Battle Against Chronos: The Relic War

by evil-catgirl

Alternative universe: The Herd, their friends, their enemies from the past and more unite to battle their most powerful enemy yet - the time keeper Chronos. To survive, they have to help each other and save not only the valley, but the entire world. It all comes down to this. (The idea owner and leader/helper for this story is GrayestLobster7 also credit goes to him :)

2. New friends, new problems

Questions and answers:

How could Raz the kangaroo be Gertie's and Roger's mother?

In this alternative universe, each species can mate with any other ;)

So don't be afraid to ask questions, everything will always be answered in the next chapter.

---

Our group, now named fellowship, hiked in silence through the undergrowth. At least after all wounds and scratches have been treated. Of course you could hear almost every step or sniff like from a certain sloth, but almost everyone was busy with themselves. Surely, because what just happened in front of everyone had to be processed first. Nevertheless, all animals remained vigilant, because even if they were forced to work together, this does not mean that none of their former enemies did not plan to attack again.

Manfred walked ahead of course and didn't really know who to look out for right now. The saber-toothed tigers, the dinosaur fish or Gutt and his crew? The monkey that was to his left with his pirates kept looking at him and grinning strangely, so his eyes went away again.

Ellie, of course, was going next to him, as did his daughter. Julian didn't do this for once, because he strolled further back with Ethan. He thought it was good that he didn't hang on his trunk all the time.

To the right of him, next to Peaches, on whom a tired molehog was sleeping, were the Dakotaraptors. His wife actually suggested she could carry Gavin because of his injuries, but the older Raptor was too proud and probably too stubborn for it. The two children at least tried to be nearby if the father fell over.

The saber-toothed tigers were behind them and he felt somehow sorry for his buddy, because his old pack apparently gaped at the silver-haired tigress as if they hadn't seen one in ages. Now that Manny was thinking about it that might even be true. Nevertheless, everyone should hold back from trying something, because Ellie didn't like it when someone was bothering her best friend. Of course he would help too, but the women were more sensitive to some things.

Shangri Llama blabbered like a waterfall at poor Brooke behind the big cats. The guy really thinks it's all about him. Sid held his girlfriend's paw next to it, of course, but looked like he was going to sleep any moment. Probably because his nap time was due after breakfast.

These fish always flew next to and sometimes over them. The oldest mammoth tried to ignore this generously, because so far they have not been very aggressive.

The rest of the younger mammoths ran behind and the girls giggled about something.

Rudy apparently made the end of their group on which Buck and the possums were sitting on of course.

Somehow he couldn't see Teddy and Gladys, but they are showing up again. Maybe they are sitting on the back of the albino dino and smooching or something similar. They do that all the time when they are bored. So he thought it better not to look for them.

His saber-tooth buddy cleared his throat, so his attention went to this one.

"You really had us all fooled. We didn't know you were also in Gutt's crew." Diego said this about the Raptor father, which everyone thought somehow.

"I'm glad you are out of that group." Manny also found that Gavin wasn't doing too badly in their men's group. New buddy also meant new topics of conversation.

"Technically, Gertie, Roger and I first found this truth out." Louis said after a yawn, because he shouldn't be sleeping on Peaches's back all the way. Also because his girlfriend gave him sharp looks now and then. He tried to ignore it for the time being, which was really difficult.

"Okay, okay. You got me there. Raz and me did meet in the crew and we were madly in love when we first met. She is now just my ex-fiancée." Gavin explained half annoyed, half irritated because everyone wanted to know.

"Fiancée?" The question came from some animals in the group.

"Of course." The oldest raptor confirmed it again, although unwanted. Actually, he had no great desire to chat about the subject in front of everyone. He just didn't like showing weakness. Not now that they had their enemies on their legs and had a more important job.

"It's true. The only ones, who knew about it, were Flynn and Shira." The pirate kangaroo gave the tigress a poisonous look before she spoke further, because they both quarreled about it in the past.

"They kept it a secret fer me. So everythin 'was real sweet, until I made that stupid choice because of Gutt long ago. The Crew or Gavin's ... well it could have been ma family. But I chose Gutt and the crew, naturally, abandoning the eggs ... and him." As Raz spoke, she moved closer until she went between Ellie and Peaches. Just so she didn't have to get louder and that the right dino understood her. During the drama, some of the animals here gasped again.

"Why would you do that?!" Peaches couldn't understand how to choose against love and against the family. She would do anything for Julian and the others.

"I had no choice. Gutt made me do it." It sounded as if the kangaroo was sorry.

"I didn't know anything about true love until now." The pirate captain, on the other hand, didn't care when he was pushing next to Ellie.

"Thanks a lot, Captain Dunderhead!" Raz complained to the monkey.

"I didn't know." And this pretended to feel bad for it.

"Raz is right. That must be one of the worst things you ever made one of your crew mates do, Gutt." Said Julian, who also pushed himself forward and Manny refused to explain to him what pirates are doing all day long.

"I know it looks bad, even for me." The captain made a sympathetic face.

"The point of the matter is, the past is now the past. And you know what we realize?" Ellie now had to get involved.

"What?" Gavin said, a little annoyed because he didn't really like the whole situation.

"Whether you and Shira are pirates or not, you're also still family to us." The saber-toothed tiger gave the mammoth mother a thankful smile when Ellie looked back to her. The older Dakotaraptor and Shira also nodded briefly at each other.

"Yeah, no reason to be mad at you two." The molehog announced, because he tried to get along with Gavin. He should also support his father-in-law. Was he thinking father-in-law? Ok, Louis, we're thinking of other things now, the spiky one commanded himself and his cheeks felt warm. He just hoped no one could see it.

"Now with that out of the way, we're nearing Mammal's Crown." Buck called down from the head of the white dinosaur. When everyone noticed that they were walking to a slope, they stopped. The fellowship finally got a clear view of the whole landscape. Of course, they were all amazed of the beautiful sight.

"We are not in our valley anymore." Ethan announced and would not have thought that it would be really worth it to walk around. He was sure the girls would find this place romantic or something similar. But he also started dreaming easily but before he didn't really think of anything great by Grayson's description.

Roger whistled at the picturesque sight. Well, what he managed to do with his beak. His sister rolled her eyes and showed him how it worked again, with pressing the tongue against the beak and blow air through it.

"So now you can do that again." Ordered Gertie her brother and he whistled again, only this time you heard it properly.

"The water looks so clear." Katie mixed in between the siblings and Roger immediately smiled a little at her from the side. The female raptor looked back and forth between the two before saying anything, but someone nudged her leg. She looked down and found the molehog shaking his head. All right, Gertie thought, but she will definitely annoy the two later.

"And shiny." Meghan added to Katie's sentence and also marveled at the nearby water.

"No wonder Sid and Brooke came here for vacation last year. This is really great." Diego thought about proposing to his wife later that they both treat themselves to a break here. So when they have everything behind them and his old pack has disappeared again, because he didn't trust this peace here a bit, because he knew Soto too well for that.

"Okay, enough sightseeing. Let's find Grayson now and get some answers." Manfred announced aloud when he was fed up with the sight. Besides, he didn't want to wait until his lady next to him thought of spending the second honeymoon here. The place literally sparkled with romance, if you overlooked it.

---

After everyone had commented on the prospect, the head of the herd finally managed to move everyone down the hill. Of course, it wasn't long before they passed other animals.

Now Sid was finally wide awake and, like his friends, heard several teenagers nearby.

"At the local pebble ball tournament, my team is getting the lowest score. We're so dead." Sighed a male aardvark. A shovelmouth next to it also wanted to say something, but then saw Rudy.

"I must be dreaming!"

"Preposterous!" It came from an annoyed start.

"And at my local dining establishment, I do know this however, some of Chronos generals are terrorizing the locals and taking our food for themselves." Throws a young sloth angrily around him.

"If Chronos comes back, we're doomed! We're doomed!" A female saber-toothed tiger seemed desperate as our friends wandered further through this place. A mammoth next to it shook its head.

"Get a hold of yourself!" The bigger one tried to keep her friend on the ground and bonks her playfully on the head with her trunk so that the other realized what she has done.

"Oh, sorry." The tigress immediately apologized for overreacting.

"Thanks, I needed that." The saber tooth also thanked her girlfriend and leaned a little against the mammoth.

"You're ... welcome?" Gave the bigger one a little embarrassed out.

But suddenly the Fellowship heard loud noises nearby, which made them all march there, because maybe someone was attacked again. The noise came from a stage and apparently our friends weren't the only ones who wanted to go to this place, because many literally crowded here. The saber-toothed tigers and some of the others, like Rudy, thought it best to stay further away. Also because Buck did not want the big dinosaur under him to eat up a creatures in panic. Even if his striped colleagues would find some action cool here, the weasel couldn't lose control. It just happened too often in his past.

"Maybe this is about music." You heard Brooke say when Peaches put her and Sid on her back so they could see something too. The female sloth would really like something like a concert, because the day didn't start so well. At least she was happy that they came back here and this place with all of her friends. She also waved to some animals that remembered her from her last visit. Some other tried also now to climb the peach-colored mammoth.

"Hey, not that many!" But apparently some animals didn't mind that they were sitting on Peaches faces.

"We will be nice." Julian warned an energetic marten and took it from his wife's eyes. Then he put it on his head.

"So now you see better. I'm much taller." He said and Peaches gave him a brief thankful smile.
The crowds and volume finally dropped when you saw someone climb on the podium.

"Friends! Fellow mammals! Enemies. And enemies who pretended to be friends." Dramatic music started playing in the background and that alone made Brooke smile even more.

"Prepare to see your worries ... drift away." The guy in front, who seemed to be a raccoon and everyone but the Fellowship was cheering loud.

"Marry me!" Roared a rabbit next to Ellie and now she knew why her husband stopped further back. This is more for the younger generation. Before, she also thought more of a gathering rather than a concert by a music star. But now she couldn't turn around and push back through all the animals.

"Have my children!" Called a molehog girl at Sid's feet and he looked at his girlfriend, who also watched the man on front of all them enthusiastic. He would definitely keep an eye on this ring-tailed guy.

"I love you, Grayson!" A Procoptodon said excitedly next to Gertie, who then added up one and one quickly and wanted to pass on the new information. At least she tried shouting. But then she stopped and thought that could wait until the volume was normal again here.

"And I love you, random mammal! I know rumors have been flying around..." Mammals around our friends made astonished to shocked sounds.

"..but the truth is never as bad as it seems to be. I have just returned from the Labyrinth of Knowledge, where every memory, so even whole events that happened in the world... are recorded in these leaf scrolls." The raccoon took a dramatic pause.

