Author's note: Hey guys, here's another chapter, fresh outta the oven!

Chappie review time!

orcanfan1: Thank you, and I hope this was soon enough for you!

JubJub 0250: Aw shucks! I wouldn't exactly say THE best, but thank you very much anyway! I most certainly will stay chilly with icicles growing out of my ears and I hope you like this chapter!

Yeeeaaah: dun dun duuun! I bet you didn't!

Shiego627: Don't worry, you'll find out soon!

Megatrons Midget: Haha, thank you! And no worries, she's coming back soon!

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Dream Lighting: Haha, hope this chapter came out soon enough for you!

Italics means telepathic communication

Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!

Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky

By now, the entire cliff pathway towards the boat had a HUGE traffic jam. All mammals and birds and turtles of all shapes and sizes were hustling towards the safe haven that the boat would provide for them, the breakage of the dam were soon to be upon them and creating a haze of hidden paranoia within the animals as they continued to rush through the path. That, and the hoard of vultures that circled around them from above like deadly chaperons as they stared with evil and hungry malice at the hustling crowd in case of any stragglers; which only served to make the animals even more anxious.

The gunslinger from before was flying across a pathway and called out "Do not leave your children unattended!". The animals who heard him looked up confusedly; for a minute there, he almost sounded caring!

"All unattended children will be eaten." He ended with a malicious grin, which made some of the animals below shiver in fear before hurrying along and clutching their children closer to them.

Not far away, Diego, Manny and Sid were jogging around the crowd, trying to spot Ellie, Taura or the possums. Manny was going around and asking random people if they saw a Mammoth, Diego was going around asking if they saw another saber while Sid went around asking about the possums. After they managed to sprint their way out of the geyser fields, Diego panicked and looked across the area to see whether Taura was still in there. He would've went back to search, but Manny argued that they didn't have enough time and had to continue up the cliff in case they were all probably there. And so that is what they continued to do, Diego probably rushing and panicking as equally as Manny when searching for Ellie.

To say that Diego was worried would be an understatement; he felt his stomach churn in discomfort and his brow furrowed permanently with serious anxiety. Anything could've happened to Taura! For all he knew, she could have been blown away by the geyser fields while he and the others ran up the cliff; or maybe she managed to survive, but got injured in the process! Diego had experienced Taura's speed when running against her in a race (AN: SO TAKE YOUR HEADS OUTTA THE GUTTER PEOPLE! XC), so he knew that she was fast; but what if she WAS injured and she couldn't make it to the boat on time?! Sure she could swim, but that didn't lessen her chances of drowning!

"Stop worrying you idiot and just try to find her!" Diego growled mentally as he shook his head and set his eyes into a determined glare; he needed to find her and fast! He didn't care about the enormous teasing he could get out of this or whatever this would prove to Sid, he just didn't want her harmed or...

He swallowed hard at the thought, he didn't know WHAT he would do if his best and oldest friend died...

He swallowed again and galloped towards an anteater. He tapped him on the shoulder which caught the young guy's attention, albeit he jolted fearfully at being addressed by a saber!

"Hey buddy, you seen another saber? Smaller than me, brown fur?" Diego asked him hurriedly, holding up his paw up to his shoulder to show her height. The anteater rolled his eyes heavenward and pursed his lips, as if relocating such a memory. Diego rolled his eyes and nervously looked behind him, worrying that the dam would burst any minute now!

"Oh yeah, I sure did!" The anteater nodded with a smile, making Diego's eyes widen in shock. She was alive! She didn't get hurt by the geyser fields! Diego let out a huge breath that he didn't realize he was holding in the first place and let his eyes shut in relief. "She's okay..." Diego thought, feeling a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders.

Diego opened his eyes and asked him again with a serious face "When?"

The anteater shrugged "About two, three minutes ago? But he certainly wasn't small! Nearly towered over most of us!"

And with that, the anteater hurriedly shuffled along with the crowd, trying to get on board the boat as soon as possible. If he looked back, he would've seen Diego stare at him with a very confused expression.

He?! Well...granted, a few people every now and then would mistake Taura for a boy since she doesn't bother grooming her fur and her scar makes her look more masculine, but it was his size comment that confused Diego. The gender was one thing, but everybody could see plainly that Taura was kind of a midget in his species! Diego's eyebrows furrowed once again and his mouth was set into a firm line; so...did that mean that there was ANOTHER saber around here? If so, where did he come from? Did his pack come with him?

From what the anteater told Diego, it still didn't answer the question he asked in the first place:

Where on god's green earth was Taura?!

Taura lay there on the crumbling earth, panting very heavily from the amount of previous running. When she was separated from Diego and the others from the sudden geyser explosion, she was almost knocked out since she landed heavily on her head. After a few tried with shaking her head, she finally managed to get back on her feet, but by then it would've already been too late; she lost them! The geysers were exploding all around her, blocking her view of the exit and she almost gave up hope while running around and trying to avoid the geysers, when she suddenly saw a shadow running up to her! At first she thought it was Diego, but when he came into the light, it was Kraz! Long story short, the both of them managed to dodge the geysers and make it out of the fields alive.

