The five animals paused for a moment as they realized this. That despite being together again, they had no idea where they were.

Slowly, the group shuffled a full 180 degrees and faced the miles of greenery lusciously thriving behind them. It was like looking at a postcard of some fancy, tropical paradise cruise. Tall palm trees stretched towards the sky, their thick, vibrant leaves rustling ever so slightly. The sky hovered over the exotic landscape in a near blinding blue, free of clouds. It was absolutely otherworldly, breathtaking.

"San Diego," Melman said, breaking the silence.

The others turned their attention to the giraffe.

"San Diego?" Gloria questioned.

"White sandy beaches, cleverly simulated natural environment, wide-open enclosures," Melman stated as he surveyed their new surroundings more thoroughly. "I'm telling you, this could be the San Diego Zoo. Complete with fake rocks." He tapped the bottom of his leg against a burrowed rock, the flat surface of his hoof clicking musically against the rough object and not at all like a fake stone. "Wow, that looks real." He announced in surprise.

"I'm not so sure." Tigress voiced aloud. "It all looks real to me."

"That's the point of fake, Tigress," Melman said matter of factly. "It's supposed to look real."

"San Diego?" Alex asked, having ignored the tiger and giraffe's conversation. He broke free from the group hug, surveying the jungle scenery with a look of utter remorse. "What could be worse than San Diego?"

"I don't know." Marty returned, much more jovially than the lion. He trotted forward and observed the thick of trees with a much more accepting expression. "This place is crackalackin!" He exclaimed. "Oh, I could hang here. I could hang here."

And just like that, Alex snapped.

"I'll kill you!" Alex screeched, chasing after a now running Marty. Back and forth they raced, sand spraying from their speeding paws and hooves.

"Take it easy!" Marty cried, zipping through Melman's tall legs, Alex hot on his tail.

"Strangle you!"

"Calm down."

"Then bury you, dig you up, clone you and kill your clones." Alex proclaimed as the two now circled Gloria in a cyclone of gold and black and white.

"20-second timeout." Marty shrieked.

"I'll never talk to you again!"

Tigress, now completely fed up with Alex and his overdramatic antics, stormed over to the two animals sprinting and snatched Marty right off of his racing hooves. Gloria did the same with Alex, hefting him above the ground by the underside of his arms. Tigress plopped Marty back onto the ground, scowling at the lion as the striped zebra cowered behind the tiger's figure.

"Now, look," Gloria said through gritted teeth, shaking the male feline aggressively. "We're just going to find the people, get checked in, and have this mess straightened out." She heatedly threw Alex down and was now back on his feet, much more calmer than before.

His tranquil facade didn't last.

"Oh, great. This is just great. San Diego." Alex moaned. "Now I'll have to compete with Shamu and his smug little grin. I can't top that. Can't top it. I'm ruined!" The lion fell to his knees like an angry toddler, his legs half buried in the fine sand, his golden mane gleaming in the bright sun. "I'm done. I'm out of the business. It's your fault, Marty!" He whirled back, pointing an accusing finger at his now ex-friend. "You've ruined me."

Tigress couldn't believe just how ridiculous Alex was being. He couldn't see how grateful he should be that they were back together after an entire day of thinking that they were all alone. That aside from being possibly washed up in a zoo across the country, they had their friends. They were reunited with their closest companions, and all Alex could worry about was the demise of his career. Tigress was more than happy to see them all safe and sound on this island, and Alex was the one being a selfish little-

What was that?

Tigress' ears twitched at the distant sound. It was faint but distinct.

"Come on, Alex. Do you honestly think I intended all of this to happen?" Marty asked. Tigress ignored him, trying to concentrate on where that noise was coming from. "You want me to say that I'm sorry? Is that what you want? Okay, I'm…"

"Shh." Alex suddenly hissed, only turning to the zebra to shush him with a finger pressed to his snout.

Could he hear it too?

Tigress took a few steps forward, standing above the lion. Their gazes remained steadfast on the foliage in front of him, his dark ears aiming forwards; straining, focusing.

He could hear it!

"He just shushed me," Marty said in surprise.

"Marty, you've got to be just a little bit more und…" Gloria started to say.

"Shh." Tigress hushed.

"Don't you shush me." Gloria retorted angrily.

"Do you hear that?" Alex questioned, turning to the tiger. She nodded vigorously. The others now stepped up in interest, trying to see and hear what had grabbed the two large cats attention.

The group of five now raced through the thick jungle, the blasting music echoing through the crocheted vines and underbrush.

"I hear it now!" Marty yelled over the pounding beat.

"Where there's music, there's people." Gloria said next.

"And where there's people, there's a way back to the zoo." Tigress voiced.

"Go right to the head honcho." Alex interjected.

"A sidewalk would be nice." Melman piped in.

