Chapter 1
Fire up the adventurers...
Leo the lion, Sagg the Zebra and Arry the Rhino are lounging around a watering hole.
A Tourist jeep appears over a hill and Leo jumps up, pauses briefly while Sagg gets up, then roars fiercely and starts chasing the zebra round the water hole.
Camera’s click and flash from inside the tourist’s Jeep.
Sagg the Zebra looks back at Leo and smirks and Leo returns the smile with a wink. They go round the water hole again.
Meanwhile ‘Arry looks on, rather bored watching the pair go around and around the pool.
Suddenly Sag turns and shoots Leo with bow and arrow that he had been carrying on his back.
Leo yells “Say WHAT????” very annoyed! He stops dead in his tracks, cross-eyed, staring at the arrow with a sucker on the end stuck on the end of his nose.
“I say, what’s this, Man?”
“Ah ha! Got you back! You see, I am now A CENTAUR” says Sag proudly. “Half horse, half archer”
“What?” cries Leo, “NO, You’re NOT. YOU are a zebra. Fast and feeble. Common prey of the mighty Lion King!”.
“Not any more. The tables have turned and I’m bored of being chased all the time. It’s just not fair. From now on, I have decided to identify as a Centaur. It’s my Truth. Pick on Ari if you want someone to chase”, says Sagg.
“Oh that’s not going to work. Have you seen the size of that chubby unicorn?!” cries Leo in surprise. They both look at ‘Arry, who just raises an eyebrow and grins.
Meanwhile the Jeep has disappeared back over the hill.
“Well, it looks like we can knock off for the day, anyway. That was the last of the tourists.” sighs Leo and they both immediately jump back onto their recliner rock, flip on sunglasses and pick up cocktail drinks. They then both exhale “Ahh, lovely!” as the sun starts to set and everything is calm again. The crickets chirp and some birds fly lazily overhead.
“I think I deserve a holiday” says Ari.
“Say what?” exclaims Leo, sitting up quickly and spilling his drink all down himself ….. “You haven’t moved all day! All you do is eat, sleep and make disgusting smelling bottom burps! You hardly EVER move.”
“I” says Ari, slowly, “….. am saving the planet.” He starts chewing lazily.
“I am conserving energy.” Then he chews some more.
“…..YOU….…..are most….”, he stops chewing and swallows “….welcome. It’s been a long hard day and I’m all tuckered out now.”
He yawns and stretches, closes his eyes and starts to snore.
“That’s actually NOT a bad idea” considers Leo. Arry opens one eye, looks at Leo and smiles again.
Chapter 2
the air balance...
Leo the lion, Sagg the zebra and Arry the Rhino are excited. They bouncing up the steps onto an old plane. They are obviously thrilled to be beginning their adventure.
An odd head and long neck peer around the corner of the planes doorway. It’s Libby the flamingo.
“Howdy doodie, 2 U!”, coo’s Libby, “my, but U R a deep breath of fresh air, c’mon in, the cabin’s cool”
“Well, Good Day 2 U 2”, replies Leo, trying to sound refined as the three Firey friends step into the plane’s interior.
The Air crew are lined up inside to greet them. Libby is the hostess with the utmost mostness. She is very tall, very, very pink, and wears the AirCrews bright blue uniform which clashes wildly with her pinkness!
Next to her is Aqua the pelican who’s feathers are exactly the same colour as the AirCrew uniform. “Hello, I’m Aqua, I’ll be looking after you on the flight today”
Next to her are a pair of toucans, one standing on the head of the other. “Hi” say both of the Toucans at the same time. “I’m Captain Gem” says the top one, “…and this is the co-pilot, Eye”
Then in well-polished unison they duet “Together, we’re … Gem an’ Eye” and fall over laughing. The others look at each other. They have obviously heard this a million times before.
The Toucans disappear into the cockpit and everyone else tries to find their seats.
