Okay, been working on this at my Gran's house, just got back :) Y'know, I think I have a small problem with the internet… as in I'm far too addicted to using it. Anyone else get that?

Alrighty, Taz, Dex and Bronson all belong to scoobs5601, and Rebecca belongs to Blumacaw13, who shall have another character included later in the story… teehee. Man, that was strange.

Oh, and ihatethisfanfic (yes, I know you've changed the name now but oh well, just making sure you knew I was talking to you), I did read the review and first, thank-you, and second, I've spoke about you in my review too, and I'm hoping you'll check it out :)

Anyway, onto the story! :D

Mikayla watched Izabella, not knowing what the big deal was, as she'd never learnt Squint's story, and had no idea that the rabbit was supposed to be dead.

"Hi, Izzy," said Kate softly, waving at the bunny with one paw. Izzy made a bigger fuss, running over and hugging the young cub.

"Heya Kate-sie," she cooed, squeezing the giggling little girl "How's my special wickle girl?"

"Good," Kate smiled, then remembered Mikayla "Oh, Mikayla, this is Izzy. Izzy, this is Mikayla."

Izzy gently set Kate back down and walked over to Mikayla, offering her paw. "Hey, I'm Izzy, short for Izabella, not really long for anything."

"Okay, I'm Mikayla, not short for anything, not long for anything either," she shrugged, shaking the rabbit's paw "So, I take it you're the last member of the crew?"

"Say what?" Izzy looked confused.

"Mikayla here is new to our team, and we've been waiting for you to show up again so that she can be introduced to you," explained Kenzie, Alex nodding.

"Oh, right… sorry I was late," Izzy apologised quickly, flicking her long ears off her face once again "It's just that I met the most interesting little possum girl, probably about my age, maybe a little younger, but she was so cool and we were chatting for a bit, then I remembered my job and went to get some stuff, which I have here!"

"Sheesh, don't forget to breathe…" muttered Mikayla under her breath, as Izzy produced some fruit and nuts for the vegetarian members of the crew, and some more berries for Rebecca, who seemed to like chewing on them for no reason.

"So, what was the possum girl's name?" asked Ashling curiously. It was the first time Mikayla had heard the leopard speak, and she had to say Kenzie's voice was a lot gentler, and easier to listen to.

Izzy, meanwhile, froze for a moment, then face-palmed. "Ugh, I knew there was something I forgot to ask her!"

There was slight ripples of laughter from the rest of the crew, and even Gutt had a small smile on his face, remembering the times when his old crew were kids and Izzy would entertain them all for him, despite being years younger than all of them. Of course, she was never a real member of the crew, she just travelled with them for a couple of years, so she wasn't counted as part of his original crew, which he was fine with. She was a part of his new crew, which was a lot better.

Diego lay on his stomach, head-butting the wall of the cage over and over. He suddenly understood just how bored Shira must've been that day.

"Ugh, I hate when she's right…" he sighed to himself quietly "Then again, she's always right. Even when she says I'm soft. I must be, because I actually feel so bad for trapping her in this thing."

"Oh do you now?"

"Shira!" exclaimed Diego "I thought you were asleep!"

"Clearly," she smirked, before mimicking him "I must be soft, because I actually feel so bad for trapping her in this thing!"

"Shut up…" he muttered, turning away from the slot. Shira padded over to him, careful not to wake Gupta, in case she started talking to Diego and they said something she wouldn't want her brother to hear.

She whistled ever so softly through the gap, trying to get Diego's attention. She sort of succeeded, but he tried to give her the silent treatment. It didn't work very well though, because she slipped her paw through the slot and stroked his back, as he hadn't walked away from the slot, he'd just looked away.

Against his will, Diego began to purr, feeling incredibly helpless in the cage but enjoying Shira's affectionate gesture nonetheless. He turned back to her, taking her paw in his own and licking it. She giggled, retracting her claws and gently tugging on his tongue.

"Hey, get off!" Diego tried to say, but he couldn't speak properly. Shira smirked.

"Sorry, what did ya say?" she asked all too innocently, still not releasing his tongue.

He tried again. "Let go Shira!" he attempted, but it still didn't sound anything like what he was trying to say. She giggled again, but as much as he loved hearing her laugh, his tongue was starting to hurt a little now. He tried to pull away, but this hurt more. Sensing this, Shira released him, and he gratefully licked her cheek-fur through the slot.

There was a moment of silence before Diego spoke again. "So, when are you going to let me out of this dumb box?"

She sighed. "I do forgive you, Diego, but you know I actually can't move it! Only a mammoth can!"

"Then, go get Manny," suggested Diego, but Shira shook her head.

"It's the middle of the night, not gonna happen."

Diego moaned and returned to hitting his head against the wall again. Shira stopped him, knowing he would hurt himself if he hit too hard. He sighed and tried to nuzzle her, but he couldn't because the slot was too small.

