Chapter 1
Run of the Mills
It was a brilliant and beautiful day in the small town of Mills, Wyoming. The air was warm, the sky was clear, there was no wind, and the valiant sun beamed down onto the town from over the Rocky Mountains. Despite the fact that it was The beginning of January, there was not much snow, not even a late snow storm. It was definitely a perfect day for birds to be flying about, even if it was still technically winter. In fact, a little blue jay sat on top of a fence to a Mills Resident's backyard, enjoying herself by basking in the sun. While soaking in the sun however, the blue jay heard a gritty guitar sound off in the distance. At first, the bird shrugged it off, but it quickly became more frequent, almost if the person that was playing was only testing the instrument. Annoyed, the blue jay fly from her spot to investigate. The sounds came from a block away at a medium-sized, one-floored house that looked a little rundown and was amongst other houses of its caliber. The blue jay shook her head and flew back to the forest, which actually was not far from the area.
In the garage of the house were three young men, each had musical instruments. One man wore a yellow skater's shirt and shorts, sported black hair, was tall (about six feet), and held a fender guitar which he was tuning. This man is known as Grant Williams. The man that stood next to Grant was his brother Corbyn, a blonde bassist that wore a plain white t-shirt and baggy jeans. The other man behind both of them sat at a regular sized drum kit, twirling a drumstick between his fingers. This drummer is known as Dylan, close friends of both Corbyn and Grant and wore a black Korn t-shirt and black shorts. One noticeable difference between the two brothers and Dylan was the fact that Dylan's right arm is completely filled with tattoos.
"Alright it has been a while. Are you sure you guys are ready?" asked Grant with a doubting tone.
"Come on bro, we still practice together right? We are fine!" Corbyn cockily reassured his brother while adjusting his microphone stand.
"Yeah I guess your right." laughed Grant. "So Dylan," Grant continued, "you ready?"
"Yes. Have been for a while." Dylan informed in a monotonous tone. So instead of speaking any further, Grant started playing a E-D-A power cord rhythm on his guitar. So afterwords, Dylan played a fill to lead Corbyn into the song. Grant quickly leaned towards his mic stand and started to sing.
"Dear mother, can you hear me whining? It's been three whole weeks since that I have left your home..." Grant sang into his mic occasionally looking at the guitar's fret board.
"This sudden fear has left me trembling, cause now it seems that I'm out here on my own, and I'm feeling so alone!" As Grant sang, his brother harmonized the ending of verse with him while Dylan improvised his own fast fills into the song.
"Pay attention to the crack streets and the broken homes. Some call it slums some call it nice! (OHHHH)" Both Dylan and Corbyn harmonized their parts in the chorus.
"I wanna take you through a wasteland I'd like to call my home (AHHH)...Welcome to Paradise!"
Along with the jamming musicians, a handful of pets were in the garage as well. There was a Siamese cat, a beagle, a small boa constrictor, and two military macaws, all chatting amongst themselves. One of the macaws, was bobbing his head to the music."Um...Brann, wait are you doing?" the other macaw asked, tilting his head as he did so.
"Wait's wrong Wyatt? Come on live a little bro; you gotta just get into the music! It's been years since I've seen these three play together anyways." Brann lightly defended, smacking his brother Wyatt on his shoulder. Wyatt just laughed. "Dork." He muttered playfully.
"Wow this is awesome though." the beagle noted, looking up to the two birds. "Agreed Lily." piped in the snake and cat simultaneously. "Trey and Milo, you two should join a band." Brann teased, pointing at the snake and cat respectively. Everyone just laughed. After their laughter subsided, Corbyn played a small bass solo, then Dylan and Grant joined in. As Dylan started to make his rhythm more complex, the two brothers turned around and watched Dylan. Right before the final verse, Dylan ended the bridge with a double hand-poly rhythm between the floor tom, snare and cymbal, alternating his hands between each piece fast and fluently. After giving each other smirks, Grant and Corbyn went back to their respective mics and finished the song.
"Yeah! We still frikin rock! After two years, we still got it!" Shouted Grant gleefully as he hopped around from excitement.
"Hell yeah we do! And you guys got so much better, I can tell." Dylan added on.
Corbyn just laughed, "We didn't get into the more complex stuff we learned!"
"WOOO! That was epic!" Brann and Trey cheered as all three musicians got up. The other animals just grinned widely at their friends happiness. "Dude that drum part stole it though!" Trey added on.
"Man I miss that reaction so much." Milo said in nostalgia. Both Lily and Wyatt nodded their heads in agreement. Just then, a brunette woman walked into the room and a black-billed magpie followed her in.
"Hi Veronica." Grant said as he gave the woman a quick kiss.
"Hey guys, the pizza's here. Make it quick though, our flight back to Cali is in about three hours and it already takes an hour to get to the airport." Veronica said softly. After she finished all four humans went into Dylan's kitchen to eat. The magpie decided she'd stay and chat with her friends. When she looked at Brann however, Brann looked away nervously and blushed slightly.
"So how's your wing Sonya?" Wyatt asked politely to the dark feathered bird.
"Oh it is so much better. Veronica quickly checked it and said I could probably migrate now in like two weeks! Isn't that exciting!" Sonya excitedly mentioned, flapping her left wing rapidly.
"It's a little late to migrate isn't it?" Milo questioned, tilting his head slightly at the bird.
"Well it's an odd year. Some summer birds are still here haha." Brann informed to the confused cat.
"Dudes, I'm hungry, let's go beg for some pizza."Trey demanded.
