CHAPTER 25

CHECKMATE

Julien watched Clemson's body slump to the ground beside him. The sound of the gunshot rang and buzzed in his ears. The wisps of gun smoke reflected in the scant light as they floated in midair. He reached over to touch the other lemur's paw and feel his pulse and knew he wasn't pretending to be dead.

It was over.

Julien ran his tongue across his teeth and spat blood onto the floor. That vile taste wouldn't leave his mouth. He suspected it would be with him for a while. It took a few seconds for him to realize how many bullets he'd taken, and once he did, it felt as though he was going to bleed out right there. Warm blood soaked his fur in many places. He lay on his side, both paws pressing hard over the wound in his stomach, fighting the panic, the blinding flashes of pain that wracked his body up and down… fighting for his life.

He'd survived all terror and all suffering Clemson had inflicted upon him, since the very first day Alice had brought him to their habitat in the Central Park Zoo, and now it was over, once and for all – so he wouldn't die just now!

He could feel his vision begin to fade when he suddenly heard the sound of engines nearby. And then voices grew louder, familiar voices – Julien could feel the darkness threatening to consume his consciousness, but he fought it off and forced himself to look up at his friends who came climbing down into the moat and running towards him.

Skipper was the first one to reach him, staring down at him with wide, shocked eyes as he found him lying on his back, drenched in his own blood. "Ringtail!"

"S-Skipper… it's… good to see you," the lemur king murmured.

"Oh, Hoover Dam…!" He squatted down on the ground and clasped his flipper on Julien's shoulder. "Hold on, soldier. Hold on!"

His body a throbbing network of torment, Julien weakly lifted a paw, moving his fingers over the flipper on his shoulder. Skipper held his paw tightly while he reached his other flipper out to grab Clemson's wrist and check for a pulse. "I wouldn't have thought it of you, Ringtail," he murmured, "But you really did it. You killed him."

Julien blinked his eyes slowly. "What…? No, no. He did that to himself."

He knew that Skipper would believe him. He wasn't the type to kill a lemur in cold blood… to murder anyone. Not even Clemson. Besides, the gun still clasped in the red lemur's lifeless paw clearly confirmed his statement.

"I see," Skipper murmured, and then from far off in the distance more shouts echoed, more voices heading this way.

The others came running up to them now, too, and Julien felt himself being lifted up in strong, familiar arms. Maurice clutched him close to his chest as he kept whispering to him, breathing out Julien's name with deep love and despair as he covered his face with tear-wet kisses. And Julien threw his arms around him and buried his face in his white chest fur, reveling in the sweet warmth of the older lemur's body as he finally let it all go and allowed darkness to flood his senses.

Clover and the penguins were remaining behind while Maurice took Julien to Dr. S' cave. They were standing around Clemson's dead body, looking down on the red lemur.

"So… this is it," said Clover. "Frank must have gotten our wish rocks after all!"

Kowalski rolled his eyes. "Well, if you want to believe that…"

Skipper stared down at Clemson, who lay so still, so very still, eyes closed and lips half parted, frothy blood staining them. He frowned.

"Not quite the way I would've wished for things to work out."

But Clover just shrugged. "He deserved to die. The only thing I regret about this is that it wasn't me who finished him off!"

The rogue penguin cocked his head to one side, a soft growl rumbling in his throat.

Private nodded his approval. "I guess you're right, Rico. This couldn't have been avoided. Evil has compromised him too much."

Their leader stood quite still, gazing down into the dead face of the lemur who had caused his friends so much harm. "What about you now, Clemson? No more 'all hail the misunderstood, unprincipled, sociopathic lemur'? No more nefarious schemes. No more lies to destroy us… to destroy you."

Clover screwed her mouth sideways and raised her eyebrows. "Do you regret it?"

Skipper stared at the ground for a few moments, his eyes boring a hole into the muddy earth. Finally, slowly, he shook his head. "It wouldn't make a difference anyway. What is done, is done." He turned away from the scene for a moment, gazing up at the wide blue sky and the seagulls circling above. There seemed to be something provoking his mind into deep reflection. "It's just that… when I was talking to him before…"

Private looked at him, beak agape. "Wait, you don't think –!"

