This was a suicidal stunt, as most sensible animals would say, but if it worked, it would sure be hysterical, and humble, or rather humiliate the haughty. Naturally, Keke had focused squarely on the fun side of this stunt rather than the inherent life-threatening risk that came with it when she concocted it.

Bouncing a pebble in her right paw, she was perched on top of a papaya tree and watched the yellow-scaled, 20-foot serpent coiled up on a flat rock near the rio, dozing and basking in the sun.

Sniggering mischievously, Keke whistled but failed to wake up the boa, so she threw her pebble, and it bounced off his head. He grunted and opened one of his yellow eyes, prompting Keke to stick her tongue out and make silly faces at him.

"Catch me if you can, el gusano amarillo gordo!" she shouted before mooning him.

"Pequeña mocosa podrida..." Savio muttered under his breath and closed his eye "...I will not dignify her payasadas with-"

He didn't even finish before a papaya collided with his face, covering his head in goo. Sufficiently pissed off now, Savio rose up and shook his head clean before hissing viciously, with his fangs barred, and he dove into the rio.

Keke braced herself and saw the reptile emerge on the bank, just below her tree. Savio slithered up the tree with incredible speed but Keke backflipped out of the way just before he reached the top and snapped his jaws.

Not feeling anything in his mouth, Savio looked around in confusion.

"Over here, serpiente estupido!" Keke waved at him from atop a rock and jumped into a grove of palmettos.

Narrowing his eyes, Savio slithered down the tree and pursued her, his furious hisses causing every other animal in the jungle to run for cover in a blind panic.

Macaws and toucans flew out of the trees, sounders of javelinas scattered, agoutis and coatis ducked into the undergrowth, tamanduas and spider monkeys rushed up trees, a sloth climbed up his branch and bolted like a marathon runner, and even a passing puma screeched like a housecat and scrambled up a palm tree as Keke ran past him, pursued by Savio.

Zeroing in on his prey, the boa saw the little nuisance run into a human camp and followed her there, blinded by his rage. Once he was in the middle of the camp, he lost sight of Keke and lifted his head to look around.

He grew a deadly smile and flicked his tongue as he saw her cornered against a tent.

She looked back and cried, "Oh, no!"

Chuckling softly, Savio lunged at her, only to suddenly lose control of his movement and slip around on a pool of dark oil, with a container lying next to it.

"Wow! What the?! Ahhh!?" he cried as he was getting coated in the sticky liquid.

Keke hollered with laughter as the oil-covered boa struggled to regain balance and jumped onto a nearby table, where she had placed a human camera.

"Smile for the camera!" she quipped as she took several snapshots of the jungle's most feared predator making a fool of himself, when a paw grasped her shoulder.

"Dios mío, Keke! Have you lost your mind!" Victoria cried frantically and shook her. "You've gone and upset Savio!"

"Mantén la calma, mamá." Keke yanked her shoulder free.

"Please forgive us, Señor Savio!" the hysterical Victoria dropped to her knees and begged. "Keke's very, very, VERY sorry! She'll be punished for it harshly! Lo juro!"

Keke rolled her eyes at the pathetic display of spinelessness. How was she related to this woman?

She pointed at the snake, whose coils were getting tangled up. "Look at him? He's not as tough as he thinks he is-"

BAM!

All of a sudden, Keke felt a sharp pain in her rump and a second later, she felt dizzy and fell off the table, landing on her back.

She heard her mother scream and with her vision turning blurry, her head rolled to the side to see the oily Savio desperately trying to slither away, only to get shot by several darts. Then everything went black.

She faintly heard a rough, malicious chuckle, "Nos vas a hacer ricos..."

Keke woke up with a start as she heard a female voice say, "Horst, why would I need five brushes?"

For a few seconds, she felt confused and didn't know where she was. But her memory of the last week soon came back to her.

She heard Horst respond with, "So you can have spares, honey. I felt bad about yesterday, so that's why I got up early and searched the Cove of Wonders."

Rubbing her eyes, the groggy Keke stood up from the smaller nest in the bedroom and shook her head.

