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Hey, parents.
Just a quick note before we jump into today's adventure.
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Hey, koala kids, welcome back to koala shine.
I'm your host kelly, and i'll be reading you a daytime story and sharing facts and ideas that will send you hurtling millions of years back into the past.
Do you guys know how old the earth is?
Well, it's only around 45 billion years old.
That's an unbelievable on a birthday cake.
If you were standing in the exact spot you are in now, one million years ago, you wouldn't recognize one thing.
Everything would be covered in ice.
The world was in the middle of an ice age where temperatures plummeted and glaciers, huge sheets of ice, sometimes a mile thick, covered the land.
And speaking of lands you wouldn't recognize, Are you guys ready to explore the underbelly of the Koala Kingdom with Hector and Sunny in the Topsy Turvy?
Our brand-new four-part series starts next week and we can't wait for this thrilling adventure to begin.
But before all of that, let's join Coco the Koala as he time-travels back to this icy moment in history where he makes a mammoth mistake that changes the future in a chilling way.
So put on your woolly hats and puffer jackets, and away we go.
Coco Koala has found a new way to pass the time.
It has been snowing nonstop for days on end, and so he's been confined playing a game called Sweetie Smash.
He spent hours and hours tap tap tapping, matching little glowing emblems of sweets on the screen as they popped with a satisfying ping.
Coco knew that he was probably playing it just a bit too much.
But what else could he do with it being so cold outside?
He played when he woke up.
He played when he ate breakfast, smearing little smudges of porridge on the screen.
He played all day and all evening.
And hiding under a sheet so the glow of the screen wouldn't wake up Kira.
He played in the nighttime too.
He really liked climbing up the Sweetie Smash leaderboard and his latest challenge was reaching level 1000.
That's why he grumbled when his auntie Shirley appeared one afternoon and pulled the tablet from his paws.
Oh, Coco, this is ridiculous, Shirley said.
You've got to put that screen down.
You'll get square eyes.
Coco groaned.
"'Oh, that's just an old wives' tale, Auntie Sherl,' he said.
"'Come on, Sherls, there's nothing wrong with playing games.
What else am I supposed to do?
It's a blizzard outside, and I'm getting really good.
See that?
That's me on the leaderboard.'
Auntie Shirley scoffed.
"'Oh, whoop-dee-doo!'
Coco, look, there's a whole world outside of that screen, Blizzard or not.
Don't you want to talk to your sister?
Or read a book?
Or go outside?
Coco scratched his chin.
Well, I could do, I guess, he said.
But later.
Now?
Now I just want to play Sweetie Smash.
Auntie Shirley shook her head in disbelief.
She didn't believe little koalas could be indoors staring at screens all day.
She believed they should be climbing trees, skating across ponds, making memories.
Right, that's it.
Enough is enough, she said.
Coco, get your boots on.
We're going out.
But Auntie Cheryl...
Shirley shot Coco a look that suggested he had no choice in the matter, before turning on her heel and heading to change.
Coco grumbled as he put on his woolly jumper.
He mumbled and moaned and groaned as he stuffed his feet into his walking boots and he huffed and puffed as he pulled on his coat.
He pulled out his orange backpack and, with his chin raised, defiantly slipped his tablet into his bag.
Maybe he could sneak off and play a few rounds of Sweetie Smash when his auntie wasn't looking, he thought hopefully.
Half an hour later, Coco and his auntie were stomping through the snow.
Coco looked around him.
Well, he had to admit it was quite nice to be out, actually.
To be seeing the world further than six inches from his nose.
In fact, as Coco stretched his arms and his legs and breathed in the fresh air, he felt some tension leave his body, some frustration and boredom that he didn't even realize had crept into his hunched shoulders as he pored over the little dancing puzzles for all those hours prior.
What a beauty of a day, isn't it, Coco?
Shirley sighed.
All of this snow?
It's like a clean blank slate.
