This is it, Pride Team fans! The last chapter of the Pride Team's second Ice Age adventure! And like I promised to my other fans, after this chapter, I'll put the Pride Team Adventures on hold to continue one of my Xenoverse stories. Now then, enjoy the last meltdown chapter, folks!
Max, Simba, and Manny were still trying to push the log to move the rock in order to save Kate, CatDog, and Ellie. Problem is that the log is now underwater. Without much of a choice, Max, Simba, and Manny held their breath and dove into the water to continue pushing.
By now, the water in the cave went up to Ellie's neck. The female mammoth herself poked a hole with her trunk to take in a good amount of air. Kate was now on Ellie's head while CatDog were on her back.
Cat shook and trembled as he looked down at the rising water. "Oh, please let Max and the others save us!" Cat was praying to any of the Legendary Pokemon out there.
Even underwater, Max, Manny, and Simba still couldn't get the log to open up the cave. They were starting to believe that hope was lost and swam back up to get some air.
Riolu's group, plus the three Outsiders, ran up to the last highest rock platform that was still above the water when they noticed their three leader-like friends next to the cave their other four friends are stuck in.
"There they are!" Pumbaa pointed to Max, Manny, Simba and the cave trapping Ellie, Kate, and CatDog. The others, even Sneasel, Wynaut, and Snorlax looked worried.
Manny noticed Ellie's trunk sticking out of a hole in the cave. "Ellie, hold on to me!" He held her trunk with his trunk. Ellie was very relieved to find out Manny wouldn't leave her side.
Not one to give up that easily, Max turned his head to those on the rock platform. "We need help! Manny, Simba, and I aren't strong enough to get the cave open ourselves!"
Knowing what lurks in the water, Sneasel looked at the Pikachu like he was a crazy Electric-Type. "I'm not dipping a single toe in that water! Cretaceous and Maelstrom are still down there!"
"What?" Max asked in confusion. He and Simba were holding on to Manny's tusks for support.
To answer the question, something grabbed Manny by the tail and began to drag him, Max, and Simba underwater. It also forced Manny to let go of Ellie. The female mammoth panicked when she felt Manny's grip slip away. In fact, Kate and CatDog panicked with her as they were finally submerged underwater.
Max and his two friends quickly held their breath as Cretaceous kept his hold on Manny's tail as he pulled the three of them further underwater. They panicked when they saw Ellie's trunk being pulled back into the cave.
Manny, Simba, and Max were finally free, but they were pretty deep underwater. To make things worse, Cretaceous and Maelstrom were circling around the three of them. Their eyes widened in horror when they saw that it was same fish from yesterday.
Maelstrom swam up to them to attack. He hit the trio who grunted and kept holding their breath. Cretaceous attacked them from the other side. Cretaceous made to attack the three of them again, but Manny kicked him away. This bought them enough time to swim back up to the surface and then they gasped for much needed air.
While relieved to see that their friends were safe, Riolu, Timon, Pumbaa, Sid, Diego, Crash, and Eddie noticed that the Pikachu, the lion, and the male mammoth were still in some danger.
"Max, Simba, Manny! Look out, behind you!" Riolu warned. He and the others saw that Cretaceous and Maelstrom were coming to attack once again.
Max, Manny, and Simba glared at the fish coming their way, and then an idea came to Max. "Guys, follow my lead!" He informed Manny and Simba before he held his breath and dove into the water again. In confusion, Manny and Simba followed their friend underwater anyway. Cretaceous and Maelstrom dove after them.
When Max motioned to the log in the rock cave, Manny and Simba knew what the Pikachu had in mind now. They swam, making it look like they were having trouble doing so, to the log and held on to it as they glared at the two fish coming their way. Seeing their prey trapped like underwater rats, Cretaceous and Maelstrom opened their jaws for the kill.
That's just what Max was hoping for. He, Manny, and Simba swam up just before the fish could get them. Cretaceous and Maelstrom pushed hard on the log and unknowingly opened up the cave. Max then used his Electro Ball on the rock so that it would fall on top of Cretaceous and Maelstrom. The rock fell on top of the two fish that let go of the log and the heavy weight of the rock made Cretaceous and Maelstrom sink into the darkness below...to their deaths.