"It wasn't you, Skipper," Kowalski said, shaking his head, "It wasn't you who drove him into doing that. This has been a long time coming. At that point, nothing you could have ever said to him would have changed his mind about it."

The leader nodded sternly. "I guess so." Then he reached out his flipper and touched the red lemur's lids almost gently, closing the dead eyes. "Well, that's checkmate to you, Clemson."

"So are we just… going to leave him here then?" the rookie asked tentatively.

"Oh, yes. The fossa will come and get him," Clover said with a vicious smirk, "There will be at least someone he ever made happy, then."

With eyes that would never forgive, she flicked one last disdainful look at the red lemur and then turned to leave. The penguins followed her.

Just as they'd climbed back out of the moat, Skipper's radio beeped.

"Mayday! Mayday!" Mort's voice came out thin and distorted through the tiny speaker, "Where are you guys? Anybody out there?! Hellooo…!" There was a tone of urgency in his voice which they didn't know from him. They shielded their eyes against the sun's blinding glare as their gazes searched the sky; they soon heard and then saw the Maverick IV as it sped just over the edge of the trees that lined the mountain range behind the destroyed castle.

"Oh dear Frank, they're still up there!" Clover exclaimed.

"I read you, Sad Eyes," Skipper replied into the radio, "What's your status?" – No reply. – "Flight Team Four, please respond. Over."

"They're so panicked they're forgetting to release the microphone button when they're finished talking," Kowalski guessed.

"Probably." Skipper kept trying to respond to their calls even though his efforts appeared to be in vain. "Flight Team Four, we read you. What's your status? I repeat. What's your status? Over."

Finally the radio call came again. "For Frank's sake, please help us!" That was Seven's voice now. "The… the plane is starting to make really strange noises –!"

"Well, I guess that's because you're almost out of fuel by now. You've got to put it down!"

"Yes, we're aware of that!" She started to sound nervous, too; her voice took on a higher pitch. "But HOW on earth are we supposed to do that? We just can't figure out how to land this thing! Really, we've tried everything – it only keeps going higher and higher!"

"I'm scared!" Mort called again, tears coming through his voice now, "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!"

"Timo must have forgotten to tell them how it works," Private said worriedly.

"Oh, mama." Kowalski smacked his forehead with his palm. "That's exactly the reason why we usually don't put civilians into combat –!"

"Shh…!" The leader flapped his flipper at them to silence them before he spoke into his radio again, "Hold on, you two! Don't panic. Do you think you can steer her back towards the beach?"

"Yes," came their tentative voices in unison.

"Good. Do that, and then I'll talk you through the landing procedure. Over." He put the radio down and waved his team to leave. "– Come on, we've got to make a dash for the beach and help those kids down."

The five of them hurried off, leaving behind them what seemed like another world as they slipped away. What was left of the old castle was abandoned once more, with only trees and flowers for company… and a couple of fossa, who were catching the scent of fresh prey.

When they breathlessly arrived at the beach a little later, they soon spotted the approaching plane in the cloudless sky. "Flight Team Four, we've got a visual on you."

– This time they received an answer right away.

"We can see you, too!" Mort squealed into the microphone, "Can you guide us down now?"

Skipper squinted his eyes in an effort to estimate their altitude and velocity. "Yes. Don't panic. Keep her straight. Make her do what you want her to do."

He then gave them instructions how to reduce power and drop the gear to initiate the final descent while Clover and the rest of his team hurried off to take ground control posts; they positioned themselves along the imaginary runway so Mort and Seven could see the field in which to set down.

"You need to approach the runway correctly. Make a slight turn to the right and try to anticipate the flight path as you do."

"What?!"

"That means, return the wheel to level flight before the turn is completed," Skipper explained. They obviously managed to do as he said and came in a bit steep, but almost before he warned them they were already correcting it.

