Here is the third chapter which moves the storyline closer to the part where things get interesting. Starting in the next chapter onward the story will pick up and get much more humorous I promise. Thank you for taking the time to read this and do review if you will.
With the visiting hours over the zoo closes down as the night settles in, bringing in many good things for the residents of the zoo. While humming a specific the zoo employees were giving all the animals some good care while some chefs pushed in carts with silver trays and lids on them, each lid having a shape for the animal it belonged too. With this kind of care it was easy to see why they enjoyed being there.
Lucy was relaxing as an employee was grooming her feet while a chef pulls over a cart and removes the lid to show some high quality grass underneath.
"Ah, now this is the life..." Erza was relaxing on a table while an employee was giving her a thorough massage when a chef pulls up a cart for her and removes the lid to show an assortment of fruits on the plate.
"That's the spot..." Gray replies with a relaxed tone while an employee was giving him acupuncture as various needles were sticking out from all over. A chef brings a cart over and removes the lid to show a large amount of medication bottles on the plate. "Oh, now I'm in heaven!" Gray grins upon seeing the plate.
Natsu was sitting down and relaxing as four employees were blow-drying his mane. A chef comes up to him with a cart and removes the lid to reveal a stack of steaks for the best animal in the zoo. Natsu holds up his hands, signaling the employees to stop while he gets to work on his favorite meal.
Once all that is done and the employees have gone home, the four gather at the center of their pens, making use of the flat concrete surface surrounding the lamp post as a table for their own personal gathering for Lucy's birthday. At the moment Lucy was holding a neatly wrapped presently, shaking it to see if she could make out the noise. "What is it?" she kept asking.
"Lucy just open it already!" Natsu grins while he tells her to which she does and finds a thermometer in black foam inside of the box.
"Hey, a thermometer! Thanks Gray, I've been needing one." Lucy smiles while tossing it into the air and catching it in her mouth.
"I'm glad you're happy for it." Gray smiles while rubbing his head. "I thought I should give you something that was of personal value. That there happens to be my first rectal thermometer."
Lucy's eyes widen as she hears those last two words. "Son of a..." she mutters before turning to face away from the group and spits out the thermometer, sputtering and spitting constantly. Knowing Gray it was thoroughly cleaned but the thought of it being stuck up his butt before was really gross to her. She turns back to her friends when Gray blows on a party blower and Erza pulls out a cake while they all hum.
"Happy Birthday to you, You live in a zoo, You look like a monkey aaannnddd you smell like one too." The group laughs while Lucy giggles at the song they just sung.
Meanwhile Macao overhears the song and spits out the tea he was drinking. "What the heck?" he asks. Wakaba hears it too and sniffs his own armpit, falling off of his branch as he passes out from his own stink.
"Come on guys, you're just embarrassing me and yourselves when you sing so don't do it." Lucy replies with a laugh.
"Hey give us some credit, we spent the entire week working on it for you." Natsu responds with his own grin, picking up a steak from his plate as he lays on the fence.
"Alright now, it's time to make your wish Lucy." Erza holds out the birthday cake with a smile as a candle shaped like a 10 is lit on top of it.
Lucy thinks about it for a short bit before blowing out the candles and then sticking her face into the cake, pulling out a mouthful while also leaving a big mess on her face. It was her cake after all so she was allowed.
"Alright then, tell us what you wished for." Natsu asked, wanting to really know.
"Nope, I can't you it." Lucy responds with a shake of her head.
"Come on, tell us." Natsu insists.
"I just said I can't tell you. It's bad luck if I tell you my wish. Do you really want bad luck put on you? Well if you don't mind I suppose I could tell you but if only if you're really sure..."
"Lucy, will you just tell us the wish please." Erza tells Lucy after quickly growing tired of the delay. "Honestly, what could happen if you let us know?"
"Okay then..." Lucy looks to each of them, getting ready to tell the wish. "I wished... I could go... to the Wild!" she exclaims with excitement.
"The Wild!" Natsu shouts in shock and loses his balance as he falls off the fence, crying out in pain as he hits the ground. Gray inhales the party blower in his surprise and starts choking on it while Erza simply drops her jaw. Lucy takes in everyone's reactions and just shrugs.
"See, I just told you it would be bad luck." she replies, not finding a big deal.
Natsu pulls himself up and leans on the fence while Erza was helping Gray get the party blower out of his throat, beating on his back while he blew it with each gag as the sound was heard. "The Wild?" Natsu asks. "Lucy, are you crazy? That has got to be the worst idea I've ever heard!" He and Lucy pause to watch the party blower flying past them as Gray can be heard gasping for breathe.
"Yeah, it's unsanitary..." Gray coughs as he regains his breathe again while Natsu gets back to laying on top of the fence.
"Come on! The penguins are going to go there so how come I can't go?" Lucy asks, wanting a more valid reason for why she couldn't go.
"Lucy, those penguins are complete psychos." Natsu replies simply while picking up his steak.