"Hit it, boys!" He said cool with three animals playing upbeat jazz music.

Listen, party poopers, I've got something to say
Dry your weeping eyes, we're gonna be okay.
So you don't have to worry about a dog gone thing
The Labyrinth of Knowledge know everything
The leaf scrolls never lie and, honey, neither does Grayson
It's right here in my paws, all six of them rolled into one
So tuck your little fears and put them right into bed
It says right here that the Fellowship has arrived
And sitting in the audience over there

The audience gasped watched what the prancing raccoon showed, who now turned out to be Grayson for everyone. The Herd, the Crew, the Brat Pack, the saber pack, Scrat, the Dino Birds and the Shangri Llama. Yes, they were all admired and cheered on as if they were now the focus of this show. Grayson gave them a quick nod and continued to sing his song, which he also composed.

Everyone included but not limited to, ha!
Manny, Sid, Diego too,
Cannot forget about Crash and Eddie,
Heck even Ellie too,
Then of course there's the one-eyed buck,
and sweet, sweet peaches,
Next up is the molehog Louis,
Then the sassy Gladys,
After her it's the one and only Shira,
After her Ethan and the Brat Pack

"Then comes Julian." A male rabbit came from the background choir.

"And then comes Teddy." Sang a male mammoth with a deep voice, but the named rabbit thought it was really nice.

"Oh and I love Brookey Brooke." A male saber tooth mixed in harmoniously. The audience just buzzed with the melody.

"Oh and I love Brookey Brooke." A male saber tooth mixed in harmoniously. The audience just buzzed with the melody. Others just screamed entausitically.

"Then the Dino Birds, Gavin, Gertie, and Roger." The song continued on the stage. This was then followed by an instrumental pause in the song and the raccoon on the pedestal raised his voice alone.

"And, who are they? Oh my, who are they?! Some of you may have guessed or realized correct, some of you might be wrong, that's fine if you don't know and these villain's need no musical introduction. There are the Saber Pack, Cretaceous, Maelstrom, Rudy, the Crew and Shangri... LLLLLLLLAMA!"
Further back at the edge of the crowd, the events of the day were becoming increasingly nonsensical for some.

"But he sang it anyway." Whispered Manny, who was rather annoyed by the vocals, to Gavin, who was also standing here.

"A singing racoon? If he goes on like this he's more a sinkcoon." The mammoth thought it was funny and gave a little giggle.

"He painted the stripes on himself so that he doesn't miss his singing assignments." The raptor held a claw to his beak.

"I have pain. Stop making me laugh!" But the complaint came out of the dino more laughingly.

"Can't you two drop this?" Diego inquired, who didn't feel like doing all the kid stuff. It was about serious things beforehand and they now stood here listening to this Grayson singing.

"Is this, what being honored heroes feel like these days?" Squint elbowed Gupta to ask that.

"Forget about it, he's on a roll." The badger shrugged. It was deafening in the front as Grayson sang again. Much to the suffering of some of the group.

As I said before
Dry your weeping eyes,
we're gonna be okay
So you don't have to worry about a dog gone thing
The Labyrinth of Knowledge know everything
The leaf scrolls never lie and, honey, neither does Grayson
It's right here in my paws, all six of them rolled into one
So tuck your little fears and put them right into be

So tuck your little fears and put them right into be

"Big finish!" The mammoth said in a deep voice.

Grayson: So tuck
Audience: Hey!
Grayson: Your fears
Audience: Hey!
Grayson: And put
Audience: Hey!
Grayson: Them
Audience: Hey!
Grayson: To sleep!

---

After the popular singer bowed far too often here and briefly passed his paw to the fans while everyone applauded and screamed again. When it finally came to an end, Grayson suddenly had a wooden pipe with him and actually used the thing to shoot the crowd. Nobody took cover as if it were completely normal. The little prickly one climbed on Gertie and this threw him up in the air. So Louis could catch the thing they were shot at and he landed safely again, the claws of the female raptor. Now that he thought about it, they haven't even practiced such actions much. This showed that they work well together as a team.
The others in her group came closer as the crowds eased because of the other animals. Manny still couldn't understand the enthusiasm for the singer. Probably the others next to him neither.

"Are you all okay? The thing the guy had in his paws looked dangerous." Diego found it a little irresponsible to shoot into the crowd.

"Stay calm, my saber-toothed friend. That was just a little bazooka." Buck explained to the big cat because he didn't think it was dangerous.

"You once shot cactus spikes at me with something like that!" Complained the old Dakotaraptor to the weasel, who of course jumped on it.

"Oh Gavin, the good old days weren't always the worst." The Dino just pushed the other down again.

"So what I have here is not dangerous. Anyway, I think this." The second sentence was added more quietly by Louis and he showed the rolled leaf so that everyone could see what it was supposed to be. However, his girlfriend wanted to know why it was curled up. So he rolled up the thing, which turned out to be a message.

"Meet me at my cave home in ten minutes." Read the molehog out loud so that everyone understands it.

"Ten minutes? Huh, I wonder why?" Sid wanted to know and found it a little shame that the vocal performance was already over.

"Maybe he has answers for us." Peaches said and was a little relieved that they didn't have to look far to find the raccoon. Her father certainly thought so too.

"He did say he came back from Labyrinth or Knowledge. And a labyrinth can be huge." Julian remembered the last time he got lost in a labyrinth. He actually didn't feel like to do it again. At least he wasn't alone this time.

"Yeah." It came from Scrat, which made everyone in the group look at the little guy in surprise.

"Um ... what?" Added the squirrel, because with so many eyes made him uncomfortable.

"Scrat, did you just speak?" Ethan asked carefully, maybe he had misunderstood. So he and the dozen other animals around him.

"Yes. Why?" Scrat asked nervously.

"What about you, my big white buddy? Is there anything you want to chat about?" Buck shuffled up the big dino again. This actually sighed.

"Maybe." Rudy said almost overused.

"And what about the air fish?" Crash looked over at the two.

"Of course."

"D'uh, yeah." Cretaceous and Maelstrom replied as if it were a matter of course.

"Well, take me away and call me dinner. They can actually speak now." Sid started a little freaking out about it.

"Honey, they could express themselves well beforehand. Only now we understand them even better, since they do it with words." Brooke explained to her sloth and took the squirrel in her arms.

"Yup, that's right." Of course, Scrat snuggled up to his angel again and behind Brooke, the saber-toothed squirrel and the male sloth had a stare down duel again.

"Hallelujah!" Announced Ellie to raise the spirits, but wasn't sure yet if she liked the big fish. The two always gave her strange looks.

"Amazing!" It came from Steffie rather sarcastically, but it went under because Katie and Roger were so happy about it and jumped around. At least until the Raptor stumbled again and also brought down the bright mammoth this time. The larger one did not try to land on the dino and unintentionally pulled him on her belly. Roger immediately got up, embarrassed and moved away from her. He looked everywhere, just not in her face.

"Sorry. Again."

"It's fine, really." Katie took the whole thing more relaxed, because Buddy ended up on her too in the past and he was much heavier.
Eddie grinned at his brother and then started to sing.

"Roger and Katie sitting in a tree." Crash couldn't miss it and joined in.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Even Squint took part, because he liked that he could peeve someone again. The bright mammoth sighed annoyed because she didn't think she would be confronted with such childish fuss again. She glanced at the Dakotaraptor, who seemed embarrassed. With her trunk she made sure that the dino had to look elsewhere.

"Don't pay attention to these idiots, we're not teenagers anymore." Then she let go of Roger and walked over to Meghan, who was staring at something else. The remaining Raptor got a very warm head from the touch, but then realized that the rabbit and the possums were still making fun of him.

"Um ... she's right. We only get to know each other better, because otherwise not yet .." The dino noticed that his talk didn't make it better.

"Louis, where's Grayson's cave?" So he distracted himself from this problem.

"He didn't write it down here." Answered the spiky one.

"I know that sounds really far-fetched, but maybe it's the only cave that you can see from here." Silas said bored because he didn't like the number with the collaboration so much. When he has to deal with stupid landlubbers, he usually chooses them himself.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We're paying ourselves a visit to a raccoon." Manny announced so that everyone would start moving again. The younger and more energetic of their group ran like there was no tomorrow. The oldest mammoth also thought that they shouldn't waste time, but they didn't have to run over him.

---

When the whole fellowship finally got to Grayson's Cave, Manfred pushed himself forward to knock when he saw that the monkey pirate wanted to do this. He just didn't trust Gutt.

"Uh ... hello." The mammoth knocked its trunk a few times against a rock face.

"Hey, sure took your sweet time, guys. I've been waiting for ten minutes, are you coming in or what?" This Grayson called from inside and everyone walked in.

"Well, we're here for answers." Said Gutt, looking around. He could also like such a cave. He wouldn't even have to do much for that. Except bringing the owner under the daisies.

"Okay, can someone pass me the mint ivy?"

"What does he think who we are, his shower buddies?" Diego whispered to Manny.

"Nobody, ok I can do it on my own." Then you heard something like 'outrageous' behind a stone wall and the raccoon washed on in silence. As if the rest of the animals didn't find it uncomfortable to listen to the guy washing. At some point the embarrassing silence and rippling of water also came to an end.

"I gotta tell you guys about Chronos. This time keeper is not an ordinary time keeper. He's a threat to animal kind. Not only does he have those robes you guys saw, but this guy surrounds himself in impenetrable golden armor. No weapon can ever hurt this deity." Grayson explained after placing himself in the middle of the visitors, taking out a glowing ball and rolling it to the ground. The bright thing started to smoke and the smoke actually formed a figure in the air. It was Chronos who rose from the smoke and swung his staff over them all, but nothing happened to them.

"Wow, now that's what I call third dimension." Julian was thrilled with the show.

"We aren't done yet. He also has his generals." Grayson said this because there was so much more to know. The smoke decayed and this time formed several figures. A magnificent eagle, a well-trained jaguar, a dangerous looking snake and a strong gorilla. They all wore black and white robes like this Chronos and golden armor, as this raccoon called it.

"An eagle? As if we weren't enough with weird birds already… "Manny looked at the oldest Dakoraptor, but apparently he didn't find it funny.

"Sorry."

"First these male saber-toothed tigers and now also a jaguar?" It came from Shira questioningly and her husband gave her a certain look from the side, what she immediately noticed.

"It wasn't meant that way, Diego." The Saber tooth calmed down on the sentence.

"Besides, we don't have time for something like that now." And then she gave him another blow in the stomach. When he looked into her eyes, she only winked to let him know that it was just a joke.

