Did a rewrite of this one too!Hope you like it still! ^^
Disclaimer: Madagascar DOES NOT belong to me. Madagascar and all of it's canon characters belongs to Dreamworks and I am not using this story to create a profit. Please support the official release.
Chapter III. - Past Memories
It became a disturbing sight to him somewhat. It had been even more disturbing to watch it. First it was the Penguin that started to sob over an ex-girlfriend named "Doris", then he saw Alex and Gia together and looking to be beyond suspicious, now it seemed as if everyone was falling in love now.
He hated spring.
Vitaly snorted and watched Marty and Stefano excite themselves over the Dolphins they saw overboard, and was subjected to the story of how Marty met the Dolphins back in the waters of Madagascar, wherever that was and how they gave him a ride. It looked as if the three were the only bachelors left in the Circus. Stupid springtime. He strayed from the two and went to a more desolated side of the ship: The back. Everyone was at the front, watching the sea mammals as they jumped and cheered every time they did a spin in the air.
It started to give him a headache but not the one he would normally have, no, this headache was different. This headache brought back images he wanted to remember and forget at the same time. His depression really had sunken deeper than the Borscht ever did. He looked over to the sun as it started to set, the little bits of light dimming and the sky turning a dark blue. He remembered how he watched the sun set once as a cub.
0O0
He was a little cub, only a few months old, maybe six at most. He loved to play and roll around on the dirt, and pounce on anything that moved in his wake. His trainers thought he was simply adorable and Vitaly had to admit he liked the attention they gave him. As he played with one of the humans with his toys, another of their kind appeared and whispering into his circus mate's ears. The human smiled and winked at Vitaly who just stared at him curiously while tugging on his rope, signaling the human to play with him.
"Now, now Vitaly, don't get so excited, but I can't play with you right now. We are going to have a new addition to the Circus and I think you'll like her very much" Vitaly did not understand the meaning behind the human's words, but he was only a cub. He could hardly understand anything they said sometimes. He put his attention back to his old rope and tugged on it, his teeth ripping into and gnawing at it.
He was so focused on tearing apart that useless rope that he didn't notice the same human playing with him returning with a small crate. It wasn't until he heard a unexpected "mew" did he turn to find himself staring at one of his one kind. She was a tiny thing, shaking and cowering under him in a violent manner. Vitaly looked at his trainer and mewed. Was this a new playmate? The human petted the small tigress, earning a delighted and soft purr, to which Vitaly replied with a growl. No one was allowed to touch his human but him!
The trainer laughed and patted Vitaly on his head. "Now, Vitaly, be nice! This is your new friend! Her name is Natalia, a beauty ain't she? She's gonna be your playmate from now on!" the human's eyes sparkled but Vitaly ignored the hint and sniffed the small tigress in his arms. Her tail limped from her side as she watched Vitaly wearily as he tried to circle around her and sniffed at her. Sometimes he would even try to nip until he was flicked on his nose by the human carrying her. She mewed again. The human checked his watch and set the tigress down.
"I gotta go, squirt. Don't harm her, we can't afford another Tiger for you to play with, so be nice!" the circus man laughed and walked out of his play pen. Vitaly looked back at the small cub. She looked so weak and scared... and weak. She couldn't possible play with him the way he would normally hope for a tiger to be.
"Can you play rope?" he asked her. The tigress mewed shyly. Vitaly shook his head. "No. Rope. See?" he said, picking up the worn out string in his mouth. "Ropff" he mumbled. The girl mewed again, sniffing the rope. "Don't you ever stop mewing?" he asked. The girl mewed again. Vitaly eyed her then realized why she was still so small and mewed instead of talked.
"Oh, I get eet. You are still baby. No matter, you learn to play and talk" he said, wagging his tail and jumping and pouncing near her. The tigress mewed alarmingly but once she saw Vitaly meant no harm to her, started to jump, but couldn't land on her paws like he did. Vitaly smiled. "Don't vorry. You learn, like I did! I can jump like this, vatch!" he exclaimed, doing a back flip and a few cartwheels landing in front of the baby cub. The cub mewed happily and stood up on her backfeet and jumped. Vitaly gasped and fell under her to break her fall.
The tigress landed on his back with her paws and pushed her chest out proudly before snuggling atop him. "No! Get off! I vant to play! PLAY! Not sleep!" he exclaimed. The girl merely mewed in response and started to breathe quietly but heavily. Vitaly sighed and stood still in his position until he was sure she had fallen deep asleep. If she did this all the time, she would be no fun. Alas, once she couldn't be woken up, Vitaly couldn't get her off, for he had fallen asleep as well.
Many Months Later
"Come on, Vitaly! I want to meet the newcomers! Maybe there are more cubs to play with!" Natalia exclaimed excitedly, running towards the whole Circus area where the animals stationed themselves to get a better look at the new animals the Circus Ringmaster had purchased. Vitaly ran by her side and laughed.