Max, Simba, and Manny stared at the spot where the sea enemies had sunk before they turned their attention to the open cave next to them.
Back on the rock platform, Riolu, Timon, Pumbaa, Sid, Diego, Crash, Eddie, and even Sneasel, Wynaut, and Snorlax looked out on the water with worried looks on their faces.
Just then, two familiar trunks emerged from the water and sucked in as much air as possible. Max and Kate were next to emerge and finally Simba who had CatDog on his back. They were gasping for air as well.
"There they are!" Crash exclaimed happily. The others saw them as well.
"Wow, they defeated Cretaceous and Maelstrom?" Sneasel asked in shock.
"Yeah!" Sid cheered. Then he shared a high-five with Eddie.
"Woo-Hoo!" Timon cheered happily. Manny, Max, and Simba were helping Ellie, Kate, and CatDog to the rock platform the others were on.
The others rushed in to help. Those who had arms helped pull Ellie to the platform. Riolu, however, pulled Max and Kate out of the water. Simba and Manny were able to get on the platform on their own with CatDog still on the lion's back. Seeing that their sister was still alive, Crash and Eddie hugged her in relief. "We thought we'd never see you again." Eddie told her.
Ellie was glad that Crash and Eddie found help and looked up at Manny who smiled at her in relief.
The others smiled at the two mammoths. Then Max and Kate turned to each other. "Kate, I'm sorry for what I said." Max suddenly apologized.
Kate quickly realized what the Pikachu meant and shook her head. "No, Max. If anyone should apologize, it should be me. I'm sorry about what I said to you back in front of the fields. I didn't mean it when I said you were the worst leader. In fact, I feel the exact opposite about you." She smiled warmly at Max. "In my opinion, you're about the best leader I've ever met."
Max was surprised, but still he smiled warmly at the Togetic who was once a human herself. CatDog smiled when they saw that their sister made up with their leader.
"We're gonna live!" Sid cheered happily.
They may have saved each other, but the seventeen of them forgot that they were too late to board the boat. To make things worse, they saw that the water was still rising up to their platform.
"We're gonna die!" Sid wailed in dismay and slumped.
Seeing no way out of this, they tried to stay afloat or out of it. Sneasel and Wynaut climbed up to Snorlax's head, Sid, Crash, Eddie, Max, Kate, and Riolu climbed up Manny and Ellie's backs, Diego and Simba tried to not become submerged and CatDog were hanging on to Simba in fear.
Suddenly thousands of screams caught their attention. "Now what's up?" Wynaut asked. They all turned to see the pillar supporting the boat crumbled underneath it, tipping the giant tree into the water. The tree was able to stay afloat with relieved animals on it.
"Hey! The boat's leaving without us!" Cat cried out. He and the other sixteen looked on as the water kept rising.
Unaware to anybody, the condor's nest was floating gently in the water, but it was now empty. Why? Because Scrat didn't want to risk sinking on the nest and drowning. Right now, he was climbing up the ice wall, digging and pulling his acorn as a make-shift ladder to climb up higher and higher. He was already halfway up the wall and didn't plan on stopping until he got to the top.
The water was now beginning to engulf the Pride Team, the herd, and the Outsiders. They were running out of time.
Sneasel gulped in fear. "I never thought I'd go out like this."
"Drowning in a flood made from the melting ice of the Ice Age?" Wynaut asked.
"No, with our enemies that kicked us out of the Pride Lands." Sneasel answered.
Finally, thrusting the acorn at the edge of the top, Scrat pulled himself up to the top of the ice wall. He leaned on his acorn and panted in exhaustion.
However, due to his weight on his prized nut, Scrat had the acorn pushed deeper into the ice. He gasped in horror when he saw that the ice began to crack. His eyes widened when he saw the ice cracking towards the other side of the wall. And the ice cracked down towards the water thanks to Scrat's footprints and acorn marks.
The crack went into the water and made a couple of bubbles. Then everything was silent. This made Scrat whimper. After a few seconds of silence, the ice wall began to crack in half right underneath Scrat's feet.
Scrat screamed and nearly fell in between, but he managed to hold on to both sides and catch his acorn with his foot.
Hearing a cracking sound, and with no idea who was responsible, Max and the other sixteen turned to their left. To their confusion, the wall was began to crack and slowly drift apart.
