Chapter Text
The tender air is complimented by a cold winter breeze as Scratch digs his nose into the solid ice, in search of something to eat. Scrat follows along behind, valiantly drifting his snoot back and forth across the frosty stone-cold ground. Scrat periodically caught up with his son’s fast pace. Scratch was always a fast walker, although he never knew why. Scratch, in a stark exhale, pops back up to his bipedal form and begrudgingly gives up on his hunt for food. Scrat, seeing his son give up, additionally gives up looking for a snacc. Scrat unhurriedly follows along behind as Scratch hops across the icy terrain, looking into the seemingly endless landscape of frost and snow. In a gust of wild, the silhouette of a small tree appears in the distance. Scratch scurries toward the horizon to investigate the lone sapling. He soon was able to observe the plant’s pitiful form from a distance. It was a short acorn tree, barely taller than him, with one small, singular, solitary acorn hanging on the branch for no one to see, with the very last green leaf hanging on the end of the branch, carrying the entire life of the sapling on its shoulders. Scratch, ecstatic to finally find something to eat, dashed towards the tree to grab the delicious oaknut. Suddenly, an unforeseen gust of wind causes the leaf to start fluttering on its branch, and detach from the tree. Just as scratch was about to get up close to his meal, the leaf smacked into his face, blocking his view. He frantically tossed and turned around in the snowy ground, kicking up the snow into the chilly air. He rips the leaf off his face, gazing at the glorious acorn hanging above his head. In a stroke of luck, another breeze detaches the acorn from its wooden perch, landing it straight into Scratch’s arms. He gazed into its shiny surface, almost seeing his reflection in its lustrous shell. In the twinkle of an eye, Scratch gained an unbreakable bond to his acorn. He was filled with attachment and emotion like never before, he gave out an earnest smile as he gripped his acorn tightly. Nothing else mattered anymore, it was just Scratch and his acorn. Suddenly, Scrat appeared behind him, staring disapprovingly at his son. How could he get so attached to his food like that? In that moment, Scrat worried for his son. Would he end up obsessing over his nut, facing the same fate as his father? Would HE not matter in Scrat’s life anymore? Scrat snatches the acorn from his son’s arms and opens his mouth to eat the nut and end this whole ordeal. Scratch gasped at this attempt to destroy his precious acorn and seized the nut right back from his dad before he could bite into it, cuddling the beautiful oaknut once more. Scrat only becomes more concerned for his son as he watches him doting on his acorn. Scratch scuttles away into the distance to ram his acorn into the ground, and with a moment of contemplation, jams the nut deep into the ice.
Scratch leaps into the air and down on the nut, pushing it deeper into the ice with every forceful jump. Suddenly, the nut shifts deeper into the ground, and the frozen ground starts cracking in front and behind of him. Scrat facepalms as Scratch panickedly chases the winding ends of the cracks, covering them up with snow. Scratch successfully patches up the cracks in the ice and arrogantly huffs at Scrat, popping his acorn back out of the ice and sets off for another spot to jam it. He finds the perfect patch of ice and proudly wedges it back into the ground, but as he jumps on it, he hears the ice crack under him and feels the nut disappear. He apprehensively looks underneath his feet to see a hole in the ice. He peers into the hole to see the acorn falling into the lost world and disappearing into the trees. In a fit of vexation, he repeatedly smacks his lil hands all over his face, and screams into the void.
“This is going to be the most extreme stunt ever!” Crash hollered as he helped Eddie carry the bark sled across the snow. The eager possums hopped from glacier to glacier and catapulted up stray branches on the side of a snow cliff.
“Extremely dangerous!” Crash cheered.
“Super-duper Dangerous!” Eddie commented.
“Stupendously dangerous!” Crash hollered back.
They scurried up the steep snow dune, holding the sled high above their heads. Reaching the top of the icy mountain, they set down their makeshift sled on the peak of the towering dune. Crash got down on the sled with Eddie following after, squishing him. “That’s a long way down,” Eddie said as he looked at the view, lightly reeling back from the edge of the cliff. “Only if we make it to the bottom!” Crash added.
