Hey everyone Stooge Man here! I know I've been a little quick on you guys since the last few days with so many exciting new chapters so I knew I needed to slow you all down for a bit. Anyway I'm back, so just do me a favor and just sit back and enjoy the chapter!
Also I give out a big thanks to White Hunter, candy-apple14 and anonymous (Guest) for reviewing. Thank you all once again!
16 years ago…
I was all cuddled up and wrapped around by a woven blanket that was keeping me from freezing to death. My father, my mother and the rest of my remaining tribe were all sleeping in our nice warm tents having the dreams we wished for as good. Somehow my dreams kept telling me that this was going to be another great day and that I get to spend time with my family again and let nothing stand in our way. But then suddenly my dreams were broken when I heard to call of barking coming outside the tent. As the background scene changes, it shows the wolves outside still tied to the trees when one of them began to growl and then the other did along with him. It was just then when the sound of foot-steps coming along. It grew faster and faster feeling like the ground underneath me was shaking by the minute feeling like it was coming closer. Suddenly the wolves began barking and howling.
(BARKING)
(HOWLING)
Every man in my tribe including my father all woke up from the sudden outburst and they began running outside each carrying a spear in their hands. They were then surprised by the oncoming of their natural born enemy… the saber-tooth tigers.
Soon the conflict has begun, all the sabers in the pack and all the humans were at war. Each saber leaping out clawing and biting using their teeth and fangs; while the humans used their spears to fight off against the ruthless predators of destruction. Suddenly one of the sabers, who wasn't fighting, snuck past the other hunters while the other sabers were distracting them. It was just then when that one saber reached the tent and it poked his head inside and it noticed the little bundle of joy still sleeping. Smiling deviously, the saber quietly started walking towards me getting ready to take me away. But all was stopped, when my mother jumped in and snatched me into her arms. Enraged in uproar, the saber got ready to take her out, but was intercepted when my mother knocked it out with a club. Still holding me tight, she began to make a run while her husband and the hunters continued fighting the others sabers off. Soon as she dashed, the saber leaped out of the tent and began chasing after us. Shocked, my father quickly ran after to stop it, but was blocked by two of the sabers preventing him from leaving as he worriedly watched his wife and child go off.
Looking back terrified, the mother gave everything she could trying to elude the saber. But the saber wouldn't give up; he just kept on running and running. The mother tried other ways to escape, but the saber blocked each and every path she could pursue of eluding him. So she just kept on running. It was then when she had no other place to go and she soon came across a waterfall. She looked back as the saber began creeping up to us. My mother held me away as she started cowering back began skidding little chunks of the rock off the waterfall which got her in a deep halt.
Was this the end?
Would surrender be the best choice in life or would it be a disgrace to humanity
The mother didn't know what to do. She looked down at me for a second before looking back up as the devious smiling saber-tooth tiger started to get closer to them.
She looked back down at me, and uncovered my mouth from the blanket as she tearfully rubbed my cheek with her thumb. She knew this was the last time she was going to be a mother and that her only child was going to be left alone. But she wouldn't let fate consume her. She'll know someone will eventually find him; human or animal. And that he or she will protect him at all costs till they meet each other again.
She nuzzled her face onto mine holding me tight before kissing me on the cheek and she got close to my little ear and whispered…
"I love you…my little savior" Nadia whispered
With that, she sprung back around taking a leap of faith as we both started falling towards the water…together.
Soon then we ended in a great…big…splash!
(SPLASHING)
(Flashback ends)
(GASPING)
Panting from an unrealistic fate, Roshan was finally shown awaked from his unconsciousness. He then whipped off the sweat from his forehead and began stroking his long hair back with his hand. As he did he felt a lump on the back of his head and he groaned in pain.
"Ooowww" Roshan groaned quietly
Roshan rested his hand on the lump before he noticed something very different. He was perceived that he realized he wasn't outside anymore and that he could see rock-spike textures hanging from the ceiling that was all covered around by darkness. Also, he noticed the exit was blocked off by a large boulder that blocked all the outside light from coming in.
