It was night now.

The great ocean carried the wooden box in its currents for hours with the large cats inside. With little daylight in the gloomy skies came the black and blue of with shine of the moon. It was cold. Possibly freezing. There the cats were, curled in one another's arms as they shivered.

Ayana and Levi used to have an established routine. When either was upset, they'd often seek the other out. Their powerful arms were private shields, the one place where they were safe from everything. Ayana always quietly held Levi until he calmed down enough to speak-and this is what she did now, gently rubbing her friend's back and silently waited. Levi had once referred to Ayana as a crybaby in their childhood, but Ayana knew better. Alex was sensitive, like herself, and she knew that sometimes, he just needed to cry things out. So she let him.

Alex was half-asleep as he trembled in Ayana's arms, a half-asleep with a crinkle forming in the middle of his eyebrows.

The leopard had no difficulties with the lion leaning on her, even if she was a few feet shorter than him, she was strong.

She sighed, ears lowering down to her skull. Ayana continued to hold the lion close while trying desperately to keep them both warm.

It was surprising that they could be with each other for long and not argue, or separate to each corner for the box.

Alex's extroverted nature quite contrasted with Ayana's introverted nature. Sometimes Ayana thought their friendship with Alex was just an inconvenience, that she suddenly was put in the way of his life. Alex enjoyed being with people and performing for large crowds. The moment Ayana was put into the spotlight, she would back out. Their thoughts about life were nothing alike. Ironically, they were thinking about the same thing.

Neither of them could wrap their heads around the thought: their friends were gone. Abandoned, alone, and terrified. Ayana couldn't just give up. Not yet. Surely, Alex wouldn't count on her for motivation, right? Still, she would just keep pushing forward, and stay with him till the end of it. She began repeating the same words over and over to cheer them up.

"Hold on just a little while longer, everything will be alright."

Ayana sang these words quietly, only wanting Alex to hear them despite them being alone. The patch of words managed to soothe him, so she continued doing so.

"Everything will be alright..."

Suddenly, there was a lump. Then a jolt. The two felines jerked upright at the abrupt movement, perplexed. Then the crate veered and started to tumble, the captives within sprawling and yelping in surprise within the tight confines. Water splashed through the open roof, smudging them in a layer of saltwater. The tumbling picked up the pace and fast, rolling and rolling until ultimately coming to an exact, jarring stop. The two sprang out like fireworks, and they slammed into solid ground and skidded through a grainy surface.

They pulled themselves apart and stood to their feet unevenly. Ayana rubbed the crusty substance from her eyes as Alex coughed up a mouthful of it, brushing it from his tongue frantically.

Once her vision cleared, Ayana glanced at the new location. Large trees, vegetation, sand...

What?

Trees?! Vegetation?! Sand?!

Land! They're on land!

Ayana gasped.

Alex yelped as he too acknowledged where they were now. Towering palm trees reached for the skies, their ample leaves gently swirling in the salt-riddled draft. The sand of the beach burrowed their feet to their ankles and squished through their toes. Waves slammed onto shore in white foam and washed away just as quickly. Land. They had found land.

Ayana happily embraced her friend, who returned the hug but not as strong as she hoped. It didn't matter. Fresh, sweet-smelling air entered their lungs, and Ayana went limp with exhaustion.

"Marty?" Alex said thickly, sand-sprinkled tongue hanging out of his mouth and the other feline rose her head. "Melman? Gloria?" He retracted his tongue and continued to scan their current surroundings.

Both animals were exhausted and tired. But Alex had more energy in the tank, and he was gonna use it to find his friends. It was a long shot, but he had to try.

"Marty?! Melman?! Gloria?! Come on Ayana!" He began racing along the vein of sand as he called out their friends' names with Ayana following after. Even with some of her doubts, she had to make sure nothing happened to her friend.

"Marty! Melman! Gloria! Hey, anyone! Hello!"

-/-

After many hours, Alex finally calmed down from his rampage. The sun was high in the sky, blazing a bright, beautiful day on this tropical terrain. The lion still drifted around, head hanging on his neck tiredly as he still weakly called out their friends' names. Ayana slept under some thick bushes, too exhausted to keep up with Alex as he proceeded his spree.

"Marty, Melman, Gloria. Gloria, Melman, Marty. Marty, Gelman, Gloria. Marty, Melman." Alex mumbled, long arms almost dragging in the sand. Ayana curled up as she feebly watched him.

There's little hope that their friends' would be with them. It could be worthless. It could be the one-in-a-million gamble that actually might pay off. And it was a miracle they landed here.

Her eyes droop shut of their approval, ignoring again that she needs to be alert, needs to be safe, needs to be...

