Attack of the Flying Foxes and the Battle for the Sanctuary

by VPVPVP

Two years after L of the BB&T, the Sanctuary de Amazon becomes threatened by a colony of the bird tribes' sworn enemies who plan on invading it and taking it over based on a shocking reason other than simply seeing all birds as vermin. Blu and everyone else must rally together to protect their homes from these foes, even if it means waging the biggest war in history.

35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35- the battle begins

Across the Sanctuary de Amazon, the other tribes, clans and smaller groups had immediately started evacuating the young groups while the fighters also set off to prepare for war and soon, the younger members and parents with young chicks and eggs of all the flocks except the Spix macaws were moving through the Sanctuary de Amazon, all converging towards the Spix tribe's ravine. On the way, Melissa had left to meet a secret organisation and request their help. The secret organisation had been met by Diantha and Jupiter with Melissa yesterday and had discussed some important things with them. Whoever this organisation was remained a secret known only by Melissa, Augustus, Jupiter and Diantha…

Later

While the evacuation of the young was underway, Sebastian, Orion, Velocity, Milo and Diantha, all coated in mud with bits of vegetation to camouflage them better against the drabber environment of green vegetation and dark brown to black bark and soil, had flown all the way from the Navyfeather Clan's territory to the heart of the flying foxes' territory. The sky in the substance had begun to darken as rainclouds continued to gather and coalesce; indicating the sign of a thunderstorm and soon, the sheet of storm clouds will eventually swallow up the blue sky and the sun. On the way, the two falcons, the young flying fox, the cockatoo and the toucan's ears had begun to pick up the sounds of chanting and dancing. The five had traced the sounds to their source, the flying fox colony until it melted into sight. As soon as they were near the colony, the five immediately dived into a hiding spot, a large cluster of leaves, and looked out at the crowd of dancing bats.

Orion, Velocity, Diantha and Milo watched the scene before them with immense horror and shock while Sebastian looked on with an expressionless face for he had seen this once before, when he had been a young pup that had just learned to fly. The air before the five was filled with dancing black and red furry creatures, their black membranous wings sweeping out to the sides and swishing like cloaks in the air. Below the creatures, weapons such as sharp-sticks were clutched in the foot claws, the colourful collection of feathers dancing wildly as the weapons were jolted up and down. The flying foxes had painted themselves with a body décor that none of the four birds accompanying Sebastian had ever seen; much less know that the colony had their own dance, but the body décor donned by the bats made their skins crawl and their nerves shudder.

"This is the flying fox colony's dance," whispered Sebastian, explaining the horrible scenery, "They perform it whenever they are preparing for battle or have successfully driven out a large bird tribe."

"This is far darker than any of the bird tribes and clans' dances back in the Sanctuary de Amazon, that's for sure," murmured Orion.

"Just look at their choice of body décor and how they had painted themselves," said Velocity in a low voice. She, Milo, Orion and Diantha shuddered as they continued to observe the choice of body paint and colours the flying foxes wore as they danced and chanted. Their entire bodies were coated in pitch-black war paint, as black as Diantha's plumage under her suit of mud but without the beautiful aspect to it but then Velocity, Milo, Orion and Diantha noticed some flashes of bright red on the faces, the bodies and the wings of the flying foxes as they danced. Red fruit paint had been applied around the eyes such that each eye was enclosed in a red patch like how Blu's eye patches enclosed his eyes. However, the four birds noticed that many of the flying foxes had painted streaks extending from below the eyes and down the cheeks. The streaks were painted in such a way that they resembled drips of blood oozing from the flying foxes' eyes. More red streaks were painted on the chests and stomachs of the bats, the most common pattern being a single vertical line down the middle of their chests with slightly curved, diagonal lines emanating from that central line and towards the bats' wings. This arrangement gave the bats' bodies the appearance of having a blood-red ribcage with a sternum. On the wings, red streaks painted in the flying foxes' wing fingers and some of the flying foxes had even painted their feet with more red to give them the appearance of being covered in blood like from a kill. The flying foxes thus resembled flying shadows with streaks of blood painted over them. No wonder the blue-throated macaws and the surviving Bluewing Clan hyacinth macaws had been so utterly frightened that night when the flying foxes had driven them out of their home for the flying foxes had donned the same décor as war paint as well as for their colony dance, and based on the eyewitness accounts of the glaucous macaw tribe and the survivors from the previous clans that had been driven out years before, such as the red-fronted macaws, the flying foxes had also used this body décor as they drove them out of their original homes as well. Sebastian and his friends continued watching.

"This is certainly not one bit like the Spix tribe's dance, where the male blue macaws wear red fruit paint over parts of their faces and the females, yellow pollen on parts of their faces and wingtips for added beauty, I can tell you," whispered Milo.

"Nor the brightly coloured body paint the archaeobirds don when they do their clan dance," said Diantha in a low voice.