The jungle floor under their hooves and paws wasn't so bad in Tigress' opinion. It was just… different. The underlying plants and open roots of trees were like an entangled basket of snakes, and it was a struggle not to trip over one rope of vinery after the next. Tigress kept one eye on the path before her and the other on her footing. She wasn't planning on tripping on anything.

"Yeah, what a dump." Gloria commented.

"They should call it the San Di-lame-o Zoo." Alex said childishly. Tigress couldn't suppress the eye roll she directed at the lion. "First, they tell you, 'We got this great open plan thing. Let animals run wild.' Next thing, flowers in your hair, everybody's hugging everybody."

"And you know this how, exactly?" Tigress questioned, giving him a queer yet half-hearted look.

"Look what happened in the '60s and '70s." He returned.

"This place kind of grows on you." Marty interrupted, cutting off Alex. "This way, guys! Come on!" Marty exclaimed as he passed under a low hanging branch. The others passed by it with no trouble, with Gloria holding it up and out of their way. When she released it, it flew back in a flash of brown and green only to slam into Alex's face with a resonating thwack. He fell straight onto his back, clutching his nose. Tigress ran back to his side where she helped him sit up.

"What the?" Alex cried out, standing to his feet. Before Tigress could ask if he was alright, he stumbled forward, groaning under his clasped paws, trying to catch up to the others. He then suddenly tripped on a large rock and hopped on one leg, clutching his already swelling foot, and then again as he stepped on a thorn riddled briar. He then stumbled right into a curtain of a spider web, frantically swiping at the silky strands of white, crying out in disgust as he wiped at his head. In his hysteria, he ran straight into a tree, his head connecting to the trunk with a sort of clunking sound. He tried to regain his balance, his eyes crossed and his arms swaying at his sides only to have his legs taken out by a nearby log. And with this whole scene taking place, it wouldn't have been complete if the tree from earlier hadn't tumbled onto the lion sprawled on his backside.

Oh, no!" Alex screamed when the leafy top slammed onto his head.

Tigress had to physically restrain herself from groaning in aggravation. It was like watching a goofy cartoon character from those black and white kids' television. Every step he took was like having a rake shoot up into his face over and over again. Yet a part of her was withholding a boisterous laugh threatening to surpass her black lips. It wasn't Alex being inflicted with pain that made it hilarious, it was witnessing the famous and mighty King of New York so out of his element. Instead of strutting around like a pompous peacock, he was fumbling too and fro like a newborn cub running without having learned to walk first.

She marched her way over to the lion who was wrestling with the groves of palm leaves and bananas and with her brute strength, she hefted the fat trunk into her arms and tossed the whole tree to the side. It landed with a whooshing crash a yard away.

"What'd you do that for?" Alex barked out, sitting up. "I could've moved it myself."

"You're welcome." Said Tigress as she extended a paw for him to take. Almost begrudgingly, he did, clasping on as she lifted him up. She heard him grumble an incoherent "thank you", but decided to not pester him about it. The poor guy did just have a run in with a number of the jungle's unfriendly subjects.

They continued forward, the funky music still present, if not much louder. Their friends were long gone.

They must've made it to the people by now.

The tiger had to keep a slow pace since Alex was recovering from a swollen foot and the high chance of a recent concussion. He continued to mumble under his breath, picking out tidbits of spider web from his fur, trying his hardest to hide a limp. In the distance, Tigress could see the other three gathered in the front of a hedge of some sort. The music had stopped.

"I hate spiderwebs. Yeah, thanks a lot, guys." Alex called out as they approached. "Thanks for waiting up. I really appreciate it." The trio turned to the two felines, but Alex walked up and past the giant fronds, revealing an opening. The grass was littered with flowers that glowed pink and orange, and in the center sat half a dozen or so of cat-like creatures with ugly green eyes and lolling tongues. They seemed to be stalking a small creature that heavily resembled a chipmunk.

Tigress got the notion that these animals were in no means surrounding the helpless critter with pleasant intentions. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, her claws poised in the tips of her paws. She glared at them with red eyes. She was ready to fight if they made a single move to attack. A few noticed and quivered under her gaze, the others focused on the lion.

"Hi." Alex greeted. "We just got in from New York, and we're looking for a supervisor. Because we've been sitting on that beach there for hours, and nobody's even bothered to show up."
"Alex," Tigress beckoned. "I don't think…" But that's when she saw it and froze immediately, her spine straightening out like a metal rod. Crawling up on Alex's back with long, delicate legs and a bulbous abdomen patched with orange was the biggest spider she had ever seen. How it got to be there and how she hadn't noticed it was unbeknownst to her, but what she did know was that Alex hadn't seen it. At least not yet.

