The ship rocked and creaked. Several creatures on board felt seasick. Two of the creatures, however, were too upset to care. One felt lost, betrayed, and alone. The other knew exactly what was going on and felt helpless, confused, frustrated, and very sad. By some cruel coincidence, they both were equines, both had the same color scheme, and had each started to become fond of the other.
One lay in shock in a crate, unable to function. The other stood on the deck of the ship, hopelessly searching the horizon for answers.
On a small speck in the distance, though they were far apart, three other creatures shared in their misery.
A wet lion sat on a beach on Madagascar. It's just like my nightmare, except it's water instead of sand, he thought. Alex looked sadly up at Gloria and Melman, "Marty…he's gone. Marty's gone, and it's all my fault! I shouldn't have rushed into the situation." Alex buried his face in his paws, "I may never see him again! What have I done?"
"Alex," Gloria firmly yet comfortingly put a hand on Alex's shoulder, "Quit blaming yourself! You didn't know that the people were dangerous! And it is not your fault that Marty showed up when he did."
Alex shook his head, "It's a good thing he did. I'm pretty sure he was right about those guns."
"How awful!" Melman shuddered.
Gloria sympathetically patted the distraught lion, but for once, she couldn't think of anything comforting to say.
"Eeek!" Melman exclaimed suddenly, "That garbage pile just moved. I saw it move! I KNEW the wild was unsanitary…"
Gloria and Alex looked.
Four penguin heads poked out of the pile of refuse that the humans had left behind.
"It's the psychotic penguins!" Alex said.
The penguins checked the perimeters, then marched up to Gloria, Alex, and Melman.
"Status report!" Skipper demanded of Alex, "Er…how is everything?"
"Uh," Alex stared at the penguin, "not good actually."
Skipper snapped his head around to search for the cause of Alex's unfavorable status.
Kowalski's eyes darted around, "The hostile invaders appear to have departed, sir!"
"Yes," Skipper agreed, "but for how long? And where's our monochromatic friend? He's usually not far from you, Psychotic Lion. Do you know what happened here?" Skipper pointed a flipper at Alex.
Alex glared at the penguin, "They took him okay? The people grabbed him and left. That is ALL that HAPPENED!" Alex shoved the flipper out of his face and stalked to the water's edge.
"Hmm…"Skipper tapped his head, "Our monochromatic friend has been abducted by hostiles…Kowalski! Ready the ship for departure! Rico! Alert the natives of our situation. We may need their help. Private, you're with me." Skipper began marching back to the trash pile.
Gloria called to Skipper, "Hold on just a minute. What do you mean, 'ready the ship'?" She put her hands on her hips.
"Yeah." Melman added quizzically, "I thought the boat was out of gas."
Skipper winked at them, "It is, Mammals, we're going to refuel it."
"With what?" Melman and Gloria asked simultaneously.
"This!" Skipper yanked a blanket off of something in the trash heap. It was three huge barrels! The barrels had the words, "Gasoline, Danger: Extremely flammable" written on them. Skipper proudly patted a barrel with his flipper, "We found these babies and moved the junk pile to keep them from being detected by the hostiles. They never knew it was gone!"
"Skipper, how're we going to get these barrels to the boat?" Private asked.
Skipper smiled secretively, "That's why we need the natives, young Private!"
Just then, Rico returned from the woods. Skipper looked at him, "Well?"
Rico shrugged. Skipper shook his head and narrowed his eyes.
Alex turned around and looked skeptically at the penguin, "What now?"
"Apparently, Rico was unable to locate the natives." Skipper stroked his head thoughtfully.
Alex frowned at the large fuel canisters. They were huge, and looked very heavy. Too heavy even for him to lift. But with a few hundred lemurs…
With every second, Marty gets farther and farther away. But if there's a way to get him back…Alex thought. He nodded to the jungle, determination once again sparking in his blue eyes, "I'll go find them!" He dashed off.
"Good luck, Alex!" Gloria called.
Alex ran as hard as he could; he felt himself tiring rapidly. No! Alex's mind yelled at his legs, I've got to keep going! Faster! His legs pumped, but the jungle path moved ever more slowly beneath him. The struggle with the crate had drained his energy.
But maybe there was a way for Alex to motivate himself.
Fish, thought Alex, think about the bucket of fish in Marty's hut! His gut lurched a little when he thought about his missing friend, but Alex found that he was moving faster!
