Chapter 6: Behind the Lines
Happy New Year everyone! Now, I know a lot of you've been very patient with my chapters, finally for those who have been waiting for some certain scheming characters to come onto the scene, now you've gotten your request.
I would like to thank Alexriolover95, Alex The Owl and Florafionpetals for asking to include their OC's in the story. If any of you guys want your OC's or suggestions in the story, don't be afraid to PM or leave it in your review and I'll see what I can do.
Enjoy the chapter!
The thinnest bit sunshine shone weakly through the mist veiled morning rainforest from over the horizon. From the sky above to all around the tree canopy, it was if lenses of blurry grey had been placed over everything. Drops of water dripped singularly to thin streams down the tropical fauna growth. For most of the diurnal animals living here, it meant they had only about an hour or so to finish their sleeping, while for the nocturnal creatures it meant only an hour more to complete their tasks before going to bed.
However, some diurnal animals chose to be awake and alert early this day. Three Spix macaw chicks flew swiftly over the forest canopy, heading straight towards the territory's boundaries. The early morning fog provided a perfect cover from anyone who might spot them leaving. They could also dart into the leaves and branches of the trees just in case. Either way, they would not be returning home, not until they go their dad to come back with them.
The border between the two tribes, as their uncle Roberto had described, was separated by the Brazil nut grove. Though it was hard to see in the grey dawn, branches with nuts were just right below them. The grove was split equally in half, so that none had more than the other. The line between the borders, as uncle Roberto had told them, was marked by a feather of each tribe, red and blue, tied by a vine around a branch, dab-smack in the treetops.
Brown, gold and green eyes darted back a forth, till a speck of sapphire and crimson caught in their focus. The two feathers were covered in morning dew, revealing details of the feather you could only see close up. Now with their confirmation, the chicks swiftly flew towards it and passed it, now knowing they were one more step closer to finding their father.
Elsewhere, a Spix macaw chick comfortably snuggled in deeper into her nest, completely immersing herself in the warmth and softness of it. Her nest seemed warmer and softer than usual, also there was a rather large lump next to her side. But what did it matter, it was very comfy. But then she felt vibrations coming from her side and all of a sudden she felt the warm lump begin to pry and move itself away from her. Her beak let out a whimper as she tried to regain the comfy warmth, but then a gently shaking from her shoulder silenced her and she weakly opened her eyes.
"Aqua. Hey Aqua. Time to get up," came a soft voice. She groaned in response, her mind protesting against it, but her muscles forced herself to sit upright. Her eyelids refused to open, but eventually she pried open the covers off her hazel orbs. Her wings outstretched far out and over he head as the last of her sleepiness left with one last yawn.
"Sleep well last night," she heard a voice asked. She smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. Thanks Blu." The male before her nodded and returned the smile.
"Anytime. Remember, I've had experience with chicks like you before, so if there's ever a time that you're sad or lonely or you just want to talk." He lightly stretched out his wing and placed it on her shoulder, "I'm always there for you. Okay?" Aqua's face couldn't get any wider with the smile threatening to tear it apart.
"Okay," she replied happily. She then surprised him by running, no, charging right out of the nest and at Blu, quickly knocking him onto his back while she wrapped his wings around his chest. He chuckled and returned the hug warmly. After a minute of the platonic love display, he leaned the both of them until he was sitting us while Aqua was still hugging his chest. She looked up from her mushed position against his cobalt feathers and smiled eagerly, which he responded with an identical one.
"Ready to go meet the others", he asked. He laughed when he smile threatened to split her face once more. He quickly stood up and got them both up onto their feet. "Alright then. Let's go."
And so the two blue birds streaked out the hollow and towards the designated area they promised to meet their friends at.
