Ice Age: The Next Generation

Mammoth Monthly

AN: The picture above is the wolf twins
Laila and Ylva

That evening Sassy and Denali finally made an appearance around the campfire, where Crash and Eddie made cat calls, Manny, Sid and Diego snickered, and Buck leaned on his knife with a smirk, his one eye glinting with humor. Sassy glared at her whole herd and rounded up her pups, sending the opossum brothers a silent threat if they didn't shush. The females were the only ones that didn't give the couple trouble about spending the day in the cave. Shira came up to Sassy and whispered something in her ear. Sassy's jaw dropped and she looked down at Freya, who was laying innocently at her paws. She looked up at her mother, eyes ice blue and gave a smile. Sassy made a mental note to throttle Buck later.
"Well now that everyone is together, Jullian and I have exciting news!" Peaches said, her face glowing with happiness as she wrapped her trunk around her husband's, who was grinning dopily. "We're pregnant! I'm gonna have a baby!" The herd whooped with joy. Manny and Ellie were fighting back tears as everyone swooped in to congratulate the expecting young couple. Sassy and Diego nuzzled their niece in unison as she hugged them both with her trunk and the kittens and pups pranced around joyfully under their feet.
"We're gonna have another play mate!!" Rose cried happily.
"As if we don't already have enough." Freya snarked, even though she was happy as well. The babies soon forgot about the grownups and started tackling each other, playing while the celebration continued on.
"Can you believe she's pregnant? It seems like just yesterday we were helping deliver her!" Diego said to Sassy and the wolf laughed.
"Ellie did the brunt work but you're right. Our little Peaches grew up fast."
"I promised myself I wouldn't cry!" Crash wailed as Eddie blubbered into his brother's tail. Brooke hugged Peaches trunk gleefully.
"Oh you must let me do your baby shower!" She said, her British lilt prominent.
"What's a baby shower?" Shira asked suspiciously.
"It's a tradition that Brooke and I invented!" Sid said, wrapping his arm around his mate's waist. "Whenever one of the herd gets pregnant, we'll throw a baby shower to celebrate! Everyone is expected to bring gifts for the baby and mother and lots of food!" Sassy arched a brow and she and Shira exchanged a look.
"We never got one of these."
"Neither did Ellie. I think we're owed something." Sassy smirked.
"What exactly are you girls owed?" Denali asked hesitantly. Diego winced.
"Man, don't ask questions, you're going to give them ideas." Ellie joined in with the girls.
"I think the rule should be that the men have to plan the baby showers." Sassy laughed so hard she stumbled.
"I would say yes but we know they would turn out to be disastrous parties."
"Hey!" Came the unison, indignant chorus from the men. A wicked grin appeared on Sassy's face and Denali and Diego both took a collective step back.
"How about the men have to clean up the party? And I mean clean up everything." Shira and Ellie smirked and Brooke clapped her paws.
"I love it! We'll start planning right away! The bigger the better!"
"Whoa don't we get a say in this?" Manny asked, Jullian wisely keeping quiet beside his father-in-law.
"No." Came the unison reply. Sassy looked at her pups and the kittens.
"Let this be an early lesson to you boys. Women are always right."
"We already knew that Aunt Sassy." Chase said.
"Yeah dad told us that last time mom won an argument. He said it would save us a lot of grief."
"I'm glad to see you're teaching them correctly." Shira teased her mate, licking his cheek. Diego blushed but gave her a soft smile.
"Hope you teach Rorik and Haken the same wise lesson." Sassy said as she walked past her husband, flicking her tail across his face. Denali growled low in his throat. As this was all going on, Rorik and Freya were organizing an elaborate escape. Freya nudged Ylva, Laila and Haken and Rorik nipped Rose's ear, getting her attention. She squealed and batted at her ear, barely catching him by the back of the head.
"What!?" She hissed.
"Get Chase and Rocky and follow us." Rorik said, mischief glinting in his icy eyes. Rose held back a giggle and gathered her brothers. Together, the eight baby predators sneaked off, keeping low to the ground and scampering away before their parents could see. Sassy however, had witnessed the entire thing out of the corner of her eye. She held back a smirk as she scooted over to Buck.
"Follow the kids. Don't let them see you though." Buck grinned at her.
"No problem wolf, stealth is my middle name."
"Well watch out for Freya and Rorik, those two have incredibly sharp noses." She narrowed her eyes at Buck. "And what's this about my daughter knowing what sex is?" Buck's confidant facade quickly faded and he chuckled nervously.
"Ah ya' know kids these days Sassygirl, they hear all kinds a things." He grinned sheepishly and then swung away before she could catch him. Sassy shook her head in amusement and returned to the herd's conversation. In the woods, the pups and kittens giggled at their escape as they wove their way through the underbrush.