Arry squeezes down the aisle as the seats bend and creak and groan as he pushes between them. Libby looks worriedly at Aqua and says, “Why don’t you plop yourself down right there, Arry?” – worried he was about to destroy the plane!
Arry drops into the very next seat he comes to, on the right. There is a loud creak and his weight tips the plane heavily to the right. Leo and Sagg fall into seats behind him as the plane is now leaning very steeply.
The Toucans open their flight deck door to see what’s happening, then look at each other, laugh and again in unison call out “Buckle up, Buddies!” and then disappear back into their cabin.
Soon the plane is taxiing down the runway. There are various crunching and scraping noises and the passengers and crew all look worriedly at each other.
But then the plane lurches forward and it’s up, up and away. The plane banks steeply right and continues on. Everyone settles in and relaxes. Libby then starts to serves drinks …from inside Aqua’s enormous bill pouch which is set out like a drinks trolley.
Suuddenly the plane’s engines start to splutter.
The Toucans appear and Gem the captain says “Hello, ladies and Gentle peeps. Nothing to worry about. Maybe. Just to let U know that everything is all right.” They look at each other again and then EYE says “What Gem means is …Everything is ALL right. OK?
“Yes”, says Gem, “That’s the problem.”
“Big problem”, replies Eye. “Everything is very very ALL right.”
“Yes, says Gem, “You see we’re leaning very right.”
“Yes”, says Eye. “We are flying around and around in a BIG circle and we are going to run out of fuel.”
“Hmmm,” thinks Libby, “It’s all a matter of balance. I wonder if you two could schooch over to the left hand seats, please?” suggests Libby.
Leo and Sagg climb out of their seats and plop into seats on the left hand side. The plane creaks and levels out slightly. “Perfect” says Libby.
And everyone cheers as the plane zooms off to the left and they head into the sunset.
Chapter 3
at the waters edge...
Leo, Sagg and Arry are doing a spot of sea fishing, down by the water’s edge. “Mmmmm, this is the life” The sun is shining, the waves are lapping at the shore, and there is a gentle breeze. So far, they have caught one fish that is now swimming around and around in the bowl beside Leo. “Mmmm”. Sag and Ari smile in agreement. It’s a perfect afternoon. Everyone is content and happy.
Leo idly pushes his paw into the wet sand …just for something to do. Then….
CRACK!!
“Yeewwwooooow!!!!” cries Leo in astonishment and pain, jerking his paw out of the sand, while slipping his drink all over Sag. Leo dances around, hopping up and down and shaking his paw violently. There is something attached to it. He suddenly stops and looks at it, closely.
Attached to his throbbing paw is a crab’s claw, attached to a very angry lobster. The lobster glares viciously at Leo. “WHO R U?” cries Leo.
“I am Score, short for Scorpio and I’m a scorpion lobster and you just poked me with your paw,” said Score huffily. “So I snipped you with my claw”
“That’s not a claw,” said Leo, who had regained his composure and slipped into anger. “THIS is a claw” and he flicks out one of his menacing retractable claws from the same paw. But Score swung his other claw up and snips the claw off at the root.
“Yeewwwooooowooowww!!!!” cries Leo, again, in more astonishment and even more pain. Score just smiles rather devilishly. Leo glares at him even more angrily and turns the same bright red as Score.
“Woah,” shouts Sagg “Calm down, both of you. I’m sure we can work this out, it’s just a misunderstanding.” Then there’s another CRACK and suddenly Sag is yelling and sporting a blue claw on the end of his nose.
“There’s no misunderstanding” yells Score. “Say hello to my little friend Canny.”
“Hello” said Canny, smiling and waving his other claw while swinging gently from the end of Sagg’s nose, while Sagg looks down at him cross-eyed with tears coursing down his muzzle.
“You have imprisoned our friend and we want her freed”.
“We haven’t imprisoned anyone,” says Leo, calming down now.
Score and Canny look down at the fish swimming around in the bowl.
“Oh, I see,” said Leo, also looking down at the fish. “What’s your name?” said Leo bending down to get a closer look at the fish in the bowl.