"What's going on?" Dog asked the others.
"I don't know!" Riolu answered honestly.
Pumbaa then noticed something else happening. "Look!" He pointed at what he was looking at. The water was flowing into the crack and draining from where they were standing.
As the ice drifted further and further away, Scrat was feeling the pain of his arms stretching along, but he kept his grip on the drifting ice. He then became a ball within himself. With his feet sticking into his body, he lost his grip on his acorn. When he tried to reach it, he felt the grip of his left hand slipping. He lost his grip, and while he was back to normal, he began to fall down between the drifting ice. He screamed as he and his acorn fell down, then he landed in the flowing water that was flowing underneath him.
While they may not know what happened, Max's group and the three Outsiders looked on as the water drained so fast that in no time, there was nothing left of the flood water except for some puddles and the original lakes came back as well. The flood was now over!
Smiling at the unbelievable stroke of luck they've just had, all seventeen of them climbed off each other and began to walk down to the ground. Kate quickly remembered that she can use Roost and used it to heal herself, so now she was happily flying next to her friends and her brothers again. The nearly sunset was seen between the valley's new doorway. The boat landed on the ground next to it. While all of them were confused by what just happened, all of the animals on board happily got off in relief. But...the molehog grandpa from before wouldn't leave, even as his grandsons were trying to get him to let go of the boat.
Next to the boat, Fast Tony was rowing on Stu's shell before he landed on dry land again. "Stu, we made it. We're gonna live!" He exclaimed happily. He then remembered that his assistant has been dead since day one of the flood threat. He still smiled anyway. "Well...I am, anyway."
As they passed James playing tag with his friends again, Riolu, Timon, Pumbaa, Sid, Diego, and CatDog paused in their steps. They were in the middle of their own conversation.
"I may not know what exactly happened, but I'm just glad that the flood's over now." Cat said happily.
"What do you guys think made that wall crack anyway?" Pumbaa asked in confusion.
Timon just waved it off. "Ah, who cares? It's not important. Let's just be happy that we didn't die a watery death."
"This may have been our first adventure where none of us saved the day, but I'm fine with it. An adventure is an adventure no matter what." Riolu happily said.
"You know, I'm thinking about starting a swim school." Sid said.
Dog smiled at his sloth friend. "Great idea, Sid! Uh, what are you gonna call it?"
"Sid's Squids." Sid answered. He imagined his new swim school already while the others smiled at the suggestion. But, when the sloth looked down, he screamed before quickly climbing over Diego and hid behind him. The saber and the other five flinched in great surprise. In front of them was the tribe of mini-sloths that took Sid last night.
"The mini-sloths were real?" Riolu asked in disbelief.
"Unbelievable!" Cat said.
"Sid was telling the truth about them all along." Pumbaa added.
"All hail Fire King!" the leader of the tribe proclaimed. She and the other mini-sloths bowed down to Sid who awkwardly walked out from behind Diego.
"Fire King?" Timon and Cat shared dumbfound looks while Diego gave his sloth friend a raised dumbfound eyebrow.
"Uh...hi?" Sid weakly waved.
"Hi!" the mini-sloths shot up and mimicked Sid once more. The seven friends shared uneasy glances before they turned back to the mini-sloth tribe.
"Fire King avert flood. Join us, O great and noble flaming one." the leader and the rest of the tribe thought Sid stopped the flood with some sort of 'fire power'.
Hearing this made Sid smirk at the idea. The others frowned in concern.
Diego then decided to say something to the tribe. "Whoa! No, not so fast there, okay? You make a quality offer. But Fire King has a prior commitment. His herd needs him. He is the gooey, sticky stuff that holds us together." Sid cringed at first, but then he and the others smiled at what Diego was trying to say. "He made this herd, and we'd be nothing without him." the saber himself concluded while giving his sloth friend a warm friendly smile. Still he felt embarrassed, but he respected Sid as a friend and part of a true family.
Sid felt emotional at what Diego said, and even more when he saw his other five friends nodding in agreement. "You mean it?" He then gave Diego a hug, much to the tiger's further embarrassment.
