Blu and his friends silently walked down the streets on their way to the aviary in hopes that Linda was still there. On their way, Blu annoyingly noticed that Rafael was still following them.

"Rafael, stop following us. You're going the wrong way; carnival's in this direction."

Rafael chuckled as he came beside his blue friend. "I'm not going to Carnival, no, I'm going home."

Blu gave him a curious look. "But you said you loved carnival, didn't you?"

"I do, but I love my family much more. And that's a choice I made with this (put his feather on Blu's chest), not this (put it on Blu's head)."

Blu sighed. "To be honest, Rafael, I'm not even sure I know how to use my heart." He then turned his head toward Dominic and Apollo. "Guys. Can I ask you a question? Why do you want to stay with me and be friend with a pathetic flightless bird like me?"

Dominic stepped forward and placed his wing on Blu's shoulder. "Blu, you are far from being a pathetic bird. If I want to be your friend, it's because you are good, but also because you're generous."

"I'm good and...generous?" he asked with a sad look.

"Yes," Apollo nodded with patting Blu's back. "And to be generous, you must be strong, regardless of if you're a swordsman, crafter, or plastic bird. People like this are rare, so birds like this are even more."

Blu gave a little smile and would let out a tear before saying thank you to his eagle and owl friends, have it not be for the sound of people calling for him hurryingly. As he turned around, he saw Nico and Pedro flying toward them with Polie, Adam, Star, and Alicia. Strangely, Adam had a clawing mark on his torso and they all seemed to panic.

"Blu! Blu!" Pedro panicked. "We were flying when we saw this big cockatoo!" Pedro said with taking the shape of a balloon for emphasis.

"Yes, with big ninja talons!" Nico added.

"This cockatoo was ugly, but that's not the point," Pedro added.

"And then he grabbed Jewel by the throat and said: 'You will come with me, pretty princess!'," Polie mimicked the scene.

"And then she defended herself," Pedro said with showing some fake fighting moves before moving like a girl for emphasis, "I ain't your princess, leave me alone!"

"And then, he started panicking," Polie tried to get back in and all the boys talked over each other. Seeing the confused looks on Blu, Rafael, Dominic and Apollo's faces, Alicia sighed.

"Jewel got captured by Nigel and he took her to the carnival's parade!" she finally broke.

Blu gasped in horror. "That's all my fault," he mumbled with looking at the ground. Dominic put a wing on his shoulder.

"What do you want to do now?"

Blu hesitated a moment before putting on a determined look. "Let's fly!"

And he did just that...by jumping on the back of Luiz as he ran toward the carnival. "Carnival, here we come!" the dog happily shouted before letting a drop of saliva fly into Nico's face.

"Luiz! Watch out! You almost drowned me down!" the canary complained with whipping the saliva from his face with his wings.

"At least you won't have to take a bath!" Luiz joked.

"If he put the slightest drop of saliva on me, I am going mad," Dominic mumbled to Blu.

Many minutes later, the group arrived at the carnival with Luiz entering the starting line of the large alleyway reserved for the cars carrying tens of dancers dressed in colorful costumes. The music was loud and everyone seemed to have fun. Blu would have probably enjoyed it if he wasn't in a hurry to save Jewel.

"Yeah baby, now I can get my freak on," Luiz cheered and started dancing.

"Hey, saving Jewel first, dancing after, okay?" Blu asked.

A gang of drummers then forced the dog to start running forward across the legions of enthusiast dancers. "Blu!" Dominic called from above him. "Apollo and I are gonna go ahead and see where Jewel is! We will send a flare in the air when we spot her and you'll join us there, okay?" he shouted before flying forward at full speed with Apollo behind him.

Luiz kept running across the parade until Blu heard a familiar voice calling him from behind. Turning his head, he was surprised to see none other than Linda herself on top of a carnival car. Strangely, she was dressed in aSpixx macaw costume which exposed a lot of her skin - more than Blu has ever seen before. She called for him as she tried to get down from the car, walking on the male dancers and dancing a bit in the process. This caused him to chuckle to himself a bit.