For a while everything looked fine; however, when they began maneuvering into the downwind, the plane struggled to fly on the edge of a stall, and Mort and Seven struggled for control on the edge of panic. Every bit of air turbulence snatched at the wings, and even down here Skipper could hear the sound of the stall warning horn wailing like a banshee.

"Frank…!" Seven swore, or prayed.

"We're going to crash! We're going to crash!" Mort cried into the microphone.

"Stay calm and let the nose down a bit further. You're coming in too slow and losing lift because you're not gliding down at a steep enough angle," Skipper instructed them, his calm helping to restore theirs, "Level your wings… easy… level… you're settling."

The plane glided downward the last few feet – the forward landing gear touched the sand first, and the plane skipped and bounced back into the air. Skipper's teammates left their positions and bolted in all directions, Clover and Kowalski seeking shelter behind the next palm tree and Rico and Private throwing themselves into the ocean.

Mort and Seven made a second attempt, landing front wheels first again – the plane hit hard and bounced again. Skipper clenched his jaw, watching and giving a constant stream of instructions as calmly as possible until they understood that they had to let the aircraft touch down on its rear wheel first. This way they were finally able to bring it down. The Maverick IV rolled for a long distance; she almost overshot the runway and would have crashed right into a palm grove at the end of the beach, had Skipper not shouted, "Brake! BRAKE!" into his radio.

Finally the plane screeched to a clangorous halt, the brakes burned out and the tires damaged – but the pilots were alive and well.

Clover and the penguins gathered around the Maverick IV when the two young lemurs climbed out of the plane, legs shaking, knees buckling, but otherwise unharmed. They both looked green, as if they'd just gotten off their first roller coaster ride, yet they were grinning from ear to ear.

"Congratulations. You survived your first flight," Skipper said to them, his flipper gently pinching Mort's outer ear. "Well done, tiny soldier." – The little mouse lemur jutted his chin at him with pride. – "You too, Witch Lemur."

"I'm not a –."

"Yes, yes, I know." Skipper took Seven by the shoulder, pointing at the plane behind her. "See, you don't need magic at all. You've just proven that even when handling an issue as challenging as the one you just dealt with, you can do perfectly well without it."

The lemur girl's face lit up with a huge beam. "Yes! That was incredible, absolutely incredible! It was the most exciting thing I've ever done, both in this life and in my previous one. And despite the danger it was so much fun, too! I want to do it again – let's fly again as soon as we get the chance, shall we, Mort?"

"Um… yeah, why not." His face still slightly green, the little mouse lemur didn't seem half as excited about it as she was, yet he nodded valiantly and even managed a smile.

Seven then handed Private back his aviator goggles. "Sorry we took your plane without asking," she said a bit sheepishly.

– And Private, being the kind and forgiving penguin he was, didn't mind at all. "It's alright. I'm just glad you guys are okay," he answered, smiling happily. "Now let's take our planes to the Cove of Wonders and then go visit Julien all together, shall we?"

A little later everyone had reassembled in Dr. S' cave.

Despite his severe injuries Julien was already fully conscious again, thanks to Dr. S' surgical skills and a bit of magical help from Masikura – although the snake doctor at first expressed some distrust about magic being involved 'when practicing medicine out of a cave'. There was a lot going on in the ward; lemurs went in and out, coming to visit their king and hear from him with their own ears that Clemson's tyranny was definitely over now for all times. Clover had her paws full keeping them from getting too close to Julien, who still had to lie in bed with an IV attached to his arm.

Maurice and the penguins were gathered around him while Karl and Chauncey had withdrawn into a corner of the room, occasionally joining in the conversation here and there, but mostly just listening. Timo busied himself warding off Xixi, who continually pressed to be granted an interview with the king. Mort and Seven kept excitedly chattering about their first flight, with open palms and elbows flying in all directions to describe arcs and turns.

"I thought there was nothing better than being a witch – but there is!" Seven announced to everyone around, "Learning how to fly a plane is much more exciting than learning magic. Tail chasing, dog fighting, tactics and aerobatics – this is so much fun!"

Clover grinned. "I totally agree."

