Author's Note: A new chapter right here! Here we go!
Oh, and just a sad announcement: Scrat, the all time favorite of the Ice Age franchise will no longer appear in any more movies due to a dispute that has been going on since the very first movie as I heard, so the reason why he was absent in the recent move "The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild"(done without Blue Sky Studios) is because of that.
*Sniffles* Not only we lost the great studios, but we lost one of the icon characters of all time, and now he is permanently owned by Ivy Supersonic who created a similar character 22 years ago.
I don't own anything here except for my OCs. All rights belong to Toei/Naoko Takeuchi, Clamp, Pokemon Company, Dreamworks, Blue Sky Studios(Ivy Supersonic owning Scrat, of course), 20th Century Fox, Disney, Square Enix, Sega, and Nickelodeon.
Chapter 5: Into the Wilderness.
Not long after the Guardians of Light and their reunited old friends and allies had left to find a way to stop the incoming Asteroid of Darkness and their families and friends headed back to Duloc for shelter, what no one even realized was that the whole conversation was overheard. Because suddenly out of the hole that Buck emerged from with the stone, Gertie came leaping out and landed on the snowy ground, roaring loudly.
"Where is he!?" She demanded furiously, still sore from the humiliating defeat by the hero of the Dinosaur Cavern. "When I'm through with that one-eyed weasel, he's gonna need TWO eye patches!"
A few seconds later, her father, Gavin, came leaping and landed just a few feet away from her in a crouch, before standing up.
"I admire your bloodthirstitude, Gertie, but you heard them and those humans. An Asteroid is coming." Gavin replied, chuckling evilly. "This changes things."
He had plotted revenge against Buck and had thought of catching him off-guard. But while he knew nothing of the dangers of the Asteroid, the Dino-bird thought this was a much better way in getting rid of the mammal...and all of his friends and those humans who think are the dominant species of the world.
Though while the two large dino-birds were seeking revenge, the youngest and smallest of them, was carefully creeping out. Roger made to step out of the cloud only to flinch when he felt the mountain's cold temperature.
"Holy snowballs! It's freezing up here!" He whimpered and stepped before hugging himself, shivering. "Parts are reacting to other parts."
Rolling her eyes, Gertie snatched her younger brother by the neck and held him up, grumbling. "Would you please stop acting like a parakeet?"
She then dropped him, causing Roger to yelp.
"It's a good thing you have your mother's eyes, or you'd be totally useless." Gavin told his son sternly.
"Well, that's just hurtful." The younger Dino-bird murmured, before he choked comically as his sister once again grabbed him before she and their father flew up to a higher point of rock and snow. She then stretched him out and held him like a telescope, making him use his super-vision he was born with to see things from really far away.
"What do you see?" Gavin questioned.
So far Roger didn't see much besides the damage, ignoring the destroyed Statue of Hyrax which resembled to the scene of the Statue of Liberty in the Planet of the Apes movie, with a Hyrax screaming and pounding on the ground an angst, and saw the Asteroid in the sky heading towards the planet.
"Nothing...Nothing...Deadly Asteroid screaming towards the world..." Roger began, before scanning the forest and saw...
Buck who was leading the way reading the tablet slab, with Ash holding out Jack's Compass given to him years ago and Pikachu on the twelve year old's shoulder, them and their friends completely oblivious of the dinosaurs watching them.
"Wait! There he is, and he's with a human kid and a Pikachu." Roger informed, before shrugging as he really didn't want to be part of this, and was seeing the reality of the threat the Asteroid posed. "That's too bad. They're really far away. Probably too far to reach by flight. Oh well, let's just go home."
But as he freed himself to go back underground where it was hopefully safer, not to mention warmer, Gavin growled and stopped him.
"We are not retreating! Until that weasel came along, our family made an honest living stealing dino eggs." He grunted as he stood before his son.
"An honest living. Stealing. Kind of ironic, don't you think?" Roger said uneasily, causing his father and sister to share a confused and annoyed glance. "Besides, why take out the weasel if the asteroid is just gonna take us out?"
"So much sight, so little vision." Gavin sighed in exasperation, before explaining his plan while pointing up at the sky. "If we stop the weasel, his friends and those humans from diverting the asteroid, KABLOOIE! It kills the weasel and everyone else while we glide safely above it all! It'll be our paradise!"
As he said this, he imagined the Asteroid hitting the Fairy-World, causing complete destruction while he and his family flew over it safely over space and once it was clear enough, they all stood on the remains of a rock and also imagined in wearing Buck's dead body around his neck like a scarf.
"That's seems highly implausible..." Roger's voice pointed out, causing Gavin to snap back to reality(that one can hear thought bubble pop), while the youngest of the trio continued. "Just from a scientific standpoint."
Gavin just growled dangerously at his son.
"Fine..." The young Dino-bird sighed in defeat and pretended to be enthusiastic over the, in his opinion, worthless plan. "It's a great plan. Dynamite! One of the top 3 or 4 species annihilation plans I ever heard."
"That's better." The elder Dino-bird said, and began to lead his children, declaring. "Now let's make sure that Asteroid hits."
Though as they flew away to stop the Guardians of Light, Roger grumbled under his breath. "Why can't we fear the apocalypse like a normal family?"
Even as they flew away, Roger just knew deep within his gut that this was going to be a total disaster. In more ways than one.
Meanwhile, back up in space as the UFO flew on autopilot, the ship's gravity had finally returned to normal and Scrat, having managed to un-flatten himself, was once again chasing his Acorn which kept rolling away. They both ended up in the ship's vents before the nut fell out and into another room, with Scrat nearly missing it before he skid to an awkward stop and stared through it.
Wait, Acorn! Come back! Huh?
There stood his precious nut on the floot in another large room and he squealed in delight.
Aha! There it is!
The ice age squirrel then readied himself to make a daring leap and jumped, using some sort of claw hanging from the ceiling, but the ship's constant movement made him spin around and hit the wall hard. He moaned before flopping onto the floor, and accidentally hit more switches and unaware that he was in a teleporter room. Because as he tried to happily reach it, it suddenly vanished.
"Huh?" Scrat muttered, confused. Where did it go? He could have sworn it was right there.
Hearing a strange sound, the ice age Squirrel looked over to his left and saw it somehow teleported across the room on another platform. Happily, he scurried over towards it only for it to teleport out of his sight again.
Huh!? What's going on here?
Starting to get frustrated, Scrat heard it clatter and turned to see it was back to where it started. Annoyed, he quickly scattered to it again when he accidentally hit another switch and both disappeared along with the teleporter itself. He soon found himself and his prized nut in another circular room that was all white and, little did he know that it was an experimental room.
Why did he suddenly feel odd? His tail...it feels strange.
Puzzled as he felt that he couldn't feel his tail right, Scrat turned to his right and saw, to his horror and confusion, his tail was literally cut off and his Acorn was in it's place. Just as he screamed, the machine automatically hit him and his Acorn again, this time returning his tail into it's original place, but to his horror, his hands were now two mini acorns.
"AAAHH!" He screamed. What happened to his paws!?
Zap!
Another mutation hit, and while his paws were suddenly back to normal, his throat's ulava changed into that of his Acorn, causing him to scream again.
AH! His throat!
Zap!
This time, it changed his eyes into two acorns in his eye sockets and he screamed as he couldn't see but he could feel them.
NO! Not his eyes! He can't see!
"AAAAH! AHHHHHHHHH!" Poor Scrat kept on screaming as he wanted this nightmare to stop.
Zap!
Finally, after fearing he was in for another horrible mutation, Scrat and his Acorn were back to normal. Relieved as he gave out a big sigh, he hugged his precious nut before glaring up at the terrible device before anger and frustration hit him. The little squirrel then smashed and yanked the laser off and was about to destroy it completely by smashing it with his Acorn.
That's it! He, has, had, enough of this! Take-!
Zap!
Before he could, the device teleported him and the Acorn into the ship's bathroom...
THAT!
...Where he only ended up tossing his Acorn down the toilet with a splash and Scrat saw too late that it automatically flushed and sent his precious nut back out into space...again.
Huh!? What!?
Scrat hurried to the window and saw his Acorn float away yet again...A moment of staring out in dismay...
"AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Scrat screamed in anguish over this as he now had to try and get it back inside again.