The two possums braced themselves for the thrilling ride downhill. At that moment, Ellie’s voice was heard from the bottom, “CRASH! EDDIE! Yall better not be doin’ something dangerous!” Eddie reels in frustration, having to give up on his marvelous stunt. “GAH!” He exclaims in annoyance. Crash gets back up on his feet, knocking Eddie off of him. He picks up the sled, when a thought comes to him. “You know… I’ve been thinking.” “What!?” Eddie blurted out. “Thinking!? When did you start doing that?” He said, his voice filled with concern for his brother. “Just this morning.” Crash nonchalantly replied. “-and you didn’t say anything!? How could you do this, Crash?” Eddie fussed. “Relax. I was just wondering, aren’t you always tired of Ellie telling us what to do?” Crash beckoned towards Eddie, who started thinking himself for a moment. “Yeah! ‘Don’t swing on your tails, don’t spit seeds at apex predators-’” “Don’t scale the edge of an unstable ten thousand foot snow dune,” Crash added. Suddenly, Eddie had an idea. “Maybe we can move out and live on our own! Without our sister! No rules, no responsibilities, just us bros out in the wild!” Crash loved that idea. “That’s perfect! We’ll be free spirits, on our own, with nothing to stop us… But first, we’re gonna go on that sled!” Crash and Eddie hopped back on the sled and Got ready for the ride of a lifetime.
“Crash! Eddie! Where are those two?” Ellie searched around for the possums. While she was looking for them, Manny was busy with other family members. “Hazel! Where are you?” He lightly called out. Shira was on the prowl for her daughter. “That cub is really good at hiding, I wonder where she could be…” In the blink of an eye, a silvery slate saber cub leaped out of the pine shrubs, playfully growling. “Wow, you really got me there!” Shira giggled. “Yeah, with hunting skills like that, you’ll be able to catch those gazelles in no time!” Diego chimed in. Hazel beamed with confidence. Diego turned to Shira. “You know, She gets a lot of her skills from you,” he smiled. “- And a lot from you.” Shira chimed back.
“No, nice kitty, nice kitty!” Sid tremored as he scurried up a rock. “LIAM! No, you can't eat uncle Sid.” Shira insisted. “I was just playing,” Liam moaned. “Oh, thank goodness. You better listen to your mama, liam. She knows best. It’sh called a mother’s intuition.” Sid said, cautiously backing away from the stripy maple orange cub. “I wish I had a family of my own.” He sighed. “Aw, Sid. Is this about Brooke?” Shira sympathized with Sid. “She’ll be back from the fountains soon, and you’ll get to spend the rest of your years together, just like us.” “I know, I just - was hoping her youth would be permanent the first time, now I’m all alone again.” Sid sulked. “You’ll get to see her in a day or two, and then you can stay off our tails.” Diego joked, when he heard a familiar mammoth approaching. “So now you’re finally getting into the domestic life, huh?” Manny teased. “Now you understand what the fuss was all about when Ellie was having her first baby.” “Oh, absolutely,” said Diego. “Not to mention their teeth coming in. I still can’t believe they’re already pouncing.” All of a sudden, the advancing galloping of mammoth feet could be heard.