"Sid, Sid! I-" Diego then sighed and tried to push Sid away. "That doesn't mean 'want to touch'." Still, Sid kept hugging the embarrassed tiger. Riolu and the other four saw that the mini-sloths were mimicking Sid one more time and hugging each other.
That's when Max, Kate, Simba, Manny, Ellie, Crash, Eddie, Sneasel, Wynaut, and Snorlax walked over to the other seven and they were confused by all the hugging.
"Don't ask." Diego sighed in defeat. "Don't worry." Sneasel replied.
Just then, Max's ears twitched when he and the others heard a distant sound coming from the newly made entrance. The sun was shining through and the rumbling scared some birds away. Then they saw shadowy figures coming into the valley. Manny squinted his eyes to get a better look.
Approaching the valley...was actually a large herd of mammoths, plus some Mamoswine. This amazed the Pride Team, the herd, the Outsiders, and even the other animals in the valley. It turns out that mammoths weren't extinct after all, they were just on the other side of the ice wall and the other side of the valley, just like what Cat said yesterday.
Max, Riolu, Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, Sid, Diego, Kate, CatDog, Crash, Eddie, Sneasel, Wynaut, and Snorlax moved aside and watched the mammoths and Mamoswine walk past.
The other amazed animals moved aside while Manny and Ellie walked over before stopping in the middle. Some of the mammoths and some of the Mamoswine were kinda surprised to see two mammoths already in this valley, but the herd just kept on walking.
"We're not the last ones anymore!" Ellie cheered happily. She then turned to follow the mammoth and Mamoswine herd, but she stopped and turned her head to see that Manny just turned and watched her. "You're not coming?"
"You want to go with them?" Manny asked. He tried to not sound disappointed.
Ellie smiled and approached Manny. "I am a mammoth. I should probably be with a mammoth. Don't you think?" By now the other animals walked away to return to their homes.
As much as he loved Ellie, Manny thought that maybe it was best that they parted ways now that the danger of the flood is over. He just didn't want to risk a repeat of what happened to his first wife and child. "Yeah, unless..."
"Unless?" Ellie urged gently.
"Unless, I...I just wanna say...I need to tell you..." Manny tried, but then he sadly concluded what he had to say. "I hope you find everything you're looking for."
Hearing this made Ellie realize that the male mammoth in front of her was saying goodbye. "You too." She replied sadly. She then walked off to join the mammoths and the Mamoswine.
Max and the others, minus the Outsiders who were helplessly confused, were shocked when they realized that this was goodbye. Crash and Eddie didn't really want to leave their friends, but they couldn't leave their mammoth sister either.
The Pride Team, Sid, and Diego looked at the heartbroken Manny before they turned to the sad possum twins since they knew the two of them had to go too.
In sadness, Crash tapped his chest twice and gestured two fingers at the team before he walked off to catch up to Ellie. The others waved at Eddie, even Simba, Pumbaa, and Diego smiled sadly. Eddie waved back sadly before he ran with Crash to catch up with Ellie.
The Outsiders realized that this was becoming an emotional moment for the Pride Team who looked back at Manny who was sadly looking at his reflection in a puddle in front of him.
"Boy, and I thought I was blue." Wynaut muttered sadly.
Despite being enemies, Sneasel thought of a way to repay Max for saving them. So he walked over to the Pikachu and placed a clawed hand on his shoulder. This made Max look at him in confusion. "You know, just before the big battle for Pride Rock, you and your lion friend said that you put your past behind you in order to look into the future."
Max raised a confused eyebrow at his enemy. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that someone should tell your big sad friend to do the same. Don't you think?" Sneasel smiled a little.
While he didn't know why Sneasel was being nice to him now, Max knew that the Outsider was right. Max, Riolu, and Simba put the past behind them and looked forward to the future together and they were happy with the lives they have now. So now, someone needs to give Manny the same advice that Max, Riolu, and Simba were given before.
Manny kept looking at his reflection, but then he noticed Max's reflection in the puddle. "Manny?" Max waited until he got Manny's attention. "You've seriously came a long way since we met, and I'll let Sid get credit for that, but you've gotta put the past behind you in order to have a future. Your family would've wanted you to move on."
Manny was silent, but with the expression and encouragement coming from his friend, he realized that the leader was right. The only other ones who approached Manny were Riolu, Sid, and Diego.
