The next day in AHH Valley, a meeting was held regarding the new residents and it was off to a rocky start. Everyone was talking all at once demanding to be heard.
"This is completely insane!"
"They can't stay here!"
"They're really weird!"
"Everyone! Calm down!" yelled out Grug banging a rock on his stand trying to get a word in. "QUIET!"
All of them slowly stopped and turned minus one guy who let out one more yell before abruptly stopping when he found everyone else do the same before Grug cleared his throat.
"Now I know this new arrangement might take some getting used to, but there's plenty of room in the valley for all of us, even new people we don't entirely trust yet. Now, are there any questions?"
"Yes, when are they going to leave?" frowned Snoot with his arms crossed and others nodding in agreement.
"Well they can stay as long as they don't cause any trouble." replied Grug before everyone voiced their disapproval. "BUT, if they prove to be a danger to our homes and our families we run them out like lyoties!"
"Amber all for it." smirked the woman smashing a rock on the ground into bits. "But Amber curious, are they people who change into animals, or animals who change into people?"
"Uh...I think it might be the second one?" Grug scratched his head. "I mean I guess they wear pelts like the rest of us only...differently."
"Well I think we can all agree that anything different, is better left alone." spoke Squawk. "Unless it fills my belly of course, can we eat them?"
"No, they're still people….at least I think so."
"Mhh, pitty." Squawk frowned before sitting back down, crossing his arms.
"Look as long as we can all get along with them I think this can work, and by 'I' I mean Ugga. So if this goes wrong we all know who to blame."
"Grug!" Ugga shouted making her husband flinch.
"Uh, I mean someone to thank if this works. Speaking of which we should get to our tasks." he cleared his throat. "Just because we have new neighbors doesn't mean we should get lazy and go hungry."
All the cave people grumbled as they dispersed from the meeting rock. Grug sighed and rubbed the back of his neck before looking over to his family.
"This is gonna take some time to adjust, but if we just keep to ourselves and do what we always do, then everything will be alright."
"Oh Grug, stop worrying," Ugga spoke as she walked up with Sandy in her arms. "I'm sure if you gave them a chance you might like them."
"Yeah, I mean you saw the stuff they had, it was real cool." smiled Eep.
"I'm still a little freaked out about their fire stuff though." Thunk stated.
"I don't trust it one bit, it's too bright." frowned Gran. "Makes my eyes get all watery and hard to see through, probably made to blind you before they swoop in and getcha!"
"Starting to wish I had some right now." Grumbled Grug before clearing his throat. "Okay Croods, you all know your assignments?"
"I look after Sandy while Ugga and Eep go gathering, I know." Gran rolled her eyes after using her walking to lift infant up by her pelt.
"And I'll be out hunting with the others bonkers and their kids." stated grug
"Which I should be doing." muttered Eep with a frown while looking away from him.
"I heard that Eep." Grug spoke grabbing her by the head and turned her to face him.
"Well it's the truth and you know it."
"Eep, we've been over this, you're gathering with your mother until you prove yourself, end of discussion."
The girl crossed her arms with a huff before her dad headed off and her mom patted her on the back.
"Thunk you're with me on hunting," Grug said. "we might need some extra bait on the off chance we lose Bulk."
"Thanks dad. I was afraid of being left at home with Gran and Sandy."
"You're taking Thunk hunting?!" Eep yelled.
"Yes, but only as a last resort. Bait just needs to look weak and vulnerable." Grug explained.
"But I can do that easy!" she said before thinking about what just came out of her mouth. "What am I thinking? No one wants to be bait."
"Look, just stick with gathering and I'll consider bringing you along, but no promises."
Eep crossed her arms and huffed before she and her mom went to join the other gatherers. She grumbled the whole way with a pouty face.
"Now Eep, you know that your father is just doing what he thinks is best." Ugga said to her daughter who looked away with a "hmph".
"He's always like that no matter what I do."
Ugga reached for Eep's chin and made her daughter look back at her. "Listen to me Eep, the day you were born, Grug was the happiest and proudest caveman in the valley. But you were so small that he also worried a lot, he can't help but still see you as that little baby."
