Gloria has been in pursuit of Alex after he fled from the lemurs.

Alex keeps ranting in a weepy voice about how they have to leave the island. Thank goodness Gloria was the level-headed one, otherwise nobody would see Alex again.

The chase ended on the beach with the lion shoving many leaves out of the way as he dashed on the sand, his hands wave to his sides vigorously, desperately reaching for the water he avoided last night.

"Get me out of here!" He cried. "We gotta get out of here!"

"Help!" He screamed before taking a desperate attempt to get back to New York, diving into the ocean.

Gloria pulls him back by his tail. Hard.

"Alex. What are you doing?!" The female hippo asks him as the lion struggles in her hold.

"I'm swimming back to New York!" He yells as Marty and Ayana run out from the jungle, celebrating.

"Yeah, baby! We are in the wild," Marty cheers, throwing a coconut on the ground like a football.

"I know my chances are slim, but I have to try!" Alex continued, making swimming gestures.

"You can't swim!"

"I said my chances are slim!"

Melman dashes out of the jungle, he whirled around and around, trying to dislodge the small tangle of jungle encasing his head.

"Nature!" He shouted. 'It's all over me! GET IT OFF! I can't see! I can't see!"

Melman ran by and Gloria steps on a loose vine to yank off the rest. The giraffe had a smile immediately plastered on his face after a moment of surprise.

"I can see!" He gasped. Then everything came rushing back.

Melman wails, shoving his head into the ground like an ostrich.

During the whole charade of Gloria calming down the two other Zoosters, Marty and Ayana celebrate in the back.

The zebra pulled off a perfect pirouette with his leopard friend catching him by his sides and twirled him for a moment. Marty was set on the ground, and he grabs a pair of vine pom-poms so he could dance even more.

"Ok, look. There's obviously just been a little mistake." Gloria said. "I'm sure the people didn't dump us here on purpose...As soon as they realize what happened, they'll come looking for us, right?"

"Yeah! Right!" Melman agreed from beneath the sand.

"Smokey! I don't know the words But we're born free!" Marty sings, landing a split in the back with Ayana posed in a move like the Flashdance water pour scene, except without the chair and the water is all the way over to the beach.

The two zoosters, despite how their friends are acting before them, gave a happy fist bump to one another.

"Well, boys, it's gonna be ice-cold sushi for breakfast!" Skipper announced, causing his teammates and to high-one each other.

"Rico!"

The said penguin pops the top off a bottle of champagne.

Melman has dug himself a grave and written his last will and testament on the sand. Gloria, Ayana, and Alex stand on the sides of the dugout giraffe grave and listened to Melman's words.

"And so, as I have been left to die on this forsaken island, I, Melman Mankiewicz, being of sound mind and unsound body, have divided my possessions equally among the four of you."

A wave suddenly washes away one-fourth of the will.

"Oh, sorry, Alex."

"Hey! A latrine." Marty exclaims, fluttering on his hooves. "Nice work, Melman. Outdoor plumbing."

"No, it's not a latrine. It's a grave!" Alex says dejectedly, motioning his hands to the hold. "You sent Melman to his grave! Are you happy?"

Marty shook his head and turned around to face the other side of the beach. "Aw, come on. This isn't the end. This is a whole new beginning. This could be the best that's ever happened to us."

"No. No. No. No. No-No-No. No. No. No! This is not the best thing that's ever happened to us!" The lion trudged away as the giraffe in the grave jumps in while the other two animals looked between the two.

"Yeah! You abused the power of the birthday wish and brought this bad luck on all of us." All of their ears twitch at the sound of Alex ripping a tree out of the ground. "So why'd you tell your wish? You're not supposed to do that."

At Melman's words, Marty's and Ayana's faces scrunched up with confusion.

"Wait a minute. I didn't wanna tell you. Remember? You guys made me tell you."

"We did make him tell." Ayana conceded.

"Oh, OK," Melman told them sarcastically.

Alex dragged the ripped put tree through the sand, making a line before Marty, separating the zebra from the rest of the Zoosters.

"Besides, this isn't bad luck. This is good luck. Look around. There's no fences, no schedule. This place is beautiful. Baby, we were born..."

