Xion the Author: The chapter we've all been waiting for! Yes, everything you've anticipated from the beginning is all here. That's why I had to think this really through. I really had to refine every bit of detail. Admittedly, I thought I already had everything planned. But I guess not. The adventure hasn't ended yet! And so hasn't the line breaks!
ICE AGE JOURNEYS: RAISING A CUB
Chapter XVIII: I Found You
Large rumbling sounds echoed across the narrow canyon. The wolf pack perked their ears up as they cautiously scanned the terrain. The pack stopped in their tracks to study the source of the sounds, glancing left and right only to find out that landscape around them had started to crumble bit by bit. The left wall beside them started to collapse, and in a sudden jolt their legs started to sprint.
"Landslide!" shouted Matthias. Rocks tumbling downwards beside them, the entire pack shouted and cried as they ran swiftly forward.
"Peaches, come on!" shouted Eli zealously as he rounded up her sister to move faster.
"I'm trying! I'm not a wolf, I don't move that fast!" she retorted.
"Crash! Eddie! Where are you?" Eli shouted.
"Over here!" shouted Eddie, holding on to Leah's back fur with his brother right beside him.
Peaches and Eli ran towards them. Right now being behind the entire pack wasn't a good idea. But the harder they tried to keep up, the faster the wall of dirt of stone came down behind them.
A large hole popped out of the ground as a giant mole climbed right out of it, followed by an odd group made up of two mammoths, a peculiar tree sloth, and strangely, a saber-tooth tiger.
"Where are we?" asked Sid.
"Like we'd know, Sid," Manny replied.
"Why does the ground feel like it hasn't stopped shaking?" asked Diego as he tapped his paws on the ground to check if it was real.
"And what's that noise?" asked Ellie as she heard a loud rumbling noise. Not long after, they noticed that on the other side of what looked like a canyon, rock and earth was collapsing downwards. The herd approached the large chasm in between to find a large pack running in turmoil from the dilapidating wall.
"Are those wolves?" blurted out Sid as his interest was concentrated more on them than the incident itself. "Hey! What's that behind them…?"
The entire herd glanced towards the end of the pack to see a familiar pair of animals, a mammoth and a white wolf.
"That's Peaches!" shouted Ellie as she spotted her daughter running close-to-death from an avalanche of falling boulders.
"And that's Eli!" shouted Manny spotting the wolf behind her. Manny quickly turned towards Diego to find him already leaping towards small platforms that led down. The herd quickly decided to go to the end of the canyon as the saber-tooth tiger descended towards the canyon.
"Faster!" cried Eli, unaware that their parents were already nearby.
A large boulder rolled downwards, hitting unto a jagged rock and bounced into the air. Eli spotted it in mid-air and thought quickly. Okay, Eli. Think about what you learned. When in a chase, let your front paws give you an extra push and let your hind paws fly up a bit. Once they go down, give it a nice kick so you could jump up high and grab your prey.
Peaches was big enough, so it might work. He did just as he learned it and had successfully pushed Peaches out of the way just in time. The large mammoth stumbled forwards exceedingly far, and Eli bounced off her as the large boulder landed right in between them. Peaches turned around to see an entire obstruction made of stone and dirt.
"Eli!" she cried. She was about to try and push the boulder away before Crash and Eddie pulled on her dangling tail.
"Peaches, we gotta move!" the two possums shouted, reminding that danger wasn't gone just yet. But right after they tried to stop her, a bright yellow wisped through them and climbed over the towering boulder.
Eli frantically ran back though the path was incredibly dangerous, and had no guarantee of a way out. Rocks falling down on him like rain, jumping and left and right to avoid them. But another boulder coming his way was about to fall on him. Unaware, he simply kept running and running until he was pushed away by an unknown entity. Landing on the dirt, followed by a large thud, he coughed and opened his eyes to see a familiar face.
"D-Dad?" he stuttered in surprise
"Glad you still call me that," Diego said with a half grin. "Come on! We gotta move!"
