Ice Age: Tale of Man

Summary: What if the trio didn't manage to return Pinky to his family? What dramatic change would this have on not only his life, but the lives of those around him?

Disclaimer: Ice Age belongs to Fox, I own nothing currently.

Special thanks to all those who reviewed! I apologize for the wait!

)(*)(

After navigating through the singing vultures, the herd finally found themselves at their destination. In the distance Pinky saw the biggest piece of wood he had ever seen.

"We made it!" Diego said, relieved.

"Yeah! We showed those scary vultures!" Sid agreed. Everyone began to cheer; Manny was even bouncing Pinky into the air, until suddenly the ground started to explode in front of them. The possum brothers hid behind Ellie's leg and Pinky hugged Manny's trunk. This was just like the time fire had exploded from the ground. Sid waved it off.

"Aw, it's just a little bit of hot water and steam! How bad could it be?" Just as he asked this, a do-do bird fell into of the holes and was shot back out as fried chicken. Sid's expression dropped and his eyes became smaller. "I just did something involuntary. And messy." Pinky's face screwed with disgust. Manny looked down at Pinky before closing his eyes and tightened his grip on him.

"Okay, c'mon!" He called to the rest. He had to jump back though when a stream of air exploded before him.

"Manny! Get back! It's a mine field out there!" Pinky, who was scared of the noise, began to cry loudly. Why was everything exploding? What was going on? He looked to his guardian for ease, however this time Manny did not comfort him. He did rock him slightly.

"There's only one way to go through!" he called back to Diego. "Straight through!"

"Straight through?! We'd like to keep the fur on our bodies, thank you!" Pinky agreed with Ellie. "We'll head back and go around. That's safer."

"No, no!" Manny argued. He set Pinky down, so he could reason with the she-mammoth. "There's no time! The dam will burst before we make it! We'll drown!"

"We go through this, we get blown to bits!"

"We go forward!"

"We go back!"

"Forward!"

"Back!"

Pinky, who was right between them, cried louder. Why were Manny and Ellie yelling at each other? What was going on? Diego saw Pinky's discomfort and stepped forward.

"Can I say something?"

"No!" they both yelled. Frowning, Diego pulled the frightened baby from the two mammoths and Sid picked him up to comfort him.

"Ugh! You are so stubborn and hard headed!" Manny finally yelled.

"Well, I guess that proves it!" Ellie snapped back. "I am a mammoth!" With that she left, taking her brothers with her. Pinky cried and reached after her. Now where were Ellie, Eddie, and Crash going? Was anyone ever going to explain... anything to him?! He flinched when another geyser exploded. When he opened his eyes again he saw Manny navigating through what Diego called the mine field.

"Don't worry, little guy." Sid cooed as he tried to calm the baby. "We'll be okay." He then winced as another burst of hot air was released. "I hope."

Pinky was so scared the whole time they navigated through the field. He was taken back to when fire had been shooting from the ground. He remembered being scared then, but this was different. Manny wasn't there to comfort him.

"Manny!" Pinky looked up and saw Manny fall. He let out a cry of worry as Sid rushed over with Diego. Both his guardians and Pinky called out to him, but Manny didn't reply. He just kept staring ahead with wide eyes.

"Manny! We gotta go!" Suddenly Manny seemed to snap awake. He jumped up, looking frightened and panicked, which in turn worried Pinky. If Manny, as big and strong as he was, was scared, then they must be in real danger. Manny was so scared he almost ran back and had to be ushered by Diego in the right direction.

At last though, they made it out of the mine field and Pinky saw a whole line of animals boarding what seemed to be a giant log.

"We made it." Diego breathed.

"But did Ellie?" Pinky looked around for the possum family, but didn't see them. Where were they? Did they get blown up like that birdy? The herd ran down to the line of animals and began to ask everyone if they saw them, but no one did.

"I don't see her anywhere!"

"Maybe she's already on board!"

