When she left the bathroom and came back to the bar, Clover found next to no change in Julien's demeanor: he was still looking as depressed (if not worse actually), and nothing seemed capable of cheering him up. His drink still lay in front of him, neglected and cast aside. All around him, lemurs were having the time of their lives, yet instead of joining the rave with vigor like he always loved so much to do, he just sat there wallowing in a pit of his own misery. Not even Maurice and Mort's repeated attempts at convincing him to do something fun were working – during Clover's absence, they had been trying to get him to do things like having a game of pool or going for a spin on the dance floor so he'd at least get his mind busy, but all their recommendations had fallen on deaf ears. The king was just far too discouraged to care, and even if he did really enjoy the song that was playing right now, he had neither the energy nor the spirit to pull himself off his seat.

"Man, I give up," Maurice grunted, out of patience, "I've tried everything; you don't want to drink, you don't want to play pool, you don't even want to dance...! Tell me, what else can I do? Sneak in and steal that damn trophy right from under everybody's noses?"

Mort narrowed his eyes at the suggestion – whether he was actually taking it seriously, Maurice didn't want to know.

"There's nothing to be done, guys," Julien droned on, almost robotic-like, "But it's okay, don't let my pain spoil your fun – you can go shake it, or play some games, or whatever you want. I'll be here in the meantime. Alone. With no one to talk to. Just... me and my sorrows..."

"Ugh..." His advisor rolled his eyes and turned to the lemur behind the counter. "Bartender, another round over here, please. If I'm going to be suffering from a bad headache tonight, I'd rather do it on my own terms."

Just then, Clover came up, forcing a smile for everybody. She didn't even reclaim her seat; instead, she tapped Julien on the back.

"King Julien," she said to him as he slowly veered his head at her. "Come with me, if ya please. There's something you must know that I believe will get ya back up in no time flat."

The dispirited royal simply stared at her, not saying anything; regardless, after a short wait he did make the effort to leave with her. Leading the way, Clover cut straight through the dance floor, since that was the quickest route to where she wanted to go, and as he followed her in, Julien thought this was her intent – to sway with him to the electric beat. However, the fact that she kept ignoring every free spot available and instead pushed on through the crowd without ever stopping once, proved otherwise. It was difficult to know where she was taking him, too; ghostly swirls of neon-tinged smoke and a huge mob of undulating bodies were blocking his vision, and the music had grown to an almost deafening, earth-quaking volume, numbing most of his other senses.

"Clo-Clo, where are we going? I really appreciate the thought if you want me to dance, but Maurice and Mort have already tried – I'm not in the mood for it right now!" he practically had to scream at her.

She turned back to him, smiling. "Oh, but this has nothing to do with dancing! It's something much better than that, trust me!"

Finally, they'd made it through to the other side, and it was none other than the stage what had opened up before them. Here, Clover came to a stop – she suddenly appeared hesitant to continue for whatever reason unknown to Julien. He searched her eyes; there was in them what he could only interpret as abrupt indecision – or perhaps even fearful uneasiness – only adding to the mystery. But then, she wordlessly smiled at him again like everything was indeed alright, and she pulled herself up onto the stage with an agile leap. When Julien didn't follow her immediately, she turned around.

"Hey, ya coming or what? Let's get a move on! Time's ticking, 'member?"

What...? was the only thought that crossed the king's mind, as he watched how Clover proceeded directly towards the judges' table. The five were casually talking amongst themselves and downing their cocktails – not much had been happening since they had received the last contestant a while ago, so they were using that spare time to unwind like everybody else.

"Oi, you! Is this thing still accepting participants?" Clover asked them, "Or is it too late already?"

Willie raised a brow – he found it odd to see her back here after what had happened earlier, but didn't question it. "Um, no, we're still gonna be open for a little longer, though I'd hurry up if I were you; there's hardly any slots left I believe!" he laughed before craning his neck to the side, looking right past her. "So, where's the girl you want to register? Who will she be?"

Clover's expression hardened ever-so-slightly. She glanced back at Julien (who was just running up to join her), and gave him a single, sharp nod. He froze on the spot – now, he understood.

"Me," she then declared curtly as she faced Willie again, arms behind her back, posture straightened. "I am the one who's gonna compete."

