Chapter ten of POM; Parent Hunt.
Plot[]
For the penguins, Marlene, North Wind, The Velociraptors, the lemurs and Hunter, finding the perfect hiding spot for Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Hunter's parents and Nigel would be hard, and even harder to part ways with, but Obi-wan said it would be safer if the parents and Nigel weren't anywhere with them, now they were deciding on where they should stay at, "we should get back to headquarters" Eva suggested, "no, our home bases would be the first places the Lourinhã Empire would look to hunt us down" Faragonda objected, "I think I am knowing where to be going" Julien offered and everybody look at him.
Meanwhile circus Zaragoza was in Tallahassee Florida and of course they too had heard of their fellow penguins and lemurs becoming super stars against man-eaters (with their dinosaur friends being brand knew to them), as well as the empire's attack at the London animal agencies, the Penguins of Madagascar's jet was coming to it now and landed just beside it, "good old circus Zaragoza, the parents should be being safe here" Julien said, "I have to admit, it's not a bad idea" Skipper commented, "huh so this is what the circus looks like" Marlene remarked, this being the first time she visits, "yeah we haven't been here in years" Kowalski added, Miyuki noticed Obi-wan was looking sad, "Obi-wan you okay? you wanna talk?" she offered, "talking's for wimps, it's time for action" Obi-wan dismisses, they then enter the tent and found Alex organizing some stuff, "hey lion" Skipper called causing Alex to drop a circus tool he had picked up and spun around, "Skipper? I can't believe you're here, again" Alex commented and everyone else heard too and came rushing in to greet them, particularly the African foursome as well as the rest of the circus guys like Stefano, plus they finally get to meet Marlene, the raptors, Nigel, North Wind, Hunter and the penguins parents, "coming by to see us preform again" Marty asked, "actually no, we have a favor to ask" Elvis states, they then tell the circus guys about the empire's attack on the modern-day life as well as stating that all animal agencies and militaries were targeted in some purge, "that is bad, we heard it on the news" Melman stated, "anyway, we were wondering if you could have our parents and Hunter's with you in hiding for awhile" Kowalski says, the circus animals look at each other and nod with smiles, including Vitaly, "sure, we'd be happy to keep them with us in secret" Gloria stated, "yeah they're safe with us" Vitaly vowed, "thank you" Skipper expressed, then he Kowalski Rico and Hunter turned to their parents, Hunter's parting was the quickest to last but it was tearful, "after all this time when we just reunited, we have to separate again" Kowalski laments, "we're sorry we couldn't catch up on everything with you" Skipper offers, "yeah" Rico finished, "we understand, we understood that the only reason you three were gone was because of Private" Helen stated, then they each all hug one last time, "take care of yourselves son" Toby whispered, "and keep leading with pride" Nevaeh added, "we've been apart for years, we can go on with that a little more" Jeffry sooths to Kowalski, "and keep up with the science" Helen added, "I will" Kowalski promised, "keep up with the demolition and insanity" Rex said to Rico, "and be safe too, we wouldn't want you to get anymore scars or have any of your explosives kill you from inside-out" Stella advised, "hehe yeah" Rico joked in nervousness, funny she should ask as that last part almost did happen once, the three each gave one of their most-prized possessions to their parents, Skipper gave his parents his old army tag, Kowalski gave his one of his failed inventions and Rico gave his one of his grenades (having removed the gunpowder from it), Private's parting with Nigel was just as heartfelt, "be safe uncle Nigel" Private stated, "you too" Nigel returned, they then get ready to leave, "by guys, we'll never forget you" Nevaeh waved, "be safe" Rex joined in, "and we love you" Helen finished, the three older penguins waved back until they were in the plane, when the plane rose the parents and circus bid them farewell until it was out of sight.
Their next stop was North Wind HQ, since Roark the Dinheirosaurus still had duties to attend there and Bella the Bellubrunnus wanted to warn everyone there about the empire, "oh hey Private before you leave I want to tell you something" Classified said to Private who looks at Skipper, "go ahead" he offers and Private does, at the same time the rest of North Wind were bidding farewell to the New Yorkers, Corporal hugged Mort and Hunter just because of their cuteness of course, Short Fuse fist bumped Rico, Eva gave Kowalski a goodbye kiss on the cheek and both told each other to be careful, and the rest were saying their farewells to each other as well, seconds later Private returned with Classified, he gave a quick hug to Corporal and he and his team boarded their ship and flew off, once away Elvis went to Private asking "what did Classified want?".
"He told me about my parents deaths from what he heard from Nigel" Private answered and left, they all look back in surprise but didn't say anything, not only that but the three older penguins were remembering some more.
Flashback
After reuniting with his adopters Private was taken to the Penguins Academy's infirmary to be treated, luckily he was still healthy, "daddy" he beckoned to Skipper when he came in, the doctors smile and allow him to cradle Private, it was also decided by Sarah that he could become a permanent resident for the team and be trained by them personally, though whenever there was trouble in the zoo he wouldn't be allowed to participate in them, just watch them do it, despite now sporting adult-feathers he was still small compared to Skipper, Kowalski, Rico, Manfredi and Johnson and they would all cuddle him sometimes, Private may now have waterproof feathers but his voice remained the same, his three caretakers went through some changes too, Rico still had bad vocabulary but was now devouring and vomiting weaponry and gadgets as well as having a deadly fetish for explosives, Private began to fear Rico a little and on top of that both of their interests began to conflict, resulting in some hostile moments between the two, but one part of Rico remains the same, he is still the same brother/father that adopted Private, Kowalski went through changes too, he was now a scientist and inventor, the only problem was that Kowalski kept messing up on the inventing which caused said inventions to explode, bringing concern for their safety, Private did worry about it from time to time but Kowalski remained determined to perfect his inventing, and did held concern for Private being a victim of the failing inventions, as for Skipper he was still in charge, but he was now acting crazy and kept misinterpreting every other zoo animal (mainly newcomers) to be enemies, Private even began to fear him as much as Rico, especially given that his new job has not only made him crazy, but a bit mean too, such as forcing his teammates to do exercise to death and hold little concern about it, he would also slap them over something and Private wondered if he himself would ever be slapped too since he was staying with his caretakers permanently now, gosh he hoped not, otherwise it would be considered child-abuse.
One day though he couldn't resist asking Skipper about it, "um Skipper?" he asks, "yeah Private?" Skipper asks as he was organizing some military files, "why do you slap the others? isn't that a bit mean?" Private adds, "well you see young Private, whenever a teammate makes a mistake that could've easily been prevented, it's the leader's job to provide discipline, it's why I do it to Kowalski whenever his inventing backfires and to Rico whenever he gets explosion-obsessed, although I'll agree that it is kind of mean as none like it, but I have to if I want them to behave" Skipper explains, "oh, what about me? will I ever get slapped?" Private asks secretly hoping to be wrong, "not yet, you're still too young for me to slap you, otherwise it would be cruel and abusive of me to, but when you're about seven or so there may be time in which I have to, especially if you do something naughty" Skipper explains again, Private nods partly relieved, now he understood why Skipper slaps them for trouble they cause, and frankly if Private was the boss he would've done it too for the same reasons, he himself was lucky that Skipper wouldn't dare slap him, at least in his current age, but he new that when he would get old enough he'd have to bare being slapped for when or if he himself screwed up something.
Flashback ends
Stay tuned for POM; Parent Hunt, Chapter eleven