Here I am again! Now it's time to see what happens after Max and the others encountered the pirates! Not only that, but we also see how Kate and her group are fairing against the slowly moving wall. Enjoy!
When Manny finally came to, he opened his eyes...only to see a warthog's snout sniffing at him. Turns out it was just the warthog of the mysterious pirate crew, Dobson. He glanced at the mammoth before Flynn came into view, laughing. "Hello."
Manny looked down and he saw that he was on the pirate's ship iceberg, tied to the mast. "Hey, buddy." He heard Diego's voice. When he looked up, he saw both Diego and Kovu tied up to a pole. "Welcome to the party."
When Manny looked around, the pirates were indeed having some sort of party, laughing and having some fruit that was all around the ship in piles.
Max, Riolu, and Espurr were tied up together, looking at the fun the pirates were having. "They seem to be having fun. I actually kinda thought the Outsiders have this kind of fun too." Espurr mentioned. Riolu laughed a little in agreement. "Yeah, they're bad at trying to beat us, but they could be quite the party animals."
"Hey, we came close to defeating you guys a couple of times and you know it!" Sneasel's voice snapped at them.
The three Pride Team Pokemon turned and they were confused, as well as surprised to see the two Outsider Pokemon next to them, tied up as well. "Sneasel! Wynaut!" Max exclaimed. "What are you guys doing here?" Riolu asked.
"Well, one minute Sneasel and I were just enjoying a little vacation, then the next thing both of us knew we ended up lost at sea. And now we're like you guys, kidnapped by a bunch of pirates." Wynaut answered. "And all because we just happened to find that glowing gem." Sneasel grumbled.
Max raised an eyebrow. "Gem? What gem?" Sneasel pointed his foot in one direction. "That gem." Max, Riolu, Espurr, and even Manny turned to see the turquoise gem being held by Totodile. The Big Jaw Pokemon was laughing along with Squint.
"Let's see what kind of moves you got. Dance, you little Scrat Fish!" Squint threw some starfish at Scrat who was dancing and dodging the stars, still in his sudden disguise. "Dance her coconuts off!" Flynn cheered before eating a piece of fruit.
Since Scrat was underneath them, Sid, Norbert, and Daggett tried to avoid some starfish that were thrown their way.
Totodile laughed. "This is the most fun I've ever had in all of my life!" He laughed even harder when Squint quickly took the fruit from Flynn's plate without him knowing.
When Flynn tried to get another piece, he was confused when he couldn't find it. "Where's my booty? Has anyone seen it?"
The badger, Gupta, laughed and pointed behind the seal. "Dude, it's right behind you!"
Flynn turned around to try and find his booty, but had no luck. "Where? Where's my booty? I can't see it!"
He was backing up to the bird, Silas, who cringed. "Egh! It's all I CAN see."
Granny was tied up herself, but she was just walking around in circles. "Ooh. This is a lovely vacation. Best I ever had."
Captain Gutt jumped in front of Manny. "Morning, Sunshine. Let me be the first to extend a hand of friendship."
Manny saw that he extended something. "That's your foot."
Gutt was aware it was his foot and he was just testing the mammoth. "Oh, nothing gets by you, does it?"
Max gave the monkey a stern look. "What do you even want?"
Gutt turned to the Pikachu behind him. "I bet you're feeling lost, scared, confused. Allow me to explain." He turned to his crew. "Help me out, boys!"
The crew got some instruments and began playing. "Ooh, Captain's gonna sing a shanty!" Flynn was pretty excited as well.
Captain Gutt moved over to Sid and the beavers and began his song.
"Here you are on a boat. You're adrift. You're afloat.
One might even say you're stuck.
Well, I don't want to gloat, but I would like to note that you're in luck.~"
After flicking Sid's nose Gutt climbed up a pole and continued.
"~You've been saved by the ape that rules these waters. So forget about your wives and daughters!
First mate introduce me to them pleeease!~"
Shira came into view and joined in as did the other members. "Aye Aye, Captain Gutt!"
"~He's a big and scary, elegant and hairy, feared inspiring, years from retiring, looting stealing~"
Flynn added this part himself. "~Banana peeling~"
The crew finished this together. "~Undisputed master of the seas!"
"Oh, jeez!" Daggett panicked.
Gutt: "That's me!"