"But Sandy's the baby now, why can't he just worry about her?"
"Because Sandy is our third child, you were the first. Plus she's much bigger than you were and she's ferocious enough to where he doesn't need to worry."
"Well maybe if he bothered to let me be a bonker, he wouldn't need to worry. Seriously mom I'm not a baby anymore."
"Well your father is stubborn, but unless a chance comes up where you can show him wrong, you're just gonna have to wait it out." she said before she and her daughter walked into the other gatherers ahead of them. "Oh! Sorry, didn't mean to bump into you."
"What's the holdup?" questioned Eep.
"It's the new neighbors." spoke a portly cavewoman with dark hair pointing at their usual spot.
"Figures they'd move in to gather all of our food." stated a hunched over old man with haor hair before a woman with a white flowing white pelt, blue eyes, and blonde hair started making strange noises
Praise for the high tide
Praise for the seaside
Praise for the sun at high noon
Praise for the lightning
Praise for the singing
Praise the father sun
and sister moon.
"Mom, what's that weird noise she's making?" Eep asked.
"I'm not sure, but...its strangely soothing." Ugga replied with a smile.
Praise for the red dawn
Grass that we walk upon,
Praise for the rivers whispered tune
Praise for the wind brother
Praise for the earth mother
Praise the father sun and sister moon
Hey-ya, hey-ya, hey-ya.
The crowd felt themselves transfixed on the sound with a few dropping their jaws.
"Wow, that sounds….beautiful." Ugga spoke before the woman noticed them.
"Oh! Hello there!" She waved to them. "I had no idea I had a crowd listening. Come, there's plenty for everyone." she gestured to the berries with her taking more and putting them in her bag. "Just be careful of the poison ones."
"Hold up there, just what are you doing in our gathering spot?" Spoke the portly woman.
"Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't see anyone here so we assumed that it was an unmarked area. Don't worry we won't be coming here often" she smiled while picking a few more berries before looking at Eep. "Hey, aren't you Tiger girl?" she asked with a smile.
"Um, no, my name is Eep."
"Well you certainly look as Guy described." she remarked making Eep's eyes widen and perked up a little at the mention of the boy.
"You know Guy?"
"Of course, he's my son."
Eeps' mouth dropped while the woman smiled then looked at her bag.
"I'd say that's plenty, she said before turning to her group. "Alright everyone, let's head back."
The group obeyed and took their leave while the blonde woman looked back to Ugga and Eep. "It was nice seeing you all, may we all come together and live peacefully as time moves on."
"Oh you don't have to leave right away," Eep said standing in front of the woman. "right mom?"
"Yeah, I mean, now that we're neighbors, I don't see why you can't stick around a bit longer." smiled Ugga walking over. "My name's Ugga, I'm Eep's mom."
"I am called Willow." the woman stated.
"I gotta asked Willow, what was that weird noise you were making?"
"Oh! You mean my song? I was singing. My grandmother invented it."
"Sing-ing?" ugga tilted her head. "It sounded like noise, but...really nice and different." she spoke as the other gatherers walked by eyeing Willow cautiously.
"Anyone can do it, with practice." she smiled. "I could teach you later if you like."
"Uh yeah sure," spoke Eep before looking around.. "So... is Guy around?"
"Oh no, right now he's with his father and the other hunters." she said with a look of pride. "But they are close."
"Really! I mean, um, really? That's cool. My dad's a hunter too, they should be here soon." remarked Eep trying to sound calm and not get too excited.
Over at the hunting field not far off, Grug was addressing the new hunters and bait, Pat, Sulk, Bulk, and Thunk.
"Alright new hunters, and bait. I know the first day might seem a little overwhelming, but you need to focus. Any minute those mosquitoads are gonna come flying over the field and we need you to be on top of your game. Is that clear?"
"Whatever." remarked Bulk and Pat boredly.
"Yeah, woohoo!" Sulk whooped and hollard gleefully. "Let's bonk some prey!"
"This is gonna be great." smiled Thunk in excitement. "I can work on my shadow puppets until it's my turn to be bait."
