Author's note: Not to worry, Funkywatermelon, Kara IA Fangirl, Grantourer and all guest reviewers. Things are just getting started...I think.

I do not own Ice Age. Those rights belong to BlueSky studios. I only own Slut, my first Ice Age OC.


CH7: Separation and Reunion.

The screams from Manny, Buck and Crash echoed through the tunnel they were falling through, separated from the rest of the herd and not knowing when the tunnel will stop. They hoped that it wouldn't be a splat ending. Thankfully, the tunnel suddenly curved into a slide below them, and while Manny landed but was not sliding the rest of the way down, Buck landed on top of his back, and had to catch Crash before the Possum could have a hard landing on the rock tunnel. They continued to scream until finally, the end of the tunnel was coming into view with an exit in front of them.

Sliding out of the tunnel, Manny came to a halt on the ground, and slumped forward. Buck and Crash managed to hang onto him to prevent themselves from flying off their friend.

"Everyone alright?" Buck asked, finding himself concerned. But then again, his friends were important to him and he didn't want to risk losing them. However, now that he was with only a rather annoyed and desperate Manny and a devastated Crash, he didn't know if everyone else were alright. He was relieved that his baby Pumpkin was safe, but even that didn't change the fact that he had no idea where they were or where everyone else were.

"You mean aside the fact that the others are missing, we're completely lost with a giant monkey out to get us, and we ended up falling 200 feet from one tunnel to another? Yeah, I'm fine." Manny replied sarcastically as he stood up, glancing at the weasel in sheer annoyance.

Buck cringed slightly while holding his paws up in surrender, admitting, "Alright, alright. It's my fault that things turned out like this, and I'm really sorry. I was supposed to be responsable."

Despite feeling very angry with him, Manny knew that he couldn't blame Buck for everything that's happened. Sid was right. Buck didn't know about what was going to happen. Plus, the weasel had done more the right things than making multiple mistakes. Screwing things up was really Sid's forte.

Sighing, Manny replied, "No, it's not your fault, Buck. I'm just very worried about Ellie, Peaches, Julian and everyone else."

"Eddie's gone too." Crash added as he glanced around in despair. As much as he and his brother fought, they were both very close and sticked together 24/7. They were a team, a duo. Now that Eddie and Ellie and everyone else were somewhere else in the cave, Crash couldn't help but breakdown, "What if Slut gets to them before we do? Or us? Or what if they are trapped facing dangers? What if we never see them again?" before crying his eyes out.

Seeing this made Buck feel very guilty for the first time in a long time. Despite Manny saying that it wasn't his fault, the weasel couldn't help but feel that it was indeed his fault. So, the only thing he could do was embrace the distraughted possum and allowed Crash to cry in his arms while doing his best to comfort him. The weasel tried not to think of the worst case scenarios, but the guilt was somehow starting to overcome him.

If only he knew that Slut had been alive all this time.

No. He couldn't let his guilt get to him. Buck knew, he had to get everyone back together and only hope that they were still alive. With his confidence half returning, Buck told the crying Crash, "We'll find them, mate. Try and think positive."

Sniffling and trying to calm down, Crash wiped away a tear, and asked, "D-do you think they're okay?"

"My gut says yes." Buck assured, giving the possum a light rub on the head to comfort him.

"I know that Diego and Shira can handle themselves and if they're with the others, it'll be okay. It's Ellie, Eddie, Peaches, Sid, Brooke and Julian I'm worried about." Manny spoke up as he walked into the tunnel they were in, with two of his friends riding on his back.

Buck thought about it, before remembering he saw who went with who. "If I recall correctly, Your wife, Diego's mate and Sid's girlfriend went into one tunnel, Peaches and Eddie are with the tiger, and oh yes, the sloth and your son-in-law went into another hole." he said, though he was concerned about both Sid and Julian.

Within his mind, Neil deBuck Weasel had been listening to the entire conversation with Robo-Weasel and...Angel-Weasel, I think?, before commenting while breaking the fourth wall, "It makes me wonder if BlueSky's gonna make a halloween special in three years time about this story or something similiar." which Buck, Crash and Manny didn't even notice.

Manny paused in his thoughts, before groaning in hopeless sarcastic despair, "Then it's Sid and Julian I'm definately worried about." he said.

"The journey to find our friends may be long and dangerous, into the great unknown, but we will never give up!" Buck told him confidently. "A mammal's gotta do what a mammal's gotta do!" to which only made Manny think of him as crazy all over again.

