Xion the Author: Here we are again with chapter 3! I'm writing two fanfics currently plus I'm quite lazy and then there's school, so… I'm pretty much preoccupied, but I still have enough time to write a chapter or so. I've finally planned an ending for this too, so it's now worth continuing. At first, I just imagined Diego having kids, but I just wanted him to have one kid, so I had him adopt a cub and this story was born. And to keep it more realistic (the disappearance of the saber-tooth species), I had him adopt something that exists up till today, and to make the OC cool, I made him a wolf!

Elias: He likes wolves! :D Enjoy~!

ICE AGE JOURNEYS: RAISING A CUB

Chapter III: Parenting Problems

*poke*

"Diego…?" *poke*

*poke*

"Diego…!" *poke*

Diego woke up from his deep slumber at midnight. He woke up from an incessant poking at his face. He opened his eyes and turned his head to the right to have his left eye poked.

"Ow!" cried Diego as he got up from the surprise attack.

"Whoops!" cried Eli reflexively before falling back to whispering, trying not to wake the other herd members. "S-sorry, Diego." He stopped poking Diego with his paw and walked back a few inches away.

Diego sighed as he rubbed his eye from the pain. "What do you want kid? It's… the middle of the night!" he said as he noticed everyone was still asleep and the moon was shining high up in the air

"Uhhh… I gotta go…" whispered Elias with his hind legs closed together.

"Go?" asked Diego, yawning as he was still in a late night daze. "Go where?"

"Go! I need to go!" whispered Eli, emphasizing the wordgo.

It took Diego a moment before he realized what he meant. "Oh. Oooohh. Uhhh… right. If you gotta go you gotta go," he said. "Follow me." The saber tooth foster parent led him to a place far away from camp, someone far and private.

After the short walk, Diego stopped and turned towards Eli. "Okay… go," he said as he pointed to a nearby bush. Eli went behind it and stared at Diego. Again, it took Diego a moment before getting what he meant. Diego turned around as Elias did his business.

After a while, Diego tried turning his head around to see if he's done. But he only turned a few degrees when Elias abruptly said, "Don't look!"

Diego turned his head back. He just crankily kept quiet and tried not to fall asleep himself. After a few seconds he finally asked, "Are you done yet?"

A few moments after asking, Elias walked past him with a triumphant smile on his face. "Yup!"

"Good," Diego said in a relieving tone the same as Eli's they went back to camp and fell back to sleep.

*poke*

*poke*

*poke*

Diego once again woke up in the middle of the night to see Elias poking him again. This time, he didn't bother turning his head around and just opened his eyes. He sighed to see what he had feared.

"What is it now?" he asked.

"I'm hungry," whispered Elias, his stomach defending his claim by making a growling sound.

"Can't you endure it?" asked Diego, a bit annoyed.

"I can't" Elias whimpered. His stomach once again making noises.

Diego let out a deep sigh before getting up. He stood up and nodded at Elias as a gesture to follow him. After a few steps they reached a nearby peach tree.

"You're an omnivore, right?" he asked. Elias nodded. "This is Peaches' favorite tree. Just take what you need."

Diego pointed with his head at the tree while he looked at the wolf cub he adopted. Elias kept staring at him. Diego once again points at tree with his head. Elias glances at the tree and looks back at him with a blank face.

"Don't tell me…" said Diego.

"I don't know how to climb trees", answered Elias.

Diego moaned before he tried climbing the tall tree. He looked for the nearest peach fruit, and climbed through the branch to get it. He reached for it with his left paw while keeping hold of the branch with his right paw. He reached for it, but he could barely touch it. Diego tried reaching for it further with both of his paws with his hind legs keeping his balance. After trying to stretch a bit further, he grabs hold of the fruit. But he suddenly loses his balance and he screamed while he fell down on the snow.

He fell with his back on the snow, still holding the peach fruit with his paws. He kept a blank expression while Elias smiled with joy, took the peach fruit, and dug in.

*poke*

*poke*

Diego woke up again to find Elias frowning in front of him. "Let me guess…" he said.

"I need to go again…"

Diego sighed deeply. "Can't you find where I took you to a while ago?"

"I forgot where it is…" Elias whimpered.

"Can't you ask Sid?" Diego said.

"He won't wake up," Elias said as he pointed towards Sid, who was sleeping in a strange position on a rock.

Diego was now a bit frustrated as he got up and led him again to that particular spot. As they went there, he muttered, "This is what happens when you eat in the middle of the night."

Diego took Elias to the same bush. Elias got behind it, and Diego waited with his turned around. This time, he didn't bother turning around, and was more worried of falling asleep while he sat and waited for him to be done. Finally, Elias walked past him and they both went back to camp.

