Coming down the treacherous rocky part of the mountainside, even down on his haunches, the zebra's hooves were slipping on the rocks. He knew he shouldn't have tried this by himself, but now without Alex he had no choice. Alex; that sure was a sore subject. Marty tried not to think about it. Although it was the wrong direction, he started walking sideways on the rocks, with better success. The rocky ground eventually turned to soil and grass, which gave him a bit better footing. But then the terrain became even steeper than on the rocks. Marty suddenly lost his footing on some loose dirt and gravel, and down he went sliding out of control. It became a near vertical slope and there was no stopping, his legs scrambling in vain. The slope leveled out at one point, but only for a short distance, like the bottom of a sliding board. He slid right through it and off an edge, tumbling in mid-air for a second or two, then crashed through countless leaves and stems and branches, eventually coming to a stop in the thick, overgrown, mountainside foliage.

By a miracle, the zebra was not seriously injured in the fall... but now he was definitely lost. The thick jungle vegetation gave little or no view of the sky or the mountain, and he was directionally confused. One thing was certain: he couldn't backtrack. For the next several hours, Marty wandered aimlessly through unfamiliar territory, frustrated to tears, trying to get back down to the beach.

Marty eventually stumbled across what seemed to be a trail, and began following it. But it led him to a small chasm, a dead-end drop-off, where he could go no farther. His only choice was to turn back and search for another way to try, or somehow cross this chasm, which was about 20 feet across. He didn't even know if this was the right direction anyway. Not wanting to risk eating any of the strange plants along the way, poor Marty had had nothing to eat all day, his legs were tired, and he was very upset from the terrible argument with Alex. Finding a long, hanging jungle vine nearby, he decided to give it a try and go forward. He swung across the chasm, successfully making it to the other side, but crashed into heavy vegetation and banged his knee on a tree trunk. Lost, lonely, and feeling unloved, Marty's emotional containment caved in and he sat there crying in the privacy of the jungle, bawling his eyes out.

After a few minutes, he got back up and trudged on, very depressed and still sniffling. The zebra's eyes were so blurry with tears that he didn't see clearly what lay ahead, and he slipped again and fell down another steep embankment, ending up in more foliage with no path. Almost ready to give up, he got up one more time, and then suddenly broke through a barrier of tall weeds, coming out into a clearing. It was the same clearing where he and Alex had met just yesterday. Familiar territory at last!

Getting a second wind, the zebra now moved quickly to the trail that led to the beach. It had taken him the entire afternoon to get back here, but somehow he had made it. "Someone must be watching over me," he thought to himself, feeling profoundly thankful. Hungry, tired, and emotionally crushed at this point, the zebra just wanted to retreat to his cabana and be alone. But he fought against those feelings, not wanting to further divide the group by playing the antisocial game himself.

Marty arrived at the beach, finding it quiet with no one there. The cabana was abandoned as well. He entered and fixed himself some supper, as it was now early evening, wolfing down the leaves and grass heartily. The meal raised his spirits slightly, and he left again, heading for Julien's place in hopes of finding the others.

On the way, Marty had flashbacks about his frightening experience of being totally lost in the mountainside woods, realizing that he might not have made it back. Without Alex, survival here was going to be difficult. "Maybe Alex is right," he thought to himself. "Maybe I should try seeing things his way. Maybe we really don't belong here after all."

Approaching the lemurs' clearing, the zebra paused, took a deep breath, then continued on and entered. Melman was there, hanging out over by the fruit table. Oddly, there was no music tonight, so it was unusually quiet. Marty walked up to Melman and surprised him.

"Marty!" the giraffe exclaimed, greeting the zebra with a hug. "We've been looking all over for you. Where've you been?"

"I- I g- got lost," the zebra stammered, finding it difficult to talk. Melman sensed he was upset and changed the subject in hopes of making him feel more comfortable. Unfortunately, the subject he picked wasAlex.

"Remember how Alex used to bounce around all over the place, hyper happy?" asked Melman. "Back at the zoo he was so excited every morning, we didn't need an alarm clock."