" So that's what happened...?" she realized her dream was no dream, but a recent memory. She had totally punked that stuck-up, slithering blowhard!

Though in retrospect, she also felt bad for derailing her mother's spy mission with that prank. The rotten humans didn't even let her keep the pictures of that mean old boa looking stupid!

"And why hairbrushes specifically?" the bemused Mary Ann asked. "I already have one."

Horst rubbed the back of his neck, having already thought of a cover story.

"Well...I used it to clean my tail while you were telling Keke her bedtime story, and see...I kinda broke it? Sorry."

Mary Ann blinked. She wasn't upset about losing a minor, replaceable commodity like a hairbrush. She was more confused by how her husband managed to break one. Horst never did cease to surprise her.

"How do you break a hairbrush exactly?" she asked incredulously when they heard a door opening and Keke walked in on them.

"Buenos días..." the lethargic kinkajou yawned and stretched her arm, remembering that she was in for another day of tedium and misery.

"Ah!" Horst lit up upon seeing her. "Buenos días to you too, mija! Look what I found for you at the Cove of Wonders!"

Adjusting her vision, Keke was stumped and sprang back to life as she saw the blue-eyed lemur tapping a large toy car.

Laughing, she jumped and hugged it. "I can drive my own car! Gracias, Horst! Muchas gracias!"

"No, no...don't be ridiculous." Mary Ann peeled her off the car and placed her down. "Horst and I simply thought we could convert this car into a nice bed... for you."

"Yes, with some tweaks and a new paint job..." Horst rubbed its hood with his elbow "...it will be like brand, spanking new. Bet no other kid at school will be able to brag about having a bed like this!"

Keke's joy waned. That wasn't as cool as driving the car, but a cool gift was still a cool gift.

"I'll have my own bed! Awesome...wait?" something dawned on her. "Can that even fit in your bedroom?"

"Perceptive as usual I see." Mary Ann smiled. "I thought the same thing and came up with a solution. After all, if you're going to live with us, you should really have your own room. You're certainly old enough for it."

"Exactumundo." Horst agreed. "Which is why Mary Ann appointed me to build an...annu...aja...eh...?"

"An annex, Horst." Mary Ann explained. "It's an additional smaller room attached to an already built house."

"And you're not going to be the one building it, Horst." she added firmly, making her husband deflate and frown sadly. "You can't even tell a hammer from a screwdriver, so you're going to pick as many mangos as you can today, and then find and hire some construction workers."

"So, I'll get my own room?" Keke asked excitedly and clapped her paws.

"Yes, dear. But you will have to be a good girl first...otherwise, you might not be able to stay here." Mary Ann made sure to remind Keke.

"Sure, I can do that." Keke suddenly found the prospect of two more days of nonstop good deeds not quite as miserable as before, not when there was an awesome reward for it.

"But it will take me all day to pick enough mangos..." Horst whined but his wife looked very pleased with the prospect.

"Good. That should keep you from indulging in any foolish activities, and I expect you to supervise the construction of the new room. Someone in this home has to do it, meaning you'll be here by the time Keke and I return." Mary Ann told him before adopting a gentler tone.

"Do that and I'll forgive you for yesterday's mishap. Sound like a deal?"

Horst rubbed his arm. "Guess that's fair...I won't disappoint you. You gals have fun with your PR campaign."

"So... who do I help today?" Keke asked semi-eagerly.

Mary Ann thought about it. "We'll scope out the kingdom, like before. There's always someone in need of a helping paw. But I think the New Yorkers are a good start, given that you've pranked most of them..."

Keke grew worried, thinking Mary Ann was backtracking on her promise.

"You don't mean the..."

"Crikey. This sure is a daunting task." a worried Private lowered his binoculars as he lay on his belly and spied on the plentiful beachgoers under the cover of some palmettos, overseen by banana trees.

"There's gotta be thousands of lemurs in this kingdom. How on Earth can we monitor them all at the same time?"

"Hmm...no sign of any predators or potential double agents." Kowalski concluded and lowered his binoculars as well, writing his findings on a notepad. "Seems the beach is safe for now."

