The drowsiness that fell upon Braedey started to clear off of his mind. His blue eyes shone in the darkness around him. He wasn't sure of where he was right now.
"Ohh... Oh, my head." Braedey was starting to stand up, only to jump his head. "Ow! What the...? Wait. Where...? What...?" Braedey knocked against the sides, now feeling wood around him, shaped in a cube. "I'm inside of a box?!" His eyes now widened at what's happened. "Oh, no. No, no! Not the box. Oh, no, they can't transfer me. Not me!" Braedey now began to hyperventilate and freak out. "I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Darkness creeping in. I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Walls closing in around me. So alone. So alone." He whispers to himself as he hugged himself close to the corner.
"Braedey! Braedey, a-are you there?" A familiar voice spoke out, getting the brunette's attention.
"Dante?!" Braedey ran to the wall next to him, smiling as he heard Dante's voice from the other side of the wooden wall. "Dante, is that you?!"
"Yeah! Talk to me, brother." Dante answered as he leans against the right side of the crate.
"Oh, Dante! You're here!" Braedey sighed in relief.
"What's going on? Are you okay?" Dante asked in concern.
"This doesn't look good, Dante." Braedey answered.
"Guys? Is that you?" Blake's voice now got the two's attention, Dante leaning against the left side of his crate.
"Blake! You're here, too!" Dante spoke up.
"Great to hear you're here, cat." Braedey sighed happily.
"You guys heard from Melissa? Where is she?" Blake now asked in concern.
"Guys? Guys, where are you?" Melissa's voice spoke up, the three boys hearing it from below them. "I can hear you, but I can't see you."
"Melissa! I can hear you! I'm right above you, I think!" Blake informed to her.
"Glad to hear you, Melissa!" Braedey smiled.
"Is Blake okay?" Melissa asked.
"I'm fine. But I don't think we are." Blake answered.
"Braedey? Dante? Blake, Melissa, is that you?" Maria's voice now asked aloud, the others either putting their ear against the floor of their crates or their side of their crates.
"Maria!" Dante smiled.
"You're here too!" Braedey added.
"I am loving the sweet sound of your voice!" Dante said next.
"Same here." Blake added.
"Oh. Are you?" Melissa smirked deviously, Blake now twitching his ears.
"What is going on?" Maria now asked as she looks around at where she is.
"We're all stuck in crates." Braedey now informed.
Maria began to freak out. "Oh, no! Wha...?"
"Oh... Sleeping just knocks me right out." Manny's voice now got everyone's attention, who is luckily sitting upright in his box.
"Manny!" Blake and Braedey called out.
"Manny!" Melissa smiled. "You're alright!"
"Is that Manny?" Dante asked.
"Are you okay over there?" Maria asked to the giraffe Anthro.
"Yeah. No, I'm fine." Manny yawned as he stretched his arms and legs out. "I often doze off while I'm getting an MRI."
"No, Manny. You're not getting an MRI." Braedey stated abruptly to the giraffe Anthro.
"A CAT scan?" Manny now asked.
"No! Not even a CAT scan." Braedey yells out, everyone now listening to his words. "It's a deportation. It's a zoo-wide deportation!"
Manny now began to freak out once he heard those three words. "Zoo-wide deportation?! Oh, no. No, no, I can't be deported. I have an appointment with Dr. Goldberg at 5:00." The others try to calm Manny down. "There are prescriptions that have to be filled. No other zoo could afford my medicine care! And I am not going HMO!"
"Whoa, Manny. Take it easy." Blake spoke up. "You're making me freak out right now."
"Deep breaths, fella." Melissa added in.
"Take it easy, Manny. It's gonna be okay. We are going to be A-okay." Dante reassured to him, everyone else just listening in.
"No, Dante. We are NOT going to be A-okay." Braedey snapped back at him. "Now because of your stupid stunt back in Grand Central Station, we're all ruined!"
"What? Because of me? I fail to see how this is even my fault." Dante interjected.
Maria sighed. "You're kidding, right, Dante?"
"You really got us on a wild goose chase back there." Blake added in. "We had to go across New York to try and go after you."
"You! You ticked off the people." Braedey snapped out. "You bit the hand that fed you, Dante. You bit the hand that fed you. 'I don't know who I am. I don't know who I am. I got to go find myself in the wild!' Oh, please." He scoffed out.
"Hey, hey!" Dante argued back with a huff. "I did not ask you to come after me, did I?"
"He does have a point." Manny spoke up, Dante crossing his arms with a huff.
"Say what?" Braedey and Blake ask in unison.
"I did say we should stay back at the zoo, but you guys-" Manny began to say.
"Manny, just shut up!" Braedey snapped back. "You're the one who suggested this whole stupid idea to him in the first place."
"Braedey, leave Manny out of this, please." Maria spoke up.
"Thank you, Maria. Besides, Braedey, it's not my fault that we were all transferred or even deported." Manny now stated firmly.
"Manny, shut up." Maria now stated. "Does anybody feel nauseous?" She now asked.
"Not really?" Blake answered.
"I feel nauseous." Manny spoke up.
"Manny, you always feel nauseous." Braedey said back in an exasperated voice.
