CHAPTER 4: Upping the competitiveness
With Melman firmly on Alex's side, and Gloria confirming that she's on Marty's side, it was like a two versus two situation. Melman and Gloria were more like two back supporters, whilst Alex and Marty were the ones actually preparing to do battle. The entire atmosphere ever since has felt tense, like something was about to break out. It was no different now, as everyone was having some more of their daily steak/hay and so on. Although Alex and Marty have claimed that they're still friends, the vibe they're getting from each other had secretly led them into believing that this was a true test of their friendship.
"Marty, what the heck happened to you?" Alex asked, munching on his steak.
"What're you talking about this time, man?" Marty uttered, as he was trying to get into his own mindset to prepare for the contest.
"You...you know, at one time, you were right up at the top, you were up as high as the clouds, and then you decided to just...collapse like a brick wall, I don't know what's caused this to you? Is it because of your chances?"
Marty really wasn't in the mood to talk to Alex, given the vibe that's been created between the two of them. Still, Alex was intent on provoking Marty as much as possible; he wanted to see if the zebra had a dark side.
"Yeah Marty, I'm sorry, but I just can't take the stuff you come out with..." Melman said, as he was once again with Alex in the midst of his enclosure, surrounded by an empty zoo due to the preparations being made for the contest.
"Melman? Are you-" Marty asked, shocked.
"Yeah, I am...I want Alex to win, but it's not because I don't like you, because I do, but I just want your attitude to just...be sent away, and you're usually very stubborn, and I don't like it..."
"Melman here speaks the truth, Marty, why don't you just admit that? We're friends, we've been through a lot, I've came out with the truth in the past, so why won't you, huh?"
"Because maybe he ought to just chill out, Alex?" Gloria interrupted, standing with Marty as the zebra took to a standing stance off his forefeet, smiling with dignity with Gloria.
"Oh...I see what's happened here...you made a pact with Gloria? Come on, we all know what you really think of Marty, Gloria, so you don't have to pretend any longer?"
"Pretend? This ain't no pretending, Alex, you're always childish, and your boasts grind my gears, to be honest. Marty needs to shut you up, in a painful way..."
Alex was slightly caught off guard from Gloria's backing of Marty; this made the lion realize that it's pretty much a two on two situation, with Melman and himself against Gloria and Marty.
"Okay, okay, you're right...I'll shut up...but after I go through you two one by one...now Gloria, since you're quite clearly on Marty's side, and uh, hold on..." Alex said, stopping to check all around the zoo from where he was standing, "yeah, my popularity makes me check for anybody around, in case I gotta meet my fans...but hey, enough of that, let me just quickly put you in your place..."
Marty and Gloria looked at each other and shrugged; they secretly weren't going to take whatever Alex was going to say seriously, but it still intrigued them to hear what he had to come out with.
"I'm only gonna have fun, you guys, it's nothing serious, right?" Alex said, laughing, "okay, starting with you Gloria..."
Alex walked up to Gloria as he stared her down; he was about to come out with some brutal things.
"Okay, so Gloria, you broke through a brick wall...you've shown toughness, and you don't back down...congratulations, you actually did something for once...and hey, again, this is a joke, we're just friends here, but can I just say...you've really let yourself down...what happened to the Gloria who was serious...and what happened to the Gloria who was able to throw discipline to us all? You went from the most serious friend of mine to the most...argh, " Alex rubbed his hair around his lion face, pretending to think, "how can I put this again without being blatant...ah, I'll go for it anyways...you went from the most serious friend of mine to the most pathetic..."
Gloria nodded, slightly laughing, expecting more from Alex given his stance just now, but it genuinely didn't bother her what he had to say. But the real brutality was about to come in the form of Alex's 'roast' of Marty, right now. Alex walked ever so slowly towards a standing Marty, looking him dead on in the face as the vibe was tense again.
"Now you, you, of all of my friends, you talk a game, you talk it all, and yet now...you somehow seem to hate me, just because of this...but why, why, why Marty, why have you suddenly decided to hate me now, when it matters, huh? Is it because humans actually know who I am?" Alex said, chuckling briefly, containing himself afterwards, "or...wait a minute...is it because I can fill in a crowd space with human fans, something you'll never do?"
"It's no worries, Marty, all the penguins and the monkeys feel the exact same way...good riddance to bad garbage, because when I do this..." Alex slammed his own claw against his other, showing a punch like gesture, "you'll be doing this..." Alex once again moved up his hands, moving his fingers as if his hand was walking, referring to Marty walking away in the end, "and I'll be doing this..." and finally, Alex did a small wave, referring to his heavy approoval of Marty potentially leaving after he loses, "now is there anything you'd like to add...t-i-n-y-l-i-t-t-l-e-z-e-b-r-a?" he asked, deliberately slowing down his talk to sound patronising.
