Chapter 3

The Sky King's Son

Eddie couldn't believe it, he could have sworn that cry had sounded from somewhere nearby, and whoever it was needed help. For all he knew it was probably Crash, and yet he found himself sitting under a large pine tree taking in huge gulps of air in a desperate attempt to catch his breath after running around in the forest searching for what had felt like hours.

This morning Crash had once again attempted to catapult himself into the air, this time from a cliff and had landed somewhere in the forest, now stripped bare by last week's flood waters. Even though Crash had most likely been killed by the impact of such a fall, Eddie felt he had to try and find him, if only to prove that if he went back he wasn't leaving his helpless but alive brother to be eaten by predators; that was something he would never be able to forgive himself for.

Moments ago Eddie had heard a cry of what was definitely pain, hoping that it was his brother waking up to the world's worst headache and maybe several broken limbs, he had sprinted off in the direction from which he believed the cry had emanated. Sitting here now, he was quite sure it must have been much more distant than he had previously thought or this had been completely wrong way. Neither thought was particularly comforting as either way he had only been this lost once before in his life and that time it had been snowing, with a blizzard approaching and only a chance meeting with a bird had saved him.

He couldn't remember many of the details nor how he'd managed to find his way back that time either, after all he had been quite young when it had happened.

After getting his breath back, Eddie decided to climb up the tree and get a better view of the surroundings or at least get a glimpse of where the cliff was, so that he knew where to go to find the rest of the herd, assuming they had woken by now and were frantically searching for him and Crash.

Eddie had always hated climbing pine trees, the density of the tree itself meaning he always ended up with thousands of pine needles caught in his fur and they always made him maddeningly itchy. Of course sometimes you just got to do what you got to do, and as he reached the highest point at the tip of the tree, which had healed surprisingly fast after supposedly being stripped bare by the flood, he ended up looking more like a spiky, green porcupine than a possum. Scratching at the areas on his body into which pine needles were now sticking rather painfully, not all of them particularly "savoury" areas either, he began to look around for any landmarks he recognised.

It didn't take long for him to notice the cliff face, towering into the heavens several miles away; at least now he new where to go back to get his but kicked in a million different ways by Ellie, however he was far more interested in anything that could possibly show him where Crash might have landed, yet it seemed that no matter what direction in which he looked, Eddie couldn't see anything promising in the surrounding .

"No matter where they look they never see what it is they seek," a slightly high pitched, fast talking voice sounded from beneath Eddie, who gave a jolt of surprise, almost falling from the tree, "No no, not even the hawks nor the falcons, but the raven sees all and he is seeing you seeking and he wonders how it is that he can help."

"What?" Eddie exclaimed.

Looking down to search for the source of these strange words, he noticed a small jet black bird, sitting on the branch immediately beneath him.

"He sees the seeker seeking him and he wonders why he must be looking up at one of those on which he looks down, is it that this groundling seeks the help of those who ride the wind? Surely he knows they desire no business with those who are gravity bound," the raven was looking at Eddie with a look, he assumed, was of puzzlement.

"If you're asking me if I'm looking for something, yes I am, but I'm not looking for a bird, I'm looking for a my brother, he's a possum too," Eddie answered the raven's question, assuming that it had been asking about what he was looking for, "he got flung from that cliff over there and I think he landed somewhere in this forest."

Eddie pointed toward the top of the cliff on which he had seen his brother make his second attempt at the stunt he now called "the flying possum."

"You say you seek, a groundling in high places, unusual, but to the raven impossible tis not, for he did see a wingless flyer swimming through waterless ocean above, this very morn," the raven answered Eddie's question maintaining the peculiar dialect it possessed.

"Where'd it land, can you show me, please?" Eddie begged the raven to show him where it had landed, ecstatic to finally have a chance of finding his brother.

"The raven does wonder what you can offer in the return for the time he values ever highly," the raven asked Eddie, with a nasty smile on his face.

"I don't have anything to give you," Eddie's short lived happiness was now fading at the realisation that this raven wanted payment in return for leading him to his brother, "Can't you please help me, I need to find him, please, I'll be really grateful if you do.Wait, I have a friend, he's a tiger you know, and I bet I could make him kill something for you to eat."

The raven paused for a moment to consider Eddie's proposal before answering, "Very well, troubled groundling, follow the raven, he will show you where to make that which you seek into that which you sought."