"Well the body décor of the bird tribes and clans are supposed to make them more beautiful during their special dances," said Velocity, "But here, it seems that the flying foxes had intended their body décor to be far darker and more frightening than any bird tribe or clan's body décor during their dances…"

As she said this, Milo's eyes travelled to some branches. More war-paint donning flying foxes were sat on those branches, playing some sort of instruments, such as drums and stringed instruments made from leaves, hollowed out logs and sticks and vines. This was similar to the instruments the archaeobirds played when they danced, but the flying foxes' music beat had a far darker theme to it like their body paint and dancing style. The flying foxes were chanting rhythmic, wordless sounds, similar to how humans would beatbox. It appeared that this was purely an instrumental and sound part of the song but Sebastian had noted to Orion, Velocity, Milo and Diantha that the dance did have lyrics. Then a familiar figure emerged from a tree hollow and took to the air. Her painted blood red markings looked the most terrifying and more elaborately painted to show her rank in the colony. In fact this flying fox had painted her red marks in such a way that she almost resembled a flying fox skeleton with red bones, though like every other flying fox that danced, her eyes were enclosed in a ring of red fruit paint with drips below it.

"That's Iracebeth, my aunt," whispered Sebastian. He hissed this sentence with pure malice. Milo, Velocity, Orion and Diantha watched the bat as she joined in the dance. Iracebeth smiled evilly such that her teeth showed through her mouth. Then she began to sing the lyrical part of the colony's song in Brazilian Portuguese as she danced in the middle of the other bats who chanted along with her and flapped in concentric circles around her. Orion, Velocity, Milo and Diantha translated the words to English in their minds, having been taught the language by their parents as they grew up but when they did, extreme horror tore through them. Diantha managed to stifle a scream while Velocity swayed as though she were about to faint. Milo withdrew himself and covered his ears, his stomach lurching inside him to the point of inducing nausea while Orion and Sebastian winced in indescribable disgust. The content of the lyrics coming out of Iracebeth and the other bats' mouths were extremely anti-bird and very disturbing and graphic, and the bats were singing about all kinds of gruesome things they would like to do to their feathered enemies, things that were too gruesome to describe. Their sharp-sticks and other weapons held in their feet darted out and swung around as though stabbing, slashing or bludgeoning an opponent while some other bats elaborately spun round, their membranous wings with red streaks painted on them sweeping out like cloaks.

"What ghastly content!" hissed Orion with his wings placed firmly on his ears to block out the vomit-like words. Nearby, Diantha had begun to lose control of her breathing and hyperventilate, the disgusting words from the bats setting her on complete edge. Velocity reached out a wing to try and calm her down while Milo felt his stomach contents begin to rise in his throat. His beak flew to his mouth and his cheeks bulged out. Eventually, he was forced to dart off somewhere to eject the most recent meal he had eaten from his stomach somewhere. The flying foxes continued chanting their horrible, anti-bird lyrics and dancing until finally, everything stopped abruptly. Sebastian, Orion and Velocity slowly peered out of their hiding place as the flying foxes gathered round a certain hollow as a certain figure emerged from the hollow. Diantha continued hyperventilating quietly while Milo sat bent over in a nearby tree, being sick. Sebastian flashed a concerned and worried glance at the two and hoped that the flying foxes hadn't heard their presence. However, his gazed turned to his paternal uncle as he took his stand before the group of hovering bats.

Cicatriz stood tall and boldly. Like every other flying fox, his entire body apart from his wings was coated in jet-black body paint with red streaks sinisterly decorating his face and front. Each of his eyes was surrounded by a ring of red fruit paint with streaks of red streaking from below his eyes and running down his cheeks. Cicatriz had also painted red around his muzzle and his body stripes very greatly resembled the skeletal structure of his ribs and sternum, and his feet were painted to be completely red. His wings also had red streaks on them, intended to paint in his wing fingers. In one wing his mace like weapon was held. As he stood before the crowd of hovering bats, his only functioning eye, his left eye and his clouded, blind right eye slid wickedly over the crowd. Velocity and Orion gazed at the colony patriarch and shuddered as his teeth showed wickedly through his smile. Diantha had managed to calm down while Milo had managed to stop throwing up. Hoverer his face still looked flushed and pale, his face washed with the guilt and the wish that he had never come. Then the toucan and cockatoo turned and gazed at Cicatriz as he addressed the crowd. Orion, Velocity, Milo and Diantha had never seen Cicatriz in the flesh before but they knew that it was him because he was the leader after all. Sebastian gazed bitterly at his paternal uncle as he addressed the crowd.

"My colony," said Cicatriz, his wings spread out, one of them clutching his weapon, the feathers he had harvested from his previous kills hanging elegantly from one end, "Today… is the day that will mark a new era… a day that will be a massive milestone in the history of our colony…"

Claps of membranous wings sounded as the flying foxes applauded, before the air fell silent. Cicatriz's wicked smile stretched so wide that it spanned from cheek to cheek as Iracebeth fluttered over to him and joined his side. Milo then examined the crowd of flying foxes and noticed that some of them wore uncertain looks on their faces.

