Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age movies or any of their characters.
Manny looked back at the others expectantly as Scaley snapped at the air in his direction, still growling. Personally, he was hoping something like this would happen and then he'll have an excuse not to carry this carnivore around. However, Sid just smiled and waved towards the reptile, as if urging the mammoth to continue.
"I'm gonna regret this." Manny muttered before taking another step towards Scaley.
If there's one thing Cretaceous doesn't like, it's seeing his threats being ignored. These creatures might not understand him in terms of words, but they obviously get the concept of body language. And the language his body was giving off DID NOT say, 'Come closer please'. It said, 'Come closer and you'll die'. He figured out that most of time, whenever he growled at the other fur balls, they'll back off almost immediately. But this one seemed particularly hard headed. It had to be, for it was coming closer!
And if that was bad, what's worse is that it was bending down until its tusks were touching the ground...and it was reaching towards him with its over-sized nose. Since he saw no other option and was motivated by the fact that he still hated this fur ball...his next action was to be expected.
Almost completely ignoring his injured belly, he pushed forward on his paws in a lunge and actually bit the nose of his enemy.
Manny cried out in pain as Scaley clamped those murderous jaws onto his trunk. Feeling the sharp teeth digging in, he backed up and tried to pull his nose free. Lifting the limb into the air, Scaley was lifted as well as it was apparently refusing to let go. In fact, it was grinning evilly and gave its head a small shake. Determined to take this painful grip off one of his more important body parts, Manny stepped on the tip of Scaley's tail and pulled his trunk higher.
"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." the mammoth muttered as he did so.
Cretaceous kept holding on stubbornly, growling as he was painfully strained between tail and mouth. Long-Nose was smart, he'll give it that. But he was not planning on letting go anytime soon. For him, this was practically a dream come true. He could hear the Flier chuckling nearby and, for once, he didn't mind.
The other members of the group, apparently getting over their initial shock, came to their companion's aid. Two-Legs was the first to approach him, talking in that annoying voice. Cretaceous was quick to raise the volume of his growl and he made a swipe with his forepaw, still not letting go. For all he knew, an opportunity like this will never come again! Luckily, Two-Legs backed up nervously...
And was replaced by smallest members, which this reptile labeled as the Pink-Tails #1 and #2. These tiny fur balls climbed up his body and tried to pry at his jaws. He gave another shake of his head, not only to successfully throw them off, but also to dig his fangs deeper. He heard Long-Nose cry out again and he was enjoying this immensely. If only Maelstrom could see him now! He could imagine the green reptile watching with an amused expression before half-heartedly informing him that he'd have to release his hold soon. He almost laughed at the thought that reminded him of the good ol' days.
After ridding himself of the Pink-Tails, he saw the Smaller-Long-Nose take up its turn. For several reasons, he liked this one the best out of all of them. This fur ball didn't annoy him at all and actually showed some form of tolerable kindness, like when it tried to comfort him while he cried over his friend's death. And, unlike Two-Legs, this creature's voice put him more at ease than on edge.
Ellie tried to look gentle as she came closer to Scaley, who kept an eye on her and stopped growling. Encouraged by this, she reached out with her own trunk and softly stroked its head. Its eyes narrowed a bit, but it stayed motionless. She spoke in a soothing tone.
"Now, now. Let go of Manny. He's trying to do you a favor." she told it. She knows by now that it couldn't understand her, but maybe the way she said it will get the point across. Her trunk moved from the creature's head to its neck and gently tried to pull it off. However, Scaley showed no signs of cooperating. It must really have its heart set on this one well-placed bite.
"Ellie! Just yank it off!" Manny said almost desperately. His nose was taking a lot of pain here and he just wanted it to stop as soon as possible. His mate gave him a look as if he was an idiot.
"If I yank it off, it might take a piece of you with it. And I don't know about you, but I prefer everybody to remain whole, thank you very much." she told him almost irritably before turning a tender gaze at Scaley. She tried again with the gentle pulling while hooking her own tusks against its body.
At long last, Scaley seemed to have tired with the bite and let go, laying on Ellie's tusks. The female mammoth almost tumbled over with the burden and leaned against a freed Manny. She knew that she wasn't strong enough to hold Scaley much longer and wanted to hand it over to Manny soon. After all, the male mammoth had almost a ton-worth of strength more than her. However, at the moment, Manny was preoccupied with trying to rid the pain in his trunk.
Cretaceous thought that he understood everything now. Being supported by these large furballs would take the stress off his wounds and would really speed things up. However, he could tell that Smaller-Long-Nose seemed to be under strain from his weight and he was about to slide off on his own before the Smaller-Long-Nose said something to its larger counterpart, who looked reluctant at what it was hearing.
After a brief exchange where Cretaceous picked up some tension and thus assumed it was an argument, he was transferred to the bigger fur ball.
"No way!" he hissed in protest. He'd rather suffer in the pain of hauling himself than to ride on this thing. But the smaller version gave him a stern look he's never seen before and he knew that this was for the best. He sighed and tried to shift to get comfortable. No doubt the tusks were in contact with some of his injuries, but at least his belly wound ached a lot less. Finally, he settled on a position where his front paws grasped the right tusk and his back flippers and tail kept him from slipping off the left tusk.
He rested his head down and let out a frustrated growl as the group continued on its way, with the Flier following overhead like a looming storm cloud of doom...
--
"Alright. We'll rest here for the night." Manny declared as he bent down to dump his unwanted load to the ground. Scaley hissed at him for this treatment and turned its head away before dragging itself a little ways off. Manny glared at it as it went before settling down to watch Sid make his fire.
Diego was looking at Scaley thoughtfully before pointing out something important. "It must be feeling hungry by now."
Sid smiled. "Hey, maybe that's why it took a chomp on Manny." This was rewarded with a whack upside the head from the said mammoth. "Ow! What?"
"It probably hasn't eaten anything in a while." Diego continued. "Maybe we should feed it something."
As the saber said that, he and Manny looked at Sid in a teasing manner, as if contemplating the possibilities of offering the sloth up to the reptile. Sid looked back at them with his hands on his hips.
"Ha ha, very funny." He then turned his attention on Scaley.
Cretaceous felt and heard his stomach rumble. He grunted, knowing why it was issuing such a complaint. He hasn't eaten since he and Maelstrom killed that shelled creature and that was days ago. Being a reptile, going without food for a bit was no problem. But in order to heal, his body needed fuel, and in this case, fuel came in the form of some unfortunate creature stupid enough to go near his mouth.
Inevitably, his eyes strayed to Two-Legs, who was staring right back at him.
Sid saw Scaley give him an ominous look and he edged closer to Manny. But at the same time, he tried to cover up his fear with a forced smile and a dismissive wave. "I'm sure its not that hungry."
At that instant, a dodo waddled over to the sea creature, clucking happily, not watching where it was going and the reptile lashed out and swallowed it whole. Then, to everyone's horrified looks, Scaley coughed out some feathers before giving a satisfied smile.
Eep! Poor dodo. Well, they were only in the movies to be killed in some way or another...So this one had it coming. Please don't hesitate to review, as it will be most appreciative!
Quick Note about Cretaceous' note on the possums for future reference: #1 is Crash because I like him better and #2 is Eddie, who is just as cute but not as awesome.