"Told you we'd make it!" Rorik taunted at Chase, who was emphatic that they'd never make it twenty feet. Chase rolled his eyes and trudged along, refusing to admit he'd been wrong. Ylva and Laila were busy tackling each other and Rocky was showing off his new tracking skills to Freya, who remained unimpressed. Haken was nosing a berry bush, trying to ascertain whether or not they were poisonous. Rose scampered off into a thicket and then hollered back to the group.
"Guys there's a cave over here!" That drew everyone's attention. The band of little predators followed Rose through the thicket and emerged on the other side. Sure enough, a large cave loomed ahead of them, showing no sign of having any other occupants. Rorik leaped ahead, pouncing on Rose as he did so, earning a surprised yelp and an angry hiss as she bared her little fangs at him. He snorted a laugh and trotted toward the entrance.
"Come on! Let's look inside and see if there are any ghosts!" Ylva shied away.
"I don't know Rorik."
"Yeah. What if there's something in there?" Laila agreed.
"What's the matter? You scared?" Rocky taunted.
"No!" Came the unison reply from the twins.
"Then move your tails! Let's explore!" Rorik called and bounced into the cave. Freya sniffed the air cautiously as she brought up the rear of their little pack.
"Wait. I smell something." Rorik looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes.
"You always have to be the buzzkill don't you Freya?" Freya narrowed her sharp eyes on her brother. "You're probably just smelling an old scent of a bear that used to live here or something. Stop worrying!" Haken was sniffing around too .
"Rorik I think she's right. The scent is too strong, someone must live here." Rorik growled.
"You're all a bunch of babies! When else are we gonna have a chance to explore when mom and dad aren't hov-," He stopped mid-sentence and gasped. His eye were as wide as walnuts and he was focused on the cave entrance. Freya saw a shadow cover most of the light streaming in and she spun around, seeing a large, angry, hungry grizzly bear. It roared, the sound echoing off the walls and imploding in Freya's sensitive ears. The pups and kittens cried out in terror and she couldn't help but whine in fear herself.
"Everybody run!" Chase yelled and they all charged at once, running as fast as they could through the bear's hind legs and out of the cave. The bear wheeled around and lunged for them.
"Scatter!" Rorik ordered and little balls of fur went in every direction. The bear zoned in on one and a massive paw slammed on the kitten's tail. Rose screamed and scrambled to get out of the bear's reach. Rorik flipped around when he heard Rose's scream and terror filled him.
"Rose!!" He screamed and ran at the bear full speed, not even comprehending what he was doing. Her brother's were right coming from different directions to attack as well, wanting to protect their little sister. Before either of the kittens or the pup could reach the bear, a war cry came from the trees and Buck swung in on a vine, launching himself at the grizzly and landing with a smack on its head. The bear roared and batted a paw over its head, knocking Buck off, who took a defensive stance in front of a now cornered and cowering Rose.
"Ya want a piece of this gal, ya gotta go through me ta get her!" He challenged and swung his knife at the bear's face, making contact. The bear howled in pain and then snapped at Buck with wide jaws and sharp teeth. Buck nimbly dodged the open maw and swung again, this time catching the bear's ear and taking a chunk off. The bear roared angrily and stumbled back, whining slightly as blood poured from the ear wound. By then he'd probably figured the little kitten wasn't worth losing another body part, so it stumbled back off into the woods. Buck was grinning wildly and bent down to wipe the blood from his knife in the grass. Then he placed the knife down and knelt beside his shaking niece.
"Ya alright there Rosie girl?" Rose lifted her head from under her paws to look at the weasel, green eyes shimmering with tears.
"Yes Uncle Buck." She whispered. Rorik breathed a sigh of relief and Chase and Rocky hurried to their sister's side, whispering comforting words to her and letting her nuzzle into them while she calmed down. The pups joined Rorik on the sidelines as Buck approached, knife resting lazily on his shoulder.
"How did you know where we were?" Rorik asked. Buck didn't even try to hide his grin.
"Ah your mum saw you kids sneak away an' told me ta follow you in case ya got into any trouble. Turns out she was right." Rorik snorted but didn't say anything. He should've known better than to think he could outsmart his mother. She was going to kill him for this little stunt when they got home. "But ya know, we could just keep this 'ere little mess between us an' your parents wouldn't haveta know a thing about it. Whaddaya say kids?" He looked over his shoulder at the kittens, who nodded urgently. They didn't want Diego and Shira to know about this anymore than the pups want their parents to. Rorik exhaled loudly and nodded.
"Alright. But she's still gonna kill me." Buck chuckled dryly.
"You an' me both." He muttered.