Xion the Author: Once again, you are reading the edited and more detailed version of my story! Enjoy~!
ICE AGE JOURNEYS: RAISING A CUB
Chapter IV: Decisions and Disappointments
The sun glowed at its highest peak. Its golden rays sparkled upon the white trenches of the world. The vast blue sky stretched ever onwards into the horizon, unchangeable by time.
A certain white juvenile wolf prowled within the tall grasses, stalking at a potential prey. A boar stood unsuspecting of intentions behind him, and the wolf was waiting for the right time to attack. When he judged that the time was ripe, Eli took this chance and jolted towards the boar.
In a flash of a moment, he thought he was about to finally catch his first prey, until something hit him so hard it woke him up from his dream. The boar raised its hind legs and kicked Eli right in the face, making him drop him and his dreams right to the ground. The boar humorously cackled and pointed his tongue at him before running away in laughter.
Eli got up a few seconds later after his daze and rubbed his nose. Having a hoof shoved right into your face wasn't exactly pleasant. "You were doing it all wrong!" scolded someone behind him with a growl. Diego got up to him and was looking a bit furious. "You were too noisy. Even I could hear you from my far vantage point."
"Where was your vantage point?" Eli asked out of curiosity.
"Don't think you can dodge this one," Diego said. "You probably didn't see the boar grinning while you stalked him. He knew all along that you were following him!"
Eli felt the shame continue to pour in. "Sorry, dad," he whimpered.
Diego stared at him sternly before releasing a deep sigh. "Go back to the herd. No meat for you today."
"Awwww!" complained Eli. "But dad!-"
"No excuses, Eli." Diego replied quickly with than a stern tone. "If you can't even catch something bigger than a bunny, you'll never be a real predator. Go back and eat some fruits for today."
Diego walked away in search for prey of his own while Eli looked down completely disappointed of himself before striding across the snow to the village. While he walked, the white wolf caught a glance of Sid waddling around the berry bushes. Eli tried to impress himself by stalking his sloth uncle.
He hid inside a nearby bush and waited for Sid to walk across. The moment he did, Eli swiftly pounced on him. Sid made an utter cry. It was so loud that it deafened the white wolf on top of him, sending birds flying away from the trees.
"Ack! Sid, relax!" said Eli after covering his ears from the loud screeching sound.
Sid lifted his arms off his face and felt relieved that it was just Eli. "Phew! For a second there I thought I was gonna get eaten."
"It's okay. Dad told me not to eat junk food," said Eli.
Sid rolled his eyes. Like father like son, he thought. "But it looks like you're getting better at hunting," he cheered.
Eli sighed. "I wish my dad would say that. I've never been able to hunt for something any larger than a rabbit," he lamented. "Diego probably thinks I'm some sort of failure."
"Awww, don't think that," Sid said in a reassuring tone. "I've known Diego for over half a decade now. One thing I'm sure of is that he can be a real softie."
Eli was caught aback surprised. "Dad can be… soft?" he asked
"Oh yeah! You have no idea what we've all been through with him all these years," said the sloth. "Well, maybe only after that whole pack of his thing-"
Eli was again surprised. "Dad had a pack?" he continued to ask.
"Wait, he never mentioned it to you?" asked Sid, scratching his belly before moving to scratch his chin.
"Well… not really, no." Eli replied.
"Uh oh," Sid muttered before he started acting frantically. "This must mean Diego didn't want you to know. Oh, oh dear me. I have to hide or else he'll rip me to shreds!" He said while grasping his dear neck.
"Easy, Uncle Sid. Easy. What are you talking about?" asked Eli.
"Your dad doesn't like being talked about behind his back" Sid whispered. "Okay, I'm gonna need hide now. T-tell your dad that I'm on a fishing trip if he ever looks for me, okay?" Sid said before running off.
Eli watched him run away. "Like anyone would believe that." He chortled in the thought. But he couldn't prevent himself from wondering all the things he learned from just a random conversation with Sid. "Dad had a pack before?" Eli pondered in his mind. "Why hasn't he told me about it?"
