Here we are again! We finally find Granny, Sneasel, Wynaut, and Scrat appear again...but we also meet the true enemies in this story! Enjoy!
The storm was over now, and the ice boat was still sailing away from Ice Age Valley. All of the passengers on the boat groaned from the chaos they had to deal with in the storm. Max, Diego, and Kovu shook the water off their fur and Sid even wrung the water off his tail.
Norbert got up and tossed a leaf off his head. "Dag? Daggy-Boy, you okay?" Next to him, Daggett shot up...with a small stick up his nose. "That was nuts!"
Manny looked back at the direction to Ice Age Valley. "Still heading away from home." They all looked back and saw that the storm clouds were still there. Good thing they weren't in the storm anymore.
Sid looked on the bright side of this. "Yeah, but we survived! And we still have each other. Things could be worse right?"
"You know? He's actually right. We've made it through storms, tidal waves, and even a vicious assortment of seafood." Kovu pulled a small fish out of his mane and tossed it back into the ocean. "Seriously, what more can they hit us with?" Just after he asked that, something whacked him on the head. "Ow!" Something was mumbling in the tree next to Kovu. The lion peeked inside the hole. "Hello?" But he got poked in the eye. "Ah! Hey!"
"Dagnabbit, I'm trying to sleep!" They were surprised and relieved to see Granny pop her upper half out of the hole.
Sid gasped. "Granny? You're alive!" "And we're so happy to see you." Espurr added.
"Hey, fats. Wanna get me out of here?" Granny told Manny. Manny carefully wrapped his trunk around Granny and tried to pull her out. "Come on. Pretend I'm a dessert. That's your motivation." Trying a little harder, Manny got Granny out of the hole...and she landed on top of Sid.
"Hang on a minute! We just went through a wild and dangerous storm! You mean you actually slept through that storm?" Max asked Granny. He was both amazed and bewildered.
Granny stood up and started walking towards the edge of the boat. "Eh, I slept through the comet that killed the unicorns." She kept walking...until she fell into the water, making the other nine scream a bit. "Thanks for drawing my bath, Sidney."
"Granny, grab my paw!" Sid reached out for his grandmother.
"No way! This is my first bath in decades." Granny was enjoying the water. She didn't even notice the water around her changing color, or even the dead fish that came up...plus a dead Sharpedo.
Manny and the others looked on. "There's your proof." Diego said.
"Quick! Somebody do something!" Sid shouted, panicking. Manny picked him up and threw him into the water to get to Granny. Sid was able to grab Granny after splashing into her. "I've got you, Granny." He began to swim back to the ice.
"Get off of me!" Granny used her walking stick to whack Sid around. Still, Sid managed to get Granny back on the boat. "What are you peeping toms all looking at?" Manny, Max, Diego, Riolu, Espurr, Norbert, and Kovu quickly turned away, even with Norbert quickly turning Daggett as well. "Nanny can't take a bath in peace? Eyeballing me like a rump roast." Granny mumbled and waddled away.
"So...What's the life expectancy for a female sloth?" Riolu asked the others. "Would that be before or after they get revived?" Daggett asked his own question.
Norbert was next to say something. "She'll outlive us all. You know that, right?" Manny agreed with the yellow beaver. "Yeah, the spiteful ones live the longest." Once the conversation was over, everyone decided to get settled on the boat while still trying to get back home to Kate and the others.
As the ice boat kept floating away, Sneasel, Wynaut, and Scrat were floating not to far away on their own ice. All three of them looked pretty bored.
"Not really how I wanted to spend my time-off from the Pride Team, but at least I still got this gem. So, it's kind of a bright side." Sneasel held the light blue gem up at the sky, watching it shine in the sunlight. "How long have we been floating like this?"
Wynaut looked at his wrist, but he forgot one little thing. "Oh, Raticates. I don't have a watch."
Scrat looked ahead, and his mood quickly made a u-turn. Excited, he tapped Sneasel's foot. "What do you want, Nut Boy?" The Sharp Claw Pokemon asked in annoyance. Scrat pointed ahead of them. The two Outsiders looked ahead and saw some land.
"Land!" Wynaut happily exclaimed. "Quick! Paddle!" Sneasel ordered. The three of them paddled over to the island.