Mikey lay on his stomach, eyes closed and his teeth gritted trying desperately to hold back tears. He had never cried in front of Marlon and was not about to do so, even in the face of the incredible pain that he felt in his tail from the partial amputation Marlon had just performed on it to remove a portion that had been badly mauled by the Stalker.

He muffled a yell as the possum who, he had just saved with, some help Marlon, finished, wrapping a leaf around the wound and pulled it tighter, in an effort to stop the the blood that was leaking in small red streams from Mikey's tail.

"Yes, finally, that's how you do it," came the voice of Marlon the falcon, who had been instructing the other possum, apparently named Crash, how to properly tie the leaf.

Mikey sat up wincing with the effort the simple movement took him, making sure not to move his tail too much, as he knew this would surely bring more pain even if it didn't undo the leaf. He looked at the possum, Crash, who had helped him after claiming to have been woken by Mikey's screams of agony as Marlon had performed the initial removal, Mikey was however, quite sure that he had been playing dead the entire time.

This stranger was pretty much your usual garden variety possum, with three, wide, creamy-white bands wrapping around his, otherwise dark-brown coat, from front to back, and a thin rat-like tail. However, like anyone Mikey had met, this teenager possessed his own unique physical qualities as well, the most obviouse being his bright, sky-blue eyes and a slightly but still noticeably crinkled nose; a clear indication that it had been broken pretty badly at somepoint.

Crash was currently looking at his hands which were now covered in Mikey's blood after having dressed his wound with a leaf and then having to remove it after being told by Marlon that it had been tied incorrectly, this had taken more than eight agonising attempts before it had met Marlon's standards.

"Cool," Crash remarked, clearly finding something amusing about the blood that now stained his fur, "When I find Eddie I can pretend to be a zombie, It'll be great. Kinda a smells a bit though."

Mikey shot him a dangerous look, sickened by the disturbing entertainment Crash seemed to have found in the crimson patches on his arms and front.

Marlon appeared to be siding with Crash given the comment he made soon after his incredibly insensitive remark, "Hmm your right, you do look, and sure as heck smell dead. I'm pretty sure it would work."

Crash was clearly happy to have the falcon agree with him but still maintained a good distance between them, especially since the unfortunate instance when he had first noticed Marlon and had tried to run. The falcon had been much too fast for him and, seeing his potential use in this situation, had pinned Crash under one of his talons and threatened to rip his head off if he didn't promise to stay and help out.

"Yeah, you'll be covered in flies in no time just like a rotting animal, but I think it would suite you too well," Mikey couldn't help mouthing off at Crash, the pain he had just been in and still felt, had put him in a very bad mood, as it would anyone really.

"Come on Michael, that's no way to talk to the person who just saved your life he-," Marlon began, but Mikey cut in.

"Saved my life, if I hadn't been here, he would never have even woken up again, that stupid thing would have ripped him apart and before you even think about making me thank him anyway, take one look at my tail and then think about who should be thanking who. I mean if he hadn't even hit me in th-," Mikey ceased abruptly and looked down gritting his teeth again.

He hadn't stoped for lack of words to throw at them but because the stress was beginning to make him woozy and making his tail throb terribly.

Crash scoffed and turned away, he wasn't smiling anymore but he didn't look concerned either, just nonchalant as he walked away and sat down, mumbling something about someone named Eddie and how he would have been more grateful, while trying to spit on the blood and try to rub it off.

Mikey sat clutching his tail, staring at it and wondering how the heck he was supposed to sleep while he waited for the injury to heal if he couldn't use it to hang off trees. Knowing that to attempt it would be far too painful and would almost certainly make his tail bleed again.

"Behold those the raven seeks hide in mystery no longer. Possum, your friends are found," a voice Mikey recognised as belonging to Corbin came from the raven that had just perched himself on a branch next to Marlon, who had also flown up onto the branch but to stand sentry in case the Stalker decided to return.

Below the raven, another possum walked into the clearing and looked around briefly before running over to Crash and embracing him in a more than friendly hug.

"Crash, I thought you were dead," exclaimed the possum still tightly hugging a clearly uncomfortable Crash, who returned the hug nonetheless.

Mikey looked on, now very curious about who this new arrival was and especially what kind relationship he had with Crash, finding the only conclusion he could come up with highly disturbing but also highly amusing.

Finally noticing the blood on Crash's hands, the stranger seemed to jump back out of Crash's arms horrified by it and instantly began looking him over while stammering, "Crash wha- what happened to you. The blood, how'd it, why did you."