This statement took everyone by such surprise that they gasped out in unison, Pancho even coughing up his drink accidentally and nearly soaking all the paperwork in amber-tinted fluid. "Co – come again? You're doing what?" He gaped at her and his four partners in astonishment, and let go of his glass. "Sheesh, dude, I think I ought to cut down on the screwdrivers a notch; they must be doing quite the number on me already!"

"Ha ha, that's gotta be the craziest thing I've heard all week!" concurred Horst. "I mean, don't take it the wrong way – what you do is really none of our business – and, uh, it's not that we think you-

"Me what?!" Clover barked at them, their skepticism only making her angrier by the second. "You lot got a problem or something? You think I'm not fit for this, huh? Is that it?!"

"No, no, no!" Ted shrank away out of fear; he could just see several bulging veins throb on her forehead. "It's just that, er... e – everyone knows matters like these aren't exactly in your wheelhouse, Clover, so pardon us if it kiiinda comes off as a big shocker that you'd want to be part of one out of nowhere! I'm begging you please, don't get violent, I assure you we meant no harm!" he sniveled pitifully as he shielded his face with his hands, at the same time resisting a primal urge to hide under the table.

She let out a throaty growl. "I won't as long as you give me that pen!" Then she smashed one of her fists on the tabletop and held the other hand open demandingly. "And ya better do it quick, before I change my mind and decide to shove it down your meddling gob in pieces instead!"

None of them wanted to take their chances with a threat from the fiercest lemur in Madagascar, so the judges wasted no time carrying out her orders. They nervously handed the pen to Clover, and even slid the sign-up sheet all the more closer, just for her added convenience. That appeased her well enough.

"Thank you very much!"

With a gaze of stone cast at the paper, she went to write down her name – when all of a sudden, a hand on her shoulder pulled her back. She whirled around to lock eyes with a perplexed King Julien.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, Clo-Clo!" the ringtail cried out, "What's going on here? You – you're just gonna pull a full turnaround on this now, after everything that's happened? Why? We were supposed to forget about the whole ordeal like we said, remember? I... I – I don't get it; just a few hours ago you were telling us how you hated everything about it!"

He didn't know what to make out of all of this – it was so strange to him, happening so fast...

Still clutching the pen firmly in her hand, Clover sighed, before she clarified her reasons to him. "Look, Your Majesty... I may not always understand what goes on in your head that drives you to do the things you do – this one included – but here's the deal: as your friend, there's one thing above all that I want ya to always feel, and that is happiness. So... if this contest really means that much to ya, and it's within my power to help out, then that's something I just can't bring myself to pass over. And, uh, as much as the idea of doing such a thing kinda... frightens me... a lot, I guess it'll be worth it knowing that I did a favor to someone I care about. Y'know, like all good friends do." As she took in his reaction (his whole face had lit up like a theme park), she smiled tenderly. "Er – what I mean to say is that you don't have to be sad about this anymore, 'cause here I am to set things right. I'll enter the pageant in your name, and I promise I'll do my best to get ya that trophy."

Clover had barely finished talking then, when she found herself squashed inside a crushing bear-hug.

"Oh, I don't believe it! Thank you, Clover, thank you, thank you, thank you a billion times over! This really means the world to me; you can't even start to imagine it!"

"You're... welcome... Your... Majesty..." she wheezed out, "But can you... let... go of me? Can't... breathe in here...!"

"Ah, right!" He released her and let out a small chuckle. "Sorry, got a little too psyched there." Clearing his throat, he added in a more serious tone, "But wait; let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Are you absolutely, two hundred percent sure you actually want to go through with this, Clover? You don't have to feel pressured because of me – like we said, the choice is yours and yours only, and nobody can change that. If you feel like pulling out at any time for whatever reason, that's completely fine; no ill will whatsoever. Understood?"

She saluted him playfully. "Sir, yes, sir! I'll try not to let you down!" Solid conviction laced her words, yet she still felt it necessary to remind him of a glaring truth. "However, let me make one thing clear in case it wasn't before: just 'cause I'm participating, that doesn't mean I'll win, okay? Everything could just as well end up going sideways, and if that happens... well, that'll be the end of it; nothing else I can do."

"I know, don't sweat it. Whether you win or not, I'm already so proud of you!"

"Thanks."

