It was a beautiful morning in the newly formed continent of North America. The sun shone down on the thick redwood forests of the western coast. The giant trees towered hundreds of feet into the air, overshadowing every other tree that dared to grow in their domain.

Colourful birds swooped from branch to branch, singing sweetly as they flew. Deer grazed peacefully in grassy clearings.

And trudging along a forest path was a small, skinny, striped sabre-tooth squirrel.

Scrat slowly made his way along the forest pathway. His shoulders were slumped and his head hung down in misery. Since the sinking of the mythical island of Scratlantis and the accidental formation of the great Mojave Desert, the starving squirrel had journeyed across dry plains and high rocky mountains to the lush redwood forests of the Western Coast – formally an archipelago of islands – on his search for his most precious, most beloved object in the whole world: an acorn.

Yet he had found nothing. Small berries from bushes on the plains had sustained him, but he craved acorns. Life meant nothing to him without his precious nuts.

Suddenly, Scrat's nose caught a whiff of something floating in the air. The squirrel lifted his nose up to the air and sniffed. He knew that smell.

Quickly, he scampered along the forest path, his nose tracking the faint scent that drifted lazily through the air.

Finally, Scrat came to the edge of a large creek. Just across the rushing pathway of water was a small hill. On top of that mound of earth was a tall, proud oak tree. And lying on the ground next to the oak tree was a big, shining, ripe acorn!

Scrat let out a cry of delight. Quickly, he hopped across a set of conveniently-located stepping stones to the opposite bank. Then he scrambled up to the top of the hill…only to find that the acorn was gone!

Scrat screamed in despair. Sniffing frantically, he scrambled around on the ground, searching desperately for his acorn…

BUMP

The sabre-tooth squirrel suddenly tripped over something lying on the ground. Picking himself up, he whirled around to see what had caused him to fall.

It was a tail.

A long, furry tail with luscious red fur.

And that tail was attached to a slim, beautiful, red-furred squirrel…

It was Scratte.

She whipped around and glared at Scrat. Obviously she wasn't pleased to see him. After all, he had ditched her and left her in a dangerous, dinosaur-filled cavern several years ago.

Scrat wasn't exactly happy to see her either, but for different reasons. She had stolen his acorn multiple times, ripped off all his chest fur, kicked him, punched out a tooth, etc etc…the list went on and on.

And in her arms, Scrat could see the acorn he had so desperately needed. She had taken his prize for labouring across a merciless desert with barely any food or water.

He saw red.

Screaming, he lunged at Scratte, his skinny arms outstretched to grab the acorn off her. But the sly, foxy squirrel quickly side-stepped out of the way, and Scrat face-planted on the ground.

Scratte smirked and loped away, brushing Scrat's head with her tail before she disappeared around the tree.

That was the final straw.

Picking himself up, Scrat launched himself at the foxy squirrel, knocking her to the ground and sending the acorn flying into the air.

Scrat leaped off Scratte, chasing the acorn as it tumbled towards the ground…and caught it.

But just as he hugged his prize to his chest, Scrat saw a red blur rushing towards him. Before he could get out of the way, Scratte slammed into him, pushing him over the edge of a nearby cliff.

Down, down, down they fell, tussling, wrestling, fighting over the acorn..

...until they finally landed with a loud splash into the pool of water at the bottom.

Yes, Scratte returns! I think she's so cool as an nemesis for Scrat so I thought it would be cool to bring her back. :)

Please review if you like it!