Duke's Wild Adventure Transcript Part 1

This is the script of Duke's Wild Adventure.

Chapter 1: A New Arrival
(Open, black screen)

(Cue castle screen)

(Fade to black)

(Cue title “Duke’s Wild Adventure” with plain white letters)

(We have a bug’s eye view of a lion cub named Simba walking past the Bronx Zoo.  Suddenly, he gets picked up by two hands from a zookeeper named Griffin Keyes.)

GRIFFIN KEYES: You look like you could use a place to stay. Maybe you could belong here. (takes him into the zoo.)

(Camera switches to the zoo’s nursery, where Stanley the tiger cub, Joanna the kangaroo joey, Bongo the bear cub, Thomas the giraffe calf, Skeeter the baby snake, Baby Jambo the elephant calf, Sammy the seal pup, Dot the zebra foal, Godfry the hippo calf, Penny the ostrich chick, Cub the snow leopard cub, Carlos the alligator baby, Jaana the jaguar cub, Keisha the wombat joey, Princess Claudia the leopard cub, Shi Shou the panda cub, Glen the baby tortoise, T-Bone the Tasmanian devil joey, and Platter the baby platypus having lunch together.  Griffin enters with Simba and gently puts the cub down and nudges him forward.)

GRIFFIN KEYES: Why don’t you check out the other zoo children? I better talk to my assistant, Bernie. Get social.

SIMBA: Hi, everybody. (looks at a medal around his neck labeled “My name is Simba”, and reads it upside-down before turning it right-side-up.) “My name… is… Simba.”  Hey, how did they do that?

PENNY: I’m Penny. Enchanted and delighted to make your acquaintance, Simba. (chuckles) Pardon my wingspan, won’t you please.

SIMBA: (clears throat) OK.

STANLEY: My name’s Stanley.

CUB: I’m Cub.

JAANA: They call me Jaana.

PRINCESS CLAUDIA: Name’s Claudia.

BONGO: I’m Bongo.

SAMMY: My name’s Samantha. You can call me Sammy. (picks up a fish with her flippers and offers it to Simba.) You want a fish or do you want a fish?

SIMBA: (sniffs it deeply, getting the fish stuck in one of his nostrils) Is it good?

SAMMY: Is it good? (Simba quickly takes the fish out of his nostril and sheepishly smiles as he hides it behind his back.) Words fail me. How many food qualities did we have so far today, guys?

SHI SHOU: 13 stalks of bamboo, 91 fish, 78 clumps of grass, 13 leaves, a fat rat, 26 steaks, and a bowl of lettuce.

BONGO: Take it on faith, Simba; you want a fish bad, right?

JOANNA: Hi, my name’s Joanna.

THOMAS: I’m Thomas.

SKEETER: I’m Skeeter.

BABY JAMBO: Name’s Jambo.

DOT: The name is Dot.

GODFRY: My name is Godfry.

KEISHA: I’m Keisha.

SHI SHOU: My name is Shi Shou.

GLEN: And I’m Glen. (He gestures to Carlos, T-Bone, and then Platter.) And these are Carlos, T-Bone, and Platter.

SAMMY: Simba should have butter on his fish. (spreads butter all over the fish.)

JAANA: And don't forget the sauerkraut. I was amazed by the sauerkraut.

THOMAS: She sprouted a spot. (laughs)

JAANA: (purrs aggressively at Thomas; then smiles at Simba, laughing) I did! I sprouted a spot. I was so embarrassed. (she circles around Simba, waving her tail under his chin.) Simba, I feel such a fool, but I say you’re a rather rough and handsome fellow. Forgive my spots. It’s just the way I am.

SIMBA: (sits down next to Sammy, and sniffs the fish with delight.) Smells good. (Sammy offers him the fish and he takes a bite.) Hey…  That’s what I call… (he roars, causing the nursery to shake) LUNCH!!!!

(The animal children laugh.)

DOT: Lunch? That’s what your species always call mine.

SIMBA: Hey, I’m sorry about the way I acted. I was a wild animal.

PRINCESS CLAUDIA: We all have regrets, Simba.