"Come on, just think about it. Can't you imagine going back to nature where we belong?" Lucy reasons while looking back over to the mural she's always looking at it. "Think about it, going back to your roots, breathing clean air, running in wide opens spaces. doesn't all of that sound just wonderful?"
"Well, if it's wide open spaces you want I've heard they have some over in Connecticut." Erza brings up, catching Lucy's attention.
"Connecticut?" Lucy ponders on this.
"Yeah she right. What you got to do here is make your way over to Grand Central Station and when you get there you take the metro north train... north?" Gray adds on to Lucy's statement, making her more interested without realizing it.
"So hypothetically speaking if you wanted to go you could take the train?" she asks, showing interest in Gray's words.
However Natsu wasn't going for it and was completely against it. "Lucy, think about it for a minute. What could there possibly be for us in Connecticut?"
"Lyme disease for one." Gray answers the question.
"Yes, thanks for that fact Gray." Natsu nods with agreement.
"No, I really am just curious how..." Lucy starts to defend herself before Natsu interrupts her.
"Lucy, do you see this in my hand?" he shows her the steak he holding onto while standing up on the fence. "You'll never find any of this out in the wild! This here is a delicious, highly-refined food type... uh... thing that you'll never find in the wild." While explaining this Lucy keeps trying to cut in but isn't able to get in a word.
"Natsu, haven't you thought for once that there are more things to life besides steak?" she asks him once getting the chance.
However, the answer was an obvious no as Natsu starts to cradle the said steak. "Don't worry, she didn't mean any of that." he comforted it as if it could hear what Lucy just said. Things weren't looking good for Lucy's side of the matter.
"You mean to tell me that none of you are interested in going outside? Aren't you bothered by the fact that you know absolutely nothing about what goes on outside of this zoo? Aren't you even a little curious?"
The was a pause of silence before her friends answered her question with a round of 'no'. "Well, when you think about it, it's only one subject. It's not a big deal." Natsu explains, finalizing their side of the discussion. He starts to take a bite out of his steak but pauses for a moment. "Oh Lucy, you got a little something on your face." he points to a cheek, reminding her of the mess that been on her face this whole time before shoving the whole steak in his mouth.
Lucy brings up a handkerchief to her face and cleans it off, giving a bit of a disappointed look but managing a smile. "Well thanks for the party anyways. It was really great." Natsu finishes his steak and spits out the bone which he catches on his tongue as a trick but let it drop when he watches her leave. She walks off to her treadmill and starts walking on it at a slow pace while her friends just watch her, knowing something is wrong but not sure what to do right this moment.
"Hm, I wonder what could be bothering her." Gray thinks about that.
"Natsu, maybe you should try talking to her, that would help a lot." Erza tells Natsu who isn't that eager to agree.
"Talking to her? I already gave her a snow globe earlier today. That's the best I got!" he responds.
"Natsu, come on..."
"Well, I already see where this is going to go." Gray interrupts as he yawns and backs up into his pen. "It already is getting pretty late. I guess I'm going to just head to..." he falls asleep while standing in the middle of his pen, snoring loudly as he does.
With Gray out of the argument Erza and Natsu started exchanging body gestures to have a silent conversation. Erza was trying to convince Natsu to give Lucy the talk while Natsu was unwilling but the conversation ends with Erza making a threatening gesture to Natsu that leaves him unable to argue back. "Natsu, she's your best friend. Do it."
Natsu sighs as he nods. "Alright, alright, I'll see what I can do."
Erza nods, smiling as she made it through to him. "I'm going to sleep then. Goodnight Lucy."
"Goodnight Erza." Lucy answers without looking back.
Erza walks over to her pool and points to Natsu then to Lucy while looking at him sternly. She then crouches and does a back flip into her pool, creating a splash of water that flies in Natsu's direction. Natsu already knows this action and pulls out an umbrella to shield himself without looking. Erza's hand surfaces and repeats her last gesture twice more before sinking back in, the light in the pool turning off.
Natsu thinks about what he's going to say for a moment before laying down on the fence, smiling as if relaxed. "Well, this was such a great day. I tell you it really just doesn't get much better than it did today." he looks up into the night sky and catches something that makes him excited. "Hey, it just did. There's a star out tonight Lucy. There's no way you'll find a star like that if you're out in the Wild." Natsu motions to the star.
"Natsu, that's a helicopter." Lucy replies bluntly when she looks up, proving to be right as the star moves away and out of sight. Natsu sighs as he sits up and faces her.
"Lucy, everyone has those days where they think the grass is going to be greener elsewhere. It just happens and passes."
"Natsu, look at me for a moment." Lucy steps off her treadmill. "I'm already ten years old which means my life is half over. The worst of it is I still don't know if I'm black with white stripes or white with black stripes." she spins around as she tries to look at her backside before finally just sitting herself on the ground near Natsu, looking not so happy just like earlier.
Natsu thinks for a moment before develops a bigger grin. "Hey Lucy, you know what? I'm thinking of a song."