"We have less than 24 hours, Kowalski!" the frustrated Private was on the verge of a panic attack. "Three innocent souls are in mortal danger and we don't have the foggiest clue who they are. Uhhhh...why did our informant have to be so vague? Why didn't he give us any names!"

"Shhh...keep your voice down." Kowalski scolded him. "And to answer your question; if he did, then that would cheapen the mystery, kill the drama. Make our investigation easier."

Private scowled. "You're saying that like it's a good thing?"

"In fiction, sure." Kowalski shrugged before adopting a grim expression. "But in real life, it's a dire, crippling hurdle. Clearly, watching a crime procedural is far more enjoyable than experiencing one."

"Then why aren't you coming up with any options to overcome it?" Private was getting snippy. "You're Skipper's option guy."

"I'm brainstorming as we speak. And don't you give your superior lip! Understood, Private?" Kowalski got snippy as well.

Private was ready to give his superior even more lip (despite neither having lips), when something dawned on him.

"Wait? I got an idea! Maybe there is a way for us to monitor all the lemurs at once?"

Kowalski widened his eyes. Has the rookie been holding out on their team this whole time?

"Well, what is it?" he was quick to ask. "We don't have time for guessing games."

"Remember when we were setting camp in the Ankaratra mountains, and Skipper found a fly drone?"

"Yes, I do. Hmmm...seems that shifty egomaniac Karl has been eager to spy on us for a while now, hasn't he?" Kowalski rubbed his chin, still failing to connect the dots.

"But he's unlikely to be the culprit. My research shows that fanalokas don't prey on anything bigger than their paw-"

"That's not what I was getting at, Kowalski." an impatient Private cut him off. "I mean, he and Timo probably have lotsa fly drones. We could ask them for help to monitor the citizens, and perhaps locate the culprit before he strikes again."

"Absolutely not!" Kowalski folded his flippers and shook his head. "I'd rather be devoured by an orca than beg that supercilious civet for help."

"But lives are at stake, Kowalski!" Private argued. "This isn't the time to be hung up on petty grudges. Why, I would..."

Private couldn't believe he was about to say this, things really were that dire. "...I'd take up the Armarillo Kid on a dreaded game of mini-golf any day if it meant saving lives!"

Startled by the rookie's bold statement, Kowalski grumbled and mused. He hated to admit it but Private was very much right. Desperate times called for desperate measures!

But surely there was a way for them to use Karl's fly drones without compromising their integrity as a crack team of elite commandos. Private would never cheat at a game, but the rest of the team took no issue with a little pragmatism.

"The answer is a defintive "no", Private." Kowalski said firmly.

But before the shocked rookie could argue, Kowalski added, "Buuuut...since we already know his address, we could perhaps sneak into Karl's home and..."borrow" a few of his drones, just until this crisis is solved."

Private didn't like the idea of breaking into Karl's home and stealing his stuff, especially after Kowalski smashed the porcelain sculpture made to commemorate Karl's late pet and then refused to apologize for it. That just felt like rubbing salt in the wound. But time was of the essence, and as far as breaking and entering went, the penguins had done it plenty of times before, they were covert agents after all, and they were hardly innocent of theft either, just look at the giant ship on the beach.

"Dohhh, alright." Private begrudgingly agreed. "We've done worse than that. If it helps capture this conniving villain and keep the lemurs safe, then I suppose the ends justify the means..."

A pleasantly surprised Kowalkis smiled and patted the rookie's back.

"You've surprised me today, Private. In a good way. Seems Skipper's teachings are finally rubbing off on you, and I'm proud of you."

Private shifted, feeling an awkward mixture of pride and shame.

"Now... let's make sure Karl is busy sucking up to King Julien, which he probably is, and not at his home, so you and I can do a little recon there..." Kowalski whispered as he and Private silently crawled away from the beachgoers.

"Understood." Private gave a firm nod.

"And remember, we have to be quick but also discreet, leave no trace of our presence. We need to be invisible...like ghosts."