WHY CAN'T HE JUST GET ONE SINGLE NUT AND EAT IT WITHOUT BAD LUCK!?
While the poor squirrel was screaming at the top of his lungs, the Asteroid of Darkness was still making it's way towards the Fairytale World as it got closer and closer.
Meanwhile, back on the planet's surface, Buck was on all fours sniffing the ground with Rini, Max, Crash and Eddie approaching him in slight confusion as they and the rest of their friends followed.
"Hey, Buck. What're you doing?" Max asked, curiously.
"All rocks tell a tale." Buck explained, licking a small rock before throwing it away. "Where we've been, and where we are heading."
While the ten year old boy and the future Moon Princess shared a slightly dumbfounded glance, Crash and Eddie, as though believing this provided a clue on how to stop the Asteroid, both quickly copied their idiol's movements...though just as Eddie was about to lick a rock, which it was really a small clump of poop, Buck slid in to stop him.
"That, however, is a turd." The one-eyed weasel calmly pointed out before slinking away.
"You're lucky that he pointed it out, Eddie. Sometimes you and Crash don't look before you act." Rini grumbled in disgust as she and Max both walked away, while Eddie, realizing his near fatal mistake, recoiled his tongue and crawled away to keep searching.
Nearby as the Guardians walked and had multiple conversations on the situation with the group who had never met Rufus and the Turks before, beside Team Rocket, and getting to know them despite the backwards, both Lita and Brock walked together side by side, the former looked very uncertain as unlike the previous times, she wasn't so sure anymore.
Just when she thought things were finally going to be okay and was finally going to get married as it was one of the things in life she had always wanted, now the threat of the Asteroid was crushing those dreams.
"Brock...If we don't survive, if we end up losing our future, I just want you to know that you were the one for me." Lita began, tearfully and uneasily. She wanted to believe that things were going to be okay.
"Hey, come on. We'll make it through like we always do, and we will get married." Brock attempted to reassure his soon-to-be-wife as this was a moment he had always wanted in life as well and he wasn't going to let that future be dashed away.
Even though she wanted to believe him, she began to think otherwise miserably. "But what if it's fate telling us that we're never meant to get married?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Sid suddenly ran up and began walking backwards in front of the two teenagers, asking incredulously. "You're going to let one tiny little three-hundred-mile-wide asteroid ruin your plans?"
"How can we even think about it if there's a chance we could end up dead and we won't be able to change the future again?" Lita pointed out worriedly. She began to think that unlike Serena and Darien, Shrek and Fiona, Manny and Ellie, and most recently Sora and Kairi, that she and the other Sailor Scouts, besides Rini and Helios(which was still a secret between the six original members of the Sailor Team) were forbidden to even fall in love, let alone get married.
Sid though, despite having his own loss of love(again), felt otherwise. "Hey, we stopped Bhunivelze and Chaos and stopped Xehanort, we can beat this thing and you'll get married. Bada-bing, bada-boom!" He then cringed when he said the last part. "Uh, not boom. Forget I said boom."
The sloth then gasped as an idea formed in his mind as the trio stopped. "I know! I'll be your wedding planner! It'll take your mind off all this new "End of the Realm of Light" stuff."
"Uh, actually, we were just gonna set up a small service on Earth and wing it." Lita shrugged apologetically even though she and Brock, who nodded in agreement, smiled in gratitude.
"Whaaaaat!?" Sid cried bewildered, before going over to his friends, pinching the teenage young woman's cheek as he informed her. "Lita, Lita, honey, you don't just wing the happiest day of your life! No, you seize it and you cherish it. You strangle it with good intentions." As he said this, he grabbed hold of Brock's short hair and pulled at it, causing the Pokemon Breeder/Doctor to grunt comically in pain.
"S-Sid! Let go of my hair!" Brock grunted, tears forming in his eyes. Sweet Arceus, this hurt more than Misty, Raye, Max, or Donald pulling him by the ear.
Thankfully, the Sloth did so as he stood in front of the duo once more. "Ah, thank you for the reminder, Brock. Lita, let's first start with the hair."
He then clapped his hands for attention, before Crash and Eddie suddenly appeared, both of them dressed up with false wigs, the latter having soft fluffy and glossy shiny hair, while the former...had weeds with a dead fish used as a shoulder-length ponytail.
"Glossy hair? Traditional. Or glossy with a bunch of flowers?" Sid began, with Crash giggling in a high-pitched tone pretending to be a girl 'Tee hee hee hee!', the sloth taking out a fish skeleton out from the 'hair'. "Flirtatious, but maybe a little trashy."
"Ugh/Yeesh..." Lita and Brock both groaned in disgust, sharing incredulous looks, beginning to quickly think that this wasn't such a good idea.
"And garter belts!" Sid continued, while the two Possums climbed onto both Lita and Brock's arms, stylishly holding out their legs to reveal the garter belts themselves. "Today, Ed is modeling laced daisies, while Crash is rocking a more elegant ivy that's all about carves. Ooh! We need a seating chart! The singles table, the kids table, the weird relatives table, the smelly table, two more smelly tables, the pirates table, the Keyblade Masters table..."
While Sid was giving out the lists that needs to be done for the wedding as he and the others continued onward, behind them, Serena and Darien were walking together side by side upon learning how well Jessie, James and Meowth had actually been doing as newbie Turks to the point of they were about to potentially be promoted when the news of the Asteroid delayed those plans, and even caught on how Rufus and the four original Turks had been through nearly ten years of war against another Organization called Militas Ultra, regaining their memories roughly around the same time as Zack did as well as Serena first becoming Sailor Moon.
As the royal couple did, Serena couldn't help but turn her gaze over to Rini and Max who were now chatting with Lusie, Donkey, Future-Piplup, Chimchar, Grovyle and Celebi, which ached her heart. Not only her future child and future grandchild were going to be leaving, now the two futures were once again at the risk of being changed, memories of when the 30th Century Moon Princess briefly disappeared for six minutes, while she had been trapped in the Realm of Non-Existence for six months due to time difference between it and the Realm of Light.
'Oh, Rini. How can you and Lusie go back to the future now when we're still facing the dangers of everything changing and you both end up going back to the Realm of Non-Existence? I don't know what to do.' The sixteen year old girl thought in deep sadness. One way or another, she knew that deep down she would be losing them and as much as she hated to admit it, now she prefered for them to go back home to a beautiful and peaceful future instead of losing them all together if she and her husband died.
"Serena?"
"Huh?" Serena blinked upon hearing Darien's voice and looked up to him, and even noticed Rufus and the Turks, and even Manny and Ellie having approached them. "Sorry, what?"
"You seem to be out of sorts. Are you okay?" The Prince of Earth murmured, worriedly.
"Oh, yeah, I was thinking about how we can stop a giant hunk of rock falling towards us when we don't have a clue and we're only two days away before it crashes." The Moon Princess replied, sighing as she clasped her hands behind her back.
"Yeah, time limits like that totally suck. Can't blame ya' there, kid. But that never stopped you from beating the major bad guy like Xehanort, right?" Reno sighed in agreement, getting the royal young couple's attention.
Serena shrugged. "Well, it wasn't easy and he has been causing problems for twelve years, but on the other hand it's because Bhunivelze started the whole thing even before Jenova crash landed into the old world; making the Chaos that it's gene ended up in Vincent before he and Kaylie stopped Omega and then reviving itself to cause the first War of Light and Darkness, ending up in Galaxia and then placing it's back-up power inside Xehanort's heart that corrupted him up until months ago."
"Hmmm..." Rufus hummed thoughtfully. "And to think everything that has occured for 10,000 years is the cause of that demon, who claimed to be the only god. He seemed to have hatred even towards his own."
"He's not the first one, Rufus." Serena, who had sweat dropped with a deadpanned expression, pointed out. "In one world we've been to a few times, Hades tried to take over Mount Olympus from Zeus and get rid of our friend Hercules. But even though he's a god, he's pretty much a creep, con-artist, and a big loser."
"Not to mention that he has a major temper tantrum like a little hot-fire-heated three year old." Manny grumbled in agreement, pretending to act like how Hades would react.
"Sounds like Heidegger on a bad day, but that guy's always got a short-temper. Screaming his head off whenever something goes wrong." The red-haired Turk rolled his eyes in exasperation.
