I don't own any of the animals, apart from Colin
Vitani lay dozing in her crate. She wouldn't normally be napping at this time, but apart from pleasantries, she and the others had run out of things to talk about some time before, and with nothing to look at but the inside of the crate, it seemed the best thing to do to while away the time.
The peace wasn't to last though, because a huge roar suddenly broke the silence. Momentarily forgetting she was in a crate, Vitani leapt forward reflexively, only to ram painfully against the crate, then cringed as a second roar followed the first.
"Hey," Marty, as the second roar died away, "doesn't that sound mean we're close to land?"
"Does it," Vitani asked, "well, what the hell kept 'em?"
"You okay," Alex asked.
"I was asleep until that thing roared," Vitani replied, "forgot I was in a crate for a moment, too, and that was a mistake."
"Headache," Alex asked after a moment, "bad?"
"You could say that, yes," Vitani replied, then groaned.
"But where are we," Marty asked, "because this seems too hot to be the zoo."
"Hang on a moment," Alex said, then looked out one of the small ventilation holes on his crate, "weird."
"What's that," Vitani asked, then looked out one her holes. There was a city outside, but as opposed to New York, which had seemed to be a forest of tall, cold, grey towers, this one was much lower, quite a bit warmer, and predominantly brown. "Looks a lot better than New York," she said in reply, "too me anyway."
"What's out there," Marty asked, who, due his placement behind them, couldn't see what they were looking at.
"Well, it's a city," Alex replied, "but nothing here's exactly Empire State, it's maybe, ten stories max."
"Wonder where we are," Marty said.
"Well, no doubt we'll find out soon," Vitani replied. To the others, it may have been a city, but she recognised the colours more than the buildings, and those colours reminded her of the savannah, stirring a tiny morsel of hope that she might actually see the Pridelands again.
It took some time for the ship to finally stop moving, then the crates were released, and swung by crane onto the backs of various vehicles. The vehicles sounded, rougher, than the ones in New York, but it didn't matter, because they got moving.
As Vitani couldn't see much outside of the crate, she focussed instead on the smells wafting in, and was heartened to notice, despite all the chemical smells, some similar to those in New York, and a some different, that she could also smell the faint but insistent scent of the distant savannah.
Time passed as the vehicles and their cargo left the city and headed for parts unknown. Eventually, they seemed to reach their destination, and the vehicles slowed down and stopped. There was a delay, punctuated by some scuffling sounds, and then crate was opened.
Suspiciously, Vitani explored the open edge of the crate, then finally satisfied that nothing untoward was going on, jumped down, and loped a few paces before looking back. There was one human beside the crate, carrying what looked like one of those strange branches that fired sleep causing stingers. The human looked as though it was on guard, and she realised, it probably wasn't going to move till she'd gone, which was fine with her, she wanted nothing more to do with them either, so seeing a tree in the near distance, she headed towards it.
Vitani turned to look when she heard a growl behind her, but saw it was nothing more than the vehicle with the now empty crate on the back beginning to leave, so she turned back to the tree. On reaching the tree, she jumped and scrambled onto a low branch, and looked around. She could see Melman far off, and Marty somewhat closer, but they were both still out of even shouting range, so she finally decided roaring would be the best way to get their attention.
"Oh, that was you was it," Gloria asked, when she arrived, "what'd you go and do that for?"
"Easiest was to get everyone's attention," Vitani replied, dropping down from the branch, then caught sight of Alex, "geez, are you okay?" The lion had sat, or more precisely, slouched down as soon as he was in the shade He was panting, and his body and especially mane were matted with sweat.
"So now you're worried about him," Gloria asked, though she herself was seriously concerned about his condition.
"Concerned, certainly," Vitani replied, "I mean, I've seen corpses looking healthier."
"Feeling a bit hot there Alex," Marty asked, ignoring the fact that he himself was coveredin perspiration. The lion turned to his friend, but was unable to speak for panting, so nodded.
"More than a bit," Vitani replied, "and while a mane like that might help keep you warm, down here, it's more hindrance than help."
"So what can you do about it," Marty asked.
"If you can do anything about it," Gloria added.
Vitani raised an eyebrow at Gloria, then turned to Zazu, and asked, "can you find us a waterhole anywhere nearby?"
"As you wish, miss Vitani," Zazu said, and took off.
So much for being able to cope out here," Gloria said scathingly.
"Oh I can cope for myself, believe me," Vitani replied, "but Zazu'll find one quicker than I can, and right now, speed's more important than maintaining my image." She paused a moment, then gestured at Alex, "as for him, apart from dragging him up the tree, which'll probably be more trouble than it's worth, lying in the shade's about the only thing."
Alex groaned slightly at a lack of forthcoming relief, but rose shakily, and with both Marty's and Vitani's help, made his way over to the shadiest part of the tree, and lay down.
"I'm surprised the heat's not affecting you more," Marty said to Vitani.
"Hey, I was born for this temperature," Vitani said, "for me, this is normal, which ought to give you a clue as to how I felt in Central Park Zoo."
"Yeah," Marty said, "I guess, put like this, it makes sense."
"It's better for me here," Colin said.
Vitani turned to Colin, and asked, "why's that?"
"Well, before," Colin said, "a mould bit of carpet was the best I could do for staying warm, and that wasn't healthy, believe you me."
Vitani nodded, but she was more concerned, worried even, about Alex's condition, and she just hoped Zazu would be able to find water nearby.