Author's note: Ok, well, the reviews keep on coming. Thank you readers. As you may have noticed, I changed my rating from ' K+ ' to ' T '. I didn't know how my story would turn out when I first started writing, so last night I read through my chapters one after the other (cringing at the first two) and I realized that this had become a ' T ' story. Don't be afraid of change, just keep on reading and reviewing. This is probably going to be the shortest chapter in the story. So get ready for (drum roll) CHAPTER 9!

Chapter 9: Land Ho!

Melman awoke first that morning after having a horrible nightmare. He felt bad to wake Gloria, but he had to talk to someone. Gently, he reached through the bars of his cage and gave Gloria a tap on the shoulder. At first, she just rolled over, but after a bit of persistence, the hippo finally awoke.

"Oh, come on, Melman, what is it?" she mumbled grouchily.

"I just want to talk to someone!" he whined, "Everyone else is on the other side."

She yawned broadly, "I guess that's the price for being big." She popped her back

"That can cause osteoporosis, you know"

She put a hand on her hip, "Shut it, Melman. You know that's just an urban legend."

"Tell that to my mom,"

"Melman, do you even know where your mom is?"

He thought for a moment, "...ok, no...I don't...but if I did, I bet she'd have osteoporosis."

"Why are you up so early? It can't be later than seven," she asked.

"Well, I had another dream."

"Was this one about them choosing the wrong annual flu shot again?"

"No, this one was worse. This was about Alex!"

"What about, Alex?"Gloria asked, genuinely curious.

"Ok, now get this, I was telling Alex about my recently discovered allergy to bananas-"

"Yeah, and?" she rushed him.

"Well, everything was going fine, but then mirrors started showing up around him!"

Gloria raised an eyebrow, "Mirrors?"

"Yeah. So then, more and more mirrors came around Alex. After a while, Alex couldn't stop looking at them. He didn't even try to listen to me, anymore. Well, then the mirrors closed in around him and carried him off. He tried to break free, but the mirrors wouldn't let him move. Finally, I couldn't see Alex at all anymore. That's when it happened."

"What happened, Melman?" Gloria pried out of him, her curiosity mounting.

"I saw a face! It was an animal, but it looked pure evil! It roared at me, and then-"

"Yeah?"

"Then-"

"What, Melman, what?"

"Then, I woke up."

Gloria thought for a moment. "So, what do you think it means?"

Melman searched for a feasible answer, "Keep Alex away from mirrors?"

Gloria laughed. "We couldn't do that if we tried." Gloria's mood quickly shifted to curiosity. "Hey, Melman, where do you think we are?"

"I dunno."

"Well, use your neck and find out!"

He obliged, hardly fitting his head though the bars. He stretched his neck high and looked to the right. Nothing but ocean, far as the eye could see. Then he looked left. He smiled, seeing land dotted on the horizon. "LAND!"

"Are you serious Melman?" she asked happily.

"Yes! It's land. I SEE LAND!"

On the other side of the boat Alex stirred, and shot awake. "What was that?" As if answering his question, he heard Melman's faint cry again. Alex smiled, despite still being tired. "Land! You here that Marty? Land!"

Marty stretched, "What's that, Al?"

"Land! Look I can see it!" Alex yelled, waking Julien.

He was right. Marty looked to the front of the boat. It was land! Buildings littered the coast. But, something wasn't right. Marty questioned his companion, "Alex, are you sure this is New York?"

Alex looked over the front of the ship as well. "Well, yeah. Look at all those buildings." Julien climbed onto Alex's shoulder to get a better look.

"I don't know. I doesn't look familiar." Marty retained his doubts.

Alex's smile didn't falter. "Oh, come on, of course it's not familiar," he laughed, "We've never been off Manhattan, before." He squinted into the distance, "We're probably docking on Staten Island."

Marty's confidence was restored. "I think your right. After all, Manhattan is farthest inland anyway, right?"

"Yeah. A little more west from Manhattan and your in Jersey," he cringed.

"What is wrong with this 'Jersey'?" Julien asked innocently.

Marty warned Julien, "Don't even get him started."

Alex looked over to the penguin cage. He wanted to share his joy with everyone. However, he was disappointed. All of them were fast asleep except for Private. Alex called trying to wake their leader, "Hey, Skipper... Skipper!"

"Don't bother," Private sighed, "Last night, Kowalski and Skipper couldn't sleep, so they tried some of that Winoki junk-"

"Without asking?" Julien huffed.

The disappointed penguin continued, "Anyway, soon Rico got in on it. But, I refused to take it. It's an altering substance, and I am too far above that level. But, they got what they deserved. They only took one swig each, started talking about flying purple puppies, and passed out."

Julien laughed, "One swig? They have no Winoki tolerance."

"Well, wake them up when we get to New York," Alex requested.

Private saluted in acknowledgement, "Yes, Mr. Lion, sir."

"Man, I'm so excited to be back!" Marty cheered.

"Well, I guess if you can like New York," Julien analyzed, "I can too. After all, I never met anyone that loved Madagascar so much, before."

Alex replied, "Trust me, Julien. You're going to love it in New York."

Julien took a double-take at the lion, "Did you just call me Julien?"

Alex smiled, "Hey, I guess I did."

Back on the other side of the boat, Melman and Gloria spoke erratically. "Hey, Gloria," he asked, "When you get to the zoo, what's the first thing you're going to do?"

Gloria laughed, "What do you think I would do?"

Melman answered, "Eat?"

"Bingo!" She pointed to the giraffe, "What about you. What are you gonna do?"

He thought for a second. "Well, probably make an appointment with the resident vet. I need to get some blood work done." He looked down, thoughtfully. He was thinking back on his time at Madagascar. Melman had been brought to a new environment before, but never like that. He questioned how he made it through the experience. Seddenly, it dawned apon him. The only reason he made it is because his friends supported him the whole time. And, no one supported him more than Gloria. After a moment, he rose his head and looked at Gloria with sincere eyes. "Hey, Gloria?"

"Yeah, Melman?"

He smiled, "Thanks for being there for me." He squeezed his head and head into her cage and kissed her lightly on the cheek.