The FT Squad's Adventures in Madagascar P6

Hours have passed since everyone found out where they were in the wild.  The boat hadn’t shown up, nor did anything else that could rescue them.  Overcome by despair, Melman dug himself a hole on the beach and put himself in it while reading a eulogy with Alex and Gloria watching.  “Well since I’m doomed to die on this forsaken island, I, Melman Mankiewicz, being a sound mind and unsound body, have divided my estate equally among the three of you,” he read before seeing a wave wash away half of his eulogy written in the sand, “oh…sorry Alex.”

Marty and the FT Squad came by and saw what was going on.  “Hey, a latrine,” said Marty, “nice work Melman.  Outdoor plumbing.”

“No, it’s not a latrine,” said a distressed Alex, “it’s a grave.  You sent Melman to his grave.  Are you happy?”

“Grave,” asked Cassidy, “why would this suddenly happen to Melman?”

“Are you guys still upset about being separated from the zoo,” asked Walden.

“Aw, come on, this isn’t the end,” said Marty, “this isn’t the end.  This is a whole new beginning.  This could be the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” replied Alex, “this is not the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”

“Yeah, you abused the power of the birthday wish and brought this bad luck on all of us.  Why’d you tell us your wish?  You’re not supposed to do that,” said Melman.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a second,” said Dennis, “in case you’ve forgotten, Marty didn’t want to tell you.”

“Yeah, he’s right,” said Marty while Alex took a tree and headed towards the ocean, “you guys made me tell you.”

“Oh, ok,” replied an irritated Melman.

“Besides, this ain’t bad luck,” said Speedy, “you’ve got each other, as does the squad.”

“Speedy’s right,” said Marty as Alex drew a line in the sand with the tree, separating Marty and the squad from him, Gloria and Melman, “this is good luck.  Look around, there’s no fences, no schedules, this place is beautiful.  Baby, we were born…”

“Ok, ok, I’ve had enough of this,” said an annoyed Alex as he tossed the tree aside, “this is your side of the island, and this is our side of the island.”

“Our side,” asked Wubbzy, “why can’t we…”

“Because you’re still to blame for our problem along with Marty,” interrupted Alex, “that is the bad side where you can perform your travelling duties, and where Marty can prance and skip around like a magical pixie horse, and do whatever the heck he wants to do all day long.  This is the good side of the island for those who love New York and care about going home.”

“Come on,” said Marty as he tried stepping onto the other side.

But Alex stopped Marty from coming any further.  “No, no, back, back, no, no, no, back…”

“You know what?  This isn’t good,” said Gloria, not liking Alex’s behavior.

Seeing that Alex was still acting rude, the squad got annoyed.  “You know, we care about going home too,” said Kaytlin, “and you can’t leave Marty on his own.  That’s against Kyle’s idea.  So technically speaking…”

“You guys don’t count, ‘cause you guys are also responsible for getting us on here, so you deserve to be stuck on the bad side with your adventurer wannabe,” said Alex as he pointed towards Kaytlin.

Now very angry, Rudy lunged forward and nearly chomped on Alex’s finger.  “For the last time, you immature, picky, intolerable brat…IT WASN’T OUR FAULT MARTY WAS OUT THERE,” he yelled.

“Rudy’s right,” said Donkey, “Marty left that zoo by himself.  We had nothing to do with it.”

“You still inspired him to go out there though,” said Alex, “we weren’t the ones who inspired him to go out and explore this disaster.”

“Ok, you know what?  That does it,” said Kyle, having had enough, “you wanna separate the group and have things your way?  FINE!  You want New York, you’ll get New York, but you won’t get it with that attitude of yours, you annoying big fur ball of a king.”

“Yeah,” added Rudy as he and the rest of the team headed off, away from the line, “have it your way Mr. King of Pathetic City.”

Alex looked at the squad, offended by that comment.  But before he could say anything, Rudy tossed a seashell at Alex’s face with his tail.  Before he could retaliate, Marty, also having had it with Alex’s attitude, turned around as well.  “Ok.  You all have your side, and we’ll have ours,” said Marty as he proudly walked off, “and if you need me, I’ll be over here, on the FUN side of the island having a good ol’ time with my new friends.”