The two started running once again but as almost as soon as they did, a large boulder landed right in front of them. Turning back, they realized that going back was already too late. The way was blocked and they were trapped right in between. Eli tried to climb up with his claws as Diego did the same on the other wall, but both found no possible footholds to climb through, and the boulders was either too smooth or too brittle. The saber-tooth found the scenery around him to become darker. He looked up to see a colossal flat stone shadowing above them. He called out his son's name in dismay as the stone had landed right above them.
"And then the lil' armadillo found his beaveh mothah, and they lived happily eveh aftah." Buck said, sitting on a rock as he told a story to the three dinosaur kids who still mysteriously acted like children. Egbert, Shelly, and Yoko simply gazed at him with puppy-dog eyes. "The end"
Egbert made a few reptilic sounds, turning towards Shelly and Yoko in wonder.
"What do you mean 'why didn't armadillo live with the other armadillos'?" said Buck. "'Cause where he really belonged was with his mothah, he raised him up when no one else did."
Now it was Yoko's turn to say something, something that left the other two nodding in agreement.
"Why it was bettah to live with a bunch of beavers rather than a bunch of armadillos you were also welcome in?" Buck repeated. "Because! Because the beavers were first to take 'im in-"
Suddenly Shelly was muttering about something. He went on and on with an entire speech, causing Buck's left-eye wide open. After pointing at the skies and what looked like he compared a rock to tree, he finished his speech with a smug look on his face. Buck didn't notice his mouth was open, and it was the first time he didn't notice something. Left speechless, the three dinosaurs exchanged high-fives with their small forearms.
"Ugh…" Buck moaned. "Reptiles"
Diego opened his eyes to see an almost pitch black cave around them, tiny holes of light piercing through the earth. "Eli!" Diego called out. He ran towards the direction he last saw him to find him in a condition the same way he found Elias almost 12 years ago. His body covered almost entirely with dirt, his head the only thing visible. Diego quickly pulled him out of the rubble and immediately Eli coughed and spat out the dirt that went into his mouth. His white fur was a little dusty, so he shook some of it off as well.
"Dad?" asked Eli. "What are you doing here?"
"Came here looking for you," Diego answered. Eli expected something like a comeback phrase, something like "I'd ask the same thing" and would then go on with scolding him on and on about leaving the herd. But right now, his father seemed so calm. It was just like Matthias when he saw her daughter home. Calm, not angry. Perhaps because he meant more to Diego than he thought; and right now together with his son, adopted or not, it was all the mattered for the while. As immediate as the thought passed through him, Diego hugged him tightly only to find himself hugging him back.
"I'm glad you're safe," Diego said.
"I miss you, dad," Eli said.
Now," Diego said quite calmly before turning into a serious tone, "What exactly were you thinking?"
"Errr…" Eli muttered. Of course, the scolding would have to come eventually. He sighed, and being trapped in a cave with no obvious way out left him with no choice but to explain to him everything. "Peaches and I went to go looking for other wolves and mammoths,"
"And?" Diego asked.
"Eddie and Crash tried to stop us, but they went along with us one way or another" Eli answered.
Diego shook his head. "Why didn't you tell us?" he scolded
"Why didn't you tell us?" Ellie scolded. The herd finally reunited at the end of the canyon, along with the rest of wolves watching them argue.
"Because you wouldn't have let us go!" Peaches replied.
"That still doesn't change the fact that we were worried about you!" Manny said, and most likely Diego was saying the same thing to his son. "What would we have done if we never have found you?"
"I'm sorry. Mom, dad, I'm sorry," Peaches said. "But we're old enough to take care of ourselves"
"Come on, guys. Give them a break," Sid mediated. "Manny, weren't you this lonely before? You too Ellie, right?"
Manny and Ellie glanced at each other before letting out a deep breath. "We're just glad that you're safe"
"Manny! Ellie! Sid!" the twin possums cried out. "You're here!"
