A silver-gray saber-toothed tiger ran fast through this colorful winter landscape. Everything looked white and beautiful. The sun even made sure that the snow and the ice glittered wonderfully in some places. A sight that might make you stop to enjoy it.
But not this fast animal, that was born to move quickly. Only then can it hunt and catch its prey. As the fastest individual in the area, you also want to be challenged. So victims are always selected, who can almost take it with themselves. Normally, it would be enough to just keep your body fit through the method. Because there was enough to eat in the area. She didn't have to chase after an herbivore each day, who was also almost at her level at speed. The tigress loved it when the adrenaline pumped through her body because those races were so exciting. Every time she spurred herself on to get a little faster. Simply to get more out of it. For though perhaps no one knew, she didn't want to lose it. Even if it wasn't always a game in which she only wanted to measure her powers. She herself knew on which days she had done her best.
Back at that time, while she was still on a ship, her day was forbidden to run around. Because on the ice it was partly slippery and the other animals stood her constantly in the way. She enjoyed these short shores, where she always pushed to her limits. So that she could rest as soon as she had to go back to the water. Of course, she tried to keep it so that no one knew when she was tired. A species like hers could become very belligerent even in a state of fatigue.
But now this time was over and she could run around whenever she felt like it. Morning, noon and evening. Thanks to her eyes, it would even be possible to walk all night through this landscape. At least until she tipped to the side, because at some point her breath ran out.
That wouldn't happen to her at this moment. Internally she remembered why she wasn't allowed to lose. There was just too much for her at stake. But she also liked pretending to be the weak and ran like it was hopeless for her. First she had to let herself fall back a little on the track, if the ground was too easy for both to overcome. The moment the other allowed only the slightest mistake in the race, she caught up as quickly as possible. She was surprised that this tactic worked again and again, but she was probably very good at deceiving other animals. After all, she had years of experience in it.
Her feet were starting to tingle because she was so close to reaching her destination. Still, there was no reason to be happy, because that was probably what distracted her.
"Won!" Shira shouted as she crossed the line marking the end of the race. A moment later, another saber tooth ran over it.
"It was only very close." The tigress rolled her eyes, because that didn't correspond to the truth, what her partner was telling there.
"Next, you're saying that you kindly gave me a head start." Diego nodded, smiling slightly.
"Of course. I would rather say, a track where you have to walk up a hill, is not entirely in your area of possibility." The female big cat said a little cold and looked around for the others, because of course, both were also followed by some animals.
"There...*panting*...she...beat you...really." Wheezed Eddie, pulling his brother on his tail. Both were at the end of their strength because they were bored and they wanted to get up here too. Just stupid that her sister and the rest of the mammoths were not in such a hurry. So the opossums had to run a part alone. They began to start sooner than the saber-toothed tigers. Nevertheless, these two arrived at the top later.
"Are you saying that you only won because you have better control over this terrain?" The tiger threw back teasingly, because he also had to recover from this run and until now didn't really know that the winner was a little angry.
"Oho, he wants...*breathing*..to imply that you...*exhale*..secretly trained." Crash now awakes slowly to life and stuffed a little clean snow in the throat, because the stuff eased the burning at the spot. It also quenched the thirst.
"If you want to know for sure, yes I do. But that way it wouldn't matter, I would always win against you anyway." Now, the other three clearly noted that Shira somehow had a bad mood. Only the male saber tooth didn't quite understand why his girlfriend seemed angry. He hoped he doesn't become like Manny and begins to forget important events. But actually his brain worked quite well in that regard.
"That's what happened a few days ago." Diego didn't know why exactly this was bubbling out of him. Surely, because the others were slowly approaching and he was too proud to blurt out further defeats.
The possums considered when the race just mentioned and whether they were there at all. Of course, they couldn't know about it, because the big cats were talking about the search of food and were therefore a bit out of the woods.
"And who won?" Ellie inquired. She did it out of courtesy, because she did not really care about the outcome of the race. The saber-toothed tigers have been running such competitions almost every day, so it has been a bit difficult to keep interest in that. She and her family had actually come up here to enjoy the fresh breeze and the view. After all, they also needed some variety and the climb was for some of them really good. With these thoughts, she didn't necessarily try to look at her husband and Sid, but it didn't matter because the two couldn't look into her head either.
