Chapter 1
Thrive

The city of Rio de Janeiro was bustling with activities from humans and other species alike; the city was so alive with humans and birds of multiple colors. I wasn't expecting myself to be here, in fact, never crossed in my mind that I would one day leave behind the Amazon and saw the world, but – Well, here I am, perching on a platform from Bia's home. Sure, the city was loud, hot and filled with creepy humans, but aside from that, it was indeed paradise.

Summers had finally arrived in the Amazon – or should I say in entire Brazil – Technically speaking.

Bia was asking me to go with her family on a trip to Rio which I was eager to do, except for some minor problem. First, I never left my home further than the infirmary is located, so I'm started to gain a mixed feelings about the trip, excited – Sure I am but also quite nervous. While the second problem was quite difficult, My Mom wasn't exactly fond of the idea, even after I convinced her for the – I don't know, tenth times?

And even today, she wasn't going to make it any easy for me.

"Frost, are you really sure you want to do this? This might be dangerous."

I nodded. "Yes mom, we have talked about this, I'll be fine."

"But Rio is a human city, you know what humans can do to you?"

"Not all of them are bad mom, just look at what they do to me." I pointed my scar. "If it wasn't for them, I probably lose my eye."

She sighed. "Still, I wasn't enjoying the idea that you will go somewhere really far from home."

"Mom, I wasn't alone, Blu and Jewel will be there to make sure nothing wrong will happen to me." I walked closer to her. "Besides, I wasn't a chick anymore."

She fixed her soft gaze to mine. "That's what I'm afraid of; you grow so fast, it seems just yesterday you were a noisy chick and now." She chuckled. "You already grow into an independent bird, ready to leave home and go somewhere far."

Her action and words plucked the strings in my heart. "Aw Mom, I won't be go away forever. I'll be back before you know it, I promise."

"You better, and try to go home without a scratch this time. That scar is enough."

I put my wing to my head, making a saluted movement. "Yes Ma'am!"

She laughed at my act. "Okay, off you go now, they probably getting bored of waiting."

I hugged her for the last time before joining Bia's family outside.

"Por favor, mantê-lo seguro!" My Mom exclaimed, waving her wing. [Please keep him safe!]

"Claro, Luna! não se preocupe!" Jewel replied. [Of course, Luna! Don't worry!]

The sun was shining brightly today, and the vast blue sky was clear as crystal, no clouds on sight, it was a perfect day to start a journey. Carla was lost in her iPod music, wearing a device that called earphones. Bia told me that it was the same thing as the iPod speaker, only allowing the users to listen their song on a private level. While Tiago was… being Tiago, he was flying upside down. So far, I haven't yet reached any conclusion to understand him – It amused me really.

Bia was sightseeing, occasionally lifted her book, looking for some information as something intrigued her pops up. I made my way to her, she seemed too caught in her study until she wasn't aware of my presence.

"Morning Bia."

She turned her head, smile formed in her beautiful face. "Morning Frost! Ready for adventure?"

"I was born ready, Beatriz."

She chuckled. "Sure you are."

Blu turned his gaze towards me. "Are you forgetting something Frost?"

"Nope I'm good."

He nodded. "Okay gang let's move."

"Bye Mom!" I bid her a last farewell.

"Safe travel Frost!"

We were flying to the entrance of the village where Eduardo and Mimi greeted our departure.

"Hi pop-pop! Hi Aunt Mimi!" The three siblings exclaimed in unison.

While Mimi was enthusiastic to greet her grand-cousin, Eduardo only flashed a smile to them. "Look at you, the little bundle has grown up already."

Eduardo then flew closer to me, his presence made me gulped in nervous.

"So you decided to go with them? That's good. Just like your father, he always wants to see the world out there." He told me.

"Um… yeah, I was thinking maybe this trip can expand my horizon, especially my way of thinking."

He put his wing on my shoulder. "Your father will be proud of you." He said before flew towards Blu and Jewel.

I never know my father but seems everyone else know him. Oh well, maybe next time. I didn't want to ruin this trip.

While Tiago, Bia and Carla were having a chit chat with their aunt, I flew closer to Blu and Jewel, listening their conversation with Eduardo.

