Ice Age 6 Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

PLANS AND NEW MEMBERS

SWITCHBACK COVE FOREST. INSIDE THE WOODS.

TIME: ALMOST MIDNIGHT.

Sitting near the now frozen lake under the shining moonlight were Cheril and Roshan. The teenage boy had his arm around Cheril's shoulders as the young human girl snuggled close to him. The snow continued falling and they knew it would be a frigid night, but living in a frozen world had its advantages. Since they had fur coats, nothing could freeze them and they even had warm hearts to keep the cold out. At that moment, all was well and there was nothing to bother them.

Cheril sighed, placing her head on Roshan's chest. "I can't sleep at all. I've been too worried about the future."

Roshan sighed, holding Cheril tighter. "You're not the only one that has those thoughts. I'm a lot more concerned about the past, though."

"About what?"

"About my father. What if it is my fault?"

"What are you talking about? The loss of your father is not your fault."

"Yes, it is."

"No, it's not. When are you gonna start listening to somebody else and understand what is your fault and what isn't?"

Roshan released Cheril and stood up. He walked over to the frozen lake. The ice was still thin enough to punch a hole in. That's exactly what Roshan did as he slammed his fist through the ice and used his hands to splash a bunch of cold water on his face. Breathing deeply, be looked at his hand and saw a bunch of cuts. He did his best to hide them as Cheril walked over to him. She placed a hand on his shoulder. He sighed. "How can I not say it was my fault?"

"Because it wasn't," Cheril said.

"You don't understand."

"I do understand."

"Do you not remember the argument I had with my father? I pushed him down and almost hurt him. What kind of a son would do that to his own father? That was one of our last moments. Our last moment. This was something I was not expecting. I wasn't expecting to lose him like this. Our last moment was the worst moment of my life."

"True, but you both did have other great memories together. I'm sure he was a lot better than Kai's father was."

"But a last moment with someone you care for the most is everything."

"Roshan, I lost a lot of people I knew years ago and I didn't have any last moment memories with any of them. What happened to people I once knew was unexpected. I didn't have time to think about that. All I could do was run."

"He was killed. On my birthday. The day where I turned to the age in becoming a man. I haven't fully became a man, though."

"Killing a mammoths does not prove your manhood. What proves your manhood is the moment when you start acting like a man. Right now, you're acting like a little kid. I'm sorry I have to be rude, but things are different now. You have to learn to let go of the past so you can have a future. I know the past wasn't that long ago, but you get what I'm saying. Remember the moments you had with him that were special. Not the ones that you think should be special."

Roshan knew that what he said made him sound dumb. He sighed, walking over to Cheril and kissing her forehead. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Just don't freak out like that again. I know it's hard to accept the fact that your father is gone, but you're just grieving right now."

"I'm not grieving."

"Yes, you are. I know it's not showing on the outside, but on the inside the tears are shedding from your heart. You care about him as much as your mother cared about the both of you. I know you don't remember her, but at least she and your father are together again. Isn't that something to be happy about?"

"Of course it is." Roshan looked out at the horizon. "I know one day I'll be with the both of them again."

"Let's hope that's not for a long, long time. You still have a lot of years ahead of you." Cheril walked over to give Roshan a hug.

"I do, don't I?" Roshan hugged back, holding Cheril tight. "So what do you think of us as now? Are we still best friends?"

"I think we're more than that. Just a little bit. I've always had feelings for you, Roshan. I just never thought it would come down to this."

"What are you talking about?"

"A storm is on its way to take everything we know and love away from us."

"Hasn't it already done that?"

"Well, yeah, but it's getting stronger by the minute. Everything that's happening now has come down to this."

"We'll figure something out, Cheril. We can't lose hope. Like you said before. There a way to stop this storm. We just have to figure out what."

"Let's see." Cheril looked up at the sky. "Where did Buck say exactly where the storm was happening again?"

"How should I know? He never told us."

"I think I recall him saying something about a geyser."

"You mean the geyser shooting up red and purple clouds everywhere?" A voice from up in the trees was heard from above them. The two humans looked to see that it was Buck smiling down at them. "That's exactly what it is. The question is this. How do you eliminate clouds from shooting up into the sky?"

"Probably the same way you eliminate them in the sky?" Roshan asked, "How should we know? We don't know how it happened. We just think it's bad juju."

