Author's Note: Chapter 2 is here at your service! I forgot to mention that it's to not only celebrate the upcoming release of The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild(despite that Blue Sky Studios are closed..R.I.P, you will always be remembered for bringing the Ice Age franchise to life. *Sniffles*) but also to celebrate 20 years since the very first Ice Age movie came out.
Now then, let's continue!
I don't own anything here except for my OCs. All rights belong to Toei/Naoko Takeuchi, Clamp, Pokemon Company, Dreamworks, Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox, Disney, Square Enix, Sega, and Nickelodeon.
Chapter 2: Anniversary Disaster.
Meanwhile, in a small bush cave, Sid was getting ready to propose to his girlfriend Franchine the Sloth, the girl of his dreams as he finally had a girlfriend. He was so excited that his dreams were finally about to come true that he had set up everything and was rehearsing his proposal, speaking to an ice mirror while pretending he was speaking to her(and at the moment he's also facing the camera)
"Mi amore. You are the most lucky girl ever to be with Sid the Stallion." Sid began and neighed like a horse while looking like he was riding one. He then knelt down, flinging fleas from his fur. "And I want to share my whole life with you. You're the wind beneath my fleas, the algae of my eye."
He blinked and got up close to reveal actual algae in his eyes...EW!
"Will you be the mate of my life?" He requested, and then kissed the ice wall(and the camera moving away) pretending he was kissing Franchine.
"Sidney?" A familiar girl's voice called up.
Mentally gasping and realizing it was her, Sid tried quickly to pull away only to find that his lips were stuck. With grunts and muffles to pull himself free, the Sloth member of the Sailor Team had great difficulty until finally he managed to do so...by breaking off part of the ice wall in the process, just as female purple-red sloth approached.
"What are you doing?" She asked, skeptically.
Pulling the ice off of his face with a painful grunt, Sid sheepishly chuckled before he responded happily. "I need to ask you something. Will you marry-?"
"Sid, I'm going to stop you right there." Franchine cut him off in annoyance. "I'm breaking up with you."
"WHAT!?" Sid exclaimed in shock and dismay. His true love...was breaking up with him!? "But I planned our future! Our wedding, our kids..."
He gestured around to show off said plans including the wedding service with empty seats around the area, and towards baby cradles with melons covered in mud made up to be made up kids and the male sloth went up to one of them squeaking in a fake baby voice while briefly playing puppetry, "Mommy!"
"Our burial plots..." He continued showing off two graves with a bored beaver standing there greeting, 'How you doin'?' before Sid concluded. "I even hired a band!"
Around a corner were three animals, another beaver, an ice-age penguin and one the freaky small trunk animals who quickly began to play with the trunk, accordion and a ukulale before Sid stormed up to them quickly. "No, no! Not yet!"
"Are you crazy?" Franchine demanded angrily. "We've only had one date. It lasted 14 minutes!"
"Yes. But it felt like 20." Sid pointed out and knelt before her, opening up a clam shell revealing a beautiful hand made ring with a sparkling gem on it(he had asked Daisy's help for that).
But the female sloth was still no longer interested as she wasn't into sloths like him, groaning in disgust. "Ugh! I can't! A ring? I mean I like the ring, but no." She then shoved the items back and walked away. "I can't, you're too clingy."
"How's this clingy?" Sid asked...while clinging onto Franchine who them shoved him off and he fell onto the ground, much to his dismay.
"And by the way, you look nothing like your profile picture." Franchine then walked off, snobly muttering to herself about the worst decision she had ever made in her entire life. "Francine, you gotta start dating outside of your species..."
"Franny, wait!" Sid cried out as he raced out of the bushes, but as usual was too slow and could only stand there hoping for one last shot. "We can work this out! Is this because of the bikini?"
Just then a leaf bikini was thrown right at his face, prompting him to yelp in pain before he took it off and held it, realizing what it was and called out. "I didn't know it was Poison Ivy!"
Unfortunately for him(as usual) Franchine was long gone, leaving him once again without a girl in his life. Sid felt his heart shatter into pieces, heartbroken to be dumped. Why did it always happen to him? Why!? WHY!? He began to cry while stupidly wiping his eyes with the Poison Ivy leaves and blowing his nose...only for his eyes and nose to quickly swell up.
"Uh oh...Franny! Franny, help!" Sid cried out, pleadingly while a couple of human villagers and other ice age animals who had witnessed this then screamed and ran away, not wanting to get infected by the Poison Ivy. "Somebody! Is it the eyes that hurt, or my soul?"
He then fell face first, yelping in pain. "OW!"
A moment of pause.
"Definitely the eyes."
Poor Sid.
Meanwhile, over the recently made outdoor bar which served fruit drinks as the Hyrax who had been welcomed to live around the area worked here happily and gotten free food and pay and being friends with the Guardians of Light thanks to Sid, Manny, Shrek, Ash, Pikachu, Sora, Cloud, and Mickey had met up with Riku along with Diego, Donald, Goofy, Gingy, Pinocchio, Donkey, Roxas, Lea, Isa, Vincent, Terra, Cid, Jack, Barbossa, Gibbs, Pintel and Ragetti and were now talking about the weirdness of the rest of the team.
Mainly the girls.
"Ugh, women." Manny grumbled.
"Yeah, women." Lea sighed in agreement, before asking as he realized that what the Mammoth said didn't make sense. "What 'bout them?"
"I don't get 'em." Manny replied, whistling for the Hyrax to make him a top up, which they did in style as he continued explaining. "Like Ellie. Life's been great, no surprises. Everything's the same. But today...she giggled. Don't any of the girls you guys know giggle?"
This was an odd question before the group began to respond what they knew about girls and whether or not they giggled.
"Well, sure. Giggling is always been part of Minnie's personality. One of the many things I love so much about her and what made me fall in love from the beginning." Mickey explained with a shrug, before admitting. "Though today she's been actin' odd too."
"Kairi's been one for giggling as long as I can remember. Especially when the two of us and Riku were little." Sora remarked, not sure what the problem is. He always thought that all girls giggled randomly.
"Fiona's always been one for giggling." Was Shrek's response.
"So is Xion, and we're not dating." Roxas nodded.