"Hello, Mr. Kowalski, silly penguin!" the science penguin squeaked and jumped back as he was faced with a familiar kinkajou.

"Keke?" Private blurted before looking up and whimpering as he saw that Keke was accompanied by her carnivorous foster mom, holding a bunch of bananas, and with a small crate full of them standing near her.

"Umm...top of the morning, Mary Ann." Private sat up and waved awkwardly. "Have you had a lovely breakfast?"

"Penguins, I'm so glad to see you." Mary Ann dropped the bananas and clutched her paws. "I don't mean to intrude on your spying on unsuspecting citizens..."

"What now?" a dumbfounded Kowalski rose up, before taking a wary step back as Mary Ann leaned towards him.

"...but I would really, really like to know if you've made any progress tracking down the culprit behind the lemur abductions."

Noticing Kowalski's side glare, Private flushed and struggled to keep his beak shut, knowing what his commanding officer was about to say, which made him hum and tremble awkwardly on the spot.

"Madame, that is classified intel." Kowalski said sternly. "Even your king has minimal clearance until this crisis has been dealt with, let alone a citizen..."

He narrowed his eyes. "...especially one who has been pegged by her own neighbors as a potential suspect."

Mary Ann hung her head sullenly, while Keke glowered angrily at the penguins.

"That means you haven't found anything, isn't it?" she accused them.

Kowalski was instantly triggered but his years of training under Skipper's command have left him hardwired to keep his beak shut about confidential information, no matter how much he wanted to reveal it to nay-sayers, like the impertinent brat in front of him.

"That is most certainly not true, even if I am not allowed to confirm it to you." he leaned down and pointed his flipper at Keke.

"So you don't have anything, gotcha." Keke snarked bitterly. She would have been smug about it if her and Mary Ann's well-being didn't hang in the balance.

Fuming in tranquil fury, Kowalski met Mary Ann's gaze. "I see you're still doing a substandard job teaching her some manners."

"I don't have to be nice around you, Señor Trápala." Keke retorted snidely. "Cuz nobody here likes you silly penguins anyway."

"What now? Is that true?" Private sounded genuinely hurt.

"Umm...please, don't take it personally. She didn't really mean it." Mary Ann pulled Keke behind her and went into damage control. "Keke's just under a lot of pressure, that's all. This whole ordeal has taken a toll on her."

While she couldn't deny (and worry) that Keke was on to something, Mary Ann was familiar with authority figures withholding information from civilians. King Julien and his entourage did it sometimes if they thought said information could cause a riot. Mary Ann herself had recently stumbled upon such a secret project involving a robotic dolphin.

Regardless of her ambivalent feelings on the matter, she knew better than to waste her time trying to probe the penguins for information. It would just hamper their investigation and draw more suspicion at her.

"Sí, I am feeling bad, and you silly penguins aren't making me feel any better!" Keke told the polar birds.

"I...I'm terribly sorry, Keke." Private fiddled with his flippers. "But I promise you, we'll catch the culprit, no matter what it takes."

Keke looked unimpressed, allowing Mary Ann to clear her throat and say, "I...I have faith in you two, and I won't bother you anymore. But would you, by any chance, know where Melman or Mason and Phill might be?"

Private blinked. "Well...we haven't seen Melman lately, but I know the chimps are currently at the hotel, the one all the zoo animals are staying at."

"How do you know that?" Keke questioned, causing Private to blush and rub the back of his head.

"Well...ever since I was stationed here, I've been paying them a visit each morning, trying to apologize for me and my team almost getting them ki-"

" Classified intel, Private." Kowalski hissed at him.

Mary Ann lit up. "That's great."

"And why are you interested in their current whereabouts?" Kowalski asked with an air of suspicion.

Trying to act casual, Mary Ann picked up her bananas and dropped them in the crate. "We just want to offer them this crate of bananas as a token of our apology... for Keke's prank."

"Oh, really? Are we getting one too?" Private asked hopefully.

"No." Keke dissed him, making the penguin whimper sadly, and she started pushing the crate towards the megafauna hotel. "Let's go and find the monos, Mary Ann."

