I FOUND MARIANA'S VOICE ACTRESS! The actress is... Jenna D. A. Ronzzio, who voices as Kiara on Lion King II :) One kid playing two cubs!

Thanks to all of my reviewers, Alert-ers and Favorite-ers! :) :) :) I love you all!

Creative chapter title, go! Lol, I'll find something better soon ^^" Deal with it!

DISCLAIMER: I own Mariana and THAT'S. IT.

~Kitty~

Sid smiled as they continued their journey. Ellie and her "brothers" had went ahead to "log slide," or something along those lines. He, Manny, Diego, and Mariana were just peacefully walking along, enjoying the fair weather, when suddenly...

"Ahhhhh!" Sid shouted as he was attacked.

Manny and Diego leaped in front of Mariana, both ready for a fight. But what they found instead of an adversary was quite amusing and irritating.

"A leaf?" Mariana asked, peaking out from behind her father.

Sid quivered by the leaf that was now on the ground, but then noticed everyone staring at him. He quickly straightened out.

"Oh, no! It- It was a..." He paused, realizing they weren't going to buy it. "Alright, but it startled me!"

They all glanced at each other. And then burst out laughing. Sid wasn't amused.

"Okay, no fair! Who wouldn't be surprised?"

"A person with brains?" Mariana giggled.

Sid rolled his eyes and glanced at Diego. "Lovely kid you're raising."

They continued to travel, jabbing Sid with jokes. They finally simmered into a silence, just as they caught up with Eddie and Crash. Ellie wasn't in sight.

"Where's Ellie?" Manny asked.

"Looking... for a... stronger log," Crash strained while they struggled to push the log up a hill.

"Almost... there!" Eddie huffed.

"Okay!" Crash shouted as they pushed a log up a hill. "Ready, Eddie?"

"Set!" he replied.

"Let's roll."

They pushed the log, tipping it over the hill. Crash quickly crawled into the hole of the log, but Eddie was less fortunate.

"Wait for me!" he shouted as he jumped onto the log. He ran to keep up with its rapid rotation, but eventually his tail was caught and he rolled wrapped in the log, screaming. Mariana giggled as they watched them.

Suddenly, Ellie flew by on a log, running on it just as Eddie had. She ran over a tree with her log.

"No brakes! Gotta roll! Meet you at the other end!"

Manny glanced at Sid. "So you think she's the girl for me?"

"Yeah!" he shouted, looking excited. "She's tons of fun and you're no fun at all!"

He put his claws together into a heart. "She completes you."

Manny rolled his eyes. "Yeah."

"Hey, Manny!" Crash shouted as he and his brother scurried up to them. "Can you pull back the tree and shoot me into the pond?"

"No."

"Come on!" Crash pleaded.

"You expect to impress Ellie with that attitude?" Sid asked.

"I don't want to impress her!" Manny defended.

"Then why are you trying to convince her she's a mammoth?" Mariana asked.

"Because that's what she is!" Manny shouted. "I don't care if she thinks she's a possum! You can't be two things!"

"Au contraire, Man-fered," Sid said. "Tell that to the bullfrog, chicken hawk, or turtledove."

"He's never gonna let up on you," Diego said. "It'll be easier on all of us if you just go with it."

Manny resisted the urge to growl. He was still going to decline, but then he locked eyes with Mariana. Her gaze seemed to say, 'Go ahead; have a little fun. Please?'

Manny sighed. "So what do you want me to do?"

Crash and Eddie scurried up the tree, using their tails to keep balance. "Pull the tree back and shoot me into the pond."

"I don't know..." Manny trailed off, squinting his eyes at the twins.

"If you're too lame to do it, we can get Ellie."

"No, no, no. No, I can do it. I can do it," he said, but he wasn't really confident. He was sure that someone was going to end up hurt.

Seeing his doubt, Mariana jumped in. "They want to do it. If they get hurt, they asked for it. Literally."

