First of all, THANK YOU for the feedback you gave me on "The Big Scoop". That was honestly one of the most fun stories I've written, and I couldn't have POSSIBLY thought of a sequel to it. However, the show must go on. I'll warn you beforehand that this IS a sequel, and that you MUST read "The Big Scoop" on my profile page before you read this story. Not much will make sense, but if you think you can make sense out of it, then I suppose you're allowed to read it...XD. Also included in this first chapter is a recap of 'The Big Scoop'. While I stress that you SHOULD read the first story...I suppose you can make sense out of it after reading the story recap that pops up first thing in this story of mine...
So, this story is going to take place right around the time of when Jewel and Blu are ready to have their first chick, as requested by a reviewer of my first fic...Hehe. Everything basically continues off The Big Scoop, only it's about 6-9 months later. Nothing has exactly changed incredibly (Besides 1 or 2 things), so you guys get a lucky break and have a (mostly) fresh continuation from the original.
So now I'll stop babbling, and you can read my newest story and, quite frankly, my first fanfiction sequel,
HEADLINES
...
Chapter 1
In the Life
It was yet another peaceful start to a morning in the jungle. Life was now simple and good. Things were relaxed and easy. The sun rose, and the whole city of Rio would come alive. People would flock out to enjoy themselves under bright blue sky, kids would come out to play... and the birds, of course, would come out to sing the songs of their hearts. The sun restarting the daily routine each time it rose.
Of course, there was one bird who was fairly new to it all. He had only arrived little less than a year ago. His name, of course, was Blu. The Spix Macaw had arrived only about 8 months ago, and immediately was caught up both in an adventure and in the beauty of this new world he'd never seen. Everything came into place in the young Spix's life and Blu finally felt he had a straight-shot for a happy life, but soon enough, another short adventure began. Only a few days after Blu's life with Jewel as mates began, a new tourist arrived by the name of Arthur. He was of the same species, despite the belief that Blu and Jewel were the last. Apparently, he had been cooped up with a reporter named Andrew for 18 years before, and had lived a hollow life with no friends or family. Life without any love, or any other birds (Besides an insane hawk who met his own end recently), or something to live for. That is, until he discovered Rio, and instantly fell in love with it all. The style, the music, the general insanity and party atmosphere... However, it didn't occur to him until after he stared death in the face that he had all the reason and opportunity he needed to life a life of love and compassion right in front of him. Arthur decided to live the rest of his life in this jungle, along with the young couple who were last of his kind, as well as his wonderful friends... And of course, his lovely parakeet mate, Petricious.
Getting back to the sunrise, the trees began to take their form. The leaves, the powerful, stone-hard trunks, and the various hollows that sheltered millions of birds. All the birds of a feather did what they loved most of all... And they made this clear in song. However, today was different. The air, the mood, the whole world felt that it was time for a change in beat. And of course, who else could provide but the dance-talented and music-talented Spix macaws, who both poked their heads out of their hollows. Arthur and Blu, both living with their lovely lady-love hawks, lived in trees right next to each other, so they could easily spot each other every day. Instead of bidding hellos to each other, Arthur decided to follow what Blu had told him the first day they met, the rythm of his heart, and that rythm was to SING.
Every part of my heart, I'm giving out.
Every song on my lips, I'll sing it out.
Every fear in my soul, I'm letting go.
And anyone who asks, I let 'em know.
Petricious then popped her head out and nudged Arthur lovingly, who smiled back with the same expression.
She's the one, she's the one
I'll say it loud.
She's the one, she's the one
I'll say it proud.
Ring a bell, ring a bell for the whole crowd.
Ring a bell, ring a bell!
The whole forest then erupted into music, but it was a strange shift from Arthur's emotional song to a much more gleeful song, led by Wally, Arthur's seagull friend who had come along to Rio. Wally mustered his voice up and began singing with a newly-acquired Brazilian accent.
Yellow yellow road, the one I do not follow.
Wizard of Oz, man?
That stuff is gettin' hollow!
Pedro and Nico then jumped into, picking up Wally's beat. Of course, Pedro kept the song going.
I need somethin' new,
somethin' with a fresh beat!
Nico: Samba, boy that brings out the heat!
Wally, Nico and Pedro all sung together now, their voices synchronizing together.
Flyin' high!
Gonna spread my wings and fly!
Arthur jumped down, and then added himself into the action.
No wings to fly,
but I'm still ganna live my life!
Pedro: Nothing better than soaring,
blue skies flyin'!
Nico: If I said that wasn't living, I sure as heck would be lyin'!
Journies like nothin'!
Life worth livin'!
Wanna live your life?
Your wings better start flappin'!
Blu then flew down and changed the mood back to him and Arthur, who now continued their performance.
We're telling the world, that we found our girls!