Alex glanced back to his feline friend, now dozing off. He wants that too, so badly, but no. He has to find his friends even if his arms have no energy to pick themselves up from its sagging motion. But during this point, he was talking nonsense.

"Morty, Morty, Gelman. Regis. Kelly. Matt, Katie, Al."

Then a voice chimed in his ear.

"Hey! Whoa! Hey! Help! Whoa! Get me out of this thing. Somebody. Hello? Get me out of this thing right now! Hello? Somebody?"

It was raising its voice in desperation.

The feline climbed a heap of boulders that were half stifled in brown sand and peered over the large rocks. Clumsily stumbling on the beach was a long, tall box- a crate to be exact- sprouting put two pairs of long legs, dazzled with brown spots. Melman's legs.

Melman.

Melman!

Alex ran over to Ayana, who lay curled like a house cat within the sand, dozing. She felt at peace, for the first time.

Alex called out relentlessly, possibly telling her to wake up. The leopard sighed irritably, tugging a leaf over her head like a pillow. Perhaps if she ignored him, he would go away.

Then Alex grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently. He received this: dark brown eyes piercing into his pupils, ready to stab him.

"What?!"

"I found Melman."

"...Go to sleep, Al."

Alex hoisted her up and awake as he began dragging her by the arm. "I'm serious! Look! look!"

So she looked. There, Ayana saw the giraffe's legs sprout from the bottom of the crate, struggling to keep balance.

Her mouth curved upwards.

"Melman!" Alex and Ayana cheered and sprinted for their recently found friend.

Melman stopped in his tracks.

"Alex? Ayana?" He ventured. He could barely believe it. "Is that you?"

"Melman, I got you. Hang on!" Alex ushered the entombed giraffe, circling Melman as he attempted to find balance. "Hang on. I got you. Melman!" Ayana reached her arms up to steady him, running back and forth and bumping into Alex a couple of times, but Melman wobbled so much she couldn't grasp him until he finally fell, right on top of Alex.

Ayana dug her paw into the spot where Alex immersed under the crate and yanked him out with one swift swipe, dropping him the moment he was free. Alex then zoomed to the top of the crate and ripped it open, revealing an unkempt but unharmed Melman, or more accurately his head.

"Ow…" Melman groaned as Alex removed the wooden panel by Melman's head.

"We got you, buddy," Alex said, the pair gripping Melman's head. To their tall friend's horror, the felines began to pull. Hard.

"Ow!" Melman exclaimed. "Ow ow ow ow –" He could feel his neck being torn apart, piece by piece. The crate on his sides felt like sandpaper.

Alex and Ayana dropped the giraffe's head in the sand and walked away. "Wait a sec, Melman," he said.

"Ow."

"Wait right there."

The lion's pawsteps retreated.

Ayana turned to face the giraffe, her eyes full of concern. "You okay, Mel?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Melman said. "Yeah, I'm stuck in a box in a place that I have no idea where, but all in all, I'm great. I'm fantastic. What about you?"

Ayana laughed for the first time in a while, nice and warm at his sarcasm. "I'm fine."

"Alex?" Melman began uncertainly. "What are you doing?"

"I'm gettin' you outta the box…Relax…"

Alex ran back and was holding what had to be the trunk of a tree that he tore straight out of the ground. He wielded the hunk of wood in his paws as if he were preparing himself to lance.

"Keep Melman steady, Yani!" Alex called out. "This might hurt!"

"Alex..." Melman began, weakly lifting his head from the sand and why Ayana had latched her paws to press the box down.

"Giraffe, corner pocket!" Alex yelled, carefully aiming the end of the tree at Melman's exposed underbelly. The lion charged with all his might.

"Wait!" His legs flailed wildly as he desperately attempted to persuade Alex to do something different."Wait!-"

"Here goes nothing!"

"Wait- No, c'mon! c'mon!" Melman continued to protest, albeit in vain. There had to be another way. Why couldn't Alex just smash the crate? Or pull him out by his legs? "Wait!"

Ayana restricted his movements to keep the giraffe's flailing from moving himself out of position. Not because Alex was literally about to pool table him, but he could be seriously injured if he didn't.

"Hold still-" Alex cautioned, beginning his charge.

"Wait, Alex!"

"Hold still. Hold still. Hold still."

"No, no, come on. Come on!"

"Here I come!"

Just then, a short, wide crate washed up on the beach. "Look, Look!" he yelled, diverting Alex and Ayana's attention with the first name that came to his mind. "It's Gloria!" Melman screamed. "It's GLORIA!"

Alex, finally, ended in his tracks to look behind him. Peacefully floating on a peaceful wave of blue water was a crate, much like Melman's, with Hippopotamus stamped in black font on its side. Gloria's crate.