Even the President shook his head along with Tseng with the former muttering in agreement. "I do not miss that idiotic traitor. Especially his stupid horse laugh."
"Ugh, me neither. Especially what he tried to do with Caius' shadow and the Bahamut-King that was godzilla sized." Serena shuddered.
"You mention godzilla, I just hope that we don't end up encountering anymore monsters that could be godzilla-sized. If we do, I'm going to go crazy!" The Mammoth grunted in frustration.
"Will you calm down? And stop talking about some fake giant fire-breathing lizard." Ellie snapped, which startled the humans and brought her husband back to his senses.
"C'mon, El'. You're not still mad at me, are ya'?" The male Mammoth sighed, still wiry that his wife did find out that he forgot, no thanks to the Asteroid. The only good thing that she wasn't that mad was because of Serena's idea setting up the fireworks as well as his memories of wanting to set up for Ellie in the first place for her desires to see it on a special day.
"No, I'm still not mad." Ellie replied, calming down a little.
"May I ask why, if your husband here forgot your wedding anniversary, as I heard earlier?" Reno asked.
"Reno, leave them alone!" Elena scolded, folding her arms. "It is normal for every couple, but now's not to time to be mad about it."
"She's right, because that's not how I want to spend what could be our final hours." Ellie agreed, before turning to Manny and softly warned him. "But when we somehow survive that Universe-killing hunk of space rock of darkness, you're in for it."
"I said I was sorry. But I still remembered how you wanted to see the fireworks on a special day." Manny replied apologetically.
Serena nodded in agreement, folding her arms as she said to Ellie. "Manny's just lucky that I asked Uncle Drew to set that up, because seeing Fireworks together with your true love is one of the most romantic things ever. Besides, Raye and I already gave the guys a real good scolding since they mostly forgot too."
She then glared knowingly at her own husband, adding. "Which by the way, Darien, I had to remind you last week when you forgot, especially when you almost forgot OUR Wedding Anniversary last year." She leaned up to Darien who flinched in fright and leaned back with a terrified expression. "So if you forget again, you're to buy me 200 ice cream sundaes!"
"Uh, y-yes, ma'am...!" Darien gulped, before groaning softly as soon as his wife turned around with a half-beaming smile, while thinking to himself. 'Being a married man sure has it's ups and downs sometimes.'
"You have always been a strong young woman, Serena." Tseng smirked in amusement. "I admire your courage and will."
"Yeah, well...That wasn't always the case. When I was a kid, pre-sixteen and pre-mentally eighteen in fact, I was just an ordinary school girl with big dreams in being famous like a movie star or a model, but being admittedly lousy at school and having a sweet tooth." Serena confessed in embarrassment, poking her fingers together. "If it wasn't for my friends, I'd probably still be that way."
She then thought about what she said and gazed up at the sky, thinking about Xehanort. "That reminds me. Sometimes I wonder what Xehanort would've been like if Chaos never got to him."
"At least someone not wanting to destroy the Realm of Light, I think." Elena replied thoughtfully as she and everyone else paused just in front of a small cave tunnel that was large enough for everyone to fit in, but only two feet long.
"It's a possible outcome if that were to happen." Rude commented.
"That guy doesn't talk much, does he?" Manny whispered a bit awkwardly to Ellie who raised an eyebrow with a skeptical look at him.
"I agree, and perhaps very much unlike Hojo and Sephiroth." Rufus agreed with the tall Turk's remark.
"And Fuhito." Reno added, shaking his head. "Man, that guy was just as crazy since we wanted to kill all life in the world and leaving it with nothing but just trees and water, thinking that the world was telling him to do that and he was it's 'saivor' or whatever."
Hearing this made Serena softly gasp in shock, as what Xehanort told her shortly after she was revived by Cosmos, Queens Serenity and Selene, and King Grimoire replayed in her mind.
Flash-Back: During the events of "Sailor Moon X: Chosen Fates-Season 16"...
"The light, the symbol of the worlds' hope, in form of Cosmos, was devoured in shadows. Leaving nothing but ruin. An utter failure. But, the first light...the light of Kingdom Hearts..." Xehanort panted heavily, struggling to stand up due to his defeat and the ordeal of nearly having his body and heart taken over by Bhunivelze and Chaos. "It can give us a new start. An empty world, pure and bright."
End of Flash-Back:
"Maybe that Fuhito guy was called by Bhunivelze and tricked into thinking it was the Planet telling him to do that?" Serena suggested thoughtfully, making the others confused as she explained. "Well, think about it. Lightning was tricked by Bhunivelze into serving him with a fake promise to bring back her sister Serah back to life, and Bhunivelze wanted to restart everything so that he could turn all life into his toys for him to play with and Xehanort had the similar idea before he died."
"You're right, so it's possible that despite Bhunivelze being asleep at the time, he could have reached out to Fuhito to do his bidding." Darien frowned in concerned agreement, causing Manny and Ellie to share shocked glances, realizing that Serena did have a good point.
"Perhaps you're right, and to think in my previous life I hired him to kill my father while being tricked and used behind my back." Rufus agreed, before smirking. "It is a good thing that an experience of near-death and Geostigma had changed me and that lesson had sticked with me even through my rebirth."
"You do know that everybody goes through life-changing experiences, right? No offense, but we've been dead longer than you guys have before you were reborn and we were brought back to life." Manny pointed out dully.
"That's true, but they've been around in the 20th Century longer than us. We've only been alive again for almost two years." Ellie shrugged, before sighing. "Let's just hope we aren't losing our touch."
"I just hope whatever's caused the Asteroid to come and try to destroy the Realm of Light is not Bhunivelze or Chaos related." Serena sighed in hopeless exasperation.
"Found it!" Buck suddenly appeared in front of them, hanging upside down and holding some sort of rock with glowing crystal-like markings, startling them and everyone else who all stopped. He then hopped onto Ellie's trunk and bounced off, rolling to stand in front of everyone, declaring as he held out the rock. "Behold, Mammals! A sneak preview of the asteroid to come that our human, mouse-King and Pokemon friends would certainly recognize. A space rock; Fresh from the cosmos."
Then, as though to inspect it, he licked it to give it a taste-test. "Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm. A taste iron, a carbon..." Buck then sucked it like he drank something and gurgled. "Oh, and a hint of nickel."
The weasel then sighed in sadness, rubbing the rock. "Oh, despite so many worlds, space tastes lonely."
Lea, slightly disgusted and disturbed by what he just witnessed, leaned over to Isa, whispering. "He just seriously tasted a purple rock."
"He is the craziest friend of the Sailor Team I've ever met." Isa shook his head in agreement.
"Hey, look!" Crash called out as he spotted something and picked it up, revealing to be another purple rock. "I've found another one!"
"Me too!" Eddie added, holding up another...only for him and his brought to suddenly fly into each other as their rocks strangely react and try and stick together like magnents. They crashed into each other's backs and fell onto the ground.
As Buck took a steps closer, another small rock close by suddenly attracted into this. Surprised, he pulled it back and let go only for it to stick once again, before a realization and idea formed into his crazy mind.
"Hey, your rock is attracted to me!" Crash angrily told his brother, trying to get himself from his sibling, leading into another fight.
"No, yours is attracted to me!" Eddie argued, only for more rocks to suddenly fly to him and his brother. Both then screamed as suddenly they were practically swallowed up by several rocks, forming into a magnetic cocoon, prompting the brown-eyed Possum to moan. "Oh! We're just too attractive!"
Team Rocket burst out laughing at the twins misfortune, even Lusie, Mairin and some of the Pokemon tried not to laugh, while Puss deadpanned to the eye-patched weasel. "Stupendous. Now we have something to play with like cute fuzzy things during our final hours within the Realm of Light."
"You're missing the point, Ginger. They're magnets." The Dino-hunter pointed out as he played with his two rocks, explaining the situation. "And if these space rocks are magnetic, so is that." He pointed up at the incoming Asteroid and declared. "Which could only mean one thing."
"Of course." Tseng murmured as he came to the same realization.
Though Ash and Jack both approached to help Crash and Eddie, pulling them out despite that the four of them just stared at Buck, completely clueless with the blue-eyed Possum questioning. "And, that would be...?"