Even Alex was huffed at his own speech; the contest and the vibe had made him say all of that on the spot, and he clearly didn't mean any of it. Marty now had a chance to retaliate against Alex's brutal competitive vocabulary, and he wasted no time in attempting to do so.
"You know, it must be nice to be as overconfident as you are...you might be bigger than me, but size doesn't win anything...and hey, if you're talking about me that way, allow me to do the same to you, 'homie'..." Marty said, with Alex slowly walking back towards Melman, as Gloria began smiling at Marty's retaliation.
"Okay...so you're a lion, one of the meanest, dangerous, merciless predators on the planet, heck, if we were in Africa, we'd probably be dead...but...but that's the thing with you Alex, you actually believe what you're saying when you call yourself tough...I have to be honest with you homie, you lost your credibility when you got kicked in the batteries by that old lady..." Marty said, with Gloria covering her mouth.
Alex huffed, with a subtle hostility feeling emerging from Marty's comment. Marty suddenly walked up to Alex, still standing up straight, to pat Alex on the side of his furry head, "I'm like an old lady...underestimate me, and you're getting humiliated..."
With that, Marty had backed up towards Gloria again, as a couple of the zookeepers were noticeably spying on the movements of the animals through one of the buildings with binoculars; they were once again fascinated by what was going down. Their animals were TALKING and WALKING, especially the Lion and the Zebra. The giraffe was more normal, in the zookeeper's eyes.
"And hey, Al, Ima take a page outta Gloria's book when I say that you're incredibily childish, man...you boast, boast, boast, and it's like a repetitive game, and Melman, Melman, you're really gonna say that I'm...I'm stupid for being ambitious about going to the wild?! You're supporting Alex, somebody who boasts about his own accomplishments, which says a lot about how he views you...your his puppet..."
Melman was quick to retaliate on that point.
"No, that's not true, listen, Marty, when you and Alex step out in front of all those humans, you'll soon see why it's a bad idea to be irritating and stubborn..." Melman replied.
"Fine, fine, but don't come to me when you need me...I'll be all by myself, enjoying life, knowing I was right...and Alex, you're soon gonna find out that being a zebra...it doesn't make me any weaker...I'm just me, and I've got a ton of things you don't know, so buckle up, cat, it's gonna be one heck of a ride come that contest, and I can't wait to prove what everybody here already knows; you ain't no lion, you're just a fake doll..." Marty said.
Alex was breathing heavily, as Marty stared him down face-to-face. Gloria and Melman kept their distance, because it felt like something was going to break out. As Marty and Alex tried to back away, the zookeepers over at one of the zoo buildings were absolutely stunned by what they were seeing.
"They're staring each other down...oh my god, they actually know that they're gonna be fighting..." one of the zookeepers said, in which he pulled down the binoculars from his eyes.
"It's like I said, huh? These animals are not only our best friends, but they're also a draw for us. At the same time, they're making our dreams come true; why didn't we reveal this to the world earlier? I never expected it to get THIS much attention?"
"It's just so surreal...I wonder if I can actually talk to them..."
"I'd save that for another time, we wanna be smart, right?"
"Yeah, I guess..."
"I've also been informed on which countries will be coming in the forms of their journalists. We've got Britain, France, Germany, South Korea, China...and then we've got the rest amongst Europe...wow...the world really does wanna see these animals...we've done a good job, haven't we?"
"Yeah, but what if this is seen as inhumane?"
"You've already stressed this concern, and I'll remind you that these guys can behave like US. They can think like us, and they've got our characteristics. It'll be fine, trust me; that fighting ring is gonna be just right for Alex and the Zebra, I just wonder if, because they're human-like, they'll feel the pressure from being watched all over the world..."
This type of conversation was just completely surreal; the zookeepers, never before in their careers, had imagined themselves talking about their zoo animals in this manner. Things were picking up, and the contest was gaining more and more popularity across the globe.
"Skipper, what do you have in mind?" one of the penguins asked, as they had overheard the brief exchange between Alex and Marty from one of their underground lairs in the zoo just now.
"We're gonna create ourselves a plan that'll diverge the attention away from them...boys, be prepared for some publicity..."
Private, deep down, didn't want to be apart of Skipper's plan; he really wanted to watch the upcoming contest for himself.