Hi guys! I told you yesterday that I would be here again today to give you guys some more adventure! Also, today is a VERY special day in the world of Souls Connected because… bum bum bum… Ellie and her brothers are arriving at the valley today! YAAAAY! Ok, I want to thank the one reviewer who reviewed my last chapter, thank you! I'm sorry if it was too mushy for you. If you do not like mushy-ness do not read chapter 10 when it comes out, it's going to have fluff OVERLOAD! No errors in the last chapter… and for your information, this chapter will NOT have a Manny segment in it. Manny and his pals will have their own chapter without an Ellie segment once they arrive at the valley. (That's going to be chapter 8) Either way, sit back, relax and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Ellie, Crash, Eddie, and The Valley do not belong to me, the old rhino however, does.

Souls Connected: Chapter 6

Ellie's Arrival

"Are we there yet?" Eddie asked, laying on his stomach on Ellie's back, holding his chin in his hands.

"For the 100th time Eddie, NO!" Ellie told him, frustrated. Where was this valley anyway? She didn't even know if she went in the right direction this morning…. And she was too embarrassed to ask for directions. Her brothers and her came up to a frozen lake.

"Oh great!" Crash complained "How are we going to cross THAT!" Ellie rolled her eyes.

"Sheesh boys" She told them, "Remember how dad taught us to ice-glide?"

"Yeah!" Crash said laughing, "And you kept falling on your butt!" He and Eddie laughed as Ellie rolled her eyes, put her brothers down in the snow, and put one of her feet on the ice. It seemed to be sturdy.

"Yeah well, you weren't that good either!" She responded as she put her three remaining legs on the ice and skidded to the closest land piece. She then called for her brothers to hurry up. Crash and Eddie grabbed each other's hands and skidded to where Ellie was. Once they got there, they went through about 10 different land pieces… until the area where they had started skidding was out of sight. Finally, Ellie saw something up ahead, it was a hole… not just any hole, an especially BIG hole…it was the valley! "BOYS! COME HERE! THE VALLEY'S THIS WAY!" She called and immediately started to skid towards the land mass closest to the hole, skipping numerous land pieces as she did. Once she got there, she jumped onto the land mass, causing herself to stop immediately, and then looked down into the valley. It was beautiful!
The entire valley was a huge hole; it had several forests in it and was an oasis compared to the tundra-like landscape surrounding it. It also attracted heat down into it so it was quite warm in there as well. Surrounding it on all four sides were huge glaciers, the one on the south side, which Ellie and her brothers were on, held back the huge icy lake that they had just crossed. The glacier on the north side had an ominous crack running completely through it. 'Good thing the crack's on this side!' Ellie thought to herself. On the far north side of the valley, which was the least populated section was a huge rock canyon. This canyon was home to all the vultures living in the valley. Situated on the top of the highest rock structure was a gigantic piece of redwood bark. In front of the canyon was the geyser field… looking in, Ellie could see at least a hundred geysers going off. In front of this was a bunch of fallen rocks, and then the cliff that divided the north section from the south (The south was on the top of the cliff and the north is at the bottom) Ellie noticed a large, teetering rock bridge on this cliff. After you got to the south side, you saw a large rock, covered in small, weird looking trees, this area made Ellie seem particularly funny, as though she'd seen it before. There was also a large rock sculpture of a creature, Ellie couldn't make it out, but it looked somewhat like a sloth. Then, there was this large river, with ice floes in it. Ellie thought that it would be the perfect place for her and her brothers to wash off. Across the river was a beautiful large forest… Ellie's eyes widened when she saw it, she knew that that forest was going to be her home from then on. And finally, on the far south side, right below Ellie was the most populated section of the valley, Water Park Flats. The water coming from the dripping ice created a wonderful water park for children Ellie could even see a few playing in the water then. Excited to enter the majestic valley, she grabbed her brothers, put them on her back and ran over to the entry area, which was on the east side of the valley.

Once she got there, she saw this elderly, blind rhino standing near the entrance ramp, waiting to take the role of whoever entered the valley. Ellie politely walked up to him and tapped him on his shoulder.

"Excuse me sir." She said politely "Are you the guy who writes down the information on everyone who moves into the valley?"

"I sure am!" The rhino said "What can I do for ya little lady?"

"Well." Ellie explained, "Me and my brothers here were thinking of moving in, is that ok?"