After a few minutes of walking again, Eli got back to the center of the herd's camp and got up a large peach tree. Eli was climbed up and sulked on one of the thick branches. He looked at a nearby peach and remembered how hungry he was just a few minutes ago. But right now his appetite had already diminished, and food wasn't particularly in his mind.
"Hey Peaches!" shouted the twins as they scurried across the snow towards the female mammoth. "Wanna play?"
"Thanks guys… but I'm kind of not in the mood" moaned Peaches. Just a while back, she actually asked some of the kids the same question. But none of them seemed willing, and even appeared to be avoiding her.
"Is something wrong?" asked Eddie.
Crash climbed up on Peaches. "Are you feeling sick?" he asked, putting a paw down on her forehead.
"I'm not sick Uncle… Crash" said Peaches, having difficulty telling which from which.
"Then what's wrong?" asked Crash as Peaches grabbed his tail, brought him up in the air, and put him gently on the ground.
Peaches looked around the playground. She watched the beaver boys playing build-a-dam with the beaver girls, the aardvark boys playing tag hide-and-seek with the aardvark girls, and the turtle boys were slide racing against each other trying to impress the turtle girls.
"Have you guys ever, you know, seen or met another mammoth?" Peaches asked her uncles.
Crash and Eddie shot a glance of curiosity at each other. "What do you mean princess?"
"I mean, there aren't any mammoths around," Peaches explained.
"What about your folks? Manny and Ellie?" asked Eddie.
"Other than me and my parents," Peaches clarified. "Look around you guys, I'm the only big mammoth around. I'm outgrowing all the kids faster than anyone. Literally. I feel so… alienated."
"You still have us Peaches!" exclaimed Crash. "No matter how tall you'll be, we'll always be there for you!"
"Yeah!" agreed Eddie. "We'll always be your friends!"
Peaches looked at them, feeling a bit happier, but she was still feeling a little lonely. "I don't know guys. I'm glad you guys are here for me but… I just need to meet another mammoth out there" she said as she walked away. "I still feel like a loner…"
The young girl mammoth walked towards her favorite peach tree. Looking up, she could a line of white swaying under it. Peaches find the white wolf wagging its tail, sitting on one of its big branches. "Eli?" she asked. "Your hunt didn't go too well I take it?"
"I guess…" moaned Eli, "What about you? You don't look too happy either."
She shrugged. "I guess…" replied Peaches as she walked towards the tree and sat under the tall branches. She slinked down her back on the tree trunk. During these past few years, Eli had been her closest friend; enough to even call him her own brother.
"You know, sometimes I wish I could be just as small as you," she smiled. "That way I could climb up trees or hang from them without breaking it."
"Hey, maybe we could switch," joked Eli. "A predator like me could use size like yours. Besides, I'm probably just one of the few wolves who could climb up a tree."
Peaches grinned and the two laughed their hearts out. Laughing together just made the world seem less problematic to them. But right after their moment of laughter, they remember of all their thoughts and worries, their faces fading back with disdain.
"So, what's bugging you?" Eli asked Peaches. His tail still swinging freely below the branch he was sitting on.
"Just thinking about being the only mammoth in the entire village", moaned Peaches. "Life is just so complicated. It's a stupid idea not to just live near other mammoths"
"Well, look at me and my step-dad", replied Eli. "We're the only predators in the entire village. And that's as far as resemblance goes between us."
Peaches noticed that Eli also feels the same way that she did." Why is life so complicated!" groaned Peaches.
Eli chuckled. "If only things were simpler. Did you know my step-dad had a pack before?"
"Really?" uttered Peaches in disbelief. "Uncle Diego?"
"Yup! Uncle Sid somehow told me about it. But just a bit" Eli answered. He sighed imagining what great wonders were like to be living in a family just like you. "I wonder how it feels like to have a pack."
Peaches watched Eli smile while he thought about a pack. She remembered him telling stories that he had a pack before, which made her feel a little more compassionate for him. However, that smile of his faded away in just after a few seconds.
