Disclaimer: I don't own anything 'Ice Age' related other than my OCs, and this story.
Note: LOL, Fiat Noctum I updated just as you reviewed.
Locrian-Mode, how coincidental of us to write a comment nearly similar to each other, but you must continue on with your story, I'm just dying to read more of it! I think using nature is a good way to express a story, and I like taking advantage of a storm like that. Because come on, who would slip on dry ground? Also, I created a flaw for myself, but I found a way around it so no worries. You'll all find out soon why the Abyss is the way it is.
Goodbye, Chapter Fourteen
Diego heaved himself up on Rudy to meet up with a pterodactyl. He kicked it off the moving dinosaur when it tried to advance on him, and while clutching at his chest, the smilodon tiger looked around for anymore signs of the flying creatures. He didn't see anything, and from exhaustion and pain, he started climbing again.
Lois spotted a quetzalcoatlus in the distance, flapping it's massive wings in the without breaking a sweat; yet she had to try hard from all this rain. She heard the twins on her back point the creature out, and the Doktor seemed to be on it. She flew over.
"Doktor!" she called, and landed on the large bird. The twins hopped off and ran to the large bird's head.
"Lois!" the Doktor shouted, against the storm, "Where's Buck?!"
"Manny has him, he's fine!" she replied, "What do you need?"
"Nothing, I just came because I thought you might need some assistance." he said, "And do not worry, Ellie and Peaches are with that sloth's dinosaur wife. They're perfectly--"
The quetzalcoatlus swerved to the side, and everyone clutched at the bird's fur. It shrieked at the swarm of pterodactyls and charged.
Lois looked to the opossums, "Crash, Eddie, the ammo!"
"We don't have anymore!" Eddie said, "We ran out!"
Doktor turned to the trio, "That is where you're wrong, lad!"
The medic passed the berries he had collected before turning back towards the advancing birds in the distance, he raised his cane and pointed it at the flying creatures. "CHARGE!"
The quetzalcoatlus obeyed, shrieking to the doctor's command and dove for the ground, giving the opossums to load up. Lois gasped as she spotted a dozen of pterodactyls heading towards Diego and Rudy. She quickly turned to the others, "Eddie come with me!"
Eddie saluted to his brother, "Take care of the Doktor, bro!"
Crash returned the salute, "You take care of Lois!"
And they separated, with Lois flying back to Diego and Rudy. She turned her head to the side to see how the opossum was doing, "You okay up there, Eddie?"
"Don't worry about me, Lois. Let's go save tigy-wigy!" He shot his first berry, when Lois flew past a pterodactyl. Bulls-eye! Eddie reloaded, and got ready for the rest of the flock. Lois brought him into the awaiting battle.
"FIRE!" Lois, and Doktor commanded from their separating distances. The twins fired here and there, not missing a pterodactyl in sight.
Diego, seeing that the pterodactyls are being eliminated one by one climbed his way up faster onto Rudy. The Baryonyx never forgot his presence as it tried shaking him off again, and the saber nearly slipped off.
Just then, a pterodactyl came to Diego's side and knocked him off the dinosaur. He was taken aback at the poweful hit and was confused as to what just happened before he hit the ground, bouncing on the hard surface, and slamming into the cliff's side.
He didn't get up.
Manny, Sid, and Buck who had retrieved vines to bind Rudy with, along with Lois and Eddie who hovered in the sky, had seen the whole thing. They waited for a moment, a sign that Diego was fine and he'd get up. But seconds passed and the tiger lay still. No one could blame him, as he fell from such a height, but was he alright is the question.
An ear twitched, a paw moved, Diego fought to get on his his two feet and once he did, his oculars slowly faded from it's hazel to their green colours; shinning in the moonlight. Not even a dinosaur can take him down that quickly when it came to his own duel with death.
He wasn't going to let himself die just yet, maybe later, when he's of old age, but not now. His legs strained, but he growled to gain strength, and slowly, he stepped forward. Rudy had turned to watch in amusement at to what was the tiger doing. He could tell, that Diego really wanted to be part of his meal. He licked his lips.
That was the cue for Buck, with a yell of 'CHARGE!' he, and Manny charged with the vines they collected. Sid didn't look like much help, but he was trying. Really.
Diego roared and leaped, Rudy brought his head down to snap at the tiger, but Diego was faster, using the slippery surface of the Abyss and sliding under the baryonyx and calling out to Manny.
