Okay, this is my first fanfic so please enjoy. Something is seen lurking in the forest, and it's certainly no animal or human. It's up to a frustrated Sid the sloth to save the day after nobody believes him. Disclaimer: I do not own Ice Age, or any of its characters. I do not own the character of San, or the demon from Princess Mononoke. All rights belong to 20th Century Fox, BlueSky Studios and Studio Ghibli.

Chapter 1: How to Make A Fool of Yourself Without Doing A Thing

The meadow was still, and quiet. Beyond grassy fields half covered with sparkling crystal white snow, and high tall fir and pine trees encrusted with thin pointy needles, there was a low, rustling sound, like a creeping, hungry predator, ravenous for blood. Silently it turned and made its way towards a sleepy looking valley, in a mud covered ground. it got nearer, it sunk its claws into a nearby tree, leaving scratches so deep, it was as though a machete knife had hacked into it. Nearer now, it emerged from the trees, along with a protruding belly and an oddly shaped head. Carrying bark back down to the valley was the lazy, naïve and somewhat annoying Sid the sloth. Sloths are notoriously not the brightest of creatures, for if he had even bothered to look round, he would have seen the piles of sticks he was dropping behind him. He stopped in front of him, his teal coloured eyes glinting in the morning sun. Down below him were all the animals of the valley, children playing, adults chatting-the usual goings on. His eyes lit up when he saw his friend, Manny the woolly mammoth, his mate Ellie, her possum "brothers", Crash and Eddie and their teenage daughter Peaches.

"HEY GUYS!" he called to his friends as he lifted the pile of bark higher to avoid dropping them, "I'M BACK!" They all looked up at the floppy green shape that was their lisping friend. "I GOT THE-WOOAAHH!" He suddenly slipped on a piece of the twigs he had dropped and skidded sideways, then tilted forward and tumbled down the hill at high-speed.

"Look out!" shouted Crash.

"Unidentified Falling Object!" cried Eddie pointing up at Sid. The two possums darted out-of-the-way as Sid fell faster and faster, and as he gathered speed he shot through the air towards them until he was eventually caught by Manny who glared at him as he let the sloth down.

"Hey Manny!" he chirped brightly. He jumped down to pick up the sticks as Peaches helped him.

"Are you okay Sid?" Ellie asked anxiously, "you're not hurt are you?" "Me, no" Sid tried to convince her, "I've just got a few pains-and maybe a broken back."

"Uncle Sid, what is all this?" Peaches asked. eyebrows at all the bark littered across the valley floor.

"This, Peaches,my dear niece, is all for when Uncle Diego gets here-speaking of which where is he?" The gang hadn't seen their sabre friend since last night when he had gone off hunting and hadn't come back.

"I'm sure he's off chasing a gazelle or something," shrugged Manny, "he'll be back soon." Well, he did seem a little off yesterday," Ellie told him, "he didn't really talk to anyone." "That's just Diego," assured Manny, "he hides himself." All the same, Ellie was still concerned.

Running down the hill at that moment to join them was San, wearing her wolf pelt and carrying her dagger. She hid in the trees, but still hadn't seen any sabre, or a tiger shape of any kind. She had also been looking for Diego, but hadn't had much luck. She sighed, slumping up against a tree, fiddling with her short brown hair and had eventually just given up. So she decided to go back to her friends hoping he' st be with them. They all looked up as she came nearer and nearer, standing to a graceful halt beside Peaches.

"San, nice entrance!" greeted Manny. San gave a wry smile.

"Thanks," she said, "hey, you guys haven't seen Diego today have you? I've been meaning to ask him something."

"Nope, we haven't seen him either," Ellie shook her head sadly, "he still hasn't returned from his hunt."

"Whatcha wanna ask him anyway?" asked Eddie, but before she could answer, Shira arrived, the beautiful grey female sabre tooth tiger, with the lovely sapphire eyes and the two earings up one ear, one blue and one turquoise.

"Morning," she smiled.

"Hey Shira," everyone said simultaneously.

