Rio: Winds of Madness
Chapter 1: News Good and Bad
A/N: And now we've finally reached the new and alternate sequel to De Grande Conflict! If you're wondering why this is up instead of End of An Era being updated, it will all be explained at the bottom A/N. Until then, enjoy the first chapter!
Fully rested and ready to take on the world, Blu walks carefully to the edge of his family's hollow to gaze out to his new home in the Amazon Jungle. It took time, patience, and plenty of family support, but Blu has finally got the hang of living in the wild…sort of. He still holds onto his human needs and desires that dwelled in his fanny pack and the man made sanctuary built by a private company paid by Tulio, ideally built to protect the Blue Spix Macaws. The thought at first troubled the Wild Macaws of the Amazon, but after Blu's heroic deeds of leading the macaws to thwart the loggers months ago, Eduardo along with the entire tribe tolerate humans, in fact, enjoy the attention now since Tulio and Linda raised enough funds to continue protection and support for the Blue Spix Macaw species to flourish.
Recent events, a new threat stirred up not too long ago. A human group of mercenaries led by the well known thief and smuggler Migal D. Grande thought to profit off the possession of the rare macaws. Along with his crow companions and cohorts Kroh and Ray, his plan would have succeeded. But Migal didn't take account of his two crows to butt heads during the capturing phase. Thanks to Ray's change of heart, Blu led the macaws to their freedom, Migal and Kroh fell to their demise, and the Macaws could return to their normal lives once again.
Today, the Blue Spix Macaws continue life as if nothing went wrong since the events of Kroh's wrath, almost everyone. After the ordeal Blu went through when confronting Kroh, memories of his family conflict with Kroh's stirred up, creating troubling nightmares to our beloved Blu…
After getting ready for another day of adventure, Blu sets off into the Amazon Jungle for a quick bite and shower to remedy his rather unpleasant body odor. Once fulfilling his morning routine, he gathers some fruit for his sleeping family and heads on back home. It was still very early, even to Jewel's standards. But once Blu got the hang of waking up early, it continued to get better (worsen in Jewel's opinion) as he began to wake up before the sun even risen above the horizon.
"Rise and shine my wonderful family! I smell a great day ahead for us!" Blu greeted his family with the fruit in his talons. Landing inside the hollow, Blu scans around the nests that his family supposedly resided on. He frowns in disbelief as he found no signs of his wife or kids.
"Nobody's up this early but me, where are they off at this time?" Blu thought. His concerns started to increase when he scanned around the nests for signs or some kind of note they left behind. No notes were found, but stray blue feathers and scratch marks were scattered about. Blu quickly jumped to the conclusion that someone attacked his family. With little knowledge of his family's whereabouts, Blu sought help from Eduardo believing he may know more of where Jewel and his kids are. Just about to take flight out of his home, he bumps into a wall of feathers and muscles.
"Roberto? Thank goodness!" Blu said in relief. "You got to help me man! Jewel and the kids are missing and-" He was cut out in midsentence when Roberto grasped Blu's throat in his talon. Struggling in his grasp, Blu felt Roberto bringing his body closer to his face. Blu's eyes widen in horror when he gravely mistaken the bird he bumped into he thought was Roberto. The sun rose from the horizon, a ray of light shining to reveal the bird being the nefarious Kroh. Kroh's sleek black feathers shined against the sun, his face burning with anger as he tighten his grip around Blu's neck.
"Just like you did to my family, I'm going to kill you and your family so painfully, you wished you've never existed." Kroh growled as he pulled Blu's Swiss Army Knife out of the fanny pack that was strapped to the macaw. Kroh equips the sharp blade of the knife as he placed under Blu's neck, the macaw crying out hysterically for mercy as Kroh laughed menacingly into the unknown.
"BLU WAKE UP!" a voice bellowed from the darkness of Blu's mind.
Blu shot up from his slumber in less than a second. His heart and breath rate are racing like mad as sweat poured from his forehead, if birds did sweat. In his case, he indeed sweated as droplets of fluid fell from his head. He felt a wing being placed on his warm forehead, the wing belonging to his concerned and loving mate Jewel. He scanned passed Jewel to see the three pairs of worried eyes belonging Bia, Carla, and Tiago. Blu's entire family huddled to close to him as he tried to regain a normal rate of breath.
"Blu take it easy, it's just us." Jewel whispered. Without saying anything, Blu hugged Jewel in a tight embrace. Jewel returned the hug as she tried her best to comfort her frightened mate. After the encounter with Kroh, Blu has been receiving countless nightmares of the villainous bird. Each time the nightmare occurred, Blu was reminded of how the grudge between him and Kroh all started. After Kroh revealed his true motive of capturing him and the entire flock, Blu took all blame for the attack on the Blue Macaw tribe. Jewel felt it was time to end this as the lack of sleep for their family needed to stop.
"Feeling any better yet Blu?" Jewel asked.
"No Jewel, not at all." Blu confessed as he sagged back onto the nest. "Nothing has been good since that day." Jewel continued to listen as the trio of kids gathered beside their father in hopes of calming him down. "I don't know why, but I believe Kroh is still out there, plotting something to end us for what I done to him."
"Now don't talk like that Blu." Jewel snapped. "You know darn well Kroh is dead."
