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

Chapter Four: The Girl For Manny

Sassy looked up in surprise when she heard rumbling. The opossums were rolling down a steep hill in a log, which was halted by a tree. Ellie rolled on behind them, the tree not stopping her.
"No brakes gotta roll! Meet ya at the other end!" She yelled over her shoulder. Diego came up next to Sassy and they both looked over as Manny started to speak.
"So you really think she's the girl for me?" He questioned.
"Oh yeah. She's tons of fun and you're no fun at all." Sid declared. "She completes you."
"Hey! Hey Manny! Can you pull back the tree and shoot me into the pond?" Crash asked after he and Eddie had emerged from the log, falling on their faces like they were drunk.
"No."
"Oh come on." Crash pleaded.
"Now how do you expect to impress Ellie with that attitude?" Sid inquired.
"I don't wanna impress her!"
"Then why are you trying so hard to convince her she's a mammoth?"
"Because that's what she is!" Manny said harshly. "I don't care if she thinks she's a opossum. You can't be two things."
"Oh contraire my friend. Tell that to the bullfrog, the chicken hawk and the turtle dove." Sid said.
"He's never gonna let up on you." Sassy said.
"It'll be easier on all of us if you just go with it." Diego finished. Manny groaned and walked up to Crash.
"So...what do ya want me to do?"
"Pull back the tree and shoot me into the pond!" Crash said excitedly, scampering up the tree.
"I don't know." Manny said warily.
"Well if you're too lame to do it, we can get Ellie." Crash said casually.
"No no no I can do it." Manny wrapped his trunk around the tree and pulled back on it.
"Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah!"
"Have you done this before?"
"Ha! Only about a million times! Farther farther!" Manny pulled the tree all the way to the ground. "Perfect. Fire!!" Manny released the tree and sent Crash rocketing through the air. He flew towards the pond, whooping the entire way...until crashing face first into a tree. Eddie gasped in horror.
"Crash!!" He yelled and went scampering down the hill.
"Oh no." Manny said and the herd went after him. When they arrived Ellie glared at him.
"What's wrong with you!?"
"He said he could do it!"
"And...you listened to him." The female stated.
"Crash whatever you do, don't go into the light!" Eddie panicked, shaking his limp brother.
"Can I help in anyway here?" Manny asked. Ellie looked over at him.
"You've done enough." Manny turned to Sid, Diego and Sassy and glared at the three.
"Are you happy now?" Sassy shook her head as they listened to Eddie cry over his brother.
"Why do I get the feeling that opossum is harder to kill than that?" She murmured to Diego. Suddenly at the mention of a dung patch Crash's head shot up and the two went crazy.
"As usual, your instincts are accurate." Diego said flatly and they stared at Ellie as she laughed with her brothers then looked at them sheepishly.
"What can I say? They're boys! They make my life a little adventure!" She chuckled nervously then glared over at the brothers. "You guys are so dead! That's for embarrassing me!" She stalked over to them and the herd winced at the wrath of the angry sister. That evening as they trudged on, they entered a section of woods where logs covered the path. For Diego and Sassy it was easy to get around them, they just leaped from log to log but Manny had to move them to make his and Sid's way through. Crash and Eddie went scampering by, playing tag with Ellie who ran after them playfully. Sassy caught Manny looking at her, and she and Diego jumped down to sit on the ground.
"She's not half bad you know." Manny turned to them, a long log in his trunk and the predators ducked to avoid getting hit. Sid however was unceremoniously smacked by the swinging log and fell to the ground. "Crazy and confused but...sweet." Diego said.
"So?" The log went back again and they once again ducked, and it once again smacked Sid in the head.
"So what's holding you back?" Sassy asked gently. Manny threw the log aside and sighed.
"My family." He picked up another log and Sid popped out of the end.
"You can have it again you know." Manny glowered at him.
"No Sid. I can't." He started to toss the log away and Sid yelled.
"Okay okay okay! But think about it this way. If you let this chance go you're letting your whole species down! That's....that's just....selfish!" The log went flying into the air, the sloth screaming all the way. Diego and Sassy walked over to the log. "I think I'm starting to get through to him!" Sid's voice muffled through the wood. Sassy chuckled and Diego shook his head. They pulled the sloth out and continued up the path. Sassy looked behind her to see where Manny had gone and her ears perked up in pleasure.
"Hey! Guys!" She hissed and the boys turned to look her way. Manny was currently following Ellie down a willow boarded path. Sassy looked over at them and Diego and Sid smiled knowingly. They continued on their way and Sid ran ahead of the predators to start a fire since they were bedding down for the night. "I hope things go well between the two of them. This tension is killing us." Sassy said. Diego snickered in agreement.
"By goes well you mean you hope Manny doesn't say anything stupid." Sassy shoved the saber to the side and Diego chuckled. "Come on. We all know Manny isn't exactly a Casanova."
"Neither are you tiger so don't go picking on poor Manny. I'm telling ya someday when you find a mate this is all gonna come back and bite you in the rear." Sassy said, eyeing Diego. He rolled his eyes.
"Already told you Sassy I seriously doubt I'll find a mate. This whole thing has proved females are too much trouble." When it had dawned on him what he had just said, Diego halted and his eyes went wide. He braved a look at the former wolf alpha and found a look of murder in her amber eyes. He gulped. Sassy smirked evilly and circled the tiger slowly.