"Aqua too, but then again, sometimes she is such a girl." Terra rolled his eyes.
"I know Tifa, Aerith and especially Yuffie were ones to giggle a lot." Cloud shook his head, before taking a sip from his drink.
"Lucrecia as well." Vincent nodded in agreement.
"Don't forget Daisy." Donald piped up, before slinkling low a little in slight fear. "When she's not mad."
"Uh...never known Baby to giggle, but she always smiled." Donkey said thoughtfully thinking about his mate Dragon.
Shrek though knew that logical answer as he said in annoyance. "I wonder why? Oh wait, I know! It's because she's a Dragon!" He leaned over to Donkey, annoyed by the donkey's answer causing the latter to lean back a little.
"I once had a girlfriend who giggled too..." Gingy spoke up, before sniffling over the memories of late girlfriend, still in mourning. "...before Santa Claus had to go and eat her."
While Ash, Shrek, Donkey, Manny, Diego, Cloud, Vincent, Lea, Isa, Jack, Gibbs, and especially Barbossa(who rolled his eyes) stared at the gingerbread man skepically over the story, everyone else were horrified.
"Gawrsh, that's so sad." Goofy said sympathetically.
"All of the girls that I know and met seem to laugh a lot to me. Isn't that what all girls do?" Ash shrugged, cluelessly.
"How should I know? I never met a girl that didn't laugh." Pinocchio shrugged, only for his nose to grow long again, meaning that he lied. Everyone else shook their heads in exasperation, knowing how that he did but decided that they didn't want to know anyway.
"Larxene was never one to giggle...in a good way." Isa recalled, shaking his head.
That made Lea cringe over the memory of the former blonde-haired Nobody. "Ugh...Don't remind me on that."
"I know an exception...Elizabeth wasn't really one to laugh as far as I recall." Jack spoke up, before shrugging as he confessed. "Then again, up until almost three years ago I've never met a woman that giggled."
"That's because you always break every girl's heart." Riku pointed out dully.
"Yeah, no offense, Jack. But you never had much luck when it comes to girls." Ash agreed knowingly as he and Pikachu both folded their arms.
"Especially yer reputation is making a woman to harm you, Sparrow." Barbossa added salt to the wound, which made the younger Pirate Captain to glare at him and the two boys, while Gibbs shook his head and Pintel and Ragetti shared uneasy glances.
"Hey, Diego. Don't Shira giggle?" Goofy then asked the sabor who hasn't responded yet.
Diego, not sure at first, looked up ahead only to find that his now wife chasing after a helpless gazelle who was running away from Shira, screaming in fear. "NO! PLEASE DON'T EAT ME!"
The female sabor roared menacingly for an easy meal.
"Uh, Shira's not a big giggler." The golden sabor finally replied awkwardly.
"I see your point." Sora nodded, a little uneasily as he and the rest of the group saw the performance as well.
Knowing that he got all of the, uh, necessary and unnecessary answers, Manny continued his explanation on why his wife was acting so strange. "Well, Ellie giggled. And then she wiggled. "Tee hee hee hee! Boom!"" He even bumped into the group who nearly fell over before recovering.
"Please do not do that again." Gibbs grunted in annoyance.
"I just have no idea why she's acting so weird." The mammoth concluded cluelessly.
"I might not know much as long as you guys do, but yeah girls are so complicated." Roxas rolled his eyes in agreement, and all of the men sighed in exasperation.
"Women." Cloud, Isa and Riku all chorused.
"Girls." Lea, Roxas and Sora said in unison.
"Women." Donkey and Jack grumbled.
"Girls." Mickey and Ash both sighed.
"Women." Diego groaned.
"Women." Shrek and Manny sighed.
"Women." A Hyrax that climbed onto Manny's tusk squeaked while placing a tiny umbrella in the Mammoth's drink.
The rest of the group all nodded in agreement, knowing that women in general are completely complicated...and crazy.
"And what's this conversation about us women?" Serena spoke suspiciously as she and Raye both peered over the group of men and boys, only hearing the last part of the conversation.
Her unexpected arrival made Manny and the rest of the group flinch before turning around screaming in fright and saw her and Raye standing right there, having arrived silently. Where did they come from?
"Serena! Raye!" Ash cried out, placing his hand over his heart as he and the others felt like they all had near heart attacks.
"Pika...!" Pikachu squeaked, nervously.
Realizing that they were caught, Mickey nervously tried to cover the conversation and explained with a lie. "Oh, uh...N-nothin'! We were just t-talkin' about doin' what us guys do! R-right, fellas?"
The others caught on what the King was saying and each of them made excuses or gestures by nodding in agreement and while Vincent and Barbossa smirked knowingly that this wasn't going to work, Cloud scratched the back of his head while the rest of the men nodded nervously.
"Uh...Oh yes! The 'guy thing'!" Shrek agreed nervously.
That only made both Serena and Raye skeptical as the two teenage young women then gazed directly at Pinocchio since he was the main source on whether the group were lying or not, because he is the only one who cannot lie at all unless he is transformed into a real human boy.
"I got nothing to hide!" He quickly waved his hands innocently, which resulted his nose to grow even longer. Everyone else all groaned, knowing that they were all caught.
"Thanks alot." Donald grumbled sarcastically.
"A-anyway, what brings you two guys here? I thought you had to do the "other thing"? The thingmajig." Ash asked the girls, hoping to draw away from the previous conversation.
This only made the two girls confused as Serena asked. "Huh? Hold on a second, I thought we already talked about this the other day."
"Talked about what?" Terra asked, now he and the others confused over her response.
"The present to give to Ellie for the Anniversary tonight." Raye pointed out, shrugging with one arm.
"Anniversary?" Manny asked, confused...only for his eyes to widen in horror as the word Anniversary almost instantly brought back memories...and suddenly he realized the whole answer on why Ellie was acting so weird today and the answer to the thing she and the others were talking about.
Today was his and Ellie's Wedding Anniversary! And he completely and totally forgot!
"Oh no...That's the "thing"." The Mammoth shuddered in horrified realization.
"What!?" Ash exclaimed as he and soon everybody else came to same realization. "Manny and Ellie's Wedding Anniversary was today!?"