"Y'know," he said "I survived four months without you, and now I can't get through a single night without holding you close."

She sighed too. "I know how you feel, I was on that ship all alone in the cell for months and I was fine, but now I can barely sleep without you here."

The two sabres sighed again and looked into each other's eyes for a moment, Shira getting lost in the emerald and Diego getting lost in the sapphire.

"Just a few hours, 'kay Softie?" she whispered, before padding back to her cubs. Diego watched her depart, his eyes meeting hers for one more longing glance as she lay down beside her children.

"Love you," mouthed Diego.

Shira smiled and mouthed back "Love you too."

Taz was curled up in a ball between Rhianne and Herbert, dreaming sweetly after her day with Peaches, Meghan and Louis, and surprisingly Ethan, who was being strangely nice to them all. She smiled as she slept, enjoying the dream, which was actually more of a flashback from the day…

A possum and a rabbit were sitting together in the long grass, laughing and hatting about nothing in particular. The possum, Taz, couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something obvious about this girl, but she ignored it, just enjoying her conversation.

Suddenly, the rabbit jumped, licking her paw. "Dang, struck my paw on a rock," she explained.

"Oh, is it okay?" asked Taz, concerned. The rabbit nodded.

"Definitely, just a little bruised. Trust me, I know about this sort of stuff."

Taz nodded, but this just increased the feeling that she wasn't picking up on something very obvious. The two sat in silence for a bit, making daisy chains for something to do. The rabbit giggled, and put a ring of daisies on her head.

"Hey, look at me! I'm a princess!" she joked, getting up and curtseying regally.

"Pretty good," admitted Taz "But can you beat this?"

She slipped her wrists into an '8' shape that she had made, giving the illusion of hand-cuffs "Check it out, I'm a convict!"

Both girls fell back in the grass, giggling. They made more daisy chains, but after a while, they got bored of it, and started skimming stones in the nearby pond. They were equal in scores, so they had a tie-breaker on who could get it the farthest in one go.

"Yes!" cheered Taz, as she got the stone almost to the other side of the pond "I got it all the way down there!"

"So?" shrugged her friend "I can get it right to the other side."

"Oh yeah? Prove it then," challenged Taz. The rabbit grinned.

"Sure thing," she replied, picking up a stone. She ran to the other side of the pond, and dropped it in the water "Ta-da!"

"Hey, that's cheating!" laughed Taz. The rabbit shook her head.

"No it isn't, I said I could get it down there, not that I could throw it down there!" she pointed out, very matter-of-factly. They both laughed and chatted for a bit longer, until it started to get dark.

"Shoot, I probably oughtta get back," sighed Taz. Suddenly, the rabbit froze.

"Dang it, I was supposed to get food!" she remembered, slapping her own forehead "Idiot, idiot, idiot!"

"You're not an idiot!" Taz tried to assure her, but she wasn't listening.

"Sorry, I gotta go. Hopefully I'll see ya around!" she gabbled, before leaping up and dashing off.

"Wait!" Taz called after her "I didn't even get your name…"

Sighing, Taz sat up, just wishing she knew her new friend's name, or where she lived, so that she could meet up with her again. She'd wandered off for a bit, until she'd accidentally bumped into the rabbit, they'd got to talking, and she discovered that she liked the rabbit a lot. Unfortunately, Taz was fairly certain she'd never ever see her friend again. Little did she know, they were going to be meeting up sooner than she thought…

Glancing outside the cave, Mikayla noticed just how late it was. Cursing, she thumped the floor with one paw.

"Careful, you'll hurt yourself," Izzy warned her "Trust me; I know a lot about healing and medical stuff."

"No offense," said Mikayla "But I don't plan on trusting anyone who's wearing a crown of flowers."

"Whaddaya mea-" Izzy reached up and noticed she was still wearing the flower crown she had made with Taz "Oh, right. Forgot I had that on."

"Did you make that with your new possum friend?" asked Gutt, having a good idea who this possum might be.

Nodding cautiously, Izzy said "Yeah, I did. She's really nice; I just wish I knew what her name was, or at least where the heck she lives. For all I know, she could live on the other side of the island or something!"

Gutt rolled his eyes, as Rebecca turned to Mikayla. "So, why'd ya punch the ground?"

"Coz it's late, the herd's gonna wonder where I am," Mikayla explained, not knowing that nobody in the herd had noticed her absence "Plus it's dangerous to travel alone at night."

"Well, stay here for the night then!" piped up Alex happily, a kind smile on her face. Mikayla looked to Gutt, knowing he was in charge.

"That okay with you?" she asked, and he nodded. Gratefully, she curled up by the entrance, getting comfy, until she remembered something "Oh, hey Izzy?"

The rabbit looked up. "Yeah, what's up?"