Just then the ground gave a sudden quake. Pinky buried his face into Sid's neck. The started to fall and everybody began to panic. Sid had to step off to the side so he and Pinky wouldn't get trampled. Pinky then spotted the possum brother's climbing Manny, but Ellie was nowhere in sight. This

Suddenly Manny ran off, much to the confusion of Pinky. Sid made to follow him, but was stopped by Diego.

"Sid! Get on the boat! Let Manny and I handle this!"

"But-"

"You gotta get Pinky to safety!" Pinky looked between the two of them confused. "That's the important thing right now." Sid seemed to want to argue, but bit his lip and nodded. Diego returned it before running after Manny. Pinky let out a cry as he reached after them. Where were they going? Why were they leaving him and Sid? He may be a baby but he still wanted answers to at least one of his questions. Sid gently began to coo him.

"It's going to be okay, Pinky." He promised. "Manny and Diego will be back before you know it. Now c'mon. We're going to ride in a big boat!"

Sid turned to follow the rest of the animals, but was knocked back, off the road. He let out a scream as he fell and in the process threw Pinky in the air. Pinky let out a slight cheer, this being the most fun he's had in the past 15 minutes. Sid bounced a few times before landing on a rock that was rolling down the hill. He ran on it and just managed to catch the baby when he fell. The next thing Sid knew, he and Pinky were barrel running down the hill on the rock he had landed on. Sid screamed like a girl, but Pinky cheered, having the first amount of fun in the past few hours.

*8*

Below, Diego stopped for a moment.

"Anyone else hear that?" he asked just before Sid and Pinky rolled by. "Sid?!"

Sid hit a twig and was knocked back as Pinky flew from his grip. Pinky almost fell into the water, but luckily he landed on floating piece of ice. The water began to spin Pinky around in circles, making him dizzy as images began to surface in his mind.

He remembered someone holding him as they fell in the water. He remembered the shock of the icy water washing over him as he spun beneath it.

Pinky let out a worried cried towards his mammoth guardian whom he saw swimming towards a cluster of rocks, but Manny could not hear him over the rushing water.

"Pinky!" Sid yelled down as he and Diego watched in worry as Pinky spun. It looked as if their baby was going to be washed away when he got caught between a twig where Crash and Eddie were. He would have waved at them if he wasn't so terrified.

"Hang on, baby! I'll save you!" Sid jumped of the ledge he was standing, but instead of landing in the water like he had planned, he hit a floating piece of ice and was knocked out. Eddie slapped a palm over his face.

"Great! Now who's gonna save him?" Pinky cried worriedly as Sid floated towards them and Crash and Eddie grabbed him by the teeth with their tails.

From his perch, Diego watched with wide eyes. Of course he wanted to help his friends and his baby, but at the same time he could feel his fear surge through him like electricity, paralyzing him as he stared at the rushing depths of the water. The water flow echoed in his ear, clouding out everything else around him. He was only brought out of this when a loud cry pierced his senses he looked up and saw that Pinky was crying, just as scared of what was happening around him. Diego clenched his eyes in determination. It didn't matter how scared he was. He had to protect Pinky! He had too. And of course there was Crash, Eddie, and Sid to save.

"I am not your prey…" he growled at the rushing water. Then his eyes snapped open. "I am not your prey!" Diego leaped into the water and started to float to the bottom, but then he remembered what Sid had told him the other day and started to kick. He broke the surface and then began to swim over the animals and the baby. Just in time too as a rough wave appeared and knocked Pinky into the water.

Pinky was terrified as he, Sid, and Crash floated downwards. He blinked a few times and briefly saw a woman he recognized to be "mama." She reached her arms out towards him, but before he could do anything, something grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt. He didn't realize who it was though until he broke the surface and was carried to a piece of dry land.

Diego patted his back as Pinky coughed a few times.

"You did it buddy," Sid said quietly to the cat. "You kicked water's butt." Diego let out a hallow laugh.

"Nothing to it," he said. "Most can do it as babies you know."

"Yeah, but not Tigers. I left that part out." Diego got a funny look and Pinky laughed, feeling a bit safer now that he was with two of his guardians.