The other guys soon became horrified and guilt-ridden as they all also forgot about today's Wedding Anniversary, while Serena and Raye began to become annoyed and angry over their friends' lack of memories until the last minute.
"Oh no! I forgot 'bout the Anniversary...!" Mickey placed his hands on the side of his head. It was already bad enough that forgot his own Wedding Anniversary, let alone his dates back before he and Minnie got married. But to forget his friends' Wedding Anniversary!?
"Oh, no..." Shrek murmured worriedly.
"Uh ooooooh!" Donald gulped.
Even Lea looked terrified and he promised himself to get the organizing memories for crying out loud! "Oh, great...we're dead."
They all then shrank back in fear as both Raye and Serena loomed over them with angry glares which, from the guys' point of view, made them look like the two grew into giantesses.
"You forgot about today!?" Raye demanded.
"Even Darien wouldn't forget something like this!" Serena growled angrily.
"W-we're sorry! It was an accident!" Sora cried out as he held out his hands in defense, the teenage Keyblade Master and some of the others shivering in fear. Even Vincent, Cloud and Barbossa looked very nervous.
"Please don't kill us!" Goofy pleaded, whimpering.
"You lot are unlucky to not be immortal, even if an immortal soul is at risk of facing their wrath." Jack commented wirily, only to flinch in fear when Serena turned her menacing glare straight towards him and the pirate knew instantly what he was in for. He quickly pleaded, "Please don't-"
SMACK!
He was cut off when the Moon Princess slapped him hard across the face and as usual, he spun around in pain over the slap which he would get almost all the time. Especially from the girl who was Serena Tsukino Shields, otherwise known as Sailor Moon, the heroine who saved the Realm of Light and destroyed Bhunivelze and Chaos. The others except for Raye all cringed in sympathy and fear when they saw this happen.
"You deserved that." Vincent said, scoffing.
"Um, Vince? Almost every girl does that and Serena does that to him all the time." Donkey whispered to the former Turk.
Jack, with his left cheek now sore from the hard slap, turned to face the sixteen year old girl and grumbled in annoyance. "What was bloody that for?"
"Next time, think before you speak." Serena said, looking away with her arms folded.
"Sorry, Captain. But Vincent's right about you deserving it." Ash said to the unfortunate pirate, while Manny now began to hysterically panic, similar to when Ellie was in labor with Peaches almost two years ago.
"Whadd'am I gonna do!? If Ellie finds out I forgot about our Anniversary, she'll kill me!" Manny cried out, making everyone else sweat drop.
"Calm down, Manny! It's not the end of the world. We'll figure somethin' out." Mickey tried to reassure his friend.
"In the next few hours?" Roxas asked, doubtfully.
Lea spoke in agreement, asking. "Uh...Hate to break the bubble here, your majesty, but what can we get El' if it's already today?"
When the mouse King didn't answer, Serena, knowing what to do, spoke up confidently. "Not to worry, I already sorted it out."
That made the others gaze at her, now in confusion as Raye asked her long time friend. "I was gonna ask you about that, Serena. What's this so called idea you wanted to tell me?"
Rather than answering one of her long-time best friends, the Moon Princess turned to the male Mammoth and asked him as he was trying to calm down. "Manny, you remember Ellie wanting something special for a perfect day, right?"
At first his mind was racing over thoughts of Ellie possibly killing him and sending him back to the Afterlife sooner than he would like, Manny slowly began to calm down and think before another memory formed into his mind.
"I...remember her mention something about wanting to see Fireworks on a special day, like Christmas or something." He replied.
"Perfect!" Serena said happily, clapping her hands together. "That's what we'll do. There's nothing more romantic than Fireworks going off at night on a Wedding Anniversary."
While some of the others began to think, much to their relief, that Fireworks display did sound like a beautiful gift for Ellie, especially when she had wanted to see Fireworks on a special day, and on a Wedding Anniversary it sounded super special, both Ash and Pikachu remembered they saw the same thing back on Earth two years ago.
Raye was in agreement as she recalled the story as well. "You got that idea from Norman, didn't you?" She asked, skeptically.
Sweat dropping sheepishly, Serena replied. "Well, it is romantic. Plus, I already have it set up."
"HUH!?" Everyone else gaped in shock.
"Really?" Sora asked, surprised.
"Uncle Drew helped." The Moon Princess answered.
"Not Uncle Stu?" Shrek blinked, surprised. One would think that Stu Pickles would do something like that.
Yet Serena sighed and shrugged while explaining the logic. "As much as I love him, if I let Uncle Stu handle it, he'll build something completely weird that'll break in five seconds. One of the few things that didn't break by itself was the Reptar machine in Paris."
Already seeing the image of Stu making an invention that would look completely wacky that was meant for Fireworks only to end up exploding or taking him with the displays and hurting himself, the group quickly agreed that asking for his older brother's help instead was a much better idea.
"Was that the time when you met that weird Coo-Coo lady who hated you as Sailor Moon?" Diego asked as he recalled the story that happened in Paris.
"Yep." Serena answered.
"Hello?"
Everyone else looked to their right(or left) to see who called out, before they saw Sid approach which made them all sweat drop and Gingy say awkwardly. "And speaking of weird..."
Sid, still having Poison Ivy on his eyes and nose which blocked his sight slightly that he was having trouble seeing, waddled over. "Anybody there?" He tripped over a rock and yelped before getting up and called out. "Drew? Ven?"
The heartbroken sloth then ended up bumping into Manny's...er..butt.
"Oh, hi, Manny!" He greeted, before cringing away as he fanned his face when he caught the stench of something disgusting, incorrectly groaning. "Ugh, your breath is awful."
"What 'appened to you?" Pintel asked, dumbfounded.
"Oh, nothin'. Everything's fine. Fabulous. Zippity-dippity!" Sid replied, walking over the other side of the table and leaned against it.
"Y'u got Poison Ivy on your face." Ragetti pointed out.
Riku, realizing instantly what happened, sighed in exasperation. "I'm gonna take a guess and say that...Francine dumped you, right?"
"What is wrong with me!?" Sid wailed, quickly conceding defeat, grabbed Riku's drink and drank it one gulp, continuing. "Everybody has somebody and all I got is my boyish good looks and this Mariachi band."