Suddenly, a pair of bird feet landed in front of her. It was Xixi, holding a notepad and pen in her wings, and wearing a journalist hat.

"This must be my lucky day, just the pair of outcasts I've been looking for!" she addressed the fossa and kinkajou before turning to the penguins. "Together with the other one I've been itching to get the scoop on!"

"Excuse me? Have you been following us?" a startled Mary Ann asked.

"Oh, no. I've been following them." Xixi casually pointed at the penguins. "They're more conspicuous."

"I beg your pardon, ma'am?" a dumbfounded Kowalski blurted. "How have you found us?"

"You two spying on our citizens would suggest that you may have a lead on the mystery assassin and know where and when he or she will strike next." Xixi went on, her tone fast-paced.

Kowalski seethed and his eye twitched. How did these backwater simpletons keep getting the drop on them? The oxymoron of him having to "borrow" inventions from two of those "simpletons", who were fellow kooky academics, was still lost on the brainy penguin.

"Miss Xixi..." he tried to keep his tone professional "...this is classified intel. Something we can't share with anyone, especially journalists. It's for your own safety-"

"Just give me a sec!" Xixi held out a wing feather like a finger, before whipping out a microphone and holding it up to Mary Ann.

"Mary Ann, what have you to say about the accusations that you are the mystery assassin in question? Have you been suffering any relapses or combating your savage hunger lately?"

Mary Ann felt her mouth drying up and tried composing herself. She knew saying anything, literally anything, to Xixi could screw her over even more, as the nosy toucan knew how to squeeze the most scandalous of stories out of the simplest, most inane statements.

"No comment." she said simply and picked up the crate. "Let's go, Keke."

She took a few steps, only to realize that Keke wasn't following her. The kinkajou's attention was drawn to Xixi, which sent a chill down Mary Ann's spine.

Xixi grew a big smile and lowered her mike to Keke. "Do you have any comments regarding your living arrangements? Anything that would require child protective services to get involved?"

"What are you supposed to be?" Keke asked, causing Xixi's smile to drop.

"Excuse me?" Xixi hadn't expected that response, before chuckling. "Why, I'm Xixi, Madagascar's most intrepid reporter. Everyone knows that... but I guess you are new here."

"Not who, I mean what are you? What kind of bird are ya?" Keke repeated. She had seen the reporter before; when she and Mary Ann had been busted by Tammy in front of the whole kingdom, but for obvious reasons, her attention hadn't been on Xixi at the time.

"Keke... it's...it's rude to ask people such questions..." a flustered Mary Ann grabbed the kinkajou by her arm and whispered, "...especially nosy journalists."

"I was just curious." Keke shrugged. "Here on Madagascar, there are all sorts of animals that remind me of animals from back home, and this bird kind of looks like a toucan."

Xixi blinked before forcing a smile. "That's because I am a toucan, dear. The genuine article, in more ways than one."

Her response elicited a harsh laugh from the kinkajou. Mary Ann and Private watched in confusion, as did Kowalski, albeit for different reasons.

"No, you're not. I know what toucans look like."

"Keke..." Mary Ann warned her.

"But it's true! I'm from Guatemala, we have toucans everywhere in my home jungle. I know what a toucan looks like, okay?" Keke adamantly insisted, thinking the adults were taking her for stupid.

Xixi gulped fearfully and dropped her mike.

"You're under the impression that you're a toucan? How peculiar." a somewhat surprised Kowalski mused, rubbing his chin.

Xixi's eye twitched and she turned stiff as a board. How did this happen? How did these two outsiders know? Was Frank cross with her?

Mary Ann tried to shush Keke. "Keke, please just stop talking-"

"I mean, if you squint and tilt your head, and maybe if you're colorblind..." Keke said while tilting her head "...she kinda...sorta...barely looks like a toucan."

"I...eh?!" Xixi trembled, turning into an avian sprinkler. "I...I think I forgot something at my timeshare!"

