CHAPTER TEN: "Instincts"

A couple of days passed since their encounter with the two tigers. The terrain began to change the further north they traveled. Tall grass was beginning to vanish, the land now favoring greener foliage, and trees were becoming quite frequent. Ever since they left the valley, the glacier walls fanned out, vanishing beyond the horizon, making the new area look vast. Along the way they spotted several glacier wall formations, but none giving the sense of protection and enclosure. The main reason the herd traveled was to find a suitable, and safer place to call home. The sooner the better. Manny hated being out in wide open spaces, an animal of his stature made him stick out like a sore thumb.

And yet here he was, traveling with the most strangest herd in the land. Correction; the world.

The herd's pace was slow upon the request of Ellie, Sid, and the possums who hoped for another encounter with their new friends. Neither Ben nor Adah were spotted unfortunately, and the further they traveled north, they feared they would never run into them again. Manny was the one who didn't think too much on it. If the tigers had another agenda then who were they to stop them? Eddie and Crash would sometimes whine over the absence of their new playmate, and then turn to Sid for means of entertainment. That often ended with Sid's head stuck in a possum hole or getting mashed with mud balls.

Like always, Ellie was the referee for her brothers and happened to put them on time out more often than not. Like Crash and Eddie, she was wondering about their new friends. Being around another female was rather refreshing considering she traveled with a group entirely consisting of males. It was just as awkward for the trio to have a female in their midst, especially for Manny since the female was with him now.

The two mammoths have slowly grown attached to one another day by day. Ellie's vibrant and playful nature was a perfect contrast to Manny's quiet, if slightly neurotic personality. Manny was still shy and awkward when it came to gestures of affection, but Ellie only smiled with gentle amusement. In the mornings before the others awoke, they would walk together. It was a chance to enjoy each others company without the teasing of the possum brothers and Sid's embarrassing comments and advice.

During those walks Manny had a chance to explain to Ellie the story of what brought the trio together, and he told her about it's connection with Ben. She took it in quietly, looking rather concerned, but only nodded in response telling him she was fine with it. Though Ellie was saddened some, guessing it was the reason they have not spotted their tiger friends lately. In return she told him her story; how she was founded by her possum family, and growing up with Eddie and Crash. He still found it odd how she considered herself a possum when she was obviously so different. Ellie simply told him it was who she was on the inside that really mattered. She was raised a possum, and it was all she knew. He respected that, but he was also glad she was eager to learn about her mammoth side too.

While the lovebirds were being...well, lovebirds, Sid found company in Eddie and Crash. Diego as well, but the possums couldn't hurt him as badly as the tiger could. The sloth was the butt of all their jokes but had extreme resilience to whatever they dished out, as well as a sense of humor. He showed off his fungus coating which allowed him to camouflage with the dirt and the brothers found that to be absolutely amazing. The possums also taught Sid how to muck in the mud, which Manny and Diego objected to due to the pungent smell he accumulated from doing so.

And for the past few days Sid managed to keep his teasing of Manny down to a minimum. Time with Ellie was an important thing for Manny and the sloth knew that. It was only after Manny had returned from his walks with Ellie would Sid begin his teasing, and that often ended with the sloth getting hit in the head. Still, Sid took the suffering, knowing Manny was blushing under his fur and that was consolation enough. It was all in good humor, but developing daily concussions was not healthy so recently the sloth had been keeping with the possums.

Diego on the other had been keeping to himself as of late, and though Sid tried to pal around with him, the tiger would keep their conversations short and move ahead to scout. The sloth knew the mood patterns of both his buddies, and normally Diego was the brooding sort (because he's cool like that), but he knew something was different. The saber kept his distance, always keeping ahead of the herd to scout, or trailed behind them at night, saying he was on the lookout for predators. He didn't want the others to know something was bothering him. Sid had a good heart, but he was nosy. And annoying, especially when he believed he outsmarted Diego.

