CHAPTER 9

THE GREAT FLOOD

The group started making their way towards the cave Shira was trapped. Diego was running faster than everyone else. He knew well that his inner saber was starting to get the best of him. He was the first one to get to Shira. He placed his ear against the rocks.

"Shira!" Diego said.

Shira gasped. "Diego!"

"Hang on! We're gonna get you out of there!"

"Um,...guys," Brooke said, pointing at the dam.

Manny gasped. "The dam's breaking. Brace yourselves!"

Before their eyes, water spewed from the dam, pouring out upon the water free ground. Everything that was once a part of land was no longer in sight. All the trees, grass, and so much more couldn't be seen. The only plants visible were seaweed and kelp.

The cave Shira was inside was starting to fill up with water. The sabress gasped. "Guys, get me out of here before I drown."

"Hang on, Shira!" Diego called out. He looked towards Manny. "Manny, get that log over there."

Manny grabbed the log with his trunk and brought it over to Diego. "What are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna place this log underneath the rocks. I'm gonna try and make a hole big enough for her to climb out. I'll need your help, though."

"You got it." Manny helped Diego place the log underneath the rocks. They both looked at each other, nodded their heads, and pushed the log down as hard as they could.

Crash and Eddie were doing their best to escape the water. They finally made it to higher ground. Crash gasped in some air. "Okay, we're safe."

"Somebody help me, please!" Brooke shouted, hanging onto a tree branch.

"Just when we thought we were safe," Eddie said.

"How are we gonna save her?" Crash asked.

They both thought up of a plan. Crash grabbed Eddie's tail when Eddie smiled. "Ready, bro?"

"I'm always ready."

"Possum sling-shot!" Eddie shouted as Crash slung him into the water. Eddie grabbed Brooke and brought her onto dry ground. "There you go."

"Oh, thank you so much, boys," Brooke said, "You saved my life." She gasped as she looked out at the water. "I do feel sorry for that poor piece of driftwood. Tree bark should not have to end like this."

"What are you? A hippie?" Crash asked.

"Yes, I am. How could you tell?"

"Lucky guess."

Diego and Manny were still trying to break the rocks apart from each other to free Shira. Even the female saber was trying to push the rocks out of the way. Ellie was on her way to help when her foot was caught in between some tight rocks. She tried pulling her foot out, but it didn't work and she ended up bruising it up and spraining it.

"Help me!" Ellie shouted, "I'm stuck!"

Manny looked to see Ellie in trouble. He had eyes of worry. "Ellie!" He looked over at Diego. "Diego, I need to help Ellie."

"Go on," Diego said, "I'll take care of things here."

Manny swam off to help Ellie, who was struggling to get her foot free. Once he got there, he held Ellie's trunk. "You're gonna be okay. I promise."

"I think I was struggling so much, I ended up hurting my foot," Ellie said.

"Don't try to struggle. It'll only make it worse. I'll get you free." Sucking in some air, he dived underwater and looked to see Ellie's foot trapped. He used his trunk to gently move the rocks away. With a little force, Ellie was able to swim away from the rocks. Manny rose back up to the surface and held Ellie's trunk tightly. "Hold on tight. I'll find us a place to escape this flood."

"I see Brooke and the twins over there on that rock stand." Ellie looked to see Brooke and the possum twins in the distance. They swam over to them, Ellie holding on tight to Manny since she couldn't swim well. They both made it to dry land. "We're safe now."

"Are you both alright?" Brooke asked.

"I'm fine," Manny said.

"My foot's a bit swelled up, but I'll be okay," Ellie said.

"Oh, dear," Brooke said, "Let me take a look at it."

Ellie looked up at Manny. "Thank you for saving me out there."

"Ah, it was nothing," Manny said, "Don't start thinking of me as some hero or anything."

"What you did was true bravery. That's something I didn't really expect from you. I underestimated you. I'm sorry for telling you that you couldn't be a part of our herd. I was being stubborn. And kind of stupid."

"That's alright, Ellie. I know you were trying to look out for your friends. That's one of the things I like about you. You're always looking out for others."

"You know, you're more than what I thought you were."

"Awwwww!" Brooke said, "I always knew those two were meant to be."

Back at the cave, Diego was still trying to free Shira. He finally was able to loosen the rocks from the bottom and make a hole big enough for Shira to climb out. He help the female saber climb out of the cave, holding her tight.

"Hold on to me, Shira," Diego said.

"I'm not letting go," Shira said, "I can't believe you did that. Nobody has ever risked their lives to save me."

"Isn't that what you do in a herd?"

Shira smiled, but when she looked behind Diego, she gasped. "Diego, look out!"

Diego looked to see the tiger shark and crocodile coming up in the water, swinging their claws and spikes. The two sabers were lucky not to be sliced as Diego placed Shira on a large piece of driftwood.