The crew: "Tis' he!"
Gutt: "That's me!"
The crew: "Tis' he!"
Gutt: "That's me!"
The crew: "Tis' he!"
Gutt: "Okay okay."
Gupta played a leg bone like a flute when Gutt continued.
"~I'm a primate pirate pioneer and these are my brave buccaneers, all of whom were once lost souls like you.~"
The crew, minus Totodile for some reason, confirmed it. "It's true."
Gupta: "He rescued us."
Squint: "He saved our butts."
Shira was walking on the pole Diego and Kovu were tied to. "For that, we owe our lives to Gutt, and assuming he doesn't kill you,~"
As Raz threw a spear at Daggett, the crew finished this part. "~you will owe him too!~" Dag yelped and ducked his head.
"Kill them? Me?" Gutt gave off a bit of a chuckle. "No, no." He was on Manny's left tusk playing with his trunk a bit. "Well, at least not this very large, useful mammoth."
In annoyance, Manny pulled his trunk away. "Hey, hands off!"
Gutt just shrugged. "Anyway..." He jumped off and got back to the song.
"~Here we are on a ship moving at quite a clip through the ever shifting ice~"
Shira and the crew gathered around Manny.
"Come along on a trip. That's a hint. That's a tip. That's good advice.~"
Just after Gupta's drumming, Gutt, Shira, and even Totodile continued on.
"~In a world that's going under, to survive, you must learn to plunder.~"
Gutt added in himself. "~Luckily that's my field of expertise.~"
"He's the best!" Both Shira and Totodile pointed out.
Flynn and Squint: "He's a robbing thieving,"
"We REALLY should be leaving." Kovu said.
Raz: "Weapon throwing,"
"We gotta get going." Norbert calmly told them.
Squint pointed his weapon at Sid: "Sloth slaying,"
Sid looked scared. "Wish we could be staying."
Crew: "Undisputed, uncontested, monkey suited,"
Gutt: "Yeah you guessed it!"
Gutt and the crew: "Master of the seas!"
Sneasel groaned and rolled his eyes. "Oh please."
Gutt: "That's me!"
The crew: "Tis' he!"
Gutt: "That's me!"
The crew: "Tis' he!"
Gutt: "It's who?"
The crew: "It's you!"
Gutt: "Just testing. I knew. It's me!"
After that, the crew laughed. "Good shanty, sir!" Flynn even happily commented.
"Captain Gutt?" Manny chuckled a little. "Really? You know, I have a little paunch too, but uh, I wouldn't name myself after it."
Gutt laughed a bit himself. "That's funny. You're a funny guy, but that's not how I got my name." Then he showed razor sharp claws, as sharp as a bunch of knives! "THESE got me my name!"
Daggett saw the claws and was scared. "Gulp." He proved it by actually saying gulp.
Sid, however...was kinda clueless. "I don't get it."
"No? Okay." Gutt made his way over to Sid. He cut the vines off the sloth's torso, leaving him to hang upside down for an example. "Let me give you a visual aid. I just gently press here."
When the claw pressed against his stomach, Sid giggled. "It tickles!"
Captain Gutt continued with the demonstration. "And go down like this." Sid stopped laughing when the claw stopped at his throat.
"And then your innards become your outards." Squint added. He even pulled on Sid's tongue.
"Um...I still don't get it." Sid was helpless.
Sneasel groaned. "You're kidding, right, sloth?"
"I think you're gonna need to show him some pictures." Norbert deadpanned.
"Look, as much as I'm tempted to join a monkey, the Easter bunny, a tiny crocodile holding a glowing gem, and a giant bag of pudding." Manny started. Squint looked insulted, but Flynn just waved with a dopey smile on his face. "I'll pass."
Max nodded in agreement. "That's right. Nothing's gonna stop us from getting back to our team!"
Some of the pirates gasped. Squint started to go crazy. "I'm gonna lambada your liver buddy!" He jumped after Manny, but Gutt grabbed him by his ears to stop him. "Let me at him!"
Gutt got close to Manny's face. "That family is going to be the death of you." He whispered in his ear.
"Death of us?" Max asked. Totodile laughed a little darkly. "Oh, just wait and see."
"First mate, jettison the deadweight." Gutt ordered Shira.
"Aye-aye, sir. Prepare the plank!" Shira ordered the crew. "Prepare the plank!" Squint repeated, much to Shira's annoyance.