When Ellie looked away from the others, she realized that there was a rather uncomfortable mood now. And that was certainly not the cool wind up here.
"Shira was the first to arrive up here, but maybe she cheated." Explained Crash his sister and was quickly hiding on her back as the mentioned tigress made a venomous look.
"Nobody cheated here." The male saber tooth explained, thinking hard of what he had done wrong.
"Wow, that's so rad!" Julian bellowed enthusiastically as he saw the slope on the other side of the mountain. It went down a little steeply, but he didn't mind that. Manfred, standing right next to the screamer, just grunted. He just couldn't say anything else, because he didn't want to pant in front of everyone else, as if he was totally broken from running. Although he wants to know what his son-in-law had in mind with the large parts of tree bark, he preferred not to inquire. What interested him more was how he managed to be up here with the stuff on his back. The board stuff looked really heavy and yet the guy refused the help of his daughter. In addition, the mammoth managed to maintain its special course in the ascent. Now he realized that he should be happy. Ellie could have got him to drag some of that wood, too.
"Don't scream so loud, honey. Here live also other animals. Besides, I don't know how it looks with the avalanche risk here." Peaches told her mammoth when she was standing next to him and she immediately got an apology for it. Then she set down the molehog. This didn't really want to come, because somehow he had been working too late last night to expand his home. He didn't even know why he had to increase his size. It was just such an inspiration.
At least he could sleep a bit on his friend's back while she was running up. In her opinion, he shouldn't hide constantly and do more with them. Although he sometimes found this strange, because since Peaches was married, he didn't always know how he should behave. Also, he had no idea how he could describe that between Julian and him, if one should ask. Since there had been no big explanations so far, everything seemed to be alright.
The heavy breathing then took over the sloth, because this came last with the troop and fell right next to the prickly front over.
"And...why...do...you.." Sid stopped to take a breath.
"Breathe in And out again and again. I don't want to practice this with you anymore." Diego remarked to chat a bit. He didn't want his friends to know something was wrong here. If something happened, then he would like to discuss such things alone with the tigress.
"What I actually wanted..phew..to say. Why does you saber-toothed tigers like doing that?" Sid could somehow think why the big cats had such a joke on the matter. Surely it had something to do with the hunting instinct. At least it was something in the direction in his head. If he had something of a hunting instinct, then that thing would never make him run so much every day.
"To prove ourselves." Shira explained and then wanted to add something, but a mammoth came in between.
"So people, I brought four boards. I think we are forming four teams." Julian enthusiastically put the wood in a row in front of the slope. Of course, with a stone or a stick, so that nothing can't slip away too soon.
"Did you have to remind me again that Brooke couldn't come?" Whined the sloth, until it was hit with snow by Manny.
"Very smart. But we are nine here." He said still annoyed and he was glad that his voice sounded normal.
"Hello?" The possums complained in sync, because one of them was ignored.
"You're lightweights, unlike us. You should be glad that I have even counted you together." As the oldest mammoth turned away, the striped ones at the same time put out their tongues to this.
"Since one is too much, I will probably.."
"Hey, Manny." Ellie tore her husband on a tusk to her.
"Don't be a spoilsport. That will certainly be funny." The addressed one had long since stopped asking why his wife could still say that after many flops.
"Fine." Nevertheless, he still considered whether he might not be able to get out of this. First of all, the slope looked pretty dangerous from the perspective and second, he had no desire to sleep with pain tonight.
"Well, actually I would like to walk back." Louis now mixed in and was a little proud that this big mammoth counted him. Otherwise he was always overlooked by this. Unfortunately, he saw too late that someone already grabbed him.
"Come on dude! It's quicker and cooler like this." Julian was too overzealous and just grabbed the little one.
"Peaches you can still.." But more you couldn't understand, because the mammoth had accidentally loosened the stone that should hold the board and so drove the first of it. What Julian wanted to say could no longer be understood, because the prickly one cried out in shock for a while. But the two disappeared very quickly from sight. Irritated, the mammoth mother looked at her daughter, who looked after the other two a little skeptically before. Actually she wanted to be a part of that team.
"Peaches, I don't want to push you into anything. But maybe you should talk to them again about something." And Ellie meant that this should happen as quickly as possible, before a molehog was flattened or a mammoth had spikes in places where they could be removed badly. Julian just took everyone with him in his over-zealous actions and Louis said too rarely no. But no one would be angry if he didn't want something.