He gestured at the said Mariachi band who had followed and once again began playing, prompting the poor once again single sloth to cry his heart out, causing almost everyone else to gaze at him sympathetically...Not that they were surprised.
"I know what it's like not to have a girlfriend. It takes ages to move on from a broken heart." Gingy said, knowing half-well of what his friend was going through.
Pinocchio on the other hand shrugged, pointing out. "I thought their first date lasted for fourteen minutes."
"It did, and that's the shortest date on record." Cloud confirmed, shaking his head. Jack, Barbossa, Isa, Lea, Gibbs and Vincent sighed in annoyances.
"Oh, it's okay, Sid. You'll have another chance at true love. It won't be easy to move on and, well, Minnie's been the only girl I've dated before the two of us got married, but even I know what it's like." Mickey said comfortingly as he and Goofy approached him while Donald facepalmed himself.
"I used to date Clarabelle a few times." Goofy added.
Sid just continued to cry before blowing his nose on the Poison Ivy and winced in pain, causing the others to flinch back a little. "Ow! Oh, so itchy!"
Manny rolled his eyes before slapping the leaves away from his friend and picked him up, walking away while Raye announced in exasperation. "Okay, while some of us handle the last minute Anniversary Present for Ellie, the rest of us will find Amy and Doctor Carmichael to get you cleaned up."
Everyone else, in agreement, then began to walk away to first cure Sid and then make the last minute arrangements for the Fireworks.
Unaware that they were in for another crisis coming their way.
Meanwhile, back up in space, Scrat had somehow successfully got his Acorn back and managed to get back into the main space-suit without losing air, and was struggling to pull the prized nut into the suit itself...
Ugh, ngh...come ooooon...Got it!
Finally managing to pull it through the neckhole, Scrat then began squirming his way through the air tube back into the alien space ship which if anybody was around to see it, it was awkward and comical. Fortunately as he was known to squeeze through tight places, no matter how painful it was but he was stubborn and determined, the ice age squirrel then plopped himself and his acorn back inside. Landing on the floor, he sighed in relief and hugged his precious nut.
Phew! Finally made it! Huh?
Scrat then leaped onto the control panel as there he saw, were three planets perfectly in line but not too close yet also connected at the same time. Two which had been his home for his entire life; Earth which was the main planet visible where he was born and grew up in, and having been frozen in ice for 20,000 years before thawing, and his latest home, the Fairy Tale world.
Ooooh...Home...
He gazed mournfully at the two worlds, placing his paw onto the glass as Earth and the Fairy Tale World and even the Pokemon World looked so beautiful. He once again felt homesick and wanted to go back home. However, his foot accidentally pushed the lever which caused the ship to quickly fly away from the three planets, much to his dismay.
What!? Oh, no no no! Wait, wait! The wrong way! The wrong way! Oh, which button is it!?
Panicking as he was being drawn away from the worlds, Scrat frantically tried pushing several buttons to reverse course to get back home only to end up pushing the anti-gravity button which shut down the ship's gravity and causing everything including himself to float.
Huh? Whoa, hey! Aaah!
Losing his grip on his Acorn again, Scrat yelped as he felt like he was flying before noticing his nut floating away. Trying to figure out how to turn the gravity back on as he had zero idea on what was going on, the small squirrel then fiddled with the knob again and successfully found the right one, turning the gravity back to normal and he fell.
Okay, uh..it was this one, right?
Landing on the floor, Scrat sighed in relief before seeing his Acorn fall as well.
Yes! Here he comes, Acorn!
Unfortunately in his excitement, Scrat accidentally turned the knob again which when he tried to reach the Acorn, the gravity was now too strong and he went flat onto the floor so hard that he felt like a pancake. The Acorn too was stuck, but remained in shape.
Uh...this is a problem.
Blinking at his situation now as this never happened to him, Scrat grunted and groaned as he tried to get up, forcing himself off the floor, only for his skin and flesh to fall off. He screamed in horror and pulled it back up before he would end up dead before he was pulled back down with a splat.
AH! Ooh! Oh, come on...!
Trying to crawl his way across, Scrat tried to rise up his mouth, but his teeth fell and stabbed him on the tongue, causing pain and forcing him to close it again.
OW! Oh! Oh, he hated this heavy gravity!
Crawling his way across, the ice age squirrel reached up painfully and...managed to place his paw on top of the acorn.
Phew! Got it...
Or not. The force of the heavy gravity forced Scrat's paw to slide off and made the Acorn to start rolling...first on top of his hand which made him scream in pain due to it being flattened, and he winced in pain before his prize rolled around before it straight towards him.
AH! No! No! Must, get, away!
Realizing in horror what was about to happen, Scrat forced himself to turn around and tried to crawl away, but the Acorn was too fast for him in his current situation and rolled right on top of him from the tip of his tail, all over his body and right up to the tip of his nose like a rolling pin and flattening him even more.
Oooh...that hurt.
Now completely flat, Scrat knew that he was going to be here for a while.
While this was doing on, the Asteroid of Darkness continued to make it's slow but steadily fast journey to the Fairy Tale world and while to onlookers on Earth, it would make it no more harmless than a comet passing back the planet, for everyone in the magical world, it would spell disaster. Three chunks of the giant rock chipped off and began heading straight towards the Sailor Team's current home, catching on fire.
Back on the surface, fully unaware of the danger as early evening seeped in, Serena and her group were heading towards the meeting point to meet up with the rest of their friends and give Ellie the surprise gift for the Anniversary.
"You sure Ellie will be happy with this?" Manny asked his friend, still nervous and uneasy and guilt-ridden for forgetting his Wedding Anniversary. If Ellie realized this, he was really in for it big time.
"Relax. She'll love it. And if that doesn't work, I've still got Plan-B." Serena reassured, confident that the Fireworks display will be the biggest surprise Ellie will love forever.
Mickey smiled in agreement as he said. "Don't worry, Manny. I'm sure things will work out just fine."
While Manny was still uncertain, the rest of the group were grumbling due to another problem that just wouldn't go away. Ash groaned as he muttered in annoyance. "I wish there was something we could do for Sid. He's driving me crazy."
"You're not the only one, mate." Jack shook his head, exasperated tiredly.