"Well, I believe it's time to meet some friends of mine." Buck placed his finger on top of Roshan and Cheril's heads and sent them inside his mind.

This frightened Cheril as she held onto Roshan. "Uh, Buck, where did you send us to?"

"You are in my brain," Buck said, walking over to them.

"Dude, it's freezing in here," Roshan said.

"It's probably cold because he's got an empty mind," Cheril said.

They both heard someone clearing their throat. Standing next to them all was none other than Neil de Buck weasel. "Hello there. I believe we have an educational theory to predict will happen."

"What the heck is he talking about?" Roshan asked.

"Who is he, anyway?" Cheril asked.

"That there is the famous astrophysicist Neil de Buck weasel," Buck said, "He knows the clouds."

"So how do we get rid of them?" Roshan asked.

"Well, according to scientific research, the best way to eliminate clouds from the atmosphere, including rain clouds, are a light source called lasers," Neil de Buck said, "Although they do not exist in your time period, we can use other strong forces of light to disperse the rain clouds from the sky, thus saving the world."

"Okay so what should we use instead?"

"Allow me to explain that," said Pythagoras Buck, roaming in with his toga on.

"Oh, Pythagoras Buck," Buck said, "He knows everything about your time period."

"What if we use shiny objects to shine into the sky? That way, the rain clouds will float apart from each other long enough for the Sun to arrive and finish the job."

"May I state the conclusion?" said robotic Buck, rolling into the room.

"I think each weasel in Buck's head is from every time period," Cheril said.

"You think?" Roshan asked.

"In conclusion, if we can use both direct light from the Earth and the Sun, it will throw the storm off course," Robotic Buck said.

"And this is how we will stop the storm," Neil de Buck said as a crowd of Roman weasels applauded him for his magnificent theory.

Soon they were all out of the depths of Buck's head. Cheril gave the weasel a stern look. "First of all, don't ever do that again when I'm around."

"Second of all, I believe we have found our solution, right?" Roshan asked Buck.

"Right you are, human boy," Buck said, "The only way to eliminate powerful darkness is by using a powerful source of light."

"So what all creates light?" Cheril asked.

"Well, there's fire," Roshan said.

"That's a start," Buck said, "Just think of everything you know that can create a powerful source of light. We need as much as we can get our hands on. Can I count on you both to help save the island?"

Roshan and Cheril looked at each other for a moment and nodded at Buck. Roshan shook his paw. "You can count on us, Buck."

"Excellent. You have until tomorrow morning to give me a list. Time is of the essence."

"Don't we know it," Cheril said.

"Guys!" Ellie shouted, running towards the two humans and Buck by the lake. She stopped to catch her breath. "Thank goodness I found you two."

"Ellie, what is it?" Cheril walked up to the female mammoth.

"It's Shira. She's about to have the cubs."

"Uh, oh."

"In the middle of a natural catastrophe?" Buck shouted, "They can't be coming now!"

"Buck, childbirth is not easy," Ellie said, "We need to help her now."

Cheril nodded her head. "Okay. You head back and help the others. I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay, see you then." With that, Ellie ran back to the cave with the rest of the herd.

Cheril placed her attention on Roshan. "Keep the guys calm. I shouldn't be long."

"Do what you gotta do," Roshan said, kissing her on the forehead, "Make sure to help Elphina."

"I will." Cheril started running to the cave.

Roshan sighed. "Let's go, Buck."

"You really like her, don't you?" Buck asked.

"Well, it finally took a cold night to show the both of us how we felt with one another."

"Well, it is cold."

Roshan chuckled. "Come on, Buck. The other guys are waiting."

It was only the middle of the night. The guys were still awake, waiting for the girls and Diego to give the news as to how Shira was doing and how many cubs she had. Well, the possum twins and Kai were still sound asleep. Buck was sitting up in the tree, carving something from wood. Manny was keeping a lookout in case the Mammal Gang were sitting around, waiting to ambush them. Sid was sitting against a tree eating berries. Alejandro was pacing back and forth with worry. No surprise there. His daughter was literally giving birth for crying out loud. The dino birds were sitting in the tree. Gertie and Roger were asleep while Gavin was waiting for someone to come out of the cave to tell them the cubs had been born. Julian was sitting next to Roshan while the young boy was sitting there, thinking about what happened just a half hour ago between him and Cheril.