They finally got to the island and panted in relief. "Oh, sweet land! I've missed you so much!" Sneasel handed the gem to Wynaut before kissing the sand around them...as well as spitting some sand out of his mouth.
Scrat was sitting against a tree, panting. All three of them looked behind the tree. They screamed, backed away from the tree and held each other close. "What is that?" Wynaut asked in fear.
"Wait a minute..." Sneasel walked over to get a closer look. Wynaut and Scrat were right behind him, literally. What they were looking at...was nothing more than the skeleton of another saber-tooth squirrel. "It's just a bunch of bones. Anybody you knew, bushy tail?" Sneasel asked Scrat. Scrat just shook his head no.
Wynaut took another look at the skeleton and raised an eyebrow. "Well is there any particular reason he's pointing at the ocean?" The skeleton was indeed pointing at the ocean.
Curiosity got the better of Scrat, so he carefully took a look at the spot. He looked down at the water, that's when he saw a nut down on the ocean floor. In happiness, Scrat pulled his head out of the water and looked for something to help get down to the bottom of the ocean.
Wynaut noticed how happy Scrat looked. "I think he found something good."
"Knowing his kind, it's probably just another acorn or something." Sneasel rested against the tree just as Scrat came back over...holding a big rock. "Sorry, squirrel dude. Our little boat ride was good and all..." Sneasel added this part to himself. "And by 'good', I mean 'completely unexpected'." He wrapped up his talk with Scrat. "But I think my buddy and I are gonna stay right here and enjoy this gem. So, when it comes to diving for nuts, you're on your own."
Scrat just shrugged, took a deep breath, and just stepped into the water. He was letting the rock he was holding drag him down to the bottom.
"Well, there he goes." Wynaut turned back over to Sneasel. "Now what do we do?"
"Simple, we just call the other members of our team and get them to come pick us up. Then we can sell this gem we found and get a fortune." Sneasel answered.
Wynaut cheered. "Yeah! Good plan, Sneasel! I do have one little question, though."
"And what might that by, my little blue buddy?" Sneasel couldn't take his eyes off his gem.
"How exactly ARE we gonna call Cliff and the others?" Wynaut asked.
"Simple. We just use our Outsider badges. They double as communicators, same as the badges those Pride bozos carry all the time." Sneasel replied.
"But, Sneasel. We don't even have our badges with us." Wynaut mentioned.
"What!?" Sneasel shot up to his feet. "Why not?"
"Well, you said you wanted this trip of ours to be a complete vacation away from the Pride Team and our problems with them. So, you wanted us to leave our badges behind in the Elephant Graveyard in order for the two of us to enjoy our vacation." Wynaut reminded his partner.
Sneasel's eyes widened in realization. "Darn it! I DID say that!" He facepalmed himself. "Okay, not to self: Always carry Outsider badges, no matter what." He slumped back down. "Just great. Now, thanks to that squirrel and his nutty actions, we're stuck on this island in the middle of this ocean!"
Wynaut walked over and sat next to Sneasel, trying to cheer his pal up. "Come on, Sneasel. It's not that bad, it could be worse."
"Worse?" Sneasel turned his head to his partner. "Wynaut, we fell down to the center of Planet Serene, ran on the core with the squirrel, went sailing on a melting piece of ice for a good couple of hours, and I was dumb enough to get us to leave our badges behind. How could things possibly get any worse?" To answer his question, a vine suddenly came out of nowhere and tied them up together.
They both looked at the vine tying them together. "Well, there's that." Just after Wynaut answered that, they were quickly pulled out of the island. They both screamed and Sneasel kept a good grip on the gem.
They were pulled away very fast, until they hit something pretty hard. "Ow!" They both grunted. They heard someone else grunt. They looked to their left and saw Scrat again. This time he looked like a mermaid with a fish on his lower half. Scrat noticed them as well.
"So, you too, huh?" Wynaut asked. Scrat nodded his head a bit. They looked around and saw that they hit an iceberg...one that's strangely shaped like a pirate ship.
Sneasel looked up at the berg. "Well, if calling our teammates isn't an option, we can always ride on this thing." Suddenly, Sneasel and Wynaut were pulled up higher on the iceberg.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Wynaut said. Sneasel looked pretty annoyed. "If this is someone's idea of a joke, they need to work on their sense of humor. I don't know how things can get any worse than this!"
