A/N (Special Edition):

Hello, all my anonymous happy people! The sequel is finally here, and I'll tell you more about my inspirations for it and other stories I'm planning on (but will not tell you about yet, sorry!) through the different A/N notices throughout the story chapters. Won't that be fun?

But first, a notice; In case you clicked on this without reading through my first story, Ice Age: The Odd One Out, you can do two things...

a) You can read through the whole first story first before reading this, which I strongly recommend.

b) You can read this anyway, which in my opinion would be stupid. Why? Because you're not going to know who Adrian, The Beavers, Phineas, Hazel, Lydia or all my other OC's are! And plus the whole thing takes place in the new home of all these characters, the Golden Glade (cheesy name, but it's catchy), which was also mentioned in The Odd One Out. So, if you choose B, you'll miss out on a lot of stuff you need to know. Plus, the first story is as good as this will be...I hope.

And now on with the beginning (dun-dun-dun-DAH! *fanfare plays*) of the long-awaited (I hope) and as-good-as-the-first-and-better sequel;

ICE AGE: TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Enjoy the show, and remember to tip your waitresses! (just a joke, people) But you know what's better than tips? Reviews!

P.S: To all those who read the sneak preview for this on Chapter 20 of The Odd One Out, I had said that the extracts were from this chapter. But this chapter was so long already, I decided to shorten it. Instead, it will be in Chapter 2. My bad, sorry everyone!


The sun was beginning to peak over the hills, shedding an amber light over the Golden Glade. Autumn leaves fell swiftly in the morning's welcoming glow, the previous rain shower from last night had dampened every nook and cranny it could. And the year-long evergreen trees stood proudly, viewing the marvalous spectacle as through it were their own creation.

In the middle of the woods along the East River, there was a small clearing in which stood a permanent campground. Three dens stood around the center. A short tree with a study branch and a thick hollow in the middle rested peacefully alongside them. And in the middle itself, remnants of a fire that had burned through the night, same as always.

In a den farther off, with its back to the fire, Diego opened his eyes lazily and stretched, not even bothered that the morning dew on the grass had tripled, getting his toes all wet. But he did notice something was different. Something was missing. His groggy mind took a while to comprehend this, and only a few seconds afterwards had he figured it out.

His mate was gone.

As quickly as he could manage at sunrise, he walked over to the camp. Manny, Ellie, Sid, Crash, Eddie, and even little Peaches were wide awake, eating their breakfast.

"Mornin', Unco Dey-go." Peaches greeted him, trying to chew her blueberries.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, sweetie." Ellie chided her gently, before commenting "I thought cats were early risers."

"Where's Adrian?" Diego asked.

"Oh, she just went for a walk a couple of hours or so ago. Brought us back these blueberries." Manny shrugged.

"Well, why?"

"Beats me, go ask her. She's probably near the lake by now."


Adrian walked through the woods, leaves crunching under her paws. Usually at this time of morning, the Glade was pretty much awake. But she had a knack for finding the road less travelled wherever she was. She was just that kind of person. And after only a couple months of living here, she knew all the Glade's secrets up and down, including the quiet roads.

Or not so quiet. The leaves crunched again, but the sound was too far away to be made by her own feet. She stopped, looking backwards over her shoulder, her dark brown eyes studying the terrain.

"Hey."

She jumped instictively, and looked back in front of her to find a smiling Diego. "Don't do that!" she reprimanded.

"Sorry. I didn't scare you, did I?" he asked. She narrowed her eyes, and brushed the leaves out of her light golden fur, but she had a half-smile on her face now.

"Ha! As if you could ever scare me. I was just startled, that's all." she denied. He raised an eyebrow, and breaking under pressure, she laughed.

"Why'd you come out here?"

She swiped a falling leaf away from her. "I just needed to walk."

"In the middle of the night?" he pointed out.

"I don't know. Just something to do. I'm restless these days, I just...feel like I want something. But I can't name it." She paused, lost in thought.

"Hey, it'll pass." Diego reasurred. "We've got everything we want, this place, our families, each other..."

"Right." she agreed, shaking her head back to reality. "So, as long as you're here, do you want a race?" she challenged.

"How far this time?"

"To the edge of the lake. The side with the huge mud pit."

"You're on." he accepted, smiling.

"And please, no cheating." she added.

"What do you take me for?" he questioned, pretending to be insulted. She smiled coyly at him and before he was even ready, started to run.

"Hey!" he yelled, before running after her.


They carried on for about ten minutes, Adrian a minute or so in the lead and Diego trying to catch up with her. Already in view of the mud pits, Adrian saw a log witha side submerged in the mud. With a sneaky smile, she but one side of the log and dragged it out, spreading the slippery mud around, and placing the log sideways in the middle of the trail. Sure, she's already won, but it wouldn't hurt to have a little fun. She hid behind a bush and waited.

She heard a splash, and came out from behind the bush to view the inevitable. Diego had jumped over the log, and not seeing the mud behind it, slid into the pit. He was staring at her, drenched in mud.

"Well, looks like I win again." she said nonchalantly, checking her claws. He spat a glob of mud out of his mouth and muttered "Hypocrite."

Which she responded to by sticking out her tongue childishly and laughing. "All right, fair is fair. Let me help you out."

"Yeah, how about?" he grumbled, as he took her outreached paw and dragged himself out. "This isn't going to help me when I go hunting later."

The Glade was surrounded by a huge slanting wall, which mostly kept it from the outside world. The exception to that was a tunnel-like exit to the south, leading to the outskirts of town. No one lived there except Adrian's mother, Lydia. And there was also a break in the wall to the farther east, which Diego usually went out of to hunt. Adrian had made an agreement with him that he wasn't going to eat any of their neighbors.

"Well, just wash up, the lake's right there." She pointed back behind her, then got another idea. She grabbed his paw and began running towards the lake.

"Adrian..." he started to say.

"Cannonball!" she shouted over him, jumping into the pristine water and pulling Diego in as well. He emerged, coughing and shivering. "Don't you think you've beat me up enough?" he teased. He knew Adrian was only messing around; besides mates they were the best of friends.

"Hey, nothin' like a dip in cold water to clean you off, huh?" she replied, bobbing up out of the water. He smiled through his shivering, a trick up his sleeve.

"Nothing like a good splash of said water, either."

"Yep, nothi-huh?" she asked, catching the sentence just as he carried out his word.

"Stop it!" she laughed, splashing him back.

What a way to begin the day she thought. But then again, every day with Diego was an adventure in itself.