Thanks guys! I got so many followers because of you! Finally, Chapter 3 is done! I hope you guys will like it!
And now I'm figuring out what to write for my next chapter…
DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Croods or else they'll definitely become more bizarre than ever.
"This is definitely gross," Amelia said disgusted, trying to wipe the mud off her shoes. Hess raised her eyebrows quizzically as she turned around to see her best friend legging by, looking at her shoes.
"Really, 'Lia? Just a bit of dirt? I'm wearing the same shoes as you and I ain't complaining."
"But it's disgusting!"
Hess rolled her eyes and walked over to her friend while grumbling. And you thought I was immature. She said mentally.
She grunted, and ignoring her friend's protests, pulled her along the muddy trail. "We'll find a river to clean our shoes, okay?"
"And then what? Our shoes''ll get muddy again!" Amelia cried out.
Hess analyzed Amelia's answer. Even if they wash their sneakers, they would still be trudging through the jungle floor. "You got a point," she admitted, before turning to her friend, " and I hadn't heard such a complain from you in a long time, ya know?"
"Just…. Shut up." Amelia muttered in reply, face reddening.
The two girls had been trudging through the jungles for ages, well actually its about an hour, and the only thing they had been doing was walking through mud, which Amelia was totally freaked out by.
"Hey Lia'?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you have the feeling that…this jungle ain't normal?"
Amelia was silent for a moment, head deep in thought. "I …have to agree with you, because oh you know, there are like pinks plants around us?" She said sarcastically.
Hess gave out a weak laugh. In fact, everything around them wasn't even normal at all. All the plants were so weird and with the giant flowers towering over them, they weren't exactly reassured. Sounds of animals filled the atmosphere, and the girls clutched their bags even tighter to themselves, afraid something might pop out of the weird bushes.
And like what they thought, an animal ran out into the opening in front of them and the girls shrieked (Well more like Amelia shrieked and Hess yelped).
The animal was definitely not normal. It had the body of a rat but its head and skin colour was that of an elephant's. It blew at them with its miniature nose before scampering off.
Another animal sound called out above their heads and the girls gave out another cry as a giant-like bird flew above their heads. It was like as if the jungle had come alive.
"Did you see-"
"That giant turtle with a long neck with-"
"And peacock wings and was flying?!"
Now the two of them were speaking gibberish. They then looked at each other and screamed. "Where Are We?!"
"Stupid cat, running after food again," Grug mumbled to himself while rubbing his temple. He then turned to his family. "So… Who wants to help me chase after Chunky this time?"
Eep ran towards her family and growled, showing her teeth. "I do!"
But Grug just pushed her away. "No Eep, you're grounded for making Doglas eat those purple berries that makes your tongue go green." He then pulled Guy towards him. "With your brains, we'll make a good team!"
"Not again!" The Homo Sapien cried out while bring pulled by his adoptive father while Belt just sighed.
"Hey! No one takes Guy away from me!" Eep ran after her father and Grug.
"Grug!" Ugga followed after her husband with their youngest daughter in hand. "Sandy can come along with you. This can help her hunting skills!"
"I want to come along too! Don't leave me behind with the grandma!" Thug was now right behind them.
"Hey! No want one leaves the grandma behind!" The old woman was now at the tail of the group.
Grug looked at his family and heaved a big sigh. "Fine! You are all coming with me!" He then set off, letting Guy go and his family in tow.
"You get the feeling we're being watched in this weird jungle?"
"Yeah."
The two girls, after freaking out on the outside and still in the inside were still creeping along the jungle floor, colorful trees with drooping leaves hanging on top of their heads. They had already encountered other weirder animals other than the elephant-mouse and the peacock-turtle, like the colorful monkeys.
"Really wanna get out of here. I don't know which is weirder; Uncle's Manson place or this jungle."
"No objections here. And please don't mention that guy's name again."
A pink bush rustled from their back, which Hess was only able to hear and she spun around to face it, which also meant facing Amelia.
Amelia looked at Hess curiously. She was facing her, but was not looking at her, more like at her back, and her face seemed contorted and was scrunched into a frown and a squint. "Hess," she asked, "you alright?"
Hess did not respond to her question, but suddenly her eyes widened until it was the size of saucers while her head tilted up a little and then started trembling, which was strange considering Hess doesn't normally do that, even when they were freaking out on strange hybrid animals. Then Hess suddenly spoke, but with a hint of fear and distraction mixed in the speech. "Amelia, I think your theory of my uncle's time machine working is true."