It's like we've been transported back to the Ice Age.
All those years ago.
A simpler time.
Though no tablets back then, you know.
Now we spend half our time with a screen in our face.
Stopping us from seeing the real world.
The world outside is a miraculous place, Coco.
Full of endless opportunities for adventure.
All you have to do is step outside and look around you to find them.
All the snow made the paths that wound through Sleepy Forest look the same, and the duo trudged through the crunchy ice with no clear direction in mind.
Going this way and that, until they found themselves in a part of the forest, Coco didn't recognize,
The trees were skeletal and sparse, and covered with a thick, shining layer of ice.
They reminded Coco of the boiled sweets depicted their branches.
Beyond, a wall of silver rock rose towards the clouds, housing dark caves.
Coco pointed towards the biggest cave.
The darkness inside was lifted now and then by the pulsating glow of a pale blue light.
It seemed there was something inside.
Aunty Michelle, do you see that?
Coco asked.
Auntie Shirley nodded, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards the cave.
Come on, Coco, she said.
Let's go check it out.
The two koalas entered the cave, and Coco blinked in the darkness.
There was a faint hum in the air and ancient-sounding chimes echoed deep in the tunnels below the icy walls to help them find their way, and soon found the source of the light.
There, in the depths of the cave, were two torches, burning with icy blue flames.
In between them, frozen to the wall of the cave was a huge white tusk.
See that?
She pointed at a plaque embedded in the ice below the tusk.
Tusk of an ancient mammoth.
Two million years old, it read.
And underneath, do not touch.
Unfortunately though, Coco didn't read the second line.
His mind was so busy counting all the zeros that followed the two, and boggling at the thought of how long the world had existed and how many animals had lived before him, that he reached out his paw and placed it delicately pensively thoughtfully, on the ice before him.
There was a flash of blue light, so bright that Shirley gasped and covered her eyes.
Coco removed his paw in a hurry.
What was that? he said.
I don't know, Coco, Shirley said, but it feels like something has changed.
Coco looked at his paws, and then up at his auntie.
She still had her curly blonde hair, her snowsuit was still bright, shiny pink and her boots silver and puffy.
Everything seemed the same to him.
That was a bit weird.
Maybe we should get out of here.
Coco whispered and the two headed out to the twisting tunnel of the cave.
Outside, the snow still sparkled.
The trees were still icy, and the sky still cloudy and white.
But something felt different.
Coco, Shirley whispered.
Well, our footprints are gone.
She was right.
The footprints were gone.
Oh, don't worry, Auntie Shells, Coco said.
The snow probably just filled them in.
Shirley shrugged and nodded, and the two of them carried on through the snow.
As they walked back in the direction they came through, they weren't greeted by the trees of Sleepy Forest.
Instead, they were looking out over vast, open plains, sparse trees and bushes frosted with ice.
On the horizon, thick grey clouds encroached, heavy with snow.
Marching away from the clouds was an endless parade of animals.
Animals that Coco had never seen before.
The pack was led by huge mammoths, like ginormous. slinked along in groups amongst the rabble, and giant sloths paced lazily at the back.
There were cave bears and dire wolves, giant beavers and step bison, creatures Coco had read about in history books but were supposed to be extinct or evolved into the animals that we know today.
Auntie Shirley, Coco's voice wobbled.
Something strange is going on.
That flash.
Did I do something?
I think the tusk may have just sent us back in time, Coco, Auntie Shirley said.
These animals are ancient.
We must have gone back over two million years for them to exist.
And look, she pointed at the snowy clouds and the thick ice taking over the land.
The Ice Age is coming!
Coco and Shirley made their way down into the valley.
As they approached the group of stamping animals, they heard the song.
They were left right.
We must keep the pace.
Stomp stomp, stomp along to a sunny place.
Following the sunshine, running from the snow, we must escape the ice age.
Far away, we go gather gather, gather up.
Well, strike me pink.
