Chapter 1: Sid vs Diego
Flashback
It is still the afternoon hours and Sid is relaxing at the base of the tree after helping the herd stop the asteroid. Sid sighs in content as he feels happy after sending the asteroid away from the earth and saving the lives of every creature on earth a few months back. But after all everything the sloth went through, he still feel cursed.
"Good weather… But what's missing? I know!" Sid went deep into the woods and picked the flowers that are rare in the dinos' territory.
As soon as he finishes he sees a skinny-looking dino bird named Roger walks by in anger. The sloth wanted to talk to him, but decided to leave him be and heads into the valley where the possums ambushed him with rotten fruit. The sloth barely dodges the fruit and glares at the brothers who are laughing at him.
"Go bug the hell out of someone else!" The sloth spat venomously which scares the possums.
"Woah! Chill!" Crash said as he backs up and left.
"Yeah, dude. Take a chill pill." Eddie said as he follows his brother.
The sloth stares in bewilderment as he wonders what made him said that but shrugs it off and kept going. The mammals are enjoying themselves at the watering hole minding their own business. As Sid walks around, he spots his lover, Brooke chatting with the hyraxes. Sid couldn't help but smile at the female sloth lovingly but quickly frowns about something.
"You little ones are so cute!" Brooke gleefully stated to the rodents.
Sid smiles at the sight and spots a few familiar individuals and felt a nasty taste in his mouth.
"What are they doing here?" He asked himself in an annoyed tone as he notices his family.
Suddenly, the sloth was pelted by seeds in the back of his head and looks up to see the possums laughing again while hanging on the branch. The sloth had enough and climbs the tree to chase the fleeing marsupials. The possums soon fled into the deepest part of the woods where the dinos reside, and the sloth is in hot pursuit of them.
"*huff* That's…far enough…" Sid said as he catches his breath.
The possum brothers continue to tease him about his past failures which really got the sloth riled up. The sloth felt the same sudden burst of anger from before and picks up a rock to chuck it vigorously at the marsupials who narrowly dodge the rock. The three mammals heard a growling nearby in the trees which made their blood run cold. A couple of red eyes appears in the trees snarling at the three and soon roars at them.
"Great…Rudy…" Sid groaned about the albino dinosaur coming from between the trees.
The possums are the first to run and then the sloth as the huge dinosaur begins to chase them. The three mistakenly led the baryonyx into the clearing where the herd and the dino starts to wreak havoc in the area. Rudy spots the sloth tripped and fell leaving the albino dinosaur took it as an opportunity to eat the sloth. The dino clamps his jaws at the sloth and his eyes widen in shock to see the sloth holding the dino's maw to prevent himself from being eaten.
"Jeez! You could really need a breath mint." Sid remarked at the dino.
Rudy growls angrily and tries to close his mouth on the sloth, but was hit in the head by a rock and growls in confusion.
"Oi, Snowflake! Leave the sloth alone!" Buck yelled at the albino dinosaur who lets the sloth go and starts chasing the weasel.
Sid sighs in relief as the dino is being led away from the area and got up to dust himself off.
"Uh, Sid, are you okay?" Crash asked the sloth.
"Peachy…" The sloth said in a low tone.
"I'm glad Rudy didn't eat you otherwise, he'd spit you back up." Eddie said as he and Crash laughed.
"Grr… Thanks…" The sloth replied once more with a growl. "Ow!" He said as felt a rock hit him. "Who the hell- eh?" He turns to see angry crowd of animals and looks to see the heavy damage of area.
"You're in trouble. Bye!" The possum brothers said they quickly fled leaving the sloth alone.
Sid stares at the herd and his former family only to snort and turn to walk away.
"And just where do you think you're going?" A voice called to the sloth who stops to turns his head to see the saber yelling at him. "You're gonna have to pay for this, sloth! And saying 'sorry' isn't good enough!" Diego yells at the mammal at which the rest agrees.
"How's about you all leave me alone? I've had enough for a day!" Sid spat back as he continues walking away.
"Fine! Leave and don't come back you pathetic excuse of a sloth!" The saber retorts harshly which made the sloth stop in his tracks and hears some mammals laugh.
Sid narrows his eyes and grits his teeth in anger as he's had enough of being ridiculed, abused, abandoned, and neglected by most mammals. The sloth picks up a nearby rock and clutched it tightly in claws and turns to the saber in anger.
"YOU BASTARD!" Sid retorts furiously as he vigorously threw the rock into Diego's face which made the saber roar in pain.
Most of the animals stopped laughing and recoiled from the scene as they see the saber start to bleed and started to fear the sloth while some started to murmur about what happened.
"Dude…" Crash said in awe as he stifles a laugh.
"Nice shot…" Eddie said in the same manner as his brother.
Diego wiped his face to see blood on his paws and stares at the sloth.
"How'd that feel, saber?" The sloth mocks the injured carnivore.
The saber rushes at the sloth furiously to teach him a lesson about his action. Sid sees the saber pounce at him, but he sidesteps dodging the predator's attack. Diego turns and growls as he tries again this time he manages to bite the sloth in his shoulder. The sloth screams in pain and retaliates by punching the saber hard in his gut causing the predator cough and let go off the sloth. Sid then grabs the saber and tosses him toward the clearing only to dashes after him to give the saber a swift punch to face causing the predator to fall backwards to the ground.
"I thought you sabers were a strong." Sid mocked again.
"Shut. Up. You. Worthless. Parasite!" Diego roared and tackles the sloth to the ground only to slash at him a couple of times.
Sid grabs Diego and flips the saber over him only to get back up to see some blood starting to seep out of his gashes.