"These animals don't worry me. But why such a big snake-like snake?" Sid worried about this thing much more, because he had seen from afar how a small specimen had eaten a mouse. And then he didn't want to think about what such a big one could eat.

"Shall we tell him that all snakes are snake-like?" Peaches quietly inquired of her mother in the background.

"Better not." She answered and tried to process these smoking things first.

"That is one big ape." Commented Raz and the pirate captain pushed her to the side.

"That only looks like that. He's never bigger than me." Because Gutt never saw a monkey towering over him.

"These are Chronos' generals. Chronos' army are a bit metallic and deadly." Grayson tried again to get more attention from everyone and therefore continued to speak a little louder. The smoke also changes to these explanations. Several shiny creatures formed with a red eye and sharp claws in the air. One of them was quite large and probably led the others.

"Their commander, name is Tinormous, is the leader of the little robots called Tinker Toys. It is like a combination of tin and ginormous and also the guardian of the hourglass, the only thing that can control time." Although our herd didn't really understand much about what the raccoon was chattering with a lot of foreign words, they at least tried to keep that most important. Besides, nobody wanted to be bare when idiot stood there. This smoke turned into the so-called hourglass.

"Aww man, that's the same one we saw earlier today." Roger recognized the part.

"I'm glad you guys remembered." Said the raccoon and sounded a little arrogant.

"Wait. I have one of those, but ... miniature." Gutt took the thing out of wherever it was hidden. Probably from his hat.

"A necklace?" Squint was rather unimpressed.

"This is no mere necklace, my trusty first mate. This is a pendant, that has the abilities to control time itself, as well as the hourglass." The captain was proud of the thing, while his crew wondered why they had never seen it before.

"The real deal can only be found in Chronos' Keep." Everyone looked back at Grayson and the smoke, which was transformed into what Chronos had shown them before.

"A keep? That's what it's called?" Manny wanted to get as much information as possible.

"Yes, a keep. A hideout, a solitary fortress, a.." But the raccoon was interrupted.

"If Chronos is after us, how can we stop him?" That interested Roger much more.

"The only relics to defeat those villains are these." The smoke also fell to the ground and this time rose to eight parts, which Grayson explained as if he had memorized that. It showed a lightning bolt, a golden trident, a crystal ember, a red rose, a sun orb, a mighty two handed sword, a spear and shield and a lucky coin with winged boots.

"Everything shines beautifully, but what's so special about them?" The head of the herd couldn't do anything with it except that one of them looked like a meteorite.

"They, my friend, are..." There was a dramatic pause.

"Greek god relics." Grayson announced with raised paws as if everyone should be glad to hear it. Silence followed and some coughed in the background.

"Hm, maybe I didn't say it right. Where's my booster?" Grayson was about to turn away, but the oldest mammoth held him with the trunk on the shoulder.

"Forget that. So these things have any helpful powers?"

"Oh yes." The raccoon replied and the taller one hoped he didn't have to pull everything out of the guy's nose.

"Cool." Crash wanted to reach for something like that, but fell through the smoke into the void. His brother laughed shortly afterwards before turning to the owner of the cave.

"You're not telling us fairy tales here, are you?" Eddie thought such stories were great, but he also wants to see evidence.

"I would never do that. Now remember, without those relics, Chronos is invincible and without a Fellowship, our world is doomed." Grayson said this as if he were saying wise words.

"Thanks Grayson, we get it." Diego didn't quite know what to think of this guy.

"So, I am coming along with you guys." It was announced as if the others couldn't do it without Grayson.

"You look like a fun guy, mister Ringtail. You come with us or you might die without our help." Ellie added, because until now she found the new one in the group acceptable.

"Please, Mister Ringtail was my father." The raccoon winked at her.

"Well, you guys too and it is my job to help everyone in need! And I cannot ask you to risk your lives alone to clean up Chronos' clock! No flips or dips on this one, sir. I am coming along with you and that's final!" Heroically he climbed onto a small boulder in order to appear larger when he spoke. Manny didn't add anything to it at first and just sighed. Then he tried to snap his trunk as his daughter had shown him. And lo and behold, it worked and after the sound he pointed to the exit of the cave to instruct everyone that they should all go on.

"Thanks, guys. Let's get going." Grayson was happy to go ahead and it didn't take him long to prepare for the trip.

---

In front of the cave our fellowship was expecting the next surprise. The jaguar, which was previously only visible in the harmless smoke, suddenly appeared very lively here in front of them, roaring loudly. Probably so that everyone could catch him. The sunlight shimmered beautifully in the golden armor and on the shiny black fur. Shira and Gutt both noticed that they were staring too much and looked elsewhere.

"A strange team indeed."

"You're the one Grayson talked about!" Teddy recognized and stood protectively in front of his loved one.

"Huh, look who's talking! I'm a mammoth, and the name is Ethan! "Steffie tried to protect this mammoth too, even if the jaguar frightened him. But he didn't show any of it outwardly.

"Hm. Choosing the mammoth was your first mistake, mammal. "The stranger spoke condescendingly, with Ethan. The mammoth got ready, at these words.

"You know, you talk too much for a jaguar. Teddy and Grayson, please feel free to help me!" Ethan was determined to fight. The general suddenly pulled out crescent blades.

"Watch out, he has weapons!" Teddy warned the red-brown mammoth.

"What kind of jaguar carries crescent weapons?" Diego wanted to know confused.
"Good question!" Added the turquoise rabbit.

There was no time left to think, because Gato literally jumped in their faces to show that more should be fought here than chatting. Three against one seemed nasty, but the jaguar was strong and dangerous. The others from the herd wanted to help, but for some insensitive reason they could only watch rigidly. Ethan was attacked first and his girlfriend was afraid for him in the background. Katie and Meghan also didn't find this fight fair with these powers or whatever was going on here. However, Teddy helped the mammoth to ward off the attack well.

"Coming through, guys!" The raccoon called in and took out a bo staff created with conch shell. It was hard to believe, but he even hit the Jaguar on the chin with this weapon several times and hurled the enemy into the air with the uppercut. But Gato did not allow himself to rest and landed on his paws again. The next time he attacked, he threw small pointed things at our three fighters, which Grayson called daggers. He also said that you should avoid them, but Teddy and Ethan thought almost at the same time that this would explain itself.

"Ha, you missed me!" The raccoon threw at their opponent while doing splits in the air.

"Not the hair!" Ethan scolded when he jumped to the side just in time, but hair strands sailed still to the ground.

"Yikes!" The turquoise rabbit didn't even have to jump around a lot because he was articulated and just went back with his body. Yoga is worth it, he thought when he could bend back so far that his head was only one paw away from the floor and these daggers flew over him. They almost hit one of the others, but Grayson could avert it in time.

"Hey! Be careful!" Sid didn't want to get hurt if he didn't cause it himself. That would definitely hurt twice as much. The jaguar only roared towards the sloth, because he hated annoying distractions while fighting.

"I'm..shutting up." Then it came quieter from Sid. Gato then tried his powerful jump again on the other three.

"My turn!" And Teddy jumped also into the air to hit the jaguar at the suspected weak point. All cats had this. The general cried out in pain and got really angry.

"You three fight nastier than a dumb rhino!"

"Say what you want! You're still not gonna win, lame brain!" Ethan replied with insults.

"Your childish words may offend me, but it won't work!" And the jaguar leapt up again to carry out his attack. The three were able to fend it off again.

"Ethan! Finish him!" Teddy suggested.

"Now! All of the world is depending on us!" Added Grayson, as if that wasn't stressful at the moment.

"Right. This is going to get rough!" Ethan tried to stay cool and often hit the jaguar with his trunk. The final blow to the animal's chest brought the general to the ground.

"Night night, sleep tight." The red-brown mammoth felt a little strange after the matter, but that was also his first fight. But the enemy didn't give up that easily, so he jumped back on his paws and shouted at them.

"Arrgh! You wounded me!"

"Aww, what happened, Mister Kitty Cat Meow Face doesn't like losing to us?" Ethan suddenly felt so superior. Must have been the intoxication that came with the fight.

"We'll meet again, mammoth vermin..." Said this General and ran away.

"So that was that Gato?" Shira asked, approaching Grayson when suddenly everything seemed normal again around them.

In the background, Steffie and Scrat pounced on Ethan because they were happy that everything was going well. They thought the red-brown mammoth could get seriously injured because they had never watched him fight before. Katie and Meghan then had to pull their friend away from Ethan and calm them down, otherwise she whines around longer.

"Yes, now you have met General Gato. Chronos' second general and his trusted advisor." Grayson explained again. Probably for some who didn't understand it the first time or he just liked to do it. Nobody questioned the reason.

"Way to hustle, Ethan. Something tells me we haven't seen the last of that angry jaguar." Manny also had to praise the younger mammoth a little, he finally deserved it.

"Something? The guy just said himself that we'll see him again." It came from Gavin and he gave the oldest mammoth a weird look.

"Ok, I admit it, I didn't understand that when the guy gasped for air. I'm sorry I don't have every dialect on me." Manfred returned a little grim, but he just didn't want to admit that his ears got worse with age.

---

When everyone recovered from the fight, the fellowship finally decided to move on to leave Grayson's cave behind. Julian was kind enough to carry Scrat's acorn around and the owner sat happily on his head. Everyone in the group was either deep in thought and had someone or more to talk to. Ellie found it positive that her group grew, even if some of them had strange conversation topics. She tried to ignore Soto and his gang. Just like the pirates. So far none of them had tried anything bad and that was a good sign.

"Hey guys." Some animals looked around for the voice. A teenage weasel sat by the side, eating a cockroach on a stick.

"'Sup? You guys goin 'on a quest?" The little guy wanted to know.

"Something like that." Replied Diego, who found the child kind of cute. He would like to think about his own children again, but not with his old pack behind him.

"Ah, okay." The young weasel uttered and thought about something before his eyes widened. He looked at the raccoon.

"That sounds like a quest. Y'all goin 'on a quest!"

"Yes, we are, my kid." Buck also roped off Rudy when he saw the young animal from above.

"That's definitely a quest! Wait up!" The teenager went on and pulled out a wooden flute. Sid already took cover because he thought he would be shot again. Brooke patted his back and whispered that nothing like that would happen. A child will definitely not attack them.

"So I'm Ellie and you are?" Asked the mammoth mother about the name of the child, because you should do that first when you have a conversation.

"Howdy, ma'am. Albert, bard." He introduced himself politely and then the young weasel patted Sid on the shoulder. Probably because he saw it before as the female sloth did.

"And I am eager to join you."

"Wait, hang on.." Manny was going to raise objections because he will definitely not take children with him.