It's a great migration, Coco, Shirley explained.
The animals are travelling to warmer places in the world.
They'll be heading towards the equator, the central line around the world between north and south.
Think of it as a belt going around the Earth's middle.
The ice age won't be so hard there, and plants will still grow.
Coco and Shirley join the procession amongst a family of mammoths huge, and coco and his auntie had to crane their heads to see them.
Auntie shirley bellowed to get the mother's attention and was lifted up onto her head by the father's trunk.
There she sat talking to the mammoths whilst coco hung back with the kids.
They were smaller, about the size of baby elephants.
One turned its big furry head towards Coco and hooted through its trunk.
Welcome!
Are you joining our migration?
He said.
It's freezing here, isn't it?
And Dad says it's just going to get snowier.
He says we have to march, march, march, or else we'll be buried under the snow.
There'll be no food to eat then.
He says if we work hard though, and walk fast and store food now, we'll be able to go through the colder weather and find paradise.
Sounds good, right?
Are you coming?
Coco frowned.
I don't think so.
We have to go home.
We'll be alright.
But it sounds like you've got a ginormous journey ahead of you.
Are you scared?
The girl mammoth shook her head.
We're not scared, she said.
But walking all day and then spending hours foraging and storing the food for the journey?
Oh, well, it's tiring and kind of boring.
I do wish the Ice Age wasn't chasing us.
Coco felt sorry for the mammoths.
He suddenly felt very lucky to live in Sleepy Forest, where every winter just faded away in a few months and the flowers started blooming again.
Andy felt guilty that he'd started taking such a beautiful world for granted and that he'd spent so much of his time staring at a screen rather than enjoying it.
I have something that you might like, Coco said.
He slipped his tablet from his backpack and tapped the little icon for Sweetie Smash.
It's a game!
He demonstrated lining up the glowing icons and making them pop on the screen.
Maybe you can use it when you get bored of walking.
But be careful, though.
Hours can literally pass in the blink of an eye if you play too much.
I've played it a little bit too much myself, which is why I'm giving it to you.
The mammoths had already stopped listening.
They all had their trunks hammering against the screen, lining up sweeties and solving the puzzles in glee.
They stopped in their tracks, and the giant sloths behind them bashed into their bums.
"'What's all the kerfuffle back there?' came a big, booming voice meters above Coco's head."
The mammoths hid the tablet and plastered sweet smiles on their faces, as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.
Nothing, Daddy, they chimed.
Auntie Shirley appeared at Coco's side and said they had better get going before they walked too far from the cave.
The two koalas bade goodbye to the mammoths and headed back up the hill to the cave they emerged from.
Again.
Coco placed a paw on the frozen tusk and there was a flash of blue light as they were sent forwards through time.
And that should have been the end of their adventure.
But it wasn't.
Because unbeknownst to them, the baby mammoths kept on playing Sweetie Smash.
Again and again they held up the parade, tripping over their feet or stopping in their tracks.
Before long, the tablet had been revealed to their parents.
One game, and the parents were distracted too.
And everyone behind them had to take a peek, and they became hooked too.
The whole parade stopped, and animals gathered around the tablet.
The whole night was spent huddled around the white glow of the screen, and the next day too.
Quarrels spilled out about whose turn it was and who would obtain the highest score and who would beat the leaderboard.
When the animals couldn't all share the game, others began staging their own.
But instead of smashing the glowing sweeties on the screen, they used their own nuts and seeds making grids and then switching and swapping them around, smashing them with their fists when they made a match of four.
And within days, the food supply was gone.
And still the animals hadn't marched any further.
They'd quite forgotten about the coming Ice Age.
So transfixed were they on the screen of the tablet they barely even noticed when the snow started to fall overhead about their adventure, about the snow and the ice age and the animals they'd seen and how unlike the animals that they knew.
Now in the present,
Only there weren't any animals in the present.
Not anymore.
