Author's Note: Made by RandomFanFictionPressGirl14 and I!

Summary: The search for King Julien and Mort begins…

~Natty.

Expendable.

~PoM~

"MORT!" Maurice skid to a stop outside the zoo gates, looking in every direction calling for them. "JULIEN!"

There was no sight of either. They were gone, once again running around in the dangerous city. Last time it was his fault, he took blame because he should have known better than to listen to Julien and rush them out on some ridiculous retrieval but this time...

The fault didn't go on him. He had tried to keep them safe in the zoo. It was four others to blame for his family's missing state and the team of elite penguins just so happened to belly slide out of the gates right behind him.

Maurice didn't stop the growl forming in his throat.

Those idiotic birds. They didn't have to drag this out any longer, but they just HAD to bring yesterday's horror in to the next day.

The adviser couldn't stop his legs from rushing away.

"Wait! Maurice!" Private called as the flightless foursome slid after him. They got in front of him blocking his path.

"Where are ya going?" Skipper asked him.

"To find Julian and Mort!" Maurice cried over his shoulder as he stalked off. "Where else?"

Kowalski chuckled. "I believe that should be best done by the professionals."

"Kowalski's right." The leader said. "We'll find ringtail and sad eyes." He laughed himself. "I mean what's a CIVILIAN gonna do?"

"I'M gonna go find them!" The aye-aye exclaimed in a glare. "You're the ones who made them leave in the first place!"

"Us!" Skipper exclaimed.

"How was it any of our faults?" Kowalski defended.

"Yeh!" Rico agreed.

Private frowned, watching on.

Maurice continued to glare. "Who wanted them to go back out in the city right after they coulda DIED out there? Huh? That was you guys! You dragged them right back in to the danger I tried to save them from!"

"Woah! Hang on there, aye-aye!" Skipper instructed sternly. "I think you got this whole thing as twisted as a salty cheese dipped pretzel!"

"Mmmm!" Rico licked his beak and rubbed his stomach with a smile at the thought of the doughy salted goodness.

"No, I don't!" Maurice yelled back to the leader. "Every moment we spend here is another moment that my family could be dead! So excuse me for caring about it!" Without another word, Maurice was off.

"Mauri-" Private tried again.

Skipper put a flipper on the young lad's shoulder. "Let him go, Private. APPARENTLY, and I say this with much SARCASM, the AYE-AYE knows what he's doing!"

"So, we're not going to help him?" The youngest Private asked, looking up at his commander with worry evident in his eyes.

"Ughhh…" Skipper groaned in a whine. "Don't give me those ocean blue baby blue's Pri-VATE! Gh!" He protected his eyes with his flipper. "Kowalski, give me options before Private DROWNS me!"

"Well," Kowalski scribbled on his notepad. He turned it around so the other three could see the drawing of them and Maurice. "We could go and ask Maurice if we could search with him."

"Ooh! I like that one!" The youngest exclaimed.

"Nah," Their leader waved it off. "That ain't it."

The genius turned the paper back to him, and within seconds, he had another scenario drawn out. It looked like the four of them back in their habitat. "We could go back to the zoo and let Maurice search on his own."

Private whimpered.

Not wanting to see those eyes again, Skipper sighed and said, "Sadly, we can't leave the civilian like that. Anything that we can all agree on?"

"You know it Skipper!" The scientist then drew something else on his papers, turning it around. It was the lemur in the park and them in the city. There was a line between the two so they were distinguishable. "We could always go look for them without Maurice knowing."

"Deceitful, sneaky, and downright untrustworthy! Once again Kowalski, you've blown my mind!" Skipper grinned. "Now let's roll after that lemur looking lemur!"

The penguins began to belly slide towards the city.

~PoM~

Meanwhile, Maurice had been searching high and low for the other two lemurs, but he hadn't found a thing.

"MORT! JULIEN!" He called through the streets, eyes searching left and right, up and down bug never behind him. Maybe that's why he was so easy to spy on or maybe it was just because he was so worried but that didn't matter to the penguins watching him from the rooftops.

Through binoculars, Skipper laughed. "That lemur's an amateur. He has no idea we're on his tail."

Private spoke up. "Maybe it's because he's too busy looking for King Julien's and Mort's."

"Either way," The leader shrugged. "We gotta keep following!"

"Roger on that Skipper!" Kowalski affirmed and kept squeezing Rico's stomach that connected to a hose, blowing up a large floating balloon. He grunted. "Our aerial view is almost ready!"

"Perfecto!" Skipper exclaimed.

The balloon inflated and the ropes were tied to a piece of aluminum siding Kowalski wrenched from the roof. Their air balloon was ready…and also floating away from them…

"Our balloon is ready, Skipper!" The analyst turned to salute his commanding officer, and then frowned as he turned back. "…and…is also floating away from us..."

Rico sucked the hose back in like spaghetti. "Hey! Ah just mah that!" He complained.

