New Arrival
Chapter 1: A Quiet Day?
It seemed to be another day in the Central Park Zoo; with the exception of the recent arrival of the lemurs consisting of King Julien, Queen Julia, Maurice and Mort, having been transported to the zoo from the tropical island of Madagascar just a few weeks earlier, it seemed as though there hadn't been much going on between the regular hours that the zoo was open, while the lemurs were still taking the time to familiarize themselves with their new surroundings. For them, their arrival into New York felt as though they had stepped into a completely different world, and that meant there were so many new sights and devices for them to get accustomed to. Not the easiest task in the world when the only contact you've had with the rest of the world is with four animals from New York, two chimpanzees with one knowing sign language and the other being able to read said sign language, and four commando penguins who felt like they belong in the army more than living in a zoo located in the heart of NYC. Then again, what kind of army would accept penguins as recruits?
A pretty confused or messed-up one that had no idea how to run its recruitment list, that much was certain.
But regardless of the change of territory they were in, the lemurs were doing the best they could to manage in this new world they were now in. Though, as how it usually came for them, some days were better than others. At the moment, Maurice and Julia were watching as Julien was trying to deal with Mort as the small mouse lemur had decided to hug his feet for the third time this morning. 'This has to be some kind of record…' Maurice thought to himself, showing a smile of amusement at the sight of the display in front of him. However, it seemed that the others around him didn't find the situation as amusing as he did, since Julia was showing an expression of worry while Julien showed a glare at the mouse lemur for this ongoing attempt to suck up to him, with very little success.
"Mort, how many times do I have to explain this to you? Off the royal feet!" Julien groaned, rapidly shaking his leg in an attempt to get Mort to let go. However, it seemed that the mouse lemur had a tight grip on his leg this time around, since his rapid flailing wasn't having any effect. So with this in mind, Julien placed his other foot on top of Mort's head before kicking it forward, causing Mort to let go of his feet and send him flying up into the air, while Julia was barely able to duck her head as Mort was sent flying over her.
"Wheee!" Mort cheered, a big smile on his face as he was seemingly unaware of the fact that he was now flying through the air like a small paper aircraft before disappearing from the view of the lemur habitat and landing on the concrete just outside the habitat. As the other lemurs watched in silence, a few moments passed before Mort's voice suddenly rang out. "I'm okay!" This call was quickly followed up by a childish giggle, their signal that Mort wasn't hurt from that impact. Julien then let out a sigh of relief that Mort was no longer trying to grab onto his legs before he started to make his way over to relax in one of the nearby lawn chairs while Julia and Maurice watched before following after him.
"Ah… that's much better." Julien sighed before making himself comfortable in the lawn chair, stretching his arms out for a few moments before resting them against his stomach. He then turned his glance up to see Julia walking over to lie down in the lawn chair that sat just alongside his, before she turned her head to him and he showed a bright smile before addressing her. "Don't you just love days like this, Julia? Where there's nothing to do and it gives you plenty of time to relax and think about things you can make others do for you?" Julien asked. Julia showed a smile of amusement as she let out a content sigh and turned her head up to look at the morning sky, noticing the sun shining brightly over their heads, and nodded.
"You're not wrong there, Julien. It is pretty peaceful." Julia agreed. She then turned her glance down to think for a few moments, with the smile quickly disappearing from her face while she did so, before she turned her head in Julien, turning herself around so she was resting on her side against the lawn chair. "But… there is something that bothers me quite a bit about that." Julien turned his head to his mate with an expression of surprise, wondering what she meant by this. "I mean, it's only been a few days since we had to deal with that whole fiasco involving the camera and Maurice going missing. Since then, it just feels like…" Julia let out a quiet sigh before she finished. "There isn't much to do around here."
Julien stared in silence for a few moments before he quickly showed a big smile and shook his head in response. "Oh, nonsense! How could anyone not love being in a place like this, with all kinds of new neighbours to meet and have fun with? Besides, you don't need to remind me about Maurice being trapped inside that thing. I still remember how the Sky Spirits released him. Isn't that right, Maurice?" Julien asked, turning his head to Maurice during this last question. Maurice simply shook his head while letting a quiet sigh of exasperation to himself, since he knew exactly what Julien was talking about.
Much like how Julia was describing it, it had been a few days since a camera had landed into the lemurs' habitat, during which Maurice had gone missing after Julien inadvertently caused its flash to go off. The resulting trip for Maurice included landing in one of the garbage bins, taking a ride in the back of a garbage truck towards a waste dump in New Jersey, being found by the penguins that night, taking a spin in a stolen tyre, being chased through the subway by a high-speed train, catching a bus towards the zoo and finally, being slung back into the lemur habitat with a make-shift slingshot. Maurice had attempted to explain to Julien what really happened to him afterwards, but it always usually fell on deaf ears. If there was any proof to be seen that his attempts at explaining the situation were still falling on deaf ears, it was no clearer than here.
"Your Majesty, I've gone over this with you at least a few times. I was never trapped in there! I just ended up in New Jersey and had to find my way back here with the penguins' help." Maurice explained. He then turned his glance to the side as he muttered in a voice quiet enough so Julien wouldn't hear him. "As much as I didn't want it…" He was then met with the expected result as Julien let out a laugh before sitting up in his lawn chair, making his big grin visible.
