Rio: Fear and Feathers in Las Vegas

Chapter 2: Going Haywire

"A few minutes later, Blu was flying over to Jewel, in their nest, but he soon noticed that she looked much happier than she did before. "Uh, why the sudden happiness?" asked Blu. Jewel pointed down below, and the young Macaw saw that Arthur was talking to Jez, but he also noticedthatPedro and Robyn were hiding nearby.

Rolling his eyes, Blu flew over to the cardinal couple, and whispered, "Didn't your mother ever tell you that it was rude to eavesdrop, Pedro?"

The cardinal whispered, "It's not like that, Blu... I'm just trying to enjoy my time here."

"Uh-huh," said Blu. "Robyn, what's your ex... uh, I mean, your reason?"

Pedro's counterpart and wife whispered, "I'm not even listening... the only reason I'm here is because Mr. Peeping Tom over here wouldn't let me finish my beauty sleep."

"You're already the most beautiful bird I know," said Pedro. "Don't have me become obsessed over you..."

Not wanting to hear the cardinals "love talk", Blu flew over a little closer to Arthur and Jez, who said, "So, how long have you known Blu?"

"For almost three years now, I think," replied Arthur. "We... m-met a few days after he and Jewel fell in love, and we grew closer after he tried to save me from an evil bird."

"Nigel?" said Jez. "Blu told me about him..."

Arthur chuckled, and said, "No, this guy was a lot more worse than the cockatoo. Oh, and one time, when I was at a camp..."

"Whoa, that just reminded me of something!" exclaimedJez. "I wanted to show you guys this really cool place that I found."

"I'll be the judge of that," replied Pedro, who came out in the open, followed by Robyn.

Arthur tried to speak, but very quickly, Jez was flying away, leading Jewel, Robyn, and Pedro away from the Falls, and after Blu went next to him, he sighed, andasked, "Blu, why is it so hard to talk to a pretty girl like Jez?"

Blu chuckled, and said, "I asked myself the same thing when I first met Jewel. Come on, buddy, let's go see what Jez meant by a real cool place."

Arthur sighed thoughtfully, knowing the charm he had wasn't going to go to waste. After all, he didn't get Petricious from good looks, that's for sure...

...

"Hey Bobby, you find Arthur yet?"

Bobby and Wally were currently busy scouting out the forest, searching for their Spix macawfriend.

"Not yet, man. Maybe he's with Blu and Jewel? They're family after all." Bobby reasoned as he poked his head into a tree and was quickly smacked out by a lady woodpecker who began to chirp angrily at the pigeon invading her privacy.

"Man, you ain't got any luck with the ladies, huh?" Wally chuckled as he stared at his dazed friend who was lying on the ground. Bobby smirked sarcastically and then got up, looking around once more. Wally walked forward into a patch of bushes, and then suddenly spotted a sight that caught him off guard.

"Hey Bobby, come look at this..."

...

As Arthur and Blu slowly flew behind the rest of the birds, Arthur continued to think of a way to charm his new piece of affection. Arthur, however, couldn'tthinkstraight with the beauty he had seen. He'd never seen another female Spix macaw as beautiful as this one..Jez, was it? Those eyes...Those deep, violet eyes that just pierced through his soul like the greatest stars in the skys...shining like diamonds...

"Artie?"

...her voice was like silk...

"Artie?"

...Such beauty...Such graceina bird...

"ARTIE!"

Arthur suddenly snapped back to reality after Blu had been yelling to him for the past minute. Arthur blinked confusingly, and then stared happily at Blu.

"What is it, Blu boy?" Arthur asked, his voice nonchalant, trying to cover his romantic thinking. Blu hesitated, and was about to speak again, when the group suddenly stopped.

"Here it is!" Jez said with a smile, pointing to a clearing that was filled with different tents, tables, equipment and a pickup truck sitting behind the equipment. All the birds slowly paced forward cautiously, not knowing what exactly any of the things were. Suddenly, a white figure came firing towards the group of birds and then smacked into the ground in front of them, all of them scampering off to hide from the strange thing that had crashed in front of them. Arthur ran over, and suddenly recognized it...It was Wally...And his head was a skeleton. Arthur's eyes shot open, and he suddenly screamed loudly.

"NO WALLY! WE WERE TOO LATE! WHY MUST THE GOOD DIE YOUNG?" Arthu screamed, running in circles as the seagull looked up at the Spix macaw quizzingly. Blu then grabbed the panicing macaw and then stopped his running.

"Check it out, I'm dead from the neck up!" Wally chuckled as walked towards the birds. The seagull was apparently wearing a perfect replica of a bird skull on his head. Arthur laughed slowly, feeling both embarassment and panic in his mind.

"Sorry...Guess vision went before thought..." Arthur said with a weak laugh. Arthur glanced nervously at Jez, who giggled lightly at him. Arthur could almost feel the red burn of a blush coming through his feathers, but he ignored it.

"Should we really be here, Jez? I mean, this place doesn't exactly look bird friendly..." Blu said as his voice trailed off when Wally looked at him with his skull 'cap' on his head.