"Yeah, I sure do," answered Marty. "I really miss the old Alex."

"So do I. But he was back yesterday... for a while, at least. After you fixed his neck, he was the happiest I've seen in a long time. Bouncing around-"

"Bouncing?"

"Oh, you should have seen it Marty. He was doing handsprings, backflips, and making 'snow angels' in the sand. I guess you might have been there to see it if Gloria and I hadn't chased you off. You know I'm really sorry about that."

"Hey man, it's cool, don't worry 'bout it," said Marty, slapping Melman a 'five' with his hoof. "I got to spend time with the old Alex yesterday. It was good. Yeah, Alex and I had a real good time yesterday." Marty's throat began to get a little choked up.

"Is Alex coming to the party?" inquired Melman.

Marty paused, not able to speak right away. "I don't know," he finally said, "haven't seen him since about noon. I've kind of been avoiding him... we had a few words."

"That makes sense," said the giraffe. "I said 'hi' to him earlier and he just grunted and walked past."

"You've seen him?" asked Marty, surprised.

"Yeah, and he's in another one of those 'real winner' moods."

"Well, he's had a bad day," defended Marty.

"Again? I think Alex has PMS," suggested Melman.

"Hey, watch it, that's my best friend you're talking about!"

"No, think about it, Marty. You go to talk to him, and he either 'bites your head off' or starts bawling. Sounds like PMS to me."

"Hmm. Well yeah, that's true..."

"Did you say he bites off heads?" Julien questioned with interest, eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Oh come on Melman, guys don't get that. He's just up-"

"Well there's our little lost zebra!" said Gloria, walking over and giving Marty a friendly hug, who desperately needed some love. "I missed you today, guy. We were wondering where you got off to," she said, patting his side. "My goodness, Marty, you poor thing... what happened to you?" she added with concern, noting his shabby condition, and picking burrs out of his mane. Marty cherished her tender loving care but didn't know how to answer. "Now, what don't guys get?" she asked, coming in on the conversation.

"PMS," said Melman. "We think Alex has PMS."

"I do not think that," said Marty.

"That's not a very nice thing to say about your friend, guys," Gloria said, wishing to defend Alex in his absence.

"Speaking of the lion, where is he?" asked Julien, pretty much being ignored.

"So what started the trouble this time, if you don't mind me asking?" Melman asked Marty.

"Uh...," said Marty, debating how much information he should share. "Uh... maybe because I made him laugh against his will?"

"You made him laugh today?" Melman asked. "No way! How did you manage to do that?"

"Well, he was-"

"Hi guys," said a familiar, subdued voice emerging into the lemur's clearing. It was Alex, and he was impeccably groomed. "Not talking about me now, are you? Hi, Marty."

Marty wouldn't answer. He was hurt and upset, and was waiting for an apology for the rotten way he was treated earlier. He was willing to forgive his friend, but wanted a genuine apology, and rightly so. As Alex approached them, Marty walked away from the fruit table, where the little threesome had been gathered , and stood over by some small trees, looking away from Alex. Not knowing what had transpired earlier, Gloria thought Marty was acting a bit rude.

"Alex!" Gloria said, smiling, giving him some female charm with a hug and a kiss. "Good to see you! I'm so glad you joined us. My, you're looking sharp this evening."

"Thanks Gloria," replied Alex. "Nice to see someone can be nice!" he added, deliberately loud enough for Marty to hear, looking over in his direction.

"Don't you have something to say?" Marty asked, now looking at them.

"Yeah, I do," said Alex. "Got anything to eat around here?" Julien's ears perked up.

"All kinds of goodies here on the table," Julien nervously said, sensing that he had a dissatisfied patron on his hands. "We aim to please. Nothing but our best for the New York giants!"

"All I see here is fruit," said Alex, picking up a pineapple. "Where are the penguins?"

"Uh, actually I haven't seen them," said Melman. "I don't think they're here."

