You're My Ugly Pineapple

Chapter five

"Do you think the beast will find Sid?" Crash muttered, moving closer to Eddie.

"Or more importantly, us?" Eddie shivered, staring around us warily.

"Rudy? Are you joking?" Buck exclaimed, turning around to face them and momentarily letting go of my paw. "He knows all, sees all, eats all," He growled, using his paw and knife to make a jaw like shape around Eddie's head. "So that's a yes," He added, grabbing my paw again. His warm paw sent butterflies racing back to my stomach as I wondered what we were. We weren't exactly mates, considering we'd only just met. I guess we were just testing the waters, since we knew we were very much alike. 

Eddie and Crash shivered as they stared at something that was behind us, pointing weakly. I looked around and saw two pairs of huge, dangerous eyes and squeezed Buck's paw.

"Don't worry, sweet'eart," He whispered, squeezing my paw before walking up to the eyes. "Hey! Get off my lawn, go on! Shoo!" He yelled, pointing away with his knife. The eyes became a gigantic butterfly that stared at us briefly before flying away.

"I knew that guy when he was a caterpillar," Buck smiled, grabbing my paw yet again. "Y'know, before 'e came out," He chuckled.

"So you're just living down here by your wits, all on your own? No responsibilities?"

"Not one! It's incredible. No dependents, no limits. It's the greatest life a single guy could have!" He smiled,  pushing leaves out of the way with his knife. My heart fell and I stared at the ground, my grip loosening on his paw. "But, it get's mighty lonely down here, which why I'm glad I met you, love," He added, grabbing my chin with his paw to turn it towards him. I blushed and smiled, looking away and tightening my grip on his paw again. 

"Hear that? This is my kind of place," Diego smiled, turning to Manny and Ellie.

Buck leaned down to pick up a rock and held it up to his ear, smiling contently. "Hello? Yeah, no, look I can't talk right now. Yeah, no, I'm trying to recover a dead sloth," He laughed, holding his finger up as he held the rock between his ear and his shoulder. "Yeah, no, they're following me! I know! And they think I'm crazy! No, okay we're going into the Chasm of Dead, I'm gonna lose ya. Yeah, no I don't I said we were over, okay goodbye, goodbye."

I furrowed my eyebrows at that comment and Buck noticed my look, laughing weakly. 

"Haha, it was an ex. We're still friends, but we just weren't compatible as lovers ya know?" He gulped, grabbing my paw again. 

"Yeah, I know how that feels," I muttered, staring into the forest. Did I? Did I really know how that felt?" 

"Okay, follow me," He called, looking back at Manny and the others. "Well, at least you have me now, sunshine," He added, smiling over at me. 

"We're just testing the waters for now, okay Romeo?" I giggled, sticking my tongue out at the one-eyes weasel. He chuckled and nodded. "For now, hon, for now."

"That's you in three weeks," Manny muttered to Diego, referring to the talking to the rock.

"So, Buck, why do they call it the Chasm of Death anyways?" I asked, staring down at the pit of gas. 

"Well, we tried 'Big Smelly Crack,' but, uh, that just made everybody giggle," He chuckled, jumping up to an overhanging vine. I giggled with him, covering my face with my paw to hide it. 

"I see it made you giggle too, eh?" He smiled,  climbing up to another lot of vines. 

"Now what?" Manny asked, rolling his eyes at us lovebirds. Buck cut some of the vines and a rib cage fell down in front of us, one that seemed to be able to fit everybody on there. He fell back to the ground and motioned for Ellie to get inside the rib cage. 

"Madam?" He smiled, leaning down.

"Woah! She is not doing that! Manny exclaimed, holding trunk out in front of her.

"Buh, buh, buh, buh! Rule number one?" Buck raised his eyebrow and held his finger up, balancing on Manny's tusks. 

"Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!" Eddie jumped up and down, holding his hand up. 

"Ah! Come on mammoth! You're supposed to have a good memory," He grinned, knocking his knuckles on his head.

"Always listen to Buck," Ellie smiled, walking forward and into the cage. 

"And now for the beautiful weasel," He grinned, getting into the rib cage to help me jump into the set of bones. 

"Oh! I'm forever grateful for this act of kindness, Sir Buckminster!" I exclaimed, putting on a fake posh voice as I took Buck's hand and stepped into the rib-cage. 

"Now, eyes forward, back straight and oh, yes, breathe in the toxic fumes and you'll probably die."

My eyes widened at that part but Buck stroked my hand to make sure I didn't freak out, and sent the rib cage on its way.

"Geronimo!" Buck yelled, smiling widely as we went down. 

"Ellie! Are you okay?" Manny called, his voice echoing through the cavernous chasm.

"You have to try this!" Ellie yelled back, grinning from ear to ear. I was still in shock of the whole ride but mostly embarrassed at the fact that i had clung to Buck the whole way down.

"Alright, now, pile on everyone! Couldn't be easier!"