Xion the Author: Yehey! Debit13 reviewed! XD And so did Dr+L! And he's a she! Woah, major news! :P I've also edited some terms that weren't really correct, and I'm gonna do some research first so I won't make that same mistake. Please tell me if there are any. Plus, you are now reading a new extended version of Ice Age Journeys. Enjoy~!
ICE AGE JOURNEYS: RAISING A CUB
Chapter II: Welcome to the Herd
Diego woke up with a nicely lit campfire in front of him. He missed how warm and nice it was to have a fire making the night even more comfortable when fur wasn't enough. It crackled gently like a lullaby, simply lulling the tire and worry away. As he tried to get up, he felt like something leaning on him roll down. To his right was Elias, the white wolf cub whose life he just saved, sleeping soundly still.
He searched around to see everyone sleeping in their own way. Sid lying strangely down on a rock, the twins hanging down from a tree branch and below them was Peaches and Ellie. He noticed that someone was missing within the group.
"Oh hey, looks like you're up," whispered a familiar voice behind him. It was Manny, carrying half of a tree trunk in tow.
"Looks like you are too," replied Diego. Manny continued to walk past him and into the playground. Diego followed him and saw him replace the smaller see-saw with the larger trunk.
"Well, Peaches and the twins made a big mess earlier today, and I made them clean it up by themselves," explained Manny.
"I guess it wasn't much of a mission success, huh?" said Diego. Manny shrugged.
"Yeah, and now I end up fixing it all up myself," he said as he went back to tending with some other mess clattered around the playground.
"I still can't believe you can take all this parenting stuff," Diego smirked.
"It's a wonderful joy," Manny replied, in a sarcastic tone.
Diego watched him clean up for a while. In the silence that was currently built around them, perhaps a one-on-one conversation could be made. He pondered around his thoughts, and a question that had been dying to be answered popped into his head. "Hey, Manny," Diego said, "There's something I've always wanted to ask you."
"What is it, pal?" Manny asked without glancing back and continued to pick up some fallen branches and throw them as far away as possible.
"Why is it that you always have to go on edge when it comes to someone other than yourself?" asked Diego. "I'm not just talking about Peaches and Ellie. I'm talking about all of us. You know, back then when we were giving that baby back to its pack. Back when I was about to fall off, why didn't you just leave me there when you could've killed yourself?"
"Well, I guess it's just who I am," Manny simply answered. "It's what you do in a herd, remember?"
"So, even after how I treated you and Sid back then, you still would've done that?" Diego asked.
"Well, we didn't really know what you would've done to us back then," answered Manny, picking up twigs and branches and throwing them away "Though you were more conspicuous than you looked, I still would've helped you. But I never really realized that until Pinky came along."
"But still… why?" Diego continued to ask.
"If someone needs your help, you put him first before yourself, answered Manny, now facing Diego. "Don't ever make that mistake." Manny stared deep down into his eyes. "I was being a special case back then, but that's what you do nonetheless.
"After all we've been through, I don't think I won't," Diego grinned. They both grinned at each other for a while before Diego let out a small yawn. "Well, it's getting pretty late, so I guess I'm going back to sleep," he said.
"Wait- said Manny after throwing away the last batch of broken twigs and branches. What about that little pal you brought with you? You seem pretty close"
"Uh… well, can we talk about it later in the morning when everyone's up?" said Diego. "That way I don't have to repeat myself."
"Oh, okay then. You go on ahead." Manny replied. "I'll follow after I finish everything up. I'm getting a bit tired too"
Diego nodded, and went back walking towards the campfire. He looked down first at the spot where he woke up, right next to Elias. Diego thought about going to sleep in another spot instead. But after hearing Sid snoring loud and annoying as always, he simply rolled his eyes and sat down beside the little cub. His original spot was the farthest from the sloth anyways. There he watched the lulling and crackling campfire as it died down slowly like a lullaby sang to a child. Before he knew it, he slept soundly. Perhaps one of the last nights he'd ever have a good night's sleep.
The next morning, Diego opened his eyes with a bright and shining smile in front of his face.
"Morning, Diego!" greeted Elias with a smile in front of Diego's face. The sudden perky sting of his voice ringed across Diego's ears. The saber tooth shot a glare of annoyance at him, but he simply shrugged it off. "Why didn't you tell me you had aherd?" he beamed as he backed away a little as Diego stood up.
