King Julien yawned. Light rained through a hole in his crate and he stretched. His crate fell open, and he saw three other lemurs. He smiled and jumped to his feet the walked out of his crate. He then climbed onto it.
"Greetings, lemurs! I am your new king, King Julien!" King Julien announced. The three lemurs stared at him with bored expressions on their faces. One of the lemurs turned to another lemur and whispered something into his ear. The lemur nodded.
"You're too late, we already have a king," the lemur who whispered something to the other lemur sneered. King Julien's jaw dropped in shock. He glared at the lemur who had said they already had a king. He had black-blonde fur.
"What? Who is this so-called 'king'?" King Julien spat. The dirty blonde lemur took a step back, keeping his cold stare on King Julien. He kept his mouth shut. The only female of the lemurs, a white ring-tailed lemur with black rings on her tail, twiddled her thumbs.
"Well... his name is Slither, er... King Slither." The female stuttered. King Julien crossed his arms.
"That will not do. I am the only king! I must go and fight him!" King Julien turned to leave, jumping off the crate, but the female grasped his tail and whipped him around. She stared him in the eyes.
"No, you can't! King Slither is a king cobra... if you make him angry, he'll bite you! Then you'll eventually die, because he's venomous. One of the monkeys challenged him. He ended up getting bit... It was not pretty." The female shuttered. "We just follow his orders even though we don't want to. Because if we don't..." her voice trailed off. The third lemur, a dark gray male lemur with white rings on his tail, let out an annoyed hiss.
"Gee, Kimberly, it seems like you really like the new guy," the lemur growled, sounding defensive. Kimberly, the female lemur, glared at him.
"I'm just trying to make new friends, okay? I'm not leaving you for him." She whispered, then she eyed him. "But I will if you keep this snotty attitude all the time!" She added. The dark gray lemur glanced at his feet, looking ashamed. "The one who I just talked to is Nathan. He's my boyfriend. The one with the dirty blonde fur is Seth." Kimberly explained. Nathan waved reluctantly and Seth didn't do anything. "I'm sorry they're so rude to you. They aren't very easy on newcomers."
"Well, they better treat me with respect, otherwise I will beat them with a cane!" King Julien snapped. Seth and Nathan stared at him, while Kimberly took a half-step back. They looked annoyed and unamused. King Julien froze. Why were they acting so weird?
"Anyway," Kimberly decided to change the subject, "Why don't we go meet some animals?" King Julien nodded. He liked the idea.
The four lemurs leapt out of their habitat and started their tour around the zoo. The heat was like back in Madagascar. As they walked, Kimberly said they were at the National Zoological Gardens in South Africa. King Julien knew that Madagascar was an island just off of Africa. When he first arrived, he didn't know he was so close to home. He started to think about the lemurs back on Madagascar. Were they doing good? Did they need him? Were the fossas bothering them again? He shook the thoughts away, because he knew there wasn't a chance he'd be able to go back there in his lifetime.
"Hey!"
King Julien whipped around to see a lion cub with golden fur and crystal blue eyes. He let out a shriek and stepped back. The cub frowned. "Is something wrong?"
"No, no," KIng Julien replied, gasping for air. "You just frightened me." The cub laughed.
"Well, that's good. Say, are you the new transfer?" Before King Julien could reply, she said, "I'm Alyssa! Hey, maybe we can play sometime!" She glanced at his crown. "Why are you wearing the funny hat?"
"It's not a 'funny hat'," King Julien responded bitterly. "It's my crown. I am da king."
"King...?" Alyssa's voice trailed off and her eyes clouded. "You can't be! Slither is king!"
"Eh, did you hear me say 'king'?" King Julien spat. Alyssa glanced at her paws. She had to keep the lemur away from King Slither, she had to.
"If you're king, what's your name?" Alyssa asked.
"King Julien," he answered. Alyssa frowned when she noticed Kimberly, Nathan, and Seth.
"Are you going to meet the new animals? Can I come with you?" Alyssa asked.
"Fine," Kimberly said. Alyssa smiled and hopped in front of them.
"We should meet Seva first, then Flash, then Komodo, then Falcon, then..." Alyssa meowed, but King Julien interrupted her.
"What about Slither?" He asked. Alyssa sighed.
"You can't meet him," she mewed. "Not ever! He'll kill you, we know that." King Julien sighed. It wasn't fair. If he was supposed to be king, why couldn't he just meet everyone in the zoo? He started to feel annoyed with everyone. Nathan and Seth with their snotty attitudes, Kimberly with her know-it-all attitude, and Alyssa telling her what to do and who to meet. He missed Tasha. She had never done any of this to him. She knew he was king. If they thought he was going to take orders from them, they were wrong.
Finally the arrived at another habitat. They said it belonged to Seva. Who was Seva? Was she big or small? Was she nice or mean? Would she respect King Julien or would she treat him with scorn?
"Seva!" Alyssa shouted. "Come meet Ki... Julien! Yeah, come meet Julien, I wasn't just about to say King Julien, because Slither is king!" Part of her sentence sounded sarcastic and frightened. King Julien knew that Slither must've been feared. He needed to stop Slither from harming any more animals.