The designated place was actually a group of trees that Aqua knew were nearby the training area. Sure enough, once they got their, three Scarlet macaw siblings were already there. Alex, Liz and Lisa had come early, just as them. As soon as they set on the branches nearly, Aqua raced over and quickly hugged all three, nearly sending them toppled over. Blu held in a giggle for her and her friends sake. Finally Liz quickly grasped Aqua and held her under her wings in the air. She smirked playfully at her before smirking at him.
"What did you give her to eat this morning," she asked. Blu shook his head and lowered it, pretending have a headache.
"Nothing yet. I wanted to hear Blu's story with you guys before breakfast," Aqua honestly replied. Liz never lost her smirk at the either of them. Luckily, Alex and Lisa intervened.
"Well lucky for you guys, Lisa and I thought to bring extra Brazil nuts for the both of you guys. So you might as well break them open and eat them before you start the story and lose energy and fall asleep halfway through your tale," Alex teased. Sure enough, he and Lisa each had one in their feet. Lisa handed hers to Aqua after Liz set her down on the branch while Alex threw his towards Blu. His eyes widened in shock that quickly turned to excitement when Blu suddenly kicked the Brazil nut and slid it across his shoulders before finally firmly grasping it in his talons.
"Tch, wow. Man now I understand the announcers praising you at the pit of Doom tournament," Lisa said. Alex shot his sister a small glare but quickly looked back at Blu.
"Impressive move, Blu. You'll have to teach me that move later," he said.
"Me too," Lisa called.
"Me twooo, buh aahterrr da stooieee," Aqua said, spewing a few Brazil nut pieces out as she spoke while she chewed. The others back away from her a bit, but the smiles of amusement were evident despite their disgusted comments.
Meanwhile, the three other Spix macaw chicks awake at this early hour in the morning had managed to sneak past the border and a half-awake guard on watch duty, but now the trio were on the rainforest floor, hiding from all eyes, recomposing themselves as they tried to think of a phase two of their plan to get their father back.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting kinda scared about this plan now," Carla, the eldest of the three said. The second oldest nodded.
"Same here. I thought going in and rescuing dad was going to be easy, but now it seems way tougher than we thought," Bia agreed. The youngest, however, tried to keep a more positive attitude than his sisters.
"Come on you guys. We made it this far. How much longer do you think it will be till we see dad again," Tiago asked. Suddenly, all three choices flinched and their feathers pressed tightly against their bodies to make them appear smaller as a voice, other than them, spoke.
"I'd say much longer if you keep talkin' like this and the guards find you now." All three pairs of eyes darted through the foliage surrounding them, searching for the voice's mysterious owner.
"W-who are you? C'mon, show yourself!" Tiago called out as he and his siblings pressed closely together. Their eyes all widened in fear as they noticed two pairs of eyes in the shadows, one gold, the other crimson red, both bright contrasting to their dark forms in the shade. The chicks flinched again as the two took a step forward and their feet snapped some twigs and crunched on the leaf decay below. The three huddled together and shut their eyes tightly together. If they were going to die, right here and now, at least they be together this one last time.
Seconds seemed to blur together as they patiently awaited their doom. Their fearful shaking stopped though then they felt a talon lightly tap on each of their backs. Heads slowly pulled out of their huddled and eyes gradually opened to see the horrible monstrosities before them. Only to widen in shock at the figures before them. One was a Spix macaw, same as them. His feathers were a bright cobalt, contrasting against his golden irises. The other, much to their shock, was a Snowy owl. Like all of the tundra-native birds, his feathers were snow white with speckles of black throughout his body. His eyes, unlike the bright yellow of most of his kind, were a deep red, like the color of the flowers in the Spix macaw's territory. Both looked at them in mild concern.
"Whoa kiddies. I ain't gonna hurt you. Just wonderin' what you chicks are doing outside of Spix macaw boundaries," the male Spix asked. The Snowy owl nodded.
"Yeah. Don't you chicks know this is prime Scarlet macaw territory," he added. The two younger chicks were still too stunned to speak, but Carla wasn't.