"This is what our mother and father have wanted us to do when they led the colony before me and Iracebeth," Cicatriz continued, "We may have made a temporary truce with those feathered worms but that truce was just a ruse. It was only to buy us time to come up with a plan to drive out those good-for-nothing flying disasters and take their lands…"

Orion and Velocity winced in revulsion as did Diantha and Milo.

"The truce the flying foxes made with the tribes and clans was a mere ruse…?" began Orion quietly but Sebastian hushed at him to be quiet.

"But now that we finally have the plan to drive out those worthless feathered rodents," said Cicatriz, "Especially now that we know of their habitats and why their land has not seen logging activity for so long, it is time to achieve our goal…"

He then narrowed his eyes and spoke in a softer voice.

"Imagine this," he hissed, "Imagine living in a ravine with a large pool in the bottom, a waterfall at one end, and water lilies in the pool. It would be great for our pups to skate on…"

Some mothers who had young pups, among them Iracebeth, smiled at the thought of their pups doing that in the Spix macaws' ravine. From their hollow, Iago and Veruca tittered excitedly.

"But that's not all," continued Cicatriz, "There are several other groves and another ravine of choice for you all to live in. the other ravine has holes in one of its cliff faces and a grove of but trees growing within it. If you love nuts, then that is the place for you…"

More smiles and titters rolled through the flying fox crowd. Cicatriz then smiled more and let loose a brief laugh.

"But all in all, those territories are protected reserves from logging and poaching, perfect for us," he crooned, "And besides that, what does a bunch of worthless flying disasters with feathers like those worms deserve to live in such a sanctuary, a safe haven from all the disasters they cause us? They don't deserve anything like that at all!"

Laughs rolled through the flying fox crowd and Iracebeth let loose a scornful titter. Diantha, Milo, Velocity and Orion winced in revulsion.

"There are some parts of the Sanctuary de Amazon that aren't owned by ant of the tribes and clans…" whispered Milo. However, he knew that it was already too late to convince Cicatriz and his colony of this fact and that the deranged patriarch and his mate had already made their decision and had gone beyond the point of no return. Besides that, the majority of the flying foxes were too consumed by greed for land for them to turn back now.

"Their REAL place is in the areas where logging and poaching are more frequent," continued Cicatriz scornfully, "That is, outside the protected reserve. THAT is where all those good-for-nothing feather-balls should live; with the disasters they have caused us all in the past for generations..."

"The colony living in a protected reserve will still be prone to natural disasters like drought," whispered Diantha.

"And while those feather-balls are out there suffering the consequences of all the troubles they have caused us," called Cicatriz, his voice raising as the excitement fuelled its fire, "WE and our DESCENDANTS… WILL BE LIVING IN THE SANCTUARY… PROTECTED FROM LOGGING AND POACHING… for EVEEEEERRR!"

The air above the flying foxes erupted into an uproarious cheer and many of them began to flap and whoop excitedly. However, some of the flying foxes, including some parents with young pups, did not look as excited. Orion and Velocity could see that their faces were laced with uncertainty of the upcoming battle. 'That is just the exact same look Augustus and Melissa bore according to some of the witnesses before they showed their allegiance to the birds,' thought Orion in surprise. Sebastian, Milo and Diantha, however, kept their eyes on Cicatriz as Iracebeth wrapped her wings around him and kissed him. Then after Iracebeth broke the hug with her mate, Cicatriz called out to a certain flying fox.

"Ratigan," he called. One of the bats stepped forward from the crowd. Like every other adolescent and adult flying fox, his entire body was coated with black war paint with red streaks around his eyes, on his cheeks, his chest and belly and his wings.

"Call together your infiltrator group," commanded Cicatriz, "and take them into the Sanctuary de Amazon. There, split yourselves into smaller groups, spread out and search for the remaining birds of the tribes and clans and smaller groups and slaughter them while the rest of us deal with the upcoming war."

Orion and Velocity felt their hearts leap into their throats while Diantha and Milo stifled the urge to whimper. Sebastian also drew in a silent gasp.

"We'd better do something to stall those infiltrators," whispered Sebastian. "If they find all those chicks…"

He trailed off, not wanting to mention the result. Then as the five saw Ratigan fly off to call the infiltrator bats, who gathered round him before the whole lot took off for the Sanctuary de Amazon to begin their evil work, Sebastian, Orion, Velocity, Milo and Diantha darted from their hiding place and began to follow Ratigan's group. As the five left, the sounds of countless flapping membrane wings beat the air as the rest of the flying foxes took to the air to a specific destination where the fight against the birds will take place…