"Hm?" Just then, a beautiful serval stepped out of the shade. Her green eyes sparkled like large emeralds. When she saw King Julien, she smiled. "You must be the new transfer. I'm Seva, the highest jumper in the zoo. I'm a serval. You must be a Ring-tailed lemur, right?" Seva laughed and leaned forward. "We need some cheerful lemurs instead of these grumpy ones!" Seva whispered into his ear and winked. King Julien blinked and nodded. She leaned back and laughed. "What's your name?"
"I'm King Julien!" He announced. When he saw her troubled expression, he added, "And I know about King Slither." Seva sighed. Even though she said she was the highest jumper, she still looked scared. Her fur started to bristle.
"Then you know how he's dangerous and all that junk," she hissed. She shuffled her paws. "That stupid snake. I mean, he's never done anything bad to put the whole zoo in danger, besides hurting everyone who questions him, but he's never really done anything terribly good either. Besides, we want to be free, right? We don't want a king." Seva snarled. She unsheathed her claws, but when she noticed King Julien, she pulled them back in. "I'm sorry. Pressure brings out my mean."
"So, he's practically endangering you?" King Julien queried. Seva shrugged and nodded hesitantly. "Well, that's not good. You need a better king, one that doesn't sink his teeth into you when he gets angry. I'm a good king, you'd like me!" King Julien grinned. Seva shrugged. Then she sniffed the air.
"Darn it, I think Flash is coming!" She hissed.
"Who's Flash?" King Julien asked.
"She's a cheetah," Nathan replied.
"She's nice," Seth added flatly. King Julien nodded slowly.
"Oh well, I'm always ready for a challenge!" Seva growled, unsheathing her claws and crouching down. She wiggled her hindquarters, and for a moment King Julien thought she was going to pounce on him.
Suddenly, a beautiful cheetah hopped the fence. She had a large white flash on her back, and her smile was warm and welcoming. She stared at King Julien, her gaze mystifying. King Julien suddenly felt dizzy.
"The new transfer, right? Well, I'm Flash." She said. King Julien shivered.
"I'm King Julien," King Julien told her. Although she looked unhappy, he was glad that she didn't mention Slither. Her gaze quickly turned happy again when she saw Seva.
"You ready?" She queried.
"I was born ready," Seva responded. King Julien turned to Kimberly.
"Seva loves to compete with the other animals," Kimberly said. "Flash is her favorite. Seva is a better jumper, but Flash can run a lot faster. Today, they scheduled a race. Everyone will be there." King Julien stared at Seva and Flash. Flash towered over Seva, and her legs were a lot thinner and looked better for running. Seva, however, had stronger looking legs, which might explain the reason that she jumped higher. The two stared at each other, their expressions determined. They both wanted to win, but only one could.
"Come on," Alyssa mewed. "Let's get first row seats so we can see Flash and Seva better!"
As Flash and Seva walked towards the starting line, King Julien followed Alyssa, Kimberly, Nathan, and Seth as they found a comfortable place to watch the race. They could see Seva and Flash saying good luck to each other, then stretching. Other animals started to assemble around the starting line. The track was a path with a bench and a tree then a path again. The two had to run, jump over the bench, jump into the tree, then run again. The one who reached the finish line first was the winner. Alyssa said that Flash always won, but Seva had been training for this race for weeks, and she wasn't too sure that Flash would win. King Julien wasn't either, because he had only known them for a few minutes. Looking around, he saw the other animals. Excited comments were exchanged. King Julien cringed. He saw two large leaves moving in the distance. A dark brown stick followed it. King Julien froze. Could it be? Was it Slither?
The snake crept up to the starting line. His beady eyes were fixed on the two cats in front of him. They never changed expression no matter what he was thinking. Five feet of snake followed him. Although King Julien didn't show it, he was scared out of his wits.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Slither called. His voice sounded stern and strong and King Julien finally realized why everyone feared him so much. He spread out his hood and King Julien could just see the mark on the back of it. His large fangs glinted in the sunlight. He didn't want those piercing his skin. "We are gathered here today for one of the races between Flash the cheetah and Seva the serval." The two cats glanced at each other and grinned. "Now, we all know that Flash has one every race against Seva in the past, but who knows, maybe Seva will get lucky today!" The crowed shrieked with excitement. Alyssa's shrill cries hurt his ears.
"You know I will!" Seva yelled. Slither smiled.
"Flash, if I were you, I'd watch my steps very carefully indeed!" Flash glanced at her paws. Slither turned to Seva. "You've been waiting for this, Seva, now don't disappoint your fans."
"I won't!" Seva cried out. "I won't! I've been training for weeks, until my muscles ached and eyes were blood-shot red!" The crowd went wild again. "I know I will win! I will!"
"Don't listen to Seva," Flash started. The crowd quieted down when they heard her speak. "I've beaten her in the past, what makes her think she'll beat me today?" Flash looked at Seva. "I know you have been training, and if you do win today, it'll be because of luck! I win because I was born to win!" Flash finished her speech. The crowd screamed, and King Julien decided to throw a couple screams in there too.
