A short time after my breakdown, we make it to the Plates of Woe. It seems that Rudy has already come through here. The Plates are now mostly destroyed. I lead the way. Crash and Eddie are walking behind me. The wind blows around us. "What's that sound?" Crash asks.
"It's th' wind. It's speakin' ta us," I answer.
"What's it saying?" Eddie asks.
"I don't know. I don't speak wind," I answer. It would be nice if I did speak wind, though. I've always wondered what it was saying.
A mere minute later, Ellie starts moaning. "Ellie!" Manny calls, concerned for his mate.
"I'm fine! Don't worry about me! I'm just taking a…ahhh!" The Plates under Ellie begin to shift and groan.
Manny tries to reach her, only to have his own surface move. "Get to the ledge!" Manny shouts to Ellie. Thankfully, she does.
We begin our speedy descent. I grab Crash and Eddie to me, hoping to protect them. We make it to the bottom in one piece. I dust myself off. I follow the others towards where Ellie is.
We are halted by a roar in the distance. "Rudy!" I nearly growl the name.
"Rudy?" Both possums cringe.
Next, we hear a panicked scream. I strain my ears to see if I can recognize it. "Hmmm. Nevah heard that kind of dino before…" I speak, confused.
"That's Sid!" Manny yells, recognizing the voice.
"We 'ave ta move fast!" I shout, knowing that Rudy found Sid. There isn't the time to waste.
As I'm about to move off, Ellie starts shouting. "Pineapples!"
"Pineapples?" I ask, confused.
"She gets cravings," Manny explains.
Ellie calls out a few more fruit names, confusing us all. Finally, she calls out 'peaches'. Manny is initially confused, until he remembers something. "Peaches! The baby! What? Now?" Manny runs around in frantic circles. The possums get into a fight.
That's when I step in. "One thing ta do. Possums, yer wi' me! Manny, take care of Ellie until we get back!" I order.
"Wait! What about rule number two?" Manny asks.
"Rule numbah two doesn't matter right now. This is th' only way ta save both of 'em!" I yell. I lead the possums away.
We stop on the top of a cliff. "Boys! Are ya ready fer adventure?"
"Yes sir!" Both possums salute.
"Fer dangah?" I continue.
"Yes sir!" The possums shout.
"Fer death?" I finish.
"Ummm…can you repeat the question?" Crash asks.
"Jump!" I order. I pull Crash and Eddie over the edge with me. I wrangle a pterodactyl and catch both possums mid-air.
"Have you ever flown one of these before?" Crash asks.
"Nope! Firs' time, actually!" I answer, unworried.
We continue to fly towards Lava Falls, until Crash interrupts our progress with some worrisome news. "Buck?" He calls.
I look around, to see pterosaurs coming towards us. They want to attack us. I have to do some evasive maneuvering. I fly us towards a tunnel that's next to Lava Falls. "Whoa! Wait! Sid's that way!" Eddie argues.
"Well, tell that ta them!" I yell. I take our pterodactyl around a gulch. I see stink berries nearby. "Grab that ammo!" I order the possums. They do.
Crash and Eddie begin slinging the stink berries at the pterosaurs. They manage to get quite a few of them. Now that many of the enemies are decimated, I start flying us towards the Falls. "Let's get that sloth!" I'm interrupted when an oncoming pterosaur collides with us. "We're hit! Mayday mayday! We're losin' altitude!" I tap on the eyes.
I pass the reins to the possums, before I begin mouth-to-mouth on our ride. "Ugh. Tastes like fish!" I make a face. Finally, I hit the pterodactyl on the head, effectively waking him up.
I climb on its head and help Crash and Eddie pull up on the pterodactyl. We narrowly miss flying into the burning lava. However, some of the lava splashes onto my arm. I yowl when I feel the burning pain in my arm. "Buck! Are you okay?" Crash asks.
"Yeah. 'm fine…" I gasp. The pain is almost unbearable. I don't want the possums to know that, though. Despite the pain, I manage to direct our pterodactyl upwards. Once we get towards the top of the Falls, our pterodactyl grabs Sid. At first, Sid doesn't realize that he's being rescued. When he does, though, he points something out. I forgot to steer. We ram into the icy ceiling above. On our descent, I righten our ride. We start heading back.