"What the hell…" Roshan said to himself
Suddenly his eyes were flashed by the sudden outburst of fire and flame when the boy saw a small campfire. As he gazed into the fire, he heard some low growling sounds coming off from the side of him and his friends before turning over to when he noticed the herd of animals (who rescued them earlier) were all sleeping together inside the cave with them.
Roshan thought this was just a bad dream and he tried shaking it out of his head.
"Something tells me this isn't a dream" Roshan said to himself again
(GROANING SOFTLY)
Suddenly a soft groan come off to the side as Roshan looked down when he noticed that it was Lolo, as the little girl started to wake up. Lolo lifted herself off the ground and rubbed her eyes with her fists before looking to the side of her as she tried to open her eyes. After her vision cleared up she caught the sight of Roshan looking right at her.
Lolo's eyes popped up wide as she covered her mouth with both her hands. When she released them a great big smile appeared on her little face.
"Roshy!" Lolo cried with happiness
The little girl soon got off from her sleeping spot and she ran over and hugged Roshan.
"Oh Roshy, I thought you were gone for good!" Lolo cried out as she hugged the 16-year-old tighter
Roshan warmly smiled before she picked Lolo off the ground so that she could wrap her legs and arms around his neck and waist. Roshan then started calming her down by rubbing her back.
"Shhh, it's okay Lolo; I would never leave, not ever" Roshan whispered
The two shared this huggable moment together before Newt, Minho and Rowan started to wake up when then saw that their friend was up finally. Smiles appeared on their faces as they all got up to greet their friend.
Minho cheerfully pats Roshan on the shoulder. "Good to have you back, shank"
"You had us scared back there ya, slacker. Good to have ya back" Newt said sarcastically as he gently punched his friend on the other shoulder
"It's good to be back" said Roshan before held his hand on the back of his head still feeling the pain
(GROANING SOFTLY)
"How long was I out?" Roshan asked Newt
"5 hours apparently. You were out for some time" Newt answered
"You alright, bud?" Minho asked if Roshan was still okay
"Yeah, just a lump on the head" Roshan assured
Newt, Minho and Lolo were that their friend wasn't hurt before Rowan came walking over to Roshan scolding him in the face.
"Rowan, I'm so glad to see you're alright I thought you were…" said Roshan seeing Rowan wasn't hurt
But as she scolded him she raised her arm up with an open hand and she slapped Roshan right across the face.
(SLAP)
"Ooh" Newt, Minho and Lolo cringed in surprise
Roshan held his face with his hand as he looked back at Rowan who was still scolding over him. Rowan then grabbed Roshan by the shirt and pulled him close to her face.
"How could you be so stupid and reckless Roshan? You had us scared to death!" Rowan cried out
"Well it's great to see you too" Roshan replied with a nervous smile
Rowan's face soon calmed down before she wrapped her arms around Roshan and hugged him tight. Surprised, Roshan did the same as he held Rowan tight in his arms.
"When you ran back I thought I'd never see you again" Rowan whispered softly
"Why wouldn't you, I'm full of surprises" Roshan whispered back
Rowan stifled a laugh as the two continued to comfort each other. Newt, Minho and Lolo watched the happy moment as they leaned against each other's shoulders.
"Hey if this is a good time, do you guys have any idea where we are?" Roshan asked his friends
"Well shank, after you were knocked out by those howlers those mammoths and those sabers carried you back along taking us to their home" Minho explained
"That's right, luckily for you that big fat fella of a mammoth was kind enough to give ya a lift" Newt explained
"But you weren't the only one. He was also carrying that chubby, smelly yellow sloth that we meet up earlier tonight" Minho explained about the encounter with Sid
"Is he alright?" Roshan asked about the sloth
"Why sure, he'd be sleeping down on the ground like a fur-rug, the poor sap" Newt pointed out
Roshan turned over to see the unconscious Sid who was lying flat on the ground with his mouth opened up and his tongue sticking out. Roshan blinked a few times before turning back.