"You look nice this morning," said Manny,

"It's a gift!" Shira replied jokingly, "anyway have you guys seen Diego?" This was really starting to get confusing.

"No, nobody has." shrugged Manny, "you're like the third person who's asked that today". Shira looked surprised.

"Oh! Well, that's very unusual, hope he's doing ok," Her eyes fell on Sid. "Um- OK, what the heck is he doing?" "Being Sid," Manny replied darkly, as Sid appeared to be arranging his face out of the twigs.

At that moment, Diego appeared, his orange fur slightly stained, and sticking up-he had definitely been in a hunt.

"Oh, there you are!" said Manny, "we were starting to worry."

"Well, I'm back!" Diego said trying to fix a smile on his face.

"Ya get lucky?"

"No, afraid not. Unfortunetly nothing, I guess I could have the remains of last nights dinner."

"Oh! Sorry to hear that tiger!" It wasn't like Diego to lose a hunt. Forget that, it wasn't like Diego to tell anyone he had lost a hunt."

"Diego!" Sid cried delightedly, running up to his friend, and hugging him tightly. Diego nervously pushed the sloth away. He wasn't one for affectionate physical contact. "Sid, remember that little talk we had about boundaries-?" Diego began, but Sid cut him off,

"Which, Diego, my sabre friend, is exactly what the bark is for," Sid said sticking the bark into the ground round Diego like a fence.

"This, is what separates you from me," Sid said proudly, standing back to admire his handiwork.

"Sid, that's not exactly what I meant," Diego started, but then just gave up-it was pointless to really explain anything to Sid without him taking it a little too literally.

"But if it makes you happy," he finished. "Great!" said Sid clapping his hands.

Ellie then decided that because it was such as beautiful day that they all take a long walk through the forest to clear their heads.

"That sounds like a good idea," said Shira flicking a bit of grey fur out of her face, "i'll be nice to go on a morning stroll. Suddenly out of the corner of their eyes, they saw something scurrying beneath the ground-and hitting it's head on a rock. There was a muffled cry of "Ow!" from underground.

"It's Louis!" Peaches said happily. She smiled as her little molehog friend poked his head out of a mound of dirt, rubbing debris off the top of his head.

"Hey Peaches!" he smiled, and Crash and Eddie sniggered. Everyone knew that Louis had a crush on Peaches for a long time.

"Hey Louis!" said Peaches, "we were just about to go for a walk, wanna come?"

"M-me?" Louis stammered looking up at her with wide brown eyes, "you want me to come with you?"

"Sure!" laughed Peaches, lifting him up on to her back with her trunk, "the more the merrier!"

When the herd imagined a nice relaxing stroll through the forest, anything good was put out of their minds once Sid decided to take his 80-year-old Granny along! She made a crass comment at every step they took, or shouted at anything that crossed their path, embarrassing them all.

"Sydney! Stop touchin' me! Don't you hav' any respect for an old lady?!" as Sid tried to take her arm.

"Quit it! I can chew my own fruit!" as Sid offered to grab a grapefruit off the vine.

"Man, that turtle is getting too old, he coul do much better then that skank he calls a mate!" just as they walked past.

"Sorry," Sid would whisper through gritted teeth every time this happened.

The rest of the walk went pretty well. Sid was teasing Diego at the front of the line, with Diego getting extremely agitated.

"Soooo-"

"So what?"

"So, when are you taking Shira out?"

"Out where?"

"Well, you know-"

"No, I don't Sid, now please leave me alone!"

"Well taking her on a date of course!"

"Uh, well I'm sure that when we get to that stage, then-"

"Well, ya gotta take her out sometime!" Sid tried to tell him, "otherwise, where's the fun in your relationship?"

"Since when did you become an expert in romance, Sid?" Diego asked with a slight smirk. Sid wasn't exactly a lady-magnet, and he wasn't much of a smooth-talker either.

Sid looked defensive. "I'll have you know, tons of ladies are in to me, they just don't act like they are!"

"I'm sure that's the case."

"Come on, a forest stroll like this one?"

"No."