"No wait, Thunk going up first." Amber spoke grabbing Thunk by the pelt and lifted him up. "Need lots of food for Valley, and Thunk look like he be good bait. Nice and plump."
"Aw man." groaned Thunk.
"Sounds good to me." muttered Pat with a smile.
"And Pat be first one to try and knock out prey before Thunk get eaten."
"Mom!" Groaned Pat as her mother shoved a rock in her arms.
"No take attitude with Amber." the woman frowned furrowing her brow. "You be Lead Hunter like Amber and like it."
"And that means you will help her if she's caught off guard." spoke Grug handing a rock to Sulk.
"Yeah!" Sulk cheered.
"Guess that means I can just sit this one out, cool." smiled Bulk.
"Okay bonkers, get ready! Here they come!" Called Grug.
The hunters got their rocks ready while Thunk was running around making noise in the field. Three mosquitoads locked onto them and flew down ready to grab him.
"Come on down! I'm all ready for lunch!" Thunk shouted.
Just as the hunters were about to bonk, the mosquitoads were struck by sticks that came flying out from another part of the grassy field and pierced them in vital areas. The hunters were surprised and looked down to see several animals with pointed sticks ride up on their ramu making Grug frown.
"Hey! That was our kill!" Grug shouted when Chief slowly rode up leaving most of the hunters slack jawed in fear at his size. Amber on the other hand felt like she'd swallowed a swarm of butterhummers.
"Apologies, but with so many predators together, we thought you may need some help keeping your bait alive." he said hoping off the creature who seemed relieved to have that weight off its back.
Amber made a goofy grin as he approached and started giggling like a teenage girl.
Pat snapped out of her bewildered gaze and looked to her mother. "Mom?" she spoke up raising an eyebrow, while Amber's one pupil turned into a red heart. "Are you feeling okay?"
Said woman kept staring at Chief who looked like the toughest man she had ever seen in her life, minus Pat's father. "Amber feel more than okay."
"Woah, are you seeing this Bulk!?" Sulk asked pointing to the new valley dwellers
"Yeah Sulk, ramu riding, now that is cool." smiled the smaller boy while Grug tried to frown and not seem impressed.
"Look, we didn't need any help, we had everything all covered." Grug spoke to Chief. "This is how we hunt."
"By using just rocks? What would you have done if you ran out and they just avoided them?"
"That's why we have these. Haha!" Grug said holding up his fist jabbed at the air.
"Your bare hands?" Chief questioned. "You should only do that while sparring with each other."
"Spar-what?"
"Dad." Guy spoke taking off his mask. "We don't have time for this, we need to get our kill back to camp before some other predator picks up the scent of blood." he spoke while Belt nodded.
"Good call Guy. everyone! Let's get these home!"
The other masked men nodded before they left their mounts and moved to remove the sticks and used vines to tie the dead mosquitoads to their ramu.
"What are you doing? Now the ramu are gonna run off with them." scoffed Grug with a shake of his head.
"Naw they know better, right Legs?" Guy said patting his ramu's side.
It let out a low hum while the vines were slowly finished being tied.
"Alright everyone let's move out!" Chief instructed
The hunters got back on the animals before they began to lug the mosquitoads away while Grug and the others were stunned.
"Such commanding voice." Amber swooned. "Such strong leader." she fell back with Pat catching her.
"Ugh! Mom!" groaned the girl under the weight.
"Wow." Eep smiled and looked at Willow. "No matter how many times I see you guys ride those things it still amazes me."
"Well it's all a matter of trust and teamwork." Willow spoke. "Ugga, why don't you and your family come to our camp, we can get to know each other better." suggested Willow with Eep liking the sound of that.
"Well I guess it wouldn't hurt to meet new people." smiled Ugga while Grug himself glared at Chief and the other hunters while Amber stared at Chief with a smile with Pat waving a hand in her mother's face. "Grug! We're going to the new neighbors!" Ugga called to her husband.
"What?!" he screamed and ran up to her. "But Ugga we...we can't I mean...just look how filthy we are." He said trying to make an excuse knowing Ugga wasn't going to let it go without reason.
"Then we'll all get cleaned up when you get home and then head over."
