Prepare for chapter 3! I'll say that this is probably the most adorable chapter I've written so far, and you'll soon find out why. Remember that Sand Snake that ate one of the Crood's neighboring families? Well, this here is that serpent's story AFTER that happened.

A/N: the beginning of this chapter takes place about a year before the movie does.


Out in the hot desert, a humongous, green, black, and yellow spiky snake with a huge horn on its snout slithered across the sand. This scaly beast was an adult male Sand Snake named Sorith. Sorith and his kind were the apex predators of the desert, and only the feircest Bear Owls dared challenge them. The desert was an ideal climate for the Sand Snakes. Non-stop heat, a steady supply of prey, and the right amount of water and territory for any giant reptile. Sorith's kind was not venomous, but they did pack a nasty bite with their meter-long fangs.

Sorith was busy looking for a meal, and he hadn't eaten in over two months(keep in mind that reptiles- especially snakes- can go for weeks without eating). All of a sudden, he picked up a scent. He flicked his forked tongue out of his mouth and smelled a group of warm, tasty mammals. He grinned that serpentine grin all snakes had before slithering off speedily towards the succulent smell.

Sorith arrived at the edge of a cliff in record time. He peeked over the edge and caught site of a family of cavemen emerging from their cave. He hissed and licked his scaly lips hungrily. The squishy primates would make a satisfying snack. But he couldn't attack now, for they would see him. The element of surprise is valuable to a hunter, as is patience. Sorith was very patient indeed. He would wait, and then he would strike! Sorith silently followed the cavemen as they made their way through the canyon and out into the desert, where they were joined by some other cavemen. Sorith hissed. More cavemen meant it would be harder for him to attack, since, though they were pink and fleshy, humans could be quite tough, especially in numbers. So what? Sorith coiled his massive body in a relaxed position and patiently watched as the cavemen scrambled around, fighting various other animals over a large, meaty-looking Emel(not Erith). It was actually quite entertaining. In the end, the cavemen killed the Emel by stabbing it with a pointy stick, and then raced back into the canyon before Neroc could get them. Sorith followed them back to their caves and coiled up again to wait. Eventually, the sun began to set, and the cavemen went back into their caves and sealed the entrences. Sorith honestly didn't know why the humans were scared of the dark, and he for one loved being out at night. The only problem was that with no sun, a reptile like Sorith couldn't move around very fast. Seeing as the cavemen had already fallen asleep in their caves, Sorith decided to wait through the night.

"Eh. I'll get 'em tomorrow morning when the sun's out." With that he slithered down and coiled himself around a large sticking-out rock ledge and fell asleep.

The sun rose bright the next morning. Sorith awoke slowly and a loud yawn that sounded more like a hiss escaped his gaping jaws. He blinked his slitted eyes and looked down at the cave containing his breakfast below, and flicked out his tongue again. It wasn't so much for a reason at the moment, it was just a reflex all serpents possessed.

Sorith waited for a few minutes, letting the rising sun warm his scales and blood so he would have enough energy to attack. When he felt warm enough, he slowly slithered down the canyon wall and approached the sealed-up cave. Inside, he could hear the humans just waking up. Hastily, Sorith opened his expansive jaws and gripped the boulder blocking the entrance in his blade-like teeth. The humans must have heard the rock move, because they suddenly went quiet. They knew he was out there, and he would make his presence known in a moment. With a cold-blooded hiss, Sorith heaved the rock up and threw it far away. He then slowly stuck his huge head through the entrance and hissed menacingly. Needless to say, the humans were all terrified. With a blood-curdling hiss, Sorith attacked!

The humans screamed and tried to get away, but they were all caught in the Sand Snake's ravenous maw. Once he was sure he got them all, he pulled his head out of the cave and swallowed them all whole. He hissed with satisfation, but then felt himself being pelted by rocks. He turned and hissed, and saw that the other cavemen were throwing rocks at him and screaming like animals. Sorith angrily hissed and slithered away.

Several hours later, Sorith was out in another part of the canyon slinking along, thinking about what he should do for the rest of the day. Suddenly, he felt a lump form in his stomach and up to his throat. He began hacking and coughing, not having the slightest idea of what was wrong with him.

"*hack!* W-what the fuzz is *hork!* wrong with *cough!* m-me? *wretch!*" Suddenly, Sorith belched and his tongue shot out...with two humans hanging onto it! But not just any humans, human babies!