"Both have good points," Slither hissed. "Now, when I say three, both of you run!" The crowd screamed some more. It gave King Julien a head-ache. "One!" the two crouched down. "Two!" Seva and Flash focused on the path in front of them. "Two and a half!" The two knew the drill. "Three!" Flash took off faster than Seva. King Julien covered his ears as the animals screamed in excitement. Finally, Flash reached the bench. She leapt over it and landed oddly on her paws. She stumbled a few paces. The crowed oohed. Seva leapt over the bench and landed perfectly on all four paws. Flash saw her, gave her a rude look and sped forward. Again, Seva fell behind Flash. The crowd cheered. The two cats raced. Suddenly, Flash jumped into the air. Digging her claws into the bark of the tree, and pulled herself up. She slid down a little bit. King Julien knew that cheetahs were the only cats who couldn't climb trees. Seva jumped onto the same branch. Unlike Flash, she landed perfectly. Determined, she didn't wait for Flash. The cheetah eventually pulled herself up and raced after Seva. The two were getting closer to the finish line. The crowd screamed. Seva was in front. Flash was behind her.
Finally, Seva broke the tape at the finish line. She screamed in happiness. Flash crossed the line. Her eyes were wide.
"But I always win..." her voice trailed off. Seva bounded up to her.
"I won! I'm so happy! I knew I was going to win! In your face!" Seva bragged. Flash shrugged. Seva's gaze softened and she dipped her head. "Sorry... that was just such a big surprise, I didn't mean..." She looked up and smiled. "That was a good race." At first, Flash looked angry, but then a smile crossed her face and she patted Seva's head, laughing.
"That was a good race," Flash meowed. "I bet I'll beat you next time!" Flash shouted. Seva laughed. "When should the next race be?"
"Christmas?"
"Sure!"
King Julien shook his head. If made him sad, knowing that he wouldn't be able to celebrate Christmas with his friends back in New York. But maybe he could have these animals help him get back to Central Park Zoo...
"I can't believe Seva won! She never wins!" Alyssa hopped up and down, her face happy. Nathan and Kimberly held each other's hands. Even Seth was grinning.
"That was fun," a voice said. King Julien turned around to see a large Komodo dragon. "But I'm hungry now." He stared at King Julien and smirked. King Julien cringed. His venomous saliva dripped from his lips. "So you're the new transfer, right?" King Julien stepped back. The lizard's red eyes frightened him. How many venomous animals did they have at this zoo? "Oh, don't be scared, tiny, helpless lemur. I won't hurt you!" He moved forward and licked his lips. King Julien tried not to show how scared he was. Suddenly, the lizard leapt forward. King Julien screamed, but Kimberly slapped the Komodo dragon.
"Get away from Julien, Komodo, you don't want to set off a bad example of yourself, do you?" Kimberly spat. Komodo slid back and stared at his large claws.
"Well, I..." his voice shook with rage. "He needs to be scared of me!"
"Cut the guy some slack, okay, Komodo?" Seva sneered. Komodo frowned.
"Whatever," he snapped, turning to leave. King Julien's heart pumped. The blood roared in his ears. He wasn't sure if Komodo scared him more than Slither or if it was the other way around.
"Komodo's always trying to eat somebody," Alyssa growled. King Julien put a hand over his heart.
"Well, that's good to know," King Julien gasped.
"I'm sorry, we have a lot of animals in our zoo like that," Flash frowned. King Julien nodded feebly, but screamed when he felt a hot breath on his ear.
"Ha, ha, ha!" King Julien whipped around to see a gray wolf with black stripes and a white underbelly. King Julien gasped for air. He wanted to beat all these animals who scared him half to death! "You're our new transfer, Julien, right?" King Julien stared at him, his expression quizzical. "Word travels fast in this zoo. How rude of me not to introduce myself! I'm Falcon, and I'll set you off with a friendly warning!" Falcon the wolf raised his paw and giggled. Leaning forward, he whispered into King Julien's ear, "I love scaring animals!" When King Julien looked at him, he said, "Boo!"
Frightened, King Julien hid behind Seth. The lemur gave him a weird look. Falcon sighed.
"Ah, it's gets funnier every time!" Turning to leave, he barked, "Well, I'll see you around." Then he stalked off.
"Yeah, we should get going," Flash looked at Seva and Alyssa and they nodded. "Bye!"
"It's time for us to go too," Nathan said. Holding Kimberly's hand, they walked over to the lemur habitat. Seth followed them, but when he beckoned King Julien, he did not move. Instead he stood there, thinking. Seth shrugged and walked off.
"Oh, so is this our new transfer, hm?" King Julien felt something wrap around him. His scream of terror was cut off by a low, bone-chilling hiss. Finally he realized what had him. It was none other than Slither. He stared into his beady eyes, and he laughed. "Yes, be very afraid!" He growled. King Julien tried to wiggle free, but Slither's grasp was too tight. Finally, he saw Kimberly walking towards them. She had a big smile planted on her face.
"So, I see you have met King Slither."