“MANNY! DIEGO! AVALANCHE!!” Ellie said as she raced by. Just like that, they saw a massive horde of snow come plummeting down the hills, straight towards the herd. “COME ON DIEGO, LET’S GO!” Manny shrieked as he followed Diego and Ellie. Diego snatched Liam by the scruff of his neck and bolted away. Shira and Hazel both sprinted through the snow along with the rest of the herd. Up on the snow dunes, Crash and Eddie whooped enthusiastically on their sled as they zoomed through the frosty air. Ellie leaped over the edge of the plateau, with the herd following behind. Diego and Shira gripped their kids tightly, bracing for the impending destruction. In no time, a heap of snow and ice came barreling over their heads. After a while, Crash and Eddie came drifting down the snow, nailing the landing as they dropped right in front of the herd. Diego fumed with rage. “You guys had Hazel and Liam in danger! Do you have any Idea what you could’ve done to them!?” He roared to the possums. Crash and Eddie trembled in terror. “It’s about time I finish you two,” Diego snarled as he wielded a single claw. Just then, Ellie stepped in between the argument, protecting her brothers. The lucky possums blew raspberries at Diego, spitting in his face. “Great. Now I have rabies.” he added. “Diego, please.” Shira interjected. “Look at all this. It’s because of you that our habitat was decimated, and Diego’s cubs nearly got buried in an avalanche!” Manny bellowed. “Hazel and Liam are fine,” Eddie said, “We’re the fun uncles around here, they know we were just playing around.” He turned to see the cubs hiding behind Shira, clearly shooketh after the avalanche, and his smile faded. “Now Manny, It was just an accident. Let’s just find a place to sleep, and then you can yell at them.” The possums breathed a sigh of relief as they were freed from Diego and Manny's wrath. “You know, if it weren’t for your sister over there, you’d both be long dead.” Diego snapped. “If it weren’t for our sister, we’d both be out in the wild, free spirits!” the possums snarkily clapped back. “Oh, you’d be spirits all right,” Manny said, pointing his trunk to the possums, “you two should be grateful Ellie looks out for you. There is no way you’d be able to survive in the wild by yourselves.” “We could if we wanted,” Eddie sneered. “Ha! I’d like to see you try.” Manny growled. “Manny, stop egging them on.” Ellie interjected, “Nobody’s going anywhere.” “Why not?” Eddie whined. “ Because, you two can’t do anything for yourselves,” said Ellie. “You can’t clean up after yourselves, you can’t protect yourselves from predators, you can’t find your own food - You know, even though you’re my brothers, sometimes I wish you were a lot more mammoth and a little less possum.” Crash gasped in offense. “She just insulted our possumness!” “- A big part of who we are,” Eddie added. “That’s it! We’re done being treated like babies!” Crash snapped as he stomped his foot in the snow. Liam approached the possums, with something to say. “You’re not the fun uncles, you’re the stinky uncles.” “Yeah, you keep ruining our home.” Hazel added as the cubs stormed away. Crash felt dejected at the cubs’ responses. “Well, Whatever. It’s time we move out and get our own place!” “Good luck with that. You’ll be running back home by sundown.” Diego grumbled as he followed the herd back home to uncover the damage.
Late at night, The possums scurry up their tree to hang up for the night. Ellie watches from the ground, when Manny comes in, still frustrated about the avalanche. “Goodnight to those two troublemakers.” Ellie gives Manny an abhorrent look, he gets the message and turns around to fix his resting spot. “Look, I’m sorry about what I said to Crash and Eddie. It’s just that - Those two have been riding your tail since we met. All they’ve ever done is mess things up.” “ Riiiight. You don’t hear me complaining about your side of the family, do you?” Ellie reasoned. “My side of the herd takes care of themselves.” Manny tried to explain. “...And we both take care of Sid.” He turned to Sid, who was tossing and turning on his rock, sliding off straight on his head. “Everytime the possums make a mess of things, we always suffer the consequences. They could put Diego’s kids in danger. Don’t you think it’s time for them to, you know, grow up, find their own destiny?” “You’re not sayin’-” “They want a new life together,” Manny said, “we could always help them become more independent. Besides, Diego could use a safer life for his cubs.” Ellie understood what Manny meant. It wasn’t the first time she noticed their antics firsthand. “Listen, I’m just worried about how they’ll survive. They still need me.” Ellie explained, “...And I still need them. They’re my brothers, Manny. They’re the only family I have left.” She turned to the top of the tree, watching the sleeping possums in front of the starry midnight sky. “When I lost my family, Mama Possum raised me as one of her own. I finally felt complete. But when we lost her…” Ellie reminisced, “I had lost that part of me. After that, all we had was each other. I don’t want to lose that part of me again, Manny.” “Look,” Manny said, “I know you want them to stay with you because they’ve never learned anything from all the stupid things they do, but maybe that’s just because they’ve never been taught.” “Maybe.” Ellie muttered. Manny rested on his pile of maple leaves as Ellie jumped up to her tree to hang from her tail. “Goodnight, sweet possums.” She lovingly whispered into the night.