Crash quickly grabbed the possum and held him still, trying to calm him down by yelling over his constant stream of questions,"Eddie, Eddie, I'm fine. It's his, the blood came from him," Crash reassured the newcomer who's name was apparently Eddie, pointing at Mikey who had been sitting and watching the peculiar event unfold, "It's from his tail, that bird over there made me do it."

"WHAT! You cut off his tail," Eddie cried, apparently taking Crash's explanation completely the wrong way and began staring at the nub at the end of what was still most of Mikey's tail.

Mikey, feeling the need to clarify things, broke into the conversion that this, what appeared to him to be a single gender couple, were having, by jumping to his feet and successfully yelling over the top of them himself.

"OK Alright, geez, if you shut up I'll explain it" he yelled as loud as he could, causing both of the other possums to fall silent instantly.

He then turned to Eddie and began to explain what had happened, brandishing his tail as evidence, "Listen, Eddie right? Well your erm, significant other, here, was forced by that falcon over their, Marlon, to wrap up my tail with this leaf to stop it from bleeding, after Marlon cut off the part that was already bitten. Is it clear now?"

Speaking of his tail; it was beginning to throb, painfully, agin, forcing him to sit back down and try to calm himself. Taking Mikey's temporary silence as a chance to speak himself, Crash decided to clear up a misunderstanding of his own.

"We're not gay," he began, clearly referring to the "significant other" statement Mikey had just made, "he's my brother, you idiot."

Admitedly, it was obviouse that the two sure did look like family, but Eddie's eyes were clearly a soft dark brown colour, as opposed to Crash's blue eyes, and, unlike Crash, Eddie's nose was still in perfect shape. A very clear difference was that while Crash's face was predominantly a beige, like his stripes, Eddie had streak of dark brown fur which coninued from the top of his head, between his eyes, to the very end of his muzzle, where his nose began.

Finally Corbin, who had been silent up until now, spoke in his usual style of speech but at a great speed, "Marlon, someone approaches, not that which haunts the night neither those of the winged domain, but one of orange who stalk the day but still insist on sight at night. After the teeth of whom, are the species named. If you must know, he who stalks the bushes that to the left of you reside."

Marlon had spent long enough with Corbin to know what he had meant and took flight immediately after having flown down again to protect Mikey in case a fight broke out, only just escaping the sabre tooth, who leapt from the bushes to his left, landing right in the middle of the clearing.

"Leave the possums alone," the tiger growled at Marlon, who was, once again, in the relative safety of a nearby tree.

"Diego?" Mikey could hear Crash talking to the tiger, "You found us!"

"Just in time by the looks of it," The tiger returned Crash's comment, now sheathing his claws again and standing straight but still watching Marlon who was returning his gaze with a furious glare of his own.

Diego switched his gaze to the Corbin who merely looked on thoroughly nonchalant, "What's the big idea raven?"

"Do for your friends as they have done for you, to tell of danger promised the raven long ago and a raven will never lie, three truths he gives to you. Choose you may, that, you fancy greatest," Corbin answered the tiger's question, still sounding completely unconcerned.

Diego growled at the raven, although he wasn't sure what it had said, he knew it had been an insult of some kind.

"Diego where's the others," Crash asked, eager to know if they were close by, "How'd you find us?"

"Where's Ellie?" Eddie began to question Diego as well.

"They're all still at the clearing, like you should be," Diego spoke accusingly to Crash and Eddie, now glaring at them, furiously, "You're lucky Sid woke me with his stupid sleep cries, or I couldn't have followed you two idiots here. You know how Ellie's been, if either of you had died-"

"She'd be real sad, everyone cries, we get it, yeesh," interrupted Crash, after having heard this speech from Manny over a thousand times, "You gotta get out more Diego, you know have some fun, maybe then you wouldn't be so much of goodie, goodie, kitty cat, all the time."

Mikey, who had leapt out of the way to avoid Diego, now sat again massaging his tail, which he again found extremely painful after having landed on it. He couldn't help noticing the Diego's claws beginning to unsheathe again and wondered whether he should call Marlon into combat to protect Crash, who seemed intent on starting a fight with this tiger, which prompted him to ask himself, had they done this before?

"You know, maybe have swim, eh Diego," Crash teased, and began laughing, unable to help himself.

This last remark clearly touched a nerve, striking something very deep within the tiger, because, as Crash doubled over with laughter, Diego completely snapped and took a bone shattering slash at the possum, who had clearly seen this coming and ducked the blow, further reinforcing Mikey's belief that this was indeed not the first time these two had fought. Eddie, however, wasn't so lucky and was only able to let out a small yelp of surprise before he was struck by Diego's paw at full force, sending him flying into the air and landing with a soft thud on the dead grass, lying completely still.