They were now currently taking shelter near the entrance towards the cliff that lead to the boat, Kraz standing guard next to his sister while glaring at the horizon, as if checking for enemies. Taura looked up to find one of the cliff's bridges hanging over her, the rocks starting to crumble when the earth shook below her. Her eyes widened in panic when she realized that this could only mean one thing: The dam was breaking already! She quickly stood up on her four legs and looked towards Kraz.

"Kraz, we gotta go." Taura stated telepathically, Kraz started a bit from the sudden breakage of silence. They both nodded to each other, Taura softly nudged him and both started to run up the cliff.

Back with the trio, Manny, Sid and Diego were still running around, but nobody seems to have seen them! They were all starting to panic now, because the vultures had already given a warning that the dam would break any minute now!

"I don't see them anywhere!" Manny shouted to Diego, referring to both Taura and Ellie. Manny was asking questions and searching on one side of the path while Diego was up ahead searching on the other side.

Diego looked back and shouted back "Maybe they're both already on board!"

No sooner did Diego say that did the ground start to tremor again, only this time much harder! Everybody nervously glanced at the ground and the area around, mothers were clutching their children to them and even the vultures were looking nervously at the sky behind them. Suddenly, the ground on a faraway path (but was still rather close to the animals' one) started to crack and crumble until it shattered and fell into the ground far, far below. Everybody looked around them to find the nearby rock structures crumbling into pieces, until they finally tumbled into the ground below.

The mammals looked at each other silently, before everybody screamed and the crowd erupted into a full blown chaotic stampede! The trio didn't join in on them, but ushered everybody forward on the side lines.

Manny was hurrying everybody and pointing towards the boat with his trunk and calling out "Hurry, this way! Come on, get moving!"

Taura and Kraz were now full on sprinting on a rocky path, following the footprints of the migration ahead of them. Taura looked up ahead and saw the boat on top of the cliff rise from the horizon.

Kraz looked behind his shoulder and saw Taura right behind him. He yelled out to her "Let's go Taura, we're almost there!"

Taura didn't reply and simply increased her speed so that now she was shoulder to shoulder with Kraz. Her arms and legs were pounding away at the earth, her hear pumping faster than ever before and her fur matted with more sweat than a nervous warthog. They both kept sprinting, until Taura saw the ground ahead cracking up. Taura's eyes widened, the bridge was going to break!

"Wait Kraz, stop!" Taura yelled out to him, making him instantly stomp his paws into the ground. Both sabers skidded on the dirt path until they were an inch away from the cracking path. They stood there panting from a moment until it finally crumbled on the sides and sure enough an entire chunk of the path came tumbling down. The gap was so wide that not even Kraz could make the jump!

"Shoot!" Kraz cursed as he growled frustratingly, he clawed at the ground before roaring in anger and clenching his eyes shut. They were so close! "Now what do we do!?"

Taura stood next to him and looked around with panicked eyes. There had to be a way across, they can't just stop now! The flood was heading their way and getting closer each minute they spend wasting time!

Both the possum brothers were now hopping from mammal to mammal, calling out for help. Ellie was now trapped in a cave that closed in on them while they were trying to run up to the boat, but nobody would come and help them!

Crash looked around helplessly before his face brightened up and he shouted to his brother "MANNY!"

Eddie turned around on the turtle he was standing on and saw his brother pointing at a familiar brown mammoth that was helping the migration along to the boat. They both jumped down from the animal they were riding on and ran up to Manny.

Manny felt something climb on his back and looked on his tusks with shock when he saw the possum twins standing on them! He didn't have time to ask about Ellie however...

"Manny, it's Ellie!" Crash yelled helplessly,

Eddie cried out and pointed at the distance behind them "She's trapped in a cave!"

Manny's eyes widened even further with shock and he felt his heart drop to his stomach with dread. Ellie...she was trapped in a cave...and the flood was on it's way right now! She could drown! Manny's heart beat even faster with worry, and he shuddered to think what could happen to her! Suddenly, Manny's eyes narrowed with a dangerous glare and his previously gaping mouth was set into a firm line. No...nothing will happen to Ellie! Not if he had anything to say about it!

Soon, he was now charging into the migration and back towards the cave where Ellie would be, with Sid and Diego following after him...

"Come on Kraz, keep going!" Taura encouraged him while hopping onto the next one.

After looking around, Taura found some rows of towering stone structures that lead to the same direction as the stone path! So now, both siblings were hopping from one tower to another and as soon as they left the previous one, it would crumble down from the weight.

Kraz looked in front of him and saw the cliff path that was covered with the footprints of the migration, now they can hop onto it since it was clear. He wiggled his hind legs and pounced with all his might onto the path, although he tumbled a bit from his weight. Taura pounced onto Kraz's previous tower and saw where he landed, thankful that they can now run on the path again and make up for lost time! Taura was now lowering herself towards the small stone platform and sizing up the gap between her tower and the cliff path.

Kraz looked back and was about to call out to his sister, until he saw what was behind her on the horizon and felt his mouth drop open with horror and his eyes widen with dread: the flood waters were rushing in and they were already heading towards the geyser fields...

"We're too late..." Kraz whispered...