*8*

After they had recovered, the animals and the baby decided to see if they could find Manny and Ellie. When they finally found Manny, he was pushing against the rock for some reason that Pinky could not figure out. Pinky called out to him when suddenly he vanished into the water.

"Manny!" Pinky peered around worriedly. What had just happened? Where did Manny go?

Manny reappeared again and for a moment the baby was relieved, until he heard Sid yell,

"Manny! Behind you!" Pinky looked up and saw that the two water monsters were heading toward him. Pinky cried out and tried to wiggle out of Sid's grip when Manny and the two vanished from sight. Everything went quiet and Pinky felt his little heart fill with dread. Did they get him? Was Manny now… "extinct?"

He was about to burst into tears when suddenly from the water Pinky saw two familiar trunks. He let a giggle of joy as the two mammoths swam towards them, unharmed. When they were close enough, Pinky hugged Manny as tight as he could and refused to let go for anything. Manny was so relieved to be alive that he didn't even think to ask why he and Sid were here when they should have been on the boat.

"We're going to live!" Sid cheered. Then he noticed the water rising. "We're gonna die!" Now even Pinky could see that they were surrounded by the wet substance with nothing dry in sight. He buried his face in Manny's fur, too scared to look around. Was this the end? Was Pinky and his herd going to become extinct now?

Suddenly the dam crack open and all the water around them drained out. When the water was gone, Pinky let out a joyful laugh as everyone else grinned.

They were safe.

*8*

Now that they were safe, the herd decided to go and see if the rest of the animals were okay. Everyone was really happy and relieved that the flood was over and so was Pinky.

"You know, I'm thinking about starting a swim school. Sid's Squids!" he heard Sid say. He giggled as Sid held him up and bounced him. "Guess who's gonna be my next student!"

Suddenly Sid let out a cry and hid behind Diego with Pinky. Pinky let out a curious sound as he peered around the tiger. He then let out a happy cheer when he saw the mini-sids remembering how much fun they were the other day.

"All hail Fire King!" one cried before they all bowed. Sid placed Pinky on the ground next to Diego before stepping forward.

"Uh, Hi?" he waved slowly. They all jumped up excitedly and did the same, making Pinky laugh while Diego and Sid shared a look.

"Fire king avert flood. Join us, oh great and noble fire one!" Pinky tilted his head as he always did when he didn't understand something, which seemed to be everything lately. What was a fire one? Or a fire king for that matter? He knew what fire was. Sid made it all the time with rocks. He tried to once, but it didn't work.

He looked up his green guardian to see what he would say, but it was Diego who spoke.

"Whoa! Whoa, not so fast there, okay?" He stepped towards the mini-sids. "You make a quality offer, but fire king has prior commitments. His herd needs him." He walked back to Sid and Pinky. "He is the googy, sticky, stuff that holds us together. And we'd be nothing without him." Sid looked at him, face bright with happiness.

"You mean it?!" Sid then threw his arms around the shy tiger, making the other sloths copy him. Pinky decided that he quickly wanted in on this. So, he stood and held out his arms and squeaked.

"Ssss…id." Sid and Diego blinked. "Id!" They looked at him, but didn't pick him up so Pinky spoke again, though it was slightly tumbled. "Sssyld!"

Sid let out a gasp of happiness.

"You spoke!" he grabbed Pinky and spun him. "You hear that, Diego?! He spoke! I told you he could!" Pinky didn't understand why Sid was so happy, but he enjoyed the spinning. Sid turned to Manny and Ellie. "Manny! Ellie! He spoke! Our baby spoke!"

"You're kidding!" Ellie said.

"No, no! He can! See? Pinky, do it again! Show aunt Ellie!" Pinky didn't see what was so exciting, however he had learned a while ago that simple things gave his guardians pleasure, so he spoke again. Ellie gasped happily as Manny blinked in surprise.

"Sid, that's great! Isn't it, Manny?"

