Book 3: Breaking the Ice
Me: Hey, everyone! I apologize for not being able to update last Friday. I got to ride the bus with my friends because she invited me to her and her little sister's house to spend the night. I had fun, but now I'm back at home and ready to keep working on my story. Sorry for the delay. I didn't know what to title chapter 16, but I think it is better than the previous chapter. This is your apology gift. Hahaha. Enjoy!
I know I forgot to say this many times, but I don't own Ice Age. However, I do own my characters.
Chapter 16: It's All Fun and Games until Someone get Hurt
At last, they've arrived the Chasm of Death. They entered the cave, the thick, green fog blocking their view of the other side. Lars looked around nervously, having a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. He turned his attention to the group and their guides. Finding his voice, he asked, "Are you sure this is safe?"
Roxanne turned to him, a smirk on her lips. "None of the locations here in Dinotopia are safe. That's why you all should be lucky you ran into us. Besides, Buck fixed the thing that takes us across. Warning, do not breathe in the gas if you want to live. Rosalina and I almost died due to laughing so hard."
"Oh, so basically, the green gas is laughing gas and helium?" Rico piped up, an eyebrow raised in interest. Leah, whose head was resting on the male's shoulder, darted her eyes in Roxanne's direction after she took in her surroundings.
The hazel-eyed female nodded. "Correcto! Now, how about we let these lovebirds go through first." Roxanne shoved Rico and Leah into the carrier, which was a dinosaur ribcage.
The ferret's dark purple eyes turned a light lilac. She didn't expect this to happen, but she was glad it happened. Her cheeks flushed a rosy red as Rico faced her. His kind, gentle face made her adore him and his green-blue eyes had the ability to make Leah become lost in them.
She felt her body jolt when Rosalina's warm paws landed on her shoulders. "Eyes forward, back straight, and as we have said before, breathe in the toxic fumes and you'll probably die from nonstop laughter." The ferret heard the blue-eyed female weasel say before her light violet eyes went back to their dark shade.
At first, she thought she and Rico were going to go themselves, but someone had to pull the ribcage carrier back up for the others to cross. Exhaling softly, she did what Rosalina told them.
"Okay Roxanne, go!" With a wide, excited grin, the twin swiped at the vine and watched as Leah, Rico, and Rosalina disappeared through the green fog to the other side. There was a brief silence. Jason and Lars were holding their breaths, afraid that they didn't make it.
To make sure they were all right, Jason shouted worriedly, "Bro, Leah, Rosalina, are you okay?"
"Yeah! Try it, man!" Roxanne gave a reassuring smile to Jason and Lars at Rico's reply.
"Okay! Now that you know your brother, Leah, and my twin are all right, let's go!" A few moments passed after they got in the carrier. They were supposed to be on the other side right about now, but something stopped them from going further. Lars purposely began to breathe in the gas before they even started their way to reunite with Leah and the two weasels.
For the love of…this boy is pushing my buttons. One more screw-up from Lars and I'm going to kick him where it hurts! I've done it to a few of my enemies before. I'm not afraid to do it again! He's such an idiot. Roxanne really wanted to say all of that out loud, but she reminded herself that she was in the Chasm of Death and had to hold her breath, even if she desperately wanted to curse at the male who was irking her.
Her hazel eyes narrowed at the male as he began to laugh in his squeaky voice. "Oh, man! I'm so glad I did this! So, Roxie, is this how we're going to die?" Anger coursed through Roxanne's veins when she heard Lars use her abridged name again. So much had she wanted to strangle this baka at this moment, but decided to wait until it was necessary.
"Sis, get ready!" The hazel-eyed twin could hardly hear her sister's voice through Lars's high-pitched, wheezy laughter. No longer able to control her anger, Roxanne gripped the laughing weasel's shoulders tightly, backhand slapped him a few times, then screamed, "Shut up!"