"Ah ah ah, don't say no! I'll just follow y'all like a shadow. Oh, this is gonna be so awesome, man! You know, since we're heading north, why don't we start gathering more new members to this group?" From friendly to rude, the young weasel simply cut off the herd guide. The mammoth took an angry breath to fiddle with this youngster.

"But.."

"The more the merrier." Grayson was the next one not to let him speak.

"Yeah." Oh, yes, the squirrel could talk now, Manfred remembered less cheerfully.

"Always stay calm, darling. It'll be nice." His wife now said as if they were all going to a party. There was a fight just before their eyes and all act now as if there was no danger around.

"Sweet, man! I know just where to go, I'll sing a catchy song while we are going there." Albert was happy and started to sing.

"Welcome to the Fellowship, Albert." Manny gritted out between his teeth and wondered if the new addition had no parents who could forbid this.

---

Sometime later, our fellowship gradually arrived at the edge of Mammal's Crown. Manny still could not believe that nobody did anything about taking a child with them. And what about Grayson? Was the guy their leader now? These and other questions went through the head of the oldest mammoth, who was only concerned about the safety of the herd. After all, he couldn't take care of everyone when they got more.

"They're on a quest Albert and the Fellowship. The biggest heroes of Mammal's Crown Woo-hoo! We're gonna rock - Ow!" The younger weasel happily sang its tones and sipped from a coconut between it.

"And then all the girls will say' Albert, you're SEXY!" It sounded almost dreamy and Manny had to give something out, even if his lady gave him some looks again. He didn't care now.

"Listen, musical weasel! We just witnessed a giant hourglass, an evil time god and now an armored jaguar! Not only that, but we also got our enemies from the past and a strangely raccoon in our troop. We really need to find these relics now, even though we haven't got a squirrel's butt chance of getting them! No offense, Scrat." Manfred really got going, but apologized briefly to the squirrel.

"No, I'm with you." Scrat assured him that he took it easy.

"OK. Where was I? Oh yes, Albert can you please shut up with your odes and give us a chance to think?!" But apparently the words of the mammoth did not appeal.

"Hey, I can strum up a little hero tune instead!" The teenager suggested as if he hadn't already sung enough.

"Oh geez, not again!" Whined Manny and hoped that his head would pop off and then at least he would no longer have to endure it.

"Honey, you should give the boy a chance and take it easier." Ellie interfered in the whole thing before her husband freaked out.

"And Grayson beats some enemies and hits them with all his strength. His staff that bashed into Hades' skull and cracked along his length." Sang the weasel happily on.

"Wait a minute!" Manfred stopped the screamer, who wasn't called Sid for a change.

"What?" Albert looked up in surprise.

"The song you just played there. So we refrain from saying that you shouldn't warble about killing someone, but what's the name of it?" Asked the mammoth.

"The Ballad of Grayson." The teenager replied, looking at him as if it were the stupidest question in the world.

"Ah yes, my own trademarked song." Grayson said for himself because he thought the song was brilliant.

"You know, it's everyone's favorite song in Mammal's Crown." He whispered to Raz and Peaches because they happened to be standing next to him.

"Oh ok. That sounds great." The mammoth also played a smile, because the kangaroo didn't look like it was doing something nice. Peaches did this because she didn't want to annoy their guide, because without him they couldn't get any further.

"Yeah, it has two thousand and seventy three verses. I remembered it all by heart. Seriously, guys. Grayson gets all the ladies and soon enough, one of them would come to him." Albert seemed to be a real fan, while the rest of the herd silently wondered why the song had so many verses.

"Why don't you tell us about it, pal? So without singing." Ethan approached the young weasel with a serious expression.

"Hey, settle down, mister or I'll show you who's boss around here." Grayson intervened, giving Ethan a couple of head-butts. When the raccoon turned to the boy, the mammoth girls and Buddy had to make sure that Ethan didn't start to fight back.

"What? That he gets all the chicks?" Albert asked irritated.

"No, about the lyrics!" Manny groaned in annoyance, but put his trunk briefly on the red-brown mammoth's back to keep this calm.

"The part with Hades again, please." Asked the leader of the herd.

"That last verse was about him!" Ethan explained the boy even more clearly.

"Was that it?" Albert said a little sheepishly. Probably because the mammoths looked so angry.

"Yes. Get out all the verses about where Hades would be and what his relic is?" It just took Ethan too long.

"Uh..."

"Quick, get to the end." Manfred taps the flute for this movement.

"Umm...And once Grayson bashed Hades' skull It gushed out night and day.." But Albert was interrupted again by the brat pack leader, who shook his head.

"No no no no! After Hades was defeated or dead. Come on, sing it!" He asked, ignoring Katie in the background, who whispered that the boy didn't have to sing it.

"Uhh...He retreated with his ember in a place beyond recall The Underworld of Olympus is bound to make the call.."

"The Underworld of Olympus! That's it!" Manny announced the goal of their next hike.

"What?" Albert didn't really understand what was going on here and Grayson suggested that he continue to sing his great song as a pastime.

"Am I speaking indistinctly? We go to the Underworld of Olympus and find the ember now!" The old mammoth actually found the idea completely crazy, but he could do it if everyone else didn't follow the rules. Enemies made of sand and smelling of it somehow, a self-confident raccoon that appears to have become their new leader and they just take everyone in the group, no matter how dangerous or stupid it could get. Some of the others looked at Manfred a little strange, but he didn't comment on that.

"Leave our home behind and go out on the seas again?" Shira didn't really feel like that. Deep water and swimming was still not her thing.

"First, how do you know we have to get on the water?" The mammoth mother wanted to know from her friend.

"If there was an entrance to the underworld somewhere here, you would have heard about it or not?"

"Well yes, you're right." Ellie turned back to her husband, who is probably starting to go crazy.

"Secondly, it's very dangerous out there and the reason we can't leave is... Oh, how do I put this? Oh, I know, because it's suicide!"

"Yeah, it's very dangerous out there!" Spuint tried hard not to grin at the idea that something might happen to some of their new 'friends' out there. The captain would find something like that surely terrible. Terribly beautiful.

"We can't leave now!" Flynn was just starting to find it nice here.

"There's titans, hydras, giant bugs and human gods out there! You can find really terrible deaths there." The pirate rabbit babbled on.

"Exactly! The Greek gods Grayson told us about! If we find all the relics, we can get rid of Chronos and his generals for good." Manny was almost looking forward to the trip.

"Really?" Sid blinked, because he was taking a short nap on Julian's back. Then he was grabbed by his big buddy by the paw and whirled around.

"Then we will save the world!" Manny almost danced around with the sloth while his family wondered if he had stepped on any strange plant. Except Julian, who of course participated.

"Yes! This is gonna be a kick butt quest, man!" Albert also showed his own dance moves and it didn't seem to bother the little one that two mammoths almost crush him if he is not careful.

"Okay, let's keep moving, before anymore trouble stirs up." The oldest mammoth quickly came out of breath and Sid made his puke face again. So he let him down quickly. Even if there was still a lot of confusion, our fellowship continued to go on.

---

They were trying to talk more now. Mainly with Albert, so that he didn't continue to sing. Much to the grief of Grayson, who loved listening to his songs, but none of the others wanted to join in. They all music philistines, he thought, trying to bear it.

Ellie, meanwhile, had managed to calm her husband down and was now pondering what to do when they got back to the water. Unintentionally, she suddenly stepped on something soft. She hurriedly raised her foot again, thinking she was stepping on someone from her little friends. When her eyes realized what was under her, she started screaming. A dead molehog was in front of our group.

"What happened here?" Louis asked from a safe distance because he and Gertie had been flying over everything before. If they did, Gavin didn't seem to be watching them so closely. Probably also because the older Raptor was unable to fly due to the injuries.

"Run for your lives.." Suddenly a bloodstained rabbit was crawling towards them. The poor soul didn't seem to be able to do any more, and then you couldn't hear anything anymore. The possums, Sid and other animals in their group with light stomachs were trying hard not to throw up. Such cruelty was not seen every day.

"Oh man." Diego didn't like the sight either, but the smell of blood shouldn't blow around their noses permanently. He glanced at Soto and the others to see if they were planning anything. But they all still seemed normal.

"What could've possibly happened here?" The pirate rabbit rubbed his little paws with a grin together and Gutt whispered to him to hold back a little.

"I mean, oh no! How could that happened?"

"Beats me." Ethan also felt a little sick from the sight of the dead bodies. Everything went silent. Too quiet, even Manny thought it and looked around. Suddenly steps were heard.

"Did you hear that?" Roger wanted to swallow and clung to his sister.

"Go away, you scared Dino!" Gertie pushed the other away from him and hugged Louis more, even though he didn't ask for it. The spiky one simply assumed that this dead colleague frightened his girlfriend a little and that was why she reacted that way.

"'Kay, this is getting scary, umm..." Scrat hid on Julian's back, who was behind his wife.

Suddenly someone screamed loudly around the square and attacked our friends without further words. Peaches knew how to fight back when a little brown something jumped on her. She wanted to hold on to the thing, but the attacker escaped from her trunk.

"I don't want to stay here." Sid whined again and tried to run away, but he landed on the floor faster than he wanted. Something or someone was holding him down now. He looked up carefully and a female weasel grinned aggressively back. With one foot on his torso and the unsharpened side of her weapon, what looked like a bone ax, she held him down on his throat.

"Who are you?! Are you one of them?!" Asked the stranger.

"Why is she pouncing on him? Didn't she see that we also drew our weapons out or what? Hey lady, are you blind or something.."

"Don't do that, Squint! We're just background characters now." The whole pirate crew sighed bored at Gutt's words. I can never have fun, thought the rabbit and stuck his blade away, offended.

"No! I'm just an innocent sloth! And why did you kill off these animals?" Sid couldn't think of more and wondered why this woman chose him.

"They challenged me to a duel!" The weasel lady moved out in her defense and she raised her ax again. Brooke threw herself in front of her beloved sloth.

"Wait! Please don't do anything to him, he didn't do anything and I love him very much!" The female sloth pleaded for Sid's life. The stranger looked briefly into the eyes of the other two and then raised her weapon to move away from the one lying there.

"Forget this. That sloth is with someone already." The woman said rather to herself.

"Wait, guys. We found a warrior who can help us with the relics." Buck suggested crazy things again.

"Are you crazy? She's a flipping psychopath." Ethan got a bit mad and pointed his trunk at the dead bodies. The female weasel separated a paw from one of the dead bodies with her weapon, gave the piece a strange look and threw it back on the ground.

"Umm, yeah, exactly. What are we waiting for? Ask her." Buck whispered to the red-brown mammoth because he was sitting on it.

"No."

"Please?"