She slowly walked away from the group, her gait stiff and awkward, as if she had a stick shoved up her cloaca. The adults watched her with bemused expressions.

"Umm...are you guys insinuating that Xixi...isn't a toucan or something?" a confused Private asked Kowalski, making Xixi hyperventilate.

Mary Ann scowled at Keke. "For the love of...ughhh, Keke! You can't just go around...questioning other people's species!" she scolded the kinkajou, despite not really understanding what got Xixi so worked up.

She wouldn't have cared if someone, let alone a child thought she wasn't a fossa, because she knew she was a fossa.

"No. As much as it pains me to admit it, Keke made an accurate observation." Kowalski spoke up matter-of-factly, making Xixi freeze in her tracks, and her heart raced.

Keke made a face. "You're agreeing with me?" Had the world gone topsy-turvy?

"Yes, I am. It would appear that Ms. Xixi is a tad confused about her taxonomic status..." Kowalski started lecturing while pointing at the reporter "...for it's plainly obvious, at least to anyone with even a basic understanding of zoology and morphology, that she's actually a member of the Bucerotidae family, colloquially known as-"

"On second thought!" A hysterical Xixi flew over Kowalski, grasped his flippers with her feet, and carried him off. "Let's continue our interview somewhere else!"

"Madam! What's the meaning of this?" the others heard Kowalski lamenting, while Private jumped and ran after his superior.

"Hey! Wait for me, Kowalski! Why do you get to experience the joy of flight!"

"Um...what just happened?" a befuddled Mary Ann asked, now alone with Keke.

"Simple. That Xixi is a farsanta." the kinkajou smirked, always feeling high and mighty whenever she outwitted an adult.

"What bobo would buy her as a toucan of all things? I mean...really?" she shrugged.

Mary Ann wanted to chastise her but didn't know where to start, for she didn't really understand what just happened, other than that Xixi might hiding a shameful secret about her identity.

"Eh...how about we don't think too hard about it, okay? And don't share this with anyone, even Horst." Mary Ann whispered to Keke. "We don't want to be snitches like Tammy, do we?"

"Yuck! No way!" Keke was repulsed at the thought of emulating the vaca gorda.

Mary Ann sighed with relief.

"My point exactly, Plus, we really don't need to make any more enemies. Especially those with a media presence, let's just find the chimps."

In the megafauna hotel's kitchen, the chimps, wearing chef's hats and aprons, were in the middle of a civil debate.

"Come on, Phill. Banana cream pie is so dreadfully cliche. We can't squander our reward on something so...pedestrian." Mason insisted while waving his egg whisker.

His friend frowned and signed his retort. Mason gasped and touched his chest.

"Banana breed isn't the same? Utilizing exotic fruits to create baked goods is a commendably imaginative dish that only a great ape could come up with, which humans..." he muttered begrudgingly "... technically are."

"Hola, monos. I hope I'm not interrupting your cocinando?"

Surprised, the chimps glanced down to see a tiny, golden-furred mammal looking up at them sheepishly. It was Keke, with a modest crate of bananas behind her.

"Umm...hello, child. Don't worry, you weren't interrupting anything." Mason said cordially and pointed over his shoulder. "My partner and I still can't settle on which dish we're going to prepare."

Phill signed something and Mason nodded. "Yes, I worried she might be that pesky penguin too."

Mason still couldn't fathom how the wide-eyed rookie thought a mere "sorry" could make up for the penguins' criminal negligence when they highjacked the ship.

"Awesome!" Keke cheered before running behind her small crate and pushing it towards them. At her size, this was still a herculean effort.

"Cuz I picked all of these bananas just for you monos. To show that I'm sorry for the whole..." she chuckled awkwardly "... exploding bananas prank."

"Oh, I remember..." Mason said with a dreary look but it quickly disappeared. "That's very considerate of you, Keke. But I'm afraid Phill and I are already set for the foreseeable future."

Keke's jaw dropped as Phill opened the door to the kitchen's storage room, happily gesturing at three huge ship crates (huge enough to hold a hippo or giraffe) stacked to the brim with plump, yellow bananas.

