That morning I woke up curled up around Buck, as our body's had obviously intertwined with each other while we slept. I smiled and nuzzled up to him, his arm wrapping around my upper back. The others slowly woke up and I unwrapped myself from Buck and stretched, yawning widely before walking over to the pile of food for a bite to eat. The others muttered to Buck as I walked away, something about us needing to get going. I quickly ate all the berries that I possibly could and ran back over to the others, smiling widely.
"So, are we off?"
"Yes, I suppose so. Come on Mammals, no time to waste!" Buck exclaimed, pulling his knife out of the tree stump before grabbing my hand. "Let's go!"
(Time skip)
"Everybody stop!" Buck exclaimed, looking at the opening in the brush suspiciously. "I smell something," He added, sniffing around. He leaned down and stared at a piece of fur, stabbing it with his knife and picking it up. He looked at it warily and sniffed it, his face scrunching up.
"It smells like a buzzards butt fell off, ugh, and then got sprayed on by a bunch of skunks!" He winced, staring over at Manny and Ellie.
"That's Sid," Diego said, walking over.
"Mammals! We have ourselves a crime scene! A tuft of fur, a half eaten carcass, hunk of ah! No, broccoli!" He gagged, holding his fist up to his mouth to stop himself from throwing up.
"Here's what I think happened," I piped up, walking forward. "Dinosaur attacks Sid, Sid tries to run but trips on broccoli and is eaten. Leaving broccoli, a vegetable." I said, staring down at the broccoli.
"Well, that's a good hypothesis, but lets hear Buck's," Manny said, turning towards my deranged mate.
"Dinosaur attacks Sid, Sid fights back with piece of broccoli. Leaving dinosaur, a vegetable," I stared at my love with a confused look on my face. I knew he was crazy, but obviously he had become more insane since I left.
"Are you nuts? Sid's not violent or coordinated," Diego frowned.
"Yeah, and where's the dinosaur?" Manny said, a frown on his face too. "Buck, when exactly did you lose your mind?" He added.
"Uh, three months ago! I woke up one morning married to a pineapple. An ugly pineapple Things didn't exactly work out though, I didn't even love her," Buck shrugged, taking my paw into his. "You're my ugly pineapple now," He smiled, kissing my it. I giggled and moved his head up to kiss him, making Crash and Eddie groan.
"Uh, Buck? I think you missed a little clue over here," Diego called from up on a hill, overlooking something. We hopped over there and Buck's ears drooped, a down expression on his face.
"Your friend might be alive, but not for long," He sighed, squeezing my hand. "Rudy's closing in."
"Woah!" Crash and Eddie exclaimed.
"You got it, the Plates of Woe, or whatever's left of them," I said, the sad view of the place I'd spent so much time the years before hand sinking into my head. I'd spent so much time at the Plates of Woe before I had my accident, and seeing them all messed up like this was really hurting me.
"Don't worry, love. Your place is still there," Buck whispered, squeezing my paw gently to comfort me. I nodded and we continued on, walking across the few plates that had survived Rudy's wrath. The wind was loud as it blew, blowing my fur wildly,
"What's that sound?" Eddie asked, looking around him.
"It's the wind, it's speaking to us," Buck said, his voice deep and mysterious. God, I love it when he talks like that.
"W-what's it saying?" Crash stuttered, grabbing onto Eddie in fear.
"I don't know, I don't speak wind," I snorted a bit at that comment, trying to hold back my laughter. Buck chuckled and stuck his tongue out at me cheekily, smiling at me.
Ellie paused and grimaced, holding her side in pain. I looked around with wide eyes, my instincts kicking in. I ran over to her and nodded placing, my paw on her leg and glancing at her stomach. She nodded as Manny looked over.
"Ellie," He called, beckoning her to continue walking.
"I-I'm fine. Don't worry about me I'm just taking my time," She started, before the plate we were standing on lost balance. I yelled out and pulled Ellie to the ledge, grabbing her trunk.
"Buck!" I yelled, seeing him disappear into the cloud of dust. I turned to Ellie with tears in my eyes and she wiped them away with her trunk, forcing a pained smile.
"Ellie?"
"Sky?"
I heard Manny and Buck call our names and I jumped over to the edge of the ledge, staring down. "We're up here! We're fine!" I yelled, looking for their figures in the dust. Ellie winced and held her stomach again, and I rushed her over to a cave in the corner. For a moment I thought that it was a random cave, until I saw my knife in the corner. I jumped over to it and held it up in all of its glory, smiling widely with tears in my eyes.
"Manny! Pineapples!" Ellie yelled, pained. I frowned at her before realizing what she was doing.
"Pomegranates! Grapefruits!" I added on, wracking my brain.
"Nectarines? Come on, think," Ellie groaned, scratching her head.
"Peaches!" I yelled out, trying to amplify my voice as much as I could. Ellie smiled thanks at me and sat down in the corner, wincing as she did so.
"Can you try to hold it in?" I heard Eddie yell, and I sighed loudly.
"Can somebody slap him for me?" Ellie said, rolling her eyes at Eddie's stupid comment.
"Just sit tight! We're coming!
"Girl, I am so getting you back for this," I smiled, waving my knife at her. She chuckled weakly and started her breathing exercises while I ran back over to the ledge.
"Buck! We can look after Ellie, you go and find Sid!"
"Are you sure, sweet'eart?"
"I'm sure! Be safe!"
"I love you!" I smiled at his sweet comment.
"I love you too!"