched his hands girlishly. "I ain't that smart."
"No, no you're not." Julien, for once, fully agreed with the little trash goblin.
"Now remember what I told you…" the king continued "…as long as those pesky penguins are present, there is to be NO talking about us having "delayed" the freaks' voyage! Understand? As far as the truth goes, that evil dolphin guy did the deed!"
"Yes, and luckily, King Julien's parents don't know about that "incident"." Maurice reminded the crowd. "And it would benefit us all to leave 'em in the dark moving forward."
"I can't believe I'm letting a freaking dolphin take all the credit?" Pancho grumbled peevishly. Hector, who was sitting next to him, just rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I am very sorry that you are not receiving the proper credit for your mad sabotaging skills, Pancho." Julien looked at him. "But you do understand that if the freaks learned who really drilled the hole in their fuel tank, they would surely no longer feel inclined to protect us and we would all be…well…a walking smorgasbord for the dreaded fossa."
"The fossa!"
"The fossa are attacking!"
Grumbling, Maurice stepped on the button under his foot again before another riot could break out. "Calm down, they're not attacking us right now! Yall safe!"
"You do realize you're saying that while an actual fossa is sitting among us?" Hector grumbled while pointing over his shoulder at Mary Ann, who shrank as many of the lemurs glanced at her suspiciously, making her feel very self-conscious.
It was hard not to be when you were well over twice the size of your fellow citizens and therefore stuck out like a sore thumb in crowds.
"Hey, you keep my wife out of this!" Horst shook his fist at Hector, who looked unfazed.
"He has a point." Tammy scoffed, holding on to Todd while Butterfish was snoring loudly next to them. "Inviting a blood-hungry fossa in here ain't exactly instilling confidence about our safety, King Julien."
"Guys, let's not gang up on Mary Ann, kay?" Ted turned toward the crowd and held his hands up. "We have more important matters to discuss and she has been very well-behaved ever since she joined our community? Am I right, Dorothy?"
His wife just ducked slightly, not having the nerve to speak up, knowing the crowd would not appreciate them voicing their support for a fossa. But of course, Ted had far more moral principle than common sense.
"Oh, yeah? And what about certain lemurs that have gone awol?" Tammy shot back. "Has anyone seen Abner or Becca lately?"
Maurice facepalmed. "They were exiled for high treason? Remember? Yall unanimously voted for their execution but King Julien decided to spare 'em and leave 'em as Uncle Julien's servants instead?"
Tammy flushed while Horst sent the overweight Karen a smug look before turning to Ted.
Julien rolled his eyes. "Yes, can you please be paying attention to me again-"
"Thank you, Ted. I'm glad someone here is being reasonable." Horst gave the brown lemur a thumbs-up, while Ted, in turn, shrank from all the scolding glares he was suddenly receiving.
"Ted, I told you not to stick your nose where it doesn't belong." Dorothy whispered to him.
"Now, as I was saying-"
"Reasonable? That's rich." Hector's curt laugh cut Julien off. "Coming from the fossa-lover himself."
"Uhhh…BURN!" Mort laughed mockingly at the odd couple, eliciting a lot of snickering.
His blood boiling, Horst glared daggers at the black and white lemur. "Hey, you got something to say to me!" he leaned over but Mary Ann grabbed him by the waist and pulled him back.
"Just let it go." She sighed. "They aren't worth it."
"But, Mary Ann-"
"I told you, I'm used to this."
"Alright, enough of this!" Julien stood up and raised his voice. "There will be no more bullying of Mary Ann! We have more pressing matters to deal with!"
"You're quite right, your majesty." Masikura suddenly appeared next to him. "But you do understand that lies cannot be maintained forever? A growing façade will inevitably break under its own weight-"
"Then it shall be my pleasure to be the first one to accomplish that!" Julien announced boldly. "The freaks and the penguins will never learn our secret as long as I wear the crown!"
