Chapter 14-More Escaping
"Whoo! That was a close one!", Stella sighed as she climbed up the hole. Then she looked around and her smile dropped.
The birds ended up in a different area in the cavern surrounding by tall cliffs of rock. The bad news? Most of the area was covered in even more molten lava. It covered up most of the floor, smoking and boiling as it flowed through the cavern. The amount of heat radiating from it was so intense that even Terence began to sweat.
"HOW THE EVER-LOVING-?! ARRRGGHH DARN! DARN! DARNY-DARN!", Gale yelled.
"Language!", Stella gasped. The other birds looked at the pink gallah in frustration.
"OH SHUT IT!", Gale screamed, "I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT THIS IS HOW I GO! I WAS SO CLOSE TO IT! SO FLOCKING CLOSE!"
Stella's eyes widened, taken aback by what her friend said. 'Close to it'? What does that mean?
However, there was no time to ask that question. The hole that the group just crawled through began to fill up with the immense amount of molten rock that the flocks were just running from.
"What do we do?!", Jay asked Matilda. The hen looked around trying to find a way out of this.
"THERE!", Matilda pointed out several pillars of rocks that created a path that could help them escape from the area, "RUN! OVER THERE!"
She led the others to the pillars, as Terence lifted her in his wings and tossed her up so that she could land on top of the first pillar. Matilda made the landing and continued to run across the rocks, hopping from pillar to pillar while also trying to not cause them to fall. The Blues were holding tight to her and one another so that they wouldn't fall off. Matilda ran as fast as possible and finally stopped at the last pillar in order to wait for the others.
Terence looked at the other birds, offering to toss them up. They all stared at him in fear.
"You know, I don't think that's a good idea", Hal nervously squawked. A large explosion occurred right behind the group, causing them to jump into the air in surprise.
"AAHH! TOUCANS FIRST!", the teen shouted as he hopped right onto Terence's palm.
"Wait up!", Bubbles said before hopping next to Hal. Terence backed up and launched the two into the air. The green bird grabbed onto the tiny oriole and rotated through the air similar to a boomerang. They looked as though they were gonna be able to reach the pillar that Matilda was on.
Terence lifted his hand out for the next bird only for Hal and Bubbles to come out of nowhere and land right back on his palm. The others were surprised until they remembered his weird boomerang ability. Hal, who was both dizzy and hyperventilating, clutched onto Bubbles, who was simply laughing. "TERRY, BUDDY, THAT WAS EVEN BETTER THAN THE SLINGSHOT!" Hal shook his head, "I want to throw up and scream at the same time. Is that normal?"
Terence simply dropped the duo and moved onto the next bird. He picked up Poppy and Dahlia and launched them up. Then, he prepared to throw Stella, Silver, and Gale. Silver, however, was more...reluctant. She looked up at the large cardinal glaring down at her, her instincts telling her to punch something and run. The burning red flames lighting up behind Terence didn't exactly help.
"...mother", she whimpered. Red simply stared at the falcon.
"Where'd you find her?", he asked Stella.
"Long story", she responded. Gale joined in on the conversation, "She's a falcon who thinks she's a pig and has anxiety issues." She smirked at Stella, as though she was victorious.
"Huh….Weird. Whatever", Red said.
Silver whimpered, on the verge of tears, in fear of the giant. She felt something grab her hands and lift her up slowly. She looked up to see Stella looking down at her.
"Come on, Silver. I promise you, you'll be fine. Terry won't hurt you! He wouldn't even hurt a fly!"
"Well, he would hurt the mailman, bartender, musicians, policebirds, and anything with feathers and a pulse but definitely not a fly!", Gale spoke up.
Stella glared at the starling, "...You suck at this, you know that?"
"Thank you, darling. Now, can we hurry up? Molten lava and all?"
Silver stood there, seeing the lava rise up and engulf most of the rock that they were currently standing on. ..Come on, Silver. Time to take a risk.