"Hey wait a minute? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…? There's only five of us, where's Kodak?" Roshan asked
Newt and Minho looked at each other with teasing smiles before looking back at Roshan.
"Oh yeah we forgot to tell you after we encountered with a sloth, he and Kodak got into a little scream contest" Minho replied sarcastically
"And the best part of it was, they both tied up with a winning knockout in the end" Newt replied sarcastically
Roshan was confused for the moment as Lolo tugged his shirt getting the boy to look at her. Lolo then raised a finger out getting Roshan to look forward when he saw the still unconscious Kodak lying flat-back against the ground.
"Kodak fainted after he came face to face with the sloth. Pretty funny, huh?" said Lolo happily
Roshan smirked. "Oh I'm way convinced"
(LAUGHING)
The boy's laugh was so loud it woke up Manny from his slumber. As Manny slowly began to open his eyes he caught sight of the now conscious boy talking with his human friends. His eyes then opened up real wide and after seeing the 16-year-old was awake he began to wake some of the herd members.
"Ellie, Ellie wake up" Manny whispers shaking his wife
(GROANING SOFTLY)
"Manny what's going on, are you okay?" Ellie asked after she woke up
"Look" Manny whispered out
Ellie looked forward and she noticed that the human children were finally awake and she sighed with relief.
"Oh good they're finally awake. We should go see if they're alright" Ellie suggested
As Ellie started to get up, Manny held her back with his trunk.
"Ellie, wait! I don't think talking's going to help. Humans can't really understand our language" Manny reminded her
"C'mon Manny show some backbone. The least we can do is try and cooperate with them" Ellie told him
"But Ellie…" Manny attempted to argue
"C'mon help me wake Diego and some of the others" Ellie interrupted
Manny sighed with defeat and began making their way over to wake some of their friends. Ellie started with her brothers, Crash and Eddie, as she gently grasped the two by their tails and placed each one of them on her tusks. After that, Manny walked over to Diego and Shira and began to gently nudge the saber's ribs before tapping them both on the heads.
(GROANING SOFTLY)
"Mommy give me two more minutes. I'll get up I promise" Shira replied in a drowsy tone
"Daddy I don't want a bath, besides sabers can't take baths…" Diego replied in a drowsy tone
Manny frowned in annoyance and he made his fist into a trunk before pounding his friend on the head with it.
(BOP)
"…AGH! What the-?" cried Diego as he woke up and rubbed his head
When Diego looked up he noticed his friend was looking at him with a brow raised. He then cleared his throat in embarrassment when he realized what that look meant.
"Umm…I'm not sure how much of that you could hear?" said Diego awkwardly
"Oh I heard all of it and just for the record... I'm not your daddy" Manny replied in a harsh tone
"He-he-he, right" said Diego looking away feeling mortified
Just then Shira finally woke up before letting out a loud yawning roar. She then opened her eyes slowly when she noticed Manny and Diego were talking to each other.
"What's going on now?" Shira asked in an irritated tone
"That's what I like to know" Diego replied back
(MANNY CLEARS HIS THROAT)
Getting the saber's attention, Manny pointed his trunk out which got Diego and Shira to turn around when they noticed that the human kids were up. After they did they looked at each other before saying, 'ooh' together.
Soon Manny, Ellie along with Diego, Shira and the possums began making their way towards the human children. While the kids were talking in conversation, Minho noticed the animals were walking towards them and he quickly got everyone to listen to him.
"Guys, guys, look!" Minho pointed forward
Roshan, Rowan, Newt and Lolo turned around when they noticed the two mammoth's and the two sabers were walking up towards them. Alarmed the kids quickly got back against the wall as they animals got closer to them.