"Oh, but I can." Now Sneasel and Wynaut looked scared when someone pointed a sword at them. "My, my. That's quite a gem you've got there, wouldn't you say?" The figure asked them. The two Outsider gulped in fear.
Back with Max and the others, their ice boat stopped in the middle of the ocean. Those on board were thirsty, tired, and hungry. "HOW BIG IS THIS OCEAN!?" Manny even shouted out.
"Water, water, everywhere, but not any drop to drink." Sid slid to the edge. He looked down at the water. "Ah, except for maybe that drop."
Norbert turned his head, just as Sid dunked his head in the water to drink it. "No, stop!" The beaver tried, but it was too late.
Sid got his head out of the water and happily swallowed. "Hmm, that's a little..." His face became dry before he could finish. "...Salty."
"Precious? Mommy's calling you!" Granny walked around, searching for her pet called Precious. Espurr saw that Granny was walking to the edge of the boat, so she quickly used her Psychic to turn her around. "Precious! Come here, sweetie." That was starting to even annoy Espurr, so the Restraint Pokemon let out a small sigh of annoyance.
Granny walked over to Kovu and used her stick to turn his head. "Hey, lady. Have you seen Precious?"
"If you're talking about the imaginary, or more likely deceased pet that you keep searching for, then no I haven't." Kovu replied with a dull annoyed look on his face.
Daggett was laying on his back, looking up at the sky. He even saw a bird circling around the boat in the air. The brown beaver growled once he heard the bird squawk. "Go away, you spooty chatty bird! Can't you see we're busy being stranded?"
Max's ears perked up at what he heard. "Wait a minute! Dag, you've got good eyes!" "I do?" Daggett asked in confusion. Max looked up at the bird. "Guys, look at what Dag found! Where there's birds, there's gotta be land!"
Everyone else, minus Granny, looked at the bird as well. "Hey, buddy! Come here!" Diego called to the bird. The bird, however, just flew away. "No, we're over here! Come back!" Riolu yelled.
The bird flew off, landed next to a mysterious figure. "It's a huge boat, Captain. Ten passengers, ripe for the taking. One very smelly, and one very plump." He informed the figure.
"In my ocean? What a terrible turn of events. I love a terrible turn of events." The figure showed his disgusting yellow teeth with a smile and a slow chuckle.
Some fog was coming in, but Espurr was still able to carefully look ahead. She even saw something big coming their way. "Am I just seeing things, or is that ice coming our way?"
Manny sees it himself, and he perked up. "Yeah. Yeah, it's coming. It sounds like there's animals on it!"
"This can only mean one thing...Bum, bum, bum..." Norbert set up a bit of a dramatic mood. "We're being rescued!" He cheered.
"YIPPEE!" Sid and Daggett cheered and waved some leafy fans in their hands. "We're being rescued! We're being rescued!" Sid cheered. "Yeah, baby!" Daggett added.
Max's ears twitched a little. "I hear laughter."
"Ooh, must be a party cruise." Sid guessed. However, the happy times hit a snag when some bone anchors were attached to the ice boat. Coming up to them was an icy pirate ship. Max and the others watched carefully, bracing themselves for what might happen next.
An animal came up to the side of the ship, it was an elephant seal. "Hey! They look fluffy!"
Next was a purple kangaroo. "I get the big whoolly one." Next to come were a warthog, a badger, a seagull, a rabbit who looked ready to slice, a Totodile, and last there was a female saber-tooth tiger.
"Wow!" Sid chuckled and nudged Diego a bit. The male tiger looked a bit annoyed at the sloth.
"Get ready to slice and dice, boys." the rabbit swung his sword a bit, ready for some action.
"Knock it off, Squint." The female tiger pushed the rabbit away. "Wait for Captain's orders."
"Ahoy down there!" The Pride Team looked up and saw an ape on one of the branches of the ship. "How lucky are you? You know these waters are infested with pirates. Right, boys?" His reply was the others on his ship going "Argh!" So, he continued. "Glad we found you before they did." He swung around a bit until he landed on the edge of his ship. "Captain Gutt, here to help."