"Don't get hopes up. Might be adults. Ve could be only cubs here!"
"You are mean, Vitaly!" Natalia pouted, trying to squeeze her way through the gap the animals had made. Vitaly squeezed in beside her. They plopped up next to Stefano the Sea Pup, who jumped excitedly.
"Glorioso Giorno, Vitaly! Natalia!" he greeted. Natalia waved at him and Vitaly nodded his head.
"Khorosho yev, Stefano. It is good to see you up" The pup clapped his flippers excitedly, waiting for the new animals to come out of their cages. The ringmaster came up and introduced his newest purchase, a jaguar he had named Gia. The cub came out of her crate, mewing loudly and happily trotted onto the ring where she tried to jump but ended up tripping. The humans started to laugh, finding it adorable, but the cub simply sniffed sadly. Vitaly leaned forward to whisper to the cub.
"Don't vorry. You walk soon. Natalia could not either first day" he beckoned towards the tigress who smiled at the Jaguar cub.
"Ooooh! She is so cute! Can we keep her Vitaly?" the Jaguar cub mewed happily and tried to climb up the stand separating her and her new friends. The ring master came forward and patted Natalia and Vitaly and carried the cub off.
"She is nice" Vitaly commented. Natalia nodded her head in agreement. Another animal was released from its cage, but, this time, Vitaly noticed that a lot more humans surrounded this cage than the cub's was. He knew immediately that it was an adult. A lion came out, a mane barely growing out, and he roared at them. The Ringmaster held his hand up and the humans obeyed him. The lion paced back and forth and spotted the other animals. He sneered at them and eyed Vitaly. Vitaly snarled and Natalia looked at him curiously.
"He is rogue. Not mess with him. He is big trouble" he merely said. Natalia eyed the lion and, instead of taking note of his viciousness, saw in him beauty that many others could not see. Because she never had been exposed to the previous lion Vitaly knew, she had a certain naivety with lions. She felt drawn to this lion, but she had no idea why.
A Few Months Later
Vitaly had been told by his trainers that he must learn to jump the hoop. Vitaly had dreamed of this moment ever since he saw the elder tiger, Alexei, did his marvelous hoop jump with ten rings, each other getting smaller and smaller. Vitaly hopped onto the stand he was stationed to be in. Once the whip was slammed onto the metal, he sprung forward. Sadly, his first attempt was not successful and he ended up crashing into the ring. He felt down with a squeal and took off into another stand and slumped. Natalia watched him and comforted him through the bars.
The lion on the other side witnessed it as well and merely laughed. "Not so tough are ya, kitty litter?" Vitaly gritted his teeth.
"Shutup, rogue. You can't even jump through hoop on first try" the lion chided.
"You can't either. So why don't you shut it when you know you've been beaten" Natalia snarled and roared at the lion. The Ringmaster turned to face her and saw that she was glaring at the lion. He turned to one of his workers.
"Get Adui out of here. I shall not have him distracting my tigers" the human nodded and called a few of his comrades. Soon the lion was gone and Vitaly could focus. He suddenly smirked. Adui? What a stupid name. The ringmaster whipped the metal again and this time Vitaly managed to make it through. Natalia cheered for him and the Ringmaster shook his head proudly. "I knew you could do it Vitaly".
Soon, it was Natalia's turn and she took longer than expected but she managed to also get through the ring after a few failed attempts. Vitaly walked next to Natalia after their ringmaster had put them in their car.
"That vas awesome!" Vitaly exclaimed, getting one of his knives. "I've never felt so-
energized!" and he threw the knife on the wall expertly. Natalia yawned and licked her fur.
"Yes it was, but doing a few hoops at a time seems boring to me" Vitaly stared at her curiously.
"Vat do you mean?" Natalia smiled sheepishly.
"Oh no, I don't mean to offend you Vitaly, you did great but I bet many tigers jump through hoops all the time in a circus. What, do humans think that they won't get bored of watching the same thing other tigers do again and again? Boring!" she exclaimed. Vitaly thought about this for the rest of the day. She was right. He loved his Circus so very much, he wanted them to become better, to become more creative with their acts and still be traditional. As he walked towards the ring area, he was stopped by a low laugh.
"Oh, not bad on your act, Kitty litter. Now all you need is a stupid bow tie and you're set! Oh! Wait! You're not a clown!" the lion laughed and Vitaly snarled. The lion gasped, faking a concerned look. "Did I anger the tigress?" Vitaly bared his teeth. "Get lost kid. You're still barely a teen, and I am MUCH bigger and stronger than you. Think about it for a sec" Vitaly did and the lion was right, as much as he hated to admit it. The lion smirked then threw himself on the cage, alerting Vitaly who jumped back. He accidentally knocked something over from the shelf he had stumbled upon and soon found himself covered in a slippery substance. The lion laughed and Vitaly ran off.