BABY JAMBO: Tell me about it; the things I’ve stepped on. (lifts up his front foot to reveal a mouse squished underneath before putting the foot back down and grinning sheepishly.)

JOANNA: Let’s face it; we’ve gone lazy.

Chapter 2: Duke Waylays Simba
(Days pass, and we dissolve to Simba and his friends playing cards in the nursery.)

JAANA: Joanna, got any 6’s?

JOANNA: No 6’s, Jaana. Go fish.

(Suddenly, a bell rings, causing the children to stop playing.)

SIMBA: (gasps) The game.

(All over the zoo, the animals prick up their ears toward the bell, which seems to be coming from the penguin exhibit.  The animals stampede toward there.  In the nursery, the animal children run to find their parents.  Simba is last, and as he runs, a large kangaroo foot comes out of nowhere and pins his tail down, but Simba is still running in place.)

DUKE: Well, Simba, the newcomer. What’s the rush?

SIMBA: I’m trying to join the other lions in the turtle curling game. Oh, hello, Duke, Eze.

DUKE: (steps beside Simba and hops in place) How was today’s story from your uncle Sammy?

SIMBA: Today’s story was awesome, until he got to the end.

DUKE: Really?

(Camera pans behind Simba to see that now Eze, a teenage hippopotamus, is pinning Simba’s tail down.)

SIMBA: Yeah, I tried to roar.

DUKE: You did?!

SIMBA: Uh-huh, and it came out as a squeaky growl.

DUKE: Oh, you poor, poor cub! You must be a nervous wreck. (stops Simba running with his foot) That’s it! You are a nervous wreck! (puts on spectacles almost as if he’s a doctor; then clears throat.) We must diagnose this case at once. Quick doctor, your notebook.

EZE: (pulls out a notebook and pencil with his hooves) Check, doctor.

(Duke pulls out a dull hammer and taps it on Simba’s paw to test his reflexes.)

DUKE: Bless my soul. Mm-hmm. (pulls out a large pocketwatch) My, my, my. Just as I thought; a slight touch of monetary complications with bucolic semilunar contraptions of the flying trapezes.

EZE: (listens, and then frantically scribbles on the notebook almost as if to check it off) Got it, doctor.

DUKE: (opens Simba’s mouth, pulls out his tongue, and puts the spectacles on it) Say “flamingo”.

SIMBA: (talking through his tongue) Thla-me-go.

DUKE: I knew it! Compound transmission of the pandemonium with percussion and spasmodic frantic disintegration.

EZE: (scribbles on the notebook) Check.

DUKE: Close your eyes. (Simba closes his eyes.) Whaddaya see?

SIMBA: Nothing.

DUKE: (pulls out a leopard-coated purse in Simba’s face) Open up. (Simba opens his eyes.) Now whaddaya see?

SIMBA: Leopard spots.

DUKE: Ha-hah! Now, the heart. (picks up Simba and puts his ear to the cub’s chest.  He hears pounding, but the camera pans down to reveal that it’s actually Duke stomping his foot and tail against the ground.) Oh, my goodness! A palpating syncopation of the killer diller, with a wicky-wacky stamping of the cub-rub.

EZE: (scribbles on the notebook again) Check.

DUKE: (slaps Eze on the head with his tail and pulls the notebook from him) Quick doctor, the report. (He examines it, but it turns out to be some sort of scribbled ball.)  This makes it perfectly clear. (pulls off the spectacles with his tail) Simba, you are allergic.

SIMBA: (confused) Allergic?

DUKE: An’ there’s only one cure.

EZE: Gazelle tag.

SIMBA: Gazelle tag?

DUKE: (hops away from Simba with Eze trotting behind him) It’s an exciting activity for big cats, an’ brings out the beast in ya!

SIMBA: (walks in the opposite direction) But I can’t go. I— (gets cut off when Duke jumps on his tail and Eze runs in front of him with a mallet in his mouth, threatening to pound Simba unconscious.)

DUKE: Why of course you can go. I’m givin’ you my ticket. (He holds up a paw, waves it, and a card magically pops out of mid-air.  Duke gives it to Simba, who takes it in his mouth.)  Here.