Everyone else was in agreement, as Donald slapped his hands over his ears wishing for the sloth to be quiet and ready to scream himself. Shrek did the same thing, feeling like there was a headache coming on.
"All I want is true love. Is that too much to ask?" Sid wailed as he was being carried by Lea who groaned, mentally asking himself why he was the one to carry the heavy and whiny sloth.
Soon enough, the group came to a stop only to notice that everyone else weren't here. None of the rest of their friends, or families, not even animals or Pokemon, or Fairytale creatures.
"Why is everything so quiet?" Cloud asked, puzzled.
"Because the Realm of Light is mourning my loss." Sid lamented, which only continued to get on everybody's nerves.
"Oh! Sid, for five minutes, could you not make a noise..." Shrek began pleadingly, before turning to face the sloth and shouted right at his and Lea's faces. "FOR FIVE MINUTES!?"
This caused Lea to yelp in fright and accidentally dropped Sid who yelped and crashed onto the ground. The redhead then panted and placed a hand to his chest where his heart beated and glared at the ogre. "Geez, how 'bout NOT givin' me a heart attack, for crying out loud?"
Realizing that he had accidentally scared the former Nobody, Shrek sighed while cooling down and apologized. "Sorry, Axel."
"Nah, don't worry about it." Lea waved off, recovering from the unexpected scare. Everyone else sighed before looking around to see where their friends had gone off to.
"Ellie? Peaches?" Manny called out to his wife and daughter, but got no reply. "Where is everyone?"
"SURPRISE!"
This came from Ellie who suddenly appeared next to her husband hanging upside from a tree by her tail, and soon the rest of the absent group along with villagers of Duloc and the Ice Age Village, causing Manny and his group to jump in fright. Among the group were Kairi's group, and the rest of the Guardians: Amy, Mina, Misty, May, Max, Dawn, Piplup, Casey, Sakura, Madison, Kero, Puss, Tiffenie, Luna, Amelia, Kristen, Xion, Namine, Ventus, Aqua, Chirithy, Ri-Ri, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Darien, Alain, Mairin, Lucrecia, Tifa, Yuffie, Aerith, Cid Highwind, Dragon, Farkle, Fergus, Felicia, the Dronkeys, the Fairytale gang, Tommy, Dil, Stu, Didi, Angelica, Drew, Charlotte, Chuckie, Kimi, Chas, Kira, Phil, Lil, Betty, Howard, Susie and her family, the rest of the Black Pearl Crew, Future-Piplup, Chimchar, Grovyle, Celebi, Kaylie, Dusknoir, Simon, Jake, and Savanna.
Along with the huge crowd flowers, confetti, sparkles and leave-roofs opening came pouring down like snowflakes as part of the surprise party that Manny and his group soon realized was Ellie's gift to celebrate.
"Ta-da!" Crash and Eddie drew back leaves revealing an ice sculpture of Manny and Ellie lovingly holding trunks.
"Happy Anniversary, honey!" Ellie exclaimed happily after climbing down.
"Wow...this is a surprise." Manny admitted, not having expected this. Thankfully thanks to Serena and Raye reminding him earlier, he wasn't as clueless as he had been, and this was indeed a very nice surprise.
"Surprise?" Ash blinked, before remarking as he nearly died of fright. "More like Heart-attack Day."
"Pika pika..." Pikachu sweat dropped as he had nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Oh, come on! This is Manny and Ellie's Anniversary. Don't ruin it for the lovebirds." Sora playfully pouted at his younger friend. But then again, despite what they had been through, the young Pokemon-Keyblade Master was still clueless when it comes to romance.
Sakura, who along with the rest of the group, being unaware that Manny actually forgot, giggled while assuming. "I guess Manny brought you guys for show off Ellie's present, huh?"
"Yeah! We wanna see what you got for Ellie." Crash added to his Mammoth brother-in-law.
"Manny, Manny!" Eddie began chanting, and was soon followed by everyone else who chanted the Mammoth's name who looked on nervously.
Fortunately, as he felt a bump on his leg which made him look down to see Serena secretly smirking at him while holding out a remote with a red button in her hand, he felt secretly relieved and smiled nervously at his wife and everybody else.
"I've got just the perfect thing!..." Manny announced, before sheepishly adding as he gestured at his group. "...with the help from these guys since you guys helped Ellie."
As everyone else waited anxiously, the male Mammoth gently pushed the button and in the short distance at the clearing away from the trees, the Fireworks went off, lighting the sky with the beautiful and colourful display which in the twilight night, it made it even more magnificent. The crowd(including Drew who smiled in relief that nothing went wrong) ooehed and ahed as they watched the light show.
"Fireworks!" Ellie beamed happily in awe.
"Awesome! This is so cool!" Mairin exclaimed, while Alain smiled as he liked this gift Manny gave for Ellie.
"Oh, wow!" Rena breathed, clasping her hands together. "Now that's what I call super romantic."
"Oh, Manny...You set up the Fireworks for me?" Ellie gazed at her husband happily and lovingly.
Manny shrugged as he half-lied in order to prevent himself from revealing that he forgot and that it was Serena and Raye who reminded him and the others. "Well, I did remember you saying you wanted to see them on a special day, so I thought, why not today?"
That made his wife even more happy as this was what she wanted while she hadn't expected it to be an Anniversary gift. She responded, feeling touched. "Aw...Thank you."
"Happy Anniversary." Manny replied as he and Ellie locked trunks and everyone went 'Awwwww...' at the romantic sight.
While Serena, Sora, Ash, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Raye, Lea, Roxas, Isa, Riku and Terra all secretly wipe their foreheads in relief, softly murmuring. "Whew..."
The red-haired former Nobody then smirked as he whispered to the Moon Princess while placing a hand onto her shoulder. "Nice save on the Fireworks."
Serena just giggled sheepishly before she and everyone else join in on the party, with her and the other Pokemon Trainers of the Sailor Team letting out all of their Pokemon to have them join in on the fun. The party then really started as everyone began to enjoy themselves. As for Crash and Eddie, they stood by the snack table and the blue-eyed Possum stuffed his brother's mouth full of grapes as many as possible.