That's strange. Hess never calls me by my real name since day 1. Amelia thought. "Uh Hess? What's with the sudden behavior?"
Hess started pointing behind her, her mouth gaping but not able to produce a sound and being a little inpatient with her friend's sudden problem, Amelia followed Hess's finger and immediately her voice got trapped in her throat, very much like her friend.
"Oh. Oh boy."
Rising from the bush was an extremely giant cat with the colors of green, blue, yellow and white all over its fur, similar to the colors of a macaw. And the look it was giving them wasn't exactly the welcoming kind or the can I be your friend expression either. More like it had just opened its gigantic jaw and gave out a loud roar right in front them, and they had the front seats.
"Wow. Big cat. Really big cat." Nonsense tumbled out of the Amelia's lips as she and her friend froze on the spot gazing at the predator. The cat gave out one last growl before raising one giant paw and swiping it at them. Reacting on the spot, Amelia pulled the stunned Hess out of harm's way and immediately they were running through lush greenery, pushing through giant leaves and flowers while the giant cat chased them.
"Hess! Snapped out of it will you?!" Amelia cried out as they ran for shelter inside a small cave. The girls retreated into the tiny shelter, their backs pressing against the back the cave as they watched through a small creak in wall as the giant cat paced around the area, sensing their smell but not able to detect their location.
"What's with you? Ever since we ran from that… thing, you've been stuck like this! I had to practically pull you the whole time when we were running for our lives! You never act like this and even so only a little. What's going on?!" Amelia asked Hess in concern once the danger temporarily retreated. She then went overboard by shaking her friend by grabbing her shoulders, which Hess then pushed her off to avoid having a headache.
"I'm fine, thank you very much." Hess huffed as she pried off Amelia's hands. "Did you see the thing? Don't you even know what it is? Don't you recognize even what it is?" Amelia just stared at her in confusion, unable to catch up with all of Hess's questions.
"No." Amelia finally let out an answer.
"God, you're such an idiot! Did you even brush up on history?" Hess thundered once again.
"Hey! Unlike someone who likes to read about the past, my knowledge's just average." Amelia wasn't willing to admit that she was poor in the subject, even with her mature behavior.
Hess just rolled her eyes at her friend's respond. Knowing Amelia long enough, she knew she would not admit it. "For your sake, let me explain it to you. I definitely can't tell what the cat was, but I can tell that it was a saber-toothed cat."
"Saber-toothed cat?"
"Man you're sometimes so clueless. It means a PREHISTORIC CAT?!"
Amelia tried to digest the information. Impossible. Even when they were discussing the situation in the den earlier, she mostly kept thinking they were transported instead of being time-travelled. "How can you tell?" She challenged Hess, but her question sounded quite childish too.
Her friend just shook her head at her. "Oh, I don't know. First it was gigantic. Second, it had fangs poking out from both sides of its jaws like Diego from Ice Age?" Hess replied sarcastically, very much like the way Amelia replied her question when they first started walking through the forest.
Amelia couldn't believe her ears at all. The two of them were back in prehistory. Hess just stared at her troubled expression. Being best friends for four years and always sticking to each other, they could practically read each other.
"I know how ya feeling," Hess said as she leaned against the cave next to Amelia with her eyes close. "When I saw the cat, I knew what situation we were in but I couldn't accept it either. My uncle's inventions never worked at all until this one came along. It really did its work, maybe even overdid itself I'll say." Then, as if reading Amelia's mind, she continued. "So, we're back in prehistory, huh?" Hess also gave out a little humorless laugh. "No, that's not the way I should put it. We're STUCK IN PREHISTORY."
Amelia heaved a heavy sigh. "Now what?" It was then both of them heard a soft growl did they peer through the creak again. The saber-toothed cat was back in the area again, looking around for them.
"Alright, it's either one or both of us." Hess stated as she got herself ready to step out of their little hide out, the Swiss army knife clutched tightly in one hand while throwing down her bag with the other.
"Will you please think this through? I know you're impulsive, but you can't just go head on with that creature!" Amelia whispered harshly as she tried to pull Hess back but Hess just shrugged her off.