"Guys!" said Ellie as she ran to greet her brothers. As joyous as everything looked, just an instant apart from each other, Ellie's face turned from bubbling cheeky smile to a vicious angry glare. Just when the two were about to run away, Ellie had hit them in the head with her trunk so hard that it almost knocked them out. "How could you just let our kids run off like that!"
"It was all Eddie's idea," Crash diverted.
"No it wasn't! It was yours!" Eddie retorted.
"It was yours!"
"No, it was yours!" The two once again fought over a silly dispute briefly until Manny approached them.
"Have you seen Diego?" he asked.
A moment afterwards, the two immediately stopped choking each other and pulling each other's tail. "That's what we came to tell you!"
"Because you wouldn't have let us go!" Eli replied.
"That still doesn't change the fact that we were worried about you!" Diego said.
"Dad, I'm sorry. But we really wanted find others like us," Eli said. "Other wolves and other mammoths"
"How exactly did you guys manage to even go this far?" Diego said, sounding half sternly yet half impressed.
"We… had help," Eli replied.
"Really?" And what exactly were you planning right after?" Diego asked so seriously that left Eli shaking.
Eli tucked his head down. "I… we…"
"What about Peaches?" Diego said. "Did she really want to come along, or did you just drag her into this 'cause you were lonely?"
"It's not that!" Eli quickly denied. "It's… because…"
"Because what, Elias?" Diego said.
"Because I don't belong with everyone!" he cried. He looked fiercely into his eyes. "I'm a wolf, dad, and I've never been in a pack like you"
"I'm a saber, I don't look like I belong in a herd as much as you do," Diego said. "What makes a place where you belong is a family waiting for you there. And all a pack ever did to me was ruin my life,"
"W-what do you mean?" asked Eli. Diego had never told his son what being in a pack had been for him, but now it was time to tell him. Eli was entitled to know every detail.
"In my pack, all we cared about was ourselves," said Diego. "We never cared for each other like in a herd. You could call us a family, but we never really felt like one. All we cared about was the next meal everyday. And when you thought things couldn't get any worse…" Diego averted his eyes, not wanting to continue. But he breathed in the courage and let the pain out. "Our pack was slaughtered in half by humans. The rest of us were left off in a fleet of vengeance. Our pack leader was consumed with nothing but anger. And we were all too blind to see that we were following him right into hell. And I almost would have... if it weren't for the herd."
Diego went on with everything, telling Eli of the day he made a human mother jump off a cliff up to when he had to resort almost getting killed to protect what he found was a real family. After Eli had finally found out about the story, he was still as reluctant with his decision. "This pack is different, dad. It's nothing like you're old pack"
"How could you be so sure?" Diego argued. "How long have you been with that pack anyways? A few days?"
Eli swallowed air in nervousness"…a few hours, actually," he replied.
"See!" Diego said. "Who knows that you wouldn't repeat the same mistakes I've done in the past!"
"But it's not like that!" Eli said. "I've already met a few of them, and they were really nice. I even met the pack alpha! I'm not gonna change my mind, dad!"
"So that's just it then?" said Diego. "You're going to give us up, for them" Diego felt crushed. He turned and faced his back against Eli. He felt like his son was replacing him, and Eli could tell.
"No, dad. It's nothing like that," Eli said. "Dieg- dad… you're the best dad that anyone could ever possibly have, and I'm lucky to have had you and I'm happy, I really am!"
"Eli…" Diego muttered, calming a bit down. Never did his son ever talk back at him. "When I was your age, I thought I could take the world on by my own… I couldn't. You are too young to make big decisions. This could change everything for the rest of your life.