Julian knew something was bothering him. He scooched over a bit closer. "Is everything okay?"

"What?" Roshan asked, looking up at the young mammoth.

"Well, you're just sitting there lost in thought. I figured you had something on your mind."

Roshan sighed. "Julian, how did you meet Peaches?"

"It was kind of weird, actually. I was just wandering through the peach tree fields and I was just about to take a peach off the tree. I felt another trunk on mine and looked to see Peaches. Gosh, in my mind, I was thinking this exact thought- what a beautiful mammoth she is. We kind of got to rambling on with each other about her taking the peach because I insisted that she take it, but she insisted that I take it and we spent like a whole minute doing that. Then we just smiled and took half of it. It was awesome, but not as awesome as Peaches was."

"What happened after that?"

"We parted ways and went to do everyday normal things. We saw each other three weeks later at a fruit stand and get this. We were right next to the peaches and was trying to grab the same peach."

"Well, that's strange."

"I know. So then we got to talking and we ended up getting to know each other a lot more than we thought in just two hours. Then I finally asked her if she wanted to hang out Friday night and she said yes. We hung out as friends for a while before we became an item. And the next thing you know, she became my beautiful wife."

"Well, have you ever had the feeling that you like this girl and she likes you back but you're just not sure whether or not you should be together?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I like Cheril and I know she likes me back. Just a couple of hours ago, we kissed over by the lake. Our first kiss. Do you think that we shouldn't be together even if we like each other? I say that because this storm is about to hit and I don't wanna rush into a relationship that won't even last long since this storm may cause mayhem. If we don't end it, then there won't be a future."

"Hey, don't talk like that. We're gonna end this and we'll all have a future. Besides, this may be your only chance to show Cheril how you truly feel about her. Sometimes great moments can be your last."

Roshan smiled at Julian. He then frowned. "Do you still think we should be together? Even if this storm is about to hit?"

"Of course. If you love her, then you need to be with her."

Roshan nodded. "Thanks. Say, how come you're nice to me but you're not nice to Kai?"

Julian sighed. "I don't know. I really do need to talk to him, though. If a simple apology would do, I would give him one in a heartbeat."

"I know you would. Maybe you might be able to talk to him tomorrow."

"I hope so." Deep down inside, Julian felt horrible for what he said to Kai and really did want to make it up to him. He just had to figure out how.

Meanwhile, Alejandro continued pacing around, worry growing into him as he could imagine how much pain his daughter was in. Manny was starting to get annoyed with his constant pacing. "Alejandro, you need to stop going back and forth. It's driving me crazy."

"I can't help it," Alejandro said, "My daughter is in there giving birth. The least I should do is be in there with her and at least do something to help."

"She has Diego in there helping her. Don't you trust him?"

"Of course I trust him. I have since the moment I met him. It's just that I haven't seen my daughter in years and throughout that whole time, I feel like she left me because she always thought I was a bad father."

"Well, did you do anything to make her think that?"

Alejandro sighed. "Years ago, I lost my wife to humans. Shira was pretty much all I had. I knew I had a purpose to move on and had the greatest responsibility of them all. To protect, care for and love my daughter. I taught her everything she needed to know about being a saber. She was always a fast learner. We spent a lot of time together when she was younger. As time passed by, she was a grown teenage saber and you know how feisty teenage girls can get. Shira had met some new saber friends that she wanted to hang out with and when I met them, they were all prissy and spoiled brats. No way was I gonna let my daughter hang around those types of felines. I even told her that, but then we ended up getting into an argument. Then it went to where she told me that I never get to let her do anything she wants and I told her that I'm just being a father and was trying to protect her. She said she hated me and wished that I wasn't her father and that's when these two sabers from another pack came and tried to attack us so they could take my little girl away. I told Shira to run and that was the last time I ever saw her. I took care of those sabers, but my main priority was getting my daughter back. I searched for so long, but she was nowhere to be found. Years later, I met Diego. We were both hunting the same gazelle. We talked for awhile and I found out that he was my daughter's husband. Not that I knew she was married or anything. I told him I wanted to see her, and he said that I should make a surprise entrance to see her at her baby shower. I told him that I would do it and that was how we reunited."

"So what brought back up that worry?"