She held onto Silver and Gale's hands
The three birds began to climb on top of Terence's hand and were launched up into the air.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!", the peregrine falcon screamed, her eyes shut as tight as possible. But then, she felt an odd sensation in her chest. She opened her eyes and looked around. It was as though everything was in slow motion as she looked around at everything below her. It was as if her own heart stopped beating and her nerves were calmed. As if all her worries and fears went away in just a second. She felt as though she was on the top of the world. Higher than mountains. Higher than clouds. Higher than the moon. She felt as though the danger of the birds or the burning lava no longer mattered. As though they couldn't hurt her. She looked to her side to see Stella and Gale, smiling as if they were at peace. As if nothing else mattered. As if this was joy in its purest form. As if…
As if this was what she was born to do.
Silver felt the wind ripple at her….fur? No, she felt as though for once, she couldn't call them that. As if this experience was causing her to remember….remember something different.
WWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! MOMMA! DADDY!
Silver was jolted out of her dream like experience as the trio were aiming for one of the pillar of rocks, the one that Poppy and Dahlia were waiting for them on.
"HOLD ON!", Stella told the others. She aimed for where Dahlia and Poppy were and suddenly, dashed towards them.
"Oh my gosh! I gotta catch them!", Poppy shouted.
Poppy ran around the pillar in fear of missing them. Dahlia stood still, calculating where the birds would fall.
"Alright, by the angle that they're falling at, they'll probably fall in a few seconds at your exact posit-", she was interrupted when Silver, Stella, and Gale crashed right on top of her.
"...Or just that", Dahlia groaned. Poppy helped the birds up and continued to run to the next pillar.
"RUN! RUN! RUN!", Gale screamed while waving her arms in fear.
"Wait a minute! Where's Willow?!", Poppy asked. Suddenly, Willow flew above them with the egg in her wings. She crashed right next to Matilda, face-first.
"Nevermind. She's probably fine", Poppy assured, "Come on!" The group kept running across the pillars, trying to avoid falling to their flaming deaths.
"Okay, come on, you two!", Red said to the two teens, "And try not to mess up this time."
"Oh", Chuck muttered, "So you hate it when others mess up, but when you do it, it's fine."
"Chuck, now's not the time for this!", Red growled, "We're still trying to get out of the problem you started!"
"I STARTED?!", the canary yelled, "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU! YOU ARE SO...SO...ARGH! I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU'RE TAKING OUR FRIENDSHIP FOR GRANTED!"
"FOR GRANTED?!", Red snarled, "I COULD EASILY DITCH YOU ALL RIGHT HERE IF I TOOK OUR FRIENDSHIP FOR GRANTED! BUT I'M STILL HERE!"
"GUYS! GUYS!", Bomb shouted, "Stop fighting! You're hurting me on a personal level!"
Terence, Hal, and Bubbles simply stared at one another in confusion.
"I WISH I NEVER MET YOU!", Chuck screamed.
Suddenly, a large explosion occurred, specks of lava and rock flying everywhere. Red, dazed from the explosion, looked around to see the lava flowing closer to him, even burning his talons. He hopped up and edged away from the lava. He saw Bomb, Terence, and the teens with him.
"Is everyone okay?", Red asked.
"Wait?! WHERE'S CHUCK?!", Bomb worried. They looked around and saw him. The yellow speedster was far away from the others and was unconscious on top of a small rock floating on the lava, drifting away from them.
"AAHH! NOOO!", Red screamed, "WHAT DO WE DO?!" The cardinal panicked, all thoughts of anger and hatred towards Chuck fading away. Right next to him, Bomb was trying to think of a way to solve this issue.
"I GOT IT! Terence, I need you to throw me over there!", Bomb exclaimed, "Hal, can you hold on to me?!"
"What?!", Hal gulped, "Ummm.."
"CAN YOU?!", Bomb screamed angrily. "YES! YES I CAN!", Hal said, gaining confidence. Terence picked up Bomb with his two wings and Hal climbed up Bomb's back.
"Bomb! Are you sure you can do this?!", Red asked worriedly.
"My heart says 'yes' but my head says 'get me out of this'. THROW ME!"
Terence launched the large bird at Chuck's direction and Hal's large beak allowed the two birds to spin through the air, hopefully using the toucan's boomerang ability to grab Chuck and spin back.
Hal groaned as Bomb's weight was too much for him but he tightened his grip on the loon.