“That’s not the fun side,” said Alex before shouting out, “THIS IS THE FUN SIDE!  THIS IS THE FUN SIDE WHERE WE’RE GONNA HAVE A GREAT TIME SURVIVING UNTIL WE GO HOME!  WHOO!  I LOVE THIS SIDE, THIS SIDE’S THE BEST!  THAT SIDE STINKS!  YOU’RE ON THE JERSEY SIDE OF THIS CESSPOOL!”

“WILMA!”

“Well now what do we do,” asked Melman, not as angry.

“Don’t worry Melman, I have a plan to get us rescued,” said Alex.

Back with the squad, they headed further down the beach, still angry with Alex.  “He’s wrong,” growled Rudy, “we weren’t responsible.”  

“What’s he trying to prove anyway,” asked an equally annoyed Kaytlin, “he’s got no one to blame but himself.”

“I’d choose Simba over that New York fanatic any day,” said Kyle.

“What about Gloria and Melman,” asked Cassidy, “don’t we have to blame them too?”

“Um…sort of since when they showed up with Alex at Grand Central, the cops arrived and got us in trouble,” said Kyle, “but they weren’t acting rude, and were actually happy to reunite with Marty.”

“True, but Alex didn’t have to ostracize us,” said Kimmy, who was very tense.

“That is a drag indeed,” said Speedy, “but how about we concentrate on building us some shelter.  Y’all look like you could use a break from this here stress.”

“Well, it is getting dark,” said Wubbzy.

“Yes, yes, yes,” said Walden, “and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got cold too.”

“Alright then,” said Kyle, “let’s build some shelter.”

“And show that annoying feline back there what we’re capable of,” added Rudy.

Under the night sky, Alex had just finished making a wooden statue after hours of work.  “I can’t wait to see the look on Marty’s face when he sees this,” he said as he smirked at the zebra.

Marty and the squad were too busy to noticed Alex.  They were putting together a pile of leaves on the beach.  Alex, thinking that Marty was struggling, just simply shrugged off Marty’s problem.  “Oh just look at him,” said Alex, “he’s helpless without us.”

But Marty looked at Alex with another thought in mind.  “Do it buddy,” said Rudy.

Marty snapped off a vine and contraption was set off.  On top of an overhead tree was a pulley system that had vines connecting a giant rock and the pile of trees.  The rock went down, and the leaves went up, revealing the leaves as a roof for the shelter.  Marty and Rudy smirked at Alex, leaving the lion annoyed with their progress.  “Shut up Spalding.”

Nearby, Melman, still in his hole, was busy trying to make fire with two pieces of wood.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t working out well and he was getting tired.  As for Gloria, she was standing on the beach, underneath Alex, posing like the statue of liberty in hopes of attracting a boat or other means of rescue off in the distance.  “I’ve been standing here for hours man,” she said, “how long do I have to pose like this?”

Alex, seeing that he finished his statue, turned to Gloria and said, “She is…finito.”

Gloria turned around and saw the huge statue that Alex was putting together.  It was a wooden representation of the statue of liberty.  This amazed Gloria while Alex said, “I defy any rescue boat within a million miles to miss this baby.  When the moment is right, we will ignite the beacon of liberty and be rescued from this awful nightmare.  What do you think?  Pretty cool huh?”

Alex turned to Melman, who still wasn’t making any progress in creating fire.  “How’s the liberty fire going Melman,” he asked.

“Great,” replied Melman before muttering, “idiot.”

“I heard that.”

“Why can’t we just borrow some of Marty and the squad’s fire,” asked Melman.

Alex glared at Marty’s group, seeing that they were making fire and improving on their shelter with little problem.  “That’s wild fire,” said Alex, “we’re not using wild fire on Lady Liberty.  Now rub Melman.”

