Still on a roll! Whoo-hoo!
Ice Age 4 comes out in five days! Yay! Enjoy!
The morning was misty and foggy. The snow had frozen over with a thick layer of ice from the rain, making it nearly impossible to move around, especially for Raz and Flynn. They were all spending more time slipping rather than making progress.
Vixen and Prancer, floating above, shared looks. They needed to get back to the Pole soon; Christmas was tomorrow, and they were needed to pull the sleigh. But they couldn't just leave these children out here alone, with no protection.
"Uh… guys?" he called down, making Raz promptly turn… and lose her footing, ending up on her back.
"Ow!"
"Sorry. Anyway, can we maybe make this faster and fly you guys to our place?" if they were there, at least they'd have the mini-sloth elves to watch over them. And after Christmas, they could bring them home.
"Uh…" they were all too busy trying to stand up for more than five seconds to answer. They shared another glance. This wasn't getting them anywhere. The magical deer lower to the ground, Vixen helping the joey to her feet. She gladly gripped her neck, maybe a little too hard. She really hated ice at the moment.
It was a bit of a challenge, but eventually the kids had boarded their 'flight'. It wasn't much of a challenge for Prancer, considering a year or two ago he'd had to transport a seven hundred eighty eight pound mammoth calf. These kids weighed practically nothing compared to that.
Speaking of that peculiar little group "I take back what I said about no one being stranger than them." He muttered under his breath.
"What?" Squint called down from his place on his antlers, clinging to it for dear life and desperate not to fall, Silas beside him, who seemed much more at ease, used to being up in the air.
"Nothin."
"Woah!" Gupta folded his hands the best he could and closed his eyes. "I wanna live. I wanna live. I wanna live. I wanna live…" he muttered over and over. "I wanna live. I wanna live. I wanna-"
"Oi, knock it off!" Raz ordered. "Yer makin meh nervous!"
"I am nervous!"
"Ah sai' me, no' you!"
Vixen lowered her ears. Being in close quarters with these guys while they were arguing wasn't the most pleasant predicament… But they were doing the right thing, so she didn't really mind.
Flynn didn't really like this. It was interesting, and magical, but he was nervous. This wasn't his element. Then again, land wasn't either, but at least on land, he couldn't fall out of the sky and get flattened a few thousand feet later. And he wasn't feeling too well… maybe it was the nervousness.
He was relieved when they landed, kind of in a crashing way due to the reindeer being tired, in a soft, snowy field. "Wow…" they all looked around in amazement, while their new acquaintances (they weren't friends quite yet) settled down to sit for a moment.
"Hey! Look!" Squint darted over to a bush with round, sparkly purple fruits on it. He plucked one off and took a bite. "Mmm… sugar plums!"
Gunner scraped a scrap of bark off a nearby tree and tasted it. "Peppermint!"
Gupta ran over to a bush and instantly picked a plum, the biggest, juiciest, sweetest looking one he could find; he had promised Krishna, after all. "You think she'll like this?" it was the size of a human fist, about.
"Yeah…" Flynn licked his lips. "Can I taste?"
"No!" he held it against his shoulder possessively. "It's for Krissy! She said she wouldn't tell on us!"
"She knows?!" the six other kids exclaimed.
He chuckled nervously, offering a half smile. "…Oops?"
They would've gotten mad, but considering they were surrounded by plants literally made of candy, decided it could wait. They gorged to their hearts (and stomachs) content for about five minutes, until the reindeer approached and warned them not to eat too much. "It'll give you a tummy ache." Vixen warned. "Or maybe hiccups." The stomach ache part they could understand, but hiccups? What was wrong with that? Everyone got them at sometime.
Then they started leading them away from the candy grove, Raz stuffing her pouch with peppermint bark chunks and strips, along with the ripest looking sugar plums she could find. Gupta wrapped up his sisters plum in a leaf he found for a little extra protection.
As they were led along, a voice shouted "HALT!" they all turned, the kids tilting their heads and the reindeer rolling their eyes. "None shall pass!"
"Oh knock it off mini's, you know we work here."
The kids gasped. "You work here?"
"As in, at the North Pole?"
"With Santa?' they nodded. "Why didn't you tell us any of this?!"
"You didn't ask." Prancer answered.
Seriously? Their journey could've been decreased by tenfold! That was just plain annoying. But wait… "Ya mean… were close?"
"To what?"
"Santa. Who else?
"Wait, that's what you guys're doing clear out here?" he asked.
Flynn nodded. "Yeah. Rosie said we're on the naughty list…"
"And we wanna make sure we get Christmas!"
Prancer and Vixen shared puzzled looks. These adorable little children were on the naughty list? That was ridiculous, they seemed so nice and well behaved! "Wait a minute. Who told you that?"
"All- All our big brothers and sisters." Squint answered, twiddling his thumbs nervously. Since they worked with/for Santa, would they not let naughty list kids see him? He hoped not. They all did, because the sooner they found them, the sooner they could go home. When they woke up that morning and ate breakfast, they were all aware of a dull aching feeling in their hearts. They missed home, and their loving parents.
"Oooooooooooh." Now they understood. "Well, let's go."
So they ordered the sloth elves aside, and they reluctantly did as told. With their connection to Santa, their presents were at risk by defying them. They glared at the kids as they passed, who stuck close to the reindeer, who seemingly had much influence over them.
After they passed the mini army, the kids fanned out again, frolicking happily in the sparkly snow, while their deer escorts floated nearby, their firefly friends flitting amongst them with little shrieks of joy.
After about an hour, they arrived at what appeared to be a large work area, with stone tables spread about and little elves bent over them and making last minute dolls, frisbies, boomerangs, and other things.
The reindeer made sure to be seen leading them so the kids wouldn't be assaulted, then took off into the sky. They needed to have a chat with Santa.
The group of seven gazed around in amazement, eyes wide. Wow… who knew the toy making area was so big? And… full of tiny sloths no taller than any of them? Huh, interesting…
In a burst of excitement they began rushing around, looking at the things the elves made for a few moments, before darting off again, laughing joyously! Such magic! Such beauty. It was almost too much, overwhelming in a good way. They couldn't believe they'd actually accomplished something like this! Amazing. Simply amazing!
In his haste, Squint's foot caught on something and he was sent sprawling in the snow. Sitting up, he shook snow off his ears and looked to see what he had tripped on. A long, long strip of paper, curled at the ends.
Head tilted, nose twitching curiously, he turned it over. Well… the bottom half, considering the top half was stuck in the snow. He gasped.
It was a huge, long list. A bunch of names, all in perfectly clear writing! This must be it! Searching it frantically, hoping he wouldn't find- oh no.
His ears fell back and he blinked in disbelief. Because there, written perfectly clear, were unmistakably their names.
"Guys…" he called voer his shoulder. It was soft and broken, but they heard anyway and rushed over.
"What?"
"Look." He raised one shaking finger to point and laid it right beside his name, which was between Silas and Raz. "We really are on the naughty list…"
*gasp!* I'm just horrible to them, huh? Review please!