Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...

The clock read 2027 hours. Just four hours and thirty-three минуты until October 31st, Halloween. The zoo was scheduled to be open for only half a день tomorrow. Children would come in little ghost, ghoul, and goblin costumes, poised to scare the living daylights out of the passerby's.

"Alright boys. What did we talk about?" Skipper asked his team in the HQ.

"Um..." Private began, but Skipper cut him off.

"Remember Private, I don't like it when Ты start your sentences with 'Um'."

"Aye. Sorry Skipper."

"'s alright. Stay frosty. Now back to my question."

It was Kowalski who answered next. "Just be ourselves. Don't get distracted by anything we may see."

"Including?"

Kowalski took a breath. "Including candy..." He сказал(-а) gloomily.

"Exactamundo. Right Rico?"

"Uh-huh." He сказал(-а) sadly.

"Remember, the sugary stuff goes straight to the brain! Makes us hallucinate. Remember what happened with Private and the Skorca."

"That wasn't a sugar dream!" Private protested.

"I know. But it was hard for us to believe Ты when we found those winkie wrappers. Remember?"

"Aye sir." Private сказал(-а) remembering how hard he tried to convince them that he wasn't dreaming.

"Now I know Ты all Любовь your sweet stuff. But I need this unit sharp! Ты all remember what happened to Manfredi and Johnson on Хэллоуин of '03."

"Right. What a frightening way to go..." Kowalski сказал(-а) shivering at the memory.

"Exactly. Now lets get some shuteye. Early wake up tomorrow. Zoo opens at exactly 0900. And we're gonna be ready for them. Right boys?"

"Aye sir!" The three of them resounded simultaneously. The lights went out and the four of them hit the sack.

Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...

Private couldn't sleep. He kept wondering what tomorrow would bring. He always hated Halloween. The children dressed up in those horrid costumes sickened him. He remembered a couple of Halloween's назад when a kid...for some reason...dressed up like a badger. Scared the feathers right off his tail end until the kid took the mask off. He had nightmares for days. The only good memories he had of Хэллоуин was when he got to eat the candy. But Skipper was getting stricter on how much the team could eat.

He sat up on the side of his bunk quietly and looked at the clock. 2347 hours. 13 минуты until Halloween. He decided to get some milk, in hopes of putting himself to sleep. He got up and went to the fridge, filled a cup full of milk, and drank gratefully. He then washed the cup out, and when he was putting the cup back into the cupboard, something small, yellow, and square caught his eye in the back of the shelf. He set the cup down out of the way and pulled it out.

It was a small 6-pack of арахис масло, сливочное масло Winkies. He smiled to himself, and looked at the others, who were sleeping peacefully. I'm sure I could eat just one арахис масло, сливочное масло Winkie... He thought to himself. He reached inside and pulled out a winkie. He started to open it when he remembered what happened the last time he was only going to eat one winkie. He ended up eating the entire box uncontrollably. If he ate it now he probably wouldn't be able to sleep anyway; it would defeat the purpose of him even getting the milk. He sighed quietly, replaced the winkie back in the box and put the box back in the cupboard. He looked at the clock again.

Ten...Nine...Eight...Seven...Six...Five...Four...Three...Two...One. 000 hours. Хэллоуин had arrived.

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"Rise and shine! Shine and rise, boys!" Skipper resounded to his men at promptly 0730 hours. Kowalski and Rico hopped down from their bunks, Private sluggishly tailing behind.

"WAKEY wakey! Private!" Skipper сказал(-а) right into the young cadet's face.

Private rubbed his eyes. "Aye...sorry Skipper. I couldn't get much sleep last night." He сказал(-а) with a yawn.

"'s nothing a good swim won't cure! Come on! We could use the exercise." The three of them followed Skipper out, Rico examining his stomach in response to Skipper's remark.

As it was every October 31st, the zoo looked as if Хэллоуин threw up all over it. There were decorations everywhere. оранжевый and black ribbons hung loosely around every habitat, paper ghosts hung from signs and the zoo gates, and stickers could be seen on the inside of the Zoovenir Магазин of spiders, witch hats, and the words: 'Happy Halloween'. A cool coming-of-winter breeze flowed, which caused the trees to dance eerily.

Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico jumped into the water and swam, fighting through the cold chill it bared. "Come on Private! It'll wake Ты right up!"