But Melman, in his frustration, stopped rubbing and ranted, “I’ve been doing, I can’t.  I can’t, I can’t do it, I ju, I can’t…DO IT!”

Melman slammed the two pieces of wood onto the sand, but as he did, the two pieces of wood caught fire.  Upon seeing the fire, Melman became amazed.  He had finally created fire.  “F…fire,” he said.

Alex and Gloria smiled upon seeing the giraffe finally show his fire.  “Fire…FIRE,” Melman said with glory, “hahahahahahahahahaha…”

But upon seeing the wood still attached to his hooves, he started panicking, since he was close to getting burned.  “Ah…oh my…AH, OOH, FIRE,” he exclaimed as he panicked.

“NOT YET, NO, NO,” shouted Alex, trying to calm Melman down.

“FIRE!”

“MELMAN, HOLD STILL!”

But Alex’s attempts were futile.  Melman, in his fright, accidentally rubbed the fire against the Lady Liberty statue.  Alex was now stuck on the liberty torch and he panicked upon seeing the statue get engulfed in flames.  “JUMP!  ALEX JUMP,” cried Gloria as Alex jumped off, “DON’T WORRY, CATS ALWAYS LAND ON THEIR…”

Before Gloria could finish, Alex hit the ground and landed on his belly, face down into the sand.  “…face,” asked Gloria, “man, what kind of cat are you?”

Melman tripped and his two wooden pieces dug into the sand.  The fire extinguished and he calmed down.  But the damage was already done.  The fire had burned the statue to a crisp.  Some of the wood broke off, causing the statue to shrink in height.  This act caused Alex to break down in anger.  “YOU MANIAC!  YOU BURNED IT UP,” he shouted, “DARN YOU!  DARN YOU ALL TO HECK!”

“Can we go to the fun side now,” asked Melman after looking at Marty and the squad’s progress with their shelter.

Meanwhile, back in the jungle the lemurs were starting to gather around in their meet up location: an old, crashed plane in the trees.  As the hundreds of lemurs chatted amongst each other, Maurice tried getting them to quiet down.  “Everybody calm down, come on.  Into your chairs!  Everybody, calm down!  Let go of his tail.  Separate those two would you please?  You over here and you over there,” said Maurice, getting irritated before pressing the loud seatbelt button of the plane a couple times to get their attention, “everyone, sshh, calm down people, ok?”

The lemurs finally settled down, allowing Maurice to speak.  “Now, presenting your royal highness, the illustrious blah, blah, blah, you know, etc., etc…hooray, let’s go,” he said as King Julien appeared before the crowd.

“Now everybody,” said Julien, “we all have great curiosity about our guests, the New York Giants.”

One of the lemurs raised his hand.  “Yes Willie,” said Julien.

“I like them.”

“I like them, I liked them first,” said Mort excitedly in the crowd, “before I even met them I liked them…”

“Yes, yes…yes,” said an annoyed Julien.

“…I liked them right away.  You hate them compared to how much I like them…”

“OH SHUT UP, YOU’RE SO ANNOYING,” shouted Julien.

Mort stopped, but quietly giggled.  With Mort quiet again, Julien continued his speech.  “Now…for as long as we can remember, we have been attacked…and eaten…by the dreaded fossa.”

“THE FOSSA,” the lemurs suddenly exclaimed in fear.

This caused a sudden uproar of screaming and fright.  Some lemurs hid underneath the seats, while others burst out of the plane.  “THE FOSSA ARE ATTACKING!”

“IT’S A COOKBOOK!  IT’S A COOKBOOK!”

This sudden panicking irritated Julien and Maurice.  “Please,” Julien said, trying to calm them down, before turning to Maurice, “Maurice?”

Maurice rapidly pressed the seatbelt button again.  “QUIET,” he shouted.

The lemurs settled down.  “Come on y’all, they’re not attacking us this very instant,” said Maurice.

The lemurs sighed with relief.  With them under control once again, Julien continued his speech.  “So…my genius plan…is this: we will make the New York Giants…our friends…and keep them close.  Then…with Mr. Alex protecting us, we will be safe, and never have to worry about the dreaded fossa EVER AGAIN,” he finished happily.