"Grab it!" Skipper ordered as the wind started to pick up, taking their float with it. The leader jumped for it, dangling from the edge as it got further away from their building.

The other three penguins followed suit, grabbing onto each other's feet and making a hanging penguin chain.

Skipper grunted, holding on to all the weight. He began forcing himself up and on to the platform.

The wind proved too be stronger than Private's feet that clutched onto the edge of the building for dear life, the young penguin squeaking in alarm. His toes couldn't hold on any longer as the wind blew their balloon way out into the open city, and over Maurice's down below.

Kowalski screamed like a girl and Private shouted too, sure to draw some attention.

"Shhh!" Skipper hissed, not wanting the aye-aye to spot them.

"S-Sorry Skippah!" Private squeaked in fear.

"I am as well, sir." Kowalski added in.

"Let's just be glad that adviser know-it-all didn't hear us and blow our cover!" Skipper glared down.

"S-Skippah..." Private's voice wavered.

"What?" The leader turned his head to the side and down to see the private , the young soldier hanging from Rico's feet at the bottom of their chain.

"C-Could we please get ON the balloon?"

"Oh su-" Skipper started.

Kowalski screamed in high pitched terror as Frankie the pigeon was flying beak first for their balloon.

"Evasive!" The leader ordered, groaning as he swung all their weight to the right to avoid the attacking flight-able city bird.

Private screamed, hanging on even tighter to Rico's feet.

"Quiet PRIVATE!" Skipper yelled.

Private whimpered, but did as commanded.

Down below Maurice looked up with a raised brow. He thought he had heard something. Had he? He didn't see anything. Great he was hearing things! He sighed. It was probably stress building. He just hoped he found his family soon…

The penguins steered the balloon with their weight back into the open, no longer hiding from the aye-aye's sight above a rooftop.

"Shhhh..." The leader warned them and then all was silent, even the attacking pigeon halted in its assault as Skipper watched the aye-aye. He watched patiently as Maurice shrugged and kept with his search. Skipper nodded. "Okay we're good."

"Good cuz I'mma pop ya!" Frankie announced and came back for another hit to their balloon.

Skipper grunted as he shifted his weight around, moving the balloon out of range.

"He's gone revenge obsessed MAD!" Kowalski cried.

"We need to stop him!" Skipper told his team. "Kowalski! Options!"

"W-well he is flying towards us with a velocity and pointed beak that our balloon cannot possibly withstand the pressure of-"

"Private, options!" Skipper changed his mind.

Private blinked. "O-oh well um…m-might we slow him down a bit?"

The leader nodded. "Perfect. Rico!"

Rico launched a net from his mouth, it wrapping around the incoming pigeon and shutting its wings.

"WHOA!" The bird in the net began plummeting down, landing on the roof of a building unharmed and not too far away.

Kowalski grinned. "Crisis averted, Skipper!"

"Perfecto! Now we can watch that lemur!"

"Um...Skippah? Could it be possible that Maurice is already watching US?" Private spoke up nervously.

"What do you mean?" The leader raised a brow.

The private let go of Rico's foot to point a flipper down at the aye-aye glaring up at them.

Skipper blinked. "Oh..."

Down below, Maurice crossed his arms and shook his head. Those birds just didn't know when to quit!

The leader sighed. "Bring us down Rico…"

"Uh-kay! HUHMEH!" He coughed out an anchor attached to a chain. It started to plummet.

Kowalski screamed high pitched. "NONONO!"

Rico laughed like a maniac as the ground quickly approached.

The balloon crashed violently on the concrete.

The gray lemur rolled his eyes.

Skipper emerged from the rubble, looking around. "You boys alright?"

Private sat up rubbing his head. "Alright, sir."

"WOOHOO!" Rico erupted from the wreckage with his flippers up.

Kowalski glared, rubbing his own smart cranium. "Are you completely out of your very MIND?!"

Rico answered with a shrug. "Yeh kin'na." Then kept cheering. "Woohoo!"

The analyst growled until they all saw the aye-aye approaching them.

Maurice looked at the four of them disapprovingly. "And just WHAT are you guys doing here?"

"Well, you see, we-" Private began, but Skipper slapped a flipper over the boy's beak.

"Classified." Skipper said.

"Oh I know what you guys are doing here!" the adviser exclaimed.

Private pushed his leader's flipper away from his beak. "You do then?"

Kowalski shook his head. "It's highly improbable that you know what we're doing."

"No it's not! It's real easy to tell you were following me!" Maurice exclaimed.

Kowalski blinked. "Well apparently you do know."

"And I'm none too pleased about it neither!" The adviser expressed.

"Why not?" Skipper asked. "Don't you want those lemurs found?"

"Look if you wanted to help, you could've helped." Maurice said.

The private started. "I knew that would-" A wing was once again slapped over Private's beak. He gave a sigh.

The analyst raised a brow. "Did you not say you would be the one to look?" Kowalski asked, remembering their previous conversation.