"I haven't been able to talk to her about what happened. I feel guilty about the past and want to make up for it. Also, I feel like she still hates me. What if my grandchildren hate me?"

"Don't talk like that. I'm sure Shira still loves you. Don't worry. Your grandchildren will love you."

"I hope you're right." Alejandro sighed and sat down, trying to calm his nerves.

A half hour later, Ellie and Brooke walked outside, looking at all the boys. The two teenage dino birds woke up as well as Kai and the possum twins. They all walked up to the girls. Alejandro was the first to speak. "Well, is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Alejandro," Ellie said, "Shira's okay and so are your new grandchildren."

"Congratulations!" Brooke exclaimed, "You are now a grandfather to three beautiful cubs. Two boys and a beautiful girl."

"Can we see them?" Manny asked.

"You sure can," Ellie said as she and Brooke led the boys inside the cave.

Everyone was now inside to see Diego and Shira with three little bundles of joy with them. One of the boys looked just like his father, lying there and sleeping like a cute furry pumpkin. The other boy was orange as well, but had orange stripes on his back. He looked mostly like a tiger, except he had small little fangs. The baby girl cub looked a lot like her mother, but in the most cutest way possible. The two parents smiled at their children. They couldn't have been happier.

"They're perfect in every way," Shira said, "I wouldn't replace these little cubs with any other babies."

"The best little litter I've ever seen," Diego said, "I can't believe it. We're finally parents. We've started our own little family."

"They are too adorable," Peaches said, "I can't resist their cuteness." She placed her head against Julian's, who was happy to be feeling some sort of affection from her.

Ellie smiled. "Congratulations, you two."

"I'll be honest," Elphina said, "I've never assisted a female saber in childbirth before, but it's not as different as a human enduring through it. Looks like you got that homebirth you've been wanting, Shira."

"It didn't really feel like one to me," Shira said, "It just felt like a normal birth with the people I love surrounding me."

Alejandro walked up to take a look at his new grandchildren. "Shira, I may have been a terrible father, but I promise that I will be a much better grandfather."

"What do you mean you were a terrible father?"

"After what happened when you had to run so I could protect you from those sabers. I figured what appended before that, you said that you hated me."

"Daddy, that was all in the past. I will admit that I regret everything I said. I'm sorry for what happened then. I was just being a spoiled brat. I just wanna know if you'll forgive me."

"Of course I forgive you. Do you forgive me?"

Shira giggled. "Of course, Daddy." The two shared a loving father daughter embrace.

Once they came apart, Alejandro looked at his grandchildren. "So what are you gonna name these little guys?"

"Well, this little guy looks a lot like Diego, so I was thinking that we should name him after his father."

"I love that," Diego said, "Diego Jr. It has a nice ring to it. We'll call him Junior, though. Just to tell me and him apart."

"Sounds good to me," Shira said, "What about our other son?"

"Well, he's a mixture of you and me. He's got stripes on his back and he's got my fur color. I think we should call him Stripes."

"That name suits him well."

Diego stared at his wife. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"What do you think we should name our pretty little flower?"

"Oh. Well, when you say flower, it makes me think of the snow belles that bloom when the beginning of winter comes around. And she's as pretty as snow. And she's beautiful. Her name will be Snow Belle."

"I love it."

"Congratulations, you two," Ellie said.

"Well, it seems my work here is done," Elpina said, "I believe we all need to get some sleep while we still can. I need to talk to the Elders."

"Come on, everyone," Manny said, "Let's give the sabers some space."

While Diego and Shira went ahead and got ready for bed, he looked over at Diego one last time before exiting the cave. He looked over at Sid and Manny. His memories never lie. He knew the three males well enough to see that they were the ones that rescued him in the past. If only he could show them that they are.

SORRY IT TOOK FOREVER TO UPDATE, BUT I'M BACK. WELL, THE CUBS HAVE BEEN BORN. HOORAY!

AS OF NOVEMBER 12th, I HAVE BEEN ON FANFICTION FOR THREE YEARS. YEP. I'VE BEEN AT THIS FOR THAT LONG.

ALSO, TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY. AWESOME! I DECIDED TO HELP MYSELF BY POSTING A NEW CHAPTER FOR THIS STORY.

HOPE YOU ENJOY IT.

PLEASE REVIEW.