"Go on, Manny. Go after her." Riolu encouraged.
"It's okay. We'll always be here for you." Sid may not like the fact that his first friend was leaving, but he was still gonna smile for him.
Manny smiled emotionally at his four friends. "I'll keep in touch."
"Yeah, yeah. You're a good friend. Point made. Now, go on. Scat." Diego was emotional himself, but he still smiled and motioned Manny to Ellie.
Nodding and giving all of his friends a mental goodbye, Manny hurried to catch up with Ellie. He silently thanked Max, Riolu, Sid, and Diego for opening his eyes and to move on. It's now time for him to begin a new life.
"Hey, where's he going?" Snorlax asked in confusion.
Simba smiled in understanding. "To start a happy new life with Ellie."
Dog looked on in sadness. "Our Manny's growing up so fast."
A sniffle was heard and they turned to see that Cat was wiping his eyes. "What? I just have something in my eye."
"Ellie! Ellie!" Manny called out to Ellie, breaking into a run.
Ellie heard the call and turned around to try and see Manny again. Crash and Eddie were on her back. "Manny?" She cried out. The possums got off to give their sister a moment.
Ellie jumped a little when she saw Manny in front of her. The male mammoth was hanging on a tree upside down by his tail...like a possum would. "Ellie, I don't want us to be together because we have to. I want us to be together because we want to. And I want to be with you, Ellie." He told her with a smile.
Hearing this made Ellie beam a huge smile.
"So, what do you say?" Manny asked a bit awkwardly.
"Oh, Manny. I thought you were going-" Ellie flinched when Manny crashed to the ground when the branch snapped. "Whoa!"
Manny sighed in embarrassment. Ellie just chuckled and gently moved the branch from Manny's face. "You're possum enough for me."
Smiling in return, Manny stood up. The two of them then nuzzled each other lovingly and locked their trunks together.
The mammoths and the Mamoswine stopped and saw what the two mammoths were doing. The mammoths were trumpeting their happiness for the new couple while the Mamoswine gave off their own cheer. "MAAAAAAAMOOOOO!"
Crash and Eddie were happy and emotional, and now they were breaking down, crying. Crash even blew his nose with Eddie's tail. Eddie noticed after wiping away a tear.
Max and the rest of his team that came with him smiled at the new happy couple, and now it was time for them to return to their own time period with the three Outsiders standing next to them.
"Well, I guess it's time for me and my team to get going too. We've gotta get those three back home." Max pointed to Sneasel, Wynaut, and Snorlax. The three of them looked like they've had enough of being 20,000 years in the past. "Sorry we can't go with you guys. Are you two going to be okay?" The Pikachu then asked Sid and Diego.
Sid shrugged sadly. "We'll be fine, Max. It's just me and Diego now. Two bachelors knocking about in the wild. Woo-hoo." He replied in good nature. He and Diego began to walk away to leave the valley as part of migration.
"Fine. But I'm not gonna carry you. I still have my pride, you know." Diego insisted to Sid with a smirk.
"Oh, come on, buddy, for old time's sake." Sid pleaded with his paws clasped together.
"I'll carry him!" Manny's voice startled everyone, Sid was suddenly grabbed in the neck by Manny's trunk. Manny then placed Sid on his back.
"Manny?" Max asked in surprise. "Ellie?" Kate asked in equal surprise.
"But your herd's leaving." Simba reminded the mammoth, puzzled.
"We are now!" Manny replied happily.
Max looked really happy to see that Manny wanted to stay with his friends AND his love after all. "Well, we need to get going. So, until we meet again."
"Will that be soon?" Ellie asked hopefully.
Kate nodded. "It will be, someday. So long."
The herd waved goodbye to the Pride Team and began to walk away from the valley.
"Shotgun!" Crash happily cried out. He and Eddie slid off Ellie's trunk and landed on Diego's back. Instead of trying to push the possums off, Diego just smiled and let the possum twins ride on his back. The six of them began to leave the valley while the Pride Team watched them go.
"Manny, who do you like better? Me or Diego?" Sid asked.
"Diego. It's not even close." Manny replied, half sarcastically.
Diego laughed. "Aha! Told ya."
"Manny, you can't choose between your kids!" Ellie scolded.
