Free Penguins of Madagascar Movie Novelization by Tracey West Page B

Private told him.
    â€œGnaghgnaghgnaghgnagh!” Skipper replied.
    Skipper swung his giant flipper at Private. Now it had a wicked-looking claw at the end. Private dodged again.
    â€œListen! This isn’t you!” Private told him.
    Skipper paused. It looked like he was thinking it over.
    Then he swallowed the cat.
    â€œNo! Bad Skipper!” Private yelled.
    Skipper lunged for Private again. This time, Private didn’t dodge him. Instead, he slapped Skipper across the face.
    â€œOh, dear,” Private said. He would never dream of slapping Skipper. Not even a horrible, mutant, cat-eating Skipper. But now he had done it!
    Skipper stared at Private. The slap jarred something in Skipper’s brain. Images flashed through his mind. Baby Private, hatching from an egg. Private giving Skipper a silly salute. Private making an adorable sad face.
    â€œPry-vit?” Skipper asked.
    â€œYes! That’s it!” Private said.
    â€œPrivate! You’re alive!” Skipper cheered in his normal voice.
    Skipper’s body was still mutant, but his brain was back to normal. He hugged Private, laughing and then sobbing.
    Then he coughed, and the cat jumped out of his mutant mouth.
    â€œSorry,” Skipper told Private. “It’s just that I thought you were a goner.”
    Mutant Skipper and Private hurried to find the rest of their team. They spotted mutant Kowalski getting ready to throw a trash can through a storewindow. His flippers had transformed into tentacles! They ran up to stop him.
    â€œ Urgh? Hissssssssssssss! ” Kowalski flailed his tentacles at them.
    â€œGet a grip on yourself, soldier!” Skipper said. “That’s an order!”
    â€œHe’s not getting a grip!” Private pointed out.
    â€œWait! I’ll speak Mutant Zombie Penguin to him!” Skipper said. He turned to Kowalski. “Gerbitwaaahbuggahissss!”
    Kowalski paused . . . and threw the garbage can over Skipper and Private’s heads.
    Skipper shrugged. “Well, that’s all I’ve got.”
    Kowalski menacingly slithered toward them.
    Private thought quickly. “Kowalski, Eva is worried about you!”
    Kowalski’s mind instantly snapped back to normal.
    â€œShe is?” he asked.
    Skipper patted Private on the shoulder.
    â€œWhat did she say? Did she say my name specifically? Were there tears? Details!” Kowalski begged.Then it hit him. “Private, you’re alive! Come here!”
    He hugged Private with his snaky flippers.
    â€œThis feels a little awkward, but I’m happy,” he said.
    Then they heard a familiar garbled cry, and turned to see Rico on a kebab cart. A pair of wings had sprouted from his back! He chased away the cart owner by waving a flaming kebab, and then swallowed the kebab like a sword swallower.
    â€œGraaagh!” he yelled.
    â€œRico, you listen to us!” Skipper pleaded. “You’re—”
    Burp! Rico belched loudly and a puff of smoke came out. He smiled and waved.
    â€œEh, I guess you’re kind of the same either way,” Skipper realized.
    Then Rico noticed Private. He leaped down from the kebab cart and tried to kiss Private with his mutant beak. Skipper quickly separated them.
    â€œSave your hug for the holidays, Rico,” Skipper told him. “We’ve got a mutant apocalypse to bring down!”

CHAPTER 20
Private’s Sacrifice
    Private quickly led them all to the ray.
    â€œPrivate, you stole Dave’s ray!” Kowalski exclaimed.
    Private nodded. “Yeah! I thought we could use it to turn everyone back to normal.” He handed the ray remote to Skipper.
    Kowalski peered at the glowing green serum inside. “It’s not that simple,” he said. “To reverse the ray, we’d have to swap out the Medusa Serum with a fuel source of almost immeasurable cuteness.”
    â€œYou mean, like, a chipmunk?” Skipper asked.
    â€œNot cute enough,