"You...you're some plátano-pickers?" the dumbfounded kinkajou complimented them.

"Oh, no. We didn't pick them ourselves. King Julien gave them to us as a reward for playing the part of bellhops when his insufferable parents finally left the island, to everyone's fortune." a good-natured Mason explained while Keke hung her head in defeat.

Noticing it, Mason smiled knowingly. "Now, now, keep your chin up, dear child. And let's drop the pretense, shall we?"

Keke gulped. Mason's tone conveyed that he was on to her. Simians really were smart creatures.

"I know what you're trying to accomplish and for what it's worth, we'll still accept your apology."

She had not expected that. "You will?"

"Of course. While we didn't care much for the exploding bananas bit, Phill and I aren't vindictive or self-righteous busybodies, unlike...certain individuals."

Phill grew a nasty frown and signed an elaborate statement. Mason rolled his eyes, all too used to his friend's potty hands. He was glad that their underaged visitor didn't understand sign language.

"I mostly agree, Phill. But there was no reason to use the...c-word." he whispered to his friend before turning to Keke again.

"And we understand that you're still a child trying to have fun. To be frank, we only really joined the angry mob due to King Julien's involvement." Mason revealed, with Phill nodding.

"I might not be terribly familiar with Madagascar customs, but I really do think his antics from that day were not proper behavior for a king, or any adult for that matter." Mason shook his head and put his hands on his hips.

"I know but he promised he would do better." Keke spoke up for her friend. "He told me so last night while being...ehh...groggy and sulky after drinking a lot of juice or something. He rambled on about being immature and needing to do better."

The chimps widened their eyes and looked at each other, with Phill soon smiling and shrugging while Mason shook his head disapprovingly at his friend.

"Yes...we'll, we shall see. But regarding your situation, Keke..."

"Yes...what?"

"We would simply advise you to be more considerate about your actions next time. As you have surely learned by now, reckless actions have severe consequences. Plus, certain pranks can be in poor taste...like exploiting Melman's hypochondria."

"I'll apologize to him too!" Keke insisted. "I'll get him a cure for his hypercaa...hypo...that thing that's wrong with him!"

Mason chuckled and gently patted her head, careful not to accidentally squash her under his hand.

"That would be very helpful for him but I'm afraid that hypochondria isn't something that can be "cured" with any sort of medicine. It's more of a...mental condition, a type of fear." he explained to Keke, who deflated.

"But I don't think Melman's a very vindictive chap either; a simple apology should suffice." Mason added. "The only problem is that he and his friends have had prolonged absences as of late, and the two of us have no idea what they've been up to."

Phill rolled his eyes and grew a tiny smirk. He knew exactly what Alex and co were doing, given that he often joined in on their fun.

"Caramba!" Keke snapped her fingers and sighed. At least this visit wasn't a total waste.

"I...thank you for not being mad with me." Keke was about to walk away. "Keep the bananas. A gift's a gift."

"Think nothing of it, Keke. But if you could spare another minute..." she stopped and turned back to Mason "...we're aware of your predicament, pretty much everyone in the kingdom is-"

"That's why I'm doing good deeds." Keke cut in. "To show everyone that I can be a "good girl" and stay with Mary Ann and Horst."

Mason and Phill exchanged worried glances, the former clearing his throat. "I understand that, but I think you might be approaching this issue the wrong way."

"What do you mean?"

"Despite what certain...busybodies might say, we see nothing particularly wrong with your behavior, at least compared to most children. Pulling practical jokes is a fairly common pastime for children your age. I think the true issue regarding this custody battle is your guardians, not you yourself, Keke. I'm sure you're aware that this...unorthodox couple doesn't have the most stellar reputation."

Keke crossed her arms and glowered. "I know all about that, and I think it's so stupid. There's nothing wrong with them and everyone is too hard on them."

Mason raised his hands. "We're not arguing to the contrary... per se. After all, we've known Alex for years and now even share the same abode as him. He has never caused trouble at our zoo, and other than one lapse from hunger pains, he has shown remarkable self-control ever since we arrived in Madagascar. We have no reason to suspect that Mary Ann is any different, especially given that she has been a model citizen for seven months, the same as Alex."

