Don't own...
Peaches was scared.
She was lost and had just avoided falling into a pit which had been cleverly concealed with a thin layer of branches and snow. Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, four hungry saber toothed tigers appeared and began to advance on her.
"Well look what we have here, a lost baby" Dave, the leader, crooned in his best baddy voice. It was a very professional baddy voice indeed, except he was still a bit high on cat nip so sounded a bit cheesier than he had really wanted.
"Need some help little one?" Sara said... unconvincingly
"Perhaps you would like to come and play with our cubs" Tammy said giggling at the evilness of her own joke.
Peaches was too scared to say anything in reply so just backed away from them, they meant her harm she could tell. She needed a plan and soon, she thought hard. Was that covered chasm as deep as she thought? It would have to do, at least it would distract them while she thought of another way out. She screwed up all the courage she could muster.
"I have just come from playing with your kids actually" She said as bravely as she could. "I beat them at tag easy"
"Well maybe you should challenge us to a game then we can see how good you really are" Sara sneered angry that such a pup should talk back.
"But it's four against one; you would have to count to twenty first to be fair" Peaches said trying to buy herself some time.
"Sure" Tammy giggled "we will give you a head start, makes the game all the more fun!"
"Sit down and close your eyes so I know you're for real!"
"Funny kid, sure we will, time starts now!" Dave said and made a great show of complying with her needs; this was an unusual hunt but a hunt all the same so he tried to act with some etiquette. He made sure his ladies did too as he did not want them getting away with his meal while he counted. "Twenty, nineteen," he began the count down.
Peaches scampered back to where the false floor lay under the snow. She didn't need that much time just enough to find a safe way across; hopefully when the sabers chased after her they would go crashing through into the pit below.
"Eighteen, seventeen"
Peaches breathed in real deep and carefully stepped out onto the branches feeling for the stronger limbs to place her weight on. She hopped that the sabers really were covering their eyes so not to see her picking out a path over this trap.
"Fifteen" Dave was used to playing with his own kids and knew where and when you could sneak a cheat or two in "eight, seven" Peaches didn't notice such was her concentration. The sabers giggled but kept their eyes covered.
"Three, two, one!" Dave quickly finished and opened his eyes; he spotted Peaches straight away and leapt after her. Over eager and very hungry Tammy and Jess followed hot on his heels with Sara taking the rear.
Peaches heard them coming, she was still balancing over the pit, it was far bigger than she had guessed. She tried hard to quicken her pace but realised they were gaining on her far too quickly. She could not get over the trap in time, she would have to dodge and hope they didn't take her down with them. Peaches remembered when ever Steve pounced on her; which was too often, he always changed the rhythm of his pace right before he jumped. Once up, changing where you land is very hard, this was when she had to dodge, it was her best chance. She listened hard for the change in pace signalling her pursuers were too close and tried to get the best footing on the branches she possibly could to roll out of the way. She tested a good solid branch but found her back legs just fell through to dangle into the chasm below. This false floor was far flimsier than she thought and she began to struggle to get back up.
The sabers mistook her movements as a panicked stumble. Dave was close enough now to pounce so launched himself for a good jump putting himself in front of his smaller, faster ladies to the catch.
Tam and Jess weren't having any of that and sped up.
As soon as she heard Dave pounce Peaches acted fast rolling backwards head over heels over the strong branches she had already crossed. She shut her eyes in case this didn't work, her legs naturally pulled up free from the branches and she soon heard Dave whoosh over head and crash though the false floor into the pit below. Tam and Jen were a bit more nimble and tried hard to stop. They were too late for that however and just ended up tripping over the backwards rolling Peaches and followed Dave down into the pit.
Sara who was at the rear of the chase watched as her pack mysteriously disappeared and stopped running after them. As she stood there looking puzzled she noticed the calf rolling back towards her. She lifted a paw and stopped Peaches in her tracks holding her down easily while she figured out what had happened to her pack. Peaches shook with fear under the weight of the sabers grip; she wasn't going to get out of this too easily.
"Sara, we are stuck" Dave shouted up as he realised he, Tammy and Jess were indeed trapped in a hole.
"You shouldn't have been so hasty" Sara shouted down to them. "Ever heard of look before you leap?"
"Sara, get us out!" Dave snapped angry at having been tricked by a kid.