"And that is a promise!" he told his subject as most of them cheered and applauded him in response.
"You're the best, King Julien!" Ted clapped his hands.
"We can always count on you!" Dorothy did the same.
"It shall be an honor to assist you in maintaining this façade." Karl bowed respectfully.
"Yeah…um…what he said!" a sheepish Timo agreed with a snort.
"Yay! Lying will get us what we want!" Mort cheered with child-like exuberance.
"Bah. I have my reservations." Hector grumbled to Pancho.
"Well, I for one am ready to sabotage as many ships as you need me to, hulio!" the crowned lemur shot the king two finger guns. "Just give the word, your majesty!"
"Well, we have to keep our kingdom safe from the fossa somehow." Masikura shrugged.
"Yes, thank you so much, my peoples!" Julien smiled. "You support means so much to me. We'll overcome this crisis like we always do! As a kingdom!"
His subjects cheered on and even Maurice was impressed by Julien's ability to rally them up.
"Now, besides keeping our lips sealed about you-know-what..."
"I'm already working on it." Mort was holding up a needle with a string to his mouth.
"...we must also be thinking of ways to get the two nosy penguins off our backs again. Any suggestion? I'm open to suggestions!"
"Oh, I have plenty of suggestions." Mort rubbed his hands silently.
"If I may be so bold, I think I have an idea?" Karl stood up. "If these penguins are indeed searching for this "Dr. Blowhole" character, we should utilize that to our advantage."
"But, Karl? What use is some looney bird's imaginary arch-nemesis to us?" Maurice inquired.
"Regardless of whether he exists or not, he is very much real to the penguins. So, if we trick them into thinking that he's active someplace else, preferably far away from our kingdom, we would be sending them on another wild goose chase."
"Oh, I am liking the sound of that, Karl." Julien grew intrigued. "But we don't know anything about this evil dolphin mad scientist guy… besides him being an evil dolphin mad scientist guy?"
"Then perhaps we could get the necessary intel from one of the penguins?" Horst listened to Karl talking when he noticed that his wife was missing. He looked through the window and caught a glimpse of her long tail as she retreated down the tree.
"I say we interegate the little chubby one!" Pancho spoke up as Horst silently left the meeting as well. "He's clearly a soft-headed rookie who is very wet behind the ears, even for an aquatic bird. A soft target who will likely sing! Huah!"
"Mary Ann!" Horst called out to her. "Where are you going!"
The fossa just gave him a passing glance and continued scaling down the tree. Confused, Horst followed, careful about maneuvering the tree in the dark.
"That is a great idea, my friends! It will surely give us the edge over the silly penguins!" Julien's voice grew fainter and was being tuned out by the cheering crowd.
"Now! Who wants some of Dorothy's palm nut cookies!"
Reaching the ground, Horst saw Mary Ann's form heading towards the beach and he followed her until he found her sitting at the edge of a rock overhang, absentmindedly watching the stars. Moving slowly, he arrived and sat next to her. Though she didn't look at him, he knew that thanks to her heightened carnivore senses, she knew he was there.
"Mary Ann? Was it something I did? I know I blew a fuse there-"
"No." she sighed. "I just figured I wasn't welcomed there and King Julien had important decrees to make, so I didn't want to distract the others with my presence."
"It's because of Hector and Tammy, isn't it?" Horst asked upfront. "Come on, babe." he held onto her paw. "You don't have to act tough with me? If they upset you, I'll march right back to the plane and give them a good wallop."
Mary Ann rolled her eyes before chuckling lightly as she leaned down to nuzzle his head. "Believe me, Horst. If I was hurt by their words, I would have clobbered them myself. And I'm used to this. How many times do I have to tell you this?" She wasn't being entirely honest but she didn't want him to go and get himself in trouble.
"But it's not fair, it's been over half a year and you did nothing wrong, and yet they are still treating you like-"
"I'm a fossa? That's because I am one, and you are a crazy maverick. We aren't the most trustworthy types to them. Like it or not, it's how things are."
