Chapter 19: Saving Sid
Back at Forbidden Rock where the sky was a brilliant orange with a tinge of red as the sun sets to evening. Victor was circling Sid, tied up and gruesomely covered in bites, scratches, and gashes that the sadistic wolf did to torture the poor sloth.
Sid was growing weak by the minute from his critical injuries as his whole body looks like he just barely survived an ambush of predators but he was still trapped within Victor's grasp after refusing to tell Victor anything as he sees no point in giving the wolf what he wants since the poor sloth is convinced that he is loveless and all alone till the end of his life.
All hope and happiness were gone for the sloth; nothing left now but to suffer and die by the alpha wolf who growls out furiously:
"I will admit, sloth; you are more persistent than any other creature I'd ever tortured...Why do you even fight on for those idiotic fools you call a herd?"
"They're not my herd...they never were" Sid sadly grunted.
"If they're not your herd, why fight for them? What's the point being protective of them when I hold your life within my claws?" Victor mocked.
"I'm not fighting for them" Sid weakly groaned as he sadly looks down. "I just don't have anything to say to you"
"I see...A broken-down useless twit is what you've become then" Victor harshly chuckled, wickedly grinning back to Carlotta and Leo, who just got back from trapping the herd; Sid couldn't see Leo or Carlotta, nor could he make out what Victor looks like up close with his vision getting blurry from his deteriorating health.
"Balthazar better have found that little brat that got away" Leo grumbled to Carlotta.
"Oh he will, he's never failed Victor" Carlotta scoffed.
"Not like you though" Leo mocked.
"Oh shut up, moron" Carlotta hissed and smacks Leo up on the back of his head.
"Sire"
Victor and his minions then see Balthazar returning to them as the alpha wolf firmly asks: "Well? Where is the brat?!"
"...Dead..." Balthazar stoically responded.
The giant wolf reveals from his teeth to which he drops on the ground, revealing to be mammoth hair with red liquid on them; it was berries that looked like blood on the hair that Balthazar borrowed a small patch of Manny's tail hair to fool the villains.
Victor grins deviously in delight and replies with "Excellent! Well done Balthazar! Now with the brat dead and the herd out of the way, that no one else can stop me from doing what I plan to do with this pathetic creature"
Victor soon turns to Sid and sneered right at him: "It seems that you just let your precious Peaches go to die"
"N-No..." Sid weakly whimpered as tears fall from his eyes.
"Don't worry, you'll be joining her soon in the dark cold afterlife forever" Victor snarled before he slowly opens his mouth, revealing his razor-sharp teeth and growls: "Goodbye, Sid the sloth"
"NOW!"
Suddenly Balthazar lunges at Victor and pins him away from Sid, Carlotta had little time to react as she was then pounced to the ground by Diego which made Leo squeak in fear but before he can run off, he was met with a smack to the ground by Ellie, furiously towering over him.
"Going somewhere, scumbag?" Ellie growled at the cowardly sloth.
"Oh, crud" Leo gulped, seeing that the herd has escaped and Peaches is still alive.
"Balthazar?! What are you doing?!" Victor exclaimed.
"I am finally doing what the pack and I should've done to you and Carlotta in the past before you took over and destroyed everything we had" Balthazar growled viciously at the alpha wolf.
"Traitor!" Victor roared at the large wolf as he struggled to get off from Balthazar.
The whole herd soon got up to Sid as they were in absolute horror to see the gruesome state of their injured herd member. Manny, shuddering in fear, gets the vines off from Sid, gently places him on the ground, and touches his face as the yellow sloth weakly opens his eyes and faintly gasps: "M-Manny?"
"Sid" Manny gasped out in shock and sadness for his dearest best friend.
Sid soon passes out from his injuries as Peaches cries out loudly for her injured uncle, tearfully begging him to wake up; Carrie, in a tearful rage, glares at Victor who pushes Balthazar away from him, screams: "What have you done to Sid?!"
"I did what I told you I would do to that miserable creature ... but don't feel too bad, he didn't put that much of a fight. It goes to show how pathetically weak your "best friend" really is" Victor wickedly laughs.
Manny couldn't contain his rage anymore as he furiously trumpets at Victor and charges at him, ready to fight the alpha wolf to avenge his injured friend. Carrie screams out in rage too and joins Manny in the fight against the alpha wolf before Balthazar follows afterward to help them.
Dodger, Buck, and the twins joined Diego fighting Carlotta as the saber-tooth tiger asked: "You sure you guys can handle this?"
"We're going to help you, Diego!" Buck put his foot down and joins the fight with Carlotta.
"With us as a team, we can finally stop them for sure" Dodger agreed.
"You foolish fools won't be able to last a minute with me!" Carlotta hissed.
"Wanna bet, mangy mutt?" Crash dared the evil wolf.
"Let's rock and roll!" Eddie exclaimed as the group fights the sadistic wolf.
Leo was about to run away from all of this before he was lifted by Ellie who snapped at him: "Remember what I told you before, you cowardly sleazy snake?"