"Uhh..", Chuck groaned as he woke up. He looked around and screamed, "AAAAHH! MOMMY!"
The duo rotated past Chuck and began circling around. Bomb's wings stretched out to reach Chuck but, unfortunately, Hal could no longer hold onto the loon and let go of him.
"WHAT THE-AAAAHHH!", Bomb screamed. Chuck looked up to see Bomb crash onto him, pushing the rock they were floating on even further away from the group. Chuck frowned at Bomb, who merely chuckled nervously.
"GUYS! NO!"", Red screamed. Hal landed next to him and began to pull him away from the lava.
"RED! IT'S TOO LATE!", Hal shouted. He dragged Red to Terence, who tossed him onto the pillar next to them. He then tossed the two teens up as they flew through the air and landed on one of the pillars.
"WOO! THAT WAS AWESOME!", Bubbles sighed,"Wait, what about Terence?!" Hal gasped, scared for his new friend. Before he could check to see if the cardinal was alright…
"Grrrrrrr." They looked behind them to see Terence standing right behind him, without a burn or scratch on him.
"W-Whu..But….how?", Hal asked. Terence merely chuckled. Red panicked, running to the side of the pillar to see Bomb and Chuck drifting farther away from the group.
"GUYS! I'M COMING FOR YOU!", Red yelled to them.
Chuck scoffed, "Oh, please, birdbrain! It's not like we're in much danger now!"
Bomb looked down and began to worry, "Uhh, Chuck, you might wanna reconsider that!"
Chuck looked down to see the rock that they were on was beginning to sink, the lava beginning to cover the rock and drag it down.
Chuck whimpered, "Okay, nevermind. RED! HELP US!" Red panicked, trying to come up with a way to solve this problem.
Meanwhile, Matilda, the Blues, and Stella's group watched from above, worried for what would happen.
"What are we gonna do?!", Stella screamed. Matilda tried to think of a way to help the group when she noticed something was missing.
"Kids? KIDS?!" The Blues weren't with her. She looked around and saw the Blues at the edge of the pillar. "KIDS, GET AWAY FROM THERE!"
"Ready?", Jake asked. "Three"
"Two", said Jay.
"ONE! NOW!", Jim screamed. The trio ran towards the edge and leaped off. The other birds freaked out.
"NO! NO!", Matilda screamed,"NOT THE CHILDREN!" Red saw the hatchlings jump off as well, "KIDS, NO! NOOO!"
The Blues leaped as far as possible, falling towards the other pillar next to them. They magnetized together in mid-air, blue sparks of electricity coming off of them, and turned on their sides, so that they were positioned vertically. Before they could crash into the pillar, they split up and shot away from one another, each crashing into a different part of the pillar. The impact was strong enough so that the pillar of rocks fell crashing to the ground, landing into the large pool of lava. Some of the rocks crashed next to where Chuck and Bomb were, pushing them away. The Blues fell to the ground and magnetized together, landing on one of the fallen rocks that was floating on the ground.
The other birds watched in amazement. These little boys somehow came up with the idea to use the rocks to create a bridge in order to reach Chuck and Bomb. Red laughed a little, "Huh, those little…"
The Blues hopped across the rocks and stretched their wings out in order to reach Chuck and Bomb.
"Oh, thank the Eagle! For a minute, I thought we were doomed!", Bomb sighed. Suddenly, a large rumble was heard. The entire cavern began to quake. The lava beneath them began to boil and rise.
"Oh, great. You jinxed it", Chuck glared at Bomb.
"IT'S A VOLCANO! YOU GUYS, GET OUT OF THERE!", Red screamed. Terence grabbed him and the two teens and proceeded to leap across the pillars towards the others on the cliff's edge.
"We can't just leave them there!", Matilda screamed.
Silver, on the other hand, just stood there confused, "Yeah, we can. Screw 'em", she said matter-of-factly. The others stared at her, Poppy slapping her behind the head.
"RUN! RUN!", Chuck screamed as Bomb hopped onto one of the rocks. The canary followed him and picked up the three hatchlings and proceeded to dash for a way out. Unfortunately, one of the rocks that made up their way out sank into the lava, preventing them from reaching the other side.