When we return, we find that Ellie has given birth to a beautiful baby girl. I smile at the sight of the happy reunion. "I forgot wot 't was like ta be a part of a family. Wot 'bout you? Ever thought of havin' kids?" I ask the pterodactyl. He gives me a look, before flying off.
I turn to the herd. "Alright, mammals! Let's get ya 'ome!" We start heading off, back the way we came. As we walk, I'm trying to ignore the pain in my arm. That is almost impossible at the moment. I can't even walk straight due to the burning in my arm. I'm trying to hold my arm discreetly so that no one will notice my injury.
However, nothing can get past Ellie. She is the first to notice the change. "Buck, are you alright?" She asks.
"Yeah. 'm fine…" I lie. The pain is getting worse. I wince slightly.
"Are you sure? You look… Oh! You're injured!" Ellie sees the burn on my arm.
"'m fine!" I yell. The truth is, I'm not fine. I know that. It hurts so much and I can hardly keep the tears from falling from my left eye. I can barely breathe through the pain. I also didn't mean to shout at Ellie. I just can't ignore the pain that I'm feeling. It's really starting to get to me. I look up at Ellie, my ears pressed against my head. "'m sorry I yelled at ya. It's just…'t 'urts…a lot…an'…" I trail off.
"I understand. I also know that you don't want help. Please, Buck, let us help you. I know you don't want anyone to think that you're weak. Buck, we won't see you that way, I promise. Just let us help you," Ellie presses.
I nod my head. "Alright…" I sigh in defeat.
Ellie has Crash and Eddie bring her some Aloe. She has me apply the Aloe gel on the burn. It stings quite a bit. I can't keep myself from yelping at the burning and stinging feeling on my burn. "I'm sorry about that, Buck. You need Aloe to help the burn heal. It is the best thing for burns," Ellie explains.
"It's alright," I speak. After a while, I feel the pain begin to lessen. I look back up at Ellie. "Thanks," I whisper.
"You're welcome. Do you think that you're well enough to travel?" She asks.
"Yeah. Let's continue," I reply. We continue heading off yet again.
An hour after we begin traveling again, the pain in my arm is back. It burns even worse than it did before, enough to make me clench my eye shut and bite back a yelp. I'm trying to make sure the herd doesn't notice my pain. I'm supposed to be strong. I can't be, though, if I let them see my pain. It's getting hard to hide, though, due to its worsening. I already know that Ellie is getting suspicious. I just hope the others aren't.
"Are you okay?" I jump at the sound of Ellie's voice. She's looking at me with a concerned expression.
"Uh…yeah… 'm fine…" I mumble, looking down slightly. I hold little hope that Ellie will buy the lie.
Ellie's eyes tell me what I already know. She doesn't believe me. "Buck, please. You can tell me. You don't have to lie about the pain you're in. It's your arm, isn't it?" Ellie asks.
I nod my head slowly. "Yeah. 't…'t 'urts…" I whisper. Tears are gathering in the corner of my eye. I bite my lip and look away, taking ragged breaths in an effort to calm myself.
Ellie wraps her trunk over my shoulders. "It'll be alright, Buck. Hey, I'll get you some more aloe, alright?" Ellie suggests. At my nod, Ellie goes off in search of the herb.
When Ellie returns, she has plenty of aloe in her trunk. She places it on my burn. I yelp and bite back my tears at the sting of the herb's juices. "Sorry, Buck," Ellie apologizes for the pain she's putting me through.
"'t…It's 'kay…" I whimper as I try to ignore the pain. "I…I'll be right back…" I whisper.
Ellie can see it in my single eye that I want to cry. "Okay, Buck. I'll cover for you," Ellie offers. She turns and begins speaking to the herd. I head off alone into the jungle, not even bothering to pay attention to what Ellie is saying.
I stop near a river. I sit beside it, finally letting my tears fall. I hug my injured arm to my chest as I begin sobbing from my pain. My arm starts throbbing even more, causing my sobbing to intensify. I sniffle and whimper as I try to stop sobbing. I breathe deeply until I am finally able to calm down. I wipe the tears from my eye. I wash my face in the river to hide any and all traces that would speak of the tears. I then begin making my way to the herd. When I get there, Ellie is the first to notice me. "So, how was the scouting mission?" Ellie asks, winking at me.
I get the lie that Ellie gave them. "Fine. Thanks, Ellie. Now, let's keep movin'," I reply. By tomorrow, the herd will be back where they belong. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'll actually miss them.