Ice Age: The Meltdown (Story of the Wolf continued)

Chapter One: Idiot in 2 Languages

Disclaimer: I own Sassy, everything else belongs to Blue Sky studios.

Authors note: If you haven't read Ice Age: Story of the Wolf I recommend reading that first because then this story will make a lot more sense 😅

Saskia, or Sassy as her herd members liked to call her, sat sunning herself on a rock. The global warming was hard on her due to her thick and fluffy coat but she got by. At least the heat didn't mess with her sense of smell like the cold did. She yawned, her maw stretching wide, showing off her sharp teeth. The sun made her sleepy.
"You don't sleep at night and then you're a bore during the day." She rolled her eyes and looked down at the ground where her best friend Diego stood looking up at her.
"I can't sleep at night, never have been able to. I was always worried something would creep up on my pack in the darkness and I wouldn't see it and I have the same problem here too. We might have each other's backs but that doesn't mean my protective instincts are just goin to vanish my saber friend." She jumped down next to him and stretched. He chuckled and the two began walking.
"I guess I can understand that. Sabers have a strong protective instinct too but I don't think it runs as deep as a wolf's."
"Where's Manny?"
"I think attempting to find Sid. Lord knows what trouble he's getting into today." Sassy and Diego walked toward the pools where water had been gathering since the melting had started and Manny joined them. Sure enough at the moment Sid was being buried alive by a bunch of kids that hated him.
"Hey hey woah who said you kids could torture the sloth?" Manny asked.
"Manny, don't squash their creativity." Diego said. Sassy nudged the tiger in the ribs.
"Manny! Diego! Sassy! My bad mammal jamoules. Wanna give a sloth a hand?" Manny pulled Sid out from of the hole with his trunk and set him on his feet. "Look I opened my camp! Campo del Sid! It means camp of Sid."
"Congratulations." Sassy said.
"You're now an idiot in two languages." Diego finished. Sid shushed them.
"Not in front of the K-I-D-Z. These little guys love me! Right Billy?"
"Don't make me eat you." a baby glyptodon remarked. The others giggled.
"Ah they kid. That's why they're called kids." Sid said.
"Sid I told you you're not qualified to run a camp." Manny said.
"Since when do qualifications have anything to do with it. These kids look up to me. I'm a role model." As he talked they tied a vine around his legs and then tripped him. The sloth went sprawling on the ground.
"I can see that." Diego said.
"You guys never think I can do anything, but I'm an equal member of this herd." Sid stood up. "I made this herd. You need to start treating me with some respect." He said proudly, then hopped past them, a haughty look on his face.
"Come on Sid!"
"We were just kidding!" Sassy called after him.
"Hey, let's play pin the tail on the mammoth." A kid said. Everyone cheered.
"Sid!"

