Disclaimer: I do not own any thing from the Croods.

Who'd Have Thunk It

Thunk was bad at a lot of things but he was also good at some things. He was a good son who followed rules. He was good at being a friend to Guy. He was good at playing games. But the thing he was best at was taking care of pets.

At first, Thunk didn't really understand the idea of having a pet when he and his family met Guy and Belt. The idea was new to him, taking care of an animal instead of killing it and eating it. Yet, Belt did nothing to harm the family like the other animals around did. Belt stayed out of the way even if Gran did try to eat him a couple times, he didn't fight back. Soon, Thunk noticed that Belt was following Sandy around after his father got rid of the log. Belt and Sandy seemed to have made friends with each other. After seeing this new friendship grow, Thunk had to wonder if there were more animals like Belt out there.

Eventually, the family came to the rock maze and Guy said they should split up to get through faster. While Thunk was up for it, his father wasn't which made him confused on who was right. Unfortunately, Thunk didn't get a chance to figure it out for himself because 'the end' had decided to attack him and the family again and Thunk was soon alone in the maze. Now that he was alone, he had no idea what to expect but he couldn't stay where he was. 'The end' was coming and Guy was kind of right, they had to keep moving. As much as he disliked disobeying his dad's orders to stay put so Dad could find him, Thunk went on his way.

On his way through the maze, Thunk hadn't come across any animals until he found Douglas. When they first met, Thunk was scared of Douglas because of the crocodog's sharp teeth. Hoping to make the animal go away, Thunk tossed his shell at him, missing by a long shot. When Douglas looked at him, he panicked and ran into a wall. Once Thunk came to, he saw that his shell was next to him and Douglas was sitting there as well. Out of fear, Thunk threw his shell again only for the crocodog to go get it and bring it back to him. That was when Thunk realized it. Like Belt, Douglas was one of those animals that weren't harming anyone. He picked up his shell and continued through the maze. As he began to leave, he heard Douglas barking behind him. When he turned around, he saw Douglas going down the same path he was. This behavior had Thunk confused so he just kept going and soon Douglas was happily running around his feet. Clearly, Douglas liked him and just seeing the animal happy made Thunk feel happy too. Perhaps Dad wouldn't mind if he had a pet. Seeing Douglas trying to grab at his shell, Thunk decided to play with him and tossed the shell down the path he chose to go and followed his new pet.

It took a while but Thunk and Douglas finally reached the end of the maze where Guy, Belt, and Eep were already there. They seemed happy that he had a pet now too. Dad apparently got lost so Mom had to go back for him. Guy then had another idea, he called it 'camp'. It was where you picked a place to sleep for the night. While Mom went to get Dad, Guy led Thunk, Douglas, and the others up into a tree that seemed good to sleep in and Thunk had to carry Douglas up the tree. As they played, Thunk came up with his new pet's name. Now that Douglas had his name, he needed to learn how to do things. The first thing that Thunk decided to teach him was rolling over. Maybe he shouldn't have taught him that so close to the edge of the tree because the first time Douglas tried to roll over, he rolled over the edge. At least he did it right.

The next morning, not only was Douglas missing but so was Dad. After Dad was found, Thunk really wanted to find Douglas but Mom and Guy insisted that they needed to keep going. That hurt a little, he just got a new pet and he already lost him. Later, the family reached the mountain but 'the end' was still after them. Douglas might have been back there. He shuddered to think 'the end' might have gotten him. Suddenly, Thunk was distracted from his thoughts as Dad pushed him and the others towards a cave. He found himself back to listening to Dad's orders until Eep gave him the opening he was looking for. Eep slipped out of the way and Thunk followed as well as Mom, Sandy, and Gran. Thunk didn't want to go back into a cave. The world outside of caves was amazing and he didn't want to go back if he didn't have Douglas with him, Douglas was the only one who really understood and listened to what he had to say. Mom and Dad listened to him but not like Douglas did. He was clumsy, he knew that. He messed up sometimes, he knew that too. He also knew that Gran, Eep, and Sandy didn't listen to him because of that. Douglas was different. He didn't talk back to him. He listened to what he said and always came back to him when he asked. So when Dad asked if he still cared about living in a cave, Thunk shook his head 'no'. That was when Dad started going after Guy. Great, he just lost Guy, Belt, and Dad too.