The two close siblings watched the sun die out in the horizon. The vibrant orange color reflected in their eyes. A shining light of hope and inspiration glimmered upon them. An idea then suddenly came up to her, and the excitement of the epiphany burst out before her.
"Eli! I have an idea!" exclaimed Peaches.
Elias craned his head down. "Huh? What is it?" he asked.
"Let's go look for them!" she answered happily.
The white wolf lowered one of his ears and kept one up "What do you mean?" Eli asked.
Peaches got up and got closer towards Eli's branch. "Let's go look for other people like us! Just the two of us!"
"Wait, you mean, leave the village and go look for mammoths and wolves like us?" Eli chattered. "Go on a perilous journey that could take our lives at any moment and may not ever return? Cross maybe vast mountains and raging rivers in every turn? Without even a hint of certainty that we would even find animals like us?"
Peaches nodded with a great doubtless smile painted across her face. Eli grinned and leapt down to the ground. "I'm in"
Then the two made their secret handshake, swinging and punching paws or trunks around. "You don't think they'd get worried?" Eli asked.
"We'll be back before they know it!" Peaches replied.
The two began to plot their insane idea together as they walked. "This is gonna be so fun!" beamed Peaches. The two were walking out of the village before they were stopped by a few inconveniences.
"Hey! Where do you think you two are going?" Crash said sternly.
"You guys aren't supposed to leave the village after sunset," Eddie said sternly.
The two possums popped out of the bushes while holding twigs as imaginary spears. Peaches and Elias glanced at each other and maybe try explaining to them. But they both knew that their parents could be home anytime, so they simply brushed them off and kept walking.
Crash and Eddie were brushed off to the side as Peaches walked with her big feet. "Hey!" the twins shouted. "Where are you going?"
"We're looking for others like us out there" explained Peaches. "We're going whether you guys like it or not."
"You won't stop us", explained Eli as the two continued to walk. "We've made up our minds about this."
"H-hey! What about your parents?" shouted Crash. He attempted pulling on Eli's tail, pressing his feet down as hard as possible. But the white wolf effortlessly dragged him through, and in a few moments he gave up. "What will they do when they find out that there kids just ran off?"
"What will they do to us if they find out?" gasped Eddie, glancing at each other. The other two kept on walking without reply. The twins watched them with their jaws wide open.
"Ellie's gonna kill us if they find out we let them leave", gulped Eddie.
"Not to mention what Diego will do…" gulped Crash. The two imagined what their fate might become, and suddenly began to shudder and tremble.
Then, as they watched the two trail off in the distance, Crash came up with an immediate solution. "You know, we might be able to live longer if we go with them," said Crash. Eddie agreed without hesitation and the possums scurried off to follow them.
Diego was walking towards the village with a heap of meat in his jaws. "Maybe I was too hard on him," the saber-tooth foster parent thought. He brought some meat he had hunted recently for Eli in an attempt to keep his favor in him. He really did have a soft spot.
The saber-tooth finally got to the center of their village and dropped the carcass on the snow. He looked around for Elias to try to apologize to him, or at least maybe give him some encouragement. Leaving the hunk of dead meat, he went to search every corner of the village and even went up Peaches' favorite peach tree if he was there. Lifting the leaves up, he could see nothing. He then started calling out his name a few times. But no matter where he searched, he couldn't find him. Only trace he could find were a few canine paw prints.
He went back to the carcass to see Manny and Ellie staring at it. Manny caught a glance of Diego and looked for an explanation. "Diego, why is there a dead deer here?" he asked, a bit of a cross tone but Diego ignored it.
"Eli is missing," Diego said feeling bothered. "I was kinda rough on him, so I brought some food, but I can't seem to find him anywhere."
"Peaches doesn't seem to be here either…" Ellie said in a worried tone,"Have you seen her Diego?"
"No. As a matter of fact, I haven't." said Diego. "Where's Sid?"
"He's probably at the berry bushes." Manny said "You know how much he likes berries, and how messy and disgusting the way he eats them", he added.
"Alright, let's go-", said Diego before he was caught mid-stride.