"Manny, over here!" the mammoth passed him a vine, and together, the lot of animals circled the beast, tying and tightening the everlasting vines. Rudy fell to his stomach, struggling to get the tightly tied vines but to no avail. After taking back his prized possession; Rudy's tooth, Buck hopped of the dinosaur and gestured for the others to come quickly, "We have to hurry, this won't hold him long!"
They started to follow quickly, but when thunder struck the cliff from above, they watched as the tip of the terrain broke off and landed onto the surface of the Abyss, which by the way, cracked open and let the piece of land fall through. Nothing had ever broken through the surface off the Abyss, but now...
That's not all the falling edge of the cliff did. As it smashed through a piece of the Abyss it also created a pattern of cracks that spread throughout the entire Abyss. Then, pieces of the rock land gave away and fell into the bottomless pit, and that is when the animals saw why the Abyss had been so strong. Thick, ginormous branches that coiled around together had held the surface of rock from above them, that is what held the Abyss up. The holes and cracks animals had looked through where too small for them to see the branches and the pebbles and rocks they must've thrown down into the hole possibly just ended up stuck in the branches or had passed through gaps and fell into the pit. The Abyss wasn't a mystery more.
Hearing Sid's frightened scream, Buck snapped out of his senses and continued to gesture for the herd to follow, "GO GO GO!"
He ran off, with everybody else. One of Rudy's vine snapped, and Lois was the only one close enough to hear it through the sudden thunder. She turned to the herd and said, "Take care of my dad!"
Buck's ears perked up, he turned and his faced turned to horror as he saw Lois retreating back towards the dinosaur. The ground was giving away towards Rudy. He leaped into the air, "LOIS NO!" but before he could touch ground, something had snatched him from above the sky. He looked up, "DOKTOR, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Lois grabbed the two vines with her feet that had snapped and tried to pull as hard as she could to keep Rudy from escaping, but she was failing ever so fast. She kepty trying, and Rudy was still to tangled to reach and swipe at her.
Diego turned to Manny when the mammoth went to help, he blocked his way. Manny gave the tired a look, "Diego, we have to help her!"
"No Manny, I have to help her. You, Sid, and Eddie follow after Buck before the whole place falls apart!"
"We are not leaving you Diego!" argued the mammoth. Before Diego could reply Eddie cut in, "Dude are you crazy?!"
"We don't have time to argue!" Diego snapped, "Go. NOW!"
"But..." Manny tried to find his words, "Y-you're a part of our family, we have to stick together, remember?"
"I..." Diego sighed, "I'm sorry Manny, but my journey ends here."
"What do you mean?" Sid asked, "If you let us help no one's journey has to end. Especially Lois' so I suggest--"
"I'm dying, Sid." came Diego's sad reply. Manny, Sid, and Eddie was beyond shock. The smilodon tiger shook his head, looking down sadly, and back up again, "I know I should've told the herd sooner, but I'm the least of your worries. And knowing you Manny, you'll start looking for a cure."
"Because you're my friend, you're like a brother to me Diego." Manny explained, "A brother to me and Sid, and an uncle to Peaches."
"A-and..." Eddie sobbed; shocking for everyone to see. The opossum embraced Diego's paw that was closest to him, he looked up at the tiger, "And we'll miss you."
Diego chuckled softly, panting Eddie's back gently and pushing the possum back gently towards his brothers. He watched the young creature climb up to the mammoth's head and there he cried softly. Sid wasn't crying, but he never felt so depressed inside. In his life, he'd never met guys like Manny and Diego, who accepted them for who he was, and teased him for who he was. They were... his family.
"Diego, you can't leave..."
"I'm sorry Sid," Diego smiled softly, "but it's been a pleasure to be part of the herd, and seeing you two... have a family," he chuckled, "I'm happy for you both."
Manny couldn't hold the sadness rising up from within him, he let a single tear from his eye and his trunk reached out to the saber, patting him on the head. He withdrew, and said...
"I guess... this is goodbye, huh?"
Diego looked up at Manfred, "Yeah, big guy."
Sid shook his head, "Please tell me you're joking."
Diego just smiled sadly, "Take care Sid, you too Manny, and Eddie... hang in there."
Eddie nodded slowly, before burying his face into Manny's wet fur again and crying.
Thunder struck the visible branches from under the Abyss, and a fire lit up, which quickly spread through the entire tangle of dried up, and very old tree roots. It won't be long before the whole land collapses.
Sid reached out to the tiger, but Manny's trunk grabbed him and the mammoth set the sloth up on his back, and quickly retreated into the rain forest. Panting, he took one last glance at Diego.
Diego gestured to them one last time, with a paw on one eye and lifting it up. Good memories.
He waved goodbye.
I cried while writing this.