"No way." Juilan also intervened from further back, even if he bravely took cover.

"How about you chatting with her? So from crazy weasel to even crazier weasel." With that, Ethan lifted the male specimen from him and placed it in front of the stranger before stepping back himself.

"Pfft, idiots. Everything has to be done by myself. Hello, lass! We were wondering if you could help us with a little quest of ours."

"I have zero interest on whatever you guys have going on." And the lady didn't even look at Buck, she just continued to eye the bodies as if it were her snack bar or something similar. The red around her mouth was probably not a pretty color. Julian had to stop looking at her, otherwise he would really throw up.

"What? Hey! Where are you goin?! This is one hell of an offer!"

"Forget her, Buck. We'll find someone else to be in the fellowship." The head of the herd doesn't want to take care of a killer too. Why do they only collect strange animals? The other weasel turned back to all of them like a flash suddenly.

"Did you say 'the fellowship'?" The lady now wanted to know exactly.

"Um ... yeah." Her stare made Manny nervous, and not in a good way. To his bad luck, she came closer with the weapon again. She doesn't get my trunk as a trophy, he thought, pulling the body part away from this ax. He also kept a respectful distance between them. So a mammoth would still fit between them. He glanced at his son-in-law, who unfortunately was sitting too far away at the moment.

"The Fellowship? This is 'that' group?" The stranger continued.

"I don't know. We are who we are and we just call ourselves that by accident. Don't you like the name or what?" And his nervousness continued to grow.

"The destined heroes that's going to save the world from Chronos?"

"Yes. Huh? How do you know about that now?" Okay, Manny decided to just leave his mind here. Maybe he should add a stone. Here lies the dead-worked mind of a wise mammoth.

"A worthy cause, I'll join you." The lady announced and finally took down the weapon.

"And do you have a name too?" Diego didn't think it was a good idea to take this killer with them, but maybe she really helped them. For example getting rid of his old pack.

"I'm Tara, warrior of the Mammal's Crown female warrior clan." The female weasel said friendly as she could. As good as it works with an ice-cold look.

"Hey Tara." Grayson waved to her and wondered if he had seen her before. His fans weren't looking for such hobbies otherwise.

"Greetings, Grayson." Tara greeted the raccoon with a slight nod in his direction.

"You see, I'm gathering a team, a crew to stop Chronos." Grayson explained to her without asking.

"Of course, you might also need a guide. He's just in the tavern, so follow me." The raccoon and the weasel chatted as if they were old acquaintances and Manny gave his buddies a look that should ask, what is actually going on here. The saber tooth and the sloth just shrugged their shoulders because they had no plans either.

"I'm coming too." Buck called rather because he didn't trust the two alone. What if Grayson had secrets? They all had to stay careful and everyone had to do their part.

---

So our colorful group continued to run further with mixed feelings. They gradually became more and more and there was an unpleasant mood here and there. Especially after seeing Tara's left opponents behind.

But then there was something better to marvel at. Granted, there was a lot to see here and there, but this differently built cave in front of them made everyone stop again. Probably the place that the female weasel described before and certainly also because they all followed her as if she were the leader. Actually, Manny just said nothing this time because he wanted to avoid eye contact with the crazy woman.

"Well, ruffle my feathers, more of this place is sweet." Roger said and flew around the stone. It looked like a rock with holes in a mountain. The Drunken Weasel, you could read on a wooden sign and you could hear other animals from inside. Seems apparently well attended to whatever was in front of our group.

"Okay, here we are." Tara explained monotonously, as if that wasn't clear, because they all stopped behind her.

"Umm ... good?" Manfred couldn't think of anything else and looked at the others, because they could also talk to the killer weasel. A dung beetle rolled out and was completely beside himself.

"Hey, what's up, guys? Can..can anyone of you..Yes what? Oh yes. Can anyone of you call a giant bird to pick me up?" The beetle couldn't get any more because it fell forward in the dirt and a knife was now in its back.

"How bad!" Louis said in shock.

"Well, that little bug got an unhappy ending, being drunk." Squint didn't see such things for the first time, so the view was not surprising. He wanted to run more into this cave, but the captain held him back, shaking his head.

"Oh good, it's happy hour." Sid thought he heard something like a party inside.

"And it's very crowded inside today." Tara remarked and took her bone ax forward to have it ready to hand the next time she attacked.

"Stay behind me." She was about to go in, but Buck stopped her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, easy now, leave. We go in quietly and just find our guide. In and out and without anyone noticing. So no fighting and killing, please? We don't want any bloodshed just like you did back there in this weird arena place."

"Okay, your call." Tara made a little disgruntled, because where was all the fun without a fight, she thought.

"See there? Good then. Come on, mammals, let's head inside." And the male weasel ran ahead into this busy cave. They all walked behind without a word, because it was better than questioning everything and standing on the spot longer. Of course, the pirate rabbit still had to check whether the dung beetle had anything else with him. Unfortunately, he found nothing more than at first glance, just a drunk guy with a small knife in the back. He could only use the thing as a toothpick, but he still took it with him. Better to have it than to have it.

Inside the cave tavern, the Fellowship looked around. In any case, they tried it, as close as they were crowded together. There were really a lot of animals here and chatted out loud that you couldn't really follow your own thoughts.

"Hey, your trunk looks mighty fine, can I hold it for ya?" You could hear it pounding from a seal on the right.

"Yeah, that's my mother. I love my mother. You should love your mother. It's Mother's Day here at Mammal's Crown." A weasel laughed back.

"Except it is not May yet." A sloth interfered with his paws raised. A female Arctic Fox pushed through all of them.

"The Bloody Stump! Who ordered the Bloody Stump?!" She cried, carrying drinks on her back.

"What do you guys want?" And with that she looked into the round of new faces in here.

"We're looking for a guide, know anyone, ma'am?" Sid asked boldly, because this lady now looked friendlier than the other one who was pulling with them.

"There's only one left in the back. Go behind the bathroom and ask for Elric." Answer the white vixen and then get back to work.

"Hey, who ordered the Bloody Stump now?!" And she disappeared back into the fray.

"Okay, thanks." Manny called afterwards, but she probably didn't hear it anymore.

As they went all the way in the back, Peaches almost stepped on a rat waiting for its order. Of course, she immediately tried to distance herself. As far as this is possible here.

"Ah! Watch where you're goin', you over-sized, dumb mammoth! Why I oughta..." The rat complained with its paws in the air, but didn't get far with his complaint when someone else pushed the guy down. Diego did that with the little pest with his hind leg.

"Hmm?" The saber tooth was clueless but didn't push it too far. He just didn't like it when someone was insulting Peaches.

"Diego, did you accidentally step on this rat?" Asked the tigress next to him with a slight grin.

"Well..."

"Get me outta here! I'm getting crushed here! Help me, someone! I can not breathe. He's killing me! He wants to kill me!" The rat complained loudly and exaggeratedly under Diego's paw. The owner raised his leg with a roll of his eyes.

"You shouldn't have overdone it, Uncle Diego." Peaches thanked him, but also looked at the tiger instructively. After all, he couldn't punish anyone who made stupid comments.

"Hang on, Bruno." Sid surprisingly intervened and picked up the rat. Of course Brooke and the male sloth had to know some animals from their last trip here.

"Yeah, he's just a grumpy rat that's trying to succeed in life, but he never does."

"Don't be so strict with the little guy. He tries and that's the most important thing." Brooke said to her boyfriend and glanced at the rat.

"Args, don't mention it, Sidney." Diego got the look of death from the rat.

"Next time, tell your saber to watch where he's going before he steps on a tiny rodent!" Bruno said.

"I'm so sorry." It came half-heartedly from the tiger.

"Bruno's trying to succeed in life but always fails? Can he join us?" Julian also wanted to chat. Especially with new faces.

"He has his moments, his dignity, and his sanity." Added the male sloth.

"Tough guy, huh? Okay, Mister Rat, we'll make sure Diego watches where he's going from now on." Ellie assured the little guy.

"Now that we've got it covered, let's find our guide and get out of here again. And please be careful of tiny rodents next time." Shira's last sentence was only there to tease her husband a little. She didn't want him to turn into Manny during the trip, as grim as he looked the whole time.

"Yeah, no reason to be mad at ya. I've been stepped on and even sat on. More than once. Remember? Back at the Christmas party, I got sat on by Ellie, Shira, Gladys, Steffie, Katie, Meghan, Gertie, Peaches and finally the lovely Brooke unawarely. I got cracked bones after that. I had to recover for forty eight hours." Scrat commented and Sid thought the squirrel wanted to overdo it since he could talk.

Everyone again apologized to the little guy and Diego more seriously this time, to the rat.

"Huh, maybe I should join the Herd one day." Bruno found it a little uncomfortable that he was the center of attention.

"You can calm down, we are all here. Mixed from small to large." Gupta spoke a few sentences, because he always got on very well with the rats on their ship.

"Thanks for the support." It came from Shira and Scrat almost simultaneously.

"Oh no, now we're being like Roger and Katie." Remarked the squirrel.

"It's okay. They have their own fun with those guys over there." The saber-toothed tiger pointed to the bright mammoth and the raptor. The two chatted out of boredom with a close mammoth couple.

"Ever heard of psychic connection? It's really cool. Once you speak together, you'll know maybe who your true partner is." Roger babbled this and more because he thought about it a lot on the way.

"For sho?" It came from a rather petite mammoth.

"Yeah. Me and Roger would be a great couple, don't you think?" Katie spoke to completely strange animals that they both knew for a moments.

"Wow, that sounds really interesting!" Gave a feminine mammoth his opinion out.

"Did you hear that, Diego?" Shira got another idea to tease her partner when she heard what the others were saying.

"Hm?" Answered her saber tooth.

"I have to leave you. Scrat is now my new lover because we said the same thing at the same time. Psychic connection means more than anything else."

"Oh stop, you silly kitty." He rolled his eyes but grinned anyway. She smiled and stuck her tongue out before someone suddenly pushed her.

"Okay, boring. We go on!" Squint demanded and pushed further back, where a weasel was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.

"We should ask about Elric. So hey first, and are you Elric?" Ethan mixed up again, because he enjoyed leading.

"The voice of the wind is a light in the evening sun. The children of the stars lead Mother Earth to rest. The darkness is filled with the moans of happy spiritual lovers." The guy opened his eyes, who apparently meditated and mastered a foreign language, because the red-brown mammoth understood nothing of what was said.

"I sensed you all would come. We weasels are connected to all living and non-living things." He moves closer to Diego.

"Let our souls unite." The new weasel, named Elric, leaned his forehead against that of the saber-toothed tiger.