Manny nodded and grabbed the trunk of the tree. Eddie jumped down when the tree got close enough to the ground, but his brother remained.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, come on!" Crash shouted, anticipation and excitement clear in his voice.

"Have you done this before?" Manny asked, severely doubting it.

"Only a million times!" Crash shouted.

"Farther, farther, farther!" Manny stepped on it, the pressure of the tree easier to handle.

"Perfect. Fire!"

Manny raised his foot, launching the tree upward and Crash into the air. Crash soared with his arms wide, shouting, "Yeah! I can fly! I believe I can flyyy-!"

He promptly smashed face-first into a tree.

"Crash!" Eddie shouted, running on all fours to get to his downed brother. "Crash! Crash!"

"Uh oh," everyone uttered, running to the fallen possum.

"Crash, are you okay?" Eddie asked, grabbing his shoulders and shaking them.

"What happened?" Ellie asked, a worried expression on her face.

"Manny shot him out of a tree!" Eddie cried, cradling his fallen brother. The worry was clear on his face, replacing the childish joy the group was used to.

"What's wrong with you?" Ellie asked sassily, glaring at the offending mammoth. They had never seen her so mad.

"He said he could do it," Manny said, defending himself.

"And you listened to him?" Ellie question, both shocked and trying to prove a point.

"Crash, whatever you do, don't go into the light!" Eddie shouted, shaking his brother's shoulders to try and wake him up.

Diego pulled Mariana close, trying to shield her view from what he thought was the dying possum. She pinned her ears back, her eyes tearing up. She may not have known the long, but she knew that death was a tragedy, for any animal that wasn't her prey. Sid had a frown on his face, deciding to keep quiet. He didn't know how to deal with the situation; all he knew to do was pray that the injuries to Crash weren't as bad as his overdramatic brother was putting on.

Manny looked at Ellie, feeling terrible. He didn't mean to cause the possum any harm; he was just trying to... What was he trying to do? Prove he could be as fun as Ellie? Try to earn the companionship of the three? Get respect? ... Show off? He hated to admit it, but it was a little of all of them. He looked back at Ellie. "Can I help in any way here?" he asked.

"You've done enough," was his curt reply.

Manny's worry was masked by his anger. "Are you happy now?" he asked Sid.

"Crash, Crash, don't leave me!" Eddie shouted.

"Who's gonna watch my back?" he asked no one in particular, near losing his mind. "Who's gonna be my wingman of mayhem?" He paused, jumping to his feet. "Who's gonna roll in that dung patch with me?"

Suddenly (so sudden that it scared everyone), Crash's head shot up. "Dung patch?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Wait, my legs!" he shouted, jumping to his feet. "I can stand!"

"He can stand!" Eddie shouted, overjoyed that his brother was alright.

"I can run!" Crash continued, jogging in place.

"He can run!" Eddie yelled as he ran in circles with Crash. He hugged his brother. "It's a miracle!"

"Hallelujah!" Ellie shouted, jumping around. She earned raised eyebrows from everyone but her two brothers. She chuckled nervously. "What can I say? They're boys. They make my life a little adventure!"

She suddenly glared at the two, stomping over. "You guys are so dead!"

They all flinched at the sight of the "lesson" the possums were being taught. Diego covered Mariana's eyes.

~Later~

The gang soon found daylight ending as they reached an area of downed trees. Manny cleared the path, but Ellie and her brothers jumped ahead playing tag or whatever. It involved weaving through the massive, heavy trees, but the "possum" family took no notice. Ellie had difficulty, but she tried to make it less obvious and continue to have fun.

"She's not half bad," Manny heard to his right. He looked down to see Sid and Diego and his daughter. He waved the tree toward them. Diego and Mariana were smart enough to dodge, but Sid was knocked down. Mariana rolled her eyes and helped him up.

"Crazy and confused," Diego said. At his daughter's glare, he continued after ducking a second tree. "But sweet."

"So?" Manny asked.

"So what's holding you back?" Mariana asked.