"Preparing the plank." Flynn used his belly to push a wooden plank on the edge of the ice.
Raz cut Sid, Norbert, and Daggett free. She and Totodile began to push them over to the plank. Totodile placed the gem on his head to free his hands. "Hey hey hey hey! What are you doing to us, pally?" Daggett asked in annoyance.
"What? You want us to walk into the water?" Sid asked in fear.
Daggett laughed a bit. "Walk into the water? Easy peasy. I'm a beaver, water is actually nothing to me."
"You don't remember the pirate stories you used to read back at the dam, do you?" Norbert asked his brother in annoyance and a little fear.
As the pirates began to laugh, Sid spoke again. "I can't, because I just ate less than twenty minutes ago, and you know the rule..." Raz cut him off. "That's a myth."
Sid shrugged. "Okay, as long as it's safe." But as he, Norb and Dag got tossed to the plank, they looked down and gasped.
"Wait!" Gutt suddenly shouted, stopping everything.
Norbert wiped a little sweat from his forehead. "That was close."
"Dump the wench too." What Gutt said made the three gasp. Gutt helped Granny walk over to the plank. "Ladies first."
"What a nice boy. Why can't you be more like him, Sidney?" After poking his grandson in the belly with her cane, Granny walked over to the end of the plank.
"Granny, no! Wait!" Sid reached for Granny, but the pirates held him back.
Sneasel looked on, then he sighed. "Okay, I give. Who is that elderly sloth anyway?" "That's Sid's grandmother. She tends to wander when you least expect it." Espurr replied to make it clear for the Outsider.
Wynaut gulped in fear. "Sneasel, they're gonna kill us."
"What are we gonna do?" Riolu asked the two Pokemon he was tied with.
Manny struggled in order to try and help the sloths and the beavers. "Manny!" The mammoth looked up at Diego and Kovu. "Get me and Kovu to the vine." The former told his friend.
Manny looked at what Diego was talking about, then he nodded. "Yeah, yeah, got it." He started to turn his friends to the target.
Max saw what Manny was doing. Wanting to get out himself, he frantically looked around the ship. That's when he noticed one of the sharp weapons. He got an idea and turned his head a little. "Espurr, try using your Psychic on one of those swords to cut us free."
Espurr nodded. "I'm on it." With her eyes glowing, Espurr carefully got one of the swords over to them.
Granny walked to the end of the plank and looked down at the water...as well as the narwhals swimming in a circle. "Y'all got some ugly goldfish." She commented.
Manny kept turning Kovu and Diego closer and closer. "Come on, Manny." Kovu said. "A little more." Diego added. Once they were close enough to the vine, they grabbed it with their teeth and snapped it. Manny was able to pull himself free from the vines.
At the same time, Espurr easily used the sword to free herself, Riolu, and Max from the vines. "Yes!" Max cheered.
Gutt heard something behind him, so he turned around to see what was going on. "No!" The primate pirate captain grabbed a sword and began to fight Manny. Meanwhile, Totodile turned his attention to Max. "Oh, a clever little Pikachu, eh?" Placing the turquoise gem down, Totodile quickly charged towards Max.
Everyone looked on as Max and Manny faced off against Totodile and Gutt. "Yeah! Extinct that mammoth and Pikachu!" Squint cheered for the pirates. "Come on, guys! Kick those spooty loserly pirate guys in their buccaneering tuchuses!" Norbert cheered.
Max was using his tail to clash against Totodile's claws. "Ha! You're a foolish Pikachu! No one tries to escape Captain Gutt without paying the price!" Totodile said.
"Me and the rest of my team had to deal with worse stuff before!" Max began. "So, compared to our past adventures, this is nothing!"
"I wouldn't go that far." Sneasel whispered in disagreement.
Meanwhile, Gutt began to talk to Manny as well. "Look at you! Eleven tons of land lubber blubber!" He pushed Manny with his feet.
"Hey! I'm not fat! I'm poofy!" Manny argued.
"Too bad, tubby. I could've used you." Gutt mentioned. "Ain't gonna happen, Captain!" Manny pushed him away. At the same time, Max managed to blow Totodile away with Electro Ball.
