Chapter 9

I do not own "Ice Age'. I only own the characters you don't recognize from the movies. Sorry for the late update but school just started and it's even busier now that this is my grad year. Grade 12, Woot! I'll be sure to update as soon as I can though, I promise.

By the next morning, the small fire had burnt out and was only just slightly smoking and the air smelled of slight smoke from both the small fire and the forest fire that had managed to die down. The breeze in the air had blown some of the faint smoke in their direction also causing small flakes of ash to fly around and settle on whatever they happened to land on.

Roshan managed to wake himself up as he attempted to open his eyes and he rubbed them as he sat up. A few flakes of ash had settled in his hair and he shook them out by ruffling his hair with his hand. He then realized that his mouth felt a little dry and he glanced around for the small water bowl he had and found that there wasn't much water in it but he didn't care. Roshan picked up the bowl as he brought it to his lips and drained the bowl.

Everyone woke slowly but surely as last night was rather hectic and almost everyone was still a little drowsy from slight lack of sleep. Everyone that is except for Crash and Eddie as they, being the small and energetic possums that they were, managed to get enough sleep and still have enough energy in them to be the two annoying and pranking possums around. Crash and Eddie suddenly dashed forward laughing as they chased each other.

"Hey, watch it!" Roshan warned as Crash and Eddie suddenly jumped across Roshan's shoulders and then leaped onto Ellie as they laughed.

"You guys need to WAKE UP sometime!" Crash said as he and Eddie jumped from Ellie to Manny and the two possums laughed.

"Wakey, wakey!" Eddie chanted as they leaped onto Sid next.

Sid jolted awake slightly but as soon as Crash and Eddie leaped off of him, he grumbled tiredly and then yawned as he rolled over and fell back asleep. Diego growled as Crash and Eddie leaped on him and then jumped down to the ground as they scampered off.

"Those two are going to become lunch if their not careful." Diego growled as he stood and glared at the two energetic possums.

"I wouldn't be thinking about lunch right now" Manny said as he stood as well, "Besides it's only the morning, you can have your lunch in the afternoon."

Crash and Eddie then leaped on Peaches as she began to wake and she laughed, "Alright, I'm up, I'm up!" Peaches said as she laughed and then stood.

Roshan decided to finally stand as well as he stood and stretched his arms. With that done, he lowered his arms back down to his sides as he stepped out to gaze at the morning view and his gaze settled on the forest. Or what was left of it. From where Roshan stood, he could see the remaining tall trees that were there as almost every single piece of green was either burned off or black from the fire and the same went for the tree bark and any other plants that had grown in the forest. Roshan was thankful that only about half of the forest was burned as the other half still grew with only the faintest bits of scorched leaves and branches. Roshan quietly sighed to himself knowing that this was somehow his fault; he caused the enemy tribe to look for him and caused the whole herd to loose their home in the forest. It was his entire fault.

Peaches glanced over where Roshan was standing as she followed his gaze towards the burnt down forest as she made her way over to him. "Hey, are you okay?" Peaches asked as she came up next to him and Roshan snapped out of his guilty thoughts.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine" Roshan replied, "Just uh… didn't get much sleep last night is all."

"Yeah right, you said almost the same thing back at the cave and you had the exact same look on your face too. What's going on with you?"

"Nothing's going on, I said I'm fine."

Peaches just rolled her eyes as she placed her trunk on Roshan's shoulder and turned him around to face her. "Quit lying to me, Roshan" she said not even giving Roshan the chance to protest, "I don't like it when you tell me you're fine but I can clearly see you're not. Just tell me what wrong, maybe I can help or something."

Roshan sighed, "Sorry, Peaches" he replied, "I know you want to help, but I think this is one I need to figure out on my own."

"Then at least just tell me what it is so I won't have to worry so much."

Roshan was quiet for a few moments before he finally spoke, "I just… I just feel kind of guilty, I guess."

"I don't get it… what is there to be guilty about?"

"For me… it seems like a lot of things. It's my fault the enemy tribe came into the forest and it's my fault you guys lost your home… everything bad that has happened since I came here is my fault."

"Okay Roshan, seriously?"

"What?"

"You're beating yourself up for that? Roshan, my family moves around all the time. The longest we've ever stayed in one place was probably just over a week at the most; the cave was practically a lucky rest stop for a few days. Besides we were bound to leave by morning anyways, there's nothing to feel guilty about at all."

"But, the enemy tribe-"

"I don't want to hear it, Roshan. The enemy tribe coming into the forest wasn't your fault either; they chose to come into the forest on their own. Nothing was your fault, understand?"

Roshan was quiet for a moment before sighing and then nodding.

"Good" Peaches said, "Now enough sulking and lets go get some breakfast, I'm starving."

Roshan slightly smiled as he nodded and turned to follow Peaches to where the others were gathering to eat breakfast. Manny had managed to find a few fruit trees and had gathered enough fruit for everyone as they all sat down to eat. Roshan and Peaches sat down next to each other as Roshan grabbed an apple and began eating it and Peaches did the same. When they were almost finished eating, Manny glanced towards the half burnt forest and thought for a few moments as he surveyed the area.

"If we want to avoid the enemy, we'll have to go around most of the forest" Manny said, "We don't want to risk running into them any time soon."