She lay down on her belly and smiled at him before nuzzling him again as he hugged her around the neck.
"Besides, I think this is a lovely night for an outdoor stroll, wouldn't you agree?" she offered him a flirty smirk.
"Yeah, it sure is."
"Just what are we doing, Kowalski?" Private asked while Kowalski listened to his headphones on top of a pier in the middle of the Cove of Wonders, while lowering his hydrophone into the water.
"Trying to pick up any dolphin vocalizations. Their calls can be heard for over 20 km. If Blowhole or any associate of his is in the vicinity, we'll know?"
"Oh, so do you hear any clicks or wails?" Private inquired curiously.
"Hmmm...no. But I am picking up another sound? Though I don't think it comes from an animal? Could be seismic activity?" Kowalski mused, his brilliant mind racing to process all the incoming information.
"But there is no earthquake?" a nervous Private looked around. "Is one coming?"
"No, that's not it either." Kowalski continued musing. "Sounds more like...like..."
"A crate paddling itself towards us?" Private said while squinting.
"Well...that's an awfully specific scenario you're describing?" Kowalski replied before getting yanked up by Private.
"No, look!" Private pointed ahead while Kowalski instinctively grabbed his binoculars but upon using them, all he saw was brown.
"Blast! I can't make anything out?" he lamented and lowered his binoculars. "Are you sure your eyes weren't playing a…" his face fell as he saw a towering crate moving right towards them and it hit the pier.
"I did it, mamá! Land ahoy!" they heard a young child exclaim and saw a small mammal standing on top of the open crate, holding a human-sized paddle. She promptly let it sink into the water as she jumped onto the pier.
"Con permiso." She walked past the penguins and looked around. The young girl looked like some kind of lemur, with brilliant golden fur, round ears and big, brown eyes.
Her face lit up upon seeing the towering jungle canopy. "You can come out, mamá!" she called to the crate. "I got us back home safe and sound!"
Private and Kowalski watched her, the latter studying her with a contemplative look, trying to figure out exactly what they were looking at. But Private didn't really consider such trivialities, for he was overwhelmed by sheer, heart-melting bliss.
"Oh my gosh! You are so fluffy!" he gushed and picked up the small mammal, showing her to Kowalski. "Isn't she the most precious thing in the world! She's so cute, I could just eat her up I could!"
"Hey, lemme go, baboso!" the girl shot him a peeved glare. "And I'm NOT cute, alright!"
"Calm yourself, Private. Try to keep your heart rate steady." Kowalski told him in an even tone, knowing full well that cute, fluffy baby animals were the rookie's most crippling weakness. "We can't risk another cuteness coma."
"Awww…you're so brave." Private cooed as he pulled the girl closer to his face, making her cringe and shove his beak away. "What's an adorable little girl like you doing out here in the middle of the night? It's dangerous."
"Hey? What do you fellas have there?" they heard Horst's voice and Private turned to him.
"Oh, nothing." He chuckled. "We just found this little scamp playing sea captain."
"My name's Keke." She intruded herself to the blue-eyed lemur, before whispering, "Can you please get me away from this creep? He smells like rotten pescado."
"Oh…" Private continued cooing. "Isn't she just precious?"
"Who's precious?" Private squeaked upon seeing Mary Ann arrive on the scene and hid Keke behind his back.
"Nothing." He grinned nervously. "Nothing of the sort. You lovely chaps just resume your evening date."
"Yes, there's nothing to see here, madam." Kowalski hastily added, flanking Private. "We most certainly have not found a small, scrumptious mammal that would make an ideal midnight snack for you. No sirree."
"They found a little lemur, honey." Horst explained helpfully, much to the penguins' dread.
But it didn't matter, for Keke squeezed herself free and escaped between Private's legs. But she didn't get far and froze in her tracks upon seeing Mary Ann.