"I can't, you have to get your selves out" Sara replied
"I'm the leader and I'm ordering you to get us out!"
"No, the 'survival of the fittest' law comes first; you would never live it down if I helped"
"But no one would know that you helped" Tammy whined.
"I would and I would be full of shame" Sara snapped back
"But you have to help them they are your family!" Peaches said forgetting her fear as she was quite outraged at this dreadful, very non herd attitude.
"No kid, they are dead to me now; well I will give them another ten minutes because I don't think they have really tried, but then..."
"I could help them!" Peaches said bravely
"You're just a little kid, how could you help?" Sara sighed "Pull 'em out with that daft nose of yours?"
Peaches was not about to be so easily insulted, she looked around "I could push some of those braches covering the hole down into the pit and they could climb out"
"Let her do it Sara or else you will have to bring up all the cubs on your own!" Dave shouted
Sara didn't need long to consider this "Go and do it then kid" She said defeated.
"Wait, then will you let me go?" Peaches quickly added
"Sure, of course we will" Sara lied
Peaches did not trust any of these sabers very much so only used very weak branches to lower into the pit. Many little weak branches would make the escape a lot harder for them and buy her some time to devise a new plan. Just then Peaches heard another sound, a weak voice from somewhere not too far away.
"Is there anyone there?"
Peaches heard it again, but when she looked she could see no one about. She moved a little closer in her search for branches to investigate, checking every now and then that Sara didn't notice. The saber seemed preoccupied talking down to her pack mates "Come on try harder that should be plenty enough to climb out with"
Peaches wandered a little farther off in the direction of the voice.
"Hey what are you doing kid?" Sara shouted as she finally noticed Peaches wandering farther off than she was comfortable with.
Peaches stopped in her tracts. "Just uh" She stumbled on a whole load more branches concealed under the snow and pulled at one "Getting some more branches"
"Well hurry up we don't have all day"
"Hello?" The mystery voice came again only this time it was much closer.
"Hello" Peaches answered, "Who are you?"
"I'm Bill" A trunk pushed its way up from out of the snow up a head and waved around a bit.
Peaches gasped till she understood that the branches she had stumbled across were in fact covering another pit and that Bill, the missing mammoth, was stuck down it.
"How long have you been there? Didn't anyone look for you?" She whispered
"They did, but they couldn't hear me over their own voices as they called for me and of course they couldn't see me so I've been here a while now"
Peaches carefully looked down and saw Bill an old bull mammoth sitting down looking up at her.
"Oh you're only a kid" Bill said a bit disappointed "but didn't I hear other voices?"
"Yes there are some tigers, well just one now. Um you wouldn't help me would you? I could help you get out if you did"
"I don't know what a kid like you can do for me but I will help if I can"
"Well if I lure the tiger this way could you grab her and throw her as far as you can over that way?" Peaches pointed in the direction of the first pit. It would be a long shot but it was all she could think of right now.
"Sure, buy why?"
"Because there is another pit over there where her friends are stuck"
"Hey kid" Sara noticed Peaches acting strange "what are you doing over there?"
"Trying to get this really big branch" Peaches quickly replied
"I think that you're up to something" Sara growled and wandered over to investigate
"Me? No"
"Then what's taking so long?"
"I could do with some help actually"
Sara wandered closer. She saw the second pit but was not close enough to see down into it "What's that, another trap? Careful you don't fall in kid, you're very close to the edge of a great big hole there"
"But this is where the biggest branches are, help me pull this one free" Peaches edged around so Sara wouldn't see Bill concealed down the hole. Bill stayed very still so not to draw attention to himself and hoped he blended with the darkness of the pit.
Sara came closer still; she felt the branches under her paws instead of solid ground and hesitated "No I might fall through, you're lighter so you will have to do it yourself"
Peaches jumped up and down a bit on the springy limbs, she was naturally careful where she placed her feet thanks to her tree climbing lessons and so balance came effortlessly to her "Look safe as houses" She lied.
Sara observed how sturdy the branches were, she also observed how big the branch Peaches was pulling on was. She calculated that branch would be enough to get her pack free from the pit, free to eat the young calf, she would have to act now if she wanted this meal to herself "I think I can do that myself from now on, after I have had a snack for energy of course" Sara edged closer still to Peaches, feeling her way over the branches with a bit more confidence.