That was so embarrassing! He didn't know what the heck was on him, and in front of that stupid lion! He removed the can from his head; 'Olive Oil'? He scowled and dropped the can on the ground and looked at himself through the many Circus mirrors and gaped. He was covered with the stuff, his fur looked shiny and wet, yes, but he didn't like it.
He huffed and walked over to the rings. The Ringmaster could punish him if he walked in like that but he needed a bath now. Luckily, no one was there at the ring and Vitaly got into his position on the metal stand. There were very tiny rings, must've been for the small dogs, but it looked big enough to go through, might as well practice to jump over it.
The stand was very uncomfortable though, and he sighed. He could possible jump over that tiny ring and do it nicely without the small stand. He then remembered how Natalia commented about humans seeing the same thing again and again. Maybe... maybe he could change it. He didn't care if he was slimy and stuff, he was going to try. He pushed the metal stand out of his way and the ring even further. He eyed it, and then ran forwards, top speed. He did a few back flips, cartwheels and front flips before finally jumping and doing the famous axle-spinning that was taught to him by the elder tiger. He narrowed his eyes, and realized too late that he was going straight towards the ring, not over it, and it was too late for him to stop. He closed his eyes to brace for impact but he never did.
He felt the earth under him and he nervously opened one eye. He was out, whole; his body wasn't on the ground. He turned to see the impossibly small ring that was much too small for his size to go through, rattle back and forth. Did he really just get through that?
0O0
Vitaly shook himself from the past memories. He remembered how he had been watched by his ringmaster the whole time and had been amazed at his daring move and told him happily that, on their next show, he would be the opening act. Vitaly had been both frightened and happy about this news. He ran straight to his car where he found Natalia cleaning her spot where she slept. She had questioned about his appearance but he told her the good news. His life changed drastically from there. He was the star of the show, little Gia grew out of her baby stages and started to learn out to sit and roll over by her trainers. Even he helped now and then. He could not believe how far the Circus had gotten since then.
So much had changed between then and now. He couldn't bear to remember all of it. Wanting to get rid of the spot he had remembered so much, he started walking towards the head of the ship. As he neared he saw one thing standing out: Land.
0O0
Melman didn't know how or why he had gotten himself into such a predicament. Sure, Gloria enjoyed it, but he was so clumsy, he couldn't take it if he let her fall. Gloria was on the bars, spreading her hands out and Melman was hanging onto to her to make sure she didn't fall. Yes, it was a cheesy remake of the scene from one of Gloria's favorite romance movies, The Titanic, but it didn't help that she was giggling so much and moving around. Melman didn't want to offend his girlfriend but she was too heavy for him to hang onto forever. Gloria thought otherwise and he knew that she depended too much on his love for her to let her fall.
"Isn't this great Melman?" she exclaimed, giggling. Melman laughed nervously and nodded.
"Oh yes! This is very- UHA! I mean- VERY fun!" he said, trying to get a tighter grip on his lady. Gloria ignored his earlier cry and lifted herself up a little to feel the wind.
"Oh, I would like to stay on here forever!" she said happily, waving her arms. Melman gulped silently and wished she only meant that forever as a small one. A VERY small one. He faked a joyous laugh.
"Oh me too! I would-" suddenly a wave crashed into the ship which caused it to lurch back, causing Gloria to fall back on her boyfriend. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Melman yelled as he felt himself being crushed by his girlfriend.
"Melman!" Gloria exclaimed, getting off of her boyfriend as quick as she could and helping his stand. Melman waddled a bit before standing completely still. Melman stared guiltily at Gloria.
"I'm sorry, honey. I didn't mean to fall back and-" Gloria giggled and kissed his cheek.
"Oh don't worry, sweetie. We can just try again when we come back from the competition" Melman laughed and gulped.
"Yeah" he said nervously.
*MeGustaFace* This is TOTALLY working out better than the other version. Yes. I likey this better. And yes, I introduced how Vitaly came to meet Natalia, Gia, and how he found out his calling in his act. I think this is WAY better! Remember R&R. And before someone comes to me telling me to put their OCs in my story I WON'T! NO humans, no extra animals- NADA! Only the first 10 who had responded may. And even if you beg I cannot, I can barely find good uses in the story for these and I certainly do not need more for me to introduce. If you want to know who exactly is on the list, go check on my Bio. It is ALL there!
Even if you are the greatest and nicest person in the world, and even if you ask nicely and say please, I can't. The chance was taken up by others. And to note, if I use humans, remember: The MADAGASCAR UNIVERSE HUMANS CANNOT UNDERSTAND ANIMALS! This is not Disney, it's Dreamworks! And in the Madagascar franchise the only things humans understand from animals is "Grr" and "ROAR!".
So putting that aside, I hope you guys can still read it, if not, oh well. You guys diss me, but I wanted to get this out of the way just in case future people come to read this story.
- ROAR!-