Realizing what she had just done, Roxanne quickly clamped her paws in front of her mouth with an annoyed glare. Then, what she had not expected, Jason began breathing the gas to join Lars in with the laughing and chipmunk-pitched talking. Boys, never depend on them when it comes to things like this. Roxanne gave herself a mental note.
To her relief, the carrier began to move and make its way over to the side where her twin, Jason's brother, and Chloe's sister were waiting. The sounds of the two men laughing and singing the Christmas song in their chipmunk voices made Roxanne want to smack the both of them if they didn't stop anytime soon.
"I have to thank Chloe for bringing us into this mess. I've never had this much fun in so long! This is a great stress reliever after putting up with Maryanne." Jason laughed, holding his aching side.
Lars replied after straining to take a deep breath. "I bet. She's a spoiled brat!" At this, Jason and Lars laughed hard, both clutching their sides. Suddenly, the carrier roughly landed on the other side. The three weasels fell out because of the force.
Roxanne picked herself up and began to dust herself off. She gave another glare, but this time, it was directed to both Jason and Lars. I'm giving them what they deserve after causing me to get a migraine. With as much hard as she could, she smacked them both on the back of the head. They exclaimed in unison. "That's what you get for being dimwits!" She replied with a growl.
From the side, Rico was laughing at his brother, Leah placed a paw on her temple and shook her head, and Rosalina was making her way over to Jason. The green-eyed male lifted his paws as he asked, "You aren't going to hit me, too, are you?"
With a warm smile, Rosalina shook her head no. "Just be more careful. I could hear Lars gasping for air in there. What were you two thinking? You could have laughed to death!" Her cerulean eyes met Jason's. She was trying to be serious to prove a point, but she soon burst into laughter.
"I have to admit, though, when you two were singing that Christmas song, I wanted to laugh. If I did, I would have lost my grip on the vine and the carrier would have fallen." Jason laughed with Rosalina after she pointed that out. Their little laughter fest was over at the sound of Roxanne clearing her throat. With a sigh, they both stopped and began to pick up their feet to catch up with the others as they were already ahead of them.
Well, Buck hasn't shown up yet. I guess I'll go check on Jenna. Ben set down his weapon on the moist ground where he stood and walked in front of the entrance of the cave. His gaze landed on the sleeping female on the cave floor.
Jenna's baby blue eyes were closed, meaning she was clearly sleeping. Her paw rested on top of her pregnant stomach that held Buck's kits. A pang of envy silently hit the male at the face, but kept staring at her as she slept peacefully. Then, Ben's eyes took in all the forming bruises and shallow scratches he gave her.
He winced. He didn't mean to cause her any harm, did he? Why was he feeling guilty for what he had done all of a sudden? Ben closed his eyes as he took a breath and stepped inside. "All right, you three, you're done for today. You can leave, now." The hazel-eyed male watched one of his pterodactyl minions nod before the made their way out and took flight.
Jenna sensed Ben's presence. Part of her wanted to stay asleep longer, but the other told her to wake up. She felt her eyelids pry themselves open against her will. Once her vision cleared up, the female gasped softly.
At the sight of Ben, she wanted to cower, but he had a troubled expression on his face. Growing concerned, Jenna asked hesitantly, "Is something wrong?" Her caring gaze searched for an answer in the male's brown eyes. Jenna felt her ear droop slightly when she heard him sigh.
"I've never abused a female before. Out of all of them in this world, I hurt you. What is wrong with me?" This reply was not expected from him. Did that mean he was returning to his old self? Is this really Ben I'm talking to? Am I talking to a clone version of him? I don't think so. Ben, is that you? A pinch of hope was in her soul.
Jenna placed a paw on his forearm, her gaze not leaving his. "That man that hurt me wasn't you, Ben. There's probably an evil twin in your soul telling you to make you do things unimaginably horrible that you wouldn't do. You may not believe me when I say this, but now that I know I'm talking to the real you, I'm glad to see you."
Ben tried to smile, but the guilt was taking over. Hearing Jenna say that she was glad to see the real Ben made the male want to cry, and that's what he did. He felt his arms leave his sides as they wrapped around Jenna's shoulders. He buried his face into her shoulder, tears soaking the female's light brown fur.