Sleepy Forest was silent.
And where the cabins were meant to stand?
Where the town hall should be?
Betty Badger's bakery?
The Sleepy Forest Elementary School?
They were just trees.
Endless trees.
Coco and Shirley fell into silence, pressing on worriedly through the forest towards home.
Only there, where Coco's home should stand, where his parents and grandparents and his sister should be.
There was nothing.
Shirley turned to Coco solemnly.
"'Coco?' she said.
"'When we went back in time, you didn't leave a trace, right?'
You didn't say or do anything to change anyone's plans or leave anything behind or anything like that, did you?
Coco panicked.
Uh, no?
Shirley raised one eyebrow.
Coco shifted nervously.
I just gave them my tablet.
Shirley put her paws to her mouth.
Oh, Coco, she said.
That's bad.
Oh, that's really bad.
It's changed the course of history.
Oh, it's not your fault though, Dale.
It's mine.
I should have told you about the butterfly effect.
It means that anything you do in the past can affect the present.
If you change one thing in the past, the effects can multiply and grow.
And then when you go back to the present, the world can be totally different.
The tablet must have distracted them from their migration.
They must not have escaped the coming snow in time.
They must have gone extinct.
And Coco, those animals are the ancestors of the animals of the Earth today.
So everyone we know is gone.
If we weren't traveling time when the changes were made, we'd have been gone as two.
Coco's lip began to wobble.
But don't worry, Coco, Shirley said.
The tusk still exists.
That means we can go back and fix it.
Determined, she turned.
And pulled Coco by his paw back to the cave.
Back to the tusk.
Back to where it all began.
And she placed her paw on the icy surface.
The world flashed blue.
This time, when Coco and Shirley exited the cave, they saw themselves about a kilometer ahead, heading towards the march of animals snaking across the valley.
Come on, Coco.
There we are.
We have to run, she said.
And so they did.
They pumped their legs, skidding on ice, jumping over snowdrifts and rocketing down the hill towards themselves.
When they were close enough to hear their own voices drifting towards them, Shirley stopped in her tracks, holding out her paws to catch Coco.
She put a finger to her lips and gestured for him to stop.
Coco waited and watched as his auntie began to tiptoe light as a feather and quick as a ninja in the direction of his past self.
Like a practice spy, she reached for his backpack and slid the zip silently open.
Her paw dipped into the bag and lifted out the tablet.
And as quickly as she went, she returned, running to Coco's side.
Okay, Coco, she said, waving the tablet.
Crisis averted.
Your past self won't be able to give them the tablet now.
The animals will continue to migrate, and they'll live to evolve and multiply.
And the world back in the present will be as we know it now.
Well done, Aunty Shelley, Coco said, hugging his aunt.
You're my hero.
Auntie Shirley grinned and squeezed him tight.
Oh, thanks, Coco.
Hey, you see how much happens when you put the screen down?
She chuckled.
Oh, I'm pooped.
Let's go home.
She placed the tablet in Coco's paw and the two of them turned back up to the hill, towards the cave, towards Sleepy Forest and the beautiful world they knew and loved.
As they walked, Coco lifted the tablet and clicked the icon for his favorite game.
Only this time, he held his finger.
As the menu came up, he tapped Uninstall.
Coco decided he might just want to live in the real world, at least for a little while.
Wow, what an adventure that was!
I can't believe Coco nearly single-handedly wiped out all of life on planet Earth!
That's a pretty big oops!
Hey, if you guys had a time machine, where would you travel in history?
And if you could go there for just one day, where would you go and what would you do?
Let me know in the comments!
Personally, I think I'd travel back in time to walk with the dinosaurs.
Although, I'm not sure I'd want to come face to face with a T-Rex.
Okay, let's end with a joke.
Why did the woolly mammoth cross the road?
Because there were no chickens in the Ice Age.
Alright, that's it for today, koala kids.
Until next time, keep on shining!
PoliShine