"Oh, hey," Melman says, recognizing the crate. "it is Gloria. Oh..." Melman whimpered with a slump of his head as a reaction to seeing the tip of the trunk so close to him.

"Gloria! Gloria!" Alex cheered, dropping the wood on the sand.

Alex leaned down and playfully knocked with a rhythm on the plank of wood when he was suddenly airborne, sailing in a high arc with the side of the crate in his arms. Ayana dashed out of the way, preparing for Alex's impact. He flew down, right onto the imprisoned giraffe.

BAM!

Alex and Melman, we're splattered against sand, broken wood, their limbs knotted in a mess, and splitter.

Melman lifted his head from the wreckage and nearly fainted. It didn't help that Alex had shifted, causing a plank to hit Melman squarely in the chin and he accidentally retributed by hitting Alex between his legs.

Sea creatures clung to Gloria's body, resembling a human bikini. Seaweed had become tangled around her ears, and she flipped the "wig" casually over one shoulder. She glanced briefly at the lion and giraffe lying in the sand, a mess of fur and tangled limbs.

"Alrighty boys, fun's over," she announced. The crab and two starfish hopped to the sand and scuttled back to the sea.

"Gloria!" Suddenly, startling Gloria out of her skin. Ayana lifted her into a sudden hug.

"Ayana!" The hippo cheered.

"Gloria!" Alex exclaimed, running to meet their friend.

"Alex!" Gloria cried, embracing Alex in a hug.

"Whoa!" Another voice shouted. Another wave of relief swept through everyone. They knew that voice.

Marty.

"Marty?!" Gloria gasped.

"Marty!" Alex shouted.

Everyone turned to it and found that surfing on the stunning blue waves on the ocean, riding on the back of two dolphins was the black and white animal that was Marty. A smile broke out on Ayana's face.

"Yeah! All right! That's right! Whoo! Left! Left! Left. No, no, no, no, no, your left! Your left! Your left!" The Debra gave a bid woohoo as he directed the chamfer to the beach. "Right here's good." Marty told his aquatic escort. The dolphins squeaked again before tossing the zebra onto the sand. "I don't have anything on me. I'll have to get you later."

The dolphins chirped and whistled in goodbye, and promptly dove out of sight.

"Ah-eheheh! To you too." He called back before he shook drops of the ocean from his black-and-white pelt.

"Marty! Marty!" Alex ran to the zebra, grinning madly. He ran down the beach to greet him.

"Alex!" Marty dashed to him too.

It was like seeing a dramatic movie and the two best friends reunite and hug it out after a long journey. They would call each other names, smiling and running towards each other. The scene would slow down and sappy music would play in the background. Yeah. Those scenes are kind of cheesy.

"Marty!"

"Alex!"

"Marty!"

"Al!"

"Marty!"

Alex called out to the zebra again, this time his supposedly joyful cries stained with a growl. Confusion flashed across Marty's face.

"Alex?"

"Marty!"

The entire thing would've been heartwarming if Alex's grin didn't turn into a scowl, splitting through his canines. He was livid, and Marty did a full 180 when he realized this, now engulfed with terror.

"Oh, sugar, honey, ice tea-"

Marty screamed and ran away. "Hey! Hold up!"

"I'm going to kill you! You come here! Don't run away from me!" Alex screeched. The lion was now thirsting for blood, and Marty was the target. Ayana intervened, by chasing the lion down, back and forth, sliding through the sand before grabbing him.

"Calm down! Calm down!" Marty cried.

Alex ignored him and continued yelling. "If you keep running, I'm going to just kill you more!" Ayana pulled him away just as Gloria and Melman came in and concealed the whole lot into one big hug. The leopard got sandwiched between Alex and Gloria, her feet were lifted off the ground completely, clutching the panting lion who stared daggers at the zebra at his side.

"Oh, look at us!" Gloria exclaimed. "We're all here together. Safe and sound." Gloria sighed in relief as did Melman. It's as if she didn't just see Alex nearly try to murder Marty.

"Yeah, here we are." Melman sounded. At last, safely reunited with one another on dry land, and far from the jaws of death, Melman noticed their surroundings what seemed to be for the first time. "Where exactly is here?"

Five sets of hooves, paws, and hippo feet shuffled in the sand as the four friends turned to look from the ocean to whatever lay behind them. Palm trees extending towards the sky, their broad, energetic leaves crinkling slightly. The sky loomed over the new landscape in a close blinding blue, free of clouds. The air was warm. Humid. Tropical.

Marty, Ayana, Melman, Gloria, and Alex stood with their mouths agape, every single one of them positively speechless, for once.

Melman leaned forward, squinting into the gloom. He knew it. Fake trees, fake rocks, and prerecorded bird calls. Also, imported white sand. They were doing a great job, but it didn't fool the giraffe.

San Diego.

"San Diego."