The younger one nodded, but she didn't really recognize the problem. Her best friend and her husband understood each other well. There was nothing bad from her point of view. But she didn't want to stand around for long. So she grabbed next a piece of wood and looked questioningly in the round.
"I'm going with you." Shira explained and jumped up. Before one of the others could protest, she broke the stick off the board. As they stood on one edge, it went downhill for them relatively quick. The tigress, however, pointedly held her nose up as she was watched by Diego. Inwardly, this was a little offended that his girlfriend didn't want to form a team with him. Ellie looked at the surviving saber tooth, but also thought that the two should talk that about that better under themselves.
"So?" With that, the mammoth mother stepped onto a board, but the others didn't have time to do the same. The possums solved the pebble before, when they saw that her sister rose. The two sat now on the head of her sister and stretched out his tongue again to Manfred.
"Wait! The truth is I really like one of you two. It is.." The remaining mammoth then simply broke off the sentence.
"What was that now?" For Diego, that did not sound like his friend.
"Oh, let me have a good time. They'll fight each other until down who it is." After that, Manny turned around contentedly, because then he was still able to walk comfortably down again. Anyway, he believed that for a moment. But he didn't even notice that his friends had pushed the board right under him. Only when he slipped did he realize his situation. The saber tooth and the sloth laughingly gave themselves a high-five at the front of the board.
"You have done very well." Manfred praised his buddies sarcastically.
"Now you should also make sure that we don't hit a tree!" He cried in the next moment, as a fir came very fast closer.
"Everybody lean to the right." The mammoth knew that he was meant to be very special, because he had the most weight here.
"Bad idea! Very bad Iiiideeeeeeeaaa!" Sid shouted, probably because more trees approached them.
"Then to the left! Well, again... No, wait! But stay on the left. Now quickly to the right!" The saber tooth tried to navigate the whole thing, while he thought that it was probably not so wise to participate here.
"Ahhhaaaahhh!" Roared the sloth again, because he tipped half out.
"Damn Sid! We've practiced that with the right and left so often." With that, a trunk brought the Screamer back to the safe place.
"Whenever I panic, sometimes I mess things up" So he clung to a leg of Manny, thinking that his big buddy couldn't fly off the board so fast. They slowed down a bit and therefore they just let themselves slide straight out.
"Tell me, is it possible that Shira is mad at you?" Because even the sloth noticed earlier that the tigress was showing his friend the cold shoulder. Manfred moaned annoyed, because this was really a very bad time to discuss this.
"I also don't know what is wrong with her." But the other one also answered. The mammoth thought he should interfere, because the guy who was hanging on his leg wasn't really an expert in it.
"Maybe you once forgot a special day."
"No, that can't be and this morning everything was fine." Diego knew his girlfriend didn't care about things like anniversaries or holidays. Saber-toothed tigers took care of other things. It was only essential that he could be there for her and occasionally he gave her small gifts and compliments.
"But you should always look forward when there is a slope."
"Sid, that's very encouraging, but she doesn't want to part from me."
"No, there is really a slope in front of us!" Manny then made sure that the tiger turned his head. Of course, both animals clung to the mammoth now, this desperately trying to hold the piece of wood with its trunk. Suddenly the road no longer just went down slightly. What they were doing could already be called a free fall.
"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" Now not only Sid was shouting around here on the mountain. The others from the herd got that, of course, because that screaming wasn't to be missed.
"Wow, they're crazy!" Julian explained enthusiastically, standing backwards on his board to better observe the three of them. The molehog prayed inwardly all the time because he doesn't want to die that way. It seemed like a mystery to him that his companion didn't look right forward, yet they didn't bang against obstacles.
"That was so clear, that they take the spotlight again." It came from Eddie, who was with the other opossum and Ellie at almost the same height as the other two young mammoths.
"Yeah, first he doesn't want to join and now they pulling of such number." Crash added. Both were just a little jealous that they were not up there.
"Apparently they got off the track." Shira explained a little worried, because the scenery where her three friends were heading on looked a bit dangerous.
"Oh, they can do it." Peaches said casually, because the three men have already done other things.