Crash shrieked and sprinted over to his brother, grabbing him and trying to shake him into consciousness but Eddie merely lolled about like rag doll.

"Eddie, Eddie speak to me please," Crash begged his completely limp brother to answer, "Diego you killed him, wait till Ellie finds out she'll, she'll. Oh Eddie please wake up."

Diego was clearly not pleased with what he had done to the innocent bystander and, once again sheathing his claws, he hurriedly leapt over to investigate the damage he'd done.

Mikey had also run over to see what had happened to Eddie and deciding to see the injuries himself, he pushed a blubbering Crash out of the way he began to feel Eddie's body for broken bones and any other serious injuries, after first feeling for a heartbeat, which he'd found without any difficulty at all.

"Is he alright, I didn't hit that hard-did I?" asked Diego, with little more concern than Mikey would have expected from a sabre, but then again today, was by far the weirdest he'd experienced in ages.

"Yes tiger you did hit him pretty hard, he'll probably have some bruises but I think you only stunned him, he should be fine," answered Mikey, after he was thoroughly satisfied that there was in fact nothing seriously wrong.

"What do you mean fine, he's dead," Crash cried, kneeling over his brother, again attempting to wake him; this time by slapping Eddie's face repeatedly.

Diego looked at toward Mikey, finding his opinion much more reassuring, "I'll take your word for it. Whoever you are."

"Name's Mikey," he responded in the friendliest tone he could manage given the circumstances, "Crash called you Diego, that's your name right?"

Diego nodded in answer to Mikey's question.

"Well, Diego, You said something about others, are you guys part of a herd? Are you going somewhere," Mikey couldn't help asking Diego about his herd, he liked the idea of being in one that didn't have to carry him everywhere over 100ft in the air.

"Yes we're from a herd," Said Diego, in answer to Mikey's curious inquiry into his relationship with these two possums, "we're travelling with everyone else, you know about the flood don't you. It completely destroyed the valley, now everyone's leaving. I don't know where they're going though. Do you know a place?"

Mikey had not been expecting to have his questioned returned to him but he was surprised to know that no one else apparently knew about the green lands beyond the mountain range, had the bird's been that selfish? Maybe the vultures had figured out a way to convince the Sky King to let everyone else perish, it certainly wasn't beyond them to go to such lengths to ensure a feast, especially after what they had planned following the flood. They would have succeeded then were, it not for Corbin's friendship with a surprisingly good natured vulture, if you could call it good nature to give warnings that were constantly laced with a sense of imminent death and foreboding.

realizing how long he had paused to think given, the look on Diego's face, he answered truthfully, promising himself to ask his dad why the Sky King would ignore the needs of the ground dwellers, "Yes I do know somewhere, it's where I'm actually headed. Can I travel with your herd; if you say yes I'll tell you where to go."

Actually this was only a half truth, even though he did indeed know where he was going, it was his father who knew the way they needed to travel to guarantee a safe arrival, however Mikey felt it was necessary to tell this little white lie, if only to guarantee that the other two ding dongs Diego appeared to be stuck with, didn't get into anymore trouble.

It didn't take Diego long to weigh up Mikey's proposal to lead him and the other's to somewhere they might actually be able to settle peacefully in.

"Sure, we'll see what Manny has to say first, but you'd better be telling the truth about this," Diego warned, accepting Mikey's request nonetheless.

"C'mon, I'll carry him but I won't carry you," Diego now turned to Crash and the still unconscious Eddie, who Crash, with help from Mikey, was able to place securely on Diego's back before heading off.

Mikey, remembering that Marlon was still in the tree turned to inform him of the agreement and wasn't the least bit surprised to see the falcon dozing with his head tucked under his right wing but couldn't help finding it a little curious that Corbin was now nowhere to be seen.

"Marlon wake up!" Mikey yelled at the top of the voice, causing Marlon to jump and nearly fall off the branch on which he was napping, letting out loud cry about something to do with pink snow flakes, "We're going with Diego here, he's gonna lead us to his herd. Maybe if we're lucky we'll run into dad on the way!"

Marlon didn't speak, but spread his wings, took off and began circling impatiently overhead, most likely eager to finally have a chance to stretch his wings as he flew above Mikey, Crash and Diego as they began walking toward a large, flood stripped hill leading to the top of a distant cliff face where Diego's herd were apparently waiting.