The birds we can live for!
The ones who deserve!
Arthur shot a smile over to Blu, who returned the expression as well.
"No matter how many times we do this, this beats an alarm clock." Arthur laughed as he walked off along with Wally, ready to start another day in his spectacular new life in Rio de Janiero.
...
The sun had grown to its highest point, bringing to life the city of Rio de Janiero, and every being, feathers or not, was out and about, going on with their lives. Arthur was one of those birds making his way through the forest... Only he was walking. This was Krieg's doing only about 8 months ago, when he fired a nail into the Spix's wing. While Artie ended up making it out alive, his left wing was out of the equation, and was deemed by everyone at the Blu Bird Sanctuary to be permanently damaged. While not entirely disheartened, it was still a huge loss to Arthur, especially considering it was the greatest part about being a bird, and what he believed was a difference between the birds and the humans...
However, the show still had to go on, and the bird who knew this most was Arthur. Arthur continued to make his way throug the forest, until he finally spotted a familiar small clearing below a patio. While it was familiar to to him, it was even more familiar to Blu. It happened to be the same area where he spent his first night in Rio. That wasn't exactly a nice memory for him, but... There was the next morning where they met up with a certain group of Toucan kids.
Speaking of which, Arthur was looking for a certain Toucan by the name of Rafael.
"Hey Raf! You here, man? C'mon, we need to get going if we wanna go down to Copacabana before we hit The Branch tonight!" Arthur called out, trying to find his Toucan buddy. All of the sudden, a loud chirp reverberated from behind Arthur. Arthur spun around quickly to see Javier, one of Rafael's 18 children.
"Hi Uncle Artie!" Javier exclaimed with his high-pitched voice as he jumped on top of Arthur's head, socking him straight in the eye. Arthur laughed heartily, running around in circles with the small toucan clutching onto his head.
"C'mon Javvie! I'm just trying to find your Dad!" Arthur laughed as he ran around in circles wildly. All of the sudden, more Toucan kids came flying out and then grabbed onto Arthur, basically making his blue color almost hidden among the toucans on top of him. Yells of "Hi Uncle Artie!" could be heard constantly as the Spix macaw toppled to the ground in a heap, constant laughing coming from the Toucan kids, as well as Arthur, who was laughing out of pure enjoyment of the young kids having a fun time with him.
"Alright! Alright! Everyone off Arthur before you strangle him to death!" Arthur could hear Rafael exclaim from a few feet away. Arthur was finally uncovered from the Toucan kids and met eyes with Raphael.
"Boy, they get stronger all the time, eh?" Arthur laughed as he brushed himself off and slowly eyed himself, looking for any missing feathers. After all, these were Rafael's children.
"And you wanted kids..." Rafael joked as he shooed the last of his kids off to play somewhere else.
"Yeow!" Arthur yelped, turning around to see Jose, another one of Rafael's kids. Unfortunetly, this happened to be the same kid that was fond of feathers.
"This kid and feathers! Guess I shoulda waited a minute before checking myself. Makes me think he'll grow up to be like that old Krieg...Crazy old coot." Arthur muttered as Rafael attempted to pry off Jose from the Spix's tail.
"So, shall we be off to Copacabana?" Rafael asked from behind, as a rip suddenly echoed from behind Arthur, signifying that Jose had become detached from his tail.
"Oh, c'mon Daddy! Can't Uncle Artie stay a little longer?" Javier whined as all the other Toucans chimed in, to which Arthur glanced at Rafael with a smug smile, obviously winning over the kids.
"Alright! Uncle Artie can stay!" Arthur exclaimed, which was replied to with cheers by the Toucan chicks. Arthur then ran off with the kids, apparently playing a variation of 'Tag'.
"That crazy Macaw sure can entertain the kids..." Eva muttered, almost scaring Rafael out of his skin.
"Yeah...You know he's wanted kids for a while now?" Rafael asked as he continued to watch the kids enjoy themselves with their Uncle Artie.
"He'd make a good father... And he'd make you have fun with the kids for a change." Eva joked lovingly. Rafael gave a small chuckle and then continued to watch the kids run around with Arthur, all of them enjoying themselves.
"Ow, that's the wing!" Arthur laughed as the kids piled on top of him after he was knocked over. Truthfully, his wing did actually hurt when the kids piled onto him, but it didn't matter. Earning the love and respect of the next generation was a huge focus for Arthur. After all, the kids needed a role model to look up to... Something that Arthur never had, himself...
...
Meanwhile, Blu was watching the millions of birds passing by. It was a beautiful sight, and what made it even more incredible was that this was his environment, his element. he had lived here for almost a year now, and it still hadn't sunk in. It was a joy every time he thought about how lucky he was. What was even greater was that he had a wonderful bird like Jewel to live with. And best of all was the fact that they were currently expecting a chick right now...
