Number ten. Enjoy, laddies!
10. Ancient acquaintance
"Ay mate, have we met before, have we?" Buck showed a sign of surprise that she knew his name.
"Raz, you know this guy?" Gut wondered.
"Hold a sec, Raz? The Raz?"
"Aye mate, that's me alright."
"I don't believe it." Buck jumped up landed in front of the kangaroo.
"Neither can I" she replied, "what happened to you?"
"Well, quite a lot to be precise, where do you want me to start?" he smiled.
"How about the start, mate." Raz smiled too.
"You mean, the day you left?" Buck replied and his smile faded.
Raz looked down, ashamed.
"I still can't believe you actually went that day." Buck sounded angry and disappointed.
"I'm sorry Buck, but ya knew I wanted to get out a' there." Raz said.
"Who are you exactly?" Gutt thought it to be a good moment for interruption.
"Name's Buckminster and who do I owe the pleasure of meetin'?"
"I'm captain Gutt and these are members of my crew, Silas and Raz."
"Yea, crewmates." Buck said with a contemptuous undertone, while he was looking at Raz.
"You'd better not act too arrogant, weasel." he threatened.
"Listen, we'll talk about it later okay?" Buck said, not paying any attention to Gutt.
"Why not now?" Raz asked.
"There's something else I need to do first. Meet me tomorrow, late afternoon." and Buck hopped away through a bush. Raz followed him.
"Buck listen, I can't..." but as she stepped through the bush, he was already gone.
"Who was this runt?" Gutt said, angry with Buck for ignoring him.
"A friend of a very long time ago."
"Are you going to meet 'im?" Silas questioned.
"I don't know yet." she sounded sad.
Gut and Silas both knew they'd better go for the weapons another night and no sooner said than done, they all headed back for the cave.
.
It was now morning and most of the island's inhabitants were still asleep, except for a few. Diego had gone up early for his daily round. As he went through the forest, he switched between running and walking to remain in good shape. When he arrived at the beach, it was as if the sun was leaning on the sea, but this time he was followed here.
*Crack*
A branch snapped. Diego looked to his right, but turned back left on hearing a scream.
"Look out!"
"What -.."
*Bonk*
He got pushed aside and the attacker rolled over him landing gracefully on its feet. Almost at the same time, another animal leaped out of the bush.
"Gotcha sof... hey!" Shira landed on the rocks instead of on Diego's back, "Aw".
"Shira, are you alright?" Diego asked concerned.
"I'm fine, I think" she got up, "you cheat, using that guy".
"Which guy?" He looked and spotted his ancient friend.
"Ai mate, don't need to thank me for savin' you." the weasel said smiling at Diego.
"Buck?"
"Yo."
"Who?" Shira asked.
"Buck." Diego repeated.
"Yo." he said again.
"You gotta pay more attention to your own safety, tiger. This one almost took ya down."
"Buck, listen. This one, I mean, this is Shira. She's my..." he looked for a word which wouldn't bother Shira, "friend".
"Well friend or not, she almost got ya." Buck laughed.
Shira was going to say something, yet Diego beat her to it.
"That's because I let her!"
Shira was first staring at Buck with suspicion, but now turned her mistrust to the sabre next to her.
"Crikey mate, easy. No need to get jumpy an´all."
"I'm not -.."
Buck raised one eyebrow and Diego reckoned he was slightly overreacting. He ceased his verbal defence and continued on a friendlier tone.
"Sorry. But enough about me, what about you. How did you get here?"
Buck avoided his question and walked towards Shira.
"There comes a time for everything. So, still with the rest a' ya mates?"
As Buck stood next to her he turned to Diego and pointed at her.
"Or only this pretty one?"
The male cat blushed and didn't have an answer straightaway. Meanwhile Buck already started investigating Shira, mostly her fangs.
"Her teeth are sharper then I recall yours, tiger."
"Paws off, little bugger." she snarled.
"And her mood is a lot sharper as well" he said, hopping back to Diego, "but how about the rest, ey?"
"I'm sure all of 'm are glad to see you."
They were about to walk away, when they heard an exaggerated cough.
"Oh yea, sorry. Shira, this is Buck. The lost world weasel we told you about."
"My, you've made a real celeb out a' me, have you?"
"Come on Shira, I'm sure you're gonna like his stories as much as we do."
"I'm too old for bed-time stories." she responded arrogantly.
"Whatever." he replied and they left for the open field, where the herd usually gathers and sleeps.
Shira followed them reluctantly. She was jealous of Buck, because he stole Diego's attention from her, but she convinced herself that the feeling she developed was a sense of mistrust against the mammal.
'After all, how could she be jealous of someone?' she thought.
.
As they reached the herd most of them had now awoken. Most of them, but not Sid of course.
"Hey guys, look who I found." Diego said with a smile.
"Technically, I found you, mate." Buck corrected him.
"Buck!" Ellie called surprised.
"Finally finished of Rudy then?" Manny asked.
"Nah, sorry mate. We're just havin' a break, need to spend some time away from one another." he said.
"Buck! You're back!" Crash shouted, running towards the weasel along with his brother.
"I missed you!" Eddie shouted.