He tossed another tree, looking down sadly at the young saber. "My family."

"You can have that again, you know," Sid joined in from inside a hollow tree Manny held in his trunk.

"No, Sid, I can't," Manny glared.

Sid looked mad. "Okay, okay, but think about it! I mean, if you let this chance go, you're letting your whole species go and that's just... that's just selfish!"

Manny's gaze hardened and he flung the tree Sid was in over his shoulder, stomping off.

"I think I'm starting to get through to him," Sid said as Diego and Mariana approached him.

"Sure," Diego said, rolling his eyes. He glanced at his daughter as she let out a yawn.

"Looks like someone's tired," Sid teased.

She glared at him. "No way, sloth."

His eyebrows rose.

Diego smiled at Mariana. "C'mon. Let's set up camp and I'll give you a bath."

Mariana huffed. They found a clear spot nearby. As Sid set up a fire, Diego sat down.

"Mariana, can you go get the twins? They need to know where we're settin up camp, and someone needs to brush up on her tracking skills."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "I do not!" She seemed to change her mind, much to Diego's amusement. She shrugged. "Okay, I guess I do. I'll go get them."

She stuck her nose to the ground. She smelled her father, Manny, Ellie, Sid (bleh), and... There! She caught their scent trail. She weaved in and out if the fallen tree, through a large hole in the ground, and finally coming to rest at the top of a large hill. She spotted them at the bottom, Eddie chasing Crash around with... Was that ash on his fur? Oh well.

Mariana trotted down toward them. She tried to get their attention, but they wouldn't stop. She rolled her eyes.

"What does a saber tooth tiger gotta do to get someone's attention?" she asked herself.

She smiled deviously, the slinked into the bushes...

As Eddie chased Crash, his instincts suddenly detected that they were being watched. He halted, making his brother turn in confusion.

"Dude?" Crash asked, only getting a "Shhh!" as a response.

He felt it too, then. They both looked around, in the sky for hawks, but whoever (whatever) was watching them was good at camoflauge. Suddenly, they were both knocked onto their backs.

"Oh please, don't eat us!" Eddie shouted.

"We're carrying diseases!" Crash yelled, both of their eyes squeezed shut. At the sound of laughter, their eyes opened.

"You guys are silly," Mariana giggled, earning shocked looks from the twins.

"It was you?" they both asked.

Mariana smiled and let them up. "I'm practicing my hunting!" She suddenly paused, looking around. "Daddy told me to come and get y'all to our campsite, but I forgot where that was..."

"Can't you just backtrack?" Eddie asked.

She brightened at this. "Oh yeah!"

She started leading them, humming softly. They jumped in her back, almost taking up her small body. She didn't mind; they barely weighed anything.

"So Blubber Tooth Tiger is your dad?" Crash asked.

She glanced back at them, frowning. "Watch what you say about my daddy."

Eddie threw his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Eh, it was just a question."

She snorted, shaking them off. She turned to face them. "Why don't you like him?"

They looked at each other. Eddie answered. "What makes you think that?"

Confusion was present on her face. "But you act like it."

Crash chuckled. "Nah, playing pranks is how we show our love!"

This only puzzled her more. She decided to leave it alone. She was tired, and the dark was starting to get to her, making her paranoid. They made it back okay, but as soon as she stepped paw into the clearing, Diego grabbed her.

She squealed in surprise, but then settled down as he gave her a bath.

"Wait, where's Manny and Ellie?" Eddie asked, he and his brother looking around for any sight of them. Nothing.

"Ah, I think they went that way," Sid said, pointing.

They looked at each other, wide-eyed. "Our little sister is alone with a male!" they shouted together.

"Little?" Mariana asked from her bath.

They scurried off, leaving the three remaining animals amused and confused.

~Kitty~

*sigh* I think Mariana needs to be a little sweeter in this chapter... Anyone else think she's acting a little off?

I... Am... Not... ACHOO! I am not sick!

~Kitty~