Ice Age: Tale of Man

Summary: What if the trio didn't manage to return Pinky to his family? What dramatic change would this have on not only his life, but the lives of those around him?

Disclaimer: Ice Age belongs to Fox, I own nothing currently.

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"Hurry up, Sid!" Manny called behind him.

"I'm coming!" Sid called as he closely followed his friend. He wasn't very enthusiastic though. It had been a horrible day for him. First he loses a friend, now he was going to lose his baby! Okay, so it wasn't exactly his baby, but he felt like it was his. In the past few days, he had fed him, changed him, cared for him... It was just so hard to say goodbye.

His thoughts were cut off when he crashed into Manny who had suddenly stopped.

"Ow! Hey what gives?" He glanced up at Manny and noticed that he looked almost panicked.

"No, no, no!" He heard him mutter.

"What's up?" Sid looked up and noticed that while they were at Glacier's Pass, they were no humans to be seen. Not only that, but the pass was blocked with snow. "Hey… Where are the humans?"

"Obviously not here, Sid!" Manny snapped back. Sid could hear a mixture of annoyance and panic in his voice and for once he knew why. They' come all this way, lost a good friend and for what?

"Well, they can't be too far!" he said. He waddled up to the snow covered pass and started to dig as he yelled, "Hey! Hey come back! We got your baby! Hey!" But no one replied. Not that they could, after all humans couldn't talk. After his throat started to hurt, Sid stopped digging and turned back to Manny. Manny was frowning as he held Pinky close. Pinky looked between Manny and Sid, confused. He didn't seem to understand that he would never see his family again. Sid tried to fake a smile for him, but failed.

They had failed.

Not only had they failed Pinky, but Diego, who had given his life so Pinky could be reunited with his family. They had failed both of them. Sid looked up at Manny.

"What now?" he asked him. Manny didn't reply. He just set Pinky down as he closed his eyes in sadness. Pinky stared up at them, not understanding what was going on.

Suddenly Pinky laughed happily and began to play peekaboo the way Diego had taught him. Thinking he wanted to play, Sid finally forced a smile as he bent down.

"That's right," he said, the sadness almost tearing at his voice. "Where's the baby?"

"The question is, 'why is the baby still here?'" a familiar voice said from behind him. Sid and Manny turned and their faces lit with happiness when they saw their feline friend.

"Diego!" Sid exclaimed as his whole demeanor brighten. "You're okay!"

"Nine lives, baby!" Diego smirked. Sid ran forward and tackled him in a hug. He even gave him a noogie and a friendly slug. "Oh! You're okay! You're okay! I could kiss you!" He did so and spat some fur that got in his mouth.

Sid and Diego ruffed around until Pinky managed to waddle up to them and hugged Diego, eyes shining with happiness. Diego looked at him, and then shared a look with Manny, who looked away.

"We missed them." He said, answering the unasked question. Diego turned back to Pinky, looking thoughtful.

"The cave," He looked away, looking as if it was his entire fault. "It must have put us a day behind." He looked at Pinky and caught him just as he fell back.

"What's done is done." Manny told him, sympathetically. Sid bent down and picked up the baby.

"Maybe we can track them." He said hopefully.

"In case you missed it, the path is snowed in." Diego told him, scoffing as he did. "And even if we could go around, there's no scent or trail. We'd just be wondering around in circles." Pinky let out a slight cry. Seems it was someone's nap time. Sid let Manny take the baby and rock him in his trunk.

"What now?" he muttered as the child began to fall asleep.

*8*

Three months later, Pinky played in the snow as he watched Sid try and control the other children. Sid seemed to be having a lot of fun in his opinion. Pinky wished he could say the same, but because of his age, no one wanted to play with him. That and the fact that was… "not like them" as one said. Pinky didn't really understand that though, nor did he think about it too long.

He tried to entertain himself by building a snow castle, but it looked more like snow mount. Finally, getting bored with his snow mount, Pinky decided to wander around. Or at least he tried to anyway, but he still had trouble standing for very long.

While wadding around he spotted some of the other kids sliding down a particularly large slide. Remembering how fun it was to slide around in that cave, Pinky decided to give it a try. He had a little trouble getting to the top as his stubby arms didn't have much strength to pull himself up, but somehow he managed to get the top. There, he saw he was pretty high up, but he wasn't afraid. He had been higher before. With an excited giggle he sat on the slide and pushed himself down. As Pinky went spinning down the slide, he shrieked in glee. He shrieked even louder when he was catapulted into the air, completely oblivious of the ground that was quickly closing in. He was about to collide with the ground when familiar brown tusk caught him.

"Whoa! That was close!" he heard his furry guardian say. "I swear! I can't take my eyes off you for one minute!" Pinky laughed joyful as Manny sat him on the ground next to Diego, who gave a quick once over to see if he was hurt.

