Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age or Kingdom Hearts. I only own Mile.
Chapter 2: Heartless!
The whole group woke up the next morning, and met up at the base of the opening out of that area, at the break of dawn. They all gave glances to one another, then nodded, obviously ready. They then started to wait for the other packs to come. Sid smiled and picked up a few rocks, starting to juggle. Oddly, he never had any experience to juggle two rocks, but he was juggling three with no problem.
"H-Hey guys! I'm juggling! Now I'm the fire god AND the juggling god." He exclaimed. Diego then glanced at Sid.
"Well I know one thing, you're also the god of stupidity." He grinned. Sid frowned. "Your just jealous of my natural sense of creativity, boldness, and couragggge!" He couldn't finish the last word straight because he then tripped over a boulder, god forbid and fell on his back, the three rocks all hitting him square in the middle of his forehead.
"Ooh my aching…" He slowly got up, rubbing his eyes. "Couldn't lend a paw eh Diego? Diego?" He looked at his tiger friend, wondering why he didn't response. That was because his, and the others, eyes were transfixed on something up ahead. When Sid looked at the direction they were, his eyes popped open too.
It was a small…black blob that was moving, like a shadow across the ground. When it popped up, showing its small, flexible figure, its yellow eyes pierced Manny, Diego, Sid, Ellie, and the possum brothers like knives. Then another popped up, and another, and another, till their was a total of six.
"What are they?" Sid asked. Unfortunately nobody had the answer. The things slowly began advancing, making the herd back up a bit. Things advance, herd backwards. Manny then stepped in front of Ellie.
"Everyone get behind me and Diego." Diego glanced up at the mammoth, who also glanced back down at the saber. They were the strongest of the pack, they had to protect Sid, Crash, Eddie, and Ellie. So Manny's head slowly came down, tusks ready to pierce. Diego also got ready to pounce. But somehow, they had a strange feeling in their gut they couldn't win this fight.
But they had to try. So Diego came lunging forward the same time one of the creatures did. His claw passed across the thing, making it burst with contact on the ground. But a second came at Diego, making him move back a bit. The more surprising thing, at least two more took the destroyed creature's place.
"These things are popping up like possums." Diego commented.
"Hey!" Crash and Eddie's paws crossed. Diego chuckled.
"Sorry." He said. He then attempted to squash one, though it led to him getting his in the back. He growled and stumbled forward as he whipped the one who back-attacked him with his tail, making it fly back into another creature.
But whatever they did, the creatures continued to spawn, until their was twice the numbers Diego took care of. A horn-like sound then filled the air, and there went Manny crashing into the same number of heartless that appeared.
"Heads up!" He yelled as he rammed them. They burst into black blobs as he did, but a few more appeared, and started smacking him in his side. It didn't hurt much, but it made him grunt and back up a bit. Ellie was worried to death.
"Manny!" She screamed. Manny couldn't help but be distracted by her worried voice, so he attempted to sound cool. "Don't worry sugar-lump, I got this." He said. Then a voice out of nowhere went…
"Doesn't seem like you do." Then a figure jumped from above in front of Manny and Diego. This took them back, it was…another tiger. Diego came forward a bit.
"Another saber!" He exclaimed, utterly shocked. The mysterious tiger glanced at Diego, and that was when he finally noticed something in his mouth. A key of some sorts, but it was long and had a weird looking key chain.
"Take this!" The tiger yelled, and came forward, thrusting its head and slashing the heartless to pieces. This time they didn't come back as he jumped and dodged the heartless attacks, thrusting his head around and slashing them when he could. The others were surprised and watching this in awe, until the tiger took care of all the heartless. It seemed to be over…for now.
The weapon in the tiger's mouth shined, then disappeared as he panted, seemingly exhausted. Diego came forward oddly, still surprised by the display this other tiger performed.
"Uh…you okay?" He asked as he snapped out of it. The tiger looked at Diego and nodded slowly.
"Yeah…just been exhausted lately." He admitted. Manny then came forward.
"How did you get rid of them? When we hit them, they didn't just disappear like when you did." He asked curiously. The tiger smiled.
"Well before I answer that, I believe introductions are in order. After-all, you can't be telling some 'things' to pure strangers." He said. Manny then nodded slowly, completely understanding.
"I'm Manny, the sloth here is Sid, the other tiger's Diego, she's…" He pointed his trunk to Ellie, also taking a bit of time to see if she was okay. When he saw she was, he continued.
"This is Ellie. And the two possums are Crash and Eddie. Now you." He added the last bit. The darker colored tiger laughed a bit.
"Don't waste any time do you, I'm Mile." He greeted them, though his voice seemed a bit off when saying his name. But the others didn't notice, and simply nodded.