The lemurs cheered, thinking the idea could work.  If Alex were to be their friend and protect them from trouble, then the fossa would no longer be a threat.  “I thought of that…I thought of that…Yes…me…I did.”

But Maurice had other thoughts.  “Hold on everybody, hold on, I’m just thinking now,” said Maurice, settling the lemurs down again, “I mean…does anyone wonder why the fossa were so scared of Mr. Alex?”

The lemurs thought about that.  “I mean, maybe we should be scared too.  What if Mr. Alex is even worse than the fossa,” asked Maurice.

The lemurs gasped, having never thought that before.  “I’m telling you, that dude just gives me the heebiedabajeebies,” said Maurice.

“Maurice, you did not raise your hand,” said Julien, having no concern about his comment, “therefore, your heinous comment will be stricken from the record.”

Julien gestured to Massakuro, a chameleon, and he licked Maurice’s comment off the scroll of lemur comments.  “Does anyone else have the heebie-jeebies?  No?  Good!  So shut up,” said Julien to Maurice, “when the New York Giants wake up…we will make sure that they wake up…in paraide.  NOW WHO WOULD LIKE A COOKIE!”

The lemurs erupted with applause once again.  With the lemurs approval, minus Maurice, the plan of making Alex and the others their friends was now set and in preparation of commencing.

Back on the beach, Alex, having run out of options, but refusing to quit, had set up some logs and arranged them into the word ‘HELP’ on the beach.  He sat on the beach a couple feet away, grumpily looking out onto the ocean.  This time, Gloria and Melman were nowhere to be seen.  Marty and Speedy saw Alex sitting on the beach.  Although Alex treated him very badly, Marty couldn’t help but feel sorry for the lion.  Ignoring the line that was meant to separate him, he walked over to Alex.  “Yo Al…Melman and Gloria are over there having a good time,” he said, “there’s room on the fun side for one more.”

“No thanks,” replied Alex, still unhappy.

“Look…I’ve been thinking.  Maybe if you gave this place a chance, I don’t know…you might even enjoy yourself,” said Marty.

“Marty, I’m tired…I’m hungry…I just wanna go home,” said Alex.

“Could you just give it a chance,” asked Marty, “think about it.  It really isn’t the fun side without you.”

Marty turned around, about to walk back to his shelter, when Speedy spoke up.  “I know you’re going through a tough time ol’ boy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t think of better things to do then sit around waiting for help to come.”

“But what else can I do,” asked Alex, “I’m stuck here…away from home…and I just…” he said before sighing.

“I understand,” said Speedy, “but if there’s one thing I know…it’s that there’s always a rainbow on the other side of misfortunes.”

Alex glimpsed at Speedy, thinking about his and Marty’s words.  Marty started walking back to the shelter, with Speedy on his back.  While the two left, Alex’s frustration started fading away.  Marty and Speedy’s words caused Alex to think about how he acted towards them, and the rest of the squad.  Even though he thought it was their fault for getting him stuck on the island, he couldn’t help but feel if he went too far in his constant complaining.  Behind him, the logs holding together to make the ‘P’ broke off each other and landed on the ground, creating an ‘L.’ Alex saw this and sighed.  But this was now the least of his problems.

Some time later that same evening, Alex finally got up and headed towards Marty’s shelter.  Outside, he could hear Marty, the squad, Melman and Gloria having a fun time together and laughing.  Alex lifted his paw, about to knock, but he hesitated.  Feeling bad for his attitude, but having no other place to go, Alex lifted his paw up again and knocked.  This caused everyone to stop their activity.  “Shh, shh,” whispered Rudy, “it’s him.”

“Who is it,” asked Marty.

“It’s the pizza man.  Who the heck do you think it is,” asked Alex.

“Yes,” said Marty as he peaked from the door hole, “can I help you?”

“Can I come to the fun side,” asked Alex sadly.

Marty opened the chained door and asked, “I beg your pardon?”