"Say what you like, but we both know the truth. After all, wouldn't that have to be like, on the other side of town? Who even goes that far around here?" Julien asked, leaning forward and placing an arm around Maurice while the latter stared at him in surprise. Maurice could only let out a groan of dismay, seeing that his attempts at getting through to Julien clearly weren't having any success. If there were two things Maurice could say in confidence Julien certainly had, they were a thick skull and a seeming lack of awareness of what was being told to him. Just then, the group of three were met with a surprise when they could suddenly hear the sound of a truck just outside the zoo, prompting Julien and Maurice to turn their heads to see where it was coming from while Julia sat up in her lawn chair from surprise upon hearing the truck as well.
"What's that?" Julia asked, climbing out of her lawn chair while Julien did the same thing as he rushed over to the edge of the area that held not only the lawn chairs, but also Julien and Julia's thrones and the boom box which was usually located right beside them, while Maurice followed just behind the two to see what was going on. As the group of three watched, with Mort having just arrived back after his flight out of the lemur habitat courtesy of Julien, they could see Zookeeper Alice open the back of the truck before grabbing a small crate out and making her way over to an empty habitat that had an opening leading into a small cave as well as a slide carved into the side of the opening and a pool by the side. From where they were, the lemurs were busy watching all of this on.
"Hmm… what could be happening here? What does that lady Alice have in her hands that's so special?" Julien wondered, raising an eyebrow in curiosity as he had one finger placed under his chin, while Mort had just climbed up to where he and the others were standing, something that Julien turned his head to notice. "Mort! Stop fooling around and have a look at this." Julien stated, pointing over to where Alice was standing as she had just arrived at the empty habitat and was now placing the crate down to open it up. As Mort turned around to see what was happening, Maurice turned his head up to Julien as he was starting to figure it out.
"It looks like the zoo finally has an arrival for that empty otter habitat." Maurice commented. As Julien showed an expression of surprise at this statement, Julia was watching in silence for a few moments before she showed a bright smile as it was starting to make sense.
"Oh, that's right! The habitat's been there for a while since we arrived, but I guess they've been waiting for the animal in question. Nice to see they're finally here. And they're near us too!" Julia eagerly commented, clasping her hands together with a smile of excitement while Julien turned his head to her while she was speaking. As Mort was listening to this, an eager smile crossed his face before he raised his arm up in the air.
"Oooh, I like new neighbours!" Mort cheered. He was quickly silenced though as Julien raised his foot up to kick him aside, before he turned his head up to think about what to do with this new arrival into the zoo.
"So we have a new face in our midst. Just the kind of change we've been waiting for since we arrived!" Julien said, with a bright smile showing on his face at the thought of having a new face to join the dancefloor alongside him and the others. However, this smile was replaced with a contemplative expression as he crossed his arms and turned his glance upwards to think. "But… how will we know what they'll be like?"
"We could go meet them and find out for ourselves." Maurice suggested. However, this suggestion was quickly met with deaf ears as Julien showed a hand in his direction to shush him up, to which Maurice showed an expression of annoyance; he had a feeling that this would happen when he had something to say most of the time.
"Quiet, Maurice! Your king is thinking here." Julien replied. Maurice let out a groan of annoyance at this statement, while Julien started to tap the side of his head with one finger as he was trying to figure out what they should do, before a big grin showed on his face as something seemed to be suddenly clicking in his head. "Yes! I've got it! We'll go over to their habitat so that way we can meet this new face and find out what they're like for ourselves!" Julien stated. After a few moments of silence passed, the rest of the lemurs seemed to agree with them as they all showed matching bright smiles.
"That's a great idea!" Julia happily agreed. "Yay! We're going to get a new friend!" Mort cheered as he started to bounce up and down from excitement that they were going to go meet the new otter that had just arrived in the zoo, while Julia turned her head to watch him and let out a giggle at his eagerness to welcome the new arrival.
"We sure are, Mort. Isn't that exciting?" Julia asked, bending down to pick Mort up and hold her in his arms while he let out a childlike giggle. At the same time, Maurice showed a big smile and nodded in agreement with Julien's idea; even though he was the one who came up with it in the first place, he considered it a wise idea just to play along so he wouldn't end up upsetting his king by mistake. "Great idea, Your Majesty! How do you come up with them?" he asked.
"I don't know, Maurice. Somehow they just come to me like a strike of lightning to my brain!" Julien replied, giving a shrug in response. As Maurice showed a smile of amusement and shook his head slightly at this analogy, Julien spun around and pointed in the direction of the otter habitat. "Now then… come, everyone. We must go meet this new face at once!" Julien stated. Without a moment to spare, he leapt off the concrete flooring and started to run over to the wall of the habitat before climbing over it so he could start making his way over to the otter habitat. The other lemurs watched him on before Julia spoke up, prompting Maurice and Mort to turn their heads over to her.
"Right behind you!" Julia replied, before rushing over to the edge of the concrete flooring and hopping off to catch up with Julien.
"Wait up, Your Majesties!" Maurice called, running over to the edge before jumping off so he could catch up with the two royal lemurs before they went too far ahead.
"Oh, are we playing Jump? This is fun! My turn!" Mort cheered. Without a moment to spare, he hopped over to the edge before jumping off to run over to the wall before slamming headfirst into it and dropping onto the ground. Fortunately, he was quick to recover as he sat up and rapidly shook his head. "Ouchie!" Mort blurted. He then jumped up on his feet and quickly scampered up the wall before jumping off to arrive on the other side and start chasing after the others as they were making their way over to the otter habitat to find out just the new face in the zoo could be.