And then she turned away from him and back to the panel of judges, and when she did so, Clover saw that Ted's eyes were strangely... misty now, like he was going to tear up right there in front of everybody. Her exchange with Julien must've moved his ever-sentimental heart...

"Ah, I love it when I see a strong friendship in full display," he sniffed, "Makes me think everything is right with the world..."

"Speak for yourself," Hector grumbled while fumbling idly with his microphone. "Just let the woman do her thing so we can all pack up and leave, will you? My head's going to blow if I have to stay in this obnoxious shithole one more minute."

Clover bent over the sheet, pen raised. "Gee mate, got up on the wrong side of the bed today, didn't we?"

"As always."

And so, without any further delay, Clover added her name to the list. This was it. There was no going back now.

Here it goes... "Well, that's that. It's game on, Your Majesty," she said to Julien as she picked up the paper so he could see for himself. "Now I can say once and for all that I've lost whatever sanity I had left." She ran her finger in circles around her temple.

The other lemur snickered, and threw a comforting arm around her neck. "Cool it down, Clo-Clo – everything's gonna be alright, you can trust my kingly word on that. I know this can't be easy for you, like at all, so I'll make sure to be there with you every step of the way. We're a team after all, and as such, you can count on me and the guys giving you our full, unconditional support along with anything else you might need. And hey, who's to say? Maybe this could turn out to be hella fun in the end!"

She grinned back at him, somewhat alleviated that at least she'd have her friends to lean on. "Hmm, I do have a hunch it's all going to be quite something..."

"Female intuition, or whatever that's called?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

Many hours of celebratory partying quickly ushered in the next day. At around noon, after they had taken their time to rest and sober up, the lemurs reunited again in King Julien's house to discuss their course of action for the pageant, as well as having some lunch while they were at it. They had pulled a small dinner table in the middle of the vast living room and taken seat around it, and were now going over an official CX brochure that Clover had been given upon signing up last night. It explained the rules of the contest and dress code at length, among other things, and listed the date at which the event itself would be starting: this Saturday – exactly three days from today.

Scratching his chin in a thoughtful manner, Maurice closed the brochure and left it on the middle of the table. "Alright, so we've got three days to get you ready, Clover – that means seventy-two hours that we're gonna have to put to good use. I'd say that should be an easy task... but then I'd be lying. No offense."

"Oh, c'mon, Maurice. I... I believe I can do this!" she opined, "Or at the very least, give it a shot! I know I'm way in over my head here, but with some help from you guys, who knows what could happen? I just might surprise ya real nice!"

"You already have, Clo-Clo, that's for sure!" Julien's voice came over from his private bar; he was preparing smoothies for the four of them. "Now the million-dollar question is: how are we going to prepare you? Three days fly by pretty quickly, and there's lots of stuff you're gonna need, like a dress, makeup, and all that fluff girls put on to look presentable on special occasions, right? Not to mention learning to behave like a smooth chick who knows every trick in the book, too!" He put down the blender and did the finger-gun sign with both hands, grinning like an imp. "Someone who looks at you right in the eyes and then whispers sexily into your ear, 'baby, did you turn up the heat in here or is it just me who's burning?'"

Clover gave him a quite uncomfortable look. "Uhhh, yeah, I don't think we need to go that far."

"But it can help! I think..."

"In my opinion, what we should do is take a more... careful approach," Maurice stated as he reached into one of the various bowls of food lying around. "You know, take things slowly, one thing at a time. According to this," he opened the brochure again, "pretty much any kind of standard dress will do the job, but obviously, the flashier it is, the better for us. We should probably start with that."

"But I don't have any dresses! Hell, I can't even remember the last time I wore one!" said Clover as she took a bite from a mango.

Mort then raised his arm. "Oh, I know this guy who knows another guy who has a distant cousin that can get you just about anything, even dresses! ...The thing is, they're all probably either illegal imports or stolen goods, and he'd also ask you an arm and a leg for them. Literally."

Julien poured the just-blended smoothies into four glasses and started garnishing them with little pieces of fruit, snorting at the idea. "Mort, I'm way past going to your 'contacts' for help – the only thing they're ever good for is getting us into a whole heap of unnecessary trouble." He put the finished drinks on a tray and then returned to the table, placing it down before plopping onto his chair. He and the others each picked a colorful glass. "Besides, there ain't no way we'll be using any of that cheap third-rate garbo – what we need here is real quality! Class! The most eye-poppingly gorgeous attire a lemur can get!"