"I don't know how things are normally run around here, but there's been some sort of major screw-up, which is cool." The lion continued to talk, unaware of the animal scaling his shoulder blades. "If you could point us towards the administrative offices, we'll…" He slowly rounded his gaze to his backside, either from their conjoined stares penetrating his senses or the tips of the spider's legs had finally registered in his mind. He came face to face with the animal and his eyes dilated to dots.

"Well, howdy-do." The spider greeted cheerfully.

Alex jumped a full three feet in the air and cried out at the top of his lungs, waving his arms and shrieking. After that it was a blur of cries and screams as Gloria furiously wacked Alex with a long stick she had picked up, everyone crying out in various phrases such as "Spider! Spider! Spider on my back!" and "Come on, Gloria. Get it." That is, all except Tigress. As she witnessed complete mayhem unfold as her hippopotamus friend beat the living daylights out of the lion, she had seen the spider quickly skedaddle and out of harm's way. She huffed a heavy sigh and trudged forward where, with questionably graceful ease, plucked the stick straight out of Gloria's hands right before she landed another blow.

"Enough! Enough with the stick." Alex cried after the last blow. Tigress tossed the stick to the side and pulled him to his feet.

"Did I get it?" Asked Gloria. "I think I got it."

"I think she got it." Melman commented.

"Is it still on me?" Alex said as he swayed in his feet, brushing himself off. "I hate spiders." Alex commented, wincing as he straightened up, shivering in disgust at the word "spiders".

"It's OK. It's gone." Gloria reassured.

"Gone" was definitely the word, Tigress thought to herself. The female tiger looked up and saw that the predatory creatures from before had vanished and all that remained was the fuzzy brown rodent curled on the jungle floor. It watched her with round eyes, shaking with fear behind its bushy tail.

"Guys." She summoned. "We have an audience."

The others turned their attention to the lone critter, unsure of what to make of it. "Hi there." Marty said in a friendly manner.

Alex snapped at him almost instantaneously. "You let me handle it. Alex handles it. Marty does nothing." Alex hissed through bared teeth. After a moment, Alex took a step forward and bent over to eye level with the small being. "Hi there!" The lion announced, grinning from ear to ear. But Tigress saw that her lion friend's large canines were on full display and the creature before him observed them with fearful eyes. It began to cry, terrified at the golden feline's greetings."Oh, jeez. Sorry." Alex yelped.

"Oh, Alex, what'd you do?" Gloria asked.

"Stop. Stop. It's OK. It's OK." Alex hurriedly hushed. "I'm just a silly... just a silly lion." Alex leaned down even closer and waved his paws at the sides of his head resulting in the creature erupting in tears. "Oh, jeez!" Alex screeched, jumping back as the brown animal wailed.

"Alex," Tigress nudged him aside. "You have to be gentle with him. He's frightened." The tiger lowered herself onto her knees, the critter trembling with sobs across her. "Oh, you poor little thing." The thing peered up at her and with large, hazelnut eyes that watered with spilling tears, his pupils the size of giant marbles. Her heart ached in her chest at the sight. "Did he scare you?" She asked it quietly. It nodded ever so slightly, calming down from his fit. "He did?" She felt the corners of her muzzle quirk up into a small smile. She stretched out her arms to him, slowly and deliberately as to not come across as aggressive. She didn't want to frighten him anymore than he already was. The creature crawled into her paws after a moment and she caressed him to her chest. She ran a thumb over his head, his ears flicking against her sheathed claw. He nuzzled into her, pressing his tear-streaked cheeks against the cream-colored fur of her sternum.

"Aww, look at you." Gloria cooed as she came up to Tigress' side.

"They are cute from a reasonable distance." Melman commented.

"Aren't you the sweetest little thing." Gloria said as she tickled the creature's fluffy belly. It returned her actions with cute, bubbly giggles that made Tigress' smile broader. "I just want to dunk him in my coffee."

Just then, an explosion of noise sounded off and the group jumped. Coming at them from all sides, from the trees and bushes and all of the shadows of the jungle, were furry creatures who cheered and jumped and danced around them like a crowd of excitable fans. The critter wriggled out of Tigress's grasp, but the tiger hardly noticed since she was too distracted by the horde of newcomers blithely cornering them. An echoing horn went off and the creatures silenced, turning their attention to a single animal who blew furiously into a seashell much too large for him. He set it down.

"Presenting your royal highness, our illustrious King Julien XIII, self-proclaimed lord of the lemurs, et cetera. Hooray, everybody." He recited quickly and monotonously as he stepped aside. Emerging from a set of flamboyant fronds was a tall, grey being who wore a wooden hat upon his fuzzy head. His long tail swayed behind him in all its black and white wonder. He leapt up in a full flip and landed atop a tower of other rodent-like much like himself.

"He's got style." Marty said, clearly intrigued.