"But it's cold!"

"Oh come on, ya nancy-cat! What if your stranded in the icy cold Antarctic, and the only way to save one of your пингвин brothers is to jump into the icy depths of the Pacific! Ты wouldn't chicken out then would you?"

"No...I suppose not..." Private сказал(-а) taking a hasty step toward the pond.

Skipper back-paddled by him. "Then come on! Ты can do it!" Private took a deep breath and jumped in, and automatically felt the cold pinch of the water.

"Ah! It's cold!" Private cried shivering.

"You're fine! Just Переместить around some! You'll get used to it!" Kowalski encouraged. Private, still shivering from the cold, slowly paddled forward.

"Atta boy Private!" Skipper called.

"Hello! Slap-happy penguins!" Julien called hopping up on the boundaries of the пингвин habitat.

"Ringtail! What do Ты want!?" Skipper asked in a very annoyed tone.

"I am here to be Trick-or-Treating! Mostly treating."

"YAY TREATING AND TRICKING!" Mort called happily hopping up and down with his arms in the air.

"Ringtail...I Любовь bursting your bubble. The Конфеты we have is for the children of Central Park later on tonight. Not for you."

"Okay, fine. I'll just do еще tricking until then." Julien muttered.

"Ringtail, if Ты do anything to the other zoo Животные or the humans, we're gonna have a problem."

"Pft! Ты don't scare me, smelly waterbird! Come Maurice! Let us go somewhere where we will not be insulted by the common folk!" Julien сказал(-а) walking past his 'subjects'. Maurice and Mort followed.

"Good luck with that..." Skipper muttered.

"Um...Skipper...I'm awake now. Can I get out?" A still-shivering Private asked.

Skipper sighed. "Fine. Zoo's gonna open in an час anyway. Guess we better make sure everything's ready to roll. Переместить out team!"

The four of them started in the park to see how the children were doing to get ready for Halloween. "Good morning Momma Duck! Are the children excited for Halloween?" Kowalski asked.

"Excited? I haven't heard the end of it!" Momma утка explained. Suddenly Eggy ran by dressed up like a ghost chasing his siblings around.

"I will eat your soul!!" He exclaimed, the other ducklings screaming as they ran.

"Eggy! Stop it! You're scaring them!" Private ordered picking Eggy up. The other ducklings stopped and looked at Private.

"Scaring? We were just playing! We're not scared of nothin'!"

"Well, Ramona, I don't think Ты should be playing something so sinister, even if you're not scared."

"I'm Bradley! That's Ramona!" Bradley exclaimed pointing to the утенок that had her wings crossed.

"Right..." Private сказал(-а) putting Eggy down.

"Come on Private! Have a little fun!" Samuel exclaimed.

"Nooo can do, young duckling. We are here on official business." Skipper explained.

"Excuse me Mister pen-goo-in! Ты need to learn how to have the fun!" Eggy сказал(-а) removing the handkerchief from over his head.

"Sorry little Eggy. Maybe some other time."

"Are Ты at least going to wear costumes tonight?" Ramona asked hopefully.

"Ha! Costumes?! We are military personnel. We don't wear costumes." Skipper explained.

"But it's Halloween! Pleeeeeeeaase! Ты must wear some kind of costume!" The ducklings begged.

"Alright, fine. We'll go as penguins." Skipper said.

The ducklings were not amused. "You are penguins." Samuel сказал(-а) crossing his wings.

"Oh, look at that, we are. Guess we don't have to make costumes for it then."

"Oh come on! Ты need to be letting loose! Can't Ты have a little fun for one night?" Eggy taunted.

Skipper sighed and looked at his men, who shrugged. "Fine. But we're not wearing anything to showy." Skipper instructed.

"I have just the thing."

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

"No, no, no, no, and NO! This is NOT what I had in mind!" Skipper exclaimed.

"Oh suck it up! Ты look great!" Ramona encouraged.

"I am not, repeat NOT-"

"Not."

Skipper shot a look at Julien, who had joined them about half an час ago. "I didn't mean you repeat....Ugh...never mind...I am NOT going to wear this tin can!"

"It's called armor. You're supposed to be a knight!" Bradley explained. "Come on out Kowalski!"

"No!" Kowalski called from in the HQ.

