King Julien didn't get much sleep that night. Nightmares involving his people and Clover and the New York freaks and the fossa plagued his mind and by the time dawn's light streamed unto his face, the lemur king was lying wide awake in bed, wondering when it all went wrong.
Tired of laying around with nothing but his troubled thoughts for company, Julien decided to get up and out and out of habit, made his way towards the royal throne room. When he climbed into the plane containing said throne room, he was greeted with the sight of about twenty or so lemurs spread throughout the passenger cabin, asleep in the seats.
"What the...what are you guys doing here?" A confused King Julien demanded, waking most of his subjects up (the exceptions being the more heavier sleepers like Tammy and Butterfish, who kept snoring away undisturbed).
After some moans and groans, one annoyed citizen asked an annoyed, "What?"
"I said, what are you guys doing here? And what's with all the suitcases?" Julien added, having by then noticed all the suitcases scattered about the cabin. Some were closed and tucked under the seats while others were wide open, revealing an assortment of recovered personal items within.
"You've been letting us stay here since our huts were destroyed, remember?" The same citizen pointed out irritably before yawning into her paw.
King Julien thought for a moment before yes, he did remember. The various kingdom security schemes had left many homes destroyed and many lemurs homeless. Those lucky enough to still have them offering their own homes as a place to stay, King Julien himself offering the royal plane as a temporary shelter with some citizens haven taken him up on that offer.
"Oh, right."
"Do we have to get up now?" Todd asked from the seat beside his still slumbering mother.
"No no, that's okay. I don't need to be here right now. Go back to sleep." Julien said to him.
"Oh, okay." Todd said, falling back into his makeshift bed, closing his eyes, and wrapping his small body around an adorable plush bunny.
King Julien got out and climbed back down to the village and as he walked through, the soft early lighting revealed evidence of the chaos that had befallen his kingdom as of late. Trees that were still lying across the ground this way and that and trees that still stood while baring scorch marks from the recent fires and deep cuts from razor sharp appendices of killer robots. There were huts that had been reduced to mounds of crushed and powdered rubble or charred skeletons that looked fatigue enough to be toppled over by the weight of a single butterfly while the few survivors stood out like life boats floating in a turbulent ocean of destruction. These were the things that stuck out most to the troubled ruler.
Timo's machines had done a lot of damage. Machines that he had built on King Julien's orders.
"King Julien!" King Julien heard a familiar, shrill voice calling out. He turned and saw Mort rushing over as fast as his small legs could carry him.
"Mort?"
"King Julien!" Mort grabbed Julien's ankles and started talking a mile a minute. "I'm so happy to see you! After Hector said those horrible things and you ran away and I couldn't find you, I went home to try and make something to cheer you up when a tree fell onto my stump, trapping me inside and it took me all night to get out and I could hear more yelling but I didn't know what was going on and I'm just so happy you're okay!"
"Get off me, Mort!" Julien kicked Mort smack into a tree, then crossed his arms. "I'm in no mood."
Once Mort was able to pry and shake himself off, he asked, "Was it Hector again? Is that what all the noise was last night?"
"...You really don't know what happened?"
"No, I told you, I was stuck. What did happen?"
So Julien filled Mort in on the events he had missed. Once he was finished, Julien looked expectantly at Mort, wondering if 'Frank told me that Dr. S should take Clover's place protecting the kingdom' would be deemed too crazy even by the weird little toady's standards.
"Oh, what do they know? If you believe it was Frank, if you believe in Dr. S, then I do too!" Mort said with great conviction.
"Really?" King Julien with timid hopefulness.
"Really." Was Mort's firm answer.
"I...thank you Mort." Julien lifted Mort off the ground and gave the smaller lemur a hug. "I'm glad somebody has some faith!" He shouted into the open air.
Then King Julien thought of something. Recounting everything to Mort had reminded him that Nurse Phantom had been the first to agree with Julien on the plan and had helped him convince Dr. S into giving it a chance.
