On the Hyrax Island we see our favorite herd along with other animals enjoying themselves. Ever since the splitting of continents, the herd have relocated and found a new home on the island with the hyraxes after they helped them beat the pirates. Everyone was doing their own thing; Manny was spending time with Ellie, Crash and Eddie were sling-shooting themselves through the trees, Sid was trying to make sure Granny didn't wonder off, Peaches and Louis were hanging out with the other teenage Mammoths.
"I have to admit, this island is pretty nice." Ellie said.
"Yeah, I mean sure it's not home, but pretty close." Manny replied.
"I'm also proud of you for going easy on Peaches when it comes to other teenagers." She said.
"Well I have to remember she's not a baby anymore, and besides, I know she won't get into any trouble when Weiner…I mean Louis is with her." He said.
"Who'd have thought that a molehog would face a group of pirates all by himself." She said.
"It's beyond me." He said.
"Hey guys." Sid said coming over.
"What is it Sid?" Manny asked.
"Have you guys seen Granny, I turned around for three seconds and then she's gone." He said.
"You're telling us that Granny is out roaming around?" Ellie asked.
"Don't worry Ellie that old sloth does this all the time, and somehow she ends up reappearing." Manny said.
"Alright, you know speaking of disappearing, where's Diego and Shira, I haven't seen them all morning." Ellie said.
"Oh those two said they were going for a walk, but I know they're on a date." Sid said.
"Those two may act like they're not a couple, but I see right through them." Manny said.
"Now both of you stop it, if those two want privacy, then let's give it to them." Ellie said.
"You're right; I haven't seen Diego this happy since that time Sid was chased by those angry beavers." Manny said.
Meanwhile on a different part of the island two sabers were walking and talking. Diego and Shira had been spending a lot of time together so according to everyone on the island, they are officially a couple, they don't deny it, but they don't really act like a couple.
"You're kidding me?" Shira said laughing.
"No I'm serious; Sid was buried up to his head by a bunch of kids after he tried to run a camp, and they would have done the same to me and Manny if he hadn't told him a story." Diego said.
"What story?" She asked.
"I don't remember some story about a wild ass." He said.
"Huh, sounds interesting." She said.
"So do you have any funny stories from your days a pirate?" He asked.
"Well, there was this one time when Flynn took a nap on Squint and by the time he got up, he looked like a tiny fur rug." She said.
"Now that is pretty funny." He said.
Shira just laughed but then she noticed that Diego was starring off in space.
"Diego you okay?" She asked him.
"What?" He replied.
"You've been spacey all morning, is everything alright?" She asked.
"Yes everything's fine; it's just that I've been having this weird feeling that something's going to happen." He explained.
"It's probably just nerves, I mean you're probably still getting used to this new island." She said.
"Yeah you're probably right." He said.
What Diego didn't know was that a force from the past is coming to take unholy revenge. Later that evening, the herd gathered around a fire that Sid had made. Peaches and Louis came out with the other teenagers and she took the spot next to her parents while Louis and the others went off somewhere else, and Shira sat down close to Diego.
"I have to admit, through all these crazy events, I enjoy just laying around by the fire." Sid said.
"I hear you buddy; it's been a while since we all just spent some time together as a family." Manny said.
"Yeah, it'll be great until the next possible world ending disaster happens." Diego joked.
Everyone just laughed at the joke and continued to just enjoy the moment and everyone was quiet, Shira looked and noticed how Diego was spaced out again.
"Diego." She said.
"Uh what." He answered coming back to reality.
"You were spacing out again." She pointed out.
"Oh sorry about that." He apologized.
"Okay, what's going on with you? You've been spacing out all day." She said.
Diego looked at her and he knew she was going to get an answer out of him one way or another.
"Ok, ok. The reason I've been spacing out was because I needed to tell you something, actually I need to tell all of you." He said.
Everyone looked at him with concern as to what he was going to say.
"Ok now since we got on this island, Shira and I have been eating fish, you all know that right?" He asked.
Everyone nodded.
"Well I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but sabers can't rely only on fish." He continued.
"But Diego, you can't eat meat, I mean most of the animals you would are our friends." Manny said.
"I know I know, but I think I have a solution." He said.
Everyone looked at him with curiosity to see where this was going.
"Listen, the first time we set foot on this island, I picked up a very peculiar scent, but I chose to ignore it because of some more pressing matters such as the pirates and getting back home." He went on.
"Go on." Manny said.
"When we came back, I caught the scent again, so while everyone was busy, I scouted around and made a discovery." He said.
They all leaned in to find out what he found.
"Deer tracks, a whole bunch of deer tracks. By my count there could be a herd of 20 or so." He said.
"That's it that was your big discovery?" Crash asked.
"Look, by the smell of it, these deer are not part of the herd; they're open game, which means there could be a new food source for me and Shira." He finished.
"Oh I get it." Sid said.
"Are you being serious right now?" Shira asked.
"Pretty much yeah." He responded.
"Finally, I've wanted something dead for a while now." She said.
Everyone except Diego was unnerved by her statement.
"Hang on you two; I'm not so sure about this." Manny said.
"Would you relax Manny, these animals are not our friends, and in all fairness, if either Shira or I don't eat something other than fish, then we'll probably go nuts and eat Sid." He explained.
"Hey!" Sid shouted.
"So where is this herd of deer?" Peaches asked.
"Well judging by the tracks and the scent, they must graze on the far side of the island." Diego said.
"Great, when do we leave?" Shira asked.
"We?" Diego said.
