A/N: I'm back! Thank you all so much for the new reviews and amount of favorites! It's amazing; I never came to think that anyone would remotely find this story anywhere near good. I just hope you like Roxie almost as much as I enjoy writing her. I want her to be the type of character that seems more complex than bland. Anyway, here's my next chapter!
After taking into notice that the woman had completely disappeared, leaving us with this hairless beast, Manny had obviously grown tired of it and turned to leave, the baby still on the ground where he had pulled it to.
"H-hey, hey, hey, Manny, are you forgetting something?" Sid exclaimed, picking up the baby.
"B-But you just saved him!" I said, wincing as the baby cooed from Sid's arms.
"Yeah, well, I'm still trying to get rid of the last two things I saved," Manny said, glaring over his shoulder.
"But we can't just leave him here!" Sid said, opening his arms to stare into the face of the human.
"I dunno, he is pretty ugly," I said, cringing. "No fur is upsetting." Shaking my head, I looked up and grinned snarkily, pointing my paw. "Look, smoke means fire and fire means humans! You know what that means?" Sid stared at me blankly, causing me to roll my eyes and rub my temples. "Urgh, it means his family is up there! All we have to do is go up the hill and drop him off before we're speared! And by we, I mean you." I poked Sid harshly in the chest.
"Me?" he said, shocked. "But - if they see me, they'll rip me up and - and wear my pelt as a towel of some sort! Wouldn't it be easier if Manny went?"
"Let's get something straight here," Manny had returned, glaring threateningly at the two of us. "I want nothing to do with the humans, or the kid, or you, and definitely not you!" He pointed the trunk at the both of us. "Preferably, I would volunteer the two of you go together so you may die together and the kid can grow up to become a hunter JUST like his father!"
"Little harsh there, Manny," I said, unamused.
"You know what? Fine! I'll take care of him!" Sid snapped, turning around and heading for the hill.
"Right, right, you'll take care of him. You can't even take care of yourself!"
I sighed and watched as Sid began to climb. "If he falls, it's a tragic accident and we were never here."
"Noted," Manny nodded. Sid made it further up, but he kept either hitting his head and getting stuck. "You're an embarrassment to nature, do you know that?"
"Nature's cake! I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm gonna die..." Sid whined as he kept himself going. I was about to laugh myself silly until I noticed the bundle of covers that was over the baby was opening and the infant was slipping out. "Oh, jeez... Sid! The baby!"
Sid looked down at my yell and gasped, grabbing the infant just before he fell by the back of his shirt with his foot. However, it didn't last for long and soon the infant fell fully. I raised my arms as well as Manny had raised his trunk, but with a roar, a saber jumped overhead, grabbing it by its scruff.
I shrieked and jumped back behind Manny, cowering over myself as my ears fell shakily to my head. Ever since the pack of sabers had killed Dad, I've been terrified ever since. Manny was quick to bounce the baby out of its teeth and hold it out of reach.
The sabertooth went to strike, but seeing as it was a fully grown mammoth against one saber, it was obvious about who the odds were on. The saber calmed himself enough for me to relax and crawl out from behind Manny, but I was still shaking from head to toe.
"Uh, that pink thing is mine," he said casually.
"Uh, no, actually, that pink thing belongs to us," Sid smiled, falling from the hill finally.
"Us? You two are a bit of an odd couple," he observed, before noticing me. "And...a pet, too?"
"Pet? Slow your horses, tiger, I am no pet!" I crossed my arms and felt my eye twitch annoyingly.
"There is no us!" Manny protested.
"I see... Can't have one of your own, so you want to adopt," he continued, ignoring me.
"Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt your snack, but we've gotta go," Sid stated, pulling the baby into his arms.
"The baby? Please," the tiger rolled his eyes. "I was returning it to its herd."
"Yeah, an old saber like you would give up on a lunch like this?" I nodded to the baby, not letting my eyes leave the large cat. My confidence was definitely improving around him, but it was probably more due to the fact that he was annoying the living carrots outta me.