"Come on, Mort. Let's pay Nurse Phantom and Dr. S a visit." Julien said, putting his friend down unto the ground and walking off, with Mort following on his heels.
The old medical hut hadn't been used much since the establishment of Club Moist Hospital but since Clover had moved and homes were being destroyed faster then they were being rebuild and lemurs were getting injured left and right, it had become a shelter / second hospital. That morning, patients were lying in all the beds already there and there were more that had been wheeled in on beds from the official hospital. There were also those not injured that were sleeping on the ground. All of this made living conditions quite crowded indeed.
"Snap, these guys are packed like…like something packed very tight." King Julien whispered to Mort, so as not to disturb anyone. One lemur still heard them though.
Nurse Phantom poked his head out from the other side of the hut. All three lemurs locked eyes, he put a finger to his lips, then motioned with his arm to follow him, which Julien and Mort did. When they all got a good distance away is when Nurse Phantom spoke.
"What are you two doing here?"
"We came to see you and Dr. S. Where is he?" King Julien asked while looking about for the snake doctor.
"Close by, trying to get some sleep." Was Nurse Phantom's answer.
"Oh, okay. Well, I can still to talk to you."
"What about?"
"About last night. When Dr. S was saving us from the fossa, you saw it too, didn't you? That look in his eyes, that fire, that intensity when he told us to get behind him, that…that..." Julien tried to think of the word.
"Determination as he shielded us?" Nurse Phantom offered, the image vivid in his mind.
"Exactly! So you did see it then." To which Nurse Phantom nodded. "Well, that's why I'm here. I need to know, is that why you helped me convince him to try protecting the kingdom?"
"Part of it, yes."
"What's the other part?" Julien was genuinely curious.
Nurse Phantom let out a sigh, his already hunched back slumping even farther, his lopsided face looking truly tired.
"Dr. S and I have seen a lot of patients lately and I mean a lot. Not just treating their wounds but hearing how they got said wounds too. From being burned in one of the fires or bones broken by a robot or almost crushed to death by a tree or something or other. And I've also heard a lot of fears too. Lemurs not sure how many more sunrises they'll get see or if their children will get to grow up or even if the kingdom will still be standing by the end of the month." Nurse Phantom shook his head at all the misery he had been witness to, then continuing to speak earnestly. "I know I'm not close with the rest of you anymore and I know Dr. S and I get carried away a lot and I know I don't really show it but believe me, I do care about you guys. You all are my neighbors, this is my home and if there's a chance to protect it, to protect everyone, then why not go for it, no matter how crazy that method might be?"
"Wow, Nurse Phantom. I didn't know you cared so much." Mort said after a silent and stunned moment, genuinely surprised.
"Yeah." Julien was taken aback as well, then he remembered something else. "Wait, so why then didn't you say something last night? I could have really used the support, man!"
"Cause you think anyone would have listened me, the mad doctor's assistant, whose there beside him helping with every unethical, every unholy experiment? I don't think so! But even then, I almost spoke up, I really did but then Dr. S..." Nurse Phantom recalled Dr. S trying to back out of the deal and the hurt he himself had felt. "Even Dr. S doesn't believe in Dr. S. After the meeting, he went on about how what happened with the fossa was a fluke, that we all just got lucky, that he could never do something like that all the time. And that got me thinking what if he's right? What if he can't do this? Then what? If not bringing Clover back, are you just gonna keep at it with the robots and other machines, hoping something will work before we all die?"
"We're not all gonna die!" King Julien protested.
"Lemurs already have died and more are going to die if something doesn't change! You need to put your people first! This madness needs to end, one way or the other!" Nurse Phantom argued back.
"….You sound like Maurice and Hector."
"Well maybe they're right and you know it!"
Julien started to say something, then stopped. Then he settled shoot a glare at Nurse Phantom for a few seconds with the other lemur glaring right back. Then Julien walked away, with Mort throwing a quick glare himself before following his king.
…
"Fossa!"