"But..." Peaches started
"That's the food chain for you" Sara said almost apologetically "I know it doesn't seem fair but that's the way it is"
Peaches could not move any further back without falling in; she hoped Bill would time this just right.
Sara stepped her front paws onto what was definitely less sturdy than Peaches was making out; she became fearful of falling through into the pit below and growled low and deep at the calf for again tricking her into danger. Well she hadn't fallen for it the first time and she wouldn't this time either. Peaches was just out of reach, she needed to take another two steps out over the trap to reach her. Slowly Sara edged a little further out; there was no need to rush as there was nowhere to run. With a little skill she would have this meal all to herself.
Bill saw the shape of the tiger through the gapes in what was left of the roof, come cautiously, creaking over head, he made a grab for her with his trunk.
"Ahhh" Sara screamed unsure at what had attacked her; nimbly she backed out of the way and avoided capture. Peaches sprung out of the way too as the fragile branches fell away from under them. Bill threw his trunk at the tiger again in an attempt to hit her but could not reach; he rumbled a low growl in frustration.
Sara sat back confidently, now she had the calf who had run back to where she could get safely at her and a bonus mammoth with enough meat on him to feed all her pack, cubs included. She felt very clever and smiled with childish delight as she contemplated big piles of light and dark meat piled up all around and all thanks to her. It was like Christmas come early and she cheered up greatly.
"Come on kid" She ordered now Peaches had nowhere to run or hide "We need to get my pack out, grab that branch while I'm still in a good mood and you may just get away. After all there is no need to be overly greedy" She lied. That calf was in for it weather she was hungry or not, she hated smarty pants prey.
Peaches sighed in defeat and did as she was told.
"What's keeping you up there Sara? We're almost out, hurry up already!" Dave shouted.
Sara, who was not helping Peaches at all to drag the final branch, skipped eagerly over to boast her fantastic find to her pack. "You will never guess what I..." She began, but didn't finish as she felt a great push from behind.
Peaches had been trying to copy Steve's over used tripping trick, but had tripped up herself in the hurry to catch the tiger unaware and ended up crashing into her, hard. Sara staggered forward; she teetered on the brink of the pit. She almost didn't, but being a baddy and a saber, she did eventually did fall in.
Peaches pulled herself up and rubbed a scrape on her knee, she would have to practice that manoeuvre some before trying it again. She brushed herself off and peeked down at the trapped tigers to make sure they were all stuck "suckers!" She called and ran off.
She ran around as fast as she could gathering up rocks and stones and brought them over to Bill "I will find some more to make a step to get you out" She called and rolled them down to him.
"What about the tiger? I thought..."
"Nothing I haven't had to deal with before" Peaches said casually, sure these ones were bigger but all in all they were just as dumb as Steve. Now that the crisis was over, Peaches wondered why she ever thought they wouldn't be, after all every grown up she met outside of her herd was so far a bit dim. Could be something to do with weak 2D OC's that.
"Wow you're one tough kid, what's your name?" Bill said genuinely impressed.
"Peaches, I'm going to get some more rocks, you'll be out in no time" Peaches said with a nervous grin before hurrying off
"Thanks... Peaches?" 'I guess with a name like that she has to be tough' Bill thought to himself.
"Well" Bill said as he climbed out of the trap "we had better get back to the herd, let them know we're Okay and tell them about these new tricks the humans use to catch us"
"I need to get back to my parents; they are going to be cross that I wandered off... again" Peaches said alittle ashamed.
"Not if we tell them how you saved me, they won't believe how brave and smart you are. Imagine taking on four sabers at your age!"
"Uh, could we maybe leave out the saber bit?"
"But that was the best part"
"My parents might not agree" Peaches self consciously kicked at nothing in particular.
"Ah, that was a bit too close huh?" Bill said trying to understand her change in mood "Listen kid, everyone no matter how careful runs into trouble, that's life. You dealt with trouble and showed it the door, or the big ol' pit in this case"
"I don't feel so good about that at all. They were bad, but..."
"And they are still alive to fight another day so don't feel so bad for them. With team work they will get out of that hole and we will be a good safe distance away by then."
Peaches felt a little better with that thought in mind, of course they would get out. They still had all those branches and were so nearly there.