"Blu!" He got brought back to reality by the voice of Adam who flew above him and pointed forward to where a red flare as been shot in the sky. "Dominic and Apollo found Jewel! Come on, let's go save her!" he shouted and flew toward the flare's location with the others.

Blu hesitated. He could go back to Jewel and return to his old life with her, back to Moose Lake...but that would mean leaving the others to go save Jewel while he was the one who planned to come here to rescue her.

"Let's go save Jewel!" he decided and Luiz started running away. It was reluctantly that he ignored Linda's call for him.

After many more minutes, Luiz and Blu left the carnival's parade zone and made their way to an old abandoned (or so they though) airport where their friends were hiding behind wooden boxes. "Hey, not that I don't want to save Jewel, but mind if I go enjoy the carnival for a while?" Luiz asked after Blu jumped from his back.

"You can; I'm sure we'll be able to handle them ourselves," Dominic answered and the bulldog happily ran back toward the carnival.

"Where is she?" Blu asked nervously to which Star pointed her wing toward a plane that was getting loaded with cages containing birds - the same ones from the smugglers' hideout. As if they were not expecting it, the three smugglers themselves were doing it. The kid that apologized to them was there too, though he seemed reluctant to charge the birds.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Pedro said as he was about to charge, only to be stopped by Dominic.

"Wait; look!"

To everybody's surprise, the little boy, Fernando, went to Jewel's cage and mumbled something before trying to unlock her door. "He's helping her!" Star exclaimed in surprise.

"But why? Isn't he a bad guy?" Nico asked curiously.

"No; he just helped them because he needed money, but he's a good boy inside," Blu said with a smile.

He finished by opening Jewel's cage and she seemed surprised for a moment before coming out. Apollo waited for the smugglers to look away before taking out his bird-sized flair-gun and shot a flair in the air to signal their position to her. This worked as Jewel saw them and flew to their position alongside Fernando.

"Guys!" she happily said with taking Polie, Adam, Star, and Alicia in a big hug. "You came for me!"

"Of course we did! We are your friends after all!" Polie answered.

"More than that, we're a family!" Star said.

"Anyone who wants to hurt you's better to get ready to go through me first!" Alicia affirmed.

"We'll never let you go!" Adam said before they broke from the hug.

Jewel then noticed Rafael, Nico, and Pedro, and was pretty glad to see them too. However, before she could thank them for coming, her attention turned toward Blu and his two friends. She widened her eyes in surprise as she didn't expect them to come to her rescue after what happened at the garage.

"B-Blu?! Why are you here?" she asked, trying to hide the fact that she was actually happy that he didn't leave Rio yet.

Blu rubbed the back of his head nervously as he wasn't sure what to answer to that. "Well... I wasn't going to give up on a friend to those smugglers, right?"

Jewel looked curiously. "You-You see me as a friend? But I thought you hated Brazil and all that?"

Blu looked down sadly, regretting what he told her, before looking up with a determined look. "I didn't mean what I said. And I apologize to you all for those words as I know it hurts you all - especially you, Nico. I want you guys to know that I see you as friends, the only ones and greatest that I ever had."

Everyone looked at Blu with little smiles with others having bigger ones. Before any of them could respond to him, Fernando talked: "Guys, guys, it's great that you are reunited and all, but we need to get out of here before they find us-"

Suddenly, the leader of the smugglers jumped out of nowhere and grabbed him by the arm. "What are you doing there?!" he asked, clearly mad.

Luckily, before he could hurt the kid, Apollo lifted his flare gun and shot a flare close enough to his face to blindfold him and allow the kid to run away. "That was my last shot!" the owl groaned as he regained his pistol.

Deciding to take revenge, Blu jumped and swung his two plastic wings backward before slamming them hard into the smuggler's face. "POWER SLAM!" This knocked the human down with a good mark in the face.

"Cool! This is your new attack?" Polie asked as he jumped in the air and threw his balloon in one of the two other smugglers' face while Nico shot his bottle cap in the other's, knocking them down both.