"Nice to meet you." Ellie smiled. Mile also smiled and nodded back, then glanced at everyone. "Now…I suppose you'd like to know about those attackers." They all nodded. Mile took a breath, then nodded to himself to continue.
"Well…those things are known as heartless. Whoever their able to take down they take the hearts of, and meld the darkness of those hearts into what we call heartless." Seeing he lost his audience, Mile coughed again.
"Well, basically those things are bad news, and pretty much only when I'm around you guys can destroy them." He said. Sid nodded his head, though he barely could understand what was going on, he decided to act why he knew. Manny then thought for a bit.
"Well then, maybe you should come with us." He suggested. Ellie nodded with her boyfriend's idea. Mile then backed up a bit, shaking his head.
"Whoa wait a minute, who said I was coming with all you guys? I have my own little quest to continue." He said. Crash looked oddly.
"Quest?" He asked. Mile nodded.
"Yeah…a-and don't think I'll share either!" The tiger said. Everyone glanced at one another, then advanced on Mile. Diego paced around him, with eyes that can pierce even the toughest.
"How come your not going to share? In league with those heartless things?" He accused. Mile glared at his almost identical counterpart.
"That's a stupid thing to think, wasn't I just the one who saved your rears from extinction?" He accused right back, making Diego growl slightly. Manny then bumped his friend with his trunk, making him only slightly calm down.
"Listen, we're just wondering, but if you don't want to share, its fine with us." He said softly. Mile looked up at Manny, almost curious why he was giving up so fast. The tiger then sighed slightly.
"Look, if I told you, you all would be getting dragged into something, something dangerous. And I got to handle this by myself." He said. Sid then snapped his fingers.
"It got something to do with those black blobs doesn't it!" He grinned, thinking he was having one of his moments. He just might be too, since Mile gulped.
"Well…" He looked away. They were getting close to figuring it out anyways, and all because of his mouth. Eddie then grinned.
"It does! Right Crash?"
"Right!" Crash agreed with his brother. Ellie nodded along with them, making Mile wince. Manny glanced down at him.
"Listen just tell us, it can't be THAT bad." He said. Mile then took a breath again. They were persistent.
"Listen, I'm…not from this world." He said. That put everyone in surprise. Not from this world? What was he talking about? Mile saw he was losing his crowd again, and he wished he could too, but he decided to continue.
"Just that…I'm really human." That put everyone's brains in a knot for good. Diego then laughed a bit dryly.
"You're a saber, not a human." He continued laughing uneasily. When Mile's stern glance didn't let down, Diego then frowned as well, then his eyes dropped. He really thought he found someone like him that wasn't interested in his friends for his appetite.
"Listen Diego, I'm kind of guessing your depressed now because of me, and I'm sorry, but I'm telling the truth." Mile said, his own eyes drooping a bit. The saber nodded silently, now trying to believe Mile as Manny asked…
"How can you be a human?" Mile shrugged.
"Who knows, when I popped up here, I was a tiger. Maybe it has something to do with the fact I was supposed to blend in with you guys." Mile shrugged again. He really couldn't answer straightly. That still left everyone confused, so Mile made the key blade appear in his mouth. He then dropped it on the ground in front of him.
"This thing is what I use to destroy the heartless. There's a lot of keybearers as of late, don't know why, but we need them. I may be trapped here though…" He said softly. This made him collapse on his belly.
"Of course you guys seem to need my help…" He continued on. Sid nodded jumping on Mile's back.
"Yes! Help is good!"
"No Sid, the tiger already made it clear he has something else to do." Manny said as his trunk wrapped around the sloth and dropped Sid on his back. Mile then chuckled slightly. He was starting to get used to this herd.
"Well…maybe I could follow you guys around for a while." He started. Sid grinned.
"AHA!"
"I said a WHILE, I didn't say for the whole trip." Mile glanced at the sloth. His shoulders slumped at this, while Ellie giggled.
"The more the merrier!" She exclaimed. The two possum brothers agreed. Manny nodded as well while Diego was still silent.
"Then its settled, you can follow us for as long as you want, then hightail it." The mammoth said. Mile nodded and smiled, then glanced at Diego.
"Err…you alright man?" He asked. Diego glanced at Mile, and nodded slightly.
"Yeah I'm fine…we should get going." He suggested as he saw other packs approaching. Manny then nodded.
"Alright then!" He then started walking the lead, Ellie right next to him. Sid on Mile's back, and Diego approaching the rear, very silent. It seemed the journey was beginning.
Author's PN: Well you just saw the beginning of the Kingdom Hearts part. Basically, multiple keybearers in the universe. ; btw Manny is SUPPOSED to be all cheery and a bit fun now, I think...well enjoy, hope for another review. Chapter 3 also is ready...Yes I need a life ; Also forgive me if I got the background on heartless wrong, I didn't pay all that much attention to that part in KH1.