SIMBA: (talking through his teeth) Thanks. (attempts to give the card back) But I’m—

DUKE: (stops him) No, really, I insist. Your health comes first. (picks up Simba with his tail and places him on Eze’s back.  The hippo puts down the mallet.)  Now come, the fun begins during the penguin game.

Chapter 3: Turtle Curling
(Cut to the penguin enclosure, where the entire zoo is gathered.  A flamingo named Fergus is passing fish heads to the crowd.)

FERGUS: Fish heads! Get your ice cold fish heads! (throws one on the horn of a rhino named Reggie.)

STORKYO: Ooh, Skipper’s gonna be hard to beat.

SAMSON: What, tough to beat?! That’s just the way we like it, right guys?

NIGEL: If we lose, I’m gonna rip my head off! (Skipper the penguin skates by.) And yours!

BRIDGET: We cannot lose to flightless birds.

SAMSON: No one is losing anything around here, as long as we stay focused. By the way, where are the animal children?

(Cut to Dot’s mother, Zelda, braying.)

ZELDA: Dot! Dot!

(Dot rushes up.)

DOT: Mom! Mom!

ZELDA: (sees Dot and nuzzles her) Oh, thank heavens.

SAMSON: Where’s Simba?

JOANNA: Last time I saw him, we were playing cards in the nursery.

FALOO: Of course! Hop in, Joey. (Joanna hops in her pouch.) There’s no time to lose. (hops off)

SAMSON: Next year, I should just coach.

Chapter 4: Gazelle Stampede
(Cut to a tree, where first Eze, and then Duke, pop from behind.)

EZE: Check it, the Thomson gazelle.

(Cut to the Thomson gazelle herd sleeping behind a nearby log and a bush; then back to the tree with Eze and Duke.  Simba nervously crawls out from behind.)

DUKE: 0 to 50 in 4.5 seconds, the ultimate fleeing machine.

EZE: There is no substitute.

DUKE: Let’s get a closer look at these slim Jims.

(Duke and Eze walk toward the log behind the bush.)

EZE: Shall we?

DUKE: I think we shall.

SIMBA: (follows and stops beside them) Maybe we should just go to the game.

EZE: I thought you wanted to be wild, dude.

DUKE: I bet Uncle Sam chased gazelles.

EZE: Yeah, if he were our age, he would so be rocking out with us.

DUKE: Yeah, he’d already be in there, runnin’ ‘em down like they were, they were…

EZE: Gazelles.

DUKE: Yeah, gazelles er somethin’. (crawls on the log with Eze) Ready, man?

SIMBA: (jumps in front of them) Better not.

DUKE: Oh yeah? An’ you’re gonna stop us? (He and Eze start to stalk closer to the gazelles.)

SIMBA: Guys, guys!

EZE: Here we go.

(Faloo comes bounding on a nearby hill with Joanna still in her pouch.)

FALOO: Simba!

JOANNA: Hey, Simba!

FALOO: Now, where do you suppose that cub— (She suddenly sees Duke and Eze stalking the gazelles with Simba trying to stop them in the distance.) Huh?! Simba! (She leaps closer) Wait, Duke! Stop!

(One of the gazelles lifts up its head in alarm.)

EZE: Ssh, quiet!

DUKE: On three, dude. One, two…

SIMBA: (sees something behind him) NO!! (He leaps in front of Eze and Duke and produces a medium-pitched yowl, which unfortunately wakes up all the gazelles.  Duke and Eze start to laugh at Simba’s roar, but unfortunately, are cut off at a rumbling sound behind Simba.)

DUKE: Uh-oh.

EZE: Now you did it, Simba.

(Simba looks behind him and sees the gazelles stampeding in a circle.  Duke and Eze charge after the gazelles, but Simba runs straight to Faloo and Joanna.)

SIMBA: Faloo! Where did you come from?

FALOO: I came as soon as my Joey told me you were missing. Hop on, let’s go to the game!

(Simba climbs on Faloo’s back, and soon she starts jumping back to the game, with the gazelles, and Eze and Duke right behind them.)