“Don’t tell him, Pike!” yells Canny loudly.
“…Ah-ha, Pike,” says Leo triumphantly. Score glares at Canny.
“I’m Pike, short for Pisces and I’m a fish,” said Pike. “I did realise that,” said Leo grinning. “I was going to let U go at the end of the day, …honestly.”
Sagg, in a voice distorted by having a crab’s claw attached to his nose, says “Wheedle let doe off Pike if doo let doe off ma dose an’ Score lets doe of Deo’s paw. Dokay?”
Everyone nodded furiously in agreement and Leo pours Pike into the sea and Canny and Score release their grips and scurry down into the water as well.
The Water creatures wave and laugh and swim away.
Meanwhile, Leo and Sagg look at each other. Sagg rubs his swollen nose and Leo rubs his paw.
“I think you both got caught fishing,” said Arry laughing wildly.
Chapter 4
Down to Earth with a bang!
Leo, Sagg and Arry are lost in the countryside. They are looking at a map ….which is upside down.
Just then trundling around the corner, comes a goat, a bull and a sheep at speed on a clapped-out old tractor. They smash into the enormous bottom of Arry while he, as usual, is munching on some grass growing in the middle of the track. The tractor falls to pieces in a cloud of noise, steam and various bits of bodywork and engine parts, while the characters are thrown high and clear into the air and over a hedge. Arry looks up with a mouthful of grass “Eh? What’s up?”, he said.
“They are” replies Leo, chuckling and pointing at the Earth characters flying over the hedge. The Earth guys peep up from behind the hedge and yell “sorry” and other things.
Leo leans against a post and says “No problem. You seem to have run into our Arry. Not a problem, he’s indestructible. ….Er….. unlike your tractor. Oops, sorry!”
“Oh no” moan the Earth signs sadly. “How are we going to plant our crops?”, asks the goat Cappy. “We need to plough the field,” says Tour “….and plant the seeds,” says Virgo. “
“Maybe we can help?” says Sagg.
“We need a plan, says Leo, thinking. “Lucky for you, I’m the master of plans” He continues to look like he’s thinking. Then after a few seconds, he looks at Sagg and says,“ ….Sagg, what’s my plan?”
“Hmmm”, says Sagg. “Let me think.” He looks at the track which has been rucked up by Arry when the tractor hit him. Then he looks at his quiver of arrows and then he says, “Leo, we all know you are THE Party Animal, so have you still got that big balloon from your emergency birthday party kit?”
“Yeah. Why? Ah yes, YES. An emergency birthday party. Yes, something to cheer us all up. Good plan of mine,” he exclaims excitedly.
“NO, Leo. That’s NOT the plan. …but it is an emergency. …and we are going to need the balloon!” The three huddle together and whisper. Leo steps back and says ” YES, you see! I knew I’d come up with something. I love it when a plan comes together” and whips out the balloon between his lips like a cigar and blows.
“It’s lucky you are SO FULL of hot air, Leo!” mumbles Sagg.
“OK Arry, you know what to do” cries Leo.
Arry steps up, snorts hard and buries his horn hard into the ground, Sagg jumps on his back and shouts “G-G-G-G_Go” and the pair charge head down across the field with earth flying left and right. As Arry steams off, ploughing across the field, all the other characters laugh and cry out.
Then Tour, Cappy and Virgo start to shovel their seeds into the neck of Leo’s massive balloon. Arry and Sagg reappear and drop exhausted onto the grounds beside them
Next, Leo puts the neck of the balloon to his mouth and blows. Hot air inflates the massive seed-filled balloon and it starts to rise. It gets bigger and bigger.
Finally, Leo ties a knot in the balloon’s neck and let’s go. The balloon floats high above the field. When the balloon is right over the middle of the field, he takes aim with his bow and arrow and shoots the balloon. There is a massive BANG and the seed rains down all over the ploughed field, sowing the field with corn as it jets around and around, up and down above the field as the air escapes.