"– I'm done with magic, really. I've been given a new life, and in this life I certainly don't want to be a witch again. I want to be a pilot!"

"Oh yeah? I could instruct you to work for the aerial service of the Ringtail Guard," Clover offered her, "We can start tomorrow if you want to."

Seven's eyes went wide with surprise, then with joy. "You… you'd really do that?!"

Clover gave the girl a wink and a smile. "If you dare."

"Absolutely! I'd love to!" She bounced a little on her toes, too full of energy to remain still at the exciting prospect of being allowed to fly again soon, and then turned to the fanaloka in the corner. "What about you, Karl? What are you going to do now?"

Everyone turned their heads to hear his answer.

"Well, I'm not done with magic," he replied, stepping forward, "On the contrary – after we dueled, I felt like I'd just really gotten into it again!"

"Dear Frank, does this mean we're going to have to deal with more magical conquest plans in the future?" Maurice moaned.

But the fanaloka shook his head decisively. "No, it doesn't. I think we've all certainly had enough of that."

"That doesn't sound quite like you, Karl," Julien said to him with a little smirk, "You've been so keen on conquering Madagascar ever since!"

Karl and Chauncey exchanged a look. Then Karl took a deep breath before he declared, "Well, when I was up there fighting with you, I realized something. You know, I had been jealous of Clemson before because he'd managed to do what I've been trying to do for so long… conquering this island. But after I had been watching him rule for a while, I realized that swapping places with him wasn't what I truly wished for. Not even in my most twisted dreams of power and glory have I ever harbored the wish to do any of the horrible things he did to the people here, and I certainly wouldn't have ruled Madagascar the way he did… But now I don't even want to rule at all anymore. I simply can't imagine turning into someone who even vaguely resembles him in any way."

The ward was still full of animals, but everyone was silent now, listening to him attentively. They all knew about his previous attempts to overthrow King Julien and take over the island, and hearing this from him surprised them very much.

– "Sure, I've always wished to be taken more seriously by those around me, and I still do. But I don't necessarily have to become king for that. I always thought that the conquest of Madagascar was my ultimate goal, my greatest achievement yet to be reached. But when I was up there with you battling Clemson and his army, I realized that there is something more important, something more worth fighting for than the conquest of Madagascar – it's saving Madagascar and as many of the souls that live here as possible."

He spoke these last words in an almost solemn tone. "You know, there are some things worth fighting for… there are even some things worth dying for. But I realized that I must fight for something more than myself, something like a greater ideal. If I devote myself to something more, to a task greater than myself, then I will perhaps finally manage to become the legend I want to be. Yes, I still want to see that day when a hush falls over Madagascar once my name is spoken – but I want it to be a hush of admiration, not one of terror."

The animals around him eyed him with appreciation, their faces filled with wonder and curiosity.

" – In short, that means I'd very much like to resume my studies as a witch doctor, because that's what participates in the process of saving other lives in the most direct way," he finished, "But of course after everything that's happened, I don't know if Masikura –."

He fell silent when the chameleon lady disappeared from the headboard of Julien's bed and then reappeared right in front of him and hugged him tightly.

"Welcome back on campus, my student."

A loud joyous murmur rose from the crowd around them, and with a warm, honest smile Karl stepped over to the lemur king's bedside.

"I, uh…" He looked like he wanted to say more but had some trouble finding the right words. "Well, Julien, we've known each other for a long time. Our relationship has always been a difficult one, and not all the things we've experienced together were pleasant, of course. But I think that this morning we put up a really good fight together, and I have to say I wouldn't mind doing it again. So, do you… well, think we can put the rest behind us, and just, I don't know…"

"…Be friends?" Julien finished for him with a smile, reaching out his paw in reconciliation. Karl shook it without hesitating, and the others broke into applause as the two most famous citizens of Madagascar officially declared their long-running dispute finally resolved.

"Congratulations, Ringtail. You didn't only get rid of one foe – you even managed to turn another one into your ally!" Skipper later said to Julien when they were walking over to the Cove of Wonders to rejoin Kowalski and Timo, who had gone there a while ago in order to service the penguins' planes.