"I agree" Diego said, "Besides, winter is setting in very soon and we're about to head straight into it. We should probably move out soon if we want to cover enough ground."

"We'll head out after breakfast, everyone agree with that?"

Everyone nodded in agreement as they continued to finish their breakfast and prepare to move out. Roshan soon finished his breakfast as he stood and strapped his bow and arrows to his back and slung his shoulder bag over his shoulder. Everyone else soon followed suit as they stood and Diego surveyed the area as he tried to find a good route to follow. Once that was done, Diego began leading the way towards an alternate route around the forest.

(A/N: Cue 'Send me on my way' song! LOL! I just had to do that.)

The route the group followed led them through rocky terrain, past scaling high glaciers and cliffs, little greenery was seen and food was a little harder to find than usual. Occasionally, Sid would complain about being tired and the others would just ignore him after some time and Sid soon quieted back down as he trudged on behind the group. Crash and Eddie took advantage of Sid's tiredness as they hid behind a rock and waited for the right moment. As soon as Sid was close enough, Crash and Eddie leaped out from their hiding spot as they quickly joined their tails together and Sid yelped as he tripped on the two possums tails making everyone stop for a brief moment and look behind them. Roshan, Peaches, and Ellie began to laugh as Diego and Manny shook their heads and began to continue on. Crash and Eddie burst out laughing as they untwined their tails and dashed off after Manny and Diego and Sid stood as he brushed himself off and he moved to catch up to the others as they began to follow Manny and Diego once again.

They soon stopped as they day began to draw to a close and Diego was about to set out for a quick hunt but Roshan stopped him for a short moment.

"Hey, Diego" Roshan called and Diego stopped as he turned to the boy.

"What is it, kid?" Diego answered, "I gotta go hunt before it gets dark."

"I was wondering… if maybe I could join you on your hunt."

"You want to join me on my hunt? Why would you want to do that?"

"Well… I used to be really good at hunting back in my village. The best actually… but then this girl I didn't like kept bugging me and made me loose a lot of hunts in just a few weeks. I was hoping I might be able to try hunting again without any annoying distractions… and maybe even gain a few hunting pointers from a predator like yourself."

Diego thought for a moment, "Well, if you think you can handle it… then sure, let's go."

Roshan smiled as he made sure his bow and arrows were strapped securely to his back and then followed Diego to hunt. After a few minutes of quiet wandering through some bushes and small rock cliffs, Diego turned to Roshan.

"So, how much hunting technique do you already know?" Diego asked and Roshan thought for a few short seconds before listing everything he knew about hunting. When he was finished, Diego nodded. "I guess you know almost everything about hunting as I do."

"Almost?" Roshan questioned, "What do you mean by that?"

"The hunting you go by only applies to humans with your bow and arrows and spears and what not. But out here, when you're an animal unable to use such tools requires more hunting skills than you may think."

This got Roshan's attention as he looked at Diego with interest and curiosity in his eyes. Diego smiled victoriously as he turned and indicated for Roshan to follow him and Roshan didn't even hesitate to obey. Diego led him some distance through a few thickets and it was then that Diego suddenly stopped and crouched down near a small hill and Roshan did the same as he crouched down beside Diego. Diego remained silent as he slightly lifted his head and sniffed the air and he then turned to Roshan.

"You smell that?" Diego asked and Roshan was slightly confused for a moment before attempting to smell the air.

"I don't smell anything" Roshan answered, "My sense of smell isn't as good as yours, Diego."

"You only think it isn't. You need to concentrate, Roshan."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Close your eyes. Open your mind to everything that you think you're not able to do. Like I said before, you only think you don't have a stronger sense of smell… Here's an idea! Try and picture what it's like to hunt through a predator's eyes."

Roshan did as he was told as he closed his eyes and tried to do what Diego told him. He tried to picture what it would be like through a predator's eyes, running on all fours through the forest, able to smell and hear your prey and enemy's from miles away. And then, within a few short seconds, Roshan was suddenly able to pick up the faintest scent of a rabbit and he snapped his eyes open but remained entirely silent. Diego could see the surprise and accomplishment on Roshan's face, telling him that the boy had succeeded.

"Now do you smell it?" Diego asked and Roshan nodded. "What do you think it is?"

"Um… a rabbit, I think." Roshan answered and Diego chuckled.

"You're right, and that's what we're about to hunt."

Roshan nodded as Diego began creeping his way up the small hill and Roshan quietly followed beside him. Diego and Roshan inched their way up to the top of the small hill but they didn't go all the way up as they peeked over the edge and spotted a lone rabbit sat some distance away grazing on a few patches of grass and fallen green leaves.

"Wait for it" Diego whispered, "Wait for it…"

"When do we charge?" Roshan asked.

"You don't need to, yet another lesson to be learned. You don't always need to charge out at your prey, you can easily not waste your energy and shoot from… right here."

Roshan began to catch on to what Diego meant and he smiled as he silently reached for an arrow and loaded his bow with it. He laid his bow and arrow sideways just barely touching the ground as Roshan aimed at the rabbit…

Ha-ha! Cliffy! Sorry, but that just seemed like the perfect place and time. I'll try to update as soon as I can but as I already said earlier, this is my grad year and I am very, very busy. Ciao for now!