Disclaimer: I don't own Ice Age.

It didn't take long for the group to arrive at the scene, with the large plant's petals still clamped shut. Crash and Eddie were doing their best in explaining what happened.

"So I almost got swallowed by that smaller plant over there-"

"And then Shira came-"

"And then Mama Plant came and thought she was bullying its baby or something-"

"So the crazy thing snatched her up-"

"As much as I appreciate you trying to explain what happened, CAN'T YOU TELL THE STORY LATER?! I'M STILL STUCK IN HERE AND THE THING'S ABOUT TO START DIGESTING!" Shira was heard shouting from inside the plant.

"Wait, that thing digests?!" Tanner exclaimed, the depth of the situation finally sinking in.

"Apparently yes," Diego muttered grimly. "Well, at least her screaming at us let us know that she's still alive. Any other precautions we need to take before we take action?"

"If it's really the plant we ran into before, then tearing it up from the roots will close it forever," Ellie piped up.

Diego growled, losing his calm exterior. He obviously was considering the idea of root-tearing before Ellie informed the problem with that. "This plant just loves being difficult, doesn't it?"

"QUIT COMPLAINING ABOUT THE PLANT AND HELP ME!" yelled Shira.

"Ugh, fine, Kitty! Tanner, watch these guys and make sure they stick together. All of you better still be here when I get out." He glared at the possums while saying this.

"Wait, 'get out'? Does that mean you're..." Tanner trailed off.

Diego nodded. "I'm going in."

"What?! Are you crazy?! How can you be so sure you'll be able to get out afterwards?! Then both you and Shira are doomed!"

Diego rolled his eyes. "You think I haven't thought of that? But I have to try. The only other choice we have is to sit here and give up. And I'm pretty sure none of us want to do that."

"Why are you the only one going in then?!"

"Because you need to watch these guys, and if I let one of them go in and something goes wrong, I don't know how any of us will manage to explain to Manny and Sid about the loss of two herd members, 'cause one is horrible enough. Now are you just gonna try to stop me by asking a bunch of questions, or do you want Shira out of there before it's too late?"

Realizing their lack of options, Tanner reluctantly motioned for Diego to go, and with a leap, the latter managed to slip right through the small opening located between the petals at the top of the plant.

Tanner glared at the herd. "You heard him. Nobody moves until he comes back out, either with or without Shira. Especially you two-" He looked around and groaned. "Where are the possums this time?"

Eddie suddenly appeared on top of his head, looking down at him right in the eyes. "Crash got swallowed by the tiny plant!" He pointed toward the small Venus flytrap, whose mouth was full once more with a possum inside it. Crash's tail was hanging out from the mouth, making him an exact image of what Eddie looked like when he was inside.

"Okay, no need to panic. I got this." Tanner walked over to the flytrap and managed to pry open the mouth, and Crash fell out. However, right after its victim escaped, the plant, not happy with losing a meal the second time on the same day, immediately clamped down on Tanner's left paw.


Once Diego was inside the giant plant's stomach, he saw Shira pressed against the side of the petal and the digestive juices about two feet deep already. "You alright?"

"Gee, I'm inside a plant who wants to digest me, so I'd say that I'm doing pretty good," Shira said sarcastically.

"Haha, hilarious. I came here to save you, so you're welcome."

"Then why don't you hurry up and do what you came here for?"

"Right, uh..."

"...Please tell me you came in here with a thoroughly prepared plan on what to do."

"Uh... Do you want the honest answer or the reassuring answer?" Diego went shifty-eyed.

"You don't know how to get us out of here?!" Shira exploded.

"For the record, I wasn't the one who kept on shouting for someone to save me like some panicky damsel-in-distress!"


Tanner tried to pry the flytrap off again, but to no avail. "I officially hate plants now," he snarled in frustration.

Ellie and Peaches went over and tried the same thing, but the flytrap didn't budge one bit. Tanner lost it at that point.

"YOU STUPID PLANT BETTER LET ME GO OR ELSE I'M GONNA BURN YOU TO THE GROUND THE FIRST CHANCE I GET!"

"I'm not a genius, but I don't think yelling at it is gonna work," Crash intervened.

"What's the big deal anyway? I mean, I know your paw will end up being digested, but don't zombies regenerate limbs or something afterwards?" Eddie questioned.

"Okay... There are two problems wrong with what you just said," Tanner spoke in a strained voice, suddenly having a full understanding of why Diego found these two so annoying. "One, zombies do not regenerate limbs. It's widely believed, but it's completely false. Two, this flytrap isn't going to just digest my paw. Instead, the acid's going to spread up my arm until it engulfs my entire body. So if this thing doesn't come off soon, I'm gonna be FULLY DISSOLVED!"

"WHAT?!"

"Let me guess, it's not going to open up if you rip the roots off of it either, am I right?" Ellie grimly asked.

"No, and FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, HURRY THE HELL UP, DIEGO!" Tanner began to freak out. "DON'T YOU EVEN KNOW HOW TO GET SHIRA OUT OF THERE?!"

A wave of realization hit Ellie. "I don't think anybody ever told him how to get the plant to open..."

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!" Tanner screamed.

"Oops... Diego, listen up! When me and my brothers ran into this plant before, I remember that there was something on the bottom of the insides!" Ellie called out, hoping that the tiger she addressed could hear her.


"Bottom of the insides?" Diego mused, more to himself than to Shira.

