The sun slowly rose over the horizon and the animals all started to wake up after a night of restless sleeping, the only ones who couldn't sleep were Manny, Ellie and Shira. Roark awoke and he had a wicked smile on his face because he knew that he was finally going to get his revenge.
"Well rise and shine everyone, isn't it a glorious day for vengeance?" He asked.
The sabers smiled at his comment and the herd just glared at him. Meanwhile, Diego was waiting around for something, and then Louis popped out of the ground in front of him.
"Alright Diego, everything's ready." He said.
"Good work Louis." He said.
Granny was waking up from her sleep, she was the only one of the trio who could get a wink of sleep.
"Well those dreams are getting weirder ever night." She said to herself.
"Alright are you both clear on the plan?" Diego asked.
"Yes sir." Louis said.
"Hey show me some respect, I'm not that senile." Granny said.
"Good, because this needs to go off perfectly or otherwise everyone is going to be in big trouble." Diego explained.
They all dispersed and went in separate directions. Diego came out of the brush and into the open and saw a lot of sabers waking up, he looked around and saw his three former pack mates and sighed and walked forward. Oscar looked up and was the first to see Diego, he instantly sprung up and warned the others.
"Hey get up." He said.
"What is it?" Zeke asked half asleep.
"It's Diego." He said.
Hearing that Zeke and the others instantly got on their feet and saw Diego coming out into the open, but then he stopped a few meters away from them. They all glared at him viciously and Diego just smirked.
"Hello again ladies." He greeted.
"Well if it isn't the lousy traitor." Oscar spat out.
"Nice to see you too Oscar." Diego replied.
"You got a lot of nerve coming here." Zeke said.
"Uh actually I live here, you guys were the ones who brought your ugly faces to see me." Diego explained.
Zeke looked a little embarrassed from Diego making him look stupid, but he quickly shook it off and went back to glaring him. Meanwhile the Herd were gathered together and were trying to figure out a plan of action.
"Alright, Diego will be back any minute so we need to think of something quick." Manny said.
"What can we do, they got us surrounded and remember they're holding your daughter hostage." Shira pointed out.
"Look, all we need to do is try to find Diego and warn him about the situation." Ellie said.
"But Ellie, they're watching us." Eddie said.
The herd looked up and saw several sabers guarding them and they saw Roark laying on his stomach with a murderous look in his eyes. The mere sight of him sent shivers down Shira's spine because of the little comment he made the night before.
"Hey maybe Diego is already aware of what's going on, maybe he caught their sent and knew that something is wrong and now is working on a way to save us." Sid said with optimism.
But then they saw Rico run up to Roark as if he had something really important to say.
"Sir, sir." He said.
"What is it Rico?" Roark asked.
"Diego is here." He said.
"What." Roark said getting up.
"He came out of the jungle and we have him surrounded." Rico said.
"Perfect." Roark said.
They both left and everyone else's faces dropped after hearing that.
"Good prediction Sid." Manny said.
Diego was standing in same spot he was standing in for a few minutes, he looked around and saw Oscar, Zeke and Lenny standing along with several other sabers, they were all standing several feet away from him. He looked down at the ground as if he was expecting something, and then he saw the sabers part and saw one the few things that greatly scared him, Roark.
"Diego, it's been a long time hasn't it?" He asked.
"Not long enough." Diego said.
Roark gave a fake chuckle and continued speaking.
"Oh Diego still as sarcastic as ever." He said.
"Why don't we stop with the chit chat and get down to business." He said.
"Always straight to point with you." He said.
"Why have you taken my friends hostage?" Diego asked.
"Oh so they are your friends, interesting, tell me Diego how does it feel to betray your own kind and side with those you would normally eat?" Roark asked.
"Just answer the question!" Diego demanded.
"Well I thought that it was the only way to see you." Roark said.
"You know, if you weren't completely crazy, than I would be kind of touched actually." Diego said.
"Also, I noticed that there was a female here who you might be aquatinted with, now what was her name, oh right its Shira." He said.
Diego instantly stiffened when he mentioned Shira's name and knew that whatever he was thinking, it wasn't pleasant.
"She's quite the woman, stubborn, fiery, she's a lot like you." He said.
Diego glared at Roark with intensity in his eyes, he wasn't liking were this was going.
"Maybe after all this, I'll go and get better aquatinted with her." He said with a smirk.
"You lay one of your filthy claws on her and I will rip you apart." Diego threatened.
"I'll keep that in mind, but for right now, why don't you save us all some time and come over here." Roark said.
"I don't think so." Diego retorted.
"Oh please don't tell me you're standing your ground, I mean look around Diego, you're outnumbered and outmatched." He said.
"I got a better idea Roark, why don't you come and get me, unless you're scared." Diego taunted.
Roark got angry and knew that Diego wasn't going move so he turned to some of his sabers.
"Bring him to me." He ordered.
They obeyed and started running towards Diego who was still standing his ground, when they got a foot close to Diego, the ground below them instantly gave way and they fell into a hole. Roark and the others were shocked about what had just transpired, they all looked at Diego who was just smiling.
"Well looks like I'm not as defenseless as you think I was." He said.
"How did you do that?" Lenny asked.
"Helps when you're friends with a molehog." He replied.