"You calling me a liar?" he challenged, leaning close to my friends. "You're still prey, sweetheart, don't get too cocky."
"And you're still just a kitty waiting for the dog to bite your butt on the way out! You don't scare me," I growled. Actually, he did. He terrified me to death! But I wasn't about to let him know that. Besides, with Manny and Sid right there, he wouldn't lay a claw on me.
"I like your attitude," he complimented, lifting his head to stare over the three of us finally. "Name's Diego, friend."
"Manfred, and I'm not your friend!" Manny said.
"Fine...Manfred," Diego spat the name. "If you're looking for the humans you're wasting your time. They left this morning."
"Thanks for the advice, now beat it!" Manny turned to Sid. "Alright, I'll help you find the kid's parents, but only if you promise to leave me alone after that?"
"Okay, okay, deal! What's your problem?" Sid demanded as the two walked ahead to find another way up the hill.
"You are my problem!"
"You not gonna follow them?" Diego asked, turning to me.
"I don't dwell on being eaten from behind today - I never turn my back on a predator, if I can even refer to you as such, softie." I winked and got to my front paws and hind legs, sprinting after Manny and Sid enough to climb onto Manny's shoulders.
It was a long walk before we finally made it to the ledge, but what with us not wanting to be speared to death, we had to figure out how to get it back. Or, at least, Sid had to.
"What are you doing, just drop it on the ledge!" Manny said.
Sid obeyed. "Shouldn't we make sure they found him?"
"Good idea," Manny said, seizing Sid and throwing him over with his trunk.
"NO! DON'T SPEAR ME!" he shielded himself protectively. "Uh...this is a problem."
"Ugh...check it," Manny said up to me. Nodding, I let him lift me up by his trunk to peek over the top. "Oh," I said, my ears falling. "The humans are gone. I guess the kitty was telling the truth."
"Oh, that's perfect!" Manny rolled his eyes as he carefully set me down before crawling up after.
We all began exploring, hoping to actually see a human or two to take the infant. "The humans are so weird," I whispered, looking around. Looking farther, I spotted a painting knitted together by animal skin. Looking closer, I almost choked. It was of a woman and her child, obviously showing a mother's love. I rubbed my arm uncomfortably thinking of my own Mom. It was guilt more than anything. What was I going to do?
"Chin up, sweetheart," Diego said, making me jump. It seemed that he had actually followed us. He made his way to Manny. "Told you they left."
"Oh, look who it is! Don't you have some poor, defenseless animal to eat?" he asked sarcastically.
"Well, they couldn't be far! They could've gone this way or this way or maybe over there..."
"You don't know much about tracking, do you?" Diego asked.
"I do!" I raised a hand, annoyed. "My nose has been known to find the most amount of carrots in less than seven minutes!"
"Yeah, so in case we weren't looking for vegetables, I say give me the baby. I can track humans way faster and easier than you can. It's obvious that they headed north two hours ago. You don't need this agravation, buddy," he said, looking up at Manny.
"And you're just a good citizen helping out, right?" Manny pried, pulling the baby back to him.
"I just know where the humans are going," Diego stated, taking the baby back.
"So do we! Over there," I pointed towards the mountains. "Every living creature knows they have a village on the other side."
"Well, unless you know how to track, you're not gonna get there in time before the pass covers up with snow, which should be tomorrow. So...you could give the baby to me or go get lost in a blizzard. It's your choice."
I looked up at Manny curiously, who seemed to had made a decision. He picked up the baby and plopped it in my arms. "There's your little bundle of joy, we're returning it to the humans."
"Awe, the big, bad tigey-wigey gets left behind!" Sid cooed, pinching Diego's cheeks. "Poor tigey-wigey..."
"Sid? Tigey-wigey is going to lead the way," Manny said, an annoying smile on his face.
Looking between the baby and the smug grin on Diego's face, I let out a groan. I did not need to deal with this right now.