"I ain't going to be beaten by a fat cow!" Leo angrily yelled before he bites hard onto Ellie's trunk, causing her to grunt in pain but didn't let go.
Leo then realized that he was still trapped in Ellie's trunk before she leans closer to Leo and furiously snapped: "Fat cow?!"
"C-Can I rephrase that?" Leo nervously squeaked.
Ellie then throws Leo to the wall before she starts beating him the back-stabbing villain up with her trunk. Peaches watch her mother fought the sleazebag in front of her with the anxious Niamh as she cheers out: "Go mommy! Go! Beat that bad man!"
The battle between the herd and the villains went on for a while before Dodger picks up Carlotta, swings her around and throws him straight at Leo, causing them to tumble down the stairs of the mountain and were both knocked out unconscious by the time they reached the bottom of the mountain.
"Nice throw!" Ellie chuckled to Dodger.
"Thanks, you kicked Leo's ass" Dodger chuckled back.
"Hey! Language!" Ellie firmly clears her throat, pointing her trunk to Peaches.
"Sorry, I meant butt" Dodger sheepishly apologized as Ellie nodded, smiling at the green sloth.
"Daddy!"
Soon they turn to see where Peaches is looking as Victor overpowers Manny and Balthazar before he hits Carrie down, grabs her, and places his claws near her neck.
"Let her go, you monster!" Manny furiously demanded.
"Don't worry about me, Manny! Do what you have to do!" Carrie shouted to Manny.
"Come closer and I kill her right here and there" Victor threatened as he drags Carrie away from the herd and over to where the cave is.
"You let my sister go or I promise you, you'll be the one who'll die tonight" Dodger threatened back.
"You three and that miserable sloth have being a thorn in my sight for so long and now I shall finally have my revenge" Victor growled.
"Let her go!"
The group turns to see Sid, barely awake and standing but wobbling from his injuries, panting heavily as he was holding a stick that was on fire on the top. Victor's eyes widen at this as he growled out loudly: "W-What is this?!"
"It's not her...she has nothing to do with this...I'm the one you want" Sid firmly whimpered.
"How did you light a fire on that stick that quick, Sid?" Dodger asked in bewilderment.
"Buddy...I'm...the Fire King...I have ways" Sid panted heavily.
"Impossible!" Victor snarled, refusing to believe that the sloth can create fire.
Suddenly Sid notices Victor looking uneasy and a bit shook by the flaming stick Sid was holding when he realizes that Victor could be scared of fire and when he points it to Victor, the alpha wolf reacted with a flinch of his body to it which confirms Sid's suspicion.
"So this is your fear, isn't it Victor...? You're scared of fire" Sid grunted at him as he fully realized Victor's reaction to fire.
"Sh-Shut up!" Victor growled as he knew that he was caught. "You have to be a parasite to me for long enough, Sid! Now you can watch as I kill your precious Carrie!"
Carrie suddenly then back-elbows Victor in the chest, causing the alpha wolf to let her go and coughed out loud from the hit as Sid looks at Carrie before he aims the fire stick at her.
"Carrie! Catch!" Sid gasped out.
And then with his remaining strength, Sid throws the flaming stick but it misses Carrie and landed straight at Victor's head as the wolf's hair was soon quickly lifted in flames. Victor, screaming in agony, tries to put out the fire on top of his head but his fur was quickly lifted like a wick as he runs around, howling in pain, trying to stop the flames but during the chaos, he accidentally stumbles off the edge of the mountain and plunges to the ground into the snow below.
"Damn..." The twins gasped out in bewilderment.
"I-Is it over?" Niamh whimpered.
"I say Victor's down and out" Buck nodded.
"Guys...?"
The herd then sees Sid looking at them before he passed out again from using too much strength within his horrific injuries. Carrie cried out his name in fear and rushes to him with the herd, cradling Sid's body in her arms as she gently shakes him to wake him up.
"Sid? Sid, come on! Don't do this to us! Please!" Carrie panicked.
"U-Uncle Sid" Peaches whimpered.
"Is he breathing?!" Diego asked in fear.
Carrie checks his pulse and can still feel beats in him as she said: "He's still alive but I don't know if he'll recover from this"
"We have to get him back to the cave and fix him up or we'll be too late" Manny exclaimed as he then puts Sid on his back.
The herd frantically starts heading back to the original herd cave, leaving Forbidden Rock while unbeknown to them, down below the mountain in a pile of snow, a burnt paw thrusts out of the pile and scrunches into a fist with fury.
As the hour flies by, the herd eventually treated Sid's injuries and had the sloth lying on a leaf bed with leafy bandages around his body, thanks to Buck's antics that he used to stop Sid's wounds from bleeding. Sadly the sloth wasn't waking up this time as they feared that the herd may have to be too late to save Sid from dying.
"Sid?" Carrie shudders as she gently shakes Sid but to no avail. "Sid? Wake up, Please wake up"
"Mommy, Is Uncle Sid gonna be OK?" Peaches whimpered to her mother.