"I though Sid was supposed to be watching him." He said, slightly irritated. Manny raised an eye brow as the children's laughter caught his attention. Pinky turned and saw the other kids were burying Sid in the ground.

"Found him." The mammoth sighed.

"Yep." The tight agreed as he scooped Junior up with his teeth. They walked over the group, who fringed innocence when Manny called,

"Whoa! Whoa! Who said you could play torture the sloth?"

"Now, now, Manny," Diego said with a cat's grin and set Pinky down. "Don't crush their creativity."

"Hey, Manny! Diego! My bad, mammal, jammals," Sid greeted. "Wanna give a sloth a hand?" Manny helped him and placed him next to Pinky.

"Isn't it great? I finally opened my camp!" He picked the baby up and tickled him making him laugh joyfully. "Now Pinky will have someone to play with! Yes he will!" Then he looked away and moved his hand across the air. "I call it; Campo De Sid! That means Camp of Sid." Pinky heard Diego scoff.

"Congratulations; you're now an idiot in two languages." This earned a giggle from Pinky and a frown from Sid.

"Shh! Not in front of the K-I-D-Z!" he hissed. Pinky tilted his head. He didn't know how to spell, but he was pretty sure that was wrong. "These little guys love me! Right Billy?"

"Don't make me eat you!" Billy responded earning a laugh from the other kids. Sid let a hollow laugh as he shifted Pinky in his arms.

"Aw, they kid! That's why they're called kids."

"Sid, I told you; you're not qualified to watch kids." Manny said in that dead pan tone of his. "You're lucky we let you watch this one." He affectionately patted Pinky's head.

"Oh, since when do qualifications have anything to do with childcare? I mean, look how well I take care of Pinky here!" Sid waved Manny off as he set Pinky down. "Besides, these kids look up to me! They see me as a role model!" Pinky noticed one of the kids tying a vine around Sid's feet, but didn't know what he was doing until another knocked him down.

"I can see that." Diego said. Pinky crawled over to Sid to see if he was okay. He didn't mind Manny or Diego picking on Sid, but he didn't like anyone else doing it.

"Bah?" he said, which was his way of asking if Sid was okay or not. Sid smiled gratefully at him.

"Don't worry, I'm okay." He told him. Then he frowned at the other two members of his herd. "You two never think I can do anything, but I'm an equal member of this heard!" He managed to push himself up to stare Diego and Manny in the eye. "I made this herd! So you need to start treating me with some respect! C'mon, Pinky!" Sid started to bounce away and Pinky waddled after him, know that if nothing else he would play with him.

"Aw, c'mon Sid!"

"Yeah, Sid, we were just joking!" The other two yelled after him, but Sid ignored them.

*8*

As Pinky followed Sid he heard Sid muttering to himself, though he could only make out respect as the sloth struggled to get the vine off his feet. When he fell back finally, Pinky waddled over to him. Sid sighed as their eyes met.

"You're the only one who shows me any amount of respect, little guy." He said. Pinky laughed his usual baby laugh as Sid stared intently at him. "Y'know, you're gonna have ta start learin' to talk if you're going to get along with anyone here." Sid the then flipped himself onto his belly to look Pinky in the eye. "C'mon, repeat after me; Ssss-iiid. Ssss-iiidd!"Pinky watched Sid, confused at first, but then he tried to do the same, instead however he just ended up spitting on the sloth's face. Sid wiped his face.

"Okay, we'll work on it." He said. "Meanwhile, why don't you go play with some of the other kids?" As he said this two ant eaters passed by. "Hey!" he called out to them. "Wanna play with Pinky here?" Pinky waved shyly, but the other two children simply stuck up their noses and walked away. Pinky watched them, before turning away sadly.

"Aw, we don't need them!" Sid said cheerfully as he bounced Pinky in the air. Then he looked thoughtful. "Hm! Looks like we both need to earn some respect around here, but how?" Pinky looked thoughtful as well. "Hm… it's going to have to be something smart and daring…"

*8*

"Okay! I'm gonna jump on the count of three!" Sid yelled to the people below. He and Pinky were up on the highest edge around. Pinky glanced over the ledge and gulped. Even for him this was high. Luckily, Sid had decided to set him down so he wouldn't have to jump with him.

"One… Two…" Sid counted timidly.

"Thwah!" Pinky said helpfully. Sid gave him a flat look.

"Aw, since when can you count?" he scoffed.

"Sid!" Pinky and Sid turned to see Manny and Diego coming towards them. "What are you doing? Get down from there!"

"No way!" Sid said defiantly. "I'm gonna be the first guy to off the ibierator and finally get some respect around here!"

"If you jump, the only respect you're going to have is respect for the dead!" Manny said as he and Diego came up behind him. Pinky didn't hear the rest, for he was entranced by the cliff. He didn't understand it, but in his mind he could see the face of a woman and water. Lots and lots of water. All the sudden Pinky didn't want Sid to jump. He didn't understand why, he just didn't. He let out a sudden cry as Sid finally jumped, but luckily Manny had rushed forward and caught him. Unluckily, the two came sliding back towards him and Diego.