Finally, the last team landed on the snow again, but they didn't have time to recover as it continued fast and steeply downhill.
"I was so happy to meet you two, and I never thought it would end this way. I couldn't even say goodbye to Brooke. Waaaahheee!" Sid complained and also reached for Diego's paw, because he has been hanging on the mammoth all the time.
"Come on. Look at it from the good side. You're going to die with us." The saber tooth said, getting a glare from the biggest animal.
"Nobody dies here, understood!" Manfred shook his buddies awake again, but still they had to come to a standstill somehow. The way up here seemed to him like an eternity, but went down much faster. So it was a little questionable that they continued to slide without end.
"Out of the way!" Exclaimed Diego as an antelope stood directly in front of them. Probably this was searching for grass under the snow. The animal turned around annoyed, but when it saw what was coming, it quickly jumped to the side.
"Yeah, that guy again." The big cat did the sign 'I watch you' with his paw as they all passed the antelope.
"Do you know him?" Inquired the sloth because it was a little curious.
"Yes, I have to settle another score with that."
"I'm reluctant to disturb your tea party, but there's another obstacle!" Mammoth intervened loudly in the conversation.
"Easy, Manny. Who just rejects us in one direction to go out... aaaahhhhh rock face!" And Diego closed his eyes not to see what's coming. Strangely enough, they didn't bang at full speed against the big stone, but skidded up to it.
"One more piece." The tiger opened its eyes again and saw that they were almost at the edge of the rock. Only one hoof width was missing, but they couldn't make it because they were too heavy and lacked momentum.
"What are you looking at me like this? I didn't want to climb on this thing right from the beginning." Complained Manfred, because his balanced breakfast was certainly not responsible for this situation. But the other two had no time to talk about nutrition, because it was very fast down the cliff.
"Well, at least a bit of variety comes in." The sloth said between his shouting as they all raced backwards down.
But abruptly they turned as they hit snow again. Maybe they should had let themselves be kicked out of the gyroscope, but the mammoth didn't necessarily want to hit a stone or a tree. At the speed, it was also really difficult to aim for a soft landing spot. Just before one of the three had to vomit, it went forward again. Although, the sloth looked a bit pale and held its paw in front of its face.
"Sid, not in here!" With that, the one was kept out on his head from Diego, until that vomiting was over.
"Well, you still think it's so funny?" Manny inquired superior, because he already knew why he didn't want to do this here.
"Alright,ok. We learned our lesson." The saber-toothed tiger said, and the sloth next to it just nodded because it wasn't sure if anything else could leave his mouth.
"But now we should try to stop that thing. Slowly I don't feel like it any more."
"The best would be there if we drop ballast first." The biggest animal explained grinning and already Sid was grabbed.
"Wait Manny! Let's talk about this agaaaaaiiiiin!" Too late, because he already flew in a wide arc through the air.
"Ahhhhhhh!" He screamed, eyes closed, afraid to hit some obstacle.
"Uncle Sid!" Someone shouted and he recognized the voice.
"Peaches?" He asked, opening his eyes. The young mammoth had probably caught him and now let him down. Only now did he realize that they were already at the end of the mountain. Their friends were all already up from the wood. Manny and Diego still skidded on and on.
"And now it's your turn." Explained the oldest mammoth, as the remaining buddy on the board was inattentive. Manfred simply grabbed the big cat and threw it out.
"Hah! We always land on our paws." The tiger rejoiced when he landed unharmed on the ground. Just stupid, that he didn't expect to land on a thin layer of ice, probably formed by the sun and cold wind. Thus, a moment later, he stood a little deeper in the soft snow and only his head still looked out. Nevertheless, he could watch as his big buddy stopped that board now by himself, just by driving it diagonally to the side. Two opossums were completely covered with snow because of it.
"I think he didn't mean it that seriously before." Crash thought a bit snapped and his brother nodded. Both insulted shook off the snow from the fur.
"Oh, yeah! That was cool, Bro-Dad" Although Manny wasn't the type for it, today he did a trunk-shake exchange with his son-in-law.
"Admit it, you practiced secretly." Ellie smiled and was glad that everything went well. Actually, Manfred just happened to watch the other male mammoth playing his game. Later he thought to himself that it couldn't be so hard what Julian was doing and so he tried it once himself.