"OK. OK. I've had enough of this." Alex interjected, an annoyed expression etching on his face after he tossed the tree away. The huge feline pointed over the line where his "ex-friend" and the other animals were on. "This is your side of the island, and this is our side of the island."

"That is the bad side, where you can jump and prance like a magical pixie horse and do whatever the heck you wanna do all day long," Alex emphasized, skipping along the sand and making lazy hand and body movements.

"And this, this is the good side for those who love New York and care about going home."

"Come on." As Marty tried to step over the line, Alex made karate chops with his hands to block his hooves.

"No, no. Back! Back! Back! Back!"

"You know what? This isn't good." Gloria commented.

Ayana sighed at the other big cat's behavior. So, she walked to Marty.

At the sight of the leopard crossing the line, standing beside Marty, her wavery glare, hands planted firmly on hips- Alex immediately picked himself off the sand.

"Wow...didn't know 2 out of 5 of our friends were traitors." He said grimly.

"Okay!" Marty spoke up, trying to deflect the anger from Ayana. "You all have your side, and we'll have mine. And, if you need me, we'll be over here! On the FUN side of the island, havin' a good ol' time." Marty stated in a baggy tone as he pranced away with Ayana following him.

"That's not the fun side. THIS is the fun side! This is the fun side where we're gonna have a great time surviving until we go home!" Alex argued.

"A great ol' time! A GREAT ol' time. A yabba-dabba-doo ol' time!" Mart continued.

"Whoo! I love this side; this side's the best! That side STINKS! You're on the JERSEY side of this cesspool!"

"WILMA!"

"Trust me, Ally, we can take care of ourselves just fine," Ayana spat, not thinking about the consequences of her words or how fast they tumbled put her mouth.

"so you can be selfish all you want to when we get back home!" Those last few words, along with catching her small smirk made Alex's heart drop slightly.

"Well, now what do we do?"

"Don't worry Melman, I have a plan to get us rescued. Even if our friends don't appreciate it!"

That night, Alex worked on the finishing touches on the thing that would get him and his friends home.

The lion hammered in a nail with a rock, putting the finishing touches on his creation.

"Can't wait to see the look on Marty and Ayana's face when they see this," he smirked before noticing Marty and Ayana building something of their own. "Ooh. Just look at them. They're helpless without us."

Marty released a vine to reveal a leafy roof with stars attached to it. The zebra and leopard smirked, and Alex grimaced right before turning his attention to Spalding.

Spalding was nothing more than a basketball with a handprint and a smiley face on it, and the inside of it fill with grass.

"Shut up, Spalding!" Alex snapped.

After continuing to finish his work, Melman was still in his grave while he rubbed two planks of wood that were tied to hooves. Gradually, the task wore the giraffe down, resulting in him even rolling his neck in on himself.

Right in front of the shoreline of the beach, Gloria posed something similar to the statue of liberty, hand on her hip, flowers in the other. From the looks of the statue and how it's almost completed, she'd been doing this for a while.

"I've been standing here for hours, man. How long do I have to pose like this?"

"She is," Alex kisses his fingers. "Finito!"

Gloria turns around and her eyes widened to see a wooden and smaller version of the Statue of Liberty.

"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!" Alex declared dramatically, just so he could wipe it away with a smirk and strut. "What do you think? Pretty cool, huh?"

"How's the liberty fire going, Melman?" Alex asked.

"Great," Melman replied before saying in a hushed voice that he was an idiot.

"I heard that," Alex remarked.

Ayana glanced at the other zoosters and snorted a laugh- a real laugh, for the first time that day. She continued building the bar that Marty wanted for the place. "They know playing with fire is bad for those who burn themselves, right?"

"Oh? You got quips now?" Marty smiled ruefully as he gets supplies to make a door. "If Alex was over here, he would immediately laugh. He does that with all of your jokes."

Ayana hung a thick leaf that she painted to read Marty's Place over the wall of the bar since it was his idea in the first place. "Are you sure? I don't make that many."

"He thinks they're all funny."

"They're bad."

Marty shrugged. "Oh well, if you say so. C'mon, Yana we gotta get the furniture built."

"Alright, alright. But after we warm up near the fire I just created."

Then Marty paused his building, as she waited to set up the tiki torches from the use of a stick and a coconut.