Fish. Fish. Fish. Fish.
Leaves and branches whipped past Alex. In spite of his concern for Marty, Alex felt elation from the speed. Faster, faster! His feet were barely touching the ground.
Fish. Fish. Fish. Fish. The bushes chanted as he brushed past them. They were urging him on. "Fish! Fish! Fix! Fishalex! Alex! Alex!" The bushes became a crowd, lining the path and calling Alex's name. Photos snapped and leafy people waved souvenirs at the running lion. Alex ran even faster. The crowd roared its delight and chanted his name as fast as he ran. Like a brown and tan blur, Alex flew through the jungle.
It wasn't long before he saw the huts standing on the beach…just ahead.
The crowd vanished, and now only one thing remained.
Fish. Fish. Fish.
Alex dashed into Marty's hut. He tried not to think about how empty it seemed with its owner gone. He snatched a fish from his stockpile and left the hut. Now, to find the fuzzbuckets. He headed for their favorite party spot, expecting to hear music leading him to yet another lemur party.
He heard nothing but jungle noise.
Alex reached the spot where the lemurs usually spent all day dancing and partying. No lemurs. He looked behind leaves and under stones, "Fuzzbuckets? It's me, Alex. Hello? Anyone here? Hello-o?"
No one appeared.
Where are they? The lion panicked, We need them to help us, or we can't save Marty! They could be anywhere! Madagascar was a large island, as Alex was finding out.
"King Julien? Anyone? Hello?"
A leaf dropped. Then a branch fell. Alex looked up.
Many, many small fuzzy heads peeked down at him from tree branches.
Alex sighed with relief, "I am so glad I found you guys! We need your help! Uh…" Alex squinted up at them, "Why are you hiding?"
One lemur gulped and looked around nervously, "We heard sounds! Loud sounds!"
"People sounds!" another lemur added, "Live people sounds!"
Alex sighed again, this time without relief, "Well, you can come down, now. The people are gone."
The lemurs still looked worried.
King Julien popped out of a leafy branch with his right-hand-lemur, Maurice. "Go on, do as Mister Alex says!" Julien told the lemurs.
From everywhere, lemurs slid down vines to the ground. Maurice lowered Julien to the ground on a platform, then he himself slid down. Mort, the smallest lemur, found that his vine came up short. He plopped to the ground and giggled, cushioned by his tail.
"You said you needed our help, Mister Alex." King Julien walked up to the lion, grinning, "What can I have them do for you?"
Alex blinked, "Those people you heard? They kidnapped Marty! We need you guys to help us bring gas to our boat so we can go save him!"
The lemurs gasped. Julien frowned and shook his head.
"The greedy live people have taken several of us, as well." Julien looked thoughtful for a moment.
Maurice approached the crown-wearing lemur, "Julien, I don't think it's a good idea to get involved."
"Silence, Maurice!" Julien cried, "My brain is busy doing deep thinking things."
Maurice looked doubtful.
Finally, Julien looked up at Alex and grinned, "Since we are all fond of the striped one, and you have been kind to us, I have decided that we will help you. On one condition."
"What's that?" Alex asked.
Julien nodded, "That you bring back those of us captured by the live people."
Alex grinned, "Sounds fair. Follow me!" He began heading for the trail back to the humans' campsite.
"Follow Mister Alex!" Julien ordered.
All of the lemurs bounced after the lion.
Along procession wove through the forest from the human campsite. Lemurs, penguins, and a hippo all pushed, pulled, and lifted a platform made from palm tree trunks. On the platform were three large drums of boat gasoline.
"Why take only one, when you can have them all?" Skipper grinned at the gasoline barrels. The penguins hi-fived each other.
Julien walked ahead of the lemurs, singing, "I Like to Move It, Move It", although he wasn't moving anything but himself. Got to keep everyone's spirits up, he thought.
Alex led the way, Gloria helped to carry the platform, and Melman brought up the rear. The giraffe glanced behind himself, "Well, we're not going to get lost going this way again. We're making a trail!"
"I see the boat!" Alex called from ahead, interrupting the 28th improvised verse of King Julien's favorite song. The whole group cheered when their feet touched the sand. In the near distance, the boat waited for its next voyage to begin. They were going to find Marty.
Alex smiled, then frowned.
We're going to find Marty, but will we be able to save him?