Chapter 3

I do not own 'Ice Age'. I only own the characters you don't recognize from the movies.

Diego woke to the quiet sound of a few birds chirping as there was only the slightest bit of light out to barely start the day. Diego lifted his head and looked around the cave which he shared with the rest of his friends. The three mammoths, Ellie, Manny, and fourteen year old Peaches, slept on one side of the cave against one another while the two possums, Crash and Eddie, slept hanging upside down on a branch that reached inside the cave. Sid, the sloth, slept on a nearby stump snoring rather nosily as he tossed and turned occasionally and Diego groaned under his breath as he stood and made his way towards the cave entrance. He stood in the entrance for a moment, taking in the view of the beginning sunrise as he heard a shuffling sound behind him and he turned to see Peaches as she walked up to stand beside him.

"Hey, Diego" Peaches said, "Why are you up so early?"

"Sid was snoring" Diego simply answered, "I couldn't get back to sleep so I figured a morning walk or hunt might do me some good or something."

"Mind if I join you?" Diego gave Peaches a look and she rolled her eyes at him. "I meant for a walk, Diego" she said, "I'm not really tired anyways and I don't just want to sit here listening to Sid snoring the whole time."

"Sure, why not?" Diego replied, "I could always use the company."

Peaches nodded as the two stepped out of the cave and headed into the woods for an early morning walk. The two walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Peaches spoke.

"So do you need to go hunt anytime soon or what?" Peaches asked and Diego snickered.

"Not now" Diego answered, "I'll hunt later this morning when everyone's awake."

Peaches nodded in understanding as they continued on with their walk, the silence between them comfortable as they walked through the woods. Suddenly, faint war cries were heard far off in the distance and Diego and Peaches froze.

"What was that?" Peaches asked.

"I don't know" Diego answered, "You stay here, I'll go check it out."

Peaches was about to protest but didn't get the chance as Diego took off up a small hill towards the sound of the war cries. Diego listened carefully as the war cries began to get slightly louder and louder and Diego hid beneath a few bushes as he heard somebody run towards his direction. A teenage looking boy suddenly appeared as he ran through the forest and past Diego's hiding spot and the war cries seemed to be after him for some reason. Diego remained where he was for a few more moments as the war cries died down and when they finally did, Diego emerged from his hiding spot and headed in the direction the boy went. Diego didn't have to go far as he spotted the boy some distance away and had stopped to catch his much needed breath. Diego looked at the boy for a moment as he thought he looked slightly familiar for some odd reason but Diego couldn't exactly see from this distance. Diego decided to get a closer look as he quietly crept forward careful not to frighten the boy away. Diego was soon only a few feet away from the boy and he was able to get a closer look at the out of breath boy. As Diego stared at the boy, he couldn't help thinking that he knew him from somewhere, he just couldn't think how or when. Diego tried to think back to if he had ever met a human but the only one he could possibly come up with was…

No. It couldn't possibly be little 'Pinky'. Could it?

It had been sixteen years since then; surly the chances of them meeting ever again were almost impossible. Almost. Diego tried to inch closer to get a better look but he accidentally rustled the bushes making the boy alert as he whipped around but Diego was faster as he moved around the boy, keeping hidden the whole time. This time, Diego was close enough and had the breeze blowing towards him making it easier for Diego to smell the boy's scent. But as Diego moved his head forward to sniff the air, his head bumped the bushes again making the boy turn once again as he searched for the unknown saber in the bushes. Diego cursed to himself in his mind as he couldn't get any closer without rustling the bushes or startling the boy. Diego watched as the boy cautiously looked around once more before walking at a fast pace deeper into the woods and Diego followed him. After a few moments of fast paced walking, the boy suddenly tripped on a large tree root and he yelped as he tumbled to the ground and rolled down the small hill in front of him. Diego rushed forward as he worriedly watched the boy roll down the hill until he made it to the bottom, smacking his head on a tree trunk which brought him to a stop. Diego leaped and ran down the hill and he skidded to a stop as he reached the bottom and crept cautiously forward towards the boy who appeared unconscious. Diego then heard somebody behind him and he turned to once again see Peaches as she rushed over to Diego and the unconscious boy.

"Diego!" Peaches cried, "I saw the human fall and you came down after him. What happened up there?"