Max and the others were kinda cautious. Granny just smiled. "You know, that's a nice monkey." Norbert looked carefully at one of the rodents on the ship, mimicking a monkey...until Captain Gutt flung it away. "Certainly seems serious about keeping pests at bay."
Riolu stepped up to speak. "Listen, we're not looking for trouble here. We just need to find a way to get back to Ice Age Valley!"
"Ice Age Valley? That pile of rubble?" Captain Gutt and his crew laughed.
Manny spoke next. "My family's there! So if you could just-" Captain Gutt cuts him off. "Oh, your family? That is so sweet. I hope you've said goodbye, 'cause there's no way back."
Unfortunately for him, the dopey seal happily spoke up. "Yes there is! Don't you remember, Captain? You can sail to Switchback Cove and catch the current back from there. Like a steel trap, this noggin is." He tapped his head with his weapon.
Gutt gave off a sarcastic laugh. "Thank you, Mr. Flynn!" He stomped on the seal's tail. It made Flynn cringe.
"Yes!" Max cheered. "I knew there was a way to get Manny, Sid, Diego, and Granny back to their home!"
"THERE IS NO HOME!" Captain Gutt shouted. He went back to the edge of his ship. "There is only here. And here, your ship belongs to me." The Pride Team braced themselves. "Battle stations!" The pirates got ready to fight, most of them had weapons ready. "Fly the colors!" At the order, the badger, Gupta, climbed up high and acted as the pirate's flag.
Gutt looked down at the Pride Team. "Now surrender your ship, or face my fury."
"Or face your furry what?" Sid cluelessly shrugged. Both Kovu and Diego rolled their eyes.
"Not 'furry', fury!" Gutt corrected in annoyance. "FIRE!" A huge snowball was fired down at them and they moved out of the way.
Squint held multiple weapons and aimed at Manny. "Hit the mammoth, win a prize!" He tossed them, and most of them hit the mammoth's right tusk. "Ding, ding, ding, ding!"
Riolu glared at Squint. "Oh yeah? Well hit the pirate rabbit and get an even bigger prize! Vacuum Wave!" Riolu aimed his Vacuum Wave attack at Squint while Diego and Kovu tried to free their boat.
"Fire the starboard cannons!" Gutt ordered. While firing, the kangaroo, Raz, exclaimed. "I love...this...job!"
"Shira, fetch!" Gutt pointed at the other ship. Shira smirked. "Aye, aye, Captain!" She jumped off to battle.
"Totodile, do your stuff!" Gutt ordered. "Aye, aye, Captain Gutt!" Totodile jumped off to battle as well.
Diego was snapping the vines, and when he got to the last one, Shira stopped him. "Oh, you almost made it."
"I don't fight girls." Diego said. Shira just used the vine to smack him first, then she pinned him against the ice. "I can see why."
Sid, Norbert, and Daggett screamed and tried to run away... "Belly flop!" From Flynn. But it was no use, the elephant seal was still able to land on the three of them.
"Sid, Norb, Dag!" Manny, Max, Kovu, and Espurr were about to rush to their aid...but the pirates stopped them from getting any closer. "Let's rumba, tiny!" Raz taunted Manny.
Espurr glared. "Okay, time to use my-" She didn't finish, because something knocked her out from behind. When she fell down, Totodile was seen behind her, smirking. "Use your what?"
Riolu saw that and glared at the Big Jaw Pokemon. "Hey! No one does that to my girl!" He let out a battle cry and charged towards Totodile with an Ice Punch.
Totodile just smirked and held up...glowing purple claws? He used them to slash Riolu away and he quickly used it on Kovu as well.
Max was looking at the Water-Type in confusion. "What...was that?" Before he could ponder it any further, Totodile quickly slashed the Pikachu and knocked him out.
Captain Gutt had another cannon aimed at Manny. "Light's out, big fella." He fired the ice ball. It hit Manny on the forehead. His vision was blurry and he fell down. The last thing he heard before going unconscious was Sid, Norbert, and Daggett calling out to him.
Oh boy! Trouble in the high seas much? Looks like Max and his friends are in some serious trouble with this gang of pirates! What will happen to them now? Will they still have a chance to get back to Ice Age Valley? Stay tuned!