Crash was about to say something, feeling a bit better, when he suddenly felt his fur on the back of his neck tickle uncomfortably as he suddenly felt that someone, or something was behind them. Slowly turning around nervously, his eyes shrank in fear as he saw something dangerous and terrifying that he practically felt paralyzed in fear. "Uh...guys?" he squeaked.

Manny and Buck both turned their heads slightly behind them to see what Crash was seeing, only to have their eyes widen as well, as a large shadow of a giant spider loomed before them which the light from the end of the tunnel. The Spider's shadow was getting closer and closer, and Manny ended up turning around before backing away from the shadow. Buck quickly pulled out his knife and held it in defence, ready to fight if he had to. He'd wrestled with a giant trantula before he met the herd.

Fortunately, the group had been overracting, as the shadow somehow became smaller, until the spider came from behind a small rock, revealing that it was just a small spider walking along.

"It's just a itty bitty spider. Nothing to worry about." Buck concluded to his friends. Crash sighed in relief, while Manny groaned, also relieved. "I've fought against an ever larger one to save the butterfly you both remember when he was a caterpiller."

"Weren't you about to get eaten by the spider too?" Crash asked, astonded.

"I was, but you know me. I escaped unharmed." Buck replied, while examining his finger nails stylishly.

"The only enjoy you ever got was losing your eye." Manny shook his head, as he turned to exit the tunnel once again, hoping to find the others.

"Well, that was a long time ago." Buck said back, but then his expression once again turned to horror as at the end of the tunnel, Manny failed to realise that the end actually had a slide of ice and crystal at the foot of the exit. "Manny, stop!"

"Wha-AHH!" Manny went to reply only to realise too late to his friend's warning. He missed his step and soon he went down sliding the slide that was a bit wider than him. Buck and Crash both ended up falling off their friend and ended up landing and sliding right behind their friend, all three of them screaming as they slid down and around the icy tunnel slide.

Buck managed to grab hold of Crash who was actually starting to enjoy the ride and the Possum was wooting cheerfully, while the weasel tried to slow their descentant towards wherever below with the knife that was once Rudy's tooth, but all it did was make horrible high-pitched screeching nosie as they and Manny continued to slide down in panic, or in Crash's case, in thrill and fun.


The trio of screams that came from Manny, Buck and Crash echoed through out the other tunnels, one of them which was heard by Peaches, Diego and the frightened Eddie who perched himself on his adoptive niece's back, whimpering and terrified without Crash by his side.

As the trio stopped to listen more carefully, Peaches was the first to recongise the screams and said worriedly, "That was Dad, Uncle Crash and Uncle Buck!"

"What if Slut's gotten to them!?" Eddie shrieked in a panic, thinking of the worst case scenario.

Diego listened out for where the screams were coming from, which were somehow getting closer and closer. He eventually turned his attention at the end of the tunnel. "Sounds like there about to enter where the end of the this tunnel leads to. Maybe we can find the others there."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Peaches quickly said.

As much as the sabor wanted to tell his adoptive niece that it was simply too dangerous, Diego knew that the young female mammoth won't take no for an answer. She definately had her mother's trait. The same stubbornness. Nodding in agreement, the two of them took off running to find the others, with Eddie still perched on Peaches' back.

It wasn't until he noticed ice coming into view of the others and the Possum screamed out, "Peaches, Diego! Watch out for that ice!"

The others looked and realised that halfway towards the exit was ice-covered floor. Too late to stop themselves, they could only skid before they slipped and began to slide on the ice, sliding in incredibly high-speed with no way of stopping. Eddie clinged onto Peaches, but then decided to enjoy the little ride while Peaches and Diego cried out in alarm.


"Manny!" Sid called out with his paws cupped around his mouth, his calls echoing around the tunnel he and Julian were in together.

"Peaches!" Julian called out as well. The tunnel they were in was creeper than the one they and the others fell from.

"Brooke?" Sid continued to call.

"Diego?" Julian did the same. "Come out, come out, wherever you guys are!"

"Here, fellas, fellas, fellas!" Sid called stupidly. It was almost an a repeat of finding Granny all over again. He poked his head into a small hole on the ground, only for a swarm of at least two hundred black bats come flying out all around the two. This resulted in Sid and Julian panicking and they ran away, screaming in fear, with Sid waving his arms in the air in panic.


Ellie, Brooke and Shira had found themselves in an ice tunnel, one that, unknown to the three of them, was almost an identical version of the one their mates had traversed through in their first adventure together. Shira, being the only one to guide her friends safely, was being cautious on their surroundings.

"I really hope Sid's okay. I'm so worried." Brooke thought. She knew that the others would be alright.

"I'm sure everyone's fine. We just have to find them and soon." Ellie said.

