Sigh, I'm back AGAIN! anyway, sorry if the chapters seem to be declining in greatness...I don't know why i just don't think they're as good as they could be. Of course, a lot of PPL write a lot better than me, including some close friends who in real life have the same name as me OR as very rare name that means "life" OR a name that rhymes with Lenny...
I DON'T OWN ICE AGE BLABBLAHBLAH WHO CARES
...
maybe...
anyway, I'll try to put more "memories" in this one, as this story pretty much started with that. Don't ask how Rudy's alive, because now that I think about it, I think i said that Rudy had vanished or something in the first story.
Well maybe he went on vacation to get away from a certain pesky snack that won't let itself be eaten.
We'll just have to see, won't we? Well, this first part is told in Buck's POV until further notice...PS whenever it refers to "Dad" when in Tabitha's Point of View, it's Buck.
Just wanna make sure you've got that...
"Buck! Where's Tabitha?" asked a frantic she-weasel. "I thought you had her!" "Well, I don't! How could you be so irresponsible?" "I thought you had her! How could you be so irresponsible?" "Don't argue with me Buck, Tabitha's missing!" She was panicking, so I had to calm her down. Patting her gently, a said, "She can't have possibly gone far. She's only five." "EXACTLY WHY WE NEED TO BE FRANTIC!" "Boo!" came a shrill voice from behind a tree. "Tabitha! Tabitha, don't you ever do that again! You scared me to death!" cried Katherine. I hugged the kit tightly and whispered in her ear, "Don't do that ever again for two reasons: I love you too much to lose you, and you're mother will have another panic attack."
~ Later ~
"Buck, she could have gotten killed!" "Katherine, I know; you don't think I was worried?" She sighed and took my hand in hers. "Promise me- - PROMISE me that you will strive to the best of you're ability to never let anything like this happen again." "I promise," I said solemnly. I then added, " Hey, you have responsibilities too." She smiled at me, "I give my word."
"How can you not know what's wrong with him?" screeched Manny. "YOU LIVED HERE FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG! You've GOT to know, or else he could DIE! What do you mean you don't know? You know, all right! I know that much for sure! You just don't care about one sloth- - to you carnivores, one dead sloth is one dead sloth; nothing more, nothing less!" That last comment stung badly. Diego looked taken aback, as did Ellie...Well, basically everyone did. Except Sid, of course. "Is that what you think of me?" asked Diego quietly. Manny looked at him, suddenly aware of what he'd just said. "No, no Diego, I didn't mean it that way..." "Well it sure seemed like it." "Don't you sass me, Diego!" "Shut up, Manny, just SHUT. UP. You think we're always going to let you off the hook for consistently blowing up in our faces? Well, you thought wrong," sneered Tabitha, "Shouldn't we- - the apparently feeling-less carnivores be angry, NOT YOU?" Her voice faltered at the end of her insult, though. I swallowed, and resumed my 'Take Charge' position. "Look here, mate," I said sternly to him, "if you don't want my help, by all means, go after the mammoth by yourself, but I meant it when I said I didn't know what's wrong with him. I've been bitten by plenty of bugs, and maybe once or twice I've been very close to dying of plant poisoning, but never in my life have I seen anything like...Like this."
"Whats-more," I continued, " One dead sloth is not one dead sloth to someone who happens to eat meat if we know the sloth. If we hate the sloth and they die then...Well I guess you wouldn't be too terribly sad, now would you? Whereas if the sloth was your FRIEND, maybe you'd care for him! Right now, I am on the brink of just..." I sighed and threw my hands up in the air,"GAH!" "Nice word," said Dorothy. I grinned briefly at her. Turning back to the mammoth, I said, " You will respect everyone here; you will listen to me. But, at this moment in time, you have two choices: save your daughter, or save Sid. Knowing you, you'd say Peaches, but then, of course...Sid would probably die...and then you'd be the one to not care about one dead sloth." He looked at me queerly. "I can't...I mean...Of course we've got to go find Peaches, she won't last long here!" "Well neither will Sid," said Diego. Sensing that Manny was about to lose his temper again, I cast him a warning glance. Sid moaned. I examined his back more carefully. In the midst of the maze of black and red were two purple dots below his neck. I gently rubbed my finger against them, and Sid jolted. I was taken by surprise, but nonetheless worried for him.
"Diego," I said slowly. "Yes?" "Would you- - with help- - be able to take Sid to the surface and find Old Maggie? She...She's the only person I can think of who'd be able to help him..." "By myself?" asked Diego incredulously. "No, not by yourself! Matthias will go with you- - Crash too." "What?" asked Crash, Matthias, and Ellie simultaneously. "Think: buddy system," I said with forced cheerfulness. Diego furrowed his brow. "I...Guess. Maybe..." Matthias waved his hands in my face. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! No, way, mate. You're," he jabbed a finger at me, "going to send us," he waved a paw at Diego and Crash, "into that PLACE," he pointed at the path we had just come from, "ALONE?" I shook my head. "No, you won't be alone. There's going to be Diego, Crash, you, and Sid too, although he doesn't really count at this point." "BUT THERE'S DINOSAURS!" He shook me by the shoulders frantically. "Again with the man-handling!" I exclaimed. "But..This is suicide!" "Well, there's no police around to arrest you." "Buck! How is this going to make this situation any better?" I sighed. Sometimes Matthias can be...Too sane. "You and the others form a group. Group sticks together. Group that sticks together goes back the way they came without heading off the path and hopefully not running into Rudy and most definetly not bugging any other plants or animals. Group goes to surface. Finds old Maggie. Prays to God that Old Maggie knows what the heck is wrong with Sid, and if she does then HOORAY! Everybody's happy! If not then you better start planning the funeral service." "But what if something happens?" asked Crash. "Just holler and I'll come runnin'. Unless I'm dead, o' course. Then...Well hollerin' wouldn't do you much good then, now would it?" "And if you can't hear us?" asked Matthias. I shrugged. "Oh well. Use you're noggins then. Now go, every minute we stand here chatting is a minute less of Sid."