They listened to the sabers roaring and snapping at each other. It was going to take a long while for them to finish blaming each other for their predicament before they even tried to get free.
"yep we will easily be a safe distance away" Bill repeated, " Even if we crawled"
Together Bill and Peaches walked back.
After a few hours of free play the cubs began to slow down and think about taking a nap. Collectively they decided the safest most comfortable place for this was on the mammoths backs. One by one they jumped up and each started kneading out a comfortable nest of fur to sleep in.
"Oo that's nice" Ellie said, she couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of many little paws treading and circling around."You know we could hire them out as professional back masseuses, this is so relaxing. Hey whoever's closest to my right ear can you move up a bit? Yeah that's the spot. Ah! This is absolute heaven"
"You are forgetting that we are hostages here, tied against our will while our only daughter is out there..." Manny started before he was interrupted
"With Diego, saving Sid from our friends the local mammoth herd, I know" Ellie finished for him "and there is nothing I can do about it. But if our captors decide to force me to endure the most fabulous massage in all time than I should at least try to enjoy it"
"It's not that good" Manny huffed, he could not relax, he just knew Peaches was in trouble somewhere and he was stuck here "They are probably tenderising us up to eat later" He muttered just to ruin Ellie's fun.
Just then Ari found a particularly difficult bump on Manny's back and forced it down with a mighty jab of his paws, there was a loud crunch as it slotted down nice and flat good for sleeping on.
"Ah!" Manny started with surprise before he realised "Wait they are good, I've been tight there for weeks that's really freed my neck up"
"There it's not so bad looking after these kids is it? So how about a bit less doom and gloom and lots more optimism! Please!" Ellie said as she relaxed half ready to join the cubs for their a mid day nap.
"I was right before you know"
"Yawn. Mm, you were, yawn, I guess"
"Ellie, I think they are going to sleep" Manny whispered, this was his chance to escape while they napped."Let's be quiet so not to disturb them"
"Good, yawn, plan" She agreed.
They waited.
Manny and Ellie lay very still and quiet.
Manny waited for the tell tale snoring to go on for ten minutes before daring to talk again.
"Ellie" He tried "Ellie wake up, nows our chance, try and wiggle free"
"Gosh... already?" Ellie woke from her dose "They just got off I was really enjoying the uh, peace"
"Yeah too much I think, we got to get back in control before anyone sees us like this"
"Oh yes, come on try reach my ropes with your trunk"
"I can't quite reach a round..."
"If you dare say my butt"
"No, I was going to say your, uh, my... ears?"
"Hope you were..."
"Shh!... One's stirring; we got to be more quiet"
"Then let's quietly concentrate on our own knots and not reaching each other's"
"Shh!" Manny hissed as he felt a cub move "... Phew false alarm it's just dreaming"
"He he, look Manny it's like running on the spot!" Ellie giggled as she watched the sleeping cub react to a dream. Her giggles died abruptly as she saw what the frantic running action was doing to Manny's fur "Ah, that's made a knot you're not going to like"
"Do something to calm it down before it looks like I'm wearing a bouffant"
"Like what?"
"I don't know something motherly"
"Too late. Hey you kind of look like Russell Brand with that"
"Ellie!"
"Okay I'm trying, just calm down Marge I mean Manny" She reached over and patted the cub till it relaxed and rolled over "There you go, uh oh" The new hair piece detached and rolled like tumble weed away with the breeze.
"That's stress" Manny said watching his giant hair ball roll away.
"And I thought you liked kids"
"I like my kid, everyone else's kids I now hate with a passion"
"Your kids you mean. You know the first thing I thought when we first met?" Ellie waited a sec for Manny to respond in case he wasn't as grumpy as she presumed he was; but he was. "I thought there's a guy who loves kids no matter what they are like, just like Santa all big hearted, jolly and kind"
"They are not my kids I just can't get rid of them that's all"
"Yeah keep saying that and I might just believe it –Not!"
"Can we just concentrate on the freedom and achieving it for now? Please!"
"Yes dear" They both wriggled and struggled as gently as they could for a while "I can't shift these vines, grrr... Wait I just got my leg free!" Ellie exclaimed
"great! Now you can get out and help me!"