“You know, I’ve been kind of a jerk Marty,” replied Alex, “but I’ve been thinking about what you said and…I’m sorry.”

Marty, seeing that Alex was finally giving in, quickly closed the door.  Alex heard a lot of loud noises and was confused.  But before he could do anything, the door opened again, this time all the way.  Marty greeted him with a smile and said, “welcome to Casa Del Wild.  Take a load off.”

Before Alex could walk in, Marty gestured towards his feet.  “Hey, hey, wipe your feet.”

Alex wiped his feet on the entrance rug.  After that, he entered the shelter.  “Alex,” said Gloria, upon noticing Alex’s entry.

“Well, well, well,” said Dennis who was relaxed, “look who it is.”

“Mi Casa is su casa,” said Marty.

Alex walked further into the shelter, past Melman who was enjoying a coconut drink.  The shelter was like a city bar, with seats for visitors to relax on, and a fireplace for warmth.  Alex was amazed at all the work Marty and the squad put into this thing.  “Very impressive,” said Alex.

“It is impressive, is it not,” said Rudy.

“Looks like you’re finally letting go of your frustration,” said Kyle.

“Yeah…about that…Kyle I…”

“It’s ok Al,” said Kyle, “apology accepted.”

Alex looked at Kyle, surprised that he was forgiving him so easily.  “Really?”

“Yeah,” said Kyle, “I guess we were all stressed about being stuck on the island and your attitude…but after we set up shop, we started relaxing at the urging of Speedy here.  I did so, and after a moment of meditating, I felt so much better after what we’ve been through.”

“There you go Kyle,” said Speedy, “no worries.”

“Wow,” commented Alex.

“Hey, have a drink,” said Marty as he offered Alex a drink, “it’s on the house.”

But the minute Alex took a sip, he immediately spat it out.  “This is sea water,” he said.

Marty spat out his water and said, “oh you don’t swallow it.  It’s just temporary till the plumbing’s done.”

“There should be a freshwater source around the island somewhere,” said Walden, “we’ll go find it later.”

“Hey, y’all look hungry,” said Marty as he walked towards a lever, “how would you like some of nature’s goodness.”

Gloria spat out her seawater and asked, “you have food?”

“Fun side special comin’ up,” said Marty as he pulled the lever and revealed the food, “seaweed on a stick.”

Alex spat out his seawater again.  “Seaweed?”

“On a stick,” corrected Marty, “don’t love it till ya try it.”

Everyone took their sticks with seaweed.  Alex, being a carnivore, was completely unsure.  Melman on the other hand, roasted his seaweed above the fire and took a bite.  After chewing, he found it delicious.  “That’s unbelievable,” he said.

Gloria also found it yummy.  “So good.”

Kimmy ate hers and enjoyed the taste.  “Mmm-mmm,” said Kimmy, “that was really good, just like the vegetables I usually eat.”

“Well thanks,” said Marty, “it does kind of hit the spot, doesn’t it.”

But Alex, unable to eat the seaweed, started coughing to get the taste of his mouth.  “Well, maybe it could use a little lemon,” said Marty.

But Alex, not wanting to offend Marty again, tried acting happy.  “No it’s great.  It’s really great,” he said as he and the others tossed their sticks into the fireplace, “it doesn’t get any better than this.”

“Oh but it does,” said Marty as he walked to his levers again, “check this out.”

He pulled another lever and this time, the leaf roof extended out, revealing the night sky.  Here, everyone saw millions of bright stars in the sky.  “Wow,” said Gloria, “would you look at that.”

“It’s like…billions and billions of helicopters,” said Alex.

“It’s amazing,” said Kyle quietly, “it’s like the Great Kings of the Past are once again watching over us.”

“Wow, those stars are beautiful,” said Wubbzy.

“They are.  You know…I used to do this a lot with my little sister whenever we went camping,” said Kimmy before turning sad, “…I miss her.”

“I know how you feel Kimmy,” said Cassidy, also feeling down, “I miss everyone else back home too: Grandma and Grandpa…Kendall…Elsa…”

“I hope we reunite with them soon,” said Daizy.