Buck then came up behind the quartet, licking two fingers as he said. "Allow me. You and Captain Sparrow are welcome to join in, Kid. Just hold on tight."
"Uh...Okay?" The confused twelve year old boy murmured, sharing a dumbfounded glance with the Pirate Captain, before they held gently onto the twins, while Buck poked their eyes. Suddenly they all felt strange sensations in their minds.
All of the sudden they were mentally taking into a strange void of whiteness, with nothing else or anybody else around them which stunned Ash, Jack, Crash and Eddie.
"Whoa! Where are we?" Ash exclaimed, bewildered.
"You are in my brain." Buck answered, as he suddenly appeared behind them, his voice echoing as the four turned around to face him where he stood calmly.
An awkward moment of pause.
"...Frightfully more dull than the Locker." Jack commented uneasily.
"Mmmm...And kind of chilly." Crash added, rubbing his arms.
Just then, they heard someone clear their throat next to them and looked to see, to their confusion, another weasel with brown fur, a patch of black hair, and wearing a leather vest, speaking in male voice. "Gentlemen, here's what we know."
He then drew pictures of rocks and the Asteroid in midair, explaining scientifically. "Space rocks of Darkness? Magnetic. Asteroid of Darkness? Also Magnetic."
"Who are you?" Jack asked, blankly.
Buck though, somehow recognized the new weasel and gasped in amazed delight. "Famed astrophysicist Neil deBuck Weasel! He knows the Cosmos."
"Ipso facto, thusly and ergo, the crash site must have a heap of these things connected with darkness of something else attracting the asteroid threatening to destroy all words." Another Buck, this time with two eyes and wearing a robe, suddenly approached and explained, surprising the four confused quartet even further.
"Wait, who're you?" Ash asked this Buck clone.
"Oh! Pythagoras Buck! He's got the right angle." Buck announced happily, which only made four of his friends share a glance.
How many mental hallucinations does Buck have in his mind?
"What if we use these magnets to attract the asteroid and then attack it's weak spot from behind with a strong power of light? As in, not towards the Fairytale world or other worlds?" Pythagoras Buck theorized.
Just then, a futuristic weasel-robot suddenly waddled over, known as Robo-Buck, and added. "Theoretically speaking, if we launch enough of these rocks into the sky, they will pull the asteroid off-course as a weak spot is behind it and it will take a power of light and every chosen know to destroy that kind of darkness." He tossed the drawings into the sky to prove the theory.
"Thus, saving the Realm of Light." Neil deBuck Weasel concluded, with more Buck clones, all with eye-patches and robes, cheered on celebrating.
Then once the explanation is finished, Buck, Ash, Jack, Crash and Eddie were brought back into reality, with all of them now gaining the knowledge of what they just learned with the eye-patched Weasel's astonishing newly discovered psychic abilities.
"I see! The power of Love and Friendship." Ash said in realization and hope, getting the idea. "That's always the greatest Light to drive away the Darkness."
"So we go to the Crash Site, send a bunch of rocks into space and use the power of Love and Friendship and the Silver Crystal to get rid of the Asteroid." Eddie added in agreement, and smiled in relief. "That's easy, right?"
"Oh yeah, a real piece of cake." Shrek sarcastically agreed, as he and everyone else had no clue on what just happened.
"This is progress! Now we know exactly what we don't know what to do." Buck concluded as he collected the rocks and stashed them into his sack, before taking the lead with determination once more. "Vamanos, Sailor Team! This trail will take us directly to the crash site."
As everyone once again followed, this time with growing hope despite the impossibility of how they can do this, Roxas breathed in awe at what Buck had just explained. "Wow...I didn't know he could know about all of this."
"He may be crazy but he has a brilliant mind. I'm impressed." Kaylie remarked in agreement. No wonder her sister and her team are close to the one-eyed weasel. Despite being slightly insane due to solitude, he was confident, brave, optimistic, and smart.
"Buck certainly has all kinds of skills and bravery." Grovyle acknowledged, reminded of how Buck helped to save Sid in the first place.
"I'll say." Terra chuckled in agreement.
Unbeknownst to the Guardians, Buck, Rufus, the Turks and the Pirates, high up above them was Gavin, Gertie and Roger who had spotted the heroes, ready for an attack to prevent them from reaching the Crash Site.
"All right, kids. Let's have some fun." Gavin declared with a chuckle, and dove in for an attack, with his daughter readily following, and Roger, who was shoved slightly, clumsily following in a panic.
"Okay, everyone. Follow the trail. Never leave the trail." Buck ordered, only to pause slightly when his ears caught sound of something in the air.
Confused and wondering what was going on, he looked up from behind and instantly felt his heart drop into his stomach as he almost instantly recognized three flying giant bird-like creatures diving towards him. It was the Dino-birds!
'Gotcha now, Weasel.' Gavin smirked evilly.
'Oh no!' Buck thought with a soft gasp, realizing too late that his actions last night caused his new enemies to seek him out for revenge and to make things worse, one of the meteorites left the hole came through open, allowing the trio to escape and now aiming to kill him...and as he gazed worriedly to his unbeknownst friends and allies, all of them as well.
'What to do, what to do?' The Weasel began to panic as he tried to figure out how to get them to safety without them knowing the dangers, then he noticed a pathway into the woods and it was calculated right, it could still lead to the Crash Site. Recollecting himself, he calmly announced the heroes. "Okay, everyone. Leave the trail. Into the woods. Chop chop."
This made the Guardians and their allies to stop in confusion as Tifa began. "But you said..."
Buck quickly interrupted as he slid over to her and Cloud, hugging them close which made the two cringe slightly. "You know I'm crazy. Come on."
Despite the confusion, the group, at the Weasel's silent urging, just followed his lead and all headed into the forest, oblivious to the Dino-birds nearing in for an attack that not even Pikachu could detect it. Buck, being the last to enter after making sure everyone was inside the woods, stood ready with determination.
'Come and get me, feather-brain!' Buck mentally challenged, and just as Gavin took his chance, the Weasel jumped with a somersault, much to the dinosaur's shock as the hero of the Dino-Cavern used his enemy's tail and bounced into the air with a yell and into the forest, landed in front of the heroes who stopped in surprise.
Clearing his throat and pretending that nothing happened except for a little fun, he just said. "I love the shade. Don't you?"
But as Buck took the lead once more with most of the group sharing brief confused glances before following, both Reno and, unbeknownst to the Second in Command of the Turks, Barbossa, frowned as red flags and suspicions rang in their minds. Given the strange attitude the Weasel has been showing off since yesterday and despite the Sailor Team's claims, the way how he acted just now didn't seem right. Something was up, they just knew it.
'What is that Weasel up to?' Reno thought darkly as he and the Pirate followed.
'Master Buck is a hard mammal to predict. He is hiding something.' Barbossa thought, almost as dark as the red-haired younger man. Both would question Buck later when given a chance.
"Well played, Weasel." Gavin silently growled in frustration, then told his children with determination to end Buck and the Guardians of Light. "Stay sharp, kids. They can't hide forever."
With that, the trio continued flying forward to find their prey sooner or later.
Short time later, the heroes traveled through the woods until they came to a stop at a river bank, which was too wide, rough and deep for all of them to cross over. Not even the two Piplups of the group could make it that far.
"Buck. Do you have a suggestion for getting around the river?" Diego asked, skeptically.
"Let see if the tablet's ancient wisdom will guide us." Buck suggests, pulling out the tablet once more, studying it and then gazed at the river thoughtfully. 'Hmmmmm...Let me see...'
Meanwhile, back up in space above the three Planets, a pink laser was repeatedly attempting to hit the drifting Acorn and was still missing it. It's revealed that it is Scrat, who was using a force ray to bring his prize back from underneath the ship. After struggling to figure out how to get it back without being lost himself, he found the small pod and, to his delight, discovered that it could work.
If only he could get it right.
Ugh, come on, Acorn! Hold still, will ya?
Finally after what seemed like forever, Scrat managed to catch it and was happily bringing it back up towards him...
Aha! Gotcha!
Only to discover that the force of the ray was so strong that not only it got his Acorn...but also the entire Moon, which was about to crash right into the spaceship, with the UFO's warning signal blaring.
AHH! Oh no!
"AAAAAH!" Scrat screamed, panicking as he then maneuvered the laser and ship around to break away from the moon, which would also cause him to lose the Acorn again, but would rather live, thanks!