Sometime later

Blu, Jewel, Felipe, Pearl, Roberto, Brisa, Zephyr and Venus stood at the front of the huge sea of birds with Mercury, Sapphire, Monique, Mars, Chiquitita, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Ultramarine, Pluto, Cobalto and the other tribe and clan leaders, Soleado and Zoie of the blue-and-golds, Alonso and Verde of the green macaws, Rudi and Valeria of the glaucous macaws, Violeta, Marinho and Flavio of the hyacinth macaws and Reynaldo and Anita of the blue-throated macaws flanking them, ready for battle. Behind the leaders, a large sea of colourful birds of a variety of species of macaws, parakeets, toucans and more stood perched on a vast area of trees. The fight was destined to take place near the Pit of Games, the crater in which the Amazon Soccer League was supposed to have taken place but had been cancelled due to the flying fox problem. the larger species of macaws stood in the main crowd and will be in charge of the close combat with the flying foxes while the smaller, more vulnerable birds, among them the smaller macaw species such as the chestnut-fronted macaws, the blue-headed macaws and the golden parakeets, were going to deal with long-range attacks such as firing stones at the bats from a distance. Among this crowd of small birds were the relatives of Citrine, Caspian, Alessandro, Rhiannon, Kiawe and Mariposa such as the latter's parents Jairo and Skyla. Mariposa and the others had been sent to the safety of the Spix macaws' ravine until the war was over.

The majority of birds were armed with sticks and branches and some other natural weapons they had laid their talons on while those that were going to attack from a distance were armed with slingshots made from y-shaped sticks with elastic vines. Stones and fruit shells lay in piles by the shooters as they prepared for action. As the leaders stood at the front, Venus nervously interlocked her wing with Zephyr's, her other wing clutching a branch and shuddered. Ahead of the sea of colourful feathers, one of the toucans, a yellow-ridged bird, was flying in the air to determine the size of the birds' enemy army, the flying foxes. Above the toucan, the sky continued to darken, a massive sea of dark grey clouds creeping across the blue canvas and slowly eating it away. However, it would be a few hours until they released their contents, rain onto the forest below.

While the toucan continued examining the flying fox army, Blu gazed at the other leaders.

"This is it, everyone," he murmured nervously, "Here comes the fight of our lifetime. No turning back now."

"Absolutely not!" snapped Felipe with determination. He could not wait to sink his claws and beak into flying fox flesh, especially to avenge what they had done to his son Alfonso and his sister-in-law Ruby and the other prisoners. Jewel also nodded in agreement as Violeta, the former leader of the shattered Bluewing Clan, flew to the front of the crowd to give out instructions.

"Right, everyone, listen up!" she called. All ears turned to her as she began to explain. Mercury and Mars gazed at each other.

"This is going to be the biggest war in the history of the entire Amazon," Violeta shouted, "And this is a war we cannot afford to lose. We all must help each other and not try to fight multiple bats alone or we'd be seriously injured for those flying foxes are extremely wily and cunning and are excellent with their lethal weapons," her gaze then hardened, "Those bats have totally crossed the line in more ways than one. They have driven out so many bird tribes and clans… taken their homes and leaving those poor birds to suffer the aftereffects of their siege… intruded into our territories… lied to us, stolen away some of us against their wills and forced them into giving information about our precious homes, and now they will stop at nothing to take it, but WE will NOT SURRENDER OUR HOMES without a FIGHT to the DEATH…"

This word sent shivers down Venus's spine but Zephyr nodded to her that this will have to be the case. Pluto also shuddered but Rudi comforted him. Then Alonso fluttered up to continue Violeta's speech.

"Those flying foxes may have wings and the ability to fly like us birds," he shouted, "But they have absolutely NO friends whatsoever, except those that have sacrificed even their very lives to help keep so many birds safe from the deranged colony, such as Melissa's cousin Lily…"

Jupiter smiled as Alonso said the name of that brave flying fox. Mars and Saturn shot him a surprised look.

"Those flying foxes are entirely by themselves while we are united!" barked Alonso. "We have survived and have fought against a LOT of things throughout the past few years… we have survived and have battled against intrusions from poachers… fought against loggers who threatened to destroy our homes… dealt with drought and food shortages… two fires… and conflicts with each other," he nodded to the Lear's macaws as he said this who nodded in agreement, "And even our near-loss of our homes' status as a protected reserve…"

"And because of that," continued Violeta, "We will be fighting against a colony of DERANGED, LAND-GRABBING BATS for our HOMES! WE MUST NOT GIVE UP!"

The sea of birds all cheered. Then Blu flew up and shouted an effective call of, "Remember! Birds of blue, red, orange, yellow, brown, green, navy blue, grey, black, white, pink and various metallic colours…"

"…HAVE TO STICK TOGETHEEEEERRR!" bellowed the bird crowd. Then after this, Violeta, Alonso and Blu returned to their positions as the birds cheered and prepared for battle. Roberto placed a wing on Blu's back.

"That's exactly right, buddy," he said.

"Just like how we dealt with those loggers and poachers," said Felipe.

"That line of yours certainly has got some kick to it," said Jewel. Blu smiled and then turned to face the flying foxes. A short time later, the sounds of evil chanting reached the ears of the birds. During this, the yellow-ridged toucan scout returned to deliver the report on the flying fox army. As he touched down between Blu, Jewel and Felipe, Pearl and Jupiter, he said, "The flying fox army is as honestly as black as smoke from a fire. I had never seen such horrible body décor in my entire life."

"How big is the army?" asked Felipe.

"I hadn't had time to make an estimate," replied the toucan, "But from a distance, those bats resemble a black mass."