SIMBA: Faloo, I think the gazelles are right behind us.

FALOO: You’re right, Sim. Let’s go super-velocity! (Hops faster)

(Cut back to the penguin enclosure and Samson waving his paws in victory.)

SAMSON: YES!!!

STORKYO: Unbelievable! Samson and his team have clenched the title!

(The penguins are booing, and all of a sudden, the ground starts to shake, and the turtles start moving away from the bull’s-eye.)

STORKYO: No wait, a moment too soon.

SAMSON: What the heck?

STORKYO: The penguins have done it; they’re zoo champs for the first time!

(Cut to the gazelles stampeding towards the game.)

SAMSON: Stampede? STAMPEDE!!!!!

(The penguins start to cower.  We cut back to Simba, who has dismounted Faloo, running in front of the penguin enclosure, trying to stop the gazelles from crashing the game.)

SIMBA: Please, STOP!!!!

(The gazelles don’t listen and nearly trample Simba, charging into the penguin exhibit, sliding on the ice and bumping into everything in their path.  Simba jumps onto the ice as well and slides straight towards the Bullseye, where he is stopped by Samson.  Simba looks up and grins sheepishly.)

DUKE: Dude, busted.

EZE: Catastrophic.

(Samson has an angry look on his face.  Simba is hanging his head in shame.)

SIMBA: Sorry I was a little late for the game, Uncle Sam. (chuckles)

SAMSON: (calmly) You think this is funny? (then breaks into shouting) You just endangered ev’ryone in the zoo!

SIMBA: I’m sorry.

SAMSON: For what, chasing the gazelles or costing us the game? All you do is play with the other young ones. I mean, what is it? What’s the problem, is all this because you wanted to get to know them better? (gasps, and then Simba glares both angrily and sadly at him.  Sam tries to apologize.) Simba, I didn’t mean—

SIMBA: You know what I’m doing when I’m hanging with the other animal children? I’m thinking how great it would be if I was back in the wild.

SAMSON: Huh? Simba—

SIMBA: It would’ve made being Simba the lone cub a whole lot easier. (runs away)

SAMSON: Simba, I’m sorry. Simba, please don’t— (but Simba has already disappeared) …leave.

RYAN: (pops up) Bye Simba. Thanks fer coming to the game. (to Samson) And Dad, you were worried he wouldn’t show up.

Chapter 5: Kangaroo on the Chain... Almost
(Duke, who had been observing all this, nervously backs away, only to bump into his father, Red, who has an angry look on his face and his forearms folded across his chest.  Duke grins and laughs nervously.)

RED: (shouting) Duke, here we are, chasing after you when we should be rooting for Samson during the game! I thought I told you to stay with the troop!

(Duke’s sad face turns to a small glare as Red’s harsh words sting him.  Red, however, unwilling to tolerate such behavior, only glares back.)

RED: Don’t give me that look. This time, you’ve gone too far, and you’ve left me no choice!

(Cut to a jail room at the entrance of the zoo.  Red enters with his tail wrapped around Duke’s.)

RED: Some animals just have to learn the hard way. (Duke’s eyes widen in fear at the sight of the big metal chain to the wall.)  Maybe this should teach you a lesson. (Red chains a crying Duke by the tail with the walled chain.)  Whether you like it or not, son, you are a part of the zoo. Until you start acting like it, you can just get used to being in here every night. (hops out of the room and kicks the door shut behind him.  Once outside, he is confronted by Samson and Faloo.)

SAMSON: Red, I don’t think yelling solves the problem to teach your boy the right things or to show that you love him.

RED: (a little softer) And how would you know, Sam-ski?

SAMSON: I know because I yelled at my nephew Simba when I chastised him for the gazelle stampede before he ran away and I heard that your son was the one responsible for Simba’s delay. If you always react with anger, that’s all your children will know, and that’s all they’ll be able to express to others.

RED: My two youngest children, Joanna and Toby, are all right. It’s just my oldest, Duke, who has to learn to live by the rules of the zoo. Firm discipline molds a joey into a kangaroo.

FALOO: You turned out pretty good.