Suddenly, Sid spazzed out and bit my hand, then collapsed into unconsciousness. I pushed him off with a small cry- - that was my good hand. "What's wrong with him now?" asked Manny. "I don't know so stop askin'!" "Well, you're out so called 'tour guide' so I was only assuming you would know!" "Manny," said Ellie, giving him "The Look". Manny shut up.
"They're gonna get into trouble," said Dorothy quietly, "you want me to go?" I hesitated before answering; I didn't want my youngest sister to get hurt. "Just be careful. Crash is a bit of an imbecile at times." She grinned, "I've noticed." Diego gently carried Sid by the scruff of his neck and, after a brief goodbye, led the rest of his group back to the surface. "Well, mammals, I suggest we get going now," I said. I glanced back at the two weasels, the possum, and the saber, who were growing distant, and sighed. If me and Matthias hadn't been so stupid...Maybe none of this would be happening. "It wasn't you fault," said Melody, laying a hand on my shoulder. I gave her a small smile before we continued on our rescue mission.
Tabitha stayed by my side, having been set on the edge by the close encounter with Rudy. As for my wrist, Melody bugged for nearly half an hour before I finally gave in to her bandaging it.
"Buck, if you don't let me bandage it, not ONLY will it heal wrong and probably prohibit you from ever using it again, BUT I will ensure that somebody will wander off the path..." "If I let you will you promise to stop annoying me?" She thought for a moment, "Up to some degree." "Deal." Using a small stick and a leaf, she quickly made a makeshift splint, saying it would "have to do for now." As for the area where Sid had bit me, when the herd was distracted by a large butterfly (aye, the same one that I knew when he was a caterpillar), I quickly grabbed a small, prickly fruit from a nearby tree, smashed it, and rubbed part of the squishy inside on the affected area. I hid my hand from them as best as possible. Whatever had bitten or poisoned Sid was apparently transferable through blood/saliva. Itty bitty tendrils of black creeped away from the bite. I knew I should be worried, but first we had to find the mammoth. After all, the poison was far enough from my neck/head so that it would take a while (maybe days) for it to reach my brain, giving us plenty of time (if we hurried) to find the child and get back to the surface. At least, I hoped so.
That night...
Tabitha's P.O.V.
"...And there I was, on the razor's edge of oblivion," I'd heard this story before, but for some reason...Out here, in this hostile environment, it seemed so much more fantastic. "...Back and forth, and back and forth, and back and forth!" He paused for dramatic silence, as always. "And back and forth and back and forth..."
After the story was finished, Ellie wasn't in the mood to hear any other stories. Dad gave her a funny look, kind of like he'd been there before. Oh, wait, he had. With me. And Mom. Mom.
"Mommy, when I grow up, will I be just like you?"
I pushed that thought away. No use dwelling in the past.
Dad plopped down next to me, suddenly quiet. He fiddled with his paws, and I caught a glimpse of the paw that Sid had bit. Oh no, I thought. Squiggly, black thingies were covering his hand, just as they'd covered Sid's back. He's going to die. No, he's not! I told myself desperately. I looked up at him fearfully. He wouldn't meet my gaze, only pulled his paw away from me when I tried to see it again, to try to make sure that I had only imagined it. He leaned back against a tree trunk casually, as if nothing was wrong. He picked up a sharp rock and a small piece of wood laying nearby, and began to whittle. I watched in silent awe as the chunk of timber became a small figurine, looking a little bit like my mother, though a little hard to tell because it wasn't finished. Perhaps I wasn't the only one who'd been thinking about her as of late...
"Can you teach me?" I asked my dad. "Sure." I quickly searched for a small piece of wood, and found one. It had a reddish hue to it. "Perfect," he said. He handed the rock to me, and positioned my hands "just so."
Eddie listened in as he taught me patiently, correcting my mistakes. When it was all said and done, my fingers were covered in nicks and a little blood, but I was nonetheless proud of my work. It was a very small bowl, certainly not big enough for anyone larger than an infant shrew to use, but still. "You're good for a first-timer," Buck/Dad commented. "Can I try?" inquired Eddie.
He was handed the makeshift knife (Dad had long-since lost the tooth-knife he'd apparently once had), and another small piece of wood.
I couldn't help but snicker when he produced what looked like a Peaches-made, sculpture version of Sid. "Be nice," hissed Dad.
REVIEW PLEAZ Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
*poof* Wakko Warner (who happens to be owned by W.B. along with his siblings): Hey, look! I just *poofed* into this place!
*poof* Yakko: G'night ervybody!
*poof* Dot: (irritably) When are you going to write a fanfiction about US?
Me: all in good time, my my other friend agrees to help me. for now... Patience is the key.
Peaches: *poofing* is a lot of fun.
Yakko and Wakko: (snicker)
Manny: oh, grow up! (tries to hide grin)
Wakko and I: (roll around on the floor laughing our heads off)
Yakko: And that just about wraps it up for today folks! More Peaches to come!
Wakko: MMMM, I LOVE peaches! They are deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!
Manny: WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY DAUGHTER?
Wakko: I thought HER name was Mango...
Me: hey, I knew someone nicknamed Mango!
*poof* Porky Pig (another WB trademark): Th-th-th-that's all folks!