"Well, we'd better stick together. This tunnel's giving me the creeps." Shira cautioned to her friends. Suddenly she felt like a female version of Diego.

The trio passed through icy walls that held frozen solid forms of fish, animals neither of them had ever seen before, and even a monsterous sized Dragonfly with a freaked out expression of being frozen. All three females quirked disgusted eyebrows and cringed while passing the frozen wall of the giant instect.

"That's worse than seeing the giant butterfly." Ellie muttered.

"That's worse than Shangri Llama ending up sick on Teddy." Brooke agreed.

"That's worse than Flynn's booty in front of Squint's face." Shira cringed at the memory.

Too bad neither of them realised they were about to step onto yet another ice slide and when they did, they all slipped and slid screaming as they slid through another tunnel, unable to stop themselves from crashing, which didn't happen quite yet.


Multiple screams echoed from the tunnel of reflections in which Shadow, Duke, Thorn and the freaking out Chaos traversed through, while Slut continued to cause destruction as he followed them in a powerful goal to capture the weasel and mammoth and their herd.

"Did you guys hear that?" Chaos asked.

"Sounds like...screaming." Thorn said mysteriously.

"You think?" Duke asked sarcastically.

Shadow listened in carefully with his hearing, as the screams continued, though they were becoming more and more distant. "It appears to be coming from below." he thought. He then turned to his three followers and commanded them, "Find the source of those screams and report back to either me or Master Slut. Move out!"

"No need to find the source." Slut's voice came as he came crushing through the wall with an evil grin on his expression. "I recongise that weasel's cry. He and the herd are right below us!"


Scrat continued to tumble along the tube-like tunnel, grunting and yelling, "Ooh! Omph! Ow! Whoa! Eep! Aah! Agh!" rolling like a small ball of fur. After what seemed like forever, the tunnel came to such a sudden end as he flew out head first into a patch of open air and nose-diving onto a smooth, flat surface of a strong resemblance to blue glass and crashed with a thud, dazed.

Groaning at being sore, Scrat slowly pushed himself up, before shaking his head to rid the dizzy spells and flying mammoths that circled around his head. Looking around at his new surroundings, he realised he was in a cavern of large crystals and ice. But what was in front of him was the best thing he'd seen all day. It was his Acorn, sitting on the surface all by itself.

Happily, he skipped towards it, and hugged it, caressing it. However, before Scrat would even think about moving on, all of the sudden, multiple screams could be heard all around him from every different direction. Behind him, two screams and a cheer of thrill came closer and closer. Scrat looked behind him and his eyes widened in dumbfounded shock, as Manny, Buck and Crash came sliding from the slide and onto the surface and were about to hit him.

From another direction, Scrat turned to in front of him, and he began to panic as Sid and Julian came sprinting from nearby opening. To his left, Peaches, Diego and Eddie were sliding out of control from another opening. To his right, Ellie, Shira and Brooke came from a third opening, also sliding out of control, all four groups having him trapped in the middle as they came closer and closer. All Scrat could do was scream before curling up as best as he could with his Acorn in his arms, while the herd all collided into one another and there was an obnoxious CRASH!

The impact caused the herd to slide straight into a cluster of reflective crystals, shattering several in the process, and piled onto one another in an tangled mess. Poor Scrat was practically engulfed by the herd who all groaned at the impact.

Sid was on of Diego who instantly recongised him and asked, dumbfounded, "Sid?"

"Sid!" Brooke said happily, instantly freeing herself and soon freed her lover, before giving him a loving and relieved kiss, which he embraced her in return, also in relief.

"Eddie!" Crash cried out happily upon seeing his twin brother.

"Crash!" Eddie cried out happily in return, practically in tears, and the two brothers embraced, crying in happiness, so relieved to be back together again.

Soon the herd all got up after untangling themselves and all embraced in relief, evn including Buck who felt touched by this, before making sure his 'daughter' the Pumpkin was alright. To his relief, 'she' was, but he hugged both her and his friends none the less. Buck never felt so relieved in his entire life. Upon this, they all let Scrat go who was nearly flattened, before he leaped out, glaring at the animals who all squashed him, before hugging his Acorn lovingly.

"Is everyone okay?" Manny asked once the words of 'we've been so worried' and 'where were you' and things like that were done.

"Apart from sliding from one tunnel to another, just fine." Shira replied.

"See? I told you we'd find them." Buck told Crash who smiled along with Eddie. The weasel then shrugged a bit sheepishly and added, "Not what I had in mind, but, at least we're all back together."