"A puma!" she cried and took up a fighting stance. "Don't you dare come near me or my mamá!"
"I'm armed!" she suddenly held up a dart with her tail, to the onlooker's surprise.
"Wow. How are ya doing that?" Horst asked. "With your tail?"
"A prehensile tail?" Kowalski said with intrigue. What was she? Not a spider monkey or opossum for sure. What Latin American mammal matched her unique combo of features? It was on the tip of his tongue?
Mary Ann couldn't help but smile. Private wasn't exaggerating about her cuteness.
"Awww…aren't you just the sweetest thing…" She gently petted Keke's head but then yelped and clutched her paw as she found the dart sticking out from it.
Despite the mild pain, the fossa couldn't help but chuckle. "And you've got moxy?"
"Take it easy, kiddo." Horst leaned down and put his hand on Keke's shoulder. "Mary Ann might be a fossa but she doesn't eat lemurs. She swore that off a long time ago. You're perfectly safe."
Kowalski's eyes were drawn to the dart and he yanked it out of Mary Ann's paw, making her yelp again, and studied it.
"A tranquilizer dart?" his eyes widened and he turned to Keke. "How did you acquire this?"
"I dunno?" Keke shrugged before rubbing her rump. "I found it sticking from my culo when I woke up in in a cage… on a boat."
"What cage? What boat?" Mary Ann asked.
"Oh, dear?" Private clutched his head. "You were held captive?"
"I don't know? All I remember is those ugly humans putting mamá back in the cage with me, then the storm hit and the boat went…" Keke clenched her nose and moved her other paw downward while making bubbling noises.
"But I saved my mamá and got us out of there." she boasted and puffed her chest out. "She'll never ground me after that."
She looked back at the crate but grew a miffed expression upon receiving no answer.
"Come on, mamá!" she shouted. "The coast is clear and we're back home! There's a squirrel-monkey thing, a puny puma and two weird…. birds I think? But they aren't dangerous. I took down the puma!"
"Allow us." Kowalski said chivalrously as he and Private flipped into the crate and jumped back out just as quickly, the latter holding Keke's mother in his flippers, and put her back on her feet.
She remained perfectly still as her daughter glomped her around the waist and laughed.
"Finally! You're still scared silly from the monsoon, huh?"
Mary Ann and Horst looked at the adult oddly, as did the penguins. She just gawked at them with her eyes pointing in opposite directions, her mouth was wide open and she held her hands out as if she was trying to stop someone from approaching her. And she didn't move an inch.
"Um…is she feeling alright?" a weirded-out Horst asked.
"Sure she is." Keke insisted. "She's been like this ever since I woke up. The humans and the monsoon and the giant waves scared her real bad, so I had to be brave for her."
"Kay? If you say so?" Mary Ann rolled with it before turning to Horst. "We should inform King Julien about this?"
Horst smiled idly. "You're right, hun. Looks like we just got another batch of unexpected visitors."
Most of the kingdom, as well as the zoo animals, were already asleep, and the king very much wished to do the same. So suffice to say, he was very displeased when he was called to come down to the beach near the Cove of Wonders well past midnight. And it wasn't for a crazy, neon-lit dance party!
A small crowd had gathered there, with two of the lemurs holding fire torches. Among them was Maurice, who observed their new visitors, with the girl looking around curiously, while her mother stood as still as a statue. Horst and the penguins were there too, as was Mary Ann, though she was feeling a bit tipsy.
"I don't think we're in Guatemala anymore?" Keke told her mother after seeing more of the strange squirrel-monkey creatures show up.
"Alright, what is the hullabaloo about?" the other lemurs parted as the sleepy king arrived on the scene and yawned. "What's so important that I had to be postponing the royal beauty sleep?"
He looked around and Maurice tapped him on the shoulder. "Seems we have some more unexpected visitors?"
"Swell, more freeloaders to leech off our kingdom." Hector grumbled.