"Oh that's great." Willow said. "It'll give me a chance to prepare."
Grug groaned to himself while Eep smiled.
(Later at the Crood cave)
"Run for your lives!" Shouted Gran trying to run out of the cave.
"Mom get back here!" Ugga shouted grabbing her mother's lizard pelt by the tail and dug her heels in the dirt. "We are all gonna get cleaned up, which means you too. You have ants."
"I don't want to lose my protective layer!" The old woman shouted. "You can't make me!"
"Grug, a little help please!?"
"Hold her still." he spoke walking over with a rock. "I don't wanna miss."
"Grug!" Ugga frowned at him. "Pick her up."
"Alright fine." he sighed tossing the rock aside before grabbing the pelt and picked Gran up who hit him with her stick. "Ow! Hey!"
"Asking your man for help, what kind of woman are you Ugga?!" Gran shouted in anger.
"You're the one being so stubborn mom." Ugga replied while Grug hung the old woman by her stick on a root. Ugga then grabbed another stick and beat the dirt off her mother. "There, that wasn't so bad now was it?"
"You would say that being the one holding the stick." Gran said before hopping down.
"Me next!" Eep said enthusiastically and jumped up to grab the root. "Come on, come on!"
"Wow Eep, you're pretty eager to get clean." Ugga chuckled.
"I wanna hurry up and go meet the new neighbors." Eep replied before her mother used the stick on her.
"Frankly I just wanna ignore them." muttered Grug before it was his turn. "Ugga are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes, I want us to make a good impression and show they're welcome here." she spoke while beating the dirt off him. "Meaning we all need to be on our best behavior, that means you too, mom."
"Why am I the one you always single out?"
"You know why." Ugga replied.
After the Crood family got cleaned they headed out. "I just don't know about this Ugga, these people, they're just so...weird. I don't think me and Chief have anything in common."
"That's not true, both of you seem like tough, and strong leaders for starters and You're both hunters."
"Oh yeah, because a real hunter needs to throw sticks." Grug grumbled.
After a bit of searching they soon arrived at their destination. They spotted numorus homes made from sticks and pelts with the residents moving about and more of the fire on small sticks stuck in the ground.
"Watch yourselves, we're in enemy territory." Gran whispered.
"Wow." spoke Thunk seeing all the various masks. "You know, in the daylight they don't seem all that scary."
"Don't drop your guard, they might use that to strike." whispered Gran.
"I don't know, they look more afraid of us then we are of them." Ugga said noticing how edgy they looked.
Eep was looking around diligently before spotting Willow, Chief, and pops sitting around a fire. "Ooh! Over there!"
"Ah, our fellow neighbors have arrived." smiled Willow while her husband tried to hide his displeasure. "Welcome to the camp of the Tenties." She greeted kindly.
"Is that what you call yourselves?" questioned Gran still on the defensive.
"Yes, is that a problem?" asked Chief. "You live in caves, we live in tents."
"Chief, behave." Pops spoke.
"It sounds very nice." spoke up Ugga quickly.
"Well it's not as sturdy as a cave but it's just as easy to move. Makes things easier when you've been wandering as long as we have." Willow said.
"So, where's Guy?" Eep asked.
"He went off for more firewood. But don't worry lunch is almost ready." said Willow gesturing to the fire where pieces of meat on sticks were over an open fire turning brown. "After it's done, your mouths will be screaming for joy." she said with a grin.
"Or probably from the bad taste, just look at it." muttered Grug with a grimace before Ugga elbowed him making him shut up quickly.
"I'm sure it tastes better than it looks." the cavewoman said.
"And….they're done." Pops said grabbing a stick. "Dig in."
The Croods reached down, most more hesitant and picked up sticks while Thunk was drooling from the smell.
He took a bite before his eyes widened. "Wooooah! It's an avalanche of flavor!" he cried before he started biting into it with gusto surprising his family.
Gran took a bite and in seconds she started tearing it apart. "Wow! Now that's pretty darn good!"
The rest followed suit and all but Grug hummed in satisfaction.
"This is amazing!" smiled Ugga while Sandy let out a sigh as she tried licking her bone clean. "It tastes like the usual meat, but it's so different at the same time."