"Just wondering, why'd you get so excited when I brought up Squint?"

"Oh, right," Izzy blushed, remembering her embarrassing little celebration "He's my brother."

"Your brother?!" exclaimed Mikayla, and the rest of the crew, as they hadn't known either. Gutt did, but luckily for him Izzy didn't recognise him, so she didn't ever ask what happened to the crew.

"Yup," Izzy nodded, slinging her ears back casually, as if it was no big deal to shock everyone in the room with her.

There was a moment of silence, as no-one knew what to say, until little Kate spoke.

"Is your brother Squint nice?" she whispered gently. Izzy smiled.

"I've always remembered him as nice," she said "But Mikayla might know better than I do what he's like now."

She sounded hopeful, hinting at Mikayla to tell more about Squint. But just as she was about to, Gutt interrupted.

"Okay, okay, that's enough for tonight. Mikayla was right, it's late, and we need to get some rest."

Kate seemed disappointed, as did Izzy, but both were smart enough to keep quiet about it. The little mountain lion lay down somewhat awkwardly beside Mikayla, but feeling remorse for the poor cub, the sabre pulled Kate close to her chest.

"What's with the long face?" she asked gently, tickling Kate under the chin "C'mon, turn that frown upside down!"

Kate giggled quietly, but she still sulked. "I don't wanna go to bed, I'm not tired yet!" she whined, before promptly yawning loudly.

"Sure you're not," chuckled Izzy, ruffling the cub's ears for a minute. She sat down beside Kate, which meant that she was quite close to Mikayla "You mind?"

"No, it's fine," promised Mikayla, gently curving her paw around Izzy protectively, allowing the rabbit to lie beside Kate.

"Thanks," muttered Izzy tiredly, dropping slowly off to sleep. Mikayla smiled, enjoying the company of such sweet little animals. As much as she hated that silver sabre, she had to admit the cubs were adorable, but she wasn't able to cuddle them, no matter how much she wanted to, as she was enemies with their mother.

Drifting to sleep herself, Mikayla smiled again, glad that there was some very kind animals on this new crew. Who knows, maybe she might even like things better than she thought she would on Gutt's team.

Smirking, Diego picked at the wood with his claws, which were sharper than Shira's. He'd found a weak point in the wooden structure, so he figured he might be able to get out earlier than planned. He was correct, and soon he could just squeeze out of the cage.

Resisting the urge to pounce on Shira and kiss her, Diego padded softly over to the rock where his beloved mate and cubs slept, careful not to wake them, or Gupta, who was dozing soundly not too far away.

Shira was crying, thrashing and panting in her sleep, occasionally moaning "Get away from me!" or "Don't kill me!" as she was deep into her nightmare. Noticing this, Diego climbed onto the rock and lay beside her, calmingly holding her close. After a short while, she stopped panting, and stopped crying, instead awarding him a gentle lick to the cheek. Diego wondered if she was awake, but decided she wasn't, as her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady and deep.

"Oh, Shira…" he sighed, stroking her back "Why do you always have nightmares?"

"I don't know," she murmured softly, startling him, as he'd been certain she was sound asleep.

"Okay… do you wanna tell me about it?"

"Actually, I'd prefer if you told me how you got out of that wretched cage."

Diego grinned. "I found a weak point in the wood and cut through it."

"Man, I'm so thick…"

"No you are not!" he said firmly "Now, tell me about this nightmare!"

"It was nothing…" lied Shira, but Diego knew she was keeping something from him.

"You were saying 'Get away from me!' and 'Don't kill me!' in your sleep. It was not nothing."

Shira sighed. "Okay, okay… I dreamt Gutt was trying to kill me and the cubs…" Shira knew that Diego had no idea Gutt was still alive, but it's perfectly normal to dream about someone who's dead… right?

"Oh, my poor little Kitty… tormented by her own imagination…" Diego kept his forelegs wrapped tightly around Shira, who was fighting the urge to tell him that it wasn't her imagination, Gutt was still alive.

"I love you Diego…" she purred. He smiled down at her.

"I love you too," he paused for a moment, then added "Kitty."

"Don't call me Kitty…" she murmured, as she fell asleep. Diego smirked at her, nibbling playfully on her ear again. Even in sleep, she frowned and batted at his face. He chuckled, realising just how hard it had been without her that night.

So, thoughts? Did you like? Did you hate? Oh, and before I forget, thank-you to everybody who informed me that the shark-things that I couldn't name are called narwhals :) I'd go back and change that, but I can't be bothered. *shrugs*

Thank you so, so much for reading and please review! Or I'll make sure Izzy never meets the herd!

Izzy: Hey!

Me: I'm kidding, if I did that I'd ruin the plot. Duh! *rolls eyes*

Izzy:… shut it….

Me: Anyway, I'll try to update soon xD