"Yes. Private and I helped them reach shore." Kowalski sported a self-satisfied smile.
"Pffftt…no you didn't, bulb-head." Keke sent him a cheeky look. "I did it all on my own."
Kowalski grew an annoyed expression, while Private snickered quietly. She wasn't wrong about the shape of Kowalski's head.
"Who's the payaso with the funny hat?" Keke asked Mary Ann and Horst, making them uneasy.
"That's King Julien, dear." The fossa tried to explain. "So please, try to be respectful."
"Oh, okay." Keke nodded and turned to the ringtail, who smiled.
"Huh, I've never seen lemurs like you two before?" Julien noticed with intrigue, his eyes shifting between Keke and her mother.
"Me neither?" Maurice agreed. "Where did ya come from?"
"Nice to meet you, sir. I'm Keke, and that's my mamá, Victoria." The girl offered the king her paw and he shook it.
Only to then jerk back as a jolt of electricity surged through his body. Keke snickered and showed him the joy buzzer attached to her paw.
"Gotcha!" she laughed. "I found this cool toy just lying around."
Julien stared at her incredulously, as did Maurice, making Mary Ann and Horst fear that they were angry. But instead, Julien burst out laughing.
"Oh, man, you got me alright!" He grinned at the girl. "You sneaky little thing."
"Thank you, Mr. Julien." Keke smiled back, pleasantly surprised. "Most adults get all angry and sulky when I prank them?"
"Oh, tell me about it? People just don't appreciate what a true classic the joy buzzing thingy is. That's one witty kid you got there." He shot Victoria a finger gun, but she remained unresponsive, even as a fly landed on her tongue.
"Is your mother okay?" Maurice asked. "She looks a little…um…lobotomized?"
"Oh, sí. She's just been scared stiff since we almost ended up at the bottom of the ocean." Keke shrugged. "But I saved her."
"I…okay? But where did ya come from? I've never seen lemurs like you before?"
"We're not lemurs." Keke snickered cheekily. "We're kinkajous from Guatemala."
Julien giggled. "Guatemala? Did you hear that, Mo-Mo? That's a very funny word. Guatemala? Guatemala? Guatemala? Isn't that the white stuff that comes out of a bird's nasty booty?"
"Eureka!" Kowalski exclaimed. "I knew I recognized her from the vast zoological data stored within my magnificent cerebral cortex!"
"Oh…so what is this kinky-do creature?" Julien asked.
"The kinkajou, scientific name Potos flavus, a small frugivorous, arboreal mammal from the procyonid family, native to the tropical latitudes of the Western Hemisphere."
"No we ain't, Señor Trápala." Keke shot back, much to Kowalski's chagrin. "We're jungle raccoons."
"We don't have the mask but we do have the handy hands." She emphasized by holding her paws up and wiggling her long fingers, which were tipped with claws.
"That's literally what I just said!" Kowalski retorted in a snippy tone.
She smirked at the science penguin. "For someone with such a big cabeza, you're not very smart, are ya? I guess it's so bloated from all the hot air?"
Kowalski's jaw dropped while the lemurs snickered among themselves, except for King Julien. He was splitting his sides with laughter.
"You're a savage, Keke!" he patted the girl's back. "You owned that silly penguin like a boss! A girl boss!"
Kowalski looked beyond pissed. His face was turning red, his left eye twitched and he was clenching his flippers and grumbling unintelligibly, while Private tried to calm him.
"Easy now, Kowalski." The young penguin said in a placative tone. "She's just a tyke acting out. It's perfectly normal."
"Well…I never…let's get back to business, Private!" an enraged Kowalski grabbed Private's flipper and sent Keke a venomous glare.
"And if I'm such a dum-dum, as you insist, don't ask me or my team for help making that 15.000 km voyage back to Central America! So there!" he shot back petulantly and stormed off in a huff, pulling Private along, who just sent the mammals an apologetic look.
"My sincerest apologies! Kowalski just has trouble expressing himself!"