"Oh yeah. Then why are you two in the Scarlet's territory too," she replied, her tone sassy. Both males were taken back by her quickly and smart response. Soon. though, they had smirks on their faces at her tough, no-nonsense attitude.
"You have a silver tongue, youngun', and I admire that. My name's Diaglo and I live here under special permission from the Scarlet's," the Spix replied.
"I'm Alex, and he's letting me stay here until I can get back to civilization. Hopefully someplace cool, I'm bakin' here," the Snowy owl answered. Carla nodded, pleased with the responses.
"Pleased to meet you all. I'm Carla, and these are my siblings, Bia and Tiago," she introduced. Slowly, the other two waved.
"Hello," both said. The two other birds nodded.
"'Kay now. Now that we're all introduced and gotten to know each other, now why are you kids here?" Diaglo asked. A moment of silence passed between all of them and Carla was about to respond again when Bia beat her to it.
"Wait, so you two live here," she asked. Diaglo shot her a look.
"Did we stutter, youngun'," he replied. Bia shook her head in response.
"No, but if you guys live here, then does that mean you can go into the Scarlet's territory," she asked.
"Under very few, and special circumstances, yes. Why you askin'?" Tiago and Carla's eyes then became wide as they then realized where their sister was going at.
"Then that means you can lead us in and take us to our dad," Tiago exclaimed. Both birds stared confusingly at him.
"Your dad?" Diaglo asked.
"Your dad's a Scarlet macaw?" Alex asked. Three heads shook 'no' in response.
"No. Our dad's a Spix macaw. His name's Blu and he was taken by the Scarlet's into their territory," Bia replied. Alex looked shocked at the answer.
"Your dad is Blu," he asked. The chicks nodded, and to their shock, he started grinning widely.
"Are you kidding me? That dude's awesome. Saved my life from smugglers in Rio actually," Alex said. Diaglo turned his head and stared at him.
"Really? Well if he's the Blu you praise so highly about and admire, then I guess I can help his kids out," Diaglo said. Three smiling faces stared right at him.
"Could you please take us through this territory and help us find him," Bia asked. A nod of the head was all it took to send the chicks hopping about and cheering.
"Quiet. You chicks need to be quiet. If any of you guys are caught with me, we'll all be kicked out. Got it," he asked. Three nods. "Good. C'mon chicks. Alex, you come too. Time to meet the macaw you look up too." Alex grinned happily took into flight with the four other Spix deeper into the red's territory.
As they flew, though, Diaglo snorted and muttered to himself, "Man, I hope Lisa doesn't mind that I brought guests."
"And so then, Jewel and I safely made it to the ground and a nice human named Tulio helped fix up Jewel's wing," Blu explained at the avid audience. What once was just one Spix macaw and three Scarlet's had turned into an entire crowd of avid, interested listeners. Alex had disappeared somewhere in the middle of the story, but Lisa promised she tell him the rest when he would meet up later. All eyes and attention was focused on Blu as he retold his tale of coming to Rio and his adventure in the first week there.
"And we lived happily ever after there, till we decided to move here," he finished. A round of applause from the wings of every Scarlet macaw came up from all of those in the audience. Blu smiled bashfully and blushed. He wasn't exactly used to being in the spotlight you see.
"T-thank you. Thank you," he said softly as he did a little awkward bow. After the clapping dissipated, a voice came up from the audience.
"Excuse me. Mr. Blu," came a young, female voice.
"Y-yes," he called out into the audience.
"I was wondering, would you ever go back to Rio if you could?" Blu smiled and nodded.
"Definitely. Rio was my home and I absolutely loved living there," he replied.
"I have a question. The humans, Linda and Tulio. Weren't they the ones that were fighting the loggers alongside us," came a voice from a male.
"Yep. Both of them. They're ornithologists, meaning they study birds. They're probably trying to find the Spix macaws again as we speak." A wing stuck up from the audience. Blu pointed to it. "Yes?"
