Happy 4th of July!

The circus were in New Jesery, doing a special themed performance for 4th of July. Everyone had on blue, white and red glow in the dark paint, makeup and costumes.

For their performance, the circus even had special star shaped hoops for Vitaly with blue, white and red colored fire. They did practice to make sure that the tiger can squeeze through the hoops easily with no issue and so far it worked fine. They double checked with the fire hoops and that worked out too.

Gloria wore a blue tutu with white stars on it and her partner Melman had blue, red and white thrilly neck collars with stars on them. And the cannon daredevil duo, Marty and Stefano, had special glowing streamers with star designs so that when they shot out of the cannons, it looked like stars were coming out of cannons too.

As for the trapeze swinging feline duo, they had blue, white and red paint on them and some star shapes too. Their performance was spectacular.

But the gang had a special surprise for the audience. The gang were going to launch a firework show. They had to drop the tent so now the performance was now outdoors.

The whole circus had performed their parts until they all gathered together in a circle at where the fireworks were. The whole audience were waiting excitedly whole the animals went to make sure everything worked out.

"Alright mammals. Once we get these light up, you better run faster than when you're being chased by animal control because this show is going to be huge" Skipper explained to all of them as Private, Kowalski and very eager Rico were getting the fireworks ready.

Alot of the animals seemed worried or suspicious of this, especially since one of the penguins loved explosions too much. "Skipper this is safe right?" Alex asked worriedly as he eyed the enormous amount of fireworks on the ground and Rico scrambling all over the place to set it up.

"Don't worry about it. As long as you all stay far from the fireworks and hopefully it doesn't go straight into the audience, we'll be fine" Skipper commented chill but that last part worried Alex as he turned to the audience wide eye and back to the penguin.

The lion sighed, shaking his head. His partner, Gia, looked at him with concern "This will not hurt us right?" She asked him, worried for their safety. Alex glanced at the penguins unsurely and he looked back at the jaguar "As long as we stay far, I think we'll fine" he told her nervously as they turned to the penguins.

"Alright, it's lit! Now scatter! Move move move!" Skipper yelled out as Rico lit a match and was about to set the fireworks. Alex's eyes widen seeing how close they were "Everyone run! Now!" He yelled out and the animals all ran as fast as they can to get away from getting blown up. Everyone headed where the hot air balloon was which was on the ground.

The balloon had in front of it bulletproof glass walls for protection and everyone was huddled behind it. "Ok everyone relax. These walls should protect us" Alex tried to reassure the animals as he looked around to make sure no one was missing.

He quickly counted and realized, to his surprise and a bit of annoyance, someone was missing. And Alex knew who it was. Gia.

"Not again" he mumbled as he quickly scanned around until he spotted her climbing up the hot air balloon. He shook his head, smiling at her as he followed her up.

His best friend Marty noticed the lion climbing up the ladder "Hey Alex! What are you doing man? I thought you said the balloon was off limits for the fireworks show. Especially after what happen last year" he called out down below.

The lion turned his head around to look at the zebra "Gia's up there. I gotta get her down from" he explained before he continued climbing again. The zebra had on a mishevious smile "Ok. Just be sure you two don't do anything crazy up there" he joked as the lion ignored him and got to the top.

He got onto the platform and spotted the jaguar, focused on where the fireworks were setup. The lion turned to the fireworks and to his relief, it looks like the penguins had a problem and were trying to re-lit the fireworks again.

'Looks like the fireworks are delayed. Perfect' Alex thought relieved as he quickly made his way over to Gia. "Gia!" He called out loud to get her attention.

The jaguar turned towards him, surprised by his loud call but she smiled when she saw it was only him.

"Hi Alex" she told him as the lion approached with his hands on his hips and a playful glared on him like a mom catching her kid doing a prank.

"Gia. You know that after what happen last year, I made it clear mo goes up I'm the hot air balloon during a firework show" he reminded her sternly but calmly.

Gia tried to smile innocently and puzzled but her brown eyes showed mishief. Alex realized that surprisingly the jaguar had a very bold and mishevious side in her.

"I know. But last year when we were up here, the view was stunning and illuminated. Don't you remember that?" She told him, talking about last year when he looked for her during a firework show.

Alex smiled fondly at the memory. He only intended to look for her but after the show started, he found himself sitting with her and watching.

But the lion shook his head to snap out of it, reminding himself that time is running out. He stared at the jaguar serious "Yeah but I also remember that last year one of the fireworks hit one of the dog's jetpack and set it off. It's amazing he didn't get hurt. Now come on let's get down before-" he started telling her but...

BOOM! The fireworks started suddenly and it startled everyone as they gasped and yelled surprised as the fireworks bursted in the sky.

"Whoa!" Alex yelled startled as the balloon rocked around, the two cats held on to the poles of the balloon to keep their balance. The lion noticed how close the jaguar was to the edge and with the platform all rocky, there was a good chance of her falling and not even her trapeze skills would save her.

The lion wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her away from the edge but as the platform got more rocky, the lion lost his grip on the pole and his balance and the two cats fell onto the floor.

The lion groaned as he lifted his head "That's...that's why we don't come up here during a firework show. Ok G-" he started but then he paused when he realized that when they had had fallen, he was now on top of the jaguar. He blushed on how close the two were.

Gia noticed the sudden closeness and blushed too, staring at his blue eyes. She actually chuckled at his expression, finding it funny. Alex smiled at her nervously.

"Ah!" He yelped surprised when a dagger hit the pole near him. He looked over the platform as Gia looked at his direction, the lion having a bad feeling on where the dagger came from.

"I missed" Vitaly said upset, crossing his arms as he glared at the two cats. The animals had seen the two cats on the floor and had well some ideas right now. Marty was smirking at his best friend.

Alex and Gia blushed embarrassed but Alex glared at the zebra angrily "It's not what it looks like!" He yelled down there angry as he got off the jaguar and helped her up to her feet.

Gia kept chuckling at his situation as the lion glared "Oh haha very funny. This. This is the last time I catch you up here during a firework show ok?" He told her sternly and annoyed, not happy that they got caught in an embarrassing situation.

The jaguars face soften and she knew Alex was right. "Alright this last time I do this" she told him honestly as the lion sighed. "Come on. Let's get down there and sort things out" he told her, really not looking forward to it. She chuckled, knowing he referred to the tiger.

"Don't worry. I'll talk to Vitaly" she assured him, much to his relief as the two made their way down.