"Oh come out ya nancy-cat. Ты made ME come out." Skipper commanded.

"Gah....fine...." A few moments later Kowalski emerged from the HQ, and the lemurs immediately burst into laughter. Skipper was not amused.

"See? We can't go out looking like this!" He сказал(-а) gesturing to Kowalski in his cat costume and whiskers.

"But Ты guys look so cute!" Momma утка said. "At least you're not wearing something that will scare the little ones."

"True...but I look like a can of soup!" Skipper exclaimed.

Kowalski crossed his flippers and and muttered: "At least Ты don't look like Ты should be looking for a litter box..."

"Remind me how I got talked into trying this on again?" Skipper asked.

"Oh silly pen-gu-in! Ты remember! I called Ты a chicken cake and Ты wanted to prove otherwise! Now I am laughing in triumph! HAHA!" Julien exclaimed.

"That was a rhetorical question..." Skipper сказал(-а) angrily rubbing his temples. Suddenly Private popped out.

"How do I look?" He asked happily admiring his бабочка costume.

"Private! You're comfortable in that thing?"

"Well...it is a bit itchy. But don't Ты just Любовь the sparkles?!"

Skipper slapped his palm to his forehead. Without looking up he said: "Alright Rico. Your turn."

"Ah-ah!!!"

"Rico! Front and center! That's an order!"

"Kodjanovihaeoirht!"

"Yes Rico. We came out and so can you."

"Eicoaiwviuothgdi!"

"So? How do Ты think we feel!?"

Meanwhile Julien was whispering to Maurice, "Did Ты catch any of that?"

"Not a word." Maurice muttered back.

"Rico! Out! Now!" With a frustrated grunt, Rico slowly emerged from the HQ and crossed his flippers, obviously not amused with his цветок costume.

Once again the lemurs burst into laughter. Mort actually fell into the penguins' pond. Maurice got himself together first. "I'm sorry guys...Phew! I just can't fathom how ridiculous Ты guys look!" Julien was still laughing, and his eyes were beginning to water.

"And just what are Ты three going as, lemur?" Skipper asked.

"Well I was thinking as going as the greatest one that has ever lived....me." Julien answered, then looked at Rico again, which caused him to nearly fall over laughing.

Annoyed, Rico pulled the petals off from around his neck, hacked up a baseball bat, and began chasing Julien around. Julien started running.

"AAAH! Get him away from me!!!!" He cried.

Skipper sighed and said: "Eggy, how about this instead? We'll find costumes to our liking to wear tonight. I mean, they'll still be costumes. Just not as...you know...nancy-cat-ish."

"Alright. Fine. I guess that's okay."

"Great. Now Ты all better run along home. The zoo opens in T minus seventeen minutes."

Momma утка began leading her ducklings to the exit. "Come along kids."

"Alright, let's get out of these costumes." Skipper said.

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!! Save the king!!! SAVE THE KING!!!!" Julien ran by them screaming at the вверх of his lungs.

"Rico! Come on! The zoo's about to open!" Rico stopped in his tracks and Julien hopped over the Стена of the penguins' habitat and back into his own, Maurice following. Rico reswallowed the baseball bat. "Wait a minute! Where's Sad Eyes?" Skipper asked.

"I MAKE SPLASHIES!!!" Mort called from their pond. Skipper pulled him out and pushed him along.

"Go Главная Sad Eyes!"

"Okay! FEEEEEET!" Mort cried happily as he lept over the wall. Moments later Ты could hear Julien yelling, "NOT THE FEET!" and could see Mort flying down to the bottom of the лемур habitat saying: "I CAN FLYYYYY!!!!"

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

The zoo had just closed. It was now 1534 hours and Alice had just finished locking up. The zoosters день was filled with princesses, witches, ghosts, goblins, fairies, and much more. At 1800 hours the Животные were scheduled to be ready for the children of Central Park to come Trick-or-Treating for themselves. So the penguins only had about two and a half hours to find suitable costumes to wear.

"Alright boys. So what are we gonna do about this costume situation?" Skipper asked.

"We could dress up to be things we enjoy to make the costumes easier to wear." Kowalski suggested.

The first thing out of Rico's mouth was: "KABOOM! KABOOM! AHAHA!"

Skipper smiled. "I like where your head is at soldier."