"Are they snogging now?" Gertie asked her boyfriend, because they both do that a lot. Louis, Julian and Buddy really had to resist laughing at that. Other talks went ahead in front.

"Is it just me or is Elric like me, except more crazy? Like that other weasel, Buck?" Shangri Lama whispered behind a hoof to Teddy. It actually took this a while to find an answer. Gladys doesn't distract him this time.

"Well, I wouldn't worry about the guy. Look at Elric, he looks like a lover to me..us. I meant us. Of course, only metaphorically speaking here."

"You have the equality and the imagination of a remorseless assassin. The music of the copper beaches in your heart. I mel-o all mammals fills nin emel. (The love of all mammals fills my heart.)" Finally he kissed the tiger's head.

"I knew it." The female raptor called in the background.

"Yes, it's all fascinating and so on. Listen, I'm Diego, and we were hoping you could.." Elric puts his paw on the sabers mouth.

"Shh ... shh ... Names carry no meaning."

"Okay, listen! We need a guide." The tiger tried again.

"Physical or spiritual guidance?" Elric's voice sounded soft in here.

"We're going to the city of Olympus. Chronos is after us and we.." Manfred wanted to make it clearer, but was also silenced.

"Shhhh ... The wind will tell me, what to do with you all. Stand still and let me penetrate your aura, mammoth." With this the weasel patted the mammoth's trunk.

"You want to do what? With my… aura?" Manny was now completely overwhelmed, this is getting more and more surreal for him. First a singing weasel, then a killer weasel and now he is patted by a weasel that has probably smelled too many wrong plants.

Elric starts talking in the foreign language again and also starts massaging the mammoth in some places.

"O, Winds-o Destinui, in ask cin hi; are hin mammals worthui na glenn-or-di anand keeper, Chronos?" (O, Winds of Destiny, I ask you this; are these mammals worthy to go up against the time keeper, Chronos?) As he was done to penetrate Manny's aura, he acted happily.

"The wind tells me to go with you all! My bow will sing with your weapons, I am ready." And he knelt down and kisses Manny's right foot.

"Oh... boy.." The oldest mammoth felt uneasy.

"Looks like you got a worshipper." Of course, Ellie thought it was funny and nudged him in the side. Manny sighed annoyed.

Outside the backroom, they meet up back with the rest of the Fellowship members who stayed behind. A male red sloth and a female saber was playing tic-tac-toe on the table with a bone knife and the thing got stuck in the table.

"You klutzy idiot!" Scolded the muscular tigress.

"Sorry!" The red sloth said on it.

"Good news, gang. We found him." Sid roared, not realizing that they weren't all closely followed. Elric bowed to Sid with his bow and arrows on the back.

"My bow will sing with your weapons." Serene with inner peace.

"Whatever, let's bounce." Because the pirate hare hated to stand still.

As the Fellowship was about to head out, Grayson bumped into a female mammoth.

"Oh! Hey ow!"

"Watch where you're going, you little... um raccoon?" The mammoth somehow lost speech when she saw the other animal that was bumping into her.

"Uh ... Whoa." Grayson couldn't find many words either.

"Especially you, little squirrel." Scrat blushed, hopped behind Teddy and pressed his face against the puffy tail of the rabbit.

"Whoa-ho, okay, relax. She's just complimenting you, little guy." The turquoise rabbit patted Scrat's head soothingly.

"You think I didn't know that?"

"Come on, Scrat." Peaches got the little one out of hiding spot.

"You look pretty." Steffie put a purple flower on Coco, which she probably picked nearby.

"You do your hair?" Meghan wanted to know a little arrogantly.

"Yeah, all the time." Coco shook her beautiful hair a little. They were curlier than any other mammoth before.

"Your hairstyle looks so original. Your eyes are golden like the sun. Your fur is nice and soft and your trunk looks almost like Peaches' trunk but slightly smaller." The mentioned mammoth tried to hold the girls back a little. Not everyone liked to be checked from top to bottom and that when just getting to know each other.

"Gee, I never had anyone watching me before, thanks." Coco probably didn't see it that bad.

"You're welcome." Katie was happy to give compliments.

"Oh, and ... who's the raptor?"

"I'm Roger and a Dakotaraptor."

"A Dino Bird?" Coco found the group fascinating.

"Yeah."

"Wow."

"Yeah, and ... I'm definitely in love with Roger." Katie admitted.

"Eeeeeeeww! Gross!" Meghan and Steffie didn't think that was great.

"You like Roger? So Roger, Roger?" They asked several times.

"Don't judge me, he's so dreamy." The bright mammoth leaned a little against her dinosaur. Steffie looked at Roger, who was smiling nervously at her.

"Total nightmare." She added.

"Yup. Total nightmare." Meghan totally agreed.

"He always worries about everybody and is taking charge like a boy scout." Katie explained her reasons.

"Could you guys help me with Roger? WOULD YOU?"

"What !? No!" Steffie saw no chance.

"I'm thinking, um ... Sleepover tonight!" Suggested Meghan.

"Ugh, excuse me while I barf." Steffie acted as if she wanted to throw up. Katie looked at the girls with big begging eyes.

"Aww, quit doing that eye thing. Not fair!" And the bright mammoth started to sniffle and whimper.

"Stop it! Stop that!" Meghan warned.

"Oh my God, she's gonna cry!" Ethan couldn't see girls crying, Katie released a stream of tears and the sad eyes intensified to its most.

"Okay, okay. We'll do it tonight." Steffie gave in.

"Yeahhh, cool!" It came together, from Katie and Roger.

"What's wrong with you, nerds?" Steffie was annoyed.

"We have a psychic connection, what did you expect?" Said the dino.

"Yeah, you're the ones with the problem." Katie added.

"Kids, quit to mess around! We got a quest to do." Manny reminded the younger mammoths.

"I'll be also playing some songs with you ladies at a campfire or on a ship any night." Albert promised and got out his wooden lute. He also wraped Steffie's trunk around him and on the tip of his instrument and started singing.

"Lay your trunk around it's neck and I'll play you a catchy tune..." The mammoth yanked her trunk away and goes back to Ethan.

"I have zero interest in you and your instrument. Plus, I have a boyfriend. Stop bothering me!"

"Aww, c'mon! No fair, man! I really want to sing a song to some really cute mammal! Guess I won't be getting that chance anytime soon, darn." The teenager said angrily and sadly.

"It's okay boy. Something like that takes time and you're still young." Teddy patted his shoulder.

"I said STOP! Let's get moving." Manny repeated it louder. Then some stomping was heard.

"Guys, do you heard something too?" It was irritated by her male sloth.

"No" Julian replied, but then a jaguar roar was heard.

"General Gato ?! Great Raccoon King Arcturus save us now!" Said a tough mammoth. General Gato came in and growled around.

"Where is the Fellowship?" The Jaguar roared on. All of the mammals pointed to the herd and the rest.

"We meet again, mammal vermin." Gato growled at them.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our favorite general, Gato. What do you want this time? Came back to us for round two?" Ethan stepped forward coolly.

"You are correct, mammoth. Now, get ready to die."

"Oh gee, how original." Teddy said sarcastically.

"I accept your challenge." Tara got involved too. Gato looked at her.

"Well, look at this, a female warrior. And a weasel at that point. Let us duel!"

"Now you're speaking my language." Tara got ready to fight and charges at him with her battle cry, but Gato grabbed her.

"Let's help her!" Gutt got his sawfish sword ready.

"You heard the captain!" Squint had his knife also ready.

"Let's help her!"

"For the family! For the Fellowship! For ma children! For Gavin!" Raz got out her pufferfish flail.

"Just like old times?" Gavin took out his secret dual sawfish swords.

"Just like old times." Said Gutt.

So Gavin, Gutt, Squint and Raz jumped in and fought Gato. Gavin made the first hit by spinning his swords on Gato's chest. Tara swinged her ax on Gato's torso. Gutt knocked Gato's head with the hilt of his sawfish sword. Squint savagely stabbed Gato's armor four times and knocks him down. Raz swung her pufferfish flail on Gato and ends it by jumping up and landed her feet on Gato's chest and his face hard. Gato went weak and walked away, coughing out blood.

"Aargh! Beaten again!"

"Sorry buddy. You just can't plan for the fellowship." Gutt said.

"As I said before, we'll meet again, mammal vermin!" Gato grabed a drink and throws it whole down.

"And it will be for the last time! Your deaths will soon come to pass by Lord Chronos! You'll see!" The Jaguar walked away.

"Victory is ours! Kudos all around, especially to you, Raz!" Gavin laughed.

"Yeah, good goin'!" Even Squint thought it was good. Raz came up to the older Raptor.

"Gavin... I'm sorry I abandoned you."

"Yeah, and I'm sorry I yelled at you." Gavin apologized.

"It's okay, mate. I deserve that as I said, it was on me." She looked down and made a sad face.

"I should've been a better wife and mother." Gavin kissed her cheek at the words.

"Raz, it's all over, we're back together again." And he hugged her.

"Yeah mom, think about it. A one big family back together again. "Gertie hugged her too.

"You're not alone in this, mom. I repeat, not alone in this. You have us." Roger also participated. Katie and Louis joined in on the family hug.

"I'm dating your daughter." Louis admitted.

"And I started liking your son." It came from Katie.

"I know." Gavin smiled again.

"Thanks, mates. I needed that." Raz sniffed happily.

Squint cried for the first time at this scene.

"This is just touching!" He howled more.

"It is just touching." And the rabbit hugged Flynn.

"Well, would ya look at that, Gavin? Your family is back together again. Raz is back with you. And later on, you'll have a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law. Soon enough, you have grandchildren." Buck intervened here. Gavin chuckled on that.

"You're so crazy, man."

"So crazy." The weasel chuckled too.

"I'm glad everyone loves everyone again right now. But about vhat Gato said about us being dead by Chronos, it goes vor all of us, and iv there's anything you guys vanted to do bevore ve, you know, died. Now vould be a good time." It came from Gupta enlightening.

"How long until Chronos will destroy us?" Manny wanted to know.

"Well, let's see. There's four generals and there's the first four months this year, meaning right now we're only in January." Grayson gasped.

"A hundred and twenty one days. Yes! We all have a hundred and twenty one days left to live until Sandmageddon!" Everyone was shocked, but some just counted their paws on how much is a hundred and twenty one days.

"Whooooooooo ! Whoooo! Woo." Buddy came with some coconut drinks around and seemed drunk. Everyone looked at him with worried or concerned eyes.