The acid had risen to a little over four feet now, and both tigers were trying to inch upwards as much as they can to delay the digesting process.

Shira looked down, and could barely make out a funny shape at the bottom. She gestured to Diego, pointing at the thing she was looking at. Diego squinted at the strange object, knowing very well that it was most likely what Ellie was referring to.

The acid was still gradually increasing, now being about five and a half feet deep. The male tiger knew he had to act fast in approximately the next minute or so, or both he and Shira were going to be toast. He went down to the bottom, and saw that the object both he and Shira noticed was a cap. He removed it, and a red and blue wire were located inside. He caught on to the fact that he had to cut one of them, but there was no indication which one was the right one. He had no time to go back to the surface and holler to Ellie and ask her, because a) time was running out and b) the mammoth most likely forgot, 'cause seriously, who remembers the color of wires?

He randomly chose the red one, and with an extended claw, a simple flick was all it took. But of course, it was the wrong wire (Tough luck), and it just made the situation worse by increasing the acid rising rate greatly. He almost could hear Shira yelling at him for making such a careless mistake, and would've probably come up with some snarky reply if he didn't feel a slight stinging feeling of digestion beginning to tear at his thigh. He desperately tried to keep himself from drifting up to the top, and once he got close enough, he hurriedly cut the other blue wire. The next thing he knew, he and Shira were both spit out and hit the ground rather ungracefully.

He coughed as he got up. "Well that went well."

Shira gave him a look before looking down. "Yeah... By the way, thanks, I guess..."

Diego looked at her for a small second before smirking. "Ya know, maybe I oughta save you more, 'cause it seems as if it's really helping in getting me on your good side."

"Yeah, keep dreaming," Shira glared. "I still don't trust you."

"WILL THE TWO OF YOU QUIT MAKING GOOGLY EYES AT EACH OTHER AND HELP ME?!"

Both sabers jumped at the new voice, and quickly looked over at where it came from. They saw Tanner struggling to free his paw from the mouth of the Venus flytrap both possums had encountered.

"Is it...not coming off or something?" Diego asked slowly.

"Oh no, I'm just waiting for this thing to digest me!" Tanner shot bitterly.

Diego rolled his eyes. "Alright, calm down. I'm going over to take a look."

He went over and inspected the tight, almost-permanent grip the flytrap had on the wolf's paw. He eventually said the dreadful truth, "It's not gonna come off until it's done digesting."

"So we're all just gonna sit here and do nothing?! You and I both know that this thing is going to engulf my whole body!"

"Tanner, cool it..."

"COOL IT?! EXCUSE ME, BUT HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO COOL IT WHEN I KNOW THERE'S NO HOPE LEFT?!" Tanner waved his free paw around frantically, accidentally backhanding Louis in the process, sending the molehog flying. However, the wolf hardly noticed this. "So I'm just gonna get digested like this?!"

"TANNER!" Diego shouted.

Tanner fell silent sulkily.

"I'm not saying we're not gonna do anything about it, 'cause we are! I'm just saying that the plant's not gonna let go no matter what!" Diego continued.

"Oh really, 'cause I don't see how we'll handle this without making the stupid thing let-" Tanner stopped abruptly once he caught on to what Diego was trying to say. "Oh no..."

"Tanner, please..."

"You have got to be kidding me. We should at least try something else first."

"Then what can we try?!" Diego shot at him.

Tanner fell silent once again, knowing that he was right.

In a calmer tone, the tiger added, "It's not gonna be as bad as you think it's gonna be."

"If we go ahead with this, I won't even be able to walk!"

Almost everyone else had caught on to what was going on, but with he and his brother as dense as ever, Eddie asked, "What are you guys talking about?"

"Tanner's paw needs to be cut off," Diego informed rather bluntly.

Eddie's jaw drops, and so does Crash's.

"I'm still not going with this," Tanner refused stubbornly.

Diego, losing patience for probably the millionth time that day, exclaimed, "Do you want a missing paw or a complete experience with digestion?! I don't know about you, but I would go with the missing paw!"

With that point made, Tanner knew that he had no choice but to consent. He looked at his claws. "My claws are pretty dull. Someone needs to cut it off for me."

"I'll do it," Diego offered. He held up his right paw and held it close to Tanner's wrist. He looked at the wolf. "This'll only last a couple of seconds," he said slightly sympathetically. "You ready?"

Tanner mentally prepared himself, and slowly but surely nodded. He turned to the others, "If anyone here is squeamish, you best turn away now."

Peaches and Louis both walked away a few yards, but still couldn't stop looking at the scene about to unfold.

Tanner closed his eyes and gestured for Diego to proceed. As a zombie, he personally couldn't feel any physical pain, but he couldn't help wincing when he felt Diego's claws pierce past his fur and into his skin...

So... Tanner has lost a paw, folks! Yes, I'm evil. Mwahahaha. :D

By the way, I apologize for the lack of Manny, Sid, and Howie. They'll definitely appear in the next chapter, and I'll even try to focus on them, but no promises. I'm not a very balanced person, so most of the stuff I planned out involve Diego and Tanner's group. UGGGGHHHH

Another apology: The part where Diego frees himself and Shira is such a rip-off from the actual scene with Buck, Manny, and Diego. D:

Third apology: I called the flytrap plant a 'thing' so many times in this chapter. I'm not sure if it's too noticeable, but still...

Review though! Please?