"I'm so sorry, Jenna, for everything. Even for trying to take advantage of you back in the Ice Age. I'm not myself. I think you may be right about me having an evil clone in me. I can't control it. I'm so sorry!" He thought Jenna was going to smack him. Instead, he felt her arms wrap around him, her right paw gently rubbing his back comfortingly.
She sighed, "I know you're sorry. Hey, what happened in the Ice Age is water under the bridge. Granted, I was still afraid of you because of that, but I suppose I must let that go. Better that than to keep reminding myself about that incident."
"I can't believe you still… like me after all that I've… done to you, Buck, and Celine." Ben choked up another sob. He looked up at the female, whose gaze showed sympathy and a little fear. Who could blame her? He beat her, possibly killed one of her kits from the abuse, and tried to break her. What was causing him to be so lustful, wicked, and disturbing?
Ben felt appalled at what he had done. He wanted to puke, kill himself, something. This wasn't like him at all. Something was controlling him to act the way he was, but the brown-eyed male didn't know how to stop it. Could this mean he is slipping into insanity, and not the good kind?
Ben's attention went back to Jenna. He looked at all the damage he had done to her again. Suddenly, his head began to ache. His eyes began to close tightly as he hissed in pain. What was happening? The last thing he saw was Jenna's worried expression before he slipped into unconsciousness.
Celine felt smaller as she stared up at the albino baryonyx that loomed over them like the giant he was. Rudy? Is my dad serious? Well, I guess we should be glad that Chloe isn't awake yet. We know very well that she would scream nonstop at the sight of the white beast. The kit went over to Buck while he was trying to talk Rudy into helping them instead of devouring them.
"Come on, you over-sized lizard! At least, let us go this once. My mate is out there with Ben who is doing who knows what ta' her. My little one here convinced me ta' save Jennifer after giving a little speech, and that's wot I'm gonna do. Now, help us out and I'll see about findin' you a mate." Buck tried to talk the albino dinosaur into lifting the branch off Chloe's leg, but Rudy was being defiant.
Celine saw how he was struggling. A smirk tugged at her lips. Perhaps, I can convince this stubborn dino by doing this… Celine fell to her knees as she began to fake cry. She made it as realistic as she could with the sniffles, small hiccups and whimpers, and wiping imaginary tears from her face.
Buck and Rudy turned their attention to the girl. She sobbed, "Rudy, my mommy's out there, probably suffering and missing us so much that she can't stop crying. Ben's probably hurting her, beating her up when she did no wrong. She's lost out there somewhere. If you don't help Chloe, it will be too late for us to get to her before she…"
What was going on in Rudy's mind? Seeing Buck's adoptive daughter crying, believe it or not, made him feel sorry for her as well as Buck. He was a cold-blooded killer! He didn't help anyone, but this could possibly be an exception. No!
The baryonyx declared in his mind that he wouldn't help his rival, even if his mate is supposedly out there in temporary custody of a horrible male. What should he do? His red eyes stared down at the kit and gave it some thought. After some time, he growled in defeat and agreed to help them.
Celine got up from the ground, dusting her tattered leaf dress with a clever smirk on her face. "Hehehe…suckers!" She chuckled. Her smirk faded when Buck heard the last part. He stood over her, pretending to seem serious. Celine's face fell with an apologetic smile on her face until he started chuckling.
"You did have me fo' a moment there, lass. Nice work!" Celine laughed a relieved laugh as Buck playfully ruffled her brunette hair, praising her for her efforts. She thought he was a little offended when she called him a sucker for falling for her act, but was happy when he started laughing. Her ears twisted at the sound of Chloe's small yelp of agony.
The little kit glanced up at Rudy, who had the branch in his mouth, then back at Chloe. Celine gasped at what she saw. Crimson blood stained Chloe's dirty white fur near her ankle. She could have sworn she saw a bone from the ferret's ankle sticking out slightly, but she wasn't so sure. The weasel kit scurried over to the teen ferret to see if she felt somewhat all right.