"I don't know for sure" Diego answered as he walked up to the unconscious boy and sniffed him a few times before backing up to stand beside Peaches. "But I do know that we need to bring him back to the others."

"What? Diego, this is a human. Why do you want to bring him back to the others?"

"Ask your father. Now help me."

Back at the cave, everyone else was beginning to wake up except for Sid who still lay on his tree stump snoring. Manny was the first to wake as he opened his eyes and yawned before standing to stretch a few muscles and Ellie woke next and Manny turned to her.

"Morning, Ellie." Manny said.

"Morning" Ellie replied and she turned to look to where Peaches would have been sleeping but she was no where in sight. "Where's Peaches? It's not like her to run off."

Manny looked around the cave and noticed that Diego was also absent from the cave, "She's probably out with Diego or something. You know how she hates listening to Sid snore all night."

Ellie nodded as she stood, rousing Crash and Eddie from their sleep as they yawned and stretched before climbing down from their tree branch. "Hey, what's for breakie?" Crash asked and he stopped for a second, "Hey, I made a rhyme!"

"I can make one too!" Eddie said and he coughed briefly before starting, "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear, Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair, Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy, was he?"

Crash and Eddie fell to the cave floor laughing as Ellie rolled her eyes in amusement and Manny gave her a look. It was then that Diego walked into the cave with Peaches right behind him but she had an unconscious human slung over her back and she carried his bow and arrow, his spear, and his small bag in her trunk making everybody's eyes widen.

"Peaches, what in the world is on your back, young lady?" Manny demanded.

"A human" Peaches simply answered as she set down the boy's belongings, "Diego said we needed to bring him here and told me to ask you about it."

"How would I know anything about this?"

"Manny" Diego said, "Take a good look at the kid. Believe me, you'll know."

Manny sighed but walked over to Peaches as he carefully removed the boy from Peaches' back with his trunk and lay him down on his back on the cave floor. Manny looked closely at the boy and he froze.

"Oh no." Manny gasped.

"Oh yes." Diego said.

"It can't be!"

"It's him and you know it!"

"Boys!" Ellie called making Manny and Diego stop and look at her. "Would somebody please explain how you guys supposedly know this human?"

"Sorry, Ellie" Manny said, "somebody wake Sid up, he knows the kid too."

Diego did the honors as he walked over to Sid and shoved him off of the tree stump waking him up.

"I don't have your acorns!" Sid suddenly cried still half asleep, "Huh? What? What's going on?"

"Get up you lumpy sack of fur!" Diego instructed, "We got a situation to deal with."

"Can't we deal with it in the morning?"

"It is morning."

"Oh okay, that makes sense."

Diego rolled his eyes as Sid stood and followed Diego towards the others and he spotted the unconscious boy on the cave floor.

"Wait… is that our little Pinky?" Sid asked.

"Yeah." Diego replied.

"Who's Pinky?" Peaches asked.

"It's a really long story."

Ellie cut in, "You can start your story after we get the poor boy settled. He looks like he took a harsh fall."

"He did. He accidentally tripped on a tree root and rolled down a hill and hit his head."

"Well, let's not waste time then."

Ellie reached down and carefully picked the boy up with her trunk as she moved back to her sleeping spot and sat down. She then placed the boy beside her as she propped him up against her side so he sat comfortably. Ellie gestured Peaches over and Peaches obeyed her mother as she sat down at the boy's side and her trunk lay over the boy's lap.

"At least now he can stay warm and comfortable while the boys tell their story." Ellie said as Crash and Eddie came over and looked at the boy.

"We should paint his face!" Eddie suggested, "Berry juice would be perfect."

"Yeah!" Crash agreed, "Great idea, Eddie!"

The two possums high fived each other and Manny reached his trunk out and grabbed the two possums and brought them up to look them in the eyes.

"Nobody is putting anything on his face!" Manny said, "You will leave the kid alone, got it?"

Crash and Eddie silently gulped as they nodded and Manny set them down and the two possums scurried up to their tree branch and remained there. Manny gave them one last look before moving to sit down in front of his wife and Diego made himself comfortable not too far away from them and Sid remained standing next to Diego.

"So" Ellie said, "Are you going to tell us how you know this boy or what?"

Manny sighed, "Okay, It all started with this yearly migration two years before Peaches was born…"

So Manny, Diego, and Sid began telling their story that started it all sixteen years ago.