"Maybe we could get one done from scratch?" Clover gulped her strawberry smoothie in lengthy sips. "Somebody out there must know about knitting and all that kinda stuff."

"Nah, it'd take too much time, especially when we add in the full makeover that you're also going to need."

"Speaking of," Mort cut in, "who will take care of that? Because nobody here is skilled with cosmetics, as far as I know."

Julien laughed. "Of course not, man, that's a girl thing! Dudes ain't got no need for such girly shenanigans!"

Clover nodded as well. "Yeah, and I don't know much about those myself either, aside from some of the most barebones stuff I guess. Pretty much the only real experience I have is from long ago, from having to put up with my sister's bull every time she'd go out to parties or dates and the like, back then when we were growing up and still lived together. I swear she used to spend entire evenings in front of the mirror like a zombie – it was damn near insufferable, I tell ya."

"And you won't happen to remember anything from that time that could be useful, will you?" inquired Maurice.

Swallowing the last scraps of the mango, she shook her head at the aye-aye. "Nope, not really. She would even try to get me to join her in her dumb makeup sessions from time to time, but naturally, my interests always lay somewhere else." She clenched her left hand into a fist, the knuckles cracking noisily.

"Yeah, I get you," Julien said as he chomped on a pomegranate, "Family is, um... complicated. I should know, I've got the most messed-up parents and uncle in existence!"

While the discussion between the three other lemurs dragged on, Maurice kept quiet, drumming his fingers on the table as he stared pensively into space. Now that Clover had brought up the subject of family, an idea had arisen, one that he was sure would be met with some hefty (if entirely warranted) pushback from his friends if he were to let them know about it. In fact, he didn't even like it much at all himself due to its problematic nature, but even with such shortcomings, Maurice was fully aware of all the potential that lay so near, so close to them they weren't even realizing it. The way he saw it, they were all hopelessly lost right now, inexperienced, and basically running blindly in the dark. A disaster waiting to happen. Yet, if what he had in mind succeeded – first by getting the rest of the crew to agree, and then the other person in question – all their predicaments could be solved at once. As hard as it would likely be to make that a reality, he thought it worthy of at least a chance.

He gasped out loud to get their attention. When he spoke, his slow, deliberate intonation suggested he wasn't that quite confident in his own words. "Guys? Hear me out, I think I might have something. What I'm gonna say here is admittedly... kind of a stretch and also kinda crazy, but if it works, we could kill two birds with one stone! Well, all of them, actually!"

His fellows gave him quizzical looks.

"Okay, let's hear it then – hit us with them bright ideas, Mo-Mo!" Julien gave him the go.

"So, what you need," the royal advisor continued, addressing Clover specifically, "is a dress – but it must be a preexisting one since we just don't have time to make another from the ground up. Ideally, we could ask any woman we're friends with to lend you one of theirs and hope for the best, but then that gives us two big problems: one," he raised a finger, "they'd have to be kind enough to do that in the first place, and two," he raised a second, "it goes without saying that that dress would need to fit your precise measurements too, which is pretty much impossible."

The crowned lemur shrugged with a breezy smile. "Duh, obviously! We all know we ain't going to Tammy for help on that one!"

All three boys breaking into suppressed tittering, Maurice refreshed himself with his pineapple smoothie. "Yeah, he he, that's true. But you see, that's where I'm going with this! You need a dress that will fit you specifically, so let's not forget that there is one other girl out there who matches your body type to a tee! Even more, she could also cover everything else we need – some direct feminine input, the makeover, the right kind of attitude to make yourself look even better – everything!" Clover listened warily as he continued, "You guys know what I mean? All we need is right there, right at our fingertips!"

"Ummm... I'm not so sure I'm following you," Mort interrupted.

"Come on, people, let's use our heads – who is the one woman in this kingdom that we know for a fact is an expert with beauty products, loves being irresistible at every turn, and is also a proven seductress who knows everything about the biz?"

His Majesty whistled through a grin, interested, yet woefully ignorant. "Wow dude, that sounds like my kinda girl! Whoever it is, I so wanna meet her!"