"That's perfectly fine!" The rhino said as he pulled out this long black rock and walked up to this large rock that already had a lot of markings on it. "Just tell me the number of creatures in your group, your genders and your species, then you can be on your way."

"There are 3 of us." Ellie told him, "One girl, two boys." She waited as the rhino wrote this down, and then continued. "And all three of us are Possums." The rhino put three tally marks in an area of the rock and then walked up to them.

"You're all done." He told them, "You can go on in now." Ellie smiled as she walked through, and then stopped. 'What if there's someone else in there?' she asked herself, 'what if there's someone like me?' she then turned back to the rhino and walked up to him.

"Excuse me sir." She told him. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but is there any chance that there are any other Possums in this valley?"

"None that I know of." He told her. "Sorry." Ellie then looked sadly at her brothers, who were now sitting on her tusks, and continued down the ramp into the valley.

They entered into the Water Park area. Ellie very quickly and quietly walked through, hoping that she wouldn't run into any creatures who would think her weird. She was still, of course, amazed at all the creatures that lived here, she saw Starts, Scrats, Glyptodons, Aardvarks, Beavers, Sloths, Rhinos, Two bird species she couldn't identify, Tapirs, Armadillos, A freaky looking mammal she couldn't identify, Elks, Vultures, Mole Hogs, Thousands of species of insects (They didn't need to be written in, they could just go in as they pleased.), and last, but not least, one large Chalicotherium (Cave Bear) sleeping by the waterfall. Ellie's brothers looked down at her with looks of amazement in their eyes…. They couldn't believe how many species lived in this part of the valley alone! To make matters even better, the valley wasn't closed up yet! It was going to close up for the summer in 9 days. Ellie beamed as she brought her brothers over to the forest, being careful not to let anyone see her. 'If only mom were here' she thought to herself, 'she would LOVE this place!' It was official; Acorn Valley was the most beautiful place Ellie had EVER seen in her entire life. She snuck into the woods and after about 30 minutes found a clearing that she and her brothers could use as their new home. Ellie sighed of contentment as she looked around for some food, it was so warm in this valley, she knew there were probably hawks here as well, but it would still be safer than out there. The main reason not many creatures lived here was because it was so hard to get to. Ellie's Possum mother had worried that Crash and Eddie wouldn't be able to make the trip, but now they were rolling around in a dung pit, laughing to their hearts content. Ellie smiled as she ate some leaves and looked up at the stars. She didn't know why, but she always loved to look at the night sky. It always seemed so calm and friendly.

Ellie's eyes drooped as she gave a big yawn, it had been a long journey, and she decided that it was high time that she get some rest. She had her brothers clean themselves off in a nearby pond, and then they all climbed up into the tree and fell asleep. It was a beautiful night, Ellie smiled as she finally drifted off to sleep…her mother had been right, this place was a paradise!

Ok, there's chapter 6 everyone! Ok, I know you are probably thinking, "It's short!" well yeah, there was no Manny segment in this one, only Ellie, reason being is I wanted to make sure that this was a very important part of the story for Ellie's side. Now I want you all to review please, you will have PLENTY of time! The next 3 chapters will go up on April 1st in the A.M. hours. Chapter 7 is going to be a regular chapter like 1-5 (I haven't chosen a topic yet.) Chapter 8 is going to be about Manny and his pals arriving at the valley, and Chapter 9 is going to be an author's notice… that is going to be VERY IMPORTANT, do NOT read chapter 10 without reading chapter 9… it is ESSENTIAL to read chapter 9 before you read chapter 10… once I post it up and you read it, you will see why. Then the final chapter of the story, chapter 10 is going to be posted anywhere from April 2nd to April 5th. Now, as you probably all know, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, the movie that this story is leading up to, is coming out on MARCH 31st. Meaning that the next time I see you guys… some of you may have already seen it! That's wonderful if you have! I am going to see it at 7:15 p.m. on April 1st (The 2nd day it is out!) and I am very excited. So be ready, oh, and Manny's countdown is off, he's going to get to the valley in 9 days… the movie comes out in 10 days… sorry for that confusion. Either way, have a wonderful week, and a wonderful spring break, for all of those who have it next week! I will see you on April 1st… See you after The Meltdown, I gotta go reserve my spot on that boat! Bye!

Taffyabc (Funkywatermelon's assistant)