*poke*

It took only a single poke to wake up Diego. He instantly opened his sore red eyes which scared the hell out of the twins.

"Aaahh!" they shouted. Crash jumped out of fright and landed in Eddie's arms. Eddie took a surprised look at his twin brother before dropping him down on the ground.

"What do you want?" Diego said coarsely, rubbing his dry sleepy eyes. Last night was the worst night of sleep for him, and it was the third time straight this week.

"Its morning," Eddie said as he pointed at the sun shining brightly at the blue sky.

Crash got up from the ground. "Ellie told us to wake you up," he said.

"For what?" said Diego as he attempted to relax himself, closing his eyes and trying to fall back to sleep.

"She told us to remind you that you're supposed to teach Elias how to hunt today," said Crash.

Diego once again instantly opened his eyes, making the twins flinch. "Dude," said Eddie in a freaked out tone, "Stop doing that." Diego got up and sighed as he made his way out of camp.

"Hey!" shouted Manny as he saw Diego leaving. "Where are you going?"

The saber tooth yawned for a moment before replying. "I'm supposed to meet Elias out on the field." Diego replied as he kept walking. "I'm gonna start teaching him how to hunt today."

"But you don't look so good." said Manny.

"I feel like I was up all night. That ridiculous little cub kept waking me up," Diego moaned crankily.

"I can see that," mumbled Manny, noticing Diego's blood-shot eyes. "It's okay. You'll get used to it. In a matter of years, he'll stop bothering you less and less."

"You say that like a year will pass by that fast," said Diego. "At least you and Ellie can switch places every now and then when Peaches needs a potty break."

"Actually... she's never bothered us at night." said Manny.

"Wow… you're a lot luckier than I thought." said Diego drenched in self-pity.

"Well," said Manny after walking a few meters with Diego. "You better head off then. I got to go watch over Peaches. I leave her for a minute, and Sid comes in taking my place."

"Yeah," replied Diego as Manny turned around. Diego continued walking towards the meeting point.

"Yaah!" shouted Elias as he tried grabbing the butterfly in the air. He'd growl at it before leaping up and trying to catch it with his paws or his mouth. Diego reached the meeting point to find the little wolf cub leaping up in the air, the butterfly seemed to keep hovering about. When Elias was about to jump even higher than he usually did, Diego grabbed his head with his paw, stopping him on his tracks.

"Hey!" said Elias. "I hate it when you do that!"

Diego put him back down on the ground. "You're exerting too much effort for something too little."

"I'm just playing." said Elias. "What's wrong with that?"

"Rule number one. As a predator, you shouldn't waste any amount of energy for something pointless," instructed Diego as he walked in front of Elias from left to right.

"Okay, Diego," whimpered Elias. Diego's seriousness got him trembling.

Diego glanced at him and noticed him shaking. He smirked. He gently patted Elias on his head. "Call me dad, will ya'?" he said to ease him up. This sentence cheered Elias back in high spirits.

"So what else are you gonna teach me Die – I mean – dad?" asked Elias, sitting attentively.

"Don't you remember this spot, Eli?" asked Diego. Elias looked around the familiar scenery, and only after a while did he realize where he was.

"This is the place!" exclaimed Elias. "Where I tried hunting the rabbit you had your eyes on too!"

"And look who's here too." said Diego as he pointed off at the distance. The furry black, white-spotted figure that they both knew was unsuspectingly minding its own business once again.

"The rabbit!" Elias bellowed before covering his paws over his mouth. If it was a bit more louder, it might have heard him.

"Okay, things may be different between tiger and wolf, but it's the same thing about hunting alone. Lesson number two, try to conserve as much energy as possible. Exerting more energy than what you get after the hunt is pointless." Diego instructed. "Try to get close as much as possible to your prey. Crawl up in stealth, and make sure he doesn't spot or hear you."

"Got it." said Elias as he crawled in the grass. Diego followed behind him to observe.

They got close towards the rabbit, it would look around to see and suspect things around it for a while, but it would brush it off after a few moments. They waited until it would look unwary and off-guard.

"Okay kid," whispered Diego. "Give it a try."

Elias leaped up quick into the air. He tried grabbing the rabbit with his claws, but it scurried away all too fast. Elias crossed his claws in mid-air and landed his face on the dirt. He rolled on the ground and noticed the rabbit already running away. He was just about to chase it when Diego grabbed his tail.

"Hey!" retorted Elias.

"Don't. Chase it." Diego said sternly, coming out of hiding in the grass.

"Why not?" whined Elias.

"He's already gone too far. You wouldn't be able to chase him the way you are now," said Diego.

"What did I do wrong then?" asked Elias. "Why didn't I get him?"

