Last Year...

Skipper woke up and got out of his bunk. He immediately felt the emptiness of the HQ, that's when he looked up to see empty bunks. Where were his men? All of the sudden, he heard a rustling noise coming from inside Kowalski's lab. He stealthily crept to the door and listened carefully. He heard the sound again. He poised himself for combat and flung the door open.

"SURPRISE!!!!!!" Skipper jumped as Kowalski, Private, and Rico emerged from the lab wearing party hats. Kowalski was carrying a fish-cake.

"Happy Birthday, Skipper!!!" Private کہا cheerily.

Before Skipper got the chance to say anything, Rico placed another party hat on his head as Private pulled Skipper سے طرف کی the flipper to the میز, جدول Kowalski had set the cake on. Rico regurgitated a flamethrower to light the candle on the cake with and Kowalski knocked it out of his hand and gave him a hard stare.

"Killjoy..." Rico muttered hacking up a box of matches.

He lit the candle with it and the three of them کہا simultaneously: "Make a wish, Skipper!"

"Boys! I told آپ not to make a big deal out of today!" Skipper exclaimed.

"But Skipper!-"

"No buts, Kowalski!" Skipper کہا cutting him off. Private snickered. "Private! Doesn't that joke never get old with you?"

"Sorry sir! I just-"

"I understand that it's my birthday, and آپ three feel as though آپ need to celebrate. I appreciate that. However, I just do not like celebrating my birthday. Now clean up this me-"

"Hello! Slap-happy penguins!" Julien کہا dropping down into the HQ, Maurice and Mort following behind. "Oh! Are we having a party!? Why did آپ not invite the party king?! Maurice! Bring me my boomy box! Let's get this party started!"

"Ringtail! Get your royal rump out of my HQ!" Skipper commanded.

Ignoring him, Julien trotted up to the cake. "Ooh! Cake!" He wiped off a little bit of icing and ate it off his finger...and his face immediately twisted in disgust. "Bleh! The fish! It is so horrible! It is like poison to my taste buddies!!" He started scraping his tongue off with his paws.

"Ha! That's what ya get, Ringtail. Now leave before I authorize lethal force." Skipper commanded again.

"Pft! Silly water-bird! آپ cannot be telling the king what to do! What are آپ doing anyway? Shouldn't آپ be doing something stupidy dangerous right now?"

"Actually, Ringtail-"

"We're celebrating Skipper's birthday!" Private blurted out.

"Private!" Skipper exclaimed.

"Birthday?! Haha! So how old are آپ this year, bossy penguin?!"

"None of your business, Ringtail! Now beat it!"

"Lemme guess....Thirty-twolien?"

"That's it!" Skipper grabbed Julien سے طرف کی the arm and began pulling him to the exit.

"Thirty-eight? Oh, don't tell me you're fort-me!" The sound of Julien's voice was cut off when Skipper slammed the door in his face.

"And that is one of the reasons I don't like celebrating my birthday! I just want today to go سے طرف کی normally. That's all I ask." Private, Kowalski, and Rico looked at each other, then nodded to their leader. Skipper sighed. "Would it make آپ feel better if I made a wish?"

His team smiled and pushed the cake across the میز, جدول to the end closest to Skipper. Skipper smiled, closed his eyes, and a moment later he blew out the candle. The team laughed and they all shared a group hug. "So what'd آپ wish for, Skipper?" Private asked.

Skipper smiled at the young cadet. "Nothing. I have what I need right here." The others smiled and hugged tighter. Even though Skipper truly believed what he said, he did wish for one small thing.

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A سال later...

Skipper lay awake in his bunk. He couldn't sleep. He wasn't sure of what tomorrow would bring. He always hated this time of year. He just wished it would be a normal دن tomorrow. Why couldn't it just be a normal day? Will my wish come true? Will they all forget? He thought. But then he figured, wishing is just a superstition. It's gonna take مزید than that to make them forget about his birthday.

The اگلے morning the penguins woke up with yawns; Skipper brewed his coffee and waited for his team to say something, but they کہا nothing. Usually they'd jump right into saying 'Happy Birthday', but instead they acted normal. He cleared his throat. "Ahem." His team turned to look at him. "So, um...there's nothing آپ three wanna say to me?"

His team just gave him blank expressions until Private asked, "No...is something wrong then?" Skipper was taken aback. His men had never forgotten about his birthday before. Well, it had been a rough year. He could understand if it had slipped their minds. Or...had his wish simply come true?

Skipper was about to tell them when he just said: "No, um...it's...never mind. Get ready for the morning exercises. We have some recon to do."

"Aye, sir!" The others exclaimed, then went topside. Skipper set his coffee cup on the میز, جدول and followed. Once he met them topside, he started to speak, but was interrupted when Marlene hopped in.

"Hey guys! What's up?"

Oh no...she's gonna remind them! Skipper thought. "Oh! Hey, Marlene! Uh...what brings آپ here?" Skipper asked nervously.

"I just came to let ya'll know that Julien's throwing a party tonight and you're all invited."