As he did, the Moon was hurled towards the Earth, Fairy-Tale World and Pokemon World, only for it to glow brightly and stop before it even reached half-way. This was caused by the Silver Crystal in Serena's transformation Locket as it glowed slightly as well.
"Huh?" The Moon Princess blinked in confusion, noticing it glowing slightly in her pockets.
The Moon itself, controlled by the reaction of the Silver Crystal, was then floated back into it's original orbit, safely away from the three worlds and even avoiding the Asteroid as well
)-(
Back in the Fairy-Tale world, Serena's locket then stopped glowing and returned to normal which confused her. She pulled it out and gazed at it in her hand, with Sakura noticing and asked curiously. "What's the matter?"
"I'm...not so sure. I could've sworn that the Crystal just glowed just now." Serena muttered. "What's going on?"
"Huh?" The thirteen year old Cardcaptor blinked, now confused herself.
)-(
Meanwhile, the mysterious dark figure that had sent the Asteroid of Darkness was seeing the events of Scrat's actions from the reflecting pool and smirked darkly. The Ascian who also watched Buck earlier.
"Perhaps that will be useful to stop the Warriors of Light." He muttered to himself, before waving his hand to change the reflecting view, now revealing the Guardians of Light to see what they were doing.
Back in the Fairy-Tale World...
"According to this, it appears we will need guidance from an ancient serpent of the seas of a Realm of Light and Darkness to make us a path to the other side." Buck theorized as he read the Tablet, seemingly understanding what needs to be done, which only made most of the Guardians to sweat drop dully.
Mickey though seemed to understand as he said. "That kinda sounds like the Realm of Twilight. Guidance of the ancient serpent..."
As Mairin thought about this being familiar, an idea formed into her mind as she perked up. "I know!" She then hurried over to a rock just in front of Buck and began to carefully climb up, much to the confusion of those who haven't known her that long.
"What're you doin'?" Reno asked, confused.
"I'm gonna ask Astral Leviathan for help." The ten year old girl explained, looking over her shoulder.
"Huh?" Reno, Jessie, James and Meowth chorused, blinking in utter confusion.
"Leviathan?" Tseng questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"She means a different Leviathan that isn't part of the Lifestream." Cloud explained.
Mairin nodded as she stood up, adding. "Right, and since Astral Leviathan's from the Realm of Twilight, she's gotta be what Buck's talking about in the Tablet, right?"
"I suppose it makes sense." Vincent thought as he and some of the others began to understand the young Kalos girl's logic.
"You sure it'll work, Mairin?" Ellie asked, knowing Mairin's connections with Noctis in Eos in the Realm of Twilight and the Astrals.
"Only one way to find out." The green-hat girl replied, before summoning her Staff and held it upward, closing her eyes as she concentrated as much as she could, still new to the experience of being a young wizard. "Great mighty Astral Leviathan...Please, hear my request for your guidance and help us save all our worlds."
Light began to glow and cover around her and her Staff, which then reflected into an orb within the river in front of the group, bubbling away as they could hear a roar before the might Astral Leviathan herself rose with water sprayed almost everywhere, roaring while towering over the Guardians of Light and their friends, those who haven't this display before stunned in horrified awe, and Team Rocket clinging onto each other in fear, shaking violently and whimpering.
"Whoa, whoa!" Reno gaped as he and Rude both backed away slightly, their hearts stopping while Tseng and even Elena stood in front of the stunned Rufus. Even Shira was speechless as she hasn't seen this before either.
"Well, that's new to me." The white and black striped Sabertooth murmured under her breath.
"Who thou call for aid?" Spoke Astral Leviathan.
"It is I, Mairin." Mairin spoke as boldly as possible, even though she felt embarrassed by it, but fought it back and asked pleadingly. "Please, Leviathan, we need help in crossing the river in our quest to stop an Asteroid of Darkness from destroying the Realm of Light. Can you help us?"
The giant sea Serphant of Eos called forth into the Realm of Light thought deeply about the young summoner's request, and despite what has happened with Ardyn and having attempted and failed to swallow Lunafreya alive due to misguided rage, she sensed darkness approaching the planet and gazed up to see the Asteroid coming, before gazing at the heroes below, sensing that most of them had potential powers of light, even those like the Turks, Rufus, Shira, Hayner, Pence and Olette, were friends to the heroes.
Then she spoke once more firmly. "Thy request needs be spoken by one who shall be bold and courageous. Thee who leads thou Guardians in thy great quest."
At first confused at what the giant serpent was talking about, everyone slowly turned their gaze to Buck who, quickly understanding it was him since he was leading his friends to stop the Asteroid of darkness, nodded and boldly leaped up onto the rock, and stood just slightly in front and next to Mairin.
"Let my Team pass!" He requested strongly, being bold and courageous that he was.
"That's not gonna work." Pintel said to Ragetti in annoyance. This almost reminded him of how Captain Barbossa spoke the words to release Calypso wrong 202 years ago.
To their and everyone else's amazement and disbelief, however, Astral Leviathan was actually satisfied with Buck's boldness and strong courage, realizing that he was unknowingly chosen by Serena, and the Silver Crystal as one of the new potential Guardians of Light. The giant creature roared as she used her power to allow them to pass, with the river rising up into the sky to make a water fountain-path as though it was pulled up.
"...It worked." Ragetti muttered in shock, with his friend speechless.
The mouths of both Lea, Roxas and Isa hanged wide open in sheer disbelief, before Xion, amazed herself, silently closed two of her best friends mouths.
"The Astral Leviathan's grant us safe passage." Buck announced to his friends, relieved and pleased with the results.
"Sweet!" Hayner grinned excitedly, before he, his friends and soon everyone else walked underneath the river on the clear dry path.
Once everyone reached to safety, the water was then lowered back into it's original position as the Astral called off her power, with Mairin turning to gaze at the giant serpent along with her friends. "Thank you, Leviathan."
"Thou are welcome, child. Safe journey." Astral Leviathan, having a soft spot for Mairin and her friends as they seem more worthy for being trusted, replied, before vanishing into light and returned to her resting place as well as into Mairin's staff.
As everyone, relieved that they had made it easily, continued on their journey, Team Rocket was amazed as while they had seen Mairin summon Astral Bahamut, what she just did amazed them even further.
"That Twerp is lucky to be able to do that without getting killed." Jessie remarked, clearly impressed.
"I wish I could stuff like that." Meowth murmured, feeling a little jealous.
Witnessing the whole thing made the Ascian now furious, especially when he realized the potential within Buck. "I knew it. It seems it will take more than a river to distrupt those Warriors." He hissed darkly.
Deciding that more needs to be done, the hooded figure then waved his hand once more to keep an eye on Scrat, before sending out a cloud of pink and purple darkness into the pool and into space, waiting for the next move.
At the same time and fully unaware of what was happening, Scrat once again tried to get to his Acorn without catching anything else that could kill him.
Almost there...c'mon, just a little further...
Finally he aimed right and pushed the button...Or so he thought he aimed right.
Ready...Fire!
Unfortunately, the Acorn drifted to the left with the beam hit the dark cloud that appeared from a portal of darkness and was drawn straight towards him.
AAHH! Uh oh!
Screaming in alarm, Scrat repeated the last near-miss, but accidentally caused it to flow towards the Fairy-Tale World and straight towards the forest...
Where the Guardians of Light were now in, darkening the sky and sending out purple dark electricity as though the heroes and their allies were in for a storm. Everyone soon became on edge as they could sense that something was wrong. Even Buck was feeling more than a little uneasy as he hasn't seen anything like it, not even before he stumbled into the Lost World when he was younger.
"Guys...I can feel the darkness on us." Raye said, frowning in concern. It was a strange new overwhelming darkness, different compared to the previous times.
"Something's wrong." Aqua said in agreement with a frown of her own, narrowing her eyes.
"Yeah, the air feels...strange." Diego agreed, as even he could sense that this wasn't normal.
Even Shira was feeling the unusual air, and even felt a bit of a spark on her right front leg. When she looked to see what was going on, to her concern and confusion, her fur began to spark and puff up in an electrical static. "Uh...Diego?"
Just as he was about to ask what was wrong, Diego noticed that his fur was sticking up as well and hummed in confusion. 'That's weird.'