"Hmmm" Ellie tried to think of a way to get up with only one leg without tipping the sleeping cubs off.
"What's wrong?"
"Well if I get up I will tip the cubs off and I will disturb their sleeping"
"So by then you will have untied me and this time we will stick together and not fall for their tricks, so just do it quick"
"I can't"
"Why not?"
"Well they have played so hard today and they are so cute, look at the little nests they made to sleep in; like little baskets" She cooed
Manny saw the gooey look in Ellie's eyes and knew they weren't going anywhere "Ellie you are hopeless"
"Shh! Manny they are sleeping, remember?"
Just then Sid and Diego returned, from a far it looked like the mammoths had everything under control but as they got closer reality hit. "Wow and you doubted my parenting skills" Sid exclaimed "You really, really suck Manny, you too Ellie"
"Didn't you say just yesterday kid's are easy?" Diego added amazed they could have been defeated by a bunch of babies. "What happened? It's been like two hours and your tied up and..." he struggled to describe the current state of their fur "everything. How?"
"Alright maybe these kids are not that easy, maybe I was a bit quick to assume you were exaggerating when you said you needed help"
"And what about when I needed help with camp Sid?"
Manny's frown tightened but he stayed focussed "Sorry okay, now get them off already"
"Sure Manny anything for a friend" Sid said slyly looking around to find something to make the situation worse. He spotted a stick and snatched it up "Hey kids" He shouted waking the cubs "who wants to play piñata?"
"Sid. No!" Manny shouted. Ellie jumped up and wriggled free instantly
"Well if you can't win at being a good parent then you might as well be the bestest bad one that you possibly can" Sid teased
"Now Sid I never said that you would be a bad parent as such" Manny tried to reason
"You thought it! Especially about my eggs!"
"Yes, I mean maybe, I mean; I just worried about your mental state"
"No you thought I could not even raise an egg"
"Some one else's egg Sid! I thought you should not try and raise any eggs that wern't yours to play mommy with"
Ellie just shrugged, it had led to a fine adventure, which kind of outweighed any wrong doing in her books. "Well Sid did say he found them abandoned"
"He never made sure they were abandoned, so technically he stole them really" Manny corrected.
"But I meant well" Sid said as he swung back ready to give Manny a whack if his next answer wasn't up to scratch
"So did I when I said to put them back!" Manny said flinching at Sid's mock swing "I was only trying to help you in the long run, after all any one big enough to lay an egg that size is going to come down hard on some sloth stupid enough to try playing mommy with it on the steepest slope you could find which incidently lead to a huge cliff! And that was just the first five minutes of that particular parenting adventure"
"You could have been a lot clearer on the reasoning behind that" Sid said putting down the stick to scratch his head, "Would have saved us a whole lot of trouble if you had just said 'Sid find a better place to play or a more squaire friend to play with'. I thought you just didn't believe in me"
"Why should I need to explain everything to you? It's just good sense"
"Wrap it up guys, we are short one kid" Diego said after counting heads and comming up one short "where is Peaches?"
"She went to go with you just after Breezy left" Ellie said becoming very serious.
"Well she didn't join us" Diego said with a sigh as he now had yet another problem to fix, "Get out of those stupid vines already Manny, honestly everywhere I go disaster with you guy's, it's lucky we don't come across any real trouble anymore cos you've all gone soft"
"Looks like real trouble from where I'm standing" Mick announced as he and his posy caught up with their quarry.
"Manny your friends are here" Diego said as he quickly snapped the mammoth free "You want to have some time alone I bet, come on kids, Sid let's get"
"Nothing personal Manny" Sid said as he hurried after Diego "But I've had a belly full with you mammoths lately"
"What you can't just leave me in it" Manny said dismayed
"Really?" Sid asked suspiciously "You want my help?"
"Well" Manny tried hard to think of an alternative "I don't have a clue where to start explaining this"
"I do actually have a plan up my sleeve" Sid said with a cheeky grin
"Just tell them about our herd Manny" Ellie said fearing the worst from Sid "The truth is always best"
"Hah yeah right" Manny scoffed, with a truth like this anything was better surely "Sid what's the plan?"
"Here we go" Ellie tutted.