"It's...okay." Grug said not wanting to sound impressed.
"Are you crazy! It feels like my mouth is getting all warm and tingly." smiled Eep eating the last bite. "Oohhhh, so good!"
"I feel like I could eat this forever and ever!" smiled Thunk with Sandy jumping over on him to try and munch on his stick. "Hey no! No Sandy, this is mine!"
The sight got a good laugh from the hosts.
"I gotta say, this meat is better than anything we've ever had before." remarked Ugga.
"Thank you," Willow said happily accepting the compliment. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."
"This is the power of fire, the power to warm up meat to the point it surpasses sheer raw meat." spoke Chief. "Yet it's full potential is still unknown even to us."
"Ah! Here comes Guy." smiled Willow with the boy walking over with his arms full of sticks. "Guy, our guests are here!"
"That's great to hear, sorry I couldn't be by earlier, had to get plenty of wood to keep the fire going." he said walking up, not noticing Eep looking at him.
"Well our guests have taken quite a liking to the meat from your first kill." Chief stated.
"Good to hear." Guy smiled handing the sticks to Pops who then placed them in the fire as his grandson sat next to him. "I'm just happy to finally be playing a part in the hunts."
"Well you've earned it son, after all you were going to participate eventually." smiled Pops. "You should be proud of yourself Guy."
"Well I'm definitely feeling it, I've even been working on something to make it extra easy. Some kind of tool with holes in it, but made of vines all tied togather and can even be thrown over the predators. I'm thinking of calling it...a net but I haven't tested it yet" he admitted with a smiled while Eep felt herself swoon which Grug took notice of and frowned.
"I'm sure it works fine m'boy.'
Sandy burped and licked the bone she had clean before looking over at Belt who moved off Guy's waist to grab some meat for himself.
"Pops, don't call him a boy, he's a man now after all." Spoke Chief as Sandy crawled to sneak up on the creature.
Belt himself smiled at the warm meat before getting a feeling that made him turn and saw Sandy moving towards him with a hungry glint. He gulped before ripping the meat in half and handed her some.
She looked confused at the gesture before biting into the meat with a growl and started tearing into it with gusto while Belt sighed in relief.
"How is guy a man?" Grug questioned "He looks like he can't be much older then my eldest daughter Eep here."
"Yeah, how does that work?" Asked Ugga.
"Well you see, Our people have what we call, A Right of Passage. A test to prove a boy can do things that benefit the group as a whole. Guy took the test yesterday and passed. At last night's ceremony it was made official. Just before you all showed up." Chief explained with a hint of disdain.
"So he's technically a man, even though he's still young?" asked Thunk looking lost.
"That's about right," Guy spoke. "and it's got its perks too, I can stay up as long as I want, hunt with the other men, and take a woman to be my wife."
Hearing that made Eep blush and look away which Grug didn't like one bit
"Are you sure you're ready for that?" Questioned Ugga. "Marriage is a big commitment."
"Well I'm not looking to get married yet, but now that I'm a man I'm gonna keep my eyes open now."
Grug couldn't help but sigh. 'Well that's a relief.'
"Hey, maybe you should go with Eep over here?" chuckled Gran. "She's a bit of a spitfire, but still a good catch."
"Gran!" spoke Eep with a blush and Grug with annoyance.
"What? Just poking a bit of fun." she chuckled while Ugga shook her head.
"Forgive my mom, she likes to stir up trouble."
"Heeheehee. I can relate." laughed Pops. "Nothing like scaring the young folk to keep them on their toes."
"Bear Owl!" called out one of the Tenties running up to the camp making them turn and see the animal running towards them with a roar.
"We gotta go, now!" Grug barked in fear as the Croods sprang up ready to run.
"No need to fear," spoke Chief quickly standing up and grabbed a stick from the fire. "We can take care of it!" He then charged towards the Bear Owl.
"Are you crazy? It'll eat you alive!" Grug shouted before noting others were following him. "Are you ALL insane?!"
"Hey at least they're the ones risking the hides instead of us." Gran shrugged.
"Maybe we should try and help them." suggested Eep.