"Hah! You sure knocked that birdbrained brainiac down a peg!" Julien told the little kinkajou. "Up high!"
Keke laughed and the two high-fived each other. "By the way, you're totally invited to my royal surprise birthday party that I am not supposed to know about." Julien declared.
Now assured that the situation wouldn't turn volatile, Maurice sighed. "Okay, now that introductions are over, how 'bout we take Miss Victoria for a check-up? I really think she needs it."
He pointed at the adult kinkajou and shuddered after being met with her dead-eyed stare.
Keke yawned and rubbed her eyes. "And where are we gonna stay for the night, Mr. Julien? I'm tired."
"That is a good question." The ringtail rubbed his chin. "Your arrival was most unexpected and you sorta caught us in the middle of some important things."
An idea hit him as he looked at the resident odd couple. "Hey? Since you guys found her, how about you let her crash at your place for the night? Ya cool with that?"
"Us?" Horst blinked.
"Oh, it would be our honor, King Julien." Mary Ann smiled.
"Well…I guess one night won't hurt." Horst shrugged. "You okay with that, Ke…"
The couple found the little kinkajou asleep with her tail wrapped around her body and they, along with Julien and Maurice, were all drawn to her, cooing and gushing like idiots.
"Kowalski, I told you to contact me if you found a lead on Dr. Blowhole. Not if some kid gave you lip and hurt your widdle feewings."
"But, Skipper!" Kowalski whined, holding his walkie talkie. "She insulted my intelligence even though she's clearly the uneducated ignoramus!"
Private rolled his eyes while rowing their small rowboat across the mouth of a delta, which was spilling out into the ocean.
"For pity's sake, Kowalski?" the rookie spoke up. "Don't you think you're acting just a wee bit juvenile?"
"I am not! You're the one who watches Lunacor-"
"Young Private's right!" Skipper barked. "Buck up and let it go, you need to focus on your mission, soldier! Now, no more pity calls. Skipper out!"
Their leader ended the call and Kowalski sulked before trying to pull himself back together.
"Señor Trápala…hot air…snot-nosed brat…" he grumbled under his breath while Private shook his head.
"Fine, let's get back to work." Kowalski adopted a wannabe-tough guy tone. "We haven't scoured this sector of the jungle yet."
"Does that mean we're gonna use the night vision goggles?" Private grew excited.
"No, I'll be using them." Kowalski said firmly, already wearing them. "You'll be covering me."
"Awww…" Private hung his head and resumed rowing.
Little did they know that they were being watched by a pair of yellow eyes surfacing from the water.
The onlooker saw them reach the shore and move on before diving under again and using the river to effortlessly navigate deeper into the jungle, while smiling to himself.
What brave new world awaited him here? And new, exotic morsels?
If you're wondering, no, I did not pick a kinkajou for this role because of Vivo (I was not crazy about the title character's design, which looked way too monkey-like and therefor undermined the animal's uniqueness XD). As a long-time zoology enthusiast, I've known about exotic animals like lemurs and kinkajous since I was a kid. No, the real reason is because I was looking for a small, exotic, tree-climbing and preferably obscure mammal that fitted the criteria of "What if a lemur and fossa had a hybrid child?", which is of course biologically impossible, and with me not wanting to go the boring route of just using a baby lemur or fossa cub (like the one from POM's "The Terror of Madagascar"), the kinkajou, the bizarre and adorable jungle raccoon of Latin America, sprang to mind almost immediately, since it is an arboreal carnivoran just like the fossa (the same group of sharp-toothed and clawed mammals that includes cats, dogs, hyenas, bears, weasels, seals and so on), complete with fangs and claws and very fossa-esque uniform tawny colorations, but in terms of lifestyle, diet and anatomy, it is a remarkable example of convergent evolution, a carnivoran that evolved to be the ecological equivalent of a primate, with its general appearance most closely resembling a lemur.