However, the before the golden-furred sabertooth could think about this event, Sid, who was snickering in laughter when he saw something, tapped onto his friend's shoulder to get his attention and pointed up to Manny. When Diego looked to see, he quickly began chuckling in amusement, both beginning to burst into laughter.
"What?" Manny asked, wondering what was so funny. He then felt static on top of his head and looked up to see that his fur was sticking up slightly...right before his whole body poofed, making him look like a giant fluffy puffball, with his legs seemingly disappearing.
Both Sid and Diego laughed even harder, until the latter ended up getting slightly hit with the electricity which resulted in him suffering the same fate as the Mammoth, making him stop laughing. A moment of awkward pause, before the male Sloth, unable to take it anymore, laughed hysterically while falling onto his back and holding his stomach at his friends' predicament...only for the two annoyed males to tap onto him with a trunk and a paw, causing a slight friction.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sid screamed as he was electrocuted, and now as he standing after the slight jump, his fur was fuzzed up as well...with a leaf caught in the static and stick onto his...erm...*ahem*...private parts.
Serena, Raye, Donald, Puss, Goofy, Jack and Donkey, seeing this as did everyone else, began laughing themselves hysterically, only for the static to quickly which them causing the four to scream as the Moon Princess and the Pirate Captain's hair to poof up and quickly changed into afro-like styles, while both Donkey and even Goofy's fur poofed up, the latter's making it as though his clothes have shrunk or he transformed into a goofy Werewolf...
Or more appropriately, a Were-Goof.
This made Raye, Puss and Donald laugh even harder, only for the former two to end up having the same problem when they were electrocuted, Raye screeching and Puss cat-shrieking loudly, the latter turning into a giant poofy hair-ball with his hat, boots and belt with his sword seemingly vanishing.
Now seeing the six of them looking poofy and ridiculous, Donald burst into a loud hysterical laughter, pointing at them while holding his stomach. "HA HA HA HA HA HA!"
Annoyed and not finding this funny anymore, Raye and Donkey did to Donald what Manny and Diego did to Sid, causing him to become electrocuted as well as he screamed loudly.
"WAAAAKKK!" The white mage screamed as it then stopped...with his feathers now all fuzzed up with his hat sticking on top, and realizing it was difficult to move. He groaned in sheer exasperation. "Aw nuts."
Now seeing ten of their friends in a poofy and fuzzy situation, the rest of the group of them couldn't help but find it amusing as Sora, Kairi, Mickey, Rini, Lusie, Lita, Mina, Ash, May, Max, Pikachu, Piplup, Brock, Future-Piplup, Chimchar, Sakura, Kero, Madison, Yuffie, Shrek, Jake, Lea, Roxas, Xion, Isa, Riku, Reno, Rude, Elena, Pintel, Ragetti, Gibbs, Barbossa, even Amy, and especially Crash, Eddie and Team Rocket all laughed at the misfortune.
While they laughed, Tiffenie, Luna, Alain, Mairin, Chespie, Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Megan, Emily, Tseng, Rufus, Darien, Kristan, Amelia, Ellie, Fiona, Grovyle, Kaylie, Simon, Savanna, Jason, Lyla, Sceptile, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Marty, Cotton, Misty, Dawn, Rena, Riku, Aqua, Ven, and Terra all shared confused and concerned glances.
Just before the Possum brothers accidentally zapped each other and yelped, but unlike their friends, they weren't even hurt and their fur didn't poof up. Instead, they felt energized with this and thought they were suddenly gifted with incredible abilities.
"Finally! We have super powers!" Eddie exclaimed happily.
"Just like the rest of the Sailor Team!" Crash added, before he and his brother began to zap each other in a zapping contest, believing themselves to be electric-type Possums.
"What in the world is going on?" Rufus frowned deeply, as everyone by then stopped laughing, wondering the same thing.
"This is not normal." Vincent remarked, gazing around while raising his guard up.
"Thanks for informing us, Captain Obvious." Shrek muttered sarcastically.
"This never happened before, did it?" Xion asked, puzzled.
Mickey shook his head. "Nope. But I can't sense who's behind this either. Must be caused by the Asteroid."
Buck, sensing that is it quickly becoming more dangerous, announced. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have wandered into an electrical storm." A flash of lightning boomed in the sky a second later. "Uh, I suggest we all stay away from the trees."
"Sure, don't worry about that. It's not like we're in a forest." Kristen replied in heavy sarcasm, rolling her eyes as she and the others, including those who had their hairs/furs poofed up, though Crash and Eddie were still having their zapping contest.
"Crash, Eddie. Stop playing around. We gotta get going." Rini called out, slightly annoyed before sighing while thinking to herself. 'And I'm supposed to be a kid around here.'
As the group walked while trying to avoid the trees, Serena was now struggling to get her hair back to normal, whining. "This is gonna take me forever to get my hair right." She then growled angrily while clutching her fist. "The sooner we stop that stupid giant rock of darkness, the better!"
While Darien felt sorry for the love of his life even though he tried hard not to laugh, he couldn't help but gaze up at the unusual weather and remarked. "It's strange. Even with Bhunivelze gone, the Realm of Light is still facing many dangers."
"You're telling me, honey. Seriously, has the Realm gone bonkers and going through a panic attack or something?" Serena grumbled with a sweat drop, only to shriek in fright along with Rini and Lusie who both walked quicker to walk alongside her, while the sixteen year old was clinging onto Darien's arm, the three of them looking around nervously due to their fear of lightning and thunder.
However, that was only just the beginning of the next problem, because high above in the air, the Dino Birds were once again hot on their trail, eying at the unbeknownst Buck.
"There they are! Right out in the open." Gertie exclaimed, and laughed. "How stupid can you be?"
"C'mon, kids. Dive!" Gavin chuckled evilly, once again diving towards the heroes along with his children, ready for an attack and this time their prey would not escape.
Or...so they thought.
As they walked, Buck accidentally kicked a rock which hit another one, and due to the atmosphere being out of balance, it was causing an bolt of electricity to friction and go up against him. Alarmed and shocked(figuretively), the Weasel attempted to avoid it.
"Everybody!" He warned with caution. "Try not to create any sort of friction."
"No friction. Got it." Eddie replied...as he and Crash were dancing and causing slight electricity on Ellie's back, much to the concern of their adoptive sister.
"Yep, cool beans." Crash added, before asking dumbfounded. "Friction is what now?"
Unfortunately due to being two of the dumbest members of the team, the two Possums reach out to touch each other's fingers, much to the horror of everyone else.
"No, no...!" Lea warned with caution and fear as he and Roxas both backed away, fearing on what was going to happen next.
Too late, the moment Crash and Eddie touched, a bolt of electricity was shot up right into the sky...and surprisingly zapped the Dino-Birds who cried out while being electrocuted comically before passing out and falling. The bolt then came straight back down and shocked(literally) Team Rocket who screamed before it stopped and they collapsed onto the ground, also comically.
Now all charred with their hairs and Meowth's fur all poofed and fuzzed up, the three rookie Turks stood up as they felt a strong case of deja vu in exasperation, with James saying. "Well, can't say I missed Pikachu's electric attacks."
"Buck, look out!" Amelia cried out to the Weasel as she saw that due to the friction Crash and Eddie had caused, the electricity and storm was now too dangerous for them.
Buck, who glared at the twins in sheer annoyance, saw this and yelped and jumped out of the way before he cried out to his friends. "Come on! Let's get out of here!"
No one argued with that as the Guardians and their allies made a run for it as fast as they could. Though Crash and Eddie where hit and ended up being flown into the air and crashed. Though they were okay and sat up, they had a slight comical transformations...with Eddie's hair sticking making him look like Frankenstein's wife, while Crash grew grey fuzzy hair and mustache which made him look like Einstein.
Meanwhile, Sid, Donkey, Donald, and Goofy, due to their furs and feathers still being fuzzed up, had trouble running and ended up waddling awkwardly with Granny close to them, even though being the senile old lady that she was, wasn't all that worried at all.
"C'mon, Granny! Hurry!" Donkey cried out frantically.
"Don't you hurry me, Pony." Granny scolded. "I've been struck by lightning more times..."
ZAP!