"…Rio last summer and we are just fine." Jewel stated, I lost some portion of their conversation.

"There's nothing I can do to stop you doing this don't I?"

"Don't worry sir, I'll make sure everything will run smoothly." Blu said.

Jewel then shot Bia a smirk, before looking at me. "Besides dad, I'm sure Bia want to introduce her boyfriend to her uncle's."

"Mom!" Bia exclaimed, her face grew red, while I was groaning.

Carla and Tiago were laughing at the occasion. "Okay then, when we are going?"

"Okay dad, we are leaving now." Jewel then hugged her father.

"Safe travel!" Eduardo and Mimi said in unison.

"We will!"

With that, we finally leave the village behind and head straight to Rio.

Blu told me that we would pass several human cities on the road. Manaus, Brasilia and Bahia before finally arrived at our destination, Rio.

The entrance of the village slowly dispersed into the jungle foliage as we flew further from it. Blu then motioned us to fly above the tree canopy; we carefully pierced through the canopy, eyes critical on such danger like snakes. Fortunately, not a single branch bore their presence. We were soon above the tree height, the once green and detailed jungle slowly transformed into a vast gigantic mat of green, stretching from one end to another end, the famous Amazon River rivaled the size of the said mat.

It was a sight I could never imagine I saw, the Mother Nature was sure mighty and beautiful, and such humble bird as I, could only awe with her glory.

Blu was taking us southeast from the canopy, he then ordered us to form the 'V' shaped flight formation, as he stated that it would eased the long flight from here to Rio.

I was in the lost of words, everything so far was amazing, I always thinking that the world was huge but never crossed in my mind that it would be this big. The horizon was endless, and every direction was free, thanks to the unobstructed view from the air.

The Amazon jungle soon replaced with the massive river, and I saw something on it. Some kind of human made – Well it is human made, and it floated slowly in the water.

"It's called a boat; humans use them to travel by water. Pretty neat, we spent our first night to Amazon on it."

I nodded my head. "It seems nice."

"Yeah." Bia then shot a look on Tiago. "Although I wasn't get much sleep, thanks to that horn Tiago."

"I swear it wasn't me!" He denied. "You guys never going to believe me."

"Then who is it Tiago?"

"Well… I don't know! It wasn't me I swear!"

"Okay, enough you two." Jewel declared.

While those two siblings exchanged looks, Carla wasn't exactly aware on what happened as she was lost in her music. I gotta admit that Carla voice was amazing, one of the best singer in the jungle probably her, after Roberto of course.

The sight once again replaced by another one, this one it wasn't green or blue. It was colorful.

Multiple humans were crowded the site, there was also numerous boats were sit idly, unmoved.

"Well here we are, our first destination, Manaus dock, the gateway to in and out of the Amazon." Blu declared.

Slowly all things on the site were revealed as we approaching the dock. My eyes were caught in the sight of numerous fruits I was alien with, their vibrant color whispering to me to get them.

"Okay gang, we will get ourselves some lunch before continuing to Brasilia tomorrow." Blu landed on the platform of the docking boat.

I was too caught up with my thought until I didn't realize they have already landed. I kept flying forward, hitting a pole that existed not far.

My head was throbbing, the moment I opened my eyes, I saw a frightening set of sharp teeth. Surprised, I squawked loudly. Alerting my presence to nearby humans, some of them look puzzled while others didn't even bother to take a glance.

The stall owner was surprised by my sudden squawk, rushing to saw what happened.

"Arara? Spix arara? Meus deus!" [a macaw? Spix macaw? Oh my!]

He walked towards me, before finally realized why I was squawking.

"Não se preocupe meu amigo! Não é um autêntico piranha" He then picked one of the piranhas, showing me. [Don't worry my friend! It's not a real piranha]

I backed down as he kept pushing the piranhas to my face; he then furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Você não gosta de piranhas?" He then shrugged before returning to his stall, leaving me alone, dumbfounded. [You don't like piranhas?]

What in the whole wide world he was talking? Ugh…

Bia's family soon flew down where I was located, amused looks on their face.

"Yeah, just laugh." I said sarcastically. Laughter then erupted from them, my soul finally tickled by my own act, joining their laugh.