"Here I am to save the day!" Sid shouted over dramatically and whipped a small red cape out from somewhere and knotted it around his neck "Sid the super sloth strikes again" Sid climbed onto Manny's head "Ahem, be gone bad Di, I mean Tigers you will have to eat someone else for I am here now and no one messes with sloths, especially super sloths!"
"Whatever" Diego shouted over his shoulder as he left behind a boulder
"See how they quake in fear at the mere mention of my super name! You are finally free Manny my old chum now try and look happy for once. Come on just a little bit happy, I know you can"
"Sid I'll be happy when you're..."
"No weak and lowly citizen, you don't have to thank me it's all in a day's work for us super types" Sid boomed over confidently as bad actors tend to do
"What kind of stupid plan was that?" Manny hissed and knocked Sid off of his head "Even Ellie's daft idea was better than that"
"Manny a part from saying I told you so" Ellie cut in dryly "Could you just play along for now because we have got to go find Peaches"
"Fine" Manny growled louder so all could hear. "Thank you Sid the super smelly cloth, now dash off and make sure our enemies don't come back to soon" He kicked Sid hard sending him flying off after Diego.
"Darn, the super sloth really does exist" Giles said awed. He then grew quickly disappointed as he realised they had lost out on trampling anyone soon "But we've been waiting for a good stampede all day, now it's back to square one and we don't even have a sucker to sit as bait anymore"
"Wait a minute lads, I'm not buying a word of this" Mick said squinting hard to see the truth behind the daft façade (posh)
"But the super sloth, he saved the day we saw" Glies exclaimed "He even flew off to the horizon type area"
"No we didn't actually see anything, but we saw a lot of theatrics and heard a lot of whispering" Mick said
"But he flew!" Giles gasped
"Don't be fooled by a little 'sleight of hand', or 'kick of foot' boys. No we were right behind the tiger there is no way it managed to take down two mammoths that quick and without making a noise. Also that sloth was stuck in similar bonds all night and couldn't get out, so what's going on Manny?"
"Fine, Mick this is my herd. So no need to over react or anything, okay"
"What he is trying to say" Ellie cut in "Is that we have a very multi specie herd of friends that we are very proud of"
Mick sniggered "Have you lost the plot? I can try and sympathise with keeping the little vermin you know, for fun, but a saber? It goes against nature, you are mammoths. Look" Mick made a foot print next to Manny's "The same, see? Mammoth. Not tiger or sloth or anything else under the sun, just plain and simple mammoth. So come back to our herd and be mammoths" He said his voice turning deadly serious indicating Manny had no choice in the matter.
"Look I know what I am and what they are! And I don't keep them, we are all old friends and we are all equal in this herd. Well they are me and Ellie are a bit more equal"
"Manny" Ellie started
"Well they're hopeless without us mothering them constantly"
"Not feeling the love there Manfred" Sid called giving his and Diego's positions away. They had only ventured meters away out of sight behind a boulder as they didn't want to miss out on any mammoth fights that might go off. They felt sure Manny would defend them from the hostile herd with a spectacular show of enthusiasm, something never to be missed. Sid reckoned Mick would win as he had nine pals with him, Diego thought Manny would win even without Ellie's help as he was so easily worked up lately, and so damn violent anyway.
"Manny you can't have a pet cat" Mick said glowering, it was getting serious.
Manny scwinnied (King Lear did this and now I must use this word everyday) his eyes and spoke slowly as angry people do "I am not confused, I know what I am, I just have some strange friends that's all"
"And this particular friend of yours" Mick also spoke real slowly, emphasizing each syllable "Is he leading you anywhere? Maybe taking you and your family home to meet his pals for dinner perhaps?" He sneered
"It's not like that" Manny is hard pushed even now to express love for his crazy herd and stutters a bit "Diego is harmless like the rest of the menagerie"
"And where is the rest of your menagerie Manny?" Mick said as he looked around aware that he had not seen all the critters he knew to be part of Manny's herd, "those stripy rats and your kid! Where are they?"
"Uh... They are..."
"Playing hide and seek perhaps? With your saber friend maybe, are you really sure he didn't... "
Diego smirked, happy that his ferocious saber image was still appreciated and feared by the mammoth herd.
Sid shouted out raged "Diego wouldn't, he is veggie now so is perfectly safe to everyone!"
