Xion the Author: Update! Finally getting things along again :DD Things will start so unrealistic again, but sorry, I've run out of ideas :DD

ICE AGE: RAISING A CUB

Chapter XVII: On Our Way

"Wakey wakey lads!" bellowed Buck as he clacked two sticks together. The herd woke up for perhaps the last time in their race to catch their kids. Sid yawned and cracked his spine forwards while the three dinosaurs mimicked him without realizing they did. At least his kids were with him.

Diego felt quite a bit energized than before. He stretched his legs hoping that there wouldn't be another sudden fatigue strike again.

"What are we supposed to do from here, Buck?" Manny asked after fading out his morning daze.

"Guess we first gotta get back on track," Buck answered, "Literally. Look for the tracks made by the weird dino that's makin' all them wholes to the surface world"

"They might've gone cold by now," said Diego. "We'd be lucky if we even see a paw print"

"You mean something like this?" called out Sid as he spotted a large roundish paw print with three stubby toes. Buck inspected it and was bewildered to see that it was.

"Looks like our luck hasn't run out yet!" Buck cheered.

"Nice work Sid," Ellie praised.

"Nah, it's the least I could do. After all, it was my fault that got us all into this mess," Sid replied.

With their new found hope of continuing on the main focus of their journey, Diego could almost see his son's face once again. "I'm coming Eli," he thought, determined of getting back the wolf that had meant so much more to him now than before.

"This is where we say our goodbyes," Flik said. The pack of wolves had already started to make their way down the mountain. Peaches, Eli, Crash and Eddie were talking to him for the last time.

"We… really couldn't have done anything without you," Eli said humbly.

"You found fellow wolves just like you wanted," Flik replied. "I hope fruity here could find other mammoths as well"

"Don't worry, I'm not giving that easy either," Peaches said, flexing the muscles in her trunk.

"However," Flik said, "I've noticed that they aren't eager as letting you in just yet, Eli"

"Yeah… Matthias said something I have to realize before they just let in," Eli replied.

"Is there anything else important he might have mentioned?" Flik asked.

Eli shook his head. "Nothing he could say before some birds kidnapped me," he said.

"We apologize about that," said two voices in unison that flew down from above. It was Butch and Russel, the two crows who were once loyal henchmen of Ricardo.

"The Don... wishes us to start 'apologizing'" Butch said as if he was choking on the words.

"Starting with the ones nearest," Russel added.

"Glad you two are taking a nice turn for yourselves," Eddie said.

"Don, huh?" Crash smirked. "That's quite a title you got there"

"Well, off you go now. Before they leave you all behind," Flik smiled as he flapped his wing in goodbye. The four took one mischievous glance at each other before the charged at the osprey, hugging him for as long as possible. Flik was surprised by their gesture, but he smiles and hugged them back. His smiled stayed for the rest of their tiny bodies disappearing off into the distance. But the osprey knew there was one last role he had to play.

"You think we're ever gonna meet him again?" asked Eli as they catched up with the rest of wolf pack.

"I hope so," Peaches answered. "He's like my favorite uncle"

"I thought I was your favorite uncle!" Eddie moaned.

"No, I'm her favorite uncle!" Crash argued, and it wasn't long before the two were choking each other on top of Peaches' head.

The four made it behind the pack of wolves to meet up with Leah and Nathan. Eli greeted them as they approached them and they greeted him back.

"So, this is your sister?" asked Nathan.

"You could say that," Eli answered.

"Nice to finally meet you, Peaches! I'm Leah," she introduced. "This is Nathan, my older brother"

"Nice to meet you guys," Peaches smiled. "I can't believe I'm seeing this many other wolves"

Eddie and Crash finally grew tired of fighting and they laid breathing heavily on top of Peaches. "So… how long till we get there?" asked Crash.

"We'll probably get there in the evening," Nathan replied. "After our last battle, the pack would like a bit of a slow journey so they won't get too tired. All that fighting, and that sprint just to get here really did a number on everyone"

"Yeah, big brother needs his rest," Leah joked.

"Maybe little sis should start taking better care of herself" Nathan replied.

Leah frowned. "Sorry..."

Nathan gave her a small hug. "Don't worry. I don't mind"

"Heh," Eli chuckled, "Well, I'm fine with it anyways" After all, he had to think about what he had to realize before they could let them in.

"Quiet lads," whispered Buck as he eyed the large prehistoric animal from the bushes. "Leave this tah me"

The tracks led them what looked like a giant mole. It had a dark dull fur coat, long protruding whiskers, and humongous claws. It had a large reddish nose, but when compared to its eyes, the eyes looked microscopic. It didn't look like it could run that fast, but Buck couldn't risk the chance of it digging its way out.

Buck climbed a nearby tree and cut some vine. He fashioned a nice lasso with it, stretched it to test its durability, and with a smile his plan looked simple enough. He jumped towards unto the large mole and bridled the vine around its mouth and over its head. The large mole screeched deafeningly, causing Buck to flinch in surprise and loosen his grip on the vine. The mole began to dig a large hole unto the ground. Buck didn't notice it at first until he began to feel like he was falling a few meters down. He immediately clenched the vine before disappearing into the large pit the mole had made.

"Buck!" cried the herd as they cautiously approached the deep black chasm. The three t-rexes ducked their heads inside, but just moments after Buck was last seen disappearing into the unknown, he had appeared from the ground a few meters away from them.

"This one is amazing!" bellowed Buck. "I think I traveled fer almost a mile down there in just a few seconds!"

Manny inspected the creature, which looked bigger than the two mammoths combined. "You sure this thing is safe?" he asked.