"Why can't we borrow some of Ayana and Marty's fire?" The tall animal asked, prompting his head over to where the said animals stood underneath their rooftop made of thick leaves as they surrounded the fire to warm up.

Alex, once again, grimaced as he glanced at them. "That's wildfire. We're not using wildfire on Lady Liberty. Now rub Melman!"

"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 wood against each other in a possible last attempt to make fire.

Then he made a fire.

"Fire. Fire." Melman smiled, making the others do the same. Then, for the first time that afternoon, he got out of his grave before he began to dance. "Fire! Fire!"

During his celebration, he realized the wood which had the fire spreading on them was still tied to his hooves.

"Oh, my... Ah! Oh! Fire!" Melman screamed, running towards Lady Liberty.

"Not yet! No, no! No!" Alex yelled from the top.

"Fire!" The giraffe panicked as he accidentally spread the fire onto the wooden statue.

"No, no! No! Not yet!"

"Melman, hold still!" Gloria called out to the anxious and panicky giraffe. "Jump! Alex, jump! Don't worry, cats always land on their..." The said lion jumped off the burning statue and unlike what Gloria had said, Alex had planted himself in the sand by his face.

"Face? Man, what kind of cat are you?"

Melman put out the fire by shoving the wood into the sand, but the fire that fizzled down on Lady Liberty made the huge statue crumble to the ground. Alex, in sheer dismay, slumped down to his knees.

"You maniac! You burned it up! Darn, you! Darn you all to heck!" Alex screamed as he punched the ground in anguish.

Melman, though it was mainly his panicking that caused the fire in the first place, resting in a comfortable position. "Can we go to the fun side now?"

A soft voice spoke up, answering his question.

"You can if you want to."

Alex turned- scowling at the sight of Ayana. She was grinning, her stomach sprawled in the sand, and dancing her fingers on the line.

"...Well, well." Alex rasped, "The leopard returns. You gotta lot of nerve showing your traitorous face around here."

Ayana rolled her eyes. "Pretty sure I just didn't set that Liberty statue on fire." She points to the still sizzling wood of the tall structure and Alex remarks her comment with a sneer.

"At least it didn't leave its friends behind to go gallivanting with a pixie horse, creating rooftops with stars attached." Alex reminded, narrowing his eyes at his feline ex-friend though he felt them waver. "It's going to be the three of us that gets the five of us back home. Right, Melman? Right, Gloria?" He glanced back to see his giving him despondent looks.

The lion felt his smile curve downwards looking at their faces. Alex supposed that his friends wouldn't be happy staying on this side with the would-be chance to get back home.

...he should let them go to the fun side.

He then turns back to Ayana, who immediately recognizes his now despondent expression.

"Or maybe I'll try and get us back home. I'll stay here while you guys are over on the other side."

Confused, but yet excited, the two animals crossed over the line and walked over to Marty's bar on the other side.

Ayana was just about to join them, but it heat sort of did a tiny twirl when Alex let his friends go just so they could enjoy their night...even if he would still be miserable. He's not focused on himself like always-twisting his point of view.

It was...nice. Strange. But nice.

Also, it made Ayana's heart soar.

Meanwhile, the lemurs held a meeting in the old plane that crashed long ago, piercing through many branches of the Baobab Tree. The vehicle was torn into two sections, with the tail stuck higher up in the tree than the rest of the fuselage. All of the lemurs scurried through the branches into the vehicle to cause a ruckus amongst themselves while Maurice calmed them down.

"Everybody, calm down." The Aye-Aye demanded. "Come on. Into your chairs. Yes. Everybody please, calm down. Let go of his tail. Separate those two, would you, please? You over here, and you over there."

Maurice stomped a button repeatedly to brighten up the words above him: , which calms down the other lemurs.

"Everybody Shhh... Calm down, people, OK?" He drags out an exhausted groan before he composed himself to present the king. "Now, presenting your royal highness, the illustrious blah, blah, blah. You know, etc, etc. Hooray. Let's go."

King Julien turns around in the chair, holding a bone in his left hand.

"Now, everybody, we all have great curiosity about our guests, the New York Giants." The Ring-tailed Lemur noticed one of his subjects raising his hand so he points his bone to where the hand originated. "Yes, Willie?"