Sorith got a good look of what was clinging to his tongue, and was quite surprised. There was a little girl who couldn't have been a day over 2, and an 14-month old infant boy. The girl was a brunette with a large ponytail with hair covering one side of her face, and was dressed in a brown animal skin, and the boy had black hair and wore only a diaper made of tan animal skin. The two children were crying like heck and were lightly covered in gastric acid and saliva, but were otherwise unharmed.

As the cavebabies continued to bawl their eyes out, Sorith stared at them wide-eyed and silent. After another few seconds, Sorith screamed:

"OH MY GOD! I ATE BABIES!" The two babies dropped to the ground when the snake recoiled in horror. Sorith was HORRIFIED that he had eaten- and very nearly digested- two cave-toddlers.

"I can't believe this! I actually ate babies!" Sorith may have been a cold-blooded reptile, but he certainly wasn't a heartless monster! "I'm a monster! I can't believe that I didn't take a good look at them before I attacked! I shoud've known better than to just assume they were all mature! Those other families had babies! Why shouldn't that one?! I'll never be able to live with myself now!" Sorith began hitting his head against a rock. "I'm a cruel, unanimal monster! I can't believe I did that! I'm such a careless idiot! I should have checked! I SHOULD HAVE CHECKED IF THEY HAD BABIES! HOW AM I GOING TO SLEEP AT NIGHT KNOWING WHAT I'VE DONE?!"

While Sorith was madly berating himself whilst bashing his head into a rock, the two babies countinued to wail and cry on the ground in fear and pain. All of a sudden, as he was about to bash his head again, Sorith heard them cry. He froze. Hearing the heart-wrenching scream of a child snapped him back into reality. Sorith stopped scolding himself and looked over at the crying cave-kids. Instantly, a powerful wave of remorse washed over the giant snake. He quickly slithered towards the weeping children and encircled them with his body and slowly approached his head towards them. He could see the fresh tears flow freely from their eyes, and began to get sad-eyed himself. Hastily, Sorith tried to comfort them.

"Shh, it's alright, it's alright. It's okay! I won't hurt you." The two children started to calm down a little bit, but were still clearly frightened. Sorith carefully wrapped them in his coils and stared deeply into their faces.

"That's it! That's it! Stop crying, it's alright. Everything's going to be okay." The two had stopped crying completely now, but tears still steaked down their faces.

"Don't be afriad. Don't cry. I'm not going to hurt you." Sorith succesfully calmed them down, and then used the tip of his tail to brush away the tears from their cheeks. He looked at them. They were still clearly upset, but at least he had gotten them to stop crying. The two siblings looked up at the serpent with wide eyes, seeming to be afraid. Why shouldn't they be? Sorith thought to himself. I ate their entire family for breakfast! Of course they're afraid of me.

But the girl's next action completely took Sorith by surprise. While Sorith had his eyes looking away, she reached up and wrapped her little arms around his horn, and she was soon followed by her brother. Sorith's eyes widened in total shock when he felt the warm touch of the babies on his scaly hide and looked at them closely. The two of them had lost their family, but they seemed to sense that Sorith was hurting too, and actually seemed to be FORGIVING him for eating their family! Sorith was completely taken off guard by this, and when the children pulled away, they smiled at him! His cold-blooded heart warmed by this gesture, Sorith smiled back, tears of happiness forming in his own eyes. He rose his head and looked down at the baby cavepeople in total adoration. He looked deep into the girl's sparkling blue eyes and the boy's strong reddish-brown eyes, and they looked into his blazing yellow eyes. At that moment, Sorith knew what he had- and greatly wanted- to do: it was because of Sorith's actions that these two beautiful cave babies had nobody left, so it only made sense that Sorith take it upon himself to care for them, feed them, protect them, and raise them until they grew up into strong, independant cavepeople. But until that day arrived, Sorith would treat them as any mammal parent would a child, with tender love and care.

"It looks like I'm your new family." Sorith said to the children, and they hugged his scaly coils and giggled adorably. Just then, Sorith heard a light growl. He realized that the sound was coming from the babies' stomachs. They were hungry. Sorith gently dropped them on the ground and thought. How was he going to feed them? The two children had begun to whimper as their empty stomachs growled louder, but Sorith calmed them down.

"Don't worry! Don't get upset! I'll get you some food!" But, what do they eat? Sorith thought to himself. To the extent of his knowledge, he knew that baby mammals drank milk until they were at least a year or so old. Unfortunatly, he could not supply milk because he wasn't a female, nor was he even a mammal! How could a reptile, like him, possiby get milk to feed baby mammals, like the cave-babies? Then, an idea struck him!