"'course not!" Buck cheered. "But that's what makes it fun!"

"So, what now?" asked Sid, who was busy trying to keep the his 'children' in line from attacking it. The t-rexes looked threatened, and they were in a defensive position against the giant mole. "Now, now calm down" he whispered to them.

"Hmmm…" Buck pulled the bridle, and the mole immediately stood up. The weasel was amazed by its ability to stand up, and who knows how much it could amuse him more. Buck scouted all around him, and easily remembered where they walked from. "We came from that direction," pointed Buck with his finger. "So, correct me if I'm wrong, we head the opposite over theah"

"Hoping Eli and the other's head through a straight line," Diego said. Buck snapped the vine and the mole started to walk with the herd following behind. Buck was obviously enjoying it.

"I still can't believe the kids managed to do all this," Ellie said. "Especially with the twins along"

"Especially?" Manny asked.

"Honey, we know exactly how much trouble they cause back at the great flood," Ellie replied. "I can't trust them with our kids even after 10 years"

"Cause even now, and then, they'd still be immature little brats," Diego added.

"Alright!" Buck shouted as they ended up at huge wall of rock. "This looks like a naice place lads! Let's start digging!" He pulled the vine a bit, and the giant mole was about to start clawing its way through when Sid interrupted.

"Wait!" the sloth shouted. "What about my kids?"

Buck glanced back, and realized that he couldn't bring them up there. It would cause too much trouble. And leaving them down here alone was just as bad as an idea. Manny knew all along that Sid had to leave them some time soon.

"Sid, you should-"

"I can watch 'em for ya," Buck cut in as he slid down its side, and right before Manny could say anything else.

"Wait, what?" Ellie said in shock. "Then who would lead us up back there"

Buck grinned. "I think it's tame enough" he said, patting its back. The herd looked at each other, and all they could do was trust Buck with what he had decided. To be honest, Buck didn't really want to go back up there anyways. One whip crack at it, and the mole started to finally claw its way up to the surface. Sid told the three dinosaurs to wait for him there. Once it was done, the herd followed behind as they traversed through the dark tunnel.

Buck turned to face the three dinosaurs. "Now," he said. "What to do with you lot"

The rest of the group was chatting their way back. They were walking through a narrow passage surrounded by rock and stone. Crash and Eddie were jumping on Nathan and Leah back and forth, causing them as much annoyance as possible. The other wolves were minding their own business. Eli, however, was rattling his head about what he had to realize. He asked Matthias a while back if there were any clues he could give, and all he said was, "Look inside your heart". A bit mystical, but didn't seem to help at all. It was one of those clues that only made sense when you already find out what it is. The white wolf, no longer a cub, watched his paws walk on the dirt. There wasn't any snow here, he realized, but he doubted it was that what he should realize.

His mammoth companion spotted him singling himself out of the crowd and approached him. "What's wrong?" Peaches asked.

"Nothing… just, I don't know what I should realize," Eli replied. He sighed before the two walked silently for a moment.

"Maybe it's something we learned during our travels?" Peaches said.

"I doubt it," Eli said. "All we learned so far was that an osprey could help you out of nowhere and that osprey would have a crazy power-hungry vulture friend"

Peaches giggled. "I guess" The two walked again silently for moments while she paused to think of what to say. "I can't believe we gone as far as here, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I guess so," Eli replied. "Our travels, huh?"

"To think we'd actually go as far as someplace we never knew existed," Peaches said with exhilaration, "And to think we're still going"

"To think we actually found other wolves like me," Eli said. "Too bad we still didn't find other mammoths"

"It's okay, we've still got plenty of time for that," Peaches said. The two 'siblings' smiled and laughed along. But the mammoth stopped after a few moments. "But… I still miss mom and dad"

Eli widened his eyes in surprise before frowning, "Yeah… I miss dad too" He realized that they had probably been causing a lot of trouble for them. He wondered what they were probably doing now. Would they still be looking for them? Elias didn't know.

"…I still want to go home, after all this," Peaches muttered. Eli looked at her, and knew that it was too much to ask her to stay with him and the pack instead. "What about you, Eli? Would you go back home, or would you stay here?"

Eli felt like something pierced his chest. "I don't know… maybe…?"

Eli had finally realized what he had to realize. What he had to lose.

A small squirrel/rat hybrid scurried across the barren top of a wall of rock. He had finally found a nut! Another nut! And he was nuts about it! He had finally had enough of the snow and ice, and it was about time he had buried it where it should be, or at least where he thought it should be.

He scratched and clawed at the dirt until he found a spot he deemed as fine. He looked at his reflection through the shiny acorn, and smiled gleefully before slamming it down to the ground. One big jump on it, and it pierced its way almost entirely down.

Scrat looked at it and breathed in the air in joy. He started to walk away brushing the dirt off his paws when suddenly, yet almost expectedly, cracking sounds started to occur. Scrat glanced back, to see large fissure coming out from the buried acorn. He tried to stop it from breaking off any further, trying to pull the cracked ground back together. But as hard as he tried, it was futile as always. Scrat then tried to pull the acorn out but only pulled it out once everything started to crumble.

The cracks started to spread. Soon large crevices formed around creating huge boulders, and the next would be what you would expect.

Xion the Author: Don't you just love it when parents go through such extraordinary things for their children? :D And a cameo from Scrat! I first planned to have a still alive and demented Ricardo to cause the rockfall, but then that would be ruining his character, and I really wanted to have Scrat in even for just a small scene. And my cliffhanging will not end yet!

And happy holidays everyone! My Christmas gift to all of you! (minus the cliffhanger :D)