Rico hacked up some dynamite. "WOOHOO!"

"Not you! Kowalski! Put that out Rico!" Rico sadly pinched out the fuse and reswallowed the dynamite.

"So what are we going to wear, Skipper?" Private asked.

"Well, we'll just wear what we fell comfortable in. Disperse and set to work." Skipper commanded.

An час and a half later, the penguins met back up. "So what do we have boys?"

"I'm an atom! Ты like?" Kowalski asked happily.

"Uh...sure...I guess...Rico, you're up."

Rico slipped on a red cylinder shaped costume and put a plunger on his head. "KABOOM!!!!"

"Riiiiiiiight....Private! Whatcha got?"

"Well Skipper...I haven't made up my mind yet."

"Private! We only have an час left! How have Ты not made up your mind yet?"

"Well, there's just so many things to choose from! And I don't know what I'll be comfortable in!"

Skipper sighed. "Alright. I'm giving Ты 45 minutes. Have something ready by then."

"Aye sir." Private saluted and left the HQ.

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

"Hmm....I could be a unicorn...nah...to much work. It'll take too long. Um...a flower? No...too poofy..." Private contemplated almost every idea he could think of. He wasn't sure what he wanted to be tonight. He now had half an час to come up with an idea.

"I will drink your blood!!!!"

"GAH!" Private jumped at the voice behind him, the relaxed when he saw that it was Julien. He had fake fangs in and a cape around his neck. "Julien! Ты scared me!"

"That was the idea! I got Ты didn't I!?"

"Julien! I am trying to concentrate!"

"I know, it is so hard to think when Ты are basking in the king's awesomeness. What do Ты think of my handsome vampeer costume?"

"Uh...it's wonderful Julien...I really must be going though..."

"LOOK AT ME!!!!" Mort came trotting up in his little costume. Who wouldn't of guessed that he'd dress up as King Julien's foot.

"Mort! You're so annoying! Ты make a good foot though."

"YAY!!"

"Mort...why are Ты yaying?"

"KING JULIEN LOVES ME!"

"Ugh! Maurice! Deal with the annoyance! Now...as I was saying I...hey where did the пингвин go?"

While Julien was dealing with Mort, Private had snuck off to think about what he was going to dress up as. "Priiiiivaaaaate..." A voice moaned nearby.

"Wh..who's there?" Private asked shakily.

"Prrrriiiiiiiiiiiivaaaaate...." It moaned again.

"C-c-come out! Показать yourself!"

"If Ты say sooooo...." All of the sudden a white figure with a horrid face drawn on it flew from the sky and swooped over Private's head. Private screamed in terror and ran off to the пингвин habitat.

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

Private shot down through the hatch trying to catch his breath.

"Private! What's wrong?" Skipper asked, concerned.

"Skipper! Something's after me!" The young cadet cowered behind his leader.

"Private, nothing's after you! What did Ты see?"

"I was walking in between the chimp and выдра, оттер habitat and something came from the sky! It was white and it had a horrid face!" Private explained covering his head with his flippers.

"Calm down! It was probably nothing!" Kowalski сказал(-а) trying to comfort him.

"No! It was real! And it knew my name!"

"Knew your name? Looks like we have an investigation afoot team. Ты stay here Private. We'll go see who your attacker is." Skipper commanded.

"Okay...be careful." Private told them.

"Roll out men!" Skipper, Kowalski, and Rico leaped through the hatch, Skipper on point.

Private sat down in his bunk, thinking about what he saw. He shivered at the thought. Then he realized that he was hungry. He hadn't eaten much that morning. He got to his feet and went to the fridge to look for something to eat. "Hmm..." Private murmured as he contemplated what he wanted. Suddenly the молоко caught his eye and he remembered his winkie discovery last night. He closed the fridge and opened the cabinet.

"Yummy!" He opened up the box of winkies and unwrapped one of them, then popped it into his mouth. "Mm-mm..." He сказал(-а) happily. Then he had an idea.

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

"Any trace?" Skipper asked Kowalski and Rico as they searched the area where Private сказал(-а) he was assaulted.

"Nothing." Kowalski told him.

"Nada." Rico reported.

All of the sudden a scream was heard from Marlene's place. "Roll out team!" The penguins lept into Marlene's habitat. "Marlene? Are Ты okay?"