RED: Yeah, Faloo, but I found you, and if it weren’t for you, I’d have wound up in McLeach’s compound again. I’m just trying to protect him. He’ll understand someday.

SAMSON: Maybe he’ll understand tomorrow. Now, let’s go back inside the zoo and get some sleep. We’ve got a big day tomorrow, and remember the code; we don’t ever talk to humans. (exits with Red and Faloo right behind him.)

(Inside the chain room after 30 minutes, Duke wakes up and decides he has had enough of the zoo.  He pulls on the chain until he breaks free.  Then he uses his tail to pick the lock on the door until it creaks open.  He hops out and gently closes the door behind him.  Then he hops away for a few hundred yards and gives a leap and shout for joy.)

DUKE: Wa-hoo! So long, you zoo roos! You can’t tell me what to do anymore, ‘cause I’m a wild roo! (turns around and starts hopping away.) Look out, world! Here I come!

(We dissolve to the kangaroos, koalas, and wombats in their exhibit sleeping when morning comes.  Joanna, in Faloo’s pouch, is the first to stir and yawn.)

JOANNA: It sure is quiet without Duke around.

FALOO: (waking up after her youngest daughter) That’s right, Jo, peaceful as a lizard’s breakfast.

RED: (also waking up) Peaceful? Get real. It’s boring. Well, I mean… y’know, until Duke learns to behave; he’s not in the exhibit to kick around anymore.

NIGEL: You got that right, Red, and that young roo’s been locked up for as long as I can remember.

DOTTIE: Then maybe tonight we should check on him, right?

FALOO: Well, I’ll do it. My husband will just get in the way with his temper.

Chapter 6: Wild Roo
(We dissolve to Duke hopping in the grassy savannah.  He comes upon a herd of zebras.)

DUKE: Hey there.

KHUMBA: Hi. I don’t even know if I’m allowed to talk to outsiders.

DUKE: I eat plants, like you guys, and I wanna stay with you guys.

KHUMBA: You could live with my herd for a while.

(A few minutes later, a zebra named Nigel is grazing on grass, when he sees Khumba with Duke.)

NIGEL: Intruder. Intruder!

(Cut to the zebras confronting Khumba and Duke.)

THABO: (to Duke) What are you doing here?

KHUMBA: I thought it would be OK for him to join us.

CARLA: Why are you here?

DUKE: I’m trying to find a place to live.

THABO: This is the zebra lands.

DUKE: All right. (hops away) Who’d wanna hang out with a herd of grumpy zebras anyway?

(We dissolve to Duke hopping through the forest at night.  He stops, looks left, then right, and left again, and starts to hang his head in despair.  Suddenly, he hears snarling and barking and squeaking noises.  He looks up and sees the shadows of a fight between a wolf and three rats.  Duke moves a little closer as two of the three rats run out from behind a rock.  Duke hops at a river and sees the wolf drinking from it.  He swims across kicking one leg in and the other out and so on until he makes it to the other side, where he joins the wolf.  Then he dunks his head in the water with slurping noises, and comes out with a string of pondweed on his nose.)

DUKE: Pretty good pickin’s, huh?

ALEU: I can see you know your way across a river.

DUKE: It’s that obvious?

ALEU: Couldn’t miss it if I tried.

(Duke, now realizing he has the pondweed string still on his nose, shakes it off as Aleu lifts up his left back foot to reveal the words “BRONX ZOO” on it.)

ALEU: This must be your diploma from the school of hard knocks.

DUKE: Yeah. I, uh, just graduated.

ALEU: (walks in front of a mountain) Then you must know this move. Any wild wolf would.

(Aleu races toward the mountain, jumps on a rock, then another, and onto a pine tree, and finally, on a blackberry sapling, knocking it over.)

DUKE: (amazed) Wow, slick move! I mean, that’s kid stuff.

ALEU: Yeah, right.

(Duke hops toward the mountain to copy her moves, but his seem to be a little wrong.  He slips on the first rock, almost falling off, bumps into the second one, and when he jumps on a skinny branch on the pine, it breaks under his weight and falls on top of him, pinning him to the ground.)

