Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age movies or any of their characters.

"Hey. I think it's waking up..." Eddie muttered as he and Crash circled the creature, occasionally climbing onto its back and sliding back off. They had decided to settle on this spot for the night, near where they first found their newest 'member', with Sid busy as he tried to keep his fire lit. The sea animal was grumbling and hissing under its breath and the possums tried hard to make sense of the sounds...without success. Might as well try understanding a foreign language.

"Crash, Eddie. Careful." their big sister warned them in concern. She didn't want anything to happen to her brothers, as she spent nearly her whole life with them. Last thing she needs is their relationship to end with just a snap of the monster's jaws.

"Don't worry, Ellie. Everything's under control." Crash reassured before poking the creature on the tip of its snout. Then, with lightning speed, the jaws lunged open and closed shut. With even greater lightning speed, the possum twins yelped and jumped, the sharp teeth barely missing their long tails. They landed on the long purple muzzle before bounding off in panic behind their sister.

"Under control, huh?" Diego said with an amused look in his eyes. The possums peeked out to look at the reptile, Eddie almost whimpering in fright. There's only a few things the usually fearless possum bros were scared of, and this predator was one of them...

Cretaceous growled irritably as he opened his eyes. He never liked being woken up, especially with a poke. However his anger faltered when he saw the annoyances that did the waking. It was the creatures he and Maelstrom were hunting. Of all things...He took one look at largest of the creatures and the grudge-holding part of his personality made itself obvious instantly. So did his anger. Narrowing his eyes and baring his teeth, he tries his best to intimidate the slightly bigger creature. But, he winces and glances down his body.

Right, those fliers had indeed taken their toll...Personally, he thought he'd be dead with those flying feathered freaks (try saying that 5 times fast) eating every strap of him out of existence. Guess not, but why? Why didn't they finish him off? He barely gave a struggle...Maybe...He looked over at his unwelcoming companions and considered the possibility of them saving him. He doubted it. Why would they rescue him?

Whatever their reason, he wanted NOTHING to do with them...

Sid straightened and tried to look brave as he approached the angered reptile. He failed somewhere along the line and hesitated when the creature turned its hostile gaze at directly at him. He tried to talk to it, make it feel better... "Hey, buddy. You're probably wondering what your doing with us, huh?"

Cretaceous was wondering something, but it wasn't ABOUT what the strange creature said, it was more like WHAT it said. The icthyosaur had no idea what the fur ball was saying, much like he couldn't understand those fliers. He knew one language and one language only and that was his native tongue...But, he could tell from the tone that it was probably some sort of good-natured question...maybe...He couldn't think more as Two-Legs continued.

"Well, we saw you needing help, so we saved ya! No thanks nessecary." Sid said with a grin. The only reponse he got was a rather confused look which quickly returned to its original 'I'm-gonna-kill-you' vibe, something Sid (not surprisingly) is used to.

"Forget it Sid. It doesn't understand you." Manny pointed out as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. When he said this, the creature seemed to have remembered his presence and glared at him. He glared back, knowing that they both held a grudge they weren't willing to relinquish. But the sea reptile soon broke the staring contest with a frustrated grunt.

Without further ado, Cretaceous dug his sharp claws into the dirt and pulled, dragging his body forward laboriously. It still surprised him how hard it was to move on land as oppose as to moving on ice. He had almost no trouble with the latter, but this was a killer. Maybe it's because his wounds was still screaming with every movement, especially that wound that flier gave him on his belly. No doubt, that one would scar him for life.

Working hard, he managed to turn around and rested a moment before he moved off a distance away and settled down on top of a bush. He glared back at the Long-Nose and snorted hatefully. He'll never forget how it threw him right into an ice block and how it kicked him in the gut. Most of all, he'll never forget that the over sized fur ball survived two of his attacks. TWO!!! He still growls at the thought of it.

Sid slowly shuffled after the aquatic animal. "Oh, hey, we're not that bad." he started, wanting to persuade the reptile to return to its original spot. "Sure, we had our rough patches, but I'm sure that we can put that behind us. What do you say?" The sea critter hissed at him in warning and turned its head away.

The sloth rubbed the back of his neck, wondering what to do next. He smiled in an attempt to cover up his uncertainty and stepped closer. The creature heard the movement and snapped a hard look at the sloth before having to forcibly scoot backward off the bush, obviously telling Sid to mind his distance or else.

"Leave it, sweetie." Ellie said. "It probably just wants to be alone right now."

Sid sighed dejectedly. Despite the fact that he still wanted the creature to feel better, he knew she was right. Ellie was practically the only one in the group to actually treat him...well...with respect. For that he was grateful, as everyone else always enjoyed torturing him in some way or another. Looking at the creature, still glaring at him, he backed off towards the campfire.

Cretaceous huffed with satisfaction when Two-Legs returned to its little group. Finally, he can be left to his own devices. That creature was starting to annoy him with its endless blabber. Ignoring the pain of his injuries, he turned away and curled up on this cold hard ground. He didn't feel like exerting the effort needed to pull himself back on the bush.

With a saddened sigh, he looked back at the place where he left Maelstrom, where the scavenging fliers are now starting to disperse to...wherever they will spend the night. He only glimpsed at the remains of his best friend and forced his eyes away. He didn't want to look. Not right now. Right now, he only wanted to close his eyes and drift off into unconsciousness...

But even in his sleep, he wondered about the creatures that were currently accompaning him. He might not like them, but with Maelstrom gone, they're the only things familiar in this strange landscape. And what if they did help him? They were obviously trying to be nice to him, or at least Two-Legs was, in an annoying kind of way...Still, to hang out with prey items was unthinkable to him. They were of no use if he couldn't eat them.

Unless...

They had to be used to this world and its quirks. Maybe they knew where a large body of water was. He desperately wanted to go back into the cool liquid. This dry air was killing his scales and the dirt was not helping his wounds. And he NEEDED to go somewhere that resembled his old home and maybe the creatures knew the way to one...Maybe...

Maybe...

Don't bother me about the tenses, I know they're annoying, and that's why I'm trying to fix that habit. Of course, I've been trying to fix it for a long time and not having much success...But I'm still working! As I slowly get better, or worse, please review and keep my hopes up!