"Hey, babies! Wanna go huntin'?" After a moment, they both yelped with joy, thrilled for some action if it meant they would get food. "Alright! Let's go!" The babies then climbed onto Sorith's head and hung onto his horn as he rapidly slithered out into the desert.

When they stopped, Sorith and the babies had arrived at a rocky outcropping with a large herd of strange creatures in view. The creatures had stocky, bovine-like builds and were covered with red feathers and brown fur, had long, curved horns, and parrot-like beaks on their faces. The creatures were Parrot Buffalo, and this herd had migrated from the South here to have their calves, for there were too many predators in their homeland. The Parrot Buffalo were nearly as large as an adult Bear Owl, but they would still run from a Sand Snake of Sorith's size. Sorith put the babies down behind a rock where they would stay hidden.

"Alright, both of you stay here and don't come out until I say so. Got it?" The babies nodded, seeming to understand. "Okay, good." Sorith them went into hunting mode, and slithered along the shadowy edge of the rocks to conceal himself from the herd. Suddenly, the herd's leader, a huge male with a broken left horn, picked up Sorith's scent. Sorith stayed absolutely still as the huge male approached, but suddenly, his luck changed when the girl stood up on the rocks and began making several obnoxious noises and sticking out her tongue, causing the leader to abandon Sorith and investigate. Wow. Smart baby! Sorith thought. With the leader distracted, Sorith seized his chance. He shot out of his hiding place and hissed menacingly, scaring the living daylights out of the herd and causing them to panic and stampede. Sorith chased after them, his superior speed giving him a huge advantage. The babies giggled with excitment as they watched.

Sorith quickly caught up with herd and went after the nearest female. He lunghed at the bovine and wrapped it in his coils, preventing it from escaping. He then called out to the babies, and they raced over on their little hands and legs. The cow mooed in fear as the hungry cave-children approached. Sorith rotated the Parrot Buffalo onto its back so that its udders were exposed. Excited, the babies jumped onto the cow and began suckling from it. Sorith had to admit, the way they did it was kind of cute! They must've been even hungrier than Sorith thought, because after they sucked the cow dry, they begged for more.

"How can you two still be hungry?" He was a bit surprised, but he went out to get another cow anyway. It was harder the second time, since the herd was pretty much expecting him, but he managed to nab another female and drag it back to the kids, whose stomachs were rumbling even louder now. Once the second cow was sucked dry, the children were finally satisfied. Sorith sighed with releif and released the cow which stampeded away. The two babies yawned tiredly and fell onto Sorith's back, completely tuckered out. Sorith smiled at them before slithering back to the canyons.

When he returned to his home in the canyonlands, the sun had begun to sink below the clifftops. The cave-babies were already half asleep when Sorith gentily set them down on a soft patch of sand and coiled himself around them. Sorith was quite tired himself, but then he had a thought: They need names. This was true. Sorith needed something to call the children, something they could go by for their whole lives. Sorith looked down at the two of them, and they yawned cutely before smiling up at him. Sorith then noticed that the girl had two large buck-teeth, and the boy was gnawing on a bone he had found nearby, clearly teething.

Sorith then thought of two perfect names for them both. He looked closely at them and announced to them their knew names.

"I'll name you Toothy," He said to the boy. "And I'll name you Buck." This he told the girl. The kids smiled and laughed at their new names, and hugged Sorith tightly on the snout. As Sorith pulled away, Buck and Toothy fell into a deep, satisfying sleep.

Sorith smiled down at them. Buck & Toothy. Sister and brother. Cave-children. His cave-children.

Buck & Toothy.


Isn't that sweet? :) I hope you all liked this chapter, because the next one continues from here! And yes, I also think the beginning was a little gruesome, but that's how I wrote it and it's not changing! I don't own any of the characters in this chapter, only their names are mine.

And yes, I know that Buck is a weird name for a girl, but that's what her name is and I for one like it! Chapter 5 will be about a certain elephant-giraffe hybrid!

A/N: This will be the last fic I'm publishing for a while, because I'm going to focus more on updating my other ones.

A/N 2: Also, the Parrot Buffalo is featured in the Croods art. And yes, I know it doesn't look anything like my depiction of it, but can't we agree that my version clearly looks better?

LOL you thought I was going to make Sorith hiss his S's, didn't you?