When it became apparent that the brown-eyed Possum couldn't hold them in anymore, he began to spit them out like jet missiles, accidentally hitting his brother who cried out and was sent flying which after running out, the former laughed hysterically. Nearby them, children were playing happily including Rini, Max, Lusie, Tommy, Dil, Chuckie, Kimi, Phil and Lil, Susie, Ri-Ri, Angelica, Farkle, Fergus, Felicia, Peaches, and other kids of humans and animals, with Diego and Shira watching and after spending such time together and already getting married, they thought about having children of their own someday, except for a little problem.
"I keep picturing our own kid in there, he'd be the best one." Diego remarked as he and his new wife ate fruit, having both gone on a mixed diet to fit into the group of friends and family.
"I think you meant "she"." Shira pointed out, chewing on a red kind of fruit which juice spilled down her and Diego's mouths.
"He." Her husband replied.
"Either way, we've been over this Diego. Most kids are afraid of us." She pointed out with a sigh, knowing that as both were Sabers, children would be terrified given their species as carnivores.
"Yeah, but why? Rini, Lusie, Max and the Scouts' cousins aren't. Neither are Huey, Dewey and Louie." He shrugged, then decided to try another approach as he and the white saber approached two young children; an boy Aardvak, and a girl Short-trunked Start who noticed them approaching and became nervous.
"Are they gonna eat us?" The girl Start asked worriedly, and her friend shivered.
"Hi, kids." Diego and Shira greeted with friendly smiles and tones...except due to the juice on their mouths, the children unfortunately mistook them for blood.
And you know what came next.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" The two children screamed in horror before running away, much to the confusion of the two Sabers who stood there and shared a confused glance, completely clueless.
"...I even smiled this time." Shira muttered after a few moments of awkward silence.
As Rini and Lusie were playing with their friends, laughing and giggling, Serena and her four closest friends Amy, Raye, Lita, and Mina were hanging out just like old times having cakes while chatting. But as the Moon Princess was about to dig into a fairly large piece of a chocolate cake, she then noticed her future-daughter and future-granddaughter nearby. Pausing, she felt the familiar sadness seep deep into her heart. Again with peace finally here, it wouldn't be long before the two future princesses would be going home.
Rini told her this a short time ago.
Flash-Back: A week earlier...
Just outside of Duloc while hanging out, Rini brought Serena outside to reveal something very important. What she said made her mother's past-self shocked and saddened.
"You're leaving for the Future?" Serena asked, not having expected this.
Rini shook her head, explaining. "Not yet. Lusie and I can go back home whenever we want. Though I guess we haven't been home in both futures without things going bad lately. Might go back soon."
While she knew that her daughter was right and she would have to go back home in order to grow up in the 30th Century as Lusie would in the 40th Century, Serena felt her heart ache. She had gotten so used to having Rini and Lusie here in the past, pretending to be cousins when she felt like they were like her younger sisters she never had, she knew they would have to leave. But to hear it before she was even ready to see them go...
She tried not to look so sad, but the sixteen year old felt like her life was starting to become empty. It was selfish of her to wish for Rini and Lusie to stay, especially when Serena wouldn't be able to fully experience being a mother if Neo-Queen Serenity didn't watch them grow up as an adult and only able to as a teenager.
"You okay, Serena?" Rini asked, noticing and suddenly becoming worried.
"Oh, yeah I'm fine. You got a good point there and I'm sure my future-self is just as worried as me. Take as much time as you like." Serena quickly smiled a fake smile to cover up her sadness, before suggesting. "n the meantime, didn't you have plans to explore the area with Lusie and Team Moonfriendship today? I'm sure there's plenty of stuff to do in the Hundred Acre Woods."
Without waiting for a response, Serena turned around and began to head back to Duloc, yet what Rini didn't see was that the blonde-haired young woman was silently shedding tears, her expression full of saddness.
How could she prepare herself to say goodbye?
End of Flash-Back:
Even days on, Serena still wasn't ready. What could she possibly do? She gazed at the ground, saddened over the announcement and memory.
"Serena?" Amy, as she and the other girls noticed their friend's sudden sad expression, asked in concern. The blue-haired teenager couldn't help but sense that something was wrong but had no idea what it was.
"Hey, Earth to Serena. Hey, what're you thinking about?" Lita spoke up as she approached her friend, waving her left hand over at her best friend's face, which made her blink out of her thoughts and realized that she was doing it again.
Not wanting to reveal the sad news, especially during a happy day like this, Serena shrugged sheepishly. "Oh, nothing."
But before she could continue, to her surprise as something caught her eye, there was a beautiful golden ring with a small diamond on Lita's left hand and on her wedding finger. Shock filled her senses at first, before happiness and amusement caused Serena to try not to laugh despite the now perfect opportunity to tease her friend, snickering.
"What?" The taller teenage girl asked, blinking in confusion. To the brown-haired young woman's dismay, Serena pointed at the ring which made her blush and soon as Amy, Raye and Mina walked over to see what their goofy friend was laughing at, they too saw the ring and became fully surprised.
"Lita, isn't that...a ring?" Mina asked slowly.
"It's on your wedding finger." Amy analyzed.
"There's something you're not telling us, isn't there?" Raye asked, now suspicious which made their taller friend become even more embarrassed.
Now realizing that her and Brock's secret was discovered before she was ready for the right time to announce the news, Lita groaned. "Oh...! I wanted to wait until after the party."
Realizing that their friend had been secretly engaged, the other girls huddled around her as Mina asked, teasingly as she and the others wanted to know who the secret boyfriend was, happy that their friend finally had the man of her dreams. "So, who's your secret boyfriend?"
"Yeah, you can't leave us hanging, Lita. C'mon, tell us. Who is it?" Serena urged, with her eyes sparkling.
Resigned with a sigh as the secret was now out, Lita answered. "...Brock proposed to me and...I said yes."
That the four other Sailor Scouts didn't expect.
"BROCK PROPOSED TO YOU!?" Serena, Amy, Raye and Mina exclaimed loudly, which made the entire crowd stop what they were doing and turned to the five original members of the Sailor Team, hearing the outburst and gaped at them in shock.
Then everyone including the rest of the team glanced at Lita, then at Brock who, realizing that the secret was out, was blushing brightly red in embarrassment while twiddling his fingers sheepishly, and soon everyone were twice as bewildered over the announcement.