"He's not my kid. Not even my dog. If I had a dog, and my dog had a kid, and the dog's kid had a pet, that would be Sid." Manny explained, also half sarcastically.
"Can I have a dog, Manny?" Sid asked the male mammoth.
"No." Manny answered.
"Ellie, can I have a dog?" Sid asked the female mammoth hopefully.
"Of course you can, sweetie." Ellie happily replied.
"Ellie, we have to be consistent with him." Manny gently warned.
The Pride Team smiled as they saw their six Ice Age friends migrate from the valley.
"They're gonna have a happy life together. They're living happily ever after." Pumbaa happily said.
"What book did you get that from?" Timon asked with his arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.
"Can we please go now? I promised Banzai I'd play cards with him back at the Elephant Graveyard." Sneasel said impatiently.
A portal suddenly appeared in front of them. "Yeah, we can go. Our ride's here." Riolu happily said.
"How did that get here?" Snorlax asked in confusion.
Simba shrugged, "I guess Rafiki and Celebi figured out that we finally got you guys to come back to our time period with us."
"So...that's really our ticket back to the present?" Sneasel asked carefully.
"Yeah." Max nodded.
"Make room! I'm going in! DEAL ME IN, BANZAI!" Sneasel happily jumped into the portal.
"Hey! I wanna see our hyena friends too!" Wynaut rushed into the portal. Snorlax silently jumped in after them.
Max chuckled and shook his head. "Come on, guys. We'd better follow them." As the others nodded, Max, Riolu, Kate, CatDog, Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa jumped into the portal to return to their own time.
Just as Fast Tony looked at the portal in confusion, it closed up. Despite his confusion about the strange portal, Fast Tony just shrugged and walked off to try and sell something else.
Meanwhile, in a mysterious place surrounded by clouds, Scrat emerged and looked around him in confusion.
The last thing he remembered was being carried by the water from the flood. Next thing he knew, he's surrounded by fluffy white and light yellow clouds.
He scurried around to find a way out of here. Behind him, a flock of dead dodos sang a chorus before they disappeared. That made Scrat whimper, he was getting scared.
Scrat looked behind him as he walked forward, so he wasn't looking where he was going. He then hit his head on something hard and flung backwards, landing on his back.
Standing up and groaning, Scrat tried to regain his senses. Blinking in surprise, he saw that what he hit was a big golden gate with an acorn design on top of it.
The gates slowly opened up to welcome Scrat in because he unknowingly gave his life to save thousands of other lives.
Confused at first, Scrat gasped when he looked forward. There were a bunch of acorns as far as the eye could see. Now realizing that he was dead, Scrat sighed happily and slowly walked forward, passing the open gate.
When he was near two acorns, he happily scooped them up, then he happily scooped up some more and hugged them in happiness.
What he saw next made Scrat drop the acorns he was holding. A giant acorn was hovering in front of the light. Scrat clasped his paws together and his eye pupils briefly turned to acorns. Then Scrat happily danced his way to the acorn slowly.
He was about to touch it...but he suddenly found himself frozen firmly in place. In frustration, Scrat tried to lay as much as a finger on the giant acorn, but then a strong wind began to pull Scrat away.
Scrat screamed and tried to pull himself back in, but he was being pulled back from heaven. He was pulled back in front of the gate that just closed up, but he held on tightly. He didn't want to leave this paradise!
His grip was beginning to slip. Then he finally lost his grip and began to fall from the skies. "WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" He screamed as he did. Then, his world went black.
Feeling water leave his lungs, Scrat felt disoriented and exhausted. Groaning and slowly opening his eyes, he saw a mouth pulling away from him. Kneeling over him was none other than Sid, who just wiped his mouth with his arm.
"I saved you, little buddy!" Sid happily informed Scrat.
Scrat jerked into a sitting position after hearing that and realizing what the sloth did to him. In disgust, Scrat wiped his tongue and spat out a little bit from Sid's 'kiss of life'.
Then, he realized that Sid revived him...and took him away from his acorn paradise in heaven. Narrowing his eyes, Scrat shot to his feet to get revenge. "Aaaah!" He even gave out a battle cry.