"Don't worry Tiger girl we got this." Guy said with a confident smile before running to his family's tent and grabbed something. He came out with a cluster of vines tied together while the Bear Owl roared and tried swiping at nearby Tenties.
They barely avoided the attacks before throwing the flaming sticks at its face. It roared in pain and tried swiping at the flames.
"You're mine beast!" Chief bellowed. "Spear!" He yelled out before one of his men tossed him a pointed stick. He then tried jabbing at the animal in the side.
It yelped and jumped away in response. It saw Guy running towards it and narrowed it's eyes before Guy tossed the vines at the animal before it came unfurled. The creature was tangled in the mess of vines not long after.
"Yes! My net worked!"
"Bring it down!" Chief ordered before the men tossed vines with loops and tried pulling the creature down.
The Bear Owl roared and tried struggling against the binds, but it was pulled to the ground.
"No way!" Thunk let out while the other Croods were too shocked to speak.
"Hurry! Finish it!" Grug called.
Chief walked up to the creature as it looked up to him, teeth bared and anger in its eyes. "Your meat will not go to waste." he said raising the spear. But the creature didn't seem intimidated one bit. "Hmm. You have much courage to come here, especially with our numbers clear as the day." he lowered the spear before he took a knee and looked to creature in the eyes.
The Bear Owl growled at Chief with the human raising his hand out near it's head. The Croods watched with bated breath as he reached his hand down through the net and rubbed it's neck.
"Wow, even I'm not that crazy." muttered Gran before the Bear Owl froze and its eyes widened.
"Easy now." He said before watching the anger in its eyes slowly vanished. "Bring me some meat!"
Guy grabbed some meat on a stick before running over to them. "Here you go dad."
He took it and held it over the beasts nose. "Now then, take a whiff of this."
It narrowed it's eyes before sniffing at the meat and let out a growl of caution before Chief let it take a bite. When it did it's eyes widened.
"You like that huh?" he smiled while letting it bite into more of it. "You can get more of this you know, but only if you listen." He spoke and cut the vines.
"What are you doing?!" spoke Eep with Grug moving over and grabbing a rock.
Once the vines were cut the beast stood up before Chief tossed the meat in the air. It opened its mouth and gnashed at it before eating it with a purr.
"Good boy." he smiled before walking over and rubbed it's cheek. "It's okay now everyone!"
The tenties lowered their spears while the Croods were blown away.
"What just happened?" Asked Ugga.
"He's magic." Thunk smiled with a look of wonder in his eyes.
"Actually, he tamed it's heart." smiled Willow. "Once a creature feels comfortable and is fed it's wild tendencies tend to dull."
"Wow, that's amazing." smiled Eep before seeing Chief bring the beast closer.
"Come, he will not harm you."
Eep wanted to reach out, but her father pulled her away.
"I think we've had enough excitement for one day, we should be going."
"But dad, I wanna pet it."
"It's time to go Eep." He said hauling her on his shoulder.
"Dad!" she groaned before seeing Guy walk over with a smile.
"It was great having you all come over, maybe we can have it happen again some other day." Willow called out.
"We'd love that." Ugga called out before following Grug.
"Don't count on it." muttered Grug as the others followed away. "I told you they were weird Ugga."
"Oh come on Grug, sure they had some new stuff that we've never seen before, but it wasn't too bad. A little off, but…. Okay the bear owl thing was new."
"See? Anything that's new like that can't be good." He stated firmly.
"What about the time we made naps?" asked Thunk.
"Well, ok that was new, but it was very helpful and didn't endanger us. But all that fire, that 'net', and feeding a Bear Owl up close? We're just lucky we left before they got us all killed."
"Dad can you put me down now?"
"Only after we get back to the cave and after you forget about that weird boy, I noticed how you kept staring at him."
"Uuuugh!" she groaned.
"Sounds like Eeps got another crush." spoke Thunk with a gulp. "Maybe we should have her sleep outside."
"Relax Thunk, it's the first crush that's most dangerous, any others after are much more minor." spoke Ugga. "It was the same with me and Snort Slag."
"Who?"
"Exactly."