She was suddenly struck by a bolt of lightning before she could finish and to the horror of her grandson and his friends, she was slightly flattened and instantly killed, causing all four of them to scream out in horror and trauma.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Sid and Donkey screamed hysterically.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKK!" Donald screamed loudly.
"GAWRSH!" Goofy screamed in horror.
"GRANNY!" Sid screamed hysterically, fearing that he just lost his grandmother forever.
ZAP!
Only for another bolt to strike her and to the bewilderment of the four, she returned to life and back to normal, as though she hadn't been hit at all and was able to finish her sentence. "...Than you've had hot breakfasts."
As the group made a run for it, Serena ran along with her family and friends only to gasp in horror when Rini tripped and fell over. Fearing for her future-daughter's safety, the Moon Princess raced over as some of the others saw another bolt was about to hit the 30th Century Moon Princess.
"Rini, look out!" Future-Piplup screamed out.
"Behind you!" Chimchar exclaimed fearfully.
"Rini, run!" Grovyle shouted, fearing for his friend's safety.
When Rini looked over her shoulder to see it, she found herself frozen as she wasn't able to get up in time and screamed. "AAAAAAAAHHHH!"
"I'm coming, Rini!" Serena exclaimed, leaping over and rolled, grabbing the nine year old while dodge-rolling, narrowly avoiding in getting hit before getting up with Darien, who covered them both as the lightning struck the ground, sending more flying everywhere but missing the three of them who braced themselves.
Once they were safe, they got up slowly as Darien asked his future-daughther when he and his wife looked at her worriedly. "Rini, are you alright?"
"You're not hurt, are you?" Serena added.
"I'm okay. Thanks for saving me, Serena." Rini smiled gratefully at her mother's teenage past-self.
"I'm so very relieved." The sixteen year old blonde-haired girl sighed with feeling that she managed to save her only child as she had feared in losing her again, before she and the pink-haired girl stood up and ran once again at the eighteen year old man's urging before he followed to rejoin the others, with the three members of Team Pokepals/Team Moonfriendship relieved that they were okay.
As everyone attempted to avoid in getting hit by the dangerous electricity of darkness, with some of the Keyblade Wielders blocking parts of it with their powers and Pikachu using his electric attacks to do the same, and Sakura even summoning her Star Staff to use the Shield Card to protect herself, Madison and Kero, and Shrek pulling Fiona out of the way before the latter ended up electrocuted, Sora and Riku tried to pull Kairi up a hill to safety.
Unfortunately, the rocks crumbled underneath her and she fell with a scream, landing on the ground and becoming trapped in an electrical forcefield.
"Kairi!" The two teenage boys screamed out in horror.
Sora, fearing in losing Kairi again, was about to jump in to use his powers to get his girlfriend out, only to be held back by Riku who, seeing that it was suicidal, held him firmly. "Wait! If you do that, more rocks will only make the field stronger. We need a plan."
"But I gotta save Kairi!" Sora grunted, struggling to free himself in desperation.
When Serena and Darien, who continued to run with their friends, saw this and stopped, both of them gasped in horror along with the others, while Kairi, trying not to panic and come up with an escape plan, looked up and saw a tree branch and her eyes widened, especially when she saw how close the others were.
"I have an idea! Amelia, Serena, Darien, I need you to climb that tree!" The Princess of Heart instructed to the trio close by.
Amelia, being the first to understand the plan, nodded. "Okay!" She then hurried and leaped up, being a good acrobatic and held on by her legs and held out her hands, calling out. "Serena, Darien! Grab on!"
"Okay!" Darien nodded.
"Right!" Serena agreed, both of them realizing the plan and as her husband jumped and held onto Amelia's hands with his right hand, she jumped as high as she could and held onto his left while holding out her own, while Sora and Riku both watched on worriedly and hoped that the arburn sixteen year old girl's plan would work.
Yet Manny and Ellie didn't see what was going on, only saw that Kairi was in danger and stormed up to the two Islanders, with the male Mammoth scolding Sora for his 'inresponsibility' believing that he weren't doing a single thing. "Aren't you supposed to be her protective boyfriend, Sora!?"
"Wait!" The spiky-haired boy called out as Manny and Ellie both slid down the hill to try and rescue Kairi themselves.
"Manny, don't-!" Riku shouted, but it was too late.
By the an opening in the force field appeared and Kairi used this as her chance. She leaped up as high as she had been trained for with determination, and grabbed hold of Serena's hand, safely out and above the trap...only for the two Mammoths to come in and ended up now trapped themselves, much to the shock of their friends who all sweat dropped.
"Ah! Guys!?" Amelia began to panic, while Darien groaned in worry and annoyance.
"Manny! Ellie!" Kairi exclaimed, worriedly.
Serena, worried about her two friends, glared angrily at both of them for their stupidity, a vein squeezing on her head. "Guys, what are you doing?"
"Helping?" Manny replied, sheepishly as he and his wife both realized what really happened.
"What does not helping look like?" Raye asked in exasperated sarcasm when she and the others saw what happened as well.
"We need a way to help them!" Cloud grunted.
"If only we had some kind of electricity pattern." Future-Piplup said thoughtfully and quickly.
"Yeah, but how?" Chimchar asked, worriedly.
As the Sailor Team and their friends tried to come up with a quick plan, Ash then saw a rock near the exit and had an idea. "Hey, I know!"
He turned to Reno and called out to get the Turk's attention. "Reno! We're gonna need your Electric Stick-Thingy and two other electrical charges to receive the one from the barrier, then blast it onto a rock after Manny and Ellie get out and then Pikachu will use his electricity to block it!"
"It's an EMR, kid, but got it!" Reno responded, after he realized the plan and agreed to it.
"You can get on my back to make things faster!" Diego offered, knowing he was the only one fast enough to ensure that the plan would work.
"But you need to find the two sources!" Rude pointed out.
Realizing that the stoic Turk was right, everyone tried to find the right sources even as Dawn and Serena would have used their Pasarichu and Serena's Pikachu for help, Reno, and even Lea, Roxas, Xion and Isa looked around and Xion and Roxas then saw Crash and Eddie about to touch another electrical bolt.
"Hey, guys!" Xion called out to the group.
"Would those dummies do?" Roxas pointed at the twins, getting the two redheads, the blue-haired man and the bald-headed man to look, then all four of them quickly nodded in agreement.
"Hey, zap-heads!" Lea shouted to get the stupid Possums' attentions.
When Crash and Eddie both looked up and stopping what they were doing, they both cried out when Rude grabbed them both and rubbed the twins to create the needed electricity, while Reno extended his EMR and charged up to the medium level, climbing onto Diego's back with the Possums being placed behind him, charging the weapon. It worked as the purple electricity now friction with both the EMR's and the twins' with blue electricity.
"Now!" Reno ordered, holding on.
Diego nodded and ran with his passengers holding on with the electricity following them. He leaped over the force field which disappeared as soon as the electricity made contact with the EMR and Crash and Eddie, freeing the two Mammoths.
"Manny, Ellie! Get ready to run!" Diego instructed quickly.
The duo did so while he and everyone else quickly ran as the electricity was getting worse. Reno then thrust the electrical static from the twins who both returned to normal, and at some point those who had their furs and hairs and feathers poofed up returned to normal as well, causing it to land onto a rock while the Turk quickly shut off his weapon.
"Pikachu, quick, use Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered.
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded, and unleashed his said attack. "Pikaachuuuuuu!"
His yellow electricity contacted with the purple and blue electricity on the rock, trapping it briefly but it was beginning to become much more dangerous as the electrical storm of darkness was becoming absorbed into it.
"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" Reno shouted as he climbed off of Diego and ran along with Crash and Eddie and everyone else.
Soon the Guardians of Light and their friends all ran out of the woods, some of them screaming with Sid carrying Granny(and screamingly like a girl, as usual) before finally making it into the safety of the open and stopped safely from the exit, panting and some leaning forward to catch their breath.
"Whoa. That was close." Sakura breathed.
"Yeah, I'll say." Madison agreed.
"I really need a vacation." Kero groaned.
"Me too." Tiffenie and Luna chorused.
"Ugh...This is totally crazy." Yuffie shook her head.
"Is everybody here?" Terra asked, worriedly.