"What? Brock, you just..." Ash began to his older best friend.
"Asked Lita to..." Misty continued, in huge surprise.
"Marry you?" Casey concluded blankly.
"Pika Pika!?" Pikachu gaped in disbelief. He didn't see that one coming.
While everyone was soon starting to become happy with the news for the new couple of the Guardians of Light, Serena then squealed happily and jumped up and down, before turning to Raye with a smug smirk who, seeing this and remembering something very important, groaned in defeat and annoyance.
"Ha! You owe me ten bucks, Raye." Serena informed her friend, holding out her hand expectedly.
"I lost...!" Raye groaned, handing over Ten Yen to her friend, knowing that she lost the two year long bet.
"Wait! You mean you guys made a bet on me and Brock?" Lita exclaimed in disbelief over the bet.
The Moon Princess nodded, explaining proudly. "Of course! It all started when the five of us first met Brock and the others in Cona City. I knew that you and Brock would get married someday and Raye thought it wouldn't happen in a million years."
Seeing that this was a happy announcement, the party goers smiled before going back to the party after giving out their congratulations to the young couple, while some members of the Sailor Team, including the still embarrassed Brock, approached the five Sailor Scouts with smiles and surprised expressions.
"Well, well, well. Looks like Manny and I were right too." Shrek smiled, one hand on his hip.
"What? You guys too?" Lita asked, blinking. Had she and Brock really been that obvious?
"Oh yeah. Since Medge almost two years ago. You know, before Kadaj and those other guys attacked." The Ogre explained proudly.
"Congratulations, Brock and Lita." Mickey said happily, which made the aforementioned couple to blush, relieved that their friends were happy for them.
"Thank you, your majesty." Brock said, bashfully.
Unfortunately, the Happy Anniversary and the now Happy Wedding Announcement, as Sid was nearby happily drinking a fruit drink while finally getting over his heartbreak, he noticed something in the sky that wasn't a Firework and nearly choked in shock and worry before gulping down and looked nervous.
"Uh..." The sloth began, poking at Cloud's shoulder, causing the spiky-haired man to glance at him as the former pointed up at the sky, asking in concern. "Does that look like a problem to you?"
When Cloud looked up to see what his friend was talking about, he softly gasped to see a large meteorite hurling straight towards the planet in increasingly and alarming speed.
"A meteorite heading straight towards us? Why would that be a problem?" Cloud replied in vague sarcasm with a hint of worry in his voice, before hurrying over to Serena's group who, along with everyone else at the party, were all completely oblivious over the incoming danger.
"This is just so awesome." Sora remarked happily to Lita and Brock.
"I'm so happy for you both." Kairi said, her hands together.
" So, how long you've guys been engaged?" Serena asked, curiously.
Before the new couple could answer, Cloud approached as he interrupted urgently. "Guys, we have a problem."
That confused the group as they gazed at their friend, with the leader of the Sailor Team asking. "Huh? What problem?"
"It can't be a big problem." Manny shrugged, not understanding.
"It's big alright...we need to evacuate everyone immediately!" The spiky-haired man grunted, the urgency in his voice getting louder.
"Evacuate?" Mickey asked, now starting to get worried. Why would they need to evacuate?
Curious yet growing nervous as she suddenly sensed an alarming peak of darkness in the sky, Serena looked up to see and gasped in horror at the sight of the meteorite. Nearly screaming and now panicking as THAT was definitely a huge problem, she stumbled and fell over comically before she began racing around the party as quickly as possible, throwing away people's drinks apologetically to get them to run for shelter.
"Uh, sorry everyone! But party's over. Have a good night and please head home and for the nearest shelter right away." She quickly announced apologetically which only confused and slightly annoyed everyone else except for Cloud and Sid who looked on worriedly.
"But Serena, the party just started." Angelica whined that the party was short-lived.
"Yeah. Why do we have to go home?" Tommy asked his older cousin, confused and disappointed while the other children were shocked that the party was cancelled.
"Oh, just um...It's pretty late!" Serena tried to explain without scaring the young children, then turned to the rest of the crowd and kept on trying to make them leave, becoming more and more panicked by the second. "Everyone please leave now and...find cover!"
"Serena, what in the world's gotten to you?" Didi demanded her niece, her hands on her hips.
"Uh...You don't wanna look..." The Moon Princess replied nervously, gazing her eye at the meteorite which was now almost right above their heads.
"Oh come on. It can't be that that." Fiona shook her head, only to gasp shock as she and everyone else now turned to see what the problem was, quickly being stood corrected.
Everyone watched in shock and now horrified awe as while the Fireworks had long stopped, the meteorite flew past them and hit the ground in the distance, though not hitting anyone else. Where did that come from? However, that wasn't the end of it.
"Look! There's more coming!" Chas exclaimed, pointing up the sky.
To everyone's horror, he was right as more and more were now falling, about to hit everything in sight, about to cause distraction. Everyone on the ground gasped and were now beginning to run away in fear and panic.
"Meteor shower!" A man from Duloc cried out hysterically as he ran away.
The Possum twins, not realizing what he meant as they knew Meteor and Shower separately.
"Meteor!?" Eddie gasped in horror.
Crash then sniffed at his armpit and cringed, adding. "Shower?"
Everyone by then was screaming and trying to get away while the Meteor Shower was now destroying areas around them, including the Hyrax Statue that was built three months ago, now being rendered into ruin but no one even cared about that as their lives were more important.
"It's the Armageddon!" Howard hysterically screamed as he ran to Betty who went for the twin kids, the latter scooping them up while Stu went for Tommy and Dil, Chas and Kira went for Chuckie and Kimi, Dr. Carmichael for Susie and even Ri-Ri, Fiona for Farkle, Fergus and Felica, and Charolette for Angelica with Drew with next to them.
Ellie, now suspecting that Manny did forget, turned to her husband and asked skeptically. "I suppose this was all set up for me?"
Now scared as his wife was beginning to suspect, Manny chuckled nervously while answering truthfully. "The Fireworks? Yes; The Meteor shower? No."
"Can you guys talk about this later?" Amelia cried out, interrupting. How could those two argue now at a time like this.
"We gotta get everyone to safety and find shelter! C'mon!" Mickey called out firmly.