"Just because you're my best friend doesn't mean I won't hesitate to teach you a lesson." She threatened. She stopped in front of him and chuckled lowly. "But this particular lesson is one that'll have to be taught by another female. And when that time comes, I will enjoy ever second of watching you trip over yourself and bend to the will of a female." She turned and trotted off, her long, bushy tail flicking him in the nose. She laughed to herself as she walked along without him. Diego was in for a shock one of these days. And by Jove she couldn't wait for that day. Later that evening Sassy returned to the campfire and laid down opposite the tiger and sloth. Sassy yawned and rested her head on her paws, ready to call it a night, except within fifteen minutes Manny padded over to the group, looking sheepish. Sassy raised her head.
"So, how did it go?" Diego questioned.
"Um....not bad." Just then Ellie came stomping by, Crash and Eddie on her back. Her foot landed in a puddle, dousing the fire with a hiss. Sassy looked at the smoldering embers then up at Manny.
"Could've fooled me."
"Okay lets go. We tracked with you all day, now you're coming with us at night." Ellie ordered.
"But...we can't see at night." Manny attempted.
"Then enjoy the flood." Ellie stomped off, and Crash and Eddie turned up their noses.
"I can't even look at you right now."
"Pervert!" Manny wheeled back at the insult and Sassy, Diego and Sid all looked at each other.
"I don't know what he said, but it must've been really bad." Sassy said and the boys nodded.
"Makin friends. Everywhere you go just makin friends." Sid commented. They followed the angry female down the path and into a foggy patch with rocks standing up on all sides. Sassy watched as Manny attempted several times to talk to Ellie, only for her to have her brothers tell him to buzz off. They continued walking until the ground crumbled beneath them and they were left standing on narrow, pivoting slices of rock that were balanced on each other. Sassy fell onto the second level of rock and spread her legs out for balance. Manny and Ellie paced frantically above.
"Stop moving!" Diego shouted and they stopped, the rocks balancing out. "Thank you." The tiger sighed. No sooner had he said it than the rocks started to crumble again. The platform above Sassy split and Diego dangled off the edge by his claws. "Manny! Ellie! Lock trunks!" Diego ordered. The mammoths hesitated. "Now!" The Saber roared. They did so, holding the two sides of the rock together. "Crash! Eddie! Grab onto that ledge!" The opossums looked down at the gaping hole below them and nervously chuckled.
"Funny! Now what's your real plan?"
"Just do it!" Came the snarling reply.
"Bye Crash."
"Bye Eddie! Bye Ellie!" The opossums dramatized.
"Do it now!" Diego yelled. They grabbed the ledge, which stopped the rotating rocks.
"Listen. I'm sorry...if what I said before offended you!" Manny tried to reconcile with Ellie. The she-mammoth balked.
"What do you mean if!?" The rocks shook at the movement, dislodging Crash's hold on the rock ledge.
"THAT it offended her! THAT it offended her!" He yelled as he dangled by his tail.
"THAT! That it offended you!" The rocks stabilized again. "You just over reacted, that's all."
"WHAT!?!?"Ellie yelled, completely trying to dislodge their hold on each other.
"Wait a minute....he's got a point!" Sid declared.
"He's got nothing!" Crash challenged.
"It was a misunderstanding!" Sid insisted.
"It was insensitive!"
"Apologize!" Sassy yelled.
"Why me!? She overreacted!" Manny objected.
"Just apologize!" Diego ordered.
"No!"
"Do it!!"
"Okay! I'm sorry!" Ellie said.
"What!?" Came the unison reply from all animals.
"He's right. I overreacted." She conceded.
"You mean you were....."
"Not another word or I'll come down there and push you over myself!" Diego threatened Manny.
"I second that just shut up already!" Sassy yelled from below, her paws sliding on the rocks. Sid reached for the ledge as it came around and toppled off onto it. The action caused the rocks to be unbalanced which started the whole thing to tumble. Sassy gasped and grabbed Crash and Eddie in her mouth and raced across the rock, leaping onto the ledge.
"Manny Ellie! Run!" Diego yelled. They did so, Diego hoisting himself up and running across after them. The mammoths made it to the ledge and Diego dove for the platform, falling short. Manny and Ellie reached out and caught him by the forelegs with their trunks. Sassy breathed a sigh of relief.
"I guess we finally did something right together." Ellie commented softly.
"Hey don't mind me, just hanging off the edge of a cliff here heh heh." Diego said. They pulled him up and everyone was safe. They decided to once again stop for the night now that everything was okay between the two mammoths again. Sid made another fire and Diego and Sassy laid down, exhausted as Sid pulled a large piece of bark over to them.
"Ah remember the good old days?" He asked. The predators raised their heads.
"Which good old days?" Sassy asked.
"Oh you know. Yesterday, the day before. Back when the trees went up and down and the ground stayed under our feet.
"Yup. Those were the good days. Opossums were opossums and mammoths were mammoths. We should get some sleep." Diego said.
"Yeah tomorrow's the day the vulture says we're all gonna die!" Sid said, then promptly passed out. Sassy and Diego looked at each other and chuckled. Sassy curled into a ball, tucking her nose into her tail. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.