"BLU!"
Speaking of which...
"Coming!"
Blu quickly bolted inside their tree to see Jewel, who was currently resting in their nest. Next to her was the precious egg that the two had been taking care of for the past 6 months. Blu ran over with a concerned look, wanting to make sure if anything was wrong.
"What's wrong honey? Something wrong?" Blu asked. All the emotional tension that had occurred the past months had really taken a toll on him. The fact that the egg was controlling their lives didn't help either, but it was worth it. It was all for his love of Jewel and his desire to be a father. After all, they were the last chance their species had... Unless Arthur had any plans.
"Nothing's wrong...I just wish we'd just sit and talk for once and a while...We're really going to need it for when little Carlos comes out." Jewel said with a smile, nodding to the egg next to her. Blu thought for a moment, and then nudged Jewel lovingly.
"I know...So, what do you want to talk about?" Blu asked, sitting down as well.
"Like...I mean, we have to think about how to take care of our Carlos. We need to figure out how we're going to live our lives with such a responsibility. I mean...I haven't been able to talk to a mother in years. We really need to get our acts together and learn how to be parents." Jewel explained. Blu sighed and thoughtfully glanced outside. Jewel was indeed right. Blu had no idea how to raise a child. It was completely new to him. Heck, he never even knew his own parents... There was so much he needed to know in so little time. There were a thousand ways he could mess up, and every one of them would be such a disaster. His feathers were practically falling out from worry. Carlos was already expected to be hatching in a month or so. At least, that's what Tulio said. Blu and Jewel could feel it as well, their egg was indeed preparing to hatch soon.
"Jewel...honey...I know we'll figure it out. I'm not going to let the greatest thing to happen to us destroy our family. If I can learn to fly with your help, we can figure out how to raise a kid together for sure." Blu said confidently, as if he was addressing an entire nation. History Channel viewings always seemed to pay off at some point for Blu, in this case it was various speeches that seemed pretentious and useless at the time, but helped him sound sure now.
"Thanks Blu..." Jewel sighed happily, resting her head on Blu, who did the same to his mate. It seemed as if this was the real start to a life Blu didn't have about a year ago...
...
Meanwhile, in the deeper parts of the forest, a certain, familiar cockatoo was trudging along on a small path leading to the center of the forest.
"They took away my pride..."
The bird noticed a small sparrow a few feet in front of him, happily chirping away.
"They took away my feathers..."
The sparrow suddenly looked up at the huge bird in front of him, and his eyes widened to the size of golf balls. The sparrow started to zoom off, when a huge talon slashed out and stabbed his tail to the ground, clearly injuring the poor sparrow that happened to get in the path of this bird.
"But no one...can keep Nigel down..."
The psychotic cockatoo finally looked down at the sparrow, who was only hoping the awful cockatoo behind him would let him go. Nigel looked down at him menacingly, and then smiled villainously.
"Don't be scared, pretty bird...This will only hurt a lot."
...
A/N: And THAT is my jumping off point!
Once again, I want to thank you for the support I received in 'The Big Scoop'. It really is cool to be able to make a sequel. This time around, I really want the story to have a mood of not knowing what to expect next. Of course, I've already revealed that the hated cockatoo has returned, but alot of this now will rely on the story of Blu and Jewel's little chick, while Arthur and everyone else will play a less-important, but still a HUGE part. Also, Nigel's sub-plot is going to be VERY interesting. To give you a hint at what I'm meaning, let's just say you're going to be getting a bird-version of Marlon Brando and a few other good men real soon...I also intend to make this story focus on the emotional sides of characters. After a few conversations with a fellow 'Rio' fan-fiction writer, I've come to see that I'm...REALLY not good at showing emotion of characters, haha. I really want to make the general focus to be the emotion these characters feel in these situations they've been tossed. How they deal with the cards they're dealt. It's honestly somethin that has to be done, because sequels NEED to focus on characters' emotions of their current situation. If without that, the sequel is practically pointless. I honestly want to make this a great sequel, because if it's bad...Well, I'll say that I will just feel like I let myself...And you guys down. So, look for this to be improving on The Big Scoop! Get ready for a SUCCESSFUL SEQUEL!
I'd also like to thank "The Choas Legionnare", a fellow fan-fiction writer AND Rio fan (I absolutely suggest you to check out his fic "Short Explorations of Character", which is probably a few knots below this fic in the Rio section right here. It's a VERY well-written fic, and I'm glad to have a writer of his calibur on board with this fic. I thank him for his help pre-reading and editing this chapter, and making me realize what this story truly has to do to be a great one! Look for his influence on this fic as the fic goes on. It certaintly helped this chapter, at least!
...but anyways, as always
READ, ENJOY, REVIEW!