"I said I WAS going to look. It would make it a whole lot quicker if you did too, I'm not saying it wouldn't. They think we're playing hide and seek! So I probably need all the help I can get!" the adviser told them.

"Well then," Skipper spoke. "You heard him men! Let's get looking!"

Before they could even start, two very familiar voices sounded in the distance.

"HIDE Mort! He is still LOOKING for us!" Julien's voice called far away.

Then there was a distant giggle. "Heeheehee..."

"Mort...dat is MY hiding place!"

"Sorry King Julien!" Mort's voice apologized.

Hearing this, Skipper put his flipper to his beak and turned to his team, beginning to quietly make his way towards the sound.

Maurice rolled his eyes. By the time they got to the alley tiptoeing, the other two lemurs could be off somewhere else! So he ran into the alley ahead. "MORT! JULIEN!"

Skipper sighed exasperated, taking to belly sliding into the alley instead.

Maurice raced in to the ally, but by the time he got there, the two lemurs had already disappeared. The adviser groaned. Unbelievable!

The penguins came in right behind him. "What was that for?" Skipper asked the aye-aye.

"Don't start with me Skipper!" Maurice warned crossly.

The leader glared back. "Why not? You're the one who wanted to find them! Had you followed in our lead, we woulda had them!"

"How bout instead of arguing we actually FIND THEM!" Maurice cried.

"We DID find them!" Skipper exclaimed. "But because of YOUR actions, they ran away!"

Shouting about it would get them nowhere. So the adviser sighed. "We can find them again okay? We just gotta keep looking…" His voice got quiet as he walked forward. He'd go to the ends of the world to find Mort and Julien! No matter how long and grueling progress it took. Whatever it took. He just… he COULDN'T lose them again!

Skipper huffed. "Well, we aren't gonna get anything done just standing here. Let's go."

They were about to when heavy footsteps were heard coming their way.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Skipper called.

Maurice raised a brow as the birds were gone in a flash. "Evasive what?" But he was a lemur and he had his own instincts. He hid behind a dumpster as the footsteps stopped right in front of it. It was a man, a man that the adviser had now come to known too well.

Officer X.

He sniffed around. There was something in the air, and he knew it alright. The smell was familiar, but unfamiliar as well. After taking another wiff, he knew why. "Penguins AND lemurs." He spoke. "What a surprise."

Maurice gasped. No! Not HIM! Not when Mort and Julien were out here! NO!

As X kept sniffing around, the aye-aye noticed the flightless birds scattered about. Skipper had begun to move his flippers around in their top secret code. He couldn't understand, but he hoped he'd know what to do when they acted.

The aye-aye had expected them to knock him out or something and so he was eager for that. Finally that guy could get what was coming to him for terrorizing his family!

Maurice was so eager that he leaned in too much against the dumpster, it shifting noisily.

"Hm?" X turned to look at the small container, sniffing as he walked towards it.

Maurice shrunk into the wall, not making a sound.

"Hmm...the lemur's around here somewhere." X spoke to himself. "I just know it."

The adviser shut his eyes. This was it. He'd be found and he'd never find Mort or Julien!

The man was about to descend upon the animal, but suddenly, a flash of black and white began to attack him.

"Huh?" Maurice blinked his eyes open.

The penguins had swooped down to distract the man from the lemur.

The aye-aye could only watch.

"Take THAT, Officer X-tra PSYCHO!" Kowalski exclaimed, on the man's head and beating him with a repetitive flipper.

Skipper had an impressed look while he punched the man's leg. "Nice-HAH!" He punched again. "-pun work, Kowalski!"

"Thank-you!" The second in command responded, putting even more effort in to his attacks.

"S-Skippah…" Private interrupted, hanging from the officer's unmoving arm. Something was wrong…

"Not now Private!" The leader responded. "Can't you see I'm crossing X's here?"

"But Skippah!"

"X's Private!" Skipper whined.

"SKIPPAH!"

Finally having enough, Skipper cried out, "WHAT PRIVATE? WHAT?"

"It's just that…does Officah X seem a little…distracted to you?" Private looked up to the man that had no idea the penguins were even attacking him.

Officer X sniffed the air again, only focused on one thing. "Lemurs…"

Skipper face-flippered. "Wherever you are aye-aye, you'd better RUN!"

Yet it wasn't the aye-aye Officer X was officer threw the four commando's off in all directions. "Lemurs…" He repeated. "Ring-tailed and mouse! X-cert yourself all you can! X is coming no matter how much you run!"

"WHAT!" Maurice exclaimed. "No!"

Officer X marched off.

"No!" The aye-aye grabbed hold of the man's pants leg, trying to pull the guy back. He was fighting a losing battle and the man ripped him off, throwing Maurice against the brick wall.

"Hurry!" Skipper cried. "After the psycho!"

Maurice's vision was blurry and he murmured a faint 'no' as he blacked out.