"Not until you get rid of this carcass here", Manny interrupted.
Diego made a blank face at him but went ahead and picked it up by the neck. In a few minutes of Diego getting rid of the hunk of meat, they lot headed towards the berry bushes as planned.
"Sid!" Manny started called out.
His mate then came after with him. "Sid!" Ellie called out as well.
The saber tooth then came in to join in as well. "Sid! Where are you?" Diego called out.
The male mammoth notice a few leaves rustling downwards from above. "Let me try something," Manny mentioned. "Sid! Look! Dandelions!"
"Dandelions?" Sid bellowed as he swiftly slid down a tall tree nearby. "Where?"
"Oh there you are Sid," said Ellie. "Funny place you've been. It's a wonder how you got there..."
"We've been looking everywhere for you," Diego said. "What were you doing up there?"
The moment Sid saw Diego, he ran behind the tree he slid from. "Aaah! Don't shred me!"
"What are you talking about Sid?" asked Diego.
Sid realized that Diego may not know about it, and tried acting inconspicuously. "Oh, nothing. Just, you know… enacting some past memories!" muttered Sid.
"Riiiight…" said Diego.
"Y-you should join in! All right, Manny. Hit me like before." Sid said in a frantic attempt to hide the lie.
"I'm not gonna hit you!" Manny retorted.
"Uhh… okay, umm. Diego!" Sid turned his head towards him "Come and trap me in your fangs as I act like I'm dead."
Knowing Sid acting strangely like this, he knew something was up. "Alright, Sid. What happened?" he interrogated.
"I-I don't know what you're talking about," Sid replied. The sloth kept it to himself for only a few moments while Diego glared at him. Sid then began to feel self-conscious and guilty all of a sudden and blurted it all out. "Okay okay! I told him!"
"Told him what?" asked Manny.
"I told Elias that Diego had a pack before!" answered Sid.
"So? What's so bad about that?" asked Ellie.
"Sid!" Diego said furiously. "You did what?"
"I'm sorry! Please don't kill me! Okay, if you will, please make it quick-" shuddered Sid as he approached Diego slowly. Diego simply pushed him away.
"Diego, what's wrong? You didn't tell him?" asked Manny.
"I didn't want him to know", said Diego. "My life was such a mess back then, so I wanted to keep it a secret." Diego stared at blank space before a gush of horror rushed towards him. "Oh no…"
"What is it?" Ellie asked.
Diego brushed his face with his paw and let out a deep sigh. "Elias probably went off to look for a pack."
"Wait wait. Let's not jump into conclusions here" said Manny. "Maybe there another explanation here."
"Manny, he and Peaches are as close as siblings. If Peaches is missing too, that must mean their together. And we haven't seen the twins either haven't we?" explained Diego. "They probably went off somewhere far. If it was somewhere near, the twins would be able to at least persuade them to stay instead."
"I'm sure my brothers are responsible enough to keep the kids in line", mentioned Ellie.
Manny and Diego stared at Ellie. Diego said, "Ellie, really. Are your brothers even a bit responsible?"
"Point taken," Ellie sighed. "Where are they going then?
"We look for them," said Manny. "That is, if we know where they're heading to. I don't even think they know where they'll go."
"I think I saw their tracks a while ago. If we hurry, we might be able to stop them in time," Diego said in a hurriedly pace.
"This is my entire fault!" Sid broke down. "If only I haven't told him."
"Don't blame it on yourself Sid," said Diego, "It's my fault I haven't told him about it. I should've told him from the start."
And so, Manny, Ellie, Diego and Sid went after Peaches, Eli and the twins. And thus begins another journey; unknowing of the surprises that lay in store for them.
Xion the Author: Who wants to know the original plot? :D I originally planned Elias and Peaches a bit older and that Eli was really good at hunting, and so the story would center more on Peaches if Eli was so flawless. But that the story seemed less amusing , so I went ahead to redo the whole chapter. That way the story would be more flexible and interesting. And nobody likes a Mary Sue. And to everyone who's still reading this story, thank you for your support! :D