"Yes, I just invented it," Blu explained with a smile before he was suddenly knocked to the ground with a strong figure over him, exactly the same way Jewel did to him in the first cage they met. Coughing a bit, he then looked up to see a familiar cockatoo standing over him with a smirk.

"So we came to save our friend? How heroic and cute," he teasingly snarked.

"LET HIM GO!" Dominic shouted as he dashed at full speed and swung his sword at Nigel.

Unfortunately, the cockatoo turned into metal which caused the blade to bounce on his metallic feathers instead of cutting them off. "Missed," Nigel chuckled before delivering a strong kick that knocked Dominic away and sent him to crash into wooden boxes.

"Dominic!" Adam exclaimed in horror before starting to chase Nigel who flew into the abandoned airport which was empty and a bit dark. The macaw looked around for the metal cockatoo when "ARGH!" Nigel stabbed his metal talons into his back which caused him to bleed a bit.

Groaning, he turned around and swiftly smashed his wooden shield into the cockatoo's metal face which made a BANG! and made Nigel flinch, but barely. "Is that all you got?" he asked before rising his talons, looking to cut down the macaw, but just then, Polie charged into him and knocked both of them down.

Polie got back up first and shot his balloon into his face which made him flinch again. "Ah!" Nigel got back up and charged at Polie who dodged to let him crash into a wooden box and then kneaded him in the belly...which he regretted immediately as he forgot it was made of metal.

Polie almost lost his balance but grabbed Nigel's wing to keep himself up. The cockatoo threw two punches with his free wing but missed both times. Upon going for a third attempt, Polie quickly dodged and threw his balloon into his face again for the same result. Nigel replied by grabbing him by the wings and flipping him over him and onto the ground with a loud CRASH! It almost sounded as if Polie got broke in two.

It was then that he received a bottle cap to the back of the head and turned to see Nico and Pedro entering the airport. "I already said it: you don't mess with Pedro's friends!" Pedro shouted and charged up to Nigel, delivering a storm of boxing punches to Nigel's torso...which had no effect and left him to look at the cardinal with no interest.

He gave Nico a "is he serious?" glance before grabbing a big wooden with his strength. Instantly, the two friends understood what was in store for them and flew away in fear, only for Nigel to throw the wooden box which crashed on top of them and broke in pieces. "Okay, maybe not a good idea...," a down Pedro mumbled.

Alicia then arrived and, knowing that metal was weak against fire, sent a fire magical jet which touched his right wing and made it melt a bit. "Clever," Nigel said before picking a steel pipe and swinging it at Alicia who groaned as the swing hit her in the right side and knocked her away from a few feet.

"Alicia!" Star exclaimed as she rushed at her friend's side to heal her with her white magic. However, she then saw Nigel walking toward her with an evil grin, clearly saying that he wasn't planning to spare her just because she was a girl. She looked in horror as she was helpless in this situation.

It was then that Rafale jumped in by grabbing the steel pipe from Nigel's wings and whacked it into his head, causing him to let out a: "Ow!" As Nigel kicked the pipe from his wings, Rafale then grabbed his fork and tried to sting it into the cockatoo's stomach, but since it was made of metal, the tips of his forks bent down in submission. Nigel spat before grabbing the old toucan in his metal wing and headbutting him so hard that he started bleeding from the forehead and flew away.

The evil cockatoo was then about to continue what he was doing on Star as if nothing happened. Luckily, Apollo arrived and used his slingshot to shoot a pepper bill into Nigel's face, causing him to cough and cry. "Your body might be made of metal, but that doesn't mean your way of breathing is different for more," Apollo pointed out with a smile.

Unfortunately for him, Nigel quickly recovered and gave a deadly glare before dashing and grabbing the barn owl by the throat in his talon to apply a Chokeslam (like the wrestling move) with the intention of choking him down afterward. It was then that Jewel alongside Dominic who took back from the hit he received charged into him and knocked him off their barn owl friend.