"You seriously didn't know what he was talking?" Jewel asked, perplexed by such revelation.

"I can say that I don't. I never learn that kind of language."

"That's weird, your mom can speak Portuguese really well, and didn't she teach you?"

"Um… She is just busy… you know…" Blu then cut me middle sentences.

"Hey guys, what do you want for lunch?"

"I vote for mango!"

"Me too." Carla joined Tiago.

"Me three!"

"Okay then mango it is." Blu declared. "Now let's find some of them."

We soared into the market skyline traffic, birds of multiple species were crowded the site. Blu was asking multiple humans for mango, motioning the food with his talon. The result wasn't really good, as many of them were scowling or trying to get us lost, finally one of them was kind enough to give us some.

Blu was asking three mangos for us, but after seeing just how crowded we were, she gave us a generous bonus.

"Obrigada!" Jewel cawed.

"De nada!"

We were flying somewhere quiet to enjoy the lunch, the mango itself – I must said, quite delicious. It was evenly sweet and sour, although I didn't really like sour that much, but it still delicious.

After ditching the seeds to the ground, we continued our flight to Rio. Approaching the center of Manaus, the majestic building of human's began to manifest, their size was seriously huge, the trees in the Amazon were ants compared to this gigantic structure, as human never ceased to amaze me with their creation.

The city even more crowded with humans than the market, there's a lot of multi-colored vehicle that sped up in the streets, humans walking, talking, and the building was rich of colors. The only setback was the air, as we dwell deeper into the heart of the city, the air began to lose it "Freshness", replaced with stale smoky air.

The sun finally decided to take a rest under the clouds, and soon the dark angry clouds shrouded the city, leaving the city on its mercy. We flew faster than before to seek shelter; fortunately, there was some tree in the vicinity that bore some hollow. We charged to the nearby trees as the rain finally start to fall, droplets of freezing water started to fell for the sky, damping our feathers in the process.

The rain lasted until evening, the sun already set in the horizon, marking the end of the day. We decided to stay in this hollow; it was quite spacious for seven birds at the size of Carla – No offense – So cramming six birds wasn't a tough job.

I was the last one to sleep; the air was freezing thanks to recent rain. Bia and Carla were sleeping in the corner, Tiago was snoring – Just like Blu and Jewel was cuddling closely with him.

The mere sight was enough to make me smile.

What a lovely couple. I hope one day I will just like them.

Returning my eyes to the sky, watching the stars slowly move as the night got older, the crescent moon were shinning dimly in the sky, concealed by the clouds.

I was snapped out of my own thought when someone nudged me from behind. Bia was standing behind me, rubbing her eyes before sitting next to me.

"You haven't sleep?" She inquired.

I shook my head. "Nope, just want to watch the night sky for a moment."

"You really like stars do you?"

"Yeah, it's where my dad is watching me. I always say goodnight to him before sleep."

"You really missed your dad that badly huh?"

"Well yes, but with you on my side, I know I wasn't alone anymore." I told her, wrapping my wings around her.

She leaned closer, our beaks meet each other, and we share a kiss. The night melted as we lost into each other, after a full minute, we break our kiss.

"I love you." She said softly, cuddling closely as she drifted into slumber.

Smiling, I said. "Love you too, Beatriz."

The yellow orb finally rose from its sleep, giving the world a new day to thrive for. I was the second-one to wake, Jewel was already out there at the outer branch, enjoying the tranquil morning. Bia was still sleeping soundly beside me, she put her wings on her head, acted like pillow. I slowly get myself free, hoping my act wasn't going to wake her up before gingerly walked towards the entrance, where the golden ray of sun was slowly made its way into the deeper section of the hollow.

"Morning Jewel." I greeted her.

"Oh morning Frost." She greeted back. "You woke early."

"I always woke this early."

"That's a good thing, Blu always woke up late." She chuckled.

"Well he was working hard yesterday; opening the wind tunnel sure wasn't easy." I said, suppressing a yawn.

"You were just like Bia and Blu." She chuckled again. "Always live in fact and knowledge."