Along with the rumble of thunder, those in the medical hut heard the panicked cry followed by the chorus of terrified shouting coming from nearby. Which got the old familiar flight or fight reflexes kicking into high gear. Becca turned to Abner so they could start running for their lives together and then she saw the horrified expression on his face as he was looking down at his lap. She followed his gaze and saw his bandaged legs. Then husband and wife looked up and into each other's eyes and they knew. They knew that Abner wasn't going anywhere and neither were any of the other patients that were too weak and injured to run. That same horrible realization soon struck everyone else as well.
Then came rustling from some nearby brush and some swore they saw large round ears poking out on top.
The lemurs in the hospital gurneys could be wheeled out but that would still greatly slow down the ones pushing them. And then there were the lemurs in standard beds like Abner.
"Don't worry, hun. I'll...I'll carry you. Yeah." Becca said on the edge of panic, grabbing Abner and trying to lift him up, which was easier said then done, her husband being quite heavy in her arms.
"Becca, Becca stop! This ain't gonna work!" Abner tried to reason with her.
"Yes it will!" Becca managed to get him off the bed and started to walk with great effort but didn't get but a few steps before she sent them both falling forward to the floor.
"My legs!" Abner shouted, fresh stinging shocks of pain coursing through them.
"I'm so sorry! Let me try again." Becca said, scrambling to get off of him to get in a lifting position.
Abner grabbed Becca's arm and said to her, "Becca, listen to me. Your legs still work, use em. Run!"
"What?! No! I ain't leaving you!" Becca grabbed his arms and squeezed them tight.
"Ain't no point in us both staying here to die! Just go! Save yourself!" Abner was pleading.
"No!" Becca backed away from his touch and shook her head. "Clover dumped us for a brand new husband and big tough army, all King Julien cares about is her and a bunch of strangers who are only protecting us to get home, why I bet the sky gods themselves have decided they're sick and tired of us! Everyone whose supposed to care has abandoned us and I ain't doing the same to you!"
All around them, the injured were begging their loved ones to save themselves but no one budged. Even those like Hector and Nurse Phantom, who wouldn't be leaving any loved ones behind, didn't leave.
"Nurse Phantom, what are you still doing here?" One lemur in a full body cast asked him.
"Cause you're my patients and I swore to take care of you guys and I'm going to do just that. I'm not gonna abandon you all too." Seeing the surprised expression on his face, Nurse Phantom added, "What? I listen."
"...Hector, what about you?" The same lemur asked Hector.
Hector looked away as he answered. "What he said. About being abandoned. Where are Dr. S's tools?" He asked Nurse Phantom.
"What do you need them for?" Nurse Phantom asked, confused.
Hector shrugged. "If we're going down, might as well go down fighting."
Fat gray clouds covered the sky. Rain had begun to fall and splatter unto the earth. The sound of thunder mixed with the screams of terrified lemurs as they ran in all directions, lighting illuminating the desperation to live another day written clear on their faces.
King Julien ran among the chaos, calling out "Dr. S!" over and over again, hoping against hope for the snake doctor to show up and be a hero like he had before. He was answered with the cries of his subjects, the snarling of hungry fossa, roaring thunder, a flash of lighting, and drops of rain but the snake doctor was nowhere to be found. "We could really use your creepy killer snake self right about now!" Julien yelled.
The sound of someone blowing into a conch shell joined the chorus of chaos. It had been used during the past two weeks to summon the New Yorkers during fossa attacks. The New Yorkers, who were at the beach because King Julien had told them to keep their distance to see how Dr. S did solo. Which meant it would take some time before they got back.
Julien continued to run and search and call out until he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks.
Lemurs that weren't running away, a group of them standing at one end of the medical hut. It looked like they were in fighting stances, holding medical tools in their paws, facing down a group of fossa that were coming out of the nearby brush and slowly making their way towards them.
What were his subjects thinking? Were they seriously going to try and fight the fossa? Surely they knew it was suicide to go up against the vicious predators, right? So why were they doing it?