"Don't hurt Apollo! Fight us!" Dominic ordered with rising his sword.

"I'm gonna claw your eyes out for my friends!" Jewel declared with anger as she rose her wooden stick.

"You're really annoying!" Nigel sighed before charging and swinging his metal claws at his opponents who ducked and Dominic caught his foot and managed to flip him over. "Argh!" Nigel groaned before grabbing another steel pipe which was bigger than the previous one and swung it at Dominic like a sledgehammer, but the golden eagle managed to block it with his sword.

This gave Jewel the opportunity to give him a smack to the back of the leg with her stick, making him kneel down. The eagle and macaw then started slashing and swinging their respective weapon at him to medium success because of his metal body.

"How can you still be alive?" he asked Dominic as he pushed him back.

"I'm a warrior who learned everything about survival, pal!" Dominic answered.

Nigel got angry and attacked the golden eagle who dodged a few of his attacks before getting his sword knocked out of his wings. Nigel followed with a violent uppercut under his beak which made him spit some blood and knocked him down after sending him flying a bit high. As he rose his talons to finish him off, Jewel suddenly jumped on top of Nigel's head.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE, NIGEL!" she shouted with clawing his talons at his metal head which left a few marks. Unfortunately, he overpowered her and threw her off into a pile of wooden boxes with one falling on her wing, breaking it like a twig.

"Jewel!" Blu, who justly arrived, screamed in horror.

"My wing! It's broken!" Jewel cried in pain with a pleading look.

"Too bad; now we have two flightless bird," Nigel cooed with a smirk at Blu before laughing out loud.

Taking a look around, Blu saw all of his friends down and injured while trying to protect him. Upon seeing this, mostly Jewel who seemed to be in true pain, something snapped inside the young blue macaw. As if a fire he never knew inside of his body just turned on and started spreading everywhere in him. It was then that he took the biggest decision of his life: he will no longer be the one that needed to be protected, but the one who will protect.

"Linda, Jewel, Dominic, Apollo, Adam, Polie, Star, Alicia, Rafael, Nico, Pedro...," he though really hard, "...thanks for defending me until now, but as of this moment, I am the one who will protect you all!"

He jumped on his wings and stretched his leg before delivering a strong swinging kick to Nigel which was actually strong enough to knock him away into wooden boxes that got destroyed. Blu was so surprised by what he just did that he almost ignored the stinging pain it left in his leg. "Awesome! I didn't expect this result! I think I'm gonna call this attack Whip Swing."

"BLU!" Jewel called and brought Blu back to reality as he saw Nigel charging madly at him. Using his agility, he dodged talons swing before wrapping his plastic body around Nigel's metal one in a way to almost prevented him from moving.

"You are made of metal? Well, I'm made of plastic, so that makes two of us!" Blu declared while still holding the angry cockatoo back.

"You really think?!" this last one replied as he ran toward the airport's wall to smash Blu into it. Luckily, the macaw released his grip and moved in time to let Nigel crash alone, making a crack in the wall.

"I'm gonna try this; FIST STORM!" Blu shouted and started throwing his wings back-and-forth so fast that it seemed like he was sending a storm of punches at Nigel (a bit like Luffy's Gum Gum Gatling attack). While the punches themselves didn't do that much effect, the quantity Nigel received actually pushed him back against the wall and left some marks on his metal body. Blu was surprised as he didn't know he could actually do it.

"Time to finish this!" Blu said with stopping his attack and then threw his wings backward as he ran toward Nigel who also took back from the Fist Storm.

"I will not lose against a flightless bird like you!" Nigel shouted and also ran forward. As he met him, he delivered a strong punch into Blu's plastic face at the same time this last one hit his Power Slam right into his stomach, knocking both of them away from each other. As they weakly tried to stand up, Nigel coughed as the air got knocked out of him for a moment. "Okay, time to turn to cheat," he said with eyeing the defenseless Jewel who was still trapped under the wooden box and dashed toward her.

"BLU!" she screamed as Nigel arrived toward her, ready to finish her off with his talons.