"What did you have to say that for?" Diego snapped at Sid and threatened to hit him
"What? I thought good karma and vegetarianism went hand in hand, you just got more grouchy pal"
"So where is your missing kid Manny?" Mick said weary of all the excuses and interuptions.
"Maybe if we all look for her we could find out!" Ellie snapped tired of all the delay this foolish male behaviour was creating. She so wanted to go and search but was equally worried that Manny and Mick, who although older was bigger, were going to come to blows over a little differing of opinions.
"No need to search, I know exactly where she is" Mick said implying Diego had eaten her
"I didn't" Diego said not bothering to hide anymore as he didn't want to miss the fight
"Oh really? I'm not buying that veggie poop and I'm not seeing any baby mammoth"
"He didn't" Ellie snapped "Peaches fooled us into thinking she was playing then sneaked off to find Sid, she thought you were going to feed him to some real predators"
"And his kids weren't going to eat you either I suppose?" Mick sneered
"They just play rough, don't you" Ellie said looking at the cubs hiding behind Diego, surely their cuteness would help lighten the situation, she hoped!
The cubs stared back in stunned silence "But we really tried" Ari whined," We defeated you, we did! Diego we won fair and square honest!"
"It's true this time we had them for sure" Adia said backing him up "If we only had our grown up teeth we..."
Diego quickly covered Aida's mouth before she could finish "I know I saw, it was a good job, I'm very proud team" Diego reassured the upset kids.
"We were playing tag! They cheated" Manny bellowed still irate at them.
"We were not" Ari said defiantly as he prepared to have to sort the mammoth out again "We only play 'survival of the fittest'" He puffed out his chest and pulled in his baby fat stomach in a very macho pose before finishing "and we are the fittest so we won"
Manny stopped himself from saying any more he wasn't arguing with kids as well as imbeciles (Mick) today. He took a calming breath to clear his head so to work out a way out of this situation and get back to finding Peaches. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard, they all needed a common enemy or something to unite them, they needed something big, but what?
"Humans!" A new voice wheezed
"What?" Manny said as he opened his eyes to see Peaches come racing over to them. Ellie had already started running over to greet her. Manny heaved a big sigh of relief that she was safe and then noticed an old bull mammoth trying hard to keep up with her "It was humans!" The old bull wheezed again before stopping to catch his breath.
"Bill I thought you were dead" Mick said astonished "Where have you been? We were searching..."
"Shh!" Poor Bill said as he took another deep breath, he was really feeling his age "I know, I heard you calling for me. I was stuck down a hidden pit, a trap made by the humans. Brave little Peaches here saved me"
"Oh Peaches I am so proud of you" Ellie said hugging her daughter harder. Peaches closed her eyes so they didn't get squeezed out. "But that is so in the wrong direction hon, we are going to have to work hard on your orienteering skills before you try anything like that again"
"Wait" Manny started confused "You know about these traps?" He asked Ellie
"Sure" Ellie answered "The first day our herd split, Sid and Diego discovered them when they fell in one"
"Easily done" Diego growled "There all covered and camouflaged, no one could possibly have seen it coming" (The pits did have sharp spikes in back then, chap 3 I think, but we will ignore that plot hole)
"So" Manny said taking on an air of 'told you so' confidence, "Everything seems to have worked out, the humans are to blame for any misdoings and me and my herd are good to go I think. Well it's been fun but now I'm certain my decision not to live with mammoths (Back before his unique herd he was a loner) was the right one"
"Ahem" Sid started "What you mean to say is we are family, united not by genetics or trees or colour, but by friendship, trust and above all love. And love is thicker than wine and anything else on earth so see ya you bunch of crazies"
"Yeah all that what he said family and stuff love too" Manny muttered quickly and turned to go and put some distance between the two herds while the peace lasted.
"Well Manfred if you are truly not as mad as I think you are then you will join us to eradicate this apparent human threat to all our families" Mick said eager not to let Manny off the hook just yet
"Sure I guess" Manny replied
"But, what if?" Sid started but could not finish.
There was no need Manny knew exactly what he meant "There is no way it's going to be pinkies family Sid, what are the odds?"
Sid smiled nervously, not at all reassured.