"Tag!" said Peaches as she gently patted her trunk on Elias shoulder. "You're it!" Eli turned around to see her already running quickly away. The wolf pup bent his front legs down and raised his hind legs up, stretching in a prowl form. He wagged his tail high up in the air before rushing off into a playful chase.
"Hahaha!" laughed the two children as they ran across the snow chasing each other. Diego watched Elias as he ran away, and noticed that he was limping with left hind leg raised up. This made chasing for him harder even with all his prep and spirit, which got Peaches running even further than him. Unsurprisingly, Elias tripped out of balance and fell down on the crunching snow.
The young female mammoth turned around to see Elias down on the ground, and ran back to him. "Are you okay?" she asked. Diego sighed. He walked towards their direction and helped Elias up with his muzzle.
"You hurt your leg?" asked Diego in a cold yet sympathetic tone.
"Yeah, but I've felt worse," cheered Elias. It wasn't a matter of time before Diego realized he was super optimistic. But no one could be that optimistic after someone dear had just passed away.
"Are you really okay?" asked Peaches behind him.
"I'm fine!" Elias said as he turned his head around. He then sneaked his paw up and patted it quickly on Peaches. "Tag! Now you're it!" he shouted as he ran away. The two once again laughed while they chased each other. At a distance away, the twins suddenly joined their little game.
"Who's your little friend?" said Ellie as she approached Diego while he watched the two children playing as well. "He's such a cute playmate for Peaches! I hope he's planning on staying around."
"I don't know about that though," said Diego.
"What do you mean? He's adorable!" cooed Ellie as she continued to watch the kids playing around
Diego ignored the question as Peaches and Elias passed by him. As Elias passed, Diego grabbed him; His paw clenching around his head. Eli waved his paws around like a rag doll.
"Hey!" said Elias as he tried to get out of his grip. He swayed his lower legs in the air with his tail, and tried to remove Diego's paw with his own.
"Alright guys!" Diego shouted. "Herd meeting. Now, please." Everyone started gathering around with Sid and the twins coming in last.
"Okay," Diego said as he put Elias down gently on the snow. "I'm pretty sure you've met Elias here."
"Hi! Call me Eli for short!" he smiled very cheerfully.
"Awww!" cooed Sid. "He's adorable!"
"...Eww?" side commented the twin possums.
Diego began explained to everyone what had happened and how he ended up with him. From the beginning when he first met Elias when he was hunting, up to the part where the huge landslide happened. Everything that needed mentioning, and Eli had a joke or comment for almost each one.
"You rescued him from a landslide?" Ellie asked.
"Uhuh!" Elias nodded. "It was the most terrifying moment of my life! And just then, Diego came out of nowhere and rescued me!"
"Is that the only thing you wanted to talk about?" asked Manny when Diego finally finished, or got fed up with Eli interrupting every now and then. Some of the herd members were still laughing in the sidelines from Eli's jokes.
"Just one last thing," said Diego before looking down towards the little wolf cub. "Where are you going now?"
"Wait, can't he stay?" asked Sid.
"I-it's not that. I mean, don't you have an old home?" Diego asked Elias.
"No." Elias answered. "Our den probably got burned when in the forest fire. And even if it wasn't, I don't think I could get back there." Though he answered quite sadly, he tried to keep his smile up.
Ellie glanced towards Manny. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"I don't know where it is. In fact, this is my first time seeing this place." Elias said as he gazed around.
"What about your parents?" Manny asked. "Don't you have any?"
Elias suddenly started to frown. "They – umm – died… in the fire." said Elias, his smile withering away.
Sid felt a rush of compassion and ran towards him, grabbed him and picked him up. "Don't worry little guy! Why don't you stay here then?" he asked. "You can be part of our family!"
Diego immediately stretched a glare towards him. "Wait– what?" uttered Diego in disbelief.
"Uhhhh…." uttered Elias "I'm not sure if that's a good idea – I mean, I don't want to be a bother"
The possums walked forwards. "It is a good idea!" Eddie agreed. "You could stay here! You'd fit right in!"
"Yeah!" agreed Crash as well. "I mean look at us! Do we look like a normal herd to you? I mean, look at Diego!" he said as he pointed at him. "Do you really think any herd would have a predator like him? He's the epiphany of blood thirst" Diego growled at the comment, making Crash flinch.
"Well, if it's okay with everyone…" said Elias as his frown began to life back into a smile.
"Wait, th-that's not the point!" said Diego. "Even if he does stay here, who's gonna raise him up? He's gonna need a real parent"
"I could do it!" said Sid enthusiastically, volunteering willingly for things like these as usual.
