Pirates Of The Ice Age 2 Dead Man's Meltdown

Prelude

It was a beautiful day in the Ice Valley. The summers sun blazed down from a cloudless blue sky, shining on the lush green forests, the grassy meadows, the network of rivers and streams, and the huge sparkling glaciers that surrounded the area. Animals and humans alike revelled in the fine weather, thankful for the warmth after the seemingly endless Ice Age. All seemed to be well.

However, high up on the tallest glacier in the Valley, all was not well. Ominous creaks and gurgles mingled with the whistling of the wind, and cracks zigzagged across the once-smooth ice faces.

These threatening signs were almost impossible to ignore.

But, strangely enough, one tiny squirrel-like creature was completely oblivious to the noises as it ascended the glacier. Concentrating deeply on its climb, it did not seem to even care that it was hundreds of metres above the ground. The creature had something else on its mind.

Scrat was searching for his acorn.

He inched his way up the vertical ice slope, using his long claws as crampons. Even when he came to an overhang, he would crawl, upside-down, along the bottom until he could climb vertically once more. Sometimes he slipped or lost his grip, and only caught himself just in time. Once or twice his tongue stuck to the ice, and he had to tug it off. But Scrat just kept on going, no matter what.

Finally, Scrat spotted something imbedded in the ice above him. Letting out a cry of delight, he scampered up the glacier towards the object.

Sure enough, it was his acorn. Scrat grabbed it and attempted to pull it out of the ice.

It didn't budge.

Scrat tugged harder, but to no avail. Grunting with effort, the sabre-tooth squirrel pulled at the acorn with all his strength…

POP!

The acorn finally popped out of its icy prison. Grabbing it before it could fall, Scrat hugged his prize with a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, an ominous gurgle broke through the silence, and a jet of water burst out of a crack in the ice.

Scrat squeaked in fright. Swapping his acorn to his other paw, he stuffed a claw into the hole. The water jet instantly stopped.

Then there was another gurgle, and more water shot out of another crack, right next to Scrat's other paw. Groaning, he dropped his acorn to his left foot and used his paw to block that crack.

Before he could even begin to relax, however, two more jets of water shot out of cracks next to both of Scrat's feet. The quick-thinking squirrel tossed his acorn up onto his head, and used his feet to plug the holes.

Scrat let out a sigh of relief.

Then there was another gurgle.

And a second later, another jet of water shot out of the glacier right into Scrat's face.

The squirrel did the only thing he could. He stuffed his snout into the hole to stop the jet of water.

Straightaway, water gushed into Scrat's mouth, filling up his stomach. He quickly started to swell up like a balloon. His arms and legs flailed helplessly as they were pulled out of the holes by his expanding body…

WHOOSH!

Suddenly, Scrat launched into the air like a rocket. A jet of water gushed out of his mouth, propelling him in wild zig-zags and loops through the sky. Back and forth he flew, the stream of water sending him spiralling around in the air…until there was no more water.

Scrat, now back to his normal size, let out a miserable whimper.

Then he fell.

Down, down, down towards the land below, screaming and thrashing all the way…

CRASH!
Scrat smashed through an ice arch. Then he bounced off a rocky outcrop. And finally, the squirrel landed hard…right in the middle of a prickly gorse bush.

Sometimes he wondered if this all came from liking acorns so much.