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

Chapter Three: Danger In The Water

        As the herd padded along with the crowd, Sassy noticed what Ellie and her brothers were doing. Hiding behind bushes, trees, rocks and anything else that concealed them. Well, concealed Crash and Eddie anyway . Ellie's large frame stuck out like a sore thumb behind everything she tried to hide behind. Manny sighed.
     "We'll never make it at this pace. Ellie! It's ok you can lose the camouflage! You're safe!"
      "Ok!" She mumbled something to the opossums and she came out from behind the tree.
      "Hawk!!!" Eddie yelled. The two brothers dropped on their backs and Ellie followed suite, the ground shaking with her fall. Manny approached her.
       "What are you doing?"
       "Playing dead." she said through clenched teeth.
     "Manny why don't you do that?" Sid asked seriously.
      "Because I'm a mammoth!" Manny said harshly.
      "But you'd do it for treats right?" Manny glared at the sloth.
      "Is he gone?" Ellie asked.
      "Yup, you're safe." Manny replied.
       "Boy, if you hadn't been here that hawk would've swooped down and snatched me up for dinner. That's how cousin Wilton went." Sid made a coo coo motion at his temple. Sassy chuckled and shook her head, walking away from the group. Diego joined her.
      "What do you make of it?"
      "What of Ellie?" Diego nodded. "I think something probably happened when she was young or something. If the opossums are her brothers then she might have been raised by an opossum family." Diego mulled that over for a bit.
     "Makes sense. You're probably right, you usually are." Sassy smirked.
       "Of course I am. Females always are except that one," she motioned to Ellie, who was talking to Manny. "Just remember that when you're mated, it'll make your life a whole lot easier." Diego scoffed.
       "Please, I'll stick to being single and straight minded. No female is going to mess with my head." Sassy smirked.
       "Whatever you say tiger." Pretty soon they reached a lake, the ice still frozen but broken into large chunks and floating onto of the water. Diego started trailing behind, and Sassy grew worried about her friend.
      "Diego there are whole continents moving faster than you let's go! We need to catch up with the others." Manny said. The opossums were having a blast, sliding and ruining around the ice just as happy as could be.
      "Hey, knock it off." Diego said.
       "Oh cry me a river blubber toothed tiger have some fun." Crash replied.
      "Can't you see the ice is thin enough already without you two wearing it down?"
      "Awe come on Diego, the ice might be thin but it's strong enough to hold a 10 ton mammoth and a 9 ton opossum." Sid interjected. Suddenly something burst out of the ice in front of them and a huge, green prehistoric water dweller shot out of the hole. Sassy and Sid were flung into the water as Manny ran from a purple creature and Diego latched on with his claws to the berg he was floating on. Sassy gasped as her head broke the surface and looked around frantically.  
        "Sid!!" She called.
       "I'm over here!" He yelled back, on the other side of a strip of ice from her. She sighed in relief at seeing him swim toward Diego and made her own way toward the ice. She felt the water churn and looked down just in time to see the purple one snap at her leg. She yelped and hauled herself onto the ice, barely avoiding getting her leg bitten off. It hissed and swam below the ice under her and toward Manny, far away. She looked over and saw the green one coming straight toward Sid and Diego, the latter of whom wasn't moving.
      "Diego!!" Nothing. Sid climbed onto the ice and tried to urge the saber to run. "Diego move it!" She snapped, her angry voice echoing across the water. Sid finally bit down on his tail, which caused Diego to roar and run with Sid across the ice. They dove across the water and collapsed onto the ice, just as  the green creature charged them. It sank back into the water. Sassy breathed a huge sigh of relief and quickly made her way across the ice to them. "You two ok?" She asked, nudging Sid with her head as a sign of concern. Sid seemed to understand and smiled shakily at her and placed his paw on her mane.
"I think so." He looked over and Diego then back at her. Sassy shook her head and trotted up to the tiger, repeating the gesture and nudging her head against his. Diego was still staring at the water, fear in his hazel green eyes. Sassy wasn't as worried as she had been. She and Sid both knew what was going on. It was pretty obvious. She looked over at Manny just in time to see him throw the purple water dweller off his tusks and into the water. Manny huffed and padded back over to them. "What in the animal kingdom was that!?" Sid asked anyone who might have an answer.
"I don't know but from now on, land safe, water...not safe." Diego said and walked away. The other three shrugged and joined him with Ellie and the opossums.
      "That was the bravest thing I've ever seen." Ellie told Manny.
       "It was nothing really I..."
       "Oh it's not a compliment. To a opossum bravery is just dumb." She turned and started to walk away.
      "Yeah we're spineless."
       "Lily liveried." The opossum brothers threw in.
       "Maybe mammoths are going extinct because they put themselves in danger too much. Maybe you should run away more." She advised.
      "Good point. Thanks for the advice!" Manny called sarcastically.
      "Happy to help!" Manny growled under his breath.
      "Can you believe her? 'Bravery is just dumb, maybe you should run away more!" He mocked in a feminine voice. "She's infuriating and stubborn and narrow minded." Sid and Sassy grinned at each other.
      "You like her!" Sid accused.
      "I do not!" Manny denied.
      "Don't worry your secret is safe with us!" Sid called and Sassy laughed. "Oh and yours too." He said to Diego.
      "What secret?"
      "The one where you can't swim." Sassy said and looked the saber right in the eye. He stared back at her for a moment before shaking his head.
      "That's ridiculous." He scoffed.
      "Fine. But we're living in a melting world buddy. You're going to have to face your fear sooner, or later." Sid told him, and marched off. Diego looked off after him and then looked at Sassy. She offered him a kind smile and once again nudged her head against his then trotted off. He knew he had best friends that wouldn't judge him. He just had to get over his pride and admit his problem.