"Are you meaning to say…" began Cobalto as a horrible feeling bubbled within him. He and every other blue-throated macaw and the members of Violeta's shattered clan knew what the flying foxes had looked like during the night of their siege on their homes and dreaded to see those flying foxes in the same body décor. It was then that one of the larger, muscular flying foxes emerged from the treeline. His entire body was coated with black fruit paint with red streaking around his eyes, down his cheeks, on his body and his wings. The large bat grinned evilly at the sea of colourful feathers and raised his mace-like weapon decorated with a cluster of colourful feathers on one end and released a howl. Then he turned round and beckoned the other bats behind him. Then within moments, the black mass the yellow ridged toucan had seen came within view. Venus clung onto Zephyr while Brisa clung onto Roberto. Blu and Jewel looked on in horror while Mercury, Sapphire, Monique, Pearl, Felipe, Jupiter, Mars, Chiquitita, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Ultramarine, Cobalto, Pluto and the other leaders swallowed hard or shuddered.

All the flying foxes, like the first muscular bat, had coated themselves with pure black fruit paint with bright blood-red fruit paint around their eyes and on their bodies and wings. The streaks running from below the red rims the flying foxes had applied around their eyes made them look like they were weeping blood while the striped markings on their torsos resembled a blood-red ribcage. The red streaks on their wings resembled the skeletal structure of their wing fingers. The flying foxes, all chanting evil, anti-bird and gruesome lyrics, continued to make their appearance, their various weapons such as sharp-sticks also decorated with clusters of feathers taken from their kills, clutched in their wings and feet. The bats held their weapons above their heads and bobbed them up and down in a threatening manner. However, the sea of birds, despite the shock from the bats' body décor, stood their ground. In the shooter group, Skyla and Jairo gazed at the bats in utter shock. Pluto backed away slightly.

"This was what Ceres and Lapis Lazuli were talking about," he murmured.

"They honestly look like flying things from a horror movie," said Ultramarine in a hushed voice. Behind her, some of the blue-throated macaws shuddered as memories of the flying foxes' siege on their home flashed in their minds. More birds then began to whisper to each other about the flying foxes' choice of body décor. Right at the front of the flying fox crowd, Iracebeth, her pelage completely cloaked by a suit of pure black with blood-red streaks and stripes, gazed sadistically and scornfully at the sea of birds. Then within moments, the flying foxes fell silent such that silence hung over both opposing crowds. Jewel then nodded to Blu who then boldly fixed his gaze on the crowd of flying foxes despite their terrifying appearance, raised his stick in defiance to show the bats that they weren't afraid. Then shouts erupted from many of the birds in the army. Iracebeth just smiled wickedly.

"Those feathered slugs' defiance won't get them anywhere, except towards an enormous, bloody massacre," she crooned as she looked forward to seeing vast amounts of blood and falling feathered bodies. And with that, she screeched a shout to some of the bats to charge forward. Then without hesitation, some of the flying foxes, high-pitched war cries screeching from their mouths surged past Iracebeth and the inner-circle bats and charged towards the bird crowd in a first wave. During this, some of the bats at the back of the crowd sneaked away, not wanting to participate in the imminent battle about to start. The crowd of macaws stood their ground as the first wave of their furred and membrane winged enemies rushed towards them. As the bats charged, sharp-sticks were positioned ready to impale any feathered opponent while other weapons, such as mace-like ones with balls of porcupine spines stuck in one end using cement-like mud, were poised and prepared to bludgeon their owners' feathered victims.

Still the macaws and other birds stood their ground. Then Felipe rose up and with a loud squawk, he called out to a certain group of scarlet and green-winged macaws. Within moments, red birds with blue or teal, green or yellow wings emerged from the crowd of macaws and took to the sky above the battlefield. Blu pointed his stick at the charging first wave of bats while Alonso and Verde shouted to the red macaws, "Go, go, go!"

The bats continued charging towards the macaws when one of the muscular males saw dozens of red forms fly towards them.

"Everyone, look OUT ABOVE!" he screeched. At this, the other bats looked up and also saw the incoming red macaws. The group of scarlet and green-winged macaws continued to fly on, their talons grasping Brazil nuts. Felipe had had the idea of using Brazil nuts as a weapon against the flying foxes and before the red tribe's departure to the battlefield; many of the macaws had picked some of these heavy nuts and carried them off. Now those Brazil nuts were ready to be dropped as bombs onto the charging bats. As soon as they were above the first wave of bats, one of the scarlet macaws, Sheldon's father Ramon, gave the signal to release the airstrike.