Julien nodded. "Yeah, I never had any hopes of ever making peace with Clemson, but Karl and I go back a long way. When Maurice, Mort, and I left Madagascar for the first time and came to your zoo, I actually regretted that back then we parted enemies. Good thing our feud is finally settled now."

The lemur king was limping on a pair of wooden crutches beside Skipper; he'd insisted on coming along with them, so Masikura had had to perform a few more healing spells in order to give him enough strength to stand and walk. Maurice, Clover, and the three penguins were by his side all the time, proceeding very slowly so he could keep up with them.

When they finally arrived at the Cove, Timo and Kowalski had already finished their work. Since Mort and Seven hadn't been as heavily involved in the previous battle as the rest of them, the Maverick IV was the only plane in the penguin team's fleet that was still airworthy. Timo had used all his imagination and scientific genius to reconstruct it into a small four-seater plane so the penguins would have at least one functioning aircraft they could travel in together.

Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico had to say goodbye to their planes; the Maverick I, II and III were definitely too damaged to risk the long flight back to New York. The three planes had been dismantled and stowed in the Cove; Timo and Kowalski had used some of their parts to replace defective ones from the Maverick IV and to install the two additional seats in the aft baggage area.

"Nice job, you two," Skipper commented, patting the gleaming steel of the hull as he waddled around the aircraft making a preflight inspection, "We might as well keep that one for international flights and get ourselves a new fleet of fighter jets."

"Well, we did what we could," Timo said with a shrug and a smile, wiping his oily paws on an equally oily rag. Kowalski nodded his agreement.

"It may not be perfect, but in any case it should take us back home safely."

"Right… Let's make a quick side trip to Bangladesh first, though. We need to help the North Wind guys out a bit. You know, Classified called before…"

"Roger that, Skipper. In that case we better load some extra fuel." – The second-in-command checked his smartphone. – "Oh, and we're lucky; the weather over the central and eastern Indian Ocean promises to be excellent at the moment…"

"Then we should use this chance and get moving!" – Skipper nodded to Rico, who hacked up four pairs of aviator goggles. – "Well, I guess that's it for this case. It's time for us to ditch this island, boys."

Julien shook his head fiercely. "But… but you guys just saved Madagascar and helped restore order and freedom for my people! You're the heroes of the day! We must honor you by giving you a great party – so this time you'll have to celebrate with us!" he insisted, remembering their previous goodbye.

A slight frown creased the penguin leader's brow while a smile curved his beak. "A party? You're not even healthy yet!"

"Then you must stay here until I am."

"Ah, no way." Skipper reached out to shake Julien's paw and then pulled him into an embrace. "Come on, you know us, Ringtail. The adventure calls, the future awaits – there are more villains like Clemson and there are others in trouble just as we're talking, so we've got no time to lose to save animalhood once more." Julien smiled and patted Skipper's back as they hugged. Then Skipper pulled back and looked the lemur king in the eyes with great earnestness. "Listen, I'm sorry that this unnecessary tyranny has taken such a heavy toll on you and your people. But this could have ended much worse."

Julien furrowed his brow a little. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I think you can count yourself very lucky to have gotten away with your life this time. Not all of your enemies will end up turning into your friends or finishing themselves off after all. So take care, okay?"

"Yes, sure." Julien nodded slowly, seriously. "Thank you, Skipper."

The penguin leader patted his shoulder one last time before he waddled back to his men. Kowalski was just about to hand him his goggles when someone called him from behind.

"Skipper?" – He turned around to see Clover smiling at him. – "Thanks for the dance."

Leaning forward, the lemur girl gave him a quick peck on the cheek. That surprised him so much he blushed deeply under his feathers and for a moment didn't know what to say.

"M-my pleasure," he finally stammered but pulled himself together before his brothers could start giggling behind his back. "I, uh… very much hope we'll get the chance to serve together again, Clover, and I wish you the very best of success in your military career."