"Along the beach?"

"No."

"What about-"

"No,"

"You didn't even-!"

"End of discussion Sid!" Diego told the sloth firmly. In the middle of the group, was another discussion about love, by the possums and a very annoyed Louis.

"Louis loves Peaches!" Louis loves Peaches!"

"No I don't!"

"Yeah you do! Louis loves Peaches, Louis loves Peaches!"

"I DON'T!" Louis tried to convince them, even though he knew lying was pointless. Peaches was the apple of his eye, well peach! Even though she was a mammoth.

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do to!"

"Do not!"

"Do-"

"Knock it off you guys!" Peaches scolded them, "Louis is an animal like all of us, and doesn't deserve to be teased. OK?" He's entitled to all opinions and if says he has no feelings for me, he has no feelings for me." Louis gave the possums a triumphant smile. "Yes Peaches, your right", they said, pretending to be ashamed, but the moment Peaches' back was turned, they started silently mouthing it to Louis, who could do nothing but glare back.

"Oh, isn't that adorable!" laughed Ellie shaking her head.

"What, the possums acting like complete tools, or the fact that a molehog is in love with my daughter?" Manny said sarcastically.

"Manny! I guess it's a little of both. Love appears to be in the air, right at the moment," she said, gesturing in the direction of Diego and Shira. "Yeah, well do you really think he's gonna propose or something?" "I sure do hope so!"

At the back of the line, San was chatting to Shira, oblivious to the other two conversations.

"Is Diego doing OK," said a puzzled looking San "Ellie's right, he's not quite himself." "Oh, Diego's a mysterious little soul," Shira said, "and a softy!" Seeing San fiddling with her hair (as she recognised as her point of thinking body-language), she asked her, "What did you want to ask him anyway?"

San bit her lip. "I was hoping he'd teach me how to hunt," San said eventually, "that deer I caught yesterday wasn't really clean enough kill." "Why? You're a good enough hunter." "I'm not that good," San said hanging her head, "have you seen Diego hunt? He's brilliant! Really really good, I still can't belive he lost one today, but I need a bit more practice. Also I'm worried about him. I heard him sneak off in the middle of the night, he's doing that more often these days. I'm starting to wonder. Is it just a sabre thing? Or is something going on?" Shira thought for a bit, then said, "Diego is full of secrets, San. You got to remember that. I'm sure he's just fine, don't you worry." But San saw the look in her pretty sapphire eyes and knew that she was worried too.

Manny had also been noticing this, and he waited until Ellie got enrolled in a conversation with the girls, then headed to the front to see if he could talk with Diego. He was still having a very nauseating conversation with Sid.

"But, what if-"

"No, Sid!"

Sid had to go then, because Granny was yelling something very rude indeed at the birds in the trees and had to steer her away, leaving Manny at last to speak with Diego.

"Um, Diego?" Diego's ears pricked up to show he was listening. "Ellie and a few of the others, think that somethings up, and to be honest with you so do I". "What about?" said Diego looking up. "Oh, nothing just, you disappearing all the time, not speaking to anyone much losing a hunt-he stopped-your not leaving again are you?" he asked rather worriedly. "No." "Oh good", Manny said breathing a sigh of relief, "because,we need you here Diego, all of us, not to mention Shira-" "Yes, I have heard from Sid," Diego muttered, "but no, seriously Manny, nothing's wrong. You don't have to worry about me."

They stopped staring over at Granny who wasn't too happy about being taken away from, "Dag nabbit you dumb birds, quit that there singin' don't y'all know to keep that feathery screecher you call a beak shut?! San tried to hide a snicker under her hand, but wasn't quite quick enough. Soon she had everybody laughing. It turned out to be a good day after all. But then Diego turned and marched on ahead. "Come on everyone!" he called over his shoulder, "we need to keep moving!" Manny stared into those fiery hazel-green eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out something was wrong.

Well, that's my first chapter! Sorry if it was a bit long and rambling, I had so many ideas. Hope you enjoyed it anyway though. Thanks for reading and don't forget to post your reviews!