"GREAT! NOW WE'RE GONNA DIE! PERFECT! SPLENDID! GOOD FOR US!", Chuck yelled into the air. Bomb began to tear up, "Chuck, stop saying that! You're hurting my feelings!"
Chuck stopped ranting and simply stared at Bomb, "Oh, am I hurting your feelings? Well, I sure hope this LAVA won't hurt our BODIES once it BURNS US ALL TO DEATH!"
That was the last straw. The feather on the top of Bomb's head flared up and his blue eyes changed to red.
"Uhh, buddy?", Chuck whimpered.
KA-BOOM!
The loon released a surge of energy, or as he called it "Blowing up", and he and the birds next to him flew into the air due to the power of the blast. Chuck grabbed onto his friend, screaming while the Blues simply held onto Bomb, laughing childishly. The others stared as they soared into the sky.
"...AND they're outta here! Heh, heh!", Poppy chuckled, "But seriously, let's get the heck out of here." The birds ran to the walls of the cavern, Terence tossing them up into the air one-by-one. Red made sure that everyone got out before Terence tossed him up. Red landed outside of the cavern and, for the first time in awhile, was finally out of that cavern. The sun shone brightly as the hole in the cavern was located right next to the grand volcano that they saw earlier. The jungle wasn't far away as evidenced by the trees right in front of them.
The group sighed with relief, Bubbles even going so far as to kiss the ground.
" *SMOOCH! SMOOCH!* Oh, sunlight! Fresh air! It's been too long!", he continued to kiss the ground until he noticed that what he was kissing didn't feel much like the ground. He looked up to see the large mute Terence and that he was actually kissing Terence's feet!
The oriole spit on the ground, "EW! DUDE! I mean, thank God that you're alive but EW!"
"Wait", Silver asked, "Where's the Blowy-Up dude and the Zoom-zoom man?"
" 'Zoom-zoom man?' Where the heck do you get these names?!", Gale screamed.
Suddenly, one by one, the Blues fell to the ground, landing next to Matilda, who proceeded to hug them nearly to death. "OH, YOU POOR BABIES! DON'T YOU EVER DO THAT TO ME AGAIN!", she screamed before menacingly whispering, "Or else Miss Matilda gonna...OH! TERENCE!" She dropped the chicks before running to her boyfriend.
Red looked around, wondering where Bomb and Chuck was when he heard the sound of screaming. He turned around to see Bomb and Chuck fall from behind him and fall into the crater.
"BOMB! CHUCK!", he screamed. He looked over the crater, worried. He sighed when he saw Chuck holding onto a ledge on the side of the cliff, Bomb holding onto him in order to prevent himself from falling into the lava. Chuck groaned, Bomb's weight causing the ledge to begin to break.
"HANG ON!", Red yelled, "I'M COMING!"
"Wait, Red!", Matilda yelled, "It's not safe!"
"Yeah, you could die!", Stella agreed.
"I'm not gonna let them die! You'd do the same if it was Gale!"
Stella remained quiet, "...No comment."
Gale glared, "You son of a-HEY!" She screamed as she saw Red jump into the crater. He climbed down the crater and landed on a small ledge. He reached his wing out to his friends.
"GUYS! GRAB MY WING!"
Chuck hesitated, "...WHY?!"
"Um..to save your life?", Red bluntly stated.
"No, I mean...Why risk your life?", Chuck asked. The bird who blamed this entire thing on him, the bird who believed that their friendship was a lie, now wanted to help him.
Red thought to himself before responding, "...Because I can't let my best friends die."
Chuck and Bomb looked up at the cardinal, surprised by what he said. 'Best friends?'
Suddenly, the cavern began to rumble, minor eruptions occurring beneath them. Suddenly, the ledge that Chuck was holding onto broke off and Chuck and Bomb began to fall into the pit.
*GRAB!*
Chuck opened his eyes to see Red grabbing Chuck's wing, slowly lifting him and Bomb up. The weight of the two birds was too heavy for him but that didn't stop Red from lifting them up. The trio panted, tired, until they felt the entire crater begin to rumble.