Speedy, seeing that his friends were once again feeling down, said, “I’m sure they miss you just as much.  But don’t fret dear friends.  We may be far from your loved ones…but I’m sure they’re safe together…as we are here.”

A shooting star flew across the sky.  “It’s a shooting star,” said Marty, “make a wish, quick.”

“Ooh, how about a thick, juicy steak,” suggested Alex.

“You know what Alex?  I promise you I’m gonna find you a steak tomorrow…if it kills me,” said Marty.

“Thanks Marty,” said Alex, happy to be with him again.

“Yeah don’t worry Alex,” said Kyle, “we’ll help you too, no matter how hard it takes.  And don’t worry about trying to get home.  We’re gonna get through this together, and we’re not gonna give up.”

“Thanks Kyle,” said Alex, “you know…you guys aren’t that bad, really.  You’re very helpful.”

“You bet we are Al,” said Donkey, “you bet we are.”

Melman yawned, feeling tired from the long day.  “It is getting late.  I guess I’m gonna…”

Melman instantly fell asleep as Gloria said, “I think I’m gonna hit the sack too.  Sweet dreams everyone.”

Everyone went to sleep, having went through a long day and ready to relax.  Despite being stranded, they were happy to be together again and take it nice and easy.  But to Alex slept, he saw the night sky above him, like when he was awake.  But instead of bright, beautiful stars, it was raining steaks.  The pieces of meat slowly descended to the ground.  Alex found himself in heaven.  His main source of food was falling from the sky.  He smiled as he waved his arms and legs around, like he was making a snow angel.  He caught one of the steaks in his paws and started licking it.  But as he did, he heard Marty’s voice echo.  “Alex.”

Alex suddenly woke up.  The steak dream was gone and he saw himself licking Marty’s skin.  Alex also saw Marty, Gloria, Melman and the squad looking at him with confused and slightly disturbed looks.  “What’re you doing,” asked Marty.

Unsure of how to answer, but quickly coming up with something, he retracted his tongue and started counting Marty’s stripes.  “Twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty,” he said, “hmm, thirty.  Thirty black and only twenty nine white.  Looks like your black with white stripes after all.  Dilemma solved, good night.”

Alex swiftly turned around and tried falling asleep.  He made some quiet snoring noises while everyone else looked at each other.  Why would Alex suddenly start licking Marty like that?  Unsure, but too tired to think it over, they too started falling asleep.  As they slept, they were unaware that they were being watched.  In a tree nearby, the lemurs observed the group snoozing away.  “You see Maurice,” said Julien, having observed the activity, “Mr. Alex was grooming his friend.  He is clearly a tender, loving thing.  How can you have the heebie jeebies with Mr. Alex.  Look at him.  He’s so cute…and plushy.”

“I don’t think he was grooming him Julien,” said a still cautious Maurice, “more like he was tastin’ him to me.”

“Suit yourself, no matter.  I don’t care,” said Julien, “soon we will put my excellent plan to action.  All we have to do…is wait until they are deep…in their sleep.”

The lemurs watched the group sleep.  It was all very quiet, with only the sound of crickets chirping filling the air.  After a couple seconds of waiting, Julien blurted out, “HOW LONG IS THIS GOING TO TAKE?”

This woke everyone sleeping in the shelter.  They turned around, but saw the tree and not the lemurs.  The lemurs had hid themselves in the tree, while Julien and Maurice hid their faces with green fans.  Confused, but seeing nothing, the group shrugged off the sound and went back to sleep.

Meanwhile, far, far south of the island, was Antarctica.  Here, the boat had its anchor on the ground, and the penguins were standing around, examining their surroundings.  But all they saw was nothing but a fierce blizzard.  Kowalski shook, getting a chill from the cold air.  Skipper tapped his feet around, expecting something big to happen.  Rico scratched his bottom while everyone else looked out into the cold continent.  Nothing huge happened and Private turned to his fellow penguins to express his thoughts on Antarctica.  “Well this sucks!”