"Alright, Brazil nuts AWAY!" he called and within moments, Brazil nuts were released from their carriers' talons and were sent plummeting towards the bats. Screeches of extreme agony erupted as bats were fatally struck hard by the falling shelled bombs. Other bats, screeching in fright, frantically tried dodging the falling Brazil nuts. Then the bats tried viciously attacking the marauding red macaws with their weapons but the red macaws dodged and screeched back at the bats. More Brazil nuts continued to fall from scarlet and green-winged macaw talons and slam into more bats. Iracebeth and the other flying foxes looked on in immense shock at the carnage before them as flying fox screeches of agony and fright reached their ears. Then one green-winged macaw, Sheldon's mother Dani, a Brazil-nut in her talons, swooped down in a corkscrew towards a large muscular bat and released her bomb, sending it careening towards the bat and hitting him square in the back of the neck, killing him instantly. Then after finishing the airstrike, the red macaws returned to the macaw crowd. After this, Blu prepared to lead the macaws into battle.

"Ready for this, Roberto and Jewel?" he asked.

"Absolutely," said Roberto fiercely.

"When you are," said Jewel. Zephyr, Brisa and Venus gazed back at Blu with determined looks on their faces. Blu then turned to Felipe and the other leaders.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes," snapped Felipe impatiently, "Just take us in, already!"

"I'm ready to fight to the DEATH!" snarled Soleado fiercely. Saturn and Zoie looked on in agreement.

"Those flying foxes will pay for the troubles they have caused us," snarled Alonso. Uranus, Neptune, Ultramarine and Pluto also looked on as did Mercury, Sapphire, Mars, Chiquitita, Pearl and Jupiter. Then Blu turned and faced the crowd of bats.

"For the SANCTUARY… de AMAZOOOOOON!" he screeched at the top of his lungs and with that, he and the leaders rocketed off, screeching battle cries. The cascading effect travelled throughout the macaw crowd and all the macaws launched into a battle charge, the smaller group birds looking on.

"Here we go," cried Skyla as she clutched her slingshot. Before the macaw crowd, the last surviving first wave of bats let loose battle cries and continued charging towards the macaws while Iracebeth's wave behind them also charged. And within moments, both waves, one made up of colourful feathers of various colours, and of talons and beaks and the other of fur painted with black and red war paint and membranous wings, surged towards each other. Everything then appeared to slow down as the waves got closer and closer. Blu, Jewel, Zephyr and Venus and the other macaws in the front lowered their sticks and aimed them like spears of jousting sticks at the bats while the sharp-stick armed flying foxes pointed their sticks at the birds. Then a few more minutes later, the two waves collided. The Amazon air was shattered by a violent eruption of screeches of rage, agony and terror from various macaw species (Spix, green-winged, scarlet, great green, military, hyacinth, glaucous, blue-throated, blue-and-gold and Lear's) and the flying foxes, accompanied by the clashing of weapons as the birds and bats began fighting. Macaw talons and beaks slashed over flying fox flesh and tore out flying fox fur while flying fox foot claws raked over macaw skin and teeth tore out macaw feathers. Drops of blood, feathers of various colours and flying fox fur also flew everywhere and various weapons clashed wildly.

Blu, his stick in talon, surged towards a black and red bat and swung his stick at him. His weapon was well time for the bat had no time to raise his stick and block it and Blu heard the sounds of his enemy screeching in pain as his stick struck him in the face. The flying fox, dazed, flapped clumsily away, dropped his stick and held his face in his wings. Blu then surged in again to whack the bat a second time but felt his stick freeze. At this, he gazed at whoever had grabbed his stick and found himself face-to-face with a large muscular bat twice his size and stature clinging onto his stick with his foot claws. Blu, at this, emitted a startled shriek when suddenly, agonised screeches exploded from the muscular bat's mouth. The bat rocketed into the air, revealing Reynaldo with his talons covered in blood. He had just slashed the bat down his back to rescue Blu.

"Thanks, Reynaldo," said Blu. Reynaldo nodded and flew off to attack another bat. Nearby, Venus and Zephyr were working together in attacking more bats with their sticks when suddenly; Mercury's voice rang out, "Look OUT!"

At this, both Spix macaws turned and saw a flying fox swoop down at them, its sharp-stick's tip aimed for Zephyr's chest. At this, Zephyr prepared to defend himself with his branch when a navy blue and teal blur shot in and tackled right into the flying fox. Mercury then began to wrestle with the flying fox for its weapon; his talons wrapped fiercely around the sharp-stick. Then after another few frantic seconds of wrestling, the flying fox yanked the sharp-stick out of Mercury's talons and prepared to impale him through the stomach with it.

"Look out, Mercury!" cried Venus and went to defend him.

"Venus, NO!" cried Zephyr. Too late. Venus had already jumped onto the flying fox's back and had begun to score her claws down it. The flying fox screeched in agony as Venus then clamped her beak on its head hair. Mercury and Zephyr then joined in the fray in savagely attacking the flying fox. Nearby, Roberto and Brisa were whacking their weapons at more bats with Sapphire and Monique helping nearby. Sapphire also kicked out her talons while Monique lashed her head out at more bats to kick and headbutt them respectively. One bat suffered a blow to its muzzle from Monique's rock-hard beak, which made it drop its mace-like weapon and retreat to a tree, its nose beginning to ooze red liquid.

