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

Cretaceous heard something move nearby and he tried to ignore it, wanting to stay asleep so his agonizing pain can remain forgotten. He's been having a rough night due to his wounds and he just wanted to make up for the loss of sleep. However, he couldn't ignore the fact that whatever was moving, it was coming closer. Judging by the sounds of the footsteps, he could tell it was making a slow, somehow confident approach. This was enough to trigger his annoyance.

Forcing his eyes open, he gave a half-hearted hissing threat that stopped the instant he saw who the creature was. It was a flier. In fact, it was THE Flier. He recognized the smell. It was the one that gave him his most painful of sensations: the injury on his belly. Cretaceous felt his dorsal fin lower against his back, and for some reason, he wasn't at all surprised by the Flier's appearance. He supposed the creature had some unfinished business to attend to.

The reptile couldn't decide whether to give up and accept his fate like last time. He's practically as helpless now as he was before...or as helpless as he could be. Then again, before he didn't have a motivation to live. His best friend was dead and he himself was vulnerable. Now, he DID have a motive in life...he wanted to get into the ocean to live out the rest of his years as happily as possible. That's was what Maelstrom would've wanted. And that's what Maelstrom would get.

Cretaceous snarled at the Flier and opened his jaws to show off his numerous sharp fangs. Like last time, the Flier just chuckled in dark amusement. The sea creature growled in frustrated irritation and tried to lunge at the nuisance. But the wound on his belly protested this movement and showed it by a sharp increase in pain it gave off. The reptile cringed with a whimper and almost immediately turned away, ashamed at this show of weakness. He felt the Flier jump onto his back and he screeched:

"Get off me!"

The nearby mammals heard the noise and woke up with a surprised jolt. What could possibly make that horrible, piercing sound? They soon found out when the sea monster they rescued screeched again. They found that a vulture was on the aquatic animal's back and was trying to peck into an injury to eat from. Judging from the larger predator's reaction to this, it wasn't going to endure this painful treatment without a fight.

Manny, Sid, and Diego recognized the offending bird as the one that told them of the boat that saved everyone from the flood and also the one that initiated the Glorious Food song. Apparently, he came over for an early breakfast. A breakfast that wasn't going to happen as long as this mixed herd of mammals have anything to do with it.

"Hey!" Diego exclaimed. "Beat it!" He charged towards the bird with the possum brothers gaining a quick lead. Like Ellie, the possums had a natural fear of big birds, but they usually never let something as simple as fear get in their way of harassing a predator (Just ask Diego about it). They scurried up the struggling reptile's back and jumped onto the vulture.

"Get lost, Birdbrain." Crash muttered as he and his brother clung to the feathers, trying to find a place to bite. The bird finally took off and the possums jumped to the ground before they could be carried off. Diego leapt into the air and almost snatched the scavenger, who rose higher and glared at them all the while. The large bird landed on a nearby tree, watching them closely with an angry frown.

Cretaceous glared at his attacker perched nearby. This was his second confrontation and he was sure that he didn't want another. This creature was the thing that showed how vulnerable he was on land. In the water, he wouldn't have taken any assault of any nature and would've made the Flier pay in blood. On land, there was little he could do to begin with.

With a huff, he pushed the incident out of his mind and glanced over at his rescuers. They saved his life, perhaps for the second time. Unlike the first one, he actually witnessed it, so there was little doubt involved. Nobody other than Maelstrom has ever done that before...Maybe he should-

Before that thought even finished, he shook his head and tried to busy himself with something else that concerned him. Leaning onto one side, he curled up slightly so he could get a closer look at the wound that burdened him so much. By now, it was a raw gash covered in dirt and blood. Staring hard at it, he hoped that it wouldn't get infected. He's barely been injured before as his tough scales provided lots of protection. And when he did get hurt, it was minor and the water he lived in would always keep it clean...

Well, he's not in water anymore and this gash was anything but minor and clean. If anything, it was the complete opposite and it worried Cretaceous very much. But then, a soft sound broke his anxious thoughts and he snapped his attention towards it. It was the Smaller-Long-Nose and he relaxed a little. He thought it was another flier for a second and he was almost glad to see that it wasn't.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Ellie asked as she stepped closer to the sea creature, Manny close behind to protect her. The male mammoth doesn't at all trust the reptile and he wasn't about to let it cause his mate any harm whatsoever. He already lost his family to a predator once before and wasn't going to let the same scenario repeat itself.

The female mammoth, on the other hand, was concerned for the crocodile-like creature. Despite all the previous scares and frights this creature caused her, she didn't want anything bad happening to it. And being attacked by a vulture was probably the most traumatizing thing to happen. She gotten even more concerned when she spotted it paying close attention to its belly. What's so interesting there? Was it hurt and trying to nurse itself? Or was she just being silly in automatically assuming it was a bad thing?

At the sound of her voice, the sea creature righted itself instantly and its gaze turned wary. Ellie knew about the reptile's reaction to other members of the herd and wasn't expecting any special treatment from it. However, the creature didn't growl or threaten or move away. Maybe the predator was finally getting used to them. Maybe it finally understood that they just wanted to help and didn't want to hurt it. And, in return, maybe it wasn't going to hurt them...

"You okay, buddy?" Sid asked, coming closer as well. At this, the creature hissed at him and bared its teeth at him. The sloth jumped back and whined in a typical manner usually reserved for when someone said his name in an annoyed tone. "What?!"

Or maybe not...

--

"Alright, time to go." Manny declared not long after the vulture incident, as soon as the sun cleared the horizon. By now a second nature, everybody followed him before they remembered the creature and looked back. The purple animal was staring at them closely, not moving a muscle. The mammals glanced at each other and then back at the reptile, wondering how to make it follow them. As far as they know, it didn't understand them and was probably wondering what they were doing walking away from it. Poor thing probably thought they were abandoning it.

Manny sighed impatiently. "Come on, Scaley. We don't have all day."

'Scaley' glared at him with the same intensity as last night. It was probably still holding something against him and this look was all that was needed to communicate that fact.

"Now, Manny. Don't rush it." Ellie said. "It's not used to traveling with us yet."

Sid bent down and clapped his hands as if trying to beckon a dog to come over. "Here, boy...or girl...I don't really know what you are..."

"I dunno." Crash said, tilting his head as he stared at the creature. "It looks like a guy to me."

"It doesn't matter what it is! What matters is that it's not following us!" Manny yelled in high annoyance. He wanted to keep moving, as there's too many vultures returning and he wants to get as far away from them as possible.

The creature, obviously given an honorary nickname by Manny, stared at them a bit longer before glancing over at the vultures nearby and the one still sitting in the tree. It seemed to pay particular attention to the group of birds finishing what they were eating the previous day. It made a grunting noise, looked back at the herd, then moved. But it wasn't what they expected.

It was turning around and straining itself slowly over to the scary vultures...

Another chapter. I'm really glad that anybody's actually reading this. I feel really loved. ^^

One thing's for sure, I got curious today and wandered around my house, both on carpet and hard-wood...Cretaceous-style: dragging myself on my belly using only my hands. Everybody was staring at me strangely...The effort was tiring after about ten minutes...I was, you know, trying to get a feel about what it was like to be the character and maybe make this fic a bit more realistic. It really made me understand the difficulty Cretaceous would have on land and might help in future chappies. Weird and immature? Maybe. Fun and helpful? You bet. If you have no dignity like me, you can give it a try yourself and tell me about it in your reviews!