"That's just great," said Alex, who hadn't eaten all day, looking over the prickly pineapple. He sniffed it and almost tried to bite it, but then made a face and uttered in a disgusted tone, "Nothing but the same old crap. Gross!" To everyone's surprise, Alex drew back his arm and threw the pineapple over in Marty's direction. Marty winced as it smacked hard against one of the small tree trunks near him, splitting apart and spraying some pineapple juice and bits onto his right side and into his right eye.

"I can't eat this crap!" ranted Alex in an irritated tone. "Man, I just got here, and there's nothing to eat. What kind of a party is this? Where's the music? Where's some real food? I want meat!! I'm hungry!" Julien looked nervous again, now filled with Maurice's heebie jeebies, and everyone got quiet.

Marty glared at Alex angrily with his right eye shut and tearing from the tangy fruit juice, then turned his neck back around and licked the pineapple splatter off his side. Normally he would have found the smashing of fruit funny, but the waste of their host's good food was offensive, plus he was mad at Alex to begin with. "Well if you don't like it, then why don't you leave and find something you do like?" he yelled, blinking his burning eye.

"Yeah, maybe I just will," said Alex, turning to leave.

"Aww, Alex hon, please don't go," Gloria begged as Alex starting walking away.

"You know, I think that Melman was right!" the zebra yelled after him. "Youdo have PMS!!"

Marty picked up the split, floppy, drippy half of pineapple lying on the ground and hurled it at Alex, hitting him on the back of the head. Marty put a hoof to his mouth, snickering.

Alex froze in his steps. "What was that?" he demanded, reaching back and feeling the sticky mess, recognizing the scent. "That freakin' better not even be all over the back of my mane," he said.

Marty laughed out loud despite his anger. "That oughta sweeten up your sour disposition!" he yelled.

Alex stood still for several moments, causing an atmosphere of suspense to build as everyone was watching to see what would happen. One could almost feel the anger in the air. Then, Alex started to silently walk away from the party again, disappearing into the woods. "What a sour puss," muttered Marty. Gloria looked over at him and gave him the hairy eyeball of disapproval. Marty just shrugged.

Then, just as things began to settle down again, a loud, ferocious roar rang out, seizing everyone with fear. Being nearest to the sound, Marty's ears instinctively flattened. "Fight or flight? Fight or flight?" his survival instincts asked him. It all happened so fast. He frightfully looked up to see a lion pouncing out of the woods, sailing through the air at incredible speed, coming directly at him. "Flight!! Flight!!" his instincts yelled to him, with a surge of adrenalin. But it was too late. He only had time to gasp and lift one leg in a failed effort to run before the lion plowed into him with a thud. Marty took the hit and fell, rolling violently down an embankment with the attacking lion clinging to him. They both rolled into the large weeds and plants at the bottom of the embankment, disappearing from sight.

Gloria stared on in shock. "Was that-?"

"Yes, I think it was Alex!" Melman answered, in a state of panic. "This is terrible. Terrible! Oh, I knew something like this was going to happen, I just knew it!"

Poor Marty screamed bloody murder from behind the large leaves that were blocking everyone's view. Many of the lemurs also screamed and scattered, mostly the females, but some of the larger males climbed nearby trees to try and get a better view of what was going on. "Fight! Fight! Fight! ..." they chanted. The large leaves shook and rustled with shadowy silhouettes behind them, as awful sounds of vicious snarling, crackling, ripping, and whacking could be heard- and of course, Marty's horrible screams. All before the crowd of horrified onlookers.

"Maurice," Julien said to him, "the lion is out of control. Call security!"

"We don't have a security team," answered Maurice.

"Oh. Very well, then get the bouncer!"

"Julien, the lionis the bouncer. There is nothing we can do. Our striped friend doesn't have a chance. I warned you about this!"

"This is such a savage catastrophe," lamented Julien with his hands on his head. "Oh, poor Mr. Marty. We are all going to die!"

Suddenly, the large rustling leaves that had been blocking everyone's view burst apart in shreds, and a mud-smeared zebra rocketed back out into the clearing, heading towards the food table. He was followed by a very angry lion, who was in hot pursuit.

"Run, Marty, run!" they all yelled, trying to give him cheers of encouragement. Maurice was amazed that he was still alive.