"What is he, like, king of the guinea pigs?" Alex retorted sarcastically.

"I think it's a squirrel." Returned Melman.

"I think it's… a lemur." Tigress inquired.

"A lemur?" Alex asked. "What's a lemur?"

Before Tigress could answer, the leaning tower of miniature fuzz balls strutted forward. "Welcome, giant pansies." The critter on top proclaimed. "Please feel free to bask in my glow."

"Nope. Definitely a squirrel." Alex confirmed.

"Yep. Squirrel." Melman agreed. Tigress would have as well if she didn't know that it was most certainly a lemur.

Wait! If it was a lemur, would that mean…

"We thank you with enormous gratitude for chasing away the foosa." The "squirrel" said.

"The "whossa"?" Marty replied confusedly.

"The foosa." The lemur corrected. "They annoy us by trespassing, interrupting our parties and ripping our limbs off."

She knew it! Those things, the foosa, had been here to devour these creatures, especially the small one she had encountered moments before.

"Good." Alex said, almost impatiently. "We're trying to find out where the people are, so…"

"What big teeth you have." The lemur who had previously blown through the seashell prompted. He stood on another skyscraper of lemurs beside what had to be his ruler. "Man! And your lady friend's too." He motioned to Tigress.

Lady what?!

"Oh! I uh… she's…" Alex stuttered, caught by surprise. Tigress was in no better shape. Her eyes bugged out of her head and she swore that her neck burned with an uncomfortable warmth.

"Shame on you, Maurice." The ring-tailed lemur spoke aloud. "Can you not see that you have insulted the freak and his girlfriend?"

Girlfriend?!

Tigress was sure that if she blushed any more under her coat of orange fur, she would explode.

"You must tell me, who the heck are you?"

"I-I'm Alex." The lion fumbled with his words before composing himself. "The Alex. And this is Gloria, Marty, Melman, a Tigress." He absentmindedly indicated to his animal friends.

"And just where are you giants from?"

"We're from New York and…"

With a wave of his arms, the hat-don lemur interrupted the large cat right in the middle of his sentence. He turned to his fellow lemurs. "All hail the New York Giants!"

"New York giants!" They shouted demeaningly, once more becoming a raging throng of hectic, fur-covered individuals in a mass of craziness. The five larger animals gathered in a circle, their heads closed in around each other to block out the roaring bouts and clapping of the lemur community.

"Is this some sort of inbreeding program?" Melman asked.

"Off topic, Melman." Tigress quipped. "We need a plan of action."

"I say we just ask these bozos where the people are." Alex suggested.

"Excuse me." A voice suddenly said. Looking down at the source, Tigress saw that it was the crowned lemur lazily sprawled under Alex's legs. "We bozos have the people, of course."

Alex screamed in surprise at the sight and skidded away from the creature from below him. "Hey, the bozos have the people." He exclaimed. "Oh, well, great. Good. Phew."

"They're up there." He pointed upwards with a tiny finger. They all looked up and were stunned to find that there was a person up there. Well, that is the skeleton of a person. Which was suspended from the strings of a fraying parachute caught in the bowels of a giant tree. It grinned toothily down at them, it's empty eye sockets and exposed bones causing Tigress' jaw to drop wide open.

"Don't you love the people? Not a very lively bunch, though."

You can say that again.

"Wow." Alex replied quietly, shocked just as much as the rest of them were. "So do you have any live people?"

The lemur thought for a moment. "No. Only dead ones. I mean, if we had a lot of live people here, it wouldn't be called the wild, would it?"

"The wild?" Tigress and Marty proclaimed in unison.

Did he just say "the wild" because there was absolutely no way they could actually be in the wild?!

"Whoa. Hold up there a second, fuzz bucket." Alex intervened. "You mean, like, the 'live in a mud hut, wipe yourself with a leaf' type wild?" The lion ventured.

"Who wipes?" Ring tail asked rhetorically.

One, ew. Two, the wild! This was the wild. The real uncivilized, animal-infested, uninhabited-by-humans wild? Tigress couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe it!

"Oy vey." Said Melman in disgust.

"Oy vey!" The giant crowd of lemurs screamed.

"Oy vey, everybody! Oy vey!" The hat-clad creature squealed with joy.

The wild! This was the wild!

"Could you excuse me for a moment?" Said Alex before taking off in a blur of brown and gold, zooming through the jungle foliage in the blink of an eye.

Author's Note: Thank God for that boost of motivation! I have put this off for so long it's not even funny. I don't know what happened. I would blame this whole COVID-19 business, and it is partly true, but if I'm being honest I must say that I just lost interest in this story. I don't even know why. But I am committed to this story and will finish it as well as others to come. Thank you all for your patience and tolerance with my lack of writing. It means the world to me when you give me your support and encouragement. Thank you guys and as always stay tuned!