"We will scout out the situation, find out where they are camped and what threat they pose. Then when we return Manny I will expect you to help get them out of the picture once and for all"
Manny didn't back down he met Big Mick's very serious stare and nodded agreement. Mick turned to go. "It's good to have you back old Bill, although we won't be referring to you and your little herd of caribou as crazy hermits anymore. We will now say as Mad as Mad Manny who lives with his enemies ha ha ha"
Bill ignored the other Mammoths laughing, he way preferred his caribou pals to them anyway. He glanced back at Peaches and waved good bye, he thought to himself 'there must be some method to her parents madness if she is able to stand up to a pack of sabers all alone and come out on top' He smiled as she waved back before joining her cub friends in play teasing the sloth. Bill imagined a few legends were going to be born from that calf's adventures and smiled as he walked home. He hoped there was still some of that sweet spring grass left.
Later that evening when everything and everyone had calmed down.
"You know that could have gone a lot smoother if you were just honest with your friends from the start" Ellie said as they all sat by one of Sid's fires to contemplate where it had all gone wrong today.
"You don't understand" Manny replied aware that Ellie knew nothing of super stubborn male herd behaviour "These guys are so stuck in their ways they would never understand anything different to what they already believe to be true"
"Oh I don't know, they were fine when I introduced Crash's new friend Fleet to them"
"Possums are harmless"
"She is a wolf honey, let me finish. Everyone got on like a house on fire"
"Wait when did you do that?"
"When you were off running after everyone, as usual"
"You seem to fit an awful lot in" Manny said dismayed
"Well I've learnt that it's no good worrying about all the adventures you might be missing, you might miss the little ones of your own" Ellie mused very sagely.
Everyone missed how quiet Peaches was about her own adventure that day. They all had their own things going on too much to notice her sitting quietly beside her mum deep in thought. She pondered telling her parents about what she had done, maybe when no one was around who might take offence. She decided she would wait.
"So who's hungry?" Sid said eagerly now he was finally in charge of his own kids and no one was going to stop him doing things his way.
"Me!" All the cubs responded as they had not been fed since yesterday and so much had happened since then.
"Well let's learn how to forage then, come on!" Sid's enthusiasm to teach was as great as their hunger. The response he got however was not so great as the word forage caused them all to grimace. One by one the cubs turned on their best pleading looks to Diego to feed them instead.
"Don't look at me" Diego said quickly dashing any hopes of rescue "Till your parents get back that smelly green thing is all you've got"
"Come on he ain't that bad" Steve said in Sid's defence and followed Sid, the others reluctantly followed too.
"And what are you going to do?" Sid asked Diego who made no move to accompany them "You not hungry? Don't fancy joining us for some tasty seasonal salad?"
"Nope, I'm off to appreciate my freedom, a night on the town is just what I need" Diego replied before sauntering off on his own. He got as far as the den he had made the night before and fell asleep.
"He'll be back when he sees what culinary delights this 'vegetarian chef extraordinaire' has to offer later, come on kids it's converting time!" Sid led them off to see what they could rustle up.
Peaches could not help herself, she forgot her troubles and wandered after Sid to play to; being vegetarian already she was going to be good at this.
"Stay with Sid Honey!" Ellie called after her "And don't go too far Sid!" she warned
"Relax" Sid called back "I can't do any worse than you"
"True"
"Should we let them?" Manny asked too tired to really chase after them
"Well, we have had a pretty pants day so far" Ellie mused "I think we deserve a little alone time before the next fiasco arises"
"Hear hear" Manny agreed, after all Peaches had promised to be good from now on. They sat in silence for a moment listening to the calm peaceful quiet of nothing going wrong.
"I wonder what's happened to my brothers." Ellie suddenly thought
"Well that didn't take long" Manny sighed; he knew this calm was too good to be true.
"Well it has been a while since we heard from them"
"Probably celebrating their new found freedom"
"Oh yeah they were breaking up with that girl, I hope that went well"
"So do I, we hardly last five minutes under their friendly fire, imagine having a disgruntled possum actually wanting to cause harm"
For the first time since she had known him Ellie felt Manny shudder. She couldn't help gulping herself. "Let's enjoy this quiet time while it lasts" She said as she silently prayed Crash and Eddie were going about this with more maturity than even she could give them credit for.
Too much already going on this time so I'm saving the possums till next chap, which really will take a while as I've run out of plot! Happens to everyone I hear.