However, before they all could do anything else, a sudden low but loud evil growl that sounded like laughter echoed through out the cavern and the group looked up, as they could hear cracking of rocks and crystals. Everyone, even Scrat who crouched low, holding his nut closer to his chest, shrank back a little in fear, while Buck tried his best to be in his best fighting position.

"Slut." Buck muttered, furrowing his brow as he recongised the laughter.

"How did he managed to catch up to us?" Ellie asked, shocked.

"Well, he's probably a very smart monkey." Manny thought, nervously.

Scrat, terrified for his life and Acorn, noticed another tunnel leading up to somewhere, hopefully to the surface. Without any second thought, he made a run for it towards the tunnel that was the fifth opening. Sid was the first to notice the little squirrel's exit and quickly told the others, "Guys! There's a tunnel leading up to somewhere that we can hide!"

The others turned to see that the sloth was right. With no time to lose, Buck told all of his friends, "To the tunnel! Let's go!"

Without arguing the point and the cracking and laughter becoming louder and louder, everyone all quickly picked up the pace and quickly followed Scrat into the tunnels which thankfully was rock and just ran without looking back, and continued to do so, in fear that Slut and his minions would catch up to them in no time flat.

When all of the animals emerged from the tunnel after seeing the exit, Scrat, Buck, Manny, Sid, Diego, Ellie, Crash, Eddie, Peaches, Shira and Brooke found themselves standing on a stone platform with a rock cliff-path leading down to safety. From where they were standing, they slowed to a stop as they took in the most breathtaking sight they had ever seen. Vast mountains and valleys of greenary, magnificent trees and lush green grass, with snow patches here and there, the most beautiful rock waterfalls which, relfected by the sunlight, made rainbows in front of the waterfalls and crystal-clear blue rivers that sparkled in the sunlight like day-time stars, and a road leading out of this beautiful valley to the more normal fields of snow. Birds were flying freely and happily in the air. In the middle of it was a giant lush fresh green tree with vines hanging from the branches.

"Whoa...!" Crash and Eddie both muttered in awe, their jaws dropping in astondedment.

"Ooooooh!" Scrat muttered, feeling a bit hypnotized by this sight.

"This is the most beautfiul valley I've ever seen!" Peaches said in amazement, sharing a stunned and cheerfuly glance with Julian who echoed her expression.

"I could live in a place like this!" Julian agreed.

Almost everyone else had their jaws dropped in astondedment. Neither of them or Buck had seen such a sight before in their lives. The world still held many surprises for them. Buck somehow thought he recongised this place, but he couldn't pin-point on where he'd seen or at least heard such a valley like this before. That's when he remembered as he gazed at the giant tree.

"Poppy was right." Buck muttered, more to himself than his friends, his childhood memories of his grandfather's stories returning to him. "It does exist."

"What exists?" Diego asked, having heard what Buck said.

"The Valley of Freedom!" Buck almost exclaimed happily. "It's a legendary valley that no animal except for birds had ever seen before. It's a place where hopes of those who have done the right thing can get the best luck if the worst case scenario happens! I've been hearing about this place from my grandfather ever since I was a wee li'l kit!"

"Just because it's the most beautiful valley ever, that doesn't mean it can give us good luck in bad situations." Manny pointed out, not understanding why Buck was so happy about this.

Buck gazed at his mammoth friend and told him while gesturing at the valley, "Maybe not, but it's exactly how Poppy discribed it! That tree right in the middle is one of the biggest ones that ever existed in this world. It's over a thousand years old but it still lives on as though it were still young!"

"Sounds like the crystals at Geotopia before Sid accidently destoryed it." Shira thought.

"I've heard about this tree too. But no one in Geotopia thought it was real." Brooke thought, thoroughly amazed.

Sid smiled with his girlfriend and said, "Well, I guess we're lucky that we found this place, huh?"

"Uh, problem." Ellie spoke up worriedly. "What if Slut's able to come here?"

Everyone, except Scrat who continued to gaze around in awe, all lost their smiles and quickly remembered the giant monkey they were running from and became quickly concerned. They found the most beautiful valley ever, and yet, with Slut behind them, all that could easily change.

Noticing the path, and without much a choice, they all quickly ran down the path in hopes of figuring out how to prevent Slut from finding them and hoping that he wouldn't pick up their tracks from the tunnel were they came from. Scrat noticed the herd running, before glancing back at the cave, and, not sure if he was hallucanating or not, thought he could see a pair of evil eyes lurking in the darkness. Suddenly nervous, Scrat then made a run for it down the path himself, hoping to save himself and the Acorn.

Too bad things were about to change.


A/N: I made up the valley myself in case you guys are wondering. Sorry that it's not the best chapter out, but at least the herd's all back together. I'll see you again soon in the next chapter.