After looking for a little while, they found Guy, Belt, and Dad still alive by icky, black stuff. They weren't lost anymore. If only Douglas wouldn't be lost anymore either. To his surprise, Dad decided to let Guy take them to Tomorrow. Tomorrow would be safe. Sadly, 'the end' stopped them. They were going to die. That's what Thunk thought until Dad thought the light could still be reached. They could make it, but how? Dad had his first good idea. One by one, he threw the family over to Tomorrow. If Douglas was there, he would have something to look forward to. He wished Douglas was there so Dad could throw Douglas over to him, to make sure he was okay. Dad stayed behind and it seemed like Dad had been killed by 'the end'.

For a while, the rest of the family stayed where Dad had threw them and Eep was calling for him through her shell. They really hoped he was okay. They all hoped that. Thunk blew his shell just like the others when they heard noise. Something was coming from 'the end'. It was Dad! Once Dad safely made it, the whole family hugged him. He may not have Douglas but he has his family and that was good.

Thunk once again was pulled away from his thoughts when the white liyote appeared, wanting to be counted as part of the family. When Dad did count the liyote, the animal pulled another animal up next to him. Was that? It was!

"Douglas!" Thunk ran up to hug his pet. "Dad, you saved him!" Douglas was happy to see him too because he licked his master. Then Dad said that boys needed a pet. Dad was letting him keep Douglas? Dad was letting him keep Douglas! He was so happy. Next Thunk realized Chunky was there too. Just like the rest of the family, Thunk was surprised to see that Chunky was listening to Dad. That was when the trip gerbils tumbled out of Chunky's mouth. Yay! More new pets!

The family, now joined by the new pets, made it to Tomorrow. That's where Dad said they were going. "Yes! Coming through!" Thunk cheered as he and Douglas ran to the water.

Finally, Thunk found something he was good at. Everybody except Sandy, who couldn't talk yet, told him he was good at taking care of Douglas. Every day, Thunk would play with Douglas, feed him a share of their caught breakfast, and keep him safe. Douglas ran off every once in a while and that gave Thunk an idea! He invented 'hide and seek', 'fetch', and other games to play with pets. His newest idea was something to keep pets close besides having pets keep pants up, he called it a 'leash'. Now he could keep Douglas from running off to who knows where whenever he needs to. They had fun together. Even Sandy was having fun with his pet and Sandy never really wanted to do anything with Thunk except try to bite his head off.

One day, the family was having dinner. "Where's Thunk?" Ugga asked the family. "He never misses dinner." Nobody had an idea of where he was but they knew that Douglas was with him like always.

"I'm going to go look for him." Grug stated. "Stay here!" He told the others. Just as he was about to leave, the ground shook.

"Is 'the end' back?" Gran snapped, she thought they had escaped the stupid thing!

Guy held up his hands in order to try to calm everyone and spoke quietly. "No, this is different." The trip gerbils, Brabby and Nabby, and the white liyote, Nippers, grabbed onto Gran in fear of prey. Belt growled as he held onto Sandy protectively as Ugga held the ferocious toddler, who at the moment was actually scared. Some bushes moved and out came Thunk, Douglas, and someone else.

"Hi, Dad! Hi, Mom! Hi, everybody!" Thunk waved. "This is Boulder, he's a pet. Can I keep him?" Thunk gestured to the ground whale he and Douglas were sitting on. The rest of the family stared at them, not knowing how to respond.

Note: On the Dreamworks Animation wiki, the names for the liyote and the trip gerbils actually are Nippers, Brabby and Nabby so they are named because of that. I named the ground whale myself since it didn't have a name listed and since Douglas seems to have a longer name than most of the Croods and since he is large and moves, I decided on Boulder. Just so you know why the other pets have their names. Read and Review!