"Serena, Darien, Manny, Ellie, Shrek, Fiona, Sora, Kairi..." Sid counted quickly, only to discover that he couldn't count anymore as he ran out of fingers. "Oh, nuts! I'm out of fingers!"
It wasn't until Riku realized they were missing someone and asked. "Hey, where's Buck?"
The group quickly turned to the entrance and saw that the one-eyed Weasel was closer to the entrance standing on a rock, and was listening out as though he was hearing something.
"Did you hear that?" Buck asked, and when he listened more carefully, sheer horror and worry filled his mind and heart, as he gasped. "A baby! There's a baby in there!"
He then raced back into the forest to try and rescue the 'lost' infant.
"Buck, wait! It's too dangerous!" Crash cried out as he and his brother stood worriedly.
But was too dangerous for anyone else to go back inside, as the electricity became so powerful that it finally exploded, forcing everyone to shield their eyes before it died down. It was a miracle that the forest didn't catch on fire...but as they looked up, same came flying out and hit the ground pointy end first and sheer horror and devastation hit them; it was Buck's knife, slightly charred and smoking. Everyone, especially the Possum twins, gasped.
"No..." Mickey muttered, horrified with Serena close to tears.
"He's gone..." Tiffenie covered her mouth in horror.
"I can't believe it..." Donkey muttered in mourning, his ears drooping with sadness while Puss lowered his hat and held it over his chest, bowing his head low for the loss.
"Don't know how we'll go on without you, Buck..." Granny looked ready to cry...before switching back to her normal self and began to walk away. "Ah, let's go."
As everyone began to mourn for the loss of their friend, suddenly they heard a familiar shout and scream and looked up in confusion and shock, before they saw that a log was being thrown up into the sky by the last bolt of electricity, and the screaming was coming from inside.
"It's Buck!" Rena exclaimed in relief, as she and the others knew who it was.
"AAHHHHHH!" Buck screamed as he held on both the log inside and the baby he saved for dear life, and grunted when it hit the ground and rolled before finally stopping. "Ow! Oh! Oh..."
"We're coming Buck!" Ash cried out as he summoned his Keyblade, racing over before slashing the upper half of the log off to free their friend, and dismissed the weapon, asking urgently with the others gathering around. "Buck! Are you oka-Huh?"
Lying in the bottom of the log, was Buck who was curled up and cradling the child he saved, softly reassuring it. "I got ya. Don't worry, I got ya. There you are."
He then stood up with a soft warm smile, feeling the instant love of the baby he just saved, and seeing that it had no mother or father in care, decided to raise it as his own. He turned to his friends and introduced them. "Say hi, everyone."
But when the group saw who, or um, what he saved, they were all now once again dumbfounded and bewildered...because it was revealed that he didn't actually save a baby at all..but a tiny Pumpkin!
"Isn't she gorgeous?" Buck asked happily, showing off his new 'child' which he figured it's gender was a girl. Amy, Raye, Lita, Mina, Amelia, Lusie, and Kristen could only sweat drop, bewildered.
Serena on the other hand, realizing that it had all been in his head, facepalmed herself as she groaned in sheer embarrassment. "I knew he was hearing things again."
The Turks and Rufus could only share awkward glances as they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
"How do you know it's a 'she'?" Sid whispered to Ven and Isa...only for the stem of the Pumpkin to drop off and then, in his opinion, figured it out. "Oh."
"Such a good little pooche-woochie." Buck cooed at his new 'adoptive' daughter and began kissing the fruit(Note: fun fact-Pumpkins are fruits because of the seeds inside them).
"Uh, just to make things clear...that's a Pumpkin, right?" Yuffie asked, uncomfortably.
"Yeah. Sure is..." Lyla nodded in agreement, rising an eyebrow as she questioned the Weasel's sanity...if he had any left.
"She has a little juandice, but she'll be okay." Buck said, before cooing at the Pumpkin, having decided to name her. "Yes you will. I think I'll call you...Bronwyn."
"Um, little buddy?" Shrek began awkwardly, deciding to forget about the Pumpkin. "We need you back in the Realm of Light. While it's still here."
"Right you are, Ogre!" The Weasel announced in agreement, yet he continued to coo at his new 'daughter' as he followed the others to continue the journey, now having a brand new reason to save the Realm of Light. "Who wants to save the Realm from a fiery asteroid? You do!"
Jack, completely dumbfounded by the development, turned to the non-pirates and his crew, muttering softly. "And you lot thought I was strange."
"You kinda still are, Captain." Megan confessed with a light giggle, much to the Pirate's slight annoyance.
"He is insane if he has adopted a pumpkin as his own child." Rufus shook his head in disbelief.
Serena sweat dropped as she sheepishly explained. "Three months before we met him, he woke up one morning thinking he married a Pineapple. That's when he lost his mind."
"I guess that kind of explains everything." Ven shrugged with an awkward chuckle.
"Well, Buck is crazy, but he's smart at the same time too. Probably the bravest Weasel in the whole Universe." Ash shrugged as he and the others began to move on, only to notice that Pikachu picked up a scent.
"Pi? Pika?" The small yellow mouse Pokemon looked over his shoulder as he rode on Ash's once more.
"Hm? What is it, Pikachu?" The twelve year old Pokemon Master asked as he paused. He, along with Diego who also caught the scent of something odd, looked to see, there lying on the ground was a charred red feather. Seeing this along with Reno and Barbossa, who also noticed, Ash approached it and picked it up. "Where'd this feather come from?"
Diego sniffed at it with a frown as he replied. "I don't know, but, it's not something I've seen before. Looks like some kind of bird."
"But we haven't seen any of the red birds since the party and there's plenty of them." Ash pointed out in confusion.
"Not to be suspicious here, but this place have any Chocobos?" Reno frowned as his earlier suspicions began to ring once again, even though he wasn't certain of why this red feather was related to what Buck was hiding.
Ash blinked. "No, and I thought Chocobos all came in yellow."
"Nah, some come in different colours, like red, green, blue, black, even white. But that just screams that we're in major trouble." The red-haired Turk explained, his tone becoming serious as he made a conclusion. "We're being followed."
"What!? How do you know about that?" Ash exclaimed, shocked as was Pikachu, while Diego frowned in concern.
"Didn't ya think the way how that Weasel friend of yours acted weird when he directed us off the trail earlier? And then he just appeared in front of us all of the sudden?" The Second in Command questioned, folding his arms.
"Aye. It may be not a connection, but it is clear Master Buck is hiding something, leading us on a path to the crash site but away from whom may be comin' for him." Barbossa stepped forward in agreement.
Reno blinked at the Pirate for his own explanation, thoroughly impressed with a grin. "If ya weren't already a Pirate Captain, I'd recommend ya for the Turks."
"Somebody following Buck?" Ash asked, before shaking his head. "Come on, the only one that'd be after him is Rudy and he's a giant carnivore dinosaur, not a red Chocobo or an Ostrich."
"Maybe not, but I think we should be careful, just in case." Diego, who began to think that Reno and Barbossa could be right despite his trust in Buck's actions.
"Pika Pika." Pikachu, also sensing the danger in this, nodded in agreement.
Ash, despite that he didn't think that there was anything wrong, lowered his head in concern.
"Heeeeey!"
The five of them looked up to see that Yuffie was calling out to them with the others having realized that their friends had lagged behind. "Are you guys coming or what? We haven't got all day, you know!"
"Ah, coming!" Ash called back, dropping the feather as he, Pikachu and Diego quickly ran to catch up to their friends.
Though Reno and Barbossa stayed behind a bit as they watched the feather being drifted away by the wind.
It was becoming clear that whoever was following them and that Buck was attempting to avoid in his friends seeing them, the individuals that he knew were enemies...potentially coming to get revenge on the one-eyed Weasel.
And if the new enemies were just as dangerous, to stop the Guardians of Light and their friends from destroying the Asteroid.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait and that the chapter was really long. I just stuck in re-writing the part with Serena, Darien, Rufus and the Turks, and having my booster shot a few days ago and I didn't want to cut the forest into two parts. Hopefully the next chapter won't be as long and I'll try to update this story again as soon as possible.
Also, we will miss you so much, Scrat. You will always be remembered as one of the four icons alongside Manny, Sid and Diego for bringing the Ice Age franchise to life. *Sniffles with shedding tears*
See you in the next chapter!