King Julien was wildly dancing on the broad leaves that covered the dance floor, Boombox vibrating the very air with its sweet, catchy music. His kingly duties finished for the day (at least as far as he was concerned!), he was ready to let loose, and he had already set today up as a dance party anyway. A few other lemurs were there as well, enjoying the fun.

Not to be outdone when one of them performed a tricky dance move and pulled the crowd's attention, he went to pull his own move, smoothly waving his tail, when a loud noise cut the fun short. He jumped, still in a flamingo-like position, then pushed his crown straight in annoyance. "Okay, who just ruined my best dance with that?"

The noise was jagged and grating; thunderous, almost. The other lemurs had ducked, and weren't getting back up out of fear.

"King Julien, what was that?" Ted asked, his tail bushed out in fear and his voice high and squeaky. He was hiding beneath a husk-woven table. "Are we all going to-"

"No, Ted!" King Julien snapped before he could shout the phrase he already knew was coming. "We are not going to die." Standing in the large, hollowed-out bottom of a tree, he wondered what he'd do. The dance room was more private and hidden, seeing as he had intended it to be unknown to Clover, Maurice, and Mort. Large, jungle leaves covered the floor and the walls had been smoothed out to make the dying tree look… well, not dying.

"Well, it wasn't me," Horst muttered, the dark-furred lemur shrugged and took a sip of his coconut-shell beverage.

When the noise didn't come back, King Julien shrugged as well, a smile returning to his face. "Alright then, peoples! Back to it." He flicked his tail and proceeded to shake his body in a single fluid motion, before performing a whole set of dance moves. He was a bit oblivious to the fact he was only joined by two other lemurs. Only a few moments passed before the grating, volatile noise came again. Ted made a break for the creaky door and dashed off.

"Alright! That's enough!" King Julien stamped his foot, deciding against his better judgment to call for Clover. "Clover! CLOVER!"

The bark-made door flung open, and King Julien just barely ducked in time for the wooden thing to sail over his head and crown, and into the smoothed wall. The broken door crashed to the floor in a heap of splintered wood.

"What is it Your Majesty? Is it the foosa? And where have you been!?" She demanded pointing an accusatory finger at him. Her red fur was ruffled in irritation and anticipation.

King Julien tilted his head at her, somewhat out of annoyance, and somewhat out of impatience. "No! Nothing of that sort. I want to know what's makin' all that… growling noise, I want it to stop! It's ruining my party, man." He crossed his arms and lowered his ears.

"Oh. That noise. I was just investigating that, actually, Your Majesty so… I'll get back to that." She rolled her green eyes just as she turned around, causing the king to glare after her.

"Well, figure it out faster!" He sighed, looking back at the remaining lemurs that had stayed. "My groove is ruined." And with that he exited the premises. It was no fun anymore, Clover knew where he was and so Maurice soon would as well, and the repeating noise had scared the others too much to keep dancing, anyway.

It was dark out. He realized then just how long he had been out. If he was lucky, Maurice would be asleep, and he'd get to his bed without any aggravation. He decided to ignore the mild soreness building in his legs.

"Get down, Your Majesty!" Clover's voice came across strong, and suddenly his face was flat against the dirt as the loud, grating noise passed through his ears again. The ground quivered, and the vibrations only got stronger as the noise became louder. Looking to his side, he saw through a set of tilted trees what looked like extraordinarily tall, furless lemurs moving. Several were carrying large, growling sticks with boxy shapes at the end of them.

Clover finally got off his back and stood him up, shoving him. "C'mon, King Julien, I don't know what they're here for but they've been putting marks on the trees. We need to go."

He, for once, didn't question her and went running on all fours after her to a place underground. He didn't know where she'd found it, but he didn't question that either as the noises changed in intensity overhead until they eventually faded out of earshot. Once the grating, growling noises left, and the ground stopped its shaking, all that could be heard was Clover and King Julien's combined heavy breathing.

King Julien was stunned into silence for what was probably the first time in his life.

Clover dusted herself off and stood up, poking her head out the underground den. "It looks safe, Your Majesty, but stay here while I check for the other lemurs and the borders. We don't know what those things did."

"Clover! What do I do-"

"Stay here!" Clover spat back at him, and he cringed, putting his paws ahead of him in a show of defense.

"But it's boring in here! And I want to know what's going on in my kingdom!"

"It's too dangerous, King Julien! Stay here!" She snarled back at last, and then disappeared outside the den.

"It's dark too," King Julien added, childishly crossing his arms. While Clover was away, he played with his luxurious, ringed tail, admiring the softness of it. He became bored with even that fairly quickly, however and carefully poked his head out of the burrow. He immediately ducked back in, without really seeing anything outside, and cowered for a few seconds. Then, he slowly crept back to the mouth of the den, moving just enough of his head so his eyes could see the clearing where most of the townspeople usually stayed.

Nothing looked any different. Huts lined along the clearing looked fine and undamaged. The forestry looked undisturbed. His large tree with the kingly throne atop it in the fancy fallen metal bird looked fine. His hut looked fine. Everything looked… fine. So what had all the noise been for?

"King Julien!" Clover's voice hit him in a way that made him jump as if it had been a physical blow. He clenched his eyes shut and then yawned, the tension from his earlier fear lost.

"Clover, you really gotta stop that, man. You freak me out when you scream at me when I can't see you, okay?" He mused as he turned to face her.

"I don't… think those machines did anything, but there were deep cuts in almost every single tree here. We need to see Timo… I remember, when we talked to those 'aliens,' that the lemur we found there talked about how these furless apes made items but weren't very smart. Does that ring a bell?" Clover paused, flicking an ear in thought. She looked back up at him thoughtfully. "You think these are the same thing?"

King Julien didn't really know, he wasn't given much of a chance to look. He shrugged. "If they are, I don't think we have much to worry about then, do you?" He laughed. "But yes, go see Timo, fulfill your investigation or whatever… I'm going to bed." He yawned and started walking towards his hut.

"On it, Your Majesty!" Clover exclaimed, taking off in the opposite direction.