Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.
"Speaking"
Thoughts

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Chapter 3: Story Time

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Recap:

With that I dove right in, blueberries are my favorite kind of berries. So monster blueberries were like a dream come true, unlike the other kind of monsters down here.

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After lunch Buck and I were sitting under the tree.

"Well, I guess we should be trying to get you back to the surface. Where'd you fall from?" He asked giving me a sideways glance.

"Not sure, but I was under some stone arch. That's what I banged my arm on."

"Mmmm," Buck nodded looking back where we had come from, "Ha! There!" He pointed. "Is that the arch?"

I followed his hand and found where he was pointing. "I think so. Wow, that's far."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "But not as far as we have to go. Come on let's get a move on." Buck said picking his dagger out of the ground and placing it on his shoulder.

"What do you mean 'not as far as we have to go'?" I said using air quotes with my good arm.

"Well, ya see those pillars?"

"Yeah, they're kind of hard to miss. Why?"

"Those lead up to the surface, and the closest one would've been the one with the cave, but seeing as I destroyed the bridge a few weeks ago…our only choice is that one. Way over there on the other side of The Plates of Woe."

"Plates of Woe?"

"Yeah, well what's left of them after Rudy went through there, anyway, we have two choices. One we go straight through The Plates of Woe and face certain death or option two, go the long way around through Lava Falls." He said with a happy grin.

"Um, you know this place better than I do, so you choose."

"Do you need to return soon?"

"What?"

"Do you have anyone waiting for you up there?"

"…I'm, not sure. I was separated from my family during a blizzard. For all I know they could be anywhere, or at the very least think that I'm dead."

"Or be dead themselves." I glared at Buck. "What? They could be, just saying." He suddenly got serious. "OK if you're following me I've got rules. Rule number one, always listen to Buck. Rule number two, keep to the center of the trail. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" I saluted earning a grin and slight chuckle from Buck.

He then turned around. "Long way it is then." And with that my underground adventures with Buck began.

About five minutes into our walk I broke the silence. "Hey Buck?"

"Aye?"

"How'd you lose your eye?"

"Well, you see it all happened on a stormy night a few months ago. It was a stormy night, and there I was, my back against the wall, no way out, perched on the razors edge of oblivion, staring into the eye of the great, white, beast…"

I listened intently as we walked. "…I may have lost an eye that day, but I got this." Buck said showing me his dagger.

"You got Rudy's tooth? That's so cool." I've always wanted a life of adventure. Maybe…Nah.

After Buck's story of how he lost his eye, he went on to tell how he used a sharpened clam shell to turn a T-Rex into a T-Rachel.

"We'll camp here for tonight." Buck said, stopping suddenly. "We don't want to give Rudy a midnight snack." He moseyed over to a tree with a thick trunk that was covered in vines. "It's safer in the trees; you'll be able to spot anything coming before they spot you."

As night fell the jungle came alive with sounds that I've never heard before. It was quite peaceful actually, with the chirps and whistles and the sound of the wind through the leaves. Well until a roar sounded, and not too far off either. I was just about to fall asleep when I heard it and bolted up right.

"Buck?" He wasn't where he was before I had closed my eyes. "Buck? Where'd you go?"

"Shhhh." He was on a higher limb looking into the darkness. "We've got company."

"Is it Rudy?" I asked pulling myself onto his branch.

"No, I don't think so; I don't recognize this dino call…" Just then the ground started to shake with the approach of thundering foot falls. "We've got to go. Now! Run!" Buck pushed me out of the tree, luckily I landed on my feet and not my arm, and a second later he was right next to me pulling me in to the jungle. The tree we were just in fell on the path beside us, and an ear splitting, earth shattering roar sounded right behind us.