Marlene came running out of her room, trying to catch her breath. "Skipper! Ты won't believe it! I was getting my costume ready and all of the sudden I heard my name! Then something came swooping down over my head!"

"Hm...That's exactly what happened to the Private. Disperse and investigate boys!" Skipper commanded. The team entered Marlene's room and carefully examined it for clues.

"Did Ты find anything?" Marlene asked.

"Negatory. Culprit's gone without a trace." Skipper concluded. Once again a scream was heard from outside, this time from Burt's. "Oh not again!" Skipper exclaimed as they lept into action. "Lemme guess Big Gray, ya heard your name and something came swooping out of the sky?"

"Yeah, how'd Ты know?"

"Lucky guess. Look for clues boys."

"There's nothing Skipper!" Kowalski pointed out.

"Nada!" Rico exclaimed.

"Blast! Who is causing all of this!?" Skipper asked rubbing his chin. All of the sudden something caught his eye. "Wait a minute..." He picked up a small yellow feather that was about to blow away in the wind. "I think I know what's going on here boys."

Skipper suspicions were confirmed. After scanning the perimeter, they found Eggy, Ramona, Samuel, and Bradley getting ready to scare the gorillas. "Alright, ready to go Samuel?"

Samuel nodded. "This is great! Three zip and it's not even dark yet! Did Ты see their faces?"

"Priceless!" Ramona, Eggy, and Bradley were getting ready to fly off in a воздушный змей, кайт that was covered with a white sheet with the horrid face on it.

"Having fun are we?" The sound of Skipper's voice caused the ducklings to jump.

"Oh...hi Mister Skipper penguin..." Samuel сказал(-а) slowly. The ducklings looked down, knowing they were caught.

"Hi. And what do we have to say for ourselves?"

"I'm sorry." The сказал(-а) simultaneously.

"Oh, Ты don't have to apologize to me. It's the Животные you've terrorized that Ты need to apologize to."

"Yes sir." They once again сказал(-а) simultaneously.

After apologizing to Marlene and Burt, the penguins led the ducklings to their habitat to apologize to Private.

"Private? Where are Ты Private?" Skipper called down into the hatch.

"I'll be up in a minute!" A moment later Private emerged from the HQ. "So what do Ты think?"

The penguins and ducklings looked him up and down for a moment, then Skipper said: "I like it. And just in time too. It's time for the children to come...after the ducklings have told Ты something."

The ducklings looked at Private and сказал(-а) their apologies.

"For what then?" Private asked.

"They're the ones who scared you, and they'd of gotten away with it too if we hadn't of caught them." Skipper сказал(-а) getting a low five from Kowalski and Rico. "We best get ready for the children."

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

After the penguins got into their costumes, they prepared themselves for the children. "Are Ты sure you're not too hot in there Private?" Kowalski asked him.

"Nah, I'm fine." Private assured him.

"Alright..."

Suddenly the lemurs came running up to their spot of the park. "Hello smelly flightless birds! Rejoice! Your king has arrived."

"Ringtail! What are Ты doing here?"

"I just came to see what my royal subjects are to be doing!"

"What do Ты think we're doing? We're handing out candy-"

"Ooh! I am demanding that I, the king, shall have candy."

"Negatory Ringtail. We're handing out Конфеты to the children. What are Ты supposed to be anyway? A superhero snake?"

"No! I am a vampeer!" Julien made his, what he liked to call it, 'handsome vampire mopey face' and said, "Bleh!"

Skipper rolled his eyes. "Ringtail, we're busy."

"Not too busy for the king!"

"AND HIS FOOT!" A happy Mort cried from inside his foot costume.

"Ringtail, leave us alone so we can hand out the rest of the Конфеты before midnight!" Skipper сказал(-а) taking upon noticing how late it was getting.

"Uh, your majesty? I believe there are other places we can get candy." Maurice pointed out. He was dressed in a simple costume. A tie and a портфель to make himself look like a lawyer (but was only just his excuse to Julien so he wouldn't have to where anything too dressy).

"Fine. BLEH!" Julien сказал(-а) to the penguins before he and the lemurs left.

A possum family came up to them next, and Skipper adjusted the hat to his captain costume. "Oh how cute! That's a wonderful costume Private." The mother said.

"Thanks! I made it in no time."