Their last encounter with Ben and Adah sent Diego's senses in a blur. Ben's connection to Soto really surprised him and Diego was unsure how to react to that, if at all. He wondered what Adah thought, and then wondered why he even cared. Soto was dead, and Ben now knew the story behind it. The cub didn't seem hateful, but who knew...he was related to Soto after all. Though he never met Ben or his pack, he remembered Soto mentioning something about a fall back location long ago.

He didn't want to admit it, but despite all the trouble, he found it relieving to see other tigers. Being separated from his own kind turned out to be a good and bad thing all at once. He found true friends after the issue in his previous pack which consisted of sabers who were anything but. However being in the company of his herd there were a few instinctive urges he had to repress. Adah was the cause of one in particular. It had been ages since he ran into another saber, plus she was a female. It irritated him, and so he shoved those primitive thoughts aside and ignored her. Not only that, but she also brought out another emotion in him. During his days in Soto's pack, they had a fair share of encounters with their small cousins during the spring. Aggression was all he knew when it came to the smaller sabers, and he did his best to remain civilized around Adah. The fact Sid had pressed him many times about her drove him insane and he became snappier than usual. They were fast runners, sure, but he found the size of their teeth to be utterly useless and mocked her openly for it too. If Adah wasn't angry for him about that, then she would certainly be spiteful to him for Ben's account.

He felt a slight twinge of jealousy as he watched Manny and Ellie, but he was also happy his friend found someone to relate to. Ellie had the best of both her worlds, having Manny and her brothers which covered her mammoth and possum quirks. And Sid somehow managed to be perfectly content even though he was the only sloth, though he seemed to find soul mates in Crash and Eddie who rivaled the sloth's gross habits. Diego sighed the more he thought about it. He figured he had a lot of things in common with his friends, but there were also many things he did alone. Diego never found that to be a big deal, and even now, he did his best to shrug it off. Ben and Adah were gone, there was nothing he could do about that, and all the better they kept away from him and his herd.

Scrat kept his small form low to the ground, nose pressed against the dirt and sniffing in the urgent panicked way scrats sniff. He was on the trail of an acorn and he was determined to have it. All winter he worked to hide his nuts so that he could gather them in the spring.

In order to hide them elsewhere for next winter.

Twas the instincts of a Scrat.

The saber-toothed squirrel squeaked as the trail became stronger and he scurried across the field till he reached the muddy pits that had recently formed due to the meltdown. Scrat moaned in annoyance as he looked upon vast mud pits and waddling in them were fat trunkless starts. He shook his head and slapped his face to pep himself up for the trial ahead. Scrat took one step into the mud, then another.

Then he couldn't move.

The squirrel wriggled and jerked his small body around, forcing his legs to move but the mud had a tight grip on his small limbs. He was a squirrel after all and mud was like super glue to something so small. Losing patience, Scrat grumbled and struggled even more to pull himself out. He grabbed at one of his legs and began yanking at it, but then his little claws slipped and his entire body flung back into the mud. Suddenly he was unable to move entirely.

"Hey, look at that!" Two start piglets came into view and looked down on him.

"What is it?" one piglet asked.

"It looks like a rat." said the other.

"It's all muddy!" the girl piglet eyed Scrat. "Are you pretending to be like us?"

"Let's play with him!" the boy piglet cried. Scrat's head wiggled, actually trying to shake his head in protest but the mud limited his movements. Neither piglet listened as one yanked him from the mud by sucking him out with his stubby trunk.

"HEADS UP!" he shouted.

The saber-toothed squirrel cringed as he was lifted out of the mud, but as he opened his eyes he realized he was free! Although he couldn't move still. What was the problem? He looked to see the piglet had a suction hold on him with his trunk. And what was it he yelled?