"Maybe I am just a natural." He said and then walked over to his friend, who was still stuck in the snow. Although Shira was sitting next to it, she found it rather amusing and didn't think about helping the other saber tooth. Nevertheless, she remembered that she was actually mad at Diego.
"Julian, where did you leave Louis?" Because Peaches noticed only now that the molehog wasn't here with. The addressee apologetically looked at her.
"How should I say that? I have tried new tricks and that hit the little one a bit on the stomach." With that, Julian showed behind him on a bush by a fir tree.
"But the tricks were sick there." He added, thinking it sounds more reassuring.
"I can imagine it looked pretty cool. But the next time you do such things, when you stand on the board without a companion." The female mammoth sighed at the sentence, because now she couldn't change it anymore. So she walked to the bushes where Louis tried to get rid of his nausea.
The saber-toothed tiger thought again about what his buddy mentioned earlier. Maybe he really forgot something special and that hurt his girlfriend a bit. So he waited until everyone was fixated on Julian, because he explained exactly what was going on, in case one didn't see it.
"Hey... uh, it didn't escape me that you're mad at me. All the time, I puzzled over what I did wrong. But I noticed nothing." The last he spoke rather cautious.
"Alright. Let's not talk about it for long. I overheard this morning's conversation by accident. The one you mentioned, that it wouldn't be bad if there were more saber-toothed tigers coming up here." Shira tried to be really objective, but when her counterpart began to laugh, she wanted to jump in his face to show how sharp her claws are.
"It's not that funny." She explained coldly and just jumped off because she didn't want to show in front of the others that she was hurt. A little stunned, Diego stayed behind.
"Tell me? Is it possible that you had a fight?" Inquired now Ellie, who naturally recognized such signs in another woman. But the tiger shook his head and didn't quite understand what was happening. Shira never ran away from him without reason.
"It's better you run after her, because she has certainly misunderstood something." Added the mammoth mother and he nodded. Without another word he ran after the other saber tooth. Also because he knew that Ellie would explain it to the others, if two saber-toothed tigers shouldn't appear on the place today anymore.
Nevertheless, he still didn't understand what had gone wrong. She mentioned that conversation this morning and he had to laugh because he thought she was joking that she was angry about it. But it turned out that it didn't seem like a joke.
"Shira, wait a minute! Do you just want to run away from me until you are out of breath?" He shouted as he approached her.
"Well, then we can test, which of us can stand this longer." That was a little childish and thus he simply stopped.
"You could come back if you calmed down." The words were probably a bit harsh, but he didn't want to waste his time doing silly things. In addition, the saber tooth now realized that he was probably the one who had eaten too much this morning. Normally such short sprints didn't hit him so hard.
"As if you were waiting for me. You can look for someone among the other saber-toothed tigers." It was thrown to his feet when his partner stopped and ran back to him. Hurriedly he counted one and one together and finally understood what was going on.
"Can it be that someone's jealous here?" He started with a grin, but she only averted his face. Nevertheless, she sat down near him. Sighing, he stepped around her so she had to look at him.
"I didn't mean it that way. I just thought it would be nice to meet other saber-toothed tigers every now and then, once we have children. Just so that they learn to deal with their kind." Suddenly Shira let her shoulders sink, because she just felt really stupid. Diego didn't do anything for no good reason, that meant when he wasn't fooling around with his buddies. She didn't know why she had not simply confronted him with it, instead of eating it all in and then starting a race on a mountain.
"I didn't know you were the jealous type." He smiled and nudged her noses briefly to show her that everything was forgiven and forgotten.
"So far, there has not really been a reason for that." And she still didn't think of herself like that. But there was rarely the possibility of another saber-toothed tiger approaching her husband. Of course, every now and then they saw some conspecifics passing by. But mostly they only made sure they didn't cause trouble. There was not much conversation there.
"So? Shall we go back?" He inquired and already looked in the direction. But suddenly a snowball hit him on the back of his head. He looked for the possums in astonishment, but he was the only one to find a laughing tigress.
"Just wait. You don't know who you're dealing with." Diego explained with a grin and grabbed some snow.
So the two saber-toothed tigers roamed the white landscape like little children. Although Manny wondered what the two were doing when he saw that from a distance. His wife, however, was glad that everything went well and said they shouldn't disturb the two.