((AN: So, my co-author wrote this solely and I am just posting this. So direct your reviews to Britt. She nor I don't own Ice Age))

Chapter One: Sabers

"Just because I live with you does not make me a possum, Ellie. I'm a saber." I told my honorary sister, Ellie for the millionth time.

"If you were a saber, you would have gobbled us up for dinner. So you must be a possum!" Ellie tried to convince me. I know what I am. I am a saber.

"Or I'm just a nice saber who doesn't like to kill her friends. I'm not a possum." I replied as I went ahead a little further.

"You'll always be an honorary possum to me, Lilly." Eddie said as he scooted closer to my head. He was riding on my back.

"Thanks Eddie, you're really sweet." I replied. Eddie was always the sweet one. Crash was the one getting into trouble, but he had his moments. I've known Ellie, Crash, and Eddie for ten years now. They were practically my family. When my pack left me to die, Crash and Eddie found me. Crash got Ellie and the three of them took me in as their sister. I protect them from everything I can. I threaten I will eat them sometimes but never do. My bark is worse than my bite. "Hey Eddie?" I asked to get his attention.

"Yeah?"

"Can you get off?" I asked him. "I smell prey and I'm hungry."

"Sure thing." He hopped off.

I darted after the scent. The scent was dead and rotting. Anything that reeked that horrible must not need to be saved. I hastened my pace. And then, I saw him. An ugly, out of shape sloth, who, desperately, needed to learn hygiene. I slowed down and softened my footsteps. Then the unthinkable happened. Crash and Eddie. They had started to shoot pebbles at the sloth's head. Not only that, the sloth was not alone anymore; a male tiger was next him. "Crap." I muttered and ran after the two possums, who knows what that tiger would do to them. The tiger tried to climb the tree and kill them. They jumped out of the tree and headed for me. The sloth chased after them. 'Maybe I will be eating tonight…' I thought as I started to move to go after the sloth, my blue eyes watching every move it made. I darted for it, but then stopped the tiger was with it. Crash and Eddie were being a nuisance.

"If anybody asks, there were fifty of them and they were rattlesnakes." The male tiger said as soon as Crash and Eddie got up the hill. The two unlikely pair got up. "Big mistake miscreants."

"Miscreants?" They laughed.

The male tiger roared and ran after them, leaving the sloth alone. I darted for the sloth.

When the sloth saw me, he screamed, "Manny…Diego…Diego! Help! Tigress!"

He scrambled around as I chased after him. His tiger friend was in front of us chasing after Crash and Eddie. We all stopped, however at the site in front of us. Two mammoths. Crash and Eddie ran behind Ellie.

"Well, shave me down and call me a mole rat!"

"Would you like me to do that now or after I kill you?" I whispered to him maliciously as I stood behind him. He jumped, I laughed.

He looked at the two again, getting distracted from the fact he was going to become dinner; he looked up at the male mammoth and said, "You found another mammoth."

"Where?" Ellie exclaimed excited looking around and then she thought for a moment. "Wait a minute, I thought mammoths were extinct…What are you looking at me for?"

"I don't know, maybe because you're a mammoth." The male mammoth replied.

"I've been telling her that for years. She won't listen." I said to the male mammoth, giving up on the sloth. "You're so lucky you smell even worse up close or you'd be eaten about now." I murmured to the Sloth as I passed by him. He cringed for a second and then let out a sigh of relief.

"Wait…Me? Don't be ridiculous. I'm not a mammoth, I'm a possum." Ellie responded.

"Right, good one, I'm a newt. And this is my friend the badger and my other friend the platypus."

"Why do I gotta be the platypus? Make him the platypus." The sloth replied.

"Are they giving you trouble, Sis?" Crash asked, as the two of them got on her tusks.

"Sis?"The three males exclaimed.

"Yes. These are my brothers and my sister. Possum, possum, possum, and possum who thinks she's a saber."

"That's because I am a saber!" I exclaimed.

"You're a possum, Lilly; you have to face it sooner or later." Ellie retorted.

"I'm a tigress. A princess at that!" I argued.

"Lilly, if you were a saber princess, you would be with a pack. I'm sorry you don't like who you are." She replied disappointed. I looked down.

"I don't believe it. Her tree goes all the way to the top branch." The male mammoth said.

"Manny, brink of extinction, is a bad time to be picky." The sloth told him, "Hey, she should come with us!"