"Yeah, I'm coming with you right?" She asked.
"Oh well…you see…about that." He stammered.
"What is it?" She asked.
"I was…actually thinking that…" He continued.
"Diego spit it out." She demanded.
"I was thinking that I should go after them alone." He said.
"What?!" Shira asked half angry and half shocked.
"Maybe I should go up there alone, at least this one time, see how it turns out." He tried to explain.
"Why do you not want me to come along?" Shira asked.
Diego struggled to find an answer that wouldn't upset her. He didn't want to tell her that the main reason was that he gets very nervous when they're ever alone together. He knows that he has deep feelings for her, but he wasn't sure that she had feelings for him, as far he knows, she probably just considers him a close friend, maybe more, but not much. He was worried that if that they both went hunting alone together, he'll say something stupid or get distracted and ruin the hunt.
"It's because umm…" He stammered.
"Is it because you don't want to be around me, do you consider me a distraction." She said clearly offended.
"No! No it's just uh…" He tried to get his words out.
"He digging himself deeper isn't he?" Sid asked.
"Yep." Manny responded.
"Wait, do you think I'm a bad hunter?" She asked.
"What? NO! I'm just trying to say…" He started, but couldn't finish before Shira stopped.
"You know what forget it, I'm going to bed, enjoy your hunt." She said getting up and storming off.
After she left, Diego was left there with a sorrowful look on his face. Then without saying a word he got up and walked away in the other direction and leaving everyone else just completely shocked.
"Um, what now?" Sid asked.
"Maybe one of us should go talk to them." Eddie suggested.
Ellie looked to the direction that Diego had gone in. At first she didn't know what to make of all this, but then she looked closely to Diego while he was stuttering and it may a woman's or elephant's intuition, but she may know exactly what's going on, he was acting the same way Manny did when they first met.
"I'll go talk to Diego." She said getting up.
"Are you sure Ellie, maybe I should go talk to Diego and you can talk to Shira." Manny said.
"Trust me; I know what he's going through, and I don't think Shira is in the mood to talk to anyone." She said.
Ellie left and after a few minutes of looking, she finally found Diego laying down on a rock. When he heard her coming, he was surprised, but he quickly relaxed.
"Oh, hey Ellie." He said with a sigh.
"Hey yourself, so that was interesting." She said trying to start a conversation.
"Which part, the part where Shira gets angry, or the part where I act like an idiot?" He asked sarcastically.
"Look Diego, you and Shira may not see it, but I do." She said.
"See what?" He asked.
"The way you were stammering to give her an answer, the look in your eyes told the whole story." She said.
"And what would that be?" He asked.
"I know you have feelings for Shira, but you're afraid to say anything because you're afraid something will go wrong." She explained.
"What, that's ridiculous." Diego said as his eyes darted in several different directions.
Ellie just gave him a look that said 'don't you lie to me' and Diego knew that he wasn't fooling the mammoth.
"Alright, alright you got me; the truth is I do have feelings for Shira, deep and complex feelings that I still haven't sorted out." He explained.
"I see." Ellie said.
"And the reason I didn't want her to go on this hunt was because I was scared that my feelings were going to come out and scare her off." He said.
"And is that what you think?" She asked.
"Yeah pretty much." He said.
"Well what do you feel?" She asked.
"That's just it, I'm not sure, but every time Shira's around, I feel great, no better than great, I feel euphoric, like all my troubles just disappear." He said.
"Sounds you're in love." She said.
"You know, normally I would deny it, but I actually think you're right about, maybe I am in love with her, the problem is though is she in love with me?" He asked himself.
"Are you kidding, I see the way she looks at you, she may not know it, but she's in love, trust me." Ellie said.
"Really?" He asked.
"Of course; Look Diego, I can't tell you what move to make, no one can, the only one who can tell you that is you, but if your heart is telling you to do something you know is right, than I would listen to it." She explained.
"You really think so?" He asked.
"I know so." She said.
Diego looked at the ground for a second and realized that Ellie was right.
"You're right, I need to tell Shira how I feel." He said.
"Now you're talking sense." She said with a smile.
"I got to go tell her." He said getting up but was stopped by Ellie.
"Whoa there tiger, right now she's not in the mood, you need to tell after she cools down." She said.
"That's probably a good idea, I'll talk to her after I get back from hunting." He said.
"Sounds like a plan. Well, it's getting late; I should head off to bed." She said.
"Yeah…Oh Ellie before you go." He said.
"Yeah?" She asked turning around.
"Thanks." He said with a smile.
"That's what you do in a herd." She said.
"Oh, and one more thing. If you tell anyone, especially Manny or Sid about what I said, I will personally hunt you down and gut you like a fish." He said.
"I believe you." She said with a small laugh.
Ellie then departs and Diego looks up at the moon and wonders how this will turn out. Meanwhile several miles off the coast of the island, a small iceberg was drifting ever closer to the island. On it was Roark and his pack, somehow he found out where Diego was and now he was on his way to reap his horrible vengeance. All of his pack members were laying around, ready for action, Oscar, Lenny and Zeke were standing near Roark although too scared to stand next to him.
"You see that island in front of us?" He asked the others.
"What, that island way over there?" Zeke asked.
"Yes, that is where I will find that traitor." He said.
"How can you be so sure he's there?" Oscar asked.
"Like I said, when I seek vengeance, I know where to find it." He responded.
"Well what's the plan?" Lenny asked.
Roark smiled evilly and then spoke.
"We get on the island, and by tomorrow, I get my revenge." He said menacingly.