Then Julien saw the lemurs still in their beds, looking on in horror with Abner slowly shaking his head and saying something that he couldn't make out. Wearing casts, some on one or both legs. An arm and a leg. A few wrapped up head to toe in bandages. Lemurs that looked like they couldn't walk or if even they could, only go at a hobble. They clearly couldn't run. Couldn't run for their lives.
And yet the ones who could, didn't. Lemurs like Becca, Hector, and Nurse Phantom, they were standing there, shielding their fellow lemurs with their own bodies and what little they had on their person. They were staying to fight in what they must have known would be to their last breaths.
"King Julien?" Someone called out in disbelief. Heads turned to see that there he was, their king, rushing over and coming to a stop in front of the defense line.
"You're here..." Hector said, stunned.
"I'm sorry! The freaks would have swooped in and saved you guys by now if I hadn't sent them away! I'm sorry for the robots! I'm sorry for the wall! I'm sorry for destroying your homes! I'm sorry for hurting you guys, in so many ways!" King Julien turned to look at the lemurs stuck in their beds and the lemurs right behind him, the terror and helplessness and courage and devotion all written across their faces. "You all matter so much to me and I'm sorry that I made you all feel like you didn't. I love you guys and I'm not leaving you."
Then Julien faced the fossa, who were taking their sweet time coming over. "Hey, you want to get to my peoples? You'll have to go through me first!", Holding his arms out in front of his subjects defensively.
"With pleasure." The fossa closest to him responded, grinning widely, showing razor sharp rows of fangs. The better to tear lemurs limb by limb with.
King Julien tried to reassure himself that his surviving subjects and Maurice would be okay without him, that they would find another ruler, better then him, one that they truly deserved. Maybe two rulers, Clover and Sage? They could adopt King Julien's peeps as their own and merge the two kingdoms into one. The thought of his peeps becoming neighbors with the mountain lemurs, befriending and having the much larger and stronger lemur's protection while ruled by two benevolent rulers, with good old Maurice as their newest royal advisor; it brought comfort to King Julien and also sorrow for the ones who wouldn't live to see it as he kept his arms spread out while facing the fossa and his fate.
"Hey!"
The nearest fossa was close enough to Julien that he could reach out and touch them when a familiar voice rose above the now pouring rain. Heads turned to see Dr. S dash over and stopping before the two opposing groups of creatures.
"Get away from them!" Dr. S proclaimed, rising up even farther, accompanied by thunder and lightning. His red eyes once again blazed like raging infernos as he stared down the fossa, who recovered from their shock and started prowling towards him.
The lemurs watched on in amazement and terror as Dr. S sprung towards the nearest fossa.
Chomp
Crunch
In a flash, Dr. S had his jaws clamped down around the head of the fossa, then lifted up the corpse of the unlucky creature and bit down once more with a bone shattering crunch, before letting it drop back down to the ground with a thud. The remaining fossa stood frozen for some moments, unable to take their eyes away from the sprawled out body of their fallen comrade. Then they looked up at Dr. S towering above them, jaw clenched in snarl, red eyes feral.
"Any one want to join them?" Dr. S challenged, flashing his now red fangs, a mixture of blood and rain water dribbling from his mouth.
The fossa stared at Dr. S and he stared back at them. This went for some seconds until one fossa let out a panic stricken shriek. The rest followed suit and all turned tail and bolted.
"Snake kill fossa! Retreat!" One female fossa with a scared face and missing ear called out as the group sprinted through the village.
The other fossa stopped in their tracks and soon saw Dr. S coming in hot, the body of one of their own limp in his jaws. The cat like carnivores watched in frozen horror as the giant snake paraded about, showing off his latest kill for fossa and lemur alike to see. That was enough to send all the remaining fossa bolting, their howls and whimpers heard until even after the last of them was well out of sight.
Once all the living fossa were gone, Dr. S dropped his dead one like a sack of potatoes and rushed back to the medical hut, several lemurs including Maurice and Mort hot on his heels. Once he got there, Dr. S found that the lemurs who weren't focused on loved ones were focused on him, looking at him almost as if they could hardly believe he was real, even Nurse Phantom staring in stupefied silence. Dr. S rushed over and grabbed Nurse Phantom and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Thank Frank you're okay! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I wasn't here sooner!" Dr. S apologized profusely as he squeezed his little buddy.