"And so, in the end, the little burro reached his mommy. And they lived happily ever after." Manny finished his story and all the kids cheered.
"Good job." Diego and Sassy told the wooly mammoth. A beaver raised his hand.
"Question. Why does the burro go home? Why doesn't he stay with the rabbit?"
"Because he wanted to be with his family."
"I think he should've been with a girl burro. That's a great love story." A little bird perched on Manny's tusk threw in.
"Ok well when you tell your burro story that's what he'll do."
"Burro is a demeaning name. Technically, it's called a wild ass." An antelope said.
"Fine. The wild ass boy came home to his wild ass mother." Manny said, growing irritated. Sassy glared at the kids as they giggled at the word. "See that's why I called it a burro!" Diego chuckled and Manny and Sassy both glared at him.
"Does the burro have a grazing problem?" A rhino asked. "That would make him more relatable.
"Boring!" The kids groaned.
"I don't get it."
"It's not believable."
"Do burro's eat their young?"
"It's not a very satisfying ending."
"Sometimes I throw up!" Manny blinked at them.
"They lived happily ever after! You can't get more satisfying than that! One big happy family! That's the way it's supposed to be!"
"Then where's your big happy family?" The bird asked. A look of pain and sadness immediately struck Manny's face. Diego looked at him and then at Sassy and she nodded.
"And then the hungry tiger and the hungry wolf ate the pesky little kids." She said. They both jumped down an Diego roared at them while she snarled. The kids screamed and scattered.
"You ok buddy?" Diego asked.
"Sure why wouldn't I be?"
"Well we just thought that...,"
"Story times over, the end!!" Manny snapped. Two kids ran by them screaming and Manny halted them. "What's going on where's everybody going?"
"The worlds coming to an end!"
"What're you talking about?" Manny asked.
"Fast Tony! He says the worlds gonna flood!" Sassy groaned.
"Not that con artist. I mean I know it's a little warm but world flooding? I thought he would've come up with something more original than that." Manny hurried to find Fast Tony and confront the scheming armadillo. Diego and Sassy followed behind in a more leisurely pace, giving Manny his space.
"Do you think Manny's ever gonna move on from what he lost?" Diego asked her. Sassy sighed.
"It's hard to say. I mean, losing your mate and baby to a human attack, I can't even imagine what he went through. I think he'll move on eventually. The pain will always be there but hopefully it will fade more and more, especially if he meets someone else and falls in love. If he hadn't found Roshan, I think he'd still be pretty bitter."
"I think we'd all still be bitter if it wasn't for Pinky. Especially you and me." Diego commented. Sassy nodded in agreement and they hurried to join Manny, where Sassy's sharp ears picked up an anteater declaring that Manny was the last mammoth.
"When was the last time you saw a mammoth?" He questioned.
"Don't listen to him Manny." Diego jumped in, glaring at the mammal. Suddenly someone shrieked.
"Look! Some idiot is going to jump off the Eviscerator!" Manny groaned.
"Please tell me that's not our idiot." They looked up.
"Yup it's ours." Sassy confirmed.
"Sid! Don't move a muscle! We're coming up!" Manny yelled! The crowd started chanting "Jump! jump! Jump!"
"Jump! Jump! Jump!" Diego joined in until Manny and Sassy cut him off with looks that could kill. "Sorry." Diego mumbled. The three climbed up to the top and approached Sid.
"Sid! What are you doing get down from there!" Manny ordered.
"No way! I'm gonna be the first to jump off the Eviscerator, and then you guys are going to have to start treating me with respect!"
"You jump off this thing the only thing you'll get is respect for the dead."
"Come on Manny he's not that stupid." Diego said. Sid humphed and flicked his tail, preparing to jump.
"But you've been wrong before!" Sassy replied. Manny charged up and snatched Sid in the air as he jumped off. The two slid down the hill and straight into the Wolf and tiger.
"Watch it!" They both yelled and went skidding out onto the glacier. Diego righted himself and they heard a cracking sound. The ice underneath their paws split and before Sassy could blink Diego had taken off across the cracking ice and she got dunked. She pawed under the cold water for a moment before allowing herself to float back to the surface. She gasped for air and then began swimming back to her herd.
"Sassy!" Manny yelled.
"I'm fine Manny! Just wet and cold!" She yelled back, trying to keep her large head above water. She reached them and hauled herself out of the frigid water, her pelt clinging to her. She shivered and then looked over at Diego. "You ok? You took off in a flash I didn't even have time to think and you were gone." He stammered a bit.
"Just...um...I didn't want to have to swim...back to shore. Sorry I left you." Sassy arched the fur over her above her eye. He was hiding something, and she thought she had a pretty good idea of what exactly it was.
        "Guys. Fast Tony was right. Everything is melting." Manny said, looking out over the now water filled glacier. "It's all gonna flood. We gotta warn them."
       "Maybe we could rapidly evolve into water creatures." Sid suggested.
       "That's genius Sid." Diego snarked.
       "Call me Squid." The sloth proclaimed. "Geez this whole thing is a piece of junk, I can't believe I live here!" He said and jumped up and down on the ice a couple times and a sickening crack sounded. The herd glared back at him. "What?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders. Suddenly the ice gave way and they all went tumbling down the Eviscerator, screaming the entire way. They skipped across the pools surface and came to rest near Fast Tony.
       "See this is what I'm talking about! Big balls of furry lava, the size of mammoths! Raining from the sky!" Fast Tony proclaimed.
       "Ah go suck air through a reed."
       "You gotta listen to him! He's right about the flood!" Manny said.
      "I am? I mean of course I am!"
      "Wait a minute. Why should we listen to you?" An antelope asked. "You're the one who said there wasn't going to be a flood."
       "Because we saw what's up there! The dam's gonna break the entire valley's gonna flood!" Everybody burst out laughing until a vulture interjected into the conversation.
      "Floods real alright, and it's coming fast. Look around. You're in a bowl. Bowls gonna full up...ain't no way out." Everybody gasped. "Unless...you can make it to the end of the valley. There's a boat. It can save you. But...y'all better hurry. Ground's meltin, walls tumblin, rocks crumblin. Survive that, and you'll be racing the water, cause in three days it's gonna hit the guieser fields....BOOM!!" Everybody screamed and someone fainted. "There is good news though. The more of you die, the better I eat." Horrified gasps. "I didn't say it was good news for you." With that he flew away.
"Wow he must have been a real pleasure to have in class." Sid said. A loud, deep boom echoed through the valley as giant pieces of the dam broke off and started falling toward the animals. Everyone screamed and scattered, getting out of the way of the falling ice.
"Alright you heard the scary vulture. Let's move out!" Manny said to the group.
"Manny, do you really think there's a boat?" Diego asked.
"I don't know. But pretty soon this place is going to be a mile under water. If there's any hope, it's that way."