ALEU: (laughing, walks over to Duke and kicks the branch off him, revealing the teenage kangaroo covered with pine leaves and pinecones) You got your own style, don’t you, Bigfoot? (Duke shakes the leaves and cones off him and coughs.) Listen, you don’t belong in the wild. You won’t last 10 seconds out here.

(Aleu runs over to a low-hanging fir branch and then onto another fir tree before bouncing off it.  Duke, amused, attempts to imitate her by bouncing off a fir tree before breaking the low-hanging branch with his weight.  Then he hops off after Aleu.)

Chapter 7: Duke Meets Niju/"Wild Society Rag"
(We dissolve to the inside of the now empty jail room outside the Bronx Zoo.  Faloo enters, at first not knowing Duke had run away.)

FALOO: Duke, I— (then she gasps in horror as she sees the empty chain) Duke?! Oh no! (She sees footprints leading from the jail room to the city.) Red!

(Faloo races back into the zoo as we dissolve to Duke following Aleu to a cave.  He enters and sees a pack of wolves howling and playing as morning comes.  Duke is amazed; then surprised by their behavior.)

DUKE: They’re jumping on the logs… and playing in the rocks.

(We see Aleu kicking some rocks against a mountain.)

DUKE: And… and breaking stuff! If only there was food to chew on. (notices two wolves savagely playing tug-of-war with a bone, snarling and growling viciously) Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Goodbye chains, hello freedom!

(Two wolves are jumping up and down on a rock, watching the wolves with the bone.)

SCAR SNOUT: Go Niju!

SCRAWNY: That away, Niju! Bust his butt off, Niju!

(Niju instantly throws King away, and then turns to Scar Snout, Princess, and Scrawny, chuckling.  He puts the bone down between them.)

NIJU: So, any of you other low-life mongrels think you’re wolf enough to take Niju on.

(The three wolves charge Niju, who takes the bone out of their way.)

SCAR SNOUT: Don’t be afraid! Have no fear, have no fear!

(Then Princess, Scar Snout, and Scrawny form a wolf pile on each other, laughing.)

NIJU: (climbs to the top of the mountain) That’s right, boys. Niju’s pack of wild wolves rule this part of the forest, and Niju rules these wild wolves! (chuckles as his pack howl together; he turns to Aleu, sitting on a lower ledge beneath him) Hey Aleu, talk to me. Who’s the king of this part of the forest?

ALEU: (voice dripping with sarcasm) Oh, you are, Niju. It’s quite a kingdom you’ve got here.

NIJU: (chuckles) That’s my girl.

ALEU: (angered, to Niju as he turns away) I’m not your girl! (under her breath) I don’t belong to anyone.

(Niju howls at his pack of wolves, and they howl back.  Duke, excited, bounds in to join in.  He howls along with them, but then they stop howling and stare at him intently.  Niju, upon realizing that none of his pack are howling, looks down and sees them staring at the kangaroo continuing to howl.  He jumps down from the mountain to notice him.  Aleu notices Duke as well, and follows Niju.  When Duke stops howling, he sees the wolves still staring at him and clears his throat.)

KING: Hey, look here, you guys. I say we got a new recruit.

SCRAWNY: Ho-ho, a kangaroo!

SCAR SNOUT: Hey, you’re fresh from Australia!

DUKE: Yeah. (chuckles; then sees Princess sniffing him) Hey, hey, hey, watch it!

PRINCESS: (dramatically and quietly) Oh be still my heart. I’m getting a bad case of kangaroo love. (puts her front leg around Duke)

NIJU: (finally reaches his pack and Duke) Hey, hey, Princess. (to Duke, quite sternly) I’m the alpha wolf around here, and nobody joins my clan unless I say so. So, what’s your name, sport?

DUKE: Name’s Duke.

NIJU: (chuckles; then circles around the kangaroo) Well, howdy, Dukeroo. (he sits down in front of him) So, you saw us having some fun and thought you’d join right in, huh?

DUKE: Yeah, sure.

NIJU: Hey, I hate to break the news to you, champ, but not many zoo kangaroos get to run in this pack.

