King Julien woke the next morning feeling truly refreshed (it was borderlining the afternoon, but it wasn't like he kept time, or anything. That was Maurice's job). Thinking about Maurice, King Julien decided it would be best to finally grind through a bit of paperwork to get the aye-aye off his back. He went to open the door to his finely built hut when said aye-aye came rushing through the other side.

"Maurice," King Julien flicked his tail, "it's rude to bust into my room like that! We knock for a reason, you know."

"I'm sorry Your Majesty, but I can't let you leave right now. Clover's nowhere to be found and trees are falling because of these weird machines all along our southern border," Maurice panted, his chest heaving. "It's too dangerous, everyone's hiding in the huts alongside the northern borders."

King Julien processed the information for a second. But he had never had to deal with anything quite so serious and so, didn't take it as seriously. "Maurice, I'm sure they'll just… take a few trees and be gone, why should we care about a few trees?" He then crossed his arms, convincing himself Maurice was getting worked up over practically nothing. "And Clover disappears all the time whenever she's on her investigations. She's probably passed out somewhere from being tired." King Julien made an air quote motion when he said 'investigations.'

"King Julien, you don't understand! What if they cut down your tree with the throne on it? I can't let you go there." Maurice stood firmly in front of the door, waving his tail in annoyance.

King Julien easily sidestepped the lemur and was out the door before he could move. His constant dancing kept him in great shape, and he wasn't afraid to flaunt it, either. "See you at the bird, Mo-Mo!"

With that, he skidded easily down his hut's tree and to the jungle floor. He calmly began to walk to his plane when he heard a booming crash and the ground vibrated. He jumped and took cover, and heard a collective gasp and then screams as a small group of lemurs to his right took off running to a hut.

King Julien heard Maurice calling after him, but the ringtailed lemur paid him no heed. He bolted towards the great tree that held his throne and kingly items, dashing up the tree and straight into the huge, gray bird. He nestled into the throne and wrapped his soft, ringed tail around himself. The chair swiveled from the force of his jump into it.

As soon as Maurice entered the room, bent over and panting from effort, King Julien yelled, "Why didn't you warn me the ground was exploding, Maurice! And that it was unsafe to travel!"

"King Julien, that's exactly what I was saying."

The king ignored him, glowering at him as the chair came to a stop. "What do I do, Maurice? I can't be stuck in one room all day, what if I want to go party? I can't party in this office. It's too drab…"

"Your Majesty, we can't worry about partying with the furless on our tail," Maurice sighed. "Lemurs saw them. They say they went and the furless ones were using these small machines to make the trees fall."

King Julien really wished Clover was there. He flicked his tail and looked down in thought. "I'll… think about what to do, just have the villagers confront me with their problems as usual."

Maurice sighed but gave in, complying with his king. He took the megaphone from the side of the drab, red room and exited the metal bird, heading away to alert the townspeople they could go to the king for help.

While he did that, King Julien deliberated the events. Clover was missing, so there was his expert opinion on security out the door. Maurice was panicky, and didn't have any real advice to give him, it seemed. How did one stop big, furless apes from tearing down trees? King Julien then tilted his head, thoughtfully pondering, well, if they're only taking a few trees… I don't see how that's so bad.

He decided then that they'd take the few trees they needed, then they'd be gone.

One by one, lemurs passed through King Julien's quarters. Almost every single lemur was questioning him about the felled trees and the invasive furless. They were scared, and to be honest, he had been before he decided they just wanted a few trees. Thinking that was all they wanted, he informed every single lemur that that was all the furless desired - a few trees. It calmed them greatly, and soon enough his queue of lemurs to advise was clear.

Maurice stepped in shortly after the line was gone, however, and brought up his fears again. "Your Majesty, I don't think they're here for just a few trees. Couldn't they do that anywhere else on the island?"

"I don't question the stupidity of the furless, Maurice, and you shouldn't either," King Julien shot back, crossing his arms and resting in his chair again. "I just hope Clover gets back. One of those lemurs could have tried to… I don't know, hurt my brainy bits or something." He pointed his face in the opposite direction of Maurice, giving a body language signal that told his caretaker he was done talking about the topic.

"Your Majesty."

Clover's voice caught him off-guard and he jumped. He caught a gasp from Maurice's end, too. "Clover! What have I told you about sneaking up on the king? You're going to give me a heart attack." King Julien snapped as he stopped the chair from performing another set of spinning, and faced her. He shook his head in confusion when he saw her though.

The crowned lemur was sitting in the broken window of the metal bird, leaning down slightly due to the added weight of an accessory around her neck. It was a dark gray, slick band that surrounded her throat. A heavy, square, rock-like piece was on the front of the accessory, looking like it brushed against her chin uncomfortably and weighed her down greatly.

"Clover… what is that? And where do I get one?" King Julien lost his stupid expression and smiled at her instead, reaching out as if attempting to touch it.

Maurice shook his head. "King Julien, I don't think you want one of those."

Clover fell through the window, wrestling with the device. "The furless gave it to me! They… took me, and I woke up somewhere silver and shiny, cold, too. They put their filthy paws all over me and then… this, they put this on me!" She gestured angrily to the heavy device around her neck. "You definitely don't want one, King Julien, and I forbid you to go anywhere near those furless."

"I can do whatever I want! I am the king, you know," he protested her forbiddance and then looked closer at her neck. "That does look pretty uncomfortable though…"

Clover struggled to shove the device over her head and, hunched over and panting, cut her eyes at the king. "You think?"

"Still, I want furless bling too!" King Julien demanded.

"Your Majesty, let me put this into perspective. Lemurs are getting captured by the furless and having for all we know, explosives strapped to them!" Clover shouted firmly. Her green eyes suddenly widened and she flicked her tail. "Oh, no! It could be an explosive couldn't it! Stand back King Julien, I need to go see Timo! Until then I refuse to be around you, for your own safety!" Clover ducked to all fours and leapt out the metal bird's window. However, her balance was thrown off by the heavy neck gadget and she plummeted instead of smoothly landing into the tree just by the window.

Maurice flinched. "That had to hurt."