"What?" So the herd and the rest decided to take a break because most of the stomachs started to growl. Manny also didn't want to know what would happen if the carnivores among them got too hungry. It was announced that everyone was allowed to look around, but should stay close. Grayson suggested later to rejoin the meeting cave from this location. He also quickly explained where this cave could be found before everyone was gone.

Some animals really have no respect and manners. You listen to someone until the end of the conversation, he thought a little snapped and also went off.

---

A little later inside Mammal's Crown's, the Fellowship and other mammals of Mammal's Crown have been gathered around the dining table made by Grayson. The guy then came in with a bucket full of leaves.

"This is a bucket." The raccoon presented what he was holding in his paws.

"Dear Poseidon.." Gutt groaned annoyed.

"There's more."

"No!"

"It contains the dying wish of everyone here." With that Grayson turned to the pirate bunny and Roger.

"You two did collect everyone's dying wish, right?" The animal made sure with the bucket.

"Of course!" Roger confirmed.

"Oh, you betcha!" Squint also answered.

"Excellent! Ladies and gentlemen, synchronize your homemade death watches! And ready your weapons! "Grayson continued.

Buttons were pushed all around the room as everyone turned their wooden watches on courtesy of the weasel scientist of Mammal's Crown, Dr. Weaselby and everyone got their weapons ready for their big battle against Chronos. Grayson then began to walk around to give a speech.

"We have 121 days left to live until Sandmageddon will happen. For most mammals, no time at all." He placed his paws on Ellie's left leg and Shira's shoulder.

"We are not most mammals. We are heroes and villains! We are from the Valley, the Seas, the Dinosaur World, Geotopia and our beloved Mammal's Crown! We have the resources and the will to make these hours count! "With that speech, everyone in the room gave their applause.

"Preach, Grayson! Preach!" Buddy dragged along.

"Well said, mate! Well said!" Buck commented.

"You did a fine speech, Monsieur Grayson." Complemented Silas.

"Outta the park, Grayson!" The pirate rabbit called in.

"Well done!" Katie and Roger chatted again at the same time and blushed as they looked at each other. Steffie, Meghan and Gavin looked at them amused.

"Thank you, guys. The clock is ticking, ladies and gentlemen. Let's begin." Grayson then took a leaf card out of the bucket.

"Our first dying wish is Squint's! He's ... drawn a picture of me getting obliterated by an asteroid.." Squint began to giggle on it, along with a few others in the room.

"I have something radiating off of me." Grayson explained.

"Yeah, those are stink lines!" The rabbit turned his attention to the rest of the Fellowship and Mammal's Crown's inhabitants.

"That's why the asteroid hit him, 'cause he smells!" He laughed. Many in the cave began to laugh. Some just smiled in amusement. Others simply remained mature and calm.

"Yes, I see ..." The raccoon didn't like being laughed at. After the crowd's laughter died down, Grayson pulled another leaf card out of the bucket. Strangely enough another one by Squint.

"Here you've drawn me having a make-out session with Coco." The guy with the leaves suddenly felt too warm under his fur. The pirate began to laugh even more, Grayson continued to pull out leaf cards by the rabbit.

"Coco having a make-out session with me." Squint, along with a few others continued to laugh.

"Both of us relaxing on lawn chairs.."

"Lawn chairs..." Flynn mouthed Grayson. The rabbit was now nearly in tears with laughter and covering his head on the table.

"I'm crying, and Coco has stink lines coming off of her-DID ANYONE BESIDES SQUINT PUT A LEAF CARD INTO THE BUCKET ?!" The raccoon complained loudly. Everyone shook their heads. Some had joined Squint in laughter, while a few were getting up to take care of other things here.

"Oh man, classic Squint!" The rabbit was talking to himself.

"Fantastic, this was a huge waste of my time.." Grayson almost whined and looked disappointed.

"Hey, you did not read mine!" The pirate captain interfered.

"Augh, does it say you want the bucket for your new ship?"

"Yes! Yes it does!" The big monkey confirmed. Grayson pushed the bucket over to Gutt as rest of the mammals got up to leave and going about their business in the cave.

"Good luck to all of you! And may have time on our souls." The raccoon prayed with his paws raised. Diego and Sid were walking out side by side. The sloth carried some fruits because he felt like it. On their way past the pirate monkey one fruit fell out of Sid's grip. Gutt who noticed this in the corner of his eye got an odd idea. He took the apple and put it in the bucket before walking off too.

"Yes, this'll do nicely." The pirate whispered.

"Guys, come with me. There's someone I want you guys to meet and something I want you all to see." The raccoon asked when he remembered something.

"You just love to surprise us, don't you, Grayson?" Remarked Diego.

"I have my ways, Diego. Now, follow me."

As everyone followed, Roger kept Katie's trunk romantically.

"Don't think we don't know what you're doing, you two, we know your status." Grayson suddenly appeared in front of the two, although they were actually running further back in the group.

"Yeah. Katie, you like Roger." The molehog also came along.

"And little brother, you like Katie." Of course Gertie also teased.

"A smart wooly mammoth like you." Louis went on. His girlfriend slowly rubbed off on him.

"And a nerdy scaly raptor like you." A sister had to take revenge.

"You could make the perfect couple." The two sang in unison.

"Not funny, guys." Roger laughed sarcastically.

"Yeah, what he said. Right, Rogie?" Katie eyed her raptor.

"Yeah. A total win-win." And he winked at her.

"For you two-two." The spiky girl shared playfully.

"Very clever, Louis. Very cute." The bright mammoth smirked.

"I don't know who I feel happy for. Louis and Gertie? Or Katie and Roger?" Ethan whispered to Manny.

"Forget about it, they're on a roll." Said the older one.

"Okay, come on guys. Let's go." Grayson took too long, even though he himself asked the two about it.

"You too, Raptorero and Mammothet." He announced it clearly for Roger and Katie.

"Come on, Katie." The Raptor smiled.

"OK." She answered and he gave her trunk a light squeeze and started walking.

"So, Gavin, how did you know about Soto?" Diego finally wanted to know, but so far has not had a moment to ask.

"Me and him used to be best friends, until Soto clawed me in the back and nearly left me for dead. Gutt and his crew showed up to help me and of course that also had its price."

"How dare you, to treat this old but good reptile that way!" The saber tooth poisoned Soto on it.

"And since then, I've been with Gutt's crew four fifteen years and before Raz made 'the choice'. We were ready to become mates for life and we already got two eggs going."

"You never had a vision of teamwork, Gavin." Soto didn't want to just leave it at that. He also had a say.

"Oh but I have a vision of family." The Raptor was slightly annoyed.

"Well, cool it, Groomzilla, you can walk down the aisle after this mess is cleaned up!" Zeke also intervened without being asked.

"Watch your back, saber! This isn't about that! SOMETHING BIG IS GOING DOWN!" Now Gavin's anger had really got going.

"Quit your bickering! We're nearing Ryan's cave." Grayson was also a great arbiter.

---

The Fellowship went for a little walk again. This time the destination was a cave that apparently housed ships. At least if you can believe the tour guide.

"Ryan, are you here?" The raccoon hooted into the cave to bring the wanted animal out.

"What is it, boy?! One of my workers sleeping on the job again?!" Someone called out from inside the cave.

"Ryan, just come down." Grayson demanded more insistently. The wanted type came out of his room, but was still above a stone staircase. It was a wolf, but looked friendly.

"Oh, what is so.." The stranger widened his eyes, but was not really surprised. Grayson kept dragging strange animals around.

"Ah, the Fellowship, what are they doing here? I'll- I'll be right down!" And he ran down some rocky steps.

"So, you're saying Ryan can actually help us with a ship?" Ethan asked a question again.

"Oh yeah, never heard of the Pathfinder? You're gonna love it. Big ship for all of us. Even the bigger ones." The raccoon eyed Cretaceous, Maelstrom and Rudy.

"Wow!" Sid and Buck were amazed.

"Yeah, triple masted, double decks, fifty cannons, cabins for all of us and the giant dinos." And then he looked over at the raptors.

"And no, not you three. You got a cabin with the others." Grayson joked, but the three didn't seem to find it so funny.

"Ignore him Gertie, you are perfect for me." The prickly one pointed out to his girlfriend. The female raptor played a sad face.

"What? I.. I didn't want to insult.." The raccoon held up his paws in defense. But when Gertie and Louis laughed, he pouted.

"You have a strange sense of humor." So he preferred to address the others who have to listen to him.

"So let's get this straight. The Pathfinder can carry all of us, even the bigger ones and it can take us to Olympus in exactly... how long?" Wanted the oldest mammoth to know.

"About thirty three days." Immediately it shot out of the raccoon and Manfred was afraid that something could go wrong. The new leader of the group took it too lightly, as if it were a fun adventure.

"Just before then." Added the monkey.

"What? Thirty three days? That'll take up to one month!" Albert remarked aloud.

"Which makes it eighty eight days then." Many in the group said almost simultaneously.

"Dang, you eggheads are smarter than a darn hawk." The teenager exaggerated and overreacted.

"I thought it'll be a hundred days and we'll never be able to save the world then." Shangri Llama laughed.

"Young Albert..." And he spit on the top of the weasels head.

"Ack! Hey!" Disgusted, the little one took distance from the spitting animal.

"You heard the smart ones. It'll only take thirty three days. Making a hundred and twenty one days down to eighty eight." The Llama babbled even more.

"But I might get seasick out there!" A certain mammoth shouted in the background on this.

"You don't have to come with us. Nobody forces you." But Manfred was ignored.

"Oh nonsense, my little friend. I was only seven when I sailed out onto the seas with my family. Only a mere youngster, now sit." The Shangri Llama pated the boy's head hard.

"Ow! How long ago was that? A thousand years?" Albert grew cheeky.

"Lousy sack a horns.." He muttered to it and rubbed the spot on his head.

"Well listen, you little.." But the llama didn't get a chance to complain, because this Ryan finally came to them.

"Grayson, what are you doing here? Are you on leave? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"Shh, calm down, buddy. I'm fine. Long story, Ry." The raccoon said to the guy who was totally calm.

"Now then, Gray. What's the big mystery? What are you doing here looking like you lost an argument with a dung beetle?"

"I don't know where to start. You know I came back from the Labyrinth of Knowledge. I told the Fellowship, by note, to come to my cave home in ten minutes. I told them what we need to do. I joined them. I got attacked by General Gato and recruited some new members." Grayson babbled like a waterfall because he didn't want to leave anything out and his voice sounded so good here where it gave a slight echo.

"Howdy sir, Albert, bard. A pleasure to meet you." Introduced the little weasel himself.

"I'm Tara, of Mammal's Crown's female warrior clan." The warrior also got involved.