"I wish that for you as well, Skipper, and I'd serve with you again any day." She saluted him, and he returned the salute with a warm smile before she turned back to Julien, Maurice, and Timo, who had watched their little exchange with wide smiles on their faces.

"Where are Mort and Seven, by the way?" Private asked.

Timo pointed with his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the coffee fields. "Back at Karl's lair. He's teaching them how to pilot an airship…"

"Oh. Well, then… Give them all our best wishes, okay?"

"Of course."

While the rest of the little group were shaking paws and flippers now, too, Maurice came up to the penguin leader and asked him, "Hey, if something like this happens here again – you know, I don't know who or what it could be, but just in case there's more trouble… will you come back?"

Skipper gave him a wink and a flippers-up. "You can always count on us."

And the lemurs knew that they could.

So when the four brothers boarded their plane, they knew that the fact that they were living thousands of miles away from their island didn't change a thing.

Because no matter what kind of dangers they'd have yet to face – from the natural, the supernatural, or perhaps even from aliens – the penguins would always be there for them to save the day.

When everyone was settled and strapped in for takeoff, Skipper called for Timo to move the blocks from under the wheels before he closed the Plexiglas canopy over their heads. Then he started the engines and taxied out of the Cove. As soon as they had reached the beach, he locked the brakes and gave the engines full throttle – the plane shot ahead, lifting its wings from the ground with ease. Behind him the three penguins were glued to the rear window, wildly waving goodbye to Julien, Maurice, Clover, and Timo.

They were climbing fast, beneath them the pristine beauty of the coastline, smooth like a white satin sheet, and the undulating blue of the ocean. Their hearts were full of sadness as they watched the island disappear from view, but the thought that the lemurs and all the other animals could continue living in peace now enlivened them and filled them with joy.

Skipper threw the plane into a hard right bank, and all together the penguins took one last look down on Madagascar and on their friends and kept smiling and waving until they were out of sight.

XXX

*curtain falls*

Here ends my version of the story of Julien and Clemson.

There are an incredible number of people I need to thank for helping me get to this point!

Firstly, visual artists: If anyone here knows Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, I hope they had a ball reading this story.^^ My best wishes to the makers, fans, and especially to all you hardworking translators out there. Also huge thanks to the makers of Top Gun for 'help' with all the flight scenes.
Secondly, musicians: I'd like to thank Akiko Shikata for... well, the whole thing^^; the mighty Evanescence for countless moments of inspiration; W.A.S.P. for Clemson's prayer in Ch. 18; Amberian Dawn for the coronation ceremony; Hồ Quỳnh Hương and Mỹ Tâm for impressions of the Franksgiving scenes (sweet greets to Vietnam!); and many others.

...And my deepest gratitude of course goes to my readers. Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me. I smiled every time you expressed your thoughts and feelings for the characters and turns of the story; it made me feel like I really managed to express what I intended to and I can't thank you enough for taking the time to put your thoughts into reviews. No words can ever express my appreciation for your support. I'm really so happy to have gotten the chance to meet you people and I will miss you dearly because this was very likely my last story for the Penguins of Madagascar/All Hail King Julien. I honestly love the shows to death and I always will, but there's a couple of other fandoms I'd also like to invest more time into. So this is goodbye! *takes a deep bow and gives all readers a huge virtual hug*
When writing fanfiction I always aspire to stay as close to the characters as possible while at the same time trying to make full use of the vastness a universe offers. I sincerely hope I managed to come up with a worthy final tribute to the beautiful Madagascar universe. Please everyone keep writing, reading, reviewing, enjoying… anything to keep it alive. Our furred friends and feathered heroes deserve it so much.
I will never forget the time in this amazing fandom. Thank you so much for everything.

My best love and all my blessings to all you writers and readers, artists, novelists, and fellow fans out there!

- Nemo

PS. On my Deviantart page (where I'm also NemoNemini) you can now find a picture of Clemson and Mea in the Alchimus Hospital (from the previous story), which is sadly the only picture I ever got done for this fandom. Also if you have an account, we can be friends/watchers if you like. :)