"A party? Um...what kind of party?"

"Just a party. آپ know Julien. I'm surprised آپ care, I expected آپ to say no on the spot."

"Oh, I was just wondering. And you're right. We are NOT coming. Period. یا possibly exclamation point."

"Right, I figured. It's in the Zoovenir دکان if آپ change your mind."

"I highly doubt that." Skipper muttered crossing his flippers.

After the morning exercises, they went to the park for their scheduled recon. Skipper and Kowalski were in a درخت scanning the park through binoculars, Private had ground recon, and Rico was on aerial surveillance. "Nothing like some good recon on a warm morning, ey Skipper?" No answer. "Skipper? Skipper?"

"Oh...sorry. What was that Kowalski?"

"Are آپ feeling alright? You've been acting strange all morning."

"Yeah, Kowalski. I'm fine."

Kowalski wasn't convinced. "Are آپ sure? This morning آپ asked us if there was anything we needed to tell you; is that what's bothering you? What was it that we needed to say?"

"Nothing, I'm telling you, I'm fine, Kowalski."

"But-"

"I'm fine. Case closed."

Kowalski sighed. "Alright."

Skipper looked back through his binoculars again and immediately took notice of the lemurs getting ready to raid the cotton candy stand. "Ringtail!" He picked up his walkie and spoke into it. "Private! Do آپ have a visual on the cotton candy cart?"

Private's voice came back through. "Aye, sir! Is that...Julien?"

"Correctamundo! Make sure they don't get anywhere near that cart! Kowalski and I are on the way!"

"Copy that! Teehee! I've always wanted to say that." Private responded. Skipper rolled his eyes and he and Kowalski leapt out of the tree.

When they caught up to Private, he was arguing with the lemurs behind a bush. "Julien! We could have all been seen!" Private was saying.

"I was being the stealthy like آپ penguiny peoples are! We were not going to be seen سے طرف کی the stupidy humans!" Julien protested.

Skipper stepped in between them. "Ringtail! Why couldn't آپ have waited till the park was closed to get cotton candy?!" He asked angrily.

"Because! The king is entitled to have the candied cotton whenever he pleases!" Julien answered. "Right Maurice?"

"Never سوال the king, baby." Maurice کہا simply.

"Hooray for King Julien!" Mort cried happily.

Skipper rolled his eyes. "Ringtail, I swear I'm this close-" He pinched his flipper together. "-to knocking آپ into اگلے century." He threatened.

"How daring of you!" Julien کہا disbelievingly. "Come, Maurice! It is much time past my pedicure." He کہا taking his own tail in a way that suggested he was higher than everyone else. As they walked off, Mort stuck his tongue out at the penguins as he followed.

Skipper smacked his flipper to his forehead, and he felt as though his blood pressure rose. That ring-tailed lunatic got on his last nerves. He was afraid that one of these days he was finally going to snap. "Skipper, آپ need to calm down. آپ know Julien just likes to push your buttons." Kowalski told him.

"I know...But one مزید button and I'm gonna tie his ringed tail into a knot!" Skipper کہا making a tying motion with his flippers, as if he was actually tying Julien's tail at that moment.

"Now, Skipper, as much as we'd all kill to see that, it's not going to change anything. Julien will always be his royal pain self. Come on, the zoo's about to open." Kowalski کہا to his leader.

"Right. اقدام out." Skipper ordered. He and his team made way for the zoo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The penguins were now in the zoo and doing their cute-and-cuddly routine for the humans. Private happily waddled around the habitat and pretending to slip and fall into the pond. Kowalski and Rico were smiling and waving, and Skipper was just swimming around in the pond. He almost forgot to come up for air a couple of times due to his being so deep in thought. One of the times he came up for air, he ran into Private. "Oh, sorry sir. آپ alright, then?" He asked his leader.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Private." Skipper answered putting on a fake smile.

"Are آپ sure you're alright? آپ look a little upset about something." Private pointed out.

"No, really. I'm fine, Private. Now go act cute and cuddly." Skipper commanded with a smile.

Private smiled back, though still worried about the way Skipper had been acting. He continued his little act for the humans and Skipper hopped up on their island.

"Hey, Skipper, you've been acting a little under today. I thought آپ کہا آپ wanted to be on belly-slide duty today." Kowalski said.

"I'm just a little tired, Kowalski. I'll be alright." Skipper insisted.

"Skipper, it doesn't take a rather handsome genius like myself to sense that something's up with آپ today." Kowalski کہا smugly. Rico rolled his eyes at his remark.

"Right....and I'm telling you, I'm fine. Now be cute and cuddly. That's an order!" Skipper commanded. Kowalski and Rico sighed and continued smiling and waving for the humans and the humans threw the مچھلی at them. Skipper picked up a مچھلی and ate it, then tried to act cute for the humans, but quickly his smile faded when he realized that that was the kind of مچھلی they'd used in his cake last year. He shook his head, trying to snap himself out of it. He just didn't know why he was letting this bother him so much. His wish came true didn't it? It was what he wanted...not having everyone make a big deal out of his birthday. But that's when he realized that even though his team making a big deal out of his birthday annoyed him, it still showed him how much they cared. He was starting to wish he had never made that stupid wish.