"And besides." Bia added. "You and Mom took him out for good. I calculated a bird couldn't survive with the conditions Kroh was under when he fell down the river along with the truck."
"Yeah, yeah you're right Bia." Blu signed, still holding some doubt. "But still, I can still remember seeing Kroh when I was young. He may be twisted, but he spoke the truth. I took his parents away. "
"Blu, we've discussed this already. You don't hold your parents' responsibility to the deaths of Kroh's parents. You were only a chick at the time."
"But-"
"No buts." Jewel interrupted Blu, placing her wing over Blu's beak to silence him. "Now get some sleep, we need to get ready for daddy's big announcement tomorrow."
"Okay. Sorry for waking you all up again." Blu apologized. The children smiled and hugged Blu before setting off to bed. Once getting comfortable, Blu allowed Jewel to snuggle against his body for warmth. No sooner, Blu fell into a deep sleep, his thoughts of Kroh lingering, but at least distant enough to avoid another interruption.
"Sleep well my Blue feathered friend. It won't be long until we cross paths once more, and I will see to it your entire tribe suffers."
The next morning, Jewel and her children awakened from their sleep feeling refreshed and ready for today. Before they even asked, Blu was still in a heavy sleep, snoring peacefully as a few drops of drool ran down the sides of his beak. Jewel and Tiago found it amusing and funny to see Blu sleep so silly for a bird. Bia and Carla however find it slightly undignifying, but it soon led to a feeling of being normal since the habit went on for days.
"Come on sleepyhead, it's time to get up." Jewel said as she nudged Blu on his side.
"No Mom, five more minutes." Blu mumbled, turning his back to Jewel.
"Oh boy, you know what to do kids." Jewel responded, moving aside for her three kids to approach Blu with wiggling feathers.
In seconds, Blu shot up from his sleep in fits of hysterical laugher as his children pierced his sides with tickling feathers.
"I'm up I'm up! Uncle! Uncle!" Blu cried out from his laughter.
"Alright kids he had enough." Jewel giggled, the trio complying as they retreated back beside their mother. "Ready now Blu?"
"Yes dear." Blu replied with a gasp. "Did you all eat already?"
"Sure have, but you haven't." Jewel said, tossing a portion of a starfruit to Blu's lap. "Eat up so we could hear the announcement."
Blu, Jewel, and their kids arrived at the heart of the Brazilian Nut Grove with time to spare. Navigating through the crowded grounds of the tribe, Blu and Jewel found a spot for their family next to their beloved Aunt Mimi.
"Well if it isn't my favorite family!" Mimi beamed with joy, embracing both Blu and Jewel with her wings.
"Hi Aunt Mimi." Blu and Jewel replied.
"And my goodness! Your kids have grown!" Mimi commented as she studied their children. Not much has changed for the trio other than a slight height change for Tiago, and a rather new graceful look on Bia and Carla to try to woe the male youths. Other than that, Blu and Jewel are glad their kids still hold onto their youth since arriving into the Amazon Jungle.
"So has Dad started his announcement?" Jewel asked Mimi.
"He's just about to, let's hush now and listen."
Once the tribe gathered around the Grove grounds, Eduardo made his presence among his people. The tribe cheered as Eduardo raised his wings to settle down the group.
"I thank you everyone for attending this important meeting." Eduardo opened up. "Before I began my announcements, I would like to say a big thank you to my son-in-law Blu once more for protecting this tribe from the smugglers and Kroh."
The crowd responded with applause and praises. Those who were near Blu would give him a tap on the shoulder saying "Thanks!" "You're awesome!" or "You're the bird!" as a way to show their gratitude.
"That aside, I have some good and bad news to cover." Eduardo moved on. "The bad news is that I will be gone from home for quite some time as I've been summoned to a gathering with the 'Leaders.' I'm not sure how long I will be gone, but I'm certain this meeting will not be a short one."
The crowd's response was several groans and saddened moans to hear their beloved leader depart, but they will soon be relieved upon hearing Eduardo's good news.
"Don't feel down my people, you must hear the good news. During my absence, I will have a good friend of mine watching over the tribe as leader."
"Whoo! Roberto's leading! No more chores!" Tiago shouted from audience.
"Sorry my grandson, Roberto is not quite ready for leading." Eduardo replied, disappointing the young macaw. "But I assure you he's a find bird. I've discussed everything with him, and I find him capable of taking over my role until I return. To that, let me introduce you to someone you all know very well."
Eduardo ushered a crowd of the tribe to part away for two birds to make their way beside Eduardo. The first macaw was rather unique as he seemed new to the tribe, more importantly, a purple macaw unlike any macaw anyone has seen. The bird beside the young purple macaw was not a macaw at all, but a very dear friend to Blu and everyone else in the tribe.
"Good to see you all again." The bird opened up.
A/N: And that brings the end to this chapter. Who's the temporary leader during Eduardo's absence? Aside from that, I would like to cover some things before I close. Firstly as some of you may know, End of An Era will be discontinued and this will be the new sequel to De Grande Conflict. Second, Story X will be put on hold as my document of it for the final chapter is stuck inside my broken laptop. Once I can get it fixed, I will transfer it onto Fanfiction, and then publish it onto the LS series. Until then, thanks for reading and hope to hear from you soon!-Poshil
And characters excluding Kroh belong to Blue Sky Studios