"Hugo!"
A tiny nose poked from underneath the starry, blue blanket in the corner of the room, and little Hugo sprang out with an excited chatter, barreling on all fours to Lio, who caught the rambunctious baby mandrill in his arms.
"We brought a new friend to play with," Song entered the room behind her husband and in her arms was what looked to be a ball of black and gray fur. She leaned to set on the ground a hyena cub not much bigger than tiny monkey himself.
The cub immediately bounded over to curiously paw at Lio's leg, who leaned to place Hugo down next to the strange, new creature. He hid behind Lio at first, head peeking from between the human's feet.
"Oh, now you wanna act shy…" Lio chuckled, peering down as the hyena cub trotted closer, cackling in an unfamiliar, but not so different sound than what Hugo might have made. He leaned back as the cub sniffed at him, then nearly toppled backwards when she gave his nose a lick.
Both humans laughed as Hugo regained his footing before chattering happily, and running to tackle his new playmate. The two wrestled and tumbled together as if they had been the same species, even from the same litter all along.
The first thing Hugo registered as he awakened was the metallic taste in his mouth. Slowly regaining consciousness, he noticed the pounding in his head and instantly regretted opening his eyes, almost yelping as the blinding sun sent a shock to his temples.
"Ugh! -cough! cough! HACK!"
The mandrill choked on the liquid running down his throat, wiping his nose to find it bleeding, and quickly fidgeted around the seat of the car to retrieve something to clean himself with. In his stupor, he grabbed for the fabric he suddenly felt beneath his fingers and began soaking the blood up, only to realized what it was with a shriek.
"Star blanket?! NO!" He barely began whooping in anger before grabbing his aching head, "Augh!" He stopped to calm himself and let his eyes adjust to the light, but once he was able to see, he wished he could have slipped back into the feverish dream he had awoken from.
As far as he could see, in every possible direction, was absolutely nothing but open water. Open ocean.
He clutched the now soiled blanket to his chest, crumpling back into his seat, "Oh, no! Oh, no-no-no-NO-NO! ACH!" He shook his head, grasping his temples in pain again, "Ugh! I can't even have a proper tantrum! This is hardly fair!"
He straightened himself, inhaling deeply and exhaling, "Really, Hugo…we MUST keep our composure," he smoothed out his ruffled coat, fixing the blanket back around his neck so that the bloodied spot didn't show, "There must be a way out of this…no reason to get all in a state," he frowned toward the direction he imagined he had drifted from.
That was when the sound of bubbles from beneath the car had Hugo jerking his head toward the dash, and his heart dropped. The black heap that was his mega flamingo hung limp through the hood of the car.
"Marie!" He nudged the neck to his right, before doing the same to the left, "Antoinette!" His lip trembled, and he wiped his nose again, surprised at himself for the emotion he felt for what he had at one time looked on as nothing more than a weapon and mode of transportation. "I'm sorry, girls…"
He remained tight lipped for several seconds before glancing back up to the gently rippling tides, "Surely Kipo and the others will find me…how far could I possibly have drifted in only a few hours?"
He sat behind the wheel, hands gripping it absentmindedly, and his solemn expression slowly became a pained smile. Colliding into Dr. Emilia's mega form had stopped her. Kipo had won; that much he remembered. And that was all that mattered.