A foghorn from the very vessel the Anthros were on is a large bulk carrier freighter ship. The overall length is 189.8m (622ft), with a width of 32.26m (105ft). The vessel is in black with a red keel and underbelly, with three large cranes on the top deck, with a lot of goods and boxed cargo on the top deck, and no doubt under the main deck of the vessel.
Down at one of the boxes on the top deck, Kowalski was currently sticking his head out of one of the holes and is looking at the yellow sign that's plastered on the box. But he couldn't seem to read what it says.
Skipper pops his head out to check. "Progress report."
"It's an older code, Skipper. I can't make it out." Kowalski informed to Skipper.
Skipper began to think. "Hmm... You, higher mammal." He gestured to Mason, who's in another crate next to them, now getting his attention. "Can you read?" Skipper asked.
Mason shook his head. "No. Phil can read, though. Phil!" Phil gets up from a pile of cans inside the crate as Kowalski gestures to the yellow paper quickly with his flipper. Phil now uses his sign language to ready what the paper means as Mason translates. "Hmm... Ship to Kenya Wildlife Preserve, Africa!" He announced.
Skipper raises an eyebrow. "Africa? That ain't going to fly. Rico!" He calls out.
Rico pops out, then with some coughing and gagging, spits out a paper clip, making it into a shape that looks like a key and unlocks the crate. With that, the four penguins get out of the crate and began to make their way around the ship.
As they go along, the penguins knock out almost all of the deck crew whenever they'd come across, and the penguins would continue on towards the stern and the bridge of the ship. Luckily, with their black/white colour to assist with blending in with parts of the ship, the four penguins were able to make their way up. Eventually, they reached the bridge, fortunate that the captain was listening to his music to not hear the door open as the four penguins made their way inside. They eventually knocked out the captain, and they were now in control of the ship.
Back with the six Anthros, Braedey was knocking left and right inside his crate, all with the others arguing and yelling out at one another, and trying to calm one another down with all that's been happening.
"I was the star of the greatest city on Earth!" Braedey fumed in frustration.
"Guys, listen." Melissa tried to calm them down.
"A king! Loved by my people! And you, you spineless traitor, you've ruined everything!" Braedey snapped, slamming into the side where Dante's crate was, knocking him back.
"Guys, guys! Quit it up there!" Maria yelled out.
"'Loved'? If the people loved you, it's only because they didn't know the real you!" Dante argued back, now pushing back in his crate.
"Don't make me come up there. I'd get the whooping on both of y'all!" Maria warned the two.
"I thought I knew the real you!" Braedey shunts himself against the wall again, the two crates bumping left and right in response, threatening to break the straps that are holding the crates down. "Oh wait, Dante. The talk about Spinosaurs either walking on two legs or all fours... there's no evidence to support either side!! There's nothing to confirm or deny on anything!"
"Let's – let's just talk about it like adults. You're so scary!" Melissa pleaded.
"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Manny spoke out loudly as he covered his ears, the crates rocking back and forth.
"Hey! You're not helping the situation!" Maria added but it was too late, as Dante's crate was knocked off with Blake, the two hitting the deck with a thud.
"Ouch..." Was all Blake muttered, stars appearing around his head.
Up on the bridge of the ship, Skipper couldn't see much ahead due to the fog around the vessel, but he did see the ensuing arguments occurring down on the deck between the Anthros.
"Status." Skipper ordered to Private, who was on the computer keyboard to try and put in the override code that will give them control of the ship.
"It's no good, Skipper. I don't know the codes." Private informed to Skipper.
Skipper grabbed Private by his front. "Don't give me excuses! Give me results!!" He now slaps Private.
Skipper turns to Kowalski. "Navigation." Kowalski tries to navigate by using the maps on the tables, but there's nothing as he shrugged back at Skipper. "All right. Let me think. And shut him up!" He ordered to Rico, and he slaps the Captain, who's tied up and got duct tape on his mouth.
Private continues to tap on the keys, and after a few stressful moments, he completes the override code. "I did it!" He announced as alarms go off.
"Let's get this tin can turned around!" Skipper called out.
At once, Kowalski turned the wheel of the freighter hard to starboard, the whole ship starting to turn to the right.
In response, the vessel lurched and began to tilt slowly to the left, but as this happens, the now loose crates began to slide across the deck, the Anthros inside being knocked about. The crates end up against a chain link edge of the ship, the chains fortunately holding the weight, but as Melissa and Maria's crates slide right into them, the chains broke off, and the Anthro crates fell overboard and into the sea!
Braedey stumbled about inside the crate, now feeling it rocking about in the water, for taunted no water was leaking into the crate. "Guys?" He now peeks his eyes through a hole in the wall right next to him, but as he does so, he can see the freighter ship steaming away as it blows its horn, as well as the others in their crates, the currents starting to wash them away from each other!
"Oh, no. Maria! Blake! Manny! Melissa! Dante!" Braedey called out as a waves pushes him further and further away.
"Braedey!" Dante's voice called back.
"D-Dante?!" Braedey called.
"Braedey!" Dante's voice echoed out, the waves continuing to push the draconic Anthro away.
"Dante! No, wait. Come back, Dante!" Braedey yelled out. "Don't go." He now muttered, lost and alone in his crate as the waves of the ocean rocked him about further to sea, Braedey not knowing where he'll end up...