The two pirates were knocked against the mast. The sword Captain Gutt used was tossed into the air. Sneasel and Wynaut looked up...and screamed when the sword came down their way. Lucky for the two of them, all the sword did was slice the vines they were tied with, freeing the two of them. Diego and Kovu were able to free themselves as well.
"Hey, watch it!" Wynaut yelled. Sneasel looked at the gem on the ground and smirked. "Sweet! We're getting out of here, Wynaut! And our gem is coming with us!" However, before he could grab the gem, the mast came down hard. Not only did it flung the gem into the air, it also cracked the ice boat pretty good. "Hey!" Sneasel yelped.
"Uh-oh." The plank Granny was standing tilted, making her slide back over to the cracking boat. "I got ya, Granny." Sid was able to get Granny...she ended up on his back.
"Nice catch, Sid." Norbert commented. "Giddy up! Let's go!" Granny whacked Sid in order to get him moving. The beavers were right behind the sloths.
While Max was trying to stay with his friends, something came down and hit him on the head. "Ow! Hey!" He held what hit him in his paws. "What the heck?" Turns out it was the same turquoise emerald Sneasel and Wynaut found in the first place.
"Sneasel, we gotta get out of here!" Wynaut told his friend. The Sharp Claw Pokemon tried to find his emerald until he saw it...in Max's hands. "Hey, that's mine!" When he tried to reach over and get it...he stepped on a rolling piece of fruit, lost his footing, grabbed Wynaut's hand, and the two of them slipped and began to slide off the breaking boat into the water.
The rodents were abandoning the ship, so did Scrat who was holding half an acorn which is actually some sort of map.
"Does anyone have floaties?" Flynn tried to get a good hold, but he just couldn't. Some of the crew slid and landed on his belly.
Gutt and Totodile held on to a branch, with the captain watching as the fruit began to fall into the water. "No! No! My bounty!" Totodile looked around...but for something else. "Where is it? Where did it go!?"
They both looked over at the Pride Team and growled angrily just before the boat sank into the ocean.
Max and his group emerged from the water on a floating piece of ice. Manny looked around and saw no sign of the pirates, nor Sneasel and Wynaut anywhere.
In another part, Flynn gasped as he emerged from the water. "They sunk our battleship! What are gonna do? We're all gonna drown!" He was having a hard time swimming.
He stopped when he was grabbed by the nose by Captain Gutt. "You're a sea creature, you idiot." He reminded the elephant seal.
Flynn was happy again by the reminder. "Good point, sir."
Totodile groaned and cracked his back a bit. "That Pikachu and his friends are gonna pay for this!"
"Should I fly the whites, Captain?" Gupta asked.
"No!" Gutt slapped his 'flag' to the pirate side again.
Flynn looked around and noticed that someone is missing. "Wait! What about Shira?"
"What about her?" Gutt didn't seem to care if they were down a member. "Yeah! What about her?" Squint repeated.
"Anyone else wanna play captain?" Gutt snapped at the crew. His response was fear silence. "Good." He pointed in one direction. "Now come on, blubber-brain. Swim!" At the command, Flynn swam and pushed his ice of pirates with him. The captain had his mind on finding a new ship...as well as revenge against a certain mammoth.
While the pirates left to find dry land, Shira was floating in the water, struggling to stay afloat. "Hey! Gutt? Totodile? Flynn? Anyone there?" She frantically looked around for the pirates.
"Over here! Grab on!" Riolu's voice called out. She turned around and saw the Pride Team floating over. Manny even reached out for her.
"No! Go away!" Shira angrily snapped. Her head was briefly in the water until she pulled it out with a cough. "I rather drown!"
"Hey, whatever the lady wants." Kovu shrugged and sarcastically smirked at the female saber.
Shira was now underwater until Espurr pulled her on their ice with Psychic. With the gem in his hand, Max walked over to the coughing tiger. "You okay?"
"I said I didn't need your help!" Shira coughed out.
"You're welcome." Diego replied in sarcasm. "So, care to join our scurvy crew?"
Shira looked over at them and scoffed. "Three Pokemon, two beavers, two sloths, a mammoth, a lion, and a saber? You guys are like the start of a bad joke."
"And we saved you." Norbert pointed out. Diego agreed. "That makes you the punchline, Kitty."
The word 'kitty' made Shira pounce on Diego. "Don't call me kitty."