"You jumped too high," said Diego. "For something small like a rabbit, you shouldn't jump higher than you should. Those things can be quick, and they can get away pretty fast."

Elias sighed and made a sad face. "I'm hopeless"

Diego let go of his tail. "No you're not. It was your first time. You'll get the hang of it later on," Diego encouraged.

"What are we gonna do now?" asked Elias as he saw the rabbit go back into its burrow.

"We can track something else," said Diego. "Follow me." Diego instructed as he began to sniff the air. He smelled his surroundings until he came upon an intriguing scent. He followed the scent and kept sniffing while Elias followed behind. Elias tried doing it himself, but he couldn't smell anything farther than a few feet from him.

It wasn't long before Diego told Elias to hide in the thick grass. Diego spotted a boar not a few meters away from them.

"Watch and learn kid," whispered Diego. Diego began to prowl in the grass. He could sense the boar become a bit weary, but after a while when it was caught off-guard once again, Diego his chances and leaped towards it.

"Sid, what are you doing?" said Manny, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm making Peaches a beautiful sash," replied Sid as he continued to furnish Manny's daughter with flowers.

"No, you're making her a bouquet. Look at her! You can't even see her in all those flowers!" said Manny.

"Dad, is that you?" she asked, blinded by the flowers over her eyes. "Hi Dad!" she said as she waved her trunk

"Can't you be a little optimistic for once?" said Sid, putting his fists on his waist. Manny shrugged it off and bit by bit he got rid the flowers off of Peaches.

"She's going to grow out of them one day anyways," Manny answered. "Don't you have anything better to do?"

Diego walked towards Elias and dropped the hunk of meat in front of him. "Lunch is served", said Diego.

"That was amazing!" exclaimed Elias. "The way you just leaped up on it and killed it, it was awesome!"

"Don't worry kid", said Diego. "Someday you'll be just as good as me. Now eat up."

The two of them the tender boar meat. Both savored the taste of its flesh, especially its fat. After finishing their meal, Elias let out a loud burp of satisfaction. The carcass was skinned to the bone. Both of them had eaten their fill. The two rested and talked for a while.

"So, Eli. What ever happened to your pack?" asked Diego.

"Well, all I could remember was this bright flash of light followed by a loud sound!" answered Elias. "Then suddenly there was fire everywhere! Our pack started running in different places. Me and my parents ran in a different direction like them. We kept running and running. When I'd trip, either my mom or dad would help me back up and run."

"Suddenly, there was another bright flash, and a burning tree suddenly started falling towards me. My parents called out my name. They pushed me out of the way before it fell, but they got caught instead. I ran towards them. My mom wasn't moving, and my dad was in bad condition."

Eli soon began to remember the vivid horrific events that ensued upon his life.

"Dad!" I cried. I hurriedly rushed over to him. The burning log trapped them down, and no one was around to help.

"Run, son! Run! Get to safety!"

"I don't want to leave you…" I whimpered. Tears kept flowing, hoping that everything would just suddenly turn out all right.

"Don't worry about us. Just know… that we love you…" he said, clamping my paw tightly. I didn't want him to let go. I never did.. "Now go. Be strong. Run!"

"So I ran…" said Elias.

Diego fell silent as he noticed Elias start to cry. He got up and sat beside him. He felt like sympathizing with him, but instead he kept his pack a secret and told him a lie.

"Wanna know how a predator like me got into a herd?" said Diego.

"How?" asked Elias.

"Well - one day- I was off all alone, until one day I met Manny and Sid. They were by far the craziest people I've met, but somehow we became closer than I expected. We found a human baby lost from its herd, one thing led to another and we were able to return him, and I never left them." Diego smiled. "And now here we are. Manny met Ellie, Sid found some dinosaur eggs, and the next craziest thing was meeting you."

"That's how you got here?" asked Elias. "That sounds really simple."

"Long story short, that is. Didn't you ever wonder why I tiger like me is staying with a bunch of mammoths, a sloth, and a pair of possums that never seem to grow up?" smirked Diego. "Now come on. Let's head back."

As soon as Diego started getting up, Eli caught his attention. "Hey, dad," He said. "Do you… really think I belong here?"

"Of course you do," smiled Diego as he noogied him on his head. "You're part of our family now."

Xion the Author: Skipped the gory bloody hunting scene to keep the K+ rating. Before, it was rated K+, but now it's rated T. I still didn't feel like adding in a horrendous blood bath in detail, so I kept the whole Manny, Sid, Peaches scene.

Diego: Awwww….

Xion the Author: Again, thanks for reading, I really appreciate it. Pretty sure that constructive criticism is still effective on me, as I'm certain that I still have much room for improvement. Please review! This reminds me a lot of Lion King 3 and Madagascar 2 too. I think I actually used alike scenes.

Edited… again…