Later on, after the zoo had closed, Skipper and his team were down in HQ. As usual, Private was watching the Lunacorns, Kowalski was in his lab, and Rico was taking inventory on his weapons. Skipper, however, only acted like he was looking through classified files. In reality, he was deep in thought about the day. He looked at the clock. It read 1801 hours.

He turned and started for the hole. "Skipper, where are آپ going?" Private asked taking notice of his leaving.

"Nowhere, Private. I just need some fresh air." Skipper lied. He continued on his way out.

He walked through the zoo and took in the nice night. There were a visible stars in the sky, and one سٹار, ستارہ glowed brighter than the others. He listened to the sounds of sirens, horns, and wheel-on-gravel as he walked through the zoo. It was warm and a little humid. The moist air stuck to his feathers. He recalled the wish he'd made last year. He couldn't believe he'd made such a stupid mistake. He even مزید couldn't believe that it actually came true. He'd always believed wishing was just a superstition. He smiled to himself, he was almost starting to sound like Kowalski. He recalled how crazy he gets when anyone brings up the matter of magic یا wishes.

That's when a thought occurred to him. If his wish last سال really did come true, why wouldn't another? He looked at the سٹار, ستارہ in the sky again. A بادل was just getting ready to float in front of it, so he had to make it fast. He stared at the سٹار, ستارہ then closed his eyes. "I wish I'd never made that wish." He کہا quietly. He opened his eyes again and watched the سٹار, ستارہ twinkle slightly just before the بادل passed in front of it. He smiled slightly and headed back to HQ.

When he got there, Private looked up at him. "Hey, Skipper. آپ look like you're feeling better."

"A little bit. Thanks."

Private smiled. "That's good. آپ wanna tell us what was bothering you?" He asked.

Skipper thought for a moment. Of course the wish didn't work. It's just a stupid wish. "Nothing's bothering me, Private. Just watch your show. I think Princess SelfRespectra just asked آپ a سوال about honesty یا something."

Private looked at the screen. "Actually that's Prince SharesALot." He corrected. "But thanks for trying." He کہا looking back at him with a smile.

The sound of the Lunacorns was interrupted when Marlene dropped into their habitat. "Guys! You've got to come quick! The power in the Zoovenir دکان went out and no one can tell what happened!" She explained in a panic.

Skipper turned to Private and Rico. "Alright, اقدام out team!" Private turned off the ویژن ٹیلی and Rico swallowed his weapons. Skipper knocked on Kowalski's lab door. "Kowalski! Come on! We have a job to do!"

Kowalski replied from inside his lab without opening the door. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up."

"Kowalski, what are آپ doing that's so important?" Skipper asked.

"I'll be there soon! I just need a minute!" Kowalski insisted.

Skipper sighed. "Alright. Come on, boys."

Marlene led Skipper, Private, and Rico to the Zoovenir دکان and they went in through the front door. Dim light poured into the store and Julien trotted up to Skipper. "Skipper! I am being so glad to be seeing آپ here!"

"Well, the feeling isn't mutual." Skipper کہا simply. "Now where's that fuse box?" He started walking toward the back of the دکان when the lights suddenly came on.

"SURPRISE!!!" Skipper jumped at the party of zoo animals. He looked up at Kowalski who was at the fuse box, and had just replaced the fuse that he'd removed.

"What in the name of Abe Lincoln's honesty is going on here?" Skipper asked in shock.

"Ha-ha! We got you, didn't we, silly penguin? And آپ thought we forgot about your birthday!" Julien told him. "Let's get this party started!" He then ran to his boom box and turned it on.

"What's all this? I کہا I didn't like people making a big deal out of my birthday." Skipper said.

"But sir, you've been acting strange all day. آپ can't tell me آپ weren't upset about thinking we forgot about your birthday." Private told him.

"Well..." Skipper started.

"Come on, Skipper. Admit it. آپ were upset about us 'forgetting' your birthday." Kowalski کہا approaching them.

"Well, I guess I was a little disappointed." Skipper admitted.

"I knew it!" Marlene cried.

At that moment, the chimps brought in the cake. "Here's the cake everyone! Sorry, boys. We, um...'forgot' the fish." Mason said.

"Awww!!" Rico کہا disappointingly.

"Make a wish, Skipper!" Private called as he lit the candle.

Skipper thought for a moment. "I don't need to wish for anything. I have everything I need right here." He said. And this time he really meant it. He blew out the candle and everyone clapped. Maurice passed smoothies out to everyone.

Kowalski held his اسموتھی, سموتی in the air. "I'd like to propose a ٹوسٹ to Central Park's hero. To Skipper."

Everyone raised their smoothies and Julien کہا with a smile, "And me!" Bing flicked him in the stomach and Julien doubled over with a grunt.

Skipper smiled. "I love آپ guys." Everyone smiled and Skipper enjoyed his birthday party for the first time.