"Alright, I won't..." Diego managed to push Shira off him and pin her down. "Kitty."
"If they kiss, I'm gonna puke." Granny said. Daggett even cringed. "Ew, gross!"
"What? Wait, no." Diego and Shira got off each other and walked away from each other.
While Max chuckled a little and shook his head, Manny just looked in the distance with a worried look on his face. He was thinking back to Ellie and the others back in Ice Age Valley, wondering if they made it to the land bridge yet.
Back in Ice Age Valley, Ellie looked over at the horizon herself. She was worried about her husband and her friends. She followed Kate back to the crowd on their way to the land bridge.
It was late and everyone was running low on energy. Eddie was even carrying an exhausted Crash, but even he was tired and tripped. Dog and Pumbaa were panting. "Are we there yet?" Dog asked.
Since he was on Pumbaa's back, Timon looked around at the tired mammals and Pokemon, not feeling tired one bit. "Oy. I don't think we're ever gonna get there."
Kate looked at everyone and saw how tired they were. She looked over at the wall and noticed they were now a good distance away from it, so she made a decision. "Maybe we should rest for a few hours." Just after the Togetic made the suggestion, almost everyone collapsed on the ground.
Cat groaned. "Thanks, Sis."
Everyone was settling in to rest for the night. Families were snuggling together for comfort.
Peaches looked up at the sky. "I miss you, Dad."
Just after a couple more seconds, Ethan comes walking up...upside down? "Well, that's something you don't see everyday."
Peaches gasped. "Ethan! Hi!" She fell off the tree. She was actually hanging upside down by her tail. She shrugged it off and tried to be cool as she stood up. "Meant to do that."
Ethan chuckled a bit. "I've never seen a mammoth sleep like that."
"What? No! This just helps me think." As she talked to Ethan, she didn't even notice Ellie and Kiara walking over. The two silently overheard the conversation. "It gets blood to the noggin and away from the old...whatever." Peaches giggled.
"Uh, okay, that's a little weird." After a rumble from a distance, Ethan asked Peaches something else. "So, how are you doing? You know, with all of this?"
"Honestly? A little scared." Peaches replied. "Okay, a lot scared. Everything we knew is gone."
Ethan agreed. "Yeah, I was pretty scared too. I mean not scared, you know, concerned." He asked her something else to change the topic. "You want to walk with me tomorrow? Try to get our minds off of all of this?"
Peaches was surprised, and also happy. "You want to walk with me?"
"Well, you did almost flatten me this morning. So, I figured it can't really get worse than that, right?" Ethan said. Peaches giggled a bit in embarrassment. Just as he was about to walk away, Ethan said this to Peaches next. "Oh, just one thing. No big deal, but you might want to lose the molehog."
"Louis? Yeah, sure. Not a problem." Peaches replied. Ellie and Kiara were surprised at how this was going. They waited until Ethan was gone to walk over to Peaches who leaned against the tree and sighed.
Kiara smiled at her friend. "Well, someone looks beyond happy?"
Peaches sighed. "Ethan's great, isn't he?"
Ellie tried to reason with her daughter. "Baby, I know you like this one. Still, don't let anyone change who you are, okay?"
"I know." Peaches told her mom.
While Kiara climbed up the tree to sleep on top of a branch, Ellie used her tail hang on to another branch. "You coming up?" Ellie asked.
Peaches looked over at a tree across from them, looking over at the mammoths sleeping on the ground next to it...including Ethan. "I think I'm gonna sleep down here tonight."
Ellie was a bit surprised, but she didn't stop her. "Okay. Night, baby. Night, Kiara."
"Night, Mom. Night, Kiara." Peaches looked at the sky again. "Night, Dad."
"Night, girls." Kiara looked up at the sky herself. "Night, Kovu."
Kate flew up a little above them to look at the sky herself. Thinking back to her husband. While she knew Max would find a way to come back to her, she just couldn't help but worry about him. "Goodnight, Max. Sleep well." After blowing an air kiss to her beloved Pikachu, the mayor of Nearburg floated back down to lay her head against a sleeping CatDog.
While Max and his group got away from the pirates, they're still lost at sea...and still in danger. Kate's group is also in danger as well, but they are getting closer and closer to the land bridge. How long will it be until Max reaches dry land himself? Only the next chapter knows...Until then, see ya!