FINALLY I GOT MYSELF TO CONTINUE THIS.
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CHAPTER 16: Send me on my way.
"I really, really can't believe we're seeing ya again, kid! Oh gosh, I still can't believe how big ya got...you were so tiny."
Pinky was sat on Manny's back, something the human, mammoth, tiger and sloth all found heartwarming and nostalgic. He'd apparently hurt himself in a cave-in as his leg was broken badly. He was rather pale looking but a smile remained on his face.
Roshan did not know what it was, but he could almost tell by the expressions on the animals (though how he saw them as they did he couldn't fathom, and would always remain a mystery.) He could understand them in a way no other human would ever be able to do, and it didn't need to include words.
They traveled along the tunnel as the sloth continued grunting in an almost hyper way. Roshan, with his son held tight in his arms, gurgling happily in response.
He did not know how it came to be, but his son had been saved by the daughter of the mammoth who's brought him home. She was bringing his son home, he knew it.
Whenever he looked at the young she-mammoth, though, he couldn't help but think of the blurry image on the wall of a cave in a distant memory, of a small, tiny mammoth made of paint. The one his hand had traced over curiously, as if it were really there.
He smiled gently, placing a hand on the mammoth's head fur gently, so it went unnoticed as they continued down the cave .
I'm happy for you, old friend...
Sid wouldn't stop chattering away as they walked up the tunnel, the area becoming lighter with every corner they turned. Diego glanced up a Pinky, or whatever his name may be now, and his eyes caught the attention of the baby in his arms.
The smaller human covered his eyes and removed them, pretending to growl ferociously. Diego chuckled. Old times...
"Heard ya scared his dad with that game." Shira remarked from beside him. Diego smiled a little, lost in an old memory.
"Yeah. But he's not forgotten it, that's for sure."
"Hmm..." Shira looked up at the two humans. Weird creatures...and their hands almost resembling an ape's, oddly enough. The adult human finally seemed to notice her properly and smiled at her, eyes shifting between her and Diego. It wasn't a silly, teasing smile, but a glad, congratulating smile. She was thankful for that.
Diego shrugged a little seeing this look. "Yeah well, you're not the only one, pal."
Ellie, who was walking beside Manny, regarded Pinky and Shorty curiously. She lifted her trunk and prodded the adult human thoughtfully.
"Huh. You sure turned out good, kid. Then again, it was Manny that got you back home, him and the others. To think, you're the one that brought us all together."
She knew Pinky couldn't understand her fully, but he was smiling at her kindly.
"I bet his heard's wondering where he's went off to this time..." Manny muttered to himself with a roll of his eyes, though he was very happy to see the human again.
Crash and Eddie hopped from Ellie's tusk onto Manny's, chattering excitedly.
"Yeah, they'll be like, dude, where did you go this time?"
"Yea, yeah, and then he'll be like, Dude, with the sloth, mammoth and saber again!"
"Uh, huh, and they'll be like, dude, this really needs to stop."
Manny was beyond annoyed now and flicked them off his trunk, careful not to know the humans on his back off balance.
"Or maybe they'll spear you and do me a big favor."
"Manny..." Ellie scolded quietly.
Not too far away, Scratt was hanging off the root dismally, muttering unintelligibly to himself. After a while, he looked over at the entrance of the cave across from him, now leading in from a sheer drop. Any creature walking in from that direction would plummet to their deaths if they weren't careful. If he got the ledge opposite, maybe he could find a way to get his nut...
Thinking quickly (perhaps too quickly for his own good) he began swing back and forth on the root. It strained under the added weight, and just as Scratt gave a final, hard kick of his legs and swung over the gap like a bird (before promptly slamming into the wall and slipping down, grabbing onto the ledge as he fell) a loud cracking noise echoed through the cave.
He froze, looking over his shoulder as a crack traveled from the one the root was embedded in along the roof of the rocky cavern. Not again...
The ground beneath the mammals jolted so abruptly that Pinky almost fell from Manny's back, clutching Shorty to his chest in fright. Peaches quickly caught with her trunk, easing him back up onto Manny's back with a sigh of relief. Shorty babbled happily in response.
Louis looked around frantically before spotting a crack traveling up the way they came.
"Quick, run!"
"Works for me!" Manny remarked quickly, and they began rushing down the tunnel at a high-speed. Sid, with Granny balanced on his shoulders, began screaming hysterical, something Shorty found very funny.
"Look out!" Crash screamed, leaping into his brother's arms as he pointed up at the roof of the tunnel. The rest of the herd soon learned what he was talking about:
The crack had traveled over their heads like a hawk (something less scary to the possums now that they thought about it, at least in this situation) and along the tunnel.
Suddenly and jolt in the ground send the smaller mammals stumbling off balance as the tunnel behind them caved in, becoming completely filled with ruble.
Ahead, rocks and fragments of the roof where beginning to fall. Manny realized with horror that, if the front caved in, there was no way out- they'd be trapped in the small space.
"Hurry!" He called out to the others, rushing forward. But it was too late.
The roof caved in ahead of them, sending them plunging into complete darkness. Pinky held tight to Shorty as he began to cry in distress, Sid flopping onto the ground after fainting.
It was pitch black...they couldn't see anything.
"Is everyone okay? Ellie, Peaches?"
"We're okay, Dad...Crash, Eddie, what are you doing?"
Panic was just setting in when Manny heard the possums muttering quietly, shuffling about. Then, the unmistakable sound of a rock striking another filled his ears, and the herd stared in wonder and disbelief as the area lit up, revealing two very smug, grinning possums holding a pair of fire-tinted sticks in their arms.
"Are we good or what?" Crash inquired, looking far too pleased with himself and his brother.
"That's some nice torches them possums got." Granny remarked to herself plainly.
Granny just doesn't care about cave-ins, does she?
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