"mmmm...that sounds good. Let's go." Lily nodded in agreement after he own stomach rumbled. Everyone started laughing and giggling as the all went into the kitchen to their owners.
About 6000 or so miles away...
"What an awesome...um...New Year's continuation party...again." Blu sighed. Although he did enjoy the party the Nico and Pedro threw together, he quickly became exhausted from both dancing all night and making sure his children were okay.
"Oh come on, you gotta admit it was fun Blu, I know you enjoyed our duet again." Jewel nudged Blu teasingly, batting her eyelashes slowly as her mate turned around to refute her statement. Once Blu got a glimpse of his mate, all he could do is smile.
"Yeah it was fun...but I've already done it four times this week." Blu noted while chuckling a bit, "I know Rio is a party place and it's a new year, but New Year's was a week ago and Nico and Pedro are trying to find a legit excuse for us and the kids to party with them without them having to babysit."
Jewel giggled at Blu's semi-flustered sentence. "Well I can't disagree with you there Blu. Speaking of our kids, I'm kinda tired after that party, let's go check on the kids and go to sleep."
Blu nodded in agreement. The two blue macaws then turned around and trotted back into their hollow and quickly fell asleep together. About an hour or so later, Blu woke up quickly, remembering that when he and Jewel went to visit Linda at the sanctuary, Linda asked if she could talk to Blu later on in the day. Although it was already dark, Blu assumed that Linda was still awake, stretched, then flew towards her new bookstore. "It's only eleven o' clock, she should still be up." Blu quietly reassured himself while on his flight. Five minutes later, Blu got to the bookstore and entered through a conveniently open window just big enough for him to fit through. When he entered, Linda was in another room, talking on the phone.
"Yeah I know, I just have to go find my little Blu and I'll go ask him. Hm? Oh yeah, he lives in the jungle now." Linda rambled on the phone as she walked into the room Blu was in. Her eyes seemed to wandered aimlessly as she talked. When she turned on the lights in the room, she saw the little blue aviator sitting on top of a computer desk, staring at a few picture frames of him and Linda. "Oh speaking of which, here he is right now. Well I guess I'll you go now. I love you mom, bye." Linda happily finished before hanging up the phone.
"Hi Blu, you actually remembered that I wanted to talk to you! How thoughtful." Linda smiled gleefully, exchanging their signature fist bump proceeded with a pet on the head. Blu squawked in compliance. The two went into the living room, which was one room away, and sat down on the sofa. "Well Blu I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be visiting Minnesota for about three to four weeks so mom could meet Tulio and Fernando." Linda muttered softly, looking down at her chest as she spoke. When she lifted her eyes to meet Blu's, she could tell he was sad.
"Wow four weeks? Even if I live in the jungle, I still try to visit you guys once a week at least." Blu said solemnly. He slumped a bit on the sofa and frowned. All Linda could hear were soft squawks.
"Come here Blu." Linda said reassuringly as she held out her arms to motion him over. Blu cracked a tiny smile and waddled over to her waist and she gave him a hug and pet him. "I know you're sad but there's a catch to this." Linda said, putting on a smug expression. Blu tilted his head in confusion. "I know this is a big decision...but...um...well I was thinking maybe you'd like to come. It's been about ten months since, maybe things have changed." Linda finished, giving a wide grin. Blu then perked up and started to get excited, but it quickly faded as he recalled his fatherly duties. Linda knew what Blu was thinking and decided to explain a little more about the trip. The conversation ended up lasting two hours. Both eventually got drowsy and passed out on the sofa.
Back in Mills...
"So when are you two getting married?" Dylan asked curiously.
"Um...well we are still planning what to do for the reception." Answered veronica with a smile, "Me and Grant are hoping to be officially married in two months or less." Dylan responded with a grin and a nod. Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Well you guys better start heading off, you guys shouldn't miss you flight." Dylan said breaking the silence.
"Oh yeah." Grant embarrassingly chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well guys, it was great seeing you again. It was very nice meeting you Veronica. Grant, good luck in med school, and Corbyn, good luck in the army." Dylan said, giving everyone a hug. All the humans looked down to see the birds hugging the other animals.
"I'll miss you guys." Brann said sadly.
"Aw...don't worry, we'll try to visit again soon!" Lily piped in trying to cheer up her military macaw friend.
"We should try to visit you guys instead." Both Brann and Wyatt boasted simultaneously.
"There ya go!" Milo laughed.
"Well it was awesome seeing you guys! And keep on rocking!" Trey shouted gleefully.
"It was nice meeting you too!" Sonya chirped with a large smile.
"Thanks for having us over for New Years. And keep an eye on your hand Dylan. See ya soon!" Grant said as he guided the pets out of the house and into their rent car. Dylan waved as they left then took a look at his right hand, where there was a black violin tattoo, covering two small scars.
"I will." Dylan muttered to himself before he went back into his own home.
A.N: Thanks for reading! This is my first fic to this site and I'm fairly new to fanfiction. I plan for this story to be quite long and I will try to upload new chapters regularly. Sorry if this chapter is boring, I was just trying to introduce some new characters and give a slight idea and insight of their life. I would greatly appreciate reviews and constructive criticism so I know how to improve my writing and the next chapters. Also, if you guys have any better ways for formatting let me know. For know this story is rated T for violence in later chapters, but please tell me if the rating ever needs to be changed. And again, thank you for reading! Oh and just in case: I do NOT own Rio and its characters nor do I own any of the songs that are used throughout this story