"Swim over to Ellie and the others," Diego said.

"I'm not leaving you alone with those things," Shira said.

"Shira, I need you to listen to me. Those things are dangerous."

"I know that, Diego. I've fought them before."

"I know, but something from my past returned to my memories and I have to face it alone. Now go back to the others." He looked out at the sea. "Come and get me, Kapro and Carcharo!"

"Kapro and Carcharo?"

Diego was surprised to still see Shira behind him. "I didn't ask you to go back to the others, Shira. You need to get out of here now."

"I just said I'm not leaving you and I meant it."

"Shira,-" Before Diego said another word, the tiger shark grabbed him by the tail and dragged him down underwater. When Kapro let go, Diego stared him down, ready to attack his opponent. A memory came into his vision.

Little Diego was sitting behind a bush, trying to hide his giggling as he knew he would be found. A paw was placed on his back and he looked behind him to see his saber mother smiling at him.

"Found you," Diego's mother said.

"You always know where to find me," little Diego said, "You must have psychic powers."

His mother giggled. "You can say that. Okay, now it's my turn to hide and your turn to find me."

"Okay, I'll count. You find a good place to hide." Diego turned around and covered his eyes with his paws. He counted to twenty and turned around. "Ready or not, here I come." He started his search, eager to find his mother. He searched for a few hours, but there was no sign of her. He started to get worried and even became scared. "Mommy? Mommy? Where are you?" He kept calling out for her until he heard someone shouting.

"Help me!" Diego's mother shouted.

"Mommy!" Little Diego ran to where his mother's shouts could be heard at. He was too late, though. A horrifying sight was placed right in front of him. He saw two creatures known as a Kapro and Carcharo diving in the water along with his mother, who was face down in the water, motionless. "Mommy!" When the tiger shark and crocodile heard the young cub, they came after him. Diego screamed in fear and ran off. Thus came the reason as of how Diego thought of himself to be a possum.

Diego had come back to his senses as he met eye contact with the tiger shark and crocodile. He started scratching and clawing at them, trying to scare them off, but they were not afraid to fight back. After so much scratching and cutting, scrapes and bruises were left on both opponents. Diego looked up to see falling rocks coming down. The male saber moved away just in time, but the enemies didn't notice and were crushed.

Meanwhile, Shira was floating in the wooden piece of driftwood. She was starting to worry, but a paw came up to the surface. She gasped when she saw it was Diego. Pulling him up, she saw that he was hurt. She placed her paw on the male saber's cheek. "Are you okay?"

"I am now that they're gone," Diego said.

"Why did you do that? You could've died trying to stop those things."

"That's what you do in a herd."

Shira smiled, but her ears perked up when she heard some familiar voices. "I hear the others." She looked in the distance to see the rest of the group on a flat boulder. "There they are. Come on, let's make it over there."

Back with the others, they all started to worry about the others. Brooke was growing nervous. "Oh, where could they be? I'm starting to become worried. I never did get the chance to speak with Shira. I hope she's okay. I know her childhood wasn't great, but I just wanted to tell her that everything will be okay and that she has us as her family. Now she's lost out there with Diego and I'm afraid the end has come for the rest of us. We're all going to die."

Ellie sighed. "I never thought it would end this way."

"Guys, we can't give up hope," Manny said, "We'll make it through this. Who knows? A miracle might be right in front of us."

Crash gasped at what he saw coming towards them. "Guys, look!"

Eddie gasped. "It's Shira and Diego! They're alive."

Ellie and Manny rushed over to help the sabers on the boulder. The female mammoth hugged her saber friend. "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

"Trust me," Shira said, "Hopefully I'll never have to go through that again."

"Diego!" the twins shouted in relief, hugging their saber brother.

"I didn't think you guys would miss me that much," Diego said.

"We thought we'd never see you again," Crash said.

Brooke smiled at everyone, knowing that it was best to be surrounded by the ones you care about during catastrophic times. She looked out at the surrounding waters to see the most amazing thing. Gasping, she showed the others. "Everyone, look! The flood. It's disappearing. We're gonna live. Oh, Manny, you were right. A miracle is always right in front of us."

Everyone smiled, knowing that everything would be okay. The flood would be over soon and everybody would go back to their normal lives. Well, almost normal.

HEY, GUYS. HERE IT IS. THE NEXT CHAPTER TO THIS STORY. DON'T WORRY. THIS ISN'T THE END. I STILL HAVE THE EPILOGUE TO WRITE.

I WOULD LIKE TO GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO A GUEST NAME CALVIN FOR THE NAMES AND THE IDEAS FOR THE TIGER SHARK AND THE CROCODILE. I DO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT.

WELL, I WANT TO WISH YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR. FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT LOVE READING MY ICE AGE STORIES, I WILL BE MAKING A NEW YEAR STORY FOR IT.

WELL, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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