"You kiddin'? I love this place!" Bobby exclaimed as he stood on a stack of plates a few feet away. The pigeon then slipped, which caused a plate to fire off like a rocket and smash into a nearby tree. Arthur suddenly noticed Jez flying up to a nearby table, which seemed to have an old-fashioned typewriter propped on it. Arthur smiled brightly and confidentally, knowing this was a perfect oppurtunity to put the moves on. Arthur flew up to the table and was about to speak, when Jezturnedback around at the reporter bird, who smiled brightly in return.

"Do you know what this is?" asked Jez. Arthur looked at the machine, and nodded his head.

"Of course I do... my, uh, former owner was on this for most of his life. Watch this!" Using his claws, Arthur began to type random letters until the machine made a ding noise.

"Huh..." chuckled Arthur. "I like the sound of that!" The Macaw did it again, but then, Bobby accidentally broke a plate from the huge pile he stood on.

"Oh, my bad, you guys," said the Bobby, but to Arthur, it was the beginning of a jazzybeat.

"No man, keep that up! I'm liking this!" Arthur exclaimed with a wide smile.

When he typed again, Bobby smashedanother plate, and then, Pedro ripped a page from a book.

"Honey, please," said Robyn. "Canyoucontrol yourself?"

"No, hey, relax, babe," cried Arthur. "I'm on a roll here!"

"BABE?" Robyn huffed, and began to walk toward him, but Jewel stopped her.

"Save the anger for Rafael," said Blu's mate. "Trust me..." As Arthur, Nico, and Pedro continued their acts, with Wally tossing things around and beating on objects with rhythm, Blu cried, "Hey, Arthur, I forgot to say that-"

However, a kid-sized trumpet flew toward him, but luckily, he caught it, and when Blu played a note, Arthur said, "Oh, yeah!" The former reporter-bird typed on the machine, Bobby broke a plate, along with Pedro ripping a page and the seagull making noise, and then, Arthur cried, "Comeon,Blu!Kick it upa notch!"

Blu began to play the trumpet, with a smile, and while typing, Arthur said, "Ding! I love that part... come on, Jewel, sing us a little something!" As Blu played the musical instrument some more, Jewel began to ad-lib a jazzytune.

"Shabadoo, labadoo, debadiao, lebada, dabida!"

"Man, this is the most fun I've had in ages!" Wally laughed as he started to slam on numerous pans around him, when a flying plate smashed into his head and smashed the skull off his head. Wally blinked his eyes in a daze and then laughed in unrealized pain.

"Ouch..."

While playing, Blu thought, "Hmmm... why do I feel like I've heard this before?"

Soon, everyone began to play to the new song, and the singers were Jewel, Arthur, Nico, and Pedro.

"Doo, bop, shidoooo, whoo!"

However, none of them noticed a rustling in the bushes. After the instrumental break, Blu handedthe trumpet to Arthur, and began to sing, as well.

"Shabadoo, labadoo, debada, labida!"

Arthur blew on the trumpet, and Jewel sang along with Blu.

"Doo, bop, sheedoo!"

"Shabadoo, labadoo, dabadoo, debada, ladida!" Arthur played again, and he smiled when Jez made a face that meant she was impressed.

"Wow, where'd you learn to play so well?" Jezaskedwitha smile that made Arthur know he was winning over the lady Macaw.

"Easy! Mr. Jenkin's smooth Jazz always helped me!" Arthur laughed as he continued to rip out note after note on the trumpet while the continuing madness around him was creating an overall jazz-sound while Jewel andBlucontinued to sing.

"Shoobadoo, daboo, dabba dabba dee da!"

"Doo bop shee doo!"

"WHOO!"

Unknown to everyone, Wally suddenly disappeared into the bushes without any trace left of him. Finally, the music died down, all except for Arthur who continued to play the trumpet until his last breath gave out. Jez was actually impressed at the reporter-bird that had seemed so energetic and outgoing, and was about to speak when a huge figure suddenly smashed into Arthur and sent him flying about 10 feet away. Jez jumped back in shock at the sudden appearance of the huge, white bird standing in front of her.

"Hey! What's your problem?" Jez sqwuakedangrily, pacingover to the bird, before he raised his head and revealed himself to be...The cockatoo we all know as Nigel.

"Oh nothing, Pretty Bird. I was just about to throw you into your new home..." Nigel chuckled as Blu suddenly noticed the cockatoo and his eyes shot open as he noticed Jez in his sights.

"Jez, run!" Blu yelled, waving his wings and running rapidly towards his sister. Before Blu couldreach the cockatoo, a cage suddenly landed on top Blu, imprisoning him like a set of prison bars to an inmate.

"What the...Jez?" Arthur said in a daze, suddenly spotting Nigel grabbing the other Spix macaw.

"Arthur!" Jez yelled out to the reporter-bird, suddenly making him feel determined to KO the cockatoo. Arthur quickly bolted after the cockatoo and Jez, but suddenly he felt a hard force land on his head like a rock and his whole head began to feel fuzzy, until he finally became unconscious.