Eli shook his head. "But… I don't belong in a herd. I belong in a pack," he said. "I won't go anywhere with my hunting skills alone, and I'm old enough to make my own decisions"
Diego looked into his son's serious eyes and was at a loss. He knew he couldn't change his mind. Such was the determination of youth. He loved his son dearly, and he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. "Eli… I'm sorry… I never thought… –" He closed his eyes, inhaled thoroughly and exhaled in a brief instant. The small price of being a father was that, in the end, your children would one day leave you. "I just wanted what I thought was best for you"
"Dad, you've raised for me almost my entire life, and I'll always be thankful for that," Eli said. "But this is where I belong, where I should be"
Diego looked sternly at him. As he raised his paw slowly, Eli closed his eyes expectant that he would be punched at or maybe even clawed at. But after a few moments, he found a warm gentle touch on the back of his neck. Diego pulled him slowly towards him and the two met each other's foreheads. Eli opened his eyes in surprise.
"Whatever you decide, you'll always be my son," Diego said. Eli felt tears brimming out of his eyes. He tried hard to pull the tears back as he placed his own paw on his father's neck. The two looked at each other proudly, powerfully, and happily.
"You know," said Diego, pulling away from their hug. "I saw what you did to Peaches back there"
"Heh, I had to," said Eli a bit embarrassed. "If I hadn't, she might've been hurt"
The adoptive father grinned. "I think you're hunting skills are just fine"
Suddenly, the cave around them shook and bits of dust and dirt fell from the stone roof. A giant mole came out of a large hole of light behind them.
"Nice work, Sid!" Ellie praised.
"Just call me, 'Sid! Tamer of Moles'" said the sloth proudly as he rode valiantly on the giant mole.
"That sounded utterly wrong," Crash mentioned.
"Everyone! You're here!" shouted Eli as he spotted the rest of the herd through the white light.
"Eli! Diego! You're okay!" they shouted relievingly as they went towards the cave to give them all a big group hug.
Manny smiled at Diego. "Now, let's assume you've all talked through anything you might wanted to talk about"
"Don't worry, partner," Diego said. "We have,"
"Good," said Eddie. "Cause all this parenting stuff is killing me,"
The herd exited joyously out of the cave as their family has finally been reunited. Suddenly, a brown figure charged at Eli the moment he got out, hugging him instantly.
"Eli!" Leah said. "You're okay!"
"Woah," said the twins.
"Is she your girlfriend?" asked Diego, a wide grin across his face.
Immediately after Diego said that, the two lovebirds broke off their little hug. "D-dad. I-i-it's nothing like that. She not my… I mean… well… not yet but…" Leah gave him an odd look and Eli's face blushed entirely. "Aheh…" Leah smiled. She gave a small lick in the muzzle.
"I'm just glad you're safe," Leah said, and all Eli could do was smile like an idiot.
"They grow up so fast, don't they?" Sid mentioned to Diego.
The saber-tooth tiger glanced at him and back at his adopted son, who was now talking to other wolves that had come to check up on him. "Yeah... guess he's gonna be okay with this pack and all"
"What do you mean?" asked Sid.
Diego dropped a long face as his eyes reflected on the past. It felt like it was yesterday he had just found him in the landslide, all covered in mud. And he looked at him now, only to be filled with a strange sense of pride that he had never felt before.
Xion the Author: Okay, first time to improperly end a chapter (or at least what I think is improper since obviously everything hasn't ended yet. This has been a really long chapter, and the author's note is gonna make it even longer (and I don't care). I had a few issues I wanted to mention. First off, the intense dialogue between Diego and Eli was three times smaller. Originally, it sucked. Badly. So, thus I had to add a whole lot more and thankfully it blended in quite nicely. Second was character absence, another scene I added courtesy Buck was something I wanted to add to relieve the readers of getting too focused and stuff. I also had trouble where to mention Sid (I'm sure you fellow writers have had the same trouble over and over), so parent-child mediator and 'Tamer of Moles' it was. Thankfully, a rain of ideas just poured down unto the keyboard, and I almost have this story in the bag. Lastly, the original draft consisted of a messy order of events where what Diego was saying to Eli was almost as similar as what Manny and Ellie was saying to Peaches.