Elric was stroking Teddy between the ears. Gladys was supposed to be jealous, just like this weasel was attached to her boyfriend. But she herself suggested an open relationship. Teddy chuckled nervously.

"And this is Elric."

"Your team so far, huh?" Wolf didn't look overwhelmed or anything.

"That's right. Us, the Fellowship." Now the squirrel jumped forward. The guy cheered when he saw Scrat.

"I knew it! I knew it! Haha! This is the chance I've been waiting for!"

"Waiting for what?" The only tigress stepped forward with interest.

"To show you all the Pathfinder, the only ship that can carry the Fellowship to Olympus and back!" Ryan announced.

"Alright, let's get going. Get the ship ready and we're off to Olympus!" Said Manny now.

"Not so fast, my poofy friend." Said Grayson.

"Okay, first off, THANK you for not saying 'fat'."

"You're welcome."

"Why?"

"We must test out the cannons first before letting this bad boy out in the water out there."

"I'll handle this. Dobson! Raz!" Ordered the pirate captain. The two of course started immediately walking up.

"Test out the cannons right now or we'll be spending vacation time here for twenty five years!" Dobson and Raz got worried looks on their faces.

"Just kidding." Gutt smiled and then got serious again.

"But seriously go test the cannons. No leaving the ship until you test out the cannons. Now get working!" The command was clear and was immediately carried out by the two.

---

Of course this took time and so the Fellowship had to wait until the kangaroo and warthog were done with it. Driving out boredom was not easy if you had to stay in one place.

"Mom and Dobson should be done by now." Roger thought.

"Indeed. If not, our gooses are cooked." Gupta was also fed up with waiting.

"They have to do this right or this is the end for all of us." Diego tried to stop an uprising, even if he got restless too. Scrat patted his paw.

"Take it easy. We'll be heading out before we know it." The little guy insured.

"Thanks, Scrat. And I'm glad you don't have any fleas on you."

"That's because I take so many baths, thanks to Brooke. So I can keep them away."

"That's what the fresh smell was." Buddy intervened. Steffie huged Scrat with her trunk on that and presses him against her chest.

"I'm glad you're always clean, Scrat. And... I'm sorry I called you a rat the first time we've met." The mammoth apologized.

"Hey, don't sweat it, Stef. Ya didn't know."

"Hmm.." Steffie smiled.

Raz finally came back with Dobson.

"Hey, mates! We're done." She announced exhausted but happy.

"Yeah, we're done." Dobson was sweating from work too.

"At last. We've been waiting for one hour. Bugger!" Rudy roared from above.

"Oi! That's my private line when I'm in sticky situations, mate! Bloody hell, Rudy. That's just rude." Buckminster instructed his new pet.

"Rudy rude." Eddie laughed.

"Bro, that's mean to call the dinosaur that." Crash deadpanned. The brothers also sat on the white dino.

"Aww, damn it Crash. You just love to be serious at times, don't you?"

"Of course, the Fellowship depends on all of us as well as Grayson."

"Oh no, now you're sounding like Manny." Eddie said and the mammoth heard that of course.

"Huh, I feel like I should be proud of myself because I finally used all my disciplinary gifts for something important." Manfred said a little proud.

"Oh, now look what you've done. Great job, bro. Now you're ruining everything!" Annoyed that opossum.

"Relax, it's only temporary. No big deal." Said the other.

"Hmph, yeah right."

"Okay, guys. You know what would really break up any fights and putting aside our differences?" Grayson pushed in between.

"What?" The brothers looked at the raccoon questioningly.

"Standing down on the count of three?"

"Grayson is right. Look at what you two have become right now. Along with the Fellowship at the beginning. Trust issues. We should all put our petty squabbles, work together and end the bickering, once and for all." It came from Louis wise.

"Okay." Eddie let out.

"One." Crash said.

"Two." The molehog continued to count.

"Math makes me nervous!" Complained Eddie.

"Three!" Gertie groaned in anger. The twins shook paws and Grayson clapped his too.

"Huzzah! Now we have no more grudges." He looked at the possums, then the whole Fellowship one by one.

"Alright. Time to get the Pathfinder to sea." Ryan announced and then spoke to his staff.

"Get it ready, boys!" A mole figurine started walking towards him.

"Right away, sir! You heard the big boss, get the boat ready! That's right, come on, hurry up! Get it out of the garage! I haven't got all day!" Then he waved to the Fellowship.

"Remember your flowers, your food supplies, your drinking supplies and weapons. If you lose them, don't worry, we'll keep them safe in the boss' room. So you don't have to stop the boat journey to come back and get them, so let's go!"

"Well, this is quest is going to come off at a great start." Roger sneaked a kiss on Katies cheek in the face.

"Oh, Roger, you light up my life." The woman blushed and giggled.

---

In the sunset, the Pathfinder is out on to the sea and ready for the Fellowship to come aboard. Some different animals were conversing about Chronos and his generals near the herd.

"How could Chronos send his general here?" Wanted to know a brave mammoth.

"I can't believe it." Said a female muscular saber.

"Are we gonna be okay?" A little weasel wailed anxiously.

"What are we gonna do?" A feminine sloth was baffled.
The Fellowship is walking in a straight line from chronological order of each member, because Grayson wanted it like that.

"Alright, guys. Do not worry. We got this. Grayson and the Fellowship here have got your back, your front and your sides."

"Even my fur?" Came a small saber-toothed tiger child walking up to them.

"Yes, even your cute little fur, Barnaby." Sid smiled.

"Looks like you're going to be okay." Brooke the Bruno cheered.

"Yo guys! Are you a hundred percent sure we shouldn't evacuate?" The rat also had questions.

"No, they're gonna take care of us. Right, Grayson?"A female opossum languished.

"Yeah, I'm positive! Nobody needs to evacuate! We will rise above these major threats! Everybody, please just stay calm. Just relax. Take a deep breath and enjoy the rest of your days at Mammal's Crown. Everything is going to be fine." Victory although he didn't really know what was going to happen, our heroic raccoon calmed everyone down.

"We can't screw this up, Grayson." It came from the silver-haired tigress.

"If we fail, it's our entire fault." Raz acknowledged her part.

"Don't worry, we got this. Watch out, Chronos, here we come! And ready or not, temporal generals, here we go!" Grayson believed in himself and the rest of his crew.

"Good to go?" Roger then asked again.

"Yes, good to go!" The raccoon replied, not understanding why they had any doubts. He'll win the thing and stand as a hero as it is meant to be.

"Cool!" Said the young Raptor satisfied.

Everyone got on board and really tried to believe in themselves, but each of them still had their weaknesses. For example, regarding seaworthiness. But they all tried to trust each other in order to achieve this great goal that lay ahead with splendor and glory. It was only important to some animals that they survive the whole thing, which was not a bad thought, because not everyone was a fighting nature.

---

Meanwhile, the sandy enemy of our fellowship was somewhere else, playing golf temporarily. Certainly to pass the time because all the bad guys did this. Nobody knew this exactly. Anyway, he got another hole in one just when he was disturbed. One of those metal things called Tinker Toys appeared next to the ruler of time. It was even the commander Tinormous.

"Well done, my lord. One more hole and you're close to beating your personal record! But, my lord. We have to be ready for Sandmageddon in one hundred and twenty one days, otherwise.." The metal creature reminded its master.

"When are you going to shut up, metalhead?" But Chronos didn't seem very pleased about the visit.

"I beg your pardon, my lord." The servant apologized. The golfer swings his golf club when he heard the doors to his throne room. But he accidentally missed his target. The ball bounced off a wall and it hit a Tinker Toy in the eye.

"My lord." Gato knelt down after entering and greeting his master.

"Any news of the Fellowship?" Chronos asked bored, because he got a clue what his general's answer would be.

"They've beaten me." The jaguar tried to look really apologetic and depressed. Chronos did not even have to say anything, that punishing and piercing look was enough.

"It's been a very difficult situation. They are being helped by a great warrior. I've been wounded many times and almost died. "Gato tried to explain his situation, but that only made his counterpart angry.

"NOOO! I will not tolerate degradation and defeat in my new era!" The timekeeper shouted and bonks the unconscious Tinker Toy on the head with the golf club. Three new servants came in and probably saved the Jaguar from a terrible punishment. For now. It was the eagle, the snake and the gorilla that came in but gave Gato contemptuous looks. The news of failure got around quickly.

"So, my lord, we have news." Reported the beast of the sky.

"Oh geez, what now, Aguila?!" Chronos didn't want to hear any more bad news.

"We have a slight problem. The Fellowship is heading to Olympus to get the eight relics to defeat us!" The eagle tried to announce this quickly because he did not like to cause his master to be in a bad mood.

"Impossible! Unless..." The sandy master complained and looked at Gato angrily.

"Listen, I did all I could, but it wasn't enough." The jaguar tried to explain, but it was no use. It was simply grabbed by the neck and pulled up.

"FOOL! We need to erase half of the mammal population and the Fellowship and you've gone out of your way and let them escape?!" Chronos yelled at the General as he choked him.

"Hey..I- I- I can..explain ..." He gasped for breath, but to his luck the ruler lost interest in the matter and threw him to the ground.

"And your battles have been quite underwhelming." He also glanced at the other generals with terrible disappointment.

"I'm disappointed in you incompetent fools. Violently disappointed."

"We don't care about your disappointment..." Aguila come closer to him lays a winged finger on time master's chest.

"Lord Chronos." Added the eagle man, almost amused. The sand lord got out his staff that makes the four generals gasp in fear.

"Do you care now?" He made the thing work so everyone got a mind numbing headache.

"Next time, train harder." He looked at the giant ape, because he would certainly not disappoint him.

"Mono, go take care of those fellowship mammals." The mentioned stepped forward and gets out a giant stone hammer.

"I'm on it, Lord Chronos! I, General Mono, will crush those puny mammals, birds and reptiles!" The monkey swore in a hurry.

"Good. Now, if you hurry and defeat them on their ship, I got a bigger apple just for you." The Lord of Time promised him.

"Those mammals are as good as dead!" And the servant moved his right arm around and rests the handle of the hammer on his shoulder as he started walking out of the keep.

"Do not FAIL me, mono!" The ape general could still hear behind him, but of course he won't.

---

GrayestLobster7: And so with our Fellowship out on the seas, Gato defeated two times, Grayson, Albert, Tara, and Elric joined the team, our journey begins. However, Mono is coming and Chronos isn't taking two defeats down. What lies in store for our Fellowship? Will Mono fail at least two times just like Gato? Stay tuned as the journey continues on "The Battle Against Chronos: The Relic War".

evil-catgirl: For all impatient readers, one chapter always comes out in a month. Sounds fair considering the length of the chapters.