Buck nodded in approval as Rudy let his strong jaws drop the tree branch. "Thanks, Snowflake." He smiled at his rival, who rolled his red eyes in annoyance and walked away. I'm gonna keep my word about finding him a mate. He may be my rival, but I think he deserves to be happy, too, I suppose. Buck never said anything like that before. Could that mean after all the brawls they have, some involving the twins and Jenna, they could be mending a rivalry and friendship?
The male refused to think about that anymore. Besides, he had other things to worry about, such as patching Chloe up and reuniting with Jenna.
Silence. There was nothing but silence among the group, except for the dinosaurs distant roaring and the pterodactyls screeching every now and then, of course. No one said a word until Rosalina's mouth opened.
"I'm bored. Hey, why don't we sing a fun song or something?" The female searched their eyes for answers. When she got to Lars, he had the look of mischief written all over his face. Oh, boy. What could he possibly have in mind?
Her attention went back to him as Lars began to sing, "Once upon time, we met these two girls, Rosy and Roxie. Roxie lied on her stomach and then said to me 'come and get me, baby'!" Roxanne growled loudly at this. She lunged at Lars, interrupting his wheezy laughter.
The hazel-eyed female punched him in the stomach, arms, and his jaw without stopping. She screamed, "Lars, you stupid pervert!" Roxanne kicked him hard in the crotch, not showing any mercy at his cry of pain. With an enraged huff, she got off him, still glaring fiercely at him.
Rosalina and Leah stood in silence, not knowing how to react. Rosalina didn't know if she was going to laugh or avert her gaze in embarrassment. She did neither. Leah, on the other hand, quietly made her way towards the males.
Jason and Rico were shifting uncomfortably after Roxanne kicked Lars where the sun didn't shine. Roxanne turned to them. "This will happen to you if you have any ideas on being like this idiot." Rico hid behind his brother as she walked past them. It was official: he was now afraid of her.
Leah placed a reassuring paw on Rico's shoulder, giving him a sweet smile to calm him down. "Thanks." The ferret said nothing, but nodded her head in reply. "Let's keep moving, please. I don't want anyone else getting hurt." Rico lent Lars his paw and pulled him up after the male recovered from the kick.
Roxanne huffed at Lars before taking Rosalina's paw in hers. "Yeah, let's go. Oh, and Lars, call me Roxie one more time and you're finished, you hear?"
Lars nodded his head quickly. He knew now to not mess with her. However, that didn't mean that he was going to stop testing her nerves. She wasn't like all the female weasels back at home. She was….different, but in a kind of good way.
A quiet sigh escaped his lips before following behind the group. I need a tough cookie like Roxanne. Lars smiled at the thought as he watched the hazel-eyed female from behind. He then realized that he had stopped walking and sprinted as fast as he could to catch up to them.
Me: Lars, you need to be more careful about who you're singing about.
Lars: Well, I didn't know she was going to react that way! *still writhing in pain*
Me: You should know by now. Oh! And if you're wondering what 'baka' means, it mean 'idiot' in Japanese. I made that song up, but don't get any perverted ideas about it. I'm pretty sure Lars already did that. *rolls eyes in annoyance then hears Rosalina and Jason fighting over an Oreo cookie* Knock it off, you guys! Why don't you half it*
Rosalina: I saw it first!
Jason: I did!
Rosalina: *tackles him to the ground with the Oreo still in their paws* Give me it!
Me: Jason, I would do as she says. She's hostile when it comes to sweets.
Jason: Huh-uh! I'm getting this cookie!
Rosalina: *kisses Jason full on the lips*
Me, Jenna, Roxanne, Leah, Chloe, and Celine: *gasp*
Rosalina: *pulls away with a smirk as she now has the Oreo*
Jason: *blinks in shock*
Me: Whoa! Alrighty then! *to audience* Um...until next time, I guess. Buh-bye!