The piglet took a deep breath and exhaled through his trunk, sending Scrat flying in the air.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The muddy ground drew closer and the squirrel covered his eyes to brace for the impact. Another piglet raised its head, catching Scrat with its trunk. Once Scrat opened his eyes, it was only in time to see he was shot into the air again. He screamed continuously for as long as the starts game continued, shooting the little animal into the air to one another like a twisted version of volleyball. Another piglet caught Scrat and before he could shoot Scrat out, the start began to jerk violently. The squirrel turned his head to look back and realized the piglet was ready to sneeze. His eyes widened, ears drooped, and his lip quivered.

This was going to be a long shot.

"ACHOO!" The force of the sneeze shot Scrat out of the piglet's trunk. He flew past the other starts who looked on with amazement, watching the squirrel zoom over the muddy pits and onto dry ground.

"OMF!" was all Scrat managed, landing head first into the dirt. Limbs flailed about as he pulled himself upright. He paused and felt himself to see if anything vital was missing. No! He was alive! Even better, he was on the other side of the mud pit! Regaining his composure, Scrat picked up the acorn scent once more. He scurried only a few paces till he eek-ed with glee. Just ahead was the acorn nestled snugly in a small patch of grass.

The little rodent rushed to his prized nut and snatched it in his arms. He sighed happily while snuggling against the acorn lovingly. One acorn down, many more to go!

SPLAT!

A large boulder rolled on top of Scrat and his acorn. While Scrat was crushed, his acorn defied physics and popped out from underneath the rock and bounced away. The squirrel's head popped out from under the rock and he whimpered, reaching out longingly to his beloved acorn.

Fast Tony dusted off his claws as he finished moving his latest product into a place. He walked around the moss-covered boulder, observing, and thinking up a sales pitch. Business was slow ever since the meltdown ended. There were no crowds, no chaos, no panicked-induced-stupefied animals to sucker into buying his latest products. Then again he didn't have much luck during the big escape from the flood either.

The armadillo walked past the boulder and sat on top of the empty glyptodon armor and waited for passers-by. The empty shell was a the only thing he had of his friend, Stu, and it was now used as his soap box and carrying-case. Though Fast Tony seemed to have little regard to what had happened to his dim-witted friend, keeping Stu's shell around showed the fast-talking critter had some heart.

Or he kept it because no one was interested in buying it off him. Your choice.

Fast Tony's spirits suddenly brightened up as he saw a group of animals heading by. They looked like stupid animals, especially the sloth and the possums. He grinned more when he recognized one of them.

"Well, well look who it is!" Fast Tony greeted. Manny frowned at the sight of the annoying sales-animal. "How's it going, my fat, furry friend?"

"Fine, until we ran into you." the mammoth replied. Manny and Diego led the pace for the herd, and it quickened so they could get away from the armadillo as soon as possible. Fast Tony wasn't going to let that happen as he rolled and popped up in front of Ellie, Sid and the possums.

"Hello ma'am! Those are some fine looking tusks! How would you like to really make them shine! Impress your friends, dazzle your boyfriend!"

Ellie blushed at the boyfriend comment, as Manny stopped and looked back. Before he could protest to anything, Fast Tony rushed under the legs of the mammoth and to his glyptodon shell. He tossed out random things he had collected and pulled out a clump of moss. Again, Manny tried to say something but Fast Tony was too fast, and darted back to Ellie.

"Here!" the armadillo used the moss to polished one of her tusks. "Use this twice a day and you'll get a brilliant shine every time! But wait! If you act now, you'll get a special discount! Five polishers for the price of one! AHHH!"

Manfred yanked Fast Tony by the neck with his trunk and held the armadillo up to meet his face.

"Stop bothering her." he said.

"Hey whats this?"

Both animals' gazes looked down and saw Crash and Eddie looking at the boulder. Fast Tony took this chance and slipped out of Manny's grip and rushed beside the two possums.

"That, my friends, is the next revolutionary thing! It's going to change the way we travel as we know it!"