Not arguing with the King, everyone quickly did so while the two Mammoths hurried to get Peaches and all of the Pokemon Trainers recalled their Pokemon save for Pikachu, Piplup and Chespie and also Team Pokepals. Once that was done, they were directing the panicking villagers of all kinds to leave and find a safer route to shelter hoping that they wouldn't get hit, before they too began to run for cover.
Except for Crash and Eddie who were attempting to have fun, with Crash riding on a panicking female Ice Age Ostrich who was gobbling in panick before he leaped off and caught a small rock of fire with a stick.
"Whoo-hoo! I'm on fire!" Crash excitedly shouted as he ran, throwing the rock at his brother who caught it with a stick of his own.
"Whoo! Me too!" Eddie cheered, unaware that another meteorite was heading straight towards them. "We're smokin' hot, baby!"
The meteorite then hit the ground narrowly missing the two brothers, but it did sent them flying as they screamed, falling straight towards the Guardians of Light, their families and friends who were running while trying to find them, only for Kimi to notice and gasp.
"Oh no! Look!" She cried out, causing her step-brother Chuckie to cry out screaming.
"Whoa! Incoming!" Betty cried out as she also noticed.
"Those are ours!" Sakura exclaimed as she and everyone else looked over their shoulders.
"I got them!" Alain cried out and successfully caught the twin Possums in his arms while still running before asking immediately. "Are you okay? How many heads to you see?"
"Tree." Crash replied, looking horrified as he and his brother recovered.
"Three?" The Pokemon Trainer asked, thinking that the twins were more disoriented than they looked.
"No! TREE!" The blue-eyed Possum screamed, pointing behind the Kalos trainer who along with everyone else saw that a tree was coming down and a much larger meteorite about Dragon's size hit the ground and was now rolling towards the horrified group.
Speaking of Dragon who was out by the frozen lake with the terrified Dronkeys having flown over to her, she gaped in horror to see her husband and friends being chased by a ball of fire. Shrek, seeing her, had an idea as he knew it was their only chance in escaping.
"Everybody jump!" Shrek shouted, and they all did while they all screamed and landed right on top of Dragon's back, while the giant fire-breathing reptile ducked just time as the fire ball rolled safely over them and hit the lake, becoming stuck.
She then quickly flew to safety with the others hanging on for dear life towards safety, while Granny, being senile and unafraid, stretched her arms out as she was having lots of fun, cheering. "Wheeee!"
"The cave! Get inside!" Sora shouted, pointing at the cave large enough for everyone to fit through.
As soon as Dragon landed with a thud, the meteor shower hitting everywhere, everyone else got off of her as Darien, Sora, Mickey, Ash, Serena, Terra, Aqua, Lea, Isa and Riku guided the rest inside quickly.
"Move!" Riku instructed.
"Go, go!" Lea shouted as the rest of their friends ran inside quickly, some screaming and panicking.
"Hurry!" Mickey urged.
"It'll be okay!" Aqua attempted to calm the frightened children down.
"C'mon!" Ash cried out with Pikachu doing the same.
Once everyone was in and Manny grabbed Granny before tossing her into the cave, he and Dragon were the last to enter and they all went as far back as they could, hoping against hope that the meteor shower wouldn't get to them. They all huddled against one another while the entrance was starting to become blocked by fallen trees, rocks and ice. The parents held their children to them as the youngsters were frightened to the core, Sid was clinging onto Ellie's leg, and Crash and Eddie played dead, which earned them weirded out looks from Granny and Ven.
"Um...guys? That's not gonna help." Ven told them awkwardly.
"Ven, forget it. There's no point in getting that into their heads." Manny grumbled, rolling his eyes, only to flinch when another shock wave hit them and more booms and loud noises were heard outside.
Peaches shrieked and huddled closer to him and Ellie who was doing her best to keep their daughter safe.
"It's okay, sweetheart. Daddy's here." Manny attempted to comfort his frightened little girl, wrapping his trunk around the young Mammoth Calf.
As everyone else could only wait fearfully for this to blow over, Serena, who was huddled against Darien, Rini and Lusie who stood close to them in fear, gazed at the two terrified future Princesses and her heart ached even further. Just when they were planning on going back home, now they were caught in yet another terrible event which made her feel horribly guilty. Tears began to sting her eyes and formed a lump in her heart and throat. Why did this always happen? Why was this happening now?
Another quake rocked the ground as everyone flinched and cringed, bracing for the worst, before Hayner asked. "Okay, someone please explain how this is happening?"
"What's going on?" Olette asked, scared as she and her two childhood friends had never experienced this before.
"Where did the Meteor shower come from? Apart from the obvious." Kristen asked, though something about this made her head ache once again. She flinched in pain as she placed her hand to her forehead, squeezing her eyes shut. Something about this seemed so...familiar. But why? What was it about her past she can't figure out.
"Hey, it sounds like it's slowing down." Sid remarked as things seem to be quiet. He walked over to the entrance and saw that there weren't anymore coming. "Yep, it's definitely over!"
Only he spoke too soon because as he had his arms out, another meteorite crashed into the ground and send out hot smoke and dust right at him. He simply stood there whiel Ragetti walked over and touched the sloth's shoulder, turning him around to reveal that Sid was slightly charred, his, er...nipples, were glowing red in the heat.
"...Except for that one." Sid coughed weakly.
Everyone stared at him awkwardly, before Jack stated the obvious. "Not a brilliant idea, mate."
Then more rocks fell and covered the entrance completely, blanketing the entire cave into darkness save for Sid's chest though the glow was starting to go out.
"We might wanna think about moving underground for a while." Shrek suggested warily.
"If that underground place has no giant reptiles apart from Dragon...I'm cool with that." Said Serena with a hint of sarcasm.
They were in for a long night.
A/N: Only three months since their last adventure and already our heroes are facing another crisis. The next chapter will be shorter and it will leave the Guardians of Light until afterwards, because we'll be see more returning characters who are about to learn the truth of the Asteroid of Darkness.
I had thought of splitting this chapter into two parts, but then realized that the first part would've been boring, so that's why it's long instead. Sorry if it was too long, but I'll try and make slightly short chapters in the future.
Until then, see you in the next chapter!