"Hey, watch it!" Diego yelled before he and Pinky were knocked back towards the ice. Diego was of course disgruntled, but Pinky was squealing with joy, always enjoying any type of slide. Until he heard the ice crack that is.

"Hoo?" He barely had time to process what was going on before Diego grabbed him and started racing back towards the others, where he jumped onto Manny's face.

"Uh, Diego? Retract the claws." Manny said as he tapped the tiger slightly.

"H-huh? Oh!" Diego jumped off as he dropped the baby on the ground. "Sorry." He mumbled.

"You know, if I didn't know you better, Diego, I'd say you were afraid of the water!" Sid laughed before Diego growled and grabbed his throat. "Okay! Okay! Good thing I know you better!" he choked.

"Hey guys…" Manny said suddenly. "Fast Tony was right. Everything is melting…" Pinky looked out to where the ice was and saw that it had been replaced with water. He briefly wondered how that happened. Then he noticed how worried his guardians were and became worried in turn.

"It's all going to flood."

'Flood?' Pinky didn't know what that meant, but he knew it couldn't be good. Suddenly he felt Manny grab him. "C'mon, we've gotta warn them."

Why would they need to warn them? Pinky wondered. After all, it was just water. He played in it plenty of times, so why would it do any harm? Suddenly he heard a huge, echoing sound and the ice beneath him and his guardians cracked before sending the heroes falling. The trio screamed as they fell, but Pinky let out a cry of glee, having the time of his infant life.

They landed on a slide Sid had built and started to skid across the water. Pinky went flying out of Manny's grip, but caught by Sid. When they finally stopped a figure that Pinky recognozied as Fast Tony, jumped up.

"You see? This is exactly what I'm talking about!" he proclaimed. "Giant balls of furry lava! The size of mammoths! Raining from the sky!"

"Ah, go suck air through a reed!" an individual called. Suddenly Manny stepped forward.

"You gotta listen to him! He's right about the flood!" he said.

"I am? I mean, uh, yes! I am."

Pinky sorta tuned out after this. He didn't understand what they were going on or what they were saying. What was a flood? And why was Manny scared? Surely, whatever it was he could fight it. After all, he was the biggest guy around.

"Flood's real alright," The baby looked up and cringed slightly when he saw a dark, scary bird that Diego had called a 'vulture.' "And it's coming fast. Look around;" Pinky did so since everyone else was doing it, but still didn't understand. "You're in a bowl. Bowl's gonna fill up. Ain't no way out." People started gasping in fear and Pinky became nervous. "Unless, you can make it to the end of the valley. There's a boat. It can save you."

'Boat?'

"But ya'll better hurry." The bird continued. "Ground's meltin', wall's tumblin', rocks crumblin', survive that and you'll be racin' the water cause in three days' time it's gonna hit the geyser field. BOOM!" Pinky rolled back, startled and Manny picked him up, comfortingly.

"There is some good news though," Pinky looked up. "The more of you die, the better I eat." Everyone looked at him indignantly. "I didn't say it was good news for you." He suddenly approached Pinky, a hungry look in his eye. "There's one in particular that I'm looking forward to eating." He licked his beak and Pinky cuddled closer to Manny, who pulled him away from the man eater and glared protectively. The vulture simply grinned before flying off.

"Uhill! He must have been a joy to have in class." Sid said sarcastically.

Just then they all heard a large crack. They turned towards the ice wall and saw a piece break from it and fall towards them. Everyone ran off to the side and Manny had to shield Pinky from pieces of rumble that flew towards them. Once that was over they all turned towards the wall that was slowly cracking.

Manny set Pinky on top of his head as he turned to the others.

"Alright, you heard the scary vulture, lets move out." He called out. As everyone started to walk away, Diego turned to Manny.

"Manny, you really think there's a boat?" he asked.

"I don't know. But in a few days this place is going to be a mile underwater. If there's any hope, its that way." Pinky blinked, still not understanding what was going on. Why were his guardians so scared? Suddenly he noticed something out the corner of his eye.

"Boo!" He tugged Manny's hair, but when Manny turned all he saw was a large piece of ice.

"Manny!" Diego called. Manny the ice one last look before turning away. Pinky however, continued to stare at it as is rotated in the water. Suddenly it reveal two, frightening looking monsters. With a squeal, Pinky turned away and buried his face in Manny's hair.

"Hey, don't worry, squirt." Manny assured him. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Pinky was so sure about that.

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Okay, I saw the trailer for the new Ice Age Movie, and I got a little nostalgic, so I started searching for some 'what if fics' and noticed that there were none about the trio having to raise Pinky, so in honor of the 4th movie I figured I'd give it a shot.

So, tell me what you think and you would like see happen through the story, and if anyone can tell me about how 12months babies act, and such I'd appreciate it.

Review!