"Don't you get it? Either one or both of us gets killed and I definitely prefer if one of us comes out alive." A small smile appeared on Hess's face. "Not trying to make this dramatic scene, but its better if I do it myself. Besides, you don't have fighting experience like I do."
A flash of Hess's horrible past went through Amelia's mind and immediately she tried to grab on to friend but Hess had already push her away and in her horror, she watched as Hess charged into the opening towards the giant cat, which also spotted her and was running in her direction.
It wasn't an epic battle because the giant cat had already pounced on Hess once they were face-to-face. It was pretty much humiliating as well as painful as with the predator's size and weight crushing Hess down, she couldn't help but gave out an agonizing scream and then stabbed the giant claw enclosed around her. The cat gave out a painful roar and just swiped away the knife like it was nothing, getting rid of Hess's only weapon.
"NO!" Out of instinct and desperation, Amelia's arms dig inside her bag and fished out her lighter. She ran right into the heart of the battle and only stopping a few feet away, making the giant cat look up and savor at the sight of her but alas had to stay on the spot to prevent its first prey from escaping.
"You let her go NOW!" Amelia shouted angrily yet also fearfully at the beast as it gazed at her while crushing her friend, which made her wince mentally. Analyzing the situation thoroughly, Amelia lighted the lighter and flashed it at the cat and knowing what it was, the cat cowered a little away, knowing it could not touch her and then gripped tighter on to its current prey. If it could not have the other prey as well, it might as well eat this one now.
Its head descended for the kill and Amelia immediately picked up a handful of dry leaves and lighting them on fire, threw them at the cat and it barely dodged the lighted leaves. It jumped right off Hess and spinning around, saw orange flame and embers dancing along a little of the left side of its colourful coat. Growls, yelps and other sounds emitted from the creature as in panic, ran deeper into the heart of the jungle, leaving a trail of trees on fire as it left.
"Hess!" With no hesitation, Amelia ran to her friend's side and kneeling down, helped Hess carefully up into a half-lying position. "Are you alright?"
Hess did not reply, but instead winced a little before grabbing her right ankle and while doing that, unintentionally gave Amelia the view of numerous, small bleeding scratches running down both arms.
"You're hurt!"
Hess just grunted, knowing what her friend just saw. "Those scratch marks are nothing, but my ankle…" She pulled up the sleeve of her jeans, which revealed a huge red bulge on her right ankle. She moved it a little before yelping. "I think that cat just twisted my freaking ankle." She gave it another move and had the same reaction as before.
Amelia just hugged Hess tightly, but also carefully. "You big idiot… Come on, we got to get out of here. Its too dangerous." She then made a move to help Hess up, but Hess, knowing what Amelia was going to do, frantically tried to stop her.
"Don't move me! Hurt ankle? Remember?"
Amelia just sigh before sitting down next to Hess, trying to think of a way to help her. She can't move Hess, not especially when Hess was badly injured…She wasn't getting any far with her thinking when she and Hess heard shouting from the forest.
"Chunky! Where did that giant cat go?!"
Amelia and Hess looked at each other in shock. Were they more humans in the jungle? Smiles started creeping up on their faces slowly, but they instantly vanish upon the sight of the source of the calling.
Seven figures emerged from the jungle a few feet away from them. The first one was a heavily built man clad in brown fur possibly from a bear and right behind him walking reluctantly was a young man in his late teens with scruffy brown hair and wearing grey pants with strangely a small sloth holding it up and big paws for shoes, his upper body was bare though. Chasing after him was a young woman with thick caramel hair and wears a halter-neck dress that looks as if it was fashioned from a striped animal hide. A lady in her thirties appeared from behind her carrying a weird snarling little girl wearing a paw and having two pigtails that were held up by millipedes. The sixth figure was an overweight boy who resembles the first figure and lastly was an old woman with frizzy white hair that was wearing the skin of a reptile while holding a tall twisted cane in her right hand.
The girls stared at the group of prehistoric people, who in turn also looked at them in shock.
After a while, Hess broke the silence. "I…I must be seeing things. Am I right, Lia'?"
Amelia's face looked as if it was frozen solid. Slowly, she managed to murmur out an answer to herself. "Cavemen. We're seeing Cavemen."
There you go. Took a lot of hard work to type this chapter out.
The girls have now met the The Croods! Now what is going to happen next?
Please give me your ideas in the reviews; I would love to see them.
Please review. PLEASE REVIEW!