"Mr. Blu. You said you have a wife named Jewel, right," a little girl asked. Blu's heart sank at her mention gain. He had tried to focus on the best memories of her while telling his story, but still the guilt from yesterday still was fresh in his mind.
"Yes, yes I did," he replied, trying to keep his tone in check. He hoped this would be the end of her question. Yet luck, God, karma, the universe, or anything else he believed in, was not on his side.
"Well then do you know where she is? And do you guys have any kids" she asked. An older female scolded the younger, possibly her daughter, for her probing question. Luckily, also kinda ironically, most eyes were on the two, so many didn't see Blu's expression turn sorrowful and his eyes soften with tears already forming in them.
'Many' was the word here. Aqua's eyes were still focused on him and she noticed his change in attitude. She felt her heart beat with sympathy and worry for him. She was about to speak when the flapping of multiple wings and a familiar voice behind Blu beat her to the point.
"Hey guys. Whoa, didn't realize everyone and their best bud had come to hear Blu talk," Alex said. Beside him were four other Scarlet's, all of the males. They all were well trained by first glance at them. Their wing muscles and chest were toned. Blu quickly straightened up and wiped his eyes of any visible traces of tear fluid as he turned to face them.
"Hey Alex. What's up," he asked. Alex smiled and motioned to the others beside him.
"Well, me and my friends; Tito, Cesar, Antonio and Mario, who you may have already met from the Pit of Doom; were wondering if you could teach me and them some of your cool, soccer-grooving moves," Alex explained. A Brazil nut quickly flew up from, seemingly, out of nowhere and Alex quickly kicked it up and spun the ball on his left wing. Blu smiled and didn't waste any time nodding 'yes' in reply. Five smiles appeared on the Scarlet's faces.
"Well great. Come see us on the field in a little bit and you can show us what you got," Alex yelled as he and the others started flying away, kicking the Brazil nut between them. Blu spun around once more to speak to his audience.
"Well guys, uh, thanks for comin' and listening to my story, but now, uh, I gotta go, so... see ya around," he said before he started to take off after them. "Hey guys! Wait up," he called after them. All was silent for a moment before a Scarlet macaw pipped up.
"I want to see Blu show off his moves," a young female, about Lisa and Aqua's age, said.
"Me too" said another.
"Yeah. He's so cool," another said.
"And he's so dreamy," said a female, about Jewel's age. Two other females nodded and sighed.
"I wanna come watch," said a chick.
"Yeah! Me too," said a male. Soon a small group of Scarlet macaws including Lisa and Liz, began flying after Blu and the others, leaving only one left, Aqua. She was still in her place and still pondering Blu's expression and appearance from earlier.
"He was a little too enthusiastic to leave to play with Alex and his friends," she thought. He may had put on a happy face in front of everyone, but she saw what he had looked like when they had mentioned his wife and kids. She knew, deep inside of her, that something was wrong and she was going to figure it out. And with that final thought she spread out her wings and followed after everyone.
"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there..."
"Please stop asking us this," Alex pleaded. Everyone else seemed beyond annoyed at Tiago's constant asking.
"Yes," Diaglo finally said.
"Really?!" Tiago said excitedly.
"No! Keep quiet or in case we'll never be," Diaglo replied. Instantly, Tiago shut up. After a quick mutter under his breath of 'how annoying these kids are' his eyes then suddenly picked up the flash of red feathers below. His pupils dilated as they focused through the foliage. All of a sudden, a loud, screechy call blasted their ears. It sounded like an animal, possibly a bird dying. Alex and Diaglo cringed at the horrendous sound, but to their shock, the chicks started to cheer loudly.
All of a sudden, they charged straight forward towards the cluster of trees, all the while chanting, "Dad. Dad. Dad!"
"Screeee- oooowwwww... no," Blu muttered at the end. Several macaws had their wings over their heads, others were cringing, some just stared at him in shock before shaking their heads.
"Blu, that was... um," Alex stuttered as he came up to him.,
"Horrible," was the plain reply.