"What are they going to do?" Rowan asked
"Just stay calm and don't freak out. Let me handle this" Roshan reassured his friends
"Are you sure you're up for it?" Newt asked him
"Believe me Newt, you don't know the rest of my story" Roshan told him
"Well for your sake I hope you know what you're doing" Minho told him
"Relax, I know just what to do" Roshan reassured Minho
Once the animals got close enough to the humans, they stopped right in front of them. Soon they began inspecting the kids by sensing out their smells.
"We're not gonna hurt you, we're just going to check if you're alright" Ellie reassured the kids when the four only heard just a trumpeting sound, except for Roshan who knew exactly what she meant
With that said, the animals started inspecting the human children. Diego and Shira commenced with Newt and Minho as the sabers began by sniffing the two boys all over with their noses. Meanwhile, Manny and Ellie commenced with Roshan, Rowan and Lolo as the two mammoths began by sniffing the three with their trunks. When they were doing that, the little Hyrax that was sleeping in Lolo's backpack, hopped out and began scurrying up to Lolo before jumping into the little girl's arms. Delighted, Lolo hugged the little critter tight. Soon as Ellie's trunk got into her face, the little girl let out a giggle of enjoyment before the she-mammoth pulled her trunk back letting out a smile.
"They look clean to me" Diego commented
"You said baby, I say out of all humans these ones don't look dangerous to me" Shira commented
But Newt and Minho only heard growling coming out of the two sabers and they fearfully cringed back a little.
While they were still inspecting, Roshan noticed the possum brothers were looking right at him with teasing faces.
"Look at that my dear Crash. Have you ever seen monkey's wear all clothing around their bodies" Eddie teased
"No, I haven't dear Eddie. Well not since they used to wear underwear all the time" Crash teased
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Only hearing squeaks out of the possums from only out of the four, Roshan could completely understand what the two were saying to them.
"And you know something else?" Eddie asked his brother
"What's that?" Crash asked his brother
"They're even dumber than I expected. I mean just look at them!" Eddie teased and pointed to them
"I know! I bet they can't understand what we're saying right now!" Crash teased
"Yeah what dummies they all are!" Eddie teased
(BOTH LAUGHING)
"That's what you think?" Roshan told them back
Suddenly the laughing stopped, as the two possums paused for a moment as they looked at each other with stubborn looks.
"That's what I said, what about it?" Eddie accused his brother
"I didn't say anything" Crash affirmed him
"But I did" Roshan replied back
Startled, the two slowly turned their heads around when they caught the sight of Roshan glaring at them.
"If anyone's dumb around here, it's gotta be you two. And that ain't no joke" Roshan told them with his arms wrapped around
"AAH!" cried Crash and Eddie
Frozen in fear, the two fainted over together with their tails wrapped around Ellie's tusks as they pretended to be dead before colliding their heads together in the impact. Soon it got the two mammoths and the sabers stepping back in surprise and disbelief.
"Did…d-did you just…t-talk?" Manny asked stuttering
"Uhh…yes" Roshan answered awkwardly to the mammoth
"Oh boy" Manny muttered
Ellie looks back at Manny smiling before gently shoving him in the shoulder. "And you said all humans couldn't understand our language" she pointed out to him
"But…but how is that possible?" Diego asked frantically
"Believe me I talked to a lot of animals in my life, and still they don't understand why" Roshan told the saber
"That's not really important right now, kid. The real question is how can you understand what we're saying?" Shira asked walking up to the boy
"Let's just say, you were born with an unexpected gift that couldn't be explained; well here it is. I was only 5-years-old and I was completely unaware of what was happening around me during that time. One morning my family was ambushed by sabers and one of them tried to get me but I was soon later found by a few animals and they tried to take me back to my family. The battled through watermelon getting dodo's, storms, caves, lava pits and even frostbite; they did it all just for me. I didn't think they cared so much but they got me back home. Years after that, I've been living with this gift ever since" Roshan explained to them
The trio looked at Roshan in surprise after hearing what the boy had just told them as they looked at each other before looking back at him.