The male mammoth brushed him backwards with his trunk. "Sid, you know you can't be trusted with kids" said Manny, rejecting the idea. "You know we shouldn't use babies for impressing ladies in disgusting mud baths.
"What do you mean?" said Sid. "I raised a human baby with you guys before, and I even a couple of dinosaurs all by myself!"
"H-he did… what?" muttered Elias in complete disbelief, leaving his jaw wide open.
Crash rubbed his paw down his face. "For a day, Sid," he said "Just for a single day."
"Well, I'm afraid we can't do it," Ellie denied. "We've got our trunks tied."
Manny as he rubbed his daughter's head, making her giggle. "We're already raising Peaches here," he said with a smile.
"And do you really think we could raise kids?" said Crash pointing at his twin brother and himself.
"We spell danger in every footstep!" his twin brother said in agreement "And that's coming from us!"
And then what Sid said had changed the course of his life forever. "Then why won't you do it Diego?" Sid mentioned. From Sid's comment, everyone glanced at him and looked towards Diego, all agreeing to the idea.
"M-me?" said Diego abruptly, pressured by everyone's sudden look. "I-I-I can't!"
"What do you mean? You're perfect for the job!" Manny encouraged.
"Yeah! You're a predator. He's a predator. You'd raise him up right!" said Crash.
"But I can't raise kids!" Diego continued to deny, "I have no experience whatsoever with handling poop-driven babies"
The white wolf cub glared towards him. "Hey!" he protested.
Manny sighed. "Diego it's either you, or Sid." he said and pointed at Sid who was bouncing Elias up and down like a play toy. Elias had a face that seemed to say stop it in a subtle way.
"What? I told you, I can be a good parent!" said Sid as he continued to play with Elias.
"Besides!" said Peaches. "You saved him, right?"
"And you've already gotten the time to talk to each to other!" said Ellie. "Come on Diego, you said it yourself, he needs someone to raise him, and you're our best candidate!"
Diego looked at Ellie and thought about it. He looked at Sid again as he continued to play with the wolf cub. Diego slapped himself on the face and sighed as he rubbed his paw down. Whether he was going to regret it or not, he finally decided. "Fine. I'll do it."
"It's settled then! Elias – err, I mean – Eli." said Ellie. "Meet your new dad!" she said as she pointed at Diego.
"Yey!" shouted Elias as he happily jumped off of Sid's hands and landed into Diego, knocking him out of balance as they both fell down on the ground. The saber tooth uttered a ground as soon as they landed. Elias rubbed his temple against Diego neck.
"So," said Elias as he sat on top of Diego "When's my first hunting lesson?"
"You weren't taught how to hunt?" asked Diego skeptically, lying down on his belly.
"Wasn't it obvious the first time we met?" said Elias and chuckled, still on top of him.
"Great…" moaned Diego "Just great…" Just when he thought his problems couldn't get any worse. He tried thinking of happy and easy thoughts of how hard it probably won't be.
Elias jumped off of Diego and continued playing with Peaches in the playground. The twins followed after them. Their laughter soon filled up the air, and disaster followed around their atmosphere.
Diego got up and shook the snow of his body. Again, he uttered a long sigh. Manny came up to him and punched him on the shoulder.
"'If someone needs your help, you put him first before yourself', right?" Manny repeated himself from last night's conversation.
The saber tooth knew that Manny knew. The only reason for him about to go with this was all because of last night. In a bit embarrassment, he brushed it off and looked away.
"It's okay Diego! Raising a kid's not really that bad." Manny cheered him on.
"That's because you have Ellie to help you. I'm on my own raising a pup who I barely know of." said Diego. "Look at me! I'm a single saber-tooth tiger raising a cub I adopted out of nowhere" Diego acted coy.
"You're not by yourself, you know that," Manny encouraged, "Nor do I only have Ellie helping. I have you guys too. You have us. I promise, with us around, you won't have any difficulty with things."
Diego let out a one last deep sigh as he watched the children play. He watched the white wolf play along with Peaches, and couldn't help smiling and admit the fact that he was a kid in need. He was still bothered about the fact of what the cub reminded himself of. Diego shrugged. "Maybe it won't be that difficult."
He was wrong, inevitably.
Xion the Author: This chapter once fell short from my standard of 2k+ words in a chapter. But now its now even more than sufficient with the new edited and improved edition!
Manny: So now the author is here writing random stuff to still add more words into the chapter.
Xion the Author: Manny! Shush! *looks away discreetly*