"Yeah," Crash said slowly, "but what is it?"

"It's a wheel ya moron!" the sales-critter shouted. "You plant your tukus right on top and get ready for the ride of your life!"

"COOL!" the possum brothers hopped on top of the rock and sat down on the moss. Everyone watched as if something were supposed to happen. Crash and Eddie sat perfectly still.

"WOOHOO!" Eddie shouted. "Crash, raise your hands in the air!"

"Oy." Manny sighed. Fast Tony only laughed, shrugging.

"It's still got a few kinks in it. Wait! Where are you going?"

"Far away." Manny replied, walking off. The others began to follow but Fast Tony jumped in front of them.

"I got a lot of things I could show ya!" He rolled up and bounced back to the glyptodon shell, yanking out more junk. He pulled out a rather crude piece of bark with pine needles sticking out. "What about this beautiful comb?"

Again Manny continued to lead the herd away, and Fast Tony lifted up the shell and ran in front of the group, planting the shell right in front of them.

"Don't make me get the tiger to eat you, Tony" the mammoth threatened. Diego smirked evilly at Fast Tony who only dug into the shell again. He yanked out a thin slab of rock.

"How about this tooth-filer?" he told Diego "Predators always got to keep in top shape!"

"Come within two feet near me with that thing and you're sales-days are over, pal." the tiger growled. Fast Tony tossed the rock aside and flung his entire self onto Manny's furry leg.

"C'mon! I'm desperate! Business has been slow!" He looked up at the mammoth who's glare somehow became more menacing. He stuttered, trying to think of something to convince them. "My mother is sick! I've got a family of six - NO! Ten children! It's up to me to provide for the family!"

"This coming from the guy I said would sell his mother for a grape?" Manny raised a brow.

Tony lifted his head, and looked up, expectant. "You still up on that offer?"

"Get off me!" Manny shouted and flung the armadillo off his leg. Fast Tony rolled back a bit before coming to a stop.

"Get off him!" came another voice. Manny looked at Tony who wore an equally confused expression. He looked to Diego, then back to Ellie and Sid who both shrugged. "I said get off! Shoo!"

The group turned around to where Tony's boulder was planted. Crash and Eddie were still sitting atop it and shouting to them was a reddish-colored female sloth. She reached out a claw and waved them off and the two possums hopped down and ran to their sister. Fast Tony rushed past the group flailing his arms at the sloth.

"Ma'am! That's private property!"

"You're the thief!" the sloth accused.

The herd only exchanged even more startled glances to one another, completely lost to what was going on. The only one who was even more oblivious to what was going on was Sid, who dared to venture inside the Glyptodon shell. Those clumps of moss looked awfully tasty.

"You stole him!" the female sloth clung to the boulder.

"Lady, you hug it, you bought it." Fast Tony replied.

"Whats with all the shouting?" Sid asked. He found several clumps of moss and horded them all in his arms. He walked up between Diego and Manny, glancing up to them and waiting for an answer. All of his friends were taking in the weird scene that was unfolding ahead of them. "Guys?"

"My poor Sidney!" the female sloth sobbed, still hugging the rock. "It's okay, mommy will never let you out of her sight again!"

"MOM!" Upon looking at the sloth who hugged the rock, Sid choked on the moss he was eating. Diego's and Manny's jaws dropped to the ground and both gaped at Sid.

"MOM?"

A/N: I'm glad I had some time to upload this chapter before things got really chaotic over here! And I thought it would be nice to upload on the first of the new month. So long August, I'll miss thee!

I think this is my favorite chapter out of them all! Fun cameos, random silly-ness, and character development. Yeah, all of those are good :B I felt that Fast Tony needed a scene because he's awesome and I made sure Scrat had a bigger scene this time. I feel bad for tormenting him XD

I still can't thank everyone enough for all the reviews! I'm glad people are enjoying this fic ! See you all later and I'll upload the next chapter when things settle down over here!