Disclaimer: Madagascar characters belong to the good people at DreamWorks. If they're from the movie, they're not mine. Characters you don't recognize are from my imagination unless otherwise specified. I write to distract myself from my work, not for profit. So don't sue me! I own nothing but textbooks, anyways.

Summary: Another post-movie vignette. A prequel to "On a Slow Boat."

Reviews are very, very welcome! No flames, please.

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- Going Nowhere Fast -

The hot sun beat down on the island off the coast of Africa. The weather was typical of Madagascar this time of year, or any time of year, for that matter.

The same could be said of the atmosphere. The waves lapped passively at the beach. Birds sang in the lush green jungle that began a few yards away. A pod of dolphins splashed just off the coast.

The weather and atmosphere were typical; the scene was not.

A very large cargo ship had run aground, rammed into the sandy beach. It contrasted sharply with the tropical setting. Adding further to the surrealism, a troop of lemurs had assembled on the beach, waving goodbye as the ship sat and didn't move. A short distance away, four penguins - yes, penguins - smiled and waves as they sunned themselves.

Leaning over the rail of ship, Alex the Lion waved. He wore a brightly colored lei made from flowers around his neck and a plant fashioned into an odd-looking crown on his head.

Deep inside the ship, a zebra, a hippopotamus, and a giraffe contemplated their situation.

Marty, the zebra, tapped his hoof against the side of the tank.

It answered him with a hollow, metallic ping.

Marty and Gloria, the hippo, stood next to the fuel tank in the belly of the cargo ship.

"The tank's empty," Marty said, crestfallen.

The doorway was too low for Melman, the giraffe, to scramble through. After a few minutes of doing the limbo to get into the room, he shrugged, gave up, and stuck his neck though the door.

"Um, guys?"

"Empty?" Gloria. "How could it be empty? Just how far did those penguins take this thing?"

Marty bucked up, raised his hind quarters, and gave the tank a solid kick. The answering ring was dull and empty. "See? Nothing in there."

"This isn't good," Gloria said, shaking her head.

"Guys?" Melman.

"No kidding. Alex is gonna flip -- "

"Guys?"

"What, Melman?" Gloria asked impatiently. She turned, facing the giraffe. "What is it?"

Melman glanced from Gloria to Marty and then at something outside the room. "Um, Alex is here."

"Hey guys!" Alex bounded underneath Melman, weaving around the giraffe's spindly legs, and leapt into the room. "Let's go! Get a move on! We've got places to meet and people to...see..." he trailed off, the wide grin vanishing. He looked at the glum faces on his friends. "What's going on?"

Gloria looked from Marty to Melman. "Okay, who wants to break the news...and who wants to go warn the penguins?"

END