"That's what you GET for messing with us, you flying dog-faced furballs!" snarled Monique. Nearby, Sapphire was engaging another flying fox in a vicious swordfight-like duel, their sticks clashing like swords. The two's eyes glared daggers into each other as their owners struggled against each other until Sapphire forced her furred opponent back. Then without hesitation, Sapphire raised her talons and slashed her claws over the flying fox's face as it attempted to stab her with its sharp-stick. However, this did not deter the flying fox and it recovered from the attack and rushed towards Sapphire again, determined to slaughter the Lear's macaw. However, Sapphire, with a well-timed swing of her stick, struck the bat down, hitting it in the wing. The bat released an ear-piercing screech of agony and fell towards the canopy below.

"Take THAT, you furred barbarian," gloated Sapphire when suddenly, searing pain shot through her head as something pulled hard on her woman hair-like head feathers. At this, the Lear's macaw began to screechy loudly as a pair of adolescent flying foxes had grabbed hold of her long head feathers. Mercury saw this and charged at the two bats, bashing into them and tackling them away from Sapphire. Sapphire shot Mercury a thankful glance who nodded in approval and began to engage the two adolescent bats in a stick-fight while Sapphire flew off to help a group of blue-throated and hyacinth macaws deal with some more flying foxes.

Felipe and Pearl and some other scarlet, green-winged and Spix macaws herded a group of mace-like weapon armed flying foxes against a tree and began to savagely attack them, Felipe's eyes burning with the most thunderous, fiery look yet as he mercilessly raked his claws of the faces of his furred enemies. While Felipe's group attacked these flying foxes, Jupiter, Mars and Chiquitita were fighting more bats. Mars and Jupiter swung their sticks at one incoming bat after another while Chiquitita darted in and out of a cluster of interlocking branches, using her small size to her advantage in outrunning three bats that were twice her size. The three bats, all armed with sharp-sticks and one with a flail-like porcupine spike ball attached to its sharp-stick via a vine piece, stopped and looked around at the cluster of branches confused when they lost Chiquitita. As they did that, Chiquitita sneaked round under them and moved to a position behind them. Then as soon as she was ready, she leaped upon the bats, her stick poised to strike them down.

"SURPRISE!" she squawked and before the three bats could act; Chiquitita's stick hit home on all three of them. The three bats, dazed and stunned by Chiquitita's surprise attack, fell towards the canopy. Mars flashed an admiring glance at his small mate, impressed by her stealth while Jupiter looked on, surprised.

"Since when did Chiquitita learn to sneak up on her enemies and surprise them like that?" he asked.

"Well, I think it's very surprising… and very awesome," said Mars with a smile, "Even though she's only half your size, she is not to be underestimated."

Jupiter just smiled and resumed fighting more flying foxes while Mars flew over to Chiquitita as more flying foxes surrounded her.

Felipe's group continued to mercilessly batter the bats when suddenly, a black and red blur swooped in and grabbed onto Felipe's wing. Felipe cried in surprise but then he found himself spinning faster, and faster, one of the flying foxes clinging hard onto his wing, its face twisted into one of immense effort. As the bat and Felipe spun faster and faster still, Saturn flew in and gasped. This was the same method one of the flying foxes had executed on Rhea and dislocated her wing during the almost kidnap of Tiago, Lavender, Dione and Spock the other day. If no-one intervened, Felipe would come down with that same injury. Not wanting the bat to dislocate Felipe's wing, Saturn charged in but was swatted hard across the face several times by a passing membrane wing and sent flapping clumsily backward. Saturn backed away and struggled to regain control of his balance, stunned from the hits but then he flinched harshly when he heard an ear-piercing screech of agony but it was not from Felipe. At this, the blue-and-gold macaw looked up and saw the bat that attempted to dislocate Felipe's wing come away, a rich blue macaw with a distinctive mop of crest feathers on his head viciously tear his claws over the bat's back. Felipe was hovering nearby, his head spinning from the wild whirling ordeal. Roberto had come to the rescue and had saved Felipe from suffering a dislocated wing. Breathing a sigh of relief, Saturn flew in to help Roberto viciously claw the bat while Pearl helped Felipe to his feet.

"I'm fine," said Felipe before Pearl could ask and left to attack another bat viciously beating a hyacinth macaw over the head with its stick.

Nearby, Neptune, Ultramarine, Marinho, Flavio, Pluto, Rudi, Valeria and Violeta were viciously attacking more bats by clashing sticks with them, whacking them with their sticks and feet and clawing them. Rudi clamped down his beak onto one of the bat's wings so hard that the bat screeched in agony before Rudi violently swung his head this way and that and released the bat, sending it careening helplessly away from the group.

"What HORRIBLE body décor!" shouted Pluto as he swung his stick at more bats, obviously commenting on their jet black coats of war paint and the red streaks. "You know we've seen bird tribes and clans wear better war décor than YOU… DOG-FACED BRUTES!"

He screeched as a flying fox's mouth clamped onto his tail feathers and begin to rip feathers. Pluto, not wanting the flying fox tearing out his tail feathers, raised a talon and slashed the claws on it right over the bat's face, making the bat screech and release his tail. Then Valeria flew in and bashed the bat on the head with her stick, knocking it out.