"Are you insane? No way!" Manny replied.

"Okay…" The sloth came over to us. "Manny would like me to ask you if you would like to escape the flood with us."

"I'd rather be road kill." Eddie said as the two hopped off Ellie.

"That can be arranged." The tiger snarled. I pinned him to the ground with a growl.

"You touch the possums, you will get hurt." I snarled and said in a hushed tone, "Unlike Ellie, I know what I am. Don't mess with the princess, saber."

Ellie let out a sarcastic laugh, "Funny, let me just have a talk with my siblings." She picked Crash and Eddie. I got off the saber and followed them.

"Ellie, are you crazy? We're not going with them." Crash exclaimed.

"Look, we'll never make it in time if we only travel at night. These guys can protect us out in the open."

"I can do that without their help!" I argued.

"You're a possum sweetie, you're not very scary." Ellie replied and then she turned to them, "My siblings and I would be delighted to come with you."

"If you treat us nicely." Eddie said looking at the saber.

The saber snarled.

"See! That's the opposite of nice."Eddie exclaimed.

"Maybe we should have a little snack before we hit the road." The saber replied.

"Want a piece of us? Let's go!" Crash said. They started to attack the saber and the sloth. The saber tried to bite Crash's head. "The best part is we carry diseases."

The earth started to shake for a second. Another sheet of ice had hit the ground almost a mile away.

"Okay. Thanks to Sid," He looked at the sloth, "we're traveling together. And like it or not, we'll be one big happy family. I'll be the daddy. Ellie will be the mommy. And Diego and Lilly, if she doesn't mind, will be the aunt and uncle who eat the kids who get on my nerves."

Diego snarled at Crash. I snarled at Sid.

"As long as I get a chance at Sid, I don't mind." I replied. That got a sarcastic chuckle out of Diego.

"I don't think you'd want to do that. You don't know where he's been."

"Oh is that why he smells like mold, rot, and death warmed over." I replied. This time he laughed.

"Yeah…"

"Let's move it before the ground falls out from under our feet." Manny said going ahead.

"I thought fat guys are supposed to be jolly…" Ellie said to Crash and Eddie.

"I'm not fat. It's this fur. It makes me look big. It's poofy." Manny shot.

"Oh okay…He's fat." Ellie followed after him with Crash and Eddie. I was left alone with Diego and Sid.

There was silence. I can not stand silence. It makes me jumpy. "Sorry about trying to eat you, Sid. Usually, I'm a scavenger." I apologized. I thought I might as well make acquaintances with the two of them since we're going to be suck together.

"Ah it's okay. The hunger got to you. How long's it been since you ate?"

"A few days..." I replied as we started to walk. He looked at me sadly.

"Would you like some berries?" He asked.

"I'll be fine. Thank you though Sid."I replied and then looked at Diego. "Sorry about pinning you to the ground, Diego. When it comes to Eddie, I'm a little protective."

"It's fine. Why only one of the rats and not both?" He asked.

"Whatever Crash gets, he deserves. He's a little much sometimes. He gets better as he warms up to you though. " I answered.

"How did you and Ellie get to be with them?"

"I'm not so sure about Ellie. She was there before I was. But they found me, and sort of adopted me." I replied nonchalantly.

"Why were you away from your pack? You said you're princess. Aren't you important?"Sid asked.

"I was a princess. I got really sick and they left me there to die. I was unconscious when they left me. You become less important when everyone thinks you're dead. Eddie and Crash found me. Crash got Ellie and the three of them took me to live with them. End of story. Not that exciting." I explained as if it were no big deal.

"I'm sorry, Lilly." Sid replied. Diego remained silent. His golden eyes looked like he wanted to say something, but his mouth wouldn't let him. "Is there more to your name than just Lilly?" Sid asked.

"Yes, it's Lillianna, actually. It's a little flowery to suit me, it's too pretty, and so I go by Lilly."

"I think you're pretty." Sid said.

"Yeah, I bet that's what you were thinking as I chased you." I replied sarcastically.

"No, honest, it's not every day you see a saber with dark fur and blue eyes." Sid argued, then looked at Diego, "Diego, when you had a pack were there any female sabers like Lilly?"

"No…" Diego replied looking down.

"So how did you three get together?" I asked them. Sid started to tell the story with a few interjections from Diego, I knew from this moment, this was the beginnings of beautiful friendship for the three of us, or at least between Sid and me.