"Where were you!?" King Julien demeaned, getting over his shock and his body still trembling as he glared up at Dr. S. "We called out for you like a bunch of times! Didn't you hear all the screaming!?"
Dr. S bite his lip and then said, "I didn't hear you sooner because...I wasn't in the village." avoiding Julien's eyes as he spoke.
"What?"
"I was out hunting. I didn't think the fossa would come back so soon, I thought I had time to at least grab a quick snack but I see that I was wrong..."
"You bet you were wrong! You left?! I told you to stay in the village and you left!?" King Julien's amber eyes were blazing as he was moments from straggling Dr. S.
"You didn't have any meat pops to hold you over!?" Nurse Phantom was none too pleased either.
"Meat pops?" Maurice asked, the name sounding really gross.
"Frozen dead animals Dr. S saves up when he doesn't have time to hunt." Nurse Phantom explained.
"No! Believe me I would have but I couldn't, cause we're all out and I was afraid of getting too hungry but I still should have waited. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Dr. S hung his head in shame.
This reminded everyone present of a certain recent incident where another carnivore in their midst got too hungry.
Speaking of, Alex and company soon came charging in, battle ready but finding no enemies. It was explained to them what had happened in their absence and when that was said and done, it was a matter of what came next.
Should Dr. S take over as head of security and guard the kingdom or should King Julien demand of Clover to resume her old job? King Julien called for a meeting, right then and there at the medical hut so that even the lemurs who weren't mobile would be able to attend, wanting as many as possible to be there. Just about the entire kingdom was soon gathered around, anxious to hear what the future held.
First, everyone was brought to speed as to why Dr. S didn't come to to the rescue sooner. He had been hunting away from the village because he had barely been able to do so as of late because he and Nurse Phantom had been swarmed with patients injured in all the recent security system schemes. So for those past two weeks, Dr. S had been mostly living off his stock pile supply of 'meat pops' until they had run out. He had actually been out trying to restock when he had come across Nurse Phantom, King Julien and the fossa, then came the plan and moving patients and he had ended up falling asleep without catching anything that night. He hadn't wanted to be starving to the point of eating Nurse Phantom and/or a patient or two or three, so he had gone out to grab a quick bite, thinking the fossa wouldn't come back for another attack so soon.
"He's usually good about feeding himself but like he said, it's been crazy busy these past weeks." Nurse Phantom testified. "I didn't even notice we were out.", looking remorsefully towards Dr. S for that last part.
"You've been focused on so much lately and you hardly check that fridge anyways." Dr. S pointed out, trying to reassure him.
"Still, it was bad timing and I mean really bad timing that could have gotten lemurs killed." King Julien said sternly, causing Dr. S to once again hang his head in shame. Then Julien sighed and his tone softened. "But, you were making sure you weren't the one that killed us. I think it goes without saying that we all know about carnivores going crazy with hunger."
Of course everyone knew that he was referring to the now infamous 'bite on the butt' incident, even those who hadn't witnessed it themselves having been told plenty about it. Poor Alex hid his face behind his paws at the mention, knowing that he was never going to live that down. Julien saw a look that he couldn't read pass over Dr. S's face but before he could ask about it, Hector cleared his throat and spoke.
"He was still able to protect us and we agreed that if he did, we'd trust him." Hector took a deep breath. "I say we hold our end of the deal." On the one hand, Dr. S had been able to save his and other's lives and the meat pops thing showed a surprisingly responsible side to the eccentric doctor but then again, this was still Dr. S, who was more mad scientist then doctor who was quite irresponsible when it came to treating patients. This made Hector's feelings about the whole situation mixed to say the least but a deal was a deal and he was willing to see if Dr. S would continue to defy his expectations.
If others agreed to it too that is.