"I missed him more!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
Their running turned to pushing and eventually rolling over the floor fighting.
"I guess some things never change, ey? Buck said.
"Hmm? Why does the fighting start so early?" Sid woke up and saw the weasel, "oh hey it's you again."
"Hey, what's going on?" Peaches demanded.
She and Louis came to investigate the source of the shouting.
"Sweetie, this is your uncle Buck" Ellie explained.
"Crikey, you're a lot bigger than I can remember." he said upon seeing the teenager.
After the introductions Diego could no longer withstand his curiosity and asked the question that everybody wanted to know.
"So Buck, how did you end up on our island?"
"Well, I was locked in a battle with Rudy again. Things were gettin' loud, that was for sure."
Just like in before in the dino-world, ever member of the herd listened closely to what the weasel had endured. Buck drew his fearsome story-telling face and began his tale. Unfortunately Granny had already fallen asleep before Buck could finish his first line.
Rudy was just about to hit me with his tail when just out a' nowhere there came this huge gap in the ground between us and it was gettin' bigger. We both had to move back, but as Rudy's part was gettin' lower, mine was risin'. The land I stood on rose till it smashed me through the roof, throwin' me far away. I ended up in a tree, which was uprooted. Luckily, thanks to my skills I could surf straight towards the sea.
"Hey, I've done something similar once." Sid interrupted.
"Sssssht!" the rest silenced him and Buck continued.
When I got there I abandoned me vessel and hopped on some ice, which then broke off! The land was fallin' apart back there, so I had no choice but to go on this sailin' trip to the nearest island which remained in one piece. Well that's how I got here with you guys.
"That was quite an adventure Buck" Ellie said.
"He's the best!" Crash shouted.
"Ey, what's all this commotion. Can't a lady have a nap?" Granny woke up again.
"Granny, you've missed the whole story." Sid said.
"Don't care, now come and help me find my favourite berries."
"Okay Granny. See you later Buck."
"Bye floppy." he answered.
As the sloths disappeared into the forest, Buck turned to Manny.
"Where did you found that second floppy thing?"
"She was kind of a gift, actually."
"Really? Who'd give such a horrible present to anyone?"
"Floppy's family." the mammoth sighed.
They continued bringing up memories and talking about how things had gone with Buck and the herd since they separated. They both had a lot to tell about and everyone seemed to enjoy Buck's presence, except Shira. She settled herself at a distance from the chattering friends. After a while, Diego noticed her apparent nuisance and walked over to her.
"Hey, what's up?" he asked.
"Nothing, why?"she said, avoiding eye contact.
"Well, ever since Buck arrived..."
"Buck, Buck, Buck, can you guys only talk about him?" she said angrily.
Diego looked confused.
"Sorry" she said, "it's just, I don't know if I can trust him".
"Believe me, you can." he smiled at her. She did not return him the favour.
"How can you be so sure of that? I mean, you haven't seen each other for quite some time. What makes you say he's still the same?"
"My intuition tells me that, besides he's my friend."
"Your intuition? Since when do you trust that?" she laughed sarcastically.
"Well, since it was right about you being nice."
Shira felt her cheeks getting warm and she faced the other way so that Diego wouldn't notice.
"Ey mate" Buck said, walking towards them.
"Whoa tigress, no hard feelin's for me spoilin' your ambush ey?" he said, spotting Shira's agitated expression when he entered the scene.
"Not at all." she said, not friendly.
"I'll be hoppin' off for a moment" he said to Diego, "got an old friend I'm gonna see."
"You know more animals beside us that live above ground?" Diego demanded.
"Sure, I wasn't born between the dino's, mate." Buck laughed and ran into the forest.
"If you trust him so much, following him won't do any harm then, would it? " Shira suggested.
"Shira!" Diego said astonished by her lack of faith.
"I'm merely saying, aren't you curious about this friend or whether there even is a friend?"
She had a point. Diego wanted to know who this other friend was that Buck probably knew from the time before he turned wild and crazy. Still wasn't that his own business? Shira on the other hand knew that she hit the right snare. Diego's curiosity had always been a strong driving force behind his actions and it turned out to be a good way to spur him into action.
"Okay we follow him, but if he's only seeing a friend like he told us, we go back."
"Fine for me."
And so the two sabres began their chase. It was hard to stay on Buck's trail sometimes. The weasel seemed to make sure he couldn't be followed, however Diego and Shira were, as a team, skilled enough to pursue him nonetheless. They arrived at the beach and a figure was waiting for him.
"Ay mate, still haven't learned to arrive in time. I'm waiting here for quite a while now, ya know." The figure greeted him.
"Nah, ya know I never change much, mate."
As Shira peered through the bush, Diego was already satisfied with this finding.
"See, he's just visiting a friend. I can't believe I doubted him." he said, disappointed in his own actions.
"Hold it softy, do you see who he's talking to?"
Diego peered as well. That shape did look kind of familiar, but he couldn't place it.
"I don't know."
"Look better! Don't you see he's talking to Raz?!" she cried.
What will the sabercats do now they've discovered this secret? And will they accept their friend's alliance with the crewmate? Who knows...Btw, since my colleges are starting, I'll have less time to update. This means the next chapters might take a little longer. Sorry!