"I...I don't know, sweetheart" Ellie sadly replied.
"Sid? Come on buddy" Diego sadly pleaded as he nudges Sid's head with his head.
"Sid! Come on! You can fight this" Manny begged.
Nothing was working, the yellow injured sloth was as still as a rock before Carrie rests her head on Sid's chest and cries out in anguish:
"This is all my fault! Everyone I care for dies violently! First, my parents, then my people, now Sid may not survive the night! And it's all my fault!"
"Carrie..." Manny sadly said as he places his trunk on Carrie's shoulder. "It's not your fault, we were tricked by Leo and we were all played into Victor's trap"
"But if only I was strong enough to stop Victor that night then none of this would've happened!" Carrie sobbed.
"What do you mean?" Manny asked the pink sloth. "What happened that night the pack attacked your village?"
"Carrie..." Dodger started as the pink sloth sadly looks down as she knew this was bound to come sooner or later and in this case, she might as well admits the truth about what happened:
"You want to know? ... When the pack attacked the village that night, my parents fought Victor and Carlotta by the dam which stops the river from coming into the village"
"Why was your village build near a big dam?" Diego asked.
"Because like I said before, twice: Our village was mostly dumb and lazy especially since our leader who, like his son, is a spoiled pampered twit with no brains whatsoever" Carrie stopped to take a breather before she continued:
"During the battle, Dodger and Niamh were evacuating most of the tribe as much as they can despite the leader telling everyone not to panic and stay in their huts but as you can tell that didn't work well for Dodger and Niamh...My parents were eventually overthrown by Victor and Carlotta and the last thing I can remember is my parents telling me to break the wooden dam as it was the only way to stop them...So I did as they wanted"
"Carrie..." Dodger started.
"I rammed my spear, straight into the wooden dam and crack it apart by moving a log or two; Victor saw what I was doing and tried to stop me but instead his claws that were coming at me, caused more small logs to break eventually causing the entire wooden dam to collapsed; the last thing I saw was my dad putting me up the hill away from the oncoming wave before he was swept away by the rapid waters with my mother, the wolves and most of the tribe that stayed behind..." Carrie sadly continued as she felt tears stinging up to her eyes.
"So that's how you three escaped?" Manny asked.
"Yes...all of which would never happen...if not for me" Carrie sobbed.
"But that was the wolves fault that the village died, not you" Manny spoke out to Carrie.
"Manny-" Carrie started.
"You did what you could that night and you survived for a reason! Your parents did not die because of you! You did what they wanted you to do and while you may not have gotten the people out like you and the others tried to but you didn't give up on them as they did with you. You are not guilty of what happened to your village and parents! It was all Victor's fault, not yours" Manny firmly comforted Carrie, giving her the tough love she needed.
"H-How would you know that?" Carrie cracked through the tears.
"Because I lost my family once too" Manny confessed.
"Manny..." Ellie gasped, knowing what he's talking about.
"Daddy?" Peaches asked in confusion.
"When I was younger, not too long ago before I met Ellie, I had another wife and a son..." Manny started.
"Manny?" Carrie said in confusion.
"I have a brother?" Peaches asked her mother.
"You had a half brother, yes" Ellie sadly replied.
"One day a group of human hunters came and attacked us...I tried to save my wife and son but...I wasn't strong enough..." Manny sadly continued.
Carrie gasps in horror before the bull mammoth, on the verge of tears, sternly shudders: "Ever since I lost them, I felt the same way as you did, Carrie...I was alone, I hated myself and I blamed myself for not saving them and I wished back there it was me that died instead of them!"
"D-Daddy" Peaches cried for her father and hugs him.
Manny holds Peaches close, still looking at Carrie before he said: "I didn't care about my life or anyone else until I met Sid and mostly because of him and Diego, I finally realize that I cannot live with the guilt forever and it was from saving the human baby that we found and brought back to his father than I learn to let go of my hate and move on for them..."
The bull mammoth looks at Sid sadly and adds: "We're all a herd together because of Sid, even if we never admit it times"
"He's the sticky gooey thing that holds the herd together and we'd be nothing without him" Diego sadly replied.
"Carrie, Dodger, Niamh...I know we haven't got on the right foot for a while but can you ever forgive me for the things I've done you guys blame me for?" Manny pleaded with the sloth trio.
"Of course we forgive you, Manny" Dodger nodded.
"W-We're sorry too" Niamh apologized for the trio to the herd.
Carrie tearfully hugs Manny's trunk and sobbed: "I'm so sorry, Manny"
"I'm so sorry as well, Carrie" Manny apologized as well, hugging the pink sloth back.
"We're still a herd, right?" Carrie sniffed.
"Of course we are" Manny nodded, smiling at the crowd around him.
"But now...I still hope Sid can pull through this" Carrie cried out for her fallen friend.
"We hope so too, Carrie" Manny sadly agreed as the herd watches in dismay for their unconscious injured herd member, and all they can do now is wait and see if Sid can pull through and survive...
What happens next?
Stay tuned to find out!