"Are you really okay with that, though? Are any of you?" King Julien looked out nervously at his subjects. "I mean, this is your lives we're talking about here. If you guys don't feel safe with Dr. S guarding the kingdom, I won't force it on you. Or force Dr. S to take the job." He looked over at Dr. S, "How do you feel about taking the job?"
It took a few seconds for Dr. S to get over the shock of Julien yielding to his and other's desires on the subject now, then he was able to respond with, "If the kingdom will have me, then I'll do it." Dr. S looked out to the crowd.
"Are you sure?" King Julien asked, wanting Dr. S to take the job of his own accord, not because he felt pressured to do so.
"You wanna know the truth? This whole idea is insane and I mean insane even by my standards but after what just happened..." Dr. S looked over at Nurse Phantom and shuddered at the thought of what might have been if he hadn't arrived when he did. "I feel that I should give this crazy idea a chance, so I am and I will, if everyone's willing to give me that chance that is." He looked nervously out at the crowd.
"We're willing to give you a chance." Becca said, nodding to Abner, who nodded in agreement. "You saved our lives, you didn't leave us to die, unlike some people." King Julien knew full well who she was talking about and was just about to argue when Maurice beat him to the punch, snapping back with,
"Clover didn't leave us to die! She thought we would be fine, we all did! We thought that we were safe and sound, free to focus on the wedding instead. We thought about the food and flowers and music and guest list and bachelor and bachelorette parties and creepy robots to stall the wedding and even robot babies for Frank's sake! But did anyone think to check on Mary Ann? To see how she was doing after chasing away the fossa that wanted to go back to eating us? To see if she had that under control or not? Did anyone think to follow up on that? Anyone? Anyone at all?"
No. No one. King Julien racked his brains trying to recall if anything along those lines was mentioned but couldn't. Just as any and all thoughts about kingdom security had vanished from his mind after he and his subjects didn't really drive away the fossa.
"...That should have been Clover's job." Becca pointed out.
"Fine, yes, you're right! She should have done that but she didn't but I don't believe for a second it's because she wanted to hurt us! I believe that she was so caught up in being in love and getting married that it didn't cross her mind! Just like we were all caught up in their love and wedding that it didn't cross any of ours's, even mine..." Maurice's face and ears drooped in shame.
"So what, are you suggesting that Clover and Sage's love made us all stupid?" Pancho asked, believing it to be the stupidest thing he had ever heard in his life.
"Uh...kinda yeah?" Maurice honestly couldn't find another way to put it.
"Well I suggest that you're making excuses for Clover not giving a damn about us!" Becca argued in outrage.
"Fine! Go ahead and think that way! If you think that Clover is such a monster, then maybe it wouldn't be such a good idea for her to guard the kingdom after all! Maybe we would be better off with Dr. S!" Maurice shouted back.
"Maurice, what are you saying?" King Julien couldn't believe what he was hearing. Was Maurice really going to say that he...
"I'm saying that maybe we should give Dr. S a chance."
...He wanted to give the Dr. S plan a chance.
"I...a-all in favor, raise your paw." King Julien meekly raised his own and watched in amazement as paws, hooves, hands, flippers, and tail all rose up as well, to where he couldn't find any that weren't. But just to be sure...
"Okay, anyone not cool with that?"
All appendices and tails down.
"Okay...okay we're doing this." Julien said, his eyes misty.
"Your majesty, are you crying?" Maurice asked, seeing the tears beginning to well up in his friend's eyes.
"No, just a raindrop, that's all." For the rain was still falling, though by then it had simmered to a gentle drizzle. King Julien rubbed his eyes trying to halt the water works but found that they just kept coming. Then Maurice closed the space between them and wrapped him in a hug and that was it. The tears then freely flowed, Julien grabbing on tightly to his friend and allowed himself to cry like a baby for all to see.
"We're alive, Momo. We're alive..." Julien sobbed into Maurice's shoulder, tears of relief and joy mixing with the rain soaking into his buddy's fur with Maurice returning the favor with his own happy tears.