Lucy exhales, not in the mood. "Natsu, this isn't a good time."
"Oh yes, this is a good time. This is wonderful song that I know you're very familiar with." he starts making his fingers dance on the fence as he gets going. "Dah dah, dah dah dah! Dah dah, dah dah dah!"
Lucy didn't want to hear it now and was covering her ears in an attempt of ignorance. "Natsu, I'm not listening to you! La la la la la la!"
Natsu continues anyways as he starts singing the song. "Start spreading the news!" he dances on the fence.
"No, I don't know you!" Lucy replies, still trying to ignore it all.
"I'm leaving today!"
"Heh, just who is it exactly." Lucy starts to lighten up with a small smile.
"We're all a great big part of it!" Natsu dances around the lamp post, kicking off the stuff by his feet before hanging from the lamp post by those feet, hanging upside down as he holds out his arms to Lucy. "Come on Lucy, I know you know the words. It's just two little words." he holds up a finger in each hand to make point of it.
Lucy shrugs and responds to him. "New York."
Natsu then jumps next to her and stands her up, the two standing side by side as they sing the next part loudly. "NEW YORK!"
"Will you shut the heck up out there! Just shut up!" cried a nearby residence as Lucy and Natsu turned to face another pen where a light had turned on. "We're not all nocturnal you know! So keep it down!"
"How about I come over there and knock your 'turnal' right out of you? Would you like that?" Lucy shouted back jokingly while jumping on top of the fence as her mood was much better now.
"Oh yeah! You and what army stripes? You and what army?" another resident responded. Soon enough other residents were waking up and complaining about the noise going.
"Hey, if you want to mess with her, you're going to have to mess with me too!" Natsu shouts back, jumping on the fence next to his friend in her defence. Soon enough the two were laughing once more and Natsu returns his attention to her. "So do you see that Ms. Stripes? You and I are a perfect team together."
"Yeah, there's no doubt about that, we are a great team." Lucy nods with agreement.
"So what were you going to do anyway? Run off to the Wild by yourself?"
"Nope, that's not it."
"Well, that's a relief."
"You and me are going together, just the two of us!"
"Wait, what?" Natsu was now confused again.
"Come on, you and me are going to the Wild, just the two of us out there!" she hugs him and points off in a direction before she jumps down from the fence and walks with excitement. "We just got to walk straight down Fifth Avenue to the Grand Central Station and take a train heading north. We can come back in the morning and no one has to know we're gone." she explains her plan with confidence but her smile falls when she hears Natsu laughing as he jumps to the ground and walks over to her.
"Lucy, you're just joking about this right?" he smiles while chuckling some more.
Lucy sighs, realizing by now there was no convincing anyone else about what she wanted to do and just smiles as she nods. "Yeah, I'm just kidding. Seriously Natsu, how are we even going to get on a train? We're not people."
Natsu nods in agreement. "Good to know. You had me scared for a bit there but it's good to see you're just playing around."
Lucy gives of a yawn as she starts walking to her bed. "Well, I'm getting tired now so I'm going to hit the sack."
"Yeah, I'm going to hit it too." Natsu jumps back onto the fence and walks alongside Lucy. "I've got to get my rest so that my voice is in top shape. We've got seniors visiting tomorrow so I'm going to have to roar extra loud for them. Just to give them an extra jolt if you know what I mean." he hops of the fence and back into his pen.
Lucy nods while laying down and getting comfortable on her bed of hay, surrounded by bales of it in a partially complete square. "Well, goodnight Natsu."
Natsu rolls under a raised rock and lays on his back. "Night Lucy." He claps his hands twice and the rock above him reveals a heat lamp that glows bright red, warming him as he relaxes. He starts to fall asleep but grumbles as the sounds of animals are heard coming from the speaker nearby. He sits up, glaring at the said object. "Darn it, they forgot to shut off the ambience again!"
"Don't worry about it, I got this." Lucy gets up from her bed and walks over to the base of the speaker where she does a handstand and kicks the base of the speaker with her back feet. The hard kick send vibrations that silence the speaker so that the sounds of the city can be heard.
Natsu grins as he relaxes once more. "Thanks, that's much better..." he yawns and rolls over, quickly drifting off into sleep.
Lucy watches him to make sure he's asleep before walking over to the end of her pen and leaning on it as she stares at the mural she's always looking at. With the zoo fast asleep she's left alone with her thoughts about her birthday wish. If she was ever going to get to go to the Wild she was going to have to do it on her own time. It was time for her to choose between staying at the zoo or leaving for the Wild.
Thus the third chapter ends and I'm further into the story. Things will get really interesting once the next chapter starts now that the slower part is finished. A lot of the roles have been established except for the lemurs which will be a special surprise when they come up. Believe me when I say you're going to enjoy who I selected for the role as the leader of the lemurs. I have a good idea of who should be playing that role. Thank you for taking the time to read this story and be sure to keeping on reading.