Keke cocked an eyebrow. What were these big monkeys getting at?

"Then what's the problem? She did nothing wrong ever since Mr. Julien let her live here?"

"Well...how do I put this...?" Mason pondered and Phill gestured an adequate response.

"Yes...well put, Phill. See... a bad reputation can be very damning, and it's inherently hard to rinse it from the public conscience, even if you're sincerely committed to turning your life around. Some chaps simply won't give you the benefit of the doubt, unfortunately."

"So some people are too stupid to see reason, I already met them. What do I care about what stupid people think?" Keke argued.

"True, but perhaps it would be in your best interest if you utilized your friendship with King Julien to help you settle in with a...different couple? One that draws much less scrutiny, like..." Mason tried to think of one.

"Like Ted and Dorothy? Or someone who's friends with the vaca gorda?" Keke snarked. "No way, Jose. They would drive me loco in a week. I like Mary Ann and Horst, I won't leave them. We're in this together."

Seeing her commitment, Mason sighed in resignation. "As you wish, I won't impose my opinion on you, this is your choice to make after all. But if things do go awry, I'd advise you to remember our proposition. It's good to plan ahead."

"I know, but I don't need it. Everything will work out fine. Just one more day, and we'll be, as you gringos say, home free!" Keke insisted.

As a zoology buff, I always appreciate cartoons and other tv shows that utilize more exotic and obscure animals. The Penguins of Madagascar did this to an extent, but still used many familiar ones as recurring characters (like Marlene, Fred, and the sewer rats), while All Hail King Julien mostly used native Madagascar animals, and actually made me aware of some like Karl the fanaloka and Pam the ring-tailed vontsira (prior to that, I thought of the Malagasy carnivores as just "the fossa and it's more generic relatives"), and it's also how I learned about the giant Malagasy jumping rats. And as my own fics have shown, I'm fine with them using animals that aren't native to the island but are at least adjacent to it on mainland Africa (like with the cobra Doctor S), and I used animals like the crowned eagle (extinct on Madagascar for over a thousand years), monitor lizards, pangolins and golden moles in this fic, since Madagascar does have a limited number of animal groups to use.

So it always baffled me why the creators of the show made Xixi a toucan, instead of a bird native to Madagascar (like a vanga), or at least to nearby Africa, like a hornbill, which are the Old World's equivalent to toucans physically and ecologically. Originally, I considered giving her the backstory of being brought here by poachers and freed by the lemurs (I was thinking of a young Uncle Julien and Princess Julienne, who only did it for some stupid and entirely selfish reason, after little chick Xixi kept begging them) but then I looked up some images of hornbills with colorations very similar to toucans, and also recalled having Xixi in Zazu's "caged song birdie" role during the Scar's reign-esque alternative universe where Koto won in "Making the Wrong Choice", and it hit me. Not sure yet why Xixi claims to be a toucan, does she identify as one (allegory) or is she just doing it for clout? Guess I'll figure that out for another fic.

And like "A Foe In Need", it was fun showing the various adult characters having different perspectives on an allegory for a real-life hot-button issue, albeit in more detail here; King Julien being naively optimistic and supportive but accidentally being unhelpful (though also justified in his stance), Maurice trying to be reasonable but unable to shake off his suspicions and also unintentionally being a hypocrite, Karl sympathizing with Mary Ann but being distracted by his own ambitions to prove himself to his boss (out-of-whack priorities), Hector being justified in his grievances with Keke but also being a misanthropic curmudgeon about it (thus exacerbating their feud), Ted and Dorothy being open-minded but also sheep and needing to be convinced (the ordinary "flying monkey" type neighbors), and of course, Tammy and her friends being self-righteous Karens eager to commit some hate crimes. And Mason ends up being the one to take a reasonable, objective, and entirely unbiased stance on the issue, while also showing empathy to Keke (despite getting pranked by her), cuz he's a smart, sophisticated simian and all XD