"Their body décor may be horrible and it frightened us when these brutes drove us out of our original home but it certainly doesn't scare us anymore NOW!" snarled she. Then she and Pluto fluttered towards more flying foxes and began to attack them as they chased a group of green macaws. Neptune, Ultramarine, Marinho and Flavio swung their enormous wings and talons around, swiping more flying foxes and bashing them down. Neptune saw some of the black war paint come off one of the flying foxes and smear his navy blue wing. Brushing it off, he continued attacking more flying foxes, Flavio forcing back another sharp-stick armed flying fox by slashing his talons at it and blocking the bat's attempts to attacking him with its stick. Then suddenly, another flying fox rushed in and bashed into the old hyacinth macaw from behind, making Flavio cry in painful shock and fly forward onto the branch.

"Uncle Flavio!" cried Ultramarine and Marinho together and with that, the two, together with Neptune, flew over to Flavio's side.

"Are you alright?" asked Neptune as he helped Flavio onto his feet.

"I'm fine… AARRGH!" cried Flavio as he felt searing pain shoot through his back as it cracked. The Navyfeather Clan patriarch was not as young as he once was and his age was making the battle against the flying foxes an immense challenge. Flavio had opted not to go with the other elderly birds to the safety of the Spix tribe's ravine, instead wanting to look after Violeta and help in the fight. While his nephew, niece and nephew-in-law continued to help him up, his wing clutching his back, a voice suddenly shouted, "Look OUT!"

At this, the four hyacinth macaws all turned and when they saw an arrow of flying foxes dive right at them, their sharp-sticks poised to impale them, Ultramarine, Neptune and Flavio released cries of terror. Suddenly, several green and blue and yellow comets rushed in and tackled the flying foxes away from the four hyacinth macaws just as Neptune, Ultramarine and Marinho had begun to duck and cover their heads and Flavio protectively with their wings. When the quartet saw that they were unharmed, they turned and saw a writhing cloud of flying foxes, great green, blue-throated and military macaws, among them Uranus and Cobalto, as they savagely struggled against the quartet's attempted attackers. Without hesitation, the four hyacinth macaws took off and joined in the fray.

Uranus struggled on the back of one flying fox when suddenly, another came in and tackled him away.

"GET OFF MY BROTHER, you GREEN FEATHERED SLIME-BALL!" bellowed the bat as he did it. Uranus, stunned, was sent flying out of the cloud. As he slammed hard against a tree trunk, briefly stunned, the bat came in with its flail-like weapon.

"I'm gonna TURN YA INTO MINCE!" screeched the bat as he raised the weapon above his head but before he could bring it down onto the great green macaw, Uranus recovered, took off, sending the porcupine quill ball slamming and jamming into the bark where his head would have been, whirled round and without hesitation, Uranus lashed at the bat and clamped his beak with all his might onto the bat's ear, making the bat screech in pain. The bat then dropped his weapon and began to try and pry Uranus's beak open to remove his ear but the great green macaw did not loosen his grip. Back in the battle cloud, Alonso and Verde were savagely attacking two bats while Cobalto took hold of two flying foxes on either side of him and literally banged their heads together by slamming them into each other, hard. Dazed, the two bats fainted. After this, Cobalto shouted to Alonso and Verde, "Where's Cicatriz? I haven't seen him anywhere."

"Look, that's not…" began Alonso, cutting himself off as he dodged a lashing from his opponent's spear-like weapon, "important right now. Just focus on this battle."

"But at least he's not here," cried Verde as she throttled another bat, her talons wrapped tightly around its neck. Cobalto nodded and returned to fighting another bat. On the outskirts of the battlefield, a certain flying fox with a blind right eye stood on a tree, watching the inferno with a devilish look on his face.

"Fight for your precious homes all you want, you good-for-nothing flying disasters," crooned he, "Soon enough, your homes will be OURS!"

"Cicatriz," called someone. At this, Cicatriz turned and found three bats touch down before him. Some more bats stood at a distance.

"We have been in the homes of those bird tribes and clans but they are completely deserted," said one of the bats.

"There are no chicks, no elderly, absolutely no-one in any of the trees or holes or anywhere," said another bat, a female. Their companion nodded in agreement. However, Cicatriz hardened his gaze.

"Have you three checked the entire area of the Sanctuary de Amazon, including the Spix trine's ravine?" he asked. The three bats looked at him.

"Not yet," said the first bat.

"Then go and check the Spix tribe's ravine," said Cicatriz firmly, "And if you find any of those good-for-nothing birds hiding within ANY tree or other hiding place, slaughter them without hesitation."

The three bats nodded and took off, calling for the others that had come with them to follow them. The other bats obeyed and followed the three leaders while Cicatriz continued watching the ongoing war below him, before changing his mind and following the infiltrator group as it left.

"While my colony deals with those feathered worms," he barked, "I'll help the infiltrators deal with the remaining birds of their tribes and clans and smaller groups, including the CHICKS!"

And with that, the ugly bat dressed in his black and red war paint disappeared into the trees.