"No!" Blu shouted at seeing Jewel about to be killed. Suddenly, time seemed to freeze around him. Seeing his friends hurt made him awake his inner desire to protect everyone, but now, he was feeling something similar yet entirely different in his heart which started beating really hard. Almost on instinct, he slowly opened his wings before sending his foot to wrap it around Nigel's waist and stop him before he could reach Jewel.

Then...he took off in the sky and dragged Nigel along with him in the sky. It was only when he felt the fresh breeze across his feathers in the same way he felt it on the hand-glider the day before that he realized what was happening.

"BLU! YOU'RE FLYING!" Jewel shouted in joy.

"I am?!" he said before smiling. "Yes! I'M FLYING! I'M NOT AN OSTRICH!" However, his attention turned back to Nigel and he dropped him before charging his plastic wings again. "Take that, not cool guy, HAMMER SLAM!" He did the same thing as the Power Slam but smashed Nigel so hard onto the earth that it created a big explosion of dust that flew everywhere.

Once it faded, Blu could see that Nigel returned to his normal form and was badly injured with almost all of his feathers being gone, leaving him naked like a chicken. He did it! He defeated Nigel and saved all of his friends!

He snapped out of it as he remembered Jewel being and flew down to her. "Jewel, are you alright?" he asked with using his plastic wing to break the box and move it out of the way.

"I think it's broken," she replied in pain before suddenly smiling widely. "But Blu! You just fly! You did it! You realize that?!"

"Yeah!" Polie said as the others all joined them and pulled him into a big hug. "I knew you could do it! I knew it from the start!"

"Yeah, nice job, Blu," Adam added with a wing around his shoulders.

"Sorry for thinking you were a scared bird all this time," Alicia said with a wing on his shoulder.

"You thought that?" Blu asked with a curious glance.

"Not anymore."

Star also picked him into a big hug. "You have no idea how proud we are of you, Blu!" she happily beamed while Polie secretly wished she could hug him like that.

Once she was done, Dominic walked over to Blu with a solemn look. He then picked him into a hug. "See? I told you that you are not a pathetic bird, but a strong and generous one," he said to which Apollo nodded in agreement.

Blu smiled and quickly whipped tears of joy away from his eyes. "You guys are really the best friends a bird like me could ask for."

"You finally listened to your heart, my boy," Rafael happily said with putting a wing on Blu's chest.

"And that's all thanks to you, Rafie," Blu happily replied with hugging the toucan before remembering something important. "Jewel, your wing is still broken. We need to do something."

"I can't do anything," Star said with a sad look as she took Jewel's broken wing with both of hers. "I already used almost all of my white magic to heal the others and her injury is too deep for me to take care of it anyways."

Before they could start thinking of a solution, they heard some screaming: "Linda! They're here! They're here!" They recognized this voice; it belonged to Fernando who justly arrived with Linda and Tulio (who was also dressed as a Spix macaw).

"Blu!" Linda happily called as she rushed toward her little boy who decided to fly up to her and receive a big hug. "You're okay! And you can fly?! You learned to fly!"

Blu happily snuggled into his mother figure's neck as he was very glad to see her again. Once the reunion was done, he pointed at Jewel who was still injured. "Oh my god, she's hurt!" Tulio exclaimed as he kneeled and held his hands toward her.

Jewel seemed very hesitant as she wasn't used to human yet. "Don't be afraid; he won't hurt you," Blu softly said as he jumped down from Linda with a smile.

Jewel looked at him for a moment before getting in Tulio's hands who then turned toward Fernando. "Could you call the police? Looks like we got some criminals to pack up," he said with giving a pointing look at the smugglers who were still out.

Man, this chapter is probably the one that took me the most work, but it was worth it. I think it's the first time I write a chapter that's over 4000 words long.

The next chapter will be the final one of the first season (yes, I'm planning a second and maybe third one). I sure hope you enjoy this story so far. Let me know what you think of it in the reviews as I like when people share their opinion with me :)