DUKE: I’m not a zoo kangaroo.

NIJU: Oh you’re not? (lifts up Duke’s hind foot with the words “Bronx Zoo” still on it.) Then how come you got those words “B-R-O-N-X, Bronx, and Z-O-O, zoo”, on your foot?

KING: Hey, zoo-ster.

PRINCESS: How’s life in a cage?

DUKE: (feels offended as the other wolves laugh at him) No way! I’ve had it with the zoo animal life. Nothing there but rules, rules, rules. I wanna be wild and free, like you guys.

NIJU: I don’t know, kid. Your average zoo kangaroo doesn’t have what it takes.

SCAR SNOUT: Tell him what it takes, Niju. Tell him what it takes.

NIJU: (starts to break into song, singing) In wild society

We’re repelled by all propriety

Humility and modesty

Good manners and sobriety

(Niju catapults a deer haunch to Duke, but Scrawny catches it first, and gobbles it up.)

NIJU: We always gulp our meat

(Niju walks past a wolf scratching itself and losing some of its fur.)

NIJU: Our coats are never neat

Alas, we lack all poise

We’re full of natural noise

(Three wolves chew on three haunches and belch loudly.)

NIJU: No pets you stroke and pat

You might as well be a cat

(Niju pounces in front of Duke, causing him to jump back in surprise.)

NIJU: In wild society

NIJU’S PACK: Society

(Niju walks in front of Duke and forces him on a log on a rock acting like a seesaw, where Aleu jumps on one end, sending Duke sliding down the mountain and then bouncing on a rock and finally landing on his back.)

NIJU: We are the mutual unelite

An underclass from our head to feet

(Niju hops on a rock and rolls it with his four feet before hopping off.)

NIJU: Our deeds are spiteful, our mischief pure

(Duke hops on the rolling rock and it bumps into a smaller rock, causing it to catapult Duke off and land on his stomach.)

NIJU: We have a natural disorder, for which there's no cure

(Niju’s pack and Aleu walk past Duke, and he follows them, right behind Scrawny.)

NIJU: Down to the wild

Straight to the wi-i-i-ild

Step to the wild

Society rag

(Walking on a log bridge, Duke breaks it under his weight, causing him and Scrawny to fall into a bed of flowers.  When they emerge, Duke is holding a bone in his front paws.)

SCRAWNY: That’s where you’re nobody’s flowered pet

(Duke continues following them, even when they jump across a puddle.)

KING: Where you can wet where you want to wet

(Duke stops in front of Princess, who takes the bone from Duke’s paws and throws it away.)

PRINCESS: Where you put charity on the shelf

(On the mountain next to a waterfall, Niju catches the bone in his teeth, and looks at his reflection, but while Niju isn’t looking, Aleu takes the bone from him.)

NIJU: The only one that you’ll look out for is you yourself

(Then the wolf pack hops over a tree branch moving with the blowing wind.)

NIJU’S PACK: Down in the wild

Check out the wi-i-i-ild

Doing the wild

Society rag

(Duke attempts to hop over the branch as well, but it hits him in the guts and sends him rolling onto a moose carcass.  King steps in and tears off a haunch with his teeth, shaking it roughly.)

KING: No distempered shots from the vet

(Princess grabs the haunch and she and King tear the haunch to shreds, spraying meat all over Duke and on Princess’s head like a wig.)

PRINCESS: Show your temper

KING: Mean as you can get

(Then the wolves are on a giant boulder.)

NIJU’S PACK: Down in the woods where we live and let

SCRAWNY: Chaos and trouble

Oh, we do it double

(The boulder rolls past Duke and crashes into a motionless boulder.)

NIJU: None of this play-it-safe zoo guy stuff

Our days are risky, our nights are rough

The peaceful life leaves us ill at ease

We’re crude and loud in a crowd and very proud of our fleas

SCAR SNOUT: (speaking) I love this guy!

NIJU’S PACK: (singing) Down… in… the… wild

Check out the wi-i-i-ild

Step to the wild

Straight to the wild

Doing the wild

KING: (to Duke; speaking) Sing it, boy!