"I still find that hard to believe, kiddo" Shira pointed out
"Hey if you guys had been around with humans more often you wouldn't be asking these questions. No offense" Roshan replied
"None taken" Shira comprehended back
Diego then started walking up to the boy to get a closer look while the other animals watched him. Especially Manny, he was worried he would do something terrible that would involve attacking the boy without reason.
"Diego?" Manny asked his friend
"Baby, what's wrong?" Shira asked her husband
Once the saber got close enough, Diego looked into the boy's eyes staring at him in a vision. Roshan calmly stared back at the saber while not letting any fear show upon his face. Making sure to himself, Diego slowly began to raise his paw up which soon got the other herd members alarmed along with the other human kids. Thinking the saber was going to strike him, Roshan didn't hesitate to do anything about it as he kept on looking into the saber's eyes. But suddenly the boy was taken back when the saber covered his eyes with his paw. Roshan's eyes lit up in surprise when he saw what he thought the saber was doing before the saber repeated only three words to him.
"Where's the baby?" said Diego using a baby tone
"There he is!"
Roshan didn't respond; he just showed that exact same blank expression on his face like before. "Why did he do that? How did he know that? Is it possible?
Diego covered his eyes with his paws again and he started to repeat the same words.
"Where's the baby?" Diego repeated using the same baby tone
Before Diego uncovered his eyes, he was taken by surprise when he felt the boy's hand grasp him and Roshan slowly uncovered his eyes with his paw. When the boy looked at the saber, he smiled at him before he did the same thing. The boy covered his eyes with his hand for a moment before opening them up and said…
"There he is!" Roshan repeated
Diego's ears perked up as recognition came over his face. He visioned back sixteen years ago when he did that little game to some other human who was a lot younger. He was only a little squirt and he was crying during the journey so he thought of something to cheer him up by playing it to him but instead ended up scaring him in the end and it got him to cry even more. But wait? It couldn't be that human. Or could it?
Diego stepped back for a moment before looking back over at Manny.
"Manny can I talk to you privately" Diego whispered to him
As Diego signaled him to follow him out of the cave, Manny hesitated for a moment before doing the same thing.
"Uhh…sure why not" Manny replied back before looking back at Roshan and the other humans. "You just tell your friends to stay here with our wife's; me and my partner won't be long"
"That's fine. Take your time" Roshan replied back
As Manny and Diego departure out only a few feet away from the cave the two started talking in quiet conversation.
"Alright smart guy, what's the matter?" Manny asked
Diego didn't answer at first after seeing what just happened as he tried to cool his heart-beat down. When he did he looked back at Manny.
"Do you remember?" Diego asked him
"Remember what?" Manny replied back feeling confused
"16 years ago before you, me and Sid were a team. That little pink thing we rescued after we tried getting him back to his father" Diego explained to him
"You mean Pinky?" Manny asked
Diego nodded. "Yeah Pinky that's it"
"But what's that got to do with the boy in there?" Manny asked about Roshan
"Manny think about it. I sniffed him out and there was no lying to it; that boy happens to be the same boy we saved long ago before we met each other, before we even became a herd in the first place" Diego explained to him
"What? Now that's ridiculous there's no way that boy could possibly be…" Manny attempted to make a fuss before he paused
Recognition started to come over his face too before Manny looked back as he kept his gaze on Roshan sitting calmly with his friends while Ellie, Shira and the possums continued watching them. When he looked at Roshan he felt some sort of resemblance coming over his head as he remembered the events that happened to him back when he met up with Sid and Diego. After a lot of thinking he gazed back at Diego feeling convinced.
"…hey could it?" Manny asked him if he was sure
Diego nodded in reply as he and Manny continued staring back at Roshan while he and his human friends sat in the cave with the rest of the herd.
Well everyone another chapter is finished! Roshan just spoke to the herd and it's getting the animals wondering how he can hear them? Will Rowan, Newt, Minho, Lolo and Kodak understand them? How will the other herd members react? Anyway please review and keep spreading me some more ideas and stay tuned because more will be coming your way!