"Yeah," Manny agreed, still surprised. "It is!" He expected to see Rhinos fly any minute now. He never thought he'd see a human talk, even his little guy.

A second later they heard a low rumble. For a moment, Pinky was frighten that the water would come back so he clung tightly to Manny. However he soon saw that the rumbling didn't come from the water, but this time from a heard of Mannys and Ellies, they were different colors some, but they were Mannys and Ellies all the same.

"We're not the last ones anymore!" Ellie cheered.

"Yeah…" When Manny spoke it was in a disappointed tone and Pinky didn't know why. Ellie started follow the rest of the mammoths, but stopped when Manny didn't follow.

"You're not coming?"

"You… want to go with them?" Ellie walked up close.

"Well, I am a mammoth," she said. "I should probably be with a mammoth. Don't ya think?" Pink swore she was trying to say something, but he had decided to stop trying to figure out what these adults were saying. It hurt his head too much.

"Yeah, unless…" Manny trailed off and both Pinky and Ellie looked at him expectantly.

"Unless…?"

"Unless, I, um… I just wanna say… I need to tell you…" the mammoths stared at each other for the longest time and Pinky was impatient. He even let a wail to tell him so. Manny sighed.

"I hope you find everything you're looking for." He finally said to the shemoth. Ellie looked down cast when he said that.

"You too." She said. She patted Pinky's head affectionately. "You look after him okay, Pinky?"

Then to Pinky's confusion she and her brothers started to walk away. He whined slightly as he reached after them, not just because he didn't want them to go, but because they were walking in the direction of the exploding ground. Maybe they would go around.

Sid and Diego walked up to them.

"Manny," Sid said, as he gently took the baby. "You've come a long way since we met and I'll take full credit for that-" Pinky squealed. "Okay, okay! Sixty-percent. But you need to let go of the past so you can have a future." Manny looked at them tearfully, then after Ellie, before at Pinky.

"What about…" Diego stepped forward.

"We got him," he assured the mammoth. "Go after her."

"It's okay." Sid urged. Pinky didn't understand. Were they going after Ellie? Sid touched Manny's tusk and Pinky playfully hung from it. "We'll always be here." Manny smiled.

"I'll keep in touch." He promised.

"Yeah, yeah. You're a good friend. Point made, now go on." Diego urged, bashfully. Manny smiled then grabbed Pinky and hugged him tightly.

"I'll never forget you." He whispered. Then he handed him back to Sid and with one last look walked away.

"Our Manny's growing up." Sid whispered. Pinky reached after him with a sad squeal, but stopped when he saw Manny and Ellie were together. He didn't understand much (or anything for that matter) but seeing Manny with Ellie made him realize that was where he belonged. With Ellie. So, choking back his cries for the first time, Pinky turned away and buried his face in Sid's filthy neck.

"Shh! It's okay. We'll be okay little guy." Sid said softly as he and Diego turned away. "I guess it's just us now. You, me, and our little baby knocking about in the wild, woo-hoo!"

"I hardly think we'll be 'knocking about.'" Diego said, motioning to Pinky, whom Sid set down at his fussing so he could toddle beside them.

"Oh, come on! We can still have fun!"

"Ugh! Fine. But I'm not going to carry you. I still have my pride you know."

"Aw, c'mon! For old times' sake?"

"I'll carry him!" Pinky turned and let out a squeal of Joy when he saw Manny, with Sid on his back, and Ellie, Crash, and Eddie beside him.

"But your herd's leaving." Diego told him. Manny smiled.

"We are now." Laughing happily, Pinky trotted up to Ellie who grabbed him and bounced him in the air before hugging him tightly.

"Ooh! We could never leave you, precious!" she said. Pink laughed happily. He had his family, which had now grown bigger.

And he couldn't be happier.

*8*

Yeah, no excuse why this is so late. Just school plus temporary loss of interest. I apologize and I'm not going to lie, it may take a bit for the next chapter, but look at it this way; We're moving on to the third movie now! And since Pinky will be older, we'll be focusing on him more.