"Hurts doesn't it?" Diego mocks the sloth with a smirk.
"Not as much as you get put down." The sloth spat back.
"Please…stop…" Ellie said quietly as she watches two of her friends fight each other.
The saber charges at the sloth and lunges only to get grabbed by yellow mammal, and is soon chucked to the side. Sid sees his former friend get up and tackles the sloth to the ground only to grin. But the sloth grabs the saber's head and headbutts him hard, and then kicks the saber away from. The sloth runs up and kicks the saber down again. Diego stares at the sloth with pure hatred and spits out some blood from his mouth before letting out a roar and charges at the sloth to pounce one last time. Sid narrows his eyes as they turn red as he dodges, but grabs the saber's hind leg which shocks the predator. The sloth begins to slam Diego onto back and forth while holding onto the predator's hind leg which causes the whole crowd stare in horror to see that Sid is brutally beating up his former friend. Seeing the predator in even more pain, the sloth starts to perform a hammer throw as he spins Diego in a circle by his hind legs rapidly and soon lets go letting the saber slam into the rock wall hard and falls to the ground in pain. Sid walks up the saber and picks him up to slam him against the rock wall as glares at him intensely.
"So where's that so-called 'pride' of yours, saber?" Sid spat venomously at the battered saber as he punches him in the gut.
"Y-You…" Diego breathed out as he stares at the sloth's blood red eyes. "You're…not normal…" He stated as he realizes the sloth's behavior.
"So what if I'm not?" The sloth replied back as he throws the saber toward the herd.
The animals began to murmur in sadness after seeing the sloth overpowered the saber and sees sloth walks over and steps on saber and brandishes his claws which are very sharp. Everyone stares in shock and horror as they see Sid raising his claw getting ready to land a killing blow on Diego.
"You drew the line when you called me a parasite…" The sloth stated as he narrows his eyes. "Now it's time for you to say goodbye, Diego." He growled as he swings his sharp claw onto the saber, but stops when a voice called out to him.
"Sidney! Come ta yer senses, lad!" Buck called out to the furious sloth who snaps out of his rage. "Come on, sloth! Yer're no killer!" The weasel said as he sees the sloth clutching his face as his eyes return to normal.
Sid looks around to see the mammals staring at him in horror and looks down at the heavily beaten saber and gave him a solemn look before stepping off him.
"I'm done… With everyone…" Sid said bitterly as he turns to walk away from the saber into the woods.
"Sid…" Brooke quietly called out him as she holds the hyraxes close in sadness.
"Sid… Wait…" Diego croaked out as he reaches out for the sloth with his paw and soon passed out from the pain.
Reality
Back in the cave, Sid sighs deeply about nearly killing his friend earlier and looks at his still sharp claws.
"What happened to me? What made me do that?" Sid asked himself and slumps against the wall.
The sloth takes off the leafy bandages he made and cleans them in a makeshift bowl of water.
"Need some help with that?" A British voice asked in the cave.
Sid turns to see Brooke standing at the cave entrance in amazement.
"Brooke? How did you find me?" The sloth asked the former geotopian.
"I followed your blood to river and saw a lone cave." Brooke explained.
"Oh… Well, you shouldn't be here near a monster like me…" The sloth replied sadly as he looks away.
"You're no monstah." The red sloth replied as she walks over to help with cleaning the leafy bandages. "You're you. You're wonderful the way ya are. No one's perfect." She reassured him.
"Thanks, Brooke." Sid said as he smiles at the female.
"Hey… Mind if I stay with you guys a bit?" A feeble voice asked the sloths as they turn to see Roger standing at the cave entrance waving at them.
"Oh? Is something the matter?" Brooke asked the dino-bird.
"I had some issues with my father..." Roger explained in a low tone.
"What kind?" The female sloth inquired.
"Grrr… Does being a screw up and a failure count?!" The skinny dino retorted at the sloths before calming down. "Sorry… I'm just under a lot of stress…" He apologized.
"It's fine. Like you, I have family issues too. I was mostly abandoned and neglected by not just my family, everyone else too." Sid explained to the two who stares in shock.
"Your family abandoned you? That's terrible!" Brooke said while aghast.
"I hear ya. Sometimes my dad wishes I never born." Roger stated sadly.
"Don't say that, dearie. Your father loves you." The female sloth reassured the dino-bird.
"Yeah…maybe…" The dino-bird bitterly replied.
Sid stares at Roger knowing he and the dino has somewhat a similar past. The sloth soon hears some snorting nearby and sees a slightly larger boar entering the cave and smiles upon recognition.
"Rampant!" Sid greeted the grown boar as the latter runs up to nuzzle the sloth. "How's my favorite little buddy? You're growing like a weed too." The sloth finished as he pets the boar.
"This cute little guy is your pet?" Brooke asked her lover.
"Well, yes… He was orphaned when I found him." Sid explained.
"The poor thing… Do you mind if I help take care of him too?" The female sloth asked once more.
"Not a thing." He reassured her.
Sid watches as Brooke gently caresses the boar affectionately while Roger smiles at the mammals having fun.
A few hours later, it's gotten dark and a bit breezy where a lone creature in a leaf cloak outside in the woods walking around in the area until she spots a cave. The creature crept closer to the cave to see Sid and others sleeping.
"Huh… I was hoping to greet the sloth Fang told me but…" She said to herself as looks around and sat outside near the entrance and yawns. "I'll chat with him in a different way…" She said as she dozes off.
Well… Now you know what happened to the sloth and it seems Roger had a falling out with his family as well. But what will the mysterious creature do then while Sid and the others are sleeping?
Please review.