Marty launched into the air, in a grand flying leap to go over the fruit table. He would have cleared it, but Alex caught up to him in mid-air and came down on top of him, crashing them both down hard onto the table and overturning it, scattering the food.

"Aww man, that had to hurt!" commented some nearby tree-bound lemurs watching the fight. "Fight! Fight! Fight! ..." they chanted. "Get 'im, Marty!" some of them cheered, pulling for the zebra, but nobody did anything to help. What could they do? None of them were any match for the lion, not even as a group. So no one did anything but watch in horror.

"Brenda!" called Melman in a panic. "I mean, Gloria! Why isn't anyone doing anything to help? We've got to do something!"

"Don't look at me, Melman," answered Gloria. "I screwed up twice over the last two days when I tried to interfere for what I thought was in the best interest with these two. Nope. Not doin' that again. They'll have to settle their own differences."

The snarling lion and zebra rolled around wrestling on the ground, mashing the fruit that had scattered from the overturned table. Alex got on top of Marty's back, putting him in a chokehold. Julien grabbed a coconut and went to climb a tree, but Gloria grabbed a hold of his tail and stopped him. "Don't you dare hit him on the head with that," she said. "I know Alex; he won't hurt Marty."

Julien looked to Maurice, who just shrugged his shoulders. "Very well," said Julien to the hippo, "you are the boss. His blood will be on your hands."

"You'd better not hurt him, Alex," Gloria muttered to herself. "My reputation is on the line!"

Alex picked up Marty and body-slammed him back down onto the ground, knocking the wind out of him. He climbed back on top of the zebra, who was now lying belly up, and sat on his thighs to keep him from kicking. "Owww! My legs! You're hurting my legs!" screamed Marty, struggling to speak.

"I'm not hurting you!" Alex growled down at him, pinning the zebra's forelegs to the ground with his paws. "We're just getting started!" Then without looking away, he spoke louder so that the crowd could hear. "He'll say anything to get away, 'cause he knows what's coming!"

"Wh-what's coming?" Marty fearfully asked, with a quivering lower lip, which was also bleeding.

Then something snapped inside the lion. Hungry Alex suddenly had an elevated burst of anger surge through him, and flew into a rage. He let go of Marty's front legs and grabbed him by the scruff of his neck with both paws, claws extended, yanking his head up off the ground. Gloria gasped when she saw the lion showing his teeth, along with the other onlookers who were dreadfully wondering what was going to happen. Julien covered his eyes, peeking through his fingers.

"Why aren't you laughing?" the lion yelled viciously at the zebra, giving him a shake. "Think it was funny putting that shit in my hair? Hmmm? Well, was it? Was it??" Marty grimaced, nervously shaking his head "no" to each yelled question. "Not so funny now, is it?" Alex continued. "Is it??" Then Alex started shaking him violently, with clenched teeth, and slammed him back down hard onto the ground.

When Marty's back and head hit the ground, he lost his composure and started crying hard, which had a stunning effect on the lion. In fear for his life, Marty began slobbering words through his tears. "Please don't hurt me, Alex!" he begged. "Oh, God, please don't hurt me!"

Normally timid and fearful Melman could remain silent no longer. "Alex, stop it!!" he yelled. "You're terrifying him! What in God's name is wrong with you? Stop it!!"

Paralyzed with fear, Marty's view of Alex hovering over him shrunk into tunnel vision. The sobbing zebra began to hyperventilate and lost control of his bladder, among other bodily functions. But Melman's yelling, or more likely Marty's crying, seemed to have affected the lion to some degree. Alex stopped his violent behavior and just sat there on Marty's legs, looking dazed and confused.

Now, Melman was mad. "Ooo. Wow," he said sarcastically, slowly clapping his hooves together in mock applause. "I am so impressed. You beat up an innocent, gentle zebra. Bravo."

"What? No I didn't," dazed Alex slowly responded. "I- I didn't hit him. I never punched him. I didn't beat him up... did I?"