NIJU’S PACK: (singing) Society rag

(The song ends; and Duke is lightly breathless.)

DUKE: What a blast! I’d never get away with this at home!

NIJU: (approaches Duke) So, you really think you got what it takes to be a wild wolf, huh?

ALEU: (approaches the two) Oh, he’s got what it takes, Niju. I saw all his moves back at that river.

NIJU: Huh?

DUKE: Yeah, yeah! What this slick move! (he hops onto a rock and then onto a pine tree, breaking it under his weight and falling down and landing on his belly, as Niju’s pack laughs at the clumsy teenager kangaroo.)

NIJU: Talented as you are, it’s not that easy, sport.

(Duke gives out an embarrassed chuckle.  Niju kicks a boulder right past King, and Aleu hops on it and rolls it with her feet.)

ALEU: Every day out here is like a test of survival.

NIJU: (amazed) A test! Beautiful!

DUKE: Yeah, yeah, good!

NIJU: Baby, I always get my best ideas when you’re around. (Aleu glares at him, but he doesn’t care.) That’s why you’re my girl.

ALEU: I’m not your girl.

NIJU: (not listening to Aleu, turns to Duke.) OK, Dukers. We’ll give you a shot. But you need to pass a little test of courage… (evilly) with a mountain lion.

(Niju’s pack is surprised.)

SCAR SNOUT: What?! With a mountain lion?!

SCRAWNY: But it’s never been done before.

(Aleu gasps in surprise as well.)

NIJU: Come here, don’t listen to them. I have faith in you, kid. It’s just a little test to prove you can stand on your own four paws.

DUKE: Easy. I’m not afraid of anything.

NIJU: That’s what I like about you, kid. You’ve got spunk. (He, his pack, Duke, and Aleu exit.)

Chapter 20: Happy Endings For All
(We dissolve to Duke, Red, the animal children, and Aleu returning to the Bronx Zoo.  They stop at the entrance.)

DUKE: Well, I guess you know best, Aleu. I’m gonna miss you.

ALEU: I don’t know what to say. I only wish I could stay with you.

DUKE: Maybe… just a… short sweet goodbye would be easiest.

ALEU: I’ll never forget you, Duke. (Duke hugs and licks her.  Then he releases her and she walks away.) Goodbye.

DUKE: So long, my friend.

RED: How do you like that; a kangaroo in love with a wolf?

JAANA: I tell you, Red; it’s against the laws of nature.

DUKE: I don’t need her anymore. I’ve got you guys, and my dad. (He hugs Red.)  Come on, move your legs, guys! Last one in the zoo sleeps in a house.

(The animals race inside the zoo, making animal noises.  Cut back to the kangaroo, koala, and wombat exhibit.)

FALOO: What’s all the commotion? (notices Duke, Red, and Joanna leaping in.)  Duke?

HOPSTER: Yeah, Duke’s home!

DOTTIE: He’s back!

JOSEPH: Ha-ha, Duke, cuz! (Duke hugs him.)

FALOO: (to Red, hugging him) Good job, mate.

RED: It was nothing, just a few wild roo moves.

FALOO: (to Duke) It’s so good to have you back where you belong. (She sniffs him, and holds her nose with her paws.) You reek. You need a bath. (Duke gives her sad puppy eyes.) But we’ll worry about that later.

(Cut back to the forest, where Aleu reunites with her pack.)

ALEU: It’s so good to see you guys this time. Group hug! (The wolves all pile on top of her.)  Hmph, animals.

(We dissolve to another part of the forest, where Niju’s pack reunites with him after they brought a dead moose.)

PRINCESS: We got this for you, Niju.

KING: And maybe we’ll use it to help pull you out. Grab on.

(Niju chomps down on the moose’s leg with his teeth.)

SCRAWNY: Ready?

SCAR SNOUT: Pull!

(The wolves pull Niju out of the rock pile.)

KING: We did it!

NIJU: Oh, thank you so much! I was beginning to wonder if I’d ever see you again. Now, let’s eat, with me first.

(Soon, all the wolves chow down on the moose, and we dissolve to black.)

The End