"Calm down." Sid tried to say, but Scrat knocked him away. Sid ran as he was trying to reason with Scrat. The angry saber-tooth squirrel was having none of that and kept kicking Sid's butt.
Both of them disappeared over the hills because Sid was trying to get back to his herd as quickly as possible.
In the jungle, 20,000 years in the present, Sneasel, Wynaut, and Snorlax popped out of the portal and they looked around them.
Sneasel took a deep breath. "Ah, home at last."
"Oh boy, I can't wait until we tell our hyena friends what happened to us!" Wynaut happily said.
"I'd like to meet these friends of yours." Snorlax then looked scared. "Uh, they're not gonna try and eat me when they see me, are they?"
"Relax, Big Boy. Wynaut and I will put in a good word. We'll make sure Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed don't eat you. Come on." Sneasel, Wynaut, and Snorlax then walked away from the portal to the Elephant Graveyard.
Just after the Outsiders left, Max, Riolu, Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, Kate, and CatDog were out of the portal that closed behind them.
"Well, we're back." Riolu happily said. He and the others looked around the Pride Lands.
Dog then noticed that Outsiders walking away. "Hey! The troublemakers are walking away from us!"
Max just waved it off. "Let'em go, Dog. I have the feeling that those three are gonna be doing some serious relaxing once they get back to the Elephant Graveyard. And I suggest we have a little relaxing time of our own."
"Yeah, we've had some pretty long days. We should get back to the others." Simba agreed.
"I think they're still back at Pride Rock." Timon guessed.
"Well, let's go. We should probably meet up with them." Max suggested. The eight of them began to walk back to Pride Rock.
"Guys? Do you think we'll be able to see Manny, Ellie, Sid, Diego, Crash, and Eddie again?" Pumbaa asked the others hopefully.
"I'm sure that if another event calls for us to travel back in time again, we'll be able to see them again." Riolu assured.
"I have to admit, it was kinda fun hanging out with them and all. But, I don't think I'm in a rush for another time travel adventure." Cat said, but his face was saying differently.
"Cat, are you sure about that?" Simba asked knowingly.
Cat looked kinda nervous. "Well, time travel does kinda tend to...make me sick! Yeah, that's it."
Simba smirked and got closer to Cat. "Now, Cat. You wouldn't happen to be lying to a lion now, are you?"
Pumbaa and Dog laughed happily at that. "That's a good one, Simba!" Dog laughed happily. Max, Kate, and Riolu were laughing along as well.
"Oh, you like that one, huh?" Simba asked with a smile.
"Carnivores, oy!" Timon sighed and slapped his forehead a bit.
Max was busy laughing, he didn't even notice Kate looking at him with a soft smile. What made him finally notice was when Kate kissed him on the cheek.
Max blinked as he looked at the smiling Togetic in front of him. "That was for saving my life a second time." Kate said softly.
Max smiled at Kate in return. "Nothing to it. We're the only human-turned Pokemon on the planet, it's best to stick together. Don't you think?"
Kate nodded, "Definitely."
Max and Kate just looked each other in the eyes, they didn't realize they were slowly leaning closer to each other. They were just about a lips distance away from each other and their eyes were almost closed when...
"Hey! Max, Kate!" The two human-turned Pokemon snapped out of their trance and turned to see their friends ahead of them and it was Riolu that called out to them. "We're ready to head back to Pride Rock! Aren't you two coming with us?"
"Coming, Riolu!" Max replied. The Pikachu waited until the other six began to walk away again before he sighed. "Riolu. You learn to love him."
Kate giggled. "Come on. We should catch up to them."
Max waited a couple of seconds before he smiled and nodded. "Couldn't agree more, Kate."
Kate gave her wings a rest and walked side-by-side with Max. The two human-turned Pokemon looked up at the sky and unknowing held hands as they walked behind their friends.
The End
Well, there you have it. The second Ice Age adventure for the Pride Team is now over! And as promised, I will now put the Pride Team Adventures on hold to focus on my two Xenoverse story series: The X-Pirates & Pokemon Super: Black & White. However, while I am doing so, I would truly appreciate it if you guys would not post questions as reviews asking me about what pairings and what to expect in some sort of wild guess. Yes, Great Saiyaman54, I'm talking to you. Until then, see you guys in one of my Xenoverse stories!