Melman began going through his list of rationalizations. "You slapped him across the muzzle. You repeatedly slammed him into the ground. You literally scared the crap out of him. And you made him cry," Melman said. "That clearly counts as 'beat up' in my book. Why, I'll bet he has bruises all over him. Poor Marty. I just hope to God there's no broken bones!"

"Marty? He's right here!" the confused lion defended, full of denial. "Look. He's not beat up. He's fine, see?"

"Oh, really?" said Melman, cynically.

"Hey, Marty, old buddy," Alex began nervously, "you're okay, right?" He picked up the zebra's limp left foreleg and gently shook it, with no response. "C'mon man, stop playing around. Snap out of it!" Marty just lay there staring up into space in a catatonic state with his tongue hanging out, breathing irregularly.

"Oh my God, I think he's in a coma!" exclaimed the giraffe. Tears flowed down Gloria's face as she beheld her beaten, unresponsive friend. Boos of disapproval began resounding throughout the crowd of onlookers surrounding them.

"You beat up a poor defenseless zebra," Melman continued, driving home his point. "That's low, man. That is wrong."

Julien brought a bowl of cold water from the stream and splashed it into Marty's face. The cold water revived him, and he came out of his comatose state and began to sputter.

"See, he's okay," insisted Alex.

"No thanks to you," Gloria retorted, finally speaking up. "All right, Alex, that's enough. Get off of him. You're in big trouble, mister."

Alex just sat there on Marty's legs, still dazed, and starting to feel embarrassment. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose with a silly look on his face.

"What is wrong with him?" asked Melman.

"He's drunk!" said Gloria in a tone of disgust.

"Can't be," said Melman. "Alex doesn't drink!"

Alex bent down a little closer to the zebra below him and sniffed, then started waving the air with his paw. "Whew, Marty, you smell like a barnyard!" commented the lion, as if nothing had happened. "Did you step in something? Better check your hooves there, buddy. You stink!"

Marty coughed and sniffled, and the dazed expression in his eyes turned to anger. "Shutup, Alex!" he yelled. "Get offa' me, man! Get your dirty butt off me! Gross!"

Alex slowly got off of Marty and stood up, backing away from him. Lying there on his back in smeary, grimy mashed fruit, the zebra didn't even want to get up. He was in pain, he was exhausted, everyone was looking at him, and he stank. In his terror, Marty had peed all over his belly, not to mention the dirty mess under his legs, which by now were completely numb from the heavy lion's crushing weight sitting on them. He was embarrassed to the point that he wished he could just melt into the ground and disappear. Then a tingly sensation rushed through his legs as their sense of feeling began to return.

"Maurice," said Julien to his number one assistant-advisor, "did you not see the way the great grey one handled that brute? She will be an excellent choice for our new bouncer, no?"

"Alex!" ordered Gloria sternly. "Help him up! That's the least you can do."

The lion rolled the filthy zebra over and helped him to his shaky feet. Marty angrily tried to kick Alex in the shin, but his legs were still half numb and he missed his target, accidentally kicking the lion in the worst possible place, between the legs. Alex keeled over in pain, holding himself, almost passing out from the blow.

Julien found that very humorous and released his tension by laughing out loud, but then suddenly stopped as he saw the angry hippo scowling down at him.

"Marty! I can't believe you just did that to him!" Gloria scolded. "This fight is over, understand?"

"It- it was an accident," the zebra replied, "I wasn't aiming for-"

"As if that makes it all the better," said Gloria. "You were still trying to kick him."

"Deliberate or not, he deserved that," said Melman.

Alex and Marty stood about 15 feet apart, scowling and refusing to look at each other. Gloria stood there glaring at both of them. "Look at you two," she lectured. "Grown adult animals, acting like a couple of immature brats. I oughtta grab a hold of your tails and paddle the both of you!"

"He started it!" whined Alex, pointing to Marty, still holding himself with his other paw. "Throwing that sticky garbage in my hair. And telling everyone that I have PMS!!"

"Well you've certainly been acting like it!!" Gloria yelled back at him. "Now I want to hear some apologies from both of you."

Both animals remained quiet, continuing with their nasty scowls. Marty stuck his tongue out at Alex.