"No, no, no, no, no... yes. Definitely," he finally admitted. But then he slapped a wing encouragingly against Blu's back. "But hey, at least we know you have a set of powerful lungs to battle cry with, and that's a good enough requirement for me to teach you how to pro battle cry." He grinned while Blu bashfully smiled.
Some of the other Scarlet's had flown off as the day started later for them, but some of the remained and watched. Some of them, though this is somewhat needless to say, were females holding small tufts of dried grass or flowers and were using them as pom-pom while cheering for them. Some even threw flirtatious looks and winks at the players, though especially at Blu, although he was too distracted to notice them.
"So Blu, can you redo that move you started earlier, but didn't finish when that branch came up," Alex asked. Blu smiled and nodded.
"Oh, sure thing. Alright then." He took a Brazil nut over to a clear space a few feet away from them. "Okay. First thing is you have to get enough momentum going to get the nut in the air," he started kicking the nut as he spoke, "Then mobility is another factor," he spun on one foot while kicking the ball before transferring it to spinning over his wings, "Now you can send it flying really high," he let the nut fall onto his foot before he kicked it and launched it high into the air, "And all that's left to do is catch it and-"
"Daddy!"
The word, he hadn't heard it in days. The tone, like an excited, yet relieved child. The voice. It sounded like...
His head turned to see the owner, but gravity unfortunately wasn't going to hold up the Brazil nut in the air forever. The world seemed to blur together and he caught the sight of familiar blue feathers before a sudden pain struck him in the head and he blacked out.
"Daddy!" The new voices shocked the other players and other watching, but not as much as the huge 'clunk' when the Brazil nut hit Blu's head. To many Scarlet's surprise, four Spix macaws, three of them chicks, and an added strange, white, black-speckled bird none of them had ever seen before, had surrounded the now unconscious Blu while checking to see if he was alright while calling his name.
It only took about a moment to process the fact that they were all intruders that had invaded their territory. After the realization kicked in, some had already moved towards the group, Liz at the lead.
Alex, Lisa and Aqua made their way to the front of the group, towards the knocked-out Blu and his concern group. The two adults were aware of the Scarlet's staring menacingly at them while the three chicks were unaware and absorbed in crying over Blu. Finally, Lisa came up and spoke first.
"Um, excuse me, but what are you all doing here," she asked. Diaglo suddenly stiffened up and quickly turned around. His face quickly turned to a grin once he saw her.
"Lisa," he exclaimed. Lisa the reciprocated the grin and raced over to hug him.
"Diaglo," she cried. Liz and Alex lost their defensive stances as they recognized who he was while the others lost theirs in confusion.
"How you doing, girl," he asked.
"Good. And you?"
"Fine, thanks. Just helpin' these chicks out and introducing my friend to him," he explained.
"Oh. Well who are they?" Aqua asked while pointing to the chicks her age and the not-yet-know-to-them Snowy owl.
"Well the Snowy owl right there is Alex. He's probably the first one you've ever seen, right? They don't live here, but he's an exception to the area," Alex answered.
"And those three?" Aqua asked again, this time focusing on the still frantic chicks hovering over Blu.
"Oh those three. Those are Blu's chicks, Carla, Bia and Tiago. I let them in so they could see their dad again."
And just like that, Aqua's world came crashing down.
Cliff Hanger. Hanging from a cliff! That's why they call him Cliff Hanger! In case you don't know, this is a Between the Lions reference. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, now what's going to happen now that Blu's chicks are here and are refusing to go back to Spix territory without him? And just when are Nigel, Gabi and Charlie going to come in? And why hasn't the author given any backstory or development for Aqua? All question to be answered in due time.
Thanks again to everyone who let me use their OC's, I hope I didn't mess up on them, if I did, please tell me, I hate to mess things up. Please review, tell me how I did, and I'll try to see you sooner with the new chapter! Sincerely, v.t.7