I blushed at her comment. Carla then appeared from the hollow, stifling a yawn. "Morning Mom! Morning Frost."

"Morning." We said in unison.

Her presence soon followed by her siblings. Bia was the second Tiago the last, no evidence that Blu had awaked.

"Morning all!" Tiago exclaimed, as energy never really drained of him.

"Morning Mom, Morning Carla, Morning Frost." Bia stated. "Oh and Morning Tiago."

The greetings were repeated until all family member awakened. The once silence morning soon replaced with familiar bustling noise of the city, as the sun hue finally dispersed and replaced with its monotonous yellow light.

We took breakfast at the local park; some of the trees turn out to be Açaí berries. The obsidian-colored orb were abundance in number, our breakfast was filled with purple stain, not to mention Tiago's prank earlier which he started a berry war much to Jewel's displeasure. After cleaning ourselves at the nearby birdbath, we continued our journey to Brasilia

My journey was more than just travelling with Bia, sure she was indeed my main reason to go. To have courage and face the unknown, but after a few days of the journey, I started to understand a bigger picture than just hopping from one spot to another. Life is so beautiful and grand to be filled with monotonous activity that slowly took toll on us. It's like seeing behind a curtain of leaf in the dense foliage of a jungle. There may be danger behind that curtain, we have any right to be oblivious with whatever hidden behind but for how long? How long we will avoid it?

Gained a new experience in live is very essential, you stumbled, you fall, you cry, you rise, you try again and succeed. But it is only a distant dreams if you just thinking about it as breaking out from our comfort zone sure is a stupid idea – Even it is not.

Like when Blu told me to take the lead in the formation in Brasilia. I wasn't prepared for what was going to happen but I just tried it. It wasn't easy, as we fly quite high to catch up the wind, I almost knocked out of the sky, luckily Blu managed to catch me.

When you wish to live the fullest, don't be afraid to do anything. Just do what you want as you never know the outcome before you try, and remember that failure wasn't the end, it's just the start of something great. As we thrive each day.

The magnificent city of Rio de Janeiro finally came into stroke focus, I was stunned on how it looks, while some other cities like Brasilia or Bahia sure was amazing, Rio was beyond words.

The sun was set in the vast area covered with water and sand. Beach was what it was called. The golden tint was reflected with the water, creating a nirvana of color with its rich vibrant golden beam. Tinting the dark sky with hues, it was too magnificent to describe with words.

The majestic statue of Cristo Redentor slowly manifested from afar, I was stunned on how big it was, compared to the statue in previous city. The lush green hills that shadowed by the night sky were vast. The city was alive with lights and activity. The sensory attack that overloads every sense I had could only described with one words. "Wow…"

"Ha, see?! what did I tell you?" Tiago was laughing with my response.

"This is truly paradise." I told him.

"You haven't seen anything yet Frost!" Tiago exclaimed.

Blu then signaled us to banked left, and soon after. A warm sight of a birdhouse began to appear as we flew closer to it.

"Home sweet home." Carla said. "Now I can charge my iPod."

We descend into the platform of the birdhouse; drowsiness had got its grasp on everybody.

I stifled a yawn, folding my wing before stretching my body from prolonged flight. Blu decided to take an easy dinner, much to Jewel's displeasure. He returned briefly with a can of Brazil nuts in his talon.

"Here kids, after you guys eat, we will straight to bet. I suppose all of you are tired anyways."

"I am not!" Tiago soared, which replied with five birds rolling their eyes, including mine.

The Brazil nuts in that thing were tasted different, they are too salty.

The dinner was lasted no more than ten minutes – Approximately, and after that, we said each other good night and finally get some rest.

I was awoken in the middle of the night, rubbing my sore beak and belly as Tiago suddenly dreamt as a ninja. I walked myself out of the room to gained view of this paradise, enjoying the night. The prospect of snoozing peacefully that night was out of the question, since after received a few punches and kicks from Tiago; I know I'm going to be much drained tomorrow.

A/N: The first chapter hath arrived!

and I want to ask help from someone that can speak Portuguese and English to teach me Portuguese, as you see in this story, my Portuguese wasn't good (Well sorta, I don't know)

PS: Please kindly leave a review and Thanks for reading.