"I like them."

"I like them. I like them! I liked them first!" Mort interjected. "Before I even met them I liked them!"

"Yes, yes."

"When I saw them, I liked them right away! You hate them compared to how much I like them!"

"Oh, shut up, you're so annoying!"

Once the king screamed, the small Mouse lemur felt dejected. But in his weird way, the king was probably just messing around with him. Then a cute giggle escaped his mouth.

"Now, for as long as we can remember, we have been attacked and eaten by the dreaded fossa."

"The fossa! The fossa are attacking!" A lemur screamed in dismay, alerting all of the lemurs, causing them to holler out loud as well.

They all freaked out, one even leaping out of the window.

To make matters worse, a random lemur held up a cookbook that was titled, "To Serve Lemur". "It's a cookbook!" They screeched, pointing at the title. "It's a cookbook!"

"Alright! Please. Please. Maurice"

"Shh! Quiet! Come on, y'all. They're not attacking us this very instant."

The lemurs hushed themselves. Now King Julien could tell them what his idea was.

"So my genius plan is this: We will make the New York Giants our friends and keep them close. Then, with Mr. Alex and Ms. Ayana protecting us, we will be safe and never have to worry about the dreaded fossa ever again!"

King Julien got immediate positive feedback from his species and beamed as he took the credit. "I thought of that. I thought of that. Yes. Me. I did."

Then Maurice spoke up.

"Hold on, hold on, everybody. Hold on. I'm just thinking now. I mean, does anyone wonder why the fossa were so scared of Mr. Alex? I mean, maybe we should be scared too. What if Mr. Alex and Ms. Ayana are even worse than the fossa?" All of the lemurs gasped at his assumption. I'm telling you, those guys just gives me the heebiedabajeebies."

"Maurice, you did not raise your hand. Therefore, your heinous comment will be stricken from the record." Julien pointed to a chameleon who seemed to be using a type-write to record all of the comments. Right now, they used their tongue to "erase" the Aye-Aye's words. "Does anyone else have the heebiedibigibies? No? Good. So shut up."?"

Maurice narrowed his thick brows at his King's actions.

"When the New York giants wake up, we will make sure that they wake up in paradise." King Julien laughed warmly. "Now, who would like a cookie?"

The lemurs began to cheer wildly.

Back on the beach, after ages of helping him, Ayana finally finished the finishing touches on the sign. she and Alex used some of the trees on the island and fashioned them into the word, .

Slowly she walked to the shoreline, hoping once she reached the moping lion, he would be up to talk.

And as luck would have it, he was.

Alex sat alone near the waves, his back to her, with his head bowed down and hugging his knees.

After drawing a breath, Ayana quickly sat beside him and replied sincerely.

"Sorry."

Alex glances away from the beach.

"What do you mean?"

"I should have taken your advice; back in Grand Central Station."

"Like I said before: It's okay."

"What about Marty?"

"What about him?"

I think I was too harsh with that statement, I'm not even that mad any more, Alex thought with a remorseful glance after he just disdained one of his best friends.

When he turned back, the leopardess reclined against the fine sand, obviously lost in thought. He didn't feel like questioning her now.

The way her shoulder blades released tension, her tail lashing side to side with little to no restraint, and how the female leopard combed her paws through the sand as she did with the lion's mane.

It was a sweet and nice moment. Nothing could ever make him move from the shoreline now.

Then Marty showed up.

The zebra sighed as he stood on the Fun Side of the island. It didn't matter if his best friend wouldn't like it, he needed to talk to Alex.

"Yo, Al. Melman and Gloria are over there having a good time. There's room on the fun side for one more." Marty suggested.

Despite what he felt moments before, he frowned automatically. "No, thanks."

Marty was taken back from his answer but still tried to take his chances with the gloomy lion.

"Look, I've been thinking. Maybe if you gave this place a chance, I don't know, you might even enjoy yourself. Pretty sure Ayana doesn't want you to bummed out either."

"Marty, I'm tired. I'm hungry. I just want to go home." Alex peered back to the sprawled leopardess and saw her sleeping lightly before looking at his other best friend with a sigh. "She wouldn't do great around me right now."