"I'm waiting!" said Gloria, becoming impatient with their stubborn lack of response. "Your choice, apologize to each other, or kiss and make up, right here, right now, in front of everyone. Well? I'm waiting!"

"Or what?" Alex flippantly remarked.

"You get paddled in front of everyone," answered Gloria. "And it won't be love taps, either. Your choice. So what's it going to be, gentlemen? Do I hear some apologies, or do I get out the paddle?"

Marty was the first to speak up. "I'm sorry, Alex," he began. "I'm sorry... that you're such a freakin' jerk!"

"All right, gentlemen, have it your way," Gloria said, shaking her head in disappointment. "Julien, do you have anything I can use for a paddle?" The lemur king raised a finger saying, "One moment, please," and went to see what he could find.

"Way to go, smarty stripes!" Alex sneered. "Now we're both gonna get it!"

"Shutup, Alex!" Marty hissed. "Just shutup! I said it before, I'll say it again, you're fit to be tied, man. You're fit to be tied!!"

Maurice had a nice thick stick that he had found earlier, hard and unusually very straight. Though it was a bit big for him to handle, he had been carrying it around with him, pondering what noble use he could put it to. Julien approached him, saying, "Maurice, give me your stick!" The aye-aye reluctantly handed over his prized possession, and Julien handed it over to Gloria.

"Hmm... well, yes, I was hoping for something flatter, but I guess this will do," the hippo said, smacking the stick into her left palm. "Mmm-hmm. Oh yeah, babycakes, this is gonna hurt! This is one fine-lookin' stick. I'll try not to break it."

Maurice worried about the fate of his stick, while Julien eagerly watched the hippo to see if she actually had the gall to take the stick to Alex's butt in a public paddling. "But surely," he asked her, "you're not going to use it on Mr. Marty, are you?"

"These two have to learn the consequences of behaving like this. Yes, they're both gonna get it!"

"But Marty wasn't the one doing the beating!" piped in Melman. "That's not fair, Brend- I mean, Gloria!"

Gloria turned around to face Melman with her hands on her hips, eyeing him. "Just who is this Brenda character, anyway?" she asked sternly. "I didn't ask for your opinion, Melman. Look, I'm not convinced this is all Alex's fault."

"Oh yeah, right, that sounds like good old USA justice to me," ranted Melman. "Arrest them both, humiliate and punish the victim, let the attacker off scott-free!"

"Melman, you're not helping!"

"No, you look, Gloria," continued Melman, worriedly keeping a wary eye on Alex from a distance. "This is crazy! They're both adults- what is this going to accomplish? If you crack Alex with that stick, you're just going to make him madder, he won't learn anything from the experience. Hello? He's a lion, Gloria... look what he just did to Marty! This isn't a good idea. And Marty's getting the short end of the stick here!"

"I'm not putting this to a vote," Gloria said, standing her ground. "This has to be dealt with, and it looks like I got stuck with the job. All they have to do is apologize, but they won't. I think I am being fair about this!"

"All right," said Melman, "all right. You go ahead then and punish Alex. Punish him! For what he's done here tonight, I agree, he deserves it. Go over there and beat his butt- if you have the guts. I'll even count the strokes for you... from way over here, that is. But if you try to take that stick to Marty's butt, you'll have to go through me first. Marty didn't do anything!"

Gloria sensed that popular opinion had sided with Melman's defense of Marty. She paused a moment, then shrugged her shoulders and gave up, discarding the stick by tossing it backwards over her right shoulder. Maurice came over to claim his property, grateful that it had not been broken.

"I better go," said Alex, starting to walk away.

"Oh no," Gloria said, grabbing a hold of the lion's tail, "you're not walking away from this one, buster!"

"Let him go. Yes, Mr. Alex, you are out of here!" ordered Julien.

"If the lion leaves, we all leave," stated Gloria emphatically, determined to keep them all together.

Julien looked over to Maurice, who was shaking his head 'no', silently mouthing, "he cannot stay here." But the king wanted Gloria to remain, and made his own decision. "Very well," said Julien. "The lion stays."