"COME ON! MOVE YOUR BUTTS!", Red shouted to the others. They began to climb up the crater, the other birds helping them up the edge of the crater.
"Okay! Move! Move! This place is gonna blow!", Red commanded. The others raced downhill, towards the jungle, trying to get as far away from the crater as possible. In fear of the incoming explosion, the birds jumped into the air and laid down on the ground, hands over their heads, preparing for the eruption.
….Nothing happened. They turned around to see the lava simply pool out of the crater, not even erupting or exploding.
"Huh", Red said, "That was anticlimactic."
"Yeah", Chuck agreed, "...So...what you said…"
"Was that..?", Bomb asked.
"True?", Red completed the sentence, "...Of course. You guys….I'm sorry for everything. The party, what I said earlier….I just..I just don't want to be deserted again."
Chuck and Bomb looked at one another. Red closed his eyes, afraid of what his friends would think of him now. Would they hate him? Would they reject him? Would they still be his friends?
Suddenly, Red felt someone's wings wrap around him. He opened his eyes to see Chuck and Bomb hugging him tightly.
"You will always be our friend, Red", Chuck smiled.
"Through thick and thin, buddy. No matter what", Bomb assured. Red looked around and, seeing his best friends, the few birds who were friends with him even when he was an outcast, he began to laugh. He laughed in joy, thinking of all the stuff that they've just endured.
His friends began to chuckle as well, laying down on the ground laughing. Matilda and Terence hugged one another, also beginning to laugh. Seeing their closest friends reconcile made them feel so happy. Hal and Bubbles began to laugh as well, surprised by how they're still alive and feeling the joy of everyone else's friendship. Stella's flock joined in, so happy to not only be alive but also to be together. Gale and Stella's laughter was more awkward, the two's relationship now tense after what Gale said in the cavern.
Silver looked around in confusion, "What the-?" She wasn't used to seeing people act this way, especially not the creatures that she was raised to fear. Not that pigs didn't have friendships but they weren't usually this...what's the word? ...Close. And, strangely enough, for some reason...their joy felt..familiar to her.
MOMMA! DADDY!
Silver groaned. What was that about?, she thought to herself. She got up and walked to the others.
"Um, are you guys done?", she asked. They continued to laugh. She began to get annoyed. She walked up to Hal, who was lying on his back, laughing with Bubbles.
"HEY! WEIRDOES?! YOU DONE LAUGHING!", she yelled at Hal. He got up, startled, and his beak accidently hit Silver in her face and the falcon fell to the ground, knocked out. The group stopped laughing, surprised by her outburst.
"Wow, she can never be conscious, can she?", Poppy said.
"Alright, guys. It looks like it's almost nighttime. Let's move out and search for shelter", Matilda advised. The group followed her, Terence picking up Silver, into the jungle.
….
"Where? Where? Where? WHERE?!", the Handsome Pig shrieked, "Where the bloody heck is that stupid freak?! She had the egg with her!"
The pigs were scouring the area, searching for Silver, who they believed still was in possession of the egg.
"No sign of the birds, sir!", one of the minion pigs yelled. The Handsome Pig screamed and began stomping around.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! Right when the king is coming for his yearly inspection of this stupid island and we don't even have the egg! We could've escaped with it and now, the damn grey idiot is gone! How can things get any worse?!"
"SIR! SIR!", one of the minions called. The blonde-haired pig turned to see one of his minions hold up something in his hooves.
"..Is..Is that a feather?"
"Yes, sir! It looks like one of the freak's feathers, sir!"
The Handsome Pig grinned, "Excellent. Send out a troop of pigs to scour out the freak. AND BRING ME THAT EGG!"
The minion ran off to get other pigs. The Handsome Pig laughed, "This is easier than stealing eggs from a hatchling! HA HA HA! Oh, wait. I need a better metaphor for this. Umm, I got it! This is-"
He was interrupted when a coconut fell from one of the treetops and landed on his head.
"ARGH! THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T SHOUT 'HOW COULD IT GET ANY WORSE!'"
So, we've reached the half-way point of the story. Hope you're enjoying it so far. Also, different subject, but if you were to cast Poppy and Dahlia, who would you choose? Thanks to all my followers for reading and please review!