The sound of glass on wood suddenly rang through the living room, as Clover slammed her smoothie on the table. Her face had just gone from a nice smile to stiff bewilderment – she didn't need to hear a word more to deduce who Maurice was talking about.

"Oh no! No, no, no, no, no, no!" she yelled at him, her tail twitching automatically behind her. "There's no way in hell we're asking her! Are ya still hungover from last night or something, mate? 'Cause in case ya hadn't realized, the moment for drunkenly spitting bosh has long since passed!"

"Come on, Clover, think about it for just a moment! She's the best chance we've got, and you know it!" he countered – this was exactly the reaction he had anticipated. "I – I recognize that it's not the most ideal plan, but if we try, she could give us everything we need!"

King Julien looked completely lost. "Uhhh, who are we arguing about?"

His bodyguard face-palmed in irritation. "Only that pesky, no-good bag of trouble I have the misfortune of calling 'my sister'... That's who," she growled then.

"Crimson?!" His eyes widened. "...Hm, my kinda girl indeed..."

"Not the point, King Julien!" she kept protesting adamantly, "What Maurice says is utter madness; we just can't ask Crimson for help! And even if we did, what makes y'all think she'd want to lend us a hand at all, huh? I bet she'd just see it as an opportunity to get close to us, and then backstab us the second we turned our backs on her, like she always does! No, there must be someone else – literally anyone but her!"

Julien reflected on the proposal for a long, long time. He, perhaps better than most people, knew the risks of getting involved with someone like Crimson. Although his former-lover-turned-enemy just tended to mind her own business and stay out of his way most of the time, the deep hatred she felt for him still burned bright like a living flame, and she had no qualms about showing every last ounce of it when given the proper incentive. For all intents and purposes, she'd be the last person to call for help ever – and yet in many ways, Julien still found himself agreeing with Maurice. As much as it pained the lemur king to admit it, there was simply nobody else, out of all the people either him or his crew knew, that was as perfect for such a job as his bodyguard's twin sister. He ran a thorough list of all the women he knew; not a single one did share any of Crimson's special charms or set of skills, and with that seventy-two hour deadline rapidly closing in on them, he knew they'd need all the help they could get.

It was then that he gave his own verdict.

"Look, I like this idea as much as you do, Clover – which is none, zero, zilch, nada – but you know better than anyone that no one fits the bill quite like your sis! I mean, who else can we go to? We're pretty tight on time and out of options here!"

Maurice and Mort nodded their agreement, but Clover still didn't seem very convinced. She did have to give it to her friends though, because deep down in her heart of hearts, she would've had to call herself a liar if she had to say they were wrong.

"I'm... not sure, guys," she muttered then half-heartedly, "Y'know all the things she's done to us in the past. What she could do if left unchecked even for a split second. Are we sure there's no better alternative?"

"Hate to say it, but I'm afraid not." Maurice shook his head. "Without her, I'd wager we're through before we're even in." Then, as he leaned back in his chair, he added, "With all that said though, we have to keep in mind the most important thing here – that this is your choice after all, Clover. Since you're the one who's participating in the pageant, it's only fair that we do things your way; the last thing we'd want is making you even more uncomfortable. If you don't want to see Crimson, we totally get it. Right?" He lightly elbowed the king.

"Sure. We're with you, Clo-Clo. You take the helm on this one."

Mort glanced at all three of them. "We can just go down to her place and ask nicely; see what she says! If she tells us to go die in a hole, then we can try something different! My offer still stands!"

Clover exhaled profoundly; perhaps now she was starting to think that she had bitten off a lot more than she could chew by agreeing to this. But what choice did she have? It was either this, or going back on her promise to Julien. And when she made a promise – especially to a friend – she kept it. If this was what it took to see it through, then so be it. With apt resolution she soldiered on, soon making up her mind.

Taking her smoothie with her, she walked off the table and went for the window, where she sipped down the last drops while staring out into the infinite greenery of the sunlit jungle.

"Well then... I guess it's time to pay a certain someone a good ol' family visit